If you are an aficionado of octave-spanning guitar solos reminiscent of the great Wes Montgomery, you won’t find a better practitioner than Rochester’s own Melvin Henderson. When Henderson gets together with Hammond B-3 organ wizard Gerry Youngman and precise drummer Sean Jefferson, the Grammy-nominated trio is known as Paradigm Shift. Collectively, the band’s three members […]
Ron Netsky
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Album review: ‘A View From Within’
Jim Robitaille Group ‘A View From Within’ Whaling City Sound jimrobitaille.com Guitarist Jim Robitaille won the prestigious Thelonious Monk International Jazz Composers Competition in 2002 and several more composing awards since then, so it’s no surprise that his tunes on “A View from Within” are first-rate. Robitaille can certainly write tunes that swing, but he’s […]
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Album review: ‘Between Two Worlds’
Jeff Denson, Romain Pilon, Brian Blade ‘Between Two Worlds’ Ridgeway Records jeffdenson.com/projects The album title “Between Two Worlds” could refer to the fact that bassist Jeff Denson is American, while guitarist Romain Pilon is French. It could indicate the different musical worlds they’ve inhabited in the two decades since playing together extensively at Berklee College […]
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JAZZ | Gap Mangione & The New Big Band
You might call Gap Mangione a member of Rochester’s first family of jazz. Growing up, he and his brother Chuck were introduced to some of the greatest musicians in jazz by their father, who would invite touring stars like Dizzy Gillespie back to the house for pasta dinners. The Mangione brothers collaborated as The Jazz […]
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JAZZ | New Jazz Ensemble with Lynn Ligammari
When the Eastman School of Music’s New Jazz Ensemble takes the stage at Kilbourn Hall next Wednesday, they’ll be joined by Eastman alum and saxophonist Lynn Ligammari. Since graduating, Ligammari has been a member of the Brooklyn-based groove band Holy Hand Grenade. She’s also brought her melodic and funky saxophone sound to gigs with Conor […]
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JAZZ | Joe Fiedler’s ‘Big Sackbut’
Trombonist Joe Fiedler has explored his instrument’s important role in Latin music with Celia Cruz and Eddie Palmieri, as well as in the pit band of “In the Heights” on Broadway. He’s also embraced his role as an arranger of hundreds of tunes for “Sesame Street” on his recent album, “Open Sesame.” But over the […]
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FOLK | Joan Shelley
Every once in a while, an artist like Joan Shelley comes along and takes the folk music tradition on a wondrous ride. Coming of age in Kentucky, Shelley found herself equally immersed in American roots music and recordings from the British folk revival of the ’60s and ’70s. You can hear all of those influences […]
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Album review: ‘Jazz Shabbat’
TBK Music Project ‘Jazz Shabbat’ Self-released tbk.org The Old Testament has a lot of rules but nowhere does it say Friday night services can’t swing. Tradition, you say? The Jazz Shabbat tradition is pushing 15 years at Temple B’rith Kodesh. And now the program, a collaboration with members of the Eastman School of Music Jazz […]
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AMBIENT JAZZ | Sooner: Simon Jermyn & Charlotte Greve
It’s difficult to say which is more ethereal: the voice of Charlotte Greve, or her gorgeous saxophone playing. Born in Germany, Greve has led two groups, Lisbeth Quartet and Wood River. After winning several awards in Europe, she moved to New York in 2012. The other half of the duo Sooner, guitarist-composer Simon Jermyn, is […]
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JAZZ | Olli Hirvonen’s New Helsinki
“Breathtaking” might be the first word that comes to mind when you hear the music of Finnish guitarist Olli Hirvonen. His seemingly impossible dexterity is matched by his propulsive phrasing and imaginative melodic leaps. It’s not surprising that he won the 2016 Montreux Jazz Guitar Competition, especially considering the fact that the jury was headed […]
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Album review: ‘The Fine Line’
Bob Sheppard ‘The Fine Line’ Challenge Records bobsheppard.net You may not have heard of saxophonist Bob Sheppard, but you’ve surely heard him play. He’s worked with Chick Corea, Freddie Hubbard, and Herbie Hancock on the jazz side, and Joni Mitchell, Stevie Wonder, and Steely Dan in the pop realm. Released last May, Sheppard’s excellent album […]
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Album review: The Space Between Disguises
Simone Baron & Arco Belo ‘The Space Between Disguises’ GenreFluid simonebaron.bandcamp.com When I read in the liner notes for Simone Baron & Arco Belo’s forthcoming album — out November 8 — that Baron’s ensemble was “genre-queer,” I thought this was a bold appropriation of a gender term. But after listening, I realized that “The Space […]
