Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify Specific reasons led to the piano-less quartet becoming a vehicle for the more explorative jazz practitioners of the 1950s and ‘60s, namely directness of group sound and the increased interplay between ensemble members. It was during a regular visit to Uruguay’s Punta del Este Jazz Festival that …
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify The drummer of choice for some of the biggest names in jazz for more than a quarter century, Joe Farnsworth’s acute musical vision was formed over years of peerless performances and recordings with artists like George Coleman, Benny Golson, Pharoah Sanders, Curtis Fuller and Diana Krall. …
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify “A killer line-up of players, composers and performers who hail from all over the world…they all converge on this extremely cosmopolitan, sleek, rhythm-forward modern sound.” So says NPR Music about the debut of the all-female jazz super group Artemis, comprised of pianist and musical director Renee Rosnes, clarinetist …
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and SpotifyFor the past 17 years, the Grammy Award-winning Spanish Harlem Orchestra has earned their reputation as today’s premiere salsa ensemble. Considered “the leading light of the salsa reconstruction movement” by Newsday, they have performed on the world’s top stages and at nearly every major jazz festival, including those …
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and SpotifyWhile a few organists have recorded with a big band (including Jimmy Smith with Oliver Nelson), Radam Schwartz remembers the Richard ‘Groove’ Holmes collaboration with the Gerald Wilson Orchestra on his new CD, “Message from Groove and GW.” Born and raised in New York City, Radam has worked …
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify Christian McBride solidifies his role as the champion of the past, present and future of jazz with his Grammy Award-winning big band’s new album in tribute to Jimmy Smith, Wes Montgomery and Oliver Nelson. In September of 1966, over the course of three days, organist Smith and …
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify Over the course of two albums, bandleader/composer/arranger John Beasley has reimagined Thelonious Monk’s iconic compositions through his inventive, versatile MONK’estra—a big band able to deftly navigate the legend’s eccentricities from a variety of perspectives, from boisterous swing to raucous funk to Afro-Cuban explosiveness. The discs garnered Grammy …
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify On the heels of his 2018 Grammy-nominated album, “Heart of Brazil: The Music of Egberto Gismonte,” comes jazz clarinet icon Eddie Daniels’ new project paying tribute to the world-renowned Brazilian musician and composer Ivan Lins entitled “Night Kisses.” After Antonio Carlos Jobim, Lins is arguably the most successful …
