Page 18 - Jazz Workshop News Today

John Doran , April 13th, 2021 08:31 Carla Bley is arguably the greatest living jazz composer; John Doran talks to the woman fellow musicians have nicknamed Countess Bleysie and Bleythoven about foundational free jazz sessions, the magic of The Liberation Music Orchestra and her epic jazz opera, Escalator Over The Hill. Home page photograph courtesy of Tod Papageorge Edward Said immersed himself in the final works of Beethoven, Genet and Beckett while writing his own last book. Said, who produce...

Written by Emily Morrow on April 1, 2021 If legendary jazz musicians were collected together in one giant jigsaw puzzle and each musician was one piece – Thelonious Monk’s individual piece would be impossible to cut out. As a singular artist, his shape or place in jazz is too uniquely non-conforming. From a musical and historical standpoint, he is recognized as one of the first creators of modern jazz and a major influence on the later development of the Beb...

Vail Jazz Foundation “If people had told me I’d be busking at this stage of my career—in front of a fruit stand, no less—I wouldn’t have believed them for a minute,” said jazz drummer Evan Sherman. But performing on a New York City sidewalk is exactly what this 2009 alumnus of the Vail Jazz Workshop has done to stay creative during the long months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Sherman’s band was wrapping up a tour on March 11, preparing to head to New York to perform in a tribute conc...

Vail Jazz Foundation John Clayton doesn’t just play the contrabass. Wearing his ever-present smile, he seems to take total possession of this big instrument, the musical notes cascading from it full and round. It’s consistent with what he teaches kids each August at the Vail Jazz Workshop: Know your instrument. “If you’re going to play challenging music,” he said, “you don’t want to be thinking about where your fingers need to go.” Clayton, 68, has directed the Workshop since it...