Author's posts
New Music Monday for December 12, 2016
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify. In the aftermath of one of the most bizarre presidential elections the country has ever seen, Delfeayo Marsalis and the Uptown Jazz Orchestra do their part to “Make America Great Again!” On their debut recording, the trombonist/composer and his rollicking big band take that slogan and run …
New Music Monday for December 5, 2016
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify. In 1976, bassist/composer/arranger/vocalist Gabriel Espinosa came to the United States from his home in Merida, Mexico, to study at Central College in Pella, where he received his B.A. in music. After picking up another degree at Berklee College of Music in Boston and his Master’s degree …
New Music Monday for November 28, 2016
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify. Kurt Elling has investigated matters of the soul and of faith throughout his career. He’s done so through his choice of repertoire; his inventive use of poetry, some of which dates back to the thirteenth century; and through his own writing. Filling an entire album with …
New Music Monday for November 21, 2016
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify. The world-renowned Richie Cole began his career as lead alto in the Buddy Rich Big Band, then started his own quintet and toured worldwide, popularizing bebop and his own Alto Madness style. He spends much of his time now with the Pittsburgh Alto Madness Orchestra. During a …
New Music Monday for November 14, 2016
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify. Pianist Eric Lewis grew disheartened by the jazz music industry in the late ‘90s after a promising start in the ensembles of Wynton Marsalis and Elvin Jones. Subsequently, Lewis won the Thelonious Monk International Piano Competition only to find he wasn’t connecting to the material any longer. He …
New Music Monday for November 7, 2016
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify. The music of the late, great Woody Shaw set a standard of excellence that has not been surpassed in the 50-plus years since he first came onto the jazz scene. “Madero Latino” is an exploration of this giant’s music as viewed through the lens of authentic …
New Music Monday for October 31, 2016
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify. It was only a matter of time before guitarist Paul Mehling focused his creative mojo on Lennon and McCartney’s vast and enduring treasure trove of songs. The founder and guiding spirit of the Hot Club of San Francisco, America’s longest running Gypsy swing ensemble, Mehling …
New Music Monday for October 24, 2016
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify. Whether moving from Japan to the United States or navigating between the influences of jazz, soul, hip-hop, Afrobeat and electronica, trumpeter and composer Takuya Kuroda has never followed a straight path. On his fifth album, “Zigzagger,” Kuroda darts between those wide-ranging interests with a funky swagger …