Music Reviews archive
Listen Bass Note: Mingus And The Jazz Workshop Concerts
December 11, 2012 – A new, seven-disc Charles Mingus box set chronicles the jazz legend's mid-'60s live performances.
Listen Forgotten Gems From The Dave Brubeck Quartet
December 7, 2012 – Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews a few of the more obscure titles from Dave Brubeck's quartet.
Listen Two Malian Guitar Greats, Gone But Still Wailing
December 4, 2012 – Posthumous albums from Zani Diabate and Lobi Traore capture both musicians in their creative prime.
Read Classical Lost And Found: Hubert Parry's Glorious England
December 4, 2012 – A new album of Hubert Parry's neglected works for chorus and orchestra swells with English pride.
Listen Tracey Thorn: 'Secular Carols' For The Holidays
November 30, 2012 – Thorn has a new holiday album, Tinsel and Lights, that might just suit warmer weather, too.
Listen Turning Up The Volume On The Electric Blues
November 29, 2012 – A new compilation traces the history of electric blues from its rocky start through its heyday.
Listen Ghetto Brothers: Guitars Over Guns
November 28, 2012 – The group's one and only album, Power Fuerza, captures music and politics in 1970s New York City.
Listen 'Buddy And Jim': Friends In Life And Songwriting
November 28, 2012 – Friends and songwriters Buddy Miller and Jim Lauderdale just released a new album of duets.
Listen Cecilia Bartoli's New 'Mission' Unearths Baroque Gems
November 27, 2012 – Lloyd Schwartz reviews the opera star's new album, featuring the music of Agostino Steffani.
Read Joyce DiDonato: Sublime Singing Makes The Unreal Real
November 27, 2012 – Hear a celebrated mezzo-soprano sing an aria from her exceptional new recording of Baroque opera.
Listen Jason Kao Hwang: From The Blues To China And Back
November 26, 2012 – The violinist attempts to mix jazz, classical and traditional Chinese music on Burning Bridge.
Listen Samuel Yirga: A Prodigy Reviving Ethiopian Jazz
November 21, 2012 – Yirga has had to fight to be himself, and his distinctive voice shines through in his debut, Guzo.
Listen The Mythic Power Of Bessie Smith
November 21, 2012 – A new 10-CD box set collects the complete works of the colossus who straddled jazz and blues.
Watch The Insect Trust: An American Band Deconstructed
November 20, 2012 – Free jazzers, hippie rockers and country-blues musicians made up this ragtag late-'60s band.
Read Calculated Instability: The Pioneering Sonatas Of C.P.E. Bach
November 20, 2012 – The quirky music of J.S. Bach's most impressive son delights in an album by pianist Danny Driver.