Bologna Jazz Festival: corto.alto at Locomotiv Club, Bologna (October 24, 2025)
Corto.Alto at Locomotiv Club Bologna (Oct 24, 2025) We’re recovering from our Rocktober coverage (and...
Jazz Notes
We♥KC! November 4-6, 2025 Upcoming concerts / shows (Kansas City, MO / Lawrence, KS metro)
read more Kansas City Music Guide archives / read more Lawrence, KS archives November 4-6,...
Mpls: November 22, 2025
Here are some shows in Minneapolis/St Paul on November 22, 2025: • The Beths at...
Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers’ Strasbourg 82
Today is jazz drummer Art Blakey’s birthday, and to celebrate Gearbox Records is releasing Strasbourg...
We♥KC! October 10-13, 2025 Upcoming concerts / shows (Kansas City, MO / Lawrence, KS metro)
Kansas City Music Guide archives / Lawrence, KS archives October 10-13, 2025 Upcoming concerts /...
We♥KC! October 6-9, 2025 Upcoming concerts / shows (Kansas City, MO / Lawrence, KS metro)
Let’s take look at the Kansas City / Lawrence KS metro musical happenings for the first days of the month, October 6th-9th
Dakota 40th Anniversary Block Party at Dakota Jazz Club (September 20, 2025)
Forty-year anniversary celebrations were on the menu this weekend. In Chicago the Pogues played Riot Fest to celebrate the 40 years since the release of their seminal album Rum Sodomy & the Lash. At The Bank on the University of Minnesota campus an all-star line-up, including Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan, headlined the 40th Farm Aid Music Festival. And on Nicollet Mall in the heart of downtown Minneapolis, a jazz club reached the rare milestone and decided to throw a party.
Site Update (September 2025)
Since September 1st, I have been really busy backing up the TypePad website, month by month… starting in August 2025 and working backward to January 2007. With everyone also backing up, they knocked the host offline for a few days, so I was worried for a while about getting all my data off of TypePad. It’s all fixed now, so as of a few days ago, I’ve grabbed all the pages and their thumbnails (displayed images). The next step is to drill down and download all the full images… which might not be possible, given the short time frame. We only have a week before they pull the plug.
Selby Avenue Jazz Fest (September 13, 2025)
The Selby Avenue Jazz Fest is in the heart of St. Paul, specifically, the Rondo neighborhood. It was founded in 2002 as a response to the one-year anniversary of 9/11. Co-founder, Michael Wright, felt a need to celebrate the good things going on in the world and in the heart of St. Paul, and he felt, “Nothing gets people together like a good old-fashioned block party.” The inaugural Jazz Fest had 600 people. There were quite a few more on Saturday.
Southside Aces at 370 Sets, St Paul (June 24, 2025)
Southside Aces at 370 Sets (June 24, 2025) Southside Aces Setlist Anytime (Emmett Miller cover)...
Twin Cities Jazz Festival at Mears Park, St Paul (June 20-21, 2025)
On a balmy summer evening in downtown St. Paul the Twin Cities Jazz Festival kicked off its 27th year. Earlier in the week the Star and Tribune noted that the TCJF is bigger than the Taste of Minnesota and boasts more musical acts than the Minnesota Yacht Club. In fact, there were over eighty artists playing 20 venues over two days and a lot of it was free. So, it was my intention to catch five of these acts at Mears Park.
Minneapolis: March 14, 2025
Minneapolis: March 14, 2025 Pre-game your St Patrick’s Day with Irish traditional band Lúnasa at the Pantages Theatre, in Minneapolis, on March 14. The band now features guest artist award-winning fiddler Colin Farrell (from Manchester, England), bassist Trevor Hutchinson (former member of The Waterboys, piper and Riverdancer, Cillian Vallely, flutist Kevin Crawford, All-Ireland fiddle champion Sean Smyth (founding member of Donal Lunny’s Coolfin), and guitarist Ed Boyd (worked with with Flook and Kate Rusby.)
Rocktober: October 15, 2024
Rocktober: October 15, 2024
Cyrille Aimée – à Fleur de Peau
We Heart Music had the opportunity to chat with Cyrille Aimée as she embarks on a world tour to promote her latest album à Fleur de Peau out on Via Recordings March 8th with a stop at the Dakota on March 19th.
Veronica Swift at the Dakota (09-22-23)
What’s neat about writing for We Heart Music is to see fans of all ages at shows. In fact, the age gap between the audience at the Varsity Theater to see David Kushner on September 21st and Veronica Swift at the Dakota the night after is almost three generations. And although the crowd at the Dakota was a little greyer, they were no less enthusiastic in their applause for they were treated to an eclectic, dynamic show from a performer not yet thirty.
Hiromi at Dakota Jazz Club (05/17/2023)
After a nine year hiatus, Hiromi Uehara returned to Dakota Jazz Club to offer the audience an inside peak to her new band, Sonicwonder, with Adam O’Farrill on trumpet, Hadrien Feraud on electric bass and Gene Coye on drums.
World Beat: Seun Kuti, Linda Ronstadt, Lucibela
World Beat: Seun Kuti, Linda Ronstadt, Lucibela
A Jazzy Christmas
A Jazzy Christmas. This year, Putumayo is releasing Jazz Christmas, an uplifting collection of mostly instrumental jazz for the holidays. If you like World Music, chances are, you probably own a Putumayo album. They are known for compiling some of the best music from around the world.
R.I.P. Nancy Wilson and Anca Pop
American singer Nancy Wilson has died on December 13th. I know we’re late to mention the news, but her contribution to blues and jazz is so important that we had at least acknowledge the sad news of her passing.
Cyrus Chestnut Trio – Twin Cities Jazz Festival (06/29/13) St Paul, MN live review
The Baltimore-born Chestnut, who cut his chops playing piano for the likes of Terrence Blanchard, Wynton Marsalis, and Betty Carter assuredly led his Trio (bassist Eric Wheelerbass and 19-year old drummer Evan Sherman) through an enjoyable 100 min set of standards, covers, and playful original compositions, on a perfect Saturday evening under the stars at St. Paul’s Mears Park.
Jazz #19 – Have a Family Reunion
What makes New Orleans not only a musician’s town but also a place that produces musical families? Take the Marsalis family. There’s Wynton, one of jazz’s more tireless promoters. Then you have Branford, Delfeayo and Jason. Plus, don’t forget the man who started it all, Ellis.
Jazz Note #18 – Love What You Do
If you want to know why I love jazz, look at the aside picture. It’s Art Blakey and he is smiling. In fact, any picture of him behind a set of drums wielding a pair of sticks has a beaming face. That’s unless he’s brandishing a lit cigarette. Then, with lips pursed he reveals a sly grin.
Jazz Note #17 – Learn Something New
Sometimes I wonder if jazz musicians are born to continually hone their craft. For them, music isn’t an arc where a creative flourish is followed by future reunion tours. Instead, it’s a rise and expansion of musical proficiency and knowledge. For example, take a look at bassist, Dave Holland.
Jazz Note #16 – Name That Tune
I’m not a big fan of hastily put together cover albums, especially when the musical cannon comes from the Disney Vault. It seems every song that has been done has been covered again. Do we really need another rendition of “It’s a Small World” after hearing Slim Whitman and The Baha Men? But even with my reservation, I have to say I am pleasantly surprised with Everybody Wants to be a Cat.
Jazz Note #15 – Highlight a Town Part II
There is a lot of great music in the Crescent City. More than any other New Orleans is a musician’s town. After all, how many other cities have their airport named after a trumpet player?
Jazz Note #15 – Highlight a Town Part I
When TV Creator, David Simon, chose to set his new HBO series in post-Katrina New Orleans, critics wondered if he was going to bring the same Dickensian scope he brilliantly illuminated in The Wire. The short answer is no.
Michael
Michael is a name that means "Who is like God". If we can afford it, we would love to head down to the annual New Orleans Jazz Festival someday. I suppose the next best thing is to get music from the New Orleans area, and like various tributes, Dr Michael White, a clarinetist, basically dedicate his fifth album to the city with Adventures in New Orleans Jazz, Part 1. I have put in a request for the album to be reviewed (Dave has agreed to review it), but I wanted to pass on the news that his album is coming out on June 21st. I have posted a preview track, "West African Strut" for you to check out. As the song title suggests, the song's melodies were influenced by African rhythm, but if you listen some more, it definitely also feels like a fun 50s bop.
Jazz Note #14 – Capture an Era
We here at We Heart Music are big fans of Putumayo and their focus on music from around the world. They are like a cool friend who makes really great mixed tapes. Forget splapdash and haphazard, the selections they chose have something to say and blend so well with the others.
Jazz Note #13 – Go Global
If you need someone to blame every time you hear “The Girl from Ipanema” in a hotel lobby or office elevator, you can take it out on Stan Getz. But how did a Jewish kid from the Bronx usher in a new global sound?
Jazz Note #12 – Frame the Moment
Growing up in Ohio, Nancy Wilson knew early she wanted to be a singer. After winning talent shows, working clubs, touring with a big band and studying briefly to become a teacher, she decided to make a move to New York City in 1959.