Story

JAZZ SINGER-SONGWRITER ORI DAGAN TAKES ON THE DIGITAL ZEITGEIST ON HIS FOURTH STUDIO ALBUM CLICK RIGHT HERE

Is life online in the 21st century a blessing or a curse? One could make a case either way, but if you’re Toronto-based vocalist and songwriter Ori Dagan (@oridaganjazz), one thing is certain: there’s a great material to be mined for a lyric, something Dagan always delivers with a wry and agile sense of swing. Click Right Here, praised by John Devenish of JAZZ.FM91 as “fun, provocative, fancy-free and spirited,” and by journalist and author Jeanne Beker as “the perfect balance between modernity and nostalgia,” is Dagan’s first album of original material. It offers a joyful escape from, and timely reflection upon, a world spinning out of control. Themes include online dating, social media, technological troubles, and the quest for freedom and equality in a divided world.

Dagan’s right-hand man on Click Right Here, his fourth studio effort, is a guitarist and musical director Nathan Hiltz, whose crackling arrangements and brilliant solos bring the songs to life. Hiltz fronts a versatile eight-piece band comprised of some of Canada’s finest: pianist Attila Fias, bassist Alex Bellegarde, drummer Ben Wittman, tenor saxophonist Colleen Allen, alto saxophonist Alison Young, trombonist William Carn, and trumpeter Andrew McAnsh. They are featured to brilliant effect on the potent band vehicle “21st-Century Blues.” In addition to being Dagan’s first recording with horns, Click Right Here also includes his first male duet, a romp of a minor-key tune called “Going That Counts,” featuring Toronto rising-star vocalist Donovan Locke. Rapper Erik Flow cowrote the blistering opener “Viruses,” built around a prominent omitted expletive that lends the song a distinct rhythmic hiccup.

Five-time JUNO Award winner and three-time GRAMMY nominee Jane Bunnett, of Spirits of Havana fame, contributes scintillating flute on “Hashtag World” and soprano sax on “Viruses.” Four-time JUNO winner Simone Denny (Love Inc.) appears on a bonus cover: a relaxed and incisive interpretation of The Buggles’ 1979 smash hit “Video Killed the Radio Star,” the definitive earworm of earliest MTV. Rebecca Hennessy serves as guest arranger on the Buggles cover as well as an updated take on Dagan’s 2012 single “Googleable,” replete with virtuosic scat breaks and arch references (“Google Apps are the best, skeptics eventually clue in / who might have guessed, other than Marshall McLuhan”). The album was recorded by GRAMMY-nominated engineer Jeremy Darby at Canterbury Music Company and co-produced by Macedonian multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger, and producer Davor Jordanovski.

Dagan’s previous recordings, S’Cat Got My Tongue (2009) and Less Than Three <3 (2012), solidified his forward-thinking artistic voice. In 2017, with the support of over 200 crowdfunding contributors, he created the visual album Nathaniel: A Tribute to Nat King Cole, a first of its kind in the jazz genre — a collection of 12 music videos that won critical acclaim and recognition at film festivals worldwide, as well as an official showcase at SXSW.

Dagan’s rich bass-baritone is unmistakable; his irreverent songcraft speaks to the lineage of Nat Cole novelty numbers and the impeccably swinging humor of the late Bob Dorough and Dave Frishberg. His scat singing has the natural, fluid, bop-inflected feel of the best in that idiom. Click Right Here, his most ambitious project to date, is sure to take him to new destinations, onstage and online.

Tweet LinkedIn PinShares0

Entertainment

Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl Halftime Show Just Swept The Emmys

Bad Bunny in Los Angeles, California, 2019

Photo: Glenn Francis / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Bad Bunny is officially an Emmy winner — and not just once. At Saturday’s Creative Arts Emmys, his Super Bowl LX Halftime Show swept every single category it was nominated in, all seven of them, making it the most-decorated nominee of the night.

The headline win was Outstanding Variety Special (Live), a category the show became only the third halftime show ever to claim. From there it just kept going: music direction, choreography, sound mixing, lighting design, technical direction and camerawork, and directing all went home with the Puerto Rican star’s team. There’s technically an eighth trophy with his name attached, too, though it won’t land in his hands — the “Saturday Night Live” episode he hosted last season separately won Outstanding Makeup for a Variety, Nonfiction, or Reality Program.

The sweep is good news for Jay-Z as well. As an executive producer on the halftime show, he now has two Emmys to his name, having previously won for producing Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl LIX performance in 2025 — the show that, until Saturday, held the record for most Emmys won by a Super Bowl performance.

Bad Bunny wasn’t the only one having a night. Sabrina Carpenter picked up her first Emmy as a performer and executive producer on “The Muppet Show,” edging out Taylor Swift’s “The Eras Tour | The Final Show” for Outstanding Variety Special (Pre-Recorded). The Billy Joel HBO miniseries “And So It Goes” won for sound mixing on a nonfiction program, and 50 Cent’s Diddy documentary “Sean Combs: The Reckoning” took home picture editing honors. A big weekend for live spectacle, all around.

Tweet LinkedIn PinShares0

Story

Rod Wave Hints at NBA YoungBoy Stadium Tour as Fans Dream of Joint Run

Rod Wave has got hip hop fans excited after seemingly teasing a massive stadium tour with NBA YoungBoy. The idea came after DJ Akademiks said on Twitter that he wanted to see the two rappers work together on a tour or maybe even a collab project. NBA YoungBoy is overseas right now, but fans haven’t stopped wondering what a joint run between the two would look like.

Akademiks suggested the two should collaborate on an album or EP and called for a YB & Rod Wave tour. Rod Wave responded with a brief message that he’d already spoken with YoungBoy about taking the tour to stadiums. The response immediately sparked excitement about the two artists performing together. Over the years, Rod Wave and NBA YoungBoy have developed chemistry, with both artists building passionate, loyal fan bases in their corners of hip hop.

But a joint stadium tour would be logistically difficult. YoungBoy has left the United States, but that doesn’t mean he’s out of the country for good, and he could still be away long enough for a major concert run. The prospect is especially tantalizing for fans, as major headlining artists rarely join forces for extensive joint tours. So if the plans do go through, a big run with Rod Wave and YoungBoy might be a moment for their audiences.

Such an endeavor could also be notable for Rod Wave with his experience with concert promotion. It’s said that his Mainstay Touring company booked his own shows and Ye’s SoFi Stadium concerts earlier this year. Another big opportunity for the company would be a longer concert series with YoungBoy.

YoungBoy’s recent “MASA” tour and accompanying documentary also show his ability to draw strong fan engagement and attention around a live project. But the potential stadium tour remains hypothetical. Rod Wave’s comment gives fans something to look forward to, but it doesn’t mention a formal joint tour announcement.

Tweet LinkedIn PinShares0