New Music: Mark Winkler, Brent Laidler, Jorge Garcia, Juan Carlos Quintero

Mark Winkler - Late Bloomin' Jazzman

Late Bloomin' Jazzman, the newest album by vocalist and songwriter Mark Winkler, is an homage to growing older and all the blessings and drawbacks that come with it. The album is Winkler’s 20th CD as a leader. Each of his previous projects has received stellar reviews and consistently topped the jazz charts. Rex Reed has said, “Mark Winkler is a musical marvel and a true original!  At last, a writer who sings and a singer who swings!” Winkler wrote lyrics to eight of the 12 tunes and covers a lot of personal topics on this album. He writes about his love of George Gershwin, film noir, and the songs of Rio. He also writes about losing his husband, finding love again, and about a close friend ravished by Alzheimer’s disease. Although Winkler is a popular performer and recording artist, he is also a very successful songwriter, and Late Bl;oomin' Jazzman is a wonderful showcase to highlight both. To paraphrase his lyrics in “Late Bloomin’ Jazzman,” his “finest flower may finally be here."

Brent Laidler - Wouldn't Be Here Without You

On Wouldn't Be Here Without You, guitarist Brent Laidler presents ten eclectic, original compositions that celebrate the friends, mentors, and fellow musicians who have helped and supported him on his journey through music and life. The album is Laidler’s second project as a leader and follows No Matter Where Noir (2017). All About Jazz said, “This is an album where the gestalt is king, and one that gets more enjoyable with repetition as that gestalt sinks into the listener's bones.” Laidler does not have the national name recognition his playing warrants because his many music-related activities prevent him from extensive touring. Besides being a jazz guitarist, he is also a film/commercial composer, arranger, clinician, radio host, and successful small business owner. Laidler was originally going to name the album after his composition, “A Second Chance,” referring to the fact this is his second jazz album as a leader. But while he was planning material for the album, he lost both his father and friend and mentor Tony Zamora, the beloved director of the Black Cultural Center at Purdue University, within a day of each other. Their passing caused Laidler to rethink his concept. With influences that include Jim Hall, Kenny Burrell, Barney Kessel, Pat Martino, and Ed Bickert, Laidler eschews pyrotechnics on Wouldn't Be Here Without You for a warm, more accessible sound. This album is a wonderful introduction to a musician who deserves wider recognition.

Jorge Garcia - Dedicated To You

Although his name is not known to jazz fans nationwide, Cuban-born guitarist Jorge Garcia has worked with many esteemed musicians, including Tony Bennett, Cécile McLorin Salvant, Chuck Redd, Jon Faddis, and Ignacio Berroa. Garcia’s new self-released album, Dedicated To You, celebrates his collaborations with two other jazz icons, Richie Cole and Hendrick Meurkens, along with some of his favorite local musicians from South Florida. Garcia’s association with the late alto saxophonist Richie Cole dates back to the late 1990s, when Cole was living in Key Largo, FL, and in the process of forming a new edition of his Alto Madness Orchestra. Garcia was not only a member of the band, he also performed with bassist Rick Doll and drummer James Cotmon on Cole’s big band gigs. Richie Cole played clubs and concerts in the Miami area on several occasions, and whenever he was asked to assemble a band, Garcia would be Cole‘s first-call guitarist. In 2009, Cole was back in Southern Florida, and Garcia offered to pay for the studio rental if Cole would be willing to record. Cole readily agreed, and the band’s rhythm section of Garcia, Doll and Cotmon were reunited for the date. While the tracks on Dedicated To You seem retrospective in nature, Garcia continues to perform regularly, and we should expect to hear more fine music from Jorge Garcia and his very talented friends.

Juan Carlos Quintero - Table For Five!

Table For Five! features Quintero’s longtime musical compatriots Eddie Resto/bass, Joe Rotondi/piano, Aaron Serfaty/drums, Joey Deleon/percussion, and Quintero on electric guitar. Quintero, who is known for his stylish, tasty work on the nylon string guitar, decided to record for the first time on the semi-hallow electric guitar to highlight the new direction of his music and label. Rather than focusing on the Latin repertoire, Quintero performs jazz standards, expanding the scope to include World Music as well as music from the Great American Songbook. Table For Five is the first of his own albums that Quintero produced since his debut album in 1988. “Participating as a player while being responsible for all aspects of this recording was a daunting task,” says Quintero. “But my bandmates, my brothers, had my back in every way.” Although Quintero was the sole producer, the arrangements were a collaborative effort shared by the entire band. Quintero says, “We all had input in the process. We basically worked from an outline of the arrangements, improvising the music as we went. I didn’t want to over arrange the songs so much that we changed them into something completely different. I feel you need to trust the composer and honor his or her intention. The core of the music needs to survive your treatment.”

 

 

JOYFULTALK | "Familiar Science"

Following two laser-focused, trance inducing albums, JOYFULTALK returns with a series of gnarled excavations that see composer Jay Crocker transmuting musical forms from a forgotten era into startling new expressions of modern existence. The pieces on Familiar Science are twisted, throbbing, touched and very much lived-in: smudged iterations of contemporary jazz. Combining influences from late 80s M-base music, Ornette Coleman’s harmolodic funk years and Crocker’s own histories as an outré improviser, the album features eight enthralling cuts, each held together by stunning musicianship and daring compositional choices.

Starting from flipped drum samples and expanding outwards, Crocker built the album piece by piece, collecting and reflecting little sonic clusters along the way. Forming the head of a given composition from a blend of dusted archival material, spliced-up off-sessions and his own bass, keys and midi sequencing, he then sought out responsive contributions from longtime collaborators, Albertan percussionists Eric Hamelin (Ghostkeeper, No More Shapes, Chad Vangaalen) and Chris Dadge (Bug Incision, Lab Coast) as well as Nova Scotia-based saxophonist/flautist Nicola Miller (Ryan Driver, Doug Tielli) and in-demand bassist Kyle Cunjak (Olympic Symphonium, David Myles). With the live contributions in hand, Crocker set to enmeshing the materials further, building pieces that blur the line between a spirited combo feel and sampler jamz from realms beyond. One vital thread that flows through the collection is the reconstituted percussion of Eric Hamelin, who sent Crocker a series of virtuosic, improvised drum sessions to be cut up and harvested. The ghostly boom-bap bone rattle of opener ‘Body Stone’ (which sounds like a cut from Squarepusher’s revisionist jazz classic Music Is Rotted One Note via the cinematic mind of John Carpenter) initiates the rhythmic seance. Persisting from there, Familiar Science offers up oblique rhythmic pathways throughout, leading to quags of heady jazz, streaks of Black Dice-like delirium and elevated states of revelry.

With a few careers’ worth of material, genres and experiences in his rearview, Crocker can’t help but bring a kaleidoscopic mind to a given project. In that sense, Familiar Science finds the composer folding time: diving further into his present-tense, rurally-isolated solo practice in Nova Scotia, and revisiting his former life as a bustling jazz collaborator in Calgary, Alberta. Not only does the album feature a series of archival samples from live sets by late Calgarian saxophonist Dan Meichel (Musk Cup, Jazz Snob Eat Shit), songs like ‘Take It To The Grave’, ‘Stop Freaking Out!’ and the album’s titular track feature Crocker’s skewed guitar work, something that hasn’t appeared prominently in his own music for the better part of a decade. It’s a welcomed voice amidst the compositional mélange, cutting through with an angular playfulness; a close approximation might be the lean progressions of Mary Halvorson, though Crocker’s lurking melodic gestures feel uniquely his own. While these pieces act as catalysts for some of Familiar’s heaviest contortions, the album’s more honeyed moments, ‘Blissed For A Minute’ and ‘Ballad In 9’, center around Miller’s absolutely spellbinding alto and flute work.

If this all sounds like a lot, it is: Familiar Science is a multifarious feat of imagination and (re)combination. It’s a credit to Crocker’s compositional character that music containing so many intersecting textures and rhythms feels so focused and effectual. As each composition unfolds, the music reveals new phenomena and ways of moving through sound. It pulls you into sneaky wormholes, heaves you up into rarefied ethers. It drags you into the ditches: spun off the road, headlights busted. The umami of earth, freshly disturbed. And through all this, as the collection works to a close, a kind of serenity shines through. Joy, even.

New Music: Ariane Racicot, Adema Manoukas Octet, Deanne Matley, Way North

Ariane Racicot - Envolée

Envolée is the debut album by Montreal pianist and composer Ariane Racicot. This audacious new  modern jazz recording consists of five original compositions that fuse a range of styles together:  from latin jazz to fusion, and from modal jazz to progressive rock. Her rock bonafides are tested and true: many listeners may already be familiar with her from her 22,000 subscriber-strong YouTube presence, where her cover of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody has racked up 18 million views. With Envolée, Racicot has established herself as an exciting new pianist to watch. This recording is the result of years of studying many of jazz music’s most progressive, genre-bending jazz pianists, including the likes of Hiromi Uehara, Tigran Hamasyan, Chick Corea, and Keith Jarrett. You can also hear the influence of the metal bands Racicot listened to in her youth, particularly on À ciel ouvert, where she calls on a second drummer to help turn up the heat. This album is a deeply personal project, recounting several years worth of musical and personal experiences. The title – ‘Takeoff’ – evokes her passion for music, her need for expression, her intensity, her perseverance, and her strength. Envolée will be released on all digital platforms on Friday, May 6, 2022 via the Montreal label Multiple Chord Music. The release will be celebrated with a concert at Dièse Onze in Montreal on May 6th.

Adema Manoukas Octet – New Roots

Coming on the heels of his first full-length album demiLAN, (“teeming with originality and confidence” – Yoshi Wall, The WholeNote), trombonist Nick Adema has teamed up with saxophonist Alex Manoukas for a new recording project with their newly formed band the Adema Manoukas Octet. These eight young Toronto all-stars have been performing together in various combinations for years, providing an alternative perspective on the Canadian jazz sound. Together, they offer a glimpse of a new music full of blistering solos, thought-provoking melodies, and world-class ensemble playing. With their debut album New Roots, it is clear that the next wave of talented Canadian jazz artists is knocking on tomorrow’s door. This record is a refreshing celebration of the music of today by the musicians of tomorrow. Throughout this album, the octet masterfully weaves through stimulating original compositions by both Adema and Manoukas, engaging listeners with charming melodies and captivating swells of harmony. These lyrical pieces will stick in your head without losing any of the captivating, modern energy that is present throughout the entire album. The record also also includes masterful modern interpretations of songs by Dizzy Gillespie and Thelonious Monk, arranged by Adema and Manoukas.

Deanne Matley – The Alberta Lounge

Welcome to The Alberta Lounge, the club where Canadian jazz legend Oscar Peterson was first discovered in Montreal; Alberta – which also happens to be the name of the province where vocalist Deanne Matley grew up and started her music career ten years ago. Inspired by the Canadian jazz great, The Alberta Lounge features two new tunes of Matley’s: The Alberta Lounge and If You Were Here Today. She also made sure to include two Peterson originals, the haunting Hymn To Freedom and the tender ballad When Summer Comes. The rest of the album’s repertoire was chosen from Peterson’s vast recorded catalogue, including Lionel Hampton and Jeri Jones’s Je ne Sais Pas, for which Matley had the utmost honour of writing original French lyrics. The album also features a remarkable jazz-funk cover of Jorge Ben Hor’s Mas Que Nada, which Matley sings in Portuguese with added vocal harmonies for extra fun. For the project, Matley recruited some of Montreal’s premier jazz talent, including pianist Taurey Butler, bassist Morgan Moore, and drummer Richard Irwin. Also appearing on the album are her long-time pals pianist Paul Shrofel and guitarist Steve Raegele. Throughout the album, Matley shines as a first-rate vocal stylist. Her contemporary sound is still deeply rooted in the jazz tradition, but is unafraid of pushing the musical envelope. This anniversary album is dedicated to all Canadians. To quote Oscar, “People are Canada’s greatest resource.” 

Way North - New Dreams, Old Stories

Way North is a cross-border mash-up of Canadian and American artists born out of the joy of playing together. Formed in Brooklyn, NY in 2014 by three Canadians and a New Yorker, the band features saxophonist Petr Cancura (Charlie Hunter/Down Home - JUNO nominee), trumpeter Rebecca Hennessy (Kevin Breit/Women’s Blues Revue bandleader), bassist Michael Herring (Peripheral Vision - JUNO nominee) and American drummer Richie Barshay (Herbie Hancock/Chick Corea/Esperanza Spalding). The quartet brings together four improvisor/composers with a shared love of folk and world music, whose unique creative connection touches audiences and builds community everywhere they play. Their third album, New Dreams, Old Stories, follows the release of two critically acclaimed records: Fearless And Kind ("a celebration of sound, with a rapturous elasticity" -AllAboutJazz); and Kings County, which was picked by the Ottawa Citizen as one of the best jazz CD’s of 2015. Way North’s music is a roots stew, seamlessly threading together blues, old-time, New Orleans, and South American folk music with jazz and improvisation, creating a unique sound that has been referred to as “Avant-Trad” (Nou Dadoun, 100.5 Vancouver).

New Music: Oli Astral, Greg Amirault, Noam Lemish, Jazzlab Orchestra

Oli Astral – From The Astral 

Oli Astral is a musical universe where the sound of modern jazz guitar merges with digital music technology and visual projection. The group keeps a balance between technology and a more organic approach to music. There are computers on stage, virtual instruments, MIDI controllers, and Frederic’s Modular Synthesizers that serve the imagination. The musical values thought, are still deeply rooted in the tradition of Jazz. Things like Improvisation, group interaction, and risk-taking are very important in the creative process. The importance of Melody might be the number one thing. If poetry is the only truth in the world of words, then Melody is the only truth in the world of sounds. During the production process of the album, digital audio processing techniques were used to create musical textures. The audio artists who worked on that are Thibaut Quinchon, Derek Orsi, and Olivier Grenier Bedard. Creative mixing, creative editing, computer sound design. The purpose of these is to widen the sound of the Trio with musical textures, loops, and overdubs.The Live experience is a little more immersive. After recording, the group worked with Visual Artist Bruno Scabini, From Buenos Aires. He illustrated and animated the music with creative drawing techniques and cinematic effects.  In addition to the rest, there is a video image on stage that merges with the music. A video image that transforms the Live experience into a journey into the universe of the group.

Greg Amirault – News Blues

Originally from Yarmouth Nova Scotia, guitarist Greg Amirault has been living and performing in Montreal for over 30 years. A long time faculty member of the jazz programs at McGill and Concordia University, Amirault is a past winner of the Grand Prix de Jazz at the Montreal International Jazz Festival and the Prix d’Opus. For decades, he has been a mainstay of the Montreal jazz scene, and one of Canada’s most notable guitarists. News Blues is Amirault’s third recording as a leader. It features three of Canada’s finest jazz musicians: pianist (and Greg’s brother) Steve Amirault, bassist Adrian Vedady, and drummer Jim Doxas. This recording consists of nine tunes: seven of Greg Amirault’s original compositions, and two classic jazz standards. This album offers a variety of moods and textures: there are straight ahead swingers like News Blues and Uninvited, more modern sounding pieces like Tribute Tune and Meeting the Master, and the folk influenced Song for Nova Scotia, an homage to Amirault’s birthplace. The recording also features two solo guitar arrangements of a couple of Amirault’s favourite jazz standards, the ballads If You Could See Me Now and Embraceable You. These four musicians have been playing together in  a variety of formations for over twenty years. This albums is a testament to the strong connection they’ve nurtured together.

Noam Lemish – Erlebnisse

Toronto based pianist Noam Lemish celebrates the release of Erlebnisse, a piano solo album of improvisations that blurs the lines between jazz, western art music, Eastern European Jewish music and Israeli popular song. It may be that Lemish’s hyphenated identity as an Israeli-American-Canadian has helped inspire his multiplicity and general disinclination to follow stylistic guidelines. In Erlebnisse we encounter an artist who clearly enjoys living “in between” genre boundaries and embraces the liminality inherent in improvisation. Each note is an affirmation of the present moment, each moment of silence and pause an inviting space vibrating with possibility. Erlebnisse is German for “deeply felt experiences”. Each piece is completely improvised, recorded in a single take, and played in “real time”. Each selection serves as a sonic portrait that captures a unique “deeply felt experience”: an Erlebnis, all told through spontaneous improvisation. The music traverses wide ranging emotional terrain and Lemish’s pianism is at once deeply lyrical and fierce, displaying textural richness and dynamic variety that masterfully exploits his instrument and exhibits a fearless, adventurous spirit. Following six previous recordings under his name, Erlebnisse marks Lemish’s first piano solo release. As a recording that whole-heartedly embraces free improvisation as process and artistic expression, it manifests Lemish’s long held belief in improvisation as a practice that is simultaneously inwardly and outwardly revealing and rewarding. Erlebnisse thus invites the listener into an intimate, vulnerable and open space that is filled with the joy and excitement of in-the-moment creative expression.

Jazzlab Orchestra – LOGUSLABUSMUZIKUS

Montreal’s JAZZLAB ORCHESTRA has been a Canadian jazz institution since 2004. For over 15 years, the multi-generational ensemble of Montreal’s finest improvisors has explored a wide variety of musical styles and approaches to writing and playing. Always original, every project they’ve undertaken has been inspired and audacious. Practically the only group of its kind in Canada, the group has released seven albums and performed more then 300 concerts at many of the most prestigious festivals and venues across North America and Europe, including New York’s Jazz at Lincoln Center, the New Morning and Café de la Danse in Paris, Casa del Jazz in Rome, the Grande Teatro in Sicily, the Jazz Station in Brussels, and at the Budapest Music Center. Over the years, their concerts have featured guest appearances by many of jazz music’s leading lights, including Donny McCaslin, Mark Feldman, Ted Nash, Michael Blake, Zhao Ke, Francois Théberge, Stephane Belmondo, and Don Thompson. LOGUSLABUSMUZIKUS – Jazzlab’s newest opus – features nine new pieces by bassist and composer Auguste Le Prez, all of which reflect the spirit of modern jazz today. It’s an exciting and dynamic record executed masterfully by the band. Each member manages to simultaneously lift the band up while also staking out their place as a distinct individual voice in the group. As Jazzlab Orchestra continues to evolve, the temperature continues to rise…

New Music: Bernie Senensky Quartet/Quintet, Yves Léveillé, Karl Silveira, Ori Dagan

Bernie Senensky Quartet/Quintet – Don’t Look Back

A previously unissued recording of legendary Canadian pianist Bernie Senensky, featuring saxophonist Bob Mover and trumpeter Sam Noto. Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1944, pianist Bernie Senensky has been a stalwart member of the Canadian and international jazz scenes for over 50 years. He has toured with a multitude of his own ensembles over the years, and has played with a diverse array of internationally celebrated jazz artists, from Chet Baker to Moe Koffman, and from Elvin Jones to Pharoah Sanders (to name but a few). Senensky continues to play and tour extensively. Despite his kind and soft-spoken personality, his assertive keyboard style and consummate melodicism has ensconced him as a lynchpin of the current jazz scene.Senensky fits smack dab in the middle of the hard bop tradition. For those looking for a delightful romp through some new tunes in the style of the masters, you could do worse than to try out the Bernie Senensky Quintet. Bernie’s style sparkles with a lightness and playfulness that makes his solos so easy and fun to listen to. You don’t have to reach for anything; it’s all there. 

Yves Léveillé – L’échelle du temps

Over the past twenty years, composer/pianist Yves Léveillé has established himself as a key figure on the Quebec jazz scene. Drawing from both contemporary and traditional jazz, classical, and world music, Léveillé’s distinctive musical aesthetic is noteworthy for its refined approach to melody and harmony. Hailed for his ability to suspend time with a musical phrase, Léveillé’s music explores the  endless possibilities for interplay between tradition and experimentation. His work always feels poetic and intimately human. Léveillé has recorded nine albums for the Effendi and Atma-Classique labels, all of which have been received enthusiastically by audiences and journalists alike. His latest recording L’échelle du temps isa beautiful collection of eight pieces for piano and string quartet – a unique instrumentation in the world of jazz. For this recording, Léveillé recruited a top-notch ensemble of musicians, all virtuosos on their respective instruments, each with an uncommon capacity for expression and sensitivity. Léveillé and company deftly balance written and improvised material, creating a dynamic sonic world that is at once introspective and energetic. Léveillé has performed throughout America, Europe and China. He has been nominated for multiple awards in his career, and won the Opus Awards for Concert of the Year and Best Jazz Album two years in a row. In September 2018, he was the recipient of the the André Gagnon Award (for instrumental music) from

Karl Silveira – A Porta Aperta

Toronto trombonist, composer, and University of Toronto educator Karl Silveira‘s debut album A Porta Aperta was recorded over the course of two intensely focused days in July 2021. This recording represents the culmination of a composition project that began in the early days of 2020, one that saw Silveira exploring two distinct aesthetic directions: one contemporary, and one more traditional. As a performer and composer, Silveira draws inspiration from a wide variety of musicians, including Mark Turner, Lennie Tristano, Thelonious Monk, Steve Lehman, and Wayne Shorter. Through intensive listening, he has cultivated a unique approach to composition and improvisation informed by many different aspects of the jazz tradition. Silveira’s writing covers a lot of ground emotionally as well as stylistically: his music can be energetic, introspective, thoughtful, and humorous. As a composer, Silveira’s primary conceptual focus is on the theme of multiplicity. His music often features musicians playing parts that are independent from one another, but that interlock in unexpected ways, presenting the listener with multiple possible focal points. The album title reflects this idea, depending on whether it’s interpreted as a phrase in Latin or in Portuguese (Silveira’s first language.) It can mean either “the open door” (in Latin) or “the door squeezes” (in Portuguese). While an open door can lead you to new places, you may also find yourself needing to shrink yourself in some way in order to fit through.

Ori Dagan – Click Right Here

Is life online in the 21st century a blessing or a curse? One could make a case either way, but if you’re Toronto-based vocalist and songwriter Ori Dagan, one thing is certain: there’s great material to be mined for a lyric, something Dagan always delivers with a wry and agile sense of swing. Click Right Here, praised by John Devenish of JAZZ.FM91 as “fun, provocative, fancy-free and spirited,” and by journalist and author Jeanne Beker as “the perfect balance between modernity and nostalgia,” is Dagan’s first album of original material. It offers a joyful escape from, and timely reflection upon, a world spinning out of control. Themes include online dating, social media, technological troubles and the quest for freedom and equality in a divided world. Dagan’s rich bass-baritone is unmistakable; his irreverent songcraft speaks to the lineage of Nat Cole novelty numbers and the impeccably swinging humor of the late Bob Dorough and Dave Frishberg. His scat singing has the natural, fluid, bop-inflected feel of the best in that idiom. Click Right Here, his most ambitious project to date, is sure to take him to new destinations, onstage and online. 

Ron Jackson | "Standards and My Songs"

Coming out of the pandemic lockdown, distinctive and versatile jazz guitarist Ron Jackson re-emerges boldly with his latest solo album, Standards and My Songs, released on his own Roni Music label. The album spotlights Jackson's clean-burning, clean-toned guitar voice mostly in trio format with Willie Jones III and Ben Wolfe (drums and bass, respectively), and serves as a bookend sequel to his pre-pandemic 2019 outing, Standards and Other Songs, with a critical difference.

“It is a sequel,” Jackson states. “On the earlier album, I played standards, some pop songs and even a Drake song that I adapted to jazz. This one is, standards and my songs. I took a couple of hits like soft rock tune ‘Brandy’ and R&B tune ‘Secret Garden’ by Quincy Jones, and adapted them to jazz.”

Song choice is key to the success of the new album’s portrait of Jackson's broad musical aesthetic, with a program opening with a jazz-flavored arrangement of the 1972 Looking Glass hit “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl)” (one of two album tracks with cameos by organist Brian Ho) and, to close, a gorgeous solo version of the standard “Time After Time.” The latter showcases Jackson’s unique skill on the 7-string guitar, which the guitarist has been focusing on for a decade and is one of the instrument’s prime jazz proponents. Between those repertoire extremes comes a menu of diverse original tunes, creative new arrangements of Charlie Parker's “Moose the Mooche”—spiced up with a jazz/hip hop groove--and a 5/4 take on the standard “This Nearly Was Mine,” and more, adapted to and by Jackson's special touch.

As heard through his warm, unaffected hollow-body guitar sound, Jackson’s seminal influences include Wes Montgomery and George Benson, but he has listened to and studied with a range of other important guitarists on the jazz scene. Two of those lineage points—Bucky Pizzarelli and Pat Martino—passed away in the past two years and are paid tribute to on Jackson’s album. “This Nearly was Mine” nods respectfully to Pizzarelli, who strongly encouraged Jackson to take up the 7-string ten years ago.

Jackson’s radiant ballad “For Pat” pays homage to Martino, and is loosely modeled after Martino’s own ballad “Country Road.” Martino, Jackson comments, “taught me a lot and has obviously influenced some of my lines. There are so many things I learned from Pat, things I continue to work on.” 

As for the “My Songs” portion of program, Jackson was careful to sample the diversity of his interests when deciding on originals, from the calypso “Roundabout” (featuring trombonist Clark Gayton)—linking to Jackson’s past work with such St. Thomas-born artists as Ron Blake and Reuben Rogers-–to what he cites as the “Freddie Hubbard-inspired” tune “From Dusk to Dawn.” He leans into a post-bebop energy on his “Walk Fast,” and makes a soulful turn on “She is Love,” co-written with his wife, Michelle Etwaroo.

Looking back at his work, Jackson, whose vast resumé makes him a respected and well-traveled veteran in the jazz universe, asserts “I feel that it’s the best album I’ve done so far. I had to figure out a way to put the music together and there was a lot of pressure. I thought seriously about what tunes I wanted to put on there, a mixture in which half of it was my originals. I am very happy with the end result.”

Jackson points out, “my goal would be to have other guitarists pick up the instrument and for the listener, to be more aware of it.” This effort is shown on an album cover design that boldly states “7 STRING JAZZ GUITAR,” which draws your attention to the low “A” string of the Eastman guitar that he’s holding.  

Since the 1991 release of his debut album A Guitar Thing, featuring Benny Green, Cecil Brooks III and Lonnie Plaxico, Jackson has steadily built a robust reputation as a sideman and solo artist, whose new Standards and My Songs is his ninth title as a leader on his independent label Roni Music. Born in 1964 in the Philippines, though mostly raised just outside of Boston, Jackson started out as a rocker, but fell deep into the jazz realm under the influence of such legends as George Benson, Wes Montgomery and Pat Metheny.

After studies at Berklee School of Music, Jackson lived and worked in Paris before moving to New York City and launching his high-profile jazz career, playing on dozens of albums (such as Ron Blake, Hal Singer, T.K. Blue) and working with such artists as Oliver Lake, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Gary Bartz and Randy Weston. His diverse musical life also includes various facets of education—as teacher and published educator--playing on Broadway and other modes of gigging, while carving out his evolving and expanding solo artist persona.

Bop'n Bossa Nova, contemplative cool, & frenetic big band — E.G. Phillips' "Alien from an Alternate Earth"

After a foray into country for his EP, Nashville Recordings, Vol.1, San Francisco songwriter E.G Phillips returns to the jazz idiom with his new album Alien from an Alternate Earth.  

As with his previous outing At Home at Sea and “The Albatross Song,” this collection’s title is derived from the refrain of one of its tracks — “The Octopus Song,” which was inspired by The Soul of an Octopus by naturalist Sy Montgomery and written to promote a show at Oakland’s Octopus Literary Salon.  While the pretext of the song might be cephalopod perceptions and origins, its underlying purpose is much more personal — a meditation on the singer’s current situation and place in the world — a re-emerging theme throughout these songs.

We open with the breezy Bossa Nova “Till We Have Faces Again” (which alludes to the vagaries of the pandemic as well as C.S. Lewis’s retelling of Cupid and Psyche) and then explore a variety of textures and emotions — from the venomous, knife twisting swagger of “That May Not Be Good Enough” (which is nasty as Dylan ever was) to the ethereal, music box like “Ode to the Wildhorse Cafe.”  The album is capped off with the frenetic encouragement of the big band number called “Brave Heart, Luna!”

This project was the result of a chance encounter with producer Chris McGrew and keyboardist/vocal arranger Kevin Seal (both of punky prog rock Griddle and Seal Party) at a recording session at the famed Hyde Street Studios in San Francisco (where Santana and Herbie Hancock laid down classic tracks).  This led to McGrew (who also plays drums on the album) assembling an all star cast of local luminaries to provide that old school, 1950s feel Phillips was looking to imbue into these recordings.  Desmond Shea (Division Hi-Fi, Faith No More) was on hand to act as recording engineer (as well as provide his unique insights).  Mastering was done by Gary Hobish, a veteran of Berkeley’s Fantasy Studios and San Francisco’s CD Studios.

Alien from an Alternate Earth is a tight volume of E.G. Phillips songs where his characteristically cinematic and whimsical lyrics are backed by an imaginative ensemble of the Bay Area’s best jazz players who create a sound that is both classic and striking.

Nicholas Payton | "Smoke Sessions (Remixed)"

Though it’s never simple (or advisable) to pin Nicholas Payton down to a particular genre or style, the renowned trumpeter, keyboardist, and composer’s two recent releases for Smoke Sessions Records have found him in relatively traditional acoustic trio mode. He was accompanied by the powerhouse rhythm section of bassist Peter Washington and drummer Kenny Washington on 2019’s live Relaxin’ With Nick, then with the generation spanning trio of drummer Karriem Riggins and legendary bassist Ron Carter on 2021’s acclaimed Smoke Sessions.

But Payton, it turns out, had more transformative intentions in mind for the latter session. On his new EP Smoke Sessions (Remixed), due out March 8 via Smoke Sessions Records, he turns the raw material of four of the album’s tracks over to Riggins and the rising star multi-instrumentalist producer Tomoki Sanders to create remixed versions of the tunes refracted through the lens of the hip hop generation.

This post-modern hybrid approach to what others may view as disparate genres is central to much of Payton’s discography, so it certainly makes sense that he would hear the potential for such electronic reimagining in the music he recorded with Carter and Riggins. “Many of my projects have a remix component built into them already,” he explains. “I felt giving those types of production treatments to an all-live acoustic session would speak more to the times in which we live. It gives the folks a bit of both worlds.”

Riggins, the drummer for the original Smoke Sessions album, puts on his producer hat for three of the four tracks on the remix EP. It’s a role he’s as comfortable playing as the one he essays behind the drumkit – he’s done production work for many of hip hop’s most creative artists, including Common, The Roots, Erykah Badu and Kanye West.

“Production and mixing [are] a significant part of Karriem’s body of work,” Payton says. “I hired him as the drummer on the session with this in mind.”

For his part, Riggins refers to Payton as, “one of those geniuses… He set the bar high and it’s always super inspirational being around him and playing music with him."

The original “Levin’s Lope” already brought inspiration full circle, taking a Ron Carter-inspired bassline from Payton’s “Cyborg Swing” and giving it to the man himself; the oft-sampled Carter now provides robust inspiration for a new Riggins beat and swirling melody. Payton’s Rhodes playing on “Gold Dust Black Magic,” which also featured guitarist Isaiah Sharkey, ripples out into a cosmic dub beat in Riggins’ hands, while guest saxophonist George Coleman’s sultry tenor sound is shrouded in stark, airy new atmospherics until a bold, funky new beat hammers into place.

The EP’s final track is another case of ricocheting inspiration. The young, uncategorizable multi-instrumentalist Tomoki Sanders, who Payton calls, “one of my favorite up and coming musician/producers,” provided a beat that helped inspire the original version of “Hangin’ In and Jivin’;” his remix amplifies and reconstructs the muscular groove at the heart of the tune.

While he insists that, “it’s never my intent to decide what anyone gets from my music,” Payton does hope that Smoke Sessions (Remixed) helps cement in listener’s minds his notion that all music co-exists in a continuum, and that genre classifications are inherently limiting. It’s an argument that on these four tracks he makes through the most enticing and infectious of means.

“I hope it highlights there’s not such a disparity between more traditional styles and current ones,” he says. “It’s all just music.”

Oan Kim Releases Debut Album 'Oan Kim & The Dirty Jazz'

Fusing together his different musical influences, Oan Kim takes us on a journey of stylistic exploration with his new album Oan Kim & The Dirty Jazz. The former Film Noir and Chinese Army members’ new direction is  jazzier and more experimental, whilst nodding to his past so far in contemporary classical music and electro rock. Oan explains ‘ It was a deliberate decision to give the jazz saxophone a front position on what would otherwise be an indie music album’.

Writing, recording and producing the record in his home studio in Paris, the multifaceted musician and filmmaker’s DIY approach allowed the tracks to evolve freely ‘without ever knowing where they would take me, operating almost in a vacuum of space and time gave me a lot of freedom’.

‘Pop music will never have that miraculous improvised flair of a good jazz solo, while jazz rarely has the enthralling efficacy of pop music. But who said music had to be as polarized as politics? So I wanted to bring together the best of both worlds.’

From the memorable motifs of ‘Agony’ to the atmospheric noisy sound beds heard in ‘Smoking Gun’, and free flowing jazz saxophone of ‘Quintet’,  Oan’s music feels assured yet honest,  imaginative, boldly creative and daring. Also contributing to the album are acclaimed French jazz musicians Edward Perraud, featuring on The Judge and Wong Kar Why, and Nicolas Folmer playing trumpet on Quintet, Symphony for The Lost At Sea, and Fuzzy Landscape.

Throughout the album, Oan takes influence from a range of artists including but not limited to Kurt Vile, Stravinsky, and James Holden, whilst taking note from classic jazz artists such as Miles Davis. On his style, Oan explains he puts himself ‘somewhere between Pharoah Sanders and Radiohead’.

Such influences can be heard throughout the album, with an array of different sounds and styles established. The latest single from the album ‘Agony’, inspired by Cold War Kids, features a catchy ostinato with the piano neatly interplaying throughout.

Further along the album tracks such as Thelonious are more atmospheric, with intricate details and noises, and an emotive ambience with delicate vocals to match. The track, titled referring to his son's second name (a homage to the great Thelonious Monk) is described by Oan as ‘like a lullaby’. 

Having also worked as a photographer and filmmaker, receiving awards such as Swiss Life 4 Hands Award, Silver Horn of the Krakow Film Festival, Emerging Documentary Filmmaker at DMZ festival and more, Oan also takes inspiration from films throughout the album. Reflecting on his writing process, he explains ‘Hitchcock used to say: once you're finished with the screenplay you can write the dialogues. I feel the same way about songwriting. Themes of each song come out of the music itself towards the end of the song writing process’.

With a visually driven imagination, film references to Wong Kar Wai, Fight Club, and Naked Lunch emerge on the album. The first two singles from the project Wong Kar Why and Mambo also followed with music videos directed and filmed by himself. The video for Wong Kar Why? A documentary short described as a chronicle of a romance, features candid shots of his wife Katherine that have been taken between 2016 to 2021 in various locations including Paris, Seoul, New York and Marseille, described by Oan as a ‘video of a portrait of the person I met and fell in love with over the years’. 

A melting pot of sounds and influences, Oan Kim & The Dirty Jazz is sure to set Oan as one of the most exciting talents to emerge on the jazz scene. 

New Music: Marius Billgobenson, Mike Allemana, High Pulp, Luke Stewart's Silt Trio

Marius Billgobenson - The Spirit Love

The title of Congolese born, Stockholm, Sweden based singer/songwriter Marius Billgobenson’s album The Spirit Love embodies his life’s work and mission as a concerned and compassionate musical citizen of the world with a commitment to bridging cultural divides. Over the course of 11 heartfelt and provocative, urban jazz meets world music tracks, the multi-talented artist – also an award-winning anthropologist with a deep passion for ethnomusicology - creates a deeply visceral and empowering autobiographical fusion of pop, soul, blues and jazz, infused with the spirited rhythms and vocal sounds indigenous to the Congo. Helping him immerse into the Smooth Jazz world are Paul Brown, who wrote and produced two tracks, and Chris “Big Dog” Davis, who helmed six others. ~ www.smoothjazz.com

Mike Allemana - Vonology

A wonderfully surprising effort from guitarist Mike Allemana – a secret hero of ours in the Chicago jazz scene for many years – as a player who first worked with tenor giant Von Freeman, and later with guitarist George Freeman – and who's gone on to be both a supporter of and champion for their rights in jazz history! Here, Mike pays tribute to his first mentor – but with a sophisticated suite of tracks that's unlike anything we might have expected – beautifully rich sounds delivered by Allemana on guitar, Victor Garcia on trumpet, Greg Ward on alto, Geof Bradfield on tenor, Tomeka Reid on cello, Kendall Moore on trombone, Matt Ferguson on bass, and Michael Raynor on drums – the last of whom also played with Von Freeman too! The vibe is very different than the small combo jazz of the south side scene where the Freemans and Allemana regularly played – more painterly in sound, with these vibrant strokes of color and tone that paint a wonderful portrait – on titles that include "The Mediator", "Welcome Enter", "Communion & Renewal", "Libra Channeling", and "The Mentor's Benediction". ~ Dusty Groove

High Pulp - Pursuit Of Ends

High Pulp have always been one of those groups that are nicely hard to define – but this time around, they seem to be coming across with a jazzier vibe than ever before – and a new sort of musical sophistication that really has their music falling into place! The Seattle combo's always had a wide ear for influences, and that's really helped them put together the pieces in their music – yet here, they also really seem to be speaking strongly in their own voice too – with a mixture of complex yet compelling rhythms, rich tonal colors, and soaring solos that fill the album with promise and life! The group themselves are already great – and they open the door to guest work from Jaleel Shaw on tenor, Jacob Mann on keyboards, and Theo Croker on trumpet – adding their own shades to the group's rich palette. Titles include "All Roads Lead To Los Angeles", "Ceremony", "A Ring On Each Finger", "Kamishinjo", "Wax Hands", "Blaming Mercury", "You've Got To Pull It Up From The Ground", and "Chemical X". ~ Dusty Groove

Luke Stewart's Silt Trio - Bottom

Bassist Luke Stewart is fast becoming one of our favorite talents on his instrument in recent years – an artist who first grabbed our ears with his work in Irreversible Entanglements, but who seems even better suited to stand out front as a leader! The performance of the trio here is wonderful – complex, but organic – very rhythmic, but also never tied to the groove – maybe a bit in the spirit of the UK group Ill Considered at times, but with a direction that's very much its own! In addition to Stewart on bass, the always-amazing Chad Taylor is on drums – really given the space here to remind us how brilliant he can be – and the group also features Brian Settles on tenor, carving out these really beautiful lines over the top. Titles include "Roots", "Angles", "Reminiscence", "Circles", and "Dream House". ~ Dusty Groove

Natsuki Tamura | "Summer Tree"

Trumpeter-composer Natsuki Tamura adds a new dimension to his unaccompanied music, several in fact, on his new multi-tracked solo album, Summer Tree. Only his fifth solo album in a career that has spanned more than five decades, Summer Tree displays all the inventiveness, lyricism, and wit as his previous solo albums, but with a few new wrinkles. For the first time, he overdubs himself, creating dense, richly textured pieces. The piano and percussion that first made an appearance on his previous solo outing, Koki (Libra Records) return to enrich his sonic palate, adding more color and texture. He also invites pianist-composer Satoko Fujii to join him for one track, not on her expected instrument, but on vocals. The music at times goes to some very dark, un-summery places but is always superbly crafted and full of surprises.

Tamura laid down a foundation track for each of the four lengthy pieces on the album, then added others on top, in a spontaneous but time-consuming process. Two of the tracks, "Summer Tree" and “Summer Dream” have composed themes played by Tamura’s muted trumpet. The other two tracks were completely improvised.

The result is unlike anything Tamura has done before. The title track and “Summer Dream” unfold slowly over low drones that resemble Tibetan horns or digeridoos, with layers of anguished howls punctuated by additional trumpet hisses and whoops. Expertly crafted and paced, they build tension that go unrelieved as Tamura’s exquisite muted trumpet melodies wend their melancholy way through the sonic turmoil. On Koki, Tamura debuted his homemade percussion setup comprised of pots and pans and wok. The metallic clang of Tamura’s kitchen-implement percussion returns on “Summer Color,” ringing like an alarm bell throughout. As the clamor relentlessly continues, faint drones hover in the background, low-register piano-note clusters explode and fade, while his trumpet snarls and grumbles. On “Summer Wind,” pianists-composer Satoko Fujii joins husband Tamura, not on piano, but on vocals. This is just the second time Fujii has recorded her unique vocalizing, which she debuted on last year’s Underground. Here she stretches out more, deploying a wide range of non-verbal vocalizations, from shrieks, trills and barking sounds to longer phrases that sound like an unknown language. Tamura, playing just piano, maintains a menacing rumble in the lower register over which enigmatic piano phrases nervously tip toe. Each piece, no matter how uncanny, invites the the listener to pay attention to all the details and nuances of the sounds. The closer one listens the more there is to hear.

Remarkably, Tamura used no post-production mixing, editing, or other manipulations to create the album’s unearthly sounds. He drew exclusively on his huge bag of extended techniques and everything you hear is as it was played.

No Tamura recording is complete without a touch of his impish humor. In this case you’ll find it in the album’s title, Summer Tree. “My name, Natsuki, is spelled by two Chinese letters, ‘Natsu’ means ‘summer’ and ‘Ki’ means ‘tree.’ I was born in summer and my parents gave me this name,” he explains.

Japanese trumpeter and composer Natsuki Tamura is internationally recognized for a unique musical vocabulary that blends jazz lyricism with extended techniques. In 1997, he and Satoko Fujii, who is also his wife, released their first duo album, How Many? (Leo Lab). They have recorded eight CDs together, including 2021’s Keshin (Libra). Tamura’s collaborations with Fujii reveal an intense musical empathy and have garnered wide popular and critical acclaim. Kurt Gottschalk writes in the New York City Jazz Record that their rapport “feels like a secret language … It’s rare to sense this level of intuition between musicians.”

2003 was a breakout year for Tamura as a bandleader, with the release of Hada Hada (Libra), featuring his free jazz-avant rock quartet with Fujii on synthesizer. In 2005, he made a 180-degree turn with the debut of his all acoustic Gato Libre quartet, focusing on the intersection of European folk music and sound abstraction. Now a trio, their most recent CD is Koneko (Libra), released in 2020. Writing in the New York City Jazz Record, Tyran Grillo said, “By turns mysterious and whimsical.”

In 1998, Tamura released the first of his unaccompanied trumpet albums, A Song for Jyaki (Leo Lab). He followed it up in 2003 with KoKoKoKe (Polystar/NatSat and in 2021, he celebrated his 70th birthday with Koki Solo (Libra), which Karl Ackermann in All About Jazz described as “quirky fun in an age of uncertainty.”

In addition to appearing in many of Fujii’s ensembles, Tamura also has worked with collaborative groups. Most recently, he joined Fujii and master French composer-improvisers, trumpeter Christian Pruvost and drummer Peter Orins, to form the collective quartet Kaze. With five CDs to their credit since 2011, Kaze “redefines listening to music, redefines genres, redefines playing music,” according to Stef Gjissels of Free Jazz Blog.

Tamura’s category-defying abilities make him “unquestionably one of the most adventurous trumpet players on the scene today,” said Marc Chenard in Coda.

John Scofield Releases His First-Ever Solo Guitar Recording

With a career spanning over half a century, marked by influential collaborations with jazz greats like Miles Davis and Joe Henderson as well as several dozen genre-bending leader dates, it’s all the more striking that this is in fact John Scofield’s first ever guitar-solo recording. The long wait, however, pays off, as John is able to benefit from his decades of experience and charts an intimate path through the styles and idioms he has traversed up until today. He is not entirely all on his own on this endeavour though: the guitarist enters into dialogues with himself, soloing to his own tasteful chordal and rhythmic accompaniment via loop machine. 

“I think that there’s a delicateness that I have acquired from playing at home alone," Scofield has recently said in conversation with The Boston Herald. “I am so used to playing with a slamming band […] and there’s a certain musicality to that. That went away and was replaced by this more delicate approach of pinpointing the beauty of the strings. When I play solo, I make these little guitar loops on the fly, […] and it’s almost like I’m playing with another person.” 

Not uncommon for self-titled recordings, a deeper meaning can be read into choosing the album name John Scofield, as John digs deep into the past, all the way back to his roots and the heroes of his youth. The result is a balanced and thorough picture of the musician, tying together the music that shaped him and that he has subsequently continued to influence and forge himself.  

“When I was a kid the guitar was the instrument of rock and roll and popular music, that’s what I was interested in," Scofield explains. In that spirit, he effortlessly pulls Buddy Holly’s “Not Fade Away” from a hat, giving an edgy and laid-back rendition of the hit Holly wrote six years after Scofield was born. John reaches even further back with Hank Williams’ “You Win Again," released when Scofield was just a year old, in 1952. 

John’s main emphasis throughout the years, however, has remained his deep commitment to the jazz tradition, and here he grabs a number of standards off the rack and gives them unique interpretations. His comments on each song are included in the liner notes accompanying this release, where he reveals his fondness for Kenny Dorham’s take on “It Could Happen to You." John’s own version is a swinging affair with a deft key-change halfway through. He also reminisces about his first recording date, backing up Gerry Mulligan and Chet Baker on “There Will Never Be Another You” and his pass at the song proves a nimble and compact adventure. An especially minimalist take on the Arthur Johnston and Sam Coslow-penned “My Old Flame” follows – John turns off the loop machine for this one. 

The guitarist has filled a fair share of albums with his own writing – its tuneful qualities and inviting singability having the same timeless character as jazz standards. “I never think about ideas when I write music," John reflects. "Instrumental music exists in a different part of your brain, it’s not about an idea that can be described with language or visually. Music exists in its own place." 

His compositions are among the highlights of this set: Scofield renders “Honest I Do," which he originally wrote and recorded in 1991, into a soulful ballad, explored with experimental guitar tones. “Mrs. Scofield’s Waltz” is dedicated to his wife, who in turn gave “Since You Asked," a song John initially recorded with Joe Lovano in 1990, its name. “More of a feeling than an actual composition” – in the words the guitarist – “Trance Du Hour” is his “version of '60s jazz à la Coltrane." It maintains the same high level of energy as his blues “Elder Dance” does. 

Along with traditionals “Danny Boy” and “Junco Partner," John delivers a haunting and somewhat oblique interpretation of Keith Jarrett’s “Coral” – Scofield’s version doesn’t introduce the song’s main theme until the very end. They complete this graceful solo venture, recorded in Katonah, New York in August 2021. 

John Scofield’s ECM appearances to date include two albums with Marc Johnson’s Bass Desires group – Bass Desires (recorded 1985) and Second Sight (1987) – in which the guitarist shared frontline duties with Bill Frisell. On Shades of Jade (2004), a third Marc Johnson album, Scofield is heard alongside frequent colleague Joe Lovano. The live double album Saudades (recorded in 2004), meanwhile, features Scofield as a member of Trio Beyond, alongside Jack DeJohnette and Larry Goldings, reassessing the songbook of Tony Williams’ Lifetime. After 2020’s Swallow Tales, John Scofield is the guitarist’s second ECM recording as a leader.

New Music: Atlantic Groove Society, Mike Miller, TriTone Asylum, Aksak Maboul

Atlantic Groove Society - Past & Present

A global music mixture of Funky Smooth Jazz and Chillout Lounge music, best compared to a music mixture of Chris Botti, Miles Davis and Rick Braun. Atlantic Groove Society is a forefronted initiative and project by L.A. trumpeter Alexander Hartgers and Dutch keyboardist Raymond Kaitjily who have been musician colleagues and friends for more than 20+ years. Both tapping into their musician & friend connections by bringing the Atlantic Groove Society come alive by combining their strength of musicianship through Alex's & Ray's soulful compositions. The band/project name "Atlantic Groove Society" is based on the Atlantic (ocean) which divides the continents between Alex (USA) & Ray (Netherlands) and the compositions are based on Groove combined with the use of their musician & friend connections which stands for Society. Their first album (released in February 2022) is called "Past & Present" which reflects the time spent in the past together and currently, in the present. Besides that there are compositions which were made & recorded in the years before their debut release of 2022 and more recent years (2020/2021) towards the existence of the current project. Currently Alex & Ray are already writing a second exciting album with their Atlantic Groove Society studio band project.

Mike Miller - Trust

Rock and Jazz Guitarist Mike Miller releases a beautiful ten song album titled Trust. Mike is best know for his work with Chick Corea, Boz Scaggs, Bette Midler, Yellowjackets, Quincy Jones and so many more. Mike brings all of his years of experience into this incredible body of work. “Trust” features guest appearances from Jimmy Haslip, Jimmy Johnson, Jimmy Earl, Scott Kinsey, Brandon Fields, Gary Novak, Marilyn Scott, Jeff Babko, Chad Wackerman, Airto Moreira and so many more talented artists.“Trust” is a must have for fans of Mike Miller which features rich original compositions, stellar improvisations and prowess interplay and technique. This is a gorgeous, inspiring album and a must have for music fans everywhere.

TriTone Asylum - The Hideaway Sessions

TriTone Asylum is based in Southern California. Spear-headed by Peter Sepsis (bass) and Philip Topping. Through their unique instrumentation, they have masterfully developed an electro acoustic sound that melds Jazz, funk, and music from around the world. TriTone Asylum’s music reflects the varied musical landscape of the sounds and street rhythms of Los Angeles. Their original songs are influenced by a variety of artists including Freddie Hubbard, Herbie Hancock, Weather Report, Pat Metheny, as well as artists from the ECM Label.

Aksak Maboul - Redrawn Figures 2

If the "figures" in the title here sounds a bit familiar, it's because Figures was a great return to form for the legendary Aksak Maboul – a record that showed that their unusual mix of sounds and styles was alive and well into the 21st Century – used here as a platform for new creation by a hosts of artists and producers invited to the project by the group! These tracks aren't remixes, and are definitely "redrawn" in the spirit of the title – fresh music that moves between a variety of modes, but which often still retains the leaner feel of the group in their current incarnation. Titles on this second volume include "Un Caid (Hello Skinny rmx)", "Retour Chez A (Felix Kubin rmx)", "Fin (Stubbleman rmx)", "Anatomy Of A Dramuscule (Matias Aguayo interpretation)", "L'Adieu A L'Histoire (Tolouse Low Trax rmx)", and "Dramuscule (Ohh Luuu rmx)". ~ Dusty Groove

Ches Smith, Bill Frisell, Mat Maneri, Craig Taborn – Interpret It Well

“Interpret it well,” reads the script text in Raymond Pettibon’s mysteriously evocative drawing. A few thick black ink strokes describe an enigmatic landscape – the telephone poles, the railroad track and the building in the distance seem obvious enough as markers of desolation, but the swirl of lines on the horizon are more ambiguous. The steam from an approaching train? An oncoming tornado? Hope or dread, connection or destruction, all depend on interpretation.

It’s a fitting choice of cover art for drummer/vibraphonist/composer Ches Smith, whose entrancing new album Interpret It Well borrows Pettibon’s three-word prompt as both title and instruction, for bandmates and listeners alike. The album, due out May 6, 2022 from Pyroclastic Records, is his second with keyboardist Craig Taborn and violist Mat Maneri, the much-anticipated follow-up to the trio’s acclaimed 2016 ECM release The Bell. This time out the band becomes a quartet with the addition of master guitarist Bill Frisell, whose contributions bring additional depth, space and texture to a group already rich in all three qualities.

 It was that sense of openness and exploration, in fact, which intrigued Frisell in the first place. The guitarist attended a Ches Smith Trio concert in late 2018, following which he contacted the drummer with questions about the compositions. “Bill was very nice about the gig – effusive, actually,” Smith recalls. “He told me that he felt the tunes were accessible but challenging at the same time. There's something about the way Craig and Mat and I play together, where we extrapolate to the max but the music feels like the pieces. So I thought Bill might be interested in playing them with us.”

 It took more than a year for schedules to align, but Frisell was finally able to join the trio for a performance in early 2020. The combination gelled immediately – “Bill felt like a natural part of the band,” Smith writes in his liner notes – but the demands on everyone’s time meant that a recording with all four would prove next to impossible to book.

Everyone knows what comes next – the pandemic happened, and suddenly time was all anyone had. Smith reworked his compositions with the newly forged quartet in mind, and the band went into the studio that October when life began to resume some semblance of normalcy (for the first time, at least).

The results are absolutely striking. As he did for the trio incarnation on The Bell, Smith writes compositions that are minimal but indelible; skeletal enough to allow these remarkable improvisers space to roam far afield yet so vivid that the core image is never lost amidst the daring embellishments.

Which brings us back to the Pettibon drawing – what Smith’s music shares with the artist’s work is that idea of a distinctive landscape evoked with a few sketchy lines, with vast stretches of the mysterious left in the spaces between. “There are definitely maximal moments on this record,” Smith says. “But when I think of the music in my head, it's fairly minimal. I like a lot of music where nothing seems to be happening.”

That may be true of the music on Interpret It Well in broad terms, but listen closely and a great deal is happening just beneath the misleadingly placid surface. The album is bookended by “Trapped” and “Deppart” (“Trapped” spelled backwards), two alternate versions of the same brief piece, a haunting, repetitive melody that slowly accrues power one voice at a time. “That’s one of the most minimal things I've ever written,” Smith says. “It's simultaneously a bar, a melody and a chord, and people can approach it however they want.”

The title track begins with Smith’s tentative, querying vibraphone, with the other voices gradually gathering around him like a deepening fog. The picture eventually comes into focus only to give way to Taborn’s stuttering, agitated solo, which ushers in the urgent, ferocious final section. The piece has been inspiring to artists outside of the band as well – artist/filmmaker Frank Heath, whose works have been described as “poetic interventions into systems of communication, information and understanding,” has created a new film to accompany “Interpret It Well.” The piece will be available May 6 via the Ches Smith and Pyroclastic websites.

 Frisell contributes a high lonesome intro to “Mixed Metaphor,” soon matched by Maneri’s forlorn bowing. Smith (on vibes) and Taborn then take over for a labyrinthine duet, ultimately leading into a spiraling vamp. The sparse “Morbid” is a ballad of sorts, an elegy unfurling at an achingly slow pace, luxuriating in the evanescent sound while all four take care not to shatter the exquisitely delicate atmosphere. “Clear Major” takes on a more forceful tone, beginning with Taborn’s insistent patterns. The piece is a three-part suite, the volleying first section followed by the lurching rhythms of the middle and the intricately woven lines of the final – each movement separated by clamorous improvisations that deconstruct the composition in order to rebuild again. The complex “I Need More” proceeds at a brisk pace rife with tension, finally exploding into Frisell’s razor-sharp, searing solo.

 Interpretation is central to Ches Smith’s compositional approach, and here it yields absolutely breathtaking results. “Bill, Mat and Craig can all turn the ensemble in a new direction on a dime by playing one phrase,” Smith says. “What I love about this band is the way that over time, they'll all change their parts – Craig adding harmony or Mat embellishing the written material to keep it fresh. I’ve played with the two of them a lot over the years, but the music turns out different every time. And I know Bill’s playing very well, but he constantly surprised me. Interpret It Well is really my way of encouraging them – it could be the unspoken credo of the band.” 

Ches Smith: The 2021 release by his Vodou-inspired project We All Break, Path of Seven Colors, was named best jazz album of the year by The Guardian and was ranked #7 among all the year’s releases in the international 2021 Jazz Critics Poll. Originally from Sacramento, California, Ches Smith is a drummer, percussionist, and composer based in New York. He has collaborated with a host of artists on many scenes since the early 2000s, including Marc Ribot, Tim Berne, John Zorn, Darius Jones, David Torn, John Tchicai, Nels Cline, Mary Halvorson, Trevor Dunn, Terry Riley, Kris Davis, Dave Holland, Secret Chiefs 3, Xiu Xiu, Good for Cows, Theory of Ruin, and Mr. Bungle, among others. He has nine records to his name as a bandleader that feature his writing and ensemble curation, and is a devout student of Haitian Vodou drums, performing in religious and folkloric contexts in New York and Haiti for the last decade.