If you're thinking about taking a road trip, you're going to need some road trip music. You might need a pick-me-up, a distraction, or something for when you need a break from podcasts. But if you're headed out on the road, we're here to...
Portugal's Orquestra Jazz de Matosinhos and Spanish saxophonist Perico Sambeat are no strangers. The two first collaborated on a concert back in 2007... [ read more ]
A powerful and perceptive reading of Bronislau Kaper's "On Green Dolphin Street" sets the compass on Snap Happy, a splendid recording by pianist Greg Murphy 's trio (and sometimes quartet) which is the New York-based artist's eighth...
Sometimes a listener fixes on a particular version of a tune, especially on first hearing. The result can be good or simply limiting. Someone may never quite escape first exposure; it influences all subsequent experience. Some perhaps...
We speak to musician journalist Christopher Weingarten about why so many high-profile drummers have either been fired or retired this year in what's been dubbed the "Drumpocalypse."
Members of the Detroit group I Am In Demand aren't just rappers, they're also teachers. They tell us about their Tiny Desk entry, "Spark the Flame," which they hope inspires Black men to follow in their footsteps.
After extended tenures on Warner Brothers and Nonesuch Records, saxophonist/composer/bandleader Joshua Redman debuted on the Blue Note jazz label in 2023 with Where We Are. And while its successor, Words Fall Short, is right in line with...
Polymath Judy Whitmore has taken time away from her busy and productive career(s) to record her fifth album, Let's Fall in Love, and like the first four, it is a smooth and delightful tour of memorable themes from the Great American...
The movement of moths inspires a new music project by composer Ellie Wilson. She used data shared by ecologists to create a piece where the insects take center stage.
Upon listening to alto saxophone virtuoso Nick Biello , a quote attributed to Charles Mingus may come to mind: "If Charlie Parker was a gunslinger, there'd be a whole lot of dead copycats." "Slow down," you might say, "Biello is not...
Once the opening number is discounted as an anomaly, Llegue (pronounced yeh-geh) is a generally pleasing debut recording by the New Jersey-based Reddish Fetish octet, led by drummer Jason Reddish and featuring the Jersey City...
While Craft Recordings' new OJC reissue series has largely drawn from its treasure trove of Prestige and Riverside titles, the label recently expanded its scope to include two standout jazz albums from Chicago's historic Vee-Jay Records....
Independence Day means different things to each of us. On this 249th birthday for America, we spend some time looking at different definitions of America by revisiting NPR's 2018 series: American Anthem — which had the simple goal of...
Pianist Matthew Shipp has a mathematical side: The Multiplication Table (hatOLOGY, 1998) and The Piano Equation (Tao Forms, 2020) hint at this. He has a metabolic side: DNA (Thirsty Ear, 1999) and Right Hemisphere (Rogueart, 2008). And...
In an era teeming with standard horn sections and predictable lineups, BARI-ed Alive's Put It There stands out as a bold and sonorous declaration of individuality. The sextet's audacious choice to feature three baritone...
Tuba maestro Jim Self , who always has a creative trick or two up his ample sleeve, has subtitled the third volume of My America, his recorded tribute to the land of the free and the home of the brave, My Country, to which he could have...
Pianist Jim Watson 's wide-ranging career has seen him collaborate with an amazing array of artists across the jazz and pop genres, including Manu Katche , Kurt Elling , Sting , Richard Bona , Chrissie Hynde and Meshell Ndegeocello , to...
Not one to stand still for long, flautist/vocalist Naïssam Jalal moves between at least eight different bands, four of which she leads. Born in France to Syrian parents, Jalal's music draws on a wide range of roots and traditions--from...
It is always a pleasure to hear a straight-ahead contemporary jazz quintet whose front line consists of baritone sax and trumpet, especially when it is as well-drawn as Florida-bred baritone Saul Dautch 's debut recording, Music for the...