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Women in Jazz: Woodwind Players
by Russell Perry
Never have there been more prominent women clarinetists, saxophonists, and flutists in jazz than there are today and that trend has continued steadily for years. In the 25th annual Jazz Journalists Association Jazz Awards alto player Lakecia Benjamin was the Up and Coming Musician of the Year, Lauren Sevian was the Baritone Saxophonist of the Year, Jane Ira Bloom was the Soprano Saxophonist of the Year, Nicole Mitchell the Flutist of the Year, and Anat Cohen the Clarinetist of the ...
Continue ReadingJane Ira Bloom: Wild Lines: Improvising Emily Dickinson
by Neri Pollastri
La sopranista Jane Ira Bloom, da sempre autrice di una musica sofisticata e in ideale dialogo con altre arti, duetta qui con l'universo poetico di Emily Dickinson in due CD con un analogo programma di brani (sebbene eseguiti in ordine diverso tra loro), il primo solo strumentale, il secondo con la presenza della voce recitante di Deborah Rush a interpretare testi della ottocentesca poetessa statunitense. Quanto la musica sia influenzata dalla poesia è difficile da valutare, anche in ...
Continue ReadingJane Ira Bloom: Wild Lines: Improvising Emily Dickinson
by Mark Sullivan
Soprano saxophonist/composer Jane Ira Bloom follows up her trio album Early Americans (Outline Records, 2016) with a concept album for quartet. In fact several of these tunes appeared in more open trio versions on the earlier album: “Dangerous Times," “Singing The Triangle," “Other Eyes," “Mind Gray River," “Cornets Of Paradise," and “Big Bill"--so she has evidently been working on this music for some time. Bassist Mark Helias and drummer Bobby Previte are joined by longtime collaborator pianist Dawn Clement for ...
Continue ReadingJane Ira Bloom: Wild Lines: Improvising Emily Dickinson
by Troy Dostert
When you think about it, it's not that hard to see the affinity between soprano saxophonist Jane Ira Bloom and Emily Dickinson. Despite their fame coming from two different artistic worlds (although not completely different, as it turns out, as Dickinson was apparently a talented pianist), they do have a good deal in common. Bloom is a fiercely independent artist, sticking with her trademark soprano saxophone for her entire career, just as Dickinson forged her own path as a poet ...
Continue ReadingFive Women VIII – Alma Micic; Jane Ira Bloom; Laura Ainsworth; Abelita Mateus; Tash Sultana
by C. Michael Bailey
Alma Micic That Old Feeling Whaling City Records 2017 Serbian vocalist Alma Micic's 2014 Tonight (CTA Records) was a welcome addition to the jazz vocals discography because of its bold repertoire and compelling performance. Micic returns with a decidedly more focused and refined recording that mixes the new and old with her own original “Ne Zaboravi me" and Neil Young's “Harvest Moon" with durable standbys, “That Old feeling" and “Blue Moon." Micic is joined by ...
Continue ReadingJane Ira Bloom: Wild Lines: Improvising Emily Dickinson
by Roger Farbey
Jane Ira Bloom, winner of the 65th Annual Downbeat Critics Poll Winners (2017) award in the soprano saxophone category, took as her inspiration for this recording, the writings of nineteenth century America poet Emily Dickinson. Such was her admiration for the poet that she composed the music for this double CD as a lyrical paean, made possible by a commission from Chamber Music America's 2015 New Jazz Works Program, funded through the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Some of ...
Continue ReadingJane Ira Bloom: Early Americans
by Ian Patterson
Three years on from the ballad standards of Sixteen Sunsets (Outline, 2013), Jane Ira Bloom--one of the few specialist soprano saxophonists--returns with a lustrous collection of originals. At one extreme, the trio of Bloom, Mark Helias and Bobby Previte fairly bristles with collective energy; at the other, it seduces with caressing, impressionistic lyricism. At whatever tempi, however, Bloom's melodic improvisations and the rhythm section's industry and nuance are never less than captivating. Helias and Previte plied the rhythmic ...
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