Well, of course I don’t think jazz is stupid. I love jazz. But that didn’t stop me from laughing out loud when this scene showed up out of nowhere in a recent episode of The Office.

Josh Berman follows up a debut album that brilliantly collided the very old with the very new, mainly by expanding the harmonic range of his band. Old Idea, which cleverly retrofitted trad jazz with a healthy dose of Bill Dixon, announced to the world that Chicago is big enough for another forward-thinking cornetist (alongside electro-acoustic genius Rob Mazurek).

Throughout his career Steve Lacy paid tribute to Thelonious Monk, and even dedicated numerous albums to Monk’s music. A lot of great jazz musicians feted Monk and were clearly influenced by the master pianist/composer, too, but perhaps not with the zeal of Lacy.

As I write this, the power fails at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park just prior to kickoff of the Niners/Steelers Monday night football game. But as I am also listening to Frisco-based trumpeter Darren Johnston, I’m hearing lights-out music.

by S. Victor Aaron Cornet player Rob Mazurek has got to be one of the busiest guys on the robust Chicago fringe jazz scene. We loved Sound Is when it came out last year, which introduced his new quintet, but Mazurek has by then helmed or co-helmed so many other projects that starts with jazz and ends up who knows [...]