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Countdown: Where To Go & What To Hear In NEO May 16-22

Published 16 May, 2024 By John Chacona

Friendly experiencers,

IMAGINE A WORLD . . . where Terence Blanchard at Severance Hall and a significant album release and anniversary are in the roundup column instead of the Tuesday feature slot.

If you heard a portentous announcer voice in your head as you read that, well, it’s that kind of Met Gala of a blockbuster week on the NEO scene. Throw in Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project’s not-jazz but jazz-adjacent Re:Sound festival and you have a week that will get your ears in shape for the peak summer music season.

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Roll Call: Recent Recordings By NEO Artists

Published 7 May, 2024 By John Chacona

One of the great pleasures of this project is the opportunity to do a weekly temperature check of the NEO scene., with a focus on live performance where it surely belongs. No performances, no scene, right?

But NEO artists have lately been as active in the studios as they are on the area’s stages and bandstands. That’s a good thing, too. Some projects have been covered here, including Work and Song, the exultant live recording by Alla Boara made at BOP STOP last July, Lucas Kadish’s Tundra, which was a big part of this entry from 2023, and the forthcoming recording laid down two weeks ago by the Third Law Collective wsg Russ Johnson, a project I profiled here. A few more will get the in-depth treatment in future posts here and at All About Jazz.

Still it’s been a while since let’s call this has called the roll on recordings, and given the spring shower of recent releases, now’s the time.

Dan Weiss’ Trio Even Odds Is A Sure-Thing Bet

Published 2 May, 2024 By John Chacona

*Miguel Zenon, Matt Mitchell, Dan Weiss photo by Stephanie Ahn-Weiss*

Rock, paper, scissors is perhaps the most elementary game ever devised. Yet within its narrow structure it offers endless strategic possibilities. Little wonder that the three hand gestures form the cover image of Even Odds, Dan Weiss’ terrific new release on Cygnus Records. Put it on your Bandcamp Friday wishlist and listen to the music at Even Odds’ two shows at BOP STOP Saturday night.

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Collective Action: The Third Law Collective Records Saturday

Published 25 April, 2024 By John Chacona

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, Jan. 25-31

Published 25 January, 2024 By John Chacona

Friendly Experiencers,

It seems like a very long time since I counted down the week’s jazz and jazz-adjacent events in this space. Blame the inevitable thinning of events around the holidays, some scheduling anomalies as the new year began and some unforeseen family issues at let’s call this HQ. Still, the welcome thaw that erased some of last week’s snowfall has also started to warm the live music scene as well, and this week’s varied menu of shows, from rigorous improv to instrumental R&B (we don’t use the “smooth” word here) is evidence that better and more musical days are just ahead.

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Tag: New York

Countdown: Where To Go & What To Hear In NEO May 16-22

Roll Call: Recent Recordings By NEO Artists

Dan Weiss’ Trio Even Odds Is A Sure-Thing Bet

Collective Action: The Third Law Collective Records Saturday

Countdown: Where To Go & What To Hear In NEO, Jan. 25-31