Apr 8, 2025 1:23 PM
Blue Note Jazz Festival New York Posts 2025 Lineup
Blue Note Entertainment Group has unveiled the lineup for the 14th annual Blue Note Jazz Festival New York, featuring…
For almost a decade, violinist Jenny Scheinman (right) and drummer Allison Miller have worked together in the latter’s Boom Tic Boom ensemble. Their new collaborative group is Parlour Game.
(Photo: Shervin Lainez)Is that tied to discussions you and Allison have had about the jazz scene?
Allie’s like the star drummer in every all-women jazz band out there. ... I haven’t had the pleasure quite as much to be in predominantly female bands. I love that this band is tipped toward the female side. I can’t remember if this was a New York Times op-ed, [but] they were talking about the 116th Congress and how much is said by just being elected as a minority. In a band, you don’t have to make a point of talking about being in an all-women band or a women-led band, right? You’re just up there and merely your presence on the stage has an impact for good.
I’ve had a very lucky life and played with a lot of amazing musicians, and kind, gentle, wonderful, empathetic men, mostly. But it does get tedious to be in an all-male world.
Can we talk about one of those empathetic people, Bill Frisell?
He’s a kind and gentle person. He really is. Bill and I just had a connection immediately. We both really love songs and melodies. I get to play the melody very often, and we get to play the melody together. Playing unison with Bill is such a pleasure. He’s just constantly learning, and he’s so ... you could call it stubbornly curious about new ideas. And [for] things that don’t initially work, he just really goes after it. He’s been a model for bravery in art. One of the musicians I met [through him] who’s become one of my lifelong musical colleagues is Tony, the bass player in Parlour Game. There is a kind of a core community that [Frisell’s] been playing with for a very long time, and he’s built that through committing to those people that share a certain language—that is the “Bill language.”
Is there something unique about Parlour Game when compared to other work you’ve done?
I’ve had a lot of great performing experiences, and I’ve had the most killing side-person life ever ... . But the thing I feel like I haven’t been able to do is have a real band, like a touring band. I’ve made a lot of albums that I’m really proud of, but you can’t tour with the Wilco guitar player 60 days a year. Nor can you do it with Bill Frisell or Jason Moran—or these people that have played on my albums and made my music sound so beautiful. They’re not really practical [as] side-musicians in my touring band.
[It’s] not only that practical element, but [also] just the feeling of a band, the feeling where everybody’s committing to this thing over the side-person work they do. They’re not just signing on to it just because it fits in their little slot, but they’re somehow invested in it and it feels like family. That has been really, really rewarding. DB
The Blue Note Jazz Festival New York kicks off May 27 with a James Moody 100th Birthday Celebration at Sony Hall.
Apr 8, 2025 1:23 PM
Blue Note Entertainment Group has unveiled the lineup for the 14th annual Blue Note Jazz Festival New York, featuring…
“I’m certainly influenced by Geri Allen,” said Iverson, during a live Blindfold Test at the 31st Umbria Jazz Winter festival.
Apr 15, 2025 11:44 AM
Between last Christmas and New Year’s Eve, Ethan Iverson performed as part of the 31st Umbria Jazz Winter festival in…
“At the end of the day, once you’ve run out of differences, we’re left with similarities,” Collier says. “Cultural differences are mitigated through 12 notes.”
Apr 15, 2025 11:55 AM
DownBeat has a long association with the Midwest Clinic International Band and Orchestra Conference, the premiere…
“It kind of slows down, but it’s still kind of productive in a way, because you have something that you can be inspired by,” Andy Bey said on a 2019 episode of NPR Jazz Night in America, when he was 80. “The music is always inspiring.”
Apr 29, 2025 11:53 AM
Singer Andy Bey, who illuminated the jazz scene for five decades with a four-octave range that encompassed a bellowing…
Davis was a two-time Grammy winner for liner notes.
Apr 22, 2025 11:50 AM
Francis Davis, an august jazz and cultural critic who won both awards and esteem in print, film and radio, died April…
