Apr 30, 2016
April 30th is the day set aside as International Jazz Day around the world. Beginning in 2012, UNESCO set aside the day as a celebration of “the virtues of jazz as an educational tool, and a force for peace, unity, dialogue and enhanced cooperation among people.”
I was fortunate enough to attend the first...
Apr 26, 2016
Brian Bromberg’s latest CD, Full Circle, truly lives up to his name. The long-time bass player has been virtually absent from the public for the past four years, as he recovers from a serious back injury the required extensive physical therapy. Now he returns to recorded music, not only playing his trademark piccolo...
Apr 24, 2016
Artist-run organizations are a new and successful trend in the jazz world, and Rob Garcia has been a major force in this new way for jazz to continue and thrive. He is the founder and executive director of an artist-run, non-profit organization called Connection Works, which presents world-class jazz performances and...
Apr 23, 2016
As an English major at Clark University (Class of '77) I spent many a fond moment with one of my favorite professors, Dr. Virginia Vaughan discussing the Immortal Bard, William Shakespeare. Although Shakespeare's birthdate is unknown, it is traditionally celebrated on April 23, St. George's Day. He was born 452 years...
Apr 22, 2016
One of the astounding things that we realize when we contemplate the musical legacy of Prince (1958-2016) is that while he passed away at the age of 57, he had written and recorded music since he was 17. Those forty years of wildly exciting, innovative, profane, uplifting music will be with us always, and we are once...