We are so lucky to have Zacc Harris in the Twin Cities. Harris is a top-flight guitarist, composer and educator. He also manages to run a premier record label that releases world-class music which represents our local scene and the larger international jazz scene. Through some scheduling miracle, Zacc Harris was able to connect with...Read More
I spent an inordinate amount of my teen years listening to a record by David Fiuczynski called Lunar Crush. It came out in 1994 and it featured John Medeski’s keyboard work all over it. Much of the joy of this record can be found in how wide the palette of sounds is. Multiple keyboards, percussion appearing...Read More
Saxophonist / composer/ arranger Benny Golson died Saturday. He was 95 years old. Inspired largely by the music of pianist Tadd Dameron, Golson composed several tunes now considered standards, including “Whisper Not,” “Along Came Betty,” and “I Remember Clifford.” With his dark, swooping sound and arpeggiated phrases, Golson’s tenor saxophone playing had a lot in...Read More
Jazz88 celebrates the birthday of pianist and composer Muhal Richard Abrams, who was born September 19th, 1930 in Chicago. Early on, Abrams worked with a wide variety of musicians from blues artists to saxophonist Dexter Gordon and trumpeter Woody Shaw. In 1965, Abrams was a founding member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians,...Read More
There are some great transcontinental collaborations happening in the Twin Cities Jazz scene! Technology has made it feasible for arrangers from all over the world to get their charts performed and recorded by a topflight big band without having to muster all the players individually. Adi Yeshaya, Ned Kantar and other arrangers in town have...Read More
The world is paying enough attention to Cory Wong. . .but is Minnesota? Cory Wong is a bona fide festival headliner all around the world with accolades and ticket sales that match or exceed some of the titans in the world of jazz. But perhaps because he hails from Minnesota and is still based here,...Read More
If you missed our Labor Day programming. Here is a list of our top 88.5 songs: 1) Dave Brubeck, “Take Five” from the album Time Out 2) Weather Report, “Birdland” from the album Heavy Weather 3) Duke Ellington “Take the “A” Train” from the album Hollywood 4) George Gershwin, “Rhapsody in Blue” from the album...Read More
Today is Meshell Ndegeocello’s birthday. Born on August 29, 1968, she is a singer-songwriter, poet, and bassist. Her influences are far reaching and include funk, soul, jazz, hip hop, reggae and rock. I am happy to celebrate this avant-garde musician. I was introduced to Meshell Ndegeocello through her album, Bitter. I was a college freshman...Read More
After a long drought from any studio releases, the internationally celebrated Minnesota-based group Happy Apple has a new album out titled New York CD. The tone of this album is definitely leans to moody side with Michael Lewis’s saxophone frequently taking center stage supported by the interplay between bassist Erik Fratzke and drummer Dave King. Happy Apple...Read More
When it comes to music, we’re lucky that we don’t have to actually limit ourselves to certain artists and their catalogs. We can have our own favorites, but there is plenty of time in the world to listen to Count Basie, Duke Ellington, and scores of other great artists. But, I must admit, that I...Read More
