Music
Les Block, our music maven
By MORDECAI SPECKTOR It’s hard to know where to start when writing a remembrance of Les Block, a multifaceted musician,...
There’s always at least one doctor in the house
By DORIS RUBENSTEIN Unique. Or at least unique to Minnesota: That’s Daniel Volovets. Can you think of anyone else around...
Music’s power to heal
By MORDECAI SPECKTOR When the AJW contacted pianist Emmet Cohen on a Friday afternoon in late April, he was visiting...
Sharon’s got a brand-new bag
By MORDECAI SPECKTOR Among the many great musicians to come out of the Twin Cities in recent decades, few are...
Bill Charlap Trio draws on a vast repertoire
By MORDECAI SPECKTOR The piano trio is a venerated configuration in the world of jazz. Jazz pianists have told me...
Anat Cohen’s little quartet with a big, lovely sound
By MORDECAI SPECKTOR I last saw Anat Cohen five years ago, at breakfast in a Decorah, Iowa, motel. The Anat...
A musician’s musician
By MORDECAI SPECKTOR Apparently, I conducted a phone interview with musician David Bromberg on March 11, 2020. I barely recall...
Direct from Los Angeles, Cantor Ben Tisser
By DORIS RUBENSTEIN Ben Tisser, the new cantor at Beth El Synagogue, knew from a very early age that the...
Accordion virtuoso Mark Stillman’s long and winding road
By DORIS RUBENSTEIN The accordion may be the Rodney Dangerfield of the musical instrument world – it gets no respect...
Black and Jewish Americans unite to talk about fighting antisemitism and all that jazz
By LARRY LUXNER In the late 1930s, Jewish clarinetist and jazz bandleader Benny Goodman, known as the King of Swing,...
