Jan 21, 2025 7:54 PM
Southern California Fires Hit the Jazz Community
Roy McCurdy and his wife had just finished eating dinner and were relaxing over coffee in their Altadena home, when he…
A panel of judges that included Quincy Jones, Herb Alpert, Clark Terry and Terence Blanchard selected Ambrose Akinmusire as the winner of the 2007 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Trumpet Competition held on Oct. 28 at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles. As the winner, Akinmusire received a $20,000 scholarship.
Akinmusire was born in Nigeria and grew up in Oakland, Calif. He started playing drums at age 4, drums at age 11 and trumpet at age 12. He studied with Steve Coleman at the Manhattan School of Music and in 2001 began touring and recording with him. Akinmusire has toured with Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter.
Second-place winner Jean Caze was awarded $10,000 and third-place winner Michael Rodriguez received a $5,000 scholarship. The competition will air nationwide on BET and PBS.
Gerald and John Clayton at the family home in Altadena during a photo shoot for the June 2022 cover of DownBeat. The house was lost during the Los Angeles fires.
Jan 21, 2025 7:54 PM
Roy McCurdy and his wife had just finished eating dinner and were relaxing over coffee in their Altadena home, when he…
“She said, ‘A lot of people are going to try and stop you,’” Sheryl Bailey recalls of the advice she received from jazz guitarist Emily Remler (1957–’90). “‘They’re going to say you slept with somebody, you’re a dyke, you’re this and that and the other. Don’t listen to them, and just keep playing.’”
Feb 3, 2025 10:49 PM
In the April 1982 issue of People magazine, under the heading “Lookout: A Guide To The Up and Coming,” jazz…
The Old Country: More From The Deer Head Inn arrives 30 years after ECM issued the Keith Jarret Trio live album At The Deer Head Inn.
Jan 21, 2025 7:38 PM
Last November, Keith Jarrett, who has not played publicly since suffering two strokes in 2018, greenlighted ECM to drop…
As Ted Nash, left, departs the alto saxophone chair for LCJO, Alexa Tarantino steps in as the band’s first female full-time member.
Mar 4, 2025 1:29 PM
If only because openings for JLCO’s 15 permanent positions appear about as frequently as sub-freezing days on the…
“The first recording I owned with Brazilian music on it was Wayne Shorter’s Native Dancer,” says Renee Rosnes. “And then I just started to go down the rabbit hole.”
Jan 16, 2025 2:02 PM
In her four-decade career, Renee Rosnes has been recognized as a singular voice, both as a jazz composer and a…
