Jun 10, 2025 4:13 PM
Theo Croker’s Dream … Manifested!
Partway through his early set at Smoke Jazz Club, Theo Croker blinks the room back into focus. He leans over the piano.…
URBANA, ILL.—The Krannert Center for the Performing Arts’ biennial Wall to Wall Guitar Festival returns to the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana from Sept. 13-15.
The Wall to Wall Guitar Festival, Take Two, boasts more than 30 musicians, from as close as its central Illinois back door all the way to the Deep South, Hawaii and beyond. Featured performers include the Delta Kings, Buddy Guy, John McLaughlin and the North Mississippi All-Stars.
Festival passes include admission to all nine main stage events. Prices range from $103 for students to $216 for standard admission. Tickets for individual shows will also be available for purchase. See walltowallguitar.com for more information.
To record Dream Manifest (Dom Recs), Croker convened artists from his current and recent past ensembles, plus special guests.
Jun 10, 2025 4:13 PM
Partway through his early set at Smoke Jazz Club, Theo Croker blinks the room back into focus. He leans over the piano.…
“There’s nothing quite like it,” Springs says of working with an orchestra. “It’s 60 people working in harmony in the moment. Singing with them is kind of empowering but also humbling at the same time.”
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Galper was often regarded as an underrated master of his craft.
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Chuck Mangione on the cover of the May 8, 1975, edition of DownBeat.
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Chuck Mangione, one of the most popular trumpeters in jazz history, passed away on July 24 at home in Rochester, New…