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

Talia Schlanger for NPR – “If you’re into Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Dr. John or Louis Armstrong and play almost any instrument under the sun, let’s jam!”

That’s the gist of what musician Zach Lupetin said in a Craigslist ad more than a decade ago when he was looking to put together a band in Los Angeles. Among the respondents, he found a trumpet player, mandolin player, a retired principal and a chiropractor — a real mixed bag, but one that formed the bones of what would become The Dustbowl Revival, Lupetin’s high-octane, bluegrass-meets-soul, New Orleans-meets-Memphis, brass-meets-fiddle conglomerate with a rotating cast of characters that, at one point, swelled to a whopping 25 musicians on stage.

These days, The Dustbowl Revival is eight members strong, including trumpet, trombone, fiddle, bass, guitar, drums, mandolin and some big vocals from Lupetin and singer Liz Beebe. You’re going to hear a real party of a live performance and a big group interview where you might not know who’s who, but I’ll shout ’em all out at the end.

Listen to the session on NPR

The Dustbowl Revival on TKA

The Kurland Agency wants to congratulate Cécile McLorin on winning a Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Album for her Mack Avenue Records album ‘Dreams and Daggers’.

Cécile McLorin Salvant on TKA

Pablo Gorondi for AP: Compared to other genres, flexibility of lineups is one of the most fascinating aspects of jazz bands. Musicians are constantly looking for new partners, reuniting with old ones, the musical colors of ensembles shifting as this sax player or that guitarist comes and goes and another one sits in.

The leaders of The Chick Corea + Steve Gadd Band have played together occasionally for over 50 years but “Chinese Butterfly” is the first joint album by the keyboardist/composer and the drummer under that not-so-imaginative name. Beyond that small grievance, however, there’s an album full of creativity and chops.

The first half is comprised of five “shorter” tracks, each below 12 minutes. Leading the way is “Chick’s Chums,” a funky, relatively recent Corea tribute written by John McLaughlin with a decidedly 1970s vibe, a powerful sax solo by Steve Wilson and a wide range of Gadd dynamics. “Serenity” has some gentle Brazilian breezes and the disc closes with the title track, a real group effort with strong contributions by all band members, also including guitarist and vocalist Lionel Loueke, Carlitos Del Puerto on bass and percussionist Luisito Quintero.

Read the full review on The Washington Post

Chick Corea on TKA

 

Nate Nurrell for BILLBOARD – It’s been 18 years since Squirrel Nut Zippers‘ last album, and group leader Jimbo Mathus saw no need to reinvent the proverbial wheel for Beasts Of Burgundy, which comes out March 23 and whose “Karnival Joe (From Kokomo)” is premiering exclusively below.

“There’s kind of a template there for (the band), that kind of New Orleans hot jazz, cabaret, vaudeville era,” Mathus tells Billboard. “We work with early 1900s, old American weirdness, y’know? I didn’t want to break the mood of that template. You can fit a lot in there, for sure. I just wanted to make the best Zippers record that ever has been made. I think that’s what we’ve done.”

Mathus says a new album was not a foregone conclusion when he reactivated SNZ during 2016, after a six-year hiatus. But after touring with the current lineup, a hot group of virtuosos recruited mostly from around New Orleans, it became clear that the goods were there to take the group into the studio once again. “I wanted to use the strengths of the cast, the gentlemen and ladies I have in the group now, which is a lot of talent,” says Mathus, who co-produced the album with fiddle player Dr. Sick, recording in Nappy’s Dugout studio with longtime engineer Mike Napolitano. “Everybody’s just very talented, and I was able to really bring them in and get something more than I could’ve before, by myself. I wanted the record to be real New Orleans-centric, especially the old New Orleans.”

Listen to new song “Karnival Joe (From Kokomo)” on Billboard

Squirrel Nut Zippers on TKA

Jon Blistein for ROLLING STONE – Singer-songwriter Meshell Ndegeocello unveiled a gorgeous cover of Prince’s “Sometimes It Snows in April,” the first offering from her upcoming covers LP, Ventriloquism.

Ndegeocello puts a unique yet faithful spin on Prince’s Parade ballad, opening her version with a rumbling tangle of bass and guitar that delicately unravels into the melody. Ndegeocello delivers a enthralling vocal performance, with her rich voice jumping between registers as each resonant syllable rounded off with a hush.

“I had to make something of him, for him,” Ndegeocello tells Rolling Stone of her Prince cover. “I’ve made so much because of him. I still can’t believe he’s not on the planet and this was as close to closure as I’d get.”

Ventriloquism is available to pre-order. The record will also feature covers of TLC’s “Waterfalls,” George Clinton’s “Atomic Dog 2017,” Janet Jackson’s “Funny How Time Flies (When You’re Having Fun),” Tina Turner’s “Private Dancer” and Sade’s “Smooth Operator.”

Ndegeocello also shared her cover of Force MDs’ song “Tender Love,” in which she flips the R&B ballad into an acoustic folk tune tinged with a harmonica that unmistakably recalls Neil Young.

“I recorded this album in California and I was driving around with Abe Rounds, my friend and the drummer I play with, and we were listening to [Young’s record] Harvest every day,” Ndegeocello says. “We’d go into the studio to record these tunes and it was dissonant. ‘Tender Love’ reminds me of life in D.C., as a young person, and I wanted to bring the two together. I like the genre-bending, I like making something new by way of another old gem.”

Listen to the song on Rolling Stone

Meshell Ndegeocello on TKA

WGBH – Cuban jazz pianist Harold López-Nussa performs “Conga Total” live at WGBH’s Fraser performance studio in Boston with his brother, Ruy López-Nussa on drums, and longtime friend and collaborator, Gastón Joya, on bass.

Watch the video on YouTube

Harold López-Nussa on TKA

The 39TH ANNUAL BLUES MUSIC AWARDS have revealed their nominees ahead of the event, taking place on May 10th, 2018 in Memphis, Tennessee.

Best Instrumentalist – Guitar:

Anson Funderburgh
Chris Cain
Christoffer “Kid” Andersen
Monster Mike Welch
Ronnie Earl

Best Traditional Blues Album:

The Cash Box Kings – Royal Mint
Elvin Bishop’s Big Fun Trio – Elvin Bishop’s Big Fun Trio
Kim Wilson – Blues and Boogie Vol. 1
Monster Mike Welch and Mike Ledbetter – Right Place, Right Time
Rick Estrin & The Nightcats – Groovin’ In Greaseland
Various Artists – Howlin’ At Greaseland

Find more information about the event, where to buy tickets, and merchandise at The Blues Foundation website.

View the full list of nominees here

Elvin Bishop on TKA

Ronnie Earl on TKA