The Lush Life Blog
Album Stories: John Coltrane's A Love Supreme
On December 9, 1964, four musicians walked into Van Gelder Studio and recorded a 33-minute suite that became the most celebrated jazz album ever made. This is the story of A Love Supreme: what Coltrane was carrying into that room, and what the record did to everything that came after.
Album Stories: John Coltrane's A Love Supreme
On December 9, 1964, four musicians walked into Van Gelder Studio and recorded a 33-minute suite that became the most celebrated jazz album ever made. This is the story of A Love Supreme: what Coltrane was carrying into that room, and what the record did to everything that came after.
Black Jazz Records: Twenty Albums That Refused to Be Forgotten
Gene Russell's Black Jazz Records lasted just four years and released twenty albums. Every one of them refused to be forgotten. The story of the Oakland label that documented an entire spectrum of Black musical expression, from spiritual jazz and organ funk to free exploration, and kept finding new audiences decades after it folded.
Black Jazz Records: Twenty Albums That Refused to Be Forgotten
Gene Russell's Black Jazz Records lasted just four years and released twenty albums. Every one of them refused to be forgotten. The story of the Oakland label that documented an entire spectrum of Black musical expression, from spiritual jazz and organ funk to free exploration, and kept finding new audiences decades after it folded.
Cassandra Wilson, Blue Skies, and the Record She Walked Away From
Every obituary this week will lead with New Moon Daughter and Blue Light 'til Dawn. But there is another album, earlier and stranger in context, that says just as much about who Cassandra Wilson was. It is called Blue Skies, and having made it, she never made another record like it.
Cassandra Wilson, Blue Skies, and the Record She Walked Away From
Every obituary this week will lead with New Moon Daughter and Blue Light 'til Dawn. But there is another album, earlier and stranger in context, that says just as much about who Cassandra Wilson was. It is called Blue Skies, and having made it, she never made another record like it.
The Best New Jazz Releases and Reissues: August 2026
August belonged to Henry Threadgill, with two albums in the same month from one of the most uncompromising composers alive. The month also delivered a Dinner Party reunion, Emma Rawicz in imperious form, DOMi & JD Beck's long-awaited follow-up on Blue Note, and a Tone Poet double-drop of Jackie McLean and Ike Quebec.
The Best New Jazz Releases and Reissues: August 2026
August belonged to Henry Threadgill, with two albums in the same month from one of the most uncompromising composers alive. The month also delivered a Dinner Party reunion, Emma Rawicz in imperious form, DOMi & JD Beck's long-awaited follow-up on Blue Note, and a Tone Poet double-drop of Jackie McLean and Ike Quebec.
How to Date an Atlantic Pressing: A Collector's Guide to Every Label Variant
Atlantic's label history is more complicated than most jazz collectors realise. Between 1955 and 1968, the label cycled through at least seven distinct designs for mono pressings alone, with stereo running a parallel but not identical sequence. One of those designs lasted a single month. Here's how to read every one of them.
How to Date an Atlantic Pressing: A Collector's Guide to Every Label Variant
Atlantic's label history is more complicated than most jazz collectors realise. Between 1955 and 1968, the label cycled through at least seven distinct designs for mono pressings alone, with stereo running a parallel but not identical sequence. One of those designs lasted a single month. Here's how to read every one of them.
Wamono: A Guide to Japan's Jazz, Funk and Rare Groove
A generation of Japanese players spent the late 1960s and 1970s remaking American funk, soul and jazz in their own image, then watched most of it disappear. Reissue labels have spent the past decade digging it back up. Here is what wamono is, and where to start.
Wamono: A Guide to Japan's Jazz, Funk and Rare Groove
A generation of Japanese players spent the late 1960s and 1970s remaking American funk, soul and jazz in their own image, then watched most of it disappear. Reissue labels have spent the past decade digging it back up. Here is what wamono is, and where to start.