Word: jazz
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Celebrity jazz concerts are often dreary affairs—museums of dusty music where real jazz goes to die. Think of beige nights at Lincoln Center, the players wearing stiff suits, anxious to showcase their cool virtuosity while neglecting to tell a story with their music. By comparison, Thursday’s performance of the Monterey Jazz Festival On Tour at the Berklee Perfomance Center, one of 36 nationwide concerts that will take place from February 5 to May 1, was a pleasant surprise. The show, which featured Kenny Barron on piano, Regina Carter on violin, Kurt Elling on vocals...
...wasn’t until his solo piece that Malone fully showed what he was capable of, performing an Alex North tune that perfectly showcased his limpid sound reminiscent of Grant Green, coupled with evocative acoustic guitar skills. Throughout the evening, he steeped the ensemble in 1960s soul jazz chords, but here his gentle, rippling notes hit a new mode. He played with a precise poignancy, spinning out an all-encompassing sound that mesmerized by itself, but otherwise delicately underscored the ensemble’s playing. However, he never completely came into his own on other pieces, oscillating otherwise between...
With such a group of stellar musicians, the Monterey Jazz Festival On Tour is a clear recipe for success—instead of throwing together a few virtuosic performers with overinflated egos, it showcases a clear model for interactive, thoughtful and creative jazz. Though the concert was rather safe, with a ‘high art’ undertone that went against the grain of the music itself, the interplay between the musicians was inspiring and fresh, providing hope for big jazz concerts to come. Let’s hope they swing this hard the next time around...
...York to an Italian mother and a Brazilian father, has always identified with black culture. The artist will turn 80 on April 29—“It’s the same date as the birthday of Duke Ellington. I’m a big fan of jazz,” Tambellini says. He grew up with his mom and his brother in a working class area of Lucca, a town in Tuscany. At age three he started painting (“I was born an artist,” he says) and at age ten he began...
...album’s greatest strength is its innovative instrumentation—the original quintet met studying jazz at the University of North Texas, and their training is apparent in the skillfully layered keyboard, classical guitar, and flute arrangements. In addition, Smith’s clear and gentle voice is a pleasure to listen to, although on most tracks he unwisely sacrifices his voice to the limited range of the melodies...