JC Sanford Plugs Into the Current: Denki Ignites Jazz-Fusion Electricity

“‘Denki’ – which fittingly translates as ‘electricity’ in Japanese – brings a heady brew of heavy-rock vigor and contemporary jazz-fusion, courtesy of trombonist and composer JC Sanford and his Electric Quartet. Featuring Sanford on trombone and effects, Toivo Hannigan on guitar, Erik Fratzke on electric bass, and Satoshi Takeishi on drums, the album crackles with ambition . . .” — Mike Gates, UKVibe

“With DENKI, Sanford and his EQ band deliver a bold and electrified album that challenges genre boundaries while honoring deep musical traditions. It’s a record that captures an artist unafraid to evolve, explore, and plug directly into the currents of inspiration.” — Jazz Chill

Trombonist and composer JC Sanford unleashes a high-voltage statement with Denki, his eighth album as a leader and a fearless expansion of his sonic vocabulary. Available now on Brooklyn Jazz Underground Records (BJUR 081), the recording finds Sanford’s Electric Quartet—EQ for short—fusing heavy rock energy, contemporary jazz improvisation and textural electronics into a sound that is as cerebral as it is visceral.

The Electric Quartet features Sanford on trombone and effects, Toivo Hannigan on guitar and effects, Erik Fratzke on electric bass, and Satoshi Takeishi on drums. Together, the ensemble creates a surging, genre-blurring tapestry in which distortion, lyricism, rhythmic elasticity and compositional rigor coexist without compromise.

The album’s title, Denki—Japanese for “electricity”—operates on multiple levels. It references the literal current running through Sanford’s expanded pedalboard-driven sound world, while also nodding to his late mentor Bob Brookmeyer, whose 1994 album Electricity (with the WDR Big Band) left a lasting imprint. Sanford’s tribute is not imitation but evolution: a continuation of Brookmeyer’s restless modernism, filtered through 21st-century textures.

Sanford has long been an artist difficult to categorize. Equally at home as composer, conductor, producer, sideman and bandleader, he has collaborated with major voices including Danilo Perez, Matt Wilson, John McNeil and George Schuller, among many others. In New York, he has contributed to adventurous large and small ensembles spanning progressive big band, chamber jazz, film-noir tribute projects and genre-defying hybrids. That breadth of experience fuels Denki, an album that can evoke Brookmeyer’s structural sophistication, the burnished authority of trombone legends like Curtis Fuller and Slide Hampton, the melodic genius of Stevie Wonder and even the seismic weight of Black Sabbath—sometimes within a single listening session.

Sanford’s plunge into electronics began in the post-lockdown period, experimenting with guitar pedals while performing locally in Minneapolis. What started as curiosity quickly deepened into revelation. The expanded tonal palette opened new soundscapes, but Sanford remained vigilant: the electronics would serve as enhancement, not gimmick. The result on Denki is a seamless integration of effects into his compositional language—an extension of timbre rather than a departure from identity.

The album opens with “ausgleicht” (“equalized” in English), a nod to German metal influences and a clever reference to the EQ moniker. The piece embodies duality—precision and power, clarity and distortion—announcing the record’s aesthetic stakes. “The Wise Stone,” dedicated to Takeishi, reflects both the drummer’s musical depth and the meanings embedded within his Japanese name, which include concepts of “stone” and “wisdom.” It is both tribute and testament, anchored by rhythmic intelligence and textural nuance.

“Purple Spring” offers pastoral contrast, inspired by Sanford’s reflections on his garden. After the joyous intensity of the opening tracks, it provides a moment of luminous repose. “Futari” (“two people” in Japanese) is a compelling improvised duet between Sanford and Takeishi, demonstrating the quartet’s fluency in spontaneous dialogue. Similarly, “And So It Begins” emerges from the band’s affinity for open improvisation, revealing structure born in real time.

The intriguingly titled “Head Rare, Red Hair” grew out of improvisational word games Sanford plays with his daughter. The title itself—playful, slightly surreal—mirrors the rarity of both red hair and the kind of collective invention heard here. The album closes with “That 60s Heist Movie,” composed by Scott Miller, conjuring cinematic cool with a wink, followed by Sanford’s impassioned interpretation of Stevie Wonder’s “Love’s in Need of Love Today.” In an era marked by social turbulence and uncertainty, the choice resonates as both reflection and hopeful appeal.

Sanford’s reputation extends far beyond this project. A frequent presence in the DownBeat Critics Poll over the past decade in trombone, big band and arranger categories, he first gained widespread acclaim with his 2014 debut recording, Views From The Inside, which received an Aaron Copland Fund Recording Grant. A founding member of the composers’ federation Pulse alongside Darcy James Argue and Joseph C. Phillips Jr., Sanford has also studied in the BMI Jazz Composers Workshop under Jim McNeely and Mike Abene. His works have been performed by artists including John Abercrombie, Lew Soloff and Dave Liebman.

A respected conductor, Sanford has led ensembles such as the Grammy-nominated John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble, the Alan Ferber Nonet with Strings and the Alice Coltrane Orchestra featuring Ravi Coltrane and Jack DeJohnette. He has guest-conducted Germany’s North German Radio Big Band (NDR) and curated Brooklyn’s “Size Matters” large ensemble series for more than four years.

Holding a D.M.A. in Jazz Studies from the New England Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Brookmeyer, Sanford now balances performance with education, teaching jazz, Western music theory and trombone at Gustavus Adolphus College. Since returning to Minnesota in 2016, he has become a vital presence in the Twin Cities creative scene, co-founding the Twin Cities Jazz Composers’ Workshop and earning multiple grants from the Minnesota State Arts Board, including a 2025 Creative Support for Individuals award.

Upcoming Denki CD release celebrations underscore the album’s communal spirit: October 21 at Threes Brewing in Brooklyn, and November 5 at Berlin in Minneapolis, bringing the electric current directly to audiences in intimate settings.

With Denki, JC Sanford’s Electric Quartet does more than amplify the trombone—it reimagines its possibilities. The album channels tradition, distortion, intellect and heart into a unified surge. It is music that crackles with curiosity and conviction, proving that electricity, in the right hands, is not merely power—it is illumination.

Grammy Award-Winning Adonis Rose and Phillip Manuel Reimagine the Jazz Canon on Unusual Suspects

Grammy Award-winning drummer, composer, producer and educator Adonis Rose returns to the forefront with Unusual Suspects, a deeply crafted and emotionally resonant new project featuring acclaimed New Orleans vocalist Phillip Manuel. Set for release February 27, 2026 on Moocha Music, the album is a masterclass in interpretive artistry, ensemble precision and Crescent City soul.

From its opening moments, Unusual Suspects establishes itself as a standout addition to the year’s jazz landscape. Rose, serving as drummer and producer, shapes an immersive sonic environment in which every nuance breathes. The arrangements—crafted by Manuel’s longtime collaborator and musical director Michael Pellera—are thoughtfully sculpted to honor the emotional core of each selection. The balance between voice and ensemble is meticulous, allowing Manuel’s signature phrasing and tonal warmth to glow while giving equal weight to the formidable musicians surrounding him.

The ensemble is nothing short of exceptional: Adonis Rose on drums and production; Phillip Manuel on vocals; Max Moran on bass; Seth Finch on piano and Fender Rhodes; Steve Masakowski on guitar; Ricardo Pascal on tenor and soprano saxophones; and Stephen Lands on trumpet. Each player operates at the height of their craft, contributing performances that elevate the recording beyond tribute or reinterpretation into something wholly renewed.

Manuel’s voice is arresting—rich, nuanced and deeply human. Comparisons may arise to Johnny Hartman or Andy Bey, but they serve merely as reference points. Manuel is unmistakably himself, delivering lyrics with emotional clarity and unforced authority. His timbre carries both velvet and steel, intimacy and expansiveness, tradition and individuality.

Recorded in the summer of 2025 at Artisound Studios in New Orleans, the album largely reimagines former instrumentals and jazz standards, now given original lyrics by Manuel. Lee Morgan’s “Party Time” receives a lyrical transformation, as does “The Unusual Suspects” by pianist Peter Martin. Guitarist Steve Masakowski’s “Sixth Ward Strut” steps into the spotlight with a vocal treatment, while compositions such as “The Road Less Traveled” and “I’ll Love You” by Joe Sample are reborn through Manuel’s interpretive lens.

Manuel and Pellera also contribute three original compositions, seamlessly woven into the repertoire. Adding further dimension, the sextet delivers a swinging and unexpectedly natural version of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” alongside a soulful reading of Bill Withers’ “Hello Like Before.” In each case, the arrangements avoid novelty, instead uncovering melodic and harmonic possibilities that align organically with the album’s aesthetic.

To understand the depth behind this project is to understand Adonis Rose’s lineage. In New Orleans, music is inheritance as much as vocation, and Rose stands in a direct line of rhythmic tradition. He hails from two previous generations of Crescent City drummers: his grandfather Wilfred “Crip” Severin Jr. and his father Vernon Severin, both first-call, deeply influential figures in the local scene. His uncle, bassist Chris Severin, is equally woven into the city’s musical fabric. For Rose, music has never been separate from daily life; it is embedded in family gatherings, parades, church services, clubs, second lines and festival stages. Every note he plays carries that lived experience.

Rose’s career reflects both heritage and innovation. A Grammy Award winner with the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra for Best Large Ensemble, he has performed and recorded with an extraordinary roster of artists including Terence Blanchard, Betty Carter, Dianne Reeves, Marcus Roberts, Harry Connick Jr. and Wynton Marsalis. His performances have graced the world’s most revered stages, including Carnegie Hall, Apollo Theater, the Newport Jazz Festival and Jazz at Lincoln Center, among many others. With more than fifty recordings to his credit—five as a leader—and six collaborations with trumpeter Nicholas Payton, Rose’s artistic footprint is both broad and deeply respected.

In January 2017, Rose was named Artistic Director of the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, guiding the organization’s artistic vision and expanding its educational and community programming. Central to this growth is The Jazz Market, a 350-seat performance venue in New Orleans’ Central City neighborhood that serves as the orchestra’s home and a vibrant cultural hub.

Phillip Manuel’s journey is equally rooted in New Orleans’ musical soil. Raised in a family where music was omnipresent—his father’s singing voice known to stop listeners in their tracks—Manuel has long been a fixture at clubs and festivals around the globe. He has shared stages with artists such as Terence Blanchard and Bill Summers, and his recorded output includes elegant interpretations of the Nat “King” Cole songbook as well as intimate readings that move fluidly from James Taylor’s “Fire and Rain” to Ellington and Gershwin standards.

Rose and Manuel’s collaboration is not new; it is the culmination of years of mutual respect and shared vision. Manuel has appeared with the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra at The Jazz Market and recorded with the ensemble on its Allen Toussaint tribute project. Rose has also performed on two of Manuel’s recordings. Their artistic chemistry is evident throughout Unusual Suspects, where rhythmic sophistication meets lyrical storytelling.

Notably, Manuel had been contemplating retirement from performance and recording. It was Rose who persuaded him to continue. The decision proves invaluable. Manuel’s artistry here feels renewed and urgent, as though the material carries the weight of lived experience sharpened by reflection. His lyric writing, in particular, transforms familiar instrumental works into deeply personal narratives, expanding the jazz vocal repertoire with intelligence and reverence.

Unusual Suspects is not merely a collection of reimagined standards; it is a testament to lineage, collaboration and artistic conviction. It affirms that jazz remains a living language—one capable of absorbing the past, conversing with the present and sounding entirely contemporary. With Rose’s masterful production and Manuel’s singular voice at its center, the album stands as both celebration and statement: New Orleans tradition, interpreted through modern vision, and delivered with uncompromising craft.

“The Music Takes You Where You Need to Go”: Marilyn Crispell and Anders Jormin’s Memento as a Meditation on Memory, Loss and Luminous Space

“The music takes you where you need to go.” — Marilyn Crispell

With Memento, the first duo release from American pianist Marilyn Crispell and Swedish bassist Anders Jormin, that sentiment becomes both guiding principle and quiet manifesto. Issued by ECM Records on March 20, 2026, and recorded at the Auditorio Stelio Molo RSI in July 2025 with Manfred Eicher producing, Memento is an album of rare stillness and depth—lyrical, spacious and profoundly attentive to the emotional afterlife of memory.

Although this is their first duo album, Crispell and Jormin’s musical kinship stretches back decades. Crispell first encountered Jormin at a Stockholm festival in 1992, an experience she has described as transformative. Hearing him play “touched a chord” that resonated deeply within her. From Jormin and other Scandinavian improvisers she absorbed what she calls an “aesthetic of space, beauty and tenderness,” discovering that freedom in improvisation need not be equated solely with energy, velocity or intensity. The encounter subtly reshaped her artistic compass; her music, she has said, began “becoming more whole.” Their paths crossed again on Jormin’s sacred song cycle In Winds, In Light (2004), and over the years a mutual admiration matured into the quiet inevitability of Memento.

The album opens with four freely created pieces that establish its emotional terrain. “For the Children,” dedicated to innocents caught in the crossfire of global conflicts from Sudan to Gaza and Ukraine, unfolds as an act of collective mourning. Jormin’s high arco bass—its phrasing at times recalling the keening inflections of a kamancheh—threads through Crispell’s spacious harmonic architecture. The performance brims with restrained emotion, its intensity conveyed not through volume but through touch and timbre.

“Dialogue” follows as an intimate exchange, melody discovered and shared in real time. Each gesture feels provisional yet inevitable, as though both musicians are listening toward something just beyond reach. In “Embracing the Otherness,” silence becomes an active force. The upper registers of piano and bass shimmer, hover and recede, creating a fragile lattice of sound in which absence speaks as eloquently as presence. “Contemplation in D” concludes the fully improvised opening sequence with the bass in a leading role, floating above gently suspended piano chords. It is meditation in the truest sense: attentive, unhurried, luminous.

“Three Shades of a House,” a composition Jormin has previously explored with Bobo Stenson—notably on Contra la indecisión—originated as a commission to accompany an exhibition by Norwegian painter Hanne Borchgrevink. Her visual art has been described as a series of variations on a compositional theme, music rendered in form and colour. In Memento, the piece appears in two versions. “Morning” places pellucid piano at the forefront, its clarity evoking early light diffused across quiet walls. “Evening,” by contrast, yields to the dark-toned resonance of Jormin’s bass, shadows lengthening, colours deepening into dusk. Together they form a diptych of atmosphere and emotional hue.

Crispell’s “Song,” composed in the 1990s, addresses “the distance between two people.” The performance carries a sense of suspended yearning—notes placed with care, intervals stretching like unspoken words across space. The title track, “Memento,” is a miniature for solo piano, perfectly phrased and intimate. It reflects closeness rather than distance, referencing people Crispell feels connected to around the world and those she has lost in recent years. The piece becomes a vessel for remembrance—neither nostalgic nor sentimental, but clear-eyed and tender.

“The Beach at Newquay” evokes Crispell’s first visit to Cornwall while touring with saxophonist Raymond MacDonald. Standing on the shore at night, she encountered sea and stars in a moment she describes simply as magical. Jormin’s high arco bass suggests distant seagull cries, while the piano captures the vast hush of tide and sky. The music shimmers with nocturnal wonder, a memory rendered in sound.

“The Dark Light,” as Jormin explains, only hints at a larger composition he had brought to the session; the full piece was never performed. Its paradoxical title refers to counterpoint and emotional simultaneity—the coexistence of joy and sorrow. In Swedish there is a word for this intermingling of feelings: vemod, a wistful melancholy suffused with warmth. The music embodies that word without translating it. Layers intertwine, tones glow faintly, and something unnamed opens behind the contradiction—a silent song, a frozen sunbeam, a whispering storm.

The album closes with Crispell’s “Dragonfly,” written in memory of bassist Gary Peacock, with whom she recorded luminous trio sessions including Nothing ever was, anyway and Amaryllis, as well as the duo album Azure. In the month before Peacock’s death, Crispell visited him often; they would sit outside on his porch in early fall, dragonflies darting through the warm air, a chipmunk appearing for food. The piece carries that pastoral stillness. Its melody feels grounded and affectionate, a farewell shaped not by grief alone but by gratitude.

Crispell has been an ECM Records artist since 1997, debuting with her striking interpretation of Annette Peacock’s music on Nothing ever was, anyway. Her ECM catalogue spans solo work such as Vignettes, duets including One Dark Night I Left My Silent House with clarinettist David Rothenberg, and trio recordings of remarkable cohesion. More recently she has been featured in the trio of Joe Lovano on Trio Tapestry, Garden of Expression and Our Daily Bread. In 2025 she was honoured as a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master, a recognition of her singular voice in contemporary improvisation.

Jormin first appeared on ECM alongside Don Cherry on Dona Nostra (recorded 1993) and has since collaborated widely, including long-standing membership in the Bobo Stenson Trio. His projects range from the Nordic supergroup Arcanum to albums as a leader such as In Winds, In Light and 2023’s Pasado en claro. The first contemporary improviser elected to the Royal Swedish Academy of Music, Jormin has also taught at the University of Gothenburg and Helsinki’s Sibelius Academy, shaping generations of musicians with the same sensitivity he brings to performance.

In Memento, Crispell and Jormin distill decades of experience into music that breathes with patience and emotional clarity. The album does not demand attention; it invites it. Its themes—memory, absence, connection—are universal, yet expressed with the specificity of two artists listening deeply to one another. Space is not emptiness here but presence; silence is not void but possibility. The music moves as remembrance moves—circling, returning, illuminating from different angles. And in that movement, as Crispell’s words suggest, it takes the listener precisely where they need to go.

Van Morrison Delivers Another Masterful Blues Collection With “Somebody Tried to Sell Me a Bridge”

Sir Van Morrison, the legendary singer-songwriter now in his 80s, continues to astound with the release of his 51st solo album, “Somebody Tried to Sell Me a Bridge”. The latest offering highlights Morrison’s enduring love for the blues, blending a dozen classic covers with a handful of his own original compositions. Remarkably, the prolific artist has released more than an album per year since turning 70, demonstrating an energy and creativity that defies time.

Morrison’s career began in the late 1950s, mastering guitar and saxophone before forming the R&B-influenced band Them in 1963, which produced iconic tracks like “Gloria” and “Baby Please Don’t Go.” He embarked on his solo journey in 1967 with the hit single “Brown-Eyed Girl”, followed by the seminal albums Astral Weeks and Moondance, which established his reputation for blending folk, rock, jazz, R&B, pop, and Celtic influences. While not every album achieved universal acclaim, Morrison’s adventurous arrangements and distinct vocals have consistently resonated, particularly on his blues-infused recordings.

Before this 2026 release, Morrison had explored the blues in only one prior album: 2017’s Roll with the Punches, a record featuring ten blues covers alongside five originals. His mastery of timing and phrasing transformed classics such as the “Stormy Monday/Lonely Avenue” mash-up into contemporary yet faithful tributes to the genre.

In Somebody Tried to Sell Me a Bridge, Morrison revisits the same territory with an 80-minute, 20-track set. Only four of the tracks are his originals, while the rest pay homage to legendary blues composers from Chicago, Memphis, and Texas. Special guests include blues titans Elvin Bishop, Taj Mahal, and Buddy Guy, while a cadre of veteran session musicians anchors the project: David Hayes (bass), Larry Vann and Bobby Ruggiero (drums), Anthony Paule (electric guitar), Mitch Woods (jump blues piano), and John Allair (Hammond B3 organ).

The album opens with two songs by Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson, showcasing Morrison’s signature sax riffs alongside stellar instrumental performances. Highlights include a slowed-down interpretation of Fats Domino’s “Ain’t That a Shame”, the rollicking “Madame Butterfly Blues” by Dave Lewis, and shared vocal duties with Taj Mahal on Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee’s “Can’t Help Myself” and the traditional “Betty and Dupree”. Morrison’s originals, “Monte Carlo Blues” and “Loving Memories”, are standout tracks, with Elvin Bishop’s guitar and rich call-and-response backing adding depth.

Other memorable selections include Marie Adams’ “Play the Honky Tonks”, a 60s doo-wop number “Social Climbing Scene”, and the title track inspired by a classic early-1900s con artist anecdote. The album concludes with two Chicago blues standards, Willie Dixon’s “I’m Ready” and BB King’s “Rock Me Baby”, featuring Morrison’s interpretative flair alongside Buddy Guy’s masterful guitar.

Overall, Somebody Tried to Sell Me a Bridge demonstrates Morrison’s unwavering commitment to the blues. With its restrained yet expressive arrangements, thoughtful pacing, and variety, the album offers both homage and innovation, proving that even after six decades, Van Morrison is far from slowing down.

Roberta Flack’s Legacy Celebrated with “With Her Songs: The Atlantic Albums 1969–1978” Box Set

On February 10, Roberta Flack would have celebrated her 90th birthday. Though the legendary singer and pianist passed away in February 2025, her extraordinary legacy is being honored with a comprehensive new box set from Rhino. With Her Songs: The Atlantic Albums 1969–1978 gathers Flack’s first eight studio albums for Atlantic Records into one newly remastered collection, restoring much of her foundational catalog to print in a compact and cohesive package.

The set begins with 1969’s First Take, the album that introduced the world to Flack’s singular interpretive power. Though recorded in early 1969, its breakthrough came in 1972 after her haunting rendition of Ewan MacColl’s “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” was featured in Play Misty for Me, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood. The song spent six weeks at No. 1 and earned the Grammy Award for Record of the Year in 1973. Yet First Take runs deeper than its signature hit, featuring collaborations with Donny Hathaway, a striking cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye,” and a politically charged reading of Gene McDaniels’ “Compared to What.” The album itself topped the Billboard 200 for five weeks.

Producer Joel Dorn returned for 1970’s Chapter Two, joined by arranger-conductor Eumir Deodato. The album continued Flack’s gift for reinvention, transforming works by Jimmy Webb, Bob Dylan, and Broadway writers Joe Darion and Mitch Leigh into intimate soul-jazz statements. With 1971’s Quiet Fire, Flack deepened her fusion of jazz, soul, and R&B, earning a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female. Her interpretations of songs by Goffin and King, Bee Gees, Paul Simon, and others demonstrated her ability to slow time and inhabit a lyric with remarkable emotional clarity.

In 1972, Atlantic executive Jerry Wexler encouraged a full-length duet project pairing Flack with Donny Hathaway. The resulting album, Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway, yielded enduring hits including “Where Is the Love,” written by Ralph MacDonald and William Salter, which topped the R&B and Adult Contemporary charts and earned the duo a Grammy Award. Their chemistry would become one of soul music’s defining partnerships, culminating years later in “The Closer I Get to You.”

Flack reached even greater commercial heights with 1973’s Killing Me Softly, her most successful album. The double-platinum release peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and was anchored by the Grammy-winning title track written by Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel. The album also featured songs by Janis Ian and Leonard Cohen and boasted an all-star roster of musicians including guitarist Eric Gale, bassist Ron Carter, drummer Grady Tate, and percussionist Ralph MacDonald. Dedicated to multi-instrumentalist Rahsaan Roland Kirk, the album remains a landmark in sophisticated soul.

Following creative tensions with Dorn, Flack self-produced 1975’s Feel Like Makin’ Love. Its Gene McDaniels-penned title track became her third No. 1 hit, prompting Atlantic to award her what was reportedly the largest contract ever given to a female recording artist at the time. 1977’s Blue Lights in the Basement followed after a lengthy gap and featured the reunited Flack and Hathaway on “The Closer I Get to You,” which reached No. 1 R&B and No. 2 Pop. The album also included material associated with Diana Ross and a Gwen Guthrie co-write, underscoring Flack’s continued ability to balance elegance with contemporary appeal.

The box concludes with 1978’s Roberta Flack, a more fraught project anchored by “If Ever I See You Again,” written by Joe Brooks. Though the single reached No. 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart, its association with a poorly received film dampened its broader impact. The album also attempted to revisit the magic of “Killing Me Softly” with another Fox and Gimbel collaboration and included a cover of Thom Bell and Linda Creed’s “You Are Everything.” Notably, this marks the album’s first appearance on CD in the United States.

Though With Her Songs: The Atlantic Albums 1969–1978 does not include bonus tracks—despite some albums previously receiving expanded digital editions—Discs 4 through 8 have been newly remastered. Until a more expansive physical anthology emerges, this collection serves as a vital archival restoration, returning Flack’s formative Atlantic catalog to circulation and reminding listeners of the depth and refinement that defined her artistry.

Spanning 1969 to 1978, these recordings trace Roberta Flack’s ascent from conservatory-trained pianist to one of the most emotionally resonant voices in modern soul. Her phrasing, restraint, and interpretive intelligence transformed familiar songs into intimate confessions and elevated popular music into high art. This box set stands not merely as a reissue campaign, but as a tribute to a singular artist whose voice continues to echo long after the final note fades.

Paul Anka Reflects on Romance and Resilience with “Inspirations of Life and Love”

Billed as the 30th studio album from legendary octogenarian singer-songwriter Paul Anka, Inspirations of Life and Love arrives during Valentine’s Week with a tone that is less celebratory than contemplative—surprisingly melancholy at times, yet deeply moving throughout. Recorded primarily at Anka’s home studio in California and elevated by a lush symphony orchestra tracked in Budapest, the 11-song collection blends past and present in a sweeping orchestral setting that underscores a lifetime of love, loss, reflection, and resilience.

The album is eclectic in its sourcing but cohesive in its emotional core. It features a thoughtful mix of brand-new originals, reimagined Anka classics, carefully chosen covers, and a first-ever Anka recording of “Love Never Felt So Good,” a song he co-wrote with Michael Jackson. The track first appeared on Jackson’s posthumous 2014 album Xscape, but here Anka delivers his own interpretation, transforming the upbeat disco-pop number into a warmer, more sophisticated orchestral arrangement. Strings and woodwinds soften the edges, while subtle rhythmic undertones preserve a gentle hint of the original’s danceable spirit. The result feels less like a retro revival and more like a seasoned artist reclaiming a shared creation with tenderness and poise.

The album opens with the dramatic new power ballad “Just Can’t Wait,” presented in a polished country-rock style before the project settles into its prevailing orchestral mood. From there, Inspirations of Life and Love unfolds as a cohesive meditation on longing, memory, and emotional endurance. A recurring theme is the ache of lost companionship and the yearning for second chances—sentiments that resonate strongly in re-recordings of some of Anka’s earlier hits.

“Anytime,” originally a Top 40 hit for Anka in 1976, is reborn as a timeless orchestral ballad and stands as one of the album’s highlights. Its mature vocal phrasing lends additional weight to lyrics that now feel even more lived-in. Likewise, “(All of a Sudden) My Heart Sings,” first a Top 20 hit when Anka was still a teenager in 1958, receives a reflective reinterpretation that bridges the decades between youthful optimism and seasoned perspective. The empowering “Freedom – Prefer the Fade,” a revisit of 1987’s “Freedom for You and Me (Freedom for the World),” retains its gospel-inflected chorus while embracing a more expansive orchestral backdrop.

Among the new compositions, “Boulevard” emerges as a tear-streaked centerpiece, steeped in nostalgia and quiet sorrow, while “I Believe” rises as a towering theatrical ballad that showcases Anka’s enduring dramatic instincts. These new works feel fully integrated with the revisited material, not as add-ons but as natural extensions of a long storytelling arc.

The covers on the album further reinforce its reflective tone. Anka pays homage to Frank Sinatra with stirring renditions of “It Was a Very Good Year” and “That’s Life.” The latter serves as a particularly fitting closer, its resilient message brushing off heartbreak with a promise to keep moving forward. Anka’s vocal interpretation subtly nods to Sinatra’s phrasing while maintaining his own distinctive warmth and clarity. Positioned at the album’s conclusion, “That’s Life” feels less like imitation and more like kinship—a salute from one master interpreter of the American songbook to another.

The complete track listing includes:

1. Just Can’t Wait

2. Anytime

3. Boulevard

4. It Was a Very Good Year

5. Let Me Try Again

6. All of a Sudden (My Heart Sings)

7. Love Never Felt So Good

8. Freedom – Prefer the Fade

9. I Believe

10. The Last Time I Saw You

11. That’s Life

Taken as a whole, Inspirations of Life and Love is best experienced without overanalyzing its historical context or the weight of its milestone status. While longtime listeners will recognize melodies spanning decades, the album plays most powerfully as a unified orchestral statement—an intimate, late-career reflection on romance, regret, gratitude, and perseverance. The production is warm and enveloping, the arrangements elegant and restrained, and Anka’s voice, though weathered by time, carries an emotional authority that cannot be manufactured.

Rather than chasing trends, Paul Anka leans into experience. The result is an album rich with love lessons deeply learned—an elegant reminder that even in life’s autumn years, inspiration can still bloom.

Shawn Maxwell Bridges Jazz and Classical Worlds on “Frenetic Domain”

After issuing a dozen jazz albums under his own name, Shawn Maxwell takes a bold new direction with his 2026 release, Frenetic Domain—a project that reconnects him with his earliest musical identity while pushing his compositional voice further into uncharted terrain. Long before he became a mainstay of the Chicago jazz scene, Maxwell was a classical clarinetist, beginning in fourth grade and immersing himself in the Western canon before ever picking up the saxophone after high school. That dual foundation—classical discipline and jazz exploration—now converges in a recording that consciously builds a structural bridge between two traditions often seen as opposites.

The effort to unite jazz and classical music is not new. In the 1920s, Paul Whiteman championed what he called “symphonic jazz,” aiming to elevate jazz through orchestral ambitions. Decades later, Stan Kenton pursued similarly grand fusions with brassy, large-scale ensembles. The “third stream” movement later sought a more organic synthesis, blending classical compositional structures with jazz improvisation at their roots. Maxwell’s Frenetic Domain stands firmly in that lineage—but with a contemporary sensibility and a highly personal spark.

That spark arrived through his role as an Artist Clinician for Vandoren, the century-old reed and mouthpiece manufacturer that sponsors leading woodwind players across genres. At a Vandoren national clinician meeting, Maxwell met classical alto saxophonist Chika Inoue. What began as a playful suggestion that they record together evolved into a serious artistic concept: a project where fully notated classical passages coexist with open spaces for jazz improvisation. Inoue, who does not improvise, would anchor the composed sections with her focused tone and precise phrasing, while Maxwell and pianist Mark Nelson would navigate the improvisational terrain.

Maxwell composed pieces that demand strict adherence to written passages while allowing the ensemble to expand, react, and reshape the material in real time. In a striking gesture of inclusion, he even wrote out a fully notated solo for Inoue—an intricate passage featured in “Reed Tire Earth”—ensuring her classical voice remained central rather than ornamental. The result is not a gimmick but a thoughtful structural dialogue: composed architecture framing improvisational freedom.

The album’s opener, “Cats Are Gods,” immediately signals Maxwell’s signature style with its triple meter and yearning melodic intervals, yet Inoue’s pristine tone shifts the sonic landscape. Percussionist Nils Higdon’s rhythmic spotlight reinforces the interplay between written precision and spontaneous energy. “The Last 10 Kilometers,” inspired by Maxwell’s experience as a marathoner, captures the psychological tension of a race’s final stretch—mirroring the album’s aesthetic middle ground between classical restraint and jazz abandon. Maxwell’s clarinet moves from refined lyricism to growls and wails, pushing against the rhythmic guardrails laid down by the ensemble.

Elsewhere, “8 Bit Sounds with a Plumber” nods to Maxwell’s affection for 1980s video game soundtracks, channeling pixelated motifs and shifting textures into modern jazz language. “Frenetic Random Activity Period” musically traces the mercurial energy of his dachshund Marvel, pivoting from explosive bursts to sudden calm. The rubato chamber piece “Profound Thoughts at 3AM” strips away the rhythm section entirely, conjuring insomnia’s surreal haze through intimate interplay between Maxwell and Inoue. The album closes with “Public Domain Hit in 2138,” a counterpoint-rich, fusion-tinged finale whose title humorously references copyright law—imagining the song’s life long after its creator is gone.

While Frenetic Domain introduces a fresh sonic dimension, it remains unmistakably Maxwell. His rhythmically intricate writing, shaped by jazz but informed by rock, funk, hip hop, R&B, and classical influences, has long resisted tidy categorization. Earlier large-ensemble projects like his Alliance recordings explored adjacent musical territories, and his compositional voice—sometimes compared to Frank Zappa, Philip Glass, and even Bach—has consistently thrived in stylistic borderlands.

Maxwell’s career reflects that restless creativity. From his formative years in Joliet, Illinois, through earning a Music B.A. at Millikin University, to more than 25 years performing throughout Chicago and touring nationally, he has cultivated a distinct voice on saxophone and clarinet. His albums have twice been named among DownBeat Magazine’s “Best Albums of the Year,” earned multiple Editor’s Picks, and received praise from outlets including the Chicago Tribune and Jazz Times. His recordings have charted in the Top 50 on JazzWeek and College Music Journal Jazz Charts. Projects such as Expectation & Experience featured ambitious remote collaborations with nearly thirty musicians, including harmonica virtuoso Howard Levy, further underscoring his expansive creative reach.

As both a Vandoren and Conn-Selmer artist, Maxwell remains deeply committed to education, delivering master classes and guest appearances that merge pedagogy with performance. That same balance of discipline and spontaneity defines Frenetic Domain: a recording rooted in classical craftsmanship, energized by jazz improvisation, and unified by a composer who understands both languages fluently.

With this release, Shawn Maxwell does more than experiment—he refines a personal dialect spoken at the crossroads of tradition and innovation. Whether or not “Public Domain Hit in 2138” becomes prophetic, Frenetic Domain stands now as a compelling testament to artistic synthesis, proving that the space between genres can be fertile ground for something enduring.

Melissa Aldana Finds Her True Sound on Filin, a Luminous Ballads Statement

For as long as she has been a recording artist, Chilean-born tenor saxophonist Melissa Aldana has wanted to make a ballads record. Inspired by archetypes such as John Coltrane’s 1963 classic Ballads, Aldana envisioned a slow-tempo project not as a showcase for volume, velocity, or harmonic complexity, but as a vehicle to pursue something far more elusive: sound itself. Not just tone, but the full emotional and physical presence of her tenor — the way its overtones can cradle a fragile melody, the way its resonance can move through a space and saturate it with shifting colors and emotional depth.

Aldana has long studied the masters — Sonny Rollins, Wayne Shorter, Joe Henderson, Lester Young, Charlie Parker, and Don Byas among them — transcribing their solos and absorbing their approaches. For these icons, she notes, sound itself was the ultimate expressive tool; every note contained an entire emotional universe. Beyond the technical mastery required to execute complex ideas lies what she describes as the mystical dimension of sound — an intangible force she continues to explore. A ballads record, she believed, would allow her to burrow deeper into that essence.

Yet Aldana, known for a 15-year arc of strikingly personal and narrative-driven projects, refused to approach the concept as a straightforward exercise in American jazz standards. Seeking something authentic to her artistic identity, she reached out to one of her musical heroes, Cuban pianist and composer Gonzalo Rubalcaba, with whom she had long hoped to collaborate on a full-length project. Rubalcaba proposed an inspired direction: interpret the filin tradition of his native Cuba, a richly arranged romantic song form that flourished between the late 1940s and early 1960s. Derived from the English word “feeling,” filin created a dialogue between Cuban trova, bolero, and jazz, elevating lyrical intimacy and musical sophistication while redefining aspects of Cuban musical identity.

Born in Havana in 1963, Rubalcaba grew up immersed in this music, encountering key figures of the movement including guitarist Ñico Rojas, pianist Frank Domínguez, and vocalists Omara Portuondo and Elena Burke. The style’s emotional depth and harmonic nuance left a lasting imprint on his artistry. For Aldana, filin offered an ideal bridge between her jazz foundation and her Chilean roots. The songs evoked the romantic ache of the Great American Songbook, yet their Spanish lyrics allowed her to connect on a level she had never experienced before. The language itself opened new expressive pathways, reshaping how she inhabited melody and phrasing.

Guided by Rubalcaba, Aldana immersed herself in the history and repertoire of filin, ultimately crafting a program for her album Filin. Rubalcaba arranged the music and performed on piano, joined by bassist Peter Washington and drummer Kush Abadey. Acclaimed vocalist Cecile McLorin Salvant contributes luminous performances on two tracks, while Don Was, President of Blue Note Records, produced the project with his signature blend of discernment and empathy.

Aldana approached the repertoire with her customary rigor, transcribing melodies from vocal versions, studying the lyrics and their emotional intent, and internalizing each song’s narrative. The ensemble recorded together in the same room with minimal rehearsal, prioritizing human connection over studio polish. The result is a striking work of emotional minimalism: eight tracks that move with deliberate patience and quiet intensity, foregrounding Aldana’s radiant melodic delivery. The virtuosity of the musicians is undeniable, yet it is channeled toward restraint, nuance, and collective storytelling rather than technical display.

The album opens with the breathtaking “La Sentencia,” co-written by Salvador Levi and Ela O’Farrill, followed by “Dime Si Eres Tú” by filin pioneer Cesar Portillo de la Luz, whose sustained brushwork outro from Abadey serves as an elegant and daring arrangement choice. Marta Valdés’s torch song “No Te Empeñes Más,” featuring a stunning vocal by Salvant, holds personal resonance for Aldana, who recalls her mother playing it at home. Frank Domínguez’s “Imágenes,” which Aldana first encountered through Pablo Milanés, closes the first half with haunting lyricism.

“Las Rosas No Hablan,” composed by Brazilian samba innovator Cartola, appears here in Spanish translation, with Salvant delivering a poignant interpretation. Hermeto Pascoal’s “Little Church,” known to many through Miles Davis’s double LP Live-Evil, is reimagined as pure lyricism, stripped of the eerie surrealism associated with Pascoal’s original whistling textures. Aldana cites Wayne Shorter as a guiding inspiration in shaping her approach to the piece. The album concludes with José Antonio Méndez’s “Ocaso” and Frank Domínguez’s “No Pidas Imposibles,” both evoking the timeless elegance of midcentury jazz and pop balladry while retaining a uniquely Latin sensibility.

Throughout Filin, Aldana’s improvisations depart from her signature long-form harmonic explorations in favor of gossamer phrasing and melodic clarity. Rather than striving for the perfect jazz solo, she focuses on presence, space, and emotional authenticity. The album reflects an artist who feels less compelled to prove anything and more committed to saying something meaningful.

Filin is the kind of record to live with — a timeless, immersive statement that unfolds slowly and rewards deep listening. In embracing filin’s intimate language and merging it with her evolving sound, Melissa Aldana has created a ballads album that feels both inevitable and revelatory — a profound meditation on tone, heritage, and artistic maturity.

Tom Oren Illuminates New Creative Horizons With Dark Lights

Award-winning pianist and composer Tom Oren unveils Dark Lights, a bold and deeply personal new trio recording featuring Elam Friedlander on bass and Eviatar Slivnik on drums. Available worldwide on Anzic Records beginning February 20, 2026, the album captures Oren’s remarkable fusion of monster jazz piano technique, cinematic storytelling, and expansive imagination. Winner of the prestigious Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz International Piano Competition, Oren continues to affirm his reputation as one of the most compelling creative forces of his generation.

Founded on fluent three-way interplay, Dark Lights presents six original compositions and three arrangements that showcase Oren’s fearless improvisational voice. Throughout the album, he unleashes daring polyphony, unexpected harmonic combinations, and an unending stream of melodic invention, all unfolding in dynamic conversation with Friedlander and Slivnik. The trio’s cohesion allows Oren to transcend the confines of the studio and access the spontaneous intensity he associates with live performance — balancing devotion to written composition with deep commitment to the moment.

In 2023, the year of the recording, Oren had already built an extraordinary résumé before turning 30. In 2018, he captured first prize at the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz International Piano Competition, earning global recognition for his interpretive brilliance. Alongside his thriving jazz career, he established himself as a gifted film composer. In 2021, he created a vivid, kaleidoscopic score for acclaimed director Avi Nesher’s award-winning feature film Image of Victory, later released in 2022 on Milan Records, a division of Sony Music Masterworks. The score blended classical influences with a cross-era jazz sensibility, further expanding Oren’s artistic scope.

By 2026, Oren continues to broaden his creative footprint. He is composing a second film score for Avi Nesher, collaborating in piano-voice settings with Serbian singer Tamara Jokić on an upcoming album, and working with Israeli pop star Tamir Greenberg. Simultaneously, he is cultivating an alternate stream of expression as a singer-songwriter-guitarist, demonstrating a versatility that mirrors the stylistic range heard on Dark Lights.

Oren describes Dark Lights as “the second chapter of my recorded musical journal.” The first chapter, Dorly’s Song, released in 2020 on Concord Records, featured ten striking arrangements of songs by his mother and first teacher, Dorly Oren-Chazon — a renowned pianist, composer, lyricist, and innovative music pedagogue. Reflecting on the years between the two albums, Oren credits his growth to learning how to approach music with seriousness and respect while remaining inwardly at peace — allowing spontaneity to coexist with discipline.

The album’s title track, composed when Oren was just 17, unfolds as a two-part opus exploring darkness as a leap into the unknown — reaching forward with courage and faith. The opening section surges with turbulent minor chords and dark melodies that fuel a warp-speed improvisation, before resolving into a stately meditation. Even the most innocent melodic ideas carry an edge, “born out of the night,” as Oren describes it.

The mysterious waltz-like motif of “Fantasy in C Sharp Minor” opens the program, gradually introducing listeners to the album’s sonic world. Structured with classical sonata principles of exposition, development, and recapitulation, the piece builds toward a vertiginous contrapuntal climax before resolving into a vamp that frames Slivnik’s fiery drum solo. Oren’s playful 9/8 arrangement of “Out of Nowhere,” developed during his time at Berklee College of Music, reflects bebop lineage while boldly venturing into new rhythmic territory. His contrapuntal composition “Forest Conference” conjures a nocturnal tribal gathering, culminating in Friedlander’s lyrical bass solo as the imagined assembly disperses.

Oren also transforms Dorly Oren-Chazon’s “Inner Demon Inner Game” from a ballad into an exhilarating up-tempo swing showcase, demonstrating breathtaking command of bebop vocabulary. His straight-eighth arrangement of “Stella By Starlight” retains melodic fidelity while introducing his own harmonic architecture. “Goodbye Alyosha,” inspired by Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, channels literary reflection into kaleidoscopic improvisation. “Throwing Pebbles,” a rubato ballad featuring Friedlander’s pizzicato bass, evokes two figures by a lake in quiet conversation, revealing Oren’s classical touch and lyrical sensitivity. The album closes with “Dawn of Adventure,” an affirming statement whose spirit echoes the uplift of Oscar Peterson and the improvisational freedom of Keith Jarrett — a symbolic bird in the sky above an otherwise shadowed palette.

Oren’s performance calendar reflects his global reach. On February 22 and February 28, he joins Terence Blanchard for performances of the opera Fire Shut Up in My Bones at the Mahalia Jackson Theater for the Performing Arts and Leighton Concert Hall, respectively. On March 12, he appears with the Meital Waldmann 4tet at the Manhattan JCC for an EP release concert. April 10 finds him performing with Tamir Greenberg and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra at Heichal Hatarbut Tel Aviv. On April 17, he co-leads a performance with Yonatan Hadas and Joca Perpingnan at the Eretz Israel Museum as part of the Hakatedra series, and on April 23 he appears at Ztuker Hall at Heichal Hatarbut with Elam Friedlander, Alon Benjamini on drums, and special guests.

Praised by producers Oded Lev-Ari and Anat Cohen for his staggering musical diversity and profound listening abilities, Oren stands at the forefront of a new generation of jazz artists — one equally fluent in tradition and innovation. With Dark Lights, he delivers a compelling chapter in his evolving musical journal, illuminating shadow and radiance in equal measure.