Andreas Varady “The Quest” Resonance Records andreasvarady.com On “Lost Memories,” the opening track on “The Quest,” guitarist Andreas Varady unleashes a torrent of notes with such urgency, that it’s disappointing to hear the tune end after about a minute. Listeners will want a lot more than this enticing prelude, and Varady delivers. He’s only 21, […]
Ron Netsky
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JAZZ | Don Menza
Over a six-decade career, Buffalo-born tenor saxophonist Don Menza has played a giant role in the jazz world. He toured with the bands of Stan Kenton, Maynard Ferguson, Buddy Rich, and Elvin Jones, and had a long stint in Doc Severinsen’s NBC Orchestra. On Rich’s 1968 “Mercy, Mercy” album, Menza’s legendary solo on “Channel 1 Suite,” […]
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Album review: ‘Horizontal Dialogues’
Raffaele Califano “Horizontal Dialogues” Alfamusic facebook.com/www.RaffaeleCalifanoMusic.it European jazz artists take the first step toward cultural exchange by falling in love with and playing the great American art form. One of Italy’s top drummers, Raffaele Califano, goes one step further by featuring the excellent American saxophonist Seamus Blake on his new album. Appropriately titled “Horizontal Dialogues,” […]
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Album review: ‘In Transit’
Jeff Dingler “In Transit” Self-released jeffdingler.com Some of the best music is indelibly attached to the life of its creator; bassist and composer Jeff Dingler’s “In Transit” is a case in point. Dingler was deeply involved with jazz, classical, and Balkans music before spending a year in Ethiopia, absorbing the culture and especially the music […]
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JAZZ | Ben Goldberg & Kirk Knuffke
One plus one may usually add up to two, but in the world of jazz it’s often much more. Bring together two top musicians like clarinetist Ben Goldberg and cornetist Kirk Knuffke for an evening of improvised music and the sky’s the limit. Goldberg, known for his work in jazz and Klezmer music, has played […]
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JAZZ | Marc Antoine
If smooth jazz guitar is your cup of tea, there’s no one smoother than Marc Antoine. The French guitarist has lent his talents to Sting, Cher, Celine Dion, and many others. Last year he recorded the hit album “So Nice,” with David Benoit. Opening up for Antoine at Anthology will be Rochester’s own Paradigm Shift […]
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JAZZ | Trio East & Friends
After 18 years together and four CDs, drummer Rich Thompson, trumpeter Clay Jenkins, and bassist Jeff Campbell have the kind of simpatico musicians envy. Maybe it’s because they also work together as professors at the Eastman School of Music. At Kilbourn Hall they’ll be playing original tunes and standards and some lesser known tunes by […]
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Jazz Fest 2018, Day 9: Ron reviews Matt Wilson’s Honey & Salt Band, the Mark Lewandowski Trio, and Thomas Stronen
If you can create a Broadway musical about Alexander Hamilton using hip-hop, it doesn’t seem too radical to take the poetry of Carl Sandburg and set it to jazz. Matt Wilson’s Honey & Salt Band does exactly that, and Saturday night the group provided one of the most unusual concert’s I’ve heard at the XRIJF. […]
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Jazz Fest 2018, Day 8: Ron reviews the Geoffrey Keezer Trio, Maciej Obara Quartet, and Jean-Michel Pilc
Sometimes a group with a big name in the title only has one true star, but at Xerox Auditorium, the Geoffrey Keezer Trio proved to be a band of equals. Keezer may be the most well known member; after all he’s played with Sting. But every time bassist Ben Williams or drummer Billy Kilson took […]
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Jazz Fest 2018, Day 7: Ron reviews the Vincent Herring Quartet, the Georgia Mancio/Alan Broadbent Quartet, and Megumi Yonezawa
The Vincent Herring Quartet put on quite a crowd-pleasing show at Kilbourn Hall Thursday night. Part of the charm was Herring’s personality; he had a great rapport with the audience. But the other reason was his song selection. There were no brooding ballads, just lively tunes with great heads and perfect chords to improvise over. […]
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Jazz Fest 2018, Day 6: Ron reviews Jazzmeia Horn, Harold Danko, and Torben Waldorff
When Jazzmeia Horn took the Temple Building Theater stage Wednesday night, it was obvious she was a commanding presence in a long green dress and brightly colored African head wrap. As soon as she launched into her first song, Betty Carter’s “Tight,” there was no doubt that there was plenty of substance to go with […]
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Album review: ‘Electric Miles’
Charles Pillow Large Ensemble “Electric Miles” MAMA Records charlespillow.com Over his long and varied career, Miles Davis recorded several seminal jazz orchestra albums in collaboration with the great arranger Gil Evans. Those disciplined affairs (“Sketches of Spain” and others) were in stark contrast to Miles’s wild, improvised, “electric” period that produced records like “Bitches Brew.” […]
