Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify.
New York’s idyllic Hudson River Valley has been a rich source of inspiration for many millennia, from its rich sacred and artistic Native American heritage, to the rise of the 19th century Hudson River school of art, to the folk and rock movement that led to the era-defining Woodstock Festival in 1969. The next chapter in that remarkable history arrives in the form of “Hudson,” a new collective that brings together four of the world’s most influential jazz musicians. Drummer Jack DeJohnette, guitarist John Scofield, keyboardist John Medeski and bassist Larry Grenadier can each boast careers that are stunning in their diversity and reach. Their extraordinary debut as a group strikingly captures the atmosphere and beauty of the region while celebrating the extraordinary music that has emerged from it. It mixes original music with thrilling renditions of songs by the likes of Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Jimi Hendrix and The Band.
Hailed by the Wall Street Journal as one of the “most versatile and imposing musicians of her generation, Bria Skonberg was recognized last summer as one of “25 for the Future” by Downbeat magazine, and Vanity Fair cited her as a Millennial “Shaking Up the Jazz World.” Coming off a recent Canadian Juno Award for her first collection on Okeh Records, Skonberg spins her cool and confident vocal style—and her sleek and timeless jazz chops on trumpet—on her new disc, “With a Twist,” deftly paying tribute to some great singers who influenced her.
Also this week, tromb
onist Steve Davis has assembled a stellar group of masters for his new CD, “Think Ahead,” including drummer Lewis Nash, bassist Peter Washington and pianist Larry Willis. Organist Akiko Tsuruga and her trio mates Jeff Hamilton and Graham Dechter, who appeared at the Iowa City Jazz Festival last summer, offer up “So Cute, So Bad”.
Saxophonist and composer Roxy Coss unveils her latest, “Chasing the Unicorn.”