YOU'VE GOT
TO BE
KIDDING
ME.
That sentence takes up an entire page of this writer's notes for last night's episode of The Sing-Off. I wrote it just as the judges' decisions were announced: Urban Method and Pentatonix had been kicked upstairs to the finals, while Afro-Blue and Dartmouth Aires were asked to revisit the song they felt had been [...]
Ethan Iverson is the de facto front man for The Bad Plus. The piano trio doesn't really have a leader, but Iverson is the pianist, the one who talks between songs at their concerts, and the one who communicates most prolifically with the jazz audience via his blog Do The Math. Where The Bad Plus [...]
Thursday, Nov. 17
No serious jazz fan (especially in his or her native Washington) will dispute that Duke Ellington was the greatest and richest composer in the music's history. But this serious jazz fan will argue that Charles Mingus was a close second. The iconic bassist was a disciple of Ellington, one who supercharged his [...]
There is no Simon Cowell among the judges on The Sing-Off. Ben Folds is the toughest among them, but he always frames his criticisms as constructively as possible, while Sara Bareilles and Shawn Stockman are cheerleaders who give occasional gentle nudges of advice. Which means it's not always easy—particularly as the competition narrows and the [...]
Thursday, November 10
It seems that Troy Andrews' star is on the rise. At least in terms of the name he works under: Trombone Shorty. Perhaps you know him from his appearances at the DC Jazz Festival, or from his appearances on the round of late-night talk shows. Perhaps you're one of the (apparently) few people [...]
No list of today's major young jazz talents can exclude alto saxophonist Miguel Zenón. Born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Zenón embarked on his journey as a jazz musician at Boston's Berklee College of Music, moved on to the Manhattan School of Music, and took the jazz world by storm. Before long he [...]
As beautifully as they performed it, Afro-Blue's take on Tom Petty's "American Girl" on last night's The Sing-Off was misguided from the start.
The group's intro video reminded us that the judges have called out the Howard group repeatedly for overcomplicating their arrangements. But from the moment they began their rock submission (for "Rock and Country [...]
Friday, November 4
The trajectory of Bill Haymon is certainly the opposite of most jazz musicians'. To wit, he started in New York—born and raised—worked his way into the jazz scene there as a flutist (and erstwhile tenor saxophonist), and eventually moved to D.C.. Ask Haymon, though, and he'll tell you that he never took his [...]
Afro-Blue heard a familiar criticism on last night's installment of The Sing-Off.
"Really ambitious arrangements," Shawn Stockman noted of their performance, a medley of three Janet Jackson hits for Superstar Week. "Sometimes you guys might overthink some parts of the arrangements, where it may not really need any of that stuff you're most known for."
Sara Bareilles [...]
Afro-Blue set the bar impossibly high during their interview segment on The Sing-Off’s Hip-Hop Week last night. They were performing what was billed as The Fugees' "Killing Me Softly," but mentioned the song's connection to Howard alum/erstwhile D.C. resident Roberta Flack. "We have to pay tribute to Roberta," members said. "Of course we hope The Fugees [...]
