GRIMALDO DEL SOLAR (OF NOVALIMA) & SYLVIA FALCÓN | "ANCESTRAL”

Six Degrees Records has announced the debut single from Punku, a new project created by Sylvia Falcón and Grimaldo del Solar (Novalima) that mixes Andean traditional music with traditional instruments and modern genres including electronic music and rock. “Ancestral,” the first single from their upcoming album, evokes an ancestral ceremony in the middle of the high amazon jungle that is haunting and beautiful at the same time. “Ancestral” also gets a driving remix from Novalima, keeping Sylvia’s hypnotic vocals over dubbed-out basslines and infectious rhythms. 

Sylvia Falcón is an innovative singer who brings a wealth of talent and history to the duo. Her music has travelled from the traditional songs of the Peruvian Andes, through the mestizo folk melodies and the Andean coloratura repertoire that made Yma Sumac (whose life centennial will be celebrated in 2022) well known around the globe. Sylvia’s impressive vocal range (4 octaves) of high, mezzo and low frequencies can be appreciated in her four solo studio albums; Killa Lluqsimun "When the Moon Rises" (2008), Inkario (2014), Fantasía Pokcra (2016) and Qori Coya "Golden Lady” (2018). Sylvia Falcón was born in Lima and has developed a strong bond with the Andes due to the influence of her parents, who were born in Huancavelica and Ayacucho provinces. From a very early age she demonstrated the artistic virtues that were developed throughout her childhood and adolescence. Sylvia Falcón is also an anthropologist focused on the study of traditional musicians in the Peruvian Andes. As an artist she is devoted to capturing and projecting the beauty of the ancient Inca culture. 

Grimaldo is a Lima born producer and musician, who started playing guitar at 14. Soon after he worked with many bands that played a pivotal part in the 80s underground metal hardcore punk, and the 90s psychedelic/acid-rock Peruvian scenes. During the late 90s, Grimaldo started exploring traditional Peruvian music through an electronic music lens, which led to creating Novalima, a collective that fuses traditional Afro Peruvian music with DJ culture. Their discography spans 5 albums and numerous remix projects, which led them to touring internationally at major festivals and events. Novalima has inspired a generation and has revolutionized the music scene in their native Peru by bridging a longstanding divide between the mainstream and the minority Afro-Peruvian community, who have struggled against discrimination and cultural dissolution for generations. 

Grimaldo was experimenting new quechua rhythms with Novalima. He found Sylvia Falcón and invited her to collaborate on the single Chusay. After working together at several concerts with Novalima, Grimaldo and Sylvia wanted to join forces to continue a new sound they were developing and Punku was born. 

Grimaldo shares how “Ancestral” is a perfect introduction to their project. He states, “this single is special because it's not the typical kind of music we would create. It is not exclusively about traditional Peruvian songs, like the ones Sylvia sings as a soloist and it is not the electronic music that I create in Novalima either. The whole project  came out without any planning. Unconsciously, we both were looking to make music that connects to mother earth and our historical ancestors.” The results are Andean electronic music with intense vocals and soft atmospheres. 

The duo concludes, “we deeply believe in music as an extraordinary healing medium, especially in these times challenging the world. We hope our entire musical project contributes to reflecting a tiny ray of light uplifting the spirit. As Punku is a new project created just before COVID, the quarantine has helped us to work on the recordings without any time or pressure.” 

“Ancestral” is just a taste of what’s to come from this exciting new project. Stay tuned for more music, videos, and the debut album from Punku dropping in Spring 2022 on Six Degrees Records. 

Todd Cochran | "Then and Again, Here & Now"

The creation of music as a collective art requires participants who are open and engaged. The essence of ensemble jazz music is the collaboration between elements, including sound and time and the musicians and audience. Pianist and composer Todd Cochran views these interchanges of energy and emotions as positive forces for change in the world. In his new album, Then and Again, Here & Now, just released on Sunnyside Records, Cochran’s earlier explorations are folded into this fresh musical creation.

To assist him in his efforts, Cochran enlisted bassist John Leftwich and drummer Michael Carvin. Leftwich has been an important voice in the West Coast’s vibrant music scene for decades and was introduced to Cochran twenty years ago via Freddie Hubbard. The legendary drummer became a part of the pianist’s world even earlier through collaborations with Bobby Hutcherson. Together the Todd Cochran trio – TC3 – is a tremendously vibrant, cerebral and vividly emotive ensemble that breathes life into any piece they endeavor to touch.

Cochran’s musical interests have always been vast in their outlook, from the avant-garde to fusions of jazz and rock. Under the alias Bayeté, his sound can be heard on albums that push the bounds of genres, from Santana, Automatic Man, Peter Gabriel, and Joan Armatrading’s arena filling rock sounds to the explosively spiritual world of his own records. “It was a combination of learning about idioms outside of those with which I was most familiar, and the trajectory of a restless curiosity that pushed me to surmount the challenges of making music outside of my natural affinities. Playing different styles of music authentically rather than as an approximation overtook everything. Each musical idiom had its own aesthetic and particular alchemy” says Cochran. Though, the element that has never escaped Cochran’s work throughout his career has been the blues aesthetic tied to jazz’s legacy, which he re-embraces on Then and Again, Here & Now.

Then and Again, Here & Now presents a collection of stalwart jazz songbook compositions, expressively contemporized and poetically reimagined by Cochran and his trio. Cochran’s philosophy of the development of music through the passing of ideas from generation to generation through evolving syntax can be heard in the approaches that are taken on these pieces. Though experimenting and taking liberties with these classics, the trio remains responsible as keepers of the flame and protectors of the blues vernacular.

From the opening of Romberg and Hammerstein’s “Softly, As In A Morning Sunrise,” the trio’s command of the piece’s inherent swing can be interspersed with creative rhythmic experimentation. A variety of approaches can be heard from piece to piece, especially on a pair of Gershwin pieces with “A Foggy Day” morphing from ballad to mid-tempo and “I Got Rhythm” in pointillistic swing. Interstitials connect and introduce a number of pieces in a thoughtful fashion akin to live performance, including Dave Brubeck’s “The Duke,” which flows expansively like a lazy river. “My approach is to accentuate its eloquence and enhance the myth” says Cochran.  

Ellington’s “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore” finds a curious pull between the classicism that the song inspires and Cochran’s playful bending, while a solo bass meditation leads into a brilliantly woven version of J.S. Bach’s “Prelude XX” from Book II of the Well-Tempered Clavier highlighting Cochran’s continued classical inspiration. “After the theme is stated we segue into improvisations around the idea of climbing up and climbing down. Modeling real-life and the reality that we’re continually modulating in one direction or another” says Cochran.

Vernon Duke’s “April In Paris” inspires a sweeping but soft touch from the trio until Leftwich’s unaccompanied bass “Between Spaces - Interstitial” leads to a percussively propulsive take on Kaper and Webster’s “Invitation,” as Carvin, a masterful archetype of empathetic rhythming, imaginatively sets the tone. “It’s played as a song without words, I think about the emotion of finally arriving at the perfect moment to extend an invitation to someone long imagined or hoped for” says Cochran.

An impressionist touch introduces Michel Legrand and Jacques Demy’s “You Must Believe in Spring,” a heart stopping ballad performed solely by Cochran. Monk’s spritely “Bemsha Swing” follows in short order followed by a wistful take on Bobby Hutcherson’s jazz waltz, “Little B’s Poem,” poignantly played by the trio with brilliant solo turns by all. The recording concludes with the resonant “Then and Again, Here & Now,” a brief recapitulation of the elements that brought this recording together: fellowship, history and hope. 

Todd Cochran has made it his life’s work to bring love and understanding to the world. The method he endeavors to accomplish this is through the communal language of improvisation and jazz. Then and Again, Here & Now encapsulates Cochran’s desires in a tangible and invigorating way.

Growing up, Cochran found a middle ground between the dimensions of the intellectual and spiritual when he discovered jazz music. His parents and grandparents were highly educated and motivated him to become the same. That led to his serious investment in classical piano study; performing and entering competitions as early as when he was just eight years old. His cousin introduced him to jazz at 13 and Cochran found a parallel, magnetizing pulse. He began to revisit his parents’ collection of Duke Ellington, Oscar Peterson and Ahmad Jamal recordings, transcribing and analyzing them so he could apply their lessons to his own music. It wasn’t long before Cochran was reaching out to local jazz leaders. 

A San Francisco native, formative school days in the 60s, college and coming-of-age in the 70s, Cochran is a product of the dynamic convergence of attitudes and socio-cultural revolution. His hometown was frontline at a pivotal time in American music history and the visionary principles of the era influenced his worldview and the trajectory of his pursuits. At just 17 years old, he found himself performing alongside the likes of jazz masters John Handy, Mike Nock, and later, Bobby Hutcherson, Woody Shaw, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Herbie Hancock, Julian Priester, and Eddie Henderson. 

Though his own music would branch out dramatically from his earliest jazz grounding, Cochran always remained in touch with the blues element of the music. Now after a ten-year hiatus from recording while nurturing his son into adulthood, Cochran has returned to the music that has given him so much joy and that he feels is necessary to reinvest in for the betterment of society. 

Lucky Brown's Seattle-based collective Mosquito Hawks release 'Some Kinda Blues'

Lucky Brown is the alias and stage persona of American composer Joel Ricci, who conducts myriad combinations of musicians drawn from his Seattle Washington based Westsound Recording Collective in dynamic and spiritual public and private happenings. Via his dozens of self-produced experimental deep funk vinyl singles released by Tramp Records over the past 13 years, he has been hailed by music mavens worldwide as a deep funk pioneer.

After a flurry of funk 45 releases beginning with “Don’t Go Away” in around 2008, debut album Space Dream was finally compiled in 2011 on Tramp Records and introduced Lucky Brown’s singular brand of deep funk and vernacular jazz to the world. The original tunes were soulfully rendered live by his groups The Funk Revolution and Crawdad Farmers and were recorded by Ricci with salvaged, scavenged, and repurposed gear driven by completely naive and improvised recording techniques.

Follow-up Mystery Road was released in 2015 again on Tramp on double-vinyl and as a deluxe 7 x 7″ box, with each single sporting distinctive artwork, unique band names and raw ‘art-brut’ funk blossoming from separate Magik Carpet writing and recording sessions. The concept sought to capture the unfiltered energy and vibe of friends just jamming together in the living room and pushed Ricci’s production modus operandi to its furthest ‘cutting fringe’.

After the compilation style albums of Space Dream and Mystery Road, Ricci composed the Mesquite Suite. This 5-year endeavor was Ricci’s album-length missive on the myth and mystique of so-called ‘americana‘ cast against a backdrop of the American southwest. The recordings employed Seattle group The S.G.’s, and presented Ricci’s investigation into ‘place-based funk impressionism’ with the cassette demos for the album having been conceived prayerfully by Ricci while on retreat in an ashram in the Texas Hill Country. Respectful to the concept, Ricci and Tramp entered into an arrangement by which each piece would be released under the newly formed Tramp Tapes imprint. Three 45RPM singles, the double gatefold LP Mesquite Suite in its entirety, and culminating in an unprecedented modal rock fusion 10″ ‘found-acetate’ EP concept complete with crusty antique 78RPM sleeves entitled Pecan Trees Speak to Each Other.

Deep Blues EP Some Kinda Blues by The Mosquitohawks is the fruit of a one-off early morning session in a practice room at the Seattle Drum School in 2010 featuring luminaries from the Seattle funk community including fiery guitar phenom Jabrille “Jimmy James” Williams of DLO3 renown, versatile drummer Jens Gunnoe and dynamic bass player Bob Lovelace. A tantalizing glimpse of the session was released by Tramp as a single under the name T.D. & The Jimmy James 3 on the extremely limited edition Mosquitohawk imprint, but this EP offers us time to appreciate the transformative alchemy of the session in its entirety. The new EP makes room for highlights that just couldn’t have been contained on one 45, such as the remaining 7 minutes of brutal jamming of Mosquito Eater, the New Orleans street party shout of Hydrangea and the exalted kind of blues of Some Kinda Blues.

Chad Fowler & Matthew Shipp | "Old Stories"

Releasing April 15th, 2022 on Mahakala Music, saxophonist Chad Fowler blends his southern, R&B  influence with pianist Matthew Shipp's unique brand of modern improvisation in a monumental improvised session.

“A duo is such a specific format, and I've done a lot of them,” reflects Matthew Shipp, one of New York's premier improvisational pianists for the past 40 years, who's worked with the likes of David S. Ware, Roscoe Mitchell, William Parker, Ivo Perelman and many others. “I really relish the raw interaction of a duo. It's kind of a discipline — a very specific thing. It can present a whole dramatic compositional puzzle.” And to be sure, he considers purely extemporaneous improvisation to be an act of composition as much as anything. It's no accident that the pianist, associated with so-called free jazz for most of his life, sees Duke Ellington, a composer's composer, as a key inspiration.  

Ellington was a fortuitous touchstone for Shipp to bring to his recent collaboration with Arkansas-based saxophonist Chad Fowler on Old Stories, their new album of duets on Mahakala Music. For his part, Fowler brought to the sessions a longstanding fascination with Ellington sideman (and alto saxophone pioneer) Johnny Hodges, though, like Shipp, this is expressed obliquely through Fowler's work with avant garde luminaries like Alvin Fielder, Douglas Ewart and Parker. 

It was the latter bassist who indirectly brought Shipp and Fowler together. “I met Matt just last year at the Vision Festival, the free jazz event that William Parker and his wife run,” says Fowler. “I knew his music well, but I'd never met him in person. We ended up standing together, watching William Parker's band.” Sensing they were kindred spirits, they immediately made arrangements for a session at Park West Studios in Brooklyn.

Indeed, the duets heard on Old Stories comprise their first real interaction. “I think I talked to him on the phone for two minutes about the logistics,” recalls Fowler. “We barely even said hello before we started. And I think it shaped the session. He was in there playing Ellington tunes when I arrived, warming up. Really swinging, beautiful ballads. And then we just started recording. We never discussed anything beforehand. By far the longest conversation we had ever had was the musical conversation in the studio that day.”

That suited Shipp just fine. “We just started,” he recalls. “Jim Clouse the engineer said, 'Rolling,' and that was it. After every track, we'd take a second and we'd look at each other. Then, 'Are we on?' 'Yeah, you're on.' And we'd start again.” Having said that, Shipp notes that both players brought their musicianship to bear on every second, every beat. “You kind of just know, 'Okay, we've done this, this and this, so it's probably time to do something like this, texture-wise, because we haven't covered that. That process takes on a life of its own, and it just flows from there. Like, whoever does the first attack, the other is thinking, 'How is this piece going? What are we going to explore?' And that information is conveyed instantly at the beginning. That takes a lot of experience and musicianship.”

The tracks that emerged reveal two acute compositional minds at work in real time. “I consider myself a conceptualist and a musical thinker who is always going towards the coherence,” Shipp notes. “Even in what might be perceived as the most free form settings. Music is language, and any language has its own internal logic, its own internal waveform generating itself. If you're telling a story, which is what jazz is supposed to be about, you're dealing with a real internal language. And if it's an honest expression, you'll make sentences of sorts. Paragraphs.”

And, true to the album's title, these stories are weathered and worn, owing to the century-old reference points both players rely on. Yet there's tension in their contrasting approaches as well. “I get the sense that Chad's played a lot of R&B,” says Shipp. “I hear the Southern aspects of his playing. I also hear a lot of the second generation avant garde. I play mostly with East Coast, New York style players, and even though he's obviously capable of hanging in that realm, and does, he is a little different.”

Fowler fully embraces the Southern flavors he's steeped in. “I grew up musically playing in Memphis with R&B bands, listening to Hi Records all the time. It used to be my goal to play sax the same way Al Green sings when he improvises. Even when playing completely raucous, noisy stuff, I think you can hear that I come from a blues sort of background.” 

That, in turn, goes hand in hand with the respect both players have for the sounds of the jazz age, starting with Fowler's choice of instrument. Unlike most alto players, he favors an archaic straight alto, which Rahsaan Roland Kirk called a “stritch,” and the similarly shaped saxello. “Having a weird instrument changes my mindset when I play, in a way that I think is good,” Fowler says. “It's nice to think of it as not being a saxophone.”

And so, even amidst wailing, textural approaches, both players are capable of a lyricism that's not always associated with free playing. “Chad's a great musician — very responsive and sensitive. I hear a lot of Johnny Hodges in his playing,” says Shipp. “I asked him about that afterwards, and he said that's one of his favorite musicians. There's a lot of Duke Ellington in my playing, especially when I use really elegant chord voicings, and I hear Chad responding to that.”  

Which brings us back to the musical coherence of these exploratory recordings. As Fowler reflects, “To me, this session, more than anything I've ever done, feels like composed songs. And I literally mean songs, because there are melodies and form and development. The track called 'Chapter 8,' which is the only piece where I play the saxcello, really sounds like we're reading written notes off a page.”  

To Shipp, the title of the album and the chapters comprising it match the music perfectly. “It's a narrative,” he says. “A novel of sorts. And even if your story is new, it's a rearranging of elements. All the new stories are old, in some ways. We seem to have been prepared for it, somehow. It was a real delight. Between the freshness of a new encounter and being prepared, that balance is really there. That's what makes it vibrant and exciting for me.” 

Or, as Fowler puts it, “When you listen to it, it feels like we already knew each other, like we're old friends, even though we had barely talked to each other before that. So it felt like the old shared stories that we tell, that reference events that neither of us has experienced.” 

Lisa Hilton and her trio release "Life Is Beautiful"

Lisa Hilton and her trio, manifest a memorable experience on life is beautiful, their third recording of the pandemic era, and the acclaimed pianist, composer, and producer’s twenty-fifth album as a leader in the US. On it, Hilton indulges her love of the piano with ten original tracks and the cover gem, Ernie’s Blues, (written by Ernie Wilkins). Backed by her ever-excellent band mates: Rudy Royston on drums and Luques Curtis on bass, Hilton’s elegantly swinging piano and engaging compositions encompass a range from traditional tracks, Latin, blues and retro seamlessly. Royston continually hits the marks on his kit, and Curtis shows off plenty of style over this splendid repertoire of compositions.  

The album begins with an impressive bass solo from Curtis on the classic Ernie’s Blues. The tune’s complex chords and loose bluesy passages allow accomplished soloing from Hilton as well. Retro Road Trip highlights Royston’s rhythm skills and has a bit of a Prokofiev energy amid mid-century grooves. Inspired by classic American Standards, Hilton includes two romantic compositions here: So This Is Love and Nightingales and Fairy Tales - both evoking nostalgic charms and reminiscent of some of Bill Evans work in his sixties period. Too Hot dips into modal ideas creating its own melodic atmosphere. Hilton includes two Latin flavored compositions: Stepping Into Paradise as well as Santa Monica Samba, that show the versatility of the trio in mingling different Latin styles together effortlessly. Seduction is a solo piano piece that Hilton has recorded before, (some other tracks have also been recorded on past albums), with a new extended version here, showcasing Hilton’s love for the blues. Temporary Lullaby, written for Hilton’s daughter, is a melodic standout. In her liner notes, it mentions that More Than Another Day nods to Miles Davis, Antonio Carlos Jobim and Cole Porter. 

Besides his work with Hilton, Royston has collaborated with an ever-expanding list of iconic jazz musicians such as Ron Miles, Bill Frisell, Rudresh Mahanthappa, and Tia Fuller. Curtis, an equally sought-after collaborator, has worked with Eddie Palmieri, Orrin Evans, Christian Scott, Sean Jones, and many more. About planning a recording session this far into the pandemic years, Hilton notes: “I think all musicians right now are hungry to play, so it feels really good when we have the opportunity to get together all day in the studio when we record. Despite the masks and other challenges, musicians need to create music. It sounds simplistic, but that's how we thrive.” Hilton has continued to compose, perform and produce an album a year in a trio, quartet, quintet or solo piano setting, and is a familiar name at the top of charts like Jazz Week, ZMR, and #1 Amazon New Releases. Hiltons albums also regularly appear on some “Best Of” lists” at All About Jazz or other sites, and popular music collections like Apple’s Pure Jazz Playlist.

Lisa Hilton’s new album, life is beautiful, is available everywhere April 1, 2022.Lisa Kristine Hilton is a distinctive composer of jazz, an acclaimed pianist, a bandleader, and producer. Growing up in a small town on California’s central coast, she originally taught herself to play piano with a colored keyboard guide, writing her first simple songs around six years old, before beginning studies in classical and twentieth-century music starting at the age of eight. In college, she switched majors from music and graduated instead with a degree in art and has noted that her art background regularly informs her creativity. Hilton’s music draws on classical traditions, and twentieth-century modernists as well as classic American jazz greats such as Cole Porter, Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis and Horace Silver, as well as blues heroes Muddy Waters and Robert Johnson. In the book, “The New Face of Jazz: An Intimate Look at Today’s Living Legends and Artists of Tomorrow” by Cicily Janus, it states that Hilton has been “compared to some of the best pianists in history.” Hilton often speaks about the need for the music of women composers to be heard and presented more consistently in theaters and clubs performing jazz, classical and opera, as well as honoring their historical cultural contributions.

COLECTIVA and Maria Grapsa | "Under The"

Exploring the boundaries between Afro-Latin music and jazz, COLECTIVA are a unique voice on the UK scene, representing the meeting of two musical worlds they believe belong together. 

Their first single, ‘Under The’ came to life when jazz pianist Maria Grapsa brought an early arrangement of the tune to the collective. Working together over a series of collaborative sessions typical of their creative process, they crafted the song you hear today.

Founded as a creative experiment by trombonist Viva Msimang, COLECTIVA makes space for female and non-binary identifying musicians to come together and collaborate in a new dynamic, an alternative to traditional hierarchical structures, free from the Male Gaze. 

Exploring notions of sisterhood through their shared creative practice, the collective empower themselves and their audiences alike.

Tormented melodies, jagged horn hits, and a rhythm section bristling with energy open the
song, evoking sounds of struggle. Harmonies stack, as the musicians reach a triumphant yet vulnerable precipice… The arrival of a montuno transports them towards a utopia, and launching into a timba-inflected breakdown, COLECTIVA take us home, above the trees, within the earth, where we are one, the big cats chasing snakes while deer run free. 

‘Under The’ features Nadine Nagen (violin), Sarah Wackett (flute), Poppy Daniels (trumpet), Deanna Wilhelm (trumpet), Viva Msimang (trombone), Luisa Santiago (keys), Maria Grapsa (original composition, keys), Alley Lloyd (bass), Lilli Elina (congas, percussion), Lya Guerrero (drums). 

This lineup met organically playing together in bands, sessions and jams, and collectively have worked with artists such as Los Van Van, Dayramir Gonzales, Brenda Navarrete, Sampa The Great, Sarathy Korwar, Juanita Euka, Penya, Anjelique Kidjo, Laura Misch, Photay, Msafiri Zawose, Clean Bandit, Little Simz, Shunaji, Camilo Azuquita, Dengue Dengue Dengue, Scrimshire, Yazmin Lacey, and The Cure.

Finnish Ambient/Jazz Duo Tapani Rinne & Juha Mäki-Patola Release New Collaborative LP Open

Hush Hush Records presents a bold new exploration within their cinematic, atmospheric, and genre-free sonic universe with Open, a collaborative album between veteran Finnish musicians Tapani Rinne and Juha Mäki-Patola. An organic melding of each musician’s distinctive style that yields their own unique shared language, Open reveals a cohesive meditative thread through ambient, jazz, and neo-classical music, paving the way for a refreshingly cool and sophisticated Nordic sound. 

Tapani and Juha were strangers prior to connecting online in February, yet they’ve both been active players within the Finnish music community for decades. Tapani’s illustrious career as a saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer has been an evolving path of collaborative works, solo releases, and an array of commissioned work dating back to the mid-1980s. He was featured prominently on legendary Finnish jazz drummer/composer Edward Vesala’s critically acclaimed 1987 album Lumi for ECM Records, and the following year he co-founded RinneRadio, a pioneering Finnish outfit that forged a thrilling experimental intersection between jazz and techno. An integral and prolific member of the Finnish music scene since these formative beginnings, Tapani has played with numerous bands and released a handful of ambient-leaning solo albums too, most recently unveiling the dreamy and ominous Foghornia in 2020. Regardless of the project, Tapani’s trusty melodic reed work has long been characterized by an evocative range, intuitive pulse, and collaborative spirit. It is this consistent communal curiosity that opened the doors for this album, as he was happy to join forces with emerging solo composer Juha Mäki-Patola upon a simple invitation via Instagram to work together on new material. 

Although his discography may not run as deep as Tapani’s, Juha has been active in the Finnish music community for over a decade. Originally serving as a member of several bands and working as a producer, musician, and engineer for both local and international artists from various genres, Juha took this multifaceted experience to steer the vision for the type of music he desired to compose and produce under his own name. Inspired by the great neo-classical composers of this era such as Jóhann Jóhannsson, Nils Frahm, and Max Richter, as well as iconic artists such as Brian Eno, Philip Glass, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and Alva Noto, Juha began to create introspective and reflective instrumental pieces that sought a specific calmness. Receiving early support during this journey from Seattle-based KEXP DJ Alex Ruder, Juha made his solo debut in September 2020 with the full-length album Breath, released on Alex’s independent label Hush Hush Records. Juha quickly followed up Breath with the complimentary 3-track EP Waves in February 2021, also released on Hush Hush Records.

Open was written quickly during a 3-month creative burst in early 2021. Working remotely from their respective home studios in Helsinki, the two artists eagerly traded ideas back-and-forth to find a warm, immersive, and transportive shared sonic vision. Tapani’s rich saxophone and clarinet melodies blend seamlessly into Juha’s complimentary guitar, piano, organ, and synthesizer compositions. Sometimes Tapani’s contributions joyfully dance around in the foreground, elsewhere they provide a deep, subtle, cavernous accompaniment to Juha’s lush arrangements. Opening track “Brevity” introduces their combined palette in welcoming fashion, Tapani’s dueling melodies interweaving gently within Juha’s twinkling minimal foundation before swelling alongside additional layers of piano. Lead single “Open Pt. 1” provides the album’s most upfront and immediate moment, Tapani’s exploratory saxophone melodies dominating the spotlight to glide atop a meditative piano motif. Penultimate track “Fall” serves as another early single off the album, its undulating pulse finding beauty in its restraint and spotlighting the duo’s atmospheric strengths. “Hover” eases the listener towards a gracious finale, Tapani and Juha having a playful dialogue with rich organ chords laying the groundwork for Tapani’s whimsical saxophone.

Over its 10-song run through cerebral jazz, glacial ambient, and cinematic neo-classical styles, Open introduces a delightful new shade into both artist’s repertoires as well as Hush Hush’s amorphous catalog. Stylistically reminiscent of Floating Points and Pharaoh Sanders’ instant 2021 classic Promises, Open distinguishes itself with an expansive and contemplative aesthetic informed by Finland’s icy climate and long winters, as well as the atmospheric nature of the Nordic experimental jazz scene. Boasting a rich painterly sound that beautifully blends ambient, jazz, and neo-classical into their own unique expression, Tapani and Juha seamlessly fuse their talents to create a hypnotic debut collaborative record.

Italian Jazz Drummer, Tommaso Moretti's New Album "Inside Out" Featuring Ben Lamar Gay

At its best, recorded music manages to be both wholly particular and thoroughly general; both specific and open ended; of the moment and outside of it; in motion and a snapshot; of lived experience and expressing the imagined. These tendencies and tensions give us some of the pathways into core values at work in this music.  To the ears and heart, these are qualities that exceed genre and style: becoming rather matters of substance and content; things personal but also those held in common.  It is about life.  Moretti introduces this record with the reflection: “It connects the dots between the intimate dimension of an inspiration and the aesthetic need to translate it into defined musical languages. It’s a quest to find the inner layer of humanity that allows a connection between the meaning of three words: Sentimento, Saudade, Soul.” Feeling, longing, experience, and form are the narrative and musical themes here. 

He offers us an album that communicates the particular circumstances of his life: a native Italian; a proud Chicagoan since 2013; a husband and father; teacher, collaborator, and bandleader. A student of the rhythms of the Afro-Atlantic world, especially the polyrhythmic jazz and samba traditions; a communicator of music fundamentals; a detailed listener; an operator of time and layers in sound; a singer and composer.The invitation with a record like this is to hear it as a journey and as a retrospective; looking at a path both backwards and ahead- giving us a way to hear the composition of a place.  This is music of many homes- settings like Chicago and Rome -  and also scenes and spaces  - the samba bateria, the jazz session, the canzone napoletana, - and motion - it swings. 

This is an album that is both expressive of decades of musical feeling yet given form in a necessarily particular period in Chicago, 2021: each instrumentalist recorded their part in the studio separately: starting with the percussive foundation and recording each layer of the composition individually. Building out musical drama and collectivity in such circumstances becomes possible by way of compositions that are deeply polyrhythmic, multi-sectional, and centered through shifting grooves.The forms of each piece give a common terrain for creativity, in which each musician responds in turn to the layers that preceded them.  Feeling and form are necessarily entangled in the process here.  To get beyond or extend that which has come before, moving from inside out (i.e rhythm first) towards figuring out how to play outside of the structure that had previously been laid down.  It is a process that foregrounds the possibility of recontextualizing through layering.  Moretti is always expressive in polyrhythm, which affirms that a new layer can transform overall meaning and value.                                                                                           

The rhythm section of Moretti’s drums and percussion, Ben Dillinger’s bass, and Edinho Gerber’s electric and acoustic guitars offers a foundation for Jake Wark’s saxophone, as well as the cornet of Ben Lamar Gay and Natalie Lande's flute. Moretti’s voice, xylophone, and electronics extend the sound pallet on multiple pieces, providing a deeply personal set of timbres: the voice is vehicle of language and lyrics here, detailed, and specific; the xylophone is playful and articulate; the electronics extend a sense of space and motion.Some careful overdubs grow the arrangements while keeping the focus on a naturalistic group sound, full of dynamic changes, interplay, and the sound of musicians listening to one another: supportive, balanced, and in dialogue.  This dance-  of the group of individuals playing within a shared structure - gathers around eight pieces grounded in the specific textures and concerns of Moretti’s life - at once particular and broadly human; of motion and about place - manifesting some specific thematic concerns expressed in each:

1. Italiano In America

This sounds out some of the dynamics of Italian self-perception: echoing the way we might perceive ourselves at home and abroad; and the ways we think that we are perceived. Who thinks what of whom?  Who thinks what where?  Creating a chain of mirrors and reflections, these questions of identity play out as an alternation of musical Drama and Comedy - used to set up and undo a listeners’s expectations and sense of anticipation and assumption.  Tension, propulsive change, and upended resolution emerge as a recurring Italian folk motif is positioned in a slippery rhythmic context: the joyful play with and defiance of expectations; the sonic and the social in modulation. 

2. Redefine The Purpose

With a feel both placid and restless, Moretti notes, “the lyrics reflect a common feeling during the first months of the pandemic: a wish that humanity could learn from mistakes and break out the vicious circle of greed.” The instrumental pallet here documents the eclectic collection of instruments Moretti had on hand at home during the 2020 lockdown- drums, classical guitar, xylophone, percussion, and the voice- augmented in this recording by bass (Ben Dillinger) and flute (Natalie Lande). 

3 ESM

“A song inspired by my 5 years old daughter's moods and motions, with a particular emphasis on her energy and sweetness.”

4. Edge Of A Decade

Inspired by the Afro-Brazilian percussion art-form "Batucada" and a sincere tribute to a rhythmic language that is increasingly central to Moretti’s practice and work in Chicago’s Brazilian music scene.  The title reflects the fact that the song was composed on New Years Eve of 2019, at the edge of a new decade. Ben Lamar Gay's cornet improvisation unfolds as three overlapping takes, creating “a slow burn build up effect evoking a dreamy dystopian Carnival.”

5. Taming The Bitterness

This is “a song that emerged in my mind during a particularly stressful moment and I kept rearranging it and modifying it until I realized it was becoming an attempt at self-therapy. On the bridge of the melody the tempo slows down and the sound texture changes creating an introspective feel.”

6. A Call For Awareness

Another song conceived in 2020, where the “vibe reflects the dark times we are facing, leaving some room for hope. Hope can be real only If we are willing to leave the culture of denial behind and embrace a new kind of Awareness.”

7.Going Home-Flying Away From Home

Grappling with the “emotional complexities of the immigrant's ever evolving perception of home” in this piece Edinho Gerber 's acoustic guitar is at the center of the mix:  “imbuing every soloist with saudade-filled harmonies. The music is simultaneously a tribute to the eternal masters of Brazilian jazz (Hermeto Pascoal, Edu Lobo, Baden Powell etc..) but also includes references to one of my favorite Italian soundtrack composers: Piero Piccioni.”

8. Era De Maggio

The closing piece is an arrangement of a canzone napoletana: the traditional song of Naples. This selection, composed by Mario Costa in the late 19th century with lyrics by Salvatore Di Giacomo, is a love song that revolves around the concept of separation and reunification following the season's cycle. The contrasts of minor and major keys, a typical formula in the tradition, which musically sustains the narrative and emotion of the lyrics.

~ Will Faber

Joona Toivanen Trio "Both Only"

A landmark work for the long standing group, the album showcases a new sound for the band, trekking deep into new ideas for an acoustic jazz piano trio. Since their formation as teenagers in mid-199os, the trio of pianist Joona Toivanen, bassist Tapani Toivanen and drummer Olavi Louhivuori (of Superposition, Ilmiliekki Quartet and Linda Fredriksson ‘Juniper') has developed their remarkably coherent band sound step by step, touring the world over. Nowadays, the trio is geographically split between Gothenburg, Sweden (Joona), Copenhagen, Denmark (Tapani), and Helsinki, Finland (Olavi), but the unit has never sounded so together as one, and as adventurous as on ‘Both Only’. 

‘Both Only’ by Joona Toivanen Trio is a cocoon, a welcoming shelter of sound that opens up naturally for the listener to inhabit. The album is moody and introspective, even dark at times, but by the time you get to the closing track, ‘This and This’, you'll likely notice something hopeful brewing up. This is not music dealing with nostalgia or a world lost. Instead, it's a body of work with delicate dynamics, taking a minute just to listen and to look inwards to learn something, to move forward. 

The first single ‘Enlightened' is perhaps the most traditional piece on the album, yet it flows like a vessel beyond genre, conveying a mood, a feeling and an idea. Listen to how the piano, bass and drums discuss, how the groove moves with the instruments having their clear roles but also supporting each other and documenting a musical aging process exactly as that of a quality bottle of red wine. As a song like ‘Direction’ proves, the melody is there throught the album, yet there is nothing obvious about how it's carried by the trio. Things remain surprising, fresh and moving at all times. ‘Except For’ keeps its intensity, while nearly erupting into a full on 4-to-the-floor banger. Nearly! The key here is how the energy sustains itself, builfing the intenmsity within the music. 

‘Both Only’ is a powerful statement from a band ready to renew itself time and again, and one willing to do it slowly, outside of the hype. This process makes the impact enduring, nuanced and lovely. 

New Music: Sean Khan, Ourra, Badbadnotgood, Mariana Zwarg with Hermeto Pascoal

Sean Khan - Supreme Love: A Journey Through Coltrane

A wonderful setting for the talents of UK saxophonist Sean Khan – a set that features some great tracks from the John Coltrane songbook, plus original material too – all served up in that cosmic version of future jazz that we've loved from some of Sean's previous albums! Yet there's also a richness here that goes beyond those – a sense of larger arrangements that really brings a sort of majesty to the record – a vibe that has Khan continuing the legacy of London contemporaries like Nathan Haines and Chris Bowden on some of their best recordings! The album also features work from older greats Peter King on alto sax and Jim Mullins on guitar, and the Cinematic Orchestra's Heidi Vogel adds lyrics to a few tunes too. Titles include "Cousin Mary", "Equinox", "Impressions", "Giant Steps", "Moment's Notice", "Savage Detectives", "Love Supreme", "Starchild", "Afro Blue", "Emilia's Pick", "Azawala", and "Naima".  ~ Dusty Groove

Ourra - Fantasy Point

A sweet set of cosmic funk in the best Star Creature mode – lots of crispy beats mixed with the sorts of 80s elements you might guess from the fonts used on the cover – all served up in a nice way that's not nearly as slavishly retro as other projects of this nature! But then again, that's what we've come to expect from Ourra – a cat who's got a way of doing more with less, and finding his own bright star out there in the cosmos! The whole thing's instrumental, and filled with lots of beats and keyboards – on titles that include "Night Glider", "Breaker's Boogie", "Rekab's Azy", "Ghost Reflex", "Game Over", "Sea Green Eyes", "The Climb", and "Red Wave". ~ Dusty Groove

Badbadnotgood - Talk Memory

A really different sort of record from Badbadnotgood – and we mean that in the best way possible, as the group are really maturing and opening up their sound! The core blend of funk and jazz elements is still at play on the record – but there's also a more expansive vibe too, one that uses larger arrangements to really color in the sound and create all this sense of sonic wonder – a vibe that really comes through on one track that features guest work from cosmic musician Laraaji, and five more that feature the legendary Brazilian artist Arthur Verocai! In a way, the spacious quality of Verocai's own music might be a good way to describe the approach here – although the group certainly leave their own mark on the sound too. Titles include "City Of Mirrors", "Unfolding", "Love Proceeding", "Timid Intimidating", "Beside April", and "Talk Meaning" – the last of which features guest work from Terrace Martin and Brandee Younger too. ~ Dusty Groove

Mariana Zwarg with Hermeto Pascoal - Nascentes

A really lovely album from flute player Mariana Zwarg – working here with the legendary Hermeto Pascoal, who also happens to be her grandfather, but in a style that's very much her own! While it might be tempting to say that there's some of the Pascoal tradition of complexity here, Mariana's music is more straightforward and tied to jazz – but always with that freewheeling vibe that's grace Brazilian variants of the music from the 60s onwards – which means that even when things are sophisticated, they're very organic – and vocals often come into play with the group as much as an instrument – effortlessly blending with the melody and rhythm. The whole set is really beautiful – like one of those rare treasures on a label like Som Da Gente or Pointer – and titles include "Lucas E Lena", "Acalanto", "Viva Hermeto", "Ventania", and "Na Carioca". ~ Dusty Groove

Jane McNealy | "Marsha Bartenetti sings McNealy & Kuhns"

Advancing years and a stage four cancer diagnosis spurred songwriter, composer, arranger and librettist Jane McNealy to sift through the pages of her songbook of jazz, pop, soul, funk and folk tunes as well as theatrical material penned for stage and screen, selecting what she felt are some of the best songs, many of which she wrote with longtime collaborator Alice Kuhns. Set list in hand and with legacy on her mind, McNealy headed to the iconic Capitol Studios to record the material as she always envisioned the songs to sound. Giving voice to the opulent, exquisitely orchestrated collection is award-winning vocalist Marsha Bartenetti. The album, “Marsha Bartenetti sings McNealy & Kuhns,” drops April 1 on McNealy’s Lo-Flo Records.

One would imagine that assembling a “time capsule” of your life’s work, spanning more than fifty years of music, would be an emotional experience and the album is indeed an emotional listen.

“This album is extraordinarily rich, expressive, layered and complex. It’s a lot to take in in one listen. It is a combination of everything that I love that I’ve written over the years that shows in total what my artistic life has been about,” said McNealy, who was mentored by the late Harold Battiste Jr. and has collaborated with Dr. John, Joyce Dunn, Tami Lynn, Lydia Marcelle, Judy Karp, Henry Butler, Andy Simpkins and Roy McCurdy among others.

Relying upon Mike Watts to masterfully orchestrate and arrange “Marsha Bartenetti sings McNealy & Kuhns,” McNealy knew that key to bringing to life a project that has such meaning and significance was finding the right voice to illuminate the songs. The tracks were already complete when Bartenetti entered the picture.

“Lyrics are everything to me. Whenever I choose songs to record, my first consideration is the lyric and how I resonate to the story…and then, of course, melody. Jane and Alice’s songs paint very evocative pictures – like you are walking into an impressionistic painting. And the lush arrangements of the songs create depth and texture, supporting each lyric. I was very drawn to the longing and hope in their lyrics as well,” said the elegant-voiced Bartenetti, who is also an actor and well-known voiceover artist.

McNealy knew what she found in Bartenetti, saying, “The subtlety and depth of Marsha’s interpretation, the haunting quality that she infuses into each song, her light touch, the fluidity of her vocal range - all this and more is interwoven into a fine tapestry of musical poetry on the album.”

“Marsha Bartenetti sings McNealy & Kuhns” can be categorized as a jazz vocal album although the project is diverse stylistically, offering a wealth of sophisticated sounds akin to a collection of contemporary classics and standards culled from the great American songbook.

The first of three singles that will preview the album, “Why Does The Sky Keep Changing” will drop March 4 along with a video. Dramatic and desirous, underscored by sweeping strings and Bartenetti’s yearning portrayal, the song was penned for the musical “Gauguin” written by McNealy and Kuhns about the French Post-Impressionist artist. A snapshot of a frayed relationship with a straying lover is depicted on “Running Around,” a jazzy single coming March 11 bolstered by Jeff Bunnell’s classy trumpet and Rusty Higgins’ soulful saxophone. Dropping March 18, Bartenetti’s voice beams wistfully and longingly like an amorous dreamer on “Love,” written for the musical “Primrose Hill.”       

The variety show continues as “One Day At A Time” dances to Latin and Afro Cuban rhythms, a soaring jazz number propelled by trumpet, sax and Watt’s gleeful piano, buttressing Bartenetti’s impassioned voice. Vacillating between a gentle waltz and a brisk bebop cadence, “What Is Today Without You” is a showstopper composed for the fantastical musical “To Be Fred” that ruminates on isolation, imagination and ardent pining. Jazz singer and four-time Grammy winner Sarah Vaughan performed “I Never See That Rainbow Anymore,” a bluesy jazz joint featuring yet another knockout performance by Bartenetti about unrequited love. McNealy wrote “Kite In The Clouds” in fond remembrance of her father. The cut is a bright-eyed carnival ride that soft shoes to ragtime piano and whimsical percussion.

“Marsha Bartenetti sings McNealy & Kuhns” is the type of big-budget album the major labels used to make, and you can hear it in the finished product. McNealy is proud of the record and delighted to spotlight Bartenetti. Like uncovering a time capsule buried in the backyard, she hopes that new listeners for years to come will discover these songs for the first time and that people already familiar with her catalogue will fall in love with it as beautifully rendered by Bartenetti. And McNealy acknowledges that the album may present a challenge.

“I think it’s probably extremely difficult to describe this album because it’s almost like eating chocolate mousse seven times. Making it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience to be treasured forever.”

Transcultural Modern Music from Singer Cymin Samawatie, Percussionist Ketan Bhatti and the Trickster Orchestra

Singer Cymin Samawatie and percussionist Ketan Bhatti from the Berlin-based group Cyminology apply their poetic musical language on a larger scale with the Trickster Orchestra. Under Cymin's and Ketan's artistic direction, the orchestra interprets their characteristic blend of trans-traditional contemporary music. Cymin draws inspiration from ancient to modern verses spanning psalms to texts by Sufi poets Rumi and Hafiz, performing not only in Farsi but also in Hebrew, Turkish, and Arabic. With growing instrumentation comes an expansion of dynamics, textures, and colours. 

The Trickster Orchestra represents Cymin Samawatie's and Ketan Bhatti's first shared collaboration outside of Cyminology, their Berlin-based group, whose three ECM recordings (As Ney, Saburi and Phoenix) each respectively gained praise for their cross-cultural approach. This program sees Cymin and Ketan expanding their musical reach with the Trickster Orchestra. "When working with this orchestra," says Cymin, "Ketan and I step outside of our musical comfort zone and reinvent ourselves – try out new paths that we still have to discover."

Founded by Cymin and Ketan in 2013, the Trickster Orchestra was born out of a collaboration as part of the education program of the Berlin Philharmonic. It soon turned into a permanent outlet for the singer's and drummer's multi-faceted music and more experimental compositional forms – also drawing on influences from contemporary classical music. Cymin explains that "what really distinguishes this orchestra from other projects and what makes it so special, is the fact that it's made up of very strong and individual personalities, who have each achieved great things on their own. For this project, they step outside of their individual musical bubbles and join forces to create a new, collective musical world." Among the musicians in the orchestra are, for example: koto virtuoso Naoko Kikuchi drawing on the classical and contemporary heritage of her instrument and expanding its range; Susanne Fröhlich with her mastery of the recorder family, bridging European old and new music; Berlin Philharmonic violist Martin Stegner, who appeared on Cyminology's last album Phoenix; clarinetist Mona Matbou Riahi, who recorded with the Naqsh Duo for ECM, and award-winning virtuoso Wu Wei, who plays the traditional Chinese reed sheng – they all are part of the equation, but merely represent a fraction of the talent at hand. 

The album's instrumentation – reaching from the Arabic flute nay through the zither-like oriental kanun to electronic manipulations – substantially widens Cymin's and Ketan's expressive spectrum and the textural depth of their arrangements. Ketan points out that the question of "How do we create a collective musical language" takes center stage when working in such a diverse environment. "We have such a variety of musical systems and conventions gathered under one roof – from people who read notes versus those who don't to the simple matter of instruments being differently tuned. In an attempt to work together, we automatically conspire in an act of imitation, or to be more precise, we enter into a mimetic process. While trying to understand and translate each other's respective traditions, we create something new."

Gaining momentum since performing at the Jazzfest Berlin in 2015, the orchestra continues to initiate its own projects, such as Modara – the orchestra's own festival for classical contemporary music that celebrates cultural transformation. A concept born from the readings of 13th century poet Jalaluddin Rumi, Modara refers to a place of intense encounter and dissolution of the self into something completely new. Or in Rumi's own words: "Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and right doing, there is Modara. I'll meet you there."

An idea that speaks strongly to Cymin, Modara is also the title she gave one of the album's compositions. Reciting Rumi's words in Farsi, Cymin conveys a peaceful message: "Beyond religion (Islam) or infidelity, there is a desert plain. / For us, there is a passion in the midst of that expanse." Other texts found on the album include verses that are immediately inspired by the Quran as well as readings from the Hebrew Bible and a poem by contemporary Turkish poet Efe Duyan, whose writing deals with current social and political topics. Cymin explains that integrating an expanded repertoire of languages represents a deliberate move on her part: "As a direct contrast to my work with Cyminology – where the Persian lyrics play a central role – for Trickster Orchestra, it was important to me that the lyrics reflect the orchestra's trans-traditional lineup."

"Por se ssedaa," which already featured on Cyminology's ECM debut As Ney, reappears in a new guise, energized by the substantial orchestral scope and untethered by the instruments' breadth. The title and lyrics are based on verses by 14th century Persian poet Hafiz, whose most important work "Divan" famously inspired Goethe to create the poetry cycle West-Östlicher Divan. Contemplating a path, on which love, passion, and music intersect, Hafiz' words echo through Cymin's grounded yet flexible alto in a way that discloses the words' deep resonance with the singer.

Cymin Samawatie studied classical music at the Hanover University of Music and Drama with a focus on piano and percussion, and jazz singing at the Berlin University of the Arts.

With her quartet Cyminology, whose last three recordings were released on the Munich label ECM, she combines chamber jazz with Persian poetry by Rumi, Hafiz, Khayyam and Forough Farrokhzaad, among others.

Cymin Samawatie has composed works for projects including the Osnabrück Morgenland Festival, Female voice of Iran Orchestra, Divan Berlin Istanbul, Neuköllner Oper, Komische Oper, Elbphilharmonie and for Polymorfilms Brussels.

Her artistic work has been honored with the German World Music Award RUTH 2018, the German creole World Music Award and numerous other awards.

Cymin Samawatie was a scholarship holder at the Tarabya Cultural Academy in 2018 and 2020.

Composer and percussionist Ketan Bhatti is a border crosser between different genre and cultural worlds. His work ranges from contemporary chamber music, experimental music and dance theater to electronic, hip-hop based productions. Since 2003 he has worked regularly with his brother Vivan Bhatti for theatre productions of directors like Nuran David Calis at the Deutsches Theater Berlin and Schauspiel Köln, among others. Ketan and Vivan Bhatti's music theatre pieces are based on collaborations with authors such as Feridun Zaimoglu or Roland Schimmelpfennig and have been premiered e.g. at the Neuköllner Oper , the Tischlerei of the Deutsche Oper Berlin or the Staatsoper Hannover. Ketan Bhatti can look back on numerous publications and international concerts, as well as scholarships and awards from the German Music Council, the Berlin Senate and the Goethe Institute. For his concerto for jazz and new electronic music performed with Simon Stockhausen, Ketan Bhatti was awarded the Karl Hofer Prize 2008. From January to June 2017, Ketan Bhatti was a scholarship holder at the Tarabya Cultural Academy in Istanbul.

New Music Releases: Cathy Segal-Garcia, Devin Hoff, Earl MacDonald, LE GGRIL

Cathy Segal-Garcia - Social Anthems, Volume 1

Cathy Segal-Garcia is one of the most prolific recording and performing jazz artists on the scene today. An impresario, teacher, and jazz champion, she is a friend and linchpin for many singers and musicians on the Los Angeles jazz scene. Her newest album, Social Anthems, Volume 1, is her 14th CD as a leader. As an artist, Segal-Garcia is always looking for new avenues of expression. She forms each of her projects around a different theme, instrumentation or musical style, and Soscial Anthems is no different. This time, she moves the needle forward by looking back to the past by singing memorable songs of social import with sparkling new arrangements. These songs are originally outside of the jazz genre, but Segal-Garcia and her superb band reinterpret them with soulful, contemporary jazz arrangements. Segal-Garcia always surrounds herself with top musicians. For this recording, she works with a few mainstays on the Southern California jazz scene, as well as New York vocalist Paul Jost, who is widely known as one of the best male jazz vocalists since Mark Murphy, and vocalist Mon David, who is known for his stirring, heartfelt vocals and imaginative, improvisatory vocal approach. Segal-Garcia chose each of the songs on Social Anthems because they resonated deeply with her. Her clear, cool voice and ability to convey lyrics with warmth and sensitivity, combined with her jazz chops, are always the main attraction of her albums. But when you add the innovative arrangements by Josh Nelson and Anthony Wilson and the superb contributions of Jost, David, and the entire band, Social Anthems is Segal-Garcia’s most compelling album yet.

Devin Hoff - Voices From the Empty Moor (Songs of Anne Briggs)

Hoff has been active in international creative music circles for decades, performing and recording Solo Bass music as well with a wide range of artists. In addition to the talent assembled here, Hoff has collaborated with legendary iconoclasts such as Yoko Ono and Amiri Baraka, virtuoso instrumentalists Nels Cline, Vijay Iyer, Ben Goldberg and Ava Mendoza, underground heroes Cibo Matto, Jewlia Eisenberg, and Carla Bozulich, and punk rock legends such as Mike Watt, Kira Roessler, and Bill Stevenson among many others. The arrangements here include collaborations with musician friends that share a fascination with mining specific folk forms for universal and timeless truths set against multi-tracked bass choirs solo upright bass retellings of Briggs’ a capella songs that transcend the limitations of instrument and genre. The collaborations came about very organically through casually inviting musician friends to participate. Hoff has recorded and performed previously with most of the musicians: he befriended Julia Holter, Shannon Lay, and Sharon Van Etten through playing bass for their own projects, oud player Alejandro Farha and saxophonist Howard Wiley are old close friends and long term cohorts, whereas Emmett Kelly and Jim White are more recent collaborators. Voices From the Empty Moor seeks to honor the mystery and beauty of Anne Briggs’ music while maintaining its own unique perspective, foregrounding powerful emotion and, hopefully, magical transformation.

Earl MacDonald - Consecrated

Consecrated is an album of traditional hymns, brimming with poetic elegance. Unlike any of MacDonald’s previous award-winning recordings, vocals stand front-and-center, with Canadian up-and-comer Karly Epp introduced as an important, new collaborator. Her stirring vocal interpretations mixed with MacDonald’s thoughtfully-crafted instrumental underpinnings convey a wide spectrum of sentiments, ranging from reverence and gratitude to petition, pleading and lament. Consecrated is a deeply spiritual, personal album for MacDonald, and therefore, a deeply refreshing one for the jazz listener. In both his musical artistry and in life, MacDonald clearly searches for beauty and a connection to the Divine, while comfortably exploring dissonance – both cognitive and musical.

LE GGRIL - SOMMES

GGRIL is a motley and joyful crew of musicians from the small, culturally vibrant town of Rimouski in eastern Quebec. In their first decade and a half together, they’ve worked with many of improvised music’s leading lights, including Evan Parker, Ingrid Laubrock, and Xavier Charles. This year, they’re celebrating their milestone 15th anniversary with the release of their 7th recording, the ambitious and gargantuan Sommes: three discs, 12 commissioned pieces by 12 different composers, 21 musicians,  and epic 211 minutes of music. For this new release on the Tour de Bras label, the group revisits music from their storied history, performing compositions by a mix of Canadian and international composers written specifically for the ensemble between 2012 and 2020. Produced and mixed by Michel F. Côté under the musical direction of Guido Del Fabbro, and recorded by Bernard Grenon at the Coopérative de Solidarité Paradis in September 2020, Sommes represents GGRIL at the height of their creative powers. This is truly new music, spontaneous and alive, created by an unlikely and exciting ensemble. 

Belgian-Ghanaian jazz flutist Esinam Dogbatse, a.k.a ESINAM, debut album ‘Shapes in Twilights of Infinity’

Solely carried away by sound, ESINAM succeeds in blending her soulful voice with traditional African percussion, adding electronic influences combined with dazzling melodies and mesmeric flute improvisations. Her compositions carry traces from numerous geographical, cultural and musical influences, collected from her personal history and through various travels, encounters, tours and collaborations.

After starting her solo career as a “one-woman band” sampling and looping all instruments herself to build her tracks, she released her critically acclaimed self-titled debut EP on Sdban Ultra back in 2018 and has performed on numerous stages across Europe including Brussels Jazz Festival, Les Nuits, Copenhagen Jazz Festival and Eurosonic/Noorderslag. As a flutist and percussionist, she has played in, amongst others, Marock’in Brass, Kel Assouf, Témé Tan and Sysmo and collaborated with Baloji, Ibaaku and Jaguar Jaguar. She has supported Mélanie de Biasio, Alsarah & The Nubatones, Selah Sue, Moses Sumney and Mayra Andrade on global tours.

Built on futurist flute sounds, elaborate rhythms and sensitive melodies, ‘Shapes in Twilights of Infinity’ unfolds like a dreamlike path into an unparalleled musical universe. ESINAM invites us on a cosmic journey, a trip towards horizons coloured with sounds and influences that reach as far as the eye can see.

‘Shapes in Twilights of Infinity’ finds a balance between the acoustic and electronic, between the future and ancestral. The songs are deeply rooted in grooves and global sounds, at the same time composed and spontaneously evolving, always filled with a strong musical feeling. From ‘New Dawn’ with its pulsating beats, vivid flutes and poetical spoken word featuring of the Londoner Nadeem Din-Gabisi, over the soulful jazz vibe of ‘Lost Dimensions’, to the etheric melodies and mesmerizing singing of South-African guest vocalist Sibusile Xaba on ‘Flowing River’: ESINAM delivers nothing less than a profound patchwork full of musical connections, where traces of house, trip hop and hip hop intertwine with tones from traditionals, blues and psychedelica.

Based on loops, samples, impressions and field recordings, each song follows the other like a cycle that opens, evolves, transforms and returns to the starting point. ‘Shapes in Twilights of Infinity’ touches the soul with emotion, grasps you, questions you, does you good. The music is rooted in culture and tradition while flying far away, towards tomorrow, as a surprising and engaging infinity.

Similar to the wide range of musical angles, her process of recording and producing is also as eclectic. ESINAM produced many of the tracks herself in her home studio, while others were recorded with her full band, forming of three musicians – Axel Gilain on bass, Pablo Casella on guitars and Martin Méreau on drums and vibraphone – who she picked precisely for their musical identities. The combination of their acoustic and electronic instruments brings a soulful and vibrant interpretation to ESINAM’s compositions, uplifting their groovy vibe.

Fascinated by music at a very young age, particularly percussion instruments including the tama, the piano became ESINAM’s first instrument but for practical reasons, she found herself drawn to the flute.

Either performing solo or with a band set-up, ESINAM unveils herself by orchestrating authentic music full of poetry, rhythms and melodies that make her a unique voice in today’s jazz-and-beyond scene.

Jen Kearney | "Atlantic"

If life is a never-ending series of evolving dualities, then over the past few years, Jen Kearney has experienced a dramatic effect on both ends. The Boston singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer spent two years living in London just before the pandemic hit, writing new music and honing her craft across English stages while getting accustomed to a new rhythm of life. Upon returning home to New England, the pandemic suddenly hit, and like most of us, the artist was rendered limited by lockdowns and quarantines not only in her personal life, but as a born performer. 

The pandemic, however, didn’t curb her creativity, as on March 4 Kearney is set to release a new EP titled Atlantic, a collection that bridges the space between her life in London and life in Boston. Across the EP’s four lived-in compositions, Kearney shows off a creative core that augments her eclectic amalgamation of sound combining  elements of soul, R&B, funk, rock, and Latin music. 

And true to a sign that we’re finally coming out of the past two years of unnaturally subdued living, Kearney takes the Atlantic EP and shows it off where it sounds best, on stage at The Burren in Somerville for the official release party on March 6.

“Like any album, the songs are observational of the times we’re living in,” says Kearney. “It’s a personal snapshot of the last few years looking deep within, but also observing what’s on the surface of society. I feel like I’ve taken some different turns musically and lyrically on ‘Atlantic.’ Living in two countries with completely different rhythms of life over the last few years influenced me for sure. I pushed myself out of some comfort zones.”  

That shines through on Atlantic’s four bold and vibrant  tracks, which were first conceived in London, and then recorded and finalized around Boston using a hybrid approach of home recording and studio production sessions at Charlestown’s A1 Productions and Chillhouse Studios, as well as Wonka Sound in Lowell. Both cities influenced the EP, furthering its oceanic theme. 

Audiences received a taste of the EP last year, when Kearney released lead single “Writing on Water,” which was written after she watched the news and saw how doctors and caregivers were struggling to keep up with the pandemic, and how we need to look inward in order to heal. It's a soulful track where Kearney's warm songwriting acts as its core, and an updated version with live strings finds its home on Atlantic. 

Elsewhere, “Spinning” finds Kearney reclaimed her soul through an unrequited love song, and tracks like “Magician” and “In The Neighborhood” show off a loose playfulness that belies their more serious lyrical nature, the former about how ageism and sexism intersect in both music and life, and the later about gentrification in cities that are becoming unrecognizable. Atlantic finds Kearney taking inspiration from a wealth of favorites across a musical spectrum.

“I think the evolution of a songwriter goes directly with the evolution of the person and every life circumstance, joy, lesson, interaction, heartbreak and loss gets absorbed,” admits Kearney. “I feel like I’ll never be finished learning or have anything in life or music really figured out, so my songwriting is always moving and hopefully growing in good ways.” 

The band around Kearney keeps things moving as well, providing a diverse and comprehensive backbone that buoys the singer’s powerhouse vocals. As Kearney commands her Fender Rhodes, as well as holding court on her Wurlitzer, clavinet, and other keyboards and synths, she’s surrounded by a veritable arsenal of instruments – from brass to strings to everything in between – helmed by some of her closest collaborators.  

“There have been so many great moments getting to work with everyone on the record,” Kearney says. “I am so lucky that I genuinely love all the people on this album. They all feel like a family that has my back and they just happen to be amazing musicians in their technical skills, but also far beyond  in their soul,  imagination, and creativity. I come from a stance that a good song should be able to stand strong when you play it solo or when you play it with a band, but there’s no doubt that the players on this all have such great taste and enhanced these songs in every way.” 

Now they’re ready to be heard, from one side of the Atlantic to the other. 

Norwegian Trumpeter and Composer Mathias Eick Returns to Musical Storytelling with When we leave

Mathias Eick is among the most immediately recognizable soloists to have emerged from the Norwegian jazz scene, and his wistful trumpet sound and strongly melodic compositions have met with a positive response around the world. When his ECM leader debut The Door was issued in 2008, US magazine JazzTimes described the trumpeter’s tone as “plaintive and spare,” while emphasizing that, “like all good bandleaders, his focus is on the interaction of his musicians. The contrast of his restraint and the energy around him constitutes the album’s driving tension.” 

Over the years, Eick has focused and strengthened his approach on both fronts, as soloist and ensemble leader, with concepts for the band adjusted to meet the needs of each project, as well as what The Guardian has described as “a cinematic interest in musical storytelling.”

Skala (recorded 2009 and 2010), for instance, introduced the two-drummer format, latterly a hallmark of much of Eick’s work. Midwest (2014), a meditation on the voyage of Norwegian music to North America, brought violin into the ensemble sound along with colours and textures from folk music. Ravensburg (2017) turned the spotlight on Eick’s own biography, looking, with affection, at his Norwegian and South German family roots. The full group heard on Ravensburg returns for When we leave, augmented by Stian Carstensen’s pedal steel guitar – last heard in an Eick context on The Door - and the saga continues. 

Mathias Eick sees When we leave as “a natural continuation of Ravensburg, almost a Ravensburg 2. More of everything.” Where its predecessor drew portraits of friends and family and sketched some personal interactions, the new album follows its protagonists through a troubled year. A sense of narrative could be drawn from the interplay of titles and musical atmosphere: “The songs and titles on When we leave play upon each other, draw inspiration from each other.” 

Meanwhile the Eick band continues to grow in confidence and range. Violinist Håkon Aase, increasingly recognized as one of the outstanding improvisers of his generation (his ECM credits also include two albums with Thomas Strønen’s Time Is A Blind Guide ensemble), augments the bandleader’s solos with lines that draw upon folk traditions as well as jazz. There is mystery, too, in the way that the violin leans into the delicate swell of Stian Carstensen’s pedal steel. Eick: “Stian’s carpet of harmonies adds a feeling of depth - and the combination with the violin creates a special sound. I’m always searching for sounds that are unique and stand out of time.” 

Powerful drummer Torstein Lofthus has played in contexts from pop to free jazz (including sessions with US saxophonist Sonny Simmons) and is known also for his contributions to exploratory rock group Elephant9. When Ravensburg was released, Eick explained his decision to add a second drummer: “I wasn’t trying to make the drumming bigger but rather more three-dimensional. What’s going on in the area of rhythm is very much like what’s happening between Håkon and myself, where a similar idea of shadowing and call and response is taking place.” Co-drummer Helge Andreas Norbakken digs into the textures of the music, creatively detailing the rhythm and working freely with sound as he has on ECM recordings from the Jon Balke/Amina Alaoui project Siwan to the “percussion think-tank” Batagraf or Jon Hassell’s Last Night The Moon…, as well as Mathias Eick’s Midwest. 

Andreas Ulvo, a pianist of lyrical gifts, draws inspiration from classical music, in his own projects juxtaposing Satie and Rodrigo with free playing, and working across a broad range of idioms. Latterly he has been collaborating with Swiss harpist Giovana Pessi in a new project: an ECM release is in preparation. In parallel with his musical activities he is also a photographer, and has contributed images to albums by Dans les arbres and Giovanna Pessi/Susanna Wallumrød, among others. 

Bassist Audun Erlien’s particular groove, informed by years of playing soul and funk music, has been part of the Eick band sound since The Door. Erlien can also be heard with Nils Petter Molvaer on Solid Ether. 

Mathias Eick was born into a musical family in Norway in 1979 and took up the piano at the age of five, followed by trumpet a year later. A multi-instrumentalist, he also plays vibraphone, double bass, guitar and keyboards, although the trumpet was always “the instrument closest to my heart” as he once put it. He has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the including the International Jazz Festival Organization’s “International Jazz Talent” prize, the Statoil Scholarship and the DNB Prize. 

When we leave was recorded at Oslo’s Rainbow Studio in August 2020. It was produced by Manfred Eicher. The Eick band presents music from the album in concert at Nasjonal Jazzscene Victoria, Oslo (September 17), Collage Festival, Copenhagen (October 2), Jazzfest, Brno, Czech Republic (November 1), and Schloß Elmau, Krün, Germany (November 20).