Features
Long-form features and in-depth profiles on the artists, recordings, and ideas that define jazz.
Albert Ayler and the Scream
He played louder and stranger than anyone before him. Underneath the noise was a deep relationship to melody.
Kamasi Washington and the Return of the Epic
Kamasi Washington's 2015 debut ran for three hours. Nobody asked him to shorten it. That fact tells you almost everything about what he was trying to do.
Makaya McCraven and the Collage Method
Makaya McCraven records live improvisation and edits it into something nobody in the room played. The result is called jazz. It is also something else.
Mary Halvorson: Reinventing the Guitar
Mary Halvorson's guitar is immediately identifiable from the first note. No other guitarist in contemporary jazz sounds anything like her.
The First Great Quintet: Miles Davis 1955–1959
The rhythm section was almost an afterthought. The two horn players were the tension. And the tension was the whole point.
Reid Miles: The Designer Who Defined Jazz Cool
Reid Miles designed almost 500 Blue Note covers between 1956 and 1967. He was paid fifty dollars each. He reportedly preferred classical music.
Miles Ahead: The Restless Genius Who Remade Jazz Five Times Over
No figure in jazz history occupies quite the same gravitational position as Miles Davis. He didn't just play music — he permanently warped the field around him.
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