2nd Galway Jazz Festival Presents 8 Bands Sunday at the Cock ’N’ Bull
Preview: Free Festival Samples Area Jazz Artists Eight area jazz crews perform Sunday in the 2nd Galway Jazz Festival, presented free by Capital District Jazz Ltd. The Cock ‘N’ Bull outdoor performance area; roofed artists’ shed in the background. Photo provided From 11:30 a.m. to likely past 9 p.m., the festival presents these local and…
Sax Star Keith Pray Plays Organ with Ortet at Jazz on Jay
Preview: Keith Pray’s Ortet plays Jazz on Jay, Thursday, July 9, 2026 Keith Pray leads his Ortet organ trio today with guitarist Michael Novakowski and drummer Chad Ploss on a musical path he began exploring after seeing organist Dr. Lonnie Liston Smith in New York. Pray recalled, “His music was hypnotic, funky as could be…
Review: Shiri Zorn at Jazz on Jay; Thursday, July 2, 2026
Moving singer Shiri Zorn into Proctors GE Theater for Thursday’s Jazz on Jay show made double sense; extremely hot weather outside, extremely cool music inside. Between guitarist Chad McLoughlin at stage left and percussionist Brian Melick stage right, Zorn sat throughout. Gesturing with long-fingered expressive hands, her controlled, cozy voice never pushed things; melodic motion…
Jazz Singer Jeanne O’Connor Previews/Teases New Album Friday at Caffe Lena
Saratoga-accessible, New York City hip, Jeanne O’Connor sings fresh tunes from her new album Friday at Caffe Lena – her 15th showcase here since moving from New York; you know, that other jazz city. Her “The Sweetest Sounds” album releases next year, so this preview unwraps a new package, each song a surprise. Friday, she sings…
Shiri Zorn Sings Thursday at Jazz on Jay
A Cool Voice on a Hot Day; Jazz on Jazz Likely to Move Indoors Thursday Shiri Zorn trusts her voice so completely that she sings with only minimal accompaniment. Thursday at Jazz on Jay, she sings with guitarist Chad McLoughlin and percussionist Brian Melick, the same trio format as on her albums “Into Another Land”…
SPAC Jazz Day 2, June 28, 2026
A Review: Words and Pictures As customary, seven faculty members of the Skidmore Jazz Institute offered lessons in sound Sunday to open the Saratoga Jazz Festival’s second day. Playing the Wood stage, the Faculty All-Stars honored saxophone giant John Coltrane with often modernist arrangements of ‘Trane tunes. (Saturday had featured an electric band playing Miles…
SPAC Jazz Saturday: A First-Class First Day
Review: The Saratoga Jazz Festival Presented by GE Vernova; Saturday, June 27, 2026 The first act at Saturday’s Saratoga Jazz Festival and the last both played “Lady Marmalade” – the Brass Queens in a sassy New Orleans romp and Patti Labelle, recreating her 1974 hit. A tribute to Miles Davis’s amped electric bands hit just before…
A Jazz Trio, With Changes
Review: Ambrose, Hearn, Shoudy & Steckler at Jazz on Jay; Thursday, June 25, 2026 The regular working jazz trio of drummer Andy Hearn, bassist Dave Shoudy and guitarist Kevin Grudecki changed things up Thursday at Jazz on Jay; one change by chance, one by choice. When Grudecki couldn’t make the gig, they subbed in Wyatt…
Well-Trained, Well-Traveled Kyle Roussel Plays SPAC’s Saratoga Jazz Festival
If every New Orleans kid grows up in a houseful of music, the sheer variety heard in his home enabled pianist Kyle Roussel to architecture a distinctive personal style. His precocious talent, listening in all directions and deep training bring him to Saratoga Sunday for its Jazz Festival; training that included what Art Neville called…
Off Script, but In the Groove
Review: Marcus Benoit at Jazz on Jay; Thursday, June 18, 2026 “Just like we rehearsed it!” proclaimed Marcus Benoit with mock smugness after leading his quartet through “All Blues” at Jazz on Jay Thursday. The truth/joke was; they hadn’t rehearsed it at all. Saxophonist/flute player and leader Benoit called it as an audible early in…
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