Jun 30, 2021
Late last spring, artist Jim Watt and jazz trumpeter Antione Drye began hosting Jazz at The Shop, a bi-weekly donation-only outdoor jazz series at Watt’s Asbury Park studio. For many, and despite their world-class talent, it was their first opportunity to play since the world shut down in March. Onlookers seemed...
Jun 29, 2021
Benjamin Sherman ‘Scatman’ Crothers (1910-1986) was a truly diverse star of the stage, film, and television. He first started performing in clubs as a singer and drummer in his teens, and wound up performing on Chicago’s speak-easy circuit in the latter part of the ‘Roaring 20’s.’ In 1931, Crothers...
Jun 25, 2021
The careers of jazz musicians Troy Roberts and Tim Jago have run scarily parallel. Both born and raised in Australia, they both initially re-located to the US to study at the prestigious University of Miami Frost School of Music. Multi-instrumentalist Roberts and guitarist Jago have remained close as they have...
Jun 21, 2021
It's a pleasure to be able to say that there is a two day live jazz festival happening this weekend, June 25-26, in upstate New York. After a one-year hiatus, the Freihofer's Saratoga Jazz Festival is back!
Scaled down in size due to health restrictions, nonetheless Danny Melnick, the festival producer is happy with the...
Jun 21, 2021
Let’s trace the line of great tenor saxophone players, from the likes of Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young and Ben Webster to Dexter Gordon, Sonny Rollins and James Moody and then to Stan Getz, Paul Desmond and John Coltrane. From there the many diverse threads of jazz lead us to Michael Brecker, Wayne Shorter, Grover...