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Tag: Toronto

The Canadian Jazz Collective Make A Case for Toronto Jazz at BOP STOP

Published 19 March, 2024 By John Chacona
Canadian Jazz Collective

It should probably come as no surprise that the wonderfully diverse, world-class city of Toronto is home to a vibrant jazz scene. Just don’t expect to hear about it from a Canadian.

Though chest-pounding exhibitionism is anathema to the unfailingly polite, deferential Canadian character, a group of Toronto’s best will arrive in town this weekend with proof of concept. They call themselves the Canadian Jazz Collective, and though the name implies a certain one-for-all modesty, these six musicians could easily be called the Canadian All-Stars.

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Countdown: Where To Go & What To Hear In NEO, Feb. 22-29

Published 23 February, 2024 By John Chacona
Ken Vandermark's Edition Redux
Ken Vandermark’s Edition Redux. Photocredit: Alex Inglizian

Friendly Experiencers,

It’s been a minnit, I know, but the last eight weeks has been a bit of a time, which is to say that big changes are afoot, but getting on the good foot, I should have the time and mental energy to resume the coverage here and there’s much to cover on the NEO scene in the very near future. So let’s get right to it.

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Anthony Taddeo’s Jazz all’Italiana Band Alla Boara Sets Sail With A New Record And Tour

Published 18 January, 2024 By John Chacona
Alla Boara

One of the highlights of a performance by Alla Boara, percussionist Anthony Taddeo’s jazz-meets-Italian-folk-music project, is “Mamma Mia Dammi Cento Lire.” It’s a musical setting of conversation between a young woman, wheedling 100 lire from her mother so that she can go to America to start a new life, and her mother who warns that if she leaves her village the feckless girl will drown when her ship sinks. All this is set to an earworm of a dancing melody. The words, brought to vivid life by Amanda Powell, a superb singing actress, have the sly worldliness and teasing insinuation of opera buffa.

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Roll Call, June 19: Dmitri Matheny, Bill Ortiz, Grant Stewart and Melissa Stylianou

Published 19 June, 2022 By John Chacona

I get a lot of music for my consideration, already 350 (!) new releases so far this year. Almost all of them are notable for something, and I’d like to give them their due. So, when I’m not previewing live events in Northeast Ohio, I’ll offer hot takes on the preceding week’s releases. Like these.

Portland is known for rain, artisanal coffee and thanks to Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein, as the apotheosis of farm-to-table Millennial pretentiousness.

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June Busts Out In Cleveland with a Cuban Piano Powerhouse and an All-Star Band

Published 1 June, 2022 By John Chacona

Hilario Durán/Andy James

Friday: Hilario Durán Trio at Bop Stop

GENTLE READERS, Here’s a note from the Bop Stop: “DUE TO HEALTH AND SAFETY PROTOCOLS AND AN ABUNDANCE OF CAUTION, TONIGHT’S SHOW WITH HILARIO DURAN HAS BEEN CANCELED. WE ARE WORKING TO RESCHEDULE THIS DATE FOR THE FALL. ALL TICKET PURCHASERS WILL BE NOTIFIED ABOUT REFUNDS.”

If a nation’s stature were ranked by great pianists per-capita, Cuba would surely lead the world. With a population comparable to Ohio’s, Cuba has produced keyboard lions Fabian Almazan, Harold López-Nussa, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Omar Sosa, Manuel Valera, David Virelles and the pianistic Valdés dynasty whose currently represented by Chucho and Cuchito. On Friday, a Cuban-born pianist who is squarely in the lineage of these lions of the keyboard will visit Cleveland.

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