Concert Reviews (851)
Nothing beats experiencing live jazz music as its being created right in front of you. Stop here for reviews of your favorite jazz artists live and in concert.
Most recently astronomers have discovered a new planet dubbed "55 Cancri e", the rocky world is twice the size of earth but has eight times its mass, thus classifying it as a "super earth." Whenever a new planet is discovered, astronomers and the media alike start a buzz of excitement to announce the discovery. Well, on September 26th at the South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center, there was a discovery in the music world of the magnitude of "55 Cancri e", it was the Robert Glasper Experiment. The 34-year old Blue Note recording artist, Robert Glasper has been on the jazz scene for many years and has been putting out hit after hit since his debut of "Mood" in 2003. On his 2012 release "Black Radio," Glasper takes his music to new heights of genre originality with tastes of hip/hop, fusion, electronica, R&B while all still centering around his unique personal jazz style. Glasper refuses to be pigeon holed into a single genre and in the process, takes the listener on a musical journey of epic proportion.
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Accomplished Pianist Vijay Iyer and His Trio Appear at Herbst Theater in San Francisco
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Legendary Jazz Pianist Keith Jarrett performs live at Zellerbach Hall at the University of California Berkeley
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Veteran Jazz Pianists Gives Another Virtuoso Performance
Many years ago, walking down the hall in a dormitory at Boston University, I heard the most amazing music coming from a turntable. The artist was John Coltrane, and the tune was "My Favorite Things."
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Nuance and breathing room was the order of the day for Enrico Rava's February ending performance at Buffalo's Albright-Knox Art Gallery. This was the last stop on a four-city, American tour and the audience fully understood just how auspicious the afternoon's concert was to be. The quintet hit the stage and with no fanfare, immediately set to work.
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Cleveland's famed Nighttown was a tour stop in late February for tenor saxophonist Danny McCaslin. The Wednesday evening crowd was plentiful and eager to hear the latest musical offering from this New York City stalwart.
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If you like Caribbean-infused Jazz, with lots of percussion, then you might want to check out The Pedrito Martinez Trio (Pedrito Martinez on percussion, Axel Tosca on piano, and Jhon Benites on bass.)
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The Chrome Showroom located inside the Santa Fe Station Hotel and Casino in northwest Las Vegas was the intimate venue for an exceptional evening of contemporary jazz music as saxophone showman Michael Lington performed for a sold-out crowd. The event was a concert/party in celebration of the release of Pure, his scintillating new album.
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When I first heard that Michelle Rosewoman would be playing in a piano shop, I expected her in a small, dusty showroom with pianos clustered around her.
What I found instead on San Pablo in Oakland was a shiny showroom with gleaming pianos of many varieties, many of which cost ten to over a hundred thousand dollars.
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What better manner to warm a frosty Toronto night than taking in a concert by West African born and New York based Lionel Loueke at the spacious and grand TO Centre for the Arts in North York.
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It was a hot balmy day as we stepped off the ferry onto Governors Island; ten minutes off the southern tip of Manhattan. As Jacqueline and I approached the great lawn in the center of the island, I was transported to another place, another time – much like Owen Wilson was when he stepped into car as the leading character in the new Woody Allen film Midnight in Paris. Before my eyes the roaring 20's were alive and well, pages come to life from F. Scott Fitzgerald's book The Great Gatsby. People were in authentic garb, playing badminton; lounging with friends picnicking; and dancing to the music of the era – JAZZ!
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The Beaches International Jazz Fest's 23rd Anniversary began its blockbuster live shows this year, with three stellar days and nights of entertainment outdoors at Toronto's Woodbine Park. This huge, manmade park on the edge of the Beach and Queen St. E. in Toronto, is a musical highlight for all die-hard jazz, blues, soul and R&B fans who converged here for the inaugural concerts that launched the 23rd Annual Beaches Jazz Fest. It was founded by Lido Chilelli, with Artistic Director Bill King, one of Canada’s most respected blues and jazz piano players.
Woodbine Park is also the site for the Waterfront Blues Fest every June, put on by blues promoter extraordinaire Rico Ferrara, with assistance from Beaches Jazz Fest co-founder Chilelli. Ferrara was the charismatic host for all three days and nights of blues, jazz and R&B at the Beaches 23rd Jazz Fest outdoor kickoff at Woodbine Park, Friday July 15th, to Sunday July 17th, 2011.
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The Toronto Jazz Festival may have moved back to its original location in Toronto's theatre district but it did not feature a very strong line up of jazz. Following along with most of the major jazz festivals the organizers attempted to attract a more varied audience by appealing to a wide array of musical tastes. The opening act on day 1, June 24th - Aretha Franklin, a public favorite, The Queen of Soul gave a free concert that shut down one of Toronto's main streets - King St., adjacent to the Metro Square.
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A great show by Angelique and Youssou at Oakland's Paramount Theater
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01 Jul
TD Toronto Jazz Festival at 25 - Aretha Franklin - The Queen of Soul Opens Day One
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The Toronto Jazz Festival launch at Metro Square featuring a free show with Aretha Franklin went off as I expected. The festival opened noon time Friday June 24th as people lined up as early as 10AM to get their wrist bands that would guarantee them free entry to the big tent, housing the main stage performance area where Ms. Franklin the Queen of Soul would hold court later that evening.
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How often do four talented African guitarists come together to play acoustic onstage? Putumayo Records, a unique company, not only brought together such a remarkable supergroup but put them on tour. "Acoustic Africa's" three main guitarists were Afel Becoum and Habib Koité from Mali and Oliver "Tuku" Mtukudzi from Zimbabwe. They were backed by the estimable Mamadou Kelly, Becoum's highly-talented regular guitarist and other musicians.
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Live at the Blue Frog
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Although he relates that his 17-year-old daughter, “who plays me like a violin,” maintains that he is “not that famous,” singer-songwriter Randy Newman needs no introduction to most music aficionados. Years ago, when I was a student in Boston, I hitchhiked over to Harvard and forked down $2 to hear him play at the college’s creaky wooden Sanders Theater. It was an unforgettable experience. Since then much has changed, including number of wars and invasions, massive inflation, and the near-death of newspapers — as well as a whole slew of Randy Newman songs, one of which “A Few Words in Defense of Our Country”, was a 2007 New York Times fea...
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As anyone that’s closely followed the fertile NYC jazz scene—especially the “sub-scene” affectionately referred to as the “Downtown sound”—over the past five to 15 years or so knows, there’s a LOT of (relatively) young creative talent thriving there. “So what,” snorts your Inner Monologue, “New York is always awash in burgeoning talents—that’s why it’s the Big Apple.” True, but I refer to the lads and lasses of more recent generations, players and singers that happily and unashamedly embrace influences well beyond jazz and the Great American Songbook. Oh, many of the can play standards and the bebop changes with the best of them—i...
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Goa Chitra presented two quartets absolutely unplugged. The Emilliano da Cruz quartet featuring Goas music maestro himself on violin and mandolin Oscar on guitar Colin D'Cruz on bass and Carlos Gonsalves on percussion. Geetu Hinduja's quartet had the amazing singer/songwriter on vocals and guitar Roque Lazarus on guitar and melodica with Colin D'Cruz and Carlos Gonsalves on bass and drums again. The show was split into two halves with local icon Emmilliano doing the honours as the opening act. Emmilliano made himself at home onstage from the word go and promptly had the audience eating right out of his palms that caressed his two loves th...
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Goa Chitra celebrated carnival in style, Brazilian style. Fauzia Maria Beg an accomplished singer of Indian origin who is based in Germany, has been singing Brazilian songs with her ten piece German band for the last fifteen years. Brazilians who have seen her perform find it hard to believe that she is of Indian origin. Fauzia has captured the essence of Brazilian music and made it her own simply because it was a form of music she enjoyed performing the most. Her articulate pronunciation, rhythmic scatting and exuberant stage presence has won her accolades from Latin jazz connoisseurs around the world. Goa could not have had a more appro...
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Goa Chitra presented Indo-jazz fusion diva Sandhya Sanjana live in concert with her band Random Access Melody' featuring Vishnu Prabhu on bansuri Bob Tinker on trumpet Xavier Peres on keyboards Colin D'Cruz on bass and Dennis Coelho on drums. Sandhya co-founded India's pioneering fusion band 'Divya' in the early eighty's before migrating to Amsterdam where she went about recording and performing her own compositions with artistes from all over the world. Her recently launched album also called 'Random Access Melody\' has received rave reviews in the international circuit and her current live performance repertoire is largely based on tracks f...
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Randy Weston is one of the elder statesman in jazz. At 83, he has been at this before many of his listeners were born. He does not tour or record as much as he used to, so it was a very special occasion when Weston entered the stage at Yoshi’s in San Francisco on February 7, 2011 for a one-night, one-time special performance. He was there to promote his new book, his first book, African Rhythms. Befittingly, he was interviewed by Anthony Brown, a UC Berkeley jazz professor, drummer and popular bandleader who had once produced an interview with him for the BBC. At 6’ 7” Weston, clad in his customary African-derived garb, is an imposing...
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