To this day, I still attest that the jam sessions The Roots held for 32 weeks at Highline Ballroom in NYC were the best string of concerts the band has done in their entire career.  For further proof, here’s our exclusive audio recording of The Roots jammin and tearing through incredible renditions of Table of Contents and 75 Bars, with some help from Vernon Reid (from Living Colour), Truck North and Yoshi Takemasa (from Antibalas).  We’ve also embedded some great footage below of the performance courtest of Okayplayer and Noisemaker Media.

Read the rest of this entry »

Marc Cary, an emerging jazz pianist out of NYC, launched his vision of hip-hop at Harlem Stage’s Gatehouse as he directed a dedicated core of musicians joined by some talented emcees.  The highlight of the night hands down went to Phonte, who handled the mic with ease doing a rendition of If You Dont Love Me with the band, with some sick freestyles and solos added in.  Check out the band lineup and exclusive recording below.

Read the rest of this entry »

K-Murdock of Panacea let loose an amazing gift for the holidays this week, a recording of a live performance Panacea did after the release The Scenic Route.  The 90 minute performance was recorded in front of small, intimate audience in XM Satellite Radio’s Live performance studio for K-Murdock’s show, Subsoniq.  The incredible set features songs from both Panacea as well as R.P.M. (the larger group that Panacea is a part of for those who dont know).  This set has Patrick Fritz on guitar, Adam Hopkins on bass, Jon Laine on drums, Aaron Gause on keys/trumpet, K-Murdock on the MPC and Raw Poetic handling the mic.  Trust me, you don’t want to miss this one, and also check out some more live Panacea we previously posted here.
Read the rest of this entry »

As we head into the final days of 2011, its time to reflect back on the musical releases this year and examine the best music from the past 12 months.  Compiling this list was no easy task as it was a year stacked with quality releases.  As with last year, since the focus of this site is always live music and we’re discussing studio albums, we’re providing a new live song from each artist who made the list.

Read the rest of this entry »

To commemorate the launch of Quest Loves Eats (yes, Questlove has a catering company), the mighty afro took over both the Blue Note stage and kitchen for a night of good eats and good music.  The set featured collabs with Black Thought, Brass Heaven among others, but the highlight of the night was Bobby McFerrin and Rahzel sharing the stage together, with Questo backing on drums.  The jam was pretty insane, and you can witness for yourself after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »

To celebrate the release of his highly anticipated new album, The Dreamer / The Believer, Common took the stage to a sold out crowd at Highline Ballroom in NYC.  Backed by a live band, Com performed many new cuts as well as some of his classics.  One of the shows highlights was a surprise appearance by Nas to perform NY State of Mind and Ghetto Dreams.  For fans who could not attend in person, Spotify and Livestream webcasted the concert, and we have the mastered soundboard audio rip below.

Read the rest of this entry »