Staring at Christmas from this side of Thanksgiving feels somehow more daunting. To combat your Winter Wonderland Woes (fingers crossed that the Snow Gods treat us kindly here in New York this year), I bring you the second and final installment of my favorite holiday jazz classics. ...more...
Arts America Blog
GIVE THANKS… FOR JOHN SANTOS
December 1, 2011 by
This November many of us carved out time to appreciate the people in our lives and give thanks. We Bay Area jazz fans, in particular, had much to be thankful for. Although the SFJAZZ Festival is still winding down, the past months have been filled with some outstanding shows including those by Esperanza Spaulding, Robert Glasper, and McCoy Tyner. Alongside the established jazz artists were legendary Bollywood playback-singer Asha Bohsle, R&B …more…
Not Abundant but Well Served: Jazz at Music Conference
November 17, 2011 by
From November 10-13 music scholars from far and wide descended on the Hyatt Regency Hotel on the Embarcadero in San Francisco for the American Musicological Society‘s 2011 conference. Held in a different American or Canadian metropolis evey year, AMS had not been to the Bay Area since 1990 when Oakland hosted the event. With this year’s preponderance of opera and early music papers, there was comparatively little in the way …more…
The Best Holiday Jazz Recordings (An Early Present)
November 7, 2011 by
Sad Christmas Tree is Sad.
Call me grumpy, call me undeservedly crotchety in spite of my years, call me what you want, but hearing Christmas music on the radio BEFORE Halloween this year was just too much. It could also be that I had a terrible cold and wished I could’ve been out there in the freezing rain impressing people with my witty costume commentary on Occupy Wall Street instead …more…
U District Jazz Festival Coming to Seattle November 4-6
November 2, 2011 by
Seattle jazz heads take note: this Friday, November 4th, the U District Jazz Festival starts its three day run. There are different packages for tickets. The best deals are the early bird tickets: $35 for all three days (including a voucher for a free drink and any of the venues.)The festival is an expanded version of the U District Jazz Walk. Here’s some details from the Facebook page:
The University District’s …more…
A Zen Approach to Jazz
October 22, 2011 by
Oscar Peterson, Munich 1977 (Photo by Hans Bernhard)
I was sitting, looking out the window in Brooklyn a couple of weeks ago, writing the jazz genre introduction for Arts America when Oscar Peterson’s rendition of the Gershwin classic “I Loves You Porgy” pops up on Spotify. I remember that I was writing the section on the debate over what jazz “is”.
Peterson was a master of the piano and watching this …more…
