Seattle-based Vocalist and Composer JOHNAYE KENDRICK’s “FLYING,” to be released August 28, 2018

FLYING is the second CD by vocalist and composer  JOHNAYE KENDRICK. The CD comprises six stellar originals and six fresh re-imaginings of standards and unique, offbeat selections from the worlds of jazz and pop. Produced and arranged by Johnaye, who also plays harmonium , FLYING showcases her exquisite voice, expansive vocal range and otherworldly scatting abilities with an adventurous rhythm section. 

Attending the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz in the late 2000s, KENDRICK had the opportunity to learn from and work with legendary jazz masters Terence Blanchard, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Danilo Perez, Kurt Rosenwinkel and Brian Blade. While studying with Blanchard, her class was often encouraged to write original music for their assignments.

Her 2014 debut album HERE, which received very positive fan and critical response, was a full collection of Kendrick’s original compositions. “Everything I wrote on HERE was the truth, my reality, snapshots I had written between 2009 and 2012, with a general theme emerging about the importance of just being in and appreciating the moment and worrying about tomorrow’s problems tomorrow,” Johnaye says. “With FLYING, there was more of a process, knowing that I wanted to mix original pieces with favorite songs I had been performing for years. The funny part was that these originals were so new that some weren’t even completed before the recording session. I had to get every detail just right because they address all the new aspects of my life since the last album – including marriage, motherhood and what I call the beautiful mess of life. They’re about personal relationships, family life and issues that have had a deep effect on my heart, that occupy the same space there.”

Featuring

JOHNAYE KENDRICK vocals, harmonium

DAWN CLEMENT  piano, nord

CHRIS SYMER  bass

D’VONNE LEWIS  drums, percussion

MICHAEL NICOLELLA  guitar (12)

ADORE OLIVER & NOLA OLIVER  vocals (4)

Arranged & Produced by Johnaye Kendrick

Tracks

1. NEVER YOU MIND (4:45)

2. FALLEN (4:48)

3. IT COULD HAPPEN TO YOU (5:28)

4. YOU TWO (4:19)

5. THE VERY THOUGHT OF YOU (5:46)

6. I’VE GOT NO STRINGS (3:39)

7. SCORPION (5:31)

8. THE LONELY ONE (3:49)

9. 3X5 (5:26)

10. SECRETS (4:33)

11. BOXED WINE (4:50)

12. FLYING (5:55)

Star-Studded Musical Tribute Saluting Aretha Franklin Will Be Held August 30, at Chene Park Detroit Amphitheatre

More than 20 performing artists, activists and family members will celebrate the life and legacy of Aretha Louise Franklin, known as the Queen of Soul, during a Musical Tribute event at Chene Park Amphitheatre in downtown Detroit on Thursday, August 30, 2018 from 6:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m.

Leading artists representing many musical genres – R&B, Gospel, Jazz, Hip-Hop –  are slated to perform tributes. Activists will speak about Ms. Franklin's profound role in feminism and civil rights. The participant list in formation includes:

Cherri Black

Dee Dee Bridgewater

Doug Carn

Jean Carne

Kurt Carr

Steffinie Christian

Angela Davis

Raheem DeVaughn

George Faison

Minister Louis Farrakhan

Gwen Foxx

The Four Tops

Eddie Franklin

Gracie Franklin

Victorie Franklin

Johnny Gill

Beth Griffith-Manley

Kimmie Horne

Santita Jackson

Dr. Bobby Jones

KIKO

Alise King

Gladys Knight

L'Renee

Jenifer Lewis

Tasha Page-Lockhart

LJ Reynolds

KiKi Sheard

Angie Stone

Ralphe Armstrong Band and Kern Brantley Band will accompany the celebrants. Other participants will be announced once confirmed. 

Sabrina V. Garrett Owens, personal representative of the Aretha Franklin estate, said upon the announcement of the musical tribute: "On behalf of the family, thank you to those paying tribute and celebrating the life of Aretha. We are grateful for the tremendous outpouring of love and support we have received from friends, supporters and fans all around the world."

  

The Musical Tribute will be part of a four-day celebration of Ms. Franklin's life and career. Her body will lie in repose at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit for public viewing August 28th and 29th. A private, invitation-only funeral for close family and friends will be held August 31st morning at Greater Grace Temple in Detroit.

The musical tribute event will be held at Chene Park Amphitheatre, where Ms. Franklin performed in August 2015. Many of the artists participating in the tribute event have also performed at the renowned riverfront venue.

Uniquely located on an international waterway with Canada as its backdrop, Chene Park Amphitheatre's seating design and intimate rapport between participants and attendees will create a fitting tribute atmosphere for the Queen.

LYNNE FIDDMONT releases POWER OF LOVE - an exquisitely balanced collection of hand-picked classic R&B covers

Vessels of love come no bolder, brighter or more beautiful than multifaceted singer, songwriter, arranger and producer Lynne Fiddmont. All that pours forth from her essence is compassion and creativity of purest purposed beauty. Over a career that has seen her glide graceful from sharing her vocal gifts at the service of world class artists such as Stevie Wonder, Natalie Cole, Bill Withers, Phil Collins, George Duke, Barbra Streisand, Seal, Joe Zawinul to recording her own lovingly crafted projects Flow, Lady: A Tribute to Billie Holiday, and Spirit of Christmas. Lynne generously ladles on the love, the laughter and the longitude in an artistic situation. Her fourth album, Power of Love, speaks to the many hues and dimensions of matters of the heart be it the brotherhood/sisterhood of global human existence or the slippery sensual space between lovers that shuts the world out like the most delicious of kisses.

Power of Love is an exquisitely balanced collection of hand-picked classic R&B covers that reveal many of Lynne’s influences and mentors, along with her freshly penned original soul songs that amplify and reflect precisely how those inspirations have shaped who she is today, as an artist and as a woman.

“My favorite part about the process of making this record was going back to the songs that shaped my love of music”. Lynne channels her influences throughout Power of Love. You hear touches of Michael Jackson, Brenda Russell, Natalie Cole, Minnie Riperton, The Emotions, Stevie Wonder and so many others that have had an impact on her view as an artist.

“There are so many great artist out there I ofter wonder, “how did I get here, and why now? At this point in my life, it’s all about purpose,” says Lynne who takes community seriously and realizes the influence that music has on the world. “I think I was put on this earth to send a message of love”.

“Groovy People” penned by legendary team Kenny Gamble & Leon Huff for the late, great Lou Rawls is the first song “The way you live and the way you accept others’ way of living-with love in your heart-that’s what I’m calling (groovy),” she states. “Not overly concerned about how people make a living, who they love, what they love like or which religion they practice. Inclusion is the key and “singing with Lou Rawls was one of my first professional gigs.” Other classics are Minnie Riperton’s, “Lovin’ You”, and 
Memory Lane” as well as profound selections by John Lennon “Imagine” and Stevie Wonder’s “Ngiculela-Es Una Historia-I Am Singing”. “Tasting Sunshine”, written by Kimberly Brewer, former Wonderlove band mate, is a sexy song that bounces along and from groove to groove and you soon realize it’s all about good vibes and feeling good. “Daylight”, “Go”, “Walkin’ on Rainbows”, and the title cut, “Power of Love”, featuring Dave Koz are the originals that hold up under old school scrutiny, groovy and authentic.

St Louis Missouri-native Lynne Fiddmont graduated from Boston University. She also attended Boston’s prestigious Berklee College of Music where she was the sole recipient of the Sarah Vaughn Jazz Master’s Award.

Before moving to Los Angeles, she landed her first professional gig the Crusaders. Out west, she quickly landed a gig with Bill Withers and became an in-demand studio and touring singer – from “The Superbowl with Stevie Wonder to American Idol” to “The Grammys, “ and at the White House for President Barack Obama. In 2006, Lynne released ‘Flow’ on her own label, MidLife Records, followed by her loving salute to Billie Holiday, “Lady” and “Spirit of Christmas” 2012).

“Power of Love is a record, but it’s also my inner life from which I am making a clear and decisive pronouncement of the Power of Love”.

MAXWELL’S ‘Embrya’ will be rereleased on SEPTEMBER 28th in celebration of the album’s 20th anniversary + full tour itinerary

Embrya, which was originally released in 1998, reached #2 on Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and #3 on the Billboard 200 and went Certified platinum. It also garnered Maxwell a GRAMMY Award nomination for best R&B album.  The album remains an integral chapter in Maxwell's career canon. He switched up from the jazzier leanings of Urban Hang Suite to stronger basslines, lush strings, electronic beats and more pulsating beats and grooves versus melodies—with Hawaiian guitar riffs and Latin accents thrown in for good measure. And whereas the retro-souled Suite's concept revolved around romance, Embrya takes the musical discussion to the next level: the gestation of love and spirituality.

It was also recently announced that Maxwell will perform the National Anthem at the Opening Night Ceremony of 2018 US Open. The performance will take place at Arthur Ashe Stadium prior to the evening session on Monday, August 27th. This announcement follows the news that GRAMMY-Award winning music sensation Kelly Clarkson will headline the Opening Night Ceremony.

Additionally, Maxwell recently announced his upcoming "50 Intimate Nights Live" North American tour which will kick off on September 27th in, Richmond, VA see the full routing 

9/27 - Richmond, VA - Altria Theater

9/28 - Durham, NC - The Art of Cool Festival

9/29 - Atlantic City, NJ - Hard Rock Hotel & Casino

10/1 - Rochester, NY - Kodak Center

10/2 - Pittsburgh, PA - Heinz Hall

10/4 - National Harbor, MD - The Theater at MGM National Harbor

10/5 - National Harbor, MD - The Theater at MGM National Harbor

10/6 - Baltimore, MD - MECU Pavilion

10/8 - Norfolk, VA - Chrysler Hall

10/9 - Charlotte, NC - Charlotte Metro Credit Union Amphitheatre

10/10 - Augusta, GA - Bell Auditorium

10/12 - Atlanta, GA - State Bank Amphitheatre at Chastain Park

10/13 - Jacksonville, FL - Moran Theatre at Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts

10/14 - Mobile, AL - Saenger Theatre

10/16 - Orlando, FL - Dr Phillips Center

10/17 - Hollywood, FL - Hard Rock Live at the Event Center

10/18 - St. Petersburg, FL - Mahaffey Theater

10/20 - Huntsville, AL - Von Braun Center Concert Hall

10/21 -- Jackson, MS -- Thalia Mara Hall

10/24 - New Orleans, LA - Saenger Theatre

10/25 - Memphis, TN - Orpheum Theatre

10/27 - Irving, TX - The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory

10/28 - Sugar Land, TX - Smart Financial Centre at Sugar Land

10/29 - San Antonio, TX - Majestic Theatre

11/1 - Phoenix, AZ - Comerica Theatre

11/2 - San Diego, CA - Humphreys Concerts by the Bay

11/3 - Reno, NV - Grand Theatre at The Grand Sierra Resort

11/4 - Las Vegas, NV - The Pearl @ Palms Casino Resort

11/8 - Oakland, CA - Paramount Theatre

11/9 - Oakland, CA - Paramount Theatre

11/10 - Los Angeles, CA - Microsoft Theater

11/14 - Kansas City, MO - Arrest Bank Theatre at The Midland

11/15 - St. Louis, MO - Stifel Theatre

11/18 - Nashville, TN - Schermerhorn Symphony Center

11/19 - Nashville, TN - Schermerhorn Symphony Center

11/20 - Milwaukee, WI - Riverside Theater

11/21 - Minneapolis, MN - State Theatre

11/23 - Louisville, KY - Louisville Palace

11/24 - Northfield, OH - Hard Rock Live

11/26 - Toronto, ON - Sony Centre for the Performing Arts

11/28 - Montclair, NJ - The Wellmont Theater

11/29 - Westbury, NY - NYCB Theatre At Westbury

12/1 - Detroit, MI - Fox Theatre

12/2 - Chicago, IL - Chicago Theatre

12/3 - Chicago, IL - Chicago Theatre

12/5 - Boston, MA - Orpheum Theatre

12/7 - Wallingford, CT - Toyota Oakdale Theatre

12/8 - Upper Darby, PA - Tower Theater

12/9 - New York, NY - Beacon Theatre

12/10 - New York, NY - Beacon Theatre

JAZZ GOES TO THE MOVIES WITH TONY-NOMINATED & PLATINUM AWARD-WINNING SINGER-SONGWRITER ANN HAMPTON CALLAWAY

There are precious few vocalists whose artistry flourishes in both the worlds of popular song and jazz, as each world has its own special demands and challenges. Like Sarah Vaughan, Diane Reeves and Mel Torme, Tony-nominated, Theater World Award-winning singer-songwriter Ann Hampton Callaway manages this feat seemingly effortless, delivering vocal tour-de-forces marked by refined beauty, subtlety, grandeur, profound musicality and passion. Having done critically-acclaimed tributes to the likes of Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald, written hits for Barbra Streisand, released albums of original songs, and through her performances and recordings helped keep the Great American Songbook alive and vital, Ann decided for her fourteenth album to fulfill a long-time dream-a recording of great songs from classic motion pictures.  On October 19, 2018, Shanachie Entertainment will release Ann Hampton Callaway's JAZZ GOES TO THE MOVIES, a magnificent collection of sublime interpretations of great songs featured in beloved Hollywood films.

"All my life I have been enchanted by the marriage of film and music," notes Callaway, "whether in movie musicals or in the artful use of song to further a story. In the Golden Age of Hollywood, songs written fort these charming films were by some of the most brilliant songwriters of the 20th Century-Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, Dorothy Fields, George and Ira Gershwin, Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer, Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart and Cole Porter, to name a few. They were celebrating the endurance of dreams and romance and offering hope during a time when the challenges of the Depression and World War II were dampening spirits. During this time of uncertainty, it seemed fitting to revisit this inspiring music."

Callaway does more than "revisit" the wonderful selection of songs on JAZZ GOES TO THE MOVIES; she re-animates them with fresh interpretation and a sensibility informed by our time. Backed by the same intimate group of superb musicians who have backed her during live performances of these songs at the fabled jazz club Birdland: pianist Ted Rosenthal, bassist Martin Wind, drummer Tim Horner and saxophonist Jimmy Greene. They provide the perfect complement to Ann's renditions of such songs as "As Time Goes By" from

CASABLANCA, "The Way You Look Tonight" from SWING TIME, "'Swonderful" from AMERICAN IN PARIS and, originally, FUNNY FACE, and "Blue Skies" from THE JAZZ SINGER. But aside from the inspiration of the songs, Callaway had a more personal motivation in recording them.

"During the creation of this project, I was doing many of the arrangements at the hospital by the side of my mother Shirley, who was in her last days, battling pancreatic cancer," Ann confides. "Since she was the reason I sing and had unerring good taste in music, I'd sing my arrangement ideas to her and she'd nod her head in approval or shake her head as if to say, try again. It made letting her go sweet and a bit poetic since music had always been our great bond."

   

Ann Hampton Callaway, was born in Chicago. Her father was a journalist and her mother was singer pianist and vocal coach. Her sister Liz Callaway is a singer and actress on Broadway. Callaway is a born entertainer who has made her mark as a singer, pianist, composer, lyricist, arranger, actress, educator, TV host and producer. In high school she performed in musicals and after graduation studied acting at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne before moving to New York City to pursue her dreams. In New York she appeared in clubs as a cabaret singer, forging her signature blend of jazz and pop by performing classic material from the Great American Songbook. While contributing to an album of Cole Porter songs she was invited by the Porter estate to compose music for the songwriting legend's unfinished song "I Gaze In Your Eyes," which was included on her debut album in 1992.  What followed was a dazzling, multi-faceted career that catapulted her to the first rank of interpreters of popular song in America. Aside from recording 17 albums, including critically-acclaimed tributes to Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald, she has written songs with Carole King, Rolf Lovland and Barbara Carroll as well writing songs recorded or performed by Barbra Streisand (including "At The Same Time" on Streisand's platinum-selling "Higher Ground" album), Barbara Carroll, Blossom Dearie, Carole King, Patti LuPone and many more. She has performed with top orchestras and big bands in major concert halls in more than 30 countries, collaborating with the likes of Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, The Boston Pops and more, and performing for President Bill Clinton in Washington, DC and at Mikhail Gorbachev's Youth Peace Summit.

A peerless live performer, her performances are marked by her warmth, spontaneous wit and passionate delivery of standards, jazz classics and originals. As one of America's most gifted improvisers, she frequently takes words and phrases from people in audiences and creates songs on the spot. Ann's dream of working in film, TV and radio has been realized in several recent projects. She made her feature film debut opposite Angelina Jolie and Matt Damon in the Robert De Niro film THE GOOD SHEPHERD, performing the standard "Come Rain or Come Shine". She recorded "Isn't It Romantic?" and "The Nearness of You" in Wane Wong's LAST HOLIDAY, starring Queen Latifah. She recently wrote songs for the upcoming film STATE OF AFFAIRS. She also produced and directed to TV specials called SINGERS SPOTLIGHT WITH ANN HAMPTON CALLAWAY as part of her mission to keep the Great American Songbook alive. All of which makes her new JAZZ GOES TO THE MOVIES album a natural progression.

"My dear friend, producer and greatest champion, Lisa Schiff, is the reason this record exists," Callaway says. "She and I both share the hope that this record will transport listeners to bluer skies and the reassurance of what still matters and will always matter...as time goes by!"

Street Date: October 19, 2018

Brussel-based multi-instrumentalist ESINAM shares debut track, an entrancing insight into her eclectic world of jazztronica

Brussel’s-based multi-instrumentalist, Esinam, is pleased to share ‘Birds Fly Under This Heavy Sky’, the first track taken from her debut EP, released 21st September via SDBAN Ultra. 

An entrancing insight into her eclectic world of jazztronica, her self-titled EP carries influences from different worlds geographically, culturally and musically. Blending traditional and modern instruments with her soulful voice, the acoustic sounds of the instruments are allowed to evolve and take on new dimensions, opening up a kaleidoscopic spectrum of sound and colour.

  

Esinam Dogbatse is part of a new generation of musicians bringing forth a cultural blend of music. Having opened for the likes of Nakhane and Témé Tan at Les Nuits earlier this year, Belgian rapper Baloji invited her to guest on his latest critically acclaimed album ‘137 Avenue Kaniama’. She has also supported Alsarah & The Nubatones, Selah Sue and Melanie De Biasio on her sold-out shows at Ancienne Belgique.

  

For the recording of the EP, Esinam joined forces with Jules Fradet from Studio Planet (Damso, Afrikan Prötökol). Producing and playing most of the instruments herself, the EP was mastered by LA-based producer Kelly Hibbert aka Almachrome (J Dilla, Madlib, Little Dragon, Flying Lotus, Ebo Taylor, Mark de Clive-Lowe and Arca).

  

When Esinam performs live, she juggles traditional instruments such as the tama, kalimba and pandeiro, which she loops and blends with the sound of her flute and voice. It sometimes triggers dance, sometimes contemplation.

Her highly anticipated debut album is set for release in 2019.

 

The Prince Estate Launch First Wave of Prince Catalog Digital Releases - The Complete List

The first wave of Prince catalog titles to be released through an exclusive agreement struck in June between SME and The Prince Estate focuses on 1995-2010, a crucial epoch in Prince history. 23 highly-collectible Prince catalog titles (many of them hard-to-find or out-of-print) and Prince Anthology: 1995-2010 (a newly-curated anthology of 37 essential tracks from the era) are now available across all major streaming services and digital service providers.

Many of these albums, long sought-after by fans and collectors, are available for the first time for streaming and download, adding more than 300 essential Prince songs to the artist's online in-print catalog.

For Prince, 1995-2010 was an unprecedented period of sustained and prolific creativity. Releasing fresh recordings at a rapid-fire pace through a variety of distribution strategies including his own online NPG Music Club, Prince was making some of the most provocative, experimental and soulful music of his career. Freed from major label demands and expectations, Prince was able to write, record and release his own music on his own terms.

Assembled and curated under the auspices of The Prince Estate, Prince Anthology: 1995-2010 brings together 37 key recordings from the era. Opening with the title track from Emancipation ("This is my most important record," said Prince when the album was released in 1996) and closing with the anthemic "We March" (from 1995's The Gold Experience), this new compilation provides a coherent musical chronicle of Prince's artistic and spiritual evolution through the late 20th and early 21st centuries in songs that continue to resonant in the culture.

Prince Anthology: 1995- 2010 draws spotlight tracks from The Gold Experience, Emancipation, Chaos and Disorder, Crystal Ball, The Truth, Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic, Rave In2 The Joy Fantastic, The Rainbow Children, One Nite Alone..., C-Note, N.E.W.S., Xpectation, Musicology (includes 2005 Best Male R&B Performance Grammy winner "Call My Name"), The Slaughterhouse, The Chocolate Invasion, 3121 (the first Prince album to debut at #1 on the Billboard 200), Planet Earth, LOtUSFLOW3R, MPLSoUND and 20Ten.

Prince catalog titles newly available digitally via SME/Legacy are:

1. The Gold Experience (1995) ("The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" greyed out, partial album streaming only; album unavailable for download)

2. Chaos and Disorder (1996)

3. Emancipation (1996)

4. Crystal Ball (1998)

5. The Truth (1998)

6. Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic (1999)

7. Rave In2 The Joy Fantastic (2001)

8. The Rainbow Children (2001)

9. One Nite Alone… (2002)

10. One Nite Alone…Live! (2002)

11. One Nite Alone...Live - The Aftershow: It Ain't Over (Up Late with Prince & The NPG) (2002) 12. Xpectation (2003)

13. N.E.W.S. (2003)

14. C-Note (2004)

15. Musicology (2004)

16. The Chocolate Invasion (Trax from the NPG Music Club: Volume 1) (2004)

17. The Slaughterhouse (Trax from the NPG Music Club: Volume 2) (2004)

18. 3121 (2006)

19. Planet Earth (2007)

20. Indigo Nights (2008)

21. LOtUSFLOW3R (2009)

22. MPLSoUND (2009)

23. 20Ten (2010)

24. Prince Anthology: 1995-2010

Prince Anthology: 1995-2010

01. Emancipation (from Emancipation, 1996)

02. Black Sweat (from 3121, 2006)

03. P. Control (from The Gold Experience, 1995)

04. Crucial (from Crystal Ball, 1998)

05. The Love We Make (from Emancipation, 1996)

06. Eye Hate U (from The Gold Experience, 1995)

07. The Greatest Romance Ever Sold (from Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic, 1999)

08. Eye Love U, But Eye Don't Trust U (from Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic, 1999)

09. Gold (from The Gold Experience, 1995)

10. Guitar (from Planet Earth, 2007)

11. Dream Factory (from Crystal Ball, 1998)

12. The Work Part 1 (from The Rainbow Children, 2001)

13. Call My Name (from Musicology, 2004)

14. Strays of The World (from Crystal Ball, 1998)

15. Shhh (from The Gold Experience, 1995)

16. Dreamer (from LOtUSFLOW3R, 2009)

17. Chaos and Disorder (from Chaos and Disorder, 1996)

18. Endorphinmachine (from The Gold Experience, 1995)

19. Musicology (from Musicology, 2004)

20. Northside (from The Slaughterhouse, 2004)

21. When Eye Lay My Hands on U (from The Chocolate Invasion, 2004)

22. Beautiful Strange (from Rave In2 The Joy Fantastic, 2001)

23. Future Soul Song (from 20Ten, 2010)

24. Empty Room (from C-Note, 2004)

25. 3rd Eye (from The Truth, 1998)

26. U're Gonna C Me (from One Nite Alone..., 2002)

27. Dinner With Delores (from Chaos and Disorder, 1996)

28. Ol' Skool Company (from MPLSoUND, 2009)

29. 4ever (from LOtUSFLOW3R, 2009)

30. West (from N.E.W.S., 2003)

31. Xpedition (from Xpectation, 2003)

32. Muse 2 The Pharaoh (from The Rainbow Children, 2001)

33. Somewhere Here On Earth (from Planet Earth, 2007)

34. U Make My Sun Shine (from The Chocolate Invasion, 2004)

35. 1+1+1 Is 3 (from The Rainbow Children, 2001)

36. Chelsea Rodgers (from Planet Earth, 2007)

37. We March (from The Gold Experience, 1995)

Vocalist Darryl Holter Releases Roots & Branches: Two-Part Album

It can be argued that all great popular songwriting is about relationships—the bond between friends, the seminal one between lovers and the larger connection between society and its leaders. On Roots & Branches, the latest release from Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter and activist Darryl Holter, he draws inspiration from relationships of every stripe.

“The product of age and reflection, many of the songs on Roots & Branches are upbeat affirmations,” Holter says, “and most have universal themes like love and regret, memory and nostalgia, hope and death.” Like his first four albums—Darryl Holter, West Bank Gone, Crooked Hearts, and Radio Songs—Roots & Branches is beautifully recorded and produced by the multi-talented, composer/saxophonist and Holter family friend Ben Wendel.

The album is divided into two distinct sections, each with its own band. The more traditional and acoustic Roots section that opens the album and harkens back to Holter’s days a folk features the heavyweight talents of Greg Leisz (pedal and lap steel), Todd Sickafoose (bass), Gabe Witcher (violin, piano, guitar) and Don Heffington (drums).

Equally important to the success of Roots and Branches, is Holter’s relationship with his daughter Julia Holter, who was also a part of his landmark 2016 album, Radio Songs: Woody Guthrie in Los Angeles 1937-39. Duet partners here on ‘Magazine Street” and “No Depression,” Julia is an accomplished singer/songwriter who has released four solo albums, the last of which, In The Same Room, was released on Domino Records in 2017. In the same year she also premiered her score for the 1928 silent film, The Passion of Joan of Arc.

Holter added more depth to his compositions by bringing some extremely talented guest vocalists including jazz singer and Snarky Puppy collaborator Becca Stevens, singer/Broadway stage actor Shayna Steele, singer and composer/producer of the folk opera Hadestown Anais Mitchell, New York-based bassist/singer/songwriter Chris Morrissey, and a man who really needs no introduction, the great singer/songwriter and record producer, Joe Henry. 

A tuneful, provocative collection that explores the intricacies of relationships both personal and universal, Darryl Holter’s Roots & Branches, points this vital, opinionated, historically aware artist in exciting new directions, hinting at the next chapter for this social activist and folk singer who loves his relationship with making music, that starts in time honored fashion, as he says in the liner notes, with “a guitar, a chord progression and a handful of lyrics.”

Grammy-nominated trumpeter Russell Gunn reimagines Big Bands by forming The Royal Krunk Jazz Orkestra featuring Grammy-winning vocalist Dionne Farris

To grasp the purpose of trumpeter Russell Gunn’s newest creation, The Royal Krunk Jazz Orkestra, it’s important to understand that the alchemist’s recordings are cultural and historical amalgams as much as they are audacious musical experimentations rooted in jazz. His mission for the 19-piece Big Band slated to issue its debut album, “Get It How You Live” on the Ropeadope label and to breathe new life into “traditional” jazz Big Bands by expanding its possibilities in the modern era. Adding voice to the collection produced by Gunn that incorporates all shades of jazz, R&B, pop, hip hop and funk is Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Dionne Farris.

Gunn, a two-time Grammy nominee for his far-reaching “Ethnomusicology Vol. 1” and “Ethnomusicology Vol. 2,” spent a year honing his vision and shaping The Royal Krunk Jazz Orkestra’s sound, composing originals and constructing thoughtful arrangements for more than thirty tunes. The ensemble’s lab was on stage during a long-running weekly residency at Atlanta’s St. James Live. Once fully realized, Gunn selected nine tunes for the debut disc.

“Most of the music on ‘Get It How You Live’ is original compositions that I felt were deserving of expansion into the grander format of a large jazz ensemble,” said Gunn, who grew up in East St. Louis.

Hard-hitting hip hop beats bolstered by bombastic horns power Gunn’s “Sybil’s Blues,” which features trumpeter Theo Croker. His “Critic’s Song” bounces to a grinding go-go beat amidst cacophonic horn blasts that build towards a pummeling sax crescendo from Brian Hogans, who only yields the mic to the furious rhymes spit with vitriol by Dashill Smith. Gunn’s other standout composition on the session is the richly-melodic ballad “Lyne’s Joint,” which spotlights Melvin Jones’s trumpet.

“I am a melody-first musician and am drawn like a magnet to melody. That is why my favorite musicians of all time are Peter Tchaikovsky, Charles Mingus and Benny Golson. Melody is king!” proclaimed Gunn.        

As for reboots, Farris’s hit “Hopeless” is given entirely new dimensions in a Big Band setting courtesy of Gunn’s deft arrangement. Drawn to the original’s soulful harmony, Gunn converts Shai’s vocal acapella hit, “If I Ever Fall In Love,” into an “acapella” trumpet and horn section meditation with haunting yet regal qualities. The rendition will be given visuals when a video is lensed later this month. Old-school R&B heads will rejoice over the three-part “Switch Medley” that Gunn masterminded by seamlessly fusing “There’ll Never Be,” “A Brighter Tomorrow” and “I Call Your Name.” The collection closes with the poignant “Ballad Of The Sad Young Men,” on which Farris elegantly delivers a stunning knockout performance.

      

Inherent in Gunn’s artistic muse is the message of being genuine and true, “owning” what you are and what you stand for. “The title of the album is the realist and most honest album title I have had since ‘Ethnomusicology Vol. 1.’ The laymen definition of ‘Get It How You Live’ loosely translates to ‘going about things in an honest fashion.’ I was on the front lines of the transition from the ‘Wyntonite’ sensibility of the ‘nouveau retro’ jazz musician to the jazz musician that grew up in hip hop culture and I owned it. I can go as far to confidently say that I am primarily responsible for that shift. I say that not to give myself retroactive credit, but simply to say that I’ve been ‘Getting It How I Live’ for a long time.”

The Royal Krunk Jazz Orkestra is not the first time Gunn and Farris have collaborated. In 2013, they released “Dionne Get Your Gunn,” which is revisited on the new offering in the form of “Fair,” a bitter yet sultry, expansively-layered suite about a breakup penned by Farris. 

Gunn concludes, “The Royal Krunk Jazz Orkestra is my greatest achievement to date. I am proud to carry the torch of the great Big Bands into the modern era. I consider it a huge responsibility to represent the lineage of Big Band leaders like Fletcher Henderson, Jimmy Lunceford, Count Basie and the king of all, Sir Duke (Ellington), in a way that pays homage to the tradition while expanding the possibilities.”

The songs contained on “Get It How You Live” are:

“Get It How You Live (Intro)”

“Sybil’s Blues (featuring Theo Croker)”

“If I Ever Fall In Love”

“Fair”

“The Critic’s Song”

“Hopeless”

“Lyne’s Joint”

“Switch Medley” comprised of “There’ll Never Be,” “A Brighter Tomorrow” and “I Call Your Name”

“Ballad Of The Sad Young Men”

www.RussellGunn.FourFour.com

New Music Releases: Indra Rios Moore, Bob Marley and The Wailers, Jimi Tenor / Tony Allen

Indra Rios Moore – Carry My Heart

A beautifully soulful album from Indra Rios Moore – a singer who was living in Brooklyn a few years ago, but only found herself in the spotlight after moving overseas, and working with a great little combo in Denmark! This album's Indra's second, and features an even tighter, more sophisticated approach than the first – with Rios-Moore singing alongside partner Benjamin Traerup on saxes, in a combo that's mostly laidback and spare – but which has just the right sort of groove to fit each different track – as the music not only includes originals by Indra, but also songs by Curtis Mayfield, Steely Dan, Duke Ellington, and the Isley Brothers. Indra's got this voice that's instantly expressive, and quite transformative on some of the tunes – and titles include "Carry My Heart", "Any Major Dude Will Tell You", "Don't Say Goodnight", "Be Mine", "Come Sunday", "What You Won't Do For Love", "Keep On Pushing", and "Give It Your Best". ~ Dusty Groove

Bob Marley and The Wailers - Roots, Rock, Remixed

Six Degrees Records is distributing the new, deluxe version of this excellent Bob Marley remix project. Originally released in 2007, the new, expanded digital version is packed with previously unreleased bonus tracks. There have been a few Marley remix records over the years but this one is our personal favorite, due to the diversity and quality of the remixers like: DJ Spooky, Jimpster, Fort Knox Five, Yes King, Bombay Dub Orchestra, Afrodisiac Soundsystem, Patchworks, DJ Dolores, King Kooba & more. For vinyl heads- there's even some super-limited edition wax, divided into two packages: "The Club Plates" & "The Dub Plates

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Jimi Tenor / Tony Allen - Moogin At The Cafe

A mighty nice meeting of giants – Scandinavian funk and jazz wizard Jimi Tenor, and the legendary Afro Funk drummer Tony Allen – coming together here in a set of duos that are way more than the sum of their parts! Tony plays live drums, and Jimi adds in lots of keyboards and electronics, plus saxophone as well – and the result is a nicely offbeat take on funky territory – maybe a bit like some of the work that Tony Allen was first doing when he reemerged on the French scene in the late 90s, with almost some of the skittish grooves you'd expect to hear from Can during their classic years. One tune gets a bit soulful, but the rest are real rhythmic workouts – and titles include "Asiko", "New World", "Paris", "Selfish Gene", and "Afro Disco Beat". ~ Dusty Groove

Diane Marino “SOUL SERENADE” - The Gloria Lynne Project

“Soul Serenade” is the title of Diane Marino’s newest CD project. Although not exactly a “tribute” album, it is more of a celebration of the music made popular by the great vocalist, Gloria Lynne. As it turns out, Diane Marino has been singing some of the material she has been known for ever since she first began to sing professionally.

“I Wish You Love” is one of the first ballads she ever sang on a gig. “I’m Glad There Is You” is a track I recorded for her CD “On The Street Where You Live”.

While performing on a recent gig with drummer Vince Ector, Diane sang “I’m Glad There Is You”, and he reminded her that it was one of Gloria’s signature songs.

She then began to research more of Gloria’s work and was instantly mesmerized by her voice, style and emotion. Additionally, her choice of material was instantly appealing to her. Diane Marino tends to look for songs that are “beyond the norm” of the Great American Songbook repertoire. The songs Gloria Lynne recorded during her career stand alone in their originality and uniqueness.

As with her previous CD’s, Diane Marino always learns a tune and then works with it at the piano, making it an extension of what she’s hearing and feeling from the lyric and melody.

Diane asked her dear friend Brad Cole to take her concepts and write the arrangements and orchestrations as well as to play piano and keyboards on this project. Brad Cole knew exactly what Diane wanted to do with each of these songs, and in the end Diane Marino has delivered a fresh approach to the music made famous by Gloria Lynne.

San Francisco Jazz Singer NOA LEVY to Release Her Debut EP TAKE TWO

With a beautiful, rounded voice and a magnetic stage presence, NOA LEVY is a unique and charismatic female vocalist and performer who sings across genres – Jazz, Rock, Cabaret, Musicals, and Pop. She has set a worldwide digital release date of August 17, 2018, for her recently recorded debut TAKE TWO EP, a thoughtful collection of Jazz arrangements featuring NOA LEVY in a duo format with three different instrumentalists. That same day, Noa will headline her own RISING STAR SHOWCASE at the California Jazz Conservatory, featuring songs from the TAKE TWO EP as well as other material.

Drawing on influences from her favorite musicians and artists including Peter Gabriel, Brad Mehldau, and Carmen McRae, NOA LEVY has developed her own signature arrangements of classic and unique tunes to paint a picture that anyone listening can relate to. Her favorite thing about jazz is the possibility to collaborate with fellow musicians about universal themes and day to day life, and her arrangements on the TAKE TWO EP are the fruit of some of these collaborations. She is also developing her own original songwriting, and will perform a handful of shows to support the release of the TAKE TWO EP throughout the summer and fall of 2018.

NOA LEVY is currently studying and honing her craft at the California Jazz Conservatory in Berkeley, CA, while also working on her repertoire and performing with local musicians in the San Francisco Bay Area. Originally born in Jerusalem, she grew up for most of her life in Israel. She has performed with Israel’s National Chamber Orchestra, was invited to tour and record an album with Israel’s leading composer and pianist, Yoni Rechter, and was co-lead singer for the popular ABBA tribute band, Waterloo. She also arranged and directed her own cabaret show, Cheetah. Since moving to San Francisco in 2016, NOA LEVY has immersed herself in the world of jazz. In 2017, Jazz in the Neighborhood twice recognized her as an Emerging Artist, providing her the opportunity to perform and study with the eminent Bay Area jazz singer Clairdee and the prolific Brazilian jazz singer and composer Sandy Cressman. She was also invited to collaborate on the Jazz Voices of Poetry project which debuted new material early in 2018.

Her passion for performance was apparent at just four years old when her grandparents found her dancing on stage at a large music festival. While listening to Queen’s Greatest Hits on a cassette tape given by her father, she discovered her singing voice at age 12 – she was blown away by the amazing musicality and vocal talents of Freddie Mercury and she’s been singing ever since. In middle school, she joined a renowned local theater group and starred in lead roles as the group toured Israel.

At 18, for her mandatory military service, NOA LEVY auditioned for and was inducted into the IDF’s prestigious Navy Ensemble where she performed throughout Israel and also toured across the United States. Following her IDF service, she pursued her passion and developed her talent for musical theater at the London School of Musical Theatre in London, England, earning a diploma. Afterwards, she concentrated on music studies at Rimon School of Music in Israel.

The first release party for her TAKE TWO EP will be held on August 17, 2018, at the California Jazz Conservatory in Berkeley (formerly known as the Jazzschool). A privately-owned non-profit music school founded in 1997, the school won accreditation as a conservatory in early 2014, and is the only American school with a year-round jazz music program.

 www.noalevylive.com

Tenor Saxophonist Ivo Perelman Collaborates With Bass Clarinetists Rudi Mahall & Jason Stein On Kindred Spirits & Spiritual Prayers

Over the course of nearly 100 recordings under his own name, tenor saxophone savant Ivo Perelman had previously recorded only once in the company of another reed player -- in 2005, in a quartet that paired him with Louis Sclavis on bass clarinet. Now, in his latest exploration of sonic colors and instrumental pairings, Perelman has tripled that output with the release of two quietly spectacular albums, Kindred Spirits and Spiritual Prayers (August 24 via Leo Records). However, instead of a quartet format, Perelman and each of his bass-clarinet partners work as a duo, which magnifies and enhances the relationship of these closely related but still disparate horns.

The idea to record a series of albums with bass clarinetists took shape in the summer of 2017. At that time, the restlessly creative Perelman had begun work on what will become a series of more than 20 albums featuring improvisers from the violin family (including viola and cello); nonetheless, he was already looking ahead to a next challenge. He had a specific criterion in mind for selecting bass clarinet collaborators. In addition to embracing Perelman’s modus operandi of total spontaneity -- improvisation without any written music, tempo cues, or predetermined structure -- they would have to be bass clarinet “purists,” in Perelman’s description: artists who work on that instrument exclusively, as opposed to the overwhelming majority of reedists who use it as a second (or more likely third) option in their improvising.

He ended up with a short list, finding only two such improvisers known for their single-minded devotion to the bass clarinet: Rudi Mahall, based in Germany, and Jason Stein, a mainstay on Chicago’s seemingly inexhaustible new-music scene. But these two sessions sufficed to whet Perelman’s appetite for working with other woodwind artists in the future. “This means so much in my development as an artist,” Perelman says, “considering that I’ve built my career so far by playing mainly with piano, bass, drums, and strings. Playing with another reed instrument opens up so many possibilities.”

Much of this has to do with the common bonds between tenor sax and bass clarinet. Both are single-reed aerophones, in the same key (B-flat), that traverse a similar timbral range. They share similarities in articulation, fingering, and embouchure, and also in the way these techniques can be combined to produce the altissimo notes, above the written notation, that Perelman has especially mastered. But the success of this project also depends on the unique connections forged by Perelman with Mahall (on Kindred Spirits) and Stein (on Spiritual Prayers) -- each of whom met Perelman less than 24 hours before they stepped into the studio.

In the case of Mahall -- famed for his work with Globe Unity Orchestra, as well as a long association with new-music pianist Aki Takase -- Perelman discovered a fraternal bond between outsiders. Mahall grew up in Nuremberg, Germany, and Perelman hails from São Paolo, Brazil; says the saxophonist, “We are both foreigners. We both grew up outside American jazz.” So even though each of them would eventually discover, embrace, and then transcend the “jazz tradition,” neither of them heard very much of that tradition in their formative years. For Perelman, this proved revelatory, particularly when working with another reedist who, like himself, trained extensively in classical music (Mahall on soprano clarinet, Perelman on guitar and cello).

Five days after the whirlwind session yielding the double-disc Kindred Spirits with Mahall, Perelman went back to the studio with Stein to record the single-disc Spiritual Prayers, and again forged an unexpected connection. While neither of them observes his religion in any formal sense, both are Jews with familial roots in Russia and Eastern Europe; this coincidence did not go unnoticed by either of them.

“Playing with Jason felt like reverentially, respectfully praying with another rabbi,” Perelman says. “Not that I’ve done that before -- my last synagogue experience was my bar mitzvah! -- but I have this clear memory of me and my father, the rabbi and the minyan, and the seriousness of that moment came back to me when I was playing.” For his part, Stein says, “There are things about Ivo that reminded me of my grandfather” -- small gestures, his way of going about his business -- “and that just cultivated a sense of ease and familiarity. It’s hard to point to a connection in terms of direct musical experience. But we both have this shared Jewish heritage, coming from a Russian-Polish lineage, and that feeds into the music.”

Although each album comprises freely improvised duets for the same instrumentation, they really have only that in common, owing to the striking differences between the bass clarinetists. Mahall, steeped in not only classical music but also the European avant-garde, imparts an old-world elegance to Kindred Spirits, even in guttural passages and moments of furious abandon. Stein embodies a grittier new-world boldness, and a rawboned swagger particular to Chicago jazz in all its manifestations, from the early trade players through the adventurers who formed the AACM in the 60s and the avant-garde renaissance of the 21st century. Together, they constitute a new chapter in Ivo Perelman’s musical biography, one in which the intimacy between similar instruments yields some of the most affecting music in his extensive catalog -- even if it rigorously resists categorization.

Born in 1961, Ivo Perelman played several instruments before finally adopting the tenor saxophone. Entering the Berklee College of Music in 1981, he focused on the mainstream masters of the tenor sax, as opposed to such pioneering avant-gardists as Albert Ayler, Peter Brötzmann, and John Coltrane – all of whom would later be cited as precedents for his own work. Perelman left Berklee in 1983 and moved to Los Angeles, where he discovered his penchant for post-structure improvisation. “I would go berserk, just playing my own thing,” he explains now. Emboldened by this approach, he began to research the free-jazz saxophonists who had come before him, and in the early 90s he moved to the more inviting artistic milieu of New York.

Since 2010, he has immersed himself in a “creative frenzy” that shows no sign of diminution; he has recorded more than 30 albums in just the last three years. His impassioned, expressionist approach to the tenor sax continues to captivate (and often mystify) critics and fans, as do his specific performances, vivacious and hyperkinetic, with a variety of like-minded improvisers. Critics have called him “one of the great saxophone virtuosi” and “one of the world’s most prominent avant-garde jazzmen,” and the composer-conductor-scholar Gunther Schuller praised him as “a unique genius” working within “an entire new school of jazz.”

Perelman also maintains a separate career as a visual artist, producing a steady stream of abstract drawings and paintings that have attracted admirers worldwide. He now splits his time between New York, his home for more than 25 years, and São Paulo, Brazil.