John Coltrane

Latest Articles

The articulate melodic eloquence of Bill Frisell

Rolling with the changes
Many of us have embarrassing moments in our past, but when one of the hippest jazz dudes around admits to donning a leisure suit and playing in a show band, you prepare for a wince on the seismic level.
By JIM MACNIE | June 14, 2011

The education of Grace Kelly

Hat tricks
Legendary 79-year-old alto-saxophonist Phil Woods laughs indignantly when I ask him how he knew 18-year-old alto-saxophonist Grace Kelly was special. "Come on, when you hear it, you know what it is! I've been doing this for 65 years!" Pressed for particulars, he at first says, "Her maturity." Then he demurs. "It's not any one thing. She's got the whole kit."
By JON GARELICK | January 19, 2011

Desk job

Duck and cover redux; the best Congress money can buy; the Cabrals to the rescue!
Phillipe and Jorge believe it was thoughtful during this holiday season for the US government to clue in the Great Unwashed on how to survive a possible nuclear bomb strike. Their message, as reported by the New York Times on December 15: "Do not flee. Get inside any stable building and don't come out till officials say it's safe."
By PHILLIPE AND JORGE | December 22, 2010

Chucho, Mike, and Lina

Havana, Chicago, and a dash of Toronto
Anyone who has doubts about the musical supremacy of Chucho Valdés — or wants an introduction to it — need only listen to "Danzón," the second track from the new Chucho's Steps.
By JON GARELICK | October 12, 2010

Sonic DNA: Stanton Moore and Anthony Brown

They know where music comes from
Music is mystery, maybe, but for some of us that conceit is a provocation for deep-nerdy investigation.
By JON GARELICK | September 14, 2010

Poetic chaos

A Troop of Echoes spend Days In Automation
The melodic noise collective known as A Troop of Echoes will unveil their full-length debut Days In Automation next weekend at AS220, hosting their album release party alongside an impressive gathering of local support.
By CHRIS CONTI | May 19, 2010

Slideshow: History of Guru and Gang Starr

A collection of videos, photos, music and more from our archives
Here is our salute – in photo, audio, video, and writing – to a Roxbury legend and the vast Gang Starr legacy he left behind.
By CHRIS FARAONE | May 24, 2010

Covering Lacy

A jazz master’s legacy finds traction
For Josh Sinton, Steve Lacy stood out almost from the beginning.
By JON GARELICK | May 24, 2010

Music for the love of it

From the Schemers to the Men of Great Courage, Mark Cutler’s songs have always gotten to ‘that special kind of place’
Whether driving his Men of Great Courage on a tune about a spooky midnight stroll, or gently declaring a deep camaraderie with “We Shall Always Remain Friends,” Cutler’s concocting a soundtrack to the feelings in the room.
By JIM MACNIE | May 05, 2010

The onliest Sonny

Rollins looks at 80
Sonny Rollins has held the unofficial title of world’s greatest living improviser at least since the early ’70s, following the death of John Coltrane and the second of two extended Rollins sabbaticals from public performance.
By JON GARELICK | April 15, 2010

Into the groove

Funkatronic kick out the hybrid-fueled jams
The 2010 Best Music Poll nominees announcement is fast approaching, but we do know all of the '09 victors will return to defend their titles, including jazz/funk reigning champs Funkatronic, who are looking for a three-peat.
By CHRIS CONTI | April 12, 2010

By | January 01, 0001

The Souljazz Orchestra | Rising Sun

Strut (2010)
We're living in the middle of a veritable renaissance of "Spiritual Jazz."
By GUSTAVO TURNER | February 23, 2010

Getting the story

Gary Giddins and Scott DeVeaux sing jazz's many strains
Full-length written histories of jazz can be a slog. Especially since "the story of jazz" (as critic Marshall Stearns titled his 1956 tome) only gets longer and more complicated. Personally, on these prose-narrative trips along the New Orleans–New York axis of musical development, I usually bog down somewhere outside Chicago.
By JON GARELICK | December 01, 2009

By | January 01, 0001

The music man

George Wein, the father of American music festivals, reflects on bringing world-class folk and jazz (and more) to Newport
Forty years after a half-million hippies descended on a sprawling dairy farm in upstate New York, Woodstock has become shorthand for an entire epoch.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | August 05, 2009

Inside out

Charlie Kohlhase's Explorer's Club, Lee Konitz + Minsarah, and Steve Swallow recanting
Charlie Kohlhase's love affair with jazz began with the avant-garde. As a high-school kid in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, he found that it was Ornette Coleman, Eric Dolphy, and the Art Ensemble of Chicago who rocked his world.
By JON GARELICK | July 06, 2009

Various artists | Spiritual Jazz: Esoteric, Modal, and Deep Jazz from the Underground, 1968-1977

Jazzman (2009)
Apple-pie Mormon missionaries the Millers travel through Iran to spread the gospel of Joseph Smith among Muslims and Zoroastrians, and their kid discovers the glorious sound of the santur.
By GUSTAVO TURNER | April 21, 2009

Avanti!

Garrison's Fewell's journey out
By the time guitarist Garrison Fewell made his first record as a leader, in the early '90s, he was nearly 40 years old, and the sound he displayed on his debut, A Blue Deeper Than Blue , was ripe.
By JON GARELICK | February 06, 2009

Year in Jazz: Playing for keeps

By JON GARELICK | December 22, 2008

Medicine men

Two Boston poets use their art for the good of the tribe
What if a poem had the power to heal loneliness?
By JAMES PARKER | November 28, 2008

Good fellows

Brian Blade and company help blaze jazz’s newest path
The jazz tide is shifting once again.
By JON GARELICK | October 20, 2008

Getting it live

Noah Preminger, Fernando Huergo, the John Coltrane Memorial Concert, and the BeanTown Jazz Festival
Noah Preminger — bearded, shaggy-haired, 23 years old — plays tenor saxophone like a man at least twice his age while remaining completely of the moment.
By JON GARELICK | September 23, 2008