New Music Releases: Mike Reed / Sonar Kollektiv presents NEUJAZZ 2 / Trio Xolo / Jim Witzel

Mike Reed - The Separatist Party

Chicago drummer, bandleader, composer Mike Reed announces his new album 'The Separatist Party'. Featuring Ben LaMar Gay, Marvin Tate, and Cooper Crain, Dan Quinlivan & Rob Frye of Bitchin Bajas. An exciting new ensemble conveying a wide array of styles and influences into a groove-oriented expression of communion in the face of crippling solitude. One can glean wisps of Don Cherry’s Organic Music conception, the ecstatic fire of Pharoah Sanders, the cycling minimalism of Terry Riley, the motoric rhythms of Krautrock, the exploratory tones of Sun Ra, and clipped soul of vintage Ethiopian music within The Separatist Party, but no single element arrives wholesale Lead single and album opener 'Your Soul' features the striking vocals of Tate, the longtime leader of D-Settlement. His hectoring, biting oratory conveys an indelible sense of Chicago street culture, as his narratives quietly underline the complex, often contradictory realities of working class struggles, whether through the pernicious veil of racism or fear of connection. 

Sonar Kollektiv presents NEUJAZZ 2

The second installment of the Neujazz series sees label manager Oliver Glage explore a wealth of (mostly) homegrown talent from the Sonar Kollektiv camp. There has always been Neujazz - the improvised art-form by its very nature and definition always delivers something “new”, and despite the popularity of the genre in the late 90s, and the media’s desire to pigeon-hole music as such, “new jazz” has been omnipresent even since the first musicians played together in New Orleans, or even further back to the genus’ African roots. Here then is a family snapshot, rooted in jazz, of the contemporary artists making their mark on our scene in the early 2020s. Some, like Micatone, Radio Citizen and label luminaries Jazzanova themselves are veterans of the movement; others, like WAAN, Tutu Amuse and Key Elements are relative newcomers, experimenting with their sound and finding their groove in this always forward thinking musical clan.On this album you’ll find a number of exclusive tracks and slept on gems, but one thing they all have in common is something that is shared with King Oliver a century ago, and the African drummers that came before - that desire to spread a positive message by use of the musical freedom that jazz gives them.

Trio Xolo - On Flower, In Song

In Flower, In Song is the debut album from Trio Xolo, an improvising group composed of Mexican-American bassist Zachary Swanson, Baltimore-based saxophonist Derrick Michaels, and Lithuanian percussionist Dalius Naujo. With a telepathic ear toward musical interplay, Trio Xolo performs free-flowing stream of consciousness improvisations. The result is true, in the moment composition. The trio moves together dynamically as their voices simultaneously overlap and converge into one. In Flower, In Song was recorded live in one room and unveils a warm, organic sound: Swanson's distinctive use of gut strings produce a dark, woody tone, Michaels draws robust color from a vintage saxophone, and Naujo expresses a nuanced control of energy and dynamics. Through explorations of melody, atmosphere, and texture, they can either embrace or dispel the traditional hierarchy of the trio format. At its core, Trio Xolo creates music that seeks to capture the essence of the moment through deep listening.

Jim Witzel - Feelin' It

Guitarist, composer and educator Jim Witzel has long enjoyed the “organ trio” format in jazz (Hammond B-3 organ, guitar and drum set) as both a listener and as a working guitarist. In his second album, Feelin' It, he puts his own spin on those great recordings of the 50s and 60s (up to the present day) with a project comprising four standards, three of Witzel's originals and a well-known pop tune. Feelin' It is a showcase for Witzel's straight-ahead, modern jazz compositions that reflect the mid-sixties’ Blue Note influence of such players/composers as Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock and others. Attracted to their lyrical, accessible style, he calls his player inspirations the Great 8, which include Kenny Burrell, Joe Pass, Wes Montgomery, Jim Hall, George Benson, Pat Martino, John Abercrombie, and Pat Metheny. The standards on the album feature the organ trio, which comprises Witzel on guitar and two great musicians based in Northern California, Brian Ho on the Hammond B3 and Jason Lewis on drums. Jazz writer Andrew Gilbert has said, “Brian Ho, rising jazz star. These days, Ho is one of the region’s most promising young jazz organists,” while Lewis is an in-demand drummer who has performed with many top names in the jazz firmament. Witzel asked tenor saxophonist Dann Zinn to join the trio on Witzel’s own compositions. Zinn is a renowned reed player who has appeared on over 100 albums as a leader, soloist, and/or sideman. Although Jim Witzel has an extensive resume as a sideman, he is not widely known outside of Northern California. Although he has been flying under the radar for far too long, his highly accessible playing and compositional talents on Feelin' It will certainly garner new fans who are interested in organ/guitar/sax bands or anyone who likes fun, toe-tapping yet lyrical music.

Ibises (New Trio Comprising Members of Tortoise, Isotope 217, Euphone, The Few) Release "In The Swim"

Ibises — the group made up of established Chicago musicians Dan Bitney (Tortoise, Isotope 217), Nick Macri (Stirrup, Euphone), and Steve Marquette (The Few, Ken Vandermark’s Marker) — announced their debut album as a trio. In The Swim was released via American Dreams Records. T

In The Swim comes from an improvised concert by the trio recorded live by  Alex Inglizian at Experimental Sound Studio (aka ESS) in Chicago, IL. Mixed and edited with carte blanche by acclaimed sound designer Casey Rice (Designer, Black Monument Ensemble), it provides a unique example of the open channels of experimentation and liminal crosstalk long characterized by Chicago’s deep, cross-pollinating music community. In The Swim is an asynchronous, longform piece that journeys through sound worlds from redlined and driving, to floating free and in-between.

Dan Bitney is a multi-instrumentalist best known for his work with Tortoise, Isotope 217, Bumps, Spectralina, and early Midwest hardcore punk group Mecht Mensch. Bassist Nick Macri has been a contributing member to many, varied groups including Ken Vandermark’s Audio One, Euphone, Heroic Doses, The Zincs, The Horse's Ha (with Janet Bean and James Elkington), and Stirrup with Fred Lonberg-Holm and Charles Rumback. He has also performed and toured as a sideman and recorded sessions with an eclectic list of artists including Laetitia Sadier (Stereolab), The Sea and Cake, Nina Nastasia, AZITA, Joan Shelley, Tim Kinsella (Friend/Enemy), James Elkington & Nathan Salsburg, Wanees Zarour's Middle East Music Ensemble, Bruce Licher (Savage Republic, Scenic), Tara Jane O'Neil, Daughter of Swords, and more. Steve Marquette is a guitarist, improviser, and organizer. Over the past decade he has toured the United States and Europe in The Few with Macie Stewart (Finom fka Ohmme) and Charlie Kirchen, Kobra Quartet, Instigation Orchestra, and Ken Vandermark's Marker, among other projects. In addition to his work as a musician, he is also a founder and lead organizer of the biannual Instigation Festival - which brings together performers from Chicago and New Orleans for a week of interdisciplinary collaboration in each city.

Avi Adrian - Songs From A Dream II, Featuring the music of Adar Broshi who passed away from cancer in 2019 at the age of 19

Virtuoso pianist Avi Adrian releases a new trio album titled ‘Songs From A Dream II’ with Barak Mori on Bass and Ofri Nehemia on Drums. The second album celebrating of the music of Adar Broshi who died of cancer at the age of 19 after two and a half years of fighting the disease.

Part of our mission of this project is to raise the awareness to Childhood cancer, a disease that claims the lives of far too many children each year and a disease that has seen little medical progress over the last 30 years.

While fighting cancer at the age of 17 and 18, Adar Broshi composed the music on this album. The tracks express Broshi’s memories of joy and happiness, and of an uncertain future, as well as the hope and determination to fight on.

With the exception of the final tune “Remembering Adar” which was composed by Avi Adrian, each composition on the album reflects and fuses the different inspirations of Adar Broshi and each feature a playful dance between two or more musical styles.

Born in Amsterdam - 1999, Adar Broshi was a happy, kind, and an ever-curious boy. When he was two and a half years old his brother was born, and upon seeing his new brother for the first time Adar said : “when the baby will grow up we shall sing a song together.” This prophecy came true when Adar was fifteen and his brother Matan, who learned guitar, started playing together and perform.

Growing up in three different continents: Europe , the Middle East, and North America, Adar was exposed from an early age to many styles of music from Bach and Mozart to Thelonious Monk and Stevie Wonder, From Israeli folk music to Flamenco. The young composer left over four hundred recordings. Some are original compositions and some are renditions of songs he liked.

This is an ambitious album also in the scope of efforts to create the ultimate piano trio sound experience. It was recorded in one of the world’s largest recording studios: Israel’s Jerusalem Music Center, and the audiophile sound quality is powerful yet subtle. Mixing and mastering for the recording was handled by the multi Grammy award winner Rich Breen.

Adar was a gifted musician, filmmaker and animator. In addition to creating original creative and inspiring music, he also made dozens of short films starting back at the early age of 10 years old. By the age of fifteen he wrote , directed, shot, edited and composed the original score for a 34 minute long film titled: ‘Adrians Dream’ which he completed while being hospitalized for cancer. ‘Adrians Dream’ was accepted by the “New York City” ( http://anthologyfilmarchives.org) Film Festival and “Fort Myers Beach Film Festival“ (https://fmbifilmfest.com ) the following year.  

Avi Adrian has played and toured with Dave Liebman, Billy Cobham, Airto and James Moody.

Drummer Ofri Nehemia, who is not yet 30 year’s old is already a regular on European Jazz stages and on a host of recordings on the ECM label. Nehemia has toured and recorded with both Avishai Cohen’s (the bass player and the trumpet player) Ben Wendel and Shai Maestro .

Born in Israel in 1975, Bassist Barak Mori has worked with Kenny Washington, David Hazeltine and many other first call musicians.

Some words from Pianist and Trio leader - Avi Adrian 

I approached this album with enthusiasm and excitement. After the first album I felt a spiritual and mystical connection with Adar. I listened to the materials with the utmost attention, and in order to be true to Adar's work and intention, I felt that I had imaginary dialogues with him asking various questions such as…. “What do you feel is missing here?  and …..Would I be doing justice if I added on to what you wrote,?

The work stemmed from a real passion to express Adar's imagination and I enjoyed every moment of the process.

Adar was multidisciplinary in sounds, visions, styles, feelings and thoughts. He had a lot of different musical influences and a focused intention for the music he wrote. He also had a theatrical sense.

While recording the album, I had a vivid feeling of Adar’s presence, visiting me to say hello. I thank Adar for the gift he left us, and I do not think of him in terms of the past because I feel he is living with us all the time. I am also grateful to his dad for this wonderful and exciting production.

Surya Botofasina's "Everyone's Children," is a heartfelt celebration of Alice Coltrane's Sai Anantam Ashram

Everyone’s Children is the stunning debut album of spiritual avant-garde music from keyboardist and composer Surya Botofasina, out on Spiritmuse Records. The record combines deep jazz excursions with expansive synth passages and intimate piano turns to create a hypnotic, meditative and devotionally expressive suite that soothes, enriches and uplifts the soul.

Botofasina’s upbringing at the Sai Anantam Ashram in the Southern Californian hills involved daily bhajans (traditional Hindu devotional songs) led by legendary jazz harpist and pianist Alice Coltrane. Her musical and religious teachings continue to have a profound effect on the keyboardist, whose career has since gone on to take in acting stints in the TV series Vinyl and Boardwalk Empire alongside a diverse range of musical collaborations with the likes of Reggie Workman, Joey Bada$$, Gangstarr’s GURU, Amel Larrieux, N’Dea Davenport, Georgia Anne Muldrow, and Miguel Atwood-Ferguson. His work as the Music Director of the Sai Anantam Ashram Singers has seen him tour internationally honouring Swamini Turiyasangitananda Alice Coltrane’s devotional music. “The way I play the piano is not the way my friends play the piano” he says. “It forced me to find the place I truly dwell in - the place between the hip hop and jazz, but based in meditative and long form expressions of my spirit.”

Botofasina’s renown has enabled him to enlist a supremely talented, cross generational group of musicians for the project including major LA mainstays such as multi-instrumentalist and bandleader Carlos Niño –– who also produced the album –– jazz singer Dwight Trible, and indie folk vocalist Mia Doi Todd. Brilliantly gifted guitarist Nate Mercereau, saxophonist Pablo Calogero, and drummer Efa Etoroma Jr., round out the guest collaborators alongside Botofasina’s mother, the harpist Radha Botofasina, a key musical disciple of Alice Coltrane’s during her Ashram years and a hugely formative influence on the keyboardist.

Ten years in consideration, the album’s genesis lay in Botofasina and Niño’s long-running creative partnership. The pair first linked up through Niño’s Build An Ark jazz ensemble, by the recommendation of Atwood-Ferguson, in 2011 and –– after Niño suggested recording a Surya-lead project, the idea began to solidify with a series of collaborative concerts in 2018 (still on-going,) that engendered a deep musical bond. Recorded by Jesse Peterson in 3 joyous sessions last year in Glendale, California, the results are grounded in the ashram music that Botofasina grew up with and present his own unique jazz-influenced take on devotional sounds.

That vision achieves heady form in the shape of album opener "Surya Meditation", an epic twenty-seven-minute duet with Niño built around Botofasina’s assorted keyboard textures. Synths hum hypnotically, softly patter like raindrops or drift by like clouds on a hazy summer’s day. Niño’s subtle percussive accompaniment offers a gentle sense of otherworldliness throughout a contemplative, meditative and stunningly beautiful piece that offers feelings akin to floating gently across water. “I knew when it was happening that it would be the focal point, the opus, the centre of this project” says Niño of the recording.

The solo piano piece "I Love Dew, Sophie" melds jazz and classical keyboard notes in warm-toned clusters before the ecstatic spiritual jazz excursion "Beloved California Temple" opens things out into a group setting. Here, Botofasina’s hypnotic piano motifs and Niño’s expressive percussion are joined by Pablo Calogero’s breathy saxophone lines, before Dwight Trible’s dramatic wordless vocals bring things to a rapturous climax to the accompaniment of Efa Etoroma Jr.’s crashing drum crescendos, with the harmonic brilliance of Nate Mercereau’s guitar synth fortifying the whole.

The title track, "Everyone's Children" follows. Featuring Mia Doi Todd –– whose pregnancy at the time of the recording inspired its name –– the track blends her dreamlike singing with the buzzing swoop and swirl of a synthesizer –– a recognizable throwback to the Sai Anantam Ashram devotional sound –– alongside gentle piano runs. Begun in reflective mode, "Sun Of Keshava"’s synthesizer textures build in warmth towards a denouement of radiant keyboard notes that recall the beauty of a summer sunrise.

The cascading "Waves For Margie" features gentle harp textures and vocals from Radha Botofasina. The album ends with a reprise of it’s centerpiece "Surya Meditation", in a shortened and powerful edit that comes accompanied by the potent spoken reminiscences of Swamini Satsang. It’s return marks the closing of an extraordinary musical circle whose singular blend of improvisatory and devotional music defies easy categorization. The warmly reflective solo synth piece for Meghan Jahnavi* was added with the intention to promote mental health and wellness initiatives. “That is specifically what Dew Sophie's and Meghan's pieces are composed for,” Surya reflects. “Their imperative nature and importance to me cannot be overstated. I, and we, are in a place where uplifting our spirits to wellness is the most crucial part of many aspects of human existence.”

Dedicated to the formative influences in Surya Botofasina’s life; his mother, grandmother and Alice Coltrane, his debut album is imbued with a wide-eyed sense of discovery. He explains: “Each piece feels like an inaugural experience in the most spiritually youthful way. Many musicians have many albums - but there is only one first. The Divine energy of a new life is within every second of the music.”

Shiroishi and Kimbrell are Oort Smog | "Every Motherfucker Is Your Brother"

Oort Smog carries the torch of the saxophone and drums duo tradition, beginning in early formations such as John Coltrane and Rashied Ali and continuing through the years via Anthony Braxton and Andrew Cyrille, Sax Ruins, and Dead Neanderthals. As Oort Smog, Mark Kimbrell and Patrick Shiroishi combine elements of brutal prog (both are members of Upsilon Acrux) and free improvisation on their latest release, a long form composition powerfully titled Every Motherfucker Is Your Brother.

“Oort Smog is a duo to the core. Patrick and I lean on each other, pull each other out of our comfort zones, and push each other forward.,” Kimbrell says. “All of that is essential to our process and the music itself.” Every Motherfucker Is Your Brother is the band’s second offering, continuing the complexities of their first record, a hybrid of tightly arranged changes and free jazz improvisation. Daniel Zaidenstadt returns as engineer to help sculpt the sonics, blending and fully utilizing the space of Human Resources to its fullest potential. “When we first started Oort Smog, I was extremely nervous to play with Mark … he is such a powerhouse and technician of the drums,” reflects Shiroishi. “Primarily my idea of playing with guitar pedals and amp was to be able to compete with Mark’s dynamics. Now, almost a decade in, this band has allowed me to experiment not only with effects, but to try new things, write new things, and reach for new things.”

Written over the course of eighteen months and recorded during the pandemic and the explosion of demonstrations around the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, Oort Smog drew from a number of influences to create their own sound, one of urgency, heaviness and hope. “We wanted this second record to include a lot of things but still be a cohesive piece of music, and I truly believe we accomplished that,” Shiroishi says. “The extracts we chose are from two sections of the piece that highlight the fluidity and tightness we’ve been able to build through the past eight years. We named the piece after we finished recording it with Daniel and it is a direct, oppositional response to the racial injustice that infects this country." 

Patrick Shiroishi is a Japanese-American multi-instrumentalist and composer based in Los Angeles who is perhaps best known for his extensive and incredibly intense work with the saxophone. Over the last decade he has established himself as one of the premier improvising musicians in Los Angeles, playing solo and in numerous collaborative projects with Claire Rousay, Angel Deradoorian, Ted Byrnes, Luke Stewart, Fuubutsushi, Jessica Ackerley, and many more. Shiroishi is a foundational player in Los Angeles's vast musical expanse, and has over the past few years made a name for himself globally as one of the most creative and prolific living saxophonists.

Mark Kimbrell is a Los Angeles-based drummer, known for his high-energy propulsive drumming style. After a two-year study of commercial music at Musicians Institute, Mark abandoned the pursuit of the mainstream in favor of more esoteric forms, immersing in the fertile creativia of Los Angeles DIY music. This led to a stint in Upsilon Acrux, alongside fellow drummer Dylan Fujioka and saxophonist Patrick Shiroishi, with whom he formed Oort Smog in 2014. “As long as I’ve been conscious, I’ve known that I was a drummer," Kimbrell says. "Though my extended family is extremely musical, my parents were not. When I got to be a teenager and finally had the opportunity to become a drummer, I realized that I didn’t know shit about music. I didn’t know shit about sound. Nothing. The rest of the story is just relentlessly trying to catch up.”

LONDON BASED COSMIC JAZZ RAVE TRIO, RELEASE "HYPER-DIMENSIONAL EXPANSION BEAM"

The Comet Is Coming, the London-based Mercury Prize nominated synth-sax-drum trio featuring DANALOGUE (Dan Leavers), SHABAKA (Shabaka Hutchings), and BETAMAX (Max Hallett), today announce their fourth studio album Hyper-Dimensional Expansion Beam set for release September 23 via the legendary Impulse! Records. Their first single “CODE” is released today – an intergalactic head-banger that explores hidden meaning and codes in humans (DNA) and technology – alongside a visualizer. 

The Comet Is Coming grab you by the head and don’t let go with their relentless and fiery sound, “at once eliciting thoughts of impending doom and possible hope” (Pitchfork). The ingredients: 80s synth models, saxophone and drums, sprinkled with visceral punk rock, interstellar jazz blasts, and dance-floor trances.

On their fourth album, Hyper-Dimensional Expansion Beam, The Comet Is Coming – synth magician/producer Danalogue, drummer-producer Betamax, and saxophonist/spiritual riffologist Shabaka– burn brightly, soundtracking our epoch of change in ways their contemporaries simply aren’t trying to. 

The process: emerging straight from lockdown, the trio went to Peter Gabriel’s Real World decked out studio tucked away in the English countryside. With the help of the band’s longtime engineer Kristian Craig Robinson, the trio embarked on a four-day long recording process guided by collective intuition, sheer skill, and transcendent improvisation. Next, Danalogue and Betamax fastidiously sampled the band’s own creations, alchemically weaving the out-of-body musical collisions with microscopic attention to detail in the production room. This distillation process yields a profound coherent musical message about the future of technology, humankind, spirituality, and the connectivity of the universe. Which just so happens to rock. 

Tracks like “Pyramids,” drenched in layers of controlled synth-syncopation and Shabaka’s iconic minimalism pulsing forward and “Atomic Wave Dance” are stone-cold bangers, made for a nightclub on a space station. “Lucid Dreamer,” on the other hand is a vulnerable and emotional guided meditation led by Danalogue’s Ensoniq synth, which eerily evokes humanoid choir voicings through technology. This album has the unrelenting, driving and fiery muscle that Comet is known for, but creates a space where ideas about the future – dystopian or hopeful – technology, artificial intelligence, hidden meanings and transcendental transformations can exist.

The Comet Is Coming formed when Soccer96 – Danalogue and Betamax’s synth-drum tron-like duo – were playing and captured jazz saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings attention. After some tentative conversations between the duo and Shabaka, he hopped on stage at a show on a trial run and the energy coarsed between the trio and Comet was born. This union was a result of, as Danalogue describes it, “the algorithm of fate.” See, they all attended Guildhall School of Music where Dan and Max met - but Dan and Shabaka were a tale of missed connections as they shared the same saxophone teacher. Thankfully, fate’s algorithm guided the trio together. Hyper-Dimensional Expansion Beam follows their 2019 Trust In The Life Force of the Deep Mystery, which garnered praise from NPR, Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, The New Yorker, Washington Post, and their follow-up EP The Afterlife. This is their third full-length studio album. 

BEJA POWER! Electric Soul & Brass from Sudan’s Red Sea Coast

This album is a soundtrack of Sudan’s revolution.

In late 2021, Ostinato Records returned to Khartoum, Sudan shortly after a November military coup and country-wide protests to capture the sound of an ongoing, inspiring democratic revolution that began in 2019.

Scrolling Sudanese Tik Tok, we scouted a mysterious band in Port Sudan, a city on the Red Sea coast and the country’s biggest port. One short social media video opened the gates into a world few have ventured, let alone heard, a world that reorients our understanding of ancient history and politically empowers the present.

In the early 1990s, a young musician named Noori ventured near the scrap yards of Port Sudan only to find the well-preserved neck of a guitar, an uncommon instrument in these parts.

He was later gifted a vintage tambour from the ‘70s, a traditional four-string instrument strummed across the region, by his father, a renowned instrumentalist. Using his own special technique of welding and tuning, Noori forged the two and gave birth to an electrified tambo-guitar, the only hybrid of its kind in existence.

Then only 18, Noori was driven by a passionate cause to keep Beja (pronounced Bee-Jah) music alive and fresh. Beja culture is little known—for very deliberate reasons. Their land in eastern Sudan by the Red Sea is blessed and cursed with vast deposits of gold, largely sold off to foreign companies. Successive Sudanese governments have turned a blind eye to Beja calls for recognition and access to the mined wealth of their own soil.

Under the harsh rule of Sudan’s former strongman, Omar al-Bashir, a campaign was waged to erase Beja language, music, and culture, and deny the right to a dignified livelihood. Their conditions have changed little since Bashir’s ouster in 2019.

The Beja community has been on the forefront of political change in Sudan for decades and Noori believes an unleashing of Beja music would form the most potent act of resistance, in line with the rebellious closure Sudan’s biggest port, a regular demonstration of civil disobedience by Beja activists in their quest for equity and justice.

Few older Beja recordings were produced. Even fewer, if any, remain. This is the first ever international release of the Beja sound, a six-track portal to another time and place, of melodies long forgotten and never before interpreted by an electric and brass-driven ensemble. Beja Power! is a living archive of the finest, most heartfelt Beja songs—each composed at a different stage in its long history, each in its own world.

A truly ancient community, Beja trace their ancestry back millennia. Some historians say they are among the living descendants of Ancient Egypt and the Kingdom of Kush. They are even depicted in the hieroglyphics.

Beja melodies—nostalgic, hopeful and sweet, ambiguous and honest—are thousands of years old, which explains an evocative composition like “Qwal” and the mystifying, regal imagery of the pharaoh’s courts it conjures. Yet, somehow, their sounds are also reminiscent of Dick Dale’s 1963 “Misirlou” and jazz great Charlie Rouse’s 1968 “Meci Bon Dieu”.

This album could be 6,000 years, 60 years, or 6 months old and the only difference would be the instruments used—and only a truly special instrument is worthy of the Beja cause: Noori’s tambo-guitar. Along with his Dorpa Band, formed in 2006, their instrumental Beja music forms the latest link in an unbroken chain of an inherited, arresting sound that is local as it is global, a gift of a storied past and the exchanges of the well-traveled, fabled Red Sea.

Electric soul, blues, jazz, rock, surf, even hints of country, speak fluently to styles and chords that could be Tuareg, Ethiopian, Peruvian or Thai—all grounded by hypnotic Sudanese grooves and Naji’s impeccable, airy tenor sax. The world is quite literally housed in Beja music.

Ostinato Records is honored to bring the nearly forgotten Beja sound in all its nostalgia, sweetness, honesty, and power, recorded and mastered to maintain the warmth of Sudan’s signature aesthetic, to your sound system.

This album is a testament to music’s timeless ability to realign the world’s ear and heart towards a long marginalized people’s enduring struggle, ensuring Beja culture, their true gold, is never again discarded to the scrap heaps of its own country or history. There is, as the track “Al Amal” translates in English, hope.

Madrid’s El Combo Batanga (latin funk / afro-cuban)

El Combo Batanga is a musical explosion at the intersection of Afro-Cuban rhythms and Latin funk. A group of powerful musicians who blend son, timba, latin soul and bogaloo for people to enjoy.

The history of El Combo Batanga starts in Havana. Ale Gutiérrez, the band’s vocalist, comes from there and arrives in Madrid at the end of the 90s. His group Habana Abierta spearheaded the new Cuban music in Europe.

Meanwhile, some of the most prestigious musicians of the Madrid scene meet for a weekly residency on Mondays at La Negra Tomasa. Regular collaborators of Amparanoia, Jerry Gonzalez, Alain Perez and many others start, in an almost improvised way, a project under the name of Los Chocolatinos.

Ale Gutiérrez saw Los Chocolatinos live and fell in love with a sound that was reminiscent of Cuba, but with a very special flavor. Yago Salorio on double bass, Julian Olivares on guitar, Rodrigo “El Niño” on drums and pailas and Pepe Prat on congas distilled a very personal sound that draws from the Latin and Cuban tradition. Just three weeks later he was already playing with them, in what would be the seed of El Combo Batanga. This project quickly established itself as one of the strongholds of the Madrid-Cuba musical connection, two distant points vibrating on the same frequency through several generations of Cuban musicians relocated to Madrid.

In 2018 Rodrigo “el Niño” is commissioned to assemble a band to accompany the legendary Joe Bataan on a tour of Spain. The backbone of the band was already there, Los Chocolatinos, and they only need to recruit a rocky brass section and a keyboardist. The chosen ones were Aarón Pozón, Javier Martínez and César Medina on horn, and Rubén García on keys. The chemistry of the band is palpable, and brings overwhelming results: magic on stage, a devoted audience… a big party mood. Among the audience, record label Tucxone approaches them and asks them to record.

The recording process is easy, with a band of super musicians, who understand each other perfectly. Their sound is classic and at the same time unique. Boogaloo and Latin Soul, with the punch of Funk, but crossed with Timba and Son, with Cuban soul. All recorded in Carabanchel, Madrid, with the complicity of a group of musicians who have been playing together for 17 years.

Their first work, Who Cares, was released in the pandemic turmoil of 2020. Now this album has become part of the Lovemonk Discos Buenos catalog and has been remastered. Three new 7 “s will be released this year. The band has finally started playing gigs, starting at Transmusicales Rennes: an unstoppable train delivering groove and flavor. Watch out!

"Pigeon Pit" by Estonian band Lexsoul (yacht soul)

Based in Tallinn, Estonia, Lexsoul Dancemachine is a 6-headed, smoking-hot funk beast known for tearing venues apart with its energetic performances on stage. Active since 2013, the aim of this machine is to hypnotize feel-good music lovers with thumping bass lines, syncopated rhythms, irresistible grooves and soulful vocals. It’s the kind of music you can breakdance to, although in between those hard-hitting sounds you’ll find some more tender moments.

Thanks to a successful Kickstarter campaign the band entirely self-produced its debut album “Deus Lex Machina”, which was released on CD, LP and digital download in December of 2015. It went on to gain praise and support from DJs and listeners alike, with single “Beef Grinder” getting picked up by the mighty Craig Charles for his “Funk & Soul Show” on BBC 6 & BBC 2 and even being included in his compilation “Craig Charles Funk & Soul Club vol.4” out on Freestyle Records. The following year was busy with live gigs in the Baltic-Nordic region, including Tallinn Music Week, Positivus, Funky Elephant and Pori Jazz Festival in Finland.

Lexsoul Dancemachine‘s next single was “Coconuts”, an irresistibly catchy tropical funk delight that was released digitally in July 2016. After stunning the region’s crowds with its unique sound and exotic feel it took off abroad, receiving air time worldwide, support from the funk-soul-disco communities throughout Europe and topping local radio charts. The enthusiastic reaction to the track encouraged Lexsoul Dancemachine to pursue this direction further and record their next album with a decidedly more latin funk and tropical disco influence. Sophomore full-length “Sunny Holiday In Lexico“ came out on Funk Embassy Records in 2018 and further cemented the band’s standing as as sweat-inducing groove machine.

As the band prepare for the release of their third studio album, there’s no doubt the raw funk beast shines first and foremost in a sweaty live setting. They’ve yet to leave a crowd unfazed as evident from the first UK tour in February 2017 when the Dancemachine made people stomp their feet in London, Bristol, Manchester and Leeds. Among the dates was a sold-out evening at the iconic Band on the Wall venue during the Craig Charles Funk and Soul Club evening.

Whether it be live or recorded, one thing is for sure, Lexsoul Dancemachine is here to wake you up, make you stomp your feet and jive with their raw street funk on one side and sweet soul on the other!

 

"Shake the Blues (Outta Your Shoes)" by Danny Toeman (rhythm n blues / funk)

A vibrant and powerful performer, Danny Toeman seamlessly blends the classic vibes of Funk and Soul’s golden age with his own inimitable London edge that modernises his work, giving it a fresh ‘neo-vintage’ flavour. His gravel tones combined with an altitude-defying falsetto set him apart, creating a sound oozing with character and emotion. With his backing band The Love Explosion, Toeman stages an electrifying show filled to the brim with feel-good funky soul, designed to make everyone get on up!

Born in London, Danny was well acquainted with the Soul, Funk, and Rhythm and Blues of artists such as James Brown, Aretha Franklin, and Ray Charles from an early age, before graduating onto the hard-hitting Southern Soul of artists like Wilson Pickett and Bobby Womack, and the refined uptown Philly Soul of artists like the O’Jays and The Spinners. A guitarist since the age of seven, and a singer before that, he grabbed any opportunity to perform his songs on stage for an audience.

Danny Toeman truly set out on his musical career after graduating University (where he won the regions official Battle of the Bands contest). Soon after, he was in demand as a supporting act for a number of great Soul artists, including Charles Bradley of Daptone, Michael Kiwanuka, Queen of Rare Groove Betty Wright, and 4-time Grammy winner Robert Cray. Around the same time, Danny’s music reached a worldwide audience when a song of his was discovered on Soundcloud by scouts, and placed on the in-store playlists of Abercrombie & Fitch. Since then, his music has appeared in film and television shows around the world, most notably Saturday Night Live (NBC).

Danny continued to perform nonstop around the UK, occasionally traveling to continental Europe for appearances. From 2019-2021, he hosted and promoted a series of headline shows at the famous Pizza Express Jazz Club, which garnered sold-out crowds every night. The pinnacle of the support slots came in 2019, when Danny was chosen as the primary support act for funk legends Kool and the Gang at their o2 Arena show in London, in front of 10,000 spectators.

In Mid-2020 Danny was approached by LRK Records to release his track “She’s Got Something About Her” on vinyl. Within 3 months of release it went completely sold out, taking the European Soul Scene by storm. It garnered multiple radio plays, including from BBC 6 Music’s Craig Charles, and veteran BBC DJ Robert Elms pronounced it his “new favourite song”.

In 2022, Danny received his first spin on BBC 2 for the single  “Shake The Blues (Outta Your Shoes)” and was chosen by industry professionals out of thousands of competitors to act as the opening act for the legendary Diana Ross at one of her rare UK performances. Even more recently, his latest single “When the Lights Go Down” has reached No.20 in the Official UK Soul Chart, and orders for the ’45 vinyl on LRK Records are moving swiftly!

As the world continues to open up, Danny looks forward to taking his show across Europe and around the World.

 

THE ANO NOBO QUARTET: THE STRINGS OF SAO DOMINGOS

In 1989, as the Berlin Wall collapsed in front of the world’s eyes, a burly soldier from Cabo Verde stood on the East German side. Nicknamed “El Bruto” or “The Brute” because of his “brutally” good prowess on the guitar, Pascoal watched the end of an era in full uniform, the ever dutiful soldier. As a member of the FARP, the armed wing of Cabo Verde’s independence struggle, which was backed by the Soviet Union, Pascoal was dispatched the world over—from Cuba to Crimea to East Berlin.

Being stationed in Cuba gave him access to a world of guitar music. His stints in the Caribbean and the Crimean Peninsula were alongside soldiers from elsewhere in Lusophone Africa and the former colonized world. Not required on the battlefield, these military postings became cultural gatherings and, quite simply, jam sessions, where sounds and techniques were exchanged.

Today, along with fellow guitar maestros, Fany, Nono, and Afrikanu, Pascoal leads The Ano Nobo Quartet, named after Cabo Verde’s most legendary composer, Ano Nobo, Pascoal’s mentor and father to the rest of the group. Till today, Ano Nobo’s face graces murals across the archipelago.

Ostinato Records has delved deep into the sound of this cluster of 11 islands floating 400 miles off the West African coast. Critically acclaimed compilations like Synthesize the Soul, Leite Quente Funaná, and Pour Me A Grog provided three chapters of Cabo Verde’s story: 1980s synthesizer dance music, the 1990s diasporan sound in Europe, and the accordion heavy Funaná sound, all born in the same island of Santiago. 

But the Covid-19 pandemic called for a departure in the fourth chapter. A different story needed telling. Pascoal is a soldier, able to weather hardship, adapt, and maintain a clear-eyed focus. In short, the man to lead a pandemic-era recording that demanded a shorter recording period to lessen the chance of transmission along with abrupt restrictions and limitations on gatherings and recording locations.

The Strings of São Domingos is not only a tribute to Koladera, or Coladeira, a guitar-driven, subtly rhythmic sound of a lighter spirit, but to Pascoal’s rich life history shaped by the Cold War and the legacy of Ano Nobo. But these tracks aren’t your traditional Koladera, the original recipe first cooked up in the island of Fogo and popularized by Cesaria Evora. 

The Ano Nobo Quartet’s Koladera is a global story with Cabo Verde at its center, a creole melting pot in the middle of the Atlantic attracting the best from four continents: hypnotic, haunting Koladera guitars inflected with twangs of Salsa Cubano, Spanish Flamenco, Brazilian Samba Canção, Jamaican Reggae, Argentine Tango, Mozambican Marrabenta, and finished with a dash of Black American Blues. It’s all here. Pascoal even picked up a few notes from a group of Chinese guitarists—a traditional instrument in China resembles the cavaquinho—who arrived on a socialist cultural exchange in Cabo Verde. Absent percussion, the quartet’s sound still drips with rhythm.

This album was recorded in three locations on Santiago Island: in Pascoal’s home in São Domingos, the small hometown of Ano Nobo that sits amid the cascading hills of the countryside; in a secluded, remote recording space in the north of the island; and near Santiago’s northern beach cove without any electricity. Each location used a mobile recording studio equipped with different mics placed near and far to capture both the Spanish and Chinese-made guitars and the natural environment that shapes the saudade, a melancholic longing, of Koladera. Each space has its own atmosphere heard in the interludes.

The maiden voyage of our new Ostinato Acoustics series, The Ano Nobo Quartet confirms humanity is at its finest when we break life down to its essential parts and fundamental simplicity. A sound and approach cast from the depths of personal and world history that obliges us to seek humbler ways in the years ahead and hold the delicate yet sharp, serene yet swaying strings of São Domingos as the soundtrack to exit a brutal time, guided by brutally good music from brutally good guitarists.

Vancouver jazz outfit Malleus Trio to launch "On/Off"

Formed in 2007, Vancouver's Malleus Trio comprises drummer Ben Brown (of JUNO-winners Pugs and Crows), Dominic Conway (of the Mary Ancheta Quartet) on tenor saxophone,  and bassist Geordie Hart (founding member of the Boom Booms). Following their 2017 debut, the group has gone on to become a staple of the jazz festival circuit in Canada and it's not hard to see why. This summer saw them bringing their lean, intricate music to the Toronto, Medicine Hat, Calgary, Ottawa and Victoria Jazz Festivals, following a spring stint in Europe. Meanwhile, their 2019 tour in support of their second albumPlay Nice encompassed appearances at Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Halifax and Saskatoon festivals, the last of which they shared the stage with the legendary Joshua Redman Quartet.

Their third album, On/Off offers a thorough exploration of this trio's vast musical range. Their core sound is singularly charismatic, springing from a driving, no-nonsense, rhythmic base, yet the group always seem poised to veer off in some surprising direction... and they do.  What they do remains firmly anchored in the jazz pantheon, yet welcomes both the assertive simplicity of rock, and the sonic curiosity of experimental forms. The absence of a chording instrument such as guitar or piano only serves to underline their specific blend of elements, streamlining their harmonic profile while also drawing attention to the vital role each member plays. Their pared-down instrumentation also gives their  rhythmic dimension additional presence, while providing space for them to cultivate unique approaches to counterpoint and interplay as a unit.There's no shortage of bold urgency to their playing, but they never stray needlessly into virtuosic machismo. Instead, they let their soulful melodies, sinewy grooves, idiosyncratic interaction, and textural detours speak for themselves. 

Malleus Trio's unorthodox yet accessible take on jazz is undoubtedly a result of the eclectic versatility of its membership. Over the past decade and half, bassist and composer Geordie Hart has applied his background in jazz to a wide variety of different scenarios including his own band the Boom Booms, who bring a widescreen sensibility to soul-pop, as well as appearances alongside noted artists Sarah McLachlan, Bryan Adams, Serena Ryder and Jessie Reyez. Saxophonist Dominic Conway is currently a member of numerous different outfits spanning the proggish jazz of We Just Stole A Car to the polymorphous funk of Coco Jafro. His various collaborations provide even more insight into his stylistic breadth; he has been heard alongside internationally-celebrated Vancouver improviser Peggy Lee, award-winning guitarist Steve Dawson and prominent Canadian rockers Arkells, among many others. Ben Brown is the sort of musician who continues to nurture his curiosity as a percussionist through inventive collaborations, such as his recent explorations of the "symbiotic instruments" conceived by composer Roxanne Nesbitt.  Brown has been heard at noted European venues for experimental music such as Bimhuis and Fylkingen while also contributing to the exploratory pop of Alicia Hansen and his band Pugs & Crows. He is also engaged in ongoing studies with revered artists such as Evelyn Glennie and Jim White (of Dirty Three and Xylouris White). The band's longstanding relationship affords them the trust and mutual familiarity to fuse and reconfigure this disparate assortment of artistic tendencies all the while maintaining a distinctive, economic-but-colourful collective aesthetic.

Alfredo Rodriguez Releases New Album, Coral Way

Globally acclaimed artist and pianist Alfredo Rodriguez has released his new album Coral Way via Mack Avenue Records. "I play what I live, and Coral Way is my new life,” states Rodriguez. “It is the name of the street on which, for the past 3 years, I have been composing this album, and now I’m excited that people from all over the world will finally get to hear it in an expansive way, with a full live band."

On Coral Way, listeners can expect to hear the Rodriguez they’ve known and loved for years, but with a new twist. The album embodies the collective sound of Miami, blending Latin pop, timba, salsa, bachata, tango, reggaeton, and bolero. It's a musical fusion that encompasses the diverse Latin community while celebrating individuality and fostering unity. It calls upon Rodriguez’s roots just as much as his newly-learned experiences, representing a new phase of life marked by his latest move from Los Angeles to Miami; the birth of his baby girl; and finally reuniting in the same city as his family, who now all live in Miami, following his departure from Cuba.

In his new home, Rodriguez took note of the limited cross-pollination and few collaborations that existed between mainstream Latin music and Latin jazz. Coral Way, which features guest vocalists Cimafunk and Alana Sinkëy, serves as the connective tissue between these worlds—an artistic statement for the diverse Latin community to be seen, be heard, and take pride in their history, while creating community through individuality.

Rodriguez's ability to "play stories" on the keys allows him to connect with his listeners on a deeply personal level. His albums, including The Invasion Parade, Tocororo, and Duologue, reflect his memories of Cuba, his experiences as an immigrant, and his journey of self-discovery through music. He’s been featured by All Things Considered, Downbeat, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Wall Street Journal among many others, and performed for NPR Music’s Tiny Desk Concert.

Rodriguez continues to share his music along with his impactful message of perseverance and cross culturalization on an international tour, while sharing a variety of viral social media videos in which he plays well-known compositions in a Cuban timba style. See tour dates below.

Tour Dates:

• August 18: Castelsardo, Italy @ Musica sulle Bocche Festival Jazz Internazionale
• August 20: Makarska, Croatia @ Makarska Jazz Festival
• September 19: St. Louis, Missouri @ City Winery
• September 20: Chicago, Illinois @ Constellation
• September 22: Des Moines, Iowa @ Civic Music Association
• September 23: Madison, Wisconsin @ Stoughton Opera House
• September 24: St. Paul, Minnesota @ Turf Club 
• September 27: Boston, MA @ City Winery 
• September 28: New York City, New York @ Sheen Center
• October 1: Durham, North Carolina @ Carolina Theatre 
• October 5: Cocoa Beach, Florida @ Heidi’s Jazz Club
• October 6: Largo, Florida @ Central Park Performing Arts Center
• October 7: Miami, Florida @ The Moss Center
• October 11: Denver, Colorado @ Cervantes
• October 13: Greeley, Colorado @ UNC Greeley
• October 14: Beaver Creek, Colorado @ Vilar Performing Arts Center
• November 3: Madrid, Spain @ Teatro Pavon 
• November 4: Lausanne, Switzerland @ Paderewski Room Salle Paderewski
• November 5: Valencia, Spain 
• November 6: Kedzierzyn, Poland @ Kameleon Jazz Club
• November 7: Poznań, Poland @ Blue Note Jazz Club
• November 8: Lublin, Poland @ Teatr Stary w Lublinie
• November 9: Warsaw, Poland @ Jassmine
• November 10: Ełk, Poland @ Elk Cultural Center
• November 11: Avignon, France @ La Scala 
• November 15: Novi Sad, Serbia @ Novi Sad Jazz Festival
• November 17: Eilat, Israel @ Red Sea Jazz Festival
• November 19: Zaragoza, Spain @ Caixa Forum Zaragoza
• November 24: Sevilla, Spain @ Caixa Forum Sevilla
• November 26: Mumbai, India @ Mumbai Intl. Jazz Festival
• February 1: West Palm Beach, Florida @ Kravis Center for the Performing Arts
• February 2: Gainesville, Florida @ University of Florida at Phillips Center Upstage 
• February 15: Rotterdam, Netherlands @ LantarenVenster
• February 16: Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Bimhuis
• February 17: Cologne, Germany @ Kölner Philharmonie
• February 20: Stockholm, Sweden @ Fasching
• February 24: Neuburg, Germany @ Birdland Jazz Club Neuburg
• February 25: Straubing, Bayern Germany @ Hotel ASAM
• February 26: Lugano, Switzerland @ Studio Foce
• February 29: London, United Kingdom @ Ronnie Scott's 
• March 1: Duisburg, Germany @ Lutherkirche Duissern
• March 21: San Diego, California @ UCSD
• March 22: Los Angeles, California @ UCLA

Pianist Todd Cochran Releases "From the Vault: Notes for the Future," a Narrative Exploration and Foray into Cochran’s Electronic Music Palette

Notes for the future are the “imagined sometime in the past” tropes of a storyteller. Freed from every day “isms” of convention and released from the symbolic containment of the vault, the music is an allegorical exploration in futurism. The stream running throughout the musical narrative is a speculative commentary about our human search for meaning, and we’re reminded that as a version of our ancestors’ vision, this quest never ends.

“From The Vault” is structured around a sequence of recurring themes and develops as an unfolding tour of references, hints, and clues. Moving from one perspective to another, we connect with how our planet is perpetually in a state of seeking solutions. Within the soundscape, without words, an underlying language is speaking. Nature evolves for the sum of us, not the few. We are in a continual state of becoming. We are connected. Love is passed along, as is happiness. Nevertheless, expressly for the listener, an implied sense of reasoning encourages us to feel free and let go of all things familiar. And then, “over there” in the distance, we get a passing glimpse of the sacred structure.

1.    PAINTED BY THE SUN

Mountain peaks, sea cliffs, oceans, opaque forests, desert savannas – and human faces colorized by the paintbrush of nature. The entirety of our planet is inhabited by intuitive human beings – all sun worshippers – collectively marking time in communal practices of decoding the mysteries of our existence.

2.    IN YOU I SEE ENDLESS MEMORIES

An imagined conversation between the sky and the wind.

3.    ISMS PRISMS

Not one thing, but all things… spontaneous change shuttles us through the cycles of life.

4.    TRANSPARENCIES

Being transparent is naturally imperfect and intensely human.

5.    WE MAKE TWO, TWO MAKE WE

Music is a language of interacting tones and colors through which one is able to experience the other; the abstract and the personal. The notion of two streams of thought merging into a unified idea makes for a wellspring of originality. At once distinctly different, yet in combination, resonating wildly.

6.    EYE DREAMING

“Within you, my love, I see endless mystery.”

7.    MOON GLOW

This duet of a middle-sized plucked string instrument and Balinese gong expresses energies I’ve experienced in Indonesia, where the nighttime sky sometimes seems so vast there appears to be an aura around the moon. 

8.    HYMN FOR THE HIDDEN PEOPLE

This is a tonal essay – an homage to the poor, the rebuked, scorned, unseen, and unheard. The music challenges our lack of compassion and moves us to feel the many who toil and struggle in silence, yet stay in the light, with hope and determination. 

9.    THE SPINNING CIRCLE

There are no simple explanations or a single equation that defines a circle. A circle has no beginning or end, there’s no start, finishing point, or conclusion. Only infinite revolutions rhythmically intertwined.

10. INSEPARABLE

Balance in our lives and the spaces we occupy is a dance of opposites. “Om” and “Amen” are the same thing.

Benjamin Koppel, Scott Colley, Brian Blade release 'Perspective'

KCB Collective is the name of an all-star trio, a working band that was founded 10 years ago, consisting of three of the most in-demand, versatile and top-class jazz musicians on the scene today. Between them they have worked with the who’s who in jazz, but this time they once again come together and via their long-lasting musical friendship they refine the potential of the classic jazz trio formation.

All three musicians write music for the trio and the album Perspective, which stretches from quiet, beautiful ballad-like jazz, to the more powerful, energetic, rock-influenced sub-genres.

Blade’s creativity blends perfectly with Colley’s strong improvisations and Koppel’s lyrical sax and the works are tied together by three virtuosos who have taken interplay and collective musical dialogue to a new level.

Benjamin Koppel is one of the most award-winning musicians of his generation. He has released more than 60 CDs as a band leader that include collaborations with artists like Jack DeJohnette, Paul Bley, Miroslav Vitous, Peter Erskine, Brian Blade and Phil Woods. In 2011, Koppel became a cultural knight of France, Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres, for his major contribution to French jazz via collaborations with Daniel Humair and many more.

Scott Colley is the bassist choice for such jazz legends as Herbie Hancock, Jim Hall, Andrew Hill and Michael Brecker. His remarkably empathetic skills, strong melodic sense and improvisational abilities can be heard in groups led by colleagues Chris Potter, John Scofield, Adam Rogers, Brian Blade, David Binney and Kenny Werner. Furthermore, Colley has a list of releases as a leader to his name. These feature musicians such as Bill Frisell, Mark Turner, Ralph Alessi and many more.

Brian Blade has established himself as one of the most important drummers of the 21st century. His exceptional abilities behind the drums have given Blade the opportunity to work with the who’s who of the jazz world and other rhythmic genres. To name a few, Blade has collaborated with Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, and Daniel Lanois. And in the jazz world he has been a regular member of both Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock’s bands. Lastly, Blade has been very successful with his own projects The Fellowship Band and Mama Rosa.

Hilario Durán and His Latin Jazz Big Band Releases the Title Track From "Cry Me A River," His First Big Band Album in 17 Years

Hilario Durán brings the full scope of his artistry, the depth of knowledge of musical genres in the perfect storm of big artistry on Cry Me A River. The nine works on this recording are born of Durán’s Afro-Caribbean cultural topography but are also informed by his gifts for bending tradition and infusing his arrangements with unfettered improvisation.

Through the course of the album the Grammy-nominated and Juno Award-winning Durán actively throws overboard melodic, harmonic, and structural hooks that have become expressively blunted through overuse, building big band charts that bloom in color and texture and atmospheric beauty.

“I have waited almost twenty years to record another big band album,” Durán says. “But there was plenty of preparation for this moment." He refers to the four radio broadcasts of his compositions and arrangements with the great WDR Big Band in Koln, Germany. “It was great to showcase my music and to ‘workshop’ some new arrangements... aspects of the craft I learned working with the Orquesta Cubana de Música Moderna in Habana which I inherited from Chucho Valdés... So much to be grateful for the gift of music... it seemed that the time is right for this new album, Cry Me A River,” Durán muses.

Durán integrates a myriad of genres into his singular style on the album – traversing innovations that have made his music uniquely breathtaking. He points to "Claudia," a song he arranged while he was touring as Musical Director with Valdés, and features Paquito D’Rivera on alto saxophone, as Dizzy Gillespie’s "Night in Tunisia." "Fantasia Impromptu" is a kind of jazz-meets classical, via Brazil and Cuba, featuring D’Rivera on clarinet. “It is our way of honoring the classics – in this case, Chopin,” Durán says.

Of the title song, "Cry Me A River," Durán says: “Elizabeth Rodríguez is just fantastic on violin. In her solo she plays deep in the Cuban tradition and follows that with an incredible improvisation! "Pacá por Juanito" is a tribute to guitarist, composer, arranger Juanito Márquez. "He is one of the greatest musicians of Cuba," Durán says. "I learned how to arrange for big band by studying his scores in my early years." Another original is "Mambo y Tumbao" “Here, I highlight both traditional forms (mambo) and the revolutionary innovators of Cuban music – the great Bebo Valdés, who invented the ‘batanga’ rhythm, and the influential bandleader Pérez Pradoa. And of course, 'I Remember Mingus' is a tribute to Charles Mingus, the great composer, bassist, and bandleader."

One name missing from the performance credits is Yailin Durán, the bandleader’s daughter. “She taught me all about hand-movements... everything I know about conducting,” Durán explains. “I owe the deepest gratitude to her for all my big band music... for Cry Me A River.”

Euge Groove Breaks Out Of Comfort Zone on New CD, includes Jr. Walker Tribute

“I’ve been home for the last twelve months free from touring to take care of my mind, body, and spirit” confesses one of Contemporary Jazz’s premier road warriors and hitmakers, Euge Groove. “I just turned 60 last November. I feel like I’m onto a new chapter. Not only musically, but spiritually.” August 25, 2023, Shanachie Entertainment will release Euge Groove’s thirteenth recording as a leader Comfort Zone. The number thirteen is a spiritual number and one that is often associated with change and rebirth. “The title Comfort Zone came about because I was anything but comfortable writing this album and I needed to get out of my comfort zone…writing songs in different keys then I’m used to, made me come up with different melodies and chord structures.” If you are wondering where Euge’s comfort zone lies, it is within his studio. “I could spend the rest of my life here. It has everything I need to feed myself.” Never one to rest on his laurels, the consummate hit-maker, celebrated saxophonist, composer and producer, has worked with everyone from Tina Turner, Eurythmics, Aaron Neville and Richard Marx, to Joe Cocker, Tower of Power, Huey Lewis and Luther Vandross. In an industry where artists are consistently put in a box and categorized, Euge Groove continues to let his heart lead professing, “Good music is good music, no matter what.” 

Comfort Zone Follows Euge Groove’s 2020 recording Sing My Song. The album grew out of collaborating with bassist Corney Mims and pianist Tracy Carter. “They both have been very instrumental in helping me shape the sound of my recordings over the last 15 years. It came to me to do some good old fashion writing sessions in my studio with them. We just sat down and whoever had an idea, they threw it out there.” Comfort Zone is an exhilarating set of ten originals that opens with the gorgeous composition “Measure for Measure,” reminding us of the beauty of the present. The bouncy and bluesy “Walkin’” is the perfect showcase for Euge’s ability to craft organic grooves that combine the best elements of jazz, R&B, funk and soul. The invitational and gospel-tinged “Let’s Hold Hands,” is a reminder of the many reasons why Euge Groove is such a dazzling master of melody. The track showcases the harmonica playing of Dino Soldo. “Melody has always been most important to me. Even with songs with lyrics, I hear the melody first,” shares the saxman. The Quiet Storm showstopper “Up Close” is reminiscent of Anita Baker’s “Sweet Love” while the album’s title cut, “Comfort Zone,” features all the creature comforts of Euge’s signature sound that have made him such a success at radio: unforgettable melodies, dance-inducing grooves, combustible percussive tracks and a special emphasis crisp clean production. “I am a bit of a tech geek,” confesses Euge. I love production. During the pandemic, I really got into doing production for others. Especially mastering. My wife wouldn’t let me buy a Porsche, so I bought an analog mastering rig. I just love it. I’ve mastered for Rick Braun, Vincent Ingala, Lindsey Webster, George Benson, Norman Brown, just to name a few.”

Euge Groove takes us to the “Crossroads” on Comfort Zone. Euge may be standing at the intersection but he’s all in with this hit-bound funky number. “Caminito,” meaning a little walkway or path, leads us to a decidedly blissful and serene place while the album’s first single, “Junior,” dares you to sit still with its soulful rhythmic groove and Euge’s big burly and zippy tenor. “I decided to go Junior Walker style on it. Hence, the title. I am a huge fan. Along with David Sanborn and Stanley Turrentine, Jr. Walker is a major influence on me."

One of the most beautiful moments on Comfort Zone happens on the song “Two Bridges.” While a bridge is meant to provide a safe passageway over a body of water or obstacle, Euge finds a direct route to a sweet and soulful place on this winning number. Euge Groove delivers a fitting closer to his new recording with his party anthem “Please Mr. Groove.” He shares, “The song is a loosely based cover of a dance club groove from the 80’s by the group One Way that featured a Vocoder hook saying, ‘Please Mr. Groove’. I had seen Richard Elliot play a sort of vocoder in a live set many times, so I asked him to give it a try, and he graciously accepted the challenge, and killed it! Though he plays it live, he’s never recorded it until now. Then, there is a breakdown section in the song that has this Maceo Parker kind of sax line. Nobody pays homage to Maceo like Candy Dulfer. No one! I reached out to her, whom I’ve hung with many times on the Smooth Jazz Cruises, and she graciously accepted. I owe those guys huge favors for the fun they brought to the song. And the song is fun. The original is just one chord the whole way through, so we added some other sections and turned it into a blast to play with.”

A graduate of the University of Miami's School of Music, Steven EUGEne GROoVE (Euge Groove!) was in Hagerstown, Maryland and grew up in a musical home. His mother played piano and taught the Cherub choir at Christ Lutheran Church, and he began his own musical pursuits at the age of seven, beginning with the piano and adding the saxophone at nine. But for Euge it was in elementary school where he discovered that music was his calling. “In fifth grade I thought I'd be in school band the rest of my life.” He later discovered two saxophonists who had a profound effect on his approach to playing. “One was French classical player Marcel Mule, who really defined what the sax was supposed to sound like for me and the other was David Sanborn. He took that sound and brought it into the mainstream world,” reminisces Euge Groove.  He explains, “I've listened to everyone from Grover (Washington Jr.) and (David) Sanborn to (Charlie) Parker and (John) Coltrane as well as (Michael) Brecker, (Stan) Getz, King Curtis, Junior Walker, Richard Elliott and Kirk Whalum. The thing is, the more mature we become the more those influences fuse into something new. I always listened to a lot of R&B growing up, fused that with Pop music, then with the Gospel music. Hopefully all these influences come through in my music and I am able to create my own unique expression.” With the release of Comfort Zone, Euge Groove further asserts himself as one of the most distinctive artists in Contemporary Jazz and assures us that he is in the zone. He also lets us in on a little secret - balance is the key to everything. “When I am not making music, I love driving the California coast. I’m very fortunate that I can be to the coast in about 15 minutes. It’s very Zen for me. Also, pizza. I love making pizza. I have a wood pizza oven in my backyard, and when I’m up to it, I get up early in the morning, make the dough, the sauce, and for dinner fire up the oven. I’ve got to be in the mood though. I get more requests in the house than I make. It’s like music for me; You can’t force it!”

Trumpeter PABLO MASIS Presents THOUGHT and MEMORY

In February 2015, trumpeter/composer Pablo Masis traveled from his home in New York City to Kabul, Afghanistan as a guest artist with the Afghanistan National Institute of Music for their Winter Academy. While there he gave individual and group lessons to the school’s brass students, taught a series of introductory jazz classes, performed in recitals, and assisted with outreach for Afghanistan’s only music school. His new recording (his fourth), Thought and Memory (BJUR 074), out on Brooklyn Jazz Underground Records on September 8, 2023, is a musical snapshot of these two vastly different cities, both of which have affected Masis greatly, altering and shaping his view of the world.

The first half of this recording consists of four compositions, performed by Masis and his rhythm section of Jeff McLaughlin (guitar), Jeff Koch (bass) and David Hawkins (drums). “I wrote these compositions as an embodiment of my experiences of living in New York City,” said Masis. “’Supercollider’” and ‘Anticipation’ are both meditations on life in such a vibrant city. ‘Signal Problems’ was inspired by the experience of waiting on a NYC subway train, stalled in between stations.” The title track, “Thought and Memory”, comes from melodies floating in an out of Masis head during long walks through some of NYC’s dark and moody streets.

The second half of this recording consists of a three movement suite Masis began working on while in Kabul, Afghanistan, in February 2015. Masis elaborates, “I was there as a guest of the Afghanistan National Institute of Music’s (ANIM) Winter Academy. Teachers were brought to the school to give lessons and classes for Afghanistan’s only western music school. During my time there I spent many contemplative hours in my hotel room. Travel was restricted to the school and approved outings, so in my downtime, and with the backdrop of the sights, sounds, culture and history of Kabul, I began writing the music that became the suite you hear on the album.”

The first movement, “An Unfamiliar Dawn”, captures Masis’ experience of a Kabul landscape and sunrise. Towards the end of the movement, the saxophone solo carries the suite into the second movement, representing the journey from the calm of the hotel down into the hustle and bustle of the city and the school. The second movement, “A Future Without Strife”, expresses the energy and excitement of the children at ANIM during the trumpeter’s time there. “Each student was enthusiastic and wanted to learn about Western music. Towards the end of the movement, the drum solo transports us into the third movement.” “Darul Aman”, represents Masis’ visit to Darul Aman Palace, on the outskirts of Kabul. He explains, “I wrote this movement as an elegy both for the palace, and the ending of my time in Afghanistan.”

Originally from Cleveland, Masis spent his childhood years in Northern Arizona on the Navajo Indian Reservation before moving to Billings, Montana. He studied classical trumpet with Robert Levy and received a Bachelor of Music degree from Lawrence University. Following a year of Graduate study in classical trumpet under Dennis Najoom at the University of Wisconsin, he moved to New Orleans and studied with Big Easy legends Terence Blanchard, Clyde Kerr Jr. and Ed Petersen, receiving a Masters Degree in Jazz Studies from the University of New Orleans. After two years in New Orleans, Masis moved to Omaha, Nebraska in 2004, where he was an active freelancer, performing across the Midwest. He attended the Betty Carter Jazz Ahead Residency at the Kennedy Center in 2007 and also participated in the Banff Centre Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music, led by Dave Douglas. 

Masis recorded his first album of original compositions in 2009, titled Half Past. That same year he made the pilgrimage to New York City, and quickly became an active freelancer and educator. He has performed at venues such as Joe’s Pub, The Blue Note, The Baryshnikov Arts Center, The Waldorf Astoria, Music Hall of Williamsburg, Irving Plaza, Littlefield, Shapeshifter Lab, and The Cornelia Street Cafe, among others. He has also performed with a variety of NYC-based ensembles including Kyle Saulnier’s Awakening Orchestra, Bobby Sanabria’s Multiverse Big Band, and the David White Jazz Orchestra.

In 2012 Masis released his second recording titled Intrinsic, and featuring Chad Lefkowitz-Brown, Alex Brown, Linda Oh and Jared Schonig. Hot on the heels of this release, Masis decided to pursue writing music for a more intimate ensemble, and went into the studio with new music and musicians Aidan Carrol and Jared Schonig to record Rubicon, released in June of 2014.

Masis has performed across the U.S. and Europe including NYC, Seattle, Portland, New Orleans, Washington D.C., Belgium, The Netherlands, and Poland. The trumpeter has presented concerts and masterclasses at Rocky Mountain College, South Dakota State University, and Southwestern Oklahoma State University. The artist currently lives in Brooklyn, where is he on the teaching faculty of the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music.

Upcoming Thought and Memory Tour Dates:

• September 17 – The Soapbox Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
• September 21 - Southwestern Oklahoma State University, Weatherford, OK
• September 22 - University of Central Oklahoma Jazz Lab, Edmond, OK
• September 23 - The Ship, Kansas City, MO
• September 26 - Boiler Brewing Company, Lincoln, NE
• September 27 - Vangarde Arts, Sioux City, IA
• September 28 - R Wine Bar, Sioux Falls, SD
• September 28 - Augustana University, Sioux Falls, SD
• September 29 - South Dakota State University, Brookings, SD



Output / Input – Forward Motion

Output/Input was formed by Melvin Lee Davis, an esteemed bassist, composer, producer, and arranger who also happens to be Musical Director for 10-time GRAMMY award-winning ‘Queen of Funk’, Chaka Khan, who he still regularly tours with. He has also recorded, toured and worked with legends of Soul and Jazz, including George Benson, Lee Ritenour, George Duke, Will Downing, Lalah Hathaway, Patti Austin, Ledisi, and Angie Stone among many others. Davis‘ musical pedigree is also in evidence as co-writer of ‘Soul Train’s A Comin’, the theme song for Don Cornelius’ legendary weekly television show ‘Soul Train’.

Lead vocalist Antonio McLendon has worked and performed with James Ingram, Tata Vega, Gladys Knight and Donna Summer, and features on ‘Someone I Used To Love, ‘Smilin’ Faces’, and ‘I’m In Love’, which received rotation plays at radio last year. ‘Smilin’ Faces‘ is a hit at UK Soul radio right now. ‘Here We Go Again’ is also still getting radio play and features the vocals of Audrey Wheeler-Downing, who has worked with Unlimited Touch and Chaka Khan, and Brent Carter, the current lead singer of AWB and previous to that, Tower Of Power. ‘Doin’ Alright’ features vocals from O’Bryan, who Davis worked with extensively on his albums for Capitol. This is a re-recorded version with added horns and strings, co-written by Melvin, that originally appeared on the album of the same name in 1982. Also on vocals is Katie Holmes-Smith, a globally sought-after singer, who backed Adele on her world tour as well as currently performing with her for the duration of Adele’s residency at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas.

Band co-founders, known as the Triple H Horns, comprising Nick Mead (trumpet), Jacob Shaw (saxophone) and Patrick Hayes (trombone), are an in-demand horn section for artists such as Christina Aguilera, as well as composers and producers worldwide. They initially met Melvin Lee Davis through their work with Chaka Khan. The ensemble is completed by members Jay Williams (drums), Adam Kovacs (percussion) Kanghyun Bu (guitar), Daeun Kim (keyboard), and Jesse Milliner (keyboard).

Marc Copland Quartet - Someday

As the pandemic winds down and music re-emerges, internationally renowned pianist Marc Copland has released his first quartet CD in several years, featuring some of the finest talents on the New York scene. Copland feels that this is one of his finest recordings ever, and after listening, we can see why!

By now Marc Copland needs no introduction. At 74 years, he’s arguably at the top of his game, making him one of the handful of jazz pianists playing at the highest level. Certainly John Abercrombie and Gary Peacock thought so; for over 30 years, they played in his bands, and he in theirs. Drew Gress, the other veteran in the band, has been omnipresent on the jazz scene for three decades. He covers the whole instrument with breath-taking virtuosity, and his understanding of time and harmony is perhaps unrivalled among his peers.

Copland and Gress, partners for many years, are joined by two outstanding younger talents. Robin Verheyen is a Belgian- American saxophonist who has been playing with Copland for nearly ten years. Says the pianist, “he really knows how to listen, and has his own sound and approach.” Copland, who has played and recorded over the years with the likes of Bob Berg, Michael Brecker, David Liebman, Joe Lovano, and James Moody, says simply, “Robin is my favourite tenor and soprano saxophonist.” Drummer Mark Ferber is no stranger to jazz listeners, having toured and recorded with Gary Peacock’s trio, Ralph Alessi’s quintet (including two albums for ECM), and countless other projects. He combines an effortless technical proficiency, killer swing, high intensity, and quiet sensitivity all in one package.

Copland’s unique sense of touch, lyricism and poetry at his instrument, his creation of unusual harmonies and lines, and his sense of swing are well documented. What’s perhaps less known, but shines brightly here, is how committed he is to the spontaneity of the moment. “That’s an approach John (Abercrombie), Gary (Peacock), and I all shared - when I played with either one, it was like we could read each other’s minds.” In this band, the level of spontaneous interaction and interplay between the musicians is remarkable. “I never come to the studio with all the tunes selected and prepared,” says the pianist. “I like to leave room for something to happen, and to encourage band members to participate in the decision making and shaping of the music. When everybody’s involved, you get this thing where the band sounds and feels like one living organism.”

Someday will be released worldwide on Friday, September 1st 2023 on InnerVoiceJazz.