Five gifted composer-performers join forces on the leading edge of classical and jazz as Alchemy Sound Project

Medieval alchemists were known to have sought a way to turn lead into gold, but the actual purpose of their experiments was to transform the very soul of the alchemist. Alchemy Sound Project follows a similar course, experimenting with combinations and distillations of jazz, African traditions and Western classical music in an effort to transform themselves and their audience. On Further Explorations, the band's debut released May 27, 2016 on Artists Recording Collective, five composer-musicians and their invited guests find a way to meld their distinctive approaches and voices to create a unique sound with the lushness and intricacy of a symphony orchestra combined with the spontaneity and interplay of a small jazz group. Alchemy, indeed.

The five core members of Alchemy Sound Project were brought together by the Jazz Composers Orchestra Institute, a program initiated by the American Composers Orchestra and the Center for Jazz Studies at Columbia University to encourage jazz composers to explore writing music for the symphony orchestra. Directed by composer/trombonist/educator George Lewis, JCOI selects 38 jazz composers at various stages of their careers, chosen from a competitive national pool of applicants, for a one-week summer intensive with leading composers, conductors and performers.

Tenor saxophonist Erica Lindsay attended the first JCOI session in 2010; at her encouragement, both pianist Sumi Tonooka (a frequent collaborator) and trumpet player Samantha Boshnack (a former student of Lindsay's at Bard College) enrolled in the second round in 2012. There, Tonooka and Boshnack met and bonded with bassist David Arend and multi-reedist Salim Washington. By day they studied aspects of music history and the orchestral palette, while by night they shared inspiration over dinners and walks around the UCLA campus. A year later, the five reconnected at Tonooka's behest to further explore the ideas they'd studied in the program.

"It was a very intense experience," Tonooka says of JCOI. "It got me really excited about being able to apply my own experiences to the instrument that is the orchestra."

For their debut release, each composer was encouraged to bring in two new pieces for the group, supplemented for the recording by trombonist Willem de Koch and drummer Max Wood. The result is an artful and boundary-stretching amalgam of jazz and classical ideas that shows off the chemistry formed during the bandmates' brief but enlightening time studying together. "The JCOI concept is about blurring these lines, hybridizing jazz elements with classical music," Arend says. "It's up to us to figure out what that means, but the synergy of the band is awesome - we're inspiring each other, teaching each other, pushing each other, and it feels like new territory even though we're drawing on centuries-old traditions."

The connection between the Alchemy participants is exemplified by Washington's "Charcoal, Clear, Beautiful All Over," which opens the album. The title is taken from the English translation of the Japanese name "Sumi," while the piece itself was penned to spotlight the bass clarinet, Tonooka's favorite instrument. Washington, a Professor of Music at South Africa's University of KwaZulu-Natal and a collaborator with jazz visionaries like the late Fred Ho, also contributed the closing track, "The Call." The tune was written in tribute to Solodeen Muhammad, whom the composer calls "one of the hipsters of my father's generation. This piece is in his honor and in appreciation of the psychic and spiritual support, the cultural continuity that he represents in my life as a musician. It attempts to channel the hipness and the energy that this streetwise, musically savvy father figure has passed on to me."

Lindsay, an artist-in-residence and teacher at Bard College who has performed and recorded with artists ranging from McCoy Tyner and Oliver Lake to Frank Zappa and Melba Liston, says that her piece "Further Explorations" is intended to "connote a journey of discovery" that parallels the creative act. The richly-hued piece, which slowly builds from a tense alto flute theme over a bass/drum pulse to accumulating horns, contrasts moments of free improvisation with lush composed sections. The piece, Lindsay explains, "explores the balance and necessary tension between the unknown and the known that exist within the creative mind. As one sets out to leave the known world and fall into unknown territory, there is a certain wonder and innocence involved as well as the courage to let go of the known." Lindsay's second piece, the sprightly "Beta," is more through-composed, though it carries the playful dodge-and-weave energy of the written lines into its solo sections.

"I was listening to a lot of orchestral works as I was writing," says Boshnack, "and trying to incorporate and highlight classical counterpoint and grandeur in my music. I was listening to and inspired by the music of my colleagues and trying to give them a space in which to shine." A mainstay of the Seattle jazz scene with her own B'Shnorkestra and as co-leader of Reptet. Boshnack begins her first piece, "Alchemical," with a fanfare of classical counterpoint for the horns and drums before bursting into a heavy groove, prompting intense solos from Tonooka and Lindsay. "Divergency" sets up a tension between light and dark, with airy melodies and starker rhythms. Both reflect the hybrid nature of the ensemble in their apt mash-up titles, combining alchemy and chemistry in the first, diversity and urgency in the second.

Tonooka, a Philadelphia native now based in Seattle who has written symphonic and chamber works and film soundtracks in addition to working with jazz greats from Philly Joe Jones to Rufus Reid, set out to write two entirely different compositions for the band. The stunning, crystalline-then-jarring "Waiting" was born from a difficult personal situation, while the celebratory "Joie de Vivre" combines the composer's love of Malian music and the contrapuntal approach of composers like Bach.

The most classically-oriented member of the ensemble, Arend is a longtime member of the Oakland Symphony as well as a composer and performer in jazz, electronic, avant-garde, and singer-songwriter contexts. He adapted "Her Name Is Love" from a piano piece by Czech composer Leo_ Janá_ek, reharmonized with piano removed from the equation entirely. The title of Arend's second contribution to this recording, "Archetype," refers to one of the most archetypal formats in jazz, the big band, the sound of which Arend recreates with the band's seven pieces.

Each of these pieces is striking in its own right, but together Alchemy Sound Project provides thrilling new avenues for exploration - which its members are eager and committed to explore. "You could think of it like a dinner," Tonooka muses. "Everybody brings different dishes to the table and we're all enjoying and tasting and delving in and creating something new out of it. That makes it fun for us and interesting to the listener because it's not just one flavor. It's all of us."

www.alchemysoundproject.com

Anna Webber looks to the internet for inspiration on her new recording Binary; featuring the SIMPLE Trio with John Hollenbeck and Matt Mitchell

New York-based composer, saxophonist, and flutist Anna Webber, called "one of the most exciting new arrivals on the New York avant-garde jazz scene" by Peter Margasak in the Chicago Reader (2014), releases Binary with her band the SIMPLE Trio, featuring John Hollenbeck on drums and Matt Mitchell on piano.  The recording will be out October 25 on Skirl Records.

For Binary, Webber looked to the internet for inspiration. Using websites that turn words into drumbeats, YouTube test channels, and even her own IP address, she found a constant stream of inspiration for her compositions. The album's title track was composed using numbers and letters produced by a random binary digit generator.

"Using material from a pre-defined source like the internet helps me to be more creative," said Webber. "It keeps me from falling into routines."

When writing the music for Binary, Webber began each piece with a small melodic, rhythmic, harmonic, or purely conceptual starting point. The five "Rectangles" tracks on the album come from the YouTube test channel "WebDriver Torso," which features ten-second videos of red and blue rectangles set to high-pitched, microtonal sounds. With a number of the pieces, she created musical plays-on-words that exude a sense of tension and release, including "Impulse Purchase," which was written using Webber's IP address, and "Tug o' War," a transliteration of the game tug of war into music. Interested in both the complex as well as the playful aspects of the internet, Webber investigated how the concept of a meme could manifest in a musical context in the aptly titled "Meme."

Though the internet provided innumerable opportunities for compositional experimentation, the greatest excitement came from knowing that she was composing for her SIMPLE Trio bandmates Hollenbeck and Mitchell, two incredibly adept musicians who share her desire to venture into unexplored territory.

"Because we've been playing, touring, and recording together as a band as well as in various projects for several years now, our musical interaction since the last album has evolved considerably," said Webber. "John and Matt are fantastic to compose for and improvise with because they have the ability to play challenging music in a way that feels relaxed and natural."

Webber's intention in her work is to blur the line between composed and improvised material, creating frameworks for improvisation that will challenge the musicians to expand outside the realm of what they normally play. She is committed to experimenting with the jazz form, pushing her to challenge conventions as well as her own impulses as an artist. Although Webber situates herself in the jazz world, her compositional approach is as greatly influenced by jazz music as it is by new music composers such as Giacinto Scelsi, Györgi Ligeti, and Gérard Grisey.

Binary finds the SIMPLE Trio expanding and building on what The New York Times called the "range of the group members: fulminous, intense collective improvisation" in songs that feel like living things and lead the audience in different directions on each listen. Binary is yet another example of the trio's ability to combine "a huge sound, big ideas and disarming humor into an engagingly avant-garde approach that promises to continue to gain wider recognition," (Style Weekly, 2016).

Anna Webber is an integral part of a new wave of the Brooklyn avant-garde jazz scene. A saxophonist and flutist who strives for the unexpected, she has furthermore consistently proven herself to be a unique and forward-thinking composer with releases such as 2014's SIMPLE (Skirl Records) and 2013's Percussive Mechanics.

In addition to the SIMPLE Trio, Webber also leads the septet Percussive Mechanics with which she has released two albums on Pirouet Records: Refraction (2014) and Percussive Mechanics (2013). Webber is also featured on Dan Weiss' album Sixteen: Drummers Suite and on an upcoming release from Jen Shyu's band Jade Tongue. She is a member of Ohad Talmor's Grand Ensemble; Matt Mitchell's Sprees; Fabian Almazan's Realm of Possibilities; the Erik Hove Chamber Ensemble; and a new sextet from Bang on a Can All-Stars member Ken Thomson; among others. She recently played in the world premiere of Sila: The Breath of the World by Pulitzer Prize-winner John Luther Adams at Lincoln Center.

In 2015, she was the recipient of a grant from the Shifting Foundation. In 2014, she won the BMI Foundation Charlie Parker Composition Prize as a member of the BMI Jazz Composers' Workshop. She is the winner of the 2010 Prix François-Marcaurelle at the OFF Festival of Jazz in Montreal. She has been awarded grants from the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec and the Canada Council for the Arts and residencies from the Brush Creek Foundation for the Arts and the Millay Colony for the Arts. Webber is originally from British Columbia, Canada.

http://annakristinwebber.com/

Guitarist Cameron Mizell Releases a Beautifully Produced, Melody-Minded Trio Album, Negative Spaces

In the liner notes to Negative Spaces, the writer recounts a conversation he had with its maker, guitarist Cameron Mizell, about how it is absence as much as presence that defines music. Mizell explained: "As musicians develop their skills, the focus is on creating sound. Get the note out of the instrument, and then repeatŠ fill the silence with your sound. But there comes a point where you have to learn not to play. If you play constantly, the most memorable moment of your performance will be the time you didn't play. An artist understands this and knows how to 'play' rests, how to let a musical idea breathe, develop and tell a story." This ideal underscores the title of Negative Spaces, Mizell's fifth album, a trio disc with kindred-spirit keyboardist Brad Whiteley and drummer Kenneth Salters, to be released on October 7, 2016, by Destiny Records.

The spaces between the notes are indeed as vital as the notes themselves on Negative Spaces, with an emphasis on less is more; the magic of this music lies in melody, the catchy tunes hinting at not only vintage jazz but rock'n'roll and all manner of Americana, with Mizell's guitar 'singing' a set of irresistible instrumental songs. If "Big Trees" can evoke Bill Frisell in his avant-folk mode, the track "Take the Humble" is the sort of song that should make Steely Dan green with envy, the playful, syncopated tune seemingly tailor-made for some sly Donald Fagen lyrics. "On my past trio records, I composed from the groove up, but I wrote the songs of Negative Spaces from top down as if I were a vocalist, away from my guitar, with pen and paper," explains the 36-year-old, Brooklyn-based Mizell. "I even transcribed singers like Sam Cooke to get into how they phrased a melody. The idea with a lot of improvised music is to see how far out you can get. But with this album, I wanted to rein it in, create singable melodies and allow room for music to happen around them."

Negative Spaces follows Mizell's Destiny album from 2015, The Edge of Visibility, an atmospheric solo EP that All About Jazz praised as "hypnotic." The review in No Depression extolled the album's virtues at length: "Combining improvisational jazz with traces of progressive rock and avant-garde experimentalism, Mizell explores the sounds of the dreaming and waking world. This is a thought-provoking album, one that lingers in the memory long after it has ceased spinning." On The Edge of Visibility, Mizell created an enveloping aura of sound with only his customized Fender Telecaster, looping device and various tone-bending, oscillating effects. His playing remains gorgeous on the new trio album, yet the sound and gestures are leaner, even more dynamic. Negative Spaces still has a lush overall feel, with Mizell's guitars complemented by Whiteley's variety of keyboards: Hammond organ, Wurlitzer, piano, synth bass and Fender Rhodes. On drums, Salters can go from sounding like a full percussion section to adding apposite touches with only brushes.

About his trio partners, Mizell says: "Both these guys are such amazing, open-minded musicians. I met Brad 15 years ago playing in a big band at Indiana University, and he has been on each of my group records. He's so versatile, playing synths with Regina Spektor and playing organ for mass in a cathedral in the Bronx, not to mention leading his own groups on piano. He always serves the music, being able to shred but not always feeling compelled to show it. If I'm the 'singer' on this record, then Brad is the ideal accompanist. Kenneth has crazy chops, too, but he's also about favoring musicality over technique. In the song 'Clearing Skies,' he orchestrates this long, slow burn ideally; he stokes the dynamic energy of a track as well as any drummer I've heard."

Negative Spaces ranges from ambient-accented ringing chords in the pair of title tracks to the rocking funk of "Get It While You Can." The near-epic "Clearing Skies" features one of Mizell's most dramatic guitar lines, while the groove of another album highlight, "Barter," suggests John Scofield at his slinkiest. The title of "Yesterday's Trouble" came from a phrase that the grandfather of Mizell's wife liked to use, one that struck the guitarist as like a quip from a Tom Waits song. "I'm not Marc Ribot," Mizell says, "but the playing in that track was my nod to the gritty, quirky sound he has given a lot of Tom Waits songs." With the continuity of favorites from Frisell's Disfarmer to Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here in mind, Mizell created melodies that echo and complement one another, imbuing the album with a satisfying, suite-like sense of unity.

To Mizell, music should also reflect the wider world. There are subtle sound effects - birdsong, kids playing, a boat horn - recorded in his Brooklyn neighborhood, along with references to personal experiences and special places. The song "Whisky for Flowers" got its title from Mizell's customary exchange with his wife, who has become a connoisseur of bourbon, buying it for her husband as he buys her blossoms. Mizell's wife was also the ideal sounding board for the sensibility the guitarist was trying to cultivate with Negative Spaces. "She's my barometer for the writing and playing of music like this - chops don't matter to her, not a bit," he says. "If she hums something later that I've played her, I know I'm on the right track. And she hummed tunes from this record a lot."

Guitarist-composer Cameron Mizell, a Brooklyn resident for the past decade-plus, was born and raised in St. Louis and educated in music at the University of North Texas and Indiana University. In New York City, he has played with rock bands, singer-songwriters, bluegrass acts and Latin groups, as well as for Broadway musicals and dance companies. He has also worked in the music business on the label side, with years at Verve Records and, as label manager, Destiny Records.

As a bandleader, Mizell has ranged from jazz-funk to Americana, recording the album Tributary in 2010 with his trio featuring keyboardist Brad Whiteley and drummer Kenneth Salters. Prior to that, Mizell released a trio disc with Whiteley and drummer Mike Fortune, Life Is Loud, in 2007. The guitarist made his debut on record with an eight-piece ensemble for Cameron Mizell, released in 2004. His most recent release before new trio record Negative Spaces was a ravishingly atmospheric album for solo guitar, The Edge of Visibility, from 2015.

In 2008, Mizell decided to combine his knowledge of the industry with his understanding of life as a musician and put it to good use. Together with Dave Hahn, Mizell founded the website Musician Wages, which offers music industry advice geared toward the working musician. The site became a thought-leader in the musician community thanks to Hahn and Mizell's commitment to integrity, practicality and an honest perspective from their own careers.

www.CameronMizell.com  

SPARKS FLY IN HISTORIC FIRST MEETING BETWEEN PIANIST SATOKO FUJII AND BASSIST JOE FONDA

Great improvisers reveal a lifetime of experience and artistry in every note. For both pianist Satoko Fujii and bassist Joe Fonda, that brings to bear an estimable history of collaboration with some of the music's greatest practitioners and travel that spans the globe. It also means that despite the fact that their winding paths had never previously crossed, they immediately tapped a rich vein of musical understanding during their first-ever performances together.

On Duet, a live recording of their second concert in November 2015, they share a seemingly telepathic link that makes the music intimate and mercurial. It's an adventurous musical exchange that features some of their best playing on record. Duet was released October 7, 2016, on Long Song Records.

Both artists are travel the world to perform with their ensembles. Fujii is in the midst of a yearlong international celebration of the 20th anniversary of her Libra Records label. Fonda, one of the most in-demand bassists in new jazz, is often on the road leading his own groups, performing with one of the many collaborative bands he's in, or travelling as a sideman. While Fonda was on tour with Conference Call in Germany, a promoter recommended that Fonda give Fujii a listen. "He thought that I would love her music and might enjoy playing with her," Fonda says. "I thought if he is so excited about her, I'd better check out her playing. So I did and immediately knew I had to play with her. So I got in touch with her."

Fujii was surprised to hear from him. Their mutual friend talked about Joe a lot, but she didn't think that he'd ever heard her music. "Of course, I knew his name, but to tell the truth I hadn't heard much of his playing," she says.

When she mentioned she was coming to New York, Joe organized a few concerts. "As I suspected it would be," Fonda says, "it was quite magical."

The rapport between them is magical indeed. They seem to anticipate each other, sometimes spontaneously playing the same phrases at the same time, finishing each other's thoughts, or concluding independent lines simultaneously. The woody sound, intense physicality, and percussive quality of Fonda's bass contrasts beautifully with Fujii's more flowing lines. And both are eager explorers of unusual timbres and extended techniques that add color and depth to the music. Fujii structures her improvisations around sharp contrasts, sudden changes in direction, and her ability to absorb what her bandmates are doing into her own musings. Fonda, with long experience with collective bands, is an unfailingly supportive partner who can subtly insert ideas that shape and direct an improvisation. When they welcome trumpeter Natsuki Tamura to join them for the second set, the music grows richer and even more complex and layered.

"Joe is very open and flexible and that made me feel so free to play anything," Fujii says. "And he plays very strong, puts all of himself into his music, which inspires me to dig deeper into myself."

Critics and fans alike hail pianist and composer Satoko Fujii as one of the most original voices in jazz today. She's "a virtuoso piano improviser, an original composer and a bandleader who gets the best collaborators to deliver," says John Fordham in The Guardian.  In concert and on more than 80 albums as a leader or co-leader, she synthesizes jazz, contemporary classical, avant-rock and Japanese folk music into an innovative music instantly recognizable as hers alone. Her most recent group, Satoko Fujii Tobira with trumpeter Natsuki Tamura, bassist Todd Nicholson, and drummer Takashi Itani, released their debut recording Yamiyo Ni Karasu in 2015. ""There are pulse-pounding rhythms, vibrant tones and dark chords woven together into a multi-shaded tapestry of soundŠWhat an absolute pleasure to listen to Satoko Fujii." wrote Travis Rogers Jr. in The Jazz Owl. Over the years, Fujii has led some of the most consistently creative ensembles in modern improvised music, including the ma-do quartet, the Min-Yoh Ensemble, and an electrifying avant-rock quartet featuring drummer Tatsuya Yoshida of The Ruins. She has also established herself as one of the world's leading composers for large jazz ensembles, leading Cadence magazine to call her, "the Ellington of free jazz." Her ultimate goal: "I would love to make music that no one has heard before."

Joe Fonda "is a serious seeker of new musical horizons," according to the Boston Phoenix. From 1984 to 1999, he was the bassist with composer-improviser and NEA Jazz Master Anthony Braxton. Fonda also has been an integral member of several cooperative bands, including the Fonda-Stevens Group with Michael Jefry Stevens, Herb Robertson, and Harvey Sorgen; Conference Call, with Gebhard Ullmann, Stevens, and George Schuller; the Fab Trio with Barry Altschul and Billy Bang; and the Nu Band with Mark Whitecage, Roy Campbell, and Lou Grassi. He is currently a member of 3dom Factor, Alschul's trio with saxophonist Jon Irabagon, and guitarist Michael Musillami's trio, among others. He has collaborated and performed with other artists such as Archie Shepp, Ken McIntyre, Lou Donaldson, Bill and Kenny Barron, Wadada Leo Smith, Randy Weston, and Carla Bley.

Fonda has led some truly unique ensembles of his own including From the Source, which features four instrumentalists, a tap dancer, and a body healer/vocalist; and Bottoms Out, a sextet with Gerry Hemingway, Joe Daley, Michael Rabinowitz, Claire Daly, and Gebhard Ullmann. He has released twelve recordings under his own name.

From first learning about one another in Bielefeld, Germany, to a stunning performance in Portland, Maine, the duo of Satoko Fujii and Joe Fonda has covered a lot of territory, both geographically and musically. "That's the way things work in the music business," Fonda says, "things just happen. And you have no idea why the door swings open so that you end up working with a particular person. It just happens that way-the door swings open, you walk through, and you find your new musical associate on the other side."

www.satokofujii.com

www.joefonda.com

Pianist Nick Sanders and saxophonist Logan Strosahl find inspiration in music spanning centuries on new duo recording

Janus, out October 14 on Sunnyside Records, features inventive interpretations of medieval, Baroque and contemporary classical, bebop and modern jazz

"Nick Sanders is a mad genius-hauntingly melodic and utterly unpredictable. Just when you think you've mapped his trajectory, he's gone in a new direction, spinning off fresh, unconventional phrases." - Brian Zimmerman, DownBeat

"Logan Strosahl proves there is no Inside/Outside divide, dismantling all dialectics: he's melodic and free, reverent and irreverent, methodical and spontaneous, swinging and angular, raw and beautiful." - Aaron Goldberg

CD Release concert on Tuesday, October 11 at Cornelia St. Café, NYC

In ancient Roman mythology, Janus was the god of time, passageways, beginnings and endings. With his two diametrically opposed faces, he looked simultaneously backwards and forwards in time. Janus is thus an ideal title for the new duo recording by pianist Nick Sanders and saxophonist Logan Strosahl, which mines centuries of compositions to create music entirely of the present moment. The pair also share a unique chemistry, honed over nearly a decade of working together, that echoes Janus in its suggestion of two voices sharing one mind.

Janus will be released on October 14, 2016 via Sunnyside Records, almost ten years after Sanders and Strosahl began playing duo in the basement of the dorms at Boston's New England Conservatory, where both were students. The album features an intriguing mix of material, from medieval, Baroque and 20th-century French composers through bebop and Songbook standards to witty and inventive original pieces.

That stunning range of repertoire is not intended to show off the pair's musical knowledge, encyclopedic though it may be. It's simply a collection of songs, both insist, that they found appealing and that sparked imaginative improvisation. "Genre isn't crucial," Strosahl says. "What's crucial is improvisation. Even though we're working with music that represents different styles, they're really all from the same canon. They're all Western music and we're filtering all of it through ourselves. Genres have been artificially broken up, so we're just trying to take a larger, simpler and clearer view."

That broadened perspective allowed Strosahl and Sanders to find just as much territory to explore in a romantic 14th-century rondeau by Guillaume de Machaut as in the acute modernist corners of Monk's "Thelonious" or in their own playful, co-composed "Be-Bop Tune," which distorts the revered jazz language as through a funhouse mirror. The moods and colors shift over the course of these dozen tunes, but the duo's approach stays the same whether a composition began life as an elegant chamber piece or a swinging nightclub burner. All are translated into the same language, one that the pianist and saxophonist have developed from college basements to bandstands but that was nearly intact the moment they first joined forces.

"From the beginning, we both approached the jazz tradition not in identical ways, but like two sides of the same coin," Strosahl says. Sanders adds, "We always played really well together. It was always fun and didn't take any work. It was already there, right away."

Since meeting in 2007, both have recorded with their own projects. Sanders has released two albums with his trio featuring bassist Henry Fraser and drummer Connor Baker, both produced by his mentor, Fred Hersch. In 2015 Strosahl made his debut with Up Go We, featuring his septet - or as he calls it, his "team" - that includes Sanders and the pianist's trio mates within its ranks. But they've continually returned to the duo configuration and continued to find fresh inspiration in the partnership.

The album begins with Sanders' vertiginous "Sigma," an original piece that is alternately dizzying and jagged and which was inspired by a character from the "Mega Man" video game series. Gaming is also the surprising inspiration behind the melancholy "R.P.D.," which achingly captures a mood of forlorn nostalgia for a bygone era - only in this case it's a yearning for the days prior to the zombie apocalypse of "Resident Evil."

The passing of time is also central to Strosahl's contributions to the album, in keeping with the Janus theme. The title track is split into two halves, eventually encapsulating a sensation of frozen time, or peering back or forward from one time into another. In both "Allemande" and "Mazurka," the saxophonist builds upon well-established dance forms, continuing the engagement with early musical forms that runs through much of his music. "I like the formality and clearness of just naming something after a dance," he explains. "You let the piece speak for itself and just listen to the music."

While improvising on standards like "Old Folks" and "Stardust," and especially on a classic jazz tune like "Thelonious," improvising is a well-established tradition. That approach has become antithetical to modern classical performance, but Sanders and Strosahl point out that hasn't always been the case, offering precedent for their renditions of pieces by de Machaut, Baroque composer François Couperin, and influential 20th-century composer Olivier Messiaen.

"Mozart left blank spaces in concertos for cadenzas to be improvised," Sanders points out, before Strosahl picks up on his point. "It was par for the course because it works," the saxophonist says. "It's amazing hearing people spontaneously create music. We're not trying to give everything a 'jazz interpretation.' We're just going into music from multiple times and places and playing it with what we know about music and improvising."

In fact, the one common trait that all of the music on Janus shares is the sense of possibility that exists in each. Janus was, after all, also the god of doorways, and each of the twelve near-miniatures on the album finds Sanders and Strosahl venturing into some previously unopened portal leading off from each song. "Maybe subconsciously, we look for music that has an air of mystery," Strosahl says. "Spiritually, when you play it, you feel like there's a world that you can tap into and uncover."

www.nicksandersmusic.com

www.loganstrosahl.com

NEW RELEASES: CERRONE - RED LIPS; RESONANCE RECORDS, JAZZ HAUNTS & MAGIC VAULTS: THE NEW LOST CLASSICS VOLUME 1; PAUL PROPHET – FROM ME TO YOU

CERRONE - RED LIPS

Cerrone is back for the second time this year. After the EP "Afro" first released February, Cerrone has revealed the tracklist his new album which will be released on October 28. Titled "Red lips", the album will include the following tracks: Therapy (feat. James Hart); Move Me (feat. Brendan Reilly); Illuminate Me (feat. Sam Gray); Ain’t No Party…Like Monday Night (feat. Kiezsa); Take Over (feat. Brendan Reilly); C’est bon (feat. Aloe Blacc); Red Lips (feat. Wallace Turrell); Kiss It Better (feat. Yasmin); You Only Live Once (feat. Mike City); Steal Your Love (feat. Alexis Taylor);11 Jane (feat. Dax); I Want (feat. Chelcee Grimes & Mike City); Time Machine (feat. Sam Gray); and 2nd Chance (feat. Tony Allen)

RESONANCE RECORDS, JAZZ HAUNTS & MAGIC VAULTS: THE NEW LOST CLASSICS VOLUME 1

The first in a series of jazz compilations from the historical catalog of Resonance Records, Jazz Haunts & Magic Vaults: The New Lost Classics, Vol. 1 features 14 selections of rare finds from iconic jazz figures such as Bill Evans, Stan Getz, Shirley Horn, Freddie Hubbard, Sarah Vaughan, Larry Young and more. This compilation is packed with over 78 minutes of music that celebrates Resonance's ongoing dedication to unearthing lost treasures from the jazz clubs and tape vaults all around the world. Jazz Haunts includes 3 tracks from not-yet-released projects from Motown guitarist Dennis Coffey, the Three Sounds featuring Gene Harris, and the legendary Wes Montgomery.

PAULA PROPHET - FROM ME TO YOU

If the future could have been predicted then, twenty year singing veteran, Paula Prophet, was given the perfect name. She is truly a “prophet” by spreading the passion of music through her original lyrics and compositions along with a voice that has the power to awaken the spirit. From the first note of her clear, fervent sound it is easy to become a believer in this soulful messenger. This re-released EP remains fresh and wonderful! Includes: From Me To You; Show Me; Only You; Don’t Worry ‘Bout Me; That Man; and Little Bird.

MELISSA ETHERIDGE HONORS THE RICH MUSICAL HISTORY OF LEGENDARY MEMPHIS LABEL STAX RECORDS ON "MEMPHIS ROCK & SOUL"

Melissa Etheridge has done some pretty gutsy things in her stellar career. She’s shown no fear in forthrightly standing up for her truths, both in her songs and her life. Sure, she’s sung songs by some of her biggest heroes before. But Otis Redding? Mavis Staples? Sam and Dave? Rufus Thomas? These are some of the names, some of the voices of music at the pinnacle of an era in American music, the people indelibly identified with the songs on this album. Captured at the historic landmark Royal Studios with a band of some of the preeminent figures in the Memphis scene, the album includes veterans of some of the city’s most cherished recordings. The songs themselves are all core to the famed Stax Records label, and the album is Etheridge’s loving tribute to the role the music of Stax played in her life, and in modern American life.

“You have no idea!” she says of diving into this project, which also features John Mayer’s deft guitar talents on two songs. “It took a lot of soul searching.”

But powering her musical soul is her memory of dancing around her Kansas City childhood home to the music of Memphis via WHB on her AM radio dial, transfixed and transported by the power and mystery, the joy and ache of those great songs, enhanced as she grew up by the impact this music had on the rock bands she embraced — the Beatles, the Stones, Led Zeppelin.

“It’s something that directly influenced me, and indirectly,” she says. “So much a part of what I’ve always wanted to be and wanted to sing and show that emotion, that intensity that knows no color. It comes from your soul. Each of us knows the heartbreak of ‘I’ve Been Loving You Too Long’ — ‘Please don’t make me stop now!’”

On MEmphis Rock and Soul Etheridge brings her powerful voice and passionate vision to some of the era-defining treasures of modern music —  the Staple Singers’ “Respect Yourself,” Otis Redding’s “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long (To Stop Now)” and “I’ve Got Dreams to Remember,” Sam and Dave’s “Hold On, I’m Coming,” Albert King’s “Born Under a Bad Sign,” Johnnie Taylor’s “Who’s Making Love” — as well as some real discoveries she found in her explorations deep into the Stax catalog. The latter yielded such delights as “Memphis Train,” which opens the album, and the irresistible dance-inducing “Wait a Minute.” The writing credits are no less monumental: David Porter and Isaac Hayes, William Bell, Mack Rice, Booker T. Jones, and B.B. King among them.

Whatever pause the task may have given her going in, it was forgotten immediately upon her arrival in Memphis for what turned out to be a buoyantly inspired and inspiring experience: 10 days of recording that exceeded even her most hopeful dreams. Just being in the studio, built by the late Willie Mitchell in an old vaudeville theater and still run by his son, Lawrence “Boo” Mitchell, was treat enough.

“It hasn’t changed much since 1964, which is part of the magic,” she says. “It’s right in the middle of a neighborhood. You step outside and people are walking by. It’s the heart of Memphis, where everything is.”

Capturing that environment was key from the start for her and her co-producer John Burk, President of the Concord Label Group, whose production credits range from Ray Charles to Mel Tormé to Tito Puente. But most magical were the people, the musicians and Stax insiders, who took her into the family for the sessions. And what a family!  The Rev. Charles Hodges on organ, Leroy Hodges on bass and Archie “Hubbie” Turner on keyboards were part of the famed Hi Rhythm Section which backed Al Green, Ann Peebles, Rufus Thomas, O.V. Wright and many others. Guitarist Michael Toles played with the great Stax band the Bar-Kays and, perhaps most famously, gave us that much-copied wah-wah riff for Isaac Hayes’ “Shaft.”  And drummer James “JRob” Robertson’s crisp playing has powered sessions with Bobby “Blue” Bland, Johnnie Taylor, Little Milton, Z.Z. Hill and many other greats. As a finishing touch, John Mayer was brought in to add some blues sting to “Rock Me Baby” and “Born Under a Bad Sign.”

“The musicians were so totally respectful the first day I came in,” she says, with clear mutual affection. “The Rev. Charles Hodges! He plays organ on all the great Al Green records. He had the organ he always played and as soon as he sat down and played a note I just melted. He’s the sweetest, lovingest man. Before the sessions began I would be in there as they told their stories, how they were touring in the ’60s and ’70s, would be laughing about how they got stopped by the cops in Alabama, taken to a farmhouse with a judge there, looking for ropes on the trees. And they’re laughing! I’m horrified, but they love it and it’s their life and it’s there in the soulful groove of the music.”

It went well, beyond her expectations.

“Most of the songs were no more than three takes, and most of the vocals were live,” she says. “It was 10 days of recording. We took Sunday off. That evening we played at a club called the Warehouse in Memphis, got together and played these songs we’d been recording, and the horns came in and played. They hadn’t been with us yet. And after that we came in the next day and did ‘Hold On I’m Coming,’ ‘I’ve Been Loving You Too Long.’ We nailed them. We were tight!”

And there were some great perks.

“Yvonne, Willie’s daughter, cooks,” she adds. “To be in the session all day and then you’ve got salmon and black-eyed peas and cornbread… Amazing! And you eat and go back to work again. We were in love with each other by the last day. Just didn’t want it to be over.”

But through it all she never lost sight of just how big a responsibility she’d been given with these songs and these musicians, with this legacy. It was at times daunting.

“If you were to say, ‘Name one vocalist, just one, as your top,’ I would really have to say, ‘Otis Redding,’” she says. “This is the man. His live version of ‘I’ve Been Loving You Too Long,’ it’s what I aspire to in my performances. What he did to an audience! His Monterey Pop performance was just ridiculous. You see Janis Joplin watching him, and then at Woodstock two years later doing him. So my thought was, ‘Wow, I really have to either totally redo this, or I’ve got to nail it, with as much passion and intensity and soulfulness as I could.”

There’s another aspect to the legacy that she took just as seriously, and that’s what the music and the artists stood for, culturally, in a very crucial time in American history. The one that brought the greatest challenge in that regard was “Respect Yourself.” Though the song, written by Luther Ingram and Mack Rice (who passed away just this year) and turned into a core hit by the Staple Singers, expresses universal themes and dreams, Etheridge thought that it was so much of its time, place and perspective that it was not proper for her to sing the original words. Instead, Etheridge enlisted songwriter Priscilla Renea to team with her on a reworking of the song’s words to address the matters in ways that were true to both the original’s context and the world of today.

“For me to sing that word for word right now would somehow dilute the energy of the movement from the time,” she says, citing in particular references in the original version to the deepest aspects of the civil rights struggles. “It’s very similar to what we’re still working through, this fear of the other, the racism and homophobia, fears of religious extremism. I wanted to take that song and infuse it with those energies and repeating what was true then is true today, and that begins with respecting yourself. You’ve got to look inside and start with respecting who you are, and when you can find gratitude and respect for yourself you can see it in the world and believe in good in the world, and that helps you too. I love what they wrote back then: Respect yourself. That’s how you stop the cycle.”

The four-piece horn section gives the songs that classic Memphis punch, and on “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long,” “These Arms of Mine” and “I Forgot to Be Your Lover,” a string quartet arranged by Lester Snell adds the mix of sweetness and sadness that is at the core of so many of these classics.

Having John Mayer add some guitar was a key touch as well, the idea coming when he and Etheridge were both appearing at a San Francisco concert benefiting Sammy Hagar’s Acoustic for a Cure cancer charity.

“John had never seen me perform and went nuts,” Etheridge says. “I said, ‘What are you doing this weekend?’”

Etheridge also flashes some mighty harmonica chops on a few songs, notably the opener “Memphis Train,” a churning Rufus Thomas number that makes for a great curtain-opener on this set, and the giddy “Wait a Minute.” Both of those songs are among the handful that may be less familiar to many fans, if familiar at all. And the joy of discovery is every bit as strong as the affection already there for the better-known songs — for us and for her.

“Even the people at Stax were saying, ‘What is this?’ with a couple of them,” she says. “But there was one woman, Deanie Parker. She spearheaded setting up the Stax Museum. She jokingly says that she had wanted to be a star but didn’t have enough talent. But she became part of Stax, helped run everything and was the historian. She recognized ‘Wait a Minute.’ Barbara Stephens sang it originally. It was a very, very minor hit. And I’d never heard ‘Memphis Train.’ We had half a day left and thought, ‘Hey, we could do another song. John Burk, my co-producer, said, ‘What is this one?’ It’s Rufus Thomas and has got that Memphis snare on all fours. We listened to it three times and cut it. So much fun, and here it is starting off the album! Come on, get on the Memphis train!”

Etheridge could not be happier with the results: an album that completely captures the spirit she felt as a kid hearing these songs. And now she’s thrilled to share her MEmphis Rock and Soul.

“I really loved doing all this,” she says. “I want people to put it on cleaning the house, or late at night with their loved ones, or driving down the road. I just want to move them.”

CHICK COREA Adds Duets with Herbie Hancock, John McLaughlin, Brad Mehldau & Gonzalo Rubalcaba to Two-Month Birthday Celebration at The Blue Note

Final lineup additions have been announced for Chick Corea's unprecedented two-month 75th Birthday Celebration at The Blue Note, which runs October 19 through December 11, 2016.

Lineup additions to the 80-show engagement, which will feature Corea leading 15 legendary bands comprised of 60 musical friends from over half a century, include the following:

Chick Corea Piano Duets: November 18-20

w/ Brad Mehldau (November 18)

w/ Herbie Hancock (November 19)

w/ Gonzalo Rubalcaba (November 20)

Chick Corea & John McLaughlin Duet: December 7

Additionally, genre-defying multi-instrumentalist and producer Taylor McFerrin and firebrand Cuban saxophonist Yosvany Terry have been added to the "Experiments in Electronica" project (November 9-10), in which Corea debuts his new, next-level take on electronica with drummer Marcus Gilmore.

The complete residency schedule can be found at the bottom of this press release.

Corea's first Blue Note birthday run, marking his 60th anniversary in the fall of 2001, was a cathartic two-week engagement for a city just beginning to heal following the 9/11 attacks. The run produced the GRAMMY®-winning album Rendezvous in New York. In November 2011, he returned to The Blue Note with a month-long 70th birthday residency featuring countless artistic giants. This year's 75th birthday celebration marks his most ambitious Blue Note residency ever.

Chick Corea's 75th Birthday Celebration will feature two shows nightly, at 8pm and 10:30pm.

CHICK COREA BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION AT THE BLUE NOTE

Complete Schedule

Wednesday - Sunday, October 19-23

THE CHICK COREA ELEKTRIC BAND

Chick Corea (keyboards), Eric Marienthal (saxes),

Frank Gamble (guitar), John Patitucci (bass), Dave Weckl (drums)

Wednesday - Sunday, October 26-30

FOR MILES

Chick Corea (keyboards), Kenny Garrett (saxes), Wallace Roney (trumpet),

Mike Stern (guitar), Marcus Miller (bass), Brian Blade (drums)

Wednesday - Thursday, November 2-3

THREE QUARTETS BAND

Chick Corea (piano), Steve Gadd (drums), Eddie Gomez (bass), Ben Solomon (sax)

Friday - Sunday, November 4-6

THE LEPRECHAUN BAND

Chick Corea (keyboards), Steve Gadd (drums), Gayle Moran Corea (vocals),

Steve Wilson (sax & flute), Michael Rodriguez (trumpet), Steve Davis (trombone),

Eddie Gomez (acoustic bass), TBA (electric bass)

Wednesday - Thursday, November 9-10

EXPERIMENTS IN ELECTRONICA

Chick Corea (keyboards + computers), Marcus Gilmore (drums), Taylor McFerrin

Friday - Sunday, November 11 - 13

CHICK'S FLAMENCO HEART

Chick Corea (keyboards), Jorge Pardo (sax & flute), Niño Josele (acoustic guitar), Carles Benevant (bass), Tom Brechtlein (drums), Luisito Quintero (percussion), Flamenco Dancer (TBA), Vocalist (TBA)

Wednesday - Thursday, November 16-17

THE CHICK COREA BIG BAND

Chick Corea (keyboards), Erlend Skomsvoll (arranger & conductor),

the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra - 13-Piece Big Band (8 horns, guitar, bass & drums)

Friday - Sunday, November 18-20

CHICK COREA PIANO DUETS

Friday, November 18: Chick Corea & Brad Mehldau

Saturday, November 19: Chick Corea & Herbie Hancock

Sunday, November 20: Chick Corea & Gonzalo Rubalcaba

Tuesday - Wednesday, November 22 & 23

CHICK COREA & GARY BURTON

with the Harlem String Quartet

Chick Corea (piano), Gary Burton (vibes),

Ilmar Gavilán (violin), Melissa White (violin),

Jaime Amador (viola), Felix Umansky (cello)

Friday - Sunday, November 25-27

ORIGIN II

Chick Corea (piano), Ravi Coltrane (sax),

Steve Wilson (sax & flute), Steve Davis (trombone),

Carlitos Del Puerto (bass), Marcus Gilmore (drums)

Wednesday - Sunday, November 30 - December 4

THE MUSIC OF RETURN TO FOREVER AND MORE (ACOUSTIC)

Chick Corea (keyboards), Ravi Coltrane (sax),

Hubert Laws (flute), Avishai Cohen (bass), Lenny White (drums)

Wednesday, December 7

CHICK COREA & JOHN McLAUGHLIN

DUET

Thursday - Sunday, December 8-11

THE MUSIC OF RETURN TO FOREVER AND MORE (ELECTRIC)

Chick Corea (keyboards), John McLaughlin (guitar),

Victor Wooten (bass), Lenny White (drums)

Brazilian born, Parisian resident, Dom La Nena has recorded a beautiful new EP of cover versions of some of her favorite songs - Cantando EP

In the wake of the release of her acclaimed second full length album, Soyo, and in between her many live dates around the world, Brazilian born, Parisian resident, Dom La Nena has recorded a beautiful new EP of cover versions of some of her favorite songs. 

Dom explains the inspirations behind the Cantando EP and why she felt compelled to record these particular songs from this diverse group of global composers:

I am a composer, although sometimes my desire to sing the songs of other artists is strong.  These creative impulses often inspire me to record cover versions. I actually perform some of the songs chosen for the “Cantando” EP in my live concert set, others I only sing at home. All of the songs selected for this EP are long time favorites of mine, many of which I have enjoyed since I was a child.  With these four songs, I wanted to achieve a variety of moods, languages, atmospheres, time periods, and revisit my musical roots.

I approached the arrangements of these recordings with the intention of keeping things simple, a minimalist vision, placing the focus on the lyrics and the melodies.  This is why I only used my cello as accompaniment. Additionally, I found Maxime Le Guil to be one of the best sound engineers with whom I have ever worked. His delicate and insightful touch was extremely important to the creation of each arrangement.

“Felicidade," from Brazilian composer Lupicinio Rodrigues, reminds me of my childhood. It is one of the first songs I learned to play. "Felicidade" means “happiness”. I have a strong sense of contentment whenever I hear or perform this song. I think Lupicinio makes me feel so happy because she transports me back to my hometown of Porto Alegre (Lupicinio was also from there), back to my family roots. Suddenly, I am back in the school choir, singing this song with my best childhood friends.  Recording this song preserves these wonderful feelings and honors my origins.

Chilean composer and musical pioneer Violeta Parra is one of my biggest musical references and inspirations.  She was an extraordinary woman, a Latino-American innovator.  "Gracias a la Vida” will always be a part of my life. It is a song that is a part of the musical and cultural heritage of every Latino-American. I remember passionately singing this song during my teenage years while in Buenos Aires.

When I arrived in Paris for my studies, I was 18 years old, and listening non-stop to Beirut's first album, "The Gulag Orkestar.”  I don't know why but I always found Brazilian influences within the song "Scenic World," almost like a little Samba. Perhaps I felt this way because I was far from my country, and was sensitive to every little detail of life that might remind me of Brazil, making me feel closer to home.  When recording this song, I wanted to finally create the little Samba that grew from my imagination over the years.

"Les Vieux," by Belgian singer/songwriter Jacques Brel is my mother's favorite song. She was the one who introduced me to Brel's music during my childhood in Brazil before I arrived in France. It was with this song that I became familiar with the French language.

Free Nelson MandoomJazz Ups the Ante on The Organ Grinder I Third RareNoise release slams with more authority and an expanded vision for the group

With the release of 2013's double EP/The Shape of Doomjazz To Come/Saxophone Giganticus, the renegade Scottish trio Free Nelson MandoomJazz laid out its musical manifesto in bone-crunching terms and followed up in 2014 with the equally potent Awakening of a Capital. Both recordings showcased the Edinburgh-based musicians Colin Stewart (bass), Paul Archibald (drums) and Rebecca Sneddon (alto sax) in a provocative blend of doom metal and free jazz, influenced principally by such artists as Black Sabbath, Electric Wizard, Sun Ra, Sonny Rollins, Albert Ayler and Wayne Shorter.

The band's sound has progressed with each new recording, and now with The Organ Grinder they take it up a couple of notches. While retaining the same intensely throbbing core that is at the heart of Free MandoomJazz music, the addition of trumpeter Luc Klein and trombonist Patrick Darley on a few tracks brings new colors and textures to the proceedings. This is a bigger, bolder vision for the group without forsaking its punk-jazz essence.

"One major difference with this album is the space we recorded in," says drummer Archibald. "Before any writing took place, the first thing we decided on was the space-a 218-seat Victorian venue built in 1859. The Reid Hall is a huge space with tons of natural reverb, and our starting point for each song was 'what would sound good in this room? We worked closely with the sound engineer, Seamus Connacher."

Regarding the more focused intensity and aggressive attack heard on the core trio tracks throughout The Organ Grinder, Archibald says it's a natural development that came with time and bandstand experience. "Gigging has helped, listening to each other and seeing the reaction to certain songs. I think it comes individually, living apart, playing in different projects, and coming back together to see what we've all experienced. It keeps things fresh and gives us time away to think about direction. I know bands that tour all the time, get super polished but often struggle to find time to not play, but to compose and consider where they would like to go musically. We're the opposite of that, though there must be a happy balance somewhere!"

Bassist Stewart expounds on the notion of how the trio has grown since its incarnation. "The initial concept of the band was quite straightforward: doomjazz. 'Let's see if we can combine these two seemingly disparate genres'. But I think since then we've developed a lot in terms of what we can each bring to the group." Saxophonist Sneddon agrees that the band's approach to composition has definitely evolved since the first EP and Awakening of a Capital. "Each of us has taken a more collaborative role in writing for all instruments, not just our own. I think we all have a strong desire to push the boundaries of our own instruments, which creates limitless possibilities in composition. So our overall approach has matured, and with this album we all felt like we needed to break out of some of the structures of the previous releases." 

The idea of adding trumpet and trombone for some track on The Organ Grinder also came about organically. "All three of us have worked with Luc Klein before in various jazz/blues projects," says Archibald. "We first met in 2010-2011. For some years now he's been living in Amsterdam as part of the jazz scene there. One of my earliest ideas for the album was that I wanted to do a take on 'Calcutta Cutie' by Horace Silver. We needed a trumpet for the head so I asked Luc to join us for that track. Luc came over for the whole period we were recording and ended up hanging out during rehearsals, our time in the Reid Hall, and the time in-between. We noticed quite early on that his personality was rubbing off on us as a group so we invited him to jam on some of the tracks we were rehearsing. He even wrote a song for us, which we liked and kept ('LORA')." He explains, "As for trombone, I had always wanted Patrick Darley on the album but was determined to wait until the right spot on the album came up. I love the sound of a trombone, and Paddy loves exploring what sounds and noises the instrument can make. When Luc wrote his song he incorporated trombone because he knew Paddy was playing (he knows him too!). The band met Paddy around the same time as we met Luc. We both have the same taste in jazz music and recently took a trip to New Orleans together. Paddy plays in many bands around Edinburgh; he makes a personal study of early trad jazz players."

Adds Stewart, "Luc was there while the songs were being written for the most part and it became obvious that his knowledge of us, as people and players as well as the sound of the band and what we wanted to achieve, was going to be invaluable. I hadn't initially included parts for him on any of the tracks I started but Luc is an 'ideas-man' and he certainly helped to shape the album, including his playing on this album, which I think is incredible."

Sneddon has equally high praise for the special guests on The Organ Grinder. "Having Luc's second opinion and creative input really helped with the clarity of tracks, and introducing trumpet into our sound was a fun and interesting step. When I conceived 'The Woods' and workshopped it with Colin and Paul, it was lacking something -- a hole which Paddy filled nicely. It was excellent timing, with Paddy only having recently arrived back in Edinburgh. His subtlety and inventiveness in playing really added to that track."

The introduction of piano on the Horace Silver tune "Calcutta Cutie" and organ on "Om" (both played by Archibald) was another new touch to the recording. "One advantage to using the Reid Hall was that it is an active classical concert venue with lots of instruments," explains Archibald. "I was excited to get access to these instruments and incorporate them when was appropriate. We obviously needed a piano for 'Calcutta Cutie' and there was a beautiful concert grand already there. The 'ting' sound you hear almost immediately at the start of that song was actually an old celesta in the corner. As for the organ, it dominated the space the moment we walked in. A 21-stop 2-manual German organ built by Jürgen Ahrend in 1978, it's considered to be one of the finest of its kind in the UK. It fills the room and is high above you as you record. It was just 'there' the whole time, and it just needed to be heard!"

Archibald adds that the idea of including Horace Silver cover, "Calcutta Cutie," was an easy choice. "Horace Silver is a very important artist to me. He's what got me listening to jazz in the first place. Of my five favourite albums in the world, two are his."

And Stewart says, "I'm definitely the least jazz literate of the group but Horace Silver really helped me to get into the genre as a whole and I think it's just because a lot of those riffs as you could call them are really memorable and get stuck in your head. I guess in that sense there is a parallel with the rock and metal stuff we like so much as well. I'm a sucker for a good riff in any genre."

"I've known about Paul's love for Horace Silver for a while, so I guess it was inevitable that he suggests this track," says Sneddon. "Luckily, I'm also a fan, and as a horn player it's always fun to play these tunes, especially with Luc on board. I was initially unsure as to how it would fit in on the album, but Paul convinced me that the tune was 'doomy' enough, and in context alongside our jazzier tracks I think it works well."

Sneddon also contributes the compelling, atmospheric piece "The Woods." Says Archibald, "We each have one on this album (a first for us, where usually everything is equally-composed). Mine is 'You Are Old, Father William' and Colin's is 'Shapeshifter' (Luc's is 'LORA'). Becca had given me instructions as to what she wanted, mostly in metaphors, but very helpful."

Currently, the three core members of Free Nelson MandoomJazz, who formed in Edinburgh, Scotland, are scattered to three different spots on the globe -- Rebecca in Bristol, Colin in Abu Dhabi and Paul in Edinburgh. "It's very easy to collaborate nowadays even when we're far away," says "Archibald. "We come together on average for two/three sessions per year, one European Tour and then for another shorter thing, a festival, or a one-off big performance somewhere. And perhaps a recording. This has been the format for the past two years. We will be doing our third European Tour this September, doubling as an album launch, and we are booked for a festival in Gdansk (Festiwal Jazz Jantar) in November. And maybe something further afield after that."

Stay tuned for the further adventures of this mighty triumvirate. They may be coming to a jazz festival near you. Meanwhile, dig The Organ Grinder.

TRACKS

1. Open The Gate

2. You Are Old, Father William

3. Funambule

4. The Woods 

5. Calcutta Cutie

6. LORA

7. Bicycle Day 

8. Inferno Pt. 1 

9. Shapeshifter

The New Recording From Frank Carlberg's Word Circus - No Money In Art Featuring Frank Carlberg with Christine Correa, John O'Gallagher, Pascal Niggenkemper & Michael Sarin

Brooklyn-based Red Piano Records is proud to announce the release of No Money In Art by Frank Carlberg's Word Circus. This album features a stellar quintet of jazz and improvised music heavy-hitters such as Christine Correa, voice; John O'Gallagher, alto sax; Pascal Niggenkemper, bass; Michael Sarin, drums and Carlberg on piano. Word Circus is a collection of musical settings of poems by contemporary American writers such as Ron Padgett, Jim Gustafson, Ken Mikolowski and Anselm Hollo. Carlberg gives some insight in to the background of Word Circus: "This project, my 11th CD devoted to settings of poetry, is a follow-up release to the 2015 Word Circus recording. Poems on No Money In Art are thought provoking and range from light and humorous to existential musings, and to meditative ruminations on the state of our world. No Money In Art is the culmination in my work with American poets, which has continued uninterrupted for the past twenty-plus years, beginning with the release of The Crazy Woman on Accurate Records in 1995." 

The songs on No Money In Art were written for this Quintet, which has, with a few modifications, been around since Carlberg's earliest works with poetry in the mid-1990s. About the vocalist Christine Correa Carlberg explains: "Christine is the main reason for the existence of this group and this repertoire; my muse as it were. I have by now written over 150 songs with poems by writers such as Robert Creeley, Anselm Hollo, Anna Akhmatova, Rabindranath Tagore, Kenneth Rexroth, Allen Ginsberg, Alejandra Pizarnik, etc, as well as various other texts such as excerpts from Bill Clinton's Grand Jury testimony, fragments from medical journals, pieces from legal documents, cut-up versions of the Bill Of Rights, etc. All this work would never have happened had I not had a voice to compose for. Christine provided me with that voice. She was able to execute whatever lines I would dream up and she was able to infuse the words with such powerful expression and emotion. The rest of the group has remained remarkably stable as well with drummer Michael Sarin working with us since the In The Land Of Art project (on Fresh Sound New Talent) in the late 90's. John O'Gallagher has worked with us since the Uncivilized Rumination CD about 6 years ago. Pascal Niggenkemper is a relative newcomer who stepped in to this project after longtime collaborator John Hébert was unable to participate because of scheduling conflicts. This group is really a dream come true for me as these musicians are all completely committed to the music, while bringing such strong personalities and remarkable musicianship to the plate. A real composer's paradise."

The compositions for Word Circus/No Money In Art were commissioned by Chamber Music America through their New Jazz Works program. 

The songs on No Money In Art cover a broad range of moods and emotions. The opening title track features Gustafson's hilarious yet insightful ruminations that in this time of Spotify and YouTube seems more relevant than ever. Art is now just to be consumed freely with no societal concern how artists are to make a living. The poem by Ken Mikolowski is from a series of poems that he wrote titled "Ecology." After a brief introduction Correa and Carlberg deliver the beginning of the setting of the poem in rubato. Soon the rest of the band joins in with a few tempo switches including fast swing and a hint at a 12/8 groove. The text finally reaches the title of the text with Correa in full voice. O'Gallagher takes over with an intense and soulful solo statement ably supported by the rhythm section before Correa re-enters for a final recap. For The Nail the pace slows down to an almost country-western cowboy feel (reminiscent of some grooves that Shelly Manne and his groups used to incorporate in their music), with a wistful, yet playful, poem by Ron Padgett. A delicate piece delivered to perfection by Correa, it features Carlberg's piano before the voice and sax return in perfect unison to provide support to Carlberg's solo. After the return of the melody O'Gallagher has a few more fleeting thoughts before the piece evaporates in to the ether. On Banner Spangled Star, with a poem by Ken Mikolowski, we are treated to a reconstruction of the text to the "Star Spangled Banner." The setting has a loping cyclical feel with neither a beginning nor an end. O'Gallagher takes the improvisational spotlight with his characteristic energy and invention. Headline Haiku starts with a rhythmic unison figure before piano and Rhodes depart on whimsical excursions. Correa and Carlberg eventually settle in to the aphoristic text by Anselm Hollo, which is sung in a new tempo, creating a moment of Ivesian flavor with multiple strata. After joyful solo statements by Niggenkemper and Carlberg the whole band convenes on a lively almost circus-like jaunt that leads us back to the final melody statement. The mood slows down on Clarification, a duo piece with Correa and Carlberg. The acerbic wit of Hollo's text; "Not buying you/just buying you a drink," is performed with great restraint, creating a sense of melancholy. Carlberg solos on Rhodes with a fitting delicacy. Verbal Scenario is a funky romp that centers on a repeated D in the melody. The obliquely coherent text (by Mikolowski) is briefly interrupted by Correa's howling vocalizations. The solos over a cantankerous off-kilter form build throughout the piano solo in to the climax of the sax solo. A short repeat phrase in unison closes the piece. The last song, Nothing with its haunting text, "Nothing/can replace/poetry/in my life/and one day/surely/it will," places Correa remarkable vocals front and center. After an alap-like improvisational voice introduction the chant-like melody is stated with stately grace. Carlberg provides solo piano commentary before the final melody statement delivered with a hint of resignation and sadness, but no melodramatic emoting, just a powerful end to the program.

With No Money In Art, his 11th recording of settings of poetry and text, Carlberg continues his explorations of the connecting points between poetry and music. Not since the remarkable oeuvre of the late great Steve Lacy has there been such a sustained and satisfying effort in creating connections between these two spectacular art forms. May No Money In Art receive wide attention, as the music is accessible yet intelligently constructed and brilliantly performed by a long-standing ensemble that is intimately familiar with the music as well as each other.