Jazz Police, Author at Twin Cities Jazz Festival

Holland, Eubanks and Harland mash it up at the Dakota jazz club

February 20, 2023 •

By Dan Emerson Photos by Andrea Canter. The trio opened the late show at the Dakota with “The Winding Way,” a tune Holland wrote and played with the supergroup ScoLoFoHo (John Scofield, Joe Lovano, Al Foster and Holland) on their 2003 Blue Note album “Oh!” It started with an extended and expansive intro played by […]

Joan Griffith and Laura Caviani Celebrate “Sambanova II”

February 7, 2023 •

Joan Griffith A Midwest native and long-time resident, Joan Griffith has devoted much of her career as musician (bass, guitar and mandolin), composer, and teacher to the sounds and spirit of Brazil. After releasing the Rio-infused Enter You Enter Love with vocalist Lucia Newell (1995), Joan more explicitly explored (and composed) the fusion of Brazil […]

From Peru to the World: Claudia Medina and her Minnesota “Farewell”

January 24, 2023 •

Claudia Medina, Belvedere at Crooners (October 2022) “I always say that music has saved, saves and will save my life.” –Claudia Medina She grew up in Lima where her father “transferred his love for music to me.” She joined her school marching band in fourth grade, began saxophone studies in 7th grade, and went on […]

Zenon sketches a continent’s story in music

January 23, 2023 •

By Dan Emerson To create his magnum opus album “Musica de Las Americas,” Puerto Rican saxophonist and composer Miguel Zenon took a neck-deep dive into an epic, endlessly intriguing topic – the development and history of the American continent, including the cause-and-effect of European colonization. Since its release last fall, Zenon and his simpatico quartet […]

Mal Waldron – Searching in Grenoble: The 1978 Solo Piano Concert – Tompkins Square

January 2, 2023 •

By Don Berryman Searching In Grenoble: The 1978 Solo Piano Concert is a previously unissued recording of jazz pianist and composer Mal Waldron’s mesmerizing solo performance at the “Five Days of Jazz” series in Grenoble, France, on March 23, 1978. Waldron is most widely known for being Billie Holiday’s accompanist for the last few years […]

Charles Mingus – The Lost Album from Ronnie Scott’s – Resonance Records

December 18, 2022 •

by Don Berryman Charles Mingus – Courtesy of Sue Mingus and Jazz Workshop, Inc I can think of few others who embody the phrase “larger than life’ as Charles Mingus does. Imposing in both physical and artistic stature, his influence on twentieth century music was immense. To have this lost recording of this giant of […]