Ted Panken writes extensively about jazz and creative music for various publications, and programmed jazz and creative music on WKCR-FM in New York City from 1985 through 2008. He won the 2007 ASCAP Deems Taylor Award for his article “Smalls Universe,” published by DownBeat, and earned the Jazz Journalists’ Association 2016 Lifetime Achievement in Jazz Journalism award. His blog, Today Is The Question, contains over 260 of his articles and verbatim interviews.
Ted Panken on social media
I can personally testify that Antonio Sánchez, who adopted the sobriquet “Bad Hombre” several years ago for a solo drums-and-electronics album, is a truly nice … Read More “Antonio Sánchez: Not Such a Bad Hombre After All”
It began simply enough. “I wanted to make a jazz trombone record,” Jacob Garchik says, explaining his decision to embark on the challenging, entertaining tour … Read More “Jacob Garchik Mixes It Up on Assembly“
A Venn diagram of Kirk Knuffke’s musical production would be complicated to decipher. Born and raised in Colorado, mentored by the late Ron Miles, Knuffke moved … Read More “Before & After with Kirk Knuffke”
In an interview with Wayne Enstice and Janis Stockhouse in Jazzwomen: Conversations with Twenty-One Musicians more than 20 years ago, pianist/composer Joanne Brackeen described herself … Read More “Joanne Brackeen: Before & After”
In line with many resourceful jazz practitioners, Gilad Hekselman responded to the enforced isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic with a turning-lemons-to-lemonade attitude that ultimately eventuated … Read More “A Before & After Listening Session with Gilad Hekselman”
As I delved ever deeper into the 14 albums that document the Larry Goldings/Peter Bernstein/Bill Stewart trio to prepare for our January Zoom conversation, what … Read More “Larry Goldings, Peter Bernstein, and Bill Stewart Celebrate 30 Years Playing Together”
“It’s amazing how versatile the trombone is, and can be, and will continue to be,” Ryan Keberle said about the state of his instrument circa … Read More “Before & After with Ryan Keberle”
“My expectations of myself in this are low,” Michael Formanek said over Zoom from the music room of his West Orange, New Jersey house before … Read More “Before & After with Michael Formanek”
If you heed her peers and colleagues’ opinions, Renee Rosnes is the jazz equivalent of a “five-tool” baseball player: that rare athlete who possesses the … Read More “Renee Rosnes Reaching for a New Level”
Nicholas Payton’s latest, Smoke Sessions, recorded at the end of May and released by … Smoke Sessions, caps a 14-month span of intense productivity since … Read More “Nicholas Payton Talks Lockdown, Instrument Juggling, and His New Album”
In the concluding section of Marty Ehrlich’s gold-standard booklet notes for The Boyé Multi-National Crusade for Harmony (New World), a seven-CD extravaganza culled from the … Read More “Julius Hemphill: Greater Harmony”
As I absorbed Pasquale Grasso’s performances seriatim on the Sony Masterworks digital EP releases Solo Standards, Solo Ballads, Solo Monk, Solo Bud Powell, and Solo … Read More “Pasquale Grasso: The Pianistic Guitarist”
“My music always expresses the way I see things from day to day—how my perceptions change, what’s meaningful or less meaningful,” bassist Buster Williams told … Read More “Buster Williams: Ready for His Close-Up”
Between 1987 and 2000, before a combo of rheumatoid arthritis and rotator cuff surgeries on both shoulders made pianistic expression complicated, Donald Brown recorded 14 … Read More “Donald Brown: An Underrecognized Mind”
At 8:01 p.m. sharp on September 30 at Brooklyn’s Roulette Intermedia, Sylvie Courvoisier launched her first COVID-era public concert for six masked, socially distanced witnesses … Read More “Sylvie Courvoisier Is a Serious Player”
In a holiday telegram to his manager Martha Glaser, Erroll Garner asked about “my little princess.” He was referring to Glaser’s niece Susan Rosenberg. “My … Read More “Martha Glaser: More than a Manager”
If jazz polls don’t become collateral damage of COVID-19, Erroll Garner: The Octave Remastered Series (Mack Avenue) is the odds-on favorite for best reissue of … Read More “The Radical Legacy of Erroll Garner”
On Valentine’s Day weekend in Manhattan, a few weeks before the rampant spread of COVID-19 squashed the pleasure quotient of macabre entertainment, the Jazz Gallery … Read More “John Ellis: Words and Tones”
Cellist Hank Roberts’ recent Newvelle Records release, Congeries of Ethereal Phenomena, his tenth as a leader, springs from his decision in the summer of 2015—after the … Read More “Overdue Ovation: Hank Roberts Is Back in the Game”
That the modifier “rising” should no longer be applied to “star” when describing the remarkable vocalist Jazzmeia Horn is apparent throughout her sophomore release, Love … Read More “Artistry, Inc.: Jazzmeia Horn’s Personal Creativity Corporation”
Midway through June, trumpeter Theo Croker worked four nights at Manhattan’s Jazz Standard behind Star People Nation, his third release on DDB, Dee Dee Bridgewater’s Sony-licensed … Read More “Theo Croker Steps Out”
In early October, just after concluding two concerts in Kuwait City with Herbie Hancock and two weeks before embarking on a month of European one-nighters … Read More “Lionel Loueke’s Winding Journey“
On Sept. 30 at the New York Hot Jazz Festival, Michael Mwenso & the Shakes presented The Joint Is Jumpin’, a Fats Waller revue the … Read More “Michael Mwenso & the Shakes”
Walter Smith III’s fifth recording as a leader, TWIO (Whirlwind), is a nine-tune date featuring drummer Eric Harland, four tracks apiece with bassists Christian McBride … Read More “Walter Smith III: Playing It Straight”
It is both a blessing and a curse to drum master Mike Clark that his fan base remains interested in the contributions he made to … Read More “Mike Clark: The Double-Edged Sword Called Funk”
With its multifaceted radicalism, the Art Ensemble of Chicago occupies a singular niche in the American music timeline. That creative audacity could be found in … Read More “Message to Our Folks: The Art Ensemble of Chicago by Paul Steinbeck”
After playing the second tune at her CD-release party in early April, at Smalls in the West Village, Roxy Coss put her tenor saxophone down. … Read More “The Ballad of Roxy Coss”
The booklet for Born in an Urban Ruin, the more recently recorded of John Lindberg’s two concurrent, self-produced releases on Clean Feed, includes a photo … Read More “Overdue Ovation: John Lindberg”
Back with a vengeance, though he hardly left
Lessons from Mister T & Mr. McDuff
