The North Sea Jazz Festival (NSJF) in The Hague, Netherlands is the largest indoor jazz festival in the world. Within these walls, where Miles, Mingus, Blakey, Dizzy, Duke and Ella all performed, North Sea's 25-year history is a celebration of a century of great jazz performances. More importantly, North Sea breathes new life into jazz, not only presenting the old and trusted, but the avant garde as well. It is this spirit that keeps jazz alive and moving. The most amazing thing is the realizati

Jimmy Smith and his quartet offered a rousing wrap-up Sunday night to their week-long stint at Catalina’s. The Jimmy Smith Quartet has the supreme confidence of musicians who’ve been playing for 40-plus years. These guys don’t have to practice anymore -- they know their instruments so well that they can just play. Unfortunately, the audience didn’t get to hear much of Jimmy Smith’s renowned organ playing, as he spent most of his time wisecracking and left the solos (except a few five-second t

The members of Oregon may be getting older and balder, but this band’s music is still as fresh as it was 30 years ago. The four musicians (three of them original members) have an obvious joy for their unique jazz style, and they continually develop new sounds. This week, May 9-14, Oregon played at the Jazz Bakery in Culver City. It’s inevitable that Oregon be compared with easy-listening jazz, due to the instrumentation (heavy on the soprano sax) and the optimistic, relaxed sensibility of the

The Plas Johnson trio played May 27th and 28th at the Jazz Spot in Los Feliz, with special guest Herman Riley joining in on Saturday night. Johnson and Riley dueled on their tenor saxes with a range of blues and jazz standards. The audience enjoyed the old-time blues sax sound with the organ shivering underneath it, and clapped and called out, "take it, Plas!" and "tell me 'bout it!" Riley complements Johnson nicely; he knows how to play just behind the beat to make it really swing. This subt

Bill Watrous brought his trombone and his quartet Shelly Berg (piano), John Leitham (bass), and Randy Drake (drums) to the Jazz Spot April 21st and 22nd for a wonderfully varied, virtuosic performance. Standards such as "You Don’t Know What Love Is" led into originals such as "El Cajon," a spoof on Johnny Mandel’s tribute to Al Cohn. The quartet served up both "Girl From Ipanema" and "Close Enough for Love" in a uniquely happy double-time. In slower ballads, Watrous reveled in a mellifluous l