Chording To Meg

Being the second day of spring, the Passover just around the corner, all I see is white in my window. Mind you; I live in Harlem. Whether you are Jewish but not feeling it, or you aren't Jewish at all but want to feel Jew-ish, there are ways you can feel more Jewish without guilt or doing anything involving clearing out bread from your kitchen cabinets. Here is my personal "FOUR ANSWERS" (playlist) for the week anticipating Passover! No. 1 Alberto Mizrahi Trio Globo "Dayenu" featuring Howard Levy, Eugene Friesen, and Glen Velez (YouTube) No. 2 Pharaoh's Daughter  "Taitsch" (Exodus)  (YouTube) No. 3 NPO Trio "Exodus and Emancipation" from NPO Trio Live at The Stone  (Bandcamp)  No. 4 Louis Armstrong "Go Down Moses"  (YouTube)

Okay. You say you like jazz. But not avant-garde jazz. What the heck is "chamber jazz" anyway? Here are three reasons why you should check out NPO TRIO LIVE AT THE STONE today! Reason #1 Because you HATE avant-garde jazz. You will like this album.- New music that sounds familiar and foreign, improvised but sounds composed, and Yiddish melodies made fresh! You will feel invigorated. Reason #2 So you have a go-to "small talk" at your next function and be the most cosmopolitan and sophisticated person in the room. "Have you heard the new 'NPO Trio Live At The Stone' album yet?" Reason #3 Because you are our friend after all. Check it out today! iTune, Apple Music, Bandcamp, etc. NPO Trio Live At The Stone by Meg Okura, Sam Newsome, Jean-Michel Pilc

Our guests don’t ask four questions, but one. "When do we get to eat?” We tell them to eat something before if they don't want to be hungry staring at a shank bone and parsley while we read for two hours. To make the matters worse, every year at our Passover seder, our Afro-Asian Jewish American daughter passionately sings “Go Down Moses” crescendoing into the part “Let my people go!” The song exemplifies the parallel between the Jewish people's enslavement and departure from Egypt and the African-American slave experience in the United States. The parallel that I only draw once a year on Passover. “ Exodus and Emancipation ” is one of the tracks from one of my new albums, a debut album by the NPO Trio ( Sam Newsome on sopranos saxophone, Jean-Michel Pilc on piano, and Meg Okura on the violin) to be released on March 15 from Chant Records, a newly established avant-garde, and world music label. I first met Jean-Michel Pilc almost 18 years ago when I used to play ...