Anne Mette Iversen “Round Trip” bjurecords annemetteiversen.com It may be an unfair musical prejudice, but a lot of people hearing a jazz band think of the bassist as functional, as opposed to the pianist, saxophonist, or trumpeter, who usually take the spotlight. But bassist Anne Mette Iversen is far more than functional as evidenced by […]
Ron Netsky
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Album review: ‘Horizonte’
David Feldman “Horizonte” Self-released davidfeldmanmusic.com He may have an American sounding name, but pianist David Feldman was born in Rio de Janeiro and is a vital member of the current Brazilian music scene. “Horizonte,” his third album as a leader, is a wonderful excursion into this great musical culture. Feldman is joined here by members […]
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Peter Albin was there at the Summer of Love
Fifty years ago, it was clear that something unusual was happening in San Francisco. Young people with long hair were arriving from all over the country to be part of the “Summer of Love.” Peter Albin was not only there, he was a founding member of one of the greatest rock ‘n’ roll groups to […]
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JAZZ | ‘A Portrait of Marian McPartland’
Marian McPartland (1918-2013) was a nationally-known jazz giant, but she also had a special relationship with the Eastman School of Music. The school will honor McPartland in a concert featuring Tony Caramia, professor of piano, and Krista Seddon, who is not only a superb pianist but was also McPartland’s transcriber and copyist. Selections will includes […]
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SPECIAL EVENT | ‘Summer of Love’ celebration with Peter Albin
They say if you remember it, you weren’t there. That’s the bad marijuana joke about 1967, the “Summer of Love,” but Peter Albin remembers it well, and he’ll talk about that legendary time on Saturday at the Bop Shop. Fifty years ago, in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, Albin was not only there, he […]
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Jazz Fest 2017, Day 9: Ron reviews Donny McCaslin, Matthew Stevens Trio, and Benny Green
The final night of the Jazz Festival was a disappointing end to a great festival for me. For instance, I expected a lot from Donny McCaslin’s set at Xerox Auditorium. McCaslin is a fine saxophone player, and his recent involvement in David Bowie’s final album has given him new visibility. But if tonight’s show is […]
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Jazz Fest 2017, Day 8: Ron reviews 4 By Monk By 4, Tessa Souter, and Ariel Pocock
At Kilbourn Hall Friday night, 4 By Monk By 4 was something akin to a Thelonious Monk symphony, or at the very least, a Monk piano sonata. Because the great jazz composer’s tunes have a lot in common with each other — notably off-kilter timing and dissonant melodic twists — an hour of nothing but […]
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Jazz Fest 2017, Day 7: Ron reviews Youn Sun Nah, Manuel Valera, and The Walt Weiskopf Quartet
How did a South Korean singer with a fantastic voice end up on a Rochester, New York, stage singing Tom Waits’ “Jockey Full of Bourbon” with a punk-metal vibe and earn a standing ovation and an encore? That might have been the question on your mind if you had just arrived at the Xerox Rochester […]
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Jazz Fest 2017, Day 6: Ron reviews Charles Pillow Large Ensemble, George Cables, and Ryan Keberle & Catharsis
When jazz aficionados think of Miles Davis and jazz orchestra music, the first thing that comes to mind is a series of recordings Davis made with arranger Gil Evans in the late-1950’s. Wednesday night at Xerox Auditorium, the Charles Pillow Large Ensemble performed something fairly radical: jazz orchestra arrangements of some of Davis’s most controversial […]
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Jazz Fest 2017, Day 5: Ron reviews Eri Yamamoto, Steve Kuhn, and Dave O’Higgins
Eri Yamamoto was so charming at Hatch Hall Tuesday night that the audience was in love with her before she had played a note. Once she began to play her fantastic bluesy opener, “You Are Welcome,” we only fell deeper. She explained that it was the first tune she wrote when she moved from Japan […]
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Jazz Fest 2017, Day 4: Ron reviews Miguel Zenon, Ikonostasis, and Red Hook Soul
Miguel Zenon let the music do the talking at Kilbourn Hall Monday night as his excellent quartet burned through selections from his latest album, “Tipico.” Zenon was front and center with his saxophone, but the band also boasts one of today’s greatest pianists, Luis Perdomo, and a superb rhythm section with Hans Glawischnig on bass […]
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Jazz Fest 2017, Day 3: Ron reviews Bill Frisell and Thomas Morgan, Jochen Rueckert, and Adam Kolker Trio
When guitarist Bill Frisell and bassist Thomas Morgan picked up their instruments at Kilbourn Hall Sunday night, they eyed each other playfully. But when they began to play, almost the entire first tune was a sort of musical primordial soup. There were notes and chords and deep bass responses, but they were all in search […]
