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caleb elzinga

Caleb Elzinga is a tenor saxophonist from Grand Rapids Michigan. He graduated from Michigan State University with his Undergraduate Degree, and later Western Michigan University with a Master’s Degree in Jazz Performance. Learning from great saxophonists Professor Diego Rivera(MSU) and Dr. Andrew Rathbun(WMU), he is an experienced improvisor with a wide variety of influences. Having played in many projects performing Jazz, Rock, Funk, R&B, and Reggae, he is comfortable in many genres. While in school, he also had the opportunity to play and work with artists such as Christian McBride, Jon Faddis, Herlin Riley, Randy Brecker, Antonio Hart, and George Garzone.

Lee Heerspink: Monsters' Impromptu

Read "Monsters' Impromptu" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
October 26, 2021

There is ample energy and enthusiasm on Michigan-based guitarist Lee Heerspink's debut recording, Monsters' Impromptu, which consists of seven of the leader's funk/fusion-based compositions performed by an admirable quintet whose members are clearly in sync with Heerspink's assertive point of view, and lend him their unflagging support. Six of the seven compositions are bright, buoyant anthems in the time-tested guitar and organ tradition. The exception is the ballad “Rinse Cycle," on which Heerspink shows his sentimental side, ...

Album Review

Alfredo Balcacer: 9 Paredes

Read "9 Paredes" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
October 15, 2020

If there's anything that can bind the artistic community in 2020, it's an understanding of isolation's impact. For guitarist Alfredo Balcacer, who was quarantining in his home city of Santo Domingo when COVID-19 closed everybody in, a sense of disorder and frustration, leavened by solace and acceptance, quickly became the norm. But rather than sit by and feel helpless, he filtered those feelings into his music.“9 Parades" (or “9 Walls") speaks to Balcacer's experiences spending months cooped up ...