To another place Somi’s new album, “If the Rains Come First,’’ glistens with the sheen of an almost impossibly perfect cosmopolitanism, but that shouldn’t be held against her. (Page N4, 781 words)By: Siddhartha Mitter|Date: Nov 15, 2009

New stars in the Southeast According to a story that still circulates in India’s celebrity press, when Kailash Kher first arrived in Mumbai in 2001, he was so poor and bereft of connections that he had to live for a while on the platform of a suburban railway station. (Page N6, 835 words)By: Siddhartha Mitter|Date: Nov 8, 2009

This Jazzwoman speaks softly, but she carries a big repertoire NEW YORK - How refreshing. One of the biggest new voices in song is not, in fact, a big voice at all. (Page N1, 782 words)By: Siddhartha Mitter|Date: Oct 11, 2009

He’s the keeper of the beat Where to begin? The early days in Chicago, between blues, bebop, and the mid-’60s avant-garde? The time in Charles Lloyd’s band, or the years with Miles Davis when the master went electric with “Bitches Brew’’? The four-decade friendship with Keith Jarrett and the subtle intimacy of their jazz standards trio? The Indian-infused work with Alice Coltrane, the jazz-rock with Vernon ... (Page N7, 831 words)By: Siddhartha Mitter|Date: Oct 4, 2009

The band Indian Ocean will not take offense if you call its music “fusion.’’ For one thing, the Delhi-based foursome is too laid-back to worry much about labels. And it’s true that at first glance Indian Ocean’s approach summons up echoes of Orientalist jazz-rock projects from the ’70s, with their setup of guitar, bass, and drum kit plus tablas, and ... (Page G30, 777 words)By: Siddhartha Mitter|Date: Oct 2, 2009

Toasting its unique niche When it comes to launching jazz musicians into the big leagues, Boston schools have long been a key feeder. The well-known behemoth is the Berklee College of Music, but it was the New England Conservatory that launched the nation’s first jazz degree program, 40 years ago. This fall NEC celebrates that anniversary with a rich menu of events that highlight ... (Page N19, 680 words)By: Siddhartha Mitter|Date: Sep 13, 2009

AHMAD JAMAL If you’ve never seen Jamal, do it now. Active since the bebop heyday, the renowned pianist, now 79, represents a rare and precious living connection to the broad sweep of jazz history. His percussive approach, evolved in parallel with Thelonious Monk’s, was nothing short of revolutionary, and his work today - a new solo album is forthcoming - ... (Page N19, 641 words)By: Siddhartha Mitter|Date: Sep 13, 2009

Free to play all of who they are For years they’ve feigned split personalities, building their name and platform in jazz with straight-ahead trios or quartets, while nurturing their generation’s funk roots and mash-up aesthetic through side projects or hip-hop moonlighting gigs. (Page N2, 1151 words)By: Siddhartha Mitter|Date: Aug 23, 2009

Pushing boundaries Maria Concepcion Balboa Buika belongs to a wave of Spanish singers breathing fresh life into classic styles - flamenco, of course, but also the ballad form called copla, and regional folk songs. But Buika, 37, brings a background that sets her apart. Born to political refugees from the former Spanish colony Equatorial Guinea, she was raised with jazz and African ... (Page G3, 526 words)By: Siddhartha Mitter|Date: Aug 18, 2009

From pioneer to ambassador It’s a signal achievement in world music to go global - to achieve recognition and a fan following that fills arenas and festival fields in countries far and wide. But sometimes you don’t have to. Sometimes, the respect you garner at home affords you all the gigs you need, plus creative inspiration and business opportunities. (Page N2, 935 words)By: Siddhartha Mitter|Date: Jul 12, 2009

If nothing else, history will retain that André-Marie Tala sued James Brown for plagiarism - and won. (Page G31, 894 words)By: Siddhartha Mitter|Date: Jun 26, 2009

Long-term relationship plays well NEW YORK - It's a cold, drizzly spring afternoon in Times Square, but in the hotel suite overlooking the dull hurry of tourists and umbrellas, Pat Metheny looks as if he's just stepped in out of the blazing sunshine, in shorts and a T-shirt, tousled hair crawling out from under a baseball cap. (Page N5, 1210 words)By: Siddhartha Mitter|Date: Jun 14, 2009

Rapping on the door of opportunity "I've always had a double identity," says Edward Mokolo, who raps, sings, and produces under the name Kaysha. (Page N2, 687 words)By: Siddhartha Mitter|Date: May 31, 2009

A 'fresh wave' of sound BROOKLYN - The elephant lumbered out of the forest and straight into the lobby of a luxury hotel. At the bar, an elegant woman, martini in hand, gasped, while the pachyderm, oblivious, settled down to feast on a mango. Absurd, amusing, and gently intimating some kind of ecological moral to the story, this scene - based on a photo spotted ... (Page N5, 678 words)By: Siddhartha Mitter|Date: May 17, 2009

Kuduro shakes things up on the dance floor So you've grooved to house, tranced to techno. You've shaken to ghetto-tech, Baltimore club, and Miami booty bass. Perhaps you've undulated to Brazilian baile-funk or hard-charged the floor to London grime or dubstep. In the process you may have noticed dance music getting faster - and its geographical origins blurring in the riot of samples, loops, polyglot vocals, and cascading ... (Page G16, 690 words)By: Siddhartha Mitter|Date: May 1, 2009

The band's name is Balkan Beat Box. Its core membership is three Israelis who found their voice in New York subcultures and whose sound encompasses Arabic rap, Moroccan gnawa, mariachi, and dub in an electronically infused cocktail. And when the band hits the Paradise Wednesday, it'll be fresh from Mexico City, where it has a huge outdoor gig this weekend ... (Page G30, 737 words)By: Siddhartha Mitter|Date: Mar 27, 2009

Hip-hop flashback Black Moon, Digable Planets, KRS-ONE, X-Clan. Looking at upcoming hip-hop shows in Boston might make you feel transported in time, as act upon act from the genre's golden age resurfaces from obscurity and hits the touring trail. (Page G14, 957 words)By: Siddhartha Mitter|Date: Mar 13, 2009

Patience. Perseverance. Acceptance. They're among the cardinal values of soul music, black America's soundtrack of struggle and faith and economic striving. And they suffuse not just the latest album, but the whole career of Lalah Hathaway, one of soul's most elegant and gifted exponents today. (Page G14, 717 words)By: Siddhartha Mitter|Date: Nov 7, 2008

NEW YORK - "If this isn't the best trio in the world," jazz pianist Keith Jarrett announced last Saturday night to a packed Carnegie Hall audience that was clearly already on board with his premise, "then I don't care what anyone wants me to eat - I'll eat it." (Page G32, 871 words)By: Siddhartha Mitter|Date: Oct 24, 2008

NEW YORK - They're called the Wee Trio, but there's nothing small about these three guys straight from the eclectic Brooklyn scene. Not their music, a free-spirited brew that works in Nirvana and Sufjan Stevens covers beside Thelonious Monk classics. And not their personality: From the Wee ones, who visit the Lily Pad tonight, emanates the goofy, endearing feel of ... (Page D14, 821 words)By: Siddhartha Mitter|Date: Oct 17, 2008

Saving an oud tradition NEW YORK - To enter the world of Simon Shaheen, the virtuoso musician and bandleader who has become Arabic music's most prominent ambassador and most active educator in the United States, simply consider his principal instrument, the oud. (Page F12, 951 words)By: Siddhartha Mitter|Date: Oct 10, 2008

On "Novas Bossas," the latest project from singer and composer Milton Nascimento, two legends of Brazilian - and by extension, global - popular music find their long-delayed confluence. (Page D8, 731 words)By: Siddhartha Mitter|Date: Oct 9, 2008

The notion of reviving an obscure linguistic tradition by means of six-part vocal polyphony might sound like an austere and dreary exercise. But one glance at the cover art of "Tant Deman," the recent album by the Marseille-based vocal group Lo Còr de la Plana, should be enough to dissipate that impression. (Page D15, 871 words)By: Siddhartha Mitter|Date: Oct 3, 2008

NEW YORK - They burned bright . . . and faded fast. Of the phenomenal MCs who lit up hip-hop in its late 1980s and early 1990s golden age, turning it from a regional novelty to the most influential arts movement of our time, few remain in the limelight. (Page D15, 1036 words)By: Siddhartha Mitter|Date: Sep 26, 2008

Their Trane keeps on rolling In January 2007, a tragic two-day stretch saw the passing of two immense and influential figures in jazz. First, Alice Coltrane - widow of John Coltrane and a major pianist and composer in her own right - died from liver cancer. The next day, tenor saxophonist Michael Brecker succumbed, at 57, to leukemia. (Page N2, 803 words)By: Siddhartha Mitter|Date: Sep 21, 2008