The Liberation Music Collective delivers stunning jazz poetry in new album celebrating heroes of global struggle - Rebel Portraiture

In the history of civilization, no generation has managed to avoid injustice, hardship, and peril - and every generation suspects that the coming crises are the worst thus far. Nonetheless, those taking the reins in the early 21st century have more reason for concern than most of those who preceded them. Environmental change, expanding income inequality, the rise of nationalism, the collapse of diplomacy - these issues are more than enough to make the bold blanch and the squeamish retreat.

But in the activist musical tradition of such jazz composers as Charles Mingus, Max Roach, and Charlie Haden - whose pioneering Liberation Music Orchestra provides the model as well as the namesake for their efforts - the Liberation Music Collective seeks to do what artists have always done, and what they should always do. They distill the anger and despair to create works that teach and inspire. With words as well as music, they gather up the emotions that attend history's victims and turn them into beacons, focusing listeners' remembrance and galvanizing their resolve. They transform sorrow into hope.

This dynamic undergirds Rebel Portraiture, the eagerly awaited sophomore effort from the Liberation Music Collective, a contemporary jazz orchestra born in Bloomington, Indiana - under the direction of bassist/vocalist Hannah Fidler and trumpeter Matt Riggen - who interrupted the jazz conversation two years ago with their startling Siglo XXI. That album that fulfilled their mission to form "a socially-conscious big band dedicated to performing original compositions about contemporary issues." Now, on Rebel Portraiture, they go behind the issues to honor the individuals whose courage and commitment call attention to oppression and injustice the world over.

As author and GRAMMY®-winning producer Kabir Sehgal states in his informative liner notes, "These tracks are tasteful and elegant portraits of those who defied fear and spoke truth to power. Now their stories become 'music to power.'"

In the tradition of the greatest artists in any genre, the LMC achieves this consciousness-raising with grace and grit, creating pieces that can stand on their own regardless of the events that inspired them. Reading about the fallen heroes to whom these performances are dedicated will certainly deepen one's appreciation for the goals and accomplishments of the LMC. But even without the historical overview, Rebel Portraiture overflows with musical wonder. The music employs a wide range of influences and resources: African and Arabic music, rap poetry, a 19th-century American hymn, early 20th century classical music, pan-national folk songs - all within the context of the modern jazz orchestra, with sophisticated arrangements by the LMC co-founders Fidler and Riggen.

In Rebel Portraiture, contemporary heroes rub shoulders with martyrs of history. They include Berta Cáceres - an indigenous environmental activist in Honduras, assassinated in her home in 2016 for her opposition to the Agua Zarca Dam project - all the way back to Giles Corey, put to an agonizingly slow death during the Salem Witch Trials in 17th-century Massachusetts. The LMC reminds us of the fallen we may have forgotten - such as the four students killed while protesting the Vietnam War at Kent State University in 1970 - and introduces us to more recent profiles in courage, whose names have already become rallying cries for the causes they championed.

One such woman is Noxolo Nogwaza, a South African LGBTQ+ organizer who was raped, murdered, and left on the side of the road in 2011, by perpetrators who remain unknown. Her death led more than 170,000 people to sign a petition demanding more protection for victims of sexual hate crimes, and trained the world's attention on human rights in that country. Riggen's homage, titled "Ditchside Monument," uses the hint of South African harmonies to craft a memorial that moves from mournful to momentous. Another dedication honors Syrian journalist Ruqia Hassan, whose blog posts reported on deteriorating conditions around the city of Raqqa under the influence of ISIS. She was murdered by the terrorist group in 2015, at the age of 20. In the composition "Iqra," the value of independent reporting like Hassan's is tied to a famous verse from the Quran in spoken word written and recited by Fidler.

The musicians of the LMC live what they believe. For the last two years, a small group drawn from the orchestra has traveled to Ferguson, Missouri - a touchstone of the Black Lives Matter movement - at the invitation of the Center for Social Empowerment and Justice. There they conducted daylong workshops to exchange ideas and share experiences (musical and otherwise) with local residents focused on racial justice. Members of the LMC have travelled together to be part of history in the making - from protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline in Standing Rock, North Dakota to the streets of our nation's capital for the Women's March on Washington. These musicians strive to "show up" for the turning points of our era, both musically and personally.

In the two years since their debut, the musicians of the LMC have undergone a dramatic shift in the musical and personal relationships within the band. "I see this as a far more intimate album, in several ways," Fidler says. "The subject matter is much more personal. We're touching very deeply on intimate aspects of people's lives, involving their final actions and the decisions they made." In addition, the musicians have grown closer since Siglo XXI, making the LMC a collective in the truest sense. "That album was literally our first project as a group," Fidler explains. "But now you can really hear the result of two years working together; you can hear the trust these musicians have in each other, and in the music."

This has certainly been the case among the core members of the band, who have continued to create new projects in smaller groupings between public performances by the entire orchestra. Although various members have moved on since 2015, long-term musical relationships in the band have begun to bear fruit-especially because Fidler and Riggen have tailored many of the compositions for the individuals playing it. "So, when we know that our lead trumpet player will be available, we write certain parts that only she can play," Fidler points out - a practice that came to fruition in the music of Duke Ellington, whose 1941 suite Black, Brown and Beige was one of the first jazz works driven by concepts of social justice and racism.

Indiana natives Hannah Fidler and Matt Riggen are both scientist-musicians: Riggen graduated with degrees in jazz and biology, and Fidler completed a double major in jazz bass and neuroscience. They met and bonded over music in the classes and performance groups led by GRAMMY-nominated trombonist Wayne Wallace, who is renowned for his exploration of Latin American musical traditions. Fidler and Riggen formed the Liberation Music Collective in 2015 as a way to channel their sociopolitical concerns into meaningful music. Since graduating from IU, both have moved to Chicago to pursue their careers and to introduce new musicians to their engaging brand of jazz activism.

http://www.liberationmusiccollective.com/

German Saxophonist Philipp Gerschlauer Joins Forces with American Guitarist David Fiuczynski On Microtonal Album for RareNoiseRecords

On Mikrojazz, their cutting edge joint project for RareNoiseRecords, German saxophonist Philipp Gerschlauer and guitarist David Fiuczynski explore the world of music that falls between the cracks of the tempered scale. Joined by jazz drumming legend Jack DeJohnette, fretless electric bassist Matt Garrison and microtonal keyboardist Giorgi Mikadze, this daring crew creates dreamy, otherworldly soundscapes on tunes by Gerschlauer like aptly-titled "Hangover" and "LaMonte's Gamelan Jam" along with a swinging microtonal tune "Mikro Steps" and other originals like Fiuczynski's "MiCroY Tyner", Zirkus Macabre and "Lullaby Nightmare".

Fiuczynski, who heads up the Planet MicroJam Institute at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, previously released two microtonal recordings on RareNoise - 2012's Planet MicroJam, which opened a Pandora's Box on non-Western tuning, and 2016's Flam! Blam! Pan-Asian MicroJam!, which was jointly dedicated to 20th century classical composer Olivier Messiaen and innovative hip-hop record producer JDilla. Gerschlauer, who was inspired by French composer Gérard Grisey and Paul Desmond had been independently exploring the world of microtonal music in Berlin and New York before developing a method of dividing an octave (12 notes in equal temperament) into 128 notes on the alto saxophone.

"I started to use microtones on the saxophone about ten years ago," Gerschlauer explained. "I wanted to extend the harmonic and melodic language which was used in jazz music so far. I began noticing that the regular piano and keyboards could not provide the full harmonic and melodic spectrum that was needed for my compositions. So five years ago, I decided to also develop my own microtonal keyboard which  now fills this gap. The tunings and programming I am using are a complete novelty in a jazz context. When I found out about David and what he is doing, I naturally was very excited and it made sense that we would be meeting and playing at some point."

This meeting of the minds was jump-started when Fiuczynski invited Gerschlauer to Berklee to present his music, talk about playing microtonal saxophone and playing with Berklee's resident Planet MicroJam Ensemble. "David and I had already been in an intensive email correspondence on microtonal music, so I knew that he was combining jazz with microtones and that his music was really grooving," said the saxophonist. "I couldn't wait to meet him in person and felt honored by the invitation to hold a workshop there. I was pleased to find out that  David's microtonal ensemble at Berklee sounded great! You could hear right away that they played and rehearsed on a regularly basis. I think it's awesome that such a band can exist in a university context."

For Fiuczynski (aka Fuze), this collaboration with Gerschlauer was marked by a kindred connection that was apparent from the outset because of their mutual interest in melding micro- jazz and grooves. "Just as there are jazz and classical snobs and uptight indie rockers, there are many divisions in microtonality," he said. 'I've had plenty of micro-snobs turn me away because I was injecting a groove element into microtonality. But Philipp was stunned at how I was using grooves and coloring microtones in a completely unique way, and I was intrigued by how he was working with a very high order of microtones - 128 notes per octave and untempered - amazing! So we decided to join forces because both had something to offer to the other."

Fiuczynski has been operating on the fringe for decades, flaunting mondo-chops with his avant- jazz-funk band Screaming Headless Torsos in the early 1990s, as a member of Hasidic New Wave in the late '90s and in collaboration with keyboardist John Medeski on 1994's Lunar Crush and subsequently with his KiF trio and experimental Black Cherry Acid Lab. A longtime exponent of the fretless guitar, his wicked whammy bar articulations over the years have gone well beyond the 12-tone Western chromatic scale. In more recent years he's been studying microtonal music in a more formal sense while also experimenting with a quarter tone guitar.

Perhaps eerie-sounding, unsettling and 'out of tune' to Western ears, microtonal music, which employs intervals smaller than a semitone, has nonetheless been around since the Hellenic civilizations of ancient Greece and continues to be prevalent in musical cultures around the world today from India to the Balkans to China, Turkey and Africa.

As Fiuczynski noted, "When taken outside of the context of blues, gamelan, Middle Eastern music - in other words the 'micro' sounds we're used to - it can be jarring, especially since we're doing microtonal harmony. You don't hear harmony in East Asian and Middle Eastern music. At times it's polyphonic but harmonies are incidental. Microtonal harmony started with Julian Carillo, Alois Haba, Ivan Wyschnegradsky (and also Charles Ives) in the first half of the 20th century. These are our microtonal classical forefathers. But what Mikrojazz does - and I've done this on Planet Microjam and FLAM! - is jazz microtonal chord scales. This is fairly new, I don't really know anyone else doing this. And when you play those microtonal melodies and then you stack them in harmony, it can certainly throw you for a loop."

"I can't understand why the wide majority of jazz musicians is still using only 12 notes per octave," Gerschlauer added. "I feel we are stuck in this system because there aren't many people who seriously think about this. Art has always been a reflection on the time it is created in. The Zeitgeist or 'sign of the time' we live in is rapid communication and innovation and artists should be the interpreters of this Zeitgeist. I feel this is my mission. Microtones build the foundation of my scale and harmonic language. None of the pitches I am using fits into our predominant tone system. And I believe that due to it's physiology, the ear finds justly tuned chords more consonant than other tunings. Hermann von Helmholtz suggested in his book On the Sensations of Tone that there is a direct link between the physics of a sound wave, the physiology of our ears, the reception in our brain and music theory. This opened up a field of study for me. When I listened to the opening chord of Grisey's "Partiels" it hit me like a wave. Microtonality is the sound of TODAY, of NOW! This is how today, the time we are living in, sounds like and I hope that when people will hear this music, they will realize how rigid the predominant tuning system is." 

Kindred spirits Fiuczynski and Gerschlauer dive headlong into the microtonal pool on Mikrojazz and are ably supported in their explorations by the empathetic crew of DeJohnette, Garrison and Mikadze. As an added visual treat, each piece on Mikrojazz, which is subtitled Neue Expressionistische Musik, meaning 'new expressionist music', is paired with expressionist paintings by the likes of Georg Grosz, Emil Nolde, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, August Macke, Egon Schiele, Max Beckmann, Otto Dix, Jean Michel Basquiat and more. "Both Philipp and I grew up in Germany and expressionist painting is an influence, certainly for me," said Fiuczynski. "I do consider myself to be a Black German expressionist and those paintings are major influences. The jagged forms, the intense colors and the African-American elements (Basquiat) and other non-Western elements that influenced many German expressionists are kind of a visual summary of what I do. I feel very 'Black'' when listening to James Brown or playing with Jack DeJohnette, but I feel very 'German' when injecting microtonality and jagged lines and so forth. It's a personal thing, I don't have a rationale for this, I'm just reacting."

"So Mikrojazz is about our affinity with expressionism, something that's been close to my heart for a while," Fiuczynski said of his joint effort with Gerschlauer. "I love painting in general, but particularly expressionist painting. We've paired paintings with our music in a very intuitive manner, based more on emotions than literal or direct connections. It's literally a personal EXPRESSION of our music and art."

Regarding the provocative music heard throughout Mikrojazz, Fiuczynski believes it just might be, to borrow the title of a 1959 Ornette Coleman album, The Shape of Jazz to Come. "I would like to think that Western microtonality is an evolutionary extension of 20th century music, and since our 12 note per octave musical language is becoming exhausted and repetitive, I think microtonality is a very natural and necessary musical development," he said. "Here is where Philipp and I can contribute the most to the evolution of jazz and hopefully bring new insights and perspectives to the art form. I think this record will change the way people hear and listen to music."

Bold words from a bold visionary. But he delivers once again in this microtonal meeting of the minds with the amazing Mr. Gerschlauer.

Ace of bass Katie Thiroux triumphs with the masterful Off Beat

There's a special pleasure to be had when a promising artist not only fulfills all expectations but then dashes ahead to produce a rare work of outstanding beauty. With her new recording, Off Beat, Katie Thiroux, a world class bassist and charismatic singer, proves that all the initial critical attention she garnered from both her debut album and subsequent live appearances was merely a spur for her to quickly surpass her laudable achievements.

Utilizing the contributions of pianist Justin Kauflin and drummer Matt Witek, as well as saxophonist Roger Neumann and saxophonist and clarinetist Ken Peplowski (and once again employing the skillful production of Jeff Hamilton), Thiroux has conjured up a dream project that certifies the wellbeing of exceptionally crafted mainstream jazz.

What first strikes an attuned listener on hearing Off Beat is that while Thiroux's gifts as a bassist are at the top level, her singing has evidently matured, taking on a mellow, yet eminently swinging, expressivity. Her sly interpretations of "Off Beat," an overlooked gem from the catalogue of the great June Christy; "Some Cats Know," a Leiber and Stoller favorite of Peggy Lee; and Benny Carter's classic "When Lights Are Low," as well as her scat line on Ray Brown and Walter Fuller's bebop prize, "Ray's Idea," are telling examples of her rhythmically shapely vocals. But three additional performances truly exhibit how thoroughly Thiroux has evolved as an assured vocalist. "When the Wind Was Green," a seldom visited Frank Sinatra track from 1965, finds Thiroux's vocals supported only by her formidable bass and Peplowski's lyrical clarinet; on the chestnut, "Willow Weep For Me," Thiroux forgoes additional assistance, her own bass and vocals relaying the whole vivid story.  And in the album's biggest (and happiest) surprise, Thiroux lays down her instrument altogether for the emotional standard, "Why Did I Choose You?," Kauflin's supportive piano cradling her gently nuanced vocal. These sublime tracks send a clear message: Thiroux is taking her singing as seriously as she is her remarkable bass playing.

Of which, let there be no doubt, there are plenty of marvelous examples. On swinging performances including "Brotherhood of Man (from the Frank Loesser musical, "How to Succeed In Business Without Really Trying"), or the easy grooving Thiroux original "Slow Dance With Me," and the sensually intoned Duke Ellington masterpiece "Happy Reunion" (once a feature for star tenorist Paul Gonsalves, here a showpiece for the gorgeous weave of Peplowski and Neumann's horns), Thiroux exhibits her rock solid technique, embracing tone and intuitive support. Swinging like crazy, Thiroux drives the music, no matter the tempo, displaying a balance of superior technical skills and exquisite taste. Her well-chosen features-like only the best of leaders, Thiroux knows when not to solo- are stunning instances of melodic inventiveness wedded to badass chops.

With the release of Off Beat, Thiroux has found herself in a pleasing conundrum. The only thing that can divert attention from her auspicious bass playing may be her praiseworthy vocalizing. It's a tough position to be sure, but it's obvious this multi-talented savant can handle it.

Studying both bass and voice since her pre-teenage years, Thiroux continued her musical education at the Berklee College of Music where she performed with Branford Marsalis, Greg Osby, Dr. Billy Taylor, Terri Lyne Carrington and others. In 2013, a year after receiving her master's degree in jazz studies from California State University, Long Beach, Thiroux organized, and has since maintained, her own touring ensembles. Her 2015 debut album, Introducing Katie Thiroux, earned broad acclaim including a place on the best debut lists of the NPR Music Critics Poll, Huffington Post and All About Jazz. Performing throughout the United States and various international venues, Thiroux has worked with, among others, Eric Reed, Terell Stafford, Brian Lynch, Tierney Sutton and Patti Austin. This summer, she will be Artist-In Residence at Quincy Jones's new jazz club, Palazzo Versace in Dubai.

Performances:

o June 27 - Sept. 2 - Artist in Residence at Quincy Jones' Palazzo Versace, Dubai

o Sept. 7 - Chestertown Jazz Festival at the Mainstay, Rock Hall, MD

o Sept. 9 - Deerhead Inn, Delaware Water Gap, PA    o Sept. 10 - Birdland, New York, NY

o Sept. 12 - Regattabar, Cambridge, MA   o Sept. 20 - The Velvet Note, Atlanta, GA

o Sept. 22-23 - The Jazz Corner, Hilton Head, SC   o Sept. 24 - The Ritz Theatre, Jacksonville, FL

o Sept. 29-30 - The Green Mill, Chicago, IL   o Oct. 3 - Nocturne, Denver, CO

o Oct. 5 - Clinic, Solon High School, Solon, IA   o Oct. 7 - Noce, Des Moines, IA 

o Oct. 8 - Dunsmore Room, Minneapolis, MN    o Oct. 9 - Clinic, St. Paul Conservatory High School, St. Paul, MN 

o Oct. 13 - The Bop Stop, Cleveland, OH   o Oct. 14 - BLUJazz, Akron, OH 

o Oct. 26 - Nov. 5 - Tour of Denmark

http://www.katiethiroux.com/

NEW RELEASES: THELMA HOUSTON - SUMMER NIGHTS; MARCUS MONTEIRO – ANOTHER PART OF ME; ERIC DARIUS - BREAKIN' THRU

THELMA HOUSTON - SUMMER NIGHTS

This is Thelma Houstons’ unreleased Soulful AOR tracks from 1980. After Thelma Houston finished the contract with Motown, scoring her big disco hit, she went to muscle Shoals to meet up with Terry Woodford who ran the legendary studio Wishbone Sound Studio. This encounter turned into 5 songs in 1980. Unfortunately it never resulted in anything and the tracks where shelved for 37 years. Until now. Exclusive vinyl release through Preservation Records. Smooth breezy soulful AOR with the Wishbone inc signature sound, (Byrne and Barnes, Robert Byrnem Mac McAnally and others) remastered and released on vinyl for the first time. It’s a vinyl LP limited to 500 worldwide.

MARCUS MONTEIRO – ANOTHER PART OF ME

A new Marcus Monteiro Quartet recording comes as good news indeed. The ebullient alto saxophonist plays with the energy of Maceo Parker and the enthusiasm of a beggar at his first banquet. The recording, Another Part of Me, is a dramatic raising of the bar for the young lion, a hyper link to the next level in terms of tunes, in terms of notes, in terms of all around alchemy. Joined by John Harrison III on piano, Fernando Huergo on bass, and Steve Langone on drums, Monteiro is in excellent fettle, surrounded by equally energetic bandmates, all of whom are driving in the same direction. His latest albums covering material from such disparate sources as Horace Silver, Michael Jackson and Soundgarden, indicates what Monteiro can accomplish in such serious jazz company. His ability to bridge the classic and the contemporary is one of his signatures and a huge reason why you need to hear his new record right here and now.

ERIC DARIUS - BREAKIN' THRU

Inspired by the fearlessness and free expression of his favorite R&B and jazz artists Prince, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder and Herbie Hancock, Eric Darius has taken his sax on a wild, explosive journey these past 13 years, pushing musical boundaries every chance he gets. After years with different labels, he creates his own (SagiDarius) for the release of his hard driving, intensely burning, ultra-brassy new single “Breakin’ Thru.” One of those rare artists whose recordings are as intensely energetic as his live performances, Darius plays it cool on the verses before exploding into one of his trademark hooks that grabs and doesn’t let go. The sizzling first single from the forthcoming album, is your ticket to getting any party started! ~ smoothjazz.com

NEW RELEASES: STEVE LANGONE TRIO – BREATHE; BALLISTER - SLAG; BOB HANLON / MARK MINCHELLO - CAMERADERIE

STEVE LANGONE TRIO – BREATHE

To the wider world of jazz world, drummer Steve Langone’s name may be an unfamiliar one. But like anything that is worthwhile but unexpected it will come as more than just a pleasant surprise.  The Boston area musician has a resume that will take some time to get through, one that places him in the company of a long list of luminaries, including Claudio Roditi, Howard Alden, Anat Cohen and dozens more.  So it comes as an additional surprise that Langone has taken some time to drum up another recording, his fourth, as bandleader.  Breathe might be the artist exhorting himself to hit the pause button between sessions, long enough to draw a little attention to his own work, which happens to be stellar.  Joined by Kevin Harris and Dave Zinno, Langone’s trio is sublime, really tasty, as they tackle an exhilarating repertoire spanning Dylan, Shearing, Louis Armstrong and a few originals.  Taken as a piece, it’s great stuff, played with panache, beautifully arranged and short through with class.

BALLISTER - SLAG

Not the kind of album you'd expect from a junk-like term of "slag" – as the trio here are fantastically sharp, and play with a sense of urgency that maybe makes the whole thing one of the boldest statements from any of the three musicians in years! Dave Rempis is brilliant on both alto and tenor – as powerful as before, but also maybe finding even more soul in his horn as the years go by, and setting a tone that has Fred Lonberg-Holm working his cello with equal range too! Drummer Paal Nilssen-Love is nicely balanced – sometimes working with just the right sort of subtle energy to allow Rempis to really take the lead, other times hitting that full-on mode that you might know from earlier records – and the album features three long tracks – "Fauchard", "Guisarme", and "Glaive". ~ Dusty Groove

BOB HANLON / MARK MINCHELLO - CAMERADERIE

Some great camaraderie here between tenorist Bob Hanlon and Hammond organist Mark Minchello – working in a mode that begins with some of the soulful tenor/organ currents of the 60s, but also takes off with a more contemporary flow too – thanks to some very fluid rhythm work on most of the tracks! The album's got no bass – Minchello handles all of that beautifully with the pedals on the organ – but drummers Andy Watson and Pete MacDonald often have this loose, skipping quality that opens up the music – maybe in the manner of older players like Billy Higgins or Hugh Walkers on some of the more forward-thinking organ records of the 60s – almost fast-modal, if we had to give it a name! Other players join in from track to track – and the set includes guitar by Vic Juris, Bob Devos, and Charlie Sigler – plus guest alto from Anton Denner on one track. The pair wrote some great original tunes for the record, too – titles that include "Lovessence", "Sambesque", "Jazz Orbits", and "Flat Tire Blues" – alongside versions of "Will You Still Be Mine" and "A Sound For Sore Ears".  ~ Dusty Groove

NEW RELEASES: REGGIE YOUNG – FOREVER YOUNG; GREGORY HOWE; ROSCOE MITCHELL – DUETS WITH TYSHAWN SOREY & SPECIAL GUEST HUGH RAGIN

REGGIE YOUNG – FOREVER YOUNG

He is the guitarist on Elvis Presley’s “Suspicious Minds” and “In The Ghetto,” Dusty Springfield’s “Son Of A Preacher Man,” Willie Nelson’s “Always On My Mind,” Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline” and Dobie Gray’s “Drift Away,” among so many other legendary songs.  His name is Reggie Young. Reggie is now featured on a brand new album by an artist making his debut as a bandleader.  That artist is – wait for it – Reggie young! At 79, after six decades of stellar appearances, backing megastars and super stars alike, and receiving accolades from names like Clapton and George Harrison, Reggie is at last responsible for an album of his own materials, the aptly titles Forever Young.

Recorded primarily at La La Land Studio in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, Forever Young features seven instrumental tracks written and produced by Young.  They showcase his unique and supremely soulful six-string sound.  Not only that, the rest of the performers on the record include mainstays of the Memphis, Nashville and Muscle Shoals eras of the 60’s and 70’s.  Forever Young is excellent news for fans of tasty southern-style country-soul, and good news for Young, who finally gets to emerge from the shadows cast by some of the greatest performers in rock music history to stand-on his own, and at long last, in the spotlight.

GREGORY HOWE - GREGORY HOWE

A very different set from Gregory Howe – an artist who you might know from jazz recordings as part of the Wide Hive Players, and on other projects for that label as well – stepping out here as a surprisingly compelling singer/songwriter in a whole new mode! Gregory supplied the lyrics for all tunes, and sings in this raspy style that's really great – offset by warmer guitar work, and some nice use of additional strings, too – gently, with production that's almost in a cool 70s mode – never overdone, and really fitting the spirit of the tunes. Titles include "The Things We Do", "Life Is Rain", "Work It Out", "Flower In The Weeds", "Chasing Shadows", "Reaching Higher", and "Concertina".  ~ Dusty Groove

ROSCOE MITCHELL – DUETS WITH TYSHAWN SOREY & SPECIAL GUEST HUGH RAGIN

Very spare sounds from Roscoe Mitchell and drummer Tyshawn Sorey, but still very sharp-edged too – and in a way, a mix of deeper thoughts and spontaneous energy that reminds us a lot of some of the more "out there" moments of the Art Ensemble back in the 70s! Roscoe's reeds have those complex qualities that we've heard in recent compositional work – but the overall approach is a bit looser, too – and clearly dictated by the range of percussion added by drummer Tyshawn Sorey. Trumpeter Hugh Ragin blows a fair bit on the record too – adding in sounds that shift from textural to musical – and overall, it may well be his tracks that we like the best. Titles include "The Horn", "Bells In The Air", "Out There", "A Cactus & A Rose", "Meadows", "A Game Of Catch", "Waves", and "Windows With A View".  ~ Dusty Groove

NEW RELEASES: MILES DONAHUE – THE BUG; S-TONE INC FEATURING TOCO - SUPERBACABA; JAMES L’ESTRAUNGE ORCHESTRA – CLOSER / GROOVIN’ YOU

MILES DONAHUE – THE BUG

A prominent jazz critic called versatile horn savant Miles Donahue “a jazz treasure and a best-kept secret, equally adept on trumpet and saxophones and a composer of grace and originality.”  Once you hear Donahue’s work, you won’t disagree with that assessment.  He is a world-class player, and an adept arranger, author and educator.  His new album, curiously titled The Bug, is an eclectic, glorious celebration of different jazz vernacular, from meticulously arrange funky fusion complete with searing electric guitar, to more traditional, but still exciting jazz settings, from Weather Report to Miles to Mingus and Monk. Through each track, Donahue leads the way with different instrumentation, lending the album a nice variety, and a full spectrum of harmonic sophistication, melody and intimate expression.  He is a masterful musician and the genuine article.  While intermittency may have prevented him from finding his way into your ears up until now, jazz fans far and wide can and should now rejoice the re-emergence of a classic talent.

S-TONE INC FEATURING TOCO - SUPERBACABA

A great pairing of Schema Records talents here – as the grooves of S-Tone are topped with vocals from Toco – who brings a nice bit of his own Brazilian vibe to the music! "Superbacana" is featured here in both standard and dub versions – both with Toco vocals, and both with this snapping funky style that mixes Fender Rhodes with beats and live percussion! "Zona Norte" has almost an early 80s Brazilian boogie vibe – with some wonderful riffing guitar – and "Zuzu" is a bit more upbeat, but pretty great too – plenty funky, and with a guest appearance from 4 Mare!  ~ Dusty Groove

JAMES L’ESTRAUNGE ORCHESTRA – CLOSER / GROOVIN’ YOU

"Closer" is a fantastic groove – wickedly jazzy, and filled with lots of Fender Rhodes and strings – soaring to the skies on a slightly broken rhythm that almost recalls the best London work of a decade before! Yet there's also a stronger soul vibe here too – thanks to the vocals from Ricky Reid, who really seems to be emerging as a major talent in the more righteous side of the spectrum! "Groovin You" is equally jazzy – with a fantastic bassline that bumps and dips over snapping snare drums – topped with some strong solos on tenor, flute, and trumpet! A beautiful track – like some lost jazz dance number from the 70s, but with a more modern sense of rhythm. (Limited to 200 copies!) ~ Dusty Groove

Seminal Pianist Harold Mabern Assembles Multi-Generational Band Featuring Longtime Collaborators and Former Students on To Love and Be Loved

Available August 25 on Smoke Sessions Records

Release Performances August 25 – 27 at Smoke Jazz & Supper Club

“The greatest thing you’ll ever learn,” Eden Ahbez wrote in “Nature Boy,” his classic song, “is just to love and be loved in return.” That may not be something that pianist Harold Mabern has taught in the classroom during his decades as an influential educator, but it’s certainly a lesson that he’s passed on time and again by example. On his latest album, To Love and Be Loved, Mabern is joined by a multi-generational band that brings together one of his legendary peers with some of his most acclaimed former students – all of whom play with the same love and respect that Mabern has shared with them over the years.

Due out August 25 on Smoke Sessions Records, Mabern’s To Love and Be Loved reunites Mabern with 88-year-old drumming legend Jimmy Cobb, with whom he first played in Miles Davis’s band during a brief but memorable stint in 1963. The rhythm section is completed by the impeccably swinging bassist Nat Reeves, while the frontline features Mabern’s prize student and frequent collaborator Eric Alexander on tenor saxophone and, on three tracks, another Mabern protégé, trumpeter Freddie Hendrix. Master percussionist Cyro Baptista completes the line-up with a performance on the opening track.

To Love and Be Loved takes its name not from the “Nature Boy” line quoted above (à propos as it may be), but from a rarely revived Jimmy Van Heusen/Sammy Cahn tune written for the classic 1958 film Some Came Running. Originally performed by Frank Sinatra in a lush Nelson Riddle arrangement, the song was nominated for an Oscar but hasn’t been a major part of the jazz songbook since. Long a fan of the song, Mabern was determined to record it, albeit with a completely different feel. In the rendition that opens the album, the sweeping ballad is transformed into an up-tempo number with a slight bossa nova feel.

While he learned most valuable lessons the old-fashioned way – on the bandstand – Mabern has endeavored to pass along similar experiences to his students during his remarkable 36-year tenure at William Paterson University. The results speak for themselves – a partial list of graduates who’ve come under his tutelage include, in addition to Alexander and Hendrix, Tyshawn Sorey, Joe Farnsworth, Bill Stewart, Johnathan Blake, Roxy Coss and Mark Guiliana.

“The way I teach, you have to learn by using your ears, the way Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie did,” Mabern explains. “This music didn’t come from the school; this music comes from the streets. School is just an enhancement.”

True to his determination not to draw a line between educational and practical experience, Mabern approached To Love and Be Loved in the same way. The recording date followed a weekend of performances at Smoke Jazz & Supper Club, the label’s namesake venue, with little planned in the way of repertoire and no music on the stands. The things that worked live, including Hendrix’s impromptu appearance with the band, were carried into the studio, though only the title track, Hendrix’s arrangement of Lee Morgan’s “The Gigolo,” and Mabern’s radically revised “I Get a Kick Out of You,” were decided on beforehand.

With musicians this skilled, little more is needed. The most important common element, Mabern notes, comes from yet another quotation, this one better known in jazz circles – “It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing.”

“There’s two things you can’t teach in this business,” Mabern states. “You can’t teach people how to swing, and you can’t teach people how to play the blues. You can write notes down and you can demonstrate, but if they don’t have the internal instincts to do it, it’s not going to work. Jimmy Cobb likes to swing. Eric Alexander likes to swing. Nat Reeves has a beautiful, big beat, and he likes to swing. We’re what you might call traditionalists. That’s the thing that made it such a joy.”

In discussing his reimaging of classic tunes and the inspiration for the album, Mabern quotes an unlikely mentor for a jazz musician: Albert Einstein. The famed physicist once said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.” Mabern took that message to heart, letting his own imagination run free on his new release, To Love and Be Loved.

“To Love and Be Loved” was produced by Paul Stache and Damon Smith and recorded live in New York at Sear Sound’s Studio C on a Sear-Avalon custom console at 96KHz/24bit and mixed to ½” analog tape using a Studer mastering deck. Available in audiophile HD format.

Harold Mabern Album Releases Performances:

August 25 – 27 | Smoke Jazz Club | New York, NY

Pianist/Vocalist Johnny O’Neal to Release New Album “In The Moment” on Oct. 6th, 2017

While every great jazz musician knows the value of spontaneity, few understand the true value of being in the moment quite like Johnny O’Neal. A rising star in the early 1980s, O’Neal left New York after a mugging in 1986. Performing and recording in Atlanta, St. Louis, Montreal and his native Detroit, he experienced another setback after he was diagnosed as HIV positive in 1998. Since returning to New York in 2010, however, both his life and his health have been on an upswing, cementing that long-promised star status at the age of 60. His new album, In the Moment, is his most vivid recording to date, fully capturing the elegant pianism and emotionally gripping voice that have made him such a beloved fixture on the NYC jazz scene ever since his unparalleled comeback.

In the Moment will be released on October 6, 2017 by Smoke Sessions Records — appropriately enough, as the label’s namesake club has been one of O’Neal’s home bases for the last seven years. The album features bassist Ben Rubens and drummer Itay Morchi, O’Neal’s regular working trio for the past year. The weightless swing and easy but deeply felt interplay the three share reveal the benefits of their regular residencies, which include late-night every Saturday at Smoke Jazz & Supper Club and Sunday nights at Small’s. Some of the biggest names in jazz stop by to hear O’Neal, and there’s no telling who might sit in during his sets on any given week. True to that policy, two very special guests dropped by the studio for this session — trumpet great Roy Hargrove and tenor-man Grant Stewart.

Working with young players such as Rubens — who also served apprenticeships under drum legends Al Harewood and Killer Ray Appleton — and Israeli-born Morchi allows O’Neal to play the role of mentor that icons like Art Blakey and Milt Jackson played in his own youth. “I was blessed to come up at the tail end of an era where I played with a lot of great masters,” he says. “Playing with Blakey was the best school. I’m passing that on now to this new generation. Young kids today deserve to play with the veterans — and I reciprocate those same sentiments because they keep me on my toes.”

For O’Neal, playing “in the moment” means never neglecting a single gig — even if you’ve been working on the same stage week in and week out for seven solid years. “I always think of every show as an event,” he explains. “If you just think of it as a gig you have to play, it will come across that way. Every time I play, I play as if it’s the first time. I’m always a nervous wreck. My knees will be shaking before I go out to play. I never take nothin’ for granted.”

The wide-ranging repertoire on In the Moment provides a cross-section of the 200-plus pieces that make up the O’Neal Trio’s ever-changing book. The material ranges from blues to straight-ahead to post-bop to pop tunes to ballads, each one fully explored and deftly illuminated by O’Neal and his electrifying bandmates. Unlike most of his past recordings, it shows off several of O’Neal’s own compositions, some of which date back more than 20 years but have never been recorded.

As O’Neal proclaims, “I’m a piano player first — but secondly I like to shout the blues. People used to tell me people don’t want to hear the blues in New York. Are you kidding me? Sometimes I have to save the blues for the end of my set because if I do it in the middle I can’t follow it. New Yorkers love the blues.”

Long averse to singing, O’Neal was turned around by no more eminent a vocal powerhouse than Joe Williams one night in Kansas City, when the legendary jazz singer was in the audience for O’Neal’s set. “He heard me sing a standard and came up afterwards and asked, ‘Why are you not singing more? You’ve got it naturally. Let me tell you something, young man: if you’ve got it, flaunt it.’ Now my piano playing and singing go hand in hand.”

Most importantly, this album shares O’Neal’s hard-won love of living in — and for — every single precious moment. “I’ve come through all these trials and setbacks, but I never let my health stop me from playing,” he says. ” A lot of people didn’t think I would actually make it to 60, so that birthday was such a gratifying moment. Now I’m a veteran, and I’m grateful for that. Some people get so much praise when they’re younger and they can’t handle it. I can appreciate things much more now.”

“In the Moment” was produced by Paul Stache and Damon Smith and recorded

live in New York at Sear Sound’s Studio C on a Sear-Avalon custom console

at 96KHz/24bit and mixed to ½” analog tape using a Studer mastering deck.

Available in audiophile HD format.

Johnny O’Neal Album Release Performances:

October 27-29 | Smoke Jazz Club | New York, NY

MULTIPLE GRAMMY-NOMINATED LATIN JAZZ GROUP NEGRONI’S TRiO SET TO RELEASE NINTH ALBUM, “NEW ERA,” SEPTEMBER 8TH VIA SONY MUSIC LATIN

“New Era,” the stunning new CD from multiple Grammy-nominated Jazz group NEGRONI’s TRiO sets a new pace for the band in its exploration of multiple musical styles and sounds which have influenced Trio founder Jose Negroni throughout his life. Produced by Jose, “New Era” is a departure from their previous eight recordings stylistically and is set for release September 8th via Sony Music Latin. Both domestic and international tour dates will accompany the release.

NEGRONI’s TRiO is made up of Jose Negroni, Josh Allen and Jose’s son, Nomar Negroni. Due to his musical (Jazz) chops, Jose Negroni worked early in his career as musical director to many Latin pop artists and at one point even worked at Sony ATV Music Publishing. In 2002 he then, along with his son Nomar, decided to form the Trio. However from the very beginning he was always being directed as to what repertoire to include on their albums. After eight albums, this one being the ninth, he was finally allowed, as he requested, to select all of the repertoire without objections and interference from anyone.

As a music director for other artists and having worked at Sony ATV Pub, Jose Negroni was exposed to a wide palate of repertoire that afforded him deeper and broader knowledge of multi-genre repertoire. It resulted in Negroni truly broadening his personal list of favorite songs, and this new album is just that – a collection of songs he is passionate about and that he always wanted to record. From reinterpretations of classic Jazz tracks such as “A Train” and “Sweet Georgie Fame” to new takes of pop standards such as “That’s The Way Of The World,” “Sunny” and “Isn’t She Lovely” to the Brazilian and Latin leanings of “El Incomprendido,” “Perfidia” and “Brazilian Love Affair,” NEGRONI’s TRiO traverses the global musical soundscape.

  

Still keeping to their straight-ahead Jazz trio setting, the trio has embellished the repertoire with electric keyboards throughout the entire album as well as a string quartet. Additionally, there are also four featured guest vocalists on the album, beginning with Cuban songstress Aymee Nuviola performing “Sunny” who provides an Afro-Cuban dose to the track unlike ever heard before. Nuviola most recently played Celia Cruz in the Telemundo/NBC novella “Celia” and she has a long career beginning in Cuba as a vocalist for the world known “Irakere”, which led to eventually developing her own brand and style worldwide as an international artist.

Another guest is the exquisitely talented Brazilian artist and Grammy winner Rose Max. Continually performing around the globe with her husband (the other half of her personal duet), Rose delivers an extremely original interpretation of “Perfidia” in Portuguese.

The third guest vocalist is Pedro Capo also a Sony Latin artist. A singer, musician and actor, Capo performs a song originally written and recorded by his grandfather Latin music legend Bobby Capo. Interesting to note that Jose Negroni as a young pianist accompanied Pedro’s legendary grandfather to the same song. This time around Negroni along with the younger Capo deliver a version completely unlike the original.

The fourth guest artist is rap/vocalist LapizConciente (Conscious Writer). Lapiz is considered the “Father” of the Dominican Republic rap scene. He raps over the jazz standard “Take the A Train” and gives riding the train/subway a whole new meaning. He raps about the daily hustle and bustle of riding the train and urban living.

Born and raised on the southern coast of Puerto Rico, Jose Negroni leader and founder of NEGRONI’s TRiO commenced his humble beginnings in the Caibbean. A pianist, composer and arranger, Negroni combines his original classical style with tantalizing fusions of jazz and Latin rhythms, and his group, NEGRONI’s TRiO equally conveys his musical personality to the many world stages where they have captivated the hearts of so many audiences.

Beginning his career as a music teacher, Negroni fulfilled his early musical years educating young promising talents in the world of music and later developing and strengthening his musical chops as musical director for many Pop Latin artists. Today, years later, teaching and mentoring still continue to be part of his daily life as he continues to find the space to devote time between concert tours in order to give back to the music education community.

Together with his son and protégé Nomar Negroni, an incredibly talented drummer with precise vigor, a flair for showmanship, and a graduate of the Berklee College of Music, and Josh Allen, graduate from the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music, a supremely talented bass player providing the drive for the melodies and groove, NEGRONI’s TRiO has been able to mesmerize audiences with their unique brand of jazz that fuses classical and Latin rhythms.

NEGRONI’s TRiO has performed all throughout the globe on stages that include many U.S. and international Jazz festivals as well as numerous key Jazz venues throughout the United States, Japan, Spain, Italy, South America, the Caribbean, Latin America and New York’s world famous Blue Note Jazz Club. With a catalog of 8 albums and “3 Latin Jazz Grammy Nominations” (2005, 2012 & 2015), NEGRONI’s TRiO always seduces and entertains their audiences across the continents. The music of NEGRONI’S TRiO receives airplay in more than 600 radio stations worldwide that includes the U.S., Japan, Spain, Argentina, England, Greece, Uruguay, Indonesia and Mexico.

NEGRONI’s TRiO always seduces and entertains their audiences across the continents by taking musical risks with performance and repertoire, and the result is an array of classic lyricism mixed with innovative and sincere improvisations that quenches their audience’s thirst for world class Jazz and beyond.

www.negronistrio.com

20th Anniversary Vancouver Wine & Jazz Festival Presents Internationally Acclaimed Jazz & Blues Lineup

Blues Legend John Mayall - the "Godfather of British Blues"

The 20th Anniversary Vancouver Wine & Jazz Festival is August 25, 26, 27, 2017 at Esther Short Park in Vancouver, Washington USA.  Called "…the largest festival of its kind in the Northwest…" (ABC TV KATU 2, Portland, OR) the event is recognized by musicians and fans as one of the best music festivals in the Northwest.  "We celebrate our 20th Anniversary this year, and we are proud to have survived and thrived for 20 years," says Artistic Director Michael Kissinger.  "We remain true to our mission of producing an outstanding cultural arts event with a focus on featuring world-class jazz musicians, fine art and crafts and great Northwest wines," he stated.  Over the past 20 years the Festival has presented more than 200 bands, 650 fine artists, and numerous award-winning wines.  An estimated 150,000 people from 23 U.S. States, Canada and Europe have attended.  It is the #1 Cultural Tourism Event in Southwest Washington.

  

The concert lineup features internationally acclaimed GRAMMY-nominated jazz and blues legends, as well as up-and-coming musicians breaking onto the national scene including: The Rippingtons, one of the most critically acclaimed jazz bands of the past 30 years; 3-time GRAMMY-nominee Ruthie Foster; 8-time Blues Music Award Winner Shemekia Copeland; jazz guitarist Russell Malone called "…an absolute master…" by Downbeat Magazine; jazz saxophonist and rising star Grace Kelly; jazz singer Sara Gazarek; blues guitarist and singer Ronnie Baker Brooks; and blues legend John Mayall, known as the 'Godfather of British Blues.'

Local and regional bands, as well as high school jazz students are also performing.  A salute to American Big Band Jazz will be performed by the 56th US Army I Corps Jazz Band. More than 20 concerts will be staged during the 3-day Festival.   

The Festival features more than 100 wines, including some of the best in the Northwest such as Maryhill Winery & Eola Hills.  Attendees can sip a 1-ounce taste or purchase a glass to enjoy with food from local restaurants.  Fine Artists from Oregon, Washington, California and Idaho will sell their art such as oil painting, jewelry, wood carving and more.  "The Vancouver Wine & Jazz Festival is a unique northwest cultural arts event" explains Festival Manager Dr. Maria Manzo. "It is a multi-faceted cultural festival, where people hear great jazz music, enjoy Northwest wine, see beautiful fine art, and become immersed in an eclectic and creative weekend."

 

John Beasley’s MONK’estra Takes Thelonious’ Tunes on Wild Ride

A packed house at the Hudson stage heard Beasley and company take free flight in celebration of the centennial of Monk’s birthday with freshly arranged tunes from last year’s MONK’estra, Vol.1 on Mack Avenue as well as new arrangements on MONK’estra, Vol. 2, scheduled for release Sept. 1.

The band delivered the rhythmically charged ”Gallop’s Gallop,” featuring drummer Peter Erskine, and introduced a rousing version of “Criss-Cross.” But a sure highlight of the evening was a romp through “Skippy,” which Beasley said was the “hardest” tune of the set because “it goes in a lot of different places.” And that it did, with atmospheric trombones, kicking rhythms and feisty sax solos.

Talking between shows, Beasley noted that the tune itself is relatively simple. “Monk used to play [a solo version of] ‘Tea For Two,’ then he recorded it by re-harmonizing the melody and finally wrote another melody over that to make it ‘Skippy,’” he said. “Then I took it from there with my arrangement.”

Beasley talked about the project, noting that he had played Monk before in different settings, including on bassist Buell Neidlinger’s Thelonious album in 1987 and in a duo recording with guitarist Steve Cardenas on 1994’s 10/10 Tribute To Thelonious Monk.

The big band setting almost came as an accident after the arranger found a new toy: the Sibelius music notation software that he was using while serving as the associate music director of the TV show American Idol (for Carrie Underwood in 2003 and lead arranger thereafter for over 10 years).

“After the season ended, I decided to do a 20th-century big band chart using Monk’s ‘Epistrophy,’” he said. “I quickly found out that I could stretch Monk’s form, make stops and starts. I realized how pliable his music was and how open he was to interpretation. Arranging is improvisation, so I went from there.”

He assembled a band of friends to perform this tune and others. After playing the music for a couple years under the name MONK’estra, he invited Monk’s son, T.S. Monk, to come hear the band and give it his blessing.

“T.S. is always protective of his father, but he was totally cool with what we were doing,” he said. “He said, ‘I give you my blessing because the band is the step that my dad wanted for his music. He told me that he wrote his music to be vehicles for self-expression.’”

So, with Beasley’s interpretations of Monk’s unique quirkiness, offbeat actions and punchy dissonances, has he received any detractors?

“I was fully expecting to hear people complaining about ‘’Round Midnight,’ the way I made it electric with a Glasper-esque vibe, but no one has said a thing,” he said. “I think they approve. Really, I think we’re just now catching up with what Monk was doing harmonically. It takes people time to get into different kinds of composing.”

Next up is Vol. 2, with new music and guest spots by Kamasi Washington, Regina Carter and Dianne Reeves, who sings “Ruby, My Dear” (she also guested in MONK’estra’s second show at North Sea, giving voice to the lyrical, moody “Ask Me Now,” to which Beasley had written lyrics). And the shows just keep on coming, including the Detroit International Jazz Festival on Labor Day weekend; the Monterey Jazz Festival on Sept. 17; and a Monk centennial celebration at the Jazz Standard Oct. 12–14.

Read the full piece from: Downbeat

NEW RELEASES: CHRISTIAN MCBRIDE BIG BAND – BRINGIN’ IT; TOWER OF POWER – 40TH ANNIVERSARY; KATHY SANBORN – RECOLLECTING YOU

CHRISTIAN MCBRIDE BIG BAND – BRINGIN’ IT

Iconic bassist Christian McBride has been doing what the title of his upcoming big band album implores for years: Bringin’ It. This highly anticipated release, which follows the Christian McBride Big Band’s 2011 Grammy® Award-winning debut, The Good Feeling,puts his status and skills as an all-around entertainer on full display. With a list of growing accolades including his recent appointment as Artistic Director at the Newport Jazz Festival, hosting shows on SiriusXM (“The Lowdown: Conversations with Christian”) and NPR (“Jazz Night in America,” as well as frequent online contributions to various programs including “All Things Considered”), speaking engagements, and occasional DJ performances under the alias DJ Brother Mister, he’s more than just a bandleader: Christian McBride is transcending that title to something more complete.

TOWER OF POWER – 40^TH ANNIVERSARY

Two disc (CD + DVD) release from one of the seminal bands of the Soul and Funk scene of the late 60's, early 70's, Tower of Power has been funkin' the house since 1968. This live concert CD and DVD is loaded with extras, and includes original band members Emilio Castillo, Doc Kupka, David Garibaldi, Rocco Prestia, Mic Gillette, Greg Adams, Skip Mesquite, Chester Thompson, Lenny Pickett, and Bruce Conte. There are two additional bonus features on the DVD that are also must haves. One is the "East Bay Tour," with Emilio, Doc, Rocco and David Garibaldi taking the fans on a tour of their old stomping grounds.

KATHY SANBORN – RECOLLECTING YOU

Kathy Sanborn is a proven talent as a singer, composer, lyricist, producer and rranger, and in her newest release Recollecting You, she more than proves she knows her way around a love song. The 2015 American Songwriting Award winner presents an album that critic Dee Dee McNeil says is "cozy, soft, and sexy," while critic Mark S. Tucker calls Recollecting You "breathtaking." According to multi-Grammy Award winner Kabir Sehgal, "Recollecting You is a romantic tour de force. With a uniquely lush and powerfully emotive vocal style, Sanborn draws musical inspiration from the past while pushing the evolution of the genre ever forward." The ten original tunes address tender emotions from exultant to bittersweet, and Sanborn's velvety voice caresses the lyrics, musing on deep relationships including the romantic, maternal, familial, and friendly varieties. Sanborn creates a consistent mood while exploring the rhymes and rhythms of each tune, demonstrating that she's a storyteller of remarkable subtlety. An international cast of creative musicians joins Sanborn on Recollecting You, including Keerthy Narayanan, who produced the album, wrote the musical arrangements (Sanborn arranged the vocals), and also plays keyboards and bass. The India-based Narayanan, who also worked with Sanborn on her highly lauded 2015 recording Lights of Laniakea, is recognized for his contributions to the Grammy-winning album, Winds of Samsara. The other band members on Recollecting You are pianist Aman Almeida, drummer Abhinav Khanna, guitarists Vito Gregoli and Ciro Hurtado, a Latin Grammy nominee; trumpeter Wayne Ricci, and violinist Rocio Marron.