Michael Ullman
When I saw him, he was rarely still on stage: a Billy Bang performance was something like a dance.
Read MoreOver five extended compositions, composer and trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith leads a new large ensemble, TUMO, creating a challenging but engaging world of sound that combines composed elements with strong soloists and group improvisation.
Read MoreThe best parts of this book of interviews come when Charles Mingus or his collaborators talk about the music.
Read MoreTen Freedom Summers is a masterful, supple series of compositions that has the gravitas of a major work that also, from time to time, it swings dramatically.
Read MorePianist Donal Fox is a classical musician by training, and in style, with a yen for improvisation and, one might add, an unwillingness to let things be.
Read MoreIt turns out that it was more than just a rumor that saxophonist Charles Lloyd spent some of the ’70s playing with The Beach Boys.
Read MoreNo one would say that Terri Lyne Carrington’s versions of Ellington’s pieces are definitive, but they extend the legendary composer’s legacy in a personal and significant way.
Read MoreVocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater’s exuberance proved contagious in this performance featuring a remarkable group of jazz all-stars under the genial direction of bassist Christian McBride.
Read MoreWe should look forward, eagerly, to hearing more lost, or previously issued music, from Jazzhaus. And be grateful to the European public for supporting these concerts and broadcasts.
Read MoreChucho Valdés moved almost seamlessly from African-Cuban rhythms and chants in Yoruba or Spanish to a hip modern jazz style. The latter, paradoxically, owes much to the brilliant runs and glissandi of Art Tatum, the bluesiness of Horace Silver, and the power of the left hand chords of McCoy Tyner.
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Arts Remembrance: In Memoriam — Tom Stoppard