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John Chacona writes Posts

Poetry: It’s What Composer and Multi-Instrumentalist Aaron Irwin Is (after)

photocredit: Aleks Karjaka

Before the comments section, before digital sampling, before AI large language models, there was after.  As seen in titles, it signals the venerable practice of a poet responding or replying to, elaborating on, refuting or outright imitating the work of another poet. And it’s the organizing principle behind the music that multi-instrumentalist Aaron Irwin will bring to BOP STOP Sunday.

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Turning To Gold: Chicago Singer Alyssa Allgood Makes Her Cleveland Debut

Alyssa Allgood
photocredit: Faith Decker

Not long ago, I would receive several CDs a week by female jazz singers who hoped to be the next big thing. These releases announced themselves by their packaging: over-the-top glam shots on the front cover and credits for wardrobe, hair and makeup on the back, and they were almost uniformly dreary affairs.

Alyssa Allgood may or may not be the next big thing, but the Chicagoan who makes her Cleveland debut at BOP STOP Friday, is assertively not one of those jazz singers.

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What I’ll Do On My Summer Vacation

The solstice may be days away, but with temperatures in the 90s this week, no one in northeast Ohio can deny the early arrival of summer. Man, it’s hard to get anything done when it’s this hot, but that’s not why today’s usual feature post is taking a break. Bigger things are happening in let’s call this land. We’re moving.

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David Janeway Stands On Detroit Piano’s Higher Ground

For more than a century Detroit’s factories have sent tens of millions of vehicles into the world. That’s remarkable, but so too is the city’s assembly line of great jazz pianists: Hank Jones, Barry Harris, Tommy Flanagan, Alice Coltrane and Geri Allen. Lesser-known, but equally polished are figures such as Terry Pollard, Johnny O’Neal, Bob Neloms and Kirk Lightsey. Add 69-year-old David Janeway, who will appear at BOP STOP on Friday with Robert Hurst and Billy Hart, to that distinguished list.

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