Articles by Katchie Cartwright
AS IS, featuring Al & Stacey Schulman: Crazy World
by Katchie Cartwright
What does it take to turn a romantic Cole Porter song into a powerful nine-minute protest piece? The band AS IS teases it out with a bit of a false trail to begin with: a tasty little scat intro, nicely-arranged. You might not suspect. Stacey Schulman brings the head in with a slight tweak to the lyric ("From this moment on, we can see clear: only truth can fight fear..."). Jeff Tain Watts launches what becomes a shipload of hydrodynamic ...
Continue ReadingJavon Jackson: Jackson Plays Dylan
by Katchie Cartwright
Bob Dylan without the lyric? Javon Jackson's Jackson Plays Dylan makes a strong case. With two exquisite exceptions, the arrangements are purely instrumental, but Jackson manages to draw us in past the words (he knows we can hear most of them in our heads) to the emotional heart of each piece. More than that, he turns the program into a sort of film score. Each song (scene) dissolves into the next via a snippet of its intro. Starting ...
Continue ReadingCarlos Malta and Cliff Korman: Saudade do Paulo
by Katchie Cartwright
Like many mid-20th-century jazz albums, Saudade do Paulo was recorded live in the studio (Biscoito Fino studios in jny: Rio de Janeiro), without the sort of overdubs and retakes more typical of 21st-century projects. The release is digital-only, but what it lacks in physicality it makes up for in substantial liner notes and a sound that is intimate and conversational. Independently, the Brazilian flutist and saxophonist Carlos Malta and the American-born Brazil-based pianist and scholar Cliff Korman each ...
Continue ReadingFrom This Very Moment On with Alan Schulman and Stacey Schulman
by Katchie Cartwright
The program begins with an alchemic single from Crazy World, the 2026 album by jny: Philadelphia-based guitar-voice duo Alan Schulman and Stacey Schulman. With the help of the brilliant rapper Kokayi, they have managed to turn a romantic Cole Porter song into a contemporary something-else-entirely (All About Jazz's review is here). Our theme is topical, and the releases range from new-to-the-moment offerings to outstanding cuts from the '60s, '70s, '80s and aughts: names like Nascimento, Mingus, Marsalis, Toussaint, Staples, and ...
Continue ReadingCaroline Davis: Fallows
by Katchie Cartwright
Fallows, the singular saxophonist Caroline Davis' debut release as a one-woman band (sax and electronics), was written and recorded on a 20,000-acre ranch in the high plains of Wyoming, the fruit of a month-long artist residency at the Ucross Foundation. Davis, who is jny: Brooklyn-based at present, had gotten into working with electronics in 2006 while living in Chicago, completing her doctorate in cognitive psychology and gigging with Zing! (Magnetic Flux, 2007; High Mayhemic, 2014; both on ears&eyes Records). The ...
Continue ReadingElla Grace: Figments
by Katchie Cartwright
Raised in the icy jny: Minneapolis-St. Paul area, trumpeter and composer Ella Grace studied with longtime Prince band member Steve Strand before moving to jny: Chicago to attend DePaul University, from which she graduated summa cum laude in 2025. Supported by a Chicago Music Scene Fellowship, Figments, her debut as a leader, is a testament to the warm reception she has been receiving in her new home. The album finds her in good company among an assemblage of up-and-coming Windy ...
Continue ReadingHugo Blouin: Jazz Sérieux, Jazz Fun
by Katchie Cartwright
Growing up in southern Québec, not far from the US border, Hugo Blouin studied music from an early age in school. Both parents were writers, so creative work came naturally. “It was normal to do art," as he put it. As a bassist, Blouin describes himself as an “auto-didact," but he studied piano in primary and secondary school, wrapping his head and fingers around Schumann and Debussy, practicing seriously. In his first round of college, he studied and worked in ...
Continue ReadingJovino Santos Neto: The Music Leads Itself
by Katchie Cartwright
Following a years-long recording hiatus, Brazilian-born Seattle-based Grammy-nominated pianist and composer Jovino Santos Neto released three albums in 2025, all captured live. Two are digital-only releases, both recorded in 2024: Retratos: Brazilian Portraits (Audiophile Society), a duo performance with Estonian bassoonist Martin Kuuskmann in a program of great Brazilian composers, and A Onça e o Pajé (Self-Produced), recorded live at the Amazonas Green Jazz Festival with the Amazonas Band conducted by Rui Carvalho. In conversation with All About ...
Continue ReadingBrazil Music Club at Winter Jazzfest 2026
by Katchie Cartwright
Hamilton de Holanda Trio, Flávio Silva, Jamile & Vinicius Gomes Brazil Music Club at Winter JazzFest Nublu 151 January 8, 2026 Nublu, which sits on the corner of Avenue C and 10th Street on the Lower East Side of New York City, was overflowing for Brazil Music Club night at the 2026 Winter Jazzfest, with fans in the aisles, on the steps, and up on the catwalk. The early evening performance on Thursday, January 8, presented ...
Continue ReadingIlona Kudina: Baltic Transit
by Katchie Cartwright
Born and raised in Latvia, Ilona Kudina was trained as a classical musician, earning a master's degree in flute performance from Jazeps Vitols Latvian Academy of Music in jny: Riga and becoming a flutist and piccolist with the Latvian National Symphony. Pursuing her interest in improvisation, jazz and contemporary music, she moved to jny: Boston in 2001, where she received a professional diploma from Berklee College. Kudina's self-produced debut album, On the Bridge (2006) offered chamber works ...
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