Articles by Fran Kursztejn
Jen Shyu, Luke Stewart, and Konjur Collective at Vision Festival 2026
by Fran Kursztejn
Jen Shyu, Luke Stewart, Konjur Collective Abrons Arts Center Vision FestivalNew York, NY June 24, 2026 The inaugural night of Vision Festival, despite the massive variety of musicians and instruments on display, did not feature any vocalists. During night two, vocalists made up a strong majority. Jen Shyu's “Fertile Bodies, Fertile Lands" conducted an ensemble of three string artists, a percussionist, a flautist, and the multi-instrumentalist Shyu herself, all of which double as vocalists. ...
Continue ReadingMarshall Allen, Trae Crudup, Black Cherry, and DoYeon Kim At Vision Festival 2026
by Fran Kursztejn
Marshall Allen, Trae Cruddup, Hamid Drake, William Parker, DoYeon Kim Abrons Arts Center Vision Festival June 26, 2026 Creative music (in William Parker's words, “so-called jazz") is an old scene in New York City. Ornette Coleman at least nominally birthed the “free jazz" movement in the '60s, and ever since, the genre has planted its tenterhooks into the city's artistic landscape. If there are any major throughlines in that history, there is of course innovation ...
Continue ReadingJoe Morris at Vision Fest 30
by Fran Kursztejn
Joe MorrisAbrons Arts CenterVision Festival New York, NYJune 23, 2026 “Joe Morris is the real deal," said Matthew Shipp, relating the first time he met the multi-hyphenate musician and educator, who was presented with the Arts for Art's Lifetime Achievement Award at the 30th annual Vision Festival. Morris introduced himself to the pianist after a show in the early '80s. He gave Shipp his first record, of which Shipp admits he “let sit for ...
Continue ReadingSteve Swell Quartet & Michael Foster / Chuck Roth Duo at P.I.T.
by Fran Kursztejn
Steve Swell, Michael Foster, Chuck Roth P.I.T. Brooklyn, NY June 14, 2026 In the microcosm of the Greater New York Improvised Musics scene, Arts for Arts' Vision Festival, kicking off June 22nd at the Abrams Art Center in the Lower East Side, dominates the attention of artist and dilettante alike. While unlikely to rival the World Cup games or eclipse the citywide high of the Knicks' win, there is a coalescing enthusiasm that cannot be ignored. ...
Continue ReadingWilliam Parker's Pocketwatch at Loove Annex
by Fran Kursztejn
William Parker's Pocketwatch Loove Annex AFA ResidencyNew York City April 8, 15, 22, 29, 2026 Before beginning his final set of the night, William Parker took a moment to explain the name of his 'Pocketwatch ensemble, a rotating group of polyphonic masters that have met every Wednesday of April at Greenpoint's Loove Annex. The watch was handed down from Parker's father. It was made of real gold (Mr. Parker points to a facsimile that hangs from his ...
Continue ReadingPeter Evans: Ars Ludicra
by Fran Kursztejn
In the band's handful of releases the past decade, Peter Evans' Being & Becoming has defined itself by an unusual pattern of influence. As the former leader of superstar avant-garde quartet Mostly Other People Do the Killing, Evans has always played the agitator, the many-hats uncompromising auteur, challenging in both sonic intellect and actual practice. He lies squarely in jazz, but borrows heavily from the classical cornet repertoire, early devotional music, and as disparate sources as Detroit Techno and the ...
Continue ReadingNicolas Genest: Danhomey Songs
by Fran Kursztejn
Danhomey Songs is French-Beninese trumpeter Nicolas Genest's first record as leader since 2015. Despite a voraciously prolific career working with just about every Francophone master working today, but specifically under the tutelage of Aldo Romano and Henri Texier, he has only produced a handful of recordings as bandleader. Perhaps it is the personages he usually finds himself supporting, the idiosyncratic duo of Romano and Texier or titanic conductors like Terence Blanchard and Wynton Marsalis, or the simple fact of his ...
Continue ReadingRafael Toral: Traveling Light
by Fran Kursztejn
Jazz has a difficult time wrestling with its own history. All genres do, but jazz, specifically in the lethargic modern era, cannot but find itself somewhat directionless. Rock, pop, and electronica all advertise their frontrunners as “the next big thing" or “revolutionary," or otherwise contain a je ne sais quoi found nowhere else but in the artist or song in question. Certainly, very few of these promises are ever kept, but publicity around jazz frequently goes the opposite route. The ...
Continue ReadingDavid Murray: Hope Scope
by Fran Kursztejn
There should be no doubt of David Murray's position. Since the death of Eddie Harris, he is the finest tenor saxophonist in jazz, arguably one of the most prolific bandleaders in the modern age. He stands among a rare few reedmen working to redefine the sonic quality of their instrument. Looking back at any of Murray's work, he is defined by a highly ambitious, omnitraditional palette and a blaring emotionalism that brings his searing intellect right home. He is a ...
Continue ReadingNicholas Payton: Triune
by Fran Kursztejn
The multi-hyphenate Nicholas Payton premieres a new trio, recording alongside eccentric bassist Esperanza Spalding and straight-ahead luminary Karriem Riggins, a roster enough to whet any forward-thinking listener's appetites. Payton, beyond his wildly successful sideman stints with Oscar Peterson, Mulgrew Miller and Milt Jackson, has also made great strides to define his own worldly, idiosyncratic style as leader and solo artist, drawing from both his bopping lineage and the moodier, atmospheric ambitions of his peers. He parades confidently through no-nonsense bop ...
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