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.
Bizar Bazaar is the appropriately titled name of a group of Bay Area musicians getting together every Tuesday night at the Boom Boom Room. Musically, it's an open market of improvising and jamming on a variety of styles from jazz/funk to dance hall classics that are infused with the energy of rock and roll. The local ingredients in the market change each week, adding to the flavor of the show. This week's theme ingredient was the unique taste of Paul Hanson
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Alto saxophonist/composer Lee Konitz (born 1927) has been and continues to be one of THE Grand Daddies of Modern Jazz. When Ornette Coleman was still playing R&B sax in Texas, Konitz was pushing the outer limits with Lennie Tristano and Warne Marsh, recording what was likely the FIRST completely free group improvisation (1949, if memory serves) while many alto saxophonists of the 40s/50s were bent on sounding like Charlie Parker, Konitz had his own cool, unique sound. And while many jazzers of h
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Salute To An American Icon time!!! This one, though, is still with us: Les Paul, the Godfather of the Electric Guitar. Without going too much into a big history lesson: Les Paul, aside from being one of the best electric guitarists EVER, regardless of genre, was one of the first if not THE first people to combine a love of music with that of technology. He invented (though not patented) multi-track recording and reverb, as well as designing the solid-body electric guitar. Every Monday night in N
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On Friday night at the Meetinghouse in Amherst, every seat was filled by those who came to hear Sunny Murray at the helm playing the drums, Alan Silva on bass, Louis Belogenis on tenor, and Sabir Mateen on reeds with second set guest, Raphé Malik on trumpet. I went to this concert with a totally open mind: interested in listening to musicians I had never heard before in combination particularly aiming at being present for Sunny Murray whose performance frequency is small. Just as I had h
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"Please welcome," said saxophonist James Carter with his jazz poster-boy looks, immaculate gray suit and rapper’s diamond ring, "in his debut on this stage ." Could that be true of the former enfant terrible of the Seventies loft scene, co-founder one of jazz’s most universally acclaimed and innovative ensembles, the World Saxophone Quartet, and the man Gary Giddins and the Village Voice named "Jazz Man of the 80’s"? His first gig at the Blue Note - and as a sideman for one of his disciples?
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Jazz Live! From the Blue Note, Thursday night was both an epiphany and a delight with James Cater and The Organ Trio featuring: Gerard Gibbs (Hammond B-3), and Leonard King (drums) with special guest David Murray. The Bluenote is unquestionally one of the finest jazz clubs in the country, as you walk through the door, it immediately hits you - Jazz. Carter , a snappy dresser steps boldly onto the stage and immediately sadles up to the microphone, chest poised and then emotes pure fire fro
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Josh Roseman Unit (JRU) spread their freaky vibes across Northern California, spawning gushing reviews across many local Bay Area mailing lists. While most had never heard the band, they went on to proclaim the show ranked among their musical highlights for the first half of the year. A JRU show is fresh and exciting as they surf interesting worlds of rhythm and texture collided with a blend of musical genres such as acid-jazz, straight jazz, jazz-funk, reggae, jungle house, and electroni
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The annual Vision Festival is one of NYC’s premier events for avant-garde/cutting edge jazz and improvised music. Held in a variety of rented venues, it provides a showcase for a dizzying array of improvising musicians, drawing upon performers from local, national and international orbits, often juxtaposing or featuring collaborations between the younger upstarts, established performers and the Grand Old Men (or Women) of creative music. While other festivals have bigger names and established ja
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Arriving for the late show, I was excited at the thought of hearing both Kenny Barron and Regina Carter on the same bill. Although they have performed and recorded together, no musical dialogue was heard between the two on this particular night. Instead they were both featured in their own high-powered ensembles. Kenny Barron instigated the festivities. He wasted no time setting the tempo. As soon as he reached his instrument he took flight. Brazilian rhythms provided an inspiring canvas for
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Bizar Bazaar is a super group of Bay Area musicians joining forces for a month long project reinterpreting funk/jazz/soul dance hall classics. Every Tuesday night, they come together at the historical Boom Boom Room, San Francisco’s blossoming home base for the area's funk, jazz, and jam scene. Event creator and guitar wizard Michael Bizar (AJ Croce, Wayside, Citrus) is joined by Simon Rochester (!Tang, Tangria) on electric piano and Hammond B3, Murph (Citrus, Freddy Jones Band) on
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(It may seem odd to many jazz fans that the performance celebrating the release of an album by a somewhat avant-garde fellow would be held at New York City’s most legendary rock & roll club, but there you have it. But not really all that odd, when one considers a good-sized chunk of the current audience at many free jazz performances (in many cities, not just NY) are alternative/punk/avant-rock youths. Anyway, onward ) The subject: jazz violinist /composer Billy Bang. The event: the recent r
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A capacity crowd turned out on a stormy night to see Daryl Stuermer as he debuted a selection of new songs with his band. He explained that he had a streak where he wrote eight songs in three weeks. The results were heard right from the start of the tight show. Retrofit is a funky groove where the band dug in. Keyboardist Kostia played a B-3ish organ sound while Daryl’s guitar soared on top with a gritty solo. The powerful song was a great show opener. It’s Your Move settled int
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Critics and fans of mainstream jazz and more experimental improvised music rarely agree on much but both laud trumpeter Dave Douglas. In the nine years since his first release as a leader, Parallel Worlds on the Italian Soul Note label, the 39-year old Douglas has come to be widely regarded as one of the most gifted and accomplished musicians and composers of the current period. For several years I've been a fan of John Zorn's Masada, a quartet that specializes in combing free jazz an
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The third of the 2002 revival of Eremite Records’ Meetinghouse Concerts featured Joe McPhee on saxophones and Paul Hession on drums. The miracle of spring opens the doors for enlivening insights and feelings that lay deep inside me waiting to come out while the clouds and low pressure still hover. Last night’s concert opened those doors. It presented to me the ways in which McPhee is bringing to his playing the foundations which laid the groundwork for his evolution (as is exemplified in
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Touring in support of their new CD release, Show Em Where You Live, Vital Information tore it up in Milwaukee. Opening with the jazz/funk of Mr. T.C., the band set the tone for the evening. Featuring the "B3" organ sound of Tom Coster, the nimble guitar of Frank Gambale, the solid groove of bassist Baron Browne, and the driving drums of leader Steve Smith, the band plays a thoroughly modernized 60s/70s instrumental funk sound. If you can imagine Booker T & the MG's, Junior Walker,
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As part of the 2002 week-long jazz festival, the Sarasota Jazz Club presented Don Scaletta’s Jazz Orchestra in a tribute to Stan Kenton. The mostly gray-haired crowd filed into Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall and hunkered down for the matinee of music.Before the Scaletta band appeared, vibraphonist Peter Appleyard performed with a quartet featuring Eddie Higgins on piano. Appleyard delighted the audience with his stories about Lionel Hampton and played some classic Hampton riffs, one with Appl
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Despite being in his 80s, master jazz pianist Hank Jones displayed the endurance of a young lion. Two sets of music amounted to roughly three hours of the straight-ahead jazz for which Hank Jones has come to be known. I have attended other jazz shows at this venue that offered only half as much music. The length of the sets, with so many different tunes, made one realize the wealth of knowledge and library of music someone with Jones’ experience and stature has to draw on. To set the tone, he be
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Featuring Joshua Redman (tenor saxophone) Bill Frisell (guitar) Brian Blade (drums) Larry Grenadier (standup bass) I’m a guy who makes things up as I go along so nothing is ever going to be finished There are so many different ways to approach a piece of music in my mind That’s why you always have to practice. If you’re not practicing, you’re not going to be there when the revelation comes. - Sonny Rollins Back to ‘The Bridge’ at the Herbst Theater was an all-sta
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On April 5th, 2002 the Pat Metheny Group put on a show to remember at The Broward Center for the Performing Arts. This was a performance I couldn't wait to go to. I wish I had the money to travel to every city they perform in during 2002. The concert was everything I expected and much more. In addition, the Center has wonderful acoustics, so that contributed to the richness of the performance, sound and lighting. I don't think there's a bad seat in the house.In my opinion, there's no oth
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The Hal Leonard Jazz Series brings to Milwaukee one of the premier "Young Lions" of the jazz music industry. Imagine seeing the great Lionel Hampton or Milt Jackson when they had just began to crave out their many years of establishing the vibraphone as an accepted part of the jazz music scene. Well the 28-year old Stefon Harris is continuing that lineage today by exploring uncharted pathways of composition and jazz performance with the vibraphone. With a B.A. in classical music and a M.A. in ja
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I walked in the front door of the DoubleTree Hotel Rockville and was greeted not by a member of the hotel, but by the sounds of music... sweet music - horns, piano, drums - and applause. Not every hotel greets its guest this way, except during the East Coast Jazz Festival. Musicians from around the globe are invited to showcase their talents. It's a warm, friendly and very inviting atmosphere. After getting my bearings, and there is a lot to see, everything from the vendors (clothing, paintings,
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Often the best moments of a concert are the unexpected ones. So it was with the Pat Metheny Group’s concert in Milwaukee. Touring behind the band’s latest release, SPEAKING OF NOW (Warner brothers), the concert opened up in an inconspicuous manner, with guitarist/leader Metheny walking out on stage with the house lights still on. He picked up an acoustic guitar, sat on a speaker cabinet and played a solo rendition of Last Train Home, one of the bands best loved songs. Metheny’s gui
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The second in the Magic Triangle Concert Series out of UMass/Amherst brought to the stage the group BREW, featuring Miya Masaoka on Japanese koto and electronics, Reggie Workman on bass, and Gerry Hemingway on percussion. Ms. Masaoka definitely acted as the controlling mechanism for these two sets of music. Her selection of musicians to join her trio was in some ways academically arrogant. She represented contemporary creative improvised music; Workman was hand-picked to represent the ep
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During the National Smooth Jazz Awards show in San Diego, co-host Dave Koz said that there is "a brotherhood and sisterhood in smooth jazz that is not found in other genres of music." The performances at the show showed just how true that statement is. From Joyce Cooling and Al Jarreau doing their hit Mmm, Mmm Good to a finale that is just too hard to match, the National Smooth Jazz Awards show showed the reason why packaged concerts featuring a number of smooth jazz headlin
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Now in its tenth year, The Hal Leonard Jazz Series continues to astonish jazz fans in Milwaukee by bringing in the best and biggest names in the world of jazz. This year’s four performance series includes, Stefon Harris Quartet (March 9th), Dr. Billy Taylor Trio (April 13th), Benny Green Trio (May 18th) and starting it all off is The Ray Brown Trio. The name Ray Brown is synonymous with much of jazz history, as we know it today. Ray Brown "The World’s Greatest Bass Player" as he is often call
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