Spin Cycle “Assorted Colors” Sound Footing Records spincyclemusic.org There’s a moment about halfway through “Possum Dark,” the third track on Spin Cycle’s “Assorted Colors,” when you might forget you are listening to a jazz album. Saxophonist Tom Christensen, who co-leads the group with drummer Scott Neumann, wrote the tune and takes the first solo with a powerful […]
Ron Netsky
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Jazz Fest 2018, Day 5: Ron reviews Joe Locke Group, Lucia Cadotsch ‘Speak Low,’ and Gary Versace Trio
It’s one thing to hear great music; it’s quite another to witness a super-human performance. That’s what two full houses at Kilbourn Hall experienced Tuesday night with the Joe Locke Group. Locke played selections from his new album, “Subtle Disguise,” with Jim Ridl on piano, Lorin Cohen, bass, and Samvel Sarkisyan, drums. Guest singer Paul […]
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Jazz Fest 2018, Day 4: Ron reviews Jane Bunnett & Maqueque, Christian Sands, and Strings Attached
In Cuban Spanish, the word “maqueque” means “the energy of a young girl’s spirit.” In Jane Bunnett & Maqueque, the spirit of five young Cuban women came through loud and clear. The band played a lively show of Afro-Cuban jazz to a near-capacity crowd at the Temple Building Theater Monday night. Working with Cuban musicians […]
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Jazz Fest 2018, Day 3: Ron reviews Bill Dobbins, Kuara Trio, and One for All
Eastman School of Music professor Bill Dobbins has had such a rich musical life that he can reach back through the decades and come up with a fascinating program. At Hatch Hall Sunday evening, Dobbins revisited some preludes for piano that he wrote between 1991 and 2001. If you think that sounds too classical for […]
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Jazz Fest 2018, Day 2: Ron reviews Sigurder Flosason, David Hazeltine, and Django Bates Beloved Trio
As I’ve gotten to know Scandinavian/European/North Atlantic jazz — as a result of the XRIJF series — I have come to think of it as a musical parallel universe. These players obviously have no direct connection to the American experience let alone the lives of the African-Americans who spawned this great art form. And yet, […]
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Jazz Fest 2018, Day 1: Ron reviews Terell Stafford Quintet, Matt Savage, and Alfredo Rodriguez and Pedrito Martinez
There are so many variations on what constitutes a jazz group these days that it was almost shocking to see the Terell Stafford Quintet walk onto the Kilbourn Hall stage in ties and jackets and launch into a hard-core, hard-bop classic. The tune, “Hocus-Pocus,” was by the late, great trumpeter Lee Morgan, and Stafford, one […]
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FEATURE: Lake Street Dive
Six years ago, Lake Street Dive was touring like crazy but not getting much traction on the national stage. Then the band shot a video on a Brighton, Massachusetts, street corner and put it on YouTube. The video captured the exuberance of the four musicians performing the hippest version imaginable of The Jackson 5’s “I […]
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FEATURE: Joe Locke
As a teenager in Rochester, Joe Locke was studying drums and piano when his mom saw an ad for a vibraphone in the newspaper. She bought it and launched a career that has taken Locke to the top of the jazz world. “I can still remember being in my bedroom on Park Ave practicing the […]
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FEATURE: Akiko Tsuruga
Once in a while, Akiko Tsuruga has to pinch herself and ask, “How did I get here?” She had a steady gig playing the organ in her hometown of Osaka, Japan, when she took a vacation in New York City. While there, she heard her hero, Hammond B3 organ icon Dr. Lonnie Smith, playing in […]
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JAZZ | Susan Alcorn
You know the pedal steel guitar: those beautiful sliding chords that shimmer in country music and the talking notes that enliven gospel. Well, you don’t know the full scope of the pedal steel until you hear Susan Alcorn take the instrument for a wild ride. Alcorn emerged from the Baltimore scene playing pedal steel in […]
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INTERVIEW: Jazzmeia Horn
She was born and raised in Dallas, Texas, where her grandmother gave her a name that would prove to be prescient. “Jazzmeia” flowed nicely with her last name, Horn, but what are the odds she would grow into a sensational singer and breathe new life into a field once occupied by greats like Ella Fitzgerald […]
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JAZZ | The Samuel Blaser Trio
Originally from Switzerland, trombonist Samuel Blaser now plies his trade on both sides of the Atlantic, commuting between New York and Berlin. A superb technician, Blaser is capable of making the trombone sing, which lends itself to a wild juxtaposition with brash-toned guitarist Marc Ducret. The adventurous improvising of that duo is accented and propelled […]
