Big Ears Festival

[kh1958]

I received my wristband yesterday.

[randyhersom]

Looks like I'm missing this year due to a combination of circumstances.  Enjoy, all!

[HutchFan]

1 hour ago, kh1958 said:

I received my wristband yesterday.

I got mine too.   

 

[kh1958]

Chucho Valdes has quietly been removed from the schedule.

[medjuck]

3 hours ago, kh1958 said:

Chucho Valdes has quietly been removed from the schedule.

He recently cancelled a concert in Santa Barbara.

[BFrank]

On 3/14/2026 at 7:36 AM, kh1958 said:

Chucho Valdes has quietly been removed from the schedule.

They mentioned it in last week's newsletter: "We are deeply disappointed to announce that both Adrian Sherwood and Chucho Valdés have had to cancel their planned performances at Big Ears, due to circumstances beyond their control."

[kh1958]

I've been working on my Big Ears concert schedule.

March 26:

6:15-7:30: Ches Smith's Clone Row, The Standard

8:30-9:45: Isaiah Collier Plays Coltrane, Bijou Theatre

10:15-11:30: Carlos Nino, Surya Botofasina, Aaron Shaw, First Presbyterian Sanctuary

March 27:

12:30-1:45: Nik Bartsch, St. John's

3:30-4:45: Jeff Parker Expansión Trio, Mill and Mine

5:00-6:15: Roscoe Mitchell and Tyshawn Sorey, The Standard

6:45-8:00: Miles Okazaki: Trickster, Regas Square

8:45-10:00: John Scofield Trio, Tennessee Theater

10:00-11:00: Brian Marsella Trio (Impromptous, Ballades, Nocturnes), Bijou Theater

March 28:

10:00-11:30: Kunai Gunjal & Praveen Narayan, St. John's

12:00-1:00: Saraswathi Ranganathan, Swantinathan Selvaganesh, Praveen Narayan, St. John's

2:15-3:45: Purbayan Chatterjee & Nitin Mitta, St. John's

5:30-6:45: Electrical Field of Love, Jackson Terminal

8:15-9:15: Hania Rani, The Greyhound

10:30-11:30: SML, The Greyhound

March 29:

1:00-2:15: Julian Lage Quartet, Tennessee Theater

4:45-6:00: Either/Orchestra Plays Ethiopiques, Bijou Theater

6:00-7:15: Tom Skinner, The Standard

7:45-9:00: Openness Trio, The Point

 

[HutchFan]

Looks great, @kh1958! 

I'll be there too -- but I haven't solidified my schedule yet.

[kh1958]

And due to conflicts and overlaps, I'm missing quite a few concerts I would like to see as well.

Edited March 19 by kh1958

[BFrank]

It's always a struggle! 

I have several of those shows on my list too, but I also included the conflicts. I tend to make many of those decisions on the fly ... depending on my mood and logistics.

Since it's impossible to see all the shows you want to see, I comfortable with whatever I see.

Roscoe and Tyshawn is a must-see, though!

I saw Parker's Expansion Trio in Chicago at the Sound & Gravity Festival last September. Definitely worth seeing.

 

[medjuck]

If you guys are at the Roscoe and Tyshawn I'll be the old guy with the white baseball hat featuring a Moose.  Come say hello.  I first saw Roscoe more than 50 years ago, then again a few years ago at the Ojai Music Festival.

[HutchFan]

To anyone who attended Big Ears this year, what were your impressions?

I enjoyed it -- although I didn't have any revelatory experiences comparable to hearing Charles Lloyd last year.

My favorite shows from this year's festival were:
- Medeski, Martin, Metzger & Cline (Thursday @ the Mill & Mine)
- Tim Berne (Friday @ Regas Square)
- Steven Bernstein's Millennial Territory Orchestra Plays Sly (Friday @ Jackson Terminal)
- John Scofield (Friday @ the Tennessee Theater)
- Either/Orchestra (Saturday @ The Point)
- Julian Lage (Sunday @ the Tennessee Theater)

[medjuck]

Roscoe, Drumming, and Julian Lage.  I also paid the extra to see David Byrne and Robert Plant.  Enjoyed them both.  I was happy to have gone to 4 shows a day and thought everything was worthwhile if not always to my taste.  Loved Knoxville.

[kh1958]

I thought the festival was great this year.

The revelatory concerts (for me) were Isaiah Collier's opening night Coltrane tribute concert, which I thought was incredible, inspired and inspiring but not imitative (he played Central Park West, My Favorite Things, Giant Steps, Transition, Lonnie's Lament, and But Not for Me), and Either/Orchestra's Ethio-Jazz concert (with two Ethiopian guest vocalists) on the last day at the Bijou, which was as powerful a concert as I've ever seen.

In all, I saw eighteen concerts and attended one talk (the Frenchman who is responsible for the Ethiopiques reissue series had flown in from France to explain the history).

The others that I liked the best were: two concerts involving Carlos Nino (Openness Trio and another trio with Surya Botofasina and Aaron Shaw), Darius Jones Trio, Brian Marsella Trio, Jeff Parker Expansion Trio, Julian Lage Quartet, Marquis Hill Blacktet with Gerald Clayton, and Miles Okazaki's Trickster.

I also really enjoyed four non-jazz concerts: Hania Rani's wild keyboard electronica set in the Greyhound and three Indian classical concerts  (Purbayan Chatterjee (sitar), Kunal Gunjal (santoor), and Saraswathi Ranganathan (veena). The last musician who lives in Chicago cracked me up when she started playing blues guitar riffs on the veena (predecessor instrument to the sitar).

 

[kh1958]

On 3/26/2026 at 3:34 PM, medjuck said:

If you guys are at the Roscoe and Tyshawn I'll be the old guy with the white baseball hat featuring a Moose.  Come say hello.  I first saw Roscoe more than 50 years ago, then again a few years ago at the Ojai Music Festival.

I missed your message. I did attend. I've never seen a bass saxophone played in person before, much less by a very elegantly attired 85 year old.

[medjuck]

17 hours ago, kh1958 said:

I missed your message. I did attend. I've never seen a bass saxophone played in person before, much less by a very elegantly attired 85 year old.

Would have been hard to find me in that crowd.  I was standing about 6 feet from Roscoe.  I started a bit further back but as people left I could inch up. 

[kh1958]

2 hours ago, medjuck said:

Would have been hard to find me in that crowd.  I was standing about 6 feet from Roscoe.  I started a bit further back but as people left I could inch up. 

Not far off. I was in the front row, leaning on the rail, on the far left facing the stage.