Mulatu Astatke -|- Mulatu Steps Ahead

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Jazz, Mulatu Astatke, World Music

Greeting’s jazz enthusiasts, on this gorgeous Friday I’m enthralled to introduce a gentleman’s music I’ve never heard prior to this post named Mulatu Astatke. Reviewers describe his music as being jazzy, funky, delicate, rough and hypnotic! With this blending of organic textures his music is bound to be worthy of sampling … go to: Amazon.com and check out the MP3 clips available and let your ears be the judge. —Rob Young/The Urban Flux

Mulatu Astatke - Mulatu Steps Ahead

Mulatu Astatqe -|- ‘Mulatu Steps Ahead‘ – [Strut, 2010]

Just got the new Mulatu Astatke recording–Mulatu Steps Ahead (Strut 056CD). I believe this is his first recording of all new material since the 70s. His band is members of the Either Orchestra, a Boston area (semi) big band with a recording in the Ethiopiques series– #20.

It was apparent from the outset that it was going to be very strong. I can say that depending on which context you wish to adopt, it may be his strongest work ever. From my standpoint, that is unequivocally so. His earliest recordings were fabulous in part because he was so young and impressionable when he made them. He was eager to embrace and expound upon a wide range of styles, influences he’d soaked up, primarily from western sources, and incorporate them in multiples of ways into the music of his native Ethiopia. As a result, the pieces in those recordings tended to bounce around, stylistically, a lot–which in his best recordings was a plus.

Marlon L. McClain -|- TBD

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African American, Guitar, Marlon L. McClain

Marlon McClain - TBD

Marlon L. McClain -|- “TBD” – [Mac Man Music Inc / Lucky Records, 2010]

Marlon McClain is looking forward to the June 1st release of his his CD, “TBD“, which is a guitar driven mix of fusion, funk, R&B, and jazz with undertones of rock and blues. In 1981, he released “Changes”, which featured special guest Jeff Lorber, Steve Smith, and Randy Jackson.”TBD” (to be determined) includes collaborations with Damian Erskine, Phillip Martin, Patrick Lamb, Tim Bowman and keyboardist Jeff Lorber. TBD is good music to listen and drive to.

Marlon McClain began his career in 1972 as the leader and guitarist of the Funk / Rock / R&B /Jazz group Pleasure. Pleasure was a risk-taking horn driven band with jazz overtones that accentuated their funk/soul foundation. Based in Portland, Oregon the group released 6 albums on Fantasy Records from 1974 -1981 and developed a loyal-cult following with songs like “Let’s Dance”, “Joyous”, “Sassafras Girl”, “Glide” and “Future Now”.

..:: Source: Reverbnation.com ::..

Resonance Records To Release Israeli Piano Prodigy Tamir Hendelman’s Destinations On August 10

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Jazz, Piano, Tamir Hendelman

Hendelman’s Resonance Debut Brims With Creative Combustion, Showcasing Deft Trio Interplay Alongside Bandmates Marco Panascia and Lewis Nash

Tamir Hendelman - Destinations

Think you know what the jazz piano trio sounds like in 2010? You may want to think again. With the arrival of Destinations, the game-changing Resonance Records debut by Israeli piano Wunderkind Tamir Hendelman, all bets are off!

A symbiotic serenade that artfully combines jazz, Latin and classical sonorities, Destinations is a near-perfect marriage of fire and feeling. And given the whirlwind journey Hendelman has been living of late, it’s no wonder that the album pulls from a myriad of musical sources.

“From the start, I was into all kinds of music,” Hendelman says, on a rare day off between gigs. “Jazz, classical, popular music and writing originals. At the age of six, passing a music store and hearing the sounds coming from an electric organ – brass, flute, strings… I was hooked!”

Special Guests of Honor To Include Vocalist Totó la Momposina and her son, Artistic Director Marco Vinicio Oyaga

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Female Vocalist, Jazz, Marco Vinicio Oyaga, Totó la Momposina

VII ENCOUNTER OF COLOMBIAN MUSICIANS

Totó la Momposina arrives in NYC for the seventh annual Encounter of Colombian Musicians in New York, founded by Colombian bandleader, pianist, and composer Pablo Mayor, to feature nearly 20 acts of New York’s renowned Colombian musical ensembles and exciting guests from Colombia. The Encounter convenes this year at El Museo del Barrio, the prestigious cultural institution on Fifth Avenue where Manhattan’s Upper East Side meets Harlem. This celebrated event builds on last year’s success at the Highline Ballroom, and highlights Colombia’s musical treasures, notably guest of honor and renowned folkloric singer Totó la Momposina and her son and musical director, percussionist Marco Vinicio Oyaga, on the eve of the nation’s bicentennial year. The festival will feature the rhythms of cumbia, currulao, joropo, and bambuco, among a myriad other styles, both as they have developed in New York and in their traditional guises.