Via KNKX Studio Session Youtube

With three Grammy awards and an Oscar combined, singer Lisa Fischer and the roots band Ranky Tanky are a serious group of musicians. But when you put them together their music can make you feel like, as Fischer put it, “I’m on a hot wire! Whoo!!” The veteran vocalist known for her appearance in the Oscar-winning documentary 20 Feet from Stardom, Fischer long ago earned the respect and love of her collaborators in Ranky Tanky. In this performance in Studio X, at KNKX’s Seattle studios, it felt like they were made for each other

Ranky Tanky’s updated versions of folk music drawn from the Gullah tradition of African slaves and their ancestors on America’s southeastern coast are honored by Fischer’s gospel-powered blues delivery. Fischer also brings her own musical influences to the group, as heard in their version of “Come Together” by The Beatles. The song brings Fischer’s and Ranky Tanky vocalist Quiana Parler’s voices together in a funky groove. Their version of “Wild Horses,” by Fischer’s longtime collaborators The Rolling Stones, is a ballad with Fischer backed by a spare guitar, bass and drums trio.

We know this special KNKX studio session will have you both reaching for a tissue and dancing in the aisles with Ranky Tanky and Lisa Fischer. They left us with the promise that this new collaboration is just the beginning, there’s more soul-stirring music to come.

Lisa Fischer on TKA

Ranky Tanky on TKA

Via The Art Fuse

When Béla Fleck took the stage on Saturday night with his band, My Bluegrass Heart, at the sold out Groton Hill Music Center’s concert hall, the audience was filled with Fleck fans who knew something special was likely to be in store.

Fleck has won 15 Grammy awards for nine different genres — including country, pop, jazz, classical, instrumental, and world music. He was as likely to team up with the likes of Chick Corea as a group of musicians in a remote Ugandan village. He played with symphony orchestras and his breakout band, The Flecktones, and never encountered a genre that didn’t entice him. In his hands, the banjo became something more than a musical instrument; it was a bridge across styles and cultures and tastes.

 Returning to his bluegrass roots for the first time in 24 years, Fleck brought along his My Bluegrass Heart band, an all-star lineup of talent that has spent the past two years touring and recording an album with Fleck. Every member of the group has soaring bona fides and the set list was created to let everyone demonstrate mind-blowing skill. Fleck displayed both generosity and wisdom in spreading the wealth throughout the show.

Read Full Revue on The Art Fuse

Bela Fleck on TKA

Via NPR

Over the course of a more-than-30-year career, Meshell Ndegeocello has combined soul, funk, pop, hip-hop and jazz to create a unique body of work. Her new album is called “The Omnichord Real Book,” and rock critic Ken Tucker says it serves as a kind of summation of Ndegeocello’s lifetime of making music thus far.

 Ndegeocello began her career in the Washington, D.C. area, playing go-go music, the syncopated funk offshoot, as a member of Rare Essence and other bands. In the 1990s, she was one of the first artists signed to Madonna’s Maverick Records, where she released her debut album, “Plantation Lullabies.” It’s widely considered one of the first examples of the neo soul movement. In the same decade, she hit No. 3 on the Billboard pop charts with a duet with John Mellencamp, a cover of Van Morrison’s “Wild Night,” and later had a No. 1 dance chart hit with a cover of Bill Withers’ “Who Is He (And What Is He To You)?” In 2016, her theater piece, “Can I Get A Witness? The Gospel Of James Baldwin” was performed in Manhattan. All of these works suggest that saying Ndegeocello has range is putting it mildly.

Read Full Review on NPR

MeShell Ndegeocello on TKA