Will Layman
Will writes about music for various publications — with a focus on jazz and creative music.
In the DC/Baltimore area, Will plays the keyboard and saxophone, sings, and writes songs for several bands. He also plays and sings jazz in venues around the DC area.
Will Layman fell in love with music during his early adolescent years in the suburbs of North Jersey, where the Manhattan radio station WRVR (with its brilliant DJ, Ed Beach) played jazz all day, seven days a week. In love with the sounds of Miles Davis, Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, and John Coltrane, he tried to play "Old Devil Moon" from some standard sheet music and quickly realized that he needed to learn a brand new language. At the same time, who could resist Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin, The Beatles, Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, Joni Mitchell, B.B. King, and Steely Dan?
Music
During his time at Williams College in Massachusetts, Will played jazz and original music with his band Second Nature. During law school, Stolen Moments was his outlet for music, and — after reorienting his work to teach literature, math, and music in a small DC school in the 1990s — he wrote, sang, and played in Avant Gaardvark, the hippest smarty-pants rock band in the nation's capital.
In the new century, Will has split his time among Ten Feet Tall's funk/soul originals, a bracing Grateful Dead tribute called Better Off Dead, the Winwood band The Medicated Headsmen, The Soul Purveyors' mix of jazz and hip soul, playing alto sax with the Butte & Friends horn section, and presenting jazz with his own Xtet and other bands.
Music Journalism
Will writes about music and culture (primarily jazz) for several outlets. He has appeared on National Public Radio, WNYC's "Soundcheck", and in the HBO documentary directed by Penny Lane, Listening to Kenny G. He has interviewed musicians including Chick Corea, Pat Metheny, Wynton Marsalis, Brad Mehldau, John Scofield, and scores of others.
His columns, reviews, features, and interviews have been featured primarily on Popmatters.com but also WBGO.com, and We Jazz Magazine.