Jazz News: New Kamasi music! CU-Boulder updates “Pomp and Circumstance;” Buena Vista Social tour comes to Denver

Kamasi Washington’s latest release came out last Friday. The project “Fearless Movement” is on UK-based Young Records. KUVO Program Director Shane German connected via Zoom with Kamasi, who collaborated with Thundercat, Terrace Martin, Andre 3000, and George Clinton to finish his songs.

Hear the full interview HERE. (SOURCE: KUVO/Kamasi Washington Interview)

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Graduation at the CU-Boulder campus coming up on May 9 will have a new sound, JAZZ, as arranged and performed by the Thompson Jazz Studies Program.

The Chancellor’s Office called the Music Dean John Davis for an updated, culturally relevant music program. Thompson Jazz Studies Director John Gunther says they’ve reimagined Elgar’s staid and stately “Pomp & Circumstance” from 1901 into Latin jazz, New Orleans funk, and big band swing.

Associate Professor of Jazz Studies Paul McKee put pen to paper and came up with the three new arrangements in just three weeks. “It was a lot of fun trying to figure out how to take this fairly conservative piece, ‘hip it up’ a little, and turn it into something that students and families might better connect with,” said McKee.

The CU-Boulder College of Music says the project furthers its mission to develop universal musicians who can engage with “today’s ever-evolving music industry.”

The new arrangements debuting at Thursday’s commencement were recorded at Mighty Fine Productions in Denver.

(SOURCES: YouTube/New take on the traditional tune: Jazz program arranges, records 3 new styles of ‘Pomp and Circumstance’)

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The famed Buena Vista Social Club has a new iteration, called the Buena Vista Social Orchestra, and Denver is on the list of cities on the 2024 world tour, at the Paramount Theater on September 10. A new stage production includes repertoire pulled from their greatest hits and some deep cuts.

On tour with The Buena Vista Social Orchestra are original members from the 1990s music director Jesus “Aguaje” Ramos, pianist Emilio Senon Morales Ruiz, bassist Fabian Garcia, and percussionist Luis “Betun” Mariano Valiente Marin, as well as some younger players from Cuba.

The Buena Vista brand counts global sales at over fifty million units, making it the biggest-selling Cuban music project in history, and as one critic put it, “world music’s equivalent of The Dark Side of the Moon.” (SOURCE: The Buena Vista Social Orchestra)

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