On Friday, November 6th the popular smooth jazz group Down To The Bone came to Milwaukee. This was their second stop on their U.S. tour. Their first concert was in Chicago the night before. The beautiful Astor Street, was a perfect venue for this high class act. The blazing lobby fireplace took the chill from the fall air and led the way to a warm evening of listening and dancing pleasure. Most of the music played was from their very popular album, From Manhattan to Staten, which has been rec

Jazz purists say none can compare to the legendary jazz performers like Charlie Parker, Stan Getz, Chet Baker or Miles Davis. They were musicians who lived and breathed the art form, but one must admit, jazz exists through musicians who performed it in the past and those who perform it now. Transcending the new breed of jazz musicians, some stand apart from the jazz-based music that today might be labeled "smooth jazz" which is anything but jazz in its purist form. One such artist is jazz trumpe

On December 30th I went to catch the performance by Richard Elliot and his band at The Rave, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I've seen Richard perform live many times since the late eighties in many different venues, including several times in the Avalon Ballroom in Catalina. He's always great and I thoroughly enjoy his performances, but this time he was perhaps the most outstanding of all. The energy which Richard brings to the stage makes me wonder about the term "smooth jazz". It certainly doesn'

The best recordings of Duke Ellington's music can be listened to again and again, because his works are not decorations of a familiar shape but a new arrangements of shapes. Ellington, in fact, is an authentic composer, the first jazz composer of distinction and the first black composer of distinction. His work apart from a few minor details is not left to caprice the ear of the instrumentalist; it is written out in full score. Though in the course of time variants may creep in, th

The Sugar Village Jazz Club, Meldert, Hoegaarden, Belgium outdid themselves in presenting another terrific jazz performance. Belgium's best kept secret, The Sugar Village Jazz Club has provided twelve years of some of the best known jazz artists for the Province Vlaams Brabant. Only three-to-four performances are held throughout the year; so jazz connoisseurs keep close watch for upcoming events as they are always outstanding. The atmosphere is warm and friendly and there isn't a bad seat in