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Tag: University of Miami

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.

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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.  

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In Baseball or Jazz, Lucas Apostoleris Plays In The Big Leagues

Published 16 July, 2024 By John Chacona
photocredit: Ken Ge

Do an Internet search for jazz and baseball and you’ll get no shortage of citations. Some of them are fascinating, most of them are sentimental and nearly all of them the are work of older men—further evidence that the once-“National Pastime” and “America’s Classical Music” (scare quotes intentional) are strictly for the AARP set. Enter Lucas Apostoleris a 31-year-old drummer who responds to that notion the way Jose Ramirez does to a hanging curve over the plate. Track, wall, gone!

Don’t look now, but baseball has become a young man’s game, at least on the field, and the athletic young band Apostoleris will bring to BOP STOP Sunday are a Futures Game-level lineup of talent on the rise.

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Poetry: It’s What Composer and Multi-Instrumentalist Aaron Irwin Is (after)

Published 2 July, 2024 By John Chacona
photocredit: Aleks Karjaka

Before the comments section, before digital sampling, before AI large language models, there was after.  As seen in titles, it signals the venerable practice of a poet responding or replying to, elaborating on, refuting or outright imitating the work of another poet. And it’s the organizing principle behind the music that multi-instrumentalist Aaron Irwin will bring to BOP STOP Sunday.

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Local Musicians Add Flavor To the Sauce At Tri-C JazzFest

Published 20 June, 2023 By John Chacona

For fans of improvised music in the Black American tradition, the arrival of Tri-C JazzFest to Playhouse Square with a roster of artists including Herbie Hancock, Christian McBride and phenomenal shooting-star vocalist Samara Joy is hands down the biggest week of the year.

The touring artists whose shelves are heavy with Grammy Awards and other honors deservedly grab the clicks and dominate the buzz, but for dozens of musicians from throughout Northeast Ohio, JazzFest will be the biggest gig of their year. For some of them, it will be the biggest opportunity of their young careers.

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