Feb 25, 2025 11:30 AM
Sullivan Fortner’s Path to Artistry
Every week at the Village Vanguard fosters its own sound. No one really knows how the music might evolve by Sunday, but…
“You’ve got to trust that inner child, keep exploring, even though people think it’s wrong,” says Fortner.
Feb 25, 2025 11:30 AM
Every week at the Village Vanguard fosters its own sound. No one really knows how the music might evolve by Sunday, but…
“It was so mysterious and intriguing,” Ian Faquini says of the music of Guinga. From left, Natalie Cressman, Faquini and Guinga.
Dec 26, 2024 1:20 PM
In the past five years, composers Natalie Cressman and Ian Faquini have issued multiple duo releases, unveiling a sound…
The Bad Plus, plus Joshua Redman, one of many creative pairings Nonesuch has developed.
Sep 24, 2024 12:04 PM
Can an online experience mimic the record store hunt? Can streaming new singles transmit the feeling of stalking down…
“He would always call me his grandson,” Whitaker says of the late Dr. Lonnie Smith. Smith’s personal assistant sent Whitaker one of the master’s B-3s after he died in 2021.
Aug 27, 2024 12:27 PM
At the close of 2021, Matthew Whitaker faced a glut of options. Having met with his management team to discuss ideas…
Kenny Barron leads his long-running trio featuring Kiyoshi Kitagawa and Johnathan Blake.
Jul 31, 2024 12:44 PM
This August, Newport Jazz Festival celebrates 70 years. What began in 1954 with a single cardboard soundstage at…
Saxophonist George Coleman, seated left, captivated a sold-out room at Smoke Jazz Club in April.
Jul 31, 2024 12:23 PM
In November 2022, Charles McPherson found himself in a familiar setting. Flanked on either side by his fellow artists,…
Saxophonist George Coleman, seated left, captivated a sold-out room at Smoke Jazz Club in April.
Jul 16, 2024 2:55 PM
In November 2022, Charles McPherson found himself in a familiar setting. Flanked on either side by his fellow artists,…
“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 1:33 PM
In his Harlem apartment, Samora Pinderhughes presides over his contradictions. Handwritten pages splay across his…
“I’ve made some big changes from pre-COVID to post-COVID Lucy,” Yeghiazaryan said.
May 30, 2023 1:32 PM
Nearly three years after the world locked down, artists continue exploring resonances of solitude in their music. On…
Smoke’s Paul Stache and Molly Sparrow Johnson
Oct 18, 2022 2:12 PM
Thursdays have always set the vibe for weekends at Smoke. The first of a four-night run for headliners, Thursday would…
Thana Alexa returns to the road with a new album following a series of logistical and medical setbacks.
Aug 23, 2022 1:58 PM
In 2018, Thana Alexa began booking a modest tour for ONA, the self-produced, self-released record that would earn a…
Norah Jones and Christian McBride perform at the sixth annual Jazz Set benefit concert.
Aug 16, 2022 1:36 PM
His left hand on the bass, Christian McBride spoke with playful conviction: “You’re out of your mind.” Norah…
Performing at the newly reopened Smoke Jazz Club in New York, from left: Julius Rodriguez, Gerald Cannon, Eddie Henderson, Melissa Aldana and Joe Farnsworth
Aug 9, 2022 2:57 PM
Thursdays have always set the vibe for weekends at Smoke. The first of a four-night run for headliners, Thursday would…
Drummer/bandleader Nate Smith describes the lows and highs of touring.
Aug 9, 2022 2:44 PM
In stories and signage, the 2022 Newport Jazz Festival paid homage to beloved founder George Wein, who died last…
“Songwriting is intuitive for me,” Eugenie Jones said.
Jul 6, 2022 3:18 PM
Booking record dates in Seattle, Chicago, Dallas and New York demands a brand of grit, and high-level organizational…
Russell’s ability to captivate an audience is a well-honed craft.
May 31, 2022 1:00 PM
The energy at New York’s Birdland felt restless and distracted. When the band started playing “Honeysuckle Rose,”…
Saxophonist and JHK alumnus Birsa Chatterjee observes his student ensemble the Jazz House Messengers as they perform “Autumn Leaves.”
Apr 26, 2022 2:40 PM
Jazz House Kids views music education as an interdisciplinary curriculum.
His left hand on the bass, Christian…
Caroline Davis didn’t share the concept of Portals with her fellow artists before they went into the studio.
Feb 15, 2022 1:17 PM
When she entered Oktaven Audio in 2020, Caroline Davis brought with her the enormity of a shapeshifting grief. The…
Gerald Clayton was named Rising Star Artist of the Year and his trio won Rising Star Jazz Group.
Aug 24, 2021 2:34 PM
Editor’s Note: This article was written to commemorate some of the Rising Star winners in DownBeat’s 69th Annual…
On his new recording, Jones honors friends and mentors he has recently lost.
Aug 3, 2021 11:25 AM
Sheltered in his music room, Willie Jones III adjusts the volume on a Billy Taylor record. He swivels around to face…
Aubrey Johnson’s leader debut, Unraveled, includes sextet arrangements of standards and four original compositions.
Jan 20, 2021 8:44 AM
During the past decade, vocalist Aubrey Johnson has explored different chambers of her artistry and performed with an…
Trombonist Mariel Bildsten aims to replicate epic big-band moments in her small ensemble arrangements.
Jan 13, 2021 8:52 AM
Trombonist Mariel Bildsten began developing ideas for her debut album in 2019, aiming to reflect different dimensions…
In addition to producing, DJ Harrison plays keys and bass in Butcher Brown and on his solo projects.
Oct 26, 2020 11:39 AM
Every scene has a vibe, and in Richmond, Virginia, that includes community and connection.
“Richmond is a big…
Morgan Guerin is among the 25 artists DownBeat thinks will help shape jazz in the decades to come.
Oct 23, 2020 2:52 PM
Morgan Guerin conjures earthbound grooves and then releases them into the cosmos. At 22, the multi-instrumentalist,…
Sharel Cassity—whose Fearless is being released through her Relsha Music imprint—believes positivity is a vital component of recovery.
Sep 30, 2020 9:00 AM
As Sharel Cassity worked through compositions for her 2020 release, Fearless, one thought plagued her: “If I don’t…
Shabaka and The Ancestors, winner of the category Rising Star–Jazz Group, includes Ariel Zamonsky (left), Siyabonga Mthembu, Shabaka Hutchings, Tumi Mogorosi, Gontse Makhene and Mthunzi Mvubu.
Sep 11, 2020 9:13 AM
In 2019, five artists received pages of music with an express direction: “Learn these parts.” Comprising bass lines…
Mama, You Can Bet! (SomeOthaShip Connect) is Georgia Anne Muldrow’s third album release under her spiritual name, Jyoti.
Jul 20, 2020 1:21 PM
Georgia Anne Muldrow once described understanding herself as a medic—an artist who heals.
Throughout her career,…
Drummer Antonio Sánchez and vocalist Thana Alexa have reached a point of mutual influence.
Jun 3, 2020 5:00 PM
On a chilly January night in New York City, drummer-composer Antonio Sánchez plays a full-body phrase. He hangs back…
Gary Bartz collaborated with the UK-based ensemble Maisha for Gary Bartz & Maisha—Night Dreamer Direct-To-Disc Sessions.
May 1, 2020 8:49 AM
A 6-year-old Gary Bartz heard Charlie Parker playing on a Baltimore radio station in 1946. He’d never heard anything…
Romain Collin took this photo from a cabin in Iceland, where the pianist stayed for weeks during the coronavirus pandemic.
Apr 21, 2020 9:04 AM
With the coronavirus pandemic spreading around the world, the United States government on March 11 announced tight…
Pianist Gabriel Chakarji has been posting performances online to maintain momentum for his debut, New Beginning.
Apr 13, 2020 3:58 PM
Inside Bronx Music House, standing lamps bloom like roses. Percussion instruments hang like ivy on the walls. A…
Saxophonist Noah Preminger said that the “U.S. government did nothing to help” him return home from Morocco.
Mar 30, 2020 2:33 PM
In a remote cabin about 20 miles from the nearest village, pianist and composer Romain Collin hunkers down.
Weeks…
Bassist Massimo Biolcati (left), drummer Ferenc Nemeth and guitarist Lionel Loueke pool influences from different parts of the world as members of the trio Gilfema.
Feb 19, 2020 9:28 AM
Gilfema—the trio of guitarist and vocalist Lionel Loueke, bassist Massimo Biolcati and drummer Ferenc Nemeth—is set…
Rachael Price (right) of the band Lake Street Dive teamed up with Vilray for a new duo album.
Feb 8, 2020 7:21 PM
Artists compulsively find new ways of bridging past and present. On their debut album, Rachael & Vilray (Nonesuch),…
Wynton Marsalis performs Monday in New York at Dizzy’s during a tribute to the late drummer Lawrence Leathers.
Feb 6, 2020 11:33 AM
Candy-colored lights illuminated the bandstand at Dizzy’s Monday night, the way they always do. Patrons settled into…
Lakecia Benjamin performs during Winter Jazzfest, which ran Jan. 8-18 in Manhattan and Brooklyn.
Jan 22, 2020 1:32 PM
Peer groups serve as vital incubators for artistic development, but equally critical are intergenerational…
Clark Terry (1920–2015)
Jan 2, 2020 9:16 AM
While many listeners discovered Clark Terry during his time with The Tonight Show band in the 1960s and ’70s, a new…
Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah values cultural pluralism in American storytelling.
Jul 1, 2020 10:59 AM
Long before Nina Simone told a Carnegie Hall audience in 1964 that she meant every word of “Mississippi Goddam,”…
“Iron sharpens iron,” Marquis Hill says while discussing work with his collaborators on Love Tape, his latest dispatch.
Oct 31, 2019 2:24 PM
Before composing new music for Love Tape, Marquis Hill set out to explore existing concepts of love. The trumpet and…
Drummer Roy Haynes (left) is presented with the Jazz Foundation of America’s Lifetime Achievement Award at CDFB Chelsea Studios in Manhattan during the nonprofit’s annual Loft Party on Oct. 19.
Nov 4, 2019 3:31 PM
High above the Hudson River, the Jazz Foundation of America hosted its 28th Annual Loft Party at CDFB Chelsea Studios…
Jaimie Branch’s approach to visual scores developed further while writing music for her latest album, Fly Or Die II.
Oct 11, 2019 9:24 AM
Jaimie Branch wants to hear music that breathes. The trumpeter-composer out of Chicago, and now based in New York,…
Harry Connick Jr. explores the work of Cole Porter, who he calls “the consummate musician and the consummate wordsmith,” on True Love: A Celebration Of Cole Porter is due out Oct. 25.
Oct 4, 2019 9:27 AM
Cross-pollination comes naturally to Harry Connick Jr.
The New Orleans artist invites different facets of his…
Charenée Wade lends her vocals to three tracks on Pannonica, a tribute to Pannonica de Koenigswarter recorded live at the Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic series.
Oct 1, 2019 9:59 PM
Organized by the ACT label’s Artistic director and founder Siggi Loch, the Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic series…
Saxophonist David Bixler recruits pianist Jon Cowherd, bassist Ike Sturm and percussionist Rogério Boccato for his latest album, In The Face Of Chaos.
Sep 12, 2019 9:15 AM
Helplessness and hope often have collided in the day-to-day life of saxophonist David Bixler. He’s spent the past…
Victor Gould experiments with new voices and longstanding collaborators on Thoughts Become Things.
Aug 28, 2019 1:50 PM
“Start as a sideman and prove yourself.”
Those words churned in Victor Gould’s mind as he left Los Angeles…
Joel Ross and Good Vibes celebrate the vinyl release of Kingmaker on Friday, Aug. 2 at the Newport Jazz Festival in Newport, Rhode Island. Ross—who also played with Makaya McCraven and with the collective In Common—performed three sets in two days during the festival.
Aug 12, 2019 1:45 PM
By the time Paul Gonsalves shook up Fort Adams with 27 blistering choruses in 1956, the Newport Jazz Festival already…
Lauren Sevian leads her own ensemble, performs with the group Lioness and is the band director of Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Young Women’s Jazz Orchestra.
Jul 30, 2019 9:23 AM
How do accomplished artists find new ways to expand their sound? Lauren Sevian has a few ideas. Frequently saying…
Trombonist and singer Natalie Cressman, a San Francisco native, currently is based in New York.
Jul 25, 2019 9:20 AM
Natalie Cressman’s career is soaring due to her artistic flexibility. At 28, the vocalist and winner of the category…
Saxophonist and bandleader Angelika Niescier has issued three consecutive discs on Intakt. The latest is New York Trio.
Jul 16, 2019 9:28 AM
Improvisers craft their expression around the question, “What does the music need right now?” And…
Pianist Romain Collin learned to play synth bass before recording Tiny Lights.
Jul 9, 2019 9:30 AM
Romain Collin often recalls an enduring maxim from Terence Blanchard: “All complicated things are created from an…
Maja S. K. Ratkje uses Knut Hamsun’s novel Sult as a starting point for her latest recording.
Jul 3, 2019 9:30 AM
Artistic disciplines inform one another, cross-pollinating inspiration and conception. In recent years, poetry has…
Brandee Younger’s Soul Awakening is a meticulously curated collection of music she recorded between 2012 and 2013.
May 20, 2019 2:21 PM
Harpist and composer Brandee Younger often faces a curiously inexhaustible question: What kind of music do you play?
…
Kassa Overall’s leader debut is titled Go Get Ice Cream And Listen To Jazz.
Apr 10, 2019 9:28 AM
In a small Paris hotel room, Kassa Overall lies across an unmade bed, praying for a sign. For months, he’d been…
Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Tony Bennett performs at “A Great Night in Harlem,” the 17th annual Jazz Foundation of America gala concert, held April 4 at the Apollo Theater in Harlem.
Apr 11, 2019 3:40 PM
Every April, a handful of artists find themselves center stage at the Apollo Theater in front of gold-painted balconies…
Michael Wolff’s new release, Swirl, is his first leader date in nearly a decade.
Mar 25, 2019 9:21 AM
Michael Wolff’s father once shared with him a psychiatrist’s perspective on music and life: “Everyone who listens…
Joris Teepe pays tribute to his mentor with In The Spirit Of Rashied Ali (Jazz Tribes).
Feb 7, 2019 9:38 AM
At New York’s Smalls Jazz Club this fall, Joris Teepe and his quintet invited listeners to celebrate the inaugural…
Twin Talk members Andrew Green (left), Dustin Laurenzi and Katie Ernst spent five days at April Base Studios recording their 2019 release, Weaver.
Feb 22, 2019 9:44 AM
Certain band names simply are descriptive. Others, aspirational. But bassist and vocalist Katie Ernst identifies Twin…
Photographer Jack Bradley captured intimate moments of Louis Armstrong’s life between 1959 and 1971, the year of his death. Here, Armstrong (left) laughs with Miles Davis.
Dec 3, 2018 3:29 PM
For about two years, the Louis Armstrong House Museum in Queens, New York, has been translating thousands of physical…
David Hajdu and Renee Rosnes have released Ice On The Hudson, their first co-written album-length recording.
Jun 20, 2019 2:30 PM
In casual conversation, artists might reveal their struggles with complacency, particularly when they feel they’ve…
Ron Stein, Coltrane Home board president, and Michelle Coltrane hug Oct. 10 during an announcement about the Dix Hills home of Alice and John Coltrane.
Nov 2, 2018 10:22 AM
The National Trust for Historic Preservation announced preliminary plans Oct. 10 for the preservation of John and Alice…
Clarinet player and composer Andy Biskin released his first recording with 16 Tons in June.
Aug 14, 2018 10:32 AM
Colleagues balked at clarinet player and composer Andy Biskin’s plan for a project featuring three trumpets, drums…
