Greg Lewis

Big fun news: Santana weds Blackman, Herbie & Wayne play

The rare notable jazz weddingÂ to celebrate: Beyond-jazz, rock & Latin guitarist Carlos SantanaÂ to drummerÂ Cindy Blackman,Â who’s had a great recording year, issuing Another Lifetime,Â her smashing tribute to the late Tony Williams) and drivingÂ Organ Monk, Greg Lewis’s trio album that made my top 10. Santana’s best albums after the first one always have had a outward reach […]

Last glance 2010: great performances and best beyond jazz

There’s not much time left, so here are three of my best memories of live music over this crazy year, and a couple handfuls of favorite recordings that promise to be listenable for quite a while forward —

I'm a Chicago-born (and after 32 years in NYC, recently repatriated) writer, editor, author, arts reporter for National Public Radio, consultant and nascent videographer -- a veteran freelance journalist working on newspapers, magazines and websites, appearing on tv and radio, teaching at New York University and elsewhere, consulting on media, publishing and jazz-related issues. I'm president of the Jazz Journalists Association, a non-profit membership organization devoted to using all media to disseminate news and views about all kinds of jazz.
My books are Future Jazz (Oxford U Press, 1999) and Miles Ornette Cecil - Jazz Beyond Jazz (Routledge, 2008). I was general editor of the Illustrated Encyclopedia of Jazz and Blues (Flame Tree 2005/Billboard Books 2006). Of course I'm working on something new. . . Read More…