Jazz Articles
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Matt Marantz: About Music, Money and Mouthpieces
by Dean Nardi
Back in ancient times, when people would buy actual magazines with paper and print and pictures and ads, some of the music publications would offer companion CD compilations. You could always find two or three tracks that stood out and maybe enticed you to check out an artist's recorded output. That is how I came across the name of Matt Marantz. It is always strangely refreshing to find or hear of an artist whose tone is as smooth as gravy ...
Continue ReadingEllen Rowe Quartet: Vinton's Cove
by Jack Bowers
Ellen Rowe wears many musical hats, all of which fit her extremely well: pianist, composer, arranger, educator and last but not least, band leader. Rowe supervises an admirable quartet on Vinton's Cove, displaying her sizable skills as writer and arranger while brightening the keyboard as well. Rowe dons her composer's cap on half a dozen of the album's ten numbers, and wears her arranger's headgear on all of them. Two of the songs include lyrics by the studio ...
Continue ReadingKen Hohman's Iconoclastic List of the Top 9 Jazz Recordings for 2025
by Ken Hohman
I feel like a few of my favorite jazz records over the past year were overlooked or didn't fare well with many jazz critics. But I filter through a heck of a lot of jazz each year in advance of my radio shows, so I feel justified in being quixotic or even setting the record straight when it's called for. Thus, here are my favorite records of 2025. Does that mean they're the best? I'll let you be the judge. ...
Continue ReadingDave Stryker: Blue Fire - The Van Gelder Session
by Pierre Giroux
Dave Stryker's Blue Fire--The Van Gelder Session features the guitarist performing at one of the most revered venues in recorded jazz, and the chosen setting is anything but incidental. Recorded at Rudy Van Gelder's legendary Englewood Cliffs studio in July 2025, the album benefits from the ambiance itself. Its warmth, clarity, and a sense of history, while showcasing a deeply rooted guitar-organ-drums trio that understands groove as both discipline and release. Joined by organist Jared Gold and drummer McClenty Hunter, ...
Continue ReadingFountain de Chopin's "Thank You" Festival in Hong Kong
by Rob Garratt
Fountain de Chopin's Third-Birthday “Thank You" Festival Fountain de Chopin San Po Kong, Hong Kong January 1, 2026 Hong Kong is enjoying a surprising, and surprisingly youth-centric, jazz renaissance. A decade ago, you might have struggled to count notable local players on two hands, today there are more feisty Berklee graduates in the self-governed Chinese city than scene observers can keep track of. There's also an audience for it, too--a remarkably young and hungry one, ...
Continue ReadingIan Torres: Comprovisation
by Hrayr Attarian
Chicago-based trumpeter Ian Torres is an accomplished composer, arranger, and educator. From 2008 to 2014, he was the leader of one of the most exciting big bands in the city's history. After a hiatus of over a decade, Torres returns with his second release, Comprovisation, a portmanteau term meaning the merging of composition and improvisation. The title perfectly illustrates Torres' musical vision. Out of the nine tracks on the record, six feature Torres unaccompanied by others, playing his ...
Continue ReadingTaylor Eigsti Comes Home, Carrying the Fire Forward
by Steven Roby
In this episode of Backstage Bay Area, we sit down with two-time Grammy Award-winning pianist and composer Taylor Eigsti. A Menlo Park native who released his debut album at age 14, Eigsti has evolved from a local prodigy into one of the most versatile and celebrated voices in modern jazz. Fresh off his 2025 Grammy win for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album, Plot Armor (GroundUP Music, 2024), Eigsti joins us to discuss his deep Bay Area roots, the emotional architecture of ...
Continue ReadingRemembrance 2025, part II: Gordon Goodwin, Al Foster, Jack DeJohnette, Hal Galper & Ray Drummond
by Larry Slater
This is the second installment of a tribute to jazz masters who left us in 2025.The composer, arranger, pianist and bandleader Gordon Goodwin lost his battle with pancreatic cancer in December of 2025, just shy of his 71st birthday. Goodwin's Big Phat Band, an 18-member ensemble consisting of some of L.A.'s finest jazz musicians, gained remarkable popularity for its combination of classic swing and contemporary jazz.The drummer Al Foster died in May 2025 at 82. Miles ...
Continue ReadingThe Final Batch of My Favorite 2025 Jazz Things - Part 5
by Ludovico Granvassu
As we come to the end of another year, it feels like a good moment to pause--not to summarize everything, but to listen back. This episode is built around songs that lingered, resurfaced, and quietly insisted on being remembered.Happy listening!Playlist Ben Allison “Mondo Jazz Theme (feat. Ted Nash & Pyeng Threadgill)" 0:00 Jérémie Lucchese “L'Ogre" Essais pour l'Imaginaire Vol. II (Fresh Sound/New Talent) 0:16 Host talks 4:00 Chaerin Im “Okay" Aïe aïe (Dox) 5:12 Host talks ...
Continue ReadingAdam Beaudoin's 15 Favorite Albums of 2025
by Adam Beaudoin
Year-end lists are a strange creature, as conceptually absurd as they are genuinely useful. They contend to distill a year's worth of recorded music into “the very best," a laughably conceited claim for any one listener or editorial board, no matter how erudite and steeped in the music, to make. For jazz, the situation is even more ridiculous, as this art form we call a genre has developed so laterally in recent decades that it encompasses musics so stylistically varied ...
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