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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Corea, who died Feb. 9, had a strong melodic sense and a crisp, distinctive touch at the keyboard. Looking back, it's easy to hear why he was among the most beloved of modern improvising composers.
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Soprano saxophonist Jane Ira Bloom and bassist Mark Helias play together in a new remotely recorded digital album. These seasoned improvisers line up just right, despite the recording challenges.
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Abrams' quartet can groove and play pretty, but they can also do free jazz. Their new album is about being part of something bigger, where each player is stronger for all the ways they interlock.
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Dozens of notable jazz musicians died this year, many from COVID-19. Fresh Air critic Kevin Whitehead remembers some of the legends lost, including Bucky Pizzarelli, Ellis Marsalis and Jimmy Heath.
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The album showcases 45 minutes from Coleman's '71 sets at Baltimore's Famous Ballroom, where the atmosphere was typically lively and the jazz legend was elegant and full of fire.
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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.