iRock Jazz Live! with Trumpeter Jeremy Pelt

Jeremy Pelt has become one of the preeminent young trumpeters within the world of jazz. Forging a bond with the Mingus Big Band very early on, as his career progressed, Pelt built upon these relationships and many others which eventually lead to collaborations with some of the genre’s greatest masters. …

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Roberta Gambarini

iRock Jazz LIVE! with Singer Roberta Gambarini

Roberta Gambarini was born in Torino, Italy, into a family where jazz was much loved and appreciated. She began listening to this music as a child and started taking clarinet lessons when she was twelve years old. By the time she was 17, she began singing and performing in jazz …

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Roberta Gambarini: Moving To America And Making A Name For Myself

Roberta Gambarini is a singer who started taking clarinet lessons after being caught by her father for playing his tenor saxophone in secret. After having trouble with classical voice lessons, Gambarini decided to trust her instincts and learned jazz improvisation from self-teaching and listening to the masters of recorded jazz …

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iRock Jazz LIVE! with Saxophonist Antonio Hart

Antonio Hart has long been recognized as one of the most talented instrumentalist of his generation. In recent years he has also been recognized as an important Jazz educator. In his 20 years as a professional musician he has performed and recorded with many jazz greats, from Dizzy Gillespie, Roy …

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Randy Brecker: Bebop is at the Root of Everything

Jazz was the first music Randy Brecker heard in his home, and says “bebop is at the root of everything.” While growing up in Philadelphia, he was exposed to a plethora of musical styles. Brecker relocated to New York in 1966, during what he calls “an exciting time!” He was …

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Jimmy Heath - Heathbros_980

Jimmy and Albert “Tootie” Heath—a jazz perspective over six decades in the making Pt. I

Heath Brothers   On a recent Sunday morning, the iRock Jazz team caught up with two members of the legendary Heath Brothers, Jimmy and Albert “Tootie” Heath. Over a span of six decades or more, the brothers have collectively performed with a “Who’s Who” among world-renown jazz performers. The list …

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Heath Brothers

Jimmy and Albert “Tootie” Heath—a jazz perspective over six decades in the making Pt. II

IRJ: You all are in Chicago now. What brings you two to Chicago? JIMMY: We’re playing now at a place called the Jazz Showcase. We’re the Heath Brothers Quartet. My older brother passed away and I’m in the middle. I’m older than Tootie. We’ve been here for four days. We …

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