Articles by Thomas Conrad
Belgrade Jazz Festival 2024
by Thomas Conrad
Belgrade Jazz Festival 2024 Dom Omladine Beograda, MTS Dvorana Belgrade, Serbia October 24-28, 2024 It is possible that, of all the major cities of Europe, the least understood in the Western world is Belgrade, Serbia. In the 1990's, when the wars in the former Yugoslavia were raging, Serbia was a major topic in the world news media. A NATO aerial bombing campaign in 1999 ended the conflict. Serbia was left with a severely damaged economy ...
Continue ReadingCedar Walton One Flight Down
by Thomas Conrad
They are thinning out: the ranks of pianists who can trace their lineage directly back to primary sources like J.J. Johnson, the early Jazz Messengers of Art Blakey, and the Jazztet of Art Farmer and Benny Golson. In the last few years, we have lost Tommy Flanagan, Mal Waldron, Roland Hanna, Dodo Marmarosa, Russ Freeman, Frank Hewitt, and, most recently, John Hicks. Producer Bob Porter once said of Cedar Walton, “By the time he came to make his ...
Continue ReadingPete Malinverni: Invisible Cities
by Thomas Conrad
They call it “the Calvino Effect." It is the fascination that Italo Calvino's unclassifiable, elusive literary works exert over artists in other media. Calvino's Invisible Cities contains unseen cities of the imagination that have inspired many paintings. It contains silent cities of dreams that have provoked much music. In Calvino's novel, Marco Polo tells of 55 cities he has visited. The descriptions are fantasies. But Marco Polo's prose-poetry and surreal urban imagery contain deeper truths than factual travelogues. ...
Continue ReadingSüdtirol Jazz Festival 2024
by Thomas Conrad
Südtirol Jazz Festival Various Sites Bolzano, Italy June 28-July 7, 2024 The Südtirol Jazz Festival started in 1982. Despite the fact that its lineups rarely include big-name artists, this annual event is neither small nor unambitious. Whereas most jazz festivals are located in one town and sometimes in one venue, Südtirol spreads itself far beyond its base in Bolzano, Italy. There are concerts all across the South Tyrol region. And while many ...
Continue ReadingBill Anschell / Brent Jensen: We Couldn't Agree More
by Thomas Conrad
Wynton Marsalis recently said, “The hallmark of a first-class jazz musician is the ability to adapt." It is a paradoxical statement. But Marsalis is not using the term “adapt" in the Darwinian context of adaptation and natural selection. He does not mean adapting to, say, bad food on the road. He is referring to listening skills and lightning reflexes. Jazz improvisation is a moment-to-moment creative process of real-time interaction and discovery. It would be hard to find a ...
Continue ReadingHadley Caliman / Pete Christlieb: Reunion
by Thomas Conrad
At the end of the first decade of the new millennium, one of the most gratifying developments in jazz is the late blossoming of Hadley Caliman. In 2008, at 76, he released Gratitude, his first recording as a leader in 31 years. It was followed in 2010 by Straight Ahead. They created a buzz on the jazz street. It is not just that he has lasted long enough to finally get the attention he deserves. Hadley Caliman is currently playing ...
Continue ReadingRiccardo Arrighini: Cambio di Marcia
by Thomas Conrad
The first time I heard Riccardo Arrighini was at the Umbria Jazz Melbourne festival in Australia in May of 2005. It seems odd, as I look back on it, that I barely noticed him at the festival. The explanation is not that there were other, more famous Italian piano players there, like Stefano Bollani and Danilo Rea. The explanation must be that Arrighini appeared as a member of Francesco Cafiso's quartet. He only got to solo after Cafiso (15 at ...
Continue ReadingDino Betti van der Noot: Let Us Recount Our Dreams
by Thomas Conrad
The first time I heard the name Dino Betti van der Noot was in the early summer of 2023. My friend Enzo Capua called me and said that Dino was the best jazz composer in Italy and was looking for someone to write liner notes for his new album. I told Enzo I had too many commitments at the moment to take on another. Still, I was curious. Enzo is the Artistic Consultant to the Umbria Jazz Festival, ...
Continue ReadingAlfa Jazz Fest 2017
by Thomas Conrad
Alfa Jazz Fest 2017 Lviv, Ukraine June 23-27, 2017 Jazz festivals are different in Europe. There are more of them, and they are crucial to the economic viability, social solidarity and creative evolution of the jazz art form. Many European towns that host their own annual jazz events seem like unlikely sites for festivals. They are small, and/or industrial, and/or off the beaten path. In the case of Alfa Jazz Fest, in Lviv, Ukraine, ...
Continue ReadingBelgrade Jazz Festival 2016
by Thomas Conrad
2016 Belgrade Jazz Festival Belgrade, Serbia October 26-October 30, 2016 Because of the wars in the former Yugoslavia, the Belgrade Jazz Festival, like most good things in the Balkans, went dark for 15 years after 1990. When it started up again in 2005, it was small. By 2008, it was big enough to book names like The Bad Plus, Christian Scott and Patricia Barber. But even then, from the vantage point of the world jazz community, ...
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