Columnists

Saxophonist Dave Pietro’s evolving tone still swings

People like alto saxophonist Dave Pietro tend not to get famous by playing their music. But even if fame doesn’t arrive, people like Pietro, who’s returning to the Kansas City area for two shows this weekend, will still be driven to make the best music they can by any means necessary.

Previous Columns

Roy Ayers’ music has a hopeful note

Feb 8, 9:04 PM

In the 1970s, vibraphonist and vocalist Roy Ayers, who headlines Saturday at the Gem Theater, made popular music that represented the most hopeful feelings of the time. And he’s doing his best to bring those feelings back in a genre-bending show that’s not just a greatest-hits revue.

Sax protege Grace Kelly is old enough to know the best

Feb 1, 8:00 PM

How did 19-year-old alto saxophonist and singer Grace Kelly get so far so quickly? She’s following a traditional strategy for improving oneself as a musician: Once you get good, surround yourself with those who are even better. Like alto saxophone master Phil Woods, with whom she shares the Folly Theater stage on Saturday.