Kevin Whitehead
Kevin Whitehead is the jazz critic for NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross. Currently he reviews for The Audio Beat and Point of Departure.
Whitehead's articles on jazz and improvised music have appeared in such publications as Point of Departure, the ChicagoSun-Times, Village Voice, Down Beat, and the Dutch daily de Volkskrant.
He is the author ofPlay the Way You Feel: The Essential Guide to Jazz Stories on Film (2020), Why Jazz: A Concise Guide (2010), New Dutch Swing (1998), and (with photographer Ton Mijs) Instant Composers Pool Orchestra: You Have to See It (2011).
His essays have appeared in numerous anthologies including Da Capo Best Music Writing 2006, Discover Jazz and Traveling the Spaceways: Sun Ra, the Astro-Black and Other Solar Myths.
Whitehead has taught at Towson University, the University of Kansas and Goucher College. He lives near Baltimore.
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Recorded over the course of three days in 1967, during a period when the saxophonist was disillusioned with the record business, Rollins in Hollandpresents a jazz master in an ideal setting.
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Jarrett is acclaimed for his intense and physically energetic improvised performances. Kevin Whitehead reviews Jarrett's new album, Budapest Concert, and we listen back to a 2000 interview with him.
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Pedal steel guitar is a staple of country music, but Alcorn bends it around odd corners. Her quintet's new album is beyond category — roaming betwixt jazz and improvised music and rock and country.
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Much of the music on Miles' new album has a poppy accessibility — but it isn't quite easy listening. Instead his quintet stretches the material and lets things get a little warped.
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For 30 years, trumpet and flugelhorn player Diego Urcola has toured and recorded with Cuba-born saxophonist Paquito D'Rivera. For his own new album, Urcola hired his boss as featured sideman.
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Reed players Geof Bradfield and Ben Goldberg join formidable drummer Dana Hall on a new album that features humor, sobriety and a piece that's funky one minute and chamber music the next.
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A few years ago, pianist Renee Rosnes organized a jazz band featuring six female musicians sometimes joined by a singer. These jazz all-stars are in alignment on Artemis' self-titled new album.
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An improviser well-versed in modern jazz, Houle often works with international collaborators in all sorts of settings. His latest album features music from a half-Canadian, half-American quartet.
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Rollins recorded his first sessions in 1949, and played his last live shows in 2012. Kevin Whitehead offers an appreciation, then we listen back to a 1994 interview with the tenor saxophonist.
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More blues singer than Broadway, the Bird helped introduce bebop to jazz — and along the way redefined jazz velocity with his scrappy sound and pithy melodic figures.