Dave McMurray’s Blue Note Records debut, Music Is Life is a reunion of sorts, given the long history the saxophonist shares with the label’s president, and fellow Detroit native, Don Was. McMurray was a member of Was’ genre-defying unit Was (Not Was), first working together on the band’s self-titled…
When Lucinda Williams joined Charles Lloyd & The Marvels at UCLA’s Royce Hall in April 2017, the musicians beamed with unbridled joy. Same for the fans fortunate to witness, to share the depths of the artistry and exploration happening on stage. There were tears, too, as Williams reached…
3-time GRAMMY-winner Robert Glasper joins forces with the innovative Montreal-based producer KAYTRANADA on Robert Glasper x KAYTRANADA: The ArtScience Remixes, an 8-track EP that reimagines the songs on Robert Glasper Experiment’s acclaimed 2016 album ArtScience, which The FADER called “a freewheeling, genre-agnostic collection of feel-good songs.” The set features…
Bass great Marcus Miller brings the influence of modern urban music to his trademark sound on his genre-defying album Laid Black on Blue Note Records. 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…
In choosing to record Bob Marley‘s classic 1974 reggae album Natty Dread track-for-track in an instrumental jazz style, eight-string guitarist Charlie Hunter opened himself up for skepticism. Yet an idea that looked questionable in theory would prove stellar in practice, as Hunter turned Natty Dread — with the songs sequenced exactly as they were on Marley‘s original release —…
Charlie Hunter‘s seventh Blue Note release is the first to feature vocalists — Theryl De’Clouet, Kurt Elling, Norah Jones, and rapper Mos Def — who appear in rotating guest spots. Five of the 13 tracks are instrumental originals. Some meander in a typical jam band way, but they’re guided by an…
In some ways, it’s hard to view George Braith’s playing a soprano and alto saxophone simultaneously as anything other than a gimmick, especially since it’s nearly presented that way on his debut album,Two Souls in One. Braith plays the two horns on the folk calypso “Mary Ann” and the nursery rhyme “Mary Had…
Picking up where “Braith-Away,” athe final and most successful song on Two Souls in One, left off, Soul Stream finds George Braith coming into his own. Where his debut felt hampered by uneven material and unsure execution of Braith’s trademark double-sax attack, Soul Stream is confident and assured.Soul Stream concentrates on mildly adventurous hard bop with soul-jazz overtones, which…
Pushing to the side the double sax that became his trademark, George Braith turned in his strongest record with Extension. Largely freed from the restraints of the dueling horns, Braith is able to explore the outer reaches of his music. He still remains grounded in soul-jazz — any guitar-organ combo is bound to have…
“People have to be careful when they call something new,” says saxophonist and composer Marcus Strickland. “I think about what’s around me instead of trying to create something new. Everything is inspired by something else. Ecclesiastes says: ‘There’s nothing new under the sun.’” Marcus may wax philosophical when he…