Author's posts
New Music Monday for July 2, 2018
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify. The first week of March in 1963 was a busy one for John Coltrane. He was in the middle of a two-week run at Birdland and was gearing up for the famed “John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman” album, which he recorded on March 7. The day before, he and …
New Music Monday for June 25, 2018
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify. Whether supplying eminently tasteful but strong-as-steel backing for singers like Nancy Wilson and Sarah Vaughan, or venturing into uncharted new territory as a member of Herbie Hancock’s groundbreaking Mwandishi band, Buster Williams’ playing has always evidenced that fearless willingness to leap unhesitatingly into the unknown. With his …
New Music Monday for June 18, 2018
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify. For nearly fifty years, Eddie Daniels has continued to be one of the leading voices of modern jazz clarinet. Just as Buddy DeFranco made the transition from Benny Goodman to Charlie Parker, Daniels helped bring the clarinet from the post-bop era into the modern age. For his exciting …
New Music Monday for June 11, 2018
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify. For three decades Mike LeDonne has been an exceptional avatar of the Hammond B3 organ. Forged by his impressive jazz apprenticeship, with the likes of Benny Golson, Milt Jackson and George Coleman, LeDonne comes from a long and distinguished line of masters of that instrument. And for eighteen years, …
New Music Monday for June 4, 2018
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify. Saxophonist Dave McMurray has cemented his reputation for versatility by playing with a vast array of musicians including B.B. King, Bonnie Raitt, Herbie Hancock, Nancy Wilson, Geri Allen and Bob James. His Blue Note Records debut, “Music is Life,” is a reunion of sorts, given the …
New Music Monday for May 28, 2018
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify. McClenty Hunter Jr.’s groove has been a big part of the New York scene for the last ten years. He began his career in Maryland playing gospel, attended Howard University studying under Grady Tate, and went on to earn his Masters at Juilliard under Carl Allen. McClenty was …
New Music Monday for May 21, 2018
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify. With his gruff, gravelly voice, his penchant for hep cat diction, and the serpentine bebop turns of his vocalese creations, Eddie Jefferson might not seem the ideal match for a classic romantic crooner like Allan Harris. The Brooklyn-born singer has previously paid homage to the songs of Billy …
New Music Monday for May 14, 2018
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify. Eight years after becoming an NEA Jazz Master, with critics declaring him one of the top jazz pianists in the world, Kenny Barron is still striving to reach new creative heights as he continues to record and tour with many different instrumental configurations. This year, the …