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…
Thundercat is a second-generation product of the Los Angeles jazz scene: Drummer Ronald Bruner Sr., his father, gigged with saxophonist Rickey Washington, father of Kamasi Washington.
(Photo: The1point8)Across four full-length efforts, Thundercat has pushed jazz into unknown territories. The bassist, though, remains keenly aware of the roles that his family—both his biological and chosen affiliates—have played in forging the unique sound.
Born Stephen Bruner, Thundercat has become an integral part of the contemporary jazz scene that’s sprouted in Los Angeles, a city many see wrapped in a romantic past. Bruner just sees it as home. He’s actually a second-generation product of the scene there: Drummer Ronald Bruner Sr., his father, gigged with saxophonist Rickey Washington, father of Kamasi Washington.
“There’s photos of us when we were babies. ... [Our parents] just kept us around each other,” Thundercat, who released It Is What It Is in April, said about the younger Washington. “Once they realized that we were very musically talented, they figured it would be better for us to hang out with each other” than to fall in with a questionable crowd.
As teens, the pair would practice in the Washingtons’ garage, a place they called “The Shed.” Longtime collaborators like the saxophonist and producer Flying Lotus form a significant and notable part of Thundercat’s expansive musical family.
“Like the leader of the band that I was in, Suicidal Tendencies, used to say all the time: ‘You have your family you’re born with and the family that you choose,’” the bassist recalled.
Among his various family members, Thundercat also is quick to credit a longtime teacher at Locke High School in Los Angeles with helping to raise him, musically.
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…
