« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

Featured Artist: Terell Stafford

Tuesday, April 5th, 2011

356565 72 Featured Artist: Terell StaffordArtist:t Terell Stafford
Title: This Side of Strayhorn
Label: MAXJAZZ
Genre: Jazz : BeBop
Release Date: 4.5.11
UPC: 610614040820
Territory: World

Billy Strayhorn is widely considered one of the greatest composers of our time, and his three-decade-long collaboration with Duke Ellington furnished the American songbook with a number of timeless classics. Trumpeter Terell Stafford’s sense of melody and uniquely expressive sound make him ideal for Strayhorn’s repertoire. Produced by Grammy-winning bassist and composer, John Clayton, This Side of Strayhorn offers a refreshing and unique interpretation of a number of Strayhorn’s famous compositions. Stafford enlists his working quintet featuring saxophonist Tim Warfield, pianist and arranger Bruce Barth, bassist Peter Washington and drummer Dana Hall. When not on the road touring with his own group, Stafford is an integral member of bands including The Clayton Brothers Quintet, Bobby Watson & Horizon and Matt Wilson’s Arts & Crafts. Stafford is also the director of Jazz Studies at Temple University.

To celebrate his new release Terell just finished a week long residence at the vaunted Village Vanguard performing music from the album. Long recognized as an outstanding trumpeter This Side of Strayhorn has placed Terell in the spotlight as a bandleader. Many news outlets are taking note and giving Terell the coverage his talent warrants. From the Wall Street Journal to the New York Times the early reception is overwhelmingly positive. NPR Music also has kind words for Terell’s latest offering and was at the Village Vanguard on opening night for a live audio/video broadcast, interview and webcast.

“Terell Stafford’s intelligent and warm playing superbly matches the depths of Billy Strayhorn’s timeless compositions on this record. The songs may be familiar by now, but the interpretations here are far from the usual fare. Terell’s quintet approaches each work with great understanding to add new layers of musical meaning. What a treat.” -Walter van de Leur, author of “Something To Live For: The Music of Billy Strayhorn.” (New York: Oxford UP, 2002

Featured Artist: Fredrik

Tuesday, March 29th, 2011

357487 72 Featured Artist: FredrikArtist: Fredrik
Title: Flora
Label: The Kora Records
Genre: Indie : Alternative
Release Date: 3.29.11
UPC: 616822098820
Territory: Americas

Swedish electro-folk three-piece Fredrik returns with a follow-up to their 2010 sophomore album Trilogi. Recorded in their ramshackle garden studio last summer, Flora marks a departure from the wintry moods of the band’s first two outings.

According to Fredrik, flower season is anything but lemonades and hammocks. The music paints a vision of summer as the darkness beneath, a busy, feverish, sprawling organic chaos. The three members build songs from dense, wavering textures of voice, strings, brass and twinkly home-made folk instruments, all couched on top of a smattering of haywire orchestral drums and swirly electronics. In keeping with all their previous work, there’s the attention to detail, the unfailing knack for melody-making and the misadventures in hyper- soprano singing, not to mention Fredrik Hultin’s restful, abstract storytelling.

They are streaming the whole album right now on YouTube via this cool video:

Featured Artist: HOTEL MEXICO

Tuesday, March 22nd, 2011

360311 721 Featured Artist: HOTEL MEXICOArtist: HOTEL MEXICO
Title: HIS JEWELLED LETTER BOX
Label: SECOND ROYAL RECORDS
Genre: Alternative : Alternative
Release Date: 3.22.11
UPC: 4538182118054
Territory: World ex- Japan

Hotel Mexico are Ryuyu, Kikuchi, Kai, Jiro, Masaaki and Kobayashi – six guys from Kyoto, Japan. They began writing songs in 2008. Many members of the band are also club DJs.  They put out a cassette tape and a live VHS early 2010, and now their debut mini-album His Jewelled Letter Box.

“Sure there’s a lot of music that involves spiraling into a mental cavern of nostaliga/beaches/blissed out/eternal summer/fill in blank here______, but this is done really well. Employing the same kind of hypnotic push-and-pull between intricately layered guitar and bombastic drums that makes The Boredoms so awesome, Hotel Mexico are comparable to any number of drugs, but more than that, this song is a serious jam.” -The Fader

Check out this video they made for the lead single “Its Twinkle”:

Featured Artist: Yellowjackets

Tuesday, March 15th, 2011

356247 72 Featured Artist: YellowjacketsYellowjackets
download icon Featured Artist: Yellowjackets “Magnolia” (mp3)
from “Timeline”
(Mack Avenue Records)

service icon 4 Featured Artist: Yellowjackets Buy at iTunes Music Store
icon landing page Featured Artist: Yellowjackets More On This Album

In music, time flies, styles unstoppably evolve, and bands come and go. But there are also rare stable, forward moving forces on the scene—one prime example in jazz being the Yellowjackets. As of 2011, this beloved eclectic, electro-acoustic jazz band that keyboardist Russell Ferrante and bassist Jimmy Haslip built celebrates the ripe, young but deep age of 30—a milestone commemorated with another powerful and heartfelt album, fittingly named Timeline.

Nearly two generations of fans have enjoyed the lasting influence and jazz tradition of Yellowjackets – 30 years of continuous service to America’s native art form have made them unique in a business known for faddishness and important in that ever-changing world of music. Russell Ferrante – Jimmy Haslip – Will Kennedy – Bob Mintzer. All universally recognized innovators on their own and part of jazz history collectively as Yellowjackets. This is an essential chapter of a story that continues to be written.

Featured Artist: Yellowjackets

Featured Artist: Rebirth Brass Band – Mardi Gras Special

Tuesday, March 8th, 2011

357298 72 Featured Artist: Rebirth Brass Band Mardi Gras SpecialRebirth Brass Band
download icon Featured Artist: Rebirth Brass Band Mardi Gras Special “Do It Again” (mp3)
from “Rebirth of New Orleans”
(Basin Street)

service icon 4 Featured Artist: Rebirth Brass Band Mardi Gras Special Buy at iTunes Music Store
icon landing page Featured Artist: Rebirth Brass Band Mardi Gras Special More On This Album

In celebration of this year’s Mardi Gras, we’re spotlighting the fantastic Rebirth Brass Band as our featured artist for this week. If you don’t already know their name, you need to: they are an institution in New Orleans, which is without doubt the biggest Mardi Gras destination in the United States. Formed in 1982 by the infamous Frazier brothers and trumpeter extraordinaire Kermit Ruffins, the Rebirth Brass Band was comprised of marching band members from Joseph S. Clark Senior High School in New Orlean’s famous Treme neighborhood.

Since their founding the group has put out over ten albums and multiple compilations, which embody the very feeling of their neighborhood and city. They combine traditional New Orleans brass band music with funk, jazz, soul, and hip-hop to make a signature sound all their own. 2010 was a breakthrough year for the group, as they appeared regularly on HBO’s new hit show Treme, which focuses on the neighborhood they represent. Now, the Rebirth Brass Band presents their newest record, The Rebirth of New Orleans. Produced by Grammy winner Tracey Freeman, the new album, features inspired new arrangements of brass band staples in addition to quality originals such as “Do It Again” and “I Like It Like That.”

(more…)

Featured Artist: Withered Hand

Tuesday, March 1st, 2011

351088 72 Featured Artist: Withered HandWithered Hand
download icon Featured Artist: Withered Hand “New Dawn” (mp3)
from “Good News”
(Absolutely Kosher)
service icon 4 Featured Artist: Withered Hand Buy at iTunes Music Store
icon landing page Featured Artist: Withered Hand More On This Album

Dan Willson’s songwriting is the result of a long and personal journey, filled with ups and downs, which lead him to the acclaimed set of songs on his debut record Good News. Under the moniker Withered Hand, Willson crafted a landmark recording of quality songsmanship which walks the fine line between frailty and strength with nimble grace. The album was released in the UK in late 2009 and without any coordinated publicity or promotional effort, yet it managed to find acclaim in multiple outlets. MOJO magazine gave it a prominent 4 star review only months after its release and the record eventually achieved regular BBC airplay from prominent DJ’s, leading to live session performances for BBC Radio Scotland and BBC 6Music. The band has garnered public endorsements from Jarvis Cocker, The Dodos, and fellow Scots, Frightened Rabbit, whose frontman Scott Hutchinson is planning to take Withered Hand as their primary support on an upcoming US tour. In the last year Withered Hand has enjoyed a highly successful European tour with sold out shows in London and Scotland and numerous festival invitations. All this fuss over a debut album was really something to talk about, and it was only a matter of time before Absolutely Kosher picked the record up to release in the western hemisphere. Now, for the first time in the US, Good News is available, and destined for further acclaim.

(more…)

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »