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…
From the opening notes of Live At The Quick (Columbia Records), Bela Fleck & the Flecktones present to their audience a rousing display of musicianship incorporating jazz, pop, bluegrass and elements of Indian, Asian and even classical music. Whether reveling in a monster jam or playing it straight during the melodies, the Flecktones reveal a talent bound by no rules, other than a spirit of boundless experimentation.
This concert CD and companion DVD, which offers a magnificent concert video experience plus numerous DVD extras, will be released on Feb. 26. The Flecktones, known for their live show, radiate during the nearly 80 minute set.
Much of the music performed during this concert was from the band’s Grammy Award-winning album Outbound. Fleck invited guest musicians who had played individually with the band in the past to come together for Live At The Quick, including tabla player Sandip Burman, steel pan player Andy Narell, bassoonist Paul Hanson, oboe player Paul McCandless and Tuvan throat singer Congar ol’Ondar.
In addition, on Feb. 26 the Flecktones will be back on the road playing theaters on the East Coast. Check the band’s web site, www.Flecktones.com, for complete tour dates. The band is also confirmed for the Oklahoma Blues Festival on May 3 and their annual spot at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival on June 21. This marks Fleck’s 20th consecutive year performing at the 28-year-old Colorado festival.
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.’”
Feb 3, 2025 10:49 PM
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.
Jan 21, 2025 7:38 PM
Last November, Keith Jarrett, who has not played publicly since suffering two strokes in 2018, greenlighted ECM to drop…
“With jazz I thought it must be OK to be Black, for the first time,” says singer Sofia Jernberg.
Jan 2, 2025 10:50 AM
On Musho (Intakt), her recent duo album with pianist Alexander Hawkins, singer Sofia Jernberg interprets traditional…
“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.”
Jan 16, 2025 2:02 PM
In her four-decade career, Renee Rosnes has been recognized as a singular voice, both as a jazz composer and a…