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Tag: jazz concerts in Cleveland

Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop! The Indispensable BOP STOP Celebrates Ten Years

Alla Boara records at BOP STOP in 2023, photocredit: Jackson Clark

When you think of all the challenges that have faced independent music venues for the past ten years, industry consolidation, soaring rents and the rise of streaming entertainment—then add the COVID-19 shutdown–it’s a miracle that there are any places left to hear live music. The jazz scene, which has lived on the economic knife’s edge for decades, was hit hard. Yet a few places survived, and that’s something to celebrate.

Welcome to BOP STOP, the little engine that could and the beating heart of Cleveland’s scene. This week the club marks its tenth anniversary in its third incarnation as part of the Music Settlement in Hingetown. There it cultivates a training ground for young musicians, brings the world’s most notable artists to northeast Ohio’s and connects our most notable artists to the world. Hell yeah that’s worth celebrating.

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Let’s Play Two: John Fedchock Honors J.J. Johnson At Two Concerts This Week

Making improvised music in the Black American tradition means fixing your gaze firmly on the future while honoring the innovators of the past. 2024, with the centenaries of drummer Max Roach and pianist Bud Powell, has been a good year to do that. Yet while those two lions of bebop were deservedly celebrated for the way they redefined the language of their instruments, trombone master J.J. Johnson’s contributions have received less recognition—until now.

Trombonist John Fedchock is determined to see that his distinguished predecessor gets his flowers, and he’s put his money where his mouthpiece is on a Midwest tour that will bring him to Akron’s BLU Jazz+ and BOP STOP in support of his new Summit Records release Justifiably J.J.

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Christopher Coles’ Latest Project Gleams With Conviction

When Christopher Coles decides that it’s go time, he goes deep.

As a teacher, the Cleveland-born, Akron resident has teaching positions at both Oberlin Conservatory and the University of Akron. As a player, he seems to be on every bandstand, both as a leader and an essential sideman. And when Coles puts his pen to composition paper, he writes not just compelling tunes, but large-scale works, like his epic “Nine Lives” that was a triumph at last weekend’s Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival. with ambitions subjects. He’s got a new one that just might be his best.

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For Open Sesame, “F” Is For Fiedler–And Fun

Joe_Fiedler_Open_Sesame_by_Peter_Gannushkin
(from left) Sean Conly, Michael Sarin, Joe Fiedler, Steven Bernstein (with duckie), Jeff Lederer. photocredit: Peter Gannushkin

Public radio often talks about “driveway moments,” listening experiences that keep you in your car listening even after you’ve reached your destination. Trombonist and bandleader Joe Fiedler had one that changed his life and set him on a career path that brings him and his Open Sesame band to The Treelawn on Friday. 

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At 40, Musical Polymath Bryan Kennard Celebrates Kennections

Bryan Kennard

Turning 40 doesn’t have the big-deal, inflection-point significance of milestone birthdays like 21 or 65, but don’t try that argument on Bryan Kennard. The composer, flutist and organizer has plenty of highlights to mark as he heads into his fifth decade this week with a new big band and a celebratory concert at BOP STOP Sunday.  

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