Back in late April, as all events for the foreseeable future started to be canceled or postponed due to the unfolding COVID-19 pandemic, the Newport Festivals Foundation came to the conclusion that due to safety concerns they would have to cancel both the Folk and Jazz Festivals and wait until summer 2021 to return to […]
Since there is no live music happening around RI, it seems like the right time to talk to some local jazz musicians who not only provide live soundtracks for our nights out, but whose music may be bringing even more joy and comfort to our days spent inside. This will be a continuing series. For […]
Since there is no live music happening around Rhode Island, it seems like right now is a great time to meet some of the local jazz musicians who not only provide live soundtracks for our nights out, but whose music may be bringing us even more joy and comfort now with our days spent inside. […]
With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, those who make their lives through the gig economy have been dealt a tremendous blow from the general shutdown of society due to social distancing and other important mitigation strategies being put in place to thwart the spread of the disease. Some of those who have been hardest […]
The Providence based group Evening Sky is a quartet of jazz musicians — Chris Brooks on pedal steel guitar, Joe Potenza on bass, Gino Rosati on guitars, and Eric Hastings on drums — who have a sound not usually found around town. Though partly due to their instrumentation, it’s mostly because of the individual talents […]
Don’t hibernate just yet! There are plenty of regular jazz gigs happening around this part of the Northeast in the fall — let’s get acquainted with those. Catch the Dave Schneider Trio every second Friday at UxLocale. The Leland Baker Quartet has moved their weekly Wednesday night performances over at The Parlour in Providence. Over […]
This year’s edition of The Newport Jazz Festival, sponsored by Natixis Investment Managers, featured an immense cross section of the breadth and diversity that is jazz music, not only sonically but generationally. While the line-up was loaded with incredible talent, here is a rundown of who I enjoyed the most, and who’s music I’ll be […]
Every year at The Newport Jazz Festival, we are treated to an immense spectrum of performance that displays not only the deep history of jazz, but also the sounds of its future. This year will be no different. To give you a head start to figuring out the lineup, here are a few selections from […]
Saxophonist Greg Abate has been leading the charge of post-bop excellence around the state and remains a constant fixture in the area when he isn’t touring around the world. To coincide with the release of a new live album, Gratitude, he and I spoke on the phone about the new album, his music and his […]
To help shine a light on the lives of working musicians, I’ve been interviewing my peers about performing and balancing their lives to make the music happen, and asking if they see a difference between playing for art’s sake or as a job. For this final article I talked to percussionist Ryan Kowal, a fantastic […]