Articles by Straight-ahead (Bop, Hard bop, Cool)

Radio & Podcasts

Sullivan Fortner: The Music Tells You Where to Go

by Leo Sidran
September 16, 2026

It is hard to overstate the exuberance and awe expressed by other musicians when talking about Sullivan Fortner. At under 40 years old, he is one of a small handful of pianists who have moved the instrument and its potential forward. And by doing so, he's demonstrated that innovation can happen from within the tradition of what came before rather than reinventing it outright. To those who know, he is both a living reality and, as a jazz ...

Play This!

Two Views Of A Masterpiece

by John Chacona
September 15, 2026

As a jazz composer is it better to be a hedgehog or a fox, to write music that is so irreducibly singular that there is only one way to perform it or do be so embracingly universal that one's genius spreads like pollinator bees? Arguably Wayne Shorter, fairly unanimously embraced as the greatest jazz composer of the immediate past, has been seen as a hedgehog, the composer of brilliantly idiosyncratic music that has failed to escape the shadow of his ...

Live Review

Ursa Major at Miner Auditorium

by Steven Roby
September 15, 2026

Christian McBride's Ursa Major Miner Auditorium San Francisco, CA September 13, 2026 Christian McBride stood toward the rear of the Miner Auditorium stage Sunday night, directing traffic from behind Nicole Glover and Ely Perlman. Even when he switched from upright to electric bass and began one of his fleet, muscular solos, he remained there. The placement suited Ursa Major. McBride may have assembled the quintet, but its final concert of SFJAZZ's season-opening residency drew its force ...

Building a Jazz Library

Ronnie Cuber: Baritone Boss

by Mark McKergow
September 14, 2026

Ronnie Cuber (1941-2022) made his mark on the jazz world as a versatile and muscular baritone saxophonist. Born in New York on Christmas Day 1941, he started on tenor saxophone but switched to baritone at 17, attracted by the vacant chair in Marshall Brown's Newport Jazz Youth Band (which also featured lifelong colleagues Eddie Gomez and Michael Abene). He grew from sideman to leader to icon over half a century of hard-blowing hard work. Cuber always gave full value ...

Jazz Fiction

Jazz on a Summer's Day in Paris

by Mike Raggett
September 10, 2026

Paris sizzles in the summertime It was so hot the birds weren't singing. Or moving even. They too sat exhausted on the branches of the pine avenue in the Bois de Vincennes. Some were even trying to find shelter under the bonsai collection. Not the peacocks though. They had flopped under the heritage apple and pear collection. Others congregated in the willows hoping some cool air would be wafted from the lake. Pierre and Violette zigzagged through the ...

Profile

The Discreet Charm of Tete Montoliu

by Con Chapman
September 9, 2026

In 1947 tenor saxophonist Don Byas, a transplant from America following a tour of Europe, joined a society orchestra--complete with strings--to play dates in Spain. After their ballroom engagement was over, Byas and the band's rhythm section would jam until the early morning hours when they would be forced to quit “either because the police burst in at four in the morning, or because Don had been drinking a bit too much," according to a Spanish jazz critic.

Radio & Podcasts

New Sullivan Fortner Also Trumpeter Matt White's Jazz Perspective on Dolly Parton Songs, Flautist Ali Ryerson, Pianist Enoch Smith Jr. and Matt Wilson's Good Trouble featuring Tia Fuller

by Hobart Taylor
September 2, 2026

Also outstanding tuneage from guitarists Sheryl Bailey and Ed Cherry, saxophonist Jonathon Suazo, and a delightful Susan Alcorn cut featuring Mary Halvorson.Playlist Host Speaks 00:00 Matt White “The Carroll County Accident (featuring Liz Kelley)" from Dolly (Adhyaropa) 01:35 Matt White “The Bridge (featuring Liz Kelley)" from Dolly (Adhyaropa) 05:05 Enoch Smith Jr. “No One Can Save You" fromThis is What Love Does (Misfitme) 09:42 Host Speaks 15:00 The Ali Ryerson Quartet “Chuck's Tune/Solar" from The Ali Ryerson Quartet ...

Rising Stars

Introducing Saxophonist Jacob Chung

by Sanford Josephson
September 1, 2026

Growing up in Toronto, Jacob Chung was introduced to jazz by his grandfather. “He had a record player," Chung recalled, “and he had Dave Brubeck's Time Out album. He also liked Duke Ellington and Ben Webster." Chung was playing classical piano when he entered middle school, “and they started giving you wind instruments. I was into baseball, and I had a few concussions and tore the meniscus in my knee, so I had to quit sports for a ...

Radio & Podcasts

August Keyboard Special with Larry Goldings, Omar Sosa, Hiromi, and Others; Birthday Recognition for Wayne Shorter, Jim Beard, and More

by David W. Daniels
September 1, 2026

In addition to the keyboardists and jazz artists named in the title, music is featured from Joe Alterman, Herbie Hancock, Oscar Peterson, and many others. Also birthday acknowledgement for Larry Goldings, Bennie Maupin, and Brad Mehldau. Playlist Don Friedman “Park Row"--from Dreams And Explorations (Riverside) 00:00 Larry Goldings and Peter Bernstein and Bill Stewart “FU Donald"--from Perpetual Pendulum (Smoke Sessions) 8:12 Brad Mehldau “Dream's Monk"--from Progression: The Art Of The Trio, Vol. 5 (Warner Brothers) 13:09 Weather Report ...

Radio & Podcasts

Jeanie Bryson, John Hollenbeck, Paul Yonemura & Kenny Dorham

by Joe Dimino
August 30, 2026

From the pages of the new 2026 book Whistle Stop by father-and-son authors John A. Melendez and Robert M. Pallitto, we launch into the legendary Kenny Dorham, joined by Sonny Rollins, with the timeless “My Old Flame." From there, the journey keeps rolling, spotlighting the guitar artistry of Vladimir Redzic, the sounds of Holman Alvarez, and a tribute to the late, great Jeanie Bryson. Then we turn our attention to a powerful wave of new music from veterans, innovators, and ...