Dianne Reeves radiates on Light up the Night — Live in Marciac, her first live album since her Grammy-winning 2000 release In the Moment

To catch Dianne Reeves singing on stage is to witness one of the most captivating vocalists on the international music scene today. Through her majestic alto, conversational phrasing and improvisational agility, she delves deep inside each song, unveiling its universal themes in a repartee with her own revelations.

The New York Times hailed Reeves as “the most admired jazz diva since the heyday of Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday,” while the Chicago Tribune praised her as “one of the most creative and technically accomplished female vocalists today.”

For her Concord Records release Light up the Night – Live in Marciac, Reeves unleashes some of the lightning that has long ignited her live concerts. It marks her first live recording since 2000’s In the Moment, which earned Reeves her first Grammy for “Best Jazz Vocal Album.”

The now five-time Grammy-winning singer fronted her longtime band—pianist and musical director Peter Martin, bassist Reginald Veal, drummer Terreon Gully, guitarist Romero Lubambo with special guest  harmonica virtuoso Grégoire Maret—at the Jazz in Marciac Festival in August 2016 for what was an unforgettable engagement at one of her favorite jazz festivals.

Light up the Night, set for international release on September 8, 2017, documents Reeves on the final night of her triumphant 2016 European tour.  With Reeves and her band as fierce as ever, they explore road-tested repertoire with inventive spontaneity, resulting in an especially memorable set.

“It’s important to learn to trust your instincts,” Reeves explained. “I just try to find the magic of each night—which includes calibrating how the band and I are creating with one another that night, and how each audience is different. So our sets are not planned; tunes are called out in response to a feeling.  That keeps me on a creative edge…and that’s where I am at my best.”

Reeves begins the disc with her mesmerizing retooling of “Dreams,” the Stevie Nicks-penned hit from Fleetwood Mac’s classic 1977 LP, Rumours

“Dreams” is one of two songs on this disc which appear on Beautiful Life, which won the 2015 Grammy for “Best Jazz Vocal Album.” The other song is the bruising and sassy ballad “Cold,” an original she co-wrote with Martin and Gully. Reeves’ rueful sighs and regal soars bring a bristling conviction to ending an unhealthy relationship.   It’s a performance of sheer theater.

Light up the Night also showcases Reeves’ deep appreciation for the American songbook. Included are sublime readings of Wayne Shorter’s “Infant Eyes” and Miles Davis’ classic “All Blues.” On the former, Reeves deftly channels Shorter’s sense of search and splendor as Maret’s beguiling harmonica adds a level of celestial intrigue. On “All Blues”, Veal’s swaggering upright bass intro provides the perfect bedrock for Reeves’ magnificent scatting.

Reeves, a frequent performer at the White House, returned for the 5th International Jazz Day celebration hosted by President Obama and the First Lady. There she sang alongside the iconic guitarist Pat Metheny on his Brazilian-inflected gem, “Minuano.” On Light up the Night, she revisits this song, unraveling Metheny’s infectious melody at first in unison with Lubambo’s empathic guitar before embarking upon flights of fancy. “I’ve always loved this song because it’s so free and open,” Reeves says. “My performance with Pat at the White House was so memorable that it’s now part of my story that I enjoy revisiting whenever I can.”

Every great storyteller is able to draw upon his or her own personal history. Reeves has done this throughout her career by penning stunning originals, and at Jazz in Marciac, she delivered the fan favorite, “Nine,” where she engagingly reminiscences about the joys of childhood as she effortlessly glides across a samba in 7/4.

For an encore, Reeves delivers a divine, heartfelt rendition of Mali Music’s “Beautiful,” an uplifting song that encourages us to project the best of ourselves while appreciating the greatness of others.

Light up the Night can be viewed as a celebration—an artist in her prime doing what she does best.  The National Endowment for the Arts just tapped Reeves as one of next year’s NEA Jazz Masters—the greatest honor given to jazz musicians in the United States.  While Reeves is appreciative of the many accolades she has received, she is not one to rest on her laurels. “The story continues,” she says. “I look at this record as a moment in my life that sparkles, shines and speaks loudly to audiences while it whispers to me, ‘Good...now keep moving forward.’”

As all listeners will surely agree, on her new live recording, Reeves truly does light up the night.

Master Jazz Pianist Fred Hersch Offers His Most Revealing, Intimate Solo Recording To Date With Open Book, out September 8, 2017 on CD and LP

The uniquely personal, reflective album is a companion piece to Hersch's long-awaited memoir, Good Things Happen Slowly

Release also coincides with September 15 & 16 performances of Hersch's Leaves of Grass at Jazz at Lincoln Center, celebrating the poetry of Walt Whitman with acclaimed vocalists Kurt Elling and Kate McGarry and an octet

Fred Hersch has long been acclaimed as an exploratory artist, an outspoken activist, an influential educator and a uniquely revelatory and lyrical pianist. As one of the most expressive voices in modern jazz, Hersch has never been shy about letting listeners glimpse his most intimate thoughts and emotions. In September, however, Hersch's fans will be treated to even deeper, more revealing insights into the story of the renowned pianist when he publishes his much-anticipated memoir, Good Things Happen Slowly: A Life In and Out of Jazz. As a companion piece, Hersch decided to present an equally direct and vulnerable glimpse into his private musical thoughts with his 11th solo release, Open Book.

The seven pieces on Open Book (out September 8 on Palmetto Records) offer some of the finest, most unguardedly emotional solo music that Hersch has created in a career unique for its profound poignancy and passion. Recorded in a South Korean concert hall on a superb Hamburg Steinway concert grand piano, the album captures the vital essence of the revelatory adventurousness and intense beauty that have made Hersch one of the most important solo artists in jazz. With more than 40 albums to his credit as a leader or co-leader, Hersch remarkably continues to discover new areas of inspiration and depths of feeling.

"For the last two and a half decades I've been pretty open about who I am, what I like and what I'm dealing with at times," Hersch says. "But I've always got to dig deeper, and I thought this might be a chance to make an album that's a window into the kinds of things that I play at home or don't play in public all that much."

The album arrives during a momentous month for Hersch. On September 12, the esteemed publishers Crown Archetype (Penguin Random House) will release Good Things Happen Slowly, Hersch's bravely confessional memoir. The book covers the pianist's meteoric rise in jazz from his sideman days alongside masters like Art Farmer and Joe Henderson to his gradual recognition as one of the most individualistic and innovative artists of his generation, a ten-time Grammy Award nominee and winner of countless accolades including being named a 2016 Doris Duke Artist as well as the same year's Jazz Journalists Association Pianist of the Year. But it also frankly reveals his story as the first openly gay, HIV-positive jazz musician, tracing his path through hedonistic post-Stonewall New York City to the dramatic two-month medically induced coma in 2008 from which he emerged to make some of the most stunning and captivating music of his career.

Later that month Hersch will reprise his ambitious Leaves of Grass full-evening piece at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Appel Room, the first time the song cycle has been performed in New York City since 2005.

Vocalists Kurt Elling and Kate McGarry will reprise their roles from the original project, which sets the verse of American bard Walt Whitman. The legendary poet's timeless ode to the miracle of nature and openhearted love of all beings seems especially vital in our present socio-political moment.

The centerpiece of Open Book, and the spark that ignited the album, is the nearly 20-minute improvisation "Through the Forest." Unique in Hersch's extensive discography, the stream-of-consciousness gem is a miniature masterpiece of narrative development, a compelling journey through an abstract, glimmering landscape, revealing that in his early 60s Hersch continues to take creative risks and daunting inventive leaps.

The creation of "Through the Forest" was as unplanned and spontaneous as the music itself. In Seoul for a pair of solo concerts during a break in a tour of Asia with his esteemed trio, Hersch overslept during an after-breakfast nap and rushed to take the stage at JCC Art Center Concert Hall for his afternoon performance. The titular forest is, in part, a jetlag and coffee-fueled dreamscape through which Hersch wanders, applying his vivid powers of observation to unusual terrain. "I was a little groggy, my defenses were down, and rather than fight it I just gave in to it," Hersch recalls. "I'd never really done anything of that length in public where I had no agenda and was able to stay in that zone for such an extended period of time. I realized it was something special, something different that might be the core of an album."

"Through the Forest" became the leaping-off point for an album intended to be singularly divulgent and reflective. A few months later, Hersch returned to the same hall and recorded the remainder of Open Book alone in the empty venue (with the exception of Benny Golson's classic "Whisper Not," taken from a concert during that return engagement).

The album opens with the stark musings of "The Orb," taken from Hersch's autobiographical music-theater piece My Coma Dreams. A love letter to Hersch's longtime partner, AIDS activist Scott Morgan, "The Orb" is the final dream depicted in the show, and in this solo rendition becomes a nakedly heartfelt outpouring of raw but tender emotion. The mood then takes a turn for the playful and swinging on "Whisper Not," a longtime staple of Hersch's repertoire that here becomes a vibrant, virtuoso marathon of thematic exploration.

The piece also serves as an ideal mirror to the album's other composition from the pen of a jazz icon, Thelonious Monk's "Eronel." Hersch has long been recognized as one of the premier interpreters of the Monk songbook, but despite including one of the iconic composer's pieces in every one of his sets for most of his career, Hersch had never tackled this particular tune, co-written by pianist Sadik Hakim. Monk's original stride-inflected lines come in for a dizzying array of variations in Hersch's endlessly imaginative take.

The music of Brazil has also been a constant in Hersch's career, in particular the music of Antonio Carlos Jobim, the subject of one of the pianist's earlier solo efforts, 2009's Fred Hersch Plays Jobim. "Picture in Black and White" is a new addition to that repertoire, majestically transformed from a bossa nova feel to a crystalline hybrid with Chopin's last nocturne. On the other side of "Through the Forest" in the album's symmetrical structure comes Hersch's own classical-flavored "Plainsong," a spare, lyrical piece composed in the bucolic setting of the MacDowell Colony, the inspirational artists' retreat in rural New Hampshire.

Open Book ends on a meaningful ellipsis, Billy Joel's moving "And So It Goes." In title alone it's an apt conclusion, suggesting an embrace of life as lived and hinting at its open-ended continuation. The full lyrics, which Hersch has performed in duo settings with singers including frequent collaborator Kate McGarry, remain unspoken here but obviously deeply felt in every note. "I connect with the sentiment of the words," Hersch says, "and it felt like a good benediction to the whole album."

www.fredhersch.com

Pianist Yelena Eckemoff Sonically Recreates Memories of Her Past With Stellar Ensemble

A self-described 'old fashioned romantic,' Moscow-born pianist-composer Yelena Eckemoff once again demonstrates uncommon lyricism and a gift for melody on In the Shadow of a Cloud, her 11th recording since transitioning from the classical world to jazz back in 2010 with the release of Cold Sun on her own L&H Production label. With a pristine touch and refined sense of form, Eckemoff organically blends classical elements with jazz improvisation in her evocative pieces that strike a delicate balance between being through-composed and full of open-ended exploration. She is joined on this compelling double album by a stellar crew of New Yorkers in Chris Potter on multiple reeds and flute, Adam Rogers on guitar, Drew Gress on bass and Gerald Cleaver on drums, all playing together for the first time.

          

Eckemoff pushes the envelope a bit further with her stellar crew on In the Shadow of a Cloud, her most upbeat and accomplished recording to date. Once again, Eckemoff wears many hats on this project by not only composing and arranging all the music, recruiting the band and producing the music for her own independent label, but also providing the evocative painting that graces the cover and the series of poems that accompany each track in the 28-page booklet.

          

Beyond the luxurious packaging, the highly affecting music on In the Shadow of a Cloud is imbued with remarkable band interplay and daring improvisations from the jazz heavyweights who serve as her sidemen on this ambitious double album set. And they each had high praise for Yelena in working with her on this tightly-knit project.

"The session went extremely well. Yelena has some very idiosyncratic music, very evocative, and it was a real pleasure to play it, especially with her and these other fine musicians," states Cleaver. Potter reflects, "The music itself awakens a feeling, and that seems to be the center of where she is approaching music from, which I like a lot."

          

Like her last two concept albums--2016's Leaving Everything Behind (about emigrating from her native Russia in 1991) and 2017's Blooming Tall Phlox (about how certain smells from her childhood in Russia still trigger magical memories)--In the Shadow of a Cloud is another personal statement from the prolific composer.

          

Whether it's her memories of the sound of grasshoppers in a country field, the massive iron railroad bridge with wooden walkways near her home, her grandpa's motorboat, the sensation of swinging in a hammock with her mother or the fragrance of wild lilies mixed with the smells of warm asphalt and potatoes and onions frying on kerosene burners, Eckemoff's In the Shadow of a Cloud stands as an evocative soundtrack for the life she left behind in Russia when she and her husband emigrated to North Carolina in 1991. "All of those places and people are lost for me," she says. "So I write about them, even in this short way. I want a longer life for them than just in my memory."

While some of her past works, like Leaving Everything Behind and Blooming Tall Phlox are largely nostalgic, the story of In the Shadow of a Cloud ends with an optimistic outlook at the present and future. As Eckemoff explains, "In the last piece, 'Tambov Streets on a Summer Night,' I turn down the opportunity to re-live my past as a shadow, invisible to all, and instead choose the present: Even though my heart aches with love/For the people and places of past days/I don't belong in those times anymore./My time is in the present/Where I have many tasks unfinished, where my life's work awaits me./No matter that the road before me grows shorter, I am eager to see what the future holds in store for me

The New Recording From Violinist SAM BARDFELD - THE GREAT ENTHUSIASMS Featuring Kris Davis & Michael Sarin

Violinist and composer Sam Bardfeld is fearlessly unique and expressive. He is the product of an NYC upbringing in the 70s and early 80s, which was, he says, "both a dysfunctional and fantastic place to grow up, specific in time and place but also typical of the violence and regeneration inherent to America and some of the strange beauty it produces. Music was everywhere for a curious kid (Central Park rumba circles, 3 A.M. recording at CBGBs, Don Cherry at Soundscape when the cops raided, Zorn squealing mouthpieces at the Kitchen, high as a kite for Ravi Shankar at Carnegie Hall.) The decrepit splendor left an inescapable imprint on my young self."

Bardfeld has been influenced by many high-profile musical associations and experiences, including being a member of The Jazz Passengers and a frequent collaborator of Bruce Springsteen (a veteran of three recordings and two tours). Bardfeld's playing is featured in Roy Nathanson's Sotto Voce and Joel Harrison's String Choir, and he has toured or recorded with jazz groups like Michael Attias' Sextet, Butler/Bernstein and the Hot 9, Steven Bernstein's MTO, Anthony Braxton's Trillium Orchestra, Vince Giordano and The Nighthawks, the String Trio of NY, and Royal Hartigan's Blood Drum Spirit.  Outside the jazz world he has toured or recorded with Calexico, John Cale, Debbie Harry, The Red Clay Ramblers, and Johnny Pacheco, etc. He has also worked with Elvis Costello, John Zorn, Kris Davis, Willie Colon and Hank Roberts among many others. Bardfeld is also the author of the book Latin Violin (Hal Leonard, 2002) on the Afro-Cuban violin tradition. 

Bardfeld's previous recordings, Taxidermy (CIMP, 1999) and Periodic Trespasses (FreshSounds, 2006) have both earned acclaim, including a four-star rating in DownBeat Magazine, raves in JazzTimes, Jazziz and four stars in All Music Guide for both recordings. Bardfeld has taken his groups to festivals and clubs throughout Europe including Banlieues Bleues Jazz Festival (Paris), Sud-Tirol Jazz Festival (Italy) and Porgy and Bess (Vienna). After a long hiatus of twelve years since his last release, Bardfeld and Brooklyn Jazz Underground Records proudly announce the release of his new recording, The Great Enthusiasms (BJUR 064), featuring pianist Kris Davis and drummer Michael Sarin. Available September 29, 2017.

The trio's music falls somewhere in the overlapping vectors of inside ('harmony-based'),outside ('free') and downtown jazz. Bardfeld has created his own jazz violin language that lies in between the straight-ahead violinists and the free-jazzers. The Penguin Guide To Jazz (5th ed.) states, "Bardfeld has devised a language which takes in classical models, jazz harmony and pure sound". His playing swings hard and integrates abstraction and expressiveness. One can hear references to a wide range of musicians that stretch from Stuff Smith, Lee Konitz, and Eric Dolphy, to 'post-jazz' contemporaries like Mary Halvorson. Kris Davis is a perfect foil and it's a little bit of a revelation to hear her brilliance and creativity in all the varied contexts Bardfeld creates. Michael Sarin (Dave Douglas, Thomas Chapin, etc) brings his tremendous gifts for orchestration, musical wit, sympathetic dialogue and overall intelligence. The unusual instrumentation, with no bass, creates extra harmonic and textural space and adds intimacy to Bardfeld's unique compositions.

Much of Bardfeld's favorite American music is eccentric and forward while grounded in the vernacular. "Maybe it's not a total accident that my three most important employer-mentors are all great musician-poets of weird America and all with significant local roots: Bruce Springsteen, Roy Nathanson (Jazz Passengers), and Anthony Braxton. Bruce is (among other things) a poet of the noir side of the city - the ne'er-do-wells and hookers and guys looking for a piece of the action. Roy's stories, musical and literate, are infused both by Dolphy and a New York urbanity that is universal in its eccentricity and vulnerability. The time I spent performing and recording (soloing on an 'avant hoedown') in Braxton's 'Trillium J' Opera was also a profound education in the lengths to which a complex, idiosyncratic personal language can be developed and yet represent a uniquely American story," explains Bardfeld in the album's liner notes.

More on the music on The Great Enthusiasms: The song titles of Bardfeld's compositions are all derived from Richard Nixon quotes -- principally from his resignation speech, in which Nixon quotes Teddy Roosevelt. "Fails While Daring Greatly" is a bluesy chamber-jazz piece from outer space. Bardfeld's solo is a whimsical post-bop jaunt and Davis' a muscular free jazz statement. Sarin adds his characteristic humor, sympathy and coloristic genius to the whole endeavor. "Resignation Rag" combines a modified second-line groove with a futuristic violin melody that, with its swoops, pops and wide intervals, evokes Stuff Smith and Dolphy. Bardfeld's and Davis' interplay sounds telekinetic. Davis' solo statement and duet with Sarin evoke a freewheeling Monk. "Winner Image" starts out with a slow building and virtuosic violin solo by Bardfeld weaving in and out of harmony. Davis creeps in with an off-kilter ostinato leading to a head with Tim Berne-like tension. The rendition of the classic Springsteen/Patti Smith tune, "Because the Night," skews the intervals of the original piano vamp, making it a weirder sort of night. The cohesion of the verse turns into a free chant-like chorus summoning nocturnal passions. "The Great Enthusiasms" is an Andrew Hill-like post-bop swing tune with a touch of folksiness. Davis' solo brings out the bi-tonality of the writing while Bardfeld moves from harmony into a short free duet with the pianist. The Band's "King Harvest (Has Surely Come)," is a playful re-imagining, with Davis covering the proto-synth bass part in her lowest range and splotchy chords in her highest. Bardfeld solos mightily over the verse changes and Davis ends the song with an eloquent solo statement that re-connects with the song's subject matter, the hardships of a depression-era sharecropper. "The 37th Time I Have Spoken" starts with Bardfeld strumming ethereal chords on the violin as Davis and Sarin engage in quiet dialogue. A mix of meditation and mayhem ensues and the piece closes as it started with ethereal dialogue and strumming. 

The Great Enthusiasms is Bardfeld's 'weird America' record. A reflection on American music in all of its glorious eccentricities, and simultaneously an affirmation that artists must rise up and create and perform, especially in the face of abject political dissoluteness in the Trump era. Bardfeld elaborated, "Nixon's resignation speech was my first memory of being part of a collective political body...Though Dick was a paranoid, hateful crook, there's intelligence and complexity in him that one cannot imagine existing inside our current president. During this current dark stain in our country's history, let's continue to make weird, joyous art."

NEW RELEASES: JOSI DAVIS - CALLING; BEHN GILLECE – WALK OF FIRE; GORO ITO ENSEMBLE – ARCHITECT JOBIM

JOSI DAVIS - CALLING 

Josi Davis is an inventive musician whose approach to songwriting defies expectations. Josi composes each new expression of lyric and sound by crafting a memorable narrative and shaping its setting in a musical style that best supports the story.  “We embrace each composition as it comes to us, understanding and honoring that we will create a special world for that song. When “Calling” took form, we thought to craft it in the beautiful, soulful pop style of 1970’s Northern Soul. That was our intuition and I’m glad we did because, man, this grooves! This is a roll-the-top-down-and-cruise kind of record!”  “Calling” is the second single to come from Davis’ collaboration with legendary producer, Louis Anthony deLise. deLise’s credits include a Billboard Number One with Patti LaBelle, and hits with William DeVaughn and cult dance club favorite, John Gibbs. Josi’s rich dramatic alto voice serves her well as she delivers each original musical micro-drama with a respect and espressivo that is uncommon in today’s landscape of musical predictability.  “Josi Davis' voice can exhibit Joni Mitchell’s smoky fragility, Phoebe Snow’s full bodied barroom belt, and Ann Wilson’s rock-and-roll wail. Occasionally, they come out all at once...” – Mary Jane Fine, Grace Magazine /  “…a powerful and distinctive vocalist and a songwriter whose appreciation for all manners of musical styles is evident in her work. Some call Davis a practitioner of “nouveau cabaret,” and that certainly provides a sonic indicator.” – Rick Koster, The Day

BEHN GILLECE – WALK OF FIRE

A date that's not only a great showcase for the mighty vibes talents of Behn Gillece, but which also has the musician working alongside some of his best labelmats as well! We love Gillece in any setting – as his work on vibes is some of the freshest of the past decade or so, and Behn's one of the few artists to really bring a strong new voice to the instrument! And he's also a vibist who seems to take off even more in the company of a horn player – unlike some vibes musicians, who really only ever record with a piano – which means that here, he's getting some great strengths from the talents of Michael Dease on trombone, Walt Weiskopf on tenor, and Bruce Harris on trumpet – in a group that also includes Adam Birnbaum on piano, Clovis Nicolas on bass, and Jason Tiemann on drums. All tracks are originals – Behn's a hell of a writer, too – and titles include "Fantasia Brasileira", "Walk Of Fire", "Bag's Mood", "Break Tune", "Celestial Tidings", and "Reflective Current".  ~ Dusty Groove

GORO ITO ENSEMBLE – ARCHITECT JOBIM

A fantastic reworking of the aesthetic and compositions of Antonio Carlos Jobim – served up here in a style that mixes guitar and piano with a bit of light strings – with a haunting sense of sparness that really brings new meaning to the songs! The style almost seems to link the spirit of Jobim with the sound of Eric Satie – as the tunes have a very careful, open vibe – with the guitar of Goro Ito echoing some slight earlier elements, next to the piano of Eiichi Sawada, bass of Keisuke Torigoe, and work by a string quartet! The approach is completely enchanting – really wonderful, and a completely fresh way of presenting the genius of Jobim – on titles that include "Chanson Pour Michelle", "Jardim Abandonado", "Chovendo Na Roseira", "Two Kites", "Estrada Do Sol", "Luiza", and "Arqueetura De Morar".  ~ Dusty Groove

Bunny Sigler To Release New Single and Lyric Video “Angel Eyes” Aug 18

Renowned, Philly-based R&B singer and songwriter Walter "Bunny" Sigler is excited to announce the lyric video for his latest single titled “Angel Eyes” will be released on August 17. The single will be available Friday, August 18 on iTunes and all major digital outlets. “Angel Eyes” is the second single from Sigler’s upcoming album ‘Young at Heart’ – an album that bridges the gap between Sigler’s classic R&B sound and the world of jazz.

“Angel Eyes” features Sigler’s smooth voice on the Ella Fitgerald- and Frank Sinatra-performed standard, and reveals how diverse of a singer Sigler really is. The classic piano, drums, double bass, and string arrangement lays a lush, but simple foundation for a new, refreshing, yet nostalgic crooning sound from Sigler. Living up to his nickname “Mr. Emotion,” Sigler delivers a heartfelt performance, full of heartache and longing. “Angel Eyes” will be available to purchase digitally on August 18 from iTunes, Amazon, and Google Play, and will also available for streaming on Spotify that day.

The song’s video accompaniment is a glance into the past – showcasing the glory days of jazz, the American songbook, and the Rat Pack while featuring Sigler’s silhouette in various scenes throughout. The black-and-white look of the video compliments the song’s melancholic tone and draws viewers in with its vintage style.

Philadelphia R&B legend Bunny Sigler continues to share songs that prove his passion for music goes well beyond his beloved soul songs. Bunny’s songwriting for tracks like Instant Funk's "I Got My Mind Made Up", Patti Labelle's "Somebody Loves You Baby", The Whispers' "Bingo", Jackie Moore's "Sweet Charlie Babe" and The O'Jays "Sunshine" are what put him on the musical map. Not only is Bunny skilled with the pen, but he is also a world-renowned singer.

This Philadelphia native began his singing career in churches all over the metropolitan area with songs like "O Lord My God" and "The Lord's Prayer". The industry gave him the nickname “Mr. Emotion” after his heartfelt performances on stage. Creating numerous hits over the span of his career (many of which are still being sampled in today's generation), Bunny continues to write, produce and record new material. He is the co-writer of the song “The Ruler's Back” which was an opening song for Jay Z's album, "Blueprint". Even at over 70 years old, "there ain't no stopping us now" claims Sigler, as he gets continues to write, record, and release new music on a regular basis.

Philadelphia R&B legend Bunny Sigler continues to share songs that prove his passion for music goes well beyond his beloved soul songs. Bunny’s songwriting for tracks like Instant Funk's "I Got My Mind Made Up", Patti Labelle's "Somebody Loves You Baby", The Whispers' "Bingo", Jackie Moore's "Sweet Charlie Babe" and The O'Jays "Sunshine" are what put him on the musical map. Not only is Bunny skilled with the pen, but he is also a world-renowned singer. This Philadelphia native began his singing career in churches all over the metropolitan area with songs like "O Lord My God" and "The Lord's Prayer". The industry gave him the nickname “Mr. Emotion” after his heartfelt performances on stage. Creating numerous hits over the span of his career (many of which are still being sampled in today's generation), Bunny continues to write, produce and record new material. He is the co-writer of the song “The Ruler's Back” which was an opening song for Jay Z's album, "Blueprint". Even at over 70 years old, "there ain't no stopping us now" claims Sigler, as he gets continues to write, record, and release new music on a regular basis.

See the music video for latest single "Angel Eyes":

https://www.youtube.com/embed/5TY4lMZlWJI

NEW MUSIC: LEDISI – LET LOVE RULE; PETER JANSON - PLACES IN TIME; CHAMPIAN FULTON / SCOTT HAMILTON THINGS WE DID LAST SUMMER

LEDISI – LET LOVE RULE

Ledisi announced her new project Let Love Rule, out September 22 . The nine-time Grammy nominated vocalist, is excited to share her new body of work with the world as she delivers brand new vibes with classic vocals. Packed with raw, unequivocal emotion, the 15-track album showcases her evolution as an artist; executive produced by Ledisi and longtime collaborator Rex Rideout, the album also includes contributions from John Legend, DJ Camper, BJ The Chicago Kid and Kirk Franklin. “I feel like Let Love Rule made me accept my position as a great singer fully. All of my projects are pieces of me. This piece is the singer and the songwriter part of me. I’ve come back to what I love about R&B and also what I love about today’s music. I love my art in the middle of era’s and mixing those worlds together." – Ledisi

PETER JANSON - PLACES IN TIME

Peter Janson is an award-winning contemporary fingerstyle acoustic guitarist and composer. Places In Time is his seventh domestic solo recording, and features original compositions as well as original arrangements of songs composed by some of the worlds greatest composers (Ralph Towner, Francis Bebey, Pat Metheny, Ennio Morricone, John Dowland, and Antonio Lauro) resulting in nine solo guitar works showcasing him returning to his nylon-string guitar for an album of amazing beauty with his trademark fusion of jazz, classical, and world-folk styles played with passion, artistry, and technical mastery. All songs arranged and improvised by Peter Janson. The non-original songs are licensed and/or used by permission except the "Three English Folk Songs" which are public domain works. This audiophile quality recording was recorded at Southern Ground Nashville, and mastered at Independent Mastering Nashville at the highest possible digital resolution

CHAMPIAN FULTON / SCOTT HAMILTON THINGS WE DID LAST SUMMER 

Champian Fulton's in a great setting here – working alongside tenorist Scott Hamilton, whose presence only seems to deepen the sound of the record! Make no mistake, Champian's great on her own – a hell of a pianist, and one with a very strong voice that seems to instantly wrap up generations of piano jazz expression, but find a way to make it come across fresh and new – which is very much what Hamilton could do so well in his younger years, which makes him a great match for Fulton. Champian also sings on the record, too – although it's clear that the presentation gives most of the focus on the instrumentation, which is rock-solid throughout. Ignasi Gonzalez is on bass, and Esteve Pi is on drums – and titles include "Black Velvet", "I Cried For You", "The Things We Did Last Summer", "Runnin Wild", "My Future Just Passed", and "When Your Lover Has Gone".  ~ Dusty Groove

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