New Music Releases: Michael Musillami Trio, Mari Boine & Bugge Wesseltoft, Mike Clark, and Darcy James Argue's Secret Society

Michael Musillami Trio - Block Party

Block Party is veteran guitarist/composer Michael Musillami’s tenth Playscape Recordings release with his flagship trio, featuring bassist Joe Fonda and drummer George Schuller. Block Party celebrates the trio’s 20-year history as a working, touring, and recording ensemble. Jazz critic Robert Iannapollo writes from Block Party’s liner notes, “On December 18, 2002 they went into the studio and recorded their first album as a trio, Beijing, a superb album that got a lot of positive reviews. Released in 2003, not many gigs ensued in the U.S. However, in March of 2004, the trio toured Europe promoting the album and they started building a following.” Since that first release in 2003, the MM3 has been touring Europe, America, and Canada consistently over the past two decades. This aggressive work schedule continues today with a 20-year celebration tour set for November-December 2023 in Europe. “I am so proud of what we have accomplished over the past 20 years” says Musillami. “We’ve continued to play intelligent, expansive, powerful music, just as we did back in 2002. I think Block Party clearly demonstrates the consistent evolution of this dynamic trio.”

Mari Boine & Bugge Wesseltoft - Amane

Iconic Sámi - Norwegian folk artist Mari Boine is known as genre-bending trailblazer with a taste for jazz, folk, rock, and world. Returning with a new album after five years, she has again found something completely different inside her than anything heard before. The album 'Amame', co-written with Norwegian jazz artist Bugge Wesseltoft shows a different and more mature Mari Boine, accompanied by Wesseltoft's tender and responsive piano playing. Songs with seriousness and depth, sung by Mari Boine tells stories about love, human vulnerability, injustice, and struggle, but also about pride and dignity.

Mike Clark - Kosen Rufu With Eddie Henderson

Outstanding Drummer Mike Clark unites with Blue Note trumpeter Eddie Henderson, fellow Headhunter Bill Summers, Skerik, Wayne Horvitz and Blackjazz Records legendary bassist Henry Franklin for an amazing new release on Wide Hive Records. Kosen Rufu is 10 well crafted compositions that are drawn together by awesome musicianship and a classic version of Erik Dolphy's Hat and Beard. Mike Clark is one of the most sampled drummers in history. Here he reunites with Bill Summers; both were in many bands together and most notably Herbie Hancock's Thrust and Man Child. Joining the rhythm section is Henry Franklin on stand up Bass; known for his work with Hugh Masekela, Stevie Wonder and his eponymous release on Blackjazz Records. Also is the band are Skerik on saxophone (Galactic) and virtuoso pianist Wayne Horvitz.

Darcy James Argue's Secret Society - Dynamic Maximum Tension

Acclaimed as an “innovative composer, arranger, and big band leader” by the New Yorker, Argue’s accolades include multiple GRAMMY nominations and a Latin GRAMMY Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Doris Duke Artist Award, and countless commissions and fellowships. His prescient 2016Real Enemies, an album-length exploration of the politics of paranoia, was named one of the twenty best jazz albums of the decade byStereogum. LikeReal Enemies, Argue’s previous recordings—his debutInfernal Machinesand his follow-up,Brooklyn Babylon—were nominated for both GRAMMY and JUNO awards.

New Music Releases: Flora Purim, Steve Oliver. Kate Gentile, and Sofia Grant

Flora Purim - The Complete Warner Recordings

Flora Purim is a Brazilian jazz singer known primarily for her work in the jazz fusion style. She became prominent for her part in Return To Forever with Chick Corea & Stanley Clarke. She has recorded & performed with numerous artists, including George Duke, Dizzy Gillespie, Gil Evans, Stan Getz, Santana, Mickey Hart, Jaco Pastorius, and her husband Airto Moreira. The Complete Warner Recordings contains the 3 albums she did for that label, Everyday Everynight, Nothing Will Be As It Was... Tomorrow & Carry On plus two rare bonus tracks, Tango Blues & Sad Song. Previous releases of these albums shorted some of the original tracks to fit on CD. This 2 CD set features all the original full length versions.

Steve Oliver - A New Light

With his latest project "A New Light", Oliver finds his way back into the glow of "smooth jazz" radio with a collection of originals that will surely please fans that have known his work for decades. Working with hit co-producer Michael "B" Broening, as well as longtime friend, saxophonist Jeff Kashiwa (featured on the title track), legendary drummer Vinnie Colaiuta, and bassist Larry Antonino, Steve again conveys his deep passion for memorable compositions, subtle electronics, world influences, pop melodies, and jazz intricacies. Track Listing: 1. Slingshot 2. Skyway 3. Freedom Drive 4. New Heights 5. A New Light (feat. Jeff Kashiwa) 6. Sunkiss 7. A Kind Heart 8. Seven Wonders 9. Open Waters 10. A Simple Gift.

Kate Gentile - Find Letter X

Find Letter X, the eponymous release from the Brooklyn-based band led by drummer/composer Kate Gentile, features saxophonist Jeremy Viner, pianist Matt Mitchell, and bassist Kim Cass. Gentile's 2021 release Snark Horse - co-led with Mitchell - was a gargantuan six-volume set that Downbeat called "Monumental... Creating an abstract galaxy from scratch, they sound like they know every black hole and supercluster in the place." The similarly-ambitious new work - across three densely-packed CDs housed in a custom-designed package - bursts with inventive details and dramatic arcs. Each disc contains a distinct thematic identity while simultaneously contributing to a larger narrative trajectory. Meticulously-constructed and highly intentional, Find Letter X is a wide-ranging exploration of diverse sonics and contrasting forms: a vibrant feedback loop of virtuosic improvisational and compositional ingenuity entirely unified by Gentile's singular musical aesthetic.

Sofia Grant - Extinction

The debut release from Sofia Grant delves into the topic of environmentalism, a subject close to her heart and a topic foremost in the minds of many. With smoky vocals and accompanied by spectacular musicianship from the likes of Poppy Daniels, Ernesto Marichales, Lorenz Osengor Okello, Sofia has created a five track EP that introduces a noteworthy talent to the Jazz re: freshed catalog.In keeping with her values, Sofia specifically requested that the physical format be pressed on eco-friendly vinyl which produces a uniquely colored product that utilizes recycled materials and offsets carbon emissions created in it's manufacture.Tracklisting:1. Walk on Water (6:10)2. Extinction (4:51)3. Circular Motion (4:43)4. Ochre (5:53)5. Storm (5:10).

Grant Green - Live At Club Mozambique Grant Green (Vinyl)

Funk fans have been waiting for this one. Finally available on vinyl, Grant Green's near perfect slice of jazz funk and soul, Live at Club Mozambique, remastered and rendered back in the Motor City. Grant Green's band had been playing a series of live dates at Detroit's Club Mozambique, (before it became a fabled Male dance club) when this session was recorded live on two cold January nights in 1971. Powerhouse drummer Idris Muhammad and soulful tenor star Houston Person were brought in to supplement Green's current band featuring Ronnie Foster on organ and Clarence Thomas on Soprano and Tenor Sax and Blue Note producer Francis Wolff recorded. 

This treasure was never released, though, and (conjectures aside) remained in the Blue Notes vaults for 35 years before a 2006 CD release. Sounding incredibly fresh and live, you'd be hard-pressed to find a more real stamping of Grant Green at the top of his game. The LP blends extremely hypnotic and wild funk such as their opening cover of a local funk hit 'Jan Jan' by the Fabulous Counts next to laidback renditions of early 70's soul favorites 'Walk on By', 'Patches' and 'One More Chance' by the Jackson 5. It perfectly captures the magic of hearing a legendary band effortlessly doing their thing in a small club while the audience unwinds after a long work day. Green pulls it all together with his melodic genius and perfect delivery. Great artists make it seem so easy. No pretensions here, just a great band burning up the stage with unmistakable chemistry on what might be the ultimate jazz funk time capsule. Maybe you can't go back in time, but if you close your eyes and light a cigarette, you might be convinced you're sitting in a wood-paneled club on Detroit's Westside enjoying Grant Green and his band tear it up. 313 Series Detroit has long held a shared respect with New York; a similar outlook on authenticity. Tough to describe, but you know it when you see it. Third Man Records and Blue Note Records share this respect and also a commitment to integrity regarding the musical legacies they support that extends to the collaboration happening on the 313 Series partnership. 

The five unique albums from the Blue Note catalog chosen for limited edition re-release by Blue Note Records President and Detroiter Don Was represent the best of the Motor City; innovative sounds, incredible playing and that inexplicable something you know is real. For an undertaking like this you have to walk the extra mile. The original tapes were sent to Third Man's Detroit mastering and pressing facility where their extensive all analog re-mastering process ensured that the albums delivered live up to the tradition they are part of. The Third Man Records team's commitment to audio purity means no corners can be cut; sound and mastering engineer Warren Defever's goal being to provide the closest possible approximation of the magic found on the original master's tape brought to your living room. From the lacquers cut in the studio on the Neumann VMS-70 Cutting Lathe to the 180 gram vinyl pressed across the hall, every step of the process is tested in the facilities against exacting standards. That's the Detroit way and the reason why the musical legacy from the 313 area code remains beloved around the world. Grant Green - Guitar: Ronnie Foster - Organ: Idris Muhammad - Drums: Clarence Thomas - Soprano Sax, Tenor Sax: Houston Person - Tenor Sax: Recorded live at Club Mozambique - Detroit, MI 1971 by Francis Wolff.

The Tony Williams Lifetime | "Emergency!"

Miles Davis: 'I could definitely hear right away that this was going to be one of the baddest motherfuckers who had ever played a set of drums." The Tony Williams Lifetime's Emergency! Is a furious, stunning, seminal album. In 1969, it's explosive sound divided critics in both jazz and rock but is now rightly regarded as groundbreaking. A musical statement so bold and irreverent that it was revolutionary, it's one of the most important records you will ever hear. With Emergency!, provocative percussionist Tony Williams unified the most vital sounds of the era and galvanised the creation of jazz fusion. A sprawling double LP that shattered the boundaries between jazz and rock, it forged fresh frontiers by unleashing dense, courageous and fantastically mysterious music. 

The group was founded by Tony Williams, a member of Miles Davis' radical 1960s quintet, out of his desire to fuse the influences of modern jazz and rock music. To effectively meld the scorching bop of Coltrane with the raging rock of Hendrix, in the process crafting, as Mojo put it, 'jazz-rock's equivalent of Are You Experienced?'. The album's urgent title was profoundly significant for Williams: "It was an emergency for me to leave Miles and put that band together (... ) and I wanted to play an emerging music that was my own.' The band he formed was one hell of a power trio, comprising nothing but raw virtuosity: Williams's colossal drumming, John McLaughlin's pioneering, aggressive guitar playing and Larry Young's freeform organ work. The album's sound is incredibly fierce and inordinately intense. Indeed, the group were famed for playing "louder than rock'n'roll", as Herbie Hancock said of going to hear them live in 1969: 'This is something new... It was exciting and very arresting. It snatched you. It yanked you out of your seat." Ian Carr, of Nucleus, was equally impressed: 'The only other comparable band that existed... They were incredibly loud, but we liked what they were doing. Fundamentally they had a different approach from ours, with some very highly arranged things that featured Larry Young's organ blending with the guitar, as well as intricate passages where Tony doubled the melody on the drums.' 

Like all the very best records, Emergency! #takes multiple listens for your brain and body to decipher everything going on, to truly process and appreciate the details that our senses are throwing at us. It's a mesmerising, rough sound yet the intuitive interplay of all 3 musicians is super-tight. The tunes are strung out and jamming but retain a tight rhythmic focus. The incendiary title track immediately presents jazz-rock's chaotic birth. After Williams's ominous snare-roll signals the brewing storm, the snarling band blasts it's way through the gate in truly breathtaking fashion, fuzzed-up wahed-out guitar riffs vying for prominence with gnarled, insistent organ. Thrillingly, Williams manages to both acrobatically crash over every element of his drum kit while keeping the whole groove undeniably funky. 'Beyond Games' is a gloriously volatile freeform, featuring Williams' bugged out vocals, whilst the 12-minute 'Where' is another deep, wild jam. It's disorientating and humid with weird rhythms, abrupt vibe shifts and semi-classical lines running between guitar and organ. It's like nothing else you've ever heard, absolutely vital. With the buoyant "Vashkar", we begin to experience jazz-rock's many angles; imaginative melodics, taut dynamics and as torrent of searing heat. Perhaps the most economical track on Emergency!, it's the most instant. 

In a recent retrospective review in Pitchfork, Emergency! #received a monumental 9.0 ranking. The writer Hank Shteamer correctly gushed: 'Driven by a tumbling Williams pulse, the trio dances through the complex stop-start theme, ending each iteration with a dramatic full-band rest. Then, in the middle of McLaughlin's scrambling solo, Williams starts playing an embryonic version of an extreme-metal blastbeat, alternating snare and bass in rapid succession while rising precipitously in volume, as Young joins in with shuddering note clusters. During Young's solo, the organist seems to incite Williams to repeat the move with his increasingly frenzied lines, and soon all three musicians are hurtling toward a supernova climax.' WOW! The laconic 'Via the Spectrum Road', a brilliant pop-psych tune, was sampled by Showbiz & AG on their classic debut LP. It oscillates between a tranquil funk groove and strutting improv interludes. The pyrotechnic jam 'Spectrum' wakes things up again with pure, molten jazz lava and crazy soloing from all involved. A breathtaking, kaleidoscopic 13-minute cycle through ferocious noise, 'Sangria For Three' is a sublimely frenetic detonation of distilled (acid) jazz rock. To quote Shteamer again, 'Don't let the track's breezy title fool you: As much as, say, "Sister Ray" the year before or "Fun House" the year after, this is punk before punk.' Closer 'Something Spiritual' finishes this jaw-dropping set with a driving, unrelenting heavy guitar and organ freakout, backed high in the mix by Williams's untamed funk before unsettled dissonance rides us out. 

Listeners will be struck by the timelessness of Emergency!; dank, trance-inducing voodoo jazz that's intellectually challenging at the same time as viscerally thrilling. The blurred cover photo, whereby the convulsing vibrations of this sonic apocalypse ensure it looks exactly as the record sounds - out of focus - has been delicately restored at Be With HQ. Mastered for vinyl by Simon Francis and cut by Cicely Ralston for Alchemy at AIR Studios, the magnificent grit and spontaneity remains dizzyingly intact. If you're a jazz fusion fan and don't already have this, consider ownership of this record as an Emergency!

Chris Abrahams / Oren Ambarchi / Robbie Avenaim | "Placelessness"

Following nearly 20 years of working together as a trio, and numerous cross-collaborations in different configuration between them, Ideologic Organ presents Placelessness, the debut full-length by Chris Abrahams, Oren Ambarchi, and Robbie Avenaim, comprising two long-form works at juncture of ambient music, minimalism, rigorous experimentalism and improvisation, and machine music. Having carved distinct pathways across a diverse number of musical idioms for decades, Chris Abrahams, Oren Ambarchi, and Robbie Avenaim are each, respectively, among the most noteworthy and groundbreaking figures to have emerged from Australia's thriving experimental music scene. Ambarchi and Avenaim first encountered Abrahams when seeing the Necks - the project that has served as the primary vehicle for his singular approach to the piano since it's founding in 1987 - together during the late 1980s, not long after having met in Sydney's underground music community. 

The pair's collaborations date back more than 35 years, criss-crossing Ambarchi's pioneering solo and ensemble work for guitar and Avenaim's visionary efforts for SARPS (Semi Automated Robotic Percussion System), robotic and kinetic extensions to his drum kit. In 2004, fate brought the three together in a trio performance at the What Is Music? Festival, the annual touring showcase of experimental music founded and run by Ambarchi and Avenaim between 1994-2012. For the nearly two decades since, Abrahams, Ambarchi, and Avenaim have intermittently reformed in exclusively live contexts, in Australia and abroad, cultivating and refining the fertile ground first tilled in that early meeting. Placelessness is the first album to present this remarkable trio's efforts in recorded form. Placelessness is the joining of three highly individualised streams, working in perfect harmony; the point at which friendship, mutual respect, and decades of creative exploration produce a singular spectrum of sound. Featuring Abrahams on piano, Ambarchi on guitar, and Avenaim on drums, the album's two sides draw on each artist's enduring dedication to long-form composition. It's two pieces, Placelessness I and Placelessness II, initially began as a single, 40 minute work, before being divided and reworked into distinct, complimentary gestures for the corresponding sides of the LP. Beginning with restrained clusters of reverberant piano tones, Placelessness I progresses at an almost glacial pace, with Abrahams' interventions increasing met by sparse responses, darting within vast ambiences, on guitar and percussion by Ambarchi and Avenaim.

Remarkably conversational within it's convergences of tonal, rhythmic, and textural abstraction, over the work's duration a progressive sense of tension unfurls and contracts, refusing release, as each of the ensemble's members contribute to an increasingly tangled sense of density at it's resolve.While an entirely autonomous work, Placelessness II rapidly realises a distillation of the energy hinted at across the length of it's predecessor. Following a luring passage of harmonious calm, Abrahams' launches into shimmering lines of repeating arpeggios, complimented at each escalation of tempo by Avenaim's machine gun fire percussion work and Ambarchi's masterful delivery of tonality and texture, as the trio collectively generate dense sheets of pointillistic ambience within which individual identity is almost lost, before slowly unspooling into unexpected abstractions and dissonances that deftly intervene with the work's inner logic and calm. What could easily be termed a maximalist take on Minimalism, Placelessness is a masterstroke of contemporary, real time composition, that blurs the boundaries between ambient music, experimentalism, free improvisation, and machine music. Drawing on Chris Abrahams, Oren Ambarchi, and Robbie Avenaim's decades of respective solo and collaborative practice, and the culmination of nearly twenty years of working together as a trio, it's two durational pieces - Placelessness I and Placelessness II - take form with a startling sense of effortlessness and grace, neither shying away from explicit beauty or rigorously tension within their forms.

New Music Releases: Yussef Dayes, Jeff Lorber Fusion, Jiro Inagaki & Soul Media, and Lage Lund

Yussef Dayes - Black Classical Music

Black Classical Music is Yussef Dayes’ nineteen-track debut solo studio album. His drum licks and Rocco Palladino’s bass are the sturdy anchors, aided by Charlie Stacey (keys/synths), Venna (saxophone), Alexander Bourt (percussion), and a host of features including: Chronixx, Masego, Jamilah Barry, Tom Misch, Elijah Fox, Shabaka Hutchings, Miles James, Sheila Maurice Grey, Nathaniel Cross, Theon Cross, and the Chineke! Orchestra—the first professional orchestra in Europe to be made up of majority Black and ethnically diverse musicians.

Jeff Lorber Fusion - The Drop

Jeff Lorber's funkiest album yet, featuring an amazing allstar lineup including Grammy winning jazz greats Jimmy Haslip, Paul Jackson, Jr, Snarky Puppy's Marc Lettieri, Gary Novak, David Mann and more! Grammy winning superstar keyboardist, writer, producer Jeff Lorber is renowned as a pioneer in the Jazz-Fusion movement. Scoring #1 radio hits with Jeff Lorber Fusion and as afounding member of Smooth Jazz super-group Jazz Funk Soul, Lorber performs constantly before his dedicated fans from coast to coast!! Highlights include the uber-funky "The Drop," the warm, intimate "Hang Tight," the bright, uplifting "Reception," and more Lorber originals.

Jiro Inagaki & Soul Media - Funky Stuff

'Masterpiece of Japanese Jazz and Jazz Funk to be re-released on clear pink colored vinyl! A masterpiece of jazz rock by master musician Jiro Inagaki! Jazz Rock, and beyond. Soul Media, led by Jiro Inagaki, has arrived at the ultimate groove, tight and cool. As Inagaki himself says, 'I did black funk.' By combining the burst of jazz rock he had cultivated up to that point with the tenacity and elasticity of black music, his musicality took a leap to another dimension. The groove is polished, shiny, and bewitching, coupled with the masterful arrangements of virtuoso Hiromasa Suzuki. The lively and fast 'Painted Paradise,' the funkiness and mellowness of 'Breeze,' the low center of gravity and sharpness of 'Kool & the Gang,' and 'Funky Stuff' are all part of this album. The entire album is worth listening to, including a cover of 'Funky Stuff. This is a definitive masterpiece that continues to be a worldwide favorite.

Lage Lund - Terrible Animals

Terrible Animals is perhaps the most compositionally ambitious and daringly performed of Lage Lund's five albums on Criss Cross Joined by a never-before-convened, top-of-the-pyramid rhythm section (Sullivan Fortner, piano; Larry Grenadier, bass; Tyshawn Sorey, drums) the now 45 - year old presented ten far-flung originals that elicit the full measure of their creativity over the 68-minute program, spurring Lund - who makes ingenious use of effects within his flow - to some of his most dynamic and varied playing on record. The Album was recorded April 27, 2018 at the Systems Two Studio in NY. Recording engineer Mike Marciano also did the editing, mixing and mastering at Systems Two in NY. He also did the vinyl remastering. Cover drawing by Robbin Veldman.

New Music Releases: Herb Alpert, Beatrice Andrews, Giant Walking Robots, and Aaron Diehl & The Knights

Herb Alpert - Wish Upon A Star

2023 release. What happens when you wish upon a star? You get new music from Herb Alpert, of course! The prolific trumpet player returns at age 88 with his new studio album (his 49th!) Wish Upon A Star. Filled to the brim with new takes on classic songs we've known and loved for decades, this set of music continues to serve up the unmistakable trumpet playing of the Tijuana Brass master. Herb covers everything from Jerry Reed's "East Bound And Down" to Elvis' "(Marie's The Name) His Latest Flame" and the Beatles' "And I Love Her". Other hits include "Father And Son", "We've Only Just Begun" and the titular song "When You Wish Upon A Star". Let Herb be your Jiminy Cricket through the magical, musical journey of Wish Upon A Star.

Beatrice Andrews - Hurricane

Chicago's Beatrice Andrews makes her debut with the powerful folk pop energy of "Hurricane". The track brings the young artist's energy to light with the masterful production of the legendary Jim Tullio (Mavis Staples, Los Lonely Boys, Levon Helm). While Beatrice is a young artist, her messages and songs are made to strike a chord with listeners of all ages, with "Hurricane" being the first single leading up to her debut album release from Color Red in October 2023. Get ready for this up-and-coming artist to reside in the ranks of indie pop stars such as Phoebe Bridgers and Lizzy McAlpine.

Giant Walking Robots - People Get Ready

Rooted in reggae, infused with jamtronica, and charged by drum and bass, Giant Walking Robots present a sound both familiar and forward-thinking. The dynamic four-piece – out of Denver, Colorado – blend entrancing melodic grooves with a heavyweight rhythm section, while allowing their jams to breathe and explore. Giant Walking Robots reimagines Curtis Mayfield’s “People Get Ready” with their signature sound infusing reggae, rock, and synth dub. The group comprised of Denver powerhouses Dave Halchak (vocals & guitar), Wilson Kava (guitar & vocals), George Demopoulos (bass), and Matt Schooley (drums) recorded the track at Color Red Studios putting their personal touch on the gospel & soul classic with bright reggae grooves and warm lush guitars that acknowledges the soulful original while nodding to futuristic flavors Aiming to bridge the gaps between rock, reggae, jam, and electronica, this project was born out of the desire to hear dub sections dig deeper and travel further. Such clever interplay between seemingly disparate genres enables Giant Walking Robots to push the dancefloor’s vibes directly into the future.

Aaron Diehl & The Knights

Critically acclaimed pianist and composer Aaron Diehl's passion for the work of Mary Lou Williams is realized in the release of Zodiac Suite -- the first fully-fledged professional recording of this incredible arrangement. Orchestrated by Williams, this recording gives insight into her greater ambitions for the work, despite setbacks she faced during its premiere in 1945. Diehl and the Knights, with Eric Jacobsen, showcase the composer’s imagination and vision in a suite dedicated to some of her closest friends and collaborators. Mary Lou Williams wrote "Libra" in dedication to Dizzy Gillespie, Art Tatum, Bud Powell, and Thelonious Monk—her “very beautiful friends." She described those who fall under this sign as "very charitable people.” The orchestral version not only brings out even more of the melodic and harmonic beauty, but the main theme is repeated three times, first by trumpet (played by Brandon Lee), and then twice in short piano solos. Due out September 15 (180-gram Vinyl / CD)Vinyl Release in Partnership with the American Pianists Association.

Bob Baldwin | "Henna"

Bob Baldwin s 31st offering is a natural feeling. The beauty of our earth produces so many great and prosperous things. In fact, people have actually lived off of the virtues of this beautiful earth, says the native New Yorker. Bob s latest has layers of drums, percussion and his own organic keyboard and piano elements of the 1970 s closes the deal. Tracks 1-6 feature his NY-based band of 30 years with Dave Anderson (bass), Tony Lewis (drums), and Café Da Silva (percussion). 

The album includes the previously-released but newly mixed Club Life , which features over 10 solos on one track, with Tom Browne, Marion Meadows, Lori Williams, Ragan Whiteside, Oli Silk, U-Nam, Nils, Brooke Alford, Walter Beasley, Rohn Lawrence, Barry Danielian, Marcus Anderson, and Baldwin on production and track arrangement. It s a smooth jazz classic for the ages. Other songs include the aforementioned flutist Whiteside, who has blazed the Top-five Billboard charts four times since 2017. She appears on the first single Long Weekend (See You on Tuesday). The aforementioned DC vocalist, Lori Williams, lays her warm sultry tones on No Longer Lost, a Stevie-type throwback track with a simple pop edge seen through the jazz lens of Baldwin ala Quincy Jones. 

The album closes with another organic moment, as he s accompanied with his 10-year Atlanta-based crew of J-Fly (drums) and Tres Gilbert (bass). They offer their funky Southern tones to Fly Breeze and In The Moment , with the latter being an extended remix by Baldwin. I have a hard time trying to fade a good track, so we went with the flow and extended it, laughs Baldwin. He dedicates the vibe of the project to two of his favorite contemporary pianists, George Duke and Joe Sample, who both passed earlier this decade. He met both legends in his musical travels, and even spoke with them both just weeks before their untimely death. you must know that us Pianists/Keyboardists have to stick together. Sample and Duke were great artists and great elders of the genre. I learned a lot from the fruit they bear, says Baldwin. - City Sketches Records

Ember features saxophonist/trumpeter Caleb Wheeler Curtis, bassist Noah Garabedian and drummer Vincent Sperrazza

The meaning of August in March, the title of the third album from the Brooklyn-based collective trio Ember, doesn’t allow for easy interpretation. Is it a lament over the accelerating pace of modern life? A protest against climate change? Simply a bit of lyrical wordplay, or an intentionally obscure puzzle? It could be any of those things, or all at once – Ember isn’t telling. But the mere fact that the phrase is so evocative and open-ended, an invitation to creative examination, may be more to the point. Those are, after all, among the guiding principles of this adventurous and exploratory trio.

“I think that August in March is sort of confusing but at the same time oddly poetic,” ventures saxophonist and trumpeter player Caleb Wheeler Curtis. “It connects in multiple ways to things that we care about.”

Released August 11, 2023, via Orrin Evans’ Imani Records imprint, August in March itself is a vivid representation of the musical, interpersonal and community-oriented ideas that the three forward-thinking musicians that make up Ember – Curtis, bassist Noah Garabedian and drummer Vincent Sperrazza – care deeply about. As Garabedian says, “This record is the most honest representation of who we are. We've always been heading in the direction of this kind of simplicity and exploration, but compositionally this is the clearest expression of who we want to be as a band.”

Sperrazza continues, “What energizes us is the sense that we're part of a much wider moment, connected to a lot of our peers while standing on the shoulders of our mentors and inspirations.” Curtis picks up the idea, saying, “If you can call three people a community, we're trying to create this open environment where the music is shared between us and then shared with whoever's hearing it. August in March is a continuation of that journey.” 

Ember’s journey began directly through the members’ participation in that wider community of creative musicians. Sperrazza and Garabedian met at a session hosted by trombonist Jacob Garchik and bonded over a shared love of a wide spectrum of jazz styles, from the traditional to the avant-garde. The drummer recalls his first encounter with Curtis, when the saxophonist called Duke Ellington’s “In a Mellotone” at a jam session. All three became fast friends and eager collaborators, leading to the recording of New Year in 2018, released under their individual names. They’d become the collective Ember by 2021, when they invited Orrin Evans to join them for their follow-up, No One Is Any One.

In regards to Ember, “collective” has a far deeper meaning than just a co-led band where all three members contribute tunes. The music on August in March in particular seems like an object that can be looked at from any angle, any perspective, and still feel complete. The album’s eleven concise but intricate pieces defy attempts to pinpoint a leader or a soloist, instead feeling at all times like a vibrantly cooperative effort.

“Most of the process of playing together is listening to each other, allowing each other to do what we do and finding a way to fit into that,” Curtis explains. “Most of our rehearsals are spent talking and catching up and getting to know each other personally. The playing is just a continuation of that.”

That communal spirit yields an environment where all three feel comfortable taking risks. Always known as an alto saxophonist, on August in March Curtis plays the stritch (straight alto), trumpet and reed trumpet for the first time. While Garabedian and Sperrazza stick with bass and drums on the album, they’ve both been known to venture into percussion or vocals in live settings, which have also proved amenable to a number of guests open to diving into the deep end with them. Garabedian also experimented with new compositional forms on the album, including the arco-focused title track and the deceptively complex, through-composed “Easy Win,” along with the slithering, stealthy “Snake Tune.”

 “This band is a space that allows and encourages me to move forward in different directions and try new things,” Garabedian says. “In terms of vulnerability and growth, I'm certainly exploring new ways to play the bass and interact musically.”

The trio’s empathetic bonds shine through on “No Signal,” a delicate free improvisation that leads into “Easy Win,” maintaining a balance between the spontaneous and the composed that can also be found within their individual pieces. Curtis contributes four: the airy, slowly unfurling opener, “Suspense;” the bop fragment “Sink and Swim;” “Flotation Device and the Shivers,” which sustains its taut tension through on a relentless bass pulse; and the jabbing blues “Break Tune.” 

Sperrazza’s trio of pieces include the backbeat groove of “Frank in the Morning,” the labyrinthine “Angular Saxon” (the pun borrowed from Errol Garner, the serrated feel from Tim Berne), and the soulful, aptly-named “Sam Cooke.” Beyond simply being a tribute to one of the greatest R&B singers, the latter is also another mission statement for the trio.

“Sam Cooke is someone that hardcore music fanatics get really excited about,” Sperrazza explains, “but you'll also hear one of his songs at a wedding in suburban New Jersey. Not a lot of people so naturally occupy both those zones, and that's important to us. If it's good, it's for everybody.”

The Brooklyn-based collaborative trio Ember finds itself at the crossroads of musical and personal exploration, resulting in true band-hood and non-hierarchical playing. Each of the members - Caleb Wheeler Curtis (alto saxophone, trumpet), Noah Garabedian (bass), and Vincent Sperrazza (drums) - is an integral part of the NY creative music community as leader, collaborator and instigator. The trio’s music is organized but open and expressive, opening up the true freedom of improvisation, exploration, and creativity. Their 2018 debut New Year (released as Curtis+Garabedian+Sperrazza) was followed in 2021 by No One Is Any One, which also featured pianist Orrin Evans.

Richard Sears | "Appear to Fade"

Pianist and composer Richard Sears announces "Appear to Fade," unveiling a realm where the boundaries between jazz, ambient music, and tape music blur together.

Sears collaborated with Ari Chersky, who intervened in the project by editing and developing Sears’ improvisations and compositions, using magnetic tape loops and analog production tools, giving "Appear to Fade" its unique identity. While Richard played live, they built an archive of raw material: short compositions by Sears and improvisations directed by Chersky, which would later become "Appear to Fade." Over several months, the two edited down the archive, which Chersky then transformed into tape-loop samples. With a rich array of analog production tools and a penchant for unconventional tape-looping techniques, Chersky began collaging material together, in conversation with Sears, building out multi-layered soundscapes from Richard’s compositions and improvisations. Sears's performances flicker through the glistening textures and dark atmospheres of their shared musical imagination. The sounds of tape distortion, disintegration, and tape mechanics seamlessly integrate into these mosaic-compositions, intertwined with the raw acoustic piano.

The track titles offer glimpses into the influences and memories that shape Sears' musical landscape. "Manresa" echoes Richard's upbringing near the Northern California Santa Cruz coastline, evoking a sense of nostalgia and a deep connection to the natural world. The track "Tulev" pays homage to Estonian composer Toivo Tulev, with whom Richard studied choral composition, and whose music motivated some of the aesthetic aspirations driving this album. "Dolorous Interlude" alludes to Richard's previous album, "Disquiet," where Sears' use of musical space plays a prominent role. "Appear to Fade" also uniquely features the presence of the Una Corda, a one-of-a-kind keyboard instrument developed by David Klavins, known for its characteristically glassy and muted tone. "What I Meant to Say Was," the final track, is an unedited improvisation by Richard Sears on the Una Corda. This raw performance stands as a testament to Sears' spontaneous creative energy, offering a moment of pure expression amidst the mosaic assembly of the other tracks. In the final moments of a long recording day, Chersky said to Richard, "... now, just improvise a jazz standard!", to which Sears gave this performance.

The recordings for "Appear to Fade" took place weeks before Sears began transitioning from living in New York to moving to Paris. Richard attributes the turbulence and nostalgia felt in the album to the unsaid uncertainties he carried through this transitional moment. Since landing in Paris, Sears can often be heard performing electronically-rigged pianos and sample synthesizers, primarily in art galleries and non-traditional venues. In April of 2023, Sears presented a tape-loop sculptural work and two concerts at the Hatch Paris Gallery, where he continued to develop and refine the use of sampling and tape loops within his live set. The Poush art center in Paris will be presenting the first live preview of "Appear to Fade" on July 25th, 2023.

Figureight Records, under the curation of Shahzad Ismaily, will release "Appear to Fade" September 29. The album is Sears' first for the label and his fifth as a leader. Shahzad and Sears met in 2017 while performing with songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Sam Amidon and the legendary avant-garde jazz drummer Andrew Cyrille. Under Ismaily's direction, the label has cultivated a history of presenting artists who skillfully carve out a space that defies traditional genre classifications. "Appear to Fade" resides on the periphery of genres while remaining rooted in Sears' musical core, which he developed through years of playing with esteemed jazz musicians such as "Tootie" Heath, Billy Hart, Ravi Coltrane, and his contemporary collaborators, including Sam Gendel, Martin Nevin, and RJ Miller. Sears' first venture into acoustic-electric piano performance came through a collaboration with composer Ethan Braun, another artist on Figureight, who composed a concerto featuring electronic and sampled scores with improvised piano for Sears. The concerto premiered at The Shed (NYC) in the summer of 2019.

Mendoza Hoff Revels (Ava Mendoza, Devin Hoff) Announce Debut Album "Echolocation" & Share Single "Diablada"

Echolocation Is the astonishing debut album from Mendoza Hoff Revels – an electric and formidable new unit led by Ava Mendoza (Unnatural Ways, Bill Orcutt, William Parker's Mayan Space Station) on guitar and Devin Hoff (Sharon Van Etten, Julia Holter, Cibo Matto) on bass. As non-characterizable as it is sharply focused, Echolocation highlights the multi-faceted nature of both Hoff and Mendoza’s playing, where moments of full-blown jazz-rock freak-outs, intricately woven riffs, and unbelievably catchy melodies, expand and meld together exceptionally.

While Mendoza and Hoff have floated around each other's musical orbits as individuals for decades, the original impetus of this group was Mendoza’s, based on the love she and Hoff shared for aggressive and polyglot electric avant-garde ensembles – artists like mid-80's Black Flag and Ornette Coleman's Prime Time bands revolutionized the way they heard music. Mendoza and Hoff split the writing of these pieces, with the sizable stamps of James Brandon Lewis on tenor sax and the John Zorn-collaborator Ches Smith on drums. The result is remarkable – 21st Century progressive rock played by punk rockers with serious improv skills and a deep jazz feel.

The inspirations for these eight tracks are just as wide-ranged as the musicians’ backgrounds in jazz, rock, and avant-garde. A carnival folk dance performed in Bolivia, in which a devil deity fights arc-angel Michael, inspired the lead single, “Diablada.” Then there’s “Babel-17,” a namesake of Samuel Delany’s novel which addresses the consciousness-altering powers of language. And of course, the recreation lounge found on deck 10 of a Galaxy-class starship, otherwise known as “Ten Forward.” However, it’s the album’s title, Echolocation, that truly gives us a glimpse of how this slew of diverse influences fit together: “Certain animals use sound to find their way through space and time by decoding sonic refractions,” Mendoza and Hoff state in the album’s liner notes. “This seems like a fitting metaphor for how music helps humans collectively decode our own experiences of our world and our lives, through the alchemy of transfigured sound.”

Echolocation was recorded by Jim Clouse at Park West Studios, Brooklyn (as was Mayan Space Station) and then masterfully mixed by John Dieterich (of Deerhoof) at his brand new studio setup. The album will be released on October 13th, 2023 via AUM Fidelity.

Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get It On Re-released with Brand-New 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition

In celebration of the Golden Anniversary of the iconic Marvin Gaye album Let’s Get It On, Motown/UMe is releasws digitally a revised and expanded Let’s Get It On: Deluxe Edition on August 25, 2023, three days before the album’s original release date in 1973 fifty years prior. Featuring a fascinating trove of 33 bonus tracks, 18 of them previously unreleased, the Prince of Soul’s creative explorations continued to unfold with the production of this pivotal release. Collectively, the bonus material leans into the story of Gaye’s multi-layered personal struggles during the album’s creation.

Comprised of tracks recorded during an intense six months of sessions in Los Angeles in ’73, this newly enriched Let’s Get It On: Deluxe Edition presents the album’s original eight songs alongside unheard mixes and material from all the sessions along the way, in addition to a trove of funky and fascinating instrumental tracks – and unreleased versions of the ballad recordings Marvin returned to time and again.

To further commemorate the record’s golden anniversary, the original album will be available in Dolby ATMOS. In the coming weeks, Motown/UMe will premiere new video content for select tracks, and an e-commerce-only colored vinyl edition of the original album.

After the success of What’s Going On and the following album, the proto-acid-jazz soundtrack to Trouble Man, Gaye had won Motown’s trust. The freedom was liberating but also fueled a heightened uncertainty about where to take his career. At a personal crossroads involving relocation to Los Angeles, a fraying marriage, a budding romance with Janis Hunter, who attended the initial sessions, and a driving need to experiment, Gaye found a steam valve in creating a suite of erotically charged yet emotionally vulnerable songs. But the final album lineup was drawn from a series of different sessions, resulting in a wealth of vaulted material.

Marvin’s first step in early ’73 was to seek out Ed Townsend, the artist, songwriter and producer best known for his 1950s ballad hit, “For Your Love.” He initially had Townsend guide him through ballad arrangements created especially for Marvin by arranger/pianist Bobby Scott in 1966, tracks he obsessed over for years. But these versions of the ballads, like ones Marvin recorded earlier, were left behind; the revealing, previously unreleased ’73 versions are included on the new Let’s Get It On: Deluxe Edition. (Later vocals were included on the posthumous release, Vulnerable.)

Simultaneously, sharing their mutual vulnerability, Marvin and Ed wrote new material that eventually became Side 1 of the Let’s Get It On album. 

“I’d just come out of rehab, where I’d beaten a monstrous addiction to alcohol,” the late Townsend said. “I was looking to move ahead with my life – to ‘get it on.’ Marvin grasped this completely. But he didn’t stop learning the lyrics. He bypassed superficiality, questioning where you were coming from when you composed the song. He couldn’t just sing it; he had to connect with it as deeply as he’d written it himself. 

“I witnessed the pain he was going through in his life; I was also blessed to witness the joy of an artist fully engaging with his work.”

With Townsend and veteran arranger Rene Hall, and a slew of stellar session musicians, including veteran saxophonist Plas Johnson, guitarist Melvin “Wah Wah” Ragin, jazz drummer Paul Humphrey and the Crusaders’ Wilton Felder on bass, Gaye recorded six songs, completing three, transforming the hopeful theme of what became the album’s title song into a call for spiritual sex. Again, he moved on.

Marvin reunited with David Van DePitte — the Detroit arranger who unified What’s Going On into a cohesive suite — and they delivered blazing cuts with a few of the same musicians, plus Herbie Hancock on piano, who met “Wah Wah” for the first time during these sessions and would go on to collaborate with him on several albums; guitarists John Morell, then with Shelly Manne’s band and soon a veteran of countless hits, and Richard Bennett, who became a key member of Neil Diamond’s band for nearly two decades and later produced Emmylou Harris. James Jamerson, the original Motown Funk Brother who was also new to LA, switched off on bass with Felder. Yet Marvin left those tracks behind, too. 

Nothing hung together until Motown, watching months fly by without a new Marvin Gaye record, pulled “Let’s Get It On” from the tapes and rush-released it as a single before an album was finished. Alongside new hits from Motown’s own Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson (in his solo debut), Eddie Kendricks, and Diana Ross, “Let’s Get It On” shot to No. 1 Pop (2 weeks) and R&B (6 weeks). The company’s first full year on the West Coast was proving a resounding success.

During the song’s climb to the top, Let’s Get It On the album began taking shape. Gaye built upon tracks that originated in Detroit in the fall of 1970 – the Side 2 gems “Come Get To This,” “Distant Lover” (the album’s second single) and “Just To Keep You Satisfied” – while also finalizing additional selections from the Townsend sessions and his own, provocative “You Sure Love To Ball,” which was eventually the third single from the album. Let’s Get It On stayed No. 1 on the Soul Albums chart for 11 weeks in the fall of 1973 while peaking at No. 2 Pop. 

Inducted into the GRAMMY Hall of Fame in 2004, Let’s Get It On represents a pivotal moment not only in the career of Marvin Gaye but in the evolution of soul music. Gaye gave voice to intimate desire in a way that was lightning charged. At the time, he claimed it was spiritually guided. Fifty years on, it’s never been more apparent that he was telling the truth.   

In the acclaimed biography, Divided Soul: The Life of Marvin Gaye, author David Ritz put the project into perspective with the following summation: “The paradox is this: The sexiest of Marvin Gaye’s work is also his most spiritual. That’s the paradox of Marvin himself. In his struggle to wed body and soul, in his exploration of sexual passion, he expresses the most human of hunger—the hunger for God. In those songs of loss and lament—the sense of separation is heartbreaking. On one level, the separation is between man and woman. On a deeper level, the separation is between man and God.”

TRACK LIST

Original Album*

1. Let’s Get It On

2. Please Stay (Once You Go Away)

3. If I Should Die Tonight

4. Keep Gettin’ It On

5. Come Get To This

6. Distant Lover

7. You Sure Love To Ball

8. Just To Keep You Satisfied

Single Edits

9. Let’s Get It On (single version) *

10. You Sure Love To Ball (single version) *

11. If I Should Die Tonight (original LP edit) *

Album Bonus Tracks

12. Let’s Get It On – demo **

13. Let’s Get It On – Pt. II (a.k.a. Keep Gettin’ It On) **

14. I Knew One Day My Day Would Come (instrumental)

15. Interlude #1

16. Please Stay (Once You Go Away) – alternate mix 1 **

17. Lovely Lady (instrumental)

18. If I Should Die Tonight – demo **

19. I Don’t Have To Get High To Do It (instrumental)

20. Come Get To This – alternate mix 1 **

21. Distant Lover – alternate mix 1 **

22. You Sure Love To Ball – alternate mix 1 w/alternate vocal **

23. Just To Keep You Satisfied – alternate mix w/alternate vocal **

24. Interlude #2

25. If I Should Die Tonight – SaLaAM ReMi’s Piano Mix 

26. Just To Keep You Satisfied – John Morales’s Stripped Mix

The David Van DePitte Sessions

27. Song #1 (instrumental)

28. Song #2 (instrumental)

29. Song #3 (instrumental) **

30. Song #4 (partial vocal)

31. Shake Well (instrumental)

32. Perfection (instrumental)

33. Cakes (instrumental) **

34. My Love Is Growing (Super Polished) **

Vulnerable: The 1973 vocals

35. She Needs Me 

36. Why Did I Choose You

37. Funny, Not Much 

38. This Will Make You Laugh 

39. The Shadow Of Your Smile 

40. I Wish I Didn’t Love You So

41. I Won’t Cry Anymore

*Previously released

**Previously released bonus songs with fresh mixes

All other tracks are previously unreleased. 

The newly revised Deluxe Edition replaces a deluxe edition first released in 2001, as most of its bonus tracks are now available in the previously vaulted album of 1972 recordings, You’re the Man, issued by Motown/UMe in 2019. 

Pianist Dave Meder Presents New American Hymnal

New American Hymnal, pianist and composer Dave Meder’s third album as a leader, his first full album with this new quartet configuration featuring the great Philip Dizack on trumpet, first call bassist Marty Jaffe, versatile and in-demand drummer Michael Piolet & vocalist Isabel Crespo Pardo (on track 7), is a collection of worship songs, not in a religious sense, but rather for the American civic and cultural experiment. Available everywhere, September 8, 2023, on Outside In Music.

The enduring power of religion, faith, and hymns is that they bind us to a unifying creed: a set of principles that form the value system for even the most secular of cultures. Perhaps in no other country does religion remain such a curious force than in the United States. Despite our theoretically secular founding, several recent judicial rulings have been driven by Judeo-Christian tenets. Meder elaborates, “it's not a new phenomenon: political-cultural issues have been a steady unifying force for fundamentalists since the rise of the Moral Majority in the 1980s, and the broader idea of mobilizing religion for political ends is a centuries-old strategy. Yet, on issues of existential and once-in-a-generation importance, such as the threat of climate change, this same American religious establishment is unable, or unwilling, to mount the same kind of organized political effort as it does on polarizing social issues. Why? Who decides which issues make it onto the battle lines of a religious or political creed, and which do not? Who has the privilege of setting the dominant interpretation of a religious text?”

Rather than attempt to sort out theological nuances or attempt to advocate for “who is right,” New American Hymnal instead tries to establish a foil: a secular creed based on the idea that certain American values are simply infallible - regardless of how they are interpreted or taught by any given religious group. Meder explains, “there are injustices in modern American society that are intrinsically real, and no faith should be able to convince us otherwise based on their chosen religious text. We have real and existential problems ahead of us…problems that affect all of us…problems that exist outside of any religious worldview…problems that will require us to put dogmatic ideals aside and deal with each other in an intelligent manner…”

“Ultimately, New American Hymnal is a chance, in my small corner, to join others who are taking a fresh look at what constitutes the creed of American culture, independent of any religion. Nevertheless, I use the metaphor of a hymnal to guide the structure of this work: a nod to the names of existing church worship collections like the New English Hymnal or New Harmonia Sacra. I think of each work as a figurative meditation on an aspect of American civil life. Some works worship the good, some lament the bad, and others act as calls to action. But much like in a literal hymnal, these songs combine their various affects and messages into a unifying set of ideals,” states Meder.

The idea of the hymnal resonates with Meder’s background as a child who grew up playing piano in a Southern Baptist church. He was often brought to tears by the hymns, and they remain one of the most foundational aspects of his musical language. He says, “when doctrine failed to convince me, the music would sustain me in the faith for some portion of my life. In college, as a political science major, I became interested in the curious relationships between American religion and politics. My professional musical life, which moved me from the South to New York City and now back to Texas, has allowed me to be a part of diverse congregations that interpret the same text in strikingly different political and social directions.”

In response, Meder’s “hymns” tackle a variety of modern American themes. The folksy overture “modern gothic” is an fresh take on classic Americana (referencing the similarly named Grant Wood painting). Other works use the language of the church but deal in secular subjects. In “chant (our collective inaction)”, Meder conveys his generation’s anger at the lack of political mobilization on mitigating climate change. In contrast, “adoration (of all that is good)” is an ode to multiracial democracy and the progress made in racial reconciliation since the Civil Rights Era. Along the way, Meder uplifts and celebrates American figures, with a stunning setting of an Emily Dickinson poem (sung by up-and-coming avant-garde vocalist Isabel Crespo Pardo), and a reflective chorale incorporating audio from Robert F. Kennedy’s famous 1968 speech following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

More on pianist/composer Dave Meder: Pianist, composer, and educator Dave Meder is one of the prominent artists of his generation, known for a broad musical palette and interdisciplinary approach recognized in the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Competition, the American Pianists Awards, and the Chamber Music America New Jazz Works commissioning program. Beyond the accolades, his defining aesthetic is a strikingly postmodern sense of stylistic adventure, incorporating what All About Jazz describes as “a vibrant hybrid of the whole American spectrum.” His first album Passage was counted among the top five jazz debuts in the Ottawa Citizen and was included in the annual “Favorite Jazz Albums” list from All Music Guide, noted for its skillful balancing of “post-bop harmonies with soulful gospel warmth and contemporary classical sophistication.” His recent release Unamuno Songs and Stories uses the works of Spanish Civil War-era philosopher Miguel de Unamuno to respond to sociopolitical turmoil in the United States. Meder has headlined stages or conducted educational residencies at Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, as well as internationally in Beijing, Tokyo, Sao Paulo, and most recently Egypt as a US Fulbright Scholar. Dave is a Yamaha Artist and a professor at University of North Texas. 

New Music Releases: Tyshawn Sorey Trio, Chief Xian Atunde Adjuah (Christian Scott), Allen Lowe & The Constant Sorrow Orchestra, and The End

Tyshawn Sorey Trio - Mesmerism

Warmly soulful work from Tyshawn Sorey – a set that marks a different sound from some of his more serious avant material, and which represents this great organic chapter in his career! The group's a really well-matched trio – Aaron Diehl on piano and Matt Brewer on bass – players who clearly know themselves, and their path forward as a unit – so that they can take the music in all these really inventive directions that push the record past any sort of easy expectations you might have! Even familiar tunes are given some very fresh structures and readings – and titles include "Two Over One", "From Time To Time", "Detour Ahead", "Autumn Leaves", and "REM Blues".  ~ Dusty Groove

Chief Xian Atunde Adjuah (Christian Scott) - Bark Out Thunder Roar Out Lightning

With a record like this, it's hard to believe that Christian Scott started out in more standard jazz – as Chief Xian Atunde Adjuah is a very different artist altogether, one who wraps together worlds and eras of musical heritage – working here in a set that's very heavy on percussion, vocal refrains, and other elements you never would have heard in his earlier music! The leader works a whole host of percussion along with other members of the group, but also adds in some larger production elements too – always in a way that's nicely subtle, and preserves the acoustic energy at the core – yet which really enriches the proceedings too! The album's overflowing with righteous power – and titles include "On To New Orleans", "Bark Out Thunder Roar Out Lighting", "Xodokan Iko Hu Na Ney", "Trouble That Mornin", "Blood Calls Blood", "Ashe Chief Donald", "Golden Crown", and "Shallow Water". ~ Dusty Groove

Allen Lowe & The Constant Sorrow Orchestra - In The Dark

A surprisingly redemptive set of work – given that it's inspired by a time in the life of tenorist Allen Lowe when he was hardly able to sleep at all! The massive 3CD package works as this beautiful suite of tracks united by unexpected twists and turns along the way – very much woven together through complicated reed lines by players who include Lowe on tenor, Aaron Johnson on alto and clarinet, Ken Peplowski on clarinet, and Lisa Parrott on baritone – balanced by work from Kellin Hannas on trumpet and Brian Simontacchi on trombone. The horns engage in a way that stretches back to late 50s modern, but with more avant soloing throughout. Titles include "Poem For Eric Dolphy", "In The Jungles", "Junkie Rumble", "Hiding From A Riff", "Out To Brunch", "What Are We Doing", and "Blues For Old Jews". ~ Dusty Groove

The End - Why Do You Mourn

A really fierce blend of avant jazz and post-punk energy – served up here by a group that effortlessly mix complicated reed lines with more driving drums and electric bass – all peppered with vocal contributions from singer Sofia Jernberg! Mats Gustafsson is one of the key forces here – playing flutes, baritone, and live electronics – and really reminding us that his ear for sonic activity is boundless, and open to interactions in just about any sphere – no surprise, given his other records – but still emphasized very strongly with the freshness of this album! Other group members include Borge Fjordheim on drums, Anders Hana on baritone and bass guitars, and Kjetil Moster on clarinet, tenor, and electronics. Titles include "Snow", "Wasted Blame", "Smokey Black", "Whose Face", "Winter Doesn't End", and "Black Vivaldi Sonata".  ~ Dusty Groove

Vince Guaraldi's Soundtrack for "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" Available for the First Time Ever in 50 Years

Lee Mendelson Film Productions (LMFP) is thrilled to announce the release - for the first time ever – the complete Vince Guaraldi soundtrack to A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, the timeless 10th animated Peanuts® special, from writer and creator Charles Schulz, director Bill Melendez and Phil Roman and producers Melendez and Lee Mendelson. Originally airing on November 20, 1973 on CBS-TV, the special has been broadcast or streamed every year for the last 50 years, and is currently available for streaming on Apple TV+.

The album includes the original recordings that comprise the thirteen song cues of the Special, plus another nine bonus or alternative tracks that have never been released or heard before.

Guaraldi lovingly created the soundtrack for the eclectic, big meal and family gathering, while also bolstering the hijinks of Snoopy and his new friend Woodstock as they “helped” Charlie Brown get ready for the party. The album also includes one of the few songs where composer Guaraldi also sang the lyrics he wrote to Little Birdie.

The recording features Guaraldi (piano, keyboards, guitar, vocals), Seward McCain (electric bass), Mike Clark (drums), Tom Harrell (trumpet and brass arrangements), and Chuck Bennett (trombone). The soundtrack was produced by Sean and Jason Mendelson, re-mixed by Terry Carleton at Bones and Knives, and restored and mastered/re-mastered by Vinson Hudson.

The album will available on CD, vinyl and digital. The CD has a 6-page insert. Both the LP and CD will have liner notes that give a track-by-track analysis by Sean Mendelson, musician, record producer and son of Peanuts® producer Lee Mendelson. Both versions have stills from the special and some images of the original track assignments for each instrument.

“Avid Guaraldi fans have long selected this Emmy® Award-winning TV special as their favorite, which is no surprise; the show is wall-to-wall music, bouncing between acoustic and electric keyboards, going silent only during Linus’ gentle sermon about the first Thanksgiving (a speech almost as eloquent as the one he delivers in A Charlie Brown Christmas). That sequence aside, Guaraldi was allowed to stretch and supply longer cues, each one starting as the previous one fades. The show boasts three new tunes, starting with a lyrical title theme constructed from acoustic piano filigrees that evoke the keyboard cascades in 'Skating.' An impudent cue titled 'Is It James or Charlie?' adds a bit of James Brown sass to the mix, and the standout newcomer is Guaraldi’s vocal on 'Little Birdie,' played at length when Snoopy — tasked with setting up the outdoor dining arrangements — wrestles with a basketball net, a garage door, a ping-pong table and an impressively sentient folding chair. Returning cues include one of Guaraldi’s best arrangements of 'Linus and Lucy,' with brass adding a spirited counterpoint to the primary theme, and also shading a new four-chord climb at the end of each verse's fourth measure: heard while Snoopy orchestrates the Thanksgiving 'dinner' of buttered toast, popcorn, pretzels, jellybeans and ice cream parfaits. The finger-snapping track pops up, here called 'Charlie Brown Blues.' The final returning tune, 'Peppermint Patty,' gets a quiet, leisurely arrangement on electric keyboard: perfectly echoing the girl’s coquettish side, notably when she flirts with Charlie Brown over the phone, while inviting herself — and Marcie and Franklin — to a party that doesn’t yet exist. The show’s final reprise of the title theme introduces a sparkling brass counterpoint: a terrific conclusion to a half-hour of solid combo jazz. What’s not to love?” — Derrick Bang, Peanuts® historian and author of Vince Guaraldi at the Piano.

"These great new, remastered recordings feature outtakes of Vince Guaraldi working out the piano voicings right on the spot in the studio. It is fascinating to me to be a fly on the wall for these historic sessions featuring drummer Mike Clark (who played on Herbie Hancock’s Thrust) and bassist Seward McCain on bass. It’s especially notable that Vince on this recording is making heavy use of The Fender Rhodes electric piano thereby keeping up with the times. These tracks are also much funkier and groove oriented than their predecessors which were more straight ahead. This is a very enjoyable and historic recording that is for anyone that likes jazz and Charlie Brown.” — David Benoit, Grammy-nominated jazz composer and recording artist (and Guaraldi torchbearer).