Latest news with #BostonSwingCentral

Boston Globe

Not a fan of jazz? This Medford festival might change your mind.

Advertisement In the place of bebop and jazz fusion songs – which Linders says are many folks' main association with the genre – guests can expect tunes from between 1900 and the late 1930s, performed by acts like the the Berlin Hall Saturday Night Revue. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up From swing tunes to strumming washboards, the festival presents a sampling of area artists who perform prewar music. Linders discovered these various swing, traditional jazz, and jug band communities upon her move to Medford in 2020. As a Midwestern transplant from St. Louis, she holds a deep appreciation for the blues and traditional jazz – 'what you would hear on the riverboats' cruising along the Mississippi, she says. Advertisement While settling into her new home, Linders soon discovered that similar sounds thrived around Greater Boston. Swing came to life through dance organizations like the JP Jitterbugs and Boston Swing Central, traditional jazz and blues boomed at venues such as the Now, two years later, Linders has broadened the parameters of the festival to incorporate musicians from swing and jug band circles, whose standards sometimes overlap with the catalogs of traditional jazz acts. As a whole, Linders says the festival might be a 'reframe of what jazz is' for folks who aren't already fans of the genre. 'I think a lot of times, an everyday person listening to a bebop band or maybe a fusion band, can't really understand the music, because it's going by so much faster and the chords get more complicated,' she explains. In contrast, the styles on display at the festival have more in common with the blues and folk music, which Linders thinks many guests may find more accessible. For performers like Rahsaan Cruse Jr., those kindred musical roots and inherent call for connection help preserve early jazz's appeal in 2025. Advertisement 'Historically, this music carries the spirit of Black American life — joy, resilience, humor, and truth — and it reminds me that connection has always been at the heart of jazz,' explains Cruse Jr. 'The melodies are clear and soulful, the lyrics have space to breathe, and there's a conversation between the singer and the band that pulls the audience right into the music,' he concludes. 'That buoyant two-beat that slips into swing has a lift and a joy that still feels fresh today.' GIG GUIDE Following June's Green River Festival, Western Massachusetts receives another helping of Americana this weekend at the It's a busy week for anyone checking rock legends off their bucket list, starting with a wallop of hard rock from Advertisement Around the corner not on a farewell tour – with the latest installment of Taylor's virtual summer concert series, a recording of his James Taylor, posing here for a portrait outside of his home in the Berkshires, comes to MGM Music Hall at Fenway on Tuesday and Wednesday. Erin Clark/Globe Staff Following the sudden loss of producer and keyboardist Shaun Martin last August – and subsequent tour postponement – d4vd, performing here during the first weekend of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, comes to Roadrunner Thursday, Aug. 28. Amy Harris/Amy Harris/Invision/AP NOW SPINNING BIA with Young Miko , Advertisement UMI , Los Angeles singer UMI swerves between backdrops of banjo, boppy piano, and sighing synths on her sophomore record, "people stories." Eric Nguyen The Noisy , 'Grenadine.' Take the sound of Chappell Roan's 'The Subway,' toss in an undercurrent of tasteful trumpet, and you have 'Grenadine,' the breezy new single from The Noisy. The Philadelphia group translate teen memories into bittersweet bedroom pop, which doubles as quite the teaser for their October album. Philly band The Noisy - fronted by Sara Mae Henke - release its new breezy new single "Grenadine" on Friday. Morgan Kelley BONUS TRACK This month, Massachusetts officials are putting homegrown artists on the map. Worcester celebrated hometown rapper will be honored with a public street naming ceremony Victoria Wasylak can be reached at . Follow her on Bluesky @