Articles by Anthony King

Catching Up With

Elizabeth Shepherd: A Jewel is Born

by Anthony King
April 25, 2012

When a fetus becomes the impetus. “Impetus" is a favored word lobbed by Elizabeth Shepherd into the conversation these days as she takes a deep breath and plunges into the great unknown of traveling on the road with a family. The winsome vocalist and jazz pianist had her first child six months ago and has unplugged her tribe from their downtown Toronto home to cover Canada, literally performing dates from Nanaimo, B.C. to St. Johns, Nfld. “Gosh, that's the hope; ...

Catching Up With

Robert Glasper: Temptation Redux

by Anthony King
March 23, 2012

"Hello world, peace and love--I wish you the best, and now for the next" are the first words uttered with the cadence of a street corner preacher-come poet by Shafiq Hussein, only two bars into Robert Glasper's Black Radio (Blue Note, 2012). As if to lay down the essence of his latest record right off the top, Glasper's piano dances mercurially over Hussein's musings like a skater creating abstract art on glistening ice. The effect is beguiling, sexy and urban ...