In the liner notes to his 2012 trio album Accelerando, the pianist and composer Vijay Iyer wrote: “[T]his album is in the lineage of American creative music based on dance rhythms.” Dancing in rhythm and exemplifying creativity, here are 10 records which belong to that great lineage.
Jazz giant Dave Brubeck turns 90 this month. In this 1997 session, Brubeck and host Marian McPartland perform duets in “Just You, Just Me” and Brubeck’s “In Your Own Sweet Way.”
The jazz master died on Wednesday at age 91. In a 1999 interview with Fresh Air‘s Terry Gross he talked about his decades in the music industry and his first love: rodeo roping.
The latest twin bill presented by WBGO’s The Checkout features a leading-edge pianist finding a rhythmic boost from the percussion of tap dance, and an all-star band of modern masters lifting off in loose assembly. Watch a live webcast from downtown New York.
You’re judged by the company you keep, and at the 2012 Newport Jazz Festival, we’re with geniuses. Saxophonist Miguel Zenón (from Puerto Rico) and drummer Dafnis Prieto (from Cuba) have both resettled in the U.S., and are reworking the music of their islands in studios and on bandstands worldwide.
The late pianist and composer never tired of playing his greatest hits. But both before and after his seminal 1959 album Time Out, Brubeck took his craft to college kids, to churches, to musicals, to social-justice concerns and to the imaginations of countless new jazz fans.
One of the most recognized and recognizable musicians of the postwar era — the piano player whose “Take Five” was a pop hit — died Wednesday, one day shy of 92.
The 26-year-old jazz guitarist has been making a name for himself ever since he joined the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra seven years ago. Watch him perform the title tune from his new album, Takin’ It There.
Miller’s cohesive band includes Ivan Taylor on bass and Rodney Green on drums. At the Kennedy Center Jazz Club, they play everything from bebop classics to Cole Porter and Thelonious Monk. Mulgrew’s take on the timeless ballad “My Foolish Heart” is unforgettable.
The guitarist joins bassist Richie Good for a set of performances with host Marian McPartland.
The death of 22-year-old pianist Austin Peralta prematurely ended a rapidly expanding career. A child prodigy, at the end of his teenage years he cut Endless Planets, an album which showed a jazz-trained musician just beginning to utilize the enormity of the tones and rhythms around him.
A saxophonist, a pianist and a bass player walk into a bar. But the bar happens to be one of the world’s preeminent jazz clubs, where they’re regularly sighted on stage. And they’re working as a collective band: no drummer, no hierarchy. So much for that joke.
As season three winds to a close, many regular guests of the show play a few numbers. Read a recap of the soundtrack, featuring Shamarr Allen, Cheeky Blakk, Kermit Ruffins, Jill Sobule, Big Sam, Tom McDermott, Ivan Neville, Trombone Shorty and Bonerama.
This fall marks the centennial anniversaries of two all-time great improvisers, born in 1912. The fat-toned saxophonist and the fleet, sparkling pianist were peers, and if they didn’t record a lot together, the story of their generation comes out in their shared histories.
The violinist attempts to mix jazz, classical and traditional Chinese music with his octet on Burning Bridge.
Tony Bennett is known worldwide for his mellow tenor and easily swinging style. He talks about the significance of American popular song, his favorite songwriters and his love of painting in this program from 2004.
The 2012 Caramoor Jazz Festival presents everything from young artists making their marks to established stars still shining bright. We highlight both with the quietly affecting singer Gretchen Parlato and the distinctive hard bop band The Cookers.
Starting in the 1920s, Hawkins made an afterthought of an instrument into one of the sounds we most identify with jazz. He also straddled the era of big band swing and later developments like bebop. Here are five songs that illustrate his genius.
“The Empress of the Blues” gave voice the listeners’ tribulations and yearnings of the 1920s and ’30s. A new 10-CD box set collects the complete works of the colossus who straddled jazz and blues.
Born Peter Sims, the New York native played what he called his first jazz gig in 1957. It was immortalized as a Sonny Rollins live recording, and led to work with Joe Henderson, John Coltrane and more. The first-call player of New York’s ’50s and ’60s heyday was 74 years old.
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