Jan 21, 2025 7:54 PM
Southern California Fires Hit the Jazz Community
Roy McCurdy and his wife had just finished eating dinner and were relaxing over coffee in their Altadena home, when he…
Trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith is among several jazz world figures to become a 2021 United States Artists Fellow.
(Photo: Jimmy Katz)Trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith, saxophonist Edward “Kidd” Jordan and cellist Tomeka Reid are among the 2021 United States Artists Fellows, the organization announced Feb. 3.
Sixty individuals from 22 different states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico received the award, which comes along with a $50,000 prize. According to the organization, the fellowship program has dispensed $33 million to more than 700 artists since its founding in 2006.
Architects and designers, textile and interdisciplinary artists, sculptors, dancers, filmmakers and others in media also were awarded the fellowship. Last year, composer Anthony Braxton, flutist Nicole Mitchell and pianist Sylvie Courvoisier were among those who received the honor.
For a full list of recipients, visit the United States Artists website. DB
Gerald and John Clayton at the family home in Altadena during a photo shoot for the June 2022 cover of DownBeat. The house was lost during the Los Angeles fires.
Jan 21, 2025 7:54 PM
Roy McCurdy and his wife had just finished eating dinner and were relaxing over coffee in their Altadena home, when he…
“She said, ‘A lot of people are going to try and stop you,’” Sheryl Bailey recalls of the advice she received from jazz guitarist Emily Remler (1957–’90). “‘They’re going to say you slept with somebody, you’re a dyke, you’re this and that and the other. Don’t listen to them, and just keep playing.’”
Feb 3, 2025 10:49 PM
In the April 1982 issue of People magazine, under the heading “Lookout: A Guide To The Up and Coming,” jazz…
The Old Country: More From The Deer Head Inn arrives 30 years after ECM issued the Keith Jarret Trio live album At The Deer Head Inn.
Jan 21, 2025 7:38 PM
Last November, Keith Jarrett, who has not played publicly since suffering two strokes in 2018, greenlighted ECM to drop…
“The first recording I owned with Brazilian music on it was Wayne Shorter’s Native Dancer,” says Renee Rosnes. “And then I just started to go down the rabbit hole.”
Jan 16, 2025 2:02 PM
In her four-decade career, Renee Rosnes has been recognized as a singular voice, both as a jazz composer and a…
“If you don’t keep learning, your mind slows down,” Coleman says. “Use it or lose it.”
Jan 28, 2025 11:38 AM
PolyTropos/Of Many Turns — the title for Steve Coleman’s latest recording on Pi and his 33rd album overall —…