Jazz Articles about Billy Hart

About Billy Hart

Album Review

David Janeway: David Janeway Trio/Live At Blue Llama

Read "David Janeway Trio/Live At Blue Llama" reviewed by Pierre Giroux

by Pierre Giroux
May 26, 2026

Live at Blue LLama by the David Janeway Trio was recorded in June 2024 at the Blue LLama Jazz Club in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and it is the kind of album that is unforced, deeply conversational, and grounded in a shared musical trust. Pianist Janeway has long valued rhythmic authority and melodic clarity over display and possesses a composer's sense of proportion. He is paired with Billy Hart, a drummer whose influence spans generations, and Robert Hurst, a bassist deeply ...

Album Review

Buster Williams: Pinnacle

Read "Pinnacle" reviewed by C. Andrew Hovan

by C. Andrew Hovan
May 25, 2026

As if producer and archival sleuth Zev Feldman weren’t already busy enough unearthing lost jazz treasures, he has recently launched a new imprint, Time Traveler. A devoted collector in his own right, Feldman has turned his attention—at least initially—to the storied catalog of Muse Records. Founded in 1972 by Joe Fields, with significant contributions from Don Schlitten, Muse weathered the shifting tides of the industry for a quarter century. While portions of the catalog have resurfaced on CD over the ...

Live Review

The Billy Hart Quartet featuring Ethan Iverson at Blues Alley

by Robert Bellafiore
May 9, 2026

The Billy Hart Quartet featuring Ethan Iverson Blues Alley Washington, DC May 3, 2026 Elder statesman of the drums, contributor to Miles Davis's On the Corner (Columbia, 1972), and Washington, DC, native: Billy Hart was the perfect figure to feature in a centennial celebration of Miles Davis at DC's Blues Alley. Hart has been leading a quartet with saxophonist Mark Turner, pianist Ethan Iverson, and bassist Ben Street for some 20 years, but in a twist ...

Album Review

Buster Williams: Pinnacle

Read "Pinnacle" reviewed by Andrew Schinder

by Andrew Schinder
May 7, 2026

Bass legend Buster Williams has built a long, prolific career traversing the innerwebs of diverse jazz styles and sub-genres, developing into a beloved sideman and one of the finest rhythmists of jazz's modern period. Williams' bass can elevate any material, and he has contributed to some of the most treasured recordings in the jazz canon, in particular supporting Kenny Barron, Woody Shaw and, of course, Herbie Hancock. But Williams has an exceptional discography of his own, if a bit overshadowed by ...

Live Review

Billy Hart Quartet and BlankFor.ms with Jason Moran and Marcus Gilmore at the Long Play Festival

by Paul Reynolds
May 5, 2026

Billy Hart Quartet and BkankFor.ms with Jason Moran/Marcus Gilmore Roulette Long Play Festival New York, NY May 1, 2026 It's the “most important classical music festival in New York City," according to the New York Times. Yet the programmers for the Long Play Festival in Brooklyn also have big ears. Woven between Long Play's 40-plus classical performances this year--mostly of the contemporary classical bent of Bang on a Can, the festival organizer--were a smattering of ...

Album Review

Yelena Eckemoff: Lions

by Tyran Grillo
January 26, 2026

Pianist Yelena Eckemoff, a melodic marvel whose gift for atmosphere has been apparent from the beginning, has never felt comfortable settling into a single definition. Rooted in classicalism yet never bound by its strictures, she has carved a singular path through the world of jazz, guided by a restless imagination that treats genre as porous terrain rather than fenced land. Her music arises from a place where labels dissolve and instinct takes over, a place recognized immediately by tender-minded musicians ...

Radio & Podcasts

New Music From Hart, Gratkowski, Rahn, Smith And More

by Bob Osborne
January 8, 2026

This playlist delves deep into the vibrant landscape of contemporary independent jazz and improvised music, showcasing an eclectic mix of sounds that defy easy categorization. From the rhythmic sophistication of Latin fusion and the intricate melodies of modern piano trios to boundary-pushing avant-garde improvisations, the selections deliberately cross genre lines. The journey takes listeners through structured compositions released on labels like Smoke Sessions and Harmony Pacific, into the raw, unscripted dialogues found in the catalogues of Relative Pitch and Klanggalerie. ...