Franco Ambrosetti's 'Long Waves' w/ Scofield, DeJohnette, Caine, Colley

From their relaxed, conversational interpretation of the poignant ballad "Old Folks" to their swinging treatment of "On Green Dolphin Street" to new Ambrosetti originals like his buoyantly swinging "Silli's Waltz" and the burning "Silli's Long Wave" (both named for his wife of 22 years) and his tango-flavored "Milonga," Long Waves stands as a crowning achievement in the long and storied career of the esteemed trumpeter-flugelhornist-composer.

Jazz has been a part of Ambrosetti's DNA since he was a child. Born in Lugano on December 10, 1941, he inherited a love of swinging music from his father Flavio Ambrosetti, an accomplished jazz saxophonist who founded the first jazz club in his hometown, organized the first jazz festival in Lugano and also played opposite Charlie Parker at the 1949 Paris Jazz Festival.

Though he studied classical piano from age nine, Ambrosetti eventually picked up trumpet at age 17. And while he may have patterned himself after Clifford Brown and Lee Morgan in his early years, the single biggest influence on his now signature singing quality on the trumpet and flugelhorn was Miles Davis. "Miles sometimes was playing just three notes but with so much intensity, and especially when he was playing a ballad," he noted. "So from listening to Miles I learned about stretching a note when you play a melody. Instead of playing the notes shorter or staccato, you stretch the notes out like you're really singing. And I think I can express my feelings more if I really cry that note."

In 1966, at age 24, Ambrosetti won a prestigious international jazz competition in Vienna directed by pianist Friedrich Gulda. With a jury consisting of Cannonball Adderley, Art Farmer, Jay Jay Johnson, Joe Zawinul, Ron Carter and Mel Lewis, Franco ended up outranking fellow trumpeters Randy Brecker, Claudio Roditi and Tomas Stanko for the first prize. The following year, he played his first concert in the United States, performing in his father's quintet, the Flavio Ambrosetti All-Stars, at the 1967 Monterey Jazz Festival. Through the '70s, he led his own groups and also toured with the George Gruntz Concert Jazz Band. During the '80s and '90s, he performed concerts and made TV appearances throughout Europe while recording most of his projects in New York City with such esteemed sidemen as pianists Hal Galper, Tommy Flanagan, Geri Allen and Kenny Kirkland, saxophonists Phil Woods, Michael Brecker, Steve Coleman and Greg Osby, bassists Dave Holland, Buster Williams and Michael Formanek, drummers Billy Hart and Billy Drummond. His 1993 album, Live at the Blue Note, featured tenor saxophonist Seamus Blake, pianist Kenny Barron, bassist Ira Coleman and drummer Victor Lewis.

           

Ambrosetti's 2001 album, Grazie Italia, was a collection of beloved Italian folk and popular tunes, from "Volare" to "Roma Non Fa Stupida" to Bruno Martino's "Estate." As he said of that beloved project, "Italy is my culture but I'm Swiss, so I was thanking Italy for giving me this kind of gift." In 2008, he appeared at Quincy Jones' 75th birthday celebration at the Montreux Jazz Festival, performing a sublime rendition of "My Ship" (recreating the Gil Evans arrangement from 1957's Miles Ahead) and a soulful muted trumpet reading of "Summertime" (recreating the Evans-Davis collaboration from 1959's Porgy And Bess). His 2015 Enja release, After the Rain, was a heartfelt tribute to John Coltrane that featured alto saxophonist Greg Osby, pianist Dado Maroni, bassist Buster Williams, drummer Terri Lyne Carrington and his son Gianluca on soprano sax. In 2017, Ambrosetti marked the milestone of his 75th birthday by inviting an all-star cast of friends and colleagues to record Cheers. Pianist Kenny Barron, bassist Williams, drummers DeJohnette and Carrington, pianists Caine, Maroni and Antonio Faraòi, saxophonist Osby, guitarist Scofield and fellow trumpeter and longtime friend Randy Brecker were among the participants in that gala New York session.

Ambrosetti's debut on Unit Records was 2018's lavish orchestral project, The Nearness of You, with strings conducted by Massimo Nunzi and brass and woodwinds conducted by Tonino Battista. That album, which included gorgeous renditions of Kurt Weill's "My Ship," Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Luiza" and Hoagy Carmichael's title track, also featured Franco's son Gianluca on soprano sax. That same year, the trumpeter received the Swiss Jazz Award presented at the Jazz Ascona Festival in Switzerland. In his autobiography, Two Roads, Both Taken, Ambrosetti addressed the issue of juggling careers as jazz trumpeter and industrialist. "Music won me over right away," he wrote, "whereas, the business activity took a few decades to seduce me."

While Ambrosetti decided to pursue his family's multi-million-dollar business for decades, he never put his trumpet on the shelf. "I would practice every day through the years and I still practice every day," he said. "Trumpet is an instrument that you have to practice every day, at least half an hour, or you lose your chops. So I do manage to play every day of my life." He pours a lifetime of experience into every note on Long Waves, pushed to some dramatic heights by his stellar crew of seasoned veterans in Scofield, Caine, Colley and DeJohnette.

TUNE-IN ALERT: KEB’ MO’S EPISODE OF EMMY-AWARD WINNING SHOW "BLUEGRASS UNDERGROUND" AIRS ON PBS TONIGHT

Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter, guitarist and contemporary Blues Americana artist Keb’ Mo’, will appear on Season nine’s third episode of the Emmy Award-Winning “Bluegrass Underground” tonight, Sept. 18. Check your local listings and set your DVRs.

Over the past two decades, Keb’ Mo’, has cultivated a reputation as a modern master of American roots music through the understated excellence of his live and studio performances. Keb’ Mo’ recently announced the release of his first-ever holiday album titled, Moonlight, Mistletoe & You (Concord), slated for an Oct. 18 release. Earlier this year, Keb’ released the thought-provoking solo project, Oklahoma (Concord), which received acclaim from critics saying,”Keb’ Mo’ built his now-legendary reputation as a bluesman but has proven to be equally adept in R&B and Americana-styled roots music.,” (Glide Magazine) and, “Keb’ Mo’ is truly unlike any other artist on today’s contemporary blues scene” (Ink19).

B.B. King, Buddy Guy, the Dixie Chicks, Joe Cocker, Robert Palmer, and Tom Jones have all recorded Keb’s songs. His guitar prowess has inspired leading instrument makers Gibson Brands to issue the Keb’ Mo’ Signature Bluesmaster acoustic guitar and Martin Guitars to issue the HD-28KM Keb’ Mo’ Limited Edition Signature model. Keb’ also wrote and performed the theme song for the smash sitcom, “Mike & Molly,” and was the music composer for TV’s “Memphis Beat.”

Bria Skonberg to Release New Album: Nothing Never Happens

Whether it’s the hassles and hurdles that arise for a musician touring the world, the run-of-the-mill mishaps that inevitably disrupt daily life, or the barrage of bad news constantly clamoring for attention; Bria Skonberg succinctly captures the hectic tenor of our times in the title of her latest album, Nothing Never Happens. The trumpeter and vocalist found her own escape in order to craft a new set of originals and artfully chosen covers that spans the emotional and stylistic spectrum.

Due out November 1, Nothing Never Happens invites listeners to join Skonberg in diverting attention from the overload of social media, breaking news, political bickering and negative energy, with a stunning album that at times channels the ubiquitous anger and hopelessness that confronts us all in the modern media landscape, but at others manages to drown out that white noise and shine a light on the serene and the celebratory.

The album showcases Skonberg’s working band of recent years – pianist Mathis Picard, bassist Devin Starks and drummer Darrian Douglas – along with guest appearances by saxophonist Patrick Bartley, Hammond B3 master Jon Cowherd, and guitar great Doug Wamble. The project was helmed by GRAMMY® Award-winning producer Eli Wolf, shining a spotlight on Skonberg’s compelling songwriting, smoky vocals and blistering trumpet playing along with the scintillating chemistry of the ensemble.

In calling the album Nothing Never Happens, Skonberg captures the chief obstacle to its own creation. “My favorite way to write music is just to sit at a piano, be quiet and wait for things to surface,” she says, hinting at the struggle to find those peaceful moments in which to compose. “I needed to get out and find a space to process the overload of information and feelings because of what's been going on in the world in the last few years.”

Of course, it also helps to commune with sympathetic listeners, and Skonberg also enjoyed a unique opportunity to workshop her new music through a monthly residency at Joe’s Pub in New York City, an eclectic venue where audiences were not necessarily jazz aficionados. “It’s a venue where you can do whatever you want,” she says. “I was looking to get some more grit into my sound on this album. That’s a big part of my personality that hasn't been as represented on my recordings in the last couple of years.”

There is an arc to Nothing Never Happens, beginning with the soulful opening song, “Blackout.” At the surface the song could be taken as a classic “wronged lover” blues, albeit updated for the modern age. But the song is more a rejection of media itself, thereby becoming a mission statement for the album as a whole. When Skonberg sings “I’m done with your face / I’m done with your friends,” it could be directed at an ex, but it also conjures a certain inescapable name that has dominated the discourse over the past few years, with toxic results. Her pointed solo provides a much-needed moment of catharsis.

“Just being able to play music right now is essential to getting to a level of normalcy,” she says. “Playing trumpet really lets me get all those emotions out. It’s not always joyous, but it is a release.”

Skonberg originally recorded “So Is the Day” on her 2012 album of the same name, with a sultry New Orleans flavor. The powerful song has since become a staple of her live sets, slowing down in the process to the dirge-like feel that it takes on here. The slow burn is a testament to the patience and rooted feel of Douglas, while the addition of Wamble’s guitar and Cowherd’s organ adds to the dense, swampy atmosphere.

Zooming out for a bit of historical perspective, “Blackbird Fantasy” is an ingenious mash-up of The Beatles’ “Blackbird” and Duke Ellington’s “Black and Tan Fantasy” that reflects on the cyclical nature of history. The hybrid piece encompasses the Harlem Renaissance, the Civil Rights era that paralleled the British Invasion, and our modern day still much in need of change. The wistful “Square One” recognizes how much is still left to be accomplished, whether in life or in society. Co-written by Nashville songwriter Cariad Harmon, the song is simultaneously resigned and hopeful, retaining a sense of optimism based on what's been learned and accomplished so far.

The raucous “Villain Vanguard” plays on the name of the legendary jazz club but was inspired by the Women’s Marches that rose up in the wake of the 2016 election. The piece itself captures the marching pace and outpouring of voices that accompany these protests.

Sonny Bono’s oft-recorded “Bang Bang” – which has been covered by Stevie Wonder, Lady Gaga and Nancy Sinatra, whose version Skonberg discovered via the soundtrack to Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill – is another piece that serves double duty: originally about the heartbreak of a childhood romance, it now inevitably conjures images of the gun violence that has erupted across the country. Such tragic events necessarily lead to questions like “What Now?” though Skonberg’s remorseful ballad is more intimate, capturing the self-doubt that can encroach in the twilight hours.

Opening with Starks’ infectious bass groove, Queen’s “I Want To Break Free” ends the album with a soaring sense of escape. The original’s anthemic melody is enhanced here by the band’s exuberant expressiveness, highlighted by Bartley’s explosive solo. Its inclusion harkens back to memories of Skonberg’s freewheeling high school days. “Talk about being an optimist!” she recalls with a laugh. “I had a convertible in British Columbia, where it rains ten months of the year. But there were always a few days when I could go out, put the top down and rock out to that song.”

The breadth of emotions and styles on Nothing Never Happens mirrors Skonberg’s career to date, which boasts an impressive range of accomplishments and accolades. In the last year alone, she sang the music of Aretha Franklin alongside Michelle Williams of Destiny’s Child, played with U2 at the iconic Apollo, sat in with the Dave Matthews Band, was a featured guest with Jon Batiste, performed as part of The Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour, and sang the National Anthem at Madison Square Garden for a NY Rangers game. The 2017 Juno Award Winner for Best Vocal Jazz Album and 2018 Juno nominee has garnered over 7 million streams on Spotify, made the Top 5 on Billboard jazz charts, and was voted #2 Rising Star by DownBeat Magazine.

Bria Skonberg · Nothing Never Happens

Release Date: November 1, 2019

Randy Napoleon - Common Tones

Randy Napoleon blends jazz guitar retrospective with a visionary look forward on Common Tones

For Randy Napoleon, known as jazz guitar’s forward-thinking, tradition-loving performer, composer, and professor, study and creation go hand in hand. His philosophy, whether performing or writing, is to immerse himself in the techniques of the masters, then trust his mind, heart, and fingers to respond in the moment. “When you are playing jazz, it is a conversation that moves at lightning speed. There is no time to think. It has to be reflexive, an ingrained response.”

After twenty years of road apprenticeship with some of the most celebrated jazz musicians and groups of our time, Randy Napoleon has, in recent years, shifted his focus to honing his leadership skills at the head of the ensemble. This Fall he is back on tour and will release his fifth record as a bandleader with Common Tones  (out Oct 4, 2019, on Detroit Music Factory), a collaborative record featuring four generations of musicians from Michigan’s continuing jazz legacy. Comprised in nearly equal parts of both rearrangements of the great classics that have inspired him and several of his own originals, teetering at the cutting edge of jazz composition, Common Tones is a summary of Napoleon’s current goals, influences and musical philosophies, and as well as a celebration of his evolving musical lineage.

From a young age, Napoleon enthusiastically immersed himself in what is often considered the golden age of jazz: the early 40’s through the mid 60’s. While he could be considered a classicist by nature of his musical preferences, he emphasizes that he’s never had an interest in recreating the music that influenced him the most. Yet, this music remains Napoleon’s template for both instrumental and compositional excellence. This is where he finds his tool kit for self-expression and creation with a goal to retain the good feeling of the era while continuing to personalize the language and explore new modes of expression.

Having, come up playing in Ann Arbor and Detroit where the Motown sound easily seeps into local jazz culture,“You’ve Got To Hang On,” featuring Drew Kilpela’s soulful Trombone, is Napoleon’s tip of the hat to that motor city aesthetic. With “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” Napoleon shows that a good melody transcends genre by adapting this poignant Beach Boys ode to a vehicle into swing. Napoleon shows he is a true devotee of the Great American Songbook with a beautiful rendition of “I Married An Angel,” a Rogers and Hart song that he’s been performing in trio format. Bassist Louie Leager and drummer  Nick Bracewel play memorable solos on this one.

For Napoleon, names such as Wes Montgomery, Grant Green, Joe Pass, and Kenny Burrell, still represent the gold standard. He continues to study these masters and more daily, knowing there is always a higher level of detail and nuance possible.

“I think of my time with their records as a very personalized lesson,” says Napoleon. “I’m studying technique, sound, language, structure, everything. I emulate horn players and piano players also because it forces you to come up with solutions to play things that don’t lay naturally on the guitar.  Joe Henderson or John Coltrane can lead you into unexplored sounds on the guitar. As Charlie Parker said ‘You've got to learn your instrument. Then, you practice, practice, practice. And then, when you finally get up there on the bandstand, forget all that and just wail’. ”

Napoleon holds a lifetime dedication to processing the lessons of his teachers. Having cut his teeth touring and playing over the last twenty years with respected artists across the jazz spectrum such as Bill Charlap, Natalie Cole, Monty Alexander, Rodney Whitaker, and John Pizzarelli. He has performed or arranged on over seventy records, contributing in both capacities on Freddy Cole’s seven most recent records over a thirteen-year tenure, including the Grammy-nominated releases, Freddy Cole Sings Mr. B and My Mood Is You. He performed on The Clayton Hamilton Orchestra: Live at MCG, and his guitar chops are featured on Michael Buble’s Grammy-nominated CD/DVD Caught in the Act. Similarly, Napoleon is a seasoned veteran of the late-night television circuit, having played on The Tonight Show, Late Night With David Letterman, The View, The Today Show, and The Ellen DeGeneres show.

These masters demonstrated to Napoleon what it means to be a jazz musician and a true professional. Before he went on the road with them, he was lucky to grow up in Michigan. The greater Detroit area scene has always been an amazing musical incubator where he was exposed to the transience of touring musicians and the steadfast instruction of local teachers. During this recording, Napoleon was thinking a lot about two of his teachers who have since passed away, the trailblazing tenor saxophonist Donald Walden and legendary bebop trumpet player, Louis Smith. both exposed a young Napoleon to a level of musical depth that he will pursue for his entire life.

Napoleon pays homage to both of these teachers on Common Tones in both arrangement and composition. “If DW Were Here,” an original composition presented as a duo with pianist Xavier Davis is dedicated to Walden’s challenge to Napoleon as a student to avoid clichés and always reach forward in music, and “Mr. Smith” is a cheerful Bebop line featuring bassist Rodney Whitaker and trumpet player Etienne Charles.  The track is played in the style of Louis Smith and dedicated to the dignity and professionalism this teacher instilled in a young Napoleon.

At the same time, Napoleon also includes arrangements of compositions by these two teachers. “Signed Dizzy, With Love” is a Donald Walden composition, which in this is memorable and hip arrangement, features modern giant of the tenor, Diego Rivera, and “Bakin”  featuring saxophonist Diego Rivera, trumpet player Etienne Charles, trombonist Michael Dease and Randy “Uncle G” Gilespie was penned by Louis Smith.

For Napoleon, jazz is and always has been about collaboration. As he’s grown and evolved, both as a musician and a teacher, he’s come to realize that musical exchange is never a one-way street. Attentive to a long-held tradition in jazz of young musicians disrupting, inspiring, and evolving the scene, Napoleon now finds himself in a stage where he collaborates with and is in run influenced by musicians who are much younger than himself. He has met many new voices through his role as an educator and he considers it an incredible experience to witness his students’ transformation into artists. Many of the featured musicians on the album are, in fact, Napoleon’s former students.

“The best young musicians play with reckless abandon. Sometimes they play things that are out of the idiom, and that can be exciting and inspiring to play with. They take me out of my comfort zone and force me to stretch. I like being around musicians who have unbroken musical idealism. They haven’t had their tastes compromised by the commercial industry. They know what they like, and that is where they take their direction. I try to share my experiences with them and expose them to the history. I let their new spirits take me to the future.”

Merzbow Joins Forces With Haino and Pandi on Blisteringly Intense Improv

A certain magic floods the room when free improvisers of the highest order get together to make music. And when said improvisers are also kindred spirits who know and can anticipate each other's moves, a kind of wonderful telepathy takes over. Such was the case when enigmatic Japanese noise legend Merzbow (Masami Akita) got together in the studio with fellow countryman Keiji Haino and Hungarian drummer Balazs Pandi for Become The Discovered, Not The Discoverer. For their second encounter for RareNoiseRecords, following 2016's An Untroublesome Defencelessnes, the three intrepid improvisers explore a threshold of sound so blisteringly intense, that it passes into a zone of divine cacophony.

Comprised of four lengthy, uninterrupted suites, each containing dense, sometimes harsh sonic onslaughts, BecomeThe Discovered, Not The Discoverer is fueled by Merzbow's cathartic sheets of electronic sound and guitar, Haino's slashing guitar, bass and vocal work and Pandi's pummeling intensity on the kit. And as Pandi explains, "It was 100% improvised, nothing added in post-production, just like every time we record together. No limitations, no concepts, nothing. Just listening, and playing."

Merzbow has found a true kindred spirit in Pandi, who has also become a kind of 'house drummer' for RareNoise. "The chemistry between us was there right from the very beginning," says Pandi, who began collaborating with Merzbow in 2009. "My way of playing fits his music perfectly, as I play both improvised music that is changing shape all the time and heavy amplified music. We don't have things anchored, we just have a continuously expanding vocabulary and we pay attention to each other and find immediate hooks in each other's playing."

The third member of this formidable triumvirate, singer-songwriter-guitarist Keiji Haino, had previously worked with Merzbow under the moniker Kikuri. "Keiji is like an infinite well of ideas," says Pandi. "It's incredible how he can push music and sounds into new directions. Sounds coming from him have way more qualities than the ones coming from most musicians, as he uses every possible way to alternate sounds and give them extra qualities that people just don't know about."

For Pandi, this latest is also the fifth recently RareNoise release involving both him and Merzbow, following 2013's Cuts (a trio with Swedish saxophonist Mats Gustafsson), 2015's Cuts of Guilt, Cuts Deeper (a quartet with Gustafson and skronk guitar hero and Sonic Youth founder Thurston Moore), 2018's live Cuts Up, Cuts Out (a quartet again with

Gustafsson, and Moore) and 2016's An Untroublesome Defencelessnes (as aforementioned, with Haino). And for the powerhouse drummer, the thrill is definitely not gone. "It's been almost 10 years since I first played together with Masami as a duo," he says. "That was a string of four shows, and even on that tour there was a difference between the first and the last gig. So its obvious that we continue to do different things, and our relationship on a human and an artistic level also strengthened throughout the years. For obvious reasons we can't play too many shows. In a busy year, we have about a handful of shows, but it's always exciting to play and we always discover new things within our music. Masami never uses the same setup twice, and I always do my best to have something new to drop on him every time we play together."

As far as the particularly intense nature of this latest invocation in the studio with Merzbow and Haino, the drummer says, "All we do is listen and play. Wherever we go with the music, the moment takes us there. Even if we make a plan, we just go with whatever we feel like doing. Haino-san decided on the spot to use the bass guitar, an instrument he never played on previously on recordings, if ever. Also Masami plugged in a guitar he found in the studio, so for a part of this recording we were a rock trio. The only thing we talked about the night before was to do five to seven-minute takes, but then the first take we actually did was over one hour."

While Masami and Haino strike such a seamless blend with their electronic onslaughts, Pandi fuels the proceedings with his signature skills, drawing on the power of grindcore and death metal while also listening intently and reacting in the moment. "I just play whatever feels good to play," he says. "It's funny that even though I try to not play in tempo anymore and approach drumming more as coloring to give the music another texture, this one turned out more like a classic rock record. And at some parts I am even playing a backbeat kind of thing. So it's definitely more straight-forward drumming than what I usually play these days."

"I basically grew up with playing and being surrounded by all kinds of music.", continues Pandi, "Back then it was Morricone scores, Verdi, Bill Haley & The Comets. One day I would play Dead Kennedy songs with my high school punk band, the next morning I would play "Slavonic Dance No. 8" by Dvorak on tympani. And still today, I have varied music tastes. So whether I'm playing with Merzbow, Obake or Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble, it's all music to me."

Like the music itself, the titles of Pandi's latest outing with Merzbow and Haino - "Become the discovered, not the discoverer" and "I want to learn how to feel everything in each single breath"- are intriguing. "The titles came from Haino-san and are inspired by the music," the drummer explains. "The titles, just like the music doesn't need to be understood, or doesn't need a strict interpretation." 

  

Born in Chiba, Japan on May 3, 1952, Keiji Haino has been active on Japan's underground music scene since the 1970s and remains active at age 67, ever-exploring on the fringes. His main instruments of choice have been guitar and vocals. Known for intensely cathartic sound explorations, he has lent his distinctive voice to recordings by a variety of groups, including Vajra (with underground folk singer Kan Mikami and drummer Toshiaki Ishizuka), Knead (with the avant-prog outfit Ruins) and Sanhedolin (with Yoshida Tatsuya of Ruins and Mitsuru Nasuno of Korekyojinn, Altered States and Ground Zero). He has also collaborated with such artists as Derek Bailey, Peter Brötzmann, Loren Mazzacane Connors, Charles Gayle, Makigami Koichi, Jim O'Rourke, Yamantaka Eye, Fred Frith, Charles Hayward and John Butcher. He also appeared on John Zorn's 1993 album Painkillerwith bassist Bill Laswell and drummer Mick Harris.

Haino's initial artistic outlet was theatre, inspired by the radical writings of Antonin Artaud. He had his musical epiphany after hearing The Doors' "When The Music's Over" and immediately changed course towards music. After brief stints in a number of blues and experimental outfits, he formed the improvised rock band Lost Aaraaf in 1970. By the mid 1970s, he collaborated with psychedelic multi-instrumentalist Magical Power Mako and in 1978 formed the rock duo Fushitsusha. The lineup expanded to a trio and continued to perform, with shifting personnel, through the 1990s. In 1998, Haino formed Aihiyo, which performed covers of tunes by The Rolling Stones, The Ronettes and the Jimi Hendrix Experience, filtered through his ownunique garage-psychedeliaprism. In recent years, Haino has made some of his most profoundly intense musical statements in the company of fellow countryman Merzbow and Hungarian drummer Pandi.

Merzbow's onslaughts of sound employ the use of distortion, feedback and noises from synthesizers, machinery, and home-made noisemakers. Utilizing two laptops, four stomp boxes and a homemade sound-maker, he creates a world of sound ranging from ambient drones to fusillades of frightening intensity. One of the most recognizable figures on the international noise scene, he began his recording career in 1980 with Fuckexerciseand Rembrandt Assemblage. He followed in 1982 with his landmark recording, Solonoise, which incorporated tape loops and creatively recorded percussion and metal. He has since released over 400 recordings, collaborating with dozens of musicians, contributing tracks to compilations and making numerous guest appearances on recordings by other artists. His stage name Merzbow comes from the German dada artist Kurt Schwitters' artwork Merzbau, in which Schwitters transformed the interior of his house using found objects.

Born in Tokyo on December 19, 1956, Akita listened to psychedelic music, progressive rock and free jazz in his youth. He became the drummer of various high school bands and shortly after began playing improvised rock at studio jam sessions with high school friend Kiyoshi Mizutani. A graduate of Tamagawa University, where he majored in Painting & Art Theory, Akita commenced work as an editor of several magazines upon getting his degree. He subsequently became a freelance writer for several books and magazines and has written several books of his own on a variety of subjects, including music, modern art and underground culture. His other interests include painting, photography, filmmaking and Butoh dance. He has cited a wide range of influences on his own music, from progressive rock, heavy metal, free jazz, and early electronic music to non-musical influences like dadaism, surrealism and fetish culture. His 2010 project, 13 Japanese Birds, was a 15-album series highlighting his ongoing ecological and vegetarian activism.

The youngest member of this powerhouse improvising trio is drummer Balázs Pándi. Born on August 6, 1983 in Budapest, Hungary, he has worked and toured with various acts from all around the world including Venetian Snares, Otto von Schirach, Last Step, To Live and Shave in L.A., The Blood of Heroes, The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble and the Italian experimental instrumental group Zu. His current projects include Italian doom band Obake, Metallic Taste of Blood (featuring Colin Edwin of Porcupine Tree, Eraldo Bernocchi of Obake and RareNoise Records' resident keyboardist, Jamie Saft), Slobber Pup (with Saft, guitarist Joe Morris and bassist Trevor Dunn)and the black metal/punk band Wormskull. From 2012, he started to play solo shows at festivals under his own name. Since 2009, he has frequently played drums live with Merzbow, headlining at experimental music festivals around the world. Pandi's muscular drumming style, marked by high-speed churning, intense blast-beats and thunderous double bass drum pedals, has been informed by free jazz, breakcore, doom metal and noise. It's always pedal to the metal with Pandi.

Together these three intrepid explorers and noise renegades arrive at some intense, harsh and ultimately compelling on BecomeThe Discovered, Not The Discoverer, their latest RareNoise release.

Camill Thurman Touring with The Jazz At Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis

Camille Thurman, the talented composer, multi-instrumentalist, and vocalist, continues to make waves as one of the most exciting figures in the world of jazz with new performance dates in the U.S. and abroad. The triple-threat artist embarks on her second exciting season as a saxophonist with the world-renowned Jazz At Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis. The 2019-2020 season kicked off with a three-night stand, September 12 through 14, featuring the music of the “South African Songbook: Celebrating 25 Years of Democracy” at its home base at Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater in New York City.

The Jazz At Lincoln Center Orchestra season continues with tour stops across Africa, Europe, South America, and the U.S. through 2020, including the Standard Bank Joy of Jazz Festival at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg, South Africa, on

September 26 through September 28.

In between her season tour dates with the orchestra, she has a series of solo dates, including the White Plains Jazz & Food Festival in White Plains, NY, on Sunday, September 15, with the Darrell Green Trio. On Friday, October 11, Camille Thurman with the Darrell Green Trio will be headlining at the NCPA Jazz Festival in Mumbai, India. After her dates in Mumbai, she will head to Italy for a two-week engagement with jazz musician Marco Marzola.

Additionally, Thurman appears as a featured artist on the brand-new High Note Records project Hand Painted Dream by composer, guitarist, and bandleader Peter Hand. The project includes some of the best musicians in the scene today and is an extraordinary testament to the best in modern big band music. The all-star ensemble includes trumpeters Eddie Allen and Valery Ponomarev; saxophonists Don Braden and Bruce Williams; trombonist James Burton III; and a rhythm section including James Weidman, Harvie S, and Steve Johns. Thurman has also been named as an endorsing artist for Key Leaves saxophone key props.

The year 2019 has already proven to be stellar for Thurman. The artist kicked off the summer season with the Sisterhood of Swing Seven with Bria Skonberg at the Mid-Summer Night Swing concert series with special guest Catherine Russell. She wowed audiences at the Charlie Parker Festival in New York, performing a new collaborative project featuring harpist Brandee Younger and Vibraphonist Nikara Warren titled “Reclamation,” commissioned by the Joyce and George Wein Foundation, the Jazz Gallery and City Parks Foundation of New York. Thurman also performed at the Jazz In Marciac Festival in France as part of Wynton Marsalis’ Young Stars of Jazz showcase. As part of a Charlie Parker birthday celebration show, she joined an all-star band including Jeremy Pelt, Greg Osby, Helen Sung, Lonnie Plaxico, and Billy Drummond at New York City’s legendary Birdland. She and collaborator Darrell Green headlined a tribute to late pianist Horace Silver as part of the Singers and Songbook Series at Bard College. Thurman also headlined the Jazz Museum of Harlem’s Gala honoring Benny Golson, alongside veteran singer and songwriter Valerie Simpson. What’s more, she appeared on TV’s “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” as a featured artist with Jon Batiste and Stay Human.

Last month, Thurman was one of the featured vocalists with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra for the performance of Marsalis’ composition “The Ever Fonky Lowdown,” with the Chautauqua Symphony. She also presented a lecture on Nina Simone at Chautauqua Institute.

Thurman has earned respect and raves as the only female featured player on tour with the Jazz At Lincoln Center Orchestra during its 2018-2019 season, which included dates in the United States, Singapore, China (Guangzhou, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Tianjin, Beijing, Shenzhen), Australia (Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne), and Brazil (São Paulo). She garnered additional admiration during the JALCO’s two-week engagement in São Paulo, Brazil when she sang “Flor de Lis” by Djavan in perfect Portuguese backed by Wynton Marsalis and Brazilian artist Hamilton de Holanda as the encore (see her rehearsal of the tune with de Holanda here).

The talented New York native’s ascent in the world of jazz has been nothing short of astonishing. Thurman’s heady mix of fluid, scat-tastic vocals, muscular sax lines and rhythmic inventiveness have steadily gained fans and critical raves. In just a few years, Thurman was named a finalist in the 2013 Sarah Vaughn International Jazz Vocal Competition; released four full-length album projects; was nominated for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Jazz Album (for Waiting For Sunrise); received her first Downbeat Magazine Critics Poll nomination for Rising Star Tenor Sax; and won two Independent Music Awards for Jazz Vocal Album (Waiting For the Sunrise) and Fan Vote for Jazz Vocal Song (“Nearness of You”).

www.camillethurmanmusic.com

New Music Releases: The Terri Green Project, Dr. John, Veronica Swift

The Terri Green Project – What A Feeling

The Terri Green Project fuses classic soul and today’s rhythm and blues with a twist. The songwriter, vocalist, producer Terri Green found her groove with composer, arranger & saxophonist Toddi Reed aka Torsten Abrolat. The UK #1 hit, Night to Remember in 2019, has set the wheels in motion. Their quest to spread “Grown & Sexy” soul to music lovers worldwide has been nonstop. Their sound mixes classical soulful arrangements with funky, grooving beats and bass lines. The band was honored to be invited to play Germany's biggest morning show, ZDF Morgen Magazin, and the legendary BBC announcer, Tony Blackburn, hails their Dance Tonight "brilliant. What a Feeling includes songs Green’s longtime writing partner, Songwriter Hall of Fame inductee 2018, Stephen H. Dorff, father of the actor of the same name and known for his work with Whitney Houston, Celin Dion and a featured appearance by Carrington-Brown.

Dr. John - The Mojo Of Dr. John

The Mojo Of Dr. John is a 2019 2CD set featuring Dr. John's early singles, pre-Atlantic Records and live concert recordings previously unreleased in North America and Japan. This new retrospective includes rarities from the Rex, Ace, Crazy Cajun labels, and rare live band and solo performances of Dr. John's greatest hits. Dr. John's music is stamped with the rhythms and traditions of the Crescent City, and he has spent a career that now spans more than half a century championing its music.  Includes: Storm Warning (Long Version); Somebody Tryin' To Hoodoo Me; Don't Want No Monkey In My Business; Georgia On My Mind (Live); Iko Iko (Live); Right Place, Wrong Time (Live); and Such A Night (Live).

Veronica Swift - Confessions

At just 25 years old, Veronica Swift has built a résumé that even many late-career jazz singers would envy: tours as a featured vocalist with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and Chris Botti; a guest collaboration with Michael Feinstein; engagements at A-list clubs like Birdland, Jazz Standard, Dizzy’s Club and Jazz Showcase; gigs at top festivals including Monterey, Montreal and Telluride, where she’s headlined. She began performing with her musician parents, the late pianist Hod O’Brien and the singer/educator/author Stephanie Nakasian, as a child, and in 2015 she earned second place in the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Vocals Competition, the most prestigious contest in the art form. In other words, her command of the vocal-jazz tradition is astounding.

Led Bib - It's Morning

From the Homeric invocation of ethereal opener "Atom Story," it becomes stunningly clear that It's Morning, the latest album from the uncategorizable UK ensemble Led Bib, is meant to take the listener on a journey. The wide-ranging and evocative set is also a testament to the distance the band has travelled on its own evolutionary path. If not the endpoint, it at least sits at a far-flung guidepost along a transformative odyssey undertaken by the eclectic ensemble.

Led Bib has long been renowned for its skronky, livewire fusion of exploratory jazz improvisation with the brute force of heavy rock and the labyrinthine architecture of prog. It's Morning retains an identifiable sense of adventure and virtuosity while marking a vast departure from previous recordings, veering into the realm of elusive, poetic narrative and lysergic beauty.

"Led Bib has developed an identifiable improvisation language over the last 15 years," explains drummer and bandleader Mark Holub. "After all that time we started to wonder what it might be like to take that language into a whole new area."

  

The most immediately apparent change from past Led Bib outings is the addition of vocals, folding the band's boundary-stretching vocabulary into gorgeous if complex song forms. The band's core line-up - Holub, bassist Liran Donin, saxophonists Chris Williams and Pete Grogan, and new keyboardist Elliot Galvin - are joined by a pair of gifted vocalists: Sharron Fortnam, a co-founder of the North Sea Radio Orchestra whose intoxicating mezzo soprano has also graced recordings by the noted British prog-punk band Cardiacs; and Jack Hues, best known as frontman for the 80s new wave band Wang Chung.

Bookended by a pair of atmospheric miniatures that frame the album as an imaginative Odyssey, It's Morning embarks on an immersive quest over psychedelic seas. That sense will only be amplified in live performances, when the music will be supplemented by a concert length film created by filmmaker Dylan Pecora. Pecora has made a film which explores and expands upon the album and in live performances it will be manipulated by VJ Oli Chilton. "I want our shows to feel like [author Ken Kesey's] Acid Tests," Holub declares. "I'm hoping people are transported somewhere else. The experience of just sitting down and being quiet and engrossed in something for an hour is a meaningful thing."

In a very real sense, It's Morning is a reaction to the turbulence of the modern day, from the cautious optimism of its title to the otherworldly sensation of its music. Holub tentatively refers to the set as "protest music" - not that there's a single lyric that directly addresses the politics of the day, but in the sense, which has always characterized Led Bib's output, that the band is swimming against the currents of the mainstream.

In retrospect, Holub finds the roots of It's Morning in his formative listening to bands like Pink Floyd and the Grateful Dead. The influence isn't literal; there's nothing on the album that directly echoes the work of Jerry Garcia or Syd Barrett. What Holub learned from those bands is a sense of what he reluctantly terms authenticity, the idea of following one's own instincts however far afield they may lead.

As unified and flowing as the end results may sound, It's Morning was created with as much spontaneity and in-the-moment invention as any of Led Bib's music. While they were intent on a new direction, the sound of the new album arose organically in the studio from the raw materials that had been shared between the bulk of the band in England and Holub in his adopted home of Vienna. Add to that the addition of Galvin, who stepped in when regular Led Bib pianist Toby McLaren was forced to withdraw from the sessions.

The mystical "Atom Story" leads into the distorted urban groove of "Stratford East," with Hues' lyric conjuring past civilizations paved over by concrete slabs, wistfully recalled as the violin of Irene Kepl leads the band into a combination of Afrobeat funk and quirky angular melodies reminiscent of Deerhoof and its ilk. Modern life intrudes in the brief interlude of the title track, with Fortnam's lament over the ubiquitous digital screen accompanied by the moaning bass clarinet of Susanna Gartmayer.

By far the album's most sprawling piece, the 11-minute "Fold" implores listeners to "Change the storyline" following a cosmic group improvisation redolent with the interstellar questing of the Floyd's most outré excursions. The pulsating minimalism of "Cutting Room Floor" accompanies Hues' instructions to "Let the film run backwards," giving perspective a 180-degree twist. Sense itself becomes lost as the two vocalists mutter simultaneously in stereo, a device recalling the Velvet Underground's brain-splitting classic "The Murder Mystery."

The intimacy of a cloud-shrouded cityscape is summoned in Fortnam's introspective lyric for "To Dry in the Rain," which builds from hushed contemplation to explosive intensity before fading back into Galvin's elegiac solo, which segues into the vox humanathrob of "O." The abstract clamour of "Flood Warning" finally gives way to the closing moments of "Set Sail," which casts its gaze to future wanderings on the far horizon.

While a definite departure for the band, It's Morning is more the exception than the rule in being an unexpected turn for the always unpredictable Led Bib. The band was originally formed by the New Jersey-born Holub in 2003 for a masters project at Middlesex University. The five-piece played its first gig in front of ten people in the backroom of a North London pub; five years later they were performing on primetime TV to millions, having been nominated for a Mercury Prize.

In 2011 the group released Bring Your Own, followed by two releases to celebrate their 10th anniversary in 2014: the studio album The People in Your Neighbourhoodand the limited-edition live vinyl The Good Egg, both hailed as modern classics and their best yet. In 2017 the band made its debut on genre-defying London label RareNoiseRecords with Umbrella Weather, followed by a digital only live recording

Stranahan / Zaleski / Rosato - Live at Jazz Standard

Convening three of modern jazz’s most in-demand rising stars, the trio Stranahan / Zaleski / Rosato returns with its long-awaited third album

Stranahan, Zaleski, and Rosato were all at a formative stage in their respective careers when they met more than a decade ago. While their trio, known simply as Stranahan / Zaleski / Rosato in acknowledgment of their equal and personal contributions to a distinctive group sound, has remained a key priority for all three, their collaboration has become something of a victim of their own individual successes. Six years after their last album, the trio has managed to shake off the demands of rising jazz stardom and reconvened for their long-awaited follow-up, Live at Jazz Standard. 

Despite the intervening years, this exhilarating set finds the trio’s chemistry not only intact but flourishing with the passage of time. In part that’s due to the members’ shared commitment to continuing to maintain their collaboration as a going concern. But it also reflects the individual successes and experiences that each of them has enjoyed apart from the others as in-demand bandleaders and sidemen. All of those elements converge in electrifying and captivating fashion throughout the six tracks on Live at Jazz Standard, due out September 20, 2019 via Capri Records. 

“There was a lot of time between our second and third records when we all got busier as sidemen,” Zaleski explains. “But our chemistry only deepened in that time. As we grew we were gathering professional experience, and I think that has definitely seasoned our chemistry together.” 

That experience has been estimable for all three. Stranahan has traveled to India with Herbie Hancock to commemorate the 50thanniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s visit to the country, and toured the world as part of guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel’s trio and quartet. Zaleski has made a name for himself playing with the likes of Ravi Coltrane, Lage Lund, and Ari Hoenig, and was a semi-finalist in the 2011 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Competition. Rosato is an in-demand bassist who has toured and recorded with artists like Gilad Hekselman, Joel Ross, Melissa Aldana, David Kikoski and Will Vinson. 

While their previous two releases, Anticipation (2010) and Limitless (2013) were studio dates, the trio was intent on capturing the thrill and intensity of their live shows this time out. For the occasion they chose one of New York City’s most revered jazz rooms, the Jazz Standard, to capture four sets of music. “The Standard has always been very supportive of this trio,” Zaleski says. “It feels like a home for us, and we’re very lucky to have that relationship with one of our favorite clubs. We were really able to open up playing live in a great room with great sound and an enthusiastic audience.” 

Though all three members contribute compositions to the trio, Live at Jazz Standard is largely dominated by Zaleski’s tunes. Reprised from Limitless, “Forecast” opens the album with a simmering and malleable sense of swing, its 9-minute length exemplifying the way that these renditions stretch the material much further than the studio originals. Zaleski and Stranahan both take compelling solos, but it’s the intricate interaction and instantaneous conversation between the three that is most striking. 

Zaleski also contributed “Sullivan Place,” a new composition that reflects the view from the pianist’s Brooklyn window with a gentle but bustling hum of activity. The angular, Monk-inspired “On the Road” is taken from Anticipation and highlighted by Rosato’s elastic bass solo and the charged, playful back and forth between Zaleski and Stranahan. The crystalline beauty of “Chorale (for Fred Hersch)” is an apt dedication to the legendary pianist, who has been an avid supporter of the trio. The depth of emotion that shines forth from the piece could only have been intensified by the fact that Hersch was in the audience during its performance. 

In addition to Zaleski’s pieces, Rosato contributed the elegantly powerful “Waltz for MD.” Given those initials’ prominence in the jazz pantheon, the composer remains mum about whom “MD” actually refers to – even his bandmates are unsure, and the guessing game has evolved into a running joke in the trio. The set is rounded out by a gorgeous exploration of the standard “All the Things You Are,” more than doubled in length from the version that opens Anticipation. 

Stranahan and Zaleski initially met in 2005, when both were students at the Brubeck Institute at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California. Two years later Zaleski matriculated at the New School in New York City, where his assigned roommate in the dorms was bassist Rick Rosato. The three first crossed paths when Stranahan paid a visit while on break from his own studies at the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz in New Orleans, though they didn’t play as a trio until 2010, when Rosato was curating a series at the club Upstairs in his native Montreal and wanted to “bring a taste of the rich musical experience I had in NYC to my hometown.” 

“From the first note we realized there was something there,” Stranahan recalls. “It was almost instantaneous; we just sensed that connection and playing together felt so effortless. The music was just flowing out of us. Since then I’ve felt that way every time we’ve played together. The friendships and the music have only gotten stronger, and that’s a unique situation.” 

“This trio really feels like home for me,” Rosato adds. “We've been playing together as a band for almost a decade now, and so we've gotten to know each other on a very deep level both musically and personally during that time.” 

At Stranahan’s urging the trio quickly entered the studio to document their newfound connection, recording Anticipation in the drummer’s hometown of Denver. The session was among the earliest recording experiences for all three of them. For Zaleski, the fact that each of the bandmates was at a similar point in their fledgling music careers played a vital role in their burgeoning relationship. 

“There’s something special about the connections that you forge when you’re that young,” Zaleski says, pointing out that all three were under 20 years old when they met. “As you grow into an adult and a professional, you don't really get to have that kind of quality time together. I think that comes out in the music. We have a personal history: we came up together, we were figuring out how to have a career in music and learning how to play at the same time. One of the reasons it’s so important for us to keep this band going is because relationships like that can’t ever really be forged again.” 

Stranahan / Zaleski / Rosato is an acclaimed trio bringing together three of modern jazz’s most exciting young players. Drummer Colin Stranahanhas had a passion for music since he was a child, making music his life’s focus and passion from the first time he sat down at a drum set at age eight. He studied with Ari Hoenig and Nasheet Waits at the New School before attending the prestigious Monk Institute in New Orleans, where Terence Blanchard, Herbie Hancock, and Wayne Shorter were his main educators. 

Colin currently performs and tours with a wide array of artists including Maria Neckam, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Fred Hersch, Niia, Dan Tepfer, Ron Miles, Glenn Zaleski, and Rick Rosato. Glenn Zaleskiis a Brooklyn-based pianist who originally hails from Worcester, Massachusetts. He maintains an active performance career in New York City and abroad, including a duo with his brother Mark. In 2011 Glenn was a finalist for the APA Cole Porter Fellowship in Jazz as well as the Thelonious Monk Institute’s International Piano Competition. A 2010 graduate from the New School, Montreal-born bassist Rick Rosatowas a precocious young talent, gigging around Montreal by the time he was 18 years old. He has since performed at notable locations including Smalls Jazz Club, the Jazz Gallery, the Bern International Jazz Festival, the Bimhuis in Amsterdam, and many more. The versatile and virtuosic bassist is in demand, lending his skills and sound to such leading names in jazz as Ari Hoenig, Tigran Hamasyan, Dan Weiss, and Aaron Parks, among many others.

Vocalist Youn Sun Nah | "Immersion"

Describing the music of South Korean vocalist Youn Sun Nah can leave even the most articulate at a loss for words. Her voice, one of the most versatile and powerful of a generation, belies her modest stage presence between songs -- evoking a Jekyll and Hyde dynamic in the best way possible. That tension between delicacy and raw power is ever apparent on her upcoming release Immersion, due out September 27 through Warner Music Group's ARTS MUSIC Division. The lead single, "In My Heart," will be available Friday, September 6 with a companion music video, coinciding with the pre-order launch.

Youn Sun Nah typically performs to sold-out theaters throughout Europe and has had two gold records in France and Germany. Immersion, Youn Sun Nah's American debut, is an eclectic snapshot of emotionally riveting originals, traditional American folk and her takes on Marvin Gaye, Leonard Cohen and Supremes classics.

Hailed by The Guardian as "a style-blending star," her story is as unique a her innovative approach to music. Youn Sun Nah was born into a musical family in South Korea and quickly earned a reputation for her astonishing musical prowess. After relocating to Paris to study chanson and jazz, her new home embraced her with the distinction "Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres" by the French Ministry of Culture. She has performed on some of the world's great stages, such as the Sochi Winter Olympics and with Herbie Hancock at International Jazz Day festivities in Havana. She has also repeatedly appeared at the Monterey, Montreux, Montreal, North Sea and Red Sea Jazz Festivals -- among others.

With Immersion, U.S. audience will experience the musical prowess that has been astonishing audiences overseas for years. True to herself and her voice, Youn Sun Nah leaves her imprint on every musical idea she touches throughout this wondrous 13-song journey...an immersion of a stunning talent destined to enthrall North American pop and jazz fans alike.

YounSunNah.com

Nicolas Bearde Pays Tribute to Nat's 100th Birthday on "I Remember You: The Music of Nat King Cole"

Recording artist Nicolas Bearde has established himself as a powerful presence on the contemporary vocal jazz scene over the past couple of decades. His silky baritone, wit and engaging rapport captures and draws in audiences at his live performances.  

I Remember You: The Music of Nat King Cole is Bearde’s newest CD and the sixth he’s released on his own label, Right Groove Records. Bearde has long appreciated the music of Nat Cole, one of his earliest influences, and produced this album in celebration of Nat’s 100th birthday. Though the ten songs on this project are associated with Cole, Bearde breathes new life into the tunes with his rich, warm voice and supple phrasing, imbuing each song with his own soulful and romantic interpretation. 

Being a big fan of tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander's phrasing and tone, Bearde brought him out from New York as a special guest for this project. Alexander is featured on “Funny (Not Much),” “Thou Swell,” and “That Sunday, That Summer.” Bearde was part of McFerrin’s ground-breaking a cappella group Voicestra. He was also a long time member of SoVoSò, a vocal improvisation group that has won numerous awards and honors, among them 1st place at the renowned Casa a cappella summit awards, and nominations for "Best Group" and "Best Album,” and Bearde as "Best Lead Vocalist." 

Besides his own solo and group performances, Bearde has had a fruitful acting career. He has performed in several plays, including "Master Harold"… and the Boys, as well as in film (Final Analysis with Richard Gere and Kim Basinger, True Crimes with Clint Eastwood) and television (Nash Bridges and Monk). Bearde is a master storyteller. There is a certain elegance to Bearde’s singing that makes the songs on I Remember You: The Music of Nat King Cole, with their updated, hip arrangements, as fresh and evocative as when they were originally performed.

Tenor Saxophonist Noah Preminger Releases Zigsaw: Music of Steve Lampert

Zigsaw: Music of Steve Lampert, tenor saxophonist Noah Preminger’s 14th album, is easily his most ambitious one to date. Combining jazz improvisation, electronics, backbeat grooves and powerful melodic sections, it all adds up to a cohesive and highly listenable piece of music. The latest in a series of brilliant albums that have established Preminger as a leading saxophone voice and an important figure in today’s jazz scene, Zigsaw represents the apotheosis of the 33-year-old tenor man’s recording career — thus far.

Zigsaw is the product of Preminger’s enduring friendship and collaboration with composer/trumpeter Steve Lampert, an under heralded jazz figure whose heady compositions lay down a gauntlet for even the best players. “Steve is absolutely brilliant,” Preminger says of the artist whose recording resume includes five extremely innovative albums as a leader. “He’s the highest-level cat. It doesn’t get any deeper than Steve.” 

The project dates back more than two years, when Preminger asked Lampert if he would compose a piece of music for him and an ensemble. Lampert readily agreed and, as is his custom, did not enter into the endeavor lightly. Rather than deliver a collection of tunes, Lampert concocted something akin to a magnum opus — a single 49-minute piece that’s at once highly structured and consummately open. 

Zigsaw — a portmanteau of “zigzag” and “jigsaw” that Lampert says sums up the character of the piece — is divided into 12 sections. Each is divvied into four subsections — a vamp-like sequence, explosive “open blowing,” a return to a part of the central melody, and a floating “fantasy section” — that create serpentine avenues for Preminger’s ace band of improvisers to explore. 

“For all my projects, I write a kind of musical virtual reality within which instrumentalists can react to the piece and with each other,” Lampert explains. “I want them to be who they are as improvisers, to not tie their hands in any way, to put them in a strange new world and have them do their thing.”

Preminger needed musicians with the skill to not only execute the music technically, but improvise effectively within such an imposing composition. The saxophonist didn’t have to look far. Trumpeter Jason Palmer has been a regular bandmate of Preminger’s for several years. Likewise, alto saxophonist John O’Gallagher, pianist Kris Davis, bassist Kim Cass and drummer Rudy Royston have been consistent Preminger cohorts. All are absolutely monster musicians. 

“These are all people who I really admire, and it was a privilege to share the studio with them,” Preminger says. “I really felt they brought out the best in me as an improviser. And Steve’s composition opened doors for all of us and brought things out of players you don’t typically hear.” 

The ensemble’s wild card is Rob Schwimmer, a pianist/keyboardist who also is also one of the world’s leading theremin players. Here he plays the Haken Continuum, a futuristic fingerboard, creating atmospherics that course through the sections and provide one of many sonic elements that distinguish Zigsaw from shopworn jazz. Schwimmer provided a sonic foundation that took “the improvisation sections into a zone that would not have been fully realizable with only acoustic instruments,” Lampert explains. 

It wasn’t just the musicians’ improvisational acumen that was tested. “The melody that Steve wrote is literally the most difficult thing I’ve had to learn,” Preminger says. “I had to practice it exhaustively in order to perform it accurately on the session.” 

As music writer Eric Snider says: “Zigsaw is a thrill ride, like nothing I’ve heard, challenging but eminently listenable. Steve Lampert’s epic composition opens new doors of perception for player and listener alike.” 

Zigsaw: Music of Steve Lampert continues Noah Preminger’s penchant for making intriguingly themed albums. His masterful Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground (2016) puts Delta blues into a jazz quartet context. The following year, he released Meditations on Freedom on Inauguration Day, 2017, as a musical protest in response to ominous political developments in America. In 2018, the saxophonist formed the Dead Composers Club with drummer Rob Garcia and released The Chopin Project, the first in a series that explores the music of legendary deceased composers outside the jazz milieu. Also last year came Genuinity, a collection of the tenor man’s originals that earned a top pick in the Jazziz magazine annual critics survey. 

This year saw the release of Preminger Plays Preminger — where the saxophonist interpreted and wrote music associated with the films of his distant cousin, director Otto Preminger — on the French, vinyl-only label, Newvelle Records. It features pianist Jason Moran, bassist Kim Cass and drummer Marcus Gilmore. 

Born in 1986, Preminger grew up in Canton, Connecticut. His debut, Dry Bridge Road, released just after his 21st birthday, was named Debut of the Year in the Village Voice Critics Poll. In 2017, he was the winner of DownBeat magazine’s Rising Star Best Tenor Saxophonist and has been listed regularly in both the Rising Star and Tenor Saxophonist categories for almost a decade. The Boston Globe has hailed Preminger as “a master with standards and ballads, as well as an adventurous composer.” The New York Times declares: “Mr. Preminger designs a different kind of sound for each note, an individual destiny and story.”   

The saxophonist has performed on key stages, from the United States to Asia, and he has played and/or recorded with the likes of Jason Moran, Dave Holland, John Patitucci, Fred Hersch, Dave Douglas, Billy Hart, Rob Garcia, Joe Lovano, Victor Lewis, John and Bucky Pizzarelli, Cecil McBee, George Cables, and Roscoe Mitchell.

https://www.noahpreminger.com

Gentleman's Dub Club - Lost In Space

UK REGGAE TRENDSETTERS DROP LATEST SINGLE FROM LOST IN SPACE ALBUM ALONG WITH A COVER OF GROOVE ARMADA DURING FESTIVAL SEASON

It’s summer 2019, and the Gents aren’t stopping. Today sees the release of their single “Out Of This World,” featured on their Lost In Space album, with the single including an exclusive remix of Groove Armada’s “Superstylin’” as well as a remix of the title track from the highly celebrated General Roots (with a guest spot by UK dub legend Dennis Bovell).

Lost In Space has been dubbed “a euphoric journey through time, space and bass” by Reggaeville, while GDC itself was dubbed “possibly the most dapper and coolest reggae band on the live circuit” by Reggae Roots Review. About this single, lead vocalist Jonathan Scratchley says, “Out of this World marks the point in our story during Lost In Space where we finally left planet earth far behind us and decided to go into the black and see what we could find, confidently knowing that there was gold in those stars.”

As to their tackling of Groove Armada: “Supersytylin’ was born out of a late night writing session in the depths of the Welsh valleys in late 2016. After the very first time we played it, we knew it was going to be a special tune. It really gets to the heart of what we are as a band in its depth and its nod to dance music, dub music, and its soulful vibe.”

Gentleman’s Dub Club still has a number of festival shows of note coming in Europe, including appearances at Boomtown (UK), Rototom Sunsplash (Spain), Ostroda Festival (Poland), and Outlook Festival (Croatia). The group will perform in a different live iteration of their set in July, with a stripped down 8 track approach, including tape loops from studio recordings mixed with live vocals and instrumentation. They will debut the show with label mates Easy Star All-Stars in Birmingham and Oxford this month.