Violinist and Quartet San Francisco founder Jeremy Cohen discusses the group's new album: Pacific Premieres with KUAF: Fayettville Katy Henriksen. Jeremy alks about what its like to work as an artist who doesn't fit easily defined roles.

The album features a new string quartet from Gordon Goodwin who says he was well into his composing career before he "got the courage to dip into string quartet writing." In the liner notes he says "There is nowhere to hide in this genere, not for the composer or the musicians." Cohen elaborates on the form of string quartet writing as a scary format.

The Tedeschi Trucks Band performs this Wednesday, Dec. 4@San Diego's Balboa Theatre and UT San Diego is covering with a feature on Derek Trucks. READ THE FULL ARTICLE

The Canadian world music group Sultans of String plays an eclectic mix of music forms from around the world: gypsy, jazz, rumba, flamenco, Celtic and East coast kitchen party. Led by six-string violinist Chris McKhool, who grew up listening to Lebanese music in his Ottawa home, the Sultans began with the bonding of McKhool and guitarist Kevin Laliberté's rumba rhythms. Named the Sultans of String in 2007, they've added or dropped players for performances as small as duos and as large as quintets with special guests. But their performance Dec. 1 at Koerner Hall adds a new dimension with the Cathedral Bluffs Symphony Orchestra. READ THE FULL Toronto Star PIECE

© -Reprinted with the permission of Gene Lees; copyright protected; all rights reserved.   "Phil Woods sometimes refers to himself as Dubois. He is more than half French by ancestry. His father changed the name from Dubois. The rest of Phil is Irish.   When I played one of Phil's records for a friend whose main experience of music was country and western, she said, "Oh yes-he cares." And so he does. Phil's wife Jill (whose brother, Bill Goodwin, is the drummer in Phil's group) once said to me, "Phil's angry about all the right things."   And so he is. He gets angry about indif­ferent musicianship, politicians, racism, injustice in all its forms, and any failure to render to jazz and its past masters the respect he thinks they deserve. Phil man­ages to combine in his brilliant alto playing an improbable combination of ferocity and lyricism. Phil once said pointedly that his influences were "Benny Carter, Johnny Hodges, and Charlie Parker, in that order." He has assimilated all his influ­ences to become utterly distinctive, one of those people you can identify in two or three bars, sometimes in one assertive phrase.   Phil graduated from Juilliard as a clari­net major. He still plays the instrument occasionally, and always beautifully. But he has specialized since early days in alto saxophone, on which he achieves a huge tone. He has played with absolutely eve­rybody of consequence in jazz, in every imaginable context, and has recorded with Benny Carter and Dizzy Gillespie, two of his major heroes. He is an intriguing com­poser and, as a soloist, inexhaustibly inventive.   One of Phil's early idols was Artie Shaw, on whose work he modeled his own clari­net playing. It was my pleasure to intro­duce Phil to Artie, who began his pro­fessional career on saxophone, at a party after one of Phil's concerts. Also at that party was the fine tenor saxophone player Eddie Miller. When Phil had gone off in the crowd of his admirers, Shaw said to me, "I've heard them all. All. Phil Woods is the best saxophone player I ever heard." And Eddie Miller warmly agrees.   Phil is completely uncompromising. He dislikes amplification, and will not allow microphones on the bandstand. Though he was a successful studio musician in New York in the 1960s, he has since then declined to play anything but jazz, and only on his terms. He tours with a quintet that usually contains a second horn, whether trumpet or trombone. Tom Harrell is one of the alumni of his group.   I don't wish to make Phil sound forbid­ding. He isn't. Indeed, he's terribly funny and a delight to be with. But Jill got it right; I know no one on this earth with more integrity than Philip Wells Woods."

The following playlist features Phil in nine, different settings. Strap-in and enjoy. Phil always comes to play.

You have to be talented and bold to tackle this landmark work by Miles Davis and Gil Evans, and few artists capture both qualities like trumpeter Nicholas Payton on his new CD: Sketches of Spain

READ THE Los Angeles Times REVIEW as UNDERRATED.   

 

The Montreal International Jazz Festival announced a number of new bookings for the 2014 gathering taking place between June 26 to July 6, and Analekta pianist and composer Alain Lefèvre will open the festival's 35th edition on the 26th@8p. Lefèvre will lead the OSM in: 'The Gershwin Legacy'@Maison symphonique de Montréal on. The Toronto Star said about Lefèvre..."He has the 10 most agile fingers to have emerged from Quebec..."   SEE THE Ottawa Citizen PAGE.  

Famed violinist Joshua Bell follows up his star-studded 2009 CD, At Home with Friends, with Musical Gifts from Joshua Bell and Friends, a holiday album which supports the same concept: a bevy of colleagues and artists gathered together, this time to lend talents to end-of-year musical festivities. The 16-track, 67-minute outing showcases jazz (Chick Corea, Julian Lage, Branford Marsalis), classical (Renée Fleming, Plácido Domingo), crossover (Chris Botti), country (Alison Krauss), stage (Michael Feinstein, Kristin Chenowith), plus much more. Bell's varied repertoire runs from perennial favorites ("Let It Snow" and "White Christmas") to Jewish music ("Baal Shem: Simchat Torah"), and from traditional ("Greensleeves" and "Ave Maria") to parody (the enticing and fun "Christmas Confusion"). Thus, the program offers plenty of diversity, which helps maintain interest and provides both continuity and a wider scope than similar wintertime records. READ THE FULL REVIEW

"IL Trovatore is an emotional storm" - Philipp Stolzl staged Verdi. He has taught at the Munich Chamber Play Set, became famous with videos for Rammstein and Madonna and went up as a film director for "North Face" and "Goethe" in the Hollywood league! As an opera director Philipp Stölzl dares his successful play "Orpheus in the underworld" remains in the repertoire of the Opera, now on his first Verdi "Il Trovatore." Placido Domingo will begin a multi-performance residnecy with the production of Il Trovatore at the Staatsoper Berlin im Schillertheater / Germany TONIGHT!! Nov. 29th. His stay will continue into December.

Growing up in the early fifties in a small community in Northwestern Quebec hundreds of miles from Montreal, Christmas was always a very special time of year. When the big day came around, snow had been on the ground for weeks and was already piling up on the roads and streets. The temperature rarely rose above minus 10 during the day, and when walking, the snow squeaked underfoot it was so cold. Christmas carols were continuously played on the radio (TV had yet to arrive in our town) and so by the time the festive season was over, the words and tunes of the seasonal music had become very familiar. The Canadian Brass has brought back the richness and remembrances of the season with their release Christmas Time Is Here.

READ THE FULL REVIEW

Written by Producer: Dan Bloom: I love to invite outstanding musical acts into our performance studio and experience private concerts that I'll eventually share with you, our wonderful audience. Sometimes the musicians are so excellent that the interim period, when I have to sit on such amazing content, is excruciating. Today's program ( Friday November 29,  is one of those instances, and our guests, The Pedrito Martinez Group, ranks among my favorite musical shows that I've ever had the pleasure to produce. Pedro Pablo Martinez was raised in the Cayo Hueso neighborhood of central Havana and after stints in boxing and judo, he picked up drumming and singing from musicians in his neighborhood, largely independent of formal training. This fact is truly stunning when you consider the quality of his play and the win he scored in 2000 at the first-ever Thelonious Monk Institute Afro-Latin Hand Drum Competition. Martinez won this competition just two years after defecting to the United States while speaking very little English and leaving the only community he'd ever known back in Cuba. Martinez exemplifies the classic American immigrant success story, and now, his dedication to his art, his effort in learning a new language and his infectious positivity have paid off and his group's reputation is spreading like wildfire. Such musicians as Steve Winwood, Quincy Jones and Paul Simon have made sure to check out the group's regular gig at Manhattan's Guantanamera restaurant, where this exceptional group including Ariacne Trujilo, Jahir Sala and Alvaro Benavides came together. If you happen to be in New York or near another of their tour dates, do yourself a favor and experience this beautiful music in person. Dec 05 Outpost Performance Space Albuquerque, NM Dec 06 MIM Music Theater Phoenix, AZ Dec 07 The Arts Studio San Diego, CA Dec 08 Millner Auditorium San Francisco, CA Dec 09 Kuumbwa Santa Cruz, CA Dec 12 Echoplex Los Angeles, CA Dec 31 Jazz at Lincoln Center The Allen Room New York, NY Jan 25 Rehearsal Hall Jefferson Center Roanoke, VA Jan 26 University of Richmond Richmond, VA

2010 JUNO Award nominees and "Canada's ambassadors of musical diversity" Sultans of String thrill their audiences with their global sonic tapestry of Spanish Flamenco, Arabic folk, Cuban rhythms, and French Manouche Gypsy-jazz, celebrating musical fusion and human creativity with warmth and virtuosity. Fiery violin dances with rumba-flamenco guitar while a funk bass lays down unstoppable grooves. Acoustic strings meet with electronic wizardry to create layers and depth of sound, while world rhythms excite audiences to their feet with the irresistible need to dance.

THE SULTANS OF STRING play THE MANSION AT STRATHMORE TONIGHT!! at 7:30pm in the Shapiro Music Room in North Bethesda, MD.

@9 A.M. ET, NBC will broadcast the 2013 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, hosted by Matt Lauer, Al Roker and Savannah Guthrie. This the 87th installment of the parade features appearances by Kristin Chenoweth, as well as the Big Apple Circus, the Cherokee National Youth Choir; Cirque du Soleil, Gavin DeGraw; Brett Eldredge; Fall Out Boy; Jimmy Fallon; Kellie Pickler; the Roots with the cast of "Sesame Street"; Florida Georgia Line; Megan Hilty; Joan Jett and the Blackhearts; Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings; Miss America 2014, Nina Davuluri; the retired N.F.L. players Bart Oates, Amani Toomer and Hines Ward; the retired N.H.L. players Cam Neely and Mike Richter; the Robertson family from "Duck Dynasty"; and the Radio City Rockettes. The casts of the Broadway shows "Matilda" and "Motown: The Musical" perform. So does Carrie Underwood, in her role as Maria in "The Sound of Music Live!," next Thursday on NBC. Soaring above it all, weather permitting: Spider-Man; a 47-foot-tall balloon featuring portraits of characters from "The Wizard of Oz" and carrying the Wizard himself, in anticipation of the film's 75th anniversary next year; Snoopy and Woodstock, in a 40th-anniversary tribute to "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving"; and a spinning dreidel to celebrate Hanukkah.