Home » Stories » Robin McKelle 'Head High' from 'Alterations' makes Pisa's PUNTO RADIO: animajazz

Stories for June 03, 2020

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    Sharon Isbin, Amjad Ali Khan, Amaan & Ayaan Ali Bangash: "Love Avalanche" from 'Strings for Peace' makes NPR Music's No. 1 Albums And Songs Of May
     
    Posted At : June 1, 2020 12:00 AM

    At the end of every month, the NPR Music team picks their favorite albums and songs. Everyone has their passions and they vary widely, from the Atlanta rapper Deante' Hitchcock to the Australian ambient artist Madeleine Cocolas. On this week's show, we hear the No. 1 albums and songs of May as picked by our staff. There's the Portland band MAITA, which features a singer who entered our Tiny Desk contest in 2018. We also have the 20-year-old Eve Owen (who released an album produced by The National's Aaron Dessner), a team-up between classical guitarist Sharon Isbin and Indian sarod master Ayaan Ali Bangash, and Buscabulla, a duo from Puerto Rico who met in New York City and returned to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria to rediscover their home. And then there's brilliant jazz guitar playing from the Kurt Rosenwinkel Trio and joy from Scotland's Vistas. "Love Avalanche" a cool East-meets-West raga featuring multiple Grammy-winning classical guitarist Sharon Isbin paired with the Indian sarod master Ayaan ali Bangash. - Tom Huizenga

  • 'The Dream' from Oded Tzur - Here Be Dragons featured on Punto Radio - animajazz
     
    Posted At : June 1, 2020 12:00 AM

    In episode 921 of "ANIMAJAZZ", conceived and conducted by BRUNO POLLACCI , broadcast on TUESDAY 2 June at 20.30, on PUNTORADIO, also streaming on www.puntoradio.fm and in an immediate podcast on http: // animajazz. eu will be the protagonists of the evening, which include; "The Dream"; by ODED TZUR from "Here Be Dragons"  Here Be Dragons is the ECM debut of New York based, Tel Aviv born tenor saxophonist Oded Tzur, one of the most strikingly original musicians to have emerged from Israeli's creative jazz scene in recent years, and the leader of an outstanding group.  Oded Tzur has found a new and personal sound for the tenor saxophone. Inspired by his extensive studies from 2007 onward with bansuri master Hariprasad Chaurasia, he has mastered the graceful slides of Indian classical music and brought raga's sense of pitch fluidity and microtonal shading into a jazz context. His pieces elegantly explore and unfold their melodic and atmospheric implications in a context of subtle group interaction. Structurally, each of Tzur's compositions on Here Be Dragons sets out to develop a "miniature raga" over a moving bass, juxtaposing two musical concepts. Oded: "The dialogue between these dimensions takes us wherever it takes us." The ragas deployed in the pieces "Here Be Dragons", "20 Years" and "The Dream" are of Oded's creation, while "To Hold Your Hand" uses an Indian scale called Charukesi and operates on similar principles. He stresses, however, that "raga is, for me, a universal concept. I hear its connection to synagogue prayers, or to the blues – a marvellous creation – and to music all around the world." Ancient and modern traditions are referenced in Oded's work, including traditions of storytelling. "If music has the ability to tell stories," suggested All About Jazz, "saxophonist Oded Tzur proves himself one of the jazz world's premier storytellers." Tzur's concept is also broad enough to embrace some unexpected song choices, and the album concludes with a tender interpretation of "Can't Help Falling In Love", made famous by Elvis Presley.  We remind you that "ANIMAJAZZ" can be heard on TUESDAY at 20.30 in immediate podcast on http://animajazz.eu and the "DOWNLOAD" of the episode can be made, free of charge, from the podcasts area. Happy listening. "ANIMAJAZZ" in collaboration with the PISA ACADEMY OF ART.  SEE THE PAGE

  • Lara Downes plays npr: tiny desk home
     
    Posted At : May 30, 2020 12:00 AM

    The Tiny Desk is working from home for the foreseeable future. Introducing NPR Music's Tiny Desk (home) concerts, bringing you performances from across the country and the world. It's the same spirit - stripped-down sets, an intimate setting - just a different space. Lara Downes thrives on collaboration. Her new album features Toshi Reagon, the vocal ensemble MUSICALITY and the string quartet called PUBLIQuartet. But in this intimate piano recital from her home in Sacramento, Calif., her only collaborators are her son Simon, who takes on cinematography duties, and her beloved pooch, Kona. The songs, all from her recent album Some of These Days, might be old, but they are strong statements that resonate in new ways. From Margaret Bonds, one of the first celebrated African-American women composers, there's "Troubled Water," a poignant riff on the spiritual "Wade in the Water" that Downes says takes a "journey from classical virtuosity to gospel, jazz, blues and back again." Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's arrangement of "Deep River," for Downes, now represents "crossing over" the coronavirus crisis, while Florence Price's "Some of These Days," is a vision of better times ahead. In a moment of vulnerability, Downes admits that not being out on the road – performing, embedded in communities and working with young people – makes her feel "not very useful." But in these performances there's a sturdiness and purpose that provide both comfort and the strength to carry on. Very useful, indeed. SET LIST "Margaret Bonds: Troubled Water" "Samuel Coleridge-Taylor: Deep River" "Florence Proce: Some Of These Days" LISTEN

  • Laila Biali discusses 'Out of Dust' with 88.9WUCF
     
    Posted At : May 28, 2020 12:00 AM

    JUNO Award winner Laila Biali's new album, Out of Dust features not only contributions from the singer/pianist's husband; Ben Wittman and son, but also multiple GRAMMY nominees and winners including Lisa Fisher, Alan Ferber, John Ellis, and Larnell Lewis. "There's a line from a song by the indie gospel group, Gungor, that has become like an anthem to me," Biali says. "‘He makes beautiful things out of dust.' That's where the title for the album comes from, and as a songwriter and musician, my ultimate intention and hope is to spread a little more love." Listen to the attached Laila Biali - 88.9WUCF: Orlando FL Interview with Kayonne Riley 

  • Michael Whalen inteviews with 88.1WMBR
     
    Posted At : May 27, 2020 12:00 AM

    Michael Whalen's "Sacred Spaces" is an epic recording nearly ten years in the making. "I have been pursuing a spiritual ‘awakening' for most of my adult life. Over the past decade, I realized that I am 100 percent responsible for whatever my relationship with a ‘higher being' might be," says Whalen. Filled with sonic landscapes built from hundreds of layers of sound, "Sacred Spaces" is Michael's tour-de-force electronic project, which seamlessly blends his natural gift for melody with fresh textures and percolating rhythms. Deeply inspired by Michael's film and TV work and his love for progressive rock, "Sacred Spaces" is the ambient recording of the year. MW spoke with 88.1WMBR: Boston, 'New Edge' host; Ken Field. Listen to the attached file

  • Mark Abel's 'The Cave of Wondrous Voice' is straightforwardly intricate, expressive and inventive in the best ways / Gapplegate Classical-Modern Music Review
     
    Posted At : May 26, 2020 12:00 AM

    I've covered the music of Mark Abel on these pages before (see articles from April 13, 2012, June 13, 2014, August 20, 2018). I never consciously sought to cover so many. It was one-at-a-time and I've found myself liking and posting on each. Now there is another one, a new one of chamber works, entitled The Cave of Wondrous Voice (Delos DE3570). It features a song cycle and three instrumental works for small chamber configurations. Generally speaking this is not music that overtly seeks to call attention to itself by being extroverted-Modern or Avant Garde, nor is there a rock or pop influence in any obvious sense. Nonetheless it is inspired and very well put-together music that would not be mistaken for the music of the past nor perhaps as the music of some future utopia, either? It is straightforwardly intricate, expressive and inventive in good ways, in the best ways. READ THE FULL Gapplegate Classical-Modern Music Review

  • Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Amaan and Ayaan Ali Bangash, collaborate with Sharon Isbin - strumming together in unique teaming / REPUBLICWORLD.COM
     
    Posted At : May 25, 2020 12:00 AM

    Legendary maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan and his sons Amaan Ali Bangash and Ayaan Ali Bangaash will be collaborating with multiple Grammy Award-winning guitarist Sharon Isbin. The new album will give viewers a unique teaming of two classical music instruments strumming together. The album, "String For Peace", is scheduled to release on the 22nd of May on the ZOHO label (ZM 202004).  Strings For Peace is a perfect blend of various classics. Viewers will get to listen to a melodious eclectic east-west fusion of sarod and classical guitar. Ustad Amjad Ali Khan and Sharon Isbin have been contemplating about the east-west fashion and finally, their fusion will come to fruition. The album will contain four tracks and cover various ragas composed by Amjad Ali Khan.  SEE THE FULL REPUBLICWORLD.COM PAGE

Top 10 for Jun

  • Ludovico Einaudi :

    12 Songs From Home

     Ludovico Einaudi today releases a special 12-track digital collection, ‘12 Songs From Home', out digitally on Decca Records on 8thMay 2020 with artwork drawn by the composer.
  • Owen Pallett :

    Spaceship Earth

     Milan Records announces today's release of SPACESHIP EARTH (ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK) with music by composer, violinist, keyboardist and vocalist OWEN PALLETT.
  • Uno Helmersson :

    The Painter and the Thief OMPS

     Milan Records today releases THE PAINTER AND THE THIEF (ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK) with music by award-winning composer Uno Helmersson.
  • John Scofield :

    Swallow Tales

     Guitarist John Scofield celebrates the music of his friend and mentor Steve Swallow in an outgoing and spirited recording, made in an afternoon in New York City in March 2019 - "old school" style as Scofield says, acknowledging that more than forty years of preparation led up to it.
  • Grigory Sokolov :

    Beethoven * Brahms

     Typically, one half of a Sokolov programme enters his concert repertoire in October, the other half in February.
  • Aska Matsumiya :

    Betty

     Milan Records and HBO today release BETTY (HBO ORIGINAL SERIES SOUNDTRACK) with music by composer ASKA MATSUMIYA.
  • Nicola Benedetti :

    Elgar Violin Concerto

     GRAMMY award-winning Nicola Benedetti's new album on Decca Classics explores music by Britain's best loved composer, Edward Elgar.
  • Bear McCreary :

    Outlander

     Sony Music today releases OUTLANDER: SEASON 5 (ORIGINAL TELEVISION SOUNDTRACK) with music by EMMY® and BAFTA award-winning composer BEAR MCCREARY.
  • Tom Holkenborg :

    White Lines - Music From The Netflix Original Seri

     Milan Records announces the release of WHITE LINES (MUSIC FROM THE NETFLIX ORIGINAL SERIES) with music by multi-platinum producer, musician, composer and educator TOM HOLKENBORG aka JUNKIE XL.
  • Vox Clamantis :

    Cyrillus Kreek - The Suspended Harp of Babel

     Vox Clamantis, under the direction of Jaan-Eik Tulve, has established itself as Estonia's foremost small vocal ensemble, at home in the worlds of both old and new music.

Robin McKelle 'Head High' from 'Alterations' makes Pisa's PUNTO RADIO: animajazz

Posted: April 13, 2020 12:00 AM | By: Admin
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In episode 914 of "ANIMAJAZZ", conceived and conducted by BRUNO POLLACCI , broadcast on TUESDAY April 14 at 20.30, on PUNTORADIO, also streaming on www.puntoradio.fm and in an immediate podcast on http: // animajazz. eu will be the protagonist - ROBIN McKELLE - CD "Alterations" - "Head High (feat Keith Loftis)."

Robin McKelle is pleased to announce the February 14th, 2020 release of her new album Alterations. Vocalist Robin McKelle delves into the catalogue of some of the most celebrated women of song, interpreting these masterworks through the lens of the jazz idiom. On Alterations, McKelle follows in a long tradition of female song interpreters, lending her sultry vocal stylings to classics by a diverse list of female innovators including Dolly Parton, Sade, Amy Winehouse, Adele, Janis Joplin, Carol King, Billie Holiday, Joni Mitchell, and Lana Del Ray. McKelle is joined on this release by a group of consummate musicians including co-producer, pianist and arranger Shedrick Mitchell, acoustic and electric bassist Richie Goods, drummer Charles Haynes, guitarist Nir Felder.  In addition, esteemed saxophonist Keith Loftis is featured on McKelle's sole original composition on this release, "Head High"; and renowned trumpeter Marquis Hill is featured on Lana Del Rey's "Born to Die".  The first single from Alterations, McKelle's rendition of Sade's "No Ordinary Love", will be released in late January. Alterations will be released on Doxie Records and distributed and marketed by the Orchard.

SEE THE ANIMAJAZZ PAGE        Happy listening. "ANIMAJAZZ" is a collaboration with the PISA ACADEMY OF ART

Crossover Media Projects with Robin McKelle

  • Robin McKelle

    Alterations

    Robin McKelle is pleased to announce the February 14th, 2020 release of her new album Alterations. Vocalist Robin McKelle delves into the catalogue of some of the most celebrated women of song, interpreting these masterworks through the lens of the jazz idiom. On Alterations, McKelle follows in a long tradition of female song interpreters, lending her sultry vocal stylings to classics by a diverse list of female innovators including Dolly Parton, Sade, Amy Winehouse, Adele, Janis Joplin, Carol King, Billie Holiday, Joni Mitchell, and Lana Del Ray. McKelle is joined on this release by a group of consummate musicians including co-producer, pianist and arranger Shedrick Mitchell, acoustic and electric bassist Richie Goods, drummer Charles Haynes, guitarist Nir Felder.  In addition, esteemed saxophonist Keith Loftis is featured on McKelle's sole original composition on this release, "Head High"; and renowned trumpeter Marquis Hill is featured on Lana Del Rey's "Born to Die".  The first single from Alterations, McKelle's rendition of Sade's "No Ordinary Love", will be released in late January. Alterations will be released on Doxie Records and distributed and marketed by the Orchard.

    ALL PRESS SECURED BY LYDIA LIEBMAN

  • Robin McKelle

    Melodic Canvas

    An Enigmatic Sound, a Storyteller's Narrative and a Live Performance Style Imbued with Rat Pack Moxie Singer and Writer Robin McKelle is a Genre-Blurring Musical Alchemist, Taking Listeners on a Sonic Trip to the Old South, Sprinkling in Hints of the Motown Era or Even a Sade Album, and Mixing it Together to Create Her Inspiring Melodic Canvas' of Soul, Jazz, Gospel and More. On her new album - Melodic Canvas, McKelle is empowered by not trying to fit into a box, and the music is deeply textured, rich, and authentic. Melodic Canvas is also a timely social commentary, from the struggling teen in ‘Lyla' to the immigrant tale of ‘Simple Man'; the moments of social awareness, in ‘Yes We Can Can' (an Allen Toussaint cover featuring Chris Potter) and ‘It Won't End Up', are wise and inspiring without feeling heavy-handed; on first single ‘Do You Believe', McKelle questions religion, hate, misogyny.

  • Robin McKelle

    Soul Flower, w/The Flytones

    Robin McKelle might have called this album The Real McKelle. "It's the record I've always dreamed of making. Not that there was anything stopping me in the past, it's simply that things panned out differently." The singer herself wrote most of the songs on this new production, a contemporary blend of soul and rhythm 'n' blues that avoids today's retro tendencies. "I love that music so much that I couldn't see myself doing something ‘in the style of…". I grew up listening to Nina Simone and Gladys Knight. I sang their classics and what I enjoy most today is building my own repertoire in that same soulful vein." Soul Flower mainly consists of original tracks along with a few covers, including an upbeat Walk On By.  

    21 NEW   78 Total Stations/Shows
    SYND:     CBC Music
    Direct: MOOD
    Markets include: New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Seattle, Cleveland, Portland, Austin, New Orleans, Long Is. NY, El Paso, Rochester NY, Madison WI, Hartford CT, Canada
    Online: RadioIO, The Jazz Intersection, Green Arrow Radio, Hot Time Radio Show, otticFM, Taintradio, Live 365, Paul Leslie Hour, Blues and Beyond, Jazzweekly, GURU

  • Robin McKelle

    Modern Antique

    Robin McKelle comes out swinging on her second disc of big band jazz, Modern Antique. The bassist plucks some fat, rich chords, the pianist skitters over the keys, and McKelle herself confidently scats over the melody while the horn section eggs her on. The mood is playfully flirtatious, just this side of naughty. The entire combo is having so much fun and so are you that the tune is almost over before you realize it's an ingenious re-arrangement of Steve Miller's seventies classic, "Abracadabra."

    2 New 'ON' this week: 140 Total
    Peak:     #19 Jazzweek
    SYND: WFMT: Jazz w/Bob Parlocha, PRI: Jazz After Hours, Jazz Variations, Music of Your Life, Sixty Second CD, The Bill Miller Show
    Networks: CBC, GPB, KPR
    Direct: XM: Real Jazz, Bloomberg Radio
    Markets include: Los Angeles, Boston, Wash DC, Philadelphia, Seattle, Minneapolis, Atlanta, Houston, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Baltimore, Detroit, Las Vegas, San Diego, Long Island NY, Indianapolis, Salt Lake City, Orlando, Raleigh NC, Tucson AZ, Sacramento, Wichita, Omaha, CANADA

  • Robin McKelle

    Mess Around

    On her newest release: Mess Around, Robin McKelle's warm contralto surrounds a first class rhythm 'n' blues record. After two albums devoted to big-band jazz and swing - Introducing Robin McKelle (2006) and Modern Antique (2008), Mess Around is a departure drawing from artists and groups such as The Bee Gees, Leonard Cohen, Doc Pomus, Willie Dixon and The Beatles. The aesthetic choices lend a wealth of meaning and consistency to the session, led by McKelle.

    4 New ON this week: 163 Total
    Synd: Jazz Inspired, PRI/Jazz After Hours, WFMT/Jazz with Bob Parlocha, Sixty Second CD
    Direct: SiriusXM: Real Jazz & NPR Now(Jazz Inspired)
    Markets include: New York, Los Angeles, Boston, San Francisco, Wash DC, Philadelphia, Seattle, Minneapolis, Houston, Atlanta, Miami, Cleveland, Denver, Portland, Baltimore, San Diego, Detroit, Las Vegas, San Diego, New Orleans, Memphis, Sacramento & Berekeley CA, Salt Lake, Austin TX, Orlando, Canada
    Online: The Jazzintersecion.com, RadioIO, Taintradio, Live 365, RadioIO

  • Robin McKelle

    Introducing

    Having worked with Herbie Hancock, Terence Blanchard, Michael McDonald, Wayne Shorter, Jon Secada & others, Robin McKelle now releases her debut album that broadens the boundaries of retro-swing. Introducing Robin McKelle evokes the spirit of 1940's America, while retaining an edge that speaks of a new time. With its balance of swing and balladry, the album heralds the arrival of a peerless interpretive artist.

    1 New "ON" this week: 148 Total
    SYND:     NPR: Morning Edition, Bob Parlocha's Jazz Sat Network, The Bill Miller Show, Anything Goes
    Markets include: Los Angeles, Boston, Wash DC, Seattle(ADI), Houston, Pittsburgh, Minneapolis, Atlanta, Miami, Detroit, Cleveland, Denver, St. Louis, Baltimore, San Diego, Portland(ADI), Long Island(NYC:ADI), Las Vegas, Salt Lake, Louisville, Buffalo, Rochester, Raleigh NC, Australia, The Netherlands