Festival News

Jazz Stars Jane Monheit, Ted Rosenthal and others at Usdan Center Festival Concerts

Source: Reva Cooper
June 18, 2008

Singer Jane Monheit, acclaimed young Polish pianist Mateusz Kolakowski, tap dance team DeWitt Fleming and Jared Grimes and pianist/composer Ted Rosenthal are among the jazz stars appearing at Usdan Center For the Creative and Performing Arts' Festival Concerts, private 30-minute educational performances, just for Usdan students, at its on-site 1,000-seat McKinley Ampitheater, beginning Monday June 30. Jane Monheit, one of today's most eminent jazz vocalists, performs this summer at the Tanglewood Jazz Festival; Mateusz Kolakowski is a frequent guest artist ...

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Jazz Festival Has Helped Rejuvenate West Oak Lane

Source: All About Jazz
June 18, 2008

THE TWO PHOTOGRAPHS in Jack Kitchen's office tell the tale: One is a black-and-white aerial shot of the Ogontz Plaza shopping center circa 1983, dilapidated, almost entirely deserted and covered in graffiti. The second is a full-color shot of the same block from the main stage of the 2006 West Oak Lane Jazz and Arts Festival, the clean, thriving storefronts serving as a backdrop for a crowd of more than 100,000 people - despite a weekend-long downpour. “You never want ...

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Blues, Bop, Brazilian, Afrobeat and All That Jazz

Source: All About Jazz
June 18, 2008

This is the 10th year in a row the Vancouver Courier has offered its best bets for the TD Canada Trust Vancouver International Jazz Festival. Despite being at it for a decade, we've never explained how the recommendations are arrived at, so here goes. They're based on the following equation: listening to the musicians' tunes on CD, their MySpace site or other websites + past experience of hearing them live + reading their bios in the festival program guide + ...

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Beck, Black Crowes Headline San Diego's Street Scene

Source: All About Jazz
June 18, 2008

Beck and the Black Crowes will headline the twenty-fourth annual San Diego Street Scene, to be held on September 19-20.

Also among the thirty bands that will rock four stages throughout San Diego's East Village neighborhood are TV On the Radio, Tegan and Sara, Justice, Spoon and Cat Power. Tickets for the festival are on sale now. Check after the jump for the complete Street Scene lineup.

The 2008 San Diego Street Scene Beck The Black ...

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John Pizzarelli Quartet & Peter Appleyard Added to TD Canada Trust Toronto Jazz Festival

Source: All About Jazz
June 17, 2008

John Pizzarelli Quartet featuring special guest Peter Appleyard will take part in the GRANDMASTERS Series, presented by Panasonic, on Saturday, June 28, replacing French composer and producer Michel Legrand. Due to health reasons, Legrand will not be appearing at the TD Canada Trust Toronto Jazz Festival.

Vibraphone master Peter Appleyard is one of the world's top vibraphonists whose career spans over five decades and includes collaborations with names such as Benny Goodman, Oscar Peterson, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra and Tony ...

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TD Canada Trust Toronto Jazz Festival: E.S.T.

Source: All About Jazz
June 17, 2008

Swedish jazz trio e.s.t. announced today the cancellation of their Canadian tour due to the untimely death of the group's leader Esbjrn Svensson.

“We are deeply saddened by the loss of such a brilliant pianist. Our condolences go out to his family as well as Dan Berglund and Magnus Ostrom," says Patrick Taylor, Executive Producer of the TD Canada Trust Toronto Jazz Festival.

e.s.t was due to perform at the TD Canada Trust Toronto Jazz Festival on Friday, June 27, ...

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2008 Playboy Jazz Festival Review

Source: Michael Ricci
June 17, 2008

Young performers impress (not that Herbie Hancock and Al Jarreau don't).

Music at the Playboy Jazz Festival always has been inextricably connected to the sun, the wine and the partying, and this year was no exception. But what was particularly interesting about the 30th anniversary event at the Hollywood Bowl Saturday and Sunday was the youthful energy on display--though, unfortunately, the younger performers received less attention than they deserved. The performance of 27-year-old pianist Robert Glasper on Saturday, for example, ...

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Preservation Hall's Ben Jaffe "Jolts Jazz Tradition"

Source: All About Jazz
June 16, 2008

Preservation Hall creative director Ben Jaffe is praised in the June issue of SPIN Magazine for breathing new life into the New Orleans institution. The son of Pres Hall founders Allan and Sandra Jaffe is “No fusty embalmer," says SPIN, adding “the younger Jaffe jolts jazz tradition by inviting unlikely musicians such as Sun Ra sideman Carl LeBlanc and spiky-haired punk crooner Clint Maedgen to play." Need further proof? Jaffe recently curated the 5th annual “Midnight Preserves" concert series which ...

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