by S. Victor Aaron When Jon Irabagon signed with the mighty Concord Records after bagging the 2008 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition for saxophone, you might assume that he would have left behind his wild side to become a more “serious” player. But his continued involvement in the gangsta jazz group Mostly Other People Do The Killing quickly dispelled any [...]

By Nick DeRiso One of three jazz-legend siblings, Hank Jones was perhaps as unassuming as his brother Elvin (nine years younger, famously of the John Coltrane group) was the outsized extrovert. Feathery light, then concisely powerful at the piano, Hank concluded an intellectual, often overlooked eight-decade career on Sunday when he died at age 91. It wasn’t just because he [...]

by Pico Like Dave Holland, Derrick Gardner is following the axiom of “more is…” more. Allow me to explain… One of the hottest jazz combos of the last decade has been the Dave Holland Quintet. Recently, Holland decided to shake things up a bit and expanded his quintet to a sextet. The result can be heard on last year’s fine [...]