Category: Jazz
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Celebrating 100 Years of Miles Davis
The nonchalant bassline of “So What” sauntered out of the gate, initiating a call-and-response with the horns, and the Blue Note China Jazz Orchestra leaned into the opening notes of a Miles Davis centennial tribute in Beijing. The sixteen-piece ensemble – four trumpets, three trombones, five saxophones, a pianist, guitarist, bassist, and drummer – was Read more
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Shi Yuji’s Quartet Lights Up the Night @ East Shore Live Jazz Café
Does music come from within or do we pull it from the air around us? When summoning a piece, Shi Yuji closed his eyes and swayed, snapping his fingers and quietly breathing to an inaudible beat. The music took shape before it was heard, like a ski lift the quartet was waiting to hop on Read more
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Seamus Blake’s Thoughts on Music
On a late afternoon in Beijing’s trendy Houhai neighborhood, families pushed ice sleds across a frozen pond. Inside the East Shore Live Jazz Cafe across from the pond, Canadian tenor saxophonist Seamus Blake was holding court. Blake is focusing on the music of jazz great Eddie Harris for this tour. The title of his new Read more
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Cordâme at the Blue Note, Beijing
Blocks away from Tiananmen Square, so near the seat of China’s government that a pedestrian has to cross two security checkpoints just to get there, lies an institution well-known to Western music lovers. A steep staircase leads you down from an austere courtyard into an expansive cavern where young people dine on burgers and fries Read more
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Cosmic Music: The Celestial Songs of Alice Coltrane at Carnegie Hall
The harp has the power to unite opposites. It’s large enough to dwarf its player, yet it produces a gentle twinkle. Players pluck a rapid succession of notes by running their hands across the strings, yet the effect is soothing to the ear. You can find one in the hands of angels in religious iconography, Read more
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Celebrating Time and Tradition at Ron Carter’s 88th Birthday
“My responsibility as a bassist and band leader is using every opportunity to create spectacular music,” writes Ron Carter in his Instagram bio. It’s no surprise, then, that the legend spent his 88th birthday week performing with his Golden Striker Trio at NYC’s Blue Note, a jazz venue famous enough to attract polo-shirted tourists but Read more
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Indofunk’s Raga Jazz Jam
When a sitar weaves around a sax solo that’s handed off to a sliding trumpet, you’ve entered the realm of Indofunk. Named for his signature musical style, Indofunk plays the firebird trumpet, a 3-valved trumpet equipped with a trombone-like slide. He hosted an open Raga Jazz Jam at the Fifth Hammer Brewing Co’s Brewside Lounge Read more
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Fifth Hammer Brewing Serves Up Hoppy Jazz
It’s not every night that a rubber chicken squawks in the middle of a drum solo, but anything goes when jazz bubbles in a casual setting. Long Island City’s Fifth Hammer Brewing Co offers live music in the Brewside Lounge as eclectic as the beer selection. Wednesdays see brewery owner Chris Cuzme trade in his Read more
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Joe Martin Quartet @ The Village Vanguard, NYC, 11/24/24
Joe Martin looked hip enough to be leading an indie rock band, but he’s a serious jazzman. The audience seemed animated enough it could’ve been a rock concert, but they were there for the jazz. As sax player Mark Turner quietly blew some warm up notes and looked down at his horn dissatisfied, Martin spoke Read more
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The Vortex, Brooklyn, 11/15/24
The walking bass and trumpet rumbled from a nearby window as I waited to be buzzed in. Turning right down a corridor, I was greeted by a wave of sound, warm bodies and purple light. I had entered the Vortex, a night of jazz and libations shared over a loose network of friends. “I’m surprised Read more