Reviewing smooth jazz related activities is not a very easy endeavor to embark upon; in fact and in all actuality, providing an unbiased perspective on these opportunities often generates a myriad of emotions. On one end of the spectrum I am torn between my ambivalence for smooth jazz radio and my loyalty to jazz as an indigenous American art...

With a...

Besides celebrating established jazz giants, the three-day festival presented some of the world’s best young musicians, playing mainstream as well as smooth, blues and cutting-edge jazz in four venues...

Jeff Golub became my favorite guitarist after I noticed his Dangerous Curves CD at the local library. I liked the cover picture, so I checked out the CD and took a listen. I loved Golub’s bluesy phrasing and immediately purchased several of his other CDs. So, when I heard he was coming to Sacramento as a member of the...

I came out to hear a singer billed as a mix of blues, roots and country music. I must admit, as I looked around the cool funky blues venue, Red Onion in Calgary Alberta Canada, that my attention was starting to wander by the end of the second song. Roxanne Potvin's opening number "Home In Your Heart" at its...

Quartet West, comprised of Allan Broadbent (piano),...

The Long Beach Jazz Festival, always a highlight of Southern California's summer music calendar, convened for the 19th time over the weekend of August 18th.  For three days, the ocean adjacent Rainbow Lagoon park was taken over by thousands of jazz fans who were treated to a diverse line up of artists.  While the festival is mainly on smooth jazz...

Arkansas rockabilly legend, Rompin' Ronnie Hawkins, rocked Toronto's Massey Hall to its 110-year old rafters, Sat. Dec. 17, 2005. The Hawk's been a fixture on the rock 'n' roll scene in Canada, ever since he arrived here from Arkansas in 1959 with drummer Levon Helm ( then-called Levon & The Hawks), who later became The Band of Last Waltz...

In her Lincoln Center debut, Jo Thompson smashed the piano keys with ferocious momentum, creating new sounds glittering against the midsummer night. With feline grace, her gossamer voice soared on melodic chords bewitching the audience into nirvana. This lady had more than enough electricity to light the entire north eastern coast for years! Hard to believe this woman, musician, composer,...

Chuck Jackson’s Southside Shuffle blues festival is a much-anticipated and appreciated annual blues event. It rolls around like clockwork the first Thursday through Sunday every September. This is why it’s always easy to remember when it’s happening.

This consistency is also true with the high standards in blues and jazz excellence that this exciting annual blues fest offers the audiences...

Innocence and wonder allow creativity to flow endlessly, without inhibition. Bill Frisell knows and practices innocence in everything he does. He continually changes his sound in relation to the context in which he places himself. What the listener will hear is always Frisell though, abstractions, melodies, and all. Frisell takes away all preconceptions about his task of making music...

I remember it all as though it were yesterday, the first time I heard Chris Botti's music. It was a typical sunny Bel Air afternoon in October of 2000. It was my freshman year in college and I was studying for my first set of midterms. I went to my laptop computer, and noticed that I had just received...

On...

James Brown, performed to a sold out show at Toronto's Massey Hall on the night of Monday, November 29, 2004. If you've never encountered the man who gave 'soul' its name ... its definition ... raising it to a musical art form -- then you're in for a treat! True musical expression from heart, to ears to soul -- that's what the James...

Buddy Guy is truly a blues legend. His Chicago nightclub, Buddy Guy's Legends is legendary for the fine talent that's performed there. Mr. Guy was recently inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 14, 2005. Congratulations to Buddy behalf of all his blues fans worldwide for this recent and well-deserved honor bestowed upon him.

A little...

Classically trained Virelles studied piano...

Ann Hampton Callaway – Blues In The Night (2006 Telarc) Your emotions will fall from your eyes when the first spin takes off into your heart from the vocals of Ann Hampton Callaway and her Blues in the Night. Excellence in the “blues feel” is as simple as I can script it. With a tearful sax in the background...

Tenor sax aficionado Buck Hill extracts the classic tunes of Miles Davis, Charlie Parker along with himself to fashion a spin worth any collection. Distinct reverberations such as the Ozment organ thrusting out mystic grooves offers to the listener added adventures presented on this disc. The project is a very respectful example of...

Solomon Burke’s arrival at Toronto’s Massey Hall after a 15-year hiatus was greeted with a burst of applause seldom heard around these parts. It signaled the beginning of festivities that would shake the venerable concert hall to its foundation. I’ve never witnessed as warm and as embracing a welcome as the one afforded the King Of Rock And Soul,...

The Roots...

McCoy Tyner was announced, the crowd stood and applauded, a heroes welcome. Many in the audience worship the keys that Tyner dances upon. Bassist, Charnett Moffett, many including myself, worship the keys he plays in and drummer Eric Kamdu Gravatt took to the stage. Tyner was not with them, regroup, locate McCoy Tyner and take two. The audience breathed...

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