BIRDLAND JULY SCHEDULE LEW TABACKIN and TOSHIKO AKIYOSHI QUARTET Wednesday-Saturday, July 1-4 @ 8:30 and 11pm Music Charges: $30, general seating; $40, premium seating Lew Tabackin is one of the few jazz musicians who maintains a dual musical personality. As...

When it?s time for the jazz singer Sheila Jordan to work on arrangements, she heads to Middleburgh, N.Y.

Reports of the death of smooth jazz exaggerated. Peter Hum was on hand for the "staggering journey."

IOWA CITY and#151; Wailing saxophones, guitars, horns and fireworks will pierce the air during the Toyota-Scion of Iowa City Jazz Festival this weekend.The three-day event begins downtown Friday evening and continues through Sunday evening, bringing national and international stars, as...

A jazz collection that includes songs written by everybody from Paul McCartney to Charlie Parker.

Upon his release from the Hampton Band in December 1953, Brownie found employment wherever he could?most notably with Charlie Parker and Art Blakey . The brilliant recordings he made in New York City in the Fall and the ones captured...

Kansas City jazz has a new spot on the radio, and it?s a spot unlike any other. KCUR-FM?s ?12 O?Clock Jump,? making its debut at midnight Saturday, will be a weekly jazz happening, live from the historic Mutual Musicians Foundation,...

3 July 2009 ? Edmonton, Alberta ? This July, there's something to suit everyone's taste on the Edmonton events calendar. For those who dig jazz, whether it's cool, slow and blue or red hot and hoppin', there's the Edmonton International...

From the Edmonton International Jazz Festival to the Blueberry Bluegrass Festival, Edmonton is delicious with morsels and music this month

Harvie S with Kenny Barron Now Was the Time Savant Records 2008 Ron Thomas and Paul Klinefelter Blues for Zarathustra Art of Life Records 2008 Nothing against piano trios or drummers, but eliminating the latter can result in a far...

When he was only 25, the word "legend" was already being used to describe Stanley Clarke. Now, he's a king of the acoustic and electric jazz worlds, having won every major award available to a bass player. Hear an interview...

Whenever he took the stage, audiences were guaranteed a musical spectacle. Half mystic, half visionary, the pianist and bandleader charted a relentlessly adventurous course through the jazz tradition.

From the lighthearted and fancy to the haunting and grotesque, NPR station WDUQ highlights some spooky Halloween music you can listen to all year long. Hear jazz vocalists conjure different ghosts out of classic tunes, while horn players coax the...

The latest CD from New Orleans trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard is A Tale of God's Will, whose subtitle is "A Requiem for Katrina." Parts of the recording were heard in Spike Lee's HBO documentary When the Levees Broke.

He was a sideman with the early stars of jazz, led one of the most admired bands on the swing era, and catalyzed the careers of musicians like Charles Mingus. All the while, Red Norvo was bringing the mallet instruments...

Reedman Buddy Collette has spent most of his music career on the West Coast, out of the national spotlight. But it would be a mistake to overlook his distinguished career as a jazz educator, activist, composer and, of course, phenomenal...

The legendary jazz pianist and composer is best known for his time in New York City, where he developed his eccentric musical genius. But 90 years ago today, Thelonious Monk was born in the Southern city of Rocky Mount, N.C.

Using dissonant chords, a keen sense of space and knotty, syncopated melodies, Monk created some of the most original and challenging American music of the 20th century. Now, 90 years after his birth, his legacy is as strong as ever.

The 50th Anniversary of the Monterey Jazz Festival proved to be a rousing success. 45,000 fans attended the historic event and all three days were sold out, a festival first. Hear some of the festival's greatest highlights in an audio...

Jazz pianist Cyrus Chestnut and Elvis Presley aren't a likely pairing: Chestnut is one of the top pianists of a generation born many years after songs like "Love Me Tender" made Presley the king of rock 'n' roll. Hear an...

Philadelphia native Adam Dorn, a.k.a. Mocean Worker, has assembled a collection of Manhattan's most revered underground soul, jazz and funk players to perform blissfully funky jazz rave-ups on his new album, Cinco de MoWo! Hear an interview and in-studio performance.

Few song stylists of any era are as immediately distinctive and arresting as "Lady Day." Her rhythmic instinct for melodies brought vocals to the forefront of jazz expression. And her voice itself remains an influential, inimitable and incredible sound.

In Floratone's "The Passenger," Bill Frisell's guitar sits front and center, teasing out references to gritty desert rock, Spaghetti Western soundtracks and even the slinky upstroke strums of dub and reggae. Inventive studio tricks add languid, ethereal atmosphere.

In a mid-'50s jazz landscape increasingly dominated by bebop's aftermath, the largely forgotten band Les Jazz Modes stood apart. "Hoo-Tai" finds the group's chops integrating deftly with its orchestral experiments, and the sum is a finely sculpted, acutely appealing jazz...

Queen Latifah has always followed her mother's simple advice: Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Her success in music and film has allowed her to do some less- commercial things she loves, like singing old jazz and R&B...

The world's longest-running jazz festival celebrates its golden anniversary with a specially commissioned piece by Gerald Wilson and performances by many jazz luminaries. Hear NPR's coverage and a selection of concerts recorded by WBGO.

Shanghai's hedonistic nightlife and jazz music scene were once renowned throughout Asia -- before the Communist Party took power and punished jazz as a crime. But today, a small group of musicians are re-creating the sounds of the city's golden...

Jazz writer Ashley Kahn offers his observations of the three days of nonstop music that marked the 50th annual Monterey Jazz Festival in California. The giants of jazz came to play at Monterey, which featured performances by Gerald Wilson and...

Players from 17 high schools were chosen for the Monterey Next Generation Jazz Orchestra. After studying to perform some of the most challenging big-band music available, the high-school all-stars perform alongside Terence Blanchard at the Monterey Jazz Festival.

Bay Area disc jockey Jimmy Lyons got Brubeck to play piano for the Monterey City Council more than 50 years ago to convince it to put on a festival. The Monterey Jazz Festival is in its 50th year, and Brubeck...

Considered by many to be he finest male jazz vocalist of his generation, Kurt Elling has just released a live...

Andrew Speight spearheaded the formation of the Generations Band as a project of the International Center for the Arts at...

Two living legends of jazz Mose Allison and Bob Dorough will appear in a double bill at Yoshi's in Oakland...

Bill Carrothers expresses himself best while streaming intricate concepts into long, elegant lines of melody through a harmonic topography that...

I can take it anywhere it goes, right? I love to play inside, outside...but the organ swings best when it...

A unique sense of harmony, movement and drama has characterized the music of pianist Rick Germanson since his first recording,...

Steve Smith brings his band Vital Information to the Catalina Jazz Club in Hollywood on Wednesday, July 1st through Friday,...

Today the Jazz Journalists Association announced its 13th annual Jazz Awards, celebrating excellence in jazz music. Founded in 1986, the...

The 30th Montreal Jazz Festival will be held from June 30 to July 12, 2009. Officially named Le...

Former music manager Allen Klein, a no-holds-barred businessman who bulldozed his way into and out of deals with the Beatles...

Jazzelation will be performing at the 2009 Greenbelt Festival. The band will play the Performance Stage on Monday 31st...

All About Jazz is celebrating Joel Bowers' birthday today! JAZZ MUSICIAN OF THE DAY Joel BowersJoel Bowers is a 33-year-old...

Organizers of Michael Jackson's memorial service at Staples Center said today they will give away 17,500 tickets to the event...

A spokesperson for Lloyd's of London tells us she's never heard of a case where her company has insured someone...

Is your city puting on a massive pyrotechnics display this weekend? Or maybe just your neighbor Carl? Either way, you...

Lyudmila Zykina, who rose to stardom from the factory floor to become one of the Soviet Union’s best-loved folk singers,...

A French court on Friday sentenced the Algerian singer Cheb Mami, above, to five years in jail for abducting a...

The architecture on his Santa Barbara County property reflects his androgynous, perpetually childlike model of superstardom -- and his unique...

Part Two of my in-depth interview with former Yes/King Crimson/Earthworks drummer Bill Bruford is now playing at We Will Rock...