The Owl and the Upright — Sova Lets the Creaks In
Sova means owl, a bird of wisdom in some myths and an omen of evil in others, and on 'Alight!' the pianist wants her instrumental music just as open to interpretation.
Pianists
An Honest Voice — Eliana Glass on Spontaneity, Technique, and Nina Simone
Around the release of 'E at Home,' Eliana Glass reflects on the limits of technique, setting aside her jazz training, and Nina Simone's case for making someone else's song completely your own.
A Monument in Plain Sight — Charles Joseph Smith's Chicago
Dr. Charles Joseph Smith has been one of Chicago's most recognized faces and least-known composers—a paradox that Sooper Records' reissue 'Collected Works and the War of the Martian Ghosts' is now, belatedly, beginning to resolve.
'Piano Decompositions' and the Politics of Instruments in Decay
Heidi Hart and Beate Schirrmacher's 'Piano Decompositions' follows Annea Lockwood's Piano Transplants into an argument about ecological crisis, political control, and why a burning instrument unsettles us in ways a burning forest does not.
The Intimate Machinery of David August's 'Hymns'
The German-Italian producer David August returns to the piano he has known since childhood on 'Hymns,' nine devotional improvisations treated with prepared strings and recorded to preserve every creak and breath of a century-old instrument.
From Sacred Space to Silent Film — Noah Franche-Nolan Serves the Music
On 'Rose-Anna,' the Vancouver pianist honors his great-grandmother's church-organ tradition through compositions that move between meditative prayer, silent-film themes, and post-bop propulsion.
The Cold Comfort of Louis Gardner's Solo Piano
The London pianist's 'Emotionally Suited To Be A Solo Pianist' began as a three-hour improvisation that captured winter's quieter truths about distance, solitude, and the strange calm that arrives when the world slows down.
Marcus Roberts on Amplifying Accessibility in a Jazz Context
The acclaimed pianist reflects on a lifetime of adapting tools never designed for blind musicians, how his mother taught him that communicating feeling matters more than technical perfection, and why he believes technology's moral compass must always stay ahead of its capabilities.
Robin Holcomb, Peggy Lee, and the Art of Musical Patience
After twenty years of performances and one shelved recording, the pianist-songwriter and cellist finally capture their unique blend of contemporary classical, avant-jazz, and American folk on 'Reno'.
Fragments of Revelation — A Lost Conversation with Matthew Shipp & Ivo Perelman
A technical failure erased the interview, but the spiritual dimensions of 'Armageddon Flower,' Shipp and Perelman's forty-sixth collaboration together, prove more durable than digital memory.
Claire Cope's 'Every Journey' and the Women Who Dared to Explore
The pianist-turned-composer discusses her philosophical views on improvisation, the challenges of writing for larger ensembles, and the inspiring tales of extraordinary female explorers.
Wild Sonatas — Pianist Hunter Noack's Scenic Concert Hall
Drawing inspiration from Depression-era WPA outdoor concerts, Noack's "In a Landscape" series creates musical experiences where the natural world becomes part of the performance itself—a thousand-pound Steinway serving as both instrument and artistic statement among the great outdoors.