Vivian Sessoms left us with much to chew on at the close of 2018. Featuring an incredible lineup of crazy-talented musicians, her album Life was a hearty meal of jazzy covers, soulful grooves, political statements and improvised instrumentals. Before we could fully digest the musical cornucopia, she announced the album’s second half, LIFE II, with lead single “I Can’t Breathe … Read More
by Suzy Sonshyn, Soulbounce After releasing the video for her stirring rendition of “Strange Fruit” in December, Vivian Sessoms has more to say about the killing of Black people. Her latest single and video, “I Can’t Breathe (for Erica)” from her forthcoming album, LIFE II, is co-directed by prolific producer, director and writer Epic “DC” Coles and uses intense imagery to chronicle … Read More
Donte Gibson, SoulBounce With all the political and civil discord, it almost seems as if the experiment that is America is ready to come apart at the seams. Of course, for those of us for whom this country has never been a safe space, this news is nothing new. In fact, it’s pretty old hat, … Read More
Soulbounce Harlem-based music collective Freelance dropped their debut album Yes Today and it is 13-tracks of spirited and inspired brilliance. The insanely talented and relatively young band consists of keyboardist Chad “Asuar the Ambassador” Selph, saxophonist Craig Hill, guitarist Yasser Tejeda, drummer Justin Tyson, bassist David “DJ” Ginyard and Tim “Smithsoneon” Smith on vocals. Individual members have played with the industry’s elite — including Takuya Karoda, Solange, Robert Glasper Experiment and Esperanza … Read More
By D Money, SoulBounce When most people think about jazz, they think of instruments like the saxophone, trumpet or piano, but rarely, if ever, do they think of the harp — but perhaps they should. One of the most innovative jazz performers was harpist Alice Coltrane, whose masterful and experimental style took the genre to new … Read More
