NEW RELEASES: THOMAS CLAUSEN – BLUE RAIN; MATANA ROBERTS - COIN COIN CHAPTER THREE – RIVER RUN THEE; THE COOKERS QUINTET – VOL. 2

THOMAS CLAUSEN – BLUE RAIN

An album that's hitting strong on just about every level – not just the well-crafted piano work of Thomas Clausen, but also the full, rich bass of Jesper Lundgaard – who seems to match every moment of Clausen's inspiration, and fill things in with these tones that are completely captivating! Drummer Billy Hart makes a strong contribution too – that new sense of space and swing that we've heard on some of his own great records of late – and the group also gets wonderful tenor from Tomas Franck, who brings an edge that we don't always hear on Clausen's trio dates – a really wonderful addition to the group. Titles include "Leaves", "Blue Rain", "Punk Monk", "Prelude To A Kiss", "Prism", and "Things You Are".  ~ Dusty Groove

MATANA ROBERTS - COIN COIN CHAPTER THREE – RIVER RUN THEE

Maybe the most dense, most complex work we've heard from Matana Roberts to date – a unusual effort that blends together her own instrumental passages with sound samples recorded during a wintertime ramble through the states of Mississippi, Tennessee, and Louisiana! Roberts moves away from her previous group efforts, to hit even more experimental sounds here – which include her own alto saxophone lines, plus work on a Korg Monotron, an early 1900s upright piano, and even a bit of vocalizations too – all taken at a level that's way beyond jazz, and which has elements of found sound mixing with processed instrumental passages, and even some odd snippets of classic American songs. The effort comes off sounding as if an avant jazz album were recorded with an older 4AD aesthetic – with all the dense sonic structures that might imply – and the whole thing's definitely one more reason to keep your eyes focused on Roberts' genius in years to come!  ~ Dusty Groove

THE COOKERS QUINTET – VOL. 2

The Cookers Quintet definitely earn their name this time around – serving up an old school hardbop groove that would have been right at home on 60s Blue Note or Prestige – but which is maybe even more compelling here in a contemporary setting! As before, these guys have a very strong sense of rhythm – similar to some of our favorite artists on the Ricky Tick label – which means an acoustic, live approach to jazz, but one that's also really focused on a soulful groove as well – the sort that's sure to make some of these numbers perfect for the jazz dance underground. There's great vocals on a few cuts too – a number each sung by Johnny O'Neal, Leron Thomas, and Dawn Pemberton – and titles include "Hot For Preacher", "Sheriff", "The New Deal", "The Crumpler", "This Is The Thing", and "Blindside".  ~ Dusty Groove

Guitar Legend DAVID TORN To Tour US In Support Of New Album ONLY SKY

Ever-intrepid guitarist, producer, improviser, film composer and soundscape artist David Torn will embark on his first solo tour of the US since the mid-nineties (see itinerary below). The 22-city tour is in support of “only sky” - an album that explores the far sonic edges of what one man and a guitar can create, a solo recording of almost orchestral atmosphere.

“only sky” is Torn’s first ECM release since 2007’s acclaimed “prezens”, a full-band project, with Tim Berne, Craig Taborn and Tom Rainey, that Jazzwise described as “a vibrating collage full of shimmering sonic shapes, a dark, urban electronic soundscape – a potent mix of jazz, free-form rock and technology that is both demanding and rewarding.” Many of those same descriptors apply to “only sky”, with its hovering ambient shadows and vaulting flashes of light, its channeling of deep country/blues memories and Burroughsian dreams of North Africa. Recorded in the acoustically apt hall of the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center in upstate New York (and then sorted and mixed in Torn’s own mad-scientist lair), “only sky” is an album to get lost in, over and again.

Says David, “For the 'only' sky tour, I'll be performing as I did for the recording: playing the electric guitar, bending its effect to how I might hear it fit these early days of the 21st Century; maybe I'll even convince it to kick some ass, too! Stranger things have happened.”

Across his career, Torn has worked with jazz improvisers (Jan Garbarek, Tim Berne, Don Cherry), film composers (Ryuichi Sakamoto, Carter Burwell) and art-pop singers (David Bowie, David Sylvian). He has also composed music for several films including “Friday Night Lights”, “Lars and the Real Girl”, “Everything Must Go”.

“Torn has a knack for creating music that is at once ethereal and gestural…Torn’s integration of ephemeral realism and celestial surrealism is palpable, providing the true ebb and flow of only sky’s dramatic arc.” - Wilbur MacKenzie – The New York City Jazz Record

“To call him a hero of the electric avant-garde would be accurate but incomplete.” - Nate Chinen, The New York Times

“Go ahead and call the wily guitarist a master of chopped 'n' screwed jazz schema. Onstage the mad scientist and his new pals find a way to balance the aggression with the reflection. Wildly tantalizing textures.” - Village Voice New York

David Torn tour dates:

May 08 - New York, NY at Subculture

May 10 - Hamden, CT at The Ballroom at The Outer Space

May 11 - Marlboro, NY at The Falcon

May 12 - Dunellen, NJ at NJ Proghouse @ Roxy & Dukes

May 13 - Cambridge, MA at Regattabar

May 14 - Philadelphia, PA at Philadelphia Art Alliance

May 16 - Portland, OR at Holocene

May 17-18 - Seattle, WA at Storyville (Pike Place)

May 19 - San Francisco, CA at Slim’s

May 20 - Sacramento, CA at Gold Lion Arts

May 21 - Los Angeles, CA at Blue Whale

May 22 - Denver, CO at Walnut Room

May 26 - Minneapolis, MN at Cedar Cultural Center

May 27 - Milwaukee, WI at The Jazz Estate

May 29 - Chicago, IL at Constellation

May 30 - Cincinnati, OH at The Monastery

May 31 - Pittsburgh, PA at Club Café

June 1 - Washington DC at Union Arts

June 3 - Baltimore, MD at The Windup Space

June 4 - Carrboro, NC at Cat’s Cradle

June 6 - Asheville, NC at Streamside Concerts

June 7 - Atlanta, GA at Red Light Café

Ivo Perelman Returns to Recording with Release of Three New Albums: Callas, Counterpoint and Tenorhood

It's been almost a year since Ivo Perelman has issued a new recording. For most artists, that would represent a normal release schedule; for Perelman, who had produced 20 or so albums in the previous four years, it marks a significant gap in his creative output. Now come three new albums (Callas as a double-CD, Tenorhood and Counterpoint) at once, which for most artists would signify an attempt to catch up after the year's inactivity. For Perelman, however, it merely returns him to his regular schedule. 

Perelman's latest collection of simultaneous releases, all on Leo Records, celebrate artistic heroes new and old, and musical relationships that fall somewhere in the middle. Taken together, they capture much of this remarkable artist's range of technique, emotion, and imagination; any one of them, taken separately, stands as a significant addition to his by now overwhelming discography. They also announce to the listening public that, after a significant physical crisis, Perelman is back in full force. 

In 2014, Perelman began to experience pain and bleeding from his mouth. Thinking this signified dental problems, he arranged to visit his native Brazil for oral surgery. But before his trip, he learned that the problem actually originated in his larynx, which had suffered damage from Perelman's preternatural reliance on, and mastery of, the tenor saxophone's altissimo register - the extremely high notes above the instrument's written range. Perelman has made the use of these notes an integral part of his hyper-expressive, enormously flexible saxophone style; indeed, he has brought a previously unimagined command and control to these timbral frontiers. Perelman discovered that his methodology had stressed the larynx; moreover, the stress bore a distinct similarity to that experienced by vocalists, and specifically operatic singers. 

Temporarily putting aside the saxophone, Perelman began to contact singers who had suffered the same condition. "I started to take voice lessons, and lessons in breathing technique - and I started to heal," he explains. "If I hadn't done this, I would not be able to play the way I want, and to continue to grow. Now I breathe as if I were a singer; I think as if I am a singer." By incorporating these changes, and by reconstructing his embouchure, Perelman soon healed (and without the services of a dentist). During this time, he began listening intently to opera, and eventually to the recordings of Maria Callas, the "new hero" that inspired his double-CD Callas, featuring Perelman's longtime collaborator Matthew Shipp on piano. 

Each of the utterly spontaneous duo performances in this set bears the name of a character portrayed by Callas, the Greek-American diva whose meteoric and tumultuous career in the 1950s remains the stuff of artistic legend. Among the title protagonists brought to mind by these improvised arias are Medea, Lucia di Lammermoor, Norma, and Aida, as well as Mimi from La Bohéme and Rosina from Barber of Seville. Perelman's music has always displayed an almost operatic nature, in its grand emotions and in the epic proportions of his improvisations. But now, as he points out, the influence of Callas has given his sound "a subtle new vocal quality. 

"We saxophonists have this thing with reeds: 'You're only as good as your reed.' The free-flowing perfection of a perfect reed is like nirvana for us. And Callas is like the perfect reed, the perfect vibration, because of the perfect use of her vocal apparatus, brought about by her superhuman dedication. This has deeply affected my approach." For Ivo Perelman, Maria Callas is more than a "new hero," and her music more than a helpmate in his recovery; she has become a soulmate across centuries. "I fell in love with her," he says, "It's as if know her. I know what she felt; the feelings she had, I have felt." 

Whether because of Callas or due to his joy in the resumption of performing, Perelman's saxophone creations have perhaps never had more emotional resonance. What's more, on this album his collaboration with Shipp has achieved a new high point in what was already a stunning example of musical clairvoyance. Shipp's relationship to Perelman has previously been described as "the Lewis to his Clark" on a "shared expedition of discovery." On Callas, it goes even further, in the words of Leo Records founder Leo Feigin, who writes: "Nobody sounded like this before. These are not just free improvisations; it is a kind of new genre. It is not two people playing but one. It is more than telepathy - so organic, so natural."

Upcoming Ivo Perelman Performances:

July 17 / Michiko Rehearsal Studios / New York, NY

Ivo Perelman · Callas,Counterpoint,Tenorhood

Leo Records  ·  Release Date: May 26, 2014 

www.IvoPerelman.com

NEW WEST GUITAR GROUP Releases SEND ONE YOUR LOVE, Featuring Five Jazz Vocalists

Over the last ten years, the New West Guitar Group (NWGG) has emerged as one of the premier guitar ensembles in the world. Their signature sound comes from an innovative style that highlights rhythm, beauty and virtuosity through combining acoustic and electric guitars. 

With five studio albums to their credit, this new release Send One Your Love features an incredible cast of guest jazz vocalists. Teaming up with Gretchen Parlato, Tierney Sutton, Sara Gazarek, Becca Stevens and Peter Eldridge, the album tells a story about the highs and lows of love. Each vocalist is featured on a traditional and contemporary standard with lyrics that portray themes of vulnerability, hope, pain and happiness. Seattle Times hails NWGG as "sharp and refined" while All Music Guide says the trio's expert arrangements "sometimes verge on the orchestral." The band lives up to their reputation on Send One Your Love showcasing their thoughtful arrangements specifically done for the sound and style of each vocalist. The project brings together timeless compositions from Cole Porter, Joni Mitchell, Kurt Weill, Randy Newman and others through the sophisticated New West style of arranging. The result is a beautifully crafted and cohesive album that expands the notion of what is a "standard" to tell a story about of love. 

For New West Guitar Group, this album was a unique chance for the members to collaborate with different vocalists in a reimagined setting rather than a sideman situation. Founding members Perry Smith and John Storie have had years of experience working as sidemen for jazz vocalists. Smith toured extensively with Canada's Sophie Milman and also worked for many years with LA vocalist Kathleen Grace. Storie has performed and recorded for many years with contemporary jazz vocalist Spencer Day and performs regularly with Hollywood's Jeff Goldblum. Drawing from their years of experience, they set forth to combine their signature style in New West Guitar Group with five of today's leading jazz vocalists. "This project was a great opportunity for us to focus around a concept driven by the lyrics" says Smith, "something we rarely get to do in an instrumental guitar group." 

Gretchen Parlato opens the first track "Send One Your Love" and is certainly no stranger to New West Guitar Group. Smith and Storie founded NWGG at USC in 2005 and knew Parlato when she was a student there in Thelonious Monk Institute. In 2009, Parlato collaborated with NWGG on their all-acoustic album called Sleeping Lady produced by Traugott Guitars. In addition to the groovin' title track by Stevie Wonder, Parlato is also featured on the dreamy ballad "Like Someone in Love." Her subtle and innovative way of singing is a perfect fit with the sophisticated and genre-blending style of NWGG. 

The second track "Detour Ahead" showcases the amazing Becca Stevens (who also sings later in the album on an Elliott Smith composition "Waltz No. 1"). Stevens first heard about New West Guitar Group back in 2008 when she booked NWGG at the forward sounding New York club, Bella Sugardo. On this album she sings songs about the unpredictable nature of life and love. Stevens captures this emotion with her evocative voice and truly unique style combining jazz with folk inspired phrasing. 

Following Stevens is the incomparable Peter Eldridge who was new to working with NWGG. However, Smith and Eldridge had many mutual friends and NWGG thought his delicate and sophisticated style would fit perfectly on this album. "His contributions are an incredible lift to this album," says John Storie, who arranged "Black Crow" for Eldridge. Later in the album he puts forth a beautiful rendition of the timeless Kurt Weill composition "My Ship." 

The rising west coast star Sara Gazarek follows Eldridge with a hauntingly gorgeous performance on the classic standard "I Fall in Love Too Easily." Gazarek attended USC with Perry and John and the three of them have worked together in various formats over the last 10 years. "I remember Sara singing 'I Fall in Love' when we were all freshman," says Smith. "No one does it better, it's so natural for her." Gazarek also sings the final track on the album, a moving rendition of James Taylor's "Secret o' Life."

Featured on the fifth and ninth track is the renowned Tierney Sutton. Sutton was introduced to NWGG at USC when she used to be on the vocal faculty. Smith used to work with her students and Sutton was always very complimentary of his arrangements. Together with Storie, they both performed with Sutton at various school events and 10 years later she was more than happy to record with them. Featured on "You Be So Nice to Come Home To" NWGG takes advantage of Sutton's expansive vocal technique. "She's so good at up-tempos" says Storie, "her time and phrasing is impeccable." In the second half of the album Sutton is featured on the poignant Randy Newman ballad "When She Loved Me" from Toy Story 2. 

As the next chapter in their already 10 year recording career, Send One Your Love gives New West Guitar Group a concept album for the ages. This collaborative effort tells a story about the highs and lows of love through the timeless tradition of guitar and voice.

Upcoming New West Guitar Group Performances:

June 11 / Descanso Gardens / La Cañada, CA

* June 12 / The Blue Whale (w/ special guest Tierney Sutton) / Los Angeles, CA

June 13 / Folly Bowl / Altadena, CA

June 14 / Minard House Concert / Los Angeles, CA

* June 18 / SubCulture (w/ Peter Eldridge and Gretchen Parlato) / New York, NY

* June 19 / Regattabar / Cambridge, MA

* June 20 / Spruce Peak Performing Arts Center / Stowe, VT

* June 21 / Rochester Jazz Festival / Rochester, NY

* June 22 / Iron Horse Music Hall / Northampton, MA

July 26 / Firehouse Arts Center / Pleasanton, CA

August 13 / Music on the Beach / South Lake Tahoe, CA

August 14 / Carson City Jazz and Beyond / Carson City, NV

August 15 / Occidental Center for the Arts / Occidental, CA

* August 16 / Old Saint Hilary's / Tiburon, CA

August 19 / Aquarium of the Pacific / Long Beach, CA

* August 20 / Martinis Above 4th / San Diego, CA

* August 22 / Lotusland / Santa Barbara, CA

* October 25 / Morris Museum / Morristown, NJ

* November 6 & 7 / Cuesta Vocal Jazz Festival / San Luis Obispo, CA

* November 11 / Jimmy Mak's / Portland, OR

* November 21 / Lakeshore Jazz Series / Tempe, AZ

* indicates special guest Sara Gazarek 

New West Guitar Group · Send One Your Love 

Summit Records · Release Dates: June 8 (iTunes), August 7 (physical), 2015

NewWestGuitarGroup.com

NEW RELEASES: DELANEY & BONNIE WITH THE ALLMAN BROTHERS & KING CURTIS - A&R STUDIOS 1971; THE SOUL MOTIVATORS - FREE TO BELIEVE; ASA - BED OF STONE

DELANEY & BONNIE WITH THE ALLMAN BROTHERS & KING CURTIS - A&R STUDIOS 1971

An outstanding 1971 studio concert broadcast, featuring Delaney & Bonnie and Friends, hot off the road with Eric Clapton and George Harrison, live at A&R Recording Studios in New York City - this time with friends Duane & Gregg Allman and King Curtis. The show begins acoustically (listen to D&B & Duane on Come on in My Kitchen ) then gets rowdy and electric for the second half. There’s a lot of chatter too which is endlessly fascinating and while the electric set has some minor sonic issues, the historic significance of this recording is rich the 18 minute Only You Know And I Know, featuring smokin’ leads by King Curtis & Gregg Allman is a pure joy to behold. Speaking of historic significance, it should be remembered that both Clapton & Harrison escaped the restrictions of their respective bands to hit the road with the Bramletts, and Clapton raided D&B s Friends to form Derek & The Dominos (while the Stones snagged Bobby Keys and Jim Price who debuted on D&B s Accept No Substitute). Delaney Bramlett, who passed away in 2008 at 69, also produced and co-wrote one of Clapton s best solo albums, 1970s Eric Clapton. ~ Amazon

THE SOUL MOTIVATORS - FREE TO BELIEVE

Psych-tinged funk from Toronto's Soul Motivators – with a gritty, soul reverent sound you can believe in! The promising couple of 45 cuts we heard in the lead-up to this strong full length debut were a solid indicator that this 9-piece group could deliver the goods, and sure enough, it's a genuine win! The core elements of horns, drums & percussion, snapping bass grooves, guitar and keyboards walk the line between hard funk grit and precision interplay – feeling more like the work of a veteran unit than a debut album. Lead singer Lydia Persaud brings in a deeper soul integrity, and there's lots of room in their songs for standout solo opportunities for the excellent band. Strong stuff! Includes "Free To Believe", "Love Thing", "Street Level", "Baby I'm Gone", "La Garonne", "Dr Know It All", "Hang On In There", "Working It Out", "Until The Sun Goes Down" and more – plus the bonus tracks "Throw The Bones" and "Walk Away".  ~ Dusty Groove

ASA - BED OF STONE

With her two first albums "Asa" and "Beautiful Imperfection", the Nigerian female singer Asa revealed a jubilant soul-pop supported by the titles "Jailers", "Fire On The Mountain" or "Be My Man". After 400 000 albums sold and more than 300 sold out dates, Asa comes back with a third album that has been written between Lagos, Berlin, Nashville, Los Angeles, London, Paris…. The album has been recorded in East Sussex, England, at Blair MacKichan's house who cosigned Will Young and Lilly Allen hits. Bed of Stone” contains huge tracks such as the hit singles “Eyo” and “Dead Again.” ~ Amazon

Drummer Devin Gray's RelativE ResonancE - a Band of New York Individualists - Presents Its First Album

Devin Gray, one of the most promising drummer-composers on the New York scene, made his leader debut on record with 2012's widely lauded Dirigo Rataplan, which saw him front an eponymous crew of heavyweight veterans - saxophonist Ellery Eskelin, trumpeter Dave Ballou and bassist Michael Formanek - in a set of his original compositions. Cadence magazine declared it "fantastic," while JazzTimes said that Gray's debut represented "the work of a young artist who knows who he is." For his second album as a leader, RelativE ResonancE - to be released June 9 via Skirl Records - Gray convened a band of close New York associates, also trading under the name RelativE ResonancE: saxophonist-clarinetist Chris Speed, pianist Kris Davis and bassist Chris Tordini. Whereas Gray's writing for Dirigo Rataplan is lyrical, open and encouraging of free-minded improv, the RelativE ResonancE material is rhythmically intricate and more composition-driven, while still leaving room for some of the scene's most individual improvisers to express themselves. Gray's RelativE ResonancE will celebrate the release of the album with a performance in the Sound It Out series at Greenwich House Music School in New York City's West Village, on June 13 (as part of a double-bill with the Matt Mitchell Quartet, featuring Chris Speed, Chris Tordini and Dan Weiss).

Gray took his inspiration for the album title and band name RelativE ResonancE from a comment by the great Tony Williams in a masterclass seen on YouTube. "Tony was talking about tuning a drum and getting the 'relative resonance' right between the top and bottom heads so that the drums will speak or sing," Gray explains. "I thought about that idea as a universal philosophy that extends to an entire band - getting the relative resonance between instruments and personalities right so that the group will really sing. I wanted this band, RelativE ResonancE, to have a special rapport - and we've developed that over almost five years of playing together. This is vital because these compositions are very different, and exciting, for me as a musician. Writing for Dirigo Rataplan is about coming up with interesting lines for great players and seeing where we can take them. Composing for RelativE ResonancE is more about creating involved, layered material and then experimenting with how we play it to make the music come alive.

"The pieces on this album are like multi-dimensional mosaics," Gray continues. "Some work more like traditional tunes - "City Nothing City," "In the Cut" and the title number - but with the other five tracks, I wrote a totally independent, etude-like part for each us. That's an unconventional method, but I was eager to see how the music would come out when we played these parts together, honing things so that they were perfectly attuned. The process was like tuning the band to create a mosaic that resonated."

Gray's stature as a creative composer and soulful player can be measured by the company he keeps. The drummer, who turns 32 two days before the release of RelativE ResonancE, met Formanek while a student at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, where the bassist is on the faculty. The elder musician says: "Devin has always been one of those natural drummers, with an organic rhythmic energy that you can just feel. More than that, he has become a very creative musician - his music has its own personality, which is the goal for any artist." For his part, Skirl proprietor Chris Speed says: "Devin's passionate enthusiasm for music-making - his commitment to discovering ideas and developing them into weird, fun, cohesive music - is infectious, a pleasure to be a part of."

About his bandmates in RelativE ResonancE, Gray says: "They're all fearless musicians, open-minded and full of integrity - and real individuals, even if there's confusion in rehearsal with each of them named Chris/KrisŠ With Kris Davis, she's so forward-thinking, always willing and able to find spaces in the music that she can fill with her creativity. Chris Speed brings an incredibly wide base of experience - playing avant-improv with Tim Berne, world-influenced tunes with Pachora and more traditional jazz with his own trio, among much else - to the interpreting of any piece. And I love the way Chris Tordini hears music - no matter the setting, he has a great ear for how to push music to be all it can be. That's what every musician should aim for, really, and what every band should do collectively. The music on this album was inspired by modernist classical composers like Berg and Xenakis, as well as jazz figures like Ornette Coleman with his harmolodics and Henry Threadgill with his endlessly inspiring compositions. Ultimately, though, this music is the relative resonance 

between these compositions and these players, the sounds we have on our instruments and the way our personalities work together."

Born and bred in Maine and a New Yorker since 2006, Gray leads the groups RelativE ResonancE and Dirigo Rataplan, with a second album's worth of music for the latter band already written and debuted live. Time Out New York has praised "Gray's smart compositions, which balance formal elasticity with a meticulous sense of pacing." He performs regularly in duos with saxophonist Ellery Eskelin and drummer Gerald Cleaver. Gray has also toured Europe leading his Swedish/American band Slicing and Dicing, as well as with the cooperative VAX (including Patrick Breiner and Liz Kosack). VAX has released two vinyl-only albums, in 2013 and 2014.  As a sideman, Gray has recorded upcoming albums as part of Nate Wooley's Argonautica (with Ron Miles, Jozef Dumoulin, Cory Smythe and Rudy Royson) and the Daniel Levine Trio (with Marc Hannaford). The latter group recorded an album for upcoming release, with Mark Helias at the helm.

Last year, Gray released the album Jagged Spheres with Anna Webber and Elias Stemeseder. He recorded with Gary Thomas and Joel Grip as the trio Corpulent, releasing the album Wolf Walk in 2005. The drummer performs in the trio Transit Heavy with Satoko Fuji and Natsuki Tamura; the Richard Bonnet Trio with Tony Malaby; and in trios with Uri Caine and Michael Formanek and with Andrea Parkins and Frank Gratkowski. He also tours Europe regularly as a member of the Daniel Guggenheim Quartet with Peter Madsen and Sean Smith, having taken over the drum chair from Gerald Cleaver in 2012. Gray plays Canopus drums and Zildjian cymbals and sticks. Writing about him, All About Jazz has said that Gray is a musician who "dares you not to listen then challenges once you do."

Devin Gray: RelativE ResonancE

1. City Nothing City     

2. In the Cut          

3. Notester

4. Jungle Design (for Hannah Shaw)

5. Transatlantic Transitions

6. Undo the Redo

7. RelativE ResonancE (for Tadd Dameron)

8. Search It Up

All compositions by Devin Gray (VonerMusic, BMI)

Devin Gray, drums; Chris Speed, tenor saxophone and clarinet; Kris Davis, piano; Chris Tordini, double-bass

Produced by Devin Gray; recorded by Tom Tedesco at Tedesco Studios, NJ

Mixed with Eivind Opsvik; mastered with Liberty Ellman; edited with Nathaniel Morgan

devingraymusic.com

TKATKA releases TOMORROW KNOWS ANOTHER featuring an eclectic array of influences and soundscapes

tKatKa (pronounced 'Te-Kat-Ker') is the collaboration between artists PJ Norman and Carlsson, co-founders of 100m Records. The group formed officially in London, UK, 2004, with their first single appearing on a compilation for the Glass Shrimp show on Resonance FM in early 2005. Later that year a white label of their track "Lazerslab" was broadcast by the influential BBC Radio 1 DJ Annie Nightingale, leading to an independent London label deal for their next two singles. With these releases, tKatKa garnered radio-play from John Kennedy, James Zabiela and Nick Luscombe, as well as BBC Radio 1 DJ Mary Anne Hobbs, who affectionately characterizes tKatKa's sound as "Absolutely gorgeous".

Soon after, the duo created their own imprint, 100m Records, to release their well received debut album "tKatKa". This was closely followed by sophomore effort, "TerrorKnowledgeAction", featuring a re-interpretation of the Tom Hickox song "Grief Hijackers", of which Bearded Magazine said: "Expect it to soundtrack a spooky art flick, but it won't because it's better than the film would be."

Fittingly, the 10th anniversary of 100m Records this year (2015) sees the release of tKatKa's third long player. Since their second album, the pair have both departed London; Carlsson to Copenhagen and Norman to New York. Despite the distance, they continued to work on compositions towards this third collection remotely, in rare occasions meeting to reconnect and refine. The resulting effort, "Tomorrow Knows Another" is a vast collage of ideas, some originating from their earliest demos and others completed entirely by email.

This distance afforded the luxury of recording samples and performances in a wide variety of locations; the forests of Sweden, the subways of New York, the streets of Copenhagen, warehouses in East London, the Royal Festival Hall, the lake in Zurich and the beach on Long Island. Utilizing this eclectic array of influences and soundscapes, the tracks were then finished, mixed and mastered at the 100m Records studio in DUMBO, Brooklyn.

Tracklist:

1. Dimension Tension (6:07)
2. Itsnotnoitsnot (3:40)
3. Act/React (2:08)
4. NMO (8:06)
5. Youth Mor(t)ality (3:04)
6. Speed Up Slow Down (4:48)
7. Revers Parapsychology (7:20)
8. Attack Or Defend (3:40)
9. Tomorrow Knows Another (2:55)
Total Running Time: 41:44

"Tomorrow Knows Another" is set for release on May 25th, 2015.

Steven Lugerner Announces the Release of New Digital Single "Gravitations Vol. II," A Duo Project with Fred Hersch

Steven Lugerner Gravitations Vol. II The greatest improvisers keep an eye open for stimulating new musical settings. San Francisco Bay Area woodwind expert Steven Lugerner, a rising star with a bevy of exceptional albums, has proven adept at creating situations that take jazz's foremost masters into unexpected realms. His latest album, the digital-only release Gravitations Vol. II, is a gorgeous duo project that places piano great Fred Hersch in an entirely new context. 

The recording with Hersch, a key mentor for Lugerner, is just one of several exceptional projects that the 26-year-old has on tap this summer. He joins forces with alto sax legend Charles McPherson on a June 5 program produced by Palo Alto Jazz Alliance at the Mitchell Park Community Center in Palo Alto. 

On June 6, Lugerner presents his new band SLUGish Ensemble at the Center for New Music in San Francisco, a 10-piece ensemble bristling with brilliant Bay Area improvisers including trumpeter Darren Johnston, saxophonists Cory Wright and Patrick Wolff, and drummer Michael Mitchell. SLUGish Ensemble also performs July 27 at the Stanford Jazz Festival with special guest star Allison Miller in the drum chair. 

"When I was in New York I got really interested in writing for a larger ensemble," Lugerner says. "These pieces are very influenced by Maria Schneider, John Hollenbeck, John Zorn, and composers like Steve Reich, John Adams, and and Nico Muhly." 

Honoring the storied drummer Tootie Heath is the motivation behind several concerts by the Richard Sears Sextet, which performs June 11 at the Blue Whale in Los Angeles and June 12 at Piedmont Piano in Oakland (this band will then record at Fantasy Studios). Lugerner was part of the ensemble when it premiered Sears's suite designed to showcase the drum maestro last year, and he'll be contributing on bass clarinet and alto sax with Patrick Wolff on tenor sax, Kirk Knuffke on cornet, and Heath himself on drums. 

"Richard wrote this suite specifically with Tootie in mind, and he did an incredible job writing something that is simultaneously adventurous and that draws from the tradition," Lugerner says. "There's a lot of seriousness in that music and a lot of joy, and Tootie embodies that whole ethos." 

Lugerner delves into the music of another jazz legend on The Music of Jackie McLean, an album slated for release in the fall featuring Jacknife, a hard-hitting West Coast post-bop quintet. Exploring tunes from McLean's seminal early- and mid-1960s Blue Note albums Jacknife, It's Time, Let Freedom Ring,and New Soil, the session brings together a formidable cast of rising talent, including pianist Richard Sears, bassist Garret Lang, drummer Michael Mitchell, and trumpeter JJ Kirkpatrick. 

Lugerner recorded Gravitations Vol. I in 2013 with guitarist/banjoist Angelo Spagnolo, and the concept for the project flowed from some of the free improvisation practices that Lugerner learned from Hersch in 2008 as part of a Carnegie Hall Foundation workshop (so it's hardly surprising that he sought the pianist out for an encounter). He recorded Hersch early one morning at his Soho apartment in the spring of 2013, looking to capture the first music that he played that day. 

"The idea is to record the first few phrases or gestures that come out involuntarily, whatever your hands or brain gravitates toward," Lugerner says. "I'll take eight or maybe ten minute-long snippets, transcribe them, and then I orchestrate woodwind parts on top of the original layer. Sometimes I'll do an exact orchestration of what they're doing, and other times I'll harmonize parts on top." 

The resulting music is unlike anything else in Hersch's extensive discography of duo encounters. Familiar but strange, Gravitations Vol. II is a beautiful and intimate conversation which distills something essential about Hersch's music, turning his building blocks into sturdy but fanciful and self-contained edifices. 

Born (May 20, 1988) in Redwood City and raised in Burlingame, just south of San Francisco, Steven Lugerner moved to New York in 2006 to attend the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music where he graduated with honors four years later. He moved back to the Bay Area in 2013 to take a position at the Stanford Jazz Workshop and has maintained a bicoastal presence ever since. 

In a relatively short period of time Lugerner has collaborated with a heavyweight roster of jazz masters, including pianist Myra Melford, percussionist John Hollenbeck, tenor saxophonist Dayna Stephens, altoist Miguel Zenón, soprano saxophonist Jane Ira Bloom, flutist Jamie Baum, and drummer Matt Wilson. A skilled and diversified woodwind doubler on saxophones, bass clarinet, Bb clarinet, oboe, English horn, flute, and alto flute, Lugerner makes music that's gloriously his own whatever horn he plays, while attracting some of jazz's most vividly identifiable voices as creative partners. 

  

Steven Lugerner in Performance:

6/5 Charles McPherson Quintet w/ Andrew Speight & Steven Lugerner, Mitchell Park Community Center, Palo Alto (presented by Palo Alto Jazz Alliance)

6/6 SLUGish Ensemble, Center for New Music, San Francisco

6/11 appearing as part of Richard Sears Sextet featuring Tootie Heath, Blue Whale, Los Angeles

6/12 appearing as part of Richard Sears Sextet featuring Tootie Heath, Piedmont Piano, Oakland (to be recorded)

7/27 SLUGish Ensemble, Stanford Jazz Festival

New compilation, A New Life, from Jazzman Records coming out June 1

Thought you knew about British jazz? Think again. Diving into the unknown world of the private pressing, Jazzman Records presents some of the rarest and wildest British jazz ever recorded!

The major stars of British jazz such as Stan Tracey, Michael Garrick and Joe Harriott are now rightly recognised as the giants they were, and the legendary Brit jazz recordings of the 1960s are amongst the most highly prized of all collectable records. But what happened to jazz in the UK when the recording industry lost faith in it?

A New Life is the first survey of British jazz labels and musicians that went their own way in the 1970s, bringing to the light the unknown indie gems and outsider private pressings that let jazz musicians keep the faith into the 1980s. From the time-bending spirit music of London's Lori Vambe to the psych-jazz of Birmingham's Poliphony, via Spot The Zebra's jazz dedication to David Attenborough and Indiana Highway's modal Christmas carolling, A New Life chronicles a compelling selection of lost and obscure jewels of the British jazz underground.

Compiled by Francis Gooding and Duncan Brooker (the team responsible for the acclaimed Next Stop Soweto series), and coming with extensive sleevenotes based on interviews with the musicians, A New Life is the first major British jazz collection since Gilles Petersen's Impressed series, and the first ever to shed light on the forgotten legacy of independent, regional and experimental Brit jazz.

· All tracks fully licensed and digitally restored

 · Only 1000 double vinyl gatefold LPs pressed

 · Comprehensive and detailed liner notes with pictures and information on each track direct from our interviews with the musicians involved

 · CD with 24 page booklet packed with pics & extensive notes based on original research.

Music Legend Ben E. King – in Memoriam

Fans and fellow artists the world over are mourning the death of music legend Ben E. King, who passed away on April 30, 2015 at age 76, after a brief illness. A singer, songwriter, mentor and philanthropist, he personified artistic excellence, humility and warmth. In the words of the late Ahmet Ertegun, “Ben E. King is one of the greatest singers in the history of rock and roll and rhythm and blues. His style and the tempo of his voice have a magic all their own.”

“Ben E. King is one of the greatest singers in the history of rock and roll and rhythm and blues. His style and the tempo of his voice have a magic all their own.”

As a solo artist and as lead singer for The Drifters, Ben E. King created some of the most memorable recordings in popular music: “There Goes My Baby”, “Dance With Me,” “This Magic Moment”, “Save The Last Dance For Me,” “Spanish Harlem,” “I Who Have Nothing,” and the iconic, international anthem “Stand By Me” (which King co-wrote). “Stand By Me” has been covered by countless artists; in March 2015, King’s recording was selected by the Library of Congress for inclusion in the National Recording Registry.

He was a member of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and winner of a Rhythm & Blues Foundation Pioneer Award and The Songwriters Hall of Fame’s Towering Performance Award. He continued writing, recording, and performing to sold-out crowds, until shortly before his death.

Offstage, Ben E. King was a devoted family man who donated his time and energy to numerous charitable causes. He was universally known as a true gentleman; respected and beloved by all who knew or worked with him. He will be deeply missed by family, friends, and fans worldwide.

Services will be held at:

Community Baptist Church

224 1st Street

Englewood, New Jersey 07631

(201) 568-6369

Memorial / Wake - Wednesday, May 6, 6 – 9 PM

Funeral Service / Burial - Thursday, May 7, 10 AM

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to The Stand By Me Foundation, or a charity of the donor’s choosing. The Stand By Me Foundation (PO Box 462, Teaneck, NJ 07666) is a 501(c)(3) organization established by Mr. King in 1998, providing scholarships to deserving students and support to civic associations engaged in improving their communities.

Tributes and condolences can also be sent to benekingtributes@gmail.com

-Judy Tint (Ben E. King’s attorney), on behalf of the King family 

Kurt Elling: A House is Not a Home

NEW RELEASES: TESS HENLEY - WONDERLAND; TERENCE BLANCHARD FEATURING THE E COLLECTIVE - BREATHLESS; BUFFY SAINTE-MARIE – POWER IN THE BLOOD

TESS HENLEY - WONDERLAND

Soul singer-songwriter Tess Henley began Suzuki piano training at age three, and by age five was dissecting harmonies that even her mother – a singer by trade – found difficult. Multi-Grammy winning producer Don Was (Rolling Stones, John Mayer, Bonnie Raitt) recently selected Henley from over 10,000 performers as the winner of Guitar Center’s National Artist Discovery Program. “She’s unlike any artist that’s out there now, a world class singer with a true gift” says Was. Billboard describes her music as a classy brand of soulful R&B that could hold up in any era of Was’ storied career. Was produced Henley’s latest EP, “Wonderland”, tracked at Hollywood’s Henson Recording Studios (birthplace of celebrated projects like Carole King’s Tapestry and Joni Mitchell’s Blue). Acclaimed musicians included drummer James Gadson (Beck, Marvin Gaye, Bill Withers), James Hutchinson on bass (Bonnie Raitt, BB King), guitarist Mark Goldenberg (Linda Ronstadt, Bonnie Raitt), Mike Finnigan on Hammond Organ (Jimi Hendrix, Michael McDonald), percussionist Michito Sanchez (Train, Aretha Franklin), string arranger Davide Rossi (Ed Sheeran, Coldplay) and Henley on keyboards, vocals and background vocals. As Was describes the project, “Sometimes magic just happens, you can’t really legislate that. There’s no producer in the world who can make that happen. All you can do is try to set up a situation where if lightning strikes the room, you’ve got the tape rolling. And lightning struck. It was a really charmed session, and Tess was amazing, didn’t miss a note all day.” Henley honed her live performance by opening for folks like Jill Scott and Anthony Hamilton, while continuing to build her profile as a songwriter. She got to display those skills during her first national television performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live in February where she performed a pair of songs from her EP, “Wonderland.” www.tessheley.com.

TERENCE BLANCHARD FEATURING THE E COLLECTIVE - BREATHLESS

Terence Blanchard and the E-Collective set off on a new musical journey with his new album Breathless. An innovative and electric exploration into the fusion of jazz, funk, R&B and blues featuring Oscar Seaton on drums, Donald Ramsey on bass, Charles Altura on guitar and Fabian Almazan on keyboard/piano/synths. Produced by Blanchard and his manager Robin Burgess and executive produced by Blue Note president Don Was, the adventurous 13-tune recording zeroes in on several Blanchard originals, an epic-length piece by Almazan and a scattering of covers, sung by soothing and soulful vocalist P.J. Morton (a member of the band Maroon 5). Includes: Compared to What; See Me As I Am; Everglades; Breathless; Confident Selflessness; Shutting Down; Soldiers; Samadhi; Talk to Me; Tom & Jerry; I Ain't Got Nothin' But Time; Cosmic Warrior; and Midnight. ~ Amazon

BUFFY SAINTE-MARIE – POWER IN THE BLOOD

The iconic songwriter has written standards, social-justice anthems and Oscar-winning ballads, but never because it was what the industry expected from her. One of the most original and important voices of our time. Equal parts activist, educator, songwriter, performer and visual artist, Buffy Sainte-Marie has throughout her life been an untiring champion for indigenous people and the environment, through her music, art, education projects, and by taking direct political action. She is one of the most enduring and popular Native American performers, her music having touched millions of people around the world. From her start in New York City s Greenwich Village in the early to 1960s alongside Leonard Cohen, Neil Young and Joni Mitchell, Buffy made a name for herself as a gifted songwriter, writing hits for Janis Joplin, Elvis Presley, Barbra Streisand, and Neil Diamond. Her most well know song is the Oscar winning Up Where We Belong from An Officer and Gentlemen. But Buffy is most acclaimed for her song Universal Soldier that became one of the first anti-Vietnam war anthems to inspire a generation to protest. Power in the Blood her first new album in 6 years, includes odes to the sanctity of life, the splendor of Mother Nature, and scything political and social commentary on songs like the title track, a collaboration with British electronic group Alabama 3, as well as the tracks Uranium War and Generation. The album was recorded in Toronto with three different producers, Michael Philip Wojewoda (Barenaked Ladies, Jeff Healey), Chris Birkett (Sinéad O Connor, Bob Geldof) and Jon Levine (Melissa Etheridge, Serena Ryder). ~ Amazon

New AL DI MEOLA Album, ELYSIUM Features Di Meola Playing Both Electric & Acoustic Guitar

He came from the 'Land Of The Midnight Sun', sparkled on the jazz-rock stage as an 'Elegant Gypsy', came up trumps in the 'Casino' with all the right chords and melodies, and his 'Splendido Hotel' was the number one address for fusion fans around the globe. He finally achieved immortality together with John McLaughlin and Paco de Lucia on 'Friday Night In San Francisco'. For guitar lovers, the name Al Di Meola carries the same guarantee of quality that Ferrari does for sports car enthusiasts or Chateau Mouton-Rothschild for wine connoisseurs. 

Al Di Meola was born in New Jersey in 1954 to an Italian-American family, and from his early days as a rising star in Chick Corea's legendary fusion combo Return To Forever right up to the present day, he has continually managed to refine his qualities: breathtakingly fast picking, skilful percussion effects the like of which had never been heard before, the effortlessness with which he can instantly switch from muscular axe-man rock to spinning gentle, romantic webs of melody. In the nineties, inspired by his love of the acoustic sounds of Latin America and the works of nuevo tango pioneer Astor Piazzolla, he made some delightful chamber music recordings with his group World Sinfonia. On more recent albums such as 'Consequence Of Chaos' (2006) and 'Pursuit Of Radical Rhapsody' (2011), all these penchants, influences and musical movements have fused into an unmistakeable sound: jazz rock meets world jazz. It's a stylistic aerobatics display, circling up to dizzying heights reminiscent of the boisterous solos Al used to play in his youth.

'Elysium' is the climax of this process so far. The artist has arrived where he always wanted to be. He himself thinks of Elysium as a 'place of perfect happiness'. A paradise where acoustic and electric components, triumphant rock and finely entwined jazz, delicate and pumping rhythms, guitars and keyboards, wide panoramas of rock and diaphanous carpets of sound come together in harmony. In this magical Elysium, everyone complements each other. Al Di Meola has brought together a five piece band with no bass. While he plays all the guitar parts himself, both acoustic and electric, including unbelievably fast and elegant riffs and effervescent rocking chords, three keyboard players and pianists provide shades of colour. This trio includes new recruit Philippe Saisse, who also contributes the composition 'La Lluvia'. The others have shared musical accomplishments with their band leader going back decades. Barry Miles has known Al since the seventies. Mario Parmisano can be heard on recordings such as 'Orange And Blue' (1994) and 'Flesh On Flesh' (2002). Two new rhythm players have now joined the team: percussionist Rhani Krija and drummer Peter Kaszas. Both of them are wide awake and always right up with the beat. ~ Amazon

JAZZY SOUNDSCAPES FROM DANIEL HERSKEDAL - SLOW EASTBOUND TRAIN

DANIEL HERSKEDAL

A tuba playing jazz musician might have the right to describe his sound as unique – after all, tuba soloists in jazz are as rare as hen’s teeth. But when we describe Norwegian tuba player and composer Daniel Herskedal
as unique, we’re not referring to his choice of horn. In the last few years this young musician has proved he has the facility, vision and musicianship to push the boundaries of his instrument, technically and sonically, further than anyone has done so. The result , as demonstrated by his new album ‘Slow Eastbound Train’, is a spellbind- ing and mesmerising sound worthy of a vast international audience.

In Norwegian musicians Eyolf Dale (piano) and Helge Andreas Norbakken (percussion) as well as the Trond- heim Soloists, Norway’s most celebrated string orchestra, Daniel has the perfect vehicle to demonstrate his facility as both instrumentalist and composer. And ‘Slow Eastbound Train’ is a sublimely beautiful and melodic album full of diverse influences and unique soundscapes that entirely fulfils both Daniel’s promise and the full potential of this group.

Based in Copenhagen, Herskedal first came to our attention with the release of his superb album ‘Neck of the Woods’, a duo with saxophonist Marius Neset, in which his technical brilliance and combination of diverse influences firmly established his reputation on the European jazz scene as a world class musician and one to watch. Since then he has toured extensively throughout Europe with Django Bates, Trondheim Jazz Orchestra as well his own projects City Stories, Listen, Dagane and Magic Pocket.

Beneath the melodic, sublime, elegant themes that make up the pieces on ‘Slow Eastbound Train’ there’s a rhythmical energy in the string writing as well as the virtuosity of his tuba playing that gives the album its wonderfully varied and vibrant feel. This is the sound of a master arranger and musical thinker at work.

However we describe Daniel Herskedal, his work and his virtuosity, there’s no doubting that a major artist has arrived. It’s rare to find an artist with fresh ideas, the technical facility to push boundaries and the maturity
to understand how to express this in the all-important listening experience, but with Daniel we are seeing the emergence of just such a one, We can only sit back and admire the result: a beautifully executed album that will continue to inspire and move us long into the future.

~ Edition Records

Ayn Inserto Releases Home Away From Home, a Collaboration With Colours Jazz Orchestra, One of Italy's Most Formidable Big Bands

This album was born with an alluring invitation. Several years after seeing a memorable performance by the Ayn Inserto Jazz Orchestra with tenor sax great George Garzone and legendary trombonist/ composer Bob Brookmeyer at the Berklee Performance Center, Italian trombonist Massimo Morganti arranged for Inserto to come to Italy for a series of workshops with his formidable Colours Jazz Orchestra. Inserto quickly struck up a close bond with the band, returned the following year for a series of gigs, and ended up arranging a consistently inspired set of material for the world class ensemble, music documented on Home Away From Home, slated for release in the US by the German label Neuklang Records on June 9, 2015.

An associate professor of jazz composition at Berklee College of Music, she's the leader of the acclaimed Ayn Inserto Jazz Orchestra, which features some of Boston's most potent improvisers. As a protégé of the late great Bob Brookmeyer, who's featured on her 2006 debut album Clairvoyance, Inserto has won numerous awards and commissions while producing a gloriously inventive body of work. Full of dynamic movement, striking voicings and lush harmonies, Inserto's imaginative writing puts her at the forefront of the contemporary orchestral jazz scene.

Inserto's third release, Home Away From Home, introduces a vivid and varied collection of pieces that she's never recorded before. Her familiarity with Colours is evident throughout. The album opens with her "You're Leaving? But I Just Got Here," dedicated to former Berklee Jazz Composition Chair, Ken Pullig, which proceeds from a cheeky dialogue between drummer Massimo Manzi and soprano saxophonist Simone La Maida into a drum-directed band confab and deftly interwoven soprano/trumpet conversation. The Harvard Jazz Band commissioned her sensuous but abstract recomposition of Joe Henderson's standard "Recorda Me," which hints at the original melody while setting it in a new alluring harmonic framework.

Inserto's sumptuous ballad "La Danza Infinita," the album's centerpiece, showcases Morganti's legato phrasing and rich, singing tone, while the ensemble displays its exceptional cohesion.  She closes the album with "Subo," a jaunty, Latin-inflected tune she arranged and recomposed from a tune written by Boston trumpet ace Dan Rosenthal, a longtime member of the Ayn Inserto Jazz Orchestra.

In many ways, Inserto provided a good deal of the inspiration for the creation of Colours. Morganti was studying at Berklee for a year when he caught the performance by Inserto's orchestra with special guests Garzone and Brookmeyer. He decided he wanted to create something similar back home in Ancona, a central Italian port on the Adriatic coast. 

Founded in 2002, Colours draws on some of the finest players on Italy's vibrant jazz scene 

and has collaborated with jazz stars like Brookmeyer, Ryan Truesdell, Bob Mintzer, Maria Schneider, and Kenny Wheeler (who's featured on the band's critically hailed 2009 debut album Nineteen Plus One). 

"Massimo writes for Colours, but he mainly tries to have guest artists come in for the orchestra to play their music," Inserto says. "It's a great band, a modern big band that's always looking for interesting material."

Born in Singapore, Inserto was 14 when her family relocated to California, and within a year had settled in the San Francisco Bay Area's East Bay, where she was well prepared to take advantage of the region's extensive jazz educational resources. Inserto had started taking piano lessons as a child, and jumped into music at her Catholic church.

"I was very active in the church choir, and they this one band that had a little more modern sound," Inserto recalls. "I was playing the organ, and there was lot of improvising that would go on before the service started. A lot of our music only had lead sheets, and I'd make up stuff to go with them."

Introduced to jazz via the Manhattan Transfer, she learned to read chords from a book of Disney tunes, and soon started substituting her own chord choices to make the songs sound more interesting. By the time she started Clayton Valley High School in the East Bay city of Concord, Inserto was obsessed with music, playing piano in various school ensembles, including the jazz band. She discovered Bill Evans, McCoy Tyner and other piano giants, while continuing to study classical piano. She was also an avid member of the award-winning Blue Devils Drum and Bugle Corps, playing mallet percussion. Inserto's jazz education took a quantum leap when she attended a weeklong Berklee camp held in Los Angeles "where I learned voicings," she says. "Around that time I also started writing for the school band and the marching band. I got hired to write for the Blue Devils "B" Corps, writing all these mallet percussion ensemble pieces."

She attended Los Medanos College's respected jazz program for several years and then transferred to Cal State Hayward (now Cal State East Bay), where she thrived under the tutelage of trombonist/arranger Dave Eshelman, who has mentored several generations of exceptional Bay Area jazz musicians. He recorded several of her pieces with the CSUH Big Band. Encouraged to apply to New England Conservatory by saxophonist and NEC professor Allan Chase, who's now a member of her Jazz Orchestra, Inserto was drawn to NEC by the presence of Brookmeyer. "I studied two full years with him," she says. "I was writing from a piano player's point of view, and he got me into more melodic writing, developing these long lines. After NEC I continued to study with him and he really took me on as a mentor."

While Brookmeyer's influence is evident, Inserto has honed an independent musical identity writing and arranging for her orchestra, as well as numerous other ensembles that have commissioned her. She released her second album featuring the band and special guest George Garzone, Muse, in 2008, cementing her reputation as a composer and arranger of exceptional acuity. She has no plans of giving up the Ayn Inserto Jazz Orchestra, but after her collaboration with Colours it couldn't be clearer why Italy is truly a home away from home. 

www.ayninserto.com