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John Chacona writes Posts

At Rubber City Jazz & Blues Fest, A Big Night Of Big Bands

Published 8 September, 2026 By John Chacona
The Sam Blakeslee Large Group at BLU Jazz+
The Sam Blakeslee Large Group at BLU Jazz+

The 2026 Rubber City Jazz & Blues Festival, which begins Thursday, is big: three days, five venues and 18 events. It has a big-name headliner, too in contemporary jazz master Gerald Albright who will top a double bill with Althea René at Lock 3 on Saturday, Sept. 12. But the biggest noise of the festival presented by Open Tone Music might be the one that a pair of big—or biggish—bands will make in the normally hushed confines of Akron’s Main Library.

The bands are under the leadership of trombonist and composer Sam Blakeslee, who will present music from his Large Group’s recording, New Blood, which will be released Sept. 25 on BJU Records, and Chris Coles, who has convened an 11-piece orchestra to play “The Way of The Sly Man,” a multi-part work composed by the late bassist and educator Dave Morgan.

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Adam O’Farrill’s ELEPHANT Makes Music You Won’t Forget

Published 4 September, 2026 By John Chacona

Adam O’Farrill is sweating out a deadline for a commissioned piece. “It’s hard, but you have to make it work,” he said about sitting down to write. “You have to do it in the hotel. You have to do it on the road. You don’t always have a piano, which is hard, but you know, you make it work.”

The commission isn’t due until February, but O’Farrill is a busy guy. I spoke with him Wednesday, hours after returning from Japan, and two days before embarking on a tour that will bring him and his band ELEPHANT to BOP STOP on Wednesday, Sept. 9 in what is to these ears one of the most anticipated concerts of the year.

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Flowers For Dave Morgan

Published 26 August, 2026 By John Chacona

In the days following the death of Dave Morgan on August 15, the outpouring of love for the man has been overwhelming. Among the musicians on the Cleveland music community that I cover here, few, It seems, have been untouched by his influence in some way. A remarkable number have credited Morgan with changing the course of their careers and even lives.

I never met Dave Morgan. I got to Cleveland in late 2019, a bit too late for that. So what I know of him is through the testimony of others. Every time his name comes up in conversation, it is with a lot of gratitude, reverence, and even awe. To know the details of his career, his website is the place to start, and there’s an obituary that you can read here. But to really get the measure of musician and the man, it’s best to see him through the eyes of the people who knew him and whose lives were transformed by his presence.

It’s an honor to present some of them here.

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A Late August Harvest of Music

Published 18 August, 2026 By John Chacona
August harvest

It’s getting to be a broken record, but one I love to play: Folks, this week is packed with great choices for lovers of improvised music in the Black American tradition (you can call it jazz if ya wanna).

Whereas the first week of the month belonged to eminent locals, this week is aswarm with internationally recognized touring artists representing an impossibly wide slice of the expanding musical tart tatine. It’s harvest season, after all, and for the next eight days, northeast Ohio can enjoy a bumper crop of musical delights, and every one a feast.

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Nate Yingling’s Voyage To Lunaryth Lifts Off Friday From BOP STOP

Published 11 August, 2026 By John Chacona

The notion that a new recording began with a surprise hug might sound like the premise of a rom-com pitch deck or a Modern Love headline, but in the case of the Nate Yingling Trio’s Welcome To Lunaryth, it’s all true.

The recording, to be released Friday and celebrated by a show at the BOP STOP, is a milestone in the collaboration between keyboard whiz Yingling and engineer (and BOP STOP Swiss Army knife) Darren Thompson that began with that hug.

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