By Editors, Jazzwise Pianist and producer Jesse Fischer’s new album, Resilience, will be released on August 7, and we are pleased to present the premiere of the eponymous opening track from the album. The track features trumpeter Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah alongside Fischer on piano and various keyboards, with Morgan Guerin (tenor sax), Jordan Peters … Read More
By JazzTimes JazzTimes is honored to premiere a previously unreleased track by singer Catherine Russell, “You Reap Just What You Sow.” The song, written and first performed by the great Alberta Hunter (1895-1984), will be officially released tomorrow (June 12) on all digital platforms, in association with Dot Time Records and Symphonic Distribution. All proceeds … Read More
By Adriane Pontecorvo, PopMatters Bassist Michael Olatuja opens “Lagos Pepper Soup”, the title track of his upcoming album, with a flurry of plucked, playful notes, scattered over the track’s polyrhythmic backbone. It isn’t long before they settle into an upbeat melody, bright and driving: a celebration of life, culture, family, and the many things still … Read More
By Ben Richmond, Afropop Worldwide Afrobeat already takes a huge ensemble—you can find footage of Fela conducting Africa 70 into a lather before picking up his saxophone—and it fills such a huge sonic space that it’s hard to imagine space for more of anything. But Michael Olatuja, the London-born, Lagos, Nigeria-raised, New York-based bassist and … Read More
By Dave Cantor, Downbeat Saxophonist Walter Smith III and guitarist Matthew Stevens achieved such artistic fulfillment with their 2018 album, In Common, they’re back for another go. The co-leaders launched the band in 2017 with the idea that it could have rotating members. In Commonfeatured vibraphonist Joel Ross, bassist Harish Raghavan and drummer Marcus Gilmore, … Read More
By Piotr Orlov, AFROPUNK Originally, AFROPUNK’s purpose in premiering “Om Shanti,” saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin’s collaboration with Georgia Anne Muldrow and Meshell Ndegeocello on a cover of Alice Coltrane’s spiritual anthem, was not meant to be topical. At least not in the way that it now might seem on this Friday the 13th. Coltrane’s “Om Shanti” … Read More
By Matt Micucci, Jazziz Vocalist/pianist Laila Biali’s forthcoming album, Out of Dust, will be released on March 27 via Chronograph/ACT. The LP includes a version of Gregory Porter’s “Take Me to the Alley,” and this video features a live acoustic, alternate take of the song captured in one take at Trinity St. Paul’s United Church … Read More
By Downbeat Trumpeter/flugelhornist Rachel Therrien’s collected 15 original compositions for VENA (Bonsaï), which is set for release March 27. “The letter V is significant to me. I was struck by the formation birds make when they migrate; they fly in a perfect ‘V’ onward to their next destination. By flying this way, the birds are … Read More
By Matt Micucci, Jazziz Flutist/composer Elsa Nilsson’s upcoming album, Hindsight, is a direct reaction to the current political climate and reflects the urgency of her generation. Each of the pieces, including the title track presented here in a live version performed with her quartet, comes from the rhythmic structure of chants heard at Women’s Marches … Read More
By Jedd Beaudoin, PopMatters Svetlana‘s 2019 LP Night at the Movies pays tribute to some of the Russian-born musicians favorite music from the silver screen, including “Moonlight”, which appeared in the 1995 picture Sabrina. The tune was written by Alan Bergman, Marilyn Bergman, and John T. Williams. “Film and music both express a fleeting beauty; … Read More
