Betto Arcos, who hosts the music program Global Village on KPFK, recently joined Weekend All Things Considered host Guy Raz to talk about a batch of amazing new music from Mexico. Here are his picks: Ernesto Anaya On his debut CD, Ernesto Anaya offers a multifaceted interpretation of classic Mexican huapangos, as well as special [...]
On first listen, Leela James’ “Tell Me You Love Me” sounds like it could have been recorded in the ’70s, but it’s actually a cut from her latest album, released earlier this year. James’ heart lies in a bygone era of American music, to the point where she even looks like she belongs in another [...]
Vijay Iyer’s story is not uncommon in modern jazz. He’s mostly self-taught (although he did study the Suzuki method for violin) and played in rock bands as a kid before turning to the piano and jazz. But as a highly trained scientist who holds degrees in mathematics and physics, including an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Technology [...]
His story is the story of rock ‘n’ roll. Flamboyant as they come, Andrew Loog Oldham was the first manager of The Rolling Stones. He created the band’s bad-boy image, produced some of its first big hits and started Britain’s first independent record label. Then he flamed out on drugs. Now, Oldham has emerged a [...]
Much discussion about Indo-jazz fusion rightly focuses on American jazz musicians of Indian heritage. Musicians like Vijay Iyer, Rez Abbasi and Rudresh Mahanthappa have incorporated study of their ancestral music into their own ideas for improvisation. But they represent just the latest development in a more than half-century-long narrative of collaboration between jazz players and [...]
Esperanza Spalding blends jazz, R&B, Brazilian vocalese and classical music. Her works have proved to have broad appeal at a moment when many in the music industry were fretting that young people were turning away from jazz en masse. She’s managed that rare feat: earning raves from the most discriminating jazz aficionados while also attracting [...]
Prior to the advent of electrical amplification, the role of the guitar in jazz was strictly that of a chorded rhythm instrument, chugging along with the bass and drums and helping to propel whatever ensemble it was a part of. Soloing was pretty much out of the question because, without amplification, the guitar couldn’t be [...]
For decades jazz cognoscenti have talked reverently of “the Savory Collection.” Recorded from radio broadcasts in the late 1930s by an audio engineer named William Savory, it was known to include extended live performances by some of the most honored names in jazz — but only a handful of people had ever heard even the [...]
Abbey Lincoln, a jazz vocalist whose singular delivery coerced emotional heft out of the original lyrics she wrote, has died, The New York Times reported this afternoon. She was 80. Lincoln grew up on a farm in Michigan (as Anna Marie Wooldridge), and the talent she cultivated led her to work as a pop singer [...]
When The Holmes Brothers arrived to play a Tiny Desk Concert at the NPR Music offices, the group showed up early — really early, and ready to work. With Sherman Holmes on bass and Wendell Holmes on guitar, these folks are pros. They’ve been working at it for more than 30 years, playing soul music [...]
A master of the sweeping gesture, the South American tinge and the color-rich palette, Maria Schneider leads what many call the best large ensemble in jazz. Her music is full of depth and variety, and her band stacked with some of the best soloists to be found anywhere. She led a set of favorite compositions [...]
Lage burst onto the San Francisco music scene as a young prodigy comfortable in blues, folk, classical and several jazz idioms. He’s matured into a guitarist who seamlessly incorporates all those references into improvisational music bursting with compositional savvy and intriguing vision. His quintet, with cello and hand percussion, performs at the CareFusion Newport Folk [...]
Bjork, as widely known for her eccentric outfits and behavior as she is for her voice, is easily the most famous Icelander in the world. There’s something celestial about that voice, as if it comes from a fantastic and colorful utopian world. Bjork compares her voice to her country, describing it as stark. “Like in [...]
The Global Jazz Institute at Berklee College of Music is an interdisciplinary performance program with a social purpose: performing and teaching around the world. Its core collective, made up of some of Berklee’s top talent and directed by pianist Danilo Perez, travels down from Boston for the CareFusion Newport Folk Festival in Newport, R.I. Personnel: [...]
The tenor saxophonist writes compact, fleshy little themes that sound like they were plucked from the choicest parts of classic solos. Then he gives them to his trio, which swings like nobody’s business (and haunts a mean ballad, too). The group ventures up from its New York home base for a set by the sea [...]
More than a half-century after big bands were popular, Argue reverse-engineers the popular music of today through his big band. His Secret Society ensemble takes a refreshingly original slant on the jazz tradition, full of driving energy. The band travels up from its New York home base to perform at the CareFusion Newport Folk Festival [...]
Compositions for classical guitar duo are few and far between, but Brazilian guitarists Sergio and Odair Assad treat that as an opportunity, not an obstacle. When the brothers find music they like, they rework it for guitar. This year at the Savannah Music Festival, they played several of their own arrangements, in an imaginative program [...]
Jazz bassist Dave Holland is known for the lyricism of his playing, for his mentoring of younger players and for his humility as a bandleader. Holland began his career in England as a teenager and moved to the U.S. on the promise of a gig with Miles Davis. Since then, he’s stayed put on these [...]
Fifty years to the day after the release of the hip-swiveling tune “The Twist,” the man who made it famous celebrated the occasion in his hometown. Chubby Checker performed Friday at a free noontime concert at Philadelphia City Hall. About 1,000 people joined in on the gyrations, some even invited onstage by the South Philadelphia-bred singer. [...]
Five years after she pulled out of the festival following a breast cancer diagnosis, Kylie Minogue made her Glastonbury debut Saturday when she came out for a song during the Scissor Sisters set. Minogue, dressed in lace, a cape and some impressive thigh high boots, surprised the crowd and performed with the band to “Any [...]
The only horn heard Friday night at Nathan Philips Square belonged to Maceo Parker’s funk orchestra. Mr. Parker and his band played to a capacity crowd at the Toronto Jazz Festival, where people were swinging their arms, moving their hips and singing along to the saxophonist’s soul music. It was a stark contrast to only [...]
Sir Paul McCartney has been given one of the United States’ most important music awards, the Library of Congress’ Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. To mark the occasion a lineup of stars including Stevie Wonder, the Jonas Brothers, Herbie Hancock and Elvis Costello will pay tribute to the former Beatle in a concert at the [...]
Jazz pianist and composer Hank Jones, whose 70-year career included a stint as Ella Fitzgerald’s pianist and Marilyn Monroe’s accompanist when she sang Happy Birthday to U.S. president John F. Kennedy, has died, his manager said Monday. He was 91. Jones, who won a Grammy lifetime achievement award last year and received the National Medal [...]
Meet a young man who’s managed to make classical music cool in Los Angeles: Gustavo Dudamel. The 29-year-old maestro, also known as “the Dude” and “Gustavo the Great,” even has his own iPhone app since taking over as music director at the L.A. Philharmonic. Dudamel may be from Venezuela, but he fits right in to [...]
Cafe Oto, the East London venue where the music is so left-field it’s almost off the map, is right now hosting something extraordinary. You could tell by the crowd in the dim, candle-lit, white-walled space that we were in for something impossible to categorise. I spotted a suited city type clutching a “Bahrain Duty-Free” carrier [...]
Jimi Hendrix only released four official studio albums during his lifetime. Monday, Sony Music and the Hendrix estate announced a new album, to be released March 9, 2010. It’s called Valleys of Neptune. Most of the songs on the new release were recorded in London in a series of 1969 sessions. Eddie Kramer, a longtime [...]
“It’s a love story, baby.” Taylor Swift sang those words about a young romance, but they apply just as well to America’s feelings for the 20-year-old country singer. Swift, adding to the heap of awards already bestowed on her, has been voted The Associated Press entertainer of the year. Swift was chosen by newspaper editors [...]
American R&B pioneers Kool & the Gang helped Cuba get its funk on, bringing their eclectic mix of sounds Sunday to an open-air stage a stone’s throw from the sparkling waters of the Caribbean. Robert “Kool” Bell,” his brother Khalis Bayyan, saxophonist Dennis Thomas and drummer George “Funky” Brown became one of the few U.S. [...]
When Sonny Rollins plays the world’s biggest concert halls, the posters outside often hail him as “the greatest living improviser”. He’s a whole lot more than that. The 79-year-old US saxophonist’s repertoire may be an unpromising mix of dance tunes, calypso, blues and occasionally cheesy Broadway ballads – but from the moment his burly figure slouches [...]
Cuban diva Omara Portuondo will heat up the stage at the 10th Annual Latin Grammy Awards during a rare U.S. appearance this Thursday. Dubbed the queen of Cuban vocals, Portuondo will be presenting an award during the televised show and her latest CD, “Gracias,” has been nominated in the Best Contemporary Tropical Album category. Her [...]
Havana is hosting the biggest open-air concert since the 1959 revolution, featuring some 15 top Latin American, Spanish and Cuban performers. More than One Million people – many wearing white – are attending the free event in Revolution Square, Havana. The above photo shows the incredible turn-out for the Concert with people packed together, side-by-side, [...]
This weekend The X Factor, which is the British version of American Idol, premiered in the U.K. switching to the even more dramatic live-audition format of Simon Cowell’s other big across-the-pond reality hit, Britain’s Got Talent. Auditioning Saturday night, non-coincidentally in the all-important “pimp slot,” was likable schoolteacher Danyl Johnson. Danyl managed to accomplish the unthinkable. [...]
The Los Angeles Coroner’s report indicates that pop star Michael Jackson dies as a result of an overdose of propofol, commonly called Diprivan. Jackson’s doctor, Conrad Murray, admitted that he administered Diprivan to Jackson at approximately 10:30 A.M. on the morning Jackson died. Murray was away from Jackson’s room “not more than two minutes” and [...]
A federal judge has ruled that a Boston University student violated copyright infringement laws when he swapped music online. Joel Tenenbaum, of Providence, R.I., admitted on the witness stand Thursday that he downloaded and distributed 30 songs. U.S. District Judge Nancy Gertner ruled late Thursday that the only issue for the jury is whether his [...]
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