Kevin Whitehead
Kevin Whitehead is the jazz critic for NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross. Currently he reviews for The Audio Beat and Point of Departure.
Whitehead's articles on jazz and improvised music have appeared in such publications as Point of Departure, the Chicago Sun-Times, Village Voice, Down Beat, and the Dutch daily de Volkskrant.
He is the author of Play the Way You Feel: The Essential Guide to Jazz Stories on Film (2020), Why Jazz: A Concise Guide (2010), New Dutch Swing (1998), and (with photographer Ton Mijs) Instant Composers Pool Orchestra: You Have to See It (2011).
His essays have appeared in numerous anthologies including Da Capo Best Music Writing 2006, Discover Jazz and Traveling the Spaceways: Sun Ra, the Astro-Black and Other Solar Myths.
Whitehead has taught at Towson University, the University of Kansas and Goucher College. He lives near Baltimore.
- Fresh Air remembers jazz pianist Ramsey Lewis
- Jazz trio Artifacts gets to the point quickly, and sticks to it, on a new album
- 'Fresh Air' remembers the jazz notables who died in 2021
- Pianist Craig Taborn practices the art of instant composing on 'Shadow Plays'
- Gonzalo Rubalcaba's trio finds that swinging sweet spot on 'Skyline'
- Trumpeter Lee Morgan Channels Coltrane's Splashy Style In 'Live At The Lighthouse'
- Saxophonist Joel Frahm Proves Himself A Master Storyteller On 'The Bright Side'
- Newcomer Samara Joy Makes An Imposing Debut On Her Self-Titled Album