María Grand Moves Her Music Closer to Nature
There are four of us on the Zoom call. Sometimes five, depending on whether Ayní, María Grand’s 10-month-old son, has crawled onto her lap. Grand … Read More “María Grand Moves Her Music Closer to Nature”
Natalie Weiner
Natalie Weiner writes about music for a variety of publications including JazzTimes, Billboard, The New York Times, Pitchfork and Rolling Stone. She is also a staff writer at SB Nation where she covers women’s sports and the NFL. Previously, she was a staff writer at Bleacher Report, and an associate editor at Billboard magazine.
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Kassa Overall: A Different Kind of Fusion
Kassa Overall, the drummer/rapper/producer whose work pushes the limits of any working definition of jazz, knows what you think of him. “Sometimes people assume, ‘Oh, … Read More “Kassa Overall: A Different Kind of Fusion”
Nubya Garcia Stands Out on London’s Jazz Scene
The first thing you hear is a bright, asymmetrical, unison melody that’s repeated enough times to stay in your head. Then, suddenly, it’s tempered by a … Read More “Nubya Garcia Stands Out on London’s Jazz Scene”
David Sánchez and the African Tinge
Like his music, David Sánchez operates in many places at once. The tenor saxophonist, who returns frequently to his native Puerto Rico, is speaking to JazzTimes on the phone from his home in Atlanta, but he’s just returned from a three-week residency in Colombia and is preparing to fly to the Dominican Republic. Those flight … Read More “David Sánchez and the African Tinge”
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Chris Potter: Life After Being Overrated
“It’s like asking, ‘Do you ever get tired of living?’ You do, but it’s always temporary.” Chris Potter is laughing as he tries to explain how, 30 years after he arrived in New York as one of jazz music’s most heralded prodigies, he’s still motivated to write, record, and perform. For the acclaimed saxophonist, now … Read More “Chris Potter: Life After Being Overrated”
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Adam O’Farrill Does Not Play Latin Jazz
Above: Adam O’Farrill at the Vision Festival in Brooklyn, N.Y., May 2018. Photo by Marek Lazarski. One day when Adam O’Farrill was around five, he had a remarkable experience that, as he is careful to note, may or may not have been prophetic. He was visiting the Upper West Side apartment of the late saxophonist … Read More “Adam O’Farrill Does Not Play Latin Jazz”
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It’s Still Not Betty Davis Time, But We’re Getting There
To be ahead of one’s time requires that one’s time eventually arrives. Despite the current, belated critical appreciation for Betty Davis’ work, her music remains jarring to the contemporary listener. Its aggressive, stripped-down, abstract funk is certainly much different from the glossy, R&B-driven version of that music currently peddled by artists like Bruno Mars and … Read More “It’s Still Not Betty Davis Time, But We’re Getting There”
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Shabaka Hutchings Wants a Revolution
Shabaka Hutchings’ new album is about what you think it’s about. Its title, Your Queen Is a Reptile, is not a metaphor or an allegory: The record’s goal is to challenge what Hutchings views as the mythology of the monarchy. Instead of a lizard Queen Elizabeth—a queen who “does not see us as human,” as … Read More “Shabaka Hutchings Wants a Revolution”
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Reuben Rogers: A Satisfied Sideman
“I was like, ‘What is all this crazy stuff? I’m not feeling that.’” About an hour before he takes the stage alongside Charles Lloyd for a gig at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, Reuben Rogers is reminiscing about the first time he heard the jazz legend: on tape, via a gift from a fellow … Read More “Reuben Rogers: A Satisfied Sideman”
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Julian Lage: Modern Lore (Mack Avenue)
Guitarist Julian Lage once again indulges his inner historian on Modern Lore, the follow-up to his trio’s 2016 studio debut, Arclight. The latter was inspired by the pre-bop tunes of the early 1920s, and the former plays off a much more alien influence (at least in the jazz and jazz-adjacent realms): early rock. But as … Read More “Julian Lage: Modern Lore (Mack Avenue)”
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Daymé Arocena: Cuban Revelation
Daymé Arocena doesn’t mince words when it comes to her goals: “I’m fighting for Cuba,” she says on the phone from Havana, where she was born 25 years ago and still lives today. Though the singer earned international acclaim early into her career, thanks to co-signs from saxophonist Jane Bunnett and impresario Gilles Peterson, two … Read More “Daymé Arocena: Cuban Revelation”
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Danny Grissett: Remembrance (Savant)
While loss happens in an instant, the grief that follows can linger long after life appears to be back to normal. Remembrance, pianist Danny Grissett’s first album on Savant and sixth as a leader, taps into this idea of endurance as homage; the project is a tribute to his older brother Robert Grissett Jr., who … Read More “Danny Grissett: Remembrance (Savant)”
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Review: Jazz re:freshed Live at Nublu in NYC
Like so many hip things, it would have been easy to write off as a product of the ambiance: Everyone at the second of Jazz re:freshed’s two New York shows this August was altogether too cool-looking—they were dancing too freely and Instagramming too often, glowing under Lower East Side venue Nublu’s slick LED lighting. They … Read More “Review: Jazz re:freshed Live at Nublu in NYC”
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Is Jazz Still Sexist?
“So you’re really into jazz?” says the man, aghast. The man, and the context, are interchangeable. Old or young, at a party or the Newport Jazz Festival, it’s the same. A positive response to this patronizing question is never evidence enough; I will be vetted for my bona fides—regardless of his credentials—until the man realizes … Read More “Is Jazz Still Sexist?”
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