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Article: Live Review

Jazz Orchestra of Philadelphia with Pat Martino Trio at the Kimmel Center

by Victor L. Schermer
June 20, 2016

Jazz Orchestra of Philadelphia with Pat Martino Trio Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts A String of Pearls Philadelphia, PA June 18, 2016 The Jazz Orchestra of Philadelphia (JOP) was founded a little over two years ago, under the direction of trumpeter Terell Stafford. Featuring some of the finest ...

Article: Album Review

Roberta Piket: One for Marian

Read "One for Marian" reviewed by Victor L. Schermer

by Victor L. Schermer
June 14, 2016

In 1945, as World War II came to an end, Marian McPartland (1918-2013) moved from England to the United Sates with her then husband, trumpeter Jimmy McPartland. She had already achieved some notoriety as a pianist on radio shows and with the USO, and in the U.S., with her husband's encouragement, she found a secure niche ...

Article: Album Review

Ron Thomas: Duo

Read "Duo" reviewed by Victor L. Schermer

by Victor L. Schermer
June 9, 2016

The poet John Keats famously wrote: “A thing of beauty is a joy forever." That's the kind of album this is. It's one stretch of beautiful playing from beginning to end. It's not a “statement," it's not a “thing," it's not a “groove." It's just music that, taken as a whole becomes an “objet d'art," something ...

Article: Album Review

Pat Martino: Nexus

Read "Nexus" reviewed by Victor L. Schermer

by Victor L. Schermer
June 1, 2016

This CD is not only a fine addition to the Pat Martino catalogue, it is also of historical importance with respect to his personal and musical development. Recorded at the well-known eclectic nightclub the Tin Angel in Philadelphia in the mid-nineties (the exact date is not given and probably unknown), it is a duet set (or ...

Article: Interview

Greg Osby: Saxophone “Griot”

by Victor L. Schermer
May 17, 2016

The griot is a West African historian, storyteller, praise singer, poet and/or musician, a repository of oral tradition who is often seen as a societal leader. Saxophonist Greg Osby recently was excited to meet some griots on his travels. While he is originally from St. Louis, he himself is a griot in many senses of the ...

Article: What is Jazz?

Jazz: The Sacred and the Profane

by Victor L. Schermer
May 13, 2016

“As above, so below" --Hermes Trismegistus A warning: this article is worth reading only if you believe, as I do, that jazz is not just a form of entertainment, but an art form that has deep significance for our lives and contributes to our search for meaning. I fully appreciate the value of “digging ...

Article: Live Review

Jackie Ryan and the Larry McKenna Quartet at Chris’ Jazz Café

by Victor L. Schermer
April 28, 2016

Jackie Ryan and the Larry McKenna Quartet Chris' Jazz Café Philadelphia, PA April 23, 2016 Jackie Ryan is acquiring a reputation as a “must hear" vocalist. When this reviewer heard DJ Bob Perkins ("BP with the GM") praise her singing on WRTI, he decided to attend her show at Chris' ...

Article: Film Review

Miles Ahead: A Powerhouse Film, But is it the Truth?

by Victor L. Schermer
April 25, 2016

Don Cheadle Miles Ahead Sony Pictures Classics 2015 Miles Davis happens to have been actor Don Cheadle's long-time hero, and he mulled over the idea of a film about him for several years. In contemplating his directorial and screenwriting debut based on Davis' life, Cheadle could have chosen among several formats: ...

Article: Book Review

Drummer Stan Levey Improvised His Life with a Steady Beat

by Victor L. Schermer
April 16, 2016

Stan Levey: Jazz Heavyweight Frank R. Hayde 224 Pages ISBN: # 13-978-1595800862 Santa Monica Press 2016 The word “Heavyweight" in the title of this fast-paced biography of the late great jazz drummer Stan Levey is not just a metaphor for his reputation as a musician. Levey, in addition ...

Article: What is Jazz?

Jazz Cosmos: Music and Modern Physics

by Victor L. Schermer
April 10, 2016

To the memory of Leonard Bernstein, the greatest musical educator of all time, a great conductor and composer who loved jazz and whose televised lectures brought a whole generation of listeners into insightful contact with the music. Maybe you remember how astrophysicist Carl Sagan's vision of “billions and billions of stars" captured the awesome ...