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Tag: Bop Stop

Countdown: Where To Go & What To Hear In NEO May 23 – 29

Published 23 May, 2024 By John Chacona
Nehemiah Stix Baker
Nehemiah “Stix” Baker

Friendly experiencers,

If this week’s scorching temperatures didn’t already announce the fact, summer is here. Memorial Day weekend is your signal to break out the camp chairs, throw out last year’s swimwear and enjoy the increasingly less short, but always sweet summer vibe. This weekend, it’s more affordable than ever with the must-see three events spotlighted below all available to you for $20 or less. Those of us who grew up enduring Great Lakes winters have a hard time finding an excuse to be indoors once the temperatures rise. This column is here to supply you with three of the best the weekend has to offer. See you out there.

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Lynne Arriale’s Jazz Of The Spirit Comes To BOP STOP

Published 21 May, 2024 By John Chacona
Lynne Arriale
photocredit: Andrea Canter

The term “spiritual jazz” seems to be everywhere these days. It’s a label that has more value for marketers than for music fans, an empty coinage that’s more meme than meaningful. It might be easier to say what “spiritual jazz” is not, for instance the music made by pianist and composer Lynne Arriale, who comes to BOP STOP Saturday night.  

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Countdown: Where To Go & What To Hear In NEO May 16-22

Published 16 May, 2024 By John Chacona
Terence Blanchard

Friendly experiencers,

IMAGINE A WORLD . . . where Terence Blanchard at Severance Hall and a significant album release and anniversary are in the roundup column instead of the Tuesday feature slot.

If you heard a portentous announcer voice in your head as you read that, well, it’s that kind of Met Gala of a blockbuster week on the NEO scene. Throw in Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project’s not-jazz but jazz-adjacent Re:Sound festival and you have a week that will get your ears in shape for the peak summer music season.

Read moreCountdown: Where To Go & What To Hear In NEO May 16-22
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Countdown: Where To Go & What To Hear In NEO May 9-15

Published 9 May, 2024 By John Chacona
Tommy Lehman

Friendly experiencers,

It’s Thursday and the Countdown is back on its normal schedule. Order has been restored. The concert lineup was thinned a bit by the cancellation of the Christian Sands gig at The Treelawn, but just look at the variety of offerings below: a big band session with vocalist, hard-blowing sextet and a free improv legend. Who says the NEO scene is one-dimensional?

Read moreCountdown: Where To Go & What To Hear In NEO May 9-15
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Roll Call: Recent Recordings By NEO Artists

Published 7 May, 2024 By John Chacona

One of the great pleasures of this project is the opportunity to do a weekly temperature check of the NEO scene., with a focus on live performance where it surely belongs. No performances, no scene, right?

But NEO artists have lately been as active in the studios as they are on the area’s stages and bandstands. That’s a good thing, too. Some projects have been covered here, including Work and Song, the exultant live recording by Alla Boara made at BOP STOP last July, Lucas Kadish’s Tundra, which was a big part of this entry from 2023, and the forthcoming recording laid down two weeks ago by the Third Law Collective wsg Russ Johnson, a project I profiled here. A few more will get the in-depth treatment in future posts here and at All About Jazz.

Still it’s been a while since let’s call this has called the roll on recordings, and given the spring shower of recent releases, now’s the time.

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