Kevin Whitehead
Kevin Whitehead is the jazz critic for NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross. Currently he reviews for The Audio Beat and Point of Departure.
Whitehead's articles on jazz and improvised music have appeared in such publications as Point of Departure, the Chicago Sun-Times, Village Voice, Down Beat, and the Dutch daily de Volkskrant.
He is the author of Play the Way You Feel: The Essential Guide to Jazz Stories on Film (2020), Why Jazz: A Concise Guide (2010), New Dutch Swing (1998), and (with photographer Ton Mijs) Instant Composers Pool Orchestra: You Have to See It (2011).
His essays have appeared in numerous anthologies including Da Capo Best Music Writing 2006, Discover Jazz and Traveling the Spaceways: Sun Ra, the Astro-Black and Other Solar Myths.
Whitehead has taught at Towson University, the University of Kansas and Goucher College. He lives near Baltimore.
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Sanchez's latest album, Night Creatures, features music for nine instruments that variously contrast, blend or clash — channeling the open-air feeling of the pitch-dark woods at night.
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Composer Darcy James Argue runs a jazz big band — but imagines its sound as if big bands had stayed current rather than faded away. The music's clarity, contrasts and rhythms are all impressive.
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The tenor saxophonist, who died in 2012, would have been 100 on Oct. 3. Freeman's weekly jam session at the New Apartment Lounge on Chicago's South Side became an international pilgrimage site.
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The composer and multi-instrumentalist from El Reno, Okla., played blues, bebop, big-band music and free jazz — and sometimes a mix of everything. Rivers also gave other musicians a place to play.
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Clark recorded nine sessions with the prestigious Blue Note label between 1957 and '61. A new set featuring his work as band leader for the label showcases his crisp, tuneful creativity.
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The tenor sax player came up in Chicago and toured in the '60s with Charles Mingus, Max Roach and Randy Weston. Jordan's forgotten album, Drink Plenty Water, mixes singers with a small ensemble.
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In 1973, composer and bass virtuoso Charles Mingus signed his last recording contract with Atlantic; he'd stay with the label till his death in 1979. A new box set collects his music from that era.
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Threadgill's autobiography, written with Brent Hayes Edwards is called Easily Slip into Another World. His album, The Other One, is a three-movement composition written for a 12-piece ensemble.
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Three generations of O'Farrills are represented on this new album, reminding us what tradition is at heart: our ongoing conversation with those who came before us, and those who come after.
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Jamal was born in Pittsburgh, broke through with his small group music in Chicago in the 1950s, and recorded scores of records through 2016 — a 65-year recording career. He died April 16.