Joel Ross is a vibraphonist and composer that hit the jazz scene with his Blue Note debut KingMaker. The album introduced his longstanding ensemble Good Vibes. Now, Ross is expanding his catalog and sound with his second release, Who Are You? Ross says this, “This record is a culmination of our maturing – as people, as a band, within the music – it’s about figuring out who we are.” Who Are You? features Good Vibes members Jeremy Corren on piano, Immanuel Wilkins on alto saxophone, and Jeremy Dutton on drums, and introduces Kanoa Mendenhall on bass. Guest artist Brandee Younger is featured on harp on five of the album’s fifteen [...]
Anson Wright is a guitarist, composer, novelist, poet, and educator. In addition to his musical career, Wright is an acclaimed novelist with three books being published. Author Anaïs Nin praised the prose in his novel, Jericho: “I liked the bottom of the sea level of your writing. Don’t worry about discipline or guidance.” The National Endowment for the Arts provided the funding for his second book, Openings. Anson’s first full-length poetry book, Sandstone Monastery, was released in 2004. Poems from Sandstone Monastery were set to music by guitarist John Stowell in the 2008 spoken-word CD, The Sky At Our Feet. Wright is now releasing his third [...]
Immanuel Wilkins is a Saxophonist, Composer, Arranger, and Bandleader from the greater Philadelphia-area. Moving to New York in 2015 to earn his bachelor’s degree in Music at Juilliard, he soon established himself as an in-demand sideman. Wilkins spent time, touring in Japan, Europe, South America, The United Arab Emirates, and the United States and working and/or recording with artists like Jason Moran, the Count Basie Orchestra, Delfeayo Marsalis, Joel Ross, Aaron Parks, Gerald Clayton, Gretchen Parlato, Lalah Hathaway, Solange Knowles, Bob Dylan, and Wynton Marsalis. It was also during this same period that he formed his quartet featuring his [...]
Guitarist Bill Frisell has released a trio album titled Valentine. The Bill Frisell Trio is Frisell on guitar, Thomas Morgan on bass, and Rudy Royston on drums. Frisell is not only the leader but the chief composer on the date as he establishes the framework for the trio to meticulously explore thirteen selections. “When Thomas is playing with me, it’s like he’s time-traveling. His presence in what’s happening in the moment is so extreme that it’s like he knows what I’m going to play before I play it. There’s almost a physical sensation like he’s caressing my hands when I’m playing my instrument. He becomes a part of me,” Frisell says. In recording, [...]
