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 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.

PM Pick

Kendrick Scott Oracle's 'A Wall Becomes a Bridge' Deftly Blends Genres into a Pleasing Jazz Form

Drummer and composer Kendrick Scott has kept a finely balanced band together, pulling together many lovely strands of American music to create jazz that is easy to hear but also complex and compelling. A reason to believe.

Music

With 'Colour' Jazz Pianist Anat Fort Offers More Vigor and Punch in the Playing of the Trio

Israeli pianist Anat Fort and her trio, formed in New York and recorded in the past by ECM, create a lovely and somewhat more adventurous outing on a new label.

Music

Jazz Organ Master Joey DeFrancesco Collaborates with Pharoah Sanders with 'In the Key of the Universe'

PopMatters interviews the Hammond B3 organ master Joey DeFrancesco, who collaborates with tenor giant Pharoah Sanders for a session of spiritual playing.

Music

Vijay Iyer and Craig Taborn Continue Their Explorations on 'The Transitory Poems'

The Transitory Poems is a live recording of two jazz masters, Vijay Iyer and Craig Taborn, playing four-handed, exploratory improvisations on two pianos.

Music

Anna Webber Finds Her Voice in New Jazz with 'Clockwise'

A composer and woodwind player who is expertly walking the line between jazz and new music, Anna Webber has assembled a great band of improvisors to follow her mostly-brilliant treasure map in the new jazz.

Music

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.

Music

Allison Miller's Boom Tic Boom Makes a Career Highlight with 'Glitter Wolf'

This powerful, versatile band makes music across boundaries but with the improvisational daring of jazz. Allison Miller can't help but make music you can't define easily.

Music

Joe Fiedler Brings Together Jazz and 'Sesame Street' on 'Open Sesame'

The playful, daring trombonist Joe Fiedler combines his day job as music director/arranger for Sesame Street with his art. The result is joyful and bold on Open Sesame.

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Larry Grenadier Plays 45 Minutes of Riveting Solo Bass on 'The Gleaners'

Larry Grenadier offers solo jazz acoustic bass for about 45 minutes, but The Gleaners is varied and riveting, as we expect from an ECM recording.

Music

Joe Lovano Keeps on Discovering and Surprising on 'Trio Tapestry'

Joe Lovano's debut for the meditative ECM label both conforms to the meditative, gorgeous standard and transcends it through a sense of constant motion and surprise.

Music

Eric Dolphy: Musical Prophet: The Expanded 1963 New York Studio Sessions

An exploratory few sessions from late in Eric Dolphy's life show him expanding in both expansive and intimate ways.

Music

Dave Douglas Quintet's 'Brazen Heart: Live at Jazz Standard' Sits Cozily Next to Miles Davis' 'Plugged Nickel' Recordings

This is trumpeter/composer Dave Douglas' second quintet, playing its repertoire from memory in eight sets in four nights. Dazzling.

Music

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".

Music

Frank Kimbrough: Monk's Dreams: The Complete Compositions of Thelonious Sphere Monk

Every composition by jazz composer and pianist Thelonious Monk as interpreted by a pianist with a quartet that can do just about anything.

Music

The Best Jazz of 2018

The definition of "jazz" has never been broader, and the music has never been brighter. Two PopMatters critics pick their favorites in four modern jazz categories.

Justin Cober-Lake and Will Layman

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