Guitar Virtuoso John Jorgenson to Release Limited Edition, 3-CD Box Set Divertuoso

Much to the excitement of guitar players and musicians worldwide, John Jorgenson will release Divertuoso, a limited edition, 3-CD box set of three separate, all-new full-length albums featuring three of Jorgenson’s band configurations (gypsy jazz, bluegrass and electric) via Cleopatra Records on October 16, 2015.

Jorgenson's career has been wide-ranging, including playing lead guitar in Elton John's band for seven years; being a co-founder of both the groundbreaking The Hellecasters and The Desert Rose Band; being widely known as the U.S. Ambassador of Gypsy Jazz; and portraying Django Reinhardt in the Hollywood feature film Head In The Clouds. Jorgenson has recorded or toured with the likes of Bonnie Raitt, Luciano Pavarotti, Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, The Byrds, Johnny Cash, Bob Seger, Willie Nelson and many others. Jorgenson is a GRAMMY Award-winner and has won many other awards, including being three-time Academy of Country Music (ACM) Guitarist of the Year.

Totaling 40 tracks in all, Divertuoso showcases Jorgenson's incredible virtuosity as both a musician and songwriter in a variety of styles. Considered a master of the electric and acoustic guitar, and many other instruments, Jorgenson plays 12 instruments on the box set (acoustic guitar, electric guitar, mandolin, bouzouki, clarinet, mandocello, soprano sax, bass, hammond organ, bassoon, keyboards, percussion), as well as vocals, and he composed a majority of the material. This release is a singular accomplishment not only for Jorgenson, but also for the guitar community as a whole. His mastery of these three disparate styles (gypsy jazz, bluegrass and rock) is on full display throughout these recordings.

The three records that are part of Divertuoso are:

John Jorgenson Quintet - Returning

J2B2 (John Jorgenson Bluegrass Band Featuring Herb Pedersen, Jon Randall & Mark Fain) - From The Crow's Nest

John Jorgenson - Gifts From The Flood

“I feel like a huge overview of my musical life is contained in this project,” Jorgenson said. “It incorporates many of the diverse styles that all co-exist in my world. Had I thought very long beforehand, I could have easily gotten overwhelmed at the amount of actual work it would take to create such a large body of work, but it really came together pretty naturally. I'm both relieved and proud to have Divertuoso out in the world.”

Returning is the latest recording by gypsy jazz veterans the John Jorgenson Quintet. Their music, both live and recorded, is a time-and-space transcending experience. All but two of the album's 13 tracks were written by Jorgenson himself. Jorgenson plays acoustic guitar, bouzouki, clarinet, mandolin, mandocello, and soprano sax on the record, and sings on one song. The New York Times has been quoted as saying: “Jorgenson is perhaps the best jazz guitarist alive.”

The 15-track From The Crow's Nest by bluegrass supergroup J2B2 (John Jorgenson Bluegrass Band featuring Herb Pedersen, Jon Randall & Mark Fain) was recorded at Sheryl Crow's home barn studio in Nashville over the course of three days. Pedersen (The Dillards and Old And In The Way) is a legendary vocal arranger and musician who also co-founded The Desert Rose Band with Jorgenson. Hit songwriter Randall, a former member of Emmylou Harris' Nash Ramblers, has toured with Earl Scruggs and Sam Bush. Fain is the long-time bassist for Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder. The record includes lead and harmony vocals by Jorgenson, Randall and Pedersen, and when the three sing together, a magical 60's/70's folk air transforms the typical bluegrass “high lonesome harmonies” into an entirely different dimension. In addition to his vocal work, Jorgenson plays mandolin and acoustic guitar. Songwriters contributing to the record include Jorgenson, Pedersen, Randall (co-writer of the CMA Song of the Year, “Whiskey Lullaby,” with Bill Anderson, included in this set), Rodney Crowell, Guy Clark, JD Souther, Mitchell Jayne and Rodney Dillard (members of The Dillards) and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Member Chris Hillman (The Byrds, The Flying Burrito Brothers).

The third album, Gifts From The Flood, is a John Jorgenson solo electric record. Jorgenson plays everything on it (guitars, bass, Hammond organ, clarinet, bassoon, keyboards, and percussion) with the exception of drums, which are played by Greg Morrow. The concept is an interesting one; Jorgenson had many guitars and amps completely ruined in the Nashville flood of 2010. As the guitars were restored and each one came back to him, new songs seemed to flow out of each one. The gratitude Jorgenson had just for having them back is captured on this record. Each song was named simply after the guitar that was used to create it, and all of the songs were written by Jorgenson alone. With everything from straight-ahead rock, to country-flavored picking (including a special guest appearance by Brad Paisley on one track), to cool surf-flavored grooves, Gifts From The Flood is anything but standard.

  

Track Listing:

DISC 1: John Jorgenson Quintet - Returning

1. Sonora Spring

2. Sand Away The Years

3. San Sebastien

4. Waiting For The Fog To Rise

5. Born Too Late

6. It Only Takes A Secret

7. Istiqbal Gathering

8. If I Only Knew You Cared

9. Black Swan

10. I've Got My Fingers Crossed

11. Inches And Feet

12. Wistfully Waltzing

13. Sonora Spring (Reprise)

DISC 2: J2B2 (John Jorgenson Bluegrass Band Featuring Herb Pedersen, Jon Randall & Mark Fain) - From The Crow’s Nest

1. Beautiful Sound

2. I Will Shelter You

3. Wait A Minute

4. Wandering Boy

5. There Is A Time

6. Lady’s Bluff

7. Travelin’ Angels

8. No One Else

9. Die Tryin’

10. If You Could See

11. Feather

12. A Heart Always True

13. Let Me Get Out Of This World Alive

14. Gina

15. Whiskey Lullaby

DISC 3: John Jorgenson - Gifts From The Flood

1. ‘61 SGLP

2. Jazzmaster 1

3. ‘70 LP Custom

4. ‘64 SG Custom 3

5. ‘57 Strat 2

6. Firebird

7. Sunburst Tele 1

8. ‘57 Strat 1

9. Sunburst Tele 2 (with Brad Paisley)

10. Paisley Tele 1

11. Jazzmaster 2

12. ‘66 Silvertone 1

CELEBRATING BOB BELDEN A Musical Evening In Memory of A Visionary Bandleader, Arranger, Saxophonist and GRAMMY® Award-Winning Producer With Friends, Family, Band Members, Industry Colleagues, And More

The unexpected silence left by the recent passing of Bob Belden—whose ceaseless stream of musical projects, production credits and boundless energy earned him the respect of an international circle of musicians and fans—will be filled with music, memories, and much more on Monday, November 2 at (le) poisson rouge, 158 Bleecker Street, New York City. CELEBRATING BOB BELDEN is the title of this special memorial evening, which is free and open to the public.

Doors open at 6:30pm, the event will begin at 7:30pm and run through the evening, with three different groups (The Treasure Island Band, Animation/Imagination, Animation), all originally formed by Belden performing music that he composed and featuring musicians he recruited, as well as special friends like Wallace Roney. Belden’s longtime confidante and collaborator, trumpeter Tim Hagans, will serve as the musical director of the evening. Friends and family members will speak and share stories, in person or by video, including Chick Corea, Tim Ries and Herbie Hancock. The event is lovingly produced by Belden’s sister Elizabeth Belden Harmstone, Tim Hagans, Julie Lokin and Danny Melnick under the auspices of Audiences for the Arts, Inc.

Belden was a true rara avis: a student of music history who was committed to leaving his own mark on the musical timeline. He wrote music and led his own ensembles—including The Treasure Island Band, Imagination and most recently Animation—the group with which he recently toured Iran to sellout crowds, generating major headlines (“The first time an American musician had played in Iran since 1979,” jazz critic Ben Ratliff noted in The New York Times.). He earned six GRAMMY® Award nominations for his own recordings, and as a reissue producer and writer of especially insightful liner notes; of these, he won three. His most celebrated albums include the critically acclaimed orchestral jazz suite Black Dahlia (a Downbeat magazine “Masterpiece” in 2001), and his blending of world folk sources with the music of Miles Davis: Miles from India (2007) and Miles Español: New Sketches of Spain (2011).  (“As a bandleader and record maker, he often looked for ways to connect the jazz tradition to other energies,” Ratliff also wrote.)

Born James Robert Belden in Evanston, Illinois in 1956 and raised in South Carolina, Belden began his career playing in the reed section of Woody Herman’s famed Third Herd big band. In 1983, he moved to New York City where his career grew wide and deep. In the 1980s, he served as a sideman with Donald Byrd and Mel Lewis, as staff arranger for ESPN, and scored films. In the ‘90s, he became an artists-and-repertoire (A&R) executive at Blue Note Records, and arranged and/or collaborated on albums with such jazz greats as Joe Henderson, McCoy Tyner, Herbie Hancock, Nicholas Payton, Paquito D’Rivera, Wallace Roney, James Moody, Tom Harrell, Renee Rosnes, and Benny Green. He created albums that found the jazz spirit in music by an unlikely array of giants: from Puccini, Prince, and the Beatles, to Miles and Sting. He spearheaded reissue programs that brought new life to timeless recordings by Miles, Weather Report, Mahavishnu Orchestra, and countless others.

Belden’s two most recent recordings continue to add to his legacy and garner critical acclaim. In an Ambient Way, released this past June by Chesky Records, reinterpreted Miles Davis’ classic In a Silent Way recording used modern recording technology and sonic textures to help shape the improvisations, and introduced Powerhouse, a group led by Belden and featuring Roney (trumpet), Oz Noy (guitar), Kevin Hays (Fender Rhodes), Daryl Johns (bass) and Lenny White (drums). The release was part of the Chesky’s Binaural + Series, recorded with a single microphone; Norman Chesky executive produced.

Released just this past week by RareNoise, Machine Language is the latest—and now last—project by Belden’s youthful Animation ensemble. The album is a rock-jazz meditation on man and artificial intelligence conceived and composed by Belden, narrated by Kurt Elling, and featuring the saxophonist along with special guest bassist Bill Laswell, plus Animation keyboardist Roberto Verastegui, trumpeter Pete Clagett and drummer Matt Young.

Belden was unusually wide-ranging in his cinematic and literary tastes, and up-to-date on matters of music and technology. His memory for musical details—melodies, voicings and rhythms, as well as personnel and dates—was uncanny. He did not survive long as a staff producer. “He was a vocal critic of the state of the music industry, music education and other aspects of the world in which he traveled,” journalist Jeff Tamarkin pointed out in JazzTimes, “Yet he traveled easily within it because he understood it so well, and was loved and respected for his individuality and the sheer magnitude and breadth of his talent.”

When Belden died from a heart attack on May 20 this year, obituaries appeared in The New York Times, Washington Post, JazzTimes, and other national and international publications in the UK, Brazil and Venezuela. In Downbeat, John Ephland wrote:

“The cat had lots of appetites… during his all-too-short lifetime, Bob Belden accomplished 10 times as much as the average person would in a lengthy one. Getting to know him, one couldn’t help but be stunned at the breadth of his many passions and projects—all driven by a generous spirit, a huge heart and boundless, soulful imagination.”

Bob Belden will be missed, and his musical contributions will continue to be celebrated

CELEBRATING BOB BELDEN is generously made possible by donations from Andrew and Elizabeth Belden Harmstone, David and Norman Chesky at Chesky Records, and Giacomo Bruzzo of RareNoise. We encourage attendees and the community to contribute to the Jazz Foundation of America, which provides emergency assistance to musicians in times of crisis, in Bob's name. Please send checks payable to Jazz Foundation of America (with memo: "In Memory of Bob Belden") to Jazz Foundation of America, 322 West 48th St., 6th Fl., New York, NY 10036 or visit visit www.jazzfoundation.org/memory_honor to make a donation online.

SAM SADIGURSKY DEBUTS NEW BAND AND ALBUM - FOLLOW THE STICK

Sam Sadigursky, a first-call sideman and bandleader across a broad spectrum of music, and an award-winning composer (Chamber Music America, The Jerome Foundation), debuts a brand new band on his new recording, Follow The Stick, to be released on Brooklyn Jazz Underground Records on November 6, 2015. Follow The Stick is a sophisticated collection of original music from one of the most respected musicians on the New York scene. It is also Sam's "coming out party" as a clarinetist, which he has put front and center as of late. He explains, "It was a natural evolution in many ways, both practically and creatively. I started on saxophone, but began studying clarinet pretty early as well ­ my father is a classically trained clarinetist and accordionist from the Soviet Union, who now plays mostly Klezmer and Eastern European folk music. I remember interviewing him for a 5th grade project and asking him what some of his dreams in life were, and he told me about wanting to learn to play jazz clarinet, something he's always loved. About four or five years ago something really clicked for me with the instrument and I've put most of my energies into it, and people have been calling me more and more for my clarinet playing since then. Unlike the endless sea of jazz saxophone players, there aren't that many improvisers today playing clarinet at a high level, so it's allowed me to really create a little niche for myself, and creatively, I feel there's so much more room to explore with it. I really feel that it's my voice as an instrumentalist."

This new recording follows up Sadigursky's five acclaimed The Words Project albums on New Amsterdam Records, where the music is based on text and poetry. With Follow The Stick we now have an opportunity to hear why Sadigursky is considered a "musician's musician", and so revered as a collaborator/sideman. "The Words Project material sort of allowed me to hide behind the singers. There's not that much stretching out on those albums, since I was always conscious of this larger compositional scheme, being faithful to the text and not allowing it to get overshadowed by the music," said Sadigursky. "We stretch on this one."

The music on Follow The Stick is comprised of new, and some not so new, original compositions, plus a modern take on the Glenn Miller hit, "String Of Pearls". Originally, Sadigursky planned on writing all new music for this group; things with a more overt sort of swing associated with this instrumentation (clarinet, trumpet, vibraphone, piano & drums), such as "Do The Dance", but, "when I started to fish through old notebooks for ideas I found so many nearly-completed old tunes of mine that never had life breathed into them. Having focused on those vocal albums for nearly ten years, there is still a huge backlog of instrumental material that I'm sifting through. However, I did write some new tunes for the group, things like 'Deadly Sins' and 'Math Music', and these might better reflect my thinking today - lots of meter changes and metric modulations - where many of the older tunes are more lead-sheet oriented and open," explained Sadigursky.

"Follow The Stick" is musician's slang for following a conductor, but it also applies to the clarinet, which has been subjected to a host of (mostly) derogatory nicknames, due primarily to its unforgiving nature as an instrument (i.e. the licorice stick, the agony stick, etc.). "The clarinet is such an unyielding instrument - the technical difficulty of it can be really controlling; as a player you often have to follow wherever it wants to go. There's just a lot more to trip over technically on it. Really though, I just liked the sound of those words, their directness and the sarcastic suggestion of dictatorship, which is of course so counter to music­making. Plus, I wanted this to be a real band, so I figured the first thing that any band needs is a name," said Sadigursky.

The Follow The Stick band began as a trio featuring Bobby Avey on piano and Jordan Perlson on drums, an instrumentation inspired by the great clarinet trios of the '40s led by Benny Goodman, which didn't have a bass player. "Bobby Avey is really the whole package ­ he plays the whole piano with a real sound, has such a compositional sense, and he's an instigator, totally fearless, something I really value in the people I play with. His left hand is so developed that he fills the space left in the group by not having a bass player so naturally, without ever slipping into cliches," commented Sadigursky. "I heard Jordan on Bobby's records, and was really blown away. I had known him for years through his playing with Becca Stevens (who is on several of The Words Project albums), so I called him for one of the informal sessions with Bobby. What I didn't know was that Bobby and Jordan grew up playing together in Pennsylvania, so they go back a long time. It felt like a band to me from the first moment, and immediately after that session I remember taking them out to lunch and basically getting down on one knee and asking them to be part of something more ongoing. Jordan is so well versed in so much music ­ he can play the hard stuff, but then is one of the best rock drummers I've ever heard. 'Math Music', the last tune on the album, is basically a big ol' feature for him, and he kills it."

After a few gigs with the trio, Sadigursky was looking for a bit more color for the group, a musician who could thicken the textures and also give the piano some support during solos, and support the melodic content as well. He elaborated, "I thought about which instrument I would like to try adding, and vibes came to mind first, since they have such a history alongside the clarinet - Benny Goodman/Lionel Hampton, Artie Shaw's Gramercy Five, Buddy DeFranco/Terry Gibbs, etc. I had never played with Chris Dingman before, but remember being really impressed by his first album, Waking Dreams. After doing a session with him I knew he was the guy. It takes a lot of sensitivity for a vibes player and a pianist to play well together, and it seemed to come so easily for Chris and Bobby. One of my favorite parts of the record is the extended intro they play to 'Heart' ­ they sound like they've been playing together for years." Boston-based trumpeter Jason Palmer plays on five tracks. Sadigursky had a trumpet player in mind for some tracks, and was blown away by Palmer's playing on a European tour they did with Darcy James Argue's group. "It's rare that I hear a trumpet sound that I love, and Jason's gives me goosebumps every time I hear it," said Sadigursky. Ljova plays viola on just one track, "Looks Can Be Deceiving," an open sketch with no written melody, just a sequence of chords and a vague notion of how they should be played. "Although he's not a jazz improviser, his sense of melody is so great, and I love the sound of the viola, it has a very similar ruminative, dark quality to the clarinet. I love how they sound together."

"In addition to all the different folk traditions that the clarinet is part of, there's such a great tradition of jazz clarinet that I'm still in the midst of discovering. I'm amazed at how much of it goes unnoticed these days - these clarinet greats were so prodigious. However, having come up as a saxophonist listening to Coltrane, Rollins, Henderson, Lovano, etc., I have all these other sounds in my head as well - you play any of that stuff on the saxophone and most people have heard it a thousand times, but play those influences on the clarinet and it actually sounds pretty fresh. To me, at least."

More on Sam Sadigursky - Since moving to New York in 2002, Sadigursky continues to make his mark both as a leader and sideman. His series of albums of original music based on poetry and text entitled The Words Projecthave been acclaimed internationally. Noted music critic Steve Smith called them, "compelling and touchingly intimate...that rare anomaly: a jazz-and-poetry record that sounds utterly natural and convincing", and went on to name Sadigursky's debut album as one of Time Out New York's "Top Ten Albums of 2007". The New York Times has called them "gracefully high-minded explorations of poetic form." Sadigursky has toured and recorded as a saxophonist and clarinetist with artists such as Brad Mehldau, Lucia Pulido, Gabriel Kahane, Tom Jones, Edmar Castaneda, Linda Oh, The Mingus Orchestra, Jamie Baum Septet, Ljova, Pablo Mayor's Folklore Urbano, La Cumbiamba eNeYe, and has been nominated for two Grammy awards for his work with Darcy James Argue's Secret Society. As a composer, he has written for film and modern dance and has also published three books of original etudes for clarinet and saxophone. Sadigursky has appeared at some of the world's most prestigious venues and festivals, has performed for numerous Broadway shows, and appears on over twenty-five albums as a sideman. 

2016 Lineup Set For Biamp PDX Jazz Festival John Coltrane @ 90 Celebrates 13th Annual Gathering of Living Legends, NEA Jazz Masters, Established and Emerging Artists

Charles Lloyd / Ravi Coltrane

The 13th Annual Biamp PDX Jazz Festival is set to commence Thursday, February 18 through Sunday, February 28 with 30 featured concerts at venues throughout the Portland metro region. Tickets exclusively available to PDX Jazz members beginning October 4, and to the general public November 2.

This year's 11-day celebration will also boast the second annual Jazz Forward Competition, a high school competition drawing students throughout the western region. In partnership with Portland State University, the JFC was created to establish a scholarship program in the tradition of other prestigious regional events held in Reno, Nevada; Monterey, California and Moscow, Idaho. Finalists will compete in seven categories (two college level solo categories have been added) and the winners will receive main stage exposure.

The thematic centerpiece performances are two For Portland Only concerts featuring special guest Ravi Coltrane in celebration of his father's 90th birthday and mother's influence and artistry. Friday, February 26, The Africa Brass Ensemble, under the direction of Portland Jazz Master Charles Gray, will re-imagine the five singular pieces from John Coltrane's debut impulse! sessions. Anchoring this performance is Philadelphia pianist and McCoy Tyner inspired, Orrin Evans and his esteemed rhythm mates. On Saturday, February 27, Ravi will pay tribute to his revered mother, Alice Coltrane, in a highly anticipated program titled, Universal Consciousness, featuring Reggie Workman (a prominent collaborator with John and Alice Coltrane), pianist Geri Allen (she and Alice are both Detroit natives), harpist Brandee Younger and drummer Andrew Cyrille. 

Diana Reeves / Alicia Olatuja

Coltrane's mastery will be reflected through legacy performances in special groupings through tribute projects: Gary Bartz (Coltrane Rules) and Javon Jackson/Jimmy Cobb (We FOUR); Olé Coltrane featuring the Bobby Torres Ensemble with special guest Azar Lawrence, the West Coast debut of Reggie Workman's RW WORKz, and a week-long residency of nightly Coltrane tributes from top Portland performers.

Coltrane will also be explored through his association with Elvin Jones around a seminal project titled Puttin' It Together, featuring Jones' celebrated sidemen Sonny Fortune and Azar Lawrence, led by Portland icon Alan Jones (no relation). Fortune, a Philadelphia native, will make his Portland debut as a leader on the Festival's opening night at Jimmy Mak's. Coltrane's stellar collaborations with guitarist Kenny Burrell and lesser known work with Wes Montgomery will be will be honored in two programs: Freight Trane featuring Dan Balmer under the direction of Tony Pacini and West Coast Blues, under the leadership of Portland drummer Mel Brown with special guest guitarist and former impulse! recording artist Henry Johnson. The Festival will also pay homage to the historic Saxophone Summit - which originally featured Michael Brecker, Joe Lovano, and David Liebman and later Ravi Coltrane. Recast For Portland Only as the Saxophone Summit Supreme, the Orrin Evans Trio will be joined by JD Allen, Jimmy Greene and Devin Phillips. Allen will also collaborate on another program with Evans' Trio billed as The Classic Quartet.

States Executive Artistic Director, Don Lucoff, "This will be the first themed Festival since 2011. I can't think of a more fitting figure than John Coltrane, who transcends jazz music and serves as a guiding influence for so many human beings in their daily lives. Through the ensuing generations, Coltrane has served as a cultural touchstone, and it's an honor to have his son, Ravi Coltrane represent his cherished legacy, and pay loving tribute to his mom, Alice Coltrane."

"We are presenting music for the first time during the Festival at Revolution Hall, Alberta Abbey and Al's Den. We look forward to nine exciting shows at Jimmy Mak's, including the anticipated return of Portlander Nicole Glover, our popular PDX Piano Perspectives series including Chano Domínguez, Brandee Younger, David Goldblatt, Aaron Goldberg and the American Pianist's Association's 2015 Cole Porter Fellow - Sullivan Fortner. Six shows at the Newmark and three at the Winningstad Theatres, complimented by free Jazz Conversations, music in the Art Bar Atrium of P5, and various hotels and restaurants throughout the downtown corridor," concludes Lucoff.

The BIAMP PDX Jazz Festival was co-founded in 2004 with Travel Portland to establish a cultural tourism initiative in the metro Portland area, and to celebrate Black History Month through education and outreach programming.

'Mr. Dynamite: The Rise Of James Brown' To Be Released On DVD And Blu-ray With Exclusive Bonus Features Award-Winning Documentary

Directed by Oscar® and Emmy® winner Alex Gibney and co-produced by Mick Jagger, Mr. Dynamite: The Rise Of James Brown digs into the career of one of music and culture's towering figures. On November 6, the Peabody Award-winning documentary film will be released worldwide by UMe on DVD and Blu-ray with exclusive bonus features, including feature-length roundtable commentary, extended interviews with original James Brown Revue members and others, the acclaimed music video for "It's A Man's Man's Man's World," and two classic James Brown Soul Train television performances, one of which is an unrehearsed blues romp with Brown's idols B.B. King and Bobby "Blue" Bland, which has not been seen since its original 1975 airing.

Using fresh interviews with James Brown band members and contemporaries, extraordinary historical interview footage, and rare archival performances of such Brown classics as "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag," "I Got You (I Feel Good)," "Out Of Sight," "Please Please Please," "Soul Power," "Sex Machine," "It's A Man's Man's Man's World," "Cold Sweat," and more, the feature-length documentary was made with the cooperation of the Brown Estate, which opened its archives for the first time.

Delving into politics, race relations during the explosive civil rights movement and the raw power behind several of his most famous tunes, Mr. Dynamite was honored with a 2014 Peabody Award, for what the Peabody panel called "its admiring but clear-eyed appraisal of a truly revolutionary musical figure and his legacies, his relationship to America and American culture, to funk, to hip hop, to racial politics, to American history and music history… It's a documentary you could almost dance to, so sure and steady is its pulse."

The Mr. Dynamite: The Rise Of James Brown DVD and Blu-ray packages include a 12-page booklet with an introductory essay by Mick Jagger, rare James Brown photos and detailed credits.

"Deftly encapsulates why Brown's music was so innovative and groundbreaking" - Rolling Stone

Mr. Dynamite: The Rise Of James Brown [DVD; Blu-ray]

Directed by Alex Gibney

Produced by Mick Jagger & Victoria Pearman, Peter Afterman and Blair Foster

Executive Producers: Alex Gibney, Dan Brooks, Mike Singer and Eric Weider

Co-Producer: Trevor Davidoski

Directors of Photography: Maryse Alberti, Antonio Rossi

Editors: Geeta Gandbhir, Maya Mumma

Feature film:

•Total running time:  120 minutes

•Blu-ray Edition – HD Video: 1080p, 16:9 Widescreen / Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and Stereo

•Standard Definition DVD Edition – Video: 16:9 Anamorphic Widescreen / Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1 and Stereo

•Subtitles: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese

Bonus Features:

•Feature-length roundtable commentary with Ahmir Questlove Thompson, bandleader of the legendary Roots crew; Christian McBride, bassist and bandleader; Alan Leeds, James Brown historian and former Brown tour director; and Harry Weinger, lead producer of Star Time and other James Brown reissues

•27 minutes of additional interview clips from original James Brown Revue members Alfred "Pee Wee" Ellis, Fred Wesley, Bootsy Collins, Martha High, Maceo Parker, Melvin Parker, Jab'o Starks, Clyde Stubblefield and "Cape Man" Danny Ray, as well as Chuck D, Mr. Leeds, Mr. McBride, Rev. Al Sharpton, Greg Tate and Mr. Thompson.

•James Brown and The J.B.'s live on Soul Train, from September 1974, performing an incendiary medley of "Cold Sweat/I Can't Stand Myself (When You Touch Me)/Papa's Got A Brand New Bag/The Payback" (7:42)

•From deep in the Soul Train archive, James Brown in March 1975 interviewed by host Don Cornelius, then joining B.B. King and Bobby "Blue" Bland in an impromptu blues medley, "Goin' Down Slow/Gambler's Blues/It's My Own Fault/I'm Sorry" (7:30)

•Acclaimed music video for "It's A Man's Man's Man's World," directed by Xavier Fauthoux, winner of the Saatchi & Saatchi James Brown Music Video Challenge (2:46)

JOAN OSBORNE'S CLASSIC RELISH ALBUM MARKS 20TH ANNIVERSARY

Originally from a small town outside of Louisville, KY, Joan Osborne moved to New York to attend NYU Film School in the late '80s, but gravitated toward the vibrant downtown roots music scene, playing clubs for years.  Osborne then formed an independent label, Womanly Hips, and released her debut, a live album dubbed Soul Show: Live at Delta 88 in 1991, where she showed off her roots in folk, country, blues and rock.  Signing with Mercury Records, Osborne's major label bow, Relish, came out on March 21, 1995. Produced by Rick Chertoff, who released the album on his own Blue Gorilla imprint at PolyGram, Relish features such supporting performers as multi-instrumentalist Rob Hyman, bassist Mark Egan, Jeff Buckley collaborator Gary Lucas, and the Hooters' Eric Bazilian, who not only played guitar, mandolin, sax, harmonica and electric piano, but penned a song called "One of Us," which catapulted the album to #9 on the Billboard charts and eventually triple-platinum in sales. Relish earned a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year and nominations for Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for Osborne. In addition, "One of Us" was nominated for Record of the Year and Song of the Year.

The Relish 20th Anniversary Edition will be available on October 30 in three separate formats, featuring expanded liner notes written by Chris Talbott and a variety of bonus tracks. The single-CD version includes the original demo of "One of Us," with songwriter Eric Bazilian accompanying Joan on guitar; a demo version of "Pensacola" in a completely different, reggae style featuring the entire band, and the previously unreleased track, "Mighty One," from the Relish recording sessions.

The 20-track digital bundle, available in both standard and HD digital formats, includes the three bonus tracks mentioned above as well as the previously unreleased "Here Comes What's Coming," recorded at the same time as Relish and 4 live B-sides, among them a version of "One of Us," performed for WXPN's World Café plus "St. Teresa" and "Spider Web," both recorded for KSGR in Austin.  Finally, there's a version of "Crazy Baby" recorded live from the Gavin Triple A Convention in Boulder, CO.

A double-LP Relish without bonus tracks will also be released at the same time.

Relish was recorded at Big Blue in Katonah, New York, with additional recording at The Crawlspace in Philadelphia and PIE Studios in Glen Cove, New York. The album included Osborne originals like "St. Teresa," "Pensacola," "Ladder" and "Crazy Baby," interspersed with covers (Bob Dylan's "Man in the Long, Black Coat," Sonny Boy Williamson's "Help Me" and, of course, Bazilian's "One of Us") and collaborations with the band on "Right Hand Man" (including Captain Beefheart), "Spider Web,"  "Let's Just Get Naked" and "Lumina" (the latter two with Bazilian).

But it was "One of Us" that captivated the public with its exploration of the nature of faith and people's belief in God, rising to #4 on the Billboard Hot 100. Bazilian wrote the song to "impress a girl," who later became his wife, and originally placed the song on a solo album as a hidden track. When producer Chertoff heard it, he asked Joan if she thought she could sing it.  They recorded a live demo of her performing the song, which is included on both the CD and Digital Tracks versions of this reissue.  "When I got into my car and popped the cassette in," said Bazilian, "I started practicing the Grammy speech that I should've gotten to give."

Osborne, who has toured with the Dead as well as her own band for the past 20 years, has also toured with the legendary Motown sidemen, The Funk Brothers, and appeared with them in the acclaimed 2002 documentary, Standing in the Shadows of Motown. She hit the road for a fall tour with Mavis Staples, which started September 25 in San Francisco.  A complete list of tour dates is below. A complete list of tour dates is below.

Sep 25 - San Francisco, CA - Live Nation

Sep 26 - Modesto, CA - Gallo Center for the Arts

Sep 27 - Napa, CA - Uptown Theatre

Sep 29 - San Luis Obispo, CA - Cal Poly Arts

Sep 30 - Davis, CA - Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts

Oct 2 - Agoura Hills, CA - The Canyon Club

Oct 3 - Cerritos, CA - Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts

Oct 6 – Phoenix, AZ - Musical Instrument Museum

Oct 7 - Phoenix, AZ - Musical Instrument Museum

Oct 8 - Tucson, AZ - Rialto Theatre

Oct 10 - The Woodlands, TX Dosey Doe Coffee House

Oct 11 - Baton Rouge, LA - Manship Theatre

Oct 24 - Clinton Township, MI - Macomb Center for the Performing Arts

Oct 26 - Binghamton, NY - Anderson Center for the Arts

Oct 27 - State College, PA - Eisenhower Auditorium (Penn State University)

Oct 28 - Tarrytown, NY - Tarrytown Music Hall

Oct 30 - Stony Brook, NY - Stallar Center for the Arts

Oct 31 - Washington DC, VA - George Washington University

Nov 1 - Newport News, VA - Ferguson Center for the Arts

Nov 3 - Morristown, NJ - Mayo Performing Arts Center

Nov 4 - New York, NY - Kaufmann Concert Hall

Nov 6 - Schenectady, NY - Arts Center & Theatre of Schenectady

Nov 7 - Boston, MA - Celebrity Series of Boston

Nov 8 - Providence, RI - Providence Performing Arts

Nov 10 - Keene, NH - Colonial Theatre

Nov 11 - St. Johnsbury, VT - Lyndon Institute Auditorium (*headliner)

Nov 12 - Portsmouth, NH - Music Hall - Portsmouth

Nov 14 - Englewood, NJ - Bergen Performing Arts Center

Nov 15 - Richmond, VA - University of Richmond

Nov 18 - Atlanta, GA - Georgia Institute of Technology

Nov 19 - Oxford, AL - Oxford Performing Arts Center

Nov 21 - Cutler Bay, FL - South Miami Dade Cultural Center

Nov 22 - Clearwater, FL - Ruth Eckerd Hall

http://www.joanosborne.com/

 

NEW RELEASES: MALIJA – THE DAY I HAD EVERYTHING; TEEMU AKERBLOM QUARTET; BRIAN ELLIS – IN THE DARK

MALIJA – THE DAY I HAD EVERYTHING

London based trio MALIJA releases 'The Day I Had Everything' featuring the new all-star trio featuring Mark Lockheart (saxophones, bass clarinet), Liam Noble (double bass) and Jasper Høiby (piano) on November 27, 2015. brings together a collective empathy and co-leadership with all members sharing the production and writing roles. These names will need no introduction to Edition fans, having played together on Mark Lockheart’s quintet album ‘In Deep’ in 2009, but with their individual international profiles and explosive musical personalities integrated in a trio, there’s no hiding from the fact that this is the band to watch.

TEEMU AKERBLOM QUARTET

An excellent contemporary combo from Finland – but one who are right at home on the Jazzaggression label, which mostly issues rare gems from years past! The sound here is plenty classic – and recalls that great 70s moment on the European scene when the best groups were aware of 60s advances like free or modal jazz, but could also swing as well – often bringing all elements to play in a single tune, but finding a way to make their most creative work still hold very strongly to a larger tradition in jazz! The group here is a quartet, but one with a slightly shifting lineup – the core trio of Teemu Akerblom on bass, Mikko Arlin on drums, and Max Zenger on saxes and flute – plus a changing fourth player from track to track – either Ville Vannemaa or Jarno Tikka on tenor, or Verneri Pohjola on trumpet. The lack of any piano really enforces the importance of the bass to the rhythms – and Akerblom's a player with a strong sense of modal energy, which often sets things up beautifully for the reed and trumpet solos to really soar and do their thing – shifting in intensity from track to track, partly because of that rotating fourth player! All tracks are original, and very fresh – and titles include "Blues For Martin", "Dark Corners", "Gilman's Point", "October 22", and "Harmaata Nakyvissa". CD features two bonus tracks not on LP. ~ Dusty Groove

BRIAN ELLIS – IN THE DARK

Really sweet keyboards from Brian Ellis – a man who's been giving us a surprising amount of music in the past year or so, often in many different flavors! This time around, Brian's got a strong 80s groove – and uses his keyboards in the lead with kind of a post-Herbie Hancock approach to fusion – one that's very comfortable with mostly all electric elements in the instrumentation, but which also still has a really great old school sense of space and timing! By that, we mean that Brian's never too over the top, and always makes these tracks groove in a style that's mighty soulful – maybe somewhere in the territory of Bobby Lyle or Rodney Franklin, but even more electric overall. Titles include "Flipped", "In The Dark", "Banana Seat", "Boogie Box", "Moonlight Shadows", and "One Twenty". ~ Dusty Groove

Grammy and Emmy Award Winning Multi-Platinum Producer NARADA MICHAEL WALDEN To Release New Full Length Album EVOLUTION

Tarpan Records has announced the international release of Evolution the upcoming full-length album by Narada Michael Walden releasing on October 30th 2015. The albums’ first single, Billionaire On Soul Street, which was released on August 14th, 2015 and the forthcoming album represent a change of direction for Narada, one that brings him back to his roots in Dance and Club Music, Funk and Soul. The first single was, and full-length album will be released on Narada’s own imprint, Tarpan Records.

Narada Michael Walden has produced many household names including: Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, George Michael, Mariah Carey, Stacy Lattisaw, Steve Winwood, Ray Charles, Sister Sledge, Patti Austin, Gladys Knight, Rev Al Green, Barbra Streisand, Lionel Ritchie, Elton John, Sting, Carlos Santana, Shanice Wilson, Tevin Campbell, Lisa Fischer, Stevie Wonder, Tom Jones, Wynonna Judd and The Temptations. He was awarded Grammys for Producer of the Year in 1988, Album of the Year for the movie soundtrack The Bodyguard in 1993 and the R&B Song of the Year in 1985 for Aretha Franklin's Freeway of Love. Billboard Magazine also named him one of the “Top Ten Producers with the Most Number One Hits”.

As impressive a production and songwriting resume as Narada Michael Walden has assembled over the past forty years, he has earned equal acclaim as a recording and performing artist in his own right. Beginning as a drummer with the pioneering Mahavishnu John McLaughlin’s Mahavishnu Orchestra (following Billy Cobham at 20 years old), Narada also toured with Jeff Beck, Tommy Bolin, and Weather Report. With twelve acclaimed solo albums of his own which produced Dance Hits such as I Don’t Want Nobody Else to Dance With You, I Shoulda Loved Ya, Divine Emotions, Gimme Gimme Gimme and Tonight I'm Alright along the way, he has achieved greatness in a wide range of sonic arenas. Walden’s music includes groundbreaking soundtrack work on such blockbuster films as The Bodyguard, Free Willy, Beverly Hills Cops II, 9 ½ Weeks and Stuart Little including Gladys Knight’s License to Kill for the James Bond Film, Jefferson Starship’s Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now for Mannequin to the EMMY-winning One Moment In Time, the theme to the 1988 Olympic Games.

In early February 2012, Narada Michael Walden returned from a well received 10 day stint of shows at the Blue Note in Tokyo and Nagoya, Japan to perform at the White House in an all-star band for President Obama’s “Red, White and Blues” Concert with legends B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Mick Jagger, Trombone Shorty, Booker T Jones and more.

Narada enlisted some amazing musicians and performers for his band on EVOLUTION including: Nikita Germaine (Train, Stevie Wonder, Chaka Khan, James Taylor, and Patty Austin) on Vocals, Frank Martin (Angela Bofil, John Handy Band, Tuck & Patti, Jose’ Neto, Airto & Flora, Sting & Trudie’s Rainforest Band) on Keyboards, Angeline Saris (Gretchen Menn, Zepperella) on Bass and Vocals, Matthew Charles Heulitt (Zigaboo Modaliste) on Guitars.

Narada explains about the album’s first single: “This album Evolution means the world to me because it reflects my personal feeling of spirituality and that feeling renewed for life by having my children Kelly and Kaylah in my life and my wife Katie. Having children now at this time in my life really has touched my heart to feel like WOW! Look how lucky and how blessed I am by God. I used this slogan, this sentence that I got from Kimrea who works at my Tarpan Studios. Cause’ I feel so good like a Billionaire on Soul Street. “Evolution is a strong statement from Narada, inspired by the “retro” sound that is so prevalent on the radio and in clubs today. The album features mostly original material and two covers; Freedom by Richie Havens and Long and Winding Road by John Lennon and Paul McCartney.

Tarpan Records will release Narada Michael Walden’s new album Evolution internationally in October of 2015 with help from distribution and marketing powerhouse Independent Distribution Collective. This new album is a Dance masterpiece, with many flavors of Narada’s vast history mixed in.

His label, Tarpan Records is a home to both established and amazing up-and-coming artists as well. Tarpan Records specializes in artist development, full service project management, promotion, and distribution. Initially focused on Narada’s releases, the plan is to apply this business model to up and coming and established recording artists in the years to come.

Narada Michael Walden and his all-star band will perform a series of shows across the USA in the next few months in support of the release of Evolution.

November 13, 2015 - The Iridium - New York, NY  

November 17, 2015 - The Birchmere - Alexandria, VA

November 21, 2015 – Reggie’s Music Joint - Chicago, IL 

JOE JACKSON RELEASES FAST FORWARD, FEATURES FOUR SETS OF SONGS RECORDED IN FOUR DIFFERENT CITIES - NEW YORK, AMSTERDAM, BERLIN & NEW ORLEANS

The ever-restless songwriter Joe Jackson travelled the world to record ‘Fast Forward,’ his first collection of original songs in seven years, set for October 2, 2015 release on earMUSIC in Europe.

Originally conceived to be released as a series of EPs, the album was produced and arranged by Jackson, and features four sets of four songs recorded in four different cities – New York, New Orleans, Berlin and Amsterdam – each with a different set of first-call supporting musicians.  The results rank among the richest and most rewarding music of his storied career.

NEW YORK - Jackson has called New York home for many years.  He recorded these tracks with Bill Frisell on guitar, Brian Blade on drums, his long-time bassist Graham Maby, and jazz violin star Regina Carter. Along with three originals including the album’s title track, these sessions feature a scorching take on a New York classic, Television’s “See No Evil.”

AMSTERDAM - Distinguished by the most diverse instrumentation of the four sessions, Jackson is joined on these songs by frequent collaborators Stefan Kruger and Stefan Schmid from the band Zuco 103, the Concertgebouw orchestra, and the project's only guest vocalist, 14-year-old Mitchell Sink.

BERLIN - Berlin is Jackson’s second home, and he recorded here with two expatriate American musicians: acoustic bass master Greg Cohen (Tom Waits, Ornette Coleman, Bob Dylan) and Tindersticks´ drummer Earl Harvin. These sessions produced the album’s second cover, Jackson's modern English take on the 1930s German 'Kabarett' song “Good Bye Jonny.”

NEW ORLEANS - Jackson travelled to one of his favourite cities, New Orleans, to record with an all-local cast including three members of the funk band Galactic - drummer Stanton Moore, bassist Robert Mercurio, and guitarist Jeff Raines – and a horn section led by saxophonist Donald Harrison.

Vocalist Simi Stone delivers a soulful sound described as Mountain Motown

Simi is a violinist, guitarist, pianist, composer, and singer. Born and raised in Woodstock – the magic of the mountains is in her blood. She has performed and toured with Simone Felice, Connor Oberst, Dan Zanes, Elizabeth Mitchell, Natalie Merchant, Amy Helm, and Duke and the King.

When Simi Stone was eight years old she locked herself in her room. She emerged three days later with an independently recorded and produced cassette tape titled "Cloudy Day On Mountain Lodge". She handed it out to her grade school classmates, and had wired up third graders singing her songs on the playground. Born and raised in Woodstock, NY by a hippie mom who brought her kids up on brown rice and The Rolling Stones and a Jamaican born father whose mother traveled on the blues circuit playing piano in the south, it’s no surprise that Simi Stone ne: Simantha Molly Lou Sernaker has since turned into a formidable power house fueled by a raw and edgy vocal style, virtuoso violin chops and enough charisma to burn down a house.

At seven, Simi took up the classical violin, and at ten was admitted to the New York Conservatory for the Arts, where she studied musical theatre, dance, and voice and all the while continued to write the songs of her own. Upon graduating high school, she moved to New York City, and pursued a degree in acting at Marymount College, performed in musical theater and off Broadway plays. Soon, Simi was using her well-honed theater skills to front a rock band. Along with her fierce electric violin and guitar playing, Simi was a draw for teenyboppers and seasoned musicians alike. She played on Conan and was featured in Cornershop and Metallica videos. She appeared on the cover of the Cornershop CD, Born for the Seventh Time. A piece about her appeared in Women’s Wear Daily and Greg Tate in The Village Voice called her “Kurt Cobain in hot pants.” Ink 19 Magazine said, “When shredding the bow on her electric violin, she just plain looked badass.”

Later, after being part of the Afro-Punk Movement, she experimented with a more gritty rock ‘n roll sound, forming Suffrajett with sideman Jason Chasko. They performed in numerous NYC venues including Bowery Ballroom, Irving Plaza and played several Summer Stage events with Joan Jett, the Roots, Erika Badu and others. With Suffrajett she released two records, Suffrajett and Black Glitter on indie labels In Music We Trust and Giant Step Records which garnered considerable critical acclaim from magazines such as Rolling Stone, Esquire and earned five stars in the press, The Chicago Sun Times. Suffrajett had their first major tour out of Chicago. She earned her stripes the old fashioned way, with numerous cross-country tours playing every club under the sun from Detroit to House of Blues in LA. Leading her band, she continued touring with acts like Local-H, Urge Overkill, Cheap Trick, Eagles of Death Metal, and Juliette and the Licks. Time Out Chicago said of Suffrajett: “ This New York via Chicago band has justifiably gained a rep for Detroit style whiplash rock and roll without acting like it’s a low down dirty shame…

When she’s not sounding like The Shangri Las Mary Weiss, she’s summoning the ghost of T-Rex’s Marc Bolan, who knew how to make a whisper sound like a threat.” Around this time, the heavy mid-west rock n’ roll lifestyle started to weigh on Simi. Suffrajett took a long hiatus ...

Called to the mountains of her native Woodstock home, in 2009 Simi reconnected with Simone Felice and Bobby Burke, The Duke and the King, while opening for their band as a solo artist. With the Duke and the King, Simi began touring in Europe and all over the UK. The band was featured on Jools Holland in London, Saturday with Brendan O’Conner the biggest late night talk show in Ireland and in Paris appeared on the popular show Canal Plus. She sang her song “No Easy Way Out” on Belfast’s biggest radio station and on BBC Radio’s “Loose End” in London. Mojo Magazine gave the Duke and the King four stars. Allen Jones from Un-cut magazine called her "The sensational Simi Stone" and calls her voice "striking" and her violin, "a thing of mournful beauty.

Simi Has,more recently been excitedly working on her first solo album! With musical partner David Baron she has been lucky enough to gather an amazing band of players...including Zachary Alford, Sara Lee, Gail Ann Dorsey and others to make up some incredible recordings and live shows to come.

Simi also has spent time recording and performing with artists such as Simone Felice,Natalie Merchant, Conor O'Berst, Tracy Bonham, Amy Helm, and many more.

laurelcanyonuk.com

NEW RELEASES: LENY ANDRADE / RONI BEN-HUR - ALEGRIA DE VIVER; ORAN ETKIN - WHAT'S NEW? REIMAGINING BENNY GOODMAN; LONDON / MEADER / PRAMUK / ROSS - THE ROYAL BOPSTERS PROJECT

LENY ANDRADE / RONI BEN-HUR - ALEGRIA DE VIVER

Described in the New York Times as both the 'Sarah Vaughan and the Ella Fitzgerald of Brazil', vocal legend Leny Andrade s intimate duo with elite NYC guitarist Roni Ben-Hur is a soul stirring collection of beloved sambas, bossa novas and boleros which have never before been recorded by this great artist. Alegria de Viver (Joy of Living), her new CD for Motema, is a revelation, sure to please any fan of Brazilian music. 'I chose the repertoire', says Andrade. 'I'd never recorded these songs. Fantastic! I did a perfect list!' The song list includes music by some of the greatest Brazilian composers and includes Andrade s first recording of the Antonio Jobim classic 'Dindi'. Her perfect list of songs is mirrored by the perfect choice for instrumental support - guitarist Roni Ben-Hur who joined her in the studio in Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in January, 2014. Says Ben Hur, 'It was very casual. We were in one small room sitting next to each other. It was all under Leny's leadership'. The resulting release is a high mark in the style of timeless, classic Brazilian music. ~ Amazon

ORAN ETKIN - WHAT'S NEW? REIMAGINING BENNY GOODMAN

Acclaimed bandleader, composer and clarinetist Oran Etkin pays a distinctly modern homage to the 'King of Swing,' Benny Goodman. 'What's New?' at once celebrates two sides of Benny Goodman: the music of his big band that launched the Swing Era and of his quartet that became the first mainstream racially-integrated band. Described as 'a composer of eminent individuality' by his mentor Yusef Lateef, Etkin taps into both Benny Goodman the bandleader and clarinetist on this phenomenal tribute recording. Includes: Prelude; Dinah; Why Don't You Do Right; Running Wild; When Every Voice Shall Sing; What's New?; Brink; King Porter Stomp; After You've Gone; Be Good Lady; . Where or When; and Sing, Sing, Sing. ~ Amazon

LONDON / MEADER / PRAMUK / ROSS - THE ROYAL BOPSTERS PROJECT

The Royal Bopsters Project is a multi-generational vocal summit on which the talents of Amy London, Darmon Meader, Holli Ross and Dylan Pramuk unite to pay tribute to the art of setting lyrics to melodies originally written as instrumental compositions or improvisations. Their homage to vocalese is made even more exceptional with the contributions of the legendary singers who make guest appearances on the album: NEA Jazz Masters (and Grammy Award-winners) Jon Hendricks and Annie Ross; NEA Jazz Master Sheila Jordan, Arkansas Hall of Famer and Schoolhouse Rock mastermind Bob Dorough and six-time Grammy nominee Mark Murphy. Includes: Music in the Air (Wildwood); On The Red Clay (Red Clay); Peace; Basheer, The Snake and The Mirror; Senor Blues; Invitation; Bird Chasin' (Chasin' the Bird); Music Is Forever; Bebop Lives (Boplicity); Just Step Right Up; Nothing Like You Has Ever Been Seen Before; and Let's Fly. ~ Amazon

NEW RELEASES: BALLAKE SISSOKO / VINCENT SEGAL – MUSIQUE DE NUIT; BUFFALO BROTHERS – FRESH FROM THE HORN; VIEUX FARKA / JULIA EASTERLIN - TOURISTES

BALLAKE SISSOKO / VINCENT SEGAL – MUSIQUE DE NUIT

When Ballake Sissoko and Vincent Segal released their first collaborative album, Chamber Music, they caught the music world by surprise. Everything about this duo was unexpected: the Malian master of the kora; the French cellist with the background in trip-hop; and the elegant, soulful music they made together. The album appeared on numerous best-of lists in both Europe and North America. Now, these two sonic voyagers have returned with Musique de Nuit ('Night Music') - an album which may not have the same element of surprise, but which may be even more spellbinding than its predecessor. ~ Amazon

BUFFALO BROTHERS – FRESH FROM THE HORN

Buffalo Brothers are the 9-piece funk sensation currently exploding out of the Manchester music scene's creative melting pot. Their debut album, Fresh From The Horn, combines thunderous grooves and blistering horn lines with heavy funk, jazz and afrobeat flavours, and has already earned the approval of UK funk aficionados Craig Charles and Huey Morgan. As well as attracting the attention of Craig Charles, appearing at his live club night at Manchester's Band On The Wall and being regularly played on his Radio 2 and 6 Music shows, Buffalo Brothers have been busy increasing their following with a number of high profile appearances across the UK, including at Kendal Calling Festival, supporting Huey Morgan at London's Blues Kitchen, and opening the 20th Manchester Jazz Festival to glowing reviews.Their live performances featuring guest vocal performances have been overwhelming club and festival audiences for the past year and the band have spared no effort in concentrating this high-energy cocktail onto their first full-length studio release.

VIEUX FARKA / JULIA EASTERLIN - TOURISTES

Touristes is the name of the new album from famed Malian singer/guitarist Vieux Farka Touré and rising American singer Julia Easterlin. The two met in New York in 2014 and as Vieux recalls, 'within about one or two hours we had created four songs together.' Touristes features six originals, three covers - including songs from Bob Dylan and Fever Ray - and one case of a new song built upon an old one. Includes: Little Things; A’Bashiye (It’s Alright); Masters Of War; I’m Not Done; In The Pines; The Word; Took My Brother Down; Spark; Bamba Na Wili; and Apples & Champagne. ~ Amazon

ALAN LEE - AN AUSTRALIAN JAZZ ANTHOLOGY

There are few Australian originals in jazz, though vibraphonist Alan Lee surely ranks alongside the best. Australian jazz is and always will be an interpretation of the American art form, but throughout his long career Lee has ploughed his furrow undaunted, "What I want is the fire! Whether it's John Coltrane's Blues Minor from Africa Brass or Backwater Blues by Leadbelly, I want the emotion, the gut wrenching pain, the cry from within!"

These are uninhibited words. A musician and bandleader who cut a number of jazz sides for small independent Melbourne labels from the early 1960s to the mid-1970s, Lee has always searched for this fire, evident in the broad styles he's covered throughout his career, and which we have attempted to explore here, the first and only collection of music from Alan Lee. From '60s soul jazz, to the deep modal sounds of the early '70s and cross-genre experiments exhibited in his chamber jazz, Lee's personal life has been as varied and explorative as his music, a journey that has taken him beyond the thresholds of jazz improvisation and spiritual awareness.

The tracks that feature on this anthology were recorded by various incarnations of Lee's band and are taken from across three albums recorded between 1973 and 1974. These albums represent the sole output in LP format that can be credited to Lee as band leader, and all are collectors' items in their own right. The deep modal version of Love Song and Freddie Hubbard's perennial spiritual jazz standard Little Sunflower are both taken from the self-titled LP 'Alan Lee Jazz Quartet'. The album 'Gallery Concerts 1973', which was recorded for Bruce Clarke's jazz sub-label Cumquat Records, provides us with a fierce electric-jazz version of Igor Stravinsky's The Rite Of Spring: Dance Of The Adolescents plus the plaintive chamber jazz of John Lewis' Sketch as well two tracks featuring vocalist Jeannie Lewis; Bachianas Brasileiras No.5 and the beautiful Bailero in which Lee exchanges the vibraphone for the conductors role in presiding over a jazz trio accompanied by a seven piece concert ensemble. Completing this compendium is a track taken from the 1974 follow-up recording for Jazznote, the album titled 'The Smilor'; included is a cover of the Milt Jackson-penned Enchanted Lady.

What you are hearing on this album is the story of one man's travels, a journey within a foreign art form but also a journey within himself. Illustrated in the stories Lee shares, such as his correspondence with fellow vibraphone player Gary Burton on how to achieve advanced extended techniques for the vibraphone (resulting in pages of technical diagrams) or travelling across the US to purchase an original 1940s Deagan Imperial Vibraphone from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra 'Just to get that Milt Jackson sound'. There are moments of deep introspection and intellect in Lee's playing, emotional music that contains and shares a common spiritual oneness, seeking the thrill he experienced after first listening to Lionel Hampton and the Benny Goodman Quartet. "The emotion, the gut wrenching pain, the cry from within."