Dec 9, 2025 12:28 PM
In Memoriam: Gordon Goodwin, 1954–2025
Gordon Goodwin, an award-winning saxophonist, pianist, bandleader, composer and arranger, died Dec. 8 in Los Angeles.…
Craig Tabor (left) and Vijay Iyer pay tribute to artists and pianists who recently have passed on Transitory Poems.
(Photo: Monica Jane Frisell/ECM Records)Iyer: Because the two-piano problem has basically been solved already. We’ve had centuries of that. Stravinsky and Stockhausen have dealt with that.
You just want people to think orchestrationally and compositionally—one of the things we learned from Roscoe. [to Taborn] I remember you described early on “a strategy of avoidance.” One of Roscoe’s pet peeves is when people follow each other. That has a way of bogging things down. It means you’re second-guessing someone and not really contributing to the music. Then it becomes more about how you tune into these different streams of information and hear it all as counterpoint, rather than try to play each other’s shit back at them.
But then there are moments where we just merge. It’s beyond imitation: We’re building this thing and we’re reinforcing something. Then it’s actually more orchestrational.
Taborn: Absolutely. That kind of coincidence occurs through a process of actually thinking the same way, not that I’m listening to Vijay and then aping his thing. It’s like, “Oh, we’ve arrived at that because there is some synchronicity in our ...”
Iyer: Process.
Taborn: Our process. That’s a wonderful thing. That’s not following, by definition. It’s something else [laughs]. DB
Goodwin was one of the most acclaimed, successful and influential jazz musicians of his generation.
Dec 9, 2025 12:28 PM
Gordon Goodwin, an award-winning saxophonist, pianist, bandleader, composer and arranger, died Dec. 8 in Los Angeles.…
Flea has returned to his first instrument — the trumpet — and assembled a dream band of jazz musicians to record a new album.
Dec 2, 2025 2:01 AM
After a nearly five-decade career as one of his generation’s defining rock bassists, Flea has returned to his first…
Belá Fleck during an interview with Fredrika Whitfield on CNN.
Jan 13, 2026 2:09 PM
The fallout from the renaming of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to include President Donald…
“It’s a pleasure and an honor to interpret the music of Oscar Peterson in his native city,” said Jim Doxas in regard to celebrating the Canadian legend. “He traveled the world, but never forgot Montreal.”
Nov 18, 2025 12:16 PM
In the pantheon of jazz luminaries, few shine as brightly, or swing as hard, as Oscar Peterson. A century ago, a…
Dec 11, 2025 11:00 AM
DownBeat presents a complete list of the 4-, 4½- and 5-star albums from 2025 in one convenient package. It’s a great…
