May 30, 2023 1:31 PM
End of an Avant-Festival Era in Victoriaville
For nearly four decades, seekers of full-service avant-garde festivals in North America have been drawn to the…
Outgoing FIMAV founding director Michel Levasseur speaks during a press conference at this year’s festival.
May 30, 2023 1:31 PM
For nearly four decades, seekers of full-service avant-garde festivals in North America have been drawn to the…
Ingrid Laubrock, left, premieres “Lilith” at jazzahead! 2023 with band member David Adewumi on trumpet.
May 23, 2023 1:28 PM
Jazzahead!, a refreshingly hybrid trade fair and artistic showcase held annually at the exhibition center in Bremen,…
MoonJune’s Leonardo Pavkovic in Toledo, Spain, the new home for his globe-trotting label.
May 9, 2023 12:32 PM
Ever since being galvanized by rock and prog-rock as a youngster, entrepreneur Leonardo Pavkovic has had a lifelong,…
George Coleman (left) and Keith Jarrett are among the 2023 JJA Lifetime Achievement in Jazz Award finalists.
May 2, 2023 3:53 PM
The Jazz Journalists Association has announced finalists for the 2023 JJA Jazz Awards, the organization’s 28th annual…
Piazza IV Novembre at the Umbria Jazz Festival, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this summer.
Apr 27, 2023 11:45 AM
For many, it’s been a long, hard winter, and we could just as easily be talking about Los Angeles as the Midwest or…
A beautiful night and delighted crowd at Arena San Giuliana in Perugia, Italy.
Apr 27, 2023 11:31 AM
Jazz festival culture remains a relatively young, by most accounts birthed by promoter George Wein with the Newport…
The Chuck Brown Band performs on the Wharf during the DC Jazz Festival.
Apr 28, 2023 3:47 PM
It was in 2017, during the 14th annual DC Jazz Festival (DCJF) at the Yards, when Sunny Sumter first recognized that…
Kenny Garrett and Ron Bruner perform at the 2021 Detroit Jazz Fest. Garrett will be celebrated this summer, too.
Apr 27, 2023 11:30 AM
The Detroit Jazz Festival, the largest free jazz festival in the world, remains resolutely jazz. You’ll not find…
Locale and creative programming have become touch points of the Healdsburg Jazz Festival, celebrating its 25th anniversary.
Apr 27, 2023 11:29 AM
The ideal jazz festival showcases its locale while presenting thoughtfully conceived concerts and events. Since 1999,…
John Zorn has become Mr. Big Ears in the last two iterations of the festival.
Apr 25, 2023 1:03 PM
On the opening evening of Knoxville’s four-day Big Ears Festival, which celebrated its 10th anniversary March 30 to…
Leeds, England-based alto saxophonist Jasmine Myra, far right, led an expansive six-piece group for her festival debut.
Apr 25, 2023 1:09 PM
East London’s Brick Lane is best known for its historic South Asian community and the slew of Indian and Pakistani…
Hal Willner (1956–2020)
Apr 25, 2023 1:01 PM
They came to salute Nino Rota, but in the end they delivered a gift to a dear friend. True, the iconic Italian…
Apr 21, 2023 11:40 AM
Record Store Day hits April 22, so we deliver a glimpse at some of the vinyl dropping in and around that blessed…
Apr 18, 2023 11:11 AM
While being released in a variety of formats, this magnum opus of bop from Craft Recordings is truly one for vinyl…
Jordi Pujol has made it happen, little by little, for the past 40 years at Fresh Sound New Talent.
Apr 11, 2023 11:02 AM
Fresh Sound New Talent is enjoying a pair of impressive anniversary celebrations. The original Fresh Sound label turns…
Pianist Amaro Freitas presented a panoramic solo set at this year’s Bergamo Jazz Festival.
Apr 4, 2023 1:43 PM
In programming her third and final Bergamo Jazz Festival, Artistic Director Maria Pia De Vito set a high bar for Joe…
Jazz will be more prominent than ever on both indoor and outdoor stages at this year’s Montreal Jazz Festival.
Apr 4, 2023 1:41 PM
Festival International de Jazz de Montréal, presented by TD Bank Group in collaboration with Rio Tinto in downtown…
Jon Batiste will perform at the Newport Jazz Festival on Aug. 5.
Apr 4, 2023 1:49 PM
The Newport Jazz Festival has announced the lineup of performers scheduled to appear at this year’s event, which…
RIJF stages will once again celebrate some of the finest creative improvised music from around the world.
Mar 28, 2023 1:03 PM
The Rochester International Jazz Festival has announced the lineup for its milestone nine-day 20th Anniversary Edition,…
Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio will perform at the 40th annual San Francisco Jazz Festival.
Mar 28, 2023 1:20 PM
SFJAZZ has announced its programming for the 40th annual San Francisco Jazz Festival, running June 7–18, and the…
John Zorn will appear in a number of different configurations at this year’s Big Ears Festival.
Mar 21, 2023 3:37 PM
Embrace leaving shows early … and maybe do some cross-training. That seems to be the usual message ahead of…
Hijas del Jazz Orchestra performed at this year’s Panama Jazz Festival.
Mar 8, 2023 10:36 AM
The Panama Jazz Festival has developed into one of the most important events of its kind in the world. While other…
The inaugural class of the Next Jazz Legacy, from left: Kalia Vandever, Anastassiya Petrova, Ivanna Cuesta Gonzalez, Keyanna Hutchinson, Loke Risberg, Alexis Lombre and Lexi Hamner.
Feb 16, 2023 9:42 AM
As the Next Jazz Legacy — an initiative created to provide a wide-ranging year-long apprenticeship program to support…
Pianist Vadim Neselovsky will perform at this year’s San Jose Jazz Winter Fest: Counterpoint With Ukraine.
Feb 14, 2023 12:23 PM
San Jose Jazz has announced the lineup for its 2023 Winter Fest, co-curated with Am I Jazz? Festival, the leading-edge…
Siggi Loch (left) and Andreas Brandis.
Feb 7, 2023 1:40 PM
ACT Records has become one of the most significant European jazz labels during its 30-year existence. As the German…
The inaugural class of the Next Jazz Legacy, from left: Kalia Vandever, Anastassiya Petrova, Ivanna Cuesta Gonzalez, Keyanna Hutchinson, Loke Risberg, Alexis Lombre and Lexi Hamner.
Jan 31, 2023 12:29 PM
As the Next Jazz Legacy — an initiative created to provide a wide-ranging year-long apprenticeship program to support…
Terri Lyne Carrington curated the opening-night concert of New York’s Winter Jazzfest at City Winery.
Jan 24, 2023 3:07 PM
After a two-year hiatus imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, New York’s Winter Jazzfest returned to live performance…
Linda May Han Oh (left) and Jen Shyu perform at the Asia Society in New York on Jan. 12.
Feb 10, 2023 11:40 AM
Defining “jazz” may be a fool’s errand, but the people at the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation are not fools.…
The final set of the fest was fronted by trumpeter Russ Johnson, shown here with bassist Ethan Philion.
Jan 19, 2023 10:02 AM
The third annual Catalytic Sound Festival (the second “in person” event, the first was virtual) was exponentially…
Karl Emil Knudsen, second from left, with members of Papa Bue’s Viking Jazz Band, which recorded Storyville’s first million-selling record.
Jan 10, 2023 11:43 AM
The oldest and largest independent jazz record label in Europe is currently celebrating its 70th anniversary, and…
Dec 27, 2022 3:03 PM
There’s so much going out in the world of Latin jazz! Here, DownBeat presents some great selections.
Dafnis Prieto…
Amadou & Mariam are among the acts scheduled to perform at the 2023 Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Dec 20, 2022 11:50 AM
Celebrating “Ten Years of Big Ears” during the weekend of March 30–April 2, 2023, the Big Ears Festival in…
George Coleman (left) and Eric Alexander are set to perform at Countdown 2023, A John Coltrane Festival.
Dec 20, 2022 11:49 AM
Countdown 2023, A John Coltrane Festival, starts Dec. 20 and runs through Jan. 8 at Smoke Jazz Club in New York.
…
Dec 13, 2022 4:16 PM
Need some additional gift ideas for the jazz fan on your shopping list? Check out DownBeat’s Best Albums of 2022.
That’s What Happened captures Miles Davis on the comeback trail of his career in the early to mid-1980s.
Dec 13, 2022 6:00 PM
With all the new releases coming out around the holidays, here are a few team DownBeat is digging into right now!
…
Blue Note has unearthed a previously unissued 1967 live recording with Elvin Jones as a leader called Elvin Jones Revival: Live At Pookie’s Pub.
Dec 13, 2022 6:02 PM
Three From Blue Note
Blue Note Records continues to release waves of great sound on vinyl. In its Tone Poet series, the…
If you liked Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn’s classic 1960 recording of Tchaikovsky’s classic fairy-tale ballet, keep an ear out for this new version by drummer-educator Joe McCarthy with his 18-piece band.
Dec 13, 2022 6:11 PM
Santa’s a jolly fellow, but it must be hard for him to be merry when timeworn Christmas music engulfs him like an…
Author Richard Koloda spent two decades researching this addition to the legend of free-jazz saxophonist Albert Ayler.
Dec 13, 2022 6:14 PM
When considering what to buy those who are impossible to buy for (guilty, as charged), loved ones can’t go wrong with…
Terri Lyne Carrington’s New Standards Live will perform in an evening of varied ensemble configurations.
Dec 6, 2022 12:47 PM
The initial list of artists to be featured at the 19th annual NYC Winter Jazzfest, Jan. 12–18, has been announced.
…
Angélique Kidjo’s Remain in Light will perform at the Portland Jazz Festival on Feb. 17.
Nov 29, 2022 1:17 PM
The Biamp Portland Jazz Festival will celebrate its 20th anniversary next year, with a slate of performances scheduled…
Tenor saxophonist Binker Golding produced an unexpected new sound with some of London’s finest young players.
Nov 29, 2022 11:46 AM
Over the past 30 years, U.K. jazz has taken on multiple, ever-changing guises. From the genre-spanning fusions of the…
Hall of Fame Kenny Barron has been a model of grace and elegance for more than six decades.
Nov 23, 2022 11:52 AM
The readers have spoken in the 87th annual DownBeat Readers Poll, handing a triple-crown victory to Jazz Artist,…
Oscar Peterson Trio’s On A Clear Day–Live in Zurich, 1971 (Mack Avenue)
Nov 22, 2022 5:48 PM
Every year, while shoppers rush out for deals at big box stores after Thanksgiving, a smaller contingent files out for…
Asher Gamedze
Nov 22, 2022 4:48 PM
JazzFest Berlin returned this year after a two-year, pandemic-induced absence. This year’s 58th edition offered 43…
Luciana Souza performs with Vince Mendoza’s Storytellers Big Band at the Angel City Jazz Festival on Oct. 21.
Nov 15, 2022 2:56 PM
Luciana Souza gazed out at the large crowd that filled the amphitheater, gestured at the big band behind her and…
Michael League (left) and Michael Lettieri of Snarky Puppy will perform at next year’s GroundUP Music Festival in Miami Beach.
Nov 15, 2022 2:55 PM
GroundUP Music Festival returns for its sixth year to the oceanside Miami Beach Bandshell in Miami Beach, Florida, Feb.…
The quartet Third World Love will reunite to open this year’s Red Sea Jazz Festival on Nov. 10.
Nov 8, 2022 1:15 PM
The Red Sea Jazz Festival will return to Eilat’s Harbor, Israel, Nov. 10–12, featuring music and original…
Origin Records was founded by John Bishop, who was a drummer before becoming a label head.
Nov 1, 2022 12:40 PM
Origin Records turned 25 in August. And in typical understated fashion, founder John Bishop says he didn’t go out of…
Norah Jones opens Here It Is: A Tribute To Leonard Cohen (Blue Note) with a delicate, wistful rendition of “Steer Your Way.”
Oct 25, 2022 2:03 PM
There’s a reason why, for more than five decades, Leonard Cohen’s songs have been covered by countless artists…
Oct 25, 2022 1:28 PM
It was a historic night of enlightenment, emotion and inspired jazz performances at the inaugural Jazz Music Awards:…
Smoke’s Paul Stache and Molly Sparrow Johnson
Oct 18, 2022 2:12 PM
Thursdays have always set the vibe for weekends at Smoke. The first of a four-night run for headliners, Thursday would…
Few festivals proved as valiant as Detroit through the dark days of the pandemic. Pictured: Chucho Valdés and Emmet Cohen.
Oct 11, 2022 3:22 PM
Few festivals proved as valiant as Detroit through the dark days of the pandemic. In both 2020 and 2021, the world’s…
Allison Miller performs with Artemis at the 65th Annual Monterey Jazz Festival.
Oct 4, 2022 5:38 PM
The Monterey Jazz Festival bounced back to its maskless, pre-COVID self for its 65th edition, as the Arena Stage…
Vasil Hajigrudev and Hristina Beleva perform as a duo during the European Jazz Network’s September gathering in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Oct 5, 2022 9:40 AM
Every year members and guests of the European Jazz Network, which was formed in 1987, gather in a new city on the…
Horn players Ambrose Akinmusire (left), Chris Potter, Joe Lovano, Ravi Coltrane and others perform during the Remembering Tomasz Stańko concert last month.
Oct 4, 2022 2:16 PM
An outstanding collection of jazz notables gathered in mid-September at the Brooklyn, New York, performing arts center…
Gregory Porter is set to take the stage at this year’s Monterey Jazz Festival.
Sep 20, 2022 2:44 PM
The 65th Monterey Jazz Festival is scheduled for Sept. 23–25. Tickets are available but are going fast. At present,…
Dianne Reeves and Orrin Evans onstage at D.C. Jazz Fest.
Sep 20, 2022 3:30 PM
Fostering bridges is Orrin Evans’ modus operandi as he fulfills his duties as artist-in-residence at the D.C. Jazz…
Samara Joy and Pasquale Grasso will close out the Sept. 24 program with a late-night performance in Rockefeller Chapel.
Sep 20, 2022 3:32 PM
The Hyde Park Jazz Festival has announced that it will return to presenting in partnership with its long-time…
Shabaka Hutchings performs a July 3 set with Sons of Kemet and Nubya Garcia at England’s Love Supreme festival.
Sep 13, 2022 3:33 PM
Following two years of cancellations, Britain’s only outdoor jazz festival triumphantly returned July 1–3 for a…
Orrin Evans is scheduled to perform with his trio at the Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival in mid-September.
Sep 7, 2022 12:59 PM
The 12th annual Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival (PIJF) presented by Citizens Bank will feature more than 100…
Vocalist Stacey Kent performs at the Ystad Jazz Festival.
Sep 7, 2022 12:56 PM
Internationally, the jazz festival scene has been simultaneously enjoying and struggling through the processes of…
Drummer Gard Nilssen, this year’s artist-in-residence, performs at Jazzfestival Saalfelden with his trio Acoustic Unity.
Sep 7, 2022 12:47 PM
The organizers of the 42nd edition of Jazzfestival Saalfelden hoped to return to the event’s previous glories after…
Vocalist Sheila Jordan is scheduled to perform during the JJA Awards Online Bash on Sept. 11.
Sep 7, 2022 2:53 PM
The Jazz Journalists Association will hold its JJA Awards Online Bash on Sunday, Sept. 11, from 3 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.…
Ulysses Owens Jr. will lead his big band in a performance with special guest Marquis Hill at the Detroit Jazz Festival on Sept. 3.
Aug 30, 2022 3:02 PM
Jazz fans in three major U.S. metropolitan areas — Chicago, Detroit and Washington, D.C. — might want to hop a…
Giant Step Arts founders Jimmy and Dena Katz
Aug 23, 2022 1:20 PM
While Manhattan was in the throes of the COVID-19 shutdown during 2020, renowned photographer, recording engineer,…
The all-star collective Dinner Party celebrates backstage at Blue Note Jazz Fest Napa. From left: Terrace Martin, Snoop Dogg, Talib Kweli, Dave Chappell, Robert Glasper, Kamasi Washington, Chris Dave and Derrick Hodge.
Aug 16, 2022 2:34 PM
The drive up to the Blue Note Jazz Fest Napa on the last weekend of July, through winding roads and sunbaked hills, was…
An all-star jam during the Blue Note at Sea Cruise.
Aug 16, 2022 2:26 PM
The pandemic not only shut down clubs, concert halls and festivals, but tours ground to a halt and the urge to travel…
The trio Acoustic Unity is among the groups slated to perform at Jazz Festival Saalfelden in Austria.
Aug 16, 2022 1:54 PM
Jazz Festival Saalfelden, the revered Austrian event that occurs each summer in the titular locale nestled within the…
The Aug. 1, 1942, issue of DownBeat announces the recording ban.
Aug 16, 2022 1:46 PM
The writing had been on the wall for weeks, maybe years. Then, 80 years ago this August, Jimmy Petrillo lowered the…
Performing at the newly reopened Smoke Jazz Club in New York, from left: Julius Rodriguez, Gerald Cannon, Eddie Henderson, Melissa Aldana and Joe Farnsworth
Aug 9, 2022 2:57 PM
Thursdays have always set the vibe for weekends at Smoke. The first of a four-night run for headliners, Thursday would…
Jon Batiste, the critics’ choice for Jazz Artist and Beyond Artist of the Year as well as Beyond Album of the Year.
Jul 26, 2022 3:03 PM
The 70th Annual DownBeat International Critics Poll has made history with pianist Jon Batiste being the first artist to…
Jul 19, 2022 2:16 PM
On Nov. 7, 1966, a 31-year-old Swiss fan of cutting-edge jazz made the short trip from his home in Basel across the…
Black Lives—From Generation To Generation makes a multi-generational plea for equity and equality with artists like Alicia Hall Moran, left, and E.J. Strickland.
Jun 29, 2022 10:32 AM
In September 2020, in the wake of protests that rocked cities across the United States, DownBeat published a cover…
The guitar quartet Dither commanded attention with their tight-yet-flexible teamwork at this year’s FIMAV.
Jun 29, 2022 10:34 AM
Festival International Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville (FIMAV) in Quebec boldly explores and extolls music of the…
New York saxophonist Nicole Glover (right) and Montreal pianist Taurey Butler on stage during the inaugural Saint-Henri Jazz Week.
Jun 21, 2022 2:43 PM
Spring sprouted a brand new jazz initiative in Montreal this year: the Saint-Henri Jazz Week, presented in the borough…
Dee Dee Bridgewater (right) with the five finalists for the American Pianists Association’s next Cole Porter Fellowship.
Jun 15, 2022 2:41 PM
Every four years, the American Pianists Association recognizes five aspiring American pianists as finalists to compete…
The Irving S. Gilmore Piano Festival commissioned a piece by Tyshawn Sorey that premiered in Kalamazoo, Michigan, this spring.
Jun 27, 2022 9:26 AM
The in-person interfacing of jazz and classical music was back on display for the first time in four years. With…
Jun 14, 2022 2:21 PM
Savage Content has announced a new web series where guests compete head-to-head in a test of their jazz knowledge. The…
Saxophonist Kamasi Washington is slated to play this year’s Montreal Jazz Festival.
Jun 7, 2022 4:19 PM
“The revenge against the pandemic” is how Maurin Auxéméry, director of booking, programming cultural events for…
Vocalist Sheila Jordan was honored for Lifetime Achievement in the Jazz Journalists Association’s 27th annual JJA Jazz Awards.
Jun 7, 2022 4:26 PM
Singer Sheila Jordan, who at age 93 calls herself a “jazz child,” was hailed for her Lifetime Achievement in Jazz…
Bounce pioneers Mannie Fresh and Big Freedia and other guests join Galactic on “Act Like You Know.”
May 31, 2022 2:19 PM
Anyone who has spent time in New Orleans knows why it is also known as The City That Care Forgot. Between the music and…
Wynton Marsalis will receive the SFJAZZ Lifetime Achievement Award on June 3.
May 31, 2022 2:24 PM
SFJAZZ is presenting free live broadcasts of its 2022 gala honoring Wynton Marsalis with a Lifetime Achievement Award…
Jamie Cullum’s new holiday album, The Pianoman At Christmas, features 10 original compositions.
Dec 27, 2020 12:57 PM
As the year 2020 draws to a close, music fans have a bevy of new releases from which to choose to help them celebrate…
Nov 15, 2022 11:24 AM
Oct 5, 2022 9:25 AM
Feb 1, 2022 4:34 PM
Jan 25, 2022 4:13 PM
Oct 5, 2020 11:23 AM
Apr 6, 2020 3:31 PM
Nov 14, 2019 1:56 PM
Jan 6, 2020 12:26 PM
Nov 4, 2019 4:04 PM
Oct 31, 2019 8:42 PM
Jan 10, 2019 3:36 PM
Jan 10, 2019 2:17 PM
Jul 2, 2018 3:01 PM
Dec 5, 2017 1:16 PM
Aug 8, 2017 7:29 PM
Aug 8, 2017 7:29 PM
Aug 8, 2017 7:29 PM
