Spring 2021

PRELUDE

Drummer-producer Karriem Riggins shrugs off the strictures of genre; Jazz Is Dead’s Ali Shaheed Muhammad maintains a vital pulse; trumpet player Emma-Jean Thackray gains momentum with her jazz-electro-hip-hop hybrid; requisite Gil Scott-Heron.

FEATURES

• Five artists explore the intersections of jazz and hip-hop and point possible ways forward for Black American Music.
• Morgan Guerin, Joel Ross and Immanuel Wilkins discuss how much — and how little — hip-hop has shaped their musical approaches.
• Indulging his passion for hip-hop, jazz drummer Kassa Overall chopped up beats, remixed tunes and rapped on the sly. His obsessions, once hidden, now take center stage.
• From jazz artists with hip-hop sensibilities to rappers versed in the rhythms of jazz, here are 15 albums that bridge the gap.

REVIEWS

• Reviews of albums by Dezron Douglas & Brandee Younger, Dayna Stephens Quartet, Kristiana Roemer, Aaron Burnett and the Big Machine, Archie Shepp & Jason Moran, Maria Rosenbloom Trio, The Warriors of the Wonderful Sound, Cameron Graves, Tino Contreras, and Elina Duni & Rob Luft.