Jawanza Kobie’s Weekly Wednesday Jazz Playlist January 18, 2023
Jason Moran: From The Dancehall To The Battlefield
Jason Moran is an American jazz pianist, composer, and educator involved in multimedia art and theatrical installations. Moran recorded first with Greg Osby and debuted as a band leader with the 1999 album Soundtrack to Human Motion. Since then, he has released albums with his trio The Bandwagon, solo, as a sideman, and with other bands. He combines post-bop and avant-garde jazz, blues, classical music, stride piano, and hip-hop. This is his latest release for 2023 ‘From The Dancehall To The Battlefield’
Sebastian Rochford: Silver Light
Sebastian Rochford is a British drummer and composer. He has recorded and released music as leader of the British band Polar Bear, as Kutcha Butcha, and as part of numerous collaborations. Rochford won the BBC Jazz Award for best newcomer in 2004 and was nominated for best musician in 2006. He was also nominated for the Mercury Prize in 2005, 2007, 2014, and 2018, the nominations including Polar Bear's Held on The Tips of Fingers and In Each and Everyone plus the self-titled debut album by Basquiat Strings. This is a track from his recent 2023 album release ‘Topic’
Bill Laurance & Michael League: Saint Esteve (Where You Wish You Were)
Bill Laurance is an English composer, producer, and multi-instrumental musician. Laurance is a member of jazz fusion and funk band Snarky Puppy, as well as the founder and CEO of London-based record label Flint Music.
Michael League is an American composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist. He is the bandleader of the New York-based instrumental band Snarky Puppy and the international music ensemble Bokanté. He also founded the band Forq with keyboardist Henry Hey and is also an owner and founder of the record label GroundUP Music.
This is a collaboration from this duo ‘Sant Esteve’ from their recent release album ‘Where You Wish You Were’
Lakecia Benjamin: Phoenix
Lakecia Benjamin is an American jazz, funk, and R&B saxophonist. Benjamin was born and raised in New York City. She grew up in a Dominican neighborhood in Washington Heights, Manhattan, and played merengue, salsa, and Latin music. As a touring musician, she has performed with Missy Elliot and Alicia Keys. This is a cut from this young jazz phenom taking the jazz world by storm ‘Phoenix’ from her 2023 release ‘Topic’
Ron Carter: Receipt, Please
Ronald Levin Carter is a legendary American jazz double bassist. His appearances on 2,221 recording sessions make him the most-recorded jazz bassist in history. He has won three Grammy awards and is also a cellist who has recorded numerous times on that instrument. Ron was part of the 2nd great Miles Davis Band in the 1960s along with Herbie Handcock, Wayne Shorter, and Tony Williams. Here is a cut from his most recent album release ‘Receipt, Please’ from the album ‘Finding The Right Notes’
Dezron Douglas: Rose
Dezron Lamont Douglas is an American jazz double bassist, composer, and producer. He has produced for Louis Hayes and Brandee Younger. Douglas has released six albums as a leader. His 2012 debut record, Live at Smalls, earned a positive review in The New York Times, which wrote: "Learned as it may be, this is living-language music — jazz as it’s practiced, more than as it’s studied." As a sideman, Douglas has recorded with Cyrus Chestnut, Michael Carvin, Louis Hayes, Steve Davis, George Cables, Papo Vasquez, Enrico Rava, Eric Reed, Abraham Burton, Eric McPherson, Tomasz Stańko, Makaya McCraven, and Brandee Younger. In April 2019, Douglas' playing was featured in the documentary Homecoming, by Beyoncé. The recording used was from an NPR Music field recording released in 2013.. ‘Rose’ is a cut from his 2023 album release.
Laura Jurd: Fuzzy
Laura Jurd is a musician and composer from Hampshire, United Kingdom. She plays trumpet and synthesizer. She has released albums as a solo artist, and she plays in a jazz quartet named Dinosaur, whose album Together, As One was nominated for the Mercury Prize in 2017. Jurd is a member of BBC Radio 3's New Generation Artists. She won 'Instrumentalist of the Year' in the 2015 Parliamentary Jazz Award, the Worshipful Company of Musicians' Dankworth Prize for Jazz Composition in 2011, and Young Jazz Musician award in 2012. She was shortlisted for a BASCA Contemporary Jazz Composer award in 2012. This is a cut from her late 2022 release ‘Fuzzy’
I hope you enjoy
JK