Monthly Archives: October 2016

KUDOS: TKA Artists strong on the DownBeat Readers Poll!

The DownBeat Magazine Readers Poll announced its list of winners for 2016 and TKA is proud to recognize a number of our artists on their list. Check out our winners below!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

81st ANNUAL DOWNBEAT READERS POLL WINNERS
Big Band: Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra
Trumpet: Wynton Marsalis
Baritone Saxophone: James Carter
Piano: Chick Corea
Keyboard: Chick Corea
Organ: Joey DeFrancesco
Guitar: Pat Metheny
Vibraphone: Gary Burton
Miscellaneous Instrument: Béla Fleck (banjo)

Find the full list at DownBeat Magazine

FEATURE: The Village Voice on Béla Fleck and the Future of the Banjo

Lindsey Rhoades for THE VILLAGE VOICE –

No player in the history of the banjo has done more to free the instrument from the confines of bluegrass than New York native Béla Fleck. His innovative playing has melded the banjo with pop, classical, and folk; he’s collaborated with Dave Matthews Band, Phish, and fusion legend Chick Corea, among others. His solo work and long-running progressive bluegrass project the Flecktones have earned him Grammy nominations in more categories than any other instrumentalist. Now he’s brought his wide-ranging practice to Symphony Space for a series of live banjo performances that culminate in a roundtable with four other players on October 23. All of them came to the instrument in roundabout, surprising ways.

 

Fleck received his first banjo at the age of fifteen, his interest in its sound piqued by Appalachian banjo legend Earl Scruggs’s performance of the Beverly Hillbillies theme song. “It was an existential crisis for me, being an Upper West Side New York kid learning to play the banjo, because it didn’t make sense to anybody around me,” Fleck says with a laugh. “It didn’t even make sense to me!” As a teenager, he sought the expertise of fellow Tri-Stater Tony Trischka, who had just released an influential solo debut, Bluegrass Light, after years of playing in country music ensembles.

“Béla was pretty unforgettable,” Trischka says. “He was sixteen and could already play bluegrass and fiddle tunes. He was interested in some of the weirder stuff I was doing,” which included introducing Middle Eastern–inspired modes and jazz improvisation to traditional bluegrass. Trischka had begun playing banjo in 1963, quickly becoming accustomed to the mocking cries of “Yee-haw!” that followed him whenever he carried his instrument around New York. He’d been honing his craft for nearly a decade when he took Fleck on as a student. “I would jam out on a traditional tune, and he would come back the next week having learned every note. After a few months, it was obvious that he didn’t need lessons.”

Read the full article at The Village Voice

Béla Fleck on TKA 

KUDOS: Joey DeFrancesco Added to the Philadelphia Music Walk of Fame!

TKA is proud to announce that Joey DeFrancesco has been added to the Philadelphia Music Walk of Fame in honor of his exemplary career and indelible influence. From the press release:

“For the first time in its 30-year history, the Philadelphia Music Alliance (PMA) will go “All Jazz” with the additions this month of Joey DeFrancesco, Benny Golson, Christian McBride, Jaco Pastorius, and WRTI air personality Bob Perkins to the Philadelphia Music Walk of Fame as members of its Class of 2016.

The new honorees will be formally inducted together Wednesday, October 19, 2016 during afternoon ceremonies along the Avenue of the Arts, highlighted by the unveiling of their freshly installed bronze plaques. Anthony Checchia, founding artistic director of the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, whose induction was announced in March, also will see his plaque unveiled as part of the ceremony. The Walk of Fame induction, which starts at noon and will be preceded by an 11 a.m. press conference, will launch a two-day live music celebration in the city and suburbs, beginning that evening.

Joey DeFrancesco emerged in the 1980s to become the new-age proponent of jazz organ, an instrument that had been pushed aside in favor of the growing technology. Quoted as the Master of the Jazz organ, the three-time Grammy® nominee now takes his place with Fats Waller, Wild Bill Davis and Jimmy Smith in the lineage of Jazz Organ.”

Read the rest of the press release at the Philadelphia Music Alliance

Joey DeFrancesco on TKA 

 

 

REVIEW: Béla Fleck & Victor Wooten Tear Up Sanders

Lucy Wang for THE HARVARD CRIMSON –

Stevie Wonder tunes, Latin dances, and jazzy melodies reverberated through Sanders Theatre among snaps and nodding heads as Béla Fleck and Victor Wooten strummed away on Saturday night. Sounds of Fleck’s banjo and Wooten’s bass paired together beautifully throughout the whole concert, sometimes mellow and sometimes bright, but always soulful and deeply engaging.

Long-term partners, Wooten and Fleck were original members of the band “The Flecktones”, which the latter started in 1988. The band has made numerous appearances throughout the years, including on screen with the “Tonight Show”, “Saturday Night Live”, and “Late Night with David Letterman.” Known for its diversified repertoire, the band created original fusions of classical, funk, bluegrass, rock, and world traditions that have won them six Grammy awards and wide acclaim.

 

Saturday’s performance was a manifestation of the band’s eclecticism. The show opener piece was upbeat and funky, and a couple of measures sounded awfully close to the famous opening chords of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. With such delightful surprises, as well as an impressive series of runs from Wooten, the duo established an engaging presence on stage. Their synchronization was precise and skillful, matched only by their movements back and forth on stage.

However, the slow and soulful pieces came across just as well. As Fleck and Wooten sat across from each other, gently strumming their acoustic broken chords on the strings, the music evoked a serene nighttime beach: The beat was rocking water slapping waves across the sand, and the alluring melody was the moonlight glittering over the sea.

(10/19/16)

Read the full review at The Harvard Crimson

Béla Fleck on TKA

VIDEO: Sonny Knight & The Lakers Live in The Current Studios

Last time Sonny Knight and the Lakers stopped by The Current, they performed with legends. This time around — their third performance in our studios — the eight-piece band performed as luminaries themselves.

In support of their new Sooner or Later album, Sonny Knight and the Lakers — Sonny Knight (vocals), Eric Foss (drums), Blair Krivanek (guitar), Nick Salisbury (bass), Sam Harvey-Carlson (keys), Cole Pulice (saxophone), Tony Beaderstadt (trombone) and Riley Helgeson (trumpet) — stopped by The Current to perform live in-studio and to chat with host Andrea Swensson of The Local Show.

(10/19/16)

Read more and watch the in-studio performance at The Current

Sonny Knight & The Lakers on TKA

INTERVIEW: Harold López Nussa on 90.9 WBUR – On Point

Harold López Nussa sits down and performs for Tom Ashbrook. The two discuss his Cuban heritage, his career as a jazz innovator, and his indelible blend of Afro-Cuban roots with the history of the genre. As Ashbrook describes:

“Havana, Cuba is the hometown of jazz pianist and composer Harold López-Nussa.  But his music goes very wide. Global. With an African flavor, of course. It’s at the heart of so much Cuban music. But then all over. Latin America. France. The America of Thelonius Monk. And into Cuba’s own rich musical history. It’s beautiful. It’s irresistible. This hour On Point, the Afro-Cuban-Latin-and-more jazz of Harold López-Nussa”

Tune into the stream of the interview and performance at WBUR.org

Harold López Nussa on TKA 

(10/11/16)