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Tag: Jim Szabo

Nothing But Flowers, Part 1

Published 8 July, 2025 By John Chacona

Have you noticed? After a cold and rainy June, all of a sudden, the garden has exploded with activity. The herbs have shot up. New roses bloom daily, a Jackson Pollock action painting of color.

The rain and the sun and the heat (sooooo much heat!) have done the same for the NEO jazz scene as the next seven days are a greenhouse of compelling shows, any one of which would be worth 600 words.. But I’ll spare you that and instead offer the first harvest (the second drops tomorrow) of a guide to the week’s bouquet of music.

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Pittsburgh’s Jazz History Flows From Reggie Watkins’ Horn

Published 17 June, 2025 By John Chacona

When Reggie Watkins came on screen for our video interview last week he wore a Pittsburgh Pirates baseball cap. When I jokingly expressed my sympathy for his devotion to the once-proud team now seemingly committed to mediocrity, Watkins would have none of it. He’s a Pittsburgh ride or die, but intercity rivalries aside, he also loves Cleveland jazz and returns to a familiar stage at BOP STOP for a gig Friday.

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Altin Sencalar Unleashes A New Release at BOP STOP

Published 20 May, 2025 By John Chacona
Altin Sencalar - Unleashed press photo 3 by Anna Yatskevich
photocredit: Anna Yatskevich

Altin Sencalar is a big guy. A Texan by birth, he wouldn’t look out of place on the offensive line of the Dallas Cowboys football team. He has two big dogs, Navy and JJ, and they slept on the bad behind him when we chatted on a video call (note to readers: it failed to save and a lot of great direct quotes were lost).

Sencalar plays the trombone, an instrument that is associated with swaggering bluster, but when he comes to BOP STOP Saturday, you might be surprised by the subtlety that he brings to the instrument.

Read moreAltin Sencalar Unleashes A New Release at BOP STOP
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“Blue-Collar” Joshua Smith Comes Home With A Solid Gold Band

Published 6 May, 2025 By John Chacona

If you know Joshua Smith only through his exploratory work with the cooperative trio Birth, you might be surprised to learn, as I did, that the saxophonist has a thriving practice playing straightahead jazz. His Friday concert at BOP STOP won’t be a standards gig, but it will show a side of the 45-year-old saxophonist that might surprise some fans.

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Q: When Is A Quintet A Quartet? A: When It’s The New Kneebody

Published 29 April, 2025 By John Chacona
Kneebody
photocredit: Gilad Hekselman

Q: What is a Kneebody?

A:  It’s the name of a band whose amalgam of jazz, funk, electronica, beats, progressive rock and unheard sounds is so unclassifiable that no known word could adequately describe it.

On paper, the band, which returns to BOP STOP for a Sunday performance, has the canonical jazz formation of trumpet, tenor saxophone, keyboards, bass and drums. On stage Kneebody explodes genre categories.

Read moreQ: When Is A Quintet A Quartet? A: When It’s The New Kneebody
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