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…
“Origin represents a turning point for me,” said Joey Alexander of his new recording on Mack Avenue.
(Photo: Courtesy Mack Avenue)Mack Avenue Music Group has signed Joey Alexander. The pianist’s label debut, Origin — his first album of all original compositions — is slated for a spring release.
A child prodigy who taught himself to play jazz at age 6, Alexander came to the attention of international audiences when he won the Grand Prix at the 2014 Master-Jam Fest as a 9-year-old. A year later, he played Jazz at Lincoln Center with Wynton Marsalis and released his first album, My Favorite Things, on Mótema. That album was nominated for two Grammys, making him the youngest Grammy nominee ever.
Alexander, now 18, is stepping out as a composer and bandleader as well as a virtuoso pianist. “These past years have been especially trying for everyone, including those of us who didn’t know when we would ever perform for live audiences again,” Alexander said. “Origin represents a turning point for me — the time when I decided to turn frustration into an opportunity to truly express myself and to rise above the circumstances.”
The new album will feature saxophonist Chris Potter, bassist Larry Grenadier, drummer Kendrick Scott and guitarist Gilad Hekselman. DB
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…
Lettuce, from left: Eric Coomes, Adam Deitch, Ryan Zoidis, Eric Bloom, Adam Smirnoff and Nigel Hall
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They were Berklee misfits. Neither jazzy enough for the straightahead crowd at Boston’s highly prestigious College of…
Lovers of the big band experience, clockwise from top left, John Clayton, Leigh Pilzer, Ted Nash, David Pietro and Christine Jensen.
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The popularity of big band music might have peaked in the 1930s and ’40s, but despite the many changes on the jazz…
New Orleans Trad Jazz Camp
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Jazz camps have exploded around the globe as a summertime tradition for working on your chops and making new friends.…
Sullivan Fortner continues a winning streak with his third Grammy for Jazz Album of the Year after earning the Gilmore Larry J. Bell Artist Award last October.
Feb 10, 2026 10:48 AM
The 68th Annual Grammy Awards presented a marathon of winners, tributes and music on Feb. 1. Kendrick Lamar added five…
