Tuesday, October 14, 2014

NEW RELEASES: TINEKE POSTMA / GREG OSBY – SONIC HALO; GEORGE SPANOS - BEYOND DREAMS; THE DOWNTOWN AVENGERS

TINEKE POSTMA / GREG OSBY – SONIC HALO

This album is promising an absolutely fresh and intriguing music. Osby's modern energetic and acoustic conceptual sounds will meet the melodic European influences of Tineke. A recording with two soprano saxophones has hardly ever been done before; it’s pretty uncommon. The intriguing mix of male and female ingredients from Greg and Tineke will show that times have changed and jazz is not a music style dominated by males anymore. Greg Osby was Tineke’s mentor once, now Greg admits they are peers and he has a lot to learn from her. It is a multicultural project uniting the greatest young musicians from the NYC scene, the Netherlands and Australia.  Also features, Matt Mitchell on piano, Rhodes, Dan Weiss on drums, and Linda Oh on bass, the CD will be released October 14 on Challenge Records. This is the first album of Tineke in the last 3 years and for the first time she has been recording as a co-leader with Greg. This album will show her new musical developments influenced by her long stays in NYC and performances with top artists of the US jazz scene.

GEORGE SPANOS - BEYOND DREAMS

George Spanos, from Athens, Greece, is a drummer/composer based in New York City. Spanos’ recent highlights include performances with John Zorn, Ikue Mori, Juini Booth, Lawrence Clark, Marc Ribot, On ka’a Davis, Sylvie Courvoisier, Erik Friendlander, Steve Swell, The Downtown Avengers and many other incredible artists. He has appeared in concerts and jazz festivals in Europe, United States and Canada. His debut recording, Jungle of Illusions 2011 received great critical acclaims among the critics in Europe and the United States alike.  Spanos is a newcomer in the New York City progressive jazz scene, and on this release he’s brought together an impressive cast of musicians including bassist Juini Booth (Sun Ra, McCoy Tyner, Elvin Jones, Tony Williams and Art Blakey), guitarist On ka'a Davis (Sun Ra), saxophonist Lawrence Clark (Rashied Ali) and Ikue Mori (John Zorn), as well as vocalist and Evolver Records founder Lola Danza, clarinetist Vasko Dukovski, tubist Ben Stapp, violinist Fung Chern Hwei, cellist Adam Fisher, percussionist Sayun Chang, trumpeter Keaton Akins, and pianist Simone Weißenfels. ~ evolverrecords.com

THE DOWNTOWN AVENGERS

The Downtown Avengers gathers an international cast of musicians from colorfully varied backgrounds. Fung himself is a Malaysian born and raised in Kuala Lumpur, who grew up with a variety of musical cultures including his ethnic Chinese music, Malay traditional music,Bollywood film music and much more; Vasko Dukovski, Macedonian clarinet mad man, is deeply rooted in both European classical music and Balkan folk music; percussionist Sayun Chang, a native Taiwanese whose half­Seediq (an aboriginal tribe in Taiwan, also pronounced “Seejiq” in her Truku dialect) origin allowed her a beautiful blend of native Taiwanese and Classical concert percussion sounds; George Spanos, freshly landed in the States last year from Greece, is an Athenian who integrates his jazz training with his Classical background, Greek folk music, and his love of avant­garde jazz; Ben Stapp, Californian tubist and the winner of the 2nd Annual Bob Stewart Tuba Competition who tirelessly explores new territories and possibilities for his instrument; last but not least, Lola Danza, the founder of Evolver Records and a fearless adventurer in vocal art, who, although an American, has a Korean background that shines through her music in every way. These musicians, individually worked with the likes of John Zorn, Ornette Coleman, Uri Caine, John Corigliano, Gunter Schuller and George Lewis, are each equipped with very special skill sets, much like characters from the superhero comics and are a breath of fresh air to this musical genre that’s often perceived as “difficult to understand” or “too cerebral”. ~ evolverrecords.com


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