Gary Fukushima

Quite possibly the first “shredder” on bass, Clarke rose to international stardom with Chick Corea and Return to Forever and never came back down, forging a four decade career as one of the most dynamic and charismatic bass players in history. His latest album, Up, is a slickly-produced affair with......

The Japanese pianist from Cleveland followed closely in Chick Corea’s footsteps, first with Corea’s Return to Forever bandmates Flora Purim, Airto Moreira and Joe Farrell, then with one of Miles Davis’ last groups in the late ’80s. Having played with everyone from Stanley Turrentine to Tom Harrell, Akagi has settled......

He was a prodigy, learning piano at age 3, studying jazz at USC at age 16. He was the winner of the Montreux and Thelonious Monk jazz piano competitions as a teenager. However, instead of becoming embedded in the jazz scene in New York, Tigran Hamasyan has followed a different......

The Martian Chronicles author Ray Bradbury said, “You fail only if you stop writing.” Josh Nelson, who otherwise would be merely the world’s best jazz piano accompanist, has written a lot of music as of late, continuing to unearth new worlds with his Discovery Project. His new album, Exploring Mars,......

This bassist currently lives in Korea, thousands of miles from the rich music culture of Los Angeles, which is fine with him considering he hails from Maine, also thousands of miles from the rich music culture of Los Angeles. Spicy kimchi lobster bisque, anyone? In between those times McGillicuddy lived......

While New Orleans is the hometown of the early trumpet kings Joe Oliver and Louis Armstrong, in fact Oliver and Armstrong became famous in Chicago, the next great city in jazz history. Chicago once again can boast of a new king, for one of their own, standout trumpeter Marquis Hill,......

As a fiery drummer whose textural, hyper-dynamic approach redefined jazz drumming for a new generation, Brian Blade’s made-for-the-stage name became well known when he was a sideman to saxophonist Joshua Redman and pop sensation Seal. The Brian Blade Fellowship debuted in 1998 to much fanfare and cemented Blade as one......

As the son of musicians and educators in his native Bulgaria, Milen Kirov became a prodigy on piano and would follow in his parents’ footsteps as a well-respected composer and college professor. Little did they know he would lead a double life as leader of what may be the best......

In this era of jazz musicians streaming out of college, pianist Kevin Hays got his education the old-fashioned way, by playing with jazz masters like Benny Golson, Joe Henderson, and Billy Hart. In doing so, he has honed a long and fruitful career in New York by earning the trust......