Floating Points (photo by Dan Medhurtst) and Pharoah Sanders (photo by Debi Del Grande) Electronic composer Floating Points and jazz legend Pharoah Sanders have just released Promises, their stunning new album with the London Symphony Orchestra. Stream it below via Apple Music and Spotify. Broken up into nine distinct movements, Promises is a soul-stirring take on minimalist jazz, gentle instrumentation, and orchestra arrangements that can transport you into another dimension. At times, like in “Movement 6” and “Movement 9”, the percussion is so delicate that it feels like you’re in the middle of a movie score about the most contemplative, delicate moments of your life. Promises was composed by Sam Shepherd (AKA Floating Points) and sees the music brought to life via Sanders’ cel...
Jazz maestro Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah has announced the release of a new live album called AXIOM. Due out on August 28th, the forthcoming collection captures Adjuah’s final pre-pandemic concert at New York City’s famed Blue Note Jazz Club in March 2020. Coming in support of his masterful 2019 album, Ancestral Recall, the performance saw Adjuah joined on-stage by a septet featuring flautist Elena Pinderhughes, saxophonist Alex Han, djembefola Weedie Braimah, pianist Lawrence Fields, bassist Kris Funn, and drummer Corey Fonville. “There’ a difference between hearing and listening,” says Adjuah in a statement. “The intention to understand is present in listening. When you listen to our band, what you are hearing is the sound of listening.” A special deluxe edition of AXIOM wil...
Sun Ra Arkestra have announced details of their first new album in 20 years: It’s called Swirling and it’s due out October 9th via Strut Records. Swirling sees the legendary jazz group at the top of their game under the direction of maestro Marshall Allen. The album spans 10 tracks — 11 if you include the vinyl-only track “Queer Notions” — and was recorded in its entirety at Rittenhouse Soundworks in Philadelphia. A handful of tracks are updated renditions of longtime gems while others are new songs entirely. To coincide with today’s announcement, Sun Ra Arkestra have shared a new arrangement of “Angels And Demons At Play”, which you can stream below. “We truly hope that this recording brings much joy to a planet which is so deeply in need of a spirit sound and vibration,” says saxoph...
A previously unreleased Thelonious Monk live recording from 1968 will finally see light on July 31st through Impulse! Records. The album captures Monk and his all-star quartet performing a concert at a local high school in Palo Alto, California. According to a press release, the concert was organized by 16-year-old student named Danny Scher, and was recorded by the school’s janitor. The tape was stowed away in Scher’s attic for years and was only recently rediscovered. T.S. Monk, the son of Thelonious and founder of the Thelonious Monk Institute, called the performance “one of the best live recordings I’ve ever heard by Thelonious.” He added, “I wasn’t even aware of my dad playing a high school gig, but he and the band were on it. When I first heard the tape, from the first measure, I knew...
Jimmy Cobb, the veteran jazz drummer best known for his work alongside Miles Davis on 1959’s Kind of Blue, has died at the age of 91. According to NPR, Cobb passed away Sunday, May 24th, at his home in Manhattan. The cause of death was lung cancer. Cobb was the last surviving member of Miles Davis’ First Great Sextet, which also included saxophonists John Coltrane and Julian “Cannonball” Adderley, pianist Bill Evans, and bassist Paul Chambers. The sextet appeared on Davis’ landmark Kind of Blue, widely considered the best-selling jazz record of all time. Cobb also drummed for Davis on several other albums, including Porgy and Bess, 1958 Miles, Sketches of Spain, and In Person Friday and Saturday Nights at the Blackhawk. Additionally, he appeared on Coltrane’s Giant Steps and Coltrane Jazz,...
The genre-bending jazz wunderkind Jacob Collier has unveiled his latest single, and it’s a biggie. Entitled “All I Need”, it pairs Collier alongside Ty Dolla $ign and rising R&B singer Mahalia. Take a listen below. “All I Need” is the latest single off Collier’s upcoming album, Djesse Vol. 3. Previously, he broke down the Origins of “In My Bones” featuring Kimbra and Tank & The Bangas. Djesse Vol. 3 is due out this summer, and marks the third installment in Collier’s four-volume album series following 2018’s Vol. 1 and 2019’s Vol. 2. As you await the new LP, check out Collier’s two-hour interview with This Must Be the Gig during which he spoke about meeting Herbie Hancock and Stevie Wonder, learning to play the audience as an instrument, and ways to stay creative during quaran...