Ever since I was in the 7th grade, I have had a passion for jazz. I have always listened to and enjoyed a wide variety of musical genres – classical, pop, soul, rock, etc. – but the incident that had a huge impact on my life, and turned me into a future “jazz musician,” was …
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Aaron Diehl: Before & After
“My overall goal is trying to figure out how to connect the languages of jazz and classical to make an interesting and engaging performance, and also develop my own voice,” Aaron Diehl told me when I first wrote about him in 2010. “Why limit yourself to just playing something here and something there? It’s all …
Year in Review: The Top 40 Jazz Albums of 2022
We calculated our top 40 new releases of 2022 based on year-end lists by our writers. They were asked to choose the 10 best new releases and five best historical titles—i.e., albums and box sets consisting primarily of music recorded 10 or more years ago. Each voter’s individual ballot, featuring both new and historical releases, …
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Year in Review: The Top 10 Historical Albums of 2022
We calculated our top 10 historical/reissue recordings of 2022 based on year-end lists by our writers. They were asked to choose the five best historical titles—i.e., albums and box sets consisting primarily of music recorded 10 or more years ago. Each voter’s complete ballot (including new releases of 2022) is available here. Albums and box …
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Year in Review: 2022 Individual Ballots
Here’s a full accounting of every album and box set title voted for by our contributors—listed here in descending alphabetical order by last name—as part of our 2022 Year in Review section. (Links are to coverage of the respective albums/artists in JazzTimes over the past year.) A.D. AMOROSI New Releases 1. Immanuel Wilkins The 7th Hand …
JazzTimes 10: Essential Cannonball Adderley
Just as Chicago is America’s Second City, Julian “Cannonball” Adderley is modern jazz’s second alto saxophonist. The instrument’s best-known and most important practitioner after Charlie Parker was also one of the key figures in the hard-bop movement—and helped usher in the soul-jazz sound that was hard bop’s successor. But it wouldn’t be fair to pigeonhole …
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Artist’s Choice: A Playlist of Notable New England Conservatory Alums
We’ve had so many extraordinary musicians study in the New England Conservatory’s Contemporary Musical Arts department since it was founded in 1972 (under the name “Third Stream”), delving deep into ear training, learning to cross boundaries, pushing limits, and finding their own musical voices. As we celebrate 50 years of the program, it seems fitting …
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Before & After with Louis Hayes
The last year has seen Louis Hayes notch a number of estimable career achievements. In July, he was named an NEA Jazz Master, an honor he will receive at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. next April. In May, he marked his 85th birthday. And in 2021, he released his 18th album as a leader …
Before & After with Kirk Knuffke
A Venn diagram of Kirk Knuffke’s musical production would be complicated to decipher. Born and raised in Colorado, mentored by the late Ron Miles, Knuffke moved to New York in 2005 and quickly infiltrated the scene. During the ensuing 17 years, the 42-year-old cornetist/trumpeter—whose NYC mentors include Ornette Coleman, Butch Morris, and Wynton Marsalis—has brought his …
Joanne Brackeen: Before & After
In an interview with Wayne Enstice and Janis Stockhouse in Jazzwomen: Conversations with Twenty-One Musicians more than 20 years ago, pianist/composer Joanne Brackeen described herself as a “pioneer.” And indeed, no other woman of her generation apprenticed with Art Blakey, Freddie Hubbard, Stan Getz, and Joe Henderson before forging her own path as a leader. …