Mar 2, 2026 9:58 PM
In Memoriam: John Hammond Jr., 1942–2026
John P. Hammond (aka John Hammond Jr.), a blues guitarist and singer who was one of the first white American…
On Nov. 22, Blue Note will release Higher Ground, a recording from Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Higher Ground Hurricane Relief Benefit Concert held just three weeks after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast.
The concert—led by New Orleans native Wynton Marsalis and produced by Jazz at Lincoln Center—has raised more than $2 million to date, with all proceeds from sales of the CD going directly to the Higher Ground Relief Fund. The fund was established by Jazz at Lincoln Center, and administered through the Baton Rouge Area Foundation to benefit the musicians, music industry related enterprises and other individuals and entities in New Orleans who were impacted by Hurricane Katrina, and to provide other general hurricane relief.
The concert took place at the Rose Theater, and included performances by Norah Jones, Diana Krall, Marsalis, Bette Midler, Art and Aaron Neville, Dianne Reeves, James Taylor, Cassandra Wilson and Buckwheat Zydeco. Higher Ground collects the highlights of the evening on 15 tracks.
For more information, visit the Jazz at Lincoln Center web site.
Hammond came to the blues through the folk boom of the late 1950s and early 1960s, which he experienced firsthand in New York’s Greenwich Village.
Mar 2, 2026 9:58 PM
John P. Hammond (aka John Hammond Jr.), a blues guitarist and singer who was one of the first white American…
“Cerebral and academic thought is a different way to approach music,” Flea says of his continuing dive into jazz. “I’ve always relied on emotion and intuition and physicality.”
Mar 30, 2026 10:30 PM
In the relatively small pantheon of certifiable rock stars venturing into the intersection of pop music and jazz, the…
Lettuce, from left: Eric Coomes, Adam Deitch, Ryan Zoidis, Eric Bloom, Adam Smirnoff and Nigel Hall
Feb 17, 2026 11:05 AM
They were Berklee misfits. Neither jazzy enough for the straightahead crowd at Boston’s highly prestigious College of…
New Orleans Trad Jazz Camp
Feb 19, 2026 10:39 AM
Jazz camps have exploded around the globe as a summertime tradition for working on your chops and making new friends.…
Blindfold Test proctor Ted Panken, left, with the Grammy-winning Nicole Zuraitis.
Feb 24, 2026 12:00 PM
After earning the 2024 Best Jazz Vocal Album Grammy for her seventh album, How Love Begins (La Reserve), comprising 12…
