Music & Cultural Criticism
“Ever-New Sound Worlds,” on Henry Threadgill, New York Review of Books, December 21 2023
“Cries and Whispers,” on Meredith Monk, New York Review of Books, November 22 2023
“Feel-ins, Know-ins, Be-ins,” on Pharoah Sanders, New York Review online, September 19, 2023
“A Blues Surrealist,” on Julius Hemphill, New York Review of Books, May 27 201
“The Composer Tyshawn Sorey Enters a New Phase,” New York Times Magazine, January 7 2021
“The Stanley Crouch I Knew,” New York Review of Books Daily, September 24 2020
“Sound, Breathing, Calm: on Jacques Coursil,” London Review of Books, August 2020
“An Invitation from Jeanne Lee,” New York Review of Books, June 2020
“In the Vanguard of Trio Jazz with Micah Thomas,” New York Review Daily, June 2020
“Ring a Bell to a New World,” on Matthew Shipp, London Review of Books, May 21 2020
“Capturing the Ephemeral Beauty of Improvisation,” New York Review Daily, 2 October 2019
“The Apostle of Now-ness,” on Don Cherry, New York Review of Books, 6 June 2019
“The Noise of Life,” on Okwui Enwezor, London Review of Books blog, 20 March 2019
“New Sounds: on Joseph Jarman,” London Review of Books blog, January 28 2019
“Rapping with Fanon,” New York Review Daily, January 22 2019
"New Stars in Coltrane's Interstellar Space," New York Review Daily, June 27 2018
"Jazz and the Images that Hold Us Captive," New York Review Daily, June 17 2018
"The World of Cecil Taylor," New York Review Daily, May 16 2018
"Bad Boy from Buffalo," on Julius Eastman, New York Review of Books, April 19 2018
"Silence Bigger than a Table," on Wadada Leo Smith, New York Review of Books, February 8 2018
"Blue Maqams," on Anouar Brahem, London Review of Books blog, December 2017
On Muhal Richard Abrams, London Review of Books blog, November 2017
"Free at Last: Mal Waldron's Ecstatic Minimalism," The Nation, July 2017
"The Bureau," the London Review of Books blog, July 2017
"The Ethereal Genius of Craig Taborn," The New York Times Magazine, June 25, 2017
"A World of Shared Ecstasy," on John King's "Free Palestine," Paris Review blog, June 2017
"Blues to Come," on Harriet Tubman's "Araminta," Paris Review blog, March 2017
"Raw Material," on Dana Schutz at the Whitney Biennale, London Review of Books blog, March 2017
"Remembering Leonard Cohen in the age of Trump," The Paris Review Blog, November 11 2016
"The Sorcerer of Jazz," on Miles Davis
New York Review of Books, 2016
"The Hypnotic Clamor of Morocco," on Paul Bowles's Morocco recordings
New York Review of Books, 2016
"The Fierce Courage of Nina Simone"
New York Review of Books, 2016
"Kamasi Washington's Giant Step"
New York Times Magazine, 2016
"Diary" on Ornette Coleman
London Review of Books, 2015
"Le Jazz Hot," on the history of jazz in France
New York Review of Books, 2015
"Who's Afraid of Klinghoffer?"
London Review of Books Blog, 2014
"The Freedom Principle," on the New York Art Quartet
London Review of Books, 2014
"The Beautiful Sounds of Jimi Hendrix"
New York Review of Books, 2014
"Bird!" on Charlie Parker
New York Review of Books, 2013
"An Argument with Instruments: On Charles Mingus"
The Nation, 2013
"The Perils of Living Too Long," on Grachan Moncur, III
The New York Times, 2003
"Fight Club," on jazz criticism
The Nation, 2003
"Nina Simone: Lit by a Sacred Flame," an obituary
The Nation, 2003
"A Fighting Man's (and Woman's) Work," on Steve Reich and Beryl Korot
The New York Times, 2002
"Reclaiming an Ancient Virtuosity," on Anouar Brahem
The New York Times, 2002
"An American Minimalist Who Can Stir the Soul," on Ingram Marshall
The New York Times, 2001
"A Chosen Calm After the Avant-Garde Storm," on Marilyn Crispell
The New York Times, 2001
"A Sideman Steps Out and Shines On His Own," on Marc Ribot
The New York Times, 2001
"Turning Circles and Squares Into Noise," on Sonic Youth
The New York Times, 2000
"A Jazz Pianist with a Brahmsian Bent," on Brad Mehldau
The New York Times, 1999
"A Maestro Of Esoteric Invention Becomes Accessible,"
on Roscoe Mitchell
The New York Times, 1999
"An American In Paris, Painting With a Saxophone," on Steve Lacy
The New York Times, 1999
"Through His Hands, the Healing Power of Rhythm," on Leon Parker
The New York Times, 1998