When a leading London daily, the Independent, tags Mali’s Bassekou Kouyaté and Ngoni Ba as “the best rock and roll band in the world”, you know there’s something very special about the seven-piece outfit and its leader. Read the full…
If the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the words “classical music” is stuffy older folks politely clapping for elevator music, you may want to reconsider. Chargaux, a Brooklyn-based duo that play the violin and viola, are using classical…
With their natural sisterlike chemistry and their innate way of finishing each other’s sentences, it would seem implausible that Margaux Whitney and Jasmin “Charly” Charles, the two women behind the classically trained string instrument duo Chargaux, haven’t known each other for…
Saxophonist Jeff Coffin recently launched a Kickstarter project to help fund the release of his big band album, “Inside of the Outside,” which he recorded with Caleb Chapman’s Crescent Super Band and several other guest musicians. Proceeds from the album will benefit…
Side Up, the latest album from saxophonist Jeff Coffin and his Mu’tet, is an eclectic mix of musical styles, influences and instrumental combinations reflecting the ensemble’s embrace of the idea that stasis-the same old, same old-is poor soil for musical growth. Music…
In the mid-1980s, Gary Burton was just entering middle age, but he’d had experiences as a jazz player to fill several lifetimes. Duke Ellington had treated him with kindness, Milt Jackson with suspicion, Miles Davis with a death threat. Burton’s…
Gary Burton plays an instrument rarely heard in Nashville recording studios — the vibraphone. In fact, the scarcity of this instrument is the reason Burton got his first break towards becoming a professional musician. Read the full article on SOMETHINGELSEREVIEWS Gary…
Looking every inch a silver-maned patriarch of Biblical grandeur, Sonny Rollins, the 84-year-old genius of the jazz tenor saxophone, was especially elated last weekend to receive an honorary doctor of music degree from the University of Hartford at graduation ceremonies on…
Rollins doesn’t see the recognition as any kind of trophy or happy ending. It simply allows his work to go on. “I might get better jobs so I can continue my life and what I’m doing,” he says of receiving…
Saxophonist Ravi Coltrane has been maturing noticeably during recent years, and he reiterated that fact dramatically Thursday night at the Jazz Showcase. Playing with consistent seriousness of intent but also with plenty of fire, Coltrane led his quartet in a performance…