Hear and Now: The Best of John Beasley on Resonance

This is a wonderful overview of pianist composer arranger John Beasley's work on the Resonance label drawn from the albums Letter to Herbie and Positootly! Beasley is joined by among others Christian McBride, the late Roy Hargrove, Bennie Maupin, Jeff ''Tain'' Watts and Brian Lynch. There's a great imagination at work here and Beasley manages to capture a sense of the jazz past while maintaining a steady gaze on producing a sound that relates to the jazz of today. The arranging is beautifully executed and familiar favourites such as 'Dindi' sound new. If you are unfamiliar with Beasley this is the perfect compilation to jump up to speed. Photo: Via Bandcamp

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The latest big name to sign to UK jazz indie label Edition is the great Beninese guitarist Lionel Loueke. The label has announced that HH from Loueke performing the music of Herbie Hancock, will be released in the autumn. Loueke says; ''I have been playing with the master Herbie Hancock for more than 15 years, and still it wasn’t easy to work on his music because the originals are already so beautiful and he keeps developing them every time we play on stage. The challenge was to put my own imprints on these masterpieces. To rethink them with my touch on it.''

Hear and Now: The Best of John Beasley on Resonance

Lionel Loueke to release new Herbie Hancock-themed album on Edition