12 Brilliant Recent Jazz Albums That Shouldn’t Be Missed
There is so much wonderful creative music these days that even an apartment-bound critic misses too much of it. Here is jazz from the last 18 months that shouldn't be missed.
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Sax Player Rudresh Mahanthappa Channels Charlie Parker’s Super Powers
On the release of his latest, Hero Trio, saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa records his first session of covers, playing jazz standards and hip-pop with a fabulous trio featuring bassist François Moutin and drummer Rudy Royston.
Jazz Today: Branford Marsalis on Doing His Own Thing
Saxophonist Branford Marsalis and his veteran quartet's The Secret Between the Shadow and the Soul demonstrates his commitment to communicating emotions to listeners but without compromise to his kind of jazz.
Jazz Today: Take 6 at 30—Still in Sweet Harmony
Thirty years after their Grammy-winning debut, and now with their recent release, Iconic, it's clear that Take 6 remain "the baddest vocal cats on the planet".
Jazz Today: L.A. Keys-Wiz Kait Dunton on Making Jazz Sound Easy
Once a member of Snarky Puppy, Kait Dunton talk with PopMatters about making it from the other coast and learning to go electric.
Jazz Today: Young Women Are Sounding the Horns
The story of 11th grade trumpeter and composer Summer Camargo and her inspiring success at the elite Essentially Ellington festival shows that the future of jazz will, finally, be more female.
The Future (of Jazz) Is Female: Interview with Saxophonist and Composer Roxy Coss
Roxy Coss has just released a new album of all-original music, and she has recently founded the Women in Jazz Organization, a community and activist group. She can improvise and she can organize.
Is a Different Kind of Paradigm Driving Jazz These Days?
Jazz musicians are releasing their music in smaller batches. An interview with rising saxophonist Jonathan Greenstein and Mack Avenue Records President Denny Stilwell about how EPs fit into jazz creativity and jazz economy.
The Musical Atmosphere in BigYuki’s ‘Reaching for Chiron’
The jazz/hip-hop/electronica of keyboardist BigYuki—featured on the last Tribe Called Quest album—is a true hybrid that, surprisingly, contains more Louis Armstrong that you might think.
Jazz Today: To Sing or Not to Sing?
"...It's ridiculous if the rule is that, to be a jazz musician, you can only play from this book of 500 standards and modern jazz tunes and if you play a pop tune you're a crossover sellout," says newcomer Ariel Pocock.
The New Jazz of the 21st Century: A Case Study in Kate Gentile and ‘Mannequins’
Drummer and composer Kate Gentile's debut recording is making a New Jazz splash. PopMatters interviews her to get behind this new direction in improvised music.
Ella Fitzgerald’s Centennial: Is It Possible to Reinvent This Artist?
The First Lady of Song was a seeker, and it's been all too easy to just imitate her: the scatting, the silky melodies. On her 100th, there's a better way to do it.