Josh Grossman's blog

It's crunch time here at Festival HQ - print deadlines are looming, and it feels as though there is still an impossible number of details to be finalized. We'll get there, but it's going to be a hectic couple of weeks.

Fitting, then, that the title of this year's final TD Discovery Series Special Project presentation, May 2 at The Tell, is "Coding Chaos." Presented by Spectrum Music, the concert will explore the relationship between composers, live musicians and artificial intelligence - and the role that AI plays currently, and might play in the future, in music-making.

I'll admit that it's been a challenging several weeks, both on the home and work fronts. Everything's fine, everyone's healthy, it will all work out. But it's been a bit of a slog. I feel lucky to have supportive family, supportive colleagues, and work (official and personal) which continues to inspire me in a variety of ways.

Over the past number of years, I've been excited to hear the expanding cross-pollination between jazz and other genres - and particular with genres such as R&B, soul, funk and hip hop. On one hand, this interest is purely practical - with greater cross-pollination comes greater potential audience crossover, and, hopefully, a larger audience for jazz in general.

The 2019 TD Discovery Series Special Projects presentations kick off this Thursday, February 7 with Moodset at Yauca's Lounge and, in many ways, it's a great example of what the Special Projects are all about.

Is it too late to say happy new year? I'll risk it - happy new year!

HOLY MOLY IT'S FESTIVAL DAY I CAN'T WAIT FOR EVERYTHING TO GET GOING YAHOO!!

Just needed to get that out.

Okay, so, I'm a bit behind schedule. Who knew that the last day before a big festival could be such a circus? (Well, me, actually, but I was clearly employing selective memory...) But - we persevere.

On the surface, artists who play traditional jazz and artists who play free jazz (or close to free jazz) are on polar opposite ends of the musical spectrum. But every time I listen to one or the other, I find similarities which surprise me. To my ear, early Dixieland music - with its group improvisation, even if carefully structured - for example, can at times sound just as cacophonous as some of the freest jazz.

For the next instalment of "let's talk about a bunch of free shows at the Festival!" (needs a catchier name, I know), I wanted to introduce some of the outstanding emerging talent performing for free in Yorkville this year.

Okay - day 2 of trying to summarize every free show at the Festival. After a momentary brain freeze ("How exactly do I group together all of these shows?!"), I've decided that today's entry would be purely chronological - first things first, as the saying goes.

For opening weekend this year we were aiming for a party inspired by soul, funk and r&b. We've certainly got that on our OLG Stage on Yorkville Avenue...but if we look at the opening weekend's programming on the whole, we discover quite an interesting range of music! Let's dive in.