“In terms of what we do relating to the audience, it’s to make sure we’re passionate about what we’re doing onstage, delivering joyous music that includes everyone. It’s a party regardless of whether there’s 10 people or a thousand people…
David Greenwald for THE OREGONIAN Béla Fleck’s made a career out of bringing the banjo where it wasn’t expected. The musician, informed by the three-finger bluegrass tradition of Earl Scruggs and others, has walked ably between jazz, classical and world…
Lisa Fischer speaks with friends, family and inquisitive journalists over the phone before a tour, but once out on the road she keeps her spoken words to a minimum. The vow of silence is one of several rules that Fischer,…
James Cotton was honored with the B.B. King Award by the 2015 Festival International de Jazz de Montréal for being a pioneer in the blues genre for the past seven decades. Since his career started, he has gone on to record…
Jazz Fest Concert Review: Jesse Cook at Maison Symphonique July 2, 2015. When Canadian guitarist Jesse Cook stepped on the Maison Symphonique stage that night, there was a brief moment of confusion among audience members: either an imposter had sauntered in or…
Ivan Hewett for THE TELEGRAPH The jazz orchestra is a notoriously expensive beast, which is why relatively few jazz composers choose to work with it. Composer and band leader Maria Schneider is one of those few. Over several decades she’s defied economic…
On the heels of a high-profile two-week gig at New York’s Cafe Carlyle, Bettye LaVette is returning to the Washington area this week, where she played at the old Howard Theatre in 1962, the Kennedy Center Honors in 2008 and…
Growing up in Philadelphia, organist Joey DeFrancesco sat in with Hank Mobley when he was 10. Word spread. He joined Miles Davis’s band at age 17, went on to perform with John McLaughlin, Ray Charles, Elvin Jones and many others.…
Béla Fleck, the Paganini of the banjo, and Del McCoury, a living legend among bluegrass players, gave Meijer Gardens audiences an evening of exciting music, coupled with dry wit from Fleck and his wife Abigail Washburn, and aw’ shucks charm…
Ann Hampton Callaway will be celebrating the music of a living legend—and her personal musical heroine—Barbra Streisand. Callaway will be performing many of her idol’s signature classics, delivered, of course, with Callaway’s own unique, personal style. Michael L. Quintos for BROADWAY WORLD…