TKA is proud to announce the signing of Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio! With a deep soul backbone augmented by jazz, rhythm & blues and rock ’n’ roll, the Seattle trio — Lamarr on B-3 organ, Jimmy James on guitar and David McGraw on drums — evokes a classic instrumental sound with a fresh, virtuosic sensibility all its own on debut LP Close But No Cigar. The band put out the album independently in 2016, and Colemine Records gives it a wide release in March.

All three musicians knew each other from the local soul scene. When Novo founded the Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio in 2015, Lamarr asked McGraw if he was interested in joining the band. After playing for a year with another guitarist in the group, Lamarr invited James to sit in as a substitute one night at the trio’s regular Tuesday gig, and he never left. That’s when the band truly found its sound. “We had chemistry right out of the gate, and that doesn’t always happen,” Lamarr says.

Read the full bio on their artist page here

Michael J. West for DOWNBEAT – Stacey Kent’s mezzo-soprano voice is a beautiful instrument for offsetting orchestral accompaniment, a fact that I KNOW I DREAM illustrates well. The orchestra, a 52-piece London studio assemblage, has a lushness that would smother Nelson Riddle – yet Kent cuts through it effortlessly.

In fairness, the arrangements hardly compete with Kent. But the singer has a relatively soft, restrained voice that on a less-skilled performer might easily be overpowered. Kent is incisive even at a near-whisper, as on the tender arrangement of Jobim’s “Photograph.”

Her voice becomes a featured instrument against saxophonist Jim Tomlinson’s vivacious samba “Make It Up.” Indeed the effect in a song with a segmented lyric line, like the French-language “Avec le Temps,” is very much like a concerto, with rich strings blooming in the spaces Kent leaves.

Along with the Jobim and other standards are several originals, composed by Tomlinson and several lyricists. One of the two best songs, the latter role is author Kazuo Ishiguro’s – Kent’s longtime collaborator and a Nobel laureate. “Bullet Train” puts Kent in a dream, with familiar faces around her.

The closing “The Changing Lights” is I KNOW I DREAM’s crown jewel, a bittersweet memory that could be a companion piece to Joni Mitchell’s “The Last Time I Saw Richard.” It’s the capstone of a nearly perfect vocal jazz album. ★★★★★

Order I Know I Dream here

Stacey Kent on TKA

Jackson Maxwell for GUITAR WORLD – Tommy Emmanuel has premiered the music video for his new single, “Djangology.”

The song is taken from Emmanuel’s upcoming album, Accomplice One. A duets album with an impressive guest list that includes Jason Isbell, Mark Knopfler, Ricky Skaggs and Rodney Crowell, among others, Accomplice One is set for a January 19 release via CGP Sounds/Thirty Tigers.

“Djangology”—which was recorded live at Abdala Studios in Havana, Cuba, with Frank Vignola and Vinny Raniolo—is a tip of the hat to one of Emmanuel’s biggest influences, legendary jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt.

“In 2016 I did a guitar camp in Havana with Frank Vignola and Vinny Raniolo,” Emmanuel said. “We worked up an arrangement of this famous Django Reinhardt song. We took all our guitar students to Abdala Studio to witness the recording as part of their education. You wouldn’t know it but there were over 80 people sitting quietly in the room as we recorded this track live. A big thanks to Frank and Vinny for bringing this beautiful song to my attention.”

“Tommy is very curious and eager to learn new songs,” Vignola added. “When I played ‘Djangology’ for him, he fell in love with it. Tommy is a complete musician. Although he doesn’t need anyone else, he certainly is a fabulous accompanist. A real professional.”

Watch the video on Guitar World

Tommy Emmanuel on TKA

Chris Barton for LOS ANGELES TIMES – In a year when disaster seemed only a tweet away, music seemed more precious than ever. Capable of both providing shelter and uniting us, the sounds on these albums amplify voices — some new, some familiar — that demanded to be heard, whether in the pointed interstellar imaginings of Nicole Mitchell, the maximalist virtuosity of L.A.’s Cameron Graves or the dignified cornet of Ron Miles in a record that drew from the civil rights struggle. Instead of the current chaos, the best of 2017 always focused on what lay ahead.

Cameron Graves, “Planetary Prince” (Mack Avenue): One of the many albums that resulted from the marathon L.A. recording sessions that yielded Kamasi Washington’s zeitgeist-capturing “The Epic,” this debut from one of the West Coast Get Down’s keyboardists shares many of that record’s personnel and carries a similarly cathartic power brimming with cosmic soul-jazz virtuosity.

Read the full list on L.A. Times

Cameron Graves on TKA

Francis Davis for NPR – This is what consensus in jazz looks like now: In winning the vote for 2017’s best new recording in NPR’s Fifth Annual Jazz Critics Poll, Vijay Iyer’s Far from Over was named on 53 of 137 ballots — almost twice as many as either Steve Coleman’s Morphogenesis or Tyshawn Sorey’s Verisimilitude, which finished second and third, respectively. (Thelonious Monk’s music for the 1960 French film Les Liaisons Dangereuses, unused by the director Roger Vadim and released only this year, made a whopping 66 ballots to finish first in Rara Avis, a category reserved for reissues and vault discoveries. Then, Monk is settled law.)

Iyer was one of three musicians to notch a third victory in this year’s poll (his Historicity won in 2009, the poll’s 4th year, when I was conducting it for the Village Voice, and Accelerando won in 2012, when the poll’s sponsor was the music-streaming service Rhapsody). Cecile McLorin Salvant again won in Vocal, as she did in 2013 and ’15, and Miguel Zenón won in Latin, as he did in 2009 and ’11. The winner in Debut, where there can be no repeaters, was Jaimie Branch, a fiery trumpeter recently transplanted from Chicago to Brooklyn. (And that the top three finishers in this category are women is cause for cheer.)

On Cécile McLorin Salvant’s Dreams and Daggers: Recording live at the Village Vanguard has become a rite of passage for performers on their way up. A program ranging from ’20s black vaudeville to feminist-themed originals shows off everything this talented singer can do, which is plenty — even if I’m not sure it had to be a double album. (Mack Avenue)

On Charles Lloyd Quartet’s Passin’ Thru: In his late 70s, Lloyd has become as unlikely a critics favorite as Ahmad Jamal. As one of his longtime detractors, even I have to admit this latest live album is terrific — and not entirely owing to Jason Moran’s spry piano. Has Lloyd ever sounded as energetic as he does on a remake of 1967’s “Dream Weaver,” the gospel segue especially? (Blue Note)

Read the full list on NPR

Cécile McLorin Salvant on TKA

Charles Lloyd on TKA

via Rolling Stone (12/13/17)

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has officially announced next year’s inductees: Bon Jovi, Dire Straits, the Moody Blues, the Cars and Nina Simone will all join the class of 2018. Sister Rosetta Tharpe will be given an Early Influence award.

The induction will be held at Cleveland’s Public Hall on April 14th, 2018. An edited version will air later on HBO and there will be a radio broadcast on SiriusXM. Ticket details will be announced in the near future.

Read More HERE

Ang Santos for WBGO – It’s been a busy year for vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater.  WBGO’s Ang Santos caught up with the jazz icon in New York City, as she tours in support of a new album.

Ang Santos:  Joining us on the WBGO Journal is Dee Dee Bridgewater, at the Blue Note in New York City.  No stranger to our airwaves, Thanks for being with us.

Dee Dee Bridgewater:  You’re welcome.

AS: You’re touring for your new album, ‘Memphis, Yes I’m Ready’. To my understanding the album was a project that spanned over several years?

DDB: Yeah.  From the time that I decided this was the direction I wanted to go in, to going and meeting with Kirk Whalum who co-produced the album with me.  It’s been a beautiful journey because it was also about me going back home to Memphis.  I was born there but my family left when I was three and a half.  It was also kind of the culmination of doing a lot of research on my father and what our life was like when we lived there.  Finding the house my parents lived in when I was born and finding out it was just a few blocks from Royal Studios.  My father was friends with Willie Mitchell.  They played in a few bands together.  Willie Mitchell of course owned Royal Studios.  Royal just celebrated its 60th anniversary.  I’m very proud to be part of that history in black music.

Read the full interview on WBGO

Dee Dee Bridgewater on TKA