Interviews

Julian Lage is unafraid to switch gears. While the guitarist has held together his trio with bassist Jorge Roeder and drummer Dave King, over the last four years, recently he’s been l branching out. First, there was the Joe Henry-produced Speak to Me (Blue Note, 2024) with keyboardists Patrick Warren and Kris Davis, and saxophonist Levon Henry. Last year, Lage toured with… Read more: Review: Julian Lage Quartet’s ‘Scenes from Above’

When one thinks of the great artistic cataloging of North American bird paintings, John James Audubon’s name often first comes to mind. That connection makes sense given that his best-known work, the multi-volume The Birds of America (1827-1838), featured four hundred and thirty-five paintings covering four hundred and eighty-nine species. Painting that many birds was… Read more: Echoes of Chickadee Valley: A Conversation with Christopher Hoffman on ‘Rex’

Despite the name of woodwind specialist John Ellis’s Double Wide, suggesting a large ensemble, the group is a quintet, with slightly unusual instrumentation. The name reflects less the size of the group and more the breadth of sounds with Ellis (clarinet, soprano saxophone, bass clarinet, tenor saxophone) on the high end, and a robust bottom featuring sousaphonist Matt… Read more: Review: John Ellis and Doublewide’s ‘Fireball’

Often, great treasures can be found in mines already long before dug. This is certainly the case with the lautenwerk. A now rare European keyboard from the Baroque era, the lautenwerk combines the mechanics of a harpsichord with lute-like strings.  A favorite of Johann Sebastian Bach, the instrument largely fell out of favor as the… Read more: Finding Cues: A Conversation with Elias Stemeseder on ‘Studies in Prolation, for S-L plus Ensemble’

The first release by Craig Taborn since being named a MacArthur Fellow in late 2025, Dream Archives (ECM, 2026) finds the pianist/composer leading an unusual trio with noted cellist Tomeka Reid and in-demand drummer-vibraphonist Ches Smith. All three are acclaimed bandleaders in their own right, with Reid having an extensive history of collaboration through her… Read more: Review: Craig Taborn’s ‘Dream Archives’