From his Grammy-nominated symphonic work to his role as Gary Burton Chair of Jazz Performance at Berklee College of Music, Joe Lovano fearlessly challenges and pushes his conceptual and thematic ventures in a quest for new modes of artistic expression and new ways to define the jazz idiom. In 2014 Lovano won awards for Multi-reeds […]
For close to 50 years, Tower of Power has delivered the best in Rhythm and Blues music. But, as group co-founder Emilio Castillo says, they could have had a much different name. “We were a Soul band called The Motowns.” He recalls. “Rocco Prestia was the bass player, I was in there, and my […]
“Payton’s clarion trumpet, as well as his genre-defying solos, stood at the center of the music making… Payton bent notes beyond recognition… No descriptive label or category could be affixed to Payton’s solos, which were as brashly original as they were technically imposing.” – Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune, 12/1/12 Multi-instrumentalist and Trumpet Master, Nicholas Payton, […]
The way American singer Gregory Porter has worked on his solo career these past years is impressive. By performing a lot, and leaving a lasting impression with each concert, he has built a huge fan base. Porter’s warm and mature sound is very attractive to many. Yet it could all have transpired so differently. Porter […]
Dutch saxophonist CANDY DULFER continues to push boundaries with the November 2016 release of her new album ‘Together (is all we got)’. The album was inspired by all that’s great in jazz, disco, soul, dance and r&b, but is also a contemporary interpretation of what’s happening in music and the world today. Candy created a […]
36-year-old pianist and singer Jamie Cullum, from Britain, is a top-notch showman. He’s renowned for jazz with a hint of pop and rock. He’s been a regular at the Festival since 2004, the year of his consecration with the album Twentysomething. Jamie Cullum represents a generation of musicians who aren’t scared to mix styles, taking […]
Embassy of Israel in Georgia Trumpeter Avishai Cohen — voted a Rising Star three years running in the DownBeat Critics Poll — has earned renown as a musician with an individual sound and a questing spirit, an ever-creative player-composer open to multiple strains of jazz and active internationally as a leader, co-leader and sideman. The […]