Live Review
Reporting on live jazz from around the globe.
Obsolescence Quartet at The Treelawn Social Club
by John Chacona
Obsolescence QuartetThe Treelawn Social Club Cleveland, OH January 11, 2026 An evening of completely improvised music by top-level players is not an everyday thing in Cleveland. So the Sunday evening set by the cheekily named Obsolescence Quartet (an oblique reference to the effects on human creators of artificial intelligence) was self-recommending. Chalk that up to the eminence of the musicians. On the front line, tenor saxophonist Joshua Smith, making an intermittent visit ...
Continue ReadingTommy Halferty's Whirlpool At Scott's Jazz Club
by Ian Patterson
Tommy Halferty's Whirlpool Scott's Jazz Club Tribute to Miles Davis' In A Silent WayBelfast, N. Ireland January 16, 2025 In the centenary year of Miles Davis' birth, homages will take many forms. There will be the inevitable re-releases, box sets, books, and an ocean of opinion pieces. Concerts paying tribute to jazz's greatest chameleon are sure to visit most of the significant waystations of the trumpeter's storied career. But when the dust settles on 2026, it is likely ...
Continue ReadingJorge Vistel At Dock Street Jazz Club
by Ian Patterson
Jorge VistelDock Street Jazz Club Belfast, N. Ireland January 11, 2026 It took Jorge Vistel just one trumpet solo--a hypnotic four minutes of deft lyricism and technical bravura--to signal to the audience that it was in for a treat. Such a balance of emotional heft and virtuosity made it easy to conclude that music is in the blood of the Cuban trumpeter. Maybe too easy. To be sure, growing up in Santiago de Cuba, Vistel was ...
Continue ReadingNorth Sea Jazz Festival 2025
by Giovanni Guadalupi
Various ArtistsNorth Sea Jazz FestivalRotterdam, The NetherlandsJuly 11-13, 2025 North Sea Jazz Festival is not just one of the many music festivals around the world; to thousands of people, it is The Festival. Unlike most music festivals, it is not built around hype, trends, or spectacle. It is built around attentive listening, deep legacy--dating back to 1976--and passionate, emotional musical conversation. Its uniqueness comes from how it treats music, musicians, and audiences. At ...
Continue ReadingJoel Ross and Others at the 2026 Winter Jazzfest's Brooklyn Marathon
by Paul Reynolds
Manhattan Marathon | Brooklyn Marathon Joel Ross and Others Winter Jazzfest Brooklyn MarathonNew York, NY January 10, 2026 New York's Winter JazzFest--to its credit--does not present stars of pop and other non-jazz genres to expand its audience and fill the festival coffers. But the January jazz mainstay is not averse to programming jazz-adjacent musicians or jazz artists who are dabbling in crossover projects that are shaded with non-jazz influences. Both kinds ...
Continue ReadingStacey Kent At Birdland
by Mark Edelman
Stacey Kent Birdland New York, NYDecember 17, 2025 Coolly attired in sedate, simple black trousers and matching jacket, Stacey Kent warmed up a sold-out crowd with an eclectic set on a frigid Wednesday at New York City's celebrated jazz bôite, Birdland. Backed by longtime pianist Art Hirahara on the Yamaha grand, Tim Hubbard on bass and reedman (and Kent's husband of 34 years) Jim Tomlinson, Kent offered up a cool recital of her much-lauded, award-winning jazz ...
Continue ReadingNels Cline and Others At 2026 Winter Jazzfest's Manhattan Marathon
by Paul Reynolds
Manhattan Marathon | Brooklyn MarathonNels Cline and More Winter Jazzfest's Manhattan Marathon New York, NY January 9, 2026 Like New York's winters on the whole, the long nights of the city's Winter JazzFest demand hardiness. Moveable feasts that sprawl onto multiple stages in a neighborhood, the Jazzfest's celebrated marathons require braving New York's cold to trudge, for up to a mile, between clubs. And when you arrive at one, you may have to ...
Continue ReadingUnity Jazz Festival 2026 at Jazz At Lincoln Center
by Paul Reynolds
Unity Jazz FestivalOpening NightJazz at Lincoln CentreNew York, NY January 8, 2026 It does not rain--or snow--jazz in New York in the first week of January, it pours--or blizzards--the music. Winter JazzFest, the longtime colossus that takes over clubs in downtown Manhattan and Brooklyn, has been joined in the past three years by the Unity Jazz Festival, which runs two marathon nights within the multiple spaces of the Jazz at Lincoln Center headquarters just north of ...
Continue ReadingFountain de Chopin's "Thank You" Festival in Hong Kong
by Rob Garratt
Fountain de Chopin's Third-Birthday “Thank You" Festival Fountain de Chopin San Po Kong, Hong Kong January 1, 2026 Hong Kong is enjoying a surprising, and surprisingly youth-centric, jazz renaissance. A decade ago, you might have struggled to count notable local players on two hands, today there are more feisty Berklee graduates in the self-governed Chinese city than scene observers can keep track of. There's also an audience for it, too--a remarkably young and hungry one, ...
Continue ReadingIn the Mood for Love (Songs): The Red Pavilion Jazz Band at The Red Pavilion
by Tamara Yadao
The Red Pavilion Jazz Band The Red Pavilion In the Mood for Love (Songs) Brooklyn, NY December 5, 2025 The Red Pavilion Jazz Band, a quartet with trumpeter Gordon Au at the helm, set the tone for an immersive, intercultural music experience. Cradled by love, longing, nostalgia, and educational flair, these musicians performed a diverse set of songs and arrangements, spanning Chinese, Filipino, Afro-Cuban, and American love songs and jazz standards. Peering ...
Continue Reading
