News
November 2 2012
We are extremely grateful and honored to have been named Record Label of the Year in the 2012 DownBeat Readers Poll! Thank you to everyone who voted for us! Also congratulations to Wayne Shorter who was named Soprano Saxophonist and Composer of the Year, and Robert Glasper Experiment who were awarded Beyond Artist and Beyond Album of the Year for "Black Radio"!
November 1 2012
The music of multitalented producer, songwriter and keyboardist Robert Glasper is genre-defying and appeals to a variety of audiences. He's also been labeled a star of the new jazz generation and performs at jazz festivals around the world. A native of Houston, TX, Glasper was influenced early by his mother, a jazz and blues singer, and developed his fusion sound in churches of various denominations. The Grammy nominee has worked with a diverse roster of artists and also fronts his own band, the Robert Glasper Experiment, which issued the jazz/hip-hop CD, "Black Radio," earlier this year and is back with "The Remix EP."
October 23 2012
The legendary jazz saxophonist and composer Wayne Shorter has re-signed to Blue Note Records, and will release his first album as a leader for the iconic label in 43 years with the February 5, 2013 release of Without A Net, his searing new album with his long-running quartet featuring pianist Danilo Perez, bassist John Patitucci, and drummer Brian Blade.
Shorter—who will be entering his 80th year in 2013—first recorded for Blue Note in 1959 as the precocious 26-year-old tenor saxophonist (and prolific composer) in Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, which brought him to the attention of label founder Alfred Lion who eventually signed him to his own recording deal. Shorter went on to make a spectacular run of classic albums for Blue Note between 1964-1970 including Night Dreamer, Juju, Speak No Evil, Adam’s Apple, Schizophrenia, and Super Nova during a period of time that also paralleled Shorter’s years with Miles Davis, first as a member of the trumpeter’s trailblazing quintet, and later as a part of Davis’ early fusion masterpieces.
October 9 2012
On January 8, 2013, living legend saxophonist and composer Joe Lovano will release Cross Culture, his 23rd Blue Note recording and the third consecutive release by his critically acclaimed quintet, Us Five.
The album is an 11-track tour de force that presents 10 of Lovano’s original compositions along with a stunning interpretation of the Billy Strayhorn ballad “Star Crossed Lovers.”
Augmenting his core group (pianist James Weidman, bassists Esperanza Spalding or Peter Slavov, and drummers Otis Brown III and Francisco Mela) with the daring West African guitarist—and fellow Blue Note artist—Lionel Loueke, Lovano delivers his most fully realized representation of a career-long quest to explore the notion of universal musical language.