Robert Glasper‘s “In December” originally came out last year exclusively on Apple Music. It is one of the must-have Christmas albums, not only because of Robert’s excellent playing and production work, but also because of the very special vocalists he enlisted to guest on his holiday album. A mini-medley of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman”…
So this time around, after so many different projects with guest singers and what have you, the Experiment is back to its core design: all four artists have written tracks for the new album and all of them take over vocal duties, too. Robert Glasper, bassist Derrick Hodge (also with a new album out), drummer…
Hot on the heels of the soundtrack to the Don Cheadle Miles Davis biopic where Robert Glasper played a vital role, here comes Robert’s tribute album to the meister who would have been 90 this year. And thank heaven this is not a trumpet album. Not that I don’t dig the trumpet, but a Miles…
At last month’s Berlin Film Festival, the new Don Cheadle movie “Miles Ahead” where he plays the legendary trumpeter and tells the story about a few days of his life in the early 80s with a lot of flashbacks, had its world premiere (see review on these pages by using the search function). As you…
Hot on the heels of his new “Covered” album, which was recorded at the famous Capitol Studios in Hollywood before a live audience, Robert Glasper returns to Berlin for a Saturday night performance at Kreuzberg’s Gretchen. On his album, he recorded tracks from Bilal, Joni Mitchell, or Radiohead in acoustic trio versions with some special…
Trombonist Jeff Bradshaw, who has worked with Patti LaBelle, Kindred The Family Soul, or Jill Scott, and who released the wittily entitled “Bone Appetit” a couple of years ago to great acclaim (the album featured Maysa, Raheem DeVaughn, and Marsha Ambrosius), has assembled an all-star cast for one special night at the Kimmel Center for…
There is a new Jazz Festival coming up next month in Tucson. Festival Director Yvonne Ervin said: “There will be a little bit of something for everyone and January in Tucson is the perfect time of year to enjoy and celebrate jazz music!” Why? Because the average daytime high temperature during that same time in…
I think we have to thank Donald Byrd, the trumpet master, for encouraging the young Otis Brown III to pursue a career in playing music instead of music education. And sax ace Joe Lovano for taking him out on tour with his band. Finally, here’s his debut album on Blue Note which, thank heaven, is…