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Tag: Joe Leaman

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.

Read moreTrumpeter Peter Evans Has One Foot In Several Musical Worlds
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Countdown: Where To Go & What To Hear In NEO May 9-15

Published 9 May, 2024 By John Chacona
Tommy Lehman

Friendly experiencers,

It’s Thursday and the Countdown is back on its normal schedule. Order has been restored. The concert lineup was thinned a bit by the cancellation of the Christian Sands gig at The Treelawn, but just look at the variety of offerings below: a big band session with vocalist, hard-blowing sextet and a free improv legend. Who says the NEO scene is one-dimensional?

Read moreCountdown: Where To Go & What To Hear In NEO May 9-15
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Collective Action: The Third Law Collective Records Saturday

Published 25 April, 2024 By John Chacona
Third Law Collective

The last year or so has seen an explosion of recordings by Cleveland improvising artists such as Kent Engelhardt and Stephen Enos, Kevin Martinez’s Reclamation Band, Alla Boara, Bobby Selvaggio, TRIAD, a new project by Dominick Farinacci (more about that one soon) and a forthcoming Cleveland Jazz Orchestra anniversary release.

Into this hive of activity by established artists comes an ambitious live recording date Saturday night by a band that is scarcely more than a year old. Youthful overreach? Not when the band is the Third Law, the composers collective that is a veritable all-ages writers room for some of the most interesting large ensemble jazz being made around here.

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Countdown: Where To Go & What To Hear In NEO April 18-25

Published 18 April, 2024 By John Chacona

Friendly experiencers,

A reaction to a COVID booster swamped my Tuesday preview (staying healthy is making me sick!) and a badly timed security certificate expiration wiped out my Wednesday. So to make up, it’s time for an expanded Thursday Countdown–not that I needed an excuse because the coming week is high-key loaded with notable jazz events. Touring artists and local luminaries alike await your appreciative ears and enthusiastic applause. So take a portion of that tax refund check (you DID get those done, right?) and head out to a club or concert hall near you and make the momentum happen.

Read moreCountdown: Where To Go & What To Hear In NEO April 18-25
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Countdown: Where To Go & What To Hear In NEO, Dec. 14-21

Published 13 December, 2023 By John Chacona

This is the time of year when the live music scene cools a bit, but gentle readers of let’s call this, let nothing you dismay. A sleighful of holiday shows by some of Northeast Ohio brightest vocalists more than picks up the slack. Even if you feel a little Scrooge-y about seasonal favorites, our quartet of singers are here to offer you a cookie tray of holiday treats both salty and sweet. So dig in, dig?

Read moreCountdown: Where To Go & What To Hear In NEO, Dec. 14-21
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