Kevin Whitehead
Kevin Whitehead is the jazz critic for NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross. Currently he reviews for The Audio Beat and Point of Departure.
Whitehead's articles on jazz and improvised music have appeared in such publications as Point of Departure, the Chicago Sun-Times, Village Voice, Down Beat, and the Dutch daily de Volkskrant.
He is the author of Play the Way You Feel: The Essential Guide to Jazz Stories on Film (2020), Why Jazz: A Concise Guide (2010), New Dutch Swing (1998), and (with photographer Ton Mijs) Instant Composers Pool Orchestra: You Have to See It (2011).
His essays have appeared in numerous anthologies including Da Capo Best Music Writing 2006, Discover Jazz and Traveling the Spaceways: Sun Ra, the Astro-Black and Other Solar Myths.
Whitehead has taught at Towson University, the University of Kansas and Goucher College. He lives near Baltimore.
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Singer Jen Shyu was born in Illinois, but spent years in East Asia, studying regional music, languages and literature. Critic Kevin Whitehead says that Shyu's research echoes throughout her new album.
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In 1955, pianist Erroll Garner's trio played in Carmel, Calif. A new complete edition of the Concert By The Seaalbum has just been released. Critic Kevin Whitehead has a review.
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Eight years ago, jazz drummer and composer Harris Eisenstadt put together a quintet called Canada Day. Critic Kevin Whitehead says the group's new album shows the wisdom of sticking together.
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In her debut album, Tiffany Austin puts her own improvisational, jazzy spin on songs by the late composer Hoagy Carmichael. Critic Kevin Whitehead calls Austin "a singer to keep an ear on."
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Composer Maria Schneider draws on her rural Minnesota roots in her new album. Critic Kevin Whitehead says that while Schneider can do grandeur, "once in awhile, the majesty gets a little too purple."
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Ku-umba Frank Lacy provides vocals on the new record by the Mingus Big Band. Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead says the album, which is dedicated to the late Charles Mingus, is "worthy of the Mingus brand."
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From the Attic of My Mindis a batch of reissues drawn from the old Xanadu catalog of Sam Most recordings. Critic Kevin Whitehead says the late flutist makes "every note in a fast phrase pop out."
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Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews a reissue of The Complete Riverside Recordings of pianist Thelonious Monk. He says it's really the story of two men: Monk and late record producer Orrin Keepnews.
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In July 1970, Duke Ellington recorded two tunes engineered by Conny Plank. Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead says The Conny Plank Session,which is now on CD, is a window onto Ellington's working method.
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Terell Stafford and his quintet bring a warm and hefty tone to a tribute album honoring the late Philadelphia horn player Lee Morgan. Kevin Whitehead says the new album is risky — but successful.
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In the 1970s guitarist Bill Frisell was a student of jazz composer and arranger Michael Gibbs at Boston's Berklee College of Music. This is the album some Frisell fans have been wishing for.
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Bassist Gary Peacock, pianist Marc Copland and drummer Joey Baron bring an airy, elastic swing to their new album, Now This. Critic Kevin Whitehead says the players pull the melodies together well.