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Thread of Humanity: A Conversation with Lucian Ban and Mat Maneri on ‘Transylvanian Dance’

Artists inevitably bring their own perspectives and biases into their interpretation of any work. It is impossible to completely divorce current work from the tinctures of one’s background. A great example is the work of Béla Bartók. Often considered one of the most important composers of the Twentieth Century, Bartók was a founding father of […]

Laboratory: A Conversation with Danilo Pérez and John Patitucci on the Legacy of Wayne Shorter

There is a tendency to mythologize someone like Wayne Shorter, who seems larger than life. Or to put the subject on a pedestal with the label  “great” without providing a sufficient and accurate discussion of why they truly are so. It becomes all too easy for people with little understanding of the facts to jump […]

Collision and Coexistence: A Conversation with Nicole Mitchell on ‘Bamako*Chicago Sound System’

Judeo-Christian theology tells the story of the Tower of Babel to explain the existence of different languages and cultures. In the Book of Genesis, a united humanity aimed to build a tower to the heavens until God struck them down and forced the people to have different tongues to confuse them and scatter them around […]

Tradition Fuels the Future: A Conversation with Artistic Director Christian McBride on the Newport Jazz Festival at Seventy

The Newport Jazz Festival has survived seven decades primarily due to how forward-looking it has been. The event has generally recognized talent above notoriety. If you present high-quality artistry, people will support it. Many of the greats tied to the Newport legacy made their most important appearances when they were underrecognized or overlooked. Before placing […]

Forever: Stanley Clarke Previews N•4EVER’s Performance at the 2024 Newport Jazz Festival (Part Two)

We continue our conversation with NEA Jazz Master Stanley Clarke. You can read part one here. PostGenre: You were one of the first people to fully take the electric bass from the background rhythm section to being featured as a melodic instrument. Do you have a sense of why musicians did not do that previously? […]

Forever: Stanley Clarke Previews N•4EVER’s Performance at the 2024 Newport Jazz Festival (Part One)

After first being mass-produced by Fender in the 1950s, the electric bass, for many years, found a home in only the rhythm section. Its full power, to some extent, was obfuscated from view. Then came Stanley Clarke. Across his work with Return to Forever, the seminal fusion band he co-founded with Chick Corea, and records […]

Fearless: A Conversation with Donny McCaslin on David Bowie, Elvis Costello, and the Newport Jazz Festival

According to a 2015 Nielsen report, “jazz” makes up a paltry 1.3% of total music consumption in the United States. This dire statistic suggests that the art form’s reach is relegated to its small clique of loyal followers. Fortunately, the value of art lies not in its commercial properties. Far more relevant than dollar signs […]

Trumpet Evolution: Riley Mulherkar Previews his 2024 Newport Jazz Festival Leader Debut

In his speech to the Royal Academy on April 30, 1953, Winston Churchill remarked, “Without tradition, art is a flock of sheep without a shepherd. Without innovation, it is a corpse.” The key is to find ways to let history lead you without being haunted by the ghosts of the past. This concept is frequently […]