FOMO, anyone? In the Thick of the Montreal Jazz Fest

“It’s such a gift to be able to play music in front of, and with, real people,” Norwegian piano hero …

Montreal Jazz Fest: I’ve Seen a Few (Editions)

The 42nd edition of the Montreal Jazz Festival will kick off today (June 30) while I’m in the air, enroute …

Montreal Jazz Fest in the News (ongoing round-up of press coverage)

The Festival International de Jazz de Montreal aka Montreal International Jazz Festival opens tomorrow (June 30) and continues through July …

Benevento Does Benevento: The pianist goes it alone, diving into multi-color textures and deep grooves (album review)

Marco Benevento, “Benevento” (Royal Potato Family) Bubbling, exotic sounds à la the beer-bottle percussion bookending Herbie Hancock’s 1973 version of …

Montreal Jazz Fest: Hailing the Return of One of the World’s Great Jazz Gatherings

Hear that, in the distance? It’s getting closer. Now it’s within earshot and in sight, just two days away. The …

Pianist Lynne Arriale Creates More Trio Magic; Tunes Inspired by Health Worker Heroics (album review)

Lynne Arriale Trio, “The Lights Are Always On” (Challenge) Can instrumental music that’s uniformly relaxed and occasionally tinged with melancholy …

Marquis Hill Revisits, Refines the Music from His 2011 Debut (album review)

Marquis Hill, “New Gospel Revisited” (Edition) Call it a successful back-to-the-future gambit: Marquis Hill, the gifted Chicago trumpeter and composer …

Meet Victor Wooten, Concerto Composer (feature)

The bass guitar and the symphony orchestra may strike some as strange bedfellows. But it’s not like they’ve never met …

Best Jazz Discs of 2018

My favorite jazz releases of 2018 (as submitted to JazzTimes mag and elsewhere), listed alphabetically: Kenny Barron Quintet Concentric Circles (Blue Note) …

Wayne Shorter Rides Again, Via His Sprawling “Emanon”

Few veteran (read: older) jazzers find their way into the pop culture conversation as effortlessly and effectively as Wayne Shorter, …