Dec 9, 2025 12:28 PM
In Memoriam: Gordon Goodwin, 1954–2025
Gordon Goodwin, an award-winning saxophonist, pianist, bandleader, composer and arranger, died Dec. 8 in Los Angeles.…
Brooklyn-based cornetist Taylor Ho Bynum will usher in the spring concert season with two concert events in New York that will feature him performing new original works with his bands.
On March 30 at Roulette, Bynum will lead his improvising chamber ensemble SpiderMonkey Strings and guest vocalist Kyoko Kitamura in the premier performance of his secular oratorio, “Madeleine Dreams.”
Bynum’s new 10-piece ensemble, Positive Catastrophe, co-led by percussionist Abraham Gomez-Delgado, will be in residence at Brooklyn’s Tea Lounge all five Mondays of the month.
“Madeleine Dreams” is inspired by the novel Madeleine Is Sleeping (Harcourt), a 2004 National Book Award finalist written by his sister, Sarah Shun-lien Bynum. The music was written specifically for Kitamura and SpiderMonkey Strings, a combination of brass, strings and drums featuring Joseph Daley, Jason Kao Hwang, Jessica Pavone, Tomas Ulrich, Pete Fitzpatrick and Luther Gray. The group will also perform “Madeleine Dreams” in Belgium and the Netherlands in early April.
Bynum describes Positive Catastrophe, the largest ensemble currently working under his leadership, as “a free-wheeling ensemble that connects the dots between Sun Ra and Willie Colón.”
More info: taylorhobynum.com
Goodwin was one of the most acclaimed, successful and influential jazz musicians of his generation.
Dec 9, 2025 12:28 PM
Gordon Goodwin, an award-winning saxophonist, pianist, bandleader, composer and arranger, died Dec. 8 in Los Angeles.…
Belá Fleck during an interview with Fredrika Whitfield on CNN.
Jan 13, 2026 2:09 PM
The fallout from the renaming of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to include President Donald…
The success of Oregon’s first album, 1971’s Music Of Another Present Era, allowed Towner to establish a solo career.
Jan 19, 2026 5:02 PM
Ralph Towner, a guitarist and composer who blended multiple genres, including jazz — and throughout them all remained…
Peplowski first came to prominence in legacy swing bands, including the final iteration of the Benny Goodman Orchestra, before beginning a solo career in the late 1980s.
Feb 3, 2026 12:10 AM
Ken Peplowski, a clarinetist and tenor saxophonist who straddled the worlds of traditional and modern jazz, died Feb. 2…
Rico’s Anti-Microbial Instrument Swab
Jan 19, 2026 2:48 PM
With this year’s NAMM Show right around the corner, we can look forward to plenty of new and innovative instruments…
