Artist Feature

December Artist Feature: Amirtha Kidambi

Amirtha Kidambi is on the cutting edge of a wide range of music that includes free improvisation and jazz, experimental music, and new music. She is a soloist, collaborator, and ensemble member in a number of groups including the early music-inspired dark folk band Seaven Teares, Mary Halvorson‘s newest quintet Code Girl, analog percussion and

October Artist Feature: Guitarist Ava Mendoza

Guitarist/composer Ava Mendoza has a residency at the Stone this coming week, October 25-30, one of the most anticipated events of the Fall season. Having moved to New York from the Bay Area in 2014, Mendoza has had a major impact on the improvised music scene here via a sound that is all her own.

August Artist Feature: Poet Thomas Sayers Ellis

Poet, photographer, professor, and bandleader Thomas Sayers Ellis is the author of The Maverick Room and Skin, Inc.: Identity Repair Poems (Graywolf Press). His poems have appeared in numerous literary journals and anthologies including The Paris Review, Poetry, The Nation, Tin House and the Best American Poetry (2007, 2011, 2010 and 2015). He has been a

July Artist Feature: Moor Mother

Moor Mother (Camae Ayewa) is a Philadelphia-based artist whose work ranges from “slave ship punk,” free jazz, and “Afrofuturist electronics” to photography, poetry, non-fiction writing, and performance art. Originally from Aberdeen, Maryland, she moved to Philadelphia to study photography. As a musician, Moor Mother leads a number of her own projects and has released a

May Artist Feature: Saxophonist Louise D.E. Jensen

  Louise Dam Eckhardt Jensen is a fiery alto saxophonist originally from Denmark who spends a good portion of each year in New York. Over the past decade, she has worked with figures such as Peter Evans, Tom Blancarte, Weasel Walter, Brandon Seabrook, Kevin Shea, Erica Dicker, Matt Nelson, and many other figures on the

March Artist Feature: James Brandon Lewis

James Brandon Lewis is a very versatile tenor saxophone player. Having studied at Howard University and later at CalArts, he has spent the past five years establishing a reputation for himself in New York. A fiery, yet soulful player, Lewis is involved in a number of cutting edge projects including his 2015 release, Days of

February Artist Feature: Drummer Tom Rainey

Drummer Tom Rainey‘s impact on the New York scene has been immense and often unappreciated (not to mention that his influence has reached far beyond New York). I recently had the opportunity to speak with him about his music and relished the opportunity to discuss his trio (which includes saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock and guitarist Mary

January Artist Feature: Trumpeter Jaimie Branch

In a generation crowded with trumpet talent, Jaimie Branch has emerged in recent years as a unique voice capable of transforming every ensemble of which she is a part. At times fierce and direct, her scintillating tone also has the ability to ignite music from within while propelling a group organically. In 2015, Branch exploded

December Artist Feature: Joanna Mattrey

This month’s feature focuses on the work of violist Joanna Mattrey, who is relatively new to New York. Mattrey has been involved in a number of interesting improvised and composed music projects focusing on music ranging from Karlheinz Stockhausen to Anthony Braxton. Interview Cisco Bradley: Who/what have been your big inspirations as an artist? Joanna

November Artist Feature: Dancer Jinah Parker

For the first time, Jazz Right Now is featuring an artist who does not explicitly create music or sound, but one who choreographs some of her dance to jazz and especially to free improvisation. Dancer Jinah Parker, who began dancing in her home of Buffalo, NY, at the age of four, trained at University of