Saxophonist Chad Lefkowitz-Brown Recreates the Thrilling Spontaneity of an Informal Jam Session on Standard Sessions

Impromptu jam sessions are a crucial proving ground for young jazz musicians during their formative years - and for artists who thrive on spontaneity, they're also a heck of a lot of fun. While his increasingly busy calendar proves that saxophonist Chad Lefkowitz-Brown learned all the right lessons from those informal early gatherings, it also means that opportunities to enjoy such creative camaraderie have become fewer and farther between. So for his new digital-only release, Standard Sessions - now available via Sound Frame Records, available at www.chadlefkowitz-brown.com/music - Lefkowitz-Brown decided to make those opportunities happen. He invited some of his favorite musicians to gather together, blow on some familiar standards, and see what happens - just like in the old days.

Of course, for Lefkowitz-Brown the "old days" aren't really that old. The saxophonist arrived in NYC just eight years ago, and was fortunate to settle on the bottom floor of a house in Harlem where the basement lent itself to musical gatherings. "There was a drum set and an upright piano, so every day I would bring people over to have sessions," he recalls. "I look back fondly on those days as some of my favorite musical experiences, and they came out of just playing tunes in the basement."

Over the ensuing years, however, Lefkowitz-Brown found himself increasingly in demand: touring the world with pop superstar Taylor Swift, playing with jazz greats from Dave Brubeck to Clarence Penn, and performing as a member of Arturo O'Farrill's Grammy winning Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra. The friends he'd been jamming with were on their own career trajectories as well, meaning that none of them could spare much time for basement jam sessions.

"I started to miss it," Lefkowitz-Brown says, so he came up with the idea for the series of spur-of-the-moment recordings that became Standard Sessions. One thing that had changed since those no-pressure early days was Lefkowitz-Brown's diehard social media following. Using a few tricks that he'd learned from the media-savvy T-Swift and other observations of the pop music world, he has cultivated a worldwide fanbase numbering more than 70,000 followers across platforms like Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. For these jam sessions, those fans would become the virtual audience; each session was recorded and aired via YouTube, with 12 highlights now collected for this album, available via iTunes, Spotify, and other digital outlets (all 18 can be found at Lefkowitz-Brown's website).

Every session represented a unique first-time gathering, joining Lefkowitz-Brown with a rhythm section that had never played together before. The invitees represent a wide swath of the thriving Manhattan scene, cutting across generations, styles, and experience levels: pianists Manuel Valera, Carmen Staaf, Victor Gould, David Meder, Steven Feifke, Takeshi Ohbayashi, Adam Birnbaum, and Josh Richman; bassists Yasushi Nakamura, Jonathan Michel, Eric Wheeler, Tamir Shmerling, Ben Tiberio, Raviv Markovitz, and Ricky Rodriguez; and drummers Kush Abadey, Allan Mednard, Charles Goold, Michael Piolet, Bryan Carter, Chris Smith, Jeremy Dutton, and Darrian Douglas.

"There were people at the sessions that I'd known for 10 to 15 years," Lefkowitz-Brown says, "and then there were people that I'd known for 10 to 15 months. It was cool to see someone that I had known practically since childhood and someone I had only met recently playing together on the same session."

Two tunes, "On Green Dolphin Street" and "When Will the Blues Leave," feature Feifke, a pianist that Lefkowitz started collaborating with when both were teenagers, together with Piolet, a drummer he had met recently but never shared the bandstand with before that day. Then there were meetings between veterans like Cuban-born Valera, who has been in the city for nearly two decades, and newcomers like Tiberio, who had been on the scene for less than a year when they recorded their fiery take on "Alone Together."

To ensure the in-the-moment invention that he was seeking to replicate, Lefkowitz-Brown left the choice of tunes up to the assembled bands, decided on the day, just before they were recorded for posterity. Each piece was allowed a maximum of two takes, with most accomplished in one - or with the first one chosen for its raw vitality.

"Those first takes usually felt the best," Lefkowitz-Brown explains. "It's definitely harder to make things spontaneous when you have in your mind that this is actually going to be permanent, but I told everyone, 'If we don't like it, I'll trash it.' I think because of that everybody was able to go in there pretty relaxed and just feel like it was a jam back at my place in Harlem, which was my goal. I wanted to recreate what happened when people got together to just play tunes in a basement and have lunch together."

Hailed as a "sax phenom" by The New York Daily News, Chad Lefkowitz-Brown is one of the first prominent jazz musicians to emerge out of the millennial generation. He has toured globally as a soloist, and with numerous jazz artists and pop icons ranging from Arturo O'Farrill to Taylor Swift. Chad is also a member of the multi-Grammy Award winning Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra, and is on faculty at the San Francisco Conservatory as a visiting artist. DownBeat Magazine selected his latest release, Onward, which features jazz legend Randy Brecker, as an Editor's Pick for 2017, commending his "technical abilities that mask the difficulty of his wondrously intricate lines." His debut album, Imagery Manifesto, was named "Debut Album of the Year" by jazz critic and author Doug Ramsey. A native of Elmira, New York, Chad established himself as a jazz prodigy at age 11, performing throughout New York State under the mentorship of local jazz hero, George Reed, who was known for backing legends like Teddy Wilson, Buddy Tate, and Marian McPartland. Chad went on to pursue a formal education in the arts at the Brubeck Institute, a prestigious fellowship program created by jazz legend Dave Brubeck. While studying at the institute, he performed regularly with Brubeck and was a member of the Brubeck Institute Jazz Quintet. Chad received many accolades during his scholastic career, including 15 DownBeat Magazine Student Music Awards for categories such as "Best Jazz Soloist" and "Best Original Song." Since graduating from the Brubeck Institute, Chad has performed throughout four continents, and has appeared at venues including Carnegie Hall, the Super Bowl, and Madison Square Garden.

https://www.chadlb.com/

Acclaimed Toronto-based trio Myriad3 release Vera

Vera is the sound of a band at the very top of its game.  Released via Alma Records it is the fourth album from the acclaimed Toronto-based trio is an adventurous yet always accessible work that showcases both the compositional skills of each member and their considerable prowess as musicians.

The creative chemistry at play within Myriad3 (comprising keyboardist Chris Donnelly, bassist Dan Fortin, and drummer/multi-instrumentalist Ernesto Cervini) is perfectly complemented by the veteran team of producer Peter Cardinali and engineer/mixer John "Beetle" Bailey.  That dynamic duo has manned the board on all the group's albums to date, and their deep understanding of the Myriad3's sound and vision remains an invaluable asset.

The recording of Vera took place over a week at Toronto's Union Sound, with another few days devoted to judicious overdubs on some of the tracks.  Cervini adds bass clarinet, clarinet, flute, alto sax, glockenspiel and a host of percussion instruments, with Donnelly adding Fender Rhodes on "Couche Tard," synth on a couple of other tunes, and spoons on "Piano-Rag-Music."  Vera was recorded, mixed and mastered in ultira hi 24bit/192kHz resolution.

Setting the tone for Vera is the opening composition, Donnelly's "Pluie Lyonnaise," named for a very rainy concert in Lyon.  It has a peaceful and reflective feel, one mirrored by many of the other pieces here.  Donnelly notes that "our previous record, Moons, was quite dark, but this one is more tranquil."

To Fortin, "there is a meditative yet intense quality to our music.  I like the idea of making music that effectively stays in the same place yet builds too.  There is stasis but intensity and development too."  Those characteristics are present in such Fortin compositions as "Fortress" and the gently hypnotic album closer "Total."

The members of Myriad3 have refreshing eclectic and divergent musical tastes and inspirations.  Dan observes that "we all come from different places and listen to different music, but when a record is done it always feels cohesive and of a piece.  That is just a very natural process for us."

Fortin explains that his compositions came out of listening to a lot of shoegaze and hard rock styles.  "It was less about writing songs that sounded like that kind of music and more about capturing a vibe they feature," he says.  Such creative ingenuity is shared by Ernesto Cervini.  On Myriad3's second album, The Where, his tune "Der Trockner" was inspired by the sound of his clothes dryer.  On Vera, his piece "Tamboa" is, he explains, "based on a little wooden instrument that was a Christmas gift from my wife.  It is a mallet instrument, a little like a marimba, and I wrote the opening line on it that forms the basis of the composition."

The Myriad3 tradition of one outside cover per record is maintained in delightful style on Vera, as the trio puts a fresh spin on "Piano-Rag-Music," an Igor Stravinsky composition written in 1919.  Donnelly explains:  "I learned it years ago, then brought it to the band.  It is by turns hilarious, ironic and surreal, and we spent two years really digging into and rehearsing it."

Prior to recording, Myriad 3 work intensively on the material in rehearsal and then in performance, but there is always spontaneity in their approach.  "We don't decide in advance too much on the way things will be shaped.  We let it grow the way it wants to," Fortin explains.  To Donnelly, "Like all our records, Vera is a reflection of a period of time in which we get together an work things out.  It is a process, rather than something preconceived."

That process has served Myriad3 well.  The Where was nominated for a coveted Juno Award (the Canadian equivalent of a Grammy) in 2015 and the group is now in demand on both the European and North American jazz festival and club circuits.

Within the jazz sphere, most groups are built around one leader, but the full-blooded democratic nature of Myriad3 is a real strength.  "What pleases me most is seeing how we have developed, musically and personal," says Cervini, while Donnelly notes, "it allows us to grow and flow."

The growth of Myriad3 is showcased compellingly on Vera, an album worthy of your close attention.

Sound Underground Returns to Shatter Limitations of Acoustic Instruments on Power of Three

Entering their sixth year, chamber trio Sound Underground returns with their third release Power of Three. While their sophomore effort Quiet Spaces dwelled reflectively in the intimacy of their unconventional instrumentation – trumpet, alto saxophone and guitar – Power of Three strives to shatter the limitations of sonic possibility with these three acoustic instruments. Across 71 minutes of original music, the trio perseveres to turn new stones.

Sound Underground, made up of saxophonist David Leon, trumpeter Alec Aldred and guitarist Jonah Udall, hopes to reflect stories of life through each track on Power of Three. “The palate of sounds we hear on a daily basis, the things that often go by unnoticed, we try to include them all in the music in an effort to achieve a total experience of life through sound,” Leon explains.

Using a distinctive approach, the album was recorded live and without isolation, in a single session, which allowed no room for the trio’s natural intimacy to be compromised. “There’s a deep comfort in knowing each other as well as we do – the months we’ve spent on the road, the years living together,” Aldred muses. “We can constantly take risks, really put ourselves out there, fully knowing the other two will be right there with us no matter what.” Jonah adds, “We’re definitely a sum that’s greater than its parts.”

Within this deep cohesion, their raw transparency displays three compelling personalities that are as different as they are complementary. All three members are unique composers in their own right, with a share of credits on the album. But as Udall describes, “every piece really bears each of our stamp. The music often winds up sounding nothing like what we first brought in after rehearsing it together and making it our own.”

Power of Three begins with the stark jabs of its title track, that press forward with a relentlessly joyous momentum. It is the exemplary expression of their democratic approach to the trio, a kaleidoscope of three equal voices.

Leon’s “Sun Stealer” takes a dark turn, doling out exacting mixed meters that navigates with relaxed precision. This makes way for a trifecta of exploratory ventures into the acoustic possibilities of the guitar. “I’m fascinated with the physicality of it,” Udall confesses. “It’s really a percussion instrument, a complex string-drum, and when I look at it that way I never stop finding new sounds.”

Udall’s “Belltones” follows, blossoming into a harmonic palate, which Leon and Udall weave together under a heartfelt trumpet solo. “False Alarm” leaps back with sharp angles, beginning with interlocking horn flurries and traversing a surprising variety of terrain. It features solos from each member – a rubato guitar moment, a trumpet showcase, and ending with ambient saxophone sounds. “Its an anti-solo,” Leon quips. “I’m trying to blend into the noise that might have happened by accident if we hadn’t been there.” He continues, “sometimes I just want to sound like a lamppost.”

“Demon Dance” is a fiery tribute to the trio’s love of Bulgarian folk music, which became a shared passion when they toured Bulgaria in 2014 and 2015. The melody settles into a simmering alto solo in a traditional kopanitsa 11/16. This paves the way for the genuine sweetness of Aldred’s “Feet in the Ground,” which humorously deconstructs a simple melody with lively horn interplay.

“The Potentialist” begins in open improvisation and finds its way to a tiptoeing melody and solos by the horn men. Aldred’s “Restful Rapture” experiments with the trading of winding melodies between all three instruments, which suddenly downshifts into a heavy, guitar-driven anthem.

An infectious groove takes over on “Smile Back,” which finishes with a Baroque fugue. It leads into the album’s 11-minute saga “Slow to Anger, Rich in Kindness,” which journeys from angular pointillistic harmony through driving power chords into a Meshuggah-inspired bassline, and peaks with an encounter between Leon and the saxophone. He laughs, “Sometimes I like to sound like a blender, too.” And through it all, they can’t help but sound only like themselves.

After that, the album’s single true ballad, Leon’s “By Myself,” speaks a few statements of its powerful melody. Power of Three concludes with “Lodore” – Udall’s tribute to “the unassuming power of water” inspired by the Green River in his fatherland of Utah. Leon channels this power into a final saxophone eruption.

Based in New York City, Sound Underground is a compact trio with an expansive imagination. Their inquisitive approach is guided by words of wisdom from jazz legend Wayne Shorter: "You've got to go down in the basement and visit every note.” Hailed by JazzTimes as "an inimitable and profoundly special group sound,” saxophonist David Leon, trumpeter Alec Aldred and guitarist Jonah Udall draw on a broad array of influences – from Cool Jazz to 20th century chamber music, to Americana and Balkan folklore – to distill a unique and personal voice.

The trio’s music emanates the warmth of close friendships. They hail from far-flung corners of the United States - Udall is from Berkeley, California, Aldred from Waukesha, Wisconsin, and Leon from Miami, Florida - and formed in 2013 while living together in Miami, building the personal bonds that ground their strong musical connection. One can hear it in their performance, which is infused with the kind of trust that can only be built over years, on the bandstand and off.

Sound Underground has toured across 13 states on all sides of the U.S. They have appeared on the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage, as well as at four major international jazz festivals in Mexico, Bulgaria and Serbia. Their sophomore album Quiet Spaces was selected for Best of Fall 2016 lists by Jazziz Magazine and Bandcamp.com.

Saxophonist Kyle Nasser Strikes a Vivid Balance Between the Cerebral and the Sensual on New Album Persistent Fancy

"'Tis no sin for a man to labour in his vocation." The words of Sir John Falstaff, Shakespeare's great tragicomic rogue, grace the inside cover of Persistent Fancy, the latest release by saxophonist/composer Kyle Nasser. Granted, Nasser's passionate pursuit of jazz is more easily defensible than Falstaff's chosen profession of purse-snatching, but The Bard's use of eloquent language in the mouth of such an incorrigible, gluttonous rascal has a strong appeal for the saxophonist, who strikes his own musical balance between the cerebral and the sensual.

Persistent Fancy is highlighted by a pair of three-part suites that straddle that boundary: the "Baroque Suite," inspired in particular by Shostakovich's Preludes and Fugues, foregrounds the elegance of classical composition, while the "Eros Suite" dwells on the carnal, tracing the stages of desire from initial attraction through consummation to reflection. As with all of Nasser's music, however, the intellectual and the emotional coexist vividly in both, epitomizing the same mix of impulses that makes Shakespearean characters like Prince Hal so compellingly complex.

"Prince Hal had a very dissolute upbringing, palling around with Falstaff, this fat, comic philosopher, then has to leave that behind to become King Henry V," explains Nasser, who explores the prince's maturation in his piece "The Ascent of Henry Monmouth." The wry wisdom of Falstaff echoes that of Svidrigailov in Crime and Punishment, whose words provided the epigraph for Nasser's previous release, Restive Soul. "I always find that the best insight in literature comes from the most evil characters, or at least the characters that live outside the mainstream."

In assembling the ensemble to breathe life into the music of Persistent Fancy, Nasser surrounded himself with stellar musicians who can deftly navigate the blend of intricacy and fire that these compositions require. Guitarist Jeff Miles and keyboardist Dov Manski return from Restive Soul; drummer Allan Mednard has worked with the likes of Kurt Rosenwinkel and Melissa Aldana, bassist Nick Jost swerves between acoustic jazz virtuosity and powerhouse electric playing with heavy metal band Baroness, and Cuban-born alto saxophonist Roman Filiú is an innovative voice who has performed with Henry Threadgill, David Murray, and Chucho Valdés.

Much as Shakespeare's young prince changed paths to follow his life's true calling, Nasser switched gears at a key moment in his own life - albeit somewhat less dramatically. Where Hal left behind a misspent youth to rule a kingdom, Nasser changed his focus from Economics and Political Philosophy, which he studied at Harvard, to pursue his love of jazz after crossing paths with iconic pianist Hank Jones. He went on to Berklee College of Music and hasn't looked back since, though he's never wholly turned his back on his intellectual and literary interests.

Persistent Fancy, in fact, takes its title from an idea posited by the poet and philosopher Samuel Taylor Coleridge (best known for "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"), who contrasted the invention of new concepts (imagination) versus the assembling of pre-existing thoughts or notions (fancy). Nasser comes down on the side of 20th century critic T.E. Hulme, who countered that modern art should thrive on fancy as it relates to familiar experience rather than high-flown fantasies.

"I was thinking about the way that thoughts tend to recur over and over again," Nasser says. "Even if they're not the deepest thoughts in the world, they can be insistent and keep coming back so that you can't shake them. That's not imagination, it's not earth-shattering, it's fancy - persistent fancy." The title track is built on that sort of insistent recurrence, with recurring melodic lines over a cyclical ostinato.

Playing from the gut is one way of praising impassioned musicality, but it became a very literal struggle for Nasser during the writing of this album. Persistent pain prevented him from playing for a time, until a physical therapist finally discovered that scar tissue in his abdomen was the cause; it was during Nasser's recovery that several of the pieces on Peristent Fancy were composed, including the opening piece, "Split Gut," which celebrates the recovery of his voice in dialogue with Roman Filiú's alto.

The surging "Arrival" was initially written for a trio gig in Chile, where Nasser was collaborating with his bandmate in the collective quartet Beekman, Chilean drummer Rodrigo Recabarren. Miles is given free rein to shred over the bombastic grooves of Jost and Mednard on "Sticky Hipster," named in homage to the rock-inclined denizens of Nasser's Brooklyn neighborhood.

Despite following the "Eros Suite," Nasser's "3-Way" takes its title from a radio term, not a sexual innuendo. On the air it refers to a conversation between three people, reflecting the tripartite melodic voices of the composition. The album's sole non-original tune is "Arioso," an excerpt from German composer Paul Hindemith's "Ludus Tonalis." Finally, the ebullient "Coffee and Cannabis" ends the album on a joyful note, finally giving in to those minor vices that may not provide a vocation but can make life that much more enjoyable.

A Massachusetts native and graduate of both Harvard and Berklee, Kyle Nasser has been described as possessing "superlative musicianship as a performer, writer and a bandleaderŠardent creativity and urbane artistic composure" (All About Jazz). Since moving to New York City in 2010, he has played at some of the city's most prestigious venues - including the Blue Note, Smalls, Iridium, 55 Bar, and Cornelia St. Cafe - and has toured the U.S. and South America. Nasser has shared the stage with jazz luminaries such as Jim Hall, Hank Jones, Joe Lovano, Dave Douglas, Rich Perry, Ethan Iverson, Michael Formanek, and Ben Monder, among others. In addition to leading his own group, he also plays with and composes for the international collective Beekman, whose sound has been described as "a joyful and continued speculation flowing in almost all facts with surprising ease" (Jazz, ese ruido). Nasser's 2015 debut, Restive Soul, features his quintet presenting "a collection of sophisticated and complex modern jazz originals" (Jazz Weekly). The album's songs weave together sonata forms, baroque to 20th century counterpoint, and modern rhythms with modern jazz vocabulary. "The saxophonist's debut is knotty with a contrapuntal weave of voices, bumpy mixed meters, and alternating rhythmic currents that nonetheless groove, sometime with a rocking edge" (Boston Globe).

kylenasser.com

Arthur 'Big Boy' Crudup Nub Classics - The Best Of Arthur 'Big Boy' Crudup

Arthur Crudup may well have been Elvis Presley's favorite bluesman. The swivel-hipped rock god recorded no less than three of "Big Boy's" Victor classics during his seminal rockabilly heyday: "That's All Right Mama" (Elvis' Sun debut in 1954), "So Glad You're Mine," and "My Baby Left Me." Often lost in all the hubbub surrounding Presley's classic covers are Crudup's own contributions to the blues lexicon. He didn't sound much like anyone else, and that makes him an innovator, albeit a rather rudimentary guitarist (he didn't even pick up the instrument until he was 30 years old).

Around 1940, Crudup migrated to Chicago from Mississippi. Times were tough at first; he was playing for spare change on the streets and living in a packing crate underneath an elevated train track when powerful RCA/Bluebird producer Lester Melrose dropped a few coins in Crudup's hat. Melrose hired Crudup to play a party that 1941 night at Tampa Red's house attended by the cream of Melrose's stable: Big Bill Broonzy, Lonnie Johnson, Lil Green. A decidedly tough crowd to impress -- but Crudup overcame his nervousness with flying colors. By September of 1941, he was himself an RCA artist.

Crudup pierced the uppermost reaches of the R&B lists during the mid-'40s with "Rock Me Mama," "Who's Been Foolin' You," "Keep Your Arms Around Me," "So Glad You're Mine," and "Ethel Mae." He cut the original "That's All Right" in 1946 backed by his usual rhythm section of bassist Ransom Knowling and drummer Judge Riley, but it wasn't a national hit at the time. Crudup remained a loyal and prolific employee of Victor until 1954, when a lack of tangible rewards for his efforts soured Crudupon Nipper (he had already cut singles in 1952 for Trumpet disguised as Elmer James and for Checker as Percy Lee Crudup).

In 1961, Crudup surfaced after a long layoff with an album for Bobby Robinson's Harlem-based Fire logo dominated by remakes of his Bluebird hits. Another lengthy hiatus preceded Delmark boss Bob Koester's following the tip of Big Joe Williams to track down the elusive legend (Crudup had drifted into contract farm labor work in the interim). Happily, the guitarist's sound hadn't been dimmed by Father Time: his late-'60s work for Delmark rang true as he was reunited with Knowling (Willie Dixonalso handled bass duties on some of his sides). Finally, Crudup began to make some decent money, playing various blues and folk festivals for appreciative crowds for a few years prior to his 1974 death.

Pianist Fred Hersch Revisits his First Stint as a Bandleader at New York's Most Iconic Nightclub on Fred Hersch Trio '97 @ The Village Vanguard

For jazz fans it might be difficult to imagine a time when pianist/composer Fred Hersch was not intimately associated with the Village Vanguard. For more than two decades the iconic New York City nightclub has been a home base for Hersch, who performs there for packed houses three times a year and has recorded some of his most acclaimed albums on its historic stage.

But there is, of course, a first time for everything - and for Fred Hersch that first time was in July 1997. Not his first time playing at the Vanguard, which he'd done regularly since 1979 with a host of legendary bandleaders including Joe Henderson, Art Farmer, Lee Konitz, Ron Carter, Al Foster and others. That mid-summer week in 1997 was his first of many stints at the venue as a bandleader in his own right, placing him in the hallowed company of such icons as John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, and Charles Mingus.

Fortunately, Hersch and his trio's three Friday night sets were captured for posterity and now, after 21 years, the pianist has hand-picked his favorite moments on Fred Hersch Trio '97 @ The Village Vanguard, due for release on December 7, 2018 via Palmetto Records. The album's eight tunes - a mix of Songbook standards, classic jazz compositions and original pieces - captures the Fred Hersch Trio of that time at the height of their estimable powers. Bassist Drew Gress and drummer Tom Rainey had been working with Hersch for five years at the point that they took the Vanguard stage, and those years shine through in the band's vigorous swing, highly charged interplay, and sheer joy in discovery that they find in one another's playing.

"It meant everything," Hersch says of his first week at the Vanguard. "For me, it's equivalent to the first time a classical musician plays at Carnegie Hall. It's the greatest jazz club in the world."

Beyond its historical significance in Hersch's career, this new collection is also a welcome addition to his discography in that it's the only live recording of this much-loved trio. For those who weren't fortunate enough to catch them live, Hersch's work with Gress and Rainey could only be heard in its purest form on a pair of studio albums released by the Chesky label: 1993's Dancing in the Dark and 1994's Plays. (On Point in Time (1995) they were supplemented by trumpeter Dave Douglas and saxophonist Rich Perry, while they were joined by a full string orchestra on 1996's Passion Flower: Fred Hersch Plays Billy Strayhorn. This release also marks the earliest available live recording by Hersch aside from his solo concert Live at Maybeck from 1993.

It had taken Hersch 18 years to graduate from sideman to leader at the Vanguard simply because he insisted on waiting until he could be joined by his own trio rather than an all-star band assembled for the occasion. "I was very stubborn about wanting to do it on my own terms with my own band," Hersch recalls. "That's why it took so long. I didn't want to just go in there once and then not come back. That does happen. I insisted on throwing it down the way I wanted to."

The wisdom of that decision is amply evident in the profound chemistry shared by the trio throughout Fred Hersch Trio '97 @ The Village Vanguard. The album opens with a robust romp through "Easy To Love" that showcases the trio's muscular but elastic way with rhythm. The sensitivity of Gress' playing comes to the fore on "My Funny Valentine," while Rainey's sharp-honed propulsion drives "Three Little Words" and prompts Hersch to take sharp curves at breakneck pace in his solo. The first of two Hersch originals, "Evanessence" pays homage to one of the pianist's most respected predecessors on the Vanguard bench, Bill Evans. "Swamp Thang," meanwhile, digs deep into the murky groove suggested by the title.

Gress contributes "Andrew John," introduced by a compelling solo rumination by Hersch before the trio contributes some of its most sparse and tender accents. With a contained intensity, "I Wish I Knew" exercises the bandmates' gifts for subtle dynamic shifts, and "You Don't Know What Love Is" ends the album at a blistering pace, at once staggeringly virtuosic and gleefully thrilling.

Listening back to the recordings all these years later, Hersch hears a band playing with remarkable confidence and abandon given the HIV-positive pianist's personal health concerns at the time. Just over a decade later he would be placed in a medically-induced coma after a bad case of pneumonia; another ten years have passed since, affording the pianist an insightful perspective. "I was pleasantly surprised at how much authority and attention to detail everyone was playing with," he says. "Maybe if I would have listened to it a week after the concerts I would have heard the flaws, but with this much distance I think it stacks up with any of my better trio albums."

The album is certainly a worthy addition to Hersch's catalogue, even at a time when his current trio (with John Hébert and Eric McPherson) is scaling unprecedented heights, as it did on this year's highly-acclaimed Live in Europe. But just as importantly, Fred Hersch Trio '97 @ The Village Vanguard adds another chapter to the rich history shared by a revered artist and a legendary venue.

"Having my photo on the wall of the Village Vanguard means more to me than a Grammy Award," Hersch reflects. "That's one of the accomplishments that I'm proudest of, and it signifies my long and deep relationship with the club. There is magic there."

A select member of jazz's piano pantheon, Fred Hersch is a pervasively influential creative force who has shaped the music's course over more than three decades as an improviser, composer, educator, bandleader, collaborator and recording artist. He has been proclaimed "the most arrestingly innovative pianist in jazz over the last decade" by Vanity Fair, "an elegant force of musical invention" by The L.A. Times, and "a living legend" by The New Yorker. A twelve-time Grammy nominee, Hersch has regularly garnered jazz's most prestigious awards, including recent distinctions as a 2016 Doris Duke Artist, 2016 and 2018 Jazz Pianist of the Year from the Jazz Journalists Association, and the 2017 Prix Honorem de Jazz from L'Acádemie Charles Cros for the totality of his career. With more than three dozen albums to his credit as a leader or co-leader, Hersch consistently receives lavish critical praise and numerous international awards for each highly anticipated new release. In 2017, he released his acclaimed memoir, Good Things Happen Slowly (Crown Archetype Books/Random House), which compellingly reveals the story of his life in music along with a frank recounting of his struggles and triumphs as the first openly gay, HIV-positive jazz musician. The book was named one of 2017's Five Best Memoirs by the Washington Post and The New York Times. As a composer, Hersch has earned distinction with such visionary pieces as 2003's Leaves of Grass, a large-scale setting of Walt Whitman's poetry, and the 2010 multimedia project My Coma Dreams.

fredhersch.com

Drummer Devin Gray reconvenes his Dirigo Rataplan band of master musicians - with Ellery Eskelin, Michael Formanek & Dave Ballou - for second album, Dirigo Rataplan II

There are times when music lovers can just feel a talent coming into his or her own, when that artist is someone to catch onstage or on record at every opportunity. Drummer-composer Devin Gray has arrived at such a moment. The Brooklyn-based artist made his leader debut in 2012 with the Skirl Records release Dirigo Rataplan, which featured him fronting the eponymous band with tenor saxophonist Ellery Eskelin, bassist Michael Formanek and trumpeter Dave Ballou, each a master improviser renowned far and wide among fans of creative music. Cadence magazine declared that initial disc to be "fantastic," while JazzTimes said that Gray's debut represented "the work of a young artist who knows who he is."

Now, after six years of intensive experience as a leader and sideman on both sides of the Atlantic, Gray has reconvened this all-star group for Dirigo Rataplan II. Time Out New York has praised Gray's compositions for balancing "formal elasticity with a meticulous sense of pacing." The new album brims with more earworm melody, richly implied harmony and a loose-limbed sense of rhythm as something physical and flowing - as blood, as breath. Fans of jazz from Ornette Coleman and Henry Threadgill to Dave Holland and Craig Taborn will dig this organic mix of composition and improvisation, structure and freedom, atmosphere and dynamism.

About the evolution of Dirigo Rataplan and his writing for the band, Gray says: "I've become more at ease with following my natural artistic impulses. The experiences I've had over the past six years have been so inspiring - in the intense, ultra-energized New York jazz scene, of course, but also in Europe, where players in improvised music are so open to different genres and have this holistic approach to art and creativity. With Dirigo Rataplan II, there is more free improvisation in the music, but I also think the melodic fluidity between the composition and the improvisation is more seamless, with one flowing into the other in a way that I really like. This music is personal for me, but Iwant Mike, Ellery and Dave to do what it is they do, to maximize the pieces in the way that I know they can."

About working with Gray, Formanek says: "Devin has grown as a composer since that first quartet recording session in 2011, but most important, he has a much more evolved sense of who he is? as a musician, and also of who we are in the band as improvisers. These instincts take time to develop, and it has been great to see that process unfold in both his playing and his composing. This music is free and open with a lot of room for improvisation, but the tunes also have an intrinsic rhythmic and melodic character to them, a color and energy. With the quartet having played together more now, the sessions for the new album felt even better."

For Gray, what is most vital about Formanek "is not just that his tone and sense of time are so incredible. It's also that he cares so much about doing whatever he can to ensure the quality of the music in front of him. He's a composer's improviser, in that way. I feel this total, unspoken trust with him." About Eskelin, Gray says: "Ellery sets the bar so high for improvisation. The fluidity of his solos, the intense forward motion - that's what New York musicians have more than anyone else." Regarding Ballou, the drummer adds: "I've known Dave's playing intimately since I was a kid. I don't think he has ever sounded better, with that beautiful tone and wide palette of expression. He brings a strong interpretive sense to my music in that he anticipates what I'm looking for, yet via his own sensibility. Working with cats like this, you don't have to worry about individualism - it's in everything they do. They bring what are just notes on a page to real life."

Reflecting further on Dirigo Rataplan II, Gray concludes: "I don't set out to make jazz records, per se. I set out to make music, period - to capture the moment, the contemporary feel of the music, hoping that it can reflect in some small way how we live now and what we all have to deal with as human beings in the world."

In addition to Dirigo Rataplan, Devin Gray leads the quartet Relative Resonance, featuring Chris Speed, Kris Davis and Chris Tordini. Reviewing that band's eponymous Skirl Records album, All About Jazz said: "The vitality of Relative Resonance can't be denied... the music here literally sparkles with wit and resourcefulness." On record, Gray has also led his Cloudsounds trio (with Ingrid Laubrock and Corey Smythe) and his quartet Fashionable Pop Music (with Tordini, Jonathan Goldberger and Ryan Ferreira). He recently released a hard-grooving digital single fronting his quartet Meta Cache with Jeremy Viner, Elias Stemeseder and Kim Cass.

As a sideman, Gray has recorded recent albums as part of Nate Wooley's Argonautica sextet, trumpeter Daniel Levine's trio Knuckleball (with Marc Hannaford) and a trio led by pianist Santiago Leibson (with Drew Gress). Of late, the drummer has played with Dave Liebman and Tony Malaby, along with touring Europe at the head of a trio with Speed and Gress. Gray's recent collaborators also include Gerald Cleaver, Uri Caine, Andrea Parkins, Satoko Fuji, Richard Bonnet, Daniel Guggenheim, Marc Ducret, Frank Gratkowski, Jacob Anderskov, Eve Risser and Susana Santos Silva.

Renowned Trombonist JOHN FEDCHOCK Releases "REMINISCENCE"

REMINISCENCE, the newest CD by JOHN FEDCHOCK, will surely enhance his already stellar reputation as a trombone master. The CD is a follow-up to his 2015 release Fluidity. Fedchock culled tunes for both CDs from a live show he performed over three nights with his quartet in a club in Virginia Beach, VA, called Havana Nights. Although the club has since closed, it was a beautiful, intimate space that was acoustically designed for recording with state-of-the-art equipment. 

Although he’s garnered many accolades and awards for his larger ensembles, playing in a small club with just his quartet gives Fedchock and the band opportunities to stretch out and take chances. “Playing in this setting allows the players more of a chance to interact and create an intimate conversation through improvisation,” says Fedchock. “It offers endless possibilities for making good music.” Fedchock’s tone is warm and perfectly articulated. He eschews mere pyrotechnics for a swinging lyricism. He updates standards with a 21st century feel through his solid, modern arrangements while still embracing the heritage and provenance of the music. 

The CD comprises a mix of jazz standards and Fedchock originals. Fedchock released the first group of tunes from this session on Fluidity in 2015. “I had a lot of fun on this gig,” Fedchock exclaims. “The entire group did, and I think you can hear that in the music. So I later revisited the music from the entire live recording session, and with the benefit of time and perspective, I came to the realization that the remaining tunes that didn’t make the first recording really deserved their own release.” Fedchock is a sophisticated, sensitive trombonist, arranger, and composer. There are many exciting moments on 

REMINISCENCE, and the performances by all the musicians are outstanding. This CD is not merely a follow-up to Fluidity but a project that stands on its own. It is a superb example of the magic that great jazz artists can conjure when all the stars align.

New Music: Luca - Lions; Gary Burton - Take Another Look: A Career Retrospective; Aimee Nolte – Looking For The Answers

Luca - Lions

Influenced by the laid-back neo-soul of D'Angelo, Ms. Lauryn Hill, and Anderson .paak, and the expressive lyricism of Joni Mitchell, Kendrick Lamar, and Elliot Smith, Lions is the culmination of a childhood of musical discovery. Written, recorded, and co-produced by Luca (vocals/keyboards), backed by seasoned session musicians Jordan Scannella (bass), Sean Dixon (drums), and Josh Dion (synth bass/drums), and joined by a horn section of rising jazz musicians Zaq Davis and James Haddad (both trumpet), all at the helm of prolific producer and engineer David Lawrence Goldman, Lions is an immersive musical calendar, with each song dedicated to a month of the year. Luca, a jazz pianist and singer-songwriter from NYC, is only 18 but musically an old soul. Inspired by the great concept records of the 1970s, he creates a vivid sonic landscape for each season, in which songs live and breathe. From "Spring Again," a vibrant homage to the synth-rich funk of Stevie Wonder, to "Saint Sulpice," a passionate plea for honest love inspired by a choral concert in a church in Paris, the album is a window into a year in Luca's life. Like the passage of time, Lions is cyclical, beginning where it ends; more importantly, it's music that we can all get down to.

Gary Burton - Take Another Look: A Career Retrospective

Mack Avenue was honored to be Gary Burton’s final home, releasing two critically acclaimed albums by his remarkable New Quartet featuring guitarist and protégé Julian Lage, bassist Scott Colley, and drummer Antonio Sánchez. But Take Another Look encompasses the entirety of Burton’s 50+ year career, from his attention-grabbing early releases for industry powerhouse RCA Victor, through his wide-ranging sessions for Atlantic and his iconic ECM recordings, on to his fusion-era reinvention on GRP and his eclectic and generation-spanning efforts for Concord and Mack Avenue.

Aimee Nolte – Looking For The Answers

LOOKING FOR THE ANSWERS, the newest album by AIMEE NOLTE, is a compelling showcase for this multi-talented artist’s first-rate vocal, piano, and compositional skills. Nolte is a successful YouTube creator with over 140,000 subscribers, where she shares her music and educational ideas, such as harmony, arranging, and advanced jazz piano technique. LOOKING FOR THE ANSWERS consists of several of Nolte’s original compositions as well as three reimagined standards. An accomplished arranger, Nolte expands her already substantial musical vocabulary by using orchestral-type scoring for woodwind instruments on a couple of tracks. Based in Los Angeles, Nolte is joined by some of the best players in Southern California, including bassist BRUCE LETT, guitarist MIKE SCOTT, woodwinds players JOHN REILLY and DOUG WEBB, and drummer JAMES YOSHIZAWA. Legendary bass player JOHN CLAYTON appears on one tune, performing a voice and bass duet with Nolte on “Bye Bye Blackbird.” Aimee Nolte is a singer, pianist, composer and arranger whose personality imbues her work. Married for many years, Nolte is a mother of four whose innate 

Pianist David Hazeltine Joins Two Fellow Jazz Masters, Bassist Ron Carter and Drummer Al Foster, for The Time Is Now

We all have it: that nagging list of things we’ve been meaning to get to, projects we’ve been thinking about for years, goals that we just keep putting off for another day. With The Time Is Now, pianist/composer David Hazeltine decides to finally seize the moment and bring one of his long-delayed dream projects to fruition. The new album, available now on Smoke Sessions Records, finds one of the top pianists of his generation forging an impeccably swinging partnership with two other masters: bassist Ron Carter and drummer Al Foster.

As usual, it took a heady dose of reality to inspire Hazeltine to take this trio outing off of the back burner and bring it to life. Nearing his 60th birthday (which will coincide with the release of the new record), Hazeltine faced a health scare that forced a change in perspective. Realizing that there’s no time like the present, he insisted on finding a time in three very busy schedules when these great artists could share some time in the studio.

These men all come directly from the straight-ahead jazz tradition; though Hazeltine is a generation younger than his two bandmates, he spent many years working with such giants of the music as Sonny Stitt, Chet Baker, Eddie Harris, and Buddy Montgomery. He’s since become one of the leading torchbearers for that estimable standard, both on his own and through his work with the swinging super-group One For All. His efforts have made him one of the most-streamed straight-ahead jazz artists alive today, and he’s passing his knowledge onto new generations through his teaching, clinics and online workshops.

On this occasion, Hazeltine had no interest in reinventing the wheel, but set out to create amazing music from familiar ingredients – just as Carter and Foster have done throughout their remarkable careers. “I’ve always thought of creating music – and perhaps all art – as a way to impose order on a chaotic world,” he says. “It’s an opportunity to make beautiful the not always beautiful human condition, and I was so happy to finally have Ron and Al to do it with me!”

Those qualities are on full display throughout The Time Is Now, from the tasteful elegance of Hazeltine’s title track through the blistering closer “Signals,” a showcase for Foster’s crisp attack and mighty sound. While he had spent countless hours listening to both men’s work, and had a good deal of experience playing with Foster, Hazeltine faced a daunting task in writing for the trio – the three had, after all, never worked together as a band, and he’d only shared the studio with Carter on one other occasion.

“I wanted to do something new and push myself out of my comfort zone when composing and arranging for this recording,” he says. “I’d never recorded trio with Ron and Al and I knew that I wanted the music to be above all beautiful, swinging, and harmonically interesting, yet not overly arranged. That would allow the three of us to do what we do best: creating and improvising on a framework.”

Finally having the chance to hear these three masterful musicians conversing together, one may regret that it hasn’t happened sooner, or more often. But in the hands of such visionary and skilled artists, The Time Is Now is a notion that’s always true – no matter the time.

Pianist Aruán Ortiz and Clarinetist/Saxophonist Don Byron Release Random Dances and (A)tonalitieson

Though their journeys began in different countries and their stars rose a generation apart, pianist Aruán Ortiz and clarinetist/saxophonist Don Byron share a sweeping curiosity about the scope and history of music as well as a bold adventurousness that has allowed them to explore that wide-ranging soundscape with keen invention and incisive wit. Their debut outing as a duo, Random Dances and (A)tonalities, finds the pair engaged in a series of scintillating musical dialogues that entrance with the compelling interplay and intellectual spark of the best conversations.

Unsurprisingly given both artists' expansive tastes, the repertoire they take on together runs the gamut from reverent investigations of beloved classics to radical transformations of jazz standards; rigorous but nuanced renditions of classical compositions along with freewheeling improvisatory ventures; inspired original pieces and heartfelt tributes to mentors and influences. As the title encapsulates, Random Dances and (A)tonalities (out October 19 via Intakt Records) contains multitudes, alternately (sometimes simultaneously) enchanting and challenging, harmonious and fractious, stark and sublime.

"I'm from Santiago de Cuba and Don's from the Bronx and his family's from the Caribbean," Ortiz says. "The element of dancing is always there in our music, even if we're not playing salsa or calypso. That's why they're Random Dances: we expand the idea of dance beyond the dance floor to whenever you hear something that moves you. What does dance really mean? And (A)tonalities comes from the fact that we move freely in and out of a tonal zone, but we always come back."

The Cuban-born, Brooklyn-based Ortiz connected with Byron through a meeting of the minds long before the two were ever introduced. Playing with longtime Byron collaborator Ralph Peterson, Ortiz was fascinated by the harmonic movement and intricate architecture of the drummer's compositions. Asked for some insight, Peterson simply responded, "I got all that from Don Byron."

Over the next several years Ortiz became highly regarded in the jazz world for his daring pianism and profound originality, whether combining his Cuban roots with progressive jazz concepts or combining his improvisatory language with stunning chamber music compositions. He's collaborated with many of the most advanced thinkers across a range of creative musics: Wadada Leo Smith, Esperanza Spalding, Wallace Roney, Nicole Mitchell, William Parker, Oliver Lake, Terri Lyne Carrington, the Milena Zullo Ballet, DJ Logic, The Last Poets' Abiodun Oyewole, and countless others.

It's difficult to summarize the divergent paths that Byron's music has taken. Having studied with Third Stream innovator George Russell at New England Conservatory, Byron personalized that compositional vocabulary to devise his own unique approach. An avid music historian, he's focused his attentions on everything from klezmer to cartoon music, the soul fire of Junior Walker and the heavy sounds of the Black Rock Coalition, along the way playing with everyone from Living Colour to Bill Frisell, Cassandra Wilson to Steve Coleman, Allen Toussaint to Uri Caine.

In 2014, Ortiz invited Byron to take part in "Music & Architecture," a series of concerts inspired by the composer Iannis Xenakis. Soon the clarinetist was calling on the pianist for regular gigs with a variety of ensembles, until finally they decided to try a duo outing. "Don is well versed in so many musical styles and languages," Ortiz says. "The music for this duo came very naturally."

The album opens with Ortiz's "Tete's Blues," written in honor of his oldest son, who he nicknamed "Tete" after the great Spanish pianist Tete Montoliu, a major influence. As Byron's questing lines navigate Ortiz's strident keyboard surges, tempos collide in elusive ways inspired by the pianist's studies with Muhal Richard Abrams. The late AACM founder's concepts also fueled Ortiz's shadowy "Numbers," while his "Arabesque of a Geometrical Rose (Spring)" is the full realization of a piece originally recorded on the pianist's album Hidden Voices, expressing the tune's interwoven counter-melodies in a way impossible in the piano trio setting.

Byron's stunning compositional imagination can be heard on "Joe Btfsplk," a cubist abstraction of the bebop standard "Donna Lee" named for the bearer of bad luck from Al Capp's classic comic strip "Li'l Abner." The darkly moving "Delphian Nuptials" was originally penned as part of Byron's score for a documentary on playwright Lorraine Hansberry, though the duo fully communicates its complex moods without the aid of visuals.

Ortiz became familiar with "Black and Tan Fantasy" through the famed Thelonious Monk rendition, while Byron grew up hearing the Duke Ellington original; those two disparate approaches fuel the intriguing tension in this new version. The later Geri Allen was another formative influence on Ortiz, who set out to transcribe "Dolphy's Dance" from her 1992 album Maroons; as it turned out Byron, who had played often with Allen, had the original chart. The pair undertook this tribute, capturing Allen's boundary-less artistry.

"It was a great feeling to realize that Don's career has been connected to someone I have admired for such a long time," Ortiz says of Allen. "She spans many styles of music; her playing is very solid and rooted yet very avant-garde at the same time. I hold her in very high regard."

Byron's clarinet floats airily through Ortiz's crystalline arrangement of Federico Mompou's "Música Callada: Book 1, No. 5." The clarinetist goes it alone for a captivating reading of Bach's "Violin Partita No. 1 in B Minor," which Ortiz was always thrilled to witness on the bandstand. "Seeing a so-called 'jazz musician' in the middle of a so-called 'jazz concert' playing a classical piece solo -- that made a big impact on me," Ortiz marvels. "I play and compose classical music as well, but for me it's just music - and for Don, too."

The two composers join forces on the album's final track, in spiritual collaboration with a third composer, the legendary Benny Golson. "Impressions of a Golden Theme," with its echo of Golson's name, is a fantasia on the theme of the saxophonist's "Along Came Betty," departing in filigreed flights from any suggestion of the original. While on tour they originally performed the tune but over time, Ortiz recalls, "it evolved and evolved, going to a different place every time. So we decided to just sit down and had a musical conversation, not worry what the result would be."

Pianist and composer Aruán Ortiz - born in Santiago de Cuba, and resident of Brooklyn, NY - has been an acclaimed figure in the progressive jazz and avant-garde scene in the US for more than 15 years. Named "one of the most creative and original composers in the world" (Lynn René Bayley, The Art Music Lounge), he has written music for jazz ensembles, orchestras, dance companies, chamber groups, and feature films, incorporating influences from contemporary classical music, Cuban Haitian rhythms, and avant-garde improvisation. He has received multiple accolades including Mid-Atlantic Foundation US Artists International (2017), Composer Fellowship Award at Vermont College of Fine Arts (2016); and the Doris Duke Impact Award (2014); the Composers Now Creative Residency at Pocantico Center of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund (2014). His 2016 trio album Hidden Voices (Intakt 2016) was lauded as "a solid and unique new sound in today's jazz world" by Matthew Fiander in PopMatters, while his solo piano effort Cub(an)ism (2017) was called "a genius exercise in the exploration of depth and perception that reveals a bright new wrinkle in the relationship between music and mathematics, reimagining Afro-Haitian Gaga rhythms, Afro-Cuban rumba and Yambú into heavily improvised meditations on modernism that recall John Cage and Paul Bley," (Ron Hart, The Observer). Aruán has played, toured, or recorded with jazz luminaries such as Wadada Leo Smith, Don Byron, Greg Osby, Wallace Roney, Nicole Mitchell, William Parker, Adam Rudolph, Andrew Cyrille, Henry Grimes, Oliver Lake, Rufus Reid, Terri Lyne Carrington, and collaborated with choreographer José Mateo; filmmaker Ben Chace; poet Abiodun Oyewole from The Last Poets; DJ Logic and Val Jeanty; and German writers Angelika Hentschel and Anna Breitenbach.

An inspired eclectic, clarinetist, saxophonist and composer Don Byron has performed an array of musical styles with great success. Byron first attained a measure of notoriety for playing Klezmer, specifically the music of the late Mickey Katz. While the novelty of a black man playing Jewish music was enough to grab the attention of critics, it was Byron's jazz-related work that ultimately made him a major figure. Byron is at heart a conceptualist, possessing a profound imagination that best manifests itself in his multifarious compositions. He is a Rome Prize Recipient, a Pulitzer Prize Finalist, and a 2007 Guggenheim Fellow.

Each of his albums seems based on a different stylistic approach, from the free jazz/classical leanings of his first album, Tuskegee Experiments (Nonesuch, 1992), to the hip-hop/funk of Nu Blaxpoitation (Blue Note, 1998). Byron's composition "There Goes the Neighborhood" was commissioned by the Kronos Quartet and premiered in London in 1994. He's also composed for silent film, served as the director of jazz for the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and scored for television.

Elemental Music Continues Landmark Series of Previously Unreleased Historic Recordings: Dexter Gordon Quartet's Espace Cardin 1977 and Woody Shaw Quartet's Live in Bremen 1983

Elemental Music ihas released two recently discovered, previously unreleased live recordings: Dexter Gordon Quartet, Espace Cardin 1977 and Woody Shaw Quartet, Live in Bremen 1983. Presented in exceptional sound quality, these deluxe-CD editions include a 12-page booklet with an essay by famed jazz producer and Elemental project coordinator Michael Cuscuna, as well as contributions from Gordon’s widow and biographer, Maxine Gordon, and from Shaw’s son and namesake, Woody Shaw III.

In 1977 Dexter Gordon returned home to the U.S. after more than a decade living in Europe and launched perhaps the most productive period of his long and varied musical career. “He had peaks and valleys to his playing career, but boy in the mid-‘70s he was at a peak. It was unbelievable,” Cuscuna remembers. “I used to hear him night after night, on and off over a couple of years, and he never had a bad night. It was always just extraordinary.”

Not forsaking Europe entirely, Gordon returned for gigs like the inspired set captured here at the Espace Pierre Cardin (Théâtre de la Ville) in Paris in September 25, 1977. Sharing the stage with him that night are the well-known rhythm section of French bassist Pierre Michelot and American drummer Kenny Clarke. What makes this performance unique is that it is the only known recording of Gordon playing with one of the stalwarts of bebop piano, Al Haig. A constant presence on 52nd street during the embryonic days of bebop in the late 1940s, Haig’s career had gone fallow by the 1960s. At the time of this performance, he was experiencing a much-deserved rediscovery.   

To further complement this series, Gordon’s legacy is also being illuminated by Gordon’s widow and former manager, jazz historian and archivist Maxine Gordon, with the completion of his official biography entitled Sophisticated Giant: The Life and Legacy of Dexter Gordon - to be published by University of California Press in November 2018. Maxine has preserved Gordon’s legacy and worked to advocate for and document the work of numerous musicians and organizations since Gordon’s passing in 1990. Visit http://maxinegordon.com and http://dextergordon.com for more info.

Woody Shaw Quartet’s Live in Bremen 1983 was recorded live at Post Aula, in Bremen Germany on January 18, 1983. It’s a rare and satisfying snapshot of trumpeter Shaw’s second great quintet, formed in 1980 with pianist Mulgrew Miller, bassist Stafford James, and drummer Tony Reedus. Like all Elemental releases, this set was produced by Cuscuna, who was a close friend of the late trumpeter during the last 15 years of his life.

All of the Shaw releases in this series were curated and assembled by Shaw’s son, Woody Shaw III, Associate Producer of these Shaw projects. A musician and digital producer with degrees in the arts and business from Columbia University and Harvard, Shaw III has spent the past 15 years preserving his father’s legacy. In fact, Cuscuna and Shaw III have co-produced several reissues of Shaw’s classic recordings together, including the 7-CD set for Cuscuna’s Mosaic Records label entitled Woody Shaw: The Complete Muse Sessions (2013). Shaw III also wrote liner notes for this Elemental series.

Woody Shaw III is currently producing a documentary film on the late trumpeter entitled Woody Shaw: Beyond All Limits. The film which is in production, documents the artistic, intellectual, and philosophical discoveries of Shaw through his music, serving as an intergenerational memoir of a rich musical legacy passed down from father to son. Visit http://woodyshaw.com for more info.

 “Woody was an incredibly unique player, who broke the trumpet mold because his style was forged on a respect for Lee Morgan, Booker Little and to some extent Freddie Hubbard but also on saxophone players,” Cuscuna says, “He was an exceptional soloist and also a great intellect. He’s influenced a lot of people who came after him.”

Baritone Saxophonist-Bass Clarinetist Josh Sinton Presents the First Album from his Predicate Trio, Featuring Cellist Chris Hoffman and Drummer Tom Rainey

Brooklyn-based Josh Sinton has established - through his bands Ideal Bread, Musicianer and holus-Bolus, among other ventures - a distinct identity as a baritone saxophonist, one whose influences range widely from the dancing lyricism of Duke Ellington's bari-star Harry Carney and the lowdown poetry of avant-icon Julius Hemphill to the rocking roadhouse sound of Morphine's Dana Colley. Cadence magazine has said: "Sinton is a daring instrumentalist, pushing his horn to its limits. At the top of his range, he possesses an alto-like purity; in the middle, the bite of a tenor; and low down, he can growl ferociously." Moreover, Sinton has carved out bonafides as a conceptualist, having re-imagined with Ideal Bread three albums' worth of music by soprano-saxophone innovator Steve Lacy. All About Jazz hailed Sinton's work: "With his muscular tone and dexterous phrasing, Sinton proves to be as dynamic an interpreter as he is arranger." For his latest project, Sinton leads the loose-limbed, free-flowing Predicate Trio, featuring cellist Chris Hoffman (Henry Threadgill, Tony Malaby) and drummer Tom Rainey (Tim Berne, Kris Davis, Ingrid Laubrock). The band sings and dances, howls and shimmies across the mix of Sinton compositions and free improvisations that constitute the Predicate Trio's first album, the saxophonist's 10th album as a leader. Reflecting Sinton's love of language and literature - and the example of discursive titles by artists from John Cage to Fiona Apple - the album is titled making bones, taking draughts, bearing unstable millstones pridefully, idiotically, prosaically. 

About the album's title, Sinton says: "I have a deep love - and, sometimes, a deep mistrust - of language, and the title came from me playing a game with words, making an acrostic from the nine track titles. I hope it's evocative in some way, meaning different things to different people. That's usually how listeners respond to instrumental music, anyway - and I like that." Sinton - who switches from baritone sax to bass clarinet for several tracks - composed six of the pieces on making bones, with another three being free improvisations. The music ranges from the shadowy, scene-setting solo bass clarinet intro of "Mersible" to the headlong skronk of "BlockBlockBlock" and "Propulse," with Hoffman's cello an arco/pizzicato swirl. Other highlights include the grooving, Hemphill/Dogon A.D. allusions of "Dance," the ruminative, exploratory "Unreliable Mirrors" and, with its hints of Morphine riffery from Sinton, "Bell-ell-ell-ells," which also includes an expansive Rainey solo.

Sinton, Hoffman and Rainey recorded making bones live in the studio of engineer/co-producer Nathaniel Morgan, in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. "We made it old-school, the three of us facing each other, playing live with no separation," Sinton explains. "It was all first or second takes, with no splices." About his trio mates, Sinton says: "I first met Chris before he started working with Henry Threadgill, and I loved his playing right away, its clarity, musicality and avoidance of cleverness for its own sake. Later, I would go see him play with Threadgill at the Village Vanguard, and I loved what he brought to that mysterious, astounding music, too. With Tom, I used to see him play in Open Loose with Tony Malaby and Mark Helias, as well as in Tim Berne's Science Friction band and, later, with all the projects he does with Ingrid Laubrock. He always floors me - all that mind-bending attention to detail in his sound, even as his playing seems so free and easy. He's like the Fred Astaire of the drums. One thing I love about playing with these guys is that I can achieve a kind of rhythmic fluidity that I'm always striving for. They play with such beautiful momentum that it allows me to be rhythmically free. Another thing I love with this trio is how I can explore a full range of what I can do dynamically, and they're right there with me."

Throughout the album, Sinton on his low horns whispers and keens, squalls and yowls. "I've been influenced as much by singers as by sax players, whether it's James Carr and Nina Simone or Adrian Belew and Ian MacKaye of Fugazi - that varied sort of expressiveness," he says. "The baritone saxophone is so vocal in its range, with a range similar to Frank Sinatra's, really. Of course, I also love the way the baritone sax has this rhythmic punch that can cut through and declare an idea, something I would hear in the playing of a Pepper Adams. Then there's the buzzsaw quality you can get from a baritone, something that Dana Colley cultivated, almost like an electric guitar. I like the way the instrument can have a gut impact."

As for the impact Sinton would like to see making bones, taking draughts, bearing unstable millstones pridefully, idiotically, prosaically have on listeners, he concludes: "I hope people give this record a bit of their time - that's all a performing artist can really ask for, even if that may seem like a lot in this day and age. But I'm betting that there's enough mystery in this document to intrigue, to entice folks into coming back to it again and again. That would make me extraordinarily satisfied."

Josh Sinton, a New Jersey native born in 1971, studied composition at the University of Chicago and improvisation at the AACM. He carved a formative niche for himself in the Windy City, writing and performing music for dance and theater; he also studied with such local icons as Fred Anderson, Ken Vandermark and Ari Brown. After some world travel, he moved to Boston in 1999 to study at New England Conservatory, learning from and playing with the likes of Steve Lacy, Ran Blake, Dominique Eade, Jerry Bergonzi, Bob Moses and the Either/Orchestra. Sinton moved to New York City in 2004. A former founding member of composer Darcy James Argue's Grammy-nominated Secret Society large ensemble, Sinton has also played in the Nate Wooley Quintet, Andrew D'Angelo's DNA Orchestra, Anthony Braxton's Tri-Centric Orchestra and Adam Hopkins' Crickets.

As a leader, Sinton has recorded three albums of Steve Lacy's music with his quartet Ideal Bread, with the most recent release - featuring the saxophonist alongside cornetist Kirk Knuffke, bassist Adam Hopkins and drummer Tomas Fujiwara - being the double-CD Beating the Teens, on Cuneiform in 2014. With his trio Musicianer (featuring bassist Jason Ajemian and drummer Chad Taylor), Sinton released the album Slow Learner via Iluso in 2017. He followed this with krasa, an album of solo improvisations performed on amplified contrabass clarinet; it was released in early 2018 via Irabbagast Records. An enthusiastic organizer in New York City's creative-music community, Sinton was a founding member of the Douglass Street Music Collective in Brooklyn, booking a twice-monthly concert series. He also started a concert series at Threes Brewing, along with curating events at several other Brooklyn venues.