There is a certain amount of class and caution that’s required when an artist takes on standards. Not only are people hearing the interpretation, they also hear the original version dancing in their head. It’s a precarious position for an artist to be in: somewhere between honoring a tune’s legacy and putting just the right […]
Jazz Festival Guide 2018
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INTERVIEW: Brian Setzer’s Rockabilly Riot
Brian Setzer is the gateway drug. It doesn’t matter how cool you think you are, if you’re of this generation and know anything about rockabilly, you learned it because of Brian Setzer. If artists like Warren Smith, The Johnny Burnette Trio, Gene Vincent, and Eddie Cochran are in your record collection, it’s because of Brian […]
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FEATURE: Jack Broadbent
By the time British slide guitarist, Jack Broadbent took the Montage Music Hall stage for his second set at last year’s Jazz Fest, the buzz was on and the word was out. Armed with a Hofner archtop guitar and a whiskey flask as a slide, Broadbent played those beautiful blues to a knocked-out audience. 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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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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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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INTERVIEW: Pokey LaFarge
Gather ’round children and let me tell you of a man that plays a mean guitar and sings pretty. You can practically hear him jump out of a gramophone. St. Louis musician Pokey LaFarge is coming to town with his jumpin’ style of hi-tone bop. LaFarge plays what some call “hot music.” He mixes country, […]
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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 […]
