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).

Monday, November 18, 2024

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.  


If you thought Trump's first administration was a nightmare, you ain't seen nothing yet.

Update (11-18-24): I hope you have your copy of the Project 2025 document handy.  Trump just announced that Brendan Carr will be running (or, perhaps better-worded, running into the ground) the Federal Communications Commission.  If you turn to page 845 of the Project 2025 document you will notice Mr. Carr has written what he plans to do when he takes over the FCC.  The rest of the document is quite foreboding as well.

 

Quincy Jones died on 11/3 at age 91.  His life in music is justifiably celebrated in all news media.  He had an extraordinary impact on a wide range of music and musicians.  No doubt most of the coverage will focus on his genius in the realm of popular music.  However, he did have a great impact in jazz as a trumpet soloist, arranger, composer, and band leader.  I choose to focus on him here as a fine example of the productive connection of two jazz musicians from different generations, Quincy Jones (1933-2024) and Preston “Sandy” Sandiford (1909-1986).  After studying trumpet with Clark Terry, Jones moved to Boston in 1951 where he had won a scholarship to Schillinger House (now Berklee).  While studying there he got a gig playing in a small band at Izzy Ort’s, a strip joint in the Combat Zone.  There he got his most important arranging lessons from the pianist, Sandy Sandiford.  His memory of his studies with Sandiford offers a wonderful commentary on a constructive connection between two generations of jazz musicians in Boston:

After weeks of work I’d bring the score of my arrangement on “All the Things You Are,” every single note carefully written out for the piano, bass, drums, and the horn players.  Downstairs, during breaks, Sandy would check it out, then blow me away by tearing up the whole score and saying, “To hell with a score.  Learn how to do it up here in your mind.  First write out the chords and rhythm parts, then do the top line for the lead horn parts.  Then finish writing out the transposed parts for the whole band and forget the rest of this shit.” (from Q: The Autobiography of Quincy Jones [Doubleday, 2001])

 


11/22 – Seventh Driff Fest 2024 at 7:30 p.m to Midnight. (PA/MP) – The festival celebrates a multi- generational line up of Boston-based improvising musicians, featuring two bands and three duos.  Pianist and composer Pandelis Karayorgis is presenting his new group ATMOS, adding Providence-based saxophonist Noah Campbell to his trio with bassist Nate McBride and drummer Nat Mugavero.  Saxophonist and composer Jorrit Dijkstra will present his new group BLINK, which extends his Porch Trio (including Nate McBride and Eric Rosenthal) with Boston stalwart Eric Hofbauer and young talent Gabe Boyarin on guitars. The band uses a microtonal tuning system between the instruments; the music full of collective melodic and multi-rhythmic layers.  Three duos of Boston area improvisers of multiple generations will complete the evening: 1) Charlie Kohlhase (saxophones) and Bill Lowe (bass trombone, tuba); 2) Kelly Bray (trumpet) and Greg Kelley (trumpet); 3) Lemuel Marc (trumpet) and Ted Reichman (accordion).  It should be an engaging night at the Lily Pad, where pandemic regulations apply. (So far there is no word about an entry fee, but last year it was $15)...

11/23 – The Revolutionary Snake Ensemble at 8 p.m. (NO-rooted eclectic) – Ken Field (saxophones) leads this ageless party band, including Jerry Sabatini (trumpet), Dave Harris (trombone & tuba), Blake Newman (bass), and Phil Neighbors (drums) at Peabody Hall, Parish of All Saints, 209 Ashmont Street Dorchester.  Tickets and more information are available at mandorlamusic.net    ($10/15/20)…

 

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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