Immortal Onion – ‘Ocelot of Salvation’
Polish piano-bass-drum trio Immortal Onion are a young group, early twenties. They’ve got mastery of their instruments and they have a sound that’s of their time. That’s how youth invents– …
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Ben Wendel – “Stars Fell on Alabama” (Video)
Ah, the overdubbed Brady Bunch video. They’re the internet’s way of saying I’m-a-one-person-musical-badass. One can do these sorts of overdubs live or in audio recording, but this way has that …
Herbie Hancock on ‘Austin City Limits’
It’s hard to believe but legendary pianist Herbie Hancock had, before quite recently, never performed on the equally legendary American public television show Austin City Limits. This changed last week …
Ivo Neame – “Vegetarians” (Video)
Pianist Ivo Neame always brings incredibly dope music, particularly with the piano-bass-drum trio Phronesis. However, his solo work is certainly worthy of talk and some space on your hard drives. …
Butcher Brown Live at Paste Studio NYC
Our favorite band out of Richmond, VA, Butcher Brown, are back at it again with a new studio session from Paste‘s studio in Manhattan. With a short set of songs, …
Braxton Cook – “Lately” (Stream)
Saxophonist/vocalist Braxton Cook is dropping a new single today. “Lately”, the track made in collaboration with rapper/producer Karnival Kid a.k.a BLVK Samurai is more R&B/hip hop than jazz, even by …
Jaimie Branch – ‘Fly or Die’
Although Jaimie Branch has been playing music for a while now, having been part of the Chicago jazz scene before her recent move to Brooklyn, Fly or Die is her …
Nextbop Interviews Rudresh Mahanthappa
Last October, alto saxophonist and composer Rudresh Mahanthappa reunited his trio, the Indo-Pak Coalition which features guitarist Rez Abbasi and tabla player Dan Weiss, for a new LP entitled Agrima, …
Nextbop’s Favorite Jazz Albums of 2017
We have a small, volunteer staff here at Nextbop. Folks who read us here contribute work, adding to the collective of voices that we so cherish here and giving additional …
Nextbop’s Favorite Non-Jazz Albums of 2017
The Nextbop favorite non-jazz list is always a fascinating beast because it exemplifies the widest interests of the staff. It frequently doesn’t coalesce around many of the same ideas. There …
Psychic Temple – “Dream Dictionary” (Video)
One of the bands in which we delight around here, Psychic Temple, that most chill, ecclectic, hard to define group led by guitarist Chris Schlarb, has been celebrating their latest …
Nextbop Interviews Brian Blade
Brian Blade & The Fellowship Band are celebrating their 20th anniversary as a unit with the release of their fifth studio album on Blue Note Records entitled Body and Shadow. …
Marquis Hill – ‘Meditation Tape EP’
Marquis Hill, who we recently interviewed, has finally dropped his Meditation Tape EP. You can check out the first track from the album, “Good Morning”, below. And read the interview …
Nate Wood as fOUR – “Frozen Head” (Video)
It’s always fun hearing drummer/multi-instrumentalist Nate Wood, best known for his work in Kneebody. However, his series of one-take videos under the name fOUR has been a highlight of 2017 …
Gianluca Gibbons – “Shades of Me” (Video)
Saxophonist Gianluca Gibbons is set to release a somber, ethereal new single, “Shades of Me” on Friday, December 1st. The Bermudan composer has crafted a song that’s more of a …
Nextbop Interviews Marquis Hill
Trumpeter and sensei Marquis Hill is set to drop a brand new EP, aka bomb, on us December 1st. Meditation Tape EP is a seven-track succinct endeavor rooted in jazz …
Danny Janklow’s Elevation Band – “Creep” (Radiohead Cover)
Sometimes less is more as demonstrated by LA saxophonist Danny Janklow’s superb rendering of Radiohead’s cult hit “Creep.” Read Other Articles in Our ‘Best Song Covers’ Series! Without the zig-zagging and …
Tomas Fujiwara – ‘Triple Double’ (Album Review)
Tomas Fujiwara has been active for well over a decade now, with his first recorded date as a sideman being on Matana Robert’s The Calling back in 2006. Just a …
NOW VS NOW live at the office (Video)
Jason Lindner, Panagiotis Andreou and Justin Tyson collectively known as NOW VS NOW were in Rotterdam and stopped by the Good Music Company headquarters for an impromptu jam session. In …
Sam Newsome & Jean-Michel Pilc – ‘Magic Circle’ (Album Review)
Jean-Michel Pilc plays the piano as if there were drums present, particularly in times when there isn’t. His left-handed beat is infectious, almost as much as his loquacious right hand. …
Mammal Hands – ‘Shadow Work’ (Album Review)
For some reason, there is a special place in my heart for European jazz music, a breed of its own often misrepresented in North American circles. Even here at Nextbop, …
(U)nity – ‘(U)nity is Power’ (Album Review)
The band (U)nity, co-lead by pianist Axel Laugart and percussionist Amaury Acosta, are legit and have been for a minute now, but with the release of their first proper album, …
The Kris Johnson Group with Lulu Falls – “Painfully Sober” (Video)
Earlier this summer, Kris Johnson, Director of Jazz Studies at the University of Utah, released his first album with vocalist Lulu Fall, The Unpaved Road. Check out the brand new …
Brian Blade & the Fellowship Band’s Brand New Single “Broken Leg Days”
Brian Blade & the Fellowship Band are set to drop their fifth album, Body and Shadow, November 10th marking their 20th anniversary as a unit. Formed in 1997, the Fellowship …
Nextbop Interviews Sarah Elizabeth Charles
Vocalist Sarah Elizabeth Charles just released her newest album Free of Form at the beginning of the month. Co-produced by Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah and featuring her long-time band SCOPE …
‘Jazz Loves Disney 2’ (Preview Video)
Proprietary cash grab projects are kinda the pits, and this project almost seems to fit in that ideal, but this compilation, produced by Jay Newland, and arranged and directed by …
Matt Mitchell – ‘A Pouting Grimace’
On A Pouting Grimace (Pi Recordings), Matt Mitchell’s fifth outing as a leader, the pianist has created, along with producer David Torn, an otherworldly musical ecosystem through a uniquely orchestrated …
Thundercat – “Show You The Way” (Video)
Bassist Thundercat’s Drunk, released earlier this year on Brainfeeder, is still very much a dope album. To remind you of its dopeness, that wacko has released yet another music video, …
Gerald Clayton – ‘Tributary Tales’ (Album Review)
After a four year wait, fans will be pleased to hear that Tributary Tales, while surely taking a page out of the same book as its preceding album, A Life …
Eddie Moore And The Outer Circle – “007”
Keyboardist Eddie Moore has a new single out now entitled “007”. Could this mean there’s a new album on the way? Regardless, hit play and shake three measures of Gordon’s, …
Mark Guiliana Jazz Quartet’s ‘Jersey’ Album Review
🍞 Home / Jazz Music Artists / Jazz Drummers / Mark Guiliana / Mark Guiliana Jazz Quartet’s ‘Jersey’ Album Review People fawn over Mark Guiliana. They should– he’s a spectacular …
Cecile McLorin Salvant – ‘Dreams and Daggers: Live at The Village Vanguard’ (Album Review)
With the release of her last album For One To Love, Cecile McLorin Salvant put the focus on her pen, with almost half of the tracks being original compositions. Light, …
Nextbop Interviews Kendrick Scott
Last Friday, Blue Note Records dropped Our Point of View featuring its All-Stars, namely trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, keyboardist Robert Glasper, bassist Derrick Hodge, guitarist Lionel Loueke, drummer Kendrick Scott, and …
Sarah Elizabeth Charles – “Zombie” (Stream)
As we gear up for the release of Sarah Elizabeth Charles’ upcoming album, Free of Form, there are still more delights to discover. For example, as wide ranging the album …
Nicole Mitchell and Haki R. Madhubuti – ‘Liberation Narratives’
While jazz and poetry are two artistic media that frequently gravitate around one another (hell, they even share an appreciation month in the United States), there aren’t so many instances …
Gregory Porter – “L-O-V-E” feat. Terence Blanchard
Gregory Porter has released the second single off his upcoming Nat King Cole tribute Nat King Cole & Me due out October 27 on Blue Note Records. Check out “L-O-V-E” …
Teri Parker Quartet – “Chromo” (Video)
Pianist Teri Parker hails from Toronto, Canada, yet has spent some time in the Big Apple honing her chops under the tutelage of Aaron Goldberg, Guillermo Klein, Fred Hersch and …
Braxton Cook – “Somewhere in Between” (Swarvy Remix) (Stream)
Braxton Cook has always maintained a silky smoothness on the saxophone that in his debut solo album, Somewhere In Between, lays it all out in spades and never ceases to …
Sarah Jerrom – ‘The Yeats Project’
Vocalist/composer/arranger Sarah Jerrom has a strong voice to go with her cerebral approach to jazz. Her embracing of chamber jazz melds her firm, but airy voice with compositions that bandy …
BADBADNOTGOOD – “Confessions, Pt. III” feat. Colin Stetson (Stream)
One of the best qualities of our friends from up north, BADBADNOTGOOD, is their can’t stop, won’t stop nature. They seem to always have something cooking. This new song, fresh …
Nextbop Interviews Fabian Almazan Founder of Biophilia Records
You all know pianist Fabian Almazan as an accomplished musician, but what you may not know is that he also runs a environmentally-conscious music label named Biophilia. I caught up …
Saxophonist Uri Gurvich Set to Release ‘Kinship’
Israeli-born, New York-based saxophonist Uri Gurvich is set to release is third album as a leader, Kinship, September 8th on the French label Jazz Family. Kinship brings together a stellar …
Rez Abbasi drops new single “Propensity”
Guitarist Rez Abbasi is back at it with a new album coming October 6th on Whirlwind Recordings. Unfiltered Universe brings back Abbasi’s South Asian-inspired supergroup, Invocation, featuring saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa, …
Nextbop Interviews Chet Doxas
Chet Doxas, arguably one of Montreal’s most illustrious saxophonists, left my endearing hometown three years ago, off to pursue his dream in the bigger and better pastures of the Big …
Sarah Elizabeth Charles – “Free of Form” feat. Christian Scott
Vocalist Sarah Elizabeth Charles has continuously dazzled us here, standing out as a singer with a voice as airy as a breeze or as gusty as a thunderstorm. Whether on …
Butcher Brown – Jam in the Van
It’s no secret that Butcher Brown gets some love around here, and some newly released videos aren’t going to change that. The band gets down on “Fiat”, “Lysol”, and “AfroKuti …
Aaron Parks – ‘Find the Way’
Aaron Parks has never left us. It’s been a while since he has released a major album as a leader, but he’s been around. Upon his return to the for …
Ambrose Akinmusire – ‘A Rift in Decorum: Live at the Village Vanguard’ (Album Review)
I’m writing this review 39,000 feet in the air, flying back home to Texas after spending the last week meandering through the streets of New York City. The more I …
Dave King Rolls Out New Web Series, ‘Lights, Cameron, Jackson’
Last year, comedian Louis CK produced a single-camera dramedy on his website with episodes of various lengths and, thusly, with each episode available for purchase at varying prices. Horace and …
Psychic Temple – ‘IV’
Over the years, I’ve found myself eagerly devouring each album guitarist/vocalist/bandleader/cult leader Chris Schlarb releases with his group, Psychic Temple. His progressive melding of jazz, folk, and hazy rock has …
Rotem Sivan – ‘Antidote’
It’s hard to find new words to describe the brilliance of guitarist Rotem Sivan. His previous albums, 2015’s A New Dance and 2014’s For Emotional Use Only, highlighted his shining …
Portico Quartet – “Endless” (Video)
They’re back. The difficult to pin down London band with the baddest hang in the game have seemingly returned to a jazzier inclination once more with their upcoming new album, …
Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah – ‘Centennial Trilogy: Diaspora’
Diaspora, the second album of trumpeter Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah’s Centennial Trilogy of albums he’s releasing this year, is softer than its predecessor, Ruler Rebel. It’s warmer, more somber, more …
Nate Wood’s fOUR – “sides” (video)
The multi-talented drummer for Kneebody, Nate Wood, (whose work on Dan Tepfer’s new album, Eleven Cages, I have been gushing about and will do so here at the site soon) …
Brandon Seabrook’s ‘Die Trommel Fatale’
If you ever want to get thrown for a loop, make something large and then take something away, some ingredient that adds a little bit of flash and go without …
Diego Barber – ‘One Minute Later’
In the credits of his new album, One Minute Later, out now on Sunnyside, Diego Barber as listed as playing the classical guitar. Based on this album, this seems true …
Digbii – ‘Lonely Star’
Nothing wrong with coming across some new grooves on a Friday. Milwaukee-based Digbii’s new release, Lonely Star, should fit the bill. Digbii is a quartet of drums (Jay Arpin), bass …
Dave Chisholm – ‘Instrumental’
Dave Chisholm is multi-talented. He’s a deft trumpeter and composer– expressive, expansive, illustrative with an idea of direction and arch. He is also a graphic artist with a good sense …
Kurt Rosenwinkel – ‘Caipi’
Few things can put a smile on your face this year quite like Kurt Rosenwinkel’s latest Brazilian-influenced album, Caipi, out now on Sunnyside. The man has been an inspiration to …
Orlando LeFleming – “Pretentious Brooklyn” (Stream)
Bassist Orlando LeFleming’s new project, Romantic Funk, is described as falling “somewhere between the serene, legato passages of early-Jaco-era Weather Report, and the spaced out electronica of late-70’s Herbie Hancock“. …
Arthur Hnatek – ‘Lualuna Tai – With DKSJ’
An album like Lualuna Tai, the four song EP composed by drummer Arthur Hnatek (who has backed the likes of Tigran Hamasyan, Erik Truffaz, and Dhafer Youssef) and performed with …
Jazzahead! 2017
The recent Jazzahead! event in Bremen, Germany, featured performances from a who’s who of current jazz players. Thankfully, many of those performances have been recorded and made available to those …
Anne Mette-Iversen – ‘Round Trip’
Bassist Anne Mette-Iversen’s new quintet album, Round Trip, is described as a set of tunes designed “to return to the starting point via a different road”, and the tunes on …
Phronesis, Julian Arguelles, & the Frankfurt Radio Big Band – ‘The Behemoth’ (Album Review)
The secret of any great piano-bass-drums trio is creating a massive sound from the three elements. These three instruments hold great potential, for soft elegies or bonkers jaunts. Get the …
Rotem Sivan – ‘Antidote’ (EPK)
Rotem Sivan is one of my favorite guitar players. He’s a nimble player and an engaging composer, and his trio including bassist haggai Cohen Milo and drummer Colin Stranahan are …
Taylor Haskins – ‘Gnosis’
Gnosis sounds like the future. Of course, this will sound like an odd statement when time passes and fashions change — when synthesizers phase back out of style, only to …
Matthew Stevens – ‘Preverbal’
What is the actual difference between adventurous, guitar-based contemporary jazz music and instrumental post-rock? Depending on the day, I can get down just as much to Explosions in the Sky …
Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah – ‘Ruler Rebel’
Since time perpetually moves forward, all movement is technically forward movement. Everything is a form of progression. Experience gives texture to signature, though the elements of signature — those attributes …
Miles Okazaki – ‘Trickster’
Miles Okazaki’s compositions sound like he’s creating an elaborate portrait from mosaic, octagon-shaped tiles. His style of play is dense, weaving around in his phrases with so many loops and …
Daniel Herskedal – ‘The Roc’
For those unfamiliar with his work, Daniel Herskedal is a Norwegian jazz musician regarded as one of the most talented jazz tubaists on the scene today. I know what you …
Thundercat – ‘Drunk’
Early on his latest album, Drunk, on the song “Bus in These Streets” (written alongside Louis Cole), bassist/singer/personality Stephen “Thundercat” Bruner notes that he’s “out here doing the most”. Thundercat’s …
On Iverson on Glasper (Pause): Everyone Wants Everything, Even If It’s Different
This past summer, a friend of mine went off to the island of Mykonos for a few weeks of, well, let’s just say it, some good ol’ fun debauchery. The …
Extended – ‘s/t’
A piano trio, a good one, can come from anywhere. The cleverness, the connecting, the perfect sense of anchoring, the snappiness that makes the piano-bass-drums trio such a classic sound …
Chris Thile & Brad Mehldau (Album Review)
Mandolinist Chris Thile and pianist Brad Mehldau have been playing together for a little while now. I got to see them play together in Austin back in 2013 and was …
Al Jarreau (1940 – 2017)
A few weeks ago, numerous people on Facebook and I revealed our favorite albums from our high school years. In my corner of the internet, I felt a little alone …
Kneebody’s New Album, ‘Anti-Hero’, Out March 3
A new Kneebody album is cause for celebration, that and probably fanatical dancing. The rambunctious quintet consisting of Ben Wendel on tenor sax, Shane Endsley on trumpet, Adam Benjamin on …
Jose James – “Always There” (Video)
Singer José James is changing tack. James has always had every ingredient of soul in his sound, so for him to embrace R&B in his upcoming album, Love in a …
Influential Albums from Our Teenage Years
The latest trend going around Facebook lately is listing influential albums from one’s teenage years. The idea is to show a snapshot of one’s taste, background, interests, generational and regional …
Introducing Nate Smith Kinfolk
Drummer extraordinaire Nate Smith is getting set to release his Postcards From Everywhere album this February 3 with his group Kinfolk. To get ready for that release, Smith has released …
KADAWA – ‘s/t’
KADAWA — the trio of guitarist Tal Yahalom, bassist Almog Sharvit, and drummer Ben Silashi — are a very good guitar trio, like jarringly good. They describe themselves as an …
Matt Mayhall – ‘Tropes’
Tropes is an easy ride of an album. It hums along as shifting mood pieces. Drummer/composer Matt Mayhall in his debut release has made a particularly chill album that isn’t …
Aleif Hamdan – ‘Emblem’
Youthfulness is pretty easily recognizable in work. Sometimes it comes through in a roughness. Sometimes, it comes through in an antsiness, as if the boundless energy that comes with youth …
Nextbop’s Favorite Jazz Albums of 2016
There’s no universal theme or overall consensus in jazz this year. No overblown hype machine, no clamoring for a seemingly agreed upon savior, no important trendsetting bucking of past conventions …
Nextbop’s Favorite Non-Jazz Albums of 2016
It was difficult to find engagement in this year’s music. This was a year of loss, of disappointment, of scattershot feelings and even moreso scattershot expression. This isn’t to say …
BADBADNOTGOOD at Red Bull Sound Select’s 30 Days in LA
Like a week after their one-off gig in Austin last month, BADBADNOTGOOD jaunted off to Los Angeles to play a set for Red Bull Sound Select and Pitchfork, including their …
Cameron Mizell – ‘Negative Spaces’
One can hear a lot of different influences in guitarist Cameron Mizell‘s Negative Spaces. He can ride along with gentle curves like John Scofield, he can smartly noodle like Bill …
DD Horns – “Salty Salty” (Video)
Chris Schlarb continues to do great things out of California’s BIG EGO Studios. The Psychic Temple leader produced the upcoming debut album from trumpeter Danny Levin and tenor saxophonist David …
Jeff Parker – “Cliche” (Video)
Guitarist Jeff Parker’s album, The New Breed, is the jam. It’s laid back, casually muscular, with the ability to take the listener on a journey without any fuss at all. …
DR. MiNT – ‘Voices in the Void’ EPK
The quintet DR. MiNT are preparing to release their fifth album together, Voices in the Void January 23rd on Orenda Records. The group which consists of trumpeter Daniel Rosenboom, bassist …
Braxton Cook – “Somewhere In Between” (Stream)
Saxophonist Braxton Cook is breaking out on his own. He’s always been talented, one could tell with his work with Christian Scott atunde Adjuah’s group. His EP with Butcher Brown …
George Burton – ‘The Truth of What I Am > The Narcissist’
George Burton represents what many of Jazz’s most exciting figures hoped the genre would become: precarious, dynamic, revolutionary…unable to be contained. Few personify this aesthetic better than Charles Mingus. Not …
“Working Musician”, a 7 Episode Web Series (Video)
I’ve always been curious as to how up-and-coming jazz musicians survived in the chaos that is New York City. After spending some time there a year or so ago, I …
Ben Van Gelder – ‘Among Verticals’ (EPK)
New York based Dutch saxophonist Ben Van Gelder’s newest album is on its way. Among Verticals features usual cast members vibraphonist Peter Schlamb, bassist Rick Rosato, drummer Craig Weinrib, and …
David Bowie – “Killing a Little Time” (Stream)
Yesterday, one of three songs from the late David Bowie‘s Blackstar sessions — the ones featuring saxophonist Donny McCaslin, keyboardist Jason Lindner, bassist Tim Lefebvre, and drummer Mark Guiliana — …
Derrick Hodge – ‘The Second’
Derrick Hodge lives in a world that most modern jazz musicians can only dream to be a part of. A world where he can afford to take creative risks and …
Steve Lehman – ‘Selebeyone’
Sélébeyoné, released two months ago under Pi recordings, does two things really well: it is a better hip-hop album than most of the jazz-centric rap releases and it’s an excellent …
Shabaka And The Ancestors Releases ‘Wisdom of Elders’ (Stream)
Shabaka Hutchings isn’t a name that is overly familiar on this side of the pond, but the young British saxophonist had been garnering serious attention in his native London, receiving …
Oddarrang – “Mass I-III” (Video) + ‘Agartha’ (Full Album Stream)
Scandinavians seem to have a real knack for aestheticism and minimalism whether in architecture, design, gastronomy or in this particular case music. It seems like the philosophy of “less is …
Card on Spokes – ‘As We Surface’ EP
Bassist and producer Shane Cooper is a presence in South Africa. His work on his own moves the rather strong jazz scene there and his work under the moniker Card …
Ben Wendel – ‘What We Bring’
If there’s something to Ben Wendel’s signature sound on the tenor saxophone, it has to be one of a circuitous nature. His style of play always seems to loop back …
“And I Love Her”: A Critical Analysis of Covers
Brad Mehldau has a reputation for building beautiful piano trio versions of pop songs, notably including a lot of Beatles material. His trio release from earlier this year, Blues & …