Top row from left: Nduduzo Makhathini (Photo: Nailah Makhathini); Brandee Younger and Dezron Douglas at their home in the East Harlem neighborhood of New York City (Photo: Courtesy of Artists); Chick Corea (Photo: Toshi Sakurai, Courtesy Chick Corea Productions). Bottom row from left: Christian McBride (Photo: R. Andrew Lepley); Stanton Moore at his home in New Orleans (Photo: Lauren Del Rio); Wolfgang Muthspiel and his 4-year-old daughter, Flora, at their home in Vienna (Photo: Courtesy of Artist); Kris Davis (Photo: ©Caroline Mardok).
Jun 16, 2020 8:53 AM
It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Musicians around the globe had gigs, recording dates, mixing sessions—stuff to…
Andy Milne is fascinated by the connections among medical science, music and healing.
May 29, 2020 8:58 AM
Pianist Andy Milne uses building metaphors to talk about music. Construction is “about how you bind two things…
In his band Big Vicious, Avishai Cohen plays trumpet and synthesizers.
May 26, 2020 8:38 AM
As the coronavirus moved across Europe in mid-March, trumpeter Avishai Cohen sat in his Tel Aviv home, contemplating…
Eldar Djangirov’s latest album is titled Rhapsodize.
May 21, 2020 8:00 AM
To display Promethean chops is pianist Eldar Djangirov’s long-established default basis of operations, and his new,…
After performing with John Coltrane, drummer Rashied Ali (shown here) started Survival Records with saxophonist Frank Lowe during the early 1970s.
May 20, 2020 8:32 AM
Although the legendary jazz drummer Rashied Ali is best known for his work as one of John Coltrane’s pathbreaking…
Rachel Therrien might not have garnered as much attention as her fellow Canadian trumpeters, but that could change with Vena.
May 19, 2020 8:53 AM
With the coronavirus pandemic, global economic uncertainty and the prospect of a chaotic and divisive election, a lot…
Drummer Antonio Sánchez and vocalist Thana Alexa have reached a point of mutual influence.
May 15, 2020 7:13 AM
On a chilly January night in New York City, drummer-composer Antonio Sánchez plays a full-body phrase. He hangs back…
Sylvain Leroux helms L’Ecole Fula Flute, an alternative school in Guinea that aims to teach students from ages 6 to 20 academic fundamentals, as well as music.
May 13, 2020 8:52 AM
In a cinderblock schoolhouse with a corrugated tin roof in Conakry, Guinea, reeds specialist Sylvain Leroux is opening…
Giacomo Bruzzo’s RareNoise label has built a catalog filled with adventurous releases.
May 12, 2020 8:55 AM
Before he was a label owner, Giacomo Bruzzo was a frustrated finance bro. Born in Italy, he moved to the U.K. in 1991,…
Ben Williams’ I Am A Man has been issued through Rainbow Blonde, a new label founded by vocalists José James and Taali and engineer Brian Bender.
May 11, 2020 8:49 AM
Ben Williams was completely mesmerized by 13th, director Ava DuVernay’s 2016 documentary about mass incarceration and…
