Jazz
John Lurie on the Importance of Swearing, Surreal Cowboys, and His New Music
Listen via Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Pocket Casts | Radio Public | RSS John Lurie catches up with Kyle Meredith to talk about Season 2 of Painting with John, his HBO series that finds the musician, painter, actor, director, and producer creating his watercolor masterpieces while giving us all insight into his life, philosophies, and often-bizarre adventures. Related Video The Lounge Lizards co-founder takes us inside a recurring sketch called “Cowboy Beckett” that weaves throughout this new season and how it took inspiration from Ennio Morricone. He also tells us why he gravitated toward watercolors, and how he comes up with the titles of his paintings, which sometimes tell complete stories thems...
R.I.P. James Mtume, Jazz and R&B Musician Dead at 76
James Mtume, the multi-instrumentalist who performed with Miles Davis before founding the R&B group Mtume, has died at the age of 76, Pitchfork reports. No cause of death has been revealed. The son of jazz saxophonist Jimmy Heath, James Mtume (born James Heath Jr.) grew up in a musical environment. He was raised by his mother, Bertha Forman, and pianist James “Hen Gates” Forman, who played in Charlie Parker’s band and introduced Mtume to the likes of Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, and Sonny Rollins. In 1969, Mtume took on percussion on his uncle Albert “Tootie” Heath’s album Kawaida, which also featured Jimmy Heath, Don Cherry, and Herbie Hancock. A member of the Black empowerment collective US Organization, Mtume released the album Land of the Blacks in 1972 under th...
Jon Batiste’s Grammy Noms Are Validation for Verve and the ‘Exciting’ State of Jazz
On Nov. 23, Dahlia Ambach Caplin was walking through her Brooklyn neighborhood, listening as a series of artists announced the nominations for the 2022 Grammy Awards. Over the course of an hour, as the genre categories and Big Four honors were revealed, one name kept surfacing again and again: Jon Batiste, the Late Show With Stephen Colbert bandleader whom Ambach Caplin had signed to the Verve Label Group in 2018. In all, Batiste scored 11 nominations, the most of any artist, including nods for record and album of the year for his single “Freedom” and We Are album, respectively. “I was [multitasking] on a Zoom call, on a completely different subject, as all the album and record of the year stuff started coming out, and I was just like, ‘I can’t stay on the phone right now!’ ” she says...
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Iman Shumpert Proves He Has Real Steps On ‘Dancing With The Stars’ [Video]
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Bernard Smalls / @PhotosByBeanz It seems Iman Shumpert’s moves are not just limited to the basketball court. He recently went viral for his steps on Dancing With The Stars. As spotted on Huffington Post the National Basketball Association all-star has taken his talents to a different competitive sport. On this season of the reality show the Oak Park, Illinois native is showing that he is taking the opportunity very seriously. This week he shocked viewers and judges with a routine worthy of a replay. On Monday, November 15 he and his partner and coach Daniella Karagach performed a memorable Jazz routine to Kanye West’s “Dark Fantasy”. Their set scored high enough to advance them into the finale. Related Stories Back in October he detailed w...
NOLAxNOLA Announces Livestream Fundraiser with Tribute to Dr. John
New Orleans arts coalition NOLAxNOLA has announced NOLAxNOLA ‘21: Show Your Love! A Virtual Celebration of New Orleans. The livestream fundraiser takes place November 19th and 20th, and will use performances by Tank and the Bangas, Big Freedia, and a tribute to Dr. John to support local not-for-profits. The event is free to view, but the digital fundraising platform Fandiem is using the event to funnel money towards The Roots of Music, Trombone Shorty Foundation, Tip-It Foundation, Preservation Hall Foundation, New Orleans Musicians’ Clinic & Assistance Foundation, and Upbeat Academy Foundation. Performances come from a variety of New Orleans staples, including Irma Thomas, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Dumpstaphunk, Rebirth Brass Band, Kermit Ruffins, ...
Adele’s 10 Best Songs
It’s sometimes surprising to remember just how long Adele has been part of the pop culture conversation. Her breakout, “Hometown Glory,” was released when she was only nineteen years old, and it’s a track the singer-songwriter penned at just sixteen. Since then, Adele has obliterated records to the tune of fifteen Grammy awards across three full-length studio albums. Her crossover appeal is the result of a unique mix of gifted vocals, vulnerable songwriting, and a personality overflowing with sharp wit. It’s been over five years now since Adele released new music — a curious stint as host of Saturday Night Live in 2020 was more of an opportunity for the vocalist to try her hand at comedy and acting than it was a hint of a musical comeback — but finally, new tunes from Adele are on the hori...
BADBADNOTGOOD Release New Album Talk Memory: Stream
Canadian jazz-fusion ensemble BADBADNOTGOOD have just released Talk Memory, their new album and first ever for XL Recordings. Stream it below via Apple Music and Spotify. Talk Memory is the fifth studio LP of BADBADNOTGOOD’s career overall, following 2016’s IV. It spans nine tracks in total, including album opener “Signal From the Noise” and the recent single “Beside April.” Scattered throughout the album are a handful of guest performers, including Arthur Verocai, Karriem Riggins, Terrace Martin, Laraaji, and harpist Brandee Younger. Written as a way to express gratitude for their community and the music they’ve made together, Talk Memory is a stacked record of heartfelt and joyful jazz numbers. Arguably the album’s high points occur when BADBADNOTGOOD improvise together as a trio, result...
Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga Release New Collaborative Album Love For Sale: Stream
Powerhouse music duo Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga have just released their new collaborative album Love For Sale. Stream it below via Apple Music or Spotify. Love For Sale serves as the follow-up to 2014’s Cheek to Cheek, which won the Grammy for Best Traditional Pop Record. This new album spans 10 songs in total that were pulled from the songbook of American composer Cole Porter. While they’re certainly not close in age by any measure, Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga are both pop legends in their own rights — one for his contributions to the world of classy jazz standards, and the other for her reworking of modern pop as a bold art form. Combined, their talents form a charming, timeless, generation-spanning type of music that will win over you, your mom, and your grandmother, as was the cas...
Beach Fossils Announce Jazz Piano Collection, Share “This Year (Piano)”: Stream
Beach Fossils have announced The Other Side of Life: Piano Ballads, a collection of jazz reimaginings of some of their favorite tracks. It’s out November 19th, and as a preview the Brooklyn indie rockers have shared the single “This Year (Piano).” “This Year” appeared on the band’s 2017 album Somersault, which also provided the basis for new trcks “May 1st (Piano),” “Down the Line (Piano),” and “That’s All for Now (Piano).” The new eight-track effort is rounded out by “Sleep Apnea (Piano),” based on the 2013 Down the Line cut, two piano versions of the What a Pleasure EP tracks, “What a Pleasure” and “Adversity,” and a reimagining of “Youth” from the group’s 2010 self-titled debut. The album was made in collaboration with Tommy Gardner, who played drums i...
Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett Share “Love For Sale”: Stream
Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett have unveiled the title track for their upcoming album Love For Sale. Watch the song’s accompanying music video below. The two superstars turn the jazzy Cole Porter standard into an old-fashioned duet, trading lines and harmonies over a big band. “Let the poets pipe of love/ In their childish way/ I know every type of love/ Better far than they,” Gaga warbles before being joined by Bennett on the rest of the verse. Originally introduced by Porter in his 1930 musical The New Yorkers, the song was a controversial addition to the Great American Songbook due to its racy telling of a sex worker advertising her “love for sale.” However, on the updated version, Mother Monster and the 95-year-old crooner spell out the song from a more distant third-person perspective. Ad...
TIFF Review: Listening to Kenny G Explores What Makes Him So Beloved (And Despised)
This review is part of our coverage of the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival. The Pitch: When some people think of Kenny G, they think of the platinum-selling recording artist who’s shaped their childhoods, soothed their workplaces, and even soundtracked the most intimate moments in their lives. But for others, the thought of Kenny G fills them with scorn. He’s a sellout, a fake, a mop-haired purveyor of anodyne saxophone schlock. He disrespects the improvisational, group-centered dynamics of jazz in favor of treacly solo showmanship, and — even worse — subjected the world to “smooth jazz.” The man’s a paradox wrapped in an enigma topped with a curly perm he’s maintained since the 1980s — the best-selling instrumentalist of all time who nonetheless remains a pop-culture punchli...
BADBADNOTGOOD Unveil New Single “Beside April”: Stream
BADBADNOTGOOD have shared “Beside April,” a new preview of their upcoming album Talk Memory. Watch the music video, directed by Cammille Summers-Valli, below. “Beside April” follows the Canadian jazz-fusion ensemble’s July track “Signal from the Noise,” the lead single from Talk Memory. The upcoming project is described as a “heartfelt expression of joy” and features a lineup of guest artists including Arthur Verocai, Karriem Riggins, Terrace Martin, Laraaji, and harpist Brandee Younger. “It took a year or two of just living life to get to the place where the creative process was exciting again,” BBNG said in a statement about Talk Memory. “Once we actually went into the studio it was the most concise recording and writing process we’ve ever had. We hope that the improvised studi...
