This is the one hundred fifty-fourth in a series of special Jazz on the Tube reviews of live stream performances.
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Altoist Hayes Greenfield has been active on the New York City jazz scene since the late 1970s.
Along the way he has worked with Jaki Byard, Rashied Ali, Paul Bley and Barry Altschul, led a variety of albums of his own, written the music for more than 60 films, documentaries and commercials, produced two award-winning short films, and organized “Jazz-A-Ma-Tazz,” a project whose purpose is to show kids that jazz is fun.
On his LiveStream of Sept 17, 2020, Hayes Greenfield utilizes electronics and echo devices that allow his alto playing (and near its end, his voice) to create an orchestra filled with repeated riffs, inventive ideas, and melodic development.
The results, which are filled with memorable themes and variations of moods, certainly holds one’s interest.
This is the hundredth and twenty-fourth in a series of special Jazz on the Tube reviews of live stream performances.
Support live music – even when it’s streamed!
Arjun Verma began studying the sitar when he was five (his father Roop Verma was a disciple of Ali Akbar Khan and Ravi Shankar) and he studied with Khan for eight years.
While he has become a master of Indian classical music, Verma is also interested in playing his sitar in other idioms of music, including improvised jazz.
This special LiveStream from Sept. 24, 2020 is billed as “Improvisations in Jazz and Indian Classical Music.”
On his duets with George Brooks (who is heard on tenor, bass clarinet and a little bit of piano), Verma sometimes emulates a guitar but in his own way while Brooks (whose bass clarinet playing is quite haunting) not only holds his own but challenges the sitarist.
This is a memorable and unique set of melodic and sometimes hypnotic music that may expand one’s idea of what the sitar can do in the right hands.
This is the one hundred fifty-sixth in a series of special Jazz on the Tube reviews of live stream performances.
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Isabella Mendes was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, studying classical piano from the age of six and developing into a singer-songwriter at a young age.
She moved to the United States at 15 and has since become a singer-pianist who performs Brazilian music, bossa novas, jazz and pop music, working with the Bossa Nova Project and Sambeleza.
Bassist Flavio Lira is also originally from Brazil, moved to Boston in 2013 and eventually settled in New York where he has performed everything from jazz and music from Brazil, Cuba and the Caribbean to classical.
Isabella Mendes and Flavio Lira perform a set of duos on their Sept. 24, 2020 LiveStream concert that includes charming versions of standards (including some Jobim) and originals, all of which are rich in melodies and feature accessible vocals, solos, and cheerful interplay between the two musicians.
