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Article: In Pictures

Half Moon Bay Wine & Jazz Festival 2023

by Walter Atkins
May 31, 2023

The Second Annual Half Moon Bay Wine & Jazz Festival took place on historic Main Street Half Moon Bay, with perfect 76° weather and a cloudless sky complementing the day's music and wine tasting. Artists for the HMB Festival included El Guajiro (The Peasant), the Marcus Shelby Quintet, Sammi Joy, Paula West, the Brian Andres Trio ...

Article: Live Review

Re-Convening The Convention: jazzahead's Bold Comeback Plan

by Josef Woodard
May 12, 2023

A delicate, operational balance between sophistication, jazz cultural advocacy and marketwise boosterism has been in place since the inception of the ambitious adventure known as jazzahead!. One can sense that balance in the convention/showcase festival's very branding, with its title stylized as in coolly lowercase composite word festooned with an emphatic exclamation point, and in the ...

Article: Festivals Talking

Jazzkaar Interviews: Kirke Karja

by Martin Longley
April 21, 2023

Estonian pianist Kirke Karja has regularly appeared at the Jazzkaar festival in Tallinn, customarily performing in surprising settings, always delivering a fresh band combination, or a new set of music, or altering ratios between improvisation and composition, acoustic or electric palettes. During the last two years she has a.) been discovered by the rest of the ...

Article: Live Review

Vossa Jazz Going Strong and Poetic at 50

by Josef Woodard
April 12, 2023

Vossa Jazz Voss, Norway March 31-April 2, 2023 Origin stories in the still-young-ish wild frontier of jazz festival culture can be fascinating case studies in feisty pioneer spirit. Take the Western Norwegian Vossa Jazz Festival, an important stop in the storied Norwegian festival circuit, which celebrated its ripe old 50th birthday this ...

Article: Festivals Talking

Moers Festival Interviews: Kenny Garrett

by Martin Longley
March 4, 2023

The release of Kenny Garrett's Sounds From The Ancestors album (Mack Avenue, 2021) has reinvigorated his live performances, as the saxophonist tours heartily with an expanded band that's heavy on the Afro-Latin percussion. In recent times, multi-instrumentalist Garrett has been gigging with this dedicated Sounds From The Ancestors line-up, heavily devoted to the album, but not ...

Article: Festivals Talking

Moers Festival Interviews: Brandon Seabrook

by Martin Longley
February 12, 2023

Brandon Seabrook cultivates a forked assault on the guitar and the banjo, amplifying both of them, and negotiating their strings at high speeds, filling his playing with hyper-detailed improvisations, or constructing complex compositional strategies, frequently referred to as 'riffs.' Seabrook has long been a crucial presence on the New York City scene, whether leading his own ...

Article: Festivals Talking

Enjoy Jazz Interviews: Tania Giannouli

by Martin Longley
October 21, 2022

Along with fellow pianist Nik Bärtsch, the other Artist In Residence of this year's Enjoy Jazz festival is Tania Giannouli, from Athens. Like Bärtsch, she has also become a regular at the EJ concerts in Heidelberg, Mannheim and Ludwigshafen, although Giannouli has been appearing in more recent years. In 2020, your scribe caught her set at ...

Article: Festivals Talking

Enjoy Jazz Interviews: Nik Bärtsch

by Martin Longley
October 15, 2022

The Swiss pianist Nik Bärtsch has become a virtual fixture of the Enjoy Jazz festival, which customarily inhabits at least three cities in southern Germany. It sprawls across all of October and half of November, presenting at least one performance each night in Heidelberg, Mannheim or Ludwigshafen. Sometimes there will be two or even three gigs ...

Article: Live Review

Monterey Jazz Festival at 65: Let it Happen

by Josef Woodard
October 5, 2022

Monterey Jazz Festival Monterey County Fairgrounds Monterey, CA September 23-25, 2022 For the finale of the arena portion of this year's Monterey Jazz Festival programming, Gregory Porter channeled one of the aspects which make him special in the jazz pantheon, as spirit mover with gospel roots, and with show biz instincts ...

Article: Festivals Talking

Moers Festival Interviews: Sana Nagano

by Martin Longley
June 4, 2022

Right place, right time, your scribe caught Smashing Humans playing a late night set at the original Nublu club in NYC's Alphabet City, 19th April 2019. Intensity ensued, via a serrated prog-jazz extremity, sharply sculpted in its dynamic schizoid turning of sharp bends, its abrasive surface causing exciting distress. Smashing Humans were assembled by the Japanese ...