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Tag: Cleveland Jazz Orchestra

Roll Call: Recent Recordings By NEO Artists

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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Collective Action: The Third Law Collective Records Saturday

Third Law Collective

The last year or so has seen an explosion of recordings by Cleveland improvising artists such as Kent Engelhardt and Stephen Enos, Kevin Martinez’s Reclamation Band, Alla Boara, Bobby Selvaggio, TRIAD, a new project by Dominick Farinacci (more about that one soon) and a forthcoming Cleveland Jazz Orchestra anniversary release.

Into this hive of activity by established artists comes an ambitious live recording date Saturday night by a band that is scarcely more than a year old. Youthful overreach? Not when the band is the Third Law, the composers collective that is a veritable all-ages writers room for some of the most interesting large ensemble jazz being made around here.

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Countdown: Where To Go & What To Hear In NEO March 14-20

Jonah Parzen-Johnson
Jonah Parzen-Johnson, photocredit: Lisa Hagen Glynn

Friendly experiencers,

Have the hints of summer earlier this week stirred you to come out of hibernation? If so, you’ve picked a good week to do so with a variety of musical styles to choose from. Your sense of tradition will be sated by a reappraisal of a beloved musical chestnut while a sense of adventure will rewarded by a paint-peeling excursion to the outer reaches by a young saxophone sensation. Get ready for the ride and remember to tip your servers.

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Countdown: Where To Go & What To Hear In NEO, Feb. 22-29

Ken Vandermark's Edition Redux
Ken Vandermark’s Edition Redux. Photocredit: Alex Inglizian

Friendly Experiencers,

It’s been a minnit, I know, but the last eight weeks has been a bit of a time, which is to say that big changes are afoot, but getting on the good foot, I should have the time and mental energy to resume the coverage here and there’s much to cover on the NEO scene in the very near future. So let’s get right to it.

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Countdown: Where To Go & What To Hear In NEO, Jan. 25-31

Friendly Experiencers,

It seems like a very long time since I counted down the week’s jazz and jazz-adjacent events in this space. Blame the inevitable thinning of events around the holidays, some scheduling anomalies as the new year began and some unforeseen family issues at let’s call this HQ. Still, the welcome thaw that erased some of last week’s snowfall has also started to warm the live music scene as well, and this week’s varied menu of shows, from rigorous improv to instrumental R&B (we don’t use the “smooth” word here) is evidence that better and more musical days are just ahead.

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