Title: Seven Artist: Cameron Graves Label: Artistry Music/Mack Avenue Formats: CD, LP, Digital Release date: February 19, 2021
Pianist-composer
Cameron Graves initially achieved acclaim as a member of the West Coast Get Down, a collective of L.A. jazz
musicians that includes Kamasi Washington and Stephen “Thundercat” Bruner. More
recently he has performed and recorded with fusion pioneer Stanley Clarke, who
has served as a mentor to the younger musician. Releasing his widely acclaimed debut
album Planetary Princein 2017,Graves now returns with his own brand of
progressive jazz on Seven. Referring to his new style as thrash-jazz,
Graves draws upon his jazz and classical studies as well as his love of Living
Colour, Meshuggah, and other heavy metal bands to create a stunningly inventive
jazz-rock fusion that will blast you into another galaxy.
Title: Poetry in Motion
Artist: The Soul Rebels
Label: Rebelution Music Group/Artistry Music/ Mack Avenue
Formats: CD, LP, Digital
Release date: October 25, 2019
New Orleans based ensemble The Soul Rebels was formed in the early ‘90s by drum majors from HBCUs such as Southern, Grambling, and Texas Southern University. Percussionists Derrick Moss and Lumar LeBlanc, who first met as members of Harold Dejan’s Young Olympia Brass Band, decided they wanted to play the rap music they were hearing on the radio while also respecting the long tradition of the New Orleans brass bands and marching bands they had played in growing up. Now an eight member brass/jazz/hip hop powerhouse, The Soul Rebels include LeBlanc (snare drum) and Moss (bass drum), in addition to Marcus Hubbard (trumpet), Erion Williams (saxophone), Paul Robertson (trombone), Julian Gosin (trumpet and MC), Manuel Perkins Jr. (sousaphone) and Corey Peyton (trombone and MC). For their latest album, Poetry in Motion, The Soul Rebels started with the premise “no genre is off limits for us,” and concluded with twelve tracks that sound contemporary and hip. Their New Orleans rhythms and Black college band attitude combined with rap lyrics and rhymes will make you move your feet and get out of your seat.Continue reading →
Title: Humanité
Artist: Kirk Whalum
Label: Artistry Music/Sheer Sound
Formats: CD, Digital
Release date: October 11, 2019
Memphis native and Grammy® Award-winning global recording artist Kirk Whalum has dropped his latest album, Humanité, which is unlike anything he has released before. Expressing the vision “With One Voice–At Times With Words–We Speak,” this project is the “synergistic result of encounters made and relationships formed onstage and off with some of the finest recording artists from all over the world,” many of whom are featured on the album. Kirk’s international collaborators include Japanese jazz pianist Keiko Matsui; bassist Barry Likumahuwa and global pop star Afgan from Indonesia; South African Afro-soul singer Zahara; Kenyan pianist Aaron Rimbui and percussionist Kasiva Mutwa; Nigerian-French R&B singer Asa; plus UK jazz pianist/vocalist Liane Carroll and many supporting musicians.Continue reading →
Title: Ruby
Artist: Macy Gray
Label: Artistry Music
Formats: CD, LP, Digital
Release date: September 21, 2018
Macy Gray recently gifted us with her tenth studio album, Ruby. Unlike her previous release, Stripped—an album that included a number of covers and a remake of her hit song “I Try”—Ruby features twelve new original tracks from Gray. When asked by Rolling Stone to describe the general soundscape or style of the album, Gray explained: “Sonically, it is beautiful. It has all sorts of [fusions]. There are a lot of live instruments. We mixed it with samples… But, it is very different. At the same time, it is excellent ear candy. . .very pop…[but] gritty and grimy and dirty. [The record] will be super R&B. You know, with my stuff, there is always a jazz element. That is what I grew up on. I can’t wait for everybody to hear it. I love it.” Continue reading →
Smooth jazz is a guilty pleasure of mine, one that often gets far more flak than it deserves. Full disclosure: during my senior year of college, I wandered by a floor mate’s open door to ask what was that hip music she was listening to, only to discover that it was The Weather Channel’s weekend forecast for Charlotte, North Carolina. As of today I’m shedding the stigma that fans of “serious jazz” feel often feel about digging the sub genre. “Local on the 8’s” guitarist Norman Brown has partnered with fellow smooth-jazzers Kirk Whalum and Rick Braun to record a groove-based release full of with tight playing and tasteful arrangements.
This group is perhaps best known for their 2013 album of Michael Jackson covers, Human Nature. That release hasn’t gotten too much play, which may not come as a surprise: it is no accident that Jackson was called “The King of Pop” — he was inimitable, therefore interpreting his repertoire is a thorny proposition at best. However, BWB gets a good bit funkier on this self-titled album, in large part thanks to the group’s focus on original material. BWB formulated these tunes while hanging out at Rick Braun’s home studio in Los Angeles and is backed by a rotating rhythm section of strong players, lending voice to compelling new compositions and improvisations.
One interesting part of this release is the band’s chanted choruses, which feel as though they may have been drawn from the annals of 70s funk — these cats are primarily instrumentalists rather than singers, but BWB’s songs have lyrics that may broaden their crossover appeal to adult contemporary audiences. They also make the band’s primarily groove-based instrumentals more listenable: rather than just improvisations over a couple of chords, these vocals make otherwise minimal compositions feel more like full-fledged songs . The trio’s playing is expressive throughout, with many songs being characterized by the three soloists playing intertwined melodies (“BWB”). They also play compelling solos, often trading improvisations that feed off of the members’ stellar interplay with one another (“Bolly Bop”). Braun makes great use of double time in his fluglehorn solo on “I Want You Girl,” Brown gets the opportunity to really take the band for a walk on “Memphis Steppin’,” and Whalum gets saxy on “Hey Baby.”
If you want to give smooth jazz a shot, BWB is a great place to start. This album proves that the sub-genre isn’t all cheesy synthesizers and triangles dinging off in the distance, but that really gifted players like to get down on the light-funk side of things.
