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…
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts announced its lineup for 2008-’09.
The center will offer several series of concerts including Jazz In D.C., Louis Armstrong Legacy Singers, Art Tatum Piano Panorama and a Platinum series focused on the classical influences on Duke Ellington. It will also host the 14th Annual Mary Lou Williams Women In Jazz festival May 14–16, 2009. Special concerts include NPR’s Jazz Piano Christmas and A Jazz new Year’s Eve scheduled for Dec. 4 and Dec. 31, respectively.
Ellington Voices: Classical To Jazz will be a series of concerts in the Platinum series. A Nov. 22 concert will feature vocalists Nnenna Freelon and Harolyn Blackwell interpreting classical influences on Duke’s jazz.
The NSO Pops orchestra, conducted by Marvin Hamlisch, will feature the Jazz Ambassadors Army Field Band Nov. 28–29 performing the music of Duke Ellington, Billy Taylor and James Reese Europe.
Benny Golson will appear Jan. 24, 2009, to celebrate his 80th birthday with the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, Al Jarreau, Ron Carter, Bill Cosby and others.
More info: kennedy-center.org
 
  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…