Gabriel Alegria And Gerald Clayton On JazzSet
The Litchfield Jazz Festival leads off with a weeks-long camp for high-school students and New York's finest musicians on the faculty, then climaxes with a two-day festival. This year it's August 11-12...
View ArticleBranford Marsalis Quartet On JazzSet
From January 1992 to September 2001, Branford Marsalis set the JazzSet pace, hosting 39 new shows a year (now we do 26) from the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band; festivals in Iowa City, Telluride, Pasadena,...
View ArticleCatherine Russell, Virginia Mayhew On JazzSet
Catherine Russell is a lady born to music. Her father, Luis Russell (1902-63), was Louis Armstrong's orchestra leader beginning in the mid-1930s. Her mother, Carline Ray, is a bassist, singer, great...
View ArticleBill Charlap And Renee Rosnes On JazzSet
From the Family Theater at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., it's Renee Rosnes on the left, Bill Charlap on the right and — in Charlap's words — "a unique sound...
View ArticleJohn Ellis, Darcy James Argue On JazzSet
Brooklyn, N.Y., is the current home of John Ellis— raised in North Carolina and once a student in New Orleans — and Darcy James Argue, from Canada and once a student in Boston. They're both on the main...
View ArticleLewis Nash Quintet, Kurt Elling On JazzSet
There are three stages at the Newport Jazz Festival. At least two are always running simultaneously. Given the surfeit of options, it's rare to hear a complete set. The question begins to nag: Should...
View ArticleDee Dee Bridgewater On JazzSet
Dee Dee Bridgewater's smile says it all: JazzSet is happily celebrating 20 years of performances every week on NPR. In September, we featured original host Branford Marsalis with his 2012 quartet for...
View ArticleBilly Childs Quartet On JazzSet
It's New Year's Eve at The Blue Whale, a "live jazz + art space" in the Little Tokyo section of downtown Los Angeles. Founded in 2009 by singer Joon Lee, this is a listening room. There's food at the...
View ArticleGretchen Parlato, The Cookers On JazzSet
Ninety years ago near the village of Katonah, N.Y., art lovers Walter and Lucie Rosen bought Caramoor, a wooded estate, and built a home for their collection of painting and sculpture. Every room was a...
View ArticleJon Faddis Jazz Orchestra Of New York On JazzSet
Young Jon Faddis, born in 1953, learned every note Dizzy Gillespie ever recorded. Then Faddis found Gillespie and reacquainted the older trumpeter with some of his own best work. Their relationship...
View ArticleAlexis Cuadrado's 'A Lorca Soundscape' On JazzSet
It began with the crisis on Wall Street in 2008. Alexis Cuadrado , from Barcelona and now Brooklyn, remembered the poetry of the surrealist Federico Garcia Lorca (1898-1936), whom all Spanish students...
View ArticleRussell Malone Trio On JazzSet
Named the JJA Guitarist of the Year in June 2011, Russell Malone hails from Albany, Geo. Malone grew up absorbing music from his bedrock, the church, as well as popular blues and country tunes on radio...
View ArticleSean Jones, Jeff 'Tain' Watts On JazzSet
Ohio-born trumpeter Sean Jones played lead for approximately five years with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. Artistic Director Wynton Marsalis was a member of Sean's section. When was asked what...
View ArticleVanguard Jazz Orchestra On JazzSet
It started in 1966 as a three-week agreement among composer and conductor Thad Jones , drummer Mel Lewis and Max Gordon, the proprietor of The Village Vanguard in New York. And it continues,...
View ArticleAllison Miller's Boom Tic Boom On JazzSet
Allison Miller has a jazz portfolio with Dr. Lonnie Smith , Steven Bernstein and a host of others, as well as a pop career with Brandi Carlile , Ani DiFranco and Natalie Merchant . She's a U.S. State...
View ArticleGretchen Parlato, Conrad Herwig On JazzSet
At the Newport Jazz Festival , we're visiting the Quad and Harbor Stages, where the first rows of audience sit snug up to the performer. With her understated style, love of the lyric and freedom,...
View ArticleRez Abbasi Acoustic Quartet, Trio Da Paz On JazzSet
We're in a guitar world, from Pakistan to Brazil and from steel strings to nylon, as the Rez Abbasi Acoustic Quartet and Trio da Paz play in turn at the Newport Jazz Festival. Abbasi premiered this...
View ArticleAmina Figarova Sextet, Avishai Cohen's Triveni On JazzSet
As a child in Azerbaijan, Amina Figarova loved the piano at first sight. She would arrange all her dolls around her and play for them. "Nobody could stop me," she told an interviewer at All About Jazz...
View ArticleCharles Lloyd's Sangam On JazzSet
For his uncompromising and serious music, the 2011 Newport Jazz Festival was eager to present Charles Lloyd . He could bring any group he wanted, they told him. Lloyd said yes, and that he would bring...
View ArticleJane Bunnett And Chihiro Yamanaka On JazzSet
Chihiro Yamanaka and Jane Bunnett come to the Kennedy Center from Japan and Canada, respectively, and each has a compelling story. Jane Bunnett is from Toronto, yet for more than 30 years, she's...
View Article
