Articles by Paul Rauch

Profile

Sequoia Snyder: Growing in the Light of the Masters

by Paul Rauch
September 17, 2026

It was day three of the 47th annual Detroit Jazz Festival, a sunny Sunday late afternoon with just enough white, puffy, high sky clouds to keep the massive crowd gathered at Hart Plaza comfortable. The JP Morgan Chase stage at the southeast corner of the plaza seemed to hang perilously on the edge of the Detroit River Walk, the afternoon turning to evening sun dancing off the blue-green waters of the river. Pianist-keyboardist-composer Sequoia Snyder, also known by her childhood ...

Live Review

Detroit Jazz Festival 2026: A Gathering in a Great Jazz City

by Paul Rauch
September 15, 2026

Detroit Jazz Festival 2026 Hart Plaza Detroit, MI September 4-7, 2026 Thursday evening is when artists, media and event staffers begin to file into the Detroit Marriott, arriving from points around the globe. The common purpose is the 47th annual Detroit Jazz Festival, an annual tradition on Labor Day weekend. The largest free jazz festival in the world is four days of music, fellowship, celebration and counting one's blessings. In 2026, Mother Nature decided to ...

History of Jazz

John Coltrane in Detroit: A Brief History

by Paul Rauch
September 8, 2026

When the calendar turned to 2026, a spirit of celebration was sparked in the jazz community. It marked one hundred years from the birth dates of two jazz titans in John Coltrane and Miles Davis. Coltrane departed us in 1967 from cancer, a life of barely more than forty years that changed the course of jazz. He had forged his approach to playing as a member of Davis' groundbreaking, mid-1950s sextet. Davis, after a brief hiatus in the mid 1970s, ...

Live Review

Louis Hayes at Jazz Alley

by Paul Rauch
June 26, 2026

Louis HayesJazz Alley Seattle WA June 23, 2026 At eighty-nine years old, the fact that drummer Louis Hayes is still touring as a bandleader is remarkable in itself. The fact that he is still playing so well, and playing with great energy is downright inspiring. With the sun burning bright, and the city of Seattle alit with international visitors gathering for the World Cup of soccer, the importance of gathering to see Hayes or ...

Album Review

Jun Iida: Bellflower

Read "Bellflower" reviewed by Paul Rauch

by Paul Rauch
June 19, 2026

Jun Iida is a stylish trumpeter who has moved around a bit, in the process taking interpretive fragments of the jazz culture in each city he has inhabited. From his native Pittsburgh, to stops in Los Angeles, Seattle and New York City, he has remained connected to each through personal relationships with the local jazz communities he has embraced. An aerospace engineer who set his career aside to pursue his craft as a jazz trumpeter, Iida has along the way ...

Album Review

Dawn Clement: Dear Ms. Dearie

Read "Dear Ms. Dearie" reviewed by Paul Rauch

by Paul Rauch
June 4, 2026

In giving this album a listen, it is difficult not to jump between the original recordings of the great Blossom Dearie, and those newly recorded by modern-day pianist/vocalist Dawn Clement. After all, those who have followed Clement's career have heard the comparisons between the two, particularly the vocal style that those critiquing Dearie referred to as “distinctive," “light," and “girlish." The separator here is that Dearie, while lauded for her original piano style, is more renowned for her colorful, poetic ...

Live Review

Emmet Cohen Presents: Miles and Coltrane at 100 at Jazz Alley

by Paul Rauch
April 20, 2026

Emmet Cohen Presents: Miles and Coltrane at 100Jazz Alley Seattle, WA April 16, 2026 Pianist Emmet Cohen was not on the top of any list predicting who might hit the road touring in celebration mode of the Miles Davis / John Coltrane 100 phenomenon over the course of 2026. He has certainly risen to the top tier of jazz touring artists over the past few years, always in the spirit of fun and innovation--yet ...

Interview

John Bishop: A Multi-Dimensional Journey in Jazz

by Paul Rauch
March 9, 2026

John Bishop has spent the past 50 years traversing a jazz landscape that has been in a state of constant change. The music has continued to evolve at a rate one might expect from art in general, while the business end of it has seen radical change that most would consider a state of de-evolution. As a jazz drummer, record label principal, and all-around entrepreneur, he has ridden the wave of massive change within a philosophical framework rooted in honesty, ...

Live Review

Marc Seales & Ernie Watts at Jazz Alley

by Paul Rauch
January 28, 2026

Marc Seales & Ernie Watts Jazz Alley Seattle, WA January 20, 2026 The career paths of pianist Marc Seales and saxophonist Ernie Watts couldn't be more different. While Seales was becoming a local jazz stalwart in Seattle, the Los Angeles based Watts was making his way through studio sessions that included Frank Zappa's Grand Wazoo and a variety of Motown recordings. He toured with the Rolling Stones in 1981 and became a twenty year veteran ...

Album Review

Kerry Politzer: Alternate Route

Read "Alternate Route" reviewed by Paul Rauch

by Paul Rauch
January 6, 2026

Pianist Kerry Politzer had released eight albums before Alternate Route (Whirlwind, 2025), though to many jazz listeners they essentially flew under the radar. Politzer is a Portland, Oregon-based musician on the faculty at the esteemed jazz studies program at Portland State. With this, her ninth offering, more attention and accolades are bound to come her way. The album of ten original compositions not only lends a strong focus on her adept compositional and instrumental skills, it also welcomes in a ...