NEW RELEASES - GAL COSTA, EDU LOBO, WILSON DAS NEVES

GAL COSTA - RECANTO GAL AO VIVO

Amazing sounds from Gal Costa – a brilliant live album that follows strongly in the mode of her Recanto studio album! Like that set, this one features Gal in the most experimental style she's used in years – bits of electronics and contemporary underground modes layered in with her sublime vocals – all in ways that reopen that leftfield side of Costa's talents that have been buried for so many years! Some tracks are quite intimate and personal, others are very powerful – and the performance was put together by both Caetano and Moreno Veloso, with backing by a trio that also features percussion from Domenico too. Titles include "Tudo Gil", "Da Maior Importancia", "Mansidao", "Forca Estranha", "Meu Bem Mel Mal", "O Amor", "Baby", "Deus E O Amor", "Segunda", "Barato Total", and "Autotune Autoerotico". ~ Dusty Groove

EDU LOBO - EDU LOBO & METROPOLE ORKEST

Some of the boldest, most expressive work we've heard from Edu Lobo in years – a beautiful recording with the Metropole Orchestra, who help Lobo regain all the lofty power of his early 70s years! The arrangements here are full, and full of feeling too – lead vocals by Lobo soaring over the top of his sublime compositions, pushed onward strongly with the full orchestrations of the ensemble –and given some great jazzy undercurrents by the flute and sax work of Mauro Senise! We always like Edu, but the album's a real return to the qualities that first made us fall in love with his music so many years ago – and is continuing proof that the Metropole Orchestra really know how to bring new energy to an artist. Titles include "Vento Bravo", "Canto Triste", "Casa Forte", "Zanzibar", "Ave Rara", "Choro Bandido", "A Bela E A Fera", "Frevo Diabo", and "Danca Do Corrupiao". ~ Dusty Groove

WILSON DAS NEVES - SE ME CHAMAR O SORTE

Beautiful work from Wilson Das Neves – as mature and poised as his image on the cover, but still filled with the depth and soul we remember from years back! The vocals have this raspy charm that definitely underscores Wilson's years on this planet – and the backings have this warmth and jazzy undercurrent that really works well with the sound of the tunes – a slight hint of sentiment, but never in a cloying way – just the perfect sort of balance to honor the talents and accomplishments of someone like Das Neves! Titles include "Trato", "Cara De Queixa", "Peao De Obra", "Limites", "Feito Siameses", "Mascara De Cera", "Se Me Chamar O Sorte", and "O Dono Da Razao". ~ Dusty Groove

NEW RELEASES - BRIAN SIMPSON, WALLACE RONEY, JOSHUA REDMAN

BRIAN SIMPSON - JUST WHAT YOU NEED

There are no surprises on Brian Simpson's fifth solo release, Just What You Need. The ten cuts are comprised of catchy, laid-back smooth jazz arrangements with elements of lite R&B, executed with ease and a very clean production. The two standout tracks, for very different reasons, are both cover versions. "The Girl from Ipanema" (with Dave Koz on saxophone) has none of the romantic breezy haze of the original, and comes across too formal and somewhat sterile. On the other hand, "You Gotta Be," the 1994 hit song by Des'ree, has an infectious, relaxed groove, featuring vocalist Jeff Robinson, that is hard to get out of your head. Also making guest appearances on Just What You Need are celebrated smooth jazz musicians Gerald Albright, Marc Antoine, Elan Trotman, and Jonathan Butler. ~ CD Universe

WALLACE RONEY - UNDERSTANDING

Wallace Roney's sixth studio album for High Note, 2013's Understanding, is an expansive, often swinging work that finds the trumpeter digging even deeper into the straight-ahead if no less adventurous sound of his recent releases. These are bluesy, harmonically layered modal songs that bring to mind such touchstones as '70s Woody Shaw and late-'60s Miles Davis. Joining Roney here are saxophonists Arnold Lee and Ben Solomon, pianist Victor Gould, bassist Daryl Johns, and drummer Kush Abadey.  ~ CD Universe

JOSHUA REDMAN - WALKING SHADOWS

Saxophonist Joshua Redman’s new album, Walking Shadows, is due out May 7 on Nonesuch Records. The album is Redman’s first recording to include an orchestral ensemble and was produced by his friend and frequent collaborator Brad Mehldau. The record's core ensemble is a quartet featuring Mehldau, Larry Grenadier, and Brian Blade. Walking Shadows includes original tunes from both Redman and Mehldau along with works by a wide range of composers, like John Mayer and Pino Palladino, Kern and Hammerstein, and Lennon and McCartney. "Stop This Train," the tune by Mayer and Palladino, was featured on the latest episode of Jamie Cullum's show, which aired recently on BBC Radio 2. "It’s fascinating here how this band get into this very sweet melody and state it in a very simple, beautiful way," says Cullum, "and then start improvising on the melody and go more and more inside and outside the song in the soloing. A brilliant bit of improvisation from Joshua Redman.” Joshua Redman performed with his Quartet, featuring Aaron Goldberg, Joe Sanders, and Kendrick Scott, at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival this past Friday. As part of his European spring tour, Redman performs with bassist Christian McBride at London's Wigmore Hall on May 11, the final concert in the Wigmore jazz series under Redman's curatorship this season. ~ nonesuch records

IRIS ROMEN - VINTAGE GAL HOUR

Looking at the cover photo, you could be excused for thinking “Vintage Gal Hour” is an album from the Golden Fifties. A classically-cut dress, a bow around the waist and a headband in the hair, eyes gazing longingly into the distance – that is how IriS Romen presents herself on the cover of her debut solo album. The pose in retro-look is a stylistic reference to the sound that awaits us behind the CD’s cellophane – with its invocation of music genres from decades gone by, it also has an anachronistic feel to it at first. Does IriS Romen have a place in the present at all, with her revisiting of the vintage sound of past epochs? But of course! And how! Because let’s be honest – don’t we all have a little of this lovable little Dutch girl in us just longing to get out? Doesn’t she appeal to all our yearnings for yesteryear and the undeniable advantages it had? In a word: yes! In an age of emotionally detached, fully digitised technology, she strikes straight at the heart with her genuine, hand-made songs. Her heart-warming music with the old-vinyl feel satisfies that hunger for true emotions so pervasive today, and that makes it modern and up-to-the-minute. What IriS Romen has recorded here in Berlin together with producer Johnny Bluth (Johnny Trouble Trio) and her musician friends over a period of almost two years and using old analogue equipment reveals a profound knowledge of the 50s and 60s. We hear Old-Time Country in a style reminiscent of Kitty Wells (“You Stole My Heart”) and Loretta Lynn (“Growing Pains”), are highly entertained by the nostalgically jazzy (“I Found You In Fall”), delight in string sounds à la Hank Marvin of The Shadows (“Tabou”) and encounter twang guitars like the ones from those old Spaghetti Westerns (“Dance With Me”). But the best thing about the songs is that IriS Romen doesn’t simply rinse and repeat the influences of her idols, she recreates them again from scratch in her own imagination. Despite numerous quotes and cross-references, “Vintage Gal Hour” is completely and utterly IriS Romen. She wrote all the tracks on this solo album herself and is blessed with a wonderful, natural, unmistakable voice that renders pointless any comparisons with stars from the past.

IriS Romen discovered at a very early age that the music from the early 20th century struck a chord in her. She would sing along ardently when her father put on LPs at home, and she loved doing famous musicals in school performances. It was experiences like those that led, in her teenage years, to her resolve to make singing her career one day. After graduating school she studied jazz vocalisation with Janice Lakers at the Maastricht music academy and classical singing with Marie-José Van De Beuken, while also financing private lessons with vocal coach Anne Bruning by working in a supermarket (where she once even served André Rieu). During this phase, her love of old jazz emerged. She also came to know and love the Brecht interpretations of Kurt Weill, Paul Dessau and Hanns Eisler during this time, and was introduced to the world of Jump ‘n’ Jive, Rock ‘n’ Roll and Rhythm ‘n’ Blues as a guest singer in Ray Collins’ Hot Club. In 2004, IriS Romen, who had by then also learned how to play the double bass, moved to the German capital where she still lives today. Saturdays she takes the packed Clärchens Ballhaus, the historical dance hall that Quentin Tarantino used as a set in “Inglourious Basterds”, through rousing dance evenings as the lead vocalist of the Ballhaus Band. She also broadens her spectrum as a member of the girl group The Runaway Brides (often to be seen supporting BossHoss) and Ben Becker’s background band. Now the time is ripe for an international solo career. “I believe in the timelessness of everything that is done and viewed with the heart.” That is what IriS Romen says of her solo debut. On it she strikes exactly the tone of her favourite ages, while remaining on the cutting edge of the present with every note. Very few manage that balancing act, but on “Vintage Gal Hour” IriS Romen succeeds immaculately. www.irisromen.com

~ grooveattack.com

ARTIST OF THE MONTH FOR MAY 2013 - MILES DAVIS

Columbia Records and Legacy Recordings, the catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment, celebrate the genius of Miles Davis , honoring the 20th century jazz avatar as Legacy's Artist of the Month for May 2013.

On May 16, at 3pm, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission will honor Miles Davis at a Medallion Ceremony at 312 West 77th Street, the brownstone townhouse, purchased by Davis in 1958, that served as both home and working environment for the artist for 25 years.

Born Miles Dewey Davis III on May 26, 1926 in Alton, Illinois, Miles grew up in East St. Louis, first learning trumpet at age 13. Graduating high school, he moved to New York in 1944 to study at the Juilliard School of Music, developing chops in technique and music theory before leaving the school to become a full-time player on the New York jazz circuit, cutting his first records in 1945.

One of the most revolutionary and influential musicians and recording artists of the 20th century, Miles Davis was in the vanguard of virtually every phase of the evolution of post-WWII American jazz, from be-bop to cool jazz to hard-bop to modal jazz to the rock-jazz-funk-fusion that got him inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006. Miles Davis died on September 28, 1991, leaving an extensive catalog of unprecedented music that remains both timeless and groundbreaking.

Trumpeter, bandleader and composer, Miles Davis fronted some of the most formidable and adroit ensembles in jazz history. Miles was that rarest of artists: an uncompromising avant-garde visionary who achieved both critical and commercial success. In 2008, Davis's 1959 masterpiece, Kind of Blue, was certified 4x platinum, solidifying its stature as the top-selling jazz album of all-time. In December 2009, the United States House of Representatives passed a resolution on Kind of Blue's 50th anniversary "honoring the masterpiece and reaffirming jazz as a national treasure."

On the Legacy Recordings site, fans and collectors will find access to a variety of comprehensive Miles Davis titles including: Setlist: The Very Best of Miles Davis and Setlist: The Very Best of Miles Davis (Live) as well as Volumes 1 and 2 of the acclaimed Miles Davis Bootleg Series, a selection of rare and previously unreleased recordings to be drawn from all phases of Davis's career, housed in deluxe CD + DVD boxes (with a "Best of" compilation available for The Bootleg Series, Vol. 1).

The first two titles in the series -- Live In Europe 1967: The Bootleg Series Vol.1 (2011) and Live In Europe 1969: The Bootleg Series Vol. 2 (2013) -- showcased Miles as bandleader, working with a different quintet, creating very different music on each release. Each collection peaked at #3 on the Billboard Jazz charts.

Live In Europe 1967 was 2011's most acclaimed historic jazz box set, receiving a "5-star" review from Down Beat magazine and voted Historical Album of the Year in the Down Beat Readers and Critics Poll; it ranked as the #1 reissue in both the Critics and Readers polls of JazzTimes magazine, and the Jazz Journalists Association voted it Best Historical or Boxed Set. The package received an "A" from Entertainment Weekly, and Pitchfork.com said "At its heart, jazz thrives on bold, sensitive interaction in the moment, and Live In Europe 1967 represents the pinnacle of that practice." Rave reviews appeared in a wide array of publications including the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Nation, Slate, and many others.

In his Sunday "Arts & Leisure" rave review of Live In Europe 1967, New York Times critic Nate Chinen concluded: "It's humbling to think that a release like Live in Europe 1967 might help illuminate jazz's present as well as its past, but that's what great archival work can do. So congratulations, Columbia/Legacy. Now, what's next?"

Live In Europe 1969: The Bootleg Series Vol.2 showcased a short-lived legendary Miles Davis ensemble, a "third great quintet" recorded live featuring Wayne Shorter on soprano and tenor saxophones, Chick Corea on electric (and occasionally acoustic) piano, Dave Holland on bass and Jack DeJohnette on drums.

"The scope of these concerts is remarkable," wrote Pitchfork in its (9 out of 10 rated) review of Live In Europe 1969: The Bootleg Series Vol.2, "(The Miles Davis Quintet) makes for a deadly team, equally at home with low-down groove, in-the-pocket swing and feverish abstraction."

"It's wild, fitful, ripping good stuff," raved NPR's All Things Considered while the New York Daily News noted that "This set snaps Miles with a quintet that danced brilliantly between the relative formality of the mid '60s and the great madness to come."

"(Miles) plays with power, range and passion, goading the rhythm section into epic battles," observed BBC Music while The Guardian gave it 4 stars marveling that "...this is newly emerging and influential music still in the furnace and Davis' timing can make even a season fan whoop."

Seasoned and future fans of Miles Davis are invited to check out the man and his music as Legacy Recording's May Artist of the Month.

~ Legacy Recordings

NEW RELEASES - JAZZ INVADERS FEATURING DR. LONNIE SMITH, STIRRUP, THE SWEET VANDALS

THE JAZZINVADERS FEATURING DR. LONNIE SMITH - THAT'S WHAT YOU SAY!

The Jazz Invaders here are tighter than ever – and not just because they've got some heavy Hammond help from the legendary Lonnie Smith! Smith's definitely a key part of what makes this album so great – and his organ lines have a sharpness and depth that really stands out from the rest of the group – kind of an extra level of sound that really makes the whole thing sparkle! Yet the group themselves are pretty wonderful too – much more righteous than ever before, going past just a combo who can copy the best jazz modes, into the realm of one that's more than capable of making some mighty fresh sounds of their own. Linda Bloemhard sings on a few cuts, with this raspy edge that's pretty cool – but the instrumental push is what really makes the record shine. Titles include "Square Blues", "Little Sunflower", "Buzzin", "Song For Lonnie", "Tastich", "Nelson", "Mellow Mood", and "Tie Am". ~ Dusty Groove

STIRRUP - SEWN

A really cool trio recording – one that has Fred Lonberg-Holm playing some mighty sweet tenor guitar in addition to his usual cello – an instrument that comes across with this great sort of fuzzy sound! The tones spin out in these fluid waves – often a bit more forward-moving than some of Fred's other music, thanks partly to the rhythmic progressions of Nick Macri on bass and Charles Rumback on drums – both players who have a way of staying free, yet still finding a pulse together. Titles include "Floating Melody", "Song For Salim", "Super Seeded", "Convulsive", "In Zenith I", and "The Profit Of Field Stripping". ~  Dusty Groove

THE SWEET VANDALS - AFTER ALL

Sweet grooves from this hip Spanish combo – one of the hardest-working deep funk combos on the European scene in recent years – and a mighty soulful one as well! Mayka Edjole sings lead vocals in English, but with this cool accent that really makes the music sound different – still as classic and vintage as you might hope for, but also not as much in the copycat mode you might find with other girl funk singers these days – definitely a voice of her own that really makes The Sweet Vandals stand out! Instrumentation is heavy on Hammond and guitar, with bits of added horns here and there, but not nearly as much as from other groups – and there's some light use of strings at a few points, which makes for a nice surprise. Titles include "Whether You Like It Or Not", "After All", "Ain't No Use", "Old Souls", "Out Of My Head", and "Waves & Wings". (Includes bonus download code.) ~ Dusty Groove

MICHAEL BUBLE ANNOUNCES 40 CITY US TOUR

Michael Bublé's "To Be Loved" CD debuts at the No. 1 spot on Billboard Magazine's Top 200 Pop Charts. Next for the Canadian superstar is a 40 city US concert tour beginning in Chicago on Sept. 7. Bublé officially announced the tour for the first time during his appearance on today's Ellen show. The dates were confirmed by Don Fox of Beaver Productions, the national tour promoter. A complete list of shows follows this release.

"I'm very excited to get back on the road and perform for my fans. It's been a while but we're rested up and ready to have a big party on stage every night," commented Bublé.

Bublé has already sold out 10 nights at the 17,000 capacity O2 Arena in London beginning June 30th and 5 nights at the 10,000 capacity O2 in Dublin beginning July 15th. His previous Crazy Love Tour sold out in 80 US cities and was seen by over two million fans worldwide. "To Be Loved" is Bublé's 4th consecutive No. 1 album. In conjunction with the release, he co-hosted The Today Show and appeared on Kelly & Michael, The Ellen Show, Nightline, Dancing With The Stars, The Chelsea Lately show and a surprise appearance in a NY subway station which immediately went viral. The multi-Grammy winning artist has had global sales of 45 million albums in the course of his extraordinary decade long career. Bublé's last CD, the multi-platinum "Christmas," was the second biggest selling album of 2011 following Adele.

MICHAEL BUBLÉ TOUR DATES:
9/7/13 Chicago, IL United Center
9/8/13 Kansas City, MO. Sprint Center
9/11/13 St. Paul, MN XCEL Energy Center
9/13/13 Lincoln, NE Pinnacle Bank Arena
9/14/13 St. Louis, MO Scottrade Center
9/15/13 Indianapolis, IN Bankers Life Fieldhouse
9/17/13 Detroit, MI Palace of Auburn Hills
9/18/13 Cleveland, OH Quicken Loans Arena
9/20/13 Pittsburgh, PA Consol Energy Center
9/21/13 Philadelphia, PA Wells Fargo Center
9/22/13 Washington, DC Verizon Center
9/24/13 Buffalo, NY First Niagara Center
9/25/13 Hartford, CT XL Center
9/27/13 Boston, MA TD Garden
9/28/13 Newark, NJ Prudential Center
9/29/13 Brooklyn, NY Barclays Center
10/16/13 Tulsa, OK BOK Center
10/18/13 Dallas, TX American Airlines Center
10/19/13 San Antonio, TX ATT Center
10/20/13 Houston, TX Toyota Center
10/22/13 New Orleans, LA New Orleans Arena
10/23/13 Nashville, TN Bridgestone Arena
10/25/13 Raleigh, NC PNC Arena
10/26/13 Charlotte, NC Time Warner Cable Arena
10/27/13 Atlanta, GA Gwinnett Arena
10/29/13 Jacksonville, FL Veterans Memorial Arena
10/30/13 Orlando, FL Amway Arena
11/1/13 Tampa, FL Tampa Bay Times Forum
11/2/13 Ft. Lauderdale, FL BB&T Center
11/3/13 TBA
11/15/13 Seattle, WA Key Arena
11/16/13 Portland, OR Rose Garden
11/19/13 Salt Lake City, UT Energy Solutions Arena
11/20/13 Denver, CO Pepsi Center
11/22/13 Phoenix, AZ US Airways Center
11/23/13 Las Vegas, NV MGM Arena
11/24/13 Anaheim, CA Honda Center
11/26/13 San Diego, CA Valley View Casino Center
11/29/13 Los Angeles, CA Staples Center
11/30/13 Oakland, CA Oracle Arena

MATTHEW SHELL & ARUN SHENOY - GENESIS

Narked Records, in collaboration with MTS Music, have announced the release of “GENESIS” an exciting instrumental single forged out of the first ever collaboration between record producers Matthew Shell & Arun Shenoy. The music on this track features guest musicians from around the world, including Ian Cameron of Canada on lead violin. “GENESIS” is the lead single for Shell's new album VICTORIOUS, releasing in Summer 2013; it can be heard at Soundcloud, and purchased at iTunes, Amazon and CDBaby.

The producers describe the piece as “a glorious celebration of the beauty of unity” adding that “it brought our musical family from across the globe together again.” Music writer El Guero Unico, at Generation Bass, echoed their sentiment writing “Victorious is more than just a incredibly beautiful album, it is proof of how musicians and artists from around the world can now connect to record amazing music together without the limitations of location.”

Shenoy is based in Singapore, and his production style weaves through the genres of rock n roll, world and jazz. His self-released world fusion debut titled "Rumbadoodle" (ASMP, 2012) featured some of the musicians heard on “GENESIS” and garnered a GRAMMY® nomination in Pop Instrumental at this year’s 55th Annual GRAMMY® Awards.

Shell, a Washington DC based music producer & engineer, was recently featured on GRAMMY.com. He has produced and/or engineered records for a wide range of acclaimed artists over the years. His upcoming album release – Victorious -- will feature collaborators from around the world, including Kenny McNeil, G.P. Jackson, Taurus Soul, Rufus Fly, Markus Huber, Vahagn Stepanyan, and Shenoy, among others.

Director Jason Baustin, of Traveste Films, combined footage from the various recording sessions in Armenia, India, Germany, and the U.S. to create a music video that drives home the global nature of the collaboration and the powerful part played by technology. The single's cover art direction was provided by Robert Capria (Actuality Films) and Roshni Mohapatra, both of whom also art directed Rumbadoodle.

Jerome Promotions, Inc. is currently servicing “GENESIS” to Smooth Jazz radio, and The B Company handles publicity and media requests. For more information, images, music, videos, and reviews, please visit the producer's websites at arunshenoy.com and mtsmusic.net.

SWING OUT SISTER CELEBRATES 25TH ANNIVERSARY

Corinne Drewery, Swing Out Sister's lead singer, joins Kim Greenhouse of It’s Rainmaking Time!® to celebrate the new release of “Private View” featuring intimate, jazzy arrangements of Swing Out Sisters greatest hits.

Grammy-nominated band Swing Out Sister celebrates more than top ten hits, worldwide appeal, and a devoted global fan base. While they are best known for such smash hits as "Breakout", "Am I The Same Girl" and "You Are On My Mind", Corinne Drewery and Andy Connell are partners who have been creating music and living life together for 25 years, bridging their calling and their relationship.

While most relationships and bands split up after a much shorter time, Andy and Corinne continue to make music and magic together. Sharing a love and a creative space is an art form that few people in the world get a chance to experience.

It’s Rainmaking Time!® explores the mystery of their success and longevity in an intimate setting in London. Corinne shares her real-world experiences about family, performing, travel, life and death and opening for legends like Burt Bacharach, Stevie Wonder, and Tom Jones, and living life as a true artist in every sense of the word.

Swing Out Sister is coming to the USA beginning July 3rd at Chene Park Ampatheater in Detroit Michigan, then on July 7th at Birchmere in Alexandria Virginia and in New York, New York at The B.B. King Blues Club and Grill on July 9th. Don't miss one of the music industry's greatest treasures.

NEW RELEASES - JIRO INAGAKI & SOUL MEDIA, KING CURTIS, MAJOR HARRIS

JIRO INAGAKI & SOUL MEDIA - JAZZ ROCK LEGEND

A killer collection of work from one of the funkiest Japanese groups of the early 70s – billed as jazz rock in the title, but with a much deeper sound overall! Reedman Jiro Inagaki definitely comes from jazz roots, but has also picked up plenty of trippy touches from the late 60s too – fuzzy guitar, sweet keyboards, and an especially strong ear for the kind of heavy drums that folks like Lou Donaldson were using to push their instrumental work into a whole new dimension! The group here is often largeish, but still has the punch of a smaller funky combo – and the set brings together some of the most soulful albums from Jiro's rare Japanese-only albums – titles that include "The Ground For Peace", "Snap Shot", "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag", "Twenty One", "Breeze", "Painted Paradise", "Sniper's Snooze", and "Express". (Part of the Deep Jazz Reality series!) ~ Dusty Groove

KING CURTIS - HAVE TENOR SAX, WILLL BLOW

Smoking tenor from one of the greatest reedmen of all time – and one of the few who could easily bridge the worlds of jazz, soul, and R&B! The set's one of King's earliest albums – recorded back in 1959, and really given a tight Atlantic Records focus that takes the music way past some of Curtis' recordings for other labels – a sharp, tight punch in the rhythms that really works perfectly with his horn! Most of the players have a jazz pedigree, but fall nicely in line behind the tenor lead – on a rich range of original titles that include "Midnight Ramble", "The Shake", "Lil Brother", "Jaywalk", "Snake Eyes", "The Groove", and "Chili" – plus a sweet take on "Peter Gunn" too! ~ Dusty Groove

MAJOR HARRIS - JEALOUSY

One of the best 70s mellow soul talents at Atlantic Records – sounding completely sublime here in a full set of Philly arrangements! The set was recorded at Sigma Sound – and is a great reminder that even during the disco years, the studio was still a great place to cut a heartbreaking ballad – the sort of number that younger Philly groups would have done for indie labels at the start of the 70s – polished up and given some real maturity here by The Major! There's also a few great groovers on the record too – but with that Philly poise that also still holds onto all the personality of the singer – and the arrangements are great throughout – handled by Norman Harris, Ron Kersey, and Bobby Eli – a perfect Philly team. Titles include "Walkin In The Footsteps", "Jealousy", "I Got Over Love", "Tynisa", "It's Got To Be Magic", and "What's The Use In The Truth". ~ Dusty Groove

JAS ANNOUNCES FULL JUNE FESTIVAL LINE-UP: BEN HARPER & CHARLIE MUSSELWHITE, TEDESCHI TRUCKS BAND, NICOLE HENRY, RAUL MIDON & OTHERS

Ben Harper & Charlie Musselwhite (Photo: Danny Clinch)

GRAMMY® Award-winning blues-rock singer Ben Harper & bluesman Charlie Musselwhite have been added to the JAS Aspen Snowmass June Festival line-up, performing on Saturday, June 22nd at the Benedict Music Tent. Harper recently teamed up with the harmonica legend and Blues Hall of Fame inductee Charile Musselwhite to release a collaborative blues album titled Get Up!. On Sunday, June 23rd the 11-piece Tedeschi Trucks Band, led by the husband-wife team of Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi will perform with special guests the vocal play group Naturally 7. These artists will join previously announced Friday, June 21st performer Jackson Browne and July 5th performers Pink Martini, presented in association with the Aspen Music Festival and School.

JAS has also announced an expanding FREE Festival Lawn Party taking place on the Benedict Music Tent grounds starting at 6pm June 21-23. Two bands will perform nightly including Cuban born Pablo Menendez "Mezcla" and rising world-fusion star TIZER. Multiple food and drink vendors will be on-site creating a festival feel for the entire community to come enjoy.

The JAS Cafe at the Nell Summer Series, which kicks off as part of the JAS June 21 - July 6 Festival has also been announced to include the guitar & vocal wizardry of Raul Midon double-billed with the singer/pianist Karrin Allyson on June 26; the funky & soulful New Orleans' keyboard & vocals of Jon Cleary on June 28-29; The Jeff Hamilton Trio on July 3; The 12 Pc. Cuban Big Band Wil Campa Y su Gran Union on July 5; The suave & high energy Pianist/Vocalist Tony DeSare on July 18-19; The Malian guitarist/vocalist Vieux Farka Toure on Aug 7; The Jazz & Soul vocalist Nicole Henry on Aug 9-10 and the Italian jazz vocalist Roberta Gambarini on August 17-18 with additional dates and artists to be announced at a later date.

GEORGE DUKE - DREAMWEAVER

Out of devastating pain comes DreamWeaver, the new disc, which GRAMMY® Award-winning keyboardist ,composer, arranger, and producer George Duke considers his “most honest album in several years.” The making of DreamWeaver occurred after his wife, Corine, passed away. Struck with grief, he found it difficult to work during that period. “I didn’t feel like creating any music, which was odd, because normally that’s the easiest thing for me to do,” he says, “Sometimes, I would walk into the studio and say, ‘Nah. It’s not going to happen.’”

Duke’s mojo returned while on a Capital Cruise. During the first couple of days, he didn’t play any music, but did check out some of the other bands. “By the third day, something happened,” he remembers. After returning to his cabin around 4 a.m. from listening to music, inspiration ignited. “I went back on the deck and watched the sun come up. A couple of songs started coming to me; I got out my pen and paper, and started writing.”

With the assistance of an illustrious cast of musicians that includes bassists Christian McBride and Stanley Clarke; singers Teena Marie, Lalah Hathaway, Rachelle Ferrell, and Jeffrey Osborne; guitarist Paul Jackson, Jr. and the late Jef Lee Johnson; among others, DreamWeaver, set for release July 16, 2013 on Heads Up International, a division of Concord Music Group, finds Duke emphasizing more instrumentals than in the past as well as concentrating more on his mastery on various synthesizers.

Like the bulk of Duke’s discography, DreamWeaver accentuates eclecticism with 15 tracks that range from swinging jazz and sweat funk to gospel-inflected pop and sensual R&B ballads. As the title implies, Duke likens mixing all of the idioms to weaving a sonic fabric. He also compares that stylistic dynamism to life. “Everything is in transition – from hot to cold, from life to death,” he philosophizes, “I wanted to incorporate that kind of thing and include a lot of things that are a part of my life.”

The disc begins and ends with allusions of nothingness, starting with the title track, a sparse etude, and finishes with “Happy Trails,” a misty ballad that was at first just dedicated to Duke’s wife, but later gained more emotional poignancy because of the sudden passing of Johnson, whose distinctive guitar work fades out the conclusion. In between, the disc unfolds with the evocative, mid-tempo modern jazz composition, “Stones of Orion,” showcasing Duke’s crystalline piano improvisations along with longtime collaborator Clarke on upright bass; the feisty 15-minute workout, “Burnt Sausage Jam,” a track that Duke refurbished from his 2002 Facing the Music sessions with Johnson, McBride, and drummer Lil’ John Roberts; the frisky gangster-leaning groover, “Round the Way Girl;” the feet-friendly burner, “Jazzmatazz;” and the heartfelt ballad, “Missing You,” another direct tribute to Duke’s wife.

The whimsical “Trippin’” is Duke at his most autobiographical as the lyrics go down memory lane and touch upon his formative years in California’s Bay Area, where as a kid, he heard legendary musicians such as Les McCann and Ray Charles, and eventually becoming a jazz musician, particularly due to his work with the iconic Julian “Cannonball” Adderley. In fact, the song’s recurring “Ahoom!” is a discreet shout out to Cannonball, because it was a phrase that the alto saxophonist would often use.

The simmering ballad, “Ball and Chain,” features some of the last recorded vocal works from R&B songstress, Teena Marie, who died in 2010. Duke worked with Marie on her 2009 Stax Records disc, Congo Square. Afterward, she wanted Duke to produce a full-length jazz album. “Ball and Chain” is one of the tunes that came from those sessions before Marie’s untimely passing. Duke offered the song to Beautiful, Marie’s 2013 posthumous disc, but the producers declined. With the blessings of Marie’s daughter, Alia Rose and Marie’s estate, Duke added horns and releases it here.

Another standout is “Change the World,” an all-star vocal tour de force featuring Hathaway, Osborne, Freddie Jackson, BeBe Winans, and Howard Hewett. In the tradition of Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror,” and U.S.A. for Africa’s “We Are the World,” it’s a gospel-inflected message song, pleading for global unity. “Musicians need to talk about the issues of the day, realizing that the probability of making any kind of change in the world is more than likely a pipe dream anyway. But that doesn’t mean you can’t say it or act on it. Music should tell the truth,” Duke says.

With almost a half a century career, Duke is one today’s most prolific living jazz legends. From leading a jazz trio with a young Al Jarreau during his formative years to working with Jean-Luc Ponty, which afforded Duke’s first recording contract with MPS Records and his first exposure to Europe, to his incredible work with Adderley, drummer Billy Cobham, and Frank Zappa, to his cherished stream of jazz-funk records in the ’70s, Duke found his mark not only in his eclecticism, but also his signature approach to the synthesizer, which often prized less pyrotechnics in favor of blues elements.

“I didn’t hear anybody playing the blues on the synthesizer,” Duke recalls, “When I was with Billy Cobham, I said, ‘We need to bring some R&B into fusion,’ because at that time, it just seemed like people were just playing a lot of notes really fast, especially on the synthesizer. I thought it would work if we put an R&B vibe into the fusion element to reach the people.”

He keeps that quality intact as evidenced on DreamWeaver. “For me, I need the blues in there; that Ancient Source that really emanated from Africa,” he says when asked about his approach to jazz, “Jazz formed from the merging of European and African elements in a spontaneous context, so if you take away either element from the music, it ceases to be living, growing and ever changing real jazz, for me.” 

THE BRAND NEW HEAVIES RETURN WITH FORWARD, FIRST NEW RELEASE IN SIX YEARS

Pioneers of the London Acid Jazz scene, The Brand New Heavies, are a British music institution whose unique mix of jazz, funk and soul has lit up the UK music scene for well over two decades. In the wake of the 25th anniversary of Acid Jazz (the label that signed ‘The Heavies’ in 1990), 2013 sees the release of their first full studio album in nearly seven years: ‘Forward’, featuring original vocal collaborator N’ Dea Davenport and introducing new vocalist Dawn Joseph. Over the years The Brand New Heavies have been responsible for some of the UK’s biggest R & B/ soul tracks, scoring 16 top 40 singles including ‘Dream On Dreamer’ and ‘You’ve Got A Friend’, as well as over two million album sales.

Ever present founder members Jan Kincaid, Simon Bartholomew and Andrew Levy (on drums/keyboards, guitar and bass respectively) conceived the band in the London suburb of Ealing in 1985, and they became influential in creating what became known as the acid jazz scene of the early 90’s. Acid Jazz was the slower-paced, more soulful counterpart of acid house that also spawned the likes of Jamiroquai and Galliano. The band’s name was homage to soul godfather James Brown, who was once billed as the ‘Minister of New Super Heavy Funk’. ‘We supported him at Wembley once,’ guitarist Bartholomew later revealed. ‘We were soundchecking and James Brown arrives…dressed in this amazing olive green suit with a sort of Kentucky Fried Chicken tie. And we jammed in front of him. He was like “you guys sound great”. It was mind-blowing for us because he basically invented funk.’

The Heavies first made their reputation on the late 80’s London club circuit. A debut single, ‘Got To Give’, came out on Cooltempo before the band signed to Acid Jazz Records and released ‘Brand New Heavies’ in 1990, with the emphasis on instrumental rather than vocal material. In America, where they were signed to the Delicious Vinyl label, they started getting press attention. Jan Kincaid recalls ‘a live show in New York which also got great press. Word got back to the UK and suddenly there was this massive buzz … From then on, the public and press perception really took off for us.’

This Stateside connection had grown even stronger when they linked with American singer N’Dea Davenport. Having made her name in Los Angeles, where she’d headed with $300 in her pocket after leaving her native Atlanta, she continued her travels to London after Eurythmic Dave Stewart offered her a solo record deal. She didn’t take this up, instead linking with the Heavies, and the band’s first golden period was about to begin.

Their eponymous debut album, re-issued with Davenport’s vocals, took off around the world in 1992, fuelled by the hits ‘Never Stop’ (a new track), ‘Stay This Way’ and ‘Dream Come True’. Just when you would have thought they’d capitalise on this first success, the Heavies then took a stylistic left turn and came up with ‘Heavy Rhyme Experience: Vol. 1’, joining forces with a number of popular rappers including Main Source, Gang Starr, Grand Puba and the Pharcyde. The inspiration had been a show with MC Serch (of 3rd Bass) and Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest in New York which had inspired them to incorporate elements of hip-hop in their music.

Two years later came the album many fans still consider their peak. ‘Brother Sister’ included the hits ‘Dream On Dreamer’, ‘Back To Love’ and ‘Spend Some Time’ and soared all the way to Number 4 in the UK chart, turning platinum in the process. It also contained their biggest chart single to date, the Number 13 smash ‘Midnight At The Oasis’. This cover of the 1974 Maria Muldaur hit became a UK radio staple but was never released Stateside.

Davenport’s departure in 1994 to complete a long-delayed solo album didn’t derail the Heavies. Their next vocal collaborator was Siedah Garrett, a long-time associate of Quincy Jones, who had recently recorded and toured with Michael Jackson, duetting with him for ‘I Just Can’t Stop Loving You’ and co-writing ‘Man In The Mirror’.

As part of the band, Garrett co-wrote their Top 20 hit ‘Sometimes’, which peaked at Number 11 in the UK and helped propel the next album, ‘Shelter’, to No. 5. But, as with ‘Midnight At The Oasis’, it was when the Heavies lent their trademark sound to a well-chosen standard, in this case Carole King’s ‘You’ve Got A Friend’, that the biggest commercial rewards were obtained. Originally a US chart-topper for James Taylor and performed by its writer a quarter of a century earlier on her ‘Tapestry’ album, it made UK No. 9 in the Heavies’ hands and was all over the radio airwaves.

Good friend Carleen Anderson of Young Disciples fame, picked up where Garrett left off soon afterwards, happily contributing to ‘Trunk Funk – The Best of The Brand New Heavies’. Her revamped version of ‘Apparently Nothing’ (a hit for her previous group in 1991) joined ‘Saturday Nite’ as Top 40 singles that helped boost the collection to an impressive Number 13 peak.

After a short hiatus the group re-emerged in 2006 with a new album called ‘Get Used To It’, prompting esteemed US trade paper Billboard to proclaim Davenport ‘one of the seven wonders of the world… she doesn’t just sing lyrics…she inhabits them.’

A few side projects later and 2013 sees The Heavies re- emerge in triumphant and refreshed form with original collaborator N’Dea kicking things off in spectacular style on the single ‘Sunlight’, out April 15th 2013. Davenport features on several tracks on the “Forward” album with new British vocalist, Dawn Joseph taking up the baton on several tracks also, alongside Kincaid on vocals and some of their signature funk- filled instrumentals. The Brand New Heavies have been ploughing their own furrow the British music scene for over a quarter of a century and are respected the world over. With their new album and tour dates, both in the UK and abroad in the off-ing, they look set to continue that tradition for many years to come.

~ thebrandnewheavies.net

CHARLES BRADLEY & HIS EXTRAORDINAIRES AND TERENCE BLANCHARD ADDED TO LOVE SUPREME JAZZ FESTIVAL LINEUP

The Love Supreme Festival organizers have announced that "The Screaming Eagle of Soul", Charles Bradley, will be performing at Love Supreme this summer along with his Extraordinaires. The Daptone soul man rose to fame after 48 years of struggling and released his debut album 'No Time for Dreaming' aged 62. Bradley was also the subject of the documentary, 'Soul of America', which premiered at SXSW 2012 and played at 39 festivals around the world including IDFA, Silverdocs and Hot Docs and won Best Documentary at the 2013 Annapolis Film Festival. It told the story of his journey from a James Brown impersonator to one of the key figures in modern soul music and we are very happy to be welcoming him to Glynde this summer. He is joined by the multi award-winning Terence Blanchard one of jazz's greatest living trumpet players. Blanchard has worked with countless artists including Love Supreme artist, Brandford Marsalis on the Spike Lee classic 'Mo Better Blues'. A true jazz icon, he will be playing the Big Top on Sunday.

Also taking to the stage is acoustic blues singer/song writer, Eric Bibb, who will bring his unique sound to Love Supreme on Saturday alongside Ryan Quigley, who over the last ten years has become one of the most well-known and in demand trumpet players on the UK music scene. He will be bringing the Ryan Quigley Big Band to Love Supreme to play classic Beatles songs with a big band twist to the Sunday Main Stage. One of the UK's finest young talents, Troyka will also be appearing, performing their eclectic mix of jazz, rock and dance music.

Clarinettist, Arun Ghosh will be specially presenting some of his new material from his forth-coming album for festival goers and to get you moving Electro-swing act, Kitten and The Hip will be bringing their upbeat live show to Glynde this summer. Jazz FM Album of the Week artist Oli Rockberger will also be appearing playing tracks from his Piano driven albums and you can also catch Brass Jaw, the brass four-piece will not only be performing the best funky jazz on stage but also around and about the festival arena.

All these artists will be joining Bryan Ferry & The Bryan Ferry Orchestra, Jools Holland & His Rhythm and Blues Orchestra, Chic feat. Nile Rodgers, Michael Kiwanuka, Esperanza Spalding, Melody Gardot, Brand New Heavies and many more.

BILL FRISELL - BIG SUR

OKeh will release guitarist-composer Bill Frisell's new album, Big Sur, on June 18, 2013. The project marks his label debut as well as the first album featuring the Big Sur Quintet (which combines his 858 Quartet and Beautiful Dreamers trio).

The region known as Big Sur occupies 90 miles of spectacular central California coastline, midway between Santa Cruz and Santa Barbara, and extends inland to the abruptly rising Santa Lucia Mountains. Over the past century, Big Sur's rugged coastline and terrain, breathtaking vistas, and potential for communion with nature have attracted and inspired a multitude of creative types, such as Robinson Jeffers, Henry Miller, Jack Kerouac, Ansel Adams, Charles Lloyd, John Adams, Hunter S. Thompson, The Beach Boys, Death Cab For Cutie, and others.

Born of a Monterey Jazz Festival commission in 2012, Bill Frisell's Big Sur features an hour of original music, 19 compositions that explicitly reference the coastal-mountain environment. Titles such as "A Good Spot," "Going to California," "A Beautiful View," "Big Sur," and "On the Lookout" evoke the remote and pastoral setting with musical blends of chamber jazz, country, classical, folk, and rock. Joined by violinist Jenny Scheinman, violist Eyvind Kang, cellist Hank Roberts, and drummer Rudy Royston, the group premiered the music at the festival in September 2012. Six months later, the quintet recorded Big Sur at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, California, with longtime Frisell collaborators Lee Townsend and Adam Muñoz producing and engineering, respectively.

The commission included a residency at Glen Deven Ranch, an 860-acre property bequeathed to the Big Sur Land Trust. Glen Deven's beauty and quietude provided Frisell with both inspiration and something even more rare: time to be alone with his muse (for the first ten day stay in April 2012).

"I've been so lucky playing and working so much," reflects Frisell, "but it's become rare in the past 20 years to actually have time to reflect on things and to let them percolate or simmer. In Big Sur, I never knew what time it was, my phone didn't work, I slept whenever I wanted, and I woke up whenever I wanted. The idea was to just write music.

"It was extraordinary. You're surrounded by forest, and there's a trail that you can walk to the end of the bluff, where the land just drops off and you see the whole panorama of the Big Sur coast and the Pacific Ocean," says Frisell. "That's what I woke up to every morning. It was incredible." When he wasn't writing in his cabin, Frisell found himself meandering out the trail toward the lookout, settling onto one of the benches with his pad of music paper, and writing down whatever melodies popped into his head. "I filled up pages and pages," he says. "The music just kept coming."

Shortly before the Monterey Jazz Festival, Frisell returned to Glen Deven, joined by his band mates. "When Jenny and Eyvind and Hank and Rudy came to rehearse, they got a feel for where I'd been when I was writing. That's really when we became the Big Sur Quintet - and when the music came to life."

Essentially combining the 858 Quartet with Beautiful Dreamers (given Royston's participation), the new Quintet imparts exciting breadth and grandeur to Frisell's compositions. "I think of 858 as having a very wide dynamic range, from intimate and quiet to big and orchestral," Frisell says. "But the drums bring out the power even more. Rudy does unexpected things that inspire me, which is what everybody in this band is doing all the time."

You can hear Frisell propelled by his collaborators throughout Big Sur, notably the way his guitar grows increasingly edgy against the group's orchestral sweep and rhythmic punch on "Gather Good Things," or how it lifts and soars out of swirling ensemble updrafts on "Hawks." This is a band that can conjure a striking variety of moods and images, from nocturnal mystery ("Animals") and idyllic reverie ("We All Love Neil Young") to snaking curves of asphalt ("Highway 1") and crashing waves (the surf-rock-tinged "The Big One").

"I always feel guilty when I say I write the music," Frisell notes. "I do write these melodies on paper-and I know that's important-but there's this huge step that comes from the other musicians. For much of this album, they are playing the actual notes that I wrote down, but the way they bring their own sound to it, there's no way it can just be on the paper.

"This Quintet feels like family," says Frisell, who titled one new piece "Sing Together Like Family." It's evident in the way the musicians interact intuitively to shape the music while playing. "You hear that sort of thing when the Carter family sings together," he explains. "For them, it's in the blood. With us, it comes from putting in all those hours on trains and planes, and going through all this together. When it turns into music, it's about how we're connected. Whether the notes are written or improvised, all kinds of decisions are being made on the spur of the moment, which I just love. It keeps the music fresh. Hopefully, every time we play Big Sur, something new will happen."

Since launching his recording career as leader in 1983 on the ECM label, guitarist Bill Frisell has spent much of the past 30 years in studios and on tour. His stunning résumé includes solo work, such as the recent Silent Comedy (Tzadik); duos with Greg Leisz, Vinicius Cantuária, Jim Hall, and Petra Haden; various trios (Ron Carter and Paul Motian; Dave Holland and Elvin Jones; Tony Scherr and Kenny Wollesen; and Beautiful Dreamers with Eyvind Kang and Rudy Royston) and quartets; and such genre-blurring projects as the Intercontinentals, The Willies, Buddy Miller's Majestic Silver Strings, Floratone (with drummer Matt Chamberlain and producers Townsend and Tucker Martine), The Sweetest Punch: The New Songs of Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach, All We Are Saying (a tribute to the music of John Lennon), and Richter 858 (with Kang, Scheinman, and Roberts). A recipient of the inaugural Doris Duke Artist Award in 2012, his distinctive guitar tones, colors, and harmonic sensibilities make Frisell one of the most sought-after collaborators in contemporary music. Additionally, Frisell lends his artistic vision to two major arts intuitions in 2013: as a Resident Artistic Director for SFJAZZ and curator of Jazz at Lincoln Center's new "Roots of Americana" series (the latter during the 2013-2014 season).

FRIEDMAN & LIEBEZEIT - SECRET RHYTHMS 5

Over the past 12 years Secret Rhythms has become the leading Nonplace trademark. In April 2013 Jaki Liebezeit and Burnt Friedman will add a fifth album to a series that also includes three 12″ singles and one remix single. Central to the secret rhythms concept is Liebezeit’s radical drum code in unison with Friedman’s range of archaic metal percussion and synth instruments. The two musicians’ live and studio collaboration has led to eight striking new tracks which, at durations between 3 and 5 minutes, conform to standard expectations in length at least.

Jaki Liebezeit numbers among the world’s foremost drummers. Between 1968 and 1978, playing as a founding member of the legendary Can, he produced rhythms to be heard nowhere else, anticipating by many years the loops of modern club music. His delicate and peerlessly precise drum sound is audible in countless studio productions by a range of artists from Conny Plank to Jah Wobble. But by the early 1990s Liebezeit felt he had exhausted the possibilities of conventional drums. He made a radical break, and began to re-define, or re-invent, what drumming was about: “That explains why I’ve meanwhile abandoned conventional drums, the standard American kit. I looked around for something different, and now I just play drums. People keep saying my drumming is so reduced, but there’s nothing minimalist about the way I play, I just leave out the superfluous stuff.”

Simplicity became a core principle for Liebezeit and collaborators like the Cologne formation Drums Off Chaos, or the electronic musician Burnt Friedman, who is noted for his richly detailed, groove-heavy productions. Less is known about his activities in the period from 1978 up to the mid-1990s, when he began to make his own instruments and took up the drums, initially with no thought of electronic music. He was searching for a method that would allow him to play although he lacked any knowledge of music or what it was supposed to be. From the first note on he recorded all his ad hoc compositions, since these attempts were useful for the purposes of learning.

Friedman explains his reasons for seeking to meet up with Liebezeit in 2000 apart from the happy coincidence that both artists were living in Cologne: “I knew his work with Can and loved his drum sound and the post-Can developments. Above all I was interested in complex rhythmic grooves and assumed Jaki would be the ideal partner for live sets. This passion for odd time signatures and the uncommon is a driving force behind the Secret Rhythms project.”

Jaki Liebezeit: “The first music I heard was probably dance music or the like, then at ten or eleven I discovered jazz and would have been a jazz fan for all eternity if I hadn’t happened to hear different music, I started listening to ethno-sounds pretty early on, to Indian music, Arabian music, listened to a lot of Flamenco in Spain, where I was most impressed to notice the rhythm was at least as good as jazz, perhaps even hotter. And then I got to know a lot of different things, and I drew the logical conclusions and said goodbye to jazz because I realized it wasn’t my music, it was something I’d acquired.”

Allegedly the sound of one-armed bandits inspired Paul Desmond to compose “Take Five”: “It was the rhythm of the machine which influenced me, and I really only wrote the track to get the money back I lost that night.”

Although jazz offers examples of odd time signatures stretching back all the way to Lennie Tristano in 1955, for example, or Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond in 1959, fundamental differences persist in the way these rhythms are perceived. Terms like downbeat and offbeat, polymeter or syncopation point to theoretical inconsistencies. They demonstrate that the notion of a uniform, dynamic functional principle is alien to western thinking.

Watching Liebezeit play his drums, or following the developmental path of the Secret Rhythms titles, it becomes possible to understand that the rhythmic formula is comprehended as being circular – in much the same way as in traditional or neo-traditional music in non-western spheres – as opposed to linear and progressive. The formula is derived from a recurrent, necessarily balanced body movement from which every impulse originates as something sensed as opposed to noted down. Once these basal motional patterns have been transposed to the memory of the body, they can be effortlessly transferred to any desired resonance box, string, drum, xylophone or piano. They are in tune to begin with.

“If you find the way the energy wants to flow naturally, you don´t have to force it.” Marko Rodin (scientist, vortex-based mathematics)

This formulaic principle, which can be represented with just two signs, or translated into simple digits, can also be grasped as an energy structure according to which the individual (or an infinite number of individuals) is synchronized. Analogously, all the instruments played on Secret Rhythms 5 are synchronized to the principal motional formula.

Burnt Friedman: “If a dancer was to think about his sequence of movements when dancing, he would presumably fall over. I don’t believe the so-called brain controls the complex sequence, I think control lies with the structure that has entered the body. In musical terms this structure comprises the repetition of proportions and intervals. But the question of whether this functions, whether the orchestra or the band start to vibrate in unison, depends on whether the musicians listen to each other and are used to working this way. That would be expecting too much from a deaf machine, so the frequent comparisons between Jaki and a machine are rather implausible. As I see it, Can deliberately moved towards a rather simple, straight, repetitive groove in the late ’60s. Basically, they didn’t jam or improvise, but executed what was preordained by a fundamental musical structure, and would keep repeating cycles they wanted to play really well. What we hear when we listen to early Can is, with a few exceptions, the record of a group process that was never completed or even entertained the concept of a finished piece. There would always be room to play something differently.”

“Two musicians juggle with old and new particles, take their own time and in doing so give time back to those who surrender themselves up to this tranquil monotony, which is trance-like and removed, but urgent too: precisely this archaism makes it up to the minute. The force comes from tranquillity because the music distils something of its own from the surplus of means. It is this defence of individuality that keeps things going” – Thüringer Landeszeitung, October 2011

~ grooveattack.com

MEDLINE - PEOPLE MAKE THE WORLD GO ROUND

Medline is a musician, producer and DJ from Rennes, France with roots in Chile. Born Orlando Diaz Corvalan, Medline calls his music brown music – a mix of afro, latin, funk and jazz with a hip-hop state of mind.

With his debut album “People Make The World Go Round” the French producer is taking us on a trip down memory lane by paying tribute to the jazz funk masters who’s music shaped the musical DNA of hip-hop. From Roy Ayers and Lonnie Liston Smith to Freddie Hubbard and the Heath Brothers. Songs like “Everybody Loves The Sunshine”, “Red Clay” or “Smilin’ Billy Suite” have been a staple amongst hip-hop and jazz fans alike for a long time. But the album is more than a sample song-book of 90ties rap. Medline reinterpretates the songs in his very own way. A beatmaker by trade, Medline acts as a one man orchestra playing every instrument himself. with a strong focus on the flute. Think Herbie Mann joins Yesterdays New Quintett with a headnod towards broken beat. On three songs he is joined by Roni Alkekengi who’s sultry vocals (and French accent) are a perfect match.

The album sleeve has been designed by Turkish artist Gizem Wintah. A limited vinyl edition of the album comes with three prints of Roy Ayers, Donald Byrd and The Stylistics. 500 numbered copies only.

Last summer, Medline introduced his album with the 7″ single “Everybody Loves The Sunshine”. The title track “People Makes The World Go Round” has been available on a limited vinyl only split single with Suff Daddy, released in conjunction with HHV. On New York label Names You Can Trust, Medline has just released a cumbia 7″ under his Alliacara 2743 moniker.

“This Medline album is amazing” – Anthony Valadez (KCRW, Los Angeles)

“Medline have come up with a fresh take on all time classics that are well respected throughout the Hip Hop Scene. Breathing new life into these productions gives them a strong look.” – Majestic Mood (SuperflyFM, Vienna)

“Great fresh versions of some classic tunes. Medline is getting better and better!” – James Barrie (Audio Texture Radio Show, Barcelona)

“Beautiful arrangements on a couple of great covers. Lots of dance floor material and listening pleasure.” – Phil Hornemann (Wicked Jazz Sounds/Radio 6, Amsterdam)

www.mpmsite.com

Tracklisting:
01. A New Day
02. People Make The World Go Round
03. Black Narcissus
04. Wind Parade (feat. Roni Alkekengi)
05. Eboness
06. Smiling Suite
07. Everybody Loves The Sunshine (feat. Roni Alkekengi)
08. People Make The World Go Round (Instrumental)
09. Red Clay
10. Expansions (feat. Roni Alkekengi)

~ grooveattack.com

KALABRESE - INDEPENDENT DANCER

Kalabrese is a curious tastemaker and bold musical force that dares to tread the murky waters between indie and electronica, playfully emphasising vocals on song based productions and presenting an album that pushes the limits and portrays dance music in a peculiar and natural way. Inspired by blues, funk, and all those beautiful dancers and tragic heroes of the night, ‘Independent Dancer’ is laced with curiosity and fever inducing productions.

Six years on from his 2007 debut album ‘Rumpelzirkus’, a critically acclaimed project that was pursued by performances at infamous festivals like Sonar, Mutek in Montreal and Transmediale in Berlin as well as playing nearly every club basement in Europe with his live-project “Rumpelorchester”, Sascha Winkler AKA Kalabrese returns with a masterpiece.

Sounding like a soundtrack from James Murphy (in fact Kalabrese played back to back with the LCD Soundsystem lead man in 2012) and Nicolas Jaar, who featured his epic blues solo ‘Desperate Man’ on his own Resident-Advisor podcast, ‘Independent Dancer’ commences with an almost euphoric and certainly unpretentious spirit. ‘Purple Rose’ steps out downbeat with Sarah Palin, the newest Rumpel discovery, singing an astonishing duet with Kala, an almost country-like creation with ringing bells from the Alps and a hypnotic house beat crashing behind. Kalabrese recruits friend and mentor, A.C.

Kupper (who also designed the cover) to sing ‘Let The Good Times Roll’ taking his falsetto voice and overlaying chunky beats and a captivating synth-line, inspiring the urge to dance in only the most sincere way. ‘Independent Dancer’ varies in tempo and rhythm throughout, from the wonderful airy ballad of ‘Stone On Your Back’ with its cello parts played by Dominik Löhrer and light bossanova rhythm, juxtaposed with ‘Wanzka’, an active, swinging Afro-groove gem with mind-blowing, lyrical brass parts courtesy of Michael Flury and Benjamin Danech.

Guest singer Khan from Berlin, can be heard on the hypnotic Arabic inspired bonus track ‘Feeling Me’ and also on ‘Desperate Man’, which Rumpel-member Marton di Katz rocks a crazy groove bassline sensations. Towards the conclusion everything twists into cosiness once again as Kalabrese extols the Sihl Valley with ‘Sihltal’, a punchy disco tune spiked with melancholy and expressing a soft wish of togetherness.

At all times ‘Independent Dancer’ orbits the moment, encapsulating where the dancer unites with the music and forgets the rest of the world. Thus the whole album is a homage to clublife, a world which Kalabrese has been part of for more than 15 years, while alsoexpressing the rejection of constant output by the media and superficial virtual worlds and welcomes the experience of the physical force of nature.

His authentic way to accomplish things, his deep musical knowledge and potential to bridge gaps keeps enriching nightlife culture and the whole electronic music landscape.

‘Independent Dancer’ is the first release on Kalabrese’s own label, Rumpelmusig, a new sublabel of Compost Records that acts as a research station for unconventional dance music in the future. Retro Mugli and Valentino Tomasi mixed the album with earnest commitment in the legendary Powerplay Studio on an analog mixer to finalise the songs.

Independent Dance’ is the natural conclusion of Kalabrese’s path so far, avoiding pretence, it contains its own cosmos, where the rumbling between blues and bass becomes innate and every song brings home a message of the soft power of the dance.

www.kalabrese.com

Tracklisting:
01. Purple Rose
02. Let The Good Times Roll feat. A.C. Kupper
03. Independent Dancer
04. Fresh And Foolish feat. Sarah Palin
05. Makossa
06. Desperate Man feat. Khan
07. Brooklyn55
08. Stone On Your Back
09. Wanzka
10. Sihltal
11. Marzikala
12. Das Haus am Fluss
13. Find A Place
  ~ grooveattack.com

THE HELIOCENTRICS - 13 DEGREES OF REALITY

The Heliocentrics’ debut album, Out There (2007) was a confounding piece of work. Drawing equally from the funk universe of James Brown, the disorienting asymmetry of Sun Ra, the cinematic scope of Ennio Morricone, the sublime fusion of David Axelrod, Pierre Henry’s turned-on musique concrète, and Can’s beat-heavy Krautrock, Out There pointed the way towards a brand new kind of psychedelia, one that could only come from a band of accomplished musicians who were also obsessive music fans. Drummer Malcolm Catto and bassist Jake Ferguson are the Heliocentrics’ masterminds and producers, and guitarist Ade Owusu, percussionist Jack Yglesisas and keyboardist Ollie Parfitt hold constant presence within this ever-evolving ensemble.

They have been playing together for over a decade and their collective drive is to find an individual voice. The Heliocentrics search for it in an alternate galaxy where the orbits of funk, jazz, psychedelic, electronic, avant-garde and “ethnic” music all revolve around “The One.” Back at Now-Again with 13 Degrees of Reality, the Heliocentrics have returned to develop this epic vision of psychedelic funk, while exploring the possibilities created by their myriad influences – Latin, African, and more. Thus, the electro-Latin fusion of “Descarga Electronica” sits next to weeping strings piled atop “Collateral Damage’s” chunky rhythms, which nearly misses the undulating swing of “Wrecking Ball,” a dirge as irresistibly funky as it is devastating.

No surprise, then, that the Heliocentrics have earned lifetime fans in the likes of questing spirits like Madlib (with whom Catto has collaborated on numerous Yesterdays New Quintet projects), DJ Shadow (both as a touring ensemble and in the studio), Quantic and Ethiopian jazz giant Mulatu Astatke, with whom the Heliocentrics recorded and released Inspiration Information 3, the fourth classic Mulatu album – released nearly forty years after his other three. Out There may have been one hell of an opening volley, but having spent some years in the wild running among mavericks like Astatke and Oriental Jazz pioneer Lloyd Miller, the Heliocentrics have realized that their strongest statements are made somewhere between the persistent fuzz of Owusu’s distorted guitar, Catto’s impossible syncopation and Ferguson’s looping bass lines. 13 Degrees of Reality is one of the most distinctive musical statements you’ll hear all year.

www.nowagainrecords.com

Tracklisting:
01. Feedback (Intro)
02. Ethnicity
03. Public Safety
04. Mysterious Ways
05. Dreams
06. Collateral Damage
07. Outtake (Interlude)
08. Freeness Part 2
09. Wrecking Ball (Prelude)
10. Wrecking Ball
11. Mind Readers
12. Descarga Electronica
13. A Musical Conspiracy (Interlude)
14. Eastern Begena
15. Hall Of Mirrors (Interlude)
16. Mr. Owusu, I Presume?
17. The Abstract & The Absolute (Interlude)
18. Black Sky
19. Prepare For Lift-Off (Interlude)
20. Path Of The Black Sun
21. Calabash
22. Vibrations Of Fallen Angels (Outro)

~ grooveattack.com

META & THE CORNERSTONES - ANCIENT POWER

Proclaimed the next ‘African Reggae Voice’, Meta’s unforgettable vocals are complemented by the incomparable sounds of his band The Cornerstones. Meta and The Cornerstones’ music is warm and embodying, immensely addictive, and destined to forever change the dynamics of reggae music. Through pure musical genius and humble spirits, the band successfully fuses reggae, Afro-pop, hip-hop, rock, and soul music with passionate lyrics in English, French, Wolof and Fulani.


Born in Senegal, West Africa, lead singer of Meta and The Cornerstones, Meta Dia, discovered his love for music and desire to be a musician at a very young age. Listening to reggae greats Bob Marley and Gregory Isaacs helped nurture his admiration and true appreciation for all types of music. As a self-taught musician, by age 14 he was performing on the street and stages of his hometown Dakar, Senegal. In 2000, Meta formed his first band Yalla Suuren (God Bless), which was nominated for Best Hip-Hop/Reggae Group by the French Cultural Center the same year. Within two years, Meta had become one of the premier pioneering voices of the hip-hop culture in West Africa. After relocating to the United States, Meta immediately began collaborating with artists such as Sean Blackman, and hip-hop Ambassador Toni Blackman. Shortly after settling in New York City, he formed his visionary band, Meta and The Cornerstones.

Meta channels the roots of reggae while simultaneously breathing new life into the genre, thus creating what critics have called a “soul-pounding spiritual experience” during their live performances. Inspired by Alpha Blondy and Lucky Dube, they have shared the stage with reggae stars Luciano, Steel Pulse, Clinton Fearon, Israel Vibration, and Tanya Stephens amongst others. In 2007, the band was personally invited by Senegalese-born international superstar, Youssou N’Dour to perform at his annual African Ball concert at the Nokia Theater in New York. The following year Meta and The Cornerstones proudly released its first album entitled “Forward Music”. Of this work Clive Chin, Jamaican producer for The Wailers, Dennis Brown, and Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, notes, “Meta and The Cornerstones have taken us back to the foundation of reggae music”.

As he continues to establish new grounds, Meta is now the first African artist to be signed to the iconic record label VP Records, the #1 source for Reggae Music. Through VP, Meta and The Cornerstones is set to release their second album “Ancient Power” in the spring of 2013. Recorded at the infamous Tuff Gong Studio in Kingston Jamaica, “Ancient Power” links Africa to Jamaica by paying tribute to the ageless sounds of reggae preserved by the history of its legends. The 15-track work features Reggae legend U-Roy, as well as today’s leading artists Capleton and Damian Marley.

~ grooveattack.comwww.grooveattack.com

NEW RELEASES - GO WEST, MAN!, DANDY TERU, BASSEKOU KOUYATE & NGONI BA

GO WEST, MAN! (VARIOUS ARTISTS)

A cool collection of gems from the 70s years at Blue Note Records – a stretch that's often overlooked by folks digging for older hardbop from the 50s and 60s, but a tremendous time for the label, when it really burst forward with new sounds! BNLA was the initial part of the catalog number during this generation – hence the title – and the collection brings together a wealth of funk, soul, and fusion tracks from this crucial Blue Note stretch. The package features 20 tracks on 2CDs – including "People Make The World Go Round" by Bobby Hutcherson, "Mango Sunrise" by John Lee & Gerry Brown, "Chunky" by Ronnie Foster, "Abdullah & Abraham" by Chico Hamilton, "Galaxy" by Eddie Henderson, "His Blessings" by McCoy Tyner, "You Are The Sunshine Of My Life" by Marlena Shaw, "Betcha By Golly Wow" by Grant Green, "City Country City" by Lou Donaldson, "Lansana's Priestess" by Donald Byrd, "Harlem River Drive" by Bobbi Humphrey, "La Malanga" by Bobby Hutcherson, and "Tuesday Heartbreak" by Ronnie Foster. ~ Dusty Groove

DANDY TERU - ADVENTURES

A great full-length set from Dandy Teru – a producer who's been making a fair bit of waves in the underground in recent years – finally stepping into the limelight here himself! Teru's got a great ear for a crispy beat and cosmic keyboard line – often fusing the two together in a trans-spatial way that creates a nice undercurrent of older soul and funk, yet which still retains a really contemporary vibe! This approach works really well for the range of talents helping Dandy out on the set – including Ty, Moka Only, Rita J, Quiet Dawn, Count Bass D, Tchad Unpoe, and Sarah Gessler – all different voices that help shape the sound of the record, and really unleash the variety in Teru's approach. Titles include "Fragile Things", "Below", "Wake Up Now", "Burned", "Waters", "Clouds Catcher", and "Rwvnll" – plus a few remix tracks too. ~ Dusty Groove

BASSEKOU KOUYATE & NGONI BA - JAMA KO

A record that bristles with joy and life right from the very first note – a glorious celebration of sound, served up in a rich mix of percussion and melodic elements! The set was recorded in Bamako during the same stretch as key fighting in the capital of Mali during 2012 – but the quality of the music shows nothing of the trouble outside – and instead reflects the timeless quality of Bassekou Kouyate's music – a really rich blend of amplified acoustic instruments, spare percussion, and voices – served up with the same sunny intimacy of the cover image. Titles include "Madou", "Wagadou", "Jama Ko", "Dankou", "Sinaly", "Moustafa", "Poye 2", "Segu Jajiri", and "Mali Koori". ~ Dusty Groove