NEW RELEASES: ART BLAKELY AND THE MESSENGERS - BUHAINA; LEON WARE - LEON WARE (1982); GIANNI GAGLIARDI - NOMADIC NATURE

ART BLAKELY AND THE MESSENGERS - BUHAINA 

An amazing album that has Art Blakey completely reinventing himself for the 70s! Blakey shifts from straight hardbop to kind of a modal soul jazz groove, touched with some of the electric playing of the younger jazz generation, but not enough to qualify as fusion or funk. Instead, he's working with some great younger players – like Carter Jefferson, Woody Shaw, and Michael Howell – hitting a groove that reminds us of some of the best underground soul jazz on labels like Muse or Strata East. Includes the amazing long groovers "Mission Eternal" and "Chant For Bu", a famous Tribe Called Quest sample – plus new electric piano versions of "Moanin" and "Along Came Betty", both of which feature vocals by Jon Hendricks. ~ Dusty Groove

LEON WARE - LEON WARE (1982)

Seminal modern soul from the great Leon Ware – an artist who had a great influence on the sound of mellow Motown in the 70s, but who's sounding even better here in an early 80s California groove! Leon's smooth, sophisticated, and very much his own man on the set – unabashedly upfront with his feeling and emotions, but never in the schmaltzy style of some of his chart-topping contemporaries. Many titles have a nice little bounce and a really compelling groove – and midtempo jazzy arrangements abound, touched by lots of Fender Rhodes from co-producer Marty Paich! Titles include the classic "Why I Came To California", plus "Can I Touch You There", "Where Are They Now", "Deeper Than Love", "Shelter", "Slippin Away", and "Lost In Love With You". ~ Dusty Groove

GIANNI GAGLIARDI - NOMADIC NATURE

Nomadic Nature, the debut CD from tenor saxophonist/composer Gianni Gagliardi, is comprised of original music charged with autobiographical stories of places and people that have impacted Gagliardi greatly. It is through his compositions that he reflects on the experience of being an artist with no fixed residence; a sojourner who roams the world with his horn in search of the next experience or encounter that will inform his art. Nomadic Nature features Gilad Hekselman (guitar), Luke Marantz (piano), Alexis Cuadrado (bass) and Mark Ferber (drums). Gagliardi was born in Barcelona in 1987, and is now based in Brooklyn, NY. He began to study violin and baroque/renaissance flute, switching to saxophone at 14. Gagliardi is the Director of the Barcelona Jazz Collective, a platform for rising musicians to produce and release albums, and has been invited to perform at prestigious international jazz festivals around the globe, such as The North Sea Jazz Festival, the Luxembourg Jazz Festival, Guatemala and Nicaragua Jazz Festivals and Eurojazz Festival (Mexico), as well as leading jazz venues, such as Bimhuis, Porgy & Bess Vienna, Jamboree. Gagliardi has also played in Europe, South America and USA with musicians such as John Clayton, Eric Alexander, Dick Oatts, Phillip Harper, Terell Stafford, Jorge Rossy and many others. Now, Gagliardi is determinedly making his mark on the Brooklyn/NYC scene with the release of his debut CD, Nomadic Nature. ~ www.Giannigagliardi.com