Jared Schonig | "Two Takes Vol. 1: Quintet & Vol. 2: Big Band"

In the music of drummer/composer Jared Schonig there is a life-force, a vibrant affirmation that there are numerous great reasons to get out of bed in the morning and embrace it all. His music percolates with sincere optimism for the future, enthusiasm for the present and reverence and erudition of the past. The music on Schonig’s intrepid debut recording(s) as a leader, Two Takes Vol. 1: Quintet & Vol. 2: Big Band (available on Anzic Records on September 24) is meticulously-crafted, played with the freedom, abandon, joy and excellence that only top New York City players seem to truly capture simultaneously. With this debut as a leader we experience a musician who dreams big, makes those dreams come true, and thrives as a percussive force in many dimensions: primal and raw, shimmering and playful, pounding and exhilarating, tumultuous and brutal, complex, unpredictable and exhilarating. And, with these recordings, Schonig now joins the growing fellowship of drummers fronting their own bands, from Brian Blade to Johnathan Blake to Tyshawn Sorey, and many others. 

Perhaps most importantly, the music on this adventurous two-CD offering rings true to the person who created it. Its captivating, mighty fabric is woven with Schonig’s experience as a drummer for touring and studio projects across multiple genres, working with Nicholas Payton, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Donny McCaslin, Tim Hagans, Fred Hersch, Wycliffe Gordon, Tom Harrell, Joe Locke, Ernie Watts, Kurt Elling, as co-leader of the critically-acclaimed trio, The Wee Trio (which released five albums over its eight year existence), and many others. The Grammy-award winning drummer formerly held the drum chair for the revival of the Tony, Grammy and Emmy-award winning Broadway musical, "The Color Purple,” and currently holds the drum chair, and is co-orchestrator, for the Broadway hit, “Moulin Rouge.” 

Two Takes Vol. 1: Quintet, features eight Schonig compositions, interspersed with three “Drum Interludes.” The Quintet features none other than Marquis Hill on trumpet, Godwin Louis on alto saxophone, Luis Perdomo on piano and Matt Clohesy on bass – a family of players who display a wonderful simpatico throughout the album. Schonig first met and played with Marquis Hill on a Laurence Hobgood Quintet Tour with Ernie Watts, before Hill won the Monk Competition. Schonig elaborates that, “I truly loved how he played and he reminded me of Freddie with his lines and feel. He ended up moving to NYC, living really close to me, so we were trying to make something happen and it finally did. My favorite trumpet player playing today!” Schonig started playing with Godwin Louis at St. Peters Church with Ike Sturm, and, “we really loved the experience,” said Schonig. “When we were on a Melissa Stylianou gig at the 55 Bar the magic really happened and I knew I had to have him for my record. He and Marquis had never played together and they just sounded so beautiful and amazing.” Pianist Luis Perdomo was a favorite of Schonig’s from checking him out on Miguel Zenon’s recordings. “The first time we played together was also at the Jazz Church at St. Peters. We had a bunch of fun, and then The Wee Trio ended up inviting him to be a guest at one of our shows at Birdland. He really learned and internalized our music and sounded amazing, so I knew he would be a great fit for my music,” said Schonig. Bassist Matt Clohesy and Schonig go way back as he was one of the first bass players the drummer played with when moving to NYC. “We have been on countless gigs, tours and recordings together. He’s a great player and a great dude. I also just love his sound and percussiveness on the bass. I think we have a great hookup and approach a lot of music in a similar way. He was a no-brainer for my debut recording,” Schonig says. The Jared Schonig Quintet is such a thrill to experience, and will hopefully stay together for a long time, for the listener’s benefit! 

Two Takes Vol. 2: Big Band – in an audacious creative endeavor, Schonig enlists eight of the most acclaimed big band arrangers/composers working today (whom Schonig has musical relationships and friendships with) – Alan Ferber, Jim McNeely, Mike Holober, Miho Hazama, Darcy James Argue, John Daversa, Laurence Hobgood and Brian Krock – to exercise free reign with his Vol. 1 compositions. The two all-star big bands performing the pieces are comprised of a “who’s who” of jazz artists on the scene. “My idea for the two records to be released together stemmed from the fact that a few people suggested that my music would be perfect in a big band context. I figured a few would, but never imagined that eight different tunes could work. My love for large ensemble and big band music goes deep to early high school when I started listening to jazz. A lot of these arrangers were initially heroes to me and then became colleagues and ‘bosses’ long before this project. The arrangements of my music sound like pieces of music from the arranger’s pen while staying faithful to my original ideas. They are all artists of the highest nature; this process only magnifies it. I wanted to involve as many people as I could in this familial setting. Longtime musical associates from college, more recent collaborations with great artists; the whole nine yards,” said Schonig. For more information on the arrangers please contact Red Cat Publicity. 

The NYC scene is chock-a-block with outstanding improvisors, dozens who Schonig has close ties with, so what’s a composer/bandleader to do with such a surfeit of amazing artists? Two different big bands! Schonig explains, “I have a connection with so many bass players but wanted to include some of my closest friends and rhythmic partners in Matt Clohesy, Ike Sturm, and my Wee Trio bandmate Dan Loomis. I had two different pianists, Dave Cook, and Adam Birnbaum, both of whom I have played a great deal with in many contexts. They both contributed so much to this project. Nir Felder is the lone guitarist on the record, and he is featured on a few tracks. He plays so amazingly on some many tunes whether soloing or comping and is such a unique voice on the instrument. I have a lot of saxophonist friends who I wanted to include, so there are nine!, including the great Donny McCaslin whom I’ve played with a bunch here in NYC, Troy Roberts who I first met playing with Kurt Elling, the great lead alto players Dave Pietro and Jon Gordon, wonderful soloist and doublers Ben Kono and Charles Pillow, tenor men Quinson Nachoff and Jason Rigby who take burning solos on Sabotage and Climb, respectively, and the lone low-reed member, Carl Maraghi. For trumpets I knew I had to have Tony Kadleck on lead, one of my favorite musicians and people. We’ve played countless gigs together from his own big band to a Broadway show with Patti Lupone. The great Scott Wendholdt, Brian Pareschi and Jonathan Powell contribute some fantastic solos and Jon Owens plays some great lead and in the section as well. The great Mike Davis plays lead trombone throughout, and the lone trombone solo on the record is from the amazing Marshall Gilkes. Keith O’Quinn, Alan Ferber, and Jeff Nelson on bass trombone round out the section. Astonishingly, there was only one rehearsal for each band prior to heading into the studio. Schonig said, “What we came up with was beyond my expectations. I get goose bumps hearing what the arrangers and musicians have done with my original charts.”

White Out - My most recorded composition, this burner was written the first time I was in a crazy blizzard in New York City. The rhythmic pattern which initially tricks the listener was something I heard in my head walking around while clapping and singing groups of 5. Climb - One of my newer compositions written for the last Wee Trio record featuring Fabian Almazan. The title represents the climb to the top that we all inevitably face in daily life. NUTS - A really old tune that hadn’t really been played since college. I decided to dig this up as I always loved playing this in college. It was always a fun and difficult challenge for everyone. Written during a time when I was listening to a lot of Herbie Hancock. Eight Twenty - A dedication to my beautiful wife and mother of our child, Eight Twenty is the day we got married. I wanted to write a beautiful melody reminiscent of her and the way Marquis and Godwin interpret the melody is perfect. Sabotage - Sabotage was written for the Wee Trio’s live recording at Jazz At The Bistro in St. Louis, and was done when the trio noticed their mic cables had been cut the night before the 2nd day of recording. A favorite to play, it was also recorded by one of Marquis’ idols, Nicholas Payton. Tig Mack - My tribute to the Pacific Ocean, specifically Santa Monica, where I grew up going to the beach. The hope is that is captures both the waves and stillness of Mother Earth’s seas. Sound Evidence - Initially a trio composition that was written in Los Angeles on my mother’s piano on a tour one year. I was hearing a pattern that seemed like it was missing a beat, and it actually was, so it turned out to be an odd meter pattern which is fun to play over. Gibbs St.- My homage to the Eastman School of Music in downtown Rochester, NY. I hope to encapsulate all the feelings and experiences one has in college, especially in an intensive and competitive musical environment. An oldie, but a goodie.



Lyle Mays | "Eberhard"

The Lyle Mays Estate has announced the release of a thirteen-minute “mini symphony” entitled Eberhard—a composition completed by Mays in 2009 for the Zeltsman Marimba Festival, and recorded in the months before his passing on February 10, 2020, with a slate of notable names in jazz including Bill Frisell, Alex Acuña, and Bob Sheppard.

Due out today, Eberhard is a long-form, multi-section work that is Lyle’s self-professed dedication to the great German bass player Eberhard Weber, a composer whose influence loomed large on Mays and his long-time collaborator Pat Metheny in the forming of the 11-time Grammy-Award winning Pat Metheny Group during the mid 70’s and throughout their careers. According to Steve Rodby (bass player of the Pat Metheny Group and Lyle’s best friend) who did double duty on this recording as co-associate producer and acoustic bassist, “…though he called it his ‘humble tribute’ to Eberhard, it is still 100 percent Lyle in every way.” 

A steady, lilting marimba (Wade Culbreath) ostinato offers an ample bed for Eberhard’s ethereal opening piano melody, performed, of course, by Mays. Lyle’s unmistakable orchestrational style is immediately on display as various shakers, rainsticks, and atmospheric synthesizer pads quietly make their way into the texture, rising and falling organically as an electric bass theme (played by longtime James Taylor cohort, Jimmy Johnson) emerges. Wordless vocals, a hallmark of the music of the Pat Metheny Group, supplied here by jazz singers Aubrey Johnson (Lyle’s niece and co-executive producer), Rosana Eckert, and Gary Eckert, are introduced—first as accompaniment to the bass melody and later as melodic “instruments.” 

Vocal features give way to Bob Sheppard’s woodwind section, which gives way to cello section underscores (led by principal Timothy Loo), and soon the whole ensemble, including star drummer/percussionists Jimmy Branly and Alex Acuña, Steve Rodby (acoustic bass), Mitchel Forman (Hammond B3 Organ/Wurlitzer piano), and Bill Frisell (guitar) have made appearances. All sixteen instrumentalists/vocalists rarely play at the same time, instead playfully weaving in and out for various features (notably by Mays, Jimmy Johnson, Aubrey Johnson, and Culbreath) and accompanying textures. In a piece already abundant with aural decadence, Bob Sheppard’s extended tenor saxophone solo, which brings Eberhard to its climax, is perhaps the most thrilling. The piece ends as it began, with a sparse recapitulation of the introduction, rewarding the listener with the feeling of having experienced an incredible musical odyssey.

In typical Lyle fashion, this music reflects and honors his far-reaching influences, most obviously the bass playing and compositional style of Eberhard Weber (with whom Lyle recorded on two occasions), but continuing on through Philip Glass’ minimalism, Indonesian Gamelan ensemble, Brazilian music (notably the percussive and speech-like vocal techniques of Lyle’s friend and collaborator Naná Vasconcelos), to the blues, and to classical forms and structures. As in all of his compositions, Mays’ propensity for exploiting compositional material (or, its “DNA”) to the fullest extent is ever constant throughout Eberhard. Like a scientist, he would take a simple melodic, harmonic, rhythmic, or other kind of idea and experiment with it until he had discovered all of the different forms it could take—melody, counterline, background pad, bassline, rhythmic motif, and more—often using the same ideas in a wide variety of ways. Eberhard is utterly intentional, containing layer upon layer of depth, complexity, love, and care for the listener to discover. 

While technically a posthumous release, Mays was engaged in the making of Eberhard from beginning to end—serving as composer, arranger, performer (piano, keyboards, and synthesizers), producer, and executive producer, and was actively involved in all of the recording and mixing sessions, which took place in Los Angeles during the latter half of 2019.

Fans will know that Lyle had been on hiatus from his enormously successful touring and recording career with the Pat Metheny Group and as a solo artist  (Eberhard will be his seventh release as a leader) since 2011, choosing instead to pursue his myriad non-musical passions. Then, “Lyle’s health took a bad turn in 2019, and at about the same time, he decided to try to get Eberhard recorded.The relationship between those two events is complex. What’s clear is that he would continue writing and extending this music, as was always his process: to try to find every bit of what the material suggested, every note and harmony, and sound it evoked for him. He added parts, expanded orchestration, imagining it all on an even grander scale,” Steve Rodby explains. “The result is this recording, and what he was able to hear in his final days. This wasn’t meant to be Lyle’s last piece of music, and if he had lived longer, he had plans for more.” 

Gabriele Poso | "Tamburo Infinito"

With endless Afro-latin percussion & drums patterns woven throughout ten tracks of tropical dance floor heaters, Italian multi-instrumentalist and master percussionist, Worldwide FM presenter and director of the Yoruba Soul Orchestra, Gabriele Poso is to release his seventh LP, Tamburo Infinito, via New York record label Wonderwheel Recordings. 

Recorded in Lecce in the south of Italy and almost entirely on his own (unlike previous productions), the undisputed star of the show is once again the drum and the percussion, the Tamburo Infinito (translates to Infinate Drum). Although born in Italy, Gabriele has always looked across the Atlantic for inspirations and rhythms, and this album is no different. This time his sonic adventures took him to the French West Indies and the French Caribbean island like Guadeloupe Martinique, “I’m in love with everything about the sound of their drums, it’s very unique warm and deep sound.”

“I put a lot of attention to the sound on this record, exploring new ways for me to record, through analog tape and different analog tools such as analog delay. That’s very much present in the whole album and gives a new direction to my sound with a psychedelic touch and a dancefloor attitude that is stronger than the previous album.”

The album kicks off with the hot & sticky Ritmo, setting the tone for the record with a kaleidoscope of tropical rhythms and influences. First single "La Bola" is jammed full of exultant horns and syncopated drum beats carried on the back of a driving, funky bassline. By the time the horns drop in on the aptly named "Party People" the carnival is in full swing over jubilant percussion and spaced out synths.

Gabriele Poso’s musical passion has taken him around the world, initially to Rome, then to Puerto Rico, Cuba, and most recently, Berlin. Between 1998 and 2001, Gabriele delved deep into the study of Afro-Cuban percussion, first at the “Timba” School Of Music in Rome, under the guidance of the most important representative of Afro-Cuban culture in Italy, Roberto “Mamey” Evangelista. Later in 2001, he moved to San Juan, Puerto Rico to attend the “Universidad Interamericana De Puerto Rico” to continue his studies, finally culminating in a masterclass at “Escuela Nacional De Arte” in Havana, Cuba.

2008 saw the release of Poso’s debut solo album, From The Genuine World, released on Yoruba Records, Osunlade’s label, which sparked a career performing around Europe and the rest of the world. His second solo album, Roots of Soul arrived in 2012 on the German label INFRACom!, his third solo album entitled Invocation in 2014, on the German label Agogo Records with other full length efforts released on renowned British labels, Barely Breaking Even (Awakening - 2018) and Soundway Records (Batik - 2019), culminating in an impressively deep and diverse catalogue of solo work.

Elijah Rock | "Matters of The Heart"

The finer points of romance are a too often overlooked art...but with triple threat singer/dancer/actor Elijah Rock around, they are ever in bloom and on the rebound. Returning to the scene with his eagerly anticipated sophomore album, Matters of The Heart (due August 13), Rock slides back into the spotlight ever so smoothly with his tastefully swingin’ rendition of “All I Need is the Girl” – a gentleman’s classic from the 1959 Broadway show “Gypsy” (Words by Jule Styne, Music by Stephen Sondheim). It’s the perfect song to spring into summer as America opens back up from 15 months of uncertainty into a reviviscence of hope eternal...and a flinty rekindling for mingling.

Attentively produced by Suzi Reynolds and the music arranged by stalwart pianist Uli Geissendoerfer, “All I Need is The Girl” additionally features Las Vegas A- listers Steve Flora on bass and Ryan Rose on drums – all in crisp service of Rock. The singer embodies the ardent protagonist of the song as if he were custom tailored for love’s blissful success. The sound mix by Bran Chirlo and the warm final mastering by Alan Silverman render the listener to feel as if they are 5th row center smack dab in the cabaret!

Tradition, Style and Romance meet at the audio crossroads of Ageless & Timeless boulevards on Matters of The Heart, the 10-song sophomore recording of baritone crooner Elijah Rock who is also the album’s executive producer. And it is well worth the wait. Herein, Rock continues his impassioned excavations of love’s seductive soundtrack and even contributes a couple of sparkling originals to the brew. “My goal with this project, as always, is to pay homage to and further the legacy of American Classical Jazz heritage,” Rock states. “To make this vital music more meaningful and universal to audiences young...and young at heart.”

Cleveland-born Elijah Rock is a former boy soprano classically trained in Bel canto (beautiful singing) and now a profound baritone vocalist. His passion for true songcraft and all-around entertaining (he is also a world-class tap dancer) launched a career flight that now includes hosting his Las Vegas-based digital entertainment program “The Elijah Rock Variety Show,” lighting up the screen on television’s “Masters of Sex” and authoring the men’s handbook “The Fine Art of Romance.”

Robert Minott | "Rasta Funk"

“Robert Minott again? Hell yeah! Are you kidding me? Let’s go, let’s go/Rasta train is coming again…” And with those playful, inviting words, the veteran Jamaican born, Atlanta based singer and performer gets down to grooving, hopeful, free-flowing business, meeting our collective moment of release and joy after a year of fear tension and anxiety with “Rasta Funk,” a true anthem of our time and the ultra-infectious title track to his highly anticipated epic new 14-track album on Wolf Entertainment.  

Featuring the emotionally resonant backing vocals and snazzy vocal arrangements of Minott’s longtime friend Dorian Paul – legendary for his work as a songwriter, producer, singer and arranger with The Gap Band – “Rasta Funk” sets the much needed uplifting mood of the collection with lines like “We must learn to love and care for each other/Let the music take you higher and higher/Everybody looking for the new best thing/Everybody wanna feel their body swinging. Addressing head on a time full of racial and political strife, Minott gets to the heart of the message later when he soulfully intones: “Music is love/Music is life. . .No matter your tribe or where you come from/We all one blood/Love is my religion…”

The singer, who this year marks an extraordinary 30 years since the release of his debut album Love Struck, laid the foundation for the release of Rasta Funk with two influential global hit singles. “Let’s Chill,” released in 2020, is a reggae version of a Teddy Riley penned track that was a Billboard Top 5 R&B/Hip-Hop hit in the early 90’s. Produced by Norman Owen – an influential New York based Jamaican artist in his own right – Minott’s recording hit #1 on Reggae Global Radio. 

Minott’s subsequent single “Can’t Hold Back” hit #4 on the World Indie Music Chart and #6 on the DRT Reggae Pop chart. Produced by renowned fellow Jamaican artist Kirk “Kirkeldove/Drummy” Bennett, it’s a song of deep longing for an elusive lover, that fuses the singer’s reggae roots with exotic tastes of Afro Beat and R&B and featuring a dynamic rap by Jamaican rapper/DJ Mr. Lexx. 

Next up for release is “Yuh Mek Me Feel Good,” a perfectly titled, dreamy light funk gem that captures the feel good spirit of romantic as well as universal love.  

To Minott, a world renowned singer, songwriter and entertainer who has earned favorable comparisons to the late reggae legend Dennis Brown and British born Jamaican superstar Maxi Priest, the concept of Rasta Funk means the opportunity to blend and share the best vibes of his homeland of Jamaica and his adopted home of America – an expanse which covers his many musical loves, including reggae, R&B, funk, rock and even country for the simple reason that he loves them and all have made an impact on his ever-evolving artistry. 

From “Rasta Funk” and “Reggae Party, “ and infectious, percussive jam featuring Hellmut Wolf aka The Wolfman on sax through the chillout coolness of “Lighter” (featuring Tremendous) and the tropical acoustic romance “Love Struck,” Rasta Funk – a labor of love six years in the making - harkens back to Minott’s earlier life, when he recalls kicking back on Sundays listening to what he calls “lover’s rock,” country and R&B and singing along with The Temptations, Freddie Jackson, Teddy Pendergrass, Kenny Rogers, Crystal Gayle, etc. 

In addition to the producers already mentioned, Rasta Funk features tracks produced by Tampa based mixer/producer John Zych and the hit Jamaican production duo Sly & Robbie, whose credits include Maxi Priest, Cyndi Lauper, Madonna, Santana, No Doubt, Mr. Vegas and Grace Jones. 

“My producers and I built Rasta Funk track by track, and as the sessions progressed and the name and concept took hold, it became more and more exciting to me,” says Minott. “The process of making this album has helped me to evolve into a better songwriter and artist, confident in my ability to take the music to a higher level. Rasta Funk is about having fun and people enjoying life as they should. It’s a response of feel good music to what’s going on in the world today, my way of contributing to kind of opening people’s eyes to the reality that there’s so much more to life than going at each other like cats and dogs. The story it’s telling is to spread love and communicate what some might call my impossible dream – uniting everyone to live love and laugh so that everything is perfect and happy. That’s my outlook on everything and music is my vehicle to express that.”

Minott considers Rasta Funk “the best album I have ever produced, one I can listen to from start to finish and never get tired of” - which is a powerful evaluation considering the international success he has achieved with various singles and albums over the years – beginning with his debut single “Irie” featuring legendary artist Bunny Ruggs from Third World. His popular releases have included his 2011 hit “Right Man Fi Yuh,” which topped the Jamaican charts and made strides on the South Florida and New York Reggae charts; the globally popular 2014 album Splendid Woman; and “Playa Playa,” a 2009 Top 10 Billboard R&B/Reggae/Dancehall track (from his self-titled Minott collection) that stayed on the chart for over eight weeks. In 2007, he collaborated with dancehall artist Elephant Man on the track “Roll It,” and a later cover of “Silver Words” featuring rapper Kirkie KBZ also hit the Jamaican charts.  

Over the years, Minott has also been a popular global performer, headlining shows everywhere from London, Johannesburg and the Cayman Islands to Houston, San Antonio, Austin, South Carolina, Miami and of course Jamaica. He has performed alongside the likes of some of reggae’s biggest names, including Priest, Burning Spear, Shaggy and Bob Marley’s sons Ziggy Marley, Ky-Mani Marley and Damian aka “Jr. Gong” Marley. He also has the unique distinction of performing with another Jamaican musical great, singer-songwriter Gregory Isaacs, and later playing for several years at an all-star tribute concert, held every Valentine’s Day to celebrate Isaac’s legacy after his passing in 2010. 

“Everything I do as an artist and performer is driven first by my lifelong love and passion for music and making people happy,” Minott says. “I’ve been making music for several decades, doing it my way and still doing it the right way. Rasta Funk makes me feel good, period, with incredible production by my team of greats, and very original melodies and lyrics. I’m in a great place in my life, so this is the perfect time to release an album that speaks so powerfully to the joy everyone can have despite the many challenges we all go through. Everything has fallen into place exactly as it was meant to be. I feel good about where I am both musically and personally, and I am looking forward to getting out there and performing these songs.”

Carlos Santana announces new single, 'Move' ahead of upcoming album Blessings and Miracles

Multi-Grammy Award-winning Rock and Roll Hall of Fame guitarist Carlos Santana has announced that the first single from his star-studded, masterful new album, Blessings and Miracles, is “Move,” the much-anticipated reteaming of the music legend and guitar icon with famed Matchbox 20 singer Rob Thomas.

The knockout track, with also features the vocal talents of American Authors, was released to radio on August 18, ahead of the full-length album, which will be issued worldwide via BMG on October 15, 2021.

Music fans have breathlessly awaited another pairing of Carlos Santana Rob Thomas, whose 1999 multiple Grammy-winning smash “Smooth” became a worldwide staple – and the two performers have smashed all expectations and turned in a new classic.

“‘Move’ came about was very much like how ‘Smooth’ happened,” says Santana. “It was like divine intelligence behind the scenes, and I just knew I had to record it with Rob. The song is about awakening your molecules. Ignite and activate yourself – you know, move. When Rob and I work together, we have a sound that’s splendiferous.”

Right out of the gate, the song is a winner. Santana’s vibrant opening guitar licks set things ablaze, and then we’re off on a grinding, grooving, swaggering, swaying and altogether breathtaking mix of pop and Latin rock with sure-fire hooks for days. Thomas is dynamic, sensual and utterly magnetic, and he’s ably backed by the punchy vocal talents of American Authors (especially the band’s Zac Barnett, who takes the lead spot in the second verse). Santana matches these supreme performances as only he can, with scintillating solos that explode with tectonic force. A lively horn section hits from all sides, and the song is highlighted by a hyper-drive chorus that defies inertia.

Ahead of the release of Blessings and Miracles, Santana and his band will mark their long-awaited return to the concert stage after a year off. On August 25, Santana will resume their multi-year residency at the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas (shows run from August 25 thru September. 4, with additional dates from November 3 thru December 11).

Santana’s Blessings and Miracles tour begins on September 11 at the Borgata Spa & Resort in Atlantic City, NJ, and will make stops in Richmond, VA, Orlando, Augusta, Tulsa, and more before it concludes on October 2 at the Choctaw Grand Theater in Durant, OK.

For more than five decades – from Santana’s earliest days as a groundbreaking Afro-Latin-blues-rock fusion outfit in San Francisco – Carlos Santana has been the visionary force behind artistry that transcends musical genres and generational, cultural and geographical boundaries. To date, Santana has won ten Grammy Awards and three Latin Grammys, with a record-tying nine Grammys for a single project for 1999’s Supernatural (including Album of the Year and Record of the Year for “Smooth”). He has received the Billboard Century Award (1996), was ushered into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1998), received the Billboard Latin Music Awards’ Lifetime Achievement honor (2009), and was the recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors Award (2013). Among many other distinctions, Carlos Santana has been cited by Rolling Stone as #15 on their list of the “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time” and has joined the Rolling Stones as one of only two bands to have an album reach the Top 10 in every decade since the 1960s.

In 2018, he released his first MasterClass, and recently celebrated three epic milestones – the 20th anniversary of his groundbreaking album Supernatural, the 50th anniversary of his legendary performance at Woodstock, and the 50th anniversary of his masterpiece Abraxas. His most recent album, the powerful, energy-infused Africa Speaks (2019), inspired by the sounds and rhythms of Africa, was called his “best record in decades” (NPR) and was ranked among "the fiercest albums in Santana’s 50-year career” by The New York Times.

Hyson Green | "The Needle And The Groove"

Hyson Green are two brothers from the East Midlands. Not exactly the most glamorous place to be brought up and we were too young to have gone to the infamous Dungeon Club in Nottingham but are heavily influenced by many who appeared there in its heyday. The songs on the new album hark back to that time – the time of blue eyed English soul. No Spotify, no iTunes, no CD's just a cheap record player or, in the posh room, maybe a radiogram with the ubiquitous Max Bygraves or James Last LP of your mum and dad's.

It's the time when you could put multiple singles on and pretend you were a DJ or at the local youth club. Dancing with your mates hoping you'll be able to get enough nerve to ask that particular girl for s dance and, if you're really lucky, a kiss and a cuddle at the end of the evening. It's the sound of our youth mixed with the wisdom of age.

The Needle And The Groove is our new album out now on Nub Records which follows on from our last, well received Lost In The World album. This time we’ve added a few friends - bluesman Corey Stevens and avant-pop singer Korilynn join us - and we remain influenced by The Staples, Marvin, Boz Scaggs, Bobby Womack, Jess Roden, and Robert Palmer amongst others. Recently we’ve been working with our friends at Silver Moon and their remixes of songs from the new album have been going down a storm – check out David Holmes radio show to hear what he thinks of this great partnership.

Hyson Green make music for grownups. Its about relationships, it’s about looking back with joy and looking forwards with hope, knowing that sometimes things don’t work out quite as you plan them.

In these difficult times we now live in what we need now is some uplifting old style new rhythm and blues. Welcome to today. Welcome to yesterday. Welcome to the future. Get lost in this music. Get lost in this world. Put the Needle on the Groove! And welcome to the world of Hyson Green.

Boney James Announces New Tour Dates

Multi-platinum selling and 4-time Grammy nominated saxophone player Boney James will soon be on the road, performing for fans across the U.S and resuming his delayed 2020 tour dates in support of  his recently released album Solid.

As an added treat, Boney has released a new single “Sundance”  and will be debuting new merchandise via his website immediately!

“I am so thrilled to be getting on the road and playing shows live and in person again and can’t wait to see everyone out there and share some new music from my Solid CD.” Boney James 

Despite the challenge of  dropping the record during the COVID-19 pandemic, Boney notched his first Top 10 debut on the Billboard Top Albums Chart, a rare feat for an instrumentalist to be grouped with Billie Eilish, Lady Gaga, Harry Styles etc.  He also stayed connected with fans throughout the pandemic by performing mini-concerts on Facebook Live that garnered 500K + views and added Boney James face masks to his website which are available for purchase at boneyjames.com.

Solid is the four-time GRAMMY nominated saxophonist’s seventeenth album as a leader and follows his smash 2017 release Honestly which became his eleventh #1 Billboard Contemporary Jazz Album.

All of Solid’s eleven tracks were produced and written or co-written by James. Three songs—“Full Effect,” “Tonic” and the title track—were built from licks played at sound-check by touring guitarist Kendall Gilder on the road in support of Honestly. “I said, hey, what’s that riff you’re playing?” James recalls, “And Kendall said, ‘that’s just something I’m messing around with.’ I got my iPhone and recorded them, then took it home and wrote the songs!”

Four other songs were initiated by longtime James collaborator, acclaimed writer/producer Jairus ‘J-Mo’ Mozee (Anderson Paak, Nicki Minaj, Anthony Hamilton). One of those, “Be Here,” was ultimately transformed into Solid’s Adult Urban single featuring special guest Kenny Lattimore, best known for his Top 10 R&B hit “For You.”

Boney James’ personal relationship with music has never been anything but solid. Picking up the sax at age 10 in his native New Rochelle, New York, “I immediately loved it, and it pretty quickly became my favorite thing to do.” By the time he entered his teens, James was gigging with bands, and he turned pro at 19. He apprenticed as a sideman for artists like Morris Day, The Isley Brothers, Teena Marie and many others, touring and doing sessions for seven years before cutting his first solo album in 1992. The independently released Trust led immediately to a major label deal and a string of increasingly successful recordings and nonstop touring.

Now a four-time GRAMMY nominee with four RIAA Gold records and career sales topping three million units, James continues to defy musical genres; A two time NAACP Award nominee, a Soul Train Award winner and named one of the Top 3 Billboard Contemporary Jazz Artists of the Decade.

James lives in Los Angeles with his wife of 35 years Director/Actress Lily Mariye.

Boney James “Solid 2020” Tour Dates

8.7               Mableton, GA - Mable House Barnes Amphitheatre

8.20             West Reading, PA - Scottish Right Cathedral Performing Arts Center

8.21             Norfolk, VA - Town Point Park

8.28             Colorado Springs, CO - The Broadmoor

9.10             Newberry, SC - Newberry Opera House

9.11              North Charleston, SC - North Charleston Performing Arts Center

9.12              Raleigh, NC - Meymandi Concert Hall

9.15              Orlando, FL - The Plaza Live

9.16              Jacksonville, FL - The Florida Theatre

9.17              Clearwater, FL - Capitol Theatre

9.23              Detroit, MI - Motor City Casino & Hotel

9.24              Hammond, IN - The Venue At Horseshoe Casino

9.25              St. Paul, MN - Fitzgerald Theater

9.26              Kansas City, MO - Arvest Bank Theatre at The Midland

9.29              Milwaukee, WI - Northern Lights Theater at Potawatomi Casino

10.1               Cincinnati, OH - Taft Theatre

10.2               Columbus, OH - Lincoln Theatre

10.3               Cleveland, OH - Ohio Theatre

10.7               Ft. Wayne, IN - Clyde Theatre

10.8              Indianapolis, IN - Murat Theatre

10.9               Louisville, KY - Palace Theatre

10.10             Nashville, TN - City Winery Nashville

10.12             New York, NY - Sony Hall

10.14             Newark, NJ - Victoria Theater

10.15             Collingsworth, NJ - Scottish Rite Auditorium

10.16             Rehoboth Beach DE - Rehoboth Beach Convention Center

10.17             Annapolis, MD - Rams Head On Stage

10.18             Alexandria, VA - The Birchmere

10.19             Alexandria, VA - The Birchmere

10.23             Temecula, CA - Thornton Winery

10.27              Rochester, NY - Kodak Center For Performing Arts

10.29              New Haven, CT - The John Lyman Center for the Performing Arts

10.30              Boston, MA - City Winery

11.4                Denver, CO - Paramount Theatre

11.6                Chandler, AZ - Chandler Center For The Arts

11.7                Tucson, AZ - Fox Theatre Tucson

11.11              Houston, TX - House Of Blues Houston

11.12              Austin, TX - One World Theatre

11.13              Dallas, TX - House of Blues Dallas 

Ray Gallon | "Make Your Move"

Pianist Ray Gallon’s debut recording, Make Your Move, certified, approved and endorsed by the legendary Ron Carter, who contributed the liner notes, comes to us after more than three decades of Gallon plying his trade on stages and in studios around the world with the crème-de-la-creme of jazz. The NYC native (born in 1958), and longtime professor (currently a full-time faculty member of the BFA Jazz Program at The City College of New York), finally leaps into the fray as a bandleader with a stellar debut, featuring his favorite trio of first-call drummer Kenny Washington (the “Jazz Maniac”) and the much sought-after mainstay on the scene, bassist David Wong (Roy Haynes, The Heath Brothers, Clark Terry, Illinois Jacquet, Benny Green, Eric Reed, Wynton Marsalis, and many others). The exemplary trio is comprised of artists all born and raised in New York City! 

Ray Gallon’s impressive CV does not indicate an artist “of the tradition,” or “from the tradition”, but rather an artist who embodies the tradition, one who is a modern-day, current, active jazz artist of the highest order. It includes appearances and recordings with the likes of Ron Carter, Lionel Hampton, Art Farmer, T.S. Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, Milt Jackson, Harry “Sweets” Edison, Wycliffe Gordon, Les Paul, Benny Golson, Frank Wess, Lew Tabackin George Adams, and The Mingus Big Band. Gallon has also been called upon to accompany many vocal greats (often indicative of a pianist’s elevated musicianship), including Jon Hendricks, Sheila Jordan, Grady Tate, Nnenna Freelon, Gloria Lynne, Dakota Staton, Joe Williams, Chaka Khan, Jane Monheit and others. 

So, the looming question is, why now? What took Gallon so long to unleash his debut? “I needed to feel ready - that I had something special to offer, with a personal identity and a refined concept in terms of my playing, repertoire, and overall trio conception, all while being steeped in the classic tradition of swing and blues. What struck me most when I was coming up, spending countless nights at the Village Vanguard, Sweet Basil, and Bradley’s, seeing/hearing Hank Jones, Tommy Flanagan, Cedar Walton, Kenny Barron, Ahmad Jamal, Bill Evans, Jimmy Rowles, Steve Kuhn (and many other masters), was how they each sounded uniquely original while remaining grounded in the tradition. These values were also instilled in me by my teachers, John Lewis, Jaki Byard and Hank Jones – who all stressed the importance of ‘finding your own voice’,” explains Gallon. 

Also, simply put, Gallon has been busy working, fully engaged for the first fifteen years of his career as a valued sideman in studios and stages around the globe. This was followed by a period of forced retreat from the scene while he faced, battled, and recovered from colon cancer, while, at the same time, caring for his parents, both of whom were slowly succumbing to long term terminal illnesses. For the past 10 years, he’s finally had the chance to work steadily as a leader, doing countless gigs in local clubs, and having the opportunity to develop and fine-tune his personal, and trio, conception.

“With Make Your Move, everything came together just at the right time. I knew I wanted my first album to be in a trio setting, and I always had it in the back of my mind to do an album with David and Kenny, two dear friends who happen to make for a dream-team of a rhythm section. I’ve been playing regularly with David now for well over a decade - aside from being such a wonderful, special player (both as an accompanist and a soloist) with a great sound, he knows my music inside & out. I continually have to remind him that it’s bad etiquette to play better solos than the bandleader! It was very special for me to be able to do my first album with Kenny. Though I had not previously played in a trio setting with him, Kenny played a huge role in my early musical development, dating way back to when we first met as teenagers just out of high school. I had recently discovered (and become obsessed with) jazz and was working in the jazz aisle at J&R Records where Kenny was a regular customer; we’d hang for hours talking music, as he schooled me on who was who and what was what - even at that young age, Kenny already possessed an encyclopedic knowledge of jazz recordings! One of the key reasons for Kenny’s preeminence as a drummer is his remarkable arrangement-oriented concept; his ability to bring every detail to light. This is exactly what he did with my music, even though he was playing it all for the first time,” says Gallon. 

Some of the music on Make Your Move has been in Gallon’s book for a while, evolving and growing over the years in the process of Gallon honing in on the finer details, and bringing them to their full realization. While other compositions came out fully formed and ready to go!:  

Kitty Paws – While playing for one of Sheila Jordan’s vocal workshops at City College, on a break, “I started fooling around with the chords of a standard song one of the singers had just performed, ‘The Song Has Ended but the Memory Lingers On,’ and out popped this playful melody that seemed to have the vibe of a tap-dancing feline,” says Gallon. 

Out of Whack – An off-kilter Gallon composition that has alternating time feels and sections of uneven lengths (4+8+4+7 bars).  

Craw Daddy – Gallon sees this composition as, “a modern take on an old-time blues; something that sounds both new and old at the same time. The title just seemed to capture this feeling.” “Craw Daddy” was previously recorded by T.S. Monk on his album Higher Ground (featuring Ray Gallon). 

Harm’s Way – Aptly titled for the challenging up-tempo of the piece, and also because Gallon based the composition on the harmonic minor scale. 

Back to the Wall – A play on words from a fond memory in Gallon’s life. He explained, “Academy Records, near Union Square, had this wall of super discounted CDs – I was hooked, regularly going ‘back to the wall’ to load up on gems of jazz and classical you could find amongst the flotsam and jetsam”. As for the composition, Gallon says, “While my tunes are generally melody-driven, they tend to include written-out bass figures and rhythmic hits that are structural parts of the compositional fabric – this reflects my love of Horace Silver and the way his compositions often include fully integrated rhythm section parts.” 

I Don’t Stand a Ghost of a Chance – “I love playing standard songs, particularly those I feel I can offer a personalized interpretation of. This arrangement includes moving bass figures and rhythmic hits within the context of a slow, spacious ballad. I originally conceived of this as a slow bossa, but, over the years, it evolved into what you hear on the record,” states Gallon. 

That’s the Question – An early composition of Gallon’s, based on “Getting Sentimental Over You,” with some variation to the song’s chord progression. It’s a nod to bebop and a lot of fun for Gallon and Co. to play on gigs as a set opener or closer. It was first recorded by the Harper Brothers on their album You Can Hide Inside the Music. There is also a vocal version entitled, "I'm Running Late," with lyrics by Angela Verbrugge, on her album, The Night We Couldn't Say Good Night. 

Hank’s A Lot – “Of all the great pianists I got the see play live, no one influenced me more than Hank Jones. I used to follow him around from gig to gig as if I were the president of his fan club. I especially loved when he played at Knickerbocker, where I could lean on the railing behind the piano for hours, looking over his shoulders, watching his hands, trying to “cop” as much as I could. One of the highlights of my student years was receiving an NEA grant to study with Mr. Jones privately. When I wrote this tune, it reminded me so much of him, it seemed only fitting to offer it as a dedication (and a huge “’Hank you”) to one of my true musical heroes,” says Gallon. 

Yesterdays – Ahmad Jamal, upon hearing Gallon’s rendition of this Jerome Kern classic, enthusiastically responded to this tip-of-the-hat to Art Tatum (see Jamal’s quote above). Gallon commented, “while I in no way intended to emulate Tatum directly (I couldn’t if I tried!), I was inspired to utilize a few of his devices – the way he transitions from rubato into a spirited tempo through an ostinato bass line, his remarkably dissonant voicings, and that little riff he plays to signal the end of each chorus. Mr. Jamal recognized these references right away and, so far, he’s the only one who’s noticed!.”

Plus One – A contrafact based on Fat’s Waller’s “Honeysuckle Rose,” this original is filled with breaks and rhythmic hits, and offers the familiar chord progression with a bit of a twist. 

Make Your Move – Of the title track, Gallon says, “I’m particularly proud of how this piece balances a sunny, accessible melody with a harmonic structure and phrasing full of twists and turns. Whenever I see drummer Quincy Davis, he always requests this one. Nothing means more to me than the support of fellow musicians I respect and admire”.  

John Coltrane | "A Love Supreme Live In Seattle"

After nearly six decades, a private recording of a rare, nightclub performance by John Coltrane of his magnum opus, A Love Supreme, is set for commercial release. Recorded in late 1965 on the culminating evening of a historic week-long run at The Penthouse in Seattle, A Love Supreme: Live In Seattle is a musical revelation of historic importance, capturing Coltrane as he began to expand his classic quartet-adding Pharoah Sanders on second saxophone and Donald Garrett on second bass-and catapulting him into the intense, spiritually focused final phase of his career. Today, you can listen to A Love Supreme, Part IV – Psalm, watch the visualizer here https://JohnColtrane.lnk.to/ALSPIV. The full album A Love Supreme Live in Seattle is for release October 8, on Impulse! Records/UMe.

The significance of A Love Supreme: Live In Seattle is heightened by the fact that Coltrane seldom performed his four-part suite after originally recording it in the studio in 1964. Composed and created as a public declaration of his personal spiritual beliefs and universalist sentiment, it became a best-seller and received a GRAMMY nod the next year. For more than six decades, it seemed the only recorded public performance of A Love Supreme took place at a French festival at Juan-Les-Pains in July 1965 and was released almost twenty years ago. The tape reels containing this performance from October 1965 sat in the private collection of Seattle saxophonist and educator Joe Brazil, heard by a few fortunate musicians and friends-and largely unknown until now.

A Love Supreme: Live In Seattle is a fascinating and rare performance of the full suite, marked by a looser and more improvisational approach, and a overriding sense of communal participation-much like a Sunday church service; the lineup featured John Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders on saxophones, McCoy Tyner on piano, Elvin Jones on drums, and Jimmy Garrison and Donald (Rafael) Garrett on basses. Carlos Ward, then a young saxophonist just getting started on the scene, sat in as well. 

As music historian Ashley Kahn puts it in the liner notes, A Love Supreme: Live In Seattle "offers the first evidence of the master of spiritual expression performing his signature work in the close confines of a jazz club…on October 2, 1965, a Saturday, in Seattle, the necessary elements were in alignment: music, players, venue, a spirit of connection, a certain political charge. Coltrane chose to perform it, and significantly, the moment was recorded."

Kahn's extensive liner notes tell the story of A Love Supreme: Live In Seattle not only through the words of the musicians themselves, but also through a number of witnesses whose lives were changed by Coltrane's visit to Seattle in 1965 (his sole visit to the city as a leader), including Brazil, Ward, and bassist David Friesen, who states: "I've always pursued the spiritual aspect of the music and I still do. I remember sitting with Coltrane during one break that week and…what touched me was the way he treated other people. He showed mercy and kindness to people from what I could see around me for the week that I was there."

The music on A Love Supreme: Live In Seattle was recorded with a two-microphone set-up onstage, connected to an Ampex reel-to-reel machine, and the only copies of the tapes were well cared for, yielding a remarkably clear and distortion-free recording. "What's remarkable is that tapes from this era often suffer over the years from heat or moisture damage, or simply being stacked horizontally," writes engineer Kevin Reeves who produced this release. "However, these tapes are in excellent condition… and the results are among the best amateur recordings of John Coltrane we've had the pleasure to work on."

The story of the A Love Supreme suite is the story of John Coltrane-his musical journey, and his spiritual path. It has become one of the most celebrated and influential recordings to come out of the jazz canon, revered and studied by musicians far beyond the jazz realm. Rolling Stone magazine consistently lists it among the top albums of all time. "Of his many musical creations, Coltrane looked upon A Love Supreme in a very special light," Kahn notes in the liner notes to A Love Supreme: Live In Seattle. "He called A Love Supreme a ‘humble offering to the Divine; no other composition or recording was similarly offered nor did he append his signature to any other work. A Love Supreme was as much an individual testament as it was a public statement-a sermon of universalist belief." A Love Supreme: Live In Seattle now expands the story of both a great musician and a timeless piece of music. 

Recorded by Joe Brazil at The Penthouse, Seattle WA

Restored and Mastered by Kevin Reeves at East Iris Studios, Nashville, TN 

The Wonderful World of Louis Armstrong All Stars | "A Gift to Pops"

While New Orleans native Louis Armstrong passed away in 1971 at the age of 69, today his legacy as the kingpin of jazz continues to grow. The most significant example of this is the ensemble The Wonderful World of Louis Armstrong All Stars, comprised largely of top-of-the-line Crescent City musicians paying tribute to him with the brilliant album A Gift to Pops. The inventive re-envisioning of music associated with the trumpeter/vocalist during his five-decade career features new arrangements and new performances of stalwart tunes ranging from the “The Peanut Vendor” (recorded by him in 1930) to “What a Wonderful World” (recorded in 1968 and the most successful tune of his career). Special guests include Wynton Marsalis and Common. 

“We decided to make a recording that captures the essence of Pops,” says co-producer Wycliffe Gordon, who is well-versed in the music but is the only member of the band not born in New Orleans. “We wanted to perform the music the way he might have played it if he were still alive. We all had ideas for how to pull this off, by including songs influenced by gospel, the blues, the traditional brass band sounds, popular music and rap.” 

In the liner notes, impresario George Wein wrote: “With this recording, this music of Louis Armstrong demonstrates how he created the language of jazz and influenced all the music that followed—from swing to bebop and even to rap, as demonstrated by Common. But there’s one thing for sure: This band and record demonstrate that there was nothing common about Louis Armstrong.”  

The project emanated in 2018 by the Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation through the recommendation of Jackie Harris, executive director of LAEF, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the New York organization founded in 1969 by Louis and his wife Lucille “to give back to the world some of the goodness he received.” Harris says the recording was a team effort started by the Foundation and the wonderful musicians who appear on this recording.  

“We wanted to make this recording of the major 20th century artist who instructs and intersects with artists of the 21st century,” says Harris. “All the musicians we asked to participate, even Wynton and Common, were honored to be a part of this. Each artist had a say on the music. We allowed all the musicians to put their own signatures on the songs.” 

Harris notes that the 50th anniversary is a tad late, but other factors interceded, including the difficulty of recording during the pandemic and some artists living in different cities around the country and contributing in different studios.  

Nicholas Payton, who arranged seven of the songs, plays emotive and thrilling trumpet with engaging solos throughout, including on his own arrangements such as the swinging, party-like rendering of “Strutting with Some Barbeque,” the lyrical, bluesy “A Kiss to Dream On,” and the playful “I’ll Be Glad When You’re Dead,” with the devilish vocals by Gordon, drummer Herlin Riley and bassist Reginald Veal. 

Payton takes the lead vocals on his modern arrangement of Fats Waller’s “Black and Blue,” a tune about racial consciousness and prejudice, that starts out wild and frantic before the bass and drums take it into an R&B-flavored groove. In the midst of the tune, Common delivers his rap poetry on the theme that includes lines such as, “Went through black and blue for the bright day,” and “My school of thought is black openness/To define and redefine what the culture is.”  

Wycliffe comments: “Common added a different spin to the tune. It seemed like things we had talked about as a country had changed, but they didn’t, which is why this is important.” Harris adds: “We’re hoping Common will draw young people into Louis Armstrong. We’re out to make changes.”  

Arrangements are also offered by Gordon on “Up a Lazy River” with his and Riley’s vocals; Veal’s “Just a Closer Walk with Thee” gospel hymn; pianist Davell Crawford diving into the blues by singing “Rockin’ Chair” by Hoagy Carmichael; and Riley’s percussion-spiced, festive take on “The Peanut Vendor,” where he sings with a gravelly voice and Marsalis joins in on the fun with an extended solo. 

"Louis Armstrong’s singing, playing and his interpretations illuminate timeless human fundamentals,” Marsalis says. “His grace, eloquence, intelligence and naturalness are still showing us how to play and what playing means. Rightfully beloved across the world, he embodied what is best about America. In these trying times, his music and memory are the perfect inspiration for us to rise up and be the very best of ourselves as artists, citizens and as people.” 

The band also features trumpeters Ashlin Parker and Wendell Brunious, tenor saxophonist Roderick Paulin, pianist Courtney Bryan, banjo player Don Vappie, vocalists Niki Haris and Menia Chester, and guitarist Derwin “Big D” Perkins in a special guest cameo on “Black and Blue.” 

Pops himself stars in the bookends of the album. The CD version opens with a take on “When It’s Sleepy Time Down South” with Pops in his charismatic mode of trumpeting and singing with his sextet. It was recorded in 1964 in Sparks, Nevada and had been discovered on a tape in Louis’ personal collection a couple of years ago. It is now part of the Louis Armstrong House Museum. The album closes with a short, taped excerpt of him expounding in conversation on “Philosophy of Life.”  

Wein weighs in on this compelling collection in his liners: “After listening to A Gift to Pops performed by The Wonderful World of Louis Armstrong All Stars and produced collectively by Wycliffe Gordon, Jackie Harris and Nicholas Payton, I am happy to advise the true Louis Armstrong fan that his music is alive and well with this fascinating group of New Orleans musicians.”:

Founded by Louis and Lucille Armstrong in 1969, the Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation funds organizations that support jazz musicians, educators, and students. Mr. Armstrong, iconic trumpeter and singer, is the foundation of jazz and of American musical virtuosity in the 20th Century. His earliest recordings taught musicians how to improvise and sing jazz, blues, the American Popular Song and all styles of American vernacular music. His discoveries gave listeners around the world a new way to experience music, and his way of “being natural” in public created another understanding of what it meant to be human. Pops, his nickname which was also the name he called everyone, was a man of the people and all walks of life were given a seat of welcome at his and Lucille’s table. In addition to his legendary artistry, he established this foundation to ensure that future generations would be taught to play and appreciate the art of jazz.  

From 1943 to the end of his life, Mr. Armstrong was a resident of Corona, Queens, where he enjoyed traveling across the New York boroughs performing and listening to music.

June Garber | "Off The Carousel"

Dynamic, soulful jazz vocalist June Garber presents her fourth studio album, “Off the Carousel”. A masterful interpreter of standards, June has chosen some of her very favourite compositions that reflect upon her life’s ride thus far, on roads both rough and smooth.

With a performance career spanning more than four decades, June Garber is established as one of Canada’s leading jazz vocalists. What is less known is that her career as a jazz vocalist is only half her story.

June began her singing career soon after arriving in Canada from her native South Africa in 1975, joining a Toronto-based band as a back-up singer. She later formed her own 8-piece band, self-producing shows that were primarily contemporary songs but also included songs from the South African musical, Ipi Tombi. The band enjoyed huge success with long engagements in Las Vegas, Atlantic City and Toronto, as well as single performances in cities across Canada and the U.S. Seeking a break from the rigours of touring, June later turned to the stage, her other love, acting with leading theatre companies and some of Canada’s best actors.

After a long hiatus for personal reasons that began in the late 80s, June began to sing jazz in 2003 and soon established herself as a much-loved and accomplished jazz vocalist in Toronto. Her first two albums, Smile (2005) and Here’s to You (2008) featured jazz standards backed by some of Canada’s finest musicians.

In 2016, she released This I Know, an album weaving a tapestry of emotions – love, joy, pain, sadness – presented in rarely done jazz songs and two original pieces. A touch of South African jazz and street music harkens back to the land of June’s birth.

In September 2021, June will release her fourth album – Off the Carousel. Her new album will be an interpretation of tunes, some known and others not so familiar, that reflect on her life’s journey on roads both rough and smooth. With this album, June shows her versatility – perhaps a glance back to her early singing career – with a track list that does not confine itself to the jazz genre.

June has toured and performed as a singer in major centres in Canada and the United States and in Cuba, the Caribbean, Mexico, South Africa and Australia. She has performed at jazz festivals throughout North America and with big bands in Toronto and Sarasota, Florida.

Every song that she chooses to sing connects to a base truth within – so there is never any artifice. Her voice reflects each emotional shift that the writer intended, whether swinging with an up-tempo jazz song or telling a story with a soulful ballad. The stagecraft she learned in her earlier career as an actor is still evident in her singing performances today.

Of course, that’s the miracle of June Garber; her instinct for capturing and delivering the details of a story and the nuances of emotions – the combination of sensuous luxury, effortless precision, characterful interpretation and the warmth of empathy. – Raul DaGama

Lineup Announced for 2023 Return of Blue Note At Sea

That definition well describes the unique and powerful mix of music performed on Blue Note at Sea, a seven-day cruise produced by Jazz Cruises in partnership with Blue Note Records and The Blue Note Jazz Clubs. After going on a short hiatus due to scheduling issues around the pandemic, Blue Note at Sea returns to sail again in 2023 and will feature a diverse lineup of dozens of stellar artists performing more than 100 hours of live music. Blue Note at Sea ‘23 departs from Ft. Lauderdale on the m/s Celebrity Millennium on January 13-20, 2023, with Ports of Call to be announced.

Multi-GRAMMY Award winners Marcus Miller, Robert Glasper and Don Was serve as hosts for the onboard festivities alongside headliners Chris Botti, Christian McBride, Sheila E., Cécile McLorin Salvant, Brad Mehldau, Christian Scott and The Baylor Project. Featured Performers on Blue Note at Sea ’23 include Cyrille Aimée, Emmet Cohen, Veronica Swift, Julian Lage, Gerald Clayton, Avery Sunshine, Jamison Ross, Derrick Hodge and many more. Saxophonist Eric Marienthal serves as the music director, with Alonzo Bodden as the comic-in-residence.

Performances take place at six venues on the ship, including the main dining room, The Metropolitan Restaurant, which is turned into a top-flight jazz club each night during the week. All venues feature the highest quality of production and sound. In addition to multiple concerts by the headliners in the Celebrity Theatre, there will be numerous performances by the artists throughout the ship in a variety of collaborative configurations, many never seen anywhere else. Shows and events go from around the late morning until the wee hours, when guests can enjoy late-night jam sessions or DJ sets.

“I have hosted cruise programs for Jazz Cruises for nearly a decade now,” says Marcus Miller, Blue Note at Sea host and headliner. “We have traveled the world bringing great music to wonderful fans, but there is something special, something different about Blue Note at Sea. In terms of its music content, it is as pure as it gets.”

Blue Note at Sea is a highly immersive experience designed to satisfy any avid music fan. Because the ship is chartered by Jazz Cruises, the programming is totally dedicated to the music. Guests can participate in artist interviews, experience meet-and-greet opportunities and engage in a wide range of special events with the musicians—from Wine Tasting to Cigars Under the Stars to Martini Hour, and even a pick-up basketball game organized by Glasper (who hit the game-winning shot during the last sailing!). It all adds up to quite a hang. And an experience unmatched by any festival on land. A cruise where Great Music is the Only Rule.

2023 will mark the fifth sailing of Blue Note at Sea, which is the product of an unprecedented partnership between three major players in the music community: The Blue Note Jazz Clubs, Blue Note Records and Jazz Cruises.

“Blue Note at Sea is the only cruise program Jazz Cruises produces where there are active participants in the programming outside of our organization,” says Michael Lazaroff, Executive Director of Jazz Cruises. “The expertise and insights that Don Was (Blue Note Records) and Steven Bensusan (Blue Note Jazz Clubs) provide are amazing. Each has devoted his life to this music and it shows. The team at Jazz Cruises makes it all come together.”

Blue Note at Sea is one of three jazz cruise programs produced by Jazz Cruises, acting as a link between The Jazz Cruise with its focus on mainstream jazz and the two annual sailings of The Smooth Jazz Cruise.

“The quality of the musicians alone makes Blue Note at Sea special,” says Don Was, GRAMMY winner and President of Blue Note Records. “But the cruise is more than just great music. Each element of the cruise is way cool, but when you put them together, it is magic. I am proud to be a part of this project.”

A list of the past performers on Blue Note at Sea reads like a who’s who of today’s jazz scene: Wynton Marsalis, Pat Metheny, Gregory Porter, Dianne Reeves, Chick Corea, David Sanborn, Kamasi Washington, Melody Gardot, Chucho Valdés, Charles Lloyd, Maceo Parker and many more. 

Real Side Records presents Soul On The Real Side # 12 – Various Artists

The architects of soul are back with a stunning new 20-track Summer 2021 collection and, incredibly, almost half are new to CD.

The show opens with the first of the new-to-CD tracks, the seldom heard “I Need Love” by East Coast disco/funk band Daybreak. The sophisticated New Jersey 45 was originally played at Wigan Casino by Richard Searling shortly after release (covered up as “Search The World” and attributed to Tyrone Davis). It has since become one of the most cherished and in-demand of all Modern Soul records.

Track 2 sees the debut reissue of an obscure Philadelphia disc, “American Girl”, by Roscoe Thomas. Our sincere thanks go to label boss Frank Fioravanti, who provided this superb Latin-tinged crossover delight plus a further 5 Sound Gems. The rarest on the label is Billy Harner’s 1976 “I Got It From Heaven” (trk. 11), another Wigan Casino exclusive for DJ Richard Searling.

A special mention must go to Gean West’s Relatives, who make a guest appearance (trk. 5) with their emotive re-invention of the 1976 release “This World Is Moving Too Fast”. During recording Gean fell into a coma and passed away before the album was released, leaving us with this breathtaking and poignant legacy.

Our thanks also go to all at Mainstream Records, who, once again, supply a handful of class Seventies sides, including Sugar Billy’s original version of “Super Duper Love” (trk. 15), popularised by Joss Stone in more recent times, plus, of course, Almeta Lattimore’s timeless classic (trk. 7)

https://www.firstexperience.com.

Good Good Feeling! More Motown Girls

The latest collection of 60s Motown magic from the company’s stable of fabulous female talent features many tracks previously available only as digital downloads, and six unreleased in any format. Here’s series mastermind Keith Hughes with some background on those six exclusive unissued titles:

We lead off with ‘This Love I’ve Got’, a great belter originally assigned to Ivy Jo Hunter. His version hasn’t survived (if it was ever cut) but Martha & the Vandellas’ ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­recording is sensational. The key changes are all “apparent”, edging the song upwards to keep the dance floor lively: the track fades in the same key in which it started.

After two singles on VIP, the Lewis Sisters’ recording career with Motown was effectively over, but they continued writing and cutting demos for the company; ‘My World Is Crumbling’ was their penultimate effort. Theirs is the original version of a track now known as a Brenda Holloway classic, thanks to the appearance of her recording on the popular “A Cellarful Of Motownǃ” CD series.

‘Good Good Feeling’ is possibly the last of Brenda Holloway’s 100-plus Motown recordings, about three quarters of which languished in the vaults until relatively recent times. It’s clearly unfinished – strings are shown on the recording sheet, yet are not present on the tape – but nonetheless Brenda gives it her best. Following some anguish over her tracks being passed over so many times, she left the company in 1968 to concentrate on married life.

Mississippi-born blues singer Hattie Littles recorded over 40 sides for Motown, almost all of which were unissued at the time. Although she had only one release, she was a fixture at the company between 1962 and 1964, touring with the Spinners and Marvin Gaye when not busy recording. ‘When I Was In School’ is from the pen of Earl Johnson.

Singing actress Barbara McNair had been with Motown for nearly three years when she cut the only known version of ‘Watching A Plane In The Sky’, an early Tom Baird song. Her time there was coming to an end: she had released two long-players and four singles, but hadn’t scored a hit, and her film career was beginning to take off. She would soon star as Sidney Poitier’s wife in They Call Me Mr Tibbs!, and movie roles don’t come much higher profile than that.

‘In The Neighborhood’, here by Connie Haines, was recorded by numerous Motown artists (sometimes with the alternate ‘On The Avenue’ lyrics) although not released by any of them at the time. Connie joined the company in 1965; she stayed for less than a year, releasing only one single, but did have the distinction of being the first to record ‘For Once In My Life’, one of the company’s most covered songs.

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Tom Moulton | "Spring Event"

It’s June 2020 and I’m on a video call with Tom Moulton. We’re in the middle of a worldwide pandemic but life for Tom Moulton hasn’t particularly changed a great deal. He’s effectively been in self-isolation for most of his life wedded to the two things he likes most in life, namely, music and cats.

I’ve known Tom for almost 50 years. The first 20 of those years were spent listening to Tom’s mixes, and I listened to everything he did (including all the un-credited stuff) and quickly realised he was the master. I wore all those 70s Trammps albums out very quickly. The dynamic on all those mixes was really off the scale. I eventually met Tom when I did Salsoul Mastercuts in the early 90s. Little did I realise I’d be working with the guy forevermore.

Over the last 30 years I’ve been fortunate enough to work with him on a variety of projects and all of them were fantastic experiences. Tom’s what I call an original creative and the whole art of mixing is a very emotional thing for him. It made for some long conversations. We fall out all the time but I’m always there for him and he’s always there for me. It’s one of those annoying Master-Servant relationships. Plus I always need access to his archives.

Anyway Tom got access to the Spring/Event vaults and then started working. This project started almost four years ago and, typically in this day and age, went through a number of mutations and delays. We’re lucky it’s finally here.

I still listen to everything that Tom does. These mixes bring out aspects of the songs that I never properly listened to before and, in a couple of cases, had never even heard. Thus is the art of the creative remixer.

It’s been particularly poignant talking to Tom throughout this pandemic. Tom is really the last survivor of his type. A master-craftsman using 80 years of skill and knowledge and who is every bit as passionate today, surrounded by his cats and computers, as he was in the 60s, surrounded by a coterie of young and adoring music fans.

Nothing’s changed. He’s already looking at Volume 2. Enjoy!

Track By Track Guide:

Spanish Hustle -The Fatback Band 9.55 – 1975

Arms had to be twisted and credible threats made to include this amazing instrumental in this package. Since the vocal version was being readied for a 12″ release along with “(Are You Ready) Do The Bus Stop”, the instrumental which Tom ran off was considered surplus to requirements until the handful of people who heard it insisted that it be made available. People power. And is it any wonder why! “Spanish Hustle” was the biggest of the Fatback Band’s run of mid 1970s hits, eventually reaching No.12 on the U.S. RnB charts in March of 1976. However, no one has ever heard this version. Quite simply the sheer scope of what can be achieved with the right multi-track and the right ears is staggering.  Four minutes longer than the original 12″ version, Tom’s mix is quite simply a peak hour banger that will turn legs and co-ordination into putty if heard over a great system. Take a deep breath and a strong scotch before listening. You have been warned.

No One Else Will Do -Ronnie Walker 7.39 – 1974

In 1974 Event Records must have been watching their Philadelphia counterparts reap gold from the explosion of ‘The Philly Sound’. Synonymous with that explosion was long-time veteran writer, producer and orchestra leader, Vincent Montana Jr. So Event swooped in and got Vincent’s services before the emerging Salsoul Records would eventually monopolise him. “No One Else Will Do” is the stunning flip to the topside, “You’ve Got To Try Harder (Times Are Bad)”. That “No One Will Do” has lain idle for the last 46 years is no surprise. The record only seemed to get traction in the UK at the time, with many people (myself included) completely ignoring the B side. Big mistake! Here Tom has all his favourite elements to work with – Ronnie and Vince’s sterling song and production that he has now extended to a far more feasible 7.39. This track is one of the biggest surprises of the package and another example of what Tom can produce with gems he manages to find.

Tom The Peeper – Act One 5.14 – 1973

Act One’s “Tom The Peeper” is actually one of the better-known tracks within this project, at least in the UK. “Tom The Peeper” became a surprise club hit in London and various Funk clubs throughout the UK in 1974. In fact it was even re-issued again in 1976. It’s one of those infectious Raeford Gerald songs with a battleaxe of a Funk riff running right through it. This is now put in full effect by Tom’s pile-driving never-let-up remix, which extends the song to a dance-floor friendly 5.14. The original U.S. 7″ copy of this calls the 2.16 version a ‘Longer Version’ without any sense of irony. It somewhat surprised me when Tom sent this over. The old boy can still groove on funk in his eighth decade. Once a funker, always a funker I guess.

Baby, You Got It All – Street People 5.33 – 1974

Most people would be aware of the Street People via their fantastic album on Vigor Records from 1976, which yielded several U.S. RnB Chart hits over 1976-77. However 2 years before that they released their debut 45 on Spring – the sprightly “I Wanna Get Over”, backed with a slice of magic called “Baby, You Got It All”, this great Ray Dahrouge song which benefits from a superb arrangement from 60s veteran Joe Renzetti. Naturally Tom took one listen to the strings and those gorgeous vocals and once again gave them room to work to best effect. It’s lucky he did. This is not the kind of record that remixers generally head towards but once Tom gets on a mission, who can possibly stop him? Listen and learn.

Going Through These Changes – Joe Simon 8.01 – 1978

Another Joe Simon track rescued from the vaults by Tom is the incredible “Going Through These Changes”.  This great Phillip Mitchell song gets ‘The Harris Machine’ treatment with a great Leon Mitchell arrangement. Surprisingly the only 12″ version released was promo-only and, despite a decent Joe Simon, Gerald Raeford and Michael Barbiero mix, the song got crowded out at the time. It was only ever released in the U.S. and Italy and is relatively unknown generally, all of which makes it ripe for the Tom Moulton remedy. As with everything else on this package, the song finally has a chance to breathe and exhale. There is simply no way that Moulton will allow any nuance of the full recording to escape his attention. And it doesn’t. I can see this mix getting a lot of attention in Soul and Dance circles. It may as well be a new release ‘cos no one has heard this 8.01 minutes of Soul perfection before.

Breakaway – Millie Jackson 9.09 – 1973

Millie Jackson’s “Breakaway” was the fifth Top 20 U.S. RnB hit in a row for the estimable Ms Jackson, reaching No.16 in April 1973. Her run of great singles throughout the 1970s inevitably meant that some of her earlier works got forgotten or overlooked by us mere mortals. Typically this is the kind of stuff that Tom excels at. He likes to confound expectations by digging out tracks like “Breakaway” and then blowing people’s minds when they listen to his version. Mind duly blown. Tom has virtually tripled the running time from the original 45 release time of 2.53 to a gargantuan 9.09. Such is the power of the main riff, that “Breakaway” could almost be a female version of Edwin Starr’s “War” – it’s that powerful. Should absolutely come with a health warning when experienced over a loud system. Quite simply a monster of a mix.

Love Vibration  – Joe Simon 9.53 – 1978

Trust the eagle eyes and basic instinct of Tom Moulton to track down the multi-tracks to virtually anything in which Philly maestro Norman Harris was involved. In 1978 Spring had the thorny problem of trying to align veteran Soul man Joe Simon with Disco. Not an easy task. Mind you they’d done it before with Joe when they teamed him up with Gamble & Huff earlier in the decade, so they sent Joe to Philadelphia again and put him in the hands of ‘The Harris Machine’. Tom’s remix stretches the original 5.05 version to almost double the length and finally allows the song to breathe and stretch comfortably. Exactly the right approach for a song called “Love Vibration”.

Don’t Send Nobody Else – Millie Jackson 7.08 – 1973

Many people will know this fantastic Ashford & Simpson song from Ace Spectrum’s 1974 version,, which became a hit on the UK’s Modern Soul scene in the early 1990s. However Millie Jackson’s version from the year before lay dormant until the 2000s when some enterprising UK DJs started playing it. Timely as ever, Tom found the multi-track and has transformed this original Brad Shapiro produced 3.22 album track into a 7.08 length tour-de-force which is perfect for today’s dance floors. Tom completely enhances Mike Lewis’s string arrangements to new heights making this 1973 Southern U.S. production sound every bit as good as its better known rivals from later years. Ashford & Simpson would be proud.

You’ve Got To Try Harder (Time Are Bad) – Ronnie Walker 7.14 – 1974

The late great Ronnie Walker had a tight little fan base in the UK’s Northern Soul scene and his 1968 release, “You’re The One”, which was actually re-pressed by Phillips due to UK demand. So when “You’ve Got To Try Harder (Times Are Bad)” came into the UK on 7″ import, lots of us jumped on it and the record became a staple of the newly emerging Modern Soul scene. Produced and written by Ronnie and Vincent Montana Jr, three minutes seemed incredibly short for a record with such great instrumentation and Vince’s sublime arrangement. It’s no wonder that Tom’s heartbeat quickened when he got hold of the multi-track to this! The track has now been beautifully extended to a lush 7.14 and now has the space to incorporate all that incredible musicianship from most of M.F.S.B. at their finest. This track (along with “No One Else Will Do” featured above) should give a whole new lease of life to these vintage Philly Recordings. We’ve just been blessed.

Friends Or Lovers – Act One  4.34 – 1972 

It may surprise a lot of people, especially in the UK, but Act One’s “Tom The Peeper” was not a hit in the U.S. Their biggest hit was “Friends And Lovers”, a gorgeous Gerald Raeford song and production which edged the song into the U.S. RnB Top 30 in February 1974. The fact that it’s a ballad will have made little difference to Tom’s motive for mixing it. He hears most records in a different way from the rest of us and has spent most of his life searching for those special nuances in a song that will generally go above most people’s heads. Such is the case with “Friends And Lovers”. Just one listen to the orchestration and production would have marked this song as a Tom Moulton target. To those of us who have been lucky enough to visit the master in his apartment, it’s easy to envisage Tom working on this long into the night completely immersed in the sheer majesty of this song with only those cats of his to bear witness. A Moulton masterpiece. Should be savoured like fine wine. 

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