Jazz Police

“One of those rare characters celebrated as much for their intelligent pronouncements on jazz as their ability to play it” – BBC Host of NPR’s Peabody Award-winning “Jazz Alive” and VH-1’s “New Visions” series, pianist/composer/arranger/producer Dr. Ben Sidran is truly a Renaissance Man as well as accomplished musician. Some may only know Sidran as the composer […]

The eleventh edition of the Dakota Combo – an elite ensemble of up to eight area youth jazz artists—will be selected following auditions on September 10th. A program of the MacPhail Center for Music and sponsored by the Dakota Foundation for Jazz Education, the Combo will rehearse bi-weekly from late September through May under the […]

Labor Day Weekend — and I will be making my (9th) annual trek to Detroit for the largest free jazz festival in the world, with the legendary Ron Carter appearing in four configurations as this year’s Artist in Residence. Another nearly as big (and free) jazz festival takes place this weekend in Chicago. But you […]

This past winter, saxophonist Paul Harper launched a new ensemble dubbed the Bardo Quartet with the idea that the personnel would be in flux, thus each performance would be unique. Headlining Saturday Night Jazz at the Black Dog on September 3, the Bardo Quartet will feature the personnel de jour–Harper on saxophones, Phil Aaron on […]