jazz

As jazz albums go, Miles Davis’s Kind of Blue represents a high-water mark. The record came at a time of profound musical innovation: bebop had given way to hard bop, a more soulful version of jazz, but Davis wanted to simplify the music and send it in a new direction. The triumvirate of Miles, John Coltrane, and Bill Evans pushed the boundary of what musicians could do, creating a work of hushed magnificence, said James Kaplan ’73. Kaplan is the author of 3 Shades of Blue: Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, and the Lost Empire of Cool, a book…

April is Jazz Appreciation Month, which culminates on campus with the 20th annual Wesleyan Jazz Orchestra Weekend, featuring two nights of concerts in Crowell Concert Hall. Cellist, composer, and educator Akua Dixon makes her Connecticut debut with her string quartet, Quartette Indigo, on Saturday, April 29 at 8pm. The group includes violinists Meg Okura and Frederika Krier, Judith Insell on viola, and bassist Jennifer Vincent. The Wesleyan Jazz Ensemble, directed by Noah Baerman, presents a concert with a variety of modern small-group jazz traditions and techniques on Friday, April 28 at 8pm. Assistant Professor of the Practice in Music Jin…

New Haven, Conn. resident Taylor Ho Bynum ’98, an acclaimed avant-garde jazz cornetist and composer, is undertaking a strenuous 1,000-mile bicycle concert tour in September of all six New England states. He will travel by bike for two weeks to 10 venues from New Haven to Portland, Maine, and back. As part of his Acoustic Bicycle Tour, Bynum will perform at Wesleyan’s Crowell Concert Hall on Saturday, Sept. 11 at 8 p.m. with vibraphonist and Wesleyan music professor Jay Hoggard ’76. (Click here to order tickets.) Bynum has also performed with Wesleyan music professor Anthony Braxton in several jazz concerts…

True ‘Blue’: James Kaplan ’73 Documents a Key Collaboration in Jazz History

Jazz Appreciation Month Features Cellist Akua Dixon

Cornetist Bynum ’98 Stops at Wesleyan for His Acoustic Bicycle Tour