Like Giuseppi Logan, tenor saxophonist Charles Gayle was in the thick of it during the free jazz revolution taking place in New York during the 1960s. You May Also Like: How Tom Waits and Crystal Gayle Saved ‘One From the Heart’ Similar Fashion – Portrait Of (2018)

There’s something both endearing and inspiring about a musician who is just as comfortable hammering out meat & potatoes bar band tunes (see below) as he is living in the altered reality of Sun Ra. That man is Terry Adams. As one of the masterminds behind NRBQ — wait, youRead More

Less than two months ago the great jazz drummer, composer and bandleader Paul Motian passed away at eighty years old, in what was arguably the most substantial loss in the jazz world of 2011. You May Also Like: Jeff Cosgrove, with John Medeski + Jeff Lederer – ‘History Gets AheadRead More

Trumpeter, composer and bandleader Wadada Leo Smith, who celebrated his 70th birthday just last month, is as productive as he’s ever been, and I’m getting nearly exhausted just keeping up covering all his new releases. You May Also Like: Wadada Leo Smith – Najwa (2017) Wadada Leo Smith and OrangeRead More

At thirty-one minutes, this debut album by the Jeff Kimmel Quartet is shorter than some EP’s, but bass clarinetist Kimmel and his friends make the most of their time. You May Also Like: Jason Stein Quartet – Lucille! (2017) Jeff Coffey, “Got to Get Away” (2018): One Track Mind MichaelRead More

Ultime Cosmos was not serious. At least, not serious in that We’re Wearing Nice Suits, We’re Going To Play Jazz kind of way. Heck, this wasn’t even jazz, not in spirit anyway. You May Also Like: Quoan – Fine Dining (2018) Tim Berne’s Hardcell [Berne, Craig Taborn + Tom Rainey]Read More

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. You May Also Like: Darren Barrett – ‘The EVI Sessions: Mr. Steiner’Read More

There are records that are frankly too loud to be jazz, and swing too much to be rock. This is the slot for those things — a place where you’ll find everyone from Tony Levin and Derek Sherinian from Black Country Communion to Nels Cline and Bill Frisell. Click throughRead More

For the uninitiated here, “whack jazz” is a term of endearment. It’s jazz that is endearing to me because it’s brave, daring and breaks all the rules about what jazz is supposed to be You May Also Like: David S. Ware & Matthew Shipp Duo – Live In Sant’Anna Arresi,Read More

The title for the Noah Kaplan Quartet’s debut album makes all the sense in the world when you look up the word “descendant” in the dictionary. There, you’ll find one of the definitions read “deriving or descending from an ancestor.” You May Also Like: Noah Jack, “Neighborhood” (2017): One TrackRead More