Jan 21, 2025 7:54 PM
Southern California Fires Hit the Jazz Community
Roy McCurdy and his wife had just finished eating dinner and were relaxing over coffee in their Altadena home, when he…
Blue Note Records has signed pianist Robert Glasper, marking the label’s first new Jazz artist signing in five years, and reaffirming their 66-year tradition of moving the music forward, a notable occurrence in a jazz industry that has otherwise seen the major labels reduce the number of instrumentalists on their jazz rosters, or dissolve those rosters altogether. Glasper will be entering the studio in May to record his major label debut, which will likely be released this Fall.
“I feel that Robert Glasper has an emerging originality as both a pianist and a composer,” says Blue Note’s CEO & President, Bruce Lundvall. “He has his own voice, and is one of most exciting younger musicians I’ve heard in some time.” Glasper adds “I’m honored to become part of the Blue Note family and their rich musical history.”
Glasper, 26, was raised in Houston. His mother, who played piano and sang Gospel and Blues, imparted her musical influence early on, and Glasper was soon accompanying her on piano in church, as well as in the Jazz and Blues clubs around town. After attending the Houston High School for the Performing Arts, he moved to New York City to study at the New School University. Since moving to New York, Glasper has become an important member of the Jazz, R&B and Hip-hop communities, working with such musicians as Terence Blanchard, Roy Hargrove, Nicholas Payton, Carmen Lundy, Q-Tip, Bilal, Mos Def and Me’shell Ndegeocello.
Gerald and John Clayton at the family home in Altadena during a photo shoot for the June 2022 cover of DownBeat. The house was lost during the Los Angeles fires.
Jan 21, 2025 7:54 PM
Roy McCurdy and his wife had just finished eating dinner and were relaxing over coffee in their Altadena home, when he…
“She said, ‘A lot of people are going to try and stop you,’” Sheryl Bailey recalls of the advice she received from jazz guitarist Emily Remler (1957–’90). “‘They’re going to say you slept with somebody, you’re a dyke, you’re this and that and the other. Don’t listen to them, and just keep playing.’”
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In the April 1982 issue of People magazine, under the heading “Lookout: A Guide To The Up and Coming,” jazz…
The Old Country: More From The Deer Head Inn arrives 30 years after ECM issued the Keith Jarret Trio live album At The Deer Head Inn.
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Last November, Keith Jarrett, who has not played publicly since suffering two strokes in 2018, greenlighted ECM to drop…
“The first recording I owned with Brazilian music on it was Wayne Shorter’s Native Dancer,” says Renee Rosnes. “And then I just started to go down the rabbit hole.”
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In her four-decade career, Renee Rosnes has been recognized as a singular voice, both as a jazz composer and a…
“If you don’t keep learning, your mind slows down,” Coleman says. “Use it or lose it.”
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PolyTropos/Of Many Turns — the title for Steve Coleman’s latest recording on Pi and his 33rd album overall —…
