Los Angeles Times

5 min read

"Can you pull over?" Jhene Aiko asks her driver before hopping out of the black Suburban, instructing me to take her place in the backseat. It's a hot August afternoon and we are riding along the Pacific Coast Highway to a destination only she knows

JazzTimes

13 min read

“I don’t listen to my own music,” Sonny Rollins said in October from his Woodstock home, chewing a Ricola cough drop as he got ready to reflect back on a lot of it. The one exception is if it comes on the radio he often has playing in the background.

Entertainment Weekly

1 min read

Earth, Wind & Fire (1975) The sound of Philip Bailey’s voice reeks of optimism and hope—the kind we need right now. Herbie Hancock (1980) The first half of the song feels like daytime in Brazil, and then the bridge feels like a summer night. Karriem

UNCUT

1 min read

“ONE of the things people may learn from the archive is what a fan Lou was of doo-wop music,” Don Fleming considers, “and that his high school band put out a doowop record [1958’s “So Blue”/“Leave Her For Me”, by The Jades]. He had that experience as

JazzTimes

1 min read

Documenting one of the unlikeliest gigs in Monk’s career (possible alternate title: High School Thelonious), this recording sat in a box for more than five decades. That its high-spirited swing can now be heard by all of us is one of the few blessing

UNCUT

1 min read

“I’d never gone into a studio before with absolutely nothing. This whole record was improvised,” says Rich Machin, best-known as one half of Soulsavers and currently the driving force behind heavyweight jazz collective The Quiet Temple, whose deep-fr

Hi Fi News

2 min read

COMPACT DISC SUPERAUDIO DVD BLU-RAY VINYL DOWNLOAD Storyville Records 1018410 A new addition to the list of live recordings from the tenorist’s 14-year sojourn in Denmark, this one captures him well settled in at Copenhagen’s Montmartre club, backed

Entertainment Weekly

2 min read

With his latest album, R&B master Miguel takes on the social issues of the day with genre-busting jams smooth enough for the dance floor—or the bedroom.

Guitarist

7 min read

“My uncle got me a Gibson L-1, that’s what I learned on. I have a picture of myself holding that guitar at 12 years old. My God, I wish I still had it today. Once I’d learned that first song – Hank Williams’ Honky Tonk Blues – you couldn’t get me awa

The Saturday Evening Post

5 min read

Bill Haley and His Comets’ “Rock Around the Clock” raised the curtain on the age of rock, a jarring (for its time) but highly danceable tune featured in the film Blackboard Jungle in 1955. With the release of the movie, the song vaulted to number one

Guitar Techniques

1 min read

The stunning Israeli blues-jazz-fusion guitarist plays and explains his wonderful improvised solo. On video. Bridget Mermikides arranges this great study from the master. It’s a duet, so learn each part and play along with Bridget. Wheaty shows h

You South Africa

1 min read

Former US prez and music lover Barack Obama recently shared his 2020 summer playlist online. “As always, it’s a mix of genres that travels through various eras. I think there’s something in here for everybody – hope you enjoy it,” he wrote on social

The Independent

6 min read

I’m gonna be 79 in July,” Swamp Dogg says, huffing a sigh. “Ain’t that a bitch.” The artist born Jerry Williams Jr isn’t a fan of the ageing process, but he fights it as best he can. He’s even written a song or two about it – including the rhythm’n’b

Urbis

2 min read

16 February/Auckland Marlon Williams and his band The Yarra Benders will be performing for one night only at Villa Maria Winery in Mangere in February, with a set of songs from their hit album Make Way for Love, re-imagined for the tuneful accompanim

NPR

1 min read

The Tiny Desk is working from home for the foreseeable future. Introducing NPR Music's Tiny Desk (home) concerts, bringing you performances from across the country and the world. It's the same spirit — stripped-down sets, an intimate setting — just a

NPR

4 min read

The autodidact producer spent time learning in Florida, before returning to Nashville with a vision for elevating the entire city.

NPR

2 min read

The debut full-length from this Memphis MC gives voice to a side of town long overburdened by its own buried legacy.

Hi Fi News

1 min read

Big Vicious ECM 0836025; LP: 0860630 Something very different from the trumpeter’s elegant 2019 duo album with pianist Yonathan Avishai, Playing The Room. Cohen formed Big Vicious in Israel six years ago after relocating back to his homeland from the

You South Africa

1 min read

So long, Logic. It feels like we barely got to know you. Six years after his debut album, Under Pressure, the rapper is retiring at age 30 to become a live-streaming gamer and a “great father” to his newborn son. The 15-track album is a smooth mix of

UNCUT

1 min read

1 Pest 2 Badibaba 3 Jazz (In The Supermarket) 4 Once Again 5P.T.S.Tea 6 Sad Cowboy 7 The Crack 8 Closing In 9 Anxiety Feels 10 They Bite On You 11 Bang 12 Where Do We Go From Here? 13 A-Men Produced by: Dan Carey Recorded

Nashville Lifestyles Magazine

1 min read

Kalie Shorr completes her transformation on I Got Here by Accident, sounding at home with a blaring blast of girl-powered pop punk. Underappreciated in country, her snarling sparkle shines here, as grungy chords collide with pounding drums and Swift-

Hi Fi News

1 min read

Ubuntu Music UB0062 This Seattle-born, UK-based alto saxophonist can if she chooses sound exactly like Desmond or, as on the title track here, a little like Getz. Following a long musical partnership with guitarist Dave Cliff, who sadly retired due t

Boys' Life

1 min read

On June 7, 1979, President Jimmy Carter declared June as Black Music Month. President Barack Obama changed the celebration to its current name on its 30th anniversary in 2009. This is the month to recognize and honor African American musicians, write

People

1 min read

Your new LP is called Voicenotes because you recorded some of it on the app on your phone, right? There’s a song called “The Way I Am”: It sounds like a party—the ambiance of glasses clanking, people talking loudly—and that’s what it is. I recorded

Owner Driver

1 min read

www.rodmccormack.com Australian multi-instrumentalist, producer and songwriter Rod McCormack may not be a household name, but he’s recorded alongside many top artists, including Lee Kernaghan, as well as being an integral member of Golden Guitar winn

Hong Kong Tatler

2 min read

The video starts with a soft male voice humming to a Bieber-like beat. The artist appears on camera awkwardly dressed in a series of ridiculous costumes: first as a big white fluffy yeti, and later as a mechanical Godzilla towering over a replica of

You South Africa

1 min read

Soulful R’n B singer Leon Bridges’ new album is named for the place it was recorded, a hotel and bar-cum-studio in Hollywood where he hosted a Grammy party. He enjoyed the space so much he spent the next two years recording his fourth studio album th

Entertainment Weekly

1 min read

The funk-punk collective Sault arrived in 2019 with their no-nonsense debut 5. Yet there wasn’t much information on them, forcing listeners to focus on their message instead: to celebrate Black music and Blackness itself. That thread has continued in

GQ India

1 min read

AGE: 21 HOMETOWN: Novosibirsk KEY TRACK: “I’m Getting Drunk Again” “Production is 50 percent knowledge about how to make music, 50 percent the moment and mood,” explains Slava Marlow, the 21-year-old wunderkind from Siberia. “There is a lot of magic

NPR

2 min read

Whatever your goals, remember to move with your energy on ten. New tracks from Kari Faux, Yung Baby Tate, Odunsi (The Engine), Skepta and more will help.