Radio Stuff

Like to listen to great jazz  online, free?  Check out slacker.com, a wonderful online radio station that features many other genres as well.

NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday this morning contained a fascinating interview with a hearing specialist from Johns Hopkins who put a functional MRI on six jazz pianists and watched their brain activity as they improvised.  Check it out.  (I’m pretty sure if they put one on me, it would flatline.)

The same show contained a nice appreciation of Marian McPartland on her 90th birthday.  Our own Tom Hampson attended the festivities at Lincoln Center last Wednesday.  Many of you will remember how much fun Marian was as a guest artist at our first couple of camps, when she was a much more sprightly 79.

Tritone Bob

Are all vocalists Cheeseheads?

There’s something we can’t quite figure out.  For the second year in a row, we’ve exceeded our quota of vocalist campers in Wisconsin, but as of today, not a single vocalist has enrolled in Rochester.

Is the midwestern air kinder to singers’ throats?  Does the idea of singing in a college music building bring back painful memories of undergrad auditions?  Do vocalists have some kind of geo-tonal attraction to Lake Michigan (and what’s wrong with Lake Ontario)?

It just doesn’t make any sense.  Our fabulous vocal teacher, Janet Planet, is in residence in both places, and it’s not that she offers any special Cheesehead magic in WI just because it’s her home state.  She works her tail off in both places, spending virtually every day and many evenings helping singers prepare for the final camp concerts and giving them about a year’s worth of material to think about.

So we’re perplexed, but the good news is that any vocalist who signs up for Jazz at Naz is pretty much guaranteed very personal attention this summer.  At least as of today.

IAJE Cancels Summit. No Park City Camp This Summer.

Regrettably, Tritone Jazz at the Summit, the camp that was scheduled as a centerpiece of the International Association of Jazz Education’s Park City Summit, has been canceled. The IAJE has canceled the entire event.

This is supremely disappointing to us, to the campers who had enrolled, and to the first-class faculty we had assembled, who were really looking forward to working together. Unfortunately, the decision was beyond our control.

Our other two camps are thriving, however, so stay tuned. We’ll keep you informed of our expansion plans.

Tritone Bob

Finally, Well-Deserved Kudos for Gene!

Those of you who follow New York Times jazz writer Ben Ratliff know that he can be a very tough critic.

But he was recently smitten as we all are by Gene Bertoncini’s masterful playing, and he said so in a beautiful piece in the March 5 edition (click here). Although Ratliff stopped in to see Gene’s recent performances at two NYC venues, LeMadeleine (solo) and Iridium (trio with bassist Sean Smith and drummer Chuck Redd), it was the LeMadeleine gig that captured his attention.

It was only a matter of time before one of the nation’s leading jazz critics discovered what Tritone campers have long known–that the guy who enjoys jamming with campers and accompanying vocalists, puts the guitarists through their paces in master classes, and tells the bad jokes is one of the finest jazz guitarists the world will ever know.

Tritone Bob