Congratulations to Béla Fleck and Sam Bush on their nomination in the category of Instrumental Recording Of The Year. “Sunrise”, a tribute to John Duffey, was released on June 22, 2018 on Smithsonian Folkways Records. A 2019 win would make…
Abigail Jones for Vanity Fair — The musicians [of Artemis] offer proof of the innovation and leadership coming from an unprecedented number of women in the field, a snapshot of the freshest faces of 21st-century jazz: women instrumentalists who have…
Jazz meets the Gullah culture of the Carolina coast in the exuberant music of Ranky Tanky, which has come a long way in a few short years. The band, a five-piece, just released its second album, Good Time — an aptly titled…
Queen Sugar is Ava DuVernay’s new television series on the OWN network. DuVernay, a fan of Ndegeocello’s critically acclaimed 2000 album, “Bitter,” approached her about working together, and the two came up with a sound for the show through a…
On July 15, 2019, the Rolling Stones kicked off their ‘No Filter’ tour through the southern United States with a sold-out show at Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans. The legendary rock band invited some rising local talent to join them…
Over a four decade career, Memphis-born Dee Dee Bridgewater has earned three Grammy awards including Best Jazz Vocal Album and her double-Grammy winning tribute album to Ella Fitzgerald. She’s performed with such jazz greats as Max Roach and Dizzie Gillespie.…
Hank Shteamer for Rolling Stone – “It’s self-explanatory,” Wynton Marsalis says, pointing toward the papers in front of him. “Basically, if you look at what I wrote, that says everything you need to know.” The trumpeter had entered only about 30 seconds…
Nate Chinen for NPR – Two eminent avant-garde elders, a chameleonic vocal improviser, and a pioneering community organizer and presenter will make up the 2020 class of NEA Jazz Masters, according to an announcement this morning by the National Endowment for…
Will Layman– Tenor saxophonist Melissa Aldana won the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition in 2013 (focused that year on the saxophone) at the age of 24. She had graduated from the Berklee College of Music four years earlier, and as a teenager…
Red House Records – Red House Records is announcing the release date for SUGAR DROPS, the first album for the label from Davina and the Vagabonds. They are sharing the track “Little Miss Moonshine,” which is premiering today at MPR radio’s The Current.…