Recent Performing Arts Columns

Page 1 of 1      Go to: 

Tuesday, January 12 2010

Overlooked Jazz Gems of 2009

The year 2009 was a such a good one for jazz that even some music that had been neglected stands out as stellar. Layman catches up with music he never should have missed.

Wednesday, December 16 2009

Reviewing Jazz of 2009: Wherefore Art Thou, Blue Note?

The best jazz of 2009 did not come, even a little bit, from the storied "major labels" of jazz. What happened to Blue Note and Verve this year?

Friday, October 30 2009

Can Tyler Perry’s ‘For Colored Girls’ Resurrect BAM?

Film adaptations from black masterpieces -- and the Chitlin Circuit -- are rejuvenating America's Black Arts Movement.

Friday, September 25 2009

Hal Ashby: Hollywood Rebel

Films and books strive toward a common goal: telling a story. And very few modern filmmakers are as good at spinning a yarn as the late Hal Ashby was.

Tuesday, September 8 2009

Louisiana Woman, Texas Troubadour

Need more duets in your life? Loretta Lynn and Ernest Tubb are among country music's best partnerships.

Thursday, June 11 2009

Great Vibrations: An Interview with Gary Burton

Our jazz critic talks to Gary Burton about his reunion with Pat Metheny, about starting a "gentle" jazz-rock group, and that no one seems to know what a "vibraphone" really is.

Wednesday, February 11 2009

Beyond the Bubble of the Grammys

The Grammys suffer from the same problem as the rest of the recording industry: thinking America defines culture.

Wednesday, February 4 2009

Across the Universe, for the Sixth Time

This year's globalFEST was punctuated by performances from Occidental Brothers Dance Band International, La Troba Kung-Fu, Kailash Kher, Watcha Clan, and others -- a brave journey through the world of sounds, guided by open minds and big hearts.

Tuesday, February 3 2009

Concert Overload

Free-for-all shows are like a "cool" parent trying to be your friend, instead of your authority figure. While it seems like a good situation at first -- no curfew, no rules -- you realize, eventually, that what it really needs is some structure.

Thursday, September 25 2008

Retelling the Story of Black Music: Bert Williams, Godfather of the Black Stage & Studio

Bert Williams in blackface started a conversation about representing blackness within a mainstream context that has continued through virtually every crossover moment in black American life.

Page 1 of 1      Go to: