Blog Archives - Page 5 of 9

Rotem Sivan – ‘Antidote’ (EPK)

Rotem Sivan is one of my favorite guitar players. He’s a nimble player and an engaging composer, and his trio including bassist haggai Cohen Milo and drummer Colin Stranahan are …

DeJohnette, Grenadier, Medeski, & Scofield – ‘Hudson’

Jack DeJohnette, Larry Grenadier, John Medeski, and John Scofield share not only extremely high-level improvisational ability, but also the Hudson River Valley as a home. Good news for us, as …

Taylor Haskins – ‘Gnosis’

Gnosis sounds like the future. Of course, this will sound like an odd statement when time passes and fashions change — when synthesizers phase back out of style, only to …

Bram Weijters & Chad McCullough – ‘Feather’

Through all that’s changed in jazz in the last hundred or so years, quality interaction has always made great jazz great. A saxophonist’s line responding to a vocalist’s lyric, a …

Linda May Han Oh – ‘Walk Against Wind’

I’ve had “Lucid Lullaby” stuck in my head for weeks. It took an equal amount of time for the humor of the literal nature of the song title to wash …

Matthew Stevens – ‘Preverbal’

What is the actual difference between adventurous, guitar-based contemporary jazz music and instrumental post-rock? Depending on the day, I can get down just as much to Explosions in the Sky …

Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah – ‘Ruler Rebel’

Since time perpetually moves forward, all movement is technically forward movement. Everything is a form of progression. Experience gives texture to signature, though the elements of signature — those attributes …

SFJAZZ Collective – “111” (Stream)

The SFJAZZ Collective which currently features Miguel Zenon, Sean Jones, Dávid Sanchez, Robin Eubanks, Matt Penman, Edward Simon, Warren Wolf and Obed Calvaire are set to release their 2017 album, …

Miles Okazaki – ‘Trickster’

Miles Okazaki’s compositions sound like he’s creating an elaborate portrait from mosaic, octagon-shaped tiles. His style of play is dense, weaving around in his phrases with so many loops and …

Daniel Herskedal – ‘The Roc’

For those unfamiliar with his work, Daniel Herskedal is a Norwegian jazz musician regarded as one of the most talented jazz tubaists on the scene today. I know what you …

Thums Up Live at the 2017 Ecstatic Music Festival (Stream)

Thums Up is one of those projects that has floated around for a little while but I’ve yet to hear but sound like so awesome a configuration that I would …

Thundercat – ‘Drunk’

Early on his latest album, Drunk, on the song “Bus in These Streets” (written alongside Louis Cole), bassist/singer/personality Stephen “Thundercat” Bruner notes that he’s “out here doing the most”. Thundercat’s …

On Iverson on Glasper (Pause): Everyone Wants Everything, Even If It’s Different

This past summer, a friend of mine went off to the island of Mykonos for a few weeks of, well, let’s just say it, some good ol’ fun debauchery. The …

Linda May Han Oh – “Lucid Lullaby” (Live at WJF 2015 Video)

I have had Linda May Han Oh’s “Lucid Lullaby” off her upcoming album, Walk Against Wind, stuck in my head for the last five days. While it still seems a …

DD Horns – ‘s/t’

Back in November, we hipped you to the California quintet DD Horns led by trumpeter Danny T. Levin & tenor saxophonist David Moyer. The group is releasing their debut self-titled …

Kneebody – “Uprising” (Studio Session Video)

We’ve already made note about how excited we are for Kneebod’s dope new album, Anti-Hero, dropping March 3rd on Motéma. As the quintet continues touring and general mustering of enthusiasm …

Harriet Tubman – ‘Araminta’

Harriet Tubman, the trio of guitarist Brandon Ross, bassist Melvin Gibbs and drummer J.T. Lewis, have been weird for twenty years now. Their free jazz essence is certainly an acquired …

Extended – ‘s/t’

A piano trio, a good one, can come from anywhere. The cleverness, the connecting, the perfect sense of anchoring, the snappiness that makes the piano-bass-drums trio such a classic sound …

Chris Thile & Brad Mehldau (Album Review)

Mandolinist Chris Thile and pianist Brad Mehldau have been playing together for a little while now. I got to see them play together in Austin back in 2013 and was …

Linda May Han Oh to Release New Album, ‘Walk Against Wind’, April 14th

I am extraordinarily excited about bassist Linda Oh. I still keep her last album, 2013’s Sun Pictures, in steady rotation. I feel genuine guilt that I didn’t love it more …

Al Jarreau (1940 – 2017)

A few weeks ago, numerous people on Facebook and I revealed our favorite albums from our high school years. In my corner of the internet, I felt a little alone …

Jeremy Pelt – ‘Make Noise!’

Every year, trumpeter Jeremy Pelt releases a new album on the High Note label and I look forward to it each year, almost more than I do Christmas. Like any …

Nate Wood as fOUR – “Rabbit” (Video)

We recently noted the exciting new album from Kneebody, Anti-Hero, dropping next month. In line with that skronkily awesome sound, their drummer Nate Wood is soon to release a solo …

David Weiss & Point of Departure – “Sanctuary” (Stream)

There’s always something engrossing about David Weiss & Point of Departure. The trumpeter’s quintet has for some time now burrowed deeply into infectious 1970s post-bop and fusion material, playing the …

Twin Talk + The Westerlies – “I Have My Doubts” (Live Video)

Chicago trio Twin Talk and bi-coastal brass quartet The Westerlies got together for a gig last year at Chicago’s Hideout Inn. Part of what resulted from that gig is their …

Miles Okazaki – “Mischief Maker” (Stream)

Guitarist Miles Okazaki can get (unfortunately the pun was not intended) tricky. As a composer, he encompasses a sound that spirals constantly until one may feel things could get out …

Dr. MiNT – ‘Voices in the Void’

Weird happens. It happens all over the place. It happens in nature, it happens in society, it happens most certainly in art. Weirdness definitely happens in jazz, even moreso when …

Mosaic – ‘Subterranea’

For whatever reason, the UK Jazz scene has never been fully embraced by Americans. Aside from being embarrassingly narrow-minded of us, this exclusionary mindset has resulted in our missing out …

Kneebody’s New Album, ‘Anti-Hero’, Out March 3

A new Kneebody album is cause for celebration, that and probably fanatical dancing. The rambunctious quintet consisting of Ben Wendel on tenor sax, Shane Endsley on trumpet, Adam Benjamin on …

Jose James – “Always There” (Video)

Singer José James is changing tack. James has always had every ingredient of soul in his sound, so for him to embrace R&B in his upcoming album, Love in a …

Influential Albums from Our Teenage Years

The latest trend going around Facebook lately is listing influential albums from one’s teenage years. The idea is to show a snapshot of one’s taste, background, interests, generational and regional …

Introducing Nate Smith Kinfolk

Drummer extraordinaire Nate Smith is getting set to release his Postcards From Everywhere album this February 3 with his group Kinfolk. To get ready for that release, Smith has released …

Braxton Cook – “Run Away” (Video)

As we have noted before, alto saxophonist/vocalist Braxton Cook is gearing up to release a new album, Somewhere in Between, on January 31st. He’s already been stoking the R&B-tinged flames …

KADAWA – ‘s/t’

KADAWA — the trio of guitarist Tal Yahalom, bassist Almog Sharvit, and drummer Ben Silashi — are a very good guitar trio, like jarringly good. They describe themselves as an …

Matt Mayhall – ‘Tropes’

Tropes is an easy ride of an album. It hums along as shifting mood pieces. Drummer/composer Matt Mayhall in his debut release has made a particularly chill album that isn’t …

Aleif Hamdan – ‘Emblem’

Youthfulness is pretty easily recognizable in work. Sometimes it comes through in a roughness. Sometimes, it comes through in an antsiness, as if the boundless energy that comes with youth …

Curtis Brothers Quartet – ‘Syzygy’

The Curtis Brothers Quartet’s new album, Syzygy is dropping in mid-December where it will be (very) unfortunately overlooked as critics and listeners turn our collective attention to ‘best of 2016’ …

Nextbop’s Favorite Jazz Albums of 2016

There’s no universal theme or overall consensus in jazz this year. No overblown hype machine, no clamoring for a seemingly agreed upon savior, no important trendsetting bucking of past conventions …

Nextbop’s Favorite Non-Jazz Albums of 2016

It was difficult to find engagement in this year’s music. This was a year of loss, of disappointment, of scattershot feelings and even moreso scattershot expression. This isn’t to say …

BADBADNOTGOOD at Red Bull Sound Select’s 30 Days in LA

Like a week after their one-off gig in Austin last month, BADBADNOTGOOD jaunted off to Los Angeles to play a set for Red Bull Sound Select and Pitchfork, including their …

Braxton Cook – “Somewhere in Between” (Video)

Saxophonist/vocalist Braxton Cook, in all the moves he has been making this year (it’s not like he was previously known for being a vocalist, great as he is at it), …

Jamire Williams – ‘///// EFFECTUAL’

Jamire Williams is an artist. He’s best known for being a drummer. He has backed numerous groups. His style, which I have described on this site many times as a …

Cameron Mizell – ‘Negative Spaces’

One can hear a lot of different influences in guitarist Cameron Mizell‘s Negative Spaces. He can ride along with gentle curves like John Scofield, he can smartly noodle like Bill …

DD Horns – “Salty Salty” (Video)

Chris Schlarb continues to do great things out of California’s BIG EGO Studios. The Psychic Temple leader produced the upcoming debut album from trumpeter Danny Levin and tenor saxophonist David …

LiveHuman – “Magic for Beginners” (Video)

LiveHuman — the trio of bassist Andrew Ross Kushin, drummer Albert Mathias, and DJ Quest on the 1s and 2s — have been together for twenty years and are set …

Enoch Smith Jr. – ‘The Quest: Live at APC’

Being a church musician involves a certain kind of versatility which lends itself to a certain kind of cadence. This is particularly true in the black church. It’s a tradition …

Jeff Parker – “Cliche” (Video)

Guitarist Jeff Parker’s album, The New Breed, is the jam. It’s laid back, casually muscular, with the ability to take the listener on a journey without any fuss at all. …

DR. MiNT – ‘Voices in the Void’ EPK

The quintet DR. MiNT are preparing to release their fifth album together, Voices in the Void January 23rd on Orenda Records. The group which consists of trumpeter Daniel Rosenboom, bassist …

Jamire Williams – “Children of the Supernatural” (Stream)

Drummer Jamire Williams’ defining characteristic on his instrument is that he always seems to be constantly rumbling. Whether he’s playing with Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah, the Robert Glasper Experiment, Dr. …

Braxton Cook – “Somewhere In Between” (Stream)

Saxophonist Braxton Cook is breaking out on his own. He’s always been talented, one could tell with his work with Christian Scott atunde Adjuah’s group. His EP with Butcher Brown …

George Burton – ‘The Truth of What I Am > The Narcissist’

George Burton represents what many of Jazz’s most exciting figures hoped the genre would become: precarious, dynamic, revolutionary…unable to be contained. Few personify this aesthetic better than Charles Mingus. Not …

“Working Musician”, a 7 Episode Web Series (Video)

I’ve always been curious as to how up-and-coming jazz musicians survived in the chaos that is New York City. After spending some time there a year or so ago, I …

Eddie Moore and the Outer Circle – ‘Kings & Queens’

How does one easily express a larger idea? It’s been three years since keyboardist Eddie Moore and his group the Outer Circle released The Freedom of Expression, and now the …

Ben Van Gelder – ‘Among Verticals’ (EPK)

New York based Dutch saxophonist Ben Van Gelder’s newest album is on its way. Among Verticals features usual cast members vibraphonist Peter Schlamb, bassist Rick Rosato, drummer Craig Weinrib, and …

David Bowie – “Killing a Little Time” (Stream)

Yesterday, one of three songs from the late David Bowie‘s Blackstar sessions — the ones featuring saxophonist Donny McCaslin, keyboardist Jason Lindner, bassist Tim Lefebvre, and drummer Mark Guiliana — …

Aviation Trio – ‘Lookout Point Session’

Aviation Trio (drummer Jeremy Jones, bassist Alex Dyring, and pianist Shawn Schlogel) have produced a new EP, Lookout Point Session, that is full of strong grooves, great playing, and fun …

Norah Jones – ‘Day Breaks’

Norah Jones can do whatever she wants as an artist, it seems. Since she broke on the scene in 2002 (though she still spent years putting in dues before that, …

Derrick Hodge – ‘The Second’

Derrick Hodge lives in a world that most modern jazz musicians can only dream to be a part of. A world where he can afford to take creative risks and …

Steve Lehman – ‘Selebeyone’

Sélébeyoné, released two months ago under Pi recordings, does two things really well: it is a better hip-hop album than most of the jazz-centric rap releases and it’s an excellent …

Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society – ‘Real Enemies’

If there’s one thing I find reassurance in within the midst of a depressing world, it’s the nerdery of Darcy James Argue. The man can go in hard about coffee, …

Shabaka And The Ancestors Releases ‘Wisdom of Elders’ (Stream)

Shabaka Hutchings isn’t a name that is overly familiar on this side of the pond, but the young British saxophonist had been garnering serious attention in his native London, receiving …

Le Boeuf Brothers and JACK Quartet – “Pretenders” feat. Ben Wendel (Video)

The Le Boeuf Brothers, Remy and Pascal, are set to release a new album soon with the accompaniment of the JACK Quartet. imaginist, based on the early 20th Century Russian …

Oddarrang – “Mass I-III” (Video) + ‘Agartha’ (Full Album Stream)

Scandinavians seem to have a real knack for aestheticism and minimalism whether in architecture, design, gastronomy or in this particular case music. It seems like the philosophy of “less is …

Card on Spokes – ‘As We Surface’ EP

Bassist and producer Shane Cooper is a presence in South Africa. His work on his own moves the rather strong jazz scene there and his work under the moniker Card …

Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society – “Dark Alliance” (Stream)

Our favorite big band is back at it. After a three year hiatus, Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society is set to release their third album a week from today, once again on New Amsterdam Records. The LP entitled Real Enemies centers around America’s fascination with conspiracy theories. More on that at a later date. In the meantime, check out the newest single from the record, a song called “Dark Alliance”, for a taste of things to come.

Damion Reid – Vic Firth Artist Spotlight (Video)

Sideman don’t always get all the praise they deserve. Who else but an ardent jazz fan knows the name of Robert Glasper’s drummer. Which band you ask? Haha! Yes, that was a trick question. Damion Reid has been playing drums in Glasper’s acoustic trio since it’s very inception appearing on the pianist’s 2004 Fresh Sound New Talent debut Mood. Since then, the trio’s journey on Blue Note has been well documented with their latest album Covered released just last year. Percussion company Vic Firth recently released a 10 minute artist spotlight on Reid giving us an insightful glimpse into the drummer’s universe. You can check that out below.