Cassandra Wilson | Glamoured

Tags

African Ameircan, Blues, Cassandra Wilson, Female Vocalist, Jazz, Pop

Within the next couple of months the wait for new music is nearing and end by one of the most substantial, celebrated, and provocative voices in jazz composer and musician Cassandra Wilson has a new album for her fans on Blue Note Records. Now, until this manifests lets take a moment and revisit “Glamoured” by the Jackson, Mississippi native to rejuvenate our spirit and encompass an intricate collaboration of vocal, and lyrics equaling in a tone of near perfection. —Rob Young | The Urban Flux

Cassandra Wilson | Glamoured – [Blue Note Records, 2003]

Cassandra Wilson - Glamoured

One of the simple pleasures of life is putting a Cassandra Wilson disc into the player and hitting “start“. Her voice takes me to a spot that few singers know how to reach…and “Glamoured” proves, once again, why Cassandra is one of our most important performers.

This release is a great mix of brilliantly conceived covers and incredible originals. One of the fascinating things about being a CW fan is following the growth of her talents as a songwriter. While the promise was always there (think “Redbone“), with each new release, her songwriting skills have grown stronger, to where we now have originals that rival the covers she chooses. No where is this more evident than on the toe tapping “I Want More“, with an outstanding drum contribution from Terri Lyne Carrington, and “On This Train” where that haunting smoky voice just shines through – this is the type of song that reminds you why you love Cassandra’s vocals.

RESONANCE RECORDS TO RELEASE ANOTHER NIGHT IN LONDON BY THE LATE KEYBOARD WONDER GENE HARRIS

Tags

African American, Blues, Gene Harris, Jazz, Keyboards, Piano

Recorded Live at Pizza Express, A Follow Up to 2008’s Live In London

Gene Harris Quartet

“One of the churchiest pianists in jazz, [Harris] turns the keyboard into an altar for preaching the blues and rocking the pews.”
– People Magazine

For five decades, Michigan-born, self-taught pianist/composer/bandleader Gene Harris (1933-2000) beautifully blended blues, bop, soul, and gospel into his signature sound. As the leader of the legendary trio The Three Sounds – with bassist Bill Dowdy and drummer Andy Simpkins – to his final, productive years in Idaho, Harris was always swinging: in the pocket, on the one, and in the groove; with a logic and lyricism that drank deeply from the well of the blues.

Harris’ artistry is in full effect on the forthcoming Resonance Records CD, Another Night in London (release date: January 12, 2010), a cool and combustive live quartet, recorded at Pizza Express in May 1996 with an all-British rhythm section featuring bassist Andrew Cleyndert, guitarist Jim Mullen, and Oscar Peterson’s former drummer, Martin Drew. Another Night in London is the follow-up to the critically acclaimed Live in London CD, released in 2008 on the same label. Both recordings are rare in that they are the only two available that feature Harris’ European quartet.

Cassandra Wilson | Closer to You: The Pop Side

Tags

African American, Blues, Cassandra Wilson, Female Vocalist, Jazz, Pop Music, Soul Music

I know, you’re probably saying were have you been dude this recording by Cassandra Wilson came out back in April of this year. Yes, you’re so right! However, being a huge fan of her “Loverly” project I couldn’t resist myself after listening to this record on several occasions undoubtedly set the tone for a new season I’ve encountered. Perhaps, I’ll say this about her. The signature of her sound is unmistakable, while her voice is deeply provocative she transforms each song to perfection, and her timbre … wow simply just does it for me. It’s true, a lot of these songs on “The Pop Side” you’ve heard before. Nevertheless, Cassandra is truly one of the most unique song stylists on the music scene today regardless of genre. ~ The Urban Flux

Cassandra Wilson

Cassandra Wilson | Closer to You: The Pop Side [Blue Note Records]

Singer Cassandra Wilson is a master interpreter of American music. With her unmistakable honeyed husky voice and quaintly rustic aesthetic she has made intimate and personal statements with jazz, blues, R&B, country, and pop chestnuts- few artists can reveal the sensual earthiness of the Monkees tune “The Last Train to Clarksville.”

Closer to You: The Pop Side celebrates the finest pop moments from her seven album, decade plus legacy with Blue Note. In addition to the aforementioned 1960s nugget, this release features her stark and achingly vulnerable take on U2’s “Love Is Blindness” as well as her transcendent take on Neil Young’s “Harvest Moon” that evokes fireflies and shooting stars. Among its 11 tracks are favorites from Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, and a tenderly romantic version of Sting’s “Fragile“.

Source: Amazon.com

Bessie Smith Heritage Festival | Review

Tags

African American, Angela Winbush, Blues, Jazz, Jazz Funk, Joe Johnson, Neo Soul, Roy Ayers, Tom Browne

What’s up everyone … as you can see I’m a tad bit late with the review from this weekend music festival in Chattanooga. Here you go …

Once I arrived at the second annual festival on this lovely unseasonably cool fall like Saturday evening I heard this powerful yet unfamiliar voice singing from a distance with swagger normally displayed by veterans. As I approached the stage area I immediately notice this stunning young lady working the crowd with her bubbly charm and colorful personality I couldn’t help but notice her red dress with these huge white polka dots worked the audience as her band jam even with the seasoned vets yet to come. Her name, get this Algebra from Atlanta, GA. Unfortunately, for me I was only able to catch one song yet and extended version by her. However, the performance I caught was a twenty minute jam session well worth everyone’s time to engage in the music of this super talented young performer.

Bessie Smith Heritage Festival

Tags

African American, Blues, Jazz, Neo Soul, Rhythm and Blues

Join me along with a couple thousand music lovers this Saturday [August 22, 2009] at 3:30PM for the 2nd Annual Bessie Smith Heritage Festival in Chattanooga, TN.

Bessie Smith Heritage Festival

Wynton Marsalis | He and She

Tags

African American, Blues, Jazz, Trumpet, Wynton Marsalis

On March 24, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, trumpeter and bandleader Wynton Marsalis will release his fifth Blue Note recording, He and She. It’s an ambitious effort, combining spoken word and music, and Marsalis has given his quintet some formidable charts. The album is tempered with flashes of humor and plenty of swing. There’s ease and elegance and more than a little wisdom in these grooves

Wynton Marsalis

Wynton Marsalis | He and She [Jazz/Blue Note Records/2009]

He and She is about that eternally compelling and most elemental of subjects, the relationship between a man and a woman. Marsalis hasn’t merely crafted a love story, but a life story – a bittersweet rumination about the evanescence of life as well as the elusiveness of romance. Time is very much at the heart of He and She: the swift passage of time over the course of one’s life, the mood-altering shifts of time in the duration of a song.

Jazz musician David ‘Fathead’ Newman dies in NY

Tags

African American, Blues, David "Fathead" Newman, Jazz, Saxophone

David "Fathead" Newman

David “Fathead” Newman
February 24, 1933 – January 20, 2009

KINGSTON, N.Y. – Grammy-nominated jazz saxophonist and flutist David “Fathead” Newman has died in upstate New York.

His manager says Newman died Tuesday night of pancreatic cancer at a hospital in Kingston. He was 75.

Newman began his career while still in college touring with Charlie Parker mentor Henry “Buster” Smith. In 1954, he joined the Ray Charles Band as tenor soloist. He spent 12 years with the group.

Newman later played and recorded with a wide range of jazz and soul luminaries, such as Herbie Mann, Aretha Franklin and Aaron Neville. He also led a successful solo career.

He was nominated for a Grammy in 1990 for his work with Art Blakey and Dr. John.

Newman was born on Feb. 24, 1933, in Corsicana, Texas, south of Dallas. ~ Source: newsday.com

::. Here’s a tribute at Newman’s website.::

Jimmy Smith | Midnight Special

Tags

African American, Blue Note Records, Blues, Jimmy Smith, Organ, Soul Jazz

I concur,  jazz writer/critic Scott Yanow says he highly recommends this prolific out of the box groove because it’s tight but right from beginning to the end by soul jazz organist Jimmy Smith.

Jimmy Smith, Midnight

Jimmy Smith | Midnight Special [Blue Note, 1960] Soul/Jazz Classic

Midnight Special is a perfect complement to Back at the Chicken Shack, which was recorded the same day. Organist Jimmy Smith, tenor saxophonist Stanley Turrentine, and guitarist Kenny Burrell always make for a potent team, and with drummer Donald Bailey completing the group, the quartet digs soulfully into such numbers as the groovin’ “Midnight Special,” “Jumpin’ the Blues,” and “One O’Clock Jump.” Highly recommended.

Source: allmusic.com/Scott Yanow

John Lee Hooker Jr. Secures Grammy Nomination

Tags

African American, Blues, Grammy Nominations

John Lee Hooker Jr.

After performing in front of sold out crowds in Europe, Turkey and Russia  “superhero” blues man, John Lee Hooker, Jr., son of the late blues legend, John Lee Hooker, returned to the states just in time to receive news of his Grammy nomination, for his third CD release “All Odds Against Me.” This is the second Grammy nomination for Hooker, Jr. who is nominated in the Best Traditional Blues Album category.

Oliver Nelson | The Blues and the Abstract Truth

Tags

African American, Blues, Jazz, Saxophonist

Oliver Nelson

Oliver Nelson | The Blues and the Abstract Truth [Classic Jazz]

There are very few sessions that somehow transcend all the other great stuff that’s available out there and have that special something or other that brings the music close to perfection. Obviously Kind of Blue and A Love Supreme fall in that category… Eric Dolphy’s Out to Lunch comes to mind as well. This is one of those sessions that transcends all the other good stuff that is out there. Maybe it isn’t the masterwork in the spirit of those three aforementioned releases but it is still extraordinarily good. Stolen Moments is just an amazing arrangement – so good that I am going to order Nelson’s chart for my own septet. All of the arrangements are great and the soloist’s note and line selections are just perfect. ~ Amazon.com