Mike Murray | "Horizon"

Horizon is the debut album from guitarist Mike Murray featuring Dan Klas on drums, Jack-James Lemaire on bass, and Giovanni Campanelli on keys, with guest appearances by Sean Mundy (harmonica, track 6) and Juan-Carlos Medrano (percussion, track 2). All of the music was composed and arranged by Mike Murray and showcases his wide musical knowledge and skill with the guitar, blending his own rock and jazz background with his experience in other styles including Bollywood, Middle Eastern music and much more. 

Originally planned to be recorded as a live-off-the-floor performance, the band performed only one show on March 10th, 2020 before Canada, and the world, was forced into lockdown. Unable to rehearse or record as planned, Murray and the band embraced the circumstances and shifted to a remote work model, with Murray producing the project himself and live-streaming all the production and guitar tracking sessions on Twitch. Mixed by Latin Grammy-winning engineer João Thire and mastered by Justin Gray at Immersive Mastering, the recording captures the power and energy of the band at their best. Rather than letting circumstance hold them back, Murray and the band have produced an album that is alive, energetic and a celebration of music and the guitar out of a time of deep uncertainty.  

Mike Murray is a Toronto-based guitarist, composer and music educator. Having experience in a wide variety of styles of music and guitar including jazz, classical, rock, fusion, musical theatre, and various world styles including Latin American/Andean folk, Bollywood music and Middle Eastern music, his own music is a celebration of that broad background and the potential of the guitar. Joined by drummer Dan Klas, bassist Jack-James Lemaire and keyboardist Giovanni Campanelli, Murray and his band bring a fierce energy to their performance while staying true to their influences. This energy is clear from the first notes of Horizon and is what pushes the music through the challenges of its creation process. 

Paris Combo Announce New Album, "Quesaco?"

Paris Combo, the French quintet Variety describes as possessing “a seemingly endless supply of catchy hooks and imaginative lyrics,” is back with a new album, Quesaco? The full-length release is their seventh studio album, but also the last recorded with the group’s late singer and songwriter Belle du Berry, who died suddenly on August 11, 2020, aged just 54, following a brief battle with cancer.

Hailed by Billboard as “a vocalist/accordionist and lyricist extraordinaire,” Belle was the beating heart of the group and her passing was a tragic loss for all those touched by her charismatic presence as a performer and songwriter during a career spanning 30 years and over 100 songs. She had been the unforgettable voice of the band’s elegantly intoxicating and joyful take on the world, her quirky, wise and often humorous songs providing a welcome antidote to the stresses and strains of everyday life. For the legions of mourning fans worldwide, who until now had been resigned to consoling themselves with the band’s nevertheless impressive back catalogue of eight albums, an unexpected and exciting parting gift has arrived in the form of the new release. Completed just before Belle died, Quesaco? is now being released worldwide on May 6 on the U.S. label Six Degrees Records.

Twenty-five years have passed since the band was founded, but it’s clear from listening to the 11 songs on the new album that Paris Combo have lost none of their magic. Quintessentially Parisian, yet timeless and international with a deceptively light touch, their music weaves together elements of Django Reinhardt-inspired gypsy jazz and Latin music, as well as exotic and cinematic influences, and is a testament to the group’s long journey together.

Four years after their last album Tako Tsubo, Belle and the group’s core members, David Lewis on piano and trumpet, Potzi on guitar and François Jeannin on drums, are joined by Benoît Dunoyer de Segonzac on bass and Rémy Kaprielan on percussion and vocals. Right from the outset we recognize Belle’s whimsical take on life in the title she chose for the new album — Quesaco?, an ancient Provençal expression, which might be translated as “What is all this?,” or “What’s happening?” and which lends a charming, old-world nuance to her questions about the mystery of existence.

It took Belle’s talent as a poet of the everyday to think of using the computer’s keyboard space-bar as a metaphor for all that’s missing in our lives. It took her keen eye and her joyful heart to capture the simple splendor of a couple’s stroll along the banks of the Seine. It took her playful imagination to visualize a “pole-dance” between the North Pole and the South Pole. And Belle knew how to shift the familiar and lend to it an air of mystery:

Outside, a strong wind is blowing

Outside, the night is still falling

Leaving us here, at twilight,

At the hour of the moon’s rendez-vous

Rendez-vous with a sun, who couldn’t care less.

Despite its seemingly prescient references to confinement and the current state of the world, in fact this album has nothing to do with the lockdown or the pandemic or our present anxieties. The album is “Covid-free,” written entirely before all that. Work began on it in 2019, with Nicolas Repac — the artist and producer had already worked with Paris Combo on their Remixed album the previous year. He collaborated on two songs, “Quesaco?” and “Panic à bord,” and these became sonic templates for the album as a whole — a rich and free sound, with perhaps more tension than on previous albums. In the end, the album, produced by David Lewis, is a seamless combination of live studio performances, with some tracks assembled from recordings at the group’s studio in Paris.

Paris Combo had a U.S. tour booked for March 2020, but with France at a standstill, this period was instead spent recording final takes in the basement of Belle and David’s home, just south of Paris, with trumpet, ’cello and Belle’s vocals completing the album. All that remained was to sort through the takes, finalize the arrangements, choose between the finely nuanced vocal performances and then meticulously assemble the whole.

Then, in the early summer, Belle received her cancer diagnosis. Courageous to the last, she chose the running-order of the songs and listened to the final mix. She loved it.

Her sudden illness took her from us far too soon but it did allow her just enough time to know she had succeeded.

Quesaco? was the album she had wanted to make.

Following the release of Quesaco?, concerts will be held in Paris, at the New Morning, and in Belle’s native Berry region, bringing together fellow artists, friends and fans to pay homage to her remarkable career as a singer, poet and composer. 

Lloyd Miller | "Orientations"

Lloyd Miller to Release Never Before Heard Songs on New LP Orientations

While modern life is increasingly characterized by constant global communication and exchange, some things still feel very far away––and very improbable.

Take, for example, the story of Lloyd Miller, an American musician and intellectual who after living in Europe throughout his twenties, found his way to Tehran in the late 1960s on a Fulbright scholarship and became the host of a primetime Iranian television variety show. If this seems improbable, Miller’s mastery of over 100 instruments and half a dozen languages may appear downright outrageous. But Lloyd Miller’s ouervre amounts to more than an unlikely story, and his artistic brilliance is on full display on Orientations, a career-spanning double LP of unreleased recordings from this master of global music traditions and Heliocentrics collaborator. 

The exploratory, orientalist modes of Orientations will find easy devotion among fans of Ahmed Abdul-Malik, Sun Ra, and the pantheon of similarly oriented spiritual jazz stalwarts. Miller’s fascination with such modes runs deep. As a polyglot and expatriate artist who traveled the world and embedded himself in the cultures of the Middle East and Asia, Lloyd Miller manifests in such frankly unbelievable ways throughout history, and with such magical effervescence, that his musical presence is uncanny; his effect is extraordinary and literally haunting. 

Orientations provides a dazzling survey of this uncanny presence, over 22 recordings that span from 1960 to 2021. This material––all of which was sourced from Miller’s master tapes and sole existing personal recordings and appears here on vinyl for the first time––documents everything from performances on Iranian TV to recent collaborations with students at Brigham Young University. Listeners may think of The Secret Museum of Mankind Ethnic Music Classics, Alice Coltrane and Yusef Lateef, as Miller interweaves oud, santur, and hand drums with saxophones and occasional analogue synthesizer. In some cases, these threads interweave across time, as on “Orientation #1 (Kheneccordion),” a reinterpreted Laotian melody arranged for accordion and recorded originally in 1963, retouched in 2021 with floating flourishes from a Roland JUNO synthesizer. “Bending space and time,” the liner notes read, “Lloyd engages in a meta conversation with his younger self.”

This meta conversation stretches out over the entire collection. The very order of the songs seems to tell a story, not unlike the way Jorge Luis Borges’ A Personal Anthology unfolds as a cohesive narrative. A few key moments of amusing dialogue haunt the conversation as well, as on a 1963 rehearsal recording of a rhapsodic modal jazz take on an Indian traditional. Upon abruptly releasing his fellow American jazz musicians from a trance, Miller says, with enthusiasm, “It sounds pretty hip!” And indeed it does.

~ Mark Trecka, 2022

2022 Blues Hall of Fame Inductees: Lucille Bogan, Little Willie John, Johnnie Taylor, Otis Blackwell & Mary Katherine Aldin

The 12 honorees of The Blues Foundation's Blues Hall of Fame's 42nd class encompass over 70 years of music, spanning from Lucille Bogan in the 1920s & 1930s, Little Willie John in the 1950s & 1960s, and Johnnie Taylor from the 1950s through the 1990s. This year's inductees in the Blues Hall of Fame's five categories — Performers, Non-Performing Individuals, Classics of Blues Literature, Classics of Blues Recording (Single), and Classics of Blues Recording (Album) — demonstrate how the blues intersects with a wide variety of American music styles: soul, blues, R&B, and rock' n' roll.

The new Blues Hall of Fame performers aren't just exceptional musicians, but they also are educators, innovators, entrepreneurs, and activists determined to leave their mark on the world.

Lucille Bogan recorded some of the most memorable songs of the pre-World War II era, recording from 1923-1935 for Okeh, Paramount, Brunswick, Banner, Melotone, and other labels. Her songs were covered by B.B. King, John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson, Jimmy Rogers, Memphis Minnie, and others, ​but she became more well known for the controversial themes her music embodied. Little Willie John was a soul, blues, and rock 'n' roll star whose meteoric rise and tragic fall ended when at age 30 he died in prison. Labeled as a "singer's singer" by none other than B.B. King, this blues and ballad vocalist extraordinaire had his first national hit while still a teenager. Ten of his records crossed over to the pop charts, which landed him three appearances on Dick Clark's American Bandstand. Johnnie Taylor spent his early years as a solo performer singing gospel, although his first recording was as a member of the doo-wop group, The Five Echoes. ​While signed to Stax from 1966-1974, he recorded his breakthrough single "Who's Making Love." His next biggest hit came with the 1976 platinum-selling "Disco Lady." Later, Taylor took his gospel-influenced blues, soul, and funk to Malaco, where he found a new home for his music until the end. 

While he never met Elvis Presley, Otis Blackwell is best known for writing Presley's massive hits, "Don't Be Cruel," "All Shook Up," and "Return To Sender." He's also credited as writing "Breathless" and "Great Balls of Fire" for Jerry Lee Lewis as well as the Little Willie John/Peggy Lee hit, "Fever." He recorded for RCA Victor, the Jay-Dee label, and others but avoided the limelight finding his niche in songwriting. Mary Katherine Aldin has spent the past 60 years behind the scenes in the blues and folk music worlds, as a voice on the radio and as compiler or annotator of blues and folk reissue albums for Rhino, Vanguard, MCA/Chess, Columbia, and other labels. She was nominated for a GRAMMY® for her liner notes for The Chess Box by Muddy Waters. Aldin also served in various editorial positions at Living Blues, Blues & Rhythm, and others and secured publishing rights for artists at Folklore Productions. She was inducted into the Folk DJ Hall of Fame in 2018 and is still broadcasting for KPFK's "Roots Music & Beyond." 

Bo Diddley’s Bo Diddley is 2022’s Classic of Blues Recording: Album, which compiled 12 of his groundbreaking singles on Chess Records’ Checker subsidiary. There are five Classic of Blues Recording: Singles receiving Hall of Fame induction: Sonny Boy Williamson II’s 1951 single “Eyesight to the Blind” the first release by the master harmonica player and singer, Bobby “Blue” Bland’s 1957 hit “Farther Up the Road,” Roy Brown’s 1947 release “Good Rocking Tonight” hit No. 1 on the R&B charts when covered by Wynonie Harris, B.B. King’s “Rock Me Baby” released in 1964 was one of his biggest hits on the Billboard pop charts, and the exuberant “Rollin’ and Tumblin’” released in 1950 by the Baby Face Leroy Trio.

Entering the Blues Hall of Fame as a Classic of Blues Literature is Red River Blues​: The Blues Tradition in the Southeast, written by British author Bruce Bastin and hailed as an acclaimed work of blues scholarship.

Due to the global shutdown in 2020 that forced The Blues Foundation to cancel in-person fundraisers, the celebration of the 2020 Blues Hall of Fame Inductees will officially take place along with the 2022 ceremony. Honorees include Billy Branch, Eddie Boyd, Syl Johnson, Bettye LaVette, George "Harmonica" Smith, Victoria Spivey, Ralph Peer, and more. 

The Blues Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, held this year in conjunction with the Blues Music Awards and International Blues Challenge week, will occur on Wednesday, May 4, 2022, at the Halloran Centre (225 S. Main St., Memphis). A cocktail reception honoring the BHOF Inductees and Blues Music Awards nominees will begin at 5:30 p.m., with the formal inductions commencing at 6:30 p.m. in the Halloran Theater. Tickets, including the ceremony and reception, are $75 each and are available with Blues Music Awards tickets here.

Coinciding with the Induction Ceremony, ​The Blues Foundation's Blues Hall of Fame Museum will showcase several special items representing the 2020 and 2022 class of inductees. These artifacts will be on display for public viewing beginning the first week of May and will remain on view for visitor enjoyment for the next 12 months.

The Blues Hall of Fame Museum, built through the ardent support and generosity of blues fans, embodies all four elements of The Blues Foundation's mission: preserving blues heritage, celebrating blues recording and performance, expanding awareness of the blues genre, and ensuring the future of the music.

The museum's current exhibit in the upstairs gallery features the work of music photographer Jérôme Brunet. This exhibition features blues legends and Blues Hall of Famers such as B.B. King, Robert Cray, Etta James, Mavis Staples, Honeyboy Edwards, and Johnny Winter to name just a few. Museum visitors can also explore the permanent exhibits and individualized galleries that showcase an unmatched selection of album covers, photographs, historical awards, unique art, musical instruments, costumes, and other one-of-a-kind memorabilia. In addition, interactive displays allow guests to hear the music, watch the videos, and read the stories about each of the Blues Hall of Fame's over 400 inductees.

The museum will re-open in late April with amended hours that will be listed here. Admission is $10 for adults and $8 for students with I.D.; free for children 12 and younger and for Blues Foundation members. Membership is available for as a little as $25 per person; to join, visit www.blues.org. The Blues Foundation's Blues Hall of Fame Museum is located at 421 South Main Street in Memphis, TN.

David Chesky | "Graffiti Jazz"

Experience David Chesky's Newest Album Graffiti Jazz in Meta-Dimensional Sound

Grammy nominated composer and pianist David Chesky is back with a new jazz album, Graffiti Jazz, and this time he’s venturing into new territory: Creating a jazz record with no other musicians and no real instruments. The recording will be one of the debut releases on Chesky’s new label, The Audiophile Society.

This album was an entirely new process for Chesky.  “After writing countless compositions for piano, orchestra, ballets, and operas (wooden instruments), I wanted to try something different. I went back to my jazz roots and wanted to create an album where I don't use harmony and use all virtual instruments. After all we live in a digital virtual world so why not try to reflect this culture with the computers we all live on. I substituted all the harmonies that would usually accompany melodies in the songs with just sounds, so the sounds are the accompanist to the melodies and the soloing. The compositions are centered with a bass line, rhythm machines, and traditional and nontraditional sounds. I used these sounds as the platform to improvise over,” he says. 

Given that non-traditional sounds and sound design were integral to the composition of this album, it’s no surprise that the sonic space is one of the highlights of the work. Graffiti Jazz features The Audiophile Society’s signature Meta-Dimensional Sound, which is a unique type of 3D audio. With the addition of the Meta-Dimensional Sound the music has height and has a soundstage that is outside of the speakers. Since this is music was conceived to be heard in one's home, in this case your stereo system or headphones are the virtual concert hall. This creates a stunning atmosphere for this album and brings the work to life in a way that wasn’t previously possible. 

Graffiti Jazz was recorded & produced by David Chesky in November 2021, at Buffalo Studios in New York, NY.  

New Music: Kaina; Laurent Bardianne & Tigre D'Eau Douce; Tom Sochas; The Good Ones

Kaina - It Was A Home

A really fantastic debut from Chicago soul singer Kaina Castillo – an artist who may well become huge in years to come, given the strength of this initial album! There's a really special vibe going on here – as Kaina's not afraid to put herself or her feelings on the line, but also not in a way that's ever too overwrought – almost as if she's sharing them with us on a personal level, but wrapped up in these seductive soul vocals that have a much more subtle sort of power. All the material is original, but there's one track on here that's an older Syreeta classic – and that relationship may well be a good way to describe the uniqueness of Kaina too. The whole album was written and done in collaboration with Sen Morimoto, who provides some equally understated backings that really fit the vocals – on titles that include "It Was A Home", "Good Feeling", "Sweetness", "Come Back As A Flower", "Golden Mirror", "Casita", "Anybody Can Be In Love", and "Ultraviolet". ~ Dusty Groove

Laurent Bardianne & Tigre D'Eau Douce - Hymne Au Soleil

A beautiful hymn to the sun from saxophonist Laurent Bardianne – an artist who's not afraid to play with the rhythms a bit, while still offering up some jazz-based material at the core! Bardianne plays tenor in a quintet that also has lots of great Hammond organ from Arnaud Roulin – and both artists add in a bit of electronics too – but the most striking aspect of the record might be the rhythms, which are served up in blend of bass from Sylvain Daniel, drums from Philippe Gleizes, and percussion from Roger Raspail – all players with a real global sensibility, who push the music past standard jazz, with a very free-flowing vibe. The whole thing's very much in the best cross-cultural mode that we love from the French Heavenly Sweetness label – and titles include "La Vie La Vie La Vie", "Adieu My Lord", "Destination Danger", "Verte Gronouille", "Sarang", and "Kenya Sunrise".  ~ Dusty Groove

Tom Sochas - Lament 

Following early support for his first single ‘Prologue’, which has been championed by Gilles Peterson, Marshmello (NTS) and Twisted Soul amongst others, Tom is ready to unveil a new track from ‘The Sorcerer’. Tom says about the song: "In a way 'Lament' was a an experiment in trying to blend a angsty broken beat-esque motif with a more traditional swing ballad. The swing was a way of introducing some softness to the otherwise cold and mechanical main theme. Certain personalities tend to recoil inwards and block everything out in times of trouble and others feel the need to express outwards, we tried to represent both." Building on the success of a solo EP released in early 2021, Franco-American jazz pianist Tom Sochas, previously known for his work with London staple Phoenician Blinds, is back with his debut album 'The Sorcerer', on Khumbu Records. The album, set to be released on April 15th 2022 introduces Tom’s new trio with greek bassist Thodoris Ziarkas and british drummer Olly Sarkar. The record is very much an ode to story-telling, to ancient myths and tales, something we tend to return to when in need of guidance. Though rooted in age-old folklore, ‘The Sorcerer’ presents itself as a present-day reimagining of a classic character. In a world of much uncertainty it takes no effort to envisage the various reasons why humanity must be held accountable. As the story unfolds, it becomes apparent that the wall between folkloric sorcery and our palpable predicament is in fact a rather transparent veil.

The Good Ones - Rwanda .​.​. You See Ghosts, I See Sky

The Good Ones announce their fourth album, Rwanda…you see ghosts, I see sky. As with The Good Ones' past three releases, Grammy-winning music producer and author, Ian Brennan (Tinariwen, Zomba Prison Project, Ramblin; Jack Elliott), and his wife, Italian Rwandan photographer, and filmmaker, Marilena Umuhoza Delli, recorded The Good Ones' album live and without overdubs on the primary songwriter Adrien Kazigiras' farm the same farm Adrien was born on, the same land where he hid and survived the 1994 genocide. This album delves more deeply into The Good Ones’ members' personal stories than ever before with songs detailing the history of Rwanda's genocides, the experience of losing family members to the genocide, and the struggles Janvier has faced gaining assistance for his son with special needs. But more than anything the group always has and still does specialize in straight-up love songs.

Aaron Brown | "Mr. Jones"

Urban-Jazz guitarist Aaron Brown pays an inspired tribute to his mentor.

Inspired by his mother’s death and his mentor’s massive stroke, R&B/jazz guitarist-bassist Aaron Brown felt a sense of urgency to create new music. As he works on his fourth album that he anticipates releasing in the fall, his BBP Records label will offer a preview when the single, “Mr. Jones,” goes for radio adds on March 21.

Brown wrote, produced and arranged the single named after his longtime friend and mentor, Gordon “G-man” Jones. Brown’s sinewy bass leaps to the fore over drummer Gene Faffley’s beats on the cut that features a prominent saxophone lead by guest star Pete Belasco, who admirably carries the melody with impassioned horn play. Dennis Johnson adds keyboard harmonies, embellishing Brown’s nuanced electric guitar.

Brown’s mother was an amazing 101-years-old when she passed away. Thankfully, his mentor survived the stroke and subsequent brain surgery. Jones always encouraged Brown to go from gigging studio session player and on-stage sideman to band leader. With the two real-life incidents serving as reminders of life’s fragility, Brown got hungry and began to compose new music with fervor. The album will aptly be titled “Resurgence,” which will be issued under the moniker Aaron Brown’s FuBop Collective.

Working on new music provides both a productive and healthy creative outlet for Brown as well as a fortress of solace. As Jones recovers and rehabilitates, working on “Resurgence” serves as a vital connection point for both mentor and mentee.

“Thankfully, G-man survived the ordeal (stroke) with most of his faculties and we continue to spend time together. Working on music keeps him connected to music and keeps us connected at this pivotal moment in both of our lives,” said the New York City-born Brown who resides outside the city in Westchester County.

Brown was a music major who studied performance, composition, arranging and music theory. While attending The City College of New York in Harlem, he learned to play the bass to add to his versatility. Brown dropped his debut album, “Eclectic Sessions,” in 2009. He has recorded and/or performed with a wide array of decorated jazz and R&B artists, including Roy Ayers, Marcus Miller, Omar Hakim, Freddie Jackson, Glenn Jones, Carmen Lundy, Larry Elgart Big Band, Charlie Palmieri and the Harlem Boys Choir. Brown was a member of the Columbia Records group Karavan, and fronted his own band, Aaron Brown & Moment’s Notice. Today, he runs Bop Brown Productions where he writes, records, edits, arranges and produces music.

Just as working on “Resurgence” offers Brown a welcome escape, he hopes “Mr. Jones” will serve a similar purpose for listeners.

“I hope ‘Mr. Jones’ brings listeners peace, tranquility and a few moments of relief from the woes of this crazy world and the crazy times in which we live.” 

New Music: Motown Instrumentals 1960-1972; Herbie Hancock & Carlos Santana; Robert Glasper; Craig Charles Trunk Of Funk Vol 2

All Turned On! – Motown Instrumentals 1960 to 1972

A fantastic look at the instrumental strengths of the mighty Motown enterprise – music presented here in an unusual batch of vocal-less tracks from the Motown vaults – 11 of which were never issued at the time, and 5 of which appear here for the first time ever! There's been plenty said about the work of the Funk Brothers behind famous Motown singers over the years – but this set offers up an expanded look at the variations of instrumental modes expressed by the label – some with full charts and arrangements, some with more of a small combo mode, and some with a surprising touch of jazz in the mix! As you might guess from Ace Records, the presentation of the material is fantastic – and there's full session notes and other details that really illuminate the sounds within – in a set of 24 tracks that include "LBJ" and "Chicken Little 69" by Earl Van Dyke & The Soul Brothers, "The Break Down" and "Come See About Me" by Choker Campbell, "True Fine Boy" by The Funk Brothers, "Uptight" by Herman Griffin, "Great Google Mook" by The Mysterions, "Soul Line" and "Double O & A Half" by The Agents, "I'll See You Later" by Johnny Griffith Trio, "Grazing In The Grass" and "Let Me Loose" by Stevie Wonder, "All Turned On" by Bob Wilson & The San Remo Quartet, "Papa Hooper's Barrelhouse Groove" by The Crusaders, "Ich I Bon #1" by Nick & The Jaguars, "Get Ready" by Jonah Jones, "Defunk Brothers" by Frank Morelli, and "Little Mack's Shuffle" by Morocco Muzik Makers. ~ Dusty Groove

Herbie Hancock & Carlos Santana - Live Under The Sky 1981

A searing live performance, and one that's even more of an all-star session than you'd guess from the cover! The date was recorded in front of a large festival in Japan – and in addition to piano and a host of great keyboards from Herbie Hancock, and plenty of guitar solos from Carlos Santana, the set also features Wynton Marsalis on trumpet, Ron Carter on bass, and Tony Williams on drums – plus a trio of percussionists behind them! The whole thing is a great reminder that when Carlos Santana wants, he can take on just about any style out there – and the mix of Herbie's keys with his guitar is almost in the spirit of the work that Larry Young brought to Santana. Titles include "Saturday Night", "A Quick Sketch", "Parade", "Europa", "Round Midnight", and a great medley of "Watermelon Man/Evil Ways" – plus a few untitled cuts too! ~ Dusty Groove

Robert Glasper - Black Radio Vol 3

Maybe the most righteous music we've ever heard from keyboardist Robert Glasper – and that's saying a heck of a lot, given his legacy of albums over the years! This project feels different than the previous Black Radio releases by Glasper – different than his initial blending of jazz modes and contemporary soul – and maybe more strongly driven by mission and purpose, with a quality that really comes through right from the very first note! Glasper's piano and keyboards still have that strong sense of shape we love so much – but they're maybe more heady and serious, and really set a fantastic tone for the album's many contributions from important voices like Esperanza Spaulding, BJ The Chicago Kid, Amir Sulaiman, Lalah Hathaway, Common, Posdnuos, Q Tip, Gregory Porter, Ledisi, HER, and others – a lineup who really elevate the already-sublime tone of the record. We've always found inspiration in the music of Robert Glasper – but it's also an amazing thing to see him rise to an almost statesman-like position with a project like this – on titles that include "Black Superhero", "Shine", "Why We Speak", "Better Than I Imagined", "Everybody Love", "It Don't Matter", "Heaven's Here", "Forever", and a surprisingly strong cover of "Everybody Wants To Rule The World". ~ Dusty Groove

Craig Charles Trunk Of Funk Vol 2

DJ Craig Charles has been the main man spinning funk on the BBC for many years – almost a John Peel for the Daptone/Coalmine label crowd – and here, he unveils a second sparkling collection of some of his favorites – tracks that are mostly contemporary funk numbers, but mixed with a bit of vintage material too! A few tracks are exclusive mixes to the set, and all the numbers are well-chosen cuts that bridge the gap between 70s funk and the contemporary underground – titles that include "Move On Baby (Trunk Of Funk mix)" by The Allergies, "Why Did You Do It (Reflex re-vision)" by Ferry Ultra, "Slow Down (Smoove's Trunk Of Funk rmx)" by Smoove & Turrell, "Ride On Time" by The Bamboos, "Rhythm In Your Mind" by Str4ta, "My People" by Cha Wa, "Sorry Fly Away" by Souljazz Orchestra, "If It's All The Same To You Babe" by Luther Ingram, "Your Autumn Of Tomorrow" by The Crow, "Mixed Race Combination" by Joseph Malik, "Beat It" by The Traffic, "This Is What You Are (radio edit)" by Mario Biondi, "He Said/She Said" by Acantha Lang, "Soul Makossa" by Lafayette Afro Rock Band, "Sitting On Top Of The World" by Jay Nemor & Electrified, and "Don't Hold Me Down" by PM Warson. ~ Dusty Groove

Aayushi Karnik | "Troublemaker"

The Next Great Blues Guitarist is Here: Aayushi Karnik to Release Debut Album Troublemaker on March 25th, 2022.

Aayushi Karnik grew up in perhaps the most untraditional place for an aspiring blues guitarist: Surat, India. Yet despite that, the 26 year-old Karnik sounds like a young Stevie Ray Vaughn or Buddy Guy. On her debut album Troublemaker, the follow up to her debut EP The Summer Children, Karnik showcases her generational talent alongside two New York City veterans, Todd Turkishir (drums) and Gregory Jones (bass). Troublemaker will be an AudiophileSociety.com exclusive download starting on March 11th and will arrive on all other major stores and platforms on March 25th. 

Karnik originally hails from a town called Surat in Gujarat, Western India. As she describes, “It is a dry state, so there are no night clubs to perform. I was mostly a bedroom shredder imagining that I'm playing on a stage.” Despite the limited exposure to Western music, Karnik started out playing a lot of acoustic guitar, singing, and songwriting, but her musical trajectory began to change when she attended blues festivals in Mumbai, which included acts like Buddy Guy, Derek Trucks, Eric Gales, and homegrown Indian blues artists. “My father drove me to Mumbai so that I could attend this festival when I was sixteen, and after hearing just one set of Robert Randolph playing, I knew that his is what I had to do.” Shortly after, Karnik started a classic rock band with friends in Surat. “What made me serious about the blues/rock stuff was Led Zeppelin and John Mayer. We used to drive around the town listening to all the great music by Led Zeppelin, John Mayer, Stevie Ray Vaughn, AC/DC, Steppenwolf, and the list goes on. Though listening to Stevie Ray was the light flip moment.”  

Eventually, Karnik left Surat and moved to New York City to attend Julliard, where she continued to develop as both a guitarist and songwriter. In April of 2021, she released her debut EP The Summer Children, of which Rolling Stone India said, “In addition to agile and intricate guitar work, the singer in Karnik leaps out expressively and unfiltered.”  

Troublemaker features seven new songs by Karnik, as well as classic songs such as Willie Dixon’s “Spoonful”, B.B. King’s “Every Day I Have the Blues,” and Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil, Jerry Leiber, and Mike Stoller’s “On Broadway.” The album showcases Karnik’s versatile and complex jazz harmony and vocabulary and places it into a blues and rock context. The next great blues guitarist is here, and her name is Aayushi Karnik.  

Troublemaker was recorded at Spin Studios in New York City on December 17th, 2021. Produced by David Chesky & Mark Sherman. Recording Engineer Nicholas Prout. 

Click here for a promotional copy of Troublemaker, available in both The Audiophile Society's signature Hi-Res PCM and DSD packages. Click here for a promotional stream of the album.

Jean Fineberg | "Jean Fineberg & JAZZphoria"

Tenor saxophonist-flutist Jean Fineberg puts the icing on the cake of a 50-year career with the on her Pivotal Records imprint. While the album is her first under her own name, Fineberg is anything but a newcomer to the music world: She has since the early 1970s been building up a jaw-dropping body of accomplishments that includes rock and fusion bands, session work on pop hits, and touring with jazz, salsa, and singer-songwriter icons. Many of those accomplishments are reflected in her debut album, which places her at the front of an octet (the JAZZphoria of the title) with baritone saxophonist-bass clarinetist Carolyn Walter, keyboardist-flutist Erika Oba, trumpeters Marina Garza and Tiffany Carrico, guitarist Nancy Wenstrom, bassist Susanne DiVincenzo, and drummer Lance Dresser, plus special guests. 

Much of JAZZphoria’s personnel overlaps with the Montclair Women’s Big Band, the celebrated Bay Area ensemble of which Fineberg has been assistant director and resident composer since 1997. She wanted to concentrate the 17-piece band’s creative force into a streamlined, four-horn powerhouse. “I wanted a team atmosphere,” she adds regarding her strategy. “We have that in the big band, as well as in JAZZphoria. … However, we do have a man on drums, so we’re not one of those single-gender bands!” 

It's not really a single-genre band either, despite the obvious jazz context. Fineberg leads JAZZphoria through a wild variety of sounds and styles. The opening “Bluesworthy” is classic big-band swing, while “Unfinished Business” is a sly tango. “Dive Bar” is a stinging guitar-led blues. “Raw Bar,” though it uses a Middle Eastern harmonic language, harks back to the fusion band DEUCE, which Fineberg co-led in the 1980s. 

The album’s wide range of musical flavors gets a boost from its equally wide range of soloists. Each of the band’s eight core members gets moments in the spotlight (and on multiple instruments, in the cases of Fineberg, Oba, and Walter). So do their guests. Jennifer Jolly takes a muscular piano turn on the New Orleans groover “More Funner”; percussionist Michaelle Goerlitz brings zesty energy to “St. Mildred the Short’s” calypso; Ariane Cap doubles down on the bluesy “Live at the Buck Snort Saloon” with her driving slap-bass; and Ellen Seeling—Fineberg’s directing partner in the MWBB—delivers a gorgeous, sultry trumpet line on Nancy Wenstrom’s “Unfinished Business.” 

In short, Jean Fineberg & JAZZphoria is the sound of not just one, but a whole array of highly accomplished and versatile talents. Even so, it is Fineberg, who, in addition to leading the band, composed all but one of the tunes and arranged the whole album, whose vision is at the album’s heart.

Born April 1, 1946 in the Bronx and raised in nearby New Rochelle, Jean Fineberg knew she was a musician from early childhood. She began studying piano at 6 and violin at 9 before discovering the flute at 11. She also dabbled in drums and guitar as a teenager, then eventually began to study tenor saxophone, which became her main instrument. She took it and the flute with her to Pennsylvania State University, where she earned two bachelor’s degrees and a master’s in succession. 

In 1972, Fineberg became a founding member of Isis, an all-female jazz-rock band based in Manhattan. While the band never achieved major commercial success, it won positive notices and opened doors for Fineberg on the New York music scene. Along with Isis’s three albums, she played on dozens of recordings across the 1970s and ’80s, including smash hits by David Bowie, Sister Sledge, and Chic as well as the Brecker Brothers horn section. She toured with Laura Nyro and jazz trombonist-bandleader Melba Liston and performed with Dizzy Gillespie and Clark Terry at Carnegie Hall. In the mid-’80s, Fineberg co-founded (with Ellen Seeling) the fusion band DEUCE, which became a staple of jazz festivals and recorded two albums of her original music. 

Settling in the San Francisco Bay Area, Fineberg reestablished herself in the 1990s as a first-call West Coast musician before joining Seeling’s newly established Montclair Women’s Big Band in 1997. In the 25 years since, it has been her primary outlet, both in the reed section and as the band’s primary composer and arranger. The superlative musicianship she encountered in the band was the catalyst for Jean Fineberg & JAZZphoria, Fineberg’s long-in-the-making debut as name-above-the-title bandleader. 

Fineberg is on the faculty of the Jazzschool at the California Jazz Conservatory in Berkeley, where she directs annual Jazz & Blues Camps for women and girls (“my way of trying to pay it forward”). On the extramusical front, she has published her poetry in more than 20 journals; her new collection is A Mobius Path (Finishing Line Press). 

Jean Fineberg & JAZZphoria will be performing at San Francisco Music Day, War Memorial Veterans Building, on Sunday 3/20 at 4pm; at Rendon Hall, California Jazz Conservatory, Berkeley, on Friday 4/15 at 8pm; and at Move ’n’ Groove, Albany, CA, Sunday 4/24 at 10am.

The Wailing Sounds of Ricky Ford: Paul’s Scene

Whaling City Sound announces the new Ricky Ford recording, The Wailing Sounds of Ricky Ford. Not only does Ford bring impeccable credentials with him wherever he goes, but he also happens to have deep ties to New England, which is why the recording title is something of a play on words, with reference to his connection to Southeastern Massachusetts, and the city of New Bedford, also known as “The Whaling City.” 

Unsung compared to many of today’s tenor legends, but not unappreciated by those who know him and certainly not by those who’ve played with him, Ford is an undeniable national treasure. And it doesn’t take long to explain why that is. After getting his start with the Duke Ellington Orchestra (under Mercer Ellington’s leadership), Ford’s gone on to play with Charles Mingus, Lionel Hampton, and Abdullah Ibrahim, to name but a few of his more illustrious stints. Ford’s local connection goes way back to the Ellington phase of his career when he was brought on to take veteran Paul Gonsalves’ place in Ellington’s orchestra. With deep roots in New Bedford, Gonsalves is one of the city’s legendary sons. And so, the musical circle is complete.  

But beyond the obvious laurels, the lineage, and the resume, Ford stands tall on his own. On the new album, his tenor shines, as expected. But what’s surprising is that the tunes—all 12 of them—clock in around five minutes. They’re concise. They’re punchy. They hit the target. The spotlight is focused on Ford’s taste and virtuosity, and his epic rhythm section, which features pianist Mark Soskin, bassist Jerome Harris, and drummer Barry Altschul, do an impressive job emphasizing Ford’s work without kicking too far back. The piano and drums keep pace as accompanists, maintaining balance amid the brevity. 

The recording was produced by Ford, recorded last summer at the Samurai Hotel in Astoria, NY, and mixed and mastered by John Mailloux. The fidelity is beautiful, soft, but it doesn’t lose sight of Ford’s bristling edginess. “Paul’s Scene,” a tribute to Gonsalves, is a full-on tour de force, a classic bop romp characterized by some quick changes interrupted by an Altschul drumming pause just long enough for Ford to catch his breath. “The Essence of You,” written by Coleman Hawkins, gets a lovely treatment, as does Hawkins’ “Angel Face,” a tune written with Hank Jones. And speaking of Hawkins, Ford also includes “Stockholm Stomp,” a Fletcher Henderson chestnut made famous when Hawkins was with Henderson’s band back in the day. There are detours here too, like the Turkish inspiration of “Fer,” and the sublime ballad “The Wonder.” 

We could go on and on with “The Wonder” of this and the wonder of that, and the deep respect Ford has for the great bop he’s plucked along the way from his musical family trees. But it’s the sound of this record today, the relevance that this great material has on people who love today’s jazz, and above all the amazing sound of Ricky Ford’s tenor, today, that makes this recording so worthwhile.

State Foundation | "Outside Looking In"

Notching up their tenth studio album release with ‘Outside Looking In’, the 8-piece Midlands-based Soul band Stone Foundation continue their rich vein of form. Their last three albums all charted within the Top 40 and ‘Outside Looking In’ seems certain to repeat the trick. The album features the previously-released single ‘Echoes of Joy.

Throughout their nearly 25 years together, the band have always been known for their collaborative spirit and inclusive approach. ‘Outside Looking In’ is true to that. Recorded (as always) at Paul Weller’s Black Barn Studio, and featuring the man himself with a few Backing Vocals and instrumental contributions, the album also features a knockout guest lead vocal from legendary disco diva Melba Moore on ‘Now That You Want Me Back’. The album also boasts slots from Sulene Fleming, Laville, Sheree Dubois and Graziella Affinita; whilst Stone Foundation always bring a fresh new approach to each record, and a point of contrast to what came before, some things just do not need to be altered.

Neil Sheasby said, “When creating music the goal is always to recreate the sound you’re imagining in your head, sometimes it’s achievable, sometimes you fall short. With this record I believe it’s the closest we have come to realising what we set out to achieve. It was important to push ourselves and not get caught up in a musical cul-de-sac of complacency, it had to sound fresh and a leap forward into uncharted territory. I think the songs reflect that.”

Neil Jones added, “I think this is one of our most optimistic and uplifting records to date. We’ve all experienced so many negative things over the past few years and it was really important for us whilst writing this record to not dwell on the past but instead look forward to the future and all the amazing possibilities that lie ahead for everyone. Musically and lyrically it feels completely fresh and exciting, like a brand new chapter in our ever evolving story.”

This release feels like yet another big step forward for this constantly evolving band. Along the way they have always ploughed their own furrow and made their own luck. Yet they have enjoyed national airplay from BBC 6 Music, BBC Radio 2, rave reviews from a huge range of publications, played Glastonbury and sold out headline shows at London’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire and the Electric Ballroom. The album title ‘Outside Looking In’ reflects the fact that they are established, but never the establishment, Stone Foundation may be ten studio albums in, but still feel like the underdog. Just don’t bet against them… ~ www.firstexperiencerecords.com

Yelena Eckemoff | "I Am a Stranger in This World"

Pianist-composer Yelena Eckemoff adds to her already impressive corpus of settings for the Psalms on I Am a Stranger in This World, due for a May 20 release on her own L&H Production label. The album is a new installment in a long-term musical project that began with 2018’s Better Than Gold and Silver, and once again teams Eckemoff with that album’s trumpeter Ralph Alessi and bassist Drew Gress, along with guitarist Adam Rogers and drummer Nasheet Waits. (Violinist Christian Howes—with Ben Monder and Joey Baron also in lieu of Rogers and Waits, respectively—also appears on three holdover tracks from Better Than Gold and Silver.) 

Eckemoff converted to Christianity while still living in her native Moscow during the waning days of the Soviet Union: a time when to be Christian was still a dangerous transgression. Her new faith, along with a hard-to-procure King James Bible, combined with her pedigree in classical and jazz piano to inspire a celebration of the Old Testament’s wisdom and poetry.

Eckemoff, however, finds more than just inspiration in the Psalms. “I am a melodist, but the melodies that come from the words I hear in the Psalms, I think they are the best melodies I create,” she says. “And I think it’s because there’s a power in those words…. You can feel the power that God channels through that music.”

Of course, the musicians working with Eckemoff channel power of their own. I Am a Stranger in This World was recorded during the 2020 pandemic, and there’s a palpable passion from Alessi, Gress, Rogers, and Waits simply to be making music again. But that alone doesn’t account for the tenderness of Rogers’s lines on “As Chaff Before the Wind” (a setting of Psalm 35), the soul in Alessi’s soft fills on “I Shall Not Want” (from the famous Psalm 23), or the full band chemistry of “Keep Not Your Silence” (Psalm 83). 

“Eckemoff’s new Psalms settings display an expanded stylistic range,” writes CD annotator Mark Sullivan. “Who knew that Psalms could sound like blues? ‘I Shall Not Want’ embraces the vibrant blues feeling [as does] ‘Lighten My Eyes.’ . . . Here for the first time on her jazz recordings her keyboards are expanded beyond acoustic piano to include organ on ‘Keep Not Your Silence,’ Fender Rhodes electric piano on ‘Truth in His Heart’ and ‘The Wine of Astonishment,’ as well as some synthesizers on ‘At Midnight I Will Rise’ and ‘Like Rain Upon the Mown Grass,’ subtly broadening the group’s timbral palette.” 

Although Eckemoff first wrote these settings as vocal features, there are no singers on I Am a Stranger in This World. Instead, she offers her purely instrumental interpretations of the Psalms, titling each with a line from the appropriate Biblical verse and citing each Psalm for the listener to read and draw connections to the music—and perhaps to their own ideas about faith in a higher power. 

Eckemoff is no evangelist, but her work with the Psalms does offer an important message to the world. “There is some higher power,” she says. “Even the people who don’t believe in God but have faith in government or in society or humanity—well, the government or society or humanity is the higher power. Something greater than themselves. My message is that people can overcome fears and insecurities and trust in a higher power.”

Yelena Eckemoff was born in Moscow, where she started playing by ear and composing music when she was four. She would go on to study classical piano the most prestigious music academies in Russia: the Gnessins School for musically gifted children, followed by the Moscow State Conservatory. 

Gradually, however, Eckemoff’s ears wandered beyond her classical training, discovering first rock, then jazz. When she saw Dave Brubeck’s performance in Moscow in 1987, she settled on jazz as her permanent musical path. 

That path turned out to run through the United States, where Eckemoff immigrated in 1991 and settled in North Carolina. Now ensconced in the country that gave birth to jazz, she went in search of players who could do justice to her intricate ideas. 

The search was a long and sometimes frustrating one, but it paid off when she was able to work with the likes of bassist Mads Vinding and drummer Peter Erskine on her 2010 album Cold Sun. Later collaborators have included Mark Turner, Joe Locke, George Mraz, Peter Erskine, Manu Katché, Billy Hart, Chris Potter, Jon Christensen, and Joey Baron, along with Alessi, Gress, Rogers, and Waits. Her unique, sophisticated, and highly expressive music continues to draw support and creative energy from the finest musicians in the world.

Sao Paulo Vocalist Tetel Di Babuya Debuts with "Meet Tetel"

The supreme confidence of Meet Tetel—Tetel Di Babuya’s debut album, set for a June 24 release on Arkadia Records—belies the newness of Di Babuya’s career as a vocalist and composer. She recorded the album just a year after her first professional singing appearance, and with even less experience in the jazz world. All the more remarkable, then, that the album’s ten originals and gorgeous Gershwin cover evidence the technical chops and emotional nuance of a seasoned veteran. 

In a sense, a veteran is exactly what she is. Before she was Tetel (pronounced teh-TELL) Di Babuya, jazz singer, she was Marcela Venditti, a classically trained violinist who had established a reputation as a highly regarded player in her native São Paulo, Brazil. Although she knew for as long as she can remember that she was a musician—“It never occurred to me to do anything else,” she asserts—her destiny seemed to lie in the orchestras she began playing in when she was still a teenager. 

Still, she had grown up loving Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong’s classic Ella and Louis. When in her late twenties she made a more profound discovery of vocal jazz, she was entranced by its possibilities. “I just knew I had to try and sing the best I could,” she says. “I didn’t care if I had a good voice or a bad voice, I simply had to sing.” 

That decision has yielded rich rewards, as Meet Tetel (which inaugurates a new name as well as a new milieu) testifies. Her contralto is as agile and expressive on the coy, playful “Not About Love” as on the vulnerable ballad “For One Man Only”; she tackles “Clean Cut” with full-tilt funk but can also put just a sprinkle of attitude on “Lullaby of Loveland.” As a finishing touch, her cover of “Someone to Watch Over Me” strikes a perfect balance of wistfulness and quirky charm.

Of course, Di Babuya has excellent support in these endeavors. Her accompanists include pianist/arranger Daniel Grajew, saxophonist/trumpeter/trombonist Richard Fermino, bassist/guitarist Nilton Leonarde, and drummer Emilio Martins: the cream of the crop on São Paulo’s jazz scene. Even so, when the songs come out, they are Di Babuya’s own. She is, as Arkadia Records chief Bob Karcy succinctly puts it, “A phenom, a gifted musician.” Meet Tetel is living proof. 

Tetel Di Babuya was born Marcela Venditti in 1986 in Araçatuba, in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. When she was seven years old, the family moved to California, where her psychopharmacologist father taught at Stanford University. When they returned to Brazil two years later, her father—who was also a drummer, singer, and pianist—signed her up for violin lessons. 

Music, and classical music in particular, quickly took hold of her passions, and by 13, Tetel was playing in orchestras and her school bands. From there she went to the University of São Paulo for a bachelor’s degree, to São Paulo State University for a master’s in music, and then to the professional orchestra circuit. She played with the Heliopolis Symphony Orchestra and the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra, with whom she toured Brazil and then Europe; performed in the São Paulo production of The Phantom of the Opera; and worked as a soloist with the Limiar String Orchestra, the Poços de Caldas Festival Orchestra, and the Laetare String Orchestra.

By the time she fell in love with jazz in her twenties, Tetel had been so deeply immersed in classical music for so long that it was difficult to imagine herself doing anything else. However, the allure of improvisation, of swing, and of writing her own songs was too strong. Guided by the influence of Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Amy Winehouse, and Norah Jones, she reoriented herself as a singer. Her first performance was at an orchestral concert, but soon afterward she enlisted the help of pianist and arranger Daniel Grajew. Together they assembled the songs that became Meet Tetel. 

Tetel sent demo recordings of the songs to Arkadia Records’ Bob Karcy. “I listened and heard something special and unique in the material she sent me,” Karcy says; in her he found the perfect vehicle for revitalizing the record label beyond its acclaimed catalog. He signed her to the label and served as producer for her debut. They worked together to fine-tune and rerecord her songs, resulting in Arkadia’s first new release in over a decade—and a debut album that overflows with the promise of an exciting new artist.

A Tribute to Aretha Franklin: The Queen of Soul featuring Damien Sneed, Valerie Simpson, Karen Clark Sheard

Damien Sneed, the multi-talented bandleader, composer, musician, and vocalist, finishes the final week of his 25-city sold-out North American tour, A Tribute to Aretha Franklin: The Queen of Soul. Presented by IMG Artists, this dynamic presentation celebrates the amazing musical legacy of the late Ms. Franklin, arranged and musically directed by Sneed, and features an accomplished cast of jazz, gospel, and soul musicians and vocalists. The tour kicked off Thursday, February 3, 2022, at the Parker Playhouse in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and concludes on Sunday, March 20, 2022, at the Kupferberg Center for the Arts at Queens College in Flushing, NY, where both Karen Clark Sheard and Valerie Simpson will be featured as special guests.   

With a career spanning several generations and a multitude of genres, Aretha Franklin earned her title, “The Queen of Soul.” Beloved by musicians and listeners alike, Aretha is recognized as one the most successful female recording artists in history. Aretha Franklin continued to perform well into the later years of her illustrious life. During this time, musician, vocalist, and composer Damien Sneed toured with Ms. Franklin, developing a strong mentee relationship with the soul legend. In Tribute to Aretha Franklin: The Queen of Soul, Sneed pays homage to the monarch herself with fresh renditions of her most cherished hits, including “How I Got Over,” “Respect,” “Say A Little Prayer,” and others.

Also joining Sneed on tour are featured vocalists Chenee Campbell, Markita Knight, Anitra Raquel McKinney, and Alicia Peters-Jordan, all of whom have performed with Sneed on numerous concert events, tours, and recordings. The band features Alfred Rutherford on Hammond B3 organ and keys, Ronald “CJay” Alexander on bass guitar, Nathaniel “Nat” Townsley on drums, and Gabriel Michael Carter on aux keys.

In February, Valerie Simpson, a recipient of the Grammy Trustee Award, and Songwriters Hall of Fame honoree kicked off the tour with Sneed as a special guest at The Parker Playhouse in Ft. Lauderdale, FL (February 3); and continued to South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center in Cutler Bay, FL (February 5); the Opelika Center for the Performing Arts in Opelika, AL (February 7); and the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall in Sarasota, FL (February 9); Gettysburg College, Majestic Theater in Gettysburg, PA (February 16); followed by James Madison University, The Forbes Center for the Performing Arts in Harrisonburg, VA (February 17); Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts in Storrs, CT (February 19); Troy Savings Bank Music Hall in Troy, NY (February 20); St. Johnsburg Academy, Fuller Hall in St. Johnsbury, VT (February 21); Berklee Performance Center in Boston, MA (February 25); TELUS Centre, Koerner Hall in Toronto, ON Canada (February 26); Christopher Cohan Center in San Luis Obispo, CA (March 2); Poway Center for the Performing Arts in Poway, CA (March 4); and the Gallo Center for the Arts in Modesto, CA (March 6).

On February 12, Karen Clark Sheard, a four-time Grammy and multiple Stellar and Dove Award-winning gospel legend joined Sneed at Florida State University, Ruby Diamond Concert Hall in Tallahassee, FL. She later continued to Eppley Auditorium in Culver, IN, (March 8); Hancher Auditorium at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, IA (March 10); Pablo Center at the Confluence in Eau Claire, WI (March 11); Marcus Performing Arts Center, Uihlein Hall in Milwaukee, WI (March 12); and Governors State University, Center for Performing Arts in University Park, IL (March 13).

During the final week of the tour, Clark Sheard will continue onto the Wilson Center at Cape Fear Community College in Wilmington, NC (Tuesday, March 15); Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morriston, NJ (Thursday, March 17); Kimmel Cultural Campus, Merriam Theater in Philadelphia, PA (Friday, March 18); McCarter Theatre at Princeton University in Princeton, NJ (Saturday, March 19) and the tour concludes at the Kupferberg Center for the Arts at Queens College in Flushing, NY (Sunday, March 20).

Aretha Franklin was a giant of popular music and a global cultural icon. One of the best-selling musical artists of all time, with more than 100 million records sold worldwide, the undisputed “Queen of Soul” created an amazing legacy of more than six decades. She had sung before heads of state and foreign royals and gained admiration from fans, colleagues, and fellow artists across all genres. She is known all over the world simply by her first name: Aretha.

Her vocal mastery and artistic excellence have been recognized numerous times throughout her distinguished career. Twice voted as the number one Greatest Singer of All Time by Rolling Stone magazine, and her signature hit “Respect” was also named by Rolling Stone as the number one Song of All Time. Franklin is the recipient of the U.S.A.’s highest civilian honor, The Presidential Medal of Freedom; she is also an 18-time Grammy Award winner and a recipient of a Grammy Lifetime Achievement and a Grammy Living Legend honor. Aretha was the youngest individual ever to receive the coveted Kennedy Center Honor; the first female inductee into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame; the second female inductee into the US Music Hall of Fame; and an inductee into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame. In 2019, Franklin was posthumously awarded a Pulitzer Prize Special Citation Prize for her contribution to American music and culture. That same year, Franklin’s family was posthumously presented with The Aretha Franklin ICON Award by the Stellar Gospel Music Award, which is now awarded annually to a Gospel music legend.

Aretha has been proclaimed internationally as “the voice of the civil rights movement, the voice of Black America,” and a “symbol of Black equality.” In 1968, her spiritually uplifting voice was heard around the world singing at the funeral of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and in 1972 at the funeral of the Queen of Gospel Mahalia Jackson. Aretha’s acclaimed voice was declared a “natural resource of the state” in 1985 by the Department of Natural Resources of the State of Michigan. Aretha would later reach a milestone in her historic career by singing at the first inauguration of President Barack Obama.

As a multi-genre recording artist and instrumentalist, Damien Sneed is a pianist, vocalist, organist, composer, conductor, arranger, producer, and arts educator whose work spans multiple genres. He has worked with opera, classical, jazz, pop, R&B, and gospel legends, including the late Aretha Franklin and Jessye Norman, which he is featured on Norman’s final recording, Bound For The Promised Land on Albany Records. He also worked with Wynton Marsalis, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, Ashford & Simpson, Brandie Inez Sutton, Raehann Bryce-Davis, J’Nai Bridges, Lawrence Brownlee, and many others. Sneed has served as music director for Grammy Award-winning gospel artists The Clark Sisters, Richard Smallwood, Donnie McClurkin, Hezekiah Walker, Marvin Sapp, Karen Clark Sheard, Dorinda Clark-Cole, and Kim Burrell, among others. 

Sneed’s current studio recording is Damien Sneed: Unplugged, an all-gospel collection of soulful and inspirational songs, recorded in a spare studio setting with Sneed on piano and vocals alongside several noted vocalists, including Chenee Campbell, Linny Smith, Tiffany Stevenson, and Matia Washington. In January 2020, Sneed released his debut classical album, Classically Harlem and We Shall Overcome Deluxe on his boutique label, LeChateau Earl Records, which was established in 2009 to reflect his varied musical interests. Previous recordings also include Jazz In Manhattan (September 2019); The Three Sides of Damien Sneed: Classical, Jazz and Sanctified Soul (July 2018); Broken To Minister: The Deluxe Edition (March 2015); Spiritual Sketches (June 2013); and Introspections LIVE (January 2010). Sneed is a 2020 Dove Award winner for his work as a featured producer and writer on The Clark Sisters’ project, The Return, released on March 13, 2020. 

Valerie Simpson is half of the songwriting-performing-producing entity known as Ashford & Simpson, an award-winning collaboration with her late husband Nick Ashford that began in the 1960s. Together they have penned such classic hits as “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” “You’re All I Need to Get By,” “Reach Out and Touch Somebody’s Hand,” “I’m Every Woman,” “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing,” “Solid,” “Your Precious Love,” “The Boss, “It’s My House,” “I Don’t Need No Doctor,” “Let’s Go Get Stoned,” and many others.

Simpson serves on the board of the ASCAP Foundation where a monetary award, the REACH OUT AND TOUCH Award honoring Nick Ashford, has been established to aid struggling songwriters. In recent years, Valerie has toured with Dave Koz as a special guest and with Paul Shaffer & The World’s Most Dangerous Band. Four Ashford & Simpson songs were featured in the Broadway hit Motown: The Musical, which has toured the country. “I’m Every Woman” was featured in The Bodyguard: The Musical. In 2018, Simpson was featured in a limited engagement in Broadway’s CHICAGO, The Musical, in the role of Mama Morton. The songs of Ashford & Simpson are in constant play through commercials and documentaries (Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston), feature films, and television shows. Ashford & Simpson have rightfully earned their place in the Songwriters Hall of Fame, where the duo was inducted in 2002. In 2019, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences presented the Trustees Award to Ashford & Simpson in a televised program adding yet another exciting new dimension to a diversified career. Valerie Simpson owns and runs the popular New York City’s Ashford & Simpson’s Sugar Bar, a restaurant and music club, where young writers-singers-musicians have a platform to perform.

Gospel music legend, Karen Clark Sheard is a four-time Grammy Award-winner with multiple Stellar and Dove Award wins. She is a part of a musical dynasty and is renowned throughout the music industry for her one-of-a-kind multi-octave vocal range and ability. Her musical style, both with the legendary Clark Sisters and as a solo artist, has inspired a host of today’s brightest pop divas, including Queen Latifah, Beyoncé, Mariah Carey, Missy Elliott, and Faith Evans, among countless others.

Through the years, The Clark Sisters have recorded twenty albums, including the GMA Dove Award-winner and Grammy Award-nominated Heart and Soul (1987) and Grammy Award-nominated Conqueror (1988) and Sincerely (1983), while crafting enduring gospel anthems such as “Endow Me,” “Pray for the USA,” “Name It Claim It” and “Is My Living in Vain?”

In 1997, Clark Sheard launched a solo career with Finally Karen on Island Black Music. An instant hit, it sold nearly half a million copies, garnered four Stellar Awards (Female Vocalist of the Year, Contemporary Female Vocalist of the Year, Music Video of the Year, and Best Children’s Performance for “Will of God,” featuring daughter Kierra Sheard) and a Grammy nomination. Clark Sheard continued her solo career with other hit CDs, including 2nd Chance (Elektra, 2002), The Heavens Are Telling (Elektra, 2003) and the GMA Dove Award winner, It’s Not Over (Word Records, 2006).

In 2007, she reunited with her sisters, The Clark Sisters, for their No. 1 comeback album, Live…One Last Time (EMI Gospel), for which The Clark Sisters won the 2008 Grammy Award for Best Gospel Album. They won a second Grammy for Best Gospel Performance for “Blessed and Highly Favored,” the lead single from that album. Clark Sheard, who wrote and led the song, won the third Grammy that year for Best Gospel Song (a Writer’s Award). The Clark Sisters were part of the celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Grammy Awards that year, joining Aretha Franklin, BeBe Winans, and others as performers for the evening.

In 2010, Clark Sheard stepped away from her solo recording work to record “Wait On The Lord,” a duet with Donnie McClurkin from his album, We Are All One. The record won a Grammy Award for Best Gospel Performance, raising Clark Sheard’s Grammy Award total to four.

Lifetime honored The Clark Sisters in a biopic titled The Clark Sisters: The First Ladies of Gospel, which details their humble beginnings, struggles to find their place, to later becoming the best-selling Gospel group in the music world. The movie first aired in April 2020 and featured re-recordings of some of The Clark Sisters’ biggest hits like “You Brought The Sunshine.” The biopic earned raves for its actors, including Clark Sheard’s daughter and fellow gospel songstress Kierra Sheard.

New Music: James Brown, Peter Brotzmann / Milford Graves / William Parker, Kat Fontaine & The Society Hill Orchestra, Gerald Clayton

James Brown - Black & Loud – James Brown Reimagined By Stro Elliot

The funky genius of James Brown, given a whole new spin for the 21st Century by Stro Elliot of The Roots! Stro clearly loves James' music, and never tries to dominate it too much – as his mixes here are mostly faithful to the funky structure of the originals, and almost work more in an "edit" mode to expand on some of the best elements at the core – while also then throwing in some additional rhythms and other elements. The record's a great antidote to some of the overly-done remixes of classic funk, soul, and jazz – as you'll hear on cuts that include "The Goodest Foot", "Dragon Pants", "Coal Sweat", "Get Up Off", "Sortabad", "Turn It Up Give It Shrooms", "Black & Loud", "Machine No Make Sex", and "She Made Me Popcorn". ~ Dusty Groove

Peter Brotzmann / Milford Graves / William Parker - Historic Music Past Tense Future

A fantastic live set that offers up the first-ever recorded meeting of these three giants of improvised music – a trio who return to each others' company after many years, and here for the first time with a recording device in action! Given the legacy here, there's almost as much of a loft jazz influence as there is one from the world of European free jazz – and at many points, the reeds of Peter Brotzmann seem to take a lot more directl from the drums and percussion of Milford Graves and bass of William Parker – especially at moments when both players seem tied to each other at both an emotional and performative level! Parker also plays a bit of doussn'gouni, and Graves vocalizes a bit – and the set features a searing live set recorded at the gallery space of CBGBs in 2002. ~ Dusty Groove

Kat Fontaine & The Society Hill Orchestra  - This Time

Hailing from the small city of Chester, PA on the outskirts of Philadelphia, Kathleen Fontaine- Prattis (affectionately dubbed "Kat" by family & friends) exhibited extraordinary talent as a singer at an early age. She would go on to major in Instrumental Music and Pre-Law at Delaware State University, one of America's leading Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Here is a wonderful album with some of Kat's hand-picked favorite Philly Soul treasures, delivered with a depth of soul & originality that makes these timeless tracks recorded with the legendary Society Hill Orchestra come alive with a fresh new perspective. Join us now in welcoming back the illustrious Kat Fontaine and this wonderful new album.

Gerald Clayton - Bells On Sand

Six-time GRAMMY nominated artist Gerald Clayton returns with Bells On Sand, his ravishing second album for Blue Note, which will be released April 1st on vinyl, CD, and digital formats. The album explores the impact and abstraction of time over eleven tracks of fresh orchestration and original music with contributions from mentor Charles Lloyd on saxophone, father John Clayton on bass, longtime friend and peer Justin Brown on drums, and new collaborator MARO on vocals. “Each musician on the record represents a different aspect of the axis of time and its shifting sands,” says the acclaimed pianist-composer. “My father and Charles Lloyd, who has been a mentor figure to me, reflect new permutations of my past, and the lineage of elders who have shaped my development; Justin Brown, being my contemporary and musical brother, represents my present; and MARO represents the future—she is part of the next generation, and points to a brand new collaboration.” Unadorned intimacy shapes the music. Clayton’s desire to share more of himself with listeners and fellow artists wields heady influence over his musical choices and his thoughtful curation of the entire album. But most striking is his ability to create quiet chambers for all four artists to be themselves. Bells On Sand opens in pensive resonance with “Water’s Edge.” The slow-peeling composition first spotlights Clayton’s relationship with John’s arco, tapered and doleful, before Brown transforms the duo into a trio. “By the water, I experienced subtle environmental shifts,” he says. “Songs I would sing, play or write were but an expression of a particular shape in the sand at that moment. Any meaning behind what I created came from viewing that creation over a temporal landscape. A song felt a certain way on a certain day, and the next day would feel and function completely differently.” “I hope these reflections encourage people to step back and recognize that our testaments—songs, stories, intentions—lay atop an ever-shifting landscape,” says Clayton. “To look at things from this zoomed-out perspective might allow for a union between past, present, and future. It might allow us to embrace the totality of our life experience. That we may consider the lessons from our past when living the present moment in a way that serves the future.”