Featured Jazz Articles
Case Files: 2026-01
by Cool Vic, The Music Dick
Editor's Note: Long before this Jazz Detective, there was another. His name was Vic... “Cool" Vic, to be exact. Back in 1998--1999, Vic was a music dick--chasing down lost artifacts, missing recordings, and cold cases from the shadowy alleys of jazz history. Then he disappeared. Retired. Vamoosed. Now he's back. For how long? That's anyone's guess. But Cool Vic is once again ready to field your questions, crack a few cases (bottled and investigative), and maybe a few heads along ...
Continue ReadingUkrainian 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 ReadingThe Great American Songbook Goes To The Movies
by Joan Merrill
Broadway bombed. Hollywood boomed. Movies learned to talk. The stock market crashed in 1929 and burst the popularity bubble of Broadway. Going to see a play or a musical was common practice in the Roaring Twenties. There were hundreds of them playing on the Great White Way and millions of Americans of all classes bought tickets. Then came Black Tuesday and the Great Depression. People could not afford Broadway anymore. But out West in sunny California ...
Continue ReadingDave McMurray Hears Himself In All Of Detroit's Music
by John Chacona
Saxophonist and composer Dave McMurray has much of the celebrated history of Detroit music in his memory and under his fingers. Now 70, and with four acclaimed releases on the storied Blue Note label, he is arguably at the pinnacle of a long and remarkably varied career. All the strands of that career are gathered by Don Was and the Pan-Detroit Ensemble, in which McMurray is a featured voice. In advance of the band's appearance in Cleveland, Ohio ...
Continue ReadingResonant Access
Concept by Michael Ricci | Written by AI
In this jazz fiction piece, Resonant Access, music is more than expression--it's a form of inquiry. Elliot Mercer, a modern jazz alto saxophonist and theoretical physicist, discovers that sustained tones and careful listening can destabilize the very systems meant to observe and control the world around him. Blending improvisation, science, and quiet resistance, the story explores jazz as a discipline of resonance, choice, and freedom--one that exists only in the moment it is played. Elliot Mercer discovered it ...
Continue ReadingIgor Willcox: Have Drums, Will Travel
by Joshua Weiner
Brazilian drummer Igor Willcox is fast becoming one of the most interesting young artists in jazz. A string of superb releases with his jazz fusion quartet, which currently includes saxophonist Wagner Barbosa, electric bassist Ricardinho Paraiso, and pianist Erik Escobar, culminated in the 2025 album Time Traveller (Room73 Records, 2025). Music is in Willcox's blood, as Igor descends from several generations of successful musicians. “My mother, Sônia (Rocha) Willcox, is a celebrated Brazilian singer, and my father, Paulo César Willcox, ...
Continue ReadingNels Cline and Others At 2026 Winter Jazzfest's Manhattan Marathon
by Paul Reynolds
Manhattan Marathon | Brooklyn MarathonNels Cline and More Winter Jazzfest's Manhattan Marathon New York, NY January 9, 2026 Like New York's winters on the whole, the long nights of the city's Winter JazzFest demand hardiness. Moveable feasts that sprawl onto multiple stages in a neighborhood, the Jazzfest's celebrated marathons require braving New York's cold to trudge, for up to a mile, between clubs. And when you arrive at one, you may have to ...
Continue ReadingUnity Jazz Festival 2026 at Jazz At Lincoln Center
by Paul Reynolds
Unity Jazz FestivalOpening NightJazz at Lincoln CentreNew York, NY January 8, 2026 It does not rain--or snow--jazz in New York in the first week of January, it pours--or blizzards--the music. Winter JazzFest, the longtime colossus that takes over clubs in downtown Manhattan and Brooklyn, has been joined in the past three years by the Unity Jazz Festival, which runs two marathon nights within the multiple spaces of the Jazz at Lincoln Center headquarters just north of ...
Continue ReadingTo Boldly Swing
Concept by Michael Ricci | Written by AI
I boarded the U.S.S. Enterprise at Starbase 11 with my hands in my coat pockets, feeling for all the universe like a kid walking into his first club date--equal parts confidence and nerves. The ship loomed above me, impossibly clean, humming softly, as if already in a comfortable vamp. You could feel it breathing. “Welcome aboard," said the transporter chief, smiling as if jazz bands materialized on Federation starships every day. Maybe they did. It was 2265, after ...
Continue Reading2026 Winter JazzFest Marathons: A Survival Guide
by Ludovico Granvassu
For jazz fans who are in New York, when one countdown ends with the Times Square Ball Drop, another one begins--and ends a few days later, when Winter JazzFest officially gets underway with the first downbeat at Le Poisson Rouge. For 22 years, the festival has been the launch pad of the jazz year in the city. This year's edition will run from January 8 to 13, with a program that spreads across 16 venues and well over ...
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