Legendary bluesman and master piano player Pinetop Perkins died on Monday, March 21 at his home in Austin, Texas.   Perkins was one of the true originals. At age 97, he was one of the last blues musicians who could legitimately claim direct roots in the Delta blues of the [...]

On Sunday, March 27, more than a dozen innovative artists at the intersection of indie rock, contemporary jazz, and avant-garde performance will come together at Columbia University School of the Arts’ Miller Theatre in New York City to present a benefit concert to support recovery efforts in Japan. “The tragedy [...]

On May 17, for the first time in nearly 20 years, the four original members of Béla Fleck and the Flecktones will release an album. Which is to say, keyboardist and harmonica player Howard Levy has returned for his first recording with the band since 1992’s UFO Tofu. The new [...]

In the half-century between his earliest recordings in the 1950s and his death in 2004, Ray Charles ascended to icon status by leaving his mark on virtually every form of American popular music that emerged in the latter half of the 20th century. Nowhere was this more evident than in [...]

In February, 18-year-old saxophonist Grace Kelly won the 2011 ASCAP Foundation Young Jazz Composer Award. And if that prestigious honor isn’t enough to launch Kelly’s new year on a sunny note, she’ll also by making her debut on NPR’s nationally syndicated radio show JazzSet in March during a segment featuring [...]

The jazz world is about to receive a heavy dose of a very hot Bay-area trumpeter named Ambrose Akinmusire. His debut album on the Blue Note imprint, The Heart Emerges Glistening, is set to drop on April 5. Nine days later, he and his quintet will embark on a fairly [...]