Home » Search Center » Results: Stevie Wonder
Results for "Stevie Wonder"
Summer Of Soul (...Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
by Ian Patterson
Various Artists Summer Of Soul (...Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised) Onyx Collective/Searchlight Pictures 2021 One of the most thought-provoking moments in Ahmir 'Questlove' Thompson's documentary on the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival comes from a festival attendee, looking back from the distant perspective of half a century. “I ...
Brian Jackson: Jazz Is Dead 8: Brian Jackson
by Karl Ackermann
The Jazz is Dead series of recordings is neither trying to bury or resurrect the genre. It largely exists on the periphery where “jazz" is either a prefix or suffix. The project, launched by musician-producers Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad in 2020, is prolific and elastic in its choice of artists and styles. Younge and ...
Top Ten Kennedy Center Musical Moments
by Alan Bryson
It's a good bet that most of us have heard people say they don't like jazz, or even worse, drop the H-bomb: “I hate jazz." If you choose to engage them, the key is to tread lightly and tailor an approach that considers their tastes and sensibilities. This So You Don't Like Jazz column explores ways ...
Cameron Graves: Inventing Thrash-Jazz
by Scott Krane
Pianist and composer, Cameron Graves, arrived on the scene in his late teens and early twenties, possessing a proclivity for classical music, an unquenchable passion for heavy metal, and a jazz sensibility and lexicon of musicality. According to the website of Mack Avenue Records, the label that signed Graves and put out his debut solo release, ...
New Memphis Colorways and Utopia: Way Outside the Box
by Doug Collette
Rendering cliches moot is no small achievement. Yet if these two records prove anything, it is that it's possible to accomplish this daunting task in a variety of ways. In the case of Paul Taylor, aka New Memphis Colorways, his truth lies in the restoration of the fundamental notion a single individual can indeed sound like ...
Antonio Tosques and Multi-Form Band: Touch Me
by Nicholas F. Mondello
With the possible exception of the upright bass (where it's more of a pas a deux), a guitar allows its player to bring the instrument intimately close to their heart and inner voice. The fingered manipulation of strings can trigger caresses, teases, intensities and poetry. Played well, as it is here on this excellent recording from ...
John Patitucci: The Quintessence of Acoustic and Electric
by Jim Worsley
John Patitucci had his life's work in mind at age twelve, At a time when most of us were worried about junior high school and pimples, Patitucci concluded that he was to be a professional musician. This was no typical young boy fantasy of playing center field for the Yankees, being an astronaut, or even being ...
Samara Joy: Ascension Into Jazz
by R.J. DeLuke
When Samara Joy performs, she takes her place, stands confidently and sings. Immediately the strength and richness of her voice—which is natural—grabs the attention of the listener. There are no gyrations. It's refreshing that a young artist doesn't see the need for unnecessary vocal gymnastics. Too often, those can miss the mark. Her style ...
Dan Wilson: Vessels Of Wood And Earth
by Chris May
Dan Wilson's Vessels Of Wood And Earth starts well. Just over a minute into track one, the guitarist launches into a lightning-speed solo which sounds a little like Wes Montgomery channeling Charlie Parker on speed. On track two, Stevie Wonder's well named “Bird Of Beauty," he rings the changes, exchanging Montgomery and Parker for Pat Metheny ...
Bill Cunliffe: Always Doing It The Right Way
by Jim Worsley
Most notably a jazz pianist, it comes as more than a surprise that Bill Cunliffe was not in the same orbit as jazz until he was in college. With the sheer volume of top shelf jazz he has written and recorded since, he would seem to have made up for any lost time. That time, those ...
