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Tag: Theron Brown

No Exaggerating! A September To Remember Starts This Week

Published 3 September, 2025 By John Chacona

Anyone who has ventured outside in the last couple of days can confirm it: September is the most glorious month in northeast Ohio. This week, dedicated indoors enthusiasts will join the amen chorus, because great jazz is everywhere you will look and listen.

There’s so much happening that I could write three or four full posts this week, but that wouldn’t leave enough time for the music. So rather than the full, big band version, I’ll give you the scaled-down trio arrangement–three can’t miss events that will have you circling the date and smashing the BUY NOW button on the ticketing page. And wait until you see next week.

Countdown . . .

Read moreNo Exaggerating! A September To Remember Starts This Week
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The Abundance Mindset Rings Out At UA JazzWeek 25

Published 7 April, 2025 By John Chacona
clockwise from left: Theron Brown, Sean Jones, Joshua Redman, Christopher Coles

There’s a word you’re going to be hearing a lot more of in the next two weeks. It’s abundance, the title of a buzzy new book by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson that proposes something they call “the abundance mindset“ as a new basis for progressive politics. There’s no evidence that Klein and Thompson visited the campus of The University of Akron School of Music Jazz Studies Department before they wrote the book, but if they had they would have found that mindset in abundance . This week, April 7-11, that mindset will be on public display as UA kicks off JazzWeek 25: Abundance (Jazz Festival), featuring performances by Joshua Redman and Sean Jones in an illustration–and celebration–of music, community and lineage.

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Troy Roberts, A Saxophone Wizard From Oz, Lands at BOP STOP

Published 11 February, 2025 By John Chacona
Troy Roberts

I get a lot of records from publicists looking for a review, 788 last year. That’s way more than I can get to, but I try to check in on most of them. Last year I noticed that a lot of them had Troy Roberts on tenor saxophone, and even on records I didn’t care for–maybe especially those–I was drawn to his muscular sound. I missed his appearance last year with Pat Bianchi (a gig I previewed here), but I–and Cleveland—will get a second bite of the apple Sunday, Feb. 16 when the saxophonist returns to BOP STOP.

Read moreTroy Roberts, A Saxophone Wizard From Oz, Lands at BOP STOP
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Pull Up! Where To Go & What To Hear In NEO Sept. 12-18

Published 12 September, 2024 By John Chacona

Friendly experiencers,

Pull up! I see this all over my social feeds, an exhortation from my musician friends to get out and experience the music the way it’s meant to be heard: live.

This weekend brings a pair of shows on the west side–both on Friday (are you superstitious?). Good luck deciding which one you’ll want to pull up to. While you make up your mind, enjoy tomorrow’s theme song in the composer’s authoritative version with all-timer Walter Theodore Rollins, who turned 94 last Saturday the 7th.

Read morePull Up! Where To Go & What To Hear In NEO Sept. 12-18
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At 40, Musical Polymath Bryan Kennard Celebrates Kennections

Published 10 September, 2024 By John Chacona
Bryan Kennard

Turning 40 doesn’t have the big-deal, inflection-point significance of milestone birthdays like 21 or 65, but don’t try that argument on Bryan Kennard. The composer, flutist and organizer has plenty of highlights to mark as he heads into his fifth decade this week with a new big band and a celebratory concert at BOP STOP Sunday.  

Read moreAt 40, Musical Polymath Bryan Kennard Celebrates Kennections
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