The Jazz Blog

Jazz is a much celebrated music with lively, complex and powerful rhythms. Jazz compositions uses musical instruments such as the piano, clarinet, saxophone and the trumpet. The combination compositions of these lively instruments results in attracting millions of music fans. The starting point of this wonderful music that is celebrated by the entire world today was in the African and American communities. However, this lively music has reached to encompass the entire world and the list of prominent jazz performing stars is endless. Among them the great artists who are no longer living but have left their marks through sheer talent and charisma is revered by all music fans.

Louis Armstrong

The American born Jazz singer and trumpeter is considered as an icon of the jazz music and his rhythms are followed by many contemporaries. Born in 1901, Louis Armstrong spent his childhood in poverty and had to carry out odd jobs to make out a living. At the age of 11 he joined a small group whose main income was by singing to pedestrians passing along streets. However, under the guidance of Professor Peter Davis, Armstrong blossomed in his great inherent talents and initiated his career by singing solos. He appeared in many movies and made a number of recordings under his name. Among his many hits are the all time favorite songs such as Hello Dolly, what a wonderful world, star dust and dream a little dream of me. The world lost a great jazz musician when he died in 1971, however, he will remain in the hearts of music lovers as one of most prominent jazz musicians in the world.

Ella Fitzgerald

Lady Ella as she was better known was born in 1917. During her childhood she was more interested in perfecting her dance technique but studied jazz music as a part hobby. She went through a very traumatic period in her early life after her mother passed away and when she was left homeless. However, the great artist emerged from her downfall to conquer a world of jazz music when she made her record breaking debut in 1934. From a soloist she switched onto acting and her performance in the Pete Kelly’s Blues was commended by many film critics. Ella Fitzgerald died in 1996 leaving behind a voice that will live through all eternity due to its purity and perfection.

Charlie Parker

One of world’s most prominent jazz musicians, but strangely as a child he did not display any talent in music. However, influenced by his father’s involvement in music, he started training in the saxophone and was able to join the school band. Once he grasped the elements of music his career took a leapfrog to make him one of the musical idols of that era. A brilliant jazz composer and saxophone player, Charlie Parker invented the bebop, a jazz in the fast tempo rhythm using the virtuoso technique. He was a trend setter loved by many fans and considered as an icon who led the hipster culture. When he died in 1955, he left behind millions of distraught fans but his many powerful compositions will be celebrated by every jazz music lover for years to come.

Jazz is a unique music that is close to the hearts of many millions of music lovers around the globe. There are hundreds of jazz performing artists that have reached the number one charts and idolized by their fans. This is just a hand picked list of some of the best entertainers that have enlightened the world of music with their heartfelt renditions in jazz music.

Charles Mingus

A revolutionary bass player and a most inventive composer in the era of 50s and 60s! Charles Mingus has contributed to jazz music through his revolutionary soundtracks concentrating on a free rhythm of music, a style that conveyed a bit of violence mixed with rebellion that had a great impact on the youth of those bygone eras.

Herbie Hancock

An artist who evolved greater talents with the passing of time, he expertly handled the transition in music to the new electronic music. A musician who was well ahead of his times!

Nat King Cole

During the 50s and 60 Nat King Cole became a household name with a spellbinding voice that kept many audiences enthralled for hours at end. A powerful and immensely talented performer that is loved by many millions of fans!

John Coltrane

He is a master of the jazz music with his masterful and perfect compositions and unique spiritual style of music. He has been the epiphany for many budding jazz artists of today.

Mary Lou Williams

An icon of Jazz music she launched her music career being part of a swing band and continued to grow in to the lime light with innovative musical experiments. In the song ‘Zodiac Suite’ she manages to beautifully combine the elements of classical music with contemporary jazz. A brilliant composer and pianist Mary Lou is considered as the most important female jazz artist in the world.

Kurt Elling

A fine jazz singer who has many fans devoted to him with his beautiful crooning voice and moving songs! Kurt Elling perfected his performance in vocalese, with his way of carrying out words over the jazz solos. The artist is not only adored by his millions of fans but respected by musicians of his trade as a great performer and soloist.

Keith Jarrett

Keith is an artist with extraordinary talent and technique. He conquered the art of free form piano playing. The great jazz artist did not only strum the piano as a great magician but managed to strike a chord in a great number of music buffers with his magnificent playing and great performances.

Thelonious Monk

A deceptive and raw talent that has to be listened to many times before one could grasp the true elements of his performance. His performance is compared in terms of the great artist Picasso.

Wynton Marsalis

He is famed as the building blocks of Jazz music and a performer who made jazz poetry. Fans flocked in vast numbers to watch him perform at any place. Marsalis is considered as an ambassador of the jazz music and a mentor for the novice talents of today.

Canada is one of world’s most eminent countries paying homage to a unique kind of music that has captured the hearts of millions of music fans in the past decades. The country hosts a vast number of Jazz festivals annually giving an opportunity to all those jazz lovers to get their toes tapping to the beat of world class jazz music. The country, especially Montreal offers some of the most vibrant and energetic venues for the Jazz festivals. The festivals also have paved the way for lucrative businesses to expand such as restaurants, hotels and other hospitality industry services to facilitate the torrent of visitors during festival time.

Toronto Jazz Festival

Launched in 1987, this gala festival features as many as 1500 performers during one year with over 350 performances. The audiences at venue exceed more than half a million while the number watching this mega event exceeds 7.5 million. The vast numbers vouch for the quality and scale of this musical extravaganza that takes place in down town Toronto. While the majority of the talent showcased during the festival is from the home towns of Canada other performers include top of the notch artists from around the world whose spell binding renditions attracts millions of fans from all parts on the world.

De Jazz de Montreal international Festival

The Montréal Jazz festival as it is better known is held annually every August. This festival is the culmination point of all festivals held in Montreal during the summer period. With a strong back up of top performing international jazz artists who represent more than 30 countries in all is a much awaited festival for all Montreal citizens as well as tourists who are on to the jazz scene. The festival entered the Guinness World records in 2004 as the largest jazz festival in the entire world. Among prominent entertainers who have performed in this festival are Nora Jones, Tony Bennett, B.B. King, Diana Krall and Prince.

Vancouver International Jazz festival

Hosted by the Coastal Jazz and Blues, famed Vancouver international jazz festival first took place in 1986. Vancouver is the home town of the world renowned jazz pianist and jazz idol Diana Krall. The festival has attained the prestigious status of being named the best jazz festival by the straight choices award in many occasions.

Halifax festival

A premier jazz festival taking place in a community that is far popular for the traditional music of fiddlers and bagpipes. This is most sought after jazz festival by the performing artists as it gives them the opportunity of trying out a fresh audience. The festival dates back to 1987 then known as the Atlantic jazz festival and it is hosted by the Jazz East organization.

Festiblues

Festiblues is a highly anticipated festival where the music lovers get to sway to beautiful rhythms of the enlivening music of jazz and enjoy jazz music scene to the hilt during August every year. Children are also encouraged to take part in this festival with an array of music oriented activities. The hosting organization hopes to sustain the momentum of jazz through this annual festival and promote the Canadian culture to the world.

Off festival de jazz

A lengthy 10 day annual event taking place in every July, the grand festival features more than 200 performers with a total of 36 concerts.

Jazz festivals are revered by all jazz music lovers around the world today, as they are considered to be the platform established to conserve and celebrate a kind of music embraced by millions of music fans. The origins of the traditional jazz music could be traced back to the African and American societies dating back to the early part of the 20th century. Traditional jazz festivals came in to prominence around the 1950s and have continuously evolved as a concept of celebrating the spirit of Jazz music. Annual Jazz festivals are taking place in most European and other international countries around the world today.

Monterey Jazz Festival

The California, Monterey Fair Grounds gets inundated with Jazz fans during the time of September every year when the Monterey Jazz festival is launched. A three day musical extravaganza that lifts the spirits of all musical devotees, this grand festival took place for the first time in 1958. Famed artists such as Louie Armstrong and Max Roach added their musical serenades at the very first Monterey Jazz festival.

Newport Jazz festival

This is world’s first traditional jazz festival and therefore a great many devoted number of fans rock to the Rhode Island in Newport every year during summer to take part in this two day gala concert. The first traditional jazz festival took place in 1954 featuring some of then most celebrated jazz artists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday and Dizzy Gillespie.

Montreux Jazz Festival

Launched for the first time in 1967, this is one of the world’s most famous jazz festivals today, attracting millions of music fans from many destinations around the world. Based in Montreux Switzerland the festival is held annually and at present features performances of rock and blue artists in addition to the traditional jazz music performers.

Detroit International Jazz Festival

Detroit hosts North America’s biggest jazz festival today, showcasing the jubilant talents of over 100 jazz musicians in an annual event of four days of jazz marathon.

Atlanta Jazz festival

An extravagant concert of free jazz, the Atlanta Jazz festival first took place in 1977 and is organized by the City of Atlanta Office in charge of cultural affairs. The event takes place during the Memorial Day week end every year and it is considered to be a celebration of the Atlanta City’s rich and impressive cultural heritage.

Indy Jazz Fest

The City of Indianapolis holds the traditional jazz music in very high esteem and the music is very close to the hearts of the city folk of Indiana. In commemoration of a great art that gives much pleasure to the people of the city, this lively festival is held every year since 1999. The Indy Jazz festival concentrates on bringing out the budding Jazz talents of the city of Indianapolis as well as showcasing the great talents of other celebrated Jazz performing artists. Booker T and the MGs, Bela Fleck and Ray Charels are just a few among the famed artists that have added color to this grand musical event in the past years.

For over 40 decades Berlin has attracted a large number of Jazz music lovers from all over the globe as a focal arena for the vibrant and lively Jazz festivals. Berlin hosts three world renowned Jazz festivals that keep the Jazz music lovers on their toes waiting with loads of anticipation from one festival to another.

The Berlin Jazz Festival

The festival was hosted for the first time in 1964 and has been continuously taking place every consecutive year to packed audiences showcasing a variety of Jazz rhythms and beats that keep the audiences enthralled and captured for five days of uninterrupted musical galore. The Jazz festival also known as the Jazz Fest Berlin has up to now featured the world’s top performing Jazz artists such as Terence Blanchard, Zbigniew Namyslowski, Hermeto Pascoal, Sheila Jordan and Curtis Fuller just to name a few. The festival usually takes place in different locations based in the vicinities of Berlin ranging from the scenic background of the Berlin Jewish museum’s glass courtyard in Kreuzberg to the famous clubs such as the Quasimodo in Charlottenberg.

The Jazz fest Berlin 2010, scheduled to be held from 3rd to 7th November, is expected to be a gala event bringing together the top most celebrated jazz musicians of the world today. The city will be a musical extravaganza during the period and is expected to be the meeting grounds for the jazz fans with their idolized musicians. The program has been created with an emphasis on European jazz with a mix of the contemporary and the traditional jazz music. The 2010 Jazz festival is guaranteed to be a sure fire winner and a jazz marathon for the jazz music lovers around the world with its tightly packed program featuring world famous jazz bands and ensembles.

The festival will also showcase the talents of budding jazz musicians in Germany such as Pablo Held, a piano talent to watch out for, famous jazz music innovator Joachim Kuhn and other established artists such as Emil Mangelsdorff, the swinging elder statesman.

Berlin Jazz meeting

The much celebrated jazz festival, the Jazz Meeting Berlin held its first concert in 1997 with the intention of putting together a dynamic combination of jazz talents of the German and Czech musicians. However, with time this festival has grown to embrace other European and non European jazz artists to perform in this much awaited festival. The festival is held annually between September and October for 5 consecutive days and the focus is now more towards the young generation jazz and therefore it is a platform for the younger jazz talents to explore and reach for greater horizons.

Köpenicker Blues Jazz Festival

A festival and musical galore to enjoy for more than 10 consecutive week ends, the famous Kopenciker Blues und Jazz Festival is held every summer to date from the 1996. The festival is usually held at the Kopenick Town Hall and has featured most sought after jazz artists such as Jon Secada, Axel Zwingenberger, Curtis Stigers, Manfred Krug, Jocelyn Smith etc, from Germany as well as from international music arena.

With the arrival of internet, you now have no excuse for not enjoying the music of your choice at any given time. You can simply log in at Jazz radio and begin enjoy the music of your taste. Jazz music is powerful, it has a way of helping you get peace of mind and when you have some work to do, you can simply tune in online and then you would have the motivation that you really need to keep working.

But, there is so much more that you would gain when you choose to access the station online. You will not miss to get an update on what is happening around you and around the world. The station has news and information that you would find interesting to know. You really don’t have to be home to get such updates, as long as you have the internet anywhere, you would be able to enjoy news and stay updated.

The world of jazz is quite rich. It is only getting better by the day and you would be interested in getting the very best that is has to offer. Through Jazz radio, you will be able to enjoy all these and get the best and the rich content from the world of jazz. The online radio station will open your eyes to collections of music reviews so that you would be updated and not just listen to what you never understand best.

Whenever there are new jazz albums released, you will be among the very first ones to enjoy and get to know of the same when you have access to the online radio station. Plus, there is so much going on at the jazz clubs that you would not want to miss out on. You can be sure of being a part of all these when you know where to check. The right radio station online would just serve you best.

You may also be interested in getting to know what is happening in the world in terms of festivals and events. As a lover of jazz, you may want to be a part of the beneficiaries and you would be sure that you would not miss out on such important updates. You do not deserve to miss out. You need to be a part of the fun and you can only do that when you have updated information. Jazz radio is dedicated to opening your eyes into such discoveries.

Finally, online Jazz radio features some great contests that you would want to be part of. These not only add fun to life but they spice up your entertainment with the challenges they present. You would want to be a part of this to experience the satisfaction that comes with being part of the best. There is so much more that you would want to have a share in and you need to ensure that you are not left behind in the updates and fun that come with tuning in online. It is simple, you can do it, do not just miss it.