Saxophonist Benjamin Boone Adds New Layers to His Experiments with Poetry and Jazz on "Caught in the Rhythm"

Benjamin Boone’s large-scale project fusing jazz with contemporary poetry reaches its deepest, richest point yet on Caught in the Rhythm, to be released September 15 on Origin Records. The fourth album in the saxophonist-composer’s series matches his remarkable assemblage of revered poets—including Edward Hirsch, Tyehimba Jess, and Patrick Sylvain—with an equally remarkable group of jazz improvisers that include Ambrose Akinmusire, Greg Osby, Kenny Werner, and Ben Monder.

Boone’s fascination and ingenuity with poetry and jazz are well established. The two-volume Poetry in Jazz (released in 2018–19) teamed him with the late U.S. Poet Laureate and Pulitzer Prize recipient Philip Levine; the first volume was voted #3 Best Album of 2018 in the DownBeat Readers’ Poll. Boone upped the ante with 2020’s The Poets Are Gathering, which featured creative partnerships with eleven major poets. If Caught in the Rhythm pares that panoply down to six, it offsets that change by gathering twenty (including Boone) of the finest musicians in the jazz idiom.

“They all have something valuable to say, things that enhance our understanding, enabling us to live fuller, more aware lives,” the saxophonist says of his many collaborators on the album. “With each of these now four jazz and poetry albums, I’ve learned more and more about the melding of poetry with music, and this album in many ways is the best so far.””

It is certainly a great artistic bounty—a beautiful example of the magic that can happen when the right wordsmith finds the right musicians. T.R. Hummer’s authoritative words and voice find ideal companions in Boone’s alto and the twin guitars of Monder and Eyal Maoz on “Mississippi 1955 Confessional”; pianist Kenny Werner and saxophonist Greg Osby underline MacArthur Fellow Edward Hirsch as he conflates the expressions of jazz and poetry on “Art Pepper”; and Werner, violinist Stefan Poetzsch, bassist Corcoran Holt, and drummer Ari Hoenig construct a stark, haunting backdrop for Tyehimba Jess’s “Mercy."Caught in the Rhythm also gives voice, both literal and figurative, to the young Afro-Latinx poet Faylita Hicks—who is also a singer and performer, and it shows. Her delivery veers between the fitting and the ironic; she recites “Hoodwitches [Redux]” with the cadences of a sermonizing preacher, while on “ASMR Sleepcast: The Night After Being Released from the Rural County Jail” she assumes the mantle of the sleek, sultry nightclub singer. Boone groups her with a stellar cast of similarly young musicians, among them the rhythm section of keyboardist Kevin Person Jr., bassist Philip Sarkisian, and drummer McKenna Reeve. “They’re all just in their twenties,” Boone notes, “so they bring fresh ideas informed by hip-hop and other genres.”

But if these collaborations yield wide-ranging work with endless interpretations, they also serve a singular and personal purpose for Boone. The saxophonist is afflicted with a hearing difficulty that compelled him to do extensive research during his doctoral studies on the melodies embedded in spoken English. “Now when I hear people speak, I hear it as music,” he explains, “and that profoundly informed how I approached this project.” Caught in the Rhythm comes closer to capturing that concept than ever before.

Born in the small textile town of Statesville, North Carolina, Benjamin Boone earned bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate degrees in jazz (B.M.), theory (B.M.), and music composition (M.M. and D.M.A.). In New York he performed widely and served as a music business manager. Since 2000, Boone has taught music theory and composition at California State University in Fresno and served as a U.S. Fulbright Scholar in Accra, Ghana (2017–18), in the Eastern European nation of Moldova (2005), and in Limerick, Ireland (2022–23).

His compositions have garnered multiple national and international awards and honors, have been performed in 38 countries and on 30 albums, and have been the subject of three feature stories on National Public Radio. Caught in the Rhythm is the fourth in a series of Boone’s explorations of improvised music and spoken language, long an area of both scholarly and artistic interest for the saxophonist. 

 

Saxophonist Joshua Redman makes his Blue Note debut with his first-ever vocal album, "where are we"

Acclaimed saxophonist Joshua Redman has announced a September 15 release date for his stunning Blue Note debut where are we. One of his most compelling albums to date, where are we is a musical journey across the United States of America that also marks Redman’s first-ever vocal album with the dynamic young singer Gabrielle Cavassa featured throughout along with a brilliant band comprised of pianist Aaron Parks, bassist Joe Sanders, and drummer Brian Blade.

where are we is available for pre-order now on Blue Note Store exclusive color vinyl, black vinyl, CD, and digital download. Listen to the lead single “Chicago Blues”—a mash-up of Count Basie’s “Goin’ to Chicago” with Sufjan Stevens’ “Chicago”—featuring vibraphonist Joel Ross. Redman will be touring the project across the U.S. and Europe following the album’s release. 

Redman notes that “the surface concept of where are we is rather simple: each of the songs on the album is about, or at least makes reference to, a specific geographical location (city or state or region) in the United States: Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Streets of Philadelphia,’ Count Basie’s ‘Going To Chicago,’ Rodgers & Hart’s ‘Manhattan,’ John Coltrane’s ‘Alabama,’ etc… So, on one level, this is an album ‘about’ America — at once a celebration and a critique. But it is also, to varying degrees, a ballads album, a standards album, an album of romantic longing, an album of social reflection, an album of melodic invention, an album of improvisational adventure, an album of mashups, perhaps even a tribute album of sorts.”

For added perspective, Redman invited four other friends to contribute to the portraits of their native cities: guitarists Kurt Rosenwinkel (“Streets of Philadelphia”) and Peter Bernstein (“Manhattan”), trumpeter Nicholas Payton (“Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans?”), and Ross (“Chicago Blues”). Conceived and planned during the pandemic lockdown, Redman says “it was a dream come true to finally have a chance to connect Aaron, Joe, and Brian — three of the most sublimely lyrical and deeply grooving musicians on the planet, who, somehow, had never before played together as a rhythm section. And it was a transformative experience to collaborate with Gabrielle — a vocalist of uncommon style, sincerity, and soul. This was my first time ever recording with a singer on one of my own projects; and I relished the challenge of discovering and inhabiting new musical roles for myself — not only as a featured soloist and ‘lead,’ but also as supportive accompanist and interlocutor.”

“The magic of this particular gathering of musicians,” Redman continues, “was that we were able to come together from points afar, to converge (physically and creatively) in a particular place at a particular time; and to embrace, with fullest imagination and without slightest reservation, the ethic of ‘serving the songs.’ In this sense, where are we is perhaps above all a meditation on the power and importance of place — the unique human beauty created when we locate ourselves in shared physical spaces together with others; the loss, anomie, and angst suffered when we divide ourselves unnaturally and unjustly apart.”

Johnathan Blake releases his sophomore Blue Note album Passage

Johnathan Blake has announced the Aug. 11 release of his sophomore Blue Note album Passage, a stirring follow-up to his acclaimed 2021 label debut Homeward Bound for which the drummer and composer reconvened his dynamic band Pentad featuring alto saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins, vibraphonist Joel Ross, pianist David Virelles, and bassist Dezron Douglas. Dedicated to Blake’s father and musical mentor, jazz violinist John Blake, Jr., Passage captures the arc of personal and collective evolution: the passing from one moment to the next, from one phase into another. “Passage picks up where Homeward Bound leaves off,” says Blake. “It’s a celebration of my father’s life and legacy.”

The album presents five of Blake’s own compositions in addition to pieces by Douglas, Virelles, and the late drummer and composer Ralph Peterson. The emotional centerpiece is the vibrant title track “Passage,” which was composed by Blake’s father and captures his musical personality as a reflection of the person he was and the life he lived. Orchestrating different sections, Blake spotlights tricky harmonic movement through the piece. Wilkins’ solo sets up the energetic duality for the entire record: poised yet relaxed, a quiet confidence.

Passage presents the quintet at an elevated level of consciousness and artistry. A celebration of life and longing, the album pays tribute to those who have touched Blake’s life and shaped his music. And the best way for Blake to honor their spirits and preserve their legacy is to cultivate an interconnectedness among listeners and his fellow artists: “This record really shows the level of trust we’ve achieved together. Pentad is a brotherhood — five entities coming together to form one sound.”

Johnathan Blake & Pentad will celebrate the album’s release at Smoke Jazz Club in New York City Aug. 24-27.

Harold López-Nussa makes his Blue Note debut "Timba a la Americana," produced by Michael League (Snarky Puppy)

Pianist Harold López-Nussa has released his deeply affecting new single and video “Mal du Pays.” The poignant song is from his forthcoming Blue Note debut Timba a la Americana out August 25, a vibrant album is teeming with joy and pathos that was inspired by the pianist’s recent decision to leave his Cuban homeland and begin a new life in France. Produced by Michael League (Snarky Puppy), Timba a la Americana presents 10 dynamic new original compositions performed by a tight-knit band featuring harmonica virtuoso Grégoire Maret, Luques Curtis on bass, Bárbaro “Machito” Crespo on congas, and Harold’s brother Ruy Adrián López-Nussa on drums.

Rendered with dramatic understatement by Maret, the plaintive theme of “Mal Du Pays” is saturated with the bittersweet longing Brazilians call “saudade.” “That’s me looking back to Cuba,” Harold says. “I’m thinking about our life there, and my friends and the music we made. When I started it was just a little idea, almost like a baroque theme. As I was playing, I remember thinking that we needed to go into very slow rumba, a specific groove I’ve heard my whole life. It’s a pulse from the neighborhood where I was born in Havana – it’s in the religion, in the celebrations, the ceremonies and the parties. A slow-feeling groove, for older people so they can dance. For me that rhythm stirs something deep and melancholy – it’s rumba but it’s a part of something ancient.”

López-Nussa has been building a global following over the past two decades since winning the prestigious Montreux Jazz Piano Competition in 2005. He has captivated audiences across the world with his thrilling performances, released nine acclaimed albums as a leader, and was featured as part of the 2011 all-star project Ninety Miles with Stefon Harris, David Sanchez, and Christian Scott. Born into a musical family in Havana, his music reflects the full range and richness of the Cuban musical tradition with its distinctive combination of folkloric, popular, and classical elements, as well as its embrace of improvisation.

On Timba a la Americana, López-Nussa felt a strong urge to escape the conventional thinking about song form and structure that’s defined Latin jazz since the 1950s. In collaboration with League, the bassist and founder of Snarky Puppy, the two sought new settings for the clave patterns that are the heartbeat of Cuban music. They grabbed elements of danzon, the foundational dance that began in Matanzas in the late 1800s, and the stately son tumbao riffs that frame the songs of Beny More and so many others. They worked with ancient bata drum rhythms used to summon the deities, then incorporated them into the choppy polyrhythmic agitations of modern improvising collectives. They linked the catcalling mambos of Dizzy Gillespie and Machito to modern ideas about song structure.

The result is López-Nussa’s most expansive and ambitious work to date, a provocative, lavishly colorful song cycle that amounts to a top-to-bottom modernization of Latin jazz. Cuba provides the anchoring point of origin; from there López-Nussa and his band volley ideas in a spirit of cosmopolitan modernity that transcends regions and genres and eras.

Cautious Clay makes his Blue Note debut with KARPEH

Cautious Clay releases his Blue Note debut KARPEH, a deeply personal new album which finds the singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer also known as Joshua Karpeh taking a giant artistic leap forward with an ambitious yet introspective song cycle about growth, conceptions of intimacy, and lineage that reveals a new side of his artistry by delving deeper than ever into his jazz roots. KARPEH is available for pre-order on vinyl, CD, and digital. 

Across the album’s 15 tracks Cautious can be heard on vocals, flute, tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, bass clarinet, guitar, synthesizer, and bass. He also invites a wide range of collaborators into the fold including leading lights of the modern jazz world including Lage, trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins, vibraphonist Joel Ross, keyboardist Julius Rodriguez, bassist Joshua Crumbly, and drummer Sean Rickman. Other guests on the album include his uncle, bassist Kai Eckhardt, and the acclaimed Pakistani vocalist Arooj Aftab.

For all of Cautious’ dexterity around multiple instruments, it’s always in service of the music’s narratives. “I wanted it to be musical for the sake of telling a story,” he explains. “Throughout this album, I am equating my life’s journey to an amalgamation of my family’s past life experiences, an exploration of my present, and how those pieces will influence by future.”

Cautious sequenced the album thematically in three sections with interludes throughout containing audio recordings of his relatives recounting bits of family history. The first section he calls “The Past Explained” with songs that touch upon his early experiences growing up in Cleveland including the album’s lead single “Ohio.” The middle section of the album is what Cautious calls “The Honeymoon of Exploration.” These five songs depict some of his experiences with psychedelics, which inspired self-reflection and the desire for deeper forms of intimacy with others. The concluding four songs constitute the third thematic section, which Cautious calls “A Bitter & Sweet Solitude.” Cautious posits that when we allow ourselves to spend quality time in solitude it enables us to forge better relationships with ourselves and others, therefore sparking deeper intimacy.

Drummer Bob Holz to Release New Album “Holz-Stathis: Collaborative” Featuring John McLaughlin, Jean-Luc Ponty, Darryl Jones and Randy Brecker

Jazz Fusion drummer and composer Bob Holz will release his sixth album for MVD Audio on September 8, 2023. The record is titled “Holz-Stathis: Collaborative.” Joining Bob Holz on the album are John McLaughlin, Jean Luc Ponty, Darryl Jones, Randy Brecker, Elliott Yamin, Alex Acuna, Airto Moreira, Brandon Fields, Ralphe Armstrong, Billy Steinway, Dean Brown, Ric Fierabracci, Jamie Glaser, Ada Rovatti, Karen Briggs, Diana Moreira Purim, Ben Shepherd and Frank Stepanek.

The album features twelve new original tunes penned by Holz, Steinway and Brown. Rob Stathis is the Executive Producer. The album is recorded and mixed by multiplatinum sound engineer Dennis Moody.

Two vocalists are featured on “Holz-Stathis:Collaborative.” Elliott Yamin who placed third on American Idol sings a hip hop meets jazz tune penned by Dean Brown and Holz. Diana Moreira Purim sings a Brazilian jazz fusion tune titled “Island Sun Love,” written by Steinway and Holz.

Bob has released a new video featuring Darryl Jones bassist in the Rolling Stones and vocalist Elliott Yamin. It was shot at Sunset Sound Recorders in Hollywood, CA and is a cover tune of “Make Me Smile” by Chicago. 

Watch the video: https://youtu.be/46zVFDa3Vtc

As a drummer, Bob Holz has made a significant mark in the jazz world and here he expands his love of latin jazz fusion rhythms by teaming up with Brazilian percussionist Airto Moreira, Alex Acuna(Weather Report) and Joey Heredia. This album exemplifies Holz's reputation as one of the top players in jazz and fusion. In the past Bob Holz has played and recorded with Larry Coryell, Mike Stern, Stanley Clarke and Randy Brecker. Bob Holz endorses Paiste cymbals, Canopus Drums and Ahead Drumstics.

Guitarist Wolfgang Muthspiel and His Working Trio of Bassist Scott Colley and Drummer Brian Blade Release "Dance of the Elders"

Wolfgang Muthspiel and his working trio with Scott Colley on bass and Brian Blade on drums reach a new creative peak on Dance of the Elders. The album is the group’s follow-up to the much-lauded Angular Blues, which The Times called a “quietly impressive album” that highlights “Muthspiel’s fluidly melodic playing style." Here Muthspiel’s successful stride continues, with his unique compositional signature on the one hand and particularly vibrant exchanges with his trio colleagues on the other. The guitarist’s own writing and approach to jazz is heavily folk-induced but equally inspired by classical music – both aspects are presented clearly throughout the album. Blade’s floating percussive injections and Colley’s nimble counterpoint on bass complement the guitarist’s acoustic and electric playing in fluid interplay over intricate polyrhythms and adventurous harmonic landscapes.

“Whatever the technique or the instrument, Muthspiel’s deep love for and expert command of jazz shines through on both the originals and standards (…), as does his chemistry with Blade and Colley," JazzTimes wrote in 2021, to which Muthspiel answered: “We have developed an enormous trust in each other." His musical familiarity with partners Colley and Blade has only increased since – Dance of the Elders was recorded after extensive touring throughout Europe, the US and Japan, in February 2022. And the guitarist’s opinion in regard to his bandmates hasn’t changed: “I’m constantly learning from Brian and Scott. It’s always exciting to bring new music to them and see how they approach it, because it’s never what I’d expect. The remembrance of their sound while I compose is an inspiration for the music I end up coming up with.”

The trio’s seamless chemistry and spontaneous sense of creation has rarely been as obvious as on the album’s opener “Invocation” – a meditative, two-part composition that gracefully sets the mood of the album over ten minutes of restrained but deeply felt three-way conversation. Muthspiel recalls how it was producer Manfred Eicher’s decision to place the song at the beginning of the album. Muthspiel: “There’s the process of Manfred hearing the music and feeling the place of each piece – he tells a compelling story through the sequence, and his choices always surprise me, in the best possible way.”

The spontaneous studio improvisation “Prelude to Bach” – a shrouded statement of textures – ends with a solo guitar rendition of Bach’s chorale “O Sacred Head, Now Wounded," which Muthspiel didn’t prepare for the session, but pulled out of thin air in the spur of the moment. Its gentle pace and traditional harmonic articulation stands in contrast to the title track’s spirited rhythmic twists, folkloric time signatures and uncommon chord voicings. Like “Cantus Bradus," “Dance of the Elders” works as a polyrhythmic playground for Colley and Blade to stretch their mathematical muscles, though at the same time both songs are driven by exhaustive melodic development.

Muthspiel wrote “Cantus Bradus” with Brad Mehldau in mind, who contributed to the guitarist’s celebrated quintet recordings Rising Grace (2016) and Where The River Goes (2018). It relies on traits Muthspiel has observed repeatedly in Mehldau’s music and which he describes as “a bunch of chromatic lines descending to a certain tonal center. On their way these lines create rather unusual chords and tensions, but they end up in a bluesy center. It’s a development I hear a lot in Brad’s songs and in his soloing.”

Kurt Weil’s “Liebeslied” was introduced to Muthspiel by trumpeter and educator Herb Pomeroy, whose student-big band at Berklee College of Music was “the band you wanted to be in," as Muthspiel says. He plays on electric guitar here, spinning fluid bop-lines around Colley and Blade’s rhythmic counterpoint. The other composition that wasn’t written by Muthspiel here is Joni Mitchell’s “Amelia” – a ballad the singer-songwriter legend recorded with guitarist Larry Carlton in 1976 and again in 1979, this time with Pat Metheny. Muthspiel, Blade and Colley’s interpretation doesn’t veer too far from the original and instead takes advantage of what was already there – Blade has in the past frequently collaborated with Mitchell and understands her music profoundly.

For “Folk Song” Muthspiel drew inspiration from none other than Keith Jarrett. “I had a vague idea of Keith’s music when coming up with this one, especially his vamp improvisations from the Belonging-era,” explains the guitarist. “You can always tell how harmonically inventive someone is when they play around one chord for a long stretch. Everything Keith implies with his upper lines, his middle voices, shows you all the chords he could play but then only teases at. I love that about Keith.”

Dance of the Elders was mixed and completed at Studios La Buissonne in March 2023 by Manfred Eicher with Wolfgang Muthspiel and Gérard de Haro.

'Pacifico Waves' by Joel Sarakula (yacht soul)

Joel Sarakula is a European-based Australian artist who writes, produces and sings soulful pop, gazing out at a contemporary world through vintage glasses, vintage threads and long blond hair: think Ray Manzarek fronting a 70s soul band. His music is informed by a rich, 1970s-inspired palette, drawing on soft-rock, funk and disco influences – sunny, uptempo jams for darker times. He may look like a long-lost Gibb brother but at live concerts an irreverent sense of humour is always there just below the fringe.

Born in Sydney, currently based in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (via London) and international in outlook, Sarakula is a songwriter who has travelled the world in search of his muse, experiencing everything from being a victim of Caribbean carjackings to performing in the remote fishing villages of Norway before finally establishing his career in the UK and Europe in 2012. After spending 10 years based in London, he moved to The Canary Islands at the height of the pandemic. His experiences of island life lead to the creation of his upcoming album Island Time (due Jan 20, 2023).

His previous albums Companionship (2020), Love Club (2018), The Imposter (2015) and The Golden Age (2013) have racked up generous plays, often on rotation across national UK and European radio and got him noticed in The New York Times, The Independent (UK), The Irish Times, Shindig! (UK), Stern (Germany), Rolling Stone Germany, El Pais (Spain) and Sydney Morning Herald.

Joel Sarakula is regular fixture on the festival and club circuit having performed at SXSW, Primavera, Reeperbahn Festival, Glastonbury and soul-funk oriented festivals like Imaginafunk and Blackisback. Ever the internationalist, he tours with pickup bands sourced from each territory he plays in: a Barcelona band for Spain, a Berlin band for Germany and so forth. This cross-cultural exchange is a tribute to the 1960s and 70s when world travelling soul and pop artists from the US did the same and and guarantees that his live shows remain fresh, exciting and often unpredictable.

Aussie funk & soul heroes The Bamboos release new disco-tinged single "Ex-Files"

Bandleader Lance Ferguson and his nine piece Melbourne outfit The Bamboos have come a long way since forming in 2001. Initially inspired by the instrumental raw funk of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, they made waves internationally and were quickly labelled as one of the greatest funk and soul bands of our time. But while many would be happy to simply soak up the praise and keep on keeping on, The Bamboos have proven that they are more than meets the eye; over 8 acclaimed albums their evolution in sound and style has consistently confounded and exceeded expectations, pulling the rug from under the feet of those who like to pigeonhole.

The Bamboos signed to respected Brighton (UK) indie label Tru Thoughts in 2005, becoming a real cornerstone of the roster. Across their five albums on the label – debut Step It Up in 2006, follow-up Rawville in 2007, third opus Side-Stepper in 2008, the aptly-titled 4 in 2010 and Medicine Man in 2012 – the metamorphosis of The Bamboos has been full of twists and turns, and it continues apace. A seasoned DJ, solo producer (aka Lanu) and all-round insatiable music obsessive, Ferguson‘s myriad influences and passion for pushing things forward ensure that each new release is a discovery for devout fans and newcomers alike.

The band’s fifth long-player Medicine Man released in June 2012 was a watershed – a forward-looking record brimming with fresh ideas, stellar turns, classic songwriting and a brand of multi–layered pop they can truly call their own. Guest vocalists Aloe Blacc, Tim Rogers (You Am I), Megan Washington, Daniel Merriweather, Bobby Flynn, alongside resident singers Kylie Auldist and then newcomer Ella Thompson helped make the album their biggest until then.

The Bamboos’ ridiculously enjoyable live shows have seen them perform at pretty much every major festival in Australia. In Feb 2010 the band played the prestigious headline set at The St Kilda Festival to over 7000 people. The Bamboos have also toured Europe and the U.K three times, performing sell-out shows at esteemed venues including The Barbican and The Jazz Cafe in London and in countries including France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Slovakia, Belgium, Switzerland and Ireland. As the go-to band for tight and heavy vibes, they have also performed as the backing band for international artists including Eddie Bo (US), Syl Johnson (US), Joe Bataan (US), Eddie Floyd (US), Betty Harris (US) and Alice Russell (UK).

Songs by The Bamboos have been regularly on playlists of national radio stations in Australia, the UK, France, the US, Japan and beyond. The unshakable charm of their songs has also seen them licensed to hit movies including “Crazy Stupid Love”, the soon to be released “Adore” with Naomi Watts & Robin Wright, and TV shows such as “Grey’s Anatomy”, “CSI New York”, “One Tree Hill”, “Ugly Betty” and more.

Like its predecessor, the band’s sixth album Fever In The Road was co-produced by ARIA- nominated, multi-instrumentalist studio wizard John Castle – ranked amongst the first-call producers in Australia. The new record (the first on Ferguson‘s own Pacific Theatre label) sees Castle and Ferguson venturing into sonic landscapes The Bamboos have previously touched on but never fully inhabited.

2015 saw The Bamboos team up with Tim Rogers for the release of The Rules Of Attraction, with 12 meticulously crafted songs that strike a balance between the band’s patent introverted groove and Rogers’ effervescent rock’n’swagger. The result is something that sounds varied, fresh and brimming with enthusiasm. With eighth album Night Time People released in 2018, The Bamboos consolidated their relationship with Kylie Auldist, effectively constructing and executing the full-length around her unmistakable voice. This release provided a backbone twisting slab of pop colored funk that reaffirmed The Bamboos in their rich and unique sound while keeping their hefty and rich legacy intact.

As the band approached their 20th anniversary they released By Special Arrangement, an orchestral re-imagining of some of The Bamboos‘ most-loved songs. Encapsulating 20 years of music into a new and fresh product is no easy task but the album rises to that challenge, enticing new qualities out of classic Bamboos cuts.

2021 saw the release of the band’s tenth studio album Hard Up , perhaps their most complete yet as it strikes the perfect balance between the raw energy of the origins and the polished quality of their more recent outputs, while in 2022 it was time for a follow-up to By Special Arrangement, in the form of album Live At Hamer Hall with Melbourne Symphony Orchestra recorded with the fifty-piece Melbourne Symphony Orchestra at the iconic Hamer Hall in 2021 during a short break between lockdowns, reimagining a selection of their most loved songs in the most incredible way possible.

Rare Buddy Rich Recordings to Be Released as His First "Trios" Album

LIGHTYEAR Entertainment announces the release of “Trios,” a collection of rare recordings that capture the magic, the artistry and the boundless talent of jazz icon Buddy Rich’s intimate three-man interludes he performed within his “killer force” big band concerts. Although these jam sessions were staples during many of his shows, there has never been a recording released of them until now. “Trios” will be available on September 1 via all major streaming services, on Compact Disc and as a two-disc LP in translucent orange vinyl.  Taped by Rich’s alto saxophone player Alan Gauvin during a series of shows around the world in 1976 and 1977, the album features extraordinary bassists Jon Burr and Tom Warrington along with the young piano prodigy Barry Kiener and is marked by stunning solos by Rich using only his brushes. A true treasure, “Trios” is a beautiful, unexpected performance from one of jazz music’s greatest talents: there has never been a Buddy Rich album like this. 

Renowned for giving his band a break during concerts by shifting to an incredible three-man jam session in the midst of a show, Rich turned a trio of magnificent musicians into one seamless sound night after night, creating something truly special. One of the greatest jazz drummers in the world, Rich would let the piano and bass shine through during these performances to ensure the music took center stage. It was unprecedented and spellbinding. 

“At some point, not only to display the prodigious talents of his rhythm section cohorts but also in order to give the brass a rest, Buddy began regularly featuring a trio ‘off the cuff,’ often twice a night, along with solo piano spots,” explains Gauvin. “All but three ‘Trios’ tracks were recorded over the Summer and Fall of ’76 and feature bassist Jon Burr while the others are from 1977 and showcase Tom Warrington, and of course, Barry Kiener brings his ‘four hands’ to all tracks, including a magnificent solo spot I couldn’t resist sharing. Buddy would approve.”  The 10 songs on “Trios” were recorded during concerts in Montreal, California, Sweden, Norway, Boston and on the SS Rotterdam Jazz Cruise.  

The album is also a heartfelt tribute to Rich’s beloved pianist, Barry Kiener, who died of a heroin overdose at the age of 30 while on tour with the band in 1986. “Trios” is one of the few recordings in existence that feature Kiener, giving audiences a glimpse of his prodigious talent. Buddy Rich’s daughter, Cathy, an Executive Producer of “Trios,” often performed with her father and remembers the close bond beyond music that both he and Kiener shared and the impact the young musician’s death had on Rich. “My dad was coming to pick me up in the bus to go to Lake Tahoe where they were playing next at Harrah’s. He was hours late and I was out of my mind with worry.  I knew something terrible happened as soon as I walked outside. Everyone was silent and looked shell-shocked. My dad was visibly shaken. I asked what happened and he could barely speak of it. Barry had been like a son to him.” 

• “Trios” was recorded and produced by Alan Gauvin.
• Drums - Buddy Rich
• Piano - Barry Kiener
• Bass - Jon Burr (except “There Is No Greater Love,” “Stella by Starlight,” “Here’s That Rainy Day”)
• Bass - Tom Warrington (“There Is No Greater Love,” “Stella by Starlight”)
• Mastered by Tom Swift
• Executive Producers: Cathy Rich, Steve Michelson, Arnie Holland
• Cover illustrations by Michael Patterson 

The album’s cover art was created by Michael Patterson, the award-winning artist and current USC School of Cinematic Arts professor whose work is featured in the permanent collection of The Museum of Modern Art and has been shown at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Patterson is perhaps best known for his animation art in the groundbreaking video for a-ha’s “Take on Me.” 

Lightyear Entertainment has worked with the Buddy Rich estate for nearly 20 years, releasing two DVDs, six digital albums, 5 CDs and two vinyl albums.

Aphrose | "Yaya"

With music that moves between the golden age of 70’s soul and its modern iterations, Canadian rnb, soul, and neo soul artist Joanna Mohammed aka Aphrose is a stunningly expansive vocalist and creative lyricist who honours the origins of the genres through her expertly created, and historically informed sound. With vocal dexterity that would impress her musical heroines, Aphrose‘s dazzling, 1970’s hued sound transports listeners to a time when soul music went beyond a musical category and into a feeling, while incorporating the soulful sounds of today.

With a a reputation for powerful R&B vocal stylings, Aphrose has worked with international heavyweights Daniel Caesar, Lee Fields & The Expressions, Jessie Reyez, Nikki Yanofsky and Charlotte Day Wilson, to name a few. After ten years as a working professional vocalist and hungry to express and pursue her own creative ideas, Joanna Mohammad debuted under her artist name Aphrose (chosen from her mother’s birthname). Reuniting with old college schoolmate Scott McCannell (SafeSpaceship Music), Aphrose released her first single, “The Middle” – a song heavy in groove, chill-inducing vocals and empowering lyrics.

After a string of successful single releases in 2018 and 2019, Aphrose shared her debut LP Element. The nine-track album earned her national acclamation and opportunities – including a live performance feature on CBC Music First Play, tour support for Moon Vs Sun (Chantal Kreviazuk & Raine Maida), song placement on CBC drama series “Diggstown”, and a spot lending her vocals to a Sportsnet 2019 NBA Finals commercial. She followed up the album with singles “If We Ever Change” and “Bobby Daba” in 2021, each wracking up over 100,000 plays on Spotify.

Raised in the culturally diverse neighbourhoods of Scarborough, Aphrose’s musical tastes and influences are wide and run deep, shaped by the music present in her Trinidadian household. With an apparent musical reverence for soul legends Aretha Franklin and Stevie Wonder to modern icons like Amy Winehouse and Frank Ocean, Aphrose’s songs both lyrically and musically embody self-realized power, euphoric love, and ancestral strength.

Aphrose’s sophomore album, Roses, is slated to be released in the Fall of 2023. Aphrose shares, “It combines all the sounds I love and is a love letter to my family and where I come from. Throughout the record, there is audio of my (late) grandmother Rose speaking/praying that was isolated from old hi8 home video tapes, and the title single that will be released Roses, is a tribute to her. I’m excited about this body of work because it feels really honest and is exactly the music I want to make right now.”

Darren Johnston - Wild Awake

For Darren Johnston, “someone to watch, on trumpet of course, but as a composer and bandleader as well” (John Corbett, DownBeat Magazine), creating the music for Wild Awake, along with marathon days of practicing and composing in general, helped him to maintain a sense of purpose, wonder, and calm through the stress and uncertainty of the pandemic era shutdown. Once it finally became possible, Johnston hit the studio and made three distinct recording sessions within five weeks’ time; Wild Awake was the final recording of this prolific period that included a quartet recording in Chicago (Life In Time, on Origin Records) and a trio record in Brooklyn (Breathing Room, on Minus Zero).

Wild Awake expanded a trio that had been one of his first NYC-based bands as a leader, featuring the incredible Jacob Sacks on piano and Sean Conly on bass, to include two friends from his time in the Bay Area back in the late 90’s, both of whom now undeniably important voices in the world of jazz and improvised music: Dayna Stephens on multiple saxophones and Ches Smith on drums.

This assemblage of omnivorous musicians is one that is willing and able to go anywhere with imagination, soul, and integrity. With their creative diversity in mind, Johnston brought to the proceedings some unusual pieces such as a song with lyrics, using the final words written by the iconic bard of the labor movement Joe Hill, which were found in his cell after his execution in 1915. Other pieces were harmonically open-ended and groove-based in a more traditional melody-with-chords-to-improvise-over format, or launching pads for free improvisation.

Ultimately, Wild Awake represents a moment in time for five musicians with broad tastes and abilities, who according to Johnston “were just so very happy to be playing music with fellow humans again, one day in Brooklyn, during uncertain, but optimistic times. It was a wonderful day,”

"Interpreting standards from an experimental direction is always fascinating, and Audible Spirits is a standards album with a major twist. The trio of Moran (vibraphone), Curtis Hasselbring (trombone) and Sarah elizabeth Charles (vocals) is joined by a unique accompanist: samples of Jamey Aebersold Play-A-Long recordings . . . it’s refreshing to hear them reimagined with these players’ sly sense of humor. This is a novel approach to music-making that breathes new life into recordings we never thought would get it." - Elijah Shiffer, The New York City Jazz Record

New Music: Wayne Gutshall / Lawson Rollins / Doc City / Amandus

Wayne Gutshall - Spanish Love

Imagine the good fortune of being the wife of master saxophonist Wayne Gutshall. A few years after scoring a remarkable five #1 singles on SmoothJazz.com’s World Listener Chart, the multi-talented Miami based composer/musician finds a fascinating way to pay loving homage to her with a sweet, sensual nod to her Spanish heritage. On the perfectly titled, balmy and breezy “Spanish Love,” he not only plays his passionate heart out, but also uses his emotional sax melody as the foundation for a gorgeous, dreamy conversational duet with the soulful acoustic guitar flow of genre great Steve Oliver. Like in previous solo works, the slow danceable “Spanish Love” draws on Gutshall’s extensive resume playing with Latin artists like Ed Calle, Arturo Sandoval, Nestor Torres and the late Dave Valentin. 

Lawson Rollins - Heartwood

Closing in on 25 years since he first graced us with his impeccable, melodic and rhythmic acoustic guitar as part of the Latin fusion duo Young & Rollins. Lawson Rollins is a Billboard Top 10 ranked world music guitarist whose sense of adventure and invention has earned him Guitar Player Magazine’s designation as one of the 50 Best Acoustic Guitarists of all time! The multi-faceted artist/composer keeps the intricate six-string fire burning on his latest solo album Heartwood. It’s a robust, high-spirited, ensemble driven collection that celebrates the material foundation of his instrument featuring Grammy winning violinists Charlie Bisharat and Mads Tolling, veteran jazz saxophonist Mary Fettig, Brazilian percussionist Marquinho Brasil, virtuoso bassist Dan Feiszli, multi-instrumentalist Stephen Duros, keyboardist Michael Bluestein, cellist Joseph Hébert and drummers Colin Douglas and Davo Bryant. The pack depart on sensual, high flying and improvisational excursions into bossa nova, rumba and samba – with a frolicsome homage to Spanish classical virtuoso, Segovia included for good measure. 

Doc City - Welcome To Doc City (Deluxe Edition)

More than just a clever name, Doc City is a dynamic, multi-faceted all-star contemporary jazz/R&B ensemble led by real MD, Dr. Clarence Taylor, who is a practicing internal and emergency medicine physician at the world-renowned Cleveland Clinic Foundation – and is also a versatile multi-instrumentalist and vocalist. Two decades after being nominated as Best R&B/Soul Band by the Cleveland Free Times Music Awards, the powerhouse, lushly romantic and wildly grooving 19-piece (15 instrumentalists, 4 vocalists) band featuring trumpeter Sean Jones and singers Evelyn Wright, Tina Farmer, and Reggie Kelly returns with a Deluxe Edition of their sophisticated project, Welcome To Doc City. It’s a stylistically expansive set of music that rolls like a sexy party mix featuring soul, hip-hop, jazz and pop and features beautifully crafted songs as well as vibey dance mix of a Sade classic!

Amandus - Her Love

The quote on Michael “Amandus” Quast’s About section on his website says it all about what the veteran, multi-talented German composer and keyboardist philosophy is, “Believe In Your Dreams and They Might Come True.” The title track to his forthcoming EP HER LOVE, is a super fun, exotic and fashionable jam that promise to make his musical dreams come true. Amandus attributes his relationship with his wife as a stabilizing, motivational force in his life that has taken his innate talents further than he could have fathomed. This smooth and upbeat tribute offers a highly improvisational piano romp with hypnotic, percussive textures along with sexy, singing support of Trinidad-born and German-based vocalist Klyive, giving the tune buoyancy and soul!  ~ www.smoothjazz.com

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.