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NPR: Jazz Singer Nnenna Freelon Works Through Grief With New Album And Podcast
June 15, 2021Nnenna and Phil Freelon were a power couple: He was the lead architect for the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History & Culture, and she was a Grammy-nominated jazz singer, ...
Esperanza Spalding Meets Funding Goal to Build Artist Sanctuary
June 12, 2021Award-winning bassist and educator Esperanza Spalding recently launched a successful crowdfunding campaign to raise monies needed to buy land for the building of a BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) ...
Chick Corea, Grammy-Winning Jazz Pianist Dies at 79
February 11, 2021The keyboardist, composer and bandleader Chick Corea — one of the most revered figures in contemporary jazz, but an artist whose work spanned fusion to classical — died on Feb. 9 at age 79. Dan Muse from Chick Corea ...
Blue Bird Inn in Detroit spared from demolition after historic designation
January 7, 2021One of the most fabled sites in Detroit music is off the endangered list. The long-abandoned Blue Bird Inn — a vital nerve center for homegrown jazz and visiting artists during the heyday of bebop — has been ...
GoFundMe Campaign Launched to Help Save Birdland Jazz Club
January 4, 2021Yet another one of New York’s most beloved venues is in danger of closing for good. Birdland Jazz Club, a staple of the New York City jazz community since 1949, needs help with the debt it has found itself in ...
Jazz Clubs Are in Crisis
October 20, 2020For many jazz venues, shuttered because of the pandemic, live streaming is the only option they have to keep the music playing. But streaming as a revenue source doesn’t make the venues’ owners feel much better; it ...
Kurt Elling Returns To Chicago
October 16, 2020Twelve years ago, jazz singer Kurt Elling left Chicago for New York. Three months ago, he returned.The move, says Elling, was prompted not by the pandemic, which has devastated New York, but by a longstanding desire ...
Cécile McLorin Salvant Awarded 2020 MacArthur Foundation “Genius” Grant
October 6, 2020Jazz singer and composer Cécile McLorin Salvant has been awarded a fellowship with the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. She is the only musician in this year’s group of “genius grant” recipients. She ...
Netflix’s series ‘The Eddy’ is as much about family as jazz
June 12, 2020The Eddy on Netflix is a fantastic show based in modern-day Paris. The shows centers around Elliot Udo (played by André Holland), an American pianist who has exiled himself to the City of Lights to deal with a loss ...
The coronavirus is devastating a uniquely American art form
April 20, 2020Every jazz musician lost in this pandemic had a unique start that sent them on a distinct trajectory, but the sounds they made often overlapped. Read more
