Downtown Tacoma Blues And Jazz Festival 2025

by Geoff Anderson
September 6, 2025

Downtown Tacoma Blues and Jazz Festival Tacoma, Washington August 24, 2025 .Tacoma, Washington held its first annual Downtown Tacoma Blues and Jazz Festival on August 24, 2025, with a first-class lineup of new blues players, veterans and some in between. And it was free. For each band, the leader's name ...

Jovino Santos Neto Quarteto: Mais Que Tudo: Live at Kerry Hall 1995

by Bruce Phares
August 30, 2025

Sit down. Put on the best earphones you've got. A seatbelt wouldn't hurt, either. Get ready to be blown away. From the opening salvo of Jovino Santos Neto's dazzling composition “Metamorph," you're about to be taken on a musical journey of intense elation, abandon, and passion, engaging and urgent in all aspects, through the many twists ...

Ravi Coltrane Quartet: Live at Jazz Alley in Seattle

by Paul Rauch
August 27, 2025

Ravi Coltrane Quartet Jazz Alley Seattle, WA August 21, 2025 I suppose there are still those who attend Ravi Coltrane sets out of curiosity, or some attempt to somehow access the Coltrane legacy in real time. It's true that the son of John Coltrane and Alice Coltrane has not been one ...

Meet Lawrence Peryer

by Lawrence Peryer
August 14, 2025

I currently live in: Normandy Park, WA I joined All About Jazz in: 2011 Why did you decide to contribute to All About Jazz? I've been a lifelong music fan, and through my work in the music industry I developed a deep appreciation for the art of music criticism and journalism. I ...

Jeremy Sirota Grills Lawrence Peryer On Creative Leadership

by Lawrence Peryer
August 9, 2025

Today, the Spotlight shines on someone we have not spoken to in a while... Over the years, we have periodically turned the tables by having friends and colleagues interview me, most notably in episode 100, or by airing talks and interviews I have done in other forums. Today is a little different. ...

Hal Galper: Adventures In The Zone

by Paul Rauch
July 29, 2025

This article was first published on All About Jazz on October 20, 2020. The career of Hal Galper has earned the pianist acclaim as both a performer and educator. Perhaps most importantly, it has drawn attention to his contributions to the music as a true innovator. While other pianists of his era gained more ...

Chad McCullough: Transverse

by Dan McClenaghan
July 13, 2025

Chance encounters can be fortuitous and fruitful. Trumpeter Chad McCullough, on a visit to Macedonia to convene with family, found his way into a small cafe in Skopje, the capital of Independent North Macedonia, where he encountered a local trio: pianist Gordon Spasovski, bassist Kiril Tufekcievski and drummer Viktor Filipovski. McCullough had his horn with him. ...

Jazz Vocalist Heather Ward Honours Musical Mentors And Creates A Legacy With 'Simply Gorgeous' New Album Gilded & Silver

July 4, 2025

Following the success of her debut solo album Honeysweet, Heather Ward returns with a luminous new collection, Gilded & Silver, now available on all major streaming platforms. “Her timing is impeccable, her dynamics refined, and her emotional connection to the lyrics genuinely felt��.[Ward's] voice, clearly inspired by legends such as Sarah Vaughan and Dinah Washington, possesses ...

Eliot King Smith

Eliot King Smith, musician and composer. was born in Seattle, WA, the son of a concert piano duo. His parents selected a home based on a living room that could house two 9 foot grand pianos. At birth, (according to his mother) he was most comfortable in his bassinet under his mother's piano. On that very piano, he began his own lessons and the discovery of composition. His first public recital was at age 6 and he started his first blues band at age 14. As a teen, he was a big fan of R & B and the artists, BB King and Aretha Franklin. In his early twenties, he lived in London, was a member of a band called Dark Star, and loved British Rock

Michael Waldrop: Native Son

by Bill Milkowski
May 21, 2025

Following two successful big band projects--the swinging and swaggering Time Within Itself and Origin Suite--drummer-composer-bandleader Michael Waldrop has brought things down to a more intimate level on Native Son. In some ways a return to his first album as a leader, 2002's Triangularity, a sterling piano trio outing which he reissued in 2019, Native ...