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.

Recent

Jazz's Stephan Crump Creates Thrilling Interaction with His Rosetta Trio on 'Outliers'

Stephan Crump's Outliers sounds like a great ECM record that forgot to lull you into too much easy beauty. It earns its loveliness from thrilling interaction.

Music

Chilean Jazz Artist, Camila Meza Impresses and Innovates on 'Ambar'

Chilean guitarist and singer Camila Meza makes her eclectic major label debut and creates an ambitious recording that includes string quartet writing, original songs, and riveting covers from David Bowie to Elliot Smith to Milton Nascimento.

Music

Matt Mitchell Rocks Out Impressively with New Jazz on 'Phalanx Ambassadors'

The most versatile pianist in jazz, Matt Mitchell makes a fiery album of new music that definitively rocks even in its intricacy.

Music

Linda May Han Oh Highlight Her Many Musical Talents on 'Aventurine'

Jazz bassist Linda May Han Oh adds a string quartet to her group to produce something wholly integrated on Aventurine.

Music

Ryan Keberle and Catharsis Prove Why They Are One of the Most Progressive Bands in Modern Jazz

Ryan Keberle and Catharsis' The Hope I Hold further expands the group's reach, orchestrally and creatively, with voices, guitar, and horns mixing in the studio.

Music

Brad Mehldau Spans Many Musical Forms on 'Finding Gabriel'

Jazz pianist Brad Mehldau creates another hybrid project built on a layering of keyboards, drums, woodwinds, voices, and strings—with a gloss of politics and religion along the edges. Occasionally brilliant.

Music

Jazz Tenor Saxophonist Melissa Aldana Lives Up to the Hype with 'Visions'

Tenor saxophone phenom Melissa Aldana makes her most mature, cooperative recording to date with Visions, evoking the great outside-in Blue Note records of the 1960s.

Music

Camila Meza and the Nectar Orchestra Combine Many Musical Traditions on "Kallfu" (premiere)

Chilean jazz singer and guitarist Camila Meza has a new recording on Sony Masterworks that defies category. Hear her new single "Kallfu".

Music

Dave Douglas Shines with Uri Caine and Andrew Cyrille on 'Devotion'

Jazz trumpeter Dave Douglas reconvenes his duet project with pianist Uri Caine but adds master drummer Andrew Cyrille, creating a unique vehicle for three master musicians.

Music

Jazz Woodwind Player Alexa Tarantino Impresses on 'Winds of Change'

Jazz artist Alexa Tarantino plays with sumptuous tone on flute, alto saxophone, and soprano saxophone. And because she never leans on the sound alone, it creeps up on you during each tune.

Music

Mark Dresser Seven: Ain't Nothing But a Cyber Coup and You

Jazz bassist Mark Dresser's latest, Ain't Nothing But a Cyber Coup & You, is a New Jazz blend of daring improvisation and challenging composition.

Music

Denny Zeitlin Remembers Miles Davis in a New Live Set

Jazz pianist Denny Zeitlin tackles the Miles Davis songbook across four decades, using a wide swath of styles, all inventive, in concert on Remembering Miles.

Music

Joel Ross Is the New 'Kingmaker' on Vibes

Joel Ross is a young jazz star on the vibes with a working band in his Blue Note debut—working a vein that is modern but tied certainly back to a tradition that includes his inspiration, Bobby Hutcherson. Cracking good.

Music

The Art Ensemble of Chicago: We Are on the Edge: A 50th Anniversary Celebration

A wildly revised version of this venerable creative music ensemble makes a clean, beautiful new recording in the studio and live, with fresh music from Roscoe Mitchell and an argument that the original Art Ensemble of Chicago had everything to do with today's New Jazz.

Music

Jazz's John Patitucci Gets to the 'Soul of the Bass'

Versatile, veteran jazz bassist John Patitucci releases a (mostly) unaccompanied bass album on his own imprint—demonstrating a wide variety of ways the bass can take the lead.

Music

Jazz Guitarist Ben Monder's 'Day After Day' Is a Quiet Stunner

Guitarist Ben Monder has created a quiet stunner: one disc of inventive solo guitar arrangements of standards, and then a second disc for his trio playing pop hits of the '60s and '70s in wonderful ways.

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