Terence Blanchard & Co. Are Magnetic With A New Release
On Tuesday, May 28th jazz trumpet legend Terence Blanchard will be releasing his new record, ‘Magnetic,’ on Blue Note Records featuring saxophonist Brice Winston, pianist Fabian Almazan, bassist Joshua Crumbly and drummer Kendrick Scott as well as special guests Ravi Coltrane, Lionel Loueke, and Ron Carter. From 5/29-6/2 Blanchard and crew will be gracing audiences at the Jazz Standard with live performances of material from the album. We sat down to discuss his process in recording, the importance of young composers, as well as an array of topics in a conversation with the musical titan.
5/29-6/2: Terence Blanchard at the Jazz Standard for ‘Magnetic’ Release
Jazz Standard and Blue Note Records celebrate the May 28 release of Magnetic, the stunning new album by Terence Blanchard and his great quintet featuring saxophonist Brice Winston, pianist Fabian Almazan, bassist Joshua Crumbly and drummer Kendrick Scott.
5/18: Steve Lehman Quartet f. James Hurt at Evolve Music Collective
Heading the night is a rare performing from legendary pianist, James Hurt, who will be sharing the stage with the Steve Lehman Quartet at 9pm featuring Daimon Reid on drums and Matt Brewer on bass.
Greg Errico: The Backbone to Sly & the Family Stone Pt. 2
When you ask any drummer about their influences, the list of names is bound to include a one “Greg Errico” no matter what type of music they play. Errico, most famously the drummer for Sly & the Family Stone, baffled a lot of people in the industry—a white drummer in a multi-racial and multi-gendered band that seemed to defy every boundary they met. Our discussion with the San Francisco native continues with the aftermath of Woodstock, what happened to Sly Stone, and Errico’s later work with Betty Davis.
ERIMAJ Runs Their Voodoo Down at Harlem Stage
Jamire Williams’ ERIMAJ took crowds on a journey at Harlem Stage this past weekend. They have certainly have taken the reigns for music change today.
Jaimeo Brown: Spirituals, Tablas, & Transcendence
When Jaimeo Brown says his exploration of early American spirituals met his growing passion for Indian Tablas, jazz, and hip-hop he most certainly is not talking about any of it in a general sense. Beginning with a college thesis paper and evolving into a full album featuring his close friends JD Allen and Chris Sholar, Brown has delved into the musical, social, cultural, and intellectual factors that create the music he loves. Better yet, now he is ready to share that with the world. We sat down with Jaimeo Brown to discuss ‘Transcendence,’ his influence, and what he looks forward to accomplishing with his music.
Greg Errico: The Backbone to Sly & the Family Stone Pt. 1
When you ask any drummer about their influences, the list of names is bound to include a one “Greg Errico” no matter what type of music they play. Errico, most famously the drummer for Sly & the Family Stone, baffled a lot of people in the industry—a white drummer in a multi-racial and multi-gendered band that seemed to defy every boundary they met. We sat down with the San Francisco native to discuss what went on behind the scenes in developing some of the most timeless music with one of the most groundbreaking bands of all time.
Watch: A Great Day In Harlem (1994)
In honor of the Harlem Jazz Shrines Festival, we are streaming the 1994 documentary A Great Day in Harlem that documents the incredible circumstances that went into the timeless 1958 black and white portrait which included jazz legends like Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins, Roy Eldridge, Dizzy Gillespie, Count Basie, Art Blakey, Charles Mingus, Gerry Mulligan, Thelonious Monk, and Sonny Rollins, among numerous others. In total an astonishing 57 musicians showed up just to be in the picture taken by Art Kane at 17 East 126th Street.
Robert Glasper, Questlove, Joe Lovano Participate in Night of Improvised Round Robin Duets
The annual Red Bull Music Academy has grown into a hotly anticipated event of seminars, classes and performances, and being held in New York City for the first time has driven the quality and demand up to new heights. In one of the most anticipated events of the month long festival, A Night of Improvised Round Robin Duets at Brooklyn Masonic Temple was a magnet of multiple genres and sensibilities, making for an once-in-a-lifetime musical potluck that nourished music lovers of all types. Here’s a recap of every duet:
Rakim, Bobby Humphrey Among Artists Who Honored Sekou Sundiata at Apollo Theater
Now in the 21st century, and a mere six years since Sundiata’s passing, Harris and others are recreating that seminal moment at the world famous Apollo Theater, a place where the writer performed and cemented his revered legacy frequently during his career. Tongues of Fire Choir is just one of many programs that’s a part of Blink Your Eyes: Sekou Sundiata Revisited, a year-long tribute to Sundiata happening in various venues in Manhattan and Brooklyn.
José James & Taylor McFerrin: Collaboration At Its Best
José James and Taylor McFerrin have both been on the minds of music makers, consumers, and tastemakers for a while now. We sat down to take a look at how they have collaborated over the years, their friendship, common influences, and what comes next for the pair in our video feature below.
Give The Drummer Sum: J Dilla’s Influence on the Modern Drummer
James Dewitt Yancey has garnered all the posthumous acclaim you’d expect for a hip-hop visionary underappreciated outside of his circles. Whether it be for his impeccable choice of samples through a multitude of different styles, his uncanny knack of blowing your mind with his musicianship or his humility in a sea of egos and gold chains, he is revered as a legend beyond the realms of hip-hop music, and rightfully so.
International Jazz Day 2013 Roundtable
Happy 2013 International Jazz Day! We assembled a roundtable of historic and influential musicians that will be in Turkey today for International Jazz Day to shed some light on some issues concerning jazz music today. Read on below as Robert Glasper, John Beasley, Keiko Matsui, George Duke, and Terence Blanchard give some insight on a few questions we posed to them!
5/14: Jaimeo Brown ‘Transcendence’ Album Release Concert at DROM
With an intriguing amalgam of modern jazz, Southern black spiritual music, East Indian Carnatic music, blues, and hip-hop/electronica production tactics, Transcendence introduces Brown as a fearless renegade – an artist who seeks new pathways for personal musical expression through honoring a deep and broad lineage of musical and cultural traditions.
A Roy Haynes Listening Session: Jazz Abroad & Out of the Afternoon
Far too often drummers are lost amongst virtuosic horn players and flexible vocalists. The gentle beauty of the former tends to supersede the technical ingenuity found within such a colossal vehicle like the drums. What I recognized almost immediately was that Haynes is simply not one of those guys lying in the cut. In fact, his voice is the most distinct of them all. He did not stand amongst the giants, but well above them.
SILENTJAY // BLOSSOM DANCE FT. KIRKIS
It seems FlyLo and Thundercat may be getting some competition from the Aussies. Melbourne’s own 21-year-old beatmaker/producer/multi-instrumentalist/singer Silentjay is graced us with a premiere of his new single + video “Blossom Dance” ft. Kirkis on bass. While Silentjay sings with Hiatus Kaiyote and plays sax with the experimental-cinematic jazz quintet Demian, this one features the electronic side of his dynamic artistry in conjunction with Kirkis who “travelled through a portal in a microwave, where he found himself falling for love with 51 analog synths a bass guitar.”
Rakim: In the Vein of John Coltrane
“One of the thoughts that I used to play with was trying to write in a John Coltrane solo style. That’s how a lot of my styles came up—in solo mode, you know what I mean? It’s just up and down the scale, any rhythm you want to hit, it don’t have to be no set rhythm throughout the whole song. It’s solo time, so I’m going to go where I want. That kind of created my writing style. I always thought I was writing in the vein of John Coltrane.”
Premiere: David Murray Infinity Quartet “Army of the Faithful” ft. Gregory Porter
We could not be more excited today to bring you “Army of the Faithful” from Be My Monster Love, David Murray’s first quartet album in six years. The track features a guest appearance by none other than the Grammy Award-nominated Gregory Porter as well as a brand new dynamic quartet consisting of Marc Cary on piano, Jaribu Shahid on bass, and Nasheet Waits on drums. The album, which will drop June 11th, 2013 on Motéma, will also feature guest spots by Macy Gray and Murray’s former teacher, Bobby Bradford.
Music and Architecture Series: Curated by Aruán Ortíz
Music & Architecture is a series of concerts that intend to narrate through improvise music and electronics, different concepts and ritualism behind ancient architectures, deconstructing their forms, shapes and it’s variety of textures, and reproducing the visual impacts around the world. Curate by pianist and composer Aruán Ortíz, each concert will be dedicated to an specific architectural topic, from Fractals in Nature Architecture to the mysterious parameters of the Sacred Family, and it will feature some of the most forward-thinking creative improvisers in the NY scene.
Watch: Icons Among Us | Jazz in the Present Tense
Featuring interviews, tons of performance footage, and insight from some of the greatest, the hour-and-a-half long feature delves into some of the issues facing what some call “jazz” today. While you’re watching, keep your eyes peeled for some of the innovative drummers of today as well as the influential drummers of the past—there are some great moments featuring them all.
Chris Dave & The Drumhedz Live at the Highline Ballroom
When looking at the stage at Manhattan’s Highline Ballroom, you can see Chris “Daddy” Dave’s drum kit shining from a distance. There are only two people on Earth that can be identified simply by observing the drum kit and nothing else: one is Neil Peart of Rush, and the other is Dave. His kit was more of a rhythm laboratory, adorned with four snares, a hi-hat with holes covered with a tambourine, spiraled crashes, bongos and a suspended floor tom.
“Papa” Jo Jones & The All-American Rhythm Section
Coming into prominence in the Big Band era of jazz, “Papa” Jo Jones, as he was known, was a timekeeper at heart. Locked in with guitarist Freddie Green and bassist Walter Page, they were collectively considered the “All American Rhythm Section.” Joining Count Basie’s band around 1934 and staying with him until 1948 (with a 2-year hiatus in between with the military), Papa Jo imparted a legacy that would resound long after his passing making him a key influence for drummers today.
Kendrick Scott: In Command, Out of Control
With Kendrick Scott’s latest Oracle record, ‘Conviction,’ topping the charts and making its way into iPods and computers around the world, we took some time to discuss the implications behind the meaning of the record as well as Kendrick’s entire perception of the drums as an instrument and more. Take a listen to the record, check out some of insight below, and grab yourself a copy today!
Hans Schuman Preserves & Accelerates with JazzReach
As Founder and Executive-Artistic Director of JazzReach, Hans Schuman has been the man behind educational programs in over 75 communities since the organization’s inception. Dedicated to the promotion, performance, creation and teaching of jazz music by way of “widely acclaimed live multi-media educational programs for young audiences, captivating main-stage concerts for general audiences and informative clinics and master-classes for student musicians and ensembles,” JazzReach has become a staple of the jazz community supported by both fans and artists alike. This Sunday 4/14/13, Chris Dave and the Drumhedz will be performing a benefit concert for JazzReach at the Highline Ballroom. Check out more about the concert and cause below as we discuss with Schuman.
