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Weedie Braimah
Seun Kuti & Egypt 80: Heavier Yet Lays The Crownless Head
by Chris May
Seun Kuti is a chip off the old block: inheriting his father Fela Kuti's band Egypt 80, pushing at the edges of but staying more or less within Afrobeat's classic instrumental paradigm, unconditionally championing all oppressed and marginalized people, and, not least, enjoying blunts the size of baseball bats. One place where Seun has pushed at the edges is in his choice of co-producers. From Africa With Fury: Rise (Knitting Factory, 2011), for instance, was co-produced with ...
Continue ReadingBokante: History
by Chris May
Snarky Puppy leader Michael League does not like the band being called a jazz ensemble. He describes it as a “a pop band that improvises a lot, without vocals." But anyone listening to jazz through the aural equivalent of a wide-angle lens would likely keep Snarky Puppy in the picture. League's spin-off group Bokante improvises little and has vocals front and centre. The connection with jazz is more tenuous. Bokante could be called a “world music" group ...
Continue ReadingCecile McLorin Salvant: Mélusine
by Katchie Cartwright
Wynton Marsalis was right, Cécile McLorin Salvant is the sort of singer who comes along only “once in a generation or two." A MacArthur Fellow, multiple Grammy winner, and self-described eclectic, Salvant creates projects that encompass an astonishing array of idioms and historical periods, which she interrelates inventively and interweaves with original compositions. Here, she plumbs the francophone side of her repertoire. French songs have cropped up regularly in her live shows, but less on disk. Mélusine fills the gap ...
Continue ReadingLisa Marie Simmons: Notespeak 12
by Chris May
Poetry & Jazz has a checkered history. When combined, the two art forms are not so much a marriage made in heaven as an obstacle course. The biggest danger is that one of them is verbal and the other is non-verbal and at its best transcends words. The second danger is that the better the poetry and/or the jazz in question, the more intrusive may be their competing demands for the listener's attention. Notespeak 12 is top-end poetry ...
Continue ReadingWeedie Braimah, Graham Costello, Cyrille-Parker-Rava & More
by Ludovico Granvassu
In this set we focus on recent & upcoming albums and catch up on a number of 2021 gems that weren't featured with a special focus on Afro-centric projects.Happy listening!PlaylistBen Allison “Mondo Jazz Theme" 0:00 Young Pilgrims “Rufio" We're Young Pilgrims (Stoney Lane) 0:16 Host talks 5:48 Graham Costello “Impetu" Second Lives (Gearbox) 6:49 Host talks 11:59 AnanasnnA “Scatta il rosso" Veloci come in 500 (Auand) 12:59 Arnaud Dolmen “The Gap" The Gap -Single (Gaya) 18:54 ...
Continue ReadingChristian Scott aTunde Adjuah: Axiom
by Phillip Woolever
As evidenced here, those in attendance for Christian Scott Atunde Adjuah's 2020 engagement at New York's Blue Note from March 11-15 witnessed what turned out to be some of the most powerful performances of this restricted musical year, just before everyday life changed for most people on the planet. The record is dedicated to the victims of Corona-19. This exceptional concert compilation could well be the first of “jazz's" present day, classic live albums released during the pandemic ...
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Sparkler
From: Notespeak 12By Weedie Braimah
