I was about to bitch again about how few jazz artists show up at the Toronto Jazz Fest.  I was particularly getting sniffy that Arooj Aftab was going to the Ottawa Jazz Fest but it turns out she will be at the Toronto Jazz Fest, so I stand corrected.  Still, she is just about the only ticketed performance that I am planning on seeing.  (She's hitting Chicago just before Toronto, then Ottawa, then Montreal.)  I didn't go to see Vieux Farka Toure in Montreal.  He's coming to a festival in Guelph this summer.  I probably won't go, but it's at least a possibility.

I have about two dozen releases of theirs on Edition Modern. Awful looking covers (and the CD-Rs are very cheaply made), but the music is superb - tho it's hard to tell the difference between Dumitrescu and Avram at times.

Elton John & Brandi Carlile: Who Believes In Angels

It's a pretty good album. I really enjoy the first 3 (of 4) pieces, not wild about the fourth. Dumitrescu only wrote the first piece but conducts the others. I haven't heard that much by Dumitrescu, my bad. Discovered his music after seeing some comparisons to Radulescu, but didn't follow up sufficiently (it was ancient pre-bandcamp era when CDs were scarce on the ground). Going to look for more online. Very sad about A-M Avram, haven't heard any details.