Featured Music Releases: Dennis Murphy, Allan Evans Trio, Futurenot, Johnny Schaefer & Melissa Manchester

Dennis Murphy - Our Higher Selves

The title of Grammy nominated composer, guitarist, bassist and multi-instrumentalist Dennis Murphy’s 1999 debut Hit Me Hard, perfectly captures the intensity he’s brought over the years to his multitude of endeavors as an early genre radio personality (whose show “Bass Trax” was produced by Smoothjazz.com founder, Sandy Shore), clinician and founder of a popular Monterey, California music school, and studio and touring sideman for Acoustic Alchemy, Maria Muldaur, Billy Preston among others. On this latest foray, the eclectic, ultra-melodic and tightly grooving Oour Higher Selves, Murphy darts artfully between colorful guitar playing and bass-driven Smooth Jazz, fusion, playful samba and spiritual soul while freewheeling with an all-star cast including elite saxophonists Kirk Whalum, Eric Marienthal, Gary Meek and Tower Of Power’s Tom Politzer, as well as late guitar great Jeff Golub and legendary drummer Will Kennedy! ~ www.smoothjazz.com

Alan Evans Trio - Elephant Head

Elephant Head is an epic instrumental album of cinematic funk, in the pocket grooves, and infectious melodies. As a whole the full-length evokes a classic vintage movie soundtrack. It also features virtuoso playing from all three band members (Alan Evans / Danny Mayer / Kris Yunker). The album opens with the atmospheric “Route 68”, featuring a part psychedelic vibe coupled with highly catchy melody lines. “Strangest Thing” has a tough lowdown groove, the second half of the song shifts to a hypnotic groove with killer guitar lines. “Sunset Trails” evokes a western movie classic theme tune. The main riff sticks in the head long after listening. “Birth Of Peace” is a slow burning ambient ballad. Sonically the album sounds incredible, combining a modern take on a vintage vibe, with Evans at the helm as producer bringing his trademark quality and attention to detail. There is something undeniably special when a band of three clicks. Some would say finding three good musicians playing music together isn’t a hard task. Finding seasoned artists who can make a trio sound a band twice their size, well that’s special. Alan Evans Trio, a power soul organ trio is certainly special.

Futurenot - Greatest Hits

Futurenot is vintage inspired music realized through a modern lens. It is about being in the present, creating music for the here and now while incorporating the experiences and influences of our past to move towards the future. The band blends elements of hip hop, jazz, soul and pop with vocals, backbeat and a generous dose of strong melodies that will require you to roll your windows down and turn the volume up. "Greatest Hits" is the culmination of work that Jason Cressey and Peter Daniel began in 2013. The title of the album is more than just a tongue-in-cheek joke about a first release; it is a reference to how we drew from that material to create this collection.

Johnny Schaefer - You Can't Hide The Light feat Melissa Manchester

A fast-emerging new discovery in the Smooth Jazz realm, versatile singer/songwriter Johnny Schaefer brings an incredible resume to his uplifting, delightfully infectious new single “You Can’t Hide The Light” - a heartfelt, then rousing, pop/jazz meets gospel duet with  legendary Grammy winning vocalist Melissa Manchester. In addition to singing backup over the years for Manchester, Sarah Vaughan, Pete Townshend, Billy Idol and others, Schaefer has been cantor at Hollywood’s Blessed Sacrament Church for decades. An empowering song about healing and the way our inner light can dispel life’s darkness, it begins as an intimate seduction before introducing dynamic vocal chemistry, building towards a high-energy, vocal dance between the singers – all backed with hip, edgy production textures. ~ www.smoothjazz.com

Eric Krasno | "Always"

The idea of “losing yourself” may seem negative, but to Grammy-award winning guitarist Eric Krasno, the phrase has a deeper meaning. “It’s about losing your ego when you find someone who works for you,” he explains. Featuring head-nodding handclaps, horns from Jazz Mafia, and a funkified bass line drive, Krasno’s new single “Lost Myself” is featured on his new solo album ‘Always,’ and according to the guitarist, “it’s the funkiest track on the album.” Out February 4th via Mascot Label Group, ‘Always’ is filled with songs like “Lost Myself,” which consecrate, commend, and celebrates the permanence of family.

On ‘Always’ – across ten tracks with inimitable instrumentation, eloquent songcraft, and raw honesty – the Soulive and Lettuce co-founder, singer, multi-instrumentalist, and two-time GRAMMY® Award-winning songwriter-producer defines himself as not only an artist, but also as a husband, father, and man. “Lost Myself” follows the release of recent singles like “Silence,” about the emotional havoc that a lack of communication can wreak on the human psyche, and “Alone Together,” about the beauty that can be created between two people in solitude.

“Before 2020, I was having a good time, but I wasn’t grounded at all,” he explains. “I was going from gig to gig. I was always running around without a purpose. During the last year, I found my people in terms of my wife and son. I’ve created a family who will always be there for me. That’s what the album is about.” 

Something of a musical journeyman, Krasno’s extensive catalog comprises three solo albums, four Lettuce albums, twelve Soulive albums, and production and/or songwriting for Norah Jones, Robert Randolph, Pretty Lights, Talib Kweli, 50 Cent, Aaron Neville, and Allen Stone. As a dynamic performer, he’s shared stages with Rolling Stones, Dave Matthews Band, John Mayer, and The Roots. Out of seven nominations, he picked up two GRAMMY® Awards for his role as a songwriter and guitarist on Tedeschi Trucks Band’s ‘Revelator’ and guitarist on Derek Trucks Band’s ‘Already Free.’ 

But as the Global Pandemic changed the world’s plans, he found himself thinking a lot and writing just as much. At the suggestion of old Lettuce bandmate Adam Deitch, he connected with musician and producer Otis McDonald and collaborated on a version of Bob Dylan’s “The Man In Me,” a song that had taken on a deeper significance for Krasno in recent years. “My wife and I got married, bought a house, and had a baby,” he recalls. “I had heard the song many times before, but it had never quite hit me the way it was hitting me. I recorded it with just acoustic guitar and vocals, and I loved what Otis did to it. He sent it back to me, and I thought, ‘This is exactly how I want to make my next record’.” 

Recording first virtually and then at the Bay Area’s legendary Hyde Street Studios, famous for 2Pac, Grateful Dead, and Digital Underground, Krasno and McDonald tapped into a shared spirit as co-producers, ultimately forming Eric Krasno & The Assembly with Otis on bass, Wil Blades on keys and organ, Curtis Kelly on drums, and James VIII on guitar and vocals. 

In the end, Krasno welcomes everyone to be a part of his family on ‘Always.’ “If you take away a message of love and the Always concept, that’s great,” he leaves off. “Most of all, I want to put you in a happy place. In the past, I personally just felt like I was a guitarist, songwriter, and a producer. Now, I feel like a fully formed artist.” 

Eric Krasno – Tour Dates

Feb 18 – Washington’s – Fort Collins, CO

Feb 19 – Cervantes’ Other Side – Denver, CO

Feb 20 – The Commonwealth Room – Salt Lake City, UT

Feb 22 – Nectar Lounge – Seattle, WA

Feb 23 – Aladdin Theater – Portland, OR

Feb 25 – Sweetwater Music Hall – Mill Valley, CA

Feb 26 – The Crytstal Bay Club Casino Crown Room – Crystal Bay, NV

Feb 27 – Guild Theatre – Menlo Park, CA

Mar 1 – Harlow’s – Sacramento, CA

Mar 3 – SLO Brew – San Luis Obispo, CA

Mar 4 – Teragram Ballroom – Los Angeles, CA

Mar 5 – Pappy & Harriet’s – Pioneertown, CA

Mar 11 – The Capitol Theatre – Port Chester, NY

Mar 12 – The Capitol Theatre – Port Chester, NY

Mar 18 – North Beach Bandshell – Miami Beach, FL

Mar 19 – North Beach Bandshell – Miami Beach, FL

Arkadia Records Reinvents Itself for the Digital Age

Twenty-five years after its first CD release, Arkadia Records emerges in 2022 from a long quiet spell, revitalized and recalibrated for a changing music industry. The jazz label founded and run by Bob Karcy has embraced the digital musical landscape, releasing its complete catalog on the full gamut of online streaming platforms and preparing its first releases since the 2000s—including the newly recorded debut album by Brazil’s Tetel Di Babuya, due for June 24 release. 

The burst of new activity is not a “rebirth” per se: That would imply that Arkadia had undergone some sort of death. “We never went away,” Karcy stresses. “We’ve always been here to distribute our physical products—CDs and DVDs—and licensing the music to various TV shows and films. But we’ve recently heard from the streaming services, and they all said, ‘Hey, how come the Arkadia catalog’s not out there on our platforms?’” 

That the streaming services would desire Arkadia’s archive is unsurprising. It’s a treasure trove including over 100 albums, with works by such revered artists as Benny Golson, Billy Taylor, Dave Liebman, and Joanne Brackeen as well as the entire discography of the Grammy-nominated Arkadia Jazz All-Stars. It also includes the full catalogs of Arkadia Chansons, an imprint Karcy founded to distribute his holdings of classic French popular music, and Postcards Records, an adventurous jazz label that Arkadia purchased in 1999. 

Yet Arkadia’s renaissance is not just a celebration of its backlog. The archive also holds multiple albums’ worth of never-before-released recordings, including sessions by Brackeen, saxophonist TK Blue, and the Arkadia Jazz All-Stars. Even more exciting, however, is the fact that this glut of releases begins with the label’s first new album in over a decade: Meet Tetel, the debut recording by Brazilian singer-songwriter and violinist Tetel Di Babuya. 

“She’s certainly not in the ‘classic’ way we know jazz, with scatting and bebop; she has a more contemporary, singer-songwriter feel,” Karcy says. “But she’s in the jazz pocket—you couldn’t call it any other genre but jazz. It’s accessible, original, and really exciting.” 

More developments are in the works. In the coming months, Arkadia will unveil Arkadia Concerts, a VOD (video on demand) channel for jazz concerts and documentaries from Karcy’s extensive catalog featuring artists such as Herbie Hancock, Nancy Wilson, and Joe Williams. Don’t call it a comeback: Just say that Arkadia has resumed its place at the front lines of jazz’s evolution.

Arkadia Records began in the mid-1990s when Bob Karcy (above)—a lifelong music lover, musician, producer, and entrepreneur—decided to establish a recording hub that some of his favorite jazz greats could call home. The label’s first release, 1997’s The Music Keeps Us Young by piano legend Billy Taylor’s trio, marks its 25th anniversary in 2022. 

The company features three label imprints: Arkadia Jazz, which offers music that runs from the straightahead to the avant-garde; Arkadia Chansons, which distributes historic recordings of French popular music from the likes of Edith Piaf and Charles Trenet; and Postcards Records, a collection of snapshots from jazz’s outer edges. Arkadia also holds an extensive video archive of jazz-focused programming, including concert performances as well as documentaries and other programs. 

Arkadia’s catalog features acclaimed and award-winning gems from such iconic jazz artists as Billy Taylor, Benny Golson, Dave Liebman, Reggie Workman, and Paul Bley, as well as lesser known but superlative talents such as saxophonist TK Blue, pianist Paul Tobey, and Brazilian bands Nova Bossa Nova and Pé de Boi.

In 1998, Karcy brought together several of the label’s artists to form the Arkadia Jazz All-Stars. Arkadia’s new signature band made a number of acclaimed recordings, including the Thank You series of tributes to John Coltrane, Duke Ellington, Joe Henderson, and Gerry Mulligan. The Arkadia Jazz All-Stars’ Thank You, Gerry! (Our Tribute to Gerry Mulligan), which features Lee Konitz, Bob Brookmeyer, Randy Brecker, and Ted Rosenthal, will be released worldwide in digital format on April 8, 2022. 

Arkadia has earned four Grammy Award nominations and numerous other accolades. Karcy, however, has always operated the label according to his own knowledge and eclectic taste, rather than fodder for awards and accolades. Artists who can “make strong and important artistic statements,” he says, can find a home at Arkadia Records.

JJJJJerome Ellis | "The Clearing"

With The Clearing, JJJJJerome Ellis establishes a new metaphor that frames speech dysfluency—stuttering in particular—as a space for possibility rather than a pathology; and centers speech as a starting point to not only depathologize dysfluent speech but to build new tools to critique anti-Blackness, linear time, culture, and power in our society. First introduced in his 2020 essay “The clearing: Music, dysfluency, Blackness and time” in The Journal of Interdisciplinary Voice Studies, Ellis presents “The Clearing'' as a concept that challenges us to reimagine dysfluency in speech and question how speech and articulation impact how we exist in the social realm. Recorded in various bedrooms over the course of several months and setting the text of Ellis’s essay to music, The Clearing is a haunting and expansive series of reflections on the questions of speech, articulation, and the power behind both. Ellis says of the project: “I hope this album offers the listener some of what my stutter offers me: an opportunity to imagine new ways of being in time.”

The Clearing is co-produced by NNA Tapes and the Poetry Project. The album will be released in tandem with a book published by Wendy's Subway, the eighth title in the Document Series, an interdisciplinary publishing initiative that highlights work by time-based artists in printed form.

JJJJJerome Ellis is a blk disabled animal, stutterer, and artist. Through music, literature, performance, and video, he explores blkness, disabled speech, and music as forces of refusal, possibility, reparation, and healing. His diverse body of work includes contemplative soundscapes using saxophone, flute, dulcimer, electronics, and vocals; scores for plays and podcasts; albums combining spoken word with ambient and jazz textures; theatrical explorations involving live music and storytelling; and music-video-poems that seek to transfigure historical archives. JJJJJerome’s solo and collaborative work has been presented by Lincoln Center, The Poetry Project, and ISSUE Project Room (New York); MASS MoCA (North Adams, Massachusetts); REDCAT (Los Angeles); Arraymusic (Toronto); and the Center for African American Poetry and Poetics (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), among others. His work has been covered by This American Life, Artforum, Black Enso, and Christian Science Monitor. 

Featured Music Releases: Grady Nichols & Friends, Trevor Dunn & Jarvis Earnshaw, Jonny Faith, Ter-Ree

Grady Nichols & Friends - Live!

With the release of Grady Nichols & Friends - Live!, the Oklahoma-based saxophonist celebrates 25 years as one of contemporary jazz’s most versatile recording artists – an era that’s found him crossing from Smooth Jazz to R&B to Christian pop, earning multiple awards and opening for Ray Charles, Pavarotti, Wayman Tisdale and The Beach Boys. Capturing the multi-faceted, stylistically eclectic magic of his live performances, the action-packed, funky, rockin’ and sensual 110 minute set finds Nichols having a blast on a mix of originals – including two dazzling Jeff Lorber collaborations from Nichols’ 2004 album Sophistication -  and dynamic re-imaginings of classic pop tunes (David Bowie, Stevie Wonder, Hall & Oates) featuring an array of guests, including Lorber, Chris Rodriguez, Andy Chrisman, Rachael Lampa and Bill Champlin. 

Trevor Dunn & Jarvis Earnshaw - HYPNAGOGIA

Travis Duo’s debut album is a collection of improvisations done based on a set of line drawings and diagrams drawn during lucid dreams. Recorded by legendary producer Martin Bisi at his studio in Brooklyn NY, "HYPNAGOGIA" a bold and honest 1st album by the pair pushing abstractions whilst gently nestling on their pop roots. The kaleidoscopic overtones of the sitar dance elegantly with the charismatic and eloquent contrabass, provoking dreamers to kenopsia-tic drawers of the sub-consciousness; psychedelic with a mean right hook, at times eruptive like a feral animal ready to bite, to long deep bows that stretch across the glittering night sky reaching through to your deepest of nightmares lurking at the bottom of oceanic abyss. Featuring: Daniel Carter on flute and saxophones, the NYC Jazz veteran weaves through the tapestry of colours painted by Sean McCaul on xylophone, as Devin Brahja Waldman poetically releases the spirits summoned by the dynamic drumming of Niko Wood moving mountains and parting the clouds to a brighter future.

Jonny Faith - On Lock

This is Jonny's first full venture into his beloved jungle/D&B after building a catalogue of downtempo, hip hop and broken beat which earned him accolades like Gilles Peterson's Best of 2020. (Link for this release also below, along with the new Liam de Bruin single). The EP features the northern jungle soul stormer 'Open My Eyes' (think Amerie's '1 Thing' at 170bpm), the atmospheric drumfunk of 'Create' and the rework of Jonny's own hip hop tune 'Stay in Your Lane' with the slinky soulful rap and hooks of US MC Lady K. The amen G-funk banger 'Nuthin' But a Jungle Thang' is a vinyl bonus track. The reception for Jonny's new music has been really encouraging so far, coming from both D&B circles and more eclectic music messengers, including Bandcamp, René LaVice, Rupture/Rinse FM, Hospital, Bolting Bits, 3RRR, KCRW, Skankandbass, DNB Dojo, etc. There's been a nice little buzz around the vinyl version too with its bonus track and the limited die cut felt cover edition. 

Ter-Ree - Heart Attack

After making head-turning guest appearances on recently released albums from labelmates Benny Barksdale, Jr. and The Society Hill Orchestra, rising vocalist Ter-Ree headlines this ticker stopping rendition of a brand-new track written by veteran Philly Soul producer Butch Ingram - the aptly named “Heart Attack." The Society Hill A-team, The Ingram Brothers Band, returns the guest turn favor by laying down the music and Cindy Ingram, Toni Richards and Sharon Ingram provide backing vocals.

Lady Gaga Returns to Park MGM for Nine Jazz & Piano Performances

Academy Award, Golden Globe and 12-time GRAMMY Award-winning superstar Lady Gaga today announced she will return to Dolby Live at Park MGM in Las Vegas this spring. Presented in partnership by MGM Resorts International and Live Nation, Lady Gaga will perform her critically acclaimed LADY GAGA JAZZ & PIANO show over nine dates beginning Thursday, April 14. The shows celebrate her love of the Great American Songbook, in addition to her GRAMMY Award-nominated collaborative album with Tony Bennett, Love For Sale.

April – May 2022 Dates

Thursday, April 14

Saturday, April 16

Sunday, April 17

Thursday, April 21

Saturday, April 23

Sunday, April 24

Thursday, April 28

Saturday, April 30

Sunday, May 1

Members of Lady Gaga's Little Monsters fan community will receive access to an exclusive pre-sale from Tuesday, Feb. 1 at 10 a.m. PST to Thursday, Feb. 3 at 10 p.m. PST. Details and password information will be communicated to the Little Monsters fan community in advance.

Citi® / AAdvantage® is the official pre-sale credit card of Lady Gaga's Dolby Live residency. Citi / AAdvantage cardmembers will have access to purchase pre-sale tickets from Wednesday, Feb. 2 at 10 a.m. PST to Thursday, Feb. 3 at 10 p.m. PST through Citi Entertainment. 

Members of MGM Rewards, MGM Resorts International's reimagined loyalty rewards program launching tomorrow, February 1, will receive access to a pre-sale running from Thursday, Feb. 3 at 10 a.m. PST to 10 p.m. PST.

Multi-award-winning entertainer Lady Gaga is a one-of-a kind artist and performer. She has amassed an outstanding 37 million global album sales, 65 billion streams and 410 million in song consumption, making her one of the best-selling musicians of all time. Gaga is also one of the biggest living forces in social media with over 55 million likes on Facebook, over 84 million followers on Twitter and over 51 million followers on Instagram.

In 2008, Gaga released her first album The Fame swiftly followed by The Fame Monster (2009). Gaga then went on to release Born This Way (2011), ArtPop (2013), her collaborative album with Tony Bennett Cheek to Cheek (2014), Joanne (2016) and A Star is Born (2018). In May 2020, Gaga released her sixth studio album Chromatica, which features collaborations with Ariana Grande, Elton John and Blackpink and is executive produced by BloodPop® and Lady Gaga. Chromatica marked Gaga's 6th consecutive #1 album on the Billboard 200 chart, making her the first female artist to do so over a ten-year period (2011-2020). Her collaboration with Ariana Grande for "Rain On Me," marked the biggest Spotify debut of 2020, reaching #1 on the Global and US Spotify Charts upon release and peaking at #1 on the iTunes charts in 29 countries and #1 on the Apple Global Chart. It also set a record for the most single-day streams from an all-female collaboration in Spotify history. The video for "Rain On Me" has amassed over 338 million views, and was nominated for four MTV Video Music Awards, winning Best Cinematography. That same year, Gaga took home the inaugural MTV Tricon Award, for being a triple icon in music, acting, fashion, and activism. USA Today called Chromatica "her best album in a decade," earning her a Grammy for Best Pop Duo Group Performance for "Rain On Me" with Ariana Grande.

In October 2021, Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett teamed up again to release their second collaborate jazz album, Love For Sale. The album, celebrating the music of Cole Porter, debuted at #1 on Billboard's Jazz Album charts, Amazon and iTunes in its first week of release, with Apple Music confirming it was also the highest streamed jazz album globally in its first week of release. The album also debuted at #8 on the all-genre Billboard 200 chart. The album received six Grammy nominations this year including "Album of the Year," "Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album," "Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical," and single nominations for their duet "I Get a Kick Out of You," including "Record of the Year," "Best Pop Duo/Group Performance," and "Best Music Video."

In October 2018, Gaga starred alongside Bradley Cooper in the Warner Brothers remake of the classic film, "A Star is Born." Her performance led her to an Oscar Nomination for Best Actress, a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, a Critics' Choice Award and National Board of Review Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture. Gaga also co-wrote, produced and performed the song "Shallow," for the film, for which she has won an Oscar, a Golden Globe and a Critics' Choice award for Best Original Song, as well as a British Academy Film Award for Best Original Music. Other credits include, the 2017 Pepsi Zero Sugar Super Bowl LI Half Time show which amassed 117.5 million viewers, her Netflix documentary Lady Gaga: Five Foot Two (2017), and American Horror Story: Hotel (2015), for which she won a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Limited Series. 

Most recently, Gaga stars in Ridley Scott's House of Gucci as Patrizia Reggiani, the ex-wife of Maurizio Gucci, who was tried and convicted of orchestrating his assassination. For her performance, Gaga has been nominated for a SAG Award in the Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role, a Critics' Choice award in the Best Actress category, and she has been recognized by the New York Film Critics Circle as their Best Actress this season.

Lady Gaga is also an outspoken activist, philanthropist and supporter of many important issues including LGBT rights, HIV/AIDS awareness and body image issues. In 2012, she launched Born This Way Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to empowering youth, embracing differences, and inspiring kindness and bravery. Through the years, they've collected stories of kindness, bravery and resilience from young people all over the world, proving that kindness truly is the universal language. These stories have been collected, along with personal notes of empowerment from Lady Gaga, in her new book, "Channel Kindness: Stories of Kindness and Community," available now.

Jamie and The Numbers | "You Don’t Love Me"

Jamie Musuva is a wonderfully gifted Tongan – Kiwi, 30 year old singer based in Wellington and she can occasionally be seen singing soul tunes for Tapestry Music Promotions at many of their Music Reviews and also in her gospel choir at Church. It was at one of the Tapestry Music shows in Wellington that Jamie met Simon from Deltaphonic Records / The Numbers. After watching Jamie perform an amazing version of “Wade In The Water” they had a brief and fruitful chat and it was suggested they do some recording together with the view of a doing some cool soul classics and a bunch of originals too.

A few months later and after a couple of days recording at Lee Prebble‘s legendary Surgery Studios in the capital of New Zealand, they have a handful of quality tunes waiting to be heard by the soul loving Kiwi public. 

To quote Simon “Jamie has a voice that could fell a tree. Her clarity, power and incredible feel are evident as she storms her way through these wonderful soul classics and originals with confidence and ease, we hope you go out of your way to have a listen and enjoy these timeless classics with us…..Please support this slice of Wellington made kiwi soul and together we shall endeavour to keep on keeping on”.

Jamie & The Numbers are an incredibly tight Wellington-based band who have been around for a while now, as a band they are prolific writers of their own original material and in the context of playing northern soul tunes and other tunes in that musical genre they like to be known as The Numbers.

They are usually a 4 piece and consist of three brothers from Wainuiamata and a newly adopted Kiwi originally from Birmingham England. These guys are brimming with cool retro tunes and some barnstorming original songs played with verve and passion and their shows are always fun. In 2019 they supported “From The Jam” on their visit to New Zealand and after teaming up with Jamie have played Pasifika Festivals and open-air concerts to thousands of people.

The Numbers collectively have played/sessioned/recorded for other artists on such labels as Gut Records, D-Star, EG Records, Imaginary Records and have in excess of 40+ published songs with Universal, Complete Music, KWS Records NYC and Cherry Red, with this new direction of releasing Northern Soul songs alongside some of their more soulful originals on 7″ vinyl their goal is to go on and produce some top quality soul albums.

Malcolm Jiyane Tree-O | "UMDALI"

A generous sideman and bandleader, multi-instrumentalist Malcolm Jiyane stands at the vanguard of his prodigious generation of jazz musicians. Operating from the centre and the fringes of the South African jazz scene, the trombonist (and pianist) is an enigmatic yet charismatic galvaniser of his contemporaries, able to put them through their paces in his own compositions, while giving them enough room to interpret them anew.

In UMDALI, his debut album as frontman, Jiyane delivers not only a major contribution to the canon  -- one shaped around dedications to key figures in his personal and professional life -- but an honest snapshot of his personal circumstances at the time of recording. In that period several years ago, Jiyane was dealing with the death of a band member, the birth of a daughter and the passing of his beloved mentor Johnny Mekoa, founder of the Music Academy of Gauteng, which Jiyane attended from a young age. These life-altering events give shape to the music's emotional register and its thematic concerns. Positioned at the edge of this precipice, Jiyane turned to a core of talented musicians mostly based around Soweto's jamming scene, as well as to key figures in his own creative trajectory. 

The coterie of bassist Ayanda Zalekile, drummer Lungile Kunene, percussionist Gontse Makhene, pianist Nkosinathi Mathunjwa, saxophonist Nhlanhla Mahlangu and trumpeters Brandon Ruiters and Tebogo Seitei shrouded him in his time of need, providing intuitive musicianship through which to execute his ideas, and, more importantly, life-affirming comradeship. 

Jiyane is nothing if not the product of astute mentorship from elders and peers alike. Given the late Mekoa's stature in South African jazz, trombonist Jonas Gwangwa (also late) would have been among regular visitors to the academy, imprinting on the young Jiyane not only the breadth of South African music traditions but also the science of how to lead musical ensembles without stifling individual contribution. 

In Gwen Ansell's memorable Mail and Guardian obituary of Gwangwa, she quotes saxophonist Steve Dyer on the elder trombonist's approach to music making as such. "For him it was not about the notes. It's not about the theory. It is about the feeling and emotion behind the notes." This valorising of comradeship and warmth over technical wizardry is noticeable throughout UMDALI. It can be felt, in particular, in the swaggering gait of Ntate Gwangwa's Stroll, in which Jiyane channels the elder, and can be heard shouting encouragement to Nkosinathi Mathunjwa as he carefully feels his way into a keyboard solo towards the song's end. 

That Jiyane is informed by a frame of reference that extends beyond the trombone, goes without saying. Moshe courses with late pianist Moses Molelekwa's harmonic, melodic and rhythmic idiosyncrasies. "I found myself thinking about how he would approach certain songs," said Jiyane. "It's like being in someone's shoes kind of a thing, looking into what they have achieved musically.  He'd play piano the way he feels it. He gave me the motivation to pursue what I'm feeling."

In Black Music, his book of essays and critiques, Amiri Baraka makes the point that jazz musicians, be it in the construction of solos or in other aspects of composition, always draw on the works of their contemporaries or elders. How much outsiders pick up on that is really dependent on how au fait they are with the music. In this album especially, Jiyane finds comfort in this well-trodden path. Two songs make for great examples. Umkhumbi kaMa, a jazz-funk track celebrating the creative force as inhabited by women, the motif to Herbie Hancock's Ostinato (Suite for Angela) is a clear reference, connecting in one swift move, not only the musical traditions of the Black Atlantic but also the struggles and triumphs of women across space and time. On the same note, the free-form Solomon, Tsietsi & Khotso, conjured in the same jam session that yielded SPAZA's UPRIZE!, appears here in a more fleshed out form as Senzo seNkosi; a tender dedication to Malcolm Jiyane Tree-O bass player Senzo Nxumalo. 

Jiyane's own path to the realisation of UMDALI is nothing if not fraught with tests along the way. But his generosity of spirit means that the offering is more than merely one individual's breakthrough. Workshopped and recorded within two days in Johannesburg, UMDALI, not unlike Miles Davis' landmark Kind of Blue, stretches our idea of what it means to improvise within the context of jazz.

With this debut, the Malcolm Jiyane Tree-O has created a work that is not only keenly aware of what came before it, but blazing a trail to the future.

New Music: Minnie Riperton, Robert Stillman, Dan Berkson, Studio One Dub

Minnie Riperton - Come To My Garden

Mindblowing work from Minnie Riperton – her first solo album, cut at the end of the 60s, after a number of years of work with the group Rotary Connection. The album builds off the now famous sound of Rotary Connection – but takes it to the next level, with arch-baroque production by the great Charles Stepney – who couches Minnie's fantastic vocals in a suite of shimmering soulful tracks that mix strings, horns, jazzy piano, and slight touches of bouncing rhythms. The overall sound is impossible to describe – sort of a cross between Burt Bacharach on A&M, Scott Walker's 3rd album, and the sound of Marvin Gaye's What's Goin' On. The album's pure genius all the way through – one of the highlights of the Chicago scene of the 60s – and proof that Riperton, Stepney, and crew were shooting for the outer limits of soul music! Titles include "Les Fleur", "Only When I'm Dreaming", "Rainy Day In Centerville", "Memory Band", "Expecting", "Whenever Wherever", and "Oh, By The Way".  ~ Dusty Groove

Robert Stillman - Portals

A beautiful little record, and one that's a bit hard to place – it's partly jazz, but something else as well – as Robert Stillman has more of a legacy in more serious composition, but here delivers a session of improvisations on Fender Rhodes! Yet this isn't your typical Rhodes album either – not funky or soulful, but instead uses the instrument in a really different way – almost like Philip Glass discovering the farfisa organ many years back – as here Stillman is using the keyboard to generate these waves of electric sound that are completely seductive! The album features seven "Portal" tunes – and one short "Break", which has a bit more of a familiar Fender Rhodes approach. ~ Dusty Groove

Dan Berkson - Dialogues

Dan Berkson's had a hand in many different styles of music over the years, but this set is a wonderfully contemporary expression of his keyboard talents in jazz – served up here both on acoustic piano and Fender Rhodes – as Dan works in a "trio plus" mode that has some other artists joining in the sound from time to time! At the core is the combo with Andrea Di Biase on bass and Jon Scott on drums – musicians who do a good job of blocking them selves around Berkson's keyboard lines, which have this open sense of flow that creates its own structure, even when loose – maybe evolved out of the Bill Evans school, but very much Dan's own bag. The leadoff track "Unity" is a great Rhodes number, with Magnus Pickering on trumpet and Alam Nathoo on tenor – and one more track features Pickering as well, on titles that include "Live Bait", "Sketches", "The Court", and "Maggie's Last Day". ~ Dusty Groove

Studio One Dub (Various Artists)

Another round of Studio One butter from the folks at Soul Jazz! By this point you're well informed about the status of Coxsone Dodd's Studio One operation as the cornerstone of so much Jamaican music, and Soul Jazz has approached the catalog from just about every angle, covering nearly all the bases before landing here on this dub set. The sly Island grooves are stripped down to their bare essentials, then given a tasteful bit of dubby gloss at the hands of Sylvan Morris, for a massive collection that'll rule your stereo like Studio One rocked the sound systems back in the day. 17 tracks in all, wrapped in a nice package that includes interviews with Morris and Dodd, and fully annotated as to which numbers the rhythms were originally cut as the backing for. Includes "Bionic Dub", "Sky Rhythm", 'Taurus Dub 2", "Hooligan", "Dub Rock", "Hi Fashion Dub", In Cold Blood Version" and "Feel The Dub".  ~ Dusty Groove

Jonny Tobin | "Together"

 

After releasing the full-length “Weekends” in 2020 (released via Wicked Wax in Amsterdam), a string of singles, collaborative projects, and EPs in 2021, Jonny Tobin releases another full-length solo album “Together” to kick off 2022. Facing isolation and loneliness (as many people in the world did throughout 2020), the album is a collection of tracks that Jonny made to channel negative feelings into something hopeful and forward-looking.

While the album was created without any other collaborators, many of the tracks on the album relate back to an experience that personally inspired Jonny, or to a connection with someone else. “Take Your Time” was an evolution of a Masego remix contest submission from the summer of 2020 (while Jonny didn’t win the contest, he received a memorable shoutout from Masego on Instagram). On “What I Didn’t Do”, Jonny features a clip from friend and fellow musician William Chernoff speaking about unrealized potential and some of the negative self-talk that can hold people back. “Vivid Dreams” also features vocals by way of a chopped lead vocal from the Jonny Tobin-produced track “Mars” by Janette King. Closing off the album is the introspective track “Leonidus”, which was born out of a beat Jonny created for Loop Sessions, a monthly beatmakers hang. The track expanded into a tribute to Jonny’s friend Leonidus Edwards who passed away suddenly in 2021.

“Together” represents Jonny’s response to all the tragedy, despair, and grief of the past 2 years - holding space for those emotions but also seeking to provide glimmers of optimism with an almost playful delight, as the compositions encapsulate his bright outlook on the world.

Music Releases: S-Tone Inc., Immanuel Wilkins, Kool And The Gang, Melissa Aldana

S-Tone Inc.  In The Name Of Love (Remix featuring Laura Fedele)

The new single from S-Tone Inc will appear on the new vinyl album 'Body & Soul - The Disco Experience' to be released in spring 2022 and is a remix version by Stefano Tirone himself of the track featuring the vocals of Laura Fedele. In tune with the recent remixes the new version of has a '70s disco flavour but smoother and mid tempo that matches perfectly with the socially committed lyrics, the soulful vocals and the jazzy flute by Carlo Nicita.

Immanuel Wilkins - The 7th Hand

Alto saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins has released The 7th Hand, the follow-up to his acclaimed debut Omega which was named the #1 Jazz Album of 2020 by The New York Times. The 7th Hand once again showcases Wilkins’ profound compositional talent with a seven-movement suite of new original pieces performed by his quartet with Micah Thomas on piano, Daryl Johns on bass & Kweku Sumbry on drums, plus special guests Elena Pinderhughes on flute & Farafina Kan percussion ensemble. Watch Immanuel on the latest episode of “First Look” with Don Was & catch him on tour in the U.S. & Europe.

Kool And The Gang - The Gangs Back Again

The 1970 debut album from Kool and the Gang scored a couple of hits with “The Gangs Back Again” and the title cut, but more importantly, it heralded the arrival of what was to become a juggernaut on the R&B scene. This all-instrumental record is years away from the commercial successes of “Jungle Boogie” and “Celebration,” and a few light years away stylistically, too. But that unique mixture of jazz, funk, and R&B punctuated by those tremendous horn arrangements (and some great drum breaks) that characterizes Kool and the Gang at its best is here in full force. That’s why original copies of Kool and the Gang go for a “kool” sum. It’s a funk classic you need to check out if you haven’t heard it lately…purple vinyl pressing to help you get on down!

Melissa Aldana - 12 Stars

Saxophonist Melissa Aldana will make her Blue Note debut with the March 4 release of 12 Stars. The Brooklyn-based tenor player from Santiago, Chile has garnered international recognition for her visionary work as a band leader and was one of the founding members of the collective band ARTEMIS, whose self-titled album was released on Blue Note in 2020. 12 Stars was produced by guitarist Lage Lund, who also performs as part of a quintet with Sullivan Fortner on keyboards, Pablo Menares on bass & Kush Abadey on drums. 

Music Releases: Wadada Leo Smith Great Lakes Quartet, Alder Ego, Isaiah J Thompson, Kutiman

Wadada Leo Smith Great Lakes Quartet - Chicago Symphonies (4CD set)

A fantastic package from trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith – one that's billed as "symphonies" in the title, but which instead features quartet jazz performances throughout – as you've maybe guessed by the name of the group! There's maybe a more compositional structure here than on some of Smith's other recent albums, but there's also plenty of improvisation too – served up by a fantastic group that features Henry Threadgill on alto and flute, John Lindberg on bass, and Jack DeJohnette on drums – with saxophonist Jonathon Haffner stepping in for Threadgill on one of the four CDs in the package! Each longer piece has a slightly different vibe – and together, the music is a stunning statement of the continuing genius of Leo Smith in recent years – a masterful statement of his importance in jazz, but also a personal message that's filled with urgent intensity. Titles include "Gold Symphony", "Diamond Symphony", "Pearl Symphony", and "Sapphire Symphony". ~ Dusty Groove

Alder Ego - III

Helsinki quartet Alder Ego, led by drummer/composer Joonas Leppänen, returns with their new album "III" on We Jazz Records. A follow up to their successful 2018 We Jazz album, "III" finds Leppänen and his bandmates extracting more depth and punch out of their tenor sax + trumpet + double bass + drums setup, which echoes the greats in the game, such as Ornette Coleman, yet adds a readily identifiable edge to it all. Leppänen's writing is evolving, becoming more and more of a signature of the band and sounding delightfully angular yet easily flowing. On "III", Alder Ego features Leppänen on drums, Jarno Tikka (of OK:KO) on tenor sax, Tomi Nikku (of Bowman Trio) on trumpet and the new addition Nathan Francis on bass.

Isaiah J Thompson - Composed In Color

We loved pianist Isaiah Thompson on his debut, a tribute to the music of Buddy Montgomery – but here, he sounds even more amazing, and very much his own man – bursting forth with a sense of energy and imagination that will no doubt make him one of the key young voices on piano to watch in years to come! Isaiah's got all the command of a classic master on the keys – but also rings out with all these touches and tones that are very much his own – a really special quality that lets you know that you're hearing the piano in the hands of someone who's really out to make something new of familiar modes – even when the tunes on the album are ones you've heard before too. Yet the approach isn't a gimmicky one – flash for its own sake – as Thompson's clearly drawn in plenty, and finds a way to spin it out with his own sense of style – working with core help from Philip Norris on bass and TJ Reddick on drums – on titles that include "Ojos De Rojo", "Hi Fly", "Senor Blues", "Chelsea Bridge", and "Twelve's It". ~ Dusty Groove

Kutiman - Surface Currents

“Music for doing things”. That’s the intention Kutiman had for Surface Currents, his forthcoming album of ambient atmospherics and modular experiments. But its beautiful sounds are deeply calming and refreshing, making this a perfect album to do nothing to as well. Composed and recorded at his home in the middle of the Negev Desert, where the solace and tranquility of his surroundings allow him to truly stretch his creativity, Kutiman’s quiet and solitary lifestyle imbues this project with an ethereal yet joyous aura. On the title track, built around a bed of piano arpeggios, Kutiman weaves other-worldly synth flutes, soothing siren sounds and subtle wooden percussion. The quiet addition of birdsong only cements the feeling of sunrise.  The low-end synth drones on “Offshore” resonate directly through your body, harmoniously complemented with harp-like keys and deep humming.  Finally, the beautiful “Coral Blossom” has the jazziest feel on this collection, as weightless piano motifs interplay with synthetic bass tones.

Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band 'The Reset' 18-pc Big Band/Jazz Fusion (New Ep)

Multiple Grammy/Emmy Award winner Gordon Goodwin returns to forefront of adventurous compositions and modern jazz with “The Reset,” an urgent and topical 5-song EP, a bold foray into the intersection of composition and improvisation, a futuristic excursion brimming with purpose and cursive.

From the 7-minute title track, which seems to channel the ethos of Chick Corea’s Return to Forever, while unleashing its inner Dream Theater, to the funky sass and sizzle of “Six Feet Away,” one thing is inherently certain, its calligraphy pulls back the curtain and soars into areas few big bands have ventured.

Honoring the late great arranger/composer Sammy Nestico, who passed away earlier this year at the age of 96, with a pair of songs, the first being “My Man Sam” which swings with the same buoyancy as his former employer, Count Basie, for his Orchestra, and “Cell Talk,” which was the last chart Nestico wrote while in his early 90s. Sammy’s voice can be heard at the beginning of the song. Lovingly done, both expositions feel classic, yet fresh, an address to the best of us and what’s next.

The lone cover, and only vocal track, is a gorgeous reading of the David Foster-penned “Through the Fire,” a song first made famous by Chaka Khan, this time beautifully delivered by vocalist Vangie Gunn, who, in addition to her career singing on TV and Film soundtracks, has performed with Johnny Mathis, Herb Alpert, Barry Manilow, Patti Austin, Justin Timberlake, Melissa Manchester and Take 6.

Gordon recalls the impetus for The Reset, “Our collective experience dealing with the Covid-19 virus lead to a lot of change in our world. This composition was my attempt to reflect on some of the changes I felt in my life. It is fairly different from most of our other material. There is less emphasis on melody and structure with more free association, compositionally speaking. We also brought in more programming elements to enhance the performance of the Phat Band, like synth textures, drum loops, and SFX. But the focus of this track remains the amazing human beings that perform the music and this track represents one of our very best efforts.”

As a companion piece, 11 alternate mixes of two of the tracks are being made available as bonus content via the official Gordon Goodwin online store at Bandwear. Fans can purchase the premium digital content as a stand-alone offering or buy any format of his most recent album, 2020’s The Gordian Knot (on vinyl, CD, Blu-ray or flash drive) and receive a complimentary download of the tracks, 6 mixes of “Six Feet Away” and 5 mixes of the title track. Each mix highlights the solo efforts of a particular member of the Big Phat Band, so listeners can revel in the Marienthal soprano sax mix, the Rocha trumpet mix or the Goodwin Hammond B3 mix, to name a few.

Born in Wichita, Kansas, Goodwin’s parents moved to Southern California when Goodwin was four. After completing his formal music education at Cal State University-Northridge, Gordon began working at Disneyland in the theme park’s band and after a few years he was commissioned to work on a musical that featured past and present Mouseketeers (including Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera). Upon hearing his music, the master drummer and bandleader Louie Bellson recruited Goodwin to join his band. That exposure led to studio work with the likes of Gil Scott-Heron, Mel Tormé, Ray Charles and legendary vocalist Johnny Mathis.

In 1999, Gordon founded the Big Phat Band for what he thought would be a single performance at his alma mater Cal State at Northridge. Since then, the Big Phat Band has recorded 10 albums, and in the process received 22 Grammy nominations. Goodwin won a Grammy for ‘Best Instrumental Arrangement’ for “Incredits” for the film The Incredibles and has been honored with 3 Emmy awards for his work on the Steven Spielberg-produced shows Animaniacs and Pinky and the Brain. His work has been featured/utilized in more than 80 film & TV productions spanning the gamut of pop culture:, amplifying the likes of National Treasure, Star Trek: Nemesis, Snakes on a Plane, Get Smart, Remember the Titans, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, The Majestic (starring Jim Carrey), The Lion King, and Ratatouille.

Last year, Goodwin released the full-length album The Gordian Knot, a nod to the Greek mythology of a knot impossible to undo. Highlights from the collection include “Kneel Before Zod” a song about the super villain who destroyed Superman’s home planet, Krypton, “T.O.P. Adjacent,” a blazing tribute to Tower of Power, “Sunset and Vine,” a 6-minute stroll thru the looking mirror of the legendary Hollywood intersection, a re-make of “The Incredibles,” a tribute to famed drummer Buddy Rich called “The Buddy Complex,” and a sultry, sophisticated rendition of “Summertime,” a take on the aria composed by George Gershwin for the 1935 opera, Porgy and Bess, with vocals by Vangie Gunn.

In addition to being a regular staple at venues throughout Southern California, Goodwin is also the host of the popular long-running radio program, “Phat Tracks with Gordon Goodwin,” airing for the last 5 years on KJAZZ, America’s jazz and blues station.

Greg Abate | "Magic Dance: The Music of Kenny Barron"

There’s a beautiful marriage happening with Greg Abate’s “Magic Dance: The Music of Kenny Barron." It’s the union between Abate’s multi-instrumental gift of bebop and Kenny Barron’s varied and sublime compositions. Abate and Barron, who, in addition to lending Abate his material, handles keys on this recording session, are soul mates occupying the same lovely musical space.

With Barron’s material and Abate’s fresh vision, the two-disc set, recorded over three days at Rudy Van Gelder Studio in New Jersey, is a revelation. Says Abate: “Kenny was kind enough to provide me with music for a range of his tunes, some more well-known than others. The only difficult part was choosing which ones to record.”

Abate researched and reworked Barron’s music, inserting his own ideas when appropriate, enhancing his arrangements with multiple sax overdubs, and, when the original was so good, it made sense to leave well enough alone. The project was challenging, multi-dimensional, and immensely gratifying. “I even scored a big band sax section (two altos, two tenors and bari) on ‘Innocence’ and ‘Voyage.’ The other 12 tracks have either one horn, or two horns in harmony.”

Each song received concentrated effort to mix and match saxes and flute, instilling a personal touch without losing the theme of the song. Says Abate: “Besides writing and varying intros and solo chord progressions, I tinkered with key changes, endings and tempos, all with the aim of making something happen. You may hear the head changes differing from the solo chords on many of these tunes. The hard part was to come up with the horn sound that fits each tune best.”

In addition to the mesmerizing material, the room also cast a spell on the band. “The studio was amazing. It oozes history,” says Abate. “Working with Maureen and Don Sickler was a humbling experience. What an honor.” Collaborating with the players on the session must have also been humbling. The lineup, which included Barron, alongside the hot-shot rhythm section of bass player Dezron Douglas and drummer Johnathan Blake, knows this material better than anyone. Together they fully support Abate’s innovations, elevating these arrangements as if they were new to the repertoire. “It was a welcome challenge to construct and execute the arrangements and harmonies, overdubbing and soloing! And the band only made it more welcoming.”

The overdubbing, mixing, and mastering were done by John Mailloux at Bongo Beach, in Westport, MA. Says Abate, “John made me comfortable during what were otherwise very tense times, and he enabled me to realize my musical ideas and get them to sound great.”

Songs like “Rain” and “Innocence” and “Voyage” and—frankly, many many more—are all worth hearing. The set is brisk, passionate and lovely. You can let it wash over you like an ocean breeze, or you can dig into it like a treasure chest, and search for gems. The material, the vision, the ensemble, and the sublime recording here reaffirms the health of real bebop, a genre in which Abate has been, throughout his five-decade career, a dependable flame keeper. With this collaboration, Barron and Abate prove that the glory of straight-ahead jazz can still be purposeful, exhilarating, and, like all great marriages, faithful and true.

Marcin Wasilewski | "En attendant"

"Their years together have resulted in an ensemble with an utterly symbiotic creative flow," observed Don Heckman in the Los Angeles Times, when the Marcin Wasilewski Trio was first making its presence felt on the international jazz scene. The improvisational communication among the players has continued to deepen with the years, along with their range of creative options. En attendant pays testimony to the musicians' far-reaching imagination and to the ways in which the group's lucid musical language can integrate influence from disparate sources. 

Recorded just prior to their Arctic Riff collaboration with Joe Lovano, En attendant finds Marcin Wasilewski, Slawomir Kurkiewicz and Michal Miskiewicz in thoughtful, exploratory mood. The multifaceted Polish group illuminates a characteristically wide span of music, the scope extending from Bach to group improvisation. On En attendant, collectively created pieces are juxtaposed with Wasilewski's malleable "Glimmer of Hope", Carla Bley's timeless "Vashkar", The Doors' hypnotic "Riders on the Storm" and a selection from Johann Sebastian Bach's Goldberg Variations, transformed in the context. Fluidity is the hallmark, allied to the deep listening made possible by more than a quarter-century of collaborative music-making.

The tripartite "In Motion" offers the most thorough account yet of the trio's capacity for finding forms in the moment, shaping and developing musical structures with a running sense of architectural proportion. "In Motion Part I" gives way to Variation 25 from the Goldberg Variations, a reminder that all roads lead to Bach, eventually. The trio's take on the minor key aria gently probes its atmosphere of dark passion and encircles its exquisite melody. 

Paul Bley's Footloose! recording of 1963 was where many musicians first learned about Carla Bley as a composer. As Marcin Wasilewski recently noted it "opened the gates to something undiscovered", including the inexhaustible mysteries of tunes like "Vashkar," which has become one of the pieces the trio likes to revisit, always finding something new inside it.

Pop and rock cover versions have also long been part of the trio's story. Earlier recordings have found the group re-contextualising Björk's "Hyperballad", Prince's "Diamonds and Pearls", the Police's "Message in a Bottle" and more. The Doors' iconic "Riders on the Storm" now joins the list, in a subtly unconventional arrangement. While the rhythmic feel here hews to a bubbling groove close to the original, bassist Slawomir Kurkewicz is to the fore for much of the tune, soloing inside the form, while Wasilewski mines the harmonies. 

Marcin's rubato ballad "Glimmer of Hope" moves like the waves, floating its glistening motive through changing tonalities over Michal Miskiewicz's detailed cymbals and drums.

Recorded at Studios La Buissonne in August 2019. 

Petter Asbjørnsen, Petter Asbjørnsen & Federico Isasti | "Hello Cacus! Happy Thief"

During a residency in New York, September 2018, Argentinian drummer Federico Isasti and Norwegian bassist Petter Asbjørnsen met and developed a spontaneous musical connection. As part of the SIM workshop (led by Ralph Alessi), Petter and Federico played together a wide range of compositions with musicians within different ensemble settings. That initial musical connection and the shared way of conceiving composed music with improvisation as the founding core led to the idea of working together in the future. Just a few days later, fate would have it that they also met the Austrian pianist Petter Asbjørnsen, a musician that Federico and Petter already admired for his work with Jim Black and Nels Cline, among others, and his fresh approach to improvised music. For all these reasons, they decided they would have to record an album before they disappeared to different corners of the world. 

The following days were spent intensively composing and exploring musical concepts and material to play in a piano trio setting. The central pieces of these explorations were a polished work of rhythm and a subtle approach to harmonies. As a result of that work, the musicians arrived at Happy Thief. Both the names of the album and the trio (Hello Cacus!) were chosen after a sour experience. Just a few weeks after the recording, Petter was back in Europe where his personal bag was stolen, containing the hard drive with the original copy of the album’s recording session. Fortunately the recordings were still stored on sound technician Luis Bacqué’s hard-drive in his studio in New Jersey, where the album was recorded. On the one hand, Hello Cacus! references to the fire-breathing roman god Cacus, son of Vulcan, killer of innocents and perpetrator of all kinds of crimes. On the other hand, Happy Thief is a plain citation to that man that almost made this album impossible to be released.

Larry Goldings, Peter Bernstein, Bill Stewart | "Perpetual Pendulum"

Perpetual motion has been dismissed as an impossibility by scientists, but perhaps they should check in with organist Larry Goldings, guitarist Peter Bernstein and drummer Bill Stewart. The trio has been creating vigorously swinging music together for more than 30 years and show no signs of slowing down. That’s not quite an eternity – though in jazz terms, it might as well be. 

The longevity of the musical hook-up between Goldings, Bernstein and Stewart was the inspiration behind Bernstein’s “Perpetual Pendulum,” one of the scintillating new tunes on Perpetual Pendulum, the trio’s new album together. Due out March 25, 2022 from Smoke Sessions Records, the date combines the bandmates’ originals with fresh takes on jazz classics by what is surely the longest-lasting organ trio in modern jazz. 

“Thirty-plus years is definitely a milestone,” Bernstein says. “Especially when you consider it in light of jazz history; it’s trippy to think about, but that's equivalent to keeping a band together from 1940 to 1970. If you think about how short a time so many of our musical heroes were even active, let alone have a group together – I mean, the classic Coltrane quartet was only together for about four years. So it is pretty significant.” 

Perpetual Pendulum was recorded last July at New York’s Sear Sound, a studio with which the trio shares a storied history dating back to their second outing together, 1992’s Light Blue. The session marked the 30th anniversary of the release of their debut, Goldings’ 1991 album The Intimacy of the Blues.

 But their history stretches back even earlier. Goldings and Bernstein had met while still in high school, when both attended the Eastman School of Music’s summer jazz program. The guitarist met Stewart two years later when both were enrolled at William Paterson University, and the drummer and organist hooked up for the first time at a New School session. When Goldings and Bernstein established their spot on the weekly Augie’s calendar, they tried a few drummers before clicking with Stewart and establishing a collective voice that’s endured through three extremely busy solo careers and Goldings’ move to the west coast. 

“We all really dig each other, and that's probably the most important thing,” Goldings says in an attempt to explain the trio’s indefinable chemistry. There’s a lot of crossover in what we like to play and listen to, and our individual visions of jazz tend to align. It’s hard to say, because we never really discuss it; we just try to make good records. We came up together.” 

The origin of their trio makes the release of Perpetual Pendulum on Smoke Sessions particularly significant. Smoke Jazz & Supper Club, the label’s parent venue, was opened on the former site of Augie’s Jazz Bar, where Goldings, Bernstein and Stewart established their rapport on a regular Thursday night gig beginning in 1989. 

“It was a dive,” Goldings remembers. “It was a hole in the wall. Our weekly night there was the reason why I started playing the organ: the kinds of little places where we could get gigs frequently didn't have pianos. At Augies, we literally passed the basket to get paid… But between there and the Village Gate, we amassed a local fan base. So, it is significant that we’re releasing this album with Smoke. That room is hallowed… grease.” 

Perhaps that grease was part of the magic, as it can still be heard in the trio’s gut-level playing on the title track, Perpetual Pendulum – check out the stick-to-the-ribs groove on “Prelude,” Golding’s bluesification of George Gershwin’s Prelude #2. Or the slick venom they bring to Stewart’s self-explanatory political hit piece, “FU Donald.” 

Stewart originally recorded the latter tune on his 2018 album Band Menu, with a trio featuring Walter Smith III and Larry Grenadier. He knew it would make a perfect fit with his lifelong collaborators, however. “I don't think I've ever actually written anything specifically for this trio, to be honest,” Stewart admits. “I just know the way Pete and Larry play, so I just bring things in and see what works.” 

Bernstein concurs. “I know whatever I write, these guys can play it. Harmonically, Larry will be totally inside whatever I might be hearing, and Bill makes every band sound like a band. I don't have to worry about writing with these guys in mind. They've informed my whole sound, so they’re always a reference point in whatever I write.” 

The guitarist contributed two pieces to the album. The trio reprises his “Little Green Men,” which they originally recorded on Light Blue, in a ferociously swinging version. The aforementioned “Perpetual Pendulum” is a new piece, taken at a smoldering lope that prompts slow-burn solos from both the composer and Goldings. The organist’s “Let’s Get Lots” is a tune as witty and playful as the wordplay in its title. Stewart’s second composition is “Lurkers,” a quietly forceful piece highlighted by the avalanching intensity of Goldings’ solo. 

Both John Lewis’ “Django” and Wayne Shorter’s “United” have been longtime staples of the trio’s live sets. Originally recorded by Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers in 1961, “United” is driven by a forceful propulsion that eventually erupts into a taut bout of trading between Stewart and his bandmates. A trademark of the Modern Jazz Quartet, “Django” opens with an elegant solo turn by Bernstein, perhaps keeping the tune’s namesake, Django Reinhardt, in his mind’s eye. Goldings enters with lush, blossoming chords before effortlessly pivoting into a swaggering swing. 

Despite the trio’s mutual love of classic standards, “Come Rain or Come Shine” is one perennial that they’d never tackled onstage. An impromptu warm-up led to its welcome inclusion on the album, a bright moment that showcases the old friends’ warm, easy camaraderie. Gary Bartz’s “Libra” is another new addition to the repertoire, ignited by Stewart’s steamroller rhythms and featuring absolutely blistering solos by all three. Duke Ellington’s “Reflections in D” is the polar opposite – airy, elegant and tender, floating on the waves of Stewart’s shimmering brushwork. 

If it’s challenging to imagine a band with the kind of longevity that Goldings, Bernstein and Stewart share, it’s even more rare to find one maintaining this brilliant level of musicianship and chemistry. Its value isn’t lost on the trio, as Bernstein concludes. 

“I think we all share a pure feeling of gratitude,” he says. “With these cats, I feel pressured to play my best because they’ve heard everything I can do. At the same time, I feel comfortable trying anything with them because I know whatever I do, they're going to hold it together. We’ve all grown through our individual experiences, but we always come back to this. And it's only getting better.”

The Dick Aven Band | "Spin So Long"

Here's some killer Soul vibes from Alabama's brilliant Dick Aven who's toured with The Four Tops, The O'Jay's and The Temptations and is influenced by the likes of Sun Ra & Coltrane to name just a few. His stunning new album 'Spin So Long' is all killer no filler and features a man at the top of his game, doing what he does best, playing beautifully original Alt Soul/Jazz/Blues numbers to perfection. Dick Aven is a singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist studio musician and a touring saxophonist who currently lives in Franklin, Tennessee. Originally from Birmingham, Alabama, Dick has been making music since he could reach the keys of his mother’s piano. 

His first influences include the Moody Blues, Johnny Cash, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, Elton John, Hank Williams and many others. In his teens he developed an interest in jazz music and was especially influenced by John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Sun Ra and Miles Davis to name a few. As a composer he has been described as a ‘troublemaking progressive’, drawing from those jazz and 1970’s rock influences. Out of the studio he has been utilized as a proficient and reliable sideman. In the late 1980’s he quit his touring gig as the saxophone soloist for Soul artist Peabo Bryson to secure a record deal as half of a Folk-Pop guitar and harmony singing duo called The Cages. 

After that era he became a solo artist and has been steadily honing his craft as a home recording artist, hired studio musician, and road warrior sideman. He has been touring with Outlaw Country artist Jamey Johnson for the past few years as a baritone saxophonist as well as playing saxes in horn sections with The Tuscaloosa Horns, The Temptations, The O’Jays, The Four Tops, and recently tenor sax with The Big Band of Brothers (an Allman Brothers tribute Big Band album). He currently has four albums of original music available on all major music platforms. His last album was a late 2020 release called It All Started in The Garden. The single from that album, No Clue was aired on radio stations internationally. 

His new album, Spin So Long is available as of December 2, 2021. This album features Dick’s songwriting, singing, multi-instrumental arranging skills and stylized tenor saxophone soloing on a set of songs and videos which might be described as Alternative Soul or Modern American Blues based Rock.

Funktastic Players | "Full Circle"

Led by a smooth lead saxophone and a distinct funky 80’s style, Funktastic Players bring with their enriching musical compositions a unique blend of diverse genres. The group’s stirring new album titled, “Full Circle”, presents listeners with an exciting contemporary take on Jazz, on the Funk end of the spectrum.

Comprising of a range of stunning singles, “Full Circle” includes the tracks, “Run Away from You”, “Summer Winds”, “In My Heart”, among others that provide a stunning and memorable soundscape. Be it Hip Hop elements or instrumentation which is high energy and evoking old-school nostalgia, “Full Circle” is a happening voyage through Jazz.

Denoted by a fun and joyous vibe, Funktastic Players’ newest album is the perfect blend of contemporary Jazz and Old-School Funk. The new album released for listeners on December 1st, 2021, and includes the prowess of lead saxophone player, Marcus H Mitchell. Meanwhile, Kevin Croom and the band’s lead powerhouse, David Williams cover keyboards, and Adrian Norton showcases his unique talents on the bass.

“We are the perfect blend of Gerald Albright and Tribe called Quest. Our music is great for date nights and long summer drives. Our music is real feel-good toe tapping jazz…upbeat and danceable,” says the group regarding their music.

With a driving goal to grow a formidable fan base, Funktastic Players are hoping to become a phenomenon amidst other rising players in Jazz, creating for themselves a distinct persona. Building a brand and a catalog of tunes that people know, respect and pay top dollar to see performed is the key goal of David Williams and the Funktastic Players.

David Williams started out his musical career as an MC/DJ during the iconic era of Sugar Hill Gang, Kurtis Blow, and Grandmaster Flash. Having spent many of his early years producing rap acts, like all producers from the era, Williams sampled soul, jazz, and funk records from the 70s.

However, his unique musical trajectory was inked by his evolving and growing style and character. With a thirst to re-create his own original soul music, David Williams went beyond just sampling musical compositions. As the years passed by, the talented artist found himself finally free to do the music he always wanted to do and just the way he had in mind. Having worked in the industry his entire adult life for various independent record labels, David Williams was able to understand the driving mantra of “brand before the band”. With the Funktastic Players’ band, Williams is focusing on constructing an immortalized brand image both nationally and internationally. The group released their first CD, ‘Generations’ six years ago and are only moving onwards and upwards.