Baritone Sax Aces Kjetil Møster and Mats Gustafsson Join Forces in the Band 'The End', the Powerhouse Collaboration Releases

When Norwegian baritone saxophonist Kjetil Møster joined forces in the studio with Swedish baritone sax burner Mats Gustafsson, Norwegian noise-jazz guitarist Anders Hana (MoHa!, Ultralyd, Noxagt), versatile, powerhouse drummer Greg Saunier (of the San Francisco-based avant-rock band Deerhoof, who participated in the album, but has now been replaced by Børge Fjordheim of Cloroform) and the extraordinary Ethiopian-born experimental singer Sofia Jernberg, the resulting sonic maelstrom was so fresh and ferocious, so daring and audacious, so darkly apocalyptic that The End seemed like the only name for this band of rebels.

Their uncompromising debut on RareNoise Svårmod Och Vemod Är Värdesinnen (a title whose approximate translation from Swedish into English could be stated as "Dark melancholy and sadness are senses to be valued"), is delivered with sledgehammer authority by the subversive crew.

 The two-baritone onslaught of Møster and Gustafsson with the addition of Hana's baritone guitar provides a low-end assault on Svårmod Och Vemod Är Värdesinnen that feels like a gut-punch to complacency. "The double baritone has lots of raw power, which is a big part of what this music is all about," says Møster, who has previously appeared on two RareNoiseRecords releases, Jü Meets Møster and Reflections In Cosmo. "We try to break through to the raw senses, the expressions of energy that wants to burst but never does."

"We have talked about such a collaboration for many years," adds Gustafsson, who previously appeared on RareNoise releases by Slobber Pup (Pole Axe) and in collaboration with Japanese noisemaker Merzbow (the Cuts series). "And when Giacomo of RareNoise offered us the chance we grabbed it immediately, of course. We just needed to really put together the most kickin' band ever."

With Jernberg, Hana, Saunier (now Fjordheim), they have put together a dream team on Svårmod Och Vemod Är Värdesinnen. "Now that we have The End as a working unit it feels extremely exciting to see where we can take the music together," says Gustafsson. "It's amazing for me to play alongside Mats' boundless energy," adds Møster. "He has revolutionized articulations of saxophone playing and has been one of my big influences ever since I heard The Thing's self titled album from 2001."

Add the potent contributions of Hana and Saunier to the mix and you have a combustible crew capable of nuanced ambient expression with Jernberg's ethereal vocals floating over the top and hellacious crescendos fueled by her intense banshee wailing.

"Anders is one of the most creative guitar players I have ever heard," says Gustafsson. "He stopped playing guitar seven years ago but Kjetil and me convinced him to pick it up again to join this group, which he happily agreed to. He ROCKS!" Møster adds "Anders and me have driven thousands of kilometres together all over Eastern and Western Europe in old tour vans playing numerous concerts with Ultralyd, which released five albums, most of them on Rune Grammofon. He's a very unique player."

Hana's chainsaw guitar work, reminiscent of Jimi Hendrix's noise guitar explorations on "EXP" from Axis: Bold As Love, fuels the dark opener Svårmod (Troubled Mind), which also introduces The End's muscular and imposing two-bari sound. Hana's repetitive guitar riff provides a catchy hook on the Captain Beefheart-like Vemod (Sad Mind), underscored by Saunier's polyrhythmic drummer and featuring Jernberg's freewheeling wordless vocals.

The epic Translated Slaughter, which sees Jernberg whispering/talking Gustafsson's lyrics at the ethereal opening, gradually builds to a frantic crescendo that has the singer wailing with cathartic abandon over the top. Jernberg repeats her riveting performance on Don't Wait in which she once again recites/sings Gustafsson's cryptic lyrics.

"Text, music, art...it should all be read and listened to in open ways and manners," says the composer. "It is not up to me to explain, really. It is up to the listener/reader to understand, or try to understand. Or at least to ask the questions to find out more. All creative art and music should point out new doors, not open them up. To open a door, you have to do it yourself. We can't do it for you. So the lyrics pretty much speak for themselves, especially in 'Don't Wait.' That message should be pretty obvious for anyone."

Møster's Both Sides Out has a particularly dark, almost requiem kind of feel to it, which he acknowledges. "Requiem is a good association," he says. "What I had in mind was actually some kind of mourning for the state of mind that the western world has entered post-Trump. In the lyrics I am Trump's psychoanalyst, letting him pour out his inner feelings so he can stop being so tense and hard."

With a discography numbering over 150 records, Gustafsson explains what his latest RareNoise release represents to him: "Just sheer joy of sharing ideas and music together. We had time to rehearse and to play three gigs before jumping into the studio - that was worth a lot for us because I feel that everything really fell into the right place for us in the studio. The music we recorded is really a wet dream of favorite influences to bring together for me. And I think me and Kjetil share the most essential sources and inspirational platforms here. We wanted elements of free jazz, noise, alt rock and more to blend and create something new. And it all led to a music that, at least me, I have never heard before."

"We are never into creating a special mood in the music," maintains Gustafsson, who is also member of bands The Thing, Fire! and Nu Ensemble. "That is up to the listener to create or hear. We don't entertain, we don't illustrate. We play music. New music. I don't wanna analyze it too much here. Everyone should listen freely and think and act freely upon hearing it all. It should all be open."

Regarding the translation of the The End's album title, Møster says: "To me it says something about appreciating difficulties, that we don't necessarily have to please each other all the time, that expressions that go against the grain and cause friction are valuable too."

Those renegade expressions are readily apparent on Svårmod Och Vemod Är Värdesinnen, The End's formidable RareNoise debut.

TRACKS

1.    Svårmod

2.    Vemod

3.    Translated Slaughter

4.    Don't Wait

5.    Rich And Poor

6.    Both Sides Out

The Jamie Saft Quartet Announces New Album

Jamie Saft continues his collaboration with eclectic UK-based label RareNoiseRecords in 2018. On a roll after releasing his first ever solo piano album in January, the aptly named 'Solo A Genova', the Upstate New York-based artist presents a further facet of his seemingly boundless talent for composition, performance, invention and in this case, for acting as master of ceremonies to a group of exciting and innovative musicians. His latest formation, the Jamie Saft Quartet sees repeated collaborators, celebrated saxophonists Bill McHenry and bassists Bradley Christopher Jones as well as in rising star of the drums Nasheet Waits.

Recorded in the Autumn of 2017 in Jamie Saft's Potterville International Sound studio Upstate New York, co-produced by Saft and Chris Castagno, mixed and mastered by Chris Castagno in Colombia, Blue Dream showcases nine new vibrant, spiritual and energetic compositions by Jamie Saft, as well as three mesmerizing standards. The album will be released on 29th June and will be available on CD, double vinyl and digital download. 

  

Plenty of connotations emerge in the album title, yet as soon as you start listening you will realize, that Blue Dream won't allow you to think about connotations. This is direct. The muscle is shown straight away in "Vessels," and not just in the playing but the tone: dark, with four musicians moving like ships in the night, a tenor sax echoing over the water between them. That's saxman Bill McHenry, and stirring the water beneath him is drummer Nasheet Waits, splashing into the basswaves of Brad Jones bellowing up, heavy and low. On the piano, Jamie Saft both holds it down and works in new melodies, like clouds in a rotation of sunlight and darkness. Blue Dream moves. "Equanimity" keeps it fast - punk jazz fast. The drums lead it off, and you get the feeling the other musicians aren't coming in until Waits lets them in. They know to hold off. The vibe into which Waits swings himself is a tunnel for one, only breaking daylight a minute and half into the song, when everybody explodes together at once in the record's biggest and brightest moment yet. But "Sword's Water" brings it back into the low light, opening with a hot flourish that swirls on for two minutes before Saft begins to follow the melody down one of his paths. Saft can slide effortlessly over the keys, to be sure, but it is when he lingers, teasing out perhaps the same several notes, that we get a sense of the restraint in place.

This sounds like a record of standards-yes, new standards-but there are only three oldies on here ... and they're goodies. Sinatra's "Violets For Your Furs" is the first, setting the second of this album's four sides alive with an interpretation that finds Saft digging into the melody as only its patent simplicity allows (there's that restraint again). Following that, Brad Jones finds room cleared out for him in the title track to pluck his heaviest path, accelerating through the heart of the record while Saft drifts overhead, clouds over boiling water. "Infinite Compassion"shoulders its way back into those big dark movements on the piano, both sustaining and running away past the margins wherever it is needed.

The second half of the album kicks off with Bill McHenry cooling it down, and he does it through "Sweet Lorraine," Cliff Burwell's 1928 standard recorded by the King Cole Trio in 1940, which is the version taught to Saft by the late Geri Allen. Some 90 years later it's a vehicle strong enough to summon a breeze into the whole second half of the album, carving out abundant room for "Walls." Building on the big air of "Sweet Lorraine," Saft goes off into outer space without a care in the world, and all of them ride out the vibe. Saft can flourish and arpeggiate with the best of them, but it's in his open spaces that he shows he can be sometimes shy, sometimes flirtatious, but always confident-quietly-and relaxed. That is the foundation on which the musicians around him can build, with Saft then almost pleading with them to follow him into uncharted territories.

Then there's the drums. Waits has both a shimmer and a modern architecture to his playing, the latter of which has him building a chess board in "Decamping,"where the band can check one another, trading on, trading off. Who's got the end game? We don't need to know. We only know they enjoy the field. The music nourishes the life beneath their feet. "Words And Deeds" feels like something by which each of them is living, expressing it through this music, right now, while "Mysterious Arrangements" furthers the language created by this quartet, bringing it into a new conversation that is obviously holding some tension in its palms.

You'll be relieved to know that tension all gets worked out in the end. Closing out the record is the 1937 Mack Gordon and Harry Revel classic "There's a Lull In My Life,"blissfully stretching out the last seven minutes of the album like a long holiday party full of old faces. Memories abound of the song's place in jazz history, and the voices that interpreted it in years past: Ella Fitzgerald, Chet Baker, Tony Bennett, Alice Faye, and Nat King Cole. The standard torch song, love ballad, classic, becomes buoyant in their hands. It does not wallow, but revels in its ache. Shouldn't we all?

TRACKS

1. Vessels

2. Equanimity

3. Sword's Water

4. Violets For Your Furs

5. Blue Dream

6. Infinite Compassion

7. Sweet Lorraine

8. Walls

9. Decamping

10. Words and Deeds

11. Mysterious Arrangements

12. There's a Lull In My Life

NEW RELEASES: KENNY LATTIMORE – NEVER TOO BUSY: THE ANTHOLOGY; TOM TALLITSCH - WHEELHOUSE; KAMAAL WILLIAMS – THE RETURN

KENNY LATTIMORE – NEVER TOO BUSY: THE ANTHOLOGY

A great overview of the work of soul singer Kenny Lattimore – a set that not only features the best tracks from his solo run of recordings, but also early work in the group Maniquin, and some duets with Chante Moore as well! Kenny's a singer who really helped give a new shape to the male voice in R&B in the second half of the 90s – a vocalist with a legacy that goes back to more spiritual sounds, but also able to work with a cracklingly contemporary vibe too – that moment when mainstream soul had already drunk deep of influences from hip hop, and was starting to really reform itself with a new sort of tightness for the next generation. Titles include "Funny Feeling" and "Now & Then" with Maniquin – plus "Come To Me", "Figure It Out", "Destiny", "If I Lose My Woman (MAW remix)", "Just What It Takes (human rhythm rmx)", "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", "River", "Never Too Busy (quiet storm mix)", "For You", "Forgiveness", "Forever", "I'll Love You More Than You'll Ever Know", "If You Could See You", "Days Like This (Lattimaw soul house mix)", "Can't Get Enough", "If Love Is What You want", "Tonight (2 step)", "Weekend", "Heaven & Earth", "Make Believe", and "Just What It Takes".  ~ Dusty Groove

TOM TALLITSCH - WHEELHOUSE

Soaring, soulful work from Tom Tallitsch – a tenorist who just keeps grabbing our ears even more and more with each new release! Tom kicks it up strongly here right from the very first note – leading a tight quintet through some beautifully-written tunes of his own – the kind of numbers that sparkle with the punch of old Blue Note classics, but which have even more freshness in the hands of a contemporary creator! Tom's got his horn fused strongly with the trumpet of Josh Lawrence on the head arrangements – brilliantly carving out some soulful colors, before they both soar off on their solos – and the rhythm section's a real kicker, too – with Jon Davis on piano, Peter Brendler on bass, and Vinnie Sperazza on drums – players who can hit a modal groove when needed, but also move through the sort of complicated hardbop styles that artists like Lee Morgan or Hank Mobley were hitting in the late 60s. Titles include "River", "Paulus Hook", "Red Eye", "Outnumbered", "Schlep City", "Wheelhouse", and "One For Jonny".  ~ Dusty Groove

KAMAAL WILLIAMS – THE RETURN

The first solo project from Kamaal Williams – and a wonderfully spiritual set that has the keyboardist really blowing us away with his talents! Williams plays plenty of Fender Rhodes on the set, mostly in a trio setting, but one that's far from standard jazz – as the rhythms often reflect his roots in hip hop, although played live by drummer Joshua McKenzie and bassist Pete Martin – who also have the ability to send Williams soaring to the skies with this magnificent spiritual energy! Consider this set to maybe be a Lonnie Liston Smith album for the hip hop generation – and praise Allah for Kamaal's mighty talents on the keys, and the sharp production skills of Henry Wu. Titles include "Salaam", "The Return", "High Roller", "Situations", "Rhythm Commission", "Catch The Loop", "Medina", and "LDN Shuffle".  ~ Dusty Groove

RAMSEY LEWIS – FUNKY SERENITY / GOLDEN HITS / SOLAR WIND / SUN GODDESS

A quadruple-header from Ramsey Lewis – four albums from his great 70s electric period on Columbia Records! First up is Funky Serenity – sweet electric funk from Ramsey Lewis! The album's one of his best from the 70s – and it's got Ramsey on Fender Rhodes, electric harpsichord, and other keyboards, grooving away in an open-ended 70s mode that still retains all the heavy soul of his classic work for Chess. Morris Jennings adds in some very nice percussion with his drum work, and Cleveland Eaton's on funky bass, giving the set a strong bottom groove. Features the sublime sample cut "My Love For You", a great version of "Knights In White Satin" that's done with a weird spacey groove, plus the tracks "Kufany Mapenzi (Making Love)", "Serene Funk", "What It Is!", and "Dreams".

Golden Hits isn't a "best of", but instead has Ramsey and his funky mid 70s trio with Morris Jennings and Cleveland Eaton revisiting some of his best loved material from the Cadet years, but with the groovy Rhodes and wah wah sound that we dig so much about his CBS recordings. Unlike some of the other records from this period, the group's nice and stripped down, just the electric piano, bass and drums, so the groove's nice and wide open, Ramsey and company popping along with the sanctified soulful vibe of his 60s work, but updating their sound with some nice electric touches. 9 numbers in all: "Hang On Sloopy", "Blues For The Night Owl", "Hi-Heel Sneakers", "Carmen", "Delilah", "Wade In The Water", "Slippin' Into Darkness", "Somethin' You Got", and "The In Crowd".

Solar Wind was cut smack dab in the middle of Ramsey's glory days at Columbia Records – with great production help and work on bass from the mighty Cleveland Eaton! The style is nice and lean, with just some occasional fuller touches – and Ramsey plays plenty of Fender Rhodes, in addition to bits of Arp and moog too – in a setting that's mostly trio, with a few guest players stepping into the mix from track to track! There's a nice degree of fuzz at points, thanks to added help from Steve Cropper – and titles include a great funky version of "Summer Breeze", plus "Solar Wind", "Come Down In Time", "Love for A Day", "Hummingbird", "Jamaican Marketplace", and "Sweet & Tender You".

Sun Goddess is one of our favorite Ramsey Lewis albums ever – and a perfect summation of the genius that was brewing on the Chicago scene in the late 60s and early 70s! The album has Ramsey working strongly with Earth Wind & Fire – no surprise, given his close ties to Maurice White, who was the drummer in Ramsey's trio before starting his own group – and the shared relationship both artists had with producer Charles Stepney! The three were all key parts of the late 60s sound at Chess Records – but here, they've brought the same soulful energy to Columbia – working in a wider, more mature groove for the 70s – one that has Lewis' wicked Fender Rhodes lines stretching out strongly over tight, compressed, funky lines from EWF! The centerpiece of the set is the massive 7 minute "Sun Goddess", but there's lots of other nice ones like "Living For The City", "Gemini Rising", and "Jungle Strut". Funky, electric, and sublimely wonderful all the way through! ~ dustygroove.com

Lost studio album from John Coltrane to be released on Impulse

On March 6, 1963, John Coltrane and his Classic Quartet — McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison, and Elvin Jones — recorded an entire studio album at the legendary Van Gelder Studios. This music, which features unheard originals, will finally be released 55 years later. This is, in short, the holy grail of jazz.

Both Directions at Once: The Lost Album will be released on June 29 on Impulse! Records, Coltrane's final and most creative label home.

  

The first week of March in 1963 was busy for John Coltrane. He was in the midst of a two-week run at Birdland and was gearing up to record the famed John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman album, which he did on March 7. But there was a session the day before that was the stuff of legend, until now.

On Wednesday, March 6, Coltrane and the quartet went to Van Gelder Studios in Englewood, NJ and cut a complete album's worth of material, including several original compositions that were never recorded elsewhere.  They spent the day committing these to tape, taking time with some, rehearsing them two, three times, playing them in different ways and in different configurations.

At the end of the day, Coltrane left Van Gelder Studios with a reference tape and brought it to the home in Queens that he shared with his wife, Naima. These tapes remained untouched for the next 54 years until Impulse! approached the family about finally releasing this lost album. Though the master tape was never found—Rudy Van Gelder wasn't one for clutter—the reference tape was discovered to be in excellent condition.

As the legendary saxophonist Sonny Rollins so rightly put it, "This is like finding a new room in the Great Pyramid." The musical implications of this album, the original compositions, the arrangements, the band, the year it was recorded, all amount to a rediscovery and re-contextualization of one of the most important musicians of our time.

Danny Bennett, President and CEO of the Verve Label Group and home of Impulse! records, says, "Jazz is more relevant today than ever. It's becoming the alternative music of the 21st century, and no one embodies the boundary-breaking essence of jazz more than John Coltrane. He was a visionary who changed the course of music, and this lost album is a once-in-a-lifetime discovery. It gives us insight into his creative process and connects us to his artistry. This album is a cultural moment and the release coincides perfectly with our relaunch of the iconic Impulse! label."

On this album, there are two completely unknown and never-before-heard originals. "Untitled Original 11383" and "Untitled Original 11386," both played on soprano sax. "11383" features an arco bass solo by Jimmy Garrison, a relative rarity, and "11386" marks a significant structural change for the quartet, in that they keep returning to the theme between solos, not typical in the quartet's repertoire.

In addition to the two unheard originals, "One Up, One Down" – released previously only on a bootleg recording from Birdland – is heard here as a studio recording for the first and only time. It contains a fascinating exchange between Elvin Jones and Coltrane.

"Impressions," one of Coltrane's most famous and oft-recorded compositions, is played here in a piano-less trio. In fact, McCoy Tyner lays out a number of times during this recording session. It's one of the more interesting aspects of this session and reflects the harmonic possibilities that Coltrane was known to be discussing regularly with Ornette Coleman around this time.

This studio session also yielded Coltrane's first recording of "Nature Boy," which he would record again in 1965, and the two versions differ greatly. The one we know is exploratory, meandering. This version is tight, solo-less and clocking in at just over three minutes. The other non-original composition on the album is "Vilia," from Franz Lehár's operetta "The Merry Widow". The soprano version on the Deluxe Edition is the only track from this session to have been previously released.

This incredible, once-in-a-lifetime discovery reveals a number of creative balances at work, like developing original melodies while rethinking familiar standards. Trying out some tunes first on tenor saxophone, then on soprano. Using older techniques like the arpeggio runs of his "sheets of sound" while experimenting with false fingerings and other newer sounds. This session was pivotal, though to call it such overlooks the fact Coltrane was ever on pivot, always pushing the pedal down while still calling on older, tested ideas and devices.

Both Directions at Once: The Lost Album is a major addition to the Coltrane catalogue and the most important jazz discovery in recent memory.

This historic session resulted in 14 tracks in total. On the standard edition, there are 7 takes, chosen by Ravi Coltrane. The rest of the takes exist on the second disc of the deluxe set. There will be a standard CD and LP and a deluxe CD and LP available on June 29 on Impulse! The deluxe edition will exist on all digital streaming platforms as well.

Standard Edition Track List:

Untitled Original 11383 (5:41)

Nature Boy (3:24)

Untitled Original 11386 (8:43)

Vilia (5:32)

Impressions (4:36)

Slow Blues (11:28)

One Up, One Down (8:01)

Deluxe Edition Track List:

CD1

Untitled Original 11383 (Take 1) (5:41)

Nature Boy (3:24)

Untitled Original 11386 (Take 1) (8:43)

Vilia (Take 3) (5:32)

Impressions (Take 3) (4:36)

Slow Blues (11:28)

One Up, One Down (Take 1) (8:01)

CD2

Vilia (Take 5) (4:37)

Impressions (Take 1) (4:06)

Impressions (Take 2) (4:37)

Impressions (Take 4) (3:40)

Untitled Original 11386 (Take 2) (8:41)

Untitled Original 11386 (Take 5) (8:23)

One Up, One Down (Take 6) (7:17)

Saxophonist Michael Paulo calls upon friends to celebrate “Beautiful Day”

From beginning to end, saxophonist Michael Paulo’s “Beautiful Day,” is a celebration of love, friendship and the Aloha spirit. Opening with the title track inspired by the joyous news that he was going to become a grandfather and closing with the timeless Carole King ode to friendship, “You’ve Got A Friend,” Paulo’s 11th solo disc dropped on the Apaulo Productions imprint. The collection is comprised of eight Paulo compositions and five modern classics produced by Paulo with two tracks helmed by two-time Grammy winner Paul Brown. The first single presently collecting radio spins and playlist adds spotlights guitarist Ray Parker Jr. on the aptly titled “Who You Gonna Call?” 

  

Inherent in Paulo’s soulful play emoted through tenor, soprano and alto saxes on “Beautiful Day” is an effervescent spirit, a hallmark that perhaps emanates from the DNA of his Hawaiian blood. A genuine sense of gratitude is another vital element present in his recordings. With that ethos, Paulo crafted a set list that enabled him to record with and feature some of his accomplished friends the likes of which include guitarists Parker Jr., Brown, Peter White and Paul Jackson Jr.; pianist David Benoit, keyboardist Brian Simpson, bassists Freddie Washington and Roberto Vally, percussionist Lenny Castro, and drummers Gorden Campbell and Michael White.

“I truly have the best friends in life that always are there to support me. ‘You've Got A Friend’ represents why I am able to do what I do. I hope this record will touch people emotionally. My approach to playing has always been about expressing feeling and emotion and drawing the listener in so that they forget all the stress in their lives. I hope it renews their spirit, so they can continue to be happy and express love. When I perform live, my biggest gratification is when I feel that I have uplifted people emotionally and they can go home feeling good about themselves and life in general. That’s our gift as musicians and I am so blessed to be able to do what I do,” said Paulo.

  

The album also showcases Paulo’s touring band - a trio of Hawaiians comprised of Kimo Cornwell (keyboards), David Inamine (bass) and Fred Schreuders (guitar) along with drummers Land Richards and Sergio Gonzalez – which will take the stage with Paulo at SoCal hotspot Spaghettini on July 21 to celebrate the release of “Beautiful Day.”

Paulo’s professional career spans more than forty years, and includes gigs playing alongside R&B, pop and jazz headliners Al Jarreau, James Ingram, Patti Austin, Jeffrey Osborne, Kenny Loggins, Johnny Mathis, Bobby Caldwell and Rick Braun. He debuted as a solo artist in 1977 with the Japan-only release of “Tat’s in the Rainbow,” an album that highlighted Herbie Hancock on keyboards. Paulo continues his dual career as a solo artist and as a first-call session player-sideman. He also produces concerts and jazz festivals in Hawaii and in the long-time California resident’s home state. These days, Paulo tours frequently with Peter White, who plies his signature delicate acoustic guitar nuances in addition to contributing to the arrangement for “Beautiful Day’s” profound version of Sting’s “Fragile.” The saxman’s longest touring association was with Jarreau, with whom he shared the stage throughout the late crossover crooner’s glory days.

  

“I recorded ‘Your Song’ as a tribute to Al, who gave me my big break when he hired me for his touring band in 1983. We toured the world together for eleven years and he featured me on his ‘Live in London’ album. I used his arrangement of ‘Your Song’ and David Benoit delivered a heartfelt piano performance. I miss Al.”             

Paulo’s “Beautiful Day” album contains the following songs:

“Beautiful Day” featuring Paul Brown

“Mr. Magic” featuring Paul Brown

“Europa”

“Back with the Funk” featuring Paul Jackson Jr.

“Your Song” featuring David Benoit

“Who You Gonna Call?”

“#FromtheHeart”

“Fragile”

“Keiko’s Groove”

“Galaxia”

“Mysterious”

“Fire Dance”

“You’ve Got A Friend”

www.MichaelPaulo.com

"Remembering You" pays homage to a very special woman in Guitarist Dee Brown’s life that will always be in his heart

Innervision Records album Remembering You, pays homage to a very special woman in Brown’s life that will always be in his heart. The CD is comprised of emotionally driven tracks dedicated to Shaunia Edwards, an extraordinary woman who shared a treasured season of love before her transition to heaven in 2016. 

Shaunia Edwards, a respected gospel singer, was not only Browns fiancé, she was the co-writer and featured vocalist on “I’m Here For You (I’ll Never Leave You” (Brown’s hit from his 2014 album Brown Sugar, Honey-Coated Love which made Groove Jazz Music’s Top 100 of 2015) and his holiday song “It’s Christmas.” Even from heaven and always in his heart, Shaunia is working her magic.  Brown turned a personal tragedy into a life affirming instrumental chronicle of endurance and hope.

The first single “Hey Baby” hit the Groove Jazz Music Top 30 chart.  The fresh, buoyant, danceable funk jam “Pop the Question” is the second single from Remembering You.  The title track “Remembering You,” is a lush soaring ballad that is the ideal coda to the album.  The co-writers were Valdez Brantley (piano, keyboards, programming, and former music director for Usher, worked with Mary J. Blige, Beyoncé’ and James Brown), soprano saxophonist Dezie McCullers, Jr. and drummer Ron Otis, known for his work with Aretha Franklin, Earl Klugh and Kem.

Their powerful studio camaraderie also infuses the high energy Brantley produced tracks, “Hey Baby, “Pop The Question,” “I Want You Too” (featuring Kern Brantley on bass) and “So Much.”

Renowned urban jazz flutist Althea Rene pairs perfectly with Brown to create a breezy, whimsical stroll through “Our Summer.” Co-writer and keyboardist Bob Baldwin created a hypnotic-duality with Brown on the playful, briskly rolling “I Will.”  Nate Harasim, jazz/R&B artist, composer and producer hit emotional high points on the mystical, soul jazz flavored ballad “Beauty Within.”

“Music is my sanctuary, the thing I love to do, and the concept just made perfect sense, to write songs about different moments in our season together, most love songs are created and inspired by real love and true emotions, and I can attest to that,” says Brown.

dee brown has performed or share the stage with: Al Jarreau, Gerald Albright, Alexander Zonjic, Bob Baldwin, Mindi Abair, Jessy J, Paul Brown, Paul Taylor, Darren Rahn, Tim Bowman, Randy Scott, Gail Jhonson, Nate Harasim, Bob James, Brian Culbertson, Spyro Gyra, The Ohio Players, Najee, Jeffery Osborne, Aretha Franklin, Michael and BeBe Winans, as well as Kern and Valdez Brantly. 

Even as the album is released, Brown is now in another incredible, inspiring season which he attributes directly to the power of prayer. He is now engaged to be married in the summer of 2018.

“dee Brown’s musical walk down memory lane is a heart-felt expression of where love can lead you. There is no better memory than one that fills a heart with joy, memories and blessings” says Jaijai Jackson of The Jazz Network Worldwide.

Brown is currently seeking non-exclusive worldwide agents to collaborate with regarding touring and concert bookings for the 2019/2020 concert season.

Be sure to check out dee Brown’s new release “Remembering You” at www.deebrownmusic.com as well as his feature on The Jazz Network Worldwide this week at  http://thejazznetworkworldwide.com.

 

NEW RELEASES: FRANCOIS BOURASSA QUARTET – NUMBER 9; AUDRA MCDONALD – SING HAPPY; EDDIE DANIELS – HEART OF BRAZIL

FRANCOIS BOURASSA QUARTET – NUMBER 9

The Montreal born and based JUNO Award, Prix Félix, and OPUS Award winning and internationally acclaimed contemporary jazz pianist, composer and bandleader François Bourassa will lead his longstanding quartet on a Canadian jazz festival tour presenting the music from his recently released album Number 9 (see dates below) on Effendi Records (Naxos). Bourassa is especially thrilled to embark on this tour with this quartet all the original players from the recording recognized for elements of mystery, fantasy and passion that offer unprecedented angles and sound spaces in addition to a deep and telepathic complicity among its members: André Leroux (reeds), Guy Boisvert (bass) and Greg Ritchie (drums). The François Bourassa Quartet will launch the tour in Toronto on June 27th and continue west and then back home east culminating in a momentous celebration at the Montreal International Jazz Festival on July 3rd. "I am so excited to tour and play our new music from the last album at these great Canadian jazz festivals", said Bourassa.   

AUDRA MCDONALD – SING HAPPY

Decca Gold is proud to announce the forthcoming release of Sing Happy, the live performance of the New York Philharmonic’s 2018 Spring Gala starring Grammy, Emmy, and Tony Award-winner Audra McDonald, conducted by Andy Einhorn. Recorded live on May 1 at David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center, the recording represents McDonald’s first collaboration with Decca Gold – as well as her first solo recording with full orchestra. Sing Happy features many songs that are either new to McDonald’s repertoire or have never before been recorded by her – such as “I Am What I Am” from La Cage aux Folles, “Vanilla Ice Cream” from She Loves Me, and “Children Will Listen” from Into The Woods– and offers a sneak peek at the repertoire she’s performing on her upcoming North American concert tour.

EDDIE DANIELS – HEART OF BRAZIL

Off the heels of Resonance's acclaimed 2017 archival release Just Friends - Live at the Village Vanguard from 1988, jazz clarinet master Eddie Daniels has a brand new project paying tribute to the world-renowned Brazilian composer and multi-instrumentalist, Egberto Gismonti. Heart of Brazil features Daniels with the top-shelf trio of pianist Josh Nelson, bassist Kevin Axt, drummer Mauricio Zottarelli, plus the Grammy Award-winning Harlem Quartet. With new arrangements by Ted Nash, Kuno Schmid and Josh Nelson, Heart of Brazil collects songs from Gismonti's classic early 1970s albums on EMI Records, such as his self-titled 1973 album, Água e Vinho (1972) and others. The album was produced by Resonance president George Klabin, who has known Daniels since the 1960's and recorded him with the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra at the Village Vanguard in New York City. Klabin has long felt Gismonti's work has been under-appreciated and that there was no one better to pull off an incredible tribute to the Brazilian maestro than Eddie Daniels. Gismonti says in his interview with acclaimed author James Gavin, "When I heard the record I felt immense joy...The repertoire  spans a rich period of my composing. What a great present for my seventy years of life." 

Beats & Pieces Big Band From Manchester, U.K., Release 10th Anniversary Live Album Ten

2018 marks Beats & Pieces' 10th anniversary and their busiest year to date. Following a major European tour in November 2017 (including a sold-out show at Amsterdam's legendary Bimhuis), the band kicked off 2018 with a completely sold-out three night residency at Ronnie Scott's and a January UK tour. They have just performed a prestigious showcase at Jazzahead! in Bremen, and will embark on their debut North American tour in June before a hometown 10th birthday party at the Manchester Jazz Festival in July. 

The Manchester gig will also mark the release of an anniversary live CD/DVD package, ten (release date is July 20, 2018-UK & August 3, 2018-U.S.), recorded in January 2018 in the same rehearsal space at the Royal Northern College of Music where the band had first played together, 10 years to the day. Further UK dates for October 2018 will be announced in due course.

Beats & Pieces Big Band take the big band sound to places it's never been before, with a distinctive blend of rocking energy and precise dynamics, infectious floor-filling rhythms and widescreen arrangements, and generous individual freedom and tight collective interplay. Embracing modern textures and techniques while acknowledging and celebrating their big band lineage, they've earned a reputation for a joyful interaction between audience and band, with songs to make you think, dance, laugh and cry.

This exciting ensemble led by composer/conductor Ben Cottrell boasts 14 musicians, many of them bandleaders in their own right, with each player's distinct musical background and individual voice being key to the collective band identity. Now in their 10th year, Beats & Pieces are a rarity in keeping a fairly consistent lineup for so long - especially remarkable for a group this size. Such is the level of trust and friendship across the group that they perform entirely from memory, effortlessly switching between super-tight ensemble playing and generous soloistic expression in the same way as a trio or quartet.

A driving force of the vibrant Manchester music scene and one of the most striking ensembles of its kind, the group continues to win new fans and friends across Europe and beyond. Beats & Pieces is not an average 'big band' - rather a band that's big.

Pianist WILLIAM TATGE Releases Debut Recording For Brooklyn Jazz Underground Records GENERAL CARGO

Pianist, composer, and improviser William Tatge was born of American parents in Umbria, Italy in 1978 and lived in Todi and Florence until 2008, when he moved to New York City. Tatge began studies on violin and piano at age six, and after a storied career as a student (studying classical piano and graduating summa cum laude in 2000 from the L. Cherubini Conservatory of Florence, followed by studies in composition, orchestration and conducting, earning a second degree in 2006, also summa cum laude). During these years Tatge explored improvisation and jazz and from '96 to '99 he studied privately with Stefano Bollani and attended the Siena Jazz summer workshops. Later studies included instruction with Enrico Pieranunzi, Franco D'Andrea and Paolo Birro. He also participated in Stefano Battaglia's Solo Piano and Piano Trio winter seminars in Siena in 2004 and 2005.

Tatge has gone on to fruitful career in the States, releasing two albums (Mutable Enclosures and Borderlands), and performing in clubs, concert venues and festivals throughout Europe, South America, Japan, Canada and the U.S. in solo concerts as well as with several groups, both as leader and sideman. He has collaborated with such diverse artists as bassist Felix Pastorius, visual artist Christine Meisner, clarinetist Massimo Carrozzo, drummer Jeff Hirshfield and many others. Tatge now proudly announces his debut recording for Brooklyn Jazz Underground Records, and the first album to feature his NYC-based trio of Pablo Menares on bass and Nick Anderson on drums, General Cargo, to be released on June 15.

  

The music on General Cargo, composed over a six-year period between 2010-2015, following Tatge's move to NYC, aims to reference personal, cultural and historical cargo the artist attempts to protect and carry forward. Tatge explains further, "perhaps this music is the result of finding myself in the strange state of a repatriated expat torn between two continents and aesthetic traditions, unable to truly leave either of them behind."

The writing and playing reflect a strong connection to jazz as well as to 19th and 20th century classical music, with an occasional wink at rock and other influences. "I have always been fascinated by the way musical ideas, approaches and behaviors can travel through history and between styles, being transformed, reinterpreted or distorted, acquiring new purpose and meaning," said Tatge. To that end, the pieces are all rather extended in duration, highly structured in form, and contain more through-composed material than is usually found in the jazz piano trio context. The harmonic and rhythmic structure of the improvisational sections often shift from soloist to soloist, and there are rarely perfect recapitulations of thematic material. "My intention was to create larger pieces that could hold up structurally while maintaining a sense of openness and unpredictability, leaving enough space for interpretation and improvisational freedom," explained the composer. "Much of the material on this record is deeply indebted to the music and literature of late romanticism and early modernism; times of transition, great discoveries and linguistic breakdowns, but also times of desperate nostalgia towards a disappearing world." 

The coming together of these different elements in the music on General Cargo is not always a smooth process. Sometimes it results in stark contrasts, perhaps in a sense of unresolved conflict; but ultimately, like any art with depth and significance, it can offer the creator, and the attentive, invested listener, a rewarding, enriching experience.

Trombonist Steve Turre Displays Brilliant Artistry with Heartfelt Ballads on New Release, The Very Thought of You

The thought of Steve Turre inevitably conjures the image of a dauntless virtuoso. Over the course of a remarkable career spanning more than five decades, Turre has proved time and time again that he’s one of the foremost masters of the trombone, able to steer his challenging instrument through breakneck turns and imaginative leaps at dizzying speed.

On The Very Thought Of You, Turre shows off a less celebrated side of his brilliant artistry: his moving, heartfelt way with a ballad. Luxuriating in timeless melodies and swathed in lush strings, Turre makes his horn sing with delicate lyricism and subtle beauty. Of course, the irrepressible trombonist can’t help but unleash his fiercely swinging side, peppering his ballad set with a few pulse-quickeners here and there.

Due out August 24, 2018 via Smoke Sessions Records, The Very Thought Of You features a stellar quartet ideal for a session that calls for a light touch combined with the soul-stirring depth of feeling that Turre brings to everything that he plays. Turre is joined by pianist Kenny Barron, bassist Buster Williams, and drummer Willie Jones III, supplemented on four of the pieces by a string octet conducted by veteran arranger Marty Sheller. An outstanding pair of guests, legendary tenor saxophonist George Coleman and guitar great Russell Malone, both lend their breathtaking mastery to the music as well.

“There’s a challenge to playing ballads on any instrument,” Turre admits. “It’s not about showing off; it’s about trying to play beautiful, to touch somebody with your sound and with your phrasing. The reason I wanted to do it is because I’ve never done it before. I’ve done so many records where I play fast and complicated. It was time to play ballads.”

Especially on the four immortal classics to which Sheller added strings – “Never Let Me Go,” “Shadow of Your Smile,” “Danny Boy,” and the title track – Turre likened his role to that of a singer, ceding the solo spotlight to his bandmates while focusing his own playing on the interpretation of the songs’ incredible melodies.

“I don’t know anybody on the trombone that can play faster than Curtis Fuller could,” Turre explains. “But when I first came to New York in 1973, I met Curtis and he told me that the hardest thing to do is to play simple and have it mean something. So my role wasn't as the improviser; I was the singer, and my focus was to make the melody say something without over-embellishing it.”

It was some of the music’s most renowned vocalists that inspired Turre’s choice of standards on The Very Thought Of You. Nancy Wilson’s versions of the title tune and “Never Let Me Go” convinced the trombonist that he wanted to take on those melodies, while a live rendition of “The Shadow of Your Smile” so captivated him that he added it to the setlist. “Carmen McRae sang nothing but the melody and it was so astounding,” Turre recalls.

The Very Thought of You is not the first time that Turre has melded his voice with strings. On Lotus Flower (1999), he led a sextet where the frontline swapped sax and trumpet for Akua Dixon’s cello and Regina Carter’s violin. And on his 1997 self-titled album he teamed with Sheller – a longtime colleague on the Latin jazz scene – for a string arrangement of the Machito classic “Ayer Lo Vi Llorar” featuring the iconic Afro-Cuban singer Graciela. But the new album marks the first time that Turre has utilized strings in the traditional vein of classics like Clifford Brown with Strings or Nat King Cole’s elegant sound.

“With ballads, it’s not about playing loud and boisterous, it’s about playing with subtlety,” Turre says. “The strings help to bring that out. Plus, Marty Sheller’s writing was just sublime, so tasteful and lush and not overdone but complimentary to a T.”

After opening the album with a swooning “The Very Thought of You,” the band is joined by Malone for the first time on an up-tempo but laid-back romp through “September in the Rain.” Then Turre and Malone pair off for the trombonist’s intimate duet piece “No Regrets.” The song was originally written back in the ‘70s while Turre was playing bass in drummer Chico Hamilton’s band, where once a night the leader would take a break and leave Turre to play duo with guitarist Rodney Jones. On “Freedom Park, SA” Turre and Jones go head to head with a free improv sparked by a melody conceived by Turre while playing a festival in South Africa last year.

Turre contributes his own ballad to the proceedings with the wistful “Time Will Tell,” then nods to his late mentor J.J. Johnson (as well as his wife) on the trombone giant’s touching “Carolyn in the Morning.” Coleman’s heart-wrenching solo on “Never Let Me Go” is a highlight of the album, but Turre welcomes him back to let loose on a rip-roaring take on Charlie Parker’s “Yardbird Suite.”

The album concludes on a poignant note with the sentimental Irish ballad “Danny Boy,” a particularly meaningful choice for Turre. He fell in love with the song through Ben Webster’s version, but never played it until his brother-in-law, frail but still alert at 100 -years-old, made the request. On the opposite end of the age spectrum, Turre’s gentle but jaunty “Sachiko” is named for a baby whose smile touched his heart during a chance encounter in San Francisco.

There are countless musical moments that might come to mind at the thought of Steve Turre: his formative stint with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, his innovative collaborations with Rahsaan Roland Kirk, his tenures on the road with Ray Charles or Woody Shaw, his decades as a member of the Saturday Night Live band, his ground-breaking use of conch shells as musical instruments, countless collaborations with the greatest artists in jazz and popular music. With The Very Thought of You, Turre offers a beautifully vulnerable and lyrical side to that catalogue of memories.

"The Very Thought of You" was produced by Paul Stache and Damon Smith

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

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

Available in audiophile HD format.

  

Steve Turre · The Very Thought of You

Smoke Sessions Records · Release Date: August 24, 2018

Previously Unreleased Historic Recordings: Dexter Gordon Quartet Tokyo 1975 // Woody Shaw Tokyo 1981

In life, trumpeter Woody Shaw and saxophonist Dexter Gordon – two instrumental giants of the jazz idiom – were often connected. They both lived in Europe, (Gordon for 14 years in the ‘60s and ‘70s, and Shaw briefly in 1964), they were friends and frequent collaborators, and their respective recording careers were re-fashioned at Columbia Records by producer Michael Cuscuna. Gordon and Shaw became key voices in the rejuvenation of that label’s jazz division, and yet again both men reunited with ex-Columbia Records president Bruce Lundvall and Cuscuna at the newly reactivated Blue Note label in the mid-‘80s. Among Gordon’s late career highlights is his Oscar-nominated role in the film Round Midnight and the film’s pair of soundtrack albums, Round Midnight and The Other Side of Round Midnight. Shaw, who served as Blue Note’s house trumpeter in the ‘60s, collaborated with Freddie Hubbard on two seminal ‘80s recordings for the storied imprint.

Now this pair of jazz giants, in peak form and backed by crack working bands, can be heard again, on two newly discovered, previously unreleased live performances from Japan: Dexter Gordon Quartet Tokyo 1975 and Woody Shaw Tokyo 1981, released in deluxe-CD and LP editions by Elemental Music.

Gordon and Shaw thrived personally and artistically during their time in Europe. Woody Shaw played with and learned from the great saxophonist Eric Dolphy. During his time in Copenhagen, Dexter Gordon formed a fruitful musical connection with pianist Kenny Drew. At the heart of Dexter Gordon Quartet Tokyo 1975 is that almost telepathic interplay with Drew who moved to the Danish capital in 1964. On this recording, Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, the Danish bass prodigy, equally adept at both walking bass-lines and solos, holds down the bass chair. Drew, Pedersen and drummer Alex Riel were the house band at Jazzhus Montmartre in Copenhagen, with Riel later replaced by another American ex-pat Albert “Tootie” Heath. It is this lineup that’s heard on Dexter Gordon Quartet Tokyo 1975. Whatever the lineup, the Jazzhus house band played live and on record many times with not only Gordon but Ben Webster, Johnny Griffin and others.

As famed jazz producer and Elemental Music Consultant Michael Cuscuna states in his liner notes for this package: “Having suffered the perils of being a single on the road for so many decades where out-of-tune pianos and tone-deaf pianists lurk around every corner, Dexter was lucky enough to enjoy the fruits of this great rhythm section for years in Copenhagen.”

Captured at Yubin Chokin Hall on October 1, 1975, Dexter Gordon Quartet Tokyo 1975, Gordon and his quartet play a program that opens with a long version of his favored original “Fried Bananas” and continues on to a pair of well-known standards in Henry Mancini’s “Days of Wine and Roses” (which Gordon recorded on his 1972 Prestige album, Tangerine) and Erroll Garner’s immortal, “Misty,” which had headed the 1965 Gordon live album of the same name. In glance back to the 1940s, the program continued with the Billy Eckstine-penned “Jelly, Jelly, Jelly,” which Gordon was often known to sing. This package also contains a pair of bonus tracks, the first being a spirited reading, complete with a quote from “Popeye the Sailor” of Thelonious Monk’s “Rhythm-a-Ning” recorded in Laren, Holland in June 1973 with Drew, Pedersen and drummer Espen Rud behind the kit. The second bonus number, a slow take of “Old Folks” dates from May 1977 in New Haven, Connecticut and features Gordon’s homecoming band with pianist Ronnie Matthews, bassist Stafford James, drummer Louis Hayes and Shaw.

One of the most distinctive and underrated trumpeters in jazz history, Woody Shaw began on the trumpet in high school, reputedly the same month that one of his heroes, Clifford Brown, died in a tragic car accident. First gaining fame as a sideman with Willie Bobo and Eric Dolphy, with whom he made his recording debut on Dolphy’s Iron Man, Shaw moved to Paris in the mid-‘60s, where he crossed paths with Gordon, who he later helped reintroduce to the stateside jazz scene in the mid-‘70s. After returning to the U.S. to play with Horace Silver’s Quintet, Shaw recorded for a variety of labels including Blue Note, Contemporary, Muse and finally Columbia, where in 1978 he recorded Rosewood, an album widely acknowledged as his masterpiece.

Shaw was also a key member of Gordon’s live Homecoming album, which captured Gordon’s first gig at the Village Vanguard after returning to the U.S. in 1977. Active on the jazz scene and as an international ambassador for the music until his untimely death in 1989 at 44, Shaw brought vital new energies to the language of jazz improvisation and uncompromising expression. On Woody Shaw Tokyo 1981, Shaw is joined by his working quintet which was notable for having the unusual textures and tonality of a frontline of Shaw and trombonist Steve Turre, backed by the considerable talents of pianist Mulgrew Miller, bassist Stafford James and drummer Tony Reedus.

Woody Shaw Tokyo 1981 opens with a stellar rendition of Shaw’s signature tune, the famous 69-bars of “Rosewood,” which is here played at a faster tempo than on the original studio recording. A straight reading of Thelonious Monk’s “`Round Midnight” with gorgeous solos by Shaw and Turre follows. In the ballad “From Moment to Moment,” Shaw shows his softer side and uses his warm, generous tone to its fullest. A swinging reading of Shaw’s waltz “Theme for Maxine,” closes the show. Written for his manager Maxine Gordon, this tune became something of a theme song for Shaw and was a constant presence on his concert set lists. This package also contains a bonus track from a concert of the Paris Reunion Band recorded live in Den Haag, Holland on July 14, 1985. Besides Shaw and Dizzy Reece on trumpet, this ‘80s ensemble of one-time ex-pats included saxophonists Johnny Griffin and Nathan Davis, pianist Kenny Drew, trombonist Slide Hampton, Jimmy Woode on bass and Billy Brooks on drums. Here they dig in on Shaw’s “Sweet Love of Mine,” an oft-covered number, probably best known in versions by Art Pepper and Jackie McLean. This version is highlighted by a heated competition in solos by Shaw, Griffin and Drew and a gorgeous trumpet cadenza by Shaw in the finale.

“Woody Shaw had in mind to contribute something meaningful to the world, something that was the result of his own labor, his own search and life’s journey,” writes his son, Woody Louis Armstrong Shaw III in his liner notes for the package. “For jazz, he felt a deep sense of loyalty and honor, a feeling that fueled his commitment and provided him with the inspiration he needed to turn his musical dreams, however farfetched they may have once been, into a reality that we now get to experience through the music he left behind.”

Instantly essential, these two sets document two of the towering figures in jazz history playing at their peak, and as such Dexter Gordon Quartet Tokyo 1975 and Woody Shaw Tokyo 1981 are invaluable additions to the recorded legacies of both these irreplaceable jazz visionaries. Maxine Gordon summarizes in her liner note to the Gordon package:

“Jazz fans the world over love discoveries of previously unreleased gems, hidden in storage rooms and vaults, unmarked and covered with dust. Elemental is finding a way to share these treasures with us. They are remastering often overlooked musical events and repackaging them to look as beautiful as the music sounds.”



Dexter Gordon Quartet Tokyo 1975 & Woody Shaw Tokyo 1981

Elemental Music · Release Date: July 13, 2018