Each year at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., the Mary Lou Williams Lifetime Achievement Award is presented to one of the most extraordinary female jazz performers in the world. This year the prestigious honor will be awarded to the elegant jazz pianist, composer and vocalist Barbara Carroll. I recently had the opportunity to speak to Ms. Carroll about the award she will be receiving. JazzReview: Let's begin with you being called "The First Lady Jazz Pianist." That is certai …

Stan Getz, McCoy Tyner, Van Morrison, John Coltrane, Charlie Parker showed jazz audiences what jazz is and isn’t. Babtunde Lea’s "Soul Pools" summoned the spirit of these jazz greats and other world music luminaries and created the most innovative, fresh and soulful searching music ever. I had the pleasure of speaking to the inspirational Babatunde Lea recently, a musician who brings out the best in his bands, his music and himself. Jazzreview: I haven’t heard music as dynamic wit …

One way to address the question of women's roles in jazz would be to talk about those with the highest profiles, women who have made records. These women are generally vocalist, such as Ella Fitzgerald or Billy Holiday whose contributions to jazz are widely acknowledged. One of these women known for her distinctive style and immediately recognizable musical approach is Flora Purim. Blending Brazilian roots with her impressive jazz and classical skills, Flora Purim's astonishing voice has wove …

Jazz is American art form and an international phenomenon! Jazz is not the result of choosing a tune, but an idea that is created first in the mind, inspired by one’s passion and willed next in playing music! Jazz music is not found in websites or books, or even written down on sheet music; it is in the act of creating the form itself that we truly find jazz music. Women in jazz have been marginalized, exoticized or ignored as significant contributors to the history of the music. As a step t …

"Time and change are constants in the universe. They are also constants in our everyday life. Time goes on. Change is inevitable. Both are sayings used on any given day and in a variety of settings. When I first discovered vocal jazz, I believed that I was born too late. I should have been hanging out with Joe Williams in Chicago, trading rhymes with Jon Hendericks, singing all night in a Kansas City jam session; swinging and singing with Big Joe Turner or shouting with Jimmy Rushing. As I g …