Ugly Beauty

Motown Records famously had a finishing school, run by Maxine Powell, where their artists were taught how to smile, how to dress, how to move…

Ten years ago, Darius Jones flew across the New York jazz scene like a comet. His debut album as a leader, Man’ish Boy (A Raw…

It’s easy to get comfortable with your idea of what jazz is, when it’s happening right in front of you. But when there are no…

Since my last column, there has been a wave of deaths in the jazz world, many of them related to COVID-19. Here are the ones…

I had planned for this intro section to be slightly longer, but you know what? I’m not willing to risk my life for you people.

If you ever get the chance to watch Tyshawn Sorey play the drums, take it. Sorey is a brilliant composer — his albums Koan, The…

Has Winter Jazzfest peaked? When I was out exploring the annual weekend marathon (105 performances spread across 11 venues), it felt significantly less manic and…

Where jazz is concerned, the 2010s could be divided almost precisely in half: BK (Before Kamasi) and AK (After Kamasi). The burly LA saxophonist's triple…

Henry Threadgill, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his 2015 album In For A Penny, In For A Pound, has reunited his band Zooid after…

This wasn’t a year of radical transformation in the world of jazz. There was no single breakout star, and no explosion like the sudden realization…

People often talk about particular jazz labels having an aesthetic, a through-line that encompasses most if not all of their releases. Very few labels have…

Let me tell you about an amazing band you’ve probably never heard. Over the past few weeks, I’ve become obsessed with the George Adams/Don Pullen…

There's always one more thing in the vault, it seems. This month, a previously unreleased John Coltrane session will appear, and much like last year's…

One of the most fascinating things about avant-garde jazz and improvised music is the methods people use to impose structure, while still allowing plenty of…

Turbaned organist Dr. Lonnie Smith performs at the Jazz Standard a couple of times a year, it seems. I like some of his recent albums,…