Flutist Jamie Baum Works with Poetry and Dynamic Voice
Jamie Baum merges powerful poetry, sophisticated arrangement and composition, and a range of historical influences not restricted to one tradition or tonality.
jazz
Bassist Stephan Crump Conjures an Optimistic Flow on ‘Slow Water’
Bassist and composer Stephan Crump’s ‘Slow Water’ is a reflection on the environment, using both New Music stalwarts and improvised jazz.
Melissa Aldana and Lage Lund Evoke Wayne Shorter on New LP
The power of Echoes of the Inner Prophet is how Lage Lund understands and crafts textures and sonorities for Melissa Aldana’s melodic ideas and saxophone style.
JazzMatters: The Best Jazz of March-May 2024
PopMatters presents the best new jazz recordings from March to May 2024 in the realm of piano jazz. We also reflect on the legacy of the late David Sanborn.
Lettuce and John Scofield Unite for Harmonic Convergence
The level of musicianship is nothing short of Jedi Master level, with John Scofield playing the Obi-Wan Kenobi role to the next gen Rebel Alliance, Lettuce.
Isaiah Collier & the Chosen Few Get Spiritual on ‘The Almighty’
Isaiah Collier & the Chosen Few’s The Almighty sounds like it could revive the spiritual jazz genre that was at its peak in the 1960s and 1970s.
Fay Victor Puts Jazz Pianist Herbie Nichols in Today’s Vanguard
This is Fay Victor’s best recording to date because it looks at a past great composer and reimagines that tradition as part of jazz music’s daring vanguard.
Ibelisse Guardia Ferragutti and Frank Rosaly’s ‘MESTIZX’ Is a Cosmic Collage
MESTIZX is unquestionably cosmic, but it’s also grounded in the real lives and spaces of artists who refuse to be broken into cultural shards.
Kamasi Washington Sets Bodies in Motion on ‘Fearless Movement’
Jazz saxophonist Kamasi Washington’s latest album, Fearless Movement, inspires motion and emotion by combining contemporary jazz with pop, soul, and rap.
The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis Deliver Thrills
Imagine a train that seems to be going off the rails yet keeps on track, and you’ll get a sense of what The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis sounds like.
Dave Douglas Creates a Magic Encounter on ‘Gifts’
Dave Douglas’ recent jazz work has been highlighted by projects that dare him to write new music for novel musical encounters. Gifts is a spectacular success.
Jembaa Groove’s Jazzy Highlife Is Beautiful on ‘Ye Ankasa’
Berlin’s Jembaa Groove tap into the sonic palettes of African and diasporic forms like highlife and jazz to create a truly elevated work of art.