JazzSet with Dee Dee Bridgewater on WLRN

Jon Faddis Jazz Orchestra Of New York On JazzSet

editor — Sat, 29 Dec 2012 02:43:00 +0000

Young Jon Faddis, born in 1953, learned every note Dizzy Gillespie ever recorded. Then Faddis found Gillespie and reacquainted the older trumpeter with some of his own best work. Their relationship became a close mentorship in jazz, maybe the closest.

Gretchen Parlato, The Cookers On JazzSet

editor — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 13:03:00 +0000

Ninety years ago near the village of Katonah, N.Y., art lovers Walter and Lucie Rosen bought Caramoor, a wooded estate, and built a home for their collection of painting and sculpture. Every room was a gallery, including their favorite, the Music Room; after they lost their only son in World War II, they presented a small concert series there to honor him. So began the transformation of Caramoor from a private home to an arts center and treasure for Westchester County, north of New York City.

Today, every summer from June to August, Caramoor presents chamber music and a resident orchestra.

Billy Childs Quartet On JazzSet

editor — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 21:57:00 +0000

It's New Year's Eve at The Blue Whale, a "live jazz + art space" in the Little Tokyo section of downtown Los Angeles. Founded in 2009 by singer Joon Lee, this is a listening room. There's food at the bar, poetry (Rumi!) on the ceiling, and wall-to-wall people.

Dee Dee Bridgewater On JazzSet

editor — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 17:50:00 +0000

Dee Dee Bridgewater's smile says it all: JazzSet is happily celebrating 20 years of performances every week on NPR. In September, we featured original host Branford Marsalis with his 2012 quartet for our anniversary.

Benny Green Trio On JazzSet

editor — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 14:24:00 +0000

The pioneering pianist Thelonious Monk left behind a treasure trove of compositions. Onstage at the KC Jazz Club at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., a current jazz treasure is here to play some of the best. Benny Green is on piano with Peter Washington on bass and Kenny Washington on drums.

Lewis Nash Quintet, Kurt Elling On JazzSet

editor — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 20:01:00 +0000

There are three stages at the Newport Jazz Festival. At least two are always running simultaneously. Given the surfeit of options, it's rare to hear a complete set. The question begins to nag: Should be we somewhere else? And away you go, leaving a work in progress to make sure you don't miss one getting underway.

But sometimes if you choose a spot on the lawn and stay put, the juxtaposition of two bands delivers a fine festival experience.

John Ellis, Darcy James Argue On JazzSet

editor — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 19:15:00 +0000

Brooklyn, N.Y., is the current home of John Ellis — raised in North Carolina and once a student in New Orleans — and Darcy James Argue, from Canada and once a student in Boston. They're both on the main stage at the 2012 Newport Jazz Festival.

The son of a preacher in North Carolina, tenor saxophonist Ellis made a pivot in New Orleans to funk with an original twist.

Either/Orchestra On JazzSet

editor — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 21:15:00 +0000

A creative composer and his 10-piece band embed melodies from a golden musical age in the Horn of Africa into Western harmony, and an Afro-Caribbean breeze blows through it, as Russ Gershon and the Either/Orchestra present The Collected Unconscious in Tishman Auditorium at the New School in New York City, in Surround Sound on JazzSet.

Way back in the 1980s, tenor man Gershon dreamed of writing music in the Duke Ellington tradition for a band of Boston players, with a helping of Mingus' blues-and-roots spirit.

Bill Charlap And Renee Rosnes On JazzSet

editor — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 20:32:00 +0000

From the Family Theater at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., it's Renee Rosnes on the left, Bill Charlap on the right and — in Charlap's words — "a unique sound that is the sum of both of us."

Both Charlap and Rosnes — husband and wife — are renowned bandleaders in their own right. When they started playing piano together at home for fun, they realized they were on to something.

Catherine Russell, Virginia Mayhew On JazzSet

editor — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 20:09:00 +0000

Catherine Russell is a lady born to music. Her father, Luis Russell (1902-63), was Louis Armstrong's orchestra leader beginning in the mid-1930s. Her mother, Carline Ray, is a bassist, singer, great all-around musician and a member of the International Sweethearts of Rhythm, the 1940s all-woman band that swung as hard as the men.

Steve Wilson With Strings On JazzSet

editor — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 13:17:00 +0000

To inaugurate the 2011-12 jazz season at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., director of jazz Kevin Struthers wanted something special and different.

James Farm On JazzSet

editor — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 15:12:00 +0000

When Joshua Redman plays Boston, it's a homecoming. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard University and quickly won the 1991 Thelonious Monk International Saxophone Competition. Warner Brothers signed him to make a string of successful albums.

From 2004 to '07, he was first among equals in the eight-piece SF JAZZ Collective, with Matt Penman on bass and Eric Harland on drums.

Branford Marsalis Quartet On JazzSet

editor — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 21:09:00 +0000

From January 1992 to September 2001, Branford Marsalis set the JazzSet pace, hosting 39 new shows a year (now we do 26) from the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band; festivals in Iowa City, Telluride, Pasadena, Mount Hood, Montreal and Brevard, N.C.; the new music festival in Groningen, the Netherlands, and the Havana Jazz Festival in Cuba; clubs from Yoshi's in California to Sculler's and the Regattabar in Boston.

Regina Carter, Wynton Marsalis On JazzSet

Becca Pulliam — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 20:15:00 +0000

JazzSet returns to the 2011 Newport Jazz Festival for performances from two complementary bandleaders on the main Fort Adams stage: violinist Regina Carter and trumpeter Wynton Marsalis.

Regina Carter started playing violin as a 4-year-old Suzuki method student in Detroit, and later played in school and community orchestras. After attending the New England Conservatory of Music, she chose jazz as her primary direction.

Kevin Eubanks On JazzSet

Becca Pulliam — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 15:50:00 +0000

People often asked Kevin Eubanks during his 15 years leading the band on NBC every night, "What would you like to do when you leave The Tonight Show?" And he would answer, "I'm going to get to finish a tune."

His answer implies that he needs a few minutes. But he means more than that.

"When you get out on the road, you realize it takes a long time to finish a song," Eubanks says. "The song keeps morphing and turning into this, that and the other. It takes a long time to wear a song out, [until eventually] it takes more energy to play it than it gives. And then the song is done.

Juan-Carlos Formell On JazzSet

editor — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 15:08:00 +0000

Juan-Carlos Formell participated in a multi-artist showcase at SOB's — home to Brazilian and Latin music in New York — a few years ago. Between a couple of amped-up bands, he took the stage alone (as I recall) and sang in Spanish, accompanying himself on guitar. His voice had urgency to it, and there was an irresistible engine inside that guitar. Ever since, I've wanted to hear and know more.

Gabriel Alegria And Gerald Clayton On JazzSet

Becca Pulliam — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 20:10:00 +0000

The Litchfield Jazz Festival leads off with a weeks-long camp for high-school students and New York's finest musicians on the faculty, then climaxes with a two-day festival. This year it's August 11-12 in Goshen, Conn., but here we have two sets from the 2010 festival, featuring two groups with young leaders.

Gabriel Alegría and his Afro-Peruvian Sextet plant their feet in two cities: New York and Lima. When they play in Peru, they invite New York fans to join the tour.