Joe Vanderford, Author at INDY Week https://indyweek.com/author/joe-vanderford/ Wed, 26 Nov 2025 18:58:39 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://indyweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/cropped-2023-INDYlogo-whiteonblack-sml-sq-32x32.png Joe Vanderford, Author at INDY Week https://indyweek.com/author/joe-vanderford/ 32 32 214226721 Katharine Whalen Flexes Verve and Versatility On Two New Records https://indyweek.com/music/katharine-whalen-jazz-squad-certain-seas/ Wed, 26 Nov 2025 18:58:25 +0000 https://indyweek.com/?p=287462 The current lineup of Katharine Whalen’s Jazz Squad. Photo by David Prather.Out this fall, a pair of brand-new records from Whalen’s Jazz Squad and Certain Seas showcase the ways that the Efland musician is stretching her stylistic wings. ]]> The current lineup of Katharine Whalen’s Jazz Squad. Photo by David Prather.

Out this fall, a pair of brand-new records from Whalen’s Jazz Squad and Certain Seas showcase the ways that the Efland musician is stretching her stylistic wings.

]]> 287462 Talking With Tyshawn Sorey About Max Roach, Spontaneous Composition, and North Carolina’s Musical History https://indyweek.com/music/tyshawn-sorey-max-roach-duke/ Mon, 17 Nov 2025 16:32:35 +0000 https://indyweek.com/?p=287131 Tyshawn Sorey, Photo by John Rogers.The Pulitzer Prize-winning composer and multi-instrumentalist will play in Durham on November 21 as part of Duke Arts' "Max Roach at 100" program. ]]> Tyshawn Sorey, Photo by John Rogers.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning composer and multi-instrumentalist will play in Durham on November 21 as part of Duke Arts' "Max Roach at 100" program.

]]> 287131 On “Belonging,” Former Durhamite Branford Marsalis Reimagines the Keith Jarrett Classic https://indyweek.com/music/branford-marsalis-durham-belonging/ Mon, 07 Apr 2025 18:00:44 +0000 https://indyweek.com/?p=276460 Saxophone legend Marsalis, who lived in Durham from 2002 to 2024, is an artist-in-residence at NCCU. "Belonging" is his 32nd release. ]]>

Saxophone legend Marsalis, who lived in Durham from 2002 to 2024, is an artist-in-residence at NCCU. "Belonging" is his 32nd release.

]]> 276460 Frankie Alexander https://indyweek.com/news/archives-news/frankie-alexander/ Wed, 07 Feb 2007 04:00:00 +0000 http://indyweek.com/frankie-alexander/ Singer Frankie Alexander has been preaching the jazz gospel in and around Durham for more than a quarter-century. As a student of the legendary Bus Brown, she emerged from that onetime jazz crucible on Chapel Hill Street, the Salaam Center, and hasn’t looked back. In fact, fueled by an Emerging Artists grant from the Durham […]]]>

Singer Frankie Alexander has been preaching the jazz gospel in and around Durham for more than a quarter-century. As a student of the legendary Bus Brown, she emerged from that onetime jazz crucible on Chapel Hill Street, the Salaam Center, and hasn’t looked back. In fact, fueled by an Emerging Artists grant from the Durham [...]

]]> 93536 A new beaten path https://indyweek.com/music/new-beaten-path/ Wed, 08 Nov 2006 04:00:00 +0000 http://indyweek.com/new-beaten-path/ What is your conception of a jazz singer? Is it the casual finger-snap of Sinatra, all big-city sophistication and endless midnights, topped with a fedora? Is it the sonic sunshine of Louis Armstrong, handkerchief in hand, growling like a happy cat in mid-stretch? Or is it is the blues-informed sigh of Billie Holiday, eyes closed […]]]>

What is your conception of a jazz singer? Is it the casual finger-snap of Sinatra, all big-city sophistication and endless midnights, topped with a fedora? Is it the sonic sunshine of Louis Armstrong, handkerchief in hand, growling like a happy cat in mid-stretch? Or is it is the blues-informed sigh of Billie Holiday, eyes closed [...]

]]> 114488 An evening with. . . https://indyweek.com/music/evening-with/ Wed, 01 Mar 2006 04:00:00 +0000 http://indyweek.com/evening-with/ Singer Nnenna Freelon stopped being the local-girl-makes-good a long time ago. Since her debut disc appeared on Columbia Records, her 14-year ascent to the top of the jazz mountain has been slow, steady and utterly predictable. Everyone she met upon her arrival in Durham in 1982 realized immediately that she was something special–not as a [...]

]]> 94799 Bill Charlap’s jazz traditions https://indyweek.com/music/bill-charlap-s-jazz-traditions/ Wed, 26 Oct 2005 04:00:00 +0000 http://indyweek.com/bill-charlap-s-jazz-traditions/ When Bill Charlap brings his luxurious New York-based trio to Raleigh on Saturday, Triangle jazzheads will be treated to the ultimate primer on American Popular Song. Between Hillsborough Street and Western Boulevard, a retro-roadmap of musical Americana will emerge out of the ether. The audience will skip happily down Tin Pan Alley and bath in [...]

]]> 110459 Arrogance, Suddenly again https://indyweek.com/news/archives-news/arrogance-suddenly/ Wed, 20 Jul 2005 04:00:00 +0000 http://indyweek.com/arrogance-suddenly/ When it comes to Arrogance, North Carolina’s original DIY rock ‘n’ roll band, either you were there–or you weren’t born yet. Thanks to the quintet’s rare reunion Saturday, July 23 in Carrboro, however, old-timers who dug these major dudes during the ’70s and ’80s will joyously commingle with the uninitiated. In other words, the parents [...]

]]> 122317 in pure jazz https://indyweek.com/news/archives-news/pure-jazz/ Wed, 20 Apr 2005 04:00:00 +0000 http://indyweek.com/pure-jazz/ When bassist John V. Brown, director of Duke University’s jazz studies program, decided to create the Duke Jazz Festival, he didn’t mess around. He booked the ageless drummer Roy Haynes, who is 80 years old but moves with the easy grace of a young lion on the prowl. As a kid during the late ’40s, [...]

]]> 110387 Cassandra Wilson’s quiet elegance https://indyweek.com/music/cassandra-wilson-s-quiet-elegance/ Wed, 30 Mar 2005 04:00:00 +0000 http://indyweek.com/cassandra-wilson-s-quiet-elegance/ Get this: The best jazz singer in the world is not a jazz singer at all. Nope, I don’t mean Diana Krall, a true diva with maximum glitz and hypnotic, behind-the-beat phrasing. Or Kurt Elling, the Chicago-based virtuoso who can improvise arching leaps worthy of a vocal Superman. Or Dianne Reeves, a hard-swinging traditionalist. Or [...]

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