Ken Perlin has some of the coolest ideas, including Holodust, which I think is absolutely killer.
  ¶ 1:46 AM

The Chicago Jazz Quartet (CJQ) consists of vocalist and trumpeter Matt Lewis, pianist Benjamin Lewis, bassist Lorin Cohen and drummer Michael Raynor. They were recently visiting Pakistan under the US Jazz Ambassadors Programme, sponsored by the US State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Writes Mehreen Malik in the Daily Times of Pakistan:

The band played with several bent notes, odd intervals, and endangered chords, creating an eerie, beautiful tapestry of sound, at times very akin to John Coltrane’s sheets of sound and at other times more subdued and heart-felt like a David Gilmore guitar solo.

You can watch a very cool video of CJQ's entire performance at the Kennedy Centre Millennium Stage by clicking here and scrolling down the page. One neat thing to observe in this video is how bassist Lorin Cohen is playing a hybrid electric standup bass, which looks a bit quirky and sounds like a cross between an electric and an acoustic bass. Maybe it's just the way the video is encoded, but the bass sounds a little bit loud in the mix.

Speaking of free videos of concerts, the Kennedy Centre has an incredible wealth of them in their archive, which you can reach by clicking here! (if that Flash based site doesn't work for you, you can try the HTML based version here). The site seems to be having some technical difficulties, but I found that it worked after refreshing the page a few times.

Especially amazing is the 60 minute live Bobby Mcferrin concert which you can watch here.

  ¶ 10:05 PM

On saxophonist and composer Miguel Zenon, Branford Marsalis said, "I listen for musical intelligence. Lots of jazz musicians spend their lives studying and then trying to make music out of academics. Miguel just grabbed the music. He was able to take something intellectual and make it sound organic and natural." Zenon, who is only 26, has had a rather illustrious career so far in the world of jazz. This Boston Globe article talks a bit about Zenon's background. On his snazzy web site, Zenon generously provides lots of samples of his music, including three full length tracks recorded live at the Jazz Gallery in NYC. These are enjoyable performances all around: I especially enjoyed the judicious use of space in the solos (particularly the first half of the piano solo by Luis Perdomo).
  ¶ 2:31 AM