Lots of fun gigs coming up: appearing at Nats Park on some Sundays this season in kids shows (!), playing with Hunter's Holy Reckoning doing acoustic Dead, and more!
My video review of the new THE BUTTON JAR (@pyroclasticrecords ) from pianist Yvonne Rogers is on my Substack now (willlayman.substack.com).
It is fantastic — reminiscent of the solo piano debuts of Chick Corea and Keith Jarrett, but hardly confined to that lane.
The @nytimes "30 Greatest Living American Songwriters" piece created an internet ruckus that demonstrates, mainly, that this kind of list-making is not good criticism — and that music criticism should be more about MUSIC and less about "culture". See my take at willlayman.substack.com
My @popmatters review of DAIVOLA by the #jazz singer @gabtron007 is up today. Check out my Substack (willlayman.substack.com) for a deeper dive into one track and why critics need to LISTEN to the music they write about. @bluenoterecords
My @popmatters review of the new CEIBA from vibes player @simonmoullier (with his quartet, featuring @lexkorten on piano) is up today. Outstanding. On my Substack (willlayman.substack.com), you can also read my favorite quartet of jazz vibes/piano pairings.
My @popmatters review of the new ELECTRICAL FIELDS OF LOVE from @harriettubmanmusic & @georgia.muldrow (on @pirecordings ). The Substack post (willlayman.substack.com) also contains some reflections on this music coming during 2026, Miles Davis's centennial year.
My @popmatters review of @claire.dickson 's new BALANCE on @newamrecords is up and on my Substack (willlayman.substack.com) where I additionally muse on the complicated question of what makes vocal music "jazz" in the new century. Dickson comes out of jazz, at a minimum ... but where is she headed? I like it, whatever label you put on her direction.
On my Substack today is my PopMatters review of ECLATS from the @sylcourvoisier Trio with Drew Gress and Kenny Wolleson. Also, a bit more about the Flea album controversy by way of praising THE WAY OUT OF EASY by the @jeffparkersounds ETA IVtet.
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This take may rub some of my friends in the #jazz universe the wrong way. We need not praise a middling but very hyped album just to prove that we are not the fuddy-duddy "jazz police."
In my Substack today.
