It’s awards season! During this year’s Grammys, Sam Smith was the big winner, Kanye West once again tried to interrupt a winner, and Paul McCartney could barely be heard when he was performing with Rihanna and Kanye. The positive side of the Grammys featured performances by Hozier and Annie Lennox, Sam Smith and Mary J. [...]
Blogs
Jazz in India
February 3, 2015 | By
Jazz in India has a rich history, and has had a great effect on western jazz and world music. EMERGENCE With African-American jazz artists traveling around the world, jazz began to emerge in India during the late 1920s in cities like Calcutta and Bombay. As Bombay became a metropolis, India’s freedom from British rule became [...]
An Introduction to the Copenhagen Jazz Scene
October 14, 2014 | By
A second home for jazz musicians such as Dexter Gordon, Kenny Drew, Ben Webster, Thad Jones, Horace Parlan and Stan Getz, Copenhagen, Denmark, was one of the main centers of European jazz in the 1960s, along with cities such as Paris and Stockholm. These guys would regularly play at the famous Jazzhouse Montmartre, which opened [...]
From Seeing to Playing with a Hero
September 23, 2014 | By
Born in 1978, Jakob Bro is one of Denmark’s most popular jazz guitarists; in my opinion, he is perhaps the best, and is known for stellar collaborations with artists such as Paul Motian, Lee Konitz, Bill Frisell (Berklee ’77), and George Garzone, to name a few. If you listen to his music, you will hear [...]
Groovin’ from Denmark to Berlin and ‘Round the World
August 12, 2014 | By
On a beautiful Saturday evening in June, I sat down for coffee and a chat with the award-winning Danish bassist, composer, and friend, Kenneth Dahl Knudsen. A busy player on the European jazz scene, Knudsen had just finished playing with a Danish/Latvian group, featuring world-class pianist Aaron Parks and Berklee alum Christian Frank; Knudsen’s busy [...]
2014 Berklee Honorary Doctorate Recipient Geri Allen
June 3, 2014 | By
Biography Geri Allen is considered one of the greatest female piano players of all time, alongside Marian McPartland and Aretha Franklin. She was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, one of the many music capitols in the US. Greats such as Al Green, Stevie Wonder, John Lee Hooker, The White Stripes, and Eminem all came [...]
Master Class With a True Master
May 27, 2014 | By
Throughout my years of playing the drums, I have had the privilege of attending clinics, master classes, and workshops with greats such as Peter Erskine, Jojo Mayer, Kenny Werner, the Joshua Redman Trio, and Dave Liebman. They all gave me something completely different: Erskine spoke about his career as a musician while Werner spoke about concepts from his well-known book, Effortless Mastery, which should be read by [...]
Sitting Down with Willie Nelson
May 20, 2013 | By
During the nights before Berklee’s Annual Commencement Concert at Boston University’s Agganis Arena, the huge group of student performers attended lengthy rehearsals. The band, backup vocalists, and featured vocalists had more than enough rehearsal time to perfect the performance of their tribute songs to this year’s honorary doctorate recipients. After walking into Agannis for the [...]
The Lester Young Tree: The Life and Music of “Pres”
March 6, 2013 | By
One of the most heartfelt stories in all of jazz is that of Lester Young (known by many as “Pres”). A calm, mild-mannered, shy and emotional person, Young secured a permanent place in jazz history and completely changed the sound of the tenor saxophone. The Lester Young tree starts with Young’s work with the Count [...]
Jazz and Eastern Practices: Part 2 - Yoga
October 27, 2012 | By
ut two years ago I discovered Gretchen Parlato and I absolutely fell in love with her voice. She quickly became my favorite vocalist and a huge influence on my music, and I was so taken by her intense connection to the music and the intimacy of her sound. I discovered that she was an avid [...]
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