🔥The 9th Round of Easy Loan, Earn $40 Reward is in progress❗️ ⏰ Promotion Period: January 15th - Feburary 15th, 2025 👉 Register now and check more details at gate.io/campaigns/358

Paul Bley’s autobiography (‘Stopping Time,’ 1999; co-written by David Lee) is a super fun read. Here he is narrating how, within a span of a few years in the 1950s, he met Carla Bley (then Karen Borg), Charlie Haden, and Don Cherry and Ornette Coleman.

Can’t stop thinking about the fact that Ornette once jammed with Cecil Taylor and Bud Powell, who were “exchanging places at the keyboard at will.” From the ‘Soapsuds, Soapsuds’ liners.)

Running down some of my favorite piano-trio releases of the year (of which there are many!): nytimes.com/2024/10/30/art…

Happy 30th to Nirvana’s ‘Unplugged,’ one of the coolest curveballs ever thrown by a hugely famous band. And thanks to Brad Farberman for inviting me to put down some thoughts for TIDAL! tidal.com/magazine/artic…

This Friday marks the return of the original lineup of PainKiller, 30 years after their prior studio release. It was an honor to speak with John Zorn, Bill Laswell and Mick Harris about the trio’s history and their surprising, inspiring new chapter: nytimes.com/2024/11/11/art…

Drummer Roy Haynes, an innovator from day one, who sounded like the future into his '80s, has died at 99. I don't know what to say other than than it was a gift to share the planet with him. Here he is three months after I was born. youtube.com/watch?app=desk…

Roy! Few drummers — or musicians, period — have ever sounded more energized by and engrossed in the conversational flow at the heart of jazz. A rush of fresh ideas in every performance. The apex of alertness, stylishness and sheer flair youtube.com/watch?app=desk…

RIP to one of the great lyricists and behind-the-scenes visionaries in rock. It was enlightening to talk to him a few years back about writing "Schizoid Man," designing that mythical light show and coming up with the coolest band name imaginable rollingstone.com/music/music-fe…

Left-field but defensible picks: Crowbar Deerhoof Immolation Shellac Clutch

10 2024 jazz picks from among dozens of worthy titles. As usual, will survey some of the others in another forum before EOY, but for now, these all really spoke to me: nytimes.com/2024/12/04/art…

An immense honor to speak to Sonny Rollins for this new interactive feature on “Harlem 1958,” a.k.a. “A Great Day in Harlem”: nytimes.com/interactive/20…

Had a blast surveying the '90s Chicago underground — from the Vandermark 5 to U.S. Maple, 8 Bold Souls, Shellac and, of course, the Chicago Underground outfit itself... — for Shfl: theshfl.com/guide/The-90s-…

Amazing story here and typically outstanding writing from Chris -->

Part 1 of the customary DFSBP year-end round-up is live on Substack: an expanded version of my 2024 jazz top 10, including 20 more ranked titles plus a bunch of others recommended in the text: darkforcesswing.substack.com/p/best-of-2024…

A rundown of my favorite heavy albums (metal, punk, rock, etc.) of 2024: darkforcesswing.substack.com/p/best-of-2024…

My 10 favorite albums of 2024, all genres in play: darkforcesswing.substack.com/p/best-of-2024…

Billy Hart has one foot in jazz’s past and the other in its future. nytimes.com/2025/02/27/art…

Excited to see my name among the 2025 contenders for the JJA Jazz News' Robert Palmer–Helen Oakley Dance Award: jjajazzawards.org/2025-nominees-…. Many of the greatest in the field have won or been nominated in the past, & it's a real honor to be in the running

Jason Moran unpacks Duke Ellington’s greatness in a single song. nytimes.com/interactive/20…

Some thoughts on the intergenerational refuge of so-called screamo -- a.k.a., how did all these kids end up at the Saetia show? darkforcesswing.substack.com/p/saetia-is-fo…