Results for "Contemporary Jazz"

Noshir Mody

Born: October 9, 1972

Noshir Mody, an esteemed composer, guitarist, and producer, continues to make significant contributions to the world of music. Born in Bombay, India, Mody's passion for music was evident from an early age. He immersed himself in the rich tapestry of Indian classical music and was heavily influenced by his cultural roots. As he grew older, his love for jazz, progressive rock, and other genres led him to explore new horizons and develop his own unique style.

Mody moved to the United States at the age of twenty-two and successfully sustained a career in both music and technology. As a self-taught musician, he refined his skills on the guitar and immersed himself in the vibrant New York City jazz scene. Over the years, Noshir Mody has crafted a distinctive sound that melds the intricate textures of Indian classical music with the improvisational elements of jazz and the emotive power of progressive rock. This eclectic fusion of genres reflects not only Mody's personal journey but also the universal language of music that transcends cultural boundaries. His innovative approach has earned him a loyal following and critical acclaim from industry experts and peers alike.

Jakob Dreyer

Jakob Dreyer is a German jazz musician, bass player, and composer. He appears on over 30 albums as a sideman, and as a leader he has released two albums on Fresh Sound New Talent: Songs, Hymns & Ballads Vol. 1 and Songs, Hymns & Ballads Vol. 2. Both volumes feature Jason Rigby on saxophone, Jon Cowherd on piano, and Jimmy Macbride on drums. Jakob Dreyer has performed with artists such as Steve Wilson, Jochen Rueckert, Mike Holober, Tivon Pennicott, and Manuel Valera, to just name a few, and notable venues he has performed at include the Carnegie Hall in New York City and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C

José Canha

Born: October 26, 1974

José Canha was born in Setúbal, Portugal and began his musical journey as a lead vocalist for various alternative-rock bands during his late teens. He explored a range of musical instruments during this period, developing a strong affinity for those in the lowest register. Working with a diverse range of talented musicians, he gained an eclectic musical background, which ignited a growing passion for blues and jazz music.

After completing his army service, Canha abandoned his earlier academic intentions to dedicate himself to an in-depth study of his newfound passions: the bass and Black American music

Nicky Schrire

Born: August 22

Nicky Schrire is a multitalented and inventive British-South African vocalist and composer based in Toronto, Canada. Her work has seen her likened to vocalists Joni Mitchell, Norma Winstone, and Esperanza Spalding with The Boston Globe’s Jon Garelick noting that “though her approach has earned her comparisons to Gretchen Parlato and Becca Stevens, the similarities are superficial…she’s got her own thing, and it’s very much worth listening to.”

A graduate of the South African College of Music and New York’s Manhattan School of Music, she studied with Anthea Haupt, Peter Eldridge, Theo Bleckmann, and Dave Liebman. Schrire has performed in New York, Los Angeles, Boston, London, Dublin and South Africa, with musicians including Ben Wendel, Gerald Clayton, Fabian Almazan, Nir Felder, and Taylor Eigsti. She released three critically acclaimed jazz albums-2012's "Freedom Flight", 2013's "Space and Time", and the 2014 EP "To The Spring"-which earned her comparisons to songwriters like Joan Baez and Mary Chapin Carpenter. Her duo album “Space & Time” featured Grammy-nominated pianists Gerald Clayton, Gil Goldstein and Fabian Almazan. The Ottawa Citizen’s Peter Hum described the recording as “fifty minutes of emotionally eventful, richly crafted music”.

Performance highlights include headlining the 2018 Cape Town International Jazz Festival, performing at Jazz at Lincoln Centre for Carnegie Hall’s Ubuntu Festival, performances in the UK at Royal Festival Hall and the Vortex, and having her composition ESCAPE: The Ingrid Jonker Suite programmed for the 2022 String Quartet Biennale in Amsterdam (sadly cancelled due to COVID).

Schrire was delighted to be awarded a Canada Council for the Arts grant to record her new album "Nowhere Girl", to be released on 9 June 2023 on Anzic Records. Produced by Grammy-nominated producer Oded Lev-Ari, the album features a rhythm section comprising Canadian trio Myriad3 (Ernesto Cervini, Dan Fortin, Chris Donnelly), saxophonist Tara Davidson, guest vocalist Laila Biali, and Mozambican guitarist Julio Sigauque (Freshlyground).

As a journalist and broadcaster, Schrire was a contributing host and producer for Toronto’s JazzFM.91 station, creating and presenting the weekly segment "This Bright North" from 2021 to 2022. She has been a contributing journalist for LondonJazz News for over a decade, covering the 2014 Berlin Jazz Festival and starting the "Mothers In Jazz" series. 

Todd Mosby

Born: May 5, 1957

Instrumental composer, songwriter, and Imrat guitar innovator Todd Mosby is a storyteller and a landscape artist. He uses the guitar to whisk listeners away to a borderless realm where jazz, jazz fusion, North Indian classical, classical composition, bluegrass, bossa-nova, and folk-rock create transporting and transformative experiences. His latest album, Land Of Enchantment, is a gorgeous scrapbook of the visual, emotive, spiritual and cultural interactions Todd has personally experienced within the New Mexico region of the United States.

Todd is an acclaimed Indian and jazz guitarist influenced by St. Louis’s vibrantly varied cultural blend of Indian, African-American, and Americana traditions. He is one of the few musicians in America who has mastered three mountains of music; western composition, jazz improvisation, and Indian raga music, incorporating them freely as a part of his musical language. He attended Berklee College of Music as an undergrad, Webster University as a graduate student, and, for 13 years, studied classical North Indian music with Ustadt Imrat Khan in the most disciplined way. He has the distinction of being the only guitarist to become a member of the famed Imdhad Khani Gharana of musicians, India’s most prestigious family of sitar musicians dating back 500 to Tansen in the court of Mughal Emperor Akbar. From his years studying this rarified and sacred music, Imrat worked with Mosby to develop a unique guitar technique. This led to  an innovative bridge instrument, the Imrat guitar, which has been undergoing design upgrades since 1997. Built by luthier Kim Schwartz to the performance standards of Mosby and the overall sonic palette of Imrat Kahn, the resulting hybrid 18-stringed sitar-guitar instrument allows for a cross-cultural East-West musical dialogue right at your fingertips and integrated into his musical vocabulary.

Eduardo Rojo

Born: February 13, 1979

His work is characterized by the influence of different kind of music, principally folk, classical and jazz music. He has worked with Mr. Dennis Mackrel (Count Basie, Maria Schneider, Mel Lewis Orchestra…), Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw, Franco D’Andrea, Nederlands Blazers Ensemble, AKOM Ensemble, the flamenco guitarist Gerardo Núñez, the flamenco dancer Carmen Cortés, Codarts Big Band, Peter-Jan Wagemans, Paul M. Van Brugge, Tim Kliphuis, Barga Jazz Orchestra, Canary Islands Big Band, The New Music Ensemble of Rotterdam and Sole Giménez, among others.

Alberto Forino

Born: September 6, 1982

Alberto Forino began studying music at a very young age, he graduated in piano with Alberto Ranucci at the Conservatory of Brescia, then he studied Jazz and improvisation first with Roberto Soggetti and later at the Civic School of Jazz in Milan under the guidance of Franco D'Andrea, participating in the workshops held by Stefano Battaglia and earning a second-level degree in Jazz at the Conservatory of Vicenza with Paolo Birro. Over the years he participated in several courses, seminars and masterclasses with Pietro Tonolo, Fred Hersch, Lukas Ligeti, Rossano Emili, Roberto Dani, Kyle Gregory and others.

Dan Waldman

Guitarist Dan Waldman has paid dues both in Europe and the USA, over a number of genres, performing as a sideman with artists such as Jason Marshall, Soul Understated (Bean Clemons / Mavis Swan Poole), Pee Wee Ellis, Jean Toussaint, Gareth Lockrane, Frank Willams / Brotherhood of Breath, The Real Live Show / MC Malik Work, Grupo Lokito (RIP Eugene Makuta), Jovol Bell, Nate Jones, Kim Thompson, Raheem DeVaughan and Celestine - appearing on recordings released by Acid Jazz, Jazz Refreshed, Mark de Clive Lowe and more.

His 2020 debut release as leader  'Sources & Angles', featuring Will Vinson on sax, Kassa Overall on drums and Ryan Berg on bass received a 4 star review in Jazzwise magazine, international radio play and positive reviews elsewhere including The Times and on this site.

Jazz'on Parma Orchestra

Active since: August 1, 2013

The association JAZZ'ON PARMA ORCHESTRA is a young non profit organization based in Parma, Italy. The main aim of the JPO is founding in Parma professional Jazz big band and spread the culture of big jazz formations in generally.

The association have also a music school with 2 regular big band workshops for Basic and Advalced Level.

The founder, conductor and artistic director of the big band is the composer and trombone player Beppe Di Benedetto.

The orchestra performs with the classic organic of the big band: 5 saxophones, 4 trombones, 4 trumpets, guitar, piano, double bass, drums.

Stefano Falcone

Born: January 24, 1988

Stefano Falcone is an Italian pianist and composer. Based in Naples (IT) he currently works in in Italy and Europe as pianist, composer and bandleader. Falcone’s pianism is never short of lyricism or drama, but these qualities generally come unexpectedly and silently, filtered through an adventurous sensibility and the strategic use of silence that indicates its reflective - although never passive - nature. A versatile and sought-after professional, he has so far performed on many European stages (Italy, Sweden, Scotland, Denmark, England, Faroe Islands, Belgium, Portugal).