Back in 2020, when the Covid pandemic brought a halt to live music and many other activities multi-instrumentalist Dayna Stephens may have been better prepared than most to deal with the challenge. It wasn’t the first time he had dealt with a health-related career interruption. Stephens, who will bring his quartet to Saturday Night Jazz […]
The JazzMN Orchestra at Chanhassen Dinner Theater For a quarter century, the JazzMN Orchestra has provided the Twin Cities area (and beyond) with the best of classic and modern big band music, presented by some of the best jazz musicians in the Upper Midwest. Under the baton of renowned saxophonist/bandleader Pete Whitman and the artistic […]
Fans enjoying the Newport Jazz Festival © Kevin R. Mason This article is the first in a series that looks back at 2022 festivals, before the 2023 summer jazz festival season gets underway. In 2022, the Newport Jazz Festival (NJF) returned live for the second […]
By Don Berryman, Chet Baker photo © Tom Copi You can find limited edition and newly discovered jazz treasures on vinyl at your local record store on Record Store Day, April 22nd, 2023. Chet Baker Blue Room: The 1979 VARA Studio Sessions in Holland Chet Baker Blue Room: The 1979 VARA Studio Sessions in Holland, […]
By Dan Emerson. . Describing all the “jobs” Christian McBride holds would completely fill up a business card: bassist, composer, bandleader, radio host, educator, historian, festival artistic director….and, considering the powerhouse band he brought to the Dakota jazz club on March 21-22, you could add to that “talent scout.” McBride’s New Jawn quartet – one […]
By Dan Emerson Photos by Andrea Canter. The trio opened the late show at the Dakota with “The Winding Way,” a tune Holland wrote and played with the supergroup ScoLoFoHo (John Scofield, Joe Lovano, Al Foster and Holland) on their 2003 Blue Note album “Oh!” It started with an extended and expansive intro played by […]