August 1, 2019
Vibraphonist Joel Ross’ acclaimed debut album KingMaker will be released on vinyl this Friday, August 2. The album is available both in a 2-LP standard black vinyl version on the Blue Note Store and Amazon, as well as an exclusive off-white vinyl version via Vinyl Me, Please.
The vibraphonist will make his Newport Jazz Festival debut this weekend and has announced additional upcoming tour dates including a hometown appearance at the Chicago Jazz Festival (August 30) and a performance at the BRIC JazzFest in Brooklyn (October 25) following a run of west coast tour dates that will bring him to Seattle, Portland, and Santa Cruz. See below for a full list of Ross’ tour dates and watch his mesmerizing music video for “Yana.”
Ross was recently highlighted as one of the young artists carrying the Blue Note legacy forward in The New York Times Sunday Arts & Leisure feature Blue Note Records at 80 with Giovanni Russonello writing “Kingmaker is built of beautifully indeterminate music, both historical and hip in the way Roy Hargrove’s was in the 1990s, or Lee Morgan’s in the 1960s… You can hear his debt not only to the Blue Note vibraphone tradition—Milt Jackson and Bobby Hutcherson in particular—but to Herbie Hancock’s records on the label in the ’60s, and to [Ambrose] Akinmusire, a trumpeter whose slippery influence is all over Mr. Ross’s writing.”
In the NPR Morning Edition profile Joel Ross And His (Exceptionally) Good Vibes critic Nate Chinen stated “KingMaker is a signal flare for a jazz generation just hitting its stride.” The Washington Post observed “Ross commands rhythms through his electrifying skill with the mallets, deftly weaving in and out of the mix to let his ensemble shine in the right moments,” while Pitchfork critic Matthew Kassel raved “KingMaker is a marvel… one of the most promising albums to have emerged from the jazz world this year, but it’s clear that Ross is just getting started.”
JOEL ROSS – TOUR DATES:
Aug. 3 – Newport Jazz Festival – Newport, RI
Aug. 30 – Chicago Jazz Festival – Chicago, IL
Sept. 13 – White Plains Jazz Festival – White Plains, NY
Oct. 17 – Kuumbwa Jazz Center – Santa Cruz, CA
Oct. 18 – Vashon Center for the Arts – Vashon Island, WA
Oct. 19 – Earshot Jazz Festival – Seattle, WA
Oct. 20 – Holocene – Portland, OR
Oct. 21 – Brubeck Institute – Stockton, CA
Oct. 25 – BRIC JazzFest – Brooklyn, NY
Nov. 12-13 – Blue Note Tokyo – Tokyo, Japan
Nov. 21 – Annenberg Center – Philadelphia, PA
Dec. 29-Jan. 1 – Umbria Winter Festival – Umbria, Italy
Jan. 20 – Blue Note Jazz Club – New York, NY
Jan. 25-31 – Blue Note at Sea
