FlyLo + Thundercat Take Over the World?
In the past week or so there has been a lot of information leaking from the Brainfeeder camp concerning Thundercat and Flying Lotus. Here are a few of the most exciting tidbits of information.
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.
Happy 73rd Herbie Hancock
Happy 73rd Birthday to the one and only Herbie Hancock! Check out some photos from throughout Herbie’s career below and be sure to spread the word and tell us about the most influential recording Herbie has made in your opinion!
Terri Lyne Carrington Pays Homage to Duke Ellington
On February 5th, Terri Lyne Carrington will drop her homage to Duke Ellington to coincide with the 50th anniversary of their iconic 1963 Money Jungle album.The album features keyboardist Gerald Clayton and bassist Christian McBride who represent the historic trio.
Amir Abdullah: Rebuilding Strata Records
Amir Abdullah is currently in the process of relaunching Detroit’s Strata Records with reissues and never-before-heard records from the historic artists who recorded on Strata. The Strata Records catalog contains some of the most exciting music that has never been released from artists who later went on to obtain legendary statuses. Moreover, Strata was a community of artists who never ceased to amaze both in personality and material. We brought in Amir to tell his story, the story of Strata, and the ongoing journey to bring this incredible music to the our ears. Read up and be ready for a steady stream of exclusive content in the coming months!
Cory Henry: What Influences His Style
Cory Henry is consistently the guy in the back of the band that makes you shake and move with his infectious grooves. His style inspires viral videos of him blazing on the organ in church, performing with Snarky Puppy, and grinding in his bedroom to name only a few. Long story short, you want to see him play no matter the setting, style, instrument, or group. Cory brings it.
Lionel Loueke: Honoring Your Heritage
Lionel Loueke is a different type of musician. Not bound by the conventional techniques and thought processes, Loueke has pursued music his entire life through an entirely original set of eyes. Even upon moving from Benin to Paris and on to Boston where where he was exposed to the history behind the music he pursued, Loueke managed to keep his mind open to the endless possibilities the music allowed him and that has translated into an unmatched sense of originality, rhythmic innovation, and musical bliss. On August 28th, 2012 Lionel will release his most recent endeavor entitled “Heritage” which features co-proudcer and pianist Robert Glasper, bassist Derrick Hodge, and drummer Mark Guiliana.
Marcus Miller: The Renaissance Man Pt. 2
After concluding a European tour for his new release “Renaissance,” multi-instrumentalist and composer Marcus Miller sat down to talk with The Revivalist to make sense of his experience putting together a new band as well as delving into some history of his own. Between his early years growing up as a fast-rising studio musician to learning from the great Miles Davis, Miller gives us the rundown on his experiences. In Part 2, we see the progression of jazz through Miller’s eyes as well as the non-musical side of things.
Woody Shaw and Joe Henderson: The Sage and the Superhero
The connection between the heralded trumpeter, Woody Shaw, and tenor sax baron, Joe Henderson, could be said to be divine, providence, maybe even destiny. The music they composed together as the front line for pianist, Horace Silver, and organist, Larry Young, along with their collaborations and Shaw’s electrifying career may arguably be the manifested reality of Henderson’s prophetic words spoken upon first hearing Shaw play as a teenager in the early 1960′s. “He shocked me then. He’s got all the basics down, he’s developed his own style, and his future is without limits,” Henderson foretold.
Celebrate International Jazz Day 2012
Last year, 2011, the international community decided at the UNESCO General Conference to proclaim April 30 as International Jazz Day. The purpose of which would be to “bring together communities, schools, artists, historians, academics, and jazz enthusiasts all over the world to celebrate and learn about the art of jazz, its roots, its future and its impact. This important international art form will be celebrated for promoting peace, dialogue among cultures, diversity, and respect for human rights and human dignity, eradicating discrimination, promoting freedom of expression, fostering gender equality, and reinforcing the role of youth for social change.”
Herbie Hancock to Pen Memoir
Viking Press has announced its partnership with Herbie Hancock, who will be writing a memoir that will include “intimate details” of his storied career. Hancock, 71, has amassed an incredible 14 Grammy Awards as well as an Academy Award on his way to becoming one of the pillars of both jazz and popular music. The memoir is sure to be an interesting read considering the sheer depth of talent Hancock has worked with. It is due out Fall 2014.
The Robert Glasper Experiment Black Radio
Jazz purists may be taken aback, but Glasper’s vision of melding the worlds of hip-hop, soul, and jazz is a thoughtful take on an idea that has been explored ad nauseum. Black Radio is Glasper’s vision of what the airwaves could sound like – a mixtape of sorts – that may not reignite a new movement to overtake popular radio as we know it today, but it’s a concept that should be applauded for a group of artists who believe in chops over charts.
Raul Midón: An Invisible Legend
I think from a pure writing standpoint, Synthesis is the best overall written album that I’ve done. I think my songwriting has gotten better; that’s my perception. From an artistic, musical point of view, we may have gone a little into making the record that you make with those musicians as opposed to a record that is my particular artistic perception in terms of the sound of it. If I had to do Synthesis over, there are some things I’d do different in terms of the sound of it, because it goes a bit into the generic, because you have all these musicians and they play what they play.
John Levy Passes
John Levy, renowned as one of the first African-American artist managers in the jazz realm, passed away Monday January 23, 2012 at the age of 99. He is remembered for managing such pioneers as Herbie Hancock, Betty Carter, Nancy Wilson, and Ramsey Lewis among others. Along with his management duties, Levy proved himself to be an accomplished bassist performing with artists like Billie Holiday, Billy Taylor, Erroll Garner, and more.
Best 2011 Features: The Instruments Issue
The Instruments Issue centers on exceptional, challenging or thought-provoking moments and movements in jazz. At the heart of our creative energy for this issue is an insistence on understanding the musician’s experience and illuminating the mystery around their instruments.
Best 2011 Features: The Hip Hop & Jazz Debate
Since this Issue is a major focus of our site, we decided to re-launch Issue No. 2 The Hip Hop and Jazz Debate, which came out in Jan. of 2011. If you didn’t get a chance to read through all of our great features, now is your chance to go through them one by one, including a lengthy list of album reviews. Top Features from this Issue include Weldon Irvine, Respect the Architect: DJs Are Musicians, Word on Rap: The Vocal Instrument, Jazz Poetry, Rap: Cause and Effect of the Black Arts Movement, Insane in the Left Brain and DJ with Live Band vs DJ with Emcee.
MdCL Drops CHURCH Vol. 4
As 2011 closes and we begin to recap the year’s events, check out Vol.4 of the CHURCH mixtape series. MdCL’s CHURCH is a monthly clubnite event held in LA and NYC as well as a corresponding mixtape series. Check below for the mixtape and a Revivalist exclusive list of MdCL’s Top 10 Influential Recordings.
Greg Spero: Greater Than You Can Hear
Acoustic is Greg Spero’s first major release on the BlueJazz label. It features Makaya McCraven on drums, and Matt Ulery on bass. When asked about the choice to not only make an entirely acoustic album, but to title the project as such, Spero says that he knew this aesthetic choice would be a surprise to people who know his music.
Chick Corea November Residency at the Blue Note
This year Armando Anthony “Chick Corea” turns 70 years old, and for the celebration of his life, he will be playing a month long residency throughout the entirety of November at Blue Note. Once a member of Miles Davis’ band, and one of the pioneers of the so-called fusion era, which merged jazz and electric rock music, Corea, the venerable pianist and keyboardist is one of the most celebrated jazz players in history.
Stevie Wonder: Artistic Autonomy
At 18, Stevie Wonder was still deeply invested in the hit machine known as Motown. It was, however, just that—a machine. There was an understanding that the process of music making was a mechanical endeavor—ostensibly manufactured. Under this theory of production, artists vanquished much, if not all of their creative freedoms for the sake of well-tested, radio friendly records. For Stevie, this changed in 1970 when he, at the markedly young age of 20, leveraged his own potential, gaining the first Motown contract proving complete artistic autonomy.
2011 Giants of Jazz Announced
The 2011 Giants of Jazz concert will honor drummer Albert “Tootie” Heath this year. Heath’s career spanned stints with John Coltrane, Herbie Hancock, Dexter Gordon, JJ Johnson, and more. Other artists expected to perform will include Don Braden, Sharel Cassity, Cyrus Chestnut, Roy Hargrove, Bob Cranshaw and more! The event is held annually in South Orange, NJ.
The Versatile Sides of Robert Glasper
It is popular for artists to say that their music defies genre labels. They insist that their music exists separate from simplified categories such as: hip hop, country, or R&B. Contrary to that trend jazz pianist Robert Glasper does not shy away from his jazz roots and affiliation. Over the last decade Glasper has developed a unique sound that has allowed him to perform with everyone from soul singer Maxwell to pop star Kanye West.
Herbie Hancock’s Headhunters: Atypical, Unpretentious, & Untamed
This was a group defined by a body of work with a much more carnal feeling than what people had come to expect from anyone on or near the laundry list of jazz heavyweights during the early 70′s, even as everyone tolerated Miles Davis’ unapologetic departure from the cool into electrocuted cacophony. Post post-Bop and surely beleaguered by the predictability of popular aesthetic, it was high time someone stopped giving a damn. Piano prodigy and musical progeny of Miles’ defining and deviating eras, Herbie Hancock made the emphatic decision to take the baton beginning with his move from acoustic to electric piano during his time with Davis.
Herbie Hancock Named UN Goodwill Ambassador
Herbie Hancock was designated as the United Nations Goodwill Ambassador last week in Paris as UNESCO recognized his “dedication to the promotion of peace through dialogue, culture and the arts.” Evidently one of Herbie’s first goals is to put jazz on UNESCO’s Intangible World Cultural Heritage list.
