JazzMatters: The Best New Jazz of Summer 2024
PopMatters presents the best new jazz albums of the summer of 2024, and our columnist examines the recent recordings of Washington, DC, jazz phenom Anthony Pirog.
Will Layman
Will Layman is a writer, teacher and musician living in the Washington, DC area. He has been a contributor to National Public Radio and WNYC's "Soundcheck" as a jazz critic. He plays rock, funk, and jazz in the bars and clubs in and near the nation's capital. His fiction and humor appear in print and online.
Young Jazz Trumpeter Summer Camargo Is Grateful for the Good Times
As one of the youngest members ever to join the Saturday Night Live band, trumpet prodigy Summer Camargo studies jazz’s past to help chart its future.
Flutist Jamie Baum Works with Poetry and Dynamic Voice
Jamie Baum merges powerful poetry, sophisticated arrangement and composition, and a range of historical influences not restricted to one tradition or tonality.
Bassist Stephan Crump Conjures an Optimistic Flow on ‘Slow Water’
Bassist and composer Stephan Crump’s ‘Slow Water’ is a reflection on the environment, using both New Music stalwarts and improvised jazz.
Melissa Aldana and Lage Lund Evoke Wayne Shorter on New LP
The power of Echoes of the Inner Prophet is how Lage Lund understands and crafts textures and sonorities for Melissa Aldana’s melodic ideas and saxophone style.
JazzMatters: The Best Jazz of March-May 2024
PopMatters presents the best new jazz recordings from March to May 2024 in the realm of piano jazz. We also reflect on the legacy of the late David Sanborn.
Fay Victor Puts Jazz Pianist Herbie Nichols in Today’s Vanguard
This is Fay Victor’s best recording to date because it looks at a past great composer and reimagines that tradition as part of jazz music’s daring vanguard.
Dave Douglas Creates a Magic Encounter on ‘Gifts’
Dave Douglas’ recent jazz work has been highlighted by projects that dare him to write new music for novel musical encounters. Gifts is a spectacular success.
JazzMatters: The Best New Jazz of Winter 2024
PopMatters presents the best new jazz recordings from the winter of 2024 and reflects on the relationship of the Grammys to jazz.
James Brandon Lewis Sounds Singular on ‘Transfiguration’
Among the considerable pleasures of the new James Brandon Lewis quartet record is how it insists on expanding how we think about the leader himself.
Ethan Iverson’s ‘Technically Acceptable’ Is a Riveting Journey
Ethan Iverson’s Technically Acceptable feels like a push into his future as an artist, steeped in tradition and breaking with it, too, in his refreshing way.
Ches Smith’s ‘Laugh Ash’ Is Exhilarating Music
Ches Smith has real jazz chops, but he creatively blends tonal jazz, harmonic freedom, electronics, classical “new music”, and traditions from around the world.