Jul 22, 2025 10:58 AM
Pianist, Educator Hal Galper Dies at 87
Hal Galper, a pianist, composer and arranger who enjoyed a substantial performing career but made perhaps a deeper…
Mike Reed will release albums with two bands on 482 Music on Sept. 9. His quintet, Loose Assembly, will put out The Speed Of Change, and his quartet, People, Places & Things, will release Proliferation.
Active in the Chicago jazz and improvised music community for the past decade, Reed has performed with Chicago-based bands like The David Boykin Expanse and Rob Mazurek’s Exploding Star Orchestra. Reed is also the founder of the Emerging Improvisers Organization, a not-for-profit improvised music series, and director of the Pitchfork Music Festival.
Reed’s Loose Assembly release features covers by Ethiopian vibraphonist Mulatu Astatke and Garvey’s Ghost, while PP&T’s Proliferation aims to investigate the under-recognized influence of Chicago’s Jazz scene from 1954-’60. “We tried to re-invent the music we were covering,” said Reed. “In order for it to be as current as it was back then, we had to find ways to incorporate styles and influences of improvising that pertain to us.”
More info: 482music.com
Galper was often regarded as an underrated master of his craft.
Jul 22, 2025 10:58 AM
Hal Galper, a pianist, composer and arranger who enjoyed a substantial performing career but made perhaps a deeper…
Chuck Mangione on the cover of the May 8, 1975, edition of DownBeat.
Jul 29, 2025 1:00 PM
Chuck Mangione, one of the most popular trumpeters in jazz history, passed away on July 24 at home in Rochester, New…
Jordan was a dyed-in-the-wool bebopper whose formative musical experiences were with Charlie Parker.
Aug 12, 2025 10:24 AM
Sheila Jordan, a vocalist who was celebrated for her scatting and lyric-improvising abilities, died Aug. 11 at her home…
“I don’t guess I’m going to excite you; I know I’m going to excite you,” Palmieri said in an August 1994 DownBeat feature.
Aug 12, 2025 10:33 AM
Famed Latin jazz composer, bandleader and pianist Eddie Palmieri passed away in his New Jersey home on Aug. 6. He was…
“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…
