Rokia Koné - Jacknife Lee : BAMANAN

It’s a voice that soars – pure, clear and true — above bass and synths, traditional percussion and infectious Mande guitar grooves. A stop-you-in-your-tracks voice instantly familiar to anyone in Mali, West Africa: Rokia Koné, aka the Rose of Bamako.

One of Mali’s most beloved and dynamic artists, Koné is a force to be reckoned with. Her captivating performances in the city’s local maquis clubs very often last for hours, as Koné runs the gamut of emotion from joy to despair, fury to tenderness, wielding that astounding voice with grace and power. For her debut album, Koné might have been content with showing off that soulful instrument on a traditional repertoire of songs.

Instead she’s teamed with Irish-born, California-based rock producer Jacknife Lee — and reimagined the Malian sound in ways leftfield and ground breaking.

Welcome, then, BAMANAN, a collaboration that connects the great ancient kingdoms of Mali and the bustling modern street life of its capital, Bamako to a remote recording studio nestled within California’s Topanga Canyon. That bridges deep tradition and forward-facing innovation.

Jacknife Lee is the acclaimed producer of bands including U2, R.E.M and The Killers, and has earned Grammy recognition for his work on Taylor Swift’s multi-million selling Red. Stadium-sized soundscapes are his speciality. Yet BAMANAN finds Lee upholding the stark beauty of Rokia’s voice with subtlety and sensitivity. Every nuance and breath is heard, each inflection and melismatic improvisation carefully preserved.

Koné’s musical journey began as a young child in the courtyard of her home in Dioro near Ségou, the cradle of the great Bamana Empire.

“I would mostly sing my grandmother’s songs,” she says. “My uncles and aunts on both sides of my family were also singers. I was always surrounded by music.”

The young Rokia headed to Bamako, becoming a backing singer for Alia Coulibaly, one of Mali’s biggest stars, then quickly earned top billing as a solo artist in her own right. In 2016 she caught the attention of Valérie Malot, founder of renowned French booking agency 3D Family, who invited her to join feminist supergroup (and later, Real World Records signings) Les Amazones d’Afrique and make her debut on an international stage. They collaborated on several songs for the band’s first album, sparking a close creative relationship.

“Rokia’s music is based in improvisation,” says Malot. “It’s very instinctive and passionate. She gives everything when she sings. But in order to do this, she has to make herself vulnerable, and that demands trust. Eventually, we found a great way of working together, and she wanted me to help her make a record of her own that could appeal to audiences beyond Mali.”

BAMANAN, long gestating, was born out of unexpected circumstances and seized opportunities: a recording studio becoming vacant in Bamako. A free stop-over day in Paris while on tour with Les Amazones d’Afrique. A jam during a band rehearsal in Mallorca. A pandemic.

“We knew early on that magic had been captured,” Malot recalls, “But then I was busy working on Les Amazones d’Afrique’s second album and tour and Rokia had her own commitments in Mali. Life got in the way, progress halted.”

Then came 2020’s enforced period of isolation and reflection. Locked down in her apartment in Portugal, Malot uncovered a hard drive marked ‘ROKIA’. Finally, the time is right.

Some 4000 miles west, amid the trees of Topanga Canyon, north of Santa Monica, Jacknife Lee had an empty diary and an urge to create. Having recently completed a role as a judge on a remix contest sponsored by Real World Records and audio hardware company Universal Audio, he found himself mesmerised by Les Amazones d’Afrique — more specifically, by a Mande guitar part amidst the remix pack for their song ‘Love’.

“I really wanted to find out more about the guitarist so Real World put me in touch with Valérie,” says Lee. “She told me his name was Salif, and that he played lead for a Malian singer called Rokia Koné. Then she told me they had started an album but needed help to finish it.”

Lee freely admits he was floored by Konés voice on ‘Anw Tile’, the first track he heard, after which he began picking apart the sessions he was sent. Isolating a drum part, looping a guitar, laying down some synth pads: “I’m thinking, damn, I have no idea how to approach this, but I kind of know where I’m going. I love that naiveté. It really allows me to create something good.”

Working on Koné’s music dovetailed with a change in attitude for Lee. A few years previously he’d taught music to teenagers whose enthusiasm around the machinations of Nineties hip-hop got him thinking about his own youth — when he was excited by the mystery of music making.

“I realised I had been lost for years,” he says. “I had been making bad decisions about the work I was doing. My motivation had been wrong. So I fell in love with music all over again, started frequenting record stores, seeking out new sounds.

“I wanted to switch from being the person who had the most amount of knowledge in the room to the one saying ‘I don’t have a clue what I’m doing but let’s just see what happens.’”

The opportunity to work on Rokia’s album met all of the criteria. “It actually felt like the thing I had always wished to do,” he says.

No matter that pandemic-related travel restrictions ruled out direct contact: “This process afforded Rokia and her musicians the freedom to create without being bothered by my presence, and I was allowed space to experiment. My biggest breakthroughs happen when the musicians aren’t there,” he says. “It’s how I prefer to work these days.”

At its heart, BAMANAN is a tribute to the Bambara of southern Mali, to their language, culture and the practices. Koné takes inspiration from the tradition of the hereditary griots, the praise singers vital to the fabric of Malian society. “It is the role of the griot to perpetuate the tradition,” says Koné. “To remind us of our origins, our culture.”

Rokia invokes her ancestors on a nostalgic, hugely dramatic trilogy of songs — ‘Anw Tile’, ‘Bambougou N’tji’ and ‘Soyi N’galanba’ – that praise the great kings of Segou’s past. In ‘Mansa Soyari’, a song she composed for Les Amazones d’Afrique, Koné opts to replace the male heroes of Mali’s history with female heroines including singers Ramata Diakité and Fanta Damba — singers who

through their music were a source of inspiration and guidance to the women and children of their society, including Rokia herself.

“The advice I give to women and children in my songs is that there is always hope,” she says. “Nothing is impossible. I tell them not to feel rejected or forgotten by society.”

This message is clear on ‘Mayougouba’, a song that summons women and girls to the dancefloor:

“Move, dance,” she sings. “You’re perfect as you are.”

On ‘Shezita’, ‘Kurunba’ and ‘Dunden’, Rokia warns of enemies close to home (think disrespectful husbands, jealous co-wives, gossipers and haters), preaching resilience in the face of adversity. Elsewhere, she holds the classic griot role as a bearer of advice and wisdom on the song ‘Bi Ye Tulonba Ye’. “The situation in Mali is very difficult right now. But other countries have their conflict too. The message of this song calls for us to end to all wars and disputes and come together for a great party.”

The album’s most reflective moment comes on the beautiful ‘N’yanyan’, which finds Koné accompanied solely by electric piano. The vocals were recorded in Bamako on 18th August 2020, the night of a coup d’état that marked another period of instability for Mali, a country troubled by severe political upheaval for almost a decade. Koné delivered a profound vocal performance in a single take, just before the power was shut down and a curfew imposed on the city.

“I sing ’N’yanyan’ for all human beings, to tell them that we are in the middle ground and all this will end one day. This difficulty is only a moment in time, and all things will pass.”

In Jacknife Lee, Rokia Koné found a musical soulmate, a collaborator who helped unlock her songs with exquisite, timeless arrangements.

“I love the new palette of colours,” says Koné, the next great voice of West Africa. “We’ve made something fresh. Something that stands out.”

Compro Oro | "Buy The Dip"

Ghent based psychedelic collective Compro Oro are set to release new album ‘Buy The Dip’ on the 2nd September via the groove-obsessed Sdban Ultra label. Having received critical acclaim for their 2020 album ‘Simurg’ – a collaboration with Murat Ertel, co-founder and frontman of Istanbul's cult psychedelic folk band BaBa ZuLa and his singer partner Esma Ertel – the band’s fifth album is less ethno- and more techno-logy, both on a musical and conceptual level.

With tastemaker fans including BBC 6 Music’s Gilles Peterson and Stuart Maconie alongside Jazz FM’s Jez Nelson, the band’s spontaneous quest for psychedelic sounds and jazz grooves has not stopped expanding since their formation in 2014.

After imaginative musical trips to Havana, Mogadishu and Istanbul for previous releases, Compro Oro went looking for sounds and inspirations from other corners of the globe for ‘Buy The Dip’. Synthesizers and electronic effects spice up Compro Oro’s distinctive musical marriage of vibraphones, electric guitars, jazzfunk rhythms, exotic percussions and dubby bass patterns. Band leader and composer Wim Segers created these new compositions often on piano or vibes in a more analogue way, leaving enough room for his band mates to colour each track when fine tuning the song.

Ahead of the album release, Compro Oro are pleased to share the video for a live studio recording on new single ‘The Lower 9th’, taking you into a deeply meditative state! 

Compro Oro released their first album ‘Transatlantic’ in 2015, an ode to jazz vibraphonist Cal Tjader, an icon of the 1950’s Latin jazz movement. The release received critical acclaim back home, lauded in the press as a drunken mix of Buena Vista Social Club and guitarist Marc Ribot’s, Cubanos Postizos. Subsequent live shows have been called a celebration for the hips, the ear and the soul. 2017 saw the release of ‘Bombarda’, a bold EP that sailed South and East of Cuba, incorporating different ethnic rhythms and melodies in elaborate jams. No palm trees and cocktails in Havana this time, but instead dingy basements and LSD in West African cities. The critically acclaimed ‘Suburban Exotica’ followed in 2019 with ‘Simurg’, released in 2020, earning the band global success.

 

ATA Early Works Vol. 2 : Music From The Archives

2020 was a difficult time for everybody. For those lucky enough not to be touched by tragedy during the pandemic, the lockdown certainly created a space and time to crack open a book or gorge yourself with music. 

Some decided to complicate their lives further with gargantuan tasks, tasks so big they only really existed in concept: that was the case of Neil Innes of ATA. He decided to kill the studio he had spent 14-years building, immerge in a fresh start and renovate it. 

Once the studio began to take shape again and Neil was finally able to take a breath he began rooting through the label’s archives, pulling out early recordings from the old studio. 

In the opening track “Bus Stop Boogie”, The Harmony Society hits with a powerful flute hook-up mantra, advocating the importance of public transport for punctual sexual liaisons. Then comes a precious opportunity to finally own “Bang Bang Boogaloo” by the Joe Tatton Trio on vinyl, a stone-cold latin mover that only came out on 7” and now changes hands for serious money. 

Studio favorites Ivan Von Engleberger’s Asteroid follow with “Lunartics”, a moody and breathy psychedelic warning to be aware of the moon, but the chills will go away soon with “Secret Universe” by Earl Dawkins & The Lewis Express, a slamming up-tempo guitar driven jazz track, rich in 70’s grooves and built to get hips twitching.

The Magnificent Tape Band make their first appearance in the compilation with their cinematic instrumental “Heading Towards Catastrophe” and will have you ascend to utter contemplation with the pastoral and choral “When I Saw Your Face”.

The Disarrays are present in two tracks: the wonderful and catchy funk earworm “Help Me” and “Anaesthetise Me”, a mid-tempo vibe in the vein of Betty Davis, both served hot by Fuzzy Jones’ powerful voice, of which there’s also a radio edit rounding off the compilation.

“The Hardest Day” by Mandatory Eight got a real sting in its tail. Starting off as a nice bright, breezy chugger, it descends into dark driving funk, insistent and edgy.

Going back to chilling and disturbing feelings we have The Sorcerers but…surprise! Despite their name the mood is completely different, Arabic-inspired “In Pursuit Of Shai Hulud” is a direct flight to Maghreb.

With ATA’s Early Works Vol.2 we have the confirmation that even old music can be perfect to celebrate a new dawn.

Glenn Dickson | "Wider Than The Sky"

Clarinetist Glenn Dickson, who has made waves with his bands Naftule's Dream and Shirim on John Zorn's Tzadik label, releases his first solo album Wider Than the Sky (NDR 104) on July 8, 2022. A lush and otherworldly album of solo clarinet with electronics, the music breaks new ground for Dickson, who is best known for his edgy klezmer-tinged improvisations and compositions as well as his traditional klezmer playing. Wider Than the Sky transfers those influences into calm, deep musical waters, where he weaves moody and hypnotic soundscapes blending the warm sounds of the clarinet with live digital processing.

Dickson started creating solo clarinet with electronics in the early 2000's, performing sporadically through the years when his schedule allowed, then rebooting his focus on the project in 2019.  The process grew more fruitful and essential during the pandemic when Dickson sustained his musical life by live streaming weekly “Dreams & Meditations” performances from his home for the better part of a year, culminating in the recording of this album.

Drawing on the work of guitarist Robert Fripp and flutist Paul Horn which he enjoyed as a teenager, as well as the improvisations of Greek and klezmer clarinetists, Dickson intertwines gentle whispers into orchestral layers of clarinet with long streams of melody, poignant monologues, and elegant counterpoints.  The clarinet’s silky tone, unusually wide pitch range, and expansive sonic palette infuse the music with resounding emotional resonance and the fascination of a journey into unknown territory.

In order to capture the process and energy of Dickson’s live performances, the album is culled from two studio sessions with all sounds created and manipulated in real time, no overdubbing or added sounds, using only the clarinet and a delay device.  While using technology built on repetition and stasis, Dickson keeps the pieces constantly changing and evolving, fading out one idea while introducing another, simultaneously overlaying solos which develop and intensify, then retreat and recede with motivic integrity and compositional logic.

On "Introit," Glenn's klezmer and Greek music experience shine through on an emotional soliloquy over a microtonal drone, calling to mind a Jewish doina or Greek miroloi. The track unfolds like a purging of the spirits from which the rest of the album flows.  "Closer to the Fire" finds warmth in an ever-evolving sonic foundation smoldering like a bed of coals beneath a long and gracious melodic development.  "Gentle Touch" follows with serene counterpoints underlying a seemingly endless melody.

"Memories Lost" takes the music into territory more searching and mysterious as Eastern influences reemerge in alluring modal explorations.  After a short "doina," the music gradually picks up with an undulating rhythmic underpinning and gives in to nostalgic probing of a forgotten past.  Remarkable for its persistent development of the theme in the solo, accompaniment, and coda, the piece conjures images of floating off in space to the sound of a celestial orchestra.

With its layered tremolos and glisses "Pursuing Winds" elicits a spooky urgency topped off by a lonely melodic cry.  Dickson displays symphonic precision as he brings in contrasting ideas which fit together yet remained distinct in the raging storm.

"Brave Shines the Sun" interlaces glistening bubbles of accompaniment with a placid melody culminating in a coda that develops into one of the album's best solo excursions. 

The album concludes with the restful title track, "Wider Than The Sky," uniting serene hymn-like textures, folksy melodies, and the ethereal yearning that serves as an underpinning for the whole album.

As bandleader and clarinetist with Naftule's Dream and Shirim, Glenn Dickson has recorded albums for Tzadik, Innova, Rykodisc and Newport Classics, played major jazz festivals in North America & Europe (Montreal, Berlin, New York, etc.), with the Philly Pops, and on Woody Allen and Sidney Lumet movie soundtracks.  He has created award-winning collaborations with Maurice Sendak ("Pincus & the Pig") and NPR's Ellen Kushner ("The Golden Dreydl").  As a composer he has received a Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Grant and has had his works performed and recorded by artists in Europe and the USA, as well as used by Woody Allen.  He studied harmony, counterpoint, microtones and all things musical with the legendary composer, educator, improvisor and reedman Joe Maneri, and performed with him and violinist/violist Mat Maneri in his microtonal jazz septet.  Dickson has toured and recorded with the eclectic rock band Hypnotic Clambake and the Greek bands Revma and Taximi.  He has performed his solo clarinet with electronics in the Boston area, as well as for the American Festival of Microtonal Music in New York.

Wider Than the Sky is available July 8, on Bandcamp and major streaming services.

Antonio Sanchez | "SHIFT (Bad Hombre Vol. II)"

SHIFT (Bad Hombre Vol. II) is the sequel to Antonio Sánchez’s 2017 Grammy-nominated Bad Hombre. On his premiere release for Warner Music, Sánchez approached a who’s-who of collaborators — some of his favorite singers and songwriters — for material he could deconstruct and reimagine. He then called upon his “Bad Hombre” alter-ego, where he plays virtually all the instruments while adding his compositional, production and percussion talents to “shift” the song to new realms while still leaving its essence intact.  

The result is a beautiful circle that sees Dave Matthews & Pat Metheny, Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross, Meshell Ndegeocello, Lila Downs, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Kimbra, Ana Tijoux, Becca Stevens, Silvana Estrada, MARO, Thana Alexa & SONICA sitting in on their own tunes — or ideas cowritten by Sánchez — as a familiar yet original space regifted to the composers for joint musical exploration.

As a result of the pandemic, the artists had extra time on their hands and remote collaborations were easier to facilitate. It also afforded Sánchez more time to explore ideas, which resulted in Modern Drummer’s three-time Jazz Drummer of the Year expanding his role as a producer and performer. Though Sánchez believes he’s not a guitar, bass, mandolin or oud player — his Bad Hombre alter-ego played all those instruments and more.

In the premiere Bad Hombre release, Sánchez was extremely political. Over the years, his outrage and fury with Trump and the turmoil at the US–Mexican border muted – and Sánchez himself “shifted” to breaking through creative walls to conquer new sonic territory. Says Sánchez, “My anger transformed. And the fact this material did not originate with me changed the equation. It helped me to bring a fresh perspective and a sense of wonder to ‘What else can this be?’”

The Bad Hombre’s sophomore effort is an enthralling, eclectic journey uniting a dozen voices and perspectives from around the world — and one that took years to see the light of day: “I keep joking about the fact that I’ve been pregnant for a couple of years…and now there is a really epic baby.”

Born in Mexico City, Antonio Sánchez began playing the drums at age five and performed professionally in Mexico’s rock, jazz and Latin scenes in his early teens while also being a gymnast on Mexico’s Junior National Team.

He pursued a degree in classical piano at Mexico’s National Conservatory then travelled to Boston in 1993 to further his studies at Berklee College of Music (where he graduated magna cum laude); as a scholarship student he obtained his masters in jazz improvisation at the New England Conservatory of Music.

Since moving to New York City in 1999, Antonio has become one of the most sought-after drummers on the international jazz scene. As a sideman, his extensive, varied discography includes 9 albums in 18 years as one of Pat Metheny’s most cherished collaborators, as well as on projects with artists such as Gary Burton, Chick Corea, Michael Brecker and Charlie Haden.

Sánchez’s soundtrack for Alejandro González Iñárritu’s award-winning film Birdman (2014) was a milestone achievement, earning Antonio worldwide recognition and one of his four Grammys.

Charles Lloyd "Trio Of Trios" | 3 Album Series

Blue Note Records has announced Trio of Trios, an expansive new project by the legendary saxophonist and NEA Jazz Master Charles Lloyd. As a sound seeker, Lloyd’s restless creativity has perhaps found no greater manifestation than on his latest masterwork which encompasses three albums each presenting him in a different trio setting. The first album in the series, Trios: Chapel, will be released June 24 and features guitarist Bill Frisell and bassist Thomas Morgan. The second, Trios: Ocean, arrives August 26 featuring pianist Gerald Clayton and guitarist Anthony Wilson. The third, Trios: Sacred Thread, comes out October 28 and features guitarist Julian Lage and percussionist Zakir Hussain. Listen to the single “Blood Count,” a heartfelt rendition of Billy Strayhorn’s composition performed by the Chapel Trio which is available to stream or download now.

The three albums will be released individually on vinyl and CD and can also be pre-ordered as a 3-LP vinyl boxset exclusively on the Blue Note Store. The Trio of Trios vinyl boxset comes in a hardcover slipcase with four lithographic prints featuring the striking cover art by Dorothy Darr. Fans who pre-order will receive the slipcase, lithographs, and Trios: Chapel vinyl on June 24 with the subsequent albums delivered upon their release.

Lloyd has long been a free spirit, master musician, and visionary. For more than 6 decades the legendary saxophonist and composer has loomed large over the music world, and at 84 years old he remains at the height of his powers and as prolific as ever. Early on Lloyd saw how placing the improvised solo in interesting and original contexts could provoke greater freedom of expression and inspire creativity, and throughout his remarkable career he has searched for alternative ways to frame his improvisational skills.

It should come as no surprise that each of the configurations that feature in the Trio of Trios set involve a deft change of musical context. The Chapel Trio was named after the group’s inaugural performance in December 2018 at Coates Chapel in San Antonio. Frisell had already cemented his relationship with Lloyd as a charter member of The Marvels when he was invited by Lloyd to join him in a special concert at Coates Chapel on the Southwest School of Arts campus in San Antonio. Lloyd was already familiar with the acoustic properties of the chapel and knew it would not support drums or percussion. He was also aware that Frisell had recorded in a duo context with Morgan, with whom he had developed a close musical rapport, and suggested they might all come together as a trio. The Coates concert left an indelible impression on Lloyd, who later said, “Our first performance has always had a magical place in my memory bank.”

CHARLES LLOYD – 2022 TOUR DATES:

June 4 – Tulsa’s Wine, Jazz & World Fete – Tulsa, OK

June 25 – TD Ottawa Jazz Festival – Ottawa, ONT

June 26 – Blue Note Jazz Festival, SONY Hall – New York, NY

July 2 – Love Supreme Festival – East Sussex, UK

July 5 – Wytwornia – Lodz, Poland

July 7 – Garana Jazz Festival – Garana, Romania

July 9 – Ghent Jazz Festival – Gent, Belgium

July 10 – North Sea Jazz Festival – Rotterdam, Netherlands

July 12 – Jazz à Juan – Juan-les-Pins, France

July 14 – Umbria Jazz Festival – Perugia, Italy

July 16 – Pori Jazz Festival – Pori, Finland

July 19 – Molde Jazz Festival – Molde, Norway

July 21 – Fasching In Bloom – Stockholm, Sweden

July 23 – Armonie d’Arte Festival – Borgia, Italy

Sept. 29 – SFJAZZ – San Francisco, CA

Sept. 30 – SFJAZZ – San Francisco, CA

Oct. 1 – SFJAZZ – San Francisco, CA

Oct. 2 – SFJAZZ – San Francisco, CA

Nov. 4 – GPAC – Memphis, TN

Nov. 6 – Earshot Jazz – Seattle, WA

Nov. 8 – Boulder Theater – Boulder, CO

Nov. 12 – Lensic Theater – Santa Fe, NM

40th Anniversary Reissue of Azymuth’s Funky, Samba-Instilled Fusion 'Telecommunication'

Craft Recordings and Jazz Dispensary proudly announce a 40th anniversary pressing of Azymuth’s Telecommunication. Being released on vinyl for the first time since its original release in 1982, this funky, samba-instilled fusion record from the influential Brazilian trio was handpicked by the Jazz Dispensary sound sommeliers, who unearth deep catalog gems that inspire elevated conversation. Set for release on July 15th as part of Jazz Dispensary’s Top Shelf series and available for pre-order beginning today, Telecommunication can be found exclusively on Jazz Dispensary’s webstore. The album has been remastered from the original analog tapes by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio and pressed on 180-gram black vinyl at RTI. Exclusive merchandise bundles featuring a brand-new Jazz Dispensary T-shirt are also available on the Jazz Dispensary and Craft Recordings stores.

Azymuth was formed in Rio De Janeiro by three veteran musicians from the local scene: keyboardist José Roberto Bertrami, guitarist and bassist Alex Malheiros, and drummer Ivan Conti. The three artists first began working together in the late ’60s, recording and performing under several names, including Group Projeto 3 and later, Grupo Seleção. In 1973, the band gelled as Azymuth, borrowing the name from a song by their friend and collaborator, legendary singer, songwriter, and producer Marcos Valle. The trio released their self-titled debut in 1975 and soon gained traction for their enticing blend of jazz, electronic, disco, and funk, with modern and traditional Brazilian music, including samba and MPB (Música popular brasileira).

In 1979, the band signed to the celebrated jazz imprint, Milestone Records (home to recordings by Sonny Rollins, Joe Henderson, and McCoy Tyner), under which they would release a prolific string of titles, beginning with Light as a Feather. The album featured their breakthrough hit, “Jazz Carnival”—a high-energy track that landed in the UK Top 20 and played on dancefloors across the globe. By 1982, when they released Telecommunication, Azymuth had gained a strong international following—appealing to both jazz fans and club DJs alike.

Their eighth studio album offers something for audiences on both sides of the spectrum, with a variety of laid-back, funk-filled, grooves. Telecommunication also includes a guest appearance by the acclaimed Brazilian guitarist Hélio Delmiro, who lends his talents to several tracks on the record. Among the highlights are the dreamy, Bossa Nova-influenced “Country Road (Chao De Terra),” the synth-driven “May I Have This Dance? (Concede-Me Esta Danca?)” and the dynamic “Nothing Will Be As It Was (Nada Sera Como Antes).” The group also performs an epic jam with “Last Summer in Rio,” which clocks in at nearly 11 minutes long, while “What Price Samba (Quanto Vale Um Samba)” and “The House I Lived In (A Casa Em Que Vivi)” both deliver plenty of chilled-out vibes.

Considered to be one of many high points in Azymuth’s impressive catalog, Telecommunication landed on both the UK and U.S. album charts upon its release and has long been a favorite of fans and journalists alike. Jazz Music Archives praises, “there is a thoughtfulness and integrity to this music…Rhythmic sophistication is the hallmark of this band, the samba, funk, and contemporary jazz influences mix seamlessly giving [Azymuth] a sound that is all their own.” AllMusic, meanwhile, declares that the album “illustrates how rewarding the Brazilian trio can be.”

In the years following Telecommunication’s release, Azymuth maintained a prolific schedule of work, releasing nearly an album a year. Simultaneously, Conti, Malheiros, and Bertrami all enjoyed flourishing solo careers during their downtime from the band. While Bertrami sadly passed away in 2012, Azymuth continues to actively tour and record, with the addition of keyboardist Kiko Continentino. To date, their catalog includes more than two dozen albums, including 2020’s Azymuth JID004 with Adrian Younge and A Tribe Called Quest’s Ali Shaheed Muhammad. Their music has also been rediscovered and sampled by countless artists, including Flying Lotus, will.i.am, and Daedelus. The band will be playing four sold out shows in Los Angeles this weekend alongside fellow Brazilian legends Marcos Valle and Hyldon, and then hit the road for a European tour in August. 

Wadada Leo Smith: The Emerald Duets

As part of its celebration of the 80th Anniversary of composer and trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith, TUM Records releases The Emerald Duets, a five-CD boxed set that includes Smith’s collaborations with four leading drummers of our time, Pheeroan akLaff, Andrew Cyrille, Han Bennink and Jack DeJohnette.

The Emerald Duets features four master drummers who have, each in their own unique fashion, contributed to the way modern drumming has developed over the past six decades and is now perceived. Cyrille, Bennink and DeJohnette broke through to the elite of modern drummers already in the 1960s whereas akLaff became a household name after being featured by some of the most exciting group leaders in creative music in the 1970s and 1980s. DeJohnette and akLaff in particular have performed and recorded with Smith extensively over the past decades but Bennink and Cyrille have also performed with him in different connections before these recordings were made. 

Pheeroan akLaff, Andrew Cyrille and Han Bennink are each featured on one disc and Jack DeJohnette appears on two discs, including on Smith’s five-part composition “Paradise: The Gardens and Fountains,” which fills the fifth disc of this boxed set in its entirety. 

The sessions with akLaff, Cyrille and DeJohnette were recorded in New York City in 2019 or 2020 and mostly feature compositions by Wadada Leo Smith, including three very different versions of Smith’s “The Patriot Act, Unconstitutional and a Force that Destroys Democracy,” his powerful statement about the need to protect freedom and democracy. The duets with Bennink were recorded in Amsterdam in 2014 and include a combination of Smith’s compositions and collectively created tracks. 

The five-CD boxed set represents a crowning achievement among Wadada Leo Smith’s already legendary series of duo recordings with some of the greatest drummers in the history of creative music, which has seen collaborations with such creative giants as Ed Blackwell, Jack DeJohnette, Milford Graves (TUM BOX 003), Louis Moholo-Moholo (TUM CD 029), Adam Rudolph and Günter Sommer, among others. 

“On this recording, drummers DeJohnette, Cyrille, Bennink and akLaff and their drum-sets become a team unified as one, forming uncommon music-making ideas,” says Wadada Leo Smith. “Their philosophy of drumming elevates the melodic and rhythmical elements of their instruments. They create thundering sounds and beautifully articulated melodic textures, constructing a permeating resonant range, stacking complex sonic waves layered from top to bottom, wave by wave, depending on the type of cymbals and drums in their ensemble kits.” 

“Smith really hears drummers He is deeply attuned to what is unique about each one, and he relates to them all quite differently,”writes Vijay Iyer in his liner notes. “Music-makers of this level display a crystalline quality: hard-won and authentic luminosity, poise, composure, conviction, and in Smith’s phrase, ‘maximum sincerity.’ Each of these five beings has entered that phase of creative life known to some as ‘late style,’ in which everything they do is magical. These five discs are wondrous monuments to the art of living.” 

Pheeroan akLaff (b.1955) grew up in a musical family in Detroit, Michigan. In l975, akLaff moved to New Haven where he began performing with Wadada Leo Smith and other young musicians based in the area. His first recordings were with Smith´s New Dalta Akhri and with Oliver Lake in 1976. After akLaff moved to New York City in 1978, he was often associated with improvised music but also other forms of African-American music from funk to reggae. He has toured extensively in Africa, Asia and Europe and studied urban popular music, folk drums and dance in Abidjan, Cote D´Ivoire, and Lagos, Nigeria. In the early 1980s, akLaff joined Oliver Lake in his reggae-influenced band Jump Up and Henry Threadgill first in his highly acclaimed Sextett and later in his Make A Move ensemble and New Air. In 1988, akLaff has also began working extensively with Japanese pianist Yosuke Yamashita. Since that time, akLaff has worked with a veritable Who´s Who of modern jazz and improvised music in addition to leading his own projects and teaching. akLaff has released a number of recordings under his own name including the solo album House Of Spirit: "Mirth" in 1979, Fits Like A Glove in 1983, Sonogram in 1989 and Global Mantras in 1997, among others. Throughout the years, akLaff has led his own groups, including various trios, quartets and quintets that have toured in North America and internationally. His more recent projects have also included the Double Duo ensemble dedicated to the spiritual music of John Coltrane; the New York Jazz Collective with Marty Ehrlich, James Zollar, Ray Anderson, Mike Formanek and Mike Nock; Mixed Erato, a duo combining classical piano music with a drum set (with pianist Qi Liu); and Dear Freedom Suite, a tribute to Sonny Rollins´ classic recording. In the past two decades, akLaff has performed with a number of Wadada Leo Smith´s ensembles, including the Golden Quartet, the Golden Quintet, Mbira, Organic and Najwa. Since 1991 he has been involved in music education at the university level. He began by teaching master classes at The New School in New York City (1991-92) and has been on the faculty of Wesleyan University since 1993. He has also taught students in Asia, Europe and Latin America.

Andrew Cyrille (b. 1939) was born in Brooklyn, New York, into a family with Haitian parents. He was mentored in the art of drumming by the great Philly Joe Jones circa 1958 and began recording and performing with the likes of Walt Dickerson, Coleman Hawkins, Roland Kirk and Mary Lou Williams when barely 20 years of age. Cyrille truly made his mark through his membership in the Cecil Taylor Unit for over a decade (1964-75) establishing his position as one of the leading percussionists in the then-emerging “new jazz” or freely improvised music. Cyrille soon became one of the most respected drummers in modern jazz through both of his own recordings as a leader and through his collaborations with virtually every important name on the contemporary scene. Since the 1970s, Cyrille has led or co-led a number of ensembles, including Maono, The Group, the percussion quartet Pieces Of Time and Haitian Fascination, which pays homage to his Haitian roots. In 1992, Oliver Lake, Reggie Workman and Cyrille founded Trio 3, a cooperative group that became one of the main performing vehicles for all three of its members, recording more than 10 albums with several of the later ones also featuring a visiting pianist. Altogether, Cyrille has released more than 30 recordings as a leader or co-leader and countless others as a sideman. His most recent recordings as a leader are The Declaration Of Musical Independence (with Richard Teitelbaum, Bill Frisell and Ben Street) in 2014, Lebroba (with Wadada Leo Smith and Bill Frisell) in 2017 and The News (with David Virelles, Bill Frisell and Ben Street) in 2019. Cyrille has been involved in music education since the early 1970s and is currently a faculty member at the New School of Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York City. Cyrille has been recognized with several awards and prizes over the years. In 2020, Cyrille received the Doris Duke Artist Award.

Han Bennink (b. 1942) is the son of a concert percussionist who also played the clarinet in the style of Benny Goodman and the tenor saxophone in the style of Coleman Hawkins. Bennink began both of his favorite activities – making art and playing the drums – at an early age under the tutelage and influence of his father. Beginning in the early 1960s, Bennink frequently had opportunities to play with the many of the American musicians visiting Holland. Bennink was also heavily involved with the nascent European free improvisation scene of the 1960s. With fellow Dutch pioneers, Misha Mengelberg and Willem Breuker, he founded the musicians´ collective Instant Composers Pool in 1967. In addition to playing in various groups with his many long-standing collaborators, such as Mengelberg, Breuker, Peter Brötzmann, Fred Van Hove, Alexander von Schlippenbach, Derek Bailey and others, Bennink has frequently performed and recorded as a solo artist and led his own groups. From 1988 to 1998, Bennink´s main performing vehicle was Clusone 3, with saxophonist and clarinetist Michael Moore and cellist Ernst Rejsiger, which toured globally and recorded several highly acclaimed albums. Bennink has been a fixture on the European scene for improvised music for nearly six decades. In addition to his own projects as well as his numerous performances and recordings with smaller groups under the collective name Instant Composers Pool beginning in the late 1960s and with the ICP Orchestra starting in the 1980s, Bennink has been featured with many other European improvising ensembles, including Company, Globe Unity Orchestra, Cecil Taylor’s European Orchestra, Royal Improvisers Orchestra and Spring Heel Jack.

Jack DeJohnette (b. 1942) began studying classical piano at the age of four at the Chicago Conservatory of Music, then added the drums to his repertoire when he joined his high school concert band at the age of 14. By the mid-1960s, DeJohnette had entered the Chicago jazz scene – not just as a leader of his own groups, but also as a sideman on both piano and drums. He experimented with rhythm, melody and harmony as part of the AACM during the organization’s early days and later drummed alongside Rashied Ali in the John Coltrane Quintet.  DeJohnette first began garnering international recognition during his tenure with the Charles Lloyd Quartet (with saxophonist Charles Lloyd, pianist Keith Jarrett and bassist Cecil McBee or Ron McLure) in the late 1960s. Parallel to this, he also began one of the most extensive recording careers in modern jazz. In 1968, DeJohnette joined Miles Davis’s group shortly before the recording of Bitches Brew, an album that triggered a seismic shift in jazz and permanently changed the direction of the music. DeJohnette stayed with Davis for three years, making important contributions to a number of Davis recordings. During this same period, DeJohnette also recorded his first albums as a leader and has led and recorded with his own groups throughout his more than six-decade long career, including Compost, The Gateway Trio, Directions and New Directions in the 1970s and Special Edition in the 1980s. In the early 1980s, DeJohnette began his collaboration with Keith Jarrett and bassist Gary Peacock in the Keith Jarrett Trio, which resulted in 20 recordings over three decades. Another of DeJohnette’s high-profile projects was a trio with Herbie Hancock and guitarist Pat Metheny in the early 1990s, which developed into a touring quartet with the addition of bassist Dave Holland. In the new millennium, DeJohnette has performed with the Jack DeJohnette Quartet, the Trio Beyond and other groups of his own. He has also continued to release albums as a leader. For over two decades, DeJohnette has performed with Wadada Leo Smith, with whom he first played in Chicago in the late 1960s during an informal trio session at the invitation of Muhal Richard Abrams. DeJohnette was one of the original members of Smith’s Golden Quartet (with Anthony Davis and Malachi Favors Maghostut; Golden Quartet in 2000 and The Year of the Elephant in 2002) and also recorded a highly acclaimed duo album with Smith (America in 2008). He has participated in both recordings by Smith’s Great Lakes Quartet (The Great Lakes Suites, TUM CD 041-2, and The Chicago Symphonies, TUM BOX 004).

New Music: Brian Citro, Pablo Moser, Lampen, Beverley Church Hogan

Brian Citro - Acoustic Pastime – Solo Guitar

In this solo acoustic guitar album you'll hear some jazz, folk and Americana all mixed together in a relaxing sonic experience. Says Brian, “looking back now, I can see the trajectory that led from the beginning of the pandemic to Acoustic Pastime – Solo Guitar. At the time, I was grounded—literally, forced to cancel a fully planned trip to Ghana in March 2020—coping with the sudden halt in my work as a human rights lawyer and the fear surrounding the disease. So, I refocused on something I could control, things I could create despite everything—playing solo guitar, recommitting myself to writing music, and learning to record. Acoustic Pastime is the result and my first solo effort." Brian will perform a month-long album release residency each Friday in August at Chicago’s The Whistler. Says Brian's uncle and award winning poet of Monk's I Mean You: "The title reaches out for us, and this tune does the same. Brian interprets the tunes of Monk so beautifully. He lives inside them like cozy little houses with unusual windows. This song is like those days when I wake up in a good mood, my clothes are soft and warm, fit correctly on my body, and I feel capable for the day ahead; I don't feel that way very often, but I want to. What a great tune to open this album, a fitting doorway through which to begin this intimate journey together: we three: Brian, his guitar, and the listener."

Pablo Moser - Lenguaje Secreto

Pablo Moser is a saxophone player, composer, arranger, and educator based in Buenos Aires. In addition to leading his own project, which recorded “Mascota” (Kuai 2016) he participated in various musical projects including the groups of Pía Hernández, Juan Cruz de Urquiza, Ernesto Jodos, Marcelo Gutfraind, Paula Socrón, Pablo Diaz, Ignacio Amil, Francisco Salgado, Sebastían de Urquiza, Carlos Quebrada, Ensamble Kuai, Rodrigo Agudelo y la Salamanca, Artistry Big Band amongst others. He recorded film musical scores, participated in multidisciplinary projects, and contributed to several training courses.On this newest release, he's joined by bassist Juan Bayon and drummer Andrés Elstein.This album was recorded after two years of developing the music collectively. Musical collaborations among Pablo Moser, Andrés Elstein, and Juan Bayon go back to over a decade and a half of shared projects, and the trio consolidated after the long months of quarantine without the possibility of making music as a group. The songs were born both by the long experience and the power and joy resulting from the possibility of meeting again after the endless musical void brought by the pandemic. The music evidences the trust and complicity between the three players, as they navigate the breakneck curves, in the fresh improvisations combined with the written material and the immediate reaction to each other's proposals. The trio itself generates an optimistic secret language, eager to be shared with others.

Lampen - Lampen

Lampen is Kalle Kalima and Tatu Rönkkö. Kalle plays guitar, Tatu plays percussions and sampler. Together they're Lampen, a duo making highly addictive "post jazz" with a musical heart far beyond genre. Call it what you will, but the main point is listening, and there's a high season for that coming as Lampen is set to release their debut album on We Jazz Records on "Kintsugi Gold" vinyl and digitally. Previously a CD-only release (Karkia Mistika Records, 2020), ‘Lampen' presents two artists who have a knack at making music which opens up with each listen, pulling you deeper and deeper. Meditative passages flow by slowly as in a peaceful river stream, erupting into full rapids of sound when the time is right. This is sonic rafting for the curious listener.

Beverley Church Hogan - Sweet Invitation

On Sweet Invitation, vocalist Beverley Church Hogan once again brings her smoky, affecting voice to a selection of romantic songs from the Great American Songbook. The album follows her 2019 release Can’t Get Out of this Mood. Making a Scene Magazine said of the album, “This is sophisticated, elegant music best appreciated free of distraction. You’ll want to listen repeatedly to appreciate the many nuances.” Although this is only Church Hogan’s second recording, the 86 year old chanteuse packs a lifetime of experience in her interpretations of the lyrics and music. Church Hogan is a storyteller, and she chose the songs on this album because of the imagery they evoke. Her forte is romantic ballads, which she approaches with elegance and sophistication. The arrangements by John Proulx, a popular singer, pianist, recording artist, and Grammy-winning composer, never overshadow her vocals, rather they set the stage for her sensitive interpretations. At 86 years old, Beverley Church Hogan has the wisdom and maturity to imbue a romantic ballad with depth and gravitas without flash or an excess of melisma. Her interpretations of the lyrics come straight from heart.  She is the kind of singer that makes you feel she has lived the stories she sings about. “It doesn’t matter how old you are,” says Church Hogan. “This is the only life we’re granted, and you have to take chances and follow your dreams no matter your age.”

New Music: Clear Path Ensemble, Milton Nascimento, Henry Grimes Trio, Michel Legrand

Clear Path Ensemble - Solar Eclipse

As pockets of new jazz scenes emerge around the world, it’s apparent that New Zealand’s bubbling microcosm in Wellington interprets the genre through a unique lens. Clear Path Ensemble bottles the energy of that burgeoning movement and distils it into moody morsels of differing styles. From electric jazz to ambient, experimental, house and funk – it’s a DIY, jam- session attitude towards composition, as the band members freely cherry-pick from a vast orchard of influences. Citing inspiration from ‘70s ECM catalogue, the ensemble channels the “expansive and astral” elements of electric jazz, with an introspective dynamic. At times it’s fused with catchy synth hooks, smooth basslines and shuffling beats, while other tracks morph into moody electronic soundscapes, and even Sun Ra-esque free jazz. Led by percussionist Cory Champion, the band released their debut self-titled album with HHV in 2020, followed by a headline performance at the 2021 Wellington Jazz Festival. Champion has played drums alongside some of New Zealand’s most revered contemporary musicians (Lord Echo, Lucien Johnson and Mara TK to name a few), and also produces leftfield deep house and techno under the name Borrowed cs, which partly informs the ensemble’s electronic production. Says Champion: “For a long time I had ambitions to make this project but always planned on it being recorded traditionally. Ultimately, I was encouraged by a new DIY spirit in contemporary jazz, where electronic music production techniques are fully integrated in the recording and production of great new contemporary jazz music.” First single ‘Absolvo’ features a stripped back ensemble of drums, bass, keys and bass clarinet - at once urgent yet moody, reminiscent of '70s Herbie Hancock with the clarinet venturing into psychedelic Sun Ra territory.

Milton Nascimento - Maria Maria

Milton Nascimento's 1976 soundtrack Maria Maria returns on vinyl. Recorded in 1976 and unreleased until almost thirty years later, Milton Nascimento's Maria Maria was written in collaboration with poet, lyricist and journalist Fernando Brant as the soundtrack to a ballet which dealt with the legacy of slavery in Brazil. Raw, atmospheric and emotionally charged, Maria Maria reveals one of Brazil’s greatest ever songwriters at his creative peak. Featuring an all-star cast of fellow Brazilian legends including Nana Vasconcelos, João Donato, Paulinho Jobim, and members of Som Imaginario, Maria Maria holds what Milton himself considers to be the definitive versions of some of his classic songs, including ‘Os Escravos De Jó’ and ‘Maria Maria’. Double vinyl LP expected shipping 4th July.

Henry Grimes Trio -  Call 

One of the few albums as a leader from bassist Henry Grimes – a hell of a great player who'd made his name working with Sonny Rollins, but who steps out here into much freer territory! The group features Grimes at the helm on bass, but also features killer contributions from Perry Robinson – playing outside clarinet here at a level that's even more farther reaching that Jimmy Giuffre at his 60s heights. The group's completed by drummer Tom Price, who really spurs the combo on strongly – as they work with a very raw, free sound that features tremendous interplay between all three instruments. One of our favorites on ESP – with titles that include "Fish Story", "Walk On", "The Call", and "Son Of Alfalfa". ~ Dusty Groove

Michel Legrand - Hier Et Demain

The legendary Michel Legrand gave the world music in so many different styles and formats – jazz, soundtrack material, and even a huge legacy of vocal material too – the last of which is showcased in this great collection – which features a fair bit of more recent recordings, which stand in nice contrast to Legrand's decades of albums and singles – as proof that his musical legacy has gone on to touch generations! A number of these feature Legrand himself on arrangements, and all the tracks are his own compositions – titles that include "La Chanson De Delphone" by Clara Luciani, "Chanson Des Jumelles" by Yuri Buenaventura, "Les Moulins De Mon Coeur" by Juliette Armanet, "La Joueuese" by Philippe Katerine, "Sa Maison" by Natalie Dessay, "Ton Copain Des Jours De Puie" by Benjamin Legrand, "Chanson D'Un Jour D'Ete" by Les Umbrellas, and "Sans Toi" by Youn Sun Nah. ~ Dusty Groove

Los Calvos | "Estos Son Los Calvos"

Few have done as much for salsa in Venezuela as band-leader, composer and pianist Ray Pérez. He burst on to the scene in the mid-60s with his group Los Dementes, creating the blueprint for guaguanco, pachanga and boogaloo in Venezuela. When the name salsa began to be used as something of a catch-all-term he was still at the forefront, recording two hugely-popular salsa albums with Los Dementes in 1967. Remarkably, that very same year, he also recorded two albums with a brand new group, Los Calvos, that showed how as well as being the genre’s most visible band-leader, he was also pushing the nascent genre to its limits. Looking back, revered journalist Alfredo Churion states that Los Calvos were "one of the most innovative experiences in Venezuelan popular music."

Estos Son Los Calvos is the first of the two albums he made with Los Calvos. On it, he made a few alterations to the line-up that may seem minor, but created a completely new sound. For the first time, he recruited a drummer (unprecedented at the time for a salsa ensemble, which always used percussionists), he switched from the trombones of Los Dementes to the much harder, direct sound of trumpets, and he recruited Carlos Yanez, best known as El Negrito Calavén, as singer. Whereas Los Dementes had been aligned with the slightly pop sound of tropical orchestras, Los Calvos took an almost-jazz approach, allowing room for the musicians and vocalists to improvise, and they also took inspiration from the sounds of surf rock swirling around Caracas. The group’s drummer El Pavo amusingly once described the group’s sound as like “wearing a dinner suit with flip-flops”.

Opening track “El Kenya” is the clearest example of that surf rock influence; it’s opening lines make clear its intentions: “una linda trigueña que me invitó a bailar el Kenya” (“a beautiful trigueña – tri-ethnic girl – invited me to dance the Kenya”). They are intent on creating their own dance craze, El Kenya. If the group had ever performed live, then maybe it would have taken off, as the song had all the credentials: rollicking montuno piano from Pérez, ingenious scatting and vocal improvs from Calavén, and a middle section where the drums and trumpets battle it out hard, with an audience screaming its appreciation throughout. It’s followed by ‘Mi Salsa Llego’, which Pérez had already recorded with Los Dementes; here, it’s a tougher beast, the sparser hits of the drums and trumpets giving a harder sound evocative of the times, with more and more people moving to the cities, and wanting a grittier, urban soundtrack.

The secret weapon in Los Calvos was the fact that this was a group made up of some of Venezuela’s finest musicians, many of which, Pérez included, had working class roots. Music for them was as much a part of their day-to-day lives, as it was a profession, it was what they did. The legendary Frank “El Pavo” Hernandez was on drum kit, with revered names like Alfredo Padilla, Carlos “Nene” Quintero, Pedro García, Miguel Silva, Enrique Vazquez, Rafael Araujo and Luis Lewis, also involved in the group. Their versatility allowed Los Calvos to go from the slower, haunting groove of “Negrito Calavan”, a showcase for their singer to improvise, and on to “Bailemos Kenya”, another attempt by the group to create their own version of “The Twist”!

Los Calvos never played live, but that was always the intention. Pérez was in demand by the record labels of the time and his deal with RCA Victor to make two albums as Los Calvos was only ever that. But the spirit of Los Calvos remained when Pérez then formed Los Kenya, whose name came from the opening track of this album, and whose line-up featured the same inventions as Los Calvos, with a drum kit, two trumpets and the same vocalists (for their second album, Carlín Rodríguez joined as a singer, and remained for Las Kenya). For this reason, Los Calvos would never have the same successes as Pérez’s other groups, though even Pérez has revealed in interviews that the two albums he made as Los Calvos are some of the most fun he ever had recording. With the price of originals for both albums ever increasing for vinyl collectors, this is a great chance to get hold of two of the heaviest salsa albums ever issued in the 60s, and an important moment in the life of Venezuela’s salsa king, Ray Pérez.

Los Calvos came to life in Caracas in 1967, the product of musician Ray Perez’s restless mind. It was a band that sounded different to everything that had gone before, and everything that would come after. They were the encapsulation of what Perez, who was nicknamed “El Loco”, had already achieved in his music career: the rock, salsa, jazz and Latin rhythms that he played in groups like Trío Hambay, Los Singers, Los 5 de Romero and the legendary Los Dementes.

To create the band’s line-up Perez turned to heavyweight names in Venezuelan music at the time, recruiting Frank “Pavo” Hernandez on drums – who curiously thought it was crazy to introduce a drum kit to salsa; Pedro Garcia on percussion; Miguel Angel Silva on bass; Rafael Araujo on trombone; and Lewis and Josue on trumpets; all supporting dual vocalists Carlos “Carlín” Asicio Rodríguez and Carlos “Calaven” Yanes, the latter an innovative and charismatic singer who added a touch of jazz to salsa, scatting like one of the greats.

They only ever released two albums, a debut in 1967, followed by a second in 1968 that offered the same power and quality as its predecessor, with one review defining them as “dazzling and avant-garde”. Unfortunately, the ever-busy Perez, who was always working and travelling with groups like Los Dementes and his newly-formed Las Kenya ensemble, decided to abandon the project shortly after that second album came out, devoting his energies elsewhere. Curiously, the group never performed live, yet these days, Perez considers these recordings the most enjoyable that he experienced in his whole career.

New Music: Sidney Jacobs, Jimmy Branly Trio, The San Gabriel 7

Sidney Jacobs - If I Were Your Woman

Many people will undoubtedly think that If I Were Your Woman is an attention-grabbing and curious title for an album by a male singer, but vocalist, songwriter, arranger, and producer Sidney Jacobs is an exciting performer who likes to experiment and is not afraid to take chances. On If I Were Your Woman, he lends his rich, baritone voice to straight-ahead and R&B-inflected jazz tunes that are usually sung by or identified with women. The songs are a daring mix of standards, Jacobs’ originals, and pop/R&B songs. IF If I Were Your Woman is Jacobs’ second album. It follows First Man, which rose to 34 on the JazzWeek chart and received many accolades, including an honorable mention by Ted Gioia as one of the best CDs of 2017. The concept for If I Were Your Woman grew from one of Jacobs’ live performances when he sang “I Feel Pretty” just for fun. The audience loved it and he decided to record a whole album that shines a new light on female-oriented songs. As he began exploring this theme, Jacobs says, “I wanted to create a different listening experience and find songs that had personal relevance to me and songs that marked some very specific times in my life.” As a composer and arranger, Jacobs’ music has a syncopated, polyrhythmic feel underlying richly constructed harmonies. There is a hint of gospel, classical, soul, folk, and R&B in his music and it is cohesive and seamless. As a singer, Jacobs has fluid control of dynamics and phrasing, and he finds the emotional center every time. Although it can seem a bit surprising at first, the entire album hangs together beautifully with Jacobs’ smart interpretations and musical sensibilities. It takes an artist with the sense of daring, emotional maturity, and chops of Sidney Jacobs to pull it off so convincingly.

Jimmy Branly Trio - The Meeting

Drummer Jimmy Branly has been so busy touring with and playing on albums for other A-list jazz artists that he has put his own career as a leader on the back burner. Branly has now recorded as well as engineered The Meeting, an auspicious trio date that showcases not only Branly’s adventurous and sensitive playing, but his predilection for melding World music and jazz. The performances on the album are rhythmically and harmonically sophisticated, and the music is thoroughly engaging. Branly, who hails from Cuba, has been living in Los Angeles since 1998. He had been performing with Gonzalo Rubalcaba’s group for several years when he got a chance to tour North America with a band made up of American and Cuban musicians. Once he was here, he decided not to return home. The list of artists he has performed with is extensive. It includes Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Chucho Valdez, Flora Purim, Airto Moreira, Michael Nesmith, Strunz and Farah, Celia Cruz, Sheila E, Jimmy Haslip, Russell Ferrante, , Bob Sheppard, Celia Cruz, Luis Conte, Ronnie Foster, Justo Almario, Otmaro Ruiz, Oscar Hernandez, Brandon Fields, Alex Acuña, Bob James, David Garfield, Carol Welsman, Doc Severinsen, Don Grusin, Tom Scott, Keiko Matsui, Colin Hay and Lyle Mays, among many others.  Although Branly is an expert in Cuban rhythms, he cites the spaciousness and the influence of World music from ECM -Jazz as a major influence. Indeed, the music on The Meeting is influenced by World music, particularly Cuban styles, but performed with a straight-ahead jazz feel and sound. It is mostly played in either 4/4 or 6/8 with the melody determining where the accents fall, creating the illusion of unusual rhythms. The album features original music by all three band members as well as some of Branly’s favorite jazz standards. Jimmy Branly’s music comes from the heart. He has to feel the essence of a tune to know how to approach it. He uses subtle dynamics to generate energy rather than playing loud and fast and showing off his considerable chops. He wants the audience to be able to tap their feet and enjoy the melody. The Meeting is an eminently satisfying entree into Branly’s personal aesthetic.

The San Gabriel 7 - Under The Stars

The San Gabriel 7 is a progressive funk band presenting all original music. A prolific and inventive recording ensemble, the band’s 11th and newest album, Under The Stars, features Danish singing sensation SINNE EEG. SG7 features tight horns, a first-rate rhythm section and exciting arrangements. Jazz journalist Scott Yanow says, “Throughout its existence, the San Gabriel 7 has always been funky, versatile, and creative. Sometimes the group’s ensembles have sounded a bit like a big band, or perhaps a little like Tower of Power, a rock group or bop septet. In all cases, the San Gabriel 7’s musical personality shines through.” Featured vocalist Sinne Eeg is considered the preeminent jazz vocalist in Scandinavia. She is not only a brilliant vocalist, she is also a great songwriter and the recipient of numerous awards. The compositions on this album reflect Eeg’s out-of-the-box writing style. “Much of my composing is melody driven. I might write something with a bar missing or an extra bar. I just like to keep in the flow of the melody. A song may wind up with a tricky mixed meter, but it usually makes sense because the melody makes sense.”  The San Gabriel 7 attracts so many talented guest artists because they are a high energy band of top-notch players. Presenting albums with the music chosen or written by vocalists is certainly rare, if not unique in the jazz world, but the results are eminently alluring. And any album featuring the singing and writing of the multi-talented Sinne Eeg is bound to be an eleven on a scale of one-to-ten.

New Music: Bill Ortiz, Nat Birchall, Wayne Gutshall, Rai Narita

Bill Ortiz - Points Of View

One of the Bay Area’s most dynamic multi-genre trumpeters for over four decades, Bill Ortiz recorded and toured the world with Santana for 16 years – starting with the multi-Grammy winning Smooth album – and has recorded and/or performed with legends of jazz (Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Chick Corea), Latin (Tito Puente, Pete Escovedo), rock/blues (Boz Scaggs, Buddy Guy) and R&B (Tony Toni Toné, TLC, En Vogue, Destiny’s Child). Points Of View, the title of his first solo album since leaving Santana in 2016, perfectly reflects the great array of influences and the freewheeling playing and stylistic approach he brings to a wide range of classic pieces while leading an ensemble of fellow Bay Area greats. Each of the ten pieces Ortiz re-imagines on Points Of View was chosen because he felt they would be the best vehicles to showcase his personal voice on trumpet. “At its best,” Ortiz says, “music makes people feel something. I wanted the album to feature important pieces that have been overlooked or forgotten, songs I felt could document the sounds and artists that were important to me in forming my voice while updating and bringing my personal style to them.”

Nat Birchall - Afro Trane

One of the most beautiful, spiritual albums ever from saxophonist Nat Birchall – and that's really saying a lot, if you know his other records! As you can guess from the title, the spirit of John Coltrane looms large on the record – and the tracks are a mix of Coltrane classics and new material by Nat – performed in these long, flowing modes that balance soulful lines on tenor and soprano with work on percussion, mbira, harmonium, piano, and even a bit of bass clarinet – the latter of which is a nod to a key moment when Eric Dolphy stepped in to the Coltrane group! Yet despite the Coltrane influence, the sound here is very original – all Nat's own, as he layers his performances on the other instruments with really well-crafted saxophone solos – at a level that feels much more like a small spiritual combo presenting the music than just Birchall alone. Tremendously beautiful – even better on record than it sounds on paper – with titles that include "Trane's Garden", "Dahomey Dance", "India", "Folk Song For Trane", "Acknowledgement", and "Afro Train". ~ Dusty Groove

Wayne Gutshall - Going Up

If you’re somehow not familiar with Wayne Gutshall, the guy Sandy Shore calls a “modern master of saxophone” who’s scored five #1 singles on SmoothJazz.com Global’s Listener Chart, you get another inspiring chance with his latest track “Going Up” – a passionate, meditative ballad duet with bassist Brendan Rothwell penned during the pandemic for the sole purpose of soothing our anxieties and lifting our spirits. Gutshall, a favorite on Miami’s vibrant Latin jazz scene, who’s played with Steve Oliver, Paul Brown, Arturo Sandoval and many others, offers up Rothwell’s seductive bassline to build anticipation as he rolls out the song's sultry sax melody. The two fashion a hypnotic dual-energy that balances intuitive musical conversations with vibrant soloing. And all at once you’ll find your blood pressure is going down while your hopes start “Going Up.” ~ www.smoothjazz.com

Rei Narita - Indigo Rain

Though his latest single “Indigo Rain” is not officially part of his decade plus slate of releases under The Color of Soundscape name, composer, pianist and multiple label owner Rei Narita – the foremost pioneer of Smooth Jazz in Asia – creates a sensually soulful, gently relaxing vibe that fits right into the graceful side of his established aesthetic. A complete 180 degree turn from his rambunctious previous single “Run Through the Urban City,” this beautiful, expansive piece begins as an elegant, sparkling piano solo. It then eases into a seductive, slow-simmering groove (driven by Omar Hakim’s tasteful drumming) and a charming lead melodic back and forth conversation between Narita and the instantly identifiable guest guitar artistry of Peter White. ~ www.smoothjazz.com

Felipe Salles | "Tiyo’s Songs of Life"

Saxophonist Felipe Salles presents the first-ever recordings of works by late saxophonist, composer, and prison activist Tiyo Attallah Salah-El.  Tiyo’s Songs of Life, out June 17 via Tapestry Records, features pianist Zaccai Curtis, bassist Avery Sharpe and drummer Jonathan Barber, premiering compositions written while Salah-El served a life sentence without possibility of parole.

Freedom is a vital element at the heart of all great jazz. It’s all the more central to the music of the late saxophonist Tiyo Attallah Salah-El, who managed to become a prolific composer, author, and activist while serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole in a Pennsylvania prison for nearly 50 years prior to his passing in 2018. Thanks to the untiring efforts of prison abolitionist Lois Ahrens, who championed Salah-El’s work for nearly two decades, his music can now be heard via exhilarating new arrangements and performances by saxophonist Felipe Salles and an all-star quartet.

Tiyo’s Songs of Life, out June 17, 2022 on Tapestry Records, collects pieces that Salah-El composed while incarcerated, vividly capturing a spirit unfettered by a lifetime behind bars. Ahrens, founder of the Real Cost of Prisons Project, had sent fifty blank sheets of music paper to Salah-El in 2005, which the saxophonist filled with music within a few months. Ahrens strove for 17 years to find performers who could do justice to this prolific imagination, finally connecting with Salles. The saxophonist assembled a brilliant ensemble to breathe life into Salah-El’s work, which features pianist Zaccai Curtis, bassist Avery Sharpe, and drummer Jonathan Barber.

Salles’ involvement in the project is a way not just to explore Salah-El’s music, he explains, but also to raise awareness of the complex issues involved in mass incarceration – in the United States, in Salles’ native Brazil, and around the world. That mission aligns Tiyo’s Songs of Life with Salles’ other recent politically focused work, particularly his acclaimed project The New Immigration Experience, which took on the urgent topic of immigration via his wide-ranging big band, The Interconnections Ensemble.

“When Lois contacted me out of the blue,” Salles recalls, “what interested me was the opportunity to make a musical connection to things that I actually cared about that were not necessarily musical. We refer to incarceration as a ‘correctional system’ but it's really just a punishment system, one that doesn’t treat people with dignity. That’s not unique to the U.S., it happens in many countries including Brazil. The system is so distorted that it becomes very difficult for anybody to succeed in being reformed. So prison just becomes a place where people rot and get worse and worse.”

Salah-El was born David Riley Jones in West Chester, Pennsylvania in 1932. After serving as a tank operator in the Korean War and being awarded a Purple Heart for wounds sustained in battle, Salah-El returned home to work in his father’s plumbing business while moonlighting as a tenor saxophonist in R&B clubs. He also became involved in the less savory aspects of the nightlife, leading to a series of run-ins with the law and his eventual life sentence.

The music on Tiyo’s Songs of Life harken back to Salah-El’s heyday on the music scene, blending passionate blues, vigorous hard bop and tender ballads. In his arrangements, Salles sought to honor the composer’s original intent while giving the music a more modern twist. In some cases he fused two of Salah-El’s pieces into a new hybrid composition, especially when the tunes’ themes or subjects were connected. “Blues for Pablo – Blues for Professor Zinn” is a prime example, joining two blues numbers named for politically active supporters (agent Paul Alan Smith, editor of Pen Pal, a collection of Salah-El’s correspondence; and A People’s History of the United States author Howard Zinn).

In assembling the quartet for the session, Salles sought out musicians who shared the roots evident in Salah-El’s music while each having a strong, contemporary voice; he also enlisted players whose own work was outspoken on social justice issues. “Some musicians don't want to be involved in that kind of thing,” Salles says. “They want to stay neutral in that conversation. But I thought that this project needed people who are not afraid of talking about the issues as well as playing the music.”

Most importantly, Salles wanted to honor the spirit of Salah-El’s music and the life he made for himself while in prison – not only composing dozens of songs but also earning his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees and founding the Coalition for the Abolition of Prisons. “I think these tunes reveal a beautiful soul,” Salles says. “Tiyo never let the horrible situation he was in crush his soul. Despite everything, his music shows a deep love for people. I feel a real responsibility to him. This is something that life just dropped into my lap, and I'm grateful to have that musical gift given to me.”

Tiyo's Songs of Life is made possible by generous grants from the Garner-Glaser Foundation and the Markham Nathan Fund for Social Justice.

A native of São Paulo, Brazil, Felipe Salles is a Professor of Jazz and African-American Music Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he has taught since 2010. An active musician in the U.S. since 1995, he has worked and recorded with prominent jazz artists including Randy Brecker, David Liebman, Lionel Loueke, Jerry Bergonzi, Chico Pinheiro, Jovino Santos Neto, Oscar Stagnaro, Duduka Da Fonseca, Maucha Adnet, Tony Lujan, Luciana Souza, and Bob Moses. He has released eight critically acclaimed recordings as a leader, most recently the ambitious CD/DVD set The New Immigrant Experience, featuring his Interconnections Ensemble big band, which earned a 4 1/2 star review from DownBeat and made the magazine’s list of best albums of 2020. Salles is a 2018 Guggenheim Foundation Composition Fellow, a 2021 South Arts Jazz Road Creative Residency Grant Fellowship recipient, a 2015 NALAC Fund for the Arts Grant winner, a 2009-2010 winner of the French American Jazz Exchange Grant, and a 2005-2006 winner of the Chamber Music America New Works: Creation and Presentation Grant Program, grants sponsored by The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. His arrangements and compositions have been performed by some of the top groups in the world including The Metropole Orchestra, UMO Helsinki Jazz Orchestra, Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic Violas, Meta4 String Quartet, Manhattan School of Music Jazz Orchestra, Manhattan School of Music Jazz Philharmonic Orchestra, New England Conservatory Jazz Orchestra, and New England Conservatory Wind Ensemble, among others. 

BLUE NOTE JAZZ FESTIVAL NAPA VALLEY ADDS THIRD DATE ON FRIDAY, JULY 29th

Due to overwhelming demand, the Blue Note Jazz Festival Napa Valley announces a third day of programming on Friday, July 29th. With standout additions including Dinner Party (Robert Glasper, Terrace Martin and Kamasi Washington) and Snoop Dogg, the third day also includes performances by Chaka Khan, Kamasi Washington, Madlib, Chris Dave & The Drumhedz, Kenny Garrett, Alex Isley, Domi & JD Beck, Kiefer and Amber (of Moonchild), Marcus Strickland Twi-Life and DJ Jahi Sundance. Tickets for Friday start at $225 for general admission and $450 for VIP, and go on sale Thursday, June 16th at 12:00pm PT.

"Following the initial sell-out response from our two-day festival lineup in a matter of hours, we're thrilled to announce a third festival date for the Blue Note Jazz Festival, Napa," says Director of Programming and Talent Buyer Alex Kurland.

Kurland continues, "This third date features a jaw-dropping and exclusive headline collaboration between Snoop Dogg performing with Robert Glasper, Terrace Martin and Kamasi Washington as Dinner Party. We've strived to present a pure concentration of greatness and culturally meaningful artistry — from the legendary Chaka Kahn, and jazz icon Kenny Garrett, to the prolific producer Madlib — we have extraordinary artists and creators gracing the festival airwaves drawing from the inspiration, stylistic influence and vibe of Robert Glasper."

Announced alongside the Friday performances is the Wine Train Platinum VIP experience. This exclusive experience will let Platinum VIP's ride in style to the festival in beautiful, perfectly restored vintage 20th-century Pullman cars. At $1,500 per person per day, VIPs will enjoy a 3-course gourmet brunch, complimentary wine & sparkling wine and will enjoy additional perks, including:

Access to the air-conditioned, Platinum VIP Wine Train with reserved seating and exclusive viewing platform on the Wine Train's open air car, parked next to one of the stages.

Complimentary premium wine tasting at Charles Krug Winery during the festival.

Complimentary post-festival light meal with wine & sparkling wine, served on the Wine Train back to Napa and midday snacks

Access to all on-site VIP lounges, viewing platforms and restrooms

Full cash bar available - the Wine Train is the only area in the entire festival where guests are allowed to consume hard liquor and cocktails.

While tickets for Saturday and Sunday have sold out, 70 additional weekend tickets are available exclusively to Wine Train Platinum VIP ticket holders. The Wine Train arrives at the festival grounds daily at 12:30pm and departs at 10:30pm sharp. Tickets for the Wine Train Platinum VIP Experience are on sale on Wednesday, June 22 at 12pm PT.

The debut of the Blue Note Jazz Festival Napa Valley marks the first Blue Note Jazz Festival presented as an outdoor, multi-day and multi-stage event. The especially intimate festival, with limited capacity, will feature top-tier talent at the historic Charles Krug Winery in St. Helena, CA from July 29 to 31.

Grammy Award-winning multi-genre pianist, songwriter, and producer Robert Glasper serves as the festival's Artist-In-Residence. Glasper's residency, hosted by comedian Dave Chappelle, includes performances by special guests Dinner Party with Terrace Martin and Kamasi Washington, Snoop Dogg, Erykah Badu, Ledisi, D Smoke, Terrace Martin, and BJ the Chicago Kid.

"The response from ticket buyers and the music industry to our first multi-day outdoor Blue Note Jazz Festival has been astounding. This year's festival is a great model for the future of Blue Note Jazz Festivals. Our network of Blue Note Jazz Club venues spans over four continents. I plan to expand our festival throughout those markets and worldwide," says Blue Note Entertainment Group President Steven Bensusan.

"Napa is particularly important to us. Not only do we have a Blue Note Jazz Club in downtown Napa, but our partnership with Charles Krug Winery has successfully expanded. We've grown from our outdoor series during the pandemic to this new three-day festival experience taking over the entirety of the winery property."

The Napa Valley outdoor weekend event represents a new audience experience for Blue Note fans by combining a more traditional festival style event with the local wine culture of Napa Valley. The weekend will include food by renowned area restaurants, wine tasting experiences and other VIP add-ons.

During the pandemic Blue Note Napa, operating in the Valley for six years, partnered with Charles Krug Winery to present nearly 40 successful outdoor summer concerts at a time when few were offered. Charles Krug Winery, established in 1861 as the Napa Valley's first winery, is remarkable for its historical significance and character.