Venue: the Shrine (Halem/NY)
Date: April 21, 2018
Text by Dawoud Kringle
Photo by Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi
On Saturday, April 21st, 2Birds Band, a fiery quintet of mad musical geniuses, took over at Harlem’s legendary Shrine.
Date: February 13, 2018
Venue: City Vineyard (NY)
Concert review by Dawoud Kringle Photos courtesy of Michelle Shocked
To say that Michelle Shocked is an iconoclast in the service of fairness and righteousness is an understatement. Her music and artistic vision was born of a constant struggle to remain true to herself and her vision. From the beginning of her musical career in 1984, she has explored a great variety of styles, and has been difficult to pin down. Her music has explored folk, rock, big band, and Latin. Throughout, she has remained true to a core belief in fairness, justice, and balance in a world either subtly or directly opposed to this. She has released 13 albums as a leader, was awarded Folk Album of the Year at the CMJ New Music Awards ceremony in 1989, and is a current member of Musicians for Musicians (MFM).
Date: December 17, 2017
Venue: St Mary’s Cathedral, Edinburgh, Scotland
Review and photographs by Fiona Mactaggart
Rugged up against the bone-chilling cold in the Scottish capital’s visually and acoustically impressive St Mary’s Cathedral, the full-house audience seem aware they are in for something special. The two-part concert begins with a clear as ice spoken introduction from esteemed New York – based jazz singer and previous collaborator with Tommy Smith and the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra (SNJO), Kurt Elling. With appropriate gravitas, Elling explains that this concert will be “a modern meditation on the delirium that visits us at this season”, and that it would be no regular jazz gig.
“I went to see the musician, Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi of SoSaLa a few nights ago, and I must say, that I was totally impressed by his honesty and sincerity.
That’s perhaps one of the things that is missing in many practitioners of the music.
It was quite refreshing to experience his concert presentation.
Billy Harper
PS. It is sometimes good to get “outside of oneself” and see what someone else may be experiencing about his music.”
Date: December 20, 2017
Venue: CA Music Room (NY)
Date: October 8, 2017
Venue: Galway Jazz Festival (Ireland)
Review by Fiona Mactaggart (Photograph by sus)
An award for ‘friendliest festival’ might well go to the Galway Jazz Festival, this 4-day long event utilizing an eclectic range of venues and heaving with musical treasures. Tonight the venue is an up-market restaurant, the musical fare a veritable aural banquet offered by the new trio of pianist-extraordinaire, Simon Nabatov.
