Linda May Han Oh gave one of the most joyful performances at this year’s Newport Jazz Festival.
(Photo: Mark Sheldon)Aug 18, 2026 12:18 PM
The 2026 Newport Jazz Festival once again confirmed its legacy as one of the most important jazz festivals in the world. If you were wondering how Nate Smith would put his mark on…
Sonny Rollins performing at the Chicago Jazz Festival in 1992
(Photo: Ronald Heard)May 26, 2026 11:21 AM
“Is this going to be another negative, punch-Sonny-Rollins-in-the-eye article for DownBeat?” the man asked with weary resignation as he plopped into a den chair. “Well, I agreed to do it. I know how it’s going to come out anyway. So, go ahead, ask me. I’m ready.”
It was a telephone interview. I imagined Sonny Rollins sitting there in his Hudson River Valley country home north of Rhinebeck, New York; sitting there in a nimbus of ennui waiting to be prodded and poked with an assortment of those unpleasant, blunt instruments we journalists…
