Kevin Whitehead

Barron previously recorded most tunes on his album, a few more than once. Now he gives them layers of new meaning and an allusive texture — with occasional hints at Afro-Cuban rhythms and gestures.

Wadud, saxophonist Pharoah Sanders, organist Joey DeFrancesco, trombonist Grachan Moncur III, trumpeter Jaimie Branch and saxophonist Ronnie Cuber are among the notable musicians who died in 2022.

When Jamal's trios visited Penthouse jazz club in Seattle in the '60s, they came to play. Now 92, the pianist has signed off on the release of a new series of live recordings from back in the day.

Schulz, who died in 2000, spoke in 1990 about his iconic Peanuts comic strip. Plus, jazz critic Kevin Whitehead talks about pianist Vince Guaraldi, who created the music for A Charlie Brown Christmas.

From the beginning, Thumbscrew has had a thing for off-kilter rhythms and shifting accents. This new album is filled with idiosyncratic tunes — music befitting of the idiosyncratic band.

After decades in New York, Watson has returned to Kansas City. The core KC jazz values — a swinging beat, a personal style, and an earthy, bluesy sensibility — are firmly in place on this new album.

Nobody sounds like Waldron, a fact proved by a new 2-CD recording the artist made during a 1978 solo concert. Searching in Grenoble is a good introduction to the pianist's compelling sound.

In 1965, Lewis' trio had a crossover hit with The 'In' Crowd, a jazz recording they made in a Washington, D.C. nightclub, which reached the pop charts. Lewis died Sept. 12.

The Funky Freqs came up playing the post-Corea jazz-rock style known as free funk — music with fewer complicated melodies and more earthy grooving. Their new album is Hymn of the Third Galaxy.

On Valse Sinistre, Drummond's ride-cymbal beat is lively, varied and full of passing cross-rhythms — the sound of a musician fully engaged and in the habit of attentive listening.

Each player in this trio addresses the beat in a spontaneous way, without constant chaos. A casual romp like this session makes for breezy listening.

Garchik's album started as a socially-distanced session which was then mixed — sometimes seamlessly, sometimes brazenly. It's music for an era of frequent disruption — and prized moments of calm.

Though he's been a New Yorker for over a decade, Virelles remains preoccupied with the rich, rhythmically charged music of his native Cuba. His new album shows where he's been — and where he's going.

Roach's album was recently named to the National Recording Registry, a roster of works deemed culturally, historically or aesthetically significant; We Insist! scores in all three categories.

Transformations and Further Passages, a lively new album by Germany's The Clarinet Trio, revives tunes written by German jazz composers in the 1950s and '60s.

Critic Kevin Whitehead reflects on the legacy of the musician who would have been 100 on April 22, 2022. Mingus died in 1979, leaving behind a catalog of music that reflected his outsized personality.

Coleman's first LPs from the late 1950s are newly available. They showcase Coleman's sound before he began making the records with his own bands that made him a controversial jazz star.

Taylor's 1973 concert at New York's Town Hall has just been released for the first time as a digital album. It's a great, early example of Taylor's mature music — dense but well-designed.

Some trumpeters aim to blow you away with their imposing technique; Miles drew the listener in. The performer, who died March 8, specialized in genre-blurring jazz that mixed old and new sounds.

Despite the poor sound quality, Tristano's newly unearthed Personal Recordings from 1946-1970 are fascinating. Free jazz can be rambunctious, but these musicians step and listen carefully.