I was absolutely heartbroken to learn, today, that acclaimed Swedish jazz pianist Esbjörn Svensson passed away last weekend at the young age of 44. I was first introduced to the music of the Esbjörn Svensson Trio, also known as EST, in the late 1990s while I was living in Sweden. The album was EST Plays Monk

I’m seeing this!

Pretty epic weekend for (free) live music at the Rochester International Jazz Festival - I must say. Friday night I took in a performance by The Skatalites, some of the early pioneers of Jamaican music. There are only a handful of original members that remain alive and part of the band, but it was really cool

My son, Jan, has begun putting his music online at last.fm in an album called Quasillogical. So far he’s got seven pieces up, including “String Quartet No. 1: Mvt. 1,” performed by classmates at the Tanglewood Institute last summer, and a short jazz piece, “Orsino’s Love Food,” performed by classmates at Walnut Hill. I

Over 150 musicians, including Joshua Redman and Herbie Hancock, were interviewed on All About Jazz and the editors picked the top twenty.  Barbara is one of the picks. Read the top 20 interviews here.  

“High energy can be found in the Night Club, which will be the center of attention for the nation’s best high school bands all Sunday afternoon, followed by the now-classic Hammond B-3 Blowout with Barbara Dennerlein and Brian Auger’s Oblivion Express.”  more from AAJ Visit the festival website

Photo by Peter Parts Looks like Barbara is really cookin’!  Here’s a blog post Here’s a great blog post from the Twin Cities: This show was like going to church. It was a fantastic moving experience. Dennerlein plays with her eyes closed moving in an ecstatic trance. She plays the entire instrument using the entire foot pedals, Leslie

Zita Swoon will perform at the Nancy Jazz Pulsations on October 8th 2008. That same day the festival is also having Poni Hoax and Nada Surf. October 8th 2008, Nancy Jazz Pusations - L’autre canal, Nancy, France

Click picture for more, photos by Ji Hen