Jazz News

International Jazz Solo Piano Festival in Germany - March 26-28, 2009

Source: All About Jazz
March 15, 2009

With friendly support of the Steinway houses Munich, Hamburg and Berlin, the organizer Jan Matthies Music Management, presents the first season of the International Jazz Solo Piano Festival in March 2009 with venues in Munich, Hamburg and Berlin.

The virtuosic performing jazz solo pianist can be sure to get the full attention and admiration of the audience, if he as “One-Man-Orchestra”, because of his perfect mastery of the instrument and his improvisational skills, is able to feature the entire sonority ...

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Raul Malo Sings Meltingly

Source: Michael Ricci
March 14, 2009

Musical styles simmer together happily in the melting pot of this ex-Maverick's output.

In the midst of what essentially was a dance party Thursday night at the House of Blues in West Hollywood, singer Raul Malo set down the twangy guitar he'd been strumming joyfully for an hour, dismissed the members of his five-piece band -- except for pianist Chris Tuttle -- and stood practically motionless at the mike.

Malo is widely regarded as one of the most gifted singers ...

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Chicago a Boundary-Breaking Jazz Festival

Source: All About Jazz
March 14, 2009

Music in America tends to be marketed narrowly, by genre, with clubs and festivals targeting specific musical tastes.

But at least one musical event ignores the barriers that separate jazz listeners from their classical counterparts, world-music lovers from devotees of the avant- garde. And the fifth annual edition of Pick-Staiger Concert Hall's Spring Festival, continuing into next month, fearlessly serves up jazz, tango, classical and whatnot.

“One of my main purposes in life has been to help people appreciate that ...

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Rickie Lee Jones@largo at the Cornet

Source: Michael Ricci
March 14, 2009

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'The Jazz Age' at Blank Theatre

Source: Michael Ricci
March 14, 2009

The Blank Theatre Company’s signature charms — quirky characters, witty sets and the deft use of music — are on full, if flawed, view in Allan Knee’s “The Jazz Age.”

This soapy but absorbing portrait of the Lost Generation’s F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway features a Tin Pan Alley score by a live three- piece band. From their perch on an upstage balcony, the droll Ian Whitcomb and His Bungalow Boys pluck period ditties as the literary ...

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Playboy Jazz Festival Announces Lineup

Source: All About Jazz
March 14, 2009

The Neville Brothers, Sharon Jones and the Dap- Kings, the Wayne Shorter Quartet and Kenny G are among the performers slated to appear at the 31st Annual Playboy Jazz Festival, June 13-14 at the Hollywood Bowl.

In addition to the Neville Brothers and Sharon Jones, Saturday's lineup will feature a 50th anniversary salute to Miles Davis' class album Kind of Blue by Jimmy Cobb's So What Band.

Also performing on the festival's first day with be Summer Storm featuring Norman ...

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Detroit May Be Battered, but the City is Inspiring Song

Source: Michael Ricci
March 14, 2009

Detroit -- Sam Roberts and John Rich have found inspiration in all kinds of places during their years writing and performing music.

Recently the Canadian rocker and the country star happened upon the same muse -- a certain struggling Rust Belt metropolis.

The Sam Roberts Band's “Detroit '67" and Rich's “Shuttin' Detroit Down" each have caused a stir in the Motor City and represent the latest in a long line of songs that found musical inspiration in America's auto capital. ...

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Midnight Oil Returns at Wet Melbourne Bushfire Gig

Source: All About Jazz
March 14, 2009

Melbourne Before they went onstage, Oils drummer Rob Hirst had joked, “A cabinet minister going back to being a rock musician. Surely that's a world first."

Unexpected rain and chilly temperatures were no deterrent for the 81,000 fans who turned out today (March 14) for the Sound Relief bushfire benefit concert at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).

Thousands of ticket holders in the open-air section sheltered under bright plastic ponchos and umbrellas, but remained exultant — from when ...

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