By Morgan Enos, JazzTimes We know what you’re thinking: Oh, great, here come the pandemic albums. Those who didn’t merely dump their offerings on Bandcamp during the initial wave, the artists who actually paid for a publicist and a pressing plant, are just now putting out their quarantine music. But if any COVID releases endure, … Read More
By Morgan Enos, Jazz Times “Some artists attempt to obfuscate their influences, or pretend they exist in a vacuum. Not Samara Joy. The 21-year-old jazz singer freely admits she’s the product of a particular dyad: Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald. “This music is my foundation for sure,” she told GRAMMY.com in 2021. “When I want to learn … Read More
By Morgan Enos, Grammy.com Violinist/composer Tomoko Omura’s new album, ‘Branches Vol. 2,’ splits the difference between Japanese folk songs and originals inspired by them—and it all crescendos with “Urashima Suite,” which exclusively premieres on GRAMMY.com. Read. more here.
by Morgan Enos, Grammy.com The masterful actress Glenn Close and GRAMMY-winning big-band leader Ted Nash found common ground back when Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra was born. Now, they have ‘Transformation,’ a heady new album with both their names on the sleeve. Read the feature here.
By Morgan Enos, Grammys.com As the last five composers have established, big band is not necessarily a genre, but a vessel in which to pour any kind of music. By way of the 8-Bit Big Band, a jazz/pops orchestra that performs video game music, Charlie Rosen is actively testing this hypothesis. Read more here. … Read More
By Morgan Enos, Grammy.com While the previous four composers either weave between genres or disregard them entirely, Feifke proudly wears his primary influences on his sleeve: Thad Jones and Bob Brookmeyer. “I’m certainly inspired by both of those people very deeply,” he says. “I also love Maria Schneider and Jim McNeely and all those cats.” Read more here.
By Morgan Enos, JazzTimes In the space of 10 years, the South Korean immigrant has gone from jazz novice to masterful big-band leader and composer. Read more here.
By Morgan Enos, JazzTimes One of the most beguiling ambient tracks you’ll ever hear—one worthy of Eno, Fripp, or Glass—is buried in the soundtrack to the SNES video game Donkey Kong Country. “It feels so romantic and melancholy and grand,” saxophonist Grace Kelly tells JazzTimes of “Aquatic Ambiance,” a piece of music packaged in cartoon ape imagery … Read More
by Morgan Enos The pianist-composer, who died in 2012 at 91, was one of the most famous jazz musicians who ever walked the planet — and for that fact alone, he was controversial. His 1959 classic Time Out was the first platinum — and then double-platinum — jazz album. The chances are that “Take Five” pops into … Read More
By Morgan Enos, JazzTimes On alto saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin’s new themed album of John and Alice Coltrane covers, Pursuance: The Coltranes, she doesn’t just pay homage to jazz’s most intimidating power couple. Benjamin also enlisted a dizzying assemblage of guests, from the Coltranes’ colleagues (bassists Ron Carter and Reggie Workman) to rising players (singer Georgia … Read More
