Herbie Hancock walks through a West Los Angeles recording studio at a gala for the club Sam First and hears about twenty musicians playing his own tunes back at him. Meshell Ndegeocello's "Synonym" lands today on Blue Note, fifteen covers built on one rule, and Stanley Jordan's trio takes Baltimore. | The Lead: DownBeat reports that a September gala for the Los Angeles club Sam First, held at The Villages Recording Studios in West Los Angeles, honored Herbie Hancock and the producer Darlene Chan in a building Geordie Hormel bought as a 22,000 square foot former Masonic Temple for $125,000 in 1968, and Hancock, hearing about twenty musicians play his own tunes across several studios at once, said he is going on 86 and this is the first time it has happened. Listen to This: Meshell Ndegeocello's "Synonym" is out today on Blue Note, her third for the label, fifteen covers built on one rule, that every duet pairs two people of the same gender, with Cynthia Erivo, Chaka Khan and WILLOW among the guests. The Bridge: A supper club, late 1962, with an empty dance floor, and Donald Byrd telling his roommate Herbie Hancock to play "Watermelon Man" for Mongo Santamaria. On the Road: Keystone Korner Baltimore has the Stanley Jordan Trio with Kenwood Dennard and Wes Wirth at 6 and 8:30 for $45 to $55 a set, with the Hinda Hoffman Quintet playing eight to midnight at the Green Mill in Chicago, the trio Spare Parts at Cliff Bell's in Detroit, Ephraim Owens and Dr. James Polk's CenterPeace at the Elephant Room in Austin, and Robert Glasper at the Blue Note in New York. One More Note: October 2, 1930: Duke Ellington's band cut four Victor sides in New York billed as the Cotton Club Orchestra with Ellington listed only as director, two of them Eubie Blake and Andy Razaf songs issued together on one disc, Victor 23017. | The Daily Quintet is an AI-crafted production, researched and checked by humans. Every listing you hear came from the venue or the festival's own organizer.
