In 1998, a quartet of jazz/fusion veterans started an instrumental group in which they interpreted music by seminal jam band the Grateful Dead. More recently, a rising jazz record label started mixing in elements of hip-hop to draw new and younger fans to America's time-honored genre. Both are called Jazz Is Dead. Yet this isn't an obituary for live jazz, rather … [Read more...]
Pink Martini and Nu Deco Ensemble: Bending genres, building community
By Christina Wood You won’t find many places where people of diverse opinions gather peacefully these days. Where young and old sit, amicably, side by side. Where people come together – regardless of labels or affiliations – to celebrate life. With Pink Martini and the Nu Deco Ensemble both performing, this year’s Festival of the Arts Boca might be an exception. The … [Read more...]
Arts Preview 2017-18: The season in jazz
A pleasant sense of unpredictability has crept into the 2017-2018 South Florida jazz season, as younger, rising singers and players (Gregory Porter, Jon Batiste) and gifted female vocalists and instrumentalists (Tierney Sutton, Anat Cohen) dot the landscape, especially south of Palm Beach County. And even some of the more recurrent acts, like the Marsalis brothers — … [Read more...]