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

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.

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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.

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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.

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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

Music

Myra Melford's Snowy Egret Create Continual Motion and Invention on 'The Other Side of Air'

Jazz pianist Myra Melford's ensemble of light textures and dancing rhythms continues to be creatively attractive but still challenging new jazz.

Music

Aaron Parks Creates a Wide Jazz Universe on 'Little Big'

Jazz pianist Aaron Parks' logical follow-up to his 2008 Blue Note debut recording is deep, cool, joyful, and rhythmically advanced.

Music

'New Jawn' Shows That Christian McBride's Sincerity and Soulfulness Can Come in Some New Flavors

Master jazz bassist Christian McBride plays with a quartet of peers who push him to a bolder date, and he matches them easily at every step.

Music

Luciana Souza Gets Highly Poetic on 'The Book of Longing'

Every line, every note of Luciana Souza's program of poetry turned into song as The Book of Longing is imbued with the power of feeling expressed through compression rather than explosion.

Music

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.

Music

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