“As human beings, when we talk to one another we can come together in one community,” said Sunny Jain, leader of Red Baraat. “To me, that’s the most important thing.”
Red Baraat Transcends Borders
When Red Baraat hits the stage and starts pumping out its ecstatic melange of genre-busting music that fuses 18th century Indian ensembles with Bollywood, Bhangra, Jain devotional songs, New Orleans brass bands and hip-hop born in…
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Charles Lloyd, seen here at the 2024 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, makes DownBeat Poll history!
Charles Lloyd Sweeps the 72nd Annual DownBeat Critics Poll
The incomparable Charles Lloyd swept the 72nd Annual DownBeat Critics Poll, becoming the first artist ever to earn honors for Artist of the Year, Album of the Year, Tenor Saxophonist of the Year as well as be voted into the DownBeat Hall of Fame. At 87, Lloyd remains at the top of his artistic game.
The critics also named Immanuel Wilkins, who’s 26, the Jazz Group of the Year and Alto Saxophonist of the Year.…
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This iconic Canadian festival has, as the saying goes, “a little something for everyone,” with some 350 acts performing over 10 days. As the 45th Montreal Jazz Festival…
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Germany is a nation steeped in music. And the Deutscher Jazzpreis (German Jazz Prize), an important and well-attended annual gathering in the country’s jazz calendar, serves as…
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In curating the 27th Healdsburg Jazz Festival, which transpired June 13–22, Artistic Director Marcus Shelby turned the scale limitations attendant to operating in the upscale…
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NEWS
During seven glorious days in June 1986, a fledgling jazz festival in Vancouver, Canada, burst into the consciousness of local and international jazz fans. The du Maurier International Jazz Festival had a stunning lineup: Miles Davis, Wynton Marsalis, Ornette Coleman, Abdullah Ibrahim, Tony Williams, Jay Clayton,…
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NEWS
From sisters Tia Fuller and Shamie Royston, Kneebody co-founders Shane Endsley and Kaveh Rastegar and the late Ron Miles to historic figures like Paul Whiteman and Jimmie Lunceford, Denver has been called home by a plethora of jazz talent. Now that home has its own festival. The inaugural Denver Jazz Fest, which ran…
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NEWS
Les DeMerle learned by doing. DeMerle toured around with the Harry James Big Band for more than a decade and put together groups with tenor saxophonist Don Menza, trumpeter Randy Brecker and others, but the drummer first gained some notoriety around the age of 14 with a review in this very publication. Across…
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NEWS
Mention the word “festival” to jazz fans and chances are they’ll first think of legendary annual events at Newport, Monterey, Chicago, Detroit, New Orleans, Montreal or Montreux. However, quality jazz festivals take place in a variety of lesser-known locales as well. Although these festivals are smaller in…
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NEWS
In preparation for this year’s bountiful Jazz Festival Season, DownBeat brings you a detailed preview of the best fests scheduled to take place in the months to come. Be sure to check for festivals happening in your area — be it East, West, South or Midwest regions of the U.S. and Canada, or International…
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BY Michael J. West
No mere repertory exercise, this — perhaps even less so than drummer Terri Lyne Carrington’s inspired 2013 update of Ellington/Roach/Mingus’ Money Jungle. Always in touch with her social conscience, Carrington reimagines Max Roach’s 1960 We Insist!…
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BY Ed Enright
When you live, work and play in New York, the city’s renowned culture is there for the taking. But even if your day-to-day pursuits are of the utmost sophistication, there’s no escaping the raw grit and inherent riskiness of urban life. Nobody knows that…
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BY Frank Alkyer
There are so many reasons that trumpeter Theo Croker graces the June 2025 cover of DownBeat. For starters, he’s been steadily building a loyal fandom with his beautiful tone and creative mind — from 2019’s Star People Nation to 2021’s BLK2LIFE // A…
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BY Frank Alkyer
Paradise, the exceptional new recording by The Westerlies brass quartet, comes at a perfect time in history. The music — sublime, precise and deeply spiritual — serves as a balm for the soul during a worrisome era. While the headlines scream of the…
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BY Ed Enright
While the fourth album from The Pete McGuinness Jazz Orchestra is a deliberately mixed bag in terms of styles and repertoire, it is a model of consistency from start to finish when one considers the high standard of creative innovation behind the arrangements…
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BY Michael J. West
If the Melancholia of the title doesn’t tell you this is an exquisitely expressive album, the presence of trumpeter Ingrid Jensen as a featured guest should do the trick. Turkish-American pianist Mehmet Ali Sanlıkol groups Jensen with a Bostonian cohort on…
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Snark has introduced a trio of high-precision clip-on tuners: the ST-1X HPT, ST-2 HPT and ST-8 HPT. These models feature all-new software with ultra-tight “in tune” windows for pinpoint accuracy with a broad range of instruments. Snark has added a patented anechoic sound shield on the back of…
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Beyerdynamic has introduced the DT 990 PRO X, the next evolution in the brand’s DT 990 PRO headphones, now with a detachable cable, extra comfort, a STELLAR.45 driver system and lower impedance rating that allows for better performance across a wide range of devices. Designed for critical…
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 Photo by Faena
2022 NEA Jazz Master Donald Harrison curates a line-up of more than two dozen Grammy winning artists from New Orleans icons to New York rising stars at the Quantum Leap Music Festival 2025 with farm-to-table food & wine pairings at Long Island, NY’s oldest vineyard. Details & early bird tickets on sale at nola2nofo.com.
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by J.C. Thomas // June/13/1968
Sun Ra and Buddha seem to have things in common. Both have their own metaphysics and philosophies; complete conceptions of the universe. Each is a teacher, not a preacher; each has his own ideas to express, and others are free to accept or reject them as they choose.
And the gentle Sun Ra—polite, soft-spoken—has a Buddha-like confidence that…
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