Following below is an article I wrote for the Jerusalem Report, Sept 27, 2010 about the Red Sea Jazz Festival in general, and specifically about the very fine Omri Mor Trio. Click on each of...
Continue reading...Song Of the week
067: Musica Nuda, ‘I Will Survive’
I’ve always been a fan of minimalism in music. In jazz it’s pretty easy because the default is four or five players. But my predilections in classical music are almost exclusively for solo or chamber...
Continue reading...066: Rickie Lee Jones, ‘Skeletons’
I had the good fortune last week to attend the Red Sea Jazz Festival in Eilat as a member of the press, representing the Jerusalem Report. It was my first formal journalism gig in 40...
Continue reading...059: The Real Group, ‘Joy Spring’
Joy Spring, Walking Down the Street, There Will Never Be Another You Ok, I confess. I am a member of a cult. A proud, card-carrying, dues-paying proselyte, full of missionary zeal, collaring unsuspecting wedding guests,...
Continue reading...055: Miles Davis/Gil Evans, ‘Concierto de Aranjuez’
Thanks this week to my friend MK, who has so generously and virulently argued with me over the last couple of weeks about the sanctity and inviolability of classical music. She believes in all her...
Continue reading...047: Bobby McFerrin, ‘The Garden’ (“VOCAbuLarieS”)
I had the pleasure of seeing Bobby McFerrin in concert last night. I was blown away, as always, by his immeasurable virtuosity; and charmed by his warmth and class. I hardly had time to wonder “Where’s the beef?”
Continue reading...036: Laura Nyro, ‘Sweet Blindness’ (“Eli & the 13th Confession”)
Laura Nyro’s masterpiece, “Eli & the 13th Confession”. She embraces her lover like a god, her God like a lover. It’s a pageant of bright lights and fierce emotions. It’s gospel and doo-wop and a spiritual carpet ride through sex, love, the elation and deflation of relationships, drugs, God, the devil. It’s a trip to the entire gallery of experiences of an eccentric, passionate, spiritual, loving person, and you’ll be a richer person for joining her.
Continue reading...024: Oi Va Voi, ‘Refugee’
I’m a seriously committed Jew, but I don’t like any flavor of klezmer. I don’t believe in world peace, and I don’t like world music. I don’t believe in leaderless bands with amorphous rosters. But I’ve coerced literally dozens unsuspecting friends and acquaintances to listen to Oi Va Voi’s “Laughter Through Tears”, and nary a one hasn’t apologized for snickering. It’s is an utterly irresistible album.
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