Welcome to New York’s Premier Jazz Magazine Hot House Jazz Guide Since 1982!

Eric Scott Reed: A Life Devoted to the Piano 

There are musicians who play jazz, and then there are musicians who live it—who carry its history in their hands and its future in their hearts. Eric Scott Reed belongs firmly to the latter category. Over a career spanning more than three decades, the pianist and composer has established himself as one of the most eloquent voices in contemporary jazz, a musician whose playing honors tradition while speaking with unmistakable individuality.

Philadelphia Roots, Gospel Foundation  

Born in 1970 in Philadelphia, Eric was immersed in music from his earliest days. His father was a minister, and the church became Eric's first conservatory. Gospel music—with its emotional directness, its call-and-response dynamics, and its emphasis on communicating with an audience—shaped his musical DNA in ways that remain audible in every performance.

By age two, Eric was already playing piano. By five, he was performing in his father's church—an early indication of both his precocious talent and the spiritual foundation that would inform his artistry for decades to come.

As a child, his family relocated to Los Angeles, where his prodigious talent soon attracted attention. He studied at the Richard D. Colburn School of Performing Arts and quickly became a fixture on the West Coast jazz scene, sitting in with veterans who recognized something special in the young pianist's touch.

To read more, visit https://mags.hothousejazzmagazine.com/c0525e6a88.html#page/6.

John Patitucci – Top of the Bottom

by Dave Popkin

John Patitucci has lived a rich musical life. He has won three GRAMMY Awards, been nominated for 16, and played on many other GRAMMY Award-winning records. He has played with absolutely everyone, including a 20-year stint with Wayne Shorter, decades with Chick Corea and time with Herbie Hancock, Norah Jones, Roy Haynes, Michael Brecker, B.B. King, Dizzy Gillespie, Bonnie Raitt, Sting, Carole King and countless others. He’s an acclaimed composer, teacher, sideman and studio musician, in addition to leading his own bands. He’s simply one of the top jazz bassists of all time.

This year, although he did just travel to Hawaii and will be going to China in August, you’ll be able to find him closer to home. John called Hastings-on-Hudson, NY, home for about 30 years before recently moving to Connecticut. He will be playing a lot of “home games” in 2026. From June 3-7, John will lead a veteran sextet at Smoke in New York. They will play 12 shows in five nights. “With me it’s about relationships,” says John. “Joey Calderazo [piano] and I have done a lot of stuff together over the years. He’s amazing. In his generation, Joey is very special. We’ve done duet tours together in Italy. He’s another brother of mine. I’ve played with Chris Potter [tenor sax] for years. Steve Wilson [alto sax] is incredible; we played with Chick Corea a little bit.” 

To read more, visit https://mags.hothousejazzmagazine.com/c0525e6a88.html#page/10.

Etienne Charles – Cultural Explorer

by Dave Popkin

Trinidad-born trumpeter Etienne Charles is a performer, composer, storyteller and teacher who is continuously searching for untold stories and sounds with which to tell them. One of his favorite methods is to embed himself in a place and a culture, so that he can then bring the story of those people to a larger audience via his musical compositions and arrangements of traditional songs. His most recent album, Gullah Roots (2025), concentrates on the history of the Gullah-Geechee enslaved people brought to South Carolina and Georgia from Africa. It was originally commissioned by the Savannah Music Festival in 2018, and last year Etienne committed it to vinyl and currently tours to support it. “I’d say five or six times I’ve done this, where I completely take a deep dive into the culture and then bit by bit compose, create and present it to the audiences. It’s really about telling the story of these people through the music,” Etienne says. “The Gullah people are a direct link to the Caribbean. Many of the early African captives went to the Commonwealth of Charleston. In 1812, many of them came to Trinidad because they got free land there. The album deals with different points in history like Igbo Landing, which was a very key moment in the history of the Gullah people. It was a slave ship that was coming to land, and the captives took over the ship and instead of sailing to Dunbar Creek, which is where the ship was destined, they all jumped off. So that’s a sad story of a mass suicide of 70-some people [off St. Simons Island, Georgia in 1803]. Dealing with things like The Weeping Time, which is the largest slave sale in the history of North America, almost 500 people sold in one sale from one family [in 1859]. We deal with Watch Night, which is a tradition that still happens on New Year’s Eve.”

To read more, visit https://mags.hothousejazzmagazine.com/c0525e6a88.html#page/14.

Louis Hayes: Octogenarian Trailblazer 

by Ronald E. Scott

"The art form is a challenge, but it's still fun---thinking if I should retire, but I'm still enjoying the music. It gives me a lot of pleasure," said drummer and composer Louis Hayes, a pivotal figure of the hard bop movement. "Everything changes. We've traveled all over the world where the art form is recognized, and we've met a lot of people, but everything has changed, and we have to adapt to what's happening now. My body gets older, but musically, I haven't changed."

NEA Jazz Master Louis Hayes doesn't merely adapt---he sets the curve, consistently leading with a vibrant drumming style that has evolved across decades of work as a bandleader and collaborator with the architecture of jazz. His approach to the kit is unmistakable: a crisp, propulsive swing that never overplays, always serving the music while pushing it forward. Louis is a master of dynamics, knowing precisely when to whisper with brushes and when to drive the band with explosive fills. His time feel---that elusive quality that separates good drummers from great ones---is impeccable, a deep pocket that gives soloists room to breathe while keeping the pulse alive and urgent.

That sound, as critics have noted, is excitement tempered by poise — and there is no better three-word encapsulation of what happens when Louis sits behind the kit. He doesn't announce himself. He simply begins, and within four bars, the room has changed. The ride cymbal opens the conversation — a shimmering, steady dialogue with whoever is soloing, nudging, and responding, never crowding the space. His specialty is a hard-swinging, free-flowing rhythm track that is exquisitely sensitive to the needs of the soloists around him; he lifts people rather than competing with them, a generosity of spirit that took decades to develop and sounds, in his hands, completely effortless.

To read more, visit https://mags.hothousejazzmagazine.com/c0525e6a88.html#page/18.

Nona Hendryx: Ever-Evolving Artist

by Ronald E. Scott

Nona Hendryx – singer, songwriter, multimedia artist, record producer, activist, multi-instrumentalist – is a creative butterfly, never to be caught up in any genre net and far too fly and versatile for unhip jazz police.

With a career spanning six decades, Nona has a vocal presence as distinctive as a Miles Davis solo, demanding attention with flowing lyrics on social issues, love, and the stuff in between. Groove to her funk, rock, soul, R&B and Afrofuturism – music that permeates the atmosphere. She is an active member of the Black Rock Coalition and founder of Sistah S.M.A.R.T., a nonprofit dedicated to introducing young women of color to science, math, art, technology and robotics. "It's about opening up young ladies' minds about what else is available outside of the norm. It's offering new paths and blazing their own paths," says Nona.

The progressive new-wave goddess, who seems to have discovered the real fountain of youth, has collaborated with an eclectic list of artists including Yoko Ono, Cameo, Talking Heads, Prince, Peter Gabriel, and Laurie Anderson. These collaborations birthed top ten hits and a GRAMMY Award nomination for "Rock This House" with Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards. On multimedia fronts, in 2018 she was commissioned to create new work inspired by photographer Carrie Mae Weems and dancer/choreographer Ulysses Dove. "I'm open to music and open to other artists and their creativity – what it is that they do and what they are exploring – and I explore it with them," says Nona. "We're like explorers, sort of following a note, a sound, a lyric, and seeing where it's going to take us. I don't have any real boundaries when it comes to exploring all kinds of music."

To read more, visit https://mags.hothousejazzmagazine.com/c0525e6a88.html#page/20.