The Lush Life Blog
Who Makes the Record? The Jazz Producer, From Alfred Lion to J Dilla
For decades the best thing a jazz producer could do was nothing at all. By the time you get to J Dilla, the producer builds the record almost single-handed. The story of how the job flipped, told through the people who made the records you love.
Who Makes the Record? The Jazz Producer, From Alfred Lion to J Dilla
For decades the best thing a jazz producer could do was nothing at all. By the time you get to J Dilla, the producer builds the record almost single-handed. The story of how the job flipped, told through the people who made the records you love.
Jazz in France: A Love Affair That Changed the Music
France didn't just fall in love with jazz. It gave the music a second home, treated its players as artists, and built a tradition that runs from the trenches of 1917 to the cellar clubs of today. Here's the full story.
Jazz in France: A Love Affair That Changed the Music
France didn't just fall in love with jazz. It gave the music a second home, treated its players as artists, and built a tradition that runs from the trenches of 1917 to the cellar clubs of today. Here's the full story.
The Best New Jazz Releases and Reissues: July 2026
Marshall Allen at 102, Blue Note hard bop back on the shelf, new spiritual jazz from Leeds and Sydney, and the two dates set to shape the rest of the jazz year: the Coltrane centenary and a farewell to Abdullah Ibrahim.
The Best New Jazz Releases and Reissues: July 2026
Marshall Allen at 102, Blue Note hard bop back on the shelf, new spiritual jazz from Leeds and Sydney, and the two dates set to shape the rest of the jazz year: the Coltrane centenary and a farewell to Abdullah Ibrahim.
20 Best Herbie Hancock Albums Ranked
Every Blue Note, every Warner Brothers album, and three records that were only ever released in Japan. A ranked guide through six decades of a catalogue that refuses to sit still, from the beer bottle that opens Head Hunters to a solo piano session cut direct to disc in Tokyo.
20 Best Herbie Hancock Albums Ranked
Every Blue Note, every Warner Brothers album, and three records that were only ever released in Japan. A ranked guide through six decades of a catalogue that refuses to sit still, from the beer bottle that opens Head Hunters to a solo piano session cut direct to disc in Tokyo.
Great Black Music: The Art Ensemble of Chicago and the AACM
In 1969 Lester Bowie put an advertisement in the Chicago Defender reading "Musician Sells Out!", sold everything he owned and sailed for France. The Chicago collective he belonged to made some of the strangest and best records in jazz, and it is still going at sixty.
Great Black Music: The Art Ensemble of Chicago and the AACM
In 1969 Lester Bowie put an advertisement in the Chicago Defender reading "Musician Sells Out!", sold everything he owned and sailed for France. The Chicago collective he belonged to made some of the strangest and best records in jazz, and it is still going at sixty.
When Tokyo Kept the Tape Rolling: The Japanese Labels That Documented American Jazz
When American labels stopped recording their own jazz masters in the 1970s, Japanese companies flew them to Tokyo or brought studios to New York and kept the tape rolling. The story of East Wind, Baystate, Denon and Whynot, and the records they made.
When Tokyo Kept the Tape Rolling: The Japanese Labels That Documented America...
When American labels stopped recording their own jazz masters in the 1970s, Japanese companies flew them to Tokyo or brought studios to New York and kept the tape rolling. The story of East Wind, Baystate, Denon and Whynot, and the records they made.