Saturday, December 24, 2016

May you have a merry - and jazzy - Christmas

Best wishes to you. your friends and families for a very Merry Christmas 2016, joyous New Year - and hopeful 2017 - from the Jazz Notes staff.  

A toast to you all as we share some vintage musical cheer from among our holiday favorites. Raise your glass, whatever your favorite libation!

The holiday season would not be complete without the delightful animated video of The Platters’ doo-wopping their way through “White Christmas” with feeling. This animated cartoon by Joshua Held is excellent - and quite special.

Monday, December 19, 2016

Celebrating a Brazilian jazz legacy

There is something mighty special about Brazilian music. The pulse of its varied rhythms, the sensuous sway of its melodies and the textures of its exotic percussion combine in ways that touch the heart – and soul – of the listener. Those qualities were on full display Sunday, December 18 at the Tampa Jazz Club’s Manfredo Fest tribute concert at Hillsborough Community College’s Ybor campus.

Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Multi-instrumentalist Ira Sullivan digs a jazzy Christmas

Ira Sullivan
Ira Sullivan was in a holiday frame of mind for his sextet appearance at the Charlotte County Jazz Society's concert series Monday, December 12 in Port Charlotte. The jazz veteran dug into five seasonal classics before sharing other facets of his repertoire. Before the night was done, nearly half of the concert included gems related to winter or Christmas.

Sullivan's band for the evening included trombonist Dante Luciani, Marc Berner on flute, pocket trumpet and saxophones, pianist Jerry Stawski, bassist Vince Evans and drummer Barry Smith.

Friday, December 9, 2016

A swinging, sophisticated romp through West Coast Jazz

Trombonist-composer-arranger Dick Hamilton has a thing for West Coast Jazz, no matter how you define it. He grew up in Sarasota, Florida on the west coast of Florida, where as a teenager in the 1950s, he was drawn to the sounds of cool jazz coming out of the west coast of the U.S. - i.e., California. The music of Gerry Mulligan, Dave Brubeck and Shorty Rogers, among others.

Thursday, December 8, 2016

Digging into classic Miles

James Suggs
Twenty-five years after he left the planet, Miles Davis's music lives on. His classic jazz material was on full display Wednesday night at the Venice Art Center in a concert by trumpeter James Suggs' quintet. The band dug into material from his cool, modal and hard bop periods from the 1950s and early 1960s.

The band's performance, co-sponsored by the South County Jazz Club, drew a full house of 160 in the center's main gallery. Suggs' band include tenor saxophonist Jeremy Carter, pianist John O'Leary, bassist Alejandro Arenas and drummer Mark Feinman.

Friday, December 2, 2016

Looking back at the year's best jazz recordings

‘Tis the season for the outpouring of Top 10 lists, and their many variations, for jazz, world events, etc. The jazz lists always have a lot of variation depending on the individual reviewer's personal tastes, as well as what he or she listened to during the year.* Bottom line, all are extremely subjective.