Originally published on Fri February 1, 2013 11:16 am
Few pianists have been as influential to modern jazz practice as McCoy Tyner. His harmonic and rhythmic conceptions, notably displayed as a member of John Coltrane's "classic" quartet, are instantly recognizable. And at age 74, you can still hear his driving left hand and dense chordal suggestions in fine form.
Originally published on Wed January 30, 2013 9:09 am
Once he had established himself as a world-class saxophonist, Joshua Redman moved back to the San Francisco Bay Area, where he grew up. Soon afterward, he co-founded the SFJAZZ Collective, an all-star resident ensemble and touring group, and served as its artistic director for several years. When he stepped down from his post, his replacement was another titan of the tenor sax: Joe Lovano.
Originally published on Thu January 24, 2013 2:34 pm
Gil Evans was born in Canada in 1912. He latched onto jazz and, in time, taught himself to write it. First, for dancers, Evans arranged tunes off the radio for the Claude Thornhill Orchestra as well as the sweet, warm sounds of flutes and French horns. Then Evans downsized the Thornhill sound to a nonet for The Birth of the Cool.
Originally published on Wed January 23, 2013 1:47 pm
In 1983, buoyed by a $10,000 grant from a city arts fund, a new concert presenter in San Francisco put together a festival called Jazz In The City. Fast-forward 30 years, and that organization — now called SFJAZZ and presenting more than 100 concerts a year — has raised $64 million, largely in private donations, for a new state-of-the-art performance space and permanent home. The SFJAZZ Center held a grand-opening ceremony Monday, and will celebrate Wednesday night with an all-star opening-night concert.
Originally published on Tue January 22, 2013 5:21 pm
Singer Jose James releases his album No Beginning, No End today. For a little while longer, you can still hear it via NPR Music's First Listen series. Plus, James recently gave an interview to host Melissa Block for today's episode of All Things Considered.
Keyboard player and composer Chick Corea was born Armando Anthony Corea in Chelsea, Mass., on June 12, 1941. His father, a Dixieland trumpet player, introduced Corea to jazz at an early age. By the time he was 4, Corea had begun studying the piano and played regular jazz gigs in high school. After graduation, he moved to New York to study music at Columbia and then Juilliard.
Originally published on Mon April 22, 2013 11:26 am
Correction: The audio of this segment mentions a February performance by the Mingus Jazz Orchestra. There will be no Mingus Jazz Orchestra concert this year. The audio and text of this segment also misidentified the dates of the 2013 Mingus High School Competition. The competition is Feb. 15-18.
Violinist Meg Okura led what she called a Pan Asian Chamber Jazz Ensemble in a program of compositions by Ryuichi Sakamoto.
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Catherine Russell sang standards and old songs from Le Poisson Rouge.
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Dan Tepfer (right) brought frequent duet partner Lee Konitz to the Zinc Bar for a series of improvisations. They were backed by the Harlem String Quartet, which executed scores composed on-the-spot by Tepfer.
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Guitar virtuosi Nels Cline (left) and Julian Lage played as a duet.
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Bassist Eric Revis assembled a trio with pianist Kris Davis and drummer Andrew Cyrille.
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Kris Davis at the Zinc Bar.
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The Fringe came down from Boston to play Winter Jazzfest.
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Tia Fuller (left) played saxophone in TAFFY, the bottom-heavy band of trombonist Corey King. Takuya Kuroda (background) played trumpet.
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Saxophonist Logan Richardson plays in Nasheet Waits' band Equality.
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Drummer Nasheet Waits led a quartet in one of the best-attended sets of the festival.
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Alto saxophonist Jaleel Shaw performed with Mark de Clive-Lowe's CHURCH ensemble.
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Mark de Clive-Lowe led his band on piano, keyboards and electronics.
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Guitarist Rafiq Bhatia led a proggy, dense quartet.
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Christelle Durandy was on hand for an act called "Celebrate The Great Women of Blues and Jazz," conceived by Toshi Reagon and Allison Miller.
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Dan Weiss, a frequent sight on day two of Winter Jazzfest, plays with bassist Michael Formanek's Cheating Heart.
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Bassist Mario Pavone was joined by trumpeter Dave Ballou and drummer Tyshawn Sorey.
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Andrew D'Angelo played saxophone and bass clarinet with Merger, the last band on the Culture Project Theater stage.
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Tenor saxophonist Tony Malaby led a trio with Dan Peck (tuba) and John Hollenbeck (drums).
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Alto saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa was on hand with his new Gamak quartet.
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Banjo player Brandon Seabrook was one of the animators of the early jazz ensemble Ghost Train Orchestra, led by Brian Carpenter (left).
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The band Kneebody played another of the best-attended sets of the festival.
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The ferocious saxophonist James Carter, who played with his organ trio, proved a crowd pleaser.
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Guitarist Rez Abbasi led a trio at Zinc Bar.
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Kurt Knuffke was one of four members of the band Merger, with Andrew D'Angelo, Ben Street and Nasheet Waits.
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Maria Neckam was among the first performers of the entire festival.
Originally published on Wed January 16, 2013 11:04 am
The Winter Jazzfest turned nine this year, and it's matured into a known quantity, a New York cultural landmark. Its variety of routines have worn in enough to develop some comforting predictability. For such a scrappy, low-to-the-ground happening designed around emerging artists and new repertoires, that's an achievement.
