Straight No Chaser - A Jazz Show

There's a new sponsor for the first big jazz festival of the season, but the same great music as always seems to be ready to go. The 2025 Saratoga Jazz Festival is sponsored by GE Vernova, and is scheduled for June 28-29 on the scenic grounds of Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC). As always, the range of talent is broad, from the blues (Gary Clark Jr.) to the great vocalists of today and tomor...

Sometimes jazz musicians get their big breaks at school, and others from mentors on the bandstand. And others…from their job in land use regulation? Such is the case for singer Susan Hinkson, whose debut album  Just In Time   (on windfall creations, LLC) is a spirited romp through the Great American Songbook. For years Susan was a regulator and policy maker for architectural real estate both for t...

You don't judge a book by it's cover, and you don't judge a band by its name.   Toronto-based Shuffle Demons may sound like a retro-blues band, but in fact the sounds they have captured on their latest album, Are You Really Real? (Alma/Universal ) don't easily get categorized. There's the jazz-funk of "X Marks The Spot," swinging "Good Mourning," and more intricate "Ride the Wave" among a set of t...

I last caught up with pianist Eric Reed almost two years ago, as he marked the release of his fine tribute album Black, Brown and Blue (Smoke Sessions Records). He returns to original music with his full name on the album Out Late (Smoke Sessions Records), buoyed by a killer band featuring trumpeter Nicholas Payton, tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander, bassist Peter Washington, and drummer Joe Farnsw...

There's a bumper crop of new Holiday Jazz out there folks, so i you are looking for last minute enjoyment for Christmas and Hanukkah (and all the rest of the seasonal celebrations) you can listen to Podcast 993, featuring: Nick Maclean - "Christmas Time is Here" from his single on Browntasauras Records Christian Sands - "Do You Hear What I Here" from Christmas Stories George Burt0n - "The Holly an...

At its heart,  Oneness is Israeli-born vocalist/songwriter/arranger Sivan Arbel's musical response to the divisions she sees in society. Seamlessly blending Eastern and Western influences, she invites listeners to embrace their cultural and ideological differences and yet recognize the universal connections that bind us all. A tall order in late 2024. Oneness   echoes this hopeful idealism by envi...

On its own merits, the music on Seven Days , Mauricio Morales' latest album, speaks with a strong, persuasive creative voice. The respected bassist-composer-bandleader's fourth album presents seven distinctive compositions for sextet, with sophisticated shifts in mood and musical structure. In a mode of decidedly modern jazz which also manages to be easy on the ear and heart, the music also benefi...

With   The Colors of My Life: A Cy Coleman Songbook ,  Manhattan Transfer founding member and Grammy Award-Winning vocalist Janis Siegel and acclaimed pianist/arranger/musical director Yaron Gershovsky ,  together have co-produced their first duo songbook album. And it comes from a classic "When a door closes, a window opens" moment. The Manhattan Transfer   performed its final concert a year ago,...

Long hailed for her style-blurring renditions of artists spanning Tom Waits and Jimi Hendrix to Marvin Gaye and Metallica,  Elles  sees Youn Sun Nah bringing her remarkable voice and unique perspective to a range of songs that have deeply fueled her own indescribable musical approach, all made famous by such iconic female artists as Björk, Sarah Vaughan, Grace Jones, Roberta Flack, Edith Piaf, Gra...

No Cowards in Our Band   is a musical drama telling the story of renowned activist and abolitionist Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) through his own words. With the performance just days before the 2024 Presidential Election, the piece is a striking reminder of the power of the pen, the voice, and the vote.  Based on a libretto by Anthony Knight, Jr. and interwoven with Negro spirituals arranged by...

Tord Gustavsen has gone down many musical paths in his still-blossoming career. Classically trained and educated in musicology, Tord also has a deep knowledge of jazz, which he has seamlessly integrated with the folk and religious music of his upbringing in Oslo. In many ways a quintessential ECM artis (though in our conversation he says he did not think this was originally the case), he has perfo...

I'm always happy to preview jazz festivals across the US on Straight No Chaser. The big ones like Newport or Monterey are always great, and regional festivals like those held in Saratoga   or by NJPAC are a blast. But I have a special place in my heart for the cities and towns who present festivals, places like Northampton, MA , or Burlington, VT ,  H artford, CT or Portland, Oregon, or in the cas...

Pianist and keyboardist Dan Siegel has covered a broad swath of the jazz spectrum over the course of his four-and-a-half decade career, from straight ahead swing to sleek contemporary sounds. While that's a testament to Siegel's multi-faceted talents and restless curiosity, it's also the result of the diverse array of collaborators that have joined him along the journey – a roster that includes Be...

'Genre-fluid' is a great word to describe the music of guitarist Ethan Margolis, aka "Emaginario."   A life-long student of music, he has traveled the world from his native Cleveland to bring African diaspora-Caribbean sounds and flamenco stylings to his musical base of the blues and folk-rock. Margolis has evolved into a creative and worldly artist, whose deep connections with flamenco, jazz, blu...

Norma Winstone has been a one of a kind musician in the jazz scene for more than fifty years. A unique artist as both jazz vocalist and lyricist, and ability to sing in ensembles from Big Bands to Avant-garde ensembles to intimate duets and trios have made each release in her distinctive career a "must hear." Her first ECM recording in six years, Outpost of Dreams ,   finds Norma in a new duo with...

A reliably swinging presence and facile improviser on the New York scene since the late '80s, guitarist Greg Skaff has shared the bandstand with such jazz greats as Stanley Turrentine, Freddie Hubbard, David "Fathead" Newman and Ralph Peterson Jr., as well current notables like Mike LeDonne, David Hazeltine, Orrin Evans, Ben Allison, Jim Rotondi and Joe Farnsworth. He has also toured and recorded...

The Latin Side of McCoy Tyner is Conrad Herwig's latest reimagination of music from his musical heroes, and in this case, former boss on the bandstand. Backed by a band that includes his closest friends and long-time collaborators, including Craig Handy (tenor & baritone saxophone), Alex Norris (trumpet & flugelhorn), Bill O'Connell (piano), Ruben Rodriguez (bass), Robby Ameen (drums), and Camilo...

The Latin Side of McCoy Tyner is the latest installment in a critically-acclaimed series that started in 1996 with The Latin Side of John Coltrane . It's the work of Conrad Herwig, a musically gifted, bilingual artist, a master trombonist who grew up admiring jazz's greatest practitioners but, at the same time, cutting his Latin Jazz teeth with legends such as Mario Bauza, Tito Puente, Paquito D'R...

An early highlight of the summer for jazz fans in the US Northeast is always the Freihoer's Saratoga Jazz Festival, held on the grounds of the lovely Saratoga Performing Arts Center ("SPAC"). This year's lineup should please almost any jazz fan, bringing ta wide ranging lineup to two stages on June 29 and 30. Want the inside scoop on the festival? listen to Podcast 979 as festival organizer Danny...

Those who cover music love to categorize the music and musicians we focus on. I put myself all too often into this group. What should I call it? Is it Acid Jazz? Post Bop? Downtown Loft? But far too often muscians fall in between the cracks of these often arbitrary categories, and we are left looking for new descriptive words.  Often the words fail us. The UK-based duo Edy Forey are definitely in...

" "In a world where it's easy to be cynical and bitter, what strikes me most about Nicola and his music is the pure joy and excitement that he brings and carries with him at all times. To be present in the euphoria of this art form is the most difficult skill the way I see it and many young artists seem to ignore that simple and powerful fact. Nicola, in addition to being an accomplished instrumen...

Zaccai Curtis continues to be one of the most engaging piano players of the past decade. Whether as a band leader (alone or with his brother Luques) or backing the likes of the late Ralph Peterson, Lakecia Benjamin and Cindy Blackman Santana, his strong sense of rhythm and deep knowledge of Latin and Afro-Cuban sounds and Bebop chords make him a cornerstone of those artist's sounds. Cubop Lives!  ...

Podcast 975 continues my conversation with the great Charles McPherson. A giant of the saxophone, Charles is a product of the rich jazz city of Detroit, where he was mentored by the late Barry Harris. His closest childhood friend was the future trumpeter Lonnie Hillyer; the two later played together with the iconic Charles Mingus, with whom McPherson would tour and record for more than a decade. M...

Reverence is Charles McPherson's first release for Smoke Sessions Records, and a few listens reveal why  he's  been held in such reverence for the last 64 years. The album captures a scintillating live performance from Smoke Jazz Club, where McPherson is joined by his remarkable current group featuring trumpeter Terell Stafford , pianist Jeb Patton, bassist David Wong, and drummer Billy Drummond....

You've probably seen Linda Purl act more often than you've heard her sing.   Besides being Richie Cunningham's girlfriend and Fonzie's fiancée on Happy Days , Matlock 's daughter Charlene Matlock, and Pam's Mom/Steve Carell's girlfriend on  The Office , she has had stints on Homeland , True Blood, and Hacks . She has starred in over 45 made-for-TV movies and is currently recurring on The Bold and...