Jazz News

NYC Welcomes El Sistema From Venezuela's New Jazz Orchestra - Simon Bolivar Big Band Jazz

Source: Dianna Giadagnino
October 26, 2011

October 31, 2011 to November 4, 2011 New York City welcomes Venezuela's world-renowned “El Sistema" Simón Bolívar Big-Band Jazz (SBBBJ) with a concert series of four performances from October 31, 2011—November 4, 2011. Led by Venezuelan percussionist, Andrés Briceño, the Simón Bolívar Big-Band Jazz will perform new and traditional big band repertoire during their historic, inaugural visit to the United States. This significant trip is a good-will tour by the SBBBJ-Venezuelan musicians, all of them products of the internationally-recognized “El ...

Continue Reading

15th Annual Dominican Republic Jazz Festival

Source: D. O. Christian Rieger
October 26, 2011

The 15th Annual Dominican Republic Jazz Festival, Nov 9th Thru Nov 12th, 2011 Cabarete, Dominican Republic For 14 years, jazz aficionados from around the world have come to the Dominican Republic Jazz Festival to hear top-of-the-line Latin jazz musicians from the Caribbean, and Central and South America in the tropical towns of Cabarete and Sosua on the north shore of the Dominican Republic. This year's event is from November 9th through November 12th. Part of what makes this festival different ...

Continue Reading

Rico Reeds Signs Tenor Saxophonist and Composer Seamus Blake

Source: Michael Ricci
October 26, 2011

FARMINGDALE, NY: Rico Reeds is proud to announce the signing of tenor saxophonist/composer Seamus Blake, one of the finest contemporary jazz artists today. As a leader, Blake released six albums on Criss Cross Records, including his 1993 debut, The Call. He is a long-standing member of the Grammy-nominated Mingus bands and continues to play and record with Bill Stewart, Kevin Hays, David Kikoski and Alex Sipiagin, and the Victor Lewis Quintet. He is also a member of BANN, led by ...

Continue Reading

Happy 50th Birthday, Wynton Marsalis - Legacy Recordings Announces Swinging Into The 21st for October 18th

Source: Sony Music Entertainment/Legacy
October 26, 2011

11-CD DELUXE BOX SET COMMEMORATES HIS MAMMOTH ALBUM RELEASE CAMPAIGN OF 1999-2000 ALSO: 14-track SELECTIONS FROM SWINGING INTO THE 21st single CD available on same date As Pulitzer and 9-time Grammy Award-winner Wynton Marsalis eases into his 50th birthday on October 18, 2011, he casts his memory back a dozen years to 1998-99. With the new millennium on the way, Wynton began to lay plans with Columbia Records and Sony Classical for an unprecedented release of nine major album projects ...

Continue Reading

Matthew Shipp Trio Comes To The Historic Bohemian Caverns, Washington DC on November 6th

Source: Chris Rich
October 25, 2011

Pianist Matthew Shipp is one of the hottest items in the New York City jazz scene. He offers a vibe that is distinguished with intriguing and challenging displays. The Matthew Shipp Trio will perform sets at 7:00 and 8:30 PM to be followed by an informal kick-off and toast to the new project, The Composer: An Independent Film. Shipp's expansive work in a trio format is highlighted with long time rhythm section from drummer Whit Dickey. Texturally, Dickey brings everything ...

Continue Reading

Vocalist Beverly Lewis Conveys Stunning Versatility On Bluesy New Record

Source: Lauren Rogers
October 25, 2011

Vocalist Beverly Lewis knows how to bring the house down, leaving audiences in All Shades of Blues. Her voice emits a raw power that wallops everything in its path. Although she is able to include the various nuances of jazz and country in her repertoire, it is the blues that Lewis lives and breathes. Her singing, sometimes raspy, sometimes affectionately smooth, reaches into the deepest recesses of the heart. On “Someone Else Is Steppin' In," Lewis is pulling herself from ...

Continue Reading

Percussionist Thomas Stronen Interviewed at All About Jazz!

Source: All About Jazz
October 25, 2011

One of Norway's most prolific drummers, sampling percussionists and composers, Thomas Strønen is the co-founder of Food, along with British saxophonist Iain Ballamy. The group—which, since 2005, has whittled down from an original quartet that also featured Norwegians Arve Henriksen on trumpet and Mats Eilertsen on bass—released its most recent record, Quiet Inlet, in 2010 (its first for the German ECM label), and regularly includes guests that vary from one show to the next. up's sampled improvisational music.

Strønen is ...

Continue Reading

Graham Collier, 1937-2011

Source: All About Jazz
October 24, 2011

Written by Duncan Heining Composer, bassist and bandleader Graham Collier left town on Friday, September 9,, 2011. He was holidaying with his partner, John, in Crete, when a sudden heart failure took his final breath. It was quick, relatively painless but unexpected. We all felt sure Graham had too much sparkle, too much music in him to go so soon. His career, indeed his life, was shaped by music. Collier grew up in Luton, Bedfordshire—reason enough to leave home at ...

Continue Reading