Billie Holiday tributes can get pretty lachrymose, but Chicago’s ebullient Dee Alexander is not one to throw a pity party. Here, as is her wont, … Read More “Metropolitan Jazz Octet: It’s Too Hot for Words– Celebrating Billie Holiday (Delmark)”
Ron Miles, a cornetist, composer, and educator who became a revered and innovative figure in jazz while maintaining a career in the far-flung state of … Read More “Ron Miles, Foremost Cornetist in Modern Jazz, Dies at 58”
John Gilbreath, executive director of Earshot Jazz, walked to the microphone on opening night to introduce the first concert of the 33rd Earshot Jazz Festival. … Read More “The 33rd Earshot Jazz Festival in Seattle”
When Charles Lloyd was a teenager in 1950s Memphis, he played saxophone in a jazz and R&B band that crossed the Mississippi River to play … Read More “The Pedal Steel Guitar Slides Into Jazz”
Keith Tippett, a pianist and composer who was a key innovator in British modern jazz, died June 14 at a hospital in London. He was … Read More “British Jazz Pianist Keith Tippett Dies at 72”
As JazzTimes’ fifth decade in business drew to a close, I took a look back at the year-end lists compiled from the votes of our … Read More “The Decade in Review: Best Jazz Albums of the 2010s”
One of the many highlights of the 40th Detroit Jazz Festival was a freewheeling conversation in the Talk Tent between three charismatic female vocalists. The … Read More “Sheila Jordan, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Veronica Swift: Three Generations of Vocal Jazz”
This is a banner year for 50th anniversaries: Woodstock, the Apollo 11 moon landing—and the founding of New England Conservatory’s jazz studies program. Although degree … Read More “The New England Conservatory: Jazz at 50”
The Metropolitan Opera in New York City will present trumpeter Terence Blanchard’s opera Fire Shut Up in My Bones in a forthcoming season, the company … Read More “Metropolitan Opera Will Present Terence Blanchard Opera Fire Shut Up In My Bones“
The 39th edition of the Cathedral Park Jazz Festival will take place Friday, July 19 to Sunday, July 21 under St. Johns Bridge in North … Read More “39th Annual Cathedral Park Jazz Festival Set for July 19-21”
Pianist and educator Ellen Rowe strolls into “Ain’t I a Woman,” the first track on her new record Momentum: Portraits of Women in Motion, with … Read More “Ellen Rowe Octet: Momentum: Portraits of Women in Motion (Smokin’ Sleddog)”
Charles Dickens, that prose poet of Christmas, believed that the end of the year—the holiday portion—not only was made for the best celebrations but also … Read More “The Greatest Jazz Christmas Performance of All Time”
The Art Ensemble of Chicago in full cry, especially on a 50th-anniversary tour, is a powerful way to kick off a jazz festival. That said, … Read More “Live Review: 2018 JazzMi Jazz Festival”
On a recent evening at Jazz Standard in Manhattan, Mary Halvorson was hunched over her large hollowbody guitar, unleashing some alien sounds. Though her instrument—a … Read More “Mary Halvorson: Reinventing the Identity of the Jazz Guitarist”
The Playboy Jazz Festival celebrated its 40th anniversary at the Hollywood Bowl this year, and since its inauguration, much has changed. The lineup in 1979, … Read More “Live Review: 2018 Playboy Jazz Festival”
Grammy Award-winning bassist-composer-recording artist Ben Williams will serve as the first-ever DC Jazz Festival Artist-in-Residence. As part of the residency program, the Washington, D.C. native … Read More “DC Jazz Festival Names Ben Williams First Artist-in-Residence”
Alan Broadbent has played in major bands like Charlie Haden’s Quartet West, has made over a dozen strong piano-trio albums, and has won Grammy Awards … Read More “Alan Broadbent With the London Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra: Developing Story (Eden River)”
SFJAZZ is a powerful cultural institution based in San Francisco. It even has its own 700-seat venue, the SFJAZZ Center, where it presents more than … Read More “SFJAZZ Collective: Music of Miles Davis & Original Compositions (SFJAZZ)”
Many of the legendary Manhattan nightspots where jazz musicians got their start are long gone but certainly not forgotten. It’s hard to imagine the careers of Duke Ellington, Miles Davis or Dizzy Gillespie without the Cotton Club, the Royal Roost or the Five Spot. Ashley Kahn makes a decade-by-decade selection of the city’s defining clubs.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art has announced its MetLiveArts programming for the 2017-18 season, including three jazz events taking place at Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium. Thelonious … Read More “MetLiveArts Jazz Events Announced”
Headline acts for the 2017 DC JazzFest have been announced, with a wide range of leading artists slated to perform including Gregory Porter, Robert Glasper … Read More “DC Jazz Festival Announces 2017 Headline Artists”
That Mary Halvorson has been able to build this octet with such painstaking, formfitting continuity over the past eight years is a testament to her … Read More “Mary Halvorson Octet: Away With You”
Additions include the Arturo O’Farrill Octet, Ben Wendel’s Seasons Band and more
Read More “NYC Jazzfest Adds Over 30 New Acts to 2017 Lineup”
The Jason Roebke Octet is the gathering of a tribe, a robust contingent of Chicago-based bandleaders who came to prominence mostly during the aughts and … Read More “Jason Roebke Octet: Cinema Spiral”
Arturo O’Farril, pianist, composer, educator, and founder and Artistic Director of the nonprofit Afro Latin Jazz Alliance, was born in Mexico and grew up in … Read More “Arturo O’Farrill and the Afro-Latin Jazz Octet”
Milan concert was final stop on the band’s recent tour
Read More “Photos: Arturo O’Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Octet”
Bria Skonberg Quintet and Maceo Parker close out a day by the sea
Read More “Photo Gallery: North Carolina’s 9th Annual Duck Jazz Festival”
A wide-ranging program and warm, sunny weather at this jazz institution
“A very cool concept” returns to the Met
The founding template for the SFJAZZ Collective, devised by saxophonist Joshua Redman and executive artistic director Randall Kline in 2004, was a stroke of genius. … Read More “SFJAZZ Collective: 10–10th Anniversary: Best of-Live at the SFJAZZ Center”
Russ Davis previews the 60th anniversary of the historic jazz festival
Read More “Newport Jazz Festival @ 60: From Jazz Jazz to Jammin’ Jazz”
From fusion to Fantasia, a cross-section of styles
Al Jarreau & Stanley Clarke on their planned tribute to George Duke
Discussing his octet’s blend of textures and soloists in this album’s liner notes, bassist Jason Roebke states, “It’s a struggle, but that’s sort of the … Read More “Jason Roebke Octet: High/Red/Center”
Our contributors’ lists of the best releases of 2013
Read More “JazzTimes’ Top 50 CDs of 2013: Individual Ballots”
Outfits like Swing Fever exist all over the country, mini-neo-big-bands dedicated to preserving the music of Ellington, Goodman and the like. Most of them dig … Read More “Swing Fever Presents Clark Terry, Buddy DeFranco, Terry Gibbs and Jackie Ryan: Grand Masters of Jazz”
With its latest ambitious recording, the San Francisco-based SFJAZZ Collective celebrates another great composer (the group’s modus operandi), a new venue and a new addition … Read More “SFJAZZ Collective: Live: SFJAZZ Center 2013–The Music of Chick Corea & New Compositions”
Favorites by the Singers Unlimited, the Mills Brothers, Mel Tormé and the Mel-Tones and more
Read More “Artist’s Choice: Janis Siegel on Essential Jazz Vocal Group Performances”
MOJA Radio’s Russ Davis runs down the slate of performances and events at the upcoming festival in the Motor City
Read More “2013 Detroit Jazz Festival Preview: Motown at Its Best!”
Recorded live, session features reimagined early recordings
Sometimes Rob Mazurek’s compositions begin quietly and move slowly. Recent works by the Chicago Underground Duo and the Exploding Star Orchestra have been as much … Read More “Rob Mazurek Octet: Skull Sessions”
Certain Mosaic boxes pull rank on others, no small accomplishment given the unilateral quality of the company’s various releases. This particular set, though, is one … Read More “Charles Mingus: The Jazz Workshop Concerts 1964-1965”
If Charlie Haden’s Quartet West is jazz-noir, Bronze Nemesis is pulp-jazz. Scott Robinson’s protean and flexible group delivers 12 tracks celebrating proto-superhero Doc Savage, a … Read More “Scott Robinson Doctette: Bronze Nemesis”
Thirty-eight U.S.-based ensembles and presenters in all receive support
Nefarious nuisance or blessing in disguise?
Public schools will take part in peer-to-peer education program and performance
Read More “Thelonious Monk Institute Brings High School Jazz Sextet to Boston”
Bill Frisell, Steve Winwood and others scheduled for the British event
Read More “Cheltenham Jazz Festival Booked for 1st Weekend in May”
Seasons is best approached as a DVD release with bonus audio CD, not vice versa. The April 2011 performance features four guitarists (Anthony Wilson, Steve … Read More “Anthony Wilson: Seasons: Live At the Metropolitan Museum of Art”
