Jim Snidero Interprets Charlie Parker on Fascinating New LP
It’s fabulous to hear a jazz modernist like Jim Snidero refract Charlie Parker so masterfully through a fresh lens on Bird Feathers.
Will Layman
Will Layman is a writer, teacher and musician living in the Washington, DC area. He has been a contributor to National Public Radio and WNYC's "Soundcheck" as a jazz critic. He plays rock, funk, and jazz in the bars and clubs in and near the nation's capital. His fiction and humor appear in print and online.
Tim Berne’s ‘Yikes, Too’ Creates Adventure and Magic
Tim Berne’s Yikes Too is three imaginative jazz musicians in a sandbox, building and molding, occasionally smashing a bit, but most typically creating magic.
Jazz Pianist Caili O’Doherty Reclaims Lil Hardin Armstrong
We chat with Caili O’Doherty about her career, new recording celebrating the life of Lil Hardin Armstrong, and how hard it is to make jazz in the current climate.
Jazz Singer Michael Mayo Astounds With a Stunning Voice
Jazz singer Michael Mayo is young but has a stunning voice and unique approach that blends tradition and his own material into one hypnotic sound.
Featured: Top of Home Page/Features/Lists/Music/Music Features/PopMatters Picks/The Best Music of 2024
The 18 Best Jazz Albums of 2024
This was another year of riches in the best jazz and creative music, with barriers between the tradition and the avant-garde melting away.
JazzMatters: The Best Jazz of Summer 2024
PopMatters presents the best new jazz albums of the summer of 2024, and our columnist examines the recent recordings of Washington, DC, jazz phenom Anthony Pirog.
Young Jazz Trumpeter Summer Camargo Is Grateful for the Good Times
As one of the youngest members ever to join the Saturday Night Live band, trumpet prodigy Summer Camargo studies jazz’s past to help chart its future.
Flutist Jamie Baum Works with Poetry and Dynamic Voice
Jamie Baum merges powerful poetry, sophisticated arrangement and composition, and a range of historical influences not restricted to one tradition or tonality.
Bassist Stephan Crump Conjures an Optimistic Flow on ‘Slow Water’
Bassist and composer Stephan Crump’s ‘Slow Water’ is a reflection on the environment, using both New Music stalwarts and improvised jazz.
Melissa Aldana and Lage Lund Evoke Wayne Shorter on New LP
The power of Echoes of the Inner Prophet is how Lage Lund understands and crafts textures and sonorities for Melissa Aldana’s melodic ideas and saxophone style.
JazzMatters: The Best Jazz of March-May 2024
PopMatters presents the best new jazz recordings from March to May 2024 in the realm of piano jazz. We also reflect on the legacy of the late David Sanborn.
Fay Victor Puts Jazz Pianist Herbie Nichols in Today’s Vanguard
This is Fay Victor’s best recording to date because it looks at a past great composer and reimagines that tradition as part of jazz music’s daring vanguard.