Rob Shepherd

Review: Roy Ayers, Adrian Younge & Ali Shaheed Muhammad’s ‘Roy Ayers JID 002’

Humanity has a longstanding fascination with incorporating the latest technological developments into music. This interest is perhaps most evident in…

5 years ago

Beating with Heart: Alexander Flood’s Percussive Exploration of Cultures and Technology

In 2015, Christian Scott Atunde Adjuah created the Stretch Music imprint with Ropeadope Records to support jazz rooted genre blind…

5 years ago

Review: Norah Jones’ ‘Pick Me Up Off the Floor’

When many think of Texas, the first musicians that may come to mind are Bob Wills, Stevie Ray Vaughn, or…

5 years ago

Review: Michael Olatuja’s ‘Lagos Pepper Soup’

It can be incredibly difficult to be creative at the culinary arts. Insufficient attention to detail or excessive or inordinate…

5 years ago

Review: Ambrose Akinmusire’s ‘on the tender spot of every calloused moment’

Tonic, minor third, fourth, minor fifth, fifth, minor seventh. While this describes the blues scale, such a summation misses the…

5 years ago

Review: Aaron Parks’ ‘Little Big II: Dreams of a Mechanical Man’

In ancient Greek mythological lore, Hephaestus, the god of technology, created a giant bronze automaton named Talos who was powered…

5 years ago

Review: Shabaka and the Ancestors’ ‘We Are Sent Here By History’

From the Thirteenth to the Seventeenth Centuries, the powerful Mali Empire ruled Western Africa. Encompassing modern Mauritania, Niger, Gambia, Guinea,…

5 years ago

Review: Nicholas Payton’s ‘Quarantined with Nick’

Throughout history, musicians have used the direst of circumstances, including widespread pandemics, to expand their artistic boundaries and examine unexplored…

5 years ago

Review: Takahiro Izumikawa’s ‘Life is Your Thoughts’

There is a Japanese proverb dating back to at least the 16th Century: 一期一会 . Roughly translated, it means “each…

5 years ago

Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew 50th Anniversary Celebration- Part Four: “Non-Jazz”

This is the final segment of our four-part series celebrating the legacy of the landmark Bitches Brew on its Fiftieth…

5 years ago