Larry Groce for NPR – May 14 is my “Deadiversary.” It’s the first time I saw the legendary group Grateful Dead. It was on that date in 1970 at what was then-called Meramec Community College, outside of St Louis. It wasn’t until years later that I went back and found that show in the extensive Grateful Dead archive and checked out the set list. Funny enough, the band played two of the three songs in this set we put together from the Mountain Stagearchives, “Attics of My Life” and “New Speedway Boogie.” In fact, on the site I’m looking at, it says “First ‘Attics,'” so it seems I was there the very first time that song was performed live. I’m sure any Dead enthusiast will dig these arrangements of popular Garcia/Hunter co-writes, but even if you don’t know “Dark Star” from Star Wars, I think you’ll enjoy them just as much.

In 2006, we did a show at West Virginia’s famous Greenbrier Hotel & Resort, which was the first time we worked with the incredible vocalist Catherine Russell. You’ll hear Cat and her band do a cool, stripped-down, jazzy version of “New Speedway Boogie.”

Read full article on NPR

Catherine Russell on TKA

Robert Crawford for Rolling Stone – The Hot Sardines, “Baby Won’t You Please Come Home (Live)”A 100-year-old jazz standard gets reborn in this live performance by the Hot Sardines. Their version is hushed and intimate, driven forward by piano, some muted blasts of trumpet and the cabaret-queen vocals of Elizabeth Bougerol. Featuring recordings from two different concerts, the song’s accompanying album, Welcome Home, Bon Voyage, was released April 19th.

Read full article on Rolling Stone

The Hot Sardines on TKA

Bill Milkowski for Paste –  #1 Melissa Aldana, Visions (Motema Music)
The Chilean-born saxophonist-composer-bandleader turned heads with her 2009 debut, Free Fall, and in 2013 became the first female musician and the first South American musician to win the prestigious Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition. She gained widespread acclaim for her 2014 outing Melissa Aldana & The Crash Trio (with Cuban drummer Francisco Mela and Chilean bassist Pablo Menares) then took things up a notch on 2016’s Back Home. Now with Visions, the Santiago native delivers with passionate intensity on pieces inspired by and dedicated to Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. Originally commissioned by New York’s The Jazz Gallery as part of its residency program for emerging artists, Aldana’s suite “Visions: For Frida Kahlo” connects her work to the legacy of Latina artists who have come before her. “I’m deliberately creating a parallel between my experiences as a female saxophone player surrounded by male peers in a male-dominated community and culture, and Kahlo’s experiences as a female visual artist working to assert herself in a landscape dominated by men,” she explained. Aldana’s potent tenor is paired on the frontline with Joel Ross’ vibraphone and underscored by the interactive rhythm section of pianist Sam Harris, bassist Pablo Menares and drummer Tommy Crane on her latest release. Highlights include the turbulent title track, the angular “Acceptance,” the rhythmically-charged “Elsewhere” and the adventurous nine-minute excursion “El Castillo de Velenje,” all featuring the leader exploring the full range of her horn with bold tones and spirited abandon. On the other end of the dynamic spectrum are the pensive and probing “Abre Tus Ojos” and the quintet’s daring extrapolation of the tender jazz standard “Never Let Me Go.” Another solid outing from the rising star. (Melissa Aldana’s Visions Quintet will have its record release party from May 23-26 at the Jazz Standard.)

Read full article on Paste

Melissa Aldana on TKA

Kevin Whitehead for NPR Fresh Air – The New Orleans drummer produces jazz with its own distinct character on his new album. Critic Kevin Whitehead says Perpetual Optimism is marked by Riley’s upbeat nature and attention to detail.

New Orleans drummer Herlin Riley has played in some high-profile settings with pianist Ellis Marsalis and Ahmad Jamal, trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and New York’s Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. Herlin Riley is also a bandleader who makes his own records. Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead really likes his latest.

Drummer Herlin Riley’s quintet with Bruce Harris on trumpet. It’s from the album “Perpetual Optimism.” Riley’s side folk are native or transplanted New Yorkers, but the leader lives in his hometown New Orleans. That city’s musical culture stamps the band’s interplay, rhythmic buoyancy and high spirits. In New Orleans music, drums and drumbeats reflect and represent centuries of African American folkways and culture. That’s a legacy Herlin Riley takes seriously. He honors the elders.

Listen on NPR

Herlin Riley on TKA

Formed in 2015, the Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio has put out two records to date, both of which are currently charting on Billboard’s Top 20 Jazz Albums. The band put out Live at KEXP! independently in 2016 and Colemine Records gave it a wide release in March 2018 to critical acclaim. They followed up shortly after with Close But No Cigar also on Colemine. 

DLO3’s unstoppable rise is just heating up as they prove with sold out shows worldwide, consistent chart topping albums and a viral video of their Warm-up Set (Live on KEXP) that recently hit over 5 million views!

Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio on TKA

Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio Warm-up Set (Live on KEXP)

Perry Tannenbaum for JazzTimes – Riding high on top of Jazz Week’s airplay charts, Catherine Russell didn’t return to Savannah to promote Alone Together, her current release. Instead, she joined in a concept concert, “Billie & Blue Eyes,” with the John Pizzarelli Trio—a concept that wasn’t far distant from the “Ladies Sing the Blues” sets she sang in 2014 with Charenée Wade. As Pizzarelli pointed out in his warmup segment, Sinatra and Billie Holiday pretty much traversed (some might say defined) the Great American Songbook between them with many overlaps.

Of course, Pizzarelli is well-known in Savannah, his appearances at SMF dating back to at least 2011. Singing in a relaxed style, Pizzarelli is also a personable, self-deprecating, and humorous host—and he has obviously gotten to know Savannah well. After starting out in Sinatra’s effervescent postwar style with “I’ve Got the World on a String” and “You Make Me Feel So Young,” Pizzarelli carved out a segment devoted to Savannah’s iconic songwriter, Johnny Mercer. While the first Mercer tune, “Goody Goody,” remained squarely on the Sinatra Highway, the two scat choruses Pizzarelli added on signaled that he didn’t feel obliged to stay there. Both the beloved “Skylark” and the outré “Jamboree Jones” took the offramp, never recorded by either Ol’ Blue Eyes or Lady Day.

Read full article on JazzTimes

Catherine Russell on TKA

John Pizzarelli on TKA

In the upcoming May 2019 issue, Jazz Times profiles master of the organ, Joey DeFrancesco and legendary saxophonist Pharoah Sanders.

Lee Mergner for Jazz Times – For his latest project, Joey DeFrancesco joined forces with a true man of the universe: Pharoah Sanders.

When it comes to narrative arcs, few are more compelling than the story of two people on separate life paths who eventually connect and create something unexpected. Often, the two then travel in very different directions afterward. This is the trope that guides every version of A Star Is Born. It’s the story of Gil Evans and Miles Davis in the ’50s. And it’s the basis for many, many other vibrant collaborations in the creative arts.

It also informs the story of how Joey DeFrancesco came to revisit the iconic jazz anthem “The Creator Has a Master Plan” with its original architect, Pharoah Sanders, 50 years after its original release; you can hear the results on DeFrancesco’s latest album for Mack Avenue, In the Key of the Universe. This was not a partnership that most people predicted, but if you’d been paying attention to each of their musical journeys, it made complete sense. Converging across generations, genres, and circumstances, the 78-year-old Sanders and 47-year-old DeFrancesco ultimately came to collaborate through their shared love for jazz – and produced music that crackles with energy.

Read the full article on Jazz Times

Joey DeFrancesco on TKA

Pharoah Sanders on TKA

Nate Chinen for WBGO – Not many bands have seized the postmillennial early-jazz spotlight with as much gusto as The Hot Sardines. An eight-piece outfit co-led by singer Elizabeth Bougerol and pianist Evan Palazzo, it has devoted more than the last decade to a razzle-dazzle reclamation of prewar swing, often with a healthy dose of humor.

And if you’ve seen The Hot Sardines in action — at a Lower Manhattan haunt, or at the New York Hot Jazz Festival — you know how much oomph they put into their connection with an audience. That’s the secret sauce on their live album Welcome Home, Bon Voyage (Eleven Records), due out on April 19. Produced by Eli Wolf, it was recorded in two bursts at Joe’s Pub in New York and Koerner Hall in Toronto, Ontario.

Read full article and listen to premiere of “Caravan” on WBGO

The Hot Sardines on TKA