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…
Trumpeter Malachi Thompson died on July 16 at his home in Chicago after a lengthy battle against leukemia. He was 56.
Thompson had been a particularly active player in Chicago’s jazz scene. He joined the Association For The Advancement of Creative Musicians in 1968. While he left for New York ten years later when he formed the Freebop Band, he returned to Chicago in 1989 after he was diagnosed with cancer.
But Thompson never let the diagnosis discourage his music, or his advocacy on behalf of jazz. In 1991, he formed the Sutherland Community Arts Initiative, which set out to present arts education programs on the city’s South Side. That year, he also formed Africa Brass, a 13-piece brass ensemble. He also established a lengthy association with Delmark Records and recorded such discs as Spirit , Lift Every Voice , Buddy Bolden’s Rag and Blue Jazz for the label.
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…
Blindfold Test proctor Ted Panken, left, with the Grammy-winning Nicole Zuraitis.
Feb 24, 2026 12:00 PM
After earning the 2024 Best Jazz Vocal Album Grammy for her seventh album, How Love Begins (La Reserve), comprising 12…
“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,…
