Bending the future of sound, taking ivory and ebony to destinations unknown, is keyboard maestro, vocalist, composer, producer, arranger and astral traveler Brandon Coleman. A regular fixture with Babyface, Donald Glover, Flying Lotus, and Kamasi Washington’s band, Coleman represents a new chapter in the evolution of jazz and funk fusion.
Coleman’s latest electronic funk odyssey, Interstellar Black Space, launched in May 2022. He explains, “I wanted to write some music that reflected how I felt about time, space, and celestial energy. I love space movies like Interstellar and The Martian—and I thought to myself, if I was traveling through space what would I want to hear? I wanted to create some astral Negro music.”
One of the finest trumpeters in jazz today, Marquis Hill is also a composer and bandleader whose comprehensive vision highlights the unity and continuity within the musical heritage of African Americans. On acclaimed albums like his latest, Modern Flows Vol. II, and his 2016 breakout project, The Way We Play, Hill and his working band, the Blacktet, use their next-level musicianship and deeply interactive dynamic to break down the barriers separating bop, hip-hop, R&B, and electronic music. At ArtPower, Hill performs from his latest album, a live reinterpretation of his 2012 debut album New Gospel.
Winner of the Montreux Jazz Festival Vocal Competition and a finalist in the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Vocal Competition, Cyrille Aimée is a riveting performer of new world jazz. She is all about finding herself in each and every moment! Aimée returns to ArtPower to perform new, original songs and music from her roots around the world, always with a focus on groove. In three different languages and with an international band who met in New Orleans, this show is sure to make your heart dance!
Joel Ross continues refining an expression that’s true to his sound and his generation. In 2019, the vibraphonist-composer issued his anticipated Blue Note debut, Edison Award-winning record KingMaker to eruptive critical acclaim, followed by his 2020 release Who Are You? which features his band Good Vibes at their most synchronous. New York Times critic Giovanni Russonello praised the album for the ways it “speaks to a new level of group cohesion…more tangle, more sharing, more possibility.”
He returns to ArtPower as bandleader with The Parable of the Poet, his third release for Blue Note Records. The album explores feelings self-awareness— confidence, doubt, regret and forgiveness—through storytellings and retellings.
Spearheading the emerging generation of Cajun and Creole musicians, Cedric Watson is a fiddler, vocalist, accordionist and songwriter of enormous talent and potential. With an apparently bottomless repertoire of songs at his fingertips, Watson plays everything from forgotten Creole melodies to more modern Cajun and Zydeco songs, even occasionally throwing in a bluegrass fiddle tune or an old string band number.
Cedric Watson & Bijou Creole resurrect the ancient sounds of the French and Spanish contra dance and bourré alongside the spiritual rhythms of the Congo tribes of West Africa, who were sold as slaves in the Caribbean and Louisiana by the French and Spanish. Moving with ease between fiddle and accordion, and adding his strong blues-inflected vocals, Watson’s albums are a tapestry of pulsing rhythms and Creole poetry, and his live performances are unforgettable, at once progressive and nostalgic.
Charly Lowry, a musical powerhouse from Pembroke, NC, is proud to be an Indigenous woman belonging to the Lumbee/Tuscarora Tribes. Since her teenage years, Charly has established a career as a professional singer-songwriter with unique passion and voice. In addition to performing solo, for over ten years Charly has been the front-woman for the multi award-winning band, Dark Water Rising.
Among her community, Native women are traditionally barred from the hand-drum, singing behind the men’s drum and/or dancing instead. Lowry defies that norm, following in the footsteps of her mentor, an artist and heir to the Tuscarora Indian Nation, Pura Fé; choosing to battle with her songs, hand drum, and guitar to deliver songs that not only tell the plight of her people but all humankind that face oppression.
She serves as a voice for her ancestors, as well as the youth of today, and remains committed to music that honors roots but lives vibrantly in the here and now.
Israel’s leading world music ensemble, Yamma Ensemble presents original contemporary Hebrew music. Staying true to the character of the Middle East, the group performs soulful, exotic music accompanied by ancient musical instruments (kopuz, duduk, hand drums) from the region. In addition, Yamma performs traditional music and material from the various Jewish diasporas—songs of the Jewish communities from Yemen, Babylon, and Sepharad,as well as Hasidic music, with the fascinating forms and rhythms that have been preserved by generations of Jewish traditions.
After touring Wong Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest across the country for five years in over 40 live engagements, Wong’s critically acclaimed one woman show is finally captured in her first ever concert film through the dynamic direction of Michael Closson.An unforgettable tour de force performance.
Wong Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is Kristina Wong’s raucous and whip-smart take on the high rates of depression and suicide among Asian American women.She sets out to single-handedly save them all by the end of her 80-minute film! She fails fantastically, creating hysterical laughter and a sobering coda. It’s one hell of a roller coaster ride! But don’t worry… it’s all fiction.
If Kandace Springs‘ new album Indigo sounds like something new, that’s because it is. Simple while funky. Classic but contemporary. Straightforward in the way it breaks down complex ideas and genres. And, at the end of the day, undeniably human. That said, it isn’t quite a rebirth for the Nashville-born artist, who after stints living in New York and Los Angeles has returned back home to Music City. She’s long had that lithe and smoky voice and an intensely expressive mastery over the piano.
She sings from her latest album, The Women Who Raised Me, a loving tribute to the great female singers who inspired her to begin her journey towards becoming one of the premier jazz/soul vocalists of our time. The album will feature her unique interpretations of songs that she first heard growing up in Tennessee, and ranges from such classic icons as Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, and Carmen McRae, through 60’s legends Nina Simone, and Dusty Springfield, and up to modern masters such as Sade and Lauryn Hill.
Marc Ribot, who the New York Times describes as “a deceptively articulate artist who uses inarticulateness as an expressive device,” has released 25 albums under his own name over a 40-year career, exploring everything from the pioneering jazz of Albert Ayler to the Cuban son of Arsenio Rodríguez. His solo release,“Silent Movies”(Pi Recording 2010) has been described as a”down-in-mouth-near master piece” by the Village Voice and has landed on several Best of 2010 lists including the LA Times and critical praise across the board, and 2014 saw the monumental release: Marc Ribot Trio Live at the Village Vanguard(Pi Recordings), documenting Marc’s first headline and the return of Henry Grimes at the historical venue in 2012 and included onBest of 2014 lists such as Downbeat magazine and NPR’s 50 Favorites.
2021 is filed with a flurry of activity and releases including Ceramic Dog’s HOPE, recorded during the pandemic, plus two reissues on vinyl for the first time: 1993’s long out-of-print Marc Ribot Plays Solo Guitar Works of Frantz Casseus & Silent Movies (2010). Additionally, Marc’s first collection of writings, Unstrung: Rants & Stories of a Noise Guitarist, will be published by Akashic Books this August with an audiobook also in the works, and Marc’s original score for limited series documentary, Queen of Meth, will premiere on the Discovery Channel
