Jazz Times

It's an exceptionally good week for jazz. A few of my favorite artists are playing:

+Robert Glasper will be at the Vanguard all this week. I checked his trio out last night and posted a review at Hello, Babar. I can't overemphasize how good this guy is. He's got the chops, or so many of the jazz gods say, but he's also super approachable. Even if you are new or indifferent to jazz, you'll probably like his stuff. His newish album, In My Element, is very good, but I prefer his first on Blue Note, Canvas. Much has been made of "J Dillalude," a collage of Glasper's trio tackling Jay Dee instrumentals but "F.T.B." is also sick and it's unfortunate that his Radiohead/Hancock fusion doesn't get more love either.

+Soul singer Ledisi plays a free set at the Seaport this Thursday at 7PM in support of her new album on Verve, Lost & Found. Whether you liked her 2 indie albums or not, the singer/actress is a beast live. When I first saw her, folk bowed and/or trampled other audience members in a hustle to get the last of her CD's. 'Shamed to report that I was one of them.

+Gretchen Parlato has got the voice of a seraph. I've lauded her before but it's worth mentioning again, especially since she's playing at the Neighborhood Church of Greenwich Village (269 Bleecker Street) this Friday at 8PM for free!!!(My jazz listening group caught her there last fall.) She's a jazz singer with a real multicultural sensibility; I've heard her enchant in West African languages with her frequent duet partner and recent Blue Note acquisition Lionel Loueke and Portuguese. She's a must hear.