AUTO Visits NEWS » Items by By BEN RATLIFF

Music Review: Hanukkah With Love and Noise

Posted: December 24th, 2008, 5:38am GMT by By BEN RATLIFF

Yo La Tengo’s Hanukkah shows demand nothing of you except $30 — which goes to charity — and deliver surprise guests every night, usually of some importance.

Music Review | Z100 Jingle Ball: Nary a Carol in Earshot, and a Santa in Heels

Posted: December 15th, 2008, 4:23am GMT by By BEN RATLIFF

At the Z100 Jingle Ball, if you weren’t approximately 14 and approximately a girl, the chances were high that you were a bored father, a sympathetic mother or a responsible boyfriend.

Music Review | Enrico Pieranunzi: Two Hands, Many Keyboard Styles

Posted: October 31st, 2008, 4:14am GMT by By BEN RATLIFF

The Italian jazz pianist Enrico Pieranunzi, who is usually known for his good taste and good experience, gave a dull performance on Wednesday night at Birdland.

Music Review | Gal Costa: On a Visit From Brazil, a Certain Vowel in Tow

Posted: October 2nd, 2008, 6:53am GMT by By BEN RATLIFF

Gal Costa had reason to be anxious at the Blue Note on Tuesday; a show this intimate was an experiment.

Music: Some Kind of Refined Monster

Posted: August 30th, 2008, 8:26am GMT by By BEN RATLIFF

To move ahead, Metallica looks back, with an album evoking its mid-’80s sound.

Music Review | Eddie Vedder: He Sings, He Broods, He Jams as a Solo

Posted: August 7th, 2008, 4:43am GMT by By BEN RATLIFF

Eddie Vedder’s concert at the United Palace on Tuesday lacked swing, artifice, lightness, whatever could add some emulsion to two hours of brooding and righteousness.

Permalink for 'NYT___Arts/2008/07/14/Music_Review___Damon_Albarn___the_Honest_Jon%e2%80%99s_Revue__Street_Energy_in_a_Festive_Ruckus_of_African_Grooves_and_Western_Pop'

Music Review | Damon Albarn & the Honest Jon’s Revue: Street Energy in a Festive Ruckus of African Grooves and Western Pop

Posted: July 14th, 2008, 3:14am GMT by By BEN RATLIFF

The concert taught without being pedantic and unspooled different kinds of grooves, mostly Nigerian and Malian but some American.

Music Review | Steely Dan: Pop Veterans Still Pumping Anti-Charisma

Posted: June 16th, 2008, 3:31am GMT by By BEN RATLIFF

Donald Fagen and Walter Becker seem like the kind of late-1960s hypercerebral born-cynical East Coast hipsters who are often found valorizing authenticity in aesthetic expression.

Jimmy McGriff, Jazz and Blues Organist, Dies at 72

Posted: May 28th, 2008, 5:06am GMT by By BEN RATLIFF

Mr. McGriff was one of the most popular jazz and blues organists since the early 1960s.

Playlist: Quiet Jazz, Roaring Noise, Hip-Hop Wizardry

Posted: May 9th, 2008, 8:59pm GMT by By BEN RATLIFF

Releases by Jonah Jones, Bennie Maupin, Burning Star Core, Steinski and Marcus Shelby Jazz Orchestra.

Music Review | Frank Wess: Saxophone With Subtext

Posted: May 2nd, 2008, 3:21am GMT by By BEN RATLIFF

Frank Wess converged the swing-era languages of Lester Young and Coleman Hawkins, using dynamics and silence and restrained strength on Wednesday at the Village Vanguard.

Music Review: Painting Outside Those Usual Lines

Posted: April 17th, 2008, 3:03am GMT by By BEN RATLIFF

At the Village Vanguard on Tuesday, the 858 Quartet played a wickedly beautiful first set of the week.

Changes, and a Constant, for New York Jazz Festival

Posted: April 9th, 2008, 4:46am GMT by By BEN RATLIFF

This year’s edition of the JVC Jazz Festival, which takes place from June 15 to 28 and whose details were announced Tuesday, turns out to be undiminished and newly energized by welcome changes of locations and some imaginative bookings.

Music Review | Ernestine Anderson with Houston Person: Still Shouting (When She Chooses To)

Posted: April 5th, 2008, 5:24am GMT by By BEN RATLIFF

As she meted out her late set, sitting in a chair as she sang blues, ballads and jazz standards, Ernestine Anderson stayed pretty reserved.

Dennis Irwin, 56, Bassist Popular in New York Jazz, Is Dead

Posted: March 12th, 2008, 10:34am GMT by By BEN RATLIFF

For more than 30 years, Mr. Irwin was a much-in-demand New York jazz bassist. His recent illness became a rallying point for jazz musicians without medical insurance.