Shaun Brady is a Philadelphia-based journalist who covers jazz along with an eclectic array of arts, culture, and travel. Brady contributes regularly to the Philadelphia Inquirer and JazzTimes and Jazziz magazines, with subjects ranging from legendary artists to underground experimentalists. His byline has appeared in DownBeat, Metro, NPR Music, and The A.V. Club, among other outlets. He studied filmmaking at Columbia College Chicago and continues to spend too much time in the dark.
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“Reunion” was the watchword for the 40th annual Detroit Jazz Festival, which welcomed back five of its former artists-in-residence for the occasion. But one unwelcome … Read More “Live Review: 2019 Detroit Jazz Festival”
While Pharoah Sanders earned jazz immortality with his own “The Creator Has a Master Plan,” some of his finest recorded moments have been on projects … Read More “5 Great Albums Featuring Pharoah Sanders, Sideman”
On one of her most recent visits to Philadelphia, Marilyn Crispell visited the house where she’d grown up for the first time since she’d moved … Read More “Overdue Ovation: Marilyn Crispell”
Besides the funky ferocity of his bass playing, Jamaaladeen Tacuma is famous for his eclectic sartorial ensembles. As the curator of the Outsiders Improvised & … Read More “Live Review: Outsiders Fest in Philadelphia”
Sometime in 1969, an ad ran in the Chicago Defender, the city’s long-running African-American weekly: “Musician Sells Out!” It was typical of Lester Bowie’s sly sense … Read More “The Art Ensemble of Chicago’s Way Forward”
Knoxville, Tenn.’s determinedly eclectic Big Ears Festival celebrated its 10th anniversary with a packed long weekend of boundary-stretching music from March 21 to 24. Rather … Read More “Live Review: Big Ears Festival 2019”
While Jon Batiste famously uses the term “social music” for his crowd-pleasing, genre-blurring approach, the music of Huntertones—the band co-led by Batiste’s Stay Human bandmate, trumpeter … Read More “Huntertones: Social Media Music”
Photo above: Max Roach at the Three Deuces, New York, 1947 (William P. Gottlieb Collection/Library of Congress). Last October, JazzTimes surveyed a number of musicians … Read More “The Place of the Drum Solo in Jazz”
The idea of the avant-garde has always been built around the shock of the new, the unceasing urge to push further, reinvent, or question what’s … Read More “Live Review: 2nd October Revolution in Philadelphia”
Bobby Broom’s 2009 Thelonious Monk tribute album, Bobby Broom Plays for Monk (Origin), almost didn’t happen. Prior to going into the studio, the Chicago-based guitarist … Read More “Chops: Duck Baker and Bobby Broom on Thelonious Monk”
The downtown scene in New York City has witnessed its fair share of great venues come and go over the years. The latest loss, or … Read More “The Stone: An Oral History”
David Murray credits his notoriously tireless work ethic to his father, who made his way from Nebraska to Los Angeles at age 15 without even … Read More “Bright Moments with David Murray”
This article appeared in the June 2017 issue of JazzTimes. Early in the new documentary Chasing Trane, Benny Golson recalls his friendship with John Coltrane, … Read More “John Coltrane: Love & Heart & Spirit”
When Antonio Sanchez recorded his score for Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), the uniqueness of the situation led him to … Read More “Chops: Marc Ribot and Antonio Sanchez on the Art of Improvising to Film”
Philadelphia has a storied history of nurturing great jazz artists, but rarely has there been a more impressive concentration than could be found in the … Read More “School Days: Jazz All-Stars Remember CAPA”
Subscribe to JazzTimes magazine and receive reviews, news, profiles and more! Shortly after arriving in New York, in the early 1960s, Chick Corea had the opportunity … Read More “Live Review: The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra Featuring Chick Corea”
Among the topics that Herbie Hancock promises to cover in the intro to his MasterClass series is “one’s own ability to develop one’s own sound.” … Read More “Herbie Hancock’s MasterClass: Speak Like a Guru”
R&B rewards the grandiose: There’s a reason the appellation “diva” gets tossed around so frequently when discussing the style. And while a soulfully ornamented vocal … Read More “R&B and Gospel Vocalists on Singing Jazz”
Introducing saxophone great Archie Shepp for a rare performance at Princeton University in early December, Rudresh Mahanthappa recalled his own college days, often spent huddling … Read More “Live Review: Archie Shepp at Princeton”
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: What’s the last thing a drummer says to their band? “Hey guys, let’s try one of my … Read More “The Plight of the Drummer-Composer”
If the students in his rehearsal room at Camden’s Creative Arts Morgan Village Academy start to get restless, unruly or unfocused, Jamal Dickerson simply points … Read More “Good Bandstand Behavior: Discipline, Focus, Respect”
On the day that I interviewed her for JazzTimes’ 2010-11 Jazz Education Guide, Geri Allen complained that she was “feeling sick to my stomach … … Read More “Geri Allen: The Nurturer”
In its 21st year, the Dominican Republic Jazz Festival has grown from an informal gathering at founder Lorenzo Sancassani’s beachfront pizza joint into a sprawling, … Read More “Live Review: Dominican Republic Jazz Festival”
You could credit a kind of musical peer pressure for the earliest electronic experiments of trumpeter-cornetist Rob Mazurek and trumpeter Cuong Vu. Mazurek, renowned for … Read More “Chops: Secrets of the Sonic Trumpet”
On the night in June that she turned 34 years old, Jaimie Branch welcomed a small crowd to Ibeam Brooklyn with bashful, almost childlike charm. … Read More “Jaimie Branch: Chicago State of Mind”
In 1964, trumpeter Bill Dixon organized the October Revolution in Jazz, a four-day festival at New York’s Cellar Café intended to showcase the leading edge … Read More “Live Review: October Revolution of Jazz & Contemporary Music”
Sometimes even the most charismatic artists find themselves in a situation where winning over the audience is far more difficult than anticipated. Such was the … Read More “Presenting Presence: Christian McBride and Bria Skonberg on how and when to address the audience”
Things didn’t exactly go smoothly for Bokanté during its Philadelphia debut, part of the Funk of Ages event at the Fillmore in June, when technical … Read More “Bokanté: Blues & Roots”
Located just outside Times Square in Manhattan, Birdland draws its fair share of curious tourists on any given night. That allure was amplified in mid-April, … Read More “Kevin Eubanks: After The Tonight Show“
There’s always been a serious sense of groove in Nate Smith’s drumming. Whether navigating the heady rhythms of Dave Holland’s bands, propelling the electric explorations … Read More “Q&A: Nate Smith on KINFOLK: Postcards From Everywhere“
