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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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Terence Blanchard and the Turtle Island Quartet Ride A Second Wave To Tri-C On Saturday

Published 13 October, 2022 By John Chacona

David Balakrishnan-Terence Blanchard

To be an improvising musician at the highest level means being ready for anything that might happen. Still, nothing could have prepared violinist David Balakrishnan for the call he received in February 2020.

It’s just an amazing story,” said Balakrishnan, 68,the founder and first violinist of the Turtle Island Quartet, the rare string quartet expert in improvisation. “I got a call from a friend of mine who worked for a booking agency. He said, ‘Do you want to record with Terence Blanchard in two weeks?’”

If you’ve heard Blanchard’s double-Grammy-nominated Blue Note release Absence, you already know how Balakrishnan answered. And if you want to hear how that music sounds live, you’ll have a rare opportunity to do so when Blanchard and his five-piece E-Collective ensemble and the Turtle Island Quartet visit Tri-C Saturday evening to perform music from Absence.

Read moreTerence Blanchard and the Turtle Island Quartet Ride A Second Wave To Tri-C On Saturday
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Brooklyn Cooperative Trio Ember Set To Catch Fire At Blu Jazz+

Published 20 September, 2022 By John Chacona
Ember
Ember: Caleb Wheeler Curtis, Vinnie Sperazza, Noah Garabedian

You can’t blame bassist Noah Garabedian for hoping that the engagement Friday at Blu Jazz+ with his cooperative trio Ember will be a little less memorable than his last northeast Ohio visit. “Nobody was there,” Garabedian remembered.

It was Nov. 9, 2016, the day after the election.

Read moreBrooklyn Cooperative Trio Ember Set To Catch Fire At Blu Jazz+
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