Latest posts
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Gábor Szabó — Jazz Raga: When Jazz Guitar Entered the Psychedelic Age
Beyond Spellbinder: Drones, Sitar and the Search for Another Musical Language After the Borders Had Already Begun to Disappear By the time Gábor Szabó made Jazz Raga, the idea that his music should remain inside the conventional boundaries of jazz guitar had already become impossible. Spellbinder had demonstrated how naturally he could move among standards,…
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The Don Burrows Quartet: The Ensemble That Defined Australian Jazz
Building an Australian Jazz Voice For much of the twentieth century, Australian jazz lived with a geographical problem. The music’s most influential developments were taking place thousands of miles away, first in New Orleans, Chicago and Kansas City and later in New York, Los Angeles and other American centers. Records traveled, musicians toured, radio transmitted…
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Sadao Watanabe: The Japanese Jazz Legend Who Bridged East and West
The Musician Who Gave Japanese Jazz an International Voice Every great jazz nation eventually produces an artist who becomes its ambassador to the world. For the United States, there were countless pioneers who carried the music across continents. For Brazil, Antônio Carlos Jobim and João Gilberto introduced new rhythmic possibilities to global audiences. For Japan,…
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João Donato: The Brazilian Genius Who Changed Jazz, Bossa Nova and Latin Music
The Musician Who Made Groove Sound Effortless Some musicians transform music through dazzling virtuosity. Others do so through revolutionary harmonic ideas or breathtaking technical command. João Donato achieved something far more elusive. He transformed the feeling of rhythm itself. Few pianists in the history of Brazilian music have created a musical language that sounds so…
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Snarky Puppy’s We Like It Here: The Album That Defined a New Era of Jazz Fusion
Before Utrecht: How Snarky Puppy Found Its Sound When Snarky Puppy arrived in Utrecht in October 2013 to record We Like It Here, the band was approaching a moment that would eventually become inseparable from its identity. The cameras, the audience sitting only a few feet from the musicians, the dense arrangements, the multiple keyboards,…
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Alice Coltrane: The Spiritual Visionary Who Redefined Modern Jazz
When Jazz Began Looking Toward the Infinite There are musicians who change the language of jazz, and there are others who change the reason for making it. Alice Coltrane belongs unmistakably to the second group. Throughout her remarkable career as a pianist, harpist, composer, bandleader and spiritual teacher, she transformed jazz from a vehicle of…
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Wolfgang Dauner: The Visionary Pianist Who Expanded European Jazz
The Pianist Who Refused to Accept Boundaries Throughout jazz history, certain musicians become associated with a single style so completely that their names immediately evoke a recognizable sound. Others spend their entire careers escaping categories. Wolfgang Dauner belonged decisively to the second group. Pianist, composer, bandleader, electronic experimenter, educator and relentless musical explorer, Dauner spent…
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Barney Wilen: The French Saxophonist Who Helped Shape European Jazz
When Paris Became the Capital of Modern Jazz For much of the twentieth century, no city outside the United States embraced jazz with greater passion than Paris. During the years following the Second World War, the French capital became a sanctuary for American musicians seeking artistic freedom and a meeting place for an emerging generation…
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Jan Garbarek: The Saxophonist Who Created the Sound of European Jazz
When Silence Became Part of Jazz Few musicians have altered the emotional landscape of jazz as profoundly as Jan Garbarek. Throughout the history of the music, great saxophonists have often been identified by the unmistakable individuality of their sound. Coleman Hawkins projected authority through harmonic richness. Charlie Parker reshaped improvisation with astonishing velocity. John Coltrane…