May 26, 2026 11:08 AM
Sonny Rollins Passes Away at 95
Sonny Rollins, the iconic saxophonist, composer and improviser whose career stretched from the origins of bebop to 21st…
Herbie Hancock will spend the spring and summer receiving honorary degrees, performing with pianist Lang Lang, and appearing as a guest with the American Ballet Theater.
On May 9, the pianist will receive a doctor of music from Loyola University in New Orleans, and on May 16 Hancock will deliver the commencement address to the Bentley University/McCallum Graduate School of Business in Waltham, Mass., and be awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters.
Prior to the Bentley address, Hancock will perform with Lang Lang on May 14 at the Classical Brit Awards at Royal Albert Hall in London. Other U.S. shows in the Hancock-Lang Lang Dueling Pianos Tour (which will go to European festivals in July) include:
July 28: Ravinia Festival, Highland Park, Ill., with Chicago Symphony
July 30: Mann Center, Philadelphia, with Philadelphia Orchestra
Aug. 1: NJPAC, Newark, N.J., with New Jersey Symphony
Aug. 7-8: Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles, with LA Philharmonic
On May 18, Hancock will be the guest artist performing at American Ballet Theatre’s 2009 Spring Gala at the Metropolitan Opera House.
Onstage, Rollins would move about restlessly, thrusting his tenor sax in the air as he blew.
May 26, 2026 11:08 AM
Sonny Rollins, the iconic saxophonist, composer and improviser whose career stretched from the origins of bebop to 21st…
To the world, James Blood Ulmer was a legend, a visionary and a musical force whose sound was distinctive and unique. To his family, he was their teacher, their storyteller and a source of strength.
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“I wanted to get into the real feeling,” Melissa Aldana says of studying the work of singers from Cuba’s filin tradition in preparation for her collaboration with pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba.
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Ibrahim was an early jazz acolyte, studying the music via 78s he would buy from soldiers stationed in South Africa — who also gave him the nickname “Dollar.”
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