Jazz Stories

On a cool Saturday night, Audrey and I enjoyed some cool Brazilian jazz at the Stanford Jazz Festival. Anat Cohen on Clarinet was joined by Marcello Gonçalves, playing the 7-string acoustic guitar. It was a magical evening. Anat plays very lyrically, with a full range of emotion. Marcello played the role of the orchestra, conjuring bass, rhythm, and percussion from his guitar. They played music in a range of styles, closing with a spirited version of Leonard Bernstein’s song America, from West Side Story. ...

While visiting Istanbul, Micah, Jacob and I enjoyed the 32nd Annual Istanbul Jazz Festival, attending three concerts. 1. Bulut Gülen Quartet, Nardis Jazz Club We were staying in an apartment next to Galata Tower, and just around the corner was the premier jazz club in Istanbul. Nardis is a compact club with an exposed brick wall and everything else painted black. We found it very welcoming. ...

Jon Anderson’s angelic, timeless voice filled the historic Warner Theater in downtown Washington, DC, defying his 80 years of age. Indeed, his spiritual energy and genuine warmth throughout two sets lasting about two and a half hours was amazing. Although many of the songs were recorded by Yes in 1970s, they sounded perfect today. The set began, in classic Yes tradition, by playing Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite through the speakers as the Band Geeks took the stage. Recently, Anderson has been touring and recording with this mob from Long Island. The Band Geeks were a bit bored during the pandemic and started challenging themselves with homemade recording of the super-challenging Yes classics. Their covers were posted on YouTube, where I and many others found them to be wonderful. Jon Anderson found them too and asked them to play with him. ...

Without question, Bob James stole the show at the 2025 Capital Jazz Festival. He took the stage with his own quartet and at 85 years old, he probably had more years than the drummer, bass, and sax player combined. But his sound was still spritely and he didn’t miss a note. Bob is a composer often featured at your favorite “smooth jazz” setting of the radio dial, with a nack for writing tunes with memorable hooks. He played many of his classic compositions and a few covers. His band featured a talented young drummer and energetic bass player. And the Ukrainian sax player Andrey Chmut played several powerful solos, too. ...

On opening night for Porgy and Bess at the Kennedy Center, Audrey, Karen, Kayla and I had perfect seats about a half dozen rows behind the orchestra pit. Close enough to see the beads of sweat on Porgy after his climatic fight with Crown. Audrey made me swear not to sing along to “Summertime” and anyway, as an amazing soprano was in the lead, I didn’t even dare try. Before the show, we toured the Kennedy Center, checking out the museum exhibit about Kennedy and the arts as well as the great view from the fourth floor terrace. There was also an extensive museum exhibit about Porgy and Bess. ...