Jun 10, 2025 4:13 PM
Theo Croker’s Dream … Manifested!
Partway through his early set at Smoke Jazz Club, Theo Croker blinks the room back into focus. He leans over the piano.…
Riding the acclaim of Ropeadope’s Philadelphia Experiment and Detroit Experiment, the label has recently put the finishing touches on its latest laboratory creation, The Harlem Experiment.
Like its predecessors, the record takes musicians from a shared hometown but very different musical backgrounds, puts them in a recording studio and has them create spontaneous art.
This installment’s representatives are guitarist Carlos Alomar, bassist Ruben Rodriguez, drummer Steve Berrios, clarinetist Don Byron, keyboardist Eddie Martinez and trumpeter/arranger Steve Bernstein. Special guests include Queen Esther on vocals; Olu Dara on vocals, guitar and pocket trumpet; James Hunter on vocals and guitar; and DJ Mums on vocals.
The album is slated for release in September. A free preview track from Ropeadope is available here.
To record Dream Manifest (Dom Recs), Croker convened artists from his current and recent past ensembles, plus special guests.
Jun 10, 2025 4:13 PM
Partway through his early set at Smoke Jazz Club, Theo Croker blinks the room back into focus. He leans over the piano.…
“There’s nothing quite like it,” Springs says of working with an orchestra. “It’s 60 people working in harmony in the moment. Singing with them is kind of empowering but also humbling at the same time.”
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You see before you what we believe is the largest and most comprehensive Critics Poll in the history of jazz. DownBeat…
Galper was often regarded as an underrated master of his craft.
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Chuck Mangione on the cover of the May 8, 1975, edition of DownBeat.
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