The history of jazz presents a melding of different cultural cues which form the core of the music itself. It is no coincidence that the music originated in New Orleans, a city with a unique blending of influences from the Caribbean, Europe, and the African diaspora. Over the ensuing decades, artists have woven sounds from […]
For February – just under the wire – we provide capsule reviews of recent works with an eye towards avant-garde expressionism. Two of the selections explore the contributions of legends of the music, while the others showcase the voices of younger practitioners of the craft. For this month, only one of these albums – Mat […]
If you are reading this, there is a substantial likelihood you arrived here under false pretenses. Apologies for the deception. This space was initially intended – as a means for this site to celebrate its third anniversary – to host a two-part interview with a significant artist. Since the beginning of our correspondences, this artist […]
We continue our conversation with Jason Moran by going deeper into the songs on his James Reese Europe inspired album, From the Dancehall to the Battlefield (Yes, 2023). These discussions lead us through WC Handy, Albert Ayler, Geri Allen, and student musicians at Historically Black Colleges and Universities. We also uncover the meditative aspects of […]
The passage of time can leave the legacy of important figures underrecognized. For every figure like Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, or John Coltrane who remains indelibly etched in our collective consciousness, dozens more have furthered the music in significant ways yet too often remain overlooked in the history books. One great example can be found […]
The fourth cut on Thumbscrew’s Multicolored Midnight (Cuneiform, 2022) is entitled “Shit Changes.” You don’t have to be a climate scientist or Sam Bankman-Fried to appreciate the truth of that phrase, and it could just be another of bassist Michael Formanek’s cheekily subversive titles. Yet despite ten years of consistently provocative and satisfying music making, the cooperative […]
With the start of a new year, we also start a new feature on this site. These capsule reviews aim to provide very brief reviews – a few hundred words at most – of albums of note which have come out around the month at issue. For this month, only one of these albums – […]
We continue our conversation with the great Billy Harper by discussing the beginning of his professional career in New York, his work with Lee Morgan and Gil Evans, the representation of Black artists in popular culture, and his compositional process. You can check out part one of the interview here. PostGenre: A little earlier, you […]
The lineage of jazz has long drawn upon ideas from gospel music, whether Louis Armstrong’s presentation of spirituals or Duke Ellington’s or Mary Lou Williams’ sacred music compositions. However, to some, the connection between faith-based songs and contemporary improvised music seems more tenuous. Artists are more likely to find a space between jazz and hip […]
“From the snowy, windswept peaks of Lapland to the desert of the Empty Quarter, Three Seconds | Kolme Toista is an adventure unlike any other!” Okay, that’s not Jussi Reijonen’s stated program behind Three Seconds | Kolme Toista (Challenge Records, 2022), which is at once more ambitious and more personal. Yet the music conceived by the Boston-based […]
