You’re playing 300 shows a year worldwide. Have you always worked this hard?
My father died when I was 11, leaving six kids. My brothers Chris, Phil and I had to be the breadwinners. From when I was about 12, we were living in Parkes, NSW, and I stocked supermarket shelves, mowed lawns, taught guitar, and Phil and I had a band playing every weekend. And I went to school. I was very industrious.
Read the full interview on THE AUSTRALIAN
Tommy Emmanuel on TKA
Cecile McLorin Salvant made it two back-to-back triumphs at the New Orleans Jazz Fest on Friday at the Jazz Tent. Salvant, a romping 21st century singer, made it look easy with sterling support from the trio of pianist Aaron Diehl.
If you’re a fan of jazz singers, please note that Salvant, age 25, already stands with the best. Her organ pipe chest voice is a resonant match for Sarah Vaughn in high diva mode. Her harmonic imagination and vaulting dynamic shifts are a match for those of Betty Carter. And, when she swings, she walks the same clouds of joy trod by Ella Fitzgerald.
Read the full article on NOLA
Cecile McLorin Salvant on TKA
Back in December, the members of Minneapolis soul band Sonny Knight & the Lakers each selected their favorite live albums for a special feature right here at Glide. The members were excited to share personal favorite live shows because they were getting ready to record their very own live album. If you read that piece and had never heard of the group, you probably would have guessed that their music is heavily influenced by classic funk and soul, among many other styles. At the age of 66, veteran performer Sonny Knight brings to mind other soul singers like Charles Bradley and Lee Fields who’ve found new audiences decades after getting into music. Don’t let his age fool you though, as Knight fronts the band with a youthful spunk that plenty of performers in their 20s can’t top.
Read the full article on GLIDE MAGAZINE
Sonny Knight & The Lakers on TKA
On paper it looked a winning formula: two of the most admired and influential jazz pianists of the last half century, two grand pianos and a wide musical sky. The possible blot was that Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock have clocked up at least a dozen Australian tours between them, and both have run hot and cold. Would the two-piano format propel them toward their brilliant best or drag them into those occasional mires of mediocrity that hardly tax the memory afterwards?
Read the full article on THE SYNDEY MORNING HERALD
Chick Corea on TKA
Maximum Ink: You are getting a lot of attention for this current project, how does it feel to be recognized for your music?
Sonny: It feels great! I am hanging out, jammin’ with cats half my age, and I love it. I’m finally getting this chance to pursue my lifetime dream.
MI: So music has always been your goal?
Sonny: As a kid growing up in the South, it was always about Gospel. I was little but already on a big stage at church. And as I grew up I played with different bands; but was most interested in funk and soul. There was some success here and there, but nothing like this!
Read the full article on MAXIMUM INK
Sonny Knight & The Lakers on TKA
Callaway’s voice has such range and flexibility that she can use it to imitate every instrument in her (non-existent) band, an eerie experience because it is a trick I have never heard anyone else able to do. This New York based singer gave a worldwind performance in London; DIVA POWER pays tribute to the female greats who inspired Callaway’s musical journey.
Read the full article on MUSICAL THEATRE REVIEW
Ann Hampton Callaway on TKA
The singer and songwriter Meshell Ndegeocello, the painter and sculptor Edouard Duval-Carrié, the filmmakers Ryan White and Ben Cotner and the artist Wangechi Mutu are among 34 people who have been awarded $50,000 and named U.S.A. fellows for 2014. The unrestricted awards, announced Monday, are from the United States Artists program, a grant-making organization funded by philanthropic foundations and individuals to support creativity. The 16 women and 18 men were selected by experts in their fields and were among 116 nominated artists living in the United States.
Read the full article on THE NEW YORK TIMES
Meshell Ndegeocello on TKA
Ann Hampton Callaway will be celebrating the music of a living legend—and her personal musical heroine—Barbra Streisand. Callaway will be performing many of her idol’s signature classics, delivered, of course, with Callaway’s own unique, personal style. She first debuted this concept concert with the Boston Pops and continues to tour the show with leading orchestra across the country.
Read the full article on BROADWAY WORLD
Ann Hampton Callaway on TKA
Whether it’s publically acknowledged or not, Meshell Ndegeocello’s sound is everywhere. You can hear it in the licks of Miguel, in the so-drunk-on-good-sex harmonies of Kelela, and even the witchy glitches of Flying Lotus. When I mention this to Ndegeocello, she laughs and says, “What makes you say that?” This response is symptomatic of the humble approach Ndegeocello has always taken with her music. She is a pioneer who wears the tag with a sense of looseness, lightness even.
Read the full article on HUFFINGTON POST
Meshell Ndegeocello on TKA
At 73, it is inevitable that Chick Corea would be moving ever higher on the forever shifting list of Greatest Living Jazz Musicians. Of course, such a definitive list doesn’t exist, except in the minds of individual jazz fans and musicians. But, at this point in his life, Corea has to be close to the pinnacle of such a list, and for millions of people around the world, he may in fact be sitting at the top.
“It’s all a matter of one’s viewpoint and ability to live in the present moment. It’s amazing what possibilities we can conjure.”
Read the full article on SANTA CRUZ SENTINEL
Chick Corea on TKA