Friday, June 21, 2013

NEW RELEASES - BATIDA DE COLONIA, YELLOWJACKETS, JOHN SCOFIELD

BATIDA DE COLONIA - BATIDA DE COLONIA

Samba, bossa nova, mambo, there is hardly a genre of Latin American music which Batida de Colonia doesn‘t process in it´s sound. Deeply inspired by the great Latino musicians of yesteryear such as Tito Puente, Cal Tjader, Marcos Valle, Astrud Gilberto and Jorge Ben the Cologne artists create their very own music, where everything is allowed that is fun. Why not sing a mambo alla Tito Puente in German? Or who says that The Cure and The Smith wouldn‘t also function as a Brazilian samba?
Leading the project is Thomas Berghaus, who already released three albums under the alias "Shareholder Tom‘ and at his side is the Cologne guitarist and singer Anna Gaden, who works alongside her musical activity as an actress. The recordings of the debut album emerged between Berghaus jobs as a music producer and graphic designer for commercials and film and theater engagements that Anna Gaden pursued. Therefore, it took a while until the album was recorded. There was time to rethink the things again and again and walking paths, which no one had gone before Batida de Colónia. There are repeatedly breaks in their music, you might almost think you hear German pop music of the 60s. In the next line of text though it becomes directly clear what this is all about: an honest deep homage to the music culture of Latin America of the 50s, 60s and 70s. ~batida-de-colonia.de

YELLOWJACKETS - A RISE IN THE ROAD

On this record, the 22nd of their career, they are joined by their newest member, bassist Felix Pastorius, son of the legendary Jaco Pastorius. "He had the personality that fit well," remarked Bob Mintzer. "We welcome Felix to the fray. It was mainly just the four of us playing live. We accomplished a big, big sound. It sounds pretty wide for just four guys!.” Produced by Ferrante, Mintzer and Kennedy, the album features a guest apearance by young trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire. A Rise In The Road also marks the first time in nearly 30-years that Jaco’s bass was played on a new recording. As for the album's title, Russell Ferrante explains, “It’s about the challenges that people face in their lives and whatever path they are on: It’s not always smooth sailing, it’s not always a level road. Things come to an end, and you have to meet the challenge and keep going forward.”

JOHN SCOFIELD - UBERJAM DEUX

John Scofield is an artist who is almost impossible to pigeonhole. Such is his mastery of the guitar that he is comfortable in any setting whether it be jazz, blues, rock or just about any other genre; including some genres, as he demonstrates on his latest EmArcy release, Uberjam Deux, which have yet to be defined.
Uberjam Deux, has been a decade in the gestation, following in direct line of descent from 2002s Grammy nominated Uberjam; not that Scofield has been inactive in the interim, far from it. There have been seven John Scofield albums in the intervening years, as well as five others on which he is a co-leader on the project. His last Emarcy release was A Moments Peace (2011), a luxurious album of ballads ¬ the polar opposite of Uberjam Deux. Its rare for an artist to be able to play more than one style of music with true fluency, virtuosity and sincerity John Scofield is one such artist. Those who loved the original Uberjam will not be disappointed by Uberjam Deux and yet Scofields new album is arguably even more of its time than his earlier record. According to Sco, We used all kinds of different grooves for this record, but they are all basically dance grooves. Some might say they are from the African diaspora; theres Rhythm and Blues, Afro-beat, reggae and house, but whatever they are they are all funky. We used all these amazing world-grooves to blow over. Certain songs have been evolving over the ten years since Uberjam; Avi Bortnick had been working on some of these groove ideas and we took them and developed them into what you hear on our new record. ~ amazon.com

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