The mainstream jazz outlets are quickly trying to transition to live stream programing. The Jazz Times Blog is attempting to keep track of live stream concerts on their online calendar.
For instance, Mingus Mondays features a solo performance every Monday evening. April 6th will feature Freddy Bryant (guitarist) performing from his home. All concerts take place on the Charles Mingus Facebook page.
Wynton Marsalis has launched a weekly Monday evening live stream conversation called “Skain’s Domain.” The live stream can be viewed at a.jazz.org/skainsdomain.
SF Jazz has launched Fridays at Five, which requires a digital membership to their website.
Many Artists have also started live streaming directly from their personal social media accounts.
Emmet Cohen (Piano), Russell Hall (bass), and Kyle Poole (drums), have begun live streaming on Facebook and Instagram every Monday evening. The live stream feeds are free to access and Cohen posts his Venmo, PayPal, and Cash-app accounts for people to donate (20% goes to a humanitarian relief fund).
In an instagram post, Cohen showed off all the different gifts he’s received from fans that have tuned into the livestream (including wine, face masks, and hand sanitizer).
Often live streamed concerts are happening without much publicity as live events calendars attempt to catch up with the this new temporary normal. Cecil Mclorin Salvant was scheduled to perform at SF Jazz a few weeks back but instead live-streamed an impromptu show from Angela Davis’s living room.
Like many live stream concerts, one’s ability to catch them will depend on if they follow the particular artist’s social media accounts (or if they catch wind of them from others who do).
Some musicians have attempted to continue live streaming via virtual collaboration instead of meeting up in person. For instance, in Asheville local musician Jason Decristafaro, who hosts the Monday Night OWB Jazz Jam and the Wednesday night SAB Jazz Jam, is now posting YouTube videos every Monday and Wednesday nights of featured musicians performing together virtually.
Frances Mehlenbacher
April 8, 2020 — 6:43 pm
I find it super interesting the alternative ways that jazz musicians are finding to replace their lost gigs and continue to stream their music. In our previous class, we’d been talking about the NYC jazz venue Smalls, and if they were doing any live streaming concerts to help fund their artists and venue. With their website continuing to be down, it can only be assumed Smalls is temporarily closed and not live streaming anything. However, while doing some more research, I found an interesting online festival called “Live From Our Living Rooms,” that took place from April 1st to April 7th. This “festival” as well as fundraiser, featured prominent jazz artists Chick Corea, Linda Oh, Christian McBride, Bill Frisell, and more. According to their website, “All proceeds will provide performance grants to New York City musicians whose freelance careers have been impacted by COVID-19.” MusicTalks, the non-profit that partnered with this event, works specifically to help fund New York musicians and artists and create dialogue between audiences and musicians.
I just thought this event seemed really cool as it virtually brought together several largely successful jazz artists from all over the U.S. to specifically help out the NYC jazz hub!
Links-
https://www.livefromourlivingrooms.com
https://www.music-talks.com