rescuing musical virtue in distress.
Music can always be a channel for issues and ideas, even when on the surface it seems just another fun and funky slice of pop. And those are the opposites that make The Gap so attractive. Blending jazzy vibes, soulful tones and pop infectiousness, The Gap is also a platform for an important issue. It... Continue Reading →
As soon as the music kicks in, it is clear to see why Marlon Boone is so well respected by saxophonists and jazz aficionados alike. He has rubbed shoulders and shared stages with everyone from Kim Walters, Will Donato and Pamela Williams and during the last 17 years has travelled extensively through both musical genres... Continue Reading →
Jazz is often seen as an acquired taste, a complex and niche musical style with a slightly inaccessible vibe to it. Pop music, by contrast, as being a frivolous and perhaps throwaway genre. But perhaps by mining a sonic seam that runs through both, you could come up with the best of both worlds, music... Continue Reading →
2020 is what you call a real slow-burner, working its way up from a timeless, soulful torch song, it slowly wraps more sonic swathes and musical washes around it, building in stature as it goes. A beat here, a delicate guitar riff there but all the time your focus is on Jeanetta Salyer's majestic vocals.... Continue Reading →
There is a wonderful lightness of touch about the way that Moonlight Rhythm Society have used to construct their latest single, Allison. It has a vibe rooted in the more accessible end of jazz, is soaked in sultry soul vibes, exhibits wonderful pop accessibility and is a master class in underplaying and understatement. The beats... Continue Reading →
Retro Band does pretty much what the name might imply. They revisit, re-imagine and re-work songs from the past so that they get another day in the sun. Although they have covered many eras of the 20th century, this volume gathers together songs from the '30s to the '60s and gives them a new lease... Continue Reading →
It is difficult to capture the sheer breadth of the band sound with easy generic labels. Can you explain how the sound came together and how it has evolved into what we hear on this album? Nevaris A.C: The sound is built around the drums, bass and vocals more than anything else. Lockatron, Bill Laswell and I recorded... Continue Reading →
If for you, the word jazz conjures images of besuited bands playing background music in smokey cocktail bars or nostalgic notions of bygone beatnik basement clubs, then Mokus Green is just what you need to change the picture. Ironically, the music he makes would fit into both those settings, but the most important aspect of... Continue Reading →
If jazz music were a character from a story it would be the tortoise from The Tortoise and the Hare. He’s mocked openly, disliked, disregarded and often misunderstood, yet he keeps moving, onwards and onwards, not caring about how he looks to the casual onlooker. Fads will come and go in other genres, but the... Continue Reading →
We know that Tony Marino is nothing if not versatile. That within the jazz world his music has explored many styles and sounds, not just the Latin jazz with which he is most closely associated. Swing Your Thing is a new album to kick off a new year, one which takes his Latin style and... Continue Reading →
Those that follow jazz will be aware of New York double bassist Mark Wade, they may have an album or two from his acclaimed trio in their collection, but for those who aren’t familiar with his work, Mark Wade is a double bassist who sits alongside the modern great players such as Christian McBride, Avishai... Continue Reading →
Any album which comes bundling into earshot with such a blast of euphoria and energy, such passion and joy is going to grab your attention right from the world go. No tricks, no gimmicks, just getting right on with the job at hand. The job at hand in this case being to make sassy blends... Continue Reading →
Seeing Felton Pilate’s name associated with anything is always a badge of quality, a seal of approval and this time out he is on board with Edward W. Sealey for this smooth yet groovesome, R&B meets slick, contemporary jazz instrumental. And Brighter Than This is a well chosen name, warmth and sunshine vibes ooze out... Continue Reading →
This record blends a very young urban sound with a very mature jazz delivery. As a whole it reminds me of all the good European things that we in Britain have begun to distance ourselves from. Multilingual vocals carry this record across the continent with a gentle ease. I can see this record being appreciated... Continue Reading →
If the term “concept album” conjures up images of keyboard players dressed as wizards and ten-minute drum solos then perhaps it is best to think of In The Hills of California as an album of interlinked ideas, an instrumental narrative or a series of scenes and scenarios told through music. Based around the idea of... Continue Reading →
If the term “world music” has always been something that you have never really understood…don’t worry it is pretty meaningless…then Liar’s Notebook is exactly for you. Not that there is any one easy and catch all definition which works for such a broad term but a Neo-soul outfit drawn from musicians from both Southern India... Continue Reading →
As musicians you seem to be a perfect match, what brought you together and can you tell me a bit about the individual journeys which got you to this point? Nicolaas- I originally came to Sarasota to attend Ringling School of Art and Design as an illustration major. Ari was 8 years old at the time. While there I... Continue Reading →
Husband and wife duo, The Jorgensens, have always been good at finding their inspirations in some long passed, classic sounds and then adding their own polish and poise, integrity and originality so that the end result is modern music for nostalgic hearts. They wander through the early days of contemporary music, gathering jazz vibes and... Continue Reading →
It is often said that the best approach to making music is knowing that it isn’t about the amount of notes that you play but more about which ones you chose to leave out, that understatement is often a more powerful tool than throwing too many ideas into a song. And if editing and underplay... Continue Reading →
Blending tasteful, not to mention soulful, touches of jazz with driving, funk-infused grooves, seamless changes of pace, violins playing the part usually reserved for the guitar and mellifluous melodicism, Breeze is a gorgeous and unique song. One which goes out of its way to remind us that jazz isn’t a dirty word, that funk can... Continue Reading →
The term “smooth jazz” often comes with all sorts of expectant sonic baggage, conjuring pictures of cliched lounge acts and ambient lift music, at least to those who haven’t explored the genre enough or discovered where its real charms lie. Exploring any new genre is about finding the artist and the music which best typifies... Continue Reading →
In a world always looking for the next new creative path, it is wonderful to come across a group of musicians happy to celebrate the past. Jazz has always been okay with that though, revelling in its own standards, classics and popular tunes and then re-exploring them and keeping them fresh through reinterpretation and fine-tuning... Continue Reading →
It isn’t so much the case that Sebastian Reynolds hops genres or even attempts to merge them like some sort of sonic alchemist, it is more that he floats without concern above them. And whilst you could make a good argument for elements of avant-garde classical, trip-hop, free jazz and ambient experimentation all finding their... Continue Reading →
I’m not one to venture into the territory of smooth jazz all that often, but as the sunlight streams through into the office dappling the keyboard and my view through the window is one of green trees, blue skies and the slight haze as the heat hits the tarmac, Smooth It Out feels like the... Continue Reading →
They say you should write about what you know. The same is true in music. If you are looking for something honest and heartfelt, authentic and meaningful, then what better to write about than your own life. And whilst you could argue that most artists do this to a degree, most do it to a... Continue Reading →
Germany had a huge, life shattering, impact on the world during the last century, obviously some good and some bad (putting it mildly), from the impact of Bauhaus and the Dada art movement to the post-war involvement in electronic music and the fall of the Berlin Wall in the 1990’s. It’s safe to say Germany... Continue Reading →
It’s difficult to pitch an album such as this. It’s an accumulation of lots of parts, when you consider the album is essentially a live recording of a jazz band being supported by a big band (Ricky-Tick Big Band Brass), oh and the main pull is a sax player from Finland, you’ll be forgiven for... Continue Reading →
The world is fashioned as much by the millions of seemingly small decisions that individuals make every day as it is by national policy and global movements. It is fair to say that Gary Palmer’s decision to wrap up his career in law enforcement to return to his early passion of making music was one... Continue Reading →
The neat trick that Harry Stafford seems to pull off is that whilst he sounds slightly like a few other artists, the artists that he sounds like sound like nobody else. Not even him! I’m not even sure that’s possible but its the only way that I can describe it. I could list the most... Continue Reading →
London-based The Heliocentrics have long stirred a bewitching brew of funk, jazz, psych and library influences. Labelled by Pitchfork as “a live-band culmination of every obsessive hip-hop-era producer's drive to fall deeper into a rabbit hole of the previously unheard”, the band’s far-reaching influence meant a natural knock-on in being cited by hip-hop royalty: namely,... Continue Reading →