Richard S. Ginell: From Out of the West

MONTEREY, Calif. – The 61st Monterey Jazz Festival Sep. 21-23 was billed as a salute to “The Year Of The Woman” – and they weren’t kidding. Trumpeter Ingrid Jensen and alto saxophonist Tia Fuller were designated as the artists-in-residence, singer Dianne Reeves was the 2018 Showcase Artist. The schedule was loaded.

Everyone in jazzland seems to be weighing in on the release this week of Both Directions At Once: The Lost Album, a previously-unknown 1963...

The CSO remains a phenomenal instrument – they never miss – yet the most phenomenal features about these performances were the little things.

MONTEREY, Calif: The stresses of the bebop life took so many valuable lives prematurely, but Jimmy Heath survived it all. Sunday afternoon in the...

MONTEREY, Calif.: Defying the odds, even in a field as precarious as jazz, the Monterey Jazz Festival has been going strong since 1958 – and...

For every widely-celebrated jazz musician, there may be hundreds of often equally-gifted players who never received their due whether by bad luck or by...

SANTA FE, NM: How often do you go into a concert hall or an opera house where a world premiere is happening and know...

Here is Part Two of my updated, expanded, 70th birthday discographical survey of John Adams’s music, parts of which were originally published in the...

My most vivid memory of John Adams was way back near the beginning of his career, in 1983 in then-Avery Fisher Hall. His Grand...

“First, we’ll take Manhattan. Then we’ll take Berlin.” –  Leonard Cohen (1934-2016) These words were ringing through my head the week before Thanksgiving as the Berlin...

Steve Reich, the onetime outsider turned venerated new music master, turns 80 today – and to commemorate this milestone, here is the latest version of...

SAN FRANCISCO — Das Lied Von Erde, Mahler’s gigantic unnumbered symphony disguised as a song cycle, played a big role in the emotional and...

While making the rounds of local garage sales over the past weekend, I spotted a box packed with 30 Frank Sinatra CDs spanning nearly...

Frequent concertgoers are used to enduring the usual welcome  from some anonymous public-address announcer, followed by a plea to turn off our cellphones. Yet...

Monday night, the Shatto Chapel within the massive First Congregational Church near Wilshire Blvd. was the latest site of a casually delightful, long-running Los...

By Richard S. Ginell: From Out of the West On Pierre Boulez’s 90th birthday, I’d like to share a few memories of watching this once-controversial,...

By Richard S. Ginell: From Out of the West Some rants about the verdict that a misguided jury slapped upon Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams...

By Richard S. Ginell: From Out of the West Last Saturday, on a wind-swept 81-degree winter’s day (ha!), I slipped behind the Orange Curtain to attend...

By Richard S. Ginell: From Out of the West Hallelujah! An opera update that works. I am speaking of a romp called ¡Figaro! (90210), a surprisingly...

By Richard S. Ginell: From Out of the West Here are a handful of recent CD releases in jazz – or within striking distance of...