By John Stevenson Combining the often separate worlds of jazz and Haitian vodun (or voodoo) music is at first glance a strange and unique pairing. There was a Black Haitian presence in New Orleans from 1792 right through to the Haitian revolution of 1804 and its aftermath and Haitians of …
By John Stevenson It’s difficult to believe that Daymé Arocena is only 22 years old. Coming from a musically endowed family, the Cuban singer, composer, arranger, choir director and band leader has already established a remarkable artistic footprint. Havana Cultura and Gilles Peterson’s Brownswood Recordings have recently collaborated to release …
(New York, NY) – Nu Jazz Agency has just announced that founder & Managing Director Jerald Miller will be leading and moderating a discussion entitled: Creating a Stronger Digital Business Model in Jazz on Friday, April 24th, 2015 for the Jazzahead! music conference to be held in Bremen, Germany at …
(Photo of Billie Holiday by William Gottlieb) By John Stevenson ‘In A Different Mood: Billie Holiday at 100′, is the title of an exciting concert staged by Jazzmo’thology. The concert honours the 100th anniversary of the birth of jazz singer and artistic legend, Billie Holiday. It takes place on 30th …
Called “spellbinding” (The Boston Globe), “brilliant” (CultureJazz.Fr), and “captivating” (JazzImprov), the Aardvark Jazz Orchestra performs new works by Mark Harvey, including Sisyphus of the Snow Banks, inspired by the record Boston snowfall in 2015; a free-form romp called Out and Out; and the big band premiere of FiLmprov Cha Cha …
Holophonor Sextet featuring Miro Sprague Saturday, April 18, 2015 8 pm Touring band of recent graduates of the Thelonious Monk Institute Masters Program where they studied with jazz legends including Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter. Holophonor toured Israel, Japan, Sweden and Turkey, performed at the Kennedy Center and taught in inner …
Ryan Truesdell mentions in the liners notes for Lines of Color that Gil Evans had a reputation for taking his time while he composed or arranged. Perhaps that’s why the jazz that that Evans created has endured. Evans was meditative and obviously meticulous. For how else could he have created …
The Bethesda Blues and Jazz Club was originally the Bethesda Theater, a Cinema Palace of the Silver Screen Art-Deco Era built in 1938 and located at 1719 Wisconsin Avenue, Bethesda, Maryland. Recent renovations have infused new life, into the making of a new Jazz Arena in the Washington, D.C. area. …
By John Stevenson ‘Born in Parallel’ (33Records), Daphna Sadeh’s brilliant new CD, threads together the worlds of jazz improvisation, European baroque, classical music influences as well as Arabic and Jewish rhythmic traditions. Daphna, a double bassist and composer born in Israel, has been exposed to a pot pourri of musical …
March 12, 1955. New York City. Charlie Parker is dead. But nobody knows it yet. In that twilight between the here and the hereafter, Parker sets out to write his last great musical work. This is the setting of Charlie Parker’s YARDBIRD, a chamber opera that invites the audience …
