By Margie Goldsmith, Forbes Welcome to Birdland, the jazz corner of the world,” said Kurt Elling as he swung into Bob Dylan’s “A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall.” The performance was taking place in the upstairs Birdland Theatre where every wall was covered with framed photographs of jazz musicians and every seat in the house was … Read More
By Suzanne Lorge, Downbeat In a video from the 2015 International Jazz Day, filmed in Paris, clarinetist Oran Etkin and keyboardist Herbie Hancock are joking around. “I wanna say hi to all the Timbalooloo kids,” says Hancock, directly to the camera. “Thank you so much for being part of this program and thank you for … Read More
By Jack Bowers, All About Jazz As on its debut album, I Remember Bu, drummer / educator Ralph Peterson‘s Gen-Next Big Band, composed for the most part of students at Boston’s Berklee College of Music, pays tribute on Listen Up! to one of Peterson’s mentors, the late great Art Blakey, known far and wide as … Read More
By Chris Struck, Broadway World Birdland Jazz Club, NYC, January 9th, 2020 Kurt Elling: a name synonymous with jazz. He remains as much a luminary of the art form this year as last when I saw him pick up the mic on the same stage. His CDs from decades past are the sounds that should … Read More
By Ralph A. Miriello, Notes On Jazz Being associated with a generous and talented mentor can be a powerful impetus to your own creative development and musical maturity. Bassist Richie Goods’ latest album My left hand man, is a tribute to Goods’ mentor, the late great pianist Mulgrew Miller, who Goods recorded and toured with for nine … Read More
By Steve Futterman, The New Yorker The seventies were knee-deep in influential jazz guitarists; notable among them was John Abercrombie, who died in 2017. To celebrate what would have been the deeply thoughtful and ever-lyrical improviser’s seventy-fifth birthday, a group of past collaborators, including Jack DeJohnette, Dave Liebman, and Mark Feldman as well as such … Read More
By Drama Queen NYC Cabaret legend Billy Stritch has teamed with jazz singer Clint Holmes for an act at the Birdland Theater entitled “Straighten Up and Fly Right” which pays tribute to the great Nat “King” Cole. Given this combination of performers, it’s not a surprise that the show is jazzy as heck. Pianist / … Read More
By Stephen Mosher, Broadway World That’s what they say, isn’t it? It’s all in the timing? Well, Hannah Jane Peterson could not have timed her latest show in the Birdland Theater more perfectly. Her new act coinciding with the recent release of the children’s picture book A IS FOR AUDRA (which probably populates more childless … Read More
By Fred Grand, Jazz Journal Despite Ulery being based in Chicago, the music of Delicate Charms recalls that very composerly strand of New York jazz from the 1990s which was exemplified by Dave Douglas (New & Used) and Mark Feldman (The Chromatic Persuaders). He borrows liberally from folk and classical musics, and the complementary arts … Read More
By John Shand, The Sydney Morning Herald A LIFE BETWEEN (Soundsabound) ★★★★ Perhaps it was inevitable that Chase Baird would be a jazz saxophonist, with his first name referencing a Coltrane tune (among others) and his second containing “bird”. But making this second album was not easy, with a little serendipity required before his pieces could … Read More
