Yo-Yo Ma And The Silk Road Ensemble Releases New Album Featuring Special Guests Including Rhiannon Giddens, Bill Frisell, Sarah Jarosz, Abigail Washburn, Gregory Porter And Others

The latest album by Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble will surprise and delight, with guest performers and imaginative sounds that transform the traditional musical landscape. Sing Me Home is the sixth album by the Grammy-nominated Silk Road Ensemble and its founding member and guiding light Yo-Yo Ma — available from Sony Music Masterworks on April 22, 2016.

                  

Sing Me Home is a companion album, developed and recorded alongside The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble, a documentary feature from Oscar® and Emmy-winning director Morgan Neville that tells the story of the Ensemble and Silkroad, its parent organization. The Music of Strangers is slated for theatrical release in June.

                  

Produced by Silk Road Ensemble member Johnny Gandelsman and Grammy Award winner Kevin Killen (U2, Kate Bush, Elvis Castello, David Bowie), the album examines the ever-changing idea of home, with original and traditional tunes composed or arranged by members of the Ensemble's unique collective of global artists. Each piece invites listeners to explore the "music of home" through the individual experiences of Ensemble members, many of whom are immigrants. The result is a compelling collection of innovative and deeply moving tributes to the rich cultural heritage of the Balkans, China, Galicia, India, Iran, Ireland, Japan, Mali, people of the Roma, Syria, and the United States.

                  

"Throughout the Silk Road Ensemble's travels and performances, we have come to understand the wealth of creative potential that exists when cultures intersect," says Yo-Yo Ma. "The music composed, arranged, and performed by Ensemble members for Sing Me Home demonstrates the power of curiosity, evolving tradition, and cultural exchange."

                  

In one example, the stunning voice of rising guest star Rhiannon Giddens, along with influences of music of the Roma, infuses the American folk tune "St. James Infirmary Blues" with a gripping intensity. On another track, improvisation by acclaimed guitarist Bill Frisell layers rich texture onto an enticing melodic conversation between shakuhachi (Japanese bamboo flute) and tabla (Indian percussion).

                  

Grammy-nominated singer Sarah Jarosz pays homage to the late Pete Seeger in an arrangement of the classic folk song "Little Birdie," featuring pipa (Chinese lute) and sheng (Chinese mouth organ). "Going Home" reinvents the wistful melody from the slow movement of Dvořák's "New World" symphony, transformed into a beloved spiritual by Paul Robeson. The song is interpreted in both Chinese and English by vocalist and banjo player Abigail Washburn and Ensemble member Wu Tong.

                  

From a haunting Irish march with renowned fiddler Martin Hayes to the musical realization of a Syrian village wedding, each track tells a unique story reflecting the artists' own passions.

                  

Sing Me Home saves one of the biggest surprises for last, closing with an exquisite interpretation of the pop standard "Heart and Soul" by the Ensemble with jazz vocalist Gregory Porter and — from Oscar®-winning 20 Feet from Stardom — two-time Grammy award-wining singer Lisa Fischer.

                  

Additional guest artists include Grammy-winning vocal octet Roomful of Teeth, Cristina Pato's dynamic Galician band Rustica, the world's most prominent Malian kora player Toumani Diabaté, and the great Indian sitarist Shujaat Khan, among other international icons and virtuosos.

                  

Eager to forge connections across cultures, disciplines, and generations, cellist Yo-Yo Ma founded the nonprofit organization Silkroad in 1998. Since 2000, the Silk Road Ensemble has welcomed more than 70 performers and composers from nearly 25 nations into what the Boston Globe has called "a kind of roving musical laboratory without walls." Through performances, the creation of new music, and recordings, the Ensemble is an inspirational musical collective that draws on the rich tapestry of each other's traditions to redefine classical music for 21st century audiences.

                  

"Every tradition is the result of successful invention," Yo-Yo Ma says in the documentary The Music of Strangers. "Human beings grow by being curious and receptive to what's around them. A lot of people are scared of change, and sometimes there's reason to be fearful. But if you can welcome change, you become fertile ground for development." Sing Me Home is a vivid musical realization of that philosophy.

                  

Sony Music Masterworks comprises Masterworks, Sony Classical, OKeh, Portrait, Masterworks Broadway and Flying Buddha imprints. For email updates and information please visit www.sonymusicmasterworks.com.

                  

Sing Me Home Tracklisting

1. Green (Vincent's Tune) (feat. Roomful of Teeth)

2. O'Neill's Cavalry March (feat. Martin Hayes)

3. Little Birdie (feat. Sarah Jarosz)

4. Ichichila (feat. Balla Kouyaté and Toumani Diabaté)

5. Sadila Jana (feat. Black Sea Hotel)

6. Shingashi Song (feat. Kaoru Watanabe)

7. Madhoushi (feat. Shujaat Khan)

8. Wedding (feat. Dima Orsho)

9. Going Home (feat. Abigail Washburn)

10. Cabaliño (feat. Davide Salvado, Anxo Pintos and Roberto Comesaña of Rustica)

11. St. James Infirmary Blues (feat. Rhiannon Giddens, Michael Ward-Bergeman and Reylon Yount)

12 If You Shall Retur...(feat. Bill Frisell)

13 Heart and Soul (feat. Gregory Porter and Lisa Fischer)

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Miles Davis: Two Special New Releases: MILES AHEAD - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack & EVERYTHING'S BEAUTIFUL, The Recordings of Miles Davis Reimagined by Grammy Award Winning Musician Robert Glasper

Columbia Records will commemorate the 90th birthday of globally renowned music innovator Miles Davis with the release of two very special new Miles Davis album projects:

                  

MILES AHEAD - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack will be available Friday, April 1. A cinematic exploration of the life and music of Miles Davis, the movie feature "MILES AHEAD" marks the directorial debut of Don Cheadle, who co-wrote the screenplay (with Steven Baigelman) and stars as the legendary musician in the film. 

                  

EVERYTHING'S BEAUTIFUL, reimagined interpretations of Miles Davis' music produced by Grammy Award winner Robert Glasper (who also served as coproducer of the MILES AHEAD soundtrack) with musical guest artists including Bilal, Illa J, Erykah Badu, Phonte, Hiatus Kaiyote, Laura Mvula, KING, Georgia Ann Muldrow, John Scofield and Ledisi, and Stevie Wonder. A visionary exploration of the music of Miles Davis, EVERYTHING'S BEAUTIFUL incorporates Davis' original recordings into new collaborative soundscapes and will be available Friday, May 27 (the day after Miles' 90th birthday). The Miles Davis track featuring Bilal "Ghetto Walkin", from the upcoming release 

                  

MILES AHEAD - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack explores the breadth and depth of Miles Davis' musical innovations, combining 11 highlights from the legendary trumpeter/composer/bandleader's Prestige and Columbia Records catalogs with original new compositions written and performed by Grammy Award-winning jazz/hip-hop artist Robert Glasper. Select new tracks on the soundtrack album include guest appearances by Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, rapper Pharoahe Monch and more. Both the CD and LP packages for MILES AHEAD - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack feature revelatory new liner notes penned by Don Cheadle.

                  

"We culled the library for every style Miles touched…looking for cues to bridge key moments, bring others into focus. The stuff a good score is supposed to do. Miles made it easier. His music is multi-faceted and score friendly," wrote Cheadle in his notes.

                  

For new and future fans, MILES AHEAD - Original Motion Soundtrack provides an ideal introduction to the music of Miles Davis. For seasoned aficionados of the influential 20th century musical pioneer, the album and film provide fresh perspectives and new insights into Miles' transformative musical and cultural genius.

                  

MILES AHEAD - Original Motion Soundtrack features 11 essential tracks spanning 1956 to 1981, select dialogue from the film featuring Cheadle in character, and five original compositions written, co-written, produced or performed exclusively for MILES AHEAD by Robert Glasper. These include "What's Wrong with That?" (a jam that closes the movie imagining Cheadle as Miles playing in the present day with guest performers Glasper, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Gary Clark, Jr. and Esperanza Spalding and Antonio Sanchez) and "Gone 2015," an end-credits song featuring guest verses from rapper Pharoahe Monch.

                  

The 2016 SXSW Festival in Austin, TX will premiere the long-awaited, critically acclaimed feature film "MILES AHEAD" on Wednesday, March 16th at 8:00pm at The Paramount Theatre.

                  

A special "MILES AHEAD" panel led by Don Cheadle, with NPR's Felix Contreras onboard as Moderator, will discuss the making of the film, along with the music, with intimate behind-the-scenes anecdotes provided by Erin Davis (son of Miles) and Vince Wilburn, Jr. (nephew of Miles). Additional panelists include Robert Glasper, who scored the film's soundtrack; Oscar-winning supervising sound editor, re-recording mixer and sound designer Skip Lievsay; and Keyon Harrold, a sought out trumpeter/producer/arranger/songwriter who performs with GRAMMY-winning group D'Angelo and The Vanguard, and is featured as the trumpet sound of Don Cheadle playing Miles Davis. The panel will take place on Thursday, March 17 at 12:30pm in ACC Room 18ABC, and will be open to Music, Film, Platinum and Gold badges, as well as Showcasing Artist wristbands.

                  

MILES AHEAD Film Trailer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssfTNCTVT5U

                  

EVERYTHING'S BEAUTIFUL is beautifully crafted collection produced by Robert Glasper, blending a diverse group of master takes and outtakes from across the incomparable Miles Davis Columbia catalog with an impressive lineup of contemporary artists and musicians to create original interpretations.

                  

"I didn't want to do just a remix record," Glasper noted when discussing the 11-song set. "My idea was to show how Miles inspired people to make new art." Realizing that "Miles didn't have one audience," Glasper recruited a legion of diverse guest artists to add to the magic of the project including familiar collaborators like R&B musicians Erykah Badu, Ledisi, Bilal and KING. They are joined by British soul singer-songwriter Laura Mvula; hip-hop producer Rashad Smith; Grammy-nominated Australian neo-soul quartet Hiatus Kaiyote, rapper/singer Phonte, rapper/producer Illa J; jazz guitarist John Scofield, who was in Miles Davis' band; and the legendary Stevie Wonder.

                  

"I am living in the spirit of Miles when I am doing what I'm doing because I am documenting my time period. I'm documenting what's around me. I'm documenting who I am now, where music is now," notes Glasper. "That's what this project is about. I wanted to do something where we can take some of Miles' ideas, shake them up, and try to show the influence of Miles and make new things. And that's the beauty of this whole album. The whole project is based on Miles, but it is based on Miles' vision, it's based on Miles' trumpet, it's based on Miles' voice, it's based on Miles' composition, it's based on Miles' influence, it's based on Miles' swag."

                  

Miles Davis is a rarity: a pioneering superstar who was constantly voyaging into new directions and genres with an ever changing cast of collaborators. Throughout his discography, sweeping change and innovation could happen based on who was in the studio and what they brought to his stunning musical vision. Few American artists have impacted popular music and culture in as broad and long-lasting a way as he did.

                  

By similar design, pianist/producer Robert Glasper has built a career out of a vibrant fusion of R&B, jazz and hip-hop. As the leader of the acoustic Robert Glasper Trio and the electronic Robert Glasper Experiment, he's pushed the boundaries of each genre he works in to their breaking point. This is the artist whose album, In My Element (2007), featured mashups of Herbie Hancock and Radiohead and tributes to rapper/producer J Dilla. 2013's acclaimed Black Radio featured collaborations with Erykah Badu, Ledisi, Lupe Fiasco, Yasiin Bey and other artists. Black Radio was also capped by a sprawling cover of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and won a Grammy Award for Best R&B Album. Most recently, Glasper scored for MILES AHEAD, the Miles Davis film directed by and starring Don Cheadle.

                  

EVERYTHING'S BEAUTIFUL is unlike any other in Davis' discography. From the familiar (riffs and passages within the catalog) to the obscure (samples of Miles' in-studio instructions spoken after false starts), Glasper has built something unique but still unquestionably Miles. The cover art was created by Francine Turk and integrates elements of Miles Davis' artwork. With the cover, Turk creates a visual that is similar to the idea of Robert Glasper taking fragments of Miles music and reinterpreting in a unique and modern way.

Born Miles Dewey Davis III on May 26, 1926 in Alton, Illinois, Miles grew up in East St. Louis, first learning trumpet at age 13. Graduating high school, he moved to New York in 1944 to study at the Juilliard School of Music, developing chops in technique and music theory before leaving Juilliard to become a full-time player on the New York jazz circuit, cutting his first records in 1945. One of the most revolutionary and influential musicians and recording artists of the 20th century, Miles Davis was in the vanguard of virtually every phase of the evolution of post-WWII American jazz, from be-bop to cool jazz to hard-bop to modal to the radical rock-funk-fusion which got him inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006. Miles Davis died on September 28, 1991, leaving the world an extensive catalog of unprecedented music that's forever timeless and groundbreaking. Trumpeter, bandleader and composer Miles Davis fronted some of the most formidable and adroit ensembles in musical history. Miles was the rarest of artists: an uncompromising avant-garde visionary, and transformative cultural icon (with a larger-than-life persona), who achieved both critical and commercial success. In 2008, Davis's 1959 masterpiece, Kind of Blue, was certified 4x platinum, solidifying its position as the top-selling jazz album of all-time. In December 2009, the United States House of Representatives passed a resolution on Kind of Blue's 50th anniversary "honoring the masterpiece and reaffirming jazz as a national treasure."

                  

Since 1960, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) has honored Miles Davis with eight Grammy Awards, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and three Grammy Hall of Fame Awards.

                  

Over the past twenty years, Miles and his music have been commemorated on a variety of critically-acclaimed box sets released through Columbia/Legacy, many of them winning Grammy Awards, charting in the Top 4 of the Billboard Jazz Album charts, and earning Jazz Reissue of the Year and other accolades in Down Beat magazine's Critics and Readers polls, among other accolades. 

                  

In September 2011, Columbia/Legacy launched the Miles Davis Bootleg Series with the release of Live In Europe 1967: The Bootleg Series Vol. 1. Miles Davis At Newport 1955-1975: The Bootleg Series Vol. 4 won JazzTimes' Readers Poll for 2015 Best Historical/Vault/Reissue, the fourth time that a box set in the critically-acclaimed, best-selling Bootleg Series topped the JazzTimes Readers Poll in this category. The set won the 2016 NAACP Image Award in the Outstanding Jazz Album category.

                  

Each of the first three releases in the Bootleg Series--Miles Davis Quintet – Live In Europe 1967: The Bootleg Series Vol. 1, Miles Davis Quintet – Live In Europe 1969: The Bootleg Series Vol. 2, and Miles At The Fillmore – Miles Davis 1970: The Bootleg Series Vol. 3--took home Best Historical/Vault/Reissue from JazzTimes readers.

                  

Miles Davis At Newport 1955-1975 was honored as the Reissues/Archive Album of the Year by the 2015 Jazzwise Albums of the Year Critics Poll. In previous years, the Miles Davis Bootleg Series Vol. 2 and Vol. 3 have won in this category.

               

MILES AHEAD - ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK

1.Miles Ahead           

2.Dialogue: "It takes a long time…" (*)

3.So What

4.Taylor Made - Taylor Eigisti

5.Dialogue: "Listen, you talk too goddam much…" (*)

6.Solea (excerpt)

7.Seven Steps To Heaven (edit)

8.Dialogue: "If you gonna tell a story…"(*)

9.Nefertiti (edit)

10.Frelon Brun                      

11.Dialogue: "Sometimes you have these thoughts…"(*)

12.Duran (take 6) (edit)

13.Dialogue: "You own my music…"(*)

14.Go Ahead John (part two C)

15.Black Satin (edit)

16.Dialogue: "Be musical about this shit…"(*)

17.Prelude #II

18.Dialogue: "Y'all listening to them…?(*)

19.Junior's Jam – Robert Glasper, Keyon Harrold, Marcus Strickland

20.Francessence – Robert Glasper, Keyon Harrold, Elena Pinderhughes       

21.Back Seat Betty (excerpt) 

22.Dialogue: "I don't like the word jazz…" (*)

23.What's Wrong With That?  - Don Cheadle, Robert Glasper, Gary Clark, Jr., Herbie Hancock, Keyon Harrold, Antonio Sanchez, Esperanza Spaulding, Wayne Shorter 

24.Gone 2015 – Robert Glasper, Keyon Harrold, Pharoahe Monch

                  

(*) from the soundtrack of the film, Don Cheadle as Miles Davis

All other tracks performed by Miles Davis, except where noted

                  

Soundtrack album produced by

Don Cheadle, Steve Berkowitz, Ed Gerrard & Robert Glasper

                  

Soundtrack Executive Producers:

Don Cheadle, Erin Davis, Darryl Porter &, Vince Wilburn

                  

EVERYTHING'S BEAUTIFUL

1."Talking Shit"

2."Ghetto Walkin" featuring Bilal

3."They Can't Hold Me Down" featuring Illa J

4."Maiysha (So Long)" featuring Erykah Badu

5."Violets" featuring Phonte

6."Little Church" featuring Hiatus Kaiyote

7."Silence Is The Way" featuring Laura Mvula

8."Song For Selim" featuring KING

9."Milestones" featuring Georgia Ann Muldrow

10."I'm Leaving You" featuring John Scofield and Ledisi

11."Right On Brotha" featuring Stevie Wonder

www.milesahead-movie.com

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www.legacyrecordings.com

"The Music of Jackie McLean," New CD by Saxophonist Steven Lugerner & His Band Jacknife

For the last year and a half, San Francisco Bay Area woodwind expert Steven Lugerner has been digging into the music of jazz legend Jackie McLean with Jacknife, Lugerner’s hard-hitting West Coast post-bop quintet. The group has completed work on an album, "The Music of Jackie McLean," slated for release on April 22 by Primary Records, and will be touring the West Coast next month with special guest Larry Willis, the virtuoso pianist and former McLean sideman.

Exploring tunes from McLean’s seminal early- and mid-1960s Blue Note albums "Jacknife," "It’s Time," "Let Freedom Ring," and "New Soil," the new album brings together a formidable cast of rising talent, including pianist Richard Sears, bassist Garret Lang, drummer Michael Mitchell, and trumpeter JJ Kirkpatrick, all of whom will be on the April shows (with Willis replacing Sears).

Larry Willis made his recording debut on McLean’s 1965 date Right Now and appeared on the original Jacknife album (1966) and other recordings by the saxophonist. Lugerner connected with Willis last summer at the Stanford Jazz Workshop, where Lugerner has been Manager of Education Programs since 2013 and Willis was a visiting artist.

Although Lugerner never had the opportunity to meet McLean, who died in 2006 at age 74, he listened deeply to the alto giant’s recordings as he was coming up. “I studied with alto saxophonist Mike DiRubbo, who studied directly with McLean at the Hartt School in the early 1990s,” says Lugerner. “Mike was a huge influence on me when I was in college.” And during his undergrad years at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music Lugerner took an orchestra class with trumpet great Charles Tolliver, who played such an important role in McLean’s mid-60s bands.

The modal opening track “On the Nile,” a piece by Tolliver, debuted on McLean’s "Jacknife," which was recorded in 1965 but only released a decade later. The unaccountably shelved album also provided “Climax,” an impressive composition by Jack DeJohnette, who was making his recording debut. Both tunes eschew harmonic complexity in favor of sinuous melodies that allow soloists to generate hurtling momentum. For Lugerner, it’s a sound that embodies the roiling environment of New York, “the grittiness, the hustle and fast-paced lifestyle, the energy that the city brought to their lives. ‘On the Nile’ takes no prisoners, but it’s accessible, a modal, vampy piece that hits a few key centers. In a way it anticipates developments in rock and hip-hop.”

Like fellow altoists Charlie Parker and Ornette Coleman, McLean infused much of what he played with the feel of blues, whether or not the tune itself was a blues. The jaunty hard-bop anthem “Hip Strut” from "New Soil" was the tune that turned Lugerner into a McLean devotee during his first year at the New School. He included another classic JayMac blues “Das Dat,” from "It’s Time," a consistently thrilling album with Tolliver, Herbie Hancock, Cecil McBee, and Roy Haynes. The best-known piece on the new album, McLean’s mischievously lyrical “Melody for Melonae,” hails from "Let Freedom Ring," a quartet session with Walter Davis Jr., Herbie Lewis, and Billy Higgins.

“I chose all the tunes because the melodies were super-strong,” Lugerner says. “I’d listen to the albums and these are the songs I’d hum walking down the street. I love the juxtaposition of ‘Melody for Melonae’ and then this straight-ahead blues. I think Ornette and Jackie were the two bluesiest players that have ever existed.”

Lugerner’s collaborators are similarly inspired by McLean’s music. Hailing from Portland, Oregon, and based in Los Angeles, trumpeter JJ Kirkpatrick has gained attention with the Sophisticated Lady Jazz Quartet. New York-reared drummer Michael Mitchell is making waves on the Bay Area scene with the electro-acoustic Negative Press Project. Bassist Garret Lang, who’s now based in his native Los Angeles, has recorded with emerging players such as saxophonist Ben Flocks and reed player Levon Henry. And pianist Richard Sears, a Bay Area native now based in New York, is a rapidly rising star who released an acclaimed 2015 trio session Skyline and recently recorded his six-part suite for drum legend Tootie Heath, who’s featured on the project (along with Lugerner and Lang).

In a relatively short period of time, 27-year-old Bay Area native Steven Lugerner has collaborated with a heavyweight roster of jazz masters, including pianist Myra Melford, percussionist John Hollenbeck, tenor saxophonist Dayna Stephens, altoist Miguel Zenón, soprano saxophonist Jane Ira Bloom, flutist Jamie Baum, and drummer Matt Wilson. Last year’s digital-only release "Gravitations Vol. II" was a gorgeous duo project that places piano great Fred Hersch in an entirely new context.

A skilled and diversified woodwind doubler on saxophones, bass clarinet, B-flat clarinet, oboe, English horn, flute, and alto flute, Lugerner is suitably focusing on the alto saxophone for his work with Jacknife: “This is one project where I can bring just one horn.”

Seabreeze Jazz Festival features Boney James, Peabo Bryson, Mindi Abiar, Michael McDonald, Brian Culbertson & more

Boney James

Platinum-selling and multi-Grammy winning Michael McDonald, top-charting saxophonist Boney James, vocalist Peabo Bryson, and guitarist Peter White are just some top-notched talent set to perform at the "Ultimate Weekend of Smooth Jazz". The 18th Annual Seabreeze Jazz Festival® returns to Panama City Beach with over 20 stellar performances of top national contemporary jazz artists set for April 20-24th.

The event has become an annual celebration for jazz-minded adults where the allure of great beaches, exciting shopping, world-class restaurants along with a plethora of activities like golf and fishing, all combine for a true vacation getaway! Panama City Beach provides the perfect backdrop for the “ultimate” jazz beach weekend with the festival attracting attendees from 42 U.S. states and over seven countries, plus also being named “Top 10 Jazz Festival in the USA” by JazzIZ Magazine. Smooth jazz blowing gently in the coastal breezes is just one unique feature at one of the nation’s fastest growing “destination music festivals” on the Gulf Coast.

Alex Bugnon

Artists to perform in 2016 include Boney James, Brian Culbertson, Michael McDonald, Gerald Albright, Jonathan Butler, Mindi Abair, Peter White, Peabo Bryson, Marc Antoine, Josh Vietti, Najee, The Family Stone, Nick Colionne, Euge Groove, Jazz In Pink-- featuring Cindy Bradley, Gail Jhonson, Jazmin Ghent, Mareia Antoinette, and others –Jesse Cook, Peet Project, Paul Taylor, Ben Tankard, Malina Moye, Vincent Ingala, Brian Simpson, Jackeim Joyner, Alex Bugnon, The JT Project (Seabreeze Rising Star), Selena Albright, Marcus Anderson, Oli Silk, Will Donato, JJ Sanserverino, Kim Scott, Elan Trotman, David Sides, Kyshona Armstrong, and Chris Godber (Panama City saxophonist).

And just added, jazz vocalist Lindsey Webster will perform on the Sunday lineup. Her vocal “Fool Me Once” recently became the #1 smooth jazz single on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz Charts.

Mindi Abair

Main performances will take place at the Aaron Beasant Park Amphitheater adjacent to Pier Park, with nightly After-Party All-Star Jam Shows at Pompano Joe’s Seafood House at adjacent Pier Park.

To further showcase the beauty of Panama City Beach, a Dinner and Lunch Smooth Jazz Cruise aboard “The Solaris” dinner yacht is set departing the Lighthouse Marina cruising picturesque St. Andrews Bay—each with a live jazz performance on board. Guitarist Nick Colionne will host the Dinner Cruise on Wednesday, April 20th with saxophonist Mindi Abair hosting the Jazz Lunch Cruise on Thursday, April 21st.

Michael McDonald

Smooth Jazz fans have a unique and intimate connection to the festival’s music and core artists base. The “smooth jazz lifestyle” is the secret to the success of The Seabreeze Jazz Festival® – where the R & B based smooth contemporary jazz literally creates a synergy for the whole weekend. The licks of the funky bass lines and pop-friendly musical hooks keep the crowds moving to the beat….almost like the tempo of the swaying palm trees around beautiful Aaron Beasant Park Amphitheater at Pier Park, on the west end of Panama City Beach.

Smooth jazz is the epitome of “The Good Life” – laid back yet upscale at the same time, relaxing and familiar as a pair of your most comfortable beach sandals. It’s this uniqueness that appeals to a upscale college-educated professional adult demographic, primarily a 35-55 year old audience with high amounts of discretionary income. Many economist call this very desirable demographic group “Alpha Baby Boomers” –attributing to the $14.2 million impact the Seabreeze Jazz Festival® besieges on the Northwest Florida economy.

The event hosts close to 28,000 for the weekend, with a large percentage of fans traveling hundreds if not thousands of miles away to attend. 60% of the festival’s tickets are sold outside the State of Florida, making it a true destination festival.    The alluring appeal of Pier Park and the new resort-style architecture along with west end of Panama City Beach beckons even the most cosmopolitan city-dweller to join in on the fun, and get their toes in the sands.

Peabo Bryson

The successful melding appeal of Pier Park with the Seabreeze Jazz Festival® on site is all about complimenting distractions. Pier Park (a Simon Mall property) sports over 160 retail stores, a 16-screen stadium-seating cinema, numerous eateries, nightclubs, even a small amusement park to pacify all of the family’s pastimes, while the parents enjoy the live smooth jazz entertainment from the nation’s top jazz artists. The newly completed City Pier across the street from the festival stage and miles of white-sand beaches and emerald-green waters also provides a nearby escape from the live entertainment. That is if you muster up enough to pull away from the star-studded contemporary jazz lineup.

The Seabreeze Jazz Festival® will again utilize a new innovative RFID armband system from Intellitix® for both entry and all festival purchases, essentially making the entire event both “ticketless” and “cashless”. Called “JazzBands”, the RFID wristband system includes a fabric wristband with an imbedded RFID chip inside – doubling as not only be the patron’s ticket for entry into the event through an electronic portal, but also their wallet for all purchases inside the venue. Attendees can either “load” funds via their credit card in advance of the event online, or on site with credit or cash at several jazz festival “Top Up” stations throughout the event. All it takes is a quick swipe for any purchase in front of a tablet-size screen, and fans are back to the music and smooth jazz fun, with easy access to their “JazzBand” account via their smartphone. No need to worry about losing cash or credit cards with Intellitix’s exciting system for fast entry and quick purchasing, dramatically reducing time spent at entry gates and in queue lines for merchandise, food, and beverages. Any unspent funds on the wristbands are refunded back to the user’s credit card immediately following the event, and the “JazzBand” simply becomes an event souvenir.

Tickets are available for single and multi-day admission. Thursday only tickets are $90 each, Friday only tickets are $100 each, Saturday only tickets are $120 each, and Sunday only tickets are $100 each. Patrons save money on multi-day tickets with a Weekend Pass good for Friday-Sunday priced at $200, and the all-inclusive Four Day Pass $250 each for all performances Thursday through Sunday at the main stage.

Pianist Peter Horvath's Second Album as a Leader, "Absolute Reality," Collaborators Include Randy Brecker, Bob Mintzer, Victor Bailey, & Lenny White

Based in the San Francisco Bay Area since the mid-1980s, keyboardist and composer Peter Horvath has thrived in the region's highly diverse environment, where various music scenes often overlap. He's played post-bop with Bobby Hutcherson, Joe Henderson, Eddie Henderson, and Charles McPherson, and funk fusion with the Victor Bailey Group, Marcus Miller, Bennie Maupin, and Lenny White. He's played Latin jazz with Arturo Sandoval, Ray Obiedo, and Pete Escovedo, and funk and R&B with Pee Wee Ellis, Lalah Hathaway, Melba Moore, Ledisi, and Rosie Gaines.

But his in-demand status left him little time for his own music. Now, picking up where he left off in 1995, when Lake Street Records released his critically hailed chart-topping debut Foreign Matter, Horvath is following up with Absolute Reality, his second album as a leader. The CD, which will be released by his Foreign Matter Records on March 25, showcases some of most potent improvisers in jazz and Latin music including trumpeter Randy Brecker, saxophonist Bob Mintzer, drummer Lenny White, bassist Victor Bailey, and guitarist Ray Obiedo.

"It's kind of crazy it's been 20 years since my last album," says the Hungarian-born musician. "During that time I was on the road constantly, both nationally and internationally, with artists like Victor Bailey and Lalah Hathaway. When my touring schedule slowed down a bit in 2012, I decided it was time to focus on my own music and get it out there."

Absolute Reality is a highly personal and supremely engaging album by an artist eager to celebrate the musical riches he's experienced in the Bay Area. The opener and title track is both a manifesto and a statement of purpose co-written by saxophonist Norbert Stachel, who provides consistently smart horn arrangements throughout the album. "Carla," featuring a gently insinuating groove from Lenny White and a soulful, lyrical performance by Bob Mintzer, showcases Horvath's gift for crafting yearning melodies.

No tune better captures the singular mélange of styles that came together in the Bay Area than "Fake Out," a funk-driven tune that sounds like a theme for a 1970s street-wise detective show by way of Steely Dan. "Escape from Oakland" marks the first encounter between Victor Bailey and Ricky Lawson, who together "create this ferocious groove," says Horvath.

For pure straight-ahead blowing, Horvath digs in with "Foreign Matter," a treacherous post-bop workout that features Randy Brecker's witty and casually virtuosic trumpet. The album closes with Horvath's tune for his son, "Braden's Song," a striking, ebb-and-flow solo piano piece that provides a tantalizing glimpse at another side of the artist.

Born in Budapest, Peter Horvath grew up behind the Iron Curtain at a time when availability of American jazz recordings was very limited. But as the son of Hungarian pop star Mátrai Zsuzsa, he had access to recordings she brought back from touring outside the country. He also credits his maternal grandfather with introducing him to the infinite possibilities of the piano.

"My mom was the Barbra Streisand of Hungary, but I wanted a normal mom," Horvath recalls. "In hindsight it was a wonderful thing. Through her I got exposed to jazz. She still lives in Budapest and still performs."

Already passionate about the piano, Horvath experienced a jazz epiphany as a young teen when he heard the music of Oscar Peterson. While pursuing his love of jazz, he continued to immerse himself in the European classical tradition, studying at the Béla Bartók Conservatory of Music. At 17, he won the National Jazz Combo Competition in Gyor, Hungary and a year later he chose to leave his homeland behind.

Horvath went on to study at the Vienna Conservatory of Music, a move that also led to steady jazz work on the Austrian scene. A scholarship to Berklee brought him to the United States in 1983, when he was 22, and by the end of the year he had left Boston to settle in the Bay Area. He arrived in California as a straight-ahead jazz player, but working with funk vocalist Rosie Gaines introduced him to the jazz-steeped Bay Area R&B scene, where he flourished.

All of those influences are readily apparent on his 1995 album Foreign Matter, a highly successful project featuring regular compatriots such as John Pena, Steve Smith, Ray Obiedo, Walfredo Reyes Jr., Benny Rietveld, Santana's Tony Lindsay, and David Garibaldi (with whom he collaborated on a series of widely influential instructive videos for Warner Bros.). He draws on some of the same cast on Absolute Reality, in addition to the great Bob Mintzer, Randy Brecker, Victor Bailey, Lenny White, Dean Brown, and others. It took some time, but Horvath's second album marks the return of a bandleader with a singular and expansive musical vision "that encompasses all the things I've been exposed to," he says. "I wanted to do something that represented all this musical and cultural diversity."

NEW RELEASES: WILL BERNARD – OUT AND ABOUT; GOLDEN DAWN ARKESTRA – STARGAZER; UNITED VIBRATIONS – MYTH OF THE GOLDEN RATIO

WILL BERNARD – OUT AND ABOUT

A mighty impressive set from guitarist Will Bernard – our hands down favorite of his work as a leader to to date – and an all originals session with a remarkable stylistic range! Our ears perked up from the opening seconds, thanks to the elegant take on jazz funk of the opener "Happy Belated" – which has this perfect balance of insistent groove and spontaneous energy – facets that hold true throughout! As stated, there's a stylistic breadth here that keeps the vibe fresh from track-to-track – it's not all funk-steeped – with some laidback and melodic moments, along with faster, more energetic material. Each player has ample space to shine, including the excellent Brian Charette on organ, John Ellis on sax, Ben Allison on bass, and Allison Miller on drums. Titles include "Not Too Fancy", "Next Guest", "Habenera", "Homeward Bound", "Suggested Reading", "Full Sweep", "Out And About", "Redwood (Business Casual)", "Homebody" and "Pan Seared". ~ Dusty Groove

GOLDEN DAWN ARKESTRA – STARGAZER

The Golden Dawn Arkestra really take things over the top with this expanded full length set – a record that really lets us see what the group can do when given a lot of room to work with! All the elements you'd expect from the group's name are firmly in place here – the heady spiritual currents that "golden dawn" might evoke, and the collaborative energy that comes from an "arkestra" – which almost seems like some sort of mystical pact forged by the group than a larger sort of compositional enterprise. The tunes here work cosmic currents through a range of jazz-based instrumentation, but also open up to funkier elements too – some keyboards and basslines that help forge the journey to the stars – on titles that include "Space Waves", "Shabuki", "Osaka", "Disko", "All Is Light", and "Sama Chaka". ~ Dusty Groove

UNITED VIBRATIONS – MYTH OF THE GOLDEN RATIO

A nice one from the appropriately named United Vibrations – a London group that draws from a diverse well of global influences and brings it all to a great, unified groove overall! Stylistically, they work with strains Afrobeat in the rhythm and percussion, spiritual jazz in the moodier, more spacious moments, and an all around cosmic sound that confounds easy categorization – often with consciously soulful lyricism. Ambitious, distinctive stuff on Ubiquity Records – among the more far-reaching and diverse new music we've heard on the legendary label in years! Includes "Sophia", "Scion", "Grow", the 3-part suite "Far Far Away", "I Am We", "Twister", "Cave" and "Golden". ~ Dusty Groove

Bassist Christian McBride Appointed Artistic Director of Newport Jazz Festival®

For the first time in its 62-year history, the world-renowned Newport Jazz Festival® will have a musician other than pianist/producer George Wein as its artistic director. Multiple Grammy-winning bassist Christian McBride has been named artistic director to work alongside, and eventually succeed, Wein as the festival's music curator, it was announced today by Wein, chairman of Newport Festivals Foundation, Inc.™ and producer of the Newport Jazz Festival since its inception in 1954, and Jay Sweet, the Foundation's executive producer.  

Rounding out the production dream team is Danny Melnick, 25-year veteran of Wein's organization, who will move up to producer from associate producer.

"I am very pleased that Christian McBride is available to join forces with the Festival and Foundation," said George Wein, "I'm looking forward to working with him as the beacon of the future of Newport Jazz Festivals and continuing to collaborate with Danny to produce some of the world's finest music events. When I first met and heard a teenage Christian McBride in 1989, I knew that he was someone special. Little did I know that nearly 30 years later, he would become the special someone to continue my legacy. The Foundation's Board and I feel that the festival is in good hands and these two music mavericks are more than capable to sustain the festival for decades to come."

McBride will begin festival strategic planning with Wein and Melnick immediately, and will take the reins for the 2017 Newport Jazz Festival. He has been a regular at Newport since his days as a young jazz lion and will again take the stage this year with Chick Corea Trilogy on Friday and Saturday.

"I am deeply humbled by my appointment as artistic director of the Newport Jazz Festival - the most storied and legendary jazz festival in history. To be able to work with a legend like George Wein, not only as a musician, but now as an understudy, is a task I will cherish and approach with openness and excitement.  I'm also looking forward to working with consummate producers Danny Melnick and Jay Sweet as well as with the entire festival team," said McBride.

Three decades after he arrived in New York in 1989 as a Juilliard classical music student, Philadelphia-born Christian McBride reigns supreme as the most accomplished, influential and ubiquitous bassist of his generation. Soon after he enrolled in Juilliard, McBride hit the road as a member of Bobby Watson's Horizon and the rest is jazz history. He has performed on more than 300 recordings as a sideman with everybody from Pat Metheny, Chick Corea and Wynton Marsalis, and Sting to The Roots, Bruce Hornsby and Paul McCartney. He's also recorded 12 critically-acclaimed CDs as a leader with his quintet, Inside Straight, his big band and his trio.  Live at the Village Vanguard earned him a 2015 Grammy Award (his fifth) for Best Improvised Jazz Solo for his rendition of the jazz standard, "Cherokee."

"We're thrilled that Christian McBride has joined the Newport Festivals Foundation family," said Jay Sweet, the Foundation's Executive Producer. "He is not only a champion of jazz, but also a champion for jazz. In addition to  the awards, performances at the White House, world-wide concert tours and radio shows, Christian's dedication to music education, his knowledge of our festivals' history and his passion to help the music live on are why I'm excited to have him as part of our team."

In addition to his accomplishments as a sideman and bandleader, McBride is also an influential educator and media host. He hosts and produces "The Lowdown: Conversations with Christian," on SiriusXM satellite radio and National Public Radio's weekly show, "Jazz Night in America." In 1997, McBride spoke on former President Bill Clinton's town hall meeting "Racism in the Performing Arts." He served as artistic director of the Jazz Aspen Snowmass Summer Sessions (2000), co-director of the National Jazz Museum in Harlem (2005), and the second creative chair for Jazz of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association (2005). He also serves as artistic advisor for Jazz Programming at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), and he works with Jazz House Kids, a nationally recognized community arts organization founded by his wife, vocalist Melissa Walker, dedicated to educating children through jazz.

"The opportunity to carry on the legacy of the Newport Jazz Festival is not only a privilege but also an important responsibility," said Danny Melnick. "The influence of this great festival on American life, and throughout the world, is profound, and I am honored to uphold its deep tradition and meet the standards that George Wein has set. I also look forward to collaborating with Christian McBride.  There's a reason why he's among the most respected figures in all of modern music - his taste is impeccable. Most of all, we share one goal: to keep the festival flourishing for many years to come."

The 2016 Newport Jazz Festival presented by Natixis Global Asset Management takes place July 29-31 at historic Fort Adams State Park and the International Tennis Hall of Fame at the Newport Casino. Artists include Chick Corea Trilogy with Christian McBride and Brian Blade; Norah Jones; Gregory Porter; Angélique Kidjo; Kamasi Washington; John Scofield/Joe Lovano Quartet; Darcy James Argue's Secret Society; Charles Lloyd New Quartet; Robert Glasper Experiment; Nels Cline; Lizz Wright; Tierney Sutton; Django Festival All Stars; Kenny Barron Trio; Donny McCaslin; Yosvany Terry Quintet; Toshiko Akiyoshi; Steve Coleman and Five Elements; Galactic; Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah; José James; Kneebody; The Hot Sardines; Anat Cohen and many others. For more information and tickets, visit www.newportjazzfest.org.

Newport Festivals Foundation, Inc.™ was founded by George Wein in 2010 to build and continue the legacies of the famed Newport Jazz Festival® and Newport Folk Festival®. Under the auspices of the Foundation, the Festivals present performers who respect and honor jazz and folk music traditions, and at the same time reflect the changes in today's musical trends. In addition, the Foundation presents programs to educate young people about jazz and folk music as presented at the annual festivals. For more information, please visit www.newportfestivalsfoundation.org.

Phronesis captured to perfection on this, the Anglo-Scandinavian trio’s sixth CD and their fourth for Edition Records

Extraordinary communication between the players is often the foundation of extraordinary music making – as Phronesis prove every time they play. Years of performing, touring and recording have given the three members of the trio a matchless rapport. That inspires an ever-flowing fountain of new music, captured to perfection on this, the Anglo-Scandinavian trio’s sixth CD and their fourth for Edition Records.

Recorded in a single day at London’s fabled Abbey Road studios, Parallax is a brilliantly realised piece of music-making. It has all the standout features of the trio’s work. Rhythmic drive. Constant shifts in mood and texture. Drama heightened by dazzlingly fast reactions. All leavened by a melodic sense all three draw on as much when improvising as composing.

There are new elements to enjoy, too. Pianist Ivo Neame’s Manioc Maniac displays a stronger spicing of humour. Jasper Høiby’s Stillness, featuring the composer’s bowed bass, explores a contemplative mood less prominent in their earlier work. Fans of their more up tempo excursions also have plenty to enjoy, though – witness percussionist Anton Eger’s opener, 67,000mph, named for the earth´s speed around the sun.

All are enhanced by the endless rewarding details the three together offer as each piece unfolds. It’s an indispensible feature of their live shows which is captured here to perfection in a studio recording. This is truly collective music-making, in composition – with each of the trio contributing three of the nine titles – and in supremely interactive performances that display a brand of musical wit that captivates audiences.

All three players have remarkable facility, giving the unadorned, purely acoustic trio some of the strongest bass playing, fleetest piano, and most orchestral percussion you have ever heard. The music they make is lithe and supple, with the added spark that takes such fluid mobility beyond mere gymnastics on to balletic heights.

Each player writes for the trio knowing that their work will be taken somewhere different each time it is performed. They negotiate sometimes complex arrangements while retaining a spontaneity of suggestion and response that keeps the listener on the edge of their seat every time. The nine versions of new pieces captured here achieve a rare thing that only jazz at its very best can offer – music, created in the moment, that lasts.

TIM GARLAND "ONE" FEATURING ASAF SIRKIS, JASON REBELLO & ANT LAW

One is the new, highly energetic and unifying studio album from Tim Garland. Working with his regular collaborators Jason Rebello, Asaf Sirkis and Ant Law, the sax maestro has dug back into his past and re-examined his early interest in jazz-rock styles.

With One Tim explores many of the influences that have guided him from the beginning, such as jazz-rock (his Canterbury roots); saxophone players from both sides of the Atlantic; the Celtic guitar music from long running project Lammas; the Latin and Spanish inflections that are so deeply a part of Chick Corea’s music; and a variety of rhythmic patterns learned from drum maestros Bill Bruford and Asaf Sirkis.

Asaf taught Tim the ten beat, Middle Eastern Sama’i. On ‘Sama’i For Peace’, Hossam Ramzy adds Egyptian percussion. He’s also on ‘Colours Of Night’, and ‘Foretold’ where the groove he sets up on the karkabu (giant metallic finger cymbals) and doholla (deep darbouka drum) is mesmeric.

One is a studio album and Tim’s taken the opportunity to add occasional keyboard colours with Asaf layering Udu and Darbouka, and vocals, over his own drumming. One theme features six layered saxophones rather than just one, and, as this is his most percussively driven album to date, a little percussion of Tim’s own (as he does on stage).

Jason Rebello and Tim have worked together for 25 years, and his always unforced, honest improvisation extends to keyboards as well as to piano; the Rhodes is quite a feature in this project, providing a wonderful fat bass end, a register Jason shares skillfully with the lower end of Ant Law’s mighty eight string guitar. Ant Law is a relative newcomer to the group, but plays all four types of guitar on this disc with balanced beauty, accuracy and youthful passion and like the (slightly) older ones, he is drawn to different meters and rhythms that have their origins around the globe.

London is home to a fairly frequent arms fair and in 2015, among the countless reports of refugees and bombed out cities in the news, there was scant mention of this huge and lethal profiteering opportunity going on at the very same time. ‘Pity The Poor Arms Dealer’ was written in a state of almost breathless disbelief as the media busied itself distracting the population from the connections that are most certainly there, well nurtured by our governments. Dionne Bennett’s powerful, unique vocal illuminates this song in a singular, colourful way: part campfire protest song, part soapbox lament.

British Pianist JASON REBELLO to release 'Held' on April 29, 2016

British pianist Jason Rebello is regarded as one of the most talented, inventive and intuitive pianists to emerge in the UK since he burst onto the scene in the early 90’s with a string of critically acclaimed albums for the BMG label.

Marked with an emotional depth unusual in one so young, these albums elevated Jason to the peak of jazz celebrity at a time when the music was undergoing an unheralded period of popularity.

It came as no surprise that Jason caught the attention of Weather Report’s Wayne Shorter (Herbie Hancock, also from Miles Davis’ famous 1960s quintet was a personal hero) and he toured internationally with his band before replacing another hero, Kenny Kirkland, in Sting’s band.

Jason had primarily worked with electronic keyboards in his own groups (as well as with Sting and Jeff Beck); but now he has decided it’s time to say something on the instrument he loves. In early 2016 Jason will release his debut solo piano album, featuring mostly original compositions inspired by the people and places that have been important in his career.

In this solo format the intensely lyrical quality always evident in Jason’s music comes to the fore and, allied to his formidable technique and maturity as an artist and musician, ensures that on Held, he is creating some of the most compelling and beautiful music of his career.

As Jason explains: ‘throughout my career I’ve had the opportunity to play in wide-ranging and diverse scenarios, but never had an opportunity to immerse myself fully in the piano. I’ve reached a point now where I feel there is something to say with just a piano and I’m relishing this opportunity to consolidate all my musical experiences on this record’.

Tracklisting:

Tracklisting:

1. Pearl  

2. Salad Days  

3. Tokyo Dream  

4. Held   

5. Blackbird  

6. As the Dust Settles  

7. Thanks John  

8. Happy But For How Long   

9. Polzeath  

10. Purple Sunflower  

11. Dissolve

All music by Jason Rebello except ‘Blackbird’ by Lennon / McCartney

Journeying beyond jazz: Matt Von Roderick's "Hero's Journey"‏

Listening to trumpeter-rapper-visionary Matt Von Roderick’s “Hero’s Journey” is like entering into an entirely different world, a colorful sonic adventure unlike any other. Bopping through experimental jazz grooves, traversing imaginatively-textured EDM tracks and bouncing to vivid lyrical wordplay via deftly delivered raps and vibrant vocal harmonies, Von Roderick guides you to the precipice of pop music before brazenly pushing you over the edge, Cheshire grin upon his countenance, knowing full well that if you surrender to the sensual beats and electronic rhythms, and believe that the possibilities of musical alchemy are limitless, you will land safely after encountering soaring tales of love, hope, heartache, empowerment, spiritual thirst, revolution, raw ambition, desire and longing.

To take the genre-bursting journey, one previously taken by artists labeled “jazz” decades ago for their bravura, improvisational and independent spirit, is a heroic undertaking – one without the benefit of commercial airplay and Billboard charts let alone a corporate-presented concert tour. Von Roderick took the leap anyway. Making the twelve-song album that he wrote (except for an ambient take on Louis Armstrong’s classic “What A Wonderful World”), the award-winning artist used a series of videos to pave the way for the record release, clips that have generated over 4.5 million YouTube views. With the dream of mounting a national tour in the offing, Von Roderick has one big show planned for Thursday, March 17 in Hollywood at The Sayers Club where he will bring “Hero’s Journey” to life with an elaborate staging of music, dancers, costumes, choreography and visual effects in creative collaboration with Creating Arts Studios. 

Prior to relocating from New York City to Los Angeles where he changed his name and completely reinvented his sound, the New York Times, DownBeat and Huffington Post sung the praises of earlier works by Von Roderick who was then known as Matt Shulman. “Hero’s Journey” is the debut disc under his new name.