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Review: Thumbscrew’s “Multicolored Midnight” for PostGenre

Published 24 January, 2023 By John Chacona

Thumbscrew

Review: Thumbscrew’s ‘Multicolored Midnight’ PostGenre, 22 January, 2023

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Chris Hovan’s Trio, Grown in the Midwest, is 100 Percent Organic

Published 17 January, 2023 By John Chacona

Chris Hovan Organic Trio at Cliff Bell's — *photocredit: Jeff Dunn*

On the day before he spoke with me for this piece, Chris Hovan’s active Facebook account, a worthy follow, by the way, featured a tabletop photo showed a CD jewel box next to a glass of scotch. The caption read, “One of my top 5 Blue Notes, period!”

The CD was Grant Green’s Talkin’ About, a storied 1965 Blue Note Records release with Larry Young (Khalid Yasin) and Elvin Jones. That lineup of guitar, Hammond Organ and drums, just happens to have the same instrumentation as Hovan’s Organic Trio, the band that the Cleveland drummer will bring to Bop Stop for a Friday night concert.

Was this a sign of what the Cleveland audience might expect?

Blowing In From Chicago: Tim Daisy and Ken Vandermark Friday at Convivium 33

Published 10 January, 2023 By John Chacona

Tim Daisy Ken Vandermark — Tim Daisy, Ken Vandermark

Being a creative musician in Chicago almost demands a willingness to play anything, everywhere with everybody. Percussionist Tim Daisy and saxophonist Ken Vandermark, who will appear at Convivium 33 Friday, Jan. 13, embody that imperative as well as anyone, having collaborated with hundreds of musicians, movement and visual artists on both sides of the Atlantic. Yet despite lengthy resumes that suggest an affinity with musical speed dating, the two are just as committed to long-term relationships, especially their own.

Bop Stop Rings In 2023 With Tim Mirth’s Night Terrors Band

Published 6 January, 2023 By John Chacona

Tim Mirth has been experimenting with guitars for a long time. “As a 10-year-old, I found my dad’s guitar, this Gretsch Corvette,” he remembered. “I would sneak it out after school, play with it, try to figure it out. One day my dad comes by, and I thought, I’m not going to get to play with this anymore, but he totally knew me. He showed me a couple of things and ever since I haven’t been able to put it down.”

Thirty years later, he still has the Gretsch. one of the 20 or so guitars in his arsenal. Mirth will select a couple of them to the concert by his Night Terrors band that will open Bop Stop’s 2023 schedule, Wednesday, Jan. 11.