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Category: Event previews

Smash! Stephen Philip Harvey and His Band of Superheroes Are Here

Stephen Philip Harvey

 

“I hate that a big band is so . . . big,” saxophonist, composer and arranger Stephen Philip Harvey said with a chuckle. “It’s financially a problem, but I just really like big band music.”

Harvey likes it so much that he’s putting aside the financial, organizational and logistical challenges of touring with a big band to bring the Stephen Philip Harvey Jazz Orchestra (SPHJO) to Cleveland’s Bop Stop Thursday night to support the release two weeks ago of the band’s debut recording, Smash! (Next Level, 2022).

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Andy Milne & Unison Offer a Perfect Way To End Cleveland’s Perfect Jazz Weekend

Andy Milne and Unison

Everywhere you look, there are signs that the local jazz scene might again look like the one that went on leave in March, 2020. Reading the tea leaves, the return of the Tri-C Jazz Fest to Playhouse Square is huge tell. That tentpole event needs no introduction from me, just a hope that you’ll go and enjoy the great music on offer.

But there’s one more jazz event you should make room for this weekend. It’s the return to Cleveland’s Bop Stop of pianist Andy Milne and his Unison trio for a welcome if long-overdue tour to support his latest recording The reMission (you can read my review of that record here).

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Caili O’Doherty Returns to Bop Stop with a New Band and a New Record

Caili O'Doherty
photo by Anna Yatskevich

In the Irish language, céilí, pronounced KAY-lee, broadly means “dance.” That’s an apt description of the effervescent pianistic style of Caili O’Doherty, who will bring a quartet to the Bop Stop on Sunday to support “Quarantine Dream,” her new recording released last Friday.

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June Busts Out In Cleveland with a Cuban Piano Powerhouse and an All-Star Band

Hilario Durán/Andy James

Friday: Hilario Durán Trio at Bop Stop

GENTLE READERS, Here’s a note from the Bop Stop: “DUE TO HEALTH AND SAFETY PROTOCOLS AND AN ABUNDANCE OF CAUTION, TONIGHT’S SHOW WITH HILARIO DURAN HAS BEEN CANCELED. WE ARE WORKING TO RESCHEDULE THIS DATE FOR THE FALL. ALL TICKET PURCHASERS WILL BE NOTIFIED ABOUT REFUNDS.”

If a nation’s stature were ranked by great pianists per-capita, Cuba would surely lead the world. With a population comparable to Ohio’s, Cuba has produced keyboard lions Fabian Almazan, Harold López-Nussa, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Omar Sosa, Manuel Valera, David Virelles and the pianistic Valdés dynasty whose currently represented by Chucho and Cuchito. On Friday, a Cuban-born pianist who is squarely in the lineage of these lions of the keyboard will visit Cleveland.

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