Event reviews, movie reviews, and anything that isn’t an Album Review or Book Review.
In Italian there is a wonderful expression, “sensa parole,” meaning “beyond words.” It’s the only way I can define Ascona in the Italian-speaking canton of
I’m not much of a festival-goer, to be honest. I find myself getting a bit bored after two days of non-stop music and two nights
Arranging is an underrated element in jazz and arrangers have not been given the credit they deserve. Arranging has almost always been considered piecework, paid
Within Dick Hyman’s Century of Jazz Piano (Arbors), a five-disc CD set totaling 121 selections, pianist Dick Hyman seeks to demonstrate the development of jazz
There are two rules I tell everyone when they attend the Whitley Bay International Classic Jazz Party for the first time. One: it’s a marathon,
The Redwood Coast Music Festival was an ecstatic experience, an overwhelming banquet of music and friendship. (If that seems hyperbolic, I can adopt Eddie Condon’s
The Panoram was a sleek, Art Deco style wooden cabinet standing nearly seven-feet tall with a 27-inch ground-glass screen. The cabinets were three-feet wide and
That this festival even happens could be the most striking fact about it. Located more than five hours’ drive from London, and an hour from
On July 27, 2023, I had the pleasure of attending a one-night-only, 90-minute show by The Duke Ellington Orchestra Quintet at the Criterion Theater in
Pershore is a small city in England unknown to most people. Yet it is home of one of the most active Trad Jazz clubs in
For the last several months viewers around the world have been treated to TV news showing Tel Aviv streets regularly filled with tens of thousands
The New Orleans’ street-sensation Tuba Skinny took the Amazon Main Stage Saturday, June 24 under rainy skies at the at the 37th edition of the
When I wrote about last year’s Cheltenham Jazz Festival, I noted the dearth of old-timey acts compared with its soul, pop, and fusion-oriented headliners. Well
On April 21, husband-and-wife performers Eric Comstock and Barbara Fasano brought the buzz they have been creating Saturday nights at Birdland in Manhattan to a
Since 1976, Vince Giordano has led one of the most authentic-sounding small big bands in 1920s jazz, an 11-piece orchestra that really sounds as if
I can’t think of a musical production I’ve looked forward to for quite as long as Hoagy Carmichael’s Stardust Road. Nor one that has disappointed
The Nutcracker was composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-93) in 1892 for a two-act ballet. Nine of the numbers from the ballet were selected by
Glenn Jenks was a favorite at ragtime events, both as a pianist and for his compositions. Though he had a significant following in the ragtime
The eleventh edition of Mike Durham’s International Classic Jazz Party was two years in the making but definitely worth the wait. Like most such events,
To those who would deem ragtime deceased, Bob Darch, pianist and entertainer from the revival era, had a ready rejoinder: “Ragtime Dead? Hell, it ain’t
Once again it was our pleasure to spend a week of relaxation with a group of brilliant musicians at the annual JazzFest at Sea in
One could fill a bookshelf with Louis Armstrong biographies, and any film that would tell the great man’s complete story would have to be many
Hotshot pianist Emmet Cohen brought his well-traveled trio with bassist Yasushi Nakamura and drummer Kyle Poole to Ithaca College August 26, 2022, for a freewheeling
Invoking Lady Day and Frank Sinatra has obvious benefits and risks. While it can attract an audience, it can also invite comparisons. When Catherine Russell
