JazzTimes

→ Exclusive Content For JazzTimes’ 50th anniversary, we compiled a list of the 50 best jazz albums released between 1970 and 2020. Now we’re following up with a list of the 50 best jazz albums recorded in the five decades before we started publishing—in other words, from the start of the ’20s to the end of the ’60s. Sure, you’ll find all the giants here, from Armstrong and Ellington to Parker and Monk (pictured) to Miles and Trane, but what did we pick and why? You can only find out at jazztimes.com. → JT News Cruising is back in for 2023: After two years off the water, The Jazz Cruise, Blue Note at Sea, and The Smooth Jazz Cruise have announced their schedules and lineups for next year. The Jazz Cruise starts the…

Forgive me if I’ve mentioned this before (perhaps repeatedly), but I’ve been playing guitar now for more than 40 years. So when the time comes around to put together our annual guitar-themed issue, I’ll confess that I get just a little more excited than I do at other times of the year. No offense intended to other instruments or the people who play them; guitars are simply my jam. It was a special treat for this year’s issue to be able to talk to a modern master of the instrument, John Scofield. And making that opportunity even more exciting was the uniqueness of his latest work: the first true solo Sco album in a distinguished recording career that now spans nearly 50 years. But for guitar fans, that’s only the start…

Jimmy Katz leads many lives. He is the preeminent currently active jazz photographer, and has shot more than 200 magazine covers and over 600 recording sessions. About 12 years ago he became an audio engineer, specializing in live recordings. His albums like Ralph Lalama’s Bopjuice: Live at Smalls are breakthroughs. They capture the blood-and-guts of live jazz with sonic resolution worthy of the best studios. In 2018, Katz began another new life. He launched Giant Step Arts. It was a new record label—an outlet for his latest live recordings—but it was also much more: a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that presented live performances, recorded them in state-of-the-art sound, and provided CDs and 24/96 downloads for the bandleaders to sell themselves. Katz’s ambitions for the label were lofty; he said at the time,…

Guitarist Will Bernard bears the bittersweet blessing of virtuosic skill and eclectic taste, making his music a perpetual delight and yet hard to categorize. Maybe it’s because he was reared in Berkeley, California, site of one of the precious few jazz programs in a public high school, and was a fixture in the audience back when the Keystone Berkeley was renowned as one the most experimental, open-minded music clubs in the country. “Yeah, I kind of thrive off that—being involved in different kinds of music,” Bernard said with a verbal shrug over the phone in late April. As if to prove the point, he’d moved the call up a couple of hours so he could catch a flight from his home in Brooklyn down to New Orleans, where he was booked…

Since releasing his debut album in 1992 for Mesa/Bluemoon, Rick Braun has established himself as one of the most popular and prolific artists within the smooth jazz genre. The trumpeter’s albums routinely top the charts and his tours—both as a solo headliner and as a co-bill with artists like Richard Elliot (as R n R), Kirk Whalum and Norman Brown (as BWB), and Dave Koz—sell out theaters across the country. But his commercial success belies a strong affinity and facility for mainstream jazz, as Braun counts Miles Davis, Freddie Hubbard, and Woody Shaw as major inspirations.” “I put more of myself into this record than any other record I’ve done.” Growing up in the small Rust Belt city of Allentown, Pa., Braun picked up the trumpet because an older brother had given…

Ask founder/producer Piero Pata and VP/engineer Josh Connolly about the guiding concept behind Le Coq Records—their Las Vegas-based music label, established in January 2021—and the pair spit out terms like “honest jazz” and “clarity.” But the best way to understand the label, and the wealth of albums and singles featuring musicians like John Patitucci, Chris Potter, Rick Margitza, Bill Cunliffe, Terell Stafford, Alex Acuña, and Vinnie Colaiuta that have flooded the marketplace since its inception, may come down to two words from Connolly: “Why not?” “We love putting people together who might not have come together to begin with.” “Why not” certainly explains better than just about anything else how an Italian-Australian pianist turned ballet dancer turned flamenco music producer (Pata) and a top pop engineer for names such as Lady Gaga,…