Contributors' Corner - Feature Stories
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Kirk Lightsey, Bobby Wellins, Alan Barnes
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The Southport Melodic Jazz Club's inaugural winter
weekend event will live long in the memories of those
lucky enough to be there.
Capping a fantastic three days of performances at
the English seaside resort's Royal Clifton Hotel was Detroit-born pianist
Kirk Lightsey, whose link up with UK tenor man Bobby
Wellins had jazz fans roaring their approval.
The Melodic Jazz Club has a knack of...
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Concert Review by Robert Doyle
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New Jazz in New Orleans...
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With a master’s degree in music earned at “The Manhattan School of Music,” and some top-notch recordings to her credit, Baum’s muse is heavily influenced by Stravinsky and Bartok. But there’s no doubt about it, Baum’s compositions are snuggly rooted within the modern jazz vernacular, while affording her soloists’ ample stretching room.
Trumpeter Ralph Alessi displayed...
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Concert Review by Glenn Astarita
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Lizz Wright's vocalese is an illuminating experience
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Lizz Wright currently stands as one of jazz's most profound new voices of the 21st century. Her debut release in 2003 entitled "Salt" on the Verve Record Label has received considerable acclaim and continues to surprise anyone within earshot of her sound. Her ability to captivate audiences with her gospel-oriented roots has shed new light on vocal jazz as...
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Concert Review by Sheldon T. Nunn
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Celebrating A Jazz Mass at Disney Hall
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Jazz is sometimes referred to as American classical music, African-American classical music or some similarly tortured formulation. Of course, jazz ‘is’none of these things; jazz is jazz, and that really ought to be good enough. The form is its own unique entity, positioned in a place somewhere between popular music and concert music that allows its practitioners...
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Concert Review by Edward Kane
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Hi, Hi, Blackbird
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Shelly Berg's new CD Blackbird hit the streets on January 25th; LA area jazz got a tasty preview of the Concord release a week early at a special show by the Shelly Berg Trio at Catalina Bar & Grill. The show naturally drew heavily from the disc, which the pianist and USC professor plugged relentlessly (and amusingly) during...
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Concert Review by Edward Kane
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Dave Valentin at Howard University
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Dave Valentin- flute; Dr. Saïs Kamalidiin - flute, alto flute, director; Shyesha Osler, Stacey Winningham, Maya Colemon - flute; Dr. Thomas Korth - piano; Prof. Gerard Kunkel - guitar; Hamilton Hayes - bass; Clyde Adams - drums; "Killer" Joe Falero, Ivan Navas - Latin percussion
Guest artists: Arch Thompson, Dr. Peter Westbrook, Dr. Ronald Ziegler - flutes;
Byron Vickers -...
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Concert Review by Peter Westbrook
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Jim Seeley / Arturo O'Farrill Quintet
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Celebrating the release of a fantastic new CD simply entitled the Jim Seeley/Arturo O’Farrill Quintet, this dynamic group took the stage at Cornelia Street Café Friday, January 7. Released on the Zoho label, the CD is highly recommended. The co-leader and trumpet player, Jim Seeley, wrote all of the compositions.
The thing about these tunes that...
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Concert Review by Bryan Zoran
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Greetings From Jazz Central
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The words "Education," "Association," and "Conference" seem unlikely to figure prominently in a sentence ending with the phrase "Fun and exciting," so I suppose it's a testament to the power of Jazz that I am able to write with conviction that, in addition to being very informative, the 32nd Annual Conference of the International Association for Jazz Education (IAJE)...
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Concert Review by Edward Kane
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DeJohnette Supergroup
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A force of nature, Jack DeJohnette is one of the elite drummers of the modern jazz era. An opportunity to see and hear him should not be missed. That point was brought home with an exclamation point on Thursday night at Birdland. Pouring his heart and soul into the performance, DeJohnette displayed incredible ferocity and intensity....
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Concert Review by Bryan Zoran
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2004 Rundown
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Mika Pohjola Scandinavian Yuletide Voices
Yuletide Voices
Finnish jazz pianist Mika Pohjola generally abides by a credo of excellence! As this lovely affair has become a pre and post holiday favorite here at the home-front. Backed by a tentet, including male and female vocalists, this inspirational and wondrously recorded album boasts heady arrangements and sparkling contrasts. There...
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Viewpoint by Glenn Astarita
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The Triumph of Tony Bennett
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It is often said that one of the hallmarks of the great artists is that they can make the difficult seem effortless, like a natural extension of themselves. On November 28, 2004, at the Frederick Rose Theatre at the Dizzie Gillespie Coca Cola Center in New York City, Tony Bennett illustrated this effortless yet captivating quality, entrancing his...
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Concert Review by Jennifer Scheer
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OH NO! Not another look back at 2004!
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In no particular bleedin’ order:
1) Claire Ritter, Greener Than Blue (Zoning) Chamber jazz full of gentle warmth and quick wit.
2) Lukas Ligeti, Mystery System (Tzadik) Contemporary notated composition (sometimes referred to as “classical”) integrating jazz, Martin Denny exotica, electronic and African music that’s both creative and eminently approachable.
3) Von Freeman, The Great Divide (Premonition) Hearty hard bop with some “out”/avant monkey-wrenches...
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Viewpoint by Mark Keresman
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Tumbling Through the Tone World
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In the last concert of the year’s Solos and Duos Series produced by the University of Massachusetts Fine Arts Center, two of the most celebrated creative music improvisors performed one set for about two hours. The duo: William Parker and Hamid Drake. Both musicians are known for their rhythm section acumen. This time, they acted as their own lead...
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Concert Review by Lyn Horton
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MEETING OF THE MASTERS: TYNER-CLARKE-COBHAM
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When three heavyweights of this magnitude join forces, sparks are bound to fly. The anticipation and excitement of seeing a trio of this caliber is what jazz lovers live for. And when the musicians deliver a set as spiritually and musically satisfying as this group did, our obsession with this art form is affirmed and justified. ...
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Concert Review by Bryan Zoran
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Rick Stone
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Rick Stone proves to be one of the most inventive jazz guitarists around. His virtuoso guitar technique has much to offer to the adventurous and serious jazz lover. Stone is a passionate, inspired and dedicated guitarist, leader, arranger, writer and composer. A great team of musicians; pianist Tardo Hammer, bassist Yosuke Inoue and drummer Matt Wilson backs him.
It...
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Viewpoint by Beatrice Richardson
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Nancy Kelly Quartet In Concert
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It has been said by this writer that the seductiveness of the female voice in song, courts the soul of any man who listens. It is the lure of the siren and the irresistible call of the muse, Euterpe....
The lure of Nancy Kelly lies in the rhythmical, harmonic and melodic ideas and concepts that flow forth from this...
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Concert Review by John Gilbert
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THANKFUL FOR THE BLUES!
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It was thanksgiving night at B.B. KINGS in Times Square. The winter wind was blistering cold outside, but Pinetop Perkins had the club steamin’ with the blues. I had the pleasure of meeting the 91-year old Mississippi bluesman before the show. He now lives in Texas and his blues is as strong and contagious as ever....
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Concert Review by Bryan Zoran
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Roy Haynes Quartet / Bob Dorough-Henry Grimes Duo / Russell Malone-Benny Green Duo
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A night of amazing music opened with Russell Malone and Benny Green taking center stage, a group typically headlining most shows. They are both incredible musicians and the rapport the have developed over the years is uncanny. They opened with a beautiful rendition of the Rodgers and Hart classic My Romance. This was followed by a...
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Concert Review by Bryan Zoran
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The Heart and Soul of an Icon.... Roberta Flack
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Soul Diva...Pop Diva...Diva-Goddess...When hearing these titles, one envisions a majestic woman with incredible prowess, beauty, and grace, a supernatural empress whose talent surpasses the highest achievement, a woman of the greatest distinction. Yet it is difficult to imagine that, in addition to her majestic splendor, this woman might also have the generosity, kindness, and compassion of the utmost...
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Concert Review by Jennifer Scheer
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Jazz Yatra 2004
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The Welcome return of Bombay’s veteran jazzman Braz Gonsalves heralded the European Jazz Yatra 04. Jason Jones from Chicago exhibited strong chops on the soprano kicking off with “Mr. PC”. Backed by an ebullient Tala Paral on piano, and tasteful William Fernandes on drums and the solid sheet anchor Bertie D’Silva on bass guitar,the quintet made...
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Concert Review by Ashwin Panemangalore (Guest Writer)
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Taking A Jazz Cruise on the Caribbean
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If you like jazz and you like to take a cruise, there is nothing better than taking the Jazz Party at Sea on Norwegian Cruise Line. My wife and I agreed, so we signed on the fourth annual party on the Norwegian Sun, which left Miami this October for a week's cruise of the Western Caribbean.
This fall's cruise honored...
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Viewpoint by Larry Taylor
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Look, Mickey! Disney Hall Hooked A Big One!
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The Ornette Coleman Quartet's one-night engagement at Disney Hall was one of the most eagerly anticipated events here in Los Angeles in recent memory; tickets were all but impossible to find. L.A. doesn't get enough of Ornette Coleman. Most towns could probably lay a similar claim, given the fact that Ornette scatters only a handful of dates...
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Concert Review by Edward Kane
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Nellie McKay lives up to her hype
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Singer-songwriter Nellie McKay revealed to a San Francisco audience that she has received her share of hate mail.
But don’t be alarmed, she said, continuing the story after performing several songs. Most of the messages came from people she knows.
That’s McKay – fearless and funny. It’s a combination that graces her thoroughly original music.
McKay is a piano playing, cursing, rapping,...
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Concert Review by Donna Kimura
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Sunday at the Tabard Inn
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Every Sunday evening, at the Tabard Inn in downtown Washington DC, bassist Victor Dvoskin provides one of the great bargains of the Washington DC jazz scene, an evening of free jazz. No, not three hours of avant-garde expression, three hours of fine jazz music with no cover and no minimum. For the price of a glass of wine or,...
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Concert Review by Peter Westbrook
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Freewheeling Frisell
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In a rare live performance, Bill Frisell & his Trio played to a standing room only audience, some of whom came from over 100 miles away, at the Iron Horse in Northampton, MA on November 17. When I attend concerts where the featured player is of the caliber of Frisell, I do it for the...
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Concert Review by Lyn Horton
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