Spoiler alert: there will be no holophonor on stage when the group of the same name performs at the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival. Viewers of the television show “Futurama” may be disappointed, but lovers of progressive jazz will be just fine. In “Futurama,” a holophonor is a 31st century musical instrument akin to an […]
Rochester International Jazz Festival
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Featured Artist: Miguel Zenon
Growing up in a working class family in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Miguel Zenón was studying classical saxophone at a performing arts high school when his world suddenly opened up. “My friends were passing around tapes of Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, and John Coltrane, and I became really interested in improvisation,” Zenón says. “Up to […]
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Featured Artist: Postmodern Jukebox
Have you ever caught yourself in mid-dance gesticulation thinking something like “If only this music had a little swing to it?” The hoi polloi likes its pop, its accessibility, and its simple fun. But what if there was one band to scratch both itches? Postmodern Jukebox is that band. Postmodern Jukebox is your band. Formed […]
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Featured Artist: Marcia Ball
Marcia Ball is a piano-playing neck-breaker from Orange, Texas, who tickles the ivories in a raucous barrelhouse style. Her voice has just enough of that roadhouse weariness to make her all the more enchanting and legit as her band summons the crowd with its boss back beat and shuffle. But Ball isn’t boastful when it […]
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Featured Artist: Manuel Valera
Manuel Valera is a tough man to get a hold of. When I finally caught up with him by phone, he had just returned to his home in New York City on a red-eye flight from the West Coast. But he didn’t have a lot of time: he was getting ready to leave later that […]
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Featured Artist: Donny McCaslin
When Donny McCaslin went to parties as a teenager in the early 1980’s, there was one record that was sure to be played: “Let’s Dance” by David Bowie. “I especially liked ‘Modern Love’ and ‘China Girl,’” says McCaslin of two of the album’s most popular songs. “I always describe it as the soundtrack of my […]
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Festival Preview Guide: Take your pick
The spring and summer always brings a little something for everyone. For almost 18 weeks, the Greater Rochester Area will host festival after festival. If you’re bored over the next few months, that’s on you. Rochesterians will have every reason to get out into the sun, from celebrating Highland Park in bloom (the Lilac Festival) […]
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Festival City
It’s that splendid time of year when the Flower City transforms into Festival City. The 2017 festival lineup is as diverse as ever and expands beyond Rochester to Livingston, Ontario, and Wayne Counties. The fests offer celebrations of flowers, glorious food, booze, cuddly animals, music, art, pirates, and more. Below is a quick guide to […]
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[Updated] Jazz Fest announces 2017 lineup
With the headlining acts already announced, the Xerox Rochester International Festival’s bigwigs filled in the remaining blanks with the what’s what of who’s coming to town for the festival’s 16th edition. The 2017 XRIJF takes place Friday, June 23, through Saturday, July 1, in and around Rochester’s downtown. There are a few past Jazz Fest […]
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Jazz Fest 2016, Day 9: Ron reviews the Dizzy Gillespie Afro-Cuban Experience, Brian Dickinson, and Laura Dubin
Bassist John Lee played with Dizzy Gillespie for the last 10 years of the great trumpeter’s career. Lee continued that legacy Saturday night at Kilbourn Hall with the Dizzy Gillespie Afro-Cuban Experience. The group features another veteran player, master percussionist Roger Squitero, along with a host of young stars. Trumpeter Freddie Hendrix had a pivotal […]
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Jazz Fest 2016, Day 9: Frank reviews Tia Fuller and Flat Earth Society
Going to the Jazz Fest is like eating ice cream for nine days straight. I like ice cream, but now my tummy hurts. So before I go on a ice cream-less sabbatical, I went down one more time for the crushed nuts, the hot fudge, and jazz. Tia Fuller bopped to the max at Max. […]
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Jazz Fest 2016, Day 8: Frank reviews Curtis Stigers, Gregg Allman, and Los Lonely Boys
Well a wop bopa loo bop a wop bam boom. No sooner did I send up the Bat Signal for some scat then Curtis Stigers rolls into town delivering a mouthful of syllabic sensations. Suave ain’t the word; it doesn’t do the man justice. Stigers hit the stage with so much cocksure swagger it was […]
