Take Five With...

Daily articles carefully curated by the All About Jazz staff. Read our popular and future articles.

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TAKE FIVE WITH... March 6, 2020

Take Five with K Quintet

Meet K Quintet K Quintet is led by world-renowned Russian dancer Ksenia Parkhatskaya on vocals and Irish musician-composer David Duffy on bass. Citing influences such as Oscar Peterson, Red Garland, and Ben Webster, standards by the likes of Duke Ellington, Richard Rodgers & Henry Mancini are subtly mixed with original 'classic' compositions, written by the husband-and-wife bandleaders. With more than 150 million views on Ksenia's dance videos which cover--amongst other styles--Ragtime, Charleston, Swing and Bebop, it ...

TAKE FIVE WITH... March 4, 2020

Take Five with Monika Hoffman

By Monika Hoffman

Meet Monika Hoffman A Swedish singer with Hungarian-German roots, Monika Hoffman studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston, where she performed with the likes of Michael Brecker and Charlie Haden. Back in Europe, her latin vocal jazz album Let's Run Away featured Cuban-American saxophone legend Paquito D'Rivera and she now presents its follow up--Ten Muses. Doris Day, Judy Garland, Ella Fitzgerald, Rosemary Clooney, Marie Fredriksson, Shirley Bassey, Cezalia Evora, Cher, Barbra Streisand, Etta James: these ladies are ...

TAKE FIVE WITH... February 27, 2020

Take Five with Maureen Choi

By Maureen Choi

Meet Maureen Choi Now residing in Spain, this Korean-American violinist is sparkling a revolution in the improvised music scene in Spain. Her band Maureen Choi Quartet is creating a sound that they describe as, “Spanish Chamber Jazz." After winning several international violin competitions starting at age five, Maureen has performed as a soloist across Australia, Asia, Europe and North America. A graduate from Michigan State University and Berklee College of Music, she has performed with artists like Rodney ...

TAKE FIVE WITH... February 26, 2020

Take Five with Andy Clausen

By Andy Clausen

Meet Andy Clausen Andy Clausen is a New York-based trombonist, composer, and educator. A graduate of The Juilliard School, he currently serves as Artistic Director for Jazz at New York Youth Symphony. Clausen is also a founding member of The Westerlies, an award winning new music brass chamber ensemble. From Carnegie Hall to Coachella, The Westerlies navigate a wide array of venues with the precision of a string quartet, the audacity of a rock band, and the charm of a ...

TAKE FIVE WITH... February 7, 2020

Take Five with Kate Thomas

By Kate Thomas

Meet Kate Thomas Kate Thomas is a jny: London based singer and singer-songwriter with influences from jazz, Latin and world music. So where did all these influences come from? Well, the soundtrack to Kate's childhood was mostly jazz, with the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday and Frank Sinatra featuring prominently. Kate's grandad 'farvie' was a well-known drummer in East London; playing regularly at Ronnie Scott's and at the Krays' now notorious R&R club. Kate then began performing professionally herself ...

TAKE FIVE WITH... January 31, 2020

Take Five with Tal Klein

By Tal Klein

Meet Tal Klein Israeli composer, pianist and organist Tal Klein started playing music when he was six years old. He was introduced to jazz at 14. He studied at the music department of the Katsanellson high school in Kfar Saba. During that time Klein was already playing gigs as a professional musician and at 17, placed 2nd in “HaSharon" regional competition.Afterwards, Klein served the IDF between November 2011 and November 2014 as the lead pianist of the Police ...

TAKE FIVE WITH... January 24, 2020

Take Five with Boaz Marva

By Boaz Marva

Meet Boaz Marva Boaz Marva is a distinctively accomplished jazz and rock guitarist, vocalist and composer. He plays in DOR SAGI band (who recently recorded an EP with keyboardist Jason Lindner as producer), worked with Amir Segall and Ben Silashi in their project Zzajeerf, gigged with Andreas Toftemark, Elam Friedlander, Naama Gheber, Joni Paladin, Sammy Weissberg, Guy Paz plus his own projects, Marva's Wondrous Whimsy, Boaz Marva Trio, and other endeavours. Boaz started his ways in the rock and metal ...