Author Archive
Mexican musicians play the 2009 Montreal Jazz Festival
Hector Infanzón, Magos Herrera, Sacbé, Lila Downs, Los de Abajo. What do all these artists have in common? Besides sharing a common heritage, they represent the best exponents of a wide range of contemporary music in and out ...
Arvito: The Harvey Averne Story – The Interview – Part 1
I spoke with Harvey Averne several times over the past summer, mostly by phone, where our conversations eventually turned from latin jazz and his own personal experiences as a performer to his experiences with superstar Eddie P...
Tiempo Libre – Bach in Havana (Sony Classical 2009)
The title of this record – Bach in Havana – should not come as a surprise, after all there is a yet-to-be-fully-discovered European Baroque and Classical music tradition that bubbles and boils in conservatories jus...
Lori Bell – The Music of Djavan (Resonance Records 2008)
Despite whatever misgivings the producers may have had with regard to this project, namely that that jazz project was centered on the music of Djavan, appears to be misguided. Perhaps Djavan, among the pantheon of Brasilian mus...
Gabriel Alegria – Nuevo Mundo (Saponegro Records 2008)
Every once in awhile there comes a musician who, when playing his or her chosen instrument, seems to carry within a vital life-force that is irrepressible, no matter what the circumstances of his or her playing. At the height o...
Tutuma Social Club – Afro-Peruvian jazz in NYC
Modeled after the popular Peruvian "peñas" Tutuma Social Club is the first Afro-Peruvian jazz venue in New York City. New York restaurateur and owner of Tutuma, Santina Matwey, got inspired after a trip -tour peru- organized b...
Arvito: The Harvey Averne Story – Preamble
Sometime around 1968, I became totally disillusioned with Cuban music, or "latin" music as it was called back then. It seemed that the endless array of boogaloos and shingalings were inadvertedly ...
2009 TD Canada Trust Toronto Jazz Festival
Make the TD Canada Trust Toronto Jazz Festival the ultimate destination this summer as it kicks off its 23rd edition as the city’s largest music festival. From a crooner to an orchestra, a guitar genius who tops any celebra...
Eva Scow + Dusty Brough – Sharon of the Sea (Adventure Music)
There is something in the music of Eva Scow that is so unique that the only two other musicians who come to mind when she is playing are Joni Mitchell and perhaps Bela Fleck. And here is why: As a composer and arranger, she hea...
Geoffrey Keezer – Aurea (ArtistShare 2008)
Geoffrey Keezer is a pianist of immense technical ability. As a musician and composer he is able to express himself in different idioms and settings. On Aurea, for instance, he makes a remarkable foray into the realm o...
