From Jazz-Rock Fusion to Progressive Metal, With a Virtuosic Accompaniment
01/01/10

Instrumental virtuosity is like any kind of power on earth, corruptive and constructive in equal measure. It’s a handicap, in a strange way: the musician must acquire one more level of refinement to turn it toward the good. If you can sing through your instrument — particularly if you can do it very, very speedily — you can make a music that seems lordly, pinched and gloating. Or you can spread a generous feeling through a room and somehow transcend your own gifts...

Don't Miss Carol Fredette!
10/20/09

Carol Fredette is one of New York’s most underexposed and blissfully talented jazz singers. Her appearances are rare, but to celebrate her marvelous, swinging new CD, Everything in Time, music lovers with wisdom and good taste have been hanging out at the Iridium Jazz Club, home of the late guitarist Les Paul’s weekly trio sessions, to hang on every phrase...

My New York: Paul Schaffer
10/11/09

Once again, David Letterman has up- staged Paul Shaffer, his sidekick of 27 years. Just as the faithful bandleader re- leases his memoir, “We’ll Be Here for the Rest of Our Lives: A Swingin’ Show-biz Saga,” Dave went and stole the spotlight with his intra-office tomcatting...

11/02/02

Like most Americans born in the 1960s, Iridium Jazz Club owner Ron Sturm grew up with rock 'n' roll, not jazz. "I got more involved with jazz when I was in college at Boston University," Sturm says. "Boston was really hot then - there were a lot of jazz clubs and good things happening, and I caught a lot of shows."...