​The last time we heard from Somi, she had released an entire LP album about Lagos, her fifth. Titled The Lagos Music Salon, it energised Lagos in unimaginable ways, giving us the most resplendent and contemporary outsider reflection of the acoustic salad that makes up the coastal West African Megacity. Somi is back. This time she hits closer to home. Even though she is African (of both Rwandan and Ugandan descent), she spent her formative years in America and currently lives in New York. She calls her latest body of work, Petite Afrique, a sonic exploration of Harlem, a place inhabited by Africans and African-Americans alike. READ THE FULL Olisa Blogazine ARTICLE p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial; min-height: 11.0px}

Rachel Barton Pine releases Bel Canto Paganini: 24 Caprices and other Works for Solo Violin, a musical tightrope of works that samples virtually all of the most challenging techniques possible on the violin. Pine's 35th album, this recording will mark her third on Avie records and makes Pine the first American-born female violinist to record this repertoire. In tribute to Paganini's legendary cultivation of his devilish reputation, the recently released album coincides with Paganini's death. In conjunction with this release, RBP sat down with Classical 95.5 Albuquerque 'Morning Brew' host, Brent Stevens to discuss the recording.

Listen to the attached interview

Famed singer-songwriter Paul Simon sat for an interview and performed on Wednesday's episode of the CBS talk show The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. Simon discussed his upcoming tour, a new album he's working on and played a song with acclaimed jazz guitarist Bill Frisell. The New York City native revealed he is prepping an album of songs he had previously released. "It's kind of a rare opportunity for a writer to go back and re-examine a piece of work that was good but maybe could've been better. I'm picking out songs that I really liked that I thought were well written and just weren't noticed. I'm recording them again with other musicians," Simon said. He also talked about his upcoming tour which begins on June 1.  WATCH THE VIDEO via JamBase p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial; min-height: 11.0px}

When Mayor Maynard Jackson founded the Atlanta Jazz Festival in 1978, he wanted to spotlight the city as an international center of the arts and education, and promote an art form that was indigenous to the South. Forty years later, the free outdoor event remains a Memorial Day weekend staple for aficionados, and continues the tradition of drawing world-class talent like Dizzy Gillespie, Nina Simone and Ray Charles to Piedmont Park. But with so many established and emerging artists to choose from over the three-day festival, having to decide where to focus your attention can be daunting. So ArtsATL has compiled a Top Six list to help get the party started - in chronological order. Nicholas Payton looks good on paper, and his sound lives up to the hype. Heir to the traditions of New Orleans, Payton - who has a customized stand that allows him to play the trumpet and keyboards simultaneously - was hailed as a virtuoso before graduating from high school. And like the Creole culture from which he emerged, his musical tastes are an amalgam of bebop, swing, the Great American Songbook, New Orleans second-line, Mardi Gras Indian, soul, R&B, hip-hop, and various Afro-descended dialects of Central America and the Caribbean. The point of it all, he says, is to map identity and tell a story. "I've been thinking of the resilience of Black people and African culture," he says. "How Africans came on ships to ports in the Caribbean. How those rhythms from Africa got dropped off at points like Haiti and Cuba and Puerto Rico. How those influences and elements sauntered on to New Orleans, which many consider the northern-most part of the Caribbean, and on to Kansas City, St. Louis, Chicago and then New York. How, with the advent of the phonograph, this New Orleans music became the world's first popular music as the result of this new medium. How Louis Armstrong became the world's first pop star, the Michael Jackson of his era. How the music in this African tribal DNA, as I call it, contains all the codes that connect all people - not only all Black or African people - throughout the world."  (Photo courtesy International Jazz Productions.) READ THE FULL ARTSATL ARTICLE p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial; min-height: 11.0px}

When Mayor Maynard Jackson founded the Atlanta Jazz Festival in 1978, he wanted to spotlight the city as an international center of the arts and education, and promote an art form that was indigenous to the South. Forty years later, the free outdoor event remains a Memorial Day weekend staple for aficionados, and continues the tradition of drawing world-class talent like Dizzy Gillespie, Nina Simone and Ray Charles to Piedmont Park. But with so many established and emerging artists to choose from over the three-day festival, having to decide where to focus your attention can be daunting. So ArtsATL has compiled a Top Six list to help get the party started - in chronological order. Growing up as part of a music-loving family in Detroit, Regina Carter's ears were filled with the melodies of Motown, classical, jazz and movie soundtracks. But the tone that really captivated her imagination came from a primary source: Ella Fitzgerald. "Something about her voice made me feel like I had a personal connection," says Carter. "When she sang, I felt really warm and safe, almost a maternal connection. It just felt like love." Fans of the jazz violinist and MacArthur Foundation "Genius Grant" fellowship recipient could say the same of Carter's playing - the technique and virtuosity of which are the aural equivalent of Southern comfort sealed with a warm embrace. READ THE FULL ARTSATL ARTICLE p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial; min-height: 11.0px}

Alex DePue has done it again, with this video of him practicing a new maneuver on the violin... It is called - The Chop Block. WARNING, WARNING, WARNING, do not try this at home!  DePue recently released track -  "Be Our Guest" can only be described as, "fiddling on steroids. Along with a superbly arranged string section and full band, DePue offers imaginative glitz, glamour, and gold. From the very beginning of the track the listener gets smacked right across the face with a tremolo as the Intro develops. Mr. DePue need not try to stand out from the rest, even on an international level. He just does, and it all happens entirely by accident. Take a listen and watch the attached video    

Long Island's Jimmy Webb will be Tom Needham's exclusive guest this Thursday on WUSB's the Sounds of Film.  He will be discussing his new autobiography, The Cake and the Rain. Webb, one of America's most celebrated songwriters and composers was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1990, and has received the National Academy of Songwriters Lifetime Achievement Award and has received the Ivor Novello Special International Award in 2012. He is also the only person to ever receive Grammy Awards for music, lyrics and orchestration. His new memoir, The Cake and the Rain, delivers a snapshot of his life from 1955 to the 1970's. The Sounds of Film will be featuring an in-depth interview with Webb, as well as the music of Jimmy Webb performed by himself and other artists who have recorded his songs through the years. The Sounds of Film is the nation's longest-running film and music themed show.  For the past 30 years, the program has delivered a popular mix of interviews and music to listeners all over Long Island, parts of Connecticut, and streaming live on the internet at wusb.fm.  READ THE FULL LongIsland.com ARTICLE p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Helvetica} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Helvetica; min-height: 12.0px}