“We played the Royal Albert Hall in 1964,” says Charles Lloyd, recollecting his first ever UK performance. “Packed it to the rafters.” He was 26, playing tenor saxophone in Cannonball Adderley’s majestic band and getting his first taste of a world beyond US jazz and blues clubs. “I’m looking forward to returning,” says Lloyd of this weekend’s appearance at the EFG London jazz festival.

Now 83, he speaks in a drawl that mixes jazz argot and spiritual entreaties – he says he spent the pandemic “building steps”, meaning to a higher plane rather than a DIY project – and is raring to re-engage with an audience. “I’ve been playing in front of audiences since I was nine. Been a professional musician since I was 12. It’s what I do.”

What Lloyd “does” is work alongside more giants of contemporary music than possibly anyone else alive. Born in Memphis, Tennessee, he grew up in a hotbed of jazz, blues and country music: Phineas Newborn and Booker Little, two Memphis jazz prodigies, were his closest teenage associates, but young Charles found playing blues paid best.

Read full interview on The Guardian

Charles Lloyd on TKA

Soul-jazz groove-machine Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio—or as it is sometimes referred to, DLO3—never would have happened without years and years of crummy gigs, and Delvon’s staunchly supportive wife, Amy Novo. 

The story goes that Hammond b3 organist Delvon would regularly lug his 400-pound instrument from venue to venue barely breaking even to play other people’s music, and Amy just got tired of it. She fiercely believed in Delvon’s talents, and, eventually, she made an offer he couldn’t refuse: If Delvon picked the musicians, she would take care of all the business surrounding it.  

“I was watching an amazing talent being marginalized. He would be getting paid like $75 a gig and be spending $60 in gas to cart around his instrument, sometimes even renting a U-Haul. It wasn’t fair,” says the self-made music mogul who may be the first person to legally own a band. “For years, Amy had been telling me to step out from being a sideman. This was a natural move. Now, I can just play music and not worry—it’s been a welcome relief,” Delvon says. 

Watch Full Performance on NPR

Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio on TKA

Jazz pianist Bill Charlap opens his trio’s latest album with four bars of shifting quarter-note chords, the reliable pulse a compelling contrast to the unpredictable colors he creates.

The final tune settles into a slow, stalking rhythm, and after a closing contribution from Charlap’s left hand and a witty hesitation, the combo comes down hard on the final downbeat, sticking the landing with a satisfying splash.

From start to finish, Street of Dreams is a gem.

That’s no surprise: The trio of Charlap, bassist Peter Washington and drummer Kenny Washington formed in 1997 and has become a sure thing, releasing a succession of excellent albums. The latest set consists of eight tunes from the American songbook and such jazz composers as Duke Ellington and Dave Brubeck.

Read the full review on Bloomberg

Bill Charlap on TKA

Last year, in the thick of pandemic lockdown, an exalted jazz vocalist and an eminent groove guitarist forged a partnership from a distance. Kurt Elling, the singer, had been seeking fresh connection at a time of disorienting distance from the bandstand. He found it with Charlie Hunter, the hybrid guitarist, who brought in a couple of younger firebrands from the Richmond, Va. funk collective Butcher Brown.

What came out of this alignment was SuperBlue, an album on Edition Records — and also a band that has since found traction on tour. The album places Hunter’s dynamic and groove-fueled vitality in dialogue with drummer Corey Fonville and multi-instrumentalist DJ Harrison (who concentrates here on keyboards.) Those three musicians gathered as a pandemic pod in Richmond to flesh out new ideas and execute arrangements for Elling’s choice of cover songs. After trading suggestions and firming up structures, their final jams were adorned with his vocals at sessions in Champaign, Ill. The results are undeniably exciting, with a pocket so deep that it commands instant foot-tapping and head-nodding.

On this episode of Jazz United, we peer under the hood of SuperBlue, with a special attention to the mechanics of groove; reminisce about our separate relationships with Elling and Hunter’s music, going back to 1995; and hear from both artists about their collaboration. Greg also shares impressions from the first SuperBlue tour, which he caught at BRIC Jazzfest (with the jaw-dropping Nate Smith filling in for Fonville) — a performance that nudged Elling away from the precedent of Mark Murphy or Eddie Jefferson, and more toward the incendiary spirit of Johnny “Guitar” Watson and Sly Stone.

We’ve heard a lot of new music hatched during quarantine season. SuperBlue is one of the finest, and definitely the funkiest, to emerge so far. And it opens a new path for two of the most dynamic artists of our time.

Listen to the interview on WBGO

Kurt Elling on TKA

Jazz singer and composer Cécile McLorin Salvant, who won the MacArthur “genius” grant in 2020, has announced her new album Ghost Song. It’s her label debut for Nonesuch and it arrives March 4. Today, she’s shared the album’s title track with a new video. Watch it below.

“What if the love has gone, the love has left you and you have the emotions around that, and you’re still going through them, still engaging with the ghost of that love,” Salvant said in a statement. “Some songs are so painful to come out but this one came out pretty quickly. I’ve had some loss the last couple of years: my grandmother, the drummer in my band [Lawrence Leathers].”

The follow-up to 2018’s The Window, Ghost Song features seven original songs, in addition to interpretations of other works, including the opening cover of Kate Bush’s “Wuthering Heights.” Every song on the album is themed around ghosts. “It’s unlike anything I’ve done before—it’s getting closer to reflecting my personality as an eclectic curator,” Salvant added. “I’m embracing my weirdness!”

Read full article on Pitchfork

Cécile McLorin Salvant on TKA

Pokey Lafarge’s new album, In The Blossom of Their Shade, was named a notable release for NPR’s New Music Friday. Additionally, the single “Rotterdam” was added to their playlist.

Unlike its melancholy predecessor, In the Blossom of Their Shade showcases the positivity of coming out of the darkness and into the light and is one of his strongest and most mature lyrical efforts to date. The record was nearly titled Siesta Love since it captures the thematic notion of being the perfect summer afternoon soundtrack and is a far cry from the swing and blues-infused songs of his earlier work. Looking in, inspired by the deep soul not just from these shores, but from distant geographical places like Africa or South America, LaFarge set out to create a body of work that paired emotional lyrics with a killer groove and grabby melodies.

See the full list on NPR

Pokey LaFarge on TKA

We are thrilled to announce that American Patchwork Quartet are among the 52 awardees to receive the South Arts Creative Residency Grant! This 40k award will allow the band to spend 10 days in Asheville, NC. There, next May, they will teach and perform at the LEAF Festival and spend 7 days recording their debut album at renowned Echo Mountain Studios with Grammy-Winning Producer/Engineer Shani Ghandi! Look out for a debut recording from American Patchwork Quartet in 2022!

Read More at South Arts

American Patchwork Quartet on TKA

Touched by cultural and musical legends who came before him, Nigel Hall wields limitless talents with seemingly effortless panache. He’s a soulful force of nature with an unrepentant approach, a captivating performer who simply demands our attention. Keyboardist/vocalist for veteran future-funk outfit Lettuce, Nigel’s electrifying reputation precedes him, both onstage and off; he moves through life with a sizable chip on his shoulder and an even bigger beating heart in his chest.

On July 16th, the Grammy-winning Hall unveiled Spiritual, his intoxicating sophomore opus, a record that writes a new chapter in an already-storied career. The full-length LP is brimming with the musical brilliance and emotional verve his fans have come to love and expect over the past dozen years since Hall first hit the scene with the Royal Family.

Spiritual finds Hall tracing his roots back to the D.C. area, where he spent his youthful years immersed in the city’s sports and music culture. The fourteen-track release has Nigel hooking up with multi-instrumentalist/studio shaman DJ Harrison, who co-produced the effort with a back-to-basics ethos and subtle Soulquarian style.

Read full review and interview on Live for Live Music

Nigel Hall on TKA

Béla Fleck, the banjo visionary in groups like New Grass Revival and his own Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, will release his first bluegrass album in more than two decades. My Bluegrass Heart finds Fleck collaborating with a host of fellow pickers, including Molly Tuttle, Sierra Hull, and David Grisman. The musician previews the upcoming LP with “Charm School,” a thrilling eight-minute jam with Billy Strings and Chris Thile.

“’Charm School’ started out with a banjo tune in C, using loads of harmonics. ‘C harm.’ Get it?,” Fleck says in a statement. “In some ways, it’s the wildest and jammiest track on the album, and yet highly melodic and organized. I feel this was the perfect vehicle for this band and the perfect band for this song. And when you think about us musical dogs that sometimes need to go crazy, yet live in a world where we’re expected to follow the rules, maybe it’s the perfect title, too.”

Read full article on Rolling Stone

Béla Fleck on TKA

From Brooklyn Vegan:

Pokey LaFarge will be back with In The Blossom of Their Shade on September 10 via New West Records. The album was produced and arranged by Pokey and Chris Seefried, and recorded in Chicago and Los Angeles. We’ve got the premiere of the album’s new single, “Rotterdam” which is a mix of swing, country, Latin, and social commentary.

“I wrote this song back in 2017 and I remember at the time how I admired the seemingly high level of social equality and access to certain social services there in The Netherlands,” Pokey says. “But really it’s more about a place that doesn’t really exist—Rotterdam as utopia. Paired with a fair amount of confusion and frustration over how some things are in the USA, I found the lyrics to be an outlet.” Listen to that below.

Read full article on Brooklyn Vegan

Pokey LaFarge on TKA