“If you’re creative, then it means that you can approach anything with a creative spirit and just do your best at it,” says Shabaka.
(Photo: Joseph Ouechen)Apr 28, 2026 12:25 PM
In the fall of 2023, this writer first witnessed a saxophonist from the U.K. on stage at the Hollywood Bowl, surrounded by a string orchestra and a myriad of electronic and…
Jack DeJohnette has never been willing to sit still long enough to be categorized.
(Photo: DownBeat Archive)Oct 28, 2025 10:16 AM
Editor’s Note: Jack DeJohnette is the kind of percussionist who might appear on any given night behind a major artist and, by so doing, raise the level of group interplay about seven notches. Such was the case at Newport ’74 when he showed up quite unexpectedly behind Freddie Hubbard at Carnegie Hall. All of a sudden a formerly ho-hum rhythm section was transformed into one of high excitement, distinctive originality and exquisite empathy.
But Jack DeJohnette is far more than just a drummer who sits in someone else’s band, or even someone who…
