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Steve Blomgren

NYC Jazz Fan & Aspiring Critic.

About Me

Jazz is a protean art form, and certainly recent decades have taken the music in many different directions, well beyond the “jazz fusion” of my youth. But my go-to is probably hard bop, esp. the Jazz Messengers, Hank Mobley, and others. In addition to listening, I also enjoy reading about jazz, and my well-thumbed Penguin Jazz Guide, with its incisive artist profiles and album reviews, has given many hours of pleasure. Because it's such a wide-ranging and complex genre, it helps if one is a lifelong learner - there are so many artists past and present (with, of course, unique sensibilities and journeys), musical connections/influences, styles, tastes, and histories, let alone all the “standards” that comprise the jazz canon, that there's always more to explore!

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My Jazz Story

As my Dad played jazz sax in college (during the Big Band era), I grew up listening to Basie, Brubeck, Miles, and other jazz greats. A New Yorker for more than 30 years, I'm fortunate to have access to a wealth of great clubs here in NYC, including a growing number of smaller, interesting venues in Brooklyn. I also enjoy hitting jazz concerts outside the city (most recently, the Montclair (NJ) Jazz Festival, where I saw a long-time favorite saxophonist, Kenny Garrett). Among my favorite artists are Eric Alexander (tenor), Peter Bernstein (guitar), Bill Charlap (piano), Cyrus Chestnut (piano), and Brad Mehldau (piano), among many others. A former (very) amateur rock drummer, I really appreciate the different jazz drumming styles - Jonathan Blake and Kenny Wollesen are two of my favorites.