THE GIG

Endless Love

New Music, April 10

Lionel Richie, "Tuskegee"

Traveling Alloys

Willie Davis

Playlist, March 25

Anoushka Shankar, Steve Lehman Trio, Grégoire Maret,

Daniel Rossen, Chemical Brothers

Always Shine

 

My current feature is about Robert Glasper Experiment and its new Blue Note album, Black Radio. The piece takes a long look at Glasper's m.o., which has been in place almost from the start. (For time-travel purposes, here's the profile I wrote for JazzTimes in 2005.)

I have one regret about this weekend's piece: that concerns about space and clarity prevented me from talking more about the other members of the Experiment, and the ways in which their alchemical contribution defines the band. As you probably know, Glasper isn't the only guy here with a genre-fluid background. Derrick Hodge, the bassist, is as widely known for his past affiliations with Common (the rapper) as with Terence Blanchard (the trumpeter). Casey Benjamin, who plays saxophone, keyboards and vocoder, can often be found on tour with Patrick Stump. And you can hear drummer Chris Dave on both 21, Adele's brobdingnagian smash, and the fierce bootlegs from D'Angelo's recent trip to Stockholm. Also, here:

Derrick Hodge and Chris Dave were both gracious enough to speak with me for this Arts & Leisure assignment, Derrick at considerable length. I wasn't able to incorporate their voices into the piece, but there's no question that they helped illuminate the subject.

I've been listening to some really promising rough mixes from Hodge's forthcoming Blue Note debut; some of the songs were recently heard on WBGO/NPR, via his concert at 92YTriBeCa. And on the day that Derrick and I sat down to talk, he was in town for a session: the next Blue Note release by guitarist Lionel Loueke, which will feature Hodge, Glasper and drummer Mark Giuliana. As I said in the piece, we're going to be hearing a lot more of this vibe.

Related:

ArtsBeat: So is it Jazz?

Gig: Maxwell and the Band 

Is It Love?

Jennifer Taylor for The New York Times

Thundercat

S.O.B.'s, Feb. 1

Dancing with Ancestors

Ruby Washington/The New York Times

Derrick Hodge / Aaron Parks

92YTribeca, Oct. 26

Playing with Stones

Playlist, Oct. 2

“This May Be My Last Time Singing,” Rudresh Mahanthappa, 

Bonnie “Prince” Billy, the Four Bags, Oscar Peterson

Parts of Speech

New Music, Sept. 20

Gabriel Kahane, "Where Are the Arms"

Secret Life

Julie Glassberg for The New York Times

Alan Hampton

The Living Room, Sept. 13

Brandon Seabrook, Considered

The new column is all about banjo and guitar player Brandon Seabrook, who appears on one of this year’s most slyly inviting jazz albums, If the Past Seems So Bright, by Jeremy Udden’s Plainville. 

My piece doesn’t deal much with Plainville, focusing instead on Seabrook himself, and his approach to the banjo, and his demonic presence in Seabrook Power Plant, the band he formed with his brother, drummer Jared. Two years ago, sometime between their first album and their second, I reviewed the band in Brooklyn.

There’s a pull quote from my review at the band’s website, though it’s not the one that goes “...a manic clusterfuck of merciless banjo torture...” (That phrase comes from Christopher Weingarten’s blog post for the Village Voice. He’s not wrong, btw.) 

Aquela Mulher

Brian Harkin for The New York Times

Vinicius Cantuária and Bill Frisell

Highline Ballroom, June 6