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June 2017

Stokley Talks Departure From Mint Condition, Prince and Philando Castile

Introducing Stokley The Man…30 Years After The Band
 
Interview by A. Scott Galloway
 
June 25, 2017
 
In an industry overrun by egos and self-service, Stokley Williams stood as a stellar team player fronting the Minneapolis-based band Mint Condition for three tumultuous decades that swung from most successful signing of Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis’ short-lived Perspective Records company to grassroots independent artists – staunchly representing as one of the few (near only) Black bands on the mainstream playing field. On Friday, June 23, Stokley (first name only) – following his single “Level” – released his long awaited first solo project with the title Introducing Stokley (BluRaffe Entertainment Group/Concord Music Group) – for though we know a lot about him from his band works and collaborations to date, he peels away several revealing layers in the new music at hand.
 

Stokley

Lalah Hathaway Talks Playboy Jazz Festival Debut, New Album, 5 Grammys and Tour with Mary J Blige

Lalah Hathaway Makes Playboy Jazz Festival Debut This Sunday June 11
 
by A. Scott Galloway
 
Many fans might be surprised to learn that Lalah Hathaway – who has collaborated with numerous jazz artists from Marcus Miller to Joe Sample – has played most of the grandest jazz festivals around the world but never performed at the Playboy Jazz Festival. She’s never even been to one as a spectator! That’s all about to change when she takes the stage at Playboy Jazz Festival 2017 – Sunday, June 11 – with some nice surprises in store. She talks about a new album dropping this summer, how she is so NOT an overnight sensation, what her 5 Grammy wins mean to her, her upcoming tour with Mary J. Blige and more in the memory lane conversation below with A. Scott Galloway, a music journalist who has been writing about the lady and her music since her very first album in 1990.
 

Prepare to Dance to Kenny Garrett Sunday at Playboy Jazz Festival 2017

Sax Man Kenny Garrett Aims To Make The Crowd Move In “Do Your Dance” Collaboration with Dance Ensemble Jazz Antigua at Playboy Jazz Festival 2017
 
by A. Scott Galloway
 
Saxophonist/Composer Kenny Garrett is no stranger to the Playboy Jazz Festival both as a leader and featured sideman. This year on Sunday June 11, he is animating a special presentation of his most recent CD, Do Your Dance (Mack Avenue – 2016), by joining forces with the Jazz Antigua dance ensemble for a set that promises to be soulful, multi-cultural, highly contagious and irresistibly interactive! His band will include pianist Vernell Brown Jr. (an L.A. native whose family will be in the house), drummer Marcus Baylor, bassist Corcoran Holt and percussionist Rudy Bird. Garrett breaks down what we can expect in the quick chat that follows.
 

The Drums Will Speak of Legacy at Playboy Jazz Festival 2017

Drummer Carl Allen To Salute Elvin Jones and Art Blakey at Playboy Jazz Festival 2017
 
One of the true jazz highlights of this year’s Playboy jazz Festival will be drummer Carl Allen wearing his bandleader hat fronting a band that will pay tribute to jazz drumming immortals Art Blakey (leader of the legendary Jazz Messengers band- a school through which scores of then-young lions such as Horace Silver, Donald Byrd, Wayne Shorter and Lee Morgan graduated with flying colors) and Elvin Jones (the mercurial titan most famous for being a member of John Coltrane’s classic quartet – including A Love Supreme – and as a leader in his own right).