Peter Margasak has been a staff music writer at the Chicago Reader, where he covers everything from jazz to world music to country, since 1995. He’s also a regular contributor to DownBeat Magazine, where often writes about European jazz and improvised music, as well as NPR’s All Things Considered. His work has also appeared in the New York Times, Rolling Stone, the Wire, Spin, and Songlines.
Self-taught Americana singer-songwriter Tift Merritt and Julliard-trained… more »
The veteran Polish trumpeter Tomasz Stanko has long been a reliable and r… more »
The reedist Charles Lloyd, who turns 75 on March 15, is almost twice the … more »
British soprano saxophonist Iain Ballamy and Norwegian percussionist Thom… more »
Although men have long sung the emotionally charged Portuguese music know… more »
For more than four decades now Bobo Stenson has been the face of Swedish … more »
Bay Area seven-string guitarist Charlie Hunter reconnects with one of his… more »
Since moving to New York, the Michigan-born flutist Leah Paul has applied… more »
On her terrific second album, bassist and composer Linda Oh digs deep wit… more »
Over the last decade or so, drummer Tomas Fujiwara has routinely grounded… more »
The heavy-duty foursome responsible for the ruminative atmosphere and rig… more »
File under: Free jazz, post-bop, improvisation Flagship acts: Ken Vanderm… more »
The stunning performances captured on Ghosts of the Sun were recorded fiv… more »
While Mary Halvorson is one of the jazz world’s most exciting and a… more »
Although men have long sung the emotionally charged Portuguese music know… more »
It used to be easier to pretend that an album was its own perfectly self-… more »
Luiz Melodia never attained widespread fame in Brazil, but the Rio native… more »
Although he's a veteran of Brazilian music, making records as a membe… more »
Rio de Janeiro's Mart'nália has emerged as one of the strong… more »
On the surface this new instrumental project by orchestral pop auteur Ric… more »
One of Norway's most flexible and diverse young saxophonists, Hakon K… more »
Scandinavia has recently attracted attention with some unusual piano trio… more »
This beguiling quintet channels severe stylistic and geographical disloca… more »
This trans-Atlantic trio, with Chicago reedist Ken Vandermark, Norway… more »
As they age, extreme metal merchants often inject various non-metallic styles into their songs in order to hasten their musical growth. Sometimes, as with Alcest and Jesu, they develop to the point where their original… more »
