Hungry For Love" the second self-produced solo album from Carlo Ditta, a veteran New Orleans-based producer, and singer/songwriter

Carlo Ditta is a renowned label owner, producer, composer, and recording artist in his own right.  He is also a philanthropic individual, always willing to record and further the careers of many perhaps lesser-known artists who strive to maintain the authenticity of the vintage sounds of New Orleans, the city and region they all call home.

That is precisely the vibe of Carlo's second solo outing, entitled "Hungry For Love," for his own Orleans Records label.  Of the ten cuts, two are traditional tunes done up with Carlo's unique arrangements, three are covers of songs synonymous with some of New Orleans' famed artists, and five are Carlo's originals done with the soulful heritage of the Big Easy always in mind.

There are several highlights, fans.  Earl Stanley wrote the Sixties' pop hit, "A Gypsy Woman Told Me," and plays bass on this version, over Carlo's lovelorn vocal and Rick Stelma's organ.  Carlo checks in with one of our favorites, the cool Latin groove of the story of that lady, who, "if you wanna play, you got to pay," "La Muchacha Cha Cha!" The fellows do a fantastic job covering Baton Rouge artists John Fred And The Playboys hit, "Agnes English," and, yep, Andrew Bernard, who wrote the song as part of that band back in the day, appears here on both tenor sax and Wurlitzer!  "Pass The Hatchet," another of our favorites, is a Carlo original that rides a funky sax-guitar groove, over Carlo's spoken-word vocal, as he watches a pretty girl from a distance!  He closes  the set with our final favorite, an organ and sax-heavy arrangement done over Carlo's raspy vocal, decrying a misspent youth at that iconic place of ill repute, "The House Of The Rising Sun!"

Carlo Ditta is a champion of many veteran artists that perhaps history has overlooked.  He brings together many of these storied players and their material mixed in with his own clever originals to produce a set that is sho' nuff "Hungry For Love!"  ~Don Crow/DonAndSherysBluesBlog.Wordpress.com 5/5

Carlo presents himself and the area's soulful rhythm-and-blues legacy through five originals, colorful remakes of regional R&B and Funk classics, and imaginative interpretations of traditional songs, drawing on his decades of experience producing amazing albums for some of New Orleans' most powerful if underappreciated talents.

Hungry for Love features performance by saxophonist and keyboardist Andrew Bernard (John Fred and the Playboys); bassist Earl Stanley (Dr. John, Roger and the Gypsies, Earl Stanley and the Stereos); keyboardist Rick Stelma (Dr. Spec's Optical Illusion); bassist David Hyde; and drummer Chewy "Thunderfoot" Black all of whom appeared on Ditta's 2014 solo debut What I'm Talkin' About. Other local legends who contribute to the new album include saxophonists Jerry Jumonville (Captain Beefheart, Bette Miller, Rod Stewart); saxophonist Johnny Pennino (Skip Easterling, Freddy Fender); and drummer Freddy Staehle (Dr. John, Al Hirt, Eric Clapton).

With the album's title song Carlo and company conjure a hypnotic hoodoo vibe worthy of North Louisiana legend Tony Joe White. The remake of Eddie Powers' "Gypsy Woman Told Me," includes bass from Earl Stanley who co-wrote it and played on the 1964 original. He also plays on "Pass the Hatchet," the local proto-funk hit from 1966 he helped write and recorded with Roger and the Gypsies.

In "La MuChaCha Cha," another original, Ditta inveigles against an unfaithful lover over seductively warm and grooving Latin rhythms; Spanish guitar and congas reinforce the tropical vibe. "Agnes English" by Baton Rouge hitmakers John Fred and the Playboys, gets a spooky makeover that features Andrew Bernard, an original member of the Playboys and co-writer of the song, playing tenor sax and Wurlitzer keyboards.

Carlo goes full-tilt Soul on "Working So Hard for My Baby's Love," an original composition featuring Jumonville's gutsy sax playing and inventive arranging. In the contemplative, reggae-flavored "Life in Heaven," Ditta addresses big questions about life and love, singing as low and breathy as late period Leonard Cohen.

All these tracks are deeply steeped in Louisiana's steamy, soulful rhythm-and-blues heritage which he's labored to preserve and promote, rediscovering and producing albums for overlooked veteran artists from the region and released them on his Orleans Records label. Following a stint in NYC where he helmed recordings for acts like Willy DeVille, he returned to New Orleans and began recording the likes of Danny Barker, Mighty Sam McClain, Roland Stone, Little Freddie King, Guitar Slim Jr., Coco Robicheaux, Rockie Charles and the Original Pinstripe Brass Band. When he reactivated the label in 2014, one of his first releases was a previously unreleased live concert by New Orleans icon Professor Longhair.

On Hungry for Love, Carlo proves himself a worthy successor to the amazing musicians he championed.

The Best Of Mississippi Fred McDowell

Mississippi Fred McDowell was no Delta blues singer, his were North Mississippi blues because he came from the Hill country near Roseville, Tennessee. Born in 1904 he moved to the Delta in 1928 and settled in Como, Mississippi, which is 40 miles or so to the south of Memphis.

He was certainly old enough to have been recorded in the pre-war rush to put Delta bluesmen in the studio – either those of the travelling field recorders or by sending him north to one of the established studios such as Paramount in Grafton, Wisconsin. But as often as not it was fate that intervened to allow a blues player to record and fate, that first time passed him by.

In those days Fred was playing for tips in Memphis, but also working in feed mill and as a farm hand. He left Memphis to settle in Como, Mississippi and that’s where he was living when Alan Lomax came by with a tape recorder in 1959; fate was kind this time. This recording of ‘Highway 61’ is from Lomax’s first recordings and it was never bettered. In the early 1960s McDowell was playing locally, but soon he was persuaded to travel further afield to allow people to listen to the brilliance of his slide guitar playing in the North Mississippi hill tradition.

He played the Newport Festival in 1964 with Mississippi John Hurt and Sleepy John Estes and the following year he recorded for the Arhoolie label. He also visited Europe, touring with the American Folk Blues Festival and appearing in London with Jo Ann Kelly. In 1969 he recorded I Do Not Play No Rock 'N' Roll that captured Fred’s playing in all its intensity; it is is one of the great blues albums.

Fred’s best known today for providing the Rolling Stones with their cover of, ‘You Gotta Move’ that they recorded at Muscle Shoals Sound in December 1969; The Stones paid Fred the honour of playing his song ‘straight’. ‘You Gotta Move’ was eventually included on their Sticky Fingers album in 1971. Around the same time Bonnie Raitt was listening to Fed’s records and learning from his slide guitar style. He died from cancer the following year, having tasted the rewards of his rich talent, but not nearly enough.

This is what the legendary Dick Waterman had to say about Fred McDowoll and those that think the blues is a sombre kind of music.

“I don’t buy into the theory that says that blues is a catharsis for the soul, that it unburdens you and you feel better. Hound Dog Taylor was the happiest guy I ever knew. You would watch Hound Dog Taylor, you’d watch Fred McDowell, you’d watch Mississippi John Hurt and there was nothing depressing, nothing. They were happy, their music conveyed a real sense of joy, of real happiness. They played with a spirit, they played with an absolute love of it. So the idea of saying, well blues is a burdensome thing, blues is a low down old ache and chill? whatever, I become a lot more tolerant.”

Pianist Gino Rosaria displays his depths on “Still Waters”

Don’t be fooled by the quiet facade. Pianist Gino Rosaria has an uncommon depth that stems from being a native of culturally diverse Curaçao, possessing a master’s degree in classical music performance and having a love of jazz. Each element helps shape the music he composes, produces and plays as a first-call session musician and sideman. Crafting his third album, “Still Waters Run Deep,” dropping July 12, is a purposeful leap into the soul-jazz sea as a solo artist with something to say. Collecting playlist adds and earning most added status on the Billboard chart, the set’s first single, “Night Groove,” is a slick R&B ride with Rosaria’s shimmering keys engaging in melodic banter with Marcus Anderson’s saxophone.         

In addition to Anderson, Rosaria’s collaborators on “Still Waters Run Deep” include an array of chart-topping smooth/contemporary jazz artists such as saxophonist Elan Trotman, drummer Eric Valentine, flautist Althea Rene, multi-horn man and arranger David Mann, Roman Street’s acoustic guitarist Noah Thompson, and electric guitarist Adam Hawley, who co-wrote and co-produced “Night Groove” and the disc’s likely second single, “Sunday 3PM.” Rosaria’s compositions were inspired by such collaborations, adventures with his three-year-old son, Simon, and recognizing that it was time to make his own unique musical statement.

“I knew it was time for me to step out as a solo artist. I've been putting it off for a long time and playing with other artists. I have some good material to release to the world. Because of my Caribbean and Latin roots, I think I have something special to offer musically. I don't know how to explain it except by showing it through my music. My time has come to step out onto that stage, not as a sideman, but as Gino Rosaria, The Pianist,” said Rosaria, who moved to the US from Curaçao in 2003 and resides in Pensacola, Florida.

Rosaria considers himself to be reserved except when it comes to expressing himself musically. “I have some very strong feelings and passion deep down inside that I bring out through my music.”

“Still Waters Run Deep” pours nine jazz, R&B, fusion, Latin and funk instrumentals and closes with the stunning and sparse piano and jazz vocal “Unconditional” sung by Brynnevere, who penned the poetic lyrics for the love song.

Days prior to the album’s street date, Rosaria will perform the material at a record release concert on July 7 at Seville Quarter in Pensacola, which will be recorded live with the aim of packaging it as a CD/DVD. Also in Pensacola, Rosaria will lead his band on stage at Gulf Coast Summer Fest: Jazz Edition on August 30.        

Rosaria teamed with saxophonist Chris Godber for the 2012 holiday album, “Joy Peace Christmas.” The following year, he dropped “Some Other Time.” Simon’s birth inspired the 2016 Groove Symphony project “Simon Says” for which Rosaria served as bandleader, blending classical, jazz, Latin and Caribbean nuances and satisfying his desire to write orchestral music that could serve as film scores. As a sideman, he can be found in the company of Hawley, Rene, flautist Kim Scott, violinist Karen Briggs and clarinetist Tim Laughlin among others.         

“Still Waters Run Deep” contains the following songs:

“Night Groove” featuring Marcus Johnson

"Road Trip” featuring Althea Rene

“Island Life”

“Sunday 3PM” featuring Elan Trotman

“The Night is Still Young”

“Gentle Touch”

“Pool Party”

“Funkin’”

“Rush Hour”

“Unconditional (A Song For My Son)” featuring Brynnevere

https://ginorosaria.com

Laurence Hobgood Weaves Together Jazz Trio With String Quartet On Tesseterra

t e s s e t e r r a  is Laurence's new program of standards re-woven for jazz trio and string quartet - innovative arrangements of iconic selections ranging from Cole Porter to Sting, Hoagy Carmichael to Paul McCartney, Chopin to Crosby Stills & Nash.

Titles as diverse as Wichita Lineman, Blackbird, Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic, We Shall Overcome - even a Chopin Waltz (Opus 64 no. 2 in C#Minor), all vividly arranged in a style we're calling "third stream nouveau" - the sound of the string quartet brings a definite classical element to this project, but the central idea is for the trio to shine as a fully functioning jazz trio, weaving improvisatory exploration within the fabric of thoroughly composed orchestrations.

t e s s e t e r r a  is Laurence's invention, and translates roughly as "the sonic fabric of the world." It's an amalgam of tessitura and terra. Terra is latin for ‘earth'; ‘tessitura' means ‘texture' in Italian but musically refers to the most favorable portion of a voice's (or instrument's) overall range. So perhaps an even more accurate definition would be "the world's most pleasing musical textures."

Inevitably part of t e s s e t e r r a 's proposition is that, in an important sense, jazz improvisation is less about what's being played but more about how it's being played.

Just as Art Tatum, Bud Powell, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and others adapted the great popular songs of Gershwin, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, etc., into jazz of the bebop era, modern jazz players have begun to do the same: bringing the amazing songwriting of artists like Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney, Carole King, Burt Bacharach, Sting, etc., into the jazz canon.

The recording features Laurence's jazz trio (drummer Jared Schonig and bassist Matthew Clohesy) and the amazing string quartet, ETHEL (Ralph Farris/viola, Dorothy Lawson/cello, Kip Jones and Corin Lee/violin.)

Sony Masterworks Announces Digital EP Series from Virtuosic Guitarist Pasquale Grasso

It was the kind of endorsement most rising guitarists can only dream of, and then some. In his interview for Vintage Guitar magazine’s February 2016 cover story, Pat Metheny was asked to name some younger musicians who’d impressed him. “The best guitar player I’ve heard in maybe my entire life is floating around now, Pasquale Grasso,” said the jazz-guitar icon and NEA Jazz Master. “This guy is doing something so amazingly musical and so difficult.

“Mostly what I hear now are guitar players who sound a little bit like me mixed with a little bit of [John Scofield] and a little bit of [Bill Frisell],” he continued. “What’s interesting about Pasquale is that he doesn’t sound anything like that at all. In a way, it is a little bit of a throwback, because his model—which is an incredible model to have—is Bud Powell. He has somehow captured the essence of that language from piano onto guitar in a way that almost nobody has ever addressed. He’s the most significant new guy I’ve heard in many, many years.”

As he’s done with many rising jazz stars, Metheny later invited Grasso over to his New York home to jam and share some wisdom. He’s since become a generous presence in Grasso’s life, and his assessment of Grasso’s playing is—no surprise—spot-on. Born in Italy and now based in New York City, the 30-year-old guitarist has developed an astounding technique and concept informed not by jazz guitarists so much as by bebop pioneers like Powell, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie and the classical-guitar tradition.

His new digital only EP series, available beginning on June 28 from Sony Masterworks, showcases Grasso in the solo guitar format, where his intensive studies of both the masters of bebop and classical guitar technique meld into a signature mastery that is, remarkably, at once unprecedented and evocative. The approach of the releases echoes the changing landscape in the industry, allowing a prolific recording artist to release a multitude of material over the course of an extended period of time.

"Although there are significant drawbacks to the music industry's shift toward streaming, there are also great opportunities,” says producer, manager and Sony Masterworks A&R Consultant Matt Pierson. “When an artist’s creative impulses are very active, it’s possible to record and release material in a more progressive way, feeding listeners music on a much more consistent basis. In the case of Pasquale, since he’s such a brilliant solo player with so much repertoire already under his fingers, we cut 50 extraordinary tracks. Since I find his playing to be very addictive, my hope is that when people get hip to him, they’ll also get hooked, and we can deliver a flow of a variety of material over the course of a year."

But whom does it evoke? After a surface listen, Joe Pass and his essential Virtuoso LPs might come to mind. Now listen again. The sparkling, immaculately balanced tone; the tasteful tinges of stride and boogie-woogie rhythm; the stunning single-note lines that connect his equally striking use of chordal harmony—for Grasso, great solo arranging equals Art Tatum.

Many serious guitar heads have been hip to Grasso for a while now and are aware of his jaw-dropping online performance videos, his beautiful custom instrument -- built in France by Trenier Guitars -- and his early career triumphs. In 2015, he won the Wes Montgomery International Jazz Guitar Competition in New York City, taking home a $5,000 prize and performing with guitar legend Pat Martino’s organ trio. Last year at D.C.’s Kennedy Center, as part of the NEA Jazz Masters Tribute Concert, Grasso participated in a special performance to honor Pat Metheny, alongside his guitar-wunderkind peers Camila Meza, Gilad Hekselman, Dan Wilson, and Nir Felder.

These days, Grasso teaches and maintains a packed gig schedule around New York, including frequent solo performances at the popular Greenwich Village haunt Mezzrow, where a regular Monday-night gig allowed him to develop his solo-arranging skillset. Not that Grasso thinks his work is done. “All [of the musicians I love are] inspiration for me to get new ideas and form my style, because it’s still growing,” Pasquale says. “And it’s gonna be growing until the day I die.”

His new Sony Masterworks EPs showcase his sweeping abilities in the most intimate possible setting. Here you can experience his lifetime of listening and of challenging himself to transcend a bar set by Art Tatum so many decades ago. The following EPs will be released digitally beginning in June, and additional EPs are slated for future release, including Pasquale exploring the works of Duke Ellington, Bud Powell and Charlie Parker. 

Solo Standards Vol. 1 – Available Digitally: June 28, 2019

This collection of some of Grasso’s best-loved standards kicks off with “Just One of Those Things,” a tune he felt compelled to tackle after hearing Bud Powell’s dauntless solo rendition. “This Time the Dream’s on Me” is one of the first standards Grasso ever learned, after hearing it on a live recording featuring Powell and Charlie Parker; it was also the go-to show opener for the bands he co-led with his brother, alto saxophonist Luigi Grasso, while growing up in Italy. Pasquale chose “All the Things You Are” so that listeners might be able to gauge his trademarks on this most standard of jazz standards, and because it’s one of his brother’s favorite tunes (and, of course, for Charlie Parker). “Dancing in the Dark” finds inspiration in Art Tatum’s sterling solo version. “Tea for Two” is a nod to both Tatum and Barry Harris, who uses the number as a staple of his concert repertoire.

Solo Ballads Vol. 1 – Available Digitally: August 23, 2019

“The way I approach ballads,” Grasso explains, “is I try to learn the story of the song with the lyrics, even if I don’t remember all of the lyrics, because English isn’t my first language.” After that, the virtuoso says, he simply tries to relax and tinge his performance with the easygoing gait of stride piano. Here Grasso takes on “Body and Soul,” one of his father’s favorites and a tune he first remembers hearing as performed by Dexter Gordon in the film ‘Round Midnight; the Art Tatum tributes “These Foolish Things” and “Over the Rainbow”; the deceptively demanding “Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye”; and “Someone to Watch Over Me,” yet another eulogy of sorts for his hero Bud Powell, who recorded a heartrending trio version in the mid-’50s.

Solo Monk – Available Digitally: October 11, 2019

As with most of his musical passions, Grasso became a Monk convert while still a child, after his father played him a record—in this case The Unique Thelonious Monk, a 1956 trio session featuring Oscar Pettiford and Art Blakey. Monk’s playing—the bluesy, propulsive architecture of his solos, the percussive stomp of his comping—reminded the young guitarist of one of his biggest heroes (and rare six-string influences), Charlie Christian. Since then, Grasso has found in Monk’s music an endless store of harmonic and rhythmic challenges, which he’s more than happy to meet here on “Epistrophy,” “’Round Midnight,” “Ruby, My Dear,” “Criss Cross” and “Off Minor.” “There isn’t a lot more to say,” Grasso admits, chuckling. “It’s just genius music.”

2019 Miami Smooth Jazz Festival

Boney James

The first annual Miami Smooth Jazz Festival is slated for November 9-10, 2019, on the grounds of the Zoo Miami.  This premiere music festival celebrates various music genres with an emphasis on Smooth Jazz and R&B.  Festival organizers say, “We are offering music lovers top notch entertainment with the world’s best artists, in a unique setting at Zoo Miami, resulting in the type of musical experience that you can’t find anywhere else. This will truly be one of the hottest events in Miami this year.”

Brian Culbertson

The inaugural Miami Smooth Jazz Festival will feature a top notch headliners that include Jazz and R&B favorites Boney James, Maze featuring Frankie Beverly, Eric Benet, and Brian Culbertson. The rest of the powerful line-up includes Grammy Award Winning Jazz and R&B guitarist Norman Brown, saxophonists Michael Lington, Vincent Ingala and Paul Taylor, jazz fusion keyboardist Jeff Lorber, jazz and R&B pop vocalist Lindsay Webster, smooth jazz musician Ben Tankard, fusion guitarist Paul Jackson, Jr., jazz saxophonists Everette Harp, jazz saxophonist Euge Groove, jazz saxophonist Kyle Turner, jazz saxophonist Jazmin Ghent and guitarist Eric Essix.

Frankie Beverly & Maze

Attendees will experience creative shows of top musical performances accentuated by amazing video production and an accompanying light display that will enhance the appreciation for great music. The main stage performances will be accentuated with large video screens including a specially designed interactive screen allowing the artists to stylishly operation harmoniously with the music.

Eric Benet

Expect the Miami Smooth Jazz Festival to be an unforgettable destination that will integrate nature into two amazingly memorable nights of entertainment.  This festival is made possible through a private public partnership bringing together a seasoned team of promoters and the Miami-Dade Cunty leadership to bolster an innovative event that will keep music lovers returning every year.

SHAFT — MUSIC FROM THE SOUNDTRACK SET FOR DELUXE REISSUE, NEW COLLECTION PAIRS ISAAC HAYES’ ACCLAIMED 1971 ALBUM WITH RARE, ORIGINAL RECORDINGS FROM THE FILM

Craft Recordings is excited to announce a new deluxe reissue of Isaac Hayes’ GRAMMY® Award–winning album Shaft. Set for a June 14th street date and limited to 5,000 copies worldwide, the two-CD collection will offer the newly remastered, classic soundtrack—as originally released in 1971—plus all of the original music from the film, which did not appear on the best-selling LP. In-depth liner notes from Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson round out the set. A single-disc version consisting of only the remastered soundtrack will also be available.

  

Unbeknownst to many, the music from the Shaft soundtrack album and the film were actually not the same. When Isaac Hayes was tapped to score the film’s music, he was at the height of his success as a solo artist, following years as a hit songwriter and producer at Stax. Hayes composed a collection of funky, moody arrangements for the Gordon Parks–directed action film, which told the story of a black detective in Harlem hired to recover the kidnapped daughter of a mob boss. For two months, in between tour dates, the musician recorded the iconic “Theme From Shaft,” “Do Your Thing,” and a wealth of instrumentals at MGM Studios in Culver City, CA. Hayes then returned to Memphis, and the familiar confines of the Stax studios, to re-record much of the music from the film for the soundtrack album. It would be those later recordings that would be released in 1971 as Music From The Soundtrack. The music heard in the film wouldn’t see the light of day in any form until 2008, when it was released as part of a limited-edition box set. It’s taken nearly 50 years, but finally both the music from the film and the now-classic recordings from the soundtrack can be heard together for the very first time. In his liner notes, Questlove praises that “Hayes was a specialist at mood music, in the sense that he knew how to employ orchestration and tempo to elicit emotions from his listening audience. ‘Bumpy’s Lament’ is sad and contemplative, a perfect match for Gunn’s gangster, worried about the fate of his daughter. ‘Walk to Regio’s’ approximates downtown energy with a pulsing bass and a chirping guitar that opens up into a fully orchestrated section. ‘Do Your Thing’ is another straightforward song, brassy and sultry.”

Both a commercial and critical success, Shaft—Music From The Soundtrack remains Isaac Hayes’ best-known and best-selling album. The groundbreaking title—which, upon its release, was already setting a record as the very first double album of original studio material from an R&B artist—became an instant success. Shaft spent 60 weeks on the Billboard 200 chart, peaking at Number One, while “Theme From Shaft” went to Number One on the Hot 100 singles chart. Hayes took home three GRAMMY® Awards for the album and its songs in 1972, and an Academy Award® for “Best Original Song” for “Theme From Shaft,” becoming the first African American to win an Oscar® in a non-acting category. In 2014, Shaft—Music From The Soundtrack was inducted into the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” 

Singer, songwriter, producer, and actor Isaac Hayes revolutionized soul music, leading it out of the era of the three-minute single and into cosmically new territory. Born outside of Memphis, Hayes began his career in the mid-’60s as a session keyboardist at Stax, where he worked with some of R&B’s biggest names at the time—from Otis Redding and Booker T. & the M.G.’s to The Bar-Kays and Rufus Thomas. Hayes would soon move into producing, as well as songwriting, where he would pen some 200 songs with David Porter, including hits for Johnnie Taylor, Carla Thomas, and, perhaps most famously, Sam & Dave. With songs like "Soul Man" and “Hold On! I’m Comin’,” Hayes and Porter would help shape the “Memphis Sound” that made Stax a soul powerhouse. 

Hayes’ career as a solo artist took off in 1969 with his landmark sophomore album, Hot Buttered Soul. The LP was unlike anything that fans of the genre had heard before; with the singer’s husky, baritone rapping and intimate crooning set against a massive backdrop of strings and horns from the Memphis Symphony and a solid backbeat by the Bar-Kays. Tracks included a nearly 19-minute performance of Jim Webb’s “By The Time I Get To Phoenix” and a 12-minute rendition of the Burt Bacharach / Hal David classic “Walk On By.” He would follow with The Isaac Hayes Movement and …To Be Continued in 1970, and Black Moses in 1971. By the time that Shaft had hit movie theaters, Hayes had established himself as a revolutionary musical force. Throughout the ’70s and ’80s, the artist would continue to be endlessly prolific in the studio, while also acting regularly in film and TV roles. In 2002, Hayes was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and in 2005, he was inducted into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame. Hayes passed away in 2008. 

As Hollywood gears up for a reboot of Shaft this June, the original film’s enduring legacy still remains. In his liner notes, Questlove declares that the movie “was the Big Bang of African American movies. . . . It was Year Zero for the [Blaxploitation] movement. It was the blast center.” While Shaft was revolutionary in its own right, Isaac Hayes’ compositions for the film helped set the stage for countless scores to follow. Questlove elaborates, “Shaft did many things. What it did, most of all, was cement the relationship between African American movies and African American music. Every Blaxploitation film that followed, whether it was a straight crime story, a feminist rewrite, a comedy, or even a horror movie, had an accompanying soundtrack by an artist trying to put the black experience on wax.”

New Music Releases: Tony Strong - If I Could Only Talk To Daddy; Bobby Oroza – This Love; Cotonete & Di Melo - Atemporal

Tony Strong - If I Could Only Talk To Daddy

A multi-talented R&B vocalist and choreographer, Tony Strong has lent his talents to such groups as “The Perfections”, “Blue Magic”, “The Intrigues”, “Taylor Made”, “The Ebonys”, former Motown recording artists “Ron Thorpe & The Hearts of Stone”, as well as lead vocalist for the best variation of the original Intruders, dubbed The Philly Intruders. Joining heartfelt dedications like "Dance With My Father" and "Color Him Father", here  Tony teams up with renowned Philly Soul producer Butch Ingram to give us yet another special song for families around the world to enjoy on Father’s Day. Joining Tony and Butch in the studio to lend the production the correct feel and authenticity are Billy Ingram (guitar); Butch Ingram (bass); Johnny Ingram (drums, background vocals); Jimmy Ingram (keyboards); Timmy Ingram (percussion); Sharon Ingram (background vocals); Bianca Ingram (background vocals) and Keith Elmore (background vocals).

Bobby Oroza – This Love

A really fantastic full length set from Bobby Oroza – a moody take on blue-eyed soul, with a vibe that's completely its own! Oroza has some fantastic help here – production and music by Cold Diamond & Mink, the combo who've given such a fantastic sound to Timmion Records soul singles over the years! Bobby's got a sweet soul style that's already great – but it really takes off here in the company of the Finnish musicians – who also recorded the whole set with Bobby at the Timmion studios, which makes the whole thing sort of a joint project between the two creative forces! The lean, sinister quality we always love in Cold Diamond & Mink's music really helps shape the sound of the vocals – and Bobby himself also plays guitar and organ on the record. Jimi Tenor adds guests flute in a few spots – and tracks include "Bobby's Mood", "Your Love Is Too Cold", "Keep On Believing", "Maybe Maybe Maybe", "This Love", "Down On My Knees", and "There Can Be No Love".  ~ Dusty Groove

Cotonete & Di Melo - Atemporal

A legendary soul singer returns to the fold – the mighty Di Melo, who's best known for one killer Brazilian funk album in the 70s – working here with superb support from contemporary French combo Cotonete! Di Melo's vocals maybe sound even better than before – with a raspy charm that only deepens the soul, and which has this tremendous power, even if you can't understand his Portuguese lyrics – and Cotonete provide grooves that move between tight funk and airier moments, often drenched in Fender Rhodes, which gives the whole thing the right sort of 70s echoes to take us back to Di Melo's classic material. Really tremendous, and long overdue – with cuts that include "Canto Da Yara", "Papos Desconexos (parts 1 & 2)", "Linhas De Alinhar", "Verso E Prosa", "Kilario", and "Mulher Instrumento (parts 1 & 2)". ~ Dusty Groove

Making a statement: trumpeter Rob Zinn is “All In”

Committed to continue the momentum created by last year’s “Walk The Walk” album in pursuit of his goal of becoming a contemporary jazz headliner, trumpeter Rob Zinn will drop a new single, “All In,” that goes for playlist adds on June 17. The track that bridges the gap leading to his third studio album is produced by two-time Grammy winner Paul Brown.                    

Zinn wrote “All In” with Brown and Lew Laing Jr., who crafted the rhythmic urban groove and smooth harmonies that illumine the big city backdrop for the hornman’s cool jazz declarations. Tapping into his diversity as a musician and composer, to Zinn, the cut that sounds like a nocturnal drive on the coast on a summer eve makes a statement - professionally and personally.      

  

“I am 100% committed, ‘all in’ this journey of becoming an international trumpet player and composer and will remove any obstacle standing in the way of achieving my goals. The song also speaks to the relationship that I am in, in that I am ‘all in’ with her as my love, soulmate and life partner. Sharing this journey with her is a beautiful thing. ‘All In’ is a statement, if you will, about the commitments that I’ve made to my music, my artistry and my relationship - not necessarily in that order,” said Zinn, who plays Tin Pan in Richmond, Virginia this Saturday (June 8) with saxophonist Tony Exum Jr. 

  

“Walk The Walk” showcases Zinn’s versatility, incorporating funk, Latin, R&B, rock, pop and urban jazz. With Brown in the producer’s chair and on guitar, the set features trumpet and sax collaborations between Zinn with Andrew Neu and Michael Paulo. Singles issued from the collection garnered global airplay and earned most added status on the Billboard chart. The record built on Zinn’s 2016 solo debut, “Yesterday Again.”

  

Born in Maryland and raised in nearby Delaware, Zinn has played trumpet and flugelhorn in a wide array of settings - from swing and jazz big band to blues, dance and tribute bands. A top-drawer sideman, Zinn has performed with a luminous list of soul-jazz hitmakers, including Brown, Rick Braun, Richard Elliot, Adam Hawley, Jazmin Ghent, Nick Colionne, Eric Marienthal, Kim Waters, Brian Bromberg, Jackiem Joyner, Marion Meadows, Chieli Minucci and Ragan Whiteside. Fronting his own band, Zinn opened for Grammy winners Norman Brown and Jeff Lorber Fusion as well as Pieces of a Dream. This year, Zinn performed at several prominent jazz festivals such as Berks Jazz Festival, Mallorca Jazz Festival and Sandy Shore’s Jazz Weekender. Zinn also played 2019 gigs in popular jazz clubs such as Philadelphia’s South paired with Neu and Spaghettini near Los Angeles where he accompanied Brown.

  

While work has only just begun on his next album, Zinn is eager to share “All In,” which reveals growth and maturity.   

“My latest single embraces a fresh, groove centric, new type of song from me. Everything comes from my heart. Most of my song titles have deep meaning to me and are personal reflections about my life.  Naming a song is important. It has to mean something. I am ‘All In’ my musical journey and my commitment to my love.”

http://robzinn.com

LowDown Brass Band (LDB), deftly synthesizes the gritty sounds of Chicago with the high energy street beat of the Crescent City

LowDown Brass Band (LDB), deftly synthesizes the gritty sounds of Chicago with the high energy street beat of the Crescent City. LDB brandishes a powerful brass frontline of trumpets, trombones, saxophones, with a funky backline of drums and sousaphone. Combining the poetic ferocity of Billa Camp with stellar vocal harmonies, adventurous improvisation, movement, and grooves, LDB creates an infectious and diverse sound that has something for every listener.

Fresh off their headlining set at The 2018 Montreal Jazz Festival, LowDown maintains a constant performing and touring schedule throughout North America. Recent performances include the Lagunitas Beer Circus, Chicago Jazz Fest, Frendly Gathering, Alaska's Salmon Fest, Chicago's Do-Division Fest, Wakarusa, Cotai Jazz Fest, and a annual residency at Shoe Fest.

Following an ambitious project titled LowDown Sounds, that included a critically acclaimed cameo by Roy Ayers on the track Everybody Loves The Sunshine, LowDown Brass Band is now touring their 2018 hip hop release titled LowDown Breaks featuring MC Billa Camp. This new record steps deeper into refining their unique sound, combining hip hop breaks with live soul samples and deep cut grooves.

Upcoming Shows:

08 Jun City Built Brewing Company Festival Grand Rapids, MI 

12 Jun Blue Note Napa Napa, CA 

13 Jun The Great Northern Sf, CA 

14 Jun McMenamins White Eagle Saloon & Hotel Portland, OR 

15 Jun Bite of Bend Festival Bend, OR

For a full list of tour dates link to:

https://www.facebook.com/lowdownbrassband/app/123966167614127/

https://www.lowdownbrassband.com/

On Her New Solo Album Stone, Composer-Pianist Satoko Fujii Searches for"Music No One Has Heard Before"

Even for an artist as notable for her risk taking as Satoko Fujii, Stone (available June 7, 2019 via Libra Records,) is an audacious album. Drawing on a unique conceptual approach to the music and her considerable array of extended techniques, Fujii has created an utterly original and almost mystically beautiful solo piano album unlike any in her 40-year career. After the prodigious effort of releasing an album a month in celebration of her 60th birthday (kanreki) last year, Fujii shows no signs of slowing down creatively.

In fact, Fujii emerged from her kanreki (60th birthday) year with renewed energy and sense of purpose. As she explains in the album's liner notes, "at the end of those twelve months, I had an even clearer idea of what I wanted to do next. It was as if a fuzzy image in my mind had come into sharp focus. I made this solo recording right around the time the fuzziness began to clear up."

Inspired by the memory of her late grandmother, Fujii approached the new album with a specific idea in mind. Her grandmother lost her hearing late in life and one day, she said that since she had become deaf, she could hear "beautiful music the likes of which I never heard before." But she couldn't describe it. Fujii wondered, "What music will we hear for the first time when our ears no longer can hear?" This thought guided Fujii as she made this record.

Throughout the album, Fujii searches for something elusive, magical-a previously unimagined (and perhaps unimaginable) music. She conceives of the entire piano as a source of sound, not just the keyboard, but the strings, the metal frame holding the strings, the wooden body of the instrument. She uses everything to help her on her quest. As a result, new, unusual sounds and cryptic melodies emerge that blend into a music that is wholly new. On "Obsius," she gently brushes the piano wires and plucks them percussively to create a sequence of contrasting episodes that follow an elliptical narrative flow. "Trachyte" has an atmosphere of otherworldly serenity as long tones overlap and pulse. The pace is slow and the timbres almost electronic sounding. Fujii has always paid attention to tone color, melody, and harmony, but never as she does here. On "Lava," a long, unsettled melody played on the keyboard unexpectedly emerges and develops out of a preceding meditation on abstract prepared-piano sound and silence. There are surprises on every tune.

Except for "River Flow," a brief piece of stunning melodic simplicity and beauty, and the concluding "Eternity," the entire album is improvised. Yet each performance is tightly focused, interlacing just a few musical elements into a close-knit, organic whole. "I tried to use one sound from inside piano in each piece," Fujii says. "I picked some inside-the-piano technique beforehand and improvised with it. And then of course, things came out that I didn't plan for, and I let them spontaneously become part of the music."

Critics and fans alike hail pianist and composer Satoko Fujii as one of the most original voices in jazz today. She's "a virtuoso piano improviser, an original composer and a bandleader who gets the best collaborators to deliver," says John Fordham in The Guardian. In concert and on more than 80 albums as a leader or co-leader, she synthesizes jazz, contemporary classical, avant-rock, and folk musics into an innovative style instantly recognizable as hers alone. A prolific band leader and recording artist, she celebrated her 60th birthday in 2018 by releasing one album a month from bands old and new, from solo to large ensemble. Franz A. Matzner in All About Jazz likened the twelve albums to "an ecosystem of independently thriving organisms linked by the shared soil of Fujii's artistic heritage and shaped by the forces of her creativity."

Over the years, Fujii has led some of the most consistently creative ensembles in modern improvised music, including her trio with bassist Mark Dresser and drummer Jim Black and an electrifying avant-rock quartet featuring drummer Tatsuya Yoshida of The Ruins. Her ongoing duet project with husband Natsuki Tamura released their sixth recording, Kisaragi, in 2017. "The duo's commitment to producing new sounds based on fresh ideas is second only to their musicianship," says Karl Ackermann in All About Jazz. Aspiration, a CD by an ad hoc quartet featuring Wadada Leo Smith, Tamura, and Ikue Mori, was released in 2017 to wide acclaim. "Four musicians who regularly aspire for greater heights with each venture reach the summit together on Aspiration," writes S. Victor Aaron in Something Else. As the leader of no less than five orchestras in the U.S., Germany, and Japan (two of which, Berlin and Tokyo, released new CDs in 2018), Fujii  has also established herself as one of the world's leading composers for large jazz ensembles, leading Cadence magazine to call her, "the Ellington of free jazz."

www.satokofujii.com/

Pianist Fred Hersch to Release Career-Spanning Album with WDR Big Band, Arranged & Conducted by Vince Mendoza

Begin Again, due out June 7 from Palmetto Records, is an unprecedented entry in his expansive discography.

One of the most influential jazz pianists and composers of his generation-a "living legend," per the New Yorker-Fred Hersch has offered a panoramic range of work throughout his four-decade career. This 14-time Grammy nominee has led era-defining piano trios, like the unit he helmed with bassist Drew Gress and drummer Tom Rainey, which can be heard on last year's acclaimed archival release, Fred Hersch Trio '97 @ the Village Vanguard. His even longer-running current trio, with bassist John Hébert and drummer Eric McPherson, has given us such staggeringly beautiful documents as 2018's Live in Europe, of which DownBeat wrote, "Improvisation doesn't engage the listener any more playfully than this." Hersch has been recognized, by the New York Times, as an artist whose "irreducible gift or skill is for solo playing," and 2017's Open Book is a sterling example of his mastery in that format. He's also garnered renown for his remarkably empathetic duo sessions, with musicians like Julian Lage and Bill Frisell, and as a peerless sideman to jazz icons and a nonpareil accompanist for our best singers.

Some of Hersch's offerings have been without precedent in jazz and contemporary music history. His ambitious 2011 masterwork, My Coma Dreams, combined elements of jazz performance, theatre and visual art to tell a harrowing but ultimately inspiring story of love and mortality. His raved-about 2017 memoir, Good Things Happen Slowly: A Life In and Out of Jazz, is an extraordinary, unflinching book that gracefully melds the story of Hersch's artistic life with his journey as the first openly gay, HIV-positive jazz musician-in the process providing a candid document of jazz in New York and the early years of the AIDS epidemic.

Begin Again, Hersch's new Palmetto release featuring the Cologne-based WDR Big Band, arranged and conducted by six-time Grammy winner Vince Mendoza, serves as both an expertly curated overview of the pianist's oeuvre and a singular new entry in his expansive discography. The album features nine of Hersch's original compositions, plucked from throughout his various projects and preferred formats, including one previously unrecorded piece. Mendoza's impeccable orchestrations-robust yet refined, essential yet understated-manage to bolster Hersch's striking gifts for melody and expressivity while also showcasing the remarkable abilities of the Grammy-winning WDR band, which DownBeat recently described as "one of Europe's finest large jazz ensembles." In Ellingtonian fashion, Mendoza has through experience gained a deep understanding of the WDR's members as distinctive voices (not to mention masterful doublers), and he applies these timbres in brilliantly coloristic ways. On Begin Again, that also means granting well-deserved solo opportunities to thoughtfully expressive players like the alto saxophonists Johan Hörlén and Karolina Strassmayer, the tenor saxophonist Paul Heller, the trumpeters Ruud Breuls and Andy Haderer, the trombonists Ludwig Nuss and Andy Hunter, and the drummer Hans Dekker.

"Vince was very respectful and attuned to the fact that each one of these pieces has its own world," Hersch says. "And the fact that we had these 17 musicians at our disposal to create each piece on its own terms was really great. It was a thrill for me to be able to amplify the uniqueness of each piece." As per usual with Hersch's recordings, Begin Again boasts a keen, story-like sense of programming and a knack for melody that is direct and affecting yet consistently surprising.

Begin Again kicks off with its previously unrecorded title track, a fluid progression of shifting meters that developed inside Hersch's trio with Hébert and McPherson. The twilit romance that is "Song Without Words #2: Ballad," which Hersch describes as "probably the closest I've ever come to writing a standard ballad," originated on a project he released on Nonesuch in 2001. Hörlén's alto spotlights here are powerfully lyrical, just as they are on "Begin Again."  

"Havana," first released in 2012 on the Hersch trio's double-disc Alive at the Vanguard, touts an idiosyncratic form with a strong bassline. Although, despite its title, it contains no explicit Cuban influence, the composition's kinetic momentum and Mendoza's tenacious low-brass voicings summon up a spirit of rumba-like adventure. A dance score, "Out Someplace" premiered at the Kennedy Center in 1999, and was commissioned by the Doris Duke Foundation's Millennium Project for the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. This movement, "Blues for Matthew Shepard," imagines the horrific final hours endured by Shepard, whose brutal murder in Wyoming in 1998 ultimately led to groundbreaking hate-crime legislation. Hersch's writing, Mendoza's arranging and the ensemble's performance are both calmly cinematic, in their ability to communicate the abject savageness and loneliness of Shepard's death, and bursting with passion, in their ability to use avant-garde strategies as musical metaphors for violence and grief. Mendoza suggested that Hersch talk to the band prior to the recording, to explain who Shepard was and what his spirit has meant to the LGBT community. "I just thought about Matthew out there," Hersch says, "and how lonely that must have been, and how scary. So the piece is actually like a film."

 

"Pastorale," which first appeared on Hersch's Alone at the Vanguard, from 2011, is an homage to Schumann's "Kinderszenen (Scenes From Childhood)," whose warm, comforting textures Hersch enjoyed digging into as a very young musician. The oldest number on Begin Again, "Rain Waltz," dates back to the early 1980s and exhibits Hersch's smart yet accessible m.o. as a composer-or, as he refers to himself, a "tune-writer," who reveres the adaptable work of Monk, Kenny Wheeler and Wayne Shorter. "It's really fun to play," he says. "It's a bit challenging, but I think it's a good springboard for improvisation." The New Orleans nod "The Big Easy," which debuted on the trio's Live in Europe, gets an aptly, authentically grooving and swinging treatment, replete with plunger-muted solos, trombone smears, bold, brassy punctuations and the like.

The buoyant drum feature "Forward Motion," the title composition off Hersch's 1991 Chesky release, is an example of unbridled optimism. (A landmark of sorts in Hersch's catalogue, the Chesky release was the first album to feature his original music exclusively.) To "leave the record with a kind of musical benediction," says Hersch, he taps into My Coma Dreams for a faithful take on "The Orb." Consisting mostly of Hersch immersed in elegiac solo-piano reflection, with sublime orchestration by Scott Ninmer, the piece is a love letter to Hersch's longtime domestic partner, Scott Morgan. It was Morgan, foremost among many others, who saw him through the two-month-long coma, caused by pneumonia, that gives Hersch's inspired multimedia piece its title.

My Coma Dreams may have conveyed one of the most intense, heartrending and ultimately hopeful personal tales ever expressed through jazz performance, but all of Hersch's recordings contain compelling narratives-especially Begin Again. "Every one of my albums has a story about how it was recorded, how it came together, why it came to be," Hersch says. "I want each project to be special and have a reason to exist. I think this is a really nice change of pace, and a great addition to my catalogue.

"I'm so glad it worked out as wonderfully as it did," he adds. "Vince trusted what I had written, and I knew from the start that he would respect what I wrote and add his own special talents. And I am pleased to say that's what happened."

Called "the most arrestingly innovative pianist in jazz over the last decade" by Vanity Fair and "an elegant force of musical invention" by the Los Angeles Times, Fred Hersch is among the most respected jazz musicians of his generation and one of the most influential pianists in recent jazz history, with pupils including Brad Mehldau and Ethan Iverson. He has been nominated for Grammy Awards 14 times, and is the recipient of a 2016 Doris Duke Artist Award, Jazz Journalists Association Awards for Jazz Pianist of the Year in 2016 and '18, and the 2017 Prix Honorem de Jazz from L'Acádemie Charles Cros, a lifetime-achievement honor.

Considered one of the most lauded and exploratory composers and arrangers in jazz and contemporary music, Vince Mendoza has received six Grammy Awards and 33 nominations, as well as frequent comparisons to trailblazing orchestrators like Gil Evans. His credits as an arranger include projects with Björk, Chaka Khan, Al Jarreau, Bobby McFerrin, Diana Krall, Melody Gardot, Sting and Joni Mitchell. He's released nearly a dozen celebrated albums as a leader, the most recent being the Grammy-nominated Homecoming, also featuring the WDR Big Band. His original music and arrangements have been performed by many of the world's finest ensembles, including the London Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Berlin Philharmonic.

http://fredhersch.com/

http://vincemendoza.net/

https://www1.wdr.de/orchester-und-chor/bigband/

Future Jazz Talent Joe Armon-Jones (Ezra Collective, Nubya Garcia) releaes new track 'Icy Roads (Stacked)'

Even amongst Britain’s vibrant modernist jazz scene, Joe Armon-Jones stands out as a remarkable talent. A virtuoso keyboardist, he possesses that rare ability to stay true to the genres roots while also connecting with a wider, more youthful audience. Spinning unrestrained into hip-hop, funk and dub, his tracks also often pulsate with a feverish, punk-infused energy.

Now Joe Armon-Jones returns with his new single ‘Icy Roads (Stacked)’. It’s a head-spinning blend of luminous jazz-funk piano and synths, skittering, off-kilter percussion and a languorous ear-worm bass. As with the best of his work, ‘Icy Roads (Stacked)’ places his cerebral compositions into an engaging, club-friendly context.

While Armon-Jones is at the top of his game, the track’s fluid grooves are heightened by two similarly exceptional musicians. Kwake Bass, an in-demand drummer who’s worked with Kate Tempest, Sampha and Joey Bada$$, switches the beat seemingly effortlessly from frenetic to laid-back. His skills are perfectly complemented by Mutale Chashi, bassist of London Afrobeats collective KOKOROKO.

Released on digital now and vinyl formats on June 28, ‘Icy Roads (Stacked)’ features striking artwork which pays homage to Herbie Hancock’s 1974 album ‘Thrust’. The vinyl is backed with an exclusive b-side, the gloriously loose and languid ‘Aquarius’.

‘Icy Roads (Stacked)’ is Joe Armon-Jones’ first taste of his forthcoming second album. It follows his 2018 debut ‘Starting Today’ which earned praise from Pitchfork, Loud & Quiet, The Wire and more. The six-track collection is now approaching 3 million streams.

Armon-Jones recently played a sold-out homecoming show at London’s Village Underground. It’s the latest in a series of high profile performances which have included Boiler Room and Radio 6’s UK Jazz Special at Maida Vale, which was hosted by Gilles Peterson. His growing acclaim resulted in him being nominated for UK Jazz Act of the Year at the 2019 Jazz FM Awards.

In addition to his solo career, Armon-Jones is a member of the influential Ezra Collective, and has played with the likes of Pharaoh Monch, Nubya Garcia and Ata Kak.

This summer will see Joe Armon-Jones play the following UK shows alongside an array of international festival dates.

Vocalist Rosana Eckert Collaborates With Celebrated Vocal Artist & Songwriter Peter Eldridge On Her Fourth Album

Rosana Eckert Sailing Home Vocalist-composer Rosana Eckert channels her eclectic musical influences into a similarly eclectic collection of tunes on her long-awaited fourth album, Sailing Home, set for a June 21 release on OA2/Origin Records. The album is a collaboration with Peter Eldridge, the highly sought-after vocalist, songwriter, and keyboardist, who in addition to producing and playing keyboards on the album cowrote three of its 11 tunes. Eckert (and Eldridge) also wrote with her husband Gary Eckert, a poet, composer, and multi-instrumentalist who plays percussion on three tracks.

Sailing Home is Eckert's first recording since 2010's Small Hotel. The lifelong Texan has spent the past nine years since then raising her young daughter but also working as a live performer, as well as behind the scenes as an arranger, clinician, studio singer/voiceover artist, book author, and principal lecturer of vocal jazz in the prestigious Jazz Studies program at the University of North Texas. "Rosana is so known and honored as an educator, and rightfully so," says Eldridge, a longtime friend of Eckert's. "But I wanted her to also see herself as a major artist, shaking off the educator title a bit while recording this project."

Eckert Eldridge Nagella "I had some songs I'd been performing for a while and I knew they needed a fresh ear to make them special and different," says Eckert. "Working with Peter was inspiring, natural, and very fun. . . . It was his idea to make this a guitar-driven album rather than piano-based, which had always been my approach before." (Eckert at left with Eldridge and engineer Tre Nagella.)

That concept, combined with Eckert's omnivorous musical inspiration, creates a bright spotlight for guitarist Corey Christiansen. Its shifting directions -- from the gentle but steady swing of "Garby the Great," to the tender wistfulness of "Someone Else's Life," to the hard-edged New Orleans funk of "Coriander Stomp" -- provide him both ample solo space and opportunities to demonstrate his remarkable stylistic versatility.

Not to be outdone, the other core members of the band (Eldridge, bassist Young Heo, and drummer Steve Barnes) also submit superlative performances throughout. So do guests Daniel Pardo, whose beautiful alto flute work illuminates the ballad "Empty Room" and bossa nova "Lovely Ever After"; Brian Piper, who dives into the gutbucket with his piano solo on "Coriander Stomp"; and Ginny Mac, whose accordion provides the secret sauce for the Tex-Mex shuffle "Waiting."

Rosana Eckert Eckert, however, is the one who ultimately embodies Sailing Home. She wrote or cowrote all of its songs save one ("Empty Room," which Eldridge and Gary Eckert wrote together) and imbues them with her combination of powerful instrument, vast palette, and infallible technique. It is her performance that ultimately defines each song, bringing the sweet contentment to "Sailing Home," brash confidence to "For Good," exquisite warmth to the haunting "Meant for Me."

Rosana Calderon Eckert was born in 1974 in El Paso, Texas and grew up on the singers that her Mexican-American parents loved. Living on the U.S.-Mexican border, she was also immersed in the musical traditions of both countries, as well as their cross-pollinations. She studied French horn in high school, winning four all-state honors -- as well as the scholarships that allowed her to enroll at the University of North Texas's (UNT) highly respected College of Music as a classical theory and French horn performance major.

"On a lark," Eckert auditioned for the University of North Texas Jazz Singers, the school's premier vocal jazz ensemble, in her junior year. She was accepted and eventually became section leader, lead soprano, featured soloist, and arranger, later singing with the school's One O'Clock Lab Band and various other ensembles; chosen to tour with the Sisters in Jazz Collegiate Sextet; and selected for the Thelonious Monk Aspen Jazz Colony. She completed this shift in her musical trajectory by becoming the first vocalist in UNT history to earn a master's degree in jazz studies. The school then hired her as its first private jazz voice teacher.

Meanwhile, Eckert began a parallel career as a working musician in nearby Dallas, performing with her own jazz band and doing commercial singing and voiceover work. She also began writing her own songs, which ultimately led to the creation of her 2003 debut recording At the End of the Day. It was followed by Two for the Road (2007) and the acclaimed Small Hotel (2010).

Rosana Eckert will perform CD release concerts at the Kitchen Cafe, 17370 Preston Rd. #415, Dallas, on Fri. 6/21 and Sat. 6/22.

Timo Lassy & Teppo Mäkynen present "Dark Cyan"

Helsinki jazz scene mainstays Timo Lassy & Teppo Mäkynen present a strong body of work on their new LP which updates the sound of an acoustic sax+drums combo in a highly inspiring way.

'Dark Cyan' is their new single, following 7" 'Dark Magenta / Zomp'.

Lassy plays sax, Mäkynen plays drums and handles production duties. Consisting of 13 focused tracks each clocking in at around three minutes, the album's sound ranges from spiritual-tinged free playing all the way to delicious 4/4 groove hard-hitters, showcasing producer "Teddy Rok" Mäkynen's love for electronic music. That being said, the sound here is that of an acoustic jazz band, placed left of the timeline and thinking ahead of what this instrumentation could achieve. The overall sound is warm and inviting, with the various delicious details inspiring repeated listening.

‘Timo Lassy & Teppo Mäkynen’ is their first LP as a duo, but actually crowns years of collaboration between them - The Five Corners Quintet, Teddy Rok Seven, Jo Stance, Timo Lassy Band: the two friends have been playing together and experimented different forms of collaboration for more than a decade now.

Mäkynen has in fact produced a lot of Lassy’s work, including his first album ‘The Soul & Jazz of Timo Lassy’ in 2007, which features Timo's most successful track so far, ‘African Rumble’.

As far as the term "award-winning" goes, here we have two of the latest "Finnish jazz album of the year" winners joining forces and doing what they do best.

Both Lassy and Mäkynen are tried and tested stars of the vibrant Finnish jazz scene, and artists who have time and again proven to be highly inventive when moving forward.

‘Timo Lassy & Teppo Mäkynen’ adds a significant new chapter to their collaboration, and presents a new formation which will surely be a force to be reckoned with on the live circuit.