LLP Artists Awarded in The 42nd Annual Jazz Station Awards / The Best Jazz of 2020 – Jazz Station

January 4, 2021Best of 2020, Press Reel

By Arnaldo DeSouteiro, Jazz Station Acoustic Piano Gonzalo Rubalcaba (“Viento Y Tiempo – Live At Blue Note Tokyo” w/ Aymée Nuviola –Top Stop Music/Sony Music Latin Fima Chupakhin (“Water” – self release) Sam Hirsh (“Quite Frankly – Introducing Sam Hirsh” – Umadas Music) Mike Bond (“The Honorable Ones” – Bounce Castle) Electric Piano Shedrick Mitchell … Read More

BEST OF 2020: Thana Alexa, Regina Carter, Trio Grande Make List – 33third

January 1, 2021Best of 2020, Press Reel, Reviews

by Michael Ambrosino, 33third Trio Grande, Trio Grande If Sonny Rollins perfected the Jazz trio, then drummer Antonio Sanchez has perfected its distant electronic cousin. Trio Grande morphs Sanchez’s mastery with the talents of guitar savant Gilad Hekselman and fiery saxophonist Will Vinson, shaping an album that sounds much larger than just a trio. Propelled by this … Read More

5 Powerful Protest Songs Released by Womxn in 2020: Thana Alexa “The Resistance” on Audio Femme

December 29, 2020Best of 2020, Listings

By Alexa Peters, Audio Femme Music has always served as a battle cry and a balm during particularly tumultuous times, and in 2020—when injustices like the disproportionate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on BIPOC, the slaying of George Floyd by police, the assault on immigrant, women’s, and LGBTQIA rights by the Trump Administration became apparent—music … Read More

BEST OF 2020: Lakecia Benjamin “Pursuance: The Coltranes” – PostGenre

December 15, 2020Best of 2020, Press Reel

By Rob Shepherd, PostGenre Alice Coltrane’s blurring of historically Black American music, classical Indian concepts, atonal orchestration, and (sometimes) synthesizer has significantly guided the following generations, often subtly, including in jazz, New Age, and experimental electronic music. And yet, in most circles, she remains criminally underrated.  Read more here.  

BEST 2020: Thana Alexa ONA – PopMatters

December 14, 2020Best of 2020, Press Reel

By Will Layman, PopMatters This is the second recording from the Croatian-American singer, and it sits in a dazzling space—not-really-jazz but unclassifiable music that uses jazz players and gorgeous jazz harmonies and melodic style to communicate something beyond boundaries. The band includes the fabulous keyboardist Carmen Staaf, Matt Brewer on bass, Alexa’s husband the expert … Read More