Jazz Articles
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The Vampires, Fairfield Ethio-Jazz Project, Al Doum & The Faryds, People in Orbit & More
by Ludovico Granvassu
From spiritual and ethio-jazz to a fireside jazz conversation among friends, here's a cosmopolitan tasting menu of recent releases featuring bands keen to build bridges and break down walls.Happy listening!Playlist Ben Allison Mondo Jazz Theme (feat. Ted Nash & Pyeng Threadgill)" 0:00 Al Doum & The Faryds Borracho" Ipnagogico (La Tempesta) 0:16 Host talks 4:51 Fairfield Ethio-Jazz Project Nètsanèt" Bath Ketema (Kelston Records/Severn Songs) 6:12 Host talks 11:15 Atlantis Jazz Ensemble Spirits Unseen" Mystic Suite (Marlow) ...
Continue ReadingJosh Mason: Punk And Circuitry, Zippered Together
by Lawrence Peryer
This week we're putting The Tonearm's needle on Florida sound artist Josh Mason. Mason's new album, Kicking A Dark Horse, is out now on greyfade as a hardcover book paired with modular synthesizer music, the two built to zipper together rather than stand apart. We talk about the punk rock roots underneath all that circuitry, why only the album's first and last tracks have a fixed place, and what Cortázar's Hopscotch has to do with any ...
Continue ReadingThe San Jose Jazz Fest 2026 was on Fire
by Ronald Davis
A collection of photos from the San Jose Jazz Fest in San Jose from August 7, 2026 to August 9, 2026 featuring Nnenna Freelon, Javon Jackson, Willie Jones III, Charles McPherson, Cyrus Chestnut, Adi Oasis, Irene Diaz, The Soul Rebels, Gretchen Parlato, Harrell Young Rell" Davenport, Aja Monet, Sylvia Cuenca, Essiet Okon Essiet, Wallace Roney Jr, Roger Glenn, Ray Obiedo, Bria Skonberg, and Jubu Smith. ...
Continue ReadingDisconfusion
by Blue Note Portal
The 1973 Lincoln Continental took the curves of Topanga Canyon Boulevard like a ship in a slow swell. In the back seat sat Jimmy Smith--forty-four years old, the undisputed godfather of soul-jazz, and currently he was stewing. Damn, it's come to this, Jimmy thought, staring out at the dark oak trees sliding past the windows. Playing at some stupid ass private party in the canyon for some rich fool. Then his thoughts wandered, as they often had lately, to ...
Continue ReadingMike Jones: Mike Jones With Strings
by Pierre Giroux
There is something refreshingly honest about a drummerless trio. Without the cushion of cymbals and snare to drive the pulse, every note matters a little more. This format dates back to the Nat King Cole Trio in the 1930s and to the Oscar Peterson-celebrated groups of the 1950s, in which the guitar and bass took responsibility for keeping the music moving. Mike Jones clearly understands that tradition, and Mike Jones with Strings embraces it with confidence and style.
Continue ReadingKing Crimson: 2014 NYC
by Glenn Astarita
For a band that reinvents itself every decade or so, King Crimson has always treated New York as something closer to a proving ground than a tour stop. The city runs through the group's history, from the 1969 Fillmore East debut through the Larks' era sendoff at Central Park in 1974, six nights at the Savoy in 1981, later singled out as a high point, and a 2008 stand at the Nokia Theatre that marked drummer Gavin Harrison's arrival in ...
Continue ReadingThe John Coltrane Centennial, part 2: 1950s era recordings as a leader
by Larry Slater
John Coltrane was a member of Miles Davis' quintet from 1955-1957, and then again later in the decade after he kicked his heroin habit. His tenure with Miles led to his first opportunities to record as a leader for Prestige Records and Blue Note, including Blue Trane" and his Prestige releases Coltrane" and Settin' the Pace." Blue Trane" was the first recording to include all original Coltrane compositions, and one of his most successful recordings.You'll hear commentary on ...
Continue ReadingChristian Parker: American Cosmic Revival Vol. 2: Miles From Nowhere
by Doug Collette
Cover bands abound within contemporary music circles, both on stage and in the studio. But a chosen artist's interpretation of the songs and music of another rarely matches (and never exceeds) the authenticity of spirit displayed by Christian Parker and those kindred spirits with whom he has been collaborating in recent years on the esteemed canon of that iconic American band, The Byrds. Over the course of four albums now--the most outstanding of which is Change Is Now--A Tribute ...
Continue ReadingChapter 2: I Want To Be A Sideman
by Larry Slater
Artie Shaw was an enigma. A self-taught, brilliant clarinetist blessed with movie-star good looks, he became one of the defining musicians of the Big Band era. Yet at the height of his fame, he walked away from the music business, leaving behind a legacy as fascinating as it was influential. In the early 1990s, Ted Hallock--a passionate jazz scholar and former Oregon State Senator--spent a week with Shaw recording an extraordinary series of in-depth conversations about music, life ...
Continue ReadingJosé Luiz Martins
by Daniel Peck
Washington DC-based pianist and composer José Luiz Martins brings a unique and inventive approach to his playing, compositions and arrangements. His creative sense of storytelling combined with a diverse harmonic palette and refined sense of rhythm create a vibrant, expansive, and enticing sonic experience.That harmonic palette is on display both in this performance and his 2025 release Odyssey Mixtape. Featuring, among others, Alex Hamburger on flute and Patrick Duke Graney on percussion, and from a July 26th, 2025 ...
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