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Tag: Great American Songbook

Trumpeter Peter Evans Has One Foot In Several Musical Worlds

Published 10 December, 2025 By John Chacona
Peter Evans


For anyone looking to map the frontiers of what is possible on the trumpet, BOP STOP was the place to be last June*. There, with the Dan Weiss Quartet, Peter Evans laid out all the landmarks: Olympic-level feats of circular breathing, splatters of 16th notes (or were they 32nds?) in a register beyond the Kuiper Belt, even playing rhythms by placing the microphone in the bell of his instrument and blowing unpitched thuds.

It was eye-popping, yet it was all in a day’s work for Evans, who returns to the Hingetown club Thursday for a solo set in the final presentation of the 2025 season of concerts presented by New Ghosts.

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Nothing But Flowers, Part 2

Published 9 July, 2025 By John Chacona

Jazz goes on and on. It never ends.

Vinnie Sperazza invokes that mantra often in Chronicles, his big-hearted and essential Substack. And it’s true! Just look at the variety of shows by local and touring musicians in the four days beginning Thursday. And while I’m here, I need to give some love to Jim Szabo whose weekly jazz calendar for WRUW is the menu from which I order. To get your own copy, visit the link at the end of this piece.

The menu analogy is no accident. Like food, music is best enjoyed in company. It’s a social activity, after all. And if you haven’t left the nest in a while, spread those wings and fly off to one of the many jazz events in our area this weekend. Below are four you might want to consider.

On and on.

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

Published 25 June, 2024 By John Chacona
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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