Steven Ellison is on his way to another installment of the Red Bull Music Academy. It's early afternoon, and his quiet, grizzly voice sounds like it just awoke from a nap, but his mind is alert. He explains how he's spent the past week in the city, taking meetings and enjoying the sunshine. He talks ... More >>
Nineteen years ago today fans around the world got news Nirvana's Kurt Cobain had taken his own life in his Seattle home. As the years have passed, fans, peers, and friends of the musician and his pioneering grunge band have paid their respects through covering the band's material. Here now, from P ... More >>
By Joseph Lapin Because there are multiple decades of jazz, it's almost impossible to pick the top 10 albums of all time; the hip cats with their canes and cool shades will throw their used saxophone reeds in my direction and call me a young whippersnapper. But so many people out there, young or e ... More >>
In the grandstand, away from the heat of the Fair Groundsthe horse-racing track that becomes a music stadium for each New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festivalstood an exhibit of black-and-white photos that suggested much of the music going on outside. "Faces of Tremé," drawn from 30 years ... More >>
Just as Kermit Ruffins sang "Sunny Side of the Street" with trumpet in hand, an early morning sun shone powerfully across North Rampart Street in New Orleans onto Congo Square. Two centuries ago, enslaved Africans and free people of color drummed and danced here each Sunday, exerting their right to ... More >>
Robert Glasper Experiment Highline Ballroom Tuesday, February 28 Better than: Sitting at home with the radio. "About what time does ?uestlove finish up at the Fallon show? It couldn't have been that long ago, right?" That query, overheard amid the big beats pumping from the Highline Ballroom's s ... More >>
Springy electric-socket hair, dark droopy eyesKieran Hebden looks like a man who has spent untold time tinkering in front of a glowing computer screen late into the night. The depth of his production work as Four Tet, however, belies the physical man-hours necessary for such precision. ... More >>
In case you missed it, President Obama threw a "hip-hop barbecue" yesterday for his birthday, which somehow failed to create jobs. Or so shrieks this headline from Fox Nation, Fox News' aggregation organ. Non-hip-hop artists Stevie Wonder and Herbie Hancock performed while "Rome burned" (look ... More >>
Gary Burton commands the bars
Options abound for fans of all inclinations and bank accounts
Bernie Worrell and SociaLybrium doing "Super Stupid" a few days back Undead Jazzfest (Le) Poisson Rouge/Kenny's Castaways/Sullivan Hall Saturday, June 12 Just as the Vision Festival furthers its avant brand with smaller annual productions, the Winter Jazzfest braintrust expanded its reach this pa ... More >>
In the aftermath of Dennis Hopper's death this past Saturday (J. Hoberman's obit is here), tributes to the actor didn't even try to construct an easy narrative out of his chaotic life. How could they? Hopper was many things at once: the actor who pushed the "method" style way past its breakin ... More >>
Marcus Roberts Trio Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola Wednesday, July 22 You should see this place, Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola, up yonder at Lincoln Center, first of all just to behold the not-too-distant future of venue-naming (five years from now Tiny Masters of Today will be headlining Kurt Cobain Drink Moun ... More >>
A documentary looks at contemporary jazz greats
Good for you. As any self-respecting Grammy live blog will have told you by now, the highlight of last night's occasionally lively fiasco was undoubtedly the "Rap Pack" black-and-white "Swagga Like Us" blowout, ostensibly starring Jay-Z/Kanye/Wayne/T.I. but dominated by a stupendously pregnant M ... More >>
So much jazz, so little time
New releases, reissues, debuts, and moreeach critic's picks
New releases, reissues, debuts, and moreeach critic's picks
With all the ballots counted, our decidedly un-macho Jazz Poll finally finds its headline
Tyshawn Sorey's provocations lead a pack of notable 2007 debuts
Joshua Redman finds himself in Sonny Rollins's Oklahoma!, OK!
A stellar compendium of interstellar jazz oddities
At two prominent jazz festivals, bright moments and cloudy forecasts
All the Hancock you need in four easy installments
The real possibilities open up when it doesn't cost a bundle to pursue your muse
Arts centers, classical-music organizations, and other non-jazz outposts fuel new music
Just in time for Christmas and post-election cheering up, boxes from Miles and Woody
Major tie-up on the one-way street from jazz to jam
JVC Bounces Back Right on Schedule
Iverson, Iyer, and Moran Go It Alone at the Jazz Standard
Hippies, Jazzbos, and Beat Junkies Build One Nation Under a Mutant Groove
Sing Along With the JVC All-Stars
Jazz Competes With Its Past, Settles for the Hard Sell
