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Articles by Tony Ozuna
The Dobršská brána International Music Festival 2026
The Dobršská brána International Music Festival is celebrating its 10th anniversary as an intimate two-day festival with a focus on experimental contemporary jazz, as well as music that overlaps into classical or pop, but always with an adventurous flair. Despite its remote location—a village in the foothills of the Šumava mountains of South Bohemia (Czech Republic)—and its modest budget, the festival attracts artists from across Europe and beyond each year.
Piano Focus at Dobršská brána Music Festival 2024
The piano is the focus of this year’s Dobršská brána International Music Festival, with European artists or groups from at least seven countries represented in a weekend of first-rate concerts, ten altogether.
Inspired by the Sun - Butcher Brown on tour
Butcher Brown identifies as a jazz quintet, but the inspirations or influences of this group extend to hip-hop, rhythm & blues, and cosmic-funk and rock; they are a healthy amalgamation of popular music, while distinctively steeped in the roots of 60s and 70s American jazz fusions. They are touring Europe this summer, suitably for festivals or hot nights in intimate jazz clubs.
Jazz Highlights at Colours of Ostrava fest, Czech Republic
The Colours of Ostrava Festival is a multi-genre internationally-oriented four-day musical event in the Czech Republic always with a few notable jazz artists, but this year the categorizing of groups into genres is confusing on their program. Four jazz artists are listed: Gary Clark, Jr., Jose James, Cedric Hanriot Time is Color, and Mitsune.
Gretchen Parlato & Lionel Loueke as a Duo Extraordinaire
Vocalist Gretchen Parlato and guitarist Lionel Loueke made their recording as a duo “Lean In” (Edition Records) in 2021, but like almost any other recording of that time, they were unable to tour or perform in public and its release was postponed; due to this, it could have almost gone by unnoticed with its eventual release in 2023, till it recently won a Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Vocal Album (2024).
Danilo Perez - A Latin-American Jazz Ambassador
Among Danilo Perez’s most significant words of advice came from the iconic jazz trumpeter extraordinaire Dizzy Gillespie, when Dizzy instructed Danilo to learn about his Panamanian heritage, more than he already knew, and that it was important for jazz, that Danilo should get closer to these folk roots and to learn more about these things for developing his own unique sound as a jazz musician.
Keyon Harrold, On a Small Mission for Peace
Keyon Harrold came to the wider attention of the jazz scene by his appearance in the Miles Davis biopic “Miles Ahead” (2015) directed by and starring Don Cheadle. Harrold plays the trumpet on the Grammy award-winning soundtrack, while his playing is mimed by Cheadle in the live concert parts.
Nduduzo Makhathini Trio - South African Afro-Jazz
Pianist and composer Nduduzo Makhathini, from South Africa, tours Europe with a special trio on the heels of two successful album recordings on Blue Note Records, over the past few years.
Two Presidents - Jam Session ’94
On January 11, 1994 the US President Bill Clinton was recorded live at the Reduta Jazz Club in Prague, playing sax with Czech jazz players. The recording of this concert was later released by Czech Radio Broadcasting on the CD titled “Two Presidents’ Jam Session – Praha 94’ – with sponsorship by the Radegast brewery. The two presidents had developed a friendship (during their respective presidencies) and this is shown on the recording in Havel’s opening speech.
Vrátislav Brabenec & Friends Taking Off the Gloves
An at-heart avant-garde-jazz saxophonist of the Czech scene is hardly recognized as a jazz musician, though he started off playing in jazz groups in the 1960s. Still, he is not part of the jazz brethren, thus he’s a jazz outsider, as he is better known as a dissident rocker.
Truly Jazz Royalty - Ron Carter
Contra-bassist Ron Carter is best known for his years with Miles Davis throughout the 1960s, when Miles put together his “second great quintet,” which included Wayne Shorter on saxophone, Herbie Hancock on piano, and Tony Williams on drums. Simply with that affiliation, he is jazz royalty. But he has noteworthy accomplishments before, during and after that brief period, which should not be overlooked. Carter is now 86 years-old, but still active, and he has never taken a break.
Sylvie Courvoisier & Mary Halvorson - It Takes Two to Tango
With or without vocals, there are no other instruments but the piano and the guitar, which musicians can perform solo for hours to enraptured audiences, whether classical, jazz or pop music. Possibly since they can each stand alone with such confidence, duos combining piano and guitar are not so often.
Re-connect Art 2023: Prague’s Festival for Every Body
Re-connect Art, an international performance and multimedia festival, is an offspring of the Prague Biennale, inaugurated at Prague’s National Gallery under the vision and co-direction of Flash Art in June 2003. Therefore, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Prague Biennale which was discontinued after the 2013 edition, Re-connect Art keeps this spirit going with 81 artists from 17 countries taking part in it over a two-week period.
Soaring Higher Than Ever Before - Lakecia Benjamin on “Phoenix”
Lakecia Benjamin’s fourth studio album “Phoenix” was released in January, 2023 on Whirlwind Recordings. This one is the most ambitious yet with special guests (the late) Wayne Shorter and Diane Reeves, and produced by the acclaimed drummer Terri Lyne Carrington. This is her first recording after a near-fatal car accident, which she had in September 2021. “Phoenix” is her rebirth since that crash.
Erik Truffaz, rollin’: Review & On Tour
Erik Truffaz’s “rollin’” refers to the call of a film director, when it is time to get the camera’s going. So the opening track is taken from a snippet, just a melody by Nino Rota from Fellini’s “La Strada.” It is a tragic circus song, as pointed out by Robert Arnaud in the liner notes to Truffaz’s 2023 release on Blue Note Records.
A Shift to the Violin at this year’s Dobršská brána Festival
The violin is the centerpiece of this year’s Dobršská brána International Music Festival, with artists from Europe and the Americas represented in a weekend of first-rate concerts and a workshop. While the violin is an uncommon instrument for jazz, there are a few legendary figures of jazz who were violinists including Jean-Luc Ponty, and his compatriot and predecessor, a pioneer of “le hot jazz” in France, Stephane Grappelli, who began playing with guitarist Django Reinhart in the 1930s.
The Last Time Jazz Briefly Went Mainstream - Acid Jazz & Jamiroquai
In the 1990s, jazz went mainstream on a global scale. The epicenter was London, which fueled the spread of this phenomenon across Europe, which was also simultaneously reacting to the fall of the Berlin Wall, uniting West and East Europe after a forty-year separation due to ideologies.
CD Review: Donny McCaslin, I Want More.
For Donny McCaslin’s “I Want More” (on Edition Records to be released in June 2023) he keeps his long-standing group: Mark Guliana (drums-percussionist), Tim Lefebvre (electric bass), and Jason Linder (keyboards). However, what this release does more than any previous ones is twist and usurp the expectations of a jazz audience. Track 2, “Fly My Spaceship” sets the tone for this newer direction and the name is at least a hint of things to come.
Jazz & Bohemia - Jazz in Europe
Since the early 1960s, Paris had jazz clubs in the Latin Quarter willing and with gratitude to have American musicians playing avant garde – free jazz. Unlike The Blue Note or Birdland in New York City at that time, Le Chat Qui Peche, owned by Madame Ricard, regularly booked avant-garde jazz (understanding the musicians as artists); this attitude was also shared at the time in Denmark and Sweden with Albert Ayler, Eric Dolphy, and George Russell (musician, composer and music theorist).
Alexander Tinei: Painting Life (Not Only) as Fun & Games
A Prague show of the Moldovan-born painter’s work displayed the full range of his delicate, yet brutal, sensibility. There is a nostalgic ’70s and ’80s punk allure to the paintings of Alexander Tinei, who was born in 1967 and raised in the Moldovan town of Causeni. He says that he discovered punk in the 1980s, and he and his friends shocked their families and their small town, when they shaved their heads and raised mohawks.
Highlights on the Jazz-side at Colours of Ostrava
British jazz from polar opposite sides of the spectrum are among the headliners for this year’s Colours of Ostrava International Music Festival in the Czech Republic, with other genres including alternative rock, electronic, world music, ethno-folk, blues, pop and contemporary classical; the festival is in its 20th edition, and this year aims to keep its reputation for lesser-known innovative artists above all.
Marc Ribot as the Jazz Bins
It may be a shock to his fans, but the guitarist Marc Ribot, who is a guru to the art rock and avant garde jazz (downtown New York scene), not only can but likes playing blues and funky jazz. And he will be playing this, but not just this, in his upcoming tour as The Jazz-Bins with organist (actually a virtuoso of the Hammond B3 organ) Greg Lewis and Joe Dyson on drums.
CD Review: Chris Potter, Got the Keys to the Kingdom.
Chris Potter’s “Got the Keys to the Kingdom: Live at the Village Vanguard” (released 17th of February 2023) on Edition Records, opens with a sly and surprisingly epic version of “You Gotta Move” a blues classic by Mississippi Fred McDowell, though more recognizable in its later version by the Rolling Stones from their album “Sticky Fingers.” It’s a seductive entry (at 14 minutes), though not uncommon for this veteran tenor saxophonist backed by Craig Taborn on piano, Scott Colley on bass, and...
Tony Ozuna’s Best Albums 2022
Year in Review In 2022, live jazz clubs were revived and the rapport of musicians and their audience took a higher level of mutual appreciation. Groups listed on this Best Albums finally got to tour their newest releases across borders. Jazz that evolves with the times and across continents are the criteria for these selected Best Albums of 2022.
Tomas Liska & Invisible World: Hope
All About Jazz Home » Articles » Album Review By TONY OZUNA July 29, 2021 Sign in to view read count Hope, and appropriately so for our still uncertain times.
“Saving Jazz” - Dave Holland & Kenny Barron Trio featuring Jonathan Blake
Miles Davis replaced contra-bassist Ron Carter with the bassist Dave Holland in 1968; with this shift, and with Chick Corea on electric piano replacing Herbie Hancock, Miles effectively ended his “second great quintet,” which had included Carter, Wayne Shorter on saxophone, Herbie Hancock on piano, and Tony Williams on drums.
Charlie Hunter & Lucy Woodward - New Jazzy Blues - June Euro Tour
Charlie Hunter is a master guitarist playing jazz and blues on his custom made 7 or 8-string guitars; he’ll be performing with his newest musical partner, vocalist Lucy Woodward, as a trio with Niek de Bruijn on drums, but with Hunter’s unique instrument in his hands, their sound is like a quartet’s. Originally based in San Francisco, Hunter has been active since the early 90s, and especially since his two 1995 releases on Blue Note Records.
Joe Lovano’s “Trio Tapestry” - Produced by Manfred Eicher (ECM) Euro Tour
For arguably the most prestigious of jazz labels, Blue Note, the tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano has recorded as a leader, more than twenty albums beginning with “Landmarks” in 1990, and then shortly after this, what is still considered one his best recordings of all time, “From the Soul” (1991).
The Sun Ra Arkestra - Marshall Allen’s 95th Birthday Celebration Euro Tour
Calling Planet Earth – Playing the Music of Sun Ra into Infinity The Sun Ra Arkestra has been together since 1952, and according to the group’s director and alto saxophonist, Marshall Allen, who joined over 60 years ago, in 1958, back then they were already rehearsing music for the 21st century—a free and spacy jazz ahead of its time, by at least half a century.
Rudresh Mahanthappa Indo-Pak Coalition - on tour in Europe 2018
Rudesh Mahanthappa beautifully blends new technology into his Jazz music. – Nigel J. EiC @ JazzInEurope.com In the mid 60s through the mid 1970s, Western jazz and rock musicians equally seemed to be rushing headfirst to the East, to India for musical inspiration and spiritual enlightenment.
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