From: MGA Update (stevencatanzaro_at_sprintmail.com)
Date: 2003-05-05 04:55:49
mga wind player extraordinaire louis taylor just called in from new orleans,
where the jazz festival is in full swing.... (no pun intended!)
l.t. played a hype show at "twi-ro-pa" w. blue note jazz funk supergroup
soulive...
www.soulive.com
the band included the members of soulive (brothers neil and alan evans, eric
krasno, and sam kininger) as well as an amazing ensemble including jb's
legend fred wesley (who picked l.t. up from the hotel!!! yeah!!!), karl
denson, and guest vocals from ivan neville!!! that is HOT!!! the party is
raging in new orleans! bill summers of "headhunters" and "los hombres
calientes" was there; he grabbed a bottle of beer that was about 2/3rds
full, and blew into it, leading into a version of "chameleon" that started
just like the headhunters classic version!!!!
i asked lou t. for his assesment of soulive, and he said they were very cool
cats with mad skills on their instruments... he singled out krasno for
having complete technical mastery... "just a great player..." was his
take... and neil and alan evans are as tight as you'd expect brothers to
be!!!
one of the critiques of mixing jazz with hip hop or urban flavors of late is
that "it's so 90's" as the last decade saw many such efforts, what with MC
Solaar, A.T.C.Q., Guru, Digable Planets, The Roots, not to mention Buckshot
Lefonque and the like...
BUT, despite those "we've heard it all before" criticisms, the experiments
continue!
*** roy hargrove alert ***
roy hargrove, the fantastic trumpet player, is getting ready to release "rh
factor.." later this month. mr. h, in addition to his stellar jazz chops,
(anyone who can hang with herbie h. and michael b. as in this year's
grammy-winning "directions in jazz" is beyond credentialed) has also figured
prominently on many "neo-soul" releases from artists like q-tip, d'angelo,
and erykah badu... and his new album is like a who's who of the modern
soul/jazz movement...
common, d'angelo, meshel ndegeocollo, erykah badu, q tip, pino palladino,
james poyser, cornell dupree, marc cary, karl denson, steve coleman, bernard
wright, and many, many more!!!
you can get 2 audio samples at
http://www.j-notes.com/public_html/blogs/archives/000100.html
word is he is on tour and will be at the knitting factory l.a. later this
month....
**next up, have u checked, blue note and madlib... "shades of blue"**
another jazz remix project?
gilles peterson says, "definitely the best ever modernised revamp of classic
Jazz music. It's as if everything he's done up until now was the prep for
this opus; just enough hip hop meets YNQ meets pure abstact deepness!"
check some samples and track listing here
http://www.bluenote.com/detail.asp?SelectionID=10218
congrats to l.a.'s very own carlos "loslito" ... keyboardist of breakestra,
now of "the rebirth.." for showing the way with his new mateial... "this
journey in" is so far the track of 2003!!!! and its nice to see it start
cropping up on playlists, such as gp.'s "wizard of oz.." list in the current
straight no chaser. check this track OUT... what can i say, it's epic... the
pink floyd of acid jazz!!!
what goes down @ the temple bar in l.a.? well, i've told u about star 69...
here's some pix of their temple bar set....
http://www.quainphoto.com/star69_2_14_03.html
no on-line sound samples yet... but know that is a hot band up there with
them, including some on fire musicians like multi instrumentalist Printz
Board... who already has serious credits....
there is some serious music out and about now...