I am at the New York office of Notion, a successful startup from Silicon Valley that focuses on collaboration tools. A sizable group of engineers, programmers, and human resources employees gather in a large conference room, waiting for a team-building coordinator to start the event. Some of them chat quietly, while others appear a little nervous because they don’t know what to expect. The New York Jazz Workshop has been invited by Notion to inspire ..read more

How do we find music? Recommendations from friends? Movies? Video games? Algorithm? Music is everywhere. But when 120,000 tracks are being uploaded every day to digital streaming platforms1 and Spotify gives us access to over 100 million tracks,2 the chances of us encountering a piece of music become surprisingly low.  Yet, we find them. This semester at Bennington College, my class “Musical Taste and Monetization” took another deep dive into music discovery methods. The image above is a page from a project by Ruben Whitaker, recent graduate of Bennington College, who analyzed years of th ..read more

Life is a beautiful journey, made all the more so by the people we spend our time with. Upon visiting Pat Martino’s house for the first time for a lesson, he handed me a book he wrote which consolidated his lesson and masterclass materials from the past decades of his work. “Fundamentals: A Broader Interpretation of the Guitar” is an intimidating volume containing diagrams, I Ching hexagrams, illustrations of the guitar fretboard, and conventional music notation.The esoteric and philosophical nature of his approach is encapsulated on page 1 of the book: Primaries Often one goes for one thing ..read more

The melodic minor scale (in its ascending form) is notoriously elusive for intermediate jazz students. It is also indispensable, and is often referred to as ‘jazz minor’.  Featured prominently in countless standards and jazz classics such as ‘Solar’, ‘I Hear a Rhapsody’ or ‘Johnny Come Lately’, it is often used as the primary scale for improvising in a minor key.  But this is just the beginning. Many of its modes are equally important: Lydian #5 (3rd mode), Lydian Dominant (4th mode), Locrian 9 (6th mode) and Altered (7th mode). Not so often used are modes 2 (Dorian b9) and 5 (Mixoly ..read more

We had a fantastic time in Brazil. It was a first for the New York Jazz Workshop to hold a workshop there. Our group included the two NYJW co-founders (that’s me, Marco Chelo, and my business partner, Marc Mommaas), our vocal instructor Jocelyn Medina, and three other participants: drummer Charlie Caldarola, vocalist Flavia Nunez, and moth curator Suzanne Rust. We were hosted by ICBIE (Instituto Cultural Brasil Italia Europa), a wonderful organization that provides educational services to the Ribeira community. They have a setup with 9 rooms, capable of hosting more than 15 people. Day 1: Arri ..read more

In Milan’s nightclub “The Tunnel”, the sound of Egyptian legend Umm Kulthum’s song Alf Leila Wleila is reverberating around an atmosphere of excitement. The rotating disco ball is lighting up faces from the crowd who are dancing and screaming to the rhythm of music. It’s the first show of the Berlin record label Habibi Funk in Milan. The enthusiasm of the crowd tells a lot about the condition of contemporary Arab music. In recent times, there has been a significant increase in worldwide interest in Arab music. Platforms like TikTok and Instagram have contributed to the exposure of a fresh coh ..read more

The Covid-19 pandemic was a watershed for many aspects of our society. Even in music, the pandemic has represented a turning point both on the business side and in audience perception. In the rap industry new artists became influential as others lost their place in the market. During that period rappers like Pop Smoke, Fivio Foreign, Sheff G have reached the peak of their careers placing Brooklyn drill on the map. Anyone who has ever listened to a song of those guys will struggle picturing a meeting point between drill and jazz music. And yet it exists. In London, where the Brooklyn drill soun ..read more

I often receive requests to post links to products and articles and normally turn those down, but last week I received a request from the company Anker, one of the most successful brands owned by Amazon, to review the new Soundcore Motion Boom Plus. Since our community is made up of musicians and music lovers, I thought they would be interested in knowing our thoughts about this product. I received the package via UPS in good condition, and in addition to the Soundcore Motion Boom Plus, the package included an instruction manual, a belt to carry the boombox, and a USB-C cable for charging. I u ..read more

The documentary film “Music for Black Pigeons” directed by Jørgen Leth and Andreas Koefoed has recently released its trailer, and premiered at the Out of Competition section of the Venice Film Festival with great reviews. The film delves into the lives and creative processes of some of the most influential jazz musicians in the world, such as Jakob Bro, Bill Frisell, Lee Konitz, Paul Motian, and Midori Takada. Jørgen Leth, directed over 40 films including “A Sunday in Hell” and “The Perfect Human”, returns to the Venice Film Festival after his feature documentary “The Five Obstructions” screen ..read more

The rhythmic traditions brought to the Americas by the African diaspora have had an immeasurable impact on the music of the region. Dating back to the slave trade, African rhythms and musical practices were brought to the New World and merged with indigenous and European musical forms, giving rise to new genres and styles. This blending of musical traditions resulted in the birth of jazz and Latin music, which has played a significant role in shaping the cultural landscape of the Americas and beyond. This article will explore the historical and social relationship between jazz and Latin music ..read more