Aug 29, 2021
Podcast 841 is Part Two of my two-part conversation with saxophonist Kenny Garrett. His latest album, released August 27th on Mack Avenue Records, is entitled Sounds of the Ancestors, and as the title suggests, it’s a musical trip through Kenny’s past, as he digs into the sounds that have moved him in the past, and...
Aug 27, 2021
Saxophonist Kenny Garrett makes some of the most uplifting, joyous music on the planet. Whether he is playing his music on the bandstand with some of the greatest performers in jazz history – Miles Davis, Freddie Hubbard, Woody Shaw, Marcus Miller, and Chick Corea – or writing and recording his own music with...
Aug 26, 2021
The loss of Lyle Mays in early 2020 after a lengthy illness deprived the jazz world of a brilliant composer and performer. Although he had been away from music for over a decade, his niece Aubrey Johnson, herself a talented jazz performer, told me that he never stopped working on his craft, or tinkering...
Aug 16, 2021
It's past the midpoint in summer in New England, so why not some summer themed music for what may still be lazy, hot days? Today is August 16th, the feast day of Saint Roch, the patron saint of Dogs, so why not celebrate the "Dog Days"? Plus, Saint Roch's name is to be invoked to avoid plagues, so need I say anything...
Aug 15, 2021
At just 20 years old, Matthew Whitaker has already shared his powerful story and ascent to the biggest stages in jazz with 60 Minutes and The Today Show; but on the young star pianist’s new album Connections (on Resilience Music Alliance), he takes a bold step forward in defining for himself, on his own terms and in...