Blog Post
Guitarist Marcus Tardelli will change your conceptions of what it means to shred
by christopherporter
When the phrase "guitar shredder" is deployed, the general picture that comes to mind is a poodle-haired metal guitarist finger-tapping his way through impossible scales on an electric ax.
Marcus Tardelli will change your mental image of what it means to be a guitar shredder.
Blog Post
Transfigured Foursome: The Jerusalem Quartet will come to Ann Arbor as a sextet
by christopherporter
Ori Kam, violist for the Jerusalem Quartet, grew up in two countries, studied music in three, and now teaches in Switzerland while performing all over the globe, often with the Jerusalem Quartet.
Blog Post
A Trio of Days: The 2018 A2 Jazz Fest expands to three swinging nights
by christopherporter
The A2 Jazz Fest (A2JF) began in 2016 as a single day, featuring 14 acts over 10 hours.
Blog Post
Carving Out a Sound: Internationally renown luthier Tom Rein sets up shop in Saline
by christopherporter
Through a combination of grit, trial and error, an ear for music, and an engineering mind, my brother-in-law Tom Rein has managed to make a living for 40-plus years as a string-instrument maker (also called luthier). Tom started his luthier business, Tom Rein Guitars, in the mid-1970s when there were under 50 in the entire U.S. Now, he estimates, there are over 1,000.
Blog Post
Deep in Thoughtful Music: Kenji Lee and the Canterbury House Concert Series
by christopherporter
Saxophonist Kenji Lee is a final year University of Michigan student who is entering his third year as Concert Series coordinator at Canterbury House, the home of U-M’s Episcopal Chaplaincy, and a welcoming space in which U-M music students, their friends, and local and touring musicians can share their work and have fellowship amongst themselves and the broader community.
Blog Post
The Ann Arbor Russian Festival brings Northern Eurasian culture to Washtenaw
by christopherporter
For the group that puts the Ann Arbor Russian Festival together every year, it’s about much more than simply having a fun time, it’s about sharing their culture.
“Nobody knows what is Orthodox church,” laughed Leta Nikulshina, the festival’s entertainment director. “People think, ‘Are you Catholic?’ ‘No, we’re not.’ Or, ‘Are you Jewish?’ ‘No, we’re not.’
Blog Post
Faraway, So Close: Freddy Cole at Kerrytown Concert House
by christopherporter
There’s an interesting look that Freddy Cole sometimes gets when he’s playing. It’s not a faraway look, exactly, but it’s as if he’s not fully present, not completely in the moment. Sitting behind the keyboard, he stares off into the audience, looking at them but not really seeing them. His hands move across the piano keys seemingly with a mind of their own, coaxing out chords and picking out melodies. It’s like he’s somewhere else.
At least that’s the impression I got last Thursday at Kerrytown Concert House, where the Freddy Cole Quartet gave a pair of evening performances. Made up by Cole on piano and vocals, Randy Napoleon on guitar, Elias Bailey on bass, and Jay Sawyer on drums, the quartet offered a refreshing and skillful taste of straight-ahead classic jazz.
Blog Post
Out of Many, One Voice: Community Sing with Matt Watroba at The Ark
by christopherporter
The crowd for the third annual Community Sing with Matt Watroba at The Ark on August 16 was not large -- maybe 50, 60 people -- which was perfect. It allowed Watroba to invite us all to bring our chairs to the flat area in front of the stage and form a large circle. It also allowed him to ignore the microphone that had been set up on the stage and instead move around inside that circle, and lead us in singing without using any amplification.
He didn’t need it.
Blog Post
Roots in Tree Town: Nashbash showcased terrific country-tinged music
by christopherporter
Every August for the last 12 years, a bit of Nashville has visited Ann Arbor for the Kerrytown District Association’s Nashbash music festival.
Blog Post
The 2018 Ann Arbor Blues Festival is now 3 days -- just like the first one in 1969
by christopherporter
There ain’t nothin' like the blues.
Perhaps that is why in 1969, a group of University of Michigan students created a gathering in an open field on the banks of the Huron River to listen to some blues from the likes of Otis Rush, Howlin’ Wolf, Big Mama Thornton, T-Bone Walker, Lightnin’ Hopkins, B.B. King, and Muddy Waters.