Vocalist Robin McKelle delves into the catalogue of some of the most celebrated women of song, interpreting these masterworks through the lens of the jazz idiom. On Alterations, McKelle follows in a long tradition of female song interpreters, lending her sultry vocal stylings to classics by a diverse list of female innovators including Dolly Parton, Sade, Amy Winehouse, Adele, Janis Joplin, Carol King, Billie Holiday, Joni Mitchell, and Lana Del Ray.
McKelle is joined on this release by a group of consummate musicians including co-producer, pianist and arranger Shedrick Mitchell, acoustic and electric bassist Richie Goods, drummer Charles Haynes, guitarist Nir Felder. In addition, esteemed saxophonist Keith Loftis is featured on McKelle's sole original composition on this release, "Head High"; and renowned trumpeter Marquis Hill is featured on Lana Del Rey's "Born to Die".
The first single from Alterations, McKelle's rendition of Sade's "No Ordinary Love", will be released in late January. Alterations will be released on Doxie Records and distributed and marketed by the Orchard.
In the making of the album, most of McKelle's vocal tracks used on this final recording were takes she sang live with the band. On the recording process, McKelle notes "The energy and connection with the musicians was so powerful. They lifted me up and made it feel effortless. I've never felt so confident in the studio." The energy and connection of the album overall is palpable; stunning interplay is displayed throughout each track. Shedrick Mitchell was responsible for translating McKelle's visions for each of these tracks into arrangements for this prodigious grouping of musicians to perform.
McKelle notes "Mitchell really understood my vision and did a fabulous job helping to make the arrangements come alive. We fused jazz, soul, r&b, blues and rock all while keeping a continuity in the music."
The album begins with McKelle's re-imagining of Winehouse's "Back to Black". A gentle latin rhythm drives this track forward; Mckelle's voice soars over Mitchell's masterful accompaniment. The album continues with McKelle's soulful take on Adele's "Rolling in the Deep", the band uses this song as a vehicle to explore the reflective lyrics with a wonderful, moody reharmonization. Guitarist Nir Felder takes a stellar solo over these changes. The album proceeds with McKelle's original composition "Head High", the artist's tribute to the female singers and writers who came before her. "It's about the power that the female singer has. To move people with her lyric and song. To be fearless. To touch people's emotions. To make change" notes McKelle. Consummate saxophonist Keith Loftis is featured on this track.
McKelle's delivers a spirited, bluesy rendition of Dolly Parton's classic "Jolene", a celebration of the lyrics in a decidedly different context than the original 1974 release by Parton which earned her a GRAMMY® for Best Female Country Vocal Performance. "No Ordinary Love" is McKelle's rendition of Sade's classic R&B composition. McKelle's fiery latin-tinged arrangement of this song emphasizes the ensemble's fantastic sense of dynamics and interplay. McKelle's voice ignites the track and is met with an impassioned solo from Felder. The album ends with a duo performance of Carole King's classic "You've Got a Friend". McKelle and Mitchell converse over King's lyrics, delivering the song's tenderness with her signature warmth and strength.
The songs on Alterations are diverse in tone and mood. The desperation of Del Ray's "Born to Die"; The exuberance of Parton's "Jolene". McKelle transitions seamlessly between the emotions of every song. And makes each one her own. To McKelle, alteration is all. As the artist notes "when you create change, you create space for something to shift in the world and in yourself. As an artist. And as a human. And that is a change for the good."
After three ECM albums with Louis Sclavis’s groups – Sources (recorded 2011), Salt and Silk Melodies (2014) and Characters on a Wall (2018) – each of them drawing upon his improvisational resourcefulness, French pianist Benjamin Moussay was invited to make a solo recording. A fresh addition to ECM’s line of distinguished solo piano albums, Promontoire is also effectively a self-portrait of its maker, touching upon many aspects of Moussay’s life and interests across the arts.
Promontoire finds its shape through careful preparation and spontaneous risk-taking. Moussay calls it “a solitary dance with the flow of inner rhythm,” one that deploys and abandons the compositional process along the way: “Written pretexts are infinitely altered according to the moment. Playing solo piano, I know the starting point and the destination. Mystery lies in the surprises of the journey.”
Although it was the solo piano recordings of Thelonious Monk that first fired Benjamin Moussay’s imagination, instilling a love of jazz subsequently nurtured in parallel with classical studies, it is only in recent years that he has embraced the solo format himself. “I was working a lot with my trio, playing as a sideman with many bands, but the idea of solo music kept calling to me. It seemed to me like quite a step to take, because there is so much history around solo piano. But, finally, I decided to do it. My first solo concerts were almost like classical recitals with very much written material, but the more I played solo the more I wanted to let go and improvise. The compositions became more and more reduced, often to just the essential elements of a melody and a few chords.” Going further, a number of the pieces on Promontoire are total improvisations, although Moussay’s structural instincts blur distinctions between the written and the discovered-in-the-moment; the album feels like a story unfolding in twelve chapters, twelve reflections.
It opens with “127,” inspired by Danny Boyle’s biographical survival film about climber Aron Ralston, 127 Hours. “I saw the film, was very impressed by it, and the melody came to me,” recalls Moussay, who is himself a committed climber and Alpinist. Rugged landscapes and mountains are evoked or alluded to also in title track “Promontoire,” “Monte Perdido,” and “Don’t Look Down.”
“Promontoire” is named for “a place in the Vosges mountains that is very important to me, a small rocky peak above a lake. The composition has changed a lot since I wrote it. It was originally in four parts, with an introduction and two other themes. Now it’s much sparser.” “Monte Perdido,” completely improvised, references the “lost mountain” of the Spanish side of the Pyrennees. “Remote and difficult to reach,” Moussay summarizes.
The pianist likens “Don’t Look Down” to scaling a steep rock face: “It’s a little scary technically.” The idea for the piece, with its very fast activity in the right hand, emerged during a Louis Sclavis soundcheck. “In concert, this piece gets expanded a lot, but I like the concentrated version we have on the album.”
Moussay has on several occasions been commissioned to write new music to accompany old silent films and three of the pieces on Promontoire have their origins in such work. Though each has gone through several transformations, “Theme for Nana,” “Horses” and “The Fallen” were all written to accompany scenes from Jean Renoir’s classic 1926 film Nana, based upon Émile Zola’s novel of the same name. “‘Theme for Nana’ describes the central figure, of course. I think of the piece as a bit ‘Sclavisian’ in a way, every curve of the melody suggesting a different atmosphere, color or emotion.”
“Horses” interprets the famous racecourse sequence in Renoir’s film, with rhythmic figures suggestive of the elegant motion of hooves. And “The Fallen” initially a character sketch of Count Muffat in the film and novel, dragged down by his love for Nana, has come to acquire a broader significance: “It’s for all those guys who try to go up only to go down – whether in the mountains or in life. It’s kind of a blues!”
“Villefranque” is named for the commune in the Hautes-Pyrénées where the piece was born. “Improvisation is often the starting point for my pieces which I subsequently develop by selecting elements and working on them. But in this case – I was recording myself on the piano at a friend’s house – the music arrived complete. I transcribed the improvisation and that became the piece.”
“Sotto voce,” in contrast, reveals Moussay’s “Chopin romantic side. I like it to be played really softly and simply. It’s like a small picture of something.”
The sprightly “Chasseur de plumes” is dedicated to the memory of a young cat who loved to chase birds, while “L’oiseau d’or” refers to the Golden Bird of the Grimm fairy tales. Finally, there is “Théa," a musical portrait of Moussay's young daughter. “This is also a total improvisation and was actually the first solo piece I recorded in La Buissonne. I like to think it conveys some of Théa’s dancing energy.” The album was recorded and produced by Manfred Eicher at Studios La Buissonne in January 2019.
Benjamin Moussay studied classical piano at the Strasbourg Conservatory, before turning to jazz composition and arrangement at the Paris Conservatory, where his teachers included François Jeanneau and Jean-François Jenny-Clark. In 1998 he won the Martial Solal International Jazz Piano Competition and has gone on to become a key figure in the French and international jazz scene, working with Louis Sclavis, Glenn Ferris, Marc Ducret, Archie Shepp, Tony Malaby, Vincent Courtois, Daniel Humair and many others, and leading his own groups, including his long-running trio with drummer Eric Echampard and bassist Arnault Cuisinier. Promontoire is his first solo piano album.
Jon Balke’s solo recordings comprise a special subset of his work, informed by the improvisational daring and compositional imagination that has made him one of creative music’s most original voices. Discourses is his third solo album, preceded by Book of Velocities (recorded 2006) and Warp (2015). The new album, recorded in sessions in 2019, takes further the integration and juxtaposition of acoustic piano and processed soundscapes introduced on Warp.
The project, he explains, was originally conceived as “a kind of elegy” for dialogue in public discourse: “Reading news and articles from a variety of sources, I am, like many people, engaged, shocked, frustrated, inspired, and sometimes glad about what I observe, and this stays with me in the process of making music. In the case of Discourses, language has been a big inspiration and a gateway to shape and mould the piano playing along the lines of rhetoric."
“As the political climate hardened in 2019 with more and more polarized speech, the lack of dialogue pointed me towards the terms that constitute the titles for the individual tracks.” [There are 16 pieces: the self and the opposition; the facilitator; the container; the assumptions; the certainties; the suspension; the polarisation; the second argument; the why; the deliberation; the first argument; the how; the mutuality; the first afterthought; the second afterthought; the third afterthought.]
Meanwhile, interaction -- at multiple levels -- has been central to the development of the material on this solo album, which operates at a new juncture of composition, improvising and sound design: “The compositions function as tools to support my improvisations, and are sometimes just vague textures, sometimes solid, sculptural, melodic and harmonic material.”
A preparatory pre-production phase consisted of the “rehearsing of tunes and structures, recording and processing of the soundscapes, trying out combinations, and performing some of the music live in solo piano concerts with electronics.” The soundscapes Balke refers to, running like a textural thread through the album, have been made in different ways, utilizing “field recordings and processed instruments. I played a lot of them on my cello and warped them with various sound tools. Keyboards were also used, and software plug-ins.” Despite the rhetorical framework for the project, Balke emphasizes that the sounds themselves are abstract rather than illustrative, “chosen only for their timbre and function.”
Recording of the piano and the assembling and mixing of the album took place at the Auditorio Stelio Molo RSI in Lugano, Switzerland with Manfred Eicher producing. Balke: “I arrived in Lugano with a hard disk of pre-recorded soundscapes, and had a plan for which pieces they should exist in, but sometimes the actual recording took another unexpected direction, which required another type of layer, or none at all. This was the important teamwork in the studio, with discussion around each choice. In this production Manfred has been a very active co-creator, and his input has been a guidance in all details.”
What has changed in the solo music since Warp? “I have tried to separate the piano sound and the layered sounds more clearly,” says Jon Balke, “so that the layered sounds are more like reflections from the room, or from the world if you like, and the piano, with its timbral richness is more resonant in itself.”
The full-bodied sound of the piano in the Lugano studio is immediately striking, as is the intense focus of Balke’s playing. ECM has a long and distinguished tradition of solo piano recordings to which Discourses seems, partly, to belong. The alluring strangeness of the processed sounds, at first almost subliminal but increasingly overt, moves it to another category, another chapter of solo performance, heightening attention - and calling for closer listening.
Jon Balke, born in 1955 in Norway, made his ECM debut in 1974, when he joined Arild Andersen’s group for the recording Clouds In My Head. Since then he has appeared on more than 25 albums for the label. A founder member of the group Masqualero, with Arild Andersen, Jon Christensen, Nils Petter Molvær and Tore Brunborg, he appeared on the Bande à Part album, recorded in 1985. His skills as arranger and composer were to the fore in the “little big band” Oslo 13 (Nonsentration, 1990) and the ever-evolving Magnetic North Orchestra, whose albums include Further, Kyanos, Diverted Travels and the anthology Magnetic Works 1993-2001. Balke also plays in improvisational ensembles including the “percussion think-tank” Batagraf (Statements, Say and Play), and the trio Jøkleba with Audun Kleive and Per Jørgensen (Outland). With Amina Alaoui, Jon Hassell and Kheir Eddine M’Kakiche, Balke launched the ensemble Siwan whose debut, recorded in 2007 and 2008, set new standards for transcultural, trans-idiomatic endeavour. A revised version of Siwan, with singer and oudist Mona Boutchebak joining Balke and kemençe player Derya Turkan in its frontline, recorded Nahnou Houm in 2017. Jon Balke has also appeared on ECM recordings with Sidsel Endresen, Miki N’Doye and Mathias Eick.
The 15 tracks on this album capture Goldman performing both traditional Creole repertoire, as well as his own improvisations, and comprise his first new album release in 13 years.
Like all good titles the title of this new release by Nouveau Electric Records of Goldman Thibodeaux and the Lawtell Playboys' La Danse à St. Ann's is the signpost to the rabbit hole that opens a new and magical world for all those who enter. Everything you hear here is about movement, about community, and family; about migration to worlds you are brought to when you hear things you thought you'd forgotten, when you see people you thought you might never see again, when you are moving on a dance floor you barely feel under your feet.
Goldman as front man for the Lawtell Playboys is deeply connected to his Creole and Cajun roots, deeply immersed in pre-zydeco LaLa music of the small rural communities like Lawtell and Mallet. His musical tutelage includes his familial and artistic connections to his relations like Eraste, BeBe, and Calvin Carrière as well as to influences like Amédé Ardoin, Canray Fontenot, Alphonse "Bois Sec" Ardoin" and Delton Broussard.
Musicologist, cultural historian and film maker, Erik Charpentier, notes the influence of "undisclosed relations between Cajun and the Creole people of small communities such as Lawtell, have blurred the lines between what constitutes a Cajun and a Creole. Therefore, it is the reason why many individuals such as Mr. Goldman carry many of the Cajuns' cultural traits while remaining Creole to the core." (source). While Goldman is truly "Creole to the core" and identifies as such, he is the grandson of rural Lewisburg Cajun farmer and planter, Theodule Thibodeaux, and his neighbor, Marie Ophelia Richard. It is therefore no stretch to hear occasional homage to Cajun musicians like Iry Lejeune, whose mentor was the iconic Amédé Ardoin, whom Lejeune often echoed and even copied in his repertoire. But because Goldman is not a purist who plays only one type of music, we also often hear strains and rhythms of pre-LaLa juré and later Zydeco syncopations in his original compositions as well.
La Danse à St. Ann's is a live recording of a dance at the November 2019 Thibodeaux family reunion. Goldman, whose background includes teaching at folklife festivals locally and beyond, is a performance artist. He is happiest and truest when playing live. While he respects the documentation requisite for any professional performer, his passion is to be with people, to get people up on the dance floor, to make them move inside themselves and to make them move in partnership with not only the dancer they hold on to but also with the culture they hold to in the dance. It is not unusual for a band member lean over and suggest to Goldman that the next song in the set might be a two-step and his response: "No, they need a waltz."
To Goldman Thibodeaux family is everything. His sons Charles and Dana came to him and Theresa from a New York orphanage. The priest at St. Ann's arranged the adoption. Goldman and Theresa went to Goldman's father Anatole, son of Marie Ophelia, on his deathbed to ask for guidance and clarity in the adoption and Anatole told them this was the right thing to do. In later years, Goldman and Theresa became the collaborative parents of single-father Dana's son Brock, who plays frottoir (washboard) and t-fer (triangle) with the Playboys when his career as a young golfer allows. Goldman and Theresa also become the caretakers of Goldman's only living elder sibling, Nelson, who died in early 2020.
Charpentier also points out that Goldman's first "official" gig was at St. Ann's where he was able to perform with "old time friends Calvin Carrier and Ulysse Gobert [...] as a full-time member of the Lawtell Playboys." Goldman is a deeply religious man and a lifetime member of St. Ann's. It is not a stretch to be reminded that St. Ann was the grandmother of Jesus and so playing here at St. Ann's might be seen as a kind of house dance at grandma's house. This cd is the "circle unbroken" for Goldman Thibodeaux and the Lawtell Playboys: family, community, culture, belief, friends, neighbors, hope, and mostly, him and his friends, "doing what we can to hold everything together."
Goldman, aged 87, is a living legend and one of the last musicians performing in the traditional French Creole style. La Danse à St. Ann's was recorded by Mark Bingham (Marianne Faithfull, John Scofield, Dr. John, etc.) at the Thibodeaux Family Reunion, November 2019 in Mallett, Louisiana. Produced by Bingham and the band's fiddle player Louis Michot (co-founder of Lost Bayou Ramblers), the album is snapshot of the band at its most comfortable, in its natural element, surrounded by hundreds of family members in a church hall.
Thibodeaux first began playing with his brother-in-law's band at age 14, and in 1966 he began sitting in with the Lawtell Playboys along with Delton Broussard and Calvin Carriere. The band was originally started in 1946 when brothers Bébé and Eraste Carriere combined their talents to form The Lawtell Playboys. Bébé, known as the "King of the Zydeco Fiddle", made his first fiddle from a cigar box and a broken window screen, and played alongside his brother Eraste, on accordion, for many years. Over time, Eraste passed the accordion position on to Delton Broussard, and Bébé passed the position of fiddle player to Eraste's son, Calvin Carriere. Goldman learned to play accordion in his 50's, following a heart attack. Calvin (Goldman's cousin) and Delton played with him often to help him learn. When Delton became ill, he passed the accordion position to Goldman. Calvin and Goldman played for several years before recording their first cd in 2001 titled 'Les Miseres dans le Coeur'. Just before Calvin died, he asked Goldman to take over the band and continue using the name "Lawtell Playboys".
One of the last living musicians to practice traditional Creole music -- often referred to as "LaLa music" -- much of Goldman's inspiration comes from seeing Amédé Ardoin play at a house dance in the Lawtell area. Perched up in a tree as the now-legendary Grandfather of Zydeco arrived on horseback from another dance 20 miles away, Goldman was thrilled when Ardoin offered to let the young boy carry his accordion to the house for him. Goldman watched every second of Amédé's performance intently, an experience that inspires him to this day. Thibodeaux is likely the last living person to have seen the great Amédé Ardoin play a house dance.
As a champion of Creole culture, Goldman has been inducted by the Acadian Museum into the Order of Living Legends and received a Folklife Heritage Award from Louisiana Lt. Governor Jay Dardenne. In 2015, he was featured at the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities Bright Lights Literacy Awards. He has performed at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival for the last 20 years straight, and was asked to return in 2020; his plan was to release La Danse à St. Ann's in conjunction with that appearance. When the festival was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Thibodeaux chose to release the album anyway to offer his fans and music lovers internationally something to keep their spirits up in these trying times.
The ASCAP Foundation today announced The ASCAP Foundation Peggy Lee Songwriter Award, established in honor of legendary ASCAP member Peggy Lee. To mark the centennial of this extraordinary artist and her considerable contributions to the world of jazz and popular music, the family of Peggy Lee created the award with The ASCAP Foundation to honor her name and legacy while nurturing the careers of promising new songwriters.
Over the course of her seven-decade career, Lee helped redefine what it meant to be a female singer and wrote over 200 songs including several modern-day standards. Dubbed "the female Frank Sinatra" by Tony Bennett, her quietly captivating voice and enchanting lyrics continue to resonate with audiences of all ages. Highlights of Lee's songwriting catalog are "It's a Good Day," "I Don't Know Enough About You," "I Love Being Here with You" and "Mañana." Along with Sonny Burke, she wrote all of the original songs for Disney's 1955 animated classic Lady and the Tramp, including beloved favorites "He's a Tramp" and "Bella Notte."
A notable lyricist, Lee frequently collaborated with fellow songwriters including Harold Arlen, Cy Coleman, Duke Ellington, Quincy Jones, Sonny Burke, Johnny Mandel, Marian McPartland, Dave Grusin and Victor Young. Her songs have been covered by industry greats such as Tony Bennett, Nat King Cole, Natalie Cole, Bing Crosby, Doris Day, Ella Fitzgerald, Judy Garland, Diana Krall, Queen Latifah, Barry Manilow, Bette Midler, Janelle Monáe, Nina Simone, Regina Spektor and Sarah Vaughan.
Lee was a 13-time GRAMMY® nominee, received Lifetime Achievement awards from NARAS, ASCAP and The Society of Singers, was inducted to the Songwriters Hall of Fame and earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress in Pete Kelly's Blues. With over 1,100 masters, 50 original albums and 100 chart hits, she is best known for her songs "Fever," "Why Don't You Do Right," "I'm a Woman" and "Is That All There Is?" Many of her lesser-known gems are now being rediscovered through television and film, with features in major hits like The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and The Good Place.
Lee's granddaughter, Holly Foster Wells, worked with The ASCAP Foundation to create this unique opportunity for up-and-coming songwriters. The Peggy Lee Songwriter Award will annually recognize an ASCAP or unaffiliated songwriter who demonstrates intelligent use of language, talent and career potential. Qualified award recipients must not be signed to a major publishing deal and provide an original song that has never been commercially recorded. The program will provide winners with a cash award and the opportunity to engage with a music executive mentor.
Chicago-based guitarist Tim Stine is releasing his second trio record with Frank Rosaly (drums) and Anton Hatwich (bass) called Fresh Demons. The album documents Tim Stine Trio’s progression as a band since their 2016 self-titled debut (also released via Astral Spirits) and sees them continuing to filter their collective influences into a modern jazz/improvised setting that sounds at home in either of those worlds. There is some noise here too, but there is also extra-precise rhythmic execution and harmony from all over.
Tim Stine grew up (probably like many midwest kids) listening to hip-hop and metal. There are lots of nods to ‘metal’ on here (see the lumbering "686868" or "VVVValley"), but also rhythmic pockets that aren’t usually heard in improvised jazz. While there aren’t any hip-hop backbeats, there are plenty of sections that will make you nod your head unexpectedly.
Recorded in 2018, the composition and expression on Fresh Demons reflect Stine processing and working through challenges he was facing in his personal life. Supporting this is Frank Rosaly who puts on a clinic about how to play drums melodically. He functions like a third melodic voice throughout the album, and takes every opportunity to add sounds and surprises to each track. Anton Hatwich works with and against Stine throughout the album, and adds to the overall feel of a chamber trio with each one improvising their own parts in real time.
Fresh Demons follows Knots (2019, Clean Feed) which enlisted Windy City peers Nick Mazzarella, Matt Ulery, and Quin Kirchner. In addition to leading his Trio and Quartet, Stine has played as a leader and sideman in the groups Loris, Stine/Roebke/Reed Trio, Jarod Bufe Quartet and Nick Mazzarella Quintet.
For saxophonist Michael Thomas, his new album from Giant Step Arts, the groundbreaking non-profit led by noted photographer and recording engineer Jimmy Katz, also marks an enormous leap into an unknown future.
“Getting invited to do a project like this is kind of like winning the jazz lottery,” Thomas says. “It’s a once in a lifetime experience to work with Jimmy, who goes out of his way to do everything right. He makes sure the band is taken care of, he hires the right people, he takes care of all the details; all you have to do as the bandleader is worry about the music. It’s an incredibly freeing experience.”
Thomas responded to this unprecedented opportunity by assembling a dream band to realize a new set of outstanding compositions. The frontline reunites him with trumpet great Jason Palmer, who recently released his own second album for Giant Step Arts and with whom Thomas worked regularly for two years as part of Palmer’s long-running house band at Boston’s historic Wally’s Jazz Café. The quartet also features Miguel Zenon Quartet bassist Hans Glawischnig and drummer Johnathan Blake, whose exhilarating album Trion was among Giant Step’s inaugural releases.
Creating such once-in-a-lifetime opportunities for artists, freeing them from the usual demands of record label and sales chart expectations, is precisely why Katz founded Giant Step Arts.
Recorded live over two nights at New York City’s renowned Jazz Gallery, Event Horizon muses on the role technology plays in modern life while responding to both its advantages and its drawbacks. “Technology is something that we deal with every day: computers, smartphones, things like that,” Thomas says. “It can definitely work on our side, but we can also end up relying on it too much. We’re always checking our calendar and checking our email, which can impose a framework on our lives that can lead to feeling trapped. The music I wrote for Event Horizon has an element of structure that comes from a lot of the technology that we use, but I wanted to give the band a lot of freedom once we got into the tunes.”
The live recording cast this uneasy relationship with technological into stark perspective. While a studio may offer any number of modern conveniences, Thomas felt the old-school method, while inevitably a tightrope walk, also inspired daring performances that might not have happened with a safety net in place. “All the classic recordings we love were recorded in a similar way to this, where the band is just being the band and somebody documented it. But while we recorded in an old-fashioned way, I didn’t want the music to have an old-fashioned feel. This is very new music – challenging for the band, and challenging for the individual players.”
Katz founded Giant Step Arts in order to support artists like Palmer, Blake and others whose talents he felt had not been sufficiently recognized or supported. Thomas is a slightly different case, a less established talent at the outset of a promising career. Not that he doesn’t already boast impressive credentials: since his debut album, he’s appeared on more than 30 recordings and co-founded the Terraza Big Band with bassist Edward Perez, releasing the ensemble’s heralded debut, One Day Wonder, in May 2019. But Katz impressed upon the gifted saxophonist the ambitious expectations he holds for the artists who record for GSA.
“Look at the other saxophonists who have recorded on Giant Step Arts projects,” Katz points out. “Chris Potter, Mark Turner, Eric Alexander – some of the greatest players on the scene today. The truth is I’m looking for someone who really wants to step up their game and show the highest level of creativity in their art. Michael is capable of extraordinary things, and I’m really happy with how committed he was to this project and to trying to make a bold new statement.”
That may the only demand Katz makes on the artists he works with, but it’s a tall order indeed. “I want to be sure everyone involved is trying to make a masterpiece,” he insists. “The goal on each one of these projects is to make a modern A Love Supreme or a modern Kind of Blue. Obviously those are very high standards, but we’re going into each one of these projects with that as the goal. I’m not interested in professional performances; I’m interested in performances that history is going to remember.”
Grammy-winning saxophonist, composer, and arranger Michael Thomas has been an active member of the New York City jazz community since arriving in 2011. Holding degrees from the University of Miami, New England Conservatory, and The Juilliard School, Michael has performed throughout the United States and abroad, including tours in Central and South America, Australia, Europe, Japan, and Russia. He has appeared as a sideman with Brad Mehldau, Dafnis Prieto, Nicholas Payton, Miguel Zenón, Etienne Charles, and Jason Palmer, and Michael’s talents can be heard on over 30 recordings. As a composer and arranger, Michael has been commissioned by school and professional ensembles throughout the United States, and he is currently a member of the BMI Jazz Composers Workshop in New York City. Since 2015, Michael has co-lead the Terraza Big Band, and the ensemble’s first album, One Day Wonder, was released in May 2019 on Outside In Music. Michael’s work has been recognized by DownBeat magazine as well as the “Keep an Eye” competition in Amsterdam, NL, and in 2016 he was a winner of the New York Youth Symphony’s First Music commission series. Since September 2018, Michael has been on faculty at the University of Hartford’s Hartt School of Music as an Artist Teacher of jazz saxophone in the Jackie McLean Jazz Studies Institute.
Producer Omar “Jallanzo” Johnson produced, composed, arranged and mixed all of the music in addition to playing most of the instruments on the album. Jallanzo has successfully brought out some of the best songwriting and has introduced a new sound from the artist that is sure to please his existing fans as well as open the door to many more. Jah Sun adds, “One of the biggest takeaways from the process that took place with this record was realizing the synergy between me and my producer Jallanzo. We discovered that we worked really well together and have that ‘artist-producer’ magic.”
Jah Sun displays a style on Magic & Madness not yet heard on his previous albums. The lyrics are still conscious and positive but expressed in a more poetic way as well as being more melodic than the earlier “rap/sing jay” style. The songs have a timeless feel to them, which came about from recording in Jah’s home studio. Jah Sun reflects, “There was no pre set plan for the album it happened very organically and natural one song at a time. My main goal was to be honest and write from a place of personal experience. Most of my past albums were recorded in ‘big’ studios with high end equipment with a list of big names that recorded there. For this album, I wanted to see what we could do in my little home studio that came with a more relaxed intimate atmosphere. I feel like that fostered the personal touch that came across in these songs.”
It’s always a challenge for an artist to recreate and evolve their sound to stay fresh and gain new supporters without alienating their existing fanbase. Magic & Madness succeceeds in doing that! Featuring elements of roots reggae, dub, and fusion the album offers something for the pure reggae enthusiast and for those just being introduced to the genre.
Jah Sun concludes, “I chose the title of the album after returning from month long tour in India. The region deeply inspired me and in my down time I was able to meditate, pray and reflect on life. We truly live in a world of Magic and Madness.”
“What’s unique about Jah Sun’s sound is his lyrical virtuosity, along with precise arrangements and an abundance of charisma that affects his music with a palpable energy…” - Huffington Post
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Chip Wickham returns with Blue to Red, his most absorbing and cosmically-charged offering to date. Soaring flute melodies, lush harp arpeggios and glistening Rhodes keys interact across six journeying, spiritual jazz compositions, leaning on a rich palette of sounds beyond borders, space and time.
Channeling the spirit of Alice Coltrane and Yusef Lateef via the lens of a hip-hop, electronic and club music educated ear, Blue to Red encompasses Wickham’s disparate set of production influences with his Manchester and spiritual jazz education.
The album not only seeks to forewarn Earth’s possible Mars-like future, but seeks to tap into the interplanetary, cosmic nature of music. “It’s a culture crisis rather than a climate crisis, one that can only be solved if we go right to the core of how we live as human beings”.
Born and raised in Brighton, UK, Wickham moved to Manchester to attend college. He soon moved into music going on to perform and record with a formidable and diverse list of artists from his Manchester base including Nightmares on Wax and Andy Votel as well as regular funk excursions with The New Mastersounds. However it was upon his meeting of Mancunian trumpeter/bandleader of Gondwana Orchestra, Matthew Halsall, and other influential players connected to the Manchester’s spiritual jazz circuit such as Nat Birchall that Wickham’s musical course was re-routed for good.
Leaving the UK for Madrid in 2007, Wickham set out on his Iberian-facing debut a decade later with La Sombra (2017), before moving again from Madrid to Doha (Qatar), where Wickham released his follow up Shamal Wind (2018), a lively and international melding of modal jazz, Arabic sounds and other disparate sonic territories, that blends Wickham’s penchant for ethereal, beatless composition and Dingwalls-esque, jazz dance numbers.
Having recorded, produced and mixed everything himself, Wickham’s meticulous approach to production and unswerving ambition for Blue to Red, led him to a phenomenal group of musicians across the UK’s thriving jazz scene, including Sons of Kemet and Mulatu Astatke drummer, Jon Scott, Fingathing head honcho, Simon ‘Sneaky’ Houghton (double bass/cello) and Nightmares On Wax affiliate Dan ‘JD 73’ Goldman (keys). Making up the lineup is Gondwana Orchestra alumni Amanda Whiting, whose celestial and mystical harp playing is a particularly prominent and enchanting feature of the record.
With his group (that will feature British jazz pillar, Greg Foat on keys), Wickham will be embarking on a tour across the UK and Europe this April with headline dates at London’s Ronnie Scott’s and Paris’s La Petite Halle. Alongside playing with Dwight Tribble, Allysha Joy (30/70), The Sorcerers, Scrimshire and Joe Tatton (The New Mastersounds), Chip's previous and recent live endeavours saw him perform at the mainstage of Love Supreme last year and he continues to tour the world with Halsall and The Gondwana Orchestra.
Whilst we pray Wickham’s prediction that the planet’s decline from Blue to Red is proven incorrect, it’s hard to imagine a time in the future where pieces of music do not represent markers of our own personal growth or catalysts for structural, societal change. The vanguard of spiritual jazz past and present are no stranger to this, and on Blue to Red, Wickham not only salutes but earnestly contributes to this legacy.
With the release of his last album, New Playground, soprano saxophonist Stéphane Spira celebrated a period of new beginnings: a flourishing second career in jazz in his adopted home of New York City, and a new family with the birth of his son. Spira’s new release, Improkofiev, finds the saxophonist embarking on another new chapter, this time more of a homecoming. He’s recently moved back to his native France after a decade abroad; and the newly formed quartet Spirabassi reunites him with Italian-born pianist Giovanni Mirabassi, with whom he first recorded in 2009, just before embarking for the States.
Not that Improkofiev, Jazzmax, is aiming to recapture the past. Spira has long reveled in reinvention, both in his life and his music. His growing discography is evidence enough of that; he abandoned a thriving career as an engineer overseeing projects from Paris to Saudi Arabia to pursue his passion for jazz. His return to France finds him not in his home city of Paris but in a bucolic setting near the ocean in Brittany, offering a quality of life for his family difficult to find in Manhattan. And his reunion with Mirabassi builds on the duo chemistry they forged on their initial outing, Spirabassi, to form a stellar new quartet with bassist Steve Wood and drummer Donald Kontomanou.
“Giovanni Mirabassi is an outstanding piano player,” Spira raves. “As soon as I came back to France last summer, Giovanni and I knew that we wanted to get back together. We’ve both evolved over the last ten years, so it’s been really interesting to explore this relationship.”
The title of the new album shows off not only Spira’s love of wordplay, but also his inventive approach to classic repertoire. The three-piece suite that comprises half of the album is based on clever reimaginings of Sergei Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 1, though the source material is so transformed, embellished or reinterpreted through the three movements that it can be something of a mind game just to trace the pieces back to their classical origins.
Spira was introduced to the Prokofiev piece nearly 15 years ago by a Turkish jazz presenter and radio host, who heard echoes of the Russian composer’s dense harmonies in Spira’s 2006 debut, First Page. “He really opened my ears,” Spira says. “As soon as I heard the Violin Concerto I was struck by the melody, the lyricism and the complex harmonies, which is a combination that I’m particularly drawn to. I love a melody that you can sing but that’s supported by harmony that isn’t obvious but sounds totally natural. I immediately heard it as a vehicle for a jazz band.”
While he didn’t arrange the “Improkofiev Suite” with the Spirabassi Quartet in mind, the band’s formation proved an ideal fit for the music. Originally from Perugia but based in Paris since the early 90s, Giovanni Mirabassi weaves an elegant thread of European classical music into his jazz playing, which is heavily influenced by the impressionistic melodicism of jazz greats like Enrico Pieranunzi and Bill Evans. Spira found him to be the perfect duo partner in 2009, when he was dealing with the death of his father.
“The Spirabassi album was a way for me to process my grief through music,” the saxophonist recalls. “Giovanni is so lyrical that it felt right to go through that experience with him.”
Though they wouldn’t record together again for the next decade, as Spira found his footing in a new country and dedicated himself wholly to his voice on the soprano, they had forged a truly special and singular relationship while creating Spirabassi. The pairing is so distinctive that Spira didn’t hesitate to reprise the hybridized name for his new quartet, acknowledging the centrality of Mirabassi’s contributions to the collective sound. The pairing echoes classic examples like the Dave Brubeck Quartet, with Paul Desmond’s identity so closely linked to the group sound despite the name on the marquee.
That’s not to downplay the importance of the rest of the quartet. Steve Wood became an intimate collaborator and friend to Spira during the saxophonist’s tenure in New York City, bringing a foundational spine to the music that has become one of the keys to Spira’s sound. Donald Kontomanou is a more recent addition, bringing a second-generation instinct as the son of French jazz singer Elisabeth Kontomanou.
The album is rounded out by a selection of pieces that tastefully complement the “Improkofiev Suite.” The album opens with the first of two Spira originals. The flitting melody of “Ocean Dance” offers a vibrant depiction of the composer’s new setting, the feel of the dance provided by Kontomanou’s fleet brushwork and Wood’s nimble bass, over which Spira and Mirabassi waltz gracefully. A timpani-like fanfare on mallets opens “After Rain,” on which the group’s spirited and comradely performance summons the sunshine from behind the clouds of the Prokofiev-inspired harmonies. Carla Bley’s “Lawns” is invested with sweeping, heartfelt emotion, while Erik Satie’s “Gymnopedie No. 1” is rendered with an optimistic verve that proves a perfect bridge to the suite, which closes the album.
Drawing on the lessons and inspirations of the past to create something entirely new and deeply personal is an approach that has been central to jazz throughout its history. While Spira may have come late to the life of a jazz musician he’s invested himself with that attitude in profound ways. Improkofiev, playful and rich, inventive and soulful, is an exquisite example.
French saxophonist Stéphane Spira grew up with jazz the old-school way: in late-night jams and cutting sessions. A protégé of longtime Chet Baker pianist Michel Graillier, Spira's jazz career has taken him from 4 a.m. basement sessions in the underbelly of Paris, through acclaimed collaborations with trumpeter Stéphane Belmondo and pianist Giovanni Mirabassi, to the cutting edge of New York jazz. Trained as an engineer, Stéphane sharpened his chops off the books, after hours, immersing himself in a hard-edged milieu. Perhaps since he honed his chops in the depths of the jazz underground, Spira was spared the awkwardness of growing up in public: Spira's "remarkable maturity” (Radio France) has not gone unnoticed by the critics. Prior to Improkofiev, Spira released five critically acclaimed albums as a bandleader: First Page; Spirabassi (a duo collaboration with Mirabassi); Round About Jobim, a tribute to the father of bossa nova featuring Lionel Belmondo’s acclaimed Hymne au Soleil ensemble; 2014’s In Between and 2018’s New Playground.
Musically, Glasser is very well acquainted with his history lessons. That rare creature in the music, a native New Yorker, he took lessons as a teenager from the great Lee Konitz, and went on to a long career playing alongside giants like Clark Terry, Illinois Jacquet, Barry Harris and Dizzy Gillespie and serving a considerable tenure with the Count Basie Orchestra that continues today.
Hypocrisy Democracy reveals Glasser to be determined not to end up doomed to repeat that past, much as he reveres it; the strikingly open-eared and tightrope-walking session finds him traversing boundaries that many familiar with his career would never have expected. To do so he’s assembled a knockout quartet of fellow musicians (and New School faculty members) well versed in defying jazz’s hidebound norms: pianist Andy Milne, bassist Ben Allison and drummer Matt Wilson.
“My roots are in the history of this music,” Glasser admits. “That’s where my inspiration comes from. These guys have all worked in different areas doing their own thing, so this is a group of people who have come together from very farflung places. We’ve worked side by side in academic circumstances, but never as musicians. Yet we’ve managed to unite to find the things that we have in common instead of thinking about our differences. I think that parallels artistically what I see as a big problem facing society right now: people are focused on their differences, so they’re warring and arguing and blaming as opposed to looking at what they have in common.”
Glasser comes by his social justice credentials naturally. His father, Ira Glasser, was the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) for more than 20 years; it was while working for the New York Civil Liberties Union that he met the noted jazz critic and civil libertarian Nat Hentoff, who recommended Lee Konitz as an instructor for his colleague’s sax-playing son. That experience is honored through “Glee For Lee,” in which Glasser parries with longtime Konitz collaborator Matt Wilson in a pointed duet.
The zig-zagging “Knit Wit” is a running-with-scissors investigation of one of the album’s core conceits, the rise of misunderstandings via a difference in perception. Is the title an insult or a compliment? It could sound like either without the proper context or spelling (that pun makes all the difference). The taut, tense “Justice” muses on the many meanings of that word, from Old Testament to New, vengeance to equality, with “Freedom” as a companion piece, divided between opportunity and advantage.
“It’s Nothing New” recognizes the circularity of history in a particularly funky fashion, a reminder offered by how perennially fresh and exciting a timeless groove can be; the notion comes around again in the spiraling “Revolver.” The skulking “Dilemonk” grapples with weighty issues as well as the eccentric influence of the iconic Thelonious Monk – both of which can be thorny to deal with. “Coffees, Dogs, and Telelogs” confronts the imponderables faced on an average morning walk – the caffeine addictions, unconditional love for pets and absorption in handheld devices that sometimes seem to eclipse the love among fellow humans, encapsulated by Allison’s taut walking bass and the leader’s eloquent alto.
The mood set by Milne’s ominous, crashing chords and tolling tones, “Deep Dark” takes a plunge into profound melancholy, while “Minor Madness” leaps to the manic end of that scale, with an implicit hope that the insanity is only temporary and small in scale.
Finally, the album’s sole non-original is the unexpected choice of the Disney earworm
“It’s a Small World,” whose message resonates with the theme of the album, as does the inspired arrangement in which each member gradually joins Glasser’s searching flute to form a united whole. But the choice has a more autobiographical significance as well; as a youngster taking his first trip to Disneyland, Glasser brought home a 45rpm record of the song and tried his best to sing along – largely unsuccessfully, as the story goes. “Years later my Mom told me that she had turned to my Dad and said, ‘We know one thing: he’s not going to be a musician.’ Then one day, suddenly I got it. Which is profound to me, because I’ve always been more determined and diligent than naturally gifted.”
It’s that kind of dedication and perseverance that’s not only necessary to weather the vicissitudes of the jazz world but to overcome the kind of struggles that we face now and have struggled with throughout history. Glasser hopes that the camaraderie, sharp humor and inspired artistry of Hypocrisy Democracy makes some small contribution to the cause.
“My hope is that the record will be part of a change in our culture whereby people educate themselves and think independently about the decisions that they make,” Glasser concludes. “To me, music is about listening and reacting, interacting and playing something that makes the whole thing sound good, move forward and reach people.”
Native New Yorker Dave Glasser encompasses a uniquely personal sound rooted in rich tradition. Currently the lead altoist for the Count Basie Orchestra, and a veteran of the Clark Terry quintet, the Count Basie Orchestra (under the direction of Frank Foster), Illinois Jacquet, Barry Harris and Dizzy Gillespie, Dave's music transcends genre and covers a wide range of expression while remaining connected to the roots of jazz. A faculty member at the New School for over 23 years, he is proud to have helped develop many of today’s younger jazz musicians. In gratitude to wisdom bestowed from elder musicians, he is tirelessly continuing the tradition of mentoring future musicians by remaining actively involved in sharing knowledge, inspiring, and mentoring through the aural tradition.
MRS. FUN plays nu jazz. Complex, sophisticated and adventurous, their music is a unique blend of off-center jazz, ultra-funk, spoken word rap, and their own brand of neo-cabaret. Intelligent lyrics, stellar musicianship, and a dynamic stage presence are hallmarks of their music. The MRS. FUN sound is derived from Connie Grauer's funky bass-driven keyboard playing, combined with Kim Zick's skillful in-the-pocket drumming.
“Grauer is a piano player with few equals whose drive and energy spills across the stage and into the audience like nitrous oxide. She's got a left hand that doesn't quit, the mark of any great pianist, and a right hand with limitless boundaries.” Zick holds court as a “heart-stopping drummer” whose “grooves get so far out, most people need a map to get back.” Voted Best Contemporary Jazz Group by the Wisconsin Area Music Industry(WAMI) three consecutive years, Grauer and Zick have also received WAMI awards for Best Instrumentalist: keyboards and drums. Grauer has also received awards for Best Female Vocalist and Best Stage Entertainer.
Improvisation is the driving force of MRS. FUN. The duo's very first gig was all improvisation. Some of the improvisations became songs. 30 years and five recordings later, they wrote the music for TRUTH and held strong to their original mission statement. In every recording, they include one or two cover pieces, usually a Thelonious Monk song. On TRUTH, “Soulful Strut” and “Light My Fire” were selected being a great fit to their original material. All of the instrumental tracks were recorded live. The only overdubs were vocals.
MRS. FUN will be headlining Summerfest 2020 on the Klements stage.
Poirier Releases New Single “Café Com Leite” with Flavia Coelho / New Single Is Off Upcoming Album ‘Soft Power’
Montréal-based artist Poirier is back with the first single from his upcoming album, "Café Com Leite" with Brazilian singer (now based in Paris) Flavia Coelho. The new single is out now with Wonderwheel Recordings and available everywhere you can stream music.
The new song first debuted with Complex who hailed, “Few in this world can boast a creative output as eclectic as Montréal-based Poirier.” The new single transports the listener to the shores of Brazil - to enjoy a "coffee with milk" - with a stunning vocal delivery from Coelho, gentle guitar licks, and a danceable rhythm.
Poirier reflects, "Flavia Coelho and I met in Paris for the first time at her studio just before a gig I had later that night. We chilled at her studio and listened to a few beats I had on a USB key. The connection was great right away. The beat that I had really in mind for her was also the one she liked the most. She did a vocal idea on the spot as soon as the beat played, riding the beat who had already the guitar lines on it (props to Daniel Leznoff who plays the guitar). There you go, we had a good idea for a song. It became “Café Com Leite” in it’s final form a few weeks later. It's a love song about differences, the coffee mixed with milk being a metaphor. It's been ages that I wanted to do a song like that, soft and charming. Some hints of bossa nova too, which is something I never did before. This song is exactly the vibe being reflected on my album "Soft Power" and that's why it's the first single."
With his first album dating back to 2001, Poirier is a prolific, creative and eclectic Canadian producer / musician with a 20 year journey of creating music. Constant in his albums and DJ performances is a desire to build bridges between different languages, communities, and cultures. His open, uninhibited musical mind means that his works bend boundaries, resulting in compositions that mix several styles and eras. He now has produced a total of 11 albums and many EPs with labels such as Ninja Tune, Nice Up Records and, more recently, Wonderwheel Recordings. Active in Montreal, his successful monthly dance party Qualité de Luxe is dedicated to African and Caribbean music, attracting crowds for over six years. Poirier is also the man behind Bounce le Gros and Karnival, parties with legendary status in Montréal nightlife history.
As usual with Poirier, it's hard to pin point all the genres and references on his new album. Soft Power has an irresistible warm vibe that will make anyone move and dance. It's warm, it's acoustic, it's electronic. Tracks "Café Com Leite" feat. Flavia Coelho and "Me Leva" feat. Flavia Nascimento transport the listener to Brazil while "Sim Bombei" and "Sowia", both featuring Samito, while the Sounds of West Africa influence "Nidiaye Sam" feat. Daby Touré. Then it’s across the Atlantic to Montréal and Mexico with "Contigo" feat. Boogat, while "Pull Up Dat" feat. Red Fox is a Jamaican jam perfect for any dancehall party. "Nou Pare" feat. Coralie Hérard captures the heart of Haiti while "Do Kase" feat. Mélissa Laveaux fuses Canada and France with Haïti in the background. In his instrumental tracks, Poirier throws an afro house party at 4am with "The Junction", travels back in time on an island in the Mediterranean Sea circa 1987 with "Forma", and, finally, relaxes in the sun with "Coconut Beach."
World-renowned guitar hero Al Di Meola welcomes a new decade with an ambitious follow-up to his 2013 studio recording All Your Life: A Tribute to the Beatles with a sophomore homage to the Beatles, entitled Across The Universe, available on earMUSIC.
Al Di Meola's exquisite mastery of the fretboard is equal only to his appreciation of the Beatles' legacy that has inspired generations of both musicians and music fans with their famed recording catalog. A retrospective of Al Di Meola's nearly 50-year acclaimed career expressed through his virtuosic arrangements of 14 Beatles songs, Across The Universe journeys alongside one of America's foremost guitarists as he revisits classic hits and more obscure tunes written by the ingenious Fab Four who have helped define the man he is today.
Adding to his lauded recording collection of more than 30 solo albums and numerous acclaimed collaborations with the likes of Chick Corea, John McLaughlin, Stanley Clarke, Paco De Lucia and many others, Across The Universe is yet another masterpiece showcasing Al Di Meola's fascination with complex rhythmic syncopation combined with provocative lyrical melodies and intricate harmonies. Beatles fans, guitar-heads, and music lovers alike can expect the unexpected upon venturing into the world put forth by Across The Universe. To commemorate the singular life of John Lennon, Al Di Meola reenacts the famous Lennon cover for his 1975 solo album Rock ‘n' Roll for the artwork for Across The Universe.
Al Di Meola is a living legend celebrated for pioneering a unique style of impeccable guitar technique combined with a sophisticated global musical language that's captured the hearts of audiences across the world. A GRAMMY Award-winner, he's garnered three gold albums while selling more than six million albums in worldwide sales. His collaborations with artists such as Paul Simon, Phil Collins, Stevie Wonder, Jimmy Page, Santana, Steve Winwood, Herbie Hancock, Frank Zappa, Luciano Pavarotti, and others have elevated Al Di Meola to become a household name. Traversing divinely across multiple genres including flamenco, Latin, fusion, jazz, rock, and world music, Al Di Meola is a vivacious tour de force always redefining the boundaries of what's possible on a six-stringed instrument. Across The Universe is no different than his most decorated recordings with his arsenal of a large ensemble bringing creative reinterpretations of Beatles songs to astounding heights.
"I really credit the Beatles for the reason why I play guitar," says Al Di Meola. "That was a major catalyst for me to want to learn music, so their impact was pretty strong."
Al Di Meola employs a wide lens on Across The Universe with lightening-speed electric guitar orchestrations balanced with lavish acoustic arrangements. The debut single Strawberry Fields Forever from Across The Universe (released today, January 17) is a fiery electric guitar fueled stunner backed by a red-hot rock band. Epic rock ‘n' roll covers are sprinkled throughout the album, including the visionary take on the album opener Here Comes The Sun, as well as a riveting Hey Jude and Golden Slumbers Medley. Al Di Meola's acoustic fingerpicking soars on Dear Prudence and Norwegian Wood, while he ventures to a jazz fusion aesthetic on Till There Was You.
Across The Universe simmers to a diverse set of mid-tempo grooves on Mother Nature's Son, Yesterday, Your Mother Should Know, I'll Follow The Sun, and Julia. Al Di Meola features a lovely solo performance on Here, There And Everywhere. Across The Universe finishes with a short, but very sweet melodic version of Octopus's Garden.
Brian Landrus – an essential voice on low woodwinds – explores heartbreak, longing and romance on intimate new recording For Now.
For Now has a lot to say about romance, and it says it with quiet conviction and passionate declaration. Ace multi-reedist and composer Brian Landrus whose groundbreaking 2017 large-ensemble album Generations “takes the jazz big band tradition into the mesosphere” (Giovanni Russonello, New York Times), turns here to inner pathways, bringing together a remarkable quartet: pianist Fred Hersch bassist Drew Gress and drummer Billy Hart. Rounding out the musical equation are the brilliant young players Michael Rodriguez (trumpet) and Sara Caswell (violin), plus inventive and elegant string quartet arrangements by Landrus and the distinguished opera composer Robert Aldridge featuring Caswell and Joyce Hamman (violin), Lois Martin (viola) and Jody Redhage-Ferber (cello). The album is produced by Aldridge and composer/writer Herschel Garfein, both Grammy winners.
“A composer of great strength and substance,” (All About Jazz), Brian Landrus, has emerged from his 30s with elation, heartache, delight and disenchantment, and he brings all that experience to the album’s ten original compositions and three standards. “As I was writing For Now, I could feel it coming from a very deep place, directly from some truly difficult and some unforgettably beautiful life experiences,” Landrus says. “I felt, at every moment, ‘I need to do this.’” In compositions like “The Second Time,” “ JJ” and “Clarity in Time,” that need stirs just beneath the elegant surface of the music. In the title track, “For Now,” it pours out as an unaffected love ballad. Often, Landrus sets a forthright and open-hearted tune over deceptively complex harmonies, as in the tender “Her Smile,” and in his waltzes, which can be searching and impetuous (“The Night of Change”), sun-splashed melancholy (“The Miss”) or noonday cool (“The Wait”).
His compositional voice confidently ranges from tunes that have the poise and assurance of standards-you’ve-never-heard, such as “The Signs” and “JJ,” to abstract romantic dreamscapes like “The Night of Change.”
Throughout these varied compositions, Landrus plays with infinite shadings and suppleness on instruments often associated with thundering harshness or compromised tone. On the baritone saxophone he sings out tenderly and with deep feeling on “Ruby, My Dear” and “The Second Time,” spins sweet roulades light as air on “Her Smile” and “The Miss,” stays low for a crushed-velvet sound on “JJ,” and plays with a dusky burnish that seems to linger after each phrase on “The Signs,” “Invitation,” and “Clarity in Time.” Landrus reserves the bass clarinet for intimate and lyrical musings (“For Now,” “The Wait,” “For Whom I Imagined”), but then sets free its full palette of colors for his astonishing solo version of Monk’s masterpiece “’Round Midnight.” “The Night of Change” features Landrus soloing with glowing angularity on alto flute.
A perfect team of collaborators are at the heart of For Now. “I have wanted to play with Fred Hersch since first hearing him twenty years ago,” Landrus recounts. “I love how he finds the deepest color and beauty in everything he plays. From the moment we began recording, he played my original compositions as if he had written them.”
As Landrus worked on the music for the album, another inspiration struck. “In certain compositions, the harmonies I was hearing could only be properly realized with a string quartet,” he says. “A longstanding inspiration from Harry Carney with Strings and Stan Getz’s Focus came back to fill my head with lush string sonorities.” He and Robert Aldridge added string arrangements that are clean, inventive and vibrant.
Rounding out this album of ten original Landrus compositions are three very special performances of standards, including Thelonious Monk’s “‘Round Midnight” featuring Landrus on solo bass-clarinet, Bronislaw Kaper’s “Invitation” featuring fresh, effortless swing from the whole ensemble in Landrus’s own arrangement, and an exhilarating duet performance featuring Landrus and Hersch on Monk’s “Ruby, My Dear.”
“I consider Fred to be the foremost Monk interpreter of our time,” says Landrus. “So I was astounded when he told me that he had never publicly played ‘Ruby, My Dear,’ What floored me was his freedom with it; most pianists don’t dare diverge from what Monk played. Fred made it his own in a deeply reverential way.”
“Ruby, My Dear” is the capstone to this masterfully assured and variegated album; an interpretation for now and for the ages.
Brian Landrus /Brooklyn-based multi-instrumentalist and composer Brian Landrus has established himself as one of the world’s leading voices on low woodwinds. He has been voted #1 Rising Star Baritone Saxophonist in DownBeat Magazine’s 63rd Annual Critics Poll, and voted the #3 Baritone Saxophonist in the world in the 2020 JazzTimes Readers Poll.
In addition to leading his own groups, Landrus has toured internationally with Esperanza Spalding and performed with Bob Brookmeyer, Lewis Nash, John Lockwood, Nicholas Payton, Nir Felder, Marcus Strickland, Jerry Bergonzi, Danilo Perez, Gary Smulyan, Maria Schneider, The Temptations, Feist, The Four Tops, George Garzone, The Drifters, Jason Palmer, Rufus Reid, and Ralph Alessi, among others.
Landrus has released ten albums as a leader, including six on his BlueLand Records label. Born in 1978 and raised in Nevada, Landrus began playing saxophone at 12 and was performing professionally by 15. He earned his bachelor’s degree from University of Nevada-Reno and two Master of Music degrees from New England Conservatory, and a PhD in classical composition from Rutgers University. Landrus is on faculty at Rutgers University.
BrianLandrus.com
Night Devoid of Stars– released digitally and on CD by noted Vancouver label Cellar Music – features the composer conducting his 16-piece Daniel Hersog Jazz Orchestra and two showcase soloists, tenor saxophonist Noah Preminger and pianist Frank Carlberg. Both are devoted colleagues of Hersog’s from his days at New England Conservatory, with Preminger a classmate and Carlberg a teacher.
Reflecting on the sound and sensibility of Night Devoid of Stars, Hersog says: “There were a lot of inspirations for my big-band pieces, but in particular, this album reflected my love for Gil Evans and his writing for featured soloists in a large-ensemble setting, especially for Miles Davis in ballads like ‘My Ship.’ Then, of course, most inspiring was just how well I know and love the playing of Noah and Frank – their sounds were always in my mind. Noah is such a virtuoso on the tenor that I knew that he could play anything that I dreamt up. He’s an especially great player in a ballad style, with a beautiful tone. Noah has also always been such a confidence booster for me, going back to our days at NEC – he always believed in my composing. Frank was an important teacher for me there, getting me to develop my thinking about music as much horizontally, or harmonically, as vertically, or melodically. Writing for Frank means that you’re composing for a consummate improviser. I knew that he would take my music someplace more beautiful than I could even imagine.”
About Hersog, Preminger says: “Being a trumpeter and improviser himself, Dan really understands the perspective of a player when improvising within a piece of music. He encourages your own individual phrasing when playing solo melodies through his pieces, resulting in a sense of freedom within the music. The passages specifically designated as ‘blowing sections’ can go anywhere harmonically and rhythmically. This shows the trust that Dan has in his musicians, which helps make performing his music feel adventurous – and a lot of fun.” For his part, Carlberg adds: “Part of the essence of jazz is connecting to some commonality in our humanity while at the same time expressing a personal viewpoint. Daniel’s music has an organic connection to the history of this music while staking out a distinct identity. He has filtered his influences through his own experiences and then synthesized them into an individual expression. His choices in composing, orchestrating and then putting together a group of diverse yet compatible musicians to play his music are all very much his own.”
Hersog doesn’t play trumpet on the album, concentrating instead on conducting the ensemble. Also, as he points out in the album’s liner notes, the composer really wanted to spotlight another trumpeter he admires, Brad Turner, now a fellow teacher at Capilano University in North Vancouver: “Brad has been a light on the hill in my musical life since I was a teenager. Featuring his improvisational voice on this record is the realization of a long-held goal.” Along with a dozen-plus compatriots from the Vancouver scene, the band included a player new to Hersog: drummer Michael Sarin, a versatile talent from New York. The composer says: “The freedom with which Michael interpreted the drum parts that I wrote surprised me, really elevating the music.”
Night Devoid of Stars ranges from such highlights as the anthemic, melody-rich opener “Cloud Break” – including a virtuosic solo by Turner – to the dark-hued ballad “Makeshift Memorial,” with its expansive, scene-setting introduction by Carlberg and characteristically affecting solo by Preminger. The saxophonist’s turn in the rhythmically accented “Indelible” shows another side to his playing, his tenor solo brimming with keening expressiveness. “Song for Henrique” can have an alluringly slinky Middle Eastern feel, while Hersog’s dramatic, even epic arrangement of Jerome Kern’s standard “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” includes an off-kilter Carlberg solo evoking Thelonious Monk and his affection for the tune. “There’s an emphasis on warm ensemble sounds in the arrangements, and there are classic-sounding big-band moments on the album – I love the way you can mix instruments in a big band to make sounds that no single instrument could ever create,” Hersog explains. “But, largely, these are pieces written for improvisers, for the way their expressive playing can take the compositions further, musically and emotionally.”
Born in 1985 and raised in Vancouver and Victoria, Hersog has become a vital voice as a trumpeter, composer and arranger. He has toured North America leading large ensembles with such notable musicians as Terry Clarke, Kevin Turcotte, Remy Le Boeuff, Billy Buss, Stuart Mack, Jason Palmer and Kim Cass, as well as Brad Turner, Noah Preminger and Frank Carlberg. Hersog is often featured at the Vancouver International Jazz Festival, in addition to performing regularly in his hometown at Frankie’s Jazz Club and Pat’s Pub. He’s arranged music that guitarist Peter Bernstein performed with Airmen of Note, and as a sideman, he performs with the Vancouver Legacy Jazz Orchestra, Jaelem Bhate Jazz Orchestra, Super Trumpets and Sonny’s Cousin. A 2016 graduate of New England Conservatory, Hersog won the school’s prestigious Gunther Schuller Medal. He studied with a who’s who of jazz at NEC. Composition teachers included Carlberg, John Hollenbeck, Dave Holland, Ken Schaphorst and Rakalam Bob Moses; he studied trumpet with masters John McNeil, Ralph Alessi and Steve Emery. An instructor himself now, Hersog teaches jazz trumpet at Capilano University, where he also writes for the school’s big band and leads a trumpet ensemble.
