Culture
Jazz beyond the music — its history, communities, venues, and place in the broader culture.
The Five Cities That Made Jazz
New Orleans started it. Four more cities each did something different with what they inherited.
How to Listen to Free Jazz
Free jazz has a reputation for being difficult. That reputation is wrong. The music isn't hard to hear — it's hard to hear the right way.
The Language of Jazz: A Glossary for New Listeners
Jazz has a vocabulary that insiders use casually and newcomers find baffling. Here is what the words mean — and what to listen for.
How Streaming Changed Jazz (and What It Didn't)
Streaming gave jazz wider distribution than it has ever had. Jazz's audience did not grow proportionally. Something more complicated happened instead.
10 Contemporary Albums That Prove Jazz Is Thriving
Jazz didn't stop evolving when the records you know were made. Ten albums from the past fifteen years that prove it.
The 10 Blue Note Albums Every Listener Should Know
Blue Note released hundreds of albums. Forty appear on every essential list. Here are ten of those — and what to listen for in each.
The Room Where It Happens: Why the Jazz Club Is Irreplaceable
Streaming has given us everything except the one thing that matters most. You can hear every record ever made. What you cannot do is be in the room.
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