By the time the lone standard “What’s New?” arrives with a wink 11 tracks into trumpeter-composer Ambrose Akinmusire’s tour de force Blue Note debut When The Heart Emerges Glistening, the song’s title has become a rhetorical question. The unneeded answer: Everything. Akinmusire has delivered nothing less than a manifesto, a Search for the New Land, a personal statement of such clarity and vision that it’s bound to turn heads around towards this startlingly fresh young talent.

Co-produced by Akinmusire and his label mate and mentor Jason Moran, the album’s 12 songs (10 of which were composed by Akinmusire) feature the 28-year-old trumpeter’s young quintet (tenor saxophonist Walter Smith III, pianist Gerald Clayton, bassist Harish Raghavan, and drummer Justin Brown), a close-knit group of longtime friends and frequent collaborators that breathes a remarkable collective identity. The New York Times wrote that the quintet “seems destined for much wider recognition,” and described their unique sound as “limber, straight-ahead jazz with mystery and pop instincts that gets around most of the old, pervasive mainstream influences, both of trumpet playing and bandleading.” Read More

www.ambroseakinmusire.com

Robert Glasper has long kept one foot planted firmly in jazz and the other in hip-hop and R&B. He’s worked extensively with Q-Tip, playing keyboards on the rapper’s 2008 album The Renaissance and co-writing the album single “Life Is Better” which featured his label mate Norah Jones. Glasper also serves as the music director in yasiin bey’s touring band, and has toured with the multi-platinum R&B singer Maxwell.

The Los Angeles Times once wrote that “it’s a short list of jazz pianists who have the wherewithal to drop a J Dilla reference into a Thelonious Monk cover, but not many jazz pianists are Robert Glasper,” adding that “he’s equally comfortable in the worlds of hip-hop and jazz,” and praising the organic way in which he “builds a bridge between his two musical touchstones.”

Glasper drove that point home with his last album, 2009’s Double-Booked, which was split neatly in half. The first part featured his acoustic Trio, which had gathered a great deal of acclaim in the jazz world and beyond over the course of two previous Blue Note albums (2005’s Canvas and 2007’s In My Element). The second part featured his electric Experiment band and hinted at things to come, even earning the keyboardist his first GRAMMY nomination for “All Matter,” a collaboration with the singer Bilal that was among the contenders in the Best Urban/Alternative Performance category in 2010. Read More

www.robertglasper.com

Derrick Hodge’s debut recording is a showcase of his widely respected versatility and melodic sensitivity, creating a unique sound all his own. Hodge represents something inventive and refreshing, fronting the wave of a unique generation of renaissance musicians working across all genres without borders. This release is a mosaic composed of what is now and where he comes from, representing the new and respecting the classic. His music creeps into the soul and flirts with the imagination, leaving an unforgettable mark.

Hodge has spent his youthful career transcending between various styles of Hip-Hop, Gospel, R&B, Funk, Singer/ Songwriter, and Jazz, performing and/or recording with an impressive roster of GRAMMY® nominated and awarded artists including Maxwell, Common, Q-Tip, Mos Def, Timbaland, Jill Scott, Musiq Soulchild, Bilal, Gerald Levert, Kanye West, Andre 3000, Sade, Terence Blanchard, Mulgrew Miller, Clark Terry, Donald Byrd, and many more.

In 2008, he was commissioned to write a piece by the Chicago Symphony entitled “Infinite Reflections”, and was selected to be a part of the Sundance Composer Lab. Hodge currently performs as a solo artist in front of sold out crowds at diverse venues including Summerstage and Blue Note Jazz Club, maintains a steady career as a film composer, and serves as the Musical Director for Maxwell. Read More

www.derrickhodgemusic.com

Drummer Kendrick Scott is a technically proficient and intuitive jazz drummer with a bent toward expansive post-bop. Kendrick is an artist of incredible depth, talent, and determination. He has been featured in Terence Blanchard’s band for the last six years and has appeared on the Grammy Award-winning and nominated recordings, A Tale of God’s Will, and Flow, on which he contributed original compositions and orchestrations. Since arriving in New York City in 2003, Scott has appeared on numerous records as a sideman and on the soundtracks to seven feature films

However, touring the world and recording with the likes of Blanchard, as well as Herbie Hancock, John Scofield, Maria Schneider, Wayne Shorter, Musiq Soulchild, Christian McBride, David Sanborn, Dianne Reeves, John Patitucci, The Crusaders, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Robert Glasper, Stefon Harris, Kenny Garrett, Pat Metheny, Nicholas Payton, Patti Austin, Angelique Kidjo, Lionel Loueke, Roy Hargrove, Raul Midon, Gretchen Parlato plus playing on numerous film soundtracks by Spike Lee and other filmmakers, is not nearly enough for this talented musician. He makes his JOTV debut in the company of friends and other occupants of the rarefied air of innovative young lions, Robert Glasper and Derrick Hodge. Read More

www.kendrickscott.com

For nearly three decades, this unique vocal/guitar jazz duo has cast its passionate musical spell worldwide, capturing the hearts of lovers, the respect of jazz buffs, and the jaw-dropping awe of guitarists.

With 29 years of performing together, and 26 years of marriage, the devotion forged by this extraordinary couple shows no sign of dimming from the pressure of familiarity. For them, this pressure creates more diamond than dust. Their instinct for refining their music, their technique and their career—their home studio makeover—their house and garden renovation—never wavers from their credo: It’s not done if it’s not from the heart. And what comes from the heart demands excellence.

Onstage and off, guitarist Tuck Andress and vocalist/arranger Patti Cathcart might, at first impression, strike you as an odd couple. The obvious difference in skin color is quickly overshadowed by the contrast of their personalities. Patti exudes the soft, centered yet powerful graciousness of a gospel singer; Tuck almost wears his brain on his skin, anticipating the thousands of musical decisions he’ll have to send to his ten fingers during the course of a performance. Seeing the virtuosity and complexity of Tuck’s guitar work, most are surprised to learn that Patti is the actual writer, arranger, and producer. Without even blinking, Tuck-the-problem-solver brags, “Patti writes and arranges; I am just the orchestra.” Read More

www.tuckandpatti.com

Bassist Dezron Douglass, known for his musical versatility, is one of the most in demand young bassists in jazz today. Composer, Educator and Bandleader, Dezron has established himself as a musician’s musician, respected not only for his talent but also for his dedication to the authenticity of the music.

Born and raised in Hartford, Ct, Dezron grew up surrounded by music. His first musical influences weren’t actually jazz, even though he was the nephew of the legendary drummer and composer, Walter Bolden. The sounds that filled his home were of Stevie Wonder, George Benson, Minne Ripperton, Diana Ross, Gregory Isaacs, Peter Tosh, The Clark Sisters, Mahalia Jackson, and Commissioned, just to name a few. As he explains, “Jazz was always around, but not at my House”. He was influenced by the music, moved by the way sound expressed emotion. At the age of 12, he was determined to harness that ability. Read More

Harpist, Brandee Younger is keeping the harp anew, having created a unique niche between traditional and non-traditional harp arenas. This innovative harpist is without a doubt changing the way we hear one of the oldest, most romantic instruments known to man. To listen to her music — highly reminiscent of Dorothy Ashby and Alice Coltrane — is to forget the pre- conceived notions one may have once they hear her soulful takes on the classical instrument.

She is known for sharing the stage with Jazz Royalty Jack Dejohnette & Ravi Coltrane, laying down tracks with Grammy-Winning Rapper Common and Artist and Producer Ryan Leslie, as well as bringing to life the Classic Impressionistic work of Maurice Ravel. Her ability to feature the harp in genres of music where the instrument is often absent is a testament of her love for the instrument, and her cross-reaching ability as a musician.

Her debut EP, “Prelude” with jazz heavyweights Dezron Douglas on bass and EJ Strickland on drums, featuring the silky vocals of songstress Niia, demonstrates just that.

www.brandeeyounger.com/