Jazz

2022 - 10 - 24

Post cover
Image courtesy of "Hoops Habit"

The Right Note: Are the undefeated Utah Jazz too good to tank? (Hoops Habit)

The Utah Jazz have a roster filled with veteran players who have no interest in losing. This reality might hurt their tanking aspirations.

As a result, this Utah Jazz team has players coveted by playoff teams and ought to jump on those opportunities soon before they continue their winning ways. Though many assumed that Utah Jazz would be best positioned for this after unloading quite a bit of talent in the offseason, they might not have the best odds based on their roster and their play thus far. [Mike Conley](https://www.espn.com/nba/player/_/id/3195/mikeconley) is past his prime, but he remains a viable backup option for teams that are short on point guards.

Post cover
Image courtesy of "oregonlive.com"

MJ New Quartet straddles classical and jazz in concert at The Reser (oregonlive.com)

Portland pianist Darrell Grant has assembled a program that will feature jazz interpretations of works by Black composers.

“There are a lot of people who love both classical and jazz,” said Zagelow. “I was on the board of Chamber Music America for six years. I’ve got a couple that work with the music of William Grant Still and another with Florence Price. The Baroque vocabulary and the bebop vocabulary are so interrelated.” One of the reasons that I gravitated to jazz is that I didn’t like playing by myself.” Sometimes its melody then soloing with interesting things in the background then an interlude and then we’ll modulate to the melody again and wrap it up with an interesting coda.” They did a concert at The Old Church in 2018, but with their original drummer, “The William Grant Still piece is from his Suite for violin and piano. In another one, we start with a Bach prelude in B minor then it goes to a Latin-based piece that is a derivative of that. Founded and led by Grant at the piano, the MJ New Quartet is a virtuosic ensemble based on the Modern Jazz Quartet, which dazzled audiences from 1952 to 1997 with its cool jazz style. “Musicians like Mozart and Beethoven could make up an extended riff at the drop of a hat,” said Darrell Grant in a phone call from his office at Portland State University, where he is the professor of jazz studies. So there is a lot in common between classical music and jazz.”

Post cover
Image courtesy of "The Red Hook Star-Revue"

Jazz: Up From the Under-ground, by George Grella (The Red Hook Star-Revue)

(Jazz heads may gnash their teeth about Sinatra being in the book, but he, and Bing Crosby before him, was important for how he learned from jazz musicians and ...

That in itself is an enormous story, but English gives a good outline of it, as well as weaving all the decades and locations together into a fabric that was truly connected. The blues element in jazz is enduring and essential, not just musically but because that’s the connection to making music from and about the human experience. This is about how musicians got the chance to make the music that became jazz, and develop it and bring it to the world. This is not musicology, but social history, which is the part that musicologists almost always leave out and is always where the music begins, before anyone plays a note. What I mean is the there are key aspects of the society that gave birth to jazz that have changed and in many ways no longer exist, and that has to do with vice and organized crime. (Jazz heads may gnash their teeth about Sinatra being in the book, but he, and Bing Crosby before him, was important for how he learned from jazz musicians and brought their ideas to a mass audience—even if he strictly never sang jazz—and in turn jazz players learned from Sinatra’s marvelous phrasing.

Post cover
Image courtesy of "Kansas City Magazine"

The 'We Always Swing' series brings jazz's big names to Columbia (Kansas City Magazine)

But for bigger names and large ensembles, which includes post-bop vibraphonist Joel Ross, performances are often held at the Missouri Theatre or The Blue Note.

But for bigger names and large ensembles, which includes post-bop vibraphonist Joel Ross, performances are often held at the Missouri Theatre or The Blue Note. The New York-based modern jazz legend comes to Columbia after a recent residency at The Village Vanguard and a tour in Europe. “At its heart, the series is an education project,” says Jon Poses, the executive and artistic director. Charlap will perform a matinee and evening performance one day only, and you won’t be able to hear him in KC or St. The “We Always Swing” Jazz Series is reliably world-class––and is worth the drive to CoMo. [Murry’s](https://murrysrestaurant.net/), a locally beloved restaurant located in a small strip mall, and one of the only jazz clubs in the city.

Post cover
Image courtesy of "pressherald.com"

Live Music Lineup: Two kinds of jazz and some 'cosmic country' (pressherald.com)

Mali Obomsawin is a Portland-based Wabanaki bassist, composer and songwriter known for being part of Americana trio Lulu Wiles. She is releasing the solo jazz ...

Here’s a chance to see acclaimed pianist and composer Jason Yeager in an intimate space as he marks the release of “Unstuck in Time: The Kurt Vonnegut Suite.” He’ll be joined by bassist Fernando Huergo and drummer Jay Sawyer. The Montana quartet also has a fondness for psychedelia, so expect an enthralling performance. Here’s a chance to see two headliners take the stage in Portland for an affordable price, considering the size of the venue. “Sweet Tooth” was made in Portland as well as on an Odanak reservation in Quebec, and it’s a fascinatiing journey of sounds and themes. Kitchen Dwellers put their own twist on bluegrass, folk and rock with a live show that weaves in plenty of stories. 8 p.m.

Explore the last week