Blog
From full-band recordings to live performances and special events, WICN’s beautiful Studio 50 space is available on an hourly basis. Contact us for details.
Given the transitory lifestyle and traveling nature of jazz musicians in the ‘40s and ‘50s particularly, as a regular circuit of cities throughout the US offered venues reached mostly by long, often overnight bus rides—the equivalent of today’s red-eye flights–sidemen of this era often led a nomadic life. These many remarkable musicians, some more in […]
WICN Public Radio’s Brian Barlow Concert Series Presents: The Greg Abate Quartet, Friday, October 25th at 7:30 pm at the Worcester Historical Museum’s Fletcher Auditorium! Doors open at 6:30 pm Concert Starts at 7:30 pm Cash bar available (Beer, Wine & Hard Seltzer)** ** Tended by Oui Cocktails Longtime WICN favorite and Rhode Island […]
WICN host of The Public Eye–Al Vuona joined Worcester Chamber of Commerce President & CEO Tim Murray recently to discuss Underwriting and local Central MA business insights. Check out the full segment here:
Names like Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, and Dizzy Gillespie often dominate jazz-world conversations about the trailblazers who revolutionized their respective instruments. Yet the equally transcendent talent of jazz pianist Bud Powell deserves to stand tall with these icons. Renowned for his innovative approach to piano playing, Powell’s music helped shape the bebop era, profoundly influencing […]
Anytime a local band in the New York and New England area finds itself voted #1 out of 64 up-and-coming bands in NYS Music’s statewide March Madness competition (in 2021), it is significant. Buffalo-based band Organ Fairchild has been described as “a musical party that won’t quit.” As referenced in the biography category on AllAboutJazz.com, […]
The circle of jazz drummers that emerged in the 1950s set a new high for talent. Certain names repeat themselves as they joined seminal jazz trios, quartets, and quintets led by legendary bandleaders. Philly Joe Jones (aka Joseph Rudolph Jones) would establish his own fiery, volatile style – often referred to as “like a machine […]
Mark Lynch the host of WICN’s Inquiry had the opportunity to sit down and speak with several hosts and other members of WICN. If you missed hearing these interviews you can check them out below. We talk with WICN’s former General Manager of WICN: BRIAN BARLOW about his long and important history with the […]
In the jazz community, innumerable legendary bandleaders are familiar to jazz fans, yet often, it’s the sidemen at the core of that bandleader’s trio, quartet, or orchestra. At 83, Kenny Barron, pianist, composer, educator, and NEA jazz master, is the current statesman of piano accompaniment in jazz and a bandleader in his own right. As […]
Miles Davis stands, to many jazz scholars, jazz historians, and critics, as arguably the most influential jazz musician and composer in the post-World War II modern period. Jazz as a genre is a mélange of subcategories developed over 100-plus years of evolution, with a variety of essential musical contributors. However, some singular artists effect cataclysmic […]
By Doug Hall, WICN Contributing Writer As with standard jazz instruments, many players are responsible for popularizing them during different genre periods. For the vibraphone, there is no greater originator and virtuoso than Lionel Hampton. Hampton would become a pioneer in the use of the vibraphone as a soloist and later enjoy international fame as a […]