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.…
From Feb. 23–26, Moscow, Idaho, will serve as the center of the jazz universe, as the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival celebrates its 38th anniversary. A solid lineup of artists perform nightly at the University of Idaho, including the likes of Russell Malone, Benny Green, Roy Hargrove, Jane Monheit, Monty Alexander, Randy Brecker, Jeff Hamilton, John Clayton, Lou Rawls and the Lionel Hampton New York Big Band.
But this festival is less about the international jazz stars who descend upon northwest Idaho than the approximately 17,000 junior high, high school and college students from across the United States, Canada and even some international groups that come to compete and learn at master classes and seminars.
The first University of Idaho Jazz Festival in 1968 was a single-day event consisting of 15 student groups and one jazz artist featured in an evening concert. The festival now runs four days and features seven concerts. Some of the jazz greats who have performed at the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival include Ella Fitzgerald, Gerry Mulligan, Dizzy Gillespie, Dianne Reeves, Stan Getz, Carmen McRae, Diana Krall, Wynton Marsalis and Sarah Vaughan and of course, Hampton and his New York Big Band.
For a complete lineup of the festival, go to www.jazz.uidaho.edu
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.”
Jun 17, 2025 11:12 AM
When it came time to pose for the cover of her new album, Lady In Satin — a tribute to Billie Holiday’s 1958…
James Brandon Lewis earned honors for Artist of the Year and Tenor Saxophonist of the Year. Three of his recordings placed in the Albums of the Year category.
Jul 17, 2025 12:44 PM
You see before you what we believe is the largest and most comprehensive Critics Poll in the history of jazz. DownBeat…
Galper was often regarded as an underrated master of his craft.
Jul 22, 2025 10:58 AM
Hal Galper, a pianist, composer and arranger who enjoyed a substantial performing career but made perhaps a deeper…
Chuck Mangione on the cover of the May 8, 1975, edition of DownBeat.
Jul 29, 2025 1:00 PM
Chuck Mangione, one of the most popular trumpeters in jazz history, passed away on July 24 at home in Rochester, New…
