Soundcheck

José James has often been called a “jazz singer for the hip hop generation,” having come to jazz through tracing hip hop samples and over the course of twelve records, he’s also incorporated R&B, soul, rock, funk, and Latin music into his songs. While he’s mostly sung his own music over the years,he has occasionally covered songs by some of his favoriteartists: Bill Withers,Gil Scott-Heron, Erykah Badu andBillie Holiday.

James has just released a new album called 1978, which sees him looking back, past hip hop, to the soul music of the 70s. But this is soul music with a message; songs like “For Trayvon” make that clear. But it’s also message-music with soul:José Jamescloses the album with “38th & Chicago,” which has a jazzy bassline, an almost bossa nova guitar sound, and a Caribbean lilt in the percusson. José James and his band play some of these hot grooves in-studio. -John Schaefer

Set list:1. Let's Get It 2. Planet Nine 3. Saturday Night (Need You Now)

American indie rock-chamber collective, San Fermin, has been making lush, wide-angled Baroque-pop songs for more than a decade. The band was founded by keyboardist Brooklyn-based Ellis Ludwig Leone, who has multiple creative outlets as a songwriter, classical composer, and founding partner (with bandmate Allen Tate) of a record label focused on collaborations. The latest batch of 'immediate pop' songs on the 2024 album, Arms, is about things falling apart, but the process of making it brought people together, (Brooklyn Magazine).The band San Fermin plays some of these new songs, in-studio.

Set list: 1. Weird Environment 2. Didn't Want You To 3. Arms

France-based Cameroonian musician and composerBlick Bassy’s quiet and beautiful songs fall somewhere on the spectrum of R & B, pop, and folk, while the sounds of West and Central Africa have continued to resonate.His Bandcamp calls it "Africanity at the crossroads of soul, folk, and electro".Past albums by Bassy have also referenced Delta blues, and his latest effort, Mádibá,dedicated to the theme of water,is full of modern electronic beats, delicate guitars, brass arrangements, and rich Bassa vocals. Blick Bassy is about to release an extended version of that 2023 LP; it’s called M​á​dibá Ni Mbondiand is due out on May 17. Catch him on tour in the U.S.A. this May. -Caryn Havlik

Set List:1."Loba" 2."Hola Me" 3."Li Yanga"

Mádibá Ni Mbondi by Blick Bassy

Vocalist and songwriterLizz Wright is usually referred to as a jazz or gospel singer, and she certainly does sing both of those styles. But she’s also comfortable with blues and R&B and the Great American Songbook. Her latest album is called Shadow, and it features striking versions of songs by Cole Porter, Sandy Denny, and others.The record also includes a number of Lizz Wright’s own songs, which draw inspiration from her Southern upbringing in Georgia, and wander freely among the many styles of American music.“Shadow” happens to be Wright'sstudio debut under her label, Blues & Greens Records, a new step in her artistic freedom, and without thegenre constraints imposed by record labels.Lizz Wright and her band perform some of these acoustic songs, in-studio.

Set list:1. Sparrow 2. Circling 3. Your Love

Reyna Tropical is led by guitarist, singer, songwriter and co-producer Fabi Reyna, who is the founder of She Shreds Media, dedicated to women and non-binary guitarists. Investigating landscapes of the tropical diaspora - from Cartagena, Colombia to Fajardo, Puerto Rico and Cuaji (la costa chica de Guerrero), the latest release, Malegr​í​a, is a collection of 20 tracks infused with the beat of all things tropical. The music is a blend of Latin rhythms with rock, dance music, and psychedelia and offers connection to the land and the ancestors as well as resilience, and a continuation—a celebration of spiritual survival pulsing with sunny dance beats. Reyna Tropical plays in-studio. - Caryn Havlik

Set list:1. Suavecito 2. Catagena 3. Conexion Ancestral

Malegría by Reyna Tropical

Brooklyn-born rapper, producer & founding member of Flatbush Zombies, Erick the Architect released his debut solo LP,I’ve Never Been Here Before, in February. While it’s full of trenchant social commentary, it’s also focused on dealing with loss and finding freedom in vulnerability. The tracks draw from funk, gospel, soul, reggae and jazz, with throughlines to musical greats like John Coltrane and George Clinton (who contributed to the album). Erick the Architect and his touring trio bring their elastic funk basslines, character studies, killer beats, and spacey sound effects to perform in-studio.

Set list:1. Ezekiel's Wheel 2. Beef Patty 3. Liberate

I've Never Been Here Before by Erick the Architect

Deerlady is the name of the band led by singer and bassist Mali Obomsawin and guitarist and singer Magdalena Abrego. Mali was part of the folk rock trio called Lula Wiles; then she released her album of Indigenous jazz called Sweet Tooth in 2022, drawing heavily on her Abenaki heritage. Magdalena,a Chicago-born guitarist whose parents migrated from Mexico and Puerto Rico, has played with the minimalism-meets-jazz collective known as Numinous, as well as the improvising sax player Allison Burik. In January, the two of them released their first album together, with the cheeky title Greatest Hits, “a collection of songs about intimacy under colonialism by Mali Obomsawin" (Bandcamp), and it sees the two of them turning the amps to 11 and pairing softly sung vocals with roaring guitars.Deerlady plays their shoegazey headbangers,in stripped-down arrangements, in-studio. - Caryn Havlik

1. Masterpieces 2. Believer 3. There There

Greatest Hits by Deerlady, Mali Obomsawin, Magdalena Abrego,

London vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and producer Cosmo Sheldrake creates songs and sound worlds out of people, places, creatures, plants, fungi, and collected sounds. With his combination of traditional instrumentation and electronic production, field recordings, and both human and more-than-human voices (birdsong and insect choruses), Sheldrake pursues adventures in song, capturing the childlike wonder of a curious tea party, and staying connected to the natural world throughout. Cosmo Sheldrake juxtaposes these orchestrated natural sounds with his racks of gear to share his marvelous sound world in some songs from his latest, Eye to the Ear, in-studio.

Set list:1. Stop the Music 2. I Did and I Don't and I Do 3. Does the Swallow Dream of Flying?

Eye To The Ear by Cosmo Sheldrake

Honduran-American artistLorely Rodriguez, known professionally as Empress Of, is a singer, songwriter, musician and record producer based in Los Angeles, California. Her albums are full of bright, indie pop that mixes dance music, electronica, trap, and on her most recent album, Latin music. Empress Of’s new album, her fourth, is called For Your Consideration, and it’s a mischievous exploration of heartbreak, affairs, regaining your sexiness, and pursuing lust and control. Empress Of plays some stripped down versions of some of the new songs, in-studio. - Caryn Havlik

Set list: 1.Lorelei 2. Kiss Me 3. What's Love

Welsh musician and songwriter Gruff Rhys(ofSuper Furry Animals, the pop outfit known for their catchy songs and weird videos) poetically harnesses both the gritty and the trippy in his own music.But he’s also a composer, producer, filmmaker and author.His latest release, the 25th album of his career (individually, collaboratively and as a member of various bands), is a solo album called Sadness Sets Me Free, sung in English, and left open to chance. Rhys and his bandmates play some of these new songs, in-studio.

Set list:1. Bad Friend 2. Sadness Sets Me Free 3. Celestial Candyfloss

Sadness Sets Me Free by Gruff Rhys