Contributors' Corner - Feature Stories
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Paquito Brings Havana to Bethesda
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Like many orchestras, the Baltimore Symphony has learned that interesting programming is one of the keys to survival. To build a successful season the orchestra seeks to intersperse the staple repertoire of Handel, Beethoven and Mendelssohn with more exotic offerings, this year including works by Chinese composer Tan Dun, a Halloween tribute to Frankenstein by HK Gruber, a concert...
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Concert Review by Peter Westbrook
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Winard Harper Sextet
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Drummer extraordinaire Winard Harper led his jazz band the Winard Harper Sextet through two hours of great music, that featured standards and original compositions—and that was just the first set. Playing before an appreciative audience at West Broadway’s The Jazz Cellar in Vancouver, the sextet was nothing short of marvelous, and after each solo performance, the patrons applauded them....
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Concert Review by Joe Montague
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Christina and Carsten Dahl
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Denmark’s Christina and Carsten Dahl make sweet music together—in more than one way, for the couple are a dynamic jazz duo, and they are also husband and wife. Denmark’s first couple of jazz possesses a love for one another that is evident on stage, yet it does not come across as syrupy. Their respect for one another as musicians...
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Concert Review by Joe Montague
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Jeanette Lindstrom
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Swedish jazz diva Jeanette Lindstrom opened her first set at the Vancouver
East Cultural Centre on the evening of August 10, with “Always,” an R&B
flavored tune, that served up reminders of Taylor Dane’s song “I’ll Always Love
You.” Guitarist Peter Nylander, who heads up the Jazz Guitar Department at the
Royal Conservatory in Stockholm, Sweden, wove his magic...
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Concert Review by Joe Montague
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Huntsville Festival of the Arts
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The northern jazz scene is alive and well, Molly Johnson performs to a near capacity audience, as witnessed by me while on holiday in cottage country this past week. Having missed Molly Johnson's recent performance in Toronto, this seemed like the perfect opportunity to check out her performance in support of her new CD, Messin' Around.
Another good reason...
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Concert Review by Paul J. Youngman
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Amanda Tosoff
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I learned a new definition for breathless on August 5th. Breathless, at least in my vocabulary can now be defined as twenty-three year old Vancouver jazz pianist Amanda Tosoff who performed at The Cellar Restaurant and Jazz Club on West Broadway in Vancouver, Canada. Tosoff played to a standing room only crowd, who responded throughout the evening with spontaneous...
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Concert Review by Joe Montague
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David Gogo
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Canadian blues rocker David Gogo opened his set at Vancouver’s Yale Hotel on Granville Street with his massive hit “Skeleton Key,” which found a home on the airwaves and in the hearts of numerous blues fans in the United States and Canada. His fans certainly cannot complain about getting their money’s worth as Gogo is one of the hardest...
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Concert Review by Joe Montague
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Joyce Cooling - Hartford Jazz Festival
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I’m in love with Joyce Cooling. I can’t remember when it happened. Maybe it happened when I heard “No More Blues” for the first time. Maybe it happened after the 10th time. Perhaps it was after hearing “South of Market,” or “Mm-Mm-Good,” or “After Hours,” or “Talk” or, maybe just like a real love affair, you don’t really know...
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Concert Review by Ed Tankus
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Bradley Leighton - Hartford Jazz Festival
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Whoever thought to bring together a perfect summer day, an imposing Victorian structure with its shiny gold dome together at one of America’s oldest city parks, and contemporary jazz is a genius. The Hartford Jazz Festival (http://www.hartfordjazz.com) had its roots in the Monday night jazz concerts at historic Bushnell Park (http://www.bushnellpark.org) started by local bass legend Paul Brown. The...
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Concert Review by Ed Tankus
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Larra Skye
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Toronto jazz singer Larra Skye one of the few independent artists to strike a national distribution deal (HMV), performed two outstanding sets at The Cellar Restaurant and Jazz Club in Vancouver Canada on July 28. She was backed by an ensemble consisting of Brad Turner (keys), Jon Bentley (tenor saxophone), Darren Radtke (upright acoustic bass) and drummer Bernie Arai....
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Concert Review by Joe Montague
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Watermelon Slim
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Thirty-four years ago a Vietnam war veteran by the name of Bill Homans lay in an army hospital bed and taught himself how to play upside-down slide guitar using a triangle pick cut from a rusty coffee can top and used an army issued Zippo lighter as the slide. On Tuesday July 24th at Vancouver Canada’s Yale Hotel, a...
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Concert Review by Joe Montague
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Mela - A Maelstrom Of Energy
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Mela as he likes to be known took to the Pure Spirits Stage and at once became at one with the spirits of the Historic Distillery District. He explained to the audience that he had a new album and he would be playing most of the songs from the album, he said, “I would like to tell you what...
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Concert Review by Paul J. Youngman
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Vision Festival XII Held in New York
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For the twelfth consecutive year, Arts for Art has presented Vision Festival in New York City. The event, which, according to the organizers, celebrated, "A Dozen Years Of Visionary Music, Dance, Spoken Word, Film And Visual Arts," was held from June 19th to June 24th, once again at the Angel Orensanz Foundation on Manhattan's Lower East Side. This year's...
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Concert Review by Dr. Saïs Kamalidiin
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Music Legend Continues His Legacy
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At ninety-two years of age, Les Paul continues to play to a packed house every Monday night at the Iridium in New York City. Locals and tourists line up on Broadway to a get a glimpse of the Wizard from Waukesha. A Wisconsin native myself, I am particularly proud of his many accomplishments. His impact on the history and...
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Concert Review by Bryan Zoran
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New Orleans Fire with Donald Harrison and Dr. John
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On a Friday in mid-February, for about three hours, instead of the insufferable wind chills of, usually, 10 above zero, it was 90 degrees in Chicago. The heat was emanating from a performance at Navy Pier’s Grand Ballroom. The performance was labeled an evening of Mardi Gras music from New Orleans with Dr. John headlining and guest artist Donald...
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Concert Review by Rahsaan Clark Morris
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VISION FESTIVAL XII
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The 12th Annual Vision Festival took place from Tuesday, June 19 thru Sunday June 24th, 2007 and featured a smörgåsbord of the world’s greatest improvisers. As inspiring as it is unique, the festival showcases artists who have built their reputations courageously on their own terms. To celebrate all of these visionaries under one roof is a testament to the...
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Concert Review by Bryan Zoran
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Jason Moran Orchestra
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Despite being one of the 20th century’s premier pianists, “Thelonious Sphere Monk” remains unknown to most Americans. An outlandish but sadly apocryphal story brings this point home. Tabitha Soren interviewing Bill Clinton on MTV supposedly asked the presidential candidate who he had dreamed of playing saxophone with. “Thelonious Monk” Clinton replied. “Who is the ‘Loneliest Monk’?” a bewildered Tabitha...
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Concert Review by Harry S. Pariser
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Shari Chaskin and The Prime Time Big Band
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What a fabulous way to spend a Saturday afternoon, enjoying the music of the nineteen piece Prime Time Big Band and the luscious vocals of Shari Chaskin at the Ironwood Stage and Grill. Having interviewed Chaskin only two days before I thought it would be a good idea to catch her gig, never expecting that on a warm June...
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Concert Review by Joe Montague
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The Mix
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My first week back in a rainy Paris. The large old style windows in the bathroom are frosted a milky white. Below they look out onto the courtyard and above similar windows with their boxes of Geraniums drooping their heads in this heavy rain.
There is something hypnotic about how the lone light over the entrance to the courtyard...
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Viewpoint by Maxwell Chandler
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Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Festival Enjoys 12th Year
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Now in its twelfth year, the Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Festival continues to showcase some fine women musicians. The evening I caught this year--there were only tickets available for Thursday's performance--also brought into focus some issues that still plague jazz, however. One, ironically, is the continuing gender gap within the music. For the first of the three...
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Concert Review by Peter Westbrook
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Johnny Pennino, Bobby Lonero, Jimmy Cavallo & Pat Carey
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Three of the greatest entertainers on the live music scene today, are not necessarily household names, but their talent as artists is long-standing and much-appreciated by ‘those in the know’ in the music biz. Johnny Pennino is known as the Sax King of New Orleans, and rightly so! He is deservedly in the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame, and is one...
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Concert Review by Joe Curtis
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David Rotundo at Southside Johnny's
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It’s always a great pleasure to see blues harp (harmonica) great David Rotundo in concert. Rotundo’s type of blues is the real deal -- the healing blues that makes the real blues go away. Such was a recent warm June night at the beginning of the summer for this writer, and a cheering packed house at Southside Johnny’s .....
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Concert Review by Joe Curtis
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Gaslamp Jazz Festival
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Smooth jazz guitarist Norman Brown opened the act billed as Summer Storm at the 32nd annual The Harrah’s Rincon Smooth Jazz 98.1 Gaslamp Festival in San Diego, The one day festival held on May 26, featured numerous musicians and singers performing on two stages located in the city’s downtown core from mid afternoon until late evening. Brown was joined...
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Concert Review by Joe Montague
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Angelique Kidjo Live in San Francisco
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"I believe that any feeling of xenophobia and fear comes from ignorance. Often people think that when you are not like them, you are different and therefore you are a threat. It is not true. I think that the problem of xenophobia today is coming from the world economic crisis. Some people, for example, think that as foreigners we...
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Concert Review by Harry S. Pariser
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Jazz Flourishes Before it Fades at Smithsonian Jazz Café.
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It has been an odd few weeks at the Smithsonian Jazz Café. In spite of a succession of fine performances and packed houses, the management has suddenly decided that the venue is not profitable and announced that it may have to close, possibly as soon as September. It is a puzzling development.
The Café opened six years ago, somewhat...
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Concert Review by Peter Westbrook
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