Category Archives: Jazz
A drink at Mistral
Last night, between the opening of The Burial at Thebes and a party, we went to Mistral to check out Piccolo Spoleto’s jazz series, organized by the newly formed Jazz Artists of Charleston. Jazz and Mistral go hand and hand — a classy kind of music for a classy kind of joint. My wife drank […]
Black snake moan
What makes jazz singers like Dee Dee Bridgewater and Dianne Reeves great, along with their great voices and great singing, is their great personalities — their stage presence is as commanding as any song they sing.
With Paula West, whom I saw Friday night, the first concert of the Wachovia Jazz Series, what I enjoyed was […]
Elvis Chestnut
It’s been long time since Chuck D made it clear where Elvis and the Duke stand in the minds of many American blacks: “Elvis was a hero to most/ But he never meant shit to me you see/ Straight up racist that sucker was simple and plain/ Motherfuck him and John Wayne.”
That […]
Fortunately, jazz is about improvisation
Rain couldn’t dampen the enthusiasm Enrico Peranunzi and his trio brought to the Gaillard Exhibition Hall last night, even after having been rained out of their scheduled concert at the Cistern. Peranunzi, bassist Hohn patitucci, and virtuoso drummer Joey Baron played to a rapt crowd on a stage in the corner as if all was […]
Enrico Pieranunzi moved to Gaillard
The weather predicted for the weekends seems finally to have dropped in. Its first casualty: jazz pianist Enrico Pieranunzi, whose trio was scheduled to play an al fresco concert in the Cistern at 9pm this evening. Spoleto organizers have announced that due to rain Pieranunzi’s concert will now take place in the Gaillard Exhibition Hall […]
But wait, there’s more!
With the openings of Shen Wei Dance Arts and Major Bang in the rear-view mirror (I caught only the latter of those two last night; I’ll see Shen Wei tomorrow night), the Big Festival is plowing through its slate of yet-to-be-seen productions and turning them into continuing-through productions. On tonight’s docket: the opening of medEia, […]
The little festival that could
The Big Festival’s opening premieres monopolized most of this Spoleto Buzz blogger’s attention and energy over the Memorial Day weekend, but I’ve not forgotten that there’s an entirely separate festival going on in Charleston right now. If the dissonant warbling in Faustus, the Last Night or nigh on three hours of Marxian, Teutonic spectacle in […]
The festival catches its breath
After four wild days of nonstop, balls-to-the-wall, pedal-to-the-floor intensity, both Spoleto and Piccolo Spoleto take a breather today, and thank god. The big operas all have their premieres behind them. The main play, The Constant Wife, settles into its 19-show run with a clutch of hyperbolic reviews in its pocket. Chamber Music and an […]
Sunday in the park with Ballard
City Paper music critic Ballard Lesemann and I sat under the oaks in the Cistern last night and listened to Stefano Battaglia and his band woo the assembled crowd into a Sunday evening stupor with a blend of mellow, exotic sounds ranging from the vaguely Mediterranean to almost-silent soundscapes. Couples cuddled in the grass out […]
Getting forensic on Spoleto 2007
The 31st Spoleto Festival USA is officially in the past tense. It’s now time to get forensic on the thing. But that’s less easy than it sounds. Part of the difficulty in summing up the festival after the fact lies in its nature; as Mayor Riley noted during the mid-festival tribute to founder Gian Carlo […]