via The Times

Jazz is renowned for its constant transformation, so it’s odd that Afro-Cuban jazz has barely changed since Dizzy Gillespie, Machito and others developed it in the 1940s. The Cuban pianist Harold López-Nussa here spectacularly puts that to rights. To the classic clave pattern he has added danzon and bata drumming, then fused it with modern song structure and improv. Listening to it, you’ll wonder why no one has tried it before.

It doesn’t stop there. López-Nussa and his producer, Michael League of Snarky Puppy, pack in keyboard sounds and styles as tightly as the meat in a mixto sandwich: Rhodes on the wistful Mal du Pays, Moog and Mellotron on the yearning Tumba la Timba and synths on the flamboyant Funky. The last of these has the leader pushing his piano into postbop territory as the dance rhythms catch fire. Radical, but kind of inevitable too.

Read the full review on The Times

Harold López-Nussa on TKA

Released in 2015 On The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern, Tony Bennett is joined by acclaimed jazz pianist Bill Charlap. This release continues the classic series of Tony Bennett album releases celebrating the essentials of the Great American Songbook. The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern is an appreciation of the genius of Jerome David Kern, one of the 20th century’s most important American composers of musical theater and popular music. Jerome Kern was a major force on Broadway and in Hollywood musicals in a career that spanned more than four decades. Playing alongside Tony Bennett and Bill Charlap on The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern are pianist Renee Rosnes (on the piano duet pieces), Peter Washington (bass) and Kenny Washington (drums). Unrelated, though sharing the same last name, Peter and Kenny have been performing with Bill Charlap for nearly two decades and pianist Renee Rosnes has been Charlap’s life partner for close to 10 years.

Cuban-born pianist and composer HAROLD LÓPEZ-NUSSA begins an exciting new chapter of his fascinating career with his Blue Note debut Timba a la Americana, a vibrant album teeming with joy and pathos that was inspired by the pianist’s recent decision to leave his Cuban homeland and begin a new life in France. Produced by Snarky Puppy bandleader Michael League, Timba a la Americana unveils a brand-new sound across 10 dynamic original compositions performed by a tight-knit band featuring harmonica virtuoso Grégoire Maret, Luques Curtis on bass, Bárbaro “Machito” Crespo on congas, and Harold’s brother Ruy Adrián López-Nussa on drums.

Harold traces the origins of Timba a la Americana to a day during his family’s first winter after leaving Cuba to live in Toulouse, France. It was cold. He was homesick. Harold found himself flipping through voice memos on his phone, listening to jams and fragments of song ideas he’d documented years before. These happened on gigs, or in the music space of his home, or on the street when he was seized with an idea. The little seedlings of songs ported him back to the rhythmic communication that was part of his everyday life in Cuba.

Timba a la Americana Due Out August 25

1st single “Funky” is streaming now

In 14th-century French mythology, Mélusine was half-woman/half-snake who was betrayed by her lover, turned into a dragon, and flew away. Mélusine is half French chanson/half idiosyncratic art song, which in its course reveals its own soaring majesty. With three Grammys and a MacArthur “Genius” Award to her name, Salvant has already far transcended her early status as her generation’s most imaginative and thrilling jazz interpreter. To portray this fantastical tale, she goes further, ranging from 12th-century troubadour ballads to a song from the obscure ‘70s Canadian rock musical Starmania (and a few originals), sung mostly in French, Haitian Kreyol, and even the ancient Occitan tongue. Salvant’s music isn’t just about juxtaposition — it’s about synthesis and transformation, just like Mélusine. — Steve Hochman

Read Full SPIN Article here

Cécile McLorin Salvant on TKA

World-spanning saxophonist, composer-improviser and band leader Charles Lloyd is hailed for his Lifetime Achievement in Jazz

Career highlights of Memphis-born Lloyd, now 85, start with his barnstorming in post-War blues bands; taking part in Los Angeles’s 1950s’ modernist scene; recording Forest Flower, a best-selling 1966 live from Monterey Jazz Fest album (featuring pianist Keith Jarrett, also nominated for this year’s Lifetime Achievement in Jazz Award); a breakthrough tour of the Soviet Union; meditations with the Beach Boys and fruitful collaborations with many brilliant musicians, including 2023 JJA Guitarist of the Year Bill Frisell, a member of Lloyd’s current quartet the Marvels, also a member of one of Lloyd’s three trios each with an album released by Blue Note Records in 2022.

The Manhattan Transfer also wins for Vocal Group of the Year.

Full Jazz Journalists Association Award Announcement

Charles Lloyd on TKA

The Manhattan Transfer on TKA

Acclaimed GRAMMY-winning multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter MESHELL NDEGEOCELLO makes her Blue Note Records debut with The Omnichord Real Book, a visionary, expansive, and deeply jazz-influenced album that marks the start of a new chapter in her trailblazing career. Following her 2018 covers album Ventriloquism, Meshell returns with an album of new original material that taps into a broad spectrum of her musical roots. The Omnichord Real Book was produced by Josh Johnson and features a wide range of guest artists including Jason Moran, Ambrose Akinmusire, Joel Ross, Jeff Parker, Brandee Younger, Julius Rodriguez, Mark Guiliana, Cory Henry, Joan As Police Woman, Thandiswa, and others.

via Paste Magazine

The best singers can fashion a different voice for each song—adjusting attack, attitude and texture to inhabit a tune from start to finish. Cécile McLorin Salvant goes beyond that; she often creates a different voice for each section of a song. It’s a radical approach that makes her the most interesting singer around today—no matter what the genre, no matter what the language.

Earlier this month at the Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, Salvant demonstrated this methodology on “Ghost Song,” the title track from last year’s album. She sang the opening verses a cappella, belting out her complaint that her lover has left her as if the song were a field holler, a protest against an unfair life in the cotton fields.

When her terrific quartet joined her for the chorus, however, she shifted gears to sing, “I’ll dance with the ghost of our love,” in a dreamy croon, as if this were a French cabaret number, and she was luxuriating in fond memories of an affair. When she repeated that same line again and again on the coda, however, her voice shifted again, becoming the crazed, edgy voice of a woman haunted by the song’s ghosts.

Read full feature on Paste

Cecile McLorin Salvant on TKA

Tune in Friday, April 21 to hear Lizz Wright on NPR’s Mountain Stage.

Mountain Stage

Lizz Wright on TKA

via Variety

Joining Macdonald in the cast is singer-songwriter Pokey LaFarge, who most recently starred opposite Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson and Bill Skarsgard in the Netflix original “The Devil All the Time” from director Antonio Campos. LaFarge, who counts eight full length records to his credit, made his feature debut in 2013’s “The Lone Ranger” from Gore Verbinski. In 2017, he portrayed country legend Hank Snow on the CMT series ‘Sun Records.”  

Read full article on Variety

Pokey LaFarge on TKA

Meshell Ndegeocello on TKA