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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Corea, who died Feb. 9, had a strong melodic sense and a crisp, distinctive touch at the keyboard. Looking back, it's easy to hear why he was among the most beloved of modern improvising composers.
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Miller's band, the sextet Boom Tic Boom, keep good time — and appear to have a good time — on their new album. "You can hear how much her crew enjoy playing this music," critic Kevin Whitehead says.
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Lee, one of the premier singers of new jazz, mixes it up with pianist Blake on a newly reissued two-CD set featuring standards and straight-up jazz tunes the two recorded in Belgium in 1966 and '67.
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A 50-year old album by pianist Oscar Peterson and a studio orchestra has been reissued by the German label MPS. Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead confesses to having mixed feelings about it.
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Seven months before his 1964 masterwork Out to Lunch! Dolphy recorded a pair of sessions with producer Alan Douglas. Critic Kevin Whitehead says this reissue is long overdue.
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Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews two new interpretations of Monk's complete works: Monk's Dreams, by pianist Frank Kimbrough, and Work, by guitarist Miles Okazaki.
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Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead remembers the musical contributions of Hugh Masekela, Jerry González, Roy Hargrove, Buell Neidlinger, Randy Weston and Vancouver Jazz Festival founder Ken Pickering.
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Werner named his new album after his state of mind when he's improvising. Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead says Werner's piano sings with the voice of experience.
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McLorin Salvant's powerful voice takes center state on her new album, a duo with pianist Sullivan Fortner. Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead says the music on The Window is riveting.
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A just-reissued album, from 1981, features diverse musicians playing songs that Nino Rota composed for Federico Fellini movies. Critic Kevin Whitehead calls it a charming album that's long overdue.