The Octave Remastered Series – a historic year-long, 12-album project featuring newly restored and expanded editions of classic Erroll Garner releases from the 1960s and 1970s – announces the final four releases to wrap up the series: Feeling Is Believing (March 20), Gemini (April 17), Magician (May 15), Gershwin & Kern (June 12).
Each album contains a newly discovered unreleased bonus track. The first eight titles in the series – Dreamstreet, Closeup in Swing, One World Concert, A New Kind of Love, A Night at the Movies, Campus Concert, That’s My Kick, Up in Erroll’s Room – were released to critical acclaim.
The master tapes for all 12 albums in the series were transferred and restored using the Plangent playback system. Employing a wideband tape head, preamp and DSP package to capture and track the original recorder’s ultrasonic bias remnant, the Plangent Process removes the wow and flutter and FM/IM distortion from the recorded audio. This returns the listener to the original session experience, bringing to life Garner’s incomparable performances of his own compositions, as well as classic works from the jazz canon.
Album Notes:
Feeling Is Believing | March 20
Recorded at the tail end of 1969 with a cast of new collaborators, this album is a prime showcase of Erroll Garner’s two greatest strengths: his ability to completely reinvent well known songs, and his endlessly creative facility as a composer of original music. From his sultry “The Loving Touch” to the Afrofuturistic “Mood Island,” Garner’s originality again proves boundless.
Gemini | April 17
A more fitting title for this album does not exist. It is yet another example of just how well Erroll Garner knew and understood himself and his music. Perhaps his greatest talent was an ability to distill and communicate precisely who he was at any given moment. Here we find him perfectly embodying the definition of his sun sign. Whatever your views on astrology might be, all that is left to do is listen.
Magician | May 15
The selections Garner committed to tape in the fall of 1973 include what may be some of his best original compositions, alongside a series of timeless contemporary takes on American Songbook classics. Though it would turn out to be the final studio album of his life, it makes clear that Garner was continuing to innovate on his distinctly individualistic style, and surely would have for decades to come.
Gershwin & Kern | June 12
In his original 1976 liner notes, concert impresario George Wein concluded fittingly, “To put it simply, Erroll Garner is a great musical genius.” On this final album released during Garner’s life, he shows yet again his complete mastery of his instrument and his unmatched ability to interpret songs and make them his own. This newly restored album includes a previously unreleased Garner original, worthy of the two composers to which this album is dedicated.
The newly minted bonus tracks in the series are all Garner originals, eight of the 12 being previously unreleased compositions. “It’s truly shocking, and one of the greatest joys of this work, to find these fully realized tunes just sitting there on tape,” says Peter Lockhart, senior producer of the Octave Remastered Series.
One of the most prolific composers and performers in the history of jazz, as well as a courageous advocate for African American artistic freedom through the ownership and control over his own works. Garner is a legend among jazz pianists. His unique approach melds bebop and swing influences into a unique, unrivaled mastery.
Garner is also a notable figure in popular music history for the hard-won precedents he set for artistic freedom that still stand today. In 1959, because he had rights of approval on what was released, Garner successfully sued Columbia Records to remove an album they had released without his permission.
His victory was the first of its kind for any American artist in the music industry. Garner and his manager, Martha Glaser, subsequently founded and launched Octave Records, whose 12 releases make up the Octave Remastered Series.
Erroll Garner was a rare musician who was equally adored and respected by peers and devoted fans alike. He and his art were best summed up by the late trumpeter Clark Terry: “The man was complete. He could do it all.”
One of the most prolific composers and performers in the history of jazz, as well as a courageous advocate for African-American empowerment and artistic freedom, Garner is a legend among jazz pianists. His unique approach melds bebop and swing influences into a unique, unrivaled mastery.
In addition to his brilliant keyboard artistry, Garner is also a notable figure in popular music history for the hard-won precedents he set for artistic freedom that still stand today. In 1959, because he had rights of approval on what was released, Garner successfully sued Columbia Records to remove an album they had released without his permission.
His victory was the first of its kind for any American artist in the music industry. Garner and his manager, Martha Glaser, subsequently founded and launched Octave Records, whose 12 releases make up the Octave Remastered Series.
Erroll Garner was a rare musician who was equally adored and respected by peers and devoted fans alike. He and his art were best summed up by the late trumpeter Clark Terry: “The man was complete. He could do it all.”
It can be overwhelming to realize how much water surrounds us, affects us and impacts our lives. It’s an element vital to survival yet can be utterly devastating; it can be placid and beautiful or torrential and violent. It’s ubiquitous – flowing at the turn of a faucet, comprising 70% of our own bodies – yet somehow intangible, able to change form or assume the shape of its surroundings.
On his stunning new album, Be Water, pianist Christian Sands takes inspiration from water’s tranquility and power and muses on the possibilities offered by echoing its fluidity and malleability. Through ten gorgeous and thrilling pieces, Sands alternately conjures the serenity of a sun-dappled lake and the drama of a relentless thunderstorm. Just embarking on his 30s, Sands has already enjoyed a remarkable career trajectory, touring and recording with Christian McBride’s Inside Straight and Trio, as well as collaborating with the likes of Gregory Porter and Ulysses Owens.
The vividly expressionistic recording finds Sands with his core trio of longtime bassist Yasushi Nakamura and drummer Clarence Penn, with brilliant contributions from guitarist Marvin Sewell, saxophonist Marcus Strickland, trumpeter Sean Jones and trombonist Steve Davis. On one piece the ensemble is also supplemented by a string quartet featuring Sara Caswell, Tomoko Akaboshi, Benni von Gutzeit and Eleanor Norton.
Due out May 22, Be Water is Sands’ fourth release (including a five-track digital-only EP as an extension of his debut album Reach) for Mack Avenue Music Group. The album takes its title from the philosophy of martial arts master and movie star Bruce Lee (by way of screenwriter Stirling Silliphant, who distilled his thoughts for the screen). Lee’s voice appears on both halves of Sands’ title track offering this profound advice: “Empty your mind. Be formless, shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup; you put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle... Water can flow, or it can crash. Be water, my friend.” (Bruce Lee inspirational quote)
Lee was an early idol for Sands, who grew up watching his classic films with his father and skillfully studied a variety of martial arts himself – until the notion of breaking boards and cinder blocks with his hands seemed ill-advised for a promising young pianist. Lee’s teachings re-entered Sands’ thoughts during his two-year residency with Jazz at Lincoln Center in Shanghai, China, which opened up new worlds of culture and philosophy to him. Those pursuits led him to the writings of Sufi master Hazrat Inayat Khan on the mysticism of sound and music.
“I was trying to practice being more open, more free, more flexible than I usually am,” Sands explains. “Through that I started to have this awareness of just how much water was all around me. As I was touring it seemed to be raining every day; I actually had to change a few dates because of a hurricane. I even started seeing a new doctor who told me I needed to drink more water [laughs]. It seemed to be some kind of a divine message to pay attention to water.”
In case the pianist wasn’t receiving that message, it was delivered in an even more direct and moving form one day following a performance in Hawaii. “I was driving back to the airport and had a little bit of time to kill,” Sands recalls. “We decided to stop along the way at this very beautiful park. We were sitting by the water and a huge sea turtle swam slowly up to me. He came very close and peeked his head out as if to say, ‘This is the essence of what you need to be writing about.’”
Point taken, Sands began composing his most wide-ranging and ambitious set of compositions to date. The introductory track takes form gradually, with the glacial pace and implacable momentum of a rising tide. The simple sounds of lapping waves flow into a dawning melody on arco bass, slowly but forcefully surging to a gripping crescendo as more instrumentalists join in. The piece was modeled on the impactful openings of another of Sands’ major influences, filmmaker Quentin Tarantino.
The rollicking “Sonar” takes the concept of navigating via sound as a metaphor for the way in which we relate to our surroundings, echoing off of and situating ourselves within a larger picture. Lee’s words usher in the chorale-like “Be Water I,” with its interwoven horn lines over Penn’s shifting tempos. Its companion piece, “Be Water II,” is an elegant dance between the trio and the string quartet, arranged by Sands’ Manhattan School of Music classmate Miho Hazama.
Propelled by Penn’s driving rhythm, “Crash” depicts the impact of waves on the shore, or the collisions among people. The scintillating “Drive” peers within, imagining personal ambition with the unstoppable force of the ocean and summoning ferocious solos from Strickland and Sewell. The amorphous “Steam” finds water taking its most elusive form, evaporating into thin air before one’s very eyes; the piece offers the trio at its most abstract yet always maintaining a perfect tension between its three diverging and reconvening poles.
The cyclical nature of water, its ability to flow staggering distances or gather in the clouds only to fall back to earth, sparked the choice of the album’s sole non-original, a gospel-tinged take on Steve Winwood’s “Can’t Find My Way Home” (originally recorded by the supergroup Blind Faith). The wistful pairing of Sewell’s luxuriant guitar and Sands’ evanescent touch evoke the calmness of a wave-free lake on “Still.” The fanfare-like “Outro” playfully reverses the “Intro,” ending the album on a cinematically celebratory note.
The music of Be Water flows with the mesmerizing tranquility and awesome power of its namesake. On his most conceptually ambitious album to date, Christian Sands takes heed of Bruce Lee’s wisdom and truly allows his creativity to transform and assume a dazzling variety of forms.
Christian Sands • Be Water
Mack Avenue Records · Release Date: May 22, 2020
After moving from Boston to New York City in the summer of 2016, Terracciano found himself playing less jazz (in the strictest sense), and has since been drawn into the worlds of Traditional Jazz, Bluegrass, Country, Free Improvisation, and Rock. In writing the material for this album, he wanted to make sure that he was able to include all of these genres into the project, finding a way for them to work together while maintaining a common “jazz” identity. The compositions on this album display how many different styles of music can coexist in the same space, especially when brought together by superb players, a willingness to collaborate, and a dedication to the craft of what it means to be a musician.
The CD opens with the titular In Flight, a larger scale piece that uses elements of Latin music and free improvisation centered on a clave rhythm in 15/8. The music begins with a slower ensemble introduction followed by violin and trumpet solos over the clave rhythm. Guitar and saxophone then begin to improvise freely while the form collapses around them before a recap of the introduction material. s
Following the full ensemble feature of the first piece, Way Off is played in a stripped down quartet featuring violin and rhythm section. Inspired by the writing of Joni Mitchell, the beginning features Matt Pavolka soloing on bass before an introduction of the melody, followed by a violin solo over a more folk-inspired groove, building intensity with each passing chorus. But with every period of light must come shadow, which in this case is introduced and improvised on by guitarist Adam Rogers in a flurry of notes and rhythm. Violin and guitar eventually combine to return to the first themes of the piece, before a group improvisation brings the track to a close.
Pundit was written during the 2016 election as a reflection of political pundits who change their opinions and narratives on a dime. The tune opens up with an energetic dialogue between Terracciano and drummer Mark Ferber before violin and saxophone state the melody. The piece then goes on into three additional contrasting sections, with each member of the ensemble soloing on a different section and voicing a different opinion before the piece ends on a sudden, disjointed rhythm.
As a departure from the madness of the previous composition, When I’m In Your Arms Once More is a ballad written as a sort of “song without words”. The ensemble is once again reduced to just quartet, with violin, guitar, and bass playing sensitive, intimate improvisations before the melody comes to a climax.
Case in Point brings the energy back up with a quicker, funkier groove, featuring high-energy solos from guitar and saxophone. As a contrast, Terracciano’s solo begins as just a duet between violin and bass before adding the rhythm back in for a powerful close. The piece concludes with an extended coda featuring a drum solo over the ensemble.
Alfie’s Lullaby is a piece inspired by two of Terracciano’s favorite standards: “Alfie’s Theme” (Oliver Nelson) and “Lullaby of the Leaves” (Petkere/Young). Inspired by big band arrangements, the melody combines together violin, saxophone, and trumpet to mimic a big band sax soli section. After an opening violin solo, Dave Pietro and Mike Rodriguez thrillingly trade fours with each other on saxophone and trumpet before ceding to guitar and bass solos. The “sax soli” eventually closes out the piece on a held note, providing a serene finish to a piece written with a “let’s party” theme!
Originally from Portland, Maine, Gabriel Terracciano is an award winning violinist, composer, and educator. Classically trained from a young age, Gabe has spent his career focusing on playing the violin in a variety of non-classical genres. He has been a member of the two-time Grammy award winning Turtle Island String Quartet since 2018, and is a member of numerous New York-based groups in addition to leading his own trios and quartets. He has played throughout the United States as well as Internationally, including concerts throughout Ghana as a member of the Ghanaian National Symphony Orchestra. He has played, recorded, and/or studied with the likes of John Scofield, Cecil McBee, Tanya Kalmanovitch, Dave Holland, Billy Hart, George Cables, Victor Lewis, Ron McClure, Ari Hoenig, Noah Preminger, Jason Moran, Jerry Bergonzi, and Frank Carlberg. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Composer and 2018 Guggenheim Fellow Felipe Salles releases The New Immigrant Experience, a groundbreaking multimedia work capturing experiences of Dreamers in America.
The New Immigrant Experience, the remarkable eighth release by renowned composer Felipe Salles, is a powerful new multimedia work inspired by the lives of “Dreamers,” the almost seven hundred thousand individuals currently protected by DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. The two CD/DVD set, featuring the 18-piece Felipe Salles Interconnections Ensemble, will be released March 20, 2020 via Tapestry Records.
Written by Salles –who emigrated from Brazil to the United States in 1995 – and developed with the aid of a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation fellowship, the work uses speech cadences and melodic motifs based on key words as its main source of musical material. The compelling and personal stories it tells were collected through interviews Salles conducted with a group of nine Dreamers during the summer of 2018. Videos of the interviews were created by Fernanda Faya. Individual stories and experiences of growing up bilingual and undocumented also informed musical choices.
It’s an emotional musical journey through beautiful orchestral textures, carefully developed motifs, and intense solo features, that combine the power of a big band recording and the dramatic landscape of a soundtrack.
Premiered in April 2018 at performances in New York City and Massachusetts, The New Immigrant Experience was subsequently recorded in the studio. The recording was then recombined with live video excerpts, creating an experience that gives full-throated voice to immigrant groups in the United States today.
Salles gained firsthand knowledge of the issues surrounding DACA and the Dreamers after befriending classical pianist Tereza Lee, the original inspiration behind the DREAM Act. After writing The Lullaby Project (2018), a large-scale work inspired by the cross-generational importance of Brazilian lullabies as part of a cultural identity for immigrant families like Salles’, The New Immigrant Experience was a natural continuation of his artistic vision and the perfect vehicle to contribute to the discussion regarding the place and value of immigrants in America during these turbulent political times.
The New Immigrant Experience is a complete work of art, whether one experiences the music alone or in combination with the DVD, or in live performance with videos projected behind the band.
A native of São Paulo, Brazil, Felipe Salles has been an active musician in the US since 1995, working and recording with prominent jazz artists including Randy Brecker, David Liebman, Lionel Loueke, Jerry Bergonzi, Chico Pinheiro, Jovino Santos Neto, Oscar Stagnaro, Duduka Da Fonseca, Maucha Adnet, Tony Lujan, Luciana Souza, and Bob Moses. He has toured extensively in Europe, North and South America, India and Australia, as a sideman and as a leader of his own group.
Salles’ awards include a Guggenheim Foundation Composition Fellowship (2018), a NALAC Fund for the Arts Grant (2015), a French American Jazz Exchange Grant (2009), and a Chamber Music America New Works (2005) grant. His arrangements and compositions have been performed by some of the top groups in the world including The Metropole Orchestra, UMO Helsinki Jazz Orchestra, and the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra.
Salles has released seven critically acclaimed recordings as a leader, making DownBeat Magazine best albums of the year list in 2013, 2014, 2017 and again in 2019. He currently leads both The Felipe Salles Group and The Felipe Salles’ Interconnections Ensemble, and works as a member of the New World Jazz Composers Octet, Kyle Saulnier's Awakening Orchestra, Alex Alvear's Mango Blue and Gonzalo Grau's (Grammy Nominated) La Clave Secreta.
Since its inception in 2016, The Felipe Salles Interconnections Ensemble has brought together modern large jazz ensemble writing, contemporary classical textures and Latin American rhythmic influences in a unique way. The music represents the interconnection between many cultural influences, ranging from Brazilian, American, Argentinean, and European musical sources. The approach to composition, using layers of melodic and rhythmic counterpoint, also expresses the interconnectivity behind the musical product. In addition, the exploration of individual improvisation, as a contrast to collective playing, adds another dimension to the ensemble’s sound.
In 2018 The Felipe Salles Interconnections Ensemble released its critically acclaimed debut recording, The Lullaby Project and Other Works for Large Ensemble, on the Tapestry/Capri label. In his StepTempest review Richard B. Kamins remarks on “the brilliance of these pieces, the excellent arrangements, the intelligent solos, and the power of the ensemble.” Donald Elfman writes in The New York City Jazz Record, the album “weaves its way into finding the bridge between forms so brilliantly expressed by this stunning recording.” And in her 4-star review in DownBeat Magazine, Kira Grunenberg notes that “The Lullaby Project simultaneously is dense and accessible, and warrants replays to take in Salles’ cultural observations, compositional counterpoint and the emotional trajectories.”
The group features composer and conductor Felipe Salles; saxes/woodwinds Jonathan Ball, alto and soprano saxes, flute, piccolo; Mike Caudill, tenor and soprano saxes, flute, clarinet, electronic effects; Rick DiMuzio, tenor sax, clarinet (Kevin Sun will be performing the CD release dates); Tyler Burchfield, bari sax, bass clarinet, clarinet; trumpets/ flugelhorns Jeff Holmes; Don Clough; Yuta Yamaguchi; Eric Smith, electronic effects; Doug Olsen; trombones Clayton DeWalt; Randy Pingrey (George Murphy will be performing the CD release dates); Bulut Gülen;Angel Subero, bass trombone; pianist Nando Michelin; guitarist Kevin Grudecki; vibraphonist Ryan Fedak; bassist Keala Kaumeheiwa; and drummer/percussionist Bertram Lehmann.
https://www.sallesjazz.com
The folk music of Georgia is one of the earliest and richest polyphonic traditions in the world, despite being little known to the rest of the modern world. Combining a sense of national pride, musical invention and exploratory spirit, pianist/composer & arranger Giorgi Mikadze has created a striking new hybrid of traditional Georgian folk music and progressive microtonal jazz on his breathtaking debut album, Georgian Microjamz.
Georgian Microjamz discovers unexpected common ground between the ancient traditions of Mikadze's native Georgia, where the Orthodox Christian church featured only vocal music in its services, and the very modern microtonal innovations of guitar great David "Fuze" Fiuczynski, with whom the keyboardist studied while at Boston's Berklee College of Music.
Fiuczynski joins Mikadze to breathe life into this alien-sounding fusion, along with Greek-born bassist Panagiotis Andreou (Now vs. Now, Mulatu Astatke) and drummer Sean Wright (Musiq Soulchild, Taeyang). On three tracks the quartet is supplemented by the stunning vocals of Georgian choir Ensemble Basiani, while singer and ethnomusicologist Nana Valishvili adds a heart-wrenching vocal performance to "Moaning," a powerful ode to the victims of the 2008 military conflict between Russia and Georgia.
Classically trained in his native Tbilisi, Mikadze didn't set out to explore the music of the country he'd just left when he arrived at Berklee. It was in part the influence of peers and mentors that he saw investigating their own cultures and heritages in innovative ways that led him to cast his thoughts homeward.
"I met a lot of people from around the world while I was at school - Africa, India, Asia, countries that have so much musical culture," Mikadze explains. "Hearing their music led me to check into my own roots, and inspired a major passion in me to create something unheard before. As I was developing as a musician, I started thinking more about what I could offer to the world and there's no polyphonic tradition in any country like we have in Georgia."
Coinciding with those inspirations was Mikadze's meeting with Fiuczynski, who has been incorporating microtones - those myriad intervals to be found between the 12 tones of the standard Western tuning - into his rock-jazz fusions for decades. The guitarist enlisted Mikadze for his Planet MicroJam project, while the keyboardist then borrowed the term when naming his debut album.
"I'm really honored to have Fuze on my first album," Mikadze says. "Meeting David opened up a completely different mindset for me."
Georgian Microjamz triangulates Mikadze's varied interests, discovering something that touches on a variety of genres and traditions but arrives at a wholly unique destination. "As musicians it's important all the genres that have come before us so that we can create something out of them that represents our own voice," he says. " Lately, though, genre has come to mean much less to me than it used to. But my voice comes from my country."
Since rediscovering his roots, and the vibrant musical heritage that underlies it, Mikadze has become downright evangelical about his homeland. An exuberant pride shines through as he boasts that Georgia is heralded as the birthplace of wine, with a viticultural tradition dating back at least 8,000 years. The Georgian folk song "Chakrulo" was one of only 29 compositions from the history of music around the globe that was included on the famed Voyager Golden Record, sent into space to represent the planet's culture to any extraterrestrial intelligence that might happen upon it.
On his own visit to Tbilisi, the late Anthony Bourdain called Georgian folk music, "Hauntingly beautiful and otherworldly - kind of like Georgia," while no less an authority than Igor Stravinsky once declared that, "Georgian folk music has more new musical ideas than all the contemporary music."
So Mikadze is in good company when he enthuses about the country's vivid musical heritage. Exploring the possibilities inherent in that legacy has become something of a life's work for the composer, who looks forward to translating it through a variety of approaches. His previous effort was the eclectic project VOISA, on which he teamed with Ensemble Basiani for a reimagining of Georgian folk songs incorporating elements of, funk, fusion, hip- hop, R&B, electric-acoustic and microtonal music.
While Georgian Microjamz includes arrangements of three folk songs, this project is focused more on Mikadze's original music, which draws inspiration from those songs rather than strictly reinterpreting them. The music is meant to offer a wide vantage point on the country's culture, touching on influences from a different region on almost every track.
For example, the album's two closing pieces, "Lazhghvash" and "Tseruli" - both featuring Ensemble Basiani - are inspired by the Svaneti region, in the Northwestern Caucasus Mountains. "Dumba Damba" looks to the music from the Adjarian Mountains, located on the Black Sea coast, in which Mikadze finds traces of swing feel and West African grooves. The opening prelude, "Metivuri," stems directly from a vintage recording by the famed singer Ilia Zakaidze with the Georgian State Merited Ensemble of Folk Song and Dance.
"In Georgia you can walk 10 kilometers and hear a different dialect," Mikadze points out. "We also have a very unique language, one of very few that doesn't have any relationship with any other language family. Even the alphabet is completely unique. So I tried to take inspiration from a different area for every composition I wrote, to create a kind of exhibition of folk music from different Georgian regions."
While the album opens with the monumental sound of the Basiani choir, the human voice is used only sporadically on Georgian Microjamz, despite it being the heart of the Georgian music tradition. One of the most effective examples is "Moaning," in which Nana Valishvili layers a traditional lament for war dead over an insistent rock beat. "I remember being so scared during the 2008 war," Mikadze recalls. "At the same time that the world was watching the Olympic games in Beijing, Russia was bombing my country. I wanted to do this as a dedication for people who died in the 2008 war, and Nana performed it amazingly. It's a moaning, a crying, but more a crying inside. It's really heavy."
Through the use of microtonal music, Mikadze finds a way to replicate the fluidity and power of the voice in instrumental music, while allowing him to incorporate a wealth of other influences, from rock to fusion to music from other regions of the planet whose traditions echo or intersect with Georgia's. In Mikadze's inventive vision, the music leaps effortlessly but intriguingly between time periods, styles and cultures in a constantly surprising hybrid.
"I wanted to make a sort of bridge from ancient Georgia to our current world," he concludes. "My homeland gives me an endless source of inspiration. In a way, I think the world is lucky that they don't know about Georgian music, because it gives everyone something new to discover. It's become my life's goal to serve this idea, to let people know about Georgian music and culture, and why it's so unique."
Sony Music Masterworks announces the long-awaited follow-up to the GRAMMY Award-winning The Goat Rodeo Sessions, with Yo-Yo Ma, Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer, and Chris Thile. The new album — Not Our First Goat Rodeo — will be released May 1 and is available now to preorder. Making its debut alongside the album preorder is its lead offering, "Scarcely Cricket," which the group pairs with a live performance video — watch here. Following the album's May release, the group will set out on a coast-to-coast U.S. tour beginning in August, followed by a second set of performances in October.
WATCH VIDEO FOR "SCARCELY CRICKET"
YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/U2JkD27gAQY
Both sets of Goat Rodeo sessions combine the talents of the four solo artists, each a Grammy Award-winning talent in his own right, to create a singular sound that's part composed, part improvised, and uniquely American. The music is so complex to pull off that the group likens it to a goat rodeo — an aviation term for a situation in which 100 things need to go right to avoid disaster. Both the first album and the new recording also feature the voice and artistry of singer-songwriter and fellow Grammy Award-winner Aoife O'Donovan, who rejoins the group as a guest on Not Our First Goat Rodeo.
The new release builds on 2011's genre-defying The Goat Rodeo Sessions, which debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's Classical, Classical Crossover, and Bluegrass charts and remained at No. 1 for 11 weeks on the Bluegrass chart. Marking Yo-Yo Ma's highest debut on the Billboard Top 200 albums chart, the release went on to break into the chart's top 20 albums, where it peaked at No. 18. NPR's World Cafe called the album, which received GRAMMY Awards for Best Folk Album and Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical, "organic yet composed in a way that only four deeply talented, in-tune musicians could make it," with traces of, "Appalachia[n], Chinese, classical, Celtic, and jazz influences. If there was ever an album — or an unlikely band — that embodies the word 'eclectic,' this is it."
The Los Angeles Times has described the collaboration as "unlikely musicians on unlikely instruments … part blues, part bluegrass and a smidgen of Bach." The four musicians come from diverse backgrounds: Yo-Yo Ma (cello), a classical cellist known for his cross-genre collaborations and deep belief in culture's essential role in society; Stuart Duncan (fiddle, banjo), a multi-instrument bluegrass virtuoso who has played with artists from Dolly Parton to George Strait; Edgar Meyer (bass), a double bassist and composer who has written for musicians from Béla Fleck and Zakir Hussain to Emanuel Ax and Hilary Hahn; and Chris Thile (mandolin, fiddle, guitar, vocals), the mandolinist wunderkind who fronts bands such as Nickel Creek and Punch Brothers and hosts public radio's Live from Here. Their traditions and experiences intersect in this collaboration to create a compelling sound that is at once global and American, a shared voice that speaks to the moment in which we live.
The Newport Music Festival (NMF) will take place from July 4-26 and will present 27 concerts and events in the renowned Newport mansions, including The Breakers, The Elms, and the Chinese Tea House, as well as other impressive venues, such as Castle Hill Inn, The Casino Theatre, Newport Art Museum, Blithewold, Bellevue House, and St. Columba's Chapel.
Highlights of the 2020 Season Include:
A celebration of Beethoven's 250th Anniversary - The Festival will feature a diverse array of concerts commemorating his virtuosity, including Beethoven's Birthday Bash on July 19
Festival favorite and improvisational genius Charlie Albright Returns on July 11
Grammy Award-winning Harlem String Quartet makes their Festival debut on July 17
The Brubeck Brothers Quartet celebrate the centennial of jazz giant Dave Brubeck at The Breakers on July 18
Dance the Night Away on July 24 with Jon Lehrer Dance for an evening of cocktails and appetizers, spectacular music and choreography, and post-performance dance party
Hearkening back to its roots, the Festival will present two opera performances – Viva Verdi! on July 16 and Passion for Puccini on July 25
The Newport Music Festival brings together its largest forces ever for Beethoven's Birthday Bash, an incredible evening to celebrate the 250th Anniversary of Beethoven's Birthday. This special concert features Festival favorite Stephanie Chase performing Beethoven's gorgeous Violin Concerto, a spectacular cake-cutting during intermission, and concludes with a full orchestral ensemble of Beethoven's stunning Second Symphony.
Richard Glazier returns on July 22 in another fun-filled concert, Broadway to Hollywood, after his standing ovations at last year's sold-out performance at Blithewold. This year, he is joined by Grammy Award-nominated pianist Mike Renzi and award-winning singer Nicholas King.
A variety of last summer's popular concerts will be making a reappearance this season, including the Musical Garden Party, Sunrise Concerts, Broadway at the Breakers, and A Summer Evening by the Sea at Castle Hill.
This season will feature Festival favorites like pianist Daniel del Pino and baritone Trevor Neal alongside outstanding newcomer, tenor Limmie Pulliam.
NMF continues to serve the community by offering free family-friendly concerts, including a Fourth of July Extravaganza and a free concert on the Lawn at the Newport Art Museum on Tuesday, July 14.
The award-winning pianist, composer, and bandleader Sebastien Ammann (born and raised in Geneva, Switzerland) is a modernist in every sense, some might even say an avant-gardist. Like the Shepherd’s Tree found on the African continent, Ammann has extremely deep roots. While in Geneva, Ammann performed with internationally known artists such as Maurice Magnoni, Stefano Saccon, Jeff Baud, Béatrice Graff, Manu Hagmann, David Meier and Rafi Schilt. Early in his career, he also became an effective leader and conceptualist, leading his band “Schwytzromand Formula,” which brought together two musicians from the German part and two musicians from the French part of Switzerland, as a way to erase the language barrier. In 2006, Ammann offered his debut album, “Orange” (2006) with the Ammann Trio, featuring bassist Manu Hagmann and drummer Rodolphe Loubatière.
While in New York in 2008, he studied privately with Jacob Sacks, Marc Copland, Fred Hersch and Garry Dial. Further studies with David Berkman, Antonio Hart, Michael Mossman and Howard Brofsky earned him a Masters degree in Jazz Performance from Queens College in February 2011. During his studies, Ammann was awarded the Sir Roland Hanna Fellowship award in recognition of special achievement, and quickly, “forged collaborations with saxophonist Caroline Davis, reedist Ohad Talmor and trombonist Samuel Blaser.” – Bill Meyer, DownBeat Magazine. Ammann is the leader of the Sebastien Ammann Quartet featuring the aforementioned Talmor, bassist David Ambrosio and drummer Eric McPherson (their first album, Samadhi, on Freshsound/New Talent, 2013 garnered praise from Dave Sumner of Bird Is The Worm, “sets off gracefully, quietly, and with a gliding motion as placid as skaters on a frozen pond. This is one of those albums whose opening statement is so indelible as to resonate throughout the entirety of the recording . . . that sublime opening statement speaks through the expressions to follow.”. Mr. Ammann is a member of Gene Ess’ Fractal Attraction, Nick Biello Sextet, Jake Leckie Quartet, and has collaborated with musicians and projects such as Kris Davis’ Massive Thread, Tony Malaby, Billy Drewes, Le Zhang Quintet, Mark Ferber, George Schuller, The Gary Douglas Band, Dana Leong, John Hébert, Sean Conly, Michael Sarin and many others. He regularly performs in venues and festivals all over the USA and Europe.
The centerpiece of Sebastien Ammann’s career is as the leader of Sebastien Ammann’s Color Wheel, a band featuring some of New York City’s most compelling and fearless artists, saxophonist Michaël Attias (Renku, Anthony Braxton, Paul Motian), bassist Noah Garabedian (Ralph Alessi, Ravi Coltrane, Andrew D’Angelo) and drummer Nathan Ellman-Bell (Michael Formanek, Uri Caine, Dave Douglas, Brass Against). Ammann and co. proudly announces the release of their second album, Resilience, available on Chris Speed’s Skirl Records March 20. The band’s first album, Color Wheel (Skirl Records, 2017) was very well received by numerous publications in both the U.S. and internationally, including DownBeat Magazine, where Bill Meyer said, “he makes music that balances accessibility with rigor,” and Something Else! which proclaimed the album was a vehicle for, “Ammann’s bracing and transcendent compositions that opens up wide both the plotted improv spigots.” Stephen Graham added on Marlbank that this music is, “avant spiky free-bop flavoured by the New Cool containing a pleasantly plangent sourness that the born to run jaggedness from piano and sax offset so effectively and ease into consummate fluency.”
On Resilience we find ourselves listening to a group of five musicians who have become quite close since performing and recording together for many years. And, you can hear their camaraderie in the music. Ammann elaborates, Color Wheel has been together since 2012 and the members have become close friends; outside of Color Wheel, we’ve played in many different bands over the years. This is important to me, working with people I can trust. These musicians have a wide range of musical colors and approaches they can use. As my music is informed by a wide spectrum of influences, I need people who can navigate complex written material as well as wide open improvisation.” Ammann’s goal with Resilience was to compose pieces that each had their own distinct identity, while showcasing the musicians and their singularities. “With some compositions, like Yayoi and Untangled, the emphasis is on form, while with others, such as Aylan Kurdi and Resilience, the focus in on a certain feeling. Pedestrian Space is an example of working on texture within a frame, thinking in terms of mass. We also cover two tunes that I’ve been playing a lot over the years, Afterthought by my friend Dave Scott (trumpet), and King Korn from the album Turning Point by Paul Bley, who has been one of my favorite pianists after listening to his album Open To Love in my early twenties. While composing the music for Resilience I was thinking about ways to convey specific information to the musicians while giving them freedom to interpret it in a variety of ways, expressing their personalities. This has been my new focus while writing music,” said Ammann.
Resilience was recorded by Michael Perez-Cisneros and Alex Haley on June 11, 2018 at Big Orange Sheep (Brooklyn, NY); the album was produced by Sebastien Ammann and Jake Leckie, and mastered by Alan Silverman at Arf Mastering (NYC)
Yayoi - Inspired by the work of Japanese visual artist Yayoi Kusama. In this piece, the aim was to create a narrative by connecting sections that have different textures and creating a flow in the composition.
Untangled - This piece has a longer form that takes the listener through a variety of sonic worlds.
Castello di Traliccio - The title “Castello di Traliccio” (trellis in English) comes from an Italian book I was reading. The concept of the trellis came to my mind in this piece where the solid groove creates a solid structure through which a rubato melody is woven. The simultaneous occurence of metrical and rubato rhythm introduces an element of indeterminacy that creates an interesting counterpoint.
Resilience - This piece attempts to evoke John and Alice Coltrane’s sound, which I often turn to in order to find serenity and a sense of grounding. I wrote this with the idea of finding hope, meaning and stability through building our community in a time where both the political climate and the state of the environment don’t offer signs of a bright future.
King Korn Revisited - One of my favorite Carla Bley compositions.
Aylan Kurdi - A work inspired by the Syrian refugee crisis and the human tragedies it created. The melody has a lamenting quality and floats over a repetitive and circular accompaniment.
The Traveller - Written for a dear friend who travelled to 160 countries and was one of the smartest people I knew. The composition is a harmonic exploration using simple harmony as a base and superimposing a variety of structures over it.
Afterthought - A beautiful tune by my friend and trumpeter Dave Scott
Pedestrian Space - Inspired by the work of visual artist Fred Sandback, who, by stretching lengths of yarn horizontally, vertically or diagonally at different scales, creates an experience of space by creating invisible panes, creating volume with no mass. The idea of this piece is to create texture by layering multiple rhythms that can then morph into different shapes.
Jazz singer-songwriter Gina Kronstadt’s new single, “The Threat of Love,” earns most added honors at Billboard as her new album and video arrive.
Most of us have been tempted to fall for the wrong person at one time or another. Jazz singer-songwriter Gina Kronstadt journals an alluring temptation on “The Threat of Love,” the first single from her third album, “October Comes Too Soon,” which dropped last Friday on FallOff Records. Kronstadt wrote and produced the storybook musing on love, intimate relationships and astute observations. The single earned most added status on the Billboard chart in its debut week at radio. Debuting the same week was the sensual black and white video for “The Threat of Love” that was lensed on the streets of Los Angeles (https://youtu.be/OHpohgM9tsU).
Kronstadt writes music as therapy – mental and spiritual - and she composed the eight songs that comprise “October Comes Too Soon” during a challenging eight-month period while recovering from multiple shoulder surgeries. She cleverly uses “real” lyrics and her soothing-caress-of-a-voice to capture and convey honest thoughts and emotions, feelings of vulnerability and heartache, and ruminations on love, bliss and politics. When it was time to lay the tracks, Kronstadt called upon noted musicians to vividly illumine her tales: keyboardists John Beasley and Nicholas Semrad, bassist Benjamin Shepherd, drummer Joel Taylor, trumpeter Michael Stever and saxophonist/woodwind player Bob Sheppard. A first-call violin player who has performed on an extraordinary library of crème de la crème recording projects and concert stages, Hollywood box office hits and landmark television series, Kronstadt helmed the 12-piece string section that draped the tracks with lush backdrops, adding depth, drama and elegance.
While the first single garners attention from smooth/contemporary jazz radio programmers, cuts from “October Comes Too Soon” have also been proliferating playlists at a second radio format: straight-ahead jazz radio. In fact, Kronstadt’s disc is already making its way up the Jazz Week chart.
Kronstadt is eager to share the music from “October Comes Too Soon” with listeners live on stage although current global circumstances may force the delay of her album release concert slated for April 23 at Feinstein’s at Vitello’s in Studio City.
Try Again is a dynamic journey that builds upon an offbeat syncopated motif. With a searing repeating melody the song builds to a dramatic unison chorus punctuated by satisfying hits and breaks by the rhythm section. A gentle, B3 organ moment builds through the form giving way to explosive guitar licks that finally segue to the triumphant reprise. Again, Slugger creates their own world and takes the listener on a trip that is both challenging and exciting.”
In early 2017, acclaimed New Orleans drummer Terrence “Groove Guardian” Houston was looking for inspiration. Already in the midst of a successful career that included work with The Funky Meters and George Porter Jr’s own projects, Houston knew it was time to find a sound of his own. He contacted bassist Noah Young, known as a member of post-jazz powerhouse Naughty Professor. What started as a few casual jam sessions in Houston’s practice space in a storage facility soon became the beginnings of a new project. Young tapped childhood friend and guitarist Max Bronstein, a relative new-comer to the city, to join in on several writing and recording sessions. When the group added keyboardist Joe Johnson- one of the masterminds behind international sensation Tank and the Bangas- the quartet knew they had something special.
Slugger has quickly become one of New Orleans most exciting new bands, drawing praise from both fellow musicians and the avid listeners who frequent the city’s vibrant live music scene. Combining elements of fusion, funk and gospel music, Slugger represents the confluence of styles that makes New Orleans a unique musical and cultural hub. As the group finds themselves on a trajectory few anticipated, one thing is certain- Houston and his collaborators have found their inspiration.
Fire Orchestra (Mats Gustafsson) - Actions
An expanded take on the original "Actions" composition – originally recorded by Don Cherry, with composer Krzystof Penderecki – and extended here by original material from reedman Mats Gustafsson! The original recording was a key juncture between two different avant worlds on the European scene – and this updated set is equally powerful – as it features an all-star group of younger improvisers – with Gustafsson on baritone and leading the group – in a lineup that includes Per Texas Johansson on tenor and flute, Christer Bothen on bass clarinet, Anna Hogberg on alto, Marial Berthel on trombone, Reine Fiske on guitar, Alex Zethson on Hammond organ, Torbjorn Zetterberg on electric bass, and Goran Kajfes, Niklas Barno, and Susansa Santos Silva on trumpets! The strong use of trumpets really echoes Cherry's legacy, but there's also a very different vibe to this take on Penderecki's mix of composition and improvisation – one that's maybe more careful, spacious, and thoughtful than the original - a great tribute not just to Gustafsson's legacy, but also the evolution of improvisation over the decades. ~ Dusty Groove
Gitkin - De La Canción
After two outstanding releases on Wonderwheel Recordings (2018’s “5 Star Motel” LP, and 2019’s “Saint Claude Dash / Chicha Nola” 7”), Gitkin is back with a new EP, along with two remixes from Pimps Of Joytime. “De La” - which features NYC-based singer Carol C - was inspired by the Saharan Tuareg sound, while also embracing Carl C’s Afro-Dominican roots with a beautiful melody and Spanish lyrics. The second track, “Canción De Aplauso,” fuses classic joyful cumbia with 70s Afrobeat, Cuban tumbao, and a bit of middle eastern flavour for good measure. The electric Guild twelve-string guitar sound is reminiscent of Turkish Saz, eliciting a festive vibe that gets the crowd grooving in live sets. Both songs see remixes by The Pimps of Joytime, with “De La” delving further into the trance sound. “Canción De Aplauso” gets a gogo retouch, inspired by Washington DC’s Chuck Brown, with the addition of some 70’s style funk slap bass. Gitkin is the alter ego of Pimps Of Joytime front man and Grammy nominated producer, Brian J. The mysterious hybrid of styles on his first album, 5 Star Motel is both beguiling and enchanting. A style he has dubbed "Outernational Psychedelic Twang". With influences ranging from Peruvian Chicha to 60’s Pakistani surf rock, Gitkin weaves a tapestry of sonic goodness featuring flavorful guitar stylings, hand clapping grooves and intriguing compositions. "It's all funk to me" says Brian J when asked about the eclectic influences of the project. Backed by a stellar cast of musicians, Gitkin has generated a buzz playing exclusive shows in NYC and San Francisco. On stage, the live band delivers a spirited performance, captivating their audiences.
Boddhi Satva - 18
A double-length collection of work from Boddhi Satva – a retrospective of sorts, as the package features tracks from the past 20 years of his career – but maybe more of a special celebration of his talents, as the album brings together special projects, collaborations, and under-exposed mixes and tracks! As with all Boddhi Satva's music, there's a quality here that matches his African roots and role in the contemporary global scene – music that resonates strongly with the vibe of key collaborators on the package – who, with Boddhi Satva, have helped forge a new sense of cross-cultural growth in house music that will continue for years to come. Titles include "Manda Island" by Afefe Iku, "See The Day" by Alton Miller & Boddhi Satva, "Until Our Work It's Done (Boddhi Satva's ancestral rmx)" by Gabriele Poso, "Born Again (Boddhi Satva & Mr V retouch)" by V, ""Moina Ya Mokili" by Boddhi Satva & Abel Tabu, "Into The Shadows (Boddhi Satva ancestral soul rmx)" by Jay Tripwire, "Mama Kosa" by Boddhi Satva & Kaysha, "Kanga Mutu" by Boddhi Satva & Spilulu with H-Baraka, "Sweet Brown Sugar" by Boddhi Satva with E-Man, "The Depth Of The Source" by Boddhi Satva featuring Yuba, "Belma Belma" by Boddhi Satva & Maalem Hammam, "God Is Love (Boddhi Satva ancestral soul mix)" by DJ Pippi vs Danny Marquez with Marcel, and "Bria's Offering" and "Big Theme" by Boddhi Satva himself. ~ Dusty Groove
His latest Outside in Music release explores the nature of influence and features his acclaimed longtime working group with Lucas Pino, Alex Wintz, Glenn Zaleski, Dave Baron and Jimmy Macbride.
An improviser with a gorgeously rich, expressive sound, the trombonist, composer, producer and educator Nick Finzer has long been recognized as an expert musical storyteller. But with his new sextet album, Cast of Characters, available February 28th, 2020 through his label Outside in Music, he’s crafted his most profound narrative yet, an exploration of the formative figures we meet throughout our lives and how their impact changes over time. “Each of us responds and develops on our journey with the influence of the people we meet,” he says. “We follow, we depart, we react and we grow in myriad ways based on the experiences we encounter.”
Cast of Characters is much more than a tribute project or an homage to musical mentors; rather, it’s a probe into the nature of influence, containing a strong message of self-empowerment. As the title of the album’s final track puts it, “We’re more than the sum of our influences.”
To hear Finzer’s sentiments in action, you couldn’t do better than the brilliant rising stars of his longtime working band: multireedist Lucas Pino, guitarist Alex Wintz, pianist Glenn Zaleski, bassist Dave Baron and drummer Jimmy Macbride. These are musicians who reflect both rugged individualism and a reverence for jazz’s time-honored principles.
Utilizing the telepathic rapport his group has developed over the past eight years, Finzer is an Ellingtonian composer in philosophy, constructing parts to suit the specific gifts of his players, or placing his soloists into the sorts of demanding situations he knows will yield radiant results. “I wanted to feature everyone doing the things I know they’re really great at,” he says.
Finzer’s music also draws on influences from heroes like Maria Schneider and Bob Brookmeyer, composition-first progressives whose innovations remain accessible via breathtaking melody and harmony and often propulsive rhythms. On Cast of Characters, Finzer evinces their big-picture ideas and good taste—no solos for their own sake—yet still manages to dig deep into the language of great small-group postbop.
The sense of trust among the members, the elasticity that allows one improvisation to dovetail seamlessly with another, will put listeners in mind of benchmarks like Miles’ Second Great Quintet. Finzer’s effortless hookup with Pino, one of his closest friends and collaborators, can evoke the trombone-and-sax frontline chemistry of classic LPs featuring Finzer’s lodestars J.J. Johnson/Stan Getz and Curtis Fuller/Benny Golson.
Returning to the album’s story, Finzer explains how the crucial lead-off track, “A Sorcerer (is a myth),” reflects the creative heroes we encounter who seem at first to be otherworldly, larger than life. “But we find out that maybe what we thought was magic was really not magic at all,” he says. “It’s about dedication, hard work, seeking out mentors and the sheer determination to make your vision a reality.
“The whole musical journey of this album presents a collection of experiences based on the people who shape who we are. But ultimately we are the ones with agency to create our path.”
That Finzer is exploring concepts of both self-reliance and veneration shouldn’t be surprising to anyone who has followed his busy career. A graduate of the Eastman School of Music and the Juilliard School, he has counted among his trombone mentors Steve Turre and Wycliffe Gordon, and is currently the first Assistant Professor of Jazz Trombone at the University of North Texas, a landmark program in the history of jazz education. He’s earned a raft of honors, including two ASCAP Foundation Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Awards, and has performed, toured, and/or recorded with a pack of lauded ensembles, among them Anat Cohen’s Tentet, Bob Stewart’s Double Quartet, the Dafnis Prieto Big Band, Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, and the Gil Evans Project led by Ryan Truesdell, the GRAMMY-winning composer/arranger who produced Cast of Characters.
It is through Outside in Music, Finzer’s media company and record label, that he best defines himself as a 21st-century jazz musician. “We really want to focus on developing releases for artists in a present-day model that includes visual elements, whether it be video or social media or all of the above,” he says, before pointing out that Outside in Music allows musicians to retain their hard-earned publishing rights. This full-service production organization also facilitates administrative help and affordable album promotion campaigns. Finzer’s own online presence is a lesson in ingenuity, from his virtual studio and other online teaching platforms to his blogging and a steady stream of new music and performance videos. Some of Outside in Music’s most critically celebrated releases, like saxophonist Roxy Coss’ Quintet and Airmen of Note pianist Chris Ziemba’s Manhattan Lullaby, feature Finzer as producer, another role in which he espouses an artist-first attitude.
These initiatives are ways for Finzer to bridge the gap between musician and listener. Cast of Characters, Finzer’s fifth release overall, is yet another. “The characters represent the archetypes of people we encounter throughout our lives,” he says. “I want the listener to project their own experiences onto this storyline, creating their own unique narrative with the music.”
In the end, the listener will also absorb and reflect on the cast of characters that is Finzer himself: a searching player with a trademark timbre; a creative educator given to using emerging technology; a bandleader with an ability to choose and elevate great talent; and a generous entrepreneur dedicated to his artists’ best interests. To say it more directly, he’s a quintessential jazz artist for our time.
http://www.nickfinzermusic.com
Moses Boyd - Dark Matter
A hell of a record from drummer Moses Boyd – a musician who's fast becoming way more than a drummer! Here, Boyd is in the same "jazz plus" territory of Makaya McCraven – still strongly respectful of his lineage in the music, but also trying very hard to push the whole thing forward, and open up to new sounds and new ears – all in ways that are never commercial or crossover at all! Moses is clearly becoming a force on the London scene to match the collaborative genius of Makaya in Chicago – and although there's no personnel listed on the set, we can hear some fantastic work on saxes, keyboards, and vocals – which are handled by both male and female singers. And although Boyd drums on the set, he's clearly working more as a larger producer/arranger – one who isn't afraid to throw in a few beats from time to time – on titles that include "Yoyo", "Shades Of You", "Stranger Than Fiction", "BTB", "Far Gone", "Nommos Descent", and "What Now". ~ Dusty Groove
Wildflower - Season 2
An amazing group, sounding even better here on their second album than they did the first time around – which is quite an achievement, as we really loved that record from this mighty trio! The group's an offshoot from the Ill Considered combo – and they've got an approach that's similar to that group, but maybe even more modal and spiritual overall – tremendous bass from Leon Brichard, tight drums from Tom Skinner, and searing reed solos from Idris Rahman – who blows tenor, flute, and clarinet over the long grooves laid down by the bass and drums! Rhythm is at the core of every track, and there's energy that flows right from the original inspiration of Coltrane's early 60s groove – but Rahman's solos are very distinct, and add a hell of a lot to the already great sound of the group. Titles include "Light In The Sorrow", "Distant Thunder", "Fire", "Mirage", "Under The Night Sky", and "Where The Wild Things Dance". ~ Dusty Groove
Monophonics - It's Only Us
The Monophonics sound better here than ever before – as if the group's gone through some great mutation that's got them coming across with a richer, more mature sound than we ever might have expected a few years before! Things are still pretty darn funky, but there's also strong currents of deeper 70s soul – both a fragile east coast harmony vein, and some fuller arrangements from time to time – almost as if All-Platinum Records were co-producing a set with Curtom – although with some of the sunnier Cali elements we've always heard from the group. Kelly Finnigan produced, and handled lead vocals and plenty of keyboards – but the set's definitely a group affair, and sounds different than Finnigan's other work – and has a sublime sound that's right at home on the Colemine label. Titles include "Tunnel Vision", "Last One Standing", "It's Only Us", "All In The Family", "Run For Your Life", "Day By Day", and "Suffocating". ~ Dusty Groove
Secrets Are The Best Stories is the new album from acclaimed vocalist and GRAMMY® Award-winning artist Kurt Elling featuring renowned pianist Danilo Pérez. Edition Records is delighted to provide the support and artistic freedom for Elling to pursue his goals while placing artistry and integrity at the forefront. Secrets Are The Best Stories is set to be a career-defining album for Elling, confirming his trajectory on a new and evolving path of artistic excellence, and further exploring the passion and the messages, political, personal, that inspire him.
Here, Elling adds evocative new lyrics to compositions by greats like Pérez’s iconic collaborator Wayne Shorter, late fusion bass genius Jaco Pastorius, and visionary composer/arranger Vince Mendoza, and to pieces from Pérez’s own catalogue. Along with his own compelling narratives, Elling adapts the works of contemporary poets Franz Wright and Robert Bly, the 19th century abolitionist poet Frances E.W. Harper and Nobel-winning author Toni Morrison.
His previous album The Questions, released in 2018, explored important messages about social and political issues. The Questions was undoubtedly a learning experience from which Elling never expected to find definitive answers. And yet some things have become clearer to him. Elling’s continued search for what is hidden and what is unearthed is reflected in the title, Secrets Are The Best Stories – an insight gleaned from one of his daughter’s childhood friends, whose naïve wisdom recognized the deeper beauty in games of hide-and-seek. With Secrets Are The Best Stories, Kurt has further developed his protest voice to communicate his impassioned artistic reaction to the vital issues of our time: human rights, immigration and climate change. On this album he demonstrates the artist’s ability to respond, which he does with command and virtuosity, and integrity.
