Jazz
Desert Daze Returning with The War on Drugs, Kamasi Washington and Toro y Moi as Headliners
Desert Daze is back! The Southern California-based festival is returning this November with headliners The War on Drugs, Kamasi Washington and Toro y Moi. This year will mark the ninth iteration of Desert Daze after its 2020 festivities were canceled along with the rest of the live music industry due to the coronavirus pandemic. Other acts taking the stage at the eclectic three-day event include Tim Heidecker and Weyes Blood, Japanese Breakfast, Devendra Banhart, Ty Segall, Deap Vally, Yves Tumor, and more. While the festival will be scaled down compared to past years as the world emerges from 16 months of quarantine life, attendees will have the option to camp alongside Lake Perris in the Moreno Valley from Friday, November 12th through Sunday, November 14th. VIP packages and general admi...
Brittany Howard Joins Nate Smith for New Song “Fly (For Mike)”: Stream
Brittany Howard has lent her voice to jazz drummer Nate Smith’s new song “Fly (For Mike).” If you’ve heard Howard, you’ve likely heard Smith, as he brought his ear for percussion to her 2019 album Jaime. But he’s been a well-respected sideman for years, and has previously sat in with modern jazz greats like Dave Holland, Chris Potter, and Robin Eubanks, as well as hitting the kit for Paul Simon on 2018’s In the Blue Light. “Fly (For Mike)” is a single off Smith’s upcoming album Kinfolk 2: See the Birds, out September 17th. The song is soft and cold, like snow falling at dusk. The track comes with a special dedication. “Every time I fly, I think of my late father, to whom this song is dedicated,” Smith said in a statement. “When I wrote it, I wanted the music to evoke a ...
R.I.P. Juini Booth, Bassist for Sun Ra Arkestra, Chick Corea, Art Blakey, and Pharoah Sanders Dead at 73
Juini Booth, who plied his bass with some of the grandest figures in jazz history, has died at 73. Over his six decade career, Booth was a member of Sun Ra Arkestra and accompanied such legends as Art Blakey, Pharoah Sanders, Chick Corea, McCoy Tyner, and Coleman Hawkins. He passed away July 11th, according to Buffalo News, after a six-week decline in health preceded by breaking his hip in a fall at home. Born Arthur Edward Booth on Feb. 12th, 1948, Booth picked up his nickname from his sister Mary Booth-Bowden. “My mother would say, ‘Go call Junior!’ and I would say, ‘Juini!” she said. “He would tell everybody, ‘My sister named me!’” Booth first established himself in the jazz scene of his hometown of Buffalo, New York. He moved to New York City after an enc...
Fugees Built New Classics Out of Old Staples
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Play | Stitcher | Radio Public | RSS Consequence of Sound and Sony present The Opus, an exploration of legendary albums and their ongoing legacy. For Season 13, host Jill Hopkins (The Moth Chicago, Making Beyoncé podcast) will explore the Fugees’ second and final album, The Score. So much of hip-hop is built on the notion of creating something from something. Call it covering, call it borrowing, call it sampling, but don’t call it unoriginal. For decades, samples have helped musicians turn some of greatest hits into even greater hits. Fugees are no exception to this. In fact, they built upon this legacy, The samples and covers included on 1996’s The Score range from The Delphonics to Enya — and yet they’re seamlessly woven together to create a distinct, si...
Sons of Kemet Announce New Album Black to the Future, Share “Hustle”: Stream
London jazz band Sons of Kemet have announced their new album, Black to the Future, out May 14th on Impulse! Records. The project follows Your Queen Ii a Reptile, which was nominated for the 2018 Mercury Prize. This time around, the Shabaka Hutchings-led group brings in guests like Chicago singer Angel Bat Dawid, poets Moor Mother and Joshua Idehen, grime MC D Double E, and British rapper/spoken word artist Kojey Radical. “Black to the Future is a sonic poem for the invocation of power, remembrance and healing. It depicts a movement to redefine and reaffirm what it means to strive for black power,” Hutchings said in a statement. “The meaning is not universal and the cultural context of the listener will shape their understanding. Yet in the end, the overarching message remains the same: Fo...
Harry Connick Jr. on the Long History of Jazz and Faith Music
Kyle Meredith With… Harry Connick Jr. Listen via Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Play | Stitcher | Radio Public | RSS Harry Connick Jr. catches up with Kyle Meredith to talk about Alone With My Faith, a set of Christian gospel songs he recorded as a source of comfort during the pandemic. The singer/pianist/composer discusses what faith means to him in this setting, recording the iconic “Amazing Grace”, and the long history of jazz and faith music. On the acting side of his career, however, Connick chats up his new movie with Katherine Heigl called Fear of Rain, a thriller about auditory and visual hallucinations. Kyle Meredith With… is an interview series in which WFPK’s Kyle Meredith speaks to a wide breadth of musicians....
Meow Mix Theme Gets Metal, Latin Dance, Country Remixes on New Vinyl Release
We all know that Meow Mix is the only food cats ask for by name, but what if your cat has a little harder of an edge? Or more of a Latin flare? Or is a bit too smooth for your standard brand jingle? Well, now kitties of any kind can call for their dinner in their own purr-fect tone thanks to the new Meow Mix ReMix LP. The limited edition vinyl release features the classic Meow Mix theme song redone in a variety of styles by a number of feline artists. Luna delivers a modern pop update, Gatocito and Pata Suave turn in a dance-floor hit, Endless Hiss roll your spine with their metal take, Hearts & Paws make biscuits of your soul with their country turn, and Sweet Teddy Pepperpaw performs a jazz rendition for all the hip cats out there. Yeah, it’s all paw-sitively silly, but also hiss-ter...
Iggy Pop and Jazz Icon Dr. Lonnie Smith Cover Donovan’s “Sunshine Superman”: Stream
Iggy Pop and Dr. Lonnie Smith, photo by Don Was Iggy Pop and jazz icon Dr. Lonnie Smith have teamed up for a cover of Donovan’s “Sunshine Superman”. The track is taken from Smith’s new album Breathe, which is out later this month. It might seem like an odd pairing for rough-and-tough proto-punk legend and a Hammond B3 organist to join forces for a cover of a classic psych-rock tune — and it is, but it also comes together shockingly well. Smith and his bandmates give the song a loungey, tropical makeover while Pop offers an uncommonly sweet and sultry vocal performance for a man of his gritty stature. The way Smith tells it in a statement, the whole process seemed like a quick and organic happy accident. “I was playing with my trio at Arts Garage in Delray Beach in Florida,” Smith said. “Ig...
The Weather Station on Toronto’s Avant-Garde Jazz Scene
Kyle Meredith With… The Weather Station Listen via Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Play | Stitcher | Radio Public | RSS The Weather Station mastermind Tamara Lindeman talks with Kyle Meredith about Ignorance, her new LP that finds the folk artist taking on a new beat-driven, piano led set of songs. The Toronto-based songwriter talks about the local avant-garde jazz scene that she includes herself in, writing cinematically, and the complex arrangements that fill out this poppier set. Lindeman also dives into the themes of climate change, truth, trust, and how they intersect with personal statements while speaking on a global scale. She also previews her forthcoming live streaming event. Kyle Meredith With… is an interview s...
Jazz Great Milford Graves Drummed and Lived to the Rhythm of His Heart
There’s a rhythm inside all of us. Not of the sort that makes some people naturally gifted dancers or at least gives them the sense to clap on two and four. It is the irregular, yet constant, beat that resides in our chest. The first sound we become aware of in the womb and, if we are lucky, the last sound we hear before we die. For all his talent as a drummer and percussionist — skills that require a deep-seated feel for rhythm — Milford Graves listened to his heart more closely than any piece of music. During the past few years of his life, which came to an end on Friday January 12th at the age of 79, Graves was working with some biologists in Italy to create a device that would measure the human heartbeat and convert it into a melody. By sending that same sound back into a person’s body...
Jon Batiste on Working with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for Pixar’s Soul
Kyle Meredith With… Jon Batiste Listen via Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Play | Stitcher | Radio Public | RSS Jon Batiste speaks to Kyle Meredith about his upcoming album, We Are, how he’s branching out, and writing between his gigs at The Late Show and for Pixar’s Soul. The New Orleans raised musician goes in depth about the importance of artistry and what it was like working alongside Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. Also included is an interview from last summer, which took place during the height of the Black Lives Matter protests. Kyle Meredith With… is an interview series in which WFPK’s Kyle Meredith speaks to a wide breadth of musicians. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, Meredith digs deep into the artist’s work...
Andra Day Refuses to Be Silenced in First Trailer for The United States vs. Billie Holiday: Watch
Andra Day in The United States vs. Billie Holiday trailer Billie Holiday’s fame in the ’30s and ’40s threatened the very fabric of racist white America. But it was her popular recording of “Strange Fruit”, a song protesting the lynching of Black people, that officially made Holiday an enemy of the country. In an effort to discredit and silence her, the Federal Department of Narcotics targeted Holiday relentlessly, knowing she’d had a history of drug abuse. That’s the haunting premise of The United States vs. Billie Holiday, a new Hulu biopic from director Lee Daniels (Precious) written by Pulitzer Prize winner Suzan-Lori Parks. The legendary jazz singer is played by real-life Grammy nominee Andra Day, who embodies Holiday’s brazen outspokenness and magnetism in equal measure, as seen in to...
