Journal
- Thursday, November 7, 2024
"Music is a powerful tool. In an instant, it can change your mood, your perspective, or your life," Stacey Abrams says on her Crooked Media podcast, Assembly Required, introducing her conversation with Rhiannon Giddens. "No matter the motivation, music is an outlet, a force that builds us up or keeps us steady. It holds the capacity to move millions and to resonate with each individual, and every lyric, every note, every beat has the potential to share a message." You can hear their conversation here. Giddens's new album with Silkroad Ensemble, American Railroad, is out next week; their fall tour begins tonight.
Journal Topics: Artist News, Podcast
- Friday, February 14, 2020
Sam Phillips's critically acclaimed 2001 Nonesuch debut album, Fan Dance, is now available on vinyl, as a fan-selected title on Run Out Groove. Remastered and pressed on 180-gram vinyl, the LP comes in an old-school tip-on style jacket with booklet, limited and individually numbered. The Boston Globe calls it "a stunning work of intimacy and emotional range."
Journal Topics: Album Release, Artist NewsFriday, February 14, 2020k.d. lang performs at the Fire Fight Australia concert for bushfire relief … Devendra Banhart plays Portugal … Daughter of Swords tours North Carolina, Nashville … Early James is in Orlando … Rhiannon Giddens leads SFJAZZ residency … Gabriel Kahane tours Europe … Mandy Patinkin concludes tour in Florida … Joshua Redman brings Still Dreaming to Durham, Pittsburgh … Chris Thile hosts Live From Here from NYC … Yola heads West …
Journal Topics: On Tour, Weekend EventsFriday, February 14, 2020Dutch conductor, pianist, and composer Reinbert de Leeuw died today, February 14, at the age of 81. De Leeuw was the conductor on all of the recordings Nonesuch Records has made of composer Louis Andriessen’s music; all but one of these were with Asko | Schönberg, the new-music ensemble of which he was a founder and the chief conductor. De Leeuw also led the ensemble in the Nonesuch recording of Steve Reich's Tehillim.
Journal Topics: NewsThursday, February 13, 2020Pat Metheny has released “Same River,” a new track from his forthcoming album, From This Place, due February 21 on Nonesuch; it can be heard here. This follows the release of the album tracks "Wide and Far," “America Undefined,” and "You Are." All four songs can be downloaded now with pre-orders of From This Place on vinyl and CD in the Pat Metheny Store and Nonesuch Store, and are available to stream.
Journal Topics: Artist NewsThursday, February 13, 2020Early James released the new music video for “High Horse,” the latest single from his upcoming debut album, Singing for My Supper, due March 13 on Easy Eye Sound and Nonesuch Records. The video, directed by Tim Hardiman, premiered via Rolling Stone Country, which says his "voice has a similar pockmarked, raspy quality and jazzy inflection to early Tom Waits." James says: "The song is a slightly comedic and regretful retrospective on how your childhood goes by so quickly and time changes your wants, needs and habits." You can watch the video here.
Journal Topics: Artist News, VideoWednesday, February 12, 2020Sam Gendel has released the title track to his forthcoming Nonesuch debut album, Satin Doll, and a video for the same. The video, shot by Senzo Ueno, finds Gendel in Tokyo with special guests Beast Car Club Classixfour and a 1964 Impala SS lowrider. "This recording is the first take of the first tune ever performed by this group, no edits; I just happened to hit record," says Gendel. "It is the empirical formula of the album and that's all there is to it."
Journal Topics: Artist News, VideoMonday, February 10, 2020Jeff Parker's new album, Suite for Max Brown, is "a demonstration of how jazz mixes it up with other musics these days," says NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross music critic Kevin Whitehead. "Parker invokes his days as a crate-diving club DJ, a job where you can juxtapose beats from all over as long as they serve or creatively stem the flow." You can hear the review here.
Journal Topics: Artist News, Radio, ReviewsMonday, February 10, 2020Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi were on RTÉ One’s Tommy Tiernan Show in Ireland on Saturday to perform "Wayfaring Stranger." You can watch it here. The song is on their album there is no Other, which they recorded in Dublin. They return to Dublin to give a concert at Vicar Street in July, after a residency at SFJAZZ; touring Australia, New Zealand, and Japan; Giddens' receiving an honorary degree from UNC Greensboro; and performances of her opera Omar at Spoleto Festival.
Journal Topics: Artist News, Television, VideoFriday, February 7, 2020Rhiannon Giddens begins a week of Bay Area performances … Sam Amidon concludes Netherlands run … Devendra Banhart, Gabriel Kahane tour Europe … Daughter of Swords kicks off tour in Virginia … Jeremy Denk performs Bach in upstate New York … Richard Goode gives solo recital in London … Randy Newman performs on Academy Awards … Mandy Patinkin plays Ohio … Chris Thile hosts Live From Here from NYC; plays solo in Wyoming … Yola tours Texas …
Journal Topics: On Tour, Weekend EventsFriday, February 7, 2020Gabriel Kahane begins an eleven-city tour of Europe at the Philharmonie Luxembourg on Saturday. The tour, featuring songs from his album Book of Travelers, continues with stops throughout France, Germany, Netherlands, and Finland, culminating at Konservatoriets Koncertsal in Copenhagen on February 25.
Journal Topics: Artist News, On TourThursday, February 6, 2020David Byrne will be the musical guest on Saturday Night Live on February 29, with host John Mulaney. Byrne will perform songs from his American Utopia on Broadway, making for a very Happy Leap Day indeed. This is his first Saturday Night Live appearance since 1989, after a ten-year gap since his 1979 appearance on the show with Talking Heads.
Journal Topics: Artist News, TelevisionThursday, February 6, 2020Caroline Shaw’s album Orange, for which Attacca Quartet earned a Grammy Award, is due on vinyl for the first time on July 24, 2020, via New Amsterdam and Nonesuch Records. The two-LP set is pressed on double 180-gram orange vinyl and includes a printed excerpt from the score and is available to pre-order now. "Completely gorgeous in so many ways," exclaims BBC Radio 3. "It hits you everywhere, all at once." "A love letter to the string quartet," says NPR. "[W]hen you hear all the imaginative sounds on Orange, you know you're listening to the voice of a strong composer."
Journal Topics: Album Release, Artist News