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Tag: Bop Stop

Dan Weiss’ Trio Made One Of The Year’s Best Recordings. Hear Them At Bop Stop Sunday

Published 2 December, 2022 By John Chacona
(from left) Thomas Morgan, Jacob Sacks, Dan Weiss

Dan Weiss talks a lot like he plays the drums. When I spoke with him about his Sunday concert at Bop Stop, his answers to my interview questions were short. To the point. Nothing wasted. Next question?

Yet forward momentum, essential for any drummer, is just one part of his game. Color, an original voice as a composer and a keen ear for texture are in there. They’re all present on Dedication (Cygnus Records), the stunning new release by Weiss’ longstanding trio with pianist Jacob Sacks and bassist Thomas Morgan.

Given his many musical associations with artists as diverse as the saxophonists Jon Irabagon and Lee Konitz, pianist Sylvie Courvoisier and vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Jen Shyu, it’s kind of amazing that he’s only appeared in Cleveland twice. The trio played Bop Stop in November 2019, and 19 months earlier he was at the Hingetown club with saxophonist Chris Potter band.

Read moreDan Weiss’ Trio Made One Of The Year’s Best Recordings. Hear Them At Bop Stop Sunday
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At 70, Cleveland’s Jamey Haddad Keeps The Music On Its Feet

Published 1 December, 2022 By John Chacona

At 70, you would think drummer and percussionist Jamey Haddad would be ready to slow down. After all, he’s toured the world with artists such as Paul Simon, Sting and Yo-Yo Ma. Yet he’s equally excited to play this weekend’s pair of gigs at Bop Stop with a trio of accomplished Ohioans. To Haddad, only the music matters.

Read moreAt 70, Cleveland’s Jamey Haddad Keeps The Music On Its Feet
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Reunion: Steve Swell and the Frode Gjerstad Trio from Norway Reconvene at Beachland

Published 16 November, 2022 By John Chacona
Steve Swell
Photo by Žiga Koritnik

With its wide dynamic range, speech-like articulation and capacity for playing off-the-scale notes, the saxophone would seem to be the perfect instrument for creative improvised music (some people call it “free jazz” or “avant-garde jazz” or “fire music”). Fine, but anything the saxophone can do, the trombone can do better. So why don’t we hear more trombones in creative music—or in mainstream jazz, for that matter?

It’s a question that Steve Swell, the trombonist who will appear at the Beachland Ballroom Sunday with saxophonist Frode Gjerstad, Jon Rune Strøm on bass and drummer Paal Nilssen-Love, has pondered for a long time.

Read moreReunion: Steve Swell and the Frode Gjerstad Trio from Norway Reconvene at Beachland
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Exploring the Unknown: Bassist Aidan Plank Arranges the Music of Carmen Castaldi

Published 16 November, 2022 By John Chacona
Aidan Plank
photograph by Tanya Rosen-Jones

Tribute concerts, for better or worse, are an established marketing hook for jazz presenters and an evergreen source of inspiration for musicians. The honors tend to cluster around past masters, and the bigger the name the batter. Living musicians who can actually appreciate the tribute aren’t often feted and even less often asked to play, but a tribute concert where the honoree is a sideman? Never happens.

Yet when bassist Aidan Plank’s octet takes the Bop Stop stage Thursday to present a program of music by Carmen Castaldi, the man of the hour will be seated where he can usually be found: behind the trap set.

Read moreExploring the Unknown: Bassist Aidan Plank Arranges the Music of Carmen Castaldi
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Busy Body, Busier Mind: Sam Blakeslee Returns Home To Celebrate His New CD

Published 1 November, 2022 By John Chacona

 

Though Sam Blakeslee has been increasingly active on the New York scene for five years, a part of him will always be most at home in Ohio. Want proof? Check out the credits on Busy Body, the new CD by his band Wistful Thinking, which will celebrated with a concert and release party at Bop Stop Saturday.

Read moreBusy Body, Busier Mind: Sam Blakeslee Returns Home To Celebrate His New CD
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