Articles by Dan Bilawsky

In Pictures

Kevin Hays Awakening Quartet at The Pocket Jazz Club

by Dan Bilawsky
October 22, 2026

Pianist Kevin Hays has a gift for capturing the ineffable joys of discovery, and his Awakening Quartet frames that truth as well as any ensemble he's ever put together. Teaming with three fellow explorers/catalysts--saxophonist (and recent MacArthur “genius grant" recipient) Immanuel Wilkins, bass heavy Matt Brewer, and drummer nonpareil Brian Blade--Hays found(ed) a band that dances on a knife's edge and delights in the possibilities within those unknowns. Taking to the stage on October 9, 2026, at one of ...

In Pictures

Jazz is Alive and Well in NY: A Jazzcultural Friday

by Dan Bilawsky
October 15, 2026

Jazz clubs and communities are two very different things, yet Spike Wilner has managed to perfect the formula to meld them into one. The noted proprietor and pianist has long been creating and maintaining hospitable environments for the music and the musicians--at Smalls, the best jazz basement in the business, and Mezzrow, its complementary piano haven with a more intimate vibe. And back in March of 2026, he branched out uptown, to West 46th Street, with Jazzcultural. Adopting ...

In Pictures

Ron Carter Foursight Quartet at Birdland

by Dan Bilawsky
October 13, 2026

There are hints of autumn everywhere. The leaves are turning. Temperatures are dropping, winking at sweater weather. Everything is coming up pumpkin. And for the initiated--in The City That Never Sleeps, at Birdland, “The Jazz Corner of the World"--Ron-tober has taken hold. A major sign of the season, Ron Carter's month-long run at that club has become a welcome traditional that draws fans from near and far. At 89 years of age, the most recorded bassist in history ...

In Pictures

2026 Tilles Jazz Fest

by Dan Bilawsky
July 23, 2026

72 hours before the 2026 Tilles Jazz Fest, the mercury hit 100 degrees on Long Island; 48 hours ahead of the event, Canadian wildfires sent orange skies and unsafe air quality; and one day before everything was set to get underway, the forecast looked seriously grim--heavy rain(s), thunderstorms, a chance of hail and even a tornado warning showed on the apps. So what did the Tilles staff due? Weather the weather together, of course. With mere hours to pivot, they ...

In Pictures

Bennie Wallace Quintet at The Jazz Loft

by Dan Bilawsky
July 9, 2026

Tempus Fugit (Time Flies). In May of 2026, Dr. Tom Manuel, the President and Founder of The Jazz Loft in Stony Brook, NY, celebrated that museum/performing arts venue's 10th anniversary. And in June, saxophonist Bennie Wallace, who'll turn 80 before year's end, dropped in with an all-star quintet featuring longtime collaborators--Anthony Wilson, pianist Donald Vega, bassist Peter Washington and drummer Herlin Riley. Together, those five (plus rising star vibraphonist Simon Moullier) appear on Wallace's French Postcard (BackCountry Jazz, 2026), essentially ...

Album Review

Ron Carter & Yotam Silberstein: Duets

by Dan Bilawsky
June 13, 2026

The concept of virtuosity is often misunderstood as an outsized display of technique. In truth though, by definition and in reality, it's about mastery. Such expertise is just as likely to be shown in measured command as it is to appear as fireworks, and this absorbing duo date is a firm reminder of that fact. Legendary bassist Ron Carter and eminent guitarist Yotam Silberstein each possess extraordinary skills and have the wisdom and experience to know when ...

Album Review

Daniel Rotem: Solo II - Under Construction At Bluewhale

Read "Solo II - Under Construction At Bluewhale" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
May 30, 2026

This album plays as a story of second comings, both for a beloved West Coast jazz spot and a compelling artist's solitary explorations. Back in the fall of 2024, bluewhale--one of L.A.'s most welcoming clubs, permanently shuttered at its original location during the pandemic--was in the midst of starting a new lease on life in a different space. On November 10 of that year, venue proprietor Joon Lee held an open house to signal the shape of a scene to ...

In Pictures

The Birdland Big Band at Birdland Jazz Club

by Dan Bilawsky
February 10, 2026

Happy hour on Friday is for unwinding, leaving the work week's burdens behind and--if you're lucky, and in the New York City area--catching The Birdland Big Band. That ensemble has long been holding court at its namesake club in a liminal space between afternoon and evening, filling the gap between life's structured nine-to-five commitments and the weekend's reprieve. Its music, mirroring both sides of that reality, walks a line between tight team work and personal freedom, allowing and encouraging ace ...

Multiple Reviews

A Wind For All Seasons

by Dan Bilawsky
February 5, 2026

There is something positively elemental in the artistry of Martin Wind. Beyond being one of the music's premier bassists, he is a creatively driven composer and leader--a seemingly bottomless font of expression in action--and his work most certainly represents the breadth, and breath, carried in his name. One minute he's conjuring a Brazilian Nordeste with buoyant allure, the next he's evoking a warm and enveloping zephyr with his woody tones. His fertile imagination draws out föhns, sondos, mistrals, kogorashis, siroccos, ...

Album Review

Benjamin Jephta: Homecoming Revisited

Read "Homecoming Revisited" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
December 15, 2025

At 22 years of age, the up-and-coming Cape Town-reared bassist Benjamin Jephta introduced himself to the wider world via Homecoming (Self Produced, 2015), an engrossing debut featuring South African standouts like tenor saxophonist Sisonke Xonti, trumpeter Marcus Wyatt, pianist Kyle Shepherd, drummer Sphelelo Mazibuko and vocalist Spha Mdlalose. A decade later, he gives us Homecoming Revisted, re- envisioning that material with a large community of collaborators and some hard-won perspective. Opening on “Prayer for... (revisited)," with Mazibuko and percussionist Tlale ...