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…
On Monday, pianist Anthony Davis won a Pulitzer Prize for his opera, The Central Park Five.
(Photo: YouTube)Anthony Davis, a frequent Wadada Leo Smith collaborator, on Monday was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in the musical composition category for his opera, The Central Park Five.
The pianist, who currently teaches at the University of California, San Diego, premiered the work at the Long Beach Opera in California on June 15, 2019. The piece follows the travails of five New York teenagers who are accused in the 1989 murder of a jogger in the city’s park. Each of the five—who also were the focus of a 2019 Netflix series, When They See Us, which was directed by Ava DuVernay and scored by jazz pianist Kris Bowers—were convicted and later exonerated.
The Pulitzers, which this year included Jon Batiste as a judge in Davis’ category, said the composer’s work “skillfully transforms a notorious example of contemporary injustice into something empathetic and hopeful.”
Notably, in 2016, jazz composer Henry Threadgill won the category for his In For A Penny, In For A Pound (Pi) recording.
Davis—whose other work includes albums released on the India Navigation and MPS imprints, and X, The Life And Times Of Malcolm X, An Opera In Three Acts—also received $15,000 as a part of the win. 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…
“Cerebral and academic thought is a different way to approach music,” Flea says of his continuing dive into jazz. “I’ve always relied on emotion and intuition and physicality.”
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In the relatively small pantheon of certifiable rock stars venturing into the intersection of pop music and jazz, the…
Vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater will be among the headliners at this year’s DC JazzFest.
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The first wave of artists scheduled to perform at the 2026 DC JazzFest have been announced. This year’s headliners…
“These days, with curated news, where people only get half the story, people can’t even speak to family members anymore,” Schneider laments.
Mar 10, 2026 1:43 PM
Maria Schneider is doing her part to try to fix what ails America. Which got her thinking about crows, specifically,…
Each of the 25 JAMs has delivered a poster featuring a jazz legend that is sent out to schools across the nation. This year’s poster features Tony Bennett.
Mar 30, 2026 10:20 PM
Every April for the past quarter century, something remarkable has happened across the United States and far beyond.…
