In this excerpt from the latest episode of The Tonearm Podcast, Tomeka Reid reflects on the photographs brought into 'dance! skip! hop!' as documents of unencumbered Black life—people walking dogs, girls posing for fun—and describes it as a kind of social injustice that images of Black people simply existing are as scarce as they are.
Don't miss the full conversation: https://podcast.thetonearm.com/tomeka-reid-the-low-seat-the-long-haul-and-dance-skip-hop-cellist/
In this excerpt from the new episode of The Tonearm Podcast, cellist and composer Tomeka Reid describes deliberately setting out to write music with dance energy—a push against the cello's reputation for long, sustained lines—and realizing she'd pulled it off only once the compositions actually took shape.
Listen in to the full conversation: https://podcast.thetonearm.com/tomeka-reid-the-low-seat-the-long-haul-and-dance-skip-hop-cellist/
On today's new episode of The Tonearm Podcast, Tomeka Reid joins us to talk about 'dance! skip! hop!', the fourth album from her quartet—and one of the more irresistible things to come out of avant-garde jazz this year. Reid discusses writing music she could bounce around to, the very physical demands of the cello, and what twelve years with the same four musicians does to a band sound.
She also talks about her grandmother's photographs from Green River, Wyoming, and how those images keep finding their way onto her album covers, what the cello can do that other jazz instruments can't, and the philosophy behind the Chicago Jazz String Summit.
Don't miss this special episode: https://podcast.thetonearm.com/tomeka-reid-the-low-seat-the-long-haul-and-dance-skip-hop-cellist/
Two great listens today, to new albums for 2026:
1) Tomeka Reid - dance! skip! hop! w/Mary Halvorson, Tomas Fujiwara, and Jason Roebke (same group as on the Tomeka Reid Quartet album, but they're using that name here). This was a more accessible outing than we sometimes get from Reid but still very rich and unpredictable. The closing track, "Silver Spring Fig Tree," was esp. gorgeous.
2) Aaron Shaw - And So It Is. Bits of soul jazz/spiritual jazz, post-bop, along with brief nods to hip hop, but all of it vibes really well together. Very warm album, enveloping even at its most sparse spots.
Can't wait to listen to both again.
jaimie branch // #JaimieBranch //
album Fly or Die
[2017]
//via // #InternationalAnthem //
#buzzingroom #music #bandcamp #JaimieBranch #FlyOrDie #JumpOff #Theme001 #Meanwhile #Theme002 #LeavesOfGlass #TheStorm #Waltzer #FlyOrDie #ThemeNothing #BackAtTheRanch #TomekaReid #JasonAjemian #ChadTaylor #MattSchneider #BenLamarGay #JoshBerman
link bandcamp: https://intlanthem.bandcamp.com/album/fly-or-die
10 track album
Jaimie Branch // #JaimieBranch //
Fly or Die
(full album, 2018)
//via // #InternationalAnthem //
#buzzingroom #music #youtube #bandcamp #music #JaimieBranch #FlyOrDie #TomekaReid #JasonAjemian #ChadTaylor #MattSchneider #BenLamarGay #JoshBerman
link bandcamp: https://intlanthem.bandcamp.com/album/fly-or-die
10 track album