Larry Blumenfeld

A boxed set of previously unreleased recordings highlights a sextet, quintet and quartet led by the jazz master.

Two new releases from the musician—‘Kevin Sun I.’ and ‘Kevin Sun II.’—are by turns serious and whimsical, capturing him both in debt to tradition and playfully upending it.

A pair of new jazz albums from the saxophonist-flutist-composer—one with his group Zooid and the other the recording debut of his trio with Vijay Iyer and Dafnis Prieto—highlight his dense yet immersive music.

The musician’s three new albums include two sets inspired by a legendary jazzman and a reinterpretation of the classical composer’s themes.

The saxophonist highlights previously unreleased recordings of his trio with tabla master Zakir Hussain, who died in 2024, and drummer Eric Harland on an album of marvelous musical interplay.

The jazz drummer and composer joins forces with vocalist Christie Dashiell to recast Max Roach’s influential 1960 suite, capturing both the magic and urgent melodies of the original.

A century past his birth, Max Roach’s legacy grows. By Larry Blumenfeld In February, Tyshawn Sorey sat behind his drum set on the stage of Manhattan’s 92Y flanked by his trio mates, pianist Aaron Diehl and bassist Harish Raghavan. “This night is for Max Roach,” he said, “who will always be here.” Here was one

A music critic takes up running, puts on headphones and discovers an entirely new way of listening.

A string quartet highlights the singular compositional voice of Hemphill, best known as a member of the World Saxophone Quartet, on a playful, dynamic new album.

Trumpeter Adam O’Farrill and vibraphonist Sasha Berliner adeptly exploit the shifting sounds and textures of their bands on a pair of new albums.

The pianist joins forces with bassist Peter Washington and drummer Marcus Gilmore on an album inspired by a residency at the Village Vanguard as well as his native New Orleans.

The pianist leads his ensemble in two suites of his own and the final commissioned work of the great jazz composer Carla Bley on a magisterial new album.

What American record buyers discovered in ‘80s and ‘90s as ‘world music’ was no novelty to the musicians who had been making it for years .

Heavily influenced by Alice Coltrane, the vocalist and instrumentalist’s latest album was recorded during an immersive experience of performance and ritual in which she collaborated with Vijay Iyer, Immanuel Wilkins and other artists.

By Larry Blumenfeld Three discs, four strings and 15 composers make Ryan Truesdell’s latest project a winning equation. If the darkness, suffering and anxiety of the pandemic are now fading memories, maybe there’s also fresh light at the end of that…

The late jazz bassist and his Liberation Music Orchestra made powerful, sophisticated protest music. His final recording arrives just when we need it most.

With “Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues,” filmmaker Sacha Jenkins recasts a legacy he never really knew.

Jazz’s greatest living composer Wayne Shorter always wanted to write an opera. Now, with collaborator Esperanza Spalding, and in the face of health problems and a pandemic, he has.

An expanded edition of a 2005 post-Katrina benefit album speaks to our present moment of estrangement.

The saxophonist and scholar leads a shifting and artfully unruly ensemble on this two-volume set, taking inspiration from Armstrong’s own omnivorous musical appetite.