Will Layman

3 weeks ago | popmatters.com | Will Layman

1978: Revenge of the Dragon Rainbow Blonde Jazz singer José James has just released 1978: Revenge of the Dragon, his 13th studio recording in a career that has swung dramatically from relatively “straight ahead” jazz (his third Blue Note album was a tribute to Billie Holiday) to groove-based music, including a recent tribute to a different singer: Erykah Badu. It is his second consecutive recording, based at least in part on the music made in the year of his birth.

1 month ago | popmatters.com | Will Layman

Bird Feathers Savant If you were an alto saxophonist any time after 1940, the question was not whether Charlie Parker was inside your sounds, but how and what you did with that influence. Bird changed how people played jazz on every instrument, but in playing his instrument, it was tough to avoid comparisons to the master.

2 months ago | popmatters.com | Will Layman

Yikes, Too Out of Your Head / Screwgun Alto saxophonist and composer Tim Berne has been a vital and ubiquitous figure in “downtown” New York creative music for more than 40 years. He arrived in the city to study with Julius Hemphill, a hero and key influence. Berne’s music, made in solo projects, collaborative bands, and as a side player across all those years, has always reflected a combination of R&B feeling, out-jazz freedoms, and careful compositional detail.

Mar 18, 2025 | popmatters.com | Will Layman

Bluer Than Blue: Celebrating the Life of Lil Hardin Armstrong Outside in Music Pianist Caili O’Doherty has been recording as a leader since 2015, just two years after she graduated from the Berklee College of Music. Teaching and touring the world followed, but she may have just come into her own in the last several years. Since 2018, she has been developing a musical and educational project around celebrating the life of Lil Hardin Armstrong.

Jan 28, 2025 | popmatters.com | Will Layman

Fly Mack Avenue The young vocalist Michael Mayo has a malleable, nimble instrument that presents many possibilities. Growing up in Los Angeles, his dad sang and played saxophone with bands you love, and his mom sang harmonies professionally. But he was also educated in jazz at the New England Conservatory and the Monk (now Hancock) Institute. Would he become a jazz singer or try his hand at popular music?