The Cookers
By Ted Panken
With more than 500 years of jazz experience between them, The Cookers continue to be one of the hardest-blowing, take-no-prisoners ensembles on the planet.
By Aaron Cohen
The trio of Nicole Mitchell, Tomeka Reid and Mike Reed take their experimentation to new heights on a new recording …And Then There’s This.
By DownBeat Staff
DownBeat’s annual ode to some of the greatest music laid down during the year.
Alto saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin continues her upward arc on the heels of her stunning 2020 release Pursuance: The Coltranes (Ropeadope), for which she assembled an all-star cast to plumb the music of Alice and John Coltrane. Results of that release included her copping the DownBeat Critic’s Poll Award for Rising Star Alto Saxophonist and the Jazz Journalist Association’s Up and Coming Artist of the Year in their respective 2020 polls. This was Benjamin’s first Blindfold Test, administered live during the 17th annual DC Jazz Festival before an audience at The Wharf on the scenic banks of the Potomac River. Later that day she thrilled an energized audience with with the music from Pursuance, artfully performed by her band of bassist Lonnie Plaxico, drummer E.J. Strickland and pianist Zaccai Curtis.
