Meaning of the Blues
By J.D. Considine
Four our February issue, DownBeat asked a variety of artists: What do the blues mean to you? Their responses were enlightening and uplifiting.
By Frank-John Hadley
Warren Haynes and his band Gov’t Mule carry the banner for the blues with Heavy Load Blues (Fantasy).
By Frank-John Hadley
Carolyn Wonderland is doing pretty well these days. She joined the roster at Alligator Records with her new album Tempting Fate, and has been playing as a member of John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers.
By Suzanne Lorge
So, what do the blues mean to an avant-garde pianist and composer, one from Japan no less? DownBeat asked Satoko Fujii just that. And her answer was as prolific as her recent outpouring of thought-provoking music.
By Bill Milkowski
A ubiquitous figure on the New York scene for more than three decades, trumpeter Steven Bernstein is in the midst of what might be his most ambitious project, a four volume set of music being released in installments under the banner of “Community Music” on the Royal Potato Family label.
By Gary Fukushima
An ambitious trend in the COVID era has been a string of jazz projects incorporating classical strings. DownBeat examines three such projects led by pianist/composer Fred Hersch, guitarist Dave Stryker and saxophonist Cory Weeds.
By Bill Milkowski
The veteran journalist retraces his own relationship with the guitar icon after Pat Martino’s passing on Nov. 1, 2021.
Randy Brecker has done four Blindfold Tests, according to DownBeat archives. This one was his first in a long time, conducted in his home studio in East Hampton, New York, where he had largely been holed up for nearly two years because of the COVID shutdowns — occasionally opening up his studio to some friends and jamming with his saxophonist wife, Ada Rovatti, who pairs with him in their quintet.