New York-based trumpeter, composer and educator Charles Tolliver presents Connect, his first studio album in 13 years.
Tenor saxophonist Bob Berg channeled the bold dynamics of hard bop to emerge as one of contemporary jazz's most expressive and resourceful improvisers, honing a richly articulated sound bolstered by flawless technical command. Born in New York City on April 7, 1951, Berg grew up in Brooklyn, initiating piano lessons at age six. At 13, he moved to alto saxophone, first discovering jazz when a high school teacher introduced him to the music of Cannonball Adderley and Horace Silver.
Philip Bailey, the legendary falsetto voice, Grammy Award winner and co-founder of Earth, Wind & Fire has announced his upcoming solo album, Love Will Find A Way, via Verve Records on 21 June. The album is trailed by first single ‘Billy Jack,’ which Bailey co-produced with Robert Glasper.
Premier banjo player Béla Fleck is considered one of the most innovative pickers in the world and has done much to demonstrate the versatility of his instrument, which he uses to play everything from traditional bluegrass to progressive jazz. He was named after composer Béla Bartok and was born in New York City. Around age 15, Fleck became fascinated with the banjo after hearing Flatt & Scruggs' "Ballad of Jed Clampett" and Eric Weissberg and Steve Mandell's "Dueling Banjos," and his grandfather soon gave him one. While attending the High School of Music and Art in New York, Fleck worked on adapting bebop music for the banjo.
The Toronto-based quartet Peripheral Vision offers up Irrational Revelation and Mutual Humiliation, the group's fifth release in a discography that began in 2014 with Sheer Tyranny Of Will. The leaders, guitarist Don Scott and bassist Michael Herring, anchor a tight rhythm section with drummer Nick Fraser, rounded out with alto saxophonist Trevor Hogg. Distinctively modern in sound, toe tapping grooves abound, powering ahead with a momentum as in synch as that of Chick Corea's' Elektric Band.
Irrational Revelation, the first disc in the two CD set (Mutual Humiliation is the second), is center-pieced by the fourteen minute, three part "Reconciliation Suite," addressing the historical mistreatment of the indigenous Canadian population…