Congrats to Stacey Kent, whose new album “I Know I Dream” won Vocal Album of the Year at the Jazz Japan Awards!

“It’s often said that the most sophisticated jazz audiences in the world these days are to be found in Japan. So I’m delighted, but not surprised, that Stacey has won this important award for her beautiful new album. She’s one of the truly great jazz singers of this or any other era – and one of the most subtle. Her brilliant technique works through understatement, nuance and implication to create complex shades of feeling. In other words, she exemplifies the kind of artistic qualities Japanese people have understood and celebrated for centuries. It’s been a privilege for me to write lyrics for her over these past ten years, and I’m so glad I was again allowed to contribute to this superb new record. I hope Japanese jazz fans will go on from here to have a long, deep love affair with Stacey Kent’s music.” – KAZUO ISHIGURO, Novelist, Lyricist, Nobel Laureate

 

Stacey Kent on TKA

Lizzie Manno for PASTE MAGAZINE – Béla Fleck & Abigail Washburn have released a new music video for “Let It Go,” taken from their 2017 album, Echo In The Valley.

This banjo-playing duo (and married couple) won a 2016 Grammy Award for Best Folk Album for their self-titled debut album and last year, the band released their follow-up album, Echo In The Valley, to critical acclaim.

”’Let It Go’ is an important song for our family,” Fleck and Washburn tell Paste. “Having a child is a constant process of letting go, starting with birth. It’s both exciting to see our son Juno spread his wings, and simultaneously sad to see him move independently out into the world. The song was also designed so it can be about other things, involving relationships and personal growth as we put things behind us and lean into the future … It’s up to the listener to find the meaning that resonates for them.”

Read the full article and watch the video here

Béla Fleck & Abigail Washburn on TKA

FRONTVIEW MAGAZINE – Accomplice One, full of standouts, Tommy Emmanuel delivers a jaw-dropping rendition of “Purple Haze” with Dobro master Jerry Douglas that captures all the fire and energy of the Hendrix original as the two modern masters push each other to new heights with each raunchy slide and bend. “

Tommy about the new song: “I tried to think of a way of annoying bluegrass purists and my idea was to get Jerry Douglas to play Purple Haze with me! This recording is one take and totally spontaneous. I’m still not sure if I followed him or if he followed me, but we both ended up in the same place – and then laughed about it. Jerry, to me, is a genius and has a beautiful attitude towards making music and I’m very grateful to have him as a friend.”

Watch The Soul Rebels, referred to by CBS as “the hippest brass band in the land,” sits in with The Late Show with Stephen Colbert house band to kick off this year’s Mardis Gras celebration in style.

The band has several engagements lined up in New York City in March before performing several shows with Talib Kweli and GZA on the East Coast. The Soul Rebels will play the national anthem at a New York Knicks game at Madison Square Garden. The band also will perform with G-EAZY at Radio City Music Hall, and it will do three shows at the Brooklyn Bowl with guests Curren$y, Cory Henry and Marcus King.

 

Watch the performance on YouTube

The Soul Rebels on TKA