Contributors' Corner - Feature Stories
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Bach in Brazil
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Listening to pianist Kenny Barron’s Classical Jazz Quarter Thursday night at Detroit’s Orchestra Hall, I wondered if he wanted the quartet to resemble the Modern Jazz Quartet, or if the resemblance was mere happenstance. The veteran pianist played a double bill. The first set with the CJQ, and the second with Canta Brasil.
The CJQ embodied the characteristics...
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Concert Review by Charles L. Latimer
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Susan Werner: The whole world is her after-hours club
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While the more cynical among us (like yours truly) might accuse singer/songwriter Susan Werner of “changing” her style to appeal to the jazz-is-hip-now crowd, the cabaret set or the (dwindling) retro swing scene…well, shucks, that’s just wrong. While Ms. Werner was in high school and college, she’d played and sung jazz before moving into the folk/singer-songwriter milieu in...
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Concert Review by Mark Keresman
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Cleaving the Air
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On Friday night, at Sweeney Concert Hall, at Smith College, the Trio of Peter Brötzmann on reeds and saxophones, William Parker on bass, stringed instruments and flutes, and Hamid Drake on trap set and frame drum, cut through the architectural formality of the hall and broadcast acoustically alive sets of highly focused improvisation.
Music is an abstraction until it...
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Concert Review by Lyn Horton
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Airto Moreira Back At Ronnie Scott’s
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How strange to listen to Moreira freestylin’ on a hip-hop beat, while being accompanied by his daughter Diana (whose tantalizing voice was revealed to the world with the album ‘Speed of Light’ back in 1995.)
While looking at times too much of a commercial exploit, the gig is great. It feels good to have Moreira back at Ronnie Scott’s, promoting...
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Concert Review by Lara Bellini
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Cool Clearwater: Live in Chicago
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Chicago’s Reservation Blues – conveniently located very near the holy trinity of Damen, North & Milwaukee – does not fit the stereotype of an old-style blues bar. The walls are red brick, with photographs and album covers hung with great care adorning the walls, and shucks, it wasn’t even that smoky (thank goodness). Of course, the pics...
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Concert Review by Mark Keresman
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Rivers' Trio
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You’re as young as you feel; just ask eighty-year-old Sam Rivers— truly one of the few icons of contemporary jazz still performing like nobody’s business. The Multi-instrumentalist jazz pianist, tenor/soprano saxophonist and flutist came to play. Energetic, lively and witty as Rivers performed wonderfully at the Jazz Bakery with great support from the others in the trio, bassist...
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Concert Review by Gloria Ellis
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The 3rd Annual Trinity Jazz Festival Proved Its Worth
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In a city where jazz is not necessarily one of the national past times, Houston manages to hold its own in spite of benign neglect, especially when it come to showcasing some outstanding jazz related events. Although they may be few in numbers, the concerts and festivals that highlight jazz are well-worth a view. One such event is the...
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Concert Review by Sheldon T. Nunn
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The Omni Central Provides Another Jazz Opportunity
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Whenever jazz connoisseurs come to Houston, Texas, they have to look long and hard for a venue that offers a well-rounded selection of quality entertainment. For the most part, the options are limited and versatility is often questionable at best. In a city having a population of 2 million-plus, jazz venues are a rare commodity; as such, when a...
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Concert Review by Sheldon T. Nunn
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Dave Douglas gives Chicago a special Valentine
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In these very (web)pages I’ve extolled the coolness of Chicago’s legendary jazz club the Green Mill, so I shan’t repeat myself. But this past V-Day in the Windy/Big-Shouldered City was indeed special, but not for the temporal pleasures/seizures of the holiday (feh), but rather because trumpeter/composer Dave Douglas has made a rare appearance here. [His first, maybe?...
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Concert Review by Mark Keresman
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Getting a Line on Dave
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It is seldom that a musician can captivate my ears to the point that I do not want to stop listening to the recordings I have of his music. This is true of pianist and composer, Dave Burrell. A while ago, I wrote about a his performance with his new Trio featuring William Parker and Andrew Cyrille. Now I...
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Viewpoint by Lyn Horton
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The Wright Interpretation
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Lizz Wright - Vocals
Nicholas Rolfe - Piano/Fender Rhodes
Carlos Henderson - Bass
Mark Collenberg - Drums
The lyrics are so essential to the song. They convey emotion and tells us a story from the singer's perspective. Extraordinarily gifted vocalist/songwriter Lizz Wright brings the lyrics to life. She brings them from her heart and conveys them through her rich contralto...
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Concert Review by James Knox
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Kicking off the year with a Klugh...
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There is nothing like starting off the year with good music and Earl Klugh delivered. I was overjoyed when I found out he was coming to town because I have been enjoying his music for a number of years. His smooth and mellow guitar could be heard on all the quiet storm/lights-out radio formats in the 80's....
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Concert Review by James Knox
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Flute Fête 2004
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Maya Colemon - flute, piccolo, Selamawit Abebe & Shyesha Osler - flute, Dr. Saïs Kamalidiin - director, arranger & flute. With Dr. Thomas Korth - piano, Prof. Gerard Kunkel - guitar, Hamilton Hayes - bass, McClenty Hunter - drums
Dr. Saïs Kamalidiin is the Professor of Flute at Howard University in Washington D.C., part of a program...
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Concert Review by Peter Westbrook
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David 'Fathead' Newman at Howard University
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Howard University, Washington D.C.
Flute Féte 2004
featuring David "Fathead" Newman, flute,
with
The Flutes of Howard University:
Maya Coleman - flute, piccolo, Selamawit Abebe & Shyesha Osler - flute, Dr. Sais Kamalidiin - director, arranger & flute. With Dr. Thomas Korth - piano, Prof. Gerard Kunkel - guitar, Hamilton Hayes - bass, McClenty Hunter - drums
Dr. Sais Kamalidiin runs a...
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Concert Review by Peter Westbrook
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An Afro-Semitic posse takes hold of Chicago - Tzitit good? YES!
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While some ethnocentric types go on about Jazz being “Black Music” and Anglocentric types maintain jazz is an American music (a good arguement, I'll admit), jazz is really a world music with its roots in the unique, (proudly) mongrelized contraption known as the USA. The clashes (sometimes literal) of cultures in the USA is where jazz sprang from,...
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Concert Review by Mark Keresman
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Rebirth Of Jazz In Ventura, CA
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In the 1980's Tony's Steak and Seafood was the weekend gig site for such jazz stalwarts as Billy Higgins, Leroy Vinnegar, Frank Butler and other luminaries.
Last night, January 16, 2004, jazz again made its debut at this venerable venue.
Under the musical directorship of Drew Salperto, who will be the house pianist and booking person, this promises to...
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Concert Review by John Gilbert
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Best of 2003
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2004 may already be a couple weeks old but it's not too late to run down some of the highlights of 2003. While it seems that playing the time honored game of "things ain't what they used to be" is a perfectly nice thing to do for some jazz fans and critics, the joke is on them if...
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Viewpoint by Edward Kane
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Framing the Gestures
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On the day after Christmas (how appropriate the date), David Arner gave a solo performance at the Performing Arts Center in Rhinebeck, NY.
The spry, tall, thin, angular pianist walked on stage, bowed, sat on the bench in front of a baby grand piano and looked at the keyboard in thought. One hand playing two notes later began the setting...
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Concert Review by Lyn Horton
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Hark! The scary angels swing, baby!
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Chicago’s Abbey Pub was host to a terrific hepcat Christmas Pageant. Though this is hardly your parents’ Christmas concert (unless your parents are/were Gomez and Morticia Addams), nobody in this packed house humbugged this show.
The evening was kicked off (literally) by the zany antics of the Legendary Shackshakers. When I reviewed their...
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Concert Review by Mark Keresman
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Getting in the Holiday Spirit with the Klezmer Conservatory Band
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There’s nothing quite like an evening of holiday music to get you into the spirit of the season and, if the musicians are as good as the Klezmer Conservatory Band and the setting as compelling as the breathtaking new Disney Hall in downtown Los Angeles, it doesn’t even matter if the holiday that the music belongs to—in this case...
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Concert Review by Edward Kane
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“Best Bets” for Christmas CD Listening
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Your CD rack is bulging with all those great jazz CDs, but tell me this . . . do you have a portion of your collection devoted to holiday albums? No, you say? Well why not? It’s common knowledge that most of the old jazz dudes and dudettes put out at least one Christmas album during...
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Viewpoint by Unknown User
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Herbie Mann Memorial
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The New York Jazz Flute Quartet, Dave Valentin Group, Trio Da Paz, Lew Tabackin, Paquito D'Rivera, Claudio Roditi and special guests.
This Monday evening at the Blue Note saw a gathering of musicians who came together to celebrate the life of flutist Herbie Mann who passed away July 1st after a lengthy battle with cancer. Mann had already been...
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Concert Review by Peter Westbrook
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Rocking the House for Christmas
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Peter White and Mindi Abair rocked St. Louis on December 4, 2003 at the Pageant. Kicking the evening off with a vibrant “O Tannenbaum,” White (guitar) and Abair (sax) blended together in festive layers. Before the evening was through, this pair would have concertgoers dancing in the aisles with pure holiday delight.
White had previously toured with Dave...
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Concert Review by Cheryl Hughey
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Peter White's Christmas Concert Made The Season Bright
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KHJZ 95.7 The Wave, the city's only commercial smooth jazz radio station sponsored "A Peter White Christmas" Friday night. As one of their major concert events of the year, KHJZ has continually brought quality shows to Houston's Verizon Wireless Theater. In bringing guitarist Peter White and Mindi Abair to the city, a merry night of Christmas cheer and jazz...
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Concert Review by Sheldon T. Nunn
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Peter White Christmas in Milwaukee
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Peter White has joined forces with sax player Mindi Abair to bring us
the
Peter White Christmas Tour. I drove two hours to catch this show and it was
worth every mile. With the combination of Peter's guitar and Mindi's
sensational saxophone this tour was able to bring the spirit of Christmas
without getting stuck on just...
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Concert Review by Jim Feagels
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