Results for "Albany"

The Changing Times of Cecil McBee

by Rob Rosenblum
March 26, 2025

It was 1971 and the jazz scene was struggling and jazz musicians were grabbing gigs wherever they could. Many were moving to Europe where they felt they had greater acceptance. It was at that time when Albany, New York area saxophonist Nick Brignola connected with the State University of New York and produced the first and ...

Terry Gordon

Born: March 16, 1966

Terry Gordon is active in a wide variety of musical styles from jazz, Latin, and big band, to rock, classical, and contemporary Christian worship music. He performs regularly with Alex Torres y su Orquesta, the Terry Gordon Quintet, the Arch Stanton Quartet, and Brass-O-Mania. He has appeared at major venues such as the Montreal International Jazz Festival, the Rochester International Jazz Festival, the Cairo International Jazz Festival, and Lincoln Center, and has appeared in programs with Bobby Rydell, Leslie Gore, and The Temptations. With Alex Torres he can be heard in several television shows and movies including Walt Disney’s Old Dogs and HBO's White House Plumbers, and with the Empire Jazz Orchestra he has backed up such jazz luminaries as Jimmy Heath, Benny Golson, Randy Brecker, Slide Hampton, Rufus Reid, Lew Soloff, Wycliffe Gordon, The Four Freshmen, and David “Fathead” Newman.

2023 Freihofer's Saratoga Jazz Festival

by Richard Conde
July 12, 2023

Celebrating its 46th anniversary over the June 24th weekend, the 2023 Freihofer's Saratoga Jazz Festival at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga Springs New York, featured a great program presenting a wide range of music. Over 20 featured artist played over two days across two stages with headliner Cindy Blackman Santana taking the Amphitheater stage ...

Groove Town: Buffalo Jazz And Its Legacy - Historical Insights

by Barbara Ina Frenz
April 5, 2022

From early on, Buffalo attracted musicians as a place to live and pursue their artistic endeavors—and they were excellent ones: Lil Hardin Armstrong, Jimmie Lunceford, Pete Johnson, and Stuff Smith. Dodo Greene, two masters of polyrhythm, Frankie Dunlop and Clarence Becton, as well as pianist and bassist Wade Legge grew up here. Two distinctive voices on ...

Hudson River Jazz Collective

Hudson River Jazz Collective features vocal soloists accompanied by a single archtop guitar, modeled after the style of Joe Pass and Ella Fitzgerald. The music is classic: Selections from the great American songbook. Our vocalists are some of the finest jazz singers from Hudson Valley.It is such a pleasure for us at Hudson River Jazz Collective to announce the addition of Elli Fordyce to our list of singers. Originally from Manhattan, Elli is a highly accomplished vocalist as well as actress. She's performed all over the New York Metro area and throughout North America. Ms Fordyce’s Cd’s have been widely acclaimed and received pre grammy attention in six different categories

Bill Cash

Retired music teacher, Bill Cash is a North Country native, born and raised in Plattsburgh, New York. He received a BA in music from Plattsburgh State then his MM in music from Crane School of music. His major instrument was trumpet and performed professionally for three seasons with the New Hampshire Symphony, before becoming a full time instrumental music teacher. For thirty-three years, he taught high school instrumental music, twenty - seven of them in Catskill NY. In 2006 while teaching jazz band, he was inspired by a fantastic high school guitar player who played solo jazz

Bright Dog Red

Bright Dog Red (BDR), the alt-jazz, genre-fluid ensemble from Albany, New York, recently released two albums simultaneously, Bad Magic and Hegemonitized. The double release marks the ensemble’s sixth and seventh albums since signing with Ropeadope in 2018.

Despite being hailed as the “best kept secret in the avant-jazz underground” (JazzTimes). BDR continues to produce music with a fervent prolificacy. The ensemble’s "proudly unanchored improvisation" (Downbeat) has been widely lauded for “blending a potpourri of styles, while presenting a sonic personality and conceptual direction…propelled by gripping narratives of sociopolitical struggle” (Downbeat). 

Joe Pignato

Recognized as a “drummer extraordinaire” (JazzTimes),  Pignato leads Bright Dog Red, an improvising collective celebrated for “sublimely marrying jazz with hip-hop, funk, and electronic music" (JazzTimes). Long “a fixture on the NYC jazz and improvisation scene” (Jazz Journal), Bright Dog Red's "proudly unanchored improvisation" (Downbeat) has been likened to “part Ornette Coleman and Prime Time, part Lounge Lizards, part A Tribe Called Quest” (JazzTimes). Others have compared the group to “Mahavishnu Orchestra meets Digable Planets” (Paul Schulman), “Romantic Warrior era Return to Forever” (Rimas e Batidas), and “electronic Ahmad Jamal" (Don Lucoff)

Clifford M Brucker

Born: July 15, 1953

Clifford M. Brucker Cliff Brucker, Drummer-Percussionist, Pianist, Keyboardist, Composer, Producer, Arranger and Educator. Cliff has a B.M. in Music from The Crane School of Music at Potsdam State College and a M.S. in Music from The College of Saint Rose in Albany, NY. Cliff has been performing as a professional musician for over 40 years!  As a well-respected musician by his peers, Cliff has worked with some of the finest talent in the Capital District including the Albany Symphony Orchestra, Capital Region Wind Ensemble, and the Empire Jazz Orchestra. He has also performed with a variety of internationally known jazz and pop artists including Aretha Franklin, Buddy Greco, Rex Richardson, Bob Mintzer and Sandy Hackett's Rat Pack. Cliff is also an award-winning composer and producer of advertising jingles and multimedia production

Kevin Kerr

Born: August 9