Cecily taps the healing power of joy on ‘Awakening Pt. II’
According to the late Black feminist scholar bell hooks, love is a verb — an action we choose every...
Category: Interviews
‘Don’t write an opera, tell a story:’ Terence Blanchard’s path to ‘Fire Shut Up in My Bones’
New Orleanian musician Terence Blanchard is known for many things. Recently named a 2024 National Endowment for the Arts...
The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis are ‘chasing energy,’ not genre, on powerful new LP
For the members of D.C.-based pyrotechnic rock trio the Messthetics and luminary tenor saxophonist James Brandon Lewis, the question...
Charles Tolliver talks Strata-East, 1960s D.C., and why he keeps coming back to Trane
Trumpeter Charles Tolliver is known for many things: co-founding the highly influential Strata-East label with his collaborator, the pianist...
‘Different ways of relating:’ Kris Davis breaks down the vision behind her landmark album ‘Diatom Ribbons’
When Kris Davis won the “Rising Star Pianist” award in DownBeat‘s 2018 critics’ poll, it was not so much...
‘I’m always pushing:’ After years away, Corcoran Holt is ready to give back to D.C.
After nearly two decades away, bassist and percussionist Corcoran Holt recently returned home to Washington, D.C., to take on...
‘Ain’t But a Few of Us:’ Willard Jenkins on why Black jazz writers’ voices matter
The idea for Ain’t But a Few of Us, Willard Jenkins’ new volume exploring the experiences and work of...
‘The Nutcracker’ gets a new groove, thanks to Joe McCarthy and the Afro-Bop Alliance
The Afro-Bop Alliance is known for combining the swaying, dance floor-ready rhythms of Latin America – Cuba, in particular...
Matthew Shipp, an icon of creative music, says improvisation is everything
The avant-garde piano luminary Matthew Shipp is always fearless, often ambiguous and unendingly ambivalent about how his music is...
‘About the music, about the people:’ Clarence Ward III Talks Roy Hargrove, the sounds of Baltimore City and his new EP
Multi-instrumentalist and composer Clarence Ward III has recently established himself as a staple of Baltimore jazz. His weekly jam...