Blogs

Have you ever come across a song in the recent past which has truly caught your attention? I am not talking about a song that you liked as much as one of your favorite artists or another song that was a perfect fit for your listening history. I am talking about...

Imagine listening to your favorite jazz track in a small dimly-lit club. You know the melody well enough to probably anticipate the next part. Suddenly, though, the pianist makes an unexpected move, the bassist responds with a light-hearted beat, and the vocalist...

Jazz may have been born in the United States, but it was never destined to remain within one set of borders. From its beginnings in African American communities in New Orleans, jazz developed through a remarkable meeting of musical traditions—blues, ragtime,...

There is a particular moment that happens in a small jazz room just before the music begins. Conversations soften. Glasses settle onto tables. The lights seem a little warmer. A pianist touches the first chord, the bass enters almost underneath it, and suddenly the...

In much of the recorded music history, making a living at it meant garnering some attention from a record label. Labels offered stepping-stones: studios to record in, distribution networks for physical media, and publicity and radio promotion muscle that musicians...

Jazz is over a century old, yet it feels astonishingly at home in one of the fastest moving cultural spaces today: social media. Swipe through TikTok, Instagram Reels, or YouTube Shorts, and before long you are liable to run into a pianist improvising over the top of...

The Human Voice at the Heart of Jazz Jazz has always been a genre that embraces change. Over the decades it has evolved through swing, bebop, cool jazz, fusion, Latin jazz, and contemporary vocal jazz — and in 2026 it continues to reach new audiences through streaming...

For decades, jazz had been considered a form for die-hard fans and musicians only. Although its impact on music has never waned, it silently lingered away from the center of mainstream culture. However, that narrative is changing today. So if you suddenly started to...

There are many ways in which music tells stories. Some stories are written as a full artistic statement by the musician, while others serve to complement and support the story of a film, TV series, or stage production. In spite of the fact that both can contain...

For millennia, mankind has experienced joy, loss, and celebration with music there to help us through recovery. People sought out music for solace in times of crisis long before any scientific research began to investigate its effects. Researchers, therapists, and...

Jazz has always had an individual and moody storytelling quality. Instrumentalists have been instrumental (pun intended) in crafting its history, but vocalists are the ones who often close that gap between music and listener. Via the choices they make in phrasing,...

New York City and jazz have always belonged together. Even in 2026, the city continues to offer some of the most unforgettable live music experiences in the world. From legendary underground clubs in Greenwich Village to stylish Brooklyn venues and luxury jazz...