Music is the ultimate conjurer of emotions. The sounds of “Fireflies” off of L.A. Buckner and BiG HOMiE’s forthcoming record “Norfside” conjures a lifetime of triumph into three and a half minutes of music like the groove downed three espressos before the second measure and as the group navigates the various sections there is a...Read More

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

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

Jazz bands don’t last long enough. So many times you only hear the alchemy between a given ensemble for one recording and then things change up before the next trip to the recording studio. It is so rewarding when you hear an ensemble stick together and grow. Joan Hutton and Sue Orfield did just that...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

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

Dylan Hicks is a Minneapolis-based writer and musician who leads a stellar group called Dylan Hicks & Small Screens. It’s obvious that Hicks is confident exploring various forms of writing and music genres, as his song, “The Unicellular Spore,” incorporates brass, woodwinds, and vocals. There’s a little something for anyone wanting to get a peek...Read More

Astronomy Town is an indie jazz group based right here in the Twin Cities! Their first EP, Welcome To Astronomy Town, is a great introduction for what to expect when listening to them: a mix of jazz, lo-fi, and lounge. The track “Coffee & Guinness” lures you into a dreamlike state with the graceful keyboard...Read More

Twin Cities-based guitarist Pavel Jany and his Global Jazz Collegium are back with their latest disc, Labyrinth. Jany and many of the other members of the Collegium also work in the group Ticket to Brasil, but for this group, they follow their interests beyond Brazil and explore many of the international sounds that have become...Read More