Jazz Artistry Now

09/11/2025

Blue Note Records Branford Marsalis

Branford Marsalis Quartet’s "Belonging" has been nominated for "Best Instrumental Jazz Album" at the 2026 GRAMMY Awards! Get it on vinyl, CD or listen now: https://branfordmarsalis.lnk.to/Belonging

01/11/2025

JazzTimes

We bid farewell to the great bassist Ray Drummond, the Bulldog. Who could forget the countless piano-bass nights at Bradley's, animated by Drummond's legendary feel and effortless chops. He was also the kindest, most genuine person you could hope to meet, as our current editor found when he traveled to the Drummond home in Teaneck, New Jersey for a 2004 JazzTimes @ Home feature. Unfortunately our made-to-order Jimmy & Dena Katz photo is missing but this one's from Brian McMillen. (Drummond was 57 at the time, our editor's age today.) "Drummond is a self-taught player, with no music-school baggage to speak of. He earned a political science degree in 1968, held down a corporate job and attended Stanford Business School on a fellowship, working toward an MBA. 'Music was a passionate hobby, and I turned that hobby into a professional career,' Drummond recalls. 'When I was about 24 I made the switch. I did only one year of my MBA and then said no, I’m going to go to San Francisco and play bass.'"

01/11/2025

David Adler JazzTimes

We bid farewell to the great bassist Ray Drummond, the Bulldog. Who could forget the countless piano-bass nights at Bradley's, animated by Drummond's legendary feel and effortless chops. He was also the kindest, most genuine person you could hope to meet, as our current editor found when he traveled to the Drummond home in Teaneck, New Jersey for a 2004 JazzTimes @ Home feature. Unfortunately our made-to-order Jimmy & Dena Katz photo is missing but this one's from Brian McMillen. (Drummond was 57 at the time, our editor's age today.) "Drummond is a self-taught player, with no music-school baggage to speak of. He earned a political science degree in 1968, held down a corporate job and attended Stanford Business School on a fellowship, working toward an MBA. 'Music was a passionate hobby, and I turned that hobby into a professional career,' Drummond recalls. 'When I was about 24 I made the switch. I did only one year of my MBA and then said no, I’m going to go to San Francisco and play bass.'"

01/11/2025

The New Yorker

Franz Nicolay’s new book, “Band People: Life and Work in Popular Music,” details the lives of working musicians, especially those far from the spotlight: background vocalists hired for uncredited recording sessions, rhythm guitarists playing on freelance contracts. These musicians, Nicolay argues, were the original freelancers making do. Now life is different for working musicians: there's probably never been a better time to share a song you’ve made, and yet it’s harder than ever to get paid for it. Read Hsu's review of the book, which collects stories about how musicians who have played alongside the likes of David Bowie or Madonna simply get by: https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/vgaHMj

31/10/2025

JazzTimes

The phrase “poetry in motion”? That is Jack DeJohnette, the epic, dynamics-rich and legendary jazz drummer, pianist, abstract conceptualist and composer who died at the … Read More "Jack DeJohnette, Jazz Drumming’s Surround-Sound of Thunder, Dies at 83"

31/10/2025

Pat Metheny Jack DeJohnette

30/10/2025

Marcus Lewis Vine Street Brewing Co.

Get ready because the jam is alive at Vine Street! Drop by for Office Hours every Wednesday for KC's newest jazz jam hosted by tombonist and arranger . 🔥