Contributors' Corner - Feature Stories
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Sharing the Joy
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Growing up, both of Holly Yarbrough’s parents were artists. This meant that she had an untraditional, nomadic youth. In lieu of the typical steady friendships, Holly developed a special relationship with music. It was a source of comfort and inspiration with different songs to soundtrack every mood and activity.
After an odyssey which found her singing classical arias and...
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Viewpoint by Maxwell Chandler
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Craig Chaquico Finds His Way Back To LV
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The crowd inside the Chrome Room at the Santa Fe Station Hotel & Casino was in for an extra special treat when gifted guitarist Craig Chaquico made an appearance and found his way back to his rock music roots. He blended some classic Jefferson Starship songs, that he had a hand in writing, alongside his more current guitar driven...
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Concert Review by Randall Parrish
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Noah Preminger
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Saxophonist-composer Noah Preminger makes his debut with his sextet’s release, Dry Bridge Road from Nowt Records. When many jazz musicians believe that modernizing jazz music means incorporating pop culture elements like hip hop, rap, urban, or ska, Preminger takes a look back at old school bop fashioned by the likes of Albert Ayler and Steve Lacy and injects it...
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Viewpoint by Susan Frances
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Darrell Katz
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Composer Darrell Katz is widely known for being the director of the Jazz Composers Alliance Orchestra (JCA), but his compositions go beyond contemporary big band bebop and swing jazz principles. His compositions have the heart and breathing apparatus associated with theatrical pieces, which relate to people’s daily lives in a surreal way. Katz’s latest offering with the JCA is...
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Viewpoint by Susan Frances
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Rising to Kloud 9 at the Birchmere
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Every now and again, one is presented with a timely event or experience that will remain etched in memory, easily accessible at any time. I had such an experience when I attended a concert at Alexandria, VA's Birchmere headlined by the legendary Maysa. Opening for Maysa were Kendall and Kelvis Duffie, aka Kloud 9, a sensational vocal duo I’d...
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Concert Review by Ronald Jackson
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Vittoria Jazz Festival – Music & Cerasuolo Wine
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Many jazz cats would surely remember of Francesco Cafiso, the young sax player that has been taken under Wynton Marsalis’ patronage: under this teenaged jazz player’s artistic direction, the 1st edition of the “Vittoria Jazz Festival - Music & Cerasuolo Wine” was held in Vittoria, a small center of Ragusa area, in Sicily, from May 31st to June 22nd....
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Concert Review by Antonio Terzo
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Mr. Personality
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Michael Kaeshammer seems to be on a mission, he is driven, charismatic, talented and determined. Blessed with boyish good looks, charm and oozing a vibrant personality he transfers this zest for life to his attentive audience. His performance is an attack on your senses, you have no choice but to like this guy. It helps that his piano playing...
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Concert Review by Paul J. Youngman
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Muskoka Magic Meets The Big Easy
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The Huntsville Jazz Festival now in its second year and with the backing of a major sponsor, TD Canada Trust, is booking international acts and big name Canadian talent. I am very happy that I came across this festival, it takes place in one of my favorite places and it features my kind of entertainment.
The lineup for the...
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Concert Review by Paul J. Youngman
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Rick Braun and Richard Elliot
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"Good music touches the Emotions and the Spirit in a way Nothing Else Can." ~ E.W. Ho
On a scorching hot July summer night, two of the most celebrated and distinguished performers in the smooth jazz genre made an exhilarating appearance. The high energy pairing materialized at the 512 seat Ovation Theatre located inside the lavish Green Valley Ranch Station...
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Concert Review by Randall Parrish
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Wynton Marsalis & the JLCO in Vancouver, Canada
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Let’s remember that the Jazz at the Lincoln Center Orchestra does for big
band jazz what the Preservation Hall Jazz Band does for Dixieland jazz:
preserves it. The difference is that the JLCO dusts off charts from a bygone
age, dresses them up in contemporary designer gear, and re-presents them. And
like all good jazz, to the keen listener,...
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Concert Review by Mike Cooke
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Alto’s, Shiny or Dull, Sing Brightly One For All
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Age, experience, the sage like qualities of a master musician all translated into a performance of perfection by octogenarian alto player Red Holloway. He set the bar very high for his younger summit attendees at this Toronto Jazz Fest Alto Summit. His younger alto saxophone band mates, Bobby Watson, Donald Harrison and Greg Osby, specialists each and everyone, have...
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Concert Review by Paul J. Youngman
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Duran & Sandoval, Together Again
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They came to see a Cuban Latin Jazz Master, the headliner of the concert and the magnetic draw for a packed house, the great trumpeter, multi-instrumentalist, Arturo Sandoval. What they got as added bonus was one of the most dynamic Latin Jazz trios on the planet. Opening for Maestro Sandoval was Toronto’s own, by way of Cuba, the Hilario...
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Concert Review by Paul J. Youngman
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Jazz Lives!
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The 22nd anniversary of the Toronto Jazz Festival was one for the record books with more venues, more musicians and more aspirations of becoming the very best North American jazz festival. There literally was something for everyone. That seems to be the theme for most festivals these days, but with 50 venues, 350 concerts and an estimated 1,500 performers...
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Concert Review by Paul J. Youngman
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Guitar and Saxes in Las Vegas
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The cozy confines of the Chrome Showroom located inside the Santa Fe Station Hotel and Casino provided the stage for a stop on the annual summer tour of jazz's premier performers they simply call "Guitars and Saxes". Smooth jazz fans in Las Vegas were treated to a musical feast of supreme sensory satisfaction and non-stop excitement as the lineup...
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Concert Review by Randall Parrish
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Luciana Souza Glows at Kennedy Center
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It is easy for a jazz writer to get jaded with the sheer quantity of music he/she is subjected to. Our only hope of salvation is the occasional performance that reaches rare levels of brilliance. So I was especially grateful to hear Luciana Souza and her quartet at the Kennedy Center in May.
Everything seemed to just fall perfectly...
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Concert Review by Peter Westbrook
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A Fitting Good Night
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The Art of Jazz Celebration is an amazing event. This year, the theme was about a Global Jazz Village and it lived up to the name in spirit, music, musicians and audience participation. The inaugural year, 2006, I considered this a spring jazz festival, and a great one at that. It was much more; it was enlightenment for many,...
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Concert Review by Paul J. Youngman
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Despite mishaps, Return To Forever thrill
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Return To Forever is more than a novelty act. It's four matured musicians together again after 25 years of development as instrumentalists, as bandleaders, as composers and as producers. It's not the original lineup, but instead the classic lineup that recorded three albums between 1974 and 1976.
Guitarist Al DiMeola was only 19 when he linked up with three...
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Concert Review by Michael Ferguson
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Brazilian Deity Graces T.O
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Starting out on electric piano Hermeto Pascoal the 2008 Art of Jazz Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, introduced his music to the audience in layers, as if pulling open the pages of a dynamic novel, the performance opened up to reveal more of the fascinating imagination of this spectacular master multi-instrumentalist performer. In the first song of the evening Pascoal...
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Concert Review by Paul J. Youngman
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Fire at the Boiler House
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The Boiler House is an upscale dining establishment in the Historic Distillery District, it is not a great jazz venue for a powerhouse jazz quartet, it’s better than being outside in the rain, but not by much. The room has a very good lay out for a dining establishment with nice private booths and a 2nd floor balcony for...
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Concert Review by Paul J. Youngman
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Jazz For The Spirit
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What a mix of spirit, a joy of life, the gift of humour and a soul that swings. That is Sheila Jordan and she performed an afternoon show that was a delight, with her a wonderful accompanist, Steve Kuhn who also took to the daylight for one incredible set of touching piano reminisces, that was emotionally charged.
The songs...
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Concert Review by Paul J. Youngman
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The Blues - Out of America
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Randy Weston and Billy Harper - Duo Series
Randy Weston took to the stage and seemed all about business, he announced the evening’s performance would be dedicated to the blues. He proceeded to hammer out powerful chords that resonated wildly in the dim and dark cavernous Fermenting Cellar of the Historic Distillery District. Billy Harper came on equally as...
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Concert Review by Paul J. Youngman
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Jazztrenzz's Clef Notes
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You Go to My Head – Janelle Monique (Zafe’Musik 2008)
Complex as it may be to exhume logic from the decision to spin classics when the creative mind of this young composer lays dormant, the fact is, Janelle Monique’s debut jewel-box works! Vocalist Janelle Monique’s You Go to My Head penetrates the world of the “diabolically seductive” vocalists of today’s...
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Viewpoint by Karl Stober
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Boney James Returns To Las Vegas
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"The communal experience of playing live - that's why I became a musician in the first place," "It's exciting and liberating. It never gets old for me." ~ Boney James
The soulful, seductively silky-smooth sax stylings of Boney James were on display Saturday May 3rd inside the sold-out, extremely intimate setting of the Railhead Showroom located in Las Vegas's Boulder...
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Concert Review by Randall Parrish
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This Anthology Tour Made A Return to Forever
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One of the most exciting concerts to have ever come to the Verizon Wireless Theater hit the stage with an incredible array of talent on Saturday night. The most enduring aspect of the event was the overall mystique surrounding the group who performed. After a 25-year hiatus, four of the finest musicians ever known mesmerized their audience as a...
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Concert Review by Sheldon T. Nunn
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The Hague Jazz Festival 2008
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Over the weekend of May 23 and 24, 2008. Over 22,000 people traveled from around Europe to attend the third Hague Jazz festival, held in the World Forum. This festival has replaced the world famous North Sea Jazz Festival, which has now moved onto Rotterdam. The Hague has been and always will be the number one for Jazz in...
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Concert Review by NEAL McCLIMON
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