Articles by Paul Reynolds
George Coleman at the 25th anniversary of Smoke Jazz Club
by Paul Reynolds
George Coleman Smoke Jazz Club 25th Anniversary Concert New York, NY April 12, 2024 Jazz thrives in places that rarely endure for very long. Sure, there are the longtime jazz temples--the Village Vanguard in New York, Ronnie Scott's in jny: London, Preservation Hall in jny: New Orleans--but most premier clubs are lucky to last into adulthood, at least as jazz-only venues. The rent's too damn high, the music too commercially marginal. Smoke ...
read moreBob Weir and Others at the Jazz Foundation of America Gala Concert at the Apollo Theater
by Paul Reynolds
Bob Weir, Marshall Allen, Jazzmeia Horn, Dee Dee Bridgewater, et al.The Apollo Theater Jazz Federation of America Gala New York, NY March 28, 2024 At gala concerts for worthy groups, it's understandably easy for the music to play second fiddle to the organization itself--and the desire to support it. But ,carefully curated, these events can yield memorable and unique performances and other moments. So it was last Friday at the Apollo ...
read moreVijay Iyer and Friends Pay Tribute to Andrew Hill
by Paul Reynolds
Eternal Spirit: Vijay Iyer & Friends Celebrate the Music of Andrew HillHarlem StageNew York, NYMarch 1, 2024 From the start, “Eternal Spirit: Vijay Iyer & Friends Celebrate the Music of Andrew Hill" was no standard tribute. The show's distinctions crystallized during a sublime, uninterrupted 15 minutes of music near the end of the set--which was the first of two near-sold-out evenings presented at Harlem Stage. The peak quarter-hour began with a gentle, crystalline ...
read moreThe Trio with Henry Threadgill, Vijay Iyer and Dafnis Prieto at the Jazz Gallery
by Paul Reynolds
The Trio with Henry Threadgill, Vijay Iyer, and Dafnis PrietoJazz Gallery New York, NYFebruary 25, 2024 For a team of titans --two recipients of MacArthur Foundation “genius grants," plus a Pulitzer Prize winner--The Trio keeps a low profile, even within the jazz community. Perennially busy as leaders, authors and educators, Henry Threadgill, Vijay Iyer, and Dafnis Prieto perform together only occasionally and are yet to release a recording, Even bootleg performances on YouTube are scarce ...
read moreDarcy James Argue's Secret Society at The Jazz Gallery
by Paul Reynolds
Darcy James Argue's Secret Society Jazz Gallery New York, NYJanuary 12, 2024 One of last year's most acclaimed jazz albums became an early contender for a standout show of 2024 when Darcy James Argue brought his 20-piece Secret Society to Manhattan's cozy Jazz Gallery to showcase Dynamic Maximum Tension. The hourlong jny: New York performance was as original and delightfully unpredictable as everything the Canadian-born composer/conductor touches. The recording--released in the fall, nominated ...
read moreThe Dezron Douglas Quartet In A Holiday Mood At Miller Theatre
by Paul Reynolds
The Dezron Douglas Quartet Miller TheatreIn a Holiday Mood New York, NYDecember 2, 2023 Holiday-season jazz concerts too often lean on the same old formula. Some swinging arrangements of hoary hymns, perhaps a dip into the Vince Guaraldi Trio Charlie Brown Christmas, and the near-inevitable inclusion of “The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting)," virtually the only legit jazz standard in the traditional holiday songbook. Kudos, then, to the adventurous Miller Theatre for ...
read moreLitchfield Jazz Festival 2023
by Paul Reynolds
Litchfield Jazz Festival The Frederick Gunn School Washington CT July 28 to July 30, 2023 It's fitting that a festival set in a location as venerable-sounding as the Litchfield Hills deeply respects tradition. That commitment starts with the music styles it presents. While the Litchfield Jazz Festival isn't averse to going beyond musically. For example, in past years, it's presented Vijay Iyer and Jane Bunnett's all-Cuban Maqueque--its 28 years of presentations have displayed a special ...
read moreBrian Marsella / Sae Hashimoto and Miguel Zenon / Matt Mitchell / Miles Okazaki at Miller Theatre
by Paul Reynolds
Brian Marsella / Sae Hashimoto and Miguel Zenon / Matt Mitchell / Miles Okazaki Miller Theatre New York, NY June 9 and June 27, 2023 Underappreciated--perhaps because it's on the Columbia University campus in New York's upper Upper West Side--Miller Theater's innovative music programming favors contemporary classical music with a splash of jazz. But it's rare for its programs to straddle the two genres as much as did the two last 2023 installments of ...
read moreMetropolitan Jazz Octet: The Bowie Project
by Paul Reynolds
A tribute to a pop artist by jazz musicians--as with the new David Bowie album by Chicago's Metropolitan Jazz Octet--has to tread a careful line. It obviously won't--can't--be a rote reproduction of the originals, a flaw that sinks many pop-to-pop tributes. Yet it needs to translate the songs into jazz--its harmonic sophistication, especially--in a way that retains the essence of the artist being celebrated. The MJO effort deftly rises to that challenge. This 11-song project should intrigue Bowieists ...
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