Ashley Kahn is a Grammy-winning American music historian, journalist, producer, and professor. He teaches at New York University’s Clive Davis Institute for Recorded Music, and has written books on two legendary recordings—Kind of Blue by Miles Davis and A Love Supreme by John Coltrane—as well as one book on a legendary record label: The House That Trane Built: The Story of Impulse Records. He also co-authored the Carlos Santana autobiography The Universal Tone, and edited Rolling Stone: The Seventies, a 70-essay overview of that pivotal decade.
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The full legacy of some musicians can be gauged as much by tracing their impact on those they trained as by their own performances. Guitarist … Read More “Ted Dunbar: Teacher Man to Nile Rodgers, Kevin Eubanks, and Many Others”
There’s a story Nile Rodgers likes to share, an early career lesson. It was at the onset of the 1970s; the precocious guitarist—still a teenager … Read More “Nile Rodgers: From Jazz Roots”
There’s a tune called “Clouds” on Gratitude—saxophonist Dayna Stephens’ ninth and latest album, from 2017—that captures his personality well. Serene on the surface, it opens … Read More “Before & After: Dayna Stephens”
Hanging with Lewis Porter brings an exciting promise of discovery—some unknown fact about a jazz hero or some new insight into an historic recording. It … Read More “Before & After: Lewis Porter”
One of the most impressive things about Adam Nussbaum is the stylistic range of the music he’s made. He played with James Moody for many … Read More “Adam Nussbaum: Groove Waves, Lead Belly, and a Plethora of Puns”
These days, the name for what I teach is either Non-Performance Studies or Emergent Media. When I started teaching, only 15 years ago, it was … Read More “Ashley Kahn: Meet the Professor”
Just back from touring summertime Europe with the Mingus Big Band, Robin Eubanks has driven in from his home in northern New Jersey to meet … Read More “Robin Eubanks: Representing the Trombone Community”
Every now and then at Holland’s annual North Sea Jazz Festival, the Jazz Café—the small room that hosts the festival’s talk events—fills to capacity. People … Read More “A Conversation with Michael League and Terrace Martin”
If you haven’t caught Johnny O’Neal lately, you really should. The Detroit-born pianist and vocalist, whose fabled history includes a stint as a Jazz Messenger … Read More “Johnny O’Neal: Pianist, Singer, Storyteller”
For audiences, a jazz festival “artist-in-residence” gig offers a special chance to hear a leading musician stretch out in various contexts, over the course of … Read More “Mark Guiliana: Searching for a Special Feeling”
In this extensive interview with jazz piano legend Ahmad Jamal, Ashley Kahn explores his long history in the music and his remarkable ties to legends … Read More “Ahmad Jamal: Walking History”
To the jaundiced American eye, downtown Oslo—particularly along the walking street Karl Johans gate—is refreshingly neat and clean, with a healthy balance of older and … Read More “Review: Oslo Jazz Festival 2017”
Twenty-seventeen marks a number of anniversaries of solemn significance for the Coltrane family. It’s been 50 years since John died and 10 since Alice Coltrane … Read More “Alice Coltrane: “The Gifts God Gave Him””
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.
A listener, and storyteller, for the ages
On civil rights, and jazz as protest
Lots of insight, on little sleep
Saxophonist talks Hank Crawford, Steve Coleman and many more
Way out West
Resolutely modern, with a classic-tenor core
Discussing the indelible influence of Lady Day
Listening to Art Blakey, Elvin Jones, the MJQ and more
Just beautiful
Intimacy, connection and a relaxed energy
Ears for all eras
Low end, high spirits
A sense of sax history
A world-class festival that’s bound to its community
ln praise of Woody, Wynton and more
Finding value in any style or sound
