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The Discreet Charm of Tete Montoliu

by Con Chapman
September 9, 2026

In 1947 tenor saxophonist Don Byas, a transplant from America following a tour of Europe, joined a society orchestra--complete with strings--to play dates in Spain. After their ballroom engagement was over, Byas and the band's rhythm section would jam until the early morning hours when they would be forced to quit “either because the police burst in at four in the morning, or because Don had been drinking a bit too much," according to a Spanish jazz critic.

Percy France: Live from the West End

by Daniel Gould
August 27, 2026

If you know Percy France, most likely you are a fan of “greasy" organ jazz, particularly on Blue Note Records during their classic era. He was an integral part of Jimmy Smith's Home Cookin' (1959) and Freddie Roach's Down to Earth (1962). Or perhaps you came to jazz through r&b acts like the Bill Doggett combo. The album Hot Doggett (King Records-1956) features France's driving, big-toned tenor saxophone. Or if you came to the West End Café from the 1970s through ...

Phil Schaap: A Life in Jazz

by Daniel Gould
July 28, 2026

Phil Schaap, a jazz historian, radio host, record producer, archivist, six-time Grammy Award winner, and 2020 National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master, called himself “a Johnny Appleseed through the transmitter." Of course, the subject of his proselytizing was jazz, and few did it as long, or through so many different media--broadcasting, teaching, audio engineering, and sound preservation--as did Philip Van Noorden Schaap. Schaap was born April 8, 1951, and raised in the Hollis section of Queens, New York. ...

In From the Beginning: New Orleans Music History with Deacon John Moore

by Thomas Cole
June 17, 2026

Well, you know, growing up I was the golden boy of the family, because I could sing. I recall my mother singing arias from operas to herself while doing housework and playing classical and popular music on the piano in our home while taking care of the kids--13 of us all together. Her background was classical piano and church music too. She was the salutatorian at Xavier University. Aside from classical music and opera, my mother liked popular ...

Introducing Pianist Sungtaek Choo

by Eugene Holley, Jr.
April 7, 2026

Toshiko Akiyoshi, Makoto Ozone, Hiromi and Helen Sung are but a few of the talented Asian pianists who have made their mark in jazz. The 30 year-old New York City-based, South Korean-born pianist Sungtaek Choo is a welcome addition to that illustrious list. Born in Daegu, South Korea on September 8, 1995, Choo started playing classical piano at the age of 5, and discovered jazz at 16, when he saw Chet Baker video on YouTube. “I got into ...

Ukrainian Jazz Media: Unwavering Service

by Ian Patterson
January 24, 2026

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 ...

¡Viva la resistencia! Cafe Central, Madrid

by Leo Sidran
December 26, 2025

A story of Madrid's Cafe Central, going out of business after over 40 years as the beating heart of jazz in the Spanish capital. The old saying “wherever you go, there you are" is one of those deceptively simple adages that never lets you down. And yet, the longer I've lived with it, the more I've come to believe that there are certain times and places when a person is just a little more where they are.

Tom Waits In The House: Three Jazzy Winners From The Noir Prince Of LA Pop

by George Wallace
December 13, 2025

No assessment of the interchange between jazz music and the spoken word idiom in contemporary music can be complete without paying a visit to Small Change, the fourth studio album by singer and songwriter Tom Waits, released on September 21, 1976 on Asylum Records. It was recorded in July at the Wally Heider Recording Studio in Hollywood. Harry Bluestone, violin, concertmaster and strings, Jim Hughart, bass, Ed Lustgarten, cello, orchestra manager and strings, Shelly Manne, drums, Lew Tabackin, tenor saxophone, ...

Joni Jazz, Part 2

by Chuck Lenatti
November 25, 2025

Part 1 | Part 2 As a young woman growing up in Canada, Joni Mitchell was fond of American popular music and bought records whenever she could afford them. She would sometimes swap painting jobs for jazz albums. Among her favorite jazz artists were Duke Ellington and Lambert, Hendricks and Ross. She later recorded “Twisted" by Annie Ross and Wardell Gray and “Centerpiece" by Jon Hendricks and Harry Edison. She was also fascinated ...

Joni Jazz, Part 1

by Chuck Lenatti
November 7, 2025

Part 1 | Part 2 Born Roberta Joan Anderson on November 7, 1943, child of the Canadian Prairie, Joni Mitchell showed signs of becoming an artist at a young age. In Joni Mitchell in Her Own Words (ECW Press, 2014), a collection of conversations recorded over the years, musician and reporter Malka Marom wondered what inspired her friend's early urge to draw and paint. Mitchell said her obsession with art was triggered by watching ...