Montreal Jazz Weekend I am happy to once again offer a bus trip to the Montreal Jazz Festival for 2024!!!!! I hope you will consider joining me for this wonderful weekend of jazz! đ -Tonya Knight Recognized by Guinness World Records as the largest jazz festival on the planet, the Festival has been synonymous with [...]
by Leslie Manselle Summer 2021 (photos by Maurice D. Robertson) You know, sometimes you meet people who just strike you as interesting, real interesting. You want to know more about them. Well, this person· is real humble, confident, quiet; low key, low profile; very giving, very generous. He's older and kind of private, so no [...]
On November 15, 2023, Joel Frahm (tenor saxophone) returned to his High School alma mater for a day of music and education as part of the Hartford Jazz Society Fall concert/workshop series. The day commenced with an afternoon workshop, open to the public, where Joel imparted some of his valuable wisdom and experience to our [...]
Congratulations to University of Connecticut student Michael Farina for winning the Downbeat Student Music Award for Undergraduate College Outstanding Performance on tenor saxophone. Michael is a freshman studying under John Mastroianni in the Jazz Studies program at UCONN. The DownBeat awards are considered among the most coveted honors in the music industry. Entries are judged [...]
It's great to see our University of Hartford, Jackie McLean Institute graduates playing in one of the iconic New York City jazz clubs. That was the case a few weeks back when Sarah Hanahan (U of H class of 2019) appeared at Smalls Jazz Club on March 20, 2023 with the Joe Farnsworth Quartet and [...]
by Ken Laster Mastodon is a social network that, although nearly a decade old, has recently seen a surge in membership and notoriety due to the takeover of Twitter by Elon Musk. Since that event occurred, changes in policies and politics have spurred a Twitter exodus by tens of thousands to other platforms. Mastodon [...]
by Ken Laster As a pillar of the west coast jazz scene, San Diego's Gilbert Castellanos has appeared on dozens of recordings. He often shares the stage with Charles McPherson, Willie Jones III, Gerald Clayton and the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra. As an educator, Gilbert is the founder of the Young Lions Jazz Conservatory, teaching the [...]
As we turn our calendar to the New Year, it's always a fun to look back at some of the best jazz releases from the previous year. As the current webmaster to the Hartford Jazz Society and now a resident of San Diego California, I have a hand in each of these cities jazz scenes. [...]
In recent weeks we have seen a batch of new album releases from musicians with roots in the Hartford jazz scene. I have listened to them all, and they are excellent. Support these local jazz artists through purchasing their albums, or streaming them through your prefered music source. Click on the links or cover art [...]
A wonderful Charles Mingus documentary was aired on PBS earlier this month. It features a performance by the Mingus Big Band interspersed with conversations on the life and music of this jazz icon. For Hartford jazz fans, you will recognize several familiar faces of University of Hartford alumni/faculty that have appeared around town over the [...]