Concert Previews
Sonny Rollins It's easy to take Sonny Rollins for granted. Like B.B. King, as much a giant in the blues as Rollins is in jazz, the man known as the Saxophone Colossus comes through town pretty much every year, and he's been blowing his uncommonly muscular
Sonny Rollins
It's easy to take Sonny Rollins for granted. Like B.B. King, as much a giant in the blues as Rollins is in jazz, the man known as the Saxophone Colossus comes through town pretty much every year, and he's been blowing his uncommonly muscular, vibrant, and vastly entertaining horn for so long that it would seem only natural for him to keep doing it in perpetuity. The hard-bop genius has played with Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, and the Rolling Stones, and his new iPhone app is due Oct. 5. His legendary Williamsburg Bridge practice sessions are nodded to in
The Simpsons'
character of "Bleeding Gums" Murphy, and his most recent album, 2008's
Road Shows, Vol. 1
, pulls from performances from 1980 to 2007 and shows no slippage. He won't be touring forever, and his live performances far outstrip what he sounds like in the studio. So here's your chance.
- Dan DeLuca
Mayer Hawthorne
Mayer Hawthorne is a "new-school soul sensation," as touted by his label, PR reps, blogs, and fans. It's a lot of hype, all right, but unlike the uneven (and unpredictable) Amy Winehouse, Hawthorne seems to be doing everything right. His debut album,
A Strange Arrangement
, was released this month with the tender, passionate, and upbeat vibe of '60s soul and funk. Hawthorne played every instrument and sang every lead vocal on the album, impregnating it with his remarkable crooning falsetto. Were the 29-year-old from Ann Arbor, Mich., a half-century older, he'd sound nostalgic; instead, he sounds like a paradox, capturing the optimism, naivete, and swoon-inducing sensuality that made stars of singers like Barry White, Isaac Hayes, and Otis Redding.
- Katherine Silkaitis
King Britt: Saturn Never Sleeps Series
You wouldn't think Philadelphia's King Britt would have time for a day job, what with recording music under his own name, planning another Sister Gertrude project, releasing albums by artists such as Ursula Rucker on his FiveSix Media label, and, of course, DJ-ing. Yet, here Britt is, with his partner/pal Rucyl Mills, curating monthly events at the Painted Bride (under the Saturn Never Sleeps banner) with the debut electronic act, Flying Lotus, happening this weekend. The idea for Saturn Never Sleeps came out of a Britt performance at the Institute for Contemporary Art in July, where King made micro-edits of local avant-garde master Sun Ra to reinterpret Ra's philosophy of experimentation and play in jazz music and to portray their shared love of interstellar universal concepts. "We wanted to continue the tradition of improvisation in black music that's dwindled in today's mainstream music in order to keep true to our great history of groundbreaking artistry, especially here in Philadelphia," says Mills. Shows starring Taylor McFerrin, Sarah White, Bora Yoon, and others from the world of soul, hip-hop, jazz, and modern electronic will push Saturn artists to create live compositions with no rehearsals while Britt and Mills do their thing - live sequencing and vocal processing, respectively. "We want to curate artists as living, breathing installations," notes Mills, who with Britt will release their Bride sessions as podcasts and EPs. Onward and upward, indeed.
- A.D. Amorosi