Category: AJBlogs

On March 8, I went to the WoCo Fest, a festival of music by women, and was so radiated with joy that I cancelled plans I had for the next night, and went back again. What made WoCo Fest so joyful? – Greg Sandow

It’s a small doll, nothing fancy, fashioned in a courtroom to pass the long hours between denunciations. The young servant girl Mary Warren brings it home to the Proctors, gives it to the missus – and it is that poppet that will haul Mrs Proctor to prison accused of witchcraft. – David Jays

I was twenty-two when I met Harry Jenks, for many years the ballpark organist for the Kansas City Royals and the first great jazz musician to enter my life. He taught me more than any of my teachers, and meant as much to me as a person as anyone outside my immediate family. – Terry Teachout

Yeast isn’t a food; it plays on food, like a conductor, or a cook. So when you realize that yeast floats in the air and lives almost forever, you may have more respect for its governance, its fungal baton. – Jeff Weinstein

Cellist Steven Isserlis and pianist Connie Shih play music by bigtime male composers, and by women they loved. – Greg Sandow

John Coltrane, Coltrane ’58: The Prestige Recordings (Craft)
Every few years, curators of the great saxophonist John Coltrane’s extensive body of recordings come up with yet another retrospective of his work. – Doug Ramsey

What’s new in improvisational music? Where else can innovation go? Mn’JAM Experiment — singer Melissa Oliveira and her visual/electronics/turntablist partner JAM — will show you. – Howard Mandel

Dame Maggie Smith has to deal with glasses continually during her 100-minute monologue. – David Jays

Keeping up with “music of quality that deserves even greater attention.” – Doug Ramsey

Several weeks ago, I visited the Dallas Museum of Art to see an exhibition of works by Jonas Wood. His paintings, mostly, are striking. They have wall power. They are easy to like. But the whole thing makes me queasy. The museum is being used. – Judith H. Dobrzynski