Currently streaming: Aaron Diehl plays Mary Lou Williams “Zodiac Suite” with the New York Philharmonic and Tito Muñoz. I believe this original orchestration hasn’t been heard since the premiere in the 1940s. Recommended.
I interviewed my former teacher Fred Hersch to preview his March 20th streaming concert for the Leuven Jazz Festival. The video is about 15 minutes long.
Like all my peers, I have healthy respect for the outstanding pure jazz pianism of Dave Kikoski. Students, check it out, a new book of Kikoski improvisations, transcribed and analyzed by Andrew Luhn.
Orrin Evans leaves The Bad Plus. I’ve always admired Orrin…I never listened to TBP MK II, but will keep my eyes and ears alert for Orrin’s future sounds, for he is a *major* voice on the instrument.
Mark Morris recently told me about Dana Suesse. I’ve played the old standard “My Silent Love,” but didn’t know it was from a longer formal composition “Jazz Nocturne.” Suesse is also a wonderful pianist, somewhere in the Gershwin-to-Confrey constellation.
DO THE M@TH 