Marcus Benoit Brings Variety to Jazz on Jay
Preview: The saxophonist leads a veteran quartet Thurday If variety is the spice of life, saxophonist, flute player and occasional pianist Marcus Benoit leads a very spicy musical life. Beginning in Germany, he’s played soul, funk, jazz, rockabilly and Americana. Today, it’s jazz, with improvisation – “the whole point of jazz,” he said. With Joe Finn,…
Young Players in Old and New Jazz
Review: Bohdan Kinal Quartet at Jazz on Jay, Thursday, June 11, 2026 College students all, the skilled young players of the Bohdan Kinal Quartet coupled respect for the styles and songs of jazz giants with fresh invention Thursday in a sweltering Jazz on Jay show. Starting with standards “Star Eyes” and “Let’s Cool One,” they…
Saxophonist Bohdan Kinal Leads Quartet at Jazz on Jay – Thurday, June 11
Bohdan Kinal gets around. The saxophonist first played Jazz on Jay in 2021 when he and most of his bandmates in the Center Square Jazz Collective were still in high school; and he returned last year in bassist Nicholas Dwarwika’s Quartet. Thursday he leads his own quartet with Sam Wagner, guitar; Vinny Marotta, bass; and…
Review: Union College Jazz Ensemble Opens Jazz on Jay Season; Thursday, June 4
Review: Union College Jazz Ensemble at Jazz on Jay, Thursday June 4, 2026 Setting an attendance record – audience AND artists – and adding a bonus performance by the Ellen Sinopoli Dance Company, Jazz on Jay began its new season with the extra-large Union College Jazz Ensemble Thursday in Schenectady’s downtown Jay Square. Above: Lanaea Bailey of…
Union College Jazz Ensemble Opens Jazz on Jay Season Thursday at Noon
Union Professor and Ensemble Director Tim Olsen Leads Student Musicians Six sax or clarinet players, two trumpeters, four trombonists (one also sings), two pianists, two guitarists (one also plays bass), two bassists, three drummers/percussionists and nine singers. That’s the Union College Jazz Ensemble, kicking off the Jazz on Jay season Thursday with the largest crew…
NRBQ: Night 2 at Levon’s
On the second of a two-night stand at Woodstock’s Levon Helm Studios Saturday, NRBQ everything worked, it all fit and flowed faster and farther, better than Friday. The mood was up; tempos, too; also confidence, communication – unspoken, intuitive – and cohesion. NRBQ, from left: Terry Adams, John Sebastian, Jake Edwards, Casey McDonough, Scott Ligon, Klem…
Intermission, Between NRBQ Shows
Part 2 of 3 Thin rain flew sideways on wind so strong it earned warnings on the Kingston Rhinebeck Bridge over the whitecap-etched Hudson far below. On a rainy Saturday morning sentimental journey to the Bard campus, where my son, daughter and son’s wife all graduated, there was not a soul in sight. The art…
NRBQ at Levon Helm Studios, Woodstock; Friday, May 29 (First of two nights)
Boarding their flight from Los Angeles to JFK, Fred and Mary compared destinations with a stranger across the aisle. “We said we were headed to Woodstock,” Fred recalled. “Oh, you’re going to see NRBQ,” said plane neighbor Mark Rowland, a writer who’d profiled the ‘Q’ decades before in Musician magazine. “Seeing NRBQ play…for the first…
Coming Attraction(s): Reviews of NRBQ at Levon Helm Studios in Woodstock
A lot happened: two shows, 53 songs (a few repeated from night to night), a guest star. And I’ll tell and show you tomorrow. Promise. For now, it looked like this. NRBQ at Levon Helm Studios in Woodstock, Saturday night, from left: Terry Adams, keyboards and vocals; guest John Sebastian looking over his shoulder, guitar,…
Cumbia Accordion King in Passport Series Finale
Review: Yeison Landero Thursday, May 14 at Proctors GE Theatre When Colombian cumbia king Yeison Landero called out nations at Proctors GE Theatre Thursday to pinpoint fans’ origins, each remote homeland drew cheers. “Colombia! Mexico! Ecuador! Panama! Costa Rica!” Then a woman tentatively called out “Albany?” to loud laughs. Wherever folks came from, they met…
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