Articles by Michael Anderson

A few weeks ago we learned that jazz keyboard player T Lavitz died unexpectedly in his sleep at the age of 54. Lavitz was best known for his time in the jazz-rock fusion group Dixie Dregs, but also released high-profile solo works, and he also formed groups such as the critically acclaimed Players, as well as Jazz is Dead which was an ensemble of veteran jazz players reinterpreting works of the Grateful Dead. Lavitz was one of the many talented artists to come out of the University of Miami’s ground-breaking jazz education program of the 1970’s (including most of the…

Welcome to another edition of Music Diary Reviews! I am absolutely loving the variety of stuff I’ve been able to sample recently – there is pop, rock, fusion, jazz, and a couple of re-issues that have been thrilling my iPod for the last few weeks. There are young artists releasing new stuff, old artists with new material, an import, an interesting setting for an established player, a reissue of an out of print recording and a new collection by a great master! And about the image at top? It IS Halloween week after all, and the folks at sheetmusicdigital have…

Image courtesy Hans Speekenbrink via AllAboutJazz.com Last night I took my family to see Pat Metheny and his Orchestrion live at the Anderson Performing Arts center in Binghamton, NY. Early this year I noted the introduction to the technology here and reviewed the CD here. When the concert tour was first announced, I was unsurprised that the nearest spots would be about four hours away from me (one thing I really miss about the Boston area!) So when a follow-up set of dates was announced in May that would bring Metheny within an hour … I grabbed tickets right away…