Jun 14, 2022 1:32 PM
Blindfold Test: Rudresh Mahanthappa’s Hero Trio, Parts 1 & 2
Seeing a colorful press photo of Rudresh Mahanthappa and his bandmates adorned in masks, tights and capes might lead one…
In this rare iteration of the DownBeat Blindfold Test, all three musicians were asked to comment on selections consisting entirely of trio music.
Jun 14, 2022 1:32 PM
Seeing a colorful press photo of Rudresh Mahanthappa and his bandmates adorned in masks, tights and capes might lead one…
“We don’t like boring music,” saxophonist Binker Golding says. “Our way of bringing excitement is by using energy. It’s just what we do … lean into it.”
Jun 14, 2022 1:28 PM
British duo Binker and Moses are pushing the fold with their new album Feeding The Machine (Gearbox), their first studio…
The friendship that exists between Matthew Stevens (left) and Walter Smith III dates back when they were both members of Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah’s band during the mid-to-late aughts.
Jun 7, 2022 4:00 PM
Even when speaking with Walter Smith III and Matthew Stevens on Zoom — with the tenor saxophonist being in Boston and…
Danilo Pérez has turned his music into a family-driven, relentless mission to unite the world.
May 31, 2022 12:33 PM
Large buzzards, called Gallinazos in Spanish, glide between the skyscrapers of downtown Panama City. They hover like…
Russell’s ability to captivate an audience is a well-honed craft.
May 31, 2022 12:11 PM
The energy at New York’s Birdland felt restless and distracted. When the band started playing “Honeysuckle Rose,”…
The Roxy Coss Quintet proves to be much more than the sum of its Disparate Parts, an aptly named new album on Outside in Music.
May 31, 2022 12:06 PM
Roxy Coss first made her name as a force to be reckoned with on The Future Is Female (Posi-Tone, 2017), her provocative…
May 24, 2022 10:40 AM
Charles Mingus’ centennial year will see a bounty of new recordings — both historical offerings and ambitious new…
The results of Epitaph are alternately lyrical, cacophonous, raucous and elegiac.
May 24, 2022 10:39 AM
Any consideration of Charles Mingus’ corpus must contend with Epitaph, his magnum opus, a monster orchestral work that…
“I always have this feeling of emptiness after I play a concert,” Aldana said. “This has been for years. Sometimes I can easily cry, and there’s nothing wrong.”
May 17, 2022 12:24 PM
Melissa Aldana’s musical journey has been sprinkled with stardust, from 1990s TV appearances as a saxophone prodigy in…
“I’ve always been into the zodiac and the truth that’s within it, but during this pandemic, we all had to time and space to do that,” Hill said.
May 17, 2022 12:20 PM
Trumpeter Marquis Hill speaks in quietly determined tones. Through a Zoom conversation from his college office in…
