Justin Tyson

Independent gospel drummer Justin Tyson is son of the late organist Craig Tyson and Shawn Tyson's nephew.

Justin Tyson is a talented and respected up-and-coming musician living in New York City. Born in Grand Rapids, Michigan but raised in Indianapolis, Indiana, he started playing the drums at the age of three and from that day on continued to perfect his craft.

Tyson is a Berklee College of Music alumnus; there his love for the drums and music in general expanded. Justin has played for Jessie J, Estelle, Mos Def, Tyrese, Cubic Zirconia, Sirah, Ryan Leslie and is currently the drummer for Esperanza Spalding and Now vs Now.

Milton Nascimento / Esperanza Spalding: Milton + esperanza

Read "Milton + esperanza" reviewed by Chris May

by Chris May
July 31, 2024

Sometimes the semiology around an album can tell you more about it than any amount of words attempting to describe the music itself. And the semiology around Milton + esperanza is eloquent. It begins with the overlap with another summer 2024 release, Wayne Shorter's magical double-album Celebration Volume 1 (Blue Note), a previously unreleased recording of Shorter's Quartet in concert in 2014, with liner notes written by Shorter's wife Carolina. Now consider the overlap. Wayne Shorter recorded with ...

Album Review

R+R=NOW: R+R=NOW - Live (Blue Note Club New York/2018)

Read "R+R=NOW - Live (Blue Note Club New York/2018)" reviewed by Emmanuel Di Tommaso

by Emmanuel Di Tommaso
June 14, 2021

"When you reflect what's going on in your time and respond to that, you can't not be relevant. So 'R' plus 'R' equals 'NOW.'" Con queste parole Robert Glasper spiegava nel 2017 la nascita del sestetto dei R+R=Now, riprendendo una risposta che Nina Simone dava a quanti la criticavano per le sue prese di posizione politiche e sociali ("an artist's duty, as far as I'm concerned, is to reflect the times"). Non è in effetti una coincidenza che ...