Miles Davis

Ten Jazz Albums to Hear Before You Die

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 >>

"Beware The Spectre Of Polyphony": Seven Innovations That Have Been Accused Of Killing Music

People have been concerned for a very long time with what's killing music. The current boogeyman is undoubtedly Auto-Tune, the pitch-correction software that can both sweeten off-key voices and create new vocal effects. Some have long protested its ubiquity: It will kill real vocals! Live performanc ... More >>

SOTC's March Madness: Sonic Youth, Miles Davis, Neil Diamond, And The Rest Of The Round Of 16

​This week, our search for New York's quintessential post-1955 musician is about to get hectic, with the winner crowned as the calendar flips to April on Saturday night. (A rundown of all the matches so far is here.) So for the Round of 16 matchups--four of which kicked off yesterday, four of whic ... More >>

Miles Davis (2) And Public Enemy (7) Go At It In SOTC's March Madness

​Sound of the City's search for the quintessential New York City musician enters Round Two this week, with battles in the Round of 32 daily. Keep up with all the action here. In round one of Sound Of The City's March Madness, jazzmaster Miles Davis dispatched Cyndi Lauper with tonally perfect blo ... More >>

Miles Davis (2) Meets Cyndi Lauper (15) In SOTC's Search For The Quintessential New York Musician

​The Round of 64 for Sound of the City's own version of March Madness—in which you, the Sound of the City voting public, help determine the quintessential New York musician—finishes this weekend, with the Round of 32 hicking off Monday. (The schedule and results so far are here; the fu ... More >>

Club d'Elf

Wayne Shorter Quartet

Das Racist's "Hahahaha JK" Remix Contest Needs More Entries

​So everyone's favorite recently deported rap crew (not for political reasons, FYI) is back in town, and drumming up sorely needed Internet buzz with a remix contest for "Hahahaha JK," perhaps their best song to date, or at least, thanks to the indomitable Boi-1da, their best beat. Excellent s ... More >>

Your CMJ 2010 Panels, Cynically Summarized: Day 4 (Friday)

Cover is so chillwave​We hope you learned something: Today is your last chance to absorb invaluable industry wisdom at one of CMJ's afternoon panels. Next year we're actually getting the Why Does CMJ Still Exist? panel off the ground, I swear to god. Until then, here's your final slate, listed ... More >>

Ahmad Jamal, Vindicated

A new six-CD box makes the same case fellow jazz musicians have made for decades

What's Happening This Week: A Korean Feast; A Bitches Brew Dinner

As you may know, our weekly dining and drinking newsletter features all the coolest epicurean events in the city. Sign up for it here! A Homemade Korean Feast: Hands-On Cooking & Wine Pairing Astor Center Wednesday, September 8 at 6 p.m. Learn how to make classic Korean dishes in this $125 class, s ... More >>

"I Seemed To Reach A Different Level": Hank Jones Describes Something He's Only Done Once, i.e. Ascend To A Higher Plane Of Existence While Playing With Miles Davis

Beloved jazz pianist Hank Jones, who died over the weekend, sat down with our own Rob Trucks backstage at Birdland in late 2008 for an extended interview; his most remarkable answer (delivered between sips of a delicious-looking coffee-type beverage) was in response to the request that he recall s ... More >>

Hex Breaker Quintet+Mark Morgan

Sunn O))) Leaks Monoliths & Dimensions, For A Few Hours Anyway

"Let's challenge ourselves to not create a track that is not 25 amplifiers and cabinets turned up to 10. Let's create something that breathes, that has space and silences." The advance listening sessions for Monoliths & Dimensions, the new Sunn O))) album (and 7th in ten years), couldn't have fal ... More >>

PARTY AT GROUND ZERO

Fishbone keeps on rockin' in the free world

This Week's Voice: Hip-Hop Honors, Kind of Blue, the Streets, Body of Lies, and More

Chatting With Jimmy Cobb, Kind of Blue's Last Surviving Player

Remembering the greatest jazz album of all time, 50 years on

Interview: Jazz Bassist Marcus Miller, the "M" of S.M.V.

Funk Fusion, Bebop Terrorism in New Jazz Records

Talents old and new throw stuff against the wall and see what sticks

Jazz Score

Old Forms, Fresh Outlooks

Innovation reigns, from 36-CD retrospectives to the Hüsker Dü of free jazz

2007 Jazz Poll Ballots: A-O

New releases, reissues, debuts, and more—each critic's picks

2007 Jazz Poll Ballots: P-Z

New releases, reissues, debuts, and more—each critic's picks

The 2007 Jazz Poll

This year's finisher's

Rookies of the Year

Tyshawn Sorey's provocations lead a pack of notable 2007 debuts

Miles Smirks

Charting the genesis of the seething On the Corner across six sprawling discs

Dense Alt-Rap Poundcakes Get A Little Too Light And Fluffy

Midsizing

Joe Lovano and Lee Konitz make their sounds bigger without losing their cool

Biennial in Babylon

Crossing swords with conventions that have brought us to the brink of madness

Pomp and Circumstance You Can Dance to, Compiled at Long Last

1955

Version-A-Ning

Jazz tributes foreground Beefheart's primitivist dada and Miles Davis's existential quack

Bop Loves Pop to Death Among the Killer Filler, for an Hour and Then Some

Tombstone Territory

Just in time for Christmas and post-election cheering up, boxes from Miles and Woody

Horoscope

Fleishedik and Milchedik

Jazzing the classics and classing the jazzers from Jelly Roll Morton to Uri Caine

Mr. Uptown And Mr. Downtown

They're miles ahead of the competition, and the hip thing should be to dig both of them

Is That All There Is?

Not Another Green World, but Perhaps an Unknown One

Christmas Gilt

A Bounty of Chestnuts and Gift Boxes

Point Counterpoint

Dave Holland Enlarges His Horizon

Down and Alt

Post-War Jazz: An Arbitrary Road Map

Listings

Master Class

Jimmy Heath Gets His Due

Bedside Jazz

Sometimes You Want It All—But Usually You Don’t

Burns-Eye View of Jazz

Living History or Death Sentence?

Signposts of Posthistory

The Best New Jazz CDs of the Year of Louis and Miles

Prisoners of the Past

If You Build It