Oct 17, 2023 3:36 PM
Carla Bley, Provocative Composer-Pianist, Dies at Age 87
With her iconic bangs, sharp features and free-flowing sense of the absurd, Carla Bley, who died Oct. 17 of brain…
Bley told DownBeat in 1984: “I’m just a composer, and I use jazz musicians because they’re smarter, and they can save your ass in a bad situation. … I need all the help I can get.”
Oct 17, 2023 3:36 PM
With her iconic bangs, sharp features and free-flowing sense of the absurd, Carla Bley, who died Oct. 17 of brain…
“I wanted it to be a continuous celebration of life,” Rodriguez says of his new album, Coral Way.
Oct 17, 2023 12:45 PM
In 2019, a decade after moving from Cuba to Los Angeles on Quincy Jones’ invitation, Havana-born jazz pianist Alfredo…
Gabriela Martina and her longstanding band, from left, Vancil Cooper, Martina, Ben Rosenblum, Kyle Miles, Maxim Lubarsky and Jussi Reijonen.
Oct 17, 2023 11:38 AM
Her love of musical discovery and invention shines through on every track of her latest album, Homage To Grämlis, a…
“Charlie Christian with the Benny Goodman Sextet on record, that was it!” said Freeman of his early influences.
Oct 10, 2023 1:05 PM
Visit Chicago guitarist George Freeman, whose new album The Good Life (High Note) featuring Joey DeFrancesco and…
“One of my hopes is that we find new and different versions of and possibilities for community,” Pinderhughes says of The Healing Project.
Oct 10, 2023 12:57 PM
In his Harlem apartment, Samora Pinderhughes presides over his contradictions. Handwritten pages splay across his…
Salles says his music “is a combination of being from Brazil and living in the U.S. as an immigrant.”
Oct 10, 2023 12:40 PM
Like most composers of programmatic music, Felipe Salles based his first big band album — the well-received 2018…
“You want to speak to someone’s heart, not just befuddle their brain,” Brunious says.
Oct 3, 2023 12:44 PM
When you enter Preservation Hall in New Orleans, it’s like stepping back in time. The small no-frills room looks…
From left: Mary Halvorson, Sylvie Courvoisier, Aki Takase and Alexander von Schlippenbach will be among the performers at this fall’s Jazzfest Berlin.
Oct 3, 2023 12:43 PM
As the fall festival season gets into full swing, artist lineups are being finalized and announced in anticipation of…
Beyond (April Records) continues Strange’s musical journey with meditations on the circle of life.
Oct 3, 2023 11:52 AM
Cecilie Strange, the gifted young Danish saxophonist and composer, first hit DownBeat’s radar with Blue (April…
Philadelphia’s University of the Arts “Z” Big Band.
Sep 28, 2023 12:17 PM
In creating the DownBeat College Guide each year, a great deal of thought goes into what students and parents need to…
