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About Ralph MacDonald

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Musician

Grammy-award winning percussionist, songwriter and producer Ralph MacDonald was born in Harlem, NY in 1944. As the son of Trinidad-immigrant and Calypso performer "Macbeth The Great," Ralph grew up amidst the rise of Calypsonian revolution in New York City. The young boy was often placed playfully on his father's drums for a moment or two and, when he got older, MacDonald dreamed of someday achieving the regional success of his father. At 17, Ralph helped a friend carry his steel drums into an audition for legendary performer Harry Belafonte. The friend got the gig, and MacDonald became a regular at rehearsals

Album

The Montreux Years

By Roberta Flack

Label: BMG
Released: 2026
Track listing: Side A: The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face; I’d Like To Be Baby To You; More Than You’ll Ever Know; Always. Side B: Soft And Gentle Rain; Sweet Georgia Brown; Killing Me Softly With His Song. Side C: Suzanne; Mercy Mercy Me; Somewhere. Side D: To Love Somebody; Feel Like Makin’ Love; Feelin’ That Glow.

Article: Live Review

Kenny Garrett at Ronnie Scott’s: The Ancestors in the Room

by Kofi Adjepong-Boateng
July 24, 2026

Kenny Garrett Ronnie Scott's London July 17, 2026 There are jazz clubs and there is the basement on Frith Street. Kenny Garrett, whom Miles Davis heard and hired nearly forty years ago, is back, and at the first notes of 'Haynes Here' the room understood this would be not a night ...

Article: So You Don't Like Jazz

5 Epic Jazz Songs That Forever Changed the World

by Alan Bryson
April 9, 2026

So You Don't Like Jazz normally focuses on ways to turn people on to jazz, but this column focuses on five jazz songs whose impact profoundly changed modern music. In the process they also demonstrated that jazz could be successful in a modern culture dominated by pop, rock & roll, and rhythm & blues. Arguably the ...

Article: Liner Notes

Ron Carter: Anything Goes

by Arnaldo DeSouteiro
July 11, 2024

Ronald Levin Carter (born Ferndale, Michigan, on May 4, 1937) needs no introduction. Let's just say that he is the bassist's bassist. On Ron's hands, the bass and the man become the same entity, the same person. Played by Ron Carter, the acoustic bass sounds like... Ron Carter! That's why he is one of the three ...

Article: Liner Notes

CTI Acid Jazz Grooves by Various Artists

by Arnaldo DeSouteiro
June 19, 2024

The CD you are holding in your hands is a very special compilation. It's the celebration of CTI as one of the most “sampled" labels on Earth! For the past ten years, many CTI tracks have been cut up, sampled, scratched and looped to create new songs for a new audience. Many of the selections on ...

Article: Interview

Les McCann: Never Say No Again

by Chris M. Slawecki
January 2, 2024

"Be who you are and not who you ain't. Because when you are who you ain't, you're not who you are." Keyboardist, vocalist, bandleader, songwriter and photographer Les McCann really talks like this. About his music, about musicians, about his career--about everything. I learned this during the following interview, scheduled to discuss Omnivore Records' ...

Article: Under the Radar

Big in Japan: A History of Jazz in the Land of the Rising Sun, Part 1

by Karl Ackermann
October 29, 2018

Part 1 | Part 2The music market in Japan--second only to the U.S. in terms of revenue--generates more than two-billion dollars in sales annually. Enthusiasts and collectors of jazz recordings had long ago discovered that Japan's robust music scene, and the now virtual accessibility to products have made the country a go-to resource for ...

Article: Album Review

Milt Jackson: Sunflower / Goodbye

Read "Sunflower / Goodbye" reviewed by Jakob Baekgaard

by Jakob Baekgaard
September 28, 2016

Even if vibes player Milt Jackson had just played with The Modern Jazz Quartet and not embarked on a solo career, his place in jazz history would be secure. However, Jackson was much more than a vital part of the famous chamber jazz group and he recorded a string of excellent albums, including three sessions as ...

News: Recording

Les McCann "Invitation To Openness" Reissued on Omnivore Recordings

January 20, 2015

Through the chart-topping 1969 song “Compared To What, “ Les McCann became known to thousands of people as an inspirational “soul-jazz" pianist and vocalist. Since its first release in 1972, Les McCann's Invitation To Openness album (Atlantic Records) has remained a landmark statement in free-form improvisation mixed with soulful grooves, featuring a 26-minute continuous track with ...