Phoenix is the highly-anticipated, expansive next album in the musical evolution of alto saxophonist and composer Lakecia Benjamin, and first for Whirlwind. The album was produced by Terri Lyne Carrington and featuring a star-studded line up of specially curated guests; Dianne Reeves, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Patrice Rushen, Sonia Sanchez, Angela Davis and Wayne Shorter. The band comprises trumpeter Josh Evans, Victor Gould on keys, Orange Rodriguez on synths, drummer Enoch (EJ) Strickland, percussionist Nêgah Santos and bassist Ivan Taylor. Trumpeter Wallace Roney Jr., Rhodes organist Anastassiya Petrova and bassist Jahmal Nichols all join for one track each.
On March 27, 2020, the dynamic young saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin delivers her masterwork, Pursuance: The Coltranes. A cohesive walk through the lineage of the jazz artform, Benjamin’s third full-length release as a leader pays homage to two of the greatest musical innovators of the 20th century, John and Alice Coltrane. As Abiodun Oyewole iterates as part of Benjamin’s rendition of Coltrane’s classic “Acknowledgment” off of the groundbreaking album ‘A Love Supreme’, “John Coltrane was a vessel, taking us to the house of god, he spoke to god in the language god knew, in the language of sound.
Jazz musician Keyon Harrold has become the go-to trumpeter when Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Maxwell and others need a hand, and was the pick when Don Cheadle needed to conjure up the sound of Miles Davis for the Grammy-winning Miles Ahead soundtrack. On his new album, The Mugician, Harrold returns to his own music, and brings a few of his friends and past collaborators, including Gary Clark, Jr., Big K.R.I.T. and Bilal, along for an vibrant and wide-reaching set of tunes, which sometimes arrive in grand, sweeping arrangements ("MB Lament," "Wayfaring Traveler") or in jagged, concise snippets ("Lullaby").
Blood Orange (aka producer/composer/multi-instrumentalist Devonté Hynes) has announced a new album, Negro Swan. The follow-up to 2016’s Freetown Sound arrives August 24 via Domino.
Lounge music is a type of easy listening music popular in the 1950s and 1960s. It may be meant to evoke in the listeners the feeling of being in a place, usually with a tranquil theme, such as a jungle, an island paradise or outer space. The range of lounge music encompasses beautiful music–influenced instrumentals, modern electronica (with chillout, and downtempo influences), while remaining thematically focused on its retro-space-age cultural elements…
Today, the inimitable jazz vocalist, activist, and nominal godfather of the LA jazz scene, Dwight Trible, returns with the announcement of his new album “Ancient Future”. Out 17th March via London jazz aficionados and analog specialists Gearbox Records , the new record follows his critically acclaimed album “Mothership”, which was released in 2019 and saw him collaborate with the likes of Kamasi Washington, Mark de Clive-Lowe, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, and more.