Jazz em Agosto, Lisbon, Portugal August 3-8, 2004: The Vancouver Presence

Texts © Stuart Broomer & Laurence Svirchev, Photography ©Laurence Svirchev

Jazz em Agosto—Jazz in August—is a festival with any number of differences, an event that in recent years has spanned a few days or two weeks, presenting both the celebrated and the little-known with the emphasis on innovative work. The festival . . . → Read More: Jazz em Agosto, Lisbon, Portugal August 3-8, 2004: The Vancouver Presence

Jazz em Agosto, Lisbon, Portugal August 3-8, 2004: Post-Modern Nights

Text © Stuart Broomer, Photography ©Laurence Svirchev

Jazz em Agosto—Jazz in August—is a festival with any number of differences, an event that in recent years has spanned a few days or two weeks, presenting both the celebrated and the little-known with the emphasis on innovative work. The festival is sponsored by . . . → Read More: Jazz em Agosto, Lisbon, Portugal August 3-8, 2004: Post-Modern Nights

Free Jazz and Free Improvisation: an Encyclopedia, by Todd Jenkins

Greenwood Press

©Laurence Svirchev

Jazz is a restless music. It grows incessantly through steady maturation but also by unpredictable quantum leaps. New generations of innovators typically acknowledge their roots and artistic influences. Yet the process of discovering new musical possibilities is always . . . → Read More: Free Jazz and Free Improvisation: an Encyclopedia, by Todd Jenkins

Georg Graewe Octet: Gigs in Austria and Croatia

©Laurence Svirchev

Introduction – Georg Graewe invited me to accompany his Octet on a three-city tour through Austria and Croatia in April 2000. Graewe is a composer-pianist from Germany who now mainly resides in the United States, finding it easier in that country to obtain funding for his many projects. In . . . → Read More: Georg Graewe Octet: Gigs in Austria and Croatia

1999 duMaurier International Jazz Festival Vancouver

Words & Photography ©Laurence Svirchev

In the 14 year saga of the duMaurier International Jazz Festival Vancouver, two major trends have now consolidated themselves. Vancouver possesses a cadre of musicians who regularly sit in with the best of international improvisers. In this year’s performances these Vancouver musicians demonstrated they can lead . . . → Read More: 1999 duMaurier International Jazz Festival Vancouver

Music and the Creative Spirit: Innovators in Jazz, improvisation, and the Avant Garde, by Lloyd Peterson

Scarecrow Press

©Laurence Svirchev

Music and the Creative Spirit Spirit is a set of forty-two interviews with prominent contemporary creative musicians. Two of them, Steve Lacy and Derek Bailey, died while the book was in process; the rest are active creators. Pat Metheny is interviewed twice and there is a collective discussion titled “Chicago Roundtable” . . . → Read More: Music and the Creative Spirit: Innovators in Jazz, improvisation, and the Avant Garde, by Lloyd Peterson

A Certain Respect for Tradition, Selected Writings 1980-2005, by Mark Miller

The Mercury Press 2006

©Laurence Svirchev

When Mark Miller quit writing for Canada’s Globe and Mail in 2005, short-form jazz journalism took a major hit. Miller had been at it since 1978, writing more than four thousand pieces in a concentrated, humorous style. His easy-to-grasp, incisive commentary brought both the potential . . . → Read More: A Certain Respect for Tradition, Selected Writings 1980-2005, by Mark Miller

The Battle of the Five Spot Ornette Coleman and the New York Jazz Field, by: David Lee

The Mercury Press, 2006

©Laurence Svirchev

The Battle of the Five Spot tackles three topics, the most important being the significance of Ornette Coleman’s 1959 supernova entrée into the jazz world at the Five Spot Café. The second topic is the jazz club-scene –the Five Spot Café is the . . . → Read More: The Battle of the Five Spot Ornette Coleman and the New York Jazz Field, by: David Lee

Evan Parker, Benoît Delbecq, François Houle: Lumière de Pierres

psi records, www.emanemdisc.com/psi.htm

©Laurence Svirchev

If at 10:04 a listener thought “Stone Through Sunlight” were over, he would have had to rapidly reconsider the opinion. Evan Parker, François Houle, and Benoît Delbecq had almost reached silence when Delbecq reached over the keyboard and lightly strummed the strings. Between the . . . → Read More: Evan Parker, Benoît Delbecq, François Houle: Lumière de Pierres

Steve Lacy: 10 of Dukes + 6 Originals

Senators SEC-01

©Laurence Svirchev

10 of Dukes + 6 Originals is a solo soprano saxophone concert recital. Set one comprises ten Ellington compositions from 1929-40;. Set two decants compositions dedicated to artists as diverse as Melville, Ryókan, and Stevie Wonder.

Lacy votaries may be surprised that he . . . → Read More: Steve Lacy: 10 of Dukes + 6 Originals