“IT'S REFRESHING TO HEAR AN ARTIST MAKING A NAME FOR HIMSELF BY TRYING TO NOT SOUND LIKE EVERYONE ELSE. - Tim Warfield, Criss Cross Jazz Recording Artist”
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RECENT PRESS ARTICLES
- Pictures at an African Exhibition makes top 10 Jazz albums on 2018 on Jazz2K
#4 Pictures at an African Exhibition (TruthRevolution Records)
Evans isn’t the only one proving “progressive big band” is not an oxymoron. Instead of a straight jazz reading of the classical suite known by Emerson, Lake & Palmer fans everywhere, reedman Darryl Yokley applies Mussorgsky’s concept to expansive original compositions that examine the horrific struggles of the African people through slavery, hunting, mining and other changes that can take everyday life and send it screaming down the rabbit hole into someplace entirely unexpected. To read the full article click here.
*The album also made the top 20 Jazz Albums of 2018 in the U.K. based magazine, U.K. VIBE.
- Pictures at an African Exhibition featured in Belgium magazine, ROOTSTIME!
Seven months after the release of Pictures at an African Exhibition and the album is still making the news. This time a wonderful review comes from Dani Heyvaert at Rootstime in Belgium!! To read this wonderful interview please click here
- Darryl recognized by his alma mater, Duquesne University
Darryl Yokley attended Duquesne University from 2000-2003 (technically the class of 2004, but Darryl graduated a semester early). Since then he completed a masters at Michigan State university and has had a successful career as a performer and educator. No matter how far success might take him he has never forgotten where he comes from, and a large part of his development is credited to his time at Duquesne University. So to be featured in the alumni highlights for the Mary Pappert School of music is something he considers an honor, and he hopes to visit Duquesne University and the city of Pittsburgh to give back to this rich community in the near future. To read the article featured in the alumni highlights click here.
- Pictures at an African Exhibition featured in Black Grooves June 2018 African-American Music Appreciation Month
More than a month after it's official release Pictures at an African Exhibition is still garnering quite a bit of attention. The album was featured last month in Black Grooves where it was listed as a Notable Release for the month of April. This month the album was reviewed by Black Grooves in a wonderful article written by Brenda Nelson Strauss. Please visit here to read the full interview at Blackgrooves.org!! Black Grooves is a music review site hosted by the Archives of African American Music & Culture (AAAMC) at Indiana University. Their goal is to promote black music by providing our readers with monthly updates on interesting new releases and quality reissues in all genres─including gospel, blues, jazz, funk, soul, R&B, world music, and hip-hop—as well as classical music composed or performed by black artists.
- Pictures at an African Exhibition named as one of Best Jazz Albums on Band Camp April 2018
In the same day that Pictures at an African Exhibition was named album of the week by Jazz Quarterly Magazine another accolade was bestowed upon it, being one of a select few albums to be named The Best Jazz on Bandcamp. Yokley was mentioned alongside artist such as Henry Threadgill, Joe Lovano, Dave Douglass, and Todd Marcus. Here is a little bit of what was said of the album in the article. To read the full article click here.
"The combination of joyful tones, heartfelt blues, and deep spirituality is transfixing, and it’s easy to see how this album and some of South African musician Abdullah Ibrahim’s more exuberant recordings might walk off together arm in arm. Yokley brings together his Sound Reformation quartet of pianist Zaccai Curtis, bassist Luques Curtis, and drummer Wayne Smith Jr. with guest drummer Nasheet Waits and a 12-piece wind ensemble. This is the kind of uplifting music the world needs in order to get through these times."
- Pictures at an African Exhibition Makes the New York Times
Mr. Yokley, an enterprising young tenor saxophonist, composed each of the 13 tunes for his new album, “Pictures at an African Exhibition,” in collaboration with the artist David Emmanuel Noel, who painted a different canvas for each tune. Recorded with a large ensemble, the music has a hustling, declaratory spirit and a broadly Pan-African take on acoustic jazz, with touchstones spanning from the Antilles to the Eastern Cape of South Africa. He celebrates the release with a quartet featuring the brothers Zaccai and Luques Curtis — whose Truth Revolution Records released the album — on piano and bass, and Mark Whitfield II on drums.
- Pictures at an African Exhibition receives 31/2 Star Review from Downbeat Magazine
Darryl Yokley's latest album has definitely found a home at Downbeat magazine as it was an editor's pick for the month of April and now it is featured in the May issue. It received a wonderful review and a 3.5 start rating. Here is a little bit of the review:
"New York saxophonist Darryl Yokley launches his vision beautifully with 'First Sunrise,' the jubilant opening to Pictures at an African Exhibition, a stirring album designed to celebrate African music and art. The album blends travelogue and social commentary in tunes of varying lengths and textures. Drama is common to these compositions, and while the overall message is upbeat, there is turbulence, too."
-Carlo Wolff, Downbeat Magazine
- Pictures at an African Exhibition named as Downbeat Magazine editor's pick.
Designed as a narrative supported by 13 works from British visual artist David Emmanuel Noel, Pictures At An African Exhibition engages in tracing the history of humankind through song.
Based on Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures At An Exhibition, which the pianist wrote after visiting a museum and used what hung in galleries as a starting point, saxophonist Darryl Yokley claims the concept in order to compose a corrective history of humankind while nakedly shuttling emotion through his instrument. To read the full Editor's pick article please visit http://downbeat.com/reviews/