38th Annual Atlanta Jazz Festival: Jazz Is Its Own Reward

The 38th annual Atlanta Jazz Festival (AJF) kicked off on a beautiful Memorial Day weekend in Piedmont Park. If I could name one constant that people have come to expect from the AJF, it would have to be the eclectic sounds that fuse jazz elements with every genre known to …

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Jeff ‘Tain’ Watts: From A-List Side Man To Band Leader

Multi-Grammy Award winning percussionist Jeff ‘Tain’ Watts is one of the most sought after musicians in the world. Watts’ extraordinary career includes a role as Rhythm Jones in Spike Lee’s Mo’ Better Blues, a three year stint on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno and a legendary Grammy run with …

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iRock Jazz LIVE! with Bassist Robert Hurst

When Robert Hurst was growing up in Detroit, so many kinds of great music tugged at him, he could easily have gone in a different direction than jazz. Motown influences abounded: Marvin Gaye lived in his neighborhood, his father was boyhood friends with two of the Temptations, and the music …

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