The Tonearm

Today on The Tonearm, we're celebrating the inaugural  Jazz Forward Award  winners from  All About Jazz . Since 1995, All About Jazz has been a driving force for jazz discovery. Now they're recognizing industry trailblazers who actively promote jazz awareness and culture. We'll hear from four organizations reshaping how jazz connects with audiences worldwide. Ed Trefzger from JazzWe...

Hi, this is Lawrence Peryer with a quick update about some exciting changes coming to our show. Spotlight On is now The Tonearm —same name as our online magazine at thetonearm.com . Same conversations with the people and ideas moving culture forward, just a new name and a fresh look. The timing works out: this week marks one year since we launched The Tonearm online. We're also shifting from Thurs...

Today, the Spotlight shines On composer, trumpeter, and producer Peter Knight . Peter Knight has spent decades working in the spaces between genres and cultures. His latest project brings together 40,000-year-old Indigenous Australian songs with contemporary electroacoustic music through Hand to Earth's new album, the title of which translates as "the scent of home." The record finds Peter collabo...

Today, the Spotlight shines On  David Harrington , founder and violinist of  Kronos Quartet . For fifty years, David has led one of the most adventurous musical ensembles on the planet. Kronos has commissioned over 1,100 works, collaborated with everyone from Philip Glass to Nine Inch Nails, and earned three Grammys along the way. Their recent "Hard Rain" project brought together nearly...

Today, the Spotlight shines On guitarist, composer, and producer  Jeff Parker . For nearly three decades, Jeff has balanced solo work with his role in the post-rock band Tortoise. His 2016 album  The New Breed takes hip-hop beats and puts them in the hands of live musicians. Named after his late father's clothing store, the album just got the deluxe reissue treatment from International A...

Today, the Spotlight shines On organist, composer, and sound artist  Hampus Lindwall . Hampus started as a guitarist who cut his teeth copying Steve Vai solos but who now sits behind a 78-stop church organ. He has been the organist at Saint-Esprit in Paris since 2005, but his latest album,  Brace for Impact , throws tradition out the window. Recorded on a massive organ in Düsseldorf with...

Today, the Spotlight shines On writer  Chris O'Leary . Chris has spent over a decade and a half writing what's become the definitive study of David Bowie's songbook. His blog, Pushing Ahead of the Dame, covers every song on every album in Bowie’s extensive canon. The first post from 2009 covers David’s first single, 1964’s “Liza Jane”, and the most recent is about Chris’s latest work, a newly...

Today, the Spotlight shines On saxophonist  Donny McCaslin . Donny's new album,  Lullaby for the Lost , arrives September 26th on Edition Records, and what a record it is. It’s Donny’s saxophone with guitar-driven rock energy, drawing from influences like Neil Young and Nine Inch Nails, resulting in what Donny calls his most personal music to date. You might know Donny from his pivotal r...

Today, the Spotlight shines On Matt Piucci, founding member and principal guitarist of  Rain Parade . Rain Parade helped define LA's Paisley Underground scene in the early '80s, creating music with psychedelic textures with punk energy. Their 1983 debut Emergency Third Rail Power Trip remains a touchstone album of the era, cited as an influence by everyone from My Bloody Valentine to the Ston...

Today, the Spotlight shines On composer and pianist  Robin Holcomb  and cellist  Peggy Lee . These two musicians have been creating music together for the better part of two decades. Their new album,  Reno , out September 12, captures something rare: the kind of musical conversation that happens when two artists know each other's musical language inside and out. Robin's songs d...

Today, the Spotlight shines On bestselling author and journalist  Larry Tye . Larry's latest book,  The Jazzmen , tells the story of how Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and Count Basie transformed America. But this isn't just another music biography. Larry explores nearly every aspect of the lives and music of these men and demonstrates how their artistry helped lay the groundwork for t...

Today, the Spotlight shines On tenor saxophonist  Rico Jones . Rico's new album  BloodLines  captures something you don't hear much anymore—a live recording that feels like a complete story. Recorded at Brooklyn's Ornithology, it's five original compositions that explore his multicultural heritage, from his Indigenous and Latino roots to his deep connection with Black American music...

Today, the Spotlight shines On musician, software engineer, and plug-in developer  Aqeel Aadam . Aqeel's got deep roots in Philadelphia's music scene—his grandfather was a jazz musician who gifted him his first guitar. That foundation led him from Princeton's computer science and music programs to a five-year stint at Google, and eventually to creating his own company,  Aqeel Aadam Sound...

Today, the Spotlight shines On guitarist and composer  Rez Abbasi . Rez's new album with his Acoustic Quintet,  Sound Remains , puts steel-string acoustic guitar at the center of a deeply personal meditation on presence and impermanence. The album adds master percussionist Hasan Bakr to Rez's long-standing quartet with Bill Ware, Stephan Crump, and Eric McPherson, creating what Rez calls...

Today, the Spotlight shines On someone we have not spoken to in a while… Over the years, we have periodically turned the tables by having friends and colleagues interview me, most notably in episode 100, or by airing talks and interviews I have done in other forums. Today is a little different. My longtime friend and colleague Jeremy Sirota is hosting a livestream series on LinkedIn called  C...

Today, the Spotlight shines On saxophonist and composer  Sean Imboden . Sean spent years touring with Broadway shows and working as a sideman, but something was missing. He stepped away from a lucrative career path and took a leap, returning to Indianapolis, where he ultimately formed his 17-piece orchestra. Now that ensemble releases  Communal Heart , an album that captures the communit...

Today, the Spotlight shines On clarinetist  Glenn Dickson  and electronic musician  Bob Familiar . When a cutting-edge klezmer artist meets a former rock synthesist, you might expect creative tension. Instead, Glenn and Bob found something else entirely—a shared language that turns clarinet and electronics into the most unlikely yet inspired pairings. Their new album  All the L...

Today, the Spotlight shines On drummer and composer  Gustavo Cortiñas Gustavo's latest album,  The Crisis Knows No Borders , tackles climate change head-on through music that's both urgent and beautiful. Working with guitarist Dave Miller, saxophonist Jon Irabagon, and violinist Mark Feldman, he's created compositions that explore how global warming sparks conflicts, drives migration, an...

Today, the Spotlight shines On guitarist and composer  Kim Perlak . Kim chairs the guitar department at Berklee College of Music, where she's spent over a decade expanding from classical performance into composition and improvisation. Her new album,  Spaces , is a collaboration with percussionist Francisco Mela. The record captures four nature-inspired suites that obliterate the lines be...

Today, the Spotlight shines On  Terence Hannum . Terence wears many hats. He is a visual artist, professor, and one-third of the experimental trio  Locrian . It's the 15th anniversary reissue of Locrian's  The Crystal World  that brings us together today. This album marked a turning point for the band, transforming them from a duo into a full trio and giving structure to their...

Today, the Spotlight shines On guitarist  Knox Chandler . Knox's name might ring a bell from his work with The Psychedelic Furs, Siouxsie and the Banshees, or maybe from his string arrangements on Depeche Mode's Exciter. However, his latest project takes an entirely different turn. After decades in the music business bouncing between New York, Berlin, and stages around the world, Knox found h...

Today, the Spotlight shines On  John Andrew Fredrick  of  The Black Watch . After thirty-seven years of making indie rock, the band’s latest album,  For All the World , boasts an energy and vitality that surprises even John. John’s a great guest: His creative process remains rooted in uncertainty, he reads more about music than he listens to it, he draws inspiration from everyt...

Today, the Spotlight shines On saxophonist and composer  Ingrid Laubrock . Ingrid's just released  Purposing The Air , a double album that sets 60 brief poems by  Erica Hunt  to music through four different vocal-instrumental duos. It's an ambitious project that transforms Hunt's emotionally sharp koans into what Ingrid calls "a library of moods”—each piece capturing a differen...

Today, the Spotlight shines on clarinetist and composer  Kinan Azmeh . Earlier this year, Kinan released  Live in Berlin , his fourteenth album with his CityBand quartet. The album captures music he wrote during Syria's 2011 uprising—pieces that carry the weight of watching your homeland torn apart from thousands of miles away. Born in Damascus and now based in Brooklyn, Kinan has spent...

Today, the Spotlight shines On guitarist and composer  Tal Yahalom . Tal has built a reputation in New York's creative music scene for weaving post-bop, classical, and South American influences into a unique sound all his own. On his latest album,  Mirror Image , Tal brings together a chamber quintet that puts his guitar in conversation with strings, woodwinds, and percussion, creating m...