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John Murph

John Murph's news entries:

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    “With this record, I’m not trying to punish you,” Ndegeocello says of No More Water. “I’m trying to help you heal.”

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    Saxophonist Lakecia ​Benjamin (left) was joined onstage by Australian trumpeter and trombonist James Morrison during her D.C. JazzFest performance.

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    The massive European jazz trade show jazzahead! attracted 14,490 attendees for 40 concert showcases and Clubnight performances that took place April 11–13 in Bremen, Germany.

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    Herbie Hancock demonstrated his ageless piano brilliance during the International Jazz Day main concert on April 30 in Tangier, Morocco.

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    “The amazing thing that I see of great musicians on stage is their ability to utilize their lexicon of languages,” says Kokayi.

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    “I’m not rich financially, but rich in spirit,” says Miguel Atwood-Ferguson about the expense of making his new recording, Les Jardins Mystiques.

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    “I’m a father, mentor, teacher, bandleader and activist,” says Keyon Harrold. “All of these things are happening at once. We all need some kind of barometer to help us stay grounded.”

    Feb 21, 2024 11:16 AM

    Keyon Harrold: Real Life

    Inside trumpeter, singer and composer Keyon Harrold’s workroom hang three call-to-action signposts: execution, hustle…

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    “Everything came together like the universe intended,” says Luke Stewart of the members of Irreversible Entanglements, from left, Camae Ayewa, Stewart, Tcheser Holmes, Keir Neuringer and Aquiles Navarro.

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    Herbie Hancock (left), Jahari Stampley, Connor Rohrer and Paul Cornish at this year’s competition, which took place Oct. 14–15 in New York.

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    The new recording from Kris Davis’ Diatom Ribbons puts the pianist front and center of the jazz vanguard. From left, Davis, Trevor Dunn, Terri Lyne Carrington, Val Jeanty and Julian Lage.

    Sep 7, 2023 5:24 PM

    Kris Davis at the Vanguard

    In late May 2022, Kris Davis realized a dream. She and her ensemble Diatom Ribbons performed six nights at New York’s…

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    “It felt like my people were right there in Harlem,” Jacques Schwarz-Bart said of the muse for his latest recording.

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    The Chuck Brown Band performs on the Wharf during the DC Jazz Festival.

    Apr 28, 2023 3:47 PM

    DC Takes the International Stage

    It was in 2017, during the 14th annual DC Jazz Festival (DCJF) at the Yards, when Sunny Sumter first recognized that…

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    “The more I thought about that connection, the more it made sense,”James said of comparing Erika Badu and Alice Coltrane from a musical and spiritual standpoint.

    Mar 28, 2023 1:04 PM

    José James Finds His Baduizm

    It’s early December and José James is in the Yuletide spirit. He’s on stage in front of packed audience at Dakota,…

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    Asher Gamedze

    Nov 22, 2022 4:48 PM

    JazzFest Berlin Returns

    JazzFest Berlin returned this year after a two-year, pandemic-induced absence. This year’s 58th edition offered 43…

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    “Roscoe Mitchell, Don Moye, Jason Moran, Amina Claudine Myers, Thomas Stanley, Nicole Mitchell — these people hugged me,” Moor Mother says.

    Nov 8, 2022 1:17 PM

    Moor Mother: The Futurism Is Now

    At the 42nd annual Festival International de Jazz de Montréal, Moor Mother gave one of her most soul rattling…

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    Dianne Reeves and Orrin Evans onstage at D.C. Jazz Fest.

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    Adrian Younge (left) and Ali Shaheed Muhammad’s goal with Jazz Is Dead is to pay homage to past luminaries and evoke the sensibilities of their respective artistry during their heydays.

    Sep 7, 2022 1:00 PM

    Jazz Is Dead: Long Live Jazz!

    Adrian Younge describes Jazz Is Dead as a “romance,” its macabre-sounding trademark notwithstanding. He’s a…

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    “This music is about contemplation and meditation,” JoVia Armstrong said of The Antidote Suite.

    Aug 23, 2022 1:22 PM

    The Future Is JoVia Armstrong

    JoVia Armstrong specializes in creating sonic universes. That ingenuity goes beyond her gifts as a drummer,…

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    When it comes to jazz, Carrington digs deep into its intertwining legacies and reaches not for higher ground but for the illimitable heavens.

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    The friendship that exists between Matthew Stevens (left) and Walter Smith III dates back when they were both members of Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah’s band during the mid-to-late aughts.

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    ​Saxophonist Kamasi Washington is slated to play this year’s Montreal Jazz Festival.

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    “To me, rhythm is not the notes; it’s the space between the notes,” the 25-year-old Flood explained.

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    “I have to continue the conversation and shed light on the fact that Black women have always been undervalued, not protected and not cared for,” Charles says.

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    Tia Fuller (left), Sharel Cassity and Lakecia Benjamin took the stage and delivered at the Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival.

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    McBride’s ambition was to honor Rosa Parks, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X.

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    JD Allen headed back to Cincinnati during COVID-19, where he woodshedded and created Queen City.

    Nov 16, 2021 1:24 PM

    JD Allen Finds Purpose

    Queen City (Savant), JD Allen’s latest album and his first solo-saxophone release, is an ambitious endeavor that he…

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    Melanie Charles brings the value, art and love of Black women to the forefront.

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    Aaron Myers

    May 27, 2021 12:13 PM

    Aaron Myers’ Burst of Pride

    When listening to Aaron Myers’ engrossing new release, The Pride Album, it’s nearly impossible not to think of the…

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    Allan Harris’ Kate’s Soulfood is premised on recollections of his aunt’s diner.

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    Saxophonist Teodross Avery leads two different quartets on Harlem Stories: The Music Of Thelonious Monk.

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    Bassist Eric Revis leads a quintet on Slipknots Through The Looking Glass, an album released on pianist Kris Davis’ Pyroclastic imprint.

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    Theo Croker is among the 25 artists DownBeat thinks will help shape jazz in the decades to come.

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    Bettye LaVette wanted to push up the release of her version of “Strange Fruit” to coincide with the recent wave of social justice protests.

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    Raw Poetic (left), Archie Shepp and Damu The Fudgemunk collaborated on the album Ocean Bridges.

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    Protesters march June 6 in Washington, D.C., following the police killing of George Floyd.

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    Adrian Younge (left) and Ali Shaheed Muhammad take on the concept of jazz’s obsolescence with a new label and compilation of the same name: Jazz Is Dead.

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    An Ella Fitzgerald collection, The Complete Piano Duets (Verve), finds the vocalist exploring her rapport with a variety of pianists.

    May 18, 2020 11:33 AM

    Elementally Ella Fitzgerald

    Ella Fitzgerald mesmerized when she unleashed her virtuosic voice, especially when she engaged in quicksilver scats…

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    With Freya, Tineke Postma explores Norse, Frisian, Celtic and Roman mythologies.

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    Jason Palmer aims to interpret the visual world of stolen art objects on The Concert: 12 Musings For Isabella.

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    Gard Nilssen Acoustic Unity performs at the 2019 Molde Jazz Festival in Molde, Norway, joined by trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire (left) and saxophonist Joshua Redman.

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    Singer José James is releasing No Beginning No End 2 on Rainbow Blonde Records, which he co-founded with singer-songwriter Talia Billig and sound engineer Brian Bender.

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    Trumpeter Jeremy Pelt (right) displays a deep canonical knowledge on The Art Of Intimacy, Vol. 1, a ballad-focused recording the bandleader made with pianist George Cables and bassist Peter Washington.

    Apr 20, 2020 3:59 PM

    Jeremy Pelt Digs Into The Canon

    During the past two decades, Jeremy Pelt has established himself as a resourceful trumpeter, bandleader and composer…

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    Herbie Hancock (left) and Evgeny Pobozhiy at the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz International Guitar Competition on Dec. 4 in Washington, D.C.

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    With the release of Nérija’s full-length debut, Blume (Domino), saxophonist Nubya Garcia’s career pushes on to a new stage.

    Oct 25, 2019 9:25 AM

    Nubya Garcia in Full ‘Blume’

    Nubya Garcia exhibits spectacular leader instincts, but she thrives in collaborative settings.

    Making her New York…

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    Larry Willis (1942–2019)

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    On Blue Dawn–Blue Nights, trumpeter Wallace Roney convenes a new generation of players and grants them room to explore.

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    Keyboardist and composer Patrice Rushen’s catalog has been reinvigorated with the release of Remind Me (The Classic Elektra Recordings, 1978–1984).

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    Trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire (left) and saxophonist Joshua Redman join Gard Nilssen Acoustic Unity during a performance at the Molde Jazz Festival in Molde, Norway.

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    David Sánchez investigates folkloric music from Haiti on his new album, Carib.

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    Damon Locks leads the 15-piece Black Monument Ensemble on Where Future Unfolds.

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    Victor Haskins cultivated his affinity for EWI as a student at Richmond’s Virginia Commonwealth University.

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    Antonio Hart helms a big band workshop with the New South Wales Public Schools Stage Band inside the Sydney Opera House.

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    Vocalist Lizz Wright performs April 30 at Arts Centre Melbourne’s Hamer Hall in Australia.

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    Craig Harris gathered footage of Muhammad Ali boxing, turned off the sound and watched him move. The result is the trombonist’s recent Brown Butterfly (Afro Future Concept).

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    Emmet Cohen holds his first-place trophy at the American Pianists Association finals at the Hilbert Circle Theatre in Indianapolis on April 6.

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    Bassist Steve Swallow (left), drummer Bobby Previte and keyboardist Jamie Saft have released You Don’t Know The Life (RareNoise), a follow-up to their 2017 album Loneliness Road, which featured Iggy Pop.

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    Concord Label Group president John Burk (left), Monk Competition winner Tom Oren and Thelonious Monk Institute chairman Herbie Hancock

    Dec 13, 2018 10:50 AM

    Tom Oren Wins 2018 Monk Competition

    The winner of this year’s Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz competition, Tom Oren, hails from Tel Aviv, Israel—a…

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    Marcus Strickland said he’s considered recording an album of work composed around bass clarinet. The reedist’s album with Twi-Life, People Of The Sun (Blue Note), is out now.

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    Pianist Xavier Davis explores historical themes on his new album, Rise Up Detroit.

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    Roy Hargrove (1969–2018)

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    Cheryl Pepsii Riley performs Oct. 6 at Hillfest in Washington, D.C.

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    Stax ’68: A Memphis Story (Craft Recordings/Stax) features Isaac Hayes’ instrumental soul-jazz gem “Precious, Precious” and the blues-drenched “Going To Chicago Blues.”

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    On Negro Manifesto, Dana Murray examines historical and contemporary racism.

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    Ulysses Owens Jr. has released an album, Songs Of Freedom, based on his touring show.

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    R+R=Now performs at the DC Jazz Festival in June.

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    Warren “Trae” Crudup III (left) and Luke Stewart released Blacks’ Myths (Atlantic Rhythms) on June 25.

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    Josh Lawrence leads the band Color Theory.

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    Todd Marcus is a musician and community organizer in Baltimore.

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    Yissy Garcia at Artes De Cuba: From The Island To The World

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    During the 1960s and 1970s, multi-instrumentalist Hailu Mergia was a star in Ethiopia as a member of the Walias Band.

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    Lakecia Benjamin’s new album is titled Rise Up.

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    Ben Williams (left), Oleg Butman and James Morrison perform in St. Petersburg, Russia, during the April 30 celebration of International Jazz Day.

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    Through her music, saxophonist Nubya Garcia explores her West Indian heritage.

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    Pat Metheny (left), Joanne Brackeen, Todd Barkan, bassist Christian McBride, singer Angelique Kidjo, Dianne Reeves and guitarist Nir Felder at the 2018 NEA Jazz Masters Tribute Concert on April 16 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.

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    Tutu Puoane had to be convinced to take on We Have A Dream, a project on which she interprets socially conscious compositions alongside the Brussels Jazz Orchestra.

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    Pianist, singer and composer Enoch Smith Jr. feels a special kind of camaraderie for Houston, the people there and musicians from The Bayou City.

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    Sexmob’s debut, Den Of Inequity, is two decades old. And now, Steven Bernstein’s troupe is set to issue new work, Cultural Capital, on April 14.

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    The relationships bassist Martin Wind forged with the two disparate groups that perform on his Light Blue reach back decades.

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    Arturo O’Farrill’s Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra seemed to summon the socio-political works of Charles Mingus at a recent performance at the Strathmore Music Center in Bethesda, Maryland.

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    Pianist and bandleader Alfredo Rodríguez remembers living in Cuba, wishing he “could talk and play with American musicians.”

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    Flugelhornist John Raymond appreciates the change of pace after moving from Brooklyn to Bloomington, Indiana, for a teaching position.

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    Drummer Moses Boyd (left), saxophonist Nubya Garcia and tuba player Theon Cross contributed to the forthcoming album We Out Here, on Brownswood Recordings.

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    A publicity photo for Carrie Mae Weems’ multimedia production Grace Notes: Reflections of Now

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    Members of Ensemble Super Moderne perform at the AngraJazz Festival, which ran Oct. 4–7 in Portugal.

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    Dee Dee Bridgewater will release Memphis—- Yes, I’m Ready on DDB/OKeh Records on Sept. 15.

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    Shabaka Hutchings (seen here in a publicity photo) is among the artists to have performed at Jazz Re:Freshed’s weekly Thursday showcases in London.

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    Guitarist Russell Malone’s new album is TIme For The Dancers (HighNote).

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    Linus Kleinlosen (left) and Axel Schappert of the band Molino. The group performed at the inJazz Conference in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, on June 22.

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    Odean Pope (left) leads his sax choir on June 16 during the Captialbop DC Jazz Series in Washington, D.C.

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    Adel Gonzáles (left), Orlando “Maraca” Valle, Yandy Martinez, Sixto Llorente and Héctor Quintana perform at the International Jazz Day Global Concert at the Gran Teatro de la Habana Alicia Alonso in Havana, Cuba, on April 30.

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    Singer-songwriter Lizz Wright’s next album, Grace, is scheduled for release in September.

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    A scene from the opera Champion, which made its East Coast premiere March 4 at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

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    Junius Paul (left) and Makaya McCraven at the So What’s Next Fest? in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, on Nov. 5.

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    Jimmy Owens (left) receives the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Jazz Legacy Award from Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) on Sept 16.

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    Antonio Sanchez performed with his band Migration at the 2016 Funchal Jazz Festival, which took place July 14–17 in Madeira, Portugal.

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    The Mary Lou Williams Festival in Washington, D.C., honors the late singer and pianist, pictured here, who died in 1981.

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    Dee Dee Bridgewater (left) Esperanza Spalding, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, President Obama and Kurt Elling celebrate International Jazz Day in Washington, D.C., April 29.

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    In addition to assembling a new band, Stefon Harris has developed an app called Harmony Cloud, which helps users play by ear.

    Apr 21, 2016 3:12 PM

    Stefon Harris’ Diverse Ambitions

    Even though Stefon Harris hasn’t released an album since 2011’s Ninety Miles (Concord), on which he shared top…

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On Sale Now
January 2025
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