Author's posts
New Music Monday for March 3, 2025
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify Lillian “Lil” Hardin Armstrong is a name most jazz aficionados recognize. She was the second wife of jazz icon Louis Armstrong and is often credited with spurring him forward to greatness. But not only did Lil’s music become the staple foundation of her husband’s career, but she went …
New Music Monday for February 24, 2025
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify In his prolific career, Benjie Porecki has played keyboards in wide variety of genres. A professional since the age of 15, the keyboardist has worked with such notables as Tom Scott, Kirk Whalum, Nnenna Freelon, Buddy Guy, and Carlos Santana among many others. He’s also led his own …
New Music Monday for February 17, 2025
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify Trumpeter Jeremy Pelt’s latest project, “Woven,” is a fascinating album that fuses more traditional aspects of 21st-century jazz with the myriad possibilities of electronic synthesized sound. The full range of contemporary jazz can be found here, from neo-bop, hard-driving rhythms to touching intimate ballad utterances. But Pelt’s trumpet …
New Music Monday for February 10, 2025
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify Dan Moretti is an acclaimed saxophonist, composer and educator with a career spanning over four decades. The new album with his band Brazilia, “Celebrating Wayne Shorter: Live at the Pump House Music Works,” captures a vibrant performance dedicated to the legendary composer and saxophonist, blending the genius of …
New Music Monday for February 3, 2025
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify Steve Smith, who originally became well-known as the drummer with the rock band Journey, grew up playing jazz. He has led one of the world’s top fusion-oriented groups, Vital Information, for over 40 years now; they recorded their first album in 1983. Today’s version is a trio with …
New Music Monday for January 27, 2025
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify Michel Petrucciani was one of the most brilliant pianists to emerge from Europe’s jazz scene in the late ‘70s. Despite his short stature due to glass bone disease, he rose to international acclaim, performing with the likes of Wayne Shorter, Tony Williams, Stephane Grappelli and many other greats. …
New Music Monday for January 20, 2025
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify Peter Erskine and the Jam Music Lab All-Stars celebrate the music of two iconic Viennese composers with the new release, “Vienna to Hollywood: Impressions of E.W. Korngold and Max Steiner.” The composers who, after moving to Hollywood in 1920 and 1934, transformed the dynamic of film as they …
New Music Monday for January 13, 2025
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify “Tippin’” is drummer Carl Allen’s first album as a leader in more than 20 years. With over 200 recordings to his credit, the gifted Milwaukee-born, New York-based drummer, sideman, bandleader, entrepreneur, and educator’s profound and propulsive percolations have provided soulful support for nearly three decades, including work with …