NEW RELEASES: PHILLIP HAMILTON - HEALING WATERS; PLUNKY & ONENESS - NEVER TOO LATE; JOHN ZORN - THE HERMETIC ORGAN

PHILLIP HAMILTON - HEALING WATERS

Philip Hamilton is one of the most captivating voices in music today. The New York Times calls this inventive vocalist and composer “contemporary and cutting-edge” for his explosive recordings and performances. Hamilton has a voice that displays a combination of majesty, power and intimacy like Nina Simone and Bob Marley. His music is a funky layered blend of rock, jazz and blues with global grooves and sensibilities that is reminiscent of Massive Attack, Sting and Stevie Wonder. Hamilton has brought his distinctive sound to many of the world’s leading concert halls and music festivals, including New York’s Lincoln Center, Indonesia’s Java Jazz festival, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Joy of Jazz Festival in Johannesburg, the Montreal International Jazz Festival, Kaunas Jazz in Lithuania and the Telluride Bluegrass Festival.  He has performed and recorded with many notable artists from various genres including Jazz (Mike Stern, the Pat Metheny Group, Ronny Jordan), World Music (Gilberto Gil, Ivan Lins, Sara Tavares), Rock (Donald Fagan/Steely Dan, Vernon Reid), Dance (Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Ballet Hispanico) Classical (John Cage, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Tobias String Quartet) and the Jam Band scene (John Medeski, Billy Martin, Medeski, Martin & Wood). He has also been the featured vocalist for several prominent jazz fusion groups throughout his career including Spyro Gyra, Steps Ahead, Special EFX, Sixun and Full Circle.

PLUNKY & ONENESS - NEVER TOO LATE

One of the deeper albums we've heard from Plunky in awhile – a set that's still got some of the smoother jazzy styles of his past decade or two, but one that also seems to offer a lot of input from a younger, fresher generation too! The "Oneness" on the cover is well-put – as the whole thing almost seems to be a Neo Soul reworking of his older Oneness Of Juju material from the late 70s/early 80s – that point when Plunky took his spiritual jazz modes, and forged them with a bit more of a dancefloor groove – a style that echoes all the older Oneness elements, but with a more contemporary vibe overall. Titles include the original numbers "Be About The Future", "Never Too Late", "A New Fantasy", "Space Jungle Love", "Sax Afrique", "Tableau Noir", and "Tribal Vibe". ~ Dusty Groove

JOHN ZORN - THE HERMETIC ORGAN: ST. PAUL'S CHAPEL

John Zorn really takes off here with some amazing sounds on the organ of St Paul's Chapel – an exploration of the large pipe organ variant of the instrument, really pushed to the limits in a way that recalls Zorn's early experiments on alto sax! Despite the "hermetic" in the title, which might make you think of some private proceedings, or stowaway sounds – the album's got this very spacious, room-widening sort of feel – as Zorn really reaches forth with new sonic possibilities and very dark tones – of the sort that hardly befit the usual uses of a chapel of that nature. There's lots of very deep, bass-heavy notes in the mix – and titles include "Ascent Into the Maelstrom", "Prayer", "In Gloria Dei", "Battle Of The Angels", and "Holy Spirit" – all improvised by Zorn. ~ Dusty Groove