Sep 3, 2025 12:02 PM
Keeping the Flame at Van Gelder Studio
On the last Sunday of 2024, in the control room of Van Gelder Studio, Don and Maureen Sickler, co-owners since Rudy Van…
Frank Sinatra Jr. (1944–2016) performs at the Seminole Casino in Coconut Creek, Florida, in 2012.
(Photo: Stephanie Shacter)Frank Sinatra Jr., who helped extend his father’s legacy into the 21st century while carving out his own distinct voice as a singer, songwriter and conductor, died on Wednesday of a massive heart attack while on tour in Daytona Beach, Florida. He was 72.
Sinatra Jr. was the middle child of his father, Frank Sr., and Nancy Barbato Sinatra. He began performing in his mid-teens for the Sam Donahue band, and later spent time in ensembles led by Duke Ellington and Nelson Riddle.
In 1963, when Sinatra Jr. was 19, he was kidnapped from a Lake Tahoe hotel by three men who demanded a ransom for his release. He was returned to his family two days later after his father agreed to pay the kidnappers $240,000.
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…
Jack DeJohnette boasted a musical resume that was as long as it was fearsome.
Oct 28, 2025 10:47 AM
Jack DeJohnette, a bold and resourceful drummer and NEA Jazz Master who forged a unique vocabulary on the kit over his…
Trio aRT with its avalanche of instrumentation: from left, Pheeroan akLaff, Scott Robinson and Julian Thayer.
Sep 3, 2025 12:03 PM
Trio aRT, a working unit since 1988, shockingly released its very first studio recording this summer. Recorded in…
“Think of all the creative people I’m going to meet and a whole other way of thinking about music and a challenge of singing completely different material than I would have sung otherwise to my highest level in dedication to the moment,” Elling says about his Broadway run.
Sep 9, 2025 1:18 PM
Kurt Elling was back at home in Chicago, grabbing some family time in a late-June window between gigs. Sporting a smile…
Pat Metheny will perform with his Side-Eye III ensemble at Big Ears 2026 in Knoxville, Tennessee, next March.
Sep 9, 2025 12:19 PM
Big Ears has announced the lineup for its 2026 festival, which will take place March 26–29 and include 250…
