Short, often opinionated pieces by JazzTimes’ editor and other trusted contributors.
When Denmark’s Nordkraft Big Band started a dialogue about a vocal project with its current Chief Conductor, Remy Le Boeuf, the noted saxophonist and composer … Read More “Remy Le Boeuf and Danielle Wertz: New Album Launch at The Jazz Gallery”
Editor’s Note: This column, the final one in Mark Stryker’s Chronology series, ran in the April 2023 print edition of JazzTimes, the last issue before … Read More “Chronology: Israel Crosby Revolutionized the Bass”
You never quite knew what Chicago bassist Kelly Sill was going to play (or what he was going to say). But you always knew that … Read More “Kelly Sill”
Several years ago, one of Danilo Pérez’s students was suffering from tendinitis. Pianist Pérez was then a professor at the New England Conservatory; his student, … Read More “Explaining the Taubman Approach”
Everyone knows that Joe Williams sang the hell out of the blues, but do you know what else he sang the hell out of? Everything. … Read More “Joe Williams: Beyond the Blues”
As a JazzTimes writer, I can talk about the powers of a dynamic drummer until I’m blue in the face: the weight of each tom-tom’s … Read More “Chops: What Bassists Listen for in Drummers”
There are certain works of art with which I wish I could have a conversation, so that I might express my gratitude for them. I … Read More “Sun Ra and the Cornucopia House Band”
Asked to choose Duke Ellington’s most valuable sidemen, most folks would likely start with Johnny Hodges, followed by any number of the additional cavalcade of … Read More “Chronology: Sonny Greer and Sam Woodyard Drum for the Duke”
In the early autumn, I was heading back into the city of Boston on the subway from a leafy suburb where I had watched a … Read More “Up On the Corner, Out on the Street”
If the Fates of Jazz oversaw an accounting service that charted advanced metrics like the album that the most people had fallen in love with … Read More “Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue Clusters”
