Robert Plant, Flea, Henry Threadgill, Vijay Iyer, Dafnis Prieto, Mary Halvorson, Cécile McLorin Salvant, Steve Reich news
Robert Plant Americana Award * Flea NPR Tiny Desk * Henry Threadgill, Vijay Iyer, Dafnis Prieto single * Mary Halvorson x DownBeat * Cécile McLorin Salvant video * Steve Reich Nine Songs
News from the Nonesuch Journal
Robert Plant to Receive Americana Music Association Lifetime Achievement Award
Congratulations to Robert Plant, who will receive the Americana Music Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award at the Americana Honors & Awards ceremony at the Ryman in Nashville this September. “Robert Plant’s relationship with Americana music extends far beyond influence—it is one of genuine passion, stewardship and artistic curiosity,” the Association’s Executive Director Jed Hilly said. “Few artists have done more to honor the music’s past while helping shape its future.”
Watch: Flea Performs NPR Tiny Desk Concert
Flea performed an NPR Tiny Desk Concert of songs from his debut solo album, Honora, with the band on the record—album producer saxophonist Josh Johnson, guitarist Jeff Parker, bassist Anna Butterss, and drummer Deantoni Parks. “Working with the musicians that I’ve worked with has been the most exciting part,” Flea told NPR’s Kara Frame, “just jamming, connecting and feeling who they are.”
Watch: Henry Threadgill, Vijay Iyer, Dafnis Prieto Share “Gently Trapped”
The collective trio of saxophonist and flutist Henry Threadgill, pianist vijay iyer, and drummer Dafnis Prieto have shared “Gently Trapped,” a Prieto-penned tune from their upcoming album Fifteen, and a video for it, made during the recording session.
Mary Halvorson Covers DownBeat, Critics Poll Winners Announced
Mary Halvorson is on the cover of DownBeat. She has won its Critics Poll for Artist of the Year, Guitarist, and Group (Amaryllis). And congratulations to fellow winners Ambrose Akinmusire, Trumpeter; Cécile McLorin Salvant, Female Vocalist; Darcy James Argue, Arranger; and Rhiannon Giddens, Beyond Artist.
Watch: Cécile McLorin Salvant, Sullivan Fortner Perform “Sophisticated Lady”
Cécile McLorin Salvant has shared an intimate performance of Duke Ellington’s “Sophisticated Lady” with Sullivan Fortner at the piano. She performs the song with Metropole Orkest and conductor Jules Buckley, arranged by Darcy James Argue, on her new album, With Every Breath I Take.
Steve Reich Talks with Ólafur Arnalds in The Line of Best Fit
“Perhaps the most influential living composer, Steve Reich’s legacy represents one of the most seismic influential shifts in what we hear as modern music,” says The Line of Best Fit ahead of Reich’s conversation with Ólafur Arnalds for its Nine Songs series. Reich shares nine songs that have impacted his life and work, by Stravinsky, Bach, Pérotin, Bartók, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Jr. Walker & The All Stars, and Radiohead, and the Balinese gamelan.
Nonesuch American Explorer Series at 35
It was 35 years ago this week: Boozoo Chavis’s and Charlie Feathers’ self-titled albums, Jimmie Dale Gilmore’s After Awhile, and Johnnie Johnson’s Johnnie B. Bad were released for the American Explorer Series on Nonesuch.
Sérgio & Odair Assad Play Piazzolla at 25
It was 25 years ago today: Sérgio & Odair Assad Play Piazzolla, which opens with the Tango Suite Astor Piazzolla composed for guitarists Sérgio & Odair Assad, was released. Guitar Player calls this Latin Grammy Award recipient a “stirring tribute to the man who blurred the lines between pop, classical, jazz, and South America’s most revered music, the tango.”