Free Warren Hill MP3
This week only!
Meet Mop Mop
His label, INFRAcom!, says "Mop Mop's music shakes jazz and eclectic club sound with an Italian taste that joins international tendencies. Mop Mop is the brainchild of Andrea Benini, musician, producer, DJ who has been active in the music world for more than ten years exploring a large variety of musical genres, from club to jazz music." Watch for the new EP in September and get a preview at his MySpace page. If you listen to ContemporaryJazz.com Radio, you know that the style presented in this video is what I listen to most.
ContemporaryJazz.com Radio Adds - June (So Far)
ContemporaryJazz.com Radio plays nu jazz, acid jazz, remixed jazz,
jazzy house, and other groove jazz styles. It's online all the time and is free (with ads) or you can purchase a
VIP package for commercial free listening and other benefits.
I've embedded my spreadsheet of almost everything I added in June so far. The speadsheet contains the artist, track, album title, and
links to how to buy it through Amazon.com or iTunes if it's available. Buying through those links benefits ContemporaryJazz.com.
Click here for a full screen version.
Thanks to the listeners who have help catapult this station to the top acid jazz station on Live365.com!
Some new releases I added include a nice track from the better-than-the-last Verve Remixed 4 and a modern "Younger Rabbits" by the Jazz Crusaders featuring Wayne Henderson. That's from Wayne's hip-hop/jazz project Kick the Jazz. Also check out Kevin Yost's "Jazz Is" from his new compilation The Jazz Influence Vol. 3. You'll hear a couple of classic Down to the Bone cuts, this month's cover of "Everybody Loves the Sunshine" (I think I'll play one cover a month all summer), St. Germain, still-one-of-my-all-time-favorites, the Solsonics, and more!
Review: The Dixon-Rhyne Project - Reinvention
Review by Sean Miller
Hammond B-3 master Melvin Rhyne garnered himself a place in jazz history for his work with the legendary Wes Montgomery.
Thus it was with caution that saxophonist Rob Dixon approached him about creating and recording a modernized approach to the
jazz organ quartet. This Reinvention was to take place with the help of drummer Kenny Phelps and the renowned player
and instructor of guitar Fareed Haque (Garaj Mahal). To Dixon's pleasant surprise Rhyne was receptive to the idea and the
Dixon-Rhyne project was born. From start to finish the disc presents the listener with an energetic groove that's clearly
captured on tracks such as "Mind’s Eye" and "Fantastic Prizes". I particularly enjoyed the drum 'n bass number
"Shadow and Light" which features Rhyne on the Mini-Moog along with some fantastic tenor work by Dixon. Another standout
is the fusion scorcher "Tomorrow Sierra" on which Haque shines on electric guitar. The disc also includes a soulful cover
of Kenny Burrell’s "Chit’lins Con Carne" as well. While it might be tempting to write this off as just another
organ quartet outing, Reinvention is anything but. If you're looking for a fresh perspective on the traditional organ
quartet be sure to give this one a listen.
Buy the CD at Amazon.com.
Capital Jazz Fest 2008
Special Report by Clifford BeckHot. Of all the music and sights I saw during the CJF weekend, what stuck in my mind was the heat. It was hotter than hell during that weekend. But the music made up for it. That and a lot of water.
We didn't attend
the Friday night concert with Justin Young, Boney James, and Brian McKnight. Hopefully someone can chime in
later about their performances. We did attend the the Capital Jazz Challenge Competition at the Hilton Columbia on Friday night.
There were six finalists this year. Every single one of them played their ass off, with a few standouts I really enjoyed.
Alton Merrell on keyboards didn't win but, in my uneducated opinion, he should have. A humble master of his instrument, he didn't
overpower with a lot of volume and simple chord changes. This cat is a piano player. And I mean that in a good way. What sealed
the deal for me was when he closed his set with "Spain." Yeah, that "Spain," Chick Corea's "Spain." Did no one else in the crowd,
except for the judges and maybe a few more then me, realized what they were seeing and hearing? Taking nothing away from B.K.
Jackson, the sax player who won the competition, I would have voted for Mr. Merrell hands down.
B.K. Jackson is a 16 year old saxophone player out of Tampa Bay. Simply put, we are going to be hearing great things from
this kid. He is a absolute marvel on the sax, playing on a level years beyond his age.
Saturday. Ken Ford playing electric violin started off the festival playing a hell of a energetic set with more funk than I've ever seen in a violin player. Lots of energy,and showmanship. Spyro Gyra surprised me. I was expecting somewhat of a laidback set from them, but that wasn't so. Upbeat, tight and a great crowd pleaser. I look forward to seeing them live again. We then walked up to the Symphony Woods Stage to see Plunky. This was my second time seeing Plunky. The first was years ago at a festival inside Washington D.C. He was great then,and even better now. The man's got vocal skills to equal his horn blowing,and when he played "Drop," the crowd went crazy. Nice set.
I've
seen Wayman Tisdale before and, as usual, he started his set nice and tight with what could be considered a signature
tune of his as well as Earth, Wind & Fire's, "Can't Hide Love." He played a great set, but it looked like Wayman was hurting.
His medical issues seemed to be bothering him. and he walked off the stage using a cane limping. Regardless, he performed great,
didn't hold back, and was backed by a hell of a tight group. He put on a nice performance. Again, hopefully someone can chime
in on the performances of Dianne Reeves and Chris Botti. We didn't stay for their performances,and left the Festival just
before the wind picked up, the sky opened up,and it poured buckets of rain.
Sunday. Four80East opened up Sunday. I've got plenty of their music, but never have I seen them live. I was impressed. They played what I would call a upbeat, laidback set with a bit of funk. Great musicianship and a good rapport with the crowd. These guys put down a hell of a good groove. Ditto for Down to the Bone. They grooved also. Nowhere as laid back as Four80East. These boys came with the jazz-funk. Best line of the day was when Paul "Shilts" Weimer referred to the crowd on the lawn as "You crazy bastards" because they were right under the sun.
RnR. Rick Braun & Richard Elliot. I remember Rick touring with Sade back in the early nineties and Richard Elliot used to blow the funk with Tower Of Power. They played a hell of a set. They also bought the funk. Obviously they are good friends as well performers because it showed, even when Richard Elliott threw a large bucket at Rick Braun. Their band was nice and tight and both of them got a chance to open up a and bit together and separately.
Joe Sample played a very nice acoustic trio set with his son Nicklas on upright bass,and a nice drummer by the name of Johnny Vidacovich from New Orleans on the trapset. Joe played about four cuts, then invited Randy Crawford out on stage. This woman has a voice that I could listen to while drinking a nice single malt,and enjoying a great cigar. I had to settle for just a lot of ice water but Randy sung her songs with a feeling I've always enjoyed. Second best line of the day was when Randy offered congrats to Hillary for running a great campaign and called Bill a rat husband.
This brings me to the last act of the festival, Brian Culbertson and the Funk Experience.
Simply put, I was blown away. This cat brings a 11 piece band with him that is so tight it ought to be against the law.
And totally bought the house down. Think Earth, Wind & Fire with Larry Dunn out front. Think Parliament, and/or Bootsy with
the keyboards out front. If Brian Culbertson could enter a time machine and go back to the seventies and play with Bootsy,
Parliament, EWF, Brick, Wild Cherry, The Commodores, Graham Central Station, any of the funk-jazz groups from back in the day,
he would already be gone. I almost didn't recognize Sheldon Reynolds, formally of EWF, on guitar. He's lost a lot of weight
from what I remember. Still, he grooved,and damn,it felt good to see and hear him play. I would suggest that you do not
download Brian's new album.
Go
buy the CD. When you see who produced this project, and who contributed, all you will say is 'damn'! I would also suggest
if your say in a mile radius of where Brian and his Funk Experience will be playing, I suggest you suck it up, by the ticket,
and hit the road. You will not be disappointed. I assure you.
As usual, a great overall Capital Jazz Festival. Good food, good friends, Plenty of vendors to separate you from your money, and most of all the music. And the heat. Damn, it was hot. But it could have been worse, it could have been raining.
Looking forward to next year already.
The Grace of Summer Light from Ken Navarro
One of your summer listening highlights this year will likely be the new recording from Ken Navarro, The Grace of Summer
Light. I've heard the majority of the now 18 recordings of the guitarist and he continues to impress. This latest release
continues to demonstrate Navarro's growth as a composer. In fact, I'll have to remember to refer to him as composer/guitarist
Ken Navarro, or even more accurately: storyteller Ken Navarro. The compositions obviously inspired the musicians, including Joel
Rosenblatt on drums, Tom Kennedy on acoustic and electric bass, and Jay Rowe on keyboards. Find out for yourself: Ken is offering
the entire recording, all 57 minutes, for you to listen to.
It's not background music that you can listen to while you work. This music demands your attention. And, as he did with his previous
effort, The Meeting Place, he's
blogged about the making of the new album.
The Grace of Summer Light will be in stores on June 17 on Ken's Positive Music label. You can pre-order it now through Amazon.com. Join the discussion about it in The Forum!
Review: Yellowjackets featuring Mike Stern - Lifecycle
Review by John Luciano
The Yellowjackets - where do I start? How about at the beginning, when they were the back-up band for Robben Ford?
Much has been written and chronicled about this early chapter of their history, especially in light of their 2006 anniversary
release, Twenty-Five. I bring all this up because of the inevitable comparison that will be made between the current
Yellowjackets line-up on Lifecycle and the original group with guitarist Ford – all because of the prescience of the
telecaster-wielding Mike Stern. Let me start by saying that I think this current band of Haslip, Ferrante, Mintzer and
Baylor along with guest Stern are by far the strongest iteration of this storied group. Ford, Russo, Lawson, Kennedy, and
Erskine all contributed mightily when they were in the band but, somewhere in the late eighties, Ferrante and Haslip started
to take the band, both sonically and compositionally, in a different direction. This culminated with Mintzer joining the
Jackets for both Greenhouse and his own One Music in 1991 and 1992 respectively. Which leads us to Lifecycle, and the inclusion
of Stern, who first joined the Yellowjackets on stage in Montreal last year. Whereas Ford has always had that blues sound,
Stern's playing is decidedly more horn-like in both his phrasing and attack which makes him the perfect foil for Mintzer.
In fact, I feel that Stern could have felt right at home on any of the last four or five Jackets' releases – his sound and
compositional style are so incredibly suited to this band. I remember a night in 1990 when I was listening to the local
late night jazz radio broadcast and I heard what I thought was the Yellowjackets. It turned out to be a tune from
the Mike Stern-Bob Berg band, something from one or the other's recordings, which at the time were virtually the same
personnel. My point: this collaboration has been a long time coming and this version of the Yellowjackets has never
sounded better or stronger. As a fan, the courage that the Yellowjackets display on Lifecycle to keep evolving the
band is certainly a comfort for future endeavors.
Buy the CD, MP3 downloads, and watch a behind-the-scenes interview at Amazon.com.
Download Lifecycle from iTunes.
Marcus Miller Interview
John
Luciano recently interviewed Marcus Miller for the site. Marcus talks about his new release, titled Marcus in the U.S., how
he got his sound, the jazz industry today, and what's coming up.
You can catch Marcus recorded live playing with Herbie Hancock, Joni Mitchell, DJ C-Minus, and others on Yahoo! on April 1. Herbie plays songs from River: The Joni Letters and his classic, signature songs including "Rockit!"
New Incognito Set For June Release
From the press release: Incognito will make their Heads Up debut with Tales From The Beach, an album scheduled for worldwide release on June 24. Recorded in Italy, Germany, Indonesia and London (and mixed in Jakarta), the release is a refreshing and uplifting 15-track set that captures the best elements of the band's classic sound: driving rhythms, high-impact horns and stirring lyrics delivered by an array of expressive vocalists. The album title is a reference to Bluey's musical evolution since his childhood in Mauritius. "When I was a kid, my first taste of music came from the beaches," he says. "I spent a lot of time listening to the hotel bands, or the bands playing around the bonfires and cookouts. It's a small island, so there were beaches everywhere. I was always watching live musicians play. So for inspiration for this album, I went back to various beaches around the world – in Italy, Indonesia and elsewhere – and just let the music flow."
You can support this site by buying music through our affiliation with Amazon and iTunes!
= Buy the CD from Amazon.com
= Buy the download from iTunes
- NEW THIS WEEK
- Incognito, Tales from the Beach (6/24)
- Gerald Albright, Sax for Stax (6/24)
- ALL NEW RELEASES
- David Sanborn, Here and There (8/12)
note: w/ Eric Clapton, Joss Stone, Sam Moore...
- Shilts, Jigsaw Life (7/22)
- Incognito, Tales from the Beach (6/24)
- Gerald Albright, Sax for Stax (6/24)
- Ken Navarro, The Grace Of Summer Light (6/17)
- Hiromi's Sonicbloom, Beyond Standard (6/10)
- Trance Groove, Orange (6/6)
- Wayman Tisdale, Rebound (6/3)
- Various, Verve Remixed, Vol. 4 (5/27)
note: Kenny Dope, Antibalas, and more remix Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, others
- Return To Forever, The Anthology (5/27)
note: tracks from four RTF recordings remixed and remastered
| more info
- David Benoit, Heroes (5/27)
note: covers of songs by Dave Grusin, Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson, Horace Silver, Dave Brubeck, Elton John,
- Esperanza Spalding, Esperanza (5/20)
- Pat Metheny, Tokyo Day Trip - Live EP (5/20)
- Yellowjackets featuring Mike Stern, Lifecycle (5/20)
- Jazz Crusaders featuring Wayne Henderson, Kick the Jazz (5/13)
note: jazz/hip hop recording
- Stanley Jordan Trio, Paris Concert DVD (5/13)
- Brian Culbertson, Bringing Back the Funk (4/29)
note: w/ Bootsy Collins, Larry Graham, Ronnie Laws, Musiq Soulchild; executive produced by Maurice White
- Global Noize, Global Noize (4/29)
note: DJ Logic/Jason Miles electronica/jazz/world project w/ major players
| more info
- Chris Standring, Love and Paragraphs (4/22)
- Stanley Jordan, State of Nature (4/22)
- The Cinematic Orchestra, Live at the Royal Albert Hall (4/22)
- Soulphiction, Do You Overstand?! (4/21)
- Bradley Leighton, Soul Collective (4/15)
- Robert Walter, Cure All (4/15)
note: w/ James Singleton and Johnny Vidacovich
- Various, Miles From India (4/15)
note: 2-CD set of recreations of Miles Davis' music by alumni from his bands and Indian musicians
- Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, Lil' Tae Rides Again (4/8)
- Victor Wooten, Palmystery (4/1)
note: w/ Neal Evans, Keb Mo, Karl Denson, Richard Bona, and more
- Victor Wooten, The Music Lesson (book)
(4/1)
note: story of a struggling young musician who wanted music to be his life
- Spring Heel Jack, Songs and Themes (3/25)
- Marcus Johnson, In Concert For A Cause (3/18)
note: proceeds support YMCA Annual Fundraising Campaign
- South Froggies, Nu Jazz Factory (3/17)
- Jamhunters, Music Speaks Louder Than Words (3/15) note: smooth/acid/lounge/latin jazz sounds | more info
- JD73, Zeroes and Ones (3/11)
- Gerald Veasley, Your Move (3/11)
- Solamingus, Define Funk (3/11)
- Marcus Miller, Marcus (3/4)
note: U.S. release; titled Free in other countries
- Stance Brothers, Kind Soul (3/4)
- Bob Baldwin, NewUrbanJazz.com (3/4)
note: Jocelyn Brown on one track
- Danny Lerman, Meow Baby (2/28)
- Various, Jazz and Milk Breaks, Vol. 2 (2/27)
note: digital download; w/ Mocean Worker, Free the Robots; 6 artists for $6
- Gemini Soul, The Nefertiti Xperience (2/25)
note: musically inspired by Me'Shell Ndegeocello and Herbie Hancock
- Tom Scott, Cannon Re-Loaded: An All-Star Celebration of Cannonball Adderley (2/12)
note: w/ Terence Blanchard, Marcus Miller, George Duke, Steve Gadd, Larry Goldings, Nancy Wilson
- The Blessing, All Is Yes (2/11)
| more info
- Guru, The Best of Guru's Jazzmatazz (2/12)
note: compilation of first three Jazzmatazz recordings + bonus tracks; w/ The Roots, Donald Byrd, Ronny Jordan, Jamiroquai, and many more
- Paul Hardcastle, Hardcastle 5 (2/5)
- Chick Corea/Gary Burton, The New Crystal Silence (2/5)
note: 2-CD set: one duet CD; one with them w/ the Sydney Symphony
- Pat Metheny Trio, Day Trip (1/29)
- Various, The Jazz Influence, Vol. 3 (Electronic Jazz Compiled by Kevin Yost) (1/29; CD available 2/19)
note: w/ Luke Hampton, Euphonic 7, Adagio, and more
- Ron Blake, Shayari (1/29)
- Christian Prommer's DrumLesson, Drum Lesson Vol. 1 (1/29)
- Vandermark 5, Beat Reader (1/29)
- Al Jarreau, Love Songs (1/29)
note: collected from his Warner Bros. recordings; some remastered
- Afro Elements, It Remains To Be Seen (1/22)
- Michael Manson, Up Front (1/22)
note: w/ Norman Brown, George Duke, Kirk Whalum, Rick Braun, Jeff Lorber, Najee, and more
- Various, Neujazz (1/15)
note: Jazzanova compilation w/ Two Banks of Four, Hipnosis, Build An Ark, Fertile Ground, Hajime Yoshizawa
- Nnenna Freelon, Better Than Anything: The Quintessential Nnenna Freelon (1/15)
- Megaphone Man, Live at the Tabernacle (1/15)
note: sax/bass/drums jam trio
- Eliane Elias, Something for You: Eliane Elias Sings and Plays Bill Evans (1/15)
- Medeski Martin and Wood, Let's Go Everywhere (1/8)
note: MMW's first recording for children and families
