Interview with 15 year old jazz pianist Will Kibel
On March 25, 2020 long-time BJA member and professional woodwind player Seth Kibel live-streamed a concert from his basement with his son Will on piano. This was my first time hearing Will, who did an impressive job accompanying his father and soloing through a wide-ranging repertoire of jazz standards and two of Seth’s originals, including a klezmer tune.
I interviewed Will, a freshman at McDonogh School, on April 9, 2020.
BJ: Can you tell me about your first musical experience?
WK: From a very young age I was going to my father’s gigs. | Read more>>
Jazz in Baltimore’s Public Art (part 3)
In part 1 and part 2 of this series we presented jazz-themed art in and around the Pennsylvania Avenue Black Arts & Entertainment District and Billie Holiday-themed art in Upper Fells Point. Here are more pieces of jazz-themed art from other locations around Baltimore City.
At the rear of Eubie Blake Cultural Center & National Jazz Institute, 847 N. | Read more>>
Jazz in Baltimore’s Public Art (part 2)
As we reported in the May 2014 issue of the BJA newsletter, on April 5, 2014, between 600 and 800 people turned out for the celebration of Billie Holiday sponsored by the Upper Fells Point Improvement Association. The community organization had secured a $30,000 grant from PNC Bank and spent the funds on art work celebrating the singer on the very block where she grew up, the 200 block of S.Durham | Read more>>
Jazz in Baltimore’s Public Art (part 1)
Baltimore City has hundreds
of murals, with local and world renowned jazz figures appearing in dozens of
them. As you will see in this three-part series, jazz is also represented in
other forms of the city’s public art.
One of the two major clusters of jazz-themed public art is the newly-designated Pennsylvania Avenue Black Arts and Entertainment District. | Read more>>
Review: Hotel Paradise Roof Garden Orchestra, Sept. 9, 2018
Picture this—a band of twelve musicians decked out in white busboy jackets with red carnations and a female singer in 1920s flapper-style dress, necklace and headband. Aside from the typical jazz band instrumentation of saxes, brass, piano and drums, the band features banjo, tuba and violin. | Read more>>