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Ukrainian Jazz Media: Unwavering Service
by Ian Patterson
Though the history of jazz in Ukraine dates back to the second decade of the 20th Century, jazz media in Ukraine was slower to develop. While this article's primary focus is on today's jazz journalists, independent proselytizers and advocates, it would be remiss not to mention some of those who paved the way. Several figures have been key in developing Ukrainian jazz media and promoting jazz nationally and internationally. Prominent among these is Leonid Goldstein, who celebrated his ...
Continue Reading¡Viva la resistencia! Cafe Central, Madrid
by Leo Sidran
A story of Madrid's Cafe Central, going out of business after over 40 years as the beating heart of jazz in the Spanish capital. The old saying “wherever you go, there you are" is one of those deceptively simple adages that never lets you down. And yet, the longer I've lived with it, the more I've come to believe that there are certain times and places when a person is just a little more where they are.
Continue ReadingTom Waits In The House: Three Jazzy Winners From The Noir Prince Of LA Pop
by George Wallace
No assessment of the interchange between jazz music and the spoken word idiom in contemporary music can be complete without paying a visit to Small Change, the fourth studio album by singer and songwriter Tom Waits, released on September 21, 1976 on Asylum Records. It was recorded in July at the Wally Heider Recording Studio in Hollywood. Harry Bluestone, violin, concertmaster and strings, Jim Hughart, bass, Ed Lustgarten, cello, orchestra manager and strings, Shelly Manne, drums, Lew Tabackin, tenor saxophone, ...
Continue ReadingJoni Jazz, Part 2
by Chuck Lenatti
Part 1 | Part 2 As a young woman growing up in Canada, Joni Mitchell was fond of American popular music and bought records whenever she could afford them. She would sometimes swap painting jobs for jazz albums. Among her favorite jazz artists were Duke Ellington and Lambert, Hendricks and Ross. She later recorded “Twisted" by Annie Ross and Wardell Gray and “Centerpiece" by Jon Hendricks and Harry Edison. She was also fascinated ...
Continue ReadingJoni Jazz, Part 1
by Chuck Lenatti
Part 1 | Part 2 Born Roberta Joan Anderson on November 7, 1943, child of the Canadian Prairie, Joni Mitchell showed signs of becoming an artist at a young age. In Joni Mitchell in Her Own Words (ECW Press, 2014), a collection of conversations recorded over the years, musician and reporter Malka Marom wondered what inspired her friend's early urge to draw and paint. Mitchell said her obsession with art was triggered by watching ...
Continue ReadingRita Payés At Jazz à La Villette, In Paris
by Pierre Lavoie
On September 6, 2025, the Jazz à la Villette Festival in Paris presented Rita Payés, a 26-year-old Catalan singer, trombone player, composer, arranger, and lyricist, who has been on stage since her early teens.This performer is in a category of her own, pursuing her personal musical projects with a singularity that has become her signature. Born to a family of musicians, she sings and writes in Catalan, Castilian Spanish, and Portuguese--and sometimes in English, having spent her adolescence ...
Continue ReadingChildren of the Light: Forging New Footprints
by Jiaowei Hu
"The trio is a real laboratory for colours, voices, and ways of playing interactions," says the Panamanian-born jazz pianist Danilo Pérez. With bassist John Patitucci and drummer Brian Blade, Pérez has forged a bond over two decades in Wayne Shorter's last and yet groundbreaking Footprints Quartet. After Shorter withdrew from the public eye, the three sidemen continued to explore cosmic and existential themes. They nod to Shorter's mentorship and named their trio as “Children of the Light"--a twist on Shorter's ...
Continue ReadingA Brief Guide To Ukrainian Jazz: Part 4
by Ian Patterson
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 The fourth installment of A Brief Guide To Ukrainian Jazz--a series developed with the cooperation of the Ukrainian Institute--introduces four more highly talented jazz artists/groups from Ukraine. The vast range of personal musical identities attests to the strength, depth and originality of contemporary Ukranian jazz. Dima Bondarev Classically trained from an early age, trumpeter Dima Bondarev was a jazz convert by his ...
Continue ReadingJohn Engels Just Turned 90, But Who’s Counting?
by Joan Gannij
What do you give a man for his 90th birthday, who has everything in terms of chops, contentment, experience, and energy? How about a special edition of an Edison Prize, combined with a birthday tribute concert. Amsterdam's Bimhuis was packed to standing room, filled with friends, family, musicians and music lovers. This was no ordinary birthday celebration, although there was a cake, flowers, balloons and some special gifts, including an invitation from Sonor to visit their factory in Germany. John ...
Continue ReadingA Brief Guide To Ukrainian Jazz: Part 3
by Ian Patterson
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 The third installment of A Brief Guide To Ukrainian Jazz--a series developed with the cooperation of the Ukrainian Institute--introduces five more highly talented jazz artists/groups from Ukraine. The vast range of personal musical identities attests to the strength, depth and originality of contemporary Ukranian jazz. Leléka Victoria Leléka is the voice and driving force of Leléka, a multi-national folk-jazz quartet founded in ...
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