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Jazz Articles about Nicole Zuraitis
About Nicole Zuraitis
Nicole Zuraitis Baked Her Own Cake
by Leo Sidran
Nicole Zuraitis has spent much of her career being asked (and asking herself) variations of the same question: where do you fit? Is the music jazz? Is it pop? Is it cabaret?Her new album, The Devil I Knew, doesn't exactly settle the question. Instead, it makes the question seem increasingly beside the point.It's a sprawling, 20-song project produced by Larry Klein, with string arrangements by Vince Mendoza, horn charts by Jerry Hey, and musicians including Larry ...
Continue Reading...Four new albums from Goldings, Bernstein & Stewart; Nicole Zuraitis; Joey Amexander and Steve Wilson
by George Graham
George Graham spotlights four new jazz releases from Larry Goldings / Peter Bernstein / Bill Stewart . Also Nicole Zuraitis , Joey Alexander and Steve Wilson.Playlist Goldings, Bernstein & Stewart Hi-Fly" from Rhombus (Smoke Sessions) 7:00 Goldings, Bernstein & Stewart They Say It's Wonderful" from Rhombus (Smoke Sessions) 6:31 Nicole Zuraitis I Won't Make It Out Alive" from The Devil I Knew (La Reserve) 4:24 Nicole Zuraitis Two Steps Back (The Overlap)" from The Devil I Knew (La ...
Continue Reading...The Birdland Big Band: Storybook—The Music Of Mark Miller
by Samuel Chell
Storybook: The Music Of Mark Miller is at one level the unfolding narrative of its 10 musical selections. At another, it is a tale about its primary author, Mark Miller, who prefaced his journey from Racine to New York City with a preliminary solo album, Mark Miller: The Return Of Slide Huxtable, before retaking the long road that is a serious jazz player's dream of making it in the Big Apple. But most of all, this new album is a ...
Continue Reading...Javon Jackson: Jackson Plays Dylan
by Jack Bowers
On Jackson Plays Dylan, tenor saxophonist Javon Jackson, an admirer of Bob Dylan, aims his jazz arsenal toward the iconic singer and songwriter in hopes of reworking Dylan's folk/pop music into a framework that jazz enthusiasts might consider creative and pleasing. So how does that play? For the most part, rather tediously, which is surely not what Jackson's quartet had in mind. As it turns out, Dylan's themes sans lyrics do not lend themselves readily to the jazz ...
Continue Reading...Nicole Zuraitis Quartet in Vilnius: Precision Without Excess
by Ieva Pakalniškytė
Nicole Zuraitis Quartet LVSO Concert Hall Vilnius, Lithuania April 18, 2026 Vilnius has a unique way of welcoming artists who are connected to its culture. When Nicole Zuraitis, a two-time Grammy Award-winning singer, pianist, composer, and producer with Lithuanian roots, took the stage at the sold-out LVSO Concert Hall, that connection remained understated and functioned more as context than as a narrative. A symphonic setting, designed for classical music, does not always lend itself to ...
Continue Reading...Javon Jackson: Jackson Plays Dylan
by Katchie Cartwright
Bob Dylan without the lyric? Javon Jackson's Jackson Plays Dylan makes a strong case. With two exquisite exceptions, the arrangements are purely instrumental, but Jackson manages to draw us in past the words (he knows we can hear most of them in our heads) to the emotional heart of each piece. More than that, he turns the program into a sort of film score. Each song (scene) dissolves into the next via a snippet of its intro. Starting ...
Continue Reading...Javon Jackson: Jackson Plays Dylan
by Pierre Giroux
With Jackson Plays Dylan, tenor saxophonist Javon Jackson delves into one of the great sources of modern song, the work of Bob Dylan. He treats it with reverence, imagination, and a strong respect for jazz tradition. This is not a clever concept album but a heartfelt musician's dialogue with timeless material, influenced by tradition and deep musical listening. Jackson is joined on this release by pianist and keyboardist Jeremy Manasia, bassist Isaac Levien, drummer Ryan Sands, and Grammy-winning guest vocalists ...
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