NEW RELEASES: MFSB – THE DEFINITIVE COLLECTION; XENIA FRANCE – XENIA; QUIN KIRCHNER – THE OTHER SIDE OF TIME

MFSB – THE DEFINITIVE COLLECTION

Massive work from this legendary group – a studio ensemble who started out backing some of the best soul singers on the Philly scene of the 70s – but who soon got the chance to shine in the spotlight on their own! The musicians are all the cream of the crop of the city's scene – many with legacies that go back to the 60s, with work in a variety of formats – coming together here in a lineup that's tight, but never slick – sharp, but always able to open up and groove! The music here begins with instrumental tracks from the pre-disco years – music that's a huge change from the rough style of 60s soul instrumentals – and which adds in more sophisticated charts, a bit of orchestrations, and other elements – while still letting all the best soulful elements come through in the mix. The 2CD package is overflowing with gems – and titles include "Zack's Fanfare", "Sexy", "Philadelphia Freedom", "KJEE", "Brothers & Sisters", "TSOP", "Love Is The Message", "Dance With Me Tonight (12" version)", "Let's Clean UP The Ghetto", "South Philly", "Back Stabbers", "The Zip", "Lay In Low", "My Mood", "Get Down With The Philly Sound", "Family Affair", "Manhattan Skyline", "Summertime", "Let's Party Down", "Mysteries Of The World", "MFSB", "Sunnin & Funnin", "Picnic In The Park", "Freddie's Dead", "Old San Juan", "Fortune Teller", "We Got The Time", and "Tell Me Why". ~ Dusty Groove

XENIA FRANCE – XENIA

A wonderful mix of Brazilian roots and contemporary soul from Xenia – a singer with previous experience in the groups Alafia and Capadoxe – but much more compelling on her own in the spotlight! The music has the kind of roots/futurist vibe you might expect from the cover – a very powerful presence from the lady herself on vocals, supported by a mix of live percussion and just the right electronic elements – often in a way that's quite nice and nice and spare – even when the beats get a bit bumping and bassy! All lyrics are in Portuguese – save for the English tune "Reach The Stars" – and titles include "Pra Que Me Chamas", "Preta Yaya", "Minha Historia", "Breu", "Nave", "Tereza Guerreira", and "Perfeita Pra Voce". ~ Dusty Groove

QUIN KIRCHNER – THE OTHER SIDE OF TIME

A mighty debut from Quin Kirchner – a drummer who's poised to become a key figure on the Chicago scene! Quin works here with help from some more familiar names – including Jason Stein on bass clarinet, Matt Ulery on bass, Nate Lepine on tenor and flute, and Nick Broste on trombone – all working at a level that's strongly spiritual – with rhythm patterns that Kirchner builds beautifully on drums, percussion, and kalimba – occasionally augmented by a few samples here and there, but mostly acoustic overall. Lepine's in great form throughout – as is Stein – and their long reed solos add these currents of personality to the record that really sends the whole thing home! Broste gets in a few powerful passages too – especially at some of the moodier moments – and Ben Boye plays piano on one track too. The whole thing's a double album that really needs the full space for expression – and titles include "Together We Can Explore The Furthers Beyond", "Mumbo Jumbo", "The Ritual", "Crossings", "Ripple", "Self-Portrait In Three Colors", "Drums & Tines (part 2)", "Flutter", "Karina", "Wondrous Eyes", and a version of Sun Ra's "Brainville". (Comes in a great tip-on gatefold sleeve, too – with art by Damon Locks. Limited to 500 copies!) ~ Dusty Groove

Singer Sara Serpa releases Close Up, a conceptual album inspired by experimentation and changing identities

Through a series of critically acclaimed releases over the past ten years, Lisbon, Portugal native, singer and composer Sara Serpa has continually defied the limitations of genre, implementing a singular instrumental approach to her vocal style. Her new album, Close Up, presents the compelling configuration of voice, saxophone and cello, exploring Serpa's own compositions. Accompanied by a stellar new trio, Serpa finds her partners in two innovative improvisers with distinct musical personalities: saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock, one of the most significant voices in contemporary jazz and improvised music, and Downtown veteran cellist Erik Friedlander.

"The configuration of voice, saxophone and cello exposes each instrument with a precise vulnerability" says Serpa. "From within this exposure, we look for cohesion and collective sound. I write the material, but the music takes shape in the process of our rehearsals and the time we spend together, through discussion and collective experimentation."

The result is an album that resembles a high resolution photograph, a mesmerizing play on the idea of close-ups: the compositions, the musicians and their roles within the trio, and the recording process.

"The compositions also reveal close-ups of different episodes in my life," Serpa explains. Take the example of the poignant song "Woman," using the French philosopher Luce Irigaray's text. "It exposes the invisibility of motherhood. Because that experience is recent to me, the text resonated with my thoughts and feelings," Serpa offers. "Writing this song was part of a healing process, as I dealt with the realizations of the lack of support women artists receive as mothers, and of the paradoxical loneliness one can feel in one of life's most beautiful events."

All the compositions present striking atmospheres, glimmering with melodic and dissonant sounds, unified and transformed by the trio. Serpa, Laubrock and Friedlander play with their roles, alternating in creating backgrounds, to holding down bass lines, or to playing extremely long tones that become textures. "To find our place without a harmonic instrument was an interesting challenge and I enjoyed learning how to be independent, to be featured as soloist, or to act in ensemble, whatever each song was calling for." Laubrock and Friedlander are valuable partners in these roles; shifting with their unpredictable phrasing, extreme versatility, and attentive ears.

Iranian film director Kiarostami's film Close Up is cited as an influence in the album's liner notes. "The movie (a masterpiece itself) plays with the idea of actors who are in fact not actors but become actors of a fictitious film, providing a common thread between the film and the music I was creating at the same time I was watching it."

The quality of being still, of observing as nature unfolds, comes across in the song "Storm Coming," highlighted by Ingrid Laubrock's masterful solo improvisation. In the dark and ambient section, each instrument blends into the other, rendering the piece an impressionistic sonic experience, an image of dark clouds slowly gathering before a storm.

Serpa, whose natural instinct is to sing wordlessly -"When I lack words, I sing sounds, and emotions are conveyed through those sounds" - uses literature as inspiration in several of this album's pieces: Luce Irigaray for "Woman," and Virginia Woolf in "The Future." Portuguese poet Ruy Bello's "Pássaros," Birds, is the backbone for an eccentric and energetic piece. "The poem is about how birds are tree's fruits, and how birds make the trees sing. Imagining the trees singing is an inspiring image," the singer explains.

"Object," "Quiet Riot," and "Sol Enganador," exploratory and complex in their compositional nature, are all instrumental pieces, in which the voice functions as an equal to the cello and the saxophone.

Close Up reveals Serpa's voice as never before - her sound is full, consistent, and expressive. "Cantar Ao Fim," at the end of the album's journey, starts with a vocal improvisation that makes one wonder whether Serpa is singing right next to your ear, intimate and quotidian. "This song came out of an improvisation I recorded on my phone when I was out in the mountains, at night. That moment stayed with me, looking at the mountains and singing without thinking or judging what was coming out. There is something very powerful in singing alone in the nature."

Lisbon, Portugal native, Sara Serpa is a singer, composer, improviser who implements a unique instrumental approach to her vocal style. Recognized for her distinctive wordless singing, Serpa has been immersed in the field of jazz, improvised and experimental music since first arriving in New York in 2008. Described by JazzTimes magazine as "a master of wordless landscapes" and by the New York Times as "a singer of silvery poise and cosmopolitan outlook," Serpa started her recording and performing career with jazz luminaries such as Grammy-nominated pianist Danilo Perez, and Guggenheim and MacArthur Fellow pianist Ran Blake. Her ethereal music draws from a broad variety of inspirations including literature, film, visual arts as well as history and nature. As a leader, she has produced and released seven albums; the latest being "All The Dreams" in collaboration with guitarist André Matos. Serpa has collaborated with an extensive array musicians including John Zorn, Mycale Vocal 4tet, Guillermo Klein, Mark Turner, Zeena Parkins, Andreia Pinto-Correia, Derek Bermel, Aya Nishina, Tyshawn Sorey, Nicole Mitchell, among many others.

CLOSE UP

1. Object

2. Pássaros

3. Sol Enganador

4. The Future

5. Listening

6. Storm Coming

7. Woman

8. Quiet Riot

9. Cantar Ao Fim

Sara Serpa - voice | composition Ingrid Laubrock - tenor | soprano saxophone Erik Friedlander - cello
Recorded live by Pete Rende, June 15, 2017, at Pete's House, Brooklyn, New York

Mixed by Pete Rende | Mastered by Luís Delgado Produced by Sara Serpa | All music by Sara Serpa

NEW RELEASES: AKIRA - TANA - JAZZaNOVA; BODY HEAT GANG BAND – BODY DISCO HEAT; NICOLE WILLIS & UMO JAZZ ORCHESTRA

AKIRA - TANA - JAZZaNOVA

Akira Tana, an elite jazz drummer since the mid-1970s, has been immersed in the verdant hothouse of Brazil’s surging rhythms and sensuous melodies his entire career. His new album JAZZaNOVA, reflects an abiding passion kindled by his formative experiences with some of Brazilian jazz’s foundational figures. It’s a treasure trove of Brazilian riches, with beautifully crafted arrangements designed to shine a lustrous new light on classic material. Featuring a cast of top-shelf Bay Area players, JAZZaNOVA was designed to showcase a superlative cast of singers and instrumentalists interpreting some of the Brazilian Songbook’s definitive standards and lesser known gems, with a couple of songs en Español included for good measure. Saxophonist Branford Marsalis or Cuban-born trumpeter Arturo Sandoval contribute vivid solos on almost every track, providing incisive commentary for the six extraordinary vocalists. Throughout the session, Tana renders the various grooves with taste and an unerring ear for textural support. As authoritative as he is behind the drum kit, he’s emerged in recent decades as a savvy producer who can turn a concept into a singular musical communion. With JAZZaNOVA, he’s staked a rightful claim to the Brazilian jazz

canon, joined by a redoubtable cast of collaborators.

BODY HEAT GANG BAND – BODY DISCO HEAT

"Body Heat Disco", the debut album by Italian collective Body Heat Gang Band, mixes together nu disco, boogie and funk with dance, house and electronic music. Originally founded in Milan, Italy in 2013 as an independent label, Body Heat is a multi-faceted, funk-fuelled dance project that developed into a club night and a collective of artists, musicians and producers united under the name Body Heat Gang Band. Masterminded by label boss, DJ and producer Rocoe, the intent of Body Heat is to create new music for the dancefloor, bridging the gap between funk, disco, boogie and the world of clubbing, house and electronic dance music. Entirely self-produced, "Body Heat Disco" is the first full album by Body Heat Gang Band, and brings together all the group's influences in 10 tracks that give a nod in the direction of commercial pop but with a firm foundation in the independent music scene. Synths, slap bass, soaring horn lines and bubbling arrangements create a cohesive and exciting collection of tunes aimed at the contemporary dancefloor but with a distinctly retro vibe. With their debut album Body Heat Gang Band draw from the past to step into the future, and you're invited along for the ride!

NICOLE WILLIS & UMO JAZZ ORCHESTRA - HAUNTED BY THE DEVIL / (EVERYBODY) DO THE WATUSI

Willwork4funk and Persephone Records proudly present new double-sider 45 "Haunted By The Devil" / "(Everybody) Do The Watusi" by American soulstress Nicole Willis together with UMO Jazz Orchestra. Nicole Willis' new double-sider 45 showcases two album favorites from recent full-length "My Name Is Nicole Willis" together with renowned Finnish band UMO Jazz Orchestra. This single is the first for Persephone Records in 7” format and will be a very limited vinyl pressing."Haunted By The Devil" exhibits the many influences of Ms Willis, touching on the challenges of establishing individuality in a seemingly compromised world. "(Everybody) Do The Watusi" is a song that was frequently performed live with The Soul Investigators, but had never been recorded. It's a Northern Soul dance tune that lends to heavy rotation.Both tracks are among those specifically written by Nicole Willis, Jimi Tenor & guitarist Pete Toikkanen for the album, which was produced by Ms. Willis.

 

FKAJAZZ - STEREOTYPE THREAT

With the release of his new album Stereotype Threat under the bold, fresh artistic identity FKAjazz (formerly known as…), NYC based saxophonist Samir Zarif lays the dynamic groundwork for the possibilities of what jazz is for his generation and provides a vision for what the cherished American art form can be moving forward. With a freewheeling energy driven by the still simmering melting pot of influences that drive his musical passion – traditional jazz, R&B and hip-hop – the full length collection is the culmination of a multi-faceted journey that transcends easy definitions. It’s always evolving with a sense of grooving and improvisational wonder and discovery.

Stylistically, Stereotype Threat is several worlds and hundreds of ultra-cool beats away from the multi-talented composer/musician’s 2010 debut Starting Point, which was released under his real name. That album featured musical snapshots he had been workshopping on the bandstand with The Story, the progressive, free jazz band with whom he had been touring. Performed with members of that group, the collection mostly featured odd metered material, but the final song “Keep the Faith” had an electronica vibe, a rock-flavored backbeat and Zarif on vocals. He developed this side of his artistry further when he joined forces with producer Brian Lindgren in 2011, and formed the electronic music production duo Pax Humana – which released the full length albums A Matter of Heart (2012) and A New Frontier (2014). His desire to expand to creative endeavors beyond jazz also led to his being commissioned to score a collection of short films by trans-media artist Donna Cameron, which were later presented and distributed by The Museum of Modern Art (MOMA).

One of FKAjazz’s contemporary inspirations is Grammy winning pianist and producer Robert Glasper, a fellow Houston native who attended the High School for Performing and Visual Arts (HSPVA) some years before the saxophonist. He and Glasper are blazing similar paths while remaining distinctive in their individuality and style.

“I’ve always looked to him as an older brother, because while the music he makes is different in a lot of ways from what I’m doing, in essence we’re coming from the same place, creating music that draws from jazz but is more the culmination of Black American music, a mix of old and new with a major hip-hop element. Because I grew up listening to music like A Tribe Called Quest, The Roots and Jazzy Jeff, that music is as much a part of my life as jazz. The goal is to take music beyond hip-hop, beyond jazz and create a whole new vibe from all of these influences.”

This desire to transcend easy genre boxes and categorizations inspired FKAjazz to create the perfect album moniker Stereotype Threat, whose opening track of the same name creates a unique generational crosscurrent by pairing the artist’s powerful sax melody with the spoken words of longtime James Brown bassist/vocalist Fred Thomas. “The phrase ‘Stereotype Threat’ literally means the fear of being reduced to a negative stereotype,” Zarif says, “and that fear can become a self-fulfilling prophecy if you don’t disrupt that way of thinking. It was the perfect title because of my many influences. As I was developing this sound, my worst fear was being labeled as ‘the next saxophonist that plays like every other saxophonist.’ It was something I had to overcome internally in order to finally understand how to be true to myself.”

“I’m always veering left to some degree,” he adds, “and I wanted to make sure that the tracking of the album was thoughtful and told a story from track to track even in its diversity. I wanted to tell a story from start to finish, while at the same time have each track encapsulate an aspect of my life. There’s the fear of being stereotyped and the need to overcome that, the fear of being in love again and the urgency to overcome that, the fear of not knowing my direction in life, among other themes. The overall story comes from the discovery of who I am, the journey of being able to take away all the layers of my experience and get to the core of myself as an artist.”

While providing a powerhouse platform for FKAjazz’s tenor sax, Stereotype Threat is also a showcase for his skills as a composer, producer and mixer. After creating the foundation of the tracks, he pieced together incredible contributions from his high level cohorts in NYC’s jazz scene, including guitarist Marcus Machado, electric bassist Lez Lemon, guitarist Julian Litwack, drummer Justin Swiney and keyboardist Noah MacNeil. Also featured is the high impact rap lyricism of JSWISS on “No Way To Go” and “Storytime Interlude.”

Highlights include the “Hard Times” intro that leads into “Brighter Days,” a tandem reflecting the importance of a measured optimism that understands that obstacles are opportunities to grow and learn from; “Angel Cake,” which began as a remake of D’Angelo’s “Devil’s Pie” before FKAjazz flipped guitarist Marcus Machado’s guitar riffs to create a whole new celestial treasure; and “Wander as I Wonder,” whose title riffs on Langston Hughes’ autobiography “I Wonder as I Wander” and which addresses the challenges of deep relationships – and the importance of having a commitment that helps overcome them. The title of the moody and deeply grooving “F.A.F.” came from an Instagram fan’s spirited, off color declaration that the track was “Fly as F***.”

A musical wunderkind from the get-go, Zarif was raised by a mother who was an accomplished piano and vocal teacher and widow to an alto saxophonist that played in the Duke Ellington Band in the 70s. His Philly born father spent his formative years in Brooklyn as an accountant for both Malcolm X and the original Nathan’s Hot Dogs in Coney Island. Zarif played violin in elementary school, violin and sax in middle school, and was the principal saxophonist at HSPVA and Willowridge High school. He later moved to New Orleans to study jazz performance and composition at the University of New Orleans with trumpeter and film composer Terence Blanchard. While in New Orleans, he performed with Jason Marsalis, Aaron Neville, Nicholas Payton, and Jill Scott. After graduating from UNO, he moved to New York to attend the Manhattan School of Music as a grad student of Jazz Studies and Saxophone Performance.

Immersing himself into the NYC music scene, Zarif became a renowned recording and touring saxophonist for many notable artists and bands, including the Grammy Nominated Miguel Zenon's Identities Big Band, The Story, Soulful Symphony, Chrisette Michele and Hans Glawischnig Jahira Trio. He has performed at world-renowned venues, halls and festivals such as Carnegie Hall (NYC), Blue Note (NYC), North Sea Jazz Fest (Rotterdam), Newport Jazz Fest (Newport, RI) , and Bimhuis (Amsterdam).

Zarif’s emergence as FKAjazz and his unique perspective on the distinctly American art form has prompted him to reflect on the meaning of jazz, its development over the last century, and its influence on other styles of music. “Before jazz, there wasn’t such a thing as American music really,” he says. “There was nothing that truly defined our culture as Americans as clear and true to its spirit as jazz. It was the first complete melting pot of music that shaped who we are as people, what we represent and the possibilities unique to our country. Everything else that followed, from rock & roll to hip hop, are the children and grandchildren of jazz music.”

~ Jonathan Widran

GIANT STEPS MUSIC ANNOUNCES SOPHOMORE ALBUM: MUSIC ACTION COLLECTIVE – WHAT IF – TO BE RELEASED ON MARCH 8, 2018

Giant Steps Music, the San Francisco based organization where musical and social innovation collide, is back with the release of their sophomore album, What If. The album is slated for release on March 8, which also marks International Women’s Day.

What If is the result of Giant Steps’ Music Action Lab 2.0 that took place in the Fall of 2017 throughout the Bay Area, with the monthlong program ending in Ixtapa, Mexico. The Music Action Lab is an innovative residency uniting musicians from around the world to create social impact music, and to nurture the next generation of musical change makers.

Music Action Lab 2.0 featured nine musicians across the globe including GRAMMY-nominated drummer and founder of an ecocultural nonprofit (Ernesto “Matute” Lopez), an award-winning percussionist and global TED Fellow from Kenya (Kasiva Mutua), an Oberlin and Juilliard-trained cellist whose work as a global music educator has included work in Afghanistan, Iraq, Turkmenistan and El Salvador (Avery Waite), a cultural catalyst and multi-instrumentalist bandleader bringing Turks and Armenians together (Sevana Tchakerian), a semifinalist in the EuroVision contest (Rona Nishliu), a Sony Records recording artist alum and jazz saxophonist and composer (James Brandon Lewis), a Tanzanian multi-instrumentalist/percussionist (Kauzeni Lyamba), a Japanese-American pianist and flautist (Erika Oba), and California native and bassist (Chris Bastian). Full biographies of each member can be found at http://bit.ly/GSmac2-bios

Drew Foxman, the founder and executive producer of Giant Steps Music adds, “The primary inspiration behind the release is the unique and diverse talents of this year’s collective that joined the Lab for its second season to catalyze our mission to build a global community of musicians that create music to advance social change. Facilitated by leaders in the music and social impact industries, our collective gained insight, skills, and tools in a month-long curriculum that informs the creation of the music.” In one month of workshops and rehearsals dedicated to advancing social causes as part of the Music Action Lab, the Collective created a suite of eight original compositions and arrangements on the album What If that address issues of gender inequality, human rights, neocolonialism, and more.

The title of the album What If captures the heart of this release—addressing and exploring disparity and injustice through the lenses of gender and women, human rights, and water, while bringing across a message of inspiration by calling listeners to actively participate in ending injustice.

It is no coincidence that the album’s release day is on “International Women’s Day.” The lead off track “Overlooked” is an upbeat, uplifting representation of women in society—and the courage, strength, and resolve to face the indignity of discrimination and inequity with power and grace. Other timely and socially conscious themes run throughout the album. For example, the track “Monuments” builds over a haunting jazz-inspired groove that challenges the concepts of monuments as a physical structure, cautioning the celebration of war and violence over the fragility and transience of life, while “Agua” is a love song to water, our most precious resource on earth that calls listeners to treat it as if she were our mother, lover, spouse, or friend.

The title track “What If” is inspired by the global human rights framework and the UN Declaration of Human Rights. “What If” is a call to each and every one of us to actively work, support, defend, uphold, and persevere to protect the fundamental rights of all. This melodic ballad integrates spoken word in the spirit of African-American civil rights leaders to both point to the possibilities of fulfilling the human rights mandate—while freely revealing its shortcomings without a legal mandate to uphold it. “New Babylon” (for Delasi) is a tribute to Ghanaian rapper Delasi Nunana, who was refused entry to the U.S. after his selection to the Music Action Collective. “New Babylon” speaks to the inequities intrinsic to the nation-state system, and the inequality between the rich and developing countries, the global North and the global South. The song “Right Again” was created in a workshop with incarcerated men in San Francisco Jail #5, as part of the Music Action Lab global music residency, while “Kesaule (live)” is a traditional folk harvest song from Tanzania that is a percussive, upbeat, uplifting celebration of people working together as community to create safe, vibrant relationships and ways of living in unity. The song was recorded live from the Collective’s debut performance at Ashkenaz World Music Center in Berkeley, CA.

Although the Music Action Collective’s debut album Foundation received critical acclaim from The Huffington Post, KQED, and Jazz Weekly, What If takes the structure built from the first sessions and builds upon it. Foxman concludes, “The artistry is on a whole other level as we’ve grown up from our pilot season. This is less a compilation of songs from musicians around the world than it is a cohesive statement on rights and justice from the participating members who have come together to create a unified and quite unique sound. It fits nicely into our catalog since it touches universal social justice topics of rights.”

What If – Track Listing

Overlooked

Monuments

New Babylon (for Delasi)

Agua

What If

Kesaule (live)

Right Again

Utamaduni

Bassist MARTIN WIND Releases a Milestone Recording With LIGHT BLUE

Laika Records (Germany) will release Martin Wind's LIGHT BLUE today, March 2, 2018. The recording, his 20th as a leader or co-leader, features old friends: Anat Cohen (clarinet), Ingrid Jensen (trumpet), Matt Wilson (drums), Scott Robinson (multi-reeds), Bill Cunliffe (piano), Gary Versace (piano, organ), Duduka DaFonseca (drums) and Maucha Adnet (vocals). There are milestones in a musician's career, and life for that matter, which pass without acknowledgement. What with rehearsals, travel, and recording sessions, a busy professional rarely has the opportunity to note a watershed moment. With the realization of his latest release LIGHT BLUE, Martin Wind registers the significance of this moment in time. This recording comes some twenty-five years after recording his first release as a leader, Gone With The Wind (September Records), twenty years since he recorded in New York, Family (A Records), and LIGHT BLUE is being released shortly before he turns fifty. Since that initial outing, Wind has released another 18 albums as a leader or co-leader and he has become one of New York's most in-demand bassists.

Wind recorded LIGHT BLUE with engineer Matt Balitsaris at Maggie's Farm in April 2017 in between a myriad of gigs including backing singers Dena DeRose and Ann Hampton Callaway, Ted Rosenthal's Monk Project, showcasing his quartet in Los Angeles, and performing with Pat Metheny and Matt Wilson at the Wichita Jazz Festival. The remainder of the year found him touring with Matt Wilson's "Big Happy Family" (performing Honey And Salt, the poetry of Carl Sandburg), presenting Schubert's "Trout Quintet" and the premiere of his composition "Looking Back" with the American Chamber Ensemble, and performing George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" with Ted Rosenthal and Phoenix Symphony. Somehow he also found time to tour with his partner, the legendary Belgian guitarist Philip Catherine.

LIGHT BLUE is actually two recordings. Side A: LIGHT features the Martin Wind Quintet with Scott Robinson, Ingrid Jensen, Gary Versace, and Matt Wilson, all musicians Wind has performed with on an almost continual basis. Wilson and Jensen can be heard on Wind's very first New York recording, and the bassist is a member of the drummer's quartet Arts & Crafts, as is Versace. Robinson has been a member of the Martin Wind Quartet since it's inception in 2007. Side B: BLUE is a new group of old friends called, "De Norte a Sul". This group shares multi-instrumentalist Robinson with LIGHT. Cohen and Wind formed the group NY3 with Wilson in 2014, and besides performing Brazilian music with Maucha Adnet and Duduka DaFonseca, Wind's son and their daughters have become great friends. This is the first time Wind's music has included a vocalist and lyrics written for his compositions. Adnet maneuvers the Brazilian-favored Portuguese and English lyrics with a remarkable beauty.

Besides being a master musician, Wind penned the ten compositions heard on LIGHT BLUE. There are seven new pieces and three that are new versions of some of his "classic" compositions, such as "10 Minute Song" and "Cruise Blues," both from his quartet recording Salt 'N Pepper (2008), and "A Sad Story" from Gone With the Wind (1993). His skills as an arranger are evident here, as they were on the critically acclaimed Turn Out The Stars (What If? Music, 2014), on which Wind performed music written or inspired by pianist Bill Evans with his quartet, plus the Orchestra Filarmonica Marchigiana.

The artist was born in Flensburg, Germany in 1968 and he took third place in the International Thelonious Monk Bass Competition in 1995. In 1996 he moved to New York. He earned a master's degree in jazz composition and performance in 1998 from New York University and now is on the faculty at NYU and Hofstra University. He performs solo, in duo with Philip Catherine and Ulf Meyer, leads his own quartet, and is a member Matt Wilson's Arts & Crafts, Bill Cunliffe Trio, Bill Mays Trio, Dena DeRose Trio, and many others. He has also performed and/or recorded with the following artists: Guidon Kremer, Christoph Eschenbach, Mstislav Rostopowitch, Lalo Schifrin, Monty Alexander, Pat Metheny, Clark Terry, Mark Murphy, Slide Hampton, Toots Thielemans, Buddy DeFranco, The Metropole Orchestra, Radio Big Bands Cologne, Hamburg, Frankfurt and Berlin, Michael Brecker, Randy Brecker, Eddie Daniels, Curtis Fuller, Phil Woods, Bud Shank, Johnny Griffin, Bucky Pizzarelli, Mike Stern, Larry Goldings, Johnny Mandel, Frank Wess, James Moody, Hank Jones, John Scofield, Sting, Ann Hampton Callaway, Michel Legrand, Mulgrew Miller, Ken Peplowski, Anat Cohen, Benny Green, Vanguard Jazz Orchestra and others.

Vocalinst HILARY KOLE release new single WITHOUT YOU

Since launching her performing career as the youngest singer ever to grace the stage at NYC’s legendary Rainbow Room, Hilary Kole has conquered the hearts of jazz fans throughout the world with her intimate piano and vocal performances, themed shows with her jazz ensemble and special concert hall symphony performances. Capping nearly a decade of popular, critically acclaimed recordings showcasing her storytelling panache via fresh interpretations of pop and jazz standards, the multi-talented performer launches the next phase off her storied career with the infectious and emotionally compelling new pop single “Without You” – available NOW on iTunes, Google Music and other digital platforms.

Showcasing a more intimate side of her artistry than any previous release, Hilary co-wrote “Without You” with fellow multi-talented New York singing sensation Devin Bing, whom HuffPo has proclaimed as “a total original with the charisma of a ‘Golden Age’ entertainer.” Devin also produced the track and plays the haunting piano that introduces Hilary’s narrative of facing the crippling enduring realities of heartbreak and finding the renewed strength to move on in a healthy positive way. Driven by their similar backgrounds (she went to Manhattan School of Music, he to the University of Miami to study music) and a sharply intuitive musical chemistry, Hilary and Devin are currently working on several follow-up singles that they plan to release throughout the winter and spring 2018.

“I have never worked with a vocal producer like Devin before,” Hilary says. “On my earlier studio recordings, I would play off the band in a very similar way to what I did live. But doing pure pop as we are on ‘Without You’ was a totally different thing that took me to deeper places within myself. Devin set the bar really high and kept encouraging me to bring more power to the performance, saying ‘You can belt this.’”

Longtime Hilary fans know that in addition to being a brilliant song stylist and interpreter, she is an accomplished songwriter who has included in her shows original material among the Gershwin, Porter, Bernstein and Mercer pieces for the past five years. “Though I’ve made my living as a jazz singer,” she says, “I’ve sung a lot of pop songs, too. Most people don’t know that I studied composition in school and have been writing my own music for a long time. When you become known as an interpreter of standards, it’s a challenge to get people to see you in a different light.

“As much as I will always love singing those tunes, as I get older I am more excited than ever to break out of my comfort zone and explore all artistic colors. I’ve been fearless with other people’s music, and it’s taken me a long time to gain the confidence to share my own songs with the world. I felt like ‘Without You’ was the one that called out to me, and I asked myself, “what am I waiting for?”

In addition to headlining famed NYC venues as Town Hall, Birdland, The Blue Notes, Iridium, Jazz At Lincoln Center, The Jazz Standard and Carnegie Hall (with the New York Pops and with Michael Feinstein), Hilary debuted at the Oak Room at the Algonquin Hotel as the co-writer and star of the critically acclaimed, Off-Broadway revues “Our Sinatra” and “Singing Astaire.” She made her concert hall debut at Lincoln Center as part of the "American Songbook Series”.

In June 2007, Hilary appeared at Carnegie Hall in a Tribute to Oscar Peterson, a performance reprised in January 2008 at the Canadian Memorial to Dr. Peterson at Roy Thompson Hall alongside Quincy Jones, Herbie Hancock and Nancy Wilson. Globally, she has headlined at the Umbria Jazz Festival, The Montreal Jazz Festival, the Nairn Jazz Festival in Scotland, and the Cotton Club and Blue Note in Japan. In 2016, upon releasing The Judy Garland Project, she toured the U.S. and Asia, performing Garland’s iconic repertoire with a small ensemble group and orchestras. Hilary is currently writing a new show for orchestra based on the top female composers of the past half century, from Peggy Lee to Alanis Morissette and Heart.

Her previous discography includes the John Pizzarelli produced Haunted Heart (2009); You Are There (2010), featuring vocal piano duets with legendary jazz pianists Dave Brubeck, Michel Legrand, Benny Green, Cedar Walton, Hank Jones and others; and the deeply personal A Self-Portrait (2014), which included interpretations of contemporary pop classics from the rock era.  

Keyboardist David Garfield opens the box with “Jazz”

 Keyboardist David Garfield was nineteen when he got his start playing alongside influential bebop jazz trumpeter Freddie Hubbard. But opportunities came quickly for him in contemporary jazz as well as in R&B and pop, which guided the direction of his now five-decade career away from his roots. Straight-ahead jazz has remained in his core and he’s longed to return “home” thus to launch his prolific multi-volume, multi-genre “Outside the Box” collection, Garfield will drop his first straight-ahead jazz album, “Jazz Outside the Box,” on March 23 via his Creatchy Records label.  

In addition to playing piano, Fender Rhodes and synthesizers, Garfield produced and arranged the 15-track jazz set that revisits Duke Ellington, Horace Silver, Joe Sample, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Oliver Nelson and Joe Zawinul classics, applies an imaginative jazz varnish to a pair of Sting songs, and presents four of his own compositions. To materialize his vision, Garfield rounded up a massive ensemble that boasts several accomplished musicians he’s never worked with before but have long been on his wish list of collaborators such as trumpeter Wallace Roney, percussionist Poncho Sanchez and drummer Steve Jordan. Randy Brecker, Michael McDonald, Tom Scott, Eric Marienthal, Pete Christlieb, Bennie Maupin, Brian Auger, Will Lee, Airto Moreira along with dozens of other prominent players guest on the record, which includes Charlie Bisharat’s String Quartet and an orchestra conducted by John Clayton. “Jazz Outside the Box” contains among the final performances by a pair of recently-departed guitar greats, Chuck Loeb and Larry Coryell. Perhaps the most unusual contribution comes from The Doors’ John Densmore, who plays drums and orates on a spoken word segment on the full-length version of Silver’s “Song For My Father.”

   

“I recruited a unique grouping of players to render each song. It was like casting for a movie. For example, ‘Song For My Father’ is rich with meaning, history and personal connections, which is a major component and an underlying purpose behind the entire ‘Outside the Box’ project. On that tune, I pay tribute to its author, Horace Silver, who was my mentor and like an adopted father to me. It also pays homage to The Doors and Steely Dan. A lot of people don’t know that Horace originally wrote lyrics to the song, so I had John (Densmore) speak Horace’s words. Another cool thing is that Steely Dan borrowed the opening bass riff from ‘Song for My Father’ for ‘Rikki Don’t Lose That Number’ so I often quoted ‘Rikki’ whenever I played ‘Song for My Father’ at my gigs. I included that quote at the beginning of this recording, which features guitarist Denny Dias, a founding member of Steely Dan who played on the original ‘Rikki.’ There’s also a part of the track where I have (former Chicago lead singer) Jason Scheff sing ‘If you have a change of heart’ as another nod to ‘Rikki,’” said Garfield. 

One of Garfield’s originals is “East Lou Brew,” another salute steeped in personal history. The song honors Miles Davis and their shared hometown, St. Louis. Davis’s nephew, Vince Wilburn, mans the drum kit, Davis protégé Roney shines on trumpet, Maupin plays sax and bass clarinet, Coryell is on guitar, Darryl Jones handles bass and Moreira adds percussion. Wilburn, Jones, Maupin and Moreira were in Davis’s band with the latter two having played on Davis’s landmark album, “Bitches Brew.”

“‘East Lou Brew’ is an adventurous tune loosely based on themes from some of Miles’ best-known works. It was incredible to play with all these greats who knew Miles and toured and recorded with him. They all shared a ton of stories, which helped ground the tune in both past and present. I consider Miles one of my strongest and primary musical influences and I always wanted to play with him. This is the next best thing.”  

Another giant who was one of Garfield’s mentors was Sample. “I got to write, tour and record with Joe, and recorded his song, ‘Rainbow Seeker,’ to honor his recent passing. I was devastated when we lost him and wanted to find the perfect way to honor him on this project. Joe was not only one of my favorite all-time keyboard players, but he was a huge influence on my musical development as a pianist and keyboardist.”    

As “Jazz Outside the Box” prepares to ship to jazz radio stations, Garfield’s single, “Jamming,” continues to climb the smooth jazz charts. On the heels of his Billboard No. 2 hit, “Go Home,” both singles will appear on “Jamming Outside the Box,” the second album in the series with this one approaching jazz from a contemporary/smooth perspective. The disc will be released this summer. Also, presently moving up the country charts is “I Lied,” a vocal ballad Garfield penned with legend Smokey Robinson, which will be released on “Vox Outside the Box.” 

“Jazz Outside the Box” contains the following songs:

“Fragile”

“Harvest Time”

“In A Sentimental Mood”

“Roxanne”

“Song For My Father” (full-length)

“Rainbow Seeker”

“Stolen Moments”

“Voodoo Gumbo/Citizen Coryell”

“East Lou Brew”

“Sophisticated Lady”

“Red Baron”

“Country Preacher”

“Prophecy”

“My Favorite Things”

“Song For My Father” (radio edit)

www.DavidGarfield.com

Lauren Henderson Comes Into Her Own As Both Vocalist & Composer On "Ármame"

On her lovely and coolly sensual new recording, Ármame, vocalist Lauren Henderson delivers an eclectic set of jazz, Latin jazz, and other styles in a program reflecting her African-American and Caribbean heritage and her omnivorous musical tastes. Produced by veteran broadcaster and Sirius/XM jazz host Mark Ruffin, the CD will be released March 30 on her new label, Brontosaurus Records.

The album's title translates as "Arm Me" (as from a broken heart), and the subtitle "Songs of Love and Loss" provides insight into Henderson's repertoire choices. In addition to premiering three new originals, the vocalist adds to her already impressive credentials as a deft interpreter of others' songs with heartfelt arrangements of "Love Is a Losing Game" by Amy Winehouse, Blossom Dearie's heartbreaking classic "Inside a Silent Tear," and Donny Hathaway's "We're Still Friends."

The two songs on which Terri Lyne Carrington sings backup vocals -- "To Wisdom the Prize," by Larry Willis, and "Better Days," a nod to Chaka Khan, who's a favorite singer of Henderson's -- are a particular highlight. "There's this special, natural thing about how our voices go together," Henderson says of working with Carrington.

One of Henderson's major influences, Shirley Horn, is represented by two mid-tempo selections from that master of restraint's songbook: Curtis Lewis's "The Great City," a onetime Nancy Wilson vehicle Henderson personalized with Spanish lyrics, and Bart Howard's "Let Me Love You," which was also recorded by Johnny Hartman."I've always loved Shirley Horn's delivery," says Henderson. "There are a lot of layers to her singing."

Ármame is anchored by the great young pianist Sullivan Fortner, a friend and colleague since Lauren first arrived in New York. "Not all pianists are as good playing with singers as they are working as solo artists," she says. "He is." Bassist Eric Wheeler and drummer Joe Saylor of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert round out the rhythm section; the CD also features a strong set of soloists in alto saxophonist Godwin Louis, trumpeter Josh Evans, and guitarist Nick Tannura, plus percussionist Nanny Assis.

Lauren Henderson was born on November 5, 1986 in Marblehead, Massachusetts, a town outside of Salem. Her father, of African-American and Caribbean ancestry, and her mother, the daughter of immigrants from Panama and Montserrat, are lovers of jazz and Latin music and exposed their daughter to these and other genres when she was growing up.

While at Wheaton College, where she double-majored in Music and Hispanic Studies, she says, "I discovered my voice." Enrolling in classical voice and musical theater classes, she became the musical director of a gospel/R&B singing group and a member of the school jazz band.

Henderson spent a year abroad in Mexico, where she studied the traditional music of the Yucatán at Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, and in Spain, studying flamenco singing and dancing at La Universidad de Córdoba. After graduation, she moved to New York and got a day job with MTV, studied with such jazz notables as Paquito D'Rivera, Barry Harris, and Jane Monheit, and began performing at jazz clubs and restaurants.

Her first album, Lauren Henderson (2011), which featured Fortner, included funky treatments of "Skylark" and "Born to Be Blue" among more traditionally rendered standards. DownBeat touted Henderson as "an inviting singer whose low-level dynamic draws the listener in." JazzTimes compared her to Peggy Lee, saying she appreciates "how to swing hard without swinging too hard."

A La Madrugada ("At Dawn," 2015), which she produced and arranged, featured an expansive cast of players, Fortner among them, and seven original songs including the sleek, smoothly grooving "Accede." Acting on a hunch, Henderson sent a copy of A La Madrugada to Mark Ruffin while he was a music supervisor on the indie film The Drowning. Ruffin was able to place "Accede"onto the soundtrack and would eventually produce Ármame.

"I love her tone, her heritage, the quality of her voice," says Ruffin. "She's so talented, and one of the smartest singers I've ever worked with when it comes to the business of music. Also, there are very few folks singing in Spanish the way she swings it. I thought that was something that could not only expand her audience, but also expand jazz."

Henderson, who divides her time between New York and Miami, changes her approach to music depending on her audience. "Everyone has a different level of experience with Latin music," she says. "In Miami, with its strong Cuban presence, I sing very differently than I do in New York, where the cultural influence is so much broader. It's partly a matter of brightness versus darkness."

Lauren Henderson will be performing a CD release concert at Regattabar in Cambridge, MA on Friday 3/30. Upcoming New York City shows include the Blue Note, Sun. 5/27, 11:30am, and Minton's on Sat. 8/4, 7pm. Lauren will be touring Spain and Italy for most of March, and appearing at several Miami venues during April (Ball and Chain 4/12, Le Chat Noir 4/14, Lagniappe House 4/15). She'll return for another European tour in November.

 

Hugh Coltman - “Who’s Happy?”

With dancing drums like a legendary New Orleans funeral band, brass full of soul, guitars that fuse every style of blues and folk, Hugh Coltman has built himself a sublime backdrop for these eleven songs recorded in New Orleans and produced by Freddy Koella (Bob Dylan, Willy DeVille, Odetta, kd lang, Carla Bruni, Francis Cabrel…),  over which his warm journeyman's voice expresses his deep understanding of human emotions and sentiments, an indulgent listen for evening lovers, loners at dawn or the melancholic listener at midday... Who’s Happy?, his new album asks. Everyone and no-one, he seems to reply...

"When I started writing I had no idea where I was going other than saying to myself that I wasn't going to become a tribute artist, although there were some intriguing possibilities." The turning point came with the series Treme and its many musical treasures. It brought back happy childhood memories including Kid Ory, Sidney Bechet, Fats Domino, Dr John and the Meters without ever realising that they too had their roots in the New Orleans of the "second line" and flamboyant brass bands. He listened passionately to the great masters of the past, immersed himself in CW Stoneking, the Australian blues revivalist, and Charles Sheffields, an iconic Louisiana r’n’b singer from the 60s. He quickly developed a liberating conviction: “New Orleans music is not all about virtuosity; the primal call comes first”.

And a key existential notion: "I'm forty-five years old, isn't it time I stopped caring what other people think?" So he went where he wanted to go, to New Orleans, to breathe in the spirit of Marc Ribot y los Cubanos Postizos, the piano of Rubén González in Buena Vista Social Club or the atmospheres of Tom Waits' Swordfishtrombones – strong emotions, honest playing, smoky wisdom and a harsh reality transformed into joyful music…

He wanted a lot of musicians, he was looking for that sound he'd already heard in Kid Ory, Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf – that instinct, the processional brass, the feeling the listener gets from being in the room with the musicians... Behind the drums, he wanted Raphaël Chassin, his faithful collaborator who has worked with Miossec, Vanessa Paradis, Bernard Lavilliers, Charlotte Savary and Albin de la Simone and more. And guitarist Freddy Koella, the most prestigious and modest Frenchman in America (Bob Dylan, Willy DeVille, Odetta, kd lang, Carla Bruni, Francis Cabrel, Lhasa De Sela, etc.).

Freddy was co-producing the album. He told Hugh: "Don't record any demos." The result: “In two weeks, I had the foundations for all the songs”, recorded on his phone in his kitchen in Montreuil. His first week in Louisiana was spent meeting the musicians and catching up on stories from Trump's America, which would lead to the song Sugar Coated Pill. Then came six days in the studio with some of New Orleans' biggest names to record ten new songs and a cover of It’s Your Voodoo Working by Charles Sheffield.

From one song to the next, the album moves from autobiography to humanity, from despair to blind hope, from European blues to universal light... Civvy Street opens the album sounding like a venerable standard, All Sleeps Away speaks of Hugh Coltman's father's struggle with Alzheimer's, Little Big Man is written for his son, Hand Me Down looks at questions of transmission (with French vocals from Canadian-Haitian singer Mélissa Laveaux)… It's a musical and existential journey somewhere between a confessional and the big stage, between the exploration of an extraordinary heritage and the boundless inspiration of an artist at the height of his creative powers.

The digital version contains 2 bonus tracks – Losers Blues and If You Were Mine.

MIGUEL DE ARMAS QUARTET with WHAT'S TO COME

Cuban-born pianist Miguel de Armas proudly releases What's To Come, a debut album sure to expand his ever-widening audience. Long known as a stalwart in Havana, de Armas has synthesized the musics of his homeland with those from North America and Canada (where he now resides). It is an effortless weave of influences, fulfilling the promise of his working quartet and illuminating Miguel's mastery as an instrumentalist and group leader.

In 1988, Miguel was a graduate of the famed Instituto Superior de Arte, proving himself a rhythm master devoted to the multitude of sounds and influences surrounding Havana - rumbas, chants, the cadence of street life. They served as the basis for his own musical ideas.

He became a founding member of N.G. La Banda, the group that originated the Cuban salsa offshoot called timba. It proved successful, touring Lincoln Center, Montreux, Northsea and other festivals around the world due, in large part, to Miguel's innovations. He had defined an approach that utilized both acoustic and synthesized keyboards, a sound subsequently adopted in the development of Cuban music. That became his launching pad. Since then he has collaborated with a Who's Who of legends and appeared on more than 60 albums.

Miguel´s style draws heavily from the rich contributions of influential predecessors - among them, pianists Chucho Valdés, Emiliano Salvador and Gonzalo Rubalcaba. They have enabled him to create a sound distinctively his own.

Moreover, Miguel has become a musical activist from his new home in Ottawa, Canada, producing shows, inviting collaborations, encouraging stylistic partnerships that further his ideas and those of the greats who walked before him.

What's To Come provides the evidence. It's reach is varied and broad, encompassing elements of elegant danzón ("La Dama y el Perro"); bossas (the title track);and '80s symphonic rock ("A Song For My Little Son"). Special guests from Canada's musical community of Cuban specialists include recent Grammy nominee Jane Bunnett, guitarist Elmer Ferrer, trumpeter Alexis Baró, and bassist Roberto Riverón.

On this record, Miguel de Armas solidifies his place among Cuba's most distinguished musicians. The region that birthed the likes of Cachao, Omar Sosa, the multi-generational families of Valdés and O'Farrill, and countless others, now applauds another forward-thinker, a native son. Introducing Miguel de Armas.

  

TRACKS

1. Yasmina, 5:57

2. A Song For My Little Son, 4:45

3. La Dama y el Perro, 4:05

4. His Bass and Him, 3:23

5. Pam Pim Pam Pum, 2:56

6. Illusion, 3:26

7. What's To Come, 4:48

8. Rumba on Kent St., 5:54

9. Tango Asunción, 5:38

10. Freddies's Drink, 4:46

All songs composed by Miguel de Armas, except "Freddie's Drink" (co-written with Marc Decho).

Produced by Michel Medrano and Miguel de Armas.

Mix and Mastering by Jim Zolis.

Recorded at Rose Room Studio, Toronto, April 2017.

Graphic design: Mallory Giles.

Saxophonist/Composer Darryl Yokley Collaborates with Painter Dave Emmanuel Noel for Visual Companion Pieces Supporting Each Song on New Album, Pictures at an African Exhibition

Picture yourself strolling through the doors of an art gallery or into the marble halls of an art museum. The walls are lined with bold, colorful images, some vivid abstracts, many assertively figurative. As you take in the striking landscapes and strong faces, a story emerges -- no less a story than the history of humankind, but also a story that resonates with today's headlines, a story still unfolding. Now what would that sound like?

Saxophonist/composer Darry Yokley has created the soundtrack to just such a gallery of images on his new album, Pictures at an African Exhibition. The album, due out April 20 via Truth Revolution Records, was created in collaboration with British-born artist David Emmanuel Noel, who painted pieces to accompany each of Yokley's 13 new compositions. The music supplements Yokley's band Sound Reformation -- pianist Zaccai Curtis, bassist Luques Curtis, and drummer Wayne Smith Jr. -- alongside special guest drummer Nasheet Waits and a 12-piece wind ensemble, assembling a group with a sound palette vast enough to match Noel's visual one.

The album's title points to its clear inspiration, Modest Mussorgsky's famed "Pictures at an Exhibition." But where Mussorgsky penned music inspired by the artwork of his friend Viktor Hartmann, Yokley decided to write his suite first and ask his friend Noel to create the exhibition to match. The ambitious suite begins with the dawn of the human species and traces an alternately triumphant and tragic tale of migration and enslavement, celebration and warfare, ending on a cautiously optimistic hope for the future.

"I wanted to explore themes that were universal," Yokley explains. "I based the story on Africa, because as far as we know that's where the human species was born, but I wanted to explore themes that everyone in every culture worldwide could relate to."

The album thus opens with the joyous melody of "First Sunrise," which shows the influence of African song and American gospel. Noel's accompanying painting collages bright colors to depict a pregnant woman and her partner looking to the sun on the horizon and its accompanying promise. Still celebratory but built on a more tumultuous rhythm, "Migration" is an anthem for the ancestors who braved the unknown to venture out to new lands, with Noel's illustration of a stark but troubling black and white image of a black man, his head bowed, bounded by an Egyptian pyramid and a Manhattan skyscraper.

"Ubuntu," paralleled by Noel's swirling abstract painting, takes its name from an African philosophy that means "I am who I am because of who we are," an emphasis on group identity that Yokley grasps in his stunning arrangements for this ensemble. He's led Sound Reformation since 2010, but the addition of a wind ensemble, inspired by his classical studies at Duquesne and Michigan State Universities, provides the opportunity for sweeping drama and surging power, reflective of his arrangements for Orrin Evans' Captain Black Big Band. Waits, the inventive drummer known for his work with Jason Moran and Fred Hersch among many others, adds rhythmic complexity in tandem with Smith's muscular swing.

"I've always wanted to work with Nasheet Waits, but Wayne is such a great drummer for the group," Yokley says. "Then it dawned on me that I could use two drummers because the drum is the predominant instrument in Africa. It ended up working out wonderfully because the rhythms they produced together provide a plethora of inspiration for the musicians to improvise to as well as being a representation of African culture."

The influence of African percussion is at its most emphatic on the gentle "Stories from the Village Elder," which honors the tradition of oral history before things begin to take a darker turn with "Ominous Nightfall." Reprising the theme from "First Sunrise" with foreboding harmonies, the piece begins a series of reflections on tribulations that continues with the ambiguously titled "Hunting Natives," whose tense rhythms suggest both the search for food and the danger of life in the jungle -- both literal and figurative.

Smith marks time with a set of chains on "The Birth of Swing," which traces the roots of jazz back to the clanking of slaves' irons on ships' decks. "Echoes of Ancient Sahara" is a ghost story of lost civilizations that reveals John Coltrane's imprint on Yokley's sound, while "Genocide March" is a martial ode to atrocities in Rwanda and Sierra Leone in particular, though acknowledging the fact of many more such tragedies across the globe. The blood diamond trade is referenced in the mournful "Mines of Diamonds, Crimson and Gold."

Things begin to take a turn with "Cry, the Beloved Country," which borrows the title of Alan Paton's 1948 title for a stirring ballad of revolution and resistance. "Blessings From the Bennu" refers to an Egyptian deity, a bird used as a symbol of rebirth that was the likely inspiration for the Greek myth of the phoenix. The "First Sunrise" theme emerges again to segue into "New Sunrise," which finds the composer finding hope despite the echoes of these past troubles in our current divisive times.

"The last two tracks are a vision for the future," Yokley concludes. "They express my hope that we can get past all the turmoil and inner conflict that we bring upon each other and unite. That's the arc of the story."

Darryl Yokley · Pictures at an African Exhibition

Truth Revolution Records · Release Date: April 20, 2018