The Week in Jazz is your roundup of new and noteworthy stories from the jazz world. It’s a one-stop destination for the music news you need to know. Let’s take it from the top.
Noteworthy
Excelsior Band and The Legendary Ingrametes Receive NEA Fellowships: Alabama’s Excelsior Band and Virginia’s The Legendary Ingramettes are among the recipients of this year’s NEA National Heritage Fellowships. The National Heritage Fellowships are the nation’s highest honor in the folk and traditional arts. Each fellowship includes a $25,000 award and all of the recipients will be featured in a film that will premiere in November 2022 on arts.gov.
Craft to Released Definitive Edition of Vince Guaraldi Peanuts Soundtrack: Craft Recordings will release a definitive edition of Vince Guaraldi’s soundtrack to the 1966 Peanuts animated special, It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, on August 26. This remastered edition will include seven previously-unreleased alternate takes and will be released on digital, CD and a variety of vinyl formats, including a 45-RPM pressing, a translucent orange pumpkin-shaped disc and more.
Elton John Speaks With Ronnie Foster on Rocket Hour: Elton John spoke with legendary jazz organist Ronnie Foster on a recently-released episode of Elton John’s Rocket Hour on Apple Music 1. During the interview, Foster talked about Reboot, his first new album in 36 years, his memories of discovering the organ as a child, playing live and more. Listen to the episode here.
VMP and Jazz Dispensary Funk Reissues: Vinyl Me, Please (VMP) and Jazz Dispensary are partnering on the second installment of album reissues of funky gems from the mid-’70s, due out July 29. The albums that will be reissued are Bayete’s Worlds Around the Sun (1972); Gary Bartz’s The Shadow Do (1975); Idris Muhammad’s Peace and Rhythm (1971); and Melvin Sparks’ Sparky Plug (1971). All albums are remastered, feature original cover designs, are pressed on colourful, thematic wax and are imited to 1000 copies per title.
Charles Lloyd on First Look: Charles Lloyd spoke with Blue Note President Don Was about his Trio of Trios project on the latest episode of First Look, which you can watch via the player below. The project will see Lloyd releasing three albums with three different trios throughout the year. The first of these records, Trios: Chapel, was recently released and features the saxophone great alongside Bill Frisell and Thomas Morgan.
New and Upcoming Albums
The Daniel Glass Trio, BAM! (Club44): The Daniel Glass Trio – featuring Daniel Glass on drums, Sean Harkness on guitar and Michael O’Brien on bass – showcases its virtuosic, infectious and entertaining sound on its latest album, BAM!, released on April 29. The program features original compositions and eclectic reinventions of the standard “It Could Happen to You” and Deep Purple’s “Smoke on the Water.”
Vincent Peirani, Jokers (ACT): Jokers is French Accordion virtuoso Vincent Peirani’s first album in a trio, featuring guitarist Federico Casagrande and drummer/keyboardist Ziv Ravitz. Here, Peirani also experiments with electronic effect on the accordion, enriching the movie-like indie jazz quality of a wide-ranging and surprising program.
Steve Davis, Bluesthetic (Smoke Sessions): Trombonist Steve Davis offers ten new original compositions on his latest album, Bluesthetic, released on May 23 on Smoke Sessions. They are performed with a stellar quintet of revered musicians, including Peter Bernstein, Steve Nelson, Geoffrey Keezer, Christian McBride, and Willie Jones III. “With a dream team like this nothing could go wrong, but it ended up being even better than I anticipated,” says Davis via a press release.
Dana Fitzsimons with Bill Graham and Brandon Boone, Fault Lines (self-released): Fault Lines, released on May 27, is drummer Dana Fitzsimons’ collaboration with pianist Bill Graham and bassist Brandon Boone, with whom he creates a program of rhythmic, free-style jazz improvisations. This is Fitzsimons’ second album as a leader and a more optimistic and energetic records to his first recording, The Cheap Ensemble from 2017.
Live Music and Festival News
Lafayette Gilchrist Solo at An Die Musik: Pianist/composer Lafayette Gilchrist will perform a solo concert of new music at An Die Musik on the second floor of the former Eubie Blake Museum at the Historic Mt. Vernon district in Baltimore. The concert will take place on July 9 with limited in-person seats. The event will also be streamed online; a link will be revealed 15 minutes before the beginning of the show and will remain active until July 16. Tickets here.
Jazz at Lincoln Center Announces 2022-23 Season: Jazz at Lincoln Center announced its 2022-23, which will bring together iconic and inspiring musicians from across the globe at the Frederick P. Rose Hall in celebration of jazz as a global language. The season will feature performances by Chucho Valdés, Nduduzo Makhathini, Toshiko Akiyoshi and Gilberto Santa Rosa, among others. In addition, it will include the American premiere and national tour of compositions by Wynton Marsalis and Iraqi oud virtuoso Naseer Shamma. More here.
Joey Alexander Tour Dates: Joey Alexander will be performing at SFJAZZ in San Francisco, California, on July 7-10, before departing for his European Tour. Check out all upcoming tour dates here. The pianist/composer released Origin, his first album of all-original compositions, earlier this year. The album has also recently been made available as a double LP set pressed on sea glass-colored vinyl.
Like this article? Get more when you subscribe.
