So the other day MOG by way of their Just for You section introduced me to the music of Omar Sosa, and I’m glad they did!! Sosa is a Cuban born composer, bandleader, and jazz pianist. His newest band Afreecanos, combines Afro Pop, jazz, and a variety of European instruments. The band, which includes musicians from Africa, Cuba, Brazil, and France, released a CD in 2009 and went on a world tour in early 2010.
The first jazz artist that caught my eye when I reviewed the birthday list this morning at All About Jazz was Cindy Blackman and the reason was simple she is a drummer!! I do believe that there are not that many of them around!! What I didn’t know at the time, aside from who the hell she is, was that in the spring of 2010 Cindy sat in with Carlos Santana when the band’s drummer Dennis Chambers had a previous commitment. Cindy and Carlos had first met several years earlier at a festival in Europe when Cindy was touring with Lenny Kravitz. .By July of 2010 Carlos proposed to Cindy and the two were married in December! So who besides Mrs Carlos Santana is this Cindy Blackman. A stop at Wikipedia was in order……
=&0=& (born November 18, 1959), sometimes known as =&1=&,[1] is a virtuoso drummer whose artistry spans the realms of jazz and rock. Blackman is best known for recording and touring with Lenny Kravitz. Full Biography
and at her website I read……..
As a bandleader and as a musician, Cindy is a sound innovator with a passion for pushing creative boundaries and exploring movement and change. She is as known for the nuances and colors she brings to her beats and fills as she is for the sheer power of her soulful playing. “Some drummers act, some react. Some keep time, others create it. Cindy Blackman Santana is among the few who can,” writes Mike Zwerin for the International Herald Tribune. More Bio
So the other day when I was visiting All About Jazz to check on jazz birthdays I noticed an interesting name in the showcase sidebar – Marquis Hill and his new album The Poet. Since I didn’t recognize the name I thought I’d take a little trip to MOG to check it out. MOG only had two out of Marquis’ three albums – New Gospel and Sounds of the City. I decided that I’d check outSounds of the City first. It’s a great album at times sounding a little avant-garde and at other times it sounds like classic jazz. On the third track “The Wrath of the Lark” my ears perked up when I heard some great vibes! That sent me racing to see who the player was I found out the artist’s name is Justin “Justefan” Thomas. I continued my search and discovered that Justin has just released an EP titled The Prelude. I found that album on Spotify, gave it a listen and it’s certainly an EP that will join the other vibes music in my library. But now back to Marquis and his music. From Marquis’ website:
originally posted November 15, 2013
So tonight I was reviewing the list of jazz musician birthdays on November 14th and a name that caught my attention was guitarist Derek Gripper, who was born on today’s date in 1977. I read in his biography at All About Jazz that….
On this day in 1947 English musician, songwriter, producer and founding member of King Crimson and Emerson, Lake and Palmer Gregory Stuart “Greg” Lake was born. Greg Lake and I go back a long way Greg is 4 years my senior so, while I was a 17-year-old high school student, Greg was invited by his high school friend guitarist Robert Fripp, to join King Crimson. Fripp asked Lake a fellow guitarist asked Lake to switch to bass and to take on the role of lead singer. Lake agreed and as they say the rest is history!! So my first introduction to Lake’s music was from King Crimson’s debut album In the Court of the Crimson King. From Wikipedia:
Ok so to honor Russell Malone on his birthday today, I said I would listen to his 2010 release Triple Play. But when I went to MOG, there was a 2013 release listed at the top of his discography, so I downloaded that and listened to it! It was great! I came home tonight and discovered that, the album I listened to was Playground which was actually released in 2004! I don’t know why it’s listed as 2013 unless it has been re-released??? The last song on Playground is Carol King’s “You’ve Got a Friend” a song that won both James Taylor and Carol Grammys! Now hearing Malone’s guitari instrumental version of the song was great, but earlier in the day I had watch portions of a video of a performance of the song with Russell playing guitar and Dianne Reeves providing the vocals. Now I didn’t know anything about Ms. Reeves, but I certainly want to find out more about her! What a wonderful voice, so rich, so soulful. Well I’ll just let you decide for yourselves as we go “into the morning” with the guitar of Russell Malone and the voice and soul of Dianne Reeves and the equally wonderful songwriting of Carole King (her Tapestry album is in my vinyl collection and millions of other people’s collections throughout the world )
The first time I really heard the guitar of Russell Malone was one night a while back when I stumbled upon this video of Malone, Christian McBride and Benn Green performing Wes Montgomery;s “Jingles” and I was blown away by his talent!! (and McBride and Green’s talent too!!)
This morning I was in jazz mode and listened to the Christian McBride & Inside Straights release People Music. The album was released in May of this year. Inside Straight has everything I enjoy in jazz, lively vibes from Warren Wolf, piano from Peter Martin and smooth saxophone from Steve Wilson, All supported by the solid bass lines of Christian’s bass and Carl Allen;s drums.on the majority of the songs. On a few of the songs the piano duties are manned by Christian Sands and Ulysses Owens, Jr. handles the drums. Both are considered members of the Inside Straight family.
