Welcome to Boston Jazz Scene

Welcome to the Boston Jazz Scene web site--the place to find out what happened, what is happening, and what is coming in jazz and other improvised music in Boston and surrounding communities. The most recent post is listed below this information. Words listed below the Topics heading to the right refer to information you can find here about jazz and other improvised music, the arts in general, food, and travel in and near Boston.

If you click on the Scheduled Jazz Highlights topic, you will see a selection of upcoming jazz gigs that we think are particularly noteworthy.

If you click on one of the History - Jazz Journal topics, you will see a selection of journal entries covering performances and relevant events that have taken place in Boston since the 1970s.

If you click on the History - Major Contributors topic, you will see a list of Bostonian musicians who have made significant contributions to the development and evolution of jazz in Boston and elsewhere.

If you click on the Images - Musicians topic, you will see a selection of photos of current and former Boston area jazz musicians and significant visiting jazz musicians. If photos of musicians are displayed on this page and you click on Older Posts at the bottom of this page, you will see earlier image pages eventually going back to page 1.

If you click on the Images - Venues topic, you will see a selection of photos of current and former Boston area jazz venue locations.

If you click on the History - Jazz Timeline topic, you will see a brief list of significant events in the development and evolution of jazz in Boston beginning with the first groundwork in colonial America.

If you click on the Essays on Music topic, you will see essays about the development of jazz and other music since the late nineteenth century and particularly the evolving context in which the music has been and continues to be created.

If you click on one of the Travel options, you will see a variety of information that may be of interest to people visiting Boston (or even some people who live here).

Wednesday, July 9, 2025

Upcoming performance highlights

Among the more attractive performances scheduled in the near future in the Boston area are the ones listed below.  With the exception of some gigs that feature Magazine Cover (MC) groups (which can range in quality from very good to terrible), the gigs listed below are ones that I wish I could attend.  And—if time and circumstances permit—I will be there.  
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For now some locations indoors are open for music performances.  Distancing and mask restrictions apply.  If people exhibit safe behaviors, such gigs may not be shut down.  Let's hope things improve soon.  

 

A variety of media around the country--and particularly in New England--are offering significant coverage of the April 19 celebration of the “shot heard ‘round the world.”  This year perhaps ironically the party at the bridge marks the 250th anniversary of our first major action toward a true democracy.  The irony is that the way things are going it is quite possible that we will prove we were not able to keep it; having replaced our democracy with an autocratic theocracy, Trump and his cronies/puppets are using the Project 2025 document as a guide book to this new autocracy for the rich at the expense of the rest of us.  To push that agenda forward on the ground, they are using the Hitler-Goebbels playbook to ensure that opposition is silenced and democracies elsewhere are bullied.  Trump’s $25-40 million (best estimate because the administration refused to offer the true amount) monarchy parade on his birthday is just business as usual.  Fortunately the “No Kings” rallies around the country overwhelmed the Trump DC party.  In other words, there is hope.  Of course, as long as the autocratic psychopath in the White House continues his unhinged behavior--such as committing an act of war against Iran without Congressional approval, abducting innocent U.S. residents using masked vigilantes and caging those resident here and abroad (without significant dissent among Congressional Republicans), and appropriates allocated Congressional funds and applies them to his personal financial advantage--it seems that there is little citizens and Congressional Democrats can do until the next elections in 2026.  But the huge “No Kings” and Juneteenth rallies are inspiring.  We need more of those.

But the trouble continues, and more and more observers are concerned about the obsequious Supreme Court (which does not seem to worry about its impending demise), the gutless GOP lackeys, and the mostly ineffectual Democrats (thank goodness for Clark, Warren, and Markey).  Editor William Falk made as clear an assessment of the current political situation in the U.S. with his editorial page comments in the July 4 issue of The Week:

 

 

Dennis Warren got his stuff together in Boston and now is based in Springfield.  But he does manage to bring his FMRJE to Cambridge on almost an annual basis.  If you miss his music as I do, he performs online streaming and with AV materials available online also.  His groups are impressively political, foe example, supporting Ukraine with recordings and tours.  As you can imagine, FMRJE has much to say about dangerous politics in the U.S.  In late April Dennis, with the help of members of the FMRJE and others, produced FREE JAZZ PROJECT 2025 - CONCERT MOVIE - 2001 TO 2025 IN A FLASH, a stunning art work that documents and manipulates the insanity of the first quarter of this horrific century.  I recommend it to anyone who cares about our predicament and art in general.  The sound track of the work is available at https://denniswarren.bandcamp.com/album/free-jazz-project-2025-live?utm_source=album_release&utm_medium=email&utm_content=fanpub_fnb&utm_campaign=denniswarren%2Balbum%2Bfree-jazz-project-2025-live

You can see and hear the production for free at youtu.be/HNBu-wbw8h4

If you go to Dennis’ YouTube channel you can find a ton of his audio and AV material: youtube.com/fmrje

Band members on the CONCERT MOVIE - 2001 TO 2025 IN A FLASH include Vance Provey (trumpet, flugelhorn), Eric Zinman (electric keyboard), Tor Snyder(electric guitar), and Dennis Warren (drums, timbales, Alesis MultiStrike, KAT Pads via SC VL-88).  Enjoy.


7/13 - The Julian Pavone Quartet performs as part of Berklee’s Summer in the City 2025 at 2 p.m. (MP) – Berklee gives students (sometimes bolstered by guest faculty members) a chance to show their stuff at a variety of locations around the city in the summer.  In this case drummer Julian Pavone brings Oliver Unger (bass), Peter Accardo (keyboards), and Josh Leslie (trumpet) to Boston Harbor.  All these performances are free for the public.  In this case anyone who visits Spectacle Island (part of the Boston Harbor Islands offerings) at 2 pm can catch some jazz with beautiful views of the city as a bonus…

    

 Every Monday – Monday night at the Lily Pad returns with Jerry Bergonzi, Phil Grenadier, guest bassist, and Luther Gray.  Then The Fringe Duo, John Lockwood and George continuing the fire no doubt inspired by the memory of Bob Gullotti.  It begins around 8:30 pm and continues forever ($15 per group; $10 students)…




Ongoing – Non-Event online Music – Performances at various times plus an archive of music (PA) – Non-Event is offering music via online audio files and video files plus real-time performances.  The emphasis is on new music, some of which is improvised music.  For example, Matt Samolis (who unfortunately for us moved from Boston to central Massachusetts) is presenting his bowed cymbal meditation recorded on May 1, 2020.  Keep in mind, money helps support these events.  The URL is: http://www.nonevent.org/
 


If you would like to read Science News’ fine coverage of the pandemic and its implications (including dozens of articles so far), go to the site’s page of coronavirus feature articles.  On that page also is information about how to receive that publication's coronavirus update newsletter twice each week.   Science News will try to answer your questions at feedback@sciencenews.org. …


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Key codes: The abbreviation in parentheses following the name of the event or band/musician performing indicates roughly the type of music that you can expect if you go to the gig.
MC= Magazine Covers.  These musicians/bands are popular with jazz fans and therefore often find their photos on the covers of jazz magazines.  This type of band may or may not be any good qualitatively.  However, many fans like to know “what’s hot.”
MP=Mainstream/Post-Bop.  This is the music that most people think of today when they think of jazz.  It runs the gamut from Parkeresque bebop and Websterish ballads to the post-bop work of people such as Bergonzi and Lovano.
PA=Post-Ayler.  This is Anthony Braxton’s term for all the adventure that came out of Ayler, Ornette, Cecil and others (including Mr. Braxton, of course).  In some ways it is the most diverse jazz and jazz-rooted music being performed today, including everything from near zero dB whispers (e.g., undr, John Tilbury) to eardrum demolishing walls of sound (Keith Rowe, a ton of stuff from Japan) to performances built on combinations of composed and improvised material (Liberation Orchestra, Charlie Kohlhase’s ensembles) to completely improvised offerings (Evan Parker, Laurence Cook).
S=Swing.  It don’t mean a thing…  Maybe “nothing” means “anything” if you are a fan of swing.  Sadly, fine swing music seems to be approaching extinction, at least in the Boston area clubs.  The reasons are obvious and elusive.  The great names of Swing (such as Lunceford and Barnet) have passed on and taken almost all of their band mates with them.  In addition, in spite of the fact that some of the finest music of the swing era was produced by the combos of Goodman and Basie (among others), people continue to think of swing in terms of large (and therefore economically untenable) ensembles.  You can find it happening in some dance halls, but mostly at weddings and Bar Mitzvahs.  For years such names as Whitney, Winniker, and Hershman have held the fort in the Boston area.  But you’ve got to keep your eyes peeled. 
T=Two-beat/Trad.  Some of the finest contemporary two-beat jazz anywhere has been nurtured and grown in Eastern Massachusetts since the 1970s.  Everyone knows about the New Black Eagles, and a host of other musicians are held in equally high esteem around here.  Some of the better-known are Jimmy Mazzy, Stan McDonald, Jeff Hughes, and Guy Van Duser.  Unfortunately for city dwellers, two-beat jazz (and, to a lesser extent, the blues) has moved to the suburbs.  But the best of it is worth the drive.  
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