Jazz Articles
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Rikard From: Sun of June
by Scott Lichtman
Pianist and songwriter Rikard From may get 360,000 listeners per month on Spotify, but I suspect a larger, as-yet-unaware audience would benefit from a thorough listen of his music. His primary sound combines the maj6/9 embellishments of Bruce Hornsby with the rollicking gospel of Keith Jarrett on a song like “God Bless the Child." His body of work is fresh and catchy, such as “Sun of June," where the listener can get caught up chilling on the grace notes and ...
Continue ReadingAmina Claudine Myers: Solace of the Mind
by Troy Dostert
One of the under-heralded legends of the jazz avant-garde, keyboardist Amina Claudine Myers is finally getting her due. An early member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) in the mid-1960s, her efforts were sometimes overshadowed by outsized colleagues such as Muhal Richard Abrams, Lester Bowie, or Henry Threadgill. But recent years have provided an opportunity to reassess her standing in the jazz canon. In 2024, Myers was a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master, and ...
Continue ReadingAndrew Moreno: Axiom
by Nenad Georgievski
When a debut album arrives with the emotional weight and conceptual depth of Axiom, it is hard not to pay attention. Venezuelan guitarist and composer Andrew Moreno does not just introduce himself with this record--he tells his story, lays out his map of memories and migrations, and opens up a sound world both deeply personal and boldly exploratory. Moreno's path from Caracas to Rotterdam is carved into the bones of this music. This sense of journey, both geographical and emotional, ...
Continue ReadingMusic as Survival: Trumpeter Louis Bannet's Chilling Ultimatum at Auschwitz
by Joe Alterman
Before the war, violinist and trumpeter Louis Bannet was a celebrated jazz musician in Holland, often called “the Dutch Louis Armstrong." Once, before the war, he heard a knock on his dressing room door. “So you're the Dutch Louis Armstrong?" a deep, raspy voice said. “It's nice to meet you. I'm the American one." And just like that, he and Louis Armstrong jammed the night away. Then everything changed. Arrested and sent to Auschwitz, Louis Bannet faced a ...
Continue ReadingSonny Rollins, Greg Tardy, Sam Dillon, Jimmy Greene and Dave Anderson
by Joe Dimino
From a seasoned jazz cat who keeps the flame burning bright, we kick off the 917th episode of Neon Jazz with the ever-inventive Dave Anderson, spinning tracks from his soulful new 2025 release, In Lieu of Flowers. It all starts with his sound--modern yet rooted--and a nod to where it all began: witnessing the legendary Sonny Rollins live in concert. That spark set the stage for a lifelong jazz journey. From there, we dive into a powerful mix of new ...
Continue ReadingAlexander Hawkins: Song Unconditional
by John Sharpe
Where on the first solo outing by British pianist Alexander Hawkins, Song Singular (Babel, 2014), his influences strode in plain sight, and the second, Iron Into Wind (Intakt, 2019), in its austerity, nodded toward Hawkins' classical schooling, Song Unconditional feels simultaneously more personal and more welcoming. It finds Hawkins not only consolidating the vocabulary of his earlier output but distilling it into something strikingly self- assured. Since that initial unaccompanied foray, Hawkins has become one of the most ...
Continue ReadingJoel Grundahl, Jack Gardiner, Andy Timmons, David Binney, Donny McCaslin
by Len Davis
Turn it up and dive into fresh fusion sounds! Enjoy new music from Canadian guitarist Joel Grundahl, British shredder Jack Gardiner and Andy Timmons, and synth-driven grooves from Richard D Ruttenberg and bassist Jimmy Haslip. Explore bold and original jazz from saxophonist and composer David Binney with Tommy Crane, power house performances by Donny McCaslin, Tim Lefebvre and Nate Wood, plus new tracks from Garaj Mahal with their latest release Rotifer . Our '90s fusion fix continues with Petite Blonde ...
Continue ReadingJimmy Farace: Hours Fly, Flowers Die
by Jerome Wilson
There have been many recordings of saxophones backed by string sections since Charlie Parker experimented with the idea many years ago. The majority of those have featured tenor or alto sax players. However, on his debut album, Jimmy Farace demonstrates how the baritone sax can excel beautifully in this format. The full instrumental lineup on this set has Farace in front of a quintet, which also includes guitar and piano, meeting up with the KAIA String Quartet. The ...
Continue ReadingDug and Jazz Spot Intro in Tokyo
by Sanford Josephson
I owe my love of jazz to the time I spent in Japan in the mid-1960s when I was working as a writer in the public information office of the American Red Cross' Far Eastern Area headquarters, located on a U.S. Army base about 45 minutes from Tokyo. While there, I saw Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Herbie Mann, Oscar Peterson, and many other well-known jazz artists at concerts or in clubs. But, I also hung out at the ...
Continue Readingl'Oumigmag: Ce Qui Tourne Dans L'Air
by David Bruggink
"Oumigmag" means “muskox" in Inuktitut, one of the principal Inuit languages spoken in Canada's northeast and central northern provinces. Sébastien Sauvageau, a multi-instrumentalist and composer based in Québec, drew on his province's musical and Indigenous histories to create the jazz-folk project l'Oumigmag--an effort, he writes, to explore “how past elements (traditional music), present experiences, and future innovations coexist and influence one another." l'Oumigmag debuted as a quartet on Territoires (The 270 Sessions, 2017), expanded to a sextet for ...
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