If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Rolling Stone may receive an affiliate commission. Deciding to learn how to play the saxophone is one thing.

Metal has increasingly become about how extreme a band can be – how fast they play, how intense their songs are, how unsettling their mythos is – or so they’d lead the listener to believe. But metal’s ...

Pharoah Sanders’ 1977 release Izipho Zam (My Gifts) on the Strata-East label is a fascinating listen. Widely regarded as a landmark in the evolution of free jazz, it continues to grow on me—and that, ...