Pages tagged “blue note”

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New Norah Jones Album Features OutKast, M. Ward, Q-Tip, Gillian Welch, Many More

The aptly-titled record also features Ray Charles, Belle & Sebastian, Willie Nelson and Foo Fighters...  read more

Jason Moran and the Bandwagon: Ten

Then is now As both a thinker and an entertainer, pianist Jason Moran has enjoyed a high profile as a jazz artist in the era critic Gary Giddins once defined as “post-jazz.” The 35-year-old Houston native has expertly fused tradition and experimentation, tying together both ends of the jazz century in lively tunes that deploy stride technique and hip-hop rhythm with a sly sensibility. TEN celebrates Moran’s decade in the major leagues. Fueled by the expert bustle of his trio (including bassist Tarus Mateen and drummer Nasheet Waits), he’s given to expansive, sparkling showpieces; solo, he coaxes the still spaces...  read more

Norah Jones: The Fall

Unexpected dance grooves from jazzy folk star As a jazz-adoring youngster, Norah Jones initially made her mark as a performer, her best-known songs written by others. Jones has since grown up as a songwriter on the biggest of stages, a challenge she’s tackled by turning inward, working with a set of regular bandmates and daring to whisper her increasingly pointed lines when others might over-emote....  read more

The Bird and The Bee: Ray Guns Are Not Just the Future

Having turned their...  read more

Various Artists: Droppin' Science: Greatest Samples from the Blue Note Lab

Untangled samples make for mellow delights Ironically, it probably would’ve been too expensive for legendary jazz imprint Blue Note to license the hip-hop tracks that sampled from its catalog. Still, for 13-song collection Droppin’ Science, it would have been nice, instructive and musicological to have the label’s late-’60s/early-’70s jazz-funk mellowness adjacent to the equally vintage hip-hop it mutated into via De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest and others. Collected alone, one understands liner note writer ?uestlove’s classification of these un-samples as “the side of my pop’s record collection that I used to avoid like the plague,” especially given...  read more

Lionel Loueke: Karibu

Afropop/jazz-fusion record is hit-and-missWest African guitarist Lionel Loueke’s Blue Note debut is a challenging and occasionally wondrous fusion of Afropop and knotty, dissonant jazz. Loueke has been an integral part of recent releases from trumpeter Roy Hargrove and legendary pianist Herbie Hancock (that’s him on Herbie’s recent Grammy winner/Joni Mitchell tribute River: The Joni Letters), and here Hancock and fellow Miles alum Wayne Shorter return the favor, playing on three of Karibu’s nine tracks. Those tracks are the highlights, since Loueke’s regular trio—featuring bassist Massimo Biolcati and drummer Ferenc Nemeth—fails to overcome Eli Wolf’s safe fuzak production. Loueke’s...  read more