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…
On Monday, Feb. 11, Cuban pianist Chucho Valdes will make a guest appearance with the Village Vanguard Orchestra in celebration of the Village Vanguard’s 67th anniversary. This has the makings of a special event, as Valdes loves playing the venerable New York club, demonstrated on his Grammy winning Blue Note album Live At The Village Vanguard.
The Village Vanguard Orchestra started on Feb. 7, 1966, then known as the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra. It has grown to be one of the most acclaimed and innovative big bands in jazz history. Throughout the last 36 years the orchestra has toured extensively throughout the world and its offspring, the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, performs every Monday night at the club.
The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra will also be honored at the New York Brass Conference, April 12-13, in New York City. Also scheduled for this year, the club and the orchestra are partnering to bring the “Live at the Village Vanguard World Tour 2002” featuring the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra and special guest artists.
“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.
Sep 3, 2025 12:02 PM
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.
Aug 26, 2025 1:32 PM
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.
Sep 3, 2025 12:03 PM
Trio aRT, a working unit since 1988, shockingly released its very first studio recording this summer. Recorded in…