Podcasts about thelonious monk institute

World-renowned saxophonist and Blue Note recording artist Walter Smith III is the model music educator and practitioner. This enormously talented saxophonist pursued music education as a profession as far back as high school. In this episode, Walter's storied career follows the path beginning with performing at McDonald's at age 7, to an exciting area of study at one of today's premier high schools, Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (HSPVA) in Houston, Texas to leadership roles at Berklee College of Music, reflecting on experiences at the Thelonious Monk Institute (today, the Herbie Hancock Institute) and exciting tours with legends like Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock. Gender equity in jazz, a priority for Walter, is spearheaded by the Berklee Jazz and Gender Justice Institute, and innovations in jazz education promoting inclusivity. Walter touches on his transition from Boston to New York, emphasizing the interplay between performance and teaching. Walter Smith III just released his eleventh album as a leader. Our conversation on Strictly Jazz Sounds also takes a deep dive into three of us are from Houston and Reuben is not. This project includes three of his closest music cohorts who are three of the most accomplished and influential musicians in jazz today: Jason Moran-piano, Reuben Rogers-bass, and Eric Harland-drums. The music does not disappoint in any way. We listen to clips of selected tracks, discuss the music and the significance, if any, of the composition titles. Walter is/has been a member of many legendary and highly accomplished groups (recording and/or touring) including the Roy Haynes Fountain of Youth Band (Walter was fired when he decided to go to Los Angeles, California), Terence Blanchard Quintet, Jason Moran's In My Mind: Monk at Town Hall, Ambrose Akinmusire Quintet, and the Christian McBride “Situation”, He's also teamed up with Eric Harland's “Voyager”, the Bill Stewart Trio, Marquis Hill's “New Gospel Revisited”, and the Sean Jones Quintet among others. Thank you for listening to Strictly Jazz Sounds. You have a choice among many other jazz podcasts, yet you selected this one today. You have my appreciation for your time and interest. Photo by Travis Bailey.

Born on Oct. 10, 1917, in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, Thelonious Sphere Monk became one of the most influential figures in jazz history. Monk moved to Manhattan in 1922, where he began playing piano at age six. By 13, he had won the Apollo Theater's amateur contest. His first recordings as a bandleader came in 1947, and he gained international fame with albums like “Brilliant Corners” and “Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane.” Monk became one of only five jazz musicians to appear on the cover of Time magazine in 1964. He passed away in 1982 at the age of 64, but his legacy endures through the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, which continues to train new generations of musicians. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Grammy-Award winning saxophonist Wayne Escoffery is my guest on the 21st episode of Strictly Jazz Sounds. What attracted me to Wayne was his prolific traveling, extensive performances and recordings with his own band (11 recordings), the Mingus Big Band (3 recordings, one a Grammy Award winner), the Black Art Jazz Collective (4 recordings), and as sideman with trumpeter Tom Harrell (7 recordings, co-producing 4) plus works with other notable jazz musicians. He is now a Harlem resident in the neighborhood where Sonny Rollins grew up, Sugar Hill, but he was born and spent his childhood years in London before he moved to the U.S. with his mother. Escoffery graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor's degree in jazz performance from the Hartt School at the University of Hartford, where he was a protégé of saxophone legend Jackie McLean. He earned a Master of Music degree from the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance (now the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz) at the New England Conservatory, Escoffery today teaches at Yale University's School of Music where he emphasizes the value of real-world experience in teaching, reflecting on his own journey and influences, including his time with jazz greats like Jackie McLean and Ron Carter. We cover various topics such as the challenges facing musicians today, the lack of business education in jazz programs, and the exploitation of artists by the music industry. Escoffery also touches on the emotional therapeutic aspects of music, thoughts on mental health in the music industry. We take a deep dive into Wayne Escoffery's soon-to-be released recording, Alone.  Thanks to Smoke Sessions Records for use of the tracks for this podcast. They are: Moments With You (6:32), Alone (8:08), and The Ice Queen (8:16). The episode opens with "Moments With You." You can hear "Alone" about half-way through the conversation, and then the show closes with "The Ice Queen." The conversation begins when Wayne Escoffery and I discuss the importance of real-world experience in teaching. You'll enjoy his thoughts about this topic among others regarding jazz artists getting ripped off by a recording industry that hardly pays anything to anyone anymore. I would appreciate feedback about my podcasts. Past comments have been very useful. Thanks for listening to Strictly Jazz Sounds. This is Steve Braunginn. Photo by Kasia Idzkowskas

JAZZ CORNER, lundi et jeudi à 13h et 18h. Chronique animée par Serge Mariani, Louise Hodé ou Géraldine Elbaz : concerts à ne pas manquer, albums à écouter au plus vite et des artistes à découvrir. Cette semaine, Géraldine nous parle du pianiste Jacky Terrasson. Le célèbre pianiste Jacky Terrasson, salué par le New York Times comme “l'un des artistes susceptibles de façonner la culture américaine”, dévoile “Moving On”. De retour en France après trois décennies passées à New York, il organise un jeu de piste à double nationalité, mêlant Chopin et le jazz, avec des artistes invités tels que Kareen Guiock-Thuram, Camille Bertault et Grégoire Maret. Avec une joie de vivre retrouvée, chaque morceau raconte une aventure, une histoire, une délicate célébration du bonheur. Présenté dans le New York Times en 1994 comme “l'un des trente artistes susceptibles de changer la culture américaine dans les trente prochaines années”, le pianiste Jacky Terrasson honore cette promesse en étant le musicien de jazz français le plus écouté sur les plateformes digitales. Né à Berlin en 1965, d'une mère américaine et d'un père français, il intègre (après des études en France de piano classique) le Berklee College of Music et remporte en 1993 le prestigieux Prix du Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz International Piano Competition. C'est au côté de BETTY CARTER, DEE DEE BRIDGEWATER, CASSANDRA WILSON, ou encore CHARLES AZNAVOUR, GUY LAFITTE, BARNEY WILEN et RAY BROWN qu'il débute sa carrière. Il signe avec le légendaire label Blue Note et son emblématique président Bruce Lundvall, pour une longue et impressionnante aventure de 25 ans de succès. © Alexandre LacombeHébergé par Ausha. Visitez ausha.co/politique-de-confidentialite pour plus d'informations.

JAZZ CORNER, lundi et jeudi à 13h et 18h. Chronique animée par Serge Mariani, Louise Hodé ou Géraldine Elbaz : concerts à ne pas manquer, albums à écouter au plus vite et des artistes à découvrir. Cette semaine, Géraldine nous parle du pianiste Jacky Terrasson. Le célèbre pianiste Jacky Terrasson, salué par le New York Times comme “l'un des artistes susceptibles de façonner la culture américaine”, dévoile “Moving On”. De retour en France après trois décennies passées à New York, il organise un jeu de piste à double nationalité, mêlant Chopin et le jazz, avec des artistes invités tels que Kareen Guiock-Thuram, Camille Bertault et Grégoire Maret. Avec une joie de vivre retrouvée, chaque morceau raconte une aventure, une histoire, une délicate célébration du bonheur. Présenté dans le New York Times en 1994 comme “l'un des trente artistes susceptibles de changer la culture américaine dans les trente prochaines années”, le pianiste Jacky Terrasson honore cette promesse en étant le musicien de jazz français le plus écouté sur les plateformes digitales. Né à Berlin en 1965, d'une mère américaine et d'un père français, il intègre (après des études en France de piano classique) le Berklee College of Music et remporte en 1993 le prestigieux Prix du Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz International Piano Competition. C'est au côté de BETTY CARTER, DEE DEE BRIDGEWATER, CASSANDRA WILSON, ou encore CHARLES AZNAVOUR, GUY LAFITTE, BARNEY WILEN et RAY BROWN qu'il débute sa carrière. Il signe avec le légendaire label Blue Note et son emblématique président Bruce Lundvall, pour une longue et impressionnante aventure de 25 ans de succès. © Alexandre LacombeHébergé par Ausha. Visitez ausha.co/politique-de-confidentialite pour plus d'informations.

Versatile and sophisticated jazz guitarist Ron Jackson has performed, recorded and taught music in over 30 countries. With a varied career as a performer, composer and arranger, Highlights include shows and tours with artists such as Taj Mahal, Jimmy McGriff, Larry Coryell, Benny Golson, Oliver Lake, Russell Malone and Mulgrew Miller. Ron has been featured as a leader in jazz festivals all over the world, including the North Sea Jazz Festival, Edinburgh Jazz Festivals and Winter Jazzfest, NYC. Born in the Philippines, lived in many states as a kid, then settled in Harvard, Massachusetts, west of Boston, Ron was initially influenced by rock guitar greats like Jimmy Page, before falling under the spell of jazz and following the style and career of jazz guitar luminaries like Pat Metheny and George Benson. After attending Berklee School of Music on scholarship, studying jazz composition and arranging, Ron spent two formative years in the mid-1980's living and playing guitar with the lively expat jazz community in Paris, France. Ron moved to New York City where he remains an active participant in Gotham's always vibrant jazz scene. A master of the six, seven and twelve string guitars, Ron appeared on over 40 albums by such artists as Hal Singer, Graeme Norris, Ron Blake, Gisele Jackson and T.K. Blue, before founding the independent record label Roni Music in 2003 which has since released some of his eight of his albums as a leader including The Dream I Had (2003), Flubby Dubby (2008) and Akustik InventYours (2014). His latest project, Jazz Standards and Other Songs (2019) is an alluring mix of familiar jazz numbers and innovative adaptations of songs from other genre's like his trendsetting arrangement for jazz trio of Drake's “Passion Fruit.” Ron was grateful to be selected as the winner of the 1996 Heritage International Jazz Guitar Competition. He has also been a recipient of the 2012 Donald Knutson Memorial Development Fund and the 1991 and 2000 Meet the Composer Performance Fund. He endorses, Eastman Guitars, Kremona Guitars, Aria Classical Guitars, Paul Reed Smith Guitars and Godin Guitars. An acclaimed music educator, Ron currently teaches guitar at Jazz at Lincoln Center, The New School, Midori and Friends, and is the founder and director of the website www.practicejazzguitar.com. Ron has held master classes, concerts and workshops at Jazz at Lincoln Center-Jazz in the Schools, The Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, Escuela Creativa Musica in Madrid, Spain and California State University. Ron has made appearances in several major motion pictures including The Greatest Showman, Vulgar, and Fly by Night. He has also performed in pit orchestras on many Broadway and off-Broadway shows including Avenue Q, Fosse, Shuffle Along, and Bring In `Da Noise, Bring In `Da Funk. In recent years, Ron has also developed a side career as a freelance writer for Acoustic Guitar magazine where he's published educational and guitar instructional articles. WEBSITE: https://ronjacksonmusic.com/ FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/ronjacksonmusic/ INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/ronjacksonmusic/ X (formerly Twitter): https://twitter.com/i/flow/login?redirect_after_login=%2Fronjacksonmusic SPOTIFY:

Harvey Brownstone conducts an in-depth Interview with Veronica Swift, Renowned Jazz Singer & Recording Artist About Harvey's guests: Today's guest, Veronica Swift, is one of America's most popular singers, who first gained major international attention in 2015 when she won second place in the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz International Vocals Competition.   Since then, she's dazzled audiences around the world with her miraculous voice, interpretive ingenuity and incredible versatility.  Her first 2 highly acclaimed albums, “Confessions” and “This Bitter Earth”, earned her a well-deserved place in the upper echelon of modern jazz singers.    And her brand new album, simply titled, “Veronica Swift”, is nothing short of a revelation, because she demonstrates once and for all that she is so much more than a jazz singer.  Her voice and musical choices defy categorizing.  On the new album she explores not only jazz, but Broadway, opera, classical music, bossa nova, blues, industrial rock and even funk.   She describes her personal brand of versatile artistry “transgenre.”    Our guest has performed at some of the most prestigious venues in the world, and she's appeared with many great stars including Wynton Marsalis, Chris Botti, Benny Green and Michael Feinstein.  The critics are unanimous about this woman's magnificent vocal instrument.  Downbeat Magazine described her as “a woman of many voices, who uses every one of them to inspire a dizzying kaleidoscope of moods”.  And the usually restrained Wall Street Journal said our guest has a “miraculous voice, musical ability and technique, as well as an innate gift for entertaining a crowd.”   For more interviews and podcasts go to: https://www.harveybrownstoneinterviews.com/ To see more about Veronica Swift, go to:https://www.veronicaswift.com/https://www.facebook.com/VeronicaSwiftJazz/ https://www.instagram.com/veronicaswiftofficial/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCz6_vsge3DgUT8NIsCbO0vwhttps://music.apple.com/us/artist/veronica-swift/1301544661https://open.spotify.com/artist/0YyqJ4bcQqxXdsdpgQPwtl #VeronicaSwift   #harveybrownstoneinterviews

Oscar-nominated and Grammy-awarded jazz trumpeter and film composer Terence Blanchard sits down with UC San Diego Music Professor Emeritus Cecil Lytle to talk about the world of music, from jazz to opera to composing for movies. He's won five Grammy awards and composed more than 40 film scores, from "Jungle Fever" in 1991 to the 2022 film "The Woman King." The New Orleans native served as artistic director of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz and premiered his first opera, Champion, in 2013. Series: "Helen Edison Lecture Series" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 38659]

Oscar-nominated and Grammy-awarded jazz trumpeter and film composer Terence Blanchard sits down with UC San Diego Music Professor Emeritus Cecil Lytle to talk about the world of music, from jazz to opera to composing for movies. He's won five Grammy awards and composed more than 40 film scores, from "Jungle Fever" in 1991 to the 2022 film "The Woman King." The New Orleans native served as artistic director of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz and premiered his first opera, Champion, in 2013. Series: "Helen Edison Lecture Series" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 38659]

Oscar-nominated and Grammy-awarded jazz trumpeter and film composer Terence Blanchard sits down with UC San Diego Music Professor Emeritus Cecil Lytle to talk about the world of music, from jazz to opera to composing for movies. He's won five Grammy awards and composed more than 40 film scores, from "Jungle Fever" in 1991 to the 2022 film "The Woman King." The New Orleans native served as artistic director of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz and premiered his first opera, Champion, in 2013. Series: "Helen Edison Lecture Series" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 38659]

Oscar-nominated and Grammy-awarded jazz trumpeter and film composer Terence Blanchard sits down with UC San Diego Music Professor Emeritus Cecil Lytle to talk about the world of music, from jazz to opera to composing for movies. He's won five Grammy awards and composed more than 40 film scores, from "Jungle Fever" in 1991 to the 2022 film "The Woman King." The New Orleans native served as artistic director of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz and premiered his first opera, Champion, in 2013. Series: "Helen Edison Lecture Series" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 38659]

When Lionel Loueke was coming of age as a young guitar player in his home country of Benin in West Africa, there were no music stores of any kind. He would have had to travel to Nigeria, the next country over, just to get his hands on some new strings. So he made due with what he had, cleaning and soaking, reusing his strings and even going so far as to tie knots in them when they broke.  Loueke's story is the stuff of legend. After finally getting his hands on a guitar as a teenager, he put together enough technique and understanding to get himself to the Ivory Coast to attend music school, and then managed to get to Paris for further musical study. Eventually he went to Berklee College of Music in Boston, and then to the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance at UCLA in Los Angeles, now called the Herbie Hancock Institute, where he had the opportunity to study and work with luminaries like Hancock, Terence Blanchard and Wayne Shorter. Soon he began to work with those same mentors, appearing on albums by Blanchard and Hancock. Since then, he has gone on to play with an incredible list of the most creative and influential players alive. Today he lives in Luxembourg, teaches at the Jazz Campus in Basel, Switzerland, and in non-COVID times, tours and records relentlessly.  A brief scan of his recent solo work tells the story: In 2019 he released an ambitious album aptly named The Journey — the title referring to his odyssey while also mirroring his musical development. He followed that up in 2020 with a much more intimate album called HH, featuring solo guitar performances, punctuated by vocals and vocal percussion, of Herbie Hancock compositions. And last year saw the widespread release of Close Your Eyes, originally issued only on vinyl several years ago; it's a more loosely structured blowing record of classic repertoire, in musical conversation with bassist Reuben Rogers and drummer Eric Harland.   Loueke tells me that after trying as hard as possible to remove the African influences from his playing and sound more like his jazz heroes, he ultimately realized that they were all compatible, and began to reintroduce more of the sounds of his childhood into his approach. The result is a very personal, musical, and emotional sound. I think maybe that's what makes him such an appealing collaborator. His voice is so identifiable and personal, but you can feel the road that he has traveled in his playing.  In fact, he ends up telling me exactly that. “Our story is what we play,” he says, “the story of somebody from the beginning to the time they play; that's what we are presenting.” We spoke recently about growing up in Benin; discovering the guitar, and eventually jazz, by way of a George Benson record; making his way out of Africa, through France, to America; finding his voice and his style; how he sees his contribution as a teacher; and much more. This is the final in a month of encore episodes as part of a new partnership between The Third Story and WBGO Studios. In June, new episodes will drop every other week.  www.wbgo.org/studios www.third-story.com

A jazz világában rangos elismeréseket szerző Oláh Krisztián zongorista-zeneszerző szerzeményeinek fő alkotó elemei a klasszikus zenei elemek és kompozíciós technikák, valamint a kortárs jazz improvizatív sodrása és absztrakt ritmikája. A jazz és a klasszikus zene szintézisét igyekszik létrehozni egy dinamikus, kortárs zenei világ megteremtésének igényével. Krisztián mindössze húszévesen lett a 2015-ös Montreux-i Jazzfesztivál 3. helyezettje, ezt követően egy kéthetes akadémiai program keretén belül olyan nevekkel koncertezett együtt, mint Al Jarreau, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Nils Petter Molvær vagy Joe Sanders. A következő években elnyerte a Junior Prima- , Creative Art -, Orszáczky-, és Gramofon díjakat, 2018 decemberében pedig – első magyar zenészként – meghívást kapott az amerikai Thelonious Monk Institute nemzetközi jazzversenyére, ahol a világ 14 legjobb jazz-zongoristája között mérette meg magát. Quartetté bővült saját formációjával a magyar zenei élet kiemelkedő formációjának számítanak. Sándor Andrásnak legújabb albumáról és a munkálatok lélektanáról is mesélt a Sláger KULT-ban.# A Sláger FM-en minden este 22 órakor a kultúráé a főszerep. Sándor András az egyik oldalon, a másikon pedig a térség kiemelkedő színházi, kulturális, zenei szcena résztvevői. Egy óra Budapest és Pest megye aktuális kult történeteivel.

Vocalist Michael Mayo is a dazzling interpreter, improviser and musician.  He comes from brilliant musical stock in the form of his parents Scott Mayo and Valerie Pinkston-Scott is currently Sergio Mendes musical director and Valerie has lent her vocals to artists ranging from Whitney Houston to Diana Ross. But Michael will tell us more about his parents during the course of our conversation. Michael grew up in Los Angeles, studied at the New England Conservatory and the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance, and now lives in New York. He's recorded with Ben Wendel, performed with Shai Maestro, and toured with Herbie Hancock. His much-anticipated debut album “Bones” came out on Mack Avenue Records in 2021 and it did not disappoint. Show Notes: Tracklisting: - You and You - Hold On - Burning Bright (With Ben Wendel, Live) - 20 20 - Old Devil Moon (With Matthew Sheens) Bones is available now on Mack Avenue Records Theme music by The Respect Sextet Follow The Jazz Session on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook Subscribe to The Jazz Session's YouTube Channel Support The Jazz Session by becoming a member at Patreon. For $5 a month you'll get a weekly bonus episode called Track of the Week, plus early access to every show. For $10 a month you get all that plus an extra monthly bonus episode of “The Insider”, a spin-off interview series where Nicky chats to jazz industry insiders (broadcasters, artist agents, label heads, journalists) about the nuts and bolts of the business.

Vocalist Michael Mayo is a dazzling interpreter, improviser and musician.  He comes from brilliant musical stock in the form of his parents Scott Mayo and Valerie Pinkston-Scott is currently Sergio Mendes musical director and Valerie has lent her vocals to artists ranging from Whitney Houston to Diana Ross. But Michael will tell us more about his parents during the course of our conversation. Michael grew up in Los Angeles, studied at the New England Conservatory and the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance, and now lives in New York. He's recorded with Ben Wendel, performed with Shai Maestro, and toured with Herbie Hancock. His much-anticipated debut album “Bones” came out on Mack Avenue Records in 2021 and it did not disappoint. Show Notes: Tracklisting: - You and You - Hold On - Burning Bright (With Ben Wendel, Live) - 20 20 - Old Devil Moon (With Matthew Sheens) Bones is available now on Mack Avenue Records Theme music by The Respect Sextet Follow The Jazz Session on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook Subscribe to The Jazz Session's YouTube Channel Support The Jazz Session by becoming a member at Patreon. For $5 a month you'll get a weekly bonus episode called Track of the Week, plus early access to every show. For $10 a month you get all that plus an extra monthly bonus episode of “The Insider”, a spin-off interview series where Nicky chats to jazz industry insiders (broadcasters, artist agents, label heads, journalists) about the nuts and bolts of the business.

In our inaugural episode, we catch up with guitarist Lionel Loueke. For over 15 years, he has dazzled worldwide audiences with a unique instrumental wizardry. He is also featured prominently as a sideman in the ensembles of Herbie Hancock. Compositionally, Loueke's language on the guitar is built on strong, driving bass lines often juxtaposed with a percussive vocal styling first developed in his native country of Benin. As an improviser, he exerts a magical command of his instrument over shifting time signatures, harmonic progressions, and song structures. In our conversation, we learn that Loueke, early in his career, adopted a practice of choosing courage over fear. One proving ground happened after his first two years in the United States; he auditioned for the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz in 2001. The evaluating panel then included Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock and Terence Blanchard. Loueke not only entered the program, but his resume very quickly grew to include work with all three musicians. Loueke's latest album, Close Your Eyes, continues his momentum and imagination using the Great American Songbook as a vehicle. For our Vinyl Word album feature, we spotlight a Hancock classic masterpiece, Sextant.Produced by Billy Robinson

A jubileumi Jazz Showcase-hez kapcsolódó beszélgetéssorozat vendége ezúttal Oláh Krisztián, aki fiatal kora ellenére a hazai jazzélet meghatározó egyénisége. Mindössze húszévesen lett a 2015-ös Montreux-i Jazzfesztivál 3. helyezettje, olyan nevekkel koncertezett együtt, mint Al Jarreau, Nils Petter Molvær vagy Joe Sanders. Többek között Junior Prima-, Creative Art- és Gramofon-díjas, 2018 decemberében pedig – első magyar zenészként – meghívást kapott az amerikai Thelonious Monk Institute nemzetközi jazzversenyére, ahol a világ 14 legjobb jazz-zongoristája között mérette meg magát. Kvartettjével 2020-ban jelentette meg első, csak saját kompozíciókat tartalmazó albumát, az “At the back of my mind”-ot. A műsor háziasszonya: Náray Erika.

Marcia Foster Dunscomb is a composer, author, educator, and pianist. She was a contributing author for the Thelonious Monk Institute for Jazz (Jazz In America), a consultant to the International Piano Teaching Foundation (IPTF), Educational Consultant in Jazz for the National Museum of American History, and Jazz Editorial Assistant for Jazz Expressions (Warner Bros. Publications). Works in print include Melody Maker, Let's Begin, Let's Read Music, and Let's Improvise (Melody Maker Press); Evolution of Jazz (McGraw-Hill);and Anatomy of Music (McGraw-Hill). Marcia is a contributing author and editorial assistant for Jazz Pedagogy: the Jazz Educator's Handbook and Resource Guide (Warner Bros. Publications); Teaching Jazz - A Course of Study (MENC/IAJE); and Jazz Studies Guide (MTNA/IAJE). She is a contributing author for numerous publications. Marcia is the National Music Credentials Officer for the National League of American Pen Women. As a clinician and adjudicator, she is a pioneer in the field of teaching jazz and improvisation to young children. She presented for the International Association of Jazz Education (IAJE), National Piano Foundation, and Stan Kenton Summer Jazz Camps. She was Director of Education for South Florida Friends of Jazz in Fort Lauderdale, Director of Education for Baldwin Piano & Organ Company, Atlanta, Georgia, and a music faculty member at the New World School of the Arts and Florida International University, in  Miami, Florida. Host: Diva JC http://wijsf.org  

When Lionel Loueke was coming of age as a young guitar player in his home country of Benin in West Africa, there were no music stores of any kind. He would have had to travel to Nigeria - the next country over - just to get his hands on some new strings. So he made due with what he had, cleaning and soaking, reusing his strings and even going so far as to tie knots in them when they broke. Lionel's story is the stuff of legend. After finally getting his hands on a guitar as a teenager, he put together enough technique and understanding to get himself to the Ivory Coast to attend music school, and then managed to get to Paris for further musical study. Eventually he went to Berklee College of Music in Boston, and then to the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz at UCLA  in Los Angeles (now called the Hancock Institute) where he had the opportunity to study and work with his greatest mentors: Terence Blanchard, Wayne Shorter Herbie Hancock. Soon he began to work with those same mentors, appearing on albums by Blanchard and Hancock. And since then he has gone on to play with an incredible list of greatest, most creative and influential players alive. Today he lives in Luxembourg, teaches at the Jazz Campus in Basel, Switzerland, and in non Covid times, tours and records relentlessly. A brief scan of his recent solo recording work tells the story: In 2019 he released an ambitious album aptly named The Journey - the title reflects both his odyssey from childhood in Benin to his current life as a globe-trotting jazz star while also mirroring his musical development. He followed that up in 2020 with a much more intimate album called HH featuring solo guitar performances, punctuated by vocals and vocal percussion, of Herbie Hancock compositions. And in 2021 he released Close Your Eyes, a more loosely structured blowing record of classic repertoire, in musical conversation with bassist Reuben Rogers and drummer Eric Harland. He tells me that after trying as hard as possible to remove the African influences from his playing and trying to sound more like his jazz heroes, he ultimately realized that they were all compatible, and he began to reintroduce more of the sounds of his childhood into his approach. The result is a very personal, very musical and emotional sound. I think maybe that's what makes him such an appealing collaborator. His voice is so identifiable and personal, but you can feel the road that he has traveled in his playing. In fact, he ends up telling me exactly that. He says “our story is what we play, the story of somebody from the beginning to the time they play, that's what we are presenting.” www.third-story.com www.patreon.com/thirdstorypodcast www.lionelloueke.com/

Whether Michael Mayo is performing with his band, as a guest, or alone with a looper pedal, the LA native's commanding and other worldly vocalese is quickly gathering critical and commercial acclaim around the globe. Born to two successful musicians, Mayo grew up just a little more than 20 feet from the likes of Diana Ross, Luther Vandross, Earth Wind and Fire, and Stevie Wonder. This proximity helped Mayo create a musical path centered around elements of R&B, Soul and Jazz, forging his musical identity long before he hit the stage. Mayo attended the acclaimed Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance, only the third vocalist to be accepted into the 20-year-old program, where he learned from the likes of Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock. Now living in Brooklyn, and still in his 20s, Mayo is a veteran international performer whose highlights include singing at the White House, the Kennedy Center and Renée Fleming's American Voices Festival, as well as the Panama Jazz Festival. Most recently he has recorded and performed with Herbie Hancock, Jacob Collier, Kneebody, Gretchen Parlato, Josh Groban, Ben Wendel, and Becca Stevens among many others. His own band performance was a standout at the 2019 Playboy Jazz Festival, Atlanta Jazz Festival, and Monterey Jazz Festival. Signed to Mack Avenue/Artistry Records, Mayo's debut record BONES, produced by Grammy Award-winning producer Eli Wolf (Norah Jones, Al Green, The Roots) was released on June 4th, 2021.

Saxophonist & educator, Godwin Louis, was born in Harlem, New York and began playing saxophone at age nine. Godwin grew up in Bridgeport, Connecticut and Port au Prince, Haiti.  Godwin was a finalist in the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Saxophone Competition, and has performed all over the world. He is a graduate of Berklee […]

Jazz pianist Geoffrey Keezer, a two-time GRAMMY nominee, has approximately 20 albums to his name as a bandleader. He has built a successful career by creating unusual and compelling music with a wide range of artists, from singers such as Diana Krall to bassists such as Christian McBride, and rock stars such as Sting. Geoffrey has toured all over the world, playing with giants of jazz like Joshua Redman, Pat Metheny, and Wayne Shorter. He has taught numerous master classes at schools and universities such as the Brubeck Institute, the Royal Academy of Music, the New School, and the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, among others.Geoffrey joins The Playful Musician to chat about his unique and acclaimed career as a jazz pianist. We discuss his transcribing process, including the very first solo he transcribed. He shares how he collaborates with other artists, including pianists. Geoffrey reminisces about his time playing with Art Blakey and Sting, and the advice he received from Miles Davis. He shares about his practice routine, writing process, and the advice he has for young musicians. 

Gretchen Parlato burst onto the scene in 2004, when she won the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz International Voice Competition. Since then, she's been nominated for a Grammy, released five albums, performed with Wayne Shorter, Kamasi Washington, Becca Stevens and more, and massively influenced several generations of jazz vocalists. After 8 years spent exploring and enjoying motherhood, she made something of return to jazz with her album "Flor”, released on Edition Records in 2021. The album celebrates both her re-emergence, a blossoming if you will, and her love for the Brazilian sounds that shaped her. We talk about the music of Flor, her advice on dealing with criticism, and how she feels about having impacted the jazz vocal landscape with her signature understated singing and impeccable musicianship. Show Notes: Tracks played: -Wonderful -Roy Allen -What Does A Lion Say -Cello Suite No. 1 BWV 1007 Minuet I & II -Same Stare, Different Thought (with David Binney) -É Preciso Perdoar -Sweet Love Flor was released in March 2021 on Edition Records Gretchen's "Flor Stories" on Instagram Helen McKenzie Roasts Gretchen Parlato's “The Lost and Found” David Binney's Album "Graylen Epicenter" On Bandcamp Theme music by The Respect Sextet Follow The Jazz Session on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook Subscribe to The Jazz Session's YouTube Channel Support The Jazz Session by becoming a member at Patreon. For $5 a month you'll get a weekly bonus episode called Track of the Week, plus early access to every show. For $10 a month you get all that plus an extra monthly bonus episode of "The Insider", a spin-off interview series where Nicky chats to jazz industry insiders (broadcasters, artist agents, label heads, journalists) about the nuts and bolts of the business.

Gretchen Parlato burst onto the scene in 2004, when she won the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz International Voice Competition. Since then, she's been nominated for a Grammy, released five albums, performed with Wayne Shorter, Kamasi Washington, Becca Stevens and more, and massively influenced several generations of jazz vocalists. After 8 years spent exploring and enjoying motherhood, she made something of return to jazz with her album "Flor”, released on Edition Records in 2021. The album celebrates both her re-emergence, a blossoming if you will, and her love for the Brazilian sounds that shaped her. We talk about the music of Flor, her advice on dealing with criticism, and how she feels about having impacted the jazz vocal landscape with her signature understated singing and impeccable musicianship. Show Notes: Tracks played: -Wonderful -Roy Allen -What Does A Lion Say -Cello Suite No. 1 BWV 1007 Minuet I & II -Same Stare, Different Thought (with David Binney) -É Preciso Perdoar -Sweet Love Flor was released in March 2021 on Edition Records Gretchen's "Flor Stories" on Instagram Helen McKenzie Roasts Gretchen Parlato's “The Lost and Found” David Binney's Album "Graylen Epicenter" On Bandcamp Theme music by The Respect Sextet Follow The Jazz Session on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook Subscribe to The Jazz Session's YouTube Channel Support The Jazz Session by becoming a member at Patreon. For $5 a month you'll get a weekly bonus episode called Track of the Week, plus early access to every show. For $10 a month you get all that plus an extra monthly bonus episode of "The Insider", a spin-off interview series where Nicky chats to jazz industry insiders (broadcasters, artist agents, label heads, journalists) about the nuts and bolts of the business.

Gretchen Parlato burst onto the scene in 2004, when she won the Thelonious Monk Institute...

Michael Mayo is cautious when it comes to labels and categories. He prefers for the language he uses to be “descriptive rather than prescriptive.” It's easy to understand why: because he defies category in many ways.  A singer and composer who draws equally from the deep well of jazz vocal language and from neo soul, he's a modern classic.  Growing up in a musical family in LA (both of his parents are successful musicians) he was exposed to a life in music from the very start and had two supportive role models. He says that one of the things he most admired about watching his parents at work was the diversity of the projects they did - from gospel to country and everything in between.  Michael was drawn to jazz - he studied at the New England Conservatory and then the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz (now called the The Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz) - but always had a wide range of influences as well including everything from J Dilla to The Beach Boys.  But beyond that, he is also a gamer - he loves video games, posts regularly on Twitch and has a band called Shrek Is Love dedicated to the movie Shrek. So he's open.  When it came to the more subtle and tender questions of sexual identity, especially in the black community, there were no role models who looked like him. In fact, it would be a long time before he felt that it would be possible to be out as a bisexual black singer and live safely. He tells me, “Traumatized people traumatize people.” One gets the sense that through musical liberation, Michael found some personal peace as well. He says, “Just because something hasn't been done before doesn't mean that it can't be done.” And he says, “I love living in multiple worlds.” After years of coming to terms with questions of identity both personally and musically, he made his stunning debut solo record Bones. Here he talks about managing his relationship with social media, which he describes as finding the “balance between staying sane and being seen”, the subtle space between process and performance online, live looping, bi erasure, shedding “Giant Steps”, generational trauma, the “syllables discussion” in jazz singing, tokenism, discernment, and living a life authentically without labels. www.third-story.com www.patreon.com/thirdstorypodcast www.michaelmayomusic.com

Muziek van Terence Blanchard bij de film Da 5 Bloods van Spike Lee, een film over vier zwarte Vietnam-veteranen die decennia nadat ze in Vietnam gevochten hebben teruggaan: om het stoffelijk overschot van een gesneuvelde kameraad te zoeken, maar ook op zoek naar een kist met goudstaven die ze daar destijds verstopten. Typische Spike Lee-ingrediënten, een mix van oorlogsfilm, satire, psychologisch drama, en vooral ingezoomd op de onderbelichte rol van Afro-Amerikaanse soldaten in de Vietnam-oorlog. Met historische fragmenten die door de film heen gevlochten zijn, zoals beelden van Martin Luther King, rassenrellen en protesten in de jaren '60, en historische beelden uit de Vietnam-oorlog. De muziek van Terence Blanchard is genomineerd voor een Oscar! Blanchard werd in 1962 geboren in New Orleans en hij is ook bekend als jazztrompettist. Als musicus won hij al zes keer een Grammy, hij geeft leiding aan het Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz in California, en hij doceerde aan het Berklee College of Music. Voor zijn composities voor film ontving hij vorig jaar in Venetië de Passion for Film-award. Hij schreef al voor tientallen films de muziek, waaronder ook voor meerdere Spike Lee-films (ook diens vorige film BlackkKlansman). - Otis and Tien have dinner - MLK Assassinated - Bloods go in to jungle - Finding the gold - Paul and Norman - End credits

Welcome back to KINship! On this podcast, I invite various Chicago musicians to perform and discuss various music-related topics. This week I had the opportunity of speaking with Lenard and Ethan about their song writing process, Ethan's experience as the winner of the 2019 International Society of Bassists Jazz Competition, as well as Lenard's time at the Thelonious Monk Institute (now known as the Herbie Hancock Institute).

Grammy Award, Sirius XM The Grammy-winning trumpeter and composer was born and raised in New York City. Nabaté's debut album called, 'Eclectic Excursions' dropped in the Summer of 2018 and until that point, he's had a glorious career journey. During his high school years, Nabaté represented the fifth generation of jazz for the preview of the Louis Armstrong Archives, with trumpet greats Dr. Donald Byrd, "Doc" Cheatham, "Dizzy" Gillespie, Jimmy Owens, Jon Faddis and Wynton Marsalis. Nabaté also appeared in a Coca-Cola commercial, directed by John Singleton and produced by Roy Eaton. While attending Eastman, Nabaté was a featured soloist with the Rochester Pops Orchestra. Nabaté also participated in the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz summer program at Aspen Snowmass and its Jazz Gala at the Kennedy Center. He went on to receive his BM from the Eastman School of Music and his MA from New York University. Nabaté has performed, toured and/or recorded with unique artists Yasiin Bey (aka Mos Def), Christian McBride, Kenny Lattimore, Philip Bailey, Fantasia, Jeffrey Osborne, Jill Scott, Robert Glasper, Dianne Reeves, José James, Savion Glover, Gregory Porter, Freda Payne, Shareefa, Oliver Lake, Steve Coleman, Ravi Coltrane, Steve Wilson, Muhal Richard Abrams, Matthew Shipp, Charli Persip, Mike Longo, Uri Caine, Buster Williams, Grady Tate, Jay Hoggard, Holt McCallany, the Mingus Big Band, and the José Limon Dance Company. He composed a solo double bass composition called 'Lessons', which was premiered by world-renowned double bassist James VanDemark at Louisiana State University. Nabaté also received a commission from the Festival of New Trumpet Music to compose and premiere a new piece which he entitled, 'We Need Unity in the Community'. Nabaté provided private trumpet instruction to the actor Rob Brown for his role as trumpeter Delmond Lambreaux on the HBO series, 'Treme'. Nabaté was part of both of Christian McBride Big Band's Grammy-winning albums, 'The Good Feeling' (2012) and 'Bringin' It' (2018) as well as the band's performance at the White House for the last concert under President Barack Obama's administration. He has composed five music scores for short films as well as contributing original music to Amos Poe's innovative film, 'Empire II'. He recently completed a score for his first feature called, 'The Rhythm in Blue'. Also, Nabaté is an accomplished producer and host for SiriusXM NBA Radio & he hosts his own weekly television show called 'So Much to Talk About' on MNN (Manhattan cable). Also, a sports trivia expert, Nabaté excelled on TV gameshows, ESPN's Stumb The Schwab and Crackle/NBC Sports' Sports Jeopardy. Nabaté Isles' Eclectic Excursions featuring the joined talents of: Nabaté Isles - Trumpet Alex Han - Alto and Soprano Saxophone David Gilmore - Guitar Theo Hill - Keyboards Brad Jones - Bass Rudy Royston - Drums Special Guests: Alita Moses - Vocals Michael Mayo - Vocals Find Nabaté Isles via social media: Instagram: @nsi.universal Twitter: @NabateIslesSMTA Facebook: www.facebook.com/NabateIslesTrumpet The trumpeter Nabaté Isles recently released his debut album, “Eclectic Excursions,” and it lives up to its title. Mr. Isles has worked most often as a side musician for artists across hip-hop, jazz and R&B, and his own record manages to throw it all together — making room along the way for a few guest singers and rappers — while keeping a firm center. Playing with a quintet, Mr. Isles started off with “Minute Pieces of Wozzeck,” a trippy, motivic original composed around a set of 12-tone harmonies from Alban Berg’s experimental opera, “Wozzeck.” As Adam Klipple’s organ and Joshua Crumbly’s bass hit a stopped-up, two-chord pattern, Mr. Isles retorted with a circular phrase. The guitarist David Gilmore ran snaky improvisations around them, leading your ear gently astray until the rhythm section dropped decisively into a thrashing rock beat. Mr. Isles and the soprano saxophonist Ian Young played in wet blasts of harmony, and Mr. Isles drove headlong into a rugged solo. He pushed hard, leaning into the song’s screwball-fusion vibe but maintaining a measured sense of swing. Midway through the set, the rapper Elzhi — a onetime member of Slum Village, and a guest on the album — guested on two songs, and the band switched comfortably to a radiant, festive mode. Then the vocalist Alita Moses came on to sing “Find Your Light,” a standout from “Eclectic Excursions,” with a strong redolence of Esperanza Spalding’s dreamy neo-soul side. Over a mid-tempo groove, Ms. Moses sang the song’s lyrics of invitation with acrobatic poise, moving deliberately at cloud altitude. Mr. Isles responded with a solo of sharp bursts and grounded rumbles, filling some of the vertical space in the atmosphere below her. A version of this above article appears in print on , on Page C5 of the New York edition with the headline: Contradictions and Fresh Material Abound. ©2020 Building Abundant Success!! 2020 All Rights Reserved Join Me on iHeart Radio @ https://tinyurl.com/iHeartBAS Spot Me on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/yxuy23ba

Lionel Loueke Cd The JourneyUn véritable coup de foudre du label Aparté, habitué aux productions de musique classique, pour un artiste à l’univers musical totalement inclassable. S’il n’est pas "classique", il en deviendra un, sans l’ombre d’un doute.Il faut écouter ce guitariste-chanteur virtuose pour comprendre sa singularité ("une présence envoutante... une voix d’une originalité saisissante" – New York Times). La séduction immédiate de sa musique naît d’un style qui a de quoi surprendre !"Je n’ai jamais rencontré un musicien aussi incroyable que lui", souffle Herbie Hancock, bluffé en découvrant Loueke, lors de son audition d’entrée au Thelonious Monk Institute, qui scelle une ascension fulgurante. Car ce musicien de génie au double héritage, nourri des musiques d’Afrique de l’Ouest et du jazz occidental a grandi au Bénin, et n’a touché sa première guitare qu’à 17 ans. Repéré dans son pays natal, il monte étudier le jazz à l’American School of Modern Music de Paris, puis s’envole pour les États-Unis avec une bourse d’études à l’Université de Berklee, avant son entrée remarquée au Monk Institute, qui fera de lui le collaborateur régulier des plus grands : Wayne Shorter, Sting, Chick Corea, et bien sûr Herbie Hancock, qui le prend sous son aile.Synthèse d’influences, The Journey est construit autour de la personnalité musicale unique de Loueke, qui mélange de façon toujours inattendue ses riches harmonies vocales, claquements de langue et chansons douces africaines, à un jeu de guitare inimitable et percussif, qui fait sonner l’instrument comme tout un orchestre. Dans cette aventure, Loueke est rejoint par une palette impressionnante de guests, dont les horizons musicaux s’étendent du rock de The Who avec le bassiste Pino Palladino, jusqu’à la clarinette solo de l’Orchestre National de France (Patrick Messina), en passant par les cordes jazzy de Vincent Ségal et Mark Feldman, ou les percussions du brésilien pape de la frappe Cyro Baptista. Aux manettes de l’enregistrement, on retrouve le maestro américain Robert Sadin (Gershwin’s World de Hancock, ou Alegria de Wayne Shorter, tous deux récompensés d’un Grammy Award, c’était lui), passionnément impliqué dans ce projet insolite à la croisée des chemins.Le résultat ? Un disque aux sonorités dingues, d’une superbe humanité, qui alterne les ballades pleines d’espoir (Molika, Kába), les chants consolateurs (Vi Gnin, berceuse touchante à un enfant qui a perdu sa mère) et les morceaux les plus rythmés, irrésistibles (Gbê, Dark Lighting). "Avec ce projet, j’ai l’impression d’avoir trouvé la vraie raison pour laquelle je suis musicien", nous dit Loueke. - Lionel Loueke site- Lionel Loueke, The journey EPK DIAPORAMA   Harrison Kennedy, Jean-Jacques Milteau et Vincent Segal, Cd Crossborder BluesQuand trois des plus grands artistes de blues de la scène internationale actuelle s’unissent pour créer une série d’explorations originales et jubilatoires en s’appuyant sur l’univers acoustique, cela promet un résultat à couper le souffle !Respectueux du passé sans jamais sombrer dans la nostalgie, soucieux de tradition tout en abordant des thèmes actuels, curieux des mariages sonores inédits, ces trois bluesmen possèdent une formidable capacité d’invention et d’innovation que l’on nomme… la création.Avec la voix d’Harrison Kennedy, les harmonicas imaginatifs de Jean-Jacques Milteau et le violoncelle lyrique de Vincent Segal réunis ici pour la première fois, ce sera l’occasion pour ce trio de magnifier l’universalité véhiculé par le blues."N’en déplaise à Donald Trump, aux empereurs chinois voire à Edouard Maginot, une frontière n’est pas un mur, bien au contraire. Son appréciation varie certes en fonction des époques et du côté d’où on la regarde : espoir ou crainte, protection ou perspective, la frontière est juste indispensable à l’imaginaire de l’être humain depuis la nuit des temps.Quoi qu’il en soit, une frontière délimite un territoire et la question du territoire va se poser de manière de plus en plus complexe face à la dématérialisation de la vie sociale.Et pourtant, quelle que soit sa forme, le territoire est indissociable de l’humain. Il aura toujours besoin de s’asseoir quelque part et de regarder l’horizon, par-delà la frontière. "J.J. Milteau Morceaux interprétésLive1 Kennedy_Milteau_Segal Here Comes Sunday MorningLive2 Loueke Dark LightningCd Kennedy_Milteau_Segal What’s going on (Marvin Gaye)Extrait The Chairmen of the Board Give Me Just A Little More Time avec Harrison Kennedy/Tamla MotownLive3 Loueke Vi GninCd Lionel Loueke Guira (entre guitare et kora)Live4 Crossborder Judgement Day Cd Kennedy_Milteau_Segal MandéLive5 commun Loueke_Kennedy_Milteau_Segal  Back Alley Moan - Crossborder trailer- Jean-Jacques Milteau site- Harrison Kennedy site - Vincent Segal page Facebook- Vidéo The Chairmen of the Board Give Me Just A Little More Time MusiciensLionel Loueke, guitare, chantHarrison Kennedy, chant, cuillères, guitareJean-Jacques Milteau, harmonicaVincent Segal, violoncelle, percussions Ingénieurs du son : Benoît Letirant et Jérémie Besset. (Rediffusion du 7 octobre 2018)

In this episode, I am joined by trumpeter and bandleader Gordon Au.  Gordon leads the Grand St. Stompers, a traditional jazz band who the New York Times has called “a pillar of New York’s hot jazz scene,” and regularly plays with numerous groups in New York City.  He is a frequent guest artist at music festivals around the country, including the Redwood Coast Music Festival and Monterey Jazz Bash By the Bay, as well as at swing dance events such as Lindy Focus, and DCLX. Gordon is a graduate of Berklee College of Music and the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance, and teaches for Jazz at Lincoln Center’s WeBop program. His latest albums, Swing in Place, recorded remotely in quarantine, and Tribute to Louis Armstrong & His All-Stars / Live at Lindy Focus, are now available on Bandcamp. Gordon joined me on a video chat from across Brooklyn to talk about how he went from scientist to professional musician , what it’s like to play a gig with a musical idol, his opinion on cultural appropriation and historical context in jazz, and the importance of the arts in the time of a global pandemic. We also discussed what is special about playing for dancers, how learning to Lindy Hop has influenced his playing, and the level of research and preparation that he puts into each song in an effort to find the right balance between recreation and innovation.

The drummer for Snarky Puppy and winner of the 2012 Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Competition talks about his album All for One.

Gilfema, un trío de egresados tanto de Berklee como del Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz en guitarra, batería y contrabajo, con un sabrosísimo disco en el 2 de uno de hoy.

Gina Saputo is one of LA's most in demand Jazz singers. She studied Jazz on scholarship at the University of Southern California and graduate studies at the prestigious Thelonious Monk Institute, now the Herbie Hancock Institute. Gina released her latest record, Duetto, on Swingfest Records. It debuted at #4 on the Itunes Jazz Charts. She is also featured on Jeff Goldblum's newest record.

Gina Saputo is one of LA's most in demand Jazz singers. She studied Jazz on scholarship at the University of Southern California and graduate studies at the prestigious Thelonious Monk Institute, now the Herbie Hancock Institute. Gina released her latest record, Duetto, on Swingfest Records. It debuted at #4 on the Itunes Jazz Charts. She is also featured on Jeff Goldblum's newest record.

Gina Saputo is one of LA's most in demand Jazz singers. She studied Jazz on scholarship at the University of Southern California and graduate studies at the prestigious Thelonious Monk Institute, now the Herbie Hancock Institute. Gina released her latest record, Duetto, on Swingfest Records. It debuted at #4 on the Itunes Jazz Charts. She is also featured on Jeff Goldblum's newest record.

Grammy Award, Sirius XM The Grammy-winning trumpeter and composer was born and raised in New York City. Nabaté's debut album called, 'Eclectic Excursions' dropped in the Summer of 2018 and until this point, he's had a glorious journey. During his high school years, Nabaté represented the fifth generation of jazz for the preview of the Louis Armstrong Archives, with trumpet greats Dr. Donald Byrd, "Doc" Cheatham, "Dizzy" Gillespie, Jimmy Owens, Jon Faddis and Wynton Marsalis. Nabaté also appeared in a Coca-Cola commercial, directed by John Singleton and produced by Roy Eaton. While attending Eastman, Nabaté was a featured soloist with the Rochester Pops Orchestra. Nabaté also participated in the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz summer program at Aspen Snowmass and its Jazz Gala at the Kennedy Center. He went on to receive his BM from the Eastman School of Music and his MA from New York University. Nabaté has performed, toured and/or recorded with unique artists Yasiin Bey (aka Mos Def), Christian McBride, Kenny Lattimore, Philip Bailey, Fantasia, Jeffrey Osborne, Jill Scott, Robert Glasper, Dianne Reeves, José James, Savion Glover, Gregory Porter, Freda Payne, Shareefa, Oliver Lake, Steve Coleman, Ravi Coltrane, Steve Wilson, Muhal Richard Abrams, Matthew Shipp, Charli Persip, Mike Longo, Uri Caine, Buster Williams, Grady Tate, Jay Hoggard, Holt McCallany, the Mingus Big Band, and the José Limon Dance Company. He composed a solo double bass composition called 'Lessons', which was premiered by world-renowned double bassist James VanDemark at Louisiana State University. Nabaté also received a commission from the Festival of New Trumpet Music to compose and premiere a new piece which he entitled, 'We Need Unity in the Community'. Nabaté provided private trumpet instruction to the actor Rob Brown for his role as trumpeter Delmond Lambreaux on the HBO series, 'Treme'. Nabaté was part of both of Christian McBride Big Band's Grammy-winning albums, 'The Good Feeling' (2012) and 'Bringin' It' (2018) as well as the band's performance at the White House for the last concert under President Barack Obama's administration. He has composed five music scores for short films as well as contributing original music to Amos Poe's innovative film, 'Empire II'. He recently completed a score for his first feature called, 'The Rhythm in Blue'. Also, Nabaté is an accomplished producer and host for SiriusXM NBA Radio & he hosts his own weekly television show called 'So Much to Talk About' on MNN (Manhattan cable). Also, a sports trivia expert, Nabaté excelled on TV gameshows, ESPN's Stumb The Schwab and Crackle/NBC Sports' Sports Jeopardy. Nabaté Isles' Eclectic Excursions featuring the joined talents of: Nabaté Isles - Trumpet Alex Han - Alto and Soprano Saxophone David Gilmore - Guitar Theo Hill - Keyboards Brad Jones - Bass Rudy Royston - Drums Special Guests: Alita Moses - Vocals Michael Mayo - Vocals Find Nabaté Isles via social media: Instagram: @nsi.universal Twitter: @NabateIslesSMTA Facebook: www.facebook.com/NabateIslesTrumpet The trumpeter Nabaté Isles recently released his debut album, “Eclectic Excursions,” and it lives up to its title. Mr. Isles has worked most often as a side musician for artists across hip-hop, jazz and R&B, and his own record manages to throw it all together — making room along the way for a few guest singers and rappers — while keeping a firm center. Playing with a quintet, Mr. Isles started off with “Minute Pieces of Wozzeck,” a trippy, motivic original composed around a set of 12-tone harmonies from Alban Berg’s experimental opera, “Wozzeck.” As Adam Klipple’s organ and Joshua Crumbly’s bass hit a stopped-up, two-chord pattern, Mr. Isles retorted with a circular phrase. The guitarist David Gilmore ran snaky improvisations around them, leading your ear gently astray until the rhythm section dropped decisively into a thrashing rock beat. Mr. Isles and the soprano saxophonist Ian Young played in wet blasts of harmony, and Mr. Isles drove headlong into a rugged solo. He pushed hard, leaning into the song’s screwball-fusion vibe but maintaining a measured sense of swing. Midway through the set, the rapper Elzhi — a onetime member of Slum Village, and a guest on the album — guested on two songs, and the band switched comfortably to a radiant, festive mode. Then the vocalist Alita Moses came on to sing “Find Your Light,” a standout from “Eclectic Excursions,” with a strong redolence of Esperanza Spalding’s dreamy neo-soul side. Over a mid-tempo groove, Ms. Moses sang the song’s lyrics of invitation with acrobatic poise, moving deliberately at cloud altitude. Mr. Isles responded with a solo of sharp bursts and grounded rumbles, filling some of the vertical space in the atmosphere below her. Mr. Isles released his album“Eclectic Excursions” in July. A version of this above article appears in print on , on Page C5 of the New York edition with the headline: Contradictions and Fresh Material Abound. ©2019 Building Abundant Success!! 2019 All Rights Reserved Join Me on ~ iHeart Radio @ https://tinyurl.com/iHeartBAS See you on @ facebook.com/BuildingAbundantSuccess'

Grammy-nominated drummer/singer Jamison Ross is proving that he’s not a one-hit-wonder with the release of his latest recording for Concord Jazz. Titled All For One, the winner of the 2012 Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz International Drum Competition, Ross is solidifying his reputation as one of his generation's brightest young drummer/vocalists. Accompanied by pianist Chris Pattishall, guitarist Rick Lollar (both of whom played on the 2015 debut), bassist Barry Stephenson, and Cory Irvin on Hammond organ and Fender Rhodes. Ross exceeds expectations set by his debut release and heightens his listeners' appreciation for his compositional integrity, vocals, arranging and bandleader skills in this eclectic mix of blues, jazz, R&B and soul.The 13-disc recording features down home New Orleans-style of blues and jazz singing as well as some pure straight ahead bebop that surely was gleaned as an accompanist to some of today’s most revered jazz artists including singer Cécile McLorin Salvant, pianists Jonathan Batiste, Dr. John and Jon Cleary; and bassist Christian McBride. Ross also has accompanied singer and composer Carmen Lundy, who invited Ross to join her band prior to the Thelonius Monk competition.  The recording opens with "A Mellow Time,” which is a mighty remake of the 1966 tune written by Allen Toussaint and made famous by Lee Dorsey. The title track – "All For One” – is a groovin’ Crescent City-based song written and recorded in 1993 by Wilson Turbinton, better known as Willie Tee. Written By Sounds of Timeless Jazz

It's podcast Friday people! Godwin Louis is the CEO and Founder of Experience Ayiti.(https://www.ExperienceAyiti.org) He and I explored the meaning of success, spirituality and mastery. We also spoke about his time in Africa and the impact that the continent has had on his day to day life. I hope you enjoy this episode of The Working Artist Project. Please don't forget too like, comment, and subscribe to this podcast. Connect with Godwin Here: https://www.experienceayiti.org/ Connect with Darrian Here: https://www.secondlinearts.org Bio: Godwin Louis, alto saxophonist, was born in Harlem, New York and began playing saxophone at age nine. Godwin grew up in Bridgeport, Connecticut and Port au Prince, Haiti. Godwin was a finalist in the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Saxophone Competition. He has performed around the globe including: Mali, Senegal, Togo, France, Spain, United Kingdom, Italy, Russia, Azerbaijan, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Venezuela, Colombia, South Korea, Thailand, Indonesia and Australia. Godwin is a graduate of Berklee College of Music and the prestigious Thelonious Monk Institute for Jazz Performance. Godwin has studied and performed with Herbie Hancock, Clark Terry, Roger Dickerson, Ron Carter, Al Foster, Jack Dejohnette, Jimmy Heath, Billy Preston, Patti Labelle, Toni Braxton, Babyface, Madonna, Gloria Estefan, Barry Harris, Howard Shore, David Baker, Mulatu Astakte, Mahmoud Ahmed, Wynton Marsalis, and Terence Blanchard just to name a few. In addition, Godwin has performed as a sideman, guest soloist and has conducted clinics and master classes worldwide. As a composer, Godwin has received the Jerome Foundation Emerging Artist Grant, and the Jazz Gallery's "New Works Commission". As an educator, humanitarian and ambassador, Godwin has traveled from Ghana to China to help promote cross-cultural understanding and introduce thousands to America's indigenous art form, through public concerts, master classes, and jam sessions. Godwin is the founder of Experience Ayiti, a nonprofit educational, multidisciplinary arts organization. Support this podcast

This "best of" episode features composer, teacher, and bassist Ron Carter.  Enjoy, and check out the original episode from 2016 here. About Ron Carter Ron Carter is among the most original, prolific, and influential bassists in jazz. With more than 2,000 albums to his credit, he has recorded with many of music's greats: Tommy Flanagan, Gil Evans, Lena Horne, Bill Evans, B.B. King, the Kronos Quartet, Dexter Gordon, Wes Montgomery, and Bobby Timmons. In the early 1960s he performed throughout the United States in concert halls and nightclubs with Jaki Byard and Eric Dolphy. He later toured Europe with Cannonball Adderley. From 1963 to 1968, he was a member of the classic and acclaimed Miles Davis Quintet. He was named Outstanding Bassist of the Decade by the Detroit News, Jazz Bassist of the Year by Downbeat magazine, and Most Valuable Player by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. In 1993 Ron Carter earned a Grammy award for Best Jazz Instrumental Group, the Miles Davis Tribute Band and another Grammy in 1998 for Call 'Sheet Blues', an instrumental composition from the film 'Round Midnight. In addition to scoring and arranging music for many films, including some projects for Public Broadcasting System, Carter has composed music for A Gathering of Old Men, starring Lou Gosset Jr., The Passion of Beatrice directed by Bertrand Tavernier, and Blind Faith starring Courtney B. Vance. Carter shares his expertise in the series of books he authored, among which are Building Jazz Bass Lines and The Music of Ron Carter; the latter contains 130 of his published and recorded compositions. Carter earned a bachelor of music degree from the Eastman School in Rochester and a master's degree in double bass from the Manhattan School of Music in New York City. He has also received four honorary doctorates, from the New England Conservatory of Music and the Manhattan School of Music, and was the 2002 recipient of the prestigious Hutchinson Award from the Eastman School at the University of Rochester. Most recently he was honored by the French Minister of Culture with France's premier cultural award--the medallion and title of Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters, given to those who have distinguished themselves in the domain of artistic or literary creation and for their contribution to the spread of arts and letters in France and the world. Carter has lectured, conducted, and performed at clinics and master classes, instructing jazz ensembles and teaching the business of music at numerous universities. He was Artistic Director of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Studies while it was located in Boston and, after 18 years on the faculty of the Music Department of The City College of New York, he is now Distinguished Professor Emeritus although, as a performer, he remains as active as ever. Contrabass Conversations is sponsored by:   D’Addario Strings Check out their Zyex strings, which are synthetic core strings that produce an extremely warm, rich sound. Get the sound and feel of gut strings with more evenness, projection and stability than real gut. The Upton Bass String Instrument Company Upton’s Bostonian was conceived at the 2009 International Society of Double Bassists convention at State College, Pennsylvania, while world-renowned jazz bassist and Professor of Jazz Studies at the University of North Texas, Lynn Seaton and Upton Bass String Instrument Co. President and Founder, Gary Upton Birkhamshaw were playing and discussing the various instruments Upton Bass had created for the convention. They started with a blank sheet of paper, and together began jotting down Lynn’s preferences and suggestion with each model. The result was a rough outline of what would become the UB Bostonian Concert Double Bass.

Born in Louisiana, Beasley started writing arrangements in junior high school, which sparked the attention of Jimmy Lyons—the founder of the Monterey Jazz Festival—who recommended him for a scholarship at the Stan Kenton summer jazz camp. The pianist cut his teeth with Miles Davis and Freddie Hubbard in the 1980s and has since performed and recorded with a who’s who of artists including, Steely Dan, Dianne Reeves, Chaka Khan, Christian McBride, Sergio Mendes, Herbie Hancock, John Patittucci, Al Jarreau, George Duke, Queen Latifah and AR Rahman, among others.Living in Hollywood, Beasley juggled a touring musician’s schedule while working in studios composing for award-winning television sitcoms including Fame, Cheers, Family Ties, Star Trek, to name a few. He has worked with multiple Oscar-nominated film composer Thomas Newman for three decades on credits including James Bond Spectre and Skyfall, Get On Up: James Brown, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel I & II, Finding Nemo & Finding Dory, Wall-E, Shawshank Redemption and more. In the era of reality singing shows, Beasley was Lead Arranger for the juggernaut American Idol and helped usher in Carrie Underwood to victory in 2005 as Associate Musical Producer. He directed several TV shows, including Duets, Sing Your Face Off, and Sports Illustrated, 50th Anniversary.While touring with Miles Davis, Beasley was inspired to make his first of eleven recordings, Cauldron—which was produced by Walter Becker of Steely Dan-and went on to earn a GRAMMY® Award-nomination for his 2011 release Positootly!.He has since served as musical director for the Thelonious Monk Institute’s gala concerts since 2011, guiding legends and the next generation of jazz greats through all-star tributes to Quincy Jones, Bill Clinton, George Duke and Aretha Franklin. Also, since UNESCO’s inauguration of International Jazz Day in 2012, Beasley has directed each global annual concert from Paris, Istanbul, Osaka, Cuba to the notable concert at the White House in 2016 hosted by President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama. Beasley seamlessly shaped the televised Jazz at the White House concert featuring Aretha Franklin, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Joey Alexander and Sting through a night of swing and celebration. This earned him an Emmy nomination.Beasley continues to be a chameleon putting on many hats as the calls come in. He co-produced two albums with Weather Report’s Peter Erskine, the first, Dr.Um, earned a 2017 GRAMMY® nomination. For two seasons, he directed the Toyota Symphonies for Youth: “Jazz and the Orchestra” for the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Soul, blues and gospel singer Ruthie Foster engaged John to arrange songs for her performance with the Latvian Radio Big Band, which he conducted last month. For Thelonious Monk’s centennial celebration in Los Angeles, Angel City Jazz has appointed Beasley as Artistic Director. He has programmed an Afro-Cuban band to feature a classic recording Carmen Sings Monk with Dee Dee Bridgewater. The second set will feature DJs reimagining Beasley’s MONK’estra Vol. 1 imaginations of Thelonious Monk’s genius compositions.http://johnbeasleymusic.com/

HEARING IS BELIEVING With Rachel Flowers and filmmaker Lorenzo DeStefano __________________________________ OPENING IN SELECT THEATRES ON Friday, June 16, 2017 AVAILBLE ON VOD AND DIGITAL HD Tuesday, June 20, 2017 A film by Lorenzo DeStefano HEARING IS BELIEVING, the new non-fiction feature from award-winning filmmaker Lorenzo DeStefano, introduces the world to the astonishing young musician and composer, Rachel Flowers. Born 15 weeks premature, Rachel soon lost her eyesight. At two she began playing every song she heard by ear, including Bach fugues. Starting her musical education at the age of 4, it was soon clear that the child had perfect pitch. DeStefano and his team have created a dynamic and engaging portrait of two years in the life of a tight- knit American family, a single mom and her two kids, living paycheck to paycheck in Oxnard, California, with Rachel's stunning music as the soundtrack. The film revels in Rachel's joyous and free-flowing love of song, illuminating the bonds of family and the divine mysteries of creativity. Among the great musicians appearing with Rachel in the film are Grammy winners Dweezil Zappa, Arturo Sandoval, and Stevie Wonder, Grammy nominated jazz pianist Taylor Eigsti, the late Progressive Rock icon Keith Emerson, Hawaii ukulele legend Benny Chong, and 50 members of the Santa Barbara Youth Symphony. Rachel is the recipient of many awards, distinctions, and scholarships, including a Stanford University Jazz Residency, Los Angeles Music Center Spotlight Awards, winner of the Ventura County Student Jazz competition, and private instruction in advanced improvisation through the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz. Rachel has performed for Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones, Clark Terry, Herbie Hancock, Herb Alpert, and Wayne Shorter. She is a very active part of several jazz lineups in California and is currently composing original songs and works for orchestra, jazz combo, piano, and voice. HEARING IS BELIEVING is produced & directed by Lorenzo DeStefano. Executive producer is Patti Channer. Co-producers are Randell J. Brasher, Sandra Laby, Jordan Laby, and Mary Karrh. Editing by Kevin D. Wilson. Cinematography by David Pu'u and Nik Blaskovich. Music by Rachel Flowers. RT: 104 min / Unrated IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3765278/ Website: www.hearingisbelievingfilm.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/hearingisbelievingfilm Twitter: https://twitter.com/hibmovie Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rachelflowersfilm/

HBS 029 Interview with Sandi McCree | Actress  On BET - The New Edition Story, & HBO's The Wire (aka Delonda Brice)  Actress, youth advocate and educator, Sandi McCree, known for her edgy, street-tough performance as "Delonda Brice" on HBO's The Wire, has been on the front line of arts education and media literacy for over 21 years years. McCree began acting at age 4 growing up in Washington, D.C. where she gained love for storytelling. She went on to pursue a Bachelor of Arts degree in Radio, Film and Television from the University of Maryland and her Master's in acting from Case Western Reserve University. McCree furthered her dramatic studies at the National Shakespeare Conservatory in New York and the British American Drama Academy in Oxford, England. It was during her time at Case Western where McCree developed her approach of Multimedia Arts Focused Prevention Education through the formation of her organization The Thought Provoking Arts Company (TPAC). TPAC was commissioned by Case Western Reserve University to develop original arts-based programs aimed at providing prevention awareness activities for the student body with an emphasis on freshmen residents. TPAC's mission to provide comprehensive arts education and art focused prevention programming to children was fulfilled in McCree's work with multiple Ohio Public School Districts, Cuyahoga Community College, the Center for Families and Children in Cleveland Ohio and Pin Points Theatre, a national educational touring company in Washington, DC, where she served as Eastern Regional Director. Meanwhile, McCree's professional career took two mutually beneficial tracks as actress and arts educator. While performing across the country in stage productions such as The Exonerated, Fires in the Mirror and the one woman show The Gimmick, McCree was simultaneously writing and presenting on childhood education. She co-authored Artful Strategies for Prevention Education Group Work with Adolescent African-American Girls at the 23rd International Symposium on Social Work with Groups and in 1999 presented Using a Psychosocial Network to Empower Parents of Children with Sickle Cell Anemia to Maximize Life's Opportunities for the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America. McCree's work on stage and in education led to her serving as Media Liaison for the National Black Media Coalition. Her TV credits include The Closer Cold Case and Criminal Minds yet it is her work on HBO's The Wire that embodies the marriage of her passion for acting/storytelling with youth advocacy. Against type, McCree portrays "Delonda Brice," a villainous, misguided mother who would rather see her son selling drugs on the streets in order to support her ghetto fabulous lifestyle than attend and excel at school. Such a character couldn't be further from McCree's own and she's been able to use this deviant role as a platform for her dedication to the supportive development of young minds. McCree was a Producer of "BeBop to Hip-Hop" an educational performance at the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz were she holds the position of Special Projects Coordinator. She recently appeared in the award-winning documentary "Keep On Keepin On" produced by the legendary Quincy Jones. Sandi performs weekly with several improv troupes including Most Humble. She can be seen weekly at such venues as: The Groundlings Theater, Second City, iO West, The Clubhouse, Asylum Lab, Danger Room and Neon Venus. In November 2013, Most Humble is the 8-time defending champion of Second City Hollywood's Thunderdome Improv Cagematch show. In the Summer of 2015, Sandi McCree was invited to join the prestigious Sunday Company at The Groundlings. Sandi McCree is has taught and directed students at the San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts and she teaches theatre arts at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts   Links to Sandi McCree: Twitter @SandiMcCree  Instagram @sandimccree BET.com: The New Edition Story The Wire on HBO: The WIRE    Thank You for checking out Hollywood Breakthrough Show  | Follow us on Twitter @TheBreakThur This podcast main purpose is to serve up positive information. Join us at Hollywood Breakthrough Show, as we interview some of the most talented people in the business, which names you may, or may not know! But you have seen their work! Whether they're well- established veterans of the business, or current up and comers, these are the people who are making a living in Hollywood. Screenwriters, directors, producers and entertainment industry professionals share inside perspective on writing, filmmaking, breaking into Hollywood and navigating SHOW BUSINESS, along with stories of their journey to success! HELP SPREAD THE WORD PLEASE! SCREENWRITERS, DIRECTORS, AUTHORS, we would love to help spread the word about your Film, Book, Crowdfunding, etc., Contact us! (EMAIL: Info@hollywoodbreakthrough.com ) See Videos of all interviews at Hollywood Breakthrough Show Please subscribe in iTunes and write us a review! Follow us on: Social Media Sites | Twitter @TheBreakThur| Facebook: facebook.com/HollywoodBreakthroughPodcast Subscribe! Or, Please contact us for Interviews or Sponsorship of an episode! Hollywood Breakthrough Show Website (EMAIL: Info@hollywoodbreakthrough.com ) View Apps Sponsor: Press and hold links to visit the page: Hollywood Hero Agent Fenix Hill Pro Scottie The Baby Dino   SANDI MCCREE Images:   

Canada-born drummer Anthony Fung has spent the past several years at Berklee earning his bachelor's and master's degrees, and now the rising musician is off to further hone his talents at the Thelonious Monk Institute. Fung, who earned his Master of Music in contemporary performance (global jazz concentration) in 2016, has performed with Danilo Pérez, John Patitucci, Joe Lovano, and other jazz legends. This podcast features his quintet: Fung, Edmar Colón on saxophone, Mao Sone on trumpet, Jonny Chapman on bass, and Kyumin Shim on piano. Learn more about the Berklee Global Jazz Institute: https://www.berklee.edu/focused/global-jazz

Today's guest is, pianist, Lynne Arriale. A devoted educator and Yamaha artist, Lynne Arriale is currently Associate Professor of Jazz Studies and Director of Small Ensembles at The University of North Florida in Jacksonville. She has served as a faculty member of the Jamey Aebersold Summer Jazz Workshops, the Centrum Port Townsend Jazz Workshop, the Thelonious Monk Institute in Aspen and numerous clinics and workshops worldwide, including the US, UK, Europe, Canada, Brazil and South Africa. She is a member and piano pedagogy representative of The Jazz Education Network and has adjudicated the Montreux Jazz Competition, American Pianists Association Fellowship Awards, The Kennedy Center’s Mary Lou Williams Competition and the Jacksonville Piano Competition. With jazz icon Toshiko Akiyoshi, she was a featured mentor at The Mary Lou Williams Emerging Artist Workshop at the Kennedy Center. Arriale’s affinity for music and specifically the piano was evident early on, but well outside a jazz context. Adopted as an infant, she grew up in Milwaukee and was given a plastic toy piano at age 3. Playing by ear, she soon had a repertoire of songs that she had learned from the radio and records, mostly from Broadway musicals. Throughout her school and college years, she studied classical music, earning a master’s degree before turning to jazz. “Discovering the unlimited creative potential and artistic freedom in jazz changed my life,” said Arriale. Later she learned that her biological mother was a jazz vocalist; perhaps there is something to heredity, given her reverence for songful melodies. Motema founder Jana Herzen refers to Lynne’s "singer’s-like" ability to connect with an audience… "Though she played the piano and not a sound came from her lips, I had the distinct impression I was listening to a singer." Arriale always sings when she is practicing and composing. "I have found that the key to expressive playing and truly spontaneous improvisation is singing," says Arriale." I focus on the melody regardless of where spontaneous improvisation takes me. I search for the 'heart' of the song, find what makes it special to me and use it as musical inspiration.It is very important to me that my music has a vocal quality and a heart connection. It’s a lifelong process to teach my fingers how to sing." “Lynne Arriale’s remarkable career is graced by a rare commitment to authenticity and vulnerability defined by careful craft and high artistic standards. It is precisely this willingness to remain so emotionally exposed that makes her performances so accessible to music lovers of all kinds” (All About Jazz). Press play, enjoy, then share.

Pianist Helen Sung is an artist who was born classical and grew up a jazz player. The Houston born composer, educator and swinging pianist was first introduced to the music in college and once intrigued by its rhythms, harmonies and sense of freedom, she switched her classical major to study jazz. Accepted as part of the first iteration of The Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance, Helen soaked up all of the lessons from Jazz Masters such as Ron Carter, Clark Terry, Jackie McLean, Ray Brown, Jimmy Heath and many others. Her latest record "Anthem For A New Day", features Reuben Rogers, Obed Calvaire, Ingrid Jensen, Seamus Blake, Regina Carter, John Ellis, Paquito D'Rivera. This JazzCorner.com InnerView is sponsored in part by the DC Jazz Festival. For more information visit https://dcjazzfest.org

MAGNETIZEDTerence Blanchard (trumpet) is one of the most important musician/composer/band leaders of his generation. His emotionally moving and technically refined playing is considered by many jazz aficionados to recall earlier jazz trumpet styles. Born March 13, 1962, in New Orleans, the only child to parents Wilhelmina and Joseph Oliver Blanchard, a part-time opera singer and insurance company manager, the young Blanchard was encouraged by his father, Joseph Oliver, to learn to play the piano. In the third grade he discovered jazz trumpet when a big band, featuring Alvin Alcorn on trumpet, played at a school assembly. In his teens Blanchard attended the New Orleans Center of Creative Arts, where he studied and played with saxophonist Donald Harrison. While performing with Lionel Hampton's big band, he studied for two years at Rutgers University under the tutelage of Paul Jeffrey and Bill Fielder.In 1982 Blanchard replaced Wynton Marsalis under his recommendation in Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, working in that band up to 1986 as lead soloist and musical director. He then co-led a prominent quintet with saxophonist Donald Harrison, recording seven albums for the Concord, Columbia, and Evidence record labels in five years, including a stirring in-concert tribute to the Eric Dolphy/Booker Little ensemble. In the '90s, Blanchard became a leader in his own right, recording for the Columbia label, performing on the soundtracks to Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing and Mo' Better Blues, and composing the music for Lee's film Jungle Fever. In fact, Blanchard has written the score for every Spike Lee film since 1991, including Malcolm X, Clockers, Summer of Sam, 25th Hour, Inside Man, and the Hurricane Katrina documentary When the Levees Broke for HBO. With over 40 scores to his credit, Blanchard and Mark Isham are the most sought-after jazz musicians to ever compose for film. In the fall of 2000, Blanchard was named artistic director of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Keeping up with his love of live performance and touring, Blanchard also maintains a regular studio presence, recording his own original music for the Columbia, Sony Classical, and Blue Note labels. Albums include The Billie Holiday Songbook (1994), Romantic Defiance (1995), The Heart Speaks (1996), the acclaimed Wandering Moon (2000), Let's Get Lost (2001), Bounce (2003), and especially Flow (2005), which was produced by pianist Herbie Hancock and received two Grammy nominations. Blanchard has been nominated for 11 Grammys and has won four in total, including awards for New York Scene with Blakey (1984) and the soundtrack A Tale of God's Will in 2007. In 2005, Blanchard was part of McCoy Tyner's ensemble that won the Grammy in the Best Jazz Instrumental Album category for Illuminations. A quintessential sideman as well as leader, he has worked with prominent jazz players including Cedar Walton, Abbey Lincoln, Joanne Brackeen, Jay McShann, Ralph Peterson, Ed Thigpen, J.J. Johnson, Toots Thielemans, the Olympia Brass Band, Stevie Wonder, Bill Lee, Ray Brown, Poncho Sanchez, Dr. Billy Taylor, Dr. John, Lionel Loueke, Jeff Watts, and many others. Scarecrow Press published his autobiography, Contemporary Cat. By April of 2007, the Monk Institute announced its Commitment to New Orleans initiative, which included the relocation of the program to the campus of Loyola University in New Orleans, spearheaded by Blanchard. During 2007, the Monterey Jazz Festival named Blanchard Artist-in-Residence, and the festival formed a 50th Anniversary All-Stars ensemble featuring trumpeter James Moody, Benny Green, Derrick Hodge, Kendrick Scott, and Nnenna Freelon. In 2008, Blanchard helped scored the hit film Cadillac Records. Signing with Concord Jazz in 2009, he released Choices -- recorded at the Ogden Museum of Art in Blanchard's hometown of New Orleans -- at the end of that summer. In 2011, he paid tribute to the innovative Afro-Cuban recordings of Dizzy Gillespie and Chano Pozo by teaming up with Latin jazz percussionist Poncho Sanchez for the studio album Chano y Dizzy! In 2012, Blanchard returned to his film work by scoring the soundtrack to director George Lucas' WWII action/drama Red Tails.“I’ve always believed that in life, what you keep in your mind is what you draw to yourself.” That’s how trumpeter/composer Terence Blanchardexplains the title of his 20th album, Magnetic, which finds a stunning variety of sounds and styles pulled together by the irresistible force of Blanchard’s vision.That credo stems directly from Blanchard’s personal faith; raised in the Christian church, he has turned in recent years to Buddhism after meditating with Herbie Hancock while on the road with the legendary pianist. The idea of a spiritual magnetism “is a basic concept in any type of religion,” he says. “Both Christianity and Buddhism have forms of meditation - one’s called prayer and one’s called chanting. But it’s all about drawing on those things to help you attain enlightenment in your life at the same time that you’re trying to give back to the community.”Magnetic gives expression to that belief through the combined voices of Blanchard’s always-scintillating quintet. Its latest incarnation brings together longtime members Brice Winston (saxophone) and Kendrick Scott (drums) with pianist Fabian Almazan, who made his debut with the group on its 2009 album Choices, and its newest member, 21-year-old bass prodigy Joshua Crumbly. In addition, they’re joined by a trio of remarkable special guests: master bassist Ron Carter, saxophonist Ravi Coltrane, and guitarist/vocalist Lionel Loueke.The vast array of approaches undertaken by that ensemble is striking, from the blistering bop of “Don’t Run” to the fragile ballad “Jacob’s Ladder;” the psychedelic electronic haze of “Hallucinations” to the urgent edginess of “Another Step.” As Blanchard says, “It’s a wide range of musical ideas that come together through the efforts of the guys in the band.”Magnetic marks Blanchard’s return to Blue Note Records, which last released A Tale of God’s Will, his triumphant 2007 requiem for his home city, New Orleans, in the wake of the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina. That harrowingly emotional song cycle is just one of many large-scale projects Blanchard has undertaken in recent years. Since first writing music for Spike Lee’s 1990 jazz-set movie Mo’ Better Blues, Blanchard has become a renowned film composer with over 50 scores to his credit, most recently the WWII drama Red Tails for producer George Lucas. This summer, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis and Jazz St. Louis will combine forces to premiere Blanchard’s first opera, Champion, an “Opera in Jazz” based on the story of the gay boxing champion Emile Griffith. This follows his recent score for Emily Mann’s Broadway production of Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire.After the broad scope of such lofty undertakings, returning to a small group setting can be a challenge. “You get accustomed to having so many different colors at your disposal,” he says. “So I try to figure out a way to have as much diversity in everything that we play, the same expansive color palette as when you have an orchestra and voices.”One way that Blanchard expands his palette on Magnetic is through the use of electronics, creating an overdriven, electric guitar-like sound for his horn during “Pet Step Sitter’s Theme Song” or brewing the mind-altering atmospherics of “Hallucinations.” The latter tune, though titled by Blanchard’s 14-year-old daughter, also touches on the lifelong spiritual search evoked by the album-opening title track and “Central Focus,” which was originally recorded twenty years ago on Blanchard’s album Simply Stated. “When chanting for meditation,” he says, “you can have those moments of reflection that will bring new ideas to you. Some people may not call them hallucinations, but I think they’re all related in some fashion.”Not every tune comes from such profound motives. The hard-bopping “Don’t Run” was written solely with the intention of allowing the band to joust with Ravi Coltrane’s soprano and Ron Carter’s mighty bass runs. The title was inspired by a taunt from Carter to Blanchard, asking only half-jokingly when the trumpeter would call on the legendary bassist’s services. “Stop running from me, man,” Blanchard recalls him saying, and when Carter speaks, you listen.Coltrane’s contributions, which also include a taut, powerhouse turn on tenor for “Pet Step Sitter’s Theme Song,” came about simply because Blanchard was blown away by the saxophonist’s latest album, Spirit Fiction. “Ravi has developed a style and a sound that’s very unique,” Blanchard explains. “It’s an incredible feat given who his father was and what instrument his father played. But his being on my record has nothing to do with any of that; his being on my record is simply due to the fact that I love the way he plays.”The same goes for Benin-born Lionel Loueke, who first came to prominence through Blanchard’s quintet before becoming widely renowned as one of the most innovative guitarists and vocalists in modern jazz. “He’s a very unique talent,” Blanchard says. “Lionel always brings a certain spirit and energy to any project that he’s a part of.”Blanchard also readily sings the praises of his core group, which has been evolving over two years together to reach the deeply attuned point at which Magnetic finds them. “I’ve always appreciated the artistry of Brice and Kendrick,” he says of the band’s two veterans. “They’ve very seriously committed to developing their own unique styles of playing.”Of newcomer Crumbly, he says, “Josh is a young guy who’s very talented and brings a lot to the group.” And of Almazan, he continues, “Fabian has been growing by leaps and bounds. His harmonic knowledge has taken the band in interesting directions and he colors things in ways that I think are very fresh and forward-thinking.”So enamored is the bandleader of Almazan’s talents that he affords the pianist a solo spotlight, the captivating “Comet.” Almazan, Blanchard says, “plays with such grace and beauty. We did five or six takes and all of them were so beautiful that it was a hard to choose just one.”Each member of the group provides their own contributions to the album: Crumbly, the lovely and delicate “Jacob’s Ladder;” Scott, the forceful, rhythmically intense “No Borders Just Horizons;” Winston the lithe and intricate “Time To Spare;” and Almazan an “emotional roller coaster” dedicated to his mother, “Pet Step Sitters Theme Song,” which is later reprised as “Another Step.” “We had so much fun playing that tune that we just couldn’t leave it,” Blanchard explains. I thought it showed the diverse nature of the group, when you see the directions that it goes into, totally different from the first take.”In his role as mentor to his younger bandmates, Blanchard takes the mantle from his own onetime mentor, Art Blakey. Stressing the importance for young musicians to compose as well as improvise, Blanchard recalls the legendary drummer’s advice: “Art Blakey told us that composition was the path to finding your own voice. If you improvise, you don’t sit down and reflect coldly on what it is you’re playing because you’re moving so quickly onto the next thing. Whereas when you compose, you have to sit down and really contemplate what each note means and how you get from one to the next. That in itself will create a style.”Terence Blanchard’s own style continues to evolve and expand in exciting and compelling fashion. Magnetic is sure to capture listeners with an attractive power nearly impossible to resist.To Visit Terence Blanchard's website CLICK HERE

Herbie Hancock has a long and distinguished career and is celebrating his 70th birthday. But he doesn't just sit back and perform "Herbie's Greatest Hits." In his new CD "The Imagine Project," Hancock has brought together musical superstars from around the world to fuse jazz with many styles of world music, in the name of world peace. Producer Reese Erlich spoke with Hancock about the new project and offers this special JazzCorner.com Jazz Perspective sponsored in part by the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz.