Two albums of previously unheard Azymuth tracks recorded between 1973-75 finally released

Since their debut in 1975, Azymuth have risen to rank alongside the world’s greatest jazz, funk and fusion artists. As young men in Rio de Janeiro, they stood out for both their exceptional talent as musicians, and their wild rock ‘n’ roll antics in the predominantly middle-class worlds of bossa nova and jazz. Their signature ‘Samba Doido’ (crazy samba) sound ruptured the tried and tested musical structures of the day, resulting in what can only be described as an electric, psychedelic, samba jazz-funk hybrid.

Before they became Azymuth, Jose Roberto Bertrami (keyboards), Ivan ‘Mamão’ Conti (drums), Alex Malheiros (bass) and Ariovaldo Contesini (percussion) played backing band to just about every major artist in Brazil. Bertrami was also contracted as an arranger and songwriter at some of the biggest labels of the era: Polydor, Philips, Som Livre, and EMI being just a few. Azymuth’s name can be found on record sleeves by the likes of Jorge Ben, Elis Regina, Marcos Valle, Ana Mazzotti and countless others. But at the dawn of the seventies, fascinated by developments in improvisational music - from jazz in the US, to progressive rock in the UK and of course samba, bossa and tropicália on home turf - the energetic young group were inspired and ready to move forward. Any spare moment in which they weren’t in sessions and writing music for other artists, they would be carving out their own sound.

These previously unheard recordings took place between 1973-75 at Bertrami’s home studio in the Laranjeiras district of Rio de Janeiro. At the time of recording, there was nothing in Brazil, less the world that sounded anything like them, so perhaps it’s unsurprising that when Bertrami presented his demos to the record companies he had been working for, he was turned away, and told in effect that the music was ‘wrong’.

One of the demos ‘Manhã’ would be picked up by Som Livre and Azymuth released their seminal debut album in 1975. Throughout the late seventies and eighties, the group released a series of now classic albums for Milestone Records, before taking an indefinite hiatus to pursue their individual careers.

When English producers Joe Davis and Roc Hunter arrived in Brazil in 1994 to record the first Azymuth album in over a decade, Bertrami dug out the demos which had sat virtually untouched for over twenty years. Joe recalls how he was “blown away by the freedom and intensity of the music, as well as the genius of the ideas musically.” Beginning a long and fruitful relationship, ‘Prefacio’ would be the first track Azymuth recorded for Far Out Recordings and was released on the Carnival album (1996).

  

Including ‘Manhã’ and ‘Prefacio’, only a handful of these demos were ever professionally recorded and released, making this the first opportunity to hear many of these early Azymuth compositions in their raw, original form.

On every track the frenetic energy in the studio is palpable, giving the recordings a beautifully personal feel and a sense of the phenomenally creative vision Bertrami, Malheiros and Conti were realising at the time. Fifty years on, Azymuth’s earliest recorded music retains an ineffable, futuristic quality, standing amongst their most captivating and moving work.

The demos will be released 31st May 2019 on 2 x Vinyl LPs, CD and digitally.

SANTANA teams up with Spanish singer Buika and legendary producer Rick Rubin on new album AFRICA SPEAKS

Throughout his storied career, music legend Carlos Santana has amassed an iconic body of work by pioneering a unique fusion of rock, Latin and jazz. On his upcoming album, Africa Speaks, to be released June 7, 2019 on Concord Records, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame guitarist goes deeper and further than ever before. Inspired by the sounds and rhythms of Africa, the virtuoso musician has created a truly memorable and powerful experience that also promises to be one of his most groundbreaking albums yet.

For Santana, the inspiration for Africa Speaks holds a special significance. “This is music that I hold so dearly, and it’s not a stranger to me,” he says. “The rhythms, grooves and melodies from Africa have always inspired me. It’s in my DNA. If you take your inspiration from many, it’s called research. I researched this beautiful music from the African continent. They have a frequency that’s all their own. It’s funny, because when I play in Africa, people say, ‘How do you know our music?’ And I say, ‘How can I not know what I love?’” 

To fully realize the breadth of the music on Africa Speaks, Santana knew that he needed to work with another outside-the-box thinker, and he enlisted iconoclastic producer Rick Rubin. “Before I even shook hands with Rick, I said, ‘This is going to blow his mind,’” Santana recalls. “I knew he’d never done anything like this.” When Rubin listened to the demos, his reaction was immediate and effusive: “He called me and said, ‘These songs are like gateways to people’s consciousness,’” Santana says. 

The master guitarist and his eight-piece band (which also includes Santana’s wife, Cindy Blackman Santana, on drums), convened at Rubin’s Shangri La Studios in Malibu, and in a joyous and stimulating 10-day period they recorded an astonishing number of tracks, many of them in one take. “I’m not bragging or boasting,” Santana says, “but we recorded 49 songs in 10 days – killer, vibrant, dynamic, exuberant African songs that moved and inspired me. If Miles Davis or John Coltrane were in the room and they watched this music go down, they would be like, ‘Damn! How did you do that?’”

On working with Rubin, Santana raves, “He was very gentle and unobtrusive. His spirit was never an imposition. He trusted the process and how I wanted people to dance and feel in a way that’s totally different.”

Another dramatic element in the creation of Africa Speaks came in the form of Spanish singer Buika, whose heavenly lead vocals cast a magical spell throughout the album. “People are going to be blown away when they hear her,” says Santana. “She’s got Nina Simone, Etta James, Tina Turner, Aretha and more rolled into one.” The guitarist was so taken with the Latin Grammy Award winner that he asked her to write lyrics to his new compositions. Santana recalls, “Buika told me, ‘I wrote lyrics and melodies I’ve never done before. I was crying and laughing. The music possessed me to create something outside of the realm that I know.’ I said, ‘Yeah! If that’s what it does to you, imagine what it’ll do to the listener.’”

  

Africa Speaks is a beautifully sustained, blissful experience that opens with the fully immersive title cut, a righteous celebration that features Santana’s savage, yet shimmering guitar lines engaged in a joyful dance with congas, piano and a rousing choir of vocals.

On the fast-paced “Batonga,” Santana locks into a wicked free-form jam with David K. Mathews’ Hammond B3 that recalls the band’s early days. “This song means business – it’s got war paint,” says Santana. “It heals laziness, complacency, the doldrums that people feel. It revs up your enthusiasm to make you roll up your sleeves and invite other people to create heaven on earth together.”

“Oye Este Mi Canto” starts out seductive and sinuous, with Buika’s magical vocals playing off Benny Rietveld’s playful bass lines. As its deep funk groove deepens, Santana ignites a veritable bonfire of guitar voodoo. “This isn’t Hollywood or Palo Alto,” Santana notes. “This is African music. This is what Jerry Garcia or Michael Bloomfield would have heard and said, ‘I want some of that in my music!’ Well, you have it in you.”

All of the songs have a coliseum essence to them,” Santana observes. “Whether it’s ‘We Will Rock You’ or Start Me Up,’ there’s certain songs that do that.” Which is a perfect way of describing “Yo Me Lo Merezco,” a crushing tour de force that sees Buika in sensational stadium-quaking form. Matching the singer’s fervor is Santana himself, dispatching three spine-tingling minutes of six-string splendor. The guitarist could also be talking about “Breaking Down the Door,” a sexy and frisky musical carnival that is bound to be a concert staple for years to come. With Santana’s slinky soloing doing pirouettes to Mathews’ transporting accordion textures, stirring horns converge with rhapsodic percussion and vocals to produce the ultimate feel-good sensation. The track also features Carlos’ son and Grammy Award-winning composer Salvador Santana on keyboards.

As the album unfolds, more treasures are revealed: “Blue Skies,” which features the sumptuous background vocals of UK singer Laura Mvula, is an all-hands-on-deck jazz-rock masterwork that segues majestically into the super-funky “Paraisos Quemados” – highlighting the impeccable band interplay are Rietveld’s lively bass and Santana’s velvety guitar lines.

The guitarist’s otherworldly, wah-driven solos take flight on the stomping groove of “Los Invisibles” and the breezy, highly danceable “Luna Hechicera,” the latter of which features spitfire drumming by Cindy Blackman Santana along with the crisp percussion work of Karl Perazzo.This mesmerizing rhythmic excellence is on full display on the high-energy “Bembele.”

Africa Speaks culminates with the cowbell-driven, epic marvel called “Candombe Cumbele.” As Cindy Blackman Santana works wonders around her drum kit and Buika leads an exultant vocal chorus, the man on guitar plays with time and space, exploring every inch of his instrument’s sonic spectrum. It’s a thrilling finale to a one-of-a-kind journey.

“This song captivates and freezes the moment of being in a total spell,” Santana says. “Certain artists like Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan become a force of nature when they play. It’s like witnessing a tornado that’s coming at you. That’s what this music is about, capturing the metaphysical with the physical, and to do that you have to not be afraid to cast a spell.”

Distilling the 49 dazzling tracks that the band recorded in an unbroken, breathless 10-day period into an 11-cut album was no mean feat, but Santana, now 50 years into his remarkable career, succeeded in creating Africa Speaks as a compelling and uplifting vision that will rank as one of his most important and memorable works.

“This record was meant to be,” he says. “It was like a gift that came from heaven that we received and were meant to give to the masses. We validate people’s existence and touch on so many emotions – there’s humor, beauty, grace and the human existence. We look forward to touring this album over the next year.”

Africa Speaks track listing:

1.Africa Speaks (4:47)

2.Batonga (5:43)

3.Oye Este Mi Canto (5:58)

4.Yo Me Lo Merezco (6:12)

5.Blue Skies (9:08)

6.Paraísos Quemados (5:59)

7.Breaking Down The Door (4:30)

8.Los Invisibles (5:54)

9.Luna Hechicera (4:47)

10.Bembele (5:51)

11.Candombe Cumbele (5:36)

 

New Music Releases: The O'Jays – The Last Word; Alfredo Balcácer – Suspended Sea; Joshua Redman Quartet - Come What May

The O'Jays – The Last Word

The final album from The O'Jays – and a set that has us wishing they still had plenty more music to give us! The sound here is nice and lean – more of a tight soul combo backing up their mature vocals – which really helps give the record some vitality, and this lean quality that avoids any attempts to make things too modern, or too commercial! The set's not entirely a funk record, but has a sharper edge than most of their productions in recent years – with especially nice use of older elements, like chromatic guitar riffs or conga fills, as you might have heard in their 70s classics. Their harmonies are hardly as sweet as the old days, but they've got this life experience quality in that place – which almost transforms their sound – and titles include "I Got You", "Stand Up", "68 Summer Nights", "Start Stoppin", "Pressure", and a remake of their classic "I'll Be Sweeter Tomorrow".  ~ Dusty Groove 

Alfredo Balcácer – Suspended Sea

Set for release on June 28th is the Afro-Dominican album “Suspend Sea” from Dominican guitarist Alfredo Balcácer. This album marks Balcácer’s debut as a bandleader and composer. The concept behind the album was to mix Dominican folklore with American Jazz music and improvisation. Balcácer writes music inspired by his experiences as an immigrant in the United States. ‘Suspend Sea” incorporates elements from the music that he grew up listening to. Transcriptions from Dominican percussion patterns were made and adapted to the drum set and bass. The main goal for this process was to hear the interpretation of these patterns from musicians of the United States. With this conceptual experiment, Balcácer set out to create new colors and textures within the jazz and fusion music palette. Some of the incorporated styles were Ga-ga, Palo and Bachata.

Joshua Redman Quartet - Come What May

Really great work from tenorist Joshua Redman – an artist that many have been following for decades – but who, to us, really seems to be hitting a new level of genius in recent years! There's this understated confidence going on here – as if Redman no longer has anything to prove, and can just open up beautifully on the tenor – never breaking down too many barriers in jazz, but always blowing with this distinct sound that's very much his own – and which brings an edge to his well-written compositions on the record, which have a beautiful balance of color and rhythm. Pianist Aaron Goldberg is also fantastic – a very rhythmic player, but one who also leaves a lot of space between the notes – in ways that create this glow, or maybe a sense of waves of sound from his instrument – gently rocking the performance in this strong, yet subtle way. The rest of the quartet features Reuben Rogers on bass, and Gregory Hutchinson on drums that are bold, but never overdone – and the set of all-original material includes "How We Do", "DGAF", "Stagger Beer", "Vast", "Circle Of Life", and "Come What May". ~ Dusty Groove

New Music Releases: Billy Paul - Me & Mrs Jones – The Billy Paul Anthology; Rosie Turton - 5ive; Alan Broadbent Trio - New York Notes

Billy Paul - Me & Mrs Jones – The Billy Paul Anthology

The full scope of genius of the legendary Billy Paul – one of the hippest, most important singers in 70s soul – a righteous talent that we'd put right up there with Marvin Gaye and Bill Withers at their best! Like both Marvin and Bill, Billy Paul had this way of embracing newer, more powerful ideas – while also delivering them with a style that was maybe more confident and proud than politically overstated – which means that his music had this subtle power that helped to transform generations, and win big new audiences over to the message in his songs! Billy's voice is completely distinct – he sings like nobody else before or since – and there's sometimes currents of jazz, sometimes more straightforward modes – all crafted perfectly to fit the spirit of each of the distinct songs that make his 70s catalog so wonderful. The set list here is great – 31 tracks that perfectly define the man and his legacy – titles that include "Let The Dollar Circulate", "Am I Black Enough For You Baby", "Brown Baby", "This Is Your Life", "Ebony Woman", "I Was Married", "I Think I'll Stay Home Today", "Let's Fall In Love All Over Again", "False Faces", "People Power", "The Whole Town's Talking", "Thanks For Saving My Life", "I Trust You", "Let's Make A Baby", "Sexual Therapy", "How Good Is Your Game", "Bring The Family Back", "When Love Is New", and his classic "Me & Mrs Jones". ~ Dusty Groove

Rosie Turton - 5ive

Album opener ‘The Unknown’ recently received its first airplay on Worldwide FM and typifies her most recent exploration into composition. It’s fearless, fizzing, and rhythmically adventurous, with bursts of raw emotion from her trombone and the violin of Johanna Burnheart. The rhythm-heavy ‘The Purge’ rolls along on free-flowing melodies and counter melodies, while ‘Stolen Ribs’ features Luke Newman on vocals and is a deeply meditative piece based on Turton’s experiences in India. On the track, she says, “Stolen Ribs is based on raga, called the Yaman raga from India and I wanted to experiment with it and bring it to Jazz musicians and take the idea of the scale and see how everyone interprets it and bring a new energy to it”. Turton’s growing maturity as a musician with a unique voice in the UK jazz community continues on an imaginative re-working of Herbie Hancock’s ‘Butterfly’ while closing composition ‘Orange Moon’ proceeds with an extended bass ostinato before Maria Chiara Argiro’s gentle piano-led rhythmical flow and Turton’s trombone take centre stage. In 2003, Jazz re:freshed created a weekly residency for musicians in the jazz world who wanted to experiment and push boundaries when few opportunities to try these experimentations out live were available. These musicians inspired a lot of the cream of today’s UK Jazz scene who have also graced the stages of Jazz re:freshed’s events.

Alan Broadbent Trio - New York Notes

Rock-solid work from pianist Alan Broadbent – a musician who's contributed so much to so many, we sometimes forget the greatness of his talents! Broadbent steps in with the confidence of an old school pianist – swinging things with a mix of bop and lyricism that hearkens back to the old New York scene – beautifully matched by the thoughtful basswork of Harvie S, and given the right kick at the right moments by drummer Billy Mintz. Piano moods seem to spin effortlessly off Broadbent's fingers – whether the tune is swinging or mellow – and titles include "Clifford Notes", "Minority", "Continuity", "Crazeology", "Waltz Prelude", and "371 East 32nd Street". ~ Dusty Groove

Candi Staton "Love Is You" with Kirk Whalum, Marcus Williams and Marcel Williams

Grammy® Award winning saxophone great, Kirk Whalum, teams up with 4x Grammy® Award nominated soul music legend, Candi Staton, on a Smooth Jazz rendition of “Love is You,” a smoldering track from Staton’s 30th album, Unstoppable. Other players on the track include drummer, Marcus Williams (Isaac Hayes, Peabo Bryson) and Marcel Williams (Anita Ward, Jimmy Bo Horn). 

They all come together to create an engaging, rhythmic track for your programming consideration. After Marcus' first drum beat, Kirk’s warm sax opens the session and then Staton’s soft, velvety tone sings of the beauty of love. Marcel's steady bass keeps the spirit high. “I wrote the song in a way that people can interpret it based on their own experience with love,” says the singer of “Young Hearts Run Free” fame. “It can be about a romantic relationship, your relationship with your child or it can even take on a spiritual meaning. It’s up to the listener to decide what the song is about." This Smooth Jazz rendition will hit all major digital service providers such as iTunes, etc. as a stand-alone digital release.

Bebop Alto Saxophonist Richie Cole Pays Tribute to a Lifelong Hero on "Cannonball"

Richie Cole Cannonball The alto madness of Richie Cole celebrates one of its chief inspirations with the release of Cannonball (Richie Cole Presents). An inveterate bebop stalwart, Cole leads the Pittsburgh Alto Madness Orchestra and several special guests in paying tribute to his hero, the legendary alto saxophonist Julian "Cannonball" Adderley. The album comprises a dozen tunes closely associated with Adderley (including his own "Sack o' Woe"), as well as a brand-new Cole original ("Bell of the Ball").

While Cole often uses ideas from Adderley's arrangements to formulate his own, no one could mistake either of the altoists for the other -- nor would the stubbornly individual Cole want them to. "I didn't try to play like Cannonball, I focused on how he tells a story," says Cole. "You have to tell stories if you're going to connect with an audience and there was no one better at that than him."

Richie Cole Reggie Watkins The eight-piece ensemble, too, drawn from Cole's home base of Pittsburgh, is very different from Adderley's famous quintets. Cole's frontline partner on Cannonball is trombonist Reggie Watkins (pictured at left with Cole) -- a surrogate for cornetist Nat Adderley, his brother's longtime brass foil. Two more horns, tenor saxophonist Rick Matt and trumpeter J.D. Chaisson, join in for four of the album's 13 tracks. Guitarist Eric Susoeff, keyboardist Kevin Moore, bassist/producer Mark Perna, and drummer Vince Taglieri fill out the rhythm section.

In taking on Adderley's repertoire, Cole finds ways to evoke his hero, though often with a twist. Where Nancy Wilson traditionally joined Adderley on "Save Your Love for Me," Cole brings in the vocalist Kenia, who sings his bossa nova arrangement in Portuguese. The altoist recreates Adderley's 1961 solo on "Toy," but not before letting Watkins have his uproarious way with the song. Meanwhile, a rendition of "Dat Dere" closely resembling the version on Adderley's 1960 album Them Dirty Blues is subverted with a newly devised arrangement for all four horns. "It's like where did this big band come from?" Cole says with a laugh.

Cole keeps it tight on Cannonball; most of the tunes stay close to the five-minute mark. "I could stretch out and play my ass off," Cole says. "But then you lose the thread of the story, and the audience. . . . I want to play melodies that regular people, working people, can enjoy."

  

Richie Cole was born in 1948 in Trenton, New Jersey. His father, a big band enthusiast, ran a local jazz joint called the Harlem Club. Young Richie met any number of great jazz performers there, including Dizzy Gillespie, Art Blakey, and Freddie Hubbard, and at 10 took up alto saxophone on a horn someone had left at the club.

He played in various school bands and, at 16, attended a music camp directed by alto legend Phil Woods (with whom he would record the 1980 fan favorite, Side by Side). He went on to study at Boston's Berklee School of Music, then continued his jazz education in the big bands of Buddy Rich, Lionel Hampton, and Doc Severinsen before forming his own bebop quintet.

Unswayed by jazz-rock trends, Cole in the early '70s began a long association with the great vocalist Eddie Jefferson, with whom he worked until the vocalese innovator's 1979 death, recording among others the popular album Alto Madness. Cole thrived on '80s encounters with Sonny Stitt and Art Pepper and spread his alto madness with pianist Bobby Enriquez and saxophonist Boots Randolph. He turned out a flurry of albums through the '90s with his seven-man Alto Madness Orchestra.

For years, Cole lived the life of a wanderer. Following a romantic breakup, he was talked into moving to Pittsburgh by his daughter Annie. "She had to drag me there kicking and screaming," he says. But as his song "I Have a Home in Pittsburgh" tells you, things have worked out well for him in the Iron City.

"Pittsburgh is like an oasis, an island," Cole says. "There are fantastic musicians here." One of them -- bassist Mark Perna -- helped him create his own label, Richie Cole Presents, on which Cannonball is the sixth release.

 

"Unreleased Art Pepper Vol. 10: Toronto," Latest in the Critically Acclaimed "Unreleased Art" Series

Unreleased Art Pepper Vol. 10 Toronto In 1977, Art Pepper's jazz comeback had been moving along pretty quietly, and he was still playing bar mitzvahs and weddings, when producer John Snyder helped engineer the alto saxophonist's first tour outside California. With soul ablaze, with his defiant wit, and with the musical mastery he'd honed throughout his reckless life, Pepper took his first step onto the world stage at Toronto's Bourbon Street nightclub on June 16, 1977.

That night's triumphant performances are documented in the new Widow's Taste 3-CD set, Unreleased Art Pepper Vol. 10: Toronto, which will be released November 2. The absolute love with which Toronto jazz fans greeted him surprised Art and gave him the boost he needed from the very start. And the superb young musicians at this gig were supportive and challenging. He always felt that good musicians had something to teach him, and these fellows all went on to fine careers. During the 30-minute interview with Toronto disc jockey Hal Hill, which is included in the new package, Art praises them, sincerely, especially the pianist, Bernie Senensky. He enjoyed their youth; the prodigious David Piltch was only 17. Piltch alternates with the impressive Gene Perla on bass, and the drummer, Terry Clarke, seems to have played with every soloist on earth. They solo beautifully. They back him perfectly.

The audio is quite good, thanks, once again, to Wayne Peet's mastering, which is precise, skilled, and artful. The 32-page booklet includes, along with Laurie Pepper's photos, gossip, opinions, and flights of musically inspired fancy, her chart of problems she heard in the original recordings and Wayne's notes describing all the additional problems Laurie didn't hear -- and his work correcting them.

Laurie and Art Pepper And there's more. In honor of this, the tenth release from her label Widow's Taste, Laurie (at left with Art) offers us a backstage pass, "How to Turn a 40-Year-Old Cassette Tape into a Valuable Collector's Item." She shows us why and how, "in this age of off-brand-indie-DIY," she manages, with help, to keep finding and releasing this great music. She says, "My jewel boxes hold real jewels."

Fifty-one at the time of these recordings, Art Pepper had been struggling, as an artist, to merge the solid swing and shuffle of the blues he'd made his own at age 15 on Central Avenue with the tender lyricism of his nature, with the fire and excitement of bebop, and with the adventurousness of John Coltrane and Miles Davis. John Snyder, producer and fan, underwrote and ran this East Coast tour -- which culminated in Pepper's Village Vanguard debut -- to help him do it.

Art Pepper Snyder's encouragement can't be underrated. Neither can Pepper's courage. When young, as a starring soloist, Art had toured the country with Stan Kenton's big bands. But later, multiple incarcerations for drug use and subsequent paroles limited his movements. When he was working, he could only work at home in California. And part of Art, the part that was not self-destructive, was profoundly competitive and ambitious. Here was his first tour as a leader, and he knew this was his moment.

This latest album joins the catalog of previous albums from the Unreleased Art Pepper series. All have received raves from well-known critics. They are:

Volume I, Abashiri (2-CD set)

Volume II, Last Concert: Kennedy Center

Volume III, Croydon (2-CD set)

Volume IV, The Art History Project (3-CD set)

Volume V, Stuttgart (2-CD set)

Volume VI, Blues for the Fisherman: Live at Ronnie Scott's (4-CD set)

Volume VII, Sankei Hall, Osaka (2-CD set)

Volume VIII, Live at the Winery

Volume IX, Art Pepper & Warne Marsh

New Music Releases: Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah - Ancestral Recall; Mavis Staples – Live In London; Budos Band - V

Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah - Ancestral Recall

Ancestral Recall continues Adjuah’s mission to unify people via their musical and cultural voices by tearing down the sonic and social constructs that separate them. As a newly ascended Chieftain in the Black masking culture of New Orleans, he has been deeply committed to turning identity politics, as it is used in music, on its ear. Ancestral Recall seeks to excavate and update hidden histories in sound by displaying a sonic tapestry that illuminates the har-melodic movements found within rhythm. Adjuah explains: "In its inception, Ancestral Recall was built as a map to decolonize sound; to challenge previously held misconceptions about some cultures of music; to codify a new folkloric tradition and begin the work of creating a national set of rhythms; rhythms rooted in the synergy between West African, First Nation, African Diaspora/Caribbean rhythms and their marriage to rhythmic templates found in trap music, alt-rock, and other modern forms. It is time we created a sound that dispels singular narratives of entire peoples and looks to finally represent the wealth of narratives found throughout the American experience. An experience that shows all forms of expression in sound are valid, as all people are." The goal is to connect people in one understanding rather than dividing them by definition.

Mavis Staples – Live In London

Mavis Staples has been a soul and gospel music legend for more than 50 years. Her work fronting the legendary Staple Singers defined the sound of politically-committed soul and influenced generations of musicians. As a solo artist, she has helped to define much of what is righteous and soulful in American music. There are few who can claim to have been performing as long as Mavis, let alone to her standards. This album captures her live at the Union Chapel in London with her band performing some of the greatest songs from her musical catalog, while celebrating her 79th birthday.

Budos Band - V

It's hard to believe that the Budos Band have been around long enough to give us five full albums – but along the way, they've also picked up plenty of power to add to their sound! This time around, the guitars seem even sharper than ever – full and fuzzy, and maybe even touched with some elements that might have made some of the bigger 70s groups weep – almost as if the BB are trying to create a whole new generation of prog funk in the process! All the other elements are still in place – lots of heavy drums, rumbling bass, and some mighty nice horns – but when mixed with the strength of the guitars, even the horns feel as if they're hitting some new currents – like when artists like Dick Heckstall Smith or Alan Skidmore might jam along with a funky guitar riff from way back. Titles include "The Enchanter", "Spider Web (part 1)", "Old Engine Oil", "Veil Of Shadows", "Arcane Rambler", "Valley Of The Damned", and "Rumble From The Void". ~ Dusty Groove

CHARLIE DENNARD’S “DEEP BLUE”

DEEP BLUE, the newest release by Charlie Dennard, comprises seven original compositions by the outstanding keyboardist, composer, and arranger. The tunes on this album are a mix of New Orleans-style jazz and compositions with a darker hue, not unlike recordings on the ECM label, which have been major influences on Dennard’s composing and playing. His playing is subtle with a relaxed approach, which he credits to his teacher, the legendary Ellis Marsalis, with whom he studied for a Master’s Degree in Music at the University of New Orleans.

For the last 20 years, Dennard has performed and recorded internationally with a variety of jazz, blues and world music ensembles. Although he lives in New Orleans, he’s currently on a year-long European tour as the musical director for Cirque du Soleil’s production “Totem.” Over the last 15 years, he has performed over 4,000 shows in 14 countries with Cirque, including appearances on The Tonight Show and at London’s Royal Albert Hall.

DEEP BLUE is a soulful collection of compositions that, with Dennard’s busy touring schedule, has taken a long time to bring to fruition. But despite a very successful career that takes him all around the world, Dennard is first and foremost an artist for whom it is important to carve out the time to write and record the music that is truly important to him.

Personnel

Charlie Dennard  piano, organ, keyboards

Doug Belote  drums

Max Moran  acoustic & electric bass

Steve Masakowski  acoustic guitar

Brian Seeger  electric guitar

Eric Lucero  trumpet, flugel horn

Ray Moore  tenor & alto sax, flute

Marc Solis  tenor/alto/bari sax, flute, bass clarinet

Jason Mingledorf  tenor sax, bass clarinet

Brad Walker  tenor sax

Rick Trolsen  trombone

Josh Geisler  bansuri flute

LATEEF THE TRUTH SPEAKER ANNOUNCES NEW PROJECT ROOTS AND TINGS WITH ACCLAIMED PRODUCER JAH YZER AND MULTI-TALENTED MUSICIAN WINSTRONG

Quannum and Solesides co-founder, and Grammy nominated MC, Lateef the Truth Speaker has joined forces with acclaimed Bay Area DJ and producer Jah Yzer and the multi-talented musician and reggae artist Winstrong, to showcase the crossroads of reggae and hip-hop on their newest project Roots & Tings. The new music draws deeply and respectfully from the history of both genres while pushing a new vibe to create powerful and provocative tracks. Roots & Tings will roll out singles monthly throughout 2019 with Quannum Records. Each release will be accompanied by original artwork, limited edition t-shirts from aspiring designers and will be available on both vinyl 45’s and digitally, everywhere you can stream.

Born and raised in Oakland, CA by politically active and former Black Panther parents, Lateef the Truth Speaker is most well-known for his role in the Bay Area rap collective Quannum Projects alongside DJ Shadow, The Gift of Gab, Chief Xcel and Lyrics Born. Together they helped usher in the underground era of hip-hop in the 90’s. His 20+ year career in the industry is highlighted with a Grammy nomination for his collaboration with Fat Boy Slim on “Wonderful Night.” And his duo Latyrx with Lyrics Born, who spawned the popular Bay Area anthem “Lady Don’t Tek No.” Lateef is a prolific solo artist, who’s writing is woke and witty. He joined up with DJ and Producer Jah Yzer who is well known in the Bay Area for dropping reggae and soundsystem riddims. The talented DJ first gained acclaim as a radio personality for Miami’s 94.1 Beach Radio, and moved to the Bay Area where he established himself as a high profile DJ and has collaborated with the likes of J Boog, Too Short, Sister Nancy, Fiji and more. Winstrong first hit the scene alongside the legendary Don Carlos as an Urban Dancehall artists. His voice is soulful and boldly couples strong melodies with conscious messages. He is able to elegantly combine world music, hip-hop with R&B and Soul, alongside his foundation as a roots reggae and dancehall vocalist. His talent is vast and creative, and has much to offer to the Roots & Tings project.

Until embarking on the Roots & Tings project, the Bay Area based artists, Lateef, Jah Yzer and Winstrong have known each other separately for more than 10 years. Coming together for this project a collaboration was immediately born as they clicked effortlessly over a relatively unstructured creative process on the new project. Lateef comments, “Roots & Tings came about as an organic evolution of an idea to do remixes for a mixtape, that led to more conversations and original ideas, which led to more songs.” He continues, “The name Roots & Tings came from the idea that the music should reflect the source, the soul- or the ‘Root’- of the music we were making, and all of the ways that we added on to those original ideas with new ideas and interpretations would be the ‘Tings’.” The new record was recorded primarily at Zoo Labs in Oakland, CA, and by the first session they had 9 songs laid down. Having now worked together for 2 years on this project and with almost 50 songs recorded, the trio are excited that they are finally putting forth their new project.

Roots & Tings will roll out deep cuts monthly and will be available digitally and on vinyl limited edition 45’s. This month the soulful love song with deep chilled dancehall riddims, “All Of This” ft. Vursatyl (of Lifesavas) dropped and is available everywhere.  For Lateef the song, “ ‘All of This’ is a modern love story. Passionate, honest, kinda messy, and very, very true. Hopefully people hear some of their own stories in there somewhere.” The new track was produced by Racayan – his debut track.

Roots & Tings debuted earlier this year with the dubby track “Class War” and “Oh” on the B-side. HipHopDX who first premiered the song commented, "Bay Area Hip Hop staple Lateef The Truthspeaker has resurfaced with a new single called “Class War” featuring his Quannum Recordings brethren Gift of Gab and Lyrics Born. The track is taken from his forthcoming Roots & Tings album, which intends to showcase the existing parallels between reggae and Hip Hop." Both tracks are stellar with cutting bars as Lateef the Truth Speaker and featured artists Lyrics Born and Gift of Gab spit about the 1% on “Class War”, Lateef says, “They want more. The rich get richer. The rest of us are poor. It’s a Class War.” On the B-side featured artist Gift of Gab joins Lateef on “Oh,” Lateef recalls, “We all know someone like the person described in the song.  If you don’t, you might be the person in the song.” Hitting the theme of the social economic injustices, “Class War” has limited edition original artwork by incarcerate artist Raul Fernandez. The artwork is available with special, limited vinyl 45’s and the music is available digitally everywhere you can stream.

The new project is full of epic island tinged remixes of Lateef’s hits as well as new fresh tracks including “Lady Don’t Tek No” remix, “Alpha Omega” remix and “Highest Grade,” all due to be released early 2019. Roots & Tings, is stacked with features with some of the best rappers in the game including, Gift of Gab (Blackalicious), Lyrics Born (Latyrx) and more to be revealed later.  Each release will be packaged both digitally and as 45’s. The 45’s will include limited edition artwork for the single, and each release will be accompanied with limited edition t-shirt created by Bay Area youth apprentice printers Youth Prints @ People’s Choice Prints. The young apprentice printers have designed and printed the shirts as they aspire to establish their own brands. Each of the designers will recoup 100% of the profits. The t-shirts are available www.rootsandtingsofficial.com.

Lateef reflects on the new project, “Roots & Tings is an ode to the love affair between Hip-Hop and Reggae music since the inception of hip hop. The music is a combination of all the different iterations through the years, of both genres.”

The trio will be touring Roots & Tings, as well as, new music all throughout 2019. They are kicking off the new year supporting Blackalicious. The live shows will be fully energized as Lateef, Jah Yzer and Winstrong are an unstoppable force that will leave the crowd hyped and wanting more. The sets will be accompanied by new and fresh visuals produced by Ben Stokes (DJ Shadow). 

Saxophonist Quinsin Nachoff Traces the Shadow of the Sun on the Second Release by his Innovative, Genre-Eclipsing Band Flux

Neither Toronto nor New York, the two cities that Quinsin Nachoff calls home, offered prime viewing conditions as the moon eclipsed the sun in August of 2017. But Nachoff, who has long drawn inspiration from the scientific wonders of the universe, couldn't help but be moved by this rare astronomical phenomenon - and to find a degree of solace in it. After all, here was a shadow large enough to blot out the face of the sun, darkening the Earth and then moving on. In the Path of Totality could be found hope that this, too - whatever "this" might be in the moment, whether political, personal or environmental - will indeed pass.

That faith in change is at the heart of Flux, the name that Nachoff has bestowed upon his remarkable group, which returns on February 8, 2019 with its second release, Path of Totality, via Whirlwind Recordings. Flux is an ensemble, and Nachoff a composer, that thrive in the spaces in between genres, styles and inspirations. At its foundation Flux is a quartet, though at times on this album a quintet and sometimes more, employing a vast array of instruments and a vivid palette of musical colors to create something that is consistently surprising as its shape morphs from moment to moment over the course of these six epic-length pieces.

In saxophonist David Binney, Nachoff has a frontline partner with a keen-edged tone and a refined ear for texture, having integrated electronics into his own work as an artist and a producer that expand and mutate his sonic environments. Matt Mitchell is a rigorous boundary pusher, a pianist and composer who astutely avoids obvious choices in favor of pressing fervidly into the unexplored. Kenny Wollesen couples a similarly adventurous instinct with a passion for the playful, as reflected not only in the eccentric arsenal of invented instruments known as "Wollesonics" but in the buoyant swing he maintains even in his most complex and abstract rhythmic excursions. The new addition this time out is Nate Wood, who alternates and at times shares the drum chair with Wollesen, lending the band an urgency and avant-rock propulsion familiar from his work with Kneebody.

While that combination of voices would offer a wealth of possibility for any composer, Nachoff was handed an even larger palette by Canada's National Music Centre, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting Canadian music through exhibitions, performances and educational programs. As one of the NMC's first Artists-in-Residence, Nachoff was granted access to the Centre's extensive keyboard collection, an enormous resource of both acoustic and electronic instruments.

"They really want this to be a living collection," Nachoff says. "So I spent three weeks at the NMC exploring the keyboards and synthesizers in their new, state-of-the-art building, then another two weeks writing during an artists' residency in Banff."

Raised in a household where electronic music was not only heard but composed, Nachoff has long been spurred to follow his own, more acoustic path, but the NMC's collection proved too tempting to resist. Both Mitchell and producer David Travers-Smith have a field day with the array of instruments, particularly on the stunningly pointillistic "Splatter," recorded at the NMC. Beginning with Mitchell's Baroque-by-way-of-Sun-Ra solo harpsichord improvisation, the tune progresses through a cosmic haze carved by jagged rhythms before the erratic horn melody intrudes, gradually building in density before breaking apart into stark fragments.

In a sense that arc could be seen as the portrait of the universe in miniature, though a model of the stellar regions was more directly a source for "Orbital Resonances," the album's closing track. Based on the intersecting pathways of orbiting bodies in space, the tune places the members of Flux into interrelated motion, crafting a piece from the accumulated sound of singular identities. Nachoff is an artist that takes the idea of "experimentation" quite literally. He's taken his interest in science beyond simple inspiration, working directly with Dr. Stephen Morris, a physicist at the University of Toronto, to translate experimental data into musical form.

One early result is "Bounce," whose percussive outbursts and heady call-and-response are built on the mathematical model of a bouncing ball. The conceptual is ultimately subsumed by the poignant, however, as the massive swell of a 1924 Kimball Theatre Organ from the NMC collection overwhelms the piece, turning into a requiem for a pair of recently lost influences, Kenny Wheeler and John Taylor - the latter of whom Nachoff was honored to record with on the 2007 release Horizons Ensemble. Another compositional inspiration, John Cage, provided the spark for "Toy Piano Meditation," which takes the late pioneer's "Suite for Toy Piano" as a starting point and fuses Cage-ian ideas with the entrancing melodic/percussive turns of Balinese gamelan.

Of course, no album that names itself for a momentary darkness shrouding the planet can help but comment on our current political reality, and "March Macabre" does just that, with a healthy dose of bleak humor. Wollesen's "march machine," a wooden board outfitted with a row of clomping clogs, provides the marching beat that opens the piece on a totalitarian note. By the end, through the blissful improvisation of tap dancer Orlando Hernández, the lockstep has been broken and individual freedom restored.

"We went on tour for the first Flux record the day after Trump got elected and I was concurrently going through the process of becoming a US citizen," Nachoff recalls. "We were all in shock. We didn't know what to think, what to say to people. 'March macabre' was the first piece I wrote after that, and the Russia scandal inspired me to tie in elements from Shostakovich or Prokofiev -- composers who worked under a strict authoritarian structure but were still able to overcome this and make really interesting music."

NYC-based saxophonist and composer Quinsin Nachoff has earned a reputation for making "pure, bracing, thought-provoking music" that is "cliché-and convention-free" (Ottawa Citizen). Since moving from his native Toronto to New York City, Nachoff has made a habit of freely crossing borders: his music moves fluidly between the jazz and classical worlds and manages to be soul-stirring at the same time that it is intricately cerebral. His passions reach into both the arts and the sciences, with concepts from physics or astronomy sparking inspiration for exhilarating compositions. As a saxophonist, Nachoff's playing has been described as "a revelationŠ [p]arsing shimmers of Sonny Rollins, Wayne Shorter and Mark Turner" (DownBeat). He was a semifinalist in the renowned Thelonious Monk Jazz Saxophone Competition and has been nominated for numerous Canadian National Jazz Awards. His diverse ensembles include Flux, the Ethereal Trio, Horizons Ensemble and FoMo quartet as well as the Pyramid Project.

www.quinsin.com

JON LUNDBOM & BIG FIVE CHORD RELEASE NEW ALBUM HARDER ON THE OUTSIDE

Hot Cup Records has released of the ninth recording project from Jon Lundbom & Big Five Chord, a new full-length CD and digital download titled Harder on the Outside.  This new album comes on the heels of Lundbom's ambitious four-CD/digital EP set released in 2016 and is his first full-length album since 2015's Jeremiah.

The roots of this new album lie in a years-long project between Lundbom and Bryan Murray (a.k.a. the world famous Balto Exclamationpoint). Over the past many years, Murray has developed a passion (and odd sort of fame on Facebook's Jam of the Week) for sampling and beat construction. For the project with Lundbom, Murray sampled old Big Five Chord albums (and related Hot Cup properties) and constructed beats to which Lundbom composed new music. They then sent the tracks back and forth to record live performances of the new music, improvised solos, and accompaniment. The result is called Beats by Balto, Vol. 1, to be released Tuesday, March 19 on Chant records.

Harder on the Outside is, at core, live renditions of the songs composed for this first edition of Beats by Balto! The album was recorded live in studio in New Jersey during the summer of 2018, marking Big Five Chord's fifteenth anniversary as a band. And Harder on the Outside is easily Big Five Chord's strongest outing since 2013's Liverevil, perhaps their finest recording to date.

The title can be taken at least four different ways: (1) as metaphor for one's personality "hardening" with age; (2) as a political statement, about alienation due to rising fascism and xenophobia; (3) as a statement about purity in free/"outside" music/improvisation; and (4) as fact, that it's really hard to make an album when you live in Austin and the rest of your band is in New York.

The album opens with the sole new Lundbom composition NOT from the Beats by Balto! project titled "People Be Talking." Set in a 1970's 6/4, the song features a relatively classic jazz vocabulary-style head over a driving groove laid down by the rhythm section of Moppa Elliott on bass and Dan Monaghan on drums. But when the solos start, Elliott and Monaghan blast off into a borderline-irascible, Afro-Cuban inspired feel. And in comes Bryan Murray on tenor, doing his best Pharaoh Sanders-meets-Albert Ayler. As Murray's solo winds down, the groove disintegrates into a rolling, rollicking out-of-time solo by Lundbom.

It's worth noting that for this album, Lundbom is playing a Fender Jazzmaster retrofitted with experimental pickups built by Chicago's Duneland Labs. These pickups are prototypes built for Nels Cline that now live with Lundbom in Austin, TX. One of Lundbom's goals in recording Harder on the Outside was to employ a wide range of different (non-effected) tones from these extraordinary instruments, and it shows.

Next up: the first composition developed for Beats by Balto!, titled "Basic Bitches." A spare and austere composition, "Basic Bitches" features a droning ostinato-like bass line (doubled by guitar) and somewhat "trap"-inspired drum groove. After the saxophones state the melody three times, Murray picks up his trademark balto! saxophone and teaches a master class in what to do with an alto saxophone with a baritone mouthpiece and plastic reed. Lundbom solos next, opting for more of a Scofield-like tone and approach over Elliott's and Monaghan's mean-ass half-time rock beat.

And then Lundbom & Co. slow it down for "Prednisone," another composition from Beats by Balto! Here, the rhythm section strides forth squarely in dirge mode, as the saxophones wail in mournful, perfect fourths above. Here, the first solo is from long-time "sixth five chord" Mr. Justin Wood on alto saxophone, twisting and dancing delicately through the melodic implications of the theme. But as Wood winds down, Lundbom kicks things into high gear with a loud, fuzz-driven Bobo Alan Holdsworth solo. Having played all of the notes in all of the permutations at all of the speeds, Lundbom calls for a dramatic quits, squealing and squeaking and squonking past the otherwise cleanest of breaks.

Harder on the Outside continues with "Booberonic," a Beats by Balto! composition based around samples from Moppa Elliott's solo bass album Still, Up in the Air (that poor Moppa has to recreate here, over and over). It's a big time groovy number with an intricate, snaky back-and-forth between Murray on tenor and Wood on alto. Solo-wise, Wood gets it going, exploring the nooks and crannies while the rhythm section - unusually - keeps the A section/B section back-and-forth going strong. Lundbom breaks it all up, though, focusing on shorter, more staccato phrasing performed with a thinner, grindier, funkier sound - say, Catfish Collins meets Sonny Sharrock, underwater.

And then comes "Cereal," yet another piece from Beats by Balto! with a dumb joke for a title. Smooth and even and drone-y, nothing but footballs from the horns and nothing but glissando-y, West Coast inspired groove from the rhythm section. Lundbom solos first, finally, playing withŠwhat's this?...a clean "Jazz" tone! And what a clean "Jazz" tone it is. Lundbom plays real pretty for the producer (ibid), bringing thoughtful, tasteful melodic construction to the otherwise rock- and hip-hop-infused session. Next up, Wood (on soprano) in duet with Elliott on the bass, gesturing playfully back-and-forth over Monaghan in pure "solid pocket" mode. Wood "wins" and the piece winds down as gently as it began.

"Fussing Blues" is a "cover," of sorts. Originally written in 1924 for tenor banjo by Frank Littig, Lundbom and Big Five Chord treat it as a great excuse for a 60's-style Free Jazz Romp. The melody is loose, the solos collective, the "jazz ending" (as dictated by the published sheet music) surprisingly tight.

But all things must come to an end and the album shall pass indeed, closing with "Three Plus." There's three saxophones on the head, but - don't worry - Murray is doing double-duty here, overdubbing the third part (he does all three parts on Beats by Balto!). Monaghan (#toms) and Elliott (#RonCarter) REALLY dig in on this one, lending the louche, languorous groove the deepest of pockets. Wood and Murray solo together, and it's awesome. Just awesome.  When it comes time for Lundbom to play, he really lets the dogs out, moving through his incredible solo turn with precision and style and fury, closing the album out in style indeed.

But wait! There's more! A bonus track!!! "Basic Bitches (alt)" is an alternate, over-produced (or just masterfully produced for radio?!?) take of "Basic Bitches" in which the rhythm section sticks with the "trap"-inspired groove and Murray plays "MC" with his balto! for like ten minutes or whatever. Call up your local Jazz station and request it by name.

Formed in 2003, Big Five Chord is the primary vehicle for the music of Austin, TX-based guitarist, composer, and bandleader Jon Lundbom.  Jon's music - described as "Hardbop + Zeppelin + Schoenberg" (Dave Madden, 'SLUG') - is a showcase for his "intense phrasing and mind-altering solo spots" (Glenn Astarita, 'All About Jazz'), a "boundary-shattering shot of adrenaline that screws with your head and messes with your soul" (Jordan Richardson, 'The Seattle PI').  Jon has been called "an idiosyncratic genius harboring boundary-stretching notions in his musical make up" (CJ Bond, 'JazMuzic.com'); "hopefully Lundbom will start getting more attention for his fresh perspective, both as a writer and player" (Mike Shanley, 'ShanleyOnMusic'), "[Jon's playing brings] new ideas to what jazz guitar can be" (Paul Acquaro, 'Free Jazz Blog'); "Big Five Chord, individually and collectively, is one of the most important [ensembles] around today" (Gregory Applegate Edwards, 'Gapplegate Guitar and Bass Blog'). "Olympic-caliber guitar gymnastics" (Bob Gendron, 'Downbeat'). "A guitarist" (The New York Times). In addition to Big Five Chord, Lundbom performs with many other groups, most notably Bryan & the Haggards.

Justin Wood grew up in frozen Northern Maine, which might account for his warm sound and "spark-spewing solos that showcase the alto's best qualities" (All About Jazz).  Living in New York City for the past two decades, Justin has established a presence as a highly versatile and always unique voice on the saxophones and flute.

Originally from West Virginia, balto! saxophonist Bryan Murray (a.k.a. Balto Exclamationpoint) leads Bryan and the Haggards, New York City's most decorated avant-country instrumental Merle Haggard cover band; their collaboration with the legendary Eugene Chadbourne "Merles Just Wanna Have Fun" is available now from Northern Spy. He has toured with David Byrne and St. Vincent, recently released a solo hip-hop recording on his balto! saxophone, and is featured heavily on Facebook's "Jam of the Week."  www.bryanmurray.net

Accomplished bassist and composer Moppa Elliott is leader of the band Mostly Other People Do the Killing. A Pennsylvania native and graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Moppa has appeared in the DownBeat Critics' Poll in three different categories: Rising Star Bassist, Rising Star Composer, and Rising Star Arranger.  He teaches music at The Information Technology High School in Long Island City and runs Hot Cup records.  http://www.moppaelliott.com

Dan Monaghan, a native of Mansfield, Pennsylvania who teaches percussion at Temple and Widener Universities, is one of Philadelphia's most in-demand drummers.  Dan has performed and/or recorded with jazz luminaries such as Eric Alexander, Peter Bernstein, Jimmy Bruno, Joe Magnarelli, and Randy Brecker and is equally at home playing straight-ahead jazz and aggressive rock and metal, making him the perfect drummer for Big Five Chord.

www.jonlundbom.com

www.facebook.com/BigFiveChord

www.twitter.com/BigFiveChord

http://www.instagram.com/JonLundbom

 

Multi-Instrumentalist Scott Robinson Returns to his First Love - the Tenor Saxophone - With a Stellar Quartet on Tenormore

For most saxophonists, the release of an album spotlighting the tenor would hardly merit notice. Scott Robinson, though, is not most saxophonists; in fact, it seems tremendously reductive to refer to him as merely a saxophonist. He is a master of that full family of instruments, of course, and over the past couple of decades has garnered great acclaim for his work on the baritone in particular, notably through his work with the Maria Schneider Orchestra. But he's also known as an avid collector of rare and obscure instruments, everything from the bass marimba to the sarrusophone to the contrabass banjo.

Despite his vast arsenal of exotic sound objects, the tenor saxophone remains Robinson's first love. On Tenormore (due out April 5 via Arbors Records), Robinson gets back to basics with the first all-tenor release in his extensive discography. Released just in time for his 60th birthday, it's at once an opportunity to look back and reconnect with an old friend, while at the same time offering the first document of his outstanding quartet with pianist Helen Sung, bassist Martin Wind, and drummer Dennis Mackrel.

"Tenormore is a very natural step for me," Robinson says. "The tenor saxophone is my main instrument, my home base, my comfort zone - if there is one. It's like the sun, and all the other instruments are like planets that revolve at varying distances. So I felt like it was time to make this album, to come out and make a statement: I'm still a tenor player at the core."

Robinson wears his history with the sax proudly - and quite literally: the hat that he sports on the album cover was crafted from 177 reeds that he's played over the years. But the sound of Tenormore is not just about the type of instrument that Robinson is playing; it's about a very specific tenor in particular: the silver 1924 Conn that he discovered in a Maryland antique shop in 1975 and has played ever since. In the liner notes, Robinson pens a moving love letter to the horn, which traces a life together with all of its triumphs and tragedies, from travels around the world to a near abandonment on a New Jersey Transit bus.

"I often say that we two are like an old married couple," he writes. "We roll our eyes but forgive each other's faults, because we've been together long enough to realize that we're better together than apart."

One imagines that Robinson speaks from experience. His wife Sharon (a relationship that predates even that with the '24 Conn, dating back to the 6th grade) plays flute on "The Weaver," a dedication to Robinson's father that opens with a short haiku recited by the elder Robinson at Scott and Sharon's wedding. Sharon also receives an homage via "Morning Star," a piece whose joy, tenderness and playful spirit paint the portrait of an ideal pairing. But the remainder of the album is all about the romance between a man and his horn, and it's one that's likely to sweep listeners up with its full range of emotions.

The album opens with Robinson's solo rendering of The Beatles classic "And I Love Her." While he makes the sacrilegious confession that he's "not a Beatles fan," he nonetheless got the four-note refrain stuck in his head one night, only exorcising it with this keening, heart-rending take, recorded late at night, after the rest of the band had left the studio, in one take with a split reed. The wear and exhaustion of a day's recording and a life's experience tells on both musician and instrument, in a most stirring, solitary fashion.

"Tenor Eleven" takes things in a decidedly more jaunty direction, with an elusive eleven-bar blues that Robinson tears into with delightful abandon. It's the first of three related originals on the album: "Tenor Twelve," originally recorded on his 1988 album Winds of Change and substantially transformed in this revisiting, features a tone both burly and sharply honed, often erupting into squeals of delight before ending with a punchy back and forth between Robinson and Mackrel. The title tune, which closes the session, slyly complicates things even further, with a series of ten-bar sections followed by an indeterminate number of additional bars. In practice, that leads to a series of intriguing and engaging interactions between the various members in rotating combinations.

Sung switches to organ for Wind's gospel-inflected contribution, "Rainy River." The piece was originally written for The American Place Theater's production of a one-man play based on Tim O'Brien's novel The Things They Carried, and the wisdom in Sung's lush exaltations and the composer's profound melodic musings fully captures the story's hard-earned life lessons.

The rest of the album consists of a number of perfectly-chosen standards. "Put On a Happy Face" becomes surprisingly melancholy in the quartet's delicate ballad reading, highlighted by Robinson's breathy, bittersweet blowing and the sympathetic caress of Sung's comping. "The Good Life" opens with the four bandmates enjoying just that, with a free improvisation that finds Robinson's sinuous tenor snaking around Wind's groaning bass, with Sung spiraling around them and Mackrel offering colorful punctuation - until the tension suddenly breaks into a relaxed stroll through the familiar melody. Finally, "The Nearness of You" offers one last left turn, this time into a sprightly, soulful funk vein with Sung returning to the organ.

With an album full of deep communications and small delights, Scott Robinson has once again shown off his ability to be anything but predictable. From the avant-garde excursions and mad-science fusions of his releases on his own ScienSonic Laboratories imprint to the more straightahead but equally thrilling tunes on Tenormore, the saxophonist enjoys an instrumental homecoming that makes perfect sense. "I love playing adventurous, hard to define music," he concludes. "But at the same time I love to swing, play tunes, and play ballads. I have fun combining things like three bass saxophones and marimba, but I still adore the tried and true piano-bass-drums rhythm section. It never gets old, and I need to do this too."

Scott Robinson and his unusual reed and brass instruments have been heard throughout 55 nations and 250 recordings with a cross-section of jazz greats representing nearly every imaginable style of the music, including Bob Brookmeyer, Tom Harrell, Frank Wess, Maria Schneider, Anthony Braxton, Joe Lovano, Ron Carter, Ella Fitzgerald, Ruby Braff and Roscoe Mitchell. Primarily a tenor saxophonist, Scott once placed directly below the great Sonny Rollins in the DownBeat Readers Poll. As a composer, his works range from solo performance pieces to chamber and symphonic works. He has been a writer of essays and liner notes, an invited speaker before the Congressional Black Caucus, and a Jazz Ambassador for the State Department. Scott releases highly adventurous music on his ScienSonic Laboratories label, and his Doctette (celebrating pulp adventure hero Doc Savage) gave what The Boston Globe called "the most quirky and delightful set" of the 2015 Newport Jazz Festival.