“The Bad Plus,” Ben Ratliff wrote in the New York Times, “could be the group you use to turn your 17-year-old cousin on to jazz.” Twenty-two years and two lineup changes later, Ratliff’s observation might be more salient than ever.
Comments closedTag: jazz concerts in northeast Ohio
Visit the website of Chris Pitsiokos (click on this name and you’ll get there) and you’ll see an image of a blue sky striped with contrails. The saxophonist is no conspiracy theorist, but he is a roaddog, logging 92 shows in 2024. He’s off to a strong start in 2025, too, with a tour that will bring him to the Little Rose Tavern for a duo gig with eruptive drummer Weasel Walter presented by New Ghosts.
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When Cleveland wants to greet the world, here’s what it says: “Hi. I’m Daniel Peck and welcome to Live at the BOP STOP.”
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It was a simple question that I asked Pat Bianchi: Which is your dominant hand? His answer was more complex than I expected.
“I’m kind of both,” he said. “I write with my left hand. I can write with my right hand, too, so it kind of flips back and forth.”
Ambidexterity is a useful trait for a keyboard player to possess, and because Bianchi’s primary instrument is the Hammond B-3 organ, his feet are also involved.
The lack of a dominant hand is an interesting footnote for sure but it’s also a metaphor for the absence of a dominant aesthetic in Bianchi’s musical choices, something that makes his Friday appearance at BOP STOP an unusually compelling event.
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For something a little different today, let’s talk politics. Not electoral politics; we’ve all had enough of that. No, let’s talk musical politics, which can be just as divisive and irrational. Just ask Max Johnson. He plays bass in various jazz contexts, including a trio with saxophonist Neta Raanan and drummer Eliza Salem that makes stops at BLU Jazz+ and in Avon Lake this weekend. But he also plays and composes bluegrass and concert music. It could drive a gatekeeper mad.
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