ECM regularly tops lists of the best jazz labels though their full name—Edition of Contemporary Music—would argue for a broader scope of content. A substantial number of their most popular albums, ...

Picture the “default” jazz band we all imagine, then rewind history to see how that lineup was assembled by accident, technology, and American culture. We trace how brass valves, Civil War surplus, ...

Considering jazz is an art form that mostly makes it up as it goes along, it's ironically appropriate that printed records—i.e., data—from the days of its birth are decidedly sparse. We know, at least ...