Five years ago today, Michael Brecker—one of my favorite saxophone players, and a pioneer on the instrument in many ways—passed away of complications from leukemia. He had suffered from the rare blood disorder myelodysplastic syndrome, and never found a matching...  read

In which Bill, as threatened, pays tribute to late jazz great Michael Brecker. A special all-music edition!  read

It didn't actually turn into a riot two weeks ago at Iridium, but it looked like it might for a few minutes there. The first indication of trouble came early, though we didn't recognize it as such as the time....  read