Jazz Articles
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Dumpstaphunk at Miner Auditorium
by Steven Roby
Dumpstaphunk Miner Auditorium San Francisco, CAOctober 11, 2025 What if the beat were a social contract? That question lingered over a sold-out Saturday at Miner Auditorium, where Dumpstaphunk approached funk not as escapism but as a shared practice--an agreement to move, listen, and shape tension and release as a community. This thesis emerged in the music, in the crowd and in the way bandleader Ivan Neville framed the evening: a collective body choosing the groove. ...
Continue ReadingSylvie Courvoisier: Angel Falls
by Mike Jurkovic
The history of humankind resounds with the sound of piano/trumpet duets. But not like this one. Not like Angel Falls. Because the true beauty of Angel Falls is that grandmaster Wadada Leo Smith, aided and abetted by the fervent curiosity of Brooklyn- based/Switzerland native pianist Sylvie Courvoisier, enlists the listener as an active creator in truly beatific, beautiful music. That is a magic thing that does not happen often. All too often, the audience is reduced to listening ...
Continue ReadingPharoah Sanders: Love Is Here The Complete Paris 1975 ORTF Recordings
by Jack Kenny
The saxophonist Pharoah Sanders was often described as an enigma of jazz, once famously characterized as “a mad wind screeching through the root-cellars of Hell." That “mad wind" is absent on Love Is Here: The Complete Paris 1975 ORTF Recordings, but the enigma remains. This pivotal album captures Sanders stretching out, away from his Impulse! Records contract, exploring a sound that moves beyond late-stage John Coltrane and places a greater emphasis on tone, melody, and lyrical expression. Recorded ...
Continue ReadingDavid Helbock, Julia Hofer: Sexy M.F.
by Ludovico Granvassu
Back in 2012 Austrian pianist David Helbock released a beautiful tribute to Prince, entitled Purple (Traumton Records). On his 2025 album Faces of the Night (ACT Music) he returns to his love for the Minneapolis wizard covering two of his songs--including one he skipped the first time around, “Sexy M.F." For Faces of the Night, Helbock teams up with his new co-pilot, the versatile Austrian bassist and cellist Julia Hofer. On this catchy rendition of “Sexy M.F." they are joined ...
Continue ReadingBLINK: BLINK
by Mark Corroto
It bears repeating: collective improvisation is far more challenging than individual soloing. It demands discipline, trust, and, as musicians like to say, exceptional ears. Composer and alto saxophonist Jorrit Dijkstra's BLINK demonstrates all three, bringing together five musicians whose listening skills are as sharp as their instincts. The project is built on Dijkstra's long-running Porch Trio, featuring electric bassist Nate McBride and drummer Eric Rosenthal. That core group previously expanded into a sextet for PorchBone (Driff, 2024). With ...
Continue ReadingNew Music from Mayo, Palladino & Mills, Webber & Morris, And More
by Bob Osborne
This show is a trip around jazz's outer edges--where tradition collides with invention. From Michael Mayo's vocal acrobatics on Coltrane's “Giant Steps" to the explosive real-time conduction of Hill Collective, this selection of new releases spans chamber, ensemble, and solo work.Playlist Michael Mayo “Giant Steps" from Fly--Deluxe Edition (Mack Avenue/Artistry Music) 00:00 Pino Palladino and Blake Mills “Heat Sink" from That Wasn't A Dream (New Deal/Impulse Records!) 03:21 Anna Webber Angela Morris Big Band “Mist/Missed" from Unseparate (Out ...
Continue ReadingYakir Arbib & Conti Bilong: Afro Baroque
by Neil Duggan
The fusion of jazz, baroque piano, vocals and traditional Central African and Middle Eastern rhythms might sound like an ambitious overreach, with too many influences competing for space. Yet Afro Baroque proves that what could have been a chaotic collision of styles instead shows how rhythm, melody and cultural expression can complement each other to produce an album of dynamic interplay that entertains throughout. The driving force behind this cross-genre synthesis is the combination of Israeli-Italian pianist Yakir ...
Continue ReadingThe Jazz Loft's Harbor Jazz Festival: Winard Harper & Jeli Posse / Eric Alexander Trio
by Dan Bilawsky
The Jazz Loft's 10th Annual Harbor Jazz Festival, which ran from Wednesday, September 17 through Saturday, September 20, 2025, offered high-caliber hits to please both jazz neophytes and the fully initiated. Things kicked off with an opening reception and the Frank Hansen-helmed Jazz Loft Trio running the venue's weekly jam session; newly-installed Stony Brook Director of Jazz Roxy Coss took the baton from there, putting her stellar saxophone work on display while showcasing her quartet on the following night; trumpet ...
Continue ReadingHeather McKay: Life Got in the Way
by Jack Bowers
Guitarist Heather McKay, who has performed with artists in a variety of styes from Latin jazz to rock, rhythm and blues to Afro- Caribbean, even Persian music and beyond in a career that has spanned more than twenty-five years and counting, provides a rationale for writing every song (save one) on her debut recording, Life Got in the Way. But she does not say why she chose the album's name. The presumption is that she has been far too busy ...
Continue ReadingZé Ibarra: Morena
by Ludovico Granvassu
With its lush, imaginative blend of Brazilian Popular Music, jazz, progressive rock, and pop, AFIM (Coala Music/Mr Bongo, 2025)--the sophomore release by Brazilian singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Zé Ibarra--offers plenty of reasons to feel optimistic about the state of modern music. Firmly grounded in Brazil's rich musical legacy, it stands as a case study in how to be forward-looking while steering away from computers and AI. Add the elegant string arrangements by Jaques Morelenbaum, and you have an album for ...
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