via Pitchfork

First popularized by Chicago jazz singer Judy Roberts and recently resurrected on a compilation of obscure yacht-rock gems, Russ Long’s 1982 composition “Never Was Love” is a fascinating document of its time: as catchy and evocative as anything on Silk Degrees but played with a sophistication that suggests a smoky after-hours club as much as a crowded disco. Hearing these kinds of lost classics tends to invite a litany of questions: What happened to the mysterious figure behind its heartbroken words? What kept its songwriter from catching on beyond their regional scene?

Or if you’re Pat Metheny, you might ask: What would this sound like stripped down to just two sad, solitary electric guitars? The 68-year-old virtuoso’s rendition is a highlight on Dream Box, an understated set of new solo recordings that he compiled during downtime on tour buses and in hotel rooms around the world. On the road last year, Metheny sorted through a folder on his computer where he had stored these casual, off-hours experiments: cover songs, jazz standards, and new melodies captured as soon as they occurred to him. In the liner notes, Metheny describes the songs as “moments in time” more than proper compositions. “I have almost no memory of having recorded most of them,” he admits. “They just kind of showed up.”

Read Full Review on Pitchfork

Pat Metheny on TKA

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

via Billboard

Continuing its mission to honor “jazz and blues … one musician at a time,” the Jazz Foundation of America (JFA) celebrated the legacies of longtime industry executive Clarence Avant, tenor saxophonist Charles Lloyd and pianist-producer-composer Dave Grusin at its annual fundraiser on June 25. The combination dinner, live auction and concert was held at Los Angeles club Vibrato Grill Jazz.

In paying tribute to Lloyd’s unparalleled versatility, John Densmore noted that the tenor sax guru had recorded with Densmore’s group The Doors. Densmore then brought acclaimed saxophonist/composer Joshua Redmond onstage. With accompaniment from Rushen, Jordan and Al, Redmond delivered a riveting performance of Lloyd’s “Sax/Drums Duet” and “Forest Flower”followed by “Defiant,” which also featured musicians Dean Parks and Greg Leisz.

In addressing why he, a singer-songwriter, was presenting Lloyd’s award, rock icon Jackson Browne said, “I’m of a generation that grew up with jazz being performed at clubs like the Fillmore and at festivals … It’s been an honor and great gift to hear your music for all of these years.” Calling the award “a very touching and great honor,” Lloyd noted to audience laughter, “I never got good enough to quit. But I love music so much; it can change the world. And I believe in that.”

Read full article on Billboard

Charles Lloyd on TKA

via NPR Music

Realness is a root position in The Omnichord Real Book, Meshell Ndegeocello’s expansive yet interior new album. That doesn’t make it the default. “I’ve been saying things I don’t believe,” Ndegeocello sings softly at one point, in a rueful refrain. “I’ve been doing things that just ain’t me.” The song is “Gatsby,” written and first recorded by Samora Pinderhughes, but it captures an essential idea that Ndegeocello seems keen to contemplate — that realness requires vigilance. It’s a principled stance often mistaken for a state of being.

Over the 30 years since the release of her landmark debut, Ndegeocello has made truth-telling her business, along with a sound and style fed by many tributaries of Black music. The Omnichord Real Book is a coolly transfixing album — her first in five years, and her first as a leader for Blue Note. On some level it’s the product of a jarring realignment, as Ndegeocello explains in the liner notes: “Everything moved so quickly when my parents died. Changed my view of everything and myself in the blink of an eye.

Read full review on NPR Music

Meshell Ndegeocello on TKA

via Garden & Gun Magazine

Bobby Rush is one of the last men standing from a defining era of the blues. A Louisiana native who grew up picking cotton, he left for Chicago in the early ’50s to pay his dues alongside Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf. He returned to the South in 1986, living in Jackson, Mississippi, and at age eighty-nine, he still regularly tours worldwide. With his 1971 hit “Chicken Heads,” Rush put his stamp on modern music, incorporating funk into the blues (as he’s fond of noting). In his nearly seventy years of playing music—he has been dubbed the King of the Chitlin’ Circuit—the Blues Hall of Famer has been a rarity, drawing audiences both Black and white. “You could take me to Memphis and put me on Beale Street, and I would pack it with white people,” he says. “You could take me to Mississippi Street the next night in the same town, and it’s all Black people.”

No matter the crowd, it’s the music that matters most to Rush. In August, he’ll release a new album of fresh material, All My Love for You, and today, G&G is proud to premiere the album’s opening song, the anthemic “I’m Free.” Listen to the track below, and read on to hear from Rush about playing in juke joints, his connection to Al Capone, and his secrets to staying young.

All My Love for You will be released August 18 and is available for pre-order here.

Read full interview on Garden & Gun

Bobby Rush on TKA

Cécile McLorin Salvant, three-time Grammy Award winning singer, visual artist, and composer visits Amoeba Music in San Fransisco, taking part in the legendary video series where artists share music that’s important to their creativity, sound, and identity. Salvant is well known for being an eclectic curator of various genres of music, fusing blues and folk with world, jazz, and baroque music. Cecile, a MacArthur “Genius” Award winner, recently released a new album entitled “Mélusine”, which features 12th century ballads, a song from Starmania (a 70’s Canadian musical), and original music, is out now on Nonesuch Records.

Cécile McLorin Salvant on TKA

via Pitchfork

The Omnichord was developed in Japan in the 1980s as a musician’s electronic accompaniment, incorporating a drum machine with rhythm and tempo controls, a set number of playable chords, and a “futuristic” touch-sensitive synthesizer ribbon. And while it has famous fans—Brian Eno, Joni Mitchell, and Damon Albarn, to name a few—it has always been a niche instrument: It’s mostly made of plastic, it feels like a toy, and it now sounds as cheap as it looks. In the hands of an exacting and protean virtuoso like Meshell Ndegeocello, deep into a decades-long career, the Omnichord became a tool for self-discovery.

In 2020, with no shows to play or sessions to sit in on, she found herself scoring three television shows—BMF, Queen Sugar, and Our Kind of People—simultaneously. At the end of marathon days spent collaborating remotely from her home in Brooklyn with an untold number of artists and executives, she would retreat to her attic. Alone with her thoughts and a gifted Omnichord, she would write, free of expectation, free to find things she wasn’t necessarily even looking for.

Read full feature on Pitchfork

Meshell Ndegeocello on TKA

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.