Journal
- Friday, November 22, 2024
The Way Out of Easy, the first album from guitarist Jeff Parker and his long-running ETA IVtet—saxophonist Josh Johnson, bassist Anna Butterss, drummer Jay Bellerose—since their 2022 debut Mondays at the Enfield Tennis Academy, which Pitchfork named one of the Best Albums of the 2020s So Far, is out now on International Anthem / Nonesuch Records. Like that album, The Way Out of Easy comprises recordings from LA venue ETA, where Parker and the ensemble held a weekly residency for seven years. During that time, the ETA IVtet evolved from a band that played mostly standards into a group known for its transcendent, long-form journeys into innovative, groove-oriented improvised music. All four tracks on The Way Out of Easy come from a single night in 2023, providing an unfiltered view of the ensemble, fully in their element.
Journal Topics: Album Release, Artist News
- Monday, June 27, 2022
"John’s music has been such a constant in my life that it’s reached a base level of my consciousness—it’s part of the way I hear all music now," Timo Andres (pictured here with John Adams in 2007) writes in his note in the new 40-disc box set John Adams Collected Works. "But in this case, it goes beyond the music. John showed me a model for life as an artist, one in which being communicative, permeable, and all-embracing can coexist with good craftsmanship, strongly held opinions, and the pursuit of one’s life’s work with single-minded intensity." You can read his complete note from the box set here.
Journal Topics: Artist Essays, Artist NewsMonday, June 27, 2022SFJAZZ has announced its 2022–23 concert season including performances from Brad Mehldau, Joshua Redman, Christian McBride, Brian Blade, Cécile McLorin Salvant, Laurie Anderson, and Mariza. This marks the 10th anniversary season of the SFJAZZ Center and the 40th anniversary of the organization.
Journal Topics: Artist News, On TourFriday, June 24, 2022Tigran Hamasyan has announced a seven-city North American tour for this fall, featuring music from StandArt, his new album of American standards. The tour, with Hamasyan's StandArt band mates, bassist Matt Brewer and drummer Justin Brown, kicks off at The Opera House in Brooklyn on November 9, with stops in Bentonville, Los Angeles, Boston, Philadelphia, and Ottawa, culminating at Koerner Hall in Toronto on November 19. The shows follow Hamasyan’s summer tour of Europe.
Journal Topics: Artist News, On TourFriday, June 24, 2022Punch Brothers and Cécile McLorin Salvant perform at the Ottawa Jazz Festival this weekend; Punch Brothers play Blue Ox Music Festival in Eau Claire, WI, as well ... Joachim Cooder hits Hawaii ... Sam Gendel is at Festival Fruezinho in Tokyo ... Rhiannon Giddens is at ROMP Fest in Kentucky ... Hurray for the Riff Raff joins Bright Eyes in San Diego and Phoenix ... Lake Street Dive tours the East Coast, as do Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway ... Brad Mehldau Trio plays Barbican Hall in London ... Vagabon is at Storm King Art Center in upstate NY ... Wilco tours Spain ...
Journal Topics: On Tour, Weekend EventsThursday, June 23, 2022Molly Tuttle was on PBS NewsHour to discuss her Nonesuch debut album, Crooked Tree, with her band Golden Highway, and how she got to where she is today. "Few women get named to those greatest all-time guitar-player lists that come out now and then," says host Judy Woodruff. "But as special correspondent Tom Casciato reports, there is one playing bluegrass who appears to be on her way." Casciato confirms: "Molly Tuttle is at the top of her profession." You can watch the profile here.
Journal Topics: Artist News, Television, VideoWednesday, June 22, 2022Wilco has shared a previously unreleased alternate version of their song “Kamera,” from the upcoming super deluxe and deluxe editions of the band's landmark 2002 album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, due September 16: “Kamera (The Unified Theory Of Everything Version).”
Journal Topics: Artist NewsTuesday, June 21, 2022To mark the longest day of the year, the summer solstice, Hurray for the Riff Raff (aka Alynda Segarra) releases a video for the title track to their critically acclaimed Nonesuch debut, LIFE ON EARTH. The video is directed and edited by Segarra, who also publishes the accompanying poem, "i always thought time was a circle turns out i was wrong." You can watch the video and read the poem here.
Journal Topics: Artist News, VideoTuesday, June 21, 2022In These Times, the new album by percussionist, producer, and composer Makaya McCraven, is due September 23. It has been in process since 2015 and is the album McCraven’s been trying to make since he started making records, an appropriately career-defining body of work. The eleven-song suite was created over seven-plus years, as McCraven strived to fuse odd-meter compositions from his working songbook with orchestral, large-ensemble arrangements and the edit-heavy “organic beat music” he’s honed over the years. With contributions from over a dozen musicians and creative partners from his tight-knit circle of collaborators—including Jeff Parker, Junius Paul, Brandee Younger, Joel Ross, and Marquis Hill—In These Times highlights McCraven’s unique gift for collapsing space, destroying borders, and blending past, present, and future into poly-textural arrangements of post-genre, jazz-rooted 21st-century folk music.
Journal Topics: Album Release, Artist NewsFriday, June 17, 2022In celebration of Father’s Day, Molly Tuttle recorded a new performance video of her song, “Grass Valley,” featuring her father, Jack Tuttle, a music teacher and multi-instrumentalist, on mandolin and vocals. The song, from Tuttle's new album, Crooked Tree, recorded with her band Golden Highway, tells the story of going to Grass Valley, California’s annual Father’s Day Bluegrass Festival with her dad, where she was first exposed to the bluegrass music that inspired her to play. You can watch the video here.
Journal Topics: Artist News, VideoFriday, June 17, 2022Brad Mehldau’s new album, Jacob’s Ladder, first released on CD and digital in March, is now available in a double vinyl set. The album features new music that reflects on scripture and the search for God through music inspired by the prog rock he loved as a young adolescent—his gateway to the fusion that eventually led to his discovery of jazz. Featured musicians on the album include label mates Chris Thile and Cécile McLorin Salvant, as well as Mark Guiliana, Becca Stevens, Joel Frahm, and others. Mojo calls it "a kaleidoscopic affair, where baroque prog-rock edifices are juxtaposed with clouds of ethereal choirs, dreamy piano interludes, and squalls of free jazz-style clarinet. Skillfully weaving these elements into storytelling sound collages, Mehldau takes the listener on a memorable musical journey."
Journal Topics: Album Release, Artist NewsFriday, June 17, 2022Telluride Bluegrass Festival celebrates the summer solstice with Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway, Punch Brothers, and Rhiannon Giddens & Francesco Turrisi ... Emmylou Harris performs at the Azkena Rock Festival in Spain ... Hurray for the Riff Raff tours Pacific Northwest with Bright Eyes ... Rachael & Vilray and a full band swing outdoors at Lincoln Center in NYC ... Rhiannon Giddens & Francesco Turrisi play SFJAZZ ... Wilco is in Belgium and the UK ...
Journal Topics: On Tour, Weekend EventsSunday, June 12, 2022Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi are the hosts of a new Apple Music radio show, Musical Routes Radio, all six episodes of which are now available. You can hear them now on Apple Music, and tune in to hear them on Apple Radio Country every other Saturday. “So much of the Americana and country music we love has roots outside of the United States,” says the show. “Illustrating the many intersections between country/roots music and global musical traditions, including Celtic music, Caribbean music, Indigenous music, and more, listeners will discover new artists, broaden their own musical knowledge, and enjoy unscripted, far-reaching conversations from two of music's most encyclopedic minds."
Journal Topics: Artist News, Podcast, Radio