lalah hathaway

Breakthrough success can often be a tough act to follow. But with a little help from some notable friends, Robert Glasper Experiment is set to up the ante with the follow-up to his successful GRAMMY-winning album Black Radio. Flaunting a diverse array of featured guests including Common,Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy, Brandy, Jill Scott, Dwele, Marsha Ambrosius, Anthony Hamilton,Faith …

What do you get when you combine four of the most talented male R&B/soul vocalists in existence right now on one song by the next big producer? Popular drummer Lil John Roberts follows up with “Space,” which features Eric Roberson, Stokley, Anthony David and Musiq Soulchild. One of the most …

Trumpeter Roy Hargrove has firmly established himself as among the premier players in jazz and beyond. Ever-stretching into more challenging and colorful ways to flex his musical chops, Hargrove has left indelible imprints in a vast array of artful settings. During his tenure on the Verve label alone, he has recorded an …

Have you been to the church of Avery*Sunshine? With her thunderous, gospel-bred pipes and heart-to-heart content, the singer-songwriter can’t help spilling the truth in her music. She knows the best route sometimes is the direct one. No detours. So listeners won’t have to “get on her level.” She’s already on …

Theo Croker is casually positioning himself to be the next important musician on the scene. If you’re not yet familiar with the twenty-something trumpeter/vocalist, don’t worry, because you’ve absolutely heard of his grandfather, the Grammy Award-winning trumpeter, Doc Cheatham. But don’t think the young talent will be riding his prestigious …

Casey Benjamin is a Grammy Award winning multi-instrumentalist. He is prolific as both a sideman and bandleader. In addition, he has recently worked with artists such as Kris Bowers, Robert Glasper, Derrick Hodge, Lupe Fiasco, Mark Adams, Melvin Gibbs, and Stefon Harris.

Photo of Roy Hargrove by John Whiting Jazz legend Sonny Rollins once said, “Improvisation is the ability to create something very spiritual, something of one’s own,” and Roy Hargrove has taken those words to heart.  In an exclusive interview with iRockJazz, multiple Grammy winner, bandleader and jazz trumpeter extraordinaire, Roy …

DIANNE REEVES is among the pre-eminent jazz vocalists in the world. In her first studio album in five years, Reeves delivers what is destined to become a soul-jazz classic. The album, Beautiful Life, also marks a new relationship with Concord Records —which is not entirely new: Reeves was featured in …

Jazz vocalist and DC-native Akua Allrich has proven herself to be a musician of extraordinary talent and crowd-moving passion. With finesse and charisma, this vocalist, composer and teacher, has successfully etched out a place for her unique musical expression, electrifying audiences in and around the nation’s capital with sold-out performances. …

What do you call a musical gumbo that recalls the ancestral strut and joie de vivre of the New Orleans’ Tremé, the drama and ecstasy of the church’s wailing floor, and the suited-up sophistication of jazz threaded with the party funk of Parliament? What do you name sounds that hail …

If one were attempting to design a prototype for the quintessential contemporary musician, trumpeter/fluegelhornist/composer Russell Gunn is the model. A certified member of the hip-hop generation, Russell’s early aspirations in the world of rap music took precedence over the trumpet that he began playing in fourth grade. When he reached …

When Robert Hurst was growing up in Detroit, so many kinds of great music tugged at him, he could easily have gone in a different direction than jazz. Motown influences abounded: Marvin Gaye lived in his neighborhood, his father was boyhood friends with two of the Temptations, and the music …