Contributors' Corner - Feature Stories
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An All Star Jam Comes To Houston
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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...
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Concert Review by Sheldon T. Nunn
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Youman Wilder Brings Down House In NYC.
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Youman Wilder and Weird Stories returned to the Village Land Mark music club Kenny's Castaways for what was a home coming and an Industry showcase for the Music Insiders of New York.
The Band which has seemed to perform mostly at high end Jazz Festivals in Europe and Canada was back on it's home turf here in New York.
With a...
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Concert Review by Karen Gullet-Dupree
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Monterey Jazz Festival Honors All-Time Greats
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There they were, on stage Sunday night at the 49th annual Monterey Jazz Festival, three all-time great jazz pianists–Oscar Peterson, Dave Brubeck and Hank Jones–being honored before a sell-out crowd.
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...
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Concert Review by Larry Taylor
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Guitars and Saxes Show
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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...
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Concert Review by Mike Shea
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Roxanne Potvin - Canada's Next Diva
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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...
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Concert Review by Joe Montague
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Cosmic Elegance
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Charlie Haden Quartet West
Live at the River Run Centre, Guelph, On. Aug. 31, 2006
Defying time or labels with a compassionate and sensitive ear on this world while visiting a world that should be, Haden and friends guided the audience at the River Run Centre on a cosmic journey of peace and harmony.
Quartet West, comprised of Allan Broadbent (piano),...
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Concert Review by Paul J. Youngman
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Time to Get Funky in Long Beach
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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...
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Concert Review by Edward Kane
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Ronnie Hawkins & The Hawks
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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...
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Concert Review by Joe Curtis
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The Fabulous Jo Thompson @ The Lincoln Center
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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,...
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Concert Review by Wesley Beeks
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The Three Tenors (Saxes) at The Southside Shuffle
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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...
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Concert Review by Joe Curtis
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The HIJF Has Stood The Test of Time
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The Houston International Jazz Festival stands as one of the finest events of its kind in the United States and beyond. Celebrating 16 years of excellence, the Festival has presented jazz entertainment in varying styles that has included Latin, traditional, contemporary and influences from the far-flung corners of the globe. During the Festival’s existence, artists from Sweden, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa,...
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Concert Review by Sheldon T. Nunn
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Giving Sound to Silence
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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...
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Concert Review by Lyn Horton
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Chris Botti: An Evening At Davies Symphony Hall
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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...
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Concert Review by Katrina-Kasey Wheeler
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Spyro Gyra, David Longoria, Marc Antoine.
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In 2002 Bradley Quick created The Cool Change Foundation a non-profit foundation to carry the message of positive change, recovery, motivation, and life enhancement to a broad demographic that might not otherwise receive it. Bradley Quick’s Los Angeles based radio show, Help Your Self, airs weekly on KRLA 870 AM, which often features various celebrity guests, authors, and specialists.
On...
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Concert Review by Katrina-Kasey Wheeler
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James Brown & The Soul Generals
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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...
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Concert Review by Joe Curtis
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Buddy Guy at Massey Hall
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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...
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Concert Review by Joe Curtis
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The Beaches International Jazz Festival
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The David Virelles Quintet Live at The Beaches International Jazz Festival
Fresh off a very successful Canadian tour the band performed an early morning show, 11:30 A.M thus kicking off the 18th annual Beaches International Jazz Festival. I was invited to see the band, report on the show and follow up with a post show interview.
Classically trained Virelles studied piano...
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Concert Review by Paul J. Youngman
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The Rippingtons Celebrate 20 Years As A Collective
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Whenever
The Rippingtons come to Houston, Texas for a concert, the welcome mat is
always open for one of smooth jazz’s most prolific groups. In conjunction
with the release of their latest CD/DVD entitled ‘The Rippingtons
20th Anniversary,’ (Peak Records) the group has embarked upon an
August/September multi-city tour of the United States. The City of
Houston is but one of the many pit stops along the...
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Concert Review by Sheldon T. Nunn
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Clef Notes
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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...
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Viewpoint by Karl Stober
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Clef Notes
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Buck Hill - Relax (2006 Severn Records)
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...
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Viewpoint by Karl Stober
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SOLOMON BURKE DAZZLES TORONTO WITH CHARISMATIC PERFORMANCE
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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,...
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Concert Review by Gary Tate
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At Last
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“At Last” Etta James – The Hummingbird Centre – June 27 - Toronto Jazz Festival - Day 5
The show was sold out, The Hummingbird Centre seats 3200 people, as Ross Porter (Jazz.Fm Radio CEO) mentioned at the start of the show, “At last the Toronto Jazz Festival has arrived; they’re scalping tickets in front of the theatre.”
The Roots...
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Concert Review by Paul J. Youngman
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Charles Lloyd and Sangam at the JVC Festival
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As part of the JVC Jazz Festival, Charles Lloyd brought his new project Sangam to Zankel Hall June 22nd for their first New York performance. Judging from the ovation that erupted at the end of the group's stream-of-consciousness performance, Lloyd is once again exhibiting his knack of making abstract music accessible. In this case, he combines his various horns...
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Concert Review by Peter Westbrook
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Enlightenment
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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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Concert Review by Paul J. Youngman
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Senegalese Songbird Baaba Maal Shines at SFJazz Festival
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Wearing purple flowing robes, Baaba Maal takes the stage at the Masonic Auditorium in San Francisco. Seated, he sings while accompanying himself on his six-string acoustic guitar. To his right sits his longtime accompanist and backup singer blind griot Mansour Seck, who — with his shaved head and orange flowing gown — resembles an elderly monk. Another backup singer,...
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Concert Review by Harry S. Pariser
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