Nate Smith‘s visceral, instinctive, and deep-rooted style of drumming has already established him as a key piece in reinvigorating the international jazz scene, and now his rising career reaches a new benchmark with the release of his bandleader debut, KINFOLK: Postcards from Everywhere (February 3, 2017 via Ropeadope Records). Much like his diverse and ample résumé (which includes esteemed leading lights such as Dave Holland, Chris Potter, Ravi Coltrane, José James, Somi, and Patricia Barber, among others), this album sees Smith fusing his original modern jazz compositions with R&B, pop, and hip-hop.
Def Leppard rock Detroit! In the summer of 2016, Def Leppard s World Tour rolled into the DTE Energy Music Theatre on the outskirts of Detroit. As the sun began to set over a packed crowd the huge video wall behind the stage came to life with the exploding image of the band's latest album cover and Def Leppard began to power their way through a stunning setlist of classic hits and new tracks…
The Chhau & Nagpuri Group performs mask dances depicting battles of famous heroes and scenes from Indian mythology as well as village ceremonies, dances and folk songs. The music, played on purely ethnic instruments, is energetic and exciting.
Pianist Vijay Iyer's fifth album for ECM, 2017's fiery sextet date Far from Over, follows his superb 2016 collaboration with trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith, A Cosmic Rhythm with Each Stroke. Where that album found Iyer and Smith engaged in a deeply interconnected series of often abstract chamber improvisations, here we find him exploding outward, but with no less interconnectedness between him and his bandmates.
Morgan Davis is an award-winning Canadian blues singer, guitarist, and songwriter. He was born and spent his childhood in Detroit, Michigan, before relocating to Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in 1968. He moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 2001. His song "Why'd You Lie" was a hit for Colin James and featured on James' 1988 debut album. "Reefer Smokin' Man" was described as a "blues cult classic". Davis' principal major label release, Morgan Davis, on Stony Plain Records, was produced by Colin Linden. Davis was the recipient of multiple awards, including a Juno Award, for his 2003 release, Painkiller, on Electro-Fi Records.
The outlook from where you sit can be the one that not only determines your mood but has the ability to shape you as a human being, the position you take into any fight, conversation or relationship and yet to say that The View From Here is the only one that is available is not trust the artist to show you another level, another position in which your stance can be changed.