John D. Rockefeller once said, “A friendship founded on business is better than a business……...
Winter 2018
Publisher's Letter
Prelude
Modern improvised electric music isn’t exactly your father’s fusion. In fact, the genre has expanded……...
After Donald Trump was elected president, Marc Ribot sat down and cried. “That was my……...
On an early August evening in the Los Angeles suburb of Studio City, Senri Oe……...
There is a rich tradition of political and social activism in jazz, and in recent……...
Since being passed the torch by such revered elders as Art Blakey, Ray Brown, Betty……...
Jeff Goldblum’s famously eccentric charm comes bursting out the moment he picks up the phone….…...
By most metrics, pianist Harold Mabern is a jazz legend. His discography is vast and……...
Traditions
Although he’s covered a song or two on previous releases, The Literature (Pine Eagle) marks……...
Magazine Features
As heard on a vast range of memorable music released in the past year, the……...
Tall, lithe, laid-back yet quick-witted, flashing bright-white smiles that look alternatively knowing or goofy, Jon……...
It’s not that odd to find a visual artist sketching musicians onstage at a jazz……...
Vocalist Luciana Souza laughs as she describes how she convinced singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen to let……...
Before he ever decides to step foot into a recording studio, Stefon Harris always asks……...
Rudy Royston is a thinking man’s drummer. At 47, he’s most widely known to the……...
All was calm when I arrived at Gilad Hekselman’s Brooklyn apartment on a sunny August……...
Auditions
The music of Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, Miles Davis and the Count Basie Band has……...
With a career that was essentially born in New York City’s Knitting Factory scene of……...
Throughout 2015, following in Tchaikovsky’s footsteps, saxophonist Ben Wendel released the first iteration of The……...
The title, of course, has nothing to do with lighter-hoisting encore-shouters at a Lynyrd Skynyrd……...
From fear of heights to stage fright, Warsaw-born guitarist and composer Rafal Sarnecki has been……...
This third — and best — release by pianist Orrin Evans’ Captain Black Big Band……...
is among the character traits that define the most successful creative artists. And Buster Williams,……...
Eternally youthful Günter “Baby” Somer, 75, seems to enjoy himself every time he plays. The……...
Spiderwebmandala is a fully improvised live set by pianist Carol Liebowitz and clarinetist Bill Payne,……...
Swiss trombonist Samuel Blaser is an important, relatively new voice on his instrument who boasts……...
Some recordings jolt listeners with new ideas that take the music in previously unimagined directions….…...
Much of the music Phronesis has made since their 2005 debut has had a dark……...
In the still-formative yet substantial recorded output of Cécile McLorin Salvant, the Miami-born vocalist has……...
The year-long incubation of trumpeter Russell-Gunn’s 19-piece Royal Krunk Orchestra has paid off with dividends….…...
Manic expressives like Bob James never really take hiatuses, they simply blend into other musicians’……...
On her second release, the dynamic Crime Zone, Los Angeles-based pianist Connie Han exhibits a refreshing inventiveness……...
Coda
Thirty years ago, when I worked at Columbia University, I would often walk a few……...