Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify.
In 1994, Xavier Davis was playing with his college ensemble at the International Association of Jazz Educators in Boston when legendary vocalist Betty Carter spotted him. Carter was so impressed with the talented young artist that she hired him as the pianist for her working trio. In the ensuing 25 years, Davis has played on more than 50 albums, including Grammy-winning recordings by the Christian McBride Big Band, with whom he still plays. He has also shared the stage and recorded with the likes of Wynton Marsalis, Freddie Hubbard, Abbey Lincoln and Steve Turre. Now, having returned to Michigan, his home state, the accomplished performer, composer, arranger and producer is Associate Professor for Jazz Piano at Michigan State University. After being awarded a Humanities and Arts Research Program grant, which provides funding to faculty for research leading to creative and performance projects in the arts and humanities, Davis embarked on his concept for “Rise Up Detroit,” featuring his trio and a string quartet.
The world first learned of the incredible vocal artistry of Cecile McLorin Salvant when she won the prestigious 2010 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition. In just under the span of a decade she has evolved from a darling of jazz critics and fans, to a multi-Grammy Award winner, to a prescient and fearless voice in music today. Her newest release, “The Window,” an album of duets with the pianist Sullivan Fortner, explores and extends the tradition of the piano-vocal duo and its expressive possibilities. With just Fortner’s deft accompaniment to support Ms. McLorin Salvant, the two are free to improvise and rhapsodize, to play freely with time, harmony, melody and phrasing.
Also this week, guitarist Gilad Hekselman debuts two trio lineups on the rousing, melodic and complex “Ask for Chaos”.
Pianist Bob James returns to the trio format for his latest, “Espresso”;
And “Facing Dragons” is keyboardist Christian Sands’ return to the recording studio with an indestructible band and an unwavering allegiance to the groove.