Shootin’ pretty pictures (instead of dirty pool) and trying to give solid testimony to the plethora of artists I’ve seen over the last nine days has left your boy a little punchy folks — tore up from the floor up; beat up from the feet up. But just the same, I once more lugged my […]
Rochester music
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Jazz Fest 2017, Day 7: Frank reviews The Wee Trio and Sheryl Crow
The Wee Trio was anything but wee as they filled the Wilder Room Thursday night with hip, bouncy bop. The atmosphere in the room is a tad stiff without music, and it’s still stiff with music. The picture the band painted didn’t entirely color the walls, but I loved it. The trio was equal amounts […]
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Album review: ‘Trailer Romance’
Anonymous Willpower “Trailer Romance” Self-released anonymouswillpower.bandcamp.com Taking a page from the Southern Culture on the Skids book of white trash, Anonymous Willpower returns with its most cohesive album to date, “Trailer Romance.” This is an album that covers multiple genres musically and lyrically and has the band working the clever and blue sides of the […]
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Album review: ‘Missed Connections’
Small Signals “Missed Connections” Self-released smallsignals.bandcamp.com As Small Signals, Rochester musician Stephen Roessner (part of Pleistocene, Revengineers) has stumbled upon the intersection between profoundly sad and profoundly hysterical. By taking entries from Craiglist’s Missed Connections and putting them to synth-pop sugar and lonely guitar, he creates little vignettes of, at times, dark desperation and desire. […]
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Jazz Fest 2017, Day 5: Daniel reviews Mario Rom’s Interzone and Ole Mathisen’s Floating Points
At The Little Theatre on Tuesday night, the Austrian jazz trio Mario Rom’s Interzonepicked up right where it left off two years ago during its last appearance at XRIJF. Interzone is almost too much fun, if that’s even possible: Lukas Kranzelbinder continues to be one of the most riveting double bassists I’ve seen, and Herbert […]
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Jazz Fest 2017, Day 4: Frank reviews Marquis Hill Blacktet and New Breed Brass Band
The Marquis Hill Blacktet got my motor running right tonight with an outasight dose of the bop during the matinee set at Max of Eastman Place. His trumpet zipped and ping-ponged off the walls into a shimmery cascade that was straight from the fridge, dad. Hill traded off liberally to his alto sax man while […]
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Jazz Fest 2017, Day 3: Daniel reviews Holophonor and Elliot Galvin Trio
Holophonor plays a brand of jazz loaded with understated swagger and suave cool. Mentored by jazz greats Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter, the band is rooted in the past while resolutely looking toward the future, as evidenced by its early set on Sunday evening at The Wilder Room. The powerhouse rhythm section — drummer Jonathan […]
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Jazz Fest 2017, Day 2: Ron reviews Billy Childs, Eivรธr, and Gabriel Algeria Afro-Peruvian Sextet
Billy Childs opened his Kilbourn Hall show in a gallop and hardly let up throughout the hour-long set. He played the piano with the sort of wild abandon that can only come after decades of painstaking practice and extensive experience. His quartet — with Dayna Stephens on saxophone; Ben Williams, bass; and Ari Hoenig, drums […]
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Jazz Fest 2017, Day 2: Frank reviews The Quebe Sisters and Adam Wakefield
Other than the meteorological mind games the clouds played with our heads, it turned out to be a beautiful day as we traipsed the jazz fandango well into the night. Ron Netsky knows what I like and immediately insisted I check out Grace, Sophia, and Hulda, The Quebe Sisters. These three fiddle-wielding young women from […]
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Jazz Fest 2017, Day 2: Daniel reviews Neil Cowley Trio and Durham County Poets
The Neil Cowley Trio doesn’t really play jazz. Yes, all the tell-tale instrumentation is there — piano, upright bass, and drums. But the music itself is more accurately post-jazz: spacious minimalism meets percussive pop piano and driving rock rhythms, resulting in a sound that is alternately introspective and punchy. The British trio delivered on that […]
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Jazz Fest 2017, Day 3: Frank catches Bill Kirchen and reviews Jack Broadbent and John Paul White
< Master blaster of the Telecaster Bill Kirchen literally blew the roof off the joint at Abilene. Okay, it was a tent out back, but we did have liftoff. To show what a beautiful talent this man is: while the gusts of inclemency threatened to jettison the tent again, Kirchen held things down with his […]
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Jazz Fest 2017, Day 1: Daniel reviews Jacob Collier and Gwilym Simcock
English phenomenon Jacob Collier may be the most immensely talented musician I have ever seen live. As hyperbolic as that may sound, the proof was in the first of his two performances at Anthology on Friday. The first thing I noticed about the live performance of the London-based multi-instrumentalist was his irrepressible energy. The 22-year-old […]
