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Sonny Rollins
It’s strange, the way a brief moment in a long career—a detour, even—can become the object of intense focus after the fact. An album that isn’t seen as a landmark, or a triumph, when it’s first...
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Mary Halvorson
Guitarist Mary Halvorson is one of the most prolific artists on the current jazz/improv scene; she’s appeared on 65 albums since 2003, including several as a leader (she has a trio with bassist John...
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The Thing
Scandinavian power-jazz trio The Thing—saxophonist Mats Gustafsson, bassist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, and drummer Paal Nilssen-Love—are back with Shake!, their first studio album since 2013’s Boot! That...
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Michael Formanek
Part of what makes jazz such an endlessly renewable form is its mutability. Compositionally, instrumentally, and improvisationally, jazz has no fixed center. From solo piano to a full jazz orchestra...
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Interview: JD Allen
Photo: Erika NJ Allen JD Allen is one of the most compelling saxophonists on the contemporary jazz scene. In every aspect of his work, he embodies discipline. His trio with bassist Gregg August and...
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Nate Lepine
Tenor saxophonist Nate Lepine has just released his first album as a leader, Quartet: Vortices. (Get it from Amazon.) It features alto saxophonist Nick Mazzarella, bassist Clark Sommers, and drummer...
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Stephen Rush
Free Jazz, Harmolodics, and Ornette Coleman, the new book from pianist and educator Stephen Rush (get it from Amazon), sets itself a fairly audacious task: explaining what Harmolodics is. The...
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George Coleman
Photo by Jesse Cahill Last week, I saw tenor saxophonist George Coleman perform at the Jazz Standard. He was accompanied by pianist Jeb Patton, bassist David Wong, and his son, George Coleman, Jr., on...
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The Master Musicians of Jajouka with Material
by Phil Freeman Photo by Cherie Nutting The Master Musicians of Jajouka come from northern Morocco. They perform trance music arising out of Sufi Muslim traditions; it lays high-pitched, crying reed...
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Who’s Crazy?
by Phil Freeman Ornette Coleman should have had a whole parallel career in film scoring. Only two movies got to benefit from his compositional and improvisational brilliance, and both are markedly...
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Keith Jarrett In The 70s
by Phil Freeman Considering the size of his discography and his prominence in the world of jazz, I haven’t really spent very much time at all listening to Keith Jarrett. I reviewed one of his solo...
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McCoy Tyner In The ’70s: Part 1
by Phil Freeman Pianist McCoy Tyner is one of the most important musicians in modern jazz. He first popped up on some folks’ radar as a member of the Jazztet, a group co-led by flugelhornist Art Farmer...
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BA Podcast 12: Logan Richardson
The latest episode of the Burning Ambulance podcast features an interview with saxophonist Logan Richardson. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Richardson has recorded with people like Ambrose Akinmusire,...
View ArticleOrnette the Composer
by Phil Freeman Ornette Coleman is obviously best known as a jazz musician. His 1959-61 quartet broke jazz wide open on albums like The Shape of Jazz to Come, This is Our Music, and Change of the...
View ArticleBarre Phillips
It seems almost impossible, but the idea of the solo double bass album only goes back fifty years. The album generally credited as being the first was Journal Violone by Barre Phillips, recorded on...
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Greg Ward
In the latest Burning Ambulance podcast, bassist Melvin Gibbs and I discuss a wide variety of subjects related to his 40-year career in New York and around the world. One of the things we talk about...
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BA Podcast 43: Jamaaladeen Tacuma
Bassist Jamaaladeen Tacuma is a legend. He was barely out of high school when guitarist Reggie Lucas recommended him to Ornette Coleman, who hired him for what would become Prime Time. He stayed with...
View ArticleArthur Blythe Pt. 1
Alto saxophonist Arthur Blythe was a fascinating figure who emerged at the end of the 1960s, but whose best and most innovative work was done in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Over the course of the...
View ArticleArthur Blythe Pt. 2
Beginning in the late 1970s, alto saxophonist Arthur Blythe recorded a string of highly creative, pathbreaking albums, the majority of which have been reissued in recent years. We’re digging into them...
View ArticleArthur Blythe Pt. 3
Beginning in the late 1970s, alto saxophonist Arthur Blythe recorded a string of highly creative, pathbreaking albums, the majority of which have been reissued in recent years. We’re digging into them...
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