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…
Matthew Shipp (left) and Ivo Perelman perform at the Chicago Jazz Festival in August along with William Parker and Bobby Kapp.
(Photo: Mark Sheldon)IP: I understand what you’re saying, but personally, I was for a while devoted to painting. Right now, I’m experiencing a growth period that I absolutely have to investigate. The only way to do it is to go through the process: record, listen, release, mature the process. So, I still have a lot—be ready. My plan is to do a 365-CD box and document every day.
While that’s fascinating from an art perspective, the market for that is 17 people.
IP: Someone the other day told Matthew he was ruining his career, recording so much. I told him, this isn’t a career, this is a mission. I don’t register this as a valid point of view.
MS: He’s insane.
Are you both thinking about legacy at this point?
MS: I’ll be 58 soon. Parker was dead when he was 34. Coltrane was dead when he was 40. Bruce Lee was dead when he was 32. And those are people who did a lot in a short amount of time. Other than Albert Ayler, some people in the avant-garde did live long lives—Sun Ra, Cecil Taylor. You can’t take that for granted, and you do start thinking, have you done your best work? Or are you going to keep growing?
IP: Not long ago, I realized the gift of life, and how appreciative I am of being alive. I’ve had some health issues, and now I’m 100 percent. I enjoy waking up every day—and grateful for that. The way to give back is to play music the best way I can. I’m very disciplined about practice, very serious about the daily methodical approach to maintaining, learning and growing as a musician. I take it as my duty to give back to the universe the gift I was given—that’s why so many CDs. I want to say thank you many times.
MS: The other thing is, we’re here. You’re not getting tons of major festivals.
IP: I’m not getting shit.
MS: So, your life is the studio. We do tours sometimes, but we’re in a situation where the studio is a place where the music has been able to grow.
IP: It’s a monastic life; I like that. 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.”
Mar 30, 2026 10:30 PM
In the relatively small pantheon of certifiable rock stars venturing into the intersection of pop music and jazz, the…
Lettuce, from left: Eric Coomes, Adam Deitch, Ryan Zoidis, Eric Bloom, Adam Smirnoff and Nigel Hall
Feb 17, 2026 11:05 AM
They were Berklee misfits. Neither jazzy enough for the straightahead crowd at Boston’s highly prestigious College of…
New Orleans Trad Jazz Camp
Feb 19, 2026 10:39 AM
Jazz camps have exploded around the globe as a summertime tradition for working on your chops and making new friends.…
Lovers of the big band experience, clockwise from top left, John Clayton, Leigh Pilzer, Ted Nash, David Pietro and Christine Jensen.
Feb 10, 2026 11:00 AM
The popularity of big band music might have peaked in the 1930s and ’40s, but despite the many changes on the jazz…
