Dec 28, 2018 9:00 AM
2018: The Year’s Top-Rated Albums
The list below is a round-up of the 5-star, 4.5-star and 4-star reviews that ran in print editions of DownBeat during…
Ambrose Akinmusire and Kris Davis perform in New York at Vision Festival, which ran May 23–28. Akinmusire’s Origami Harvest earned a 5-star rating in DownBeat during 2018.
Dec 28, 2018 9:00 AM
The list below is a round-up of the 5-star, 4.5-star and 4-star reviews that ran in print editions of DownBeat during…
Drummer Billy Martin (left), keyboardist John Medeski and bassist Chris Wood all have recording projects outside of their trio.
Dec 21, 2018 9:00 AM
Medeski Martin & Wood’s new album offers a summation of the group’s purpose three decades into its unconventional…
Joel Ross (left), Harish Raghavan, Matthew Stevens, Walter Smith III and Marcus Gilmore have a new album on Whirlwind.
Dec 18, 2018 9:00 AM
In Common, a newly formed quintet, had only a day-and-a-half to record its debut album. So, the co-leaders—tenor…
Recordings that make up Musical Prophet: The Expanded 1963 New York Studio Sessions sat in a Long Island home, untouched, for decades.
Dec 17, 2018 9:00 AM
Whether he was wielding his alto saxophone, flute or bass clarinet, Eric Dolphy was a godsend to the cadre of musicians…
Ralph Peterson teaches at Berklee College of Music in Boston.
Dec 13, 2018 9:00 AM
On a hot August afternoon in Boston, Ralph Peterson greets an incoming class of freshmen for orientation week at…
The Bowman Trio
Dec 12, 2018 9:00 AM
Scandinavian jazz is its own thing. Affective, free-spirited and daringly improvisational. Finnish jazz, a vibrant…
For his latest album, Combo 66, guitarist John Scofield enlisted drummer Bill Stewart, pianist/organist Gerald Clayton and bassist Vicente Archer.
Dec 10, 2018 9:00 AM
It’s November 1982, and 30-year-old John Scofield is in Cleveland to audition for Miles Davis’ group. The Man With…
Rajiv Halim has worked with Chance The Rapper, among others, in addition to leading his own troupe.
Dec 6, 2018 9:00 AM
Rajiv Halim will tell it to you straight. He’s ready to talk about today.
“A lot of people are stuck in the…
Singer Lizz Wright moved to Chicago in 2017 to serve on the board of the Little Black Pearl Art & Design Academy, which offers arts education and technical training courses in the Kenwood neighborhood on the city’s South Side.
Dec 4, 2018 9:00 AM
Vocalist Lizz Wright has much to be proud of, including her latest accolade: Her latest release, Grace (Concord),…
Dongfeng Liu’s new album merges musical traditions from different cultures.
Dec 3, 2018 9:00 AM
Dongfeng Liu was born and raised in China, but always felt a deep affinity for the music of the Caribbean. On the…