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…
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.
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.
Jun 9, 2026 10:54 AM
With deep sorrow and profound love, we announce the passing of James Blood Ulmer, a boldly innovative guitarist,…
How best to mark Miles Davis’ centennial? By allowing the stories to flow, and cross-discussions to happen.
May 26, 2026 10:40 AM
Editor’s Note: The iconic trumpeter, composer and bandleader Miles Davis would have turned 100 today (May 26, 2026).…
“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.
May 19, 2026 11:46 AM
Melissa Aldana is an investigator. She’s not comfortable resting on what she knows, instead seeking to learn more and…
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.”
Jun 30, 2026 3:19 PM
Pianist Abdullah Ibrahim, the NEA Jazz Master from South Africa who helped fuse the folk music of his home country with…