Dec 27, 2016
You’ve been reading the “best of” lists for the past few weeks in the press and online, but here at Straight No Chaser we take a slightly different approach to list making. Rather than presume to match artist against artist, album against album, we try to give you a list of those 2016 releases that made the...
Dec 16, 2016
For years, I’ve combed through album after album of Christmas songs to bring you podcasts of both beloved and fresh jazz for the holiday. One thing I have noticed during the course of my investigations is the number of tunes that seem to have absolutely nothing to do with the Christmas holiday. So many of the most...
Dec 15, 2016
Fabian Almazan won the 2014 Downbeat Critics Poll for Rising Star Pianist, and has worked steadily as a core member of Terence Blanchard’s groups since 2007. Born in Cuba, he began playing classical piano at an early ag4e, but when he and his family fled Cuba, he found himself exposed to new and different music as...
Dec 12, 2016
It was almost twenty-five years ago that saxophonist-composer Patrick Zimmerli recorded six original compositions in sessions that were eventually shelved. He met that day with a few of his musical peers and friends, who today are recognized as some of the most exciting and in-demand players in the jazz world –...
Nov 14, 2016
Matt Slocum’s Black Elk’s Dream was one of the best jazz CDs of 2014. Backed by musicians like Dayna Stephens, Gerald Clayton and Water Smith III, drummer Slocum presented a concept album inspired by the visionary Native American leader Black Elk and the book Black Elk Speaks. The music, whether original or deftly...