Straight No Chaser - A Jazz Show

One of the most memorable performances at the 2019 Freihofer's Saratoga Jazz Festival was given by singer Veronica Swift. Backed by pianist Emmet Cohen's trio, she transported the crowd with songs that recalled the thirties and forties, but were thoroughly modern in her approach and style. With charisma to spare, she gave notice that she was someone to watch for. This week Mack Avenue Records rele...

Way back in 2011, my year end podcast picked Nights on Earth , Vince Mendoza's dazzling, sweeping work as one of the most Notable Releases of that year.  Since then, the six-time Grammy winner left his position as conductor of the Metropole Orchestra and has arranged, scored, or conducted more than thirty pop, classical and jazz albums.    His latest release is a collaboration with the Temple Univ...

If you think you haven't heard the music of saxophonist Tim Ries, think again. Besides his years of touring with Maynard Ferguson and other stalwarts, plus eight CDs as leader or co-leader, he has held down the saxophone and keyboard chairs with the Rolling Stones for the past 21 years. Currently on tour with the Stones across America, he plays the lead on classics like "Miss You" to stadiums full...

Steve Cole has just released a new CD on Mack Avenue Records, entitled Gratitude . It is an extremely enjoyable and positive collection of tunes, inspired by the saxophonist's recent realization of the goodness of others, stemming from health issues in his family.  Co-produced with longtime collaborator and fellow saxophonist David Mann, Gratitude shows Cole's musical growth, moving beyond the sou...

America's Independence Day – July 4 – has been marked on Straight No Chaser by an annual recitation of the Declaration of Independence and a playing of Ray Charles' version of "America the Beautiful." But as I prepared the same post this year, I realized that it was inappropriate. It was inappropriate because this is a year when America is more divided, more bitterly turned against one another tha...

The American Pianists Association nurtures the artistic growth of America's top young pianists by focusing on creative expression and career development. Its largest and most prestigious support is given through a biennial competition known as the American Pianists Awards to discover the best aspiring young American jazz or classical pianists. The unique and innovative competitions span 13 months...

California native Alex Sill began playing guitar and piano at age 12 and progressed quickly, eventually earning a top spot in Lee Ritenour's international Six String Theory Competition. Inspired by the likes of Larry Koonse, who suggested Sill enroll at CalArts, and shredder Steve Vai, who has said that "Alex Sill is one of those rare talented individuals that has all the elements in place," he co...

About 18 months ago, I had a conversation with photographer Jimmy Katz, about his new non-profit project Giant Step Arts. Katz, along with his wife Dena, planned to select artists for whom they wish to stage and record premiere performances, then provide them with CDs and digital downloads of the gigs and ownership of the masters. Click here to listen to that Podcast. The initial project came to f...

For this jazz fan, the official start of summer comes on June 29-30 in Saratoga Springs, when the Freihofer's Saratoga Jazz Festival takes place in the vernal confines of the Saratoga Performing Arts Center.  It's a weekend of music on two stages, plus great food, a curated art show, and some of the best vibes of the season. Danny Melnick of Absolutely Live  has been curating the Festival for year...

It's always a pleasure to hear a new release from Catherine Russell. One of our most versatile and consistently interesting vocalists, Ms. Russell has become the standard bearer for a particular type of jazz, carrying the torch for the songs of the Twenties, Thirties and Forties that might have slipped away without her stewardship. A student of songs, she comes by her interest in 20th century tune...

Herlin Riley was more than satisfied with his career as one of the top drummers in jazz. Having worked with the likes of Ahmad Jamal in the mid-Eighties, he achieved recognition as Wynton Marsalis' drummer in the second iteration of the trumpeter's great groups in the Eighties and Nineties. It's Riley you hear on the Pulitzer Prize winning Blood on the Fields , and he is the core of the group play...

I first caught a glimpse of Dr. John on ABC's "In Concert" TV Series in the early 1970's. Cat Stevens had an episode entitled " Moon & Star " and featured Linda Ronstadt and Dr. John as guests. Was there ever a greater opposite than the Night Tripper than the laid-back Cat? Decked out in feathers and spangles, throwing glitter as he worked his way through the audience, this guy was a SIGHT. And th...

Thirty-six years have passed since Todd Barkan's historic San Francisco jazz club Keystone Korner closed its doors. From 1972 to 1983, greats like Miles Davis, Dexter Gordon, Bobby Hutcherson, Stan Getz and Max Roach, among countless others, played there. The venue continues to live on in written history and through a series of seminal albums recorded live in the Vallejo Street nightclub. In the n...

If you listened to my podcast interview with Randy Brecker last month, you heard him praise the work of arranger/composer Lisa Maxwell, and got an early listen to a track from her upcoming CD Shiny !. That release, an All-Star Big Band recording under the name of Lisa Maxwell's Jazz Orchestra, available on May 17th. Shiny ! is dedicated to the memory of Lisa's long-time friend and mentor, trumpet...

2019 will mark 400 years since Africans were first brought to the Jamestown, VA settlement in 1619 by the Dutch as slaves. They were brought to the Americas to aid in the very profitable agricultural industry during the 17th through 19th centuries, continuing in bondage until an estimated 4 million slaves were freed after the Civil War. The effects of slavery reverberated from the Reconstruction p...

International Jazz Day is celebrated in Sydney, Australia this year, although there will be events around the World. Since the first International Jazz Day concerts in Paris, New Orleans and the floor of the United Nations in New York in 2012. I had the pleasure of attending the show in New York, and it was spectacular. This year's listed artists performing "Down Under" will include: Cieavash Aria...

I've had the pleasure of speaking with Randy Brecker in the past for this Podcast, going back to 2015.  The ace trumpet and flugelhorn player will celebrate his 75th birthday next year, but he is still going strong. The past few months have seen a number of large ensemble works featuring his inimitable style, with more to come shortly. Rocks , a hot recording of Brecker with the NDR Big Band-The H...

It seems that most of the world's religions have spring holidays. In fact, celebrating the beginning of spring may be among the oldest seasonal holidays in human culture. The earliest reference we have to such a holiday comes to us from Babylon, 2400 BCE. The city of Ur apparently had a celebration dedicated to the moon and the spring equinox which was held some time during our months of March or...

With the release of Beat Music! Beat Music! Beat Music! today, drummer/composer Mark Guiliana pushes further than ever against the boundaries of musical classification. Is it jazz? Is it electronica? Is it progressive rock? More importantly – does it matter what we call it? The latest Beat Music product from Guiliana builds on the strengths of his twin releases in 2014, My Life Starts Now  and Bea...

Podcast 674 is a long overdue conversation with Israeli guitarist Yotam Silberstein.  Since he was a finalist in the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Guitar Competition in 2005, Yotam has shown himself to be more than just another guitar ace, but also a top interpreter of the music of South America, most notably Brazil.  With the release of The Village last year, he seemed ready to show that he...

As a purely amateur electric bass player, one of my heroes is John Patitucci. The Brooklyn-born bass player has been at the top of the electric bass and acoustic double bass call list for some 35 years now, and in the process has become part of legendary groups. He has released 14 albums under his own name as leader, and participated on dozens of others, including albums with Al Di Meola, Herbie H...

The SFJazz Collective continues to be one of the most accomplished and exciting larger ensembles performing and recording in jazz today. An octet, the group operates democratically, choosing songs and arrangements together, rather than following a bandleader. Given that the current Collective lineup is made up of ALL bandleaders - Miguel Zenon, David Sanchez, Etienne Charles, Robin Eubanks, Warren...

'Who are you, where have you been, and why am I just hearing you now?' That question seems to be a common thread running through the rising career of singer Quiana Lynell. A transplanted New Orleans resident via Texas, her musical world was strictly gospel music until she attended school in Louisiana.  She earned her degree in Vocal Performance, concentrating on classical music.  Expanding her mus...

With the release of Intuition: Songs from the Minds of Women , Alicia Olatuja has raised the bar once again on what she might offer the music world. Since she caused a commotion as a featured vocalist at Barak Obama's Second Inauguration in 2013 , she has released two CDs, including the exceptional debut album Timeless ; and toured consistently, including being an anchor of Billy Childs' Laura Nyr...

A b rief history of the Mardi Gras celebration, courtesy of a hotel blog post: Mardi Gras was first brought to New Orleans by French settlers in 1699. The first party was recorded to been held at the mouth of the Mississippi River. Later accounts of celebrations in New Orleans in the 1700s include mention of music, cross-dressing, music and masks. The inclusion of parades years later became a big...