Hi folks. My latest effort as a bandleader, A Small Patch of Earth , is being released in just under two weeks on Shifting Paradigm...

Hey everybody! I'm here for a little self-promotion, with some cool things you can get in addition. For the last several years I've been...

I was introduced to Laura Jurd’s music by my friend Andy Baker about ten years ago. He said he thought I would like it. At the time she...

Partially as an exercise to keep my ears sharp and partially because it has some really cool harmony that I wanted to figure out, I...

I was talking with a student the other day about how to inject some life and personality into basic melodic lines. This turned into a...

The idea of the “5 albums” project is to ask musicians to pick five albums they want to talk about – with no other instructions. I tell...

This week, I have the honor of premiering an entire concert’s worth of new music that was written over the past two years. The project I...

I was thinking about standards, and I decided to create a guide for students (and for myself, and anyone else who is interested) that...

In conversations with students over the past few months, I decided it would be good to come up with a list of essential listening for...

Maria Schneider’s double album Data Lords (please go buy it through ArtistShare) is an almost alarming call to arms against those who...

Note: This post was originally written in July 2019. I'm reposting it here, on my new website, as Markakis just re-joined the Braves, but...

Editor's Note: This review was originally published in June 2018, around the album's release. The album is available on bandcamp. If...