Sound Check's Blog Posts Tagged 'Jazz' (5)

Sometimes a story is only as good as the storyteller, and in early October Esperanza Spalding told a story of love, hope, and life during her second visit to the city of Indianapolis. Spalding performed at the Old National Theatre with her 10-piece Radio Music Society Band. Spalding introduced each member of the band throughout the 2 hour long show as they each brought their own unique flavor to songs like “Black Gold” which backup singer Chris Turner sang out during the…

Jazz/hip-hop pianist Robert Glasper has been working overtime to drag jazz kicking and screaming into the 21st century. He put out the groundbreaking Black Radio earlier this year; the rare jazz record that doesn't just aim to push the genre forward, but actually succeeds. Not satisfied to have merely found a new avenue for jazz after decades of mainstream stagnation, Glasper is back with the Black Radio Recovered EP. It's a collection of remixed tracks from…

On her first solo album in 16 years, the inimitable Neneh Cherry returns with an album of left-field covers backed by jazz trio The Thing. Taking on songs from MF Doom to The Stooges, the quartet bursts with raw energy. Despite a seemingly familiar formula (pop star + jazz band + covers = success!) The Cherry Thing is a record that sounds like nothing else. The musical chemistry between Cherry and The Thing is overflowing. This collaboration runs deep; The Thing take their name…

Nearly 40 years before George Clinton claimed his cosmic heritage and before Crass declared that if no-one else would release their anarchic noise then they'd just do it themselves, a pianist from Birmingham (or Saturn, depending on who you ask) named Herman Poole Blount (again, depending on who you ask) set out to redefine the possibilities of music on his own terms. Although there are many many origin stories out there for the great Sun Ra, here's the version of the story that…