Sep 22, 2026 12:26 PM
Hyde Park Jazz Fest on Chicago’s South Side to Present 20th Edition
The Hyde Park Jazz Festival will take place for the 20th time on the final weekend of September 2026. Beginning half…
Saxophonist Noah Preminger said that the “U.S. government did nothing to help” him return home from Morocco.
(Photo: Noah Preminger/Instagram)
Keyboardist Romain Collin is spending time at a remote cabin in Iceland.
(Photo: Romain Collin)In a remote cabin about 20 miles from the nearest village, pianist and composer Romain Collin hunkers down.
Weeks before COVID-19 swept across the world, the Brooklyn-based musician flew to southwestern Iceland for a month-long solo retreat. Now it looks like he’ll be there for an indeterminate amount of time.
When President Donald Trump announced his European travel ban on March 11, Collin immediately booked a flight back to New York, an adjustment that would have shortened his stay from one month to three weeks. His bags were packed; his car was loaded. Then Collin sank into the loveseat next to his bank of keyboards.
“I thought, ‘You know what? No,’” he said. “‘I have work to do.’”
He canceled his flight and booked another for one week later—March 18—then canceled that one, too.
“When you’re in total isolation, there’s something very nurturing that feels very safe,” Collin said. “When I set up my home studio, it felt like I was making music for myself. Only now, I face the worry: Can I actually go back home?”
Artists across the world are asking the same question.
When COVID-19 forced countries into lockdown mode with major air-travel restrictions, touring musicians were among those affected.
Organist and composer Ondřej Pivec—who’s entering his second week of self-quarantining in Prague—was on tour with Gregory Porter in late February when band members heard whispers of gig cancellations. By the time they hit Zurich, the artists encountered a harsh shift in tone.
“The [venues] told us they were limiting the number of people to 1,000,” Pivec said. “There were cops counting heads.”
In Germany, promoters initially instructed band members to leave their luggage on the backline truck, while they flew to Paris for an on-camera appearance. They planned a return to Germany the following day. “The night before, the promoter told us, ‘You should probably take all your stuff because chances are you’re not coming back,’” Pivec said.
Narrowly avoiding the lockdown in France, the Brooklyn organist elected to stay in Prague—where leaving home without a protective facemask has become a ticketable offense—while his bandmates flew back to the United States. “With the current administration, it’s honestly a little scary to be in the States,” Pivec said. But a chilling question comfronts those artists who remain abroad: Will they be able to fly home?
Drummer Alix Goffic and saxophonist Benjamin “Míng” Chin are one-half of the New York-based quartet QNA. After a show marking the release of their single “FuckM,” the pair flew to Singapore to play a few gigs with rapper and songwriter Masia One. The emcee is currently across the Malaysian border. They never connected.
“It’s all about borders here,” said Chin, who contends Singapore residents are more concerned with mobility than with the viral outbreak.
Still, the situation changes on a daily basis, and like their counterparts in Iceland and Prague, the two artists face an unknown future, particularly amid the release of their debut recording, Above The Law.
“We have to monitor what’s happening in Europe, the U.S. and here,” Goffic said. He and Chin had booked return trips to France and the U.S., respectively, for March 24. Both flights have been canceled. “There’s no way we can plan more than a day in advance,” Goffic continued. “It’s always changing.”
AGAINST THE PULSE of uncertainty, Collin and Pivec monitor rapidly changing circumstances with critical interest as well. But they have come to embrace the unknowable as a tool for inspiration. A digital piano and MIDI setup offers Pivec an outlet for cooped-up creative energy. On Thursday, he partnered remotely with Grammy-nominated duo The Baylor Project, creating full production via Instagram around “Sit On Down,” their original #coronaviruschallenge tune.
A solo concert by saxophonist Joshua Redman will close the first night of the Hyde Park Jazz Festival on Sept. 26.
Sep 22, 2026 12:26 PM
The Hyde Park Jazz Festival will take place for the 20th time on the final weekend of September 2026. Beginning half…
“It was just that suddenly … I could hear it,” Ravi Coltrane said of an epiphany he experienced during his late teens regarding his father’s music. “And it was almost like a calling, like something saying, ‘Hey, man, come on. It’s time to get serious.’ And the first time you really tune in and dial in and focus like that, it can be very life-changing.”
Sep 22, 2026 1:39 PM
Editor’s Note: Tomorrow, Sept. 23, is the 100th anniversary of John Coltrane’s birth. In honor of the tenor and…
Camille Thurman took to the stage alongside bassist Kenny Davis and drummer Tommy Campbell for a rendition of Johnny Mercer’s “I’m An Old Cowhand” that recalled Rollins’ epochal 1957 trio outing Way Out West.
Oct 6, 2026 1:33 PM
As emcee Mark Ruffin noted at the commencement of an epic tribute to saxophonist Sonny Rollins at the Cathedral of Saint…
Kurt Elling, Katherine Russell and Emmet Cohen (host on the 2027 Jazz Cruise) share a laugh at sea.
Sep 8, 2026 11:52 AM
It began in 2001. A travel agent named Anita E. Berry had been booking clients on “partial” jazz cruises that took…
Sep 17, 2026 11:00 AM
The 2027 DownBeat College Guide is an invaluable resource for music students, especially jazz students, to find a school…
