The Side People

My personal Substack contains stories of my musical and life experiences as a veteran jazz musician.

Better than a blog? I don't know. But I always hated the word "blog." If you'd like to subscribe, the orphans I support would love it.

Creative music, guitars, life in the arts, short stories, backstage chatter

Riffs on music and culture, improvised and otherwise, from critic Nate Chinen

Interviews with creative artists in jazz and beyond and observations on the scene

Cuban sounds, and stories from the wide world of Latin music. Playlists, videos, interviews, and a serialized book about the pioneering Havana label Panart Records by Judy Cantor-Navas.

New insights into jazz and its history

Rhythm, Improvisation and Community (#BklynSounds)

Hank Shteamer writes about music.

Transmissions from the Brooklyn based writer, podcast host, and record label person Nabil Ayers.

Jazz Music; Classical Music; Do the Math

Notes and musings on music

Occasionally technical, sometimes unprovable, always from the heart; thoughts from a lover of music.

Essays and interviews, mostly about music. Also a record label.

News and views about new music – contemporary composition, creative music & improvisation, electronic and electroacoustic work, and idioms for which no clever genre name has yet been coined – on stage and on recordings.

Visual stories with today's leading creative musicians

New music worth hearing. Old music worth remembering. Deep-dive playlists. Record reviews. Books. Concerts. New York City. Lou Reed. Genre-fluid.

Jazz, Music, Jazz Drumming, Music History.

Musings and interviews on music from Berlin and abroad

An accumulation of words that relate to music and other obsessions.

Nibbling at the periphery

Music writing that is not restricted by the demands, wishes, and timelines of the music industry. Writing, not advertising. Love, not a battle of the brands.

Slow writing on culture and music from an NPR veteran and bestselling author

Dispatches from the edge of the empire, one beat at a time.

Hearing, viewing, reading -- music, movies, books

Since 2014, I have been interviewing musicians and members of the creative class, telling stories and asking questions. WBGO | All About Jazz | 2023 & 2025 Signal Award Winner | Multi instrumentalist composer producer.

Music criticism, mostly on jazz.

Josh Haden's Mémoire about life, death, jazz, slowcore, and survival.

Thoughts on nearly vanished sounds, spirits, ideas.

Musings On Jazz and Spinning Tales!

UNREQUITED LETTERS

Resurrecting long-running series In Service of Jazz about dedicated behind-the-scenes jazz lifers (2010-2015)