Author Archive
Diana Krall Sextet At Mesa Arts Center
Diana Krall applied her sultry voice and dynamic piano style to a captivating if surprising concert that combined jazz with tender childhood memories, silent-film clips and Seinfeld-style mischievous humor.
Continue Reading
37th Paradise Valley Jazz Party At Scottsdale Hilton Resort
An A-team of East Coast, West Coast and Arizona musicians played a mix of swing and bebop sounds in 14 jam-session-style sets at the 37th annual Paradise Valley Jazz Party.
Continue Reading
Herb Alpert-Lani Hall Quintet At Musical Instrument Museum
Trumpeter-vocalist Herb Alpert and vocalist Lani Hall performed a lively and captivating concert that linked their past triumphs to their newest collaborations. The uber-professionalism of this concert conveyed the ambience of a New York City cabaret show, an informal and relaxing mode that brimmed with rich talent.
Continue Reading
Charles Lloyd At The Musical Instrument Museum
Saxophonist Charles Lloyd, who has continually reinvented his musical style since the late 1960s, delivered a deluge of sound and rhythm changes in a spell-binding concert that integrated avant-garde jazz with elements of Asian and Eastern European music.
Continue Reading
Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra At Mesa Arts Center
By PATRICIA MYERS Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra Mesa Arts Center Mesa, Arizona March 7, 2014The Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, one of the best big bands in the nation for three decades, swung mightily all night long with strong section work and stylish solos arranged for specific members, per Duke Ellington and Count Basie. A brief post-intermission QA period from triumverate co-leaders bassist John […]
Continue ReadingJeff Hamilton At Phoenix Musicians Union
An Oscar Peterson Trio-like swingfest was delivered by Los Angeles-based drummerJeff Hamilton in a reunion with longtime Phoenix pianist Armand Boatman, for a scholarship benefit concert presented by the Phoenix Musicians Union as part of its Centennial celebration.
Continue ReadingJeff Hamilton Trio At Arizona Musicfest
The Jeff Hamilton Trio’s performance at Arizona Musicfest was aptly and enticingly billed as “Paragon of Groove,” and the combo delivered that groove from first note to last.
Continue ReadingTJI Ellington Big Band At Musical Instrument Museum
The Ellington Big Band of the Tucson Jazz Institute delivered an ambitious repertoire that ranged from Wynton Marsalis’s complex “The Tree of Freedom” to a Pat Metheny chart, with plenty of Ellingtonia in between.
Continue Reading