Louder: Plotting the Future of the Most Storied Studio in Jazz

July 22, 2022

By Caryn Ganz

Pop Music Editor

“History was made there,” Herbie Hancock said of Rudy Van Gelder’s New Jersey recording studio. “History that defined what jazz was then and what jazz is now.” (The cover of “A Love Supreme” pictures John Coltrane in front of a railing just outside its door.) When Van Gelder died in 2016 at age 91, he willed the property to his longtime assistant, Maureen Sickler, but gave her no instructions about what to do with it. Now, as Ben Sisario reports, Sickler and her small team are working to make his carefully built haven a full-service studio once again, and ensure its future.

Also this week, Lindsay Zoladz profiled Amanda Shires, an outspoken presence in Nashville whose album out next Friday, “Take It Like a Man,” was made with an unlikely collaborator (the Los Angeles indie-folk musician Lawrence Rothman) and doesn’t shy away from personal topics (including a challenging time in her marriage to Jason Isbell).

Lindsay also reviewed Lizzo’s “Special,” an album that “often sounds caught between the personal and the personal brand.” Jon Caramanica wrote about two R&B albums (by Brent Faiyaz and Muni Long) that highlight how the genre has been evolving. And Jon Pareles highlights a new song from Billie Eilish and more, on the Playlist.

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Plotting the Future of the Most Storied Studio in Jazz

The New Jersey recording space built in 1959 by Rudy Van Gelder is filled with history. Can it regain its glory without getting stuck in the past?

By Ben Sisario

THE CRITICS

Leon Bennett/Getty Images

Album Review

Lizzo’s Empowerment Pop Gets Stuck in the Same Groove

“Special,” her second major-label album, gestures toward complexities that would broaden her image as the queen of the mirror pep talk, but retreats to her comfort zone.

By Lindsay Zoladz

Joel C Ryan/Invision, via Associated Press

The Playlist

Billie Eilish Contemplates Distraction, and 10 More New Songs

Hear tracks by Flo Milli, Jessie Ware, Montell Fish and others.

By Jon Pareles and Lindsay Zoladz

Darren Xu, Tony Bowen

Critic’s Notebook

R&B That Sweats, Emotionally and Physically

New releases from Brent Faiyaz and Muni Long show how the genre has evolved in recent years.

By Jon Caramanica

‘The Day the Music Died’ Review: ‘American Pie,’ the Life of a Hit

Don McLean tries to clear up some misapprehensions about the eight-an-a-half-minute song that took on a life of its own, in this documentary.

By Glenn Kenny

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Amanda Shires Isn’t Letting Nashville, or Her Marriage, Off the Hook

The singer, songwriter and fiddler found comfort with an unexpected collaborator and plumbed new depths on her latest album, “Take It Like a Man.”

By Lindsay Zoladz

Geoffrey Haggray for The New York Times

Smoke Rises: A Jazz Room Returns on the Upper West Side

This storefront club that’s been mostly shuttered since spring 2020 has long been home to small-group jazz steeped in tradition. Now, it reopens, with some renovations.

By Alan Scherstuhl

Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images For Teen Vogue

My Ten

Hayley Kiyoko Revs Up With Arcade Fire and Chills Out to ‘Friends’

The pop singer and songwriter has been doing some emotional spring cleaning as she prepares to release her second full-length album, “Panorama.”

By Pierre-Antoine Louis

Alycee Byrd for The New York Times

She Wants to Heal the World Through Second Line

Michelle N. Gibson brings her one-woman show exploring the origins of New Orleans second line, “Takin’ It to the Roots,” to Jacob’s Pillow.

By Brian Seibert

NEWS

The Charts

Bad Bunny Holds at No. 1, With a Surprise Brent Faiyaz LP Close Behind

The Puerto Rican superstar earns his fifth week at the top, but “Wasteland,” an unexpected drop from the Maryland R&B singer, made a statement.

By Ben Sisario

Kennedy Center to Honor Gladys Knight, George Clooney, U2 and Others

They will be recognized at the 45th ceremony in December along with the composer Tania León and the singer-songwriter Amy Grant.

By Kalia Richardson

Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder Suffers Throat Damage From Europe’s Wildfires

The band canceled a show in Vienna after Mr. Vedder sought treatment following a musical festival in Paris.

By Jesus Jiménez

U.S. Marshals Seek Man Mistakenly Freed in Shooting of Lady Gaga’s Dog Walker

James Howard Jackson, 19, was accidentally released from jail in April. The authorities are offering a $5,000 reward for tips that lead to his arrest.

By McKenna Oxenden

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William Hart, Driving Force Behind the Delfonics, Dies at 77

With hits like “La-La (Means I Love You)” and “Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time),” his group pioneered the soulful Philadelphia sound.

By Clay Risen

Joe Schildhorn/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images

David Dalton, Rock Writer Who Lived the Scene, Dies at 80

An early writer for Rolling Stone, he traveled in the same circles as the Beatles, Janis Joplin and other stars, witnessing and documenting a time of cultural transformation.

By Neil Genzlinger