Philadelphia's Bynum Brothers Announce SOUTH: Kitchen, Jazz, Bar: New Intimate Jazz Club to Host Nationally Recognized Artists and Philadelphia's Finest Musicians

Gerald Veasley

Philadelphia is proud to welcome SOUTH: Kitchen, Jazz, Bar to the expansive list of top-tier night life establishments in the dynamic neighborhoods in Center City Philadelphia with a top of the line venue and restaurant at 600 N. Broad Street. Pioneering restaurateurs and jazz aficionados Robert and Benjamin Bynum, who have brought such fine venues as Warmdaddy's, Relish, Paris Bistro, and the late Zanzibar Blue to the City of Brotherly Love, are reaching out yet again with a beautiful three-room establishment featuring a top of the line jazz room, an inviting kitchen, and a contemporary bar and lounge.

"We need to support our great heritage as an important jazz city and provide unique opportunities for these artists to perform here," says Robert Bynum on why SOUTH will be a major destination for jazz artists touring in support of new releases. "We want to be a welcoming option for those national artists who've always come through Philadelphia, as well as an attractive choices for the artists who have not made Philadelphia one of their stops in the past."

Orrin Evans

Their location on Broad Street didn't happen by accident--this area was the last home of Zanzibar Blue and is currently experiencing a major reemergence as a dining and housing destination. "Broad Street has always been at the heart of the jazz scene in Philadelphia going back many, many years," explains Bynum. "Not only is it in the center of our great city, but also at the heart of its jazz core."

SOUTH is not focused solely on national artists, however. "We feel a special kinship with the born and bred Philadelphia artists and want them to see SOUTH as their home," says Bynum. "We want them to know how much we respect their rich musical heritage and feel like SOUTH is their home while at home." In the interest of keeping Philadelphia's roots strong in the new venue, two local staples, pianist Orrin Evans and bassist Gerald Veasley, have been given weekly residencies with local bands featuring national artists.

Every Wednesday, Orrin Evans will host What's Happening Wednesday, a series aimed at presenting national artists in Philadelphia who may be falling just under the radar. "My goal is to present artists with their full ensembles doing what they do," explains the pianist. "This is about bringing artists from all over that are making music that I believe should be presented to the people." Evans has a curatorial history, having done similar residencies at Philly's own Blue Moon and the former Zanzibar Blue. He has also hosted jam sessions at World Café Live and currently hosts a weekly residency with his rotating cast in the Captain Black Big Band at New York City's Smoke Jazz & Supper Club.

On Thursday nights, Gerald Veasley will perform with celebrated contemporary jazz artists in a program called Unscripted Jazz Series. Veasley, a faculty member at the University of the Arts who just wrapped up another year of his Bass BootCamp, plans to give these artists an opportunity to stretch out from their typical performances. " The series will give these outstanding artists an opportunity to stretch out and express themselves in front of an appreciative audience," explains Veasley. "These will be exciting nights of breaking outside of the box, hence the title Unscripted. "

The 75-seat jazz room will offer superior sound with a clear sightline of the stage from all seats. SOUTH will present live music Tuesday through Sunday evenings, featuring a Tuesday night local jam session, and an emphasis on local and national artists on Friday through Sunday.

The Bynum brothers personally selected Lafayette, LA native Chef Paul Martin to serve vibrant Southern cuisine in the restaurant inspired by the sophisticated Southern destinations, Charleston, South Carolina and Savannah, Georgia. The bar and lounge will also feature Southern snacks and shared plates, as well as a comprehensive list of 50 American whiskeys; 10 beers on tap, including custom offerings from Maryland's Evolution brewing; and barrel-aged and bottle-conditioned cocktails, and infused spirits.

Orrin Evans Presents What's Happening Wednesday

October 21 // Chris Oatts

October 28 // Marc Cary

November 4 // Joe Farnsworth & Harold Mabern

November 11 // M'Balia

November 28 // Chris Oates

November 25 // Jeremy Pelt

December 2 // Buster Williams & Rene Rosnes

December 9 // Sarah Charles

Gerald Veasley Presents Unscripted Jazz Series

October 15 // Alex Bugnon "A Night in Tunisia"

October 22 // Karen Briggs "Soulchestral Groove"

October 29 // Carol Riddick "Swings the Classics"

November 5 // Marion Meadows "Take the SoulTrane"

November 12 // Kirk Whalum "Autumn Serenade"

November 19 // James Lloyd "Returns to Jazz Roots"

Guitarist Scott DuBois Recounts a Day Long Journey Through Varied Landscapes on Latest Release Winter Light

Nineteenth-century philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson called art an "expression of nature." Guitarist Scott DuBois' Winter Light transports the listener on a day's journey from earliest dawn into deepest night, illustrating the day's changing light through varied landscapes and weather conditions. He has loved representations of this evolution in visual art, especially in the paintings of Claude Monet, who often worked on several canvases at once in order to track the day's shifting light. Winter Light captures such visions in sound.

"First Light Tundra" opens with the earliest glimpse of light over a cold, desolate landscape as birds awake, call, and fly off into the distance. In a battle between darkness and light, fierce crashing winds obscure the approaching sunrise with flying snow. The sun triumphs in the end.

"Early Morning Forest" introduces a stately pine forest soon pierced by rays of light dazzling snow-filled branches and the white forest floor. Animals call one another to enter the mass of trees. Deeper in the forest, in the darker thick brush, an ominous cold mist fills the air. The animals call again after slowly emerging from the forest into the warmth of the unobstructed morning sun. "Late Morning Snow" conveys the elegance and peaceful nature of light on newly fallen snow. A progressively cold stinging wind rises.

"Noon White Mountain" begins with the day's most powerful light on majestic snow-capped mountains. They are slowly overtaken by dark clouds. A distant storm transforms into a passing gentle freezing rain. Then bright noon light returns. "Afternoon Ice Fog" evokes mysterious light reflections from the tiny ice crystals suspended in the air. In "Evening Blizzard" the light is shrouded by the intensity of a snowstorm while peace and tranquility return in "Night Tundra" where moonlit snow glows in the darkness.

The New York City Jazz Record has described DuBois' writing as "captivating music for the meditative thinker." This telling expression goes quite some way towards unlocking its essence, since the guitarist composes in an associative way, through pictures. Indeed, Winter Light, which marks his debut as an artist on the ACT label, has a strongly programmatic concept running right through it. The listener is taken on a journey through a winter's day. As we witness the progression from before daybreak right through to the depths of night, DuBois draws the listener in with sounds vividly portraying myriad shifts in the balance of light, leading us through different landscapes, and even making us feel the ever-changing patterns of the weather.

The guitarist's first five albums have received major critical acclaim. Black Hawk Dance earned the maximum 5-star rating from DownBeat Magazine. His next album, Landscape Scripture, was one of the "Top Ten Jazz Albums of 2012" as selected by the highly influential coast-to-coast American network, National Public Radio.

Scott DuBois, the 37-year old American jazz guitarist and composer, is one of the most important figures on the young New York jazz scene. The New York Times has praised the way that DuBois "has begun to make waves" with his "exploratory yet melodic sensibilities, serious compositional ambitions," and "cohesive looseness against complex subtleties."

DuBois studied at the Manhattan School of Music. He made his first mark alongside saxophonist David Liebman, who appeared on DuBois' albums for the Soul Note record label, Monsoon (2005) and Tempest (2007).   DuBois' quartet, with whom he has now been working for the past decade, consists of some of the world's most in-demand improvising musicians: German saxophonist and bass clarinetist Gebhard Ullmann, American bassist Thomas Morgan, and Danish drummer Kresten Osgood. This regular working band performs DuBois' masterfully-crafted original compositions which point to future trends. DuBois presents these powerful works with dynamic group improvisation and interaction, creating massive, colorful landscapes and a spiritual intensity that cuts straight to the heart. 

Scott DuBois · Winter Light

ACT Music  ·  Release Date: November 6, 2015  

 

Jamaican roots color Darren Barrett’s “Trumpet Vibes” as hard bop jazz meets reggae on the award-winning artist’s seventh album

Trumpeter Darren Barrett proudly wears his Jamaican ancestry on his musical sleeve as well as on the album sleeve of “Trumpet Vibes,” his seventh album that will be released November 20 on the dB Studios label. Decorated in the distinctive green, yellow and black colors of the Jamaican flag, the award-winning Canadian musician, composer and producer mines the native sounds of  his parents’ homeland for the first time on the eight-tracker constructed of hard bop jazz amidst laidback reggae rhythms and frenetic ska grooves. Throughout the session that highlights Barrett’s academic technical proficiency and heartfelt interpretive trumpet work, animate vibraphone plays the role of trusty sidekick with noted vibist Warren Wolf on the record’s opener and closer.

Barrett not only honors his family’s lineage on “Trumpet Vibes,” but he opens the proceedings with a salute to one of his early mentors, Donald Byrd, with a bouncy take of Byrd’s “Fly Little Bird,” that flaps mightily, evolving into a hard-swinging tilt midflight. Barrett wrote four compositions for the album and applies the jazz-meets-reggae ethos to a few modern classics. An original tune, “Chiapas” serves up somber autumnal hues from Barrett’s horn over a brisk ska track provided by the dynamic rhythm section composed of brothers Alexander and Anthony Toth on upright bass and drums respectively. The stately pop gem “To Sir, With Love” gets an invigorating and spritely makeover, riding the crest of a rocking wave of Caribbean culture. Vibraphonist Simon Moullier, who plays on the entire album, charismatically shares the spotlight with Barrett’s moody horn on the regal reggae jam “Song For A Princess.” The cadence is elevated on “Phantom,” a particularly rambunctious monster stalking the outer perimeter of experimental jazz, free-form fusion and rowdy rock. Both “Everything I Own” and Stevie Wonder’s “My Cherie Amour” get the full-scale reggae treatment with the former being a fun and celebratory romp while the latter benefits from some good old rock & roll grit. Closing with a knockout punch, brilliant musicianship electrifies “The Club Up The Street,” which bops, swings and soars mightily, allowing Barrett and Wolf the time and space to mix it up in a go-for-broke improvisational trumpet and vibraphone free-for-all. 

“This album means so much to me personally because it mixes the music from my Jamaican heritage, which is part of my heart, and jazz, which is part of my soul, into one. ‘Trumpet Vibes’ brings together the best of these two musical worlds that share a common ancestral genesis in Africa. I’ve spent the past two years totally immersed in the creation of this project – writing, producing, playing and recording - and I’m excited for people to finally hear it,” said Barrett, who was labeled “a force to be reckoned with” by the Boston Globe.

  

Barrett, a Toronto, Ontario native who has been anchored in Boston, Massachusetts ever since attending the famed Berklee College of Music where he presently serves as an associate professor in the ensemble department, won the prestigious Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition in 1997. Two years later, he issued his debut recording as a band leader, the aptly titled “First One Up.” Often mentioned in the same breath as Wynton Marsalis and Terence Blanchard perhaps comes from having studied under the same professor, William Fielder. Barrett soloed on Esperanza Spaulding’s double Grammy winner “Radio Music Society” and has recorded or performed internationally with jazz royalty such as Roy Hargrove, Elvin Jones, Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock. The trumpeter is a jazz purveyor who leads a handful of combos that provide a variety of outlets for his wanderings and full creative expression in the genre. Still enjoying a remarkably prolific period that brought to fruition two releases last year - “Energy In Motion: The Music of the Bee Gees” and “Direct 2014: Darren Barrett and the dB Quintet” – he’s already at work crafting his next unpredictable endeavor, jazz interpretations of Amy Winehouse’s songbook, which is slated to arrive in the spring. On Sunday (October 18), Barrett leads his dB Quintet into New York City for a show at The Iridium.

The songs contained on “Trumpet Vibes” are:

“Fly Little Bird”

“Chiapas”

“To Sir, With Love”

“Song For A Princess”

“Phantom”

“Everything I Own”

“My Cherie Amour”

“The Club Up The Street”

Sonny Rollins to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award At the Jazz Foundation of America's 14th Annual "A Great Night in Harlem"

Sonny Rollins Tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins will be presented with the Jazz Foundation of America's Lifetime Achievement Award on Thursday, October 22, at the Apollo Theater during the foundation's 14th Annual "A Great Night in Harlem" gala concert.

The concert segment honoring Rollins will feature performances by Donald Fagen (of Steely Dan), Jimmy Heath, Jack DeJohnette, Gary Bartz, Billy Harper, Randy Brecker, Clifton Anderson, Kenny Garrett, Ravi Coltrane, Al Foster, James Carter, Wallace Roney, the Cecil Bridgewater Big Band, and more.

"What a privilege it is to have Sonny Rollins grace the stage," says Wendy Oxenhorn, Jazz Foundation of America's Executive Director. "[Musical director] Steve Jordan has gone above and beyond to make this a fitting tribute worthy of Sonny's genius in return for all the decades of the music he has given to the world. For us and the Great Legends who are coming out for Sonny, this is our humble attempt to say 'thank you.'"

For 26 years, the Jazz Foundation of America has been keeping jazz and blues alive by helping musicians who played with everyone from Duke Ellington and Billie Holiday to Jimi Hendrix and the Rolling Stones. The organization now assists in more than 5000 cases a year nationwide -- preventing homelessness and eviction by paying rents and mortgages; providing free medical care and operations; maintaining a Musicians' Emergency Fund to address a wide range of crises.

"What a necessary, wonderful organization!" says Rollins. "I've been aware of the Jazz Foundation's work for many years now, including the assistance they've given to so many of my colleagues. I'm honored to receive this award from them and to lend them whatever support I can now and in the future."

Rollins is presently completing work on a new album in his Road Shows series of live performances for release by his label, Doxy Records. Holding the Stage: Road Shows, vol. 4 will be released on April 8, 2016 under a distribution agreement with Sony Music Masterworks and its jazz imprint OKeh Records. 

ROBERT MILLER’S PROJECT GRAND SLAM RELEASES NEW FULL LENGTH ALBUM “MADE IN NEW YORK”

Album features the songs "New York City Groove" and their unique cover of Jimi Hendryx's "Fire" and includes two tracks recorded live at the world famous Blue Note Jazz Club in New York City

Robert Miller’s acclaimed fusion band, Project Grand Slam, today releases their new full length album, “Made In New York,” which includes the singles “New York City Groove” and “Fire”, five original Miller tunes, plus two tracks recorded “live” at the world famous Blue Note Jazz Club in New York City.  All of the songs capture the band’s unique jazz/rock/fusion /jam band sound.

"'Fire’ is a truly fiery new cover of Jimi Hendrix's song!" -- Lyndsey Parker,YahooMusic.com

PGS has recently released two videos for the songs “New York City Groove” and “Fire” that together have garnered over 120,000 views in just a few weeks. Both feature guest vocalist Kat Robichaud from NBC’s The Voice, who lends her rock n’ roll roots to the songs and the videos.

Project Grand Slam was formed in 2007 by bassist/leader/composer Miller and has previously released two highly regarded albums, “Play” (2008) and “Spring Dance” (2012). In 2009 the band was featured in an episode of the hit NBC-TV show “Lipstick Jungle”, and has had several additional hit singles: “The Captain Of Her Heart” feat. Judie Tzuke, “Catch You Later,” and “Spring Dance.”

See the video for “Fire” here: http://smarturl.it/PGSFire

See the video for “New York City Groove” here:  https://youtu.be/ptGNf97tB8E

http://www.projectgrandslam.com

The Donny Hathaway Legacy Project Launches on Artist's 70th Birthday

Donny Hathaway, arguably one of the most important voices of the 20th century, would have been 70 years old on October 1. With some of the most culturally impactful music of the 1970's, Hathaway's songs, along with his story as a prolific singer, songwriter, pianist and composer still resonates in the hearts of people all over the world.

"Our father was a prolific musician admired by many for his creativity and musicianship," said Donnita Hathaway, daughter and chair of the DHLP board of directors. "It's an honor that people like Roberta Flack [honorary co-chair] and Lindsey Aaron [advisory board member] have said yes to helping us solidify his legacy with this effort."

The launch of The Donny Hathaway Legacy Project (DHLP) aims to celebrate his life and legacy with events planned in major cities around the world to celebrate his birthday and pay tribute to his legacy. Designed to honor the legacy of a visionary gone too soon, The Donny Hathaway Legacy Project will present special projects, notable honors and charitable programs to share the music that filled his life and support those artists who share his illness.

"We are honored to launch this effort for the Hathaway family," said Anasa Troutman, president of Eloveate. "The magnitude and body of work that Donny Hathaway produced still has a significant impact on music, even today. I was pleasantly surprised that Hungarian Pop Star Viktor Kiraly, just this week, sang Donny's version of "What's Going On" on The Voice."

Tribute concert events in Atlanta and New York City, as well as radio stations, around the world, are dedicating entire shows to his music today.  In addition to these events, The Donny Hathaway Legacy Project will organize on social media to celebrate with the hashtag #Donny70 encouraging friends and followers to post a picture, video or story to tell the world what Donny and his music means to them.

Weather Report: The Legendary Live Tapes: 1978-1981, A New 4 Disc Box Set Premiering A Wealth of Previously Unreleased Live Material Performed by the Revolutionary Electronic Jazz-Rock Ensemble from 1978-1981

Weather Report was originally formed in 1970 by Joe Zawinul (3-time GRAMMY Award winner and whose prior credentials included his profoundly influential musical contributions to the Miles Davis albums In A Silent Way and Bitches Brew) and Wayne Shorter (a 10 time Grammy Award winner who'd served as a primary composer for Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and an essential player in Miles Davis' Second Great Quintet). An active ensemble for 16 years (1970-1986), Weather Report moved freely across a variety genres, blending free jazz with tightly structured compositions, introducing elements of rock and funk and electronica into a multicultural world music that defied precedent and categorization. "We don't fuse nothin'," Zawinul said, "we just play from the heart." And yet, Weather Report inspired a revolution in jazz fusion music during the 1970s and 1980s.

When electric bass virtuoso Jaco Pastorius joined the Weather Report lineup in 1976, the group's sound evolved into even more adventurous and pioneering directions. The ensemble landed a crossover hit, "Birdland," in 1977. Drummer Peter Erskine joined in 1978 with Weather Report expanding into a formidable electric quintet with the addition of percussionist Robert "Bobby" Thomas, Jr. in 1980.

Performance high-points from these quartet and quintet lineups are chronicled in Weather Report: The Legendary Live Tapes: 1978-1981 and have been sourced from never-before-heard (outside the band) soundboard tapes recorded by Weather Report's longtime mixing engineer Brian Risner, and bootleg recordings from the audience. Rather than attempt to recreate the ebb and flow of a Weather Report set list of the era, The Legendary Live Tapes presents a variety of key individual performances, each of them capturing the unique and dazzling musical directions Weather Report was capable of achieving.

The 4 disc collection includes extensive notes and song-by-song descriptions of the performances penned by Peter Erskine.

Weather Report: The Legendary Live Tapes: 1978-1981

Disc 1

8:30

Sightseeing

Brown Street

The Orphan

Forlorn

Three Views of A Secret

Badia/Boogie Waltz

Wayne Solo

Jaco Solo (Osaka 1980)

Disc 2

Joe and Wayne Duet (Tokyo 1978)

Birdland

Peter's Solo

A Remark You Made

Continuum/River People

Gibraltar

Disc 3

Fast City

Madagascar

Night Passage

Dream Clock

Rockin' In Rhythm

Port of Entry

Disc 4

Elegant People

Scarlet Women

Black Market

Jaco Solo (Osaka 1978)

Teen Town

Peter's Solo (Osaka 1978)

Directions

King Curtis: The Complete Atco Singles. (3-CD Set)

King Curtis was the greatest R&B instrumentalist of all time, period. And it’s not much of a contest. Born Curtis Ousley in Fort Worth, Texas in 1934, the saxophonist played on hundreds of the most hallowed recording sessions of all time, everything from the Coasters’ “Yakety Yak” to John Lennon’s Imagine album. But Curtis wasn’t just a superstar sideman; he also was responsible for some of the greatest Pop/R&B instrumental albums of all time, including such Atco label classics as Live at Small’s Paradise, King Curtis Plays the Great Memphis Hits, Instant Groove, and, of course, Live at Fillmore West. 

Often overshadowed by the brilliance of his session work and his long players, however, is the fact that Curtis was actually quite a successful singles artist, notching 25 Pop and 10 R&B hits during his storied career. And, though it was during his tenure(s) at Atco that he recorded the most popular albums of his career, he also cut a mind-boggling 33 singles (including one that was never released until now) for the label. It is this hitherto-untapped treasure trove that Real Gone Music’s KING CURTIS: The Complete Atco Singles presents on three CDs in this unprecedented collection. 

Not only is this the first time on CD for virtually all of these original mono single mixes, but among these 66 tracks are over two dozen sides that never appeared on LP! That’s right…even if you own every Atco album King Curtis put out, you have never heard over a third of this set unless you bought all of the original 45s back in the day. And the caliber of the musicianship? 

Well, as the most in-demand session man in America, Curtis got to know a lot of folks, so appearing on these sessions are the great Muscle Shoals and Memphis studio cats like Cornell Dupree, Jimmy Johnson, Spooner Oldham, Roger Hawkins, Tommy Cogbill, and Reggie Young, plus a few other folks you might have heard of, like Duane Allman, Eric Clapton, and Delaney Bramlett! Not to mention the alternately tender, searing, and soaring sax lines of Mr. Curtis himself, heard on such classic tracks as “Memphis Soul Stew,” “Ode to Billie Joe,” and “Whole Lotta Love” (yes, the Led Zeppelin song) cheek-by-jowl with a host of smokin’ rare B-sides. Leiber & Stoller Music Publishing head honcho Randy Poe supplies the liner notes (Leiber and Stoller, of course, had a long relationship with Curtis), which we’ve put inside a gleaming 8-panel digipak sporting some great photos and Atco single labels. 

All but one of the 66 tracks have been transferred from tape in the Warner/Atlantic archives, and Mike Milchner of SonicVision provides the meticulous remastering. The R&B retrospective of the year! Release is set for December 4, 2015 via Real Gone Music.

SONGS:

Disc One

1. The Birth of the Blues

2. Jest Smoochin’

3. Ific

4. You Made Me Love You

5. Castle Rock

6. Chili

7. Honeydripper (Part 1)

8. Honeydripper (Part 2)

9. Heavenly Blues

10. Restless Guitar

11. Spanish Harlem

12. Boss

13. Quicksand

14. On Broadway

15. You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling

16. Make the World Go Away

17. Dancing in the Streets

18. He’ll Have to Go

19. Pots and Pans (Part 1)

20. Pots and Pans (Part 2)

21. Something on Your Mind

22. Soul Theme

Disc Two

1. Jump Back

2. When Something Is Wrong with My Baby

3. You Don’t Miss Your Water

4. Green Onions

5. Memphis Soul Stew

6. Blue Nocturne

7. Ode to Billie Joe

8. In the Pocket

9. For What It’s Worth

10. Cook-Out

11. I Was Made to Love Her

12. I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)

13. (Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay

14. This Is Soul

15. Valley of the Dolls

16. 8th Wonder

17. I Heard It thru the Grapevine

18. A Whiter Shade of Pale

19. Harper Valley P.T.A.

20. Makin’ Hey

21. The Christmas Song

22. What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve

Disc Three

1. Games People Play

2. Foot Pattin’,  Part II

3. Instant Groove

4. Sweet Inspiration

5. La Jeanne

6. Little Green Apples

7. Rocky Roll

8. C. C. Rider

9. Patty Cake

10. Pop Corn Willy

11. Teasin’

12. Soulin’

13. Get Ready

14. Bridge over Troubled Water

15. Whole Lotta Love

16. Floatin’

17. Changes – Part II

18. Changes – Part I

19. Changes – Part I (Live)

20. Changes – Part II (Live)

21. Ridin’ Thumb – Part 1 (Unreleased)

22. Ridin’ Thumb – Part 2 (Unreleased)

NEW RELEASES: CEU - LIVE; LEE DELARIA - HOUSE OF DAVID: DELARIA SINGS BOWIE; NICHOLAS BRIDGMAN - WHEEL OF LIFE

CEU - LIVE

Ceu's album was recorded in celebration of the 10 year anniversary of the release of her first album. The recording was made in just 1 day and took place at the Centro Cultural Rio Verde in São Paulo, in the center of Vila Madalena (a neighborhood in São Paulo), where Céu has lived all of her life and where she started her musical career. She wanted to record all of the major songs of her career with her live band, Bruno Buarque (drums), Lucas Martins (bass), Dustan Gallas (guitar) and DJ Marco (Turntable, MPC). Although the repertoire mostly focused on the songs from her most recent album Caravan Sereia Bloom, fans favorites such as Lenda, Malemolência, Cangote, Rainha, Concrete jungle, and others were included in the show. She also included Mais uma Noite de Amor, an eighties hit by Brazilian pop artist Pepeu Gomes, which she has never previously recorded. 'This version was originally performed at a special show in 2013 during the carnival of Recife. The song brings back good memories of my teenage years' - she reveals. - 'The funny thing is that I only met Pepeu a couple of weeks ago after including this version of the song in my shows for two years.' The show is presented in a half-light scenario, with palm trees, chandeliers and even a marble parrot. They help to reinforce the sensual and hypnotic mood of Céu's performance. ~ Amazon
  

LEE DELARIA - HOUSE OF DAVID: DELARIA SINGS BOWIE

DeLaria is currently best known as Carrie Big Boo Black in the hit Netflix series Orange is the New Black. The first major jazz reworking on Bowies beloved catalog, the album features tracks such as a smooth bossa nova interpretation of Golden Years, a trenchant Life On Mars? and a roof-raising gospel take on Modern Love.Delaria boasts a multi-faceted career as a comedian, actress and jazz musician; she holds the distinction of being the first openly gay comic on television in America which led to countless television and film roles; selected TV credits include Awkward, Clarence, Californication, The Oblongs, One Life to Live, Law and Order: SVU, Will and Grace, Friends and Matlock; selected film credits include The First Wives Club, Dear Dumb Diary and Edge of Seventeen. ~ Amazon

NICHOLAS BRIDGMAN - WHEEL OF LIFE

Nicholas Bridgman composes and performs contemporary jazz.  He is classically trained, having debuted at age 16 with the New West Symphony, performing the Shostakovich First Piano Concerto.  He studied with classical pianist Gloria Cheng and composer Miguel del A guila.  Throughout his studies, he took an interest in jazz, becoming familiar with voicings, performing arrangements of jazz standards, and playing jazz-influenced classical works such as Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. Over the coming years, Nicholas wrote many songs ranging from ballads to straight ahead to fusion pieces.  A common thread in his writing has been the combination of inspiration from jazz greats such as Bill Evans and Herbie Hancock with modern influences from dance, folk, new age, and classical music.  He strives to create music that is fun and easy to listen to, yet harmonically and melodically sophisticated at the same time.  His newest album, Wheel of Life (to be released 11/1/2015) includes the following tracks: Spiral Staircase; Wheel of Life; Swingtown; Planar Texture for Gloria; Kickin' It; Prismatic; Black Orpheus (L. Bonfa); Gravitation; Cantaloupe Island (H. Hancock); and Summer in December.

Saxophonist Ivo Perelman Explores Relationship Between the Senses on Trio of New Releases - Complementary Colors, Villa-Lobos Suite and Butterfly Whispers

Each of the three new recordings from Ivo Perelman - albums entitled Complementary Colors, Villa-Lobos Suite, and Butterfly Whispers (Available October 30 via Leo Records) - exhibits a different approach to improvised music from the indefatigable Brazilian-born saxophonist. Each album represents a unique "first" for Perelman. For most artists, releasing three such iconoclastic forays at once would constitute a burst of the imagination, but Perelman is not most artists. He has documented his current creative fervor with nearly 25 albums over the last five years; you would think that by now the wellspring of imagination might start to run dry. The fact that he can still find a different format to frame his music - or in this case, three different formats - should boggle the minds of most listeners as well as his fellow musicians.

On the duo recording Complementary Colors, Perelman and his longtime collaborator, acclaimed pianist Matthew Shipp, explore the ties that bind the visual and the aural arts. In addition to his work as a groundbreaking improviser, exploring the outer limits of the saxophone's tonal range, Perelman is also a prolific and respected visual artist, whose work hangs in collections across four continents; at the time of these releases, he was in Brazil, overseeing the third major exhibit of his paintings and drawings in his native land. But for all that, Complementary Colors represents the first time he has sought to unite these two aspects of his artistic vision.

Perelman titled each track with the name of a color, which he chose after the recording. As usual in his music, these improvisations arose from literally nothing, with neither previous rehearsal nor any written music in hand; given this methodology, something as programmatic as a color-coded "concept" would be unthinkable. But the titles came naturally, since Perelman - by his own admission - experiences synesthesia, the sensory phenomenon by which some people "hear" colors, "taste" music, or "see" aromas, for instance.

Up until now, this has primarily manifested itself in his canvases. "I paint using musical impulses, translated, and transmuted into the shapes and colors," he explains. "When I paint, I feel my synesthesia is rhythmic; I visualize a rhythm and it's very strong in me." From there, the rest of the painting takes shape: "The rhythmic structure almost dictates what the colors will be; the rhythms in my paintings ask for the colors - 'This should be a red,' for instance." But on Complementary Colors, he applied the process in reverse, allowing the recorded playbacks to dictate the titles, based on the hues and mixtures that came to mind. And apart from any crisscrossed sense or extramusical pigments, the music itself occupies the high plateau achieved by Perelman and Shipp on their previous release, Callas, on which they attained a new level in their already telepathic musical communication.

On Villa-Lobos Suite, Perelman again discovered a deeper context for the music after it had been recorded: despite the fact that it bears the name of his countryman Heitor Villa-Lobos, this "suite" took shape without any preparatory study or even discussion of the man who is generally considered the 20th century's leading Latin American composer of classical music. In fact, the project originally had another name altogether; it was only after Perelman listened back to the recording that he found qualities unexpectedly redolent of his youth, when as a classical guitar prodigy he studied Villa-Lobos's music extensively. "That music is to me my second skin," he says; haunting echoes of it bubbled from the raw mixes of the album.

What makes this recording unique in Perelman's towering discography is the presence of not one but two viola players as his only accompanists. In recent years, the saxophonist has discovered a new musical soulmate in Mat Maneri, with whom he has worked on several noteworthy projects (starting with the score to the Brazilian film A Violent Dose Of Anything in 2014). But serendipitously, Perelman became acquainted with a second violist - the Canadian musician and author Tanya Kalmanovitch - when he heard Maneri playing an instrument borrowed from her. Perelman instantly fixated on the idea of performing with this small "string section"; in his words, "I suddenly had this idea - 'What would be better than one viola?' Having two violas! . . . . I had never thought of such a thing, because I never thought there would be another Mat Maneri, a viola player someone so compatible with me. But two of Mat Maneri would be better than one!"

Thanks to the instrumentation, the performances on Villa-Lobos Suite have a classical, almost symphonic quality that helped inspire the album's title; in addition, the violas' presence evokes the saxophonist's own ability to mimic the sounds, range, and even the textures of string instruments (which he has explored on previous albums with a string quartet, as well as with Maneri alone). Writes Kalmanovitch in her liner notes to the album:

"Listen to the relationship between the saxophone and the strings: we are constantly exchanging our roles as soloists and accompanists. Melodies are handed off, in constant motion from one voice to another. . . . Ivo would probably add that his studies of the cello infused his breath with the quality of a bow: for him, the saxophone and the cello are not so distant after all. And Ivo would certainly add that the viola and the tenor saxophone share not just a register, but also a spirit - mysterious, imbued with melancholy and longing - so that the instruments know something of one another's story before they've ever spoken."

The third new release by Perelman, Butterfly Whispers, teams him with pianist Shipp and another frequent collaborator, drummer Whit Dickey. So what distinguishes this recording is not the particular personnel, but rather the overriding concept of the album as a unified piece of "program music" - an artistic concept that, in its attempt to invest instrumental performance with specific extramusical meaning, could not differ more profoundly from Perelman's own methodology of total spontaneity.

The titles of the individual pieces, supplied by Brazilian poet Diva Galvao - titles like "Pollen," "Wet Land," "Plowed Field," and "Secret Garden" - suggest some hidden saga awaiting discovery. "Most modern listeners (myself included) shy away from attaching literal narratives to instrumental music," writes Grammy® - Award winning annotator Neil Tesser. "But on Butterfly Whispers, Perelman actively encourages us to do so - to make up our own stories to fit the music, whatever form those stories might take. . . It may also result from Perelman's conscious decision to pare things down," Tesser continues. "His improvisations have become shorter and correspondingly more focused: the tracks on Butterfly Whispers average less than five minutes, whereas albums from a few years ago often included tracks of two and three times that length. Here, he says, 'I went for a more compositional approach, a more condensed way of distilling and presenting the ideas. I wanted to edit more the musical thought.'"

Ivo Perelman · Complementary Colors, Villa-Lobos Suite, Butterfly Whispers

Leo Records  ·  Release Date: October 30, 2015  

ST GERMAIN RETURNS TO THE STUDIO TO CREATE HIS FIRST ALBUM IN 15 YEARS

St Germain (aka Ludovic Navarre), whose albums Boulevard (1995) and Tourist (2000) originated a genre of French electronic music that later included artists like Daft Punk, has returned to the studio to create his first album in 15 years. The self-titled record marries percussive grooves, which have always been central to St Germain’s sound, with a new element: traditional Malian music.

The album features various musicians and singers from the African diaspora including Malian kora players Mamadou Cherif Soumano and Cheikh Lo Ouza Diallo, Malian violinist Zoumana Tereta, and Senegalese bass player Alioune Wade (Ismael Lô) amongst others. Notably, St Germain also includes contributions from revered Malian guitarist and n’goni player Guimba Kouyata whom Brian Eno recently heralded as “the greatest guitar player I’ve heard for years and years.”

St Germain’s move closer to the source of the jazz and blues elements that were essential ingredients in Boulevard and the internationally acclaimed Tourist led to his interest in those genres’ roots in West African music. Tourist, which sold nearly three million copies worldwide, was equally embraced by jazz and electronic music circles, reaching #1 on Billboard’s Contemporary Jazz Albums chart and being named one of the Best Albums of the Year by Rolling Stone. In France, the album won three Victoires de la Musique awards (the French equivalent of GRAMMYs), including Best Jazz Album, Best Electronic Album and Best Live Performance.

On the 250-show Tourist tour, St Germain performed at venues ranging from London’s historic Royal Albert Hall to the Glastonbury and Coachella festivals, with guests including Herbie Hancock, Jamaican guitarist Ernest Ranglin, Jamaican jazz pianist Monty Alexander and legendary French jazz vocalist Claude Nougaro. Following the release of St Germain, Navarre will return to the road, beginning a European tour in November. A spring U.S. tour will be announced at a later date.

 

     

NEW RELEASES: TENORS OF KALMA – ELECTRIC WILLOW; DAWAN MUHAMMAD – GATEKEEPERS BLUES; THE SOUL SURFERS – SOUL ROCK!

TENORS OF KALMA – ELECTRIC WILLOW

One of the coolest projects we've heard from Jimi Tenor in a while – and a set that's a really great sideways-step from some of his other recent music! There's still elements of the spiritual jazz currents that Jimi's been exploring for the past decade or so, but the group's also leaner, and has a sharper electric quality too – bits of fuzz and distortion that sound especially great when things get funky – which turns out to be a fair bit of the time! The trio features heavy drums from Joonas Riippa, who's often setting a tone followed by Kalle Kalima's fuzzy guitar – while Jimi adds in loads of cool extra elements on a range of keyboards, saxes, and flute – plus some occasional vocals. Some elements are quite acoustic and organic, while others have a spacey moogy vibe – and there's a focused energy here that almost distills all of Tenor's musical ideas of the past decade or two, and finds a whole new way forward. Titles include "Can We Yes", "Go Go Go", "Blind", "Sakura", "Hymn To The Sun God", "The Missing Page 1964", and "100 Ufoa Suomesta".  ~ Dusty Groove

DAWAN MUHAMMAD – GATEKEEPERS BLUES

A sweet little record from west coast reedman Dawan Muhammad – one of the under-acknowledged talents of his generation, and an artist who's really keeping the indie underground strong with records like this! The album features Dawan in some really great company – a shifting lineup that includes excellent trombone from the late Clifford Adams, piano from Elmer Gibson, bass from James Leary, and trumpet from Modesto Briseno – mostly musicians from Muhammad's generation, who have a similar current of spirit and soul in their music! Most tracks are originals by members of the groups – and played with this soulful sense of flow that takes us back to the more spiritual 70s sessions on labels like Muse and Xanadu – handled by players who know all the freedom of the outside reaches of jazz, yet hang nicely inside while still letting their spirits soar. Titles include "Darshan's Love", "Place On High", "Like It Used To Feel", "That's Cool", "Gatekeeper's Blues", and a version of Coltrane's "Dahomey Dance".  ~ Dusty Groove

THE SOUL SURFERS – SOUL ROCK!

These guys are plenty darn funky – and don't let the "surf" or "rock" on the cover make you think otherwise! The core quartet is super-tight, and work with this blistering barrage of funky drums, fierce Hammond, and lots of riffing guitar – which is then often augmented with lots of extra-cool guest elements – including vocals from Myron & E, drums from Malcolm Catto, guitar from JJ Whitefield, vocals from Shawn Lee, and vibes from Didier Selin – all underground funk giants who not only lend their talents to the set, but also give the Soul Surfers a plenty solid seal of approval in the process! There's plenty of classic funk elements in the mix, but the overall sound is pretty fresh and unique, too – and drawing from the array of extra guests helps throw lots of twists and turns into the group's great approach too. Titles include "Astra", "Straight Up", "TSS Groove", "Stop Fooling Around", "Time Is A Gun", "Raw", "Phoenix", and "You Can Run But You Can't Hide From My Love". ~ Dusty Groove

SLOBBER PUP'S POLE AXE - Potent Improv Group returns with second chapter in their saga of powerful music and noise, their lineup bolstered by the presence of Swedish sax master MATS GUSTAFSSON

Two years after debuting with critically acclaimed debut album Black Aces, Slobber Pup are back with their sophomore release, titled Pole Axe.The original core lineup of renowned American keyboardist and pianist Jamie Saft (JS Trio, New Zion Trio, John Zorn's Masada, Merzbow, The New Standard, The Spanish Donkey), American guitar and double bass free music legend Joe Morris and Hungarian hardcore drummer Balazs Pandi (Wadada Leo Smith, Jamie Saft, Merzbow) is here augmented by the presence of Swedish sax titan Mats Gustafsson. 

Jamie Saft's, Joe Morris' and Balazs Pandi's artistic relationship has been steadily developing on RareNoiseRecords since late 2012 : Saft and Pandi both played on Metallic Taste Of Blood; all three played on Slobber Pup's first release, and again with Wadada Leo Smith on Red Hill; Saft and Morris both played on Plymouth (with Mary Halvorson, Chris Lightcap and Gerald Cleaver) and The Spanish Donkey (with Mike Pride)

Recorded December 2013 in Jamie Saft's Potterville International Sound studio in the beautiful Catskills mountains, Pole Axe leverages the afore-mentioned chemistry and the tumultuous, monolithic yet psychedelic vigor of Mats Gustafsson's reeds, yielding three boundless free-form excursions .

This journey, which starts with the torrential "Pole Of Combustible Memory", continues with the equally extended "Bring Me My Desire And Arrows To Shoot" (a title inspired by William Blake) and concludes with Incendiary Axe, is a chiaroscuro stream of consciousness that might have been burned on 35mm analog reel. Visions relentlessly follow visions, temperature and texture changes flow into another without hardly rest. (PLEASE NOTE: The order of the tracks stated on the CD is incorrect.)

The endless depth of Saft's and Morris' interplay, multiple analog synths and organs engaged in a at times vertiginous dance with the guitar, is here deeply complemented by Gustafsson's saxophone multiform saxophone, sustained by Pandi's at times restrained, at times virulent drumming. Here again one can sense the manifestation of the notion of glacial time theorized by Morris - a state of deep listening between musicians, when time is felt and understood by all, but does not need to be overtly stated. Everyone is experiencing the pulse, yet everyone's focus is on the larger arc of the music.

TRACKS

1. Pole Of Combustible Memory (29:35)

2. Bring Me My Desire And Arrows To Shoot (17:50)

3. Incendiary Axe (4:35)

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