Each month here we visit with a member of the community to find out what music they’ve been digging.
I get a lot of my best new (to me) music from my stepdaughter. She just turned me onto Music from Saharan Cellphones volumes 1 and 2. A blast from the past is Kollage by Bahamadia. Pianist Marc Ponthius’s solo Boulez Sans Boulez is awesome. On heavy rotation is MC Yallah X Debmaster’s Kububali (a Uganda-based rapper, one of the most creative hip hop/electronic artists). Solo in Mondsee by one of my favorite piano players of all time, Paul Bley. When I want to just lie back and chill: Amadou Diallo’s Donsoya. Absolute mastery. “Our Love Is Here to Stay” from Chris Connor Sings the George Gershwin Almanac of Song. She’s one of the greatest.
John Medeski is the keyboardist of Medeski, Martin & Wood. His newest solo album, Crawlspace, is out now on Tzadik Records.Johnmedeski.com.
This article appears in September 2021.
