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At Rubber City Jazz & Blues Fest, A Big Night Of Big Bands

Published 8 September, 2026 By John Chacona
The Sam Blakeslee Large Group at BLU Jazz+
The Sam Blakeslee Large Group at BLU Jazz+

The 2026 Rubber City Jazz & Blues Festival, which begins Thursday, is big: three days, five venues and 18 events. It has a big-name headliner, too in contemporary jazz master Gerald Albright who will top a double bill with Althea René at Lock 3 on Saturday, Sept. 12. But the biggest noise of the festival presented by Open Tone Music might be the one that a pair of big—or biggish—bands will make in the normally hushed confines of Akron’s Main Library.

The bands are under the leadership of trombonist and composer Sam Blakeslee, who will present music from his Large Group’s recording, New Blood, which will be released Sept. 25 on BJU Records, and Chris Coles, who has convened an 11-piece orchestra to play “The Way of The Sly Man,” a multi-part work composed by the late bassist and educator Dave Morgan.

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Adam O’Farrill’s ELEPHANT Makes Music You Won’t Forget

Published 4 September, 2026 By John Chacona

Adam O’Farrill is sweating out a deadline for a commissioned piece. “It’s hard, but you have to make it work,” he said about sitting down to write. “You have to do it in the hotel. You have to do it on the road. You don’t always have a piano, which is hard, but you know, you make it work.”

The commission isn’t due until February, but O’Farrill is a busy guy. I spoke with him Wednesday, hours after returning from Japan, and two days before embarking on a tour that will bring him and his band ELEPHANT to BOP STOP on Wednesday, Sept. 9 in what is to these ears one of the most anticipated concerts of the year.

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Meet Virginia MacDonald, A Fresh New Voice On Clarinet

Published 14 July, 2026 By John Chacona

Though clarinetist Virginia MacDonald released her debut recording In Search Of… (Cellar Music Group) only a few weeks ago, the jazz community has been quick to take notice—and well they should. It’s an assured effort shot through with ample personality, high wire virtuosity and a shrewd compositional sensibility, a delight from start to finish.

But don’t take my word for it. You can hear it for yourself Saturday when MacDonald makes her BOP STOP debut as a leader in support of the new release.

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Moises Borges And Ava Preston Renew A Charming Musical Friendship

Published 7 July, 2026 By John Chacona

On paper, Moises Borges and Ava Preston are an odd match. He’s a guitarist from Bahia, the cradle of Afro-Brazilian culture, who has been a welcome fixture on northeast Ohio’s musical scene for decades. She’s a vocalist just a couple of years out of Solon High School whose international career is just beginning.

On the bandstand, though, they’re a perfect pair, and that’s where you will find them Friday at BLU Jazz+ and Saturday at BOP STOP for what is a reunion tour of sorts.

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It’s Three For The Keys At BOP STOP This Week

Published 25 March, 2026 By John Chacona

If you are searching for a glimmer of light in this dark and ominous hour, consider this. We are living in a golden age of jazz piano. There are more interesting pianists playing in a wider spectrum of styles at a high level of artistry and technique than at any time in the music’s eleven-decades of existence.

And it gets better. Three such pianists, Orrin Evans, Simona Premazzi and Philip Golub, can be heard in Cleveland over the next eight days. Though they might not have the name recognition of a Herbie Hancock or Jon Batiste, all are singular stylists who encounter the jazz piano tradition in idiosyncratic and brilliantly original ways.

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