Monthly Archives: August 2015

REVIEW: Bobby McFerrin at TD Victoria International Jazz Fest

Adrian Chamberlain for The Times Colonist

The casual listener knows Bobby McFerrin mostly for his lighter-than-air ditty, Don’t Worry, Be Happy.

However, it was the spiritual side — well, the lighthearted spiritual side — of the American singer that we witnessed Saturday at TD Victoria International Jazz Fest. (Sorry, pop fans — McFerrin hasn’t sung his greatest hit in concert for years.)

Black spirituals reflect the faith and the experience of Africans enslaved in America. McFerrin, an unorthodox jazz singer, focused on spirituals in his latest album, spirtityouall. On this warm summer evening, we were treated to some of these — and a good deal of McFerrin-esque whimsy as well.

Like Kurt Elling or Ella Fitzgerald, McFerrin scat-sings in the manner of a jazz instrumentalist. He opened the concert a cappella, rapping his upper chest with his right hand, sometimes seeming to hit two tones simultaneously. To hear this live is rather amazing. (06/21/2015)

Read more at The Times Colonist 
Bobby McFerrin on TKA

 

REVIEW: Bobby McFerrin at Roy Thomson Hall

Agah Bahari for LIVE IN LIMBO

Roy Thomson Hall, the home to Toronto Symphony Orchestra, has seen many great legends and talents performing on it’s stellar stage. On Saturday, it hosted Bobby Mcferrin, the man whose instrument is his voice and that’s all he’s ever needed. From his 1988 hit song “Don’t worry, Be Happy” to his ten Grammy Awards and collaborations with the likes of Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, and Yo-Yo Ma, Bobby Mcferrin has been one of the heavy weights of music since the 70’s. On Saturday night, he joined the Canadian A Capella quartet, Cadence, first for a workshop in which he began with interacting with the children in the crowed by encouraging them to sing their own name. He suggested that singing your own name for fifteen minutes everyday will give you a completely new outlook. He then performed improvised a song with Cadence and then was off the stage to prepare for the night’s performance, Bobby Meets Toronto, including himself, along with the Torontonian musicians Cadence quartet, George Sawa on Arabic Instruments, Muthadi Thomas on West African Drums, Kyle Brenders on Saxophone, and the dance Michael Caldwell. (06/16/15)

Read the review at Live in Limbo
Bobby McFerrin on TKA

Review: Roy Haynes Dips into his Fountain of Youth

Review by Michael J. West for THE WASHINGTON POST

Roy Haynes, who turned 90 in March, is surely the world’s greatest living jazz drummer. He’s also astonishingly exuberant and spry for a nonagenarian: At his most sluggish, he still seems 20 years younger. Indeed, Haynes was easily the dominating force of the otherwise much younger quartet (which he fittingly calls “Fountain of Youth”) that he brought to Blues Alley on Friday night. (8/2/2015)

Read the full article on The Washington Post
Roy Haynes on TKA

REVIEW: Brassed-out Soul in Melbourne with The Soul Rebels

Review by Jack Lynch for TONE DEAF

A long way from their home in New Orleans, Louisiana, The Soul Rebels brought some heavy brass to the Melbourne Recital Centre ahead of their Bluesfest performance. As musicians, they were near perfect, blasting their way through an hour and a half of brassed-out soul, r n’ b, and hip hop.

The atmosphere in the venue was far more subdued than in New Orleans’ French Quarter, with the majority of the Tuesday night crowd feeling more comfortable in their chairs than standing up and physically showing their enthusiasm.(4/5/14)

Read the article on Tone Deaf
The Soul Rebels on TKA

REVIEW: Stacey Kent Infuses Birdland with Bossa Nova

Review by Alix Cohen for Broadway World

Watching Stacey Kent perform Portuguese music has got to be the next best thing to actually being in Brazil. As she exhibited last night at Birdland for two shows, Kent gets this genre perhaps better than any other contemporary American performer. She performs with palpable sensitivity and infectious joie de vivre. (7/23/15)

Read the full article on Broadway World
Stacey Kent on TKA

REVIEW: Stacey Kent’s “The Changing Lights”

Review by Andrew Velez (The New York City Jazz Record)

Stacey Kent is a skillful and multilingual mood builder with a particular affinity for making happy things happen with Brazilian music. She begins her latest album in the mood of a tender bossa, a style at which she excels. All the support that’s needed for “This Happy Madness” comes from Graham Harvey’s quietly expressive piano. Kent brings exactly to life the very happy confusion of being caught up with feelings that turn “the world into a baby’s bouncing ball.” Her sense of wonder is delicious as she inquires wonderingly, “What should I call this happy madness that I feel inside of me?”

Read the full article on The New York City Jazz Record p. 20
Stacey Kent on TKA

FEATURE: Introducing Wintergatan: My New Favorite Band (And Yours, Too)

I have become obssessed with Wintergatan since catching the final two songs of their set at the Roskilde Festival in Denmark last month. That’s how much they impressed me; two songs were enough to sell me on the band right away, and I’ve fallen head over heels since. I was so taken with their music that I felt compelled to use my expensive international data plan to listen to their only album on Spotify the very next day, in the airport — I couldn’t wait just a few hours until I was back home.

Read the Full Article on MetalSucks
Wintergatan on TKA

KUDOS: Wynton Marsalis is Recipient of the 2015 Marian Anderson Award

Mayor Nutter announced Monday that Wynton Marsalis, the jazz and classical musician, composer, and arts advocate, is the recipient of the 2015 Marian Anderson Award.

Marsalis, winner of a Grammy Award and a Pulitzer Prize, and honored with the National Medal of Arts, joins other recipients of the medal, including Sidney Poitier, Maya Angelou, Mia Farrow, James Earl Jones, Berry Gordy Jr., and 2014 winner Jon Bon Jovi.

Read the full article on Philadelphia Inquirer
Wynton Marsalis on TKA