Feb 18, 2025 2:16 PM
Blindfold Test: Alfredo Rodríguez
“I’ve looked to be global for a long time,” Alfredo Rodríguez told DownBeat in 2020. “I like to explore music…
“I love the touch, the sound, the harmonic progressions, the groove from beginning to end,” Alfredo Rodríguez said of Hank Jones.
Feb 18, 2025 2:16 PM
“I’ve looked to be global for a long time,” Alfredo Rodríguez told DownBeat in 2020. “I like to explore music…
“If you don’t keep learning, your mind slows down,” Coleman says. “Use it or lose it.”
Jan 28, 2025 1:17 PM
PolyTropos/Of Many Turns — the title for Steve Coleman’s latest recording on Pi and his 33rd album overall —…
The Old Country: More From The Deer Head Inn arrives 30 years after ECM issued the Keith Jarret Trio live album At The Deer Head Inn.
Jan 22, 2025 2:13 AM
Last November, Keith Jarrett, who has not played publicly since suffering two strokes in 2018, greenlighted ECM to drop…
“This guy had his own language,” Forman said of guitarist Grant Green. “Wes was the same way.”
Nov 26, 2024 3:41 PM
At this summer’s Healdsburg Jazz Festival, guitarist/racanteur extraordinaire Bruce Forman sat down for a live…
“They are a huge part of our label’s recent success with streaming,” Kevin Sun said of partnering with La Reserve for Endectomorph’s digital efforts.
Nov 5, 2024 12:57 AM
Kevin Sun’s Quartets is the 32-year-old tenor saxophonist’s third leader album in a year on Endectomorph, the…
“You want people to feel, no matter where they are, that they’re important to the music,” said Marcus Shelby about bandleading.
Oct 22, 2024 10:44 AM
One week after the conclusion of this year’s Healdsburg Jazz Festival, artistic director Marcus Shelby took a…
“I had to play the music I loved with the people I wanted to play it with,” said Bloom. “Nothing would stop me.”
Sep 4, 2024 1:45 PM
When DownBeat last profiled Jane Ira Bloom in August 2017, the soprano saxophonist was at the start of her ongoing…
Soul-jazz tenor icon Houston Person with drummer Sylvia Cuenca at this year’s Healdsburg Jazz Festival.
Jul 2, 2024 2:40 PM
“All killer, no filler” is a good descriptor for Healdsburg Jazz Festival’s 26th anniversary edition, which…
The “Good Trouble” band, from left, Jeff Lederer, Tia Fuller, Matt Wilson, Dawn Clement and Ben Allison.
Jun 25, 2024 1:03 PM
Mid-morning on the first Wednesday of April, Matt Wilson was making his weekly 75-minute drive from Baldwin, New York,…
“I’ve always wanted to explore the piano trio tradition, and to find my own voice within it,” says the youthful Goldberg.
Jun 11, 2024 12:47 PM
This February, a week before his 18th birthday, Brandon Goldberg, a high school senior in Miami, played at Smalls in…
“I want to inform myself to better convey ideas about nature and sustainability through my music,” says Freitas.
Apr 30, 2024 12:50 PM
Although Brazilian pianist Amaro Freitas amply displayed his compositional brilliance and instrumental derring-do on…
“He’s constructing intelligent musical sentences that connect seamlessly, which is the most important part of linear playing,” Charles McPherson said of alto saxophonist Sonny Red.
Feb 27, 2024 1:58 PM
“I might not have felt this way 30 to 40 years ago, but I’ve reached a point where I can hear value in what people…
“I listened to players like Ben Webster and Wayne Shorter, two opposites, who spoke to me profoundly about saying a whole lot with less,” Osby says.
Feb 6, 2024 3:29 PM
At the beginning of November 2023, Greg Osby flew to Italy for a week of duo concerts with pianist Michele Franzini,…
Emmet Cohen, right, with one of his heroes, Houston Person.
Jan 23, 2024 1:05 PM
Emmet Cohen’s first DownBeat Blindfold Test transpired on the only day in September that didn’t involve traveling…
Opening night featured the duo of Miami native Cécile McLorin Salvant and Sullivan Fortner.
Jan 23, 2024 1:03 PM
Between Jan. 4 and Jan. 7, as northerners froze, Miami Beach held the (mostly) outdoors South Beach Jazz Festival.…
The Black Men of Labor Club leads a second line parade, from the documentary City of a Million Dreams.
Jan 16, 2024 11:55 AM
Last year was a good one for jazz and jazz-adjacent documentaries. Most prominent among them are the well-distributed…
Salles says his music “is a combination of being from Brazil and living in the U.S. as an immigrant.”
Oct 11, 2023 11:15 AM
Like most composers of programmatic music, Felipe Salles based his first big band album — the well-received 2018…
“I’ll produce my own projects,” says drummer and composer Tyshawn Sorey. “I’ll do it my way, and I’ll do it well.”
Sep 6, 2023 1:03 PM
When Tyshawn Sorey turned 40 a few months into the pandemic lockdown, he decided henceforth to focus on more explicitly…
“Bill Stewart has nothing to prove,” Baron says. “I aspire to that ethic.”
Aug 2, 2023 9:41 AM
At 68, Joey Baron has been a lifelong connoisseur of the nuances of groove and melody-oriented drumming. Over his…
“It feels vast, like the ocean and earth and sky conjoined,” Green says of performing solo piano concerts.
Aug 1, 2023 1:41 PM
Benny Green’s 22nd album, Solo (Sunnyside), dropped in May, a month after his 60th birthday. The work documents the…
Stacey Kent receives the Prix Ella Fitzgerald from Montreal Jazz Festival co-founder Alain Simard on July 1.
Aug 1, 2023 1:40 PM
One privilege of covering an event scaled as large as the bountiful Montreal Jazz Festival is the opportunity to leave…
“I wanted to be like Louis Armstrong,” Bauzá once told DownBeat. “I knew all his solos.”
Jul 27, 2023 2:32 PM
Mario Bauzá (1911–’93) spent much of his distinguished seven-decade career behind the scenes.
Standard jazz…
Snarky Puppy’s Montreal Jazz Festival set was tight and well-choreographed, and the solos were on point.
Jul 5, 2023 3:05 PM
Torrential rain greeted DownBeat’s arrival in Montreal on June 29, the first full day of the 43rd edition of the…
“The big thing was having multiple sections, ideas that develop slowly over time and don’t stray too far from an initial core idea,” Smith says of Return To Casual.
Jun 13, 2023 12:49 PM
Walter Smith III finds compositional inspiration in unexpected — and amusing — places. As an example, consider the…
“When you play blues-type stuff, the material is pretty obvious; it’s how you do a lot with a little,” Liebman said.
May 30, 2023 1:34 PM
At 76, soprano and tenor saxophonist Dave Liebman — an alumnus of bands led by Miles Davis and Elvin Jones, leader of…
Hajdu assembled a cast of composers, musicians and singers to create his song cycle The Parsonage.
May 30, 2023 2:35 PM
David Hajdu, the eminent biographer, cultural historian, music critic and journalism professor, has heeded T.S.…
“For me, the jazz tradition has worked most consciously and seriously with the idea of freedom in music,” Bärtsch said.
May 16, 2023 3:38 PM
Even before COVID-19 made it problematic for his popular Ronin and Mobile ensembles to tour, Nik Bärtsch and his ECM…
“I got chills,” Patricia Brennan said while listening to the music of Chris Dingman.
May 9, 2023 12:47 PM
Having established herself as a master practitioner of extended techniques and electronic effects on vibraphone and…
Ahmad Jamal (1930–2023) with his trio at the Jazz Showcase in Chicago.
Apr 19, 2023 12:47 PM
Pianist-composer Ahmad Jamal passed away April 16 in his home in Ashley Falls, Massachusetts, after battling prostate…
“Perhaps that’s a key to what makes me tick — a very strong curiosity, which makes me a perpetual fanboy of whatever I’m discovering,” Mehldau says.
Apr 11, 2023 11:09 AM
At the tail end of 2022, Brad Mehldau took advantage of a New York sojourn to play piano with old friends at Smalls…
Pianist Amaro Freitas presented a panoramic solo set at this year’s Bergamo Jazz Festival.
Apr 4, 2023 1:43 PM
In programming her third and final Bergamo Jazz Festival, Artistic Director Maria Pia De Vito set a high bar for Joe…
“I think in small chunks and just get done today what needs to be done for tomorrow,” Cervini says.
Feb 21, 2023 12:08 PM
Time management carries multiple meanings for Ernesto Cervini. For one thing, the 40-year-old, Toronto-based drummer…
“Getting into jazz changed everything for me,” Wamble said.
Feb 14, 2023 12:19 PM
Beyond is a good descriptor for Doug Wamble’s compelling October release, Blues In The Present Tense, on which the…
Terri Lyne Carrington curated the opening-night concert of New York’s Winter Jazzfest at City Winery.
Jan 24, 2023 3:07 PM
After a two-year hiatus imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, New York’s Winter Jazzfest returned to live performance…
Jakob Bro, left, and Joe Lovano lead Once Around The Room, a tribute to Paul Motian.
Jan 11, 2023 2:59 PM
The sui generis septet album Once Around The Room (ECM) references the beautiful Paul Motian song “Once Around The…
“Different parts of myself need a voice, and I sometimes release very contrasting records one after the other,” says De Vito.
Nov 1, 2022 12:46 PM
Few singers in jazz and experimental improvisation function within multiple genres as fluently as Naples-born,…
The leader, playing only acoustic piano, “gets a little help” from a band of stylistically flexible virtuosos.
Oct 18, 2022 2:14 PM
Like most jazz folk who’ve recorded during the past two years, Geoffrey Keezer made Playdate (Markeez) — billed…
From left: Will Kennedy, Russell Ferrante, Dane Alderson and Bob Mintzer
Dec 13, 2022 5:55 PM
To celebrate the 45th anniversary of Yellowjackets, the group made its latest album, Parallel Motion (Mack Avenue), an…
“I came to terms with my influences — accepting that I love this or that player, but being comfortable in my own skin, recognizing that I have an identity,” Michael Weiss said.
Jul 6, 2022 3:19 PM
When DownBeat last ran an article about Michael Weiss, the occasion was the 1998 release of his second album, the…
“One thing I love about production is having to submit to a vision that isn’t 100% my own,” League said. “That ensures you have variety in your life.”
Jun 21, 2022 11:42 AM
Before he founded Snarky Puppy, Bokanté and GroundUP Productions, before he produced a Grammy-winning album, even…
Reggie Workman, Andrew Cyrille and David Virelles wasted no notes.
May 17, 2022 1:50 PM
When the influential “new music” presenting organization Bang on A Can debuted in May 1987 with a 12-hour, 28-piece…
O’Connell said, “Jazz combined the sophistication I was looking for in music with the earth and the swing. I was determined to pursue it and develop myself as a jazz pianist.”
May 10, 2022 10:50 AM
Best known as an inspired hybridizer of modernist jazz and Afrodiasporic idioms as an improviser and composer, Bill…
Jacob Bro performs at the Bergamo Jazz Festival on March 18.
Apr 12, 2022 10:43 AM
The 43rd edition of the Bergamo Jazz Festival was a triumph for its artistic director, Maria Pia de Vito, one of the…
The Jakob Bro Trio with, from left, Jorge Rossy, Bro and Arve Henriksen
Mar 1, 2022 4:25 PM
During its prior 42 editions, Bergamo Jazz — situated in a medieval city of 120,000 souls an hour northeast from…
The Cookers are, from left, George Cables, Billy Hart, Donald Harrison, Eddie Henderson, David Weiss, Billy Harper and Cecil McBee.
Feb 8, 2022 3:24 PM
In July 2020, four months after COVID-19 locked down the world, The Cookers entered Van Gelder Studio to record Look…
Don Byron pulls no punches while taking the “Test.”
Dec 13, 2022 5:55 PM
It’s hard to think of a jazz, Afro-Caribbean or new music/classical genre upon which Don Byron, an immediately…
Matt Wilson
Jan 11, 2022 2:38 PM
Matt Wilson’s 14th album, Hug!, issued in mid-2020 on Palmetto, upholds the 57-year-old drummer’s reputation as a…
Snarky Puppy’s Michael League sports a pandemic-era mask while speaking during the Barcelona Jazz Festival.
Jan 11, 2022 2:13 PM
For its 53rd season, the Voll-Damm Barcelona Jazz Festival adjusted to the economic realities of COVID-19 by scaling…
George Colligan
Nov 16, 2021 11:03 AM
Best known for his scintillating work as a pianist-keyboardist-organist during the past three decades on the…
Cellist Hank Roberts has returned to New York to embark on projects with old friends.
Nov 9, 2021 11:35 AM
At the cusp of the 1970s, when Hank Roberts was a high school student in Terre Haute, Indiana, he aspired to be a jazz…
Jeremy Pelt’s new book of jazz interviews is Griot: Examining The Lives Of Jazz’s Great Storytellers, Vol. 1.
Aug 10, 2021 11:40 AM
Autobiographical memoirs and oral histories are common categories of jazz literature. Less so is the first-person…
Alex Conde’s new album is titled Descarga For Bud.
Jun 25, 2021 3:12 PM
On Descarga For Bud (Sedajazz), pianist Alex Conde brilliantly extrapolates the complex beats and duende-suffused…
Trombonist Doug Beavers combines elements of r&b, salsa and jazz on his new album, Sol.
Mar 11, 2021 7:36 PM
During the past 20 years, Doug Beavers has been, to use baseball parlance, a five-tool player. Whether navigating New…
Chick Corea (1941-2021)
Feb 18, 2021 10:21 AM
Chick Corea, one of the most beloved and decorated jazz artists in history, passed away Feb. 9. He was 79.
In a post…
Lee Konitz (1927–2020) was inducted into the DownBeat Hall of Fame in 2015.
Dec 11, 2020 8:49 AM
A week after his 90th birthday in October 2017, Lee Konitz—who died at 92 on April 15—recorded his final album, Old…
Alfredo Rodríguez is among the 25 artists DownBeat thinks will help shape jazz in the decades to come.
Nov 12, 2020 8:53 AM
On March 11, when the U.S. State Department advised Americans to “reconsider” international travel in response…
Carmen McRae (1920–’94) often paid tribute to Billie Holiday, one of her key influences.
Sep 28, 2020 8:59 AM
Carmen McRae’s chemistry with a lyric was not dissimilar to sodium pentothal’s effects on subjects of…
Matt Brewer
Aug 4, 2020 8:06 AM
Bassist Matt Brewer, 37, is widely respected for the technical wizardry and wide musical scope he has brought to a…
Walter Smith III
Nov 22, 2023 1:18 PM
After almost a full year as chair of Berklee College of Music’s Woodwind Department, 39-year-old tenor saxophonist…
Saxophonist Russ Nolan’s new album is titled Sin Fronteras.
Jul 16, 2020 6:39 AM
The origin story of saxophonist Russ Nolan’s new album, the Pan-American-oriented Sin Fronteras, dates to 2007, five…
Eldar Djangirov’s latest album is titled Rhapsodize.
May 22, 2020 9:13 AM
To display Promethean chops is pianist Eldar Djangirov’s long-established default basis of operations, and his new,…
“We don’t travel as much as we’d like yet,” Delfeayo Marsalis said. “But the guys in the band are committed to what we’re doing, and it’s taken a while for the concept to evolve.”
Apr 20, 2020 8:39 AM
It’s not hard to pinpoint why Delfeayo Marsalis’ New Orleans-based Uptown Jazz Orchestra’s recent release, Jazz…
Art Blakey (1919–1990)
Mar 5, 2020 8:12 AM
No drummer more palpably imprinted their sonic identity and aesthetic principles on the soundtrack and culture of late…
Jimmy Heath (1926–2020)
Feb 24, 2020 10:16 AM
Jimmy Heath, who died Jan. 19 in Loganville, Georgia, at age 93, was a master of multiple components of the jazz…
Brian Lynch’s latest big band release is a double album that reflects his love of literature.
Feb 13, 2020 8:03 AM
Last January, Brian Lynch, 63, took the first sabbatical semester of his eight-year professorship at Frost School of…
Remy Le Boeuf has received many commissions in recent years, fueling his work as a composer and arranger.
Feb 7, 2020 2:55 PM
Remy Le Boeuf turned to an oft-tapped source—the 19th-century tales of the Brothers Grimm—to gather grist for the…
Carla Thomas (left), Dee Dee Bridgewater, Steven Bernstein, Craig Handy and Natalie Cressman onstage at the WBGO gala on Nov. 6 in Manhattan
Dec 20, 2019 1:54 PM
On Nov. 6, Newark’s jazz public radio station, WBGO, marked a milestone by throwing itself a 40th anniversary party.…
Guitarist Bill Frisell is now based in New York, following nearly three decades in Seattle.
Jul 6, 2020 3:07 PM
The latest reminder that guitar icon Bill Frisell remains a road warrior at 68 came in late September, when he…
Robert Glasper (foreground) and Herbie Hancock in a scene from the documentary Blue Note Records: Beyond the Notes.
Nov 13, 2019 4:32 PM
Swiss-born director Sophie Huber’s Blue Note Records: Beyond the Notes (Eagle Vision), which coincides with the…
Kasia Pietrzko performs during the Jazz Forum Showcase in Szczecin, Poland, which ran Oct. 1–3.
Jul 3, 2020 11:01 AM
On Oct. 1 at Radio Szczecin, where the eight participating bands in Jazz Forum Showcase Powered by Szczecin Jazz…
Kasia Pietrzko performs during the Jazz Forum Showcase in Szczecin, Poland, which ran Oct. 1–3.
Oct 10, 2019 9:42 AM
The inaugural edition of Jazz Forum Showcase Powered by Szczecin Jazz, which ran from Oct. 1–3 in Szczecin, a…
Mike LeDonne returns to the piano trio format on Partners In Time.
Oct 3, 2019 9:46 AM
Listeners who know Mike LeDonne as a master Hammond B-3 practitioner through his Groover Quartet recordings on Savant…
Jimmy Cobb, who turned 90 in January, recently issued a new quartet album, This I Dig Of You.
Aug 16, 2019 7:56 AM
Achieving maximum impact with minimal fuss has been Jimmy Cobb’s M.O. on the drum kit throughout his career, not…
Vocalist Kristen Lee Sergeant’s new album is titled Smolder.
Jun 7, 2019 8:35 PM
It’s no coincidence that Kristen Lee Sergeant sings several lyrics referencing wine on her sophomore release, Smolder…
“It’s a blessing to be within this legacy of the music,” Joe Lovano says.
Mar 1, 2019 10:23 AM
It is entirely characteristic of Joe Lovano, who parted ways with Blue Note Records in 2016 after releasing 25…
The musicians who recorded Hunterones’ Passport include Joshua Hill (left), Adam DeAscentis, Chris Ott, Dan White, John Hubbell, Jon Lampley and Justin Stanton.
Jan 22, 2019 6:11 PM
Not so long ago, Huntertones was the hottest instrumental group in Columbus, Ohio, where sousaphonist and trumpeter Jon…
A promotional video for Nate Smith’s solo drum collection Pocket Change describes it as an assortment of “beats, breaks and excursions.”
Jan 17, 2019 9:28 AM
Nate Smith’s solo drum suite, Pocket Change, marks the 44-year-old drummer’s second response to a question he asked…
ECM founder Manfred Eicher writes that he saw new possibilities in the improvised music of the Art Ensemble of Chicago.
Nov 27, 2018 10:25 AM
In the comprehensive, 296-page booklet that accompanies ECM’s 21-CD box set Art Ensemble Of Chicago And Associated…
Francesco Martinelli gives a presentation on his new book, The History of European Jazz, at the 2018 Jazz Fest Sarajevo in November.
Nov 28, 2018 10:31 AM
During late October and early November, journalist and author Francesco Martinelli—who serves as Director of the…
Drummer Eric Harland teamed with tenor saxophonist Daniel Rovin and bassist Austin White to found the label GSI Records.
Nov 24, 2018 11:20 PM
One of the more intriguing new labels of 2018 is GSI Records, co-owned by drummer Eric Harland, tenor saxophonist…
Enrico Rava (left) and Joe Lovano perform at JAZZMI in Milan, Italy.
Nov 21, 2018 8:47 AM
Much of the third edition of the JAZZMI Festival in Milan, which ran Nov. 1-13, transpired at the Triennale Teatro…
Pianist James Francies has released his Blue Note debut, Flight.
Nov 8, 2018 9:40 AM
In 2015, when pianist James Francies signed with Blue Note, he was a 20-year-old sophomore at The New School for Jazz…
Keyboardist Aaron Parks, bassist David “DJ” Ginyard, guitarist Greg Tuohey and drummer Tommy Crane collaborated on Little Big.
Nov 7, 2018 9:51 AM
Seventeen years into a distinguished career in the jazz business, Aaron Parks, 34, now focuses on his own projects, and…
Chucho Valdés (second from left) at the Rumba Para Bebo concert
Oct 8, 2018 9:21 AM
The Voll-Damm Barcelona International Jazz Festival, which launched in 1966, is billing 2018 as its 50th anniversary.…
Tia Fuller’s most recent album is Diamond Cut (Mack Avenue).
Sep 28, 2018 9:52 AM
Tia Fuller knows about being a road warrior. As featured saxophone soloist in Beyoncé’s all-woman band between 2006…
Marty Ehrlich’s most recent leader date is titled Trio Exaltation.
May 8, 2020 2:10 PM
Multi-woodwindist-composer Marty Ehrlich recorded his 26th leader date, Trio Exaltation (Clean Feed), last year in…
Guitarist Ximo Tébar has a new disc, Con Alma & United, set for release on Warner Music Spain.
Jun 22, 2018 9:13 AM
For the past 15 years, New York has been virtuoso guitarist Ximo Tébar’s home away from home. The lifelong resident…
Maria Pia De Vito’s embrace of the Portuguese language has resulted in the singer making connections between seemingly disparate musical traditions.
May 23, 2018 9:23 AM
Singer Maria Pia De Vito folds her facility for more than a dozen languages into her recordings.
Her latest album,…
Apr 18, 2018 8:45 AM
One of the many pleasures of last year’s Umbria Jazz Winter in Orvieto, Italy, was the opportunity to hear the…
Pianist Giovanni Guidi maintains a handful of different performing projects and records for ECM Records.
Mar 15, 2018 2:52 PM
Giovanni Guidi offers his formidable chops in service of ensemble imperatives, while always letting listeners know that…
BOP Trio, which comprises bassist Linda May Han Oh (from left), drummer Johnathan Blake and saxophonist Chris Potter, recently played Giant Step Arts’ opening event, a two-night run at Manhattan’s Jazz Gallery.
Feb 5, 2018 2:13 PM
It’s hard to think of a jazz photographer with a more personal and identifiable pictorial personality than Jimmy Katz,…
Jason Moran’s autobiographical Thelonious Monk homage, “In My Mind,” found him in the company of a relatively large band at Italy’s Umbria Jazz.
Jan 16, 2018 9:31 AM
Although the 25th anniversary edition of Umbria Jazz Winter in Orvieto, Italy, celebrated hitting a milestone Dec. 28…
Jazzmeia Horn channeled Betty Carter and Sarah Vaughan at the Umbria Jazz festival during December.
May 21, 2018 10:03 AM
Just after twilight Dec. 28 on the ground floor of the 14th-century Palazzo del Popolo, when the last note of the…
My Point is ... is drummer Willie Jones III’s most recent long-playing album.
Aug 13, 2018 4:06 PM
It doesn’t take a Ph.D. to complete the elliptical title of Willie Jones III’s new album, My Point is… (WJ3),…
Luisito Quintero (left), Chick Corea, Steve Wilson, Steve Gadd, Lionel Loueke and Carlitos Del Puerto performed a Sept. 19–30 residency at the Blue Note in New York.
Oct 3, 2017 11:46 AM
It’s not clear whether Art Blakey intoned his famous dictum, “Music washes away the dust of everyday life,” back…
Avishai Cohen at the Siena Jazz Summer Workshop in Italy.
Jun 3, 2020 10:09 AM
At 2:30, two hours into a lunch break on day three of the first week of Siena Jazz Summer Workshop, trumpeter Avishai…
Charles Lloyd performs during the Funchal Jazz Festival in Madeira, Portugal, on July 15.
Aug 2, 2017 2:24 PM
The 18th annual Funchal Jazz Festival, which transpired July 13–15 in the capital city of Madeira, a Portuguese…
Kurt Rosenwinkel performs during the Funchal Jazz Festival in Madeira, Portugal.
Mar 18, 2019 11:56 AM
The Funchal Jazz Festival, which transpires annually in the capital city of Madeira, a Portuguese island about 250…
Photos from the Sonny Rollins Archive at the August Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem.
Jun 13, 2017 8:50 AM
Once or twice a week during his grade school years, Sonny Rollins, now 86, made the two-block walk to his local library…
Chucho Valdés performs at Birdland in New York City as part of a six-night engagement at the venue.
May 24, 2017 2:15 PM
Most 75-year-olds residing in Miami, Florida, aspire to a comfortable retirement. Not so for master pianist-composer…
Trumpeter Alex Sipiagin recruited tenor saxophonist Chris Potter and other formidable players for the album Moments Captured.
Feb 15, 2019 3:44 PM
The following is an expanded version of an article that appeared in the June 2017 issue of DownBeat:
Last fall, Alex…
Eric Allen and Dave Lisik chronicle the history of the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra in their new book.
May 2, 2017 6:19 PM
Over the phone from his Chicago home, saxophonist-arranger Eric Allen related a recent discussion with New…
The Jazz at Lincoln Center performs an homage to Dizzy Gillespie during the “Celebrating Dizzy Gillespie” concert series, which ran from Jan. 26-28 at New York’s Jazz at Lincoln Center.
Feb 1, 2017 11:31 AM
Between Jan. 26 and 28, Jazz at Lincoln Center devoted its three performing spaces to programs exploring the legacy of…
Dave Liebman (left) and Joe Lovano pay tribute to their friend and colleague, the late Michael Brecker, at Jazz at Lincoln Center on Jan. 25.
Feb 7, 2017 3:45 PM
On Jan. 25, 10 years and 12 days after the iconic tenor saxophonist Michael Brecker died of myelodysplastic syndrome,…
Joe Lovano (left) and Chucho Valdés (seen here in a publicity photo) performed at Birdland in New York Nov. 22–27.
Nov 29, 2016 5:09 PM
Joe Lovano and Chucho Valdés first met in 1986, when Lovano played the Havana Jazz Festival with Charlie Haden’s…
Tia Fuller performed at the Dominican Republic Jazz Festival on Nov. 10.
Jun 18, 2018 11:57 AM
For its 20th-anniversary edition, which took place Nov. 9–12, the Dominican Republic Jazz Festival, curated by…
Ted Nash’s new album is titled Presidential Suite: Eight Variations On Freedom.
Nov 17, 2016 2:54 PM
During an election cycle in which political oratory is often delivered via Twitter and sound bites, reedist Ted…
Chick Corea is in the midst of a lengthy residency at the Blue Note in New York.
Nov 14, 2016 3:52 PM
Chick Corea does not think small. Try to name another figure who, in celebration of his 75th birthday, could pull off…
Steve Cardenas (left), Jeremy Pelt, Allison Miller and Ben Allison (the group’s leader) perform at the BRIC JazzFest in Brooklyn on Oct. 13.
Oct 19, 2016 9:45 AM
The second edition of the BRIC Jazzfest marathon—held October 13–15 in three separate spaces in BRIC House, the…
Phil Woods (1931–2015) was the subject of tribute concert on Sept. 8.
Sep 28, 2016 12:41 PM
On Sept. 8 in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, three weeks before the first anniversary of Phil Woods’ passing, the…
Roy Hargrove performs at the Detroit Jazz Festival on Sept. 3.
Sep 27, 2016 11:43 AM
Jazz is urban music, and no festival feels quite so urban as the Detroit Jazz Festival, which took place over Labor Day…
Somi (left) Toru Dodo and Liberty Ellman perform at the Sochi Jazz Festival on Aug. 4.
Sep 27, 2016 9:41 AM
Although the vocalist Somi was only female headliner at Russia’s seventh annual Sochi International Jazz Festival,…
Randy Weston performs at the Jazz Foundation of America’s annual Jazz Loft Party at Hudson Studios in Manhattan on April 16.
Apr 28, 2016 5:46 PM
With its 25th annual Jazz Loft Party on April 16, the Jazz Foundation of America and its Executive Director, newly…
Dan Weiss’ new album, Sixteen (Pi), pays tribute to iconic jazz drummers through orchestrated compositions.
Mar 22, 2016 2:40 PM
Drummer Dan Weiss, who turns 40 this year, occupies a singular niche in jazz. A student of tabla virtuoso Samir…
Tomasz Stańko
Oct 5, 2021 3:28 PM
In 1993, four years after the breakup of the Soviet Union, trumpeter Tomasz Stańko, Poland’s most prominent jazz…
Lee Konitz (1927–2020)
May 3, 2020 5:50 PM
On the afternoon of May 4, when Lee Konitz was informed of his induction into the DownBeat Hall of Fame, he was not at…
Randy Weston at The New School in New York
Sep 12, 2018 3:52 PM
When DownBeat last spoke to Randy Weston in the summer of 2014, the master pianist-composer, then 88, was planning to…
