Stories, interviews, and reviews
INTERMISSION | 15 minutes with … Kenny Barron or two months in Spring 2010, four headliners from the 2009 Monterey Jazz Festival are touring the U.S., supported by one headliner’s rhythm section. Before the tour began, Cristofer Gross conducted two interviews with two of the musicians – vocalist
INTERMISSION | 15 minutes with … Kurt Elling Moving Ahead: Meet the man Jazztimes calls the ‘thinking man’s vocalist’. Vocalist Kurt Elling has earned extraordinary acclaim for his recordings and live performances. Although he has remained uncompromising in his artistic exploration of both music and language, he has been riding atop the jazz polls for
VIDEOS Shorter Time ACS (Carrington, drums; Geri Allen, piano; Esperanza Spalding, bass, Weather Report’s ‘Mysterious Traveler,’ at Montreux, celebrating Wayne Shorter’s 80th birthday (June 2013) • WATCH _______ ACS, July 2013 A beautiful piece from Geri Allen, Terri Lyne Carrington and Esperanza Spalding. WATCH _______ Hancock Carrington in a familiar setting, drumming for a Herbie
TERRI LYNE CARRINGTON Read More »
INTERMISSION | 15 minutes with … Dianne Reeves Chatting with the jazz vocalist before her concert with Gregory Porter. n 2016, Dianne Reeves was the veteran and Gregory Porter the up-and-coming artist on a bill at the Segerstrom Center for the Performing Arts in Costa Mesa, California. Several months before the concert – which was
ALL ORIGINAL Karrin Allyson With the 2018 release of her first recording of originals, a look back. Two qualities that distinguish enduring jazz vocalists, beyond the ability to sing in tune, are the character of the voice and phrasing. A great contemporary example is Karrin Allyson. Allyson’s current tour, which comes to Catalina’s Jazz Club
REEVES AND PORTER SATISFY Dianne Reeves and Gregory Porter share the bill in Costa Mesa by CRISTOFER GROSS he Orange County big-venue jazz year got off to an encouraging start January 16, with Dianne Reeves and Gregory Porter each performing solid hour-plus sets at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts. The audience, more age- and
GREGORY PORTER AND DIANNE REEVES Read More »
A JONES FOR MILES Musician, composer and educator Sean Jones is in the trumpet chair for SFJAZZ Collective’s 2016-17 tribute tour to Miles Davis. by CRISTOFER GROSS n 1988, Sean Jones was a 10-year-old learning to play drums in Warren, Ohio when he heard that his grandfather played trumpet during World War II. That, and
CHARGED PARTICLES Bonding with Chick Corea Elektric Band’s high-speed fusion at L.A.’s Catalina Jazz Club. by CRISTOFER GROSS he May 2018 maiden voyage of Jazz Generations could not have had a more apt or exciting setting. For its first outing, the new group of jazz patrons and players out to build pan-genre and cross-generational audiences
AFTERTHOUGHTS | CHICK COREA ELEKTRIC BAND | May 2018 Read More »
WIDENING THE CIRCLE Billy Mitchell sparks musical appreciation at concerts and in classes while entertaining audiences and passing the flame to adolescents. by CRISTOFER GROSS ianist-composer-bandleader Billy Mitchell performs music onstage and magic off. The onstage music usually is played with "The Circle of Friends," a loose association of like-minded musicians who get together for
JAZZ GUMBO Finding unity in the musical universe of saxophonist Donald Harrison. by CRISTOFER GROSS
DONALD HARRISON’S JAZZ GUMBO Read More »
