"Peter Lin has been a good leader all along, even before this album was made. He also played well a lot of times before this so you know he can put some good music on the CD. Organizing a group of musicians is something he does all the time, I hope it’s a big hit!"
- Slide Hampton
Ever wondered what a mixture of popular music from Asia and jazz would sound like? Asian-American Trombonist Peter Lin releases his first album "With Respect", which pays homage to his cultural and musical upbringing. As a tribute to his mentors, family, and friends, he combines his past and present experiences within the jazz idiom. From his recent relationship with NEA Jazz Master, Slide Hampton, to his involvement in the Taiwanese-American community, he explores different paths towards creating a wholesome variety of musical arrangements and compositions. Peter Lin, born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and raised in Whippany, New Jersey, is an accomplished trombonist, arranger, and educator based in northern New Jersey, whose playing was described by Downbeat Magazine as "solid, fluid, and smooth". On this project, he is joined by his colleagues in the musical realm, including notable artists, such as Winard Harper, James Zollar, and Anthony Nelson Jr. "With Respect" primarily features jazz arrangements of repertoire from the Chinese and Taiwanese popular songbook, as well as an original composition and Slide Hampton's blues.
Se è vero, come diceva Gustav Mahler, che «Tradizione è conservare il fuoco, non adorare le ceneri», allora questo gruppo di 10 musicisti più un presentatore è il più vivace, moderno e fiammeggiante alfiere della musica che proprio nel 2017 ha compiuto cent’anni e che nelle sue origini vanta anche radici italiane: il jazz e lo swing da ballare! E cantano e ballano tutti o quasi, in questo 10tet!!! C’è un presentatore che non resiste alla tentazione di gettare via la cartellina con i titoli da leggere e trascina il pubblico sulle note di Cab Calloway, una cantante che rievoca tanto la swingante Ella Fitzgerald quanto le atmosfere fumose e sensuali di Jessica Rabbit, un chitarrista rubacuori che a tratti lascia la chitarra per incantare tutti con una voce alla Chet Baker, «il James Dean del jazz».
E ancora, la band di volta in volta invita sul palco chi voglia cimentarsi con i passi di tip tap di “Puttin’ On The Ritz” (magari rievocando la famosa scena di Frankenstein Junior!), e infine lui – il direttore d’orchestra e arrangiatore – il clarinettista Nico Gori, capace di inanellare note impossibili a velocità supersoniche! La creatività del Nico Gori Swing 10tet sta proprio nel suonare una musica nata cento anni fa in un modo attuale e non manieristico, senza voler copiare o essere nostalgici nei confronti di un passato che non c’è più, bensì modernizzando e rendendo di volta in volta sempre diversa e fresca ogni performance, soprattutto coinvolgendo attivamente un pubblico molto vario – dal giovanissimo studente universitario all’anziano appassionato del genere, dal «punkabbestia» all’impiegato di mezza età – e interagendo con tale pubblico in tempo reale, con l’immediatezza e l’autenticità che solo la musica improvvisata può fare. Ballerini che conoscono o meno i passi del Lindy Hop si muovono a tempo con noi, giocando con i momenti di stop time e seguendo le imprevedibili evoluzioni degli assoli dei musicisti, creando un happening che oggi è difficile da trovare in giro.
Bass great Marcus Miller brings the influence of modern urban music to his trademark sound on his highly-anticipated, genre-defying new album Laid Black, which will be released June 1 on Blue Note Records. The album pre-order launched today along with the lead single “Untamed” which is available to stream or download now. It’s been three years since Miller’s last album, Afrodeezia, which The New York Times called “vibrant and expressive… music that frames his playing beautifully.” Miller says: “Afrodeezia was like a musical voyage through my history. I followed the journey of my ancestors by collaborating with musicians along the African Slave route – musicians from West Africa, North Africa, South America and the Caribbean. With Laid Black, I decided to bring the music right up to the present - using elements from what’s happening in urban music today. So you’ll hear hip-hop, trap, soul, funk, R&B and jazz on this album. The music is calm but also powerful and funky, drawing on the black musical experience. Laid Black.” Miller recorded most of the nine tracks on Laid Black with his band in a New York studio and also recruited guest artists Trombone Shorty, Kirk Whalum, Take Six, Jonathan Butler, and Belgian singer Selah Sue. Of his band, Miller says: “My guys are incredibly talented. They play everything from bebop to hip-hop. All of the special guests I called have the same vision about jazz, which made it possible to create this mix of music. Oh and if you like bass, there’s plenty of serious bass work on this album too!”
Anyone who has listened to Miller’s music or experienced his concerts live knows that they are in for quite a treat. Miller’s powerful, jazz/funk bass playing is out in full force with this album – pushing boundaries and taking jazz to new levels. Miller, along with his incredible band of young musicians, will be sure to excite, challenge and transport audiences. Miller has one of the most enviable and expansive musical careers in the industry. He is a two-time GRAMMY Award winner, winner of Holland’s Edison Award for Lifetime Achievement In Jazz (2013), winner of France’s Victoire du Jazz (2010), and he was appointed a UNESCO Artist For Peace in 2013. Born and raised in New York to a musical family (legendary jazz pianist Wynton Kelly is a cousin), Miller’s characteristic bass sound can be heard on a limitless catalog of hits including Bill Withers’ “Just The Two Of Us,” Luther Vandross’ “Never Too Much,” Aretha Franklin’s “Jump To It,” Snoop Dogg’s “Gz and Hustlas,” and Jay-Z’s “Can’t Knock the Hustle,” and Beyoncé’s “All Night.” to songs from Chaka Khan, Herbie Hancock, Eric Clapton, Aretha Franklin, George Benson, Elton John, and Bryan Ferry, to name a few. With his distinctive style—a unique combination of funk, groove, soul and pure technical skills—Miller has been referred to as one of the most significant bass players in jazz, R &B, fusion and soul. Miller’s rich resume of collaborations include a 15-year songwriting and production partnership with Vandross which resulted in 13 consecutive platinum albums (of which Miller co-produced seven), as well as partnerships with artists as varied as David Sanborn, Roberta Flack, Al Jarreau, Chaka Khan, Eric Clapton, George Benson, Herbie Hancock, and Wayne Shorter, to name a few. Most notable, after several years of touring in Miles Davis’ band in his early 20’s, Miller composed, produced and arranged the ground-breaking album and title song Tutu, which won two GRAMMY Awards and is considered one of the definitive late Miles Davis albums. Miller has an endless list of film and television credits to his name. Most recently, he composed the music for the Oscar nominated film Marshall (2017) directed by Reginald Hudlin and starring Chadwick Boseman as a young Thurgood Marshall and Emmy award-winning actor Sterling Brown. Miller composed the soundtrack to the now classic sitcom, Everybody Hates Chris, created by Chris Rock. Miller is also responsible for the soundtracks on landmark cultural classics such as Boomerang (featuring Eddie Murphy and Halle Berry), House Party (featuring Kid N’ Play), and he wrote “Da Butt,” the song that inspired the national dance craze from Spike Lee’s 1988 cult classic School Daze.
Miller broadcasts two weekly radio shows, Miller Time With Marcus Miller on SiriusXM which airs on Sunday evenings and Transatlantic Jazz With Marcus Miller which broadcasts each Wednesday in the UK on Jazz FM. Miller is also the official host of several sold-out jazz cruises each year, put on by Entertainment Cruise Productions, including Blue Note at Sea, which sails next on January 26, 2019 featuring a stellar line-up including Miller, Robert Glasper, Terence Blanchard, Wynton Marsalis, and more. Miller has a global tour planned behind the release of Laid Black with concerts scheduled worldwide. Visit marcusmiller.com for more details.
1. Trip Trap
2. Que Sera Sera (feat. Selah Sue)
3. 7-T’s (feat. Trombone Shorty)
4. Sublimity (Bunny’s Dream)
5. Untamed (feat. Peculiar 3)
6. No Limit
7. Someone to Love
8. Keep ‘Em Runnin
9. Preacher’s Kid (feat. Take 6, Kirk Whalum & Alex Han)
MARCUS MILLER – TOUR DATES:
June 1 – Capital Jazz Festival @ Merriweather Post Pavilion – Columbia, MD
June 11 – SFJAZZ – San Francisco, CA
June 15 – Pittsburgh International Jazz Fest – Pittsburgh, PA
July 1 – Eddie Rosner Stage – Lviv, Ukraine
July 3 – Theatre Antique – Vienne, France
July 5 – Open Air Stage Jacka Hotel – Wadowice, Poland
July 7 – Ulmer Zelt – Ulm, Germany
July 8 – Prairie Du Bois D’Hyver – Fontainebleau, France
July 10-12 – Ronnie Scott’s – London, UK
July 13 – North Sea Jazz Festival – Rotterdam, Netherlands
July 15 – Dracula Club – St. Moritz, Switzerland
July 17 – Scala Ludwigsburg – Stuttgart, Germany
July 19 – La Pinede Gould – Antibes, France
July 20 – Cour D”Honneur Du Chateau Des Ducs De Savoie – Chambery, France
July 21 – Anfiteatro – Pompei, Italy
July 24 – Castello Di Udine – Udine, Italy
July 25 – Anfiteatro Del Vittoriale – Gardone, Italy
July 26 – Piazza Napoleone – Lucca, Italy
July 27 – Jardin Christian Dio – Granville, France
July 28 – Parc De L’Abbaye De Leffe – Dinant, Belgium
July 30 – Circus Tent on the Rugby Stadium – Marciac, France
August 9 – BAM R&B Festival at MetroTech – Brooklyn, NY
August 11 – Long Beach Jazz Festival – Long Beach, CA
September 2 – Detroit Jazz Festival – Detroit, MI
November 8 – Ardmore Music Hall – Ardmore, PA
November 9 – Exit Zero Jazz Festival – Cape May, NJ
November 10 – NJPAC – Newark, NJ
November 26 – Arena Sports – Gliwice, Poland
November 27 – Poznan Congress Center – Poznan, Poland
November 28 – Arena Sports – Gdynia, Poland
November 29 – Torwar – Warszawa, Poland
November 30 – Orbita Sports Hall – Wroclaw, Poland
December 2 – Opera House – Monaco, Monaco
December 3 – Palais Des Sports – Paris, France
December 5 – Salle De La Madeleine – Brussels, Belgium
December 7 – Thonex Live – Geneva, Switzerland
January 26-February 2, 2019 – Blue Note at Sea
February 2-9, 2019 – Smooth Jazz Cruise 2019
February 23-March 2, 2019 – Smooth Jazz Cruise 2019
On June 29, Charles Lloyd & The Marvels + Lucinda Williams will release Vanished Gardens, a transcendent new album that presents the fascinating collaboration between NEA Jazz Master saxophonist and composer Charles Lloyd and acclaimed GRAMMY-winning singer and songwriter Lucinda Williams. Together they weave several threads of American music (Jazz, Blues, Americana, Country, and Rock) into a thrilling and uplifting new musical hybrid. The first single “We’ve Come Too Far To Turn Around,” a new gospel-informed song written by Williams, is available today to stream or download. The Marvels are Bill Frisell on guitar, Greg Leisz on pedal steel guitar and dobro, Reuben Rogers on bass, and Eric Harland on drums. Vanished Gardens was produced by Lloyd, Dorothy Darr, and Don Was. “A friend had turned me on to Lucinda when Car Wheels On a Gravel Road came out,” Lloyd recalls. “Lu has worked a lot with Bill Frisell and Greg Leisz, so a couple of years ago she came to one of my Marvels concerts at the Lobero Theater in Santa Barbara. It was our first meeting and I sensed a deep Southern crossroads connection. Not long after that meeting she invited me to guest at her UCLA concert and then I invited her to guest at one of my concerts about a year later… It was clear we had something we wanted to explore together.” Williams is featured on five of the ten tracks on Vanished Gardens, including expansive new versions of her well-known songs “Dust,” “Ventura” and “Unsuffer Me,” as well as a full-hearted interpretation of Jimi Hendrix’s “Angel” that closes the album. Alternating with the vocal tracks are five sublime instrumental offerings including three new Lloyd originals and versions of Thelonious Monk’s “Monk’s Mood” and the Roberta Flack popularized song “Ballad of The Sad Young Men.”
“I’ve worked with a lot of poets,” Lloyd says, “especially during my Big Sur days; Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Charles Bukowski, Gary Snyder, Diane diPrima, Schyleen Qualls, Michael McClure, Bob Kaufman, James Dalessandro… putting words and music together. Lu is a poet. An authentic, American voice. Her sound is like an emotional barometer. A weather vane. Sometimes it swirls around in the tempest of a storm and sometimes it is sweet and pure as a Southern breeze carrying the intoxicating perfume of magnolia to you. As a poet, her imagery knocks me out. She is a reporter of the human condition, of life on planet Earth.” “We know each other better now and therefore we can travel more freely down certain paths,” says Lloyd, reflecting upon how The Marvels have evolved since their 2016 debut I Long To See You, which NPR called “music that evokes an uncommon state of grace.” That album featured guest vocals from both Willie Nelson and Norah Jones, but the collaborative nature the band has nurtured with Williams has led them to even greater heights of expression. “Having Lucinda on five of the tracks adds a new dimension to the overall experience,” says Lloyd, “for my listeners and for hers. I think on the new recording we were able to let go and plunge deeply into the sound.” Lloyd celebrated his 80th birthday in March, and is marking the milestone throughout 2018 with special concerts, residencies, festival performances including the Newport Jazz Festival where Lloyd will be the Artist In Residence performing three sets with different bands. Following a triumphant performance at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, Lloyd and Williams will appear together at the Playboy Jazz Festival (June 10), Newport Jazz Festival (August 5), Monterey Jazz Festival (September 23), Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater (December 14-15), and more. The NEA Jazz Master enters his ninth decade at a creative peak in what now stands as a mountainous and formidable career, continuing his lifelong artistic journey to explore the spiritual realms of wonder and beauty.
1. Defiant
2. Dust Words
3. Vanished Gardens
4. Ventura
5. Balled of The Sad Young Men
6. We’ve Come Too Far To Turn Around
7. Blues For Langston and LaRue
8. Unsuffer Me
9. Monk’s Mood
10. Angel Words
Charles Lloyd – Tour Dates:
June 3 – Healdsburg Jazz Festival – Healdsburg, CA – Charles Lloyd & Friends
June 10 – Playboy Jazz Festival – Charles Lloyd & The Marvels with Lucinda Williams
June 27 – Leopolis Jazz Festival – Lviv, Ukraine – Charles Lloyd & The Marvels
June 28 – Krakow Summer Jazz Festival – Krakow, Poland – Charles Lloyd & The Marvels
June 30 – Porgy & Bess – Vienna, Austria – Charles Lloyd & The Marvels
July 1 – MOM – Budapest, Hungary – Charles Lloyd & The Marvels with Mikis Lucaks
July 3 – Associazione Cuturale Musicale – Bari, Italy – Charles Lloyd & The Marvels
July 5 – New Morning – Paris, France – Charles Lloyd & The Marvels
July 6 – Vijazz – Vilafranca del Penedes, Spain – Charles Lloyd & The Marvels
July 7 – Noches Botanicos – Madrid, Spain – Charles Lloyd & The Marvels
July 9 – Piazza Farinata degli Uberti – Empoli, Italy – Charles Lloyd & The Marvels
July 11 – Copenhagen Jazz Festival – Copenhagen, Denmark – Charles Lloyd & The Marvels
July 13 – North Sea Jazz Festival – Rotterdam, Netherlands – Charles Lloyd & The Marvels
August 3 – Newport Jazz Festival – Newport, RI – Sangam
August 4 – Newport Jazz Festival – Newport, RI – Charles Lloyd New Quartet
August 5 – Newport Jazz Festival – Newport, RI – Charles Lloyd & Friends with Lucinda Williams
September 21 – Stanford Live – Palo Alto, CA – Charles Lloyd & The Marvels with Lucinda Williams
September 23 – Monterey Jazz Festival – Monterey, CA – Charles Lloyd & The Marvels with Lucinda Williams
September 28 – Germantown Performing Arts Center – Memphis, TN – Charles Lloyd & The Marvels
December 4 – Coates Chapel @ Southwest School of Art – San Antonio, TX – Charles Lloyd, Bill Frisell & Thomas Morgan
December 6 – Zellerbach @ UC Berkeley – Berkeley, CA – Charles Lloyd & The Marvels with Lucinda Williams
December 8 – Michigan Theater – Ann Arbor, MI – Charles Lloyd & The Marvels with Lucinda Williams
December 10 – Carolina Theater – Durham, NC – Charles Lloyd & The Marvels with Lucinda Williams
December 14 – Rose Theater @ Jazz at Lincoln Center – New York, NY – Charles Lloyd & The Marvels with Lucinda Williams
December 15 – Rose Theater @ Jazz at Lincoln Center – New York, NY – Charles Lloyd & The Marvels with Lucinda Williams
December 16 – Berklee Theater – Boston, MA – Charles Lloyd & The Marvels with Lucinda Williams
Dream team band R+R=NOW—featuring Robert Glasper on keyboards, Terrace Martin on synthesizer and vocoder, Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah on trumpet, Derrick Hodge on bass, Taylor McFerrin on synth and beatbox, and Justin Tyson on drums—will release their debut album Collagically Speaking (Blue Note) on June 15. The album is available for pre-order today on vinyl, CD or download, along with the new single “Colors In The Dark” which can be streamed or downloaded now. The band’s DNA is evident in the song’s woozy soul with Martin's robo-coo floating like a hallucination over a lush scene rooted by Hodge’s warm bass and featuring a breezy Glasper piano solo that crests in a sudden burst from Tyson.
Okayplayer wrote that “R+R=NOW consists of some of the brightest and baddest musicians in the game today,” adding that the album’s first single “Change Of Tone” “finds R+R=NOW fluidly showcasing their individual sounds as a cohesive blend… expressing hope, love, confidence, and resiliency through their respective melodies.” Stereogum declared the song “a powerful introduction to the band, highlighting each members’ skill and spirit,” while Paste called it “a hybrid encompassing all of black music—hip-hop, R&B, jazz, soul, funk—with its layered instrumental laying out black excellence.”
In an era when every headline carries some new horror or fresh worry, we need music that can clap back with immediacy, skill, and heart. We need a band so at home in its skin that it can play without ego and lead with love—artists whose very existence attests to resilience and hope. We need R+R=NOW, a supergroup assembled by Glasper but functionally egalitarian, in no small part because its members are visionary players, composers, and producers on their own. This genre-mashing outfit moves as one and, as their name reveals, with great purpose.
“R+R stands for ‘Reflect’ and ‘Respond’,” says Glasper. The idea came to him via Nina Simone while he was coproducing Nina Revisited, a companion album to the 2015 film What Happened, Miss Simone? Facing backlash for her politics, Simone was asked, more or less, why she didn't just shut up and sing. Her answer: “an artist’s duty, as far as I’m concerned, is to reflect the times.” Glasper adds: “When you reflect what's going on in your time and respond to that, you can't not be relevant. So ‘R’ plus ‘R’ equals ‘NOW’.”
In that spirit, Collagically Speaking isn't some wonky thesis on the state of the nation. It’s a raw document that seamlessly adheres neo-soul to future-funk, West Coast jazz of the moment to astral electronica, instrumental hip-hop to musique concrète, avant-garde to classical—these are single-take songs, written live in the room, that go wherever this formidable crew's mood goes. Guest voices get caught in that mix as well: actors Omari Hardwick (Power) and Terry Crews (Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Expendables); actress Amanda Seales (Insecure); MCs Stalley and yasiin bey (f.k.a. Mos Def); and singers Amber Navran (of Moonchild) and Goapele. The themes that bind it all together are both spoken and inferred: romantic love, universal love, systemic bigotry, the women's movement, quiet power, wild creativity, personal loss and growth.
“Everyone in this band is a six-foot-tall black guy who didn't come from an affluent background,” says Scott. “In order for us all to make it into that room together, we've had to go through some hell, fight for some things, build up a lot of armor, and do a lot ourselves to forge our realities, to become who we are. We're all very aware of that, so anytime we get together, it's a celebration.”
R+R=NOW will celebrate with U.S. album release shows in Atlanta (Variety Playhouse, June 15), Washington DC (DC Jazz Fest, June 16), and Brooklyn (BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn, June 22) before launching an extensive European summer tour. The band will return to the US for additional dates in the late-Summer and Fall including an appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival on August 3. Further dates will be announced shortly.
R+R=NOW – TOUR DATES
June 15 – Variety Playhouse – Atlanta, GA
June 16 – DC Jazz Fest – Washington DC
June 22 – BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn – Brooklyn, NY
June 28 – Leopolis Jazz Festival – Lviv, Ukraine
June 30 – JazzTM – Timisoara, Romania
July 1 – La Defense – Paris, France
July 4 – Vienne Jazz Festival – Vienne, France
July 5 – ICE Krakow Congress Center – Krakow, Poland
July 6 – Istanbul Jazz Festival – Istanbul, Turkey
July 7 – Locus Festival – Locorotondo, Italy
July 8 – Montreux Jazz Festival – Montreux, Switzerland
July 11 – Vicar Street – Dublin, Ireland
July 13 – North Sea Jazz Festival – Rotterdam, Netherlands
July 14 – Dour Festival – Dour, Belgium
July 15 – Citadel Festival – London, UK
July 16 – Shephed’s Bush Empire – London, UK
July 17 – Nice Jazz Festival – Nice, France
July 18 – Mode Jazz Festival – Molde, Norway
July 20 – Pori Jazz Festival – Pori, Finland
July 22 – Black Sea Jazz Festival – Batumi, Georgia
July 24 – Jazz Festival at Barts – Barcalona, Spain
July 26 – Heineken Jazzaldia – San Sebastian, Spain
