Death. Everyone will face it. The Quad City Symphony Orchestra and the Handel Oratorio Society jointly presented a concert April 2 that addressed the power of death, the frailty of life, and the comfort we seek in the face of both.
It has been more than a dozen years since Quad Citians have had the opportunity to catch an internationally known jazz act playing in a local nightclub, but on Sunday, April 30, jazz pianist and educator Willie Pickens will perform with his trio at the brand-new Redstone Room on the second floor of the River Music Experience in downtown Davenport.
Most bands are extensions of their leaders, but Scotland's Battlefield Band is something else entirely, nearly a living organism beyond its members. The group has been around since 1970, and a full-time affair since 1975, but Alan Reid is the only original member still in the band.
For Matt Oltman, the news that Chanticleer was auditioning singers didn't sound real. A friend told him about the opportunity when he was a master's student in England, he said, and his reaction was disbelief. "The Chicago Cubs are having open tryouts," he said by way of comparison.
Octane, the debut album from the Quad Cities' The One Night Standards, features a reverb-y guitar that calls no place home on the fret board, wandering place to place in search of the perfect combination of notes.
The story of Stanley Dural Jr. is the story of a kid who hated his father's music. His dad was an accordion player, and he would play the instrument in their Louisiana home before and after his job as an auto mechanic.

Tumatoe Catch-Up

For a guy with the blues, Duke Tumatoe is remarkably upbeat. In a recent phone interview, the musician observed, "Life is inherently taken too seriously," and he's spent most of his career - the last 20 years headlining Dr.
From the jungle of Puerto Rico to America’s heartland, the Quad City Symphony Orchestra transported the audience with its renditions of several very different yet similarly influenced composers on February 4. Guest conductor Harvey Felder invited the audience at the almost-packed Centennial Hall to experience the art of three fairly modern composers who wrote music based on their heritage.
The new band Patio has never played a public show. Yet it's fair to say that a large number of people will be interested in the four-piece outfit. Patio features singer-guitarist Pat Willis, drummer-singer Erik Wilson, bassist Dan Olds, and sax player Derrick Reid.
On ICYC Live 2005, there's a track by the Iowa City world-music ensemble Euforquestra called "Tramba" that illustrates what's so great about live recordings: In a live setting, anything can happen, and strange things often do.

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