Results for "Grand Rapids"

Jazz Host Celebrates 40 Years On the Air

March 1, 2023

Joining Blue Lake Public Radio’s staff in the spring of 1983, Lazaro Vega has provided listeners with four decades of exceptional Jazz programming, interviews, reviews, and unwavering advocacy of this uniquely American art form. As Jazz Director at BLPR, he is encyclopedic in his knowledge of the medium and well known in the Jazz community both ...

Kevin Bujo Jones And Tenth World

Tenth World is a group formed by Kevin Jones and pianist/composer, Kelvin Sholar through a partnership created back in 1999 in New York City. Together Jones and Sholar formed a collective of young talented master musicians on the cusp of realizing a new and creative sound that combined the harmonic sensibilities of Jazz and Soul with the rhythms of the African Diaspora. The nucleus of Tenth World formed around Kelvin Sholar’s group Esoterica which was a quartet. Other members were added; Saxophonist Brian Horton, Drummer Jaimeo Brown, Trumpeter Kevin Louis and both Bassists Damon Warmack out of Detroit and Joshua David Barrett out of New Jersey worked interchangeably

Lushh

Born: February 18, 1996

Lushh is an electronic jazz band based out of Kalamazoo, MI. The band has been together since late 2015, after meeting through the Jazz Studies program at Western Michigan University. While merging their jazz roots with more modern and contemporary styles, Lushh draws their influences from the likes of Kneebody, Donny McCaslin, Hiatus Kaiyote and much more. Lushh frequently performs around the Midwest, particularly in Michigan, collaborating with various musicians and artists. In addition to performing, Lushh teaches masterclasses at local Michigan high schools. Recently, Lushh performed at the Audiotree Music Festival in Kalamazoo, MI

Andrew Saliba

Andrew Saliba is a guitarist and composer from San Diego, CA. Based in Kalamazoo, he performs throughout Michigan and the Chicagoland area. He has performed with and written for WMU's Advanced Jazz Ensemble and Gold Company, Miracosta College's Frequency, Jazz Collective, and Jazz Orchestra (MOJO), and the Sam Pilnick Project. He is also part of the Downbeat award-winning electronic jazz group Lushh. In addition to awards from Miracosta College and Western Michigan University, Andrew has won several Downbeat awards: four as a member of various groups, and three individually. He recently won a 2019 Downbeat award as a soloist

Jonathan Barrera Mikulich

My name is Jonathan Barrera Mikulich. I live and work in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I play the saxophone and am currently a member of an alt.Latino band named Cabildo (cabidoband.com). I am very much interested in many different genres of music but have an affinity toward music that is part of the jazz tradition; improvisational, inspirational, and without boundaries.

Matthew Fries

Born: September 24, 1968

Matthew Fries is a joyful voice on the piano with a unique and recognizable style that is authentically rooted in the tradition of the classic jazz pianists, while still looking forward to the future of the music and the instrument.

As a composer and leader he has performed his own music extensively, recording ten albums of mostly original compositions. His music has been described as playful and hopeful, introspective, full of joy and wonderment, and awash with tonal colors. But it is his deeply swinging piano style and collaborative spirit that have also made him an in-demand sideman for both instrumentalists and vocalists. He has toured worldwide, appears on scores of recordings, and his work has been described as “the best jazz accompaniment I’ve seen in a cabaret in years” (The New York Times), and “the crispest rhythm section imaginable” (The London Times).

Wayne Powers

From jazz vocalist/bandleader to actor/comedian/radio talk show host, it's easy to see why Wayne Powers is often referred to as a “renaissance man”. Wayne started out as a “boy singer” in New York nightclubs at age 16. “I wasn’t very good,” he freely admits, “but you’ve gotta start someplace – and I grew up with this music inside me – in my heart and soul – and treasure it enough to gladly do whatever it takes for me to live inside the music. You see, when I was growing up we couldn’t afford a piano (and we had no room for one, anyway). so I just learned to play the human voice.” Persistence paid off as Powers eventually studied in New York with renowned vocal coach of the day, Fred Steele, mentor to Steve Lawrence & Eydie Gorme, Eddie Fisher and widely credited with helping restore Tony Bennett’s voice

Charlie Hoats

Born: January 21, 1969

Over a lengthy professional career, Charlie Hoats has had the privilege of performing with Rick Margitza, Marvin Stamm, Gunnar Mossblad, Marcus Roberts, Denis DiBlasio, Gene Bertoncini, Phil Keaggy, Claudio Roditi, Chris Vadala, Jack Wilkins, Jimmy Bruno, Clay Jenkins, Kim Richmond, Christian Howes, Sunny Wilkinson, Ray Kaczinski, Danny Draher, The Butterfat Trio, Walt Weiskopf, Edye Evans Hyde, Melvin Rynes, Michael Brecker, and many others. Additional performance experience includes the National Touring Company of Grease; regional productions of Pump Boys and Dinettes, Ten November, Beehive, and other small- and large- scale musicals; and numerous performances with local and regional jazz, blues, and pop groups

Spring Quartet at Dalton Recital Hall

by John Ephland
May 24, 2019

Spring Quartet Dalton Recital Hall, Western Michigan University Kalamazoo, MI May 4, 2019 They had to add chairs. The 435-seat Dalton Recital Hall, on the campus of Western Michigan University, was filled with multiple generations of music fans from all walks of life. The alluring ticket, brought to town by ...

Gilmore Keyboard Festival

by John Ephland
June 3, 2018

Gilmore Keyboard Festival Kalamazoo, Michigan April 25 to May 12, 2018 Thursday night is always the second night of the biennial Gilmore Keyboard Festival. Thursday night is also the first night for jazz, the festival putatively a classical music rollout with jazz confections, albeit well-considered, strewn throughout this 22-day cultural jewel based ...