Live Review
Reporting on live jazz from around the globe.
Oscar Hernandez & Alma Libre at Jazz Alley
by Paul Rauch
Oscar Hernandez & Alma LibreJazz AlleySeattle WANovember 19, 2025 The appearance of legendary Latin jazz pianist Oscar Hernandez at Jazz Alley brought with it a special designation. His performances in Seattle have largely been as part of the Spanish Harlem Orchestra, the award-winning ensemble that Hernandez leads. His Alma Libre Quintet is aptly named, considering that the smaller ensemble indeed frees the soul of the pianist/composer to engage in full expression as a instrumentalist. ...
Continue ReadingBaku Jazz Festival 2025: Part 2
by Ian Patterson
Part 1 | Part 2 Baku Jazz Festival Various Venues 20th edition, Days 5-8 Baku, Azerbaijan October 24-31, 2025 Driving around Baku the brightly colored dayglow signs advertising Baku Jazz Festival 2025 catch the eye at every turn. So do posters for COP 29, the international climate conference held in traffic-choked Baku in 2024. Baku nestles on the western edge of the Caspian Sea. The shoreline ...
Continue ReadingJazz and Place: A Symposium and Walking Tour
by Paul Reynolds
Jazz and Place: Cities, Soundscapes, Venues The Center for Jazz Studies at Columbia University Symposium and walking tour New York, NY November 14, 2025 The roots of jazz in New Orleans; nascent big band in Kansas City; bebop in the clubs of New York and, later, freer sounds from downtown industrial lofts. The impetus for jazz has arisen not only from specific artists and record labels but from milieus--the cities, neighborhoods, subcultures, and venues ...
Continue ReadingKamasi Washington At Golden Gate Theatre
by Steven Roby
Kamasi Washington Band Golden Gate Theatre San Francisco, CA October 14, 2025 It was part big-band spiritual jazz and part family affair. Visionary saxophonist Kamasi Washington's sold-out two-hour concert at the Golden Gate Theatre offered an evening of transcendent fusion, mixing funk, hip-hop, and masterful improvisation with surprise guest appearances. Dressed in a pure white, loose-fitting, African-inspired robe with a green and gold, chasuble-like panel embroidered into the fabric, Kamasi Washington looked like ...
Continue ReadingJ.A.M. String Collective at Hot Numbers, Cambridge
by Andrew Hunter
J.A.M. String Collective Hot Numbers Cambridge Jazz Festival Cambridge, England November 14 2025 It was a wet, dark night to follow a day so wet it felt like the sun never really came up at all. There was a food van in the street working hard to keep up with the demand for burgers and fries. Lights twinkled and beckoned through the glass door and inside it smelt of coffee, wine and damp-but-drying music ...
Continue ReadingVilnius Jazz Festival 2025
by Ieva Pakalniskyte
Vilnius Jazz Festival 2025 Old Theatre of Vilnius Vilnius, Lithuania October 13-21, 2025 This report covers five days from October 15-19. The thirty-eighth edition of the Vilnius Jazz Festival opened with the assurance of an event that has spent decades refining both its aesthetic and its purpose. As one of Vilnius's most enduring festivals--shaped for almost four decades by producer Antanas Gustys--it continues to articulate a distinctive philosophy at a moment when many ...
Continue ReadingJuan de Marcos & The Afro-Cuban All Stars at Miner Auditorium
by Steven Roby
Juan de Marcos & The Afro-Cuban All Stars Miner Auditorium Buena Vista Social Club Revisited San Francisco, CA November 13, 2025 Minutes after returning to Miner Auditorium's stage, Juan De Marcos shared a revelation that would have discouraged many bandleaders. “I am very happy to play tonight for you," he told the packed house, “but I had hip surgery 15 days ago." A low gasp moved through the room. At 71, managing arthritis ...
Continue ReadingNatalie Douglas at Birdland
by Mark Edelman
Natalie Douglas Birdland New York, NY October 27, 2025 Songstress Natalie Douglas, bedecked in a shimmering gold outfit, presented her popular tribute to the seventies on a lovely autumn night at Birdland in the heart of the Broadway theater district. Her favorite decade--the years between 1971 and 1980--offered up a rich motherlode of material for Douglas, who bounced around between funk and soul, pop and movie themes to present a full-throated paean to this golden ...
Continue ReadingRoberto Olzer Trio's Homage to the music of Enrico Pieranunzi
by Nathalie Tamara Freson
Roberto Olzer Trio Studio Annette Tel Aviv October 31, 2025 “Good things come to those who wait."--the old adage certainly applied to Roberto Olzer Trio's homage to the music of Italian legendary pianist Enrico Pieranunzi. Originally planned for May 2025, the event was postponed due to the war in Israel but finally took place on October 31st at Studio Annette in Tel Aviv. And the wait was so worth it! Roberto Olzer is ...
Continue ReadingThe Bad Plus at The Hamilton Live
by Robert Bellafiore
The Bad Plus The Hamilton Live Washington, DC November 9, 2025 The ancient paradox known as the Ship of Theseus poses a philosophical riddle: if every piece of a ship is gradually replaced until no original components remain, is it still the same ship, or has it transformed into something else entirely? Is a thing defined by its collective parts, or by some deeper essence? This is the question raised by The Bad ...
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