Results for "Michael League"

Live, Eclectic, And Electrifying

by Mike Jacobs
April 30, 2021

Live albums. Love them, hate them, they are definitely a different animal from the studio album. It may be argued--especially with all of the tools available currently--that the “studio" recording is the means by which music can be crafted and honed into the most accurate representation of the artist's vision. And yes, live albums can be ...

Montreux Jazz Artists Autumn of Music

by Martin McFie
October 26, 2020

The Montreux Palace Autumn of Music Montreux Switzerland 12-17 October 2020 The obvious, burning question for Montreux Jazz Festival press officer Marc Zendrini, concerned plans for the Festival in 2021. He replied “We have safe possibilities for outside performance next summer, all along the lakefront. But for which artists, on what ...

Take Five with TRi/O's Steve Shapiro, Dave Anderson and Tyger MacNeal

by AAJ Staff
October 15, 2020

Meet TRi/O TRi/O is a collaborative groove-based contemporary jazz & funk outing from three New York musicians: Steve Shapiro on vibraphone and mallet keyboards, virtuoso 5-string bassist Dave Anderson, and drummer Tyger MacNeal. Their combined credits comprise a long list of major jazz and pop artists—including Steely Dan, Ornette Coleman, Phil Collins, Spyro Gyra, Whitney Houston, ...

Luciano Linzi: ripartire dal Festival "CdJ Reloaded"

by Paolo Marra
September 16, 2020

A marzo, durante i momenti peggiori della pandemia, nessun avrebbe scommesso sulla ripresa nel breve termine della programmazione dei festival jazz. Un percorso arduo e non privo di incognite affrontato—come nel caso della rassegna “Casa del Jazz Reloaded" prodotto dalla Fondazione Musica per Roma —con decisione, organizzazione e una buona dose di ottimismo. Il ...

2020 Fano Jazz by the Sea

by AAJ Staff
August 14, 2020

Fano Jazz By The Sea Rocca Malatestiana Fano, Italy July 24-31, 2020 In the first half of 2020, the Italian jazz scene was heavily affected by the Covid-19 pandemic that so tragically hit the country. Winter and spring festivals in Bergamo, Torino, Novara, Bolzano, Vicenza, and other cities, had to ...

Fano Jazz by the Sea 2020

by Libero Farnè
August 4, 2020

Fano, varie sedi 24-31.7.2020 Un festival estivo in piena regola. Non è poco in epoca di Covid (...e purtroppo non possiamo ancora dire di post-Covid). Un esempio di resistenza, di sfida, di sinergica capacità organizzativa, di voglia irreprimibile di musica dal vivo, da parte di chi la suona, ma anche per chi l'ascolta. ...

Becca Stevens on releasing new music in a pandemic

by Leo Sidran
May 25, 2020

Singer and songwriter Becca Stevens has the ability to make you feel like you know her even when you only know her work. Here she talks about “dancing with the critical voice," looking for silver linings, “the whole money thing" and a newly born pack of baby ducks out her window. Plus she discusses her new ...

Michael League: "Hang on to the little victories"

by Leo Sidran
March 9, 2020

In this podcast interview, composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist Michael League talks about Snarky Puppy, the advantages to the American musical perspective ("we are light on our feet"), why “to create something authentic isn't really possible to me," how playing wedding and steak house gigs in Texas taught him about “humility and strengthening the muscles of versatility," ...

Michael League

Michael League is a Grammy Award-winning bassist, guitarist, composer, arranger, producer, label owner, and bandleader based out of Brooklyn, New York.

As a military brat, he grew up all over the place. Michael attended the University of North Texas' jazz studies program for 4 years, then moved to nearby Dallas for another 3 years, where he worked with some of the most influential figures in modern gospel, R&B, and soul music, and was mentored by legendary keyboardist Bernard Wright (Miles Davis, Chaka Khan).

Michael runs the band with a grass-roots approach to the changing music industry that seems crazy, but has worked. Kinda. In early 2012, he launched his own imprint, GroundUP Music, under Ropeadope Records. The bands on the label kick ass.

Chris McQueen: Snarky Guitars, Part 3

by Mike Jacobs
February 7, 2020

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 For our final installment in the Snarky Guitars series, All About Jazz spoke with Chris McQueen. McQueen's inclinations as a player often push him into more textural, integral and rhythmic roles that sometimes leave him the least conspicuous of the “SP Three," but he has done ...