Jan 21, 2025 7:54 PM
Southern California Fires Hit the Jazz Community
Roy McCurdy and his wife had just finished eating dinner and were relaxing over coffee in their Altadena home, when he…
A new compilation of New Orleans musicians is being released to benefit the victims of the recent Gulf Coast hurricanes.
Our New Orleans (Nonesuch) features a wide range of prominent Louisiana musicians performings songs that are identified with their home state. Net proceeds from the sale of the disc will be donated to Habitat for Humanity International and a portion of these funds will help provide housing for musicians who lost their homes because of the hurricanes.
Participants include Dr. John (“World I Never Made”), BeauSoleil (“L’ouragon,” which translates as “The Hurricane”), Irma Thomas (“Back Water Blues”), Preservation Hall Jazz Band (“Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans”), and Randy Newman with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra (“Louisiana 1927”).
Allen Touissaint, who contributes two songs to Our New Orleans told the disc’s liner note writer, Nick Spitzer, “My Steinway, my records, my arrangements, my studio — it’s all gone. I had eight feet of water in my house near Bayou St. John. But the spirit didn’t drown. I still have my music. Give me a hammer. I’m ready to do my part.”
Gerald and John Clayton at the family home in Altadena during a photo shoot for the June 2022 cover of DownBeat. The house was lost during the Los Angeles fires.
Jan 21, 2025 7:54 PM
Roy McCurdy and his wife had just finished eating dinner and were relaxing over coffee in their Altadena home, when he…
“She said, ‘A lot of people are going to try and stop you,’” Sheryl Bailey recalls of the advice she received from jazz guitarist Emily Remler (1957–’90). “‘They’re going to say you slept with somebody, you’re a dyke, you’re this and that and the other. Don’t listen to them, and just keep playing.’”
Feb 3, 2025 10:49 PM
In the April 1982 issue of People magazine, under the heading “Lookout: A Guide To The Up and Coming,” jazz…
The Old Country: More From The Deer Head Inn arrives 30 years after ECM issued the Keith Jarret Trio live album At The Deer Head Inn.
Jan 21, 2025 7:38 PM
Last November, Keith Jarrett, who has not played publicly since suffering two strokes in 2018, greenlighted ECM to drop…
“The first recording I owned with Brazilian music on it was Wayne Shorter’s Native Dancer,” says Renee Rosnes. “And then I just started to go down the rabbit hole.”
Jan 16, 2025 2:02 PM
In her four-decade career, Renee Rosnes has been recognized as a singular voice, both as a jazz composer and a…
“If you don’t keep learning, your mind slows down,” Coleman says. “Use it or lose it.”
Jan 28, 2025 11:38 AM
PolyTropos/Of Many Turns — the title for Steve Coleman’s latest recording on Pi and his 33rd album overall —…
