The piano. It is unique: the piano is melodic like no other instrument is and plays us heavy loud and even sometimes fast, producing sounds that momentarily…
Opinionated Piano: Jason Moran, Sullivan Fortner, Aaron Diehl
Tag: Jazz
I’ve Grown Accustomed To Your Face
Listening to Spotify shuffle Cassandra Wilson songs, I stumbled upon a song that I believe spoke to me in a political way: “I’ve Grown Accustomed To His…
Artist Profiles: Manu Dibango
Emmanuel Dibango N’Djoké was born on December 12 of 1933 in Duala, Cameroon. Manu Dibango arrived to Europe as a young student. With his extraordinary…
Everything’s Beautiful by Miles Davis & Robert Glasper
John Coltrane has made life after death difficult for Miles Davis. John Coltrane’s late period has so influenced contemporary Jazz musicians that we have lost…
Captivating Amalgam of Tango and Jazz
Lalo Zanelli & Ombu – Immigrantes (Buda Musique, 2016) Inmigrantes (the Spanish word for immigrants) is the new album by Argentine pianist and composer Lalo…
Artist Profiles: Pierre Bensusan
Born in Oran, Algeria, in 1957, Pierre Bensusan’s family moved to Paris when he was four years old. He began formal studies on classical piano…
Deliciously Vibrant Flamenco
Gerardo Nuñez and Ulf Wakenius – Logos (ACT Music, 2016) Journalist, writer and provocateur Hunter S. Thompson once wrote, “Music has always been a matter…
Artist Profiles: Khalida Azzouza
Cradled in tribal rhythms of her father’s Southern Sahara and the Arab Andalusian music of her mother’s Mediterranean coast, Khalida’s very personal oriental jazz approach…
A Cuban Dimension for New American Music
Miller, Bowyer, Beck, Bourland, Carollo, Brandman, Mobley, Murray – Abrazo – The Havana Sessions (Ansonica Records, 2016) Abrazo – The Havana Sessions contains newly composed…
Balladeers: John Coltrane, Charles Lloyd
Central to the African American musical tradition is the writing of black ballads – an even more fitting way of understanding black music than simply…