Rochester is the Land of 1,000 Potlucks — a place where a commitment to art and a passion for fostering community are inextricably linked. On a warm evening in early July, a pie-centric potluck transpired in the city. In the hosts’ backyard, a table held several different pies — most of them homemade — brought […]
Daniel J. Kushner
Posted inMusic
“Labor” of love
Singer-songwriter Christopher Paul Stelling is on the road to the Newport Folk Festival in a recently purchased, unassuming white touring van he has affectionately named Walt Whitman. As he recounts the various jobs he held throughout his 20’s — grocery store worker, luthier’s assistant, bookstore employee, sushi chef, dishwasher — a male blowup sex doll […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Let there be light
Long before there were the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival, Rochester Real Beer Week, or the Park Avenue Summer Art Fest, there was the inaugural Song and Light Festival held at Rochester’s Highland Park in 1915. Created by local architect Claude Bragdon, the event’s innovative means of lighting through the use of lanterns and electric […]
Posted inMusic
Strike a chord
Local audiences have long been able to hear great performances from established pianists who collaborate with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra in concert. Now in its 14th iteration, the Eastman Young Artists International Piano Competition also gives classical music fans the chance to witness emergent pianists from throughout the world. The 2015 competition will take place […]
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Jazz Fest 2015, Day 9: Daniel reviews Katie Ernst’s “Big Words” and The Wood Brothers
Eastman School of Music alumna, vocalist, and upright bassist Katie Ernst brought her “Little Words” project — featuring her original compositions set to the poetry of Dorothy Parker — to Max of Eastman Place and the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival on its last day, along with what may have been the most refreshing voice […]
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Jazz Fest 2015, Day 8: Daniel reviews Emmet Cohen and Duchess
Before New York City-based pianist Emmet Cohen began playing his second set at Hatch Recital Hall on Friday night, he let the audience know it was going to be “loose.” “It’s jazz — if you wanna scream, comment, say ‘boo,’ whatever.” Those present elected to stay quiet and attentive for most of the set, erupting […]
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Jazz Fest 2015, Day 7: Daniel reviews Theo Croker and Mama Corn
When the nearly 30-year-old trumpeter Theo Croker took the stage at Kilbourn Hall on Thursday night, he did so with a group of young professionals both exceedingly vibrant and undeniably mature. It’s hard to imagine five musicians more dialed into one another than Croker and his band — keyboardist Michael King, tenor saxophonist Anthony Ware, […]
Posted inMovies
Dan Sallitt’s “family films”
Creative types are usually at ease discussing the artistic process and where that process places them within the context of “the scene,” but every artist I’ve ever interviewed has always shied away from speculating about his or her future importance to the art form. That is, until I met Brooklyn independent filmmaker Dan Sallitt, whose […]
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Jazz Fest 2015, Day 6: Daniel reviews Julia Biel and the High Definition Quartet
British vocalist, guitarist, and pianist Julia Biel and her band brought melancholic jazz-tinged pop songs to Max at Eastman Place on Wednesday night. Amidst her brooding original songs, Biel’s vocal aesthetic was often hushed, intimate, and confessional. Though she clearly has a powerful voice, she never overstated her case, singing with a controlled tone that […]
Posted inMusic
Jazz Fest 2015, Day 5: Daniel reviews Mario Rom’s Interzone and George Colligan
If you blinked on Tuesday night, you might have missed the Austrian trio known as Mario Rom’s Interzone, easily one of the most entertaining and scintillating acts at this year’s festival. I have yet to hear a group of musicians — anywhere — with a more serious sense of play. The band opened its first […]
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Jazz Fest 2015, Day 4: Daniel reviews Blue Highway, The Soul Rebels, and Stephane Wrembel (again)
On Monday night, the members of Blue Highway brought a more traditional bluegrass approach to the Squeezers Roots & Americana Stage. This sound had less swagger and more twang than The HillBenders from three nights before. And while the music of Blue Highway was perfectly pleasant, it felt staid — almost commonplace — lacking the […]
Posted inMusic
Jazz Fest 2015, Day 3: Daniel reviews Stephane Wrembel and Kneebody
On Sunday night, though the two Jazz Festival performances I witnessed were stylistically quite disparate, both concerts had a nonstop energy that was remarkably uncanny. First was guitarist Stephane Wrembel and his 8:30 p.m. set at the Rochester Regional Health Big Tent, where he was joined by drummer Nick Anderson, bassist Kells Nollenberger, and guitarist […]
