In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Jazz at Lincoln Center is making available a robust, curated and weekly program of offerings to reach people all over the world and bring the healing power of jazz music into homes and communities. The effort, which will grow to include jazz masters from every corner of the globe, will also serve as a “virtual commons” whereby people can find and access live webcasts from musicians and directly support their work and livelihood. Keeping with its efforts to entertain, enrich and expand a global community for jazz, JALC continues to be a resource for cultural nourishment and comfort in these uncertain times.
“Although our hall may temporarily be dark to audiences," says Managing and Artistic Director Wynton Marsalis. "The light and love in this music will shine brightly.”
Beginning Friday, March 20, the organization will actively, strategically, and aggressively share its rich archive and develop and offer brand-new live programming. This will be shared for free throughout the entirety of the pandemic with JALC’s growing global community of 2 million people, to share in-turn with their friends, family, fans, supporters, companies and constituencies. Through email, social media, the Jazz Live app, and on jazz.org, audiences will be able to watch original stories about jazz and the musicians who play it, listen to podcasts, albums and songs, read essays, learn about the music—and how to play the music, explore playlists, and more.
In addition, over the coming weeks, Wynton Marsalis will host a series of interactive video chats via Zoom, which will be then be shared on Facebook and YouTube.
Every week beginning March 25, the organization will release previously unseen video content from its archival ‘vault’ via the Jazz at Lincoln Center Channel on YouTube.
Jazz at Lincoln Center is also making available its Jazz Academy, a library of more than 1,000 videos covering many different aspects of jazz performance demonstrated by knowledgeable masters of the music, on a dedicated YouTube Channel.
Since 2014, Jazz at Lincoln Center has developed a wealth of audio recordings, video footage, music charts, photos, written and interactive material to serve its growing audience of fans, musicians, educators, advocates, students, and scholars.
The mission of Jazz at Lincoln Center is to entertain, enrich, and expand a global community for jazz through performance, education, and advocacy. We believe jazz is a metaphor for Democracy. Because jazz is improvisational, it celebrates personal freedom and encourages individual expression. Because jazz is swinging, it dedicates that freedom to finding and maintaining common ground with others. Because jazz is rooted in the blues, it inspires us to face adversity with persistent optimism.
Jazz at Lincoln Center proudly acknowledges its major corporate partners: Bloomberg Philanthropies, Brooks Brothers, The Coca-Cola Company, Con Edison, Entergy, SiriusXM, and Steinway & Sons.
Generous support for the 2019-2020 Jazz at Lincoln Center Season is made possible in part by Helen and Robert Appel, the ArnholdFamily, Diana and Joe DiMenna, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The Ambrose Monell Foundation and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.
Additional information may be found at jazz.org |
Facebook: facebook.com/jazzatlincolncenter | Twitter:@jazzdotorg |
Instagram: @jazzdotorg | YouTube: youtube.com/jalc | Livestream: jazz.org/live
The first weekend in March, Tracye Eileen exuberantly danced and sang “Somehow Someway” at the video shoot from a perch high atop a downtown Los Angeles building. The R&B/jazz singer had spent the last eleven years building towards this moment, excited about the upcoming release of her “It’s Time.” EP prefaced by the single that drops Friday. Taking direction from Emmy Award winner Ali LeRoi (“The Chris Rock Show,” “Everybody Hates Chris”), the Chicago native’s time seemed to finally have come. Moving rhythmically in front of a brilliant blue-sky backdrop as wind tossed her curly hair, Eileen never could have anticipated having to push the project’s release date back because of a global pandemic. The set of intimate love songs that she wrote and is eager to share with the world is now slated to drop June 12.
Eileen has been meticulously planning and preparing to take her music career to a new level. A slight delay in the release of her third recording isn’t going to stop her.
“It took a while to bring this project and my career to where I’m ready to move to the next level. My dream and goal have always been to be an internationally known soul/R&B artist. This project represents my next leap. It’s time now for that transition to happen. It’s time for all these projects to come to fruition,” said Eileen, who will begin introducing music from “It’s Time.” to fans this Friday at 6pm ET/5pm CT/3pm PT via Facebook and Instagram on what she calls “Meet Me In My Parlor: A Musical Interlude with Tracye Eileen.” Subsequent episodes will air at that time every other Friday leading up to the EP release date.
Eileen linked up with producer-songwriter Kendall Duffie in his Nashville recording studio, crafting an EP that delivers a sophisticated blend of soothing soul and sensual R&B grooves.
“I co-wrote the new songs with Kendall and it was pretty ironic that what he came up with was in line with my thoughts and emotions, expressing how I feel. I think the music composition flowed well with the sentiment of each song,” said Eileen about the disc that opens with the first radio single.
“‘Somehow Someway’ felt so soothing to me. I had taken a solo vacation to Belize and I remember being in a hammock, swinging over the ocean, listening to the instrumental track over and over and having the lyrics just come to me. ‘Somehow Someway’ describes a relationship that says, ‘You’ve got to find your way to me somehow someway’ and the experience of what that’s going to feel like being in that relationship.”
Eileen acknowledges that the songs on “It’s Time.” are about her romantic life. “The three new songs are aspirational. Now it’s time. I’ve done a lot of work on myself and now I’m ready for the type of love that I want in my life.”
Cruising on a midtempo groove with a soulful sax caress from Donald Hayes, “Now That We’re Here” is about committing to the relationship. Eileen’s jazz vocal roots are evident on the rousing “Sweeter With Time,” a tune about how love grows, anchored by a deft drum and bass rhythm track played by Terry Baker and Simeon Baker respectively.
The EP closes with two versions – including a house mix - of the first song Eileen ever wrote, “Why Did I Say Yes,” the title cut of her 2018 album.
“I started my professional music career after I got divorced, deciding to invest in myself to release a jazz album, ‘Love’s Journey’ (2012), after having previously invested in my ex-husband’s dreams. I decided to be self-revealing because I want my music to be authentic and real, songs that people could connect to, so I knew it had to be truthful. I’ve had both men and women connect with ‘Why Did I Say Yes,’ which I wrote with the longtime keyboardist in my band, Tom Viatsas. It’s about being in a relationship that you know is not good for you, but you’re in love. When you finally make your way out of it, maybe you run into the person again and you find yourself right back to where you started. Eventually, you make a choice for yourself. You choose you and you choose to operate and stay on a higher plane. The song comes from a very positive place of growth and change.”
While Eileen didn’t set out to write a theme EP where all the songs are connected, it happened organically.
“I didn’t recognize how connected the songs were until I started thinking about an EP title. ‘It’s Time.’ came to me in addition to how the songs tie together and why. I knew I wanted to write about a love that I wanted in my life having grown from my past experiences, but I didn’t plan for the songs to flow in a sequence the way they do naturally.”
Eileen’s monthly residency with her five-piece band at Buddy Guy’s Legends in Chicago is on hold for the moment because of coronavirus concerns. Over the years, she’s opened for Babyface, The Stylistics, Mary Wilson, Chante Moore, After 7 and Buddy Guy himself. In the meantime, Eileen eagerly anticipates debuting the “Somehow Someway” video on Facebook and Instagram on May 1 followed by the arrival of the EP the following month. For more information, please visit http://www.tracyeeileen.com.
“It’s Time” contains the following songs:
“Somehow Someway”
“Now That We’re Here”
“Sweeter With Time”
“Why Did I Say Yes”
“Why Did I Say Yes” (house mix)
Instead of being on stage in Pittsburgh Friday night, one week into a planned 70+-date coast-to-coast concert tour set up to launch his milestone twentieth album release, the aptly titled “XX” (Roman numerals for twenty), R&B/jazz/funk multi-instrumentalist Brian Culbertson will be home, marking the occasion by hanging out with a glass of wine and entertaining fans via his popular Facebook Live broadcast “Friday Night Studio Hang” (8pm ET/5pm PT).
While The XX Tour that was to start April 1 with shows booked through June had to be pushed to 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic, the new album’s retro-charged first single, “Get Up!” is already at No. 6 on the Billboard chart, easily within striking distance of becoming the hitmaker’s 33rd No. 1 single. Culbertson went all in on the 1980s vibes, even creating a “Get Up!” ringtone that is available for iPhones.
Issued on the BCM Entertainment label, Culbertson wrote and produced “XX,” taking a fresh approach by incorporating a bit of everything he has done throughout his versatile career.
“This album was about creating lots of different moods, which is a little different for me in terms of what I’ve done over the last several albums that were more conceptual and consistent from beginning to end – either the romantic side of things, a funk album, straight-ahead jazz trio or what not. I deliberately set out to have no one genre or one style in mind; just give people a total mix of everything that I do – funky instrumentals, jazz, R&B slow jams, gospel, pop and straight-up funk” said Culbertson, who hopes the collection will uplift listeners during this unprecedented time of social distancing and economic uncertainty.
“The fact that it’s coming out during this time when everyone is under stay at home orders, I hope it does lift people up. That’s what music does. That’s the beauty of music. It makes you feel better. It takes you out of whatever place you’re in at the moment. It transports you. That’s why I love making music.”
Making music with Culbertson on “XX” is a prominent assortment of featured guests: Bootsy Collins, Ray Parker Jr., Avery* Sunshine, Maze’s Jubu Smith, Everette Harp, Marcus Anderson, DW3, Byron “Mr. Talkbox” Chambers, Noel Gourdin and Patches Stewart. Filling up the tracks is an accomplished array of musicians including Paul Jackson Jr., Nicholas Cole, Eric Marienthal, Ricky Peterson, Alex Al, Michael Thompson, Khari Parker, Lenny Castro, Gerey Johnson, Chance Howard, Ouiwey Collins, Candice Cheatham and Derek “D.O.A.” Allen. Vocalist Micaela Haley (aka Michelle Culbertson, Brian’s wife) and a gospel choir add celestial and soul luster to a couple tracks. In addition to playing piano, keyboards, Minimoog, Wurlitzer, Hammond B3 organ, Fender Rhodes, clavinet, bass, synth bass, drum programming, vocals, string machine and percussion, Culbertson picks up his trombone to form a powerhouse horn section with Marqueal Jordan and Michael Stever.
“XX” taps into Parliament-Funkadelic influences on “Dance Like This.” Culbertson explained, “Bootsy (Collins) and I randomly do things together. He liked the track that Chance Howard and I started and two days later, he sent me his vocal parts.”
Something different on “XX” is that two songs – “The Hangout” and “Keep Movin’”- were conceived during soundcheck while Culbertson was on tour with his band. One of the album’s centerpiece tracks is “More Than Thankful,” a big-scale production on which Sunshine shines and the gospel choir graces. Other standout numbers are the sensual “It’s A Love Thing,” which has a mesmerizing Zen vibe; the poppy “Time Flies” that takes flight via its blossoming chorus and Haley’s layered angelic ahhh’s; “Sexy Love” on which Culbertson sings on the chorus; and a reunion with R&B crooner Gourdin on the old-school soul ballad “The Truth” (Culbertson and Gourdin scored a hit with “You’re My Music” from Culbertson’s “Dreams” album). The collection closes with “Looking Back,” which starts out with a poignant jazz-oriented solo piano intro with lots of deep chord changes before breaking into a neo soul groove that Stewart’s muted trumpet illumines.
The release of “XX” caps a remarkably prolific fourteen months for Culbertson, who released three very different albums and a Blu-Ray concert video during the span. Although he’s home unexpectedly for the time being, he’s far from idle as planning continues for the annual Napa Valley Jazz Getaway and Chicago Jazz Getaway music and lifestyle festivals that he founded and curates. In the meantime, Culbertson will continue “Friday Night Studio Hang,” which he began broadcasting several years ago on the rare occasion he didn’t have a concert to play that evening.
“It would be random that I’d actually be in the studio on a Friday night, but starting a few weeks ago, I’ve been going live every Friday night. Now that everyone is home, I’ve gotten more viewers and comments than ever before. I talk about recording techniques, songwriting and end up playing songs live along to TV (backing) tracks. I’m looking forward to celebrating my twentieth album release with fans Friday night.”
“XX” contains the following songs:
“Get Up!” featuring Mr. Talkbox and Marcus Anderson
“Dance Like This” featuring Bootsy Collins
“The Hangout” featuring Ray Parker Jr.
Prelude to “More Than Thankful”
“More Than Thankful” featuring Avery* Sunshine
“It’s A Love Thing”
“Time Flies”
“Sexy Love” featuring Jubu Smith
“Keep Movin’” featuring Everette Harp
“The Truth” featuring Noel Gourdin
Intro to “Looking Back”
“Looking Back” featuring Patches Stewart
Italy was the second country to be ravaged by the novel coronavirus disrupting and threatening life, economics and the freedoms perhaps we took for granted. While encamped at his house near Rome on the coast close to the Tyrrhenian Sea that is part of the Mediterranean basin, forward-thinking multimedia jazz artist Paolo Rustichelli began contemplating life after quarantine while surrounded by ancient Etruscan temple ruins. His vision created the sensual aural and visual feast titled “Hot,” the new single and video impacting radio on May 4. He intends the project to serve as a charm to ward off COVID-19.
“‘Hot’ is a musical hymn implying the take back of our freedom from quarantine as we enter a summer of regeneration from our present burden with coronavirus. Reading between the lines in Europe and what happened in China, I composed a liberating song in March to celebrate regaining health and freedom from the threat and oppression caused by the virus. You can think of this song as a ‘spell’ or a charm to regain our health after a period of self-quarantine, thinking also that in ancient times, charms or spells were generally sung with the aid of musical instruments. ‘Hot’ is dedicated to a new summer of spiritual and physical regeneration,” said Rustichelli who composed, produced and performed the track using electronic plug-ins.
Accompanying the single is a steamy video directed by Rustichelli featuring two bikini-clad dancers dancing sensuously on cliffside bluffs and against fluorescent lime green skies and magenta sands. Waves gently wash over and purify the women and beach symbolizing humanity and the planet. The clip can be viewed at https://bit.ly/2Xzenkf. Rustichelli elaborates on the striking visuals and symbolism.
“The colorized shots with their dark colors represent the present burden of pandemia much like the color alterations presented by climate change and pollution. In the closing shots of the video, the beach regains normal warm and hot colors, which is a hope for us all to end the pandemic,” said Rustichelli who will include the single on his “Tempus Fugit” album slated for release next year.
“Since this is a song or a charm, as per tradition, it’s embedded with symbols. The two women represent beauty and youth, particularly the goddess Venus who was celebrated in ancient times as not only the goddess of beauty, but also as a potent helper for health. A precious gift today, it means reclaim our youth and health, regenerating our bodies and souls by permanently removing COVID-19 from our lives. The song is meant to work as an ancient musical charm that, in pagan tradition, has special powers of directing cosmic energies to regain health, to regenerate and in this case, to defeat the virus.”
Rustichelli has been a visionary technological forerunner since the 1970s when he was one of the pioneers of mono synthesizers and among the first to use Moog synthesizers, samplers and organs such as the ARP 2600, Mellotron, Fairlight CMI and Hammond C-3. He was an early adopter in the use of MIDI digital sequencers that empowered him to record and become a one-man band. As we move forward after the global pandemic, Rustichelli sees immediate changes in the way artists will harness technology to perform and record.
“Social distancing will enhance the ability of the single artist to work from home as I’ve done throughout my whole career. Gone are the days of thousands of people working on an album. This situation has the advantage to reveal a more honest and true picture of the artist’s creative vision and ability as they are forced to create alone without the cooperative input of others,” said Rustichelli, who has collaborated on his previous recordings with Miles Davis, Carlos Santana, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Andy Summers and Jill Jones.
“Online technology made possible making concerts from remote locations available to the whole world. That is why I stopped playing live many years ago, strongly believing in the extraordinary possibilities of making home concerts or videos to replace live concerts and showcase the artist from home. Social distancing and stay-at-home orders will enhance the endless creative possibilities of the internet that otherwise never would have been possible. Technology makes it possible for artists to still be seen and create new content even during quarantine. This will become more important in the years to come when most likely our freedom to move throughout the world is likely to arise again due to pandemic concerns. The present pandemia shows us how fragile our freedom is and how easily we could be forced to shut down again. But with digital technology and the internet, we are still able to communicate ‘live’ and continue being creative without the mega concerts of the past. It’s an invaluable opportunity that I recognized many years ago when I took a different route than many mainstream artists.”
https://www.paolo.org
It is with a mixture of pride and sorrow that Smoke Sessions Records announces the release of Harold Mabern’s Mabern Plays Mabern, available now. Pride because Mabern’s 27th recording as a leader, culled from the same three January 2018 nights that generated his 26th, The Iron Man: Live At Smoke, documents the master pianist, then 81, in prime form, functioning as an inspired soloist, attentive accompanist, melodic interpreter, and crafty tunesmith. Sorrow because the release, which was planned for his 84th birthday, is posthumous — Harold Mabern died unexpectedly on September 17, 2019, at the age of 83.
For the engagement in question, Mabern convened long-standing band-mates Eric Alexander on tenor saxophone, John Webber on bass, and Joe Farnsworth on drums, augmented by Smoke Sessions recording artists Steve Davis on trombone and Vincent Herring on alto saxophone. All members rise to the occasion on repertoire that spans 51 years of Mabern’s six decades as a recording artist, leader and sideman.
Indeed, the proceedings embody the qualities enumerated in a loving Facebook eulogy tribute by Charles Lloyd, Mabern’s bandmate at Manassas High School, in Memphis, Tennessee, at the cusp of the 1950s. Lloyd wrote: “Harold was a scholar of our history, insightful, hilarious, sincere, deep, with intense, boundless energy and inclusive with his warmth. Before they called him ‘Leading Man,’ his nickname was ‘Big Hands.’ With the broad reach of those hands, he caressed many beautiful chords. He was a storyteller and every note he played had a message.”
Another Manassas H.S. classmate, tenor saxophonist George Coleman — a close friend whose most recent recorded encounter with Mabern was the September 2019 Smoke Sessions Records release The Quartet — expressed similar sentiments in a New York Times obituary after Mabern’s death: “Harold was a complete musician,” Coleman observed. “He was always adventurous, and he was always swinging, keeping the crowd pleased.”
That the paying customers at Smoke were pleased is palpable throughout. “You’re hearing things that Harold wrote or enjoyed playing,” Alexander says. “This is the way Harold crystallized and refined his personal approach, the way he presented his music in front of people, night after night, which is the Harold Mabern that we adored the most. Of course, his studio recordings are great, but live, Harold threw caution to the wind. When he played live, it was magic; whatever happened, he was going to get out of it.”
As an example, consider Mabern’s emergence from a spirit-raising rubato introduction into the clarion theme of the session-opening “Mr. Johnson,” a modal burner. (Dedicated to trombone legend J.J. Johnson, a frequent mid-’60s employer, it first appeared on an October 1969 Lee Morgan sextet session.) Mabern comps behind each horn solo with an inspirationally take-no-prisoners attitude, then gives himself the final say with an erudite, swinging solo.
Or groove to the elemental soulfulness and urbane sophistication of the date-closer, “Rakin’ and Scrapin’,” which first surfaced in 1968 as the title track of Mabern’s second leader album, whose participants included Coleman on tenor saxophone, Blue Mitchell on trumpet and Bill Lee on bass. It’s a stomping boogaloo-blues that recalls Mabern’s father’s promise that he’d “rake and scrape up” funds for his junior’s first piano.
Another reference to Mabern’s long tenure with Morgan is “Edward Lee,” whose strutting theme captures Morgan’s swagger. (The trumpet giant’s full name was Edward Lee Morgan.) Mabern debuted it on the 1980 trio date Pisces Calling; then on a 1991 duo session with bassist Kieran Overs titled Philadelphia Bound; then on Alexander’s 1999 quartet album Live At The Keynote; then on the Japanese-market trio album Don’t Know Why.
“The Bee Hive,” named for the South Side Chicago nightclub where Mabern heard Charlie Parker in 1955, is one of the most enduring tracks from Morgan’s iconic 1970 location album Live At The Lighthouse. At Smoke, the thrilling ripostes between Alexander and Herring that comprise the first half of this wild ride channel Parker’s unfettered spirit.
The complex, stentorian “Lyrical Cole-Man” (also from Pisces Calling) is Mabern’s tone parallel to George Coleman, whose inflamed clarity comes through in intense solos by Alexander and the leader.
Renowned for his encyclopedic knowledge and erudite navigation of the Great American and Great Jazz Songbooks, Mabern — who spent much of the 1960s as a favored accompanist for such singers as Betty Carter, Joe Williams, and Sarah Vaughan — was unparalleled at harmonizing less-traveled standards in individualistic ways that illuminated their message. On Mabern Plays Mabern, the selections are “It’s Magic,” which Mabern introduces with a gorgeous rubato statement that foreshadows Alexander’s romance-saturated solo, and “Lover Man,” highlighted by heartfelt declamations from Vincent Herring and Steve Davis.
Mabern’s rollicking introductory solo to Alexander’s “Miles’ Mode” refraction, “The Iron Man,” a staple of the Alexander-Mabern Quartet through the years, sets the stage for all members to swing their hardest. The title — and the performance — encapsulates the indefatigable energy, intense focus, abiding humility and giving personality that the octogenarian maestro projected through his until his final day. The notes and tones are emblematic of a remark Mabern made to DownBeat in 2015: “You can take a hundred-dollar gig, but on the bandstand you get a million dollars’ worth of experience, because you always find something that you didn’t know before you got on the bandstand.”
Toronto-born, New York City-based guitarist Alex Goodman has the gift of synesthesia, his mind keenly associating various sounds with particular colors. With the vivid double album Impressions in Blue and Red – to be released on CD and digitally via Outside In Music on March 13, 2020 – he explores this uncommon facility in depth. Goodman fronts two distinct quartets, each especially attuned to its material: The “blue” disc sets the leader alongside Ben Van Gelder (alto saxophone), Martin Nevin (double-bass) and Jimmy Macbride (drums); the “red” disc features the guitarist with Alex LoRe (alto sax), Rick Rosato (double-bass) and Mark Ferber (drums).
In addition to 15 evocative originals by Goodman, the album includes interpretations of Herbie Hancock’s “Toys” and the slow movement from a Baroque sonata by Johann Rosenmüller. Capping each disc is Goodman playing an impromptu solo version of a standard: “I’ll Never Be the Same” (Malneck/Signorelli & Kahn) on the “blue” disc and “If I Loved You” (Rodgers & Hammerstein) on the “red.” Impressions in Blue and Red is Goodman’s seventh album as a leader or co-leader, and his productivity in the studio has also included appearances on records by such notable peers as Remy Le Boeuf and Manuel Valera, as well as Mareike Wiening’s much-praised new Greenleaf release, Metropolis Paradise. That’s not to mention the guitarist’s performances as a sideman around New York with the likes of the Grammy-nominated Terraza Big Band, Lucas Pino Nonet, Roxy Coss Quintet and Mimi Jones. According to New York City Jazz Record, Goodman is a musician of “dazzlingly improvisational dexterity and engagingly smart composition.”
Reflecting on color and its associative powers for him, Goodman spent much time reading and in museums, investigating the way visual artists – from the Renaissance era to Van Gogh and Picasso – have used color and its shades to expressive ends, eliciting a range of emotions in a viewer. On the album package, he quotes such figures as Goethe (who characterizes blue as “a stimulating negation… a kind of contradiction between excitement and repose”) and Wassily Kandinsky (who describes red as “ringing inwardly with determined intensity – it glows in itself”), as well as the philosopher/psychologist and aesthetician John Dewey, who said: “If all meaning could be adequately expressed by words, then the arts of music and painting would not exist. There are values and meanings that can be expressed only by immediately visible and audible qualities, and to ask what they mean in the sense of something that can be put into words is to deny their distinctive existence.”
Goodman says: “What I like about that John Dewey quote is that it sums up how difficult it can be to capture in words the way music or painting – and their colors – can make you feel. I know it’s difficult for me. Music goes beyond language, certainly, and the way I associate color with music isn’t really something that I can explain – it’s based in mood, in feel. And that intuitive feel is the catalyst for the way I composed the music for Impressions in Blue and Red. The same goes for the interpretive material on the album. On the ‘red’ disc, for instance, the Rosenmüller piece’s Baroque harmony feels like a darker red to me, while Herbie Hancock’s ‘Toys,’ from his Speak Like a Child LP, implies a brighter tone.”
Goodman’s coloristic associations extended to his choice of musicians for the album. “The players that I chose for each of the bands on the record was also an intuitive thing, but a strong one,” he says. “I associated the sound and personality of each musician with either blue or red.” For eight of the tracks on Impressions in Blue and Red, there are extended improvised intros, two by Goodman and one for each of his bandmates in turn. “Those intros were something that I incorporated as a way for each musician to reveal their expressive voices more fully, but I also think they heighten the flow of the album.” As a conceptual double-album, Impressions in Blue and Red stands out as Goodman’s most ambitious recording to date. “I conceived the two discs of Impressions in Blue and Red to be coherently of a piece both internally and in relation to each other,” he says. “Although each half has dominant associations with the corresponding colors, the two are meant to complement each other through not only their differences but also, at points, their similarities.”
Born in 1987 and raised in Toronto, Goodman has resided since 2012 in New York City, where he earned a Master’s degree in jazz performance from the Manhattan School of Music. In his time on the New York scene, he has played at all the city’s top jazz clubs, including the Jazz Standard, Smalls and Jazz Gallery, as well as at such venues as Lincoln Center and National Sawdust. The guitarist has also performed at Massey Hall in Toronto and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., as well as at such festivals as Winter Jazz Fest in New York, the Montreux Jazz Festival and Montreal International Jazz Festival and further afield in China, Ukraine and Bulgaria. Goodman’s quintet LP Bridges, released in 2011, was nominated for a Juno Award, Canada’s top recording honor, as the year’s best contemporary jazz album. In 2014, he won both First Prize and the Public’s Choice Award at the Montreux Jazz Festival International Guitar Competition.
In addition to his seven albums as leader or co-leader, Goodman is featured on recordings with such artists as John Patitucci, Dick Oatts, Joel Frahm, and Rich Perry. In addition to having performed with musicians like Charles Lloyd, Eric Harland and Ari Hoenig, the guitarist plays regularly in ensembles led by Manuel Valera, Lucas Pino, Martina DaSilva, Roxy Coss and Remy Le Boeuf, among others. Goodman has won an ASCAP Herb Alpert Jazz Composer Award, and he has composed and recorded a book of solo guitar etudes, along with writing scores for jazz and chamber groups, orchestra, big band and string quintet.
Music exists in movement and change, but before any part of it can be pinned down for analysis, it has often moved and taken on a new face. The transformation is often driven by culture as forward-thinking people avoid the proverbial paths in search of revolution. Even though our pioneers prophesized that the revolution would not be televised, the message has permeated. It’s spreading like wildfire and leaders are defined by those that speak first: Jazz Is Dead.
The pluralism behind the mutiny is stark, but the reality is trapped in the eyes of us that fleeted the scene years ago. With Jazz Is Dead, a new musical denomination is born, reversing the damage done to the genre. Yes, jazz speaks to all, but the message was no longer being recorded with reverence to the processes of the past; the dissonance of our movement is serving as the undertow for change. As the current becomes stronger, it’s moving in the opposite direction of that on the surface. Jazz, and the presentation of our culture has a new face: Jazz Is Dead.
This movement expresses no simple associative information. In fact, most people would contend that its blasphemous nature epitomizes the disconnect between young and old, but it’s actually the opposite. For years, Jazz Is Dead concerts have epitomized a demographic connection as the average age is widespread. Nevertheless, it’s expected because people are viscerally attracted to the ethos behind musical revolution; especially those that embrace art and heritage fiercely and with pride. This is aural transmission and the message is boldly understood. Our musical heroes are touring and recording on new music for Jazz Is Dead. This synergy couldn’t have come at a better time. Jazz icons are connecting with new audiences, something most thought impossible; thousands of fans are traveling for Jazz Is Dead concerts, domestically and internationally. The mood is often palpable as fans are seen crying out in awe of what is being created for a forgotten language: Jazz Is Dead.
Music is the universal language and we are the interpreter of sound, a message that has been lost in transcription. Under Jazz Is Dead, younger artists are elaborating upon conversations started decades ago; jazz icons are utilizing vintage equipment to create new masters with Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad; the same equipment that recorded their coveted catalogs. The vitality embedded in the new masters epitomizes our quest for new life in music: Jazz Is Dead.
The addition of harmonics to the fundamental tone is what makes any voice or instrument sound good; the insurgence of spirit and vitality to a dead language revitalizes it’s meaning for the future. Any disturbance of regularities acts as tension: tensions to the dimension of jazz. Any syncopation against innocuous rhythms changes the minds and heartbeats of all. These are metronome markings that make some uncomfortable but beats that keep us going. With impeccable concert programming, breathtaking recordings and unflinching perspective, we can feel the pulse. The power of sound is captivating, and the movement needs no further exegesis: Jazz Is Dead.
“What is Jazz in 2020? I can answer that this way: jazz artists have not only been an inspiration that has shaped my development as a musician, but their music is deeply rooted into the foundation of the Hip-Hop culture,” says Ali Shaheed Muhammad. “We have risen because their head nodding beats, lush chord progressions, soul ripping melodies and bellowing bass-lines have given us a musical back beat to poetically flow on until the break of dawn. To me, it’s all freedom music and Jazz Is Dead is motivating a movement.”
The inaugural release of Jazz Is Dead is a futuristic nod to the past: a dream come true for two producers that started their careers DJing and sampling some of the greatest jazz icons. “It’s surreal to be in the studio with cats ranging from Marcos Valle to Roy Ayers. The stories, the music and the experience are something Jazz Is Dead wants to share with the world,” states Adrian Younge. With 7 albums slated to release this year, the compilation provides a sneak peek into the full-length albums coming soon.
Jazz singer Clairdee has admired Lena Horne since she was four years old. Her mother and father instilled in her their admiration for Horne’s intelligence, dignity, talent, and willingness to fight for what’s right – qualities they wanted to see in all of their eight children. Clairdee pays homage to Horne on her newest project, A Love Letter To Lena, a spirited and inspiring album that integrates inventive arrangements of songs by Billy Strayhorn and contemporary composers with Clairdee’s compelling storytelling.
A mainstay on the San Francisco jazz scene, Clairdee has been performing for over 25 years in concert halls, festivals and nightclubs around the country and around the world. In addition to leading her world-class touring band, she has performed with some of America’s most notable jazz masters. Clairdee’s three previous CDs as a leader all received critical acclaim and helped cement her reputation as one of the top singers on the scene today. Clairdee began thinking seriously about putting together a very special project to honor Horne back in 2009.
“The 2016 election helped me decide how I wanted to approach the Lena project. I didn’t want it to be merely a tribute album of her greatest hits. My mother passed in 2007, and I wanted the CD to reflect my parents’ hopes for their children through the lens of Lena’s efforts for civil rights and equality. I also wanted to include a few songs that people may not be so familiar with. This album is not only my way of saying thank you to Lena for how she touched the lives of me and my family, it is a way for me to honor my parents’ legacy and those of the millions of women and men that fought for civil rights. The lessons of their lives are resoundingly relevant right now. It is up to us to keep up the work. This is my 21st century call to acknowledgement and action.”
Bassel & The Supernaturals are proud to announce the release of their third studio production, Smoke & Mirrors (LP), due out April 17, 2020. The Chicago based group tells the story of Bassel Almadani's experience as a first generation Syrian-American using soulful melodies, funk inspired grooves, and captivating lyrics regarding love, loss, and the war in Syria. The significance of April 17 also holds another meaning for Bassel as it marks Syrian Independence Day. In the midst of a revolution that has left over 12,000,000 civilians in need of humanitarian relief, the timing of the band’s release combined with Bassel’s global advocacy efforts to support the sustainability of immigrants & refugees reinforce a message of resilience and hope for their eventual independence.
Bassel & The Supernaturals broke out with their 2017 debut album Elements, which earned them critical praise from Noisey, Huffington Post, Associated Press, Reuters, Al Jazeera, Now This, PRI The World, Paste, and many others. The album also led to their involvement in the nationally-acclaimed SXSW 2017 showcase 'ContraBanned: #MusicUnites' featuring artists from the diaspora of countries targeted by the travel ban. The momentum for the band continued by inking a digital distribution deal with Six Degrees Records, one of the most prominent imprints for international music. The band has also been touring heavily, with over 300 performances since 2016 on stages including SXSW, The John F. Kennedy Center, Summerfest, and Millennium Park. They have also supported many internationally touring artists such as Youssou N'Dour, Brother Ali, Aesop Rock, Emancipator, The Dandy Warhols, and Sinkane. The group works closely with organizations on events and residencies that raise awareness and promote the sustainability of immigrants and refugees . This caught the attention of ArcArtists, who specializes in booking multi-faceted events with arts presenters across the world.
Life on the road is not always what it seems. Bassel explains, “Smoke & Mirrors is inspired by the false glamour that surrounds touring artists. We’ve played over 300 shows across North America since 2016 — from packed theaters to clubs where the soundcheck had more fans than the 4-hour set that followed. We’ve made friends with countless pets, couches, and floors. We’ve also lost close friends and family along the way. Music brought us together, and creates infinite meaning in our lives — but it doesn’t always cover rent.” He adds, “As social and cultural leaders, artists are expected to demonstrate strength and persistence in the wake of the challenges associated with working in the entertainment industry. Battles with mental and physical health tend to fall to the wayside along the way, using “the grind” and other coping mechanisms to push through the darkness.”
The nine tracks on the album engineered by GRAMMY-nominated Jeff Breakey and produced by the band’s guitarist Brandon Hunt strike a fine balance between up-tempo, energized funk and downtempo, melodically rich soul, while keeping it all cohesive. The 12” vinyl record reflects this contrast between side A to side B. On side A, the up-tempo of “Calculated Love” kicks off the album as a groove-packed anthem celebrating the raw and sometimes ordinary version of love that is typically left out of television and film. “Stepping Back In Time,” the second single released from the album is an energized protest track that was featured on Spotify’s All Funked Up playlist, driving over 200,000 streams since its debut. “Aleppo” is the third single that dropped, an uplifting disco & funk inspired track celebrating the heritage of the oldest continuously civilized city on the Earth. Bassel sings about his family’s city in Arabic for the first time, and the lyrics were prepared with his father’s help during a phone conversation that can be heard subtly in the mix at its beginning. Traditional “tarab” style vocals follow to close out the track courtesy of Arab-American vocalist Ashukur. The title track “Smoke” dismantles the myth of glamour often surrounding touring artists. The music video will be released on March 6, 2020.
Side B dives in with “Skipping Heartbeats,” showcasing the soulful R&B styles of the band. This song looks at the frontman’s journey into marriage and his persistence in “weathering the storm” through cultural differences and life changing tragedies. The tempest in “Skipping Heartbeats” flows into a full immersion into the water on “Relay,” where the singer relives his adolescent experience as a competitive swimmer. “Black Water” acts as a powerful follow up – a cinematic, dark ballad based on a dream where Bassel visits Aleppo and confronts the infamous Queiq River behind his grandmother’s home. Smoke & Mirrors closes with “Mistakes,” an open admission of self-deprecation and substance use as a coping mechanism through anxiety and depression.
What makes this release so special to Bassel & The Supernaturals is its honesty. Bassel details, “the approach on this record is very direct - from screaming ‘fuck your wall’ to opening up about substance use acting as a crutch for many of us. We’ve seen so many friends and family members impacted by drug abuse and mental illness, and it’s a taboo subject for most of us. Especially as one who identifies himself as Muslim and Arab-American, it’s something I’ve skated around in the past. I’ve learned to embrace who I am and my shortcomings, and I’ll do whatever I can to create safe spaces for others to do the same.” He concludes, “We explored a lot of territory on this album, yet it feels like our most authentic recording to date.”
Prelúdio is the third album Now-Again Records will issue from the thrilling, young Brasilian guitarist Fabiano do Nascimento. Produced by Mario Caldato, Jr. and Luther Russell and engineered and mixed by Caldato and Jason Hiller, this album features do Nascimento’s longtime drummer Ricardo “Tiki” Pasillas. It will be released in June 2020
It is the first album of solely do Nascimento’s own compositions and, like his previous albums Dança dos Tempos and Tempo dos Mestres, follows folkloric Brasilian music, Brasilian jazz, bossa-nova and samba as experienced through the mind and able fingers of an expansive musician, combing the heady ‘60s and ‘70s experimentalism of Hermeto Pascoal and Baden Powell with the childlike elegance of music played and passed down by native Brasilians for generations.
Do Nascimento was born into a musical family, from lineage that stretches back to his great-grand-father Ladario Teixeira, a blind saxophonist who contributed to the re-creation of the instrument by adding more keys to the older incarnation of the instrument in the early 20th century. He was born in Rio de Janeiro and grew up there and in Sao Paulo, where he found inspiration in his uncle, the late Lúcio Nascimento, bassist and composer in Leny Andrade’s band Bom de Três.
While he came from a musical pedigree, he’s largely self-taught, largely in the service of an overarching mission to showcase the folkloric music of his home country as he continue to develop possibilities for language of the guitar itself. His studies ramped up after he moved to Los Angeles in 2001. His first champion was Aloe Blacc, who worked with do Nascimento over the years, including his work on his debut album Shine Through for Stones Throw Records. His collaborators now include Madlib, multi-instrumentalist Sam Gandel, Innovative Leisure chanteuse Claude Fontaine and legendary Brasilian percussionist, bandleader, songwriter and catalyst Airto Moreira.
Moreiera states that Nascimento is “Brazilian but (his mind is) from a place in Brazil that is not common.” Fortunately, we still have some musicians who like to play music and who like to touch the instrument and who like that energy! You see, because that’s the most important thing in music. The energy. That’s why I love to play live. And that’s why I’m playing with Fabiano.”
The first-ever music video for Miles Davis’ “Boplicity” has been released today by Blue Note/UMe. The new video was created by animator/director Thomas Jarrett and produced by Dreambear. Today’s “Boplicity” video debut follows the September 27, 2019 release of the first-ever music video for Davis’ “Moon Dreams.” Both tracks are featured on the acclaimed Miles Davis collection, The Complete Birth of the Cool, released June 7, 2019 by Blue Note/UMe.
Watch the music video for Miles Davis’ “Boplicity”: https://lnk.to/MilesDavisYouTube
Watch the music video for Miles Davis’ “Moon Dreams”: https://lnk.to/MoonDreams
Available in 2LP vinyl, CD, and digital formats, The Complete Birth of the Cool chronicles the brief yet monumental importance of the Miles Davis Nonet. Honoring the 70th anniversary of the initial Birth of the Cool sessions, the deep-dive collection presents together all the music created by this collective, including the twelve sides they recorded in 1949/’50 and the ensemble’s only extant live recordings, recorded at the Royal Roost. The Complete Birth of the Cool has drawn widespread praise; Pitchfork awarded it a rare perfect 10 review score, calling it “exquisite and essential.”
GRID, the experimental trio of Matt Nelson (Battle Trance; Elder Ones) on saxophone, Tim Dahl (Child Abuse; Lydia Lunch Retrovirus) on bass, and Nick Podgurski (New Firmament; Feast of the Epiphany) on drums, have returned to NNA Tapes for the release of their colossal sophomore album, Decomposing Force.
Recorded live in one room with no overdubs and mixed to 1/2 inch tape, GRID builds off of their earth-rattling self-titled debut. Decomposing Force relies on the composite sound of Nelson, Dahl, and Podgurski interacting and reacting to each individual as well as their combined output—the continual flowing-in of individual and agglomeration serves to add dimension to the blackness and possibility of GRID’s musical ecosystem. With Dahl’s bass-amp angled directly into the microphone Nelson uses for his saxophone, the improvisational sounds of the entire band are fed through Nelson’s pedals and monitor to create a continuously interactive and variable feedback loop that comes to define the visceral immensity of GRID’s soundscapes. This combines with a mutual willingness to evenly shoulder the weight of composition. There is no showcasing of any single player in this amorphous system. The impact of what is created shall be carried by all.
Remaining beyond strict categorization, GRID’s crushing dissonance is an amalgamation of each member’s background in free-jazz and improvisational music, as well as Doom-Metal, Noise, and Ambient influences. The resistance towards classification and familiarity leaves listeners in an environment negotiable only by feel. Musically synthesizing and re-synthesizing in each moment, GRID’s cyclical transmission of sound and energy continually develops expressive, hyperactive, protean textures that brutally and masterfully navigate through the dense, heavy atmosphere of Decomposing Force with vigorous dynamism.
“Brutal Kings” is a short, claustrophobic passageway of bristles and thorns—each instrument and each note are distinctly and singularly piercing. The cacophonous “Nythynge” violently builds and releases tension as the band moves through passages of imposing, jagged musical discourse. The playing loosens and the tempo slows to an enveloping trudge on the thick, sludgy “The Weight of Literacy.” Then “Cold Seep” closes the album in a chilled, unsettling ambiance more expansive than anything that precedes it, leaving the impression that you’ve only explored but one tiny corner of GRID’s world.
Built on the tenets of weight, difficulty, challenge, collaboration, and adaptability, GRID constructs and confronts the oppressive dark—not with transcendent opposition but with an embrace, diving deeper in as a way through. Decomposing Force is sonic catharsis of the highest and harshest caliber.
Sony Masterworks has announced the latest addition to Pasquale Grasso’s digital showcase series, Solo Masterpieces. The series – which includes the 2019 releases Solo Standards, Vol. 1, Solo Ballads, Vol. 1, Solo Monk and Solo Holiday – all emphasize the guitar virtuoso as he displays his intensive studies of the guitar masters, both bebop and classical. Solo Masterpieces represents the first full length member of the digital series; as a compilation it acts as both a retrospective of the previous albums and also an insight to a handful of previously-unreleased tunes from the upcoming 2020 EP releases. Additional 2020 releases include Grasso exploring the works of Duke Ellington, Bud Powell, and a celebration of the centennial of Charlie Parker.
With Solo Masterpieces, Grasso has gathered music from each of his first solo guitar EPs and melded them. The result is a masterful collection that allows audiences to revel in Grasso’s previous work whilst simultaneously creating an air of excitement for the music yet to be released. The series, which has received critical acclaim thus far, marks a turning point into the new decade and Solo Masterpieces is the encapsulation of the majesty within the music.
Many serious guitar heads have been hip to Grasso for a while now and are aware of his jaw-dropping online performance videos and his early career triumphs. In 2015, he won the Wes Montgomery International Jazz Guitar Competition in New York City, taking home a $5,000 prize and performing with guitar legend Pat Martino’s organ trio. His Sony Masterworks series showcases his sweeping abilities in the most intimate setting possible. “Playing solo guitar is a very intimate experience for me, forcing me to find my own way of improvising on my favorite songs while directly facing the challenges that the guitar presents,” said Grasso.
The series acts as a study in the world of infinite possibilities held within a single instrument. “The key is always to try to find what works on your instrument, which is why studying classical guitar was so influential on how I hear music,” Grasso explains. “When playing classical guitar, it’s like you’re a little orchestra by yourself – you can sound like violin, cello, brass, etc. And technically, it has allowed me to develop original ways of playing my left and right hands independently while also trying to represent the bass and rhythm, with one note leading to the next."
“The fact is, growing up, other than the great Charlie Christian, I never really listened much to guitarists. It was usually pianists. In particular, when playing solo guitar, my initial inspiration came when I was seven years old, listening to the greats Art Tatum, Bud Powell, and Thelonious Monk. What always amazed me was that although they were playing alone, I felt I could hear the entire band with them.”
If it takes a village to raise a child, as the proverb says, then it certainly takes at least that much to nurture a big band. Pianist and bandleader Orrin Evans has long used “The Village” to refer not only to his family-like cohort of fellow musicians in the Captain Black Big Band, but also to the extended family of fans, supporters and inspirations that have carried the ensemble to a Grammy nomination and its status as one of the most thrilling and revered ensembles in modern jazz.
The Village truly came together to create The Intangible Between, the fourth release by the Captain Black Big Band. Due out May 1 via Smoke Sessions Records, the album was created in the celebratory, communal environment that Evans excels in conjuring. While the recording took place in New York’s hallowed Sear Sound, the atmosphere became transformed from a recording studio into a backyard barbecue.
Evans invited a host of collaborators, stocked the place with food, and threw a party that imbued the music with a vibrant sense of warmth and comfort – while still exalting in the band’s trademark tightrope-walking vigor. In the true spirit of the music, Evans entered the studio with a carefully devised blueprint, down to spreadsheets listing the musicians planned for any given tune – and then left room for spontaneity to take over when it would.
“I’ve always wanted to do a project like this,” Evans says. “Where I ask all my friends to get together, there’s food in the room, and everybody just comes on in and records. There was definitely a plan, but there was also the element of just getting together and playing. That’s what this record is about to me.”
That approach leads to a wealth of unexpected and alchemical moments, ranging from Sean Jones’ exquisite flugelhorn solo on Todd Bashore’s arrangement of the standard “A Time For Love” to the hurly-burly of four bassists (including Evans’ Tarbaby triomate Eric Revis, making his Captain Black debut) and two drummers crowding into Josh Lawrence’s sharp-shouldered arrangement of Thelonious Monk’s “Off Minor.”
Featuring both taut, keenly focused ensemble playing and raucous, spirited soloing, The Intangible Between reflects the ever-growing chemistry of the core ensemble while celebrating Evans’ open-door policy toward collaborators new and old. The rotating cast of players, while maintaining the more compact scale introduced on the band’s last album, the Grammy-nominated Presence, also features first-time members alongside veterans that joined the ranks in its earliest days and special guests whose collaborations with Evans stretch back over many years and diverse groups. The recording also marks Evans’ first substantial contribution to the band’s book as an arranger, a duty previously delegated largely to his chief sidemen or derived spontaneously by the ensemble.
“Our first two records featured more of my compositions but arranged by people in the band,” Evans recalls. “The third record highlighted music by David Gibson, Troy Roberts, John Raymond and Josh Lawrence; but this is the first record where I’ve really arranged... We’ve been together 10 years, but this is really the first time [the band has] sat down and said, ‘Ok, these are Orrin’s arrangements, and it’s a different school.’”
The title, according to Evans, refers to an elusive decision point, that sense of stepping off a ledge into the unknown that comes with taking risks and setting a new course. With the overdue success he’s achieved in recent years – topping the “Rising Star” category for pianists in the DownBeat critics poll, garnering his first New York Times feature, the awards and praise garlanding his Captain Black albums, the increased focus that accompanied joining The Bad Plus – has come both opportunities and disappointments.
“This record is just about going for it, taking those projects you’ve been dreaming about and just making them happen,” he says. “The industry constantly tells you to wait, but for how long? Why not just do it now?”
In part, that impetus was fueled by Evan’s career trajectory, but he was also compelled by the sobering loss of two of his peers: trumpeter Roy Hargrove and drummer Lawrence “Lo” Leathers, both of whom are paid tribute on The Intangible Between. “There are things that I wished I had said to both of them,” Evans reflects. “Nothing major, just the little things that you think you’ll be able to say the next time you see someone. But you just don’t know. You really have to deal with the intangible, the space between whether you’re going to do something or not.”
Leathers receives a tender farewell from the full band on Evans’ own “I’m So Glad I Got To Know You,” written in the immediate aftermath of the drummer’s shocking and unexpected death. The band’s version of “Into Dawn,” arranged by trombonist David Gibson, is both a brilliant rendition of a gorgeous Hargrove composition and a typical piece of Orrin Evans audaciousness.
Gibson, Lawrence, Bashore and trombonist Stafford Hunter have all been key lieutenants in the big band from its early days, supplying arrangements or, in Evans’ words, “being all-around partners in crimes and filling in the blanks whenever there are any.”
Gibson attributes the band’s growth and success to “the paternal spirit that inspired its birth. Orrin has created an environment that encourages all to take risks in pursuit of spontaneous and authentic musical conversations. He cajoles, inspires, and supports the group from behind the piano or in the dressing room. The company of musicians he's invited to the party is comprised of those willing to participate in a grand trust exercise that I find to be very uncommon in a big band setting… Every musician is committed to supporting the pursuit of honest moments of music; our truth.”
The source of the term The Intangible Between is “Love Poem,” a short piece that Evans commissioned from John “Doc” Holiday, a retired teacher and mentor that the pianist met in a local Philadelphia watering hole. On Evans’ arrangement of Andrew Hill’s “Tough Love,” The Village’s recitation of that piece is paired with Evans’ own reading of “Yo! Bum Rushing the Door,” a poem by his brother Todd, aka Son of Black. Along with his original pieces “That Too” and “I’m So Glad I Got To Know You” and a version of “This Little Light of Mine” originally arranged for the WDR Big Band in Germany.
From trumpeter Sean Jones, with whom Evans has played for well over a decade, to bassist Dylan Reis, a young bass protégé, to bandmates making strides in the jazz scene after being nurtured by Evans early in their career in Philly and beyond – drummers Anwar Marshall and Mark Whitfield Jr., saxophonists Immanuel Wilkins, Troy Roberts and Caleb Wheeler Curtis, and bassist Luques Curtis, among others – The Village speaks with a loud, unified and infectious voice throughout The Intangible Between.
“It really matters when you know you have a tight-knit circle, and that you can rely on your circle for whatever you need,” Evans says. “The Village is a unit of people that you can trust and that love you. It’s an open door to the possibilities of knowing that you’re part of something for the greater good.”
Pianist and composer Falkner Evans convenes a brilliant all-star band to breathe vivid life into his compositions on Marbles.
There’s a victorious sense of “winner takes all” implied in the phrase “all the marbles.” That may not be what pianist and composer Falkner Evans had in mind when he christened his captivating new album Marbles, but the notion fits nonetheless. With this intriguing and spirited set, Evans has managed to assemble an all-star band that still works together with the camaraderie and chemistry of a road-tested unit; his writing for the three-horn frontline balances the flexibility of a small group with the harmonic richness of a big band; his brilliant original compositions offer the surprises of the new paired with the familiarity that comes from such indelible melodies.
Due out April 17, 2020 on Consolidated Artists Productions (CAP), Marbles carries forward the compositional evolution that Evans last displayed on his 2011 release The Point of the Moon. Where the pianist’s first three releases featured his trio, The Point of the Moon widened his scope to include trumpet and saxophone. Marbles expands the palette even further; returning are drummer Matt Wilson (a constant throughout Evans’ discography), bassist Belden Bullock (who joined the trio on 2007’s Arc) and trumpeter Ron Horton, whose experience writing arrangements for Andrew Hill helped color the music for Evans’ band. New to the ensemble are saxophonists Michael Blake and Ted Nash, with vibraphonist Steve Nelson as a special guest on three tunes.
“I wanted to bring together the best musicians that I could think of, but I wanted them to sound like a band,” Evans stresses. “All of these guys are so in-demand that working around their schedules was a challenge, but I didn’t want this to sound like we were all just thrown together. I wanted the music to feel like it was second nature.”
It’s a testament to Evans’ gifts as a composer and bandleader that he was able to achieve that goal. Just take a listen to the album’s closing piece, a brief rendition of Duke Ellington’s “Things Ain’t What They Used To Be,” which is the album’s sole non-original composition. More a snapshot than a full-fledged performance of the piece, the joyful number puts the band’s playfulness on full display, while a quick quip form Nelson, a Wilson rimshot, and a gale of collective laughter show off how quickly the band jibed, despite blending members who have been friends for decades with those meeting for the first time in the studio.
“I love these guys a lot,” Evans says. “We’ve all become really good friends. I’m so pleased that everybody was able to do this. It was an experience.”
The listening experience is equally warm and generous, well making up for the nine-year wait between releases. In the interim Evans has kept busy with a variety of projects, more often than not working in solo or duo situations in the clubs near his Greenwich Village home. But in his mind’s ear he kept hearing something larger, richer, more complex.
“I was just hearing all of these harmonies,” he says. “It’s interesting: as great as it can be, two horns sounds like two horns. With three horns you can do so much more with the orchestration. That was the basic inspiration for this album.”
The unique blend of the intimate and the orchestral provided by the instrumentation seems a natural outgrowth of Evans’ singular voice on the piano. Throughout Marbles, the bandleader displays an elegant yet dynamic touch, rich with evocative, alluring harmonies that entice listeners with sonic mysteries to explore. Each of Evans’ solos speaks eloquently in the distinctive language of his deftly tailored compositions, unfolding with the grace and economy of a compelling storyteller.
Navigating the simmering rhythms of the title track, Blake uncoils a tense, probing solo that builds with a pressure-cooker intensity without ever quite boiling over. That sensation is carried forward into Evans’ taut turn, which spins dazzling filigree from minimal material with the craftsmanship of a master weaver, all the while parrying Wilson’s rollicking jabs and barbs, held aloft with a juggler’s gravity-defying skills.
The album opens with the alluring sway of “Pina,” dedicated to the esteemed German choreographer Pina Bausch and inspired by filmmaker Wim Wenders’ remarkable 3D documentary of the same name. Evans’ composition is something of an imaginary offering to the late dancer, in whose intricate footsteps the pianist, Bullock and Nash (on flute) seem to nimbly follow on their solos.
From simple, mild beginnings to increasing urbanity and complexity, the gentle but firm swing of “Civilization” echoes the arc of societal evolution. The introspective “Sing Alone” is ushered in by a dazzling, crystalline solo introduction by the leader, while the shifting tempos of “Global News” reflects the hectic unpredictability of the news cycle. Nelson comes to fore on the sun-dappled “Hidden Gem,” his vibes rippling like concentric waves on still water.
The turbulent angularity of “This From That” occupies a middle ground between Mingus and Monk, contrasted with the gleeful spirit of “Mbegu.” Something about the piece reminded its composer of Henry Mancini’s classic “Baby Elephant Walk,” which suggested its title – the name of a pachyderm that Evans and his wife sponsor. “Dear West Village” is a love letter to Evans’ neighborhood of more than two decades and its still-thriving straightahead scene, a place where the tune itself would fit right in.
Originally from Tulsa, Oklahoma, Falkner Evans is a New York-based jazz pianist with an eclectic musical background. A third cousin to iconic author William Faulkner, Evans grew up on classic 60s rock and R&B before getting hooked on jazz in high school, then garnered his first professional experience playing with famed western swing band Asleep At The Wheel for four years. He moved to New York City in 1985 and quickly became involved in the busy scene, recruiting Cecil McBee and Matt Wilson for his leader debut, Level Playing Field. Two more trio dates followed before Evans expanded his horizons in 2011 for the quintet outing The Point of the Moon.
