Long before he became a Latin jazz legend, before he toured alongside the great Cal Tjader, Poncho Sanchez was another kid in Griffith Park carrying a conga drum and looking for someplace to play.
The foundations of Sanchez’s sound can be found in Los Angeles in the 1960s, where Latin jazz mixed easily with the Motown and soul sounds of the day.
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Poncho Sanchez on TKA
What’s a kid to do when caught between the world’s of psychedelic rock, surf music, bebop, rhythm and blues, and Cha Cha?
If you’re Poncho Sanchez, you combine them in giant soul stew on the way to becoming the leading purveyor of funky, grooving music with a deeply soulful edge. Many call it Latin jazz or Cubano bebop. Sanchez doesn’t think it really needs a name (beyond having a place to shelve it in stores).
Read the full article on THE PHOENIX NEWS TIMES
PONCHO SANCHEZ ON TKA
Jazz singing superstar Kurt Elling this week releases his new CD, “Passion World,” and embarks on a world tour for it at Birdland, the New York club.
In addition to his regular quintet, Elling also works on the album with guest collaborators, including Cuban trumpeter Arturo Sandoval; German trumpeter Till Bronner; French accordion virtuoso Richard Galliano; the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra; and the WDR Big Band and Orchestra from Germany.
As a boy of 10 living outside Havana, jazz artist Arturo Sandoval picked up a trumpet because it “has a strong personality,” he recalled. “A trumpet can whisper very soft, very tender — and it can create a huge noise.”
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ARTURO SANDOVAL ON TKA
When Catherine Russell sings, heads turn. She approaches singing the way someone behind the wheel of a very fast car might approach driving — by accelerating from zero to 100 mph in just a few seconds.
But Russell does not rush her craft. She nurtures it and coaxes it, polishing it like a pearl. She zeroes in on nuances in tone and texture and timing, then unleashes it all on her audience. Some musicians fire up a fury with a loud electric guitar. Russell torches her audience with her voice.
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Catherine Russell on TKA
“In terms of what we do relating to the audience, it’s to make sure we’re passionate about what we’re doing onstage, delivering joyous music that includes everyone. It’s a party regardless of whether there’s 10 people or a thousand people out there.”
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Red Baraat on TKA
David Greenwald for THE OREGONIAN
Béla Fleck’s made a career out of bringing the banjo where it wasn’t expected. The musician, informed by the three-finger bluegrass tradition of Earl Scruggs and others, has walked ably between jazz, classical and world music both alongside greats such as Chick Corea and Edgar Meyer and his own group, the Flecktones, whose 20-plus-year career has been on hiatus since 2012.
Fleck’s latest conquest is the symphony orchestra. After testing his classical chops with “Perpetual Motion,” an album that relied on the compositions of Bach, Beethoven, Chopin and others, his first such foray as a composer is banjo concerto “The Imposter,” a work he’ll bring to the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall on Saturday, Sept. 13, with the Oregon Symphony. We talked about the piece’s Oregon origins, the Flecktones’ likely return and why the banjo’s status is changing.
I hear you’re out at Cannon Beach this week.
Béla Fleck: I am, yeah. I’ve been coming out here for quite a while, in fact. My wife’s family has a place out here — kind of a hideaway for us, we try to get here every summer for some part of it. And actually I did some of the first writing for the banjo concerto here, I came out here myself for two weeks and had my first intensive writing experience here.
Read more at The Oregonian
Bela Fleck on TKA
Lisa Fischer speaks with friends, family and inquisitive journalists over the phone before a tour, but once out on the road she keeps her spoken words to a minimum. The vow of silence is one of several rules that Fischer, a vocalist with stratospheric range and immense power, puts into practice to save her voice for the demands of performing.
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Lisa Fischer on TKA
James Cotton was honored with the B.B. King Award by the 2015 Festival International de Jazz de Montréal for being a pioneer in the blues genre for the past seven decades. Since his career started, he has gone on to record 30 albums and has solidified his status as a legend in blues.
Read the full article on Paste Magazine
James Cotton on TKA
Jazz Fest Concert Review: Jesse Cook at Maison Symphonique July 2, 2015. When Canadian guitarist Jesse Cook stepped on the Maison Symphonique stage that night, there was a brief moment of confusion among audience members: either an imposter had sauntered in or his characteristic wavy long locks had been trimmed.
Read the full article on MONTREAL GAZETTE
Jesse Cook on TKA