There's a fullness in ten years. A lot of work, if rather relentlessly done, can really make a discernible impact. Ten years ago, folks were making all the talk as rather cyclically that jazz was dead. It was such an exhausting conversation. Folks were around making this music, obviously. It couldn't be that dead. The problem was in the awareness and the tweaking of the … [Read more...]
Watch the Video for Trumpeter Marquis Hill’s “To You I Promise” from New Album ‘Love Tape’
Enlightened trumpeter and winner of the 2014 Monk Competition (or rather the newly-minted Hancock Competition) Marquis Hill is returning October 11th with a new album entitled Love Tape via the Black Unlimited Music Group label. Following along the lines of his 2017 EP Meditation Tape, Hill tackles the theme of love, more specifically self-love, with music inspired by a … [Read more...]
‘In Common: Walter Smith III, Matthew Stevens, Joel Ross, Harish Raghavan, Marcus Gilmore’ (Album Review)
In Common is an album co-led by tenor saxophonist Walter Smith III, guitarist Matthew Stevens, vibraphonist Joel Ross, bassist Harish Raghavan, and drummer Marcus Gilmore. It's an album with a clean and pure quality to it. It's a straight-ahead jazz album without all the conventions. It's definitely contemporary, but it doesn't exactly swing. These songs aren't trying to rock … [Read more...]
Trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire Unveils 22-minute Album Trailer for ‘Origami Harvest’
Ambrose Akinmusire’s fourth studio album, Origami Harvest, drops tomorrow once again on the famed Blue Note label. We’ve already written about the project, which features New York’s Mivos Quartet on strings, Das Racist’ Kool A.D. on the mic, and Walter Smith III on tenor, with the core band comprised of pianist Sam Harris and drummer Marcus Gilmore, in greater details. However, … [Read more...]
Ambrose Akinmusire Drops First Single Off New Album ‘Origami Harvest’
Trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire has always pushed the envelope, bringing about unabashed avant-gardism and exultant individualism to the music he so lovingly creates. His latest project is no different. Stemming from a challenge given to him by curators Judd Greenstein of Manhattan’s Ecstatic Music Festival and Kate Nordstrum of St. Paul's Liquid Music Series, Akinmusire was … [Read more...]