Staff Blog Entries

Song X tribute at Villa Musica

Nate Jarrell led an all-star quintet through the difficult music of Ornette Coleman and Pat Metheny.

It takes some balls to commit to a concert celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the iconic Pat Metheny/Ornette Coleman recording ...

Opening night for Federal Jazz Project

A brand new American play by Richard Montoya prominently features local jazz stars.

I had the privilege of attending opening night of Federal Jazz Project on April 12, so I thought I'd pass ...

Keezer: solo at the Saville

Pianist Geoffrey Keezer pretty much knocked it out of the park with a wide-ranging, very dynamic performance.

Piano virtuoso Geoffrey Keezer dropped in to Jazz Live ( the excellent series produced by Jazz 88.3) on April 9, ...

Future Jazz: telematics at UCSD

Mark Dresser, Michael Dessen, Nicole Mitchell and Myra Melford performed with musicians from across the country and the Atlantic Ocean while staying put in La Jolla.

The recent three-day consecutive telematic virtual tour performed at UCSD with a quartet comprised of Mark Dresser's bass, Nicole Mitchell's ...

For The Roses

Robin Adler & Mutts of the Planet delivered two knockout sets of Joni Mitchell music to a packed house at Dizzy's.

Mutts of the Planet is kind of a misleading name for a band that produces such consistently gorgeous music, and ...

Geoffrey Keezer: solo piano April 9, @ Jazz Live

The brilliant pianist performs a rare home-town gig at SD City College

Virtuoso pianist Geoffrey Keezer will perform solo, on April 9, at Jazz Live, on the campus of San Diego City ...

Gerald Clayton Quartet live in La Jolla

Clayton's group delivered an excellent example of modern, small group improvising.

Athenaeum Jazz led off their new concert series with a performance by the Gerald Clayton Quartet on April 3, at ...

Rez Abbasi, Mark Dresser, Satoshi Takeishi : Live

Free wheeling solos and rhythmic adventure characterized this excellent trio of sonic explorers.

These Bonnie Wright concerts just keep getting better. On the last day of March, NYC guitarist Rez Abbasi assembled a ...

Joshua White, Tripp Sprague & Gunnar Biggs @ Westgate Hotel

Three masters explore, deconstruct, and reinvent standards in the moment.

Piano virtuoso Joshua White cemented another step in his quest for self-fulfillment on March 29, with a smoking performance at ...

Robin Adler & Mutts of the Planet: April 6

The next best thing to seeing Joni Mitchell herself is catching Mutts of the Planet.

"We're looking forward to presenting a newly learned suite of Joni music on April 6, and have been spending the ...

Four new local jazz releases

Road Work Ahead, Rob Thorsen, Steph Johnson and the Peter Sprague String Consort all have brand-new discs available.

Four local jazz recordings hit the open market this month, including efforts by Road Work Ahead, the Steph Johnson Trio, ...

Shrinking the carbon footprint with a "virtual" tour

Using technology only available at certain universities, jazz musicians are performing together from different geographic locations.

UCSD's contrabass virtuoso Mark Dresser strikes boldly into the world of technology in a series of concerts coordinated from the ...

Rez Abbasi Trio: March 31

Expect sparks to fly when the guitarist performs with fellow New Yorker, SatoshiTakeishi and SD bass great Mark Dresser.

Bonnie Wright's Fresh Sound @ Space 4 Art concludes this month with a bang by virtue of a performance from ...

Dependent Origination live at the Taoist Sanctuary

Multi-reed man Peter Kuhn led a stellar ensemble of improvisers for a scintillating set on March 16.

The Taoist Sanctuary on Park Blvd. played host to an all-star free jazz concert by some of the music's heaviest ...

re: Trio live at the New Dizzy's

This was the final gig this week for Ben Schachter's East Coast group, visiting from NYC and Philadelphia.

Tenor saxophonist Ben Schachter has been in San Diego for less than a year, if I'm not mistaken, but the ...

Carl Stone live in the East Village

Electronic music pioneer blended a myriad of sounds for a journey into places unknown.

Electronic music composer Carl Stone was the featured performer at Bonnie Wright's March 14 installment of her Fresh Sound @ ...

Ellen Weller & Joshua White at Palomar College

There is both serious and joyful chemistry between these two masters.

Woodwind multi-instrumental virtuoso Ellen Weller surfaced with a rare public performance on March 14, in a sublime duo with pianist ...

Ben Schachter Quartet at Jazz Live

Schachter is an exciting saxophonist and he blew the roof off the Saville Theatre

Saxophonist Ben Schachter, in a quartet featuring iconic pianist Mike Wofford, NYC bassist Leon Boykins and Philadelphia drummer Matt Scarano ...

Steph Johnson: Nature Girl release party, March 16, @ Sunset Temple

The soulful vocalist is celebrating her new CD with bassist Rob Thorsen and drummer Fernando Gomez, plus special guests.

Guitar-slinging vocalist Steph Johnson is hosting the official CD Release party for her brand-new album Nature Girl on March 16, ...

Solo electronic music concert: Carl Stone, March 14 @ Space 4 Art

"The king of sampling" drops in for a performance in the East Village.

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/mar/12/41687/ Live computer music pioneer Carl Stone comes to Bonnie Wright's Fresh Sound @ Space 4 Art series on March ...