The breeze is blowing on a beautiful day next to the waters of the Atlantic. The sky is clear and Newport, Rhode Island is filled with avid jazz fans ready for a day packed with a spectacular array of famous names and bands. In 1954, Elaine Lorrillard and George Wein founded the Newport Jazz Festival […]

  Clickbait! I’m sorry to let you down if you were expecting to read about the infamous(?) realm of KIDZ BOP covers. As you read on, you’ll catch on to the pun as bop is a subgenre of jazz.   Old MacDonald had a… Conjuction Junction, what’s your… The Itsy Bitsy Spider climbed up the… […]

I never thought I would be starting my college music experiences by playing my instruments with a special mask and a cover over my bell. Both of these products, combined with social distancing, proper air filtration, and practice time limit, are the only things allowing music to continue during these uncertain times where most everything […]

Jazz musicians playing with string groups or string orchestras dates back to the 1920’s and jazz clarinetist Artie Shaw played with a string quartet in 1936. In the 40’s, string sections began to appear in the big bands of Glen Miller, Tommy Dorsey, and Stan Kenton. The driving force behind the concept of jazz with […]

While the title may suggest it, I don’t frequent this particular bar for their beverage menu. This tiny bar and restaurant called the Penn Taproom, in the heart of downtown Doylestown, is known by many locals as a place to eat outside on summer nights or grab a drink to watch a sports game. Still, […]

One of the first things that came to mind as one of my biggest losses from the pandemic was the ability to make music with others (which is finally slowly coming back!). As you may have noticed from my profile, I attribute my personality largely to the numerous musical experiences I have had throughout my […]

There are a lot of different things that make me me. I am passionate about almost any endaevor I take on and it is hard to focus on only one or two. Happiness stems from so many areas of one’s life: friends, family, places, journeys, activities, entertainment, passions, and so on. There is an endless […]