Drummer, composer and educator Mark Walker has been one of the most respected names on the jazz scene for four decades. He has performed on five continents with some of the best musicians in the world and appears on over 75 recordings, including two Grammy® Award-winning albums, four Latin Grammy®-winning albums, seven Grammy®-nominated albums and one Latin Grammy®-nominated album.
In the early 1990’s Walker toured the US, South America and Europe and recorded with legendary pianist/composer Lyle Mays (Pat Metheny Group) in a quartet featuring bassist Marc Johnson and saxophonist Bob Sheppard. This experience refined Walker’s musicianship, challenging and influencing him on a deep level in his performance and compositionally – which would later show itself in his future writing. At the suggestion of pianist Michel Camilo, Walker relocated to New York in 1995 and immediately got the gig with The Caribbean Jazz Project, featuring Paquito D’Rivera, Dave Samuels and Andy Narell. The band was similar to an international trade school, performing and arranging music using authentic rhythms of the Caribbean and South America in a jazz context. Members of the band were steeped in virtually all Latin American and Caribbean styles.
Hailing from Peru, Oscar Stagnaro studied at the Conservatory of Music in Lima while working extensively as a first-call session musician and live performer for many international artists and local bands. He moved to the U.S. in 1979, where he continued his studies with pianist/educator Mike Marra, and jazz great Jerry Bergonzi. Since then, Oscar has become one of the most in-demand performers the on the East Coast. His mastery of different music styles from jazz and fusion to Latin, Brazilian and South American music, has allowed him to travel the world performing with a virtual Who's Who in the Latin and Jazz worlds respectively. Throughout his illustrious career, Oscar has accrued four Grammy® Awards with a total of six nominations.
Puerto Rican-born saxophonist, pianist, composer, arranger, educator Edmar Colón was awarded the prestigious Presidential Scholarship to attend Berklee College of Music with a dual major in Performance and Classical Composition, as well as a Masters's degree in Global Studies at the prestigious Global Jazz Institute.
Colón has performed throughout the world, including at the Detroit Jazz Festival, Puerto Rico Heineken Jazz Festival, Toronto Jazz Festival, Panama Jazz Festival, Montreal Jazz Festival, and Monterey Jazz Festival, among others. Recently, he performed at the Kennedy Center for the Mary Lou Williams Jazz Festival, as well as the Abbey Lincoln tribute tour with GRAMMY-award winners Terri Lyne Carrington, Esperanza Spalding, Dianne Reeves, and Dee Dee Bridgewater. Colón has performed with artists such as Bob “Rakalam” Moses, Joe Lovano, John Patitucci, Danilo Pérez, Danny Rivera, Hal Crook, Kenny Werner, Lionel Louke, John Michel Pilc, Patti Austin, Ledisi, Judith Hill, David Sanchez, Arturo Sandoval, George Garzone, Luis Enrique and Ivan Lins, among other notable artists.
Born in France, Alain Mallet moved to the States at the age of 21 to attend Berklee College of Music where he is now a professor in the ensemble and piano departments. He has toured and recorded with some of the biggest names in Jazz and Pop including Phil Woods, Paul Simon, Paquito D'Rivera, Marc Johnson and Madeleine Peyroux. He is a critically acclaimed producer, particularly for his work with Jonatha Brooke. His original compositions have been recorded by jazz greats such as Gary Burton, Dave Samuels and Paquito D'Rivera and published in the European Real Book (Sher Music).]]>One of the most popular acts on Cape Cod, the Kareem Sanjaghi Band performs music from the American Songbook including jazz, swing, and Latin favorites.
They also perform jazz-influenced versions of contemporary pop songs by the Police and the Beatles, among others. Hailing from Plymouth, MA, Kareem and his band bring passion and energy to every performance. The band includes Kareem on drums, vocalist Ann Austin, and pianist Fred Boyle.
]]>The exhibition VISIONS OF TRANE is curated by Terry Jenoure and produced by Lennon Hernandez Wolcott, exhibitions coordinator at the New Art Center. The show is open at the Trio Corridor Gallery, 245 Walnut Street, in Newton, MA through April 28th, 2024.
]]>The group was formed during the summer of 1998 when band leader, pianist/vocalist Matt Jenson, then living in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, made a decision to pursue a much deeper understanding of Afro-Cuban music. He assembled the best Latino musicians he could find in Boston, landed a weekly gig for the group and thus began a life-long love affair. Later, Matt saw no reason to separate Latin styles from his other musical love, reggae, and the rest is . . . history.
Feldman Geospatial has created a superb 'critic's choice' jazz and Latin music series at Long Live Roxbury, a new and hip craft brewery and taproom located at 152 Hampden Street in Boston. And all of it is FREE of charge. It's a beautiful gift from Feldman Geospatial to the neighborhood communities who love great live music in Boston and beyond.
“It has always been my dream to bring high quality jazz and world music to our building in Roxbury, and by making it free to all we are hoping to continue to create a community space for food, drinks, arts and culture for everyone to enjoy,” said Michael Feldman, Chief Executive Officer of Feldman Geospatial.
]]>In April 2022 the band released its latest album, ‘You Never Know’, which rose to #2 on the Relix chart. The record unfurls upon kaleidoscopic clouds of spiced smoke, shifting from chopped dub-jazz through trance epics that reimagine Boston as a city of bazaars. Club
d’Elf pay tribute to the music and musicians who have been primary influences, with half the album being covers of gnawa, Miles Davis, Joe Zawinul, Moroccan band Nass el-Ghiwane, and Frank Zappa. The other half consists of original music inspired by Rivard’s personal journey into darkness following a near death experience in the remote jungle of the Peruvian Amazon.
“You Never Know is a wide ranging romp, full of serenity, chaos, longing, improvisation and peerless musicianship inspired by music from India and Morocco as well as the maverick jazz of Miles Davis and Frank Zappa.” – Banning Eyre, Afropop Worldwi
]]>SWING BLUES FROM THE 1930S
The Smack Dabs specialize in good-time Swing Blues music from the 1930s, featuring the songs of Tampa Red, Big Bill Broonzy, The Harlem Hamfats, and many others.
This delightful and timeless genre features a rich variety of musical styles, ranging from mournful blues to joyful celebrations, setting the stage for incredible solo and group improvisations and delighting audiences and dancers alike.
]]>“It has always been my dream to bring high quality jazz and world music to our building in Roxbury, and by making it free to all we are hoping to continue to create a community space for food, drinks, arts and culture for everyone to enjoy,” said Michael Feldman, Chief Executive Officer of Feldman Geospatial.
The Claudio Ragazzi Quartet:
Claudio Ragazzi, guitar, compositions Zahili Gonzalez Zamora, piano Dan Greenspan, bass Steve Langone, drumsTHURSDAY | MAY 30 | 6 PM
GRAMMY WINNER, EMMY Winner and EMMY Nominated Film Composer and guitarist Claudio Ragazzi has been writing award winning music for film and television, scoring dozens of projects and performing with some of today's most respected musicians at renowned concert halls in the world.
Claudio attended Berklee College of Music where he graduated Magna Cum Laude. A winner of the prestigious Duke Ellington Master's Award and the Boston Music Awards, Claudio went on to compose music for feature films, documentaries and television commercials as well as undertaking commissioned works for plays and ballets.
Claudio has scored dozens of award winning Feature Documentaries as well as TV productions for the Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, National Geographic, Telemundo, Univision and PBS, including American Experience, NOVA, Sesame Street, Arthur, and Postcards from Buster. Claudio's live performances include those at Carnegie Hall, The Hollywood Bowl, The Blue Note Jazz Club (NY and Tokyo), The Lincoln Center and in theatres around the world. He has performed with some of today's most influential and respected musicians, including Gary Burton, Yo-Yo Ma, Regina Carter, Randy Brecker, Danilo Perez, saxophone legends Joe Lovano, Branford Marsalis, Kenny Garrett and Paquito D'Rivera to name a few.
]]>Roomful of Blues, according to DownBeat magazine, “are in a class by themselves.” With their masterful combination of jumping, horn-heavy, hard-edged blues and R&B, it’s no wonder why the great Count Basie called them “the hottest blues band I’ve ever heard.” Since 1967, the group’s deeply rooted blend of swing, rock ‘n’ roll, jump, blues and soul has earned it five Grammy Award nominations and a slew of other accolades, including seven Blues Music Awards.
]]>By the late ’80s, Larry had attracted the attention of Virgin Records executive John Wooler, who had recently started a subsidiary label, Point Blank Records, featuring blues, soul, and Americana artists. He signed Larry McCray as his first artist. Larry’s debut album, Ambition—aptly named as it fused elements of blues, rock, and soul to create a contemporary blues sound—was recorded in a friend’s Detroit basement studio and released in 1990 to critical acclaim.
Throughout the 1990s, Larry continued to help define blues rock by collaborating with artists such as labelmate and fellow guitarist, Albert Collins, and releasing the much more slickly produced Delta Hurricane in 1993 (produced by British blues maven Mike Vernon), Meet Me at the Lake in 1996 and Born to Play the Blues in 1998.
Over the past three decades of nonstop touring and recording, Larry has played and shared the stage with such blues greats as BB King, Buddy Guy, Albert King, John Mayall, Johnny Winter, Robert Cray, Keb Mo, Jimmie Vaughan, Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Joe Bonamassa, as well as rock legends the Allman Brothers, Phil Lesh, Jonny Lang, Joe Walsh, Levon Helm, Chris Robinson, Dickey Betts, and countless others.
In 2021, Blues Without You, Larry’s latest 12-track release was recorded on famed blues rock guitarist Bonamassa’s Keeping the Blues Alive nonprofit label with producer Josh Smith, a partnership that has also spawned a video (for the upcoming single, “Arkansas”) and a documentary.
“Larry’s still a relatively young man, with a lot to say, and the world needs to know who he is. It’s the perfect time to have a rebirth of his music,” Bonamassa says. “He knows he’s a badass, he just needs to be reassured and reassure himself that he can stand up there with the greats.
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