Michael Roberts , Author at JAZZIZ Magazine

Michael Roberts

Bobby Watson, ‘Back Home in Kansas City’ (Smoke Sessions) | Review

Back Home in Kansas City, the latest recording by saxophonist Bobby Watson, gets better as…

Michael Varverakis: A World of Wonder

Exploring the 12-tone technique opened up a plethora of possibilities for Michael Varverakis. On his…

REVIEW: Robert Lee, ‘Cha-Ran’ (Three Pines)

Toronto bassist-composer Robert Lee set an incredibly difficult challenge for himself with Cha-Ran. His goal…

REVIEW: Joy Lapps, ‘Girl in the Yard’ (self-released)

Once upon a time, steel pan recordings accessible to American listeners tended to be split…

Ronnie Foster: The Return of the Two Headed Freap

In 1972, Blue Note Records unleashed Two Headed Freap, a debut album by organist-composer Ronnie…

REVIEW: Anthony Fung, ‘What Does It Mean To Be Free?’ (self-released)

The question posed by the name of drummer-composer Anthony Fung’s latest recording is provocative and…

REVIEW: Esthesis Quartet, ‘Esthesis Quartet’ (Orenda)

The Esthesis Quartet was formed during the COVID-19 pandemic, when many of its initial sessions…

REVIEW: Alune Wade, ‘Sultan’ (Enja)

a Senegalese bass guitar virtuoso who makes his home in France, tapped musicians from three…

Kim Nalley and Houston Person: Grown Folks Music

Kim Nalley and Houston Person team up on a bluesy set of old-school jazz and…

Charlie Gabriel, “Eighty Nine” (Sub Pop)

The title Eighty Nine refers to saxophonist and clarinetist Charlie Gabriel’s age at the time…

Charlie Gabriel: The Stardust of a Song

Charles Mingus is but one of the many jazz stars who crossed paths with Charlie…

Binker & Moses, “Feeding the Machine” (Gearbox)

Nearly everything about Feeding the Machine feels unexpected, and that may be the best thing…

Andrew Cyrille/William Parker/Enrico Rava: “2 Blues for Cecil” (TUM)

On New Year’s Eve 2020, drummer Andrew Cyrille, double bassist William Parker and flugelhornist Enrico…

Digitizing Pops: The Louis Armstrong House Museum in Queens welcomes visitors, at the door and via a new app

COVID-19 has presented one challenge after another to cultural institutions, and the Louis Armstrong House…

Sara Serpa and Emmanuel Iduma: ‘Intimate Strangers’ (Biophilia)

Vocalist-composer Sara Serpa’s latest album, Intimate Strangers, which teams her with Nigerian author Emmanuel Iduma,…

Stryker and Strings: ‘As We Are’ presents Dave Stryker as he never was before – with a string quartet

“I’m really excited about this one,” guitarist-composer Dave Stryker says of As We Are, a…

So Far So Good: Personal Loss and Physical Separation Couldn’t Dim the Spirit of The Dominican Jazz Project

Every bit as remarkable as the vibrant, passionate music on Desde Lejos (Summit), the latest…

Malcolm Jiyane Tree-O: ‘Umdali’ (Mushroom Hour Half Hour)

South African trombonist, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Malcolm Jiyane is best known among American audiences for…

A Winter Ball: Ed Palermo helms a bluesy big band salute to ’70s rock icon Edgar Winter

Singer and multi-instrumentalist Edgar Winter is best known as the man behind 1970s rock hits…

Compassion Flowers: The Jazz World Unites During a Time of Unparalleled Crisis

There’s never been a project like Relief. The compilation of tracks by Herbie Hancock, Esperanza…

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There’s never been a project like Relief. The compilation of tracks by Herbie Hancock, Esperanza Spalding, Jon Batiste and other stellar artists is a fundraiser for the Jazz Foundation of America. One hundred percent of the net proceeds will go toward the JFA Musicians’ Emergency Fund, created in March 2020 during the nascent days of the COVID-19 pandemic. But it also represents an unprecedented collaboration between major jazz labels — Blue Note, Concord, Mack Avenue, Nonesuch, Universal, Verve and Warner — to help performers caught in the grips of the worldwide crisis. On the surface, the challenge of getting a slew of music business titans to set aside their competitive instincts might seem insurmountable. Yet Denny Stilwell, Mack Avenue’s president and a driving force behind Relief, reveals that the genesis of the plan was a single question during a Zoom call in the spring of last year asked by Don Was, president of Blue Note. “Don said, ‘Why don’t we make a record?’” Stilwell recalls. “And everybody was like, ‘Yeah. Let’s go. What do we need to do?’” JFA executive director Joe Petrucelli notes that the need for assistance was off the charts: “We look at musicians as figures who are living on the edge at times, without a lot of security. So we were very concerned when we started getting reports early in 2020 about cancellations of gigs in Europe and tours getting disrupted.” Soon, events in the United States were being scrapped, too, including the JFA’s annual fundraising gala, slated for April 14. But rather than bemoaning the situation, Petrucelli and his team sprang into action, and the Musicians’ Emergency Fund became an important lifeline for struggling artists. Performers who complete a form on the JFA website are contacted by licensed clinical social workers eager to assist. More than $2 million has been raised to date, benefiting 2,000-plus musicians and their families by way of grants to cover living expenses, medical costs and more. To keep the dollars flowing, industry leaders began participating in regular brainstorming sessions on Zoom. And once all parties agreed to the Relief concept, the process began taking shape. “We talked to our artists, asking, ‘Do you have any unreleased material that would work?’” Stilwell says. “It was very organic, and we were all able to come up with tracks to contribute.” The songs that made the final cut are a varied lot. Spalding and Leo Genovese’s “back to who,” credited to IRMA and LEO, is an adventurous melding of voice, piano and percussion, while Cécile McLorin Salvant’s “Easy Come, Easy Go Blues” and Batiste’s “Sweet Lorraine” embrace jazz verities with charm and wit. There are also deeply felt contributions from Christian McBride (“Brother Malcolm”), Kenny Garrett (“Joe Hen’s Waltz”), Hiromi (“Green Tea Farm”) and Joshua Redman (“Facts”), capped by a pair of invigorating live numbers: “Lift Every Voice and Sing” by Charles Lloyd & Kindred Spirits and “Gingerbread Boy” by Herbie Hancock and a supporting cast featuring Jimmy Heath and Wallace Roney. The presence of Heath and Roney, who both passed away in 2020 (Roney died after contracting COVID), strikes Petrucelli as especially meaningful. “I think we’ve experienced so much pain and loss and human drama and strife in terms of the pandemic,” he points out. “But there were also moments of grace and joy and beauty — and it’s all encompassed on the album.” Stilwell, for his part, finds the way Relief came together moving in and of itself. As he puts it, “I know we’re all proud to have been involved. I just have a feeling of gratitude.” - Michael Roberts https://youtu.be/ZXkmXkZyfwo