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 Chicago Sun-Times, Village Voice, Down Beat, and the Dutch daily de Volkskrant.
He is the author of Play 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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Prism features one of the loudest bands of the bassist's career. The pleasures of the groove here are complex and deep — it's not just about moving feet.
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The jazz pianist's powerful 1976 album I Remember Bessie conveys a profound sense of loss.
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Duke Ellington's piece for Queen Elizabeth II is included in a new collection of late-period suites.
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Evans can be a heavy hitter at the keyboard, but on his new album, he reins himself in a bit.
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A new double set of unreleased S.O.S. tunes, Looking for the Next One on the Cuneiform label, was recorded in concert and in the studio in the mid-1970s. John Surman, Mike Osborne and Alan Skidmore could sound timeless, of and ahead of their time.
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On the clarinetist's latest album, the blues might be modernized or tweaked, but it's never far away. Fresh Air's jazz critic says The Edenfred Files is modest in a good way, like a musical chapbook or novella. The scale suits Harper's pointedly focused music.
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Oregon saxophonist Rich Halley takes inspiration from the Wallowa mountain range on his new album Crossing the Passes. On Boss of the Plains, Chicago-based trio Wheelhouse makes music that evokes the Great Plains and wind chimes on a porch when the weather changes.
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As a Japanese expatriate in Berlin, jazz pianist Aki Takase has an outsider's perspective on jazz and insider wisdom that comes from careful study. Her new album of Duke Ellington tunes reflects influences such as Thelonious Monk and Arnold Schoenberg, as well.
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The 23-year-old jazz phenom's debut album showcases her takes on vintage jazz and blues numbers by Bessie Smith, Fats Waller and others.
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Divine: The Jazz Albums, 1954-1958 packs four CDs with Vaughan's music, recorded live or in the studio with bands big and small. Two live albums from Chicago nightclubs are standouts, partly when a performance threatens to slide off the rails.