via 2024 GRAMMYs

We are thrilled to announce that five TKA artists have received 6 awards for The 66th Annual Grammy Awards. These artists include Béla Fleck (x2), Meshell Ndegeocello, Bobby Rush, and Terence Blanchard.

Congratulations to every one of the winners for their outstanding achievements and well-deserved recognition!

Full Winners List Below:

Best Alternative Jazz Album  —  Meshell Ndegeocello

The Omnichord Real Book

Best Traditional Blues Album — Bobby Rush 

All My Love for You

Best Global Music Performance — Béla Fleck

Pashto –  Béla Fleck, Edgar Meyer & Zakir Hussain ft. Rakesh Chaurasia

Best Contemporary Instrumental Album — Béla Fleck

As We Speak – Béla Fleck, Zakir Hussain, Edgar Meyer ft. Rakesh Chaurasia

Best Opera Recording — Terence Blanchard 

Blanchard: Champion – The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra; The Metropolitan Opera Chorus

via Alligator Records

“A legendary guitarist…impeccable and spirited…a distinguished American player.”

–Rolling Stone

“Deceptively loose but always tight…the raspy chuckle in Bishop’s singing and the sharp sting of his guitar are forceful and fresh, enduring and fun.”

–Fresh Air, NPR

Elvin Bishop, Alligator Records recording artist and Rock And Roll Hall Of Famer, recently joined GRAMMY Award-winning band Los Lobos to create a new version of Bishop’s politically-charged song, What The Hell Is Going On?. The song, a concert staple for Bishop that decries political extremism, was released in a previous version on the 2020 GRAMMY-nominated Alligator Records album 100 Years Of Blues, by Bishop and his friend, blues icon Charlie Musselwhite. The new version was recorded in June at Los Lobos’ East L.A. studio.

Bishop, whose recording career spans six decades, is beloved as a natural storyteller, an endlessly creative guitarist, a slyly good-humored songwriter and an instantly crowd-pleasing performer. Bishop says the song continues to evolve, but the anti-authoritarian message remains steadfast. “It’s like a news report of what’s outrageous,” Bishop deadpans, then says, “It’s important for people to hear and maybe it’ll get some more people to vote.”

As for the new recording, Bishop says, “I am amazed by Los Lobos, by how rich their repertoire is, and by their vocals and musicianship. They invited me up on stage at Rancho Nicassio (in Northern California), we played What The Hell Is Going On? and it was perfect. The crowd loved it. So we all met up in Los Angeles a little while later and recorded it.”

Elvin Bishop on TKA

via The New York Times

A good musician’s relationship with the past is tricky. You want to move forward without entirely forsaking what you’ve already done. You don’t want it defining you when so much future defining lies ahead. It’s a dilemma Meshell Ndegeocello was thinking through at her dining room table in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, on a recent afternoon.

Ndegeocello happens to be much more than merely a good musician. She’s been playing professionally since the early 1990s and, at 55, is about to release her 14th album, a collection of songs that excites her. The past — the repertoire, the old stuff, the hits — can start to feel like “karaoke of myself,” she said, even if that’s never what it’s been like for us folks in the audience. Take her performances earlier this year at the Blue Note, the essential Greenwich Village jazz club.

Read Full Article on The New York Times

Meshell Ndegeocello on TKA

via The Kennedy Center

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts has selected the 47th Honorees for lifetime artistic achievements: acclaimed director and filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola; legendary American rock band the Grateful Dead (Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Phil Lesh, Bobby Weir); blues rock singer-songwriter and guitarist Bonnie Raitt; jazz trumpeter, pianist, and composer Arturo Sandoval; and The Apollo, which will receive a special Honors as an iconic American institution.

Arturo Sandoval

“I am profoundly humbled and deeply honored to be selected as a recipient of the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors. This recognition is an extraordinary milestone in my career and a testament to the support and encouragement I have received from my family, friends, colleagues, and fans. Throughout my journey, I have strived to create, perform, and inspire with passion and integrity. Being acknowledged by such an esteemed institution validates my efforts and motivates me to continue pushing the boundaries of my art. I am incredibly grateful to the Kennedy Center for this honor, and I look forward to contributing further to the vibrant cultural tapestry that the Center celebrates and nurtures. Thank you once again for this incredible honor.”

See All Nominees on The Kennedy Center

Arturo Sandoval on TKA

via The Wall Street Journal

Meshell Ndegeocello is a modern master of electric bass. Her playing never calls undue attention to itself, yet her songs would fall apart without it. Bouncing between just two notes, she exudes authority while propelling “Travel,” which opens her new release “No More Water: The Gospel of James Baldwin” (Blue Note, out Aug. 2). Her fleet-fingered, deep-toned groove arrives with sudden and transforming force halfway into the next track, “On the Mountain.” Later, her descending figure on “What Did I Do?” throbs with disarming fullness as it guides both the song’s form and its forlorn feeling.

Read Full Article on The Wall Street Journal

Meshell Ndegeocello on TKA

via IBMA

The nominees for the 35th Annual IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards have been announced. Béla Fleck is nominated for Banjo Player of the Year and Instrumental Recording of the Year with “Rhapsody in Blue(grass).” Michael Cleveland is nominated for Fiddler of the Year and Instrumental Group of the Year with his band, Michael Cleveland and Flamekeeper. The awards ceremony will take place on Thursday, September 26, at 7:30 PM EST at the Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts in Raleigh, North Carolina.

See All Nominees on IBMA

Béla Fleck on TKA

Michael Cleveland on TKA

via BMI

The Council of State Restaurant Associations wrapped up it’s 2024 conference at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland where BMI songwriter and Rock Hall inductee John Sebastian of The Lovin’ Spoonful regaled the audiences with the stores behind some of the 60’s band’s biggest hits as well as the iconic theme to the television show “Welcome Back Kotter” that he both composed and recorded.  The Lovin’ Spoonful’s first 7 singles made it into the top 10 of pop radio and cemented the group’s hall of fame status. After the band broke up in 1969, Sebastian went solo and was best known for his legendary and impromptu performance at Woodstock where he performed for more than 400,000 fans and cemented his status as a true rock star. Sebastian shared his stories and songs with BMI’s Dan Spears, who concluded their “fireside chat” by presenting him with multiple BMI Million Air awards for some of the prolific songwriter’s biggest hits including: “Do You Believe in Magic,” “Daydream,” “You Didn’t Have to Be So Nice,” “Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind,” “Summer in the City” and “Welcome Back Kotter.” The CSRA promotes the success of state restaurant associations and their members and their annual conferences attract executives with hospitality associations from across the country.

Read Full Article on BMI

John Sebastian on TKA

via Downbeat

The results of the DownBeat 72nd Annual Critics Poll have been announced, with Charles Lloyd achieving an impressive sweep by winning four categories: Hall of Fame, Artist of the Year, Jazz Album of the Year (The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow, Blue Note Records), and Tenor Saxophone.

Cécile McLorin Salvant was also honored as Female Vocalist of the Year, while Meshell Ndegeocello received recognition as Electric Bassist of the Year.

Read the Complete Results on Downbeat

Charles Lloyd on TKA

Cécile McLorin Salvant on TKA

Meshell Ndegeocello on TKA

via Americana Music Association

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (June 24, 2024) — Today, the Americana Music Association announced this year’s Lifetime Achievement Honorees for its 23rd Annual Americana Honors & Awards show on Wednesday, September 18. This group of top-honor recipients includes Dave Alvin, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Rev. Gary Davis, Shelby Lynne, Don Was and Dwight Yoakam. This year’s honorees will be celebrated during the prestigious ceremony at the Ryman Auditorium.

The Blind Boys of Alabama revolutionized Black gospel music in the 1940s and 1950s with an ecstatic performance style, charismatic audience engagement, and a break from the a cappella tradition – a grooving rhythm section. Established in Talladega, Alabama, in 1939, the group adapted to their times while never crossing over into pop. Several generations of singers and leaders inspired and preserved their approach, chiefly Clarence Fountain, George Scott, Sam Butler, and Jimmy Carter. They were signed by Peter Gabriel and produced by Booker T. Jones. They toured with Tom Petty and recorded with Lou Reed. They’ve won five Grammy Awards, performed at the White House three times, and earned numerous other honors.

Don Was has been the longstanding bass player in the Americana Honors and Awards house band, but of course he is so much more. Indeed his career stretches the words eclectic and accomplishedinto new territory. He grew up in Detroit on blues, rock and jazz and established the pop/rock band Was (Not Was) in the 1980s. As a producer, he went supernova with major collaborations with Bonnie Raitt, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, Brian Wilson and more. Since 2012 he’s been president of the historic jazz label Blue Note Records. He’s earned five Grammy Awards, including Producer of the Year.

Read Full Article on Americana Music Association

Blind Boys of Alabama on TKA

Don Was on TKA

via NPR Tiny Desk Concerts

This Black Music Month, Tiny Desk is giving the ladies their flowers. We’re releasing nine Tiny Desk concerts from Black women artists, from veterans who’ve paved the way for what we hear today in Black music, to those who are carving out their own paths.

Experiencing all of the Tiny Desks this Black Music Month has made many of my dreams come true, and Meshell Ndegeocello’s performance was no exception. For 30 years, the Grammy-winning artist’s music has cast an unflinching gaze on love, race, sexuality and religion. Her new album out in August, No More Water: The Gospel of James Baldwin, zooms out to focus on the love of humanity as inspired by the writer and civil rights activist.

Watch the Full Performance on NPR

Meshell Ndegeocello on TKA