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Joe Locke, Branford Marsalis and More
We start this week's episode with one of the finest voices on the vibes who made his way through Kansas City in early December, Joe Locke, with a cut off his new CD Subtle Disguise. From there, we dive headlong into the music of a legend on the drums in Billy Cobham, who was the subject of a book by Brian Grueber. We take some time to look into the piano skills of George Colligan off his ...
read moreJoe Locke / Pat Bianchi / Marvin "Smitty" Smith at Detroit Groove Society
Joe Locke/Pat Bianchi/Marvin “Smitty" Smith Detroit Groove Socirty West Bloomfield, Michigan December 7, 2018 One of the key elements of jazz over the history of the music has been the social aspect that is inherent in the type of musical communication that marks improvised music. During the swing era, if you were so inclined, you could head to the popular ballrooms to dance to the big bands of Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, or ...
read moreJoe Locke: Subtle Disguise
Have we been dealing with two different Joe Lockes for all these years? To some, the vibraphonist presents as a technically adept and intellectually curious seeker, constantly pushing through to new levels of possibility and commitment with his music. But for others, Locke is a conduit to understanding the human condition. This is a dichotomy that obviously speaks to vantage points and perspectives, with neither understanding ringing false. And while the existence of said split isn't at all surprising when ...
read moreJoe Locke's Love Affair with Language
On the surface it's not so easy to spot the common thread unifying the greater fabric of Joe Locke's work. Since arriving in New York City in 1981, and emerging as a notable leader on record in the early '90s, this much-vaunted vibraphonist has developed into a protean performer and composer. Duo sessions with pianists Frank Kimbrough and Kenny Barron, a collaboration with vocalist Kenny Washington, dates co-led with pianists David Hazeltine and Geoffrey Keezer, an album with Lincoln's Symphony ...
read moreLove Is A Pendulum
Since signing with Motėma Music a couple years back, vibraphonist Joe Locke has been releasing some of the best and most diverse music in a career now entering its fourth decade. From the near-fusion energy of 2012's Signing--the long overdue studio followup to the Joe Locke / Geoffrey Keezer group's incendiary Live in Seattle (Origin, 2006)--to the expansive beauty of his 2013 quartet collaboration with Lincoln, Nebraska's Symphony Orchestra on Wish Upon a Star and, just a few months later ...
read moreJoe Locke: Love Is A Pendulum
Since the late '80s vibraphonist Joe Locke, an artist who defies categorization, has performed and recorded with a diverse array of musicians, including Eddie Henderson, Cecil Taylor, and The Beastie Boys. Love Is A Pendulum, his fourth release on the Harlem-based Motema label, features some of Locke's most compelling music to date, the centerpiece of which is a five movement suite based on a poem by musician and writer Barbara Sfraga. Culled from Sfraga's Subway Series, Locke explains ...
read moreJoe Locke: Lay Down My Heart: Blues & Ballads Vol.1
The successful combination of two chordal instruments--like vibes and piano--requires giant ears and mutual respect in order to avoid melodic pile-ups and harmonic collisions. On this CD, vibraphonist and composer Joe Locke and pianist Ryan Cohan provide a textbook example of how this is done. They are happily aided and abetted by bassist and co-producer David Finck and drummer Jaimeo Brown, who consistently demonstrate the same high level of musicianship. The result is a warmly recorded and completely satisfying set.
read moreJoe Locke: Lay Down My Heart - Blues & Ballads Vol 1
In a rarefied space, Joe Locke continues to evolve, engage and impress. There simply isn't another vibraphonist of his generation with Locke's stellar chops, thorough understanding of history/tradition--not just of jazz, but of music, period--and ability to build programs based on thematic concepts that not only stand out in his gradually growing discography, but fit contextually within it to create an actual oeuvre, an ever- expanding body of work that represents an artist whose number one priority is always the ...
read moreJoe Locke: Lay Down My Heart: Blues & Ballads Vol.1
The ever versatile vibraphonist extraordinaire Joe Locke returns to his early days of music-making, where he once felt that jazz was, is and “should always be, people music." On his third recording for the Motema label, Locke presents Lay Down My Heart: Blues & Ballads Vol. 1 designed as a vehicle for people everywhere who need a respite from the troubles of the world through a landscape of light blues and soft ballads. Joining the vibraphonist for this date is ...
read moreJoe Locke: Lay Down My Heart: Blues & Ballads Vol.1
Vibraphonist Joe Locke doesn't seem to want to put his mallets down for very long. As soon as he arrived at Motéma Music, he released the modern-leaning Signing (Motéma Music, 2012) with the Joe Locke/Geoffrey Keezer Group, and partnered up with Lincoln's Symphony Orchestra for the somewhat serene Wish Upon A Star (Motéma Music, 2013). Now, less than six months after that symphony-enhanced songbook hit shelves, he delivers Lay Down My Heart, a collection of blues and ballads.
read moreThe Joe Locke Quartet with Lincoln's Symphony Orchestra: Wish Upon a Star
When Joe Locke signed with Motéma Records in 2012, the vibraphonist was finally allowed an opportunity to more freely explore a broader range of interests, bolstered by the comfort of his affiliation with a label known for its strong artist support. His first release for the label, Signing (2012), was the long overdue follow-up to The Joe Locke / Geoffrey Keezer Group's tremendous debut, Live in Seattle (Origin, 2006), and despite being unjustly overlooked in some quarters was, without a ...
read moreJoe Locke: Chemistry and Camaraderie
Even within a musical genre noted for its artists' restless creativity and ability to meld and merge with other styles, vibraphonist Joe Locke stands out as exceptional for his unceasing musical curiosity and sweeping vision. Since his arrival on the New York jazz scene nearly 30 years ago, Locke has amassed a performance résumé that includes work with artists ranging from Dizzy Gillespie to Gunther Schuller to Cecil Taylor, a catalogue of nearly 30 albums as a bandleader, and a ...
read morePoll Results
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Jazz Story
By Travis Rogers Jr.
Member since: 2012
I was first exposed to jazz through a high school friend who played Keith Jarrett's “The Koln Concert” for me. Therefore, that was the first jazz record I bought. From Jarrett to Chick to Oscar and Herbie and then came my first hearing of “A Love Supreme.” I was never the same...
