Thanks to camps like this one in Birmingham, Alabama, some teen musicians will have a chance to continue their musical training and education, in jazz and other forms of music. We just need funding for more of them:

Video for Esperanza Spalding’s much-anticipated Chamber Music Society release, due out on August 17th.

What a long strange trip it’s been, but we’ve returned after successfully changing publishing software after a month or more of looking for alternatives to Google’s Blogger, which would would sync up with work we’d previously done.

We’re now using WordPress and we can already see that theJazzPage will be 100% better off for the transition. So we’re back in business and catching up on some past reviews we’ve missed during period while we were away. Got some good music? We want to hear it!

It’s been a crazy month since we last published, but we are almost done with the transition to a new publishing system and will back in a few days to pick up were we left off. Even in the midst of finding the site in a bit of a challenging time, we found some things we could improve upon from the previous version and we find these changes very gratifying. We’ve also managed to hear a lot of great music during our time away and we can’t wait to share it with you. Thank you for your patience during our unplanned hiatus.

Feb. 28, 2010 – For a couple of hours on Sunday afternoon, we got to hang out with some very cool people and hear some very cool music. The occasion was the arrival of the Monterey Jazz Festival All-Stars at the Alys Robinson Stephens Perfoming Arts Center in Birmingham, Alabama.

The feature artists were recent Grammy Award winner, Kurt Elling, MacArthur Genius Grant Winner, violinist Regina Carter, master pianist Kenny Barron, guitar virtuoso Russell Malone, bassist Kiyoshi Kitagawa, and drummer Johnathan Blake. The result of this collaboration of talent and venue was pure aural art.

Opening with a ensemble jam session that included a vocal/scat rendition of Thelonius Monk’s “Rhythm-A-Ning” and “When I Grow Too Old To Dream”, the program was a shifting showcase that gave each artist his–or her–moment to shine. Malone’s segment was the rendering version of the song “Like a Lover” in his trademark fingerworked guitar style. Elling offered a lovely version of his “And We Will Fly” and later, “You Are Too Beautiful”, which he introduced as a song from a Hartman/Coltrane tribute that he recorded, never mentioning that it had won him his first Grammy earlier this month.

Carter’s moment to shine, and shine she did, was on the Billie Holiday classic “Don’t Explain” with Barron accompanying her. In addtion to some tremendous piano solo, Barron’s nicest contribution to the set came in the form of “Theme Number One”, a tune he wrote for opening of small indie film called “Another Harvest Moon”, which he proclaimed in its introduction, “You’ll probably never see”.

Elling who was humble, witty and funny throughout, returned afterwards to remark, “That is a very cool tune for a Sunday afternoon, or Sunday morning, or anytime. I’m just sayin’”. When he added, “It might not be good NASCAR”, there was a roar of laughter from the house. The show closed with a rousing ovation and an encore of “Ok, Alright,You Win (I’m In Love With You)”.

Some critics of the show have been quick to say that the show is problematic, in that it doesn’t take chances, but given that these are shows for an audience that does not attend get to hear jazz artists of this calibur on a regular basis, it gets the job done (though Blake’s drum solos could be a little shorter).

The show proves that there’s something special about seeing a stage full of real music professionals at work that is inspiring and this is a more than solid lineup of players more than fits the bill in that regard.

Feb. 24, 2010 – Join us for our conversations with two outstanding artists, Babatunde Lea and Tineke Postma, in the coming days.

On Thursday, February 25th at 2PM EST, we’ll be talking to master percussionist and drummer Babatunde Lea about his latest recording, a tribute to the great Leon Thomas, titled Umbo Weti.

Due to technical difficulties, we had to reschedule to our chat with saxophonist Tineke Postma to March 2nd at 2PM EST.

You can listen live at the JazzPage’s BlogTalkRadio channel by clicking on the link for the prospective guest on the day of the show.

If you miss them, both shows will be archived for listening at your convenience.

Feb. 23, 2010 - Esperanza Spalding’s appearance on PBS’ Austin City Limits, which was recorded last fall, aired this month on the program.

In case you missed it, you can check it out here (Tip: Expand the video window to fullscreen, if your computer can handle it).

From multiple performances at the White House, to being selected by President Obama to perform at his Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Norway, it’s been quite a year for Ms. Spalding.

It seems hard to believe that it was almost exactly a year ago that we were sitting backstage with her after a performance in Birmingham talking about art.

Feb. 19, 2010 - Jackie Ryan was the first guest in TheJazzPage’s Conversations series on Thursday, February 18th at 2PM EST. The 30-minute interview was broadcasted live on BlogTalkRadio.com

The archive recording of the interview with Ms. Ryan is now available in the Conversations section of our site. Click here to check it out.