REVIEW: Catherine Russell at Birdland

Stephen Holden for THE NEW YORK TIMES

At a moment when the world can seem dangerously out of balance, it is still possible for a musician to convey a groundedness and a joy that don’t seem smiley-faced and goody-goody. A fine place to find it is Birdland, where the jazz singer Catherine Russell began a short run with her sextet on Tuesday evening, projecting a strength, good humor and intelligence that engulfed the room in a mood of bonhomie. She reminded you that even in the most chaotic times, there are oases of calm.The daughter of Louis Armstrong’s longtime musical director Luis Russell and the singer Carline Ray, Ms. Russell is steeped in early jazz — from Dixieland to ’40s and ’50s R&B. Ms. Russell is not a nostalgist examining the past for curiosity’s sake. The vintage songs she chose were treated as standards whose sentiments apply as much today as ever.

FEATURE: Women Who Rock: Davina and The Vagabonds

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — Natalie Nyhus — We are starting a new series on the WCCO This Morning show about Minnesota women who rock.

We know all Minnesota women rock, but we are featuring the women on stage who lead with their voices and musical talents. We start with Davina from “Davina and the Vagabonds.”

We are coming out of the gate hot with this one. Davina puts a new twist on an old sound. WCCO’s Natalie Nyhus went into the home and closet of the woman who rocks a piano and killer vintage looks.

Davina, of Davina and the Vagabonds has been spreading sunshine from her piano seat since she was 6 years old.

INTERVIEW: Bill Charlap talks with The New York Times

THE NEW YORK TIMES –

Bill Charlap popped a preview of his latest CD, “The Silver Lining,” in the music player last month as he drove from his new job as director of jazz studies at William Paterson University in Wayne to his trio engagement at the Village Vanguard in New York City. Out came the unmistakable voice of Tony Bennett singing “All the Things You Are,” with Mr. Charlap accompanying him on piano.

On the recording, Mr. Bennett was in playful form, and when he pulled one of his signature surprises — a sudden change of key — Mr. Charlap responded without missing a beat. As he listened in the car, the pianist smiled as he recalled the ensemble class he had just finished teaching at Paterson, the first of the semester with this small group of students, which was also observed by a reporter. There, he had warned his students of the need to be prepared for sudden key changes.

“That was a perfect example of why you do your homework,” Mr. Charlap said as the CD played on.

FEATURE: Buckwheat Zydeco on Mountain Stage

Buckwheat Zydeco returns to Mountain Stage, recorded live at West Virginia’s Culture Center Theater. The artist, born Stanley Dural Jr., has spent more than 30 years as the chief ambassador for one of Louisiana’s most distinctive musical products. Over the course of his career, Zydeco and his band have played with everyone from Eric Clapton and U2 to The Boston Pops. He’s performed at the closing ceremonies of the 1996 Summer Olympics, as well as at both of Bill Clinton’s inaugural ceremonies.

Buckwheat Zydeco began his career playing guitar for zydeco architect Clifton Chenier and has since become his natural successor, putting a Louisiana spin on everything from original bayou and funk tunes to Rolling Stones covers. He became the first zydeco act signed to a major label when he joined Island Records in 1986. After four nominations in three different categories, Buckwheat Zydeco finally won a Grammy in 2010 for “Best Zydeco Or Cajun Music Album.” He continues to branch out with his own YouTube series, “Buckwheat’s World.”

SET LIST

“Allon De Paris”

“Goin’ To Lafayette”

“Jackpot”

“Peace Love And Happiness”

Listen to the live recording on NPR.org

Buckwheat Zydeco on TKA

REVIEW: New York Times on the “poignancy” of Bill Charlap and Tony Bennett’s “The Silver Lining”

THE NEW YORK TIMES –

There’s a track on Tony Bennett’s new album, “The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern,” that suggests a return to form: “I Won’t Dance,” which recently served as a his-and-hers set piece in his marquee collaboration with Lady Gaga.

This new version of the tune, arranged as a springlike waltz, features Mr. Bennett alone on vocals, with a sparkling piano trio. He sounds crisp but at ease, maybe a touch relieved — like someone given the chance, at last, to trade klieg lights for candle-glow.

(9/23/15)

PREVIEW: Elvin Bishop headlines Edmonton Blues Fest

Roger Levesque for The Edmonton Journal

Bishop’s story isn’t the first in which the musical explorations of a curious teenager led to a lifelong career. But at 72, this veteran guitarist and singer can’t think of a better way to stay busy than playing the music he loves. He still jets out to perform somewhere nearly every weekend.

Born in California but raised in Iowa and Oklahoma, Bishop was an easy convert to rock ‘n’ roll before he heard the blues. A five-year stint with the famous Butterfield Blues Band during the mid-1960s helped launch his career before he hit the pop charts leading his own band on Fooled Around And Fell In Love in 1976. More recent sets for have won him renewed popularity with blues fans.

Last year’s release Can’t Even Do Wrong Right (his 20th studio album) found the bluesman in excellent form, reunited with old friends, using his slide technique and good humour to garner seven Blues Music Award nominations (he won for Best Album, Best Song and Best Band), and winning the Living Blues Award for Best Album. He was also inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last spring as part of the Butterfield band.

Read the full preview and Q&A at The Edmonton Journal
Elvin Bishop on TKA

REVIEW: Walter “Wolfman” Washington Live at d.b.a

Keith Spera for NOLA.com

Walter “Wolfman” Washington closed out 2013 at the Umbria Jazz Festival in Italy, far from the New Orleans music clubs that are his natural habitat. But, he happily reports, his Roadmasters had no trouble translating his distinctly Big Easy hybrid of funk, soul, and rhythm & blues for the Italians.

He is one of the living legends of New Orleans music, an especially soulful singer and guitarist who has haunted the city’s clubs and festival stages around the world for 50 years. He cut his teeth as a sideman to Lee Dorsey, Ernie K-Doe and crooner Johnny Adams before founding the Roadmasters 28 years ago.

“I lead the band with my movements. You never know what I’m going to do on the bandstand. Every night I do something different with each song. If I was to play a song the same way every night, everybody would get bored. Even me. So I try to do something different just to keep it alive.”

The current Roadmasters may be his tightest unit yet, he says, “because all the cats are older now, more settled. Five pieces, and they sound like 10. The connection we have with each other is good.”

REVIEW: Bobby McFerrin at TD Victoria International Jazz Fest

Adrian Chamberlain for The Times Colonist

The casual listener knows Bobby McFerrin mostly for his lighter-than-air ditty, Don’t Worry, Be Happy.

However, it was the spiritual side — well, the lighthearted spiritual side — of the American singer that we witnessed Saturday at TD Victoria International Jazz Fest. (Sorry, pop fans — McFerrin hasn’t sung his greatest hit in concert for years.)

Black spirituals reflect the faith and the experience of Africans enslaved in America. McFerrin, an unorthodox jazz singer, focused on spirituals in his latest album, spirtityouall. On this warm summer evening, we were treated to some of these — and a good deal of McFerrin-esque whimsy as well.

Like Kurt Elling or Ella Fitzgerald, McFerrin scat-sings in the manner of a jazz instrumentalist. He opened the concert a cappella, rapping his upper chest with his right hand, sometimes seeming to hit two tones simultaneously. To hear this live is rather amazing. (06/21/2015)

Review: Roy Haynes Dips into his Fountain of Youth

Review by Michael J. West for THE WASHINGTON POST

Roy Haynes, who turned 90 in March, is surely the world’s greatest living jazz drummer. He’s also astonishingly exuberant and spry for a nonagenarian: At his most sluggish, he still seems 20 years younger. Indeed, Haynes was easily the dominating force of the otherwise much younger quartet (which he fittingly calls “Fountain of Youth”) that he brought to Blues Alley on Friday night. (8/2/2015)

Read the full article on The Washington Post
Roy Haynes on TKA

REVIEW: Brassed-out Soul in Melbourne with The Soul Rebels

Review by Jack Lynch for TONE DEAF

A long way from their home in New Orleans, Louisiana, The Soul Rebels brought some heavy brass to the Melbourne Recital Centre ahead of their Bluesfest performance. As musicians, they were near perfect, blasting their way through an hour and a half of brassed-out soul, r n’ b, and hip hop.

The atmosphere in the venue was far more subdued than in New Orleans’ French Quarter, with the majority of the Tuesday night crowd feeling more comfortable in their chairs than standing up and physically showing their enthusiasm.(4/5/14)

Read the article on Tone Deaf
The Soul Rebels on TKA

News