Author's posts
New Music Monday for January 15, 2024
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and SpotifyGeneration Y is a band concept that was conceived in 2019 with the goal of promoting the next generation of dynamic talent from the top conservatories in New York City and beyond. The group is led by Grammy-winning drummer Ulysses Owens, Jr., who has served in the role of Small …
New Music Monday for January 8, 2024
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and SpotifyJohn Ellis, one of the most sought-after saxophonists and multi-reedists of his generation, has had ample opportunity to write for long-form compositional settings. His chamber-jazz ensemble works are quasi-operatic. But when it came time to deal with George Bizet’s opera “Carmen,” Ellis saw the task as one of scaling down. …
New Music Monday for January 1, 2024
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify On May 15, 1953, five of jazz’s most influential musicians—Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Charles Mingus, Max Roach and Bud Powell—gathered at Toronto’s Massey Hall for what would result in their first and only known recording as a quintet. This historic evening was captured on tape and “The Quintet: Jazz …
New Music Monday for December 25, 2023
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and SpotifyMiguel Zenon’s impressive career to date takes in 14 years as lead alto saxophonist for the SFJazz Collective, 15 recordings under his own name, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a MacArthur Genius Grant, multiple Grammy nominations and a long list of sideman gigs. Pianist Dan Tepfer is less known, but has ten-plus …
New Music Monday for December 18, 2023
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and SpotifyIndividually leading busy and varied artistic lives in Chicago and throughout the Midwest, trumpeter Eric Jacobson, pianist Pamela York and bassist Clay Schaub have gathered weekly for the Monday night residency at Milwaukee’s Mason Street Grill since 2021. There they allow their ideas and inspirations gleaned through the week to …
New Music Monday for December 11, 2023
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and SpotifyThe Airmen of Note is the premier jazz ensemble of the United States Air Force. As one of today’s few professional touring bands, it has attracted some of the finest musicians in the country. Twice yearly the Note travels throughout the country spreading its big band sound to communities from …
New Music Monday for December 4, 2023
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and SpotifyBoston doesn’t get enough credit as a jazz town. From the days of the Storyville club and Cambridge-based Transition label to the star factory that is Berklee College of Music, the city stands tall against more celebrated places like Chicago and Detroit. One big part of that high level of …
New Music Monday for November 27, 2023
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and SpotifyOld and New World traditions meld on “Cool Yule,” by two-time Grammy Award-winning violinist Mads Tolling, a former longtime member of Stanley Clarke’s band and the Turtle Island Quartet. In the spirit of Yule, Mads shares the Christmas celebrations of his youth in Copenhagen, Denmark, blending the authentic customs and …