By Dan Ouellette During his 1960s tenure with Blue Note Records, tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson appeared on close to thirty albums as a valuable go-to session sideman. For starters, he contributed to Horace Silver’s Song for My Father, Andrew Hill’s Point of Departure, and Lee Morgan’s... read more

By Evan Haga Since making his international debut for Blue Note in 2020 with Modes of Communication: Letters From the Underworlds, the South African pianist and composer Nduduzo Makhathini has earned widespread acclaim for the genuinely spiritual transcendence of his music. For Makhathini, a... read more

MICHAEL CUSCUNA September 20, 1948 – April 20, 2024 It is not easy to bid farewell to a best friend, knowing that it’s a final goodbye. Michael Cuscuna was one of the best friends this music has had. It's simply too limiting to call him the leading jazz reissue producer of the past fifty... read more

By Evan Haga In the trio format he’s favored throughout his career, the guitarist and composer Bill Frisell has always projected an orchestral scope — through his remarkably complete sense of harmony, a unique gift for melodies that remain with you long after a performance, and a keen feel... read more

By Evan Haga A fascinating paradox defines Echoes Of The Inner Prophet, Melissa Aldana’s follow-up to her acclaimed Blue Note Records debut as a leader, 2022’s 12 Stars. As the GRAMMY-nominated saxophonist and composer explains, her new album reflects her “personal journey, with an... read more

By Adolfo Alzuphar Unsettled by the state of the world in 2020, Charles Lloyd began conceiving of a musical offering in the form of a new studio recording featuring a new band, a quartet of unrepressed sensibility that would be a first-time convening of four distinctive voices with the legendary... read more

DON WAS ON NORAH JONES VISIONS: A while back I set out to learn more about what differentiates a truly great artist from the rest of the pack and charted the narrative development of Bruce Springsteen’s songs during his career. Over decades, he had traveled on a Hero’s Journey straight from... read more

By Tom Moon Julian Lage’s vivid, wondrously textured new album Speak To Me offers a series of dispatches from his ongoing search for narrative beyond words. Intimate in tone and capacious in intention, the album represents some of the most ambitious music Lage has documented to date. Its... read more