This week’s Hot New Local Single is “If I Do My Own,” a song that melds the James Brown-inspired vocals of Obi Original with the insistent Afrobeat energy of the Minneapolis-based group Black Market Brass. The music is energetic, exciting, and makes you want to get out of your seat and dance with abandon! Obi...Read More

Here are the top ten new releases from Jazz88! Vote for your five favorites below!   Yuko Mabuchi – Batuucada Airmen of Note – When the Amazon Spoke We Listened Nicole Glover – No. 2 Jimmy Greene – Praises George Colligan – If the Mountain Was Smooth, You Couldn’t Climb It Steve Kenny – Up...Read More

This week’s hot new local single features the Society of Chemists, a Twin Cities-based quartet including saxophonist/flautist/keyboardist Stephanie Wieseler, pianist Jack Barrett, bassist Charlie Bruber and drummer Ben Erlich. You may have caught their set this summer at the Twin Cities Jazz Festival. Sometimes  described as a fusion group, whatever the appropriate category is for...Read More

On his website, drummer, producer and bandleader Makaya McCraven describes himself as a “beat scientist.”Much of McCraven’s work is involved in picking musical moments from his recorded performances and applying hip-hop style production techniques to reinvent the material. McCraven is releasing four new EPs in October, and he is performing live at Icehouse in Minneapolis...Read More

Here are the top ten new releases from Jazz88! Vote for your five favorites below!   Giacomo Smith and Mozes Rosenberg – Begin the Beguine Joan Hutton – Sidekick Stokely – rare (no, no, no) HEYARLO – Plumes Astronomy Town – Quina Brass Queens – Make Believe Paquito D’Rivera – La Fleur De Cayenne Yuko...Read More

This week’s Hot New Local Single comes to us from guitarist and composer Ross Clowser. The single is “Untold World” from the new album This Is How We Move Through Time, released September 12th on the local indie label, Aura Vortex records. The ensemble includes Clowser on guitar, Joe Strachan on piano, Josh Granowski on bass, and Tarek...Read More

  photos by Ian Buck Since it’s founding in 1985, The Dakota has become a linchpin of the music world. The Dakota’s founder, Lowell Pickett, has been at the helm since the beginning and the journey from it’s beginnings as a no-cover, all local music spot to one of the premier performance venues in the...Read More

“THERE IS A LEGEND AMONG US FOLKS!!” – this is my constant rallying call to my brothers and sisters in local media. Stokley, the iconic R&B musician who fronted Mint Condition for 20+ years is a half-decade into a fruitful solo career and I can’t believe the man can shop for groceries at Mississippi Market...Read More

Pianist Yuko Mabuchi is bringing her trio to the Selby Ave Jazz Fest for a performance on Saturday, September 13. Mabuchi, who hails from Japan but is based in L.A., was nice enough to connect with Sean McPherson and talk about her trio, her repertoire and her love of improvisation.   This interview originally aired...Read More

Here are the top ten new releases from Jazz88! Vote for your five favorites below!   Stokley – Rare (no, no, no) Jaleel Shaw – Beantown Heath Brothers – Smilin’ Billy Suite Part IV Joe Farnsworth – All Said and Done Cody Steinmann – And Make The Airmen of Note – When the Amazon Spoke,...Read More