Author's posts
New Music Monday for June 1, 2020
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify Grammy-winning New York drummer Robby Ameen has had an established recording and touring career stretching from Dizzy Gillespie to Paul Simon over the last four decades, highlighted by a 20-year run in the band Latin icon Ruben Blades. Although he is of Lebanese origin, Ameen is best known …
New Music Monday for May 25, 2020
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and SpotifySix years after Pat Metheny’s last studio recording, and fifteen years after the final Pat Metheny Group album, comes a set of brand new pieces recorded with a new band. “From This Place” features drummer Antonio Sanchez, bassist Linda May Han Oh and pianist Gwilym Simcock along …
New Music Monday for May 18, 2020
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and SpotifySome people are obsessed with Wayne Shorter’s music. Many of his compositions, which are known for their complex harmonies and memorable melodies, have become jazz standards. When two musicians of the caliber of guitarist Dave Askren and sax player Jeff Benedict team up to record an album of …
New Music Monday for May 11, 2020
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and SpotifySaxophonist Wayne Escoffery is renowned for his fiery, muscular and virtuosic tenor playing, but his explosive sound is paired with a soft-spoken and thoughtful demeanor off the bandstand. In many cases, both those aspects of his personality can be credited to the same inspirations–giants of the music who …
New Music Monday for May 4, 2020
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and SpotifySisterhoods have been steadily moving toward the forefront of the jazz scene. Elevated by purpose and promise, and upholding the virtues of equality and community, these sororities have become a substantial force in the music today. Monika Herzig, a thoughtful composer and inventive pianist, has become a key …
New Music Monday for April 27, 2020
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify Duchess’s embrace of merriment is not merely a by-product of the group’s natural joie de vivre; their commitment to joy stems from a deeply rooted belief that in troubled times, sharing and spreading happiness is a necessary act. On its third full-length release, “Live at Jazz Standard,” the …
New Music Monday for April 20, 2020
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify The dynamic young saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin presents “Pursuance: The Coltranes,” paying homage to two of the greatest musical innovators of the 20th century, John and Alice Coltrane. Under the tutelage of jazz luminary and co-producer Reggie Workman, whose supple bass lines underscored countless of the Coltranes’ recordings, Benjamin …
New Music Monday for April 13, 2020
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify After 20 years at the helm of her acclaimed acoustic sextet, taking her across the globe and onto such renowned stages as the Newport Jazz Festival and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, Amina Figarova embarks on a bold new chapter with the release of “Persistence.” On …