In their almost two-decade history, the Grammy-nominated band Kneebody has created a genre
and style all its own. Their sound is explosive rock energy and high-level nuanced chamber
ensemble playing set within the frames of highly wrought compositions that are balanced with
adventurous no-holds-barred improvising.
Kneebody is keyboardist Adam Benjamin, trumpeter Shane Endsley, saxophonist Ben Wendel
and drummer/bassist Nate Wood. The band has no leader or rather, each member is the leader;
they’ve developed their own musical language, inventing a unique cueing system that allows
them each to change the tempo, key, style, and more in an instant.
The group met in their late teens while at The Eastman School of Music and Cal Arts, became
fast friends, and converged together as Kneebody amid the vibrant and eclectic music scene of
Los Angeles in 2001. Since then, each band member has amassed an impressive list of credits
and accomplishments over the years all while the band has continued to thrive and grow in
reputation, solidifying a fan base around the world.
In 2005, Kneebody released their debut self-titled album Kneebody on Dave Douglas’ Greenleaf
Music Label. Low Electrical Worker followed in 2007 on the Colortone Label. A collection of
13 original songs, Low Electrical Worker was hailed by saxophonist Joshua Redman as one of
his “favorite albums of 2007.”
In the spring of 2009, Kneebody and vocalist Theo Bleckmann released 12 Songs of Charles Ives
on the Winter & Winter label and received a GRAMMY nomination in the “classical crossover”
category. 2013 saw the release of The Line for Concord Records. In 2015, Kneebody’s
groundbreaking collaboration with electronic musician Daedelus on Kneedelus was released on
Flying Lotus’ imprint Brainfeeder records to praise from critics and audiences alike. In 2017,
Motéma Music released Kneebody’s Anti-Hero. 2019 brought back-to-back releases from
Kneebody on Edition Records. In the Spring, they released By Fire, an EP featuring an eclectic
selection of covers from John Legend to Soundgarden. Followed by the Fall release of Chapters,
the group’s first full-length album as a quartet, mixing deep grooves and deft melodies with a
wide range of guests including Becca Stevens, Gretchen Parlato, Michael Mayo, Gerald Clayton
and Josh Dion.
“Phil Cook is a lightning bolt. He is a teacher and captor of music. He carries it within him at all times. No one has taught me more about music in my life than him. He is one of the great performers of our age … as time passes more and more people will find that out. I’m excited every time someone gets to discover Phil’s genius—a thing I’ve had the good fortune of knowing all my life.”—Justin Vernon, Bon Iver
For Phil Cook, it all started with piano. A prolific songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, solo artist, and in-demand musician whose collaborations have run the gamut of genre — as a founding member of beloved band Megafaun to work with The Blind Boys of Alabama, Bon Iver, Kanye West, and Hiss Golden Messenger, to name a few—Cook has always been a musician’s musician. A sweet and affable presence whose musical dexterity elevates every project he touches, Cook’s musical output and true sound has been hard to pin down. But even across all the work he’s done in his decades as a musician, he’s yet to release a proper piano album. In that way, “All These Years” is sort of the first proper introduction to Cook, to the way he can express himself with the most ease and reveal the deepest compartments of his heart.
All These Years is Cook’s first solo instrumental album on his primary instrument, recorded at NorthStar Church of the Arts in Durham, NC by his cousin and collaborator Brian Joseph (Bon Iver, Sufjan Stevens, Indigo Girls). Cook and Joseph have been close their entire lives, with Joseph being one of the people who knows the full depth of Cook’s relationship to the instrument.
Nubya Garcia isn’t an artist you can easily classify. Is it jazz? Sure, the London-born saxophonist,
composer and bandleader grew up studying the genre under the noted pianist Nikki Yeoh at Camden
Music. But it isn’t until you listen to albums like 2020’s Source and 2024’s Odyssey that you hear
broader creativity shining through: It’s jazz, classical, dub, R&B and whatever else Garcia wants to
convey. It all comes from a place of exploration and self-study, of wanting to do all the things across all
disciplines while ignoring arbitrary boxes that don’t fit.
Garcia’s sophomore album Odyssey, out in September 2024 via Concord Jazz, is a majestic feat on
which she blends orchestral arrangements with R&B, jazz, broken beat and dub, resulting in a grand,
nuanced record that feels airy and celestial without sacrificing the groove. It’s a deeply personal
offering about her trek to falling back in love with musical composition over the past four years.
The Harlem Gospel Travelers are not from Harlem. They came to Harlem, however, from far-flung corners of the five boroughs of New York City, and it was in Harlem, that legendary center of African-American culture, that they found their voices. Since its conception, they have focused on creating music that uplifts, inspires, and spreads the message of love.
Started in 2016 as an acapella project between Helena Ros and Marta Torrella, Tarta Relena’s electronic-accented folk reimagines the traditional music of the Mediterranean as a growing form unbound by precedent. At ArtPower, the Catalan folk duo will perform from their newly released album, És pregunta.
AJ Lee & Blue Summit are an award-winning energetic, charming, and technically jaw-dropping band quickly rising on the national roots music scene. Based in Santa Cruz, California, the group met as teenagers, picking and jamming together as kids at local music festivals and jams until one day, they decided they would be a band. They bring their latest album, City of Glass, to ArtPower.
Chicago/Brooklyn-based multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger, curator, activist, motivational speaker, and educator Isaiah Collier is a musical virtuoso in the truest sense of the phrase. Most known for his work as a saxophonist, Collier’s sound and approach is drawn from the influences of other master saxophonists such as John Coltrane, Roscoe Mitchell, Wayner Shorter, Ari Brown, and Gene Ammons.
Vinyl DJ set by B+
Sessa is a long-time fixture of both the American and Brazilian music scenes. Initially known for collaborating with NY guitar legend Yonatan Gat and co-founding the São Paulo psych-funk combo Garotas Suecas, Sessa released his debut album, Grandeza, in 2019. In their review of the album, the New Yorker described Sessa as “a songwriter cut from Veloso’s mold and blessed with a flair for the intimate, the enigmatic, and the licentious.”
Sessa’s songs are sung in Portuguese, with visceral, sensual lyrics, and melodic flourishes not unlike those of Tom Jobim. However, the music gets a deliberate minimalist treatment rarely found in contemporary Brazilian music, more reminiscent of the bareness of Leonard Cohen.
Sessa’s concerts are already stuff of legend, as he takes the stage accompanied solely by a female backing choir and Afro-Brazilian percussion. While the songs often deal with subjects such as the sensual body and spiritual transcendence, the music points to new, more subtle directions for Brazilian pop music – a deep, minimalist, almost insinuated use of the endlessly rich textures and rhythms that define the songwriting history of Brazil, which Sessa joins as one of its most promising new voices.
With opening acts:
Jackie Mendoza
DJ Alejandra Frank
The echo-bathed pop songs of Fazerdaze are the creation of New Zealand indie songwriter Amelia Murray. After building a following with short-form releases and international touring, the project’s daydreamy full-length debut, Morningside, appeared in 2017. Following a five-year gap between releases, the fuzz-injected, ’90s-inspired EP Break! saw release in 2022. (via AllMusic)
