John Murph
John Murph writes about music and culture and works as a web producer for BETJazz.com. He also contributes regularly to The Washington Post Express, JazzTimes, Down Beat, and JazzWise magazines.
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Iyer and his trio masterfully articulate a complex composition's exuberant, zigzagging melody.
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"Something's Got to Give" captures real-life desperation, for desperate real-life times.
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"Country Girl" is a 21st-century musical portrait of black America's Southern comfort.
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"Cornettology" slyly alludes to several of Coleman's compositions without quoting them outright.
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"Mystical Magic" showcases Madlib's soulful evocation of sunlight piercing through clouds.
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Bypassing histrionics, McFarlane takes a suspenseful route in "More Than Mine (Alternate Take)."
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In a cover of Sly Stone's "Family Affair," Bernstein's gripping arrangement deftly underscores Antony Hegarty's haunting croon.
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The jazz crooner examines the horror of Japan's recent tsunami by studying it from eye level.
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In "The Riddle," Becca Stevens speaks a universal language: that of a tormented soul pining for an unrequited love.
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In "God Specializes," Wright steers clear of sounding "old-school," and she doesn't gussy up the song with melismatic mayhem, either. Instead, she invigorates the song with timeless fervor by channeling her pedigree in Hahira, Ga., where she grew up in a strict home with parents who were both ministers.