Jawanza Kobie’s Weekly Wednesday Jazz Playlist May 24, 2023
Gretchen Parlato
Gretchen Parlato is an American jazz singer. She has performed and recorded with musicians such as Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Kenny Barron, Esperanza Spalding, Terence Blanchard, Marcus Miller and Lionel Loueke. Parlato's Flor (2021), received a Grammy Award Nomination for Best Jazz Vocal Album, hitting No. 1 upon release in iTunes Jazz and #3 Best of the Year Albums in Jazzwise Critics Poll '21. In 2021 Parlato became a member of SFJazz Collective with Chris Potter (musical director, saxophones), Edward Simon (piano), Etienne Charles (trumpet), David Sánchez (tenor saxophone), Warren Wolf (vibraphone), Matt Brewer (bass), Kendrick Scott (drums) and Martin Luther McCoy (vocals). In Spring 2022 the Collective released the album New Works Reflecting the Moment. ‘Lean In’ (feat. Mark Guiliana) is her latest track release.
Kombo
Kombo is a contemporary jazz organ/guitar duo founded and led by keyboardist/composer Ron Pedley and guitarist/composer John Pondel, former members of fusion outfit Uncle Festive. They released The Big Blast! in 1999 with the sibling rhythm section of Matt and Gregg Bisonette on bass and drums. It went Top Ten. After nearly two years opening and headlining tours, Kombo returned with Cookin' Out in 2001. The group split amicably as Pedley and Pondel remained intensely active outside the band. In 2022 they reunited with the Bisonette brothers, played some dates, and entered the studio. They emerged with This Is the Good One in 2023. ‘Right In There’ is the track heard here from their latest release.
Louis Cole
Louis Cole is an American multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter, best known as the co-founder of the electronic/avant-pop/jazz-funk duo Knower. He is also a solo artist and has released seven solo albums: Louis Cole, Album 2, Time, Live Sesh, LIVE 2019, Quality Over Opinion, and Some Unused Songs. Cole is a classically-trained jazz musician and multi-instrumentalist who plays drums, keyboards, guitar and bass, sings, and produces his material. His work contains elements from a diverse range of music genres such as jazz, funk, pop, avant-garde, electronic, lo-fi. Cole's influences include his father, Stevie Wonder, James Brown, Aretha Franklin, The Beach Boys, Boards of Canada, Nate Wood, The Beatles, and Skrillex, among others. ‘Let It Happen’ is a track from his latest release Quality Over Opinion.
Daryl Johns
Born in Englewood, New Jersey to a jazz drummer father and saxophonist mother, Daryl Johns has never stopped experimenting with instruments. At the age of 13, Johns finished in 3rd place at the world-famous Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition against instrumentalists 20-30 years older than him. Following his prestigious teenage years, Johns went to music college in New York, where he continued his obsessive study of jazz; however, he began to explore other forms of music when his hands became impaired from playing upright bass. Johns now has his own solo project, in addition to stints playing bass for Onyx Collective, Mac Demarco, and the Lemon Twigs. His new single, ‘Gabriel’, is out on Mac’s Record Label.
Red Madrone
Red Madrone – could not find info on this new artist. ‘Waters of March’ is the track heard here released this past March 2023.
Brandee Younger
Brandee Younger is an American harpist. Younger infuses classical, jazz, soul, and funk influences to the harp tradition pioneered by her predecessors and idols Dorothy Ashby and Alice Coltrane. Younger leads her own ensemble, performs as a soloist and has worked as a sideman for such musicians as Pharoah Sanders, Jack DeJohnette, Charlie Haden, Bill Lee and Reggie Workman, and other popular artists including Lauryn Hill, John Legend (Love in the Future), Common (Finding Forever), Ryan Leslie, Drake, Maxwell, The Roots, Moses Sumney and Salaam Remi. Younger is noted for her work with saxophonist Ravi Coltrane, who was featured on her 2019 release, Soul Awakening. Currently, she records and tours with drummer and producer Makaya McCraven, following the release of his 2018 recording Universal Beings. Younger is on the teaching artist faculty (harp) at New York University and The New School College of Performing Arts. Younger was nominated for a 2022 Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition for her original composition Beautiful is Black. ‘Brand New Life’ (feat. Mumu Fresh) is her latest track release.
I hope you enjoy
JK