NYC Radio Live

Tomchess Podcast 211

 
As NYC and the world woke up to the results of an election, we gathered, as always, on Wednesday night, our inclusive, diverse music scene taking on a new meaning.    Tomchess and his quartet rose to the occasion and captured the moment with stunning soulful maquam based compositions informed by the free jazz improvisations of of Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane.  Hear the beauty and the promise from this set at the Art Cafe.
Tomchess - Oud, Ney Morsing, Composer
Zachary Swanson - Upright Bass
Abraham Faure Mennon - Tenor Sax
Dan Kurfirst - Drums/percussion
NYC based Multi-instrumentalist/improviser/composer Tomchess has played and recorded with some of the heaviest players in the improvisational scene (Dewey Redman, Butch Morris, Pharoah Sanders, Drew Gress, Ronald Shannon Jackson), as well as Morrocan Sintarist Hassan Hakmoun. Having deeply studied the Near Eastern, and North African traditions he incorporated the tonal palette, rhythms, and forms of these traditional musics while never losing sight of his American roots and the importance and freedom of improvising. He has performed in Africa, Canada, Holland, India and Italy. He has performed at Lincoln Center, The David Rubinstein Atrium, The Turkish Embassy, The Pakastani Embassy, the Asian Society, The Natural History Museum, The Metropolitan Museum, The Himalayan Museum of Art and The United Nations among countless other venues in NYC and the United States.
"...Chess is a superfine improviser with total command of his instrument...Chess leads the group through a buoyant assortment of song-forms as they sustain a high level of interest amid a suspenseful sequence of progressions.... They also mix it up in a jazzy sort of way. ...one of those magical efforts....They hit all the right spots while kicking out the proverbial jams via a fresh slant that yields gratifying results. "
-Glenn Astarita, All About Jazz.
Zachary Swanson is a double bassist residing in Brooklyn, NY. Using gut strings and a personalized technique, Zachary has developed a conception of the double bass that heightens the integrity of various musical environments. Zachary attended Peabody Conservatory, where he studied with double bassist Michael Formanek and saxophonist Gary Thomas.
Abraham Mennen is a South African saxophonist, improvisor and composer currently living in New York. He mostly plays free jazz, improvised and experimental music. Abraham has worked with Louis Moholo, William Parker, Joe Morris, John Lockwood, Herbie Tsoaeli, Hamid Drake, Kidd Jordan and many others.
Dan Kurfirst is an NYC based percussionist, composer and improviser. Born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, His playing incorporates aspects of Middle Eastern, West African and Indian music, while being clearly rooted in the American traditions he grew up with. He regularly performs with top musicians in NYC's world-music scene including Tomchess, Matt Darriau, Gabriel Marin, Brian Prunka, Brandon Terzic and Kane Maths. Dan currently serves as creative director of the American Sufi Project, a cross cultural, interfaith ensemble dedicated to re-interpreting traditional Sufi music in a modern context.
 

Dan Weiss Teen Taal Drumset Solo – Ragas Live Festival #4 Podcast 209

The fourth set of the historic, Ragas Live Festival 2016, live at Pioneer Works.  Dan Weiss (Drumset) and Michael Gam (bass).
Weiss has been studying tabla and Indian classical music with his Guru (teacher) Samir Chatterjee since 1998. With his Tintal Drum set Solo,  Dan takes the concept of a traditional Indian tabla solo and migrates it to a conventional drum set.
When listening to Tintal Drum set Solo, the trick is to reverse more conventional roles. Whereas, in a typical Western context, one would expect the guitar or bass to be the melodic centre and the drums to be the rhythmic support, here one needs to place Weiss' kit up front, with the other melodic instruments in the supporting role.
Ragas Live Festival 2016 is produced with the support of The Rubin Museum of Art

Bobby Carcassés and Arturo O’Farrill Afro-Cuban Masters Podcast 208

This was an amazing experience. We got to hang in the studio with two legends of Afro-Cuban Jazz: Bobby Carcassés and Arturo O'Farrill! After the two recorded an improvised set we got to sit down and talk music. We also get to hear some music from Bobby's record celebrating his 50 years of creating music in Havana and NYC: 50 TH Aniversario, De La Habana A Nueva York. 
 ARTURO O’FARRILL, pianist, composer, educator, and founder and Artistic Director of the nonprofit Afro Latin Jazz Alliance, was born in Mexico and grew up in New York City.  His debut album with the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, Una Noche Inolvidable, earned a first GRAMMY Award nomination in 2006. His next album Song for Chico, earned a GRAMMY Award for Best Latin Jazz Album in 2009.  The 2015 release of The Offense of the Drum was yet another Grammy Award winner.  Arturo was, in addition, the winner of the Latin Jazz USA Outstanding Achievement Award, and a Cubadisco Award for The Offense of the Drum in 2015. His newest album release (August 21, 2015) is Cuba:The Conversation Continues on the Motéma label. This album’s Afro Latin Jazz Suite  was warded the 2016 GRAMMY award for Best Instrumental Composition.
Arturo received his formal musical education at the Manhattan School of Music, Brooklyn College Conservatory, and the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College. As his professional career began to expand, Arturo was the pianist with the Carla Bley Big Band from 1979 through 1983.  He then went on to develop as a solo performer with a wide spectrum of artists including Dizzy Gillespie, The Fort Apache Band, Lester Bowie, Wynton Marsalis, and Harry Belafonte.
 
BOBBY CARCASSES - Born into a Cuban family (his maternal grandfather worked as a diplomat in Jamaica at the time of his birth), Carcasses moved with his family back to Cuba aged four, where he was surrounded by the various forms of local music. However, he started out as an opera singer before switching to Cuban music and working as a vocalist at the famous Tropicana nightclub. It was here that he first began to experiment with incorporating scat and bebop influences into his vocal style. By 1960 he was also known as a dancer and athlete (he was Cuba’s Long Jump Champion for that year) and as a multi-instrumentalist (playing trumpet, bass, congas and drums). Later in the decade he travelled, including a year in Paris playing with resident jazz greats Bud Powell and Kenny ‘Klook’ Clarke.
On his return to Cuba Carcasses formed his own jazz group, as well as acting in films and television. In 1980 he organized the first Jazz Plaza Festival, bringing to Cuba a host of international artists including Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Haden and Airto Moreira. The festival became an annual event, with Carcasses and his band performing each year. He also toured extensively throughout Europe and the USA, performing alongside Tito Puente, Eddie Palmieri and many other big names of Latin jazz. Jazz Timbero was recorded in Havana in 1997 with an all-star Cuban big band (including members of Irakere and Los Van Van), playing a funky mix of Latin and jazz. His son is Roberto Carcasses the jazz pianist.
 

T. H. Vikku Vinayakram: Master of the Ghatam – Podcast 207

 
This was an amazing experience!  We sit down with one of the great families of rhythm for a live performance and interview.  TH Vikku Vanyakram and family will be back in NYC, starting Oct. 24th teaching an incredible workshop on rhythm.   Recorded at the East Indian Music Academy, this is a legendary lineup:
TH Vikku Vanyakram,  Uma Shankar -ghatam
Selva Ganesh, Swaminathan - khanjira, konnakol.
A. Ganesan - morsing
Avirodh Sharma, tabla
Special thanks to Avorodh Sharma for expertly mixing and hosting us.
TH Vikku Vanyakram 
Rhythm has always been a quintessential facet of Carnatic music, and in the modern generation of percussionists, perhaps no other individual has mastered the intricacies and the laya endowments of the ghatam to such a great degree as Sri Thetakudi Harihara Vinayakram. T.H. Vinayakram, affectionately known as Vikku, has transformed himself into an international celebrity with his imaginative and beautiful drumming on the ghatam.
Well known as a Carnatic artiste, Vikku came to international prominence as part of the famous fusion group Shakti, and went on to participate in many other international fusion music projects.
WEBSITE
V. Selvaganesh
Selvaganesh Vinyakaram is the world’s premiere performer on the kanjira, the South Indian frame drum. The T.H. Vinayakram,  he is also a veteran of the fusion group 'Remember Shakti' with John McLaughlin. His solo album Soukha (2006) featured all of the members of Remember Shakti, as well as his father and Masters of Percussion sitarist Niladri Kumar.
Selvaganesh is also a major force in Tamil film making circles, composing songs in a beguiling mixture of genres, from folk to hip-hop to romantic ballads, and backed by a wide array of players from all over the world.
Avirodh Sharma is one of the leading Tabla Players from the West Indies and the United States. He is featured on Zee TV, TV Asia, NPR radio on the leonard lopatte show, NY Daily News, and at the end of 2015 making an appearance on the Starz Network Season Premiere, "flesh and bone"..

Vieux Farka Toure Live! Podcast 205

This was a real incredible experience.  We got sit down and hang with Vieux Farka Toure, talk to him and record a little acoustic music...AND record his entire live set at Le Poisson Rouge in Manhattan with his
smoking band!  Many thanks to World Music Institute and Le Poisson Rouge for making this happen.  This podcast will air on WKCR 89.9 FM-NY at 11pm Sunday Oct 2nd and stream and www.wkcr.org.
Often referred to as “The Hendrix of the Sahara”, Vieux Farka Touré was born in Niafunké, Mali in 1981. He is the son of legendary Malian guitar player Ali Farka Touré, who died in 2006. Ali Farka Touré came from a historical tribe of soldiers, and defied his parents in becoming a musician. When Vieux was in his teens, he declared that he also wanted to be a musician. His father dissaproved due to the pressures he had experienced being a musician. Rather, he wanted Vieux to become a soldier. But with help from family friend the kora maestro Toumani Diabaté, Vieux eventually convinced his father to give him his blessing to become a musician shortly before Ali passed.
Vieux was initially a drummer / calabash player at Mali’s Institut National des Arts, but secretly began playing guitar in 2001. Ali Farka Touré was weakened with cancer when Vieux announced that he was going to record an album. Ali recorded a couple of tracks with him, and these recordings, which can be heard on Vieux’s debut CD, were amongst his final ones. It has been said that the senior Touré played rough mixes of these songs when people visited him in his final days, at peace with, and proud of, his son’s talent as a musician. He know tours internationally with many acclaimed records to his name.
 
 

Rajasthani Folk Music Live at WKCR Podcast 204

 
Vocalists Sattar Khan Langa, Manjoor Khan Manganiyar  join us at WKCR for a live in-studio set.  The music from this region is recognized around the world for its virtuosity and beauty.  The chance to see and hear real live Rajasthani folk music is really rare and these guys really blew us away.

Vivek Pandya (Tabla Solo) – Ragas Live Festival #8 Podcast 203

The eighth set of the historic, Ragas Live Festival 2016, live at Pioneer Works.  Vivek Pandya (tabla), Kalpit Pandya (harmonium). This 11 year old tabla prodigy is a disciple of Pt Anindo Chatterjee, and he was 1st place winner of the Swaradhara competition held on 23rd Feb 2013.
As you can hear and se from his performance, he has a bright, musical future ahead of him.
Ragas Live Festival 2016 is produced with the support of The Rubin Museum of Art.  This music was expertly mixed by Sameer Gupta.

Max ZT, Karsh Kale, and Kane Mathis Ragas Live Festival 2015 # 3 Podcast 200

 
Their first time playing together, Max ZT (Hammered Dulcimer) Karsh  Kale (tabla) and Kane Mathis (kora) played an amazing set from 3am-4am on the Ragas Live Festival 2015.
 

Ba-ere Yotere Live on the African Gyil with Valerie Naranjo, Gyil; and Barry Olsen, percussion – Podcast 199

 
Ba-Ere Yotere a master of the African Gyil performs live with great percussionists Valerie Naranjo  (also on Gyil)  and Barry Olsen.   We hung out at Valeries house and recorded a few songs as well as talking to Ba-Ere about his early days with a man I searched for but never found, the great Kakraba Lobi.
 

Arun Ramamurthy Trio -Ragas Live Festival # 3 Podcast 198

The thrid set of the historic, Ragas Live Festival 2016, live at Pioneer Works. Arun Ramamurthy (violin), Sameer Gupta (tabla), Perry Wortman (bass).
The Arun Ramamurthy Trio (ART) performs Jazz Carnatica. Rooted in the style of the virtuoso violinist Dr. Mysore Manjunath, Arun brings a fresh approach to the age-old South Indian classical repertoire. The trio’s collaborative sound is driven by the propulsive rhythm section of drummer Sameer Gupta & and bassist Perry Wortman. The Carnatic canon is remixed in this seamless integration of styles as the group expands on the traditional compositions in explosive, improvisational flights of fancy. Arun’s original compositions pay homage to Carnatic rhythmic structures and rich tonalities while expanding the music with a modern jazz backbeat.
Ragas Live Festival 2016 is produced with the support of The Rubin Museum of Art

El Foukr R’Assembly Live on NYC Radio – Podcast 197

In a stunning display of North and West African fusion, El Foukr R'Assembly, a group traveling all the way from Algeria performs live on WKCR.  The musicians from Algeria, Burkina Faso and Ghana come together for two explosive sets of music
A taxi-driver & a farmer, a graphic designer, a sound engineer and an art-major student, Oualid Khelifi as the producer and filmmaker had met them lin 2014 at various parts of Algeria before suggesting a long term project around docfilm and experimental AfroFusion music linking the Maghreb with the rest of Africa.
So far, the project has recorded, documented or produced 18 African musicians from Algeria, Niger, Ghana and Burkina Faso.
Todays show features
Amine Lehchili,
Abdelhak BenMedjbari
Justice Nii Adjiri aka Shikome
Adama Diarra
Labib Benslama
Younes Kati
Nazim Bakour

Akshara – Ragas Live Festival # 2 Podcast 195

The second set of the historic, Ragas Live Festival 2016, live at Pioneer Works.  Akshara (lit. imperishable, immutable, inalterable) is comprised of: Bala Skandan (mridangam), Arun Ramamurthy (violin), Trina Basu (violin), Jay Gandhi (bansuri), Kabilan Jeginathan (kanjira), Max ZT (dulcimer), Shivalik Ghoshal (tabla).
Akshara is an exciting dynamic percussion group rooted in Indian classical musical traditions. Comprised of virtuosic performers in Carnatic and Hindustani classical genres, Akshara performs an energetic blend of classical Indian melody and rhythm highlighted with solo and scale-based improvisations. The group performs original compositions by Bala Skandan, demonstrating the powerful and complex rhythmic structures inherent in South Indian classical music.
 
 
Recorded by James Clark mixed by Sameer Gupta
Ragas Live Festival 2016 is produced with the support of The Rubin Museum of Art

Brooklyn Raga Massive’s Ravi Shankar Tribute – Ragas Live Festival # 1 Podcast 195

The blazing first set of the historic, Ragas Live Festival 2016, live at Pioneer Works.  Comprising of members of Brooklyn Raga Massive - Neel Murgai (sitar), Sameer Gupta (tabla), Arun Ramamurthy (violin), Eric Fraser (bansuri), Trina Basu (violin), Michael Gam (bass), Samarth Nagarkar (vocal) - the Ravi Shankar Tribute ensemble inaugurates the Brooklyn Ragas live festival by playing several of Pt. Ravi Shankar's compositions.
Ragas Live Festival 2016 is produced with the support of The Rubin Museum of Art
Recorded by James Clark, mixed by Sameer Gupta.

Awa Sangho/California Honeydrops

As we recover from our legendary 24 hour Ragas Live Festival this weekend, we share two great past  episodes with talents that will be performing very soon.  We'll hear some of Awa Sangho and the BRM's All Stars blistering set as the group is set to return to the Rubin Museum of Art on  August 12th.  Hear her full set Pioneer Works here.  And we'll revisit our chat with Lech Wierzynski
of the California Honeydrops who play the knitting factory tonight.  More to come!