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Jazz
Wild things
When guitarist Mary Halvorson began taking lessons with Joe Morris as an undergraduate at Wesleyan University, she was excited about the prospect of playing duos with one of her guitar heroes.
Sophisticated primitives
"I'm feeling a little light-headed," George Garzone told the audience last Saturday at the Boston Conservatory Theater, closing his eyes and bringing a hand to his brow.
New Orleans Notes
New Orleans Notes
Charmed agenda
The first time I was knocked out by Esperanza Spalding, she wasn't even playing — she was talking.
A new "Song of Myself"
The pianist and composer Fred Hersch first encountered the poetry of Walt Whitman as a student at New England Conservatory in 1976.
Tepfer’s Bach
Jazz and Bach have always made good company.
In her own time
On a first listen to Kate McGarry's new Girl Talk (Palmetto), you might not suspect any special agenda — this is simply the kind of original, heartfelt treatment of a well-chosen mix of songs that the singer has led us to expect in her half dozen releases over the past decade. But listen again.
Masterful
Billy Hart still remembers his first drum "lesson."
Spring leaves
This season is chock full of jazz goodies.
Dig it!
Listen: Robert Pinsky's PoemJazz .
All about transparency
"I'm discontented with homes that I've rented/so I have invented my own," sang Dominque Eade slowly, over a simple bass accompaniment.
Freedom Writer
It's been almost exactly four years since Tim Berne's last visit to Boston— March 2008, to be precise, with jazz-prog guitarist David Torn's band Prezens.
Full of surprises
I can't remember the last time I saw a costume change in the middle of a jazz show — if ever — but violinist Marissa Licata's performance with her father, saxophonist Charles Licata, and their band held all kinds of surprises.
Moran's Monk
Jason Moran — 37-year-old MacArthur Fellow and New England Conservatory teacher — epitomizes what's best about the current jazz scene: a composer and pianist who can — and does — draw on all eras.
Life stories
It's almost cliché to describe the sound of a veteran jazz singer as "lived in."
Rich choices
We have to wait for spring to see Charlie Haden's Quartet West and the Joshua Redman/Brad Mehldau duo, but there are still plenty of ways to keep an eye and ear on jazz in the winter months.
Mystics and monsters
Here, in no particular order, are some of my favorite things from among the people, CDs, and performances I wrote about this year.
Iyer calling
When I got the pianist and composer Vijay Iyer on the phone to talk about his upcoming Celebrity Series double-bill with the Miguel Zenón Quartet, I meant to talk to him about his serene and absorbing new album Tirtha (ACT), with the tabla player Nitin Mitta and guitarist Prasanna.
Agachiko
Gabrielle Agachiko's resume is impressive by any standards — studied at Juilliard, played in musical theater off-Broadway as well as with a touring production of Godspell, sang jazz with both Charlie Watts and Steve Lacy.
ID check
When she was a 16-year-old piano student in her hometown of Kobe, Japan, Yoko Miwa decided it was time to see if she had what it takes.
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