There's a fullness in ten years. A lot of work, if rather relentlessly done, can really make a discernible impact. Ten years ago, folks were making all the talk as rather cyclically that jazz was dead. It was such an exhausting conversation. Folks were around making this music, obviously. It couldn't be that dead. The problem was in the awareness and the tweaking of the … [Read more...]
Editor-in-Chief
Nextbop Editor-in-Chief Anthony Dean-Harris hosts the modern jazz radio show, The Line-Up, Fridays at 9pm CST on 91.7 FM KRTU San Antonio and is also a contributing writer to DownBeat Magazine and the San Antonio Current.
Anthony Dean-Harris’ Favorite Jazz Albums of 2019
Yesterday we unveiled Nextbop's Best Jazz Albums of 2019, which was compiled by our staff as a whole. Today, we continue our Season of Lists with Editor-in-Chief Anthony Dean-Harris' Favorite Jazz Albums of 2019. There's something kind of lovely about the lack of one major cohesive idea present in the genre of jazz at the moment. The idea of what the music can be is larger … [Read more...]
In Memory of Dylan Maida
Dylan Maida has been in my periphery since before I ever got into music journalism. He followed my last.fm account over a dozen years ago. I had gotten onto the site back in college to track the music I listened to, he just seemed like a kid with good taste. Like many para and semi-social relationships on the internet, we seemed to both keep a glancing eye out for each other … [Read more...]
Dan Weiss Trio Plus 1’s New Album ‘Utica Box’ Reviewed
Utica Box unfolds. It requires patience. There's a mood to build to and reward that building of tension. Dan Weiss is shooting for a lot of this with his latest release drumming alongside pianist Jacob Sacks and bassists Thomas Morgan and Eivind Opsvik. This group can fit these moods in standard length compositions like the compact shuffle,"Jamerson", or its follow up, the … [Read more...]
Javier Santiago’s New Ropeadope Album ‘B-Sides: The Phoenix Sessions’ Reviewed
It cannot be said that Javier Santiago plays the keys without a sense of lyricism and tension. It cannot be said that Santiago doesn't compose songs with powerful arcs that don't let go. In his Ropeadope debut last year, Phoenix, Javier Santiago did this all over, and he did it as a jazz fusion masterpiece, but that may have been due to the tools used for the job, leaning more … [Read more...]