Disc jockey Stu Grant.Disc jockey Stu Grant, host of the Jazz Impressions show on Saturday nights at WXEL-90.7 FM, is in limbo.The Boynton Beach-based station is set to be sold, which will make it an arm of American Public Media and change its call letters. And the future of Grant’s show has yet to be decided upon.“I’m hopeful that things will remain the same,” … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: June 25-27
Ryan Didato, David Dearstyne and Jackie Rivera in Speech & Debate. (Photo by George Schiavone)Theater: Gable Stage’s Joseph Adler is often eager to showcase new talent, as he does with Stephen Karam’s Speech & Debate, which features three recent graduates of Miami’s New World School of the Arts -- Jackie Rivera, Ryan Didato and David Dearstyne -- … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: June 11-13
The Entr’Acte Theatrix cast of Hair.Stage: There’s a new theater company in the area, Entr’Acte Theatrix, a professional offshoot of the 10-year-old Palm Beach Principal Players, which hangs out its shingle for the first time with a worthy production of Hair, the “tribal love-rock musical” from 1968, the previous time we were mired in a protracted, … [Read more...]
Music feature: Guitarist Kreisberg sets first SoFla gigs in five years
Jonathan Kreisberg.(Photo by Govert Driessen)By Bill MeredithNew York City-born guitarist Jonathan Kreisberg first showed an interest in music at age 10 after he’d moved to Miami with his family. He would go on to study at the New World School of the Arts, appear in Guitar Player and Down Beat magazines while in his teens, and earn a scholarship to the … [Read more...]
Music feature: Jazz singer Milman favors craft over image
Jazz singer Sophie Milman. By Bill MeredithThe recording industry has always been more image- than music-driven, a fact that's been made worse by TV since the 1950s and MTV since the 1980s.The latest example is American Idol, on which youthful toothpaste models-turned-singers recruit text-messaged votes from teenaged fans to springboard toward celebrity. Vocalist Sophie Milman … [Read more...]
Music feature: Mustafa jazz fest keeps the music alive
Russell Hall, bassist for the Dillard Performing Arts High School Jazz Band.(Photo by Mark Hill)By C.B. HanifSouth Florida has not lacked for jazz festivals over the years, but the road to musical fulfillment for local fans of this great art form has been rocky.Consider the once-promising Riviera Beach Jazz and Blues Festival, which from 2002 to 2008 drew people from around the … [Read more...]
Music feature: Jazz phenom Eldar charts course of steady growth
Jazz pianist Eldar.By Bill MeredithAt the age of 23, most jazz musicians are still figuratively getting their feet wet in both their art and their lives. Which puts young pianist Eldar Djangirov at least up to his waist by comparison.Going by only his first name since starting his recording career nine years ago, Eldar released Virtue, his sixth CD overall and fourth for Sony … [Read more...]
Music review: Spalding shows she’s a rising force in jazz
Esperanza Spalding. (Photo by Johann Sauty)By Greg StepanichNo one who attended Saturday night's show at the Duncan Theatre by the rising young jazz bassist and composer Esperanza Spalding could have any doubt about her talent.The Portland, Ore., native is a striking presence on the stage, slim and tallish, with a mountain of very cool hair that she had to tie up and get out of … [Read more...]
Music feature: Mustafa Jazz Festival readies for 14th annual event
Jazz trumpet legend Melton Mustafa.By C.B. HanifNot equal are those who know and those who do not know about the annual Melton Mustafa Jazz Festival. Those in the know aren’t better than anyone else, of course, but they’re likely to share some more artful vibrations Friday and Saturday.That’s when the 14th annual festival swings forth at the Lou Rawls Performing Arts Theater on … [Read more...]
Music feature: Jazz world remembers pianist Higgins
Pianist Eddie Higgins (1932-2009).Photo by Andrea Canter.By Bill Meredith Drummer Art Blakey (1919-1990) took many a young, future jazz star on the road for seasoning with his group The Jazz Messengers between the 1950s and the 1980s. The list included Wayne Shorter, Freddie Hubbard, Lee Morgan, Keith Jarrett, Jackie McLean, Wynton and Branford Marsalis, Joanne Brackeen, Benny … [Read more...]