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…
“Johnny O’Neil has such charisma, when he sits at the piano he commands attention,” observed pianist Sullivan Fortner, his duet partner at this year’s Detroit Jazz Fest.
Oct 17, 2023 12:09 PM
A bold move by president/artistic director Chris Collins at the 44th Detroit Jazz Fest — ditching one of the four…
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…
“Blue Note music has been such an integral part of my musical and life experience for so long,” says Redman. “It’s surreal to be a part of this lineage.”
Oct 10, 2023 1:13 PM
“It just occurred to me just the other day,” said Joshua Redman, a bemused expression forming over his face on the…
“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…
“There’s a lot of untapped potential in that classic big band literature,” Argue says, noting that it serves as inspiration.
Oct 3, 2023 12:50 PM
In 2010, when Darcy James Argue wrote “Dymaxion,” a masterstroke for large ensemble, he knew it was the beginning…
“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…
