On February 17, 2018, pianist Kris Davis played in the second of two concerts at Harvard University to honor the late jazz pianist Geri Allen. It was a fantastic night of music worthy of Allen’s tremendous talent. Davis took the stage in various ensembles, with some featuring drummer Terri Lyne Carrington, who had also curated […]
What is music? What is art? How is art experienced aurally connected to its visual manifestations? To most people, these are seemingly answerable inquiries. But when pressed, they struggle to provide concrete responses. It is in this ineffable gray area that Fluxus thrives. Derived from the Latin word for “flowing”, Fluxus is a collection of […]
Often, many place a wall between the secular and the religious, as though neither influences the other. In reality, both can find value in one another’s efforts to find or provide meaning to the world. James Brandon Lewis, the son of a science teacher and a pastor, is uniquely positioned to understand the complementary nature […]
On Friday, August 4, 2023, the historic Newport Jazz Festival presented a highly pleasurable afternoon of music, as it has for almost seven decades. But across the day, one sensed something more. While audience members enjoyed themselves, a more significant message emerged from Fort Adams’ stages. Intentionally or otherwise, the event’s organizers presented an exposition […]
We conclude our series of 2023 Newport Jazz Festival pre-event interviews with a conversation with Christian McBride. Fittingly, our third interview with McBride covers his three roles at the Newport Jazz Festival: bass heavyweight, skilled educator, and curator. McBride’s bona fides as an artist are beyond reproach. He’s worked with legends of jazz – Gary […]
Jazz music has long had an interesting, albeit complicated, relationship with more popular musical forms. Swing bands were the pop music craze of the 1930s and 40s. With the emergence of bop, particularly during the postwar era, the lines between artful improvisation-based music and more commercial sentimentality became increasingly stark. But many artists – Ray […]
Often the best music seemingly transports the listener – by the artist’s direction – to another time and place. The music envelopes the audience, disorienting them temporarily but ultimately giving them a path to follow. While recordings can capture this mystifying experience, it is truly the live performance in which this intangible aspect is at […]
When one considers a historical museum, thoughts of those no longer with us often come to mind. Figures who made their mark but then left this world. Technically, the Louis Armstrong House Museum in Corona, Queens, commemorates the life of an artist who passed away over fifty-two years ago. But, in a much more real […]
Ingrained in jazz, hip hop, punk, gospel, and R&B, tenor saxophonist James Brandon Lewis has discovered a unique way to give equal footing to concepts many would categorically divide. His broad perspective is largely based on his concept of molecular systematic music (MSM). The current subject of Lewis’ doctoral studies, MSM recontextualizes artistic influences through […]
It takes daring for a producer to lead off a recording with a ballad. When that producer is Marc Free of Posi-Tone Records, a label known for scorching hard bop, the album particularly demands attention. With Green Thumb (Posi-Tone Records, 2023), pianist David Ake generously provides a varied program of surprising, even eccentric, choices that resolve with […]
