Compiling a list of the greatest works of the last ten years is an inherently difficult proposition. The first complication lies in the fact that so many of my musical memories from the last decade are tied to recordings released prior to the period. Some of my best memories include the Charlie Parker song from 1950 that played at my wedding, the New Year’s Eve I first stumbled … [Read more...]
Anthony Dean-Harris’ Favorite Jazz Albums of 2016
I had love and specific passion this year. I felt more detached, as many of my dispatches have noted over the last year but particularly in this week of assessment. I felt a listlessness about even completing this list, yet the need to communicate was still there. The need for completeness (in a task that can never be completed) still gnaws at me. I still had to express my … [Read more...]
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 to take on new ones. Artists made art this year, as they do every year, and in the realm of jazz, they made art together. Collaborators collaborated, improvisors improvised. We, … [Read more...]
Corey King – ‘Lashes’
Corey King and Jamire Williams make a great pair. The dopeness of Williams' 2012 release, Conflict of a Man (the album's "Black Super Hero Theme Song" has been the theme song to "The Line-Up" for years), through his backwards namesake band, ERIMAJ, is accomplished not only because of Williams' constantly keyed in rumbling on the drums but also because of King's soulful … [Read more...]
Corey King – “Ibaraki” (Stream)
Corey King (Esperanza Spalding, Takuya Kuroda, ERIMAJ) is set to drop his highly anticipated Ropeadope debut Lashes September 9. The genre-defying record stems from exposure to Germany’s dance culture while on tour with Spalding in 2013. The end goal? Make music that will make people move. To accomplish this feat, King recruited two live bands made up of contemporary luminaries … [Read more...]