Marcus J. Moore
Posts
5 Minutes That Will Make You Love Max Roach
The drummer helped pioneer bebop in the 1940s and delivered a message of resistance and liberation from the 1960s on. Listen to 13 selections from...
Five Minutes That Will Make You Love Avant-Garde Jazz
This challenging subgenre, including the subset of free jazz, is driven by the fire of spontaneity, and its rules are still being written. Eleven writers,...
Horace Tapscott, a Force in L.A. Jazz, Is Celebrated in a New Set
“At 60,” a compilation marking the 60th anniversary of his Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra, spotlights the pianist and community organizer, who died in 1999.
Aja Monet’s Debut Album Blends Jazz and Poetry From a Place of Love
On her debut album, “When the Poems Do What They Do,” the writer and community organizer offers up a fluid mix of jazz and poetry...
Cisco Swank Puts His Spin on Jazz-Rap on ‘More Better’
The 23-year-old pianist, drummer and rapper puts a pandemic-era spin on jazz-rap on his debut, “More Better,” and he always keeps the faith.
Kassa Overall Knows Artists Feel Pressure. His New Album Explores It.
The drummer whose genre-crossing work has brought acclaim here and abroad returns with “Animals,” an LP of jazz, rap and soul inspired by the struggle...
5 Minutes That Will Make You Love Herbie Hancock
We asked musicians and experts, including Thundercat, Patrice Rushen and Nicole Sweeney, which Hancock song they would play for a friend.
53 Years After Miles Davis’s Album, a Fresh Spin as ‘London Brew’
A 12-member collective of noted U.K.-based musicians used “Bitches Brew” as a springboard, improvising a new LP after the pandemic thwarted a 50th anniversary celebration...
5 Minutes That Will Make You Love Jazz Piano
We asked Samara Joy, Hanif Abdurraqib, Vijay Iyer and others to share their favorite tracks showcasing what might be the most nuanced instrument in jazz.
A Car Accident Couldn’t Halt the Saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin’s Rise
In 2020, she released a lauded album exploring the Coltranes’ music. The next year, she broke her jaw in a crash and turned the harrowing...