Discoveries: I'm looking over my 2024 jazz calendars to see what observations pop up....
- Yeah, it's obvious that Missy Lane's made an impact on jazz locally, both bringing in premier jazz performers amid other musics & booking local performers. How the model holds up in Year Two could determine its longer term amid the reality of making a profit.
- The Durham Jazz Workshop & Sharp Nine moved merrily along, undoubtedly helped by Downbeat's naming it one of the best 100 jazz venues globally. That meant that Dave Finucane had regional & a few national jazz performers mix those bookings with the "regulars"--Kate Mc Garry & Kieth Ganz, Angela Bingham, Jim Ketch, & THRIO--with other local players. That's meant a certain number of gigs aside from Friday & Saturday nights.
- I predict both Sharp Nine & Missy Lane's will have more nationally know jazz performers in 2025, because of supply & demand. There just aren't that many major jazz clubs now: Baltimore's Keystone Korner has much less jazz scheduled; the same for New York's Blue Note; Jazz Standard died within the last two years or so. The many nationally known jazz musicians have to look for new venues, which is why trumpeter Jeremy Pelt returns to Sharp Nine, & vocalist Jazzmeia Horn has April shows scheduled. Meanwhile, Missy Lane keeps snagging performers we might not other wise see. E.g., Miguel Zenon & Luis Perdomo slide into a free night between two other regional gigs. And, Nick Payton, Shabaka Hutchins, & Joel Ross are just around the corner.
- Meanwhile, all you have to do is check out the LJ local venues list to see how many places have jazz scheduled at least once a week, with jazz jams taking over midweek offerings, reflecting how many jazz musicians we have here. Plus, between the Dan Davis Group's bringing jazz to all manners of venues & Dan DeLorenzo finding bars & breweries I've never heard of, jazz is spreading further in this area. There's something good someplace all week.
- There was hardly any jazz in the university performing arts schedules this fall, none at Duke. And, no jazz in the current 2025 calendars. That means we have to rely on Missy Lane's & Sharp Nine for nationally known performers.
- On one hand, I continue to miss pianists Ernest Turner & Eric Hirsh, though Ernest will pop up as a sideman with Michael Ode at Missy Lane's tonight...
- On the other hand, Dexter Moses put out a fine new recording, New Perspectives, & Onyx Club Boys gypsy jazz gigs have been exploding.
- Overall, it's been a good year for live jazz. Let's see what happens in 2025!
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