Articles by Kristine England
Ken Nordine: The Architect of Word Jazz
by Kristine England
"Let me tell you a funny story I made up about the guy who wanted to reach into in, and he couldn't. And it bothered him. It'd bother you, wouldn't it?" So begins the tale of a troubled man lost within his mind's abstractions. This tale is Word Jazz, a “somewhat new medium" conceived by Ken Nordine in the 1950s. A voiceover performer who was a uniquely creative wordsmith as well, Nordine wielded his rich, velvety baritone like ...
Continue ReadingShabaka Hutchings: Musical Force of Nature
by Kristine England
Much of the creativity being showcased in the jazz world is happening in the UK, and at the center of that musical community is multi-instrumentalist Shabaka Hutchings. Born in London, he spent most of his childhood in his parents' native Barbados. The diversity of the people and cultures of those two locales helped shaped his musical identity. Picking up a clarinet at the age of nine, Hutchings would play along to his favorite hip-hop artists, including the Notorious ...
Continue ReadingDesigning Jazz: The Iconic Album Covers of Reid Miles
by Kristine England
Blue Note Records has embodied the best jazz has to offer for over 80 years. With a catalog of greats, from Horace Silver, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Lee Morgan, Hank Mobley, Art Blakey, Herbie Hancock, Dexter Gordon and countless others from the bop and post-bop eras, to the funky recordings that hip-hop artists have repeatedly sampled, to its current roster, the label remains at the forefront of the genre. It wasn't just the music that set the label ...
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