Aug 26, 2025 1:53 PM
Blindfold Test: Buster Williams
Buster Williams, who at the age of 83 has been on the scene for 65 years, had never done a Blindfold Test. The first…
Vocalist Ledisi is one of the artists featured on International Jazz Day from Australia, a concert special that premieres on PBS on Friday.
(Photo: Steve Mundinger/Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz)With the concert industry at a complete halt due to the coronavirus pandemic, jazz fans are turning to their computer screens and TVs to see performances.
Typically, fans look forward to an annual all-star concert to celebrate International Jazz Day. This year, however, the April 30 event will be a “virtual” one that takes place online. Fans can visit the International Jazz Day website for more information.
On Friday, the PBS network will premiere the special International Jazz Day from Australia, which was filmed during last year’s International Jazz Day celebration. The special features footage shot during the All-Star Global Concert at the Melbourne Arts Centre’s Hamer Hall in Australia on April 30, 2019.
This new special will include performances by UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador Herbie Hancock, Joey DeFrancesco, Kurt Elling, Ledisi, Jane Monheit, James Morrison, Antonio Sánchez, Somi, Ben Williams, Lizz Wright and John Beasley, who served as musical director.
The special also will be streamed at pbs.org. DB
“What I got from Percy was the dignity of playing the bass,” Buster Williams said of Percy Heath.
Aug 26, 2025 1:53 PM
Buster Williams, who at the age of 83 has been on the scene for 65 years, had never done a Blindfold Test. The first…
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.
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On the last Sunday of 2024, in the control room of Van Gelder Studio, Don and Maureen Sickler, co-owners since Rudy Van…
The Free Slave, Cosmos Nucleus and Sunset To Dawn: three classic Muse albums being reissued this fall by Timer Traveler Recordings.
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Record producer and “Jazz Detective” Zev Feldman has launched his next endeavor, the archival label Time Traveler…
This year’s Jazz em Agosto set by the Darius Jones Trio captured the titular alto saxophonist at his most ferocious.
Aug 26, 2025 1:31 PM
The organizers of Lisbon, Portugal’s Jazz em Agosto Festival assume its audience is thoughtful and independent. Over…
Trio aRT with its avalanche of instrumentation: from left, Pheeroan akLaff, Scott Robinson and Julian Thayer.
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Trio aRT, a working unit since 1988, shockingly released its very first studio recording this summer. Recorded in…
