#rbjazz-concerts

#rbjazz-concerts

"The Fine Art and Design sale brings together an exciting selection of works that reflect some of the most enduring ideas in modern and contemporary art. You'll find pieces that explore the human form as a space for storytelling and identity, alongside works that offer nuanced perspectives on sexuality."

Bonamassa explains the origin of the sprawling tribute, saying, 'It was brought to my attention... that B.B. King would be turning 100... and nobody was planning on doing much. I said we need to do something.'

No Fun Fest returns to NYC for the first time since 2009 as No Fun New Perspectives, a three-day event featuring avant-garde and improvisational music.

A trumpeter and composer of rare intuition and inspiration, Blanchard will perform Feb. 20 in Miami as part of the Arsht Center for the Performing Arts' acclaimed Jazz Roots series, returning to his iconic Malcolm X Jazz Suite with his band, The E-Collective, and two-time Grammy-winning Turtle Island Quartet. Created after he wrote the score for the 1992 Spike Lee biopic "Malcolm X," Blanchard has over the years updated and expanded the suite, performed here as part of the ongoing centennial celebration of the slain civil rights icon. Visit ArshtCenter.org.

Celebrated by the BBC as one of the city's top 8 literary destinations, The Urbane Arts Club is more than just a venue-it's a vibrant hub for culture and creativity. Through an eclectic mix of literary launches, musical showcases, and theatrical performances, it fosters an environment rich in conversation and artistic expression.

For the first time ever, Brooklyn's premier professional orchestra, the Brooklyn Chamber Orchestra, is dedicating a full program to jazz, featuring the work of the late Charlie Parker, "Charlie Parker with Strings," on Feb. 13 at St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church in Brooklyn Heights. It is also the first time in more than a decade that "Charlie Parker with Strings" will be heard live in New York.

I'm chowing down on a mini King Cake, my breakfast. It's a braided cinnamon Danish sprinkled with purple, green, and gold edible glitter, with a cream cheese filling and a little plastic baby perched astride. The baby represents the infant Jesus and is said to bring luck (and an obligation to host the next fête, if he shows up in your slice.)

"Many found the music offensive, the dancing objectionable, and the popularity of both with young people verging on a mental health crisis." So writes music historian Susan C. Cook about ragtime, the heavily syncopated ancestor of jazz that arose in the late 1800s. Like all things, ragtime's subversiveness faded over time, and, a century later, the works of Scott Joplin and other practitioners had been relegated to carnivals and fairs, their jaunty piano melodies now evoking quaint notions of old-timey fun.

Ever since I first went down to New Orleans for Mardi Gras and the Carnival season in 2011, I was hooked. From Twelfth Night (January 5 or 6) to Fat Tuesday, the city blooms with colors and rhythms as parades with names like Bacchus and Endymion crisscross neighborhoods. Fat Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday, is the high point as the Rex and Zulu parades turn the French Quarter into a frenzy.

I moved to Chicago in September 2024, the year I released The Past Is Still Alive and hit the road with a new band - a group of musicians recommended by my front of house/production manager, Johnny Wilson. Everyone had ties to the city, and had been playing together in the DIY scene for over a decade. Since then, we've traveled the world together, becoming family, playing the best shows of my life.

Michel Portal, a French pioneer of European modern jazz and a prolific writer of film music, has died aged 90, his agent said on Sunday. A multi-instrumentalist at home with the clarinet, saxophone, Argentine bandoneon and Hungarian taragot, Portal died on Thursday, said Marion Piras, one of his representatives. His 1965 album, Free Jazz, was considered a landmark in Europe's efforts to end American domination of the genre.

RÜFÜS DU SOL have announced their 2026 North American tour, their biggest headline run in the region to date, featuring shows at stadiums, amphitheaters, and massive outdoor venues. The 24-date North American run launches June 5th at The Gorge in George, Washington and includes stops at venues like Madison Square Garden in New York, Wrigley Field in Chicago, Fenway Park in Boston, Kia Forum in Los Angeles, and Folsom Field in Boulder.

I noticed the swelling of the double bass first, quickly followed by the fluttering of brushed cymbals. A saxophone pushing against the edges of a melody swiftly married the notes together, chords drifting haphazardly before reaching a slow, pulsing groove. The jazz quartet performed in front of a liquor cabinet lined with whisky bottles; low-hanging lights teetered overhead, throwing shapes on the monochromatic marble-tiled floor. Outside, a leafy veranda was filled with diners, the music drifting through flung-open doors and windows.

The last swing music revival of the late 1990s heralded in by groups like the Brian Setzer Orchestra may have seemed like the end of the line for the big band-fueled dance craziness - just don't tell that to Rebecca Roudman.

Even if you're just a casual jazz fan, you probably recognize "Take the A Train," Duke Ellington's swinging theme song. Or you've heard the melancholy ballad "Lush Life" sung by Nat King Cole, by Linda Ronstadt during her Great American Songbook era, or by Lady Gaga on the album she recorded with Tony Bennett. Both of those - and many other tunes - were written by a gay man, musician, composer, and arranger Billy Strayhorn.