Skip to content

Tag: Kurt Rosenwinkel

No Obstacles For Saxophonist Chris Speed’s BOP STOP Debut

Published 12 September, 2023 By John Chacona

Chris SpeedWhen saxophonist Chris Speed began his slow-motion move from New York to Los Angeles in the middle of the last decade, he arrived just as Kamasi Washington and the Brainfeeder crowd were making LA the hot new jazz scene.

But Speed, who will appear Sunday at BOP STOP leading a trio of bassist Chris Tordini and drummer Dave King, was no bandwagon jumper. “I don’t really know the scene,” he averred. “I’m just kind of focused on what I’m doing, and when I’m in LA I’m just more of a homebody.”

Continue ReadingNo Obstacles For Saxophonist Chris Speed’s BOP STOP Debut
Comments closed

On ‘Introspectiva,’ Guitarist Ricardo Morales Vivero Looks Inward and Outward

Published 21 August, 2023 By John Chacona
Ricardo Morales Vivero
photocredit: Alyssa Redd

 

Everywhere you listen these days, you’ll find young musicians from South America ripping it up. Bassist Jorge Roeder (Peru), the enchanting guitarist and vocalist Camila Meza (Chile), pianist Leo Genovese (Argentina) and way too many to mention from Brazil are among the most exciting examples. But try to name a jazz musician from Ecuador and you might come up empty.

Meet Ricardo Morales Vivero, a 28-year-old guitarist from Quito who will celebrate the release of his recording debut, Introspectiva (self-released), with a concert at BOP STOP Thursday.

Continue ReadingOn ‘Introspectiva,’ Guitarist Ricardo Morales Vivero Looks Inward and Outward

Comments closed

Always At Home With Music, Lucas Kadish Returns To NEO With A New Band and Recording

Published 2 August, 2023 By John Chacona

Lucas Kadish

“To me, music is home,” said guitarist Lucas Kadish in response to a question I posed by email last week.

It’s a pretty sentiment metaphorically, but Saturday, it becomes a statement of fact when the Hudson native brings his trio to BOP STOP to celebrate the release of his new recording Tundra.

Continue ReadingAlways At Home With Music, Lucas Kadish Returns To NEO With A New Band and Recording
Comments closed

Imaginative, Interactive and Intensely Committed: Drummer Ari Hoenig’s Trio Comes To Bop Stop

Published 18 July, 2023 By John Chacona
Ari Hoenig Trio
Ben Tiberio, Ari Hoenig, Gadi Lehavi

At Ari Hoenig’s website, you’ll find several items of apparel for sale. One of them is a t-shirt, black, of course, with a photo of Hoenig at the drum kit and the legend, “I’m not angry. That’s just my face!”

Intensity has been a hallmark of Hoenig’s career. For the New York Times in 2009, Ben Ratliff wrote, “Ari Hoenig has a slightly compulsive relationship with his drum set.” If you’ve seen him play, you’ll know what Ratliff meant, and if you haven’t, Hoenig’s weekend appearance at Bop Stop offers a fine introduction to his imaginative, highly interactive and yes, intensely committed style.

Continue ReadingImaginative, Interactive and Intensely Committed: Drummer Ari Hoenig’s Trio Comes To Bop Stop
Leave a Comment

Looking Backward and Forward At Once, Saxophonist Jim Snidero Returns to Bop Stop

Published 14 February, 2023 By John Chacona
Jim Snidero
photo by John Rogers

Saxophonist Jim Snidero was born in May, but a January birthdate would have provided an appropriate mythological backstory for his career. Like the two-faced god who gave the month its name, Snidero’s alto saxophone style looks forward and backward simultaneously.

Perhaps that is inevitable for the native of the Maryland suburbs who, at 65, has aged out of young-lion status but is a long way from being considered a wizened master. When he returns to the Bop Stop Saturday, Snidero will demonstrate how a mastery born of more than 40 years on the scene can be endlessly refreshed by restless musical curiosity.

Continue ReadingLooking Backward and Forward At Once, Saxophonist Jim Snidero Returns to Bop Stop
Leave a Comment