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It is a blast. Over the two night marathon, there were 135 performer choices available. And a two day pass was only $80.

The Jimmy Giuffre Complete Capitol/Atlantic recordings on Mosaic (CD version) in perfect condition for $50.

This past Friday, I flew to New York to attend the Winter Jazzfest Marathon. On Friday, I spent the evening at the New School's Auditorium on 12th Street and Sixth Avenue. First, Amina Claudine Myers on piano and vocals, performing a program of her favorite spirituals. Her set was beautiful. As Steinway was a sponsor of the festival, both venues I attended featured great sounding Steinway grand pianos. Next, the Spanish Harlem Orchestra. Not exactly to my tastes (I'm not a salsa fan), they appealed a bit more when they were more in the Latin jazz band vein. Thirdly, my favorite young tenor saxophonist, leading a sextet (with trumpet, vibes, piano, bass and drums), Melissa Aldana sounded fantastic--I love her gorgeous tenor sound. The most notable other soloist of the group was Joel Ross on vibes. A terrific set. Next on the program was David Murray, performing with Lafayette Gilchrist on piano, Mingus Murray on guitar, Rahsaan Carter on bass, and (?) Carter on drums. Another terrific set--I was very happy to get to see Lafayette Gilchrist in person for the first time. And Mingus Murray (David Murray's son) proved to be a talented guitar player in the jazz/rock vein--taking the group in some unexpected directions. That was it for the first evening for me. On Saturday it snowed all day, so I decided to stay in one place again, this time for the ECM showcase at the New School's Tishman Auditorium (Fifth Avenue and 13th Street). First up, the Michael Formanek Quartet (Tim Berne, Craig Taborn, and Gerald Cleaver). I had not heard this group, but their performance was very strong and the compositions very appealing. Next, Danish guitarist Jakob Bro in a trio with Thomas Morgan and Joey Baron. The first part of this set was rather intricate and delicate sounding (a visual of time lapse photography of plants growing/flowers blooming would have fit perfectly). I preferred the latter half of the set when the intensity and the volume were cranked up. The next set was a duo of Cuban pianist David Virelles and Ravi Coltrane. This set was great, one of the best sets I heard at the festival. This was followed by a duo of Bill Frisell and Thomas Morgan. I haven't really followed Frisell in many years, but found the set to be surprisingly enjoyable--mostly quiet and unadorned performances of standards. Except for the last piece (an original I assume), where Frisell employed the types of pedal effects I associate with him on a piece that was magnificent. Finally, closing the evening was Nik Bartsch's Mobile. There was only piano, bass clarinet, and two percussionists, and the set was unamplified. Is this jazz? I'm not sure but I sure enjoyed their set. That was it for the 2017 Winter Jazzfest for me. I missed lots of groups I wanted to hear (Mary Halvorson, Edmar Castaneda, Chico Freeman, AfroHorn, etc.). Definitely worth the trip. But I wasn't going home until Monday, so Sunday evening can be spent with the Billy Harper Quintet /Sextet at Smoke (including Franchesca Tanksley on piano, Freddie Hendrix on trumpet and Aaron Scott on drums). I had never seen Billy Harper in person as a leader before, only as a sideman, so it was a thrill to spend the evening with him and hear three sets of his music. Lots of highlights, but my favorite was the duet performance of Thoughts and Slow Actions by Mr. Harper and Franchesca Tanksley.

That sounds like a really cool concert.

We are reading the same book.

Yes, in replacement of Tomasz Stanko.

There are inexpensive copies of the Forward Look available on U.S. amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Forward-Look-Red-Norvo/dp/B00000156L/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1483571297&sr=1-1-fkmr0&keywords=Red+Norvo+forward+collection

The Forward Look (Reference Records), a live 1957 recording in excellent sound, is a good one.

Have any of the NYC residents here gone to see George Braith at Fat Cat? I believe he plays there once or twice a month on Monday nights.

I was pretty disappointed to find that Tomasz Stanko has cancelled, as I have never heard him live before and probably never will. This caused me to rethink my tentative schedule: January 6: New School 12th Street Auditorium 66 West 12th Street NYC6:40pm Amina Claudine Myers solo8:00pm Spanish Harlem Orchestra9:20pm Melissa Aldana10:40pm David Murray & Class Struggle featuring Mingus Murray12:00am William Parker, Cooper Moore, Hamid Drake, Rob Brown Quartet New School 5th Floor Theater 55 West 13th Street NYC12:40am The Marvin Sewell Group January 7: New School 5th Floor Theater 55 West 13th Street NYC7:00pm Mary Halvorson Octet8:20pm Ben Goldberg's Invisible Guy9:40pm Edmar Castaneda World Ensemble New School Tishman Auditorium (ECM stage) 63 Fifth Avenue NYC11:20pm Nik Bärtsch's Mobile Subculture 45 Bleecker St NYC12:40am Chano Dominguez

I really enjoy those types of concentrated musical experiences--I'm looking forward to the two day Marathon of the Winter Jazzfest in NYC (this coming Friday and Saturday nights), and as many days of the 7 day New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival as I can manage to attend (coming in April-May).

Barney Kessel, To Swing or Not to Swing (Contemporary) and The Modern Jazz Quartet and The All Star Jazz Band, Jazz Dialogue (Atlantic).

Gosh, that was a busy concert year.

Denny Zeitlin, Zeitgeist (Columbia two eyes mono), and Paul Serrano Quintet, Blues Holiday (Riverside mono).

A guess would be that the lease is over at that time and the owner has other plans for the building.

Lucky Thompson (with Jimmy Hamilton, Billy Taylor, Oscar Pettiford and Osie Johnson) (Society). Impeccable British pressing.

I noticed that according to the schedule on the Stone's website, the venue is closing in February of 2018. JOHN ZORN IMPROV WEEK CELEBRATION TO RING THE BELL, CLOSE THE BOOK AND QUENCH THE CANDLE FOR THE STONE FEBRUARY 20-25

I came across the linked review of a fairly recent concert featuring Brian Charette and Jim Alfredson on dual organs. https://www.allaboutjazz.com/brian-charette-jim-alfredson-organ-duo-at-nighttown-brian-charette-by-c-andrew-hovan.php Brian Charette/Jim Alfredson Organ Duo at Nighttown slideshow By C. ANDREW HOVAN October 26, 2016 Brian Charette/Jim Alfredson Organ Duo Nighttown Cleveland, Ohio October 20, 2016 It's not often that you get the chance to hear two organists going head to head in a live setting. Jimmy McGriff and Richard "Groove" Holmes did it, but few others have dared to tread in such territory. Nonetheless, if New York heavyweight Brian Charette and Michigan marvel Jim Alfredson have anything to do with it, we might see a new precedence set for such an encounter. The pair first crossed path back in 2014 and have since enjoyed the benefits of what they call "four-fisted, double Hammond organ madness."...

Yes, the pianist in the clip linked above is Jason Moran. In recent years, Charles Lloyd uses either Jason Moran or Gerald Clayton on piano, when his group includes a piano.

January 13, 2017: Ike Stubblefield B3 Trio, Antone's, Austin January 21, 2017: Eddie Turner, Luckenbach Blues Festival, Fredericksburg January 21, 2017: Bnois King, Babb Bros., Dallas January 27, 2017: Ally Venable, Poor David's Pub, Dallas February 3, 2017: Dejohnette Coltrane Garrison, McCullough Theater, Austin February 17, 2017: Al Di Meola, One World Theater, Austin February 17, 2017: Rotem Sivan Trio, Cezanne, Houston February 18, 2017: Al Di Meola, Majestic Theater, Dallas February 18, 2017: Joey Alexander, McAllister Auditorium, San Antonio College February 23, 2017: MVP Jazz Quartet (Bobby Watson, Donald Brown, Marvin Smitty Smith, Ray Drummond), Starlight Club, Walton Center, Fayetteville Arkansas February 24, 2017: Joshua Redman, Cullen Theater, Houston February 25, 2017: MVP Jazz Quartet (Bobby Watson, Donald Brown, Marvin Smitty Smith, Ray Drummond), South on Main, Little Rock, Arkansas February 25, 2017: Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Laurie Auditorium, Trinity University, San Antonio March 11, 2017: Marquis Hill Blacktet, Cullen Theater, Houston March 24, 2017: Cedric Burnside, White Water Tavern, Little Rock, Arkansas April 8, 2017: Purbayan Chatterjee (sitar) and Satyahit Talwalkar (tabla), Allen Public Library April 14, 2017: Stanley Clarke, One World Theater, Austin April 18, 2017: Cyrus Chestnut, Bates Recital Hall, Austin April 20, 2017: Terence Blanchard, South on Main, Little Rock, Arkansas April 21, 2017: Terence Blanchard, University of Texas at Dallas April 22, 2017: Terence Blanchard, Cullen Theater, Houston April 23, 2017: Terence Blanchard, Liberty Hall, Tyler April 28, 2017: Dejohnette Coltrane Garrison, Denton Arts and Jazz Festival May 5, 2017: Vijay Iyer, Cullen Theater, Houston May 5, 2017: Arturo O'Farrill & The Afro-Latin Jazz Octet, Carver Center, San Antonio May 6, 2017: Lucky Peterson, Antone's, Austin June 7, 2017: Helen Sung, Cezanne, Houston June 23, 2017: Lucky Peterson, Granada Theater, Dallas

Bob Brookmeyer Quintet, Traditionalism Revisited (World Pacific), and Dave Brubeck Quintet (with Paul Desmond and David Van Kriedt), Reunion (Fantasy)

Moving on to favorite non-jazz concert experiences this year: The Garifuna Collective (Belize)--New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. Garifuna music was my favorite world music discovery of the year. Jeremy Jouve (Contemporary Classical)--University of Texas at Dallas. Solo guitar performance, mostly of compositions by French composer Mathias Duplessy. Led me to the terrific recording of these compositions, Cavalcade. Abhisek Lihari (sarod) and Subrata Bhattacharya (tabla) (Indian Classical)--Allen Public Library. The quality of performer in this series amazes me, before a crowd that appears to be in the range of 100-125. Tutu Jones (blues)--Balcony Club, The Goat, Bedford Blues Festival. Today's preeminent Texas Blues master plays sporadically in local dives and doesn't seem to tour at all. He is, however, the real deal. Lucky Peterson (blues)--The Balcony Club. Lucky Peterson, in contrast, constantly tours the world and only rarely plays in his home town. Bnois King (blues)--Bedford Blues Festival, Texas Musician's Museum. Wonderful singer and cool, spiky guitar player. Toronzo Cannon (blues)--Denton Blues Festival. Contemporary Chicago blues. Roy Gaines (blues)--T Bone Walker Blues Festival, Longview. Eric Gales (blues/rock)--T Bone Walker Blues Festival, Longview. Leni Stern (jazz/African)--55 Bar, NYC.

If this were in Dallas, I would probably go, but there is no trip to Houston in the cards for me on a Tuesday two days after Christmas.

I can't find any information about what Denardo is going to do at this concert. One will have to attend to find out