Dec 17, 2024 10:17 AM
Nicole Mitchell’s Malian Collaborations
Flutist Nicole Mitchell put new friends through changes for the 2024 album Bamako*Chicago Sound System (FPE), which she…
“Hope is important, and it always shows up in my music,” Mitchell said.
Dec 17, 2024 10:17 AM
Flutist Nicole Mitchell put new friends through changes for the 2024 album Bamako*Chicago Sound System (FPE), which she…
“I’ve always felt good about social commentary,” says singer Billy Valentine.
Apr 4, 2023 1:42 PM
Just as jazz today casts its own light on the nation’s cultural movements, the music played a similar role 50 years…
New York City shaped the motifs that run throughout Basquiat’s work. Shown here are his pieces King Zulu (left) and Dog Bite/Ax to Grind.
Dec 6, 2022 1:07 PM
Jean-Michel Basquiat’s bold and challenging images have gone from their origins in the streets of New York to…
Branch’s music reflected a boundless imagination and remarkable technique.
Aug 30, 2022 3:01 PM
Trumpeter Jaimie Branch, whose music reflected a boundless imagination and remarkable technique, died Aug. 22 at her…
“People gave me so much in this business, I just want to give something back,” Bob Stroger said about playing with younger musicians.
Aug 9, 2022 2:33 PM
Just before the COVID pandemic, bassist Bob Stroger’s touring itinerary took him around the world. He also recorded…
“A lot of people came through this group, which blew their minds in a way that there was no turning back,” vocalist Dwight Trible said.
Jun 14, 2022 2:23 PM
When pianist Horace Tapscott saw a need for more performance opportunities in Los Angeles in 1961, he created the Pan…
“I’ve always been into the zodiac and the truth that’s within it, but during this pandemic, we all had to time and space to do that,” Hill said.
May 17, 2022 1:38 PM
Trumpeter Marquis Hill speaks in quietly determined tones. Through a Zoom conversation from his college office in…
Charlie Sepúlveda is planning to restart the Luquillo Beach Jazz Festival on a larger scale.
Feb 22, 2022 1:31 PM
The morning after Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico in 2017, trumpeter Charlie Sepúlveda looked around his town of…
Artifacts, from left: Nicole Mitchell, Mike Reed and Tomeka Reid, at Estrada Poznanska in Poland.
Feb 15, 2022 1:17 PM
Back in January 2021, the world was in deep lockdown and the jazz trio Artifacts performed a concert to a nearly empty…
Darius Jones returns with public-spirited determination.
Jan 11, 2022 2:13 PM
About five years ago, Darius Jones decided to take a break. At the time, the New York-based saxophonist found himself…
Keyboard legend Doug Carn
May 25, 2021 11:26 AM
After almost 50 years, organist Doug Carn is having one of his biggest moments. A series of albums he recorded in the…
Tomeka Reid (right) is among the 25 artists DownBeat thinks will help shape jazz in the decades to come.
Nov 3, 2020 12:29 PM
Cellist Tomeka Reid remembers when she started telling people about her quartet. Not everyone was encouraging about…
Jimmy Cobb (left), Joe Segal and former DownBeat editor Dan Morgenstern appear at a NEA Jazz Masters awards luncheon on April 20, 2015, in New York.
Aug 14, 2020 1:54 PM
Few impresarios spent as many decades maintaining a home for jazz as Chicago’s Joe Segal, who died Aug. 10 at the age…
Aaron Parks returns for a second album alongside his Little Big ensemble. Little Big II: Dreams Of A Mechanical Man (Ropeadope) is due out May 8.
May 5, 2020 9:03 AM
Pianist Aaron Parks writes compositions that bring together jazz, rock and electronica, while his Little Big quartet…
Goran Ivanovic (left) and Fareed Haque combine myriad idioms within jazz improvisation for IndoBalkan (Delmark).
Apr 7, 2020 8:54 AM
Chicago guitarists Fareed Haque and Goran Ivanovic started working together during the mid 1990s—just after Ivanovic…
Drummer Jeremy Cunningham enlisted Jeff Parker, Jaimie Branch, Makaya McCraven and others to play on his new album.
Apr 21, 2020 11:31 AM
About 12 years ago, drummer Jeremy Cunningham had plenty of reasons to feel that his life was going great. He was…
Two releases serve as reminders of how drummer Buddy Rich and saxophonist Fred Anderson stayed sharp and productive in the latter part of their careers.
Mar 12, 2020 5:13 PM
In terms of style, background, recognition and—perhaps, most famously—temperament, drummer Buddy Rich and…
The University of Wisconsin’s Summer Music Clinic hosts middle- and high-school students.
Feb 7, 2020 9:29 AM
Now in its 91st year, the University of Wisconsin’s Summer Music Clinic in Madison has established a history of…
Hank Mobley (1930–1986)
Nov 28, 2019 11:52 PM
One night in November 1955, a cooperative then known as The Jazz Messengers took the stage of New York’s Cafe…
Daniel Weltlinger plays his grandfather’s violin on Szolnok, an album detailing the journey Zoltan Fischmann undertook to escape oppression and religious intolerance during the 20th century.
Aug 4, 2019 6:30 PM
When Daniel Weltlinger was growing up in Sydney, Australia, he heard his grandfather Zoltan Fischmann’s stories of…
Tony Bennett performs Friday, June 21 at Ravinia. It was the singer’s 40th performance at the Highland Park, Illinois, venue.
Jun 24, 2019 4:26 PM
Tony Bennett continues to find new ways to make time abide by his rules: After decades of concerts, he still declares…
René Marie (foreground) performs with the Chicago Jazz Orchestra, conducted by Jeff Lindberg, in Chicago on March 29.
May 15, 2019 10:15 AM
The Chicago Jazz Orchestra recently marked its 40th anniversary, and the ensemble commemorated the milestone with a…
Chicago percussionist and bandleader Kahil El’Zabar has a pair of recordings slated for release on Spiritmuse, a new UK imprint.
Mar 21, 2019 10:18 AM
For more than four decades, percussionist Kahil El’Zabar’s vision has embraced tradition and the future, the local…
Seeing guitarist Jeff Parker perform sparked new ideas for drummer Makaya McCraven.
Jan 22, 2019 9:42 AM
Makaya McCraven uses various means to create and redirect energy, as evidenced on his latest album, Universal Beings…
Multi-reedist and educator Greg Fishman has published three volumes of his Jazz Saxophone Etudes series.
Dec 5, 2018 9:26 AM
Saxophones surround multi-reedist Greg Fishman every time he walks into his Evanston, Illinois, studio and he’d never…
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 9:35 AM
Vocalist Lizz Wright has much to be proud of, including her latest accolade: Her latest release, Grace (Concord),…
Singer Angélique Kidjo performs portions of Talking Heads’ Remain In Light on Aug. 6 at Ravinia in Highland Park, Illinois.
Sep 4, 2018 9:40 AM
Angélique Kidjo traversed continents before she heard Talking Heads’ Remain In Light. But her Aug. 6 concert at…
Nellie McKay plays several instruments on her new album, including piano, ukulele, harmonica and cello.
Jul 26, 2018 9:21 AM
During Nellie McKay’s recent performance at the venue SPACE in Evanston, Illinois, her affability was refracted by a…
Chicago pianist Charles Joseph Smith says War Of The Martian Ghosts, which he began composing in the ’90s, was inspired by saxophonist Caroline Davis, the film Mars Attacks! and techniques of minimalist composers.
May 18, 2018 9:24 AM
Pianist Charles Joseph Smith always has used music to challenge limitations. When this world offered him only scant…
Bettye LaVette interprets 12 Bob Dylan songs on her album Things Have Changed.
May 11, 2018 1:31 PM
A few years ago, singer Bettye LaVette was backstage at a festival in Italy and found herself walking about 50 feet…
Vocalist Fay Claassen doesn’t have any immediate plans to tour the States, but says there’s “a very modern, free scene” in Germany.
Apr 3, 2018 11:12 AM
Dutch singer Fay Claassen’s assured sense of time and impeccable phrasing cover a wide terrain. On her recent, disc…
Jan 26, 2018 11:33 AM
Singer Julie London was her own harshest critic, but skepticism was not the feeling that came across when she…
Drummer Makaya McCraven has a new leader album, Highly Rare.
Dec 7, 2017 10:05 AM
Drummer Makaya McCraven was in a jubilant mood during his quartet’s set at Chicago’s Thalia Hall on Dec. 2. “This…
Vocalist Mavis Staples’ new album is titled If All I Was Was Black.
Oct 20, 2017 6:15 PM
Singer Mavis Staples has offered a warm and uplifting voice through challenging times for more than 50 years. Her…
In the spotlight: Tony Bennett at Ravinia in Highland Park, Illinois, on Aug. 4
Aug 10, 2017 6:26 PM
Just after Tony Bennett jaunted onstage at Ravinia in Highland Park, Illinois, on Aug. 4, he sang the Gordon Jenkins…
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Wes Montgomery plays at the Essex House Hotel in Indianapolis in 1959.
Aug 24, 2021 2:42 PM
The exact dates the mysterious tapes rolled to capture Wes Montgomery and his group are unknown — it was probably…
