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Interview with Nootka Sounds

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Interview with Nootka Sounds Wolf-Loup, Sierra Jannise, Pillager, Free Will, Venadito were all present; Wolf-Loup answered the key questions. MD = Matt Douglas WL = Wolf-Loup MD: Why exactly did you decide to start the label/collective Nootka Sounds? WL: There were a bunch of musicians in town who were doing separate projects and I thought it would be nice to get everyone in town who was musically inclined together and try to get a project rolling, so that everyone in Tahsis who had a musical bent had an opportunity to express themselves. It’s really a project based on contributing [to the collective] and producing and promoting events with a diverse group of people. MD: When did the group start? WL: Nootka Sounds proper started about two years ago, but it was about four years ago that some of us got together. It kind of started out of this funny event that I helped organize for local caving enthusiasts, and from that we were inspired to do events around tow
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Nicholas Payton: Exploring Sound through Textures, Letters and Numbers

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Nicholas Payton: Exploring Sound through Textures, Letters and Numbers At 44 years old and with a grammy to his name, trumpeter Nicholas Payton already has near legendary status in the jazz world. Payton is also notorious for publishing outspoken and sometimes controversial intellectual pieces, like “On Why Jazz isn’t Cool Anymore” . I’ll stick to discussing Payton’s music here and maybe go into his ideas about music and society another time. An examination of Payton’s life and work reveal a man who places a great deal of importance in the honest expression of one’s own ideas and beliefs, be them creative or intellectual. Payton’s individuality is evident even on his earliest albums, however Payton has released a string of more conceptual albums in the past few years which I personally find especially interesting.   It is necessary to note at this point that Payton does far more than just play the trumpet. In addition to running his own label (Paytone Records), Payton is
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Maurice Brown: Musical Manifestations of Mood

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    Maurice Brown: Musical Manifestations of Mood I remember first seeing Maurice Brown play in a live performance video I watched about two years ago. It might have been a charity event or a special Birthday performance, but for some reason there was an absurdly talented group of musicians sharing the stage (I’m talking Robert Glasper, Derrick Hodge, Chris Dave and a handful of others). Brown bore an eerie resemblance to Miles Davis when he stepped onto the stage and blasted off a trumpet solo clad in a long open coat, a wide brimmed hat and dark sunglasses (check out the picture of Davis on the cover of his Autobiography for an idea). Brown’s assertive playing and cool swagger impressed me, though I have to admit that I forgot all about him until I discovered his 2017 album The Mood several months later.  Full album stream of The Mood   Brown’s most recent album The Mood lives up to his consistently impressive discography. Brown is perhaps best known as a tru
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Kamaal Williams Trio at Alte Feuerwache Mannheim

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Kamaal Williams Trio at Alte Feuerwache Mannheim On Thursday the 11th of January, I traveled up to Mannheim from Freiburg to catch British jazz keyboard player and music producer Kamaal Williams play one of his German tour dates. Normally I wouldn’t bother traveling over an hour by train to see a concert, but something about Williams and his music is very exciting to me. Admittedly, I wasn’t sure what the music would actually sound like since Williams and his former bandmate Yussef Dayes recently split up to do their own projects. Williams has put out solo work under the alias Henry Wu, but there is not a great deal of music by Williams and his new trio on the internet at the moment. **On May 25th 2018 Kamaal Williams released a new full length album entitled 'The Return'**   https://kamaalwilliams.bandcamp.com/album/the-return Listen to 'The Return' for free My strange faith in Kamaal Williams was sparked last spring, lets call it mid Februar
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Virgin Forest: A Beginner’s Guide to the Music of Lionel Loueke

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Virgin Forest: A Beginner’s Guide to the Music of Lionel Loueke I first discovered guitarist, percussionist and vocalist Lionel Loueke in a youtube video uploaded by Jazz Night in America. The video shows a performance by the ‘Blue Note All Star’ band Our Point of View (a play on the 1963 Herbie Hancock album My Point of View). I should explain for some context that I have an obsession with pianist Robert Glasper’s style of playing, so I frequently watch videos of his live performances. This obsession has been very educational for me, since in watching his performances I invariably end up discovering bandmates of his who are equally impressive musicians themselves, and as a result I gain a better understanding of the current landscape of jazz talent. Yes, I clicked on the Our Point of View performance to see Glasper play, but as usual, I came away with a new musician to google, follow and subsequently obsess over. Our Point of View is comprised of Robert Glasper, Ambrose
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