GRAMMY AWARD-WINNING GUITARIST NORMAN BROWN RELEASES "LET’S GET AWAY"

The joy that emanates from guitarist Norman Brown while he is playing is palpable. The guitar is simply an extension of him. The multi-platinum selling and chart-topping musician is an artist who is truly in service of the music with the goal to be a force for positivity. “I wish to be of service to my fellowmen as I journey through life,” he explains. “I look upon my work as an opportunity to be overcome with joy and to make the most of it. I want to inspire others to search inside themselves for the silver-lining. We all have an opportunity to grow in gratitude for our lives and the blessings we have.” A dedicated meditation and Tai Chi practitioner, Brown confides that there are definite parallels between his practice of the aforementioned Ancient Art and his music. Brown reveals that it comes down to one thing - “balance.” With all of the accolades that Norman Brown has amassed the past three decades, including Grammy and Soul Train Music Awards, he has stayed the course for one reason. “Knowing that I’ve been commissioned by the Most High to channel a message of inspiration and motivation, brings me happiness,” he states. The Atlanta based musician’s love affair with the guitar began at age eight. Watching his older brother play, Norman was drawn to the energy radiating from what he now calls his “Spirit Catcher,” the strings on the guitar. Waiting for his brother Roy Brown Jr., “Popsicle” to leave, Norman couldn’t wait to get his hands on his six string carefully stored in the closet. Luckily for us Brown’s love affair with the guitar is still going strong. His technical wizardry, genre-bending facility, soulful finesse and charisma, have made him one of the most sought after internationally renowned musicians in Contemporary Jazz. Just ask his devoted and loyal fan base affectionately dubbed ‘Normantics.’ A musician’s musician, Brown has collaborated with everyone from George Benson, Brian McKnight, Kirk Whalum and Miki Howard, to Jeff Lorber, Gerald Albright, Rick Braun, Peabo Bryson, and Chanté Moore, to name a few. 

Shanachie Entertainment VP of Jazz A&R, Danny Weiss, states, “At the risk of being blasphemous, Norman is the true successor to Wes Montgomery and George Benson. Like them, he's a jazz musician of the highest order, but you hardly notice because you're having so much fun listening to him.” At the core of Brown’s life and work are the 11 laws of God, the principles of universal law and wisdom from the Ancient Egyptian Spiritual Studies, The Ausar Auset Initiation System, "The Paut Neteru Of Anu," The Tree of Life, which focuses on peace, harmonious unification, wisdom, spirit power, order and truth, balance, justice, free will, creativity, thoughts and morality, manifestation and devotion for divine earthly living. On March 25, 2022, Shanachie Entertainment will release Norman Brown’s 13th recording as a leader and fourth for the label, Let’s Get Away. Brown’s own take on the perfect getaway involves, “ A joyful and peaceful mental state, surrounded by companionship in an atmosphere of inspiration and beauty that is illustrated by the colors of nature.” Let’s Get Away conjures the serenity, joy and beauty that Brown wishes for us all. 

The riveting ten-track set showcases the genius and flair that has landed Norman Brown at the top of the charts time and time again. Featuring originals composed by Norman Brown and various album personnel, Brown’s highly anticipated new recording fuses the best elements of Jazz, R&B, Pop, Blues and beyond. The lone cover is a well-known Lalo Schifrin composition that Brown puts his Midas touch on. Joining Brown on the all-star outing is fellow guitarist and label-mate Paul Brown, multi-instrumentalists Wirlie Morris, Shane Theriot and Jeff Carruthers, keyboardists Lew Laing and David Torkanowsky, saxophonist Greg Vail, trumpeter Ron King, drummer Gorden Campbell, bassist Jeff Wolfe, and percussionist Lenny Castro. “It was an honor and pleasure to be joined by all of these divine beings who nourished the music and brought the perfect seasoning to this experience,” shares Norman. Let’s Get Away opens with the exquisite “Back At Ya,” the album’s first single, co-written with Laing, Torkanowsky and Paul Brown, who plays percussion on the track. Norman’s crisp and buttery smooth riffs delight with every note as he trades choruses with saxophonist Greg Vail. The alluring title track, “Let’s Get Away,” is a collaboration with Wirlie Morris (Charlie Wilson, Confunkshun, Keith Sweat). The duo create an emotive, funky R&B swinger that transports us to another dimension. The euphoric “Easy Livin,’” is the perfect mood-enhancing anthem, bound to put a smile on your face. Brown confides that the secret to easy livin’ is “being able to access your ability to access and remain in a living state of a Peaceful Joy in the face of all obstacles, setbacks, problems and challenges” The percussive uptempo ditty calls to mind the timeless Hugh Masekela song “Grazin’ in the Grass.” Norman kicks it up a notch with the surprising key change and tasty blues-drenched solo half way through. 

Norman Brown also takes the opportunity on Let’s Get Away to pay homage to two significant men who have shaped him personally and the other musically; his Father, Roy Brown Sr. and Wes Montgomery, who transformed the guitar harmonically, melodically and technically. Brown puts his Midas touch on Lalo Schifrin’s “Down Here On The Ground,” which was the title track of Montgomery’s 1968 Creed Taylor produced session. The album hit #1 on the Billboard Jazz chart and #4 on the R&B chart. The original version was part of Schifrin’s Academy nominated score to the film Cool Hand starring Paul Newman and George Kennedy, who won an Oscar. “My inspiration for recording this song was to bring joy to my Father, fulfilling his request to learn Wes Montgomery’s version note for note, phrase for phrase and with the feeling of his rhythmic touch. This was a great moment to play tribute to both my Father and Wes Montgomery,” shares Norman. “Wes Side Story,” co-written with fellow guitarists Shane Theriot (who collaborates with Norman for the first time on recording) and Paul Brown, is another shining tribute to “The Golden Thumb as Wes was affectionately crowned. Norman adds, “Wes exposed me to guitar playing so creative, that it showed me a total range of musical expression that touches every emotion from warmth, to edgy, to excitement, all the way to blazing.” “L.A. Chill” is the coalescence of laid back groove, deep soul and mean guitar licks. The killer arrangement of Norman and Shane Theriot’s “Talk It Out,” is as catchy as it gets as Norman raises the roof and horn section of Ron King and Greg Vail to elevate the vibe. The percolating and effervescent “Late Night Drive,” conjures warm moonlight summer nights with the top down and your favorite soundtrack pumping through the speakers. Norman’s trademark assured touch, sublime and agile soloing make it hard to sit still as he blesses this undeniable groove. He explains, “I don’t think many people understand that the gear one uses including his instrument is only a partial makeup of the tone or overall sound. The voice and tone of an artist is generated through one's fingers, phrasing, rhythm and overall conceptual approach in playing his instrument.” The R&B gem “I Won’t Hurt You” is a collaboration between Brown, Wirlie Morris and vocalist James Champion while “Sunset On Chandler,” transports us to our final destination where Brown pulls out all the stops managing to balance grace, braun, grit and sophistication. The latter, another collaboration with Shane Theriot and Paul Brown, also features trumpeter Ron King.  

Born in Shreveport, LA and raised in Kansas City, KS Norman Brown has enjoyed a career longevity that is rare in this business . Never one to rest on his laurels, he states, “I always remind myself that success lies within my own brain. To expect difficulties and to force my way through them. To avoid procrastination in all its forms and to never, under any circumstances put off until tomorrow any duties that should be performed today.” It is these virtues that keep Brown on his astonishing evolution. A graduate of the Musician’s Institute in North Hollywood, Norman Brown would go on to teach at the school until he landed his first deal, as the flagship artist on Motown’s Mojazz label. In 1992, Brown recorded the albums Just Between Us, the Gold selling and Soul Train award-winning After The Storm and Better Days Ahead. Having recorded a string of successful albums including 1999’s Celebration (in which he teamed up with Paul Brown), 2002’s Just Chillin’ (featuring vocalists Michael McDonald, Miki Howard and Chanté Moore) scored a Grammy. The same year, Brown joined forces with saxophonist Kirk Whalum and trumpeter Rick Braun forming the group BWB, recording their debut album Groovin’. In 2013 they released Human Nature, a tribute album to Michael Jackson, which was followed by their third collaboration BWB in 2016. Brown continued a trail of critically heralded albums including West Coast Coolin’ (2004), Stay With Me (2007), Sending My Love (2010) and Grammy nominated 24/7 with saxophonist Gerald Albright. 2017 saw the release of Norman Brown’s anticipated and well-received Shanachie debut, Let It Go. Brown’s recording The Highest Act Of Love followed in 2019 and Heart To Heart in 2020 (both on Shanachie). 

With the release of Let’s Get Away and in the wake of so much divisiveness, Norman Brown hopes that his music can be a reminder that, “We are one race of beings interconnected and interrelated, therefore, we are interdependent on one another to achieve Optimality! A life united in harmony in the state of a joyful peace. As the gears in a fine Swiss watch operates achieving the state of keeping perfect time.”

New album from Flora Purim - If You Will

Big news as one of the all-time greats of Brazilian jazz fusion, Flora Purim, returns with her first studio album in over 15 years, ‘If You Will’ released on 29th April. A family affair recorded primarily in Curitiba and São Paulo, the recordings bring together many of Flora’s closest circle of musicians including Airto Moreira, guitarist José Neto and her daughter Diana Purim on vocals.

The album explores new compositions alongside fresh versions of Flora’s favourite personal songs and positive lyrics from across her varied career. Title track ‘If You Will’ reprises her inspired work with George Duke, the resilient ‘This Is Me’ updates an Airto jam band tune ‘I Don’t Wanna Be Myself Again’ and ‘500 Miles High’ recalls the heyday of the late Chick Corea’s Return To Forever band.

The album is the latest chapter in Flora’s long, illustrious and varied career. As well as her celebrated partnership with Airto and early days with Quarteto Novo, Flora has worked with Stan Getz, Gil Evans, Miriam Makeba, George Duke, Chick Corea (as an original member of Return To Forever), Dizzy Gillespie’s United Nation Orchestra, Uruguayan band Opa and many more. Her solo albums on Milestone remain all-time jazz fusion classics.

‘If You Will’ is available to pre-order as a limited edition clear LP, standard black LP, CD and digital download. The album is co-produced by Flora Purim and Roberta Cutolo with package photos by Mel Gabardo in Brazil and cover illustration by Gabriela Barbalho.

 

 

 

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Pianist-Composer Armen Donelian Debuts New Trio, with Jay Anderson & Dennis Mackrel, on "Fresh Start"

Pianist and composer Armen Donelian reemerges from the COVID-inspired shutdowns with a newly refined conception on both instrument and pen on Fresh Start, to be released April 1 on Sunnyside Records. The album is the recorded premiere of Donelian’s new trio featuring bassist Jay Anderson and drummer Dennis Mackrel. 

Sidelined like all musicians by the worldwide pandemic, Donelian was further removed from performing when a shoulder injury left him temporarily unable to play the piano. Ever resourceful, the 71-year-old simply wrote new music instead, giving himself something to workshop when he regained his playing ability. 

In neither capacity, though, was Donelian content to rest on his laurels. “The pandemic … was an opportunity for me to reexamine my approach to the piano and composing,” he says. It was in that spirit that he created the trio with Anderson, a longtime friend, and Mackrel, a new acquaintance (but a frequent bandstand partner of Anderson’s). He broadened his new approach to incorporate his collaborators. 

“I was looking to deepen how we listen and interact with each other in a responsive way,” Donelian explains, “taking every particle of time as an opportunity to connect with and support each other, contributing in some way to a more beautiful sound.”

A more beautiful sound is certainly what they achieved. From the sweet sensitivity of Donelian’s album-opening “Noviembre” to the percussive “Madagascar” (featuring a dazzling Mackrel solo) to the giddy, rattling 7/4 of “Janet Left the Planet,” the ensemble provides ample evidence of their mastery and imagination, both as individuals and collectively. 

Yet Donelian’s musical reboot is hardly a rejection of his place in the jazz tradition. Indeed, Fresh Start also offers a unique kind of contextualization for the leader. His five original compositions are joined by two pieces from the Great American Songbook—Harry Warren’s “Never Let Me Go” and Herb Magidson & Allie Wrubel’s “I’m Stepping Out with a Memory Tonight” (which marks Donelian’s vocal debut on record)—Donelian also explores works connected to his own past and present. “Gale” and “Day Break” are compositions by two of his mentors, pianist Richie Beirach and saxophonist Makanda Ken McIntyre, respectively. In addition, composer Vatan Rajan Singh (“Ferry Maiden”) and Sophia Bondi (“In the Western Night”) are both former students of Donelian’s. The album thus establishes him as one important link in a long, rich chain.

Armen Donelian was born December 1, 1950 to a family of Armenian immigrants in New York City. He began studying piano at the age of seven, enrolling at the Westchester Conservatory of Music. At 12, he discovered jazz by way of a trad band led by noted studio guitarist Arthur Ryerson; Armen’s older brother played clarinet in the band, and he himself eventually became its pianist. 

He studied music theory and composition at Columbia University—then entered a different sort of finishing school via the tutelage of Richie Beirach. The celebrated pianist was the first in a long line of musical mentors: Donelian soon found himself sharing bandstands with Mongo Santamaria, Sonny Rollins, Chet Baker, and Billy Harper. Throughout it all (though especially while in Harper’s band), he worked to develop his own sound, beginning a solo career in earnest with his 1981 debut Stargazer. 

A dozen more albums followed over the next 30-odd years, including the acclaimed releases Secrets (his 1988 album for Sunnyside), All or Nothing at All (2006), Leapfrog (2011) and Sayat-Nova: Songs of My Ancestors (2014). 

Proud as he is of his accomplishments, Donelian nonetheless takes a thoughtful and critical approach to his music, leading to the kind of reassessment that characterizes Fresh Start. “Instead of focusing on what I was playing, I was focusing more on how I was playing, on touch, expression, and storytelling, allowing the sound to happen in its own way,” he says. “That was the main focus of this album.” 

Donelian and his new trio will be performing this spring at the following venues: 3/18 Hudson (NY) Hall; 3/19 Maureen’s Jazz Cellar, Nyack, NY; 4/24 Claverack (NY) Public Library; 5/22 Ossining (NY) Public Library. In addition, Donelian will be based at the Bucharest University of Music (Romania) 5/2-19 in a Fulbright Specialist residency.

DJAZZ .ORGONITE - DOUBLE 'O JAZZ

“DJazz” is a combination between two words: “DJ” and “Jazz” (overlapping “J”), the two core elements that generate “DJazz”. Orgonite balances ambient energy by turning the negative energy into positive (orgone) energy. In the 1930’s and 1940’s, Dr. Wilhelm Reich was able to detect and measure the existence of etheric energy (life energy, chi, etc.), which he called “orgone“. “Orgonite” is a specific term that refers to the MIX of metal (conductor) & resin (organic substance) used in “orgone generators” (Oracs). DJazz.Orgonite is a “mix” between “Electronic & Acoustic”, between “Hardware & Humans”, between “DJs & Musicians”.

The project DJazz.Orgonite is formed by Roelant Hollander – saxophones on “Double ‘O Jazz”, “Duck Dis Drunk Dromedary” & “Yo Sco” . Beat, bass, keys programming & sampling on all tracks. Miroslav Petkov – trumpet on all tracks. Jivko (DJ Jijo) Marinov – scratches on “Double ‘O Jazz”, “Nu-Frisco-Funk” & “Yo Sco”. Todor (DJ Emotion) Zhelyazkov – scratches on “Yo Sco”. Guest artists appearing on this EP. Bertolf Lentink – guitar on “Double ‘O Jazz”. Vito Giocovelli – percussion on “Duck Dis Drunk Dromedary”. Etienne Lebel – trombone on “Nu-Frisco-Funk”. For this album the group chose to use a different Concert Pitch (A4=432Hz).

All tracks were composed, arranged, edited, mixed and produced by Roelant Hollander, except “Double O Jazz” was co-written by Bertolf Lentink. All tracks recorded by Ivan Boyadzhiev and Roelant Hollander at Studio 21. Converted to 432 by Frederic Van den Poel with the EVO432. Audiophile Analog Mastering: Angelos Timewarp Stoumpos at Timewarp Mastering 

Track List:

1. DJazz .OrgOnite - Double 'O Jazz (Original Mix)

2. DJazz .OrgOnite - Yo Sco (Original Mix)

3. DJazz .OrgOnite - Duck Dis Drunk Dromedary (Original Mix)

4. DJazz .OrgOnite - Nu-Frisco-Funk (Original Mix)

5. DJazz .OrgOnite - Hip cHops (Free Download) (Original Mix)

New Music: Funky Destination, Jazznut, Sault, Osibisa

Funky Destination - I Do Voodoo

Funky Destination returns back with his brand new and hot seventh studio solo LP album “I Do Voodoo”. Croatian based producer Vladimir Sivc a.k.a Funky Destination is back in funk business! “I Do Voodoo” features seventeen hot tracks, on all of them he is got the glorious funk groove, fat baselines, vintage drums & breaks while all of them glued in his special way with soulful melodies, blues touch, and funky brass sections and tones. In this album you will discover the organic sound of the era of 70’s with a modern twist. While the funk is domination over the album, blues, soul, brazil sounds, break and dub is not missing at all. This album is an excellent collection of warm produced tracks that will stay long in your speakers to play out loud! Audiophile Analog Mastering: Angelos Timewarp Stoumpos at Timewarp Mastering 

Jazznut - Under The Sun

Russian based artist Dmitry Khlynin was born in a family of church workers, from young age he was sure that music was "his way". He tried to play guitar with his father and later he started producing his own music. At that time the "club" sound with a straight 4/4 kick was all over the media so he was immersed by the hype, he spent many years trying to find his music path, but no avail. Finally he decided not to lie to himself anymore by accepting the way he really felt the world and music.“Under the Sun” album started in 2019 as latin jazz music became the best genre in the world for him, this music was filled with positive and sincerity that really helped him. He tried to imitate this sound and came up with "Walking The Streets" not knowing where it will lead him. Then he started adding part by part elements, and over the time he realised that as a child he was really impressed by the music of the era of Big Beat, Breaks, Rock, Funk, Jazz, Latin and Soul. Under this vibe, he brought to life this cinematic concept that you can hear now over the entire album. You will discover his passion of creating music that varies from Jazz to Funk blended with plenty of Rock inspiration, Trip Hop influences, Big Beats and Breaks combined with modern electronic elements, all well cooked with soul and indie dance style.

Sault - 9

Fantastic music from Sault – a record that explodes way past some of their previous releases, and really shows the group evolving in their sound – even if they are still keeping their cover art in the same very understated territory! There's a sense of urgency as the album begins – one that wasn't there a few records before, and which may well illustrate the increasing importance of Sault's mission at a cultural and political level – as they work with a blend of funky soul elements and much more cosmic-tinged execution – sometimes very slow and brooding, other times bursting with life to deliver their message! Titles include "Bitter Street", "You From London", "Light's In Your Hand", "Alcohol", "Haha", "London Gangs", "Trap Life", and "Fear". ~ Dusty Groove

Osibisa – Yo Love Is Betta (Louie Vega Remix) 

In their 50th anniversary year, pioneering godfathers of Afro-beat, Osibisa reached out to global icon, Louie Vega, to bring a fresh collaboration to their new release, ‘Yo Luv Is Betta’, taken from their 2021 studio album ‘New Dawn’. Vega instantly pulled in right-hand-man, Josh Milan (keyboardist and co-remixer) and together they brought justice to this mighty track, with The Celebration Mix & Expansions NYC Dub release. Written by Osibisa front man, Gregg Kofi Brown, the track was inspired by the passing of Afrobeat legendary drummer, Tony Allen, and features vocals from Ghanaian vocalist, Ssue. Steeped in voluptuously rich vocals, ‘Yo Luv Is Betta’ serves-up a delicious melodic cocktail of afro-beats, flecked with jazz undertones and big-band instrumentals. The remix combines a joy-ride of Afrobeat and Afro / Brazilian house beats & bass groove, sparkled with scintillating sitars, re-arranged horn stabs and the metal tines of a Fender Rhodes. The Celebration mix and the Expansions NYC Dub is a classic Vega/Milan hot biscuit for dancers worldwide.

Marcus Rezak & Kris Myers (Umphrey's McGee) Release NYC Fusion-Inspired Single "Kyoto Cocktail"

On Friday, February 18th, Marcus Rezak will release "Kyoto Cocktail," a collaborative track with Kris Myers of Umphrey's McGee via Color Red produced by Eddie Roberts of The New Mastersounds. The track also features Chris Duffy of The Magic Beans on bass and Tyler Adams of The Jauntee on keyboards.

“Kyoto Cocktail” encompasses the sonic grit and edginess of a live performance in a New York City dive bar. During a car ride to a gig the night before the session at Color Red Studios, the two discussed their mutual love for fusion music coming out of NYC in the 80s and 90s. This particular era possessed a paradoxical combination of rawness and commercial catchiness that Rezak and Myers sought to capture through both production and composition in the studio. Rezak’s virtuosic, yet tastefully expressive guitar work and Myers’ signature style of syncopated and sophisticated drumming are accompanied by Tyler Adams’ (The Jauntee) soaring organ pads and Chris Duffy’s (Magic Beans) subsonic bass. The track is an exploration of rich melodies and rhythmic latitude that encompasses Rezak and Myers’ pedigree through both cutting their teeth at Berklee College of Music and a combined 50 years of touring between the two of them. Like its namesake derived from the suave and worldly mixed drink, “Kyoto Cocktail” is a concoction of a fruitful 15-year collaborative history between two of the most highly regarded and multifaceted musicians on the modern touring circuit.

The track release comes ahead of a co-headlining show between Rezak's original 'Truth in Sound' band ft. Myers on drums & Myers' original fusion project Kick the Cat at Cervantes' Other Side in Denver, CO on Friday, March 4th, 2022. 

Rezak is currently embarking on a fully loaded winter tour with his high-octane Grateful Dead tribute group, Shred is Dead and his original 'Truth in Sound' band to promote his latest release 'Truth in Sound' ft. Russ Lawton, Ray Paczkowski, and the late Tony Markellis of Trey Anastasio Band. He recently appeared as an artist-at-large at Gem & Jam Festival in Tucson, AZ sitting in with TAUK, Melvin Seals & JCB, and more and will appear at SXSW, Virgin Island Jam Fest (Saint John, VI), and Skull & Roses Festival (Ventura, CA) to wrap the tour up.

Marcus Rezak carves out a distinguished style in the world of guitar with several cutting-edge groups such as Shred is Dead, Digital Tape Machine, Stratosphere All-Stars, Katharsis, Supernatural Beings in addition to frequent engagements as an artist-at-large. Known as a master of jazz improvisation with a knack for art of the sit-in, Rezak is a frequent call among bands and musicians carving out his unique niche in the performance world. Having a commanding stage presence, Rezak takes the euphoric freedom of live music and directs its path into a unique approach, as if every jam is a live recording session. Rezak’s 2018 debut as a bandleader saw him collaborating alongside Kris Myers and Joel Cummins of Umphrey’s McGee, Arthur Barrow of Frank Zappa’s band, and legendary saxophonist Bill Evans. Since then, he has toured across the US with eclectic lineups featuring the likes of Ike Willis, Kris Myers, Jay Lane, Scott Page, and more; led his band on two tours though the US Virgin Islands; spearheaded official Umphrey’s McGee afterparties; and continued to hone his chops in his home studio and licensing endeavors. ‘Truth in Sound’ is Rezak’s most recent endeavor featuring members of Trey Anastasio Band, esteemed percussionist Kalyan Pathak, and more. The ability to keep exceptionally comprehensive mental notes on what works, what doesn’t, and how to improve have garnered Rezak much-deserved respect in the music world and have leveraged his ability to take his craft to integral heights. 

Freekbass | "Drive"

Over the past fifteen months, Freekbass has kept busy launching his weekly ‘Saturday Night Chit-Chat’ show and releasing a steady stream of new singles and content. His latest effort “ Drive” is a summer soulful groove anthem perfect for driving long stretches of highway and ushering in a post-COVID world to enjoy the simple pleasures in life. Taken from the pages of the church of Sly Stone, the new single features Nigel Hall of Lettuce on vocals and clavinet. 

Wanting to keep the funk raw and loose and reminiscent of albums like ‘Fresh’ by Sly & the Family Stone, Freekbass crafted the groove and it was evident that Hall would be the perfect voice to fit the mix and lend his chops on clavinet. The two met sharing the stage at Bear Creek Music Festival and he happily obliged to be a part of the tune. “Drive” also features longtime collaborator and touring vocalist of Freekbass & The Bump Assembly Reilly Comisar to fill the track out with sultry high-end leads and lush vocal harmonies. 

Co-written by longtime creative partner, Angie Wilson, the lyrics reminisce about the feeling of life on the road and embracing any journey that lies ahead. “I’ve always been obsessed with truckers and living the road-life. As touring musicians, there are a lot of similarities, and I have been missing that life since touring came to an abrupt gaily in 2020. So I wanted to write a song to capture that feeling,” says Freekbass. 

The music video reflects the spirit of the open road and was filmed in both Cincinnati, Ohio, home of Freekbass and Cosimar and New Orleans, Louisiana where Hall resides. “‘Drive’ reminds me of that perfect summer tune, driving in your car, windows down, sun in your face," says Wilson who also directed the video, "The video takes you on a road trip with Freekbass, Hall, and Comisar, each one driving the open road, enjoying the scenery along the way. By the end of the journey, we discover their destiation wasn’t a place, but each other, celebrating with some much-awaited post-vaccination hugs."

In addition to the release of “Drive,” Freekbass is gearing up to release his second record via Color Red, record label/music platform founded by Eddie Roberts of The New Mastersounds. ‘Krameria,’ produced by Roberts and recorded at Color Red Studios in Denver, Colorado.

Oscar Peterson | “A Time For Love: The Oscar Peterson Quartet - Live In Helsinki, 1987”

For nearly 80 years, legacy has been the spinal cord of the glorious jazz tradition – but maybe never more so to its fans than during these challenging days of the pandemic. Unable to hear music in person, all of us have only been able to access new music through technology, resulting in many looking back upon what may have been missed. But when one can look back on something that is at the same time entirely new, that is a most special situation. And when that something new is coming from jazz immortal Oscar Peterson – even more so. And that is exactly what is in hand with A Time for Love: The Oscar Peterson Quartet – Live in Helsinki, 1987 from Two Lions/Mack Avenue Records. 

From this perspective alone, this is a momentous album – but it is far more than that. The final gig of a long international tour that began with 4 concerts in Brazil, this date was the 14th of a European tour that took the quartet all over mainland Europe and Scandinavia. Anyone with any knowledge of jazz knows that the magic of consistent performing only makes the synergy and empathy of an ensemble – both substances this quartet has in mind-blowing quantity – better and better. That always dwarfs the fatigue factor, and sometimes results in sheer magic on a different plane. That’s clearly what happened during this spectacular concert. As Kelly Peterson says: “Performing with joy and vivacity, they determined to make every concert better than the previous one. This night in Helsinki is a glorious example of that” – and a stunning addition to the continuing legacy of this beloved master of music. 

With a remarkable quartet of Joe Pass on guitar and the bass/drums tandem of Dave Young and Martin Drew – all of whom at the time of this recording were about halfway through their thirty-year affiliations with Peterson – the wildly enthusiastic Helsinki audience was treated to a marvelous performance that spans gorgeously poignant lyricism to blistering intensity and every stroke in between with flawless artistry and an exuberant sense of adventurous creativity. The live performance, presented in its unedited entirety, offers the actual being there experience. It graces listeners with the sweeping breadth of Peterson’s majesty as presented in the immediacy of the live concert. 

The first set consists exclusively of Peterson’s own compositions – an important focus in Kelly’s efforts to further enhance his immortal legacy. The scope of his exceptional vision as composer is on intriguing display through these five pieces, opening with the sauntering strut of the aptly titled “Cool Walk.” A pair of scorchers – “Sushi” and “Cakewalk” – vividly deliver the explosive power and consummate artistry that is so prominent in Peterson’s ensembles. Defining jazz as “instant composition,” he would occasionally compose a song during a performance. “Love Ballade” is one such piece, written spontaneously during an earlier concert. A mesmerizing extended solo piano opening of filigreed beauty. and an excellent guitar-like Young solo highlight this captivating offering. 

A lifelong fascination with Johann Sebastian Bach inspired Peterson’s stunning 20-minute “A Salute to Bach.” This enchanting three-part excursion maintains full jazz integrity in its homage, allowing him to dig into his early classical training. 

The second set features Peterson’s enthralling exploration of time-honored jazz and songbook classics, including two virtuosic solo performances: Pass’ exquisite rendition of the iconic Disney tune “When You Wish Upon a Star” and Peterson’s delightful take on Bill Evans’ “A Waltz for Debby.” 

Also included are Johnny Mandel’s lovely ballad “A Time for Love,” the deeply grooved swing of Benny Goodman’s “Soft Winds” and “How High the Moon,” a blast-off point of departure in so many of the legendary Jazz at the Philharmonic jams of Peterson’s past, given a gentler, jaunty take. 

The monumental climax – before the explosive encore of Peterson’s “Blues Etude” – is the “Duke Ellington Medley” featuring six Ellingtonia classics – “Take the ‘A’ Train,” “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore,” “Come Sunday,” “C-Jam Blues,” “Lush Life” and “Caravan.” A solo piano and ensemble tribute to the transcendence of what Duke represents to the legacy blending elements of swing, blues, barrelhouse, stride, boogie-woogie and every other color in Duke’s – and Peterson’s – endlessly creative palette. This incredible adventure is the perfect symbol for this entire album, touching upon the ultimate essence of jazz expression allowing Peterson to pay homage to his own fathers: Art Tatum, Teddy Wilson, James P. Johnson and Nat Cole by weaving them into a maelstrom of brilliance that is all Oscar Peterson. The perfect definition of the living and ever-expanding legacy of this profound art form. 

For those not totally aware of Peterson’s importance within the jazz legacy – as unimaginable as that may be – the Canadian-born of West Indian heritage pianist held court as an ultimate master for nearly 60 years. A recipient of numerous honors and awards (including eight GRAMMY® Awards) and the subject of various documentaries, Oscar Peterson was the embodiment of the history of jazz piano. blended with a superb command of Western Classical knowledge – all of which contributed to Ellington bestowing upon him the title “the Maharajah of the keyboard.” With over 200 albums of his own, Peterson’s amazing ability to temper his own magnificence as a leader and soloist to be able to provide totally empathetic and subtle accompaniment to other musicians and vocalists – simply and eloquently explained by Dave Young as “he listened” – made him a contributor to hundreds of other outstanding recordings, most notably as the virtual “house pianist” for his longtime manager Norman Granz’s Verve and Pablo Records. A professional since the age of 14, Peterson passed away at the age of 82 in 2007, leaving an unparalleled legacy that is as timeless as jazz itself. 

A Time for Love is available in both a double-CD format and as 180-gram vinyl in a 3-LP set. Both versions are beautifully packaged and include two sets of inside-view liner notes by quartet member Dave Young, Peterson protégé Benny Green and Oscar’s wife and producer of this album, Kelly Peterson. This is Mack Avenue Music Group’s second collaboration with the estate, following 2017’s re-release of Oscar, with Love. The release will also be available everywhere digitally. 

The recording is ideally summed up by Green in his liner notes: This live concert recording of Oscar in his epic prime is a heaven-sent time capsule of beauty and serves a glorious addition to the Jazz pantheon itself, a stunning testament to the music for which he honestly, humbly and fearlessly dedicated his life as a peaceful warrior, a hero to us all for the ages. I’m thankful for the gift of this concert and that Oscar’s spiritual music will play on for us today and tomorrow, as we need it more than ever before.

Rob Zinn "Push It Forward" Feat. Ragan Whiteside

Trumpet sensation Rob Zinn debuts on the Randis Music label with the brand new single titled “Push It Forward” featuring none other than contemporary soul-jazz flute phenomenon Ragan Whiteside. The upbeat, danceable track showcases the melodic improvisational skills of both musicians and winds to the close with a clever call-and-response segment between the two instruments. Released on January 21, “Push It Forward” is available now on all digital retail and streaming platforms, including Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, Deezer, and more. The track represents the first release on Randis Music to feature an artist other than Whiteside.

“I’m so excited about my latest single and collaborating with my friends: producer Dennis Johnson and flautist Ragan Whiteside. We first met at a Festival in Mallorca, Spain, and we instantly bonded. I am both honored and flattered to be working with Randis Music,” says Zinn.

Composer, trumpeter, and vocalist Rob Zinn has been touring with other groups and artists for many years and released two independent solo projects, including his critically acclaimed album Walk The Walk in 2018. His path crossed with Whiteside’s when he was slated to perform with her at the 2019 Mallorca Smooth Jazz Festival. Whiteside says she was blown away by his musicianship during their live show in Mallorca. “Rob nailed that trumpet part like he had been playing it all his life – on the first go! He was amazing. I was so impressed,” she recalls.

The two quickly forged a professional friendship. In talking about their respective career trajectories, Whiteside says she was struck by Zinn’s desire to try something new: “We ended up talking about the wide range of styles that are present in the genre today and how he wanted to stretch out. So, I said, ‘Why don’t we try to work together and see if we can add a different flavor?’” Thus, the idea for a collaboration was born.

“Push It Forward” was co-written by Whiteside with Dennis Johnson, as well as frequent collaborator, keyboardist and producer Bob Baldwin, and was recorded at Randis’ Uppa Room Studio in Atlanta, a week before Thanksgiving. “Rob was the first outside person in our studio since COVID,” Whiteside confides. “We were fortunate to be able to take advantage of the lull in the pandemic (at the time) and get some in-person music done.” Johnson also produced the track’s catchy title.

“Push It Forward” by Rob Zinn featuring Ragan Whiteside is the first single release of 2022 on Randis Music. Adds Zinn: “I have always felt this business is built on relationships and I’m proud to be associated with Randis Music with my latest single, ‘Push it Forward’!”

Through another record label, Zinn’s forthcoming album, Anything Can Happen is scheduled for release this year.

In 2016, veteran trumpeter and flugelhornist Rob Zinn launched an exciting new phase of his distinguished, multi-faceted career, emerging as an internationally recognized independent smooth jazz artist and composer with his critically acclaimed albums, Walk The Walk (2018) and Yesterday Again (2016). Walk The Walk, produced by two-time Grammy winner Paul Brown, was selected for the 61st Grammy Ballot for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album. Songs from the album received airplay on more than 125 smooth jazz stations around the world with a listening audience in 90 countries. Rob’s songs have charted on the Billboard Smooth Jazz National Airplay and Audience charts, America’s Music Chart powered by Mediabase, the Smooth Jazz Top 50 Album chart, Smooth Jazz Radar chart, Smooth Jazz Indie chart, Smooth Jazz Network Top 100 chart, Groove Jazz Music Chart Top 30 and the RadioWave Internet Play chart and received “Most Added” designations on Nielsen/Billboard numerous times.

Originally from Glen Burnie, Maryland, and later launching his career in Delaware, Zinn has performed at numerous jazz festivals such as the Mallorca Jazz Festival, Clifford Brown Jazz Festival, Lake Arbor Jazz Festival, Berks Jazz Festival, Sandy Shore’s Jazz Weekender, Sweet Jazz Festival, and the Jazz Legacy Foundation’s Jazz Festival as well as venues throughout the country. When not playing with his band, Rob often appears as a sideman with guitar player Paul Brown.

It’s been an incredible 2021 for Whiteside. She celebrated the end of the year with the holiday single “This Christmas,” a warm and witty version of the Donny Hathaway classic. Her single “Off The Cuff” reached No. 7 on Billboard's Smooth Jazz Airplay chart, where it spent 17 weeks, making it her seventh consecutive Billboard Top 10 hit. The tune also reached No. 5 on RadioWave, No. 3 on Media Base, and No. 5 on Smooth Jazz Network. Whiteside’s streak of six previous Billboard Top 10 singles included “JJ’s Strut,” “Reminiscing,” “Jam It,” “Early Arrival,” “See You At The Get Down,” and the Billboard No. 1 “Corey’s Bop.” The instrumentalist, composer, and vocalist was also a finalist for the Smooth Jazz Network’s Artist of the Year, and for two years, she remained in the Top 5 in Billboard’s Top Smooth Jazz Songs Year-End chart issue – the only woman to rise into the year-end Top 5. Whiteside has released five previous albums, including the 2020 five-track EP Five Up Top, 2017’s Treblemaker, 2014’s Quantum Drive, 2012’s Evolve, and 2007’s Class Axe. 

Originally from Mt. Vernon, New York, Whiteside attended the Cleveland Institute of Music before transferring to the highly competitive HARID Conservatory in Florida. After graduating with a Bachelor of Music Performance - Classical, she attended a show at a local jazz club and met keyboardist and producer Bob Baldwin, who encouraged her to pursue a career as a contemporary instrumentalist. Baldwin became a mentor and ultimately introduced her to veteran producer Dennis Johnson, who owned a recording studio. Johnson and Baldwin have since become Whiteside’s frequent songwriting collaborators. Since then, Whiteside has blazed a trail in contemporary music by fusing inspired flute melodies and breathtaking solos with hip upbeat grooves. In the fall of 2020, she added yet another highlight to her résumé when she began hosting her Saturday morning radio show on Atlanta’s 91.9 FM WCLK. Whiteside is expected to deliver her new album titled, Thrill Ride, in May 2022. Featuring her smash single “Off The Cuff,” the full-length project will be released on her label, Randis Music.

Azar Lawrence | "New Sky"

For those who've survived the Covid-19 pandemic, the last two years have been transformative. If we're fortunate, we have assessed our losses, which can range from personal loved ones, health, and financial securities as well as our gains, which can include a renewed sense of purpose, deeper appreciation for life, and a keen acknowledgment of self-resilience and spirituality. Veteran tenor and soprano saxophonist and composer, Azar Lawrence taps into the latter with his new album, New Sky, a defiantly optimistic musical soundtrack – co-produced by him, James Saez and Tracy Hannah – that focuses on the benefits that we've received since the pandemic began. 

With an illustrious career that stretches more than half a century, Lawrence has performed with numerous jazz titans that include pianists Horace Tapscott and McCoy Tyner; trumpeters Miles Davis, Freddie Hubbard, and Woody Shaw; percussionist James Mtume; and drummers Elvin Jones and Billy Higgins. The Los Angeles-born Lawrence, however, has never been confined by conventional genre categories. His instrumental and songwriting work with iconic soul singers, Chuck Jackson, Roberta Flack, Marvin Gaye, and Phyllis Hyman; and the R&B/jazz juggernaut ensemble, Earth, Wind & Fire is just as indelible. 

The culminating experiences from working with those artists as well as mapping out his impressive discography as a leader, particularly his fiery spiritual jazz LPs for Prestige Records in the 1970s – Bridge into the New Age (1974), Summer Solstice (1975), and People Moving (1976) – all inform what Lawrence brings to the table on New Sky. 

"All of my skills that have been gathered throughout my career has been a journey, and all of those energies that have been acquired throughout that journey are coming together in a focused manner," Lawrence says. "This new album expresses that." 

Joining Lawrence on New Sky is an illustrious cast of musicians that consists of pianists and keyboardists John Beasley and Nduduzo Makhathini; bassist Sekou Bunch; drummer Tony Austin; percussionist Munyungo Jackson; singers Calesha "Bre-Z" Murray, Oren Waters, and Lynne Fiddmont; harpist Destiny Muhammad; and guitarists James Saez, Greg Poree and Gregory 'GMOE' Moore. Together, they aim to usher in a new post-pandemic dawn, filled with universal love and global humanity. 

Lawrence's coiling soprano saxophone rises triumphantly on the album's opening piece, "All in Love" as he's announcing a new age of enlightenment. The rest of the ensemble soon joins in to underscore Lawrence's declarative melody and commanding improvisation with a strident groove that sounds like angels marching down to earth.   

"The concept comes from one of the benefits of the Aquarian Age idea, in which society starts to embrace universal love," Lawrence explains of "All in Love." "We're becoming more of a global society in which all races and different religious ideas can be embraced." 

Spiritual ebullience continues with the surging samba-inflected "Peace and Harmony" and the equally Brazilian flavored title track "New Sky," which features Fiddmont's caressing lead vocals sharing the frontline with Lawrence's soulful passages. 

"'New Sky' refers to the cleansing that has occurred via this pandemic," Lawrence says. "Now many people are experiencing the freshness that comes after everything has been shut down. We think differently; there are so many new possibilities now. Everything is fresh and new as we start to rebuild after the initial shutdown for the pandemic." 

The acknowledgment of this new sky and moments of transition are articulated in the percolating "Ain't No Doubt About It," featuring Calesha "Bre-Z" Murray's raspy, hip-hop-centric vocals sharing the lead with Lawrence's alluring melodic improvisations on tenor saxophone. 

Lawrence pays respect to the Creator, All-Mighty on the enticing R&B-flavored "Just Because of You," featuring vocalist Oren Waters of the legendary The Waters singing group. Afterward, Lawrence spruces up one of his older compositions, "From the Point of Love," which was first recorded on his Summer Solstice album. The new version retains the haunting, samba-tinged spiritual vibe of the original as Lawrence's sensual soprano recalls some of John Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders's seeking explorations, while John Beasley heightens the tranquil suspenseful with a joyous solo on electric piano. 

The festive waltz, "Birds Are Singing," marked by Lawrence's soprano saxophone once again channeling Coltrane's hypnotic musing, touches upon the theme of how birds tend to sing loudly after many natural disasters such as earthquakes and hurricanes. Rejuvenating energy of survival after life's calamities and having faith that brighter days are to come are wonderfully captured on the energetic "I Really Love You" and the groove-laden, "Let It Go." 

"'Let It Go' comes from the standpoint of how we have started letting go of some of the lower thoughts as we tune ourselves to the higher energies that have been delivered during the pandemic," Lawrence explains. "During the shutdown, we had to let a lot of things go that we were clinging to. When we let go of a lot of these things, we got a chance to see what was necessary for our lives." 

The album closes with Lawrence refurbishing another older composition, "Revelation" which was originally featured on his 2009 album, Speak the Word. The composition rumbles with Black American church fury as Lawrence unravels a haunting, sermon-like melody on soprano saxophone. The song also features a powerful Tyner-esque piano solo from critically acclaimed, South African-born pianist Nduduzo Makhathini and celestial harp accompaniment from Destiny Muhammad. 

Lawrence composed and recorded most of the music on New Sky during the beginning of October 2020. As someone who practices Egyptian Ankh mediation, and breathing mediation techniques taught by Michael Beckwith's Agape International Spiritual Center, he used the first year of the pandemic to listen to his inner voice for musical inspiration. 

"There was the lack of the outer movement – having to sustain oneself and staying out of the limelight," Lawrence says of that period. "It gave us a lot of time to focus our energies, go within, and listen to the inner call. Now, a new age is taking hold with some of the new ideas."

Brian Bromberg | "A Little Driving Music"

After nearly a year of being cooped up within the same four walls, it’s only natural that one’s thoughts might turn to the freedom of the open road. That’s certainly true of virtuoso jazz bassist and world-renowned producer Brian Bromberg, whose third pandemic-era release shrugs off the prevailing mood of COVID-era claustrophobia and political strife for A Little Driving Music, a fun, funky paean to cruising with the top down and leaving your troubles behind.

While countless musicians have spent the quarantine months in a state of limbo, the always-prolific Bromberg quickly figured out a way to continue making music while remaining socially distanced. Out now on Artistry Music/Mack Avenue Music Group, A Little Driving Music follows the bassist’s wide-ranging holiday album, Celebrate Me Home, and the remixed and remastered digital release of his stunning tribute album Bromberg Plays Hendrix. 

“In one aspect it's been a weird, heartbreaking time to be a musician who just wants to play music with human beings, for human beings,” Bromberg laments. “On the flip side, I've been really fortunate. It's been a really positive, productive period because I've had nothing but time to sit in front of a computer or pluck my strings.”

A Little Driving Music features a dozen brand-new Bromberg compositions as well as a surprising 80s cover song, the joyful Katrina and the Waves hit “Walking on Sunshine.” Despite recording each musician in isolation and at a distance, the bassist managed to (virtually) assemble an elite roster of longtime collaborators and all-star special guests including saxophonists Dave Koz, Everette Harp, Gary Meek, Elan Trotman, Darren Rahn and Marion Meadows; keyboardist Tom Zink; guitarists Jerry Cortez, Nick Colionne and Ray Fuller; drummers Joel Taylor and Tony Moore; vibraphonist Craig Fundiga; and percussionist Lenny Castro. There’s even a string orchestra featuring members of the National Symphony Orchestra of the Dominican Republic, conducted by arranger/producer Corey Allen (again, with COVID safety protocols in place).

“This is the hand you're dealt, so you make the most of it,” Bromberg says of the unusual circumstances under which the album was recorded. “Everything about how we do things has changed, but when you come to terms with that and accept it for what is, you can enjoy the process. Especially when you're dealing with a lot of talented people and state-of-the-art technology – it's amazing what you can do despite not being in a prime situation.”

No trace of that adverse situation can be heard as the album kicks off with “Froggy’s,” a carefree, high-spirited funk tune highlighted by a lively horn section emulating the chorus of frogs that often greets the composer at his Southern California home. Bromberg takes a blistering solo on piccolo bass, which could easily be mistaken for a shredding electric guitar. The baton is then picked up by Everette Harp’s vibrant turn on sax. 

A diary entry for these strange times, “Quarantine” was the first track penned by Bromberg after lockdown commenced. The rest of the album was also composed in quarantine, with the sole exception of the title track – fittingly enough, as the freewheeling “A Little Driving Music” fills the listener with a sense of movement and freedom much missed over these solitary months. “That Cool Groovy Beatnik Jazz” is another self-explanatory title, conjuring the laid-back, finger-snapping groove of a classic BYOB hipster café (meaning Bring Your Own Bongos).

Both “Bado Boy!” and “Lullaby for Bado” are dedicated to a cat that Bromberg and his fiancée rescued from Barbados, a complicated tale that eventually involved the island’s Minister of Agriculture. (“It would be as if you wanted to rescue a cat and had to talk to the Vice President of the United States to do it,” Bromberg says incredulously.) The former tune, which features Barbados-born saxophonist Elan Trotman, reflects the feline’s playful spirit; the latter, pairing Bromberg’s emotional acoustic bass with the Dominican Republic strings, is an elegy for the lost cat.

“We knew he was sick, but we hoped he'd live a long time,” Bromberg recalls. “Unfortunately, he only lived a year, but he had a hell of a year living with us instead of being alone as a stray cat sick in the Caribbean.”

With an assist from Dave Koz, “Walking on Sunshine” reimagines the 80s classic in a jazz context, slower and funkier than the incessantly upbeat original. “After the year we've had – and, sadly, the year we're likely going to have – a little positive energy goes a long way,” Bromberg explains. “So, I wanted to record something with positive energy and uplift that also had that twist, that most recording artists might not have thought of doing.”

Short for Sagittarius, “Sag 5” is named for the December 5 birthday that Bromberg shares with saxophonist Darren Rahn, who guests on the track, melding sounds so harmoniously with the bassist that it lends a bit of credence to astrological synergy. Adding Andrew Neu on clarinet and Mitch Forman on accordion, “A Rainy Day in Paris” transports the listener to a café in the City of Lights as the weather turns gray outside. “If that song doesn't make you want to have a glass of wine and some cheese, I don't know what will,” insists Bromberg. “The only thing missing is a red and white checkered tablecloth.”

With Marion Meadows extolling the hopeful melody on soprano sax, “Peace” is Bromberg’s offering to the search for sanity in a contentious world. As he describes it, the tune is “the equivalent of a musical time out, suggesting that everybody just take a deep breath while the world and this country, in particular, is pretty upside down.” 

The country-accented “Jedediah’s Gold” paints a sepia-tinged portrait of a Gold Rush miner and his stake in the Old West, while “The Sitting Room” luxuriates in the feeling of relaxing in a favorite, comfy spot at home. The greasy, slinky “Baton Rouge” detours down south for a bit of hot, sweaty, fun-in-the-sun funk with Nick Colionne laying down some down-home guitar licks.

“There's some heavier music on A Little Driving Music,” Bromberg concludes, “but for the most part it's a fun, positive energy record. There's nothing better than that Zen moment of listening to great tunes on the road, looking out the window at life. That's the vibe of it to me: I hope people just want to put it on in the car and crank it up.” 

James Brown | "Song Within The Story"

Guitarist-composer James Brown returns from a 13-year recording hiatus with the fetching Song Within the Story, set for a March 18 release on NGP Records. Brown’s fourth album, and his first since 2009’s Sevendaze, finds him helming his Toronto-based working trio featuring bassist Clark Johnston and drummer Anthony Michelli. Respected tenor saxophonist Mike Murley joins the band on three of the album’s 10 tracks—eight of which are original compositions that document Brown’s ongoing intermarriage of jazz and classical music, while two covers explore Canada’s rich folk-rock legacy. 

Brown is deeply immersed in jazz-classical fusion; he wrote his master’s thesis on the Third Stream movement (the early 1960s effort to merge the two genres) and last year premiered The Mosley Street Suite, a concert work in that style. Song within the Story, though, offers no hint of the bombast or self-seriousness often associated with classical music. It’s a thoroughly swinging affair, packed with melody and inventive, often blistering improvisations by Brown and the band. 

“I’m so pleased with how the trio has developed,” the guitarist says. “We’ve been working regularly at clubs like the Rex Jazz Bar in Toronto for three or four years, and we’ve been playing a lot of the pieces on this CD.”

Their hard work shows on unconventional pieces like the 7/4 groover “Alystair and I” and the harmonically daring “The Circle,” both of which they tackle with apparent ease and aplomb. They do no less, however, on the bluesy “Igor” or the (outwardly) delicate “All Rivers Lead.” The latter is one of the three showcases for guest player Murley, whose thoughtful but unyielding solo offers a glimpse of the intensity that lies beneath the tune’s surface. 

“Igor” is named for and inspired by the great composer Igor Stravinsky, a nod to Brown’s classical pursuits. The album’s title track contains echoes of Pat Metheny. But the influences on display throughout Song Within the Story are hardly a jazz-classical binary. “Mbira Kids,” as its title suggests, directly evokes the musical traditions of Southern Africa (specifically, that of Zimbabwe’s Shona people). Meanwhile, the trio passionately renders ballads by Neil Young (“The Needle and the Damage Done”) and Joni Mitchell (“A Case of You”), perhaps the two most revered Canadian singer-songwriters of the rock era. 

“I’m not afraid of going into folk or rock,” says Brown of his musical concept. “I like when there’s something a little bit more going on.” On Song Within the Story, there’s a lot more going on, and it resounds through the album’s every note.

James Brown was born in 1967 in Oakville, Ontario, and was raised in the city of Burlington. His maternal grandmother and paternal grandfather were Québécois musicians, and James followed in their footsteps at age 13 when he began taking guitar lessons. These led a few years later to classical guitar studies at Toronto’s Royal Conservatory of Music. 

At first, his ambitions were to become “the next Segovia or John Williams”—but while studying at the University of Toronto, he found a new role model in Ed Bickert. Often hailed as Canada’s finest jazz guitarist, Bickert was local to Toronto; Brown began frequenting his appearances at area clubs, enchanted by his tone. 

While he continued his classical curriculum, Brown also began attending informal jam sessions, slowly recalibrating his creative trajectory. (He eventually did the same with his studies, focusing on Gunther Schuller’s Third Stream music for his master’s degree.) By 1998, his immersion in jazz was deep enough to record his debut album, First Dance, with renowned Toronto musicians Ernie Tollar (saxophones), Andrew Downing (bass), and John Obercian (drums). 

Brown recorded two additional albums in 2002 (The Home Fields) and 2009 (Sevendaze), but slowed his approach in the 2010s while he and his wife Lisa—to whom “All Rivers Lead” is dedicated—raised the six children in their blended family. But a few years ago, feeling ripe for a comeback, he created a trio with Clark Johnston on bass and Anthony Michelli on drums, working regularly to shape the empathetic and tightly woven sound they evidence today. 

Brown has also remained committed to classical music—and the possibilities of jazz as a contributor to that tradition. His 2021 chamber piece, The Mosley Street Suite, featured among its movements several tunes that have also made their way onto Song Within the Story. 

The James Brown Quartet will be performing at the following venues, with additional dates to be announced: Sat. 3/26 The Jazz Room, Waterloo, ON (8:00 & 9:30 pm); Thurs. 4/21 Paradise Theatre, Toronto, ON (8:00 pm). 

Marianne Faithfull | "Vagabond Ways"

BMG are to reissue Marianne Faithfull’s 1999 studio album Vagabond Ways on March 4th 2022. The reissue, originally recorded at Teatro Studios in California and produced by Mark Howard and Daniel Lanois, will include a selection of previously unreleased bonus demos and an unheard studio recording, plus new liner notes. It will be the first time the album has been released as a heavyweight vinyl, as well as CD and digital formats. 

Vagabond Ways was Marianne’s first album containing original material after a 5 year gap; in between which her biography Faithfull was released, as well as her recording of the Kurt Weill opera The Seven Deadly Sins. Many of the stories told on this album were adapted from memories that didn’t make the biography, or her observations of social struggles she felt particularly moved by. Other tracks include an interpretation Leonard Cohen’s ‘Tower of Song’, a track gifted to her from the Pink Floyd vaults by Roger Waters (‘Incarceration of a Flower Child’), and ‘For Wanting You’, written specially for Marianne by songwriting duo Elton John and Bernie Taupin. 

It was also an album of firsts for Marianne, who at the time expressed that it displayed a level of self-acceptance she hadn’t explored before; that she had “nailed her colours to the mast”. It contains early examples of her overlaying poetry performance with music, something she recently explored to critically acclaim on the 2021 album with Warren Ellis, She Walks In Beauty. 

Bonus material on the album include an unheard Marianne Faithfull and Daniel Lanois composition, ‘Drifting’, recorded at the time of the original sessions but left off the final album, as well as demo recordings of ‘Vagabond Ways’, ‘Incarceration of a Flower Child’, ‘Electra’, and ‘Tower of Song’. The reissue also includes the Bob Dylan penned ‘Blood In My Eyes’, included on a physical format for the first time outside of its original release as a bonus track on the Japanese version.

Mary Wilson -"The Motown Anthology"

Singer, activist, author, fashion icon, actress, U.S. cultural ambassador, motivational speaker, dancer, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, friend, trailblazer, legend, Supreme: Mary Wilson earned her place in music history. She was the only original member of The Supremes in every incarnation of the groundbreaking group from beginning to end (1961 to 1977) but her story didn't end when The Supremes did. Wilson the world-renowned performer was an advocate for social and economic challenges in the U.S. and abroad and used her fame and flair to promote diverse humanitarian efforts including ending hunger, raising HIV/AIDS awareness and encouraging world peace. October 11, 2018, The Music Modernization Act was passed. Mary played a key role in explaining its importance to members of Congress and how it directly affected artists. She was always fighting for artist rights and was seated in the Senate chambers when it unanimously passed.  She continued making music, performing to adoring fans around the world, wrote several best-selling books, and continued to protect artist rights and promote the legacy of the Supremes.

Now, the late legend's remarkable legacy of music is being collected for the very first time in a deluxe 2-CD set. UMe is proud to present Mary Wilson's The Motown Anthology. Slated for release on March 4, 2022, in celebration of her birthday March 6, this first-ever comprehensive overview of Wilson's Motown discography presents 38 songs, including a whopping 33 tracks only available physically on this collection. The first track, "Falling In Love (Live at The Frontier January 13, 1970)" is available now for streaming and download, here. The Motown Anthology boasts nearly two dozen Supremes classics, deep cuts, and never-before-heard songs (most in stunning new mixes) from a host of songwriters including Berry Gordy, Smokey Robinson, Holland-Dozier-Holland, Deke Richards, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, Thom Bell and Linda Creed, and others. In addition to the worldwide CD debut of the 1979 Mary Wilson album, The Motown Anthology premieres on CD solo tracks produced by the late Gus Dudgeon, the first-time-available album version of Mary's new single "Why Can't We All Get Along," and Eric Kupper's remix of "Red Hot." And, perhaps most intriguingly, the collection premieres seven songs that have not been heard anywhere: "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" and "Falling in Love with Love" from the unheard January 13 Supremes live performance at the Frontier; "Send Him to Me," "If You Let Me Baby," "Son of a Preacher Man," "Witchi Tai To," and "Anytime at All."

The set was overseen by Turkessa Babich, Mary Wilson's daughter, and Jay D. Schwartz, her longtime publicist, with its 44-page booklet stuffed with rare and previously unpublished color photos. The booklet also features detailed track annotations, and exclusive tributes to Mary from such luminaries as Dionne Warwick, Darlene Love, Otis Williams, Duke Fakir, Martha Reeves, Claudette Robinson, Brian and Edward Holland, Paul McCartney, Rita Coolidge, Merry Clayton, Brenda Russell, Blinky Williams, and RuPaul. Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton has penned a special appreciation, as well, for this ultimate celebration of Supreme legend Mary Wilson. 

Javon Jackson & Nikki Giovanni | "The Gospel According to Nikki Giovanni"

Why would one of poetry’s most revered voices want to curate a jazz saxophonist’s album of gospel hymns and spirituals? “These songs are so important,” says Nikki Giovanni, one of Oprah Winfrey’s 25 “Living Legends” and a Maya Angelou Lifetime Achievement Award winner for 2017. “They comforted people through times of slavery, and during recent years we needed them to comfort us again. But a lot of the students today do not know about the history of these songs, and they should. So I’m out here putting water on the flowers, because they need a drink.”

Giovanni’s historic collaboration with saxophonist-composer and former Jazz Messenger Javon Jackson has yielded The Gospel According to Nikki Giovanni, available February 18, 2022 on his Solid Jackson label. “The spirituals have been around so long,” says the renowned poet, activist and educator, who came to prominence in the 1960s and ’70s as a foundational member of the Black Arts movement following the publication of such early works as 1968’s book of poetry Black Feeling, Black Talk/Black Judgment and 1970’s Re:Creation. “Some spirituals have been updated and stayed around and some have been lost over time,” Giovanni notes “So for me, it’s just helping to keep something going. And I do it because there’s a need.”

Jackson brings his bold-toned, Trane-inspired tenor lines to bear on a series of hymns, spirituals and gospel numbers hand-picked by Giovanni, who was also the first person to receive the Rosa L. Parks Women of Courage Award. And the 78-year-old poet makes a rare vocal appearance on the tender ballad “Night Song,” singing a song identified with her close friend, the late civil rights activist and High Priestess of Soul, Nina Simone. “Nina was a friend of mine, and I knew that one of her favorite songs was ‘Night Song’,” she explains. “And even though I’m not a singer, I told Javon I wanted to sing it because I just wanted Nina to be remembered.” Jackson, who flew to Nikki’s home in Roanoke, Virginia, to record her vocal track on the existing instrumental tracks, says, “I sat beside her when she sang it and by the time she finished that chorus, I was deeply moved. I just love the fragile nature of the way she treated it. It was very emotional.”

Joined by an outstanding crew comprised of pianist Jeremy Manasia, bassist David Williams and drummer McClenty Hunter — the same lineup that appeared on Jackson’s 2018 album For You and his 2020 follow-up, Deja Vu — Jackson interprets gospel staples like “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,” “Wade in the Water,” “Didn’t My Lord Deliver Daniel” and “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms” with authoritative tenor tones, deep walking bass lines and an organic sense of group swing. “It’s the first time I worked in a collaborative manner,” Jackson says. “The project is personal for me. I come from a lineage of devout Christians, and that has afforded me the chance to connect with that ancestral stream.”

The Gospel According to Nikki Giovanni came about through a serendipitous meeting between the two principals when Jackson, a faculty member of The Hartt School at the University of Hartford and director of its Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz, invited Giovanni to speak to his students there. As he recalls, “Ever since I’ve been at the University of Hartford, I felt that the school would be well-served to bring great scholars of color and scholars who were freedom fighters and activists, if you will. So I brought in Dr. Cornel West, Sonia Sanchez, Angela Davis and Michael Eric Dyson. Then in February of 2020, I brought Nikki Giovanni.”

The renowned poet’s appearance at the University coincided with her receiving an honorary doctorate there. And as Jackson recalls, “After Nikki spoke to the students, she noticed that the Hank Jones and Charlie Haden CD of hymns and spirituals (1994’s Steal Away) was playing in the auditorium. She said she loved it and wanted to hear more, and just then I was hit with the idea. Two days later, after she returned to her home in Roanoke, I contacted her and said, ‘Would you be willing to pick 10 hymns? And that’ll be my next recording.’ She got back to me in a few days and gave me the 10 selections.”

The collection opens with the driving shuffle “Didn’t My Lord Deliver Daniel,” a spiritual recorded by Paul Robeson in 1937. Jackson delivers the melody in straightforward fashion with golden tenor tones before Manasia “goes to church” on his piano solo. The minor-key “Wade in the Water” is lifted by a mid-tempo swing feel, paced by Williams’ deep walking basslines and Hunter’s steady, syncopated ride-cymbal pulse. After Jackson delivers a robust tenor solo and Manasia follows suit with an earthy piano solo, Christina Greer enters, dropping some wisdom from Giovanni’s poem “A Very Simple Wish.” As Jackson explains, “For this, I reached out to Markeysha Davis, an assistant professor of Africana studies and literature at the University of Hartford. She is really a fan and knows Nikki's work far better than I do. Nikki’s got 50 years’ worth of poetry, so I didn’t know where to begin. But I sent Markeysha John Coltrane’s ‘Spiritual’ to give her an idea of what we were trying to do, and she came back with that poem.”

The quartet’s rendition of the dirge-like “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child” carries the somber feeling of Coltrane’s “Equinox,” while their interpretation of “Mary Had a Baby, Yes Lord” recalls Trane’s powerful civil-rights era requiem, “Alabama.” “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms,” one of Giovanni’s favorites from her own Baptist church upbringing, is rendered at a loping beat, conveying a distinctive Southern gospel feel. “A lot of times when I’ve heard this song in church, it's a little faster, a little more upbeat,” Jackson says. “I wanted to make it slower, where I could really expose the melody a lot more and lay on some of those phrases—so I could be as emotive as possible with the melody, as if I was playing in church with people in the audience.”

“I’ve Been ’Buked,” a spiritual sung by Mahalia Jackson in front of the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington on August 28, 1963, where Dr. Martin Luther King also delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech,” opens with some dramatic unaccompanied arco bass work by Williams before the full band enters with Jackson conveying the melody simply and deliberately. “In a perfect world, I would love to have had David bowing with Paul Robeson singing that melody,” says the leader. “The bow is so beautiful because, to me, it’s close to the human voice in a way.”

Jackson and company render the normally somber “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” as a buoyant calypso. In fact, you can hear the saxophonist directly quoting from Sonny Rollins’ most famous calypso, “St. Thomas,” midway through the song. Bassist Williams, being from Trinidad, is uniquely qualified to provide the requisite bounce on this ebullient calypso rendition of this well-known African American spiritual. “Doing that song this way is a reminder that the departure or the transition doesn’t have to be one of sadness,” says Jackson. “We don’t want it to be where the person or persons listening to the CD become downtrodden. We want it to be celebratory. It’s like what Art Blakey always used to tell us: ‘You cry when they come in, and you rejoice when they go out.’ I never forgot that.”

The most intimate piece of the collection is the gentle hymn “Lord, I Want to Be a Christian,” performed as a rubato duet between Jackson’s tenor sax and Manasia’s piano. The quartet closes on a rousing note with a swinging “I Opened My Mouth to the Lord,” which again features Williams’ deeply resonant bass carrying the melody and Jackson in strong ‘speechifying’ mode on tenor sax. Manasia also turns in an exhilarating piano solo here, and even drummer Hunter gets a solo taste near the end of this triumphant closer.  

Captured live at Telefunken Studios in South Windsor, Connecticut, the 10 tunes on The Gospel According to Nikki Giovanni were all done without the use of headphones, another first for Jackson. “I’ve never done a recording before in a studio where I didn’t use headphones, so it felt like performing a gig,” he says. “We never counted off a piece and there were no endings, where I might dictate or give a direction towards an ending. I really wanted to do it just like if you’re in church, where there’s a preacher talking and all of a sudden the choir begins. So each time, whether the bass would start the tune or the piano or myself, there were no count-offs because I wanted to make it as natural as possible.”

“This music is something that people will probably be a little surprised to see coming from me,” Jackson says. But given the state of the world, it could be just in time. Both poet and saxophonist stand on the shoulders of their ancestors on The Gospel According to Nikki Giovanni.

Larry McCray | "Blues Without You"

Poised to become a genre-shaping staple with the release of two major label albums in the 90's, rustbelt Blues singer and guitarist  proves he's been hiding in plain sight with today's announcement of his first album in nearly seven years, Blues Without You, set for release on March 25. Produced by blues-rock titan Joe Bonamassa and Josh Smith, the 12-track collection will be released via Bonamassa's Keeping the Blues Alive Records (KTBA Records). The album also features performances by Joe Bonamassa, Warren Haynes, Joanna Connor, and Reese Wynans. 

Throughout his career, McCray's life has imitated the rags-to-riches stories of the blues.   Larry's musical journey took him through many twists and turns, personal hardships, and dark moments. After meeting his current companion and collaborator, Peggy Smith, Larry found peace and was rediscovered by kindred spirits Joe Bonamassa and Josh Smith.

"Writing this album made me feel proud, as it allows others to see me as more than a blues musician," shares McCray. "The songs are reflective of my broad taste in music styles and the subject matter, although personal at times, is relatable to anyone's life. Hopefully, the words and message of the songs will help others express their feelings in a similar synopsis.

"I feel totally reborn, with a whole new career, and I'm optimistic about what the future holds," McCray continues. "But truthfully speaking, sometimes I do wish it would have happened 30 years ago. I would have been much more qualified for the job at that age than at 62," he laughs.

"Larry McCray is a legend," praises Bonamassa. "We have known that for 30 years. He is the last of the great blues shouters from the rust belt. In the spirit of BB King, Luther Allison and Little Milton, Larry is among the greats. It's now up to the world to rediscover him. He has been here all along."

"Working with Joe Bonamassa and Josh Smith as producers was an opportunity of a lifetime," credits McCray. "Having known and respected them as accomplished musicians first, it allowed me to trust their opinions even more and made this an incredibly fulfilling project."

Along with today's album announcement McCray releases lead single "Arkansas," a charging ode to McCray's childhood in his home state and an anthem for those who grew up similarly. 

"This song is a reminder of my childhood, growing up in rural Arkansas in the 60's," elaborates McCray. "Feeding hogs, bailing straw, amongst all the other chores that a kid of that generation had to perform, and still, we found a way to find the joy and make it seem as though it was no work at all. I hope the people can feel that spirit when they listen to this music that was born from a generation whose prime has long come to pass."

McCray was named the Orville H. Gibson (in honor of the vaunted Gibson Guitar founder) Male Blues Guitarist of the Year in 2000, won the Top Guitarist prize in the International Blues Matters 2014 writer's poll and was awarded the "Sunshine" Sonny Payne Award for Blues Excellence in 2015. Over the years, Larry has performed and toured with such blues greats as BB King, Buddy Guy, Albert King, John Mayall, Johnny Winter, Robert Cray, Keb Mo, Jimmie Vaughan, Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Joe Bonamassa, as well as rock legends the Allman Brothers, Phil Lesh, Jonny Lang, Joe Walsh, Levon Helm, Chris Robinson, Dickey Betts, and countless others.

The Mark Masters Ensemble | "Masters & Baron Meet Blanton & Webster"

Duke Ellington was one of the most iconic and influential composers in the history of jazz, crafting indelible music that continues to be revered and revived to this day. Arguably the pinnacle of his artistry occurred between 1940 and 1942, when his revered Orchestra featured the groundbreaking bassist Jimmie Blanton and the tenor saxophone master Ben Webster. For a genius composer who famously wrote for musicians rather than instruments, this era of the Duke Ellington Orchestra – now known as the Blanton-Webster Band – proved especially inspirational to both Ellington and his frequent collaborator, composer Billy Strayhorn.

That inspiration is carried forward by the brilliant arranger and bandleader Mark Masters, who revisits the music of the Blanton-Webster Band on his latest album, reimagining these classic compositions with his own unique interpretation. In addition to his own virtuosic Mark Masters Ensemble, the project spotlights the legendary Art Baron, the last trombonist hired by Ellington himself in 1973. Baron occupied the plunger trombone chair, a standout element of the Ellington Orchestra, for the final year of the bandleader’s life, and continued with the band under the baton of the founder’s son, Mercer Ellington.

Masters & Baron Meet Blanton & Webster, due out June 18, 2021 via Capri Records, is a generation-spanning summit meeting that offers a fresh perspective on some of jazz’s greatest compositions. In contrast to Baron’s direct link to Ellington’s storied past, special guest Tim Hagans adds a decidedly contemporary twist with his bold, modernist approach to the trumpet.

The Mark Masters Ensemble brings together a supremely gifted group of musicians to conjure Masters’ distinctive palette: four saxophones (Kirsten Edkins and Jerry Pinter splitting Webster’s tenor duties along with Danny House on alto and clarinet and Adam Schroeder on baritone); three trumpets in addition to Hagans (Scott Englebright, Les Lovitt and Ron Stout); trombonists Les Benedict and Dave Woodley alongside Baron; bassist Bruce Lett filling Blanton’s role; and drummer Mark Ferber.

“All eras of Ellington interest me,” Masters says. “But the Blanton-Webster Band represents a really remarkable period of time. Jimmie Blanton is credited with revolutionizing the role of the bass in the jazz orchestra, making it a melodic contributor instead of just keeping time and laying out basic harmony. And Ben Webster was quite simply a giant. It just so happened that the two of them were in the band at the same time, and then you add all the great Ellington and Strayhorn compositions to that.”

The project’s inception can be traced back to 2013, when Masters invited Baron to perform at an Ellington Brass Encounters concert in Southern California. “Art is one of a kind as a player and as a person,” Masters explains. “He’s a great student of the music and knows all the history, plus he’s an original with a unique sound. It was a joy to be able to craft my writing specifically for him and that plunger mute specialty.”

Hagans’ inventive sound introduces a singular element all its own to several pieces, including a stunning muted solo on Masters’ deconstructed “Take the ‘A’ Train.” As Masters describes, “Tim is another one of a kind. I’ve introduced him at concerts as ‘an improviser who has created his own language,’ and there aren't many people that do that. His language is so unique, and I thought it would be interesting to include an element that you wouldn't normally associate with Ellington.”

The material on Masters & Baron Meet Blanton & Webster include some of the most familiar and oft-revisited titles in the Ellington-Strayhorn canon, including “Ko-Ko,” “In a Mellotone,” “A Flower Is a Lovesome Thing,” “I Got it Bad (And That Ain’t Good)” and of course, “Take the ‘A’ Train,” among others. Discovering a new angle on such well-worn repertoire might prove daunting to most arrangers; but for Masters, who specializes in recomposing music – taking the composition as raw material to be reworked to sometimes unrecognizable degrees – the familiarity proved freeing. In many cases his transformations required only the most tenuous resemblance to the originals in order to evoke their spirit while becoming an entirely new piece of music.

“All of the tunes are so well known that there would be no point in just going ahead and doing another arrangement of, say, ‘Take the ‘A’ Train,” he says. “I feel like I left enough that people can hear the tunes, but recomposed them enough to make them something of my own and something worth recording again. These classic Ellington compositions have been recorded countless times over the last 25 years, and some people don't want to touch them because they are such classics. But I always want to use the source material to do something dramatically different.”

Long recognized as one of the great jazz arrangers of the last few decades, Mark Masters formed his first ensemble in 1982. He’s gone on to found the non-profit American Jazz Institute and has recorded tributes to Jimmy Knepper, Clifford Brown, Dewey Redman and other greats. The vehicle for his transformative orchestrations, The Mark Masters Ensemble, has featured some of the music’s most revered performers, including Billy Harper, Tim Hagans, Gary Smulyan, Peter Erskine, Steve Kuhn, Ray Drummond and Oliver Lake. His most recent album, Night Talk, delved deep into the catalogue of composer Alex Wilder, whose sophisticated approach blended jazz, classical and American popular song influences. Prior to that Masters reimagined works by Gerry Mulligan and Charles Mingus on 2017’s acclaimed Blue Skylight and assembled an all-star band of creative musicians to perform his own original works for Our Métier (2018). He has been named a Rising Star Arranger in the annual DownBeat Magazine Critics Poll on numerous occasions.