Today we’ll give a listen to two new albums documenting the Black experience one by an African-British composer who was famous in his day and has lately experienced something of a comeback in the affirmative search for Black roots and representation.
Live performances by both The Juilliard Jazz Duke Ellington Ensemble and Juilliard Jazz Orchestra were recorded at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, and at Juilliard’s Peter Jay Sharp Theater and Paul Hall.
The ensemble, composed of current students in Juilliard's jazz studies program, gives a performance that embodies a spirit of community and collaboration.
Craig Brenner –
Passages (Self-produced): “Craig Brenner explores the jazzy side of blues and boogie woogie piano. Called “a fine and funky pianist” by Living Blues, Craig has received multiple Indiana Arts Commission grants and he has been voted “Best Musician” in Bloomington, IN, in the Bloomington Independent; Craig & The Crawdads has been chosen best band.” (https://www.craigbrenner.com/bio) He has recorded and performed with the Meters and Dr. John. Passages offers “eight original tunes in various styles, with stellar musicians: Lori Brenner and Merrill Garbus (Merrill appears courtesy of 4AD) on vocals, Nate Brenner and Ron Kadish on bass, Dan Hostetler and Tim Brookshire on drums, Mike Baker and Gordon Bonham on guitar, Joe Donnelly and Jake Belser on sax, Dena El Saffar on violin and viola, Kyle Quass on trumpet, and Dave Pavolka on trombone.” There are two songs with vocals. The straight-forward NOLA style on several songs offer the greatest punch on t