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A collection of newsworthy jazz-related headlines.

“This Week in Jazz” brings you a collection of jazz-related headlines, focusing on news, video, and articles in the new generation of jazz / hip-hop / soul. See below for the headlines you don’t want to miss this week.

FIRST LISTEN: THEON CROSS, ‘FYAH’

(NPR Music)

Leading jazz critic Nate Chinen introduces Theon Cross’ newest release with a First Listen of Fyah. The album is the latest from this London-based tuba player and composer who is helping not only put London’s jazz scene on the map, but make it the scene for the freshest sounds and players.

“If you’ve been paying close attention to progressive jazz in recent seasons, you probably don’t need to be reminded: London’s burning. And you may already be familiar with Theon Cross, the rambunctious, indefatigable tuba player and composer who makes a lot of joyful noise on that scene — part heavy anchor, part combustion engine, with a will to set any groove aflame.

Fyah is the first full-length album by Cross, featuring the same core trio that appeared on his 2015 EP, Aspirations. The other players are saxophonist Nubya Garcia and drummer Moses Boyd, who each have heralded projects of their own. What they all achieve together here feels like another planted flag: an exuberant convergence of groove-forward improv, U.K. grime, Jamaican dub, Afrobeat and electronic music, with the low end exerting a lot of pull.”

Read more and hear the full album here.

THE PLAYLIST: ARIANA GRANDE’S NEXT STEP, AND 12 MORE NEW SONGS

(New York Times)

Every Friday, pop critics for The New York Times weigh in on the week’s most notable new songs and videos — and anything else that strikes them as intriguing. This week, they feature three new tracks from jazz-related artists, including Christian Scott, Mark de Clive-Lowe, and Miho Hazama. Take a listen below.

Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah featuring Saul Williams, ‘Ancestral Recall’

“The trumpeter Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah’s pieces often feel like something more than songs, or at least outside of them. They’re like a film composed only of long and powerful shots: The music starts intense and grows more so — comfortable at a steadfast medium tempo, not needing a lot of harmonic movement to swell and push onward. On ‘Ancestral Recall,’ the title track from Scott’s forthcoming album, the focus is squarely on the drums and percussion, which maintain a rabbling, six-beat groove adorned by little more than a ghostly synthesizer and Scott’s scorching trumpet. Then there’s the poet Saul Williams, uttering lines that unpack the tune’s title: ‘Earth as my hard drive, sky as my witness/There’s no such thing as small spirits, ancestral minorities/Take breath through nature’s hidden forces.’”

Mark de Clive-Lowe, ‘Memories of Nanzenji’

“With the slow, misty grace of a requiem, ‘Memories of Nanzenji’ finds the keyboardist and crossover-jazz guru Mark de Clive-Lowe reflecting on a visit to the historic temple and gardens in Kyoto, Japan. Featuring a quintet that includes the whirling alto saxophone of Josh Johnson, this tune appears on ‘Heritage,’ a new album out on Friday. It was largely recorded during a run of shows at the Blue Whale in Los Angeles, then de Clive-Lowe augmented the recordings in the studio, adding layers of synthesizer and more.”

Miho Hazama, ‘Dancer in Nowhere’

“Miho Hazama, a Japanese-born, classically trained composer, is starting to make waves in New York. On Friday she released “Dancer in Nowhere,” her latest album with m_unit, an ensemble combining typical elements of a jazz big band with strings, vibraphone and French horn. The title track starts with the violins in a tentative, prickly dance, before the tenor saxophonist Jason Rigby alights, playing a repetitive melody — unresolved but deeply satisfying — over a bed of strings and horns. A heavier, more percussive section barrels in, with a melody derived from the original line. The song ends back on that soaring first passage, the band playing faster now and Rigby improvising into the beyond.”

Hear the rest of the playlist over at NY Times.

REVIEW: EMILY KING, SCENERY

(Pitchfork)

“The New York singer-songwriter’s third album maps life’s changes to sleek, vibrant R&B that’s packed with 1980s soundtrack flourishes and big moments; it’s the perfect frame for her extraordinary voice.

A decade into her career and now on her third album, King’s distinctive, breathy staccato seems to have found a suitable ecosystem. Since 2007’s sincere East Side Story and 2015’s flirtatious The Switch, King has stretched a bit. Having found a frothy groove in her intricate blend of R&B and soul, she sounds like she has room to breathe. The unassuming, seductive “Caliche” could be a study in vocalizing a soft touch. There’s a cotton-candy composition to King’s voice: It’s full and crystalline and sweet and floating. In Scenery, she skips around closely held R&B harmonies, navigating vintage synths in “Remind Me” and sparkling guitars “2nd Guess.” If King’s voice seems to flit on gentle tiptoe, it’s with balletic athleticism. She’s trained enough to make it look like she’s floating.

For all the softness of her tone, King has a taste for the declarative. In keeping with its ’80s-soundtrack DNA, Scenery has many big moments.”

INTERVIEW: ‘WE NEED TO EXIST IN MULTITUDES’ NONAME TALKS ARTISTIC INDEPENDENCE, WOMEN IN RAP

(NPR Music)

“Despite what her social media handle suggests, Noname isn’t hiding anymore. The soft-spoken but quick-witted rapper has spent years bubbling in Chicago’s hip-hop scene and sparring on tracks with friends like Saba and Chance The Rapper while still maintaining a low profile.

‘It kind of became this very corny way for me to view my identity as this nomadic, weird, avant-garde person who is off the grid, who can be anything and nothing all at once,’ she says when describing the origin of her stage name.

Born Fatimah Warner in Chicago, Ill., Noname first gained attention when she appeared on Chance The Rapper’s 2013 mixtape, Acid Rap. Following that success, she released the 2016 mixtape, Telefone, and used the proceeds from that record to fund her debut studio album, 2018’s Room 25. Noted for its sharp commentary on race, identity, sex and politics, Room 25 was one of the most critically-acclaimed records of last year.

Thanks in large part to Room 25, Noname’s sense of aloof anonymity has slowly melted away to reveal conscious rap star power. But she’ll be the first to tell you that doesn’t mean she’s got it all figured out.”

Listen to the full interview here.

INTERVIEW: MARK DE CLIVE-LOWE EXPLORES HIS JAPANESE HERITAGE ON THE CHECKOUT LIVE AT BERKLEE

(The Checkout)

Mark de Clive-Lowe, a keyboardist and composer known for his wildly popular CHURCH sessions, has a new album in the works that refocuses his techno and hiphop/jazz-tinged sound as an exploration of his Japanese ancestry. De Clive-Lowe sits down with the Checkout live at Berklee College of Music (Mark’s alma mater) to discuss the new album, his influences, and the journey that led him to Heritage.

2019 GRAMMYS: BREAKING DOWN THE JAZZ CATEGORY NOMINEES (A LOOK BACK)

(Billboard)

With the 61st Annual Grammy-Awards now behind us, we take a look back at the jazz categories with Billboard. Released prior to the award show, Billboard walk through each jazz categories’ nominees speculating the toughest competition and seemingly surest wins. Now the awards are out, we take a look back at how the predictions lined up with the results.