New York

On June 9, 2013 I stood amongst the throngs of concertgoers waiting for the arrival of Kanye West. The location was Randall’s Island in New York, and it was the final night of Governor’s Ball. When the lights dimmed and the backing screen began to flash, there was something noticeably …

In a space defined by its progressive thought and forward-thinking, Sonny Rollins maintains his place as one of jazz’s most eccentric personalities. And as such, it affects the way in which we examine his life. For most artists, we track their lives through the lens of artistic output, because what …

Haitian electronic music composer/percussionist/turntablist, Val Jeanty aka Val-Inc evokes the musical esoteric realms of the creative subconscious and self defined as “Afro-Electronica®”. She incorporates her African Haitian Musical traditions into the present and beyond, combining acoustics with electronics and the archaic with the post-modern. She works with a diverse array …

DIANNE REEVES is among the pre-eminent jazz vocalists in the world. In her first studio album in five years, Reeves delivers what is destined to become a soul-jazz classic. The album, Beautiful Life, also marks a new relationship with Concord Records —which is not entirely new: Reeves was featured in …

An award-winning classical pianist before jazz intervened “in the form of a Tommy Flanagan solo,” Houston, TX, native Helen Sung went on to graduate from the prestigious Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance and win the Kennedy Center’s Mary Lou Williams Jazz Piano Competition. Since establishing herself in New York …

iRock Jazz recently interviewed vocalist and film maker Brandon Bain, the creator of Capsulocity, an online video series. Originally from Brooklyn, New York, Bain emerged on the Jazz scene just a few years ago with an understanding that whether an artist is in New York City, or somewhere on the …

It’s easy to take Alice Russell for granted. I realized that about halfway through her recent set at Yoshi’s in San Francisco, California. It was around this time that while fully engaged, I was growing comfortable within this auditory space. I was enjoying myself, of course, but my mind was …

Dexter Gordon was one of the most definitive voices of the bebop movement.  Ranging from John Coltrane to Jackie McLean, Gordon sketched the stylistic framework for countless artists. As it often goes with jazz, he himself was a by-product of his musical predecessors—more specifically, Lester Young. Resulting from that exposure, …

ETIENNE CHARLES: Recording Artist, Composer, Arranger, Assistant Professor of Jazz Studies, Michigan State University Over its century-plus history, jazz has forged its shape-shifting identity by encompassing a rainbow of musical dialects in an improvisation-infused setting. While jazz’s potency launched into popular appeal based on the integration of the European classical …

Two time Grammy nominee and Pew Fellow, Orrin Evans has been recognized as one of the most distinctive and inventive pianists of his generation. In a short span of time Orrin has earned the titles of pianist, composer, bandleader, teacher, producer and arranger. The New York Times described the pianist …

Every so often, an artist comes along who is indefinable — an artist who is truly paving her own way with bits of music, sound, vibes and words that speak to her on a deeper level. Such an artist isn’t bound by genre and is intent on creating a unique …

Aruán Ortiz is a critically acclaimed Cuban pianist, an award-winning composer, and a solid producer and educator, not only on the New York City scene, but internationally as well.  Named “the latest Cuban wunderkind to arrive in the United States” by BET Jazz, this classically trained violist and pianist from …