Matthew Halsall's "Mountains, Trees and Seas" is a sonic landscape painting

Matthew Halsall has never seen himself as part of any one sound or scene: he builds his own sonic universe instead. Over the course of 15 years and eight albums, he’s become a vital voice in instrumental music, with his lithe and limitless blends of jazz, electronica, global and spiritual jazz influences. By now, his style is unmistakable: a certain lightness of touch; a warm glow; waves that lap and birds that sing; it’s deeply meditative music, in tune with nature, that nourishes as much as it galvanises. But his new and ninth album An Ever Changing View is a subtle step up for the Manchester-based trumpeter, bandleader and composer – and an apt title for an artist who evolves with every new release. Halsall is at his most experimental yet, expanding his sound and production techniques once more.

2020’s Salute To The Sun was already a gear shift: after two albums with the Gondwana Orchestra (2014’s When The World Was One and 2015’s Into Forever), Halsall debuted a new band of young musicians from his home city. Salute To The Sun’s earthy soulful music landed like a balm during a tempestuous time, earning scores of new admirers who’d never before seen themselves as jazz fans. Halsall could relate: “I’ve always been on the edge of jazz,” he says. “I felt like a bit of an outsider.” On An Ever Changing View, though, he has leaned into another artform he was excited by during his formative years in Manchester, the sample culture of late-90s and early-2000s, where producers like The Cinematic Orchestra, Bonobo and Mr. Scruff deftly wove jazz samples throughout their work.

The album’s opener ‘Tracing Nature’ sets the scene, with its lush, pastoral wash of shimmering sounds and birdsong, as if gazing up to the sky through the forest canopy. During its creation, Halsall was staying in both a beautiful architect’s house with breathtaking sea views in north Wales and a striking modernist house in Bridlington, in the northeast of England, and he composed what he saw “like a landscape painting”. The latter location was the starting point for the album, with its vast windows that looked out onto the North Sea’s picturesque coastline, as opposed to his usual inner-city home studio, where Salute To The Sun was composed and recorded. In this new environment, Halsall wanted to capture “the feeling of openness and escapism” he felt being there and to approach making music again from scratch. “I hit the reset button and wanted to have complete musical freedom,” he says. “It was a real exploration of sound.”

Another starting point was his ever-expanding box of percussion, from congas and kalimba to various clusters of seeds, bells and chimes, which he’d been collecting over the past two years. Many of these instruments are custom-made and don’t exist anywhere else in the world, such as one mobile made of 18 hand hammered triangles, each individually tuned, which guided the track ‘Triangles In The Sky’. Another is a mobile made of keys, and one of bottle tops. For Halsall, it was about trying to get in touch with a childhood playfulness. He recalls a favourite Picasso quote:  “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.”

Halsall started to create his own samples from this percussive treasure trove, looping them to use as a foundation for the songs – a first for him and his band. ‘Water Street’, for example, gets richer with every listen, as spirals of kalimba, glockenspiel and other percussion sparkle underneath a gently bouncy 4x4 beat. In the studio, he says he “would almost be like a DJ at points, bringing different elements in and out for people to play on top of. It was a new and fun way of working, and everyone beautifully adapted to that process.”

Halsall also saw a link with another area of great interest: “Looped samples have a meditative quality that I look for in a lot of music,” he says, having studied Transcendental Meditation at the Maharishi Free School in West Lancashire in his teens. “Music is so vital to our mental and spiritual health,” he continues. “Music can elevate and inspire us, or soothe and protect us. It’s a quality that I hear in spiritual jazz, ambient music or just in the sound of the sea and the wind in the trees. I wanted that quality to be part of the tapestry I created for this album.”

It was hearing jazz on the dancefloor as a teenager that first opened up new possibilities in Halsall’s mind. He’d been playing trumpet since the age of six and in various big bands, but a switch flipped when he snuck out to a club and witnessed eclectic selector Mr. Scruff play out Pharoah Sanders’ ‘You’ve Got To Have Freedom’. “I got obsessed by the exploding DJ culture that was happening at that time,” he remembers, “as well as Alice Coltrane and spiritual jazz records. I started listening to Mr Scruff and Gilles Peterson mixes all the time. I thought: this is what I want to do, something influenced by the past but in a contemporary, present form.”

An Ever Changing View melds those forms in a way that feels heady and, at times, even otherworldly. The album’s title track evolves and unfolds as it echoes the tide coming in and out; ‘Calder Shapes’ is an elevating, charming and totally modern jazz track with restless percussion evoking a warm magic realism; then there’s the laid back groove of ‘Mountains, Trees and Seas’, where hand percussion, deep bass and the gorgeous glisten of the Fender Rhodes meet a hip-hop beat.

‘Jewels’ is another about-turn, in which samples shuffle and twist together to make a living, breathing, organic piece of dance music. Elsewhere, the gleefully relentless ‘Natural Movement’ is a true spirit-lifter with its pacy, interlocking loops of Log Drum and xylophone and some elegiac playing from Halsall. Tracks like ‘Sunlight Reflection’ and ‘Field Of Vision’ offer further moments of pause, the former with its chiming triangles and lambent harp like sunbeams through a window; the latter, another sonic daydream of rippling piano and birdsong from Anglesey Island.

An Ever Changing View ends with the beautiful ‘Triangles in the Sky’, an entrancing, hypnotic track that deftly works wordless vocals into a final shifting tapestry of sound, underpinned by a skittering drum beat and featuring Halsall’s long-time collaborator Chip Wickham on flute. It closes an album that marks Halsall out not just as a trumpet virtuoso, composer and bandleader but as a gifted producer, who is able to draw out the expressive from the complex. No doubt it will sound absolutely mammoth in London’s Royal Albert Hall come September, the biggest show Halsall has played yet.

The album’s artwork, meanwhile, perfectly complements Halsall’s vision. It’s a vibrant abstract hanging dotted with colourful, organic forms, designed and woven by London-based artist Sara Kelly, which Halsall commissioned especially for the album. After all, he’s an artist who is constantly shapeshifting too, and forever weaving new worlds. ~ Kate Hutchinson, London, May 2023

Bokanté Releases New Album HISTORY

Let's rewrite the story. Tell other perspectives. Let’s celebrate the overlooked, the outcast, those who knew differently. And when we can, because we should, let's dance.

“We listen to the ones who fed it / The ones who won and won't forget it / Let it go,” sings Malika Tirolien on the title track of History, the frankly superb third album by globally-engaged supergroup Bokanté.

History. Nine tracks that tell — with lyrics sung mainly in Tirolien's Guadeloupean Creole — of outsiders and seers, memories and joy; of black history, global unity and the futility of war. Of taking time to rest, feel, love. Of the redemptive power of music — as a conduit, a change maker, a muse.

“Used positively, in moments of vulnerability music can make us more receptive to messages,” says Michael League, the multi-instrumentalist, composer and (Snarky Puppy) bandleader who formed Bokanté (which means ‘exchange’) in 2016.

“In that sense Bokanté tries to open the listener up to the unique perspectives shared among the group's members. We are multi-lingual, multicultural and multi-generational but there's a connection we feel as musicians and people.” A smile. “It's a really beautiful thing.”

After two acclaimed albums — 2017's Strange Circles and What Heat, the band's Grammy-nominated 2018 acoustic collaboration with the Metropole Orkest — and a whole lot of touring, the vibe is stronger than ever.

The blues help. From the get-go, Bokanté have plugged into the blues, tracing the genre's roots in West Africa and the Arab world through the diaspora into the retro-modern present.

History finds them exploring further, dressing folkloric instruments including the Arabic oud, West African ngoni and North African guembri, the bass lute favoured by Morocco's Gnawa maalems, in western clothes. Interweaving layers of percussion with all the nuanced skill expected of four percussion maestros: André Ferrari of Swedish folk renegades Väsen. Ex-Berklee music professor Jamey Haddad (Sting, Paul Simon). Nagasaki-raised, New York-based Keita Ogawa (Cecile McLorin Salvant). Ghanaian-New Orleanian drum king Weedie Braimah (Christian Scott), a special guest on What Heat, a vital band member now.

“History is very bass and percussion heavy,” says League. “Texturally, it is our freshest, most interesting project yet. We changed the process, which always changes the product.”

Band members including Snarky Puppy guitarists Chris McQueen and Bob Lanzetti and South Florida raised-lap steel player Roosevelt Collier had previously recorded remotely, absorbing and embellishing the music sent to them in files by co-writers Tirolien and League, who was often elsewhere with other projects. While History’s painterly lyrics were primarily written by the Guadalupe-born Tirolien during lockdown in Montreal, the re-opening of the world saw the entire ensemble — nine musicians from five countries and four continents — converge on League’s home in a tiny village outside Barcelona, Spain.

There, they worked on ideas as a unit. The ideas flew. The colours flashed. The sound got bigger.

“It was an incredible experience,” says Tirolien, “We hadn't seen each other physically for two years so we got to chill, re-bond, have fun. Musically, we followed exciting new directions.”

League nods. “Everyone had been pursuing different musical interests during their time away and they brought these to table,” he says. “So I play a lot of guembri. There are percussion instruments from my collection that we've never used before. The guitars have a new role, providing contrast rather than riffs.”

The riffs, when they come (and do they ever), are peeled off guembri and electric oud, instruments whose lack of frets enable a more expressive palate, greater freedom of expression.

Dig the Prince-esque guembri riff on the album’s title track, the only song sung in English. “This is a really funky tune intended to show the power of the band,” says League, who wrote the music and the lyrics.

“I fell in love with the guembri when I fell in love with Gnawa music in Morocco. I've always been a frustrated drummer and the guembri is an instrument that feels like you're playing bass, drums and melody at the same time. On this song (‘History’), the combination of guembri, bass, lap steel and electric guitar playing in unison is a nice foundation for Malika to soar over.”

And soar Tirolien does, her honeyed voice channeling a zeitgeist recently focused on issues including identity, decolonisation and alternative histories/herstories/theirstories.

“We know there was a lot more going on in the last 500 years than what we’ve read or were taught,” League says. “Many things came to light with movements like #MeToo and Black Lives

Matter. There’s an increasing desire to understand a more comprehensive history, to acknowledge marginalised figures.”

Opener ‘Bliss’ is a grunge-like riposte to the willfully ignorant, a track with a stoner-riff written on oud then guembri and buoyed by spirited percussion, textured guitars and a prominent melodic bassline.

“It's a song about not wanting to think about the world,” says Tirolien, whose lyrical and vocal gifts convey a range of emotion, invariably prompting the listener to discover what, exactly, she is singing about.

Which, on the bluesy, sometimes psychedelic 'Pa Domi' — a Morocco-meets-Mali desert trip with the lap steel up front — is life's relentless grind. Recalling rhythms from West Africa as well as those of Guadeloupe’s drum-centric Gwo ka, ‘Adjoni’ is a story of a life on the spectrum and of brilliance in the margins; the lyrics of ‘Iliminé’ speak to the protective properties of love, offer a mantra to keep us joyful regardless.

‘Ah, now is the time to come together,’ sings Tirolien in Creole. ‘Ah, not tomorrow, we're doing it today.’

League wrote the music for ‘Iliminé’ in New York a few years ago, saving it onto his phone in case an up-tempo tune was ever needed: “In Spain it was a fun excuse to get all four percussionists playing in a very featured way,” he says. “There's space for Malika to showcase how rhythmic she is as a vocalist” — Guadeloupean Creole has a percussive flow — “and I got to play my Sixties Hofner bass as well as the ngoni.”

Bokante's founder has long been a student of instruments from elsewhere. League has learned Turkish percussion in Istanbul and traditional guembri techniques from Gnawa mentors. He has immersed himself in the oeuvres of such feted Malian musicians as Ali Farke Touré and ngoni-wizard Bassekou Kouyaté.

Being a jazz musician, League also likes to go his own way. “I always enjoy learning and respecting the history and role of each folkloric instrument I've studied,” he says. “But I never lose that outsider mentality of pushing an instrument beyond what it is traditionally meant to do.”

A song about the comfort found in nostalgia, ‘Flè A Mémwa’ was born out of an improvisation magicked by League and Tirolien during a workshop they hosted at Virginia's Jefferson Center. Together in Spain, Bokante’s four percussionists then recorded their contributions live, with Haddad's passages of vocal percussion breaking up the instrumentation, heightening the intimacy.

Featuring melodic exchanges between Tirolien’s vocals and Collier's shimmering lap steel, ‘Ta Voix’ is a paean to the power and beauty of song and music; the dreamy ‘Mikrob’, History’s most mellow track, is a perspective re-set, and an exercise in meta-kindness.

Driven by a groove written on guembri and wielded, with solos, on darbouka hand drums, ‘Tandé’ addresses black history. “It's about the struggles black people have experienced for centuries,” says Tirolien. “Many black figureheads tried to tell the world what was happening. They're only just being heard.”

History, then. An album that looks back in order to go forward. Words by Jane Cornwell.

Rossi/Hess/Moran – You Break You Buy

On Rossi/Hess/Moran, You Break You Buy, these three eminent artists, major players in multiple uber-creative settings, across multiple genres, came together with no script, a large array of instruments (and one dog toy) at hand, a blank canvas, and no plan other than to document the day and the many moments we are treated to on this album. “We just wanted to decorate time for some hours and create a sonic event, capture it, and share it,” said Hess. So ultimately this is a free improvisation record, but there are many other factors at play that combine to bring us this highly distinctive long-player.

Achieving a real identity as a trio comes from the players reacting to each other, listening, supporting, subverting and blending. Hess explains that, “the individual things we each bring aren’t coming out of thin air: in the arc of being a true improvisor, each statement has been growing, mutating, coalescing into its present form for a lifetime; getting at something purely new isn’t impossible but the seeds fall in old growth. So we’re carrying the past, the history of music as we know it, with us at all times. That’s what makes ‘improvisor’ an identity rather than a just a vocation.” What the trio of Rossi, Hess and Moran improvised on that day wouldn’t be the last of these sounds, as the music was later manipulated, harmonized, distorted and fortified. “For this album, in the singular moment of improvising, we’re rooted in the past, creating in the present, and looking to the future when these sounds will take their final form. Aware of this, we’re often improvising the foundation of what the pieces will finally be. Or sometimes the top floor first, or maybe even the garden out back. There are two layers of imagination here, not just what we’re going to play in the moment but what else they imply that we’re going to include later. Thinking beyond our own individual sounds, into a larger context, while still trying to speak out clearly, was a part of the brief. That said, there’s a good part of the record we left alone, in its space in time. There are places that we built over, layered up, and later stripped it all back to reveal what was underneath,” said Hess.

You can try to put a name/genre/label on this music, “but I don’t think it’ll do you any good. All three of us play jazz. All three of us play thorny, notated modern classical music. We all play pop music and traditional song forms. We study, practice and swoon over music from different parts of the globe,” explained Hess. He continues, “call it jazz and one immediately ponders what’s not there. Call it ‘classically influenced’ and then we can start rehashing tired old arguments about harmonic rigor and structure. Each of us, very consciously, has carved a place in the musical world where all these forms live at once, without hierarchy; past, present, and future, not just an attempted syncretism. In all of those concerts we’ve heard and records we love, it’s the individual sounds of the artists that’s often most captivating, the thing that leaves one spellbound. A few years ago I was lucky to briefly meet Wayne Shorter, and he gave us the imperative to ‘Keep going forward!’, and this record is completely in that spirit.”

Matt Moran - Audible Spirits

Vibraphonist and Diskonife co-founder Matt Moran brings us Audible Spirits, the eponymous release of a collaboration which recognizes that jazz brings its history with it, and that performance is the fulcrum between the past and the future: as musicians push the boundaries for the future, those that came before us are always present in the room. These three musicians – Sarah Elizabeth Charles (voice and effects), Curtis Hasselbring (samples and trombone), and Matt Moran (vibraphone) – use their instruments and electronic samples of Jamey Aebersold Play-A-Long recordings to explore legacy in jazz. By reverently diving deeply into this iconic jazz education tool and exploring jazz standards, Audible Spirits is a manifesto on historical lineage and individual creativity in a hall of mirrors.

Originally created as a live theater piece, Audible Spirits is grounded on the bedrock idea that public performance of jazz with a pre-recorded rhythm section is heresy. At the same time, generations of jazz musicians have come up practicing to tracks, especially Jamey Aebersold Play-A-Long tracks, in private. During the Covid pandemic the trio reworked the theater piece into a discrete musical statement that blurs the boundaries between heresy and convention, background and foreground, tradition and innovation, jazz and improvisation, electronic and acoustic sound, and the past and the future.

By sampling and manipulating the sounds of these jazz rhythm sections (with the permission of Jamey Aebersold), Audible Spirits invokes classic jazz sounds and forms and yet transforms them, sometimes subtly and sometimes completely. Each song is handled differently: the original track may be deconstructed to make new sounds that are played live to express the composition (Stolen Moments), or layered so that multiple versions of the form happen simultaneously or sequentially (All The Things You Are or Moment’s Notice), or manipulated as part of a “duo” improvisation with a soloist (Like Someone In Love), or any other path the musicians can imagine. The result is both reverent of the jazz tradition and deeply resists attempts to codify it. Vibraphonist Matt Moran said, “the project started as a way to process the institutionalization of jazz education, but ended up becoming much more than that. I came to see these recordings and their role in jazz in a much more complex way. The recordings themselves are a response to the ghosts in the room, and then working with the recordings becomes a refraction of that process.” All sounds on this record not made by voice, vibraphone, or trombone are from Jamey Aebersold Play-A-Long recordings, used with permission.

Woody Shaw's "Blackstone Legacy" features an all-star line-up, including Gary Bartz, Ron Carter and Lenny White

Craft Recordings and Jazz Dispensary proudly announce a vinyl reissue of Blackstone Legacy, the 1971 debut from influential trumpeter Woody Shaw. Showcasing the musician’s virtuosic talents as a bandleader, composer and improviser, this politically charged, postmodern classic also boasts impeccable performances by Gary Bartz, Lenny White, Ron Carter, Bernie Maupin, Clint Houston and George Cables.

The latest release in Jazz Dispensary’s acclaimed Top Shelf series, Blackstone Legacy has been meticulously remastered from the original analog tapes by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio and pressed on audiophile-quality 180-gram vinyl at RTI. The 2-LP album is housed in a gatefold tip-on jacket, featuring faithfully reproduced designs, as well as Nat Hentoff’s original liner notes, which include commentary by Shaw. Long out-of-print, Blackstone Legacy returns to vinyl on September 15 and can be pre-ordered here.

A pioneering figure in modern jazz, Woody Shaw (1944–1989) was revered for his unique harmonic approach and innovative technical abilities on the trumpet. Raised in Newark, NJ, Shaw began performing as a teenager, gaining formative experience as a sideman for the legendary saxophonist Eric Dolphy and spending over a year in Paris, where he honed his craft in clubs across Europe. In the mid-’60s, Shaw returned to the US, where he worked alongside such greats as Horace Silver, McCoy Tyner, Chick Corea, Andrew Hill, Max Roach and Art Blakey. By the turn of the decade, however, Shaw was eager to branch out on his own.

Balancing the past with the future, Shaw sought to honor his bebop roots, while embracing the avant-garde. His debut as a leader, Blackstone Legacy, embodied that stylistic bridge. Recorded in December 1970 and released the following year on Contemporary Records, the album featured some of the era’s most exciting talents, including funk-jazz icon Gary Bartz (alto and soprano saxophone), veteran bassist Ron Carter and fusion pioneer Lenny White (drums), plus such innovators as Bernie Maupin (tenor saxophone, bass clarinet) and Clint Houston (electric bass), as well as the esteemed keyboardist George Cables, whose work as a composer is also highlighted on two of the LP’s tracks (“Think On Me” and “New World”).

In the album’s liner notes, Shaw spoke to Hentoff about his intentions behind the record. “We’re trying to express what’s happening in the world today as we—a new breed of young musicians—feel it. I mean the different tensions in the world, the ridiculous war in Vietnam, the oppression of poor people in this, a country of such wealth. . . . We’re all also trying to reach a state of spiritual enlightenment in which we’re continually aware of what’s happening but react in a positive way. The music in this album, you see, expresses strength – confidence that we’ll overcome these things.”

Shaw added that the album was dedicated to the era’s youth, as well as to “the freedom of Black people all over the world.” He continued, “The ‘stone’ in the title is the image of strength. I grew up in a ghetto . . . I’ve seen all of that, and I’ve seen people overcome all of that. This music is meant to be a light of hope, a sound of strength and of coming through.”

The six tracks on Blackstone Legacy are expansive, allowing each of the musicians to embark on heady, improvisational journeys. The album opens with the dynamic, 16-minute-long title track, during which Shaw shines as a leader, as he confidently guides the septet through the energetic composition. Another highlight is the free-bop “Lost and Found,” which boasts several impressive drum solos by White, as well as the joyful “Boo-Ann’s Grand” (dedicated to Shaw’s wife, Betty Ann). The Cables-penned “New World,” meanwhile, offers phenomenally funky interplay—particularly between the electric pianist and Houston, who delivers plenty of groovy wah-wahs on the bass. The record closes on a reflective note, with a tribute to Shaw’s late mentor, “A Deed for Dolphy.”

In his liner notes for the album, Hentoff extolled, “What is so arresting about the performances . . . are the extraordinary range of colors; the fascinating dialogues and trialogues among the horns; the brilliantly fused rhythm section; the quite astonishing multiple-time-levels drumming by Lenny White; the sound of Bernie Maupin’s bass clarinet . . . and the unusually evocative textures George Cables creates on electric piano.” He adds that Blackstone Legacy would be “one of those records people are going to take care of because years hence, it is going to be a milestone, as it were, in a singularly influential career.”

Certainly, the critics agreed—and still do. Reflecting on the album decades later, AllMusic declared it to be “a landmark recording, and a pivot point in the history of post-modern music.” Blackstone Legacy launched a new era for Shaw, who would go on to release more than two dozen albums as a leader, including the GRAMMY®-nominated Rosewood (1978). Throughout the rest of his life, the prolific trumpeter, flugelhornist and cornetist continued to perform regularly as a sideman, appearing on records by Azar Lawrence, Bobby Hutcherson and Dexter Gordon, among many others. Dubbed “The Last Great Trumpet Innovator” by NPR, Shaw also dedicated much of his time to educating and mentoring others, while his work directly impacted the “Young Lion” generation of horn players, including Terence Blanchard, Wynton Marsalis and Chris Botti—the latter two of whom studied under Shaw in the ’80s.

In addition to multiple GRAMMY® nods, Shaw was a consistent favorite in the DownBeat Reader’s Poll, earning such awards as Best Trumpeter (1980) and Jazz Album of the Year (Rosewood, 1978), while in 1989, he was inducted posthumously into DownBeat’s Hall of Fame. Perhaps even more importantly, Shaw was universally respected by his peers, heroes and fans—from Dizzy Gillespie (“Woody Shaw is one of the voices of the future”) and Miles Davis (“Now there’s a great trumpet player. He can play different from all of them”) to Wynton Marsalis (“Woody added to the vocabulary of the trumpet. He was very serious, disciplined, and respectful towards jazz”). 

"Convergence" from NICK MACLEAN QUARTET feat. BROWNMAN ALI

"Convergence" is the sophomore release from the Nick Maclean Quartet feat. Brownman Ali and continues a modern re-imagining of the spirit of Herbie Hancock's primordial 60s quartet, extending many of the ideas from their debut critically acclaimed 2017 recording "Rites of Ascension" ("...you will be hard-pressed to find another production this good..." Raul da Gama, Toronto Music Report). Evolution abounds throughout this 2nd recording, with greater cross-pollinated experimentation between genres (funk, hip hop, cuban), more sophisticated & intricate writing from Maclean's pen, and further exploration of Herbie Hancock's classic cannon. As per their 1st album, the depth of synergistic connectivity between the 4 hand-picked members of Maclean's quartet are again a cornerstone to the ensemble's sound and group dynamic. Maclean advances his examination of the modern jazz ethos here with a crew unafraid of taking risks in the pursuit of collective narrative exploration and personal expression.

Led by 10x Global Music Award winning jazz pianist Nick Maclean, the Nick Maclean Quartet feat. Brownman Ali "...delivers jazz between the two poles of thoughtful introspection and powerhouse conveyance, taking influences from Herbie Hancock's primordial 1960's Blue Note era recordings featuring Freddie Hubbard..." (Memphis Marty, Jazz Music Blog, Australia).  Maclean's quartet heavily features one of Canada's most provocative improvising trumpet players -- Brownman Ali, heralded as "Canada's preeminent jazz trumpet player" by New York City's Village Voice, and best known globally as the last trumpet player with the legendary jazz-hip-hop group GURU's JAZZMATAZZ. Ali & Maclean stand shoulder to shoulder with two of Canada's top-tier rhythm section 20-somethings: Ben Duff on bass (Toronto) and Jacob Wutzke on drums (Montreal), drummer for 2x JUNO award winner Caity Gyorgy. The collective synergy of these four is always on full display and gives "Convergence" a freshness abound with interplay and inventiveness.

"Convergence" received support from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Toronto Arts Council, and qualifies under MAPL certification as 'Canadian content'.

"Convergence" officially releases on Browntasauras Records in Canada on Fri-Oct-27, 2023, and internationally on Fri-Nov-24, 2023

Ilhan Ersahin, Dave Harrington, Kenny Wollesen, New EP 'Your Head You Know'

The new EP by Ilhan Ersahin, Dave Harrington, Kenny Wollesen is titled our Head You Know,  is the follow up to their album "Invite Your Eye" that came out last year. The record really encapsulates the feeling of late night jazz; an after hours jam session between close collaborators and friends that unfolds with almost telepathic effortlessness. And though it may appear as though this album is the result of improvisation, it is in fact a mixture of studio based compositions with raw improvisation taken apart and reconstructed with dubbing and editing. Producer and musician Dave Harrington says "It was the first project I really threw myself into when I first moved to Los Angeles and so was informed in large part by my first experiences here, my nostalgia for New York, and also the imagined Los Angeles of the mind that I try to live in: a place where the psychedelic can be both inspiring and sinister, and where possibility and reality are in constant competition and conversation."

With drummer Kenny Wollesen (Tom Waits, John Zorn, Norah Jones) and Dave Harrington (of electronic duo Darkside) guitar/bass/electronics, New York-based Swedish/Turkish saxophonist, composer, club-label owner Ilhan Ersahin captures the vibe of impromptu, cross-pollinating, and heavily grooving late-night jam sessions at Nublu, his “East Village Club where everything goes” (New York Times).

The telepathy and intuition that flows between these three musicians is one that has developed over many years of playing together in different combinations, and on a permanent regular basis at NYC's Nublu, searching and creating together in the moment. What they have come up with has evolved steadily over that time and its current form can be heard to brilliant effect on their new album "Invite Your Eye" which is due out on March 4th following three advance singles.

The exploratory instrumental space-jazz these gentlemen purvey has many antecedents and influences but perhaps it's best not to cite names and instead let the music speak for itself. This sound and approach comes as naturally to them as breathing, hence the album title which is also the title of the first single.

"Invite Your Eye" and "Even As You Smile" are the other two teasers set to follow right after the title track before the album as a whole arrives to provide a fuller picture of the magic these three sonic wizards have in store for you.

Introducing Mad Myth Science, the next generation of Chicago's powerful creative music scene

Mad Myth Science is the creative convergence of Molly Jones, Julian Otis, Wilson Tanner Smith, and Ben Zucker. All four musicians have a bevy of multi-disciplinary achievements to their names — while working together, they put these into service of a blend of shapechanging acoustic group sounds characteristic of many of Chicago’s notable experimental music scenes. The AACM’s advances in improvised music are perhaps the most obvious touchstone for the group’s dynamic of chamber-music & free improvisation hybridity: the considerate use of space and generous inclusion of all kinds of made sounds recognizable in the work of Roscoe Mitchell or Muhal Richard Abrams, but made in and for the 21st century, where genre and background gives way to performance of all kinds of modes of intensities. Correspondingly, the group’s name alludes to the expansive philosophy of creative music pioneer Sun Ra, in part—where any “mad science” is concerned, the mixtures of genres, instruments, and media at play in their performances are hardly villainous, but certainly aspire to a level of unbound. And the circumstances in which the band forged their group identity — over Skype and Zoom connections as a promising collaboration was thrown off by the onset COVID-19 — involved their own kinds of madness and science.

Though the members of Mad Myth Science all had shared background and experience performing together, attuning to each other via software brought the necessary attention and sensitivity to a new level, as well as the ability to move in and out of apparently cohesive interactions.

Before “We Instruments” melts away with precision under Otis’ final delivery, it sets forth with blazing layers of perpetual motion. Elsewhere, such as in the “Meditations”, all players reach an equal level of delicacy in their final exchanges. Small percussion and subtle live electronics give the occasional uncanny hint to the proceedings. Myth aims to explain, or at its very least (and best?) generates aspirations towards awareness, resilience, and wonder. The myths we make about improvisation, or about ourselves, are part of what still give our present existence a sense of itself. This was how Mad Myth Science sustained itself for a long time, and its approach only kaleidoscoped when the opportunity to play live became possible again. Online, offline, as “new music” or “jazz”, as sound in itself or augmented through movement and performance, the group’s shows have been potent experiences across Chicago. This album is a snapshot of that experience — select edits of hours of playing in the renowned Experimental Sound Studio. It shows part of what makes the group what it is: the invocations, surfaces, energies, and contemplations that reach us as sounds; but like any experiment, a catalyst to bring all involved into something further.

Mad Myth Science was supported by New Music USA’s Creator Development Fund in 2022-23.

Asynchrone | French jazz/electro plays Ryuichi Sakamoto

Asynchrone is a collective born in 2021, which assembles musicians from the Parisian free jazz and electro scenes, to honour the music of late Japanese legend, Ryuichi Sakamoto. Making their debut with the release of the ‘Kling Klang’ EP in summer 2022, Asynchrone today releases a new single, a few months after Sakamoto’s passing. ‘Plastic Bamboo’ is also the title track of Asynchrone's forthcoming debut album, due for release on September 29, 2023 via the Nø Førmat! label (Ballaké Sissoko, Oumou Sangaré). You can stream the new track - a reimagining of the piece which originally appeared on Sakamoto’s 1978 solo debut LP ‘Thousand Knives’ - from here.

Asynchrone’s personnel is a link-up between cellist Clément Petit (Aloe Blacc), producer and musician Frédéric Soulard (who produced Jeanne Added’s Victoire De La Musique-winning album), clarinet/saxophone player Hugues Mayot, flautist Delphine Joussein, pianist Manuel Peskine, and Vincent Taeger (A.L.B.E.R.T.) on drums. Influenced by Sakamoto’s freedom, his mysticism, and his ability to draw inspiration from Debussy as much as from Kraftwerk, Asynchrone revisits his Homeric back catalogue with a breath of rebellious freedom and a communicative pleasure of playing. More than a tribute to a frozen work, it is a tribute to creative freedom.

Speaking about their interpretation of ‘Plastic Bamboo’, Soulard says;

The original version sounds like slow Funk mixed with influences from Kraftwerk, with a very melodic theme that reminds you of François de Roubaix's music. This new refined and dynamic version gives more space to the drums, cello and rhythm boxes that give a sense of urgency to it, while the flute and the piano are playing the theme, giving it an exotica touch.

Drummer Ray Levier's "Wig Glue," featuring Will Lee, Etienne Stadwijk, and Mike Stern

Professional drummer and in demand side man, Ray Levier, just released his most poignant and personal track to date. His jazz funk fusion track "Wig Glue" is a spirited and groove-filled composition that pays homage to the resilience and determination of legendary guitarist Mike Stern, the multiple Grammy-nominated guitarist, a former member of Miles Davis’ band during the early 1980s and subsequent member of Miles Davis, Steps Ahead, Jaco Pastorius’ Word of Mouth and The Brecker Brothers.

The backstory behind the song adds a layer of depth and inspiration to the music, as it was born out of a unique solution that helped Stern regain his grip on the guitar pick after a devastating accident left him with broken arms and nerve damage. The incident occurred on July 3, 2016, when Stern stumbled upon hidden construction debris while hailing a cab in Manhattan. This unfortunate event shattered both of his humerus bones and left him struggling with tasks as simple as holding a pick. 

Determined to overcome this setback, Stern found a temporary solution in the form of wig glue. It was a conversation with Etienne Stadwijk, a fellow musician, that led Stern to seek out Ray Levier, who was already using wig glue on his drumsticks to enhance his grip after his accident.

Levier, a highly talented drummer, shared his unconventional method with Stern, and the results were remarkable. Stern found that using wig glue improved his ability to hold the pick and continue performing. Grateful for the solution, Stern mentioned Levier in interviews and expressed his deep appreciation for the fortuitous suggestion. 

They playfully refer to themselves as members of the "wig glue club," a testament to their bond and shared experience. "Wig Glue" serves as a dedication to both Ray and Mike Stern's resilience and the idea that if something is broken, one can simply glue it back together and carry on. 

"Wig Glue, it's not only a song, it's what keeps my groove strong!" quips Ray.

The track embodies the spirit of funk, infusing it with elements of jazz and fusion to create a dynamic and infectious sound. Levier's rhythmic prowess shines through, showcasing his ability to drive the groove and deliver captivating musical moments.

Both Etienne Stadwijk and Mike Stern have established themselves as highly respected musicians in the industry. Stadwijk’s impressive discography includes collaborations with renowned artists such as Richard Bona, Sadao Watanabe, Paul Simon, and Maxwell, among many others. Stern's notable contributions to jazz and fusion can be traced back to his time with Miles Davis, Steps Ahead, and The Brecker Brothers, solidifying his status as a guitar virtuoso.

In a harmonious convergence of musical prowess, the esteemed bassist Will Lee, known for his remarkable contributions on 'Late Night with David Letterman' and collaborations with acclaimed figures such as George Benson and The Brecker Brothers, joins forces with Ray LeVier and friends. Together, they embark on exploring the melodic enchantment of “Wig Glue.”

"Wig Glue" captures the essence of overcoming adversity and pushing forward in the face of challenges. With its infectious rhythms, captivating melodies, and spirited performances, the track is a testament to the power of music to inspire and uplift. Ray Levier's tribute to Mike Stern is a testament to the strong bonds and mutual support that exist within the music community.

New Releases: Noah Gershwin / Bob Marley & The Wailers / Emilia Sisco / DJ Harrison

Noah Gerswhin - Ode To Abraham

Noah Gershwin explores pushing the boundaries of free improvisation within the confines of the jazz idiom. He has performed at venues and festivals such as The Stone, SF Jazz, and the Iowa City Jazz Festival, and has collaborated with artists such as Okkyung Lee, Billy Hart, Immanuel Wilkins, Ben Street, Jochen Rueckert and Steve Earl. Gershwin’s freshman trio album, “Ode to Abraham” presents a culmination of the past six years in his musical life living and playing in New York City. Rather than looking back at the past six years through a lens of nostalgia, Gershwin composes with gratitude in mind, his music representative of the people and places he comes from. The album title, “Ode to Abraham” pays homage to Abraham F. Greener, Gershwin’s grandfather who was born on September 7, 1909 in New York City. Gershwin comes from Abraham, from Philadelphia’s Clef Club, from late nights at Grassroots on St. Marks Pl, and from each musician who has come over for a midday espresso and session. “Ode to Abraham” is representative of where Gershwin has been, from writing under his loft bed on Stanton St. to under his guitar loft in Prospect Heights, but also, where he is going. 

Bob Marley & The Wailers - Bob Marley – Live At The Quiet Night Club – June 10, 1975

Live material from Bob Marley & The Wailers – recorded in an obscure nightclub in our hometown of Chicago during the 70s, and quite a nice change from some of the bigger label releases of the time! The band has a loose, very spontaneous vibe – and there's a nice flow to the longer length of the tracks – served up with instrumentation from Earl Lindon on keyboards and organ, Al Anderson on guitar, Aston Family Man Barrett on bass, and Carlton Barrett on drums – with backing vocals from the I-Threes behind Bob's lead vocals! Titles include "Rebel Music", "Talkin Blues", "Concrete Jungle", "Natty Dread", "I Shot The Sherriff", "Slave Driver", and "Midnight Ravers". ~ Dusty Groove

Emilia Sisco - Trouble

After her debut Timmion Records single ‘Don't Believe You Like That’, Emilia Sisco is back in the fold with a double sider of the highest order. Emilia seems to feel right at home with the material that she cooks up with Cold Diamond & Mink, filling both songs to the brim with soul. Despite its title, ‘Trouble’ strolls along with a delicately sweet mid-tempo groove and a nicely abundant arrangement, each of Emilia's lyrical calls getting a response from the background harmonizers and the band steady tightening up while the song builds towards its conclusion. The B-side slows things down to a lush southern soul drawl, coming off like a classy forgotten Hi session. Both of these tracks present a singer who has paid her dues by studying the craft and polishing it for years in front of live audiences. Now it's time for Emilia to push her voice out there on the wings of her own original songs, a feature that we've come to expect from the Timmion stable.

DJ Harrison - Monotones

An underground soul gem from DJ Harrison – aka Devonne Harris – a set that features the man himself on all the instruments, served up in a lean take on classic soul modes of the 70s! Think of the record as a one-man effort to capture some of the charms of Curtis Mayfield or the Isleys – sometimes on short tracks that are more sketches of ideas, but woven together as a much larger whole that really bristles with color and imagination throughout! There's plenty of Fender Rhodes on the set, and Harrison's got this crackling vocal style that's instantly charming – on cuts that include "Cigarette Ember", "Chester Fields", "I Gotta Go To Work", "The Man", "Soul Food Nostalgia", "DayDreaming", and "Chinatown Bus". ~ Dusty Groove

New Music: Alexander IV / Micatone / Zack Clarke & Alex Louloudis / Izy

Alexander IV - Musica 

Musica is something of a surprise summertime special release, following on from the recent Westbound EP by accomplished multi-instrumentalist and producer Alexander IV, otherwise known as Joris Feiertag. This latest sobriquet has allowed the Dutch beatmaker to move away from his more club focused offerings, to explore his hip hop, soul and jazz roots. The track is a Brasilian flavoured bossa nova beauty that starts sweetly and easily with mellow guitars and drums joined by enchanting South American vocals reminiscent of Astrud Gilberto, Joyce or the much missed Gal Costa. Breezy keys join the soothing mix, giving Musica the feel of an Ipanema classic, before things are turned up a notch, with a heavier samba sensation in the piece’s dying moments. Alexander IV’s music fuses organic and electronic elements with ease, which isn’t surprising given the artist’s experience not only as a consummate dance music maker, but also as drummer of choice for Dutch superstars Kraak & Smaak. Add to that an extended family of gifted musicians, and you’ve got something brand new yet retro; uncomplicated yet masterful.

Micatone - Where Do You Belong

German nu jazz stalwarts Micatone return to Sonar Kollektiv after a six year hiatus with the ethereal and emotionally charged coming-of-age piece, Where Do You Belong? The core duo of the band, Boris Meinhold on guitar and synths and Lisa Bassenge on vocals, have been making music for the label for over two decades, with five studio albums and numerous singles to date. Where Do You Belong? was inspired by singer Lisa’s now nineteen year old daughter at a time when she was trying to find her place in the world. Lisa explains that the “song (is) about the in-between state humans find themselves in when they grow up. A phase where life seems full of possibilities, shiny and brand new but at the same time scary and somehow overwhelming.” The track was produced during COVID lockdown with Boris using field recordings, guitars, an old organ bass pedal and choir that give the track that celestial feel. Lisa wrote the melodies and lyrics over the top and asked vocalists Lilian Bennett-Schaar, Johanna Maisel and Josephine Pritz to sing the choral parts. Label head honcho, Oliver Glage, then had the idea of Stefan Leisering, of Jazzanova, providing the programmed drums, and the track was complete. An elegant, touching and yet somewhat intangible new offering, and the first of a little series of pieces out on the label in 2023.

Zack Clarke & Alex Louloudis - What We Are

I'm reminded of Bartok's Mikrokosmos; his series of six volumes for tackling technical piano techniques he thought were missing from educational material for teaching "modern piano works" but in this case, it would be for drums and piano. And it's not that this album I'm sharing with you sounds like etudes, but they have a cohesiveness and "point" to each piece, even though there is quite a bit of free improvisation (note: this is not a free jazz record). Sometimes I also hear Erik Satie high on a pot of coffee. You decide. 'What We Are' is the flower that came out of the years-long collaboration between Zack Clarke (from Texas, now NYC) and Alex Louloudis (originally from Greece). The two met in New York City, became friends, and started collaborating in a variety of musical situations. Countless sessions, exploring the freer side of the Jazz idiom, gigs, and Louloudis' graduation recital from the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music are some of the occasions that tighten their musical and personal connection. As may be apparent from listening to the album, both Clarke and Louloudis find their aesthetic preferences closer to the free jazz approaches. At the same time, one can understand that the two are heavily rooted into the jazz tradition as well as other important traditions that come from different places in the world. High on their list of influences, both in the composition and improvisation fronts, the two have Ornette Coleman and his innovation of the harmolodic approach. 

Izy - Close The Door

Izy are back with a new single: ‘Close The Door’, a slinky piece of minimalist analog neo-soul, their first new piece of music since 2021’s Irene album.Led by the heartfelt and sensual vocals of bassist Warrigo Tyrrell aka Waari, the song is an ode to cutting off the noise of the outside world and tuning in with yourself. Closing the door to past relationships and habits and shifting from old actions to new, opening a path to new growth, rooted in what is real and personal - home and family. Warrigo’s voice is supported by his own perfectly executed electric bass playing, sitting right in the pocket with drummer Maru Nitor-Zammataro and the sublime, understated guitar comping of Ryotaro Noshiro. The trio’s connection is near-psychic, and testament to the fact they’ve been playing together since they were teens. The entire rhythm track is a single improvisation captured on tape at the Hopestreet Recordings HQ which the band then worked back into creating vocal melodies and parts as a group. In Warrigo’s words: “We all came together in the vocal booth to find suited melodies, collectively building on each other’s ideas and eventually developing a storyline.” This song is a recommended listen for fans of anything from D’angelo to Curtis Mayfield, with a rhythmic feel and vocal performance informed by contemporary neo-soul but the analog textures speaking to older soul and jazz influences. Close The Door is the beginning of a new cycle of music from Izy with more singles due later in 2023 and an album scheduled for 2024.

Damian "Jr. Gong” Marley - Covers George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord"

4x GRAMMY AWARD® - winning reggae artist Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley is back with a new single, highlighting his interpretation of a timeless classic of George Harrison’s “My Sweet Lord”. Marley's rendition of "My Sweet Lord" is said to capture the essence of the original while blending it with his own reggae-infused style, creating a fresh and captivating musical experience. 

The song, "My Sweet Lord," is a cover of Harrison's classic hit from his 1970 album All Things Must Pass. Marley puts his own spin on the spiritual anthem, giving the track a fresh sound with his signature reggae style and soulful vocals. The single marks Marley's first solo release since 2019's "Reach Home Safe," and his first release under his own label, Ghetto Youths International, which he runs with his brothers Stephen and Julian Marley.

Marley chose to cover "My Sweet Lord" because of its timeless message and its relevance to the current state of the world. Showcasing his distinctive sound and artistry, Marley adds to his repertoire by collaborating with music legends such as Mick Jagger and forming the group 'Super Heavy.' The single will be available on all digital platforms on July 28th, coinciding with the 52nd anniversary of Harrison's Concert for Bangladesh, the first major benefit concert in history, which raised funds and awareness for the humanitarian crisis in Bangladesh. Marley hopes that his single will also inspire people to support causes that are close to their hearts and make a positive difference in the world.

The youngest son of Reggae legend Bob Marley, Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley garnered his own place in music history when he became the first ever Reggae artist to win a GRAMMY AWARD® outside of the Reggae category, taking home an award for Best Urban/Alternative performance for his title single, “Welcome To Jamrock.” The acclaimed 2005 breakthrough disc Welcome To Jamrock, also won a GRAMMY AWARD® for Best Reggae Album, whilst the New York Times named it “the best reggae song of the decade.” Marley has been shaking up stages all over the world for the past few years, first in conjunction with his Distant Relatives project where he teams up with Nas and brother Stephen Marley, and then when he went on to partner with Skrillex for their groundbreaking track “Make It Bun Dem”, which Rolling Stone called “a monster mash up of dubstep and dancehall.” Which went on to sell over 500,000 copies in the United States alone. Following the track’s success, the reggae superstar released his fourth studio album, Stony Hill, resulting in his third GRAMMY AWARD® for Best Reggae Album. Marley is also working with his brothers Stephen and Julian under their Ghetto Youths International Label, to discover, develop and sign gifted artists – applying their musical talent and vast experience to create new and different styles of music. Recently, Marley collaborated on and produced The Kalling by Kabaka Pyramid in September of 2022. The 15-track project went on to win Best Reggae Album at the 65th Annual GRAMMY AWARDS®.

TCQ - The Path | Canadian jazz group

TCQ (The Cookers Quintet) is a Canadian jazz group, with a sound firmly rooted in the ‘60s hard bop movement.

The core members each bring their own unique qualities to the band’s sound. Saxophonist Ryan Oliver’s fat, full tenor tone might bring to mind heavyweight Dexter Gordon, but it’s blended with sophistication and subtlety. Oliver shares the front line with Tim Hamel, a trumpet player that can bring a hot, uptempo number to a boil and then carry a ballad with lyricism and beauty minutes later. The rock solid foundation of all of this is bassist Alex Coleman, who’s clearly grounded in the Ray Brown/Paul Chambers school of keeping the bass steady and swinging.

During the fall of 2021, while on tour in the west coast of Canada with Bernie Senensky (Piano), and Joe Poole (Drums), the group performed a brand new set of original compositions to live audiences which subsequently became the 8-track studio album, ‘The Path’. From Oliver’s opening blues, “Undisputed”, to Hamel’s Wayne Shorter-inspired album title track, the group has produced another exciting offering of original Canadian jazz steeped in the tradition. “With our fourth record we wanted to create something that maintained the group’s original voice and sensibilities while reflecting inspiration from some of our 60s jazz heros.” says Oliver.

Canadian jazz legend, Bernie Senensky has performed with the greats including Art Blakey and the Jazz messengers, Elvin Jones, and Pharoah Sanders. His deep harmonic sense and captivating improvisational style brought an edge to the record that could only be provided by a musician of Senensky‘s stature. With a degree in Jazz Performance under the guidance of Oscar Peterson, drummer Joe Poole has gradually gained an international reputation. His tasteful playing, sense of groove, and rhythmic fluidity have led him to accompany an impressive list of top musicians including Ernestine Anderson, Curtis Fuller, and Marcus Belgrave.

Born out of a weekly residency, TCQ cut their teeth on the classic, hard swinging music of Horace Silver, and Hank Mobley; it didn’t take long before they were writing tunes of their own. “We wanted to have tunes that would be swinging, straight ahead, and essentially, fun tunes with great rhythms and memorable melodies that even non-jazz lovers would be attracted to,” says Coleman.

TCQ has previously released 3 albums, Vol. 1 (2011), Vol. 2 (2015) featuring Leron Thomas and Dawn Pemberton, and Vol. 3 (2016) featuring NYC legend Johnny O’Neal on piano and vocals. Their sound pays homage to the jazz’s golden era while remaining unique and contemporary.

Kerry Politzer | "In a Heartbeat,\"

Kerry Politzer reaffirms her high regard as both a pianist and a composer on In a Heartbeat, to be released  on Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble (PJCE) Records. In particular, it puts Portland, Oregon-based Politzer’s writing back in the spotlight. The quintet album (featuring Portland trumpeter Thomas Barber, saxophonist/flutist Joe Manis, bassist Garrett Baxter, and drummer George Colligan) is her first in eight years to exclusively feature her own compositions and arrangements.

Not to say that Politzer hasn’t kept busy in the time since 2014’s Below the Surface, her last collection of originals. The pianist is a first-call player on Portland’s increasingly rich jazz scene, as well as an educator on Portland State University’s jazz faculty. She also received grants in 2019 and 2020 to explore the work of great Brazilian pianists (one of whom was the subject of her 2019 album, Diagonal: The Music of Durval Ferreira).

Even so, writing music has remained among Politzer’s top priorities. “Composing is one of the things I enjoy the most,” she says. “I tend to be shy and I feel like I need to put myself out there, to make an emotional statement.”

In a Heartbeat certainly does that. It’s a kaleidoscope of moods, grooves, and even timbre (with Manis’s rotation between flute and tenor and soprano saxes as the wild card). “Spring Day” basks in a midtempo waltz and knowing satisfaction; the gently swinging title track is both romantic and mysterious; “3 AM” is slow and unsettling, even foreboding; and “Goodbye” is all lyrical melancholia.

The powerful emotions and equally powerful shifts are a reflection of the time of COVID-19, during which the bulk of the music was created. “A lot of this music was coming from my subconscious,” Politzer says. “Some of it came to me in a dream, and I’d wake up and write the rest of it down. This music is a product of the dreamlike headspace I was in during the pandemic.” 

If it was not a comfortable headspace in which to be, it was a remarkably inspiring one. In a Heartbeat is a glimpse at how Politzer, like any artist worthy of the name, transformed her reaction to anxious and uncertain times into bold, often haunting creative work.

Kerry Politzer was born in Washington, DC in 1971. There was music on both sides of her family, and she inherited that muse. She started playing piano at the age of four and pursued its study first at North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem, NC, where she attended high school, then at the New England Conservatory in Boston, where she studied with Geri Allen, Bevan Manson, and Charlie Banacos. 

Having caught the jazz bug as a teenager, Politzer went to the music’s mecca, New York City, after completing her degree at NEC. She worked with the DIVA Jazz Orchestra, established herself on the jam session and Brazilian jazz scenes, and began cultivating a book of original compositions, made manifest on her 2001 debut album Yearning. 

She continued documenting her music with 2002’s Watercolor, 2005’s Labyrinth, and 2010’s Blue in Blue. The latter two featured George Colligan—the acclaimed pianist and multi-instrumentalist who became her husband in 2005—on drums. The family transplanted itself across the country to Oregon in 2011, where both Colligan and Politzer took faculty positions at Portland State University. 

Her music has continued to flourish and develop on the West Coast, where Politzer has also taught at the University of Portland and played in Bossa PDX, the Chuck Israels Jazz Orchestra, and the Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble, and as a featured artist in the 25th Annual Gene Harris Jazz Festival in Boise, ID. She has also continued recording with 2014’s Below the Surface, 2019’s Diagonal: The Music of Durval Ferreira, and the new release In a Heartbeat.

Montreal-Based Pianist Andrés Vial Explores a Lyrical Vision on Juno-Nominated "When Is Ancient?"

Lyricism is the order of the day on When Is Ancient?, the sixth album by Montreal pianist-composer Andrés Vial, releasing in the U.S. September 30 on his own Chromatic Audio label. Recorded with a trio featuring bassist Martin Heslop and drummer Tommy Crane, the album is an expressive affair packed with rumination, sensitive interplay, and stunning melody. Initially released as a streaming-only album on December 31, 2020, When Is Ancient? has already garnered considerable acclaim, including a 2022 Juno Award (the Canadian Grammy) nomination for Jazz Album of the Year. 

As its June 2020 session date might suggest, it’s a small miracle that When Is Ancient? happened at all. Both Heslop (Kevin Dean, Devin Brahja Waldman) and Crane (Aaron Parks, Melissa Aldana) are old friends of Vial’s, but the three had never performed together before. “Martin, who I’ve played with for 15 years, was moving to Toronto to go to law school and work at a legal clinic for refugees. I wanted to cut a record with him before he left town,” the pianist recalls. “Tommy had moved to Montreal a few years before, but he was always on tour or teaching in Italy.”

 The COVID-19 pandemic kept all three of them in the city, of course, but hardly encouraged a group effort. The session was scheduled, then delayed several times over. “There was so much uncertainty about even being in a room together,” Vial says.

What they finally captured once together is well worth the effort. The somber tones of “La Nuit Est Un Soleil Voilé” and “Spring 2020” carry a powerful resonance, but it finds a complement in the understated joy of “Jabok” and “Mister Mystery.” This shadows-and-light balance is also studded with idiosyncratic gems, such as the Afro-Latin meditation “Senderos” and the surprisingly down-home “The Map Is Not the Territory.”

There are some themes running across When Is Ancient?, among them the musicians’ shared intensity after months of silence and a marking of lost time (“Spring 2020”) and people (the title track was inspired by the deaths of McCoy Tyner and Harold Mabern, along with Keith Jarrett’s loss of performing ability). The album’s true throughline, however, is its lyrical richness. Not one track is untouched by the trio’s confluence of melody, grace, and uncommon delicacy that keeps calling out to the listener well after the last notes have faded. 

Andrés Vial was born January 25, 1979 in Montreal. From his first memories, Andrés was seated at the piano of his father, an accomplished amateur musician, making up little songs. He eventually began taking classical lessons, also learning pop and Latin records that he heard around the house. But when he was 11 his mother came home with a copy of John Coltrane’s Blue Train, which altered his trajectory forever.

Andrés joined his middle school and high school jazz bands, then enrolled in the New School in New York, where his teachers included Hal Galper, Joe Chambers, Bill Charlap, and Buster Williams. After graduation, he returned to Montreal and became a full-time musician playing jazz, funk, hip-hop, and reggae (and writing commissions for films and contemporary dance). He also became a member of the city’s Kalmunity Vibe Collective, a grassroots assemblage that welcomes players and ideas from black musical forms all over the world. Vial had the opportunity as well to perform with visiting musicians including Ingrid Jensen, Michael Blake, Greg Cohen, Bassekou Kouyate, and the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble. 

Members of Kalmunity, including singer Malika Tirolien, appeared on Vial’s debut recording, 2007’s Trio/Septet. He followed it up with 2011’s The Infinite Field, a minimalist effort on which he played piano and vibraphone. While these two albums featured all original compositions, the next, conception/oblivion (2015), concentrated on a variety of American and Argentine composers, and Sphereology Volume 1 (2018) explored the music of Thelonious Monk. Vial the composer re-emerged with 2019’s Gang of Three (a trio record with bassist Dezron Douglas and Eric McPherson) and 2021’s Music for Film and Contemporary Dance Vol. 1 (a collection of Vial’s commissioned works). He continues in that vein with When Is Ancient?

Pianist George Colligan's "King's Dream"

George Colligan expresses the complexities and conflicting emotions of our confusing, sometimes chaotic times with the release of King’s Dream (PJCE Records). Though not quite a sequel, the album builds on many of the themes presented on his previous solo album, 2018’s Nation Divided.

The 11 original compositions on King’s Dream (Colligan’s 36th album as a leader) are not all new: Some of them go as far back as 2008. But like all the best improvised jazz, the tunes become about the moment in which they’re being played—in this case a very fraught moment. “It was and still is such an unusual time,” Colligan says. “Who knows what tomorrow brings? The music is a representation of that uncertainty.”

The variety of moods on the album help underscore that uncertainty. It moves from the wistful, bittersweet “Clearing the Mind” to the glorious funk of “Change”; from the hard-bitten “Blues for Dwayne Burno” to the lyrical balance of hope and trouble in “King’s Dream”; from the plaintive “Wishing for Things to Happen” to the sanguine “Finally a Rainbow.”

The title track of King’s Dream is also its centerpiece. Invoking the famous ideals of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the piece both echoes and questions that optimism, making for a statement both timely and timeless about American life while also serving as a microcosm for the album’s precarious position between glass-half-full and half-empty—with glass-half-full perhaps taking the edge.

“In this challenging era and complex world in which we live, we have to believe that good will and enlightenment will prevail over ignorance and hatred,” Colligan writes in the album’s liner notes. “I don’t know whether music can make a difference, but I dedicate my album to those who believe in, as drummer Al Foster would say, ‘Peace, Love, and Jazz.’”George Colligan

George Colligan was born December 29. 1969 in Summit, New Jersey, but considers his hometown to be Columbia, Maryland, where he grew up since about the age of 3. In the fourth grade he took up trumpet in the elementary school band, then got serious about the instrument in middle school—around the time he discovered jazz from a neighbor who gave him a stack of Clifford Brown, Dizzy Gillespie, and Miles Davis records.

Colligan went to Baltimore’s Peabody Institute, earning his degree in classical trumpet. While in Baltimore, though, he started teaching himself to play jazz licks on piano, soon getting gigs on the local scene, and suddenly found himself selling all his trumpets and becoming a professional pianist.

He shuttled back and forth between Baltimore and Washington, DC, mentoring with such musicians as Paul Carr, Gary Thomas, and Reuben Brown for several years before he made the leap to New York City in 1995. These associations meant that he already had some cachet on the New York scene when he arrived, and he was soon working with legendary figures like Eddie Henderson, Gary Bartz, and Lee Konitz, as well as recruiting the revered bassist Dwayne Burno and drummer Ralph Peterson for his own 1996 debut Activism.

His career continued to grow, collaborating fruitfully with other greats of his generation including Ingrid Jensen, Mark Turner, Nicholas Payton, and Kurt Rosenwinkel; working under Jack DeJohnette, Buster Williams, Billy Hart, and Al Foster; and recording dozens of albums under his own name. In 2005, he married fellow pianist Kerry Politzer, and a few years later they moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba, where he began a career as a jazz educator.

That career continued on to a job at Oregon’s Portland State University, where Colligan moved in 2011 and remains today. In addition to his academic work, he has become a mainstay of the Portland jazz scene—as a drummer as well as a pianist. (He’s the drummer on Kerry Politzer’s latest CD, In a Heartbeat, also on PJCE Records.) Indeed, although King’s Dream is a solo album, it is also a collaboration with a longtime Portland colleague, pianist Randy Porter, who recorded, mixed, and mastered the album at his Heavywood Studio.

New Music: Dave Douglas & Elan Mehler / Dinner Party (Terrace Martin, Robert Glasper, 9th Wonder, & Kamasi Washington) / Javier Nero / Greg Foat & Gigi Masin

Dave Douglas & Elan Mehler - If There Are Mountains

A collaboration between trumpeter Dave Douglas and pianist Elan Mehler – but a record that seems to draw equal input from the vocals of Dominique Eade, who's a key force on the session – delivering these darkly poetic lyrics that are matched beautifully by both of the leaders – then taken into a rich tapestry of sonic activity through further work from John Gunther on saxes and bass clarinet, Simon Willson on bass, and Dayeon Seok on drums. The original album was a vinyl-only release on the subscription-only Newvelle label, but this CD issue adds in other tracks not on the vinyl – a set of 13 titles that include "Even A Nameless Stream", "Wolf Orchard", "Here On The Plains", "Barn's Burnt Down", "Life", The Spring Current", "With Your Singing", and "If There Are Mountains". ~ Dusty Groove

Dinner Party (Terrace Martin, Robert Glasper, 9th Wonder, & Kamasi Washington) - Enigmatic Society

Maybe the best work so far from this really wonderful group – a magnificent match of the keyboards of Robert Glasper, the saxophones of Terrace Martin and Kamasi Washington, and the superb production talents of 9th Wonder – all working together in a stunning blend of jazz, soul, funk, and hip hop! The tunes have a sharpness and focus that's even more powerful than previous work by the lineup – like they've really found that special space where the all-stars can come together in a united voice that really soars – working with key contributions from Phoelix on vocals, alongside Arin Ray and Ant Clemons. Titles include "Insane", "Watts Renaissance", "For Granted", "Secure", "Can't Go", "The Lower East Side", "Love Love", and "Answered Prayer". ~, Dusty Groove

Javier Nero - Kemet: The Black Land

Maybe the strongest statement so far as a leader by Javier Nero – a larger group recording that really bristles with energy – full of all sorts of fantastic twists and turns amidst a set of original compositions by Nero, all every bit as soulful as you might guess from the album's title! Nero blow trombone, but he's an equally strong leader – and the group features some key guest work from Sean Jones on trumpet and Warren Wolf on vibes – the latter of whom gets two especially nice solos on the set! Titles include "Reflections On The Dark Tranquil Water", "Discord", "One Day", "Kemet The Black Land", "Time", "Nostalgic Haiku", and "Just Let Go".  ~ Dusty Groove

Greg Foat & Gigi Masin - Dolphin

The keyboards of Greg Foat have a really great setting here in a collaboration with Gigi Masin – served up in a style that's maybe more laidback and spacious than before, yet in a way that makes us fall in love with Greg's electric piano lines all over again! Masin's got roots in more ambient sounds, but the record definitely has a jazz approach at the core – plenty of the increasingly sensitive styles that Foat has developed as the years moved on – shifting from an initial role as a guy who could handle vintage keys, to a point where he's really emerged as a more fully-fledged jazz player overall! The blend of keyboards and a larger sonic palette still has plenty of live instrumentation in the mix – different than a project of this sort by an artist like Bugge Wesseltoft – and titles include "London Nights", "Viento Calido", "Your Move", "Sabena", "Leo Theo", "Love Theme", and "Dolphin". ~ Dusty Groove