While it’s no surprise that Chicago-to-Brooklyn transplant Joel Ross is a smooth-operating protégé of fellow vibraphonist Stefon Harris, it is shocking how far Ross has … Read More “Joel Ross: The Parable of the Poet (Blue Note)”
Wisconsin-born and proud: For all of the avant-everything complexity Ethan Iverson has applied to his solo projects or the sounds he created in his role … Read More “Ethan Iverson Returns to Basics and Looks Toward the Future on Blue Note Debut”
Javon Jackson has a lengthy history as a leathery-toned and warm tenor-sax man, yet it’s his role as an educator that steered him toward the … Read More “Javon Jackson: The Gospel According to Nikki Giovanni (Solid Jackson)”
Paying tribute to Sérgio Mendes with a spirited sound that blends jazz improvisation, Uruguayan candombe, and breezy Airto/Flora-esque pop is never a bad thing. Just … Read More “Brasuka Moves Beyond Sérgio Mendes”
Beginning with 2001’s The Philadelphia Experiment, then moving onto editions inspired by Detroit and Harlem, producer Aaron Luis Levinson and his local casts (?uestlove, Christian … Read More “The Chicago Experiment: The Chicago Experiment (Ropeadope)”
On an unseasonably warm evening in December, just at the opening break of Omicron and yet another shift in everyone’s lives, alto saxophonist/composer Immanuel Wilkins … Read More “Immanuel Wilkins Aims to Communicate the Spirit Within on The 7th Hand“
Memphis’ late great towering pianist Harold Mabern had it all down cold. Whether it was the many shades of bop, the varied hues of the … Read More “Harold Mabern: Mabern Plays Coltrane (Smoke Sessions)”
From his abrasive bunching of chords to his languid, lovely melodic flow, Bola Sete was the most deliciously puzzling of all Brazilian jazz and bossa/samba … Read More “Bola Sete: Samba in Seattle: Live at the Penthouse 1966-1968 (Tompkins Square)”
It’s a hot August mid-morning in Manhattan, and Danny Bennett is zooming along. He’s been moving at top speed pretty much all the time ever … Read More “Danny Bennett on the Final Album and Retirement of Tony Bennett”
Tom Cohen is always good for a richly descriptive album title. From the same guy who named his first leader album Diggin’ In – Digging … Read More “Tom Cohen: My Take (Versa)”
G. Calvin Weston laughs a lot when he talks. Or maybe he just talks a lot when he laughs. If you spend any time around … Read More “G. Calvin Weston Keeps Moving Forward”
Hardly a novice as a leader or sideman, tenor saxophonist, occasional bass clarinetist, and composer Chet Doxas has rarely received his flowers. Viewed through the … Read More “Chet Doxas: You Can’t Take It with You (Whirlwind)”
Why Joey DeFrancesco would need another organist in his band seems beyond reason. After all, he’s been breathing new life into the organ-trio aesthetic for … Read More “Joey DeFrancesco: More Music (Mack Avenue)”
Beloved for his many cool collaborations with Tim Berne, John Zorn, and Marc Ribot, drummer/improviser/composer Ches Smith is best served hot, under his own name—on … Read More “Ches Smith Explores Haitian Vodou Music with We All Break”
Like its author, a memoir of John Lurie’s could zig and zag in a dozen directions. There’s the acting career that brought him to the … Read More “John Lurie: The History of Bones (Random House)”
Since her 2017 debut A Social Call, Jazzmeia Horn—like her fellow Dallas native Erykah Badu—has plumbed the art of vocalizing in a manner suggesting a gold … Read More “Jazzmeia Horn and Her Noble Force: Dear Love (Empress Legacy)”
Georgia Anne Muldrow laughs easily when she speaks. The charm of her laughter does not come from anything silly, although she can be downright funny … Read More “Georgia Anne Muldrow Blazes her Own Trail”
Cleveland-born, Bay Area-based jazz vocalist Ed Reed may not have a thousand recording credits to his name. He has, however, lived a life as long … Read More “Ed & Diane Reed: Double Helix: A Memoir of Addiction, Recovery, and Jazz in Two Voices (ReedsWrite)”
Like his deliciously complicated mix of classical influences, free-jazz innovation, progressive fusion complexity, angular art rock, quiet-storming R&B, and Black consciousness, the zigs and zags … Read More “Overdue Ovation: Todd Cochran Returns to Jazz and Acoustic Piano”
Carrying a chill that could freeze a martini glass and a clipped elegance worthy of Noël Coward in a leather bar, Patricia Barber’s unique voice—and … Read More “Patricia Barber: Clique (Impex)”
Last heard from in a pro-protest folkish setting on Songs of Resistance 1942-2018, guitarist Marc Ribot was appalled by the Trump presidency from the start and … Read More “Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog: Hope (Northern Spy)”
Like an ornery real-estate magnate, the work of Nick Millevoi screams, “Location, location, location.” Whether as a composer or as a guitarist, he makes music … Read More “Nick Millevoi Honors Philadelphia with Album and Book”
God bless Roy Nathanson. At 70, the saxophonist/poet has become the de facto representative of all that oddball jazz can offer via his work as a Lounge … Read More “Nick Hakim & Roy Nathanson: Small Things (NYXO)”
Florida-born, Philadelphia-dwelling Khan Jamal has too often found favor and fame as part of someone else’s show: Byard Lancaster’s Cosmic Forces in the late ’60s, … Read More “Khan Jamal: Infinity (Jazz Room)”
Jazz classicist (or classically inspired jazz keyboardist—either works) Uri Caine has always played several decks at once, fanning each hand as wide as it can … Read More “Uri Caine: The Passion of Octavius Catto Remix (Winter & Winter) / Catbird (816)”
In the fall of that notorious election year of 2016, six-time Grammy-winning arranger/composer Vince Mendoza was working on a commission from the Czech National Symphony … Read More “Vince Mendoza: Back to the World”
Though eventually known for her compositional skill (nearly 300 songs, along with co-writes on Disney’s Lady and the Tramp originals), Peggy Lee was initially renowned as … Read More “Peggy Lee: Something Wonderful: Peggy Lee Sings the Great American Songbook (Omnivore)”
For JazzTimes’ (and this writer’s) first time back to physical, face-front-to-the-stage live performance in more than a year, one thing was certain: It was spooky. … Read More “Review: Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra Septet in Pennsylvania”
Any reason to celebrate the late, great Ornette Coleman will always be a good one. On the occasion of the master saxophonist, composer, and harmolodic … Read More “Miguel Zenón: Law Years: The Music of Ornette Coleman (Miel)”
Absorption. Energy. Pinched nerves. Grandmothers. These might seem like off-kilter topics for an interview with athletic Israeli pianist/composer Shai Maestro and his equally intense longtime … Read More “Shai Maestro Is Only Human”
