“I wanted to get into the real feeling,” Melissa Aldana says of studying the work of singers from Cuba’s filin tradition in preparation for her collaboration with pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba.
(Photo: Travis Bailey)May 19, 2026 11:46 AM
Melissa Aldana is an investigator. She’s not comfortable resting on what she knows, instead seeking to learn more and explore further. At 37, the saxophonist and composer has…
Jack DeJohnette has never been willing to sit still long enough to be categorized.
(Photo: DownBeat Archive)Oct 28, 2025 10:16 AM
Editor’s Note: Jack DeJohnette is the kind of percussionist who might appear on any given night behind a major artist and, by so doing, raise the level of group interplay about seven notches. Such was the case at Newport ’74 when he showed up quite unexpectedly behind Freddie Hubbard at Carnegie Hall. All of a sudden a formerly ho-hum rhythm section was transformed into one of high excitement, distinctive originality and exquisite empathy.
But Jack DeJohnette is far more than just a drummer who sits in someone else’s band, or even someone who…
