Jazz Appreciation News
When he was only 25, the word "legend" was already being used to describe Stanley Clarke. Now, he's a king of the acoustic and electric jazz worlds, having won every major award available to a bass player. Hear an interview with the jazz/fusion innovator.
Whenever he took the stage, audiences were guaranteed a musical spectacle. Half mystic, half visionary, the pianist and bandleader charted a relentlessly adventurous course through the jazz tradition.
From the lighthearted and fancy to the haunting and grotesque, NPR station WDUQ highlights some spooky Halloween music you can listen to all year long. Hear jazz vocalists conjure different ghosts out of classic tunes, while horn players coax the demons out of their instruments.
The latest CD from New Orleans trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard is A Tale of God's Will, whose subtitle is "A Requiem for Katrina." Parts of the recording were heard in Spike Lee's HBO documentary When the Levees Broke.
He was a sideman with the early stars of jazz, led one of the most admired bands on the swing era, and catalyzed the careers of musicians like Charles Mingus. All the while, Red Norvo was bringing the mallet instruments to jazz.
Reedman Buddy Collette has spent most of his music career on the West Coast, out of the national spotlight. But it would be a mistake to overlook his distinguished career as a jazz educator, activist, composer and, of course, phenomenal multi-instrumentalist.
The legendary jazz pianist and composer is best known for his time in New York City, where he developed his eccentric musical genius. But 90 years ago today, Thelonious Monk was born in the Southern city of Rocky Mount, N.C.
Using dissonant chords, a keen sense of space and knotty, syncopated melodies, Monk created some of the most original and challenging American music of the 20th century. Now, 90 years after his birth, his legacy is as strong as ever.
The 50th Anniversary of the Monterey Jazz Festival proved to be a rousing success. 45,000 fans attended the historic event and all three days were sold out, a festival first. Hear some of the festival's greatest highlights in an audio montage produced by WBGO.
Jazz pianist Cyrus Chestnut and Elvis Presley aren't a likely pairing: Chestnut is one of the top pianists of a generation born many years after songs like "Love Me Tender" made Presley the king of rock 'n' roll. Hear an interview and performance from Studio 4A.
Philadelphia native Adam Dorn, a.k.a. Mocean Worker, has assembled a collection of Manhattan's most revered underground soul, jazz and funk players to perform blissfully funky jazz rave-ups on his new album, Cinco de MoWo! Hear an interview and in-studio performance.
Few song stylists of any era are as immediately distinctive and arresting as "Lady Day." Her rhythmic instinct for melodies brought vocals to the forefront of jazz expression. And her voice itself remains an influential, inimitable and incredible sound.
In Floratone's "The Passenger," Bill Frisell's guitar sits front and center, teasing out references to gritty desert rock, Spaghetti Western soundtracks and even the slinky upstroke strums of dub and reggae. Inventive studio tricks add languid, ethereal atmosphere.
In a mid-'50s jazz landscape increasingly dominated by bebop's aftermath, the largely forgotten band Les Jazz Modes stood apart. "Hoo-Tai" finds the group's chops integrating deftly with its orchestral experiments, and the sum is a finely sculpted, acutely appealing jazz tune.
Queen Latifah has always followed her mother's simple advice: Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Her success in music and film has allowed her to do some less- commercial things she loves, like singing old jazz and R&B tunes.
The world's longest-running jazz festival celebrates its golden anniversary with a specially commissioned piece by Gerald Wilson and performances by many jazz luminaries. Hear NPR's coverage and a selection of concerts recorded by WBGO.
Shanghai's hedonistic nightlife and jazz music scene were once renowned throughout Asia -- before the Communist Party took power and punished jazz as a crime. But today, a small group of musicians are re-creating the sounds of the city's golden days.
Jazz writer Ashley Kahn offers his observations of the three days of nonstop music that marked the 50th annual Monterey Jazz Festival in California. The giants of jazz came to play at Monterey, which featured performances by Gerald Wilson and Sonny Rollins, among others.
Players from 17 high schools were chosen for the Monterey Next Generation Jazz Orchestra. After studying to perform some of the most challenging big-band music available, the high-school all-stars perform alongside Terence Blanchard at the Monterey Jazz Festival.
Bay Area disc jockey Jimmy Lyons got Brubeck to play piano for the Monterey City Council more than 50 years ago to convince it to put on a festival. The Monterey Jazz Festival is in its 50th year, and Brubeck returns for his 14th appearance. Hear his complete concert.