The 2012 Satchmo Summer Festival takes place at the U.S. Mint in the historic French Quarter August 4th through 7th. The three day festival features  free seminars & discussions, featuring a host of speakers, including recording industry icon George Avakian (Armstrong's producer & friend); Michael Cogswell of the Armstrong House & Archives; noted Armstrong scholar and winner of multiple Grammy Awards Dan Morgenstern; writer and Armstrong film collector Ricky Riccardi; Yoshio Toyoma, aka 'Satchmo of Japan,' who also performs with his Dixie Saints; & many other sessions with educational & entertaining speakers who knew or were inspired by Louis Armstrong.

Music all weekend on festival stages featuring traditional jazz, contemporary jazz, brass bands & children's programming. A sampling of performers who play the festival include Leroy Jones, Jeremy Davenport, Connie Jones' Crescent City Jazz Band, Yoshio Toyama and the Dixie Saints, The Palmetto Bug Stompers, Shamarr Allen, Rebirth Brass Band, Tim Laughlin, Soul Rebels, Treme Brass Band, Leah Chase, James Andrews, Lars Edegran's New Orleans Ragtime Orchestra, New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park programming for kids, & more!

Toronto Jazz Festival 2012 will feature the music of Natalie Cole, Kurt Rosenwinkel, John Pizzarelli, Karrin Allyson, 
Spectrum Road, Roy Hargrove and many more!

With less than four months to go, the TD Toronto Jazz Festival is already swingin' to the sounds of jazz as it announces its next wave of confirmed artists performing this summer. Featuring some of the jazz world's top artists, the 26th edition of the summer's largest music festival gets underway from June 22 - July 1, 2012. Tickets are on sale now.

Natalie Cole - Monday, June 25, Sony Centre: Spend an unforgettable night with one of music's finest when singer, songwriter Natalie Cole returns to Toronto for a very special performance. The nine-time Grammy award winner will perform standards from the Great American Songbook, selections made immortal by her father, Nat King Cole, and music from her award winning releases.

Spectrum Road - Wednesday, June 27, Sound Academy: Featuring Jack Bruce (bassist for Cream), Vernon Reid (guitarist for Living Color), John Medeski (keyboardist for Medeski Martin & Wood) and Cindy Blackman-Santana (former drummer for Lenny Kravitz), this band was originally formed as a tribute group to the groundbreaking work of Tony Williams. A jazz fusion super-group comprised of the most prolific players on the music scene today, Spectrum Road is a heavyweight line-up that is inspired by the work by Williams, a drummer for Miles Davis who charted the course for jazz-rock.

Esperanza Spalding, Diana Krall & Trombone Shorty to Perform at The 35th Annual Freihofer's Saratoga Jazz Festival, June 30 & July 1

ESPERANZA SPALDING - Just one year after taking home a GRAMMY® Award in the Best New Artist category, the bassist/vocalist performed a beautiful rendition of "What a Wonderful World" alongside the Southern California Children's Choir at the 2012 84th Oscar Academy Awards in Los Angeles on February 26.

DIANA KRALL - The world renowned artist and and one of the best selling jazz vocalists of all time recently appeared with Paul McCartney on the 2012 GRAMMY® Awards telecast in Los Angeles on February 12.

TROMBONE SHORTY - The New Orleans native trombone/trumpet phenomenon recently participated in a PBS televised performance at The White House as a part of the Black History Month celebration in Washington D.C. on February 21.

All three artists will perform at the 35th Annual Freihofer's Saratoga Jazz Festival which will take place on Saturday, June 30 & Sunday, July 1 at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center located at 108 Avenue of the Pines, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866. Tickets are available at $55 per day. For more information on the 35th Annual Freihofer's Saratoga Jazz Festival, please visit: spac.org

The 33rd annual Detroit Jazz Festival  Announces Star-Studded Lineup. The free festival takes place August 31st through September 3rd in the heart of Detroit, Michigan.

The world's largest free jazz festival, will feature the most celebrated names in jazz including: Sonny Rollins; Wynton Marsalis Quintet; Pat Metheny Unity Band featuring Chris Potter, Antonio Sanchez, and Ben Williams; Chick Corea and Gary Burton with the Harlem String Quartet; and the Wayne Shorter Quartet featuring Danilo Pérez, John Patitucci and Brian Blade.

"This year, we wanted to focus on going back to traditional jazz roots. Bringing together these world-class jazz artists gives festival-goers the opportunity to experience jazz at its finest - a collaboration between artists with history, experience and a style all their own," said Chris Collins, artistic director of the Detroit Jazz Festival. "Many of the artists joining us at the festival have worked together before and we're reuniting them, as well as introducing unique first-time collaborations, to celebrate the culture of jazz and really show how jazz has made an impact in our region and across the nation."

Rollins and Marsalis return to the festival for the first time since 1987, and Metheny will make his festival debut with his new ensemble. Additionally, New Orleans-native and trumpeter Terence Blanchard will serve as the 2012 Artist-in-Residence, performing with his quartet as well as curating a special Art Blakey Tribute, featuring Peter Washington, Lewis Nash, Geoffrey Keezer and Curtis Fuller, among other appearances.

Other headliners include: Joe Lovano and Dave Douglas Quintet: Sound Prints featuring Lawrence Fields, Linda Oh and Joey Baron; Lew Tabackin Quartet featuring Randy Brecker; Jerry Bergonzi Quintet; Donny McCaslin Group featuring Jason Lindner, Tim Lefebvre and Mark Guiliana; David Binney Quartet; Brian Lynch and Unsung Heroes; Cécile McLorin Salvant; and Grégoire Maret Quartet, among others.

When Joel Behrman relocated to the Bay Area in 2000, the trumpeter/composer was intent on renewing his commitment to jazz. He'd completed his music degree at the University of Miami and worked a series of non-jazz gigs, in clubs and on the road, and as he continued his years of dues-paying in California he realized that, in jazz, the fundamental things apply: swing, the blues, connecting with the audience.

On his superb new debut recording, Steppin' Back, Behrman and his band express those essential jazz values in a program of elegant originals interspersed with compositions by Ellington, Armstrong, and Joe Henderson. His collaborators represent the top tier of local players: bassist Marcus Shelby, one of San Francisco's most illustrious bandleaders and composers; in-demand pianist Matt Clark; drummer Howard Wiley (better known as a saxophonist); tenor saxophonist Dayna Stephens, a Berkeley High grad who lives in New York but maintains close ties to home; and veteran trombonist Danny Armstrong, a founding member of Lavay Smith's Red Hot Skillet Lickers.

"I wanted it to be a Bay Area project exclusively," says Behrman, a San Jose resident. "There is a lot of talent here that's underexposed."

The album's centerpiece is the leader's compelling three-movement "Justice Suite" (Sin / Righteous Indignation / Evolution), written for the sextet. While conceived as a response to the current political climate, the suite is also very much an interior drama, "related to a personal struggle of someone trying to change, working through the anger," Behrman says. "That could be a metaphor for all kinds of things where it doesn't feel like justice is around."

Bobby Broom's new CD (Orgin Records), Upper West Side Story, is the guitarist's tenth album in as many years -- the culmination of a golden period of prolific creativity and steady artistic growth. Five of those recordings have featured his jazz trio with bassist Dennis Carroll and drummer Kobie Watkins, who've worked as a unit since 1997.

Providing an intimate look at Broom's musical personality and the trio's fully developed group chemistry, the original compositions on Upper West Side Story are described by Broom as "an ode to where I'm from." They reflect a wide range of influences across a spectrum of genres while always remaining deep in the tradition of the modern jazz guitarist. Included is the first studio recording of Broom's "D's Blues," a live video of which has been a fan favorite online for several years.

"I purposely waited to make a record of all originals," says Broom. "I feel that can be sort of a run-of-the-mill thing to do -- that everyone is doing it. But, you know, I've been out here 30 years now and people need to know who I am beyond my guitar sound and style. This album reveals more of me."

"In my twenty years of playing with Bobby," says bassist Carroll, "I've always felt that his style of playing melds the feelings of all-American blues with an urban hip soulfulness that really speaks to the progression of jazz."

"B is one of the great guitarists and musicians of this generation," adds drummer Watkins. "Playing with him and this trio has meant so much for my development and prepared me to have intelligent musical conversations."

For the last two years, Broom has also been working with the young drummer Makaya McCraven, who is heard on three tracks of the new CD. "Playing with Bobby," says McCraven, "you always have to dig deeper. His depth in vocabulary allows the music to go anywhere with ease."

Spiritual Nature features  Bassist Christian McBride,  Guitarist Anthony Wilson, Drummer Lewis Nash and Violinist Christian Howes.

"... an exceptionally articulate pianist... Vega's single most distinctive characteristic is his romantic lyricism." - JazzTimes


While pianist Donald Vega is beginning to draw attention in jazz circles as Mulgrew Miller's successor in the Ron Carter Trio, he makes a bold statement as a composer and bandleader on Spiritual Nature. Joined by the regal rhythm tandem of bassist Christian McBride and drummer Lewis Nash, Vega explores the marriage of jazz, Latin and classical music on his auspicious Resonance Records debut. "It's a dream come true," says the 37-year-old pianist of the opportunity to record with McBride and Nash. "Spiritually, this is my dream trio." The core trio is augmented by guitarist Anthony Wilson, violinist and label mate Christian Howes, tenor saxophonist Bob Sheppard, trumpeter Gilbert Castellanos and trombonist Bob McChesney on Vega's sophomore outing (following 2008's self-produced Tomorrows, which also featured drummer Nash).

Album Inspired by Japanese-American Artist Isamu Noguchi and Recorded After Hours at The Noguchi Museum

For some, each discipline in the arts is a self-contained universe, with its own materials and tools and ruled by its own laws. But great art transcends -- sometimes in unexpected ways.

Consider the reaction of GRAMMY® Award winning pianist, composer and educator Arturo O'Farrill to the work of Japanese-American artist Isamu Noguchi (1904-1988).

"I performed at a gala at The Noguchi Museum, and I noticed how in many of Noguchi's stone sculptures there's a section, maybe a side or an angle, that is unfinished," recalls O'Farrill. "He had such a mastery over these huge stone and metal structures, and yet he left parts of his raw material untouched. It's almost as if he were inviting the viewer to complete the piece, to enter the conversation."

Paradoxically, for O'Farrill these solid pieces "also capture the transient nature of life."

"When you are in a room surrounded by objects that weigh several tons, you definitely feel your fragility, the transience of being a bag of skin and bones. We are not permanent. And Noguchi captures that fleetingness of our lives in his work."

If all this struck a chord with O'Farrill it was in part because, as he sees it, "there is an unfinished quality to jazz. It's not supposed to be finished. The best jazz has a certain roughness. It's not supposed to be all perfectly polished."

It's not by chance, then, that O'Farrill chose The Noguchi Museum (in Long Island City, NY) as a setting for perhaps his most personal and challenging project to date: a recording of solo piano. "I have waited to record solo piano. It is the scariest thing a pianist can do. But that's not why," O'Farrill writes in his notes to The Noguchi Sessions. "I think it's because I feel a bit like an outsider."

The painting by Edward LaRose that graces the cover of The Duality Perspective, drummer/composer Ralph Peterson's new release and 16th as a leader, is a dynamic illustration of the album's driving principles. The yin yang symbol in the background represents the balance between the two ensembles that appear on the record, the young, next-generation Fo'tet and the more established Sextet. The names of the members of each group are spelled out on the branches of a tree, the Sextet side fully flowering while the Fo'tet side is still budding; the tree's roots are inscribed with the names of elders and mentors including Art Blakey, Elvin Jones, and Bill Fielder.

At the center of all of this is a portrait of Peterson himself, the locus of the enterprise both musically and spiritually. It is Peterson that nurtures this living, growing entity so that buds will bloom, branches will grow and thrive, and roots will delve ever deeper and stronger.

The Duality Perspective thus embodies youth and maturity, past; past, present and future; and diverse stylistic approaches based on a common language. In a bit of word association, Peterson characterizes the young, hungry Fo'tet as "dry ice, so cold it'll burn you," and the all-star Sextet as "richly rooted, one foot in the tradition, the other foot in tomorrow." But as he acknowledges, "Each has a distinct sound and approach, yet they have a commonality at the core."

Of course, as Peterson is quick to point out, there are more than two sides to his musical identity. ("Later on there might be a record called The Multiplicity Perspective," he muses.) Besides his incomparable talent behind the drumkit, which has led to collaborations with the likes of Terence Blanchard, Branford Marsalis, David Murray, Roy Hargrove, Jon Faddis, Michael Brecker, Steve Coleman and Betty Carter over a nearly thirty-year career - not to mention being hand-picked by Art Blakey as the second drummer in the legendary bandleader's Jazz Messenger Big Band until Blakey's 1990 death - Peterson is an agile trumpeter and a respected educator.

Celebrating Peterson's fiftieth birthday, The Duality Perspective is the veteran drummer's 16th album as a leader and the second release on his own Onyx Music label, following last year's acclaimed Outer Reaches. Turning 50, Peterson says, has been accompanied by some positive adjustments in his lifestyle. "These changes helped me to be the best person I can be," he says, "and the best person will always produce the best music. I think this is one of my best records because it very much says where I am right now."

The importance of unifying distinct elements into a distinctive whole springs directly from Peterson's martial arts training. A third-degree black belt and Buddhist, Peterson has studied tae kwon do on and off for more than two decades. "As I continue my martial arts training," he says, "Asian philosophical concepts like yin and yang become more important to me and I'm able to fuse them back into my other artistry, my music art. It also helps me stay physically fit, so I can play with the vigor of my youth but add to it the maturity and wisdom I've gotten through my experiences."

Acoustic bass giant Eddie Gomez ensures his place as one of the truly great musicians working today with his newest recording – "Per Sempre."

Recorded in Bologna, Italy while on tour in winter 2009, "Per Sempre" is a luminous jazz disc destined to stand the test of time, showcasing an amazing ensemble. Gomez brings originals—by himself and members of his quintet—to the table, along with one evergreen, “Stella by Starlight.” One of "Per Sempre’s" haunting melodies, “Arianna,” is a stunning ballad “exemplified by the gorgeous, plucked Gomez solo at its center” — Jazz Times.

Coming off his recent triumph "Further Explorations" (with Chick Corea and the late Paul Motian) in which Gomez celebrated the 50th anniversary of legendary pianist Bill Evans’ classic album "Explorations," "Per Sempre" furthers Gomez’ stature as consummate bassist, inspirational leader, composer and cultivator of musicianship.

Eddie Gomez’s career kicked into gear in the early 1960s and there are more than twenty albums under his rubric. "Per Sempre" features a host of talent and original composition. Gomez’s conception is like his career, spanning the mainstream (Miles Davis, Gerry Mulligan, Dizzy Gillespie, Bill Evans, Benny Goodman, McCoy Tyner, Hank Jones, Freddie Hubbard) to fusion (Steps Ahead, The Gadd Gang) to classical (Tashi, The Kronos Quartet, Richard Stoltzman). His recent recording Duets, co-led with Carlos Franzetti on piano, won Best Instrumental Album at the 2010 GRAMMY® Awards.

"Per Sempre" is rich with breezes wafting from the Mediterranean and the Caribbean; exquisite chamber jazz – soulful and swinging. Gomez’s bass is, as usual, resolute as a heartbeat and delicate as a raindrop.

The Quintet Members are: Marco Pignataro, saxophone Matt Marvuglio, flute Teo Ciavarella, piano Massimo Manzi, drums.

GRAMMY®-winning, legendary bassist EDDIE GOMEZ has been on the cutting edge of music for over four decades. His impressive resumé includes performances with jazz giants such as Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Gerry Mulligan and Benny Goodman. Eddie’s distinctive sound and style can be heard on hundreds of recordings spanning the worlds of jazz, classical, Latin jazz, rhythm & blues, popular and contemporary music. At age 21, Eddie became the bassist with the Bill Evans Trio – and rose quickly to prominence. For 11 years, he played an integral role in the Trio’s sound and evolution, and played on many recordings including two GRAMMY®-winning albums.

A sought-after educator, Eddie is Artistic Director of the Jazz Program at the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico, and is frequently artist in residence at schools across the U.S. and throughout Europe. As a composer, many of Eddie’s compositions are featured on his recordings as well as on those of his contemporaries. Today, Eddie tours and records with his own group, and performs around the world in collaboration with some of the great musicians of our time. His recent recording “Duets,” co-led with Carlos Franzetti on piano, won Best Instrumental Album at the 2010 GRAMMY® Awards.