When a lanky, unpretentious, incredibly gifted, twenty-three-year-old Texan took Moscow by musical storm in 1958, it launched a sensational career that began at the age of thirteen and was to span over four decades. At the height of the Cold War, this friendly, open-hearted pianist enchanted the hearts of Americans and Russians alike with his playing that was more about -personal communications than exhibitionistic virtuosity.- Winning the Soviet-sponsored Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition immediately thrust Van Cliburn into political as well as artistic pressures, attention,...

A swing note is, to the listener of the rhythm, an unexpected note, and it is the spark of life in jazz and its relatives. Whether playing the standards or the most experimental piece, it is how a musician handles these notes fearlessly or safely that determines the fate of the performance. Howard Reich s critical writing is similarly unexpected and fearless, and "Let Freedom Swing "is a collection of the articles from the past three decades that best capture this spirit.

Each section of "Let Freedom Swing "composes a suite, focusing on either a person, place, or scene. Reich gives new...

Until February 15, 2001, Howard Reich's mother, Sonia, had managed to keep almost everything about her experience of the Holocaust from her son. That night, she packed some clothes and fled her house in Skokie, Illinois, convinced that someone was trying to kill her. This was the first indication that she was suffering from late-onset post traumatic stress disorder, a little-known condition that can emerge decades after the initial trauma. For Howard, it was also the opening of a window onto his mother's past.

In Prisoner of Her Past, Howard Reich has written a moving memoir...