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.
Having already presented McCoy Tyner's sextet and the Maria Schneider Orchestra, the 2006/7 jazz concert series at the University of Maryland's Clarice Smith Performance Center has focused on a balance between composition and instrumental performance. The Stefon Harris ensemble which appeared February 11th exemplified that balance as well as anyone could. Harris presented sections from recent commissions and his most recent CD, African Tarantella: Dances With Duke. Working with his
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The jazz program has been especially rich at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts this season. As befits a national institution, the center aims to honor jazz masters while also supporting younger musicians and new music. A case in point is the flurry of visitors during the last month. February 9th, for example, saw bassist/composer Dave Holland bring his new sextet to the Terrace Theater. This ensemble is a mixture of old and new for Holland, with Robin Eubanks a holdover
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I recently had the good fortune of being able to review Ernest Dawkins' New Horizons Ensemble DVD, The Messenger, which features the prodigious trumpeter, Maurice Brown. This young musician left such an indelible impression that I immediately resolved to get out and see him perform live if I ever had the chance. Downbeat Magazine has referred to Brown as "one of the most exciting young trumpeters in jazz-be it New Orleans
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Good music brings out good people. Even multi-instrumentalist Howard Johnson had to comment on the attentiveness of the standing-room only audience in the small campus dining area. Some had cozied up to warm beverages and evening meals while others caught up on their text messages. Those in the throes of studying in the outside lobby drifted in once the music began to percolate. Johnson fronted a quartet for two sets (the first of which is reviewed here) as part of the Thursday Night Coffeeho
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The Fish Middleton Jazz Scholarship Fund (FMJS) is a non-profit organization that was created in memory of Elmore "Fish" Middleton to continue his vision of the perpetuation of jazz and supporting emerging jazz artists. Its major event is the annual East Coast Jazz Festival that I have reported on in previous years (www.jazzreview.com/articledetails.cfm?ID=4059). This year's event has had to be postponed, however, due to construction at the Doubletree (soon to be Hilton) hotel in Rockvill
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Great jazz was seen and heard this last President’s Weekend at the 7th annual Newport Beach Jazz Party before sell-out crowds. As well, since these four-day events began, the music seemed better than ever this year. Thursday night through Sunday night, there were performances virtually every hour of the day breakfast jazz brunches, afternoon Pool Stage sessions and, of course, evening concerts in the Grand Pacific Ballroom And, if that were not enough for afficionados to get their fill, every
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Of all the jazz related events coming through the greater Houston metropolitan area, the launch of the All Star Smooth Jazz Cruise stands at the top of the list of must do and see events. Tantamount to the cruise, is the pre-launch concert held the night before at Moody Gardens Convention Center in Galveston, Texas. Billed as the most amazing array of smooth jazz entertainment ever experienced on one stage, the concert is fast becoming the highlight of the ye
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One of the most dynamic saxophonists in jazz blew through Houston on February 11th with a concert that was thought to be a highly evolved presentation of funk. Anyone with any conceivable knowledge of Boney James will recognize him as the ultimate funkateer; however, he also manages the versatility to exhibit a high degree of sensitivity as well. Riding high on his latest CD entitled ‘Shine’ recorded on the Concord Record Label, Boney electrified the stages of Houston’s Veriz
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The Barbados Jazz Festival is a very special event. Attended largely by locals and returning Bajans (as Barbadians call themselves), along with a smattering of Americans and resident expats, the festival takes place in several halls (which host evening performances) as well as in Farley Hill National Park in the island’s north where two outdoor afternoon concerts take place. Despite the "jazz" in the name, the festival hosts mainly pop and jazz-fusion artists because that’s what, from the produc
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How many can say that they have heard great music, met a guitar legend’s family, met some of jazz’s royalty, and seen one of the greatest sax players of all time perform an entire show with his fly down, all in one night? Well, last night, the crowd of folks who were lucky enough to be at the Celebrity Theater in Phoenix, Arizona can. The affair saw a sparse crowd because of the local PGA tour extravaganza in town, but it made it incredibly intimate for those of u
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When an individual has the opportunity to hear one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time perform, accompanied by three no-less notable musical peers, it is truly a magnificent occasion. On a brisk December evening, the excitement in the air was tangible, as an eclectic crowd consisting of multi-generational jazz aficionados and music fans alike converged at the famed and intimate jazz club Yoshi’s in Oakland, California. Minutes before the first set started, I took my seat at table forty-sev
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In the cultural reshaping of Canada’s fastest growing city Calgary, Alberta the Beat Niq jazz club on January 20th once again proved to be key player in that cultural evolution. World-class jazz singer Adi Braun from Toronto took to the stage and performed two sets consisting of original compositions, standards and tunes featuring some Canadian songwriters. Braun’s curly auburn hair barely touched the shoulders of her long black and teal evening gown and a butterfly pendant hung from a
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This was my first time at Jeff Healey’s Roadhouse, here in Toronto. It is also the first appearance here for the inimitable and always entertaining Jack de Keyzer. De Keyzer is a multi-awarding winning blues guitarist, with prestigious blues wins at the Junos and the Maple Blues Awards over the years. He was also at one time or another a member of rockabilly legend Ronnie Hawkins’ band, as well as the Bop Cats, before going solo in the mid ‘80s. This night was the DVD rel
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It was the week before Christmas when Mike Stern came to Hollywood; the occasion was a five-night engagement at Catalina Bar and Grill, and for the area's countless guitar enthusiasts it was as if the holiday arrived early. Supporting his star packed current release Who Let the Cats Out on Heads Up, the electric guitarist led a streamlined but commensurately stellar quartet featuring saxophonist Bob Franceschini, bassist Victor Wooten and drummer Dennis Chambers.
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William Parker believes in unleashing creativity. His willingness to open those doors is inexhaustible. His practice will lead anyone who is receptive to him. Through the network that is the tapestry of William Parker converts, the world could be at peace. This concert was dedicated to the memory of Malachi Ritcher, who died by self-immolation November 3, 2006, in protest of the invasion of Iraq by the United States. In this context, Parker’s group, Painter’s Winter, played at the Amhe
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In the acoustically challenged Beat Niq nightclub located in downtown Calgary, Alberta Canada the jazz ensemble Sillan & Young still managed to wow their audience on December 21st. Led by alto vocalist Johanna Sillanpaa and guitar virtuoso Aaron Young the quintet performed two sets comprised mostly of Christmas tunes. The blonde haired Swedish chanteuse took to the intimate stage decked out in black crop jacket trimmed in matching faux, black shimmering camisole and blue jeans. He
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On December 1, 2006 Houston, Texas was privy to one of the best concerts of the year. Billed as "A Smooth Jazz Christmas" and sponsored by KHJZ 95.7 "The Wave," four of the genre’s most notable musicians hit the stage of the Verizon Wireless Theater. Although David Benoit, Jonathan Butler, Michael Franks and Kirk Whalum have all been to Houston at various times, the event was heralded as an extra special extravaganza of smooth contemporary stylized ja
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Without doubt, the fifth annual Solos and Duos series offered an opportunity to hear the voices of musical innovators whose focus is honed to an edge of unsurpassed acuity. Cecil Taylor, the duo of Joe Morris and Daniel Levin, and Joe McPhee were the performers. UMass Amherst was the venue. Cecil Taylor Writing about Cecil Taylor is like trying to translate the Rosetta Stone. His iconoclastic history precedes him. Mapping Taylor’s artistry throu
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Petula Clark, recognized by many as the greatest female singing sensation of the 1960s, graced the stage of Toronto's Hummingbird Centre, Sunday November 6, 2005. This is the second time this writer has had the great pleasure of being entertained live by this lady of song.Growing up as a child star in war-time Britain, singing on the B.B.C. and entertaining the home front and weary WW ll GI's alike, helped develop Ms. Clark's fine sense of timing and
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As another example of how large scale jazz events can work, The Duke Ellington Jazz Festival enjoyed its second year October 4 - 8 with an even more ambitious program than last year, sponsoring activities that seemed to encompass the whole of the District of Columbia. The more than fifty performances were held in major venues such as the Kennedy Center, the Library of Congress, the National Gallery of Art, the Inter-American Development Bank, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, the Duke El
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The name Hariprasad Charasia may not be well known to jazz lovers but he is virtually a household name in India and in Indian classical music circles world wide. He is best known as the premier performer on the bansuri, or bamboo flute, but he has also written the scores of several very popular Bollywood movies. He has also collaborated with jazz musicians in a number of Indo-jazz fusion projects, most notably with guitarist John McLaughlin. He has also worked with San Francisco Bay Area
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The jazz program at the University of Maryland continued as it began this season with quality, as the Maria Schneider Jazz Orchestra followed the McCoy Tyner Septet into the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center. The difficulty in describing any performance by this award-winning ensemble comes from finding superlatives that haven't already been used. Perhaps the best compliment to pay Ms. Schneider's work and her ensemble is that it shows how far jazz has come and what its potential is becoming.
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Born in 1930 in New York City, Theodore Walter "Sonny" Rollins has long been a fixture on the jazz scene, and he has been no stranger to the San Francisco Jazz Festival. Sonny appeared most recently in October, 2006 at the Masonic Auditorium in San Francisco. At the event, Milestone and Fantasy record producer Orrin Keepnews introduces him to the audience. Keepnews tells us how he had first met Rollins at the recording session for Thelonious Monk’s classic recording "Brilliant Corners."
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In the five years since its opening, the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at the University of Maryland has presented programs that emphasize both diversity and quality, with student recitals alternating with renowned artists in all fields of music, dance and theater. A major component has been their presentations of major jazz artists and the 2006/7 season is no exception, with Maria Schneider's orchestra following hard on the heels of the McCoy Tyner Septet and Stefon Harris
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Creation begins in the most internal constitution of the creator. Whatever language the creator uses to describe something outside, that person is correlating an assortment of givens with the dynamics that animate them. In this case, the creator is pianist and composer Matthew Shipp and his creation is Sacred Geometry. Shipp premiered his work for strings and piano at the Kitchen on November 11, 2006. He was joined for the performance by string players Michael Bisio on bass, Mat Maneri
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