Ammar Kalia


Ammar Kalia's news entries:

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    “It’s like my memoir as a picture painted in sound,” Lewis explains of his growing body of work.

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    “My dad is always going to be a part of me and my music, especially since I still have so many manuscripts of his to explore,” says Johnathan Blake, who notes that he too has much more to explore.

    Johnathan Blake: Story Teller

    For Johnathan Blake, every record is an act of remembrance. Over the past two decades, the Philadelphia-born and New…

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    An opening-weekend high point came in the form of Chicago drummer Makaya McCraven’s show at the Barbican with the London Contemporary Orchestra.

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    ​“This album is every little thing about Warren Wolf that I’ve been trying to do for almost 40 years,” says Wolf of Chano Pozo: Origins.

    Warren Wolf: Beyond Vibes

    Warren Wolf is determined to do it all. More than 20 years into his career as a vibraphonist, drummer and composer, the…

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    Lewis said that performing live is “an act of vulnerability since playing a show is being in the moment forever.”

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    Leeds, England-based alto saxophonist Jasmine Myra, far right, led an expansive six-piece group for her festival debut.

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    Tenor saxophonist Binker Golding produced an unexpected new sound with some of London’s finest young players.

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    Shabaka Hutchings performs a July 3 set with Sons of Kemet and Nubya Garcia at England’s Love Supreme festival.

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    Harpist Alina Bzhezhinska, one of 15 European artists DownBeat critics selected as must-hear music.

    New Sounds from Europe

    Many of us at DownBeat have found ourselves stuck at home lately, wondering what’s happening elsewhere — especially…

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    “We’re sacrificing our bodies to innate feeling and becoming vessels for this music,” Wilkins says.

    Immanuel Wilkins Preaches the Word

    “My work is the intersection between spiritual practice and Black aesthetics,” Immanuel Wilkins says. “The two…

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    Myele Manzanza

    London Jazz Fest Adds New Spice

    Over the past five years, London has established itself as the epicentre for a unique approach to improvised music.…

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    Bassist Harish Raghavan steps out with his first leader date, Calls For Action.

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    Mark Kavuma’s sophomore album, The Banger Factory, places him at the center of London’s rapidly expanding jazz scene.

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    Los Angeles-based vocalist Dwight Trible connected with London’s Gearbox Records to release his latest album, Mothership.

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    Kit Downes’ Obsidian has taken the keyboardist’s career full-circle.

    Kit Downes Strikes a Balance

    Kit Downes has spent the past decade establishing himself as one of the U.K. jazz scene’s foremost talents on…

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    Since the 1980s, London-based DJ and record label founder Gilles Peterson has been a force in music. The first installment of his We Our Here festival is set to run Aug. 15–18 in Abbots Ripton, Cambridgeshire, U.K.

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    Mark de Clive-Lowe was raised in New Zealand playing piano, moved to the UK during the 1990s and pursued electronic music before moving to Los Angeles and working around the edges of jazz.

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    Melbourne, Australia-based pianist Andrea Keller recently issued a pair of recordings: an exploration of Krzysztof Komeda’s work and Five Below Live.


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