Modern Jazz Composer Joshua Kwassman's New Sophomore Release, HEARTWORK

The release of Joshua Kwassman's acclaimed debut album, Songs of the Brother Spirit, heralded the arrival of an exciting and innovative new composer on the modern jazz scene. Now, with his highly anticipated follow-up Heartwork (Available May 26 via SquarEast Records), Kwassman takes a monumental leap forward with a sweeping, deeply personal new work that incorporates influences from jazz, classical, and rock music into a breathtaking eight-part composition. 

Heartwork also marks the evolution of his unusual ensemble, originally assembled to realize the multi-hued Songs of the Brother Spirit, into a full-fledged band named after that debut. Brother Spirit has become a versatile septet uniquely adept at realizing Kwassman's ambitious musical imaginings. A native of Newington, Connecticut who studied at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music and New York University, Kwassman has folded a wealth of influences and studies into his stunningly cinematic compositions. 

Where its predecessor looked back on the trials of growing up via a harrowing incident from the composer's childhood, Heartwork draws its inspiration from an equally personal but more mature source. As Kwassman describes, "Heartwork tells a story of human weakness and the internal struggles that we all face. It speaks of the weaknesses that befall us on individual and societal levels; the conflicts we face in our daily lives between our desires and human greed, and the force inside us and around us which reminds us of our impact on our surroundings." 

The album's wide-ranging palette thus looks inward as well as outward, from the introspective to the global, to explore the disappointments and struggles of life in modern society. Its concerns range from the day-to-day regrets of falling short of one's own expectations to the calamitous impact of failing to act on the major issues facing the planet itself. 

"It works on both a micro and macro level," Kwassman explains. "It deals with things that were going on in my life, when I had to grapple with my own weaknesses, but also relates to the things I see going on around me. The overarching idea has to do with my own desire to be better for myself and for the things that are happening in the world to be better as well." 

These may be epic-scale themes for a young composer to tackle, but the scope of Kwassman's music is more than up to the challenge. His richly orchestrated arrangements incorporate his own woodwind playing, which includes alto and soprano saxophone, clarinet, and contra-alto clarinet among other instruments, along with voice, guitars, cello, and rhythm section. 

The use of wordless vocals, here performed by alternative R&B singer-songwriter Aria Jay, is one of the most immediately striking features of Kwassman's music, and one that exemplifies the evolution of his work since the first album. There, the human voice was evocative but at times threatened to overwhelm the rest of the ensemble; on HEARTWORK it's a fully integrated element, employed as judiciously as every other instrument to weave the album's vivid sonic tapestry.

"The use of vocals was really experimental on the first record," Kwassman admits. "Going into this record I knew what my palette could be and the vocals are more in balance with the rest of the group. I was careful to place the vocal in arrangements in a melodic sense that was less dominant. This is an egalitarian band where everyone is on the same level of significance, so I really restrained my use of the voice." 

Sarah Markle's cello is an important change since the first album, as is the incorporation of Craig Akin's electric bass. Kwassman himself adds the deep-throated contra-alto clarinet to his arsenal, while the use of a 19th-century field snare, in addition to the remainder of Rodrigo Recabarren's percussion array, adds to the feeling of internal war that runs throughout the compositions. 

Another development is the use of two guitarists, which is the fortuitous result of unfortunate beginnings. Kwassman's longtime guitarist Jeff Miles suffered an injury prior to the recording of Songs of the Brother Spirit, requiring the great Israeli guitarist Gilad Hekselman to step in. Realizing the incredibly chemistry that Hekselman shared with the band, Kwassman called on both guitarists for HEARTWORK. The pair are given the spotlight on "Let Me Dream a Different World For Us," with Miles on baritone and Hekselman on acoustic guitar, their intricate, tactile interplay breathing life into Kwassman's fantasy of a world free from weakness and injustice. 

Angelo Di Loreto's urgent, pulsating piano, soon to be accompanied by Recabarren's electronica-influenced rhythms, opens the ever-shifting title track, which serves as an overture for the album, incorporating most of the themes to come, if often in heavily disguised form. "This piece has intensity, fear, doubt, excitement, tenderness, regret and sorrow, things that I've felt and want to convey across the whole record," Kwassman says. It conveys the tension between heart and mind, which I think are two oppressive agents within us in both positive and negative ways." 

The centerpiece of the album is the 25-minute "Kyoto," split into two pieces but consisting of a single narrative arc. The most globally-oriented piece of the composition, "Kyoto" is a direct reaction to the United States' failure to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, the international treaty designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and slow the catastrophic progress of climate change. "That moment was a huge opportunity lost," Kwassman says. "I feel like we're gambling with the only world that we have. This piece mourns and eulogizes the world that I see being taken for granted and conveys the feeling of hopelessness that I alone can't do much to help." 

Jay and Di Loreto join together for the elusive, mesmerizing melody of "Broken Covenant," which Kwassman says represents "a broken promise with oneself, an internal war between two senses of self: one that feels the weight of greed and one that is characterized by a sense of humanity and human goodness." The song serves as a bookend in tandem with the penultimate track, "All's Well That Ends," which begins with the same motif that ends "Broken Covenant." The second piece rejects the compromises conveyed in the first, offering a sense of hope and renewal.

  

The delicate "Penance" deals with the immediate aftermath of the compromises in "Broken Covenant," a reflective, crystalline piece with Kwassman sitting at the piano accompanied only by Jeff Miles on various guitars. Its direct opposite is the final piece, the soaring, hopeful "May Our Children Do Us Better," which Kwassman sees as the end credit theme for his cinematic masterwork. 

Upcoming Joshua Kwassman Performances:

May 20 / Dazzle Jazz Club  / Denver, CO

June  6 / Discover Jazz Festival / Burlington, VT

June 16 / SubCulture / New York, NY

Joshua Kwassman · HEARTWORK

SquarEast Records · Release Date: May 26, 2015

www.JoshuaKwassman.com

Ryan Truesdell Returns to the Jazz Standard For Fourth Annual Residency With Gil Evans Project

Composer, producer, and conductor Ryan Truesdell returns to the Jazz Standard with his award-winning Gil Evans Project for its fourth annual residency Thursday, May 14 – Sunday, May 17, 2015. The performances celebrate their triumphant sophomore album Lines of Color: Live at Jazz Standard on the newly-formed Blue Note/ArtistShare label (www.GilEvansProject.com). The band will be debuting selections from the new CD, as well as other rarely performed works from Gil Evans’ catalog – including music from the albums New Bottle Old Wine, Great Jazz Standards, Individualism of Gil Evans, and more. 

This highly anticipated release follows Truesdell's debut CD Centennial: Newly Discovered Works of Gil Evans, which won a posthumous Grammy Award for Gil Evans and the New York Times called "an extraordinary album.”  Lines of Color – the next step in Truesdell's endeavor to reveal hidden layers of Gil Evans' musical legacy – features some of New York's finest musicians including Lewis Nash, Donny McCaslin, Steve Wilson, Ryan Keberle, Marshall Gilkes, and Scott Robinson. The CD was recorded by Grammy award-winning engineer James Farber with the live engineering team of Tyler McDiarmid and Geoff Countryman.

Lines of Color was recorded during the Gil Evans Project’s annual week-long engagement at Jazz Standard in New York City from May 13-18, 2014. It consists of six newly discovered, never before recorded works (including “Avalon Town,” “Can't We Talk It Over,” and “Just One Of Those Things”), two arrangements with previously unheard sections (“Davenport Blues” and “Sunday Drivin'”), and three of Evans’ well-known charts from his classic albums (“Time of the Barracudas,” “Concorde,” and “Greensleeves”). Throughout the engagement, the Gil Evans Project presented nearly fifty of Evans’ works, most of which were performed live for the first time. Truesdell decided to record live for the Gil Evans Project’s second album to honor the essence of Evans’ music that craves live performance. “It allows Gil’s colors and the overtones of the music to sound and blend in the room in a way that you can’t get from a close-mic studio recording,” says Truesdell.

"Live recording captures this intangible energy that’s created when music is performed for an audience. It gives listeners a sense of the magic that happens when the notes are lifted off the page by these amazing musicians.”

The eleven selections that make up Lines of Color represent everything you hope for in a live recording: a beautiful sound, a lively, involved audience, and precise and inspired performances of remarkable music. Of this collection, six of the charts were originally written during Evans’ tenure with the Claude Thornhill orchestra, including never-before-heard arrangements of “How High the Moon,” “Avalon Town,” and a rare Evans original composition, “Gypsy Jump,” written in 1942. A fun tune with an unusual 36-bar form, “Gypsy Jump” seems to show a slight influence from the “Arabian Dance” from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker, also arranged by Evans for Thornhill during this time. “Can’t We Talk It Over,” a gorgeous ballad from the Thornhill Orchestra’s late 1940s repertoire, illustrates Evans’ strong bebop influences as evidenced by a direct musical quote from a Charlie

Parker solo. It is a wonderful feature for the Gil Evans Project’s resident vocalist, Wendy Gilles. Bruce Lundvall, Chairman Emeritus of Blue Note Records said, “Wendy has an amazing voice which is a perfect fit for this music.”

Two charts on the record represent the middle of Evans’ career; one of which he and his band never recorded, and only performed once. In the spring of 1959, Evans and his orchestra played the famous Apollo Theater in Harlem, sharing the billing with Dinah Washington and Thelonious Monk. For this concert, Evans chose to revisit a few charts from his past, including Cole Porter’s “Just One of Those Things,” which was based on the arrangement Evans did for his first album as a leader in 1957, Gil Evans + 10. Ever the reviser, Evans took the opportunity to do a bit of rearranging as well as re-orchestrating the chart to fit the instrumentation for the concert. The Gil Evans Project’s first-time recording of this great Evans arrangement features incredible solos from Steve Wilson on soprano, trombonist Ryan Keberle, and pianist Frank Kimbrough. The other tune from this era is Evans’ great adaptation of Bix Beiderbecke’s “Davenport Blues,” originally recorded on the 1959 album, Great Jazz Standards. “I was ecstatic when I discovered Gil’s score to “Davenport,” says Truesdell. “There were four pages in the middle of the score that were omitted from the original version. I’m thrilled we were able to record the entire chart as Gil first conceived it.” Rather than imitating trumpet soloist Johnny Coles’ definitive performance on Evans’ Great Jazz Standards album, Truesdell decided to take a slightly different approach. The slower tempo and Lewis Nash’s heavy, slightly dirty swing feel emphasizes the bluesy elements and perfectly articulates Gil’s hard-swinging rhythms. “I was blown away by Mat Jodrell’s performance; he poured every bit of his soul and personality into the solo and really made it his own,” says Truesdell.

Rounding out Lines of Colors a collection of tunes from Evans’ output in the mid-1960s, including the Gil Evans Project’s dynamic renderings of “Time of the Barracudas,” and “Concorde,” which both first appeared on the Individualism of Gil Evans recording. “Greensleeves,” originally arranged for guitarist Kenny Burrell, receives a fresh take from trombonist Marshall Gilkes, whose unparalleled tone and inventive melodicism uplift this familiar tune and Gil’s singular writing.

With Lines of Color Truesdell, has solidified his reputation as one of the foremost Gil Evans scholars, while leading a band of industry giants in an historic and invaluable undertaking. Picking up where the Gil Evans Project’s 2013 Grammy award-nominated album Centennial: Newly Discovered Works of Gil Evans left off, Lines of Color is an exciting glimpse into how Truesdell and his critically acclaimed band are fulfilling the most crucial aspect of his vision: to bring Evans’ music to new ears, and to extend his legacy into the 21st century.

www.GilEvansProject.com

www.RyanTruesdell.com

NEW RELEASES: GIOVANNI GUIDI TRIO - THIS IS THE DAY; JEFF BRADSHAW & FRIENDS - HOME; JULIAN LANGE - WORLD'S FAIR

GIOVANNI GUIDI TRIO - THIS IS THE DAY

The Giovanni Guidi Trio plays jazz of uncommon originality and reflective depth. On their second ECM album, Italian pianist Guidi, US bassist Morgan, and Portuguese drummer Lobo continue the work begun on the 2011 recording City of Broken Dreams, with pensive, abstract ballads which shimmer with inner tension. Each of the players has a strong sense for the dialectics of sound and silence. The repertoire is mostly from Guidis pen, but also includes the standard, I m Through with Love, Cuban songwriter Osvaldo Farrés, Quizás, quizás, quizás (familiar to jazz listeners through, above all, Nat King Coles version), and Baiiia by João Lobo. The tio conists of:Giovanni Guidi (piano); Thomas Morgan (double bass); and João Lobo (drums). Recorded April 19-21, 2014 / RSI Lugano. Recording Engineer: Stefano Amerio; and produced by Manfred Eicher. ~ Amazon

JEFF BRADSHAW & FRIENDS - HOME: ONE SPECIAL NIGHT AT THE KIMMEL CENTER

Jeff Bradshaw is an award winning trombone player, recording artist and bandleader who has performed and recorded with Jill Scott, Jay Z, Michael Jackson, The Roots, Marsha Ambrosius and many more. Jeff has been at the center of the Neo soul movement that emerged out of Philadelphia, becoming an important influencer of that eclectic scene. Like recent best sellers by Robert Glasper, his two acclaimed solo albums have delivered a unique fusion of R&B, Jazz and Gospel. For Home, which is co produced by Robert Glasper, Bradshaw brought together a stellar lineup of great vocalists and musicians backed by a killer 20 piece band at Philadelphia s premiere arts venue, The Kimmel Center, for a once in a lifetime performance recorded in front of a rapturous sold out audience. Highlights include Kim Burrell s stunning 9 minute performance of Love, Marsha Ambrosius emotional rendition of a previously unrecorded original song, and Bilal s intense version of the Enchantment s classic Where Do We Go From Here. The album includes a bonus cut studio version of All Time Love featuring Tweet, Robert Glasper and Eric Roberson. ~Amazon

JULIAN LANGE - WORLD'S FAIR

2015 release, the first solo guitar album from Julian Lage. World's Fair is so spontaneous and intimate in feel it's as if this prodigious guitarist had just arrived in your living room, picked up his vintage Martin, and simply started to play. It's very much a project created in the moment, a dozen acoustic guitar tracks recorded over the course of a mere two days, at Sear Sound in New York City. In concept, however, World's Fair was more than a year in the making, as Lage gradually came to embrace the rich musical and emotive possibilities within the austere format of one musician and one acoustic guitar. The album title is a clue to Lage's intentions, the phrase conjuring up a bygone hopeful vision of the future, a "tragic optimism," in Lage's words, since the future never quite turned out as the presenters at those grand expositions had predicted. The understated beauty of these tracks is laced with a certain melancholy. World's Fair seems suspended in time, using the past as a reference yet seeming somehow daring and contemporary in its unadorned arrangements and unabashed melodicism. The mood is often contemplative but, at times, on tracks like "Peru" and "Red Prairie Dawn" he kicks the tempo up a notch, with his fingers scampering quickly across the strings. ~Amazon

JOEY CALDERAZZO - GOING HOME

Finding opportunities for growth and development are important aspects in the process of evolving as a creative musician. Discovering and tackling new challenges helps to keep music making a fresh and worthwhile occupation for many, including pianist Joey Calderazzo, who found his next test in the form of the piano trio.

Since the beginning of his illustrious career, Calderazzo has mainly played in quartets highlighting remarkable saxophonists, namely greats Michael Brecker and Branford Marsalis. As a musician and composer, the pianist had become comfortable in this format, developing an intensity in his playing and predilections in his composing that the ensemble s size demanded.

Calderazzo saw the establishment of his trio as a means to strengthen his craft by working on material and musical concepts that he would not ordinarily work on. The exclusion of a horn has made a focus on dynamics more important. Calderazzo also began to explore standards again, as he hadn t focused on them since the duo gigs he made as a teenager and there were no opportunities to play them with Brecker or Marsalis.

In light of the progress he has made with his trio, Calderazzo views his new recording Going Home as a snapshot of a work in progress, an experiment that continues to progress and wield an abundance of intriguing results. The recording provided an opportunity for Calderazzo to step away from his natural inclinations and approach the music in a new exciting way.

While a number of musicians have been featured in his trio, Calderazzo employed two musicians whose contrasting strengths pushed the ensemble into fascinating new areas. Bassist Orlando le Fleming instantly became the instigator, continually challenging the group with his harmonic drive. Drummer Adam Cruz was a perfect foil as his controlled intensity and beautiful tone helped to refine the group s musicality.

The music generated by the ensemble showed the musicians desire to balance freedom and responsibility. To stimulate this, Calderazzo intentionally wrote pieces and arranged two standards without too much structure, which created a focus on improvisation and group interplay, features that do not ordinarily stand out in studio recordings such as this. The originals were generally sketches, moods or vibes, which provided a starting point for the ensemble s explorations. ~ Amazon

JOE BONAMASSA: MUDDY WOLF AT RED ROCKS - HITS THE TOP OF THE CHARTS

Blues-rock guitar hero Joe Bonamassa proves once again that blues music is alive and well with his chart-topping tribute to Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf. Joe Bonamassa – Muddy Wolf At Red Rocks (J&R Adventures) debuted with #1 slots on Billboard's Blues Chart and Music Video Chart, beating out Miley Cyrus' Bangerz Tour. It also earned the #21 slot on Billboard's Top Current Albums Chart and #2 on Billboard's Independent Chart. It currently remains at the #1 Blues Chart slot for the second week.

This is Bonamassa's 14th #1 Blues Album. He holds the record for most No. 1s on the Blues Chart, trailed by B.B. King and Stevie Ray Vaughan who both share second place with nine No. 1s. Since 2010, Bonamassa has earned five No. 1 Billboard Blues Albums during this same week in March: Muddy Wolf at Red Rocks (2015), Live in Amsterdam (2014), An Acoustic Evening at the Vienna Opera House (2013), Dust Bowl (2011) and Black Rock (2010).

Bonamassa's manager and partner at J&R Adventures Roy Weisman said, "J&R's success is the product of a 25 year relationship between Joe and myself where we actively reinvest in ourselves and the company by taking advantage of breakthrough technologies and marketing techniques that other labels simply glance over."

Unlike any Bonamassa show before, Muddy Wolf At Red Rocks marks the start of a tribute concert series that will display a different band and catalog of material that will vary from Bonamassa's music as a solo artist. For Muddy Wolf, songs were carefully selected from the catalogs of Howlin' Wolf, one of Chicago's most influential bluesmen, known for his deep, scratchy voice, and Muddy Waters, considered the "father of modern Chicago blues." Waters was a major inspiration for the British blues explosion of the 1960s, a genre that has heavily influenced Bonamassa's original music throughout his career. The concert featured a selection of songs from each artist, followed by a 30-minute set of songs from Bonamassa's own extensive catalog. The Blu-ray and DVD contain over 1.5 hours of bonus features including exclusive behind-the-scenes footage, a photo gallery, historic footage of Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf, and a featurette of Bonamassa and producer Kevin Shirley's trip to The Crossroads.

This summer, Bonamassa will continue his celebration of blues heritage with the Three Kings of Blues Tour during which he'll travel to amphitheaters across the country with a musical tribute to Albert King, B.B. King and Freddie King.

This tour (as well as the Muddy Wolf concert) is presented by Keeping the Blues Alive (KTBA), which Bonamassa founded to promote the heritage of the blues to the next generation, fund music scholarships, and supplement the loss of music education programs in public schools.

http://jbonamassa.com/ 

https://www.facebook.com/JoeBonamassa 

http://keepingthebluesalive.org/  

Twitter:@JBONAMASSA 

Instagram:@JOEBONAMASSA

Drummer Dan Brubeck Honors His Parents' Music (& Debuts on CD as a Leader) With "Celebrating the Music and Lyrics of Dave & Iola Brubeck"

Dan Brubeck Celebrating the Music & Lyrics of Dave & Iola Brubeck On his brilliantly realized new album Celebrating the Music and Lyrics of Dave & Iola Brubeck, drummer Dan Brubeck introduces his parents' remarkable and surprisingly little-known songbook. The second youngest of Dave and Iola Brubeck's six children, Dan has an extensive history of performing and recording alongside his famous pianist father Dave Brubeck and had long wanted to explore some of the songs and textual settings that his parents collaborated on over the years. The 2-CD set, which happens to be Dan's recording debut as a leader, will be released by Blue Forest Records on April 28. 

"Some of these songs could be classified as 'standards,'" he notes, "but most people have never heard them with Iola's lyrics. Many of these songs have rarely been heard at all." 

"In Your Sweet Way" is the track that opens the album, and as with many of the pieces that follow, Iola wrote the lyrics specifically for a jazz legend (Carmen McRae). Iola, who died last year at the age of 90, contributed incisive insider commentary about the songs for the album's liner notes. Dave Brubeck passed in 2012 at the age of 91. 

The opportunity to pursue the project arose unexpectedly with some of the finest jazz players in the Vancouver, BC area, including saxophonist Steve Kaldestad, pianist Tony Foster, and bassist/vocalist Adam Thomas. "These are the guys who had good chemistry and we stuck together," says Brubeck, 59, a longtime resident of British Columbia. 

Brubeck made the serendipitous discovery that his bassist was the perfect vocalist for this material. "He was completely in tune," Dan says of hearing Thomas's singing for the first time, "phrasing beautifully with a soulful sweetness, all while swinging his ass off on bass. When the quartet had a gig we just set up mics in the Cellar, which is tiny and intimate. I was just amazed when I listened back to what we got." 

Thomas's most impressive feat is the easygoing authority he brings to interpreting songs the Brubecks created with Louis Armstrong in mind. He swings joyfully on "Since Love Had Its Way," and wrings every wistful drop from the masterpiece "Summer Song," an intoxicating draught of song that has unaccountably remained uncovered until this year (both songs were introduced by Satchmo in the Brubecks' politically astute jazz musical The Real Ambassadors). Adding to the poignancy of "Summer Song" is the fact that the chorus serves as Dave and Iola's epitaph. 

"I don't think anyone's done it besides Louis until now," Dan says. "For them that song had a lot of special meaning. I think Carmen was supposed to sing it but Louis heard it and that was that." 

The quartet doesn't avoid the best-known numbers, offering memorable versions of the oft-interpreted "Blue Rondo a la Turk" and Paul Desmond and Iola Brubeck's enduring hit "Take Five." But digging deep into the catalog yields one unexpected gem after another. Thomas hits just the right plaintive tone on the minor blues "Lord, Lord," a piece from Brubeck's suite The Gates of Justice. And "Strange Meadowlark" is another superlative piece that, like "Summer Song," could easily become a standard (it's got a good start with recordings by Carmen McRae, Frederica von Stade, and Hilary Cole). 

Dan Brubeck Born in Oakland on May 4, 1955, Dan Brubeck was a highly energetic child who found his calling at the trap set. Mentored by two consummate polyrhythmic masters, Joe Morello and Alan Dawson (at the Berklee College of Music), he was working professionally before he finished his teens. Over the years Dan was featured on nearly a dozen albums with his father, and toured widely with the Dave Brubeck Quartet, including many appearances with the world's leading orchestras. He's been an integral part of the various Brubeck bands, including the Darius Brubeck Ensemble, Two Generations of Brubeck, and the New Brubeck Quartet. He's toured internationally and recorded three widely played albums with his electric jazz group, The Dolphins, and co-led the Brubeck LaVerne Trio with his brother Chris and pianist Andy LaVerne. Dan has also toured with acts ranging from The Band and David Benoit to Gerry Mulligan and Paul Desmond, and has recorded with jazz guitar legend Larry Coryell, singer/songwriter Livingston Taylor, jazz/pop singer Michael Franks, and pioneering blues guitarist Roy Buchanan.  

Dan continues to perform and record with his siblings -- Chris Brubeck, a bassist, trombonist, and noted composer, in the Brubeck Brothers Quartet, and pianist/composer Darius Brubeck in Brubecks Play Brubeck -- when he's not playing with his Vancouver band.

The Dan Brubeck Quartet will be appearing at the following venues, with additional dates in the works: 8/1 Kaslo (BC) Jazz Festival, 7pm; 8/15 The Red Deer Symphony Orchestra's Evening of Jazz at The Lake, Red Deer, Alberta; 9/18 Jazz n Caz, Cazenovia (NY) College Jazz Festival; 9/19 Universal Preservation Hall, Saratoga Springs, NY; 9/20 Weir Farm, Wilton, CT.

www.danbrubeck.com

Unreleased Live Album By Jazz Drum Legend Buddy Rich “Birdland” As Seen In Award Winning Film “Whiplash” To Be Released May 26, 2015

Lightyear Entertainment and Lobitos Creek Ranch, in association with Scabeba Entertainment and the Buddy Rich Estate, have announced the release of a new live album featuring Buddy Rich and his Killer Force Band at the peak of their performing years.

This rare, previously unreleased, and all original production was recorded with Buddy’s permission by bandmate Alan Gauvin, who has also now mixed and edited the project together. The album was mastered by Tom Swift, and will be released May 26 through Caroline Distribution, the independent distribution arm of Universal Music Group, on the Lightyear/Lobitos Creek label.

The Birdland album is seen in the Academy Award winning film Whiplash, in the hands of the young star Miles Teller, who plays an extraordinary drummer who idolizes Buddy Rich.

The digital version of Birdland was rush released worldwide on February 24 to coincide with the Oscars airing and is already the most downloaded Buddy Rich album in recent history after just a few weeks.

A vinyl LP of Birdland is scheduled for a June 23rd release.

Lightyear, Lobitos Creek, and Scabeba have previously teamed to release two successful DVDs, The Lost Tapes and The Channel One Suite, and two previous live CDs featuring Buddy and his band: Time Out and No Funny Hats. In addition, in 2014, Lightyear/Lobitos released The Solos, which was comprised purely of Buddy Rich drum solos, and culled from his performances in 1976 and 1977, at the peak of his power and versatility. The album showcases 9 of his premiere solo performances, recorded while on worldwide tour with his band. All of the DVDs and CDs are available through Caroline/UMG.

“Birdland is probably the best Buddy Rich album we’ve released,” said Arnie Holland, CEO of Lightyear. “And we are grateful to Whiplash for stimulating so much interest in Buddy and big-band jazz drumming in general.”

Cathy Rich, CEO of Scabeba Entertainment and Buddy’s daughter, who authorized the release, was a consultant on the Whiplash film. She is currently on tour with her Buddy Rich Band.

NEW RELEASES: MARVIN GAYE / DONALD BYRD – WHERE ARE WE GOING? / WOMAN OF THE WORLD; DALINDEO - KALLIO; MARTA SANCHEZ QUINET - PARTTENIKA

MARVIN GAYE / DONALD BYRD – WHERE ARE WE GOING? / WOMAN OF THE WORLD

When you see a record sporting the logos of both Blue Note and Motown, you know you're in for something special. This smooth and groovy 33rpm 12" celebrates Marvin Gaye's 75th birthday and Blue Note's 75th Anniversary in fine fashion with both Marvin Gaye and Donald Byrd. After his triumph that was What's Going On, Marvin Gaye recorded a song with brothers Larry and Fonce Mizell. "Woman of the World" was shelved for quite awhile but has been included in packages here and there over the past couple years. This release pairs up Marvin Gaye with Donald Byrd each giving their respective takes on a couple of Mizell brothers gems. Side A plays homage to a couple of previously unreleased slices of Marvin as the great man lays his soulful and seductive vocals over the smoothest, most sumptuous groove going. On the flip side it's the turn of jazz-funk trumpet legend Donald Byrd as those folks at Blue Note pair up his takes on the same tracks from his 1973 albums. As ever it’s a virtuouso display of musicality from his whole outfit, set at a laid back pace perfect for a summer afternoon.Track listing: Side A: Marvin Gaye -1. Where Are We Going?; 2. Woman Of The World // Side B: Donald Byrd -1. Where Are We Going?; 2. Woman Of The World.

DALINDEO - KALLIO

Dalindèo's music is a cinematic jazz creation reminiscient of the ambience of movies by Finnish great Aki Kaurismäki mixed with a Tarantinoesque vibe of danger and suspense. With musical influences ranging from Duke Ellington's swing jazz to surf-guitars à la Dick Dale, all in a setting inspired by Finnish popular music from the 1950's, Dalindèo have created a contemporary Finnish jazz-style of their own. The third album of the sextet, Kallio, initially released only in Finland, won the prize of "Best Jazz Album of 2013" at the Emma-Awards, the Finnish Grammys. A musical hommage to the Kallio-district in Helsinki, it debuted on the Finnish album-chart at number 13, one of the highest ranking jazz albums of all time and stayed on the chart for 6 weeks. We at BBE are very proud to present Kallio to a wider, international audience now. Especially for the worldwide release on BBE the band added an exclusive unreleased bonus track to the album and BBE family-member Mr Bird did a brilliant remix of the track “Rhythm of Kallio”. ~ bbemusic.com

MARTA SANCHEZ QUINTET - PARTENIKA

As a bandleader, Marta Sanchez she is currently working with her New York-based Quintet with respected saxophonists Jerome Sabbagh and Roman Filiu, and her Spanish trio D'free QI.With both, she has released critically acclaimed albums for Errabal Records. In addition, she started a new project, a sextet that features singer Camila Meza, and she is involved in many other music projects as a collaborator, performer, and/or studio musician, in the United States and abroad.She has touring the United States, Europe, South America and Central America, performing at prestigious venues and prominent festivals such as North Sea Jazz Festival in the Netherlands, Eurojazz in Mexico City, Eurojazz in Athens, Jazz Festival of Vitoria Gasteiz, and Madrid Jazz Festival. Notable newspapers such as "All About Jazz"praised Ms. Sánchez saying that "Sánchez should positively be included in those Spanish jazz artists who are maalent, feeling and knowledge of the music". ~ republic of jazz.blogspot

SummerStage's 30th Anniversary Lineup Announced!

In June of 1986 Sun Ra and the Omniverse Jet Set Arkestra performed a free concert in the Naumberg Bandshell in Central Park, and the summer music landscape in New York City changed forever. Today, nearly 30 years later, SummerStage is New York City’s largest free performing arts festival, presenting work in all performing arts disciplines, with a focus on New York’s unique neighborhoods. SummerStage has touched the lives of more than six million fans from around the world.

In celebration of this milestone, City Parks Foundation, the independent nonprofit organization that produces the festival, plans to deepen the impact the festival has in neighborhoods throughout New York City.  The 2015 season will feature more shows in Central Park and 15% growth in the number of performances offered in neighborhood parks around the city, creating 6-day "mini-festivals" in 8 parks, featuring music, dance, theater, film, circus and family days. In total this new model will add over 20 performances to the fourteen parks SummerStage presents in, bringing more than 140 unique artists to these stages around the city. 

“As an organization we are dedicated to working in traditionally underserved neighborhoods across the city,” said Heather Lubov, Executive Director of City Parks Foundation. “By presenting artists and genres that reflect the cultures and communities in these parks, introducing disciplines such as dance or theater alongside musical performances, and providing all of this fantastic art free of charge, we are building new audiences and fostering a broader interest in the arts here in New York City.”

SummerStage’s artistic mission is to celebrate the cultural legacy and diversity of New York City. In our 30 years, we have presented such legendary performers as Youssou N’Dour, Curtis Mayfield, David Byrne, Max Roach, Patti Smith, Gil Scott Heron, Lou Reed, James Brown, Pete Seeger, Celia Cruz, Miriam Makeba, Jimmy Cliff, and Hugh Masekela, as well as once lesser-known artists, influenced by these icons, who have gone on to become famous in their own right. Vampire Weekend, Alabama Shakes, The Black Keys, The xx, Sarah McLachlan, Thievery Corporation, Jack Johnson, Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings, and Florence & the Machine  are just some of those now-famous performers. 

“SummerStage is the festival that truly celebrates New York City,” said Director of Arts & Cultural Programs for City Parks Foundation, Ian Noble. “From the iconic to the avant garde, from opera to hip-hop, film to circus, there is no other festival like it. Not only do we select our artists to reflect the nature of each neighborhood, but each park and audience  becomes part of the adventure and charm of each and every show.”

“Capital One Bank is proud to support SummerStage as it showcases the diversity and artistic vitality of New York,” said Michael Slocum, President, Commercial Banking and Northeast Regional President, Capital One. “The arts play an important role in building strong, healthy communities, and we are pleased to help the festival reach new audiences across the city.” 

The 2015 30th Anniversary Season will open with a free concert in Central Park featuring the Tedeschi Trucks Band. Other notable talents include: Angelique Kidjo, the iconic African singer-songwriter; London’s soul-funk collective Jungle; Canadian folktronica artist, Caribou; Franco-Norwegian circus duo, Magmanus; and a special celebration of dance and music from the legendary Broadway musical The Wiz. Additionally, Brazil's pioneering mangue-beat superstars, Nação Zumbi, will return to SummerStage 20 years after their historic and epic U.S. debut. A number of parks will welcome neighborhood heroes to their stages, like Staten Islander Mack Wilds, and a screening of Time is Illmatic, the documentary that  follows Queensbridge prodigal son Nas, as his life leads up to his critically-acclaimed, seminal album, Illmatic.  The Oliver Lake Big Band will premier a commissioned piece during the expanded Charlie Parker Jazz Festival weekend, and a 30th Anniversary DJ commission with Quantic, Gilles Peterson, and Afrika Bambaataa, will take audiences through the decades of SummerStage. 

For the most up-to-date scheduling and line-up for all SummerStageprogramming, follow SummerStage via the below links and visit www.SummerStage.org for festival information.

Twitter:@SummerStage

Instagram:@SummerStageNYC

Facebook:SummerStage NYC

NEW RELEASES: MINA AGOSSI - FRESH; JEREMY UDDEN / NICOLAS MOREAUX - BELLEVILLE PROJECT; YONATHAN AVISHAI - MODERN TIMES

MINA AGOSSI - FRESH

Mina Agossi's tenth album to date, looks back on her 20 year career by revisiting some of her original songs in new arrangements. Merging acoustic an electronic sounds around the heartbeat of the double bass, drums and percussion, fusing jazz and world music with the sensibilities of urban soul and rock, the album reveals more of Mina Agossi's Beninese roots in these inspired new adaptions of her songs. "Listening to Mina Agossi is like riding a motorbike through Paris, thrilling, beautiful and very bumpy. Don't expect to come out alive." - Jamie Cullum Personnel: Mina Agossi (vocals), Eric Jacot (bass guitar), Simon Bernier (drums), Stéphane Guery (guitar), Phil Reptil (guitar), Philippe Combelle (drums, percussion), Alexei Aigui (violin). ~ Amazon

JEREMY UDDEN / NICOLAS MOREAUX - BELLEVILLE PROJECT

The meeting between New England born saxophonist and composer Jeremy Udden and the French bassist/composer Nicolas Moreaux was quite serendipitous. Udden was house-sitting in Paris and inquired via social media whether there were any musicians interested in playing a session. A session was quickly arranged where the saxophonist first met Moreaux. Udden had already cemented an identity in the jazz world with his unique voice on alto saxophone and his compositional leanings toward rock and folk music through his "Plainville" and 'Folk Art' projects. Having made a name alongside the likes of Tigran Hamashian and Bill McHenry, Moreaux came with tremendous jazz chops and an equal enthusiasm for similar non-jazz idioms. The two musicians bonded over their common interests and kept in contact. Out of their correspondence the idea for a new project formed naturally, in which they would work together to blend musical elements of French and American folk, rock, and film music into jazz composition. By a stroke of luck their idea fit into the guidelines of the competitive French American Jazz Exchange Grant (from the French American Cultural Exchange and the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation). They won the grant, giving them the financial means to turn their idea into reality. The outcome of their work is the Belleville Project, a name referring to the neighbourhood in Paris where they recorded. ~ Amazon

YONATHAN AVISHAI - MODERN TIMES

Yonatan Avishai is one of the best kept secrets of the new Israeli jazz scene (Avishai Cohen, Eli Degibri, Shai Maestro ...). He has an original style that reactivates the main elements of jazz - swing, blues, improvisation - in a very personal way. The Franco-Israeli pianist is better known for the Third World Love group he co-founded with trumpeter Avishai Cohen, bassist Omer Avital and drummer Daniel Freedman (five albums). After starting in Tel Aviv where he had the opportunity to accompany musicians such as Walter Blanding, Marcus Printup and Arnie Lawrence, he settled in France, becoming a member of the Omer Avital Quintet. He also performs regularly with The Three Cohens, among others, and has developed, under the concept of 'Modern Times', its own musical vision. ~ Amazon

DEE DEE’S FEATHERS: Dee Dee Bridgewater & Irvin Mayfield with the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra

Dee Dee's Feathers is a modern vision of New Orleans painted through the collaboration of two of the greatest musicians in Jazz.

Dee Dee's Feathers gives a modern vision of New Orleans, painted through the collaboration of New Orleans Jazz Orchestra’s (NOJO) Artistic Director Irvin Mayfield and honorary Chairperson Dee Dee Bridgewater. Traditional songs such as ‘Big Chief’, ‘Saint James Infirmary’ and ‘What a Wonderful World’ along with new compositions ‘Congo Square’ and ‘C'est Ici Que Je T'aime’ will transport people through the new sound of Dee Dee Bridgewater.

Over the course of a multifaceted career spanning four decades, Grammy and Tony Award-winning Jazz giant Dee Dee Bridgewater has ascended to the upper echelon of vocalists, putting her unique spin on standards, as well as taking intrepid leaps of faith in re-envisioning jazz classics. Ever the fearless voyager, explorer, pioneer and keeper of tradition, the three-time Grammy-winner recently won the 2011 Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Album for Eleanora Fagan (1915-1959): To Billie With Love From Dee Dee.

Bridgewater’s career has always bridged musical genres. She earned her first professional experience as a member of the legendary Thad Jones/Mel Louis Big Band, and throughout the 70’s she performed with such jazz notables as Max Roach, Sonny Rollins, Dexter Gordon and Dizzy Gillespie. After a foray into the pop world during the 1980s, she relocated to Paris and began to turn her attention back to Jazz.

Irvin Mayfield is a two-time Grammy and Billboard Award-winning artist. Mayfield is the founding Artistic Director of the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra and currently serves as Artistic Director of Jazz at the Minnesota Orchestra. He is a professor at the University of New Orleans, where he also serves as Director of the New Orleans Jazz Institute. ~ Amazon

Introducing The Spectacular Debut From Ben Cox, The UK's Most Exciting New Jazz Vocalist

April 2015 marks the release of This Waiting Game, the stunning debut from rising star Ben Cox: composer, instrumentalist and the most exciting UK jazz vocalist to grace the scene for many years.

Still only 21 and yet to graduate from London's Guildhall School of music, Cox and his co-writer, up and coming pianist Jamie Sarifuddin, have created a remarkably accomplished album that revitalise the vocal jazz tradition. Together they are part of new generation of young jazz musicians who are building on the legacy of their heroes, while leading a new wave of innovation. Sarifuddin's talent as a gifted composer and arranger, combined with Cox's exceptional songwriting prowess and unique timbre, bring a fresh, distinctive sound to the genre that no one else can replicate.

While performing on London's live circuit, Cox attracted the attention of UK jazz vocal legend Ian Shaw, who recognised his huge potential, establishing a role as a mentor and producing his album, enhancing what was already a great new talent. The result is This Waiting Game, an exceptional album with an inclusive vibe, destined to by enjoyed by both the avid jazz fan and those who simply love to be entertained by great music. Guest slots from renowned jazz talent such as Kirk McElhinny, Claire Martin and Emily Dankworth also serve to augment what is already an enchanting and charismatic body of work.

Cox's mesmerising tone and captivating delivery have won him a whole host of high profile fans, including a glowing endorsement from jazz superstar Jamie Cullum. Introducing This Waiting Game as “fresh new vocal jazz music” on his hugely popular BBC Radio 2 show, Cullum states: “The title track 'This Waiting Game' sounds really good, Ben has got a very precise voice, it recalls a little bit of Kurt Elling to me, certainly in the writing style of the music and I'm looking forward to hearing the rest of the album.” 
~ Amazon

NEW RELEASES: HERBIE HANCOCK & THE HEADHUNTERS - OMAHA CIVIC AUDITORIUM 17TH NOVEMBER 1975; MILES DAVIS – BITCHES BREW 40TH ANNIVERSARY COLLECTORS EDITION; SONNY ROLLINS / COLEMAN HAWKINS - TOGETHER AT NEWPORT 1963

HERBIE HANCOCK & THE HEADHUNTERS - OMAHA CIVIC AUDITORIUM 17TH NOVEMBER 1975

This superlative set was taped for FM broadcast soon after the release of Herbie Hancock s groundbreaking Man-Child album, and finds the great keyboardist backed by the awesomely tight combo of DeWayne Blackbyrd McKnight (guitar), Bennie Maupin (reeds), Paul Jackson (bass), Bill Summers (percussion) and Michael Clarke (drums) on a selection of his finest tracks, from Hancock s early classic Watermelon Man right up to the present, and is offered here complete with background notes and rare images. Track listing: Watermelon Man, Hang Up Your Hang Ups, Steppin In It, Bubbles, Shekere, and Heartbeat. ~ Amazon

MILES DAVIS – BITCHES BREW 40^TH ANNIVERSARY COLLECTORS EDITION

This bookset is a repack of the 40th Anniversary Super Deluxe Box package and comprises two CDs with original 94-plus minutes of music plus six bonus tracks; a third CD of a previously unissued performance at Tanglewood, August 1970, with Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea, Dave Holland, Jack DeJohnette, Airto Moreira and Gary Bartz; DVD of a previously unissued performance in Copenhagen, November 1969, with Wayne Shorter, Corea, Holland and DeJohnette. The book includes a 5,000-word essay by journalist-author-producer-musician Greg Tate; Producers’ notes by Michael Cuscuna and Richard Seidel plus dozens of rare, unpublished photographs and record label memos. ~ Amazon

SONNY ROLLINS / COLEMAN HAWKINS - TOGETHER AT NEWPORT 1963

This edition presents, for the first time ever, Sonny Rollins' complete set with guest star Coleman Hawkins at the 1963 Newport Jazz Festival. Producer George Wein's idea to unite the two tenor sax giants proved to be so successful that they would record a studio album together later that month. As a bonus, an unissued quartet set by Rollins taped live at New York's Half Note five months early. It contains the only collaborative recordings of the saxophonist with pianist McCoy Tyner with the sole exception of a 1978 album. This set allows us the rare opportunity to listen to McCoy interact with another tenor sax giant (the pianist was still a member of the John Coltrane Quartet at the time). ~ Amazon

PASSION WORLD IS GRAMMY®-WINNING VOCALIST KURT ELLING’S MOST AMBITIOUS PROJECT YET

June 9 release features Arturo Sandoval, Sara Gazarek, Till Brönner, Richard Galliano, the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra and the WDR Big Band and Orchestra

Passion World, the fifth Concord album (eleventh overall) from vocalist Kurt Elling, lives up to its title on both counts. Scheduled for release on June 9, 2015 on Concord Jazz (international release dates may vary) it is indeed his most “worldly” album to date, as Elling casts his net far and wide, from Brazil to Ireland, Germany to Spain, Scotland to Cuba to Iceland. And it is indeed all about passions – the forces that shake our souls. As one of the busiest touring jazz artists, Elling has encountered these passions around the world; he has observed how the same depth of feeling is shaped in myriad ways by each unique culture through which it filters. The result is an album vibrant with diversity and variety, and at the same time a single-minded celebration of what makes us all human. In terms of its conceptual scope and its breadth of influences, Passion World is the most ambitious project yet from the preeminent male vocalist in jazz.

It is also Elling’s most “star-studded” album, featuring a small battalion of guest collaborators working in tandem with the singer’s much-traveled quintet (keyboardist Gary Versace, guitarist John McLean, bassist Clark Sommers, drummer Kendrick Scott). The guests include the brilliant veteran trumpeter Cuban émigré Arturo Sandoval; the widely lauded young vocalist Sara Gazarek; German trumpet star Till Brönner; French accordion virtuoso Richard Galliano; the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra and its founder-leader, saxophone savant Tommy Smith; and the world-renowned WDR Big Band and Orchestra from Germany, featuring pianist Frank Chastenier.

For most of us, “passion” conjures love, at its most dramatic and exotic. “These are by and large compositions about romance,” says Elling, a GRAMMY® winner in 2009 (and ten-time GRAMMY® nominee during his career). “Romance is one of the things that most countries share, and I’ve noticed how songs from those countries play into or draw from national identities. Yes, we all have heartbreak, but it differs wherever you go. So the nature of songs I have performed in France, for instance, have reflected the French thing of being cool when romance is done; remember, the French came up with the word ‘nonchalance.’ That’s versus the overwrought, almost threatening response to a broken heart that you find in lyrics from Cuba or Latin America, and versus the kind of statuesque and heroic, almost operatic, nature of the broken heart in Italy or Germany.”

But sometimes, the heartbreak stems from circumstances beyond the bubble that surrounds two lovers, and Elling nods to that as well: witness the poignant “Where The Streets Have No Name,” U2’s ode to lives lost in war and politics, newly arranged by guitarist John McLean. Witness also “Bonita Cuba,” born of a fortuitous ocean-liner booking. On the last evening of a recent Caribbean jazz cruise, Elling heard Arturo Sandoval playing this melody from his adjacent cabin. “I said, ‘Arturo, that’s so sad; is that a tradition of yours, to play down the sun?’ But he said, ‘No, I was thinking about Cuba, and about friends back home I haven’t seen in decades. I was thinking about my mother and father; I got them out, and they always thought they were going to go home – but they’re buried in America.’” Elling asked if he might put lyrics to this melody, and “Bonita Cuba” took shape. Recorded at Sandoval’s house, with the trumpeter’s rhythm section, “The song redeems some small portion of the vast, lost expanse of 90 miles that continues to separate Sandoval from his homeland, and gives the sadness room to sing,” in the words of liner-note writer Andrew Gilbert.

Many of the other songs on Passion World also have noteworthy origins. Elling learned “Loch Tay Boat Song” back in college, when he spent a year abroad studying at Edinburgh University, and it has percolated in his mind ever since. On perhaps the loveliest track on the album, the devastating “Where Love Is,” he sings a James Joyce poem that blends abject misery and pure joy, in a melody newly composed by ex-Dubliner Brian Byrne. Elling discovered “After The Door,” a Pat Metheny song originally titled “Another Life,” when he heard it as “Me jedyne niebo,” sung by Polish vocalist Anna-Marie Jopek (whose husband wrote the Polish lyrics). As a prelude, Elling worked with the noted bassist and arranger John Clayton to craft “Verse,” the brief plaint that also serves to introduce the entire album. The durable “La Vie En Rose” carries another Elling lyric, written to a Wynton Marsalis solo on that tune, from a recording that featured Marsalis in concert with Richard Galliano. And Galliano’s own composition “Billie,” dedicated to Billie Holiday, inspired the vocalist to write lyrics as well, for the tune now titled “The Tangled Road.”

It was in fact Elling’s desire to work with Galliano that prompted the initial public performance of the “Passion World” concept, for a Jazz at Lincoln Center concert in 2010. “I needed a vehicle that suited the two of us,” Elling explains; “I already had a couple things in French, and a couple things in Portuguese, from Brazil; that was the start of it. Then I wanted to learn some of Galliano’s tunes, to potentially write new lyrics for them – to honor his contributions as a composer – and then I realized how many countries I hadn’t reached out to yet. So as we continued to tour, I continued to look for new material.

“These are all pieces that I gathered to perform as either encores or as what I think of as ‘charmers’ – songs from each local situation that would allow me to extend a hand,” says Elling, whose international performances are indeed famous for his inclusion of regional color and the infusion of native languages. “Part of my joy as a singer is to try to give gifts to people; and one way I try to connect to them is to add something in French, or German, or whatever. It’s the one time during a performance where people see me being very vulnerable in their context, instead of them feeling vulnerable in ours. And if I mess it up, they seem to appreciate that I tried.”

On Passion World, Elling stretches further afield than on any of his previous efforts, placing his enormous talent in a context that includes but does not restrict itself to jazz, per se. Most of the songs on Passion World do not come from the jazz canon, and because of this, the album may be especially welcoming to new listeners. “I’m just following my curiosity,” he allows. “It’s a beautiful thing to have time in the world, as a singer and as a musician, to make friends with people of the musical caliber of a Tommy Smith, an Arturo Sandoval, a Richard Galliano, a Till Brönner. These guys are fully jazz musicians, and they are pulling themselves closer to jazz from various regional contexts – and pulling jazz into those contexts, because jazz has the flexibility to move across borders.”

Elling fans will note that on Passion World, the singer eschews the high-flying scat improvisation that stands among his great contributions to jazz in this century, and that remains a vital component of his artistic arsenal. But as he reminds us, “One doesn’t have to scat to be a jazz singer. And in this case, I think the spirit of improvisation – more than the spirit, actually – is present in what I’m doing. The actual display of virtuosity is for people like Smith and Sandoval to display. On this record, I’m just trying to sing real good.”

DAVID BENOIT’S 2 IN LOVE, FEATURING JANE MONHEIT, IS THE GRAMMY®-NOMINATED PIANIST/COMPOSER/ ARRANGER’S FIRST RELEASE WITH A VOCALIST

For three decades, the GRAMMY®-nominated pianist/composer/ arranger David Benoit has reigned supreme as one the founding fathers of contemporary jazz. But, like an actor who has been known primarily for one role, he wanted to show other dimensions of his artistry, influenced by Stephen Sondheim, Burt Bacharach, Dave Grusin and Leonard Bernstein.

“I’ve done records where I had a token vocal tune, all the way back to my first album,” Benoit says. “But I never did an entire record [with vocals]. So the thought here was to do something really different.”

The result is Benoit’s thirty-fifth recording as a leader and his first with a vocalist. 2 In Love, set for release on June 16, 2015 via Concord Records, features Jane Monheit, the GRAMMY®-nominated, cool-toned chanteuse from New York, who burst on the scene in 1998 as the first runner-up in the Thelonious Monk International Vocalist Competition. (International release dates may vary)

“Concord suggested Jane Monheit,” Benoit says. “She was the perfect vocalist. I like to make records a certain way: I prefer to go in live and record it all at once. And a lot of vocalists can’t do that: they need to edit, fix and use auto-tune.  But Jane doesn’t need to do any of those things. Many of the keys were difficult, but she sang everything live. Jane also has a background in Broadway, which is another part of my lexicon that I’ve not explored. She was up to the task and easy to work with. She made it a complete, perfect package.”

Along with Monheit, Benoit also enlisted the help of three lyricists: Mark Winkler, Lorraine Feather and Spencer Day. “Mark is my long-time collaborator,” says Benoit. “And I’ve known Lorraine (daughter of jazz critic Leonard Feather) for thirty-five years. Then, there’s Spencer Day: I was really impressed with him. What a nice, young man and fantastic singer. He brought some new blood to the table.”

This terrific triad breathed lyrical life into Benoit’s songs and helped showcase Monheit’s considerable skills as an interpreter. “I met them all,” she says. “They did great work and made it very, very easy for me to do my job.”

Supported by an alternating rhythm section featuring drummers Jamey Tate and Clayton Cameron, percussionist Lauren Kosty, guitarist Pat Kelley and bassists David Hughes and John Clayton (of the Clayton Brothers), Benoit and Monheit swing and sing on ten tracks imbued with, to use Duke Ellington’s elegant phrase, “the feeling of jazz” in ballad, mid-tempo, neo-classical-, Latin-, pop- and Broadway-styled genres that range from the bossa nova-buoyed title track to the optimistic, piano-driven “Love Will Light the Way.” Violinist Michelle Suh and cellist Cathy Biagini add their impressionistic airs to the waltz “Dragonfly,” the evocative, 5/4 time-signatured “Something’s Gotta Give” – originally from a play co-written by Benoit and Winkler about Marilyn Monroe – and “The Songs We Sang,” a beautiful melancholy ballad, originally titled “Out of Tune,” about a couple that wrote hit songs and are trying to reignite their magic.

On the ebullient “Fly Away,” Monheit flexes her considerable vocal muscles. “I had a really great time wailing on that one,” she says, “because it’s a style of music that I don’t often get to sing.”

“Barcelona Nights,” is pulsed by an infectious Latin groove, which was inspired by a visit to Spain by Benoit and his wife. “I talked to Lorraine about it,” Benoit says, “and she came up with a beautiful lyric.” On the Pat Metheny-esque “Love in Hyde,” which was previously published under the title “A Moment in Hyde Park,” Benoit showcases his spirited piano prowess. “I recorded it on my second album, Life Is Like a Samba, with a big orchestra. And I always wanted to redo it,” he says. The album concludes a heartfelt solo piano performance of “Love Theme from Candide”/”Send in the Clowns,” by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim, dedicated to the memory of Benoit’s mother, Betty June Benoit (1929–1997).

“Those were my mom’s two favorite songs,” Benoit says. “My friend David Pack (who started the group Ambrosia) introduced me to Lenny, and we worked on a benefit concert at Carnegie Hall. I got to know him a bit. So it was always my destiny to do something with “Candide.” And I felt it would make a nice segue into “Send in the Clowns.”

In addition to his obvious skills as a soloist, 2 In Love also highlights Benoit’s overlooked gifts as an accompanist. “He’s a wonderful piano player,” says Monheit. “He has a great understanding of singers, and that makes him a very good accompanist.” When he was coming up, Benoit worked with singers Patti Austin, Connie Stevens, and Ann-Margaret. But he credits Lainie Kazan as his biggest influence in the fine art of vocal accompaniment. “I was twenty-one when I started with her,” he says. “She literally taught me how to accompany singers.”

Benoit’s work with singers is but one more intriguing aspect of his multi-talented musicianship. He was born in Bakersfield, California, and grew up in Los Angeles. Benoit was bitten by the jazz bug after watching a Charlie Brown special on television and listening to the music of Vince Guaraldi in 1965. “I was already a fan of the comic strip,” he says, “but when I heard that jazz piano trio, that was the defining moment when I decided that I wanted to play like Vince Guaraldi.”

At the age of thirteen, Benoit studied privately with pianist Marya Cressy Wright and continued his training with Abraham Fraser, who was the pianist for famed conductor Arturo Toscanini. He also studied music theory and composition, and later studied orchestration with Donald Nelligan at El Camino Junior College and film scoring from Donald Ray at UCLA. He studied conducting from Heiichiro Ohyama, assistant conductor of the L.A. Philharmonic, and furthered his musical education with Jan Robertson, head of the conducting department at UCLA, and UC Santa Barbara symphony orchestra music director Jeffrey Schindler.

After working with Lainie Kazan as her musical director/conductor in 1976, Benoit released albums on the AVI label from 1977 to 1984. He later released several chart-topping recordings for GRP, including Freedom at Midnight (1987), Waiting for Spring (1989) and Shadows (1991), which both topped Billboard’s Contemporary Jazz Charts at #5, #1, and #2, respectively. His other noteworthy recordings include Letter to Evan (1992), his tribute to another piano influence, Bill Evans, and Here’s to You, Charlie Brown: Fifty Great Years (2000). Benoit also recorded with Russ Freeman on their album The Benoit/Freeman Project (1994), and on their follow-up collaboration, 2 (2004), which was released on Peak Records. His other recordings for the label include American Landscape (1997) and Orchestral Stories (2005), which featured his first piano concerto, “The Centaur and the Sphinx,” and a symphonic work, “Kobe.”. In 2012, he released Conversation on Concord’s Heads Up International imprint.

Benoit received three GRAMMY® nominations in the categories of Best Contemporary Jazz Performance for “Every Step of the Way” (1989), Best Large Ensemble Performance for GRP All-Star Big Band (1996), and Best Instrumental Composition for “Dad’s Room,” the latter from the album Professional Dreamer (2000). In 2010, Benoit received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Smooth Jazz Awards, and he’s worked with an impressive potpourri of musicians including the Rippingtons, Emily Remler, Alphonse Mouzon, Dave Koz, Faith Hill, David Sanborn, CeCe Winans and Brian McKnight.

Benoit’s film scores include The Stars Fell on Henrietta (1995), produced by Clint Eastwood, and The Christmas Tree, produced by Sally Field, which was voted Best Score of 1996 by Film Score Monthly. He has served as conductor with a wide range of symphonies including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Asia America Symphony Orchestra and the London Symphony Orchestra. A long-time guest educator with the Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation, he received that organization’s Excellence in Music Award in 2001. His musical selections have been featured on The Weather Channel and his version of Vince Guaraldi’s “Cast Your Fate to the Wind” is included on compilation The Weather Channel Presents: Smooth Jazz 11 (2008). Benoit also currently hosts a morning radio show on KKJZ 88.1 FM in Long Beach, CA.

Born in Long Island, NY, Jane Monheit heard a wide range of singers, from Ella Fitzgerald to Bonnie Raitt, and also listened to Broadway pop and classical vocalists. Monheit started her professional career while she was a student at Connetquot High School in Bohemia, NY, where she graduated in 1995. She studied at the Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts and was awarded their distinguished Alumna Award. She was also a student at the Manhattan School of Music and studied under voice instructor Peter Eldridge. She graduated with honors in 1995 with a BA in Music and received the William H. Bolden Award for Outstanding Accomplishments in Jazz.

Monheit burst on to the national scene as the first runner-up in the 1998 Thelonious Monk Institute’s Vocal Competition behind veteran singer Teri Thornton. In 2000, she released her first recordings as a leader on the N-Coded label including Never Never Land, Come Dream with Me (2001), In the Sun (2002) and Live at the Rainbow Room (2003). She also recorded for Sony, Epic and EmArcy, and released two recordings on Concord, Surrender (2007) and The Lovers, the Dreamers, and Me (2009), which featured the ballad “The Rainbow Connection.” Monheit has worked with Ramsey Lewis, Steve Tyrell, Tom Harrell, Terence Blanchard, Ivan Lins, Mark O’Connor, and Freddy Cole, and appears on Memphis pianist Harold Mabern’s new album, Afro Blue, and with Brazilian bossa nova icon Wanda Sá on her latest release, Live in 2014. Monheit also garnered two GRAMMY® nominations for Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s) for her rendition of the Judy Collins ballad "Since You've Asked", from the album Live at the Rainbow Room (2003), and “Dancing in the Dark,” from Taking a Chance on Love (2005).