Jazz88 celebrates the birthday of Eddie Costa, a pianist, vibraphonist, composer, and arranger who was the first artist to be recognized as a “new star” by DownBeat magazine on both instruments in the same year. Costa had an eight-year recording career, during which time he partook in more than one hundred sessions. He was featured as a...Read More

Dylan Hicks is a Minneapolis-based writer and musician who leads a stellar group called Dylan Hicks & Small Screens. It’s obvious that Hicks is confident exploring various forms of writing and music genres, as his song, “The Unicellular Spore,” incorporates brass, woodwinds, and vocals. There’s a little something for anyone wanting to get a peek...Read More

Recently, on Big Band Scene, we featured the Dan Pugach Big Band’s 2023 release, Bianca. I had the opportunity to sit down with Dan and his wife, Nicole Zuraitis, to chat about making music, and life in a musical household. Pugach is a New York-based drummer who wrote or arranged all the selections on this...Read More

Astronomy Town is an indie jazz group based right here in the Twin Cities! Their first EP, Welcome To Astronomy Town, is a great introduction for what to expect when listening to them: a mix of jazz, lo-fi, and lounge. The track “Coffee & Guinness” lures you into a dreamlike state with the graceful keyboard...Read More

Jazz88 is celebrating the life and music of double bassist, Charlie Haden, born August 6th, 1937 in Shenandoah, Iowa. Haden provided an essential element to Ornette Coleman’s groundbreaking quartets in the late fifties and early sixties. Coleman’s music departed from traditional rules of harmony and form, and Haden would adapt his basslines according to what...Read More

Twin Cities-based guitarist Pavel Jany and his Global Jazz Collegium are back with their latest disc, Labyrinth. Jany and many of the other members of the Collegium also work in the group Ticket to Brasil, but for this group, they follow their interests beyond Brazil and explore many of the international sounds that have become...Read More

Take That Back is a jazz quartet made up of some seriously talented musicians. Led by reed players Joan Hutton and Sue Orfield, the group will release their sophomore album, Splash, on Friday, July 26th. The song “Playhouse Bats” sounds right at home with other groove-oriented jazz, but upon more listens, I discovered its unique,...Read More

Here at Jazz88, we want to highlight Phil Nusbaum and his THIRTY YEARS of hosting Bluegrass Saturday Morning. Phil is an integral part of Jazz88, and this June, Jazz88 Development Specialist and fill-in host Andrew Diemand wrote the below piece on how Phil has influenced him as a fan of bluegrass, a radio listener, and...Read More

Lucia Sarmiento is a local artist who recently released a single titled “Look Up,” which features her incredible saxophone skills. To me, this song perfectly encapsulates the nature of curiosity and wonder. You can hear her genuine joy for creating music and how that’s expressed in “Look Up.” She has an obvious talent at integrating...Read More

Kavyesh Kaviraj, a local composer/pianist/arranger, has managed to give new life to a sound that we are all familiar with. His debut album, Fables, features a unique, nature-inspired piece, “Rain.” It starts soft, but quickly becomes cacophonous, jumping back and forth between the two. I’ve listened to “Rain” all the way through three times so...Read More