As we gear up for the release of Sarah Elizabeth Charles' upcoming album, Free of Form, there are still more delights to discover. For example, as wide ranging the album is, no one could possibly see a cover of a Cranberries tune, but smack dab in the middle of thee album is Charles' take on "Zombie". She just dropped a video for the tune, but it's the video version, not the … [Read more...]
Sarah Elizabeth Charles feat. Christian Scott – “Change to Come”
More and more artists are fed up with the senseless violence happening daily in the United States and are letting their frustration be heard through their music. The latest example of this is “Change to Come”, Sarah Elizabeth Charles' new single off her upcoming album Free of Form out October 6th on Stretch Music / Ropeadope. The song was written in 2014, in the wake of Eric … [Read more...]
Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah – ‘Centennial Trilogy: Diaspora’
Diaspora, the second album of trumpeter Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah's Centennial Trilogy of albums he's releasing this year, is softer than its predecessor, Ruler Rebel. It's warmer, more somber, more spacey a collection of songs, as if these songs and the extra time between notes, a less is more approach here, is meant to depict the actual African Diaspora, a dispersal of … [Read more...]
Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah – ‘Ruler Rebel’
Since time perpetually moves forward, all movement is technically forward movement. Everything is a form of progression. Experience gives texture to signature, though the elements of signature -- those attributes that define the outward expression of persona -- remain fundamentally intact because the everlasting battle of nature versus nurture will always end up in some sort of … [Read more...]
Nextbop’s Favorite Jazz Albums of 2015
I'm not quite sure what more I could say here about jazz in 2015. There may not have been some overarching narrative that guided how art was made and released. Some folks who have worked together for years finally released an album that said so. Some folks released large ensemble albums that made huge splashes, as sprawling debuts, par for the course, or as the muscular … [Read more...]