☛ NEXT Collective's "Cover Art" Delivers the Next Generation of Modern Musicians!
February 6, 2013 at 2:00 PM CONCORD JAZZ PRESS RELEASE
Not often—maybe every quarter century—a new generation of musicians gets to the scene and rapidly develops a collective musical identity of its own. So it was in the jazz of the late '60s and into the '70s when a group of newcomers helped bring the funk and R&B grooves. We saw it again in the early '90s, when a loose-limbed hybrid of jazz and hip-hop became the hippest flavor of the day, a crew of jazzmen working closely with deejays and rappers. As one looks further back in the tradition, other generational examples pop up, almost like clockwork.
Yet, it's never some carefully worked-out plan that ushers in the new breed. It simply happens—and it's happening again now. The right people together at the right time, with a marked sound of their own: a sound best described as flowing with the improvisatory rush of modern jazz, all the while reflecting many of today's most expressive popular styles— electronica and hip-hop; ambient and alternative rock as well as embracing uptempo or slow and moody, there's a distinct undercurrent of funk.
A Dutch music festival coined the term "New Urban Jazz" just this past summer. The leading lights making up this new wave include saxophonists Logan Richardson and Walter Smith III, guitarist Matthew Stevens, keyboardists Gerald Clayton and Kris Bowers, bassist Ben Williams, drummer Jamire Williams and special guest trumpeter Christian Scott (aka Christian aTunde Adjuah).
