The Week in Jazz is your roundup of new and noteworthy stories from the jazz world. It’s a one-stop destination for the music news you need to know. Let’s take it from the top.
Noteworthy
Ray Charles Inducted Into the Country Music Hall of Fame: Ray Charles has been inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. In addition to collaborating with such country legends as Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson, Charles recorded the seminal 1962 album Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, which helped link the blues, soul and R&B with country music. The Country Music Hall of Fame members are elected annually by a panel of industry executives and chosen by the Country Music Association. This year’s class also includes veteran session drummer Eddie Bayers, pedal steel guitarist Pete Drake and mother-daughter duo the Judds.
Rare John Coltrane A Love Supreme Live Performance Out Soon: Impulse! is set to release a previously unheard private recording of a rare nightclub performance by John Coltrane of his 1964 magnum opus, A Love Supreme, on October 8. Recorded in late 1965 on the culminating evening of a week-long run at The Penthouse in Seattle, A Love Supreme: Live in Seattle is a fascinating and rare performance of the full suite, marked by a looser and more improvisational approach and an overriding sense of communal participation. The lineup featured Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, McCoy Tyner, Elvin Jones, Jimmy Garrison, Donald Garrett, plus a young Carlos Ward, then just getting started on the scene. Pre-order it here.
Madeleine Peyroux’s Classic Breakthrough Record Gets Deluxe Reissue Treatment: Craft Recordings reissued Madeleine Peyroux’s breakthrough 2004 album, Careless Love, as a 2-CD deluxe edition, including a previously unreleased 2005 set from Spain’s Festival de Jazz de Vitoria-Gasteiz and more. This deluxe edition is also available digitally and will be released as a 3-LP set housed in a triple-gatefold jacket on September 17. All are available HERE.
Shabaka Hutchings Launches New Label: Shabaka Hutchings, one of the major U.K. jazz artists of today, has launched a brand new label called Native Rebel Recordings. A statement on its website explains that the saxophonist/composer’s new label aims to offer “a collaborative and flexible infrastructure for emerging creative artists using a newly-hatched method: gather the musicians together to record the album in three days … without pre-rehearsal, and to consider the rehearsals as part of the recording.” Find out more HERE.
Judy Collins New Live Album and Podcast Series: Judy Collins has released a new album, Live at the Town Hall, NYC. Recorded live at the Town Hall in New York City with a full band in February of this year, it revisits her legendary 1964 performance at the Town Hall, which was also her solo concert debut in the Big Apple. Listen to the album via the player below. In addition, the vocalist has announced that she will premiere new episodes of her podcast series in October. The series, Since You’ve Asked, began in July and features some of her favorite musicians, artists and luminaries. Listen to it HERE.
First-Ever Nat King Cole Photography Book: Nailor Wills Publishing will release Nat King Cole: Stardust on November 1, in collaboration with King Cole Partners. This is a limited edition, individually numbered and first-ever photography book on the legendary Nat King Cole. It features several restored photos and images, many of which have never been published before, plus documents, telegrams, letters and contributions from Johnny Mathis, Cole’s daughters Casey and Timolin, Quincy Jones and Leslie Uggams, among others. A limited-edition 11×14 photographic print, selected from the Capitol Records photo archive and produced exclusively for this volume, is also included. Pre-order Nat King Cole: Stardust here.
NBC News Launches New Series with Ali Shaheed Muhammad Original Music: NBC News presents Southlake, a new six-episode podcast series taking listeners inside a Texas suburb’s war over race and education. Southlake is hosted by NBC News national investigative reporter Mike Hixenbaugh and NBC News correspondent Antonia Hylton and features original music by composer/producer Ali Shaheed Muhammad. The series launched the first two episodes today and a new episode will be released every Monday on various media platforms.
Album Announcements
Chris Standring, Wonderful World (Ultimate Vibe): Chris Standring, one of the most celebrated and prolific guitarists in the contemporary urban scene will release his first large ensemble standards album on September 3 via Ultimate Vibe Records. Wonderful World was recorded at Abbey Road Studios and aside from a 19-piece string orchestra, it features jazz legends Randy Brecker, Peter Erskine, Harvey Mason, Chuck Berghofer and more. Pre-order it here.
Dave Liebman Expansions, Selflessness: The Music of John Coltrane (Dot Time): NEA Jazz Master Dave Liebman and his forward-thinking working band Expansions will release a new album, Selflessness, on September 3 via Dot Time Records. The new release showcases nine newly-arranged and rethought John Coltrane classics and will drop one day before Liebman’s 75th birthday. Pre-order it here.
Eliane Elias, Mirror Mirror (Candid): Pianist/singer/songwriter Eliane Elias returns to the two-piano setting for the first time in many years on her forthcoming full-length, Mirror Mirror, due out September 10 via Candid Records. The album features piano duets with the late legendary jazz great Chick Corea and famed Cuban pianist Chucho Valdés and marks Elias’ first piano-only recording since 1995’s Solos and Duets. Pre-order Mirror Mirror here.
Larry Carlton & Paul Brown, Soul Searchin’ (Shanachie): Guitar giants Larry Carlton and Paul Brown join forces on their first co-led album, Soul Searchin’, due out September 24 on Shanachie. Together, they create a thrilling canvas for ten new originals, which celebrates the blues, the power of the groove, The Grateful Dead, The Allman Brothers, Prince and more. Pre-order Soul Searchin’ here.
Live Music and Festival News
Kenny Garrett Updated International Tour: Saxophonist Kenny Garrett has shared an updated international tour schedule for this Fall, which includes concert performances in the U.S., U.K., France, Germany, Colombia, Italy and Spain. Click here for the full schedule. The tour is in support of his latest album, Sounds from the Ancestors, out now on Mack Avenue Records. Order it here. The album finds Garrett recalling the sound of West African music and its role in jazz, gospel, Motown, hip-hop and more. We included it in our list of ten albums released in August 2021 that you need to know.
World Music Institute Announces Fall/Winter 2021-2022 Season: New York City’s World Music Institute (WMI) returns to presenting live music after its pandemic-related hiatus, celebrating its 36th year with an eclectic lineup of global artists this fall. Its Fall/Winter 2021-2022 program is curated by Artistic Director Brian Keigher and features performances from multinational devotional ensemble Riyaaz Qawwali; a Malian-American collaboration by the Mike Block and Balla Kouyaté Ensemble, Cuban diva Daymé Arocena; Argentine nuevo tango masters Quinteto Astor Piazzolla and many more. Click here for more.
Like this article? Get more when you subscribe.