Yu Tsai/Courtesy of the artist

Listen:

http://pd.npr.org/anon.npr-mp3/npr/pj/2014/08/20140801_pj_01.mp3

A New York native, brings the influence of jazz greats like to her piano playing, while her songwriting is inspired by , and .

On this episode of Piano Jazz, Alicia Keys performs a set of classic soul, a Fats Waller tune and couple of her original compositions with host . They round out the hour with a co-composition of “Marian and Alicia Blues.”

Set List

Originally recorded Sept. 11, 2003. Originally broadcast April 13, 2004.

At the Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival in February, one couldn’t help but notice the striking new grand piano on the main stage, emblazoned with the name SHADD. When the many accomplished pianists that wee­­kend sat down to strike those keys, it was equally easy to spot their delight in the instrument.

That piano was the product of a trailblazer in his field. The Shadd in question is jazz drummer Warren Shadd, the first African-American piano manufacturer. That makes him the first large-scale commercial African-American instrument manufacturer, period.

For Shadd, piano making is part of his birthright. His grandparents were musicians: His grandmother was a ragtime pianist in the South in the ’30s, and his grandfather invented (and performed on) a collapsible drum set. (He never patented it, a lesson his grandson learned.) Shadd’s father was himself a piano technician, restorer, builder and performer — as well as a trombonist. And Shadd’s aunt was the NEA Jazz Master pianist and vocalist Shirley Horn. A child prodigy, young Warren made his own concert debut at age 4. Continue reading →

From the outside looking in, it may seem as if jazz recordings have slowed to a flurry. But it’s really more like a blizzard, with dozens already coming down in the new year — including new efforts from big names like Pat Metheny, Danilo Pérez and Brad Mehldau. Before we’re snowed under, here are a few others worth hearing. Continue reading →

Records show that 100 years ago today, a boy named Herman Poole Blount was born in Birmingham, Ala. Between that moment and his passing in 1993, the man nicknamed “Sonny” developed huge musical talent, synthesized an all-encompassing Afro-futurist worldview and grew into the name Le Sony’r Ra — Sun Ra for short. And he lives on as a cultural hero at the intersection of flamboyant outsider and self-made genius. Continue reading →

Whenever photographer Chuck Stewart was hired by a record company to document a recording session, he would shoot during the rehearsal takes, playback and downtime. The company would take what it needed, the remainder likely never to be developed, much less published. After decades in the photography business, and thousands of album covers to his name, he’s amassed a lot of negatives. Continue reading →

Jazz composer and trumpeter Theo Croker opens his new album, AfroPhysicist, with an ode to his grandfather: New Orleans jazz great Doc Cheatham. The thing is, Croker didn’t grow up in New Orleans or any other jazz hub. He’s from Jacksonville, Fla., and he was just a child when his grandfather died in 1997. It wasn’t until his grandfather’s memorial services — attended by jazz legends — that he decided to join the legacy.

Continue reading →