Robert Glasper, Monty Alexander, Rodrigo y Gabriela and more news
March 3rd, 2012Robert Glasper‘s New Album tops iTunes Jazz Albums charts all over the world (US, UK, France, Canada, Belgium, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand) Rap boosts Jazz exposure and we just love this idea!
“Monty Alexander music, that’s all I can come up with,” he says. “I have so many different directions that I can go in and make something out of it that I’m constantly being motivated by that. So my music is alive, it’s right now, it’s here and now. That’s it.” via New Hampshire Public Radio.
PopMatters intrerviews the Carolina Chocolate Drops ““We don’t want to be the end of the dialogue, we want to be the beginning,” singer and fiddler Rhiannon Giddens tells me over the phone from North Carolina as the band prepares to tour in support of its new album, Leaving Eden.”
Stefon Harris on vibes and SF Jazz Collective do Stevie Wonder’s “Visions“. It’s lifted from a “Music of SW – Limited edition 3-CD set available exclusively through SFJAZZ” Via timesunion.com
[Sadly Almost Unnoticed] “Louisiana Red, slide guitarist and itinerant bluesman died Feb. 25 at a hospital in Germany. He was 79“. Via The Washington Post R.I.P.
Paul from Clash went to see Rodrigo y Gabriela in London and calls the gig “A jaw-dropping fiesta“. Viva la Fiesta! The vid below is Hora Zero @ HMV Ritz Manchester 2012
Pianist Jason Moran talks at length with PBS Jeffrey Brown. the full transcript of the conversation is on PBS.
timesunion.com reviews Jazz Bassist Andrea Veneziani “Oltreoceano” which debuts March 13 . “Kenny Werner is one of the major pianists who operates in trio settings today,” says Veneziani “I like his playing, very sensitive and creative, a true improviser.”
North Shore News writes about Jason Marsalis “Being the youngest in the Marsalis family Jason became closest to his brother Delfeayo. He says his musical relationship, with Branford and Wynton was more casual because they were older and had already left home.”
Manouche Rock. David Langlois is the one sitting and hitting pans, Stephane Wrembel is the one standing and slaughtering his guitar. BTW Wrembel (of “Midnight in Paris” fame) drops a new album in May (via Grateful Web)
One of Switzerland’s most successful jazz musicians and band leaders, Rolf “Hazy” Osterwald, has died at the age of 90. Via swissinfo.ch
American sax player Steve Lehman has a new album that “leans heavily on some older jazz covers such asJohn Coltrane’s “Moment’s Notice.” Via The Awl
Beat maker Flying Lotus invites animators across the world to create their own works using the 3D characters in this video and post them on his Vimeo page. Virtual Origami?
Stanley Clarke says “I remember, I was so happy when Jaco Pastorius came on the scene. Then I didn’t feel alone. When you’re trying to do something out there, it’s always nice to have a friend…” Read on Something Else
[For Norah Jones fans ONLY] Just out of her country music excursion, Norah Jones is back with a pop song. [Sorry Jazz Fans but she is a Blue Note artist after all. Alfred Lion R.I.P.] Via BlackBook.
And also :
Album review: Dirty Three, ‘Toward the Low Sun’
Red Holloway dies at 84; versatile L.A. jazz saxophonist
Erica von Kleist Salutes Cannonball Adderley
Music Review: Ahmad Jamal – Blue Moon
Doudou N’Diaye Rose. Senegal’s octogenarian master drummer’s rapid fire beats
Larry Willis On Piano Jazz
Wynton Marsalis, Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra: no ‘museum music’
Joshua Redman: Moodswing (re-review)
Kathleen Marshall. Getting Gershwin Off the Ground