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Ron Netsky on May 11th, 2012
Jazz artists are increasingly reaching beyond the genre's standards to tunes by Radiohead, The Beatles, Bjork, and other pop songwriters for new vehicles to explore musically. But, as Will Friedwald points out in his liner notes for Tessa Souter's wonderful new album, "Beyond The Blue," few artists turn back to
CD Reviews
Ron Netsky on May 11th, 2012
A great soul song is just a beginning. After it offers its three-minute world to the public through radios, stereo systems and MP3 players, it takes on another life. Curtis Mayfield wrote and sang a lot of great soul songs. Now the Jazz Soul Seven is taking them for another
Choice Concerts
Ron Netsky on May 1st, 2012
Eric Person has an urgent style on alto and soprano saxophone that may just remind you of John Coltrane. Person, who also plays flute, is a superb soloist and composer who has been a member of the World Saxophone Quartet and has enhanced the bands of Dave Holland, McCoy
Music Articles
Ron Netsky on May 1st, 2012
Life as we know it started with a big bang. That's how important percussion is to our universe. The Eastman School of Music is about to celebrate percussion's many and varied, if a bit more humble, roles in Percussion Rochester, a new festival running this week in and around
Music Articles
Ron Netsky on April 10th, 2012
To say that jazz drummer Ulysses Owens has roots in the Pentecostal Church would be an understatement. "My mom went into labor when she was at a revival meeting," says Owens. "I grew up surrounded by a family of singers and preachers, and I was the really shy one."
That
Choice Concerts
Ron Netsky on April 10th, 2012
Trumpeter extraordinaire Derrick Gardner was in his mid-20's when he arrived on the New York jazz scene in 1991. More than ready for the major leagues, he joined the Count Basie Orchestra, where he remains today. But that's just the beginning. Over the years he's also worked in Frank
CD Reviews
Ron Netsky on April 4th, 2012
Guitarist Bob Sneider is a ubiquitous musical force on the Rochester jazz scene, anchoring the jam sessions at the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival and playing countless other gigs.
His brother, John Sneider, is a superb trumpet player living outside New York City. On their new album, they have enlisted a
CD Reviews
Ron Netsky on April 4th, 2012
Ahmad Jamal still knows one of the greatest secrets in jazz: less really is more. Brilliant minimalism is the magical quality that brought Jamal his initial fame in the 1950s. And it was this particular stylistic touch of Jamal that influenced a young Miles Davis in his approach to jazz.
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Ron Netsky on March 27th, 2012
One woman sits at the keyboard surrounded by a dozen men. That's the composition of the Lorraine Desmarais Big Band. To rule that roost - consisting of many of the top musicians in Montreal - you've got to have more than leadership skills; you must have enough accomplishments under
Choice Concerts
Ron Netsky on March 21st, 2012
When the Katie Ernst Quartet takes the stage you never know what you might hear. Ernst, a superb vocalist and bassist, is a wonderful interpreter of standards, but she's also been known to throw in fresh takes on pop tunes like Stevie Wonder's "You Are The Sunshine Of My
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Ron Netsky on May 7th, 2012
One look at the Kodak Hall stage at Saturday's Percussion Rochester finale told you all you needed to know about the balance of power.
With conductor Neil Varon at the podium, the percussionists extraordinaire of NEXUS - Bob Becker, Bill Cahn, Russell Hartenberger, Garry Kvistad, and honored guest John Beck
Music Blog
Ron Netsky on June 19th, 2011
Once in a while a jazz artist will journey backward, exploring the roots of jazz and moving her own music forward in the process. Violinist Regina Carter took the audiences at Kilbourn Hall on that journey with her during two sets of absolutely wonderful music from her new album, "Reverse Thread."
As
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Ron Netsky on June 18th, 2011
My first seven nights of blogging have gone pretty smoothly. Even though it might be 2 a.m., I've found the words to write about every artist I've heard. But that was before I went to the Lutheran Church Friday night to hear Tonbruket play its first gig in the United
Music Blog
Ron Netsky on June 17th, 2011
Bill Frisell's "Beautiful Dreamers" started like the universe, with primordial soup. At Kilbourn Hall Thursday night Frisell, violist Eyvind Kang, and drummer Rudy Royston hit a few notes and beats here and there until a combination of them gelled into melodies and rhythms that soon began to multiply.
On the first
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Ron Netsky on June 16th, 2011
Saxophonist and vocalist (should I also say dancer?) Grace Kelly charmed the crowd at Kilbourn Hall with her own kind of variety show Wednesday night. She played straight-ahead jazz and funk, she sang Sarah Vaughan-style and singer-songwriter style and even did a silly little dance with an audience member. And
Music Blog
Ron Netsky on June 15th, 2011
Bela Fleck and the Original Flecktones seemed to be having the times of their lives up on the stage at Kodak Hall Tuesday night. Pianist and harmonica player extraordinaire Howard Levy has not been with the group since 1992, and the reunion appeared to be a genuine love fest.
Visually and
Music Blog
Ron Netsky on June 14th, 2011
The most remarkable performance I heard Monday night was by pianist John Escreet at Christ Church. Most of the audience walked out.
Escreet is far from a typical jazz pianist. He is classically trained but instead of interpreting a challenging repertoire, he uses his knowledge and his unbelievable technical skills to
Music Blog
Ron Netsky on June 13th, 2011
It was the interplay of organization and wildness that made John Nugent's concert with strings so wonderful Sunday afternoon at Kodak Hall.
In Dave Rivello's arrangements the strings served as a lush, beautifully structured counterpoint to the free spirit of Nugent's sax. While the string players were reading their composed parts,
Music Blog
Ron Netsky on June 12th, 2011
Listening to the second movement of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 you might suddenly hear the notes practically sing out: "There's a place for us." Of course, the concerto was written in the early 19th century, and Leonard Bernstein, let's say, recycled the notes in the mid-20th for his song
Music Blog
Ron Netsky on June 11th, 2011
When I left the Natalie Cole concert at Friday night's XRIJF, the first friend I ran into asked, "Was she OK?" Over the past few years when Cole's been in the news it's been about her kidney transplant. And she's spoken honestly about her past drug abuse. So people wonder.
But
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