Debbie BurkeAuthor

A new book, 365 Days of Practice (Sher Music Co., 2024) by NYC-based classical and jazz saxophonist Rick Margitza, serves up an engaging tone and well-explained methods for sax players who want clear and doable goals. Here, Margitza has provided a year’s worth of scales, tritones, diatonic intervals, and many other short examples that demonstrate how to practice and fully learn the jazz lexicon.

This novel about self-discovery with a jazzy twist invites the reader to follow the main character, a budding singer in 1970s Baltimore, through her self-doubts as she goes on the road and learns some challenging life lessons. Author Jean Burgess’s strong fiction debut is an excellent study of character and emphasizes the power of friendship against a satisfying musical background.

Belgium-based Pretoria-born artist and singer Tutu Puoane has new tracks coming March 24 in her new album called Wrapped in Rhythm. There is on-point phrasing, ethereality and poignancy (“Land of Broken Mirrors”), light funk (“Illicit Love,” that, by the way, has luscious changes), and the assertive bass that starts off “Courage” that brings a swing Puoane uses to full effect.