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Dr. Lonnie Smith: Breathe
Twelve years ago, Ira Gitler introduced me to Lonnie Smith. We were sitting at New York's Jazz Standard listening to the music during the Jazz Journalists Association awards annual gala. As the three of us sat there, I told Lonnie how much I dug his heavy groove albums from the 1960s and '70s—particularly Think! and Turning ...
Sarah Moule: Stormy Emotions
Back in February 2014, I posted the following: “If many of today's jazz musicians and singers lack anything, it's curiosity. Talent they've got, but a deep interest in the past beyond what they already know seems alien to their approach... What's hurting the music isn't a lack of venues or long solos. It's a lack of ...
Mancio & Broadbent: Quiet Is the Star
One of the most astonishing albums of the year is Quiet Is the Star, by vocalist Georgia Mancio and pianist Alan Broadbent. Released on Friday, the album is remarkable on several levels. For one, all of the songs are originals, with heartfelt words by Georgia poured over deeply personal melodies by Alan. For another, the collaboration ...
Bertrand Tavernier (1941-2021)
Bertrand Tavernier, a French filmmaker who directed A Sunday in the Country, Life and Nothing But and, most notably, Round Midnight, a poetic film starring tenor saxophonist Dexter Gordon and patterned after the last years of Bud Powell and Lester Young, died in Sainte-Maxime, France, on March 25. He was 79. Produced by Irwin Winkler and ...
Barney Wilen and Kenny Dorham
Jazz and French movies were a natural fit in 1950s. The most famous soundtrack is Miles Davis's Ascenseur Pour L'echafaud (Elevator to the Gallows), recorded in Paris in December 1957 with Davis (tp), Barney Wilen (ts), Rene Urtreger (p), Pierre Michelot (b) and Kenny Clarke (d). Almost as well known is Les Liaisons Dangereuses 1960 (Dangerous ...
Documentary: Post 398
I predict we'll soon be using the letters BP to broadly indicate a period in time that has past. During that period, the world stood a little closer, hugged a little more and did things like shake hands and share sodas. In 2019 BP (before the pandemic), there was a little place in Harlem where you ...
New Hard-Bop Videos
Hard bop emerged in the early 1950s when a new generation of New York jazz musicians began combining original compositions with funky rhythms, a stronger, sophisticated beat and tightly arranged horns influenced by the rise of R&B. As the decade evolved, the hard-bop sound smoothed out, placing an emphasis on collective harmony and the driving force ...
Nat King Cole at 102
Yesterday was the late Nat King Cole's birth date. An impossibly talented pianist and vocalist who not only re-invented romantic pop singing in the album era but also helped pave the way for desegregation. Here are 10 of my favorite Cole vocal recordings and a bonus: Here's When Your Love Has Gone, with an arrangement by ...
Freddie Redd (1928-2021)
Freddie Redd, a hard-bop pianist whose funk-driven, percussive style and sophisticated sense of harmony were reminiscent of Horace Silver but whose recording output seemed thinner than his initial promise, died March 17. He was 92. Born in New York and largely self-taught, Redd recorded sporadically in the 1950s as a sideman, disappearing for blocks of time ...
Freddie Redd on Blue Note
Freddie Redd was a hard-bop pianist whose percussive, funk-flavored style had a great deal in common with pianist Horace Silver. But for some reason, Redd recorded far too few albums given his talents, preferring instead to earn his living playing clubs in the U.S. and abroad. Born in New York and largely self-taught, Redd recorded sporadically ...
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In Tribute To...
Points of View: Celebrating Dave Holland
In Tribute To...
John Coltrane At 100: A Global Perspective
Jazz Raconteurs
Julius Hemphill: Marty Ehrlich and Tim Berne Remember a...
Live Review
Detroit Jazz Festival 2026: A Gathering in a Great Jazz City
Profile
Sequoia Snyder: Growing in the Light of the Masters
Paul's Picks
New York City Jazz Performance Preview: Fall 2026
Interview
Jasur Khalilov: From Falak to Fusion
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