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Kermit Ruffins: Swingin' and Smilin'
by Tod Smith
There's a rebirth occurring in New Orleans music, and trumpeter/vocalist Kermit Ruffins finds himself front and center. While the post-Katrina recovery has meant many things for the Crescent City, in a number of ways it's been musicians who have taken the lead in bringing the city back to its traditions. Prior to the storm, many musicians ...
Ran Blake: Lurking in the Shadows
by Tod Smith
If you close your eyes while listening to Ran Blake's Driftwoods (Tompkins Square, 2009), you may find yourself transported into the grainy, low-key black and white world of a 1940s or '50s classic noir film. Try to leave the theater and something quietly, without much fanfare draws you back into the story. This is the music ...
Marcus Roberts: Has A Lot More To Do
by Tod Smith
With a foundation in the church and a passion for America's music, Marcus Roberts is easily one of the most prolific pianists of his generation. Hailing from Jacksonville, Florida and influenced by the early exposure to his mother's gospel singing, he decided that he wanted to be a jazz pianist after listening to the music of ...
Ken Field & The Revolutionary Snake Ensemble: The Musical Road Less Taken
by Tod Smith
Saxophonist/composer Ken Field describes the Revolutionary Snake Ensemble as a “funk and street beat brass band playing New Orleans and other modern improvised celebratory styles." Playing original compositions and those of artists as diverse as Billy Idol and Ornette Coleman, the RSE was formed in 1990 to entertain a at a pagan women's ritual celebration. The ...
40th New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival Preview
by Tod Smith
Seven days, two weekends, forty years. No matter how you measure it, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival Presented by Shell is a musical and cultural rite of spring for hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. From its humble beginnings at Congo Square, to this the 40th anniversary, Jazz Fest always provides enough musical ...
The Monterey Jazz Festival 2008 Music Sampler
by Tod Smith
Frequently, even free music downloads can be overpriced. Of course, there are always exceptions to any rule and the Monterey Jazz Festival 2008 Music Sampler from iTunes is one fine example of how free can be worth so much more than nothing.Upon entering the Monterey Fairgrounds on a festival day, there's an assortment of ...
Christian Scott: Live at Newport
by Tod Smith
Christian Scott Live at Newport Concord Music Group 2008 Creativity is most often found outside the boundaries of established tradition. It's while looking outside of those traditional boundaries that an artist frequently finds his or her own voice. In two previous releases, Rewind That (Concord, 2006) and Anthem (Concord, 2007), ...
The Gathering Tradition
by Tod Smith
Tradition is powerful. Sometimes a return to the tradition is the only clear path to the future. For New Orleans, a city's whose recent troubled past has sometimes overshadowed a history rich in culture, its traditions can have healing, almost mystical powers. And so it was on this bright Sunday afternoon, that tradition brought together a ...
Shirley Horn: No Regrets
by Tod Smith
It's 10pm on a Monday evening and I find myself anxiously dialing the front desk of a local hotel to talk to one of the true legends of jazz, Shirley Horn. I have to admit that I am more than just a bit nervous. First, it's Shirley Horn and second, it's ten o'clock. My friend, flutist ...
Jonathan Batiste: Times in New Orleans
by Tod Smith
Do a Google or Yahoo search on the name Jonathan Batiste and the first listing is for an Atlanta real estate agent. No offense to Atlanta's Mr. Batiste, but in the very near future his first place listing maybe in jeopardy. You see, the other Jonathan Batiste is an up and coming pianist hailing from jny: ...
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