Watching Aquiles Navarro establish himself on the New York music scene over the past six years has been fascinating. He’s a singular voice on trumpet and has been a transformative presence in every ensemble of which he is a part. His most well-known projects are a duo with Brooklyn-born drummer Tcheser Holmes and the collaborative
In the late 1960s, the Black Unity Trio exploded onto the free jazz scene comprised of saxophonist Yusuf Mumin, cellist Abdul Wadud, and drummer Hasan Shahid. Based primarily in Cleveland, the band toured in various parts of the United States, especially on college campuses with active Black student organizations. The band exemplified some of the
I had the oppotunity to speak with guitarist Lucas Brode earlier this month about the record, A Vague Sense of Virtue that he released with drummer Kevin Shea on September 25. I previously reviewed the band during a live performance at the Troost in 2018. The record is available on Bandcamp. Cisco Bradley: What was
Today, Heart of the Ghost releases a new record, their fourth, Live at Rhizome. Heart of the Ghost is a collaborative trio of alto saxophonist Jarrett Gilgore, bassist Luke Stewart, and drummer Ian McColm. I had the pleasure of booking them for one of their first gigs at my loft concert series, New Revolution Arts,
Multi-instrumentalist and composer Angel Bat Dawid’s emergence has been one of the most exciting things to happen on the Chicago creative music scene in recent years. Her release of The Oracle in 2019 was a monumental debut release and she has not looked back since. Collaborating with musicians on four continents over the past two
In April, I spoke with Anele Selekwa, one of the key figures behind the anarchist hip hop collective Soundz of the South (SoS), based in Cape Town, South Africa. SoS have performed internationally, but have especially been involved in organizing within the continent as a driving force behind Afrikan Hiphop Caravan. Check out Soundz of
At Jazz Right Now, we have resisted issuing an official statement since the murder of George Floyd in support of Black artists only because that has been central to our mission since we were founded and will continue to be as long as we are in existence. We are not compelled by a hashtag or
Drummer, writer, and scholar Asher Gamedze is a growing force on the music scene in Cape Town, South Africa. I have had the pleasure of getting to know him through a couple of extended Skype conversations over the past seven months. Not only is he deeply committed to his craft as an artist, he has
In March, 2020 along with businesses in many sectors around the world, music venues in New York City—all of them—shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This triggered immediate mass unemployment and a scramble of musicians into the online realm where they are now exploring new possibilities for making and distributing their work from home.
At its best, improvised music is in the moment, created out of necessity, reflecting the times in which it was created. I’ve found that there are particularly delectable moments with this music when you are in a room where you feel that the music itself is being born right out of the collective feeling in
