Around 2009, Brooklyn native Brandon Bain started shopping for a new video camera. He’d sung in choruses growing up, but had recently started going to open mics and jam sessions to try his hand on stage. To his surprise, he discovered that the city he grew up in housed a ton of young, undersung jazz talent — and he grew anxious to document it.

Bain talked to a film-director friend who recommended a specific model. That choice was seconded by another friend later that week. Of course, Bain didn’t quite have the $2,600 to purchase such a camera. Then, suddenly, he did.

“That same guy who recommended it to me, the second guy, I asked him for four numbers between 0 and 9,” Bain says. “And within a few weeks, that number came. I can’t even make that up, but that’s what happened: I won exactly $2,600.”

The New York Lottery has a game called Win4 where you pick four numbers and hope they’re the same as those drawn. There are different ways to multiply your bet, but the bottom line is that if you aim to win $2,500 or more, your odds are 10,000 to 1.

With those odds in his favor, Bain, now 31, launched Capsulocity — at Capsulocity.com, or via a YouTube channel — a series of video “capsule” portraits of young jazz musicians in New York City. He didn’t have much of a journalism or multimedia production background (apart from a few college courses), but he managed to sell a few musicians he knew on the idea of an interview and performance vignette. Continue reading →

Michel Petrucciani was the first important jazz pianist I ever saw live. In retrospect, it’s hard to believe that he would make it to Guéret, my tiny hometown in the middle of France. But in 1992, on a tour called “Like father like son” (“Tel père tel fils”), Petrucciani came to perform with his father, guitar player Tony Petrucciani.

It was a delightful and intimate evening. Though known as a virtuoso, the pianist also played moving, beautiful melodies. The saxophone player Sylvain Roudier, who also grew up in Guéret, later recollected his impression that the pianist seemed capable of much more than that particular duo setting permitted.

It was also a surreal moment, hearing such beautiful music emanate from such a man. Petrucciani had a genetic disease called osteogenesis imperfecta, or brittle bone disease. He was extremely short — three feet tall — and his bones would break all the time. His hands were normal, but he required special modifications to actuate the piano’s pedals.

But the music, much more than Petrucciani’s physical appearance, grabbed everybody’s attention. Here was a sort of meteor who came and left almost in one breath — Petrucciani died in 1999, at age 36 — in a small town in the middle of France. Continue reading →

NPR Music is pleased to present a poll in which 140 jazz critics picked their favorite recordings of 2014.

For nine consecutive years, this poll has been a labor of love by eminent critic Francis Davis. It’s grown tremendously since he initially submitted the consensus of 30 writers to The Village Voice in 2006. Over the last month, print journalists, bloggers and broadcasters nominated more than 700 different albums. We’re thrilled to welcome his exhaustive project back to our site.

Below are full results of the 2014 NPR Music Jazz Critics Poll, highlighted by a playlist of the Top 10 overall picks. You’ll find a list of the entire Top 50 in the voting for Jazz Album of the Year, with the top finishers in Latin Jazz, Vocal, Debut and Reissue/Historical categories as well. (You can find all the raw data, including individual ballots, at a website operated by Tom Hull, who annually collates all the information from the poll.) Continue reading →

Like a piece of gym equipment that always yields a great workout, most musicians have favorite tunes. For saxophonist Ravi Coltrane, “Who Wants Ice Cream” by trumpeter Ralph Alessi has proven especially fertile, drawing him back again and again since he recorded it as part of the album Spirit Fiction.

Coltrane is expected to play the tune during our webcast of his performance Live at the Village Vanguard Wednesday night. In an interview, he offered a musical primer to explain its lasting appeal — and his taste in frozen treats. Continue reading →

If the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, sometimes two apples will land on similar turf. Brian Blade has been Wayne Shorter‘s drummer for several years and leads his own project called The Fellowship Band. His older brother Brady Blade is perhaps best known for his drumming with Emmylou Harris and is an all-around music industry mover and shaker.

The two have a lot in common besides their instrument. Both have moved back to their hometown of Shreveport, La., making for more frequent holiday get-togethers. And Brady’s new Mid-City Records label will be releasing Brian’s new recording with The Fellowship Band, Landmarks, in the spring (in conjunction with Blue Note Records).

Since Brady will be following Brian to New York to catch his Village Vanguard run this week — NPR Music and WBGO are broadcasting the first set — we decided to explore the bonds of kinship with a little he said, he said.

Lara Pellegrinelli: You and your brother look a lot alike. And, come to think of it, I’ve never seen you in the same place at the same time. Any chance you’re the same person?

Continue reading →