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Kari Antila

Born in Laitila, Finland, Kari is graduate of pop/jazz music pedagogue in Stadia, Helsinki, Finland.  Kari moved to Belgium 2003 and studied jazz guitar with famous Belgium Jazz players Peter Hertmans and Philip Catherine. 2006 Kari graduated cum laude from Royal Conservatory of Gent as a Master of Jazz Music. Later on Kari has lived for example in New York and has had opportunity to study with many leading contemporary top jazz guitarists. For example:  Lage Lund, and Gilad Hekselman, 

Kari has worked with many top Finnish and European jazz musicians, for example Jukka Perko, Manuel Dunkel,  Severi Pyysalo, Jaska Lukkarinen, Alexi Tuomarila, Ville Herrala, Aili Ikonen, Pekka Pylkkänen , Jussi Kannaste, Peter Hertmans(BEL), Hans Van Oost(BEL), Bart Van Caenegem(BEL), Sal La Rocca(BEL), Jan De Haas(BEL), Marc Godfroid(BEL), Bruno Castellucci(BEL), Bart De Nolf(BEL), Jos Machtel(HOL), Steven Delannoye(BEL), Gianni Gagliardi(ESP), Dario Guibert(ESP), Francesco Ponticelli(ITA), Luca Santaniello(ITA) Will Vinson(UK)…

Chris May's Best Albums Of 2022

by Chris May
December 2, 2022

It was a good year for jazz, as the world recovered from The Great Pause and bands got together once more for real-time live recordings. Twelve of 2022's absolute top albums are presented here, half of them new recordings, the other half reissues or previously unreleased archive items. Number One Best New Album ...

Mark Kavuma & The Banger Factory At Milton Court Concert Hall

by Chris May
November 23, 2022

Mark KavumaMilton Court Concert HallLondonNovember 18, 2022 Fittingly for one of the closing events of the 2022 London Jazz Festival, trumpeter Mark Kavuma's performance at the Barbican Centre's associate concert hall, a few hundred yards down the road from the main venue, was on an epic scale. Kavuma appeared with ...

Voision Xi

Born: January 1, 1989

Guided by the free-spirited nature of jazz and infused with warm, poignant tones, Voision Xi, a Shanghai-based jazz vocalist, lyricist, composer, and music producer, is constantly evolving her craft.

Voision Xi, leading her jazz band Little Happiness Group, which consists of several outstanding local jazz artists, released their debut EP, DEBUT, in 2018. The album features newly arranged traditional jazz standards. It has captivated listeners with atmospheric sounds of flowing rivers, blowing winds, cosmic imagery, and an invitation to stretch the imagination.

Following DEBUT, she became one of the most sought-after featured artists, known for her distinctive voice and exceptional improvisational skills. Additional collaborative singles have showcased her melodic potential and lyrics, bridging jazz and other genres. Over many years of live performances with bands like Jazz and Poetry, Voision Xi & Spetsnaz, and Little Happiness Group, touring across mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan, she has demonstrated her diverse skills in various music scenes around China and Asia.

Horace Silver: His Only Mistake Was To Smile

by Chris May
August 29, 2022

In his sleeve note for the audio restored Horace Silver album Live New York Revisited (ezz-thetics, 2022), British writer Brian Morton cut to the chase. “[Silver]'s only mistake," he wrote, “was to smile while he was playing... a challenge to the notion that jazz should be deadly serious and played with a pained rictus."

Greg Pardue

Professional musician since 1970 Front Porch Pandemic Jazz Jam - April 2020 to present Forecast, The Jazz-Rock Fusion - Band leader - 1977 to present The Roadhouse Band & PHD Jazz - Core member since 2005 Private music teacher - saxophone, flute & clarinet Formerly employed by P. Mauriat Saxophones, Jupiter Band Instruments & Latin Percussion (LP)

Gard Nilssen Acoustic Unity: Elastic Wave

by Chris May
July 1, 2022

The last time we heard from Norwegian drummer Gard Nilssen as a leader was with his Supersonic Orchestra—a three-drummer, three-bassist behemoth whose 2020 album, If You Listen Carefully The Music Is Yours (Odin), proved that, contrary to the precedent set by Stan Kenton, it is possible to assemble a big band packing Death Star-level ordnance which ...

Jan Leder

Born: May 19, 1958

A born-and-raised New Yorker, Jan Leder decided to pursue her love for improvisation after twelve years of studying classical music. She studied for three years with the late pianist Lennie Tristano and then continued her jazz studies with pianist Connie Crothers for over ten years. A self-styled course of study in jazz history at SUNY Purchase led to her compilation of the first comprehensive history of women in jazz entitled Women in Jazz: A Discography of Instrumentalists 1913-1968 (Greenwood Press 1985). Ms. Leder has enjoyed teaching jazz improvisation, although teaching has not figured prominently in her career. In 1999 Jan recorded Nonchalant (A-Records 2000), a collection of mostly original melodies

J. Peter Schwalm & Stephan Thelen: Transneptunian Planets

by Dan McClenaghan
May 28, 2022

To get any further out than Transneptunian Planets, one would have to travel to the edge of the solar system. The title of the album— offered up by electro-acoustic composer J. Peter Schwalm and guitarist, composer & mathematician Stephan Thelen—refers to objects orbiting the sun in the far reaches, out beyond Neptune. Many of these objects ...

The Blue Notes: Refugees From Race Hate

by Chris May
May 26, 2022

In late May 2022, three months into the war in Ukraine, the plight of refugees is at the front of our minds. Around five million Ukrainians have become refugees and another seven million are displaced persons inside their own country. The apartheid-era South African refugee crisis was not on this scale. The number of internally displaced ...