The power of a single long-ago hit TV show to fashion our perception of a multi-faceted artist is staggering. Since becoming legendary for his synth-driven theme and dynamic scores for “Miami Vice,” that’s been Jan Hammer’s never-ending cultural calling card. His great...

The name Sam Jones might not spark instant recognition among modern jazz fans, but his countless all-star associations will. Best known for his work with Cannonball Adderley from 1959-65, the influential bassist and composer’s resume also features a long stint with Osc...

In this age of digital consumption and streaming, it feels more and more like brilliant CD packaging concepts are a dying art form – which makes the imagery on veteran guitarist Lou Volpe’s adventurously arranged, crisply played and eminently soulful, bluesy and swingi...

In the sensibilities of a master vocal interpreter and storyteller like Diane Schuur, great jazz is a matter of transferring passions from the genius of the songwriter to the singer’s own personal life experiences and then out towards a universal experience we can all...

The timeless nature of jazz ensures that there’s no literal sonic era-specific “stamp” on any recording. An album recorded 20, 30…even 60 years ago can sound as good and have as much emotional impact as a session recorded last month. This wondrous reality works to the...

When first discovering a vibrant, visionary new artist, there’s always the tendency to connect his or her artistry to others who have captured our musical hearts in the past. When I started to listen to composer, pianist and drummer Masa Takumi’s multiple shades of ama...

Sometimes the best pathways to understanding the intention and necessity for innovative artists to make experimental/avant-garde/purely improvisational free jazz can be found in the liner notes of an offbeat project like MZM, which combines the talents, offbeat procliv...

In his fascinating liner notes for Solar Wind, a trippy, offbeat and purely improvised avant-garde collection combining the collective history, intuitive talents and just about anything goes mindset of of Robert Dick (flutes, piccolo, voice), Joelle Leandre (contrabass...

Had versatile Brazilian drummer emerged from his vast decades long resume as a sideman with his majestic and melodically sweeping, rhythmically expansive debut Vision for Rhythm in 2016, it would have been a wondrous mood-setter for the Rio Olympics. But no matter, the...

A fixture on the NYC jazz scene for years as free-lancer/sideman and owner of the jazz bars, the Silver Lining and The Django, Chicago bred tenor saxophonist Vito Dieterle charts a fascinating creative course on Anemone, his debut album as a leader after a splendid duo...

Status Sphere, one of the more deeply imaginative, powerfully dynamic yet tenderly intimate Thelonious Monk tributes in recent memory, pairs two irrepressible staples of today’s NYC jazz scene.

With over 1600 compositions to his credit, veteran pianist/composer Joel For...

Generally when jazz heads ponder the fruitful nearly three decade relationship between Duke Ellington and pianist, composer and arranger Billy Strayhorn, the evergreens “Lush Life” and the big band signature “Take the A Train” come to mind – so often that they have bee...