NOW IS THE GOLDEN AGE OF JAZZ
Jazz is Now at Big Ears
As an art form whose very essence is the ongoing cycle of vital, fresh innovation and lively, spirited reinvention, jazz is at the heart and soul of the Big Ears experience. While jazz has an immensely rich history and tradition, it remains rooted in the present moment. As a good friend always likes to remind us, “the golden age of jazz is now.”
This past Friday, three sublime recordings were released by Big Ears 2025 artists, Jenny Scheinman’s All Species Parade, Tyshawn Sorey Trio’s The Susceptible Now, and Immanuel Wilkins’ Blues Blood , that make the case.
Immanuel Wilkins: Blues Blood
Saxophonist, composer, and bandleader Immanuel Wilkins is an artist whose new albums consistently prompt anticipation, and Blues Blood, the new album, is among the most absorbing projects we’ve heard all year, a mixture of poised, animated playing – and singing, too, courtesy of Ganavya, June McDoom, Yaw Agyeman, and Cécile McLorin Salvant – with sampled noises and voices, smoothly integrated.
Read: Album of the Week – Immanuel Wilkins’ Blues Blood
Jenny Scheinman: All Species Parade
The always captivating violinist Jenny Scheinman’s new record, All Species Parade, features an all-star band that boasts not one, not two, but three amazing guitarists: Nels Cline, Bill Frisell, and Julian Lage.
Read: Jenny Scheinman Convenes All-star Ensemble
Tyshawn Sorey Trio: The Susceptible Now
On the heels of his 2024 Pulitzer Prize for music, Tyshawn Sorey reunites his trio for The Susceptible Now, available on Pi Recordings. Featuring a new version of the trio with Sorey, Aaron Diehl, and Harish Raghavan on bass, this recording consists of just four long pieces. The opening track is “Peresina,” a composition by the late pianist and Philadelphia jazz hero McCoy Tyner. Elsewhere are stunning reinterpretations of Joni Mitchell’s “A Chair in the Sky” and Vividry’s “Your Good Lies.”
