Jazz

The late great improviser/composer Kenny Wheeler once reported to the Guardian that what he liked doing best was “writing sad tunes, and then letting wonderful musicians destroy them”. The New York guitarist and new-music original Mary Halvorson (who, like Wheeler, was once a receptive disciple in the challenging bands of veteran boundary-buster Anthony Braxton) has also made a home in the turbulently dreamlike spaces where composition and the whims of improv meet. Lessons learned as a live improviser and off-stage as an…

Neil Young & Crazy Horse, the Killers, Vampire Weekend, Bonnie Raitt and hundreds more set to invade the Big Easy this spring The Rolling Stones, Foo Fighters, Chris Stapleton, Neil Young & Crazy Horse, the Killers, and Bonnie Raitt highlight the 2024 Jazz Fest lineup as the venerated festival returns to New Orleans from April 25 to May 5. Vampire Weekend, Queen Latifah, Heart, Bomba Estéreo, Anderson .Paak & The Free Nationals, Earth, Wind & Fire, Widespread Panic, and the Beach…

New York-based guitarist and composer Mary Halvorson doesn’t have time to hang about. When we speak she’s about to run out the door for a Saturday evening gig at John Zorn’s venue the Stone – and when that’s done she has to be up at 5am for a flight to Chicago for another show. The improvising jazz musician wouldn’t have it any other way. “Going through that period of Covid, I’m feeling very grateful that we are able to play music again and do shows,” she says from her home in Brooklyn. “It’s so gruelling, the travel that…

Trumpet star Keyon Harrold’s previous album, 2017’s The Mugician, was a mashup of jazz, hip-hop and R&B; over the course of his career, he has played alongside the likes of Jay-Z, Beyoncé and Rihanna. This third album continues to defy conventional categories, albeit with more emphasis on balladry and the complications of romance. Much of it is set to languorous beats that allow Harrold to unfurl long, sultry solos, with the influence of Miles Davis strong in the mix – unsurprising, given that Harrold played the…

Les McCann, the iconic jazz pianist, who is renowned for the protest song `Compared to What`, passed away on Friday at a hospital in Los Angeles, according to his manager. He was 88 years old and had been hospitalized last week due to pneumonia, though no cause of death was given, as per Variety. McCann combined jazz and R&B in his work, laying the foundation for numerous early hip-hop hits, such as `10 Crack Commandments` by the Notorious B.I.G., `After Hours` by A Tribe Called Quest, `The Next Episode` by Snoop Dogg…

Most jazz artists have what could be called the Big Band Dream. That dream is to lead between 12 and 20 musicians, comprising a rhythm section (piano, bass, drums and, sometimes, guitar), as well as trombones, trumpets and woodwinds. Together they make a mighty sound. A big band, or jazz orchestra, serves no small amount of ambition.“It’s always been a format that I was excited by, because it’s a challenge and inspiring to work with so many instruments,” says US saxophonist Steve Lehman. He recently collaborated with…

Jazz pianist and singer Les McCann, best known for his raucous live single “Compared to What” from the 1969 Montreux Jazz Festival and later sampled heavily by hip-hop artists, died Friday at a Los Angeles-area hospital, according to his longtime manager and producer Alan Abrahams.McCann, 88, had been living in a Van Nuys nursing facility and was hospitalized with pneumonia, said Abrahams, who declined to identify the hospital. McCann had been a longtime Van Nuys resident, Abrahams said. “He was one of the most…

Soulful jazz great Les McCann, whose work was sampled by hundreds of hip-hop artists including Notorious B.I.G. and Dr. Dre, died Friday in the Los Angeles area. He was 88. The musician, who released more than 60 albums over the course of his career, had been admitted to a local hospital from the nursing care facility he’d lived in for the past four years and was diagnosed with pneumonia, his manager Alan Abrahams told The Hollywood Reporter. Despite his prolific career, he was arguably best…

Les McCann, a trailblazing pianist and singer known for fusing strains of jazz, funk, and R&B and pioneering soul jazz, died on Friday at the age of 88. The cause of death has not been disclosed, but his manager Alan Abrahams told NBC News that the musician had died at a Los Angeles hospital after developing pneumonia a week ago. The singer had lived for the last four years at a skilled nursing facility in L.A, according to The New York Times. McCann, who is best remembered for his 1967 protest song…

A pivotal moment in the career of the British drummer and percussionist Tony Oxley came when a successful European tour as part of a trio led by the celebrated American jazz pianist Bill Evans was followed by an invitation to remain with the group when they returned to the US. This was in 1972, and permanent membership of the trio would have enhanced the young drummer’s prestige within the jazz world. Instead, he politely declined, believing that to accept would be an unacceptable diversion from his self-imposed task of…