Shiva in flagrante — mysterious new Jazz album from ex-Buddhist priest, Jacques Bailhé

What happens when you mix years touring on bass with Big Lost, a critic once described as “Folk-Baroque-Rock,” stir in producing hundreds of tracks for film and commercials, a drum solo behind a fire-breathing stripper in a roller rink in Bangkok, sitar lessons in India and Nepal, and chanting prayers as a Buddhist monk? You get Shiva in flagrante (The Hindu god Shiva in flames of passion). Bailhé laughs, “Chanting prayers in temples is a fascinating way to experience the overtone series!”

Building a style he describes as “reckless abandon,” Bailhé explores ideas through music and narrative dance. The scenario for Shiva in flagrante tells the tale of a Harley-Davidson‑riding Shiva falling in love, mating with the goddess Parvati, and the birth of their child in the final track titled “The Facts of Creation.” “That story had to be told in Jazz,” says Bailhé.

A distinctive new voice in instrumental music, Jacques Bailhé unleashes firey passion and spellbinding narrative that stuns audiences with “fascinatin’ rhythm and melody” woven with sophisticated harmony and counterpoint. “I don’t understand why so many composers seem to abandon melody. Isn’t it probably the most powerful aspect of music?” he asks.

“I don’t think much in chords. I seem to work from independent melodic lines in the tradition of contrapuntal style.” His musical inspirations come from early works by Weather Report, Miles Davis, Brian Blade and the Fellowship Band, ethnic artists like Ravi Shankar and Zap Mama, and others like Hendrix, The Beatles, and producers and engineers like George Martin and Geoff Emerick, quickly pointing out that “engineering is the yin of the yang. But studying scores, especially by Vivaldi, Bach, Beethoven, Berg, John Adams, Gil Evans, and Miles was a revelation. They make it look so simple.”

Stream multi-instrumentalist Jacques Bailhé’s new album, Shiva in Flagrante on the artist’s official music platforms and follow him on social media for updates on his upcoming release due this fall will, also focused on music for dance. And BTW, he’s always on the lookout for choreographers for collaboration. 

Kenny Neal | "Straight From The Heart"

Kenny Neal has announced that he will be releasing Straight From The Heart via Ruf Records on May 20, 2022. 

Down in Louisiana, they do things differently. The Southern state's musical giants have always had their special recipe for American roots: spiced with jazz, steeped in swamp blues, and cooked up a little differently by every artist who performs it. As a second-generation child of the Bayou State, Kenny Neal has taken his inimitable guitar, gale-force harp, and roadworn voice all over the globe. But in 2022, the Grammy-nominated blues master's latest album, Straight From The Heart, finds him drawn by the siren call of his hometown and musical ground zero, Baton Rouge. 

"This is the first album I've ever recorded on my turf, and it truly came straight from the heart," says Neal, who led and produced a crack team of local musicians at his own Brookstown Recording Studios. "All the tributaries of the blues converge here, flowing into one rich tradition." 

If there's a guiding concept behind the eleven songs of Straight From The Heart, it's Neal's mission to rewind the reels of his life and channel the spirit of the music that crackled from the family record player in his early years.  

Neal couldn't have picked better circumstances for his childhood. He was born in New Orleans on October 14, 1957, and quickly found early inspiration in his father, the harp master Raful Neal, who blew a gale and moved in the same orbit as Buddy Guy and Slim Harpo.  

Nature and nurture couldn't help but rub off. At 13, Neal Jr was wowing the crowds in his father's band; four years later, he played bass with Guy himself. His fabled period working with his siblings in the Neal Brothers Blues Band is still spoken of in reverential tones on the Toronto circuit whose roofs they blew off. But perhaps Neal's actual arrival came in 1988 when the Alligator label reissued his first solo LP as Big News From Baton Rouge!! and ears pricked up for a modern swamp-blues master who had the touch and voice of an old soul but the vision and hunger of a young gun. 

Stick a pin in Neal's discography since then, and you'll strike gold, from 2008's Let Life Flow (which shook up his playbook with a dose of Memphis soul) to 2016's Bloodline (which not only scored a Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary Blues Album but won two Blues Music Awards). From Neal's W.C. Handy Blues Award of 2005 to his 2011 induction into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame, few contemporary artists are more decorated.  

You'll hear all of Neal's travels in Straight From The Heart, but this latest album brings it all back home. Lining up in the studio alongside his Baton Rouge compadrés, Neal invited some special guests to appear on the album; including Grammy Award-winning blues sensation Christone 'Kingfish' Ingram (who co-writes and plays stinger guitar on "Mount Up On The Wings Of The King"), pop royalty Tito Jackson (on "Two Timing"), and two songs with Rockin' Dopsie Junior & The Zydeco Twisters. You'll even hear Neal's supremely talented daughter Syreeta drive the vocal outro of "Two-Timing." 

"It was like a family reunion," says Neal of the good-natured sessions. "It was excellent because I had all the musicians that grew up under me here in Baton Rouge. And just being in my studio, not worrying about the clock." 

Straight From The Heart is a fitting title for a record that salutes the many loves of Neal's life. First, the brass-driven opener "Blues Keep Chasing Me" tips a hat to his recently departed friend, Lucky Peterson. Then, the touching piano-led "Someone Somewhere" salutes the beloved father who put him on this path. Elsewhere, Neal's deep love for every side of his home state is underlined by the zydeco chop of "Bon Temps Rouler" and "New Orleans", whose lyrics reference everything from "sippin' on Hurricane" to "sittin' on the Bayou catching catfish".   

As the world opens up Kenny Neal will embrace his natural habitat of the road. The Louisiana icon will bring a little bit of that Baton Rouge spirit onto every stage he treads. "It doesn't cost anything to share a little love and respect," he says. "And we can all rise above."

New Music: Eric Roberson, Matt Panayides, Jazz Sabbath, Rebecca Angel

Eric Roberson - Lessons

Over the past few decades, there's been few contemporary soul singers who've won our hearts more than Eric Roberson – an underground hero who only rewards our faith in his music more and more as the years move on – a legacy that's certainly delivered on with this beautiful full length set! In a time when so many other artists are just content to drop a track or two here and there, Eric remains wonderfully committed to the full length set – which is a good thing, as it takes a longer record like this to really contain his mighty talents – vocals that are superb, a sense of songwriting that's classic in construction but contemporary in vibe, and a warmth and generosity that are boundless – and flow beautifully from track to track effortlessly. Roberson walked away from the major labels over 25 years, and his contributions have just been greater and greater ever since – as you'll hear on "Good Loving", "Lessons", "High On You", "Don't Run From It Baby", "Everything", "Seen", "Tried To Be Your Friend", "Letting My Guard Down", "Start All Over Again", and "All I Want" – plus an acoustic remix of "Lessons" with guest work from Raheem DeVaughn, Kevin Ross, and Anthony Hamilton. ~ Dusty Groove

Matt Panayides - Field Theory

On Field Theory, guitarist and composer Matt Panayides explores new sonic landscapes by mixing electric and acoustic sounds in a set of modern, highly original compositions. Field Theory is a departure from Panayides’ previous releases, Conduits (2016) and Tapestries of Song (2011), which were both acoustic, modern-jazz projects. Restlessly inventive, he is always looking for new ways to express himself musically, so in 2018 he began experimenting with Matt Vashlishman, a saxophonist and multi-woodwind instrumentalist. With Panayides on electric guitar and Vashlishan on the Akai EWI (electric wind instrument), the concept for Field Theory started taking shape. Panayides’ approach to composition is influenced by Wayne Shorter’s chord voicings and colors. Panayides says, “For me, the ideas for compositions come as if from another place. They can appear at any time, sometimes while practicing or on a gig. But the ideas can also come in a dream, or while driving, or standing in line. The trick is to capture these little musical nuggets as best I can so I can organize them later. This entire album was conceived in this way.” Field Theory is a contemporary, post-bop jazz album. Panayides invites the listener in with music that is at once familiar yet largely unexpected, with pops of contrasting colors that weave together images of sound that tell stories not unlike a great abstract painting.

Jazz Sabbath - Jazz Sabbath Vol. 2

The second entry in this much-loved, much-lauded project – a set of jazz reworks of tunes made famous by Black Sabbath back in the day – transformed here to a completely different idiom by the work of the trio! The first time round, these guys tried to pass off their debut as a lost vintage record – here, they're playing things a bit more upfront – and as a result, the album's actually more interesting too – taking more chances with the arrangements, and going for a presentation that really brings all these interesting sounds and colors to the tunes – instead of just trying to sound like a Black Sabbath record without guitar or vocals. Tracks are a bit longer, with a nice sense of presence in the way they build things up – and titles include versions of "Paranoid", "Snowblind", "Black Sabbath", "NIB", "Sabbra Cadabra", "Behind The Wall Of Sleep", and "Symptom Of The Universe". ~ Dusty Groove

Rebecca Angel -  Love Life Choices

Hot off her hit sensual funk rendition of “For What It’s Worth,” the Vietnam era classic she slyly re-appropriated for contemporary times, New York based singer, songwriter and vocal interpreter extraordinaire Rebecca Angel makes her long-awaited full length album debut with the vibrant, multi-faceted Love Life Choices. Vibing with longtime collaborator, veteran keyboardist/producer Jason Miles, and some top-flight session cats, the sultry, easy flowing vocalist makes every track an intimate invitation to join her as she celebrates her recent marriage and artfully chronicles the pandemic and other important societal issues. The set includes dynamic jazz, R&B and/or Brazilian tinged originals, exotic, atmosphere and groove-centered re-imaginings (of gems by Bill Withers, Bob Marley, Antonio Carlos Jobim and Sade) and a few memorable, previously released singles. www.smoothjazz.com

George Cotsirilos | "Refuge"

George Cotsirilos pushes into new frontiers with the May 20 release of Refuge (OA2). The guitarist and composer’s follow-up to his acclaimed 2018 album Mostly in Blue again features his quartet—pianist Keith Saunders, bassist Robb Fisher, and drummer Ron Marabuto—but repositions them both in pursuit of new challenges and, if anything, even more “in blue.” 

Cotsirilos added piano to his longtime trio in 2018, hoping to express the denser harmonies he was hearing in his writing. The success of the experiment encouraged him to keep moving forward, creating a group of compositions that are more complex and more seasoned in the blues. (He comes by that seasoning honestly: Though based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Cotsirilos was born and raised in Chicago.) 

The lockdowns and isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic gave him opportunities to explore a variety of music and assimilate it into his own work. However, it also hampered his ability to workshop the new tunes with the band. “It became more and more difficult to try out the pieces, so it took a while to get them to a point where we were all happy with them,” Cotsirilos says. “But I was confident … that everything would come together.” 

Indeed, come together it did. From the sumptuous melody and harmonies of “Refuge,” to the sly, sexy Latin groove of “Igualmente,” to the alluring intricacies of “Aftermath” and “Let’s Make a Break for It,” Refuge is every inch the work of an adept and highly attuned ensemble. It’s clear that the players are intimately familiar with not just the compositions, but the possibilities they offer. 

While Cotsirilos is the album’s leader and composer, the quartet functions very much on a level playing field. The pieces require close interaction among all four musicians—the entirety of “A Faint Light” hinges on the pocket they create—and even the solos achieve their high caliber through the full band’s chemistry. Cotsirilos’s Byzantine line on “Planet Roxoid” succeeds by virtue of Saunders’s anticipating his every step, and the guitarist pays it forward with an equally empathic accompaniment of Fisher’s bass solo on “The Three Doves.” 

Cotsirilos claims to receive inspiration from recordings of Beethoven’s cello sonatas—because, he says, they were written with an aim “for instruments to enhance each other.” His work with his quartet on Refuge leaves no doubt that this is so.

George Cotsirilos was born in Chicago in 1951. His passion for music was stimulated by an aunt and an uncle—the former was a classical music lover who encouraged him to play the violin; the latter was an erstwhile drummer who took him to hear Louis Armstrong. The renaissance of Chicago blues during his teenage years ensured that George grew devoted to the electric guitar. 

In 1969, Cotsirilos enrolled at UC Berkeley. A sociology major, he briefly left school halfway through his studies to play guitar in a blues band. When he re-enrolled at Berkeley, he separately became a student of Warren Nunes, a legendary guitarist in East Bay musical circles. Nunes brought Cotsirilos under the sway of jazz, learning about the great guitarists as well as the ideas and techniques of other instrumentalists like Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and Chick Corea. 

Even as he studied music more seriously—training on classical guitar through the San Francisco Conservatory of Music—Cotsirilos completed his sociology degree, then attained a law degree. He maintained a dual career for years working as a criminal defender and lecturer at Berkeley’s prestigious School of Law, while also performing alongside Pharoah Sanders, Etta James, renowned drummer Eddie Marshall, and Bay Area stalwarts Mel Martin and Mark Levine. He released his first solo album, Silenciosa, in 2003, followed by three trio albums with Fisher and Marabuto. 

In 2017, around the same time he expanded his trio to a quartet (with Saunders on piano), Cotsirilos retired from the law profession and devoted himself full-time to music. Refuge is one of the beneficiaries of that decision—and so is the jazz audience. 

The George Cotsirilos Quartet will be performing CD release shows on Sat. 5/21 at Bird & Beckett, San Francisco (7:30pm); Sat. 5/28 at Mr. Tipple’s Recording Studio, San Francisco (6:00pm); and Sat. 6/4 at The Backroom, Berkeley (8:00pm).

Anthony Joseph | "The Rich Are Only Defeated When Running For Their Lives"

British-Trinidadian poet,musician, and author Anthony Joseph’s latest album contains multitudes. Operating as a dedication to poetic ancestors and a coming together of musical generations, ‘The Rich are Only Defeated When Running for their Lives’ is also an almighty jam. Recorded live last August, it shows off the prowess of a team of master musicians (Shabaka Hutchings among others) from Paris and London. Jason Yarde, who also produced Joseph’s 2018 album is credited as producer, composer, and arranger – to startling, albeit intimate, effect. 

Running throughout the release are inter-connected themes: memory, place, belonging and acts of homage. Opener, ‘Kamau’ pays respect to the lauded Barbadian poet, Kamau Brathwaite who passed away in February 2020. Brathwaite was an important influence on Joseph – the two writers met several times. On ‘Kamau’ Joseph compellingly conveys not only the nature of Brathwaite’s aesthetic, but the full potential of a Black surrealist poetics, in an urgent, clipped diction against a rousing musical soundtrack which features Hutchings on bass clarinet. 

When asked to convey the essence of Brathwaite’s “energy” in a 2018 interview, Joseph used the words “audacious … muscular,” while also noting the late poet’s capacity to “give voice to the voiceless.” A similar description might be used for Joseph’s new album, in its evocation of the post Windrush generation’s search for belonging  — a story that soon becomes Joseph’s own (‘Calling England Home’), in the recounting of familial grief (‘The Gift’) and in the expansive grooves and storytelling on ‘Maka Dimweh’, a poem/song that universalises the tale of a Guyanese soldier.

One of the album’s most striking cuts, ‘Language (Poem for Anthony McNeill)’ once more memorialises another key figure in the Caribbean literary landscape: McNeill, a Jamaican poet known for his radical modernist aesthetic, deeply influenced by jazz, who died before his time in 1996. The 10-minute plus groove shows the band to full effect, as Joseph compellingly conjures something of McNeill’s gift and the potential of “language rooted in the drums…the cry of the horn.” 

In fact, the entire album might be understood as part of Joseph’s engagement with his Caribbean musical and literary roots; the somewhat mysterious album title, for instance, comes from the Trinidadian writer, philosopher, historian and socialist activist, C.L.R James’ book on the Haitian revolution, ‘The Black Jacobins’ (1938).

To Yarde and Joseph’s credit the musicianship never falters, even when conjuring deeply contrasting moods. See, for instance, the foregrounding of a formidable horn section of top-level saxophonists of very different aesthetic stripes (Hutchings, Yarde, Colin Webster – a longstanding Joseph collaborator and Denys Baptiste, whose credits include McCoy Tyner and Billy Higgins).  ‘Calling England Home’, for example, is carried along by a sleepily evocative ‘60s horn-driven dancehall ambience, entirely in keeping with the song’s lyrical focus. 

Note too, Rod Youngs’ sensitive drum parts, which coalesces to great effect with Andrew John’s bass throughout the album. Youngs is a previous Gil Scott-Heron collaborator, while London-based bassist and composer John has played on six of Joseph’s previous albums. Guitarist Thibaut Remy, who composed ‘Calling England Home’, performs with the Awalé Jant Band. There are the fragile interruptions of French jazz pianist, Florian Pellissier, while contributions from veteran percussionists Roger Raspail and Crispin Robinson provide further grit, delicacy and depth. 

New Orleans Based Extended Trio Release "Without Notice"

Immediately after dropping their 2019 critically acclaimed sophomore release, Harbinger (Origin Records), New Orleans-based trio Extended set to work assembling the material for Without Notice. Embedded in the previous album were flashes of the long-form, highly improvisational yet through-composed and thoroughly collective approach to songwriting that has become their signature, and this new album is their calling card.

Without Notice is full of twists and turns and surprises – it is their most musically adventurous album to date, the material largely worked out on stage over several years of active local gigging and touring. In that process, they've expanded their palette of sound worlds, adding 90s hip-hop grooves (“Central Standard”) and unexpected post-production overdubs (“Impairment Process”), to the Debussy textures (“The Ineffable Allure of Shadows”) and Keith Jarrett-tinged jazz-rock phrasing (“The Gardens”) that listeners have come to expect. Ironically, it is now, on this third release that they have finally found an occasion to swing (“Sphere”).

The title cut is the newest tune in the book, written during the early days of the Covid-19 shutdown. By comparison, it is a simple tune, yet it is an example of the way their music can turn on a dime, offering something different at any moment. As an album title, it is a reminder of how the year 2020 unfolded, and luckily, Extended was in a position to take advantage of the unexpected free time of the shutdown and dive headfirst into preparing this recording. This is their pandemic gift to us.

Each member writes equally for the band, drawing on their disparate life experiences – Rossignoli grew up in Honduras, Webb in South Louisiana, and Booth outside Washington, DC. They began playing together in the boil pot of the New Orleans music scene in 2016, and despite their diversity of influences, they have done what all bands strive to do. Extended has developed a singular ensemble sound. This is contemporary piano trio music from a band that knows who it is, where it came from, and where it is headed.

EXTENDED is Oscar Rossignoli on piano, Matt Booth on bass, and Brad Webb on drums. They all compose for the group, with the particular musical personalities of the group foremost in mind, an approach that has thrilled locals and has reached audiences worldwide. Their sophomore outing, Harbinger (Origin Records), improves upon the solid foundation set with 2017's eponymous debut, exhibiting a new attitude and focused maturity after three years of development. Offbeat Magazine named the album one of the Top 50 Best of Louisiana Music in 2019, and as stated by their Geraldine Wyckoff, “Harbinger manifests superb musicianship creatively employed to produce a highly individualized yet collective artistic endeavor that is a privilege to experience.” Their debut LP from the spring of 2017, released on Breakfast 4 Dinner records, received praise for its distinctive compositions and dynamic group interplay.

Since their first release, Extended has toured within the country and continues to play shows that leave audiences invigorated and fulfilled. As the whole world knows, the city of New Orleans knows no shortage of the highest caliber of players in the world, but in the last few years locals have been thrilled to see the development of a new collective - EXTENDED - that has quickly come to find a place among our brightest stars.

International Reggae Band Dub Inc Announces Their Debut West Coast Tour

The prominent international reggae band, Dub Inc. is excited to announce their 2022 Spring West Coast U.S.A. tour! It has been over 10 years since the French superstars have been in the United States and they are beyond excited to return once again. Kicking off in May at the 11th edition of California Roots Festival, Dub Inc will embark on their debut West Coast tour with Hawaii’s own Mike Love. 

In 2011 Dub Inc first came to the United States for their debut East Coast tour where they dazzled audiences with their unique blend of reggae, dancehall and world music stylings. It was a major milestone and dream for the seven piece band who began in high school in 1998. They are fronted by the singers Bouchkour and Komlan whose vocals and lyrical prowess embody the band's diverse but complementary influences. Embodying a universal message whether the song is French, English or Kabyle (an Algerian language), their music is influenced by their diverse backgrounds and they are upfront with topical issues like how important acknowledging mixed race and mixing of styles are to honoring one's heritage. 

With over 22 years together the band has impressively stayed intact. Based in Saint-Etienne, France the band is comprised of: Hakim "Bouchkour" Meridja (Singer), Aurélien "Komlan" Zohou (Singer), Jérémie Gregeois (Guitar), Grégory "Zigo"Mavridorakis (Drums), Frédéric Peyron (Keyboard), Idir Derdiche (Keyboard), Moritz Von Korff (Bass), and Benjamin Jouve (Sound engineer). 

With their largest audiences in Europe, Africa and Latin America, Dub Inc is an international sensation selling out concert halls and headline festivals. They typically perform for audiences in the tens of thousands all over the world and are looking forward to growing the U.S. fan base. The idea of the U.S. tour first came about with their collaboration with the renowned band Stick Figure. Dub Inc had invited Stick Figure to join them on a European tour. The fantastic pairing yielded an amazing line-up which won the hearts of fans and critics alike. It was there that the U.S. tour was seeded, Stick Figure invited Dub Inc to come to his home state California and beyond for a West Coast run. Once connected with Stick Figure’s team at Ineffable Music Group, the plan for their US return was laid. Thomas Cussins, head of Ineffable comments, "Dub Inc is one of the greatest reggae bands in the world. Their incredibly tight sound is captivating, regardless of language there is no barrier to enjoyment and the beats are sure to keep everyone dancing. I am looking forward to seeing Dub Inc take over in the U.S. and I will certainly be at many shows to enjoy the music!" 

The band will be performing in support of the iconic reggae artist Mike Love. Dub Inc bonded with Mike Love while on tour in France in December 2019, both sharing similar passion for positive and powerful messages. The band is delighted to reconnect with Mike Love in California commenting, "Dub Inc is one of the most passionate and energetic live bands I’ve ever seen. Their show is very fluid and dynamic, with powerful grooves and intimate ballads. American audiences are gonna go nuts for it. I can’t wait to  be there!” 

Dub Inc shows will feature a blend of classic hits and new material. They will be touring with the full band and audiences will be able to hear and enjoy the songs as intended. The tour starts at Cali Roots on May 28th, from there they head to Oregon and Washington with performances in Seattle, Portland and Tacoma. Then back to Nor Cal for a show at the Cornerstone in Berkeley and Mystic Theatre in Petaluma, before they head to So. Cal to hit L.A. and San Diego. 

With a catalog of over 9 records, three of which went Gold, and a handful of riddims, fans will be captivated and moved by Dub Inc’s range. Most recently the band released “Resist and Fight” riddim produced by Collie Buddz that appeared on Cali Roots Riddim 2020, and also their critically acclaimed political album Millions (2019) that confronts current cultural themes of borders, critical thinking, and political authenticity. 

Reflecting on their journey the band commented, “We’re really happy to go on this tour, it’s a dream come true. We’ve been waiting for it since 2020 (it was postponed twice). We’re particularly excited because we love to surprise people with our performances and having new audiences discover our music. It’s a real pleasure to go back to the basics and to have to win over an audience that doesn’t know us.” 

They continue, “We’re really looking forward to finally meeting the Californian audience!

New York ten years ago was a real success and we’re more than excited to come back to the United States!” 

 Tour Dates:

05/28 - CaliRoots Fest / Monterey, CA

05/31 - Arcata Theatre / Arcata, CA

06/01 - WOW Hall / Eugene, OR

06/02 - Star Theater / Portland, OR

06/03 - The Crocodile / Seattle, WA

06/04 - Airport Tavern / Tacoma, WA

06/07 - Felton Music Hall / Felton, CA

06/08 - Mystic Theatre / Petaluma, CA

06/09 - Cornerstone / Berkeley, CA

06/10 - Ventura Music Hall / Ventura, CA

06/11 - Observatory / Santa Ana, CA

06/12 - Belly Up / Solana beach, CA

New Music: Diego Baliardo And The Gypsy Revolution, Francesco Amenta, Judy Wexler, Jeremy Monteiro / Jay Anderson / Lewis Nash

Diego Baliardo And The Gypsy Revolution - Este Ritmo

Diego Baliardo, one of the founders of the world-famous Gipsy Kings, is carrying on the group’s tradition of playing their unique blend of musical styles with a new generation of musicians steeped in Romani culture. Baliardo is releasing Este Ritmo (This Rhythm), the debut release with his new group, The Gypsy Revolution. The Grammy-winning Gipsy Kings have performed all around the world, selling over 20 million albums in their 35-year career, making them the biggest selling musical group to come out of France. The band blends traditional flamenco styles with Western pop and Latin rhythms as well as elements of Arabic music, reggae, and jazz guitar reminiscent of the French Gypsy master Django Reinhardt. It is hard to sit still listening to the music on Este Ritmo. The polyrhythmic styles are infectious and have a joie de vivre that makes you want to get up and dance, as so many fans do at their live performances. The music is highly textured with three guitars and a mix of percussive instruments, like congas, shakers, timbales, tambourines, triangles, and guiros, that add sudden pops of color that keep each tune fresh and interesting. Fronting all this happy music is Diego Baliardo’s expressive and plaintive vocals and energetic rhythm guitar. The moods of the songs on Este Ritmo range from tongue-in-cheek, like on “No Tengo Dinero” (I Don’t Have Money), to wistful, like “Mi Niño” (My Child), to romantic, like “Cara Bonita” (Pretty Face). Yet each is firmly rooted in the flamenco with other Latin influences and a distinct pop flair. Diego Baliardo is the rare kind of musician who can bridge both diverse musical cultures and different generations, all in the service of keeping the music original and engaging while preserving a proud heritage that is over 1,000 years old.

Francesco Amenta - Midtown Walk

Francesco Amenta is releasing Midtown Walk, his second album as a leader, featuring mostly original tunes penned by the composer, tenor saxophonist, and pianist. Amenta was born and raised in Italy but has been living in New York City since 2017, where he has become a regular on the city’s jazz scene. Midtown Walk comprises seven of Amenta’s compositions and one piece by Duke Ellington, “Come Sunday,” which Amenta wanted to record because of his love for Ellington’s music. The other seven tunes convey Amenta’s impressions of his life in the United States. Amenta’s sax playing has a rich, full tone. There is a lyrical quality to both his playing and composing that is very inviting. He easily conveys feeling and warmth without being emotional or cloying. “For me, composing is storytelling,” says Amenta. “I might write about my family and my experiences. Or I might write a piece just about my impressions of a beautiful day. What’s important for me is the emotional immediacy of an experience, which I try to capture in my compositions.” Amenta’s genuinely warm personality shines through his playing and compositions on this album. Backed by a top-notch band that is completely in sync with his attitude and approach, Midtown Walk is an auspicious American recording debut for Francesco Amenta.

Judy Wexler - Back To The Garden

Vocalist Judy Wexler is known for her soulful, heartfelt vocals and her ability to find under-exposed gems and imbue them with warmth and wit. Back To The Garden, her 6th CD, is a departure from Wexler’s previous albums, which featured modern jazz songs and selections from the Great American Songbook with just a smattering of pop tunes. On this new recording, Wexler points her gaze to interpreting iconic, well-known pop/rock songs from the 1960s with reimagined arrangements. According to Wexler, “Music is truly a reflection of the times, and the music of the 1960s reflected the turbulence engendered by war, political protests, and the rise of important social movements like feminism and racial justice. Fifty years later, we’re still struggling with those same issues and more.” Wexler has a sumptuous voice and approaches a song like an actress inhabiting a script. Eschewing vocal pyrotechnics, she focuses on lucid storytelling.  She wields her formidable vocals chops, like her spot-on phrasing and sophisticated approach to melody, with great subtlety to capture the emotional essence of a song. NPR’s Susan Stamberg said, “Based on the evidence, Judy Wexler can sing almost anything.” UK’s Jazz Journal writes, “An always engaging demonstration of contemporary jazz singing at its best.”

Jeremy Monteiro / Jay Anderson / Lewis Nash  - Live At No Black Tie

Pianist Jeremy Monteiro considers himself a very fortunate man. Renowned as one of the premier jazz pianists in Singapore, he is presently entering the 45th year of a career spanning concerts, education, and music administration. He has played and recorded with many of the world’s greatest jazz artists, including James Moody, Benny Golson, Michael Brecker, Bobby McFerrin, Randy Brecker, Lee Ritenour, Herbie Mann, Paulinho DaCosta, Ernie Watts, Charlie Haden, Terumasa Hino, Al Foster, Carmen Bradford, and Toots Thielemans. Monteiro’s latest album Live At NO Black Tie finds the pianist at the helm of another all-star trio. Bassist Jay Anderson and drummer Lewis Nash rank among New York City’s most in- demand jazz musicians, but Monteiro did not come to New York to record with them; rather, it was Anderson and Nash who made the trip to Kuala Lumpur to work and record with Monteiro. Live At No Black Tie was recorded and mixed by exceptional sound engineer Sunil Kumar in Kuala Lumpur and mastered by Klaus Endel in Germany. Monteiro has received many awards and honors in his career, including the coveted Cultural Medallion (the highest artistic recognition available in Singapore), two literary awards from the Golden Door Awards (for his memoir, Late-Night Thoughts of a Jazz Musician), and a Silver Medal for Best Music Score from the International Radio Festival in New York for his original composition, “Overture in C Major: The Story of Singapore.” Live At No Black Tie is his 45th jazz album, and Monteiro hopes to reissue several of his older albums on his own label within the next few years. As is appropriate for a very fortunate and talented musician.

New Music: The Chris Saunders Band, Kerry Moffit, Antonio Adolfo, Dave Flippo and Dedications

The Chris Saunders Band - Dancing With The Widow St. James

The Chris Saunders Band’s newest album, Dancing With The Widow St. James, is rooted in soul jazz and blues with a subtle reference to pop thrown in for good measure. Saunders is a cornet/trumpet player, singer and songwriter. He has a smokey, soulful voice whose timbre and phrasing sound much like his horn. As a singer, he has been heavily influenced by Joe Williams, Tony Bennett, Sarah Vaughan, Lou Rawls, Dr. John, Tom Waits, Howlin’ Wolf, and Louis Armstrong, with whom he has an especially strong connection. A native and current resident of the San Francisco Bay Area, he and his group have been performing together for 10 years and are mainstays on the Bay Area music scene. Saunders is the frontman, but it has always been about the band and the sum of its parts. On Dancing With The Widow St. James, Saunders includes a mix of covers and originals, which he co-wrote with his collaborator, pianist and group co-founder Ken Cook. The original songs on Dancing With The Widow St. James by Saunders and Cook reflect Saunders’ poetic nature and political leanings.  Saunders along with co-producers Cook and Michael Aragon chose to cover several songs written by composers with whom they share a deep affinity. Saunders’ singing, cornet/trumpet playing, and composing on Dancing With The Widow St. James exude the soulfulness of an artist who has absorbed life’s tough lessons but has transformed them into the joy and solace that making music affords.

Kerry Moffit - What Goes Around Comes Around

Kerry Moffit has been a professional musician for 41 years, performing regularly around the country and around Europe. He has performed with and written arrangements for all types of groups, from large jazz orchestras to small ensembles, and he has appeared on over 70 recordings as a sideman. Moffit has accomplished much over his long career, but he has never released a project under his name until now. What Goes Around Comes Around, Moffit’s debut CD as a leader with his band, Turning Circles, is an impressive showcase for this brilliant trumpeter’s performance and compositional talents. Moffit has a good reason for not putting out his own project until now. He served as a proud member of the United States Air Force Bands for nearly 25 years. The Air Force Bands are among the premier musical organizations in the country. Moffit enlisted in 1991, and throughout his service, he played trumpet in concert bands, ceremonial bands, jazz ensembles, and pop/rock bands for both military and civilian audiences. What Goes Around Comes Around features four jazz standards and four original tunes penned by Moffit, who also arranged all the music. The album is a stellar debut for an artist who has had an amazing career despite the fact he is unknown to general jazz audiences. Moffit is at the top of his form as a musician and composer. His warm trumpet tone and hip phrasing pare beautifully with his sophisticated compositions. Like a fine wine that has had time to age, his music is intricate, full of vibrant colors, and eminently pleasing to the palate.

Antonio Adolfo - Jobim Forever

Antonio Carlos Jobim has been one of the brightest, most influential stars in the jazz firmament since winning multiple Grammy Awards for the 1965 release of Getz/Gilberto. His music has been enjoyed by millions of people around the world and recorded countless times by musicians across many different genres. His songs are so ubiquitous that it is very difficult to find a fresh approach to his music. It takes an artist of the caliber of Antonio Adolfo to layer Jobim’s music with a new sensibility and truly transform it into a personal statement. On Jobim Forever, Adolfo imbues nine of Jobim’s iconic tunes from the 1960s with his own, unique artistry. Adolfo is a pianist, arranger, composer, and bandleader. He has recorded over two dozen albums as a leader in the U.S. and Brazil. He has been nominated for several Latin Jazz Grammy Awards, and more than 200 of his original compositions have been recorded by major artists like Sergio Mendes, Earl Klugh, Herb Alpert, Stevie Wonder, Dionne Warwick, and many others. Adolfo chose Jobim’s songs from the 1960s because he wanted to celebrate a great era of music, when Jobim’s innovations helped make Rio de Janeiro an important capital of world culture. The work of two modern Brazilian masters is on display on Jobim Forever. Adolfo’s modern jazz sensibilities, cultural heritage, and elegant and beguiling aesthetics are the perfect ingredients for creating a new paradigm for Jobim’s well-travelled music.

Dave Flippo and Dedications - Jazz From Planet Flippo

When Dr. Dave Flippo told his bandmates that he wanted to write music for each of them for his new album, he asked what elements they wanted him to include. He found their answers surprising and challenging -- like writing a waltz in four or a song about a giraffe. But Flippo, a Chicago-based jazz pianist, composer, vocalist, bandleader, and educator, was certainly up for the challenge. On Dedications – Jazz From Planet Flippo, he includes eight original tunes and three by well-known pop artists re-imagined in the jazz idiom. Each tune is dedicated to a member of the band and to friends, family, and other artists whom he admires. Flippo began his band in 1992. Although there were some personnel changes in the ensemble over the years, the one thing that has remained consistent is Flippo’s wide ranging musical interests. His current band comprises some of the top Chicago-based jazz musicians who have now been with Flippo for 10-15 years. The range of styles on Dedications displays Flippo’s prowess as a composer and arranger. With its eclectic styles, odd meters, and accessible melodies, Dedications – Jazz From Planet Flippo is a showcase for Flippo’s broad interests, erudition and inventiveness. It is an eminently fun album that features a tightly knit, top-notch band all in tune with Flippo’s expansive imagination.

 

New Music: Mark Winkler, Brent Laidler, Jorge Garcia, Juan Carlos Quintero

Mark Winkler - Late Bloomin' Jazzman

Late Bloomin' Jazzman, the newest album by vocalist and songwriter Mark Winkler, is an homage to growing older and all the blessings and drawbacks that come with it. The album is Winkler’s 20th CD as a leader. Each of his previous projects has received stellar reviews and consistently topped the jazz charts. Rex Reed has said, “Mark Winkler is a musical marvel and a true original!  At last, a writer who sings and a singer who swings!” Winkler wrote lyrics to eight of the 12 tunes and covers a lot of personal topics on this album. He writes about his love of George Gershwin, film noir, and the songs of Rio. He also writes about losing his husband, finding love again, and about a close friend ravished by Alzheimer’s disease. Although Winkler is a popular performer and recording artist, he is also a very successful songwriter, and Late Bl;oomin' Jazzman is a wonderful showcase to highlight both. To paraphrase his lyrics in “Late Bloomin’ Jazzman,” his “finest flower may finally be here."

Brent Laidler - Wouldn't Be Here Without You

On Wouldn't Be Here Without You, guitarist Brent Laidler presents ten eclectic, original compositions that celebrate the friends, mentors, and fellow musicians who have helped and supported him on his journey through music and life. The album is Laidler’s second project as a leader and follows No Matter Where Noir (2017). All About Jazz said, “This is an album where the gestalt is king, and one that gets more enjoyable with repetition as that gestalt sinks into the listener's bones.” Laidler does not have the national name recognition his playing warrants because his many music-related activities prevent him from extensive touring. Besides being a jazz guitarist, he is also a film/commercial composer, arranger, clinician, radio host, and successful small business owner. Laidler was originally going to name the album after his composition, “A Second Chance,” referring to the fact this is his second jazz album as a leader. But while he was planning material for the album, he lost both his father and friend and mentor Tony Zamora, the beloved director of the Black Cultural Center at Purdue University, within a day of each other. Their passing caused Laidler to rethink his concept. With influences that include Jim Hall, Kenny Burrell, Barney Kessel, Pat Martino, and Ed Bickert, Laidler eschews pyrotechnics on Wouldn't Be Here Without You for a warm, more accessible sound. This album is a wonderful introduction to a musician who deserves wider recognition.

Jorge Garcia - Dedicated To You

Although his name is not known to jazz fans nationwide, Cuban-born guitarist Jorge Garcia has worked with many esteemed musicians, including Tony Bennett, Cécile McLorin Salvant, Chuck Redd, Jon Faddis, and Ignacio Berroa. Garcia’s new self-released album, Dedicated To You, celebrates his collaborations with two other jazz icons, Richie Cole and Hendrick Meurkens, along with some of his favorite local musicians from South Florida. Garcia’s association with the late alto saxophonist Richie Cole dates back to the late 1990s, when Cole was living in Key Largo, FL, and in the process of forming a new edition of his Alto Madness Orchestra. Garcia was not only a member of the band, he also performed with bassist Rick Doll and drummer James Cotmon on Cole’s big band gigs. Richie Cole played clubs and concerts in the Miami area on several occasions, and whenever he was asked to assemble a band, Garcia would be Cole‘s first-call guitarist. In 2009, Cole was back in Southern Florida, and Garcia offered to pay for the studio rental if Cole would be willing to record. Cole readily agreed, and the band’s rhythm section of Garcia, Doll and Cotmon were reunited for the date. While the tracks on Dedicated To You seem retrospective in nature, Garcia continues to perform regularly, and we should expect to hear more fine music from Jorge Garcia and his very talented friends.

Juan Carlos Quintero - Table For Five!

Table For Five! features Quintero’s longtime musical compatriots Eddie Resto/bass, Joe Rotondi/piano, Aaron Serfaty/drums, Joey Deleon/percussion, and Quintero on electric guitar. Quintero, who is known for his stylish, tasty work on the nylon string guitar, decided to record for the first time on the semi-hallow electric guitar to highlight the new direction of his music and label. Rather than focusing on the Latin repertoire, Quintero performs jazz standards, expanding the scope to include World Music as well as music from the Great American Songbook. Table For Five is the first of his own albums that Quintero produced since his debut album in 1988. “Participating as a player while being responsible for all aspects of this recording was a daunting task,” says Quintero. “But my bandmates, my brothers, had my back in every way.” Although Quintero was the sole producer, the arrangements were a collaborative effort shared by the entire band. Quintero says, “We all had input in the process. We basically worked from an outline of the arrangements, improvising the music as we went. I didn’t want to over arrange the songs so much that we changed them into something completely different. I feel you need to trust the composer and honor his or her intention. The core of the music needs to survive your treatment.”

 

 

JOYFULTALK | "Familiar Science"

Following two laser-focused, trance inducing albums, JOYFULTALK returns with a series of gnarled excavations that see composer Jay Crocker transmuting musical forms from a forgotten era into startling new expressions of modern existence. The pieces on Familiar Science are twisted, throbbing, touched and very much lived-in: smudged iterations of contemporary jazz. Combining influences from late 80s M-base music, Ornette Coleman’s harmolodic funk years and Crocker’s own histories as an outré improviser, the album features eight enthralling cuts, each held together by stunning musicianship and daring compositional choices.

Starting from flipped drum samples and expanding outwards, Crocker built the album piece by piece, collecting and reflecting little sonic clusters along the way. Forming the head of a given composition from a blend of dusted archival material, spliced-up off-sessions and his own bass, keys and midi sequencing, he then sought out responsive contributions from longtime collaborators, Albertan percussionists Eric Hamelin (Ghostkeeper, No More Shapes, Chad Vangaalen) and Chris Dadge (Bug Incision, Lab Coast) as well as Nova Scotia-based saxophonist/flautist Nicola Miller (Ryan Driver, Doug Tielli) and in-demand bassist Kyle Cunjak (Olympic Symphonium, David Myles). With the live contributions in hand, Crocker set to enmeshing the materials further, building pieces that blur the line between a spirited combo feel and sampler jamz from realms beyond. One vital thread that flows through the collection is the reconstituted percussion of Eric Hamelin, who sent Crocker a series of virtuosic, improvised drum sessions to be cut up and harvested. The ghostly boom-bap bone rattle of opener ‘Body Stone’ (which sounds like a cut from Squarepusher’s revisionist jazz classic Music Is Rotted One Note via the cinematic mind of John Carpenter) initiates the rhythmic seance. Persisting from there, Familiar Science offers up oblique rhythmic pathways throughout, leading to quags of heady jazz, streaks of Black Dice-like delirium and elevated states of revelry.

With a few careers’ worth of material, genres and experiences in his rearview, Crocker can’t help but bring a kaleidoscopic mind to a given project. In that sense, Familiar Science finds the composer folding time: diving further into his present-tense, rurally-isolated solo practice in Nova Scotia, and revisiting his former life as a bustling jazz collaborator in Calgary, Alberta. Not only does the album feature a series of archival samples from live sets by late Calgarian saxophonist Dan Meichel (Musk Cup, Jazz Snob Eat Shit), songs like ‘Take It To The Grave’, ‘Stop Freaking Out!’ and the album’s titular track feature Crocker’s skewed guitar work, something that hasn’t appeared prominently in his own music for the better part of a decade. It’s a welcomed voice amidst the compositional mélange, cutting through with an angular playfulness; a close approximation might be the lean progressions of Mary Halvorson, though Crocker’s lurking melodic gestures feel uniquely his own. While these pieces act as catalysts for some of Familiar’s heaviest contortions, the album’s more honeyed moments, ‘Blissed For A Minute’ and ‘Ballad In 9’, center around Miller’s absolutely spellbinding alto and flute work.

If this all sounds like a lot, it is: Familiar Science is a multifarious feat of imagination and (re)combination. It’s a credit to Crocker’s compositional character that music containing so many intersecting textures and rhythms feels so focused and effectual. As each composition unfolds, the music reveals new phenomena and ways of moving through sound. It pulls you into sneaky wormholes, heaves you up into rarefied ethers. It drags you into the ditches: spun off the road, headlights busted. The umami of earth, freshly disturbed. And through all this, as the collection works to a close, a kind of serenity shines through. Joy, even.

New Music: Ariane Racicot, Adema Manoukas Octet, Deanne Matley, Way North

Ariane Racicot - Envolée

Envolée is the debut album by Montreal pianist and composer Ariane Racicot. This audacious new  modern jazz recording consists of five original compositions that fuse a range of styles together:  from latin jazz to fusion, and from modal jazz to progressive rock. Her rock bonafides are tested and true: many listeners may already be familiar with her from her 22,000 subscriber-strong YouTube presence, where her cover of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody has racked up 18 million views. With Envolée, Racicot has established herself as an exciting new pianist to watch. This recording is the result of years of studying many of jazz music’s most progressive, genre-bending jazz pianists, including the likes of Hiromi Uehara, Tigran Hamasyan, Chick Corea, and Keith Jarrett. You can also hear the influence of the metal bands Racicot listened to in her youth, particularly on À ciel ouvert, where she calls on a second drummer to help turn up the heat. This album is a deeply personal project, recounting several years worth of musical and personal experiences. The title – ‘Takeoff’ – evokes her passion for music, her need for expression, her intensity, her perseverance, and her strength. Envolée will be released on all digital platforms on Friday, May 6, 2022 via the Montreal label Multiple Chord Music. The release will be celebrated with a concert at Dièse Onze in Montreal on May 6th.

Adema Manoukas Octet – New Roots

Coming on the heels of his first full-length album demiLAN, (“teeming with originality and confidence” – Yoshi Wall, The WholeNote), trombonist Nick Adema has teamed up with saxophonist Alex Manoukas for a new recording project with their newly formed band the Adema Manoukas Octet. These eight young Toronto all-stars have been performing together in various combinations for years, providing an alternative perspective on the Canadian jazz sound. Together, they offer a glimpse of a new music full of blistering solos, thought-provoking melodies, and world-class ensemble playing. With their debut album New Roots, it is clear that the next wave of talented Canadian jazz artists is knocking on tomorrow’s door. This record is a refreshing celebration of the music of today by the musicians of tomorrow. Throughout this album, the octet masterfully weaves through stimulating original compositions by both Adema and Manoukas, engaging listeners with charming melodies and captivating swells of harmony. These lyrical pieces will stick in your head without losing any of the captivating, modern energy that is present throughout the entire album. The record also also includes masterful modern interpretations of songs by Dizzy Gillespie and Thelonious Monk, arranged by Adema and Manoukas.

Deanne Matley – The Alberta Lounge

Welcome to The Alberta Lounge, the club where Canadian jazz legend Oscar Peterson was first discovered in Montreal; Alberta – which also happens to be the name of the province where vocalist Deanne Matley grew up and started her music career ten years ago. Inspired by the Canadian jazz great, The Alberta Lounge features two new tunes of Matley’s: The Alberta Lounge and If You Were Here Today. She also made sure to include two Peterson originals, the haunting Hymn To Freedom and the tender ballad When Summer Comes. The rest of the album’s repertoire was chosen from Peterson’s vast recorded catalogue, including Lionel Hampton and Jeri Jones’s Je ne Sais Pas, for which Matley had the utmost honour of writing original French lyrics. The album also features a remarkable jazz-funk cover of Jorge Ben Hor’s Mas Que Nada, which Matley sings in Portuguese with added vocal harmonies for extra fun. For the project, Matley recruited some of Montreal’s premier jazz talent, including pianist Taurey Butler, bassist Morgan Moore, and drummer Richard Irwin. Also appearing on the album are her long-time pals pianist Paul Shrofel and guitarist Steve Raegele. Throughout the album, Matley shines as a first-rate vocal stylist. Her contemporary sound is still deeply rooted in the jazz tradition, but is unafraid of pushing the musical envelope. This anniversary album is dedicated to all Canadians. To quote Oscar, “People are Canada’s greatest resource.” 

Way North - New Dreams, Old Stories

Way North is a cross-border mash-up of Canadian and American artists born out of the joy of playing together. Formed in Brooklyn, NY in 2014 by three Canadians and a New Yorker, the band features saxophonist Petr Cancura (Charlie Hunter/Down Home - JUNO nominee), trumpeter Rebecca Hennessy (Kevin Breit/Women’s Blues Revue bandleader), bassist Michael Herring (Peripheral Vision - JUNO nominee) and American drummer Richie Barshay (Herbie Hancock/Chick Corea/Esperanza Spalding). The quartet brings together four improvisor/composers with a shared love of folk and world music, whose unique creative connection touches audiences and builds community everywhere they play. Their third album, New Dreams, Old Stories, follows the release of two critically acclaimed records: Fearless And Kind ("a celebration of sound, with a rapturous elasticity" -AllAboutJazz); and Kings County, which was picked by the Ottawa Citizen as one of the best jazz CD’s of 2015. Way North’s music is a roots stew, seamlessly threading together blues, old-time, New Orleans, and South American folk music with jazz and improvisation, creating a unique sound that has been referred to as “Avant-Trad” (Nou Dadoun, 100.5 Vancouver).

New Music: Oli Astral, Greg Amirault, Noam Lemish, Jazzlab Orchestra

Oli Astral – From The Astral 

Oli Astral is a musical universe where the sound of modern jazz guitar merges with digital music technology and visual projection. The group keeps a balance between technology and a more organic approach to music. There are computers on stage, virtual instruments, MIDI controllers, and Frederic’s Modular Synthesizers that serve the imagination. The musical values thought, are still deeply rooted in the tradition of Jazz. Things like Improvisation, group interaction, and risk-taking are very important in the creative process. The importance of Melody might be the number one thing. If poetry is the only truth in the world of words, then Melody is the only truth in the world of sounds. During the production process of the album, digital audio processing techniques were used to create musical textures. The audio artists who worked on that are Thibaut Quinchon, Derek Orsi, and Olivier Grenier Bedard. Creative mixing, creative editing, computer sound design. The purpose of these is to widen the sound of the Trio with musical textures, loops, and overdubs.The Live experience is a little more immersive. After recording, the group worked with Visual Artist Bruno Scabini, From Buenos Aires. He illustrated and animated the music with creative drawing techniques and cinematic effects.  In addition to the rest, there is a video image on stage that merges with the music. A video image that transforms the Live experience into a journey into the universe of the group.

Greg Amirault – News Blues

Originally from Yarmouth Nova Scotia, guitarist Greg Amirault has been living and performing in Montreal for over 30 years. A long time faculty member of the jazz programs at McGill and Concordia University, Amirault is a past winner of the Grand Prix de Jazz at the Montreal International Jazz Festival and the Prix d’Opus. For decades, he has been a mainstay of the Montreal jazz scene, and one of Canada’s most notable guitarists. News Blues is Amirault’s third recording as a leader. It features three of Canada’s finest jazz musicians: pianist (and Greg’s brother) Steve Amirault, bassist Adrian Vedady, and drummer Jim Doxas. This recording consists of nine tunes: seven of Greg Amirault’s original compositions, and two classic jazz standards. This album offers a variety of moods and textures: there are straight ahead swingers like News Blues and Uninvited, more modern sounding pieces like Tribute Tune and Meeting the Master, and the folk influenced Song for Nova Scotia, an homage to Amirault’s birthplace. The recording also features two solo guitar arrangements of a couple of Amirault’s favourite jazz standards, the ballads If You Could See Me Now and Embraceable You. These four musicians have been playing together in  a variety of formations for over twenty years. This albums is a testament to the strong connection they’ve nurtured together.

Noam Lemish – Erlebnisse

Toronto based pianist Noam Lemish celebrates the release of Erlebnisse, a piano solo album of improvisations that blurs the lines between jazz, western art music, Eastern European Jewish music and Israeli popular song. It may be that Lemish’s hyphenated identity as an Israeli-American-Canadian has helped inspire his multiplicity and general disinclination to follow stylistic guidelines. In Erlebnisse we encounter an artist who clearly enjoys living “in between” genre boundaries and embraces the liminality inherent in improvisation. Each note is an affirmation of the present moment, each moment of silence and pause an inviting space vibrating with possibility. Erlebnisse is German for “deeply felt experiences”. Each piece is completely improvised, recorded in a single take, and played in “real time”. Each selection serves as a sonic portrait that captures a unique “deeply felt experience”: an Erlebnis, all told through spontaneous improvisation. The music traverses wide ranging emotional terrain and Lemish’s pianism is at once deeply lyrical and fierce, displaying textural richness and dynamic variety that masterfully exploits his instrument and exhibits a fearless, adventurous spirit. Following six previous recordings under his name, Erlebnisse marks Lemish’s first piano solo release. As a recording that whole-heartedly embraces free improvisation as process and artistic expression, it manifests Lemish’s long held belief in improvisation as a practice that is simultaneously inwardly and outwardly revealing and rewarding. Erlebnisse thus invites the listener into an intimate, vulnerable and open space that is filled with the joy and excitement of in-the-moment creative expression.

Jazzlab Orchestra – LOGUSLABUSMUZIKUS

Montreal’s JAZZLAB ORCHESTRA has been a Canadian jazz institution since 2004. For over 15 years, the multi-generational ensemble of Montreal’s finest improvisors has explored a wide variety of musical styles and approaches to writing and playing. Always original, every project they’ve undertaken has been inspired and audacious. Practically the only group of its kind in Canada, the group has released seven albums and performed more then 300 concerts at many of the most prestigious festivals and venues across North America and Europe, including New York’s Jazz at Lincoln Center, the New Morning and Café de la Danse in Paris, Casa del Jazz in Rome, the Grande Teatro in Sicily, the Jazz Station in Brussels, and at the Budapest Music Center. Over the years, their concerts have featured guest appearances by many of jazz music’s leading lights, including Donny McCaslin, Mark Feldman, Ted Nash, Michael Blake, Zhao Ke, Francois Théberge, Stephane Belmondo, and Don Thompson. LOGUSLABUSMUZIKUS – Jazzlab’s newest opus – features nine new pieces by bassist and composer Auguste Le Prez, all of which reflect the spirit of modern jazz today. It’s an exciting and dynamic record executed masterfully by the band. Each member manages to simultaneously lift the band up while also staking out their place as a distinct individual voice in the group. As Jazzlab Orchestra continues to evolve, the temperature continues to rise…

New Music: Bernie Senensky Quartet/Quintet, Yves Léveillé, Karl Silveira, Ori Dagan

Bernie Senensky Quartet/Quintet – Don’t Look Back

A previously unissued recording of legendary Canadian pianist Bernie Senensky, featuring saxophonist Bob Mover and trumpeter Sam Noto. Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1944, pianist Bernie Senensky has been a stalwart member of the Canadian and international jazz scenes for over 50 years. He has toured with a multitude of his own ensembles over the years, and has played with a diverse array of internationally celebrated jazz artists, from Chet Baker to Moe Koffman, and from Elvin Jones to Pharoah Sanders (to name but a few). Senensky continues to play and tour extensively. Despite his kind and soft-spoken personality, his assertive keyboard style and consummate melodicism has ensconced him as a lynchpin of the current jazz scene.Senensky fits smack dab in the middle of the hard bop tradition. For those looking for a delightful romp through some new tunes in the style of the masters, you could do worse than to try out the Bernie Senensky Quintet. Bernie’s style sparkles with a lightness and playfulness that makes his solos so easy and fun to listen to. You don’t have to reach for anything; it’s all there. 

Yves Léveillé – L’échelle du temps

Over the past twenty years, composer/pianist Yves Léveillé has established himself as a key figure on the Quebec jazz scene. Drawing from both contemporary and traditional jazz, classical, and world music, Léveillé’s distinctive musical aesthetic is noteworthy for its refined approach to melody and harmony. Hailed for his ability to suspend time with a musical phrase, Léveillé’s music explores the  endless possibilities for interplay between tradition and experimentation. His work always feels poetic and intimately human. Léveillé has recorded nine albums for the Effendi and Atma-Classique labels, all of which have been received enthusiastically by audiences and journalists alike. His latest recording L’échelle du temps isa beautiful collection of eight pieces for piano and string quartet – a unique instrumentation in the world of jazz. For this recording, Léveillé recruited a top-notch ensemble of musicians, all virtuosos on their respective instruments, each with an uncommon capacity for expression and sensitivity. Léveillé and company deftly balance written and improvised material, creating a dynamic sonic world that is at once introspective and energetic. Léveillé has performed throughout America, Europe and China. He has been nominated for multiple awards in his career, and won the Opus Awards for Concert of the Year and Best Jazz Album two years in a row. In September 2018, he was the recipient of the the André Gagnon Award (for instrumental music) from

Karl Silveira – A Porta Aperta

Toronto trombonist, composer, and University of Toronto educator Karl Silveira‘s debut album A Porta Aperta was recorded over the course of two intensely focused days in July 2021. This recording represents the culmination of a composition project that began in the early days of 2020, one that saw Silveira exploring two distinct aesthetic directions: one contemporary, and one more traditional. As a performer and composer, Silveira draws inspiration from a wide variety of musicians, including Mark Turner, Lennie Tristano, Thelonious Monk, Steve Lehman, and Wayne Shorter. Through intensive listening, he has cultivated a unique approach to composition and improvisation informed by many different aspects of the jazz tradition. Silveira’s writing covers a lot of ground emotionally as well as stylistically: his music can be energetic, introspective, thoughtful, and humorous. As a composer, Silveira’s primary conceptual focus is on the theme of multiplicity. His music often features musicians playing parts that are independent from one another, but that interlock in unexpected ways, presenting the listener with multiple possible focal points. The album title reflects this idea, depending on whether it’s interpreted as a phrase in Latin or in Portuguese (Silveira’s first language.) It can mean either “the open door” (in Latin) or “the door squeezes” (in Portuguese). While an open door can lead you to new places, you may also find yourself needing to shrink yourself in some way in order to fit through.

Ori Dagan – Click Right Here

Is life online in the 21st century a blessing or a curse? One could make a case either way, but if you’re Toronto-based vocalist and songwriter Ori Dagan, one thing is certain: there’s great material to be mined for a lyric, something Dagan always delivers with a wry and agile sense of swing. Click Right Here, praised by John Devenish of JAZZ.FM91 as “fun, provocative, fancy-free and spirited,” and by journalist and author Jeanne Beker as “the perfect balance between modernity and nostalgia,” is Dagan’s first album of original material. It offers a joyful escape from, and timely reflection upon, a world spinning out of control. Themes include online dating, social media, technological troubles and the quest for freedom and equality in a divided world. Dagan’s rich bass-baritone is unmistakable; his irreverent songcraft speaks to the lineage of Nat Cole novelty numbers and the impeccably swinging humor of the late Bob Dorough and Dave Frishberg. His scat singing has the natural, fluid, bop-inflected feel of the best in that idiom. Click Right Here, his most ambitious project to date, is sure to take him to new destinations, onstage and online.