The trumpeter brings the biggest and boldest iteration of his genre-agnostic "stretch music" concept back to his old school in Boston. Watch his new band perform live.
Igmar Thomas leads the Revive Big Band in concert.
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What would it sound like if someone bridged the gap between large ensemble jazz and classic hip-hop anthems? One multi-generational group of musicians has made it their aim to find out.
Revive Big Band In Concert
Matthew Stevens performs at Berklee College of Music, with bassist Vicente Archer.
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Whether executing the new visions of his peers or fielding calls from veterans, few young jazz guitarists are as highly tipped. Matthew Stevens leads a band in songs from his forthcoming debut album.
Matthew Stevens Group: Live At Berklee
Warren Wolf.
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The Baltimore native plays mean piano and drums, but he's made his biggest mark as a bandleader with his mallets. The jazz vibraphonist visits his alma mater to lead his quintet in concert.
Warren Wolf And Wolfpack: Live In Concert
Guillermo Klein.
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The composer and bandleader mixes Argentine folk forms, New York's jazz talents and a postmodern mash-up imagination. He returns to his alma mater to coach a performance of his own beguiling music.
Guillermo Klein: Live In Concert
Patrick Cornelius.
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After releasing his fourth album earlier this year, the alto saxophonist premieres a new set of compositions: a suite for jazz octet inspired by A.A. Milne's poetry for children.
Patrick Cornelius: Live In Concert
Melissa Aldana performs with her Crash Trio, including bassist Pablo Menares.
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The saxophonist came to the U.S. from Chile with little money and less command of English. But she did have some serious ability at the saxophone, which has now found footing in the New York scene.
Melissa Aldana Crash Trio: Live At Berklee
Audio for this story is unavailable.
Conun Pappas, Jr. of The Bridge Trio.
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They met in New Orleans' performing-arts high school, became Donald Harrison's rhythm section as teenagers and have now released their first album. The collective plays original music live.
The Bridge Trio: Live In Concert
Don Byron.
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Byron has a way of homing in on an artist's legacy and transforming it with intelligence and adventure. In this case, he takes on the music of Thomas Dorsey and of Sister Rosetta Tharpe in concert.
Don Byron's New Gospel Quintet: Live In Concert
Steven Bernstein performs at 92Y Tribeca with Sexmob.
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The quartet specializes in a distinct strain of improvised music: jazz that aims at fun by bouncing off the walls. Led by slide trumpeter Steven Bernstein, the band parties to the themes of Nino Rota.
Sexmob In Concert
Allison Miller.
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A go-to choice for jazz heavies and arena-level singer-songwriters alike, drummer Allison Miller made time to cultivate her own working band in the past few years. Hear her quartet perform live.
Allison Miller's Boom Tic Boom In Concert
Todd Sickafoose performs at the 92Y Tribeca.
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When he gets to lead the band, the bicoastal bassist Todd Sickafoose writes lushly textured, slowly developing music for a unique instrumental ensemble. Hear them lift the lid on unreleased tunes.
Tiny Resistors: Live In Concert
Stephan Crump performs at the 92Y Tribeca.
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Bassist Stephan Crump wears many musical hats. His Rosetta Trio, with two guitars, strives for quiet sophistication. Here, he presents his late-afternoon back-porch ditties for interlocking strings.
Rosetta Trio: Live In Concert
Walter Smith III performs at Boston's Cafe 939 for a special version of WBGO's The Checkout Live.
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The tenor saxophonist plays in some of the most talked-about jazz groups of today. Freshly signed to a new record deal, Smith draws the leadership role in presenting his own quintet at his alma mater.
Walter Smith III In Concert (Full Audio)
Pianist Orrin Evans performs at 92Y Tribeca as part of WBGO's The Checkout Live concert series.
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A strong and harmonically provocative pianist, Evans often makes the commute between Philadelphia and New York City. He brings a trio to downtown Manhattan for this live performance.
Orrin Evans Trio Live In Concert (Full Audio)
Alto saxophonist Tim Green performs at 92Y Tribeca on Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2012.
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The emotive alto saxophonist has been summoned all around the United States, and now calls his native Baltimore home. He returns to New York for this performance celebrating his debut album.
Tim Green Live In Concert (Full Audio)
Jaleel Shaw.
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The alto saxophonist keeps good company: He's a member of legendary drummer Roy Haynes' band, for one. Shaw returns to his alma mater to lead his own band in a live concert webcast.
Jaleel Shaw Quartet: Live In Concert
The front line of The Cookers. L-R: Billy Harper, David Weiss, Eddie Henderson, Craig Handy.
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Take a group of heavyweight jazz masters — the kind who helped to make the classic records that defined the modern idiom — and put them together on stage: Of course there'll be fireworks. After five years, they've cohered as a band too. The Cookers lift off in loose assembly.
The Cookers Live From 92Y Tribeca (full concert audio)
Geri Allen.
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For the better part of three decades, the pianist has been widely recognized as one of the fiercest and most inventive pianists in improvised music. Here, she rides the rhythmic boost of a particularly kinetic quartet, featuring tap dancer Maurice Chestnut.
Geri Allen And Timeline: Live From 92Y Tribeca (full concert audio)
Dayna Stephens.
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The saxophonist has built up an impressive educational pedigree. But he's really flourished by backing up greats like Kenny Barron and Idris Muhammad, and being a first-call player on both the East and West Coast. He leads his quartet live at his alma mater.
Dayna Stephens Quartet: Live At Berklee (full concert audio)
Omer Avital.
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He came to New York in the early '90s and became a top-notch jazz musician. Then he went back to Israeli to study the Middle Eastern musics of his ancestry. Now, the bassist surfaces all of it in his winding, funky compositions, performed live in downtown Manhattan.
Omer Avital In Concert (Full Audio)
Gregory Tardy.
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A monster saxophonist and clarinet player returned to New York from his teaching post in Tennessee. He found his band awaiting him, ready to play his knotty tunes with fire. Tardy's quintet performs in a live concert broadcast from lower Manhattan.
Greg Tardy Quintet In Concert
The Chihiro Yamanaka trio is Yoshi Waki, bass; Ferenc Nemeth, drums; Yamanaka, piano.
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Yamanaka is big in Japan — of course, it helps that that's where the jazz pianist was born and grew up. Recently, her imaginative virtuosity has begun to translate to stateside jazz success.
Before she died last year, the trumpeter's mother gave him a list of hymns to play at her memorial service, down to the specific verses. With a new band, aided by folksinger Aoife O'Donovan, Douglas presents a very personal project.
Listen Now: Dave Douglas Quintet In Concert (Full)
