Thoughts | Paul Dietrich Jazz

I Think Laura Jurd Is One of the Best Musicians Alive

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...

Transcription: Tigran's "Someday My Prince Will Come"

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...

Jazz and pop music

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...

5 Albums: John Christensen

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...

Paul Dietrich's 5+4, Friday October 29 2021

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...

Essential Jazz Tunes

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

Essential Jazz Trumpet Listening

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...

Album Review: Maria Schneider Orchestra - Data Lords

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

Some Words on Nick Markakis

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...

Album Review: John Christensen "Dear Friend"

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