Apr 12, 2022 1:39 PM
Spirited Big Ears Festival Embraces Experimental Outlook
During the opening concert of this year’s Big Ears Festival, a train roared by just as the Kronos Quartet leaned into…
Trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire performs with the trio Trefoil at this year’s Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Apr 12, 2022 1:39 PM
During the opening concert of this year’s Big Ears Festival, a train roared by just as the Kronos Quartet leaned into…
Jamaaladeen Tacuma, one of 52 grant recipients, received $40,000 to return to his hometown in North Carolina and create a music work space .
Oct 19, 2021 3:41 PM
South Arts, a nonprofit regional arts organization, awarded $2 million in grants in October to support jazz musicians…
Saxophonist Archie Shepp (left) and pianist Jason Moran recorded a series of duets in 2017 and 2018 that are being released as Let My People Go.
Dec 10, 2020 9:54 AM
A pair of generation-defining performers announced their first collaborative album.
Saxophonist Archie Shepp and…
Multi-instrumentalist Jon Batiste is facilitating a series of music-forward protests through his WE ARE organization.
Oct 19, 2020 10:30 AM
Wrapped in brick and converted from its previous life as an industrial space, the Constellation venue’s two separate…
Saxophonist Nubya Garcia performs at the 2018 Melbourne Jazz Festival, one of many large-scale events pivoting online because of the pandemic.
Jun 11, 2020 9:06 AM
As Jazzfest Passau in Germany plans to continue outdoor events and Portugal’s Jazz em Agosto adapts to its…
Jason Moran extends his connection to gallery spaces at the Armstrong Center in Corona, Queens.
Jun 11, 2020 9:07 AM
Armstrong House: Pianist Jason Moran is set to curate Here To Stay, a permanent exhibit at the Armstrong Center, an…
For almost a decade, violinist Jenny Scheinman (right) and drummer Allison Miller have worked together in the latter’s Boom Tic Boom ensemble. Their new collaborative group is Parlour Game.
Jun 28, 2019 11:27 AM
Jenny Scheinman admits she’s led a charmed life, as far as her music career goes. The violinist is unlike a number of…
Reedist Ingrid Laubrock said she relishes the freedom that comes with recording for independent labels like Relative Pitch and Germany’s Intakt, but remains skeptical of the music industry’s digital shift.
Jan 3, 2019 10:41 AM
Less and less, you dole out a buck per cut, $10 per album; more and more, you access a streaming service for a nominal…
On June 29, the Impulse! label issued previously unreleased studio recordings by John Coltrane (left), Elvin Jones, Jimmy Garrison and McCoy Tyner under the title Both Directions At Once: The Lost Album.
Jan 4, 2019 12:27 PM
During 2018, DownBeat published hundreds of articles and album reviews. What’s below, though, are some features and…
Concord Label Group president John Burk (left), Monk Competition winner Tom Oren and Thelonious Monk Institute chairman Herbie Hancock
Dec 13, 2018 10:50 AM
The winner of this year’s Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz competition, Tom Oren, hails from Tel Aviv, Israel—a…
Saxophonist and 2018 Kennedy Center Honoree Wayne Shorter delivers a speech Dec. 1 at a State Department dinner in Washington, D.C.
Dec 3, 2018 1:40 PM
Over the course of his fruitful career, prolific saxophonist and composer Wayne Shorter has amassed numerous accolades,…
Drummer Eric Harland teamed with tenor saxophonist Daniel Rovin and bassist Austin White to found the label GSI Records.
Nov 24, 2018 11:20 PM
One of the more intriguing new labels of 2018 is GSI Records, co-owned by drummer Eric Harland, tenor saxophonist…
Jason Moran and Alicia Hall Moran perform at the 2015 Venice Biennale in Italy.
Dec 28, 2018 11:00 AM
On the 1968 album Congliptious by the Roscoe Mitchell Art Ensemble, there’s a musical skit titled “Jazz Death?”…
Pianist Jason Moran and percussionist Milford Graves perform as a duo during the Big Ears Festival, which ran March 22–25 in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Apr 10, 2018 5:40 PM
With every annual installment, the Big Ears Festival feels more and more like several festivals under a single banner.…
Improvising cellist Okkyung Lee is scheduled to play in a variety of different settings at the upcoming Big Ears festival in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Mar 8, 2018 9:27 AM
The Big Ears festival in Knoxville, Tennessee, is set to return March 22-25 with performances by jazz luminaries like…
Jason Moran’s autobiographical Thelonious Monk homage, “In My Mind,” found him in the company of a relatively large band at Italy’s Umbria Jazz.
Jan 16, 2018 9:31 AM
Although the 25th anniversary edition of Umbria Jazz Winter in Orvieto, Italy, celebrated hitting a milestone Dec. 28…
The Chicago Jazz Fest (left) and Detroit Jazz Fest will take place over Labor Day Weekend. Admission to both festivals is free.
Sep 3, 2017 8:43 PM
Jazz fans within earshot of Chicago and Detroit might want to pack up the car and head into town, as both cities play…
Matt Wilson (pictured) will lead a tribute to Illinois-born poet Carl Sandburg at the Chicago Jazz Festival on Sept. 3.
Aug 31, 2017 3:04 PM
The Chicago Jazz Festival returns to the Windy City Aug. 31–Sept. 3 with a lineup heavy on tributes and…
Jason Moran gives a lecture to Jazztopad attendees prior to his show at the festival on Nov. 18.
Dec 1, 2016 5:46 PM
The Jazztopad festival in Wroclaw, Poland, is deeply invested in the idea of commissioning new works. That message was…
Matana Roberts is among the recipients of the 2016 Doris Duke Artist Awards for jazz.
Jul 11, 2016 12:38 PM
Trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith, saxophonist Matana Roberts and pianist Fred Hersch are among the jazz artists recognized as…
