Aug 26, 2025 1:53 PM
Blindfold Test: Buster Williams
Buster Williams, who at the age of 83 has been on the scene for 65 years, had never done a Blindfold Test. The first…
On May 16, Ropeadope Records will drop the long-awaited Christian McBride 3-CD set Live At Tonic. This release is the first from the bassist in three years and he brings his ace band along for the ride. The band features Geoffrey Keezer on piano and keyboards, Ron Blake on tenor and soprano saxophones and flute, and Terreon Gully on drums. The set also includes an all-star cast of special guests including Charlie Hunter on guitar, Jason Moran on keyboards, Jenny Scheinman on violin, DJ Logic on turntables, Eric Krasno on guitars, Scratch on beatbox and Rahsaan Peterson on trumpet.
The album is more than three hours of jazz, pushed to its limits, with elements of hip-hop, funk and soul mixed in. Recorded on January 3 and 4 at the Tonic, the set includes some of McBride’s most popular songs, improvised. McBride and his band performed two sets each night, and well into the following mornings, and all that music is captures on each disc.
“What I got from Percy was the dignity of playing the bass,” Buster Williams said of Percy Heath.
Aug 26, 2025 1:53 PM
Buster Williams, who at the age of 83 has been on the scene for 65 years, had never done a Blindfold Test. The first…
Don and Maureen Sickler serve as the keepers of engineer Rudy Van Gelder’s flame at Van Gelder Studio, perhaps the most famous recording studio in jazz history.
Sep 3, 2025 12:02 PM
On the last Sunday of 2024, in the control room of Van Gelder Studio, Don and Maureen Sickler, co-owners since Rudy Van…
The Free Slave, Cosmos Nucleus and Sunset To Dawn: three classic Muse albums being reissued this fall by Timer Traveler Recordings.
Aug 26, 2025 1:32 PM
Record producer and “Jazz Detective” Zev Feldman has launched his next endeavor, the archival label Time Traveler…
Butcher Brown, clockwise from top left: Marcus Tenney, DJ Harrison, Morgan Burrs, Corey Fonville and Andrew Randazzo. (Keyboardist Harrison couldn’t make the gig, so special guest Jacob Mann sat in with the band at the Reno Jazz Festival.)
Aug 19, 2025 12:41 PM
The band known as Butcher Brown has enjoyed the last half-decade basking in the glow from the twin engines of critical…
This year’s Jazz em Agosto set by the Darius Jones Trio captured the titular alto saxophonist at his most ferocious.
Aug 26, 2025 1:31 PM
The organizers of Lisbon, Portugal’s Jazz em Agosto Festival assume its audience is thoughtful and independent. Over…
