May 26, 2026 11:08 AM
Sonny Rollins Passes Away at 95
Sonny Rollins, the iconic saxophonist, composer and improviser whose career stretched from the origins of bebop to 21st…
Vocalist Luba Mason’s Triangle was released Oct. 23.
(Photo: Travis Chantar)Vocalist Luba Mason is as comfortable acting on stage as she is singing in a vocal booth, and equally adept at interpreting Brazilian music as she is reassessing chart-topping Stateside hits.
In a move that almost seems like the inverse of Marilyn Manson covering the Eurythmics, Mason includes a take of “Toxicity” by System of a Down on Triangle, her new album, released Oct. 23. A video for the tune premieres below.
On a program of covers spanning Czech chanson, Colombian pop and a Beatles classic, Mason employs a novel instrumentation for Triangle, her vocals supported only by vibraphonist Joe Locke and bassist James Genus.
“I was looking for a real unexpected tune to challenge this lineup,” Mason said in an email to DownBeat. “This heavy metal song by System of a Down with a jazz chart fit the bill.” DB
Onstage, Rollins would move about restlessly, thrusting his tenor sax in the air as he blew.
May 26, 2026 11:08 AM
Sonny Rollins, the iconic saxophonist, composer and improviser whose career stretched from the origins of bebop to 21st…
To the world, James Blood Ulmer was a legend, a visionary and a musical force whose sound was distinctive and unique. To his family, he was their teacher, their storyteller and a source of strength.
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“I wanted to get into the real feeling,” Melissa Aldana says of studying the work of singers from Cuba’s filin tradition in preparation for her collaboration with pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba.
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Ibrahim was an early jazz acolyte, studying the music via 78s he would buy from soldiers stationed in South Africa — who also gave him the nickname “Dollar.”
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