Jazzville, NJ

Celebrating Dizzy Gillespie’s Birthday With A Google Doodle

// October 21st, 2010 // No Comments » // Commentary, History, Jazz Events, News

Google displayed a stylized version of its logo on Thursday, October 21, 2001, in honor of jazz trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie's birthday.

Having been sick for the last few days, I came home from work early today to fight off the last remnants of a nasty cold. At 5pm I downed a dose of NyQuil in an attempt to get some sleep, and boy did it help! I slept almost until midnight, or “Round Midnight” as may be apropos to say at this moment. Upon waking up, I logged on to the computer and was super excited to find that Google decided to honor what would have been Dizzy Gillespie’s 93rd birthday with a stylized Google Doodle.

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Trenton International Jazz & Blues Festival Controversy

// October 15th, 2010 // No Comments » // Annette Njie, Commentary, Jazz Events, News

The website for the 2010 Trenton International Jazz & Blues Festival lists various sponsors, but problems paying the performers have left a negative mark on the event in the eyes of many.

I once heard a wise saying that went something like this: “Smart people learn from their mistakes; smarter people learn from the mistakes of others.”

Sadly, in the NJ jazz world we have an opportunity to learn from the mistakes of Annette Njie, the Trenton promoter who created the Trenton International Jazz & Blues Festival that ran earlier this year from September 17-19 at various venues around Trenton. The festival itself went off without a hitch, but when it came time to pay the two dozen acts, most were left high and dry, receiving partial payment or none at all.

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Pat Metheny’s Orchestrion: A Layman’s Explanation

// October 10th, 2010 // 1 Comment » // Commentary, Jazz Events, Recaps & Reviews

So I finally get it! Funny how you can read all the technical explanations you want, but it’s only when you experience things for yourself does it all click.

This past Friday I attended the Pat Metheny show at Bergen PAC in Englewood. What an incredible set! And what a tremendous guitarist Pat is! I’d read about his Orchestrion tour and thought I understood how the mechanized instruments worked- and I did, to a degree. But the real “Aha!” moment came while I watched Pat perform several improvised pieces. “How could they be improvised if the mechanized instruments are pre-programmed to play a given tune?” I thought to myself. Then it happened – I became fully aware of what was going on.

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Vince Giordano & His Nighthawks To Grace Small Screen

// September 13th, 2010 // 3 Comments » // Commentary, Jazz Events, News

Band leader Vince Giordano of "Vince Giordano & The Nighthawks" always looks like he just stepped right out of the Roaring 20's.

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, folks. Things have been a little hectic with the work situation. You know – the gig that brings in the cash. Anyway, I was doing my daily sniffing around the interwebs for NJ jazz-related topics, and my eyes just about popped out of my head when I started reading what I thought would be a review of this past Saturday’s performance by Vince Giordano & His Nighthawks at the New Jersey Jazz Society’s annual Princeton JazzFeast. But before any mention of the show was made, the author springs quite a surprise on us.

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Newport Jazz Fest 2010 – A Survival Guide For Those Left Behind

// August 1st, 2010 // No Comments » // Commentary, History, Jazz Events, News

The Ben Allison Quartet performing during my fateful 2007 Newport Jazz Festival trip.

In August of 2007, I took a week-long road trip through New England with a friend of mine. The first night’s itinerary called for a stop in my favorite New England town – Newport, Rhode Island.

Since the trip was a spur-of-the-moment event, I was blissfully unaware that we were about to drive into town on one of the most popular summer weekends – that of the Newport Jazz Festival. After driving around to a few bed & breakfasts, we realized finding a room was not going to be easy. But it was only after speaking with the folks at the majestic Hotel Viking and being quoted a rate of $700/night that we found out why we were having such trouble.

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Like Father, Like Son: Cecil Brooks II and Cecil Brooks III Perform Together

// July 15th, 2010 // No Comments » // Cecil Brooks III, Cecil's Jazz Club, West Orange, NJ, Commentary, Jazz Events, News, Recaps & Reviews

Father and son jazz drummers, Cecil Brooks III (left, background) and Cecil Brooks II (right, foreground), performed together at Cecil's Jazz Club in West Orange, NJ, on July 9 & 10, 2010 PHOTO CREDIT: Joshua Wilwohl for Patch.com

Last week it came to my attention that father and son jazz drummers, Cecil Brooks II and Cecil Brooks III, would be performing a set together. Although they played on back-to-back nights, circumstances did not allow me to attend either evening.

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New Jersey’s Mad Scientist Of Jazz

// June 10th, 2010 // 1 Comment » // Commentary, News

Scott Robinson live at Space Farm Bell Tower -- PHOTO CREDIT: Lori Space Day

Call me crazy, but I didn’t know The Wall Street Journal wrote about topics other than those that are finance-related. Turns out they do! In fact, they have an interesting story on Scott Robinson, a New Jersey jazz musician, if you can pigeonhole him as such.

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“A Great Day In Harlem” Revisited In Montclair

// June 7th, 2010 // No Comments » // Commentary, History, News

"A Great Day In Harlem" by Art Kane, 1958

In the 2004 Tom Hanks film, The Terminal, Hanks’ character comes to the US in the hopes of acquiring saxophonist Benny Golson’s autograph, thereby completing a quest started by his late father. Golson’s signature would be the final one in a collection comprising the 57 jazz musicians who appeared in the iconic photograph “A Great Day In Harlem” taken by photographer Art Kane in the summer of 1958.

Fast forward 52 years: present-day Montclair, NJ.

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New Jersey Jazz Club For Sale. Inquire within.

// June 3rd, 2010 // No Comments » // Commentary, News

This place could be yours for a cool $1.4 million.

As it is my job to bring you all things related to jazz in New Jersey, I am constantly searching the Internet for new information. Usually it’s concerts, festivals, special appearances, interviews or other such things – you know, typical stuff. But not today…

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Bassist Andy McCloud Dead At 61

// May 27th, 2010 // No Comments » // Commentary, News

Andy McCloud performed with Savion Glover in a series of shows at the Blue Note in late 2009. Credit: Julie Glassberg/The New York Times

Bassist Andy McCloud, who most recently toured with Savion Glover in Japan, passed away earlier this week at the age of 61.

A Newark native and true lover of jazz, he will be greatly missed.

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