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Riffs: Music News from Out and About
By Patricia Myers
Suspicions confirmed. I’ve always considered modern jazz the most inventive of all music genres. Its early influences of Prez, Diz, Duke and Miles are never-ending, but each new configuration offers newly creative elements. So when I saw an article about how similar country music hits are becoming, I thought, “Suspicions confirmed.”
Continue ReadingLewis Nash performs on friend’s album-tribute to young daughter
By Patricia Myers
Phoenix-born jazz drummer Lewis Nash was the drummer on tenor saxophonist Jimmy Greene’s newly released tribute album, Beautiful Life (Mack Avenue Records). The CD is a remembrance celebration of Greene’s 6-year-old daughter, Ana Márquez-Greene, who was among the 20 children and six educators killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT, on Dec.14, 2012.
Continue ReadingFamed jazz piano duo performs Feb. 28 for Lakeshore Music series at Tempe Center for the Arts
By Patricia Myers
For the “month of lovers,” the Lakeshore Music jazz series brings the wife-husband duo of pianists Renee Rosnes and Bill Charlap to make beautiful music together at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 28. These world-renowned jazz pianists have had stellar solo careers, and recently recorded their first collaborative album, “Double Portrait,” for Blue Note. Their four-hand piano duets feature superb individual styles that flow into a sparkling integrated sound.
Continue ReadingPapa John DeFrancesco: A swinging journey in music.
By Patricia Myers
World-renowned organist John “Papa John” DeFrancesco was a professional trumpet player when he heard Jack McDuff playing a Hammond B3 organ. “Hearing all those harmonics, the organ took my heart,” he said in an interview with MusicSceneAZ. He’s widely known for his infectious, bluesy, swinging style.
Continue ReadingFirst Tucson Jazz Festival will feature Bacharach, Reeves, Cobb, Childs, DeFrancesco, many more
By Patricia Myers
The HSL Tucson Jazz Festival, a 13-day event from Jan. 16-28 will feature national and Arizona musicians, headlined by 86-year-old composer Burt Bacharach, 85-year old drummer and NEA Jazz Master Jimmy Cobb, plus four 2015 Grammy-nominated musicians.
Continue ReadingRiffs: Music News from Out and About
By Patricia Myers:
A major highlight of January is the first Tucson Jazz Festival, a 13-day event from Jan. 16-28 that features both national and Arizona musicians. The impressive event, organized by Yvonne Ervin, founding executive director of the Tucson Jazz Society, features four Grammy-winning musicians: Burt Bacharach, Billy Childs, Dianne Reeves and The Robert Glaspar Experiment.
Continue ReadingNicole Pesce Quartet wows audience at Musical Instrument Museum
By Patricia Myers:
The astounding ingenuity and amazing repertoire of pianist Nicole Pesce dazzled yet another audience at the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix when she performed on Nov. 16, 2014 in solo, duo and quartet settings as part of the museum’s “I Am AZ Music” series.
Continue ReadingPete Christlieb Quintet, ‘Santa’s Bones’ perform at Musicians Hall
By Patricia Myers:
Concerts by the Pete Christieb Quartet and a trombone ensemble called “Santa’s Bones” pleased audiences recently in the Musicians Hall of the Phoenix Musicians Union, Local 586 AFM.
Continue ReadingInterview: Jacob Franklin-pianist, Young Sounds of Arizona
By Patricia Myers:
Listening to recorded jazz is an important element of learning to play better, says Jacob Franklin, 17, pianist for the 7:00 Band of Young Sounds of Arizona. “I studied classical music starting when I was 7, and my grandfather had a jazz record collection that I listened to with him.
Continue ReadingRiffs: Music News from Out and About
By Patricia Myers:
My new all-Arizona music website, www.MusicSceneAZ.com, has been growing in content and dimension since its launch last month. The Calendar and Venues segments are filled with live-music bookings, as many as 30 on some days of the week, mostly jazz and blues.
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