Saxophonist OCHION JEWELL overcomes police brutality to create a border-blurring masterwork VOLK

The power of music to overcome adversity is rarely as evident or compelling as it is on VOLK, the second release from saxophonist Ochion Jewell. Born in the aftermath of a violent incident of police brutality, the album is a celebration of divergent folk music from around the globe, melded together in the unique voice of one of modern jazz's most promising and inventive young artists.

With VOLK, the Appalachian-born, California-educated, New York-based Ochion (pronounced "Ocean") overcomes one of the ugliest chapters in his life with a project that revels in the beauty of the world's varied musical traditions. He's joined on the album by the members of his longstanding quartet, all of whom met while students at CalArts and moved together to seek their fortunes in New York City: Moroccan pianist Amino Belyamani, Persian-American bassist Sam Minaie, and Pakistani-American drummer Qasim Naqvi. They're graced on two tracks by the distinctive voice and guitar of Benin-born Lionel Loueke, who also performs with the likes of Terence Blanchard and Herbie Hancock. Together they've created a brilliantly provocative, culture-spanning tour de force that should propel Jewell and his quartet to the forefront of modern jazz.

As stunning as the music on VOLK is, perhaps the most impressive aspect of the album is that it exists at all. Ochion was on his way home from the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn one early morning in 2011, smoking a hand-rolled cigarette at the train station and minding his own business, when he was approached by a group of men in street clothes. They proceeded to attack him, calling him by a different name and asking questions he couldn't answer. Thinking he was being mugged, Jewell offered the men the money from his pocket, but they refused and ultimately choked him into unconsciousness.

When he awoke in handcuffs, Ochion quickly realized that the men were plainclothes policemen who, upon realizing their mistake, suddenly produced an empty vial that had at one time contained crack cocaine. Jewell spent 27 hours in jail before a judge dismissed the charges. He subsequently was diagnosed with PTSD and anxiety disorder, sued the NYPD, and finally settled out of court. His story later became one of the chapters in Rolling Stone journalist Matt Taibbi's book about injustice in America, The Divide. "I wanted justice," Ochion says. "My goal was to get these guys' badges taken away. But the lawyer just laughed and said, 'That never happens. If you want justice in New York, go for money.'"

Determined to find something positive in this horrific experience, Jewell decided to use the settlement to create an ambitious work that he otherwise wouldn't have the resources to fully realize. The result is VOLK, which comprises four suites, each drawing inspiration from a separate region of the world. The album travels from Andalusia to Arabia, Nordic regions to North Africa, from Ukraine to the composer's own native Appalachia. These diverse influences collide into a stunning and evocative mélange of sound, a vibrantly-hued tapestry of intricate and explosive rhythms, propulsive grooves, and intoxicating hybrid melodies.

Far from a traditional "world music" concept or fusion experiment, VOLK instead reimagines each of these musics in equally wide-ranging contemporary musical settings: a traditional Nordic folk song suddenly erupts into a 5/4 rock song and then fragments into free improvisation ("Kun Mun Kultani Tulisi"); a Ukrainian folk melody is juxtaposed with John Adams-influenced contemporary classical minimalism ("Radegast"); Ewe drumming from Ghana is evoked through the entire band's respective instruments and recontextualized in a hard-bop 10-bar blues form ("The Master"). Despite his travails, Jewell obviously sees the connections that weave throughout the breadth of humanity.

"Folk music is not music for music's sake," Jewell says. "These traditions mean more than that. You have music that's been written for weddings and funerals and war and for when a boy becomes a man. This music seems to really mean something to the people and defines something about their culture, rather than just being music that you can sell tickets for. I think that's gotten a little lost in our own society."

He discovered that fact first-hand while growing up in southeastern Kentucky, a region known for its rich musical tradition - a tradition that was all but invisible to Ochion. "Through what happened with the exploitation in the coal mines and more recently with drugs and bad education and economics, it seems like that culture isn't very alive. I had to go away from it to find it."

In addition to that musical setback, the county in which Jewell was raised - and at least a dozen counties surrounding it - were dry, and where there's no liquor there tends to be no music venues. The young saxophonist was fortunate to befriend Bruce Martin, an older jazz pianist who had played with many of the greats during his time in New York and became, as Jewell puts it, his "Obi-Wan Kenobi." Jewell went on to study classical saxophone at the University of Louisville before continuing his studies at CalArts, where he was mentored by Charlie Haden, Wadada Leo Smith, and Joe LaBarbera, among others and studied Persian Ney. World music was an integral part of the curriculum and became a passion shared by his future quartet-mates.

"I don't think there's a band out there that's as diverse as this one," Jewell says of the quartet, also featured on his 2011 debut, First Suite for Quartet. Moroccan-born Belyamani plays Gnawa and Berber music and, with Naqvi, formed the uncategorizable trio Dawn of MIDI. Naqvi's playing spans jazz, rock, electronica, and contemporary classical music, while Minaie has toured extensively with pianist Tigran Hamasyan and worked with artists such as Ravi Coltrane, John Ellis, Tootie Heath, and the Clayton/Hamilton Orchestra. All four studied with African Ewe master Alfred Ladzekpo and went on to form the Bedstuy Ewe Ensemble.

Jewell has played alongside mentors Charlie Haden and Joe LaBarbera, toured Europe and South America, and performed at PS1 (MOMA), the Alex Theater and REDCAT (L.A.) and the Palace Theater (Louisville).  He is an original member of the Pleasure Circus Band and a member of the BedStuy Ewe Ensemble, has toured with Travis Sullivan's Bjorkestra, and has performed on an episode of NBC's 30 Rock.

With a newfound, deeply personal insight into the police brutality that has found its way into too many headlines of late, Jewell felt not only inspired but responsible to create something monumental out of his own tragic experience. VOLK achieves that aim, revealing an open-eared masterwork that should propel him to the forefront of progressive jazz.

www.ochion.com

WAYNE WALLACE’S INTERCAMBIO EARNS GRAMMY NOMINATION FOR “BEST LATIN JAZZ ALBUM”

World-renowned trombonist, composer, arranger, and producer Wayne Wallace has earned a GRAMMY nomination for “Best Latin Jazz Album” for his CD Intercambio his tenth CD on the Patois label. The release, which topped the radio charts and earned rave reviews, is a soul-deep communion, an ongoing and never ending intra-family conversation between the extraordinarily rich African Diaspora cultures of the United States and Cuba (and various Caribbean cousins).  The project features The Wayne Wallace Latin Jazz Quintet with special guests.

This is the third Grammy nomination for “Best Latin Jazz Album” which The Wayne Wallace Latin Jazz Quintet has earned and the seventh time Wallace — a San Francisco native now splitting his time between the Bay Area and the Midwest where he’s a professor at Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music — has been on a GRAMMY nominated album.

“It’s an honor that distinguished peers feel that this recording is worthy of a Grammy nomination,” says Wallace.  “The Quintet would like to extend its thanks to the Academy and everyone who participated in the making of this project.”

In a career spanning four decades, Wallace has collaborated with a dazzling array of artists including Count Basie, Ray Charles, Joe Henderson, Carlos Santana, Lionel Hampton, Earth Wind & Fire, Sonny Rollins, Aretha Franklin, Tito Puente, Lena Horne, Stevie Wonder, John Lee Hooker, Earl “Fatha” Hines and cellist Jean Jeanrenaud. Wallace was a driving creative force behind some of the Bay area’s most creative ensembles, including the Machete Ensemble, and Anthony Brown’s Asian American Orchestra. One of his generation’s most eloquent trombonists, he’s been named in DownBeat polls as a leading force on the horn. Known to many as “The Doctor” for his production skills, Wallace earned a place in the 2015 DownBeat poll as a rising star producer.  He is also a lauded composer and educator. He heads up Patois Records, which has released a rapidly growing catalog of acclaimed CDs, and is on faculty at Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music.

The Grammy Awards ceremony will take place on Monday, February 15, 2016, in Los Angeles. For a complete list of nominees for the 58th annual GRAMMY Awards go to http://www.grammy.com/nominees.

photo by David Belove

Pianist Renee Rosnes Returns with Long-Awaited New Album, Written in the Rocks

Renee Rosnes takes a similarly intimate look at the wondrous sweep of the natural world on her new Smoke Sessions release, Written in the Rocks. Due out February 5, 2016, the album is built around an ambitious new suite inspired by the evolution of life on Earth, captured with a sense of awe and majesty.

A sense of discovery lies at the core of "The Galapagos Suite," which makes up the bulk of the recording and is named for the island chain that inspired Darwin's theory of evolution. From the origins of life in the ocean billions of years ago through the unearthing of the human ancestor known as "Lucy" to the recent discovery of Tiktaalik, one of the earliest animals to venture out of the sea and onto the land, the progress of evolution and our own ever-evolving understanding of it, serves to inspire Rosnes' compositional mind.

Discovery is also a key element of the music created by Rosnes and her bandmates. Saxophonist and flutist Steve Wilson, vibraphonist Steve Nelson, bassist Peter Washington and drummer Bill Stewart excavate the riches and mysteries from the pianist's gorgeous, densely layered compositions. "All of us have personal and musical relationships that have been growing for decades," Rosnes says. "As a band, we've developed a focused sound with a wide and nuanced palette of colors and rhythms. We play off of each other."

These colors prove ideal to paint the musical landscapes that Rosnes' writing evokes, spanning billions of years and monumental shifts in biological history. Her love of nature comes from far more personal origins, however: her childhood in the Pacific Northwest of Canada. "I've always felt inspired by nature," she explains.

"The infinite blue-green hues of coastal British Columbia are in my blood. My family's home sat at the bottom of a street that opened up into a deep ravine, and a half hour's drive from there, the city lights were dim enough to offer an astonishing view of the night sky," the pianist reminisces.

"Salty air, the smell of seaweed, the relentless pounding of waves, and the agreeable aroma of cedar - all of these provide me with spiritual nourishment and inspiration. To compose music about our planet's evolution was a stimulating concept and one brimming with possibilities."

The album begins with "The KT Boundary," a prologue for the mass extinction of the dinosaurs and most other life on the planet at the time. Rosnes' slowly-dawning piece focuses not on the cataclysm, but on the blossoming of new life in its wake. The instrumental layers reflect the layers of rock that reveal our geologic history. The joyous dance of Wilson's flute, Nelson's vibes and Rosnes' piano then evoke Darwin's "Galapagos," written, the composer says, to reflect the famed naturalist's "anticipation of exploration and sense of purpose of his journey."

Building at the outset from a single note to a complex chord, "So Simple A Beginning" depicts the origins of life, with Stewart's rippling, floating brushwork providing the backdrop for this shimmering ballad. The quarter-note motifs played by Rosnes and Washington on "Lucy From Afar" represent the first tentative footsteps of the 3-foot-tall Ethiopian Australopithecus, one of our first known ancestors to walk on two legs. The title track follows, with a searching intro duet by Rosnes and Nelson that captures the wonder to be found "Written In The Rocks" of tectonic plates, fossils, volcanic rock, cave paintings and even the Rosetta Stone, through which, Rosnes points out, "we continue to learn about our species and the planet."

Tracing Tiktaalik's path from sea to land, "Deep in the Blue" represents those two worlds through a pair of interwoven melodies. "Cambrian Explosion" concludes the suite by sonically describing the sudden burst of life that gave rise to most of the species alive today. As Rosnes describes the piece, "I musically characterized the event with a spiky, atonal line that gains momentum. The focus bounces from one instrument to another, ending in a collective improvisation."

The album closes with two more Rosnes originals unrelated to the suite, though the second was inspired by a discovery no less incredible, if far more personal. "From Here To A Star" looks up from the Earth to the heavens, with a stargazing melody built on the harmony of Irving Berlin's "How Deep Is The Ocean." Finally, "Goodbye Mumbai" recalls Rosnes' first visit to India in 2013, after discovering back in 1994, that her biological mother was of Punjabi heritage.

In discussing her inspiration for this important and rewarding set of music, Rosnes quotes Picasso: "The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place: from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider's web." On Written in the Rocks, those emotions pour forth from the natural world to resonant and lushly detailed compositions realize through expressive, vital playing by a profoundly connected quintet. And it only took a few short billion years to get here.

"Written in the Rocks" was recorded live in New York at Sear Sound's Studio C

on a Sear-Avalon custom console at 96KHz/24bit and mixed to ½" analog tape

using a Studer mastering deck. Available in audiophile HD format.

  

Renee Rosnes · Written in the Rocks

Smoke Sessions Records · Release Date: February 5, 2015

Trombonist Matthew Hartnett Pays Tribute to New Orleans Brass and Gospel Roots on Debut Album, Southern Comfort

Though he's based in Brooklyn, trombonist/composer Matthew Hartnett is a southern boy at heart. Those roots are unearthed on Hartnett's debut album, Southern Comfort, to be released on February 19. Born in Lake Charles, Louisiana, and raised in Houston, Texas, Hartnett's music ranges from New Orleans brass band sounds and the gospel celebration of the southern church, to Houston's homegrown "chopped and screwed" sound and the smooth soul that has landed him on stages with the likes of Talib Kweli, Lauryn Hill, Robert Glasper and Kirk Franklin.

"All the things that made me the musician that I am are derived from the south," Hartnett says. "Southern Comfort embodies my style and music in words."

Joining Hartnett on the album is a skilled band made up of the cream of the trombonist's first-call colleagues. Sharing the frontline with him are several members of "#TeamHornSection," the franchised line-up of crack horn players (with a branch based in Europe as well) that can deliver sharp playing and impressive dance moves on demand. Propelling them is a deeply funky rhythm section featuring keyboardist Ondrej Pevic, bassist Dmitri Gorodetsky, guitarist (and fellow Lake Charles native) James Lewis, and drummer Adam Jackson.

The precision of that band is shown off to full effect on a tune like "No Patience," which Hartnett suggests could also bear the alternate title "How I Feel About New York." The song's frenetic pace and anxious, stuttering rhythms capture the metropolis' vigorous energy at its most alluring, but Hartnett hasn't always found the adjustment from the friendlier, more laid-back south to be an easy one. He traces that tension, and the breadth of his journey, throughout Southern Comfort.

"Culturally, it's completely night and day," Hartnett says of the contrast between his two home cities. "Everything in Houston is easy and comfortable; there's not much struggle going on. In New York, you have to fight every second and money drives everything, but in the south the culture is more about family. What I like about Brooklyn is the opportunity to be around a bunch of other young, progressive, cultured black people."

Hartnett originally picked up the trombone in 6th grade band. Originally attracted to the clarinet, peer pressure necessitated a switch when he found himself surrounded by girls in the band room. After making his way to the more testosterone-heavy low brass section, he quickly established himself as first chair trombonist, a position he maintained throughout his school years. Hartnett continued his music studies at Texas Southern University, where he was a proud member of the renowned Ocean of Soul marching band. Those days are commemorated in the muscular "Pump and Drive," whose title refers to one of the band's signature drill moves.

Unlike many of his peers, Hartnett wasn't obsessed with music as a kid. As he says, "I wasn't a music geek growing up; I was an athlete and kind of a thug. When my colleagues were 16 they were learning about Miles Davis and Charlie Parker. I didn't know nothing about that stuff. I knew about football, I knew about the streets, and I listened to Swishahouse."

For the uninitiated, Swishahouse is a North Houston record label dedicated to the city's "chopped and screwed" hip-hop sound, innovated by DJ Screw and characterized by slowed-down tempos and skipped beats. Southern Comfort closes with a sharp turn into screwed music with "Da Crib," featuring samples from some of Hartnett's favorite songs and vocals by LaChrisha Brown. "That track is probably not for everybody," Hartnett allows, "but if you're from Houston you're gonna know what's up when that track come on."

On the flip side of Hartnett's upbringing is his dedication to the church, which is the source of several compositions. "I Surrender All" opens the album with some deeply felt testifying on trombone, accompanied only by organ. The robust grooves of "Thursday Night" were inspired by Houston's citywide church rehearsal night. "If you're a working musician in Houston, on Thursday night you're busy," Hartnett laughs.

"New Sun Light Lake Charles" is named for the church Hartnett attended in the city of his birth, where he spent his summers growing up. Both it and "Glory Glory," a compendium of gospel melodies set to a brass band beat, reflect the second line rhythms of New Orleans. While the Crescent City is on the opposite side of the state from Lake Charles, Hartnett didn't have to travel far to glean its influence: both before and especially after Hurricane Katrina, many New Orleanians relocated to Houston, bringing their brass band culture with them.

"If you go to Dallas or Austin you're not going to ask for gumbo or crawfish or étouffée," Hartnett says. "That doesn't exist anywhere in Texas except Houston. All the things that you know and love as a product of Louisiana you can get in Houston. That's my comfort zone."

From the time he landed his first professional gig in a Houston nightclub, Hartnett quickly established himself as one of the go-to sidemen for artists traveling through the city. He carried that reputation with him when he relocated to New York City in 2010, and has since accompanied countless R&B, gospel, and hip-hop superstars. "In and Out" shows off his more soulful side, in the musical sense; in the personal sense, he bares his soul on "She's in Spain" and "Summer 2011," which movingly chart his relationship with his now ex-wife.

Southern Comfort features an adept band playing a wide range of styles, but Hartnett wasn't looking to show off his diversity, he insists. "That's always been my musical preference. I guess it's just in me. We tend to gravitate toward things that resonate with us, and from gospel and Negro spirituals to R&B, that music resonates with me. I feed the music and the music feeds me." 

Matthew Hartnett · Southern Comfort

D2LAL MMC · Release Date: February 19, 2016

www.MatthewHartnett.com

BLUE NOTE RELEASES BENEFIT ALBUM "DETROIT JAZZ CITY"

Blue Note Records has announced the release of Detroit Jazz City, a compilation album that simultaneously spotlights the past and present of one of America’s great jazz cities while also serving as a benefit album for the organization Focus: HOPE. All proceeds from the album will be donated to Focus: HOPE to aid in their on-going pursuit of intelligent and practical solutions to the problems of hunger, economic disparity, inadequate education, and racial divisiveness in Southeastern Michigan. 

Detroit Jazz City was produced by one of Detroit’s native sons, Blue Note Records president Don Was. Was assembled the album by selecting catalog tracks by Detroit jazz legends from the Blue Note vaults, and alternating them with new recordings that he produced featuring many of the city’s current jazz elite including vocalist Sheila Jordan (who recorded her debut album Portrait of Sheila for Blue Note in 1962), bassist Marion Hayden, saxophonist James Carter, guitarist Spencer Barefield, and the recently departed trumpeter Marcus Belgrave whose beautiful track “Lottie The Body’s Mood” is available today on streaming services ahead of the album’s release. The new recordings were made in the lead up to the 2012 Concert of Colors where the artists were featured as part of the festival’s long-standing Don Was Detroit All-Star Revue.

The catalog tracks on Detroit Jazz City represent not only well-known Detroit jazz artists like Joe Henderson, Donald Byrd and Elvin Jones who left Detroit to become pacesetters on the New York City jazz scene, but also less famous musicians like the pianist Kenny Cox, who after spending several years in NYC in the mid-1960s returned home to Detroit where he remained a fixture of the local scene as a performer, professor, WDET radio personality and founder of Strata Records.

“All of us at Blue Note Records are excited by this opportunity to shine a light on the rich musical legacy of Detroit and on Focus: HOPE who have done so much to help the city's less fortunate residents,” says Was. “The generosity of everyone involved—from the musicians to the Universal and Capitol Music Groups—makes a very powerful statement about the potential of great music to impact lives on a grass roots level.”

The track listing for Detroit Jazz City is as follows:

Marion Hayden – The Uncrowned King

Kenny Cox – You

James Carter – Many Blessings

Joe Henderson – Mode for Joe

Marcus Belgrave – Lottie The Body’s Mood

Elvin Jones – Reza

Spencer Barefield – Ghost Dancers

Donald Byrd – French Spice

Sheila Jordan – Sheila’s Blues

ABOUT FOCUS: HOPE

Focus: HOPE is a nationally recognized civil and human rights organization founded in 1968 after the Detroit riots. Throughout the years, Focus: HOPE has developed numerous programs in its efforts to overcome racism, poverty and injustice, including food, career training, and community development programs. Through Focus: HOPE, thousands of individuals – especially women and minorities — have achieved financial independence. For more information, visit www.focushope.edu.

Drummer ROBBY AMEEN Delivers Cutting Edge Mixture of High-Energy Afro-Cuban, Funk & Post-Bop Jazz Reinvents Traditions on DAYS IN THE NIGHT

Grammy® Award-winning drummer Robby Ameen's latest release, Days in the Night features his all-star working band, tenor saxophonists Troy Roberts and Bob Franceschini, trombonist Conrad Herwig, pianist Manuel Valera and bassists Lincoln Goines and Yunior Terry. On Days in the Night the band lays down a mixture of high-energy, cutting-edge Afro-Cuban, funk and post-bop jazz that smoothly blends together to create a unique and eclectic sound. Even with these varying genres wrapped into one, the band never looses its roots in preserving the tradition of Afro-Cuban and Latin music - consistently paying homage to the rhythms that have shaped its history.

 Also participating as an invited guest is Ameen's longtime employer, Ruben Blades, taking us on a journey of guaguanco, salsa and timba jazz. The band's lengthy and wide history of playing together allows them to move and react through a variety of genres while still retaining the focus and understanding of a group sound. The cohesiveness of the band is one to marvel considering the polyrhythmic tendencies of each player with every musician contributing brilliantly to the overall tight sound. Most of the repertoire consists of Ameen's original compositions and arrangements, incorporating the many styles and influences he has absorbed as a sideman for such diverse artists as Ruben Blades, Jack Bruce, Dizzy Gillespie, Dave Valentin, Paul Simon and Eddie Palmieri. Meanwhile he has grown as a composer and arranger through the experience of leading his own bands over the last fifteen years.

The album also includes several duets between Robby and Troy Roberts exploring the freedom in the pairing of sax and drums while playing over interesting form-based arrangements. Days in the Night is a record that lives up to the realization that progressive jazz can go into so many different directions as long as the integrity of its roots are still respected, that categories are less relevant than ever before, and that one can be free to use all of one's listening and playing experiences to go beyond preconceived labels.

Ameen will be performing music from Days in the Night at Club Bonafide on Saturday, December 12. Ameen will be joined by the same band that appears on the album for two sets at 8:00 and 10:30pm.

Robby Ameen has lived in New York City since the early '80s and has established a recording career stretching from Dizzy Gillespie to Paul Simon, while maintaining a more than 20-year relationship with Latin icon Ruben Blades as a member of Seis del Solar. Although he is of Lebanese origin, Ameen is best known for the unique and powerful Afro-Cuban jazz style he has developed. Growing up in New Haven, Connecticut, Ameen was able to take advantage of his proximity to New York City by going to clubs and hearing many of the great jazz masters at a very young age. At the same time, he was involved in the local jazz and Latin scene, as well as later attending Yale University, where he received a Bachelor's degree in literature. His jazz roots were strongly influenced by his studies with the great Ed Blackwell in high school, while in college he studied classical percussion with the renowned Fred Hinger. As a leader, Ameen wrote, arranged, and produced the album Days in the Life, and as a co-leader has recorded three records with the "El Negro and Robby Band" alongside drummer Horacio "el Negro" Hernandez. He helped found the Latin-jazz power trio "Overproof," and also made two latin-jazz records with Seis del Solar.

Featured This Week On The Jazz Network Worldwide: Jazz Vocalist Lori Williams ~ Eclipse Of The Soul‏

Lori Williams is the lead vocalist of the Washington-based jazz ensemble, Lori Williams & Friends, and a featured vocalist on The Saltman Knowles Group, The Blackbyrds, Allyn Johnson and Divine Order, Sherry Winston and Collaboration CDs. She has taught music in Washington, D.C. Public Schools since 1995. Currently, Lori is the Director of Vocal Music and former Music Department Chairperson at Wilson Senior High School.

Ms. Williams has directed several choirs, including the National Diamond Girls Jazz Choir (performing for the Inauguration Ceremony for President George Bush); the Sagamihara Christian Fellowship Gospel Choir in Japan; the Fort Foote Baptist Church Gospel Choir in Fort Washington, Maryland; Carmody Hills Baptist Church Children's Choir in Capitol Heights, Maryland; and the Bethlehem Baptist Church Gospel Choir in Washington, D.C.

She has performed with many nationally-known recording artists, including David Archuleta, Regina Belle, George Duke, Slide Hampton, Stanley Jordan), Ben E. King, Maysa, Phil Perry, The Sherelles, Bobby Vee and The Vees, Angela Winbush, and Vesta Williams. She has also done extensive studio recording and commercial work. She has toured and taught vocal jazz workshops annually in Europe (most recently in Austria, Germany, Slovakia, Switzerland, Russia and Ukraine).

Ms. Williams has been seen in live musical presentations of "Meet Me at the Cafe" and "The Scenic Route" at the Jack Guidone Theatre in Washington, DC. She has also showcased her acting and singing talents in "The All Night Strut," "Cool Papa’s Party,” “Isn't It Romantic,” and "Ladies Swing The Blues: A Jazz Fable" (receiving a Helen Hayes Nomination for Best Female Lead in a Musical) at MetroStage Theatre in Virginia. Most recently, Lori performed in "Bessie's Blues" receiving rave reviews.  She is scheduled to appear in "Shake Loose" (also at MetroStage) in January 2016. 

Lori Williams has released two CDs - Healing Within and Eclipse of the Soul.  She is working on her third CD - Behind the Smiles - to be released in 2016. 

Visit THE JAZZ NETWORK WORLDWIDE "A GREAT PLACE TO HANG" at: http://www.thejazznetworkworldwide.com/?xg_source=msg_mes_network

Jaimeo Brown Transcendence's Work Songs Fuses Jazz, Hip Hop, and Blues on 12 Sample-Heavy Original Tracks

At a time where it feels like history is repeating itself and the world has lost its way, drummer, composer, educator and activist Jaimeo Brown asks, "What is important?" For Brown, the answer is to tell the unheard stories in the name of those who need them. To tell the stories of life and the human experience. To tell the stories of the forgotten: to honor the workers and the music of their lives. February 12, 2016 marks the release of Work Songs, the second installment in the Jaimeo Brown Transcendence series. "Work Songs represents us," Brown explains. "It's our human journey of transcending the difficult."

Jaimeo Brown Transcendence is the product of long-time collaboration between Brown and co-producer/guitarist Chris Sholar (who won a GRAMMY® Award for his work on Kanye West and Jay-Z's Watch the Throne). Both emerging from a generation that appreciates the jazz in hip-hop, the artists with whom this duo has collaborated with speaks for itself. Brown, as drummer, has sat behind the skins for Stevie Wonder, Carlos Santana, Q-Tip, Carl Craig, Kenny Garrett, Geri Allen, and Bobby Hutcherson, among others. Sholar's work as guitarist and producer has spanned the likes of Beyonce, Kanye West, Jay-Z, Frank Ocean, A Tribe Called Quest, Robert Glasper, D'Angelo, Just Blaze, Common, Dr. Dre and more.

The digital tapestry that birthed Work Songs also hosts several contributors: Jaleel Shaw and JD Allen on alto and tenor saxophone, respectively; legendary soul and blues vocalist Lester Chambers; the Gee's Bend Quilters (who were the central focus of Jaimeo Brown Transcendence's debut album), and rising star keyboardists BIG YUKI and James Francies.

More than just music, Jaimeo Brown Transcendence is a movement, a moment, and an imperative: home to a variety of collaborators and contributors, from different eras and across the globe. Work Songs is a call to action, a call to transcend: transcend traditional limits of creativity; transcend oppression; transcend to come together through the essential humanity that unites us. Work Songs samples the unknown laborer, the jailhouse, the coal miner, gandy dancer, and stonemason. The album resonates with echoes of protest and rhythms of a call to freedom.

Borne of oppression and sung in conditions of hardship, the music is visceral but inherently uplifting. It weaves the present through the past to the future, teaching us how to transcend an immediate suffering through strength and mutual support. "The music of Transcendence, on a social scale, allows us to reach out to communities and help restore culture and identity. Work Songs tells powerful stories of perseverance and human ingenuity," explains Brown. "Tales of enduring communities through song, from African-American slaves to the stonemasons of Japan. These songs paint a picture of struggle we still feel today."

In search of new sounds (which includes sampled sounds of construction outside of Brown's own apartment), Work Songs deftly weaves together the acoustic and the digital, connecting jazz and classic blues with contemporary rock, hip-hop and electronic music.

"My goal is to create something that feels good, is soulful and speaks to hearts. Something spiritual and moving," says Brown of his creative process. "I hope that people will be moved in the way I was when creating it."

Through an exploration of differing global "scenes" (as Brown refers to the tracks), Work Songs depicts the tale of the human condition, that which make us all the same. The album is sonic cinema. "For Mama Lucy" is a powerful intersection between blues, rock and jazz. The track prominently features a sample of Leroy Grant, a prison inmate from the Parchman Farm Prison in Mississippi in 1959, grieving over a sick family member, singing the multiple emotions associated with love and death. The accompanying video juxtaposes Grant's cry and a driving guitar riff with sensory-blowing visuals. Flashing images of oppression and injustice, which echo several overarching themes of Jaimeo Brown Transcendence, overwhelm the video's protagonist.

"Be So Glad" showcases the divergent musical influences that typify Jaimeo Brown Transcendence. It at once exhibits the soulful-hip hop influence that underpins the group, highlighting also their drum and bass influences. The sample sounds workers using hoes in fields under a hot sun. The emotional chant repeats, the refrain lifting and falling with each effort.

"Safflower" imagines a young Japanese boy listening to records in his basement, discovering a cultural tradition of another lifetime, and celebrating it in his own time. The song also pays tribute to the resilience of a country surviving the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster.

Jaimeo Brown Transcendence was born when the drummer connected with JD Allen and Chris Sholar while in search for new forms of musical expressions. With an MPC salvaged from the garbage, the group sampled songs from the Gee's Bend Quilters in Alabama for their debut eponymous album. The rest of the project grew organically from there and continues to flourish.

"When recording, our aspiration is always to marry art, history and technology so Transcendence can live as a music and movement that speaks to tomorrow, as well as yesterday," explains Brown. "We created the album Work Songs to explore the interaction between work and music. It's fascinating to see the variety of ways that music and work actually weave together."

Brown's view of the world is one of togetherness. His life, like his work, is a patchwork of people, cultures and examples of the great human potential for acceptance and integration. His early years were spent living on a Native American reservation in Arlee, Montana, a community in which the Native American voice was an ever-present part of the social dialogue. Later, as a teen amidst the aimless youth and gang culture of the Bay Area, Brown discovered multiculturalism within a west coast hip-hop culture shared and celebrated by a broad group of minorities. Inspired equally by the beats and samples of J Dilla, Dr. Dre, and DJ Premier, and the raw eloquence of John Coltrane, Miles Davis and Art Blakey, he found shelter in creation: the epicenter of his spiritual awakening.

2013 marked the international debut of Jaimeo Brown: a fearless renegade; an artist who seeks new pathways for personal musical expression; an artist who honors a deep and broad lineage of musical and cultural traditions. With the release of Transcendence on Motéma Music, the drummer launched an international career-playing festivals including The Love Supreme Festival and London Jazz Festival-and garnered critical acclaim, earning a spot on year end lists for NPR, The Los Angeles Times, DownBeat, and more. Shortly after the release of the album, Jaimeo Brown Transcendence collaborated with eminent producers Carl Craig and Q-Tip to produce a promotional single with a radical recasting of "Mean World," one of Transcendence's singles.

  

Jaimeo Brown Transcendence · Work Songs

Motéma Music · Release Date: February 12, 2016

JaimeoBrown.com

19-Year-Old Jazz Vocalist Ira Hill Releases "Tomorrow" to Rave Reviews

Even as the title of "Tomorrow"—the debut album from Phoenix's Ira Hill—hints at a bright future for the sensational 19-year-old jazz vocalist, it pays its dues to the past by means of an attentive and eclectic set list. In spite, if not also because of Hill's gloriously extroverted vocalese, the album comes across as a vividly personal journey. Hill's tender delivery is much more mature than his years, ensuring that "Tomorrow" is certain to invite a new generation of enthusiasts to appreciate the genre, while impressing scores of seasoned musicians and jazz aficionados. Sample Tomorrow's tracks at cdbaby.com/cd/irahill12. View video: "Billie's Bounce."

"Ira Hill possesses all the ingredients that precede a rise to stardom as a jazz vocalist," said internationally acclaimed jazz, blues and symphony pops vocal luminary, Dr. Dee Daniels. "The fact that he is only 19-years-old could lead one to believe in reincarnation. The composer, educator and mentor continued excitedly, "I suggest you keep your eyes and ears on Ira to witness his journey to global recognition!"

The album’s core trio pianist John Proulx, bassist Kevin Axt and drummer Dave Tull gives young Hill all the space both he and his listeners need to luxuriate in the breadth of his sound. With the trio alone, he turns evergreens like “My Funny Valentine” and “Tomorrow's Another Day” even greener. The hallmark of any jazz singer is not only the way in which he lays out the melodies, but also the way in which he infuses the lyrics with soul. At a tender 19, Hill navigates a familiar songbook as if it were his own, singing as one who means every word. Balancing sophistication and fun, he brings his all to every tune with panache, gratitude and always with a smile.

But it’s really in “Afro Blue,” the album’s slick opener, that one gets the immediacy of his feel for groove and atmosphere. Integrated seamlessly into the trio, along with vibraphonist Craig Fundyga, percussionist Alex Acuna and reedman Doug Webb, Hill buffs every edge until it fits flush with the next.

At every turn of "Tomorrow," one can count on a rich, emotional directness in Hill’s singing. He incorporates several timeless favorites into the album's repertoire, including an uplifting “Billie’s Bounce;” the scintillating staccato of “Cloudburst” in which he duets with The Manhattan Transfer’s Cheryl Bentyne; a swinging “I’ll Remember April” and bright “You’ve Proven Your Point,” which ends the album on a Latin vibe, paying tribute to Ira’s childhood, spent partly south of the border. In all of these, one encounters Ira’s gifts for rhythm and tonal color in spades. Tomorrow is certain to be a much-appreciated holiday gift-giving favorite!

"Ira Hill is coming out of the gate strong. Just in his first week at radio, his CD has hit the Most Added Charts at CMJ and Jazzweek, including the Biggest Gainer Chart," hailed music promoter Kari Gaffney. "Tomorrow" is showing significant promise among the crowded field of jazz releases primed for the end of year push at radio." Most agreeable, Hill's debut album is certain to be a much-appreciated holiday gift-giving favorite.

About the artist:

Born 1996 in Bakersfield, California, Ira spent his earliest years shuttling between the United States and Mexico, before settling in Phoenix, Arizona at the age of seven. His father, a jazz enthusiast, introduced him to the Motown greats on which he, by age 10, Ira would be cutting his teeth. This was the foundation for Hill's inevitable future His ever-supportive father brought 14-year-old Ira to hear Grammy-nominated Count Basie vocalist Dennis Rowland in concert. Before the show, dad introduced Ira to Rowland, who, upon discovering that Ira wanted to sing, gave him an opportunity to perform on stage. 

He sang the Temptations hit “My Girl” with Rowland's jazz big band. The performance earned the youth a standing ovation, and opened his eyes to a wholly new possibility of self-expression. After experimenting with other music genres, Hill finally landed smoothly in jazz. During this period of intense artistic development, he benefited immeasurably from mentors Rowland and Grammy-nominated pianist and vocalist Judy Roberts, another fixture of the Phoenix scene.

In addition to vocalists, Ira has learned much by proxy from the likes of Lee Morgan, Dexter Gordon and Bill Evans—musicians whose art allowed Ira to infuse his own musicianship with an instrumental flavor. This is most obvious in his scatting, which at once distinguishes him from his bandmates and humbles him as an equal improviser among them.

Ira Hill credits the time graciously given to him by greats who genuinely care about the up-and-coming generation of stars, and who instilled in him the confidence to brave his first solo. To that end, it was while participating in a Los Angeles jazz workshop that young Ira fatefully met Cheryl Bentyne of The Manhattan Transfer, who was so impressed by his singing that she invited him back to L.A. to lay down this full studio album, which she also produced. Hill has crafted a consummately individual statement that speaks true, sings truer, and promises to be the springboard to a prosperous career.

The new album is called "Tomorrow," and with Ira leading the way, that’s just what we have to look forward to from this young and very talented singer. To learn more about the sensational young vocalist, please visit http://www.irahill.com.

NEW RELEASES: GERARD PRESENCER – GROOVE TRAVELS; DAVID SERERO - THE CROONER BARITONE: THE FRANK SINATRA CLASSICS;MARK BLAKE - NICE AND EASY: FRANK SINATRA 100TH BIRTHDAY TRIBUTE

GERARD PRESENCER – GROOVE TRAVELS

Groove Travels is the highly anticipated new album from British trumpeter, arranger and composer Gerard Presencer, featuring the Danish Radio Big Band. Groove Travels is set to be a defining album both for Gerard and for new Big Band conceptions. This new release is without doubt his most ambitious and well-executed solo recording to date and will happily stand alongside the leading voices in contemporary big band music. The idea for this album first took root when Gerard moved to Copenhagen to take a trumpet seat in the band. As Gerard explains: ‘It’s taken five or six years for me to get this album together which is great for a project like this, because I got to know everybody, we play together all the time, so the tunes that I’ve chosen are specifically chosen for the musicians that are playing them’. Over the past 25 years Gerard Presencer has carved out a formidable reputation as one of the most respected trumpeters on the European scene. He exploded onto the international scene, aged 18, when US3 asked him to play the solo part on Blue Note’s Cantaloupe Island (re-imagined as Cantaloop Flip-Fantasia), that became one of the biggest selling jazz records of the 1990s. Since then, he has performed with a who’s who of international jazz artists, and has developed a career as an educator, arranger and composer.

DAVID SERERO - THE CROONER BARITONE: THE FRANK SINATRA CLASSICS

French actor and baritone, David Serero, releases The Frank Sinatra Classics. Serero has received international recognition and critical acclaim from all over the world. At only 34 years old, this fresh performer has already performed more than 800 concerts and performances throughout the world. Some of these have been broadcast on worldwide televisions totalizing an average audience of 30 millions of viewers and 18 millions on radios. Performing on the most prestigious worldwide stages and for the most important occasions, this true Show-Man and Entertainer brings a fresh approach to the Opera world by giving more than 80 concerts per year, during which he brings all his eclectic repertoire (Opera, Broadway, World Music, Jazz and Comedy), resulting as unique shows. 

MARK BLAKE - NICE AND EASY: FRANK SINATRA 100TH BIRTHDAY TRIBUTE

Mark Blake releases Nice and Easy album as a tribute to Frank Sinatra's 100th birthday. “ I wanted to celebrate his birthday in a special way," says Mark Blake. "Sinatra performed many great songs so I purposely picked some of the songs that are not necessarily mainstream but I feel they represent his unique style and tell a good story," says Blake. A portion of the proceeds from the Nice and Easy album sales will be donated to a charity that Sinatra often supported. “It has been known that Sinatra quietly donated to several charities. To truly celebrate his birthday, I feel it’s necessary to give a portion of the sales to a charity he supported," says Blake.

Judy Garland Celebrated With Universal Music Enterprises Remastered Vinyl Reissues of Three Classic Albums

Judy Garland is one of America's cherished show business icons, an international superstar who went from singing her way into our hearts as a child star in The Wizard of Oz crooning "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" to winning a juvenile Academy Award, a Golden Globe, a special Tony and numerous GRAMMYs® during the course of her more than 40 years as a performer up until her death at the age of 47 in June, 1969.

Universal Music Enterprises celebrates Judy Garland's incredible legacy with a trio of remastered, 180-gram vinyl reissues of her greatest albums, including two-LP versions of both the 1965 "Live" at the London Palladium with daughter Liza Minnelli and the 1961 Judy at Carnegie Hall, along with a single disc of the 1955 studio album Miss Show Business are all available now.

The 50th anniversary edition of "Live" at the London Palladium features Garland and daughter Minnelli performing separately and together on two discs, joining forces on "Hello, Dolly!," "Together (Wherever We Go)," "When the Saints Go Marching In," "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" and several medleys.  The new two-disc vinyl version of the album, which originally peaked at #41 on the Billboard 200 after its 1965 release, includes new liner notes written by Liza Minnelli.

Originally released in 1965, Judy at Carnegie Hall will also be reissued as two, remastered 180-gram vinyl discs, with new liner notes penned by Tony Award-winning playwright Terrence McNally (Kiss of the Spider Woman, Ragtime).  This classic album captures Garland's performance at New York's fabled Carnegie Hall on April 23, 1961, dubbed "the greatest night in show business history," marking her remarkable comeback from health problems. The album was a cultural phenomenon, spending 73 weeks on the Billboard charts, including 13 weeks at #1, eventually certified gold, winning four GRAMMY® Awards, including Best Album of the Year (the first live recording and first female release to do so), Best Female Vocal Performance, Best Album Cover and Best Engineered Album. In 2003, it was one of 50 recordings chosen by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry.

In addition, Miss Show Business will be reissued in a remastered, single-disc 180-gram vinyl 60th Anniversary edition with new liner notes contributed by Judy's daughter Lorna Luft. This studio album, originally released in 1955 on Capitol Records, peaked at #5 on the Billboard 200, and features definitive versions of classics like "Rockabye Your Baby With a Dixie Melody,"  "After You've Gone," and "Over the Rainbow."

Judy Garland and Liza Minnelli, "Live" at the London Palladium

A1 Overture  

A2 The Man That Got Away (Judy Garland)

A3 The Travelin' Life (Liza Minnelli)

A4 Gypsy In My Soul (Liza Minnelli) 

A5 Hello, Dolly! (Liza Minnelli/Judy Garland)

A6 Together (Liza Minnelli/Judy Garland)

B1 Medley (Liza Minnelli/Judy Garland)

B2 Who's Sorry Now (Liza Minnelli)

B3 Smile (Judy Garland)

B4 How Could You Believe Me When I Said I Love You When You Know I've Been A Liar All My Life (Liza Minnelli)

B5 What Now My Love (Judy Garland)      

C1 Medley (Liza Minnelli)

C2 Make Someone Happy (Judy Garland)

C3 Pass That Peace Pipe (Judy Garland)

C4 The Music That Makes Me Dance (Judy Garland)

C5 Medley: When The Saints Go Marching In / He's Got The Whole World In His Hands (Liza Minnelli/Judy Garland)     

D1 Never Will I Marry (Judy Garland)

D2 Encore: Swanee / Chicago / Over The Rainbow / San Francisco (Judy Garland)

Judy at Carnegie Hall

Overture:

A1a The Trolley Song

A1b Over The Rainbow

A1c The Man That Got Away

A2 When You're Smiling (The Whole World Smiles With You)           

Medley:

A3a Almost Like Being In Love

A3b This Can't Be Love

A4 Do It Again

A5 You Go To My Head 

A6 Alone Together              

B1 Who Cares (As Long As You Care For Me)

B2 Puttin' On The Ritz

B3 How Long Has This Been Going On

B4 Just You, Just Me

B5 The Man That Got Away

B6 San Francisco

B7 I Can't Give You Anything But Love

B8 That's Entertainment!  

C1 Come Rain Or Come Shine

C2 You're Nearer

C3 A Foggy Day

C4 If Love Were All

C5 Zing! Went The Strings Of My Heart

C6 Stormy Weather            

Medley:

D1a You Made Me Love You

D1b For Me And My Gal

D1c The Trolley Song

D2 Rock-A-Bye Your Baby With A Dixie Melody

D3 Over The Rainbow

D4 Swanee  

D5 After You've Gone 

D6 Chicago

Miss Show Business

A1 This Is The Time Of The Evening / While We're Young

A2 Medley: You Made Me Love You (I Didn't Want To Do It) / For Me And My Gal / The Trolley Song

A3 A Pretty Girl Milking Her Cow

A4 Rock-A-Bye Your Baby With A Dixie Melody

A5 Happiness Is A Thing Called Joe

B1 Judy At The Palace Medley: Shine On Harvest Moon / Some Of These Days / My Man / I Don't Care

B2 Carolina In The Morning

B3 Danny Boy 

B4 After You've Gone  

B5 Over The Rainbow

Tony Bennett and Bill Charlap Nominated for Grammy® Award in BEST TRADITIONAL POP VOCAL ALBUM for "THE SILVER LINING: The Songs of Jerome Kern"

Photo Credit: Kelsey Bennett; Tony Bennett and Bill Charlap Nominated for Grammy(R) Award in BEST TRADITIONAL POP VOCAL ALBUM for "THE SILVER LINING: The Songs of Jerome Kern"

18-Time Grammy Winner, Tony Bennett and jazz pianist Bill Charlap, were nominated for a Grammy in the Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album category for their jazz piano album, The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern.  Released in September 2015, the album debuted at #1 on Billboard's Traditional Jazz Album charts and has received widespread critical acclaim. It was the first recording Bennett released after the overwhelming success of his collaborative effort with Lady Gaga, "CHEEK TO CHEEK."  Bennett was also inducted into DOWNBEAT magazine's Hall of Fame and was named their top Male Vocalist of 2015.  Tony Bennett will celebrate his 90th Birthday next year on August 3rd.

Tony Bennett is the only artist to successfully bridge the worlds of pop music and jazz on an international scale for over 60 years. The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern becomes part of a timeless legacy of recordings that Bennett has done throughout his career that have embraced both genres, in particular the revered piano jazz albums that he recorded with the late Bill Evans in 1975 and 1977.  Tony has become synonymous with the pop/jazz connection and in recent years has been a mentor to contemporary artists such as Lady Gaga and the late Amy Winehouse in encouraging them to embrace jazz music.  With his 90th birthday less than a year away, The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern defines what makes Tony Bennett unique in the pantheon of great singers and is a testament to the legacy that he continues to create as a recording artist and influence in the music industry.

Over the course of his career, Kern composed more than 700 songs, creating musical elements used in more than 100 stage works, collaborating with the greatest lyricists and librettists of the era including P.G. Wodehouse, Oscar Hammerstein II, Dorothy Fields, Johnny Mercer, Ira Gershwin, E.Y. Harburg and many others on a seemingly limitless repertoire of classic songs including "Ol' Man River," "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man," "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes," "The Way You Look Tonight," "Long Ago and Far Away" and many more.

New York native Jerome Kern was a major force on Broadway and in Hollywood musicals in a career that spanned more than four decades. He expanded on earlier musical theater traditions, from vaudeville to operetta, to embrace new dance rhythms, syncopation and jazz progressions and helped invent the modern musical template. While many of his Broadway musicals and Hollywood musical films were contemporary smash hits, Kern is perhaps best remembered today through revivals of "Show Boat," one of his signature achievements.

In his liner notes for The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern, music historian Will Friedwald describes Kern as "...the key link between the great music of historical and contemporary classics, a direct connection between Brahms and Charlie Parker....a key architect of a uniquely American art form that would eventually take shape as musical theater....one of the founding fathers of a term that Tony Bennett later coined himself, 'the Great American Songbook.'"

"The idea of a Kern Songbook project was Tony's," writes Will Friedwald, "thereby placing Kern on the very short list of canonical composers (Rodgers & Hart, Harold Arlen, Duke Ellington, Irving Berlin, and Cy Coleman) who have been the beneficiaries of an entire album by Bennett. It was also Bennett's idea to create the album in collaboration with the remarkable Bill Charlap....who can also take a great song we all know by heart and make us feel like we've never heard it before."

With more than 700 Jerome Kern compositions to choose from, the set list for The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern is a distillation of essential highlights from a boundless catalog. With these interpretations of some of Jerome Kern's finest songs, Tony Bennett and Bill Charlap offer a definitive introduction to Kern's music while providing a deep understanding of the abiding and universal qualities of these songs.

Playing alongside Tony Bennett and Bill Charlap on The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern are pianist Renee Rosnes (on the piano duet pieces), Peter Washington (bass) and Kenny Washington (drums).  Unrelated, though sharing the same last name, Peter and Kenny have been performing with Bill Charlap for nearly two decades and pianist Renee Rosnes has been Charlap's life partner for close to 10 years.