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JON GARELICK

Latest Articles

The museum-building boom continues

What's happening at the Gardner and at Harvard
What's happening at the Gardner and at Harvard

By: JON GARELICK | November 20, 2010

Flesh and blood: Phil Wilson's Miles and Gil

Plus Benny Sharoni's hard bop and Ben Powell's fiddle magic
When I first put on Benny Sharoni's new Eternal Elixir (Papaya), there was, as a composer friend of mine likes to say, "nothing wrong with it." That is, it seemed no better or worse than a zillion other straight-ahead tenor-saxophone discs.

By: JON GARELICK | November 09, 2010

Live: Chucho Valdés and the Afro Cuban Jazz Messengers

Berklee Performance Center, October 28
Chucho Valdés’s first performance in Boston in seven years was the grand tour of Afro-Cuban Jazz that his fans in the sold-out Berklee Performance Center could have hoped for — especially based on the retrospective quality of his latest CD, Chucho’s Steps.

By: JON GARELICK | November 03, 2010

Cuban and Brazilian imports, plus homeboy Ran Blake

Groove again
Groove isn't everything, but it'll do.

By: JON GARELICK | October 26, 2010

Changing rooms

The Carolina Chocolate Drops, live at the Paradise Rock Club, October 16, 2010
The only big difference between the Carolina Chocolate Drops' show at the Paradise Saturday night and the one at the Somerville Theatre back in January was the venue.

By: JON GARELICK | October 19, 2010

Variable density

Garrison Fewell, live at Johnny D's, October 13, 2010
To call what Garrison Fewell does with his Variable Density Sound Orchestra "free jazz" doesn't quite fit the bill.

By: JON GARELICK | October 15, 2010

Interview: Melissa Auf der Maur

On her new CD and movie — and Billy, Courtney, and Danzig
Melissa Auf der Maur describes herself as "a good Boston Irish girl," born on St. Patrick's Day in 1972.

By: JON GARELICK | October 14, 2010

Rick Berlin | Paper Airplane

Hi-N-Dry
Hi-N-Dry

By: JON GARELICK | October 12, 2010

Chucho, Mike, and Lina

Havana, Chicago, and a dash of Toronto
Anyone who has doubts about the musical supremacy of Chucho Valdés — or wants an introduction to it — need only listen to "Danzón," the second track from the new Chucho's Steps.

By: JON GARELICK | October 12, 2010

Society's demands

Esperanza Spalding | Sanders Theatre | October 2, 2010
Esperanza Spalding wants to prepare her listeners for something different with her new Chamber Music Society (Heads Up). She made that clear at Sanders Theatre Saturday night.

By: JON GARELICK | October 06, 2010

Esperanza and Kenny

Spalding's chamber music; Werner's elegy
Spalding's chamber music; Werner's elegy

By: JON GARELICK | September 28, 2010

Sonic DNA: Stanton Moore and Anthony Brown

They know where music comes from
Music is mystery, maybe, but for some of us that conceit is a provocation for deep-nerdy investigation.

By: JON GARELICK | September 14, 2010

Fall Jazz Preview: Blindfold test

Trying new flavors in the new season
A search for this fall’s must-see jazz revealed a lot of overlapping personnel — Jim Hobbs, Allan Chase, Joe Morris, Taylor Ho Bynum. Hey, you wanted to know what’s good , right?

By: JON GARELICK | September 16, 2010

Giant Steps: Ted Rosenthal, Danilo Pérez, and Vijay Iyer

Pianos plus
The sound was maddeningly familiar.

By: JON GARELICK | September 01, 2010

Giant Steps: Goodies from Berklee's Beantown Jazz Festival

Now celebrating its 10th anniversary, the Berklee BeanTown Jazz Festival has grown from a one-day street fair to 10 days of activities that encompass club gigs as well as the signature afternoon multi-stage event in the South End. Here are some highlights.

By: JON GARELICK | September 01, 2010

Newport notes

A weekend of want-to-see
A weekend of want-to-see

By: JON GARELICK | August 16, 2010

ArtsEmerson taps Hirsch as music booker

Dan's the Man
The theater district's ArtsEmerson project keeps getting more and more interesting.

By: JON GARELICK | July 28, 2010

A Newport sampler

Six on the side
The Newport Jazz Festival (August 6-8) has plenty of big guns worth your attention on the main Fort Stage — from Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Ahmad Jamal, and Wynton Marsalis with Dave Brubeck to the Maria Schneider Orchestra and Arturo O'Farrill's Latin Jazz Orchestra.

By: JON GARELICK | July 27, 2010

Secret master

David Binney's many faces
Scratch below the surface of any number of hard-playing jazz musicians these days and you hear a common refrain: "I hardly ever listen to jazz."

By: JON GARELICK | July 27, 2010

Harvey Pekar: 1939 - 2010

In memoriam
Probably the echt moment for me in all the volumes of Harvey Pekar's American Splendor comics comes when the eternally bedraggled and grumpy Harvey receives a fresh package of review vinyl from Downbeat magazine and grumbles about getting yet another Sonny Stitt record.

By: JON GARELICK | July 16, 2010

Time travelers

The Either/Orchestra go to Groovy World, plus Ameranouche and Shelley Neill dig their Gypsy souls
Trumpeter Tom Halter is wearing one of his snazzy mariachi outfits (black vest and pants with white embroidery). Russ Gershon is retouching his own make-up to get some of the green out (“I don’t look so much like a corpse now”).

By: JON GARELICK | July 19, 2010