New Music Releases: Bob James, Angie Wells, Michael Echaniz and The Oscillators

Bob James - Jazz Hands

Jazz Hands is Bob James' third outing for evosound, following in the wake of 2018's Espresso and 2022's Feel Like Makin' LIVE. Produced by the pianist with his manager Sonny Abelardo, the ten-track album was mostly recorded during the months of the Covid pandemic and featured James in a number of different musical settings. It also features a stellar cameo from the ex-Gnarls Barkley singer CeeLo Green on the sensuous title track and includes production input from the legendary hip-hop turntablist DJ Jazzy Jeff, who rose to fame as half of the hit-making '80s/'90s rap duo, DJ Jazzy Jeff And The Fresh Prince, early samplers of James' music. Blending cool jazz tropes with funky dance floor grooves, blues-tinged ballads, cinematic mood pieces, and sensuous slow jams, Jazz Hands is the Missouri pianist's most eclectic album of his long career. Simultaneously classic and contemporary, it's Bob James at his majestic, ground-breaking, and timeless best.

Angie Wells - Truth Be Told

On Truth Be Told, singer and songwriter Angie Wells explores the truths of life and living in 13 jazz standards and covers and four original songs. This is Wells’ second release and follows Love And Mischief (2017), for which All About Jazz raved, “This performance is simply exceptional…Angie Wells has arrived… big time." Produced by legendary bassist John Clayton, who is also featured as a special guest in a duet with Wells, Truth Be Told includes Josh Nelson (piano), Clayton Cameron (drums), Trevor Ware (bass), Larry Koonse (guitar), Jacob Scesney (tenor sax), Ivan Malespin (trombone), Kye Palmer (trumpet and flugelhorn), Katisse Buckingham (flute), and Carey Frank (Hammond B3). Vocalists Lynne Fiddmont and Valerie Geason provide background vocals on two tracks and vocalist Zion G duets with Wells on one track. Angie Wells is a multi-talented artist. Besides being an engaging singer with a warm, sensual and bluesy voice, she is also a successful Hollywood makeup artist with two Emmy nominations. She has built a large following of admirers throughout Southern California and France. Truth Be Told is not only a personal statement from a thoughtful, sensitive singer, it is also a showcase for her impressive songwriting talent.

Michael Echaniz - Seven Shades of Violet (Rebiralost)

Ridgeway Records releases Seven Shades of Violet (Rebiralost), the stunning debut jazz album from San Francisco based pianist, keyboardist, and composer, Michael Echaniz, in the wake of a successful fight against stage four lymphoma cancer. Well over an hour in length, this epic conceptual work features the core contributions of producer, bassist, and vocalist Jeff Denson, drummer and percussionist Dillon Vado, and primary vocalists Danielle Wertz and Molly Pease with an array of special guests, including features from saxophonist Dann Zinn, percussionist Silvestre Martinez, and the strings of Friction Quartet. Symmetrically constructed, the nine original compositions and two arrangements feature a wide variety of synesthetic moods and acoustic-electric textures, drawing inspiration from mathematics, history, Basque heritage, and existential crisis. Bookended by the interconnected Prologue and Epilogue, Seven Shades of Violet takes a dazzling early turn with the eponymously named second track, set in a brisk 7/4 groove. Subsequently, Proxima Centauri opens the dynamic, bass-heavy texture wide for the sensitive paired vocals of Denson and Wertz. Wayne Shorter's Prince of Darkness presents the sole reference to the jazz canon, featuring an extended drum solo by Vado against pulsating synth swells. In an unexpected turn, Everything Is Embarrassing transforms Sky Ferreira's minimal indie pop hit of the early 2010s into a tightly arranged, jazz fusion tour de force, featuring a wailing tenor sax solo from reed virtuoso, Zinn. At the album's apex, Gernika ventures dramatically into long-form composition with the fiery vocals of Pease and evolving percussion of Martinez, drawing programmatic inspiration from the 1937 fascist bombing of Guernica, Spain, and Pablo Picasso's famous subsequent art piece.

The Oscillators - The Oscillators

Representing Seattle Funk. The Oscillators' debut album is deep, raw and energetic. Led by drummer oLLi kLoMp, the line up features members of the polyrhythmics, Rippin' Chicken, the Pulsations, Lucky Brown, the Trueloves, 45th Street Brass, The S.G.'s, and more...As of yet, as these words were written, the Oscillators is not a band. the Oscillators is an experimental recording collaboration that turned out swimmingly. Our gauge was this: "Do we like it?" No agenda or goal. The main mode being simply; create what we like out of thin air. Yet the air was heavy therefore create what we like out of thick air. Magical, gravy-thick air. Molecules, olli'cules. Alchemically thick. Apparently, we needed to sample something out-of-the-ordinary… the process is called, "stackin- phat". Minimal gear, maximum vibe. In fact, this process and this gear would make most educated sound engineers cringe but the players know. Pushing the tape…yes, tape! 4 track to be exact, pushing the tape to it's edge. First, stack two drum tracks. bounce them to one primal track. Sometimes one drummer, sometimes two; "a great drumbeat already contains melody." This is your first layer of phat...  more

Grammy-nominated alternative jazz drummer, producer, and rapper Kassa Overall releases "Animals"

The ongoing collaboration between Overall and Butler, two pioneers in the jazz-rap continuum, has its roots in Seattle. Both graduated from Garfield High School, a school in Seattle’s historically black Central District with a long and storied tradition of graduating black genre-shifting musicians, including Jimi Hendrix and Quincy Jones.

Overall expands on this shared history with how he grew up listening to Digable Planets: "One of my favorite records, and one of the first CDs I ever had, was Reachin’ by Digable Planets. This album was extremely influential as it planted the seed in my mind of what I could one day achieve by utilizing rap production and improvisation/live instruments. Butterfly, aka Ishmael Butler, was the mastermind behind the production in Digable. To work with him today is a sign of completion, and it’s an honor that he recognizes something in me.”

Reciprocating reverence, Butler adds: “You could tell that he’s interpreting influences, but always understanding that the things that have influenced him are often things that are very original. So its like, when you listen to those things, you can sort of like get in the mode of copying them, or you can understand the essence of them, and get influenced by the essence rather than mimic it. What I like about Kass is that he is making his own foray, you know, into the sound. And also the ability, the unique ability, to change genres, rhythm, groove, sound, all in the course of a song, but it still got cohesiveness to it.”

Overall’s new album ANIMALS is out now and since sharing news of the album back in March, Kassa has earned support from The New York Times, Stereogum, Pitchfork, Paste, Treble, Brooklyn Vegan, American Songwriter, NPR Music, among many others. He also delivered a Tiny Desk performance described by the institution as a “virtuosic display of musicianship, lyricism and artistic innovation.”

Ready To Ball Tour

• August 09 - Ronnie Scott’s - London, UK
• August 11 - We Out Here Festival - Dorset, UK
• August 12  - A l’Arme Festival - Berlin, DE
• August 13 - Kunstverein Familie Montez, Frankfurt, DE
• August 17 - Cologne Jazzweek - Cologne, DE
• August 25 - The New Parish - Oakland, CA
• August 26 - Mississippi Studios - Portland, OR
• August 27 - THING Festival - Port Townsend, WA
• September 7 - Hopscotch Festival - Raleigh, NC
• September 9 - 9:30 Club - Washington D.C.*
• September 12 - Starland Ballroom - Sayreville, NJ*
• September 13 - Royale - Boston, MA*
• September 14 - State Theatre - Portland, ME*
• September 15 - College Street Music Hall - New Haven, CT*
• September 16 - Union Transfer - Philadelphia, PA*
• September 19 - Danforth Music Hall - Toronto, ON*
• September 20 - Town Ballroom - Buffalo, NY*
• September 21 - House of Blues - Cleveland, OH*
• September 24 - Emo’s - Austin, TX*
• September 27 - The Cooperage - Milwaukee, WI
• September 28 - Icehouse - Minneapolis, MN
• September 29 - James Theater - Iowa City, IA
• October 19 - WWWX, Tokyo, JP
• October 20 - Billboard Live Osaka, Osaka, JP
• November 01 - Alte Feuerwache, Mannheim, DE
• November 02 - E-werk - Erlangen, DE
• November 03 - Uberjazz Festival, Hamburg, DE
• November 04 - BIRD, Rotterdam, NL
• November 07 - Jassmine, Warsaw, PL
• November 09 - UT Connewitz - Leipzig, DE
• November 10 - Alcazar, Rome, IT
• November 11 - Locomotiv Club, Bologna, IT
• November 12 - Magnolia, Milan, IT
• November 14 - Moods, Zürich, CH
• November 15 - Strange Brew, Bristol, UK
• November 16 - Belgrave Music Hall, Leeds, UK
• November 18 - SuperSonic Jazz Paradiso, Amsterdam, NL
• November 21 - AB, Brussels, BE
• November 24 - Sala Paral-lel 62, Barcelona, ES

*Supporting Digable Planets

New Music Releases: Khari Cabral & Jiva Featuring Lizz Wright, Zaime, Cherri V and Reference Point (Compilation)

Khari Cabral & Jiva - Sweet Power Your Embrace (Kai Alcé NDATL Remix) Featuring Lizz Wright

This is a must-listen for fans of neo-soul, jazz, and house music! Khari Cabral & Jiva are back with their single Sweet Power Your Embrace, remixed by none other than Kai Alcé. Featuring the beautiful vocals of soulful jazz singer Lizz Wright, this track is a powerful blend of soulful melodies, lush chords, and a thumping house groove. Let this collaboration take you away on a journey of sensual rhythms and soulful vibes. Sweet Power Your Embrace (Kai Alcé NDATL Remix) is a track that will move your body, touch your heart, and bring a smile to your face. EP Releasing On 01/09/23 Worldwide on Bluey’s Label Splash Blue - Except Japan Who Release On 08/09/23.

Zaimie - Fortuitous (2023)

Released on the sister label to Splash Blue - Splash Music Productions, ‘Fortuitous’ is the incredible debut album from Zaimie. Born from a chance meeting of two talented musicians, Zaidi Kiggundu (Ziggy Funk) and Jamie Mcshane at a music festival, their musical vision has been brought life in the shape of this captivating album. Including performances from top-notch musicians including Ewan Mains, Konrad Wisniewski, and James Steele, Hidden Highs delivers solid grooves and captivating arrangements, showcasing the duo's dedication to their craft. Available on 10 track limited edition vinyl and on digital download and streaming platforms.  

Cherri V - The Red Journal 

London U.K based, singer/songwriter Cherri Voncelle, has released her highly anticipated debut album, The Red Journal. The album takes listeners on an emotional and introspective voyage, delving into the artist's personal journal entries from 2019 to 2023 narrated by Bea Anderson, Triple O & Jessie J. With a captivating blend of soul, R&B, and acoustic melodies, Cherri Voncelle courageously shares her experiences of overcoming sexual abuse, transitioning out of a marriage, self reflections, navigating the complexities of dating and situationships, and ultimately finding love again. The album showcases collaborations with Producer PRGRSHN and songwriter Savannah Jada as well as musicians Jason Bond, Jack Shepperd, Lawrence Insula, Joseph Whettam and Alex Montague. The Red Journal is a raw and intimate musical exploration that serves as a testament to Cherri’s resilience and unwavering spirit.  The album's honesty and sincerity provide a beacon of hope and inspiration for those who have faced similar challenges and are on their own paths to healing.  

Reference Point (Compilation)

A really wicked compilation, of the sort that BBE first started doing back in the day – a mix of records that spans both scenes and generations, yet which come together with a beautifully integrated vibe! There's a warmth here that's undeniable – currents of jazz, Brazilian, acoustic soul, and more – all wrapped up with a sunny vibe that really makes the whole thing soar wonderfully, as strange musical bedfellows really find a great space to play together that's full of imagination, spirit, and plenty of soul! Titles include "Factory Rhythms" by Jr Quintet, "Life" by Bugs Beddow, "I Had A Friend" by Peter Gallway, "Palavras" by Caixa Cubo, "Mystery Of You" by Jeff Scott, "Place In Space" by Joe Thomas, "Heaven" by Crosswind, "Como Aprendi A Soportar Tus Inseguridades, "Easter Suite (edit)" by John Standefer & Friends, "California (Shawn Lee mix)" by Kirk Reed, "Make The Call (ext version)" by MF Robots, "Smile Upon Your Brother" by Ambassador College Band & New World Singers, and "I Know (demo version)" by Astronauts Etc.  ~Dusty Groove

Jewel Bass' first compilation, "On And Out Of Love"

Jewel Bass´ first LP compilation, including all her Malaco sessions. 13 songs in total, 7 of them originally unreleased.

Jewel Bass’ recordings have, over time, developed a global underground following.

The fact that Malaco Records used Jewel as a backing singer on so many of their A-Listers recordings (Johnnie Taylor, Latimore, Bobby Bland, Z.Z. Hill, Dorothy Moore, etc.) speaks far more to her talent than I can ever write in 300 words!

Jewel started singing in church but began her career in secular music when a friend approached her to ask if she would replace a singer in his band who was ill. She was only required for one song, and she agreed to do the gig on a one-off basis to help out. It was all that was needed to start her career. She joined the band and went on the road with them.

Then, in 1969 she joined Malaco as a backing singer. During her time there, she had four singles released in her own name, starting in 1973 with “I Tried It And I Liked It” – essentially ‘Mr. Big Stuff Part 2’ (Jean Knight had recorded the original song at Malaco in 1971). Three further singles followed.

Jewel also sang in a number of groups over the years and toured extensively, first with The VIPs (1973), later Polephemus (1976), and from 1979 onwards with These Days. Then there were her immense vocals on late 70s projects like the Carbon Copies “grail” 45 “Just Don’t Love You”, which also featured on the rare Centaura LP with another recording of hers.

Jewel is an artist who is consistently good. She is just as at home singing on a deep soul ballad as she is on a funky dance number.

Back in 2010, southern soul supremo Garry Cape issued all 12 of her Malaco recorded Jewels on a long since deleted CD on Soulscape. Now, thanks to Soul4Real, these tracks are available on this vinyl LP. Additionally, “Sweet High”, a non-Malaco track from 1981, is included as the closing song.

www.firstexperiencerecords.com

New Music Releases: Ed Motta, Veronica Swift, Dan Bonsanti & The 14 Jazz Orchestra and Alabaster DePlume

Ed Motta - Behind The Tea Chronicles

The Brazilian Singer Ed Mottais one of the greats in Jazz / Funk, not only in the South American Music-Scene, but world-wide. He has been one of the leading artistsat the forefront in Brazil with a huge following in his Home-Country and around the world. With his new album “Behind The Tea Chronicles”he embarks on a new musical journey, crossing genres from Jazz to Funk, over to Soul. Having worked with many renowned musicians over the course of his career (Greg Phillinganes, Chucho Valdez, Roy Ayersand many more) he established his own style of creating music with a message. On this latest album Ed Motta is singing in English, telling stories that resonate which a broad audience. Recording the rhythm in Brazil, backing vocals in LA – featuring the legendary Paulette McWilliams and Phillip Ingram – strings in Prague and horns in Detroit, he worked with the best musicians he could find to find an astonishing sound, that will be recognised by the audiophile audience as top of the class. Being recordedwith the highest standard, Ed Motta made sure to raise the bar ones more. ~ firstexperience.com

Veronica Swift - Veronica Swift

Vocal sensation Veronica Swift took the jazz world by storm with her critically acclaimed 2021 release This Bitter Earth, landing on the cover of DownBeat, topping the year end lists for vocal releases and wowing audiences with her eclectic stage show at the Hollywood Bowl and beyond. For her new album – aptly entitled Veronica Swift – the versatile artist stretches her wings and opens up her wide range of influences to share who she truly is: a once-in-a-generation vocalist with unabashed confidence.

Dan Bonsanti & The 14 Jazz Orchestra - Islands

On Islands, composer and arranger Dan Bonsanti and his band, The 14 Jazz Orchestra, once again present a collection of swinging, contemporary jazz arrangements of 11 straightahead, pop, and fusion compositions by modern masters. This is the fourth release by Bonsanti and the group, following Cartoon Bebop (2020), The Future Ain't What It Used to Be (2018) and Nothing Hard Is Ever Easy (2015). The Art Music Lounge said about Cartoon Bebop, “Bonsanti has a terrific ear for color and balance; he likes to keep his big bands “light,” playing with the streamlined sound of, say, an octet at most, and his soloists on this CD—both the regulars and the stand-ins—are nothing short of terrific.” Islands is another fun and engaging outing from Dan Bonsanti and the first-rate group of musicians that comprise the 14 Jazz Orchestra. Whatever the musical style Bonsanti tackles, his arrangements are always colorful and richly textured.

Alabaster DePlume - Come With Fierce Grace

A stunning achievement as a leader from Alabaster DePlume – material that's maybe some of the most powerful he's ever given us, even though the core of the record comes from the same sessions as his previous album, Gold! As with that record, the material here was originally performed at the Total Refreshment Centre in London, but is then completely transformed by DePlume as he works his way through the recordings – shifting things around, changing up the original sounds, and letting the selection and mixing process create the album's sound in the best International Anthem style – but also at a level that showcases DePlume's compositional ear! Alabaster plays tenor, guitar, and keyboards – and other musicians include James Howard on guitar, Tom Herbert on bass, and Sarathy Korwar on drums and tablas – and there's a number of other voices who drift through the mix as well, sometimes with full lyrical contributions, sometimes in more subtle ways. Titles include "Did You Know", "Levels Of Human", "Not Even Sobbing", "Sibomandi", "Greek Honey Slick", "Broken Again", "Naked Like Water", "The Best Thing In The World", and "To That Voice & Say". ~ Dusty Groove

Aphrose | "Roses "

Aphrose reveals her sophomore album, ‘Roses,’ a captivating amalgamation of Neo-Soul and R&B, delving into the wellspring of ancestral strength and love.

Hailing from Toronto, Canada, Aphrose, also known as Joanna Mohammed, unveils her sophomore album, establishing her as one of Toronto’s best-kept musical treasures. Known for her commanding vocal prowess within her hometown, this gifted songwriter and vocalist is rapidly garnering global acclaim and accolades from both fans and music critics alike. Signed to independent Soul label LRK Records, ‘Roses’ remains firmly rooted in Aphrose’s signature style characterized by resounding R&B vocals. However, it also embraces a softer, more introspective aura that brilliantly showcases her remarkable versatility in navigating diverse genres, moods, and musical approaches with remarkable finesse.

This album offers a little something for everyone, catering to enthusiasts of Neo-soul, traditional Soul, Hip Hop, and R&B. Produced by her longtime friends/collaborators at SafeSpaceship Music (Scott McCannell, Chino De Villa, Ben Macdonald), the album serves as a compelling testament to the collective creativity of Aphrose and this exceptional production trio, delivering a kaleidoscope of soundscapes, textures, rhythms, and grooves. ‘Roses’ weaves together both lighthearted and profound elements as Aphrose explores her life journey, delving into her familial past and present, grappling with the challenges of new motherhood, and contemplating her relationships with herself, her partner, and her friends. Across the 35-minute LP, Aphrose draws inspiration from Neo-soul icons like Jill Scott and Erykah Badu, pays homage to Soul legends such as Aretha Franklin and MJ, and infuses contemporary R&B influences from artists like Frank Ocean, SiR, and SZA. The result is a sound that distinctly bears the ‘Aphrose sound,’ reflecting her deep admiration for her inspirations while imparting a refreshing twist to familiar genres.

The album commences with its title track, ‘Roses,’ which was released as a single on August 25th. This song sets the stage, invoking the strength of Aphrose’s ancestors, particularly her late Grandmother Rose. Following suit is ‘YaYa,’ also released as a single on July 7th. This buoyant dance track whisks listeners back to the disco era of the late 70s and early 80s. The album’s third track, ‘Heavenly Father,’ offers a brief interlude featuring a recording of Aphrose’s Grandmother Rose engaged in prayer, setting the tone for the subsequent track, ‘In The Time Of Sorrow.’ This contemplative, chill piece captures Aphrose’s musings on navigating a world often shrouded in fakery, while craving authenticity. ‘Honey (Don’t) Come Back’ seamlessly transitions between two distinct musical personalities, commencing with a deep, almost Trap-like bass/drum beat before transforming into a spirited Funk/Soul jam—an anthem of empowerment encouraging the listener to leave a situationship that is no longer working. ‘What You Don’t See’ strips the production down to its core, as Aphrose and guitarist/co-writer Heather Crawford craft an intimate ode to a friendship’s sad ending.

The B-side opens with the evocative ‘Weapons,’ featuring a five-person choir including LRK label-mate Claire Davis, Nevon Sinclair (Daniel Caesar and LOONY), Kyla Charter (Aysanabee and Alessia Cara), Lydia Persaud, and Marla Walters. The track is adorned with a stirring string arrangement courtesy of Jessica Deutsch. ‘Chop The Cake’ acts as a breather, interlude-style, easing the intensity. ‘Soft Nuclear’ channels the spirit of the early 2000s R&B movement, bearing traces of influence from Lucy Pearl. ‘Good Love,’ released as the first single off this body of work on May 19th, transports listeners to the 70s with its soulful resonance, drawing inspiration from the likes of Michael Jackson and Teddy Pendergrass. ‘Higher’ stands as Aphrose’s tribute to Prince, capturing the essence of his music within its hook and production. The album’s culmination arrives with ‘ZAG,’ an acronym derived from Aphrose’s daughter’s name, commencing with the sound of her daughter’s heartbeat in-utero from a sonogram taken when Aphrose was pregnant. This heartfelt composition serves as a dedication to her daughter and all parents navigating the rollercoaster of parenthood, emphasizing the imperative of nurturing love to shape the future.

‘Roses’ stands as Aphrose’s homage to her history—her Grandma Rose and the ancestral trailblazers who paved her path to the present life she enjoys; her current experiences—her self-discovery, her relationships with her partner and friends; and her aspirations for the future—her daughter and the generations to come. This album crystallizes these temporal dimensions, prompting introspection, celebration, laughter, and tears. ‘Roses’ is a musical odyssey that scrutinizes the multifaceted beauty of existence, inviting listeners to partake in this thing called life.

firstexperiencerecords.com

Multi-Award Winning Singer-Songwriter-Producer-Author, ERIC ROBERSON Releases New Single, "I APOLOGIZE"

"I Apologize" was written and produced by Eric Roberson, Jairus Mozee, Brett "B Dubb" Baker and Rodney Jones. "The song is inspired by the creative gumbo that feeds my music. The theatrical musicality of Stevie Wonder, heartfelt word play of Commissioned and the unapologetic low end approach of A Tribe Called Quest," mentions Eric Roberson.

"I Apologize," is the second single to be released of a series of songs that are forthcoming. For the remainder of 2023, Eric Roberson will continue to wet the palates of fans and music lovers abroad, as he prepares to release a new song every month. This past June, In celebration of Black Music Month, Billboard Magazine provided Eric Roberson with the honor to be a guest columnist and write a column in celebration of the independent movement. The column provided five steps to a rewarding independent artist career.

Whether over the course of his seventeen beloved LPs (2001’s The Esoteric Movement to 2022’s Lessons) or through songwriting/production/vocal collaborations with the likes of Jill Scott, Dwele, Musiq Soulchild, Vivian Green, DJ Jazzy Jeff, DJ Spinna and others, fine-tuned R&B music ears have come to recognize and make a somewhat spiritual connection with his everyday relatable, multi-influenced vibe which mirrors their own lives and experiences. “It’s R&B and soul music, but I’m a hip-hop dude,” Eric replies, of his influences as it relates to his music’s appeal.

Indeed, nothing less than heartfelt gratitude for the blessing of being able to continue releasing music through his very own Blue Erro Soul Entertainment, as well as accolades which have included two successive Grammy nominations for “Best Urban/Alternative Performance” (for “A Tale of two” in 2010; “Still” in 2011), a BET J Virtual Award for “Underground Artist of the Year” (2008), being distinguished as the first independent artist to be nominated for a BET Award in 2007 and sold-out tours throughout the world is what makes Eric Roberson, "The Soul Man himself".

As a GRAMMY Award-nominee, Singer, Songwriter, Producer and Howard University alum, Eric Roberson continues to break boundaries as an independent artist in an industry dominated by major labels, manufactured sounds and mainstream radio. Eric has achieved major milestones in his career, from being a successful songwriter and producer for notable artists such as Jill Scott, Musiq Soulchild, Dwele, Vivian Green and countless others, to headlining sold out tours across the country.

Eric is celebrating over twenty years as an independent artist, creating “Honest Music” since 2001, which has afforded him the artistic freedom that isn’t typically offered in the mainstream music industry.

In 2020, Eric used this unprecedented time of solitude from the world to immerse himself creatively. With this, he created a powerful album, entitled “Hear from Here”, a musical cry out to its listeners who longed for a sound of hope. Roberson describes “Hear from Here” as an “act of service” to his devoted fans. In 2022, Mr. Soul himself, released his 17th studio album, "Lessons" to rave reviews. The album has gone to become a fan-favorite around the world. He later recorded the TOP 20 Billboard R&B song, "Lessons" (Remix) featuring Anthony Hamilton, Raheem DeVaughn and Kevin Ross to instant success. This superstar collaboration led to a surprise performance appearance at Verzuz battle featuring Anthony Hamilton and Musiq Soulchild, which left soul-music aficionados wanting more. He also recently released his first book, "LESSONS" (100 Thoughts on Life & Love).

Eric is a former Professor at the legendary Berklee College of Music in Boston. When asked about the position he stated that, “It was an opportunity that I couldn’t refuse. I truly believe that at all times we are teachers and students. I not only love teaching the students but learning from them as well.”

In 2017, Eric created “The Process”, a forum in which he invites fans to navigate through his creative experience. It allows fans to listen and comment to unreleased songs, thereby being a part of the “process” of making music. “We are losing so much of the culture that went with listening to music. Letting the fans watch us create the albums was our way of bringing some of the old music culture back.” says Eric.

Spherical, a lost New York recording session w/Bernie Worrell, Cindy Blackman Santana and John King

How often do you walk into a situation without knowing what will happen? Do you fear it? Or do you embrace it? The unknown is a ubiquitous phenomenon that can be found in the essence of a person, place, or thing. Many musicians welcome musical situations where they are unaware of what will happen. That could be during improvising or performing with musicians for the first time. Both take an incredible amount of vulnerability and trust. The unknown seems to drive them into a space and time that controls them, not the other way around. And more than likely, that’s what they want it to do. Musicians prefer the unknown to utilize them as vessels to reach their audience or even to experience their own liberation.

The concept of Spherical was unknown. The only thing that John King knew was that he wanted this album to be rock, funk, blues, noise, and experimental, and so by instinct, Cindy Blackman and Bernie Worrell were the perfect musicians for accomplishing this. It’s one thing to understand the level of expertise behind each musician, but you could never predict what would happen if you put them together in one room. They found funk, rock, the blues, and an abundance of trust, within an eight hour improvised recording session in 1994 at Baby Monster Studios in New York. It was at this moment they went on a ride to the unknown.

There were no expectations or preconceived notions about what the outcome of their creations would be that day. It was only the conviction between these three musicians to create something unknown. That conviction is what audiences feel while listening to this record. The music does not attempt to articulate what they should feel, nor does it simultaneously take every listener to the same place. This reason is why the unknown is ubiquitous and even malleable. The trio lay into the depths of a sphere, and the music reaches the surface in every direction to find us listeners, wherever we are. The music places us in passenger seats, drawing us into the core like a gravitational pull. Unsurprisingly, being without expectations meant that this three-dimensional power trio would take the music into liberating spaces.

It’s an impressive, yet unintentional, stunt when a power trio makes you question if there was a touch of overdubbing. These three musicians, who are all powerhouses in their own right, transformed vague ideas of riffs and melodies into a melting pot of their genius. The humble King constructs sonic walls using a plethora of processed effects from amplitude modulators, phase shifters, delays, fuzz/distortion pedals, and a wah pedal. The wall he builds is where you’ll hear Muddy Waters and Jimi Hendrix, two of his earliest influences. He compliments the boldness that Cindy Blackman brings to the session as a drummer with hardcore rock and jazz chops. At times, her right foot on the kick in ‘Stomp Time Shuffle’ seemed to want to fly away, playing on the off beats of 16th notes. She had worked with Worrell before, but had only met King briefly before this session a few months prior. She immediately conveyed her trust in him by kicking off the first tune of the album called ‘Future-Blues’ with an explosive drum fill instead of a traditional count-off. It’s the perfect album intro. In the spirit of trust, she didn’t reveal what was coming when they asked for a count off. She makes a simple yet valuable statement that students of improvisation should remember —“trust your bandmates”.

An innovative mastermind on what we refer to as vintage synths, Bernie Worrell’s talents stretch far beyond funk. Just a few days after learning about the passing of his mother, Worrell expressed his feelings into the Clavinet, B3 organ, and a synthesizer. Worrell’s Hammond B3 opening solo on ‘Sunday Sunrise’ begins in outer space. Yet, that gravitational pull at the core of this sphere takes us back to the blues and gospel. The synth patch that Worrell uses for his solo on ‘Unfunkingstoppabble’ is so calming and meditative that, for a moment, you forget that this is probably the edgiest song on the album. King describes how Worrell played a single note on the Clavinet that resonated the walls and made him feel the entire history of funk. The only way for this album to ever exist was for all three musicians to put their trust in the unknown.

Interestingly, the unknown embraced this project by manifesting itself into a domain of the lost, otherwise known as... an unknown space. The lost and found is a mesmerizing place that exists because we simply overlook it. This project had been missing for 29 years until John King found it in a place we’re all too familiar with, in a box of unlabeled CDs, cassette tapes, and DAT tapes. During a time of cleansing, the lost was now found. Perhaps Spherical’s whereabouts were unknown because sometimes life has its own timelines, which can be distracting. Is it possible that music does, too? Conceivably, the music was ahead of its time and wanted to be known when it was this time. And maybe, this time is the right time to be known.

—JoVia L. Armstrong

Craft Recordings’ acclaimed 'Small Batch' vinyl series returns with Thelonious Monk’s 'Brilliant Corners'

Craft Recordings’ acclaimed Small Batch vinyl series returns with an audiophile pressing of Thelonious Monk’s Brilliant Corners. A landmark title in the pianist’s celebrated catalog, the 1957 album not only introduces several Monk originals, but also features an all-star line-up of talent, including Sonny Rollins, Max Roach, and Paul Chambers. Shipping September 8th and limited to just 4,000 copies worldwide.

Handpicked from Craft’s extensive catalog, each Small Batch release offers discerning listeners the highest-quality, authentic sound – distilled to its purest form. As with all albums in the series, Brilliant Corners features lacquers cut from the original tapes (AAA) by Bernie Grundman and pressed on 180-gram vinyl at RTI using Neotech’s VR900 compound. This one-step lacquer process (as opposed to the standard three-step process) allows for the utmost level of musical detail, clarity, and dynamics while reducing the amount of surface noise on the record. The limited nature of these pressings guarantees that each record is a true representation of the original lacquer and is as close as the listener can get to the original recording.                                                                                                                           

Each copy is individually numbered and encased in a foil-stamped, linen-wrapped slipcase featuring an acrylic inset of the original artwork. The vinyl disc ­– extractable through a unique, frictionless ribbon pull tab – is housed in a reproduction of the album’s original tip-on jacket from Riverside Records and protected by an archival-quality, anti-static, non-scratching inner sleeve. New liner notes from the GRAMMY® Award-winning music historian, journalist, and producer, Ashley Kahn complete the package.

Since launching in 2020, the Small Batch series has drawn accolades from both sides of the Atlantic. Speaking to The Vince Guaraldi Trio’s Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus, Marc Mickelson of Audio Beat hailed it as “[One] of the very best reissues I’ve come across. . . . It was created with extreme care, and it lives up to the goal of being closer in sound to master tape. It’s an LP with music and sound to savor.” Analog Planet’s Mark Smotroff called Relaxin’ with the Miles Davis Quintet “A wonderfully open-sounding record…I felt I was getting a nice sense of what the original recording – and the original records – sounded like, yet with the sonic benefits of Grundman’s mastering touch.” Reviewing Yusef Lateef’s Eastern Sounds, Dan Margolis at DownBeat simply declared “The music is amazing,” while Jamie Atkins at Record Collector praised John Coltrane’s Lush Life, noting, “Craft have done a superlative job; the packaging is elegant and the sound is flawless. . . . There’s a depth and vivacity that brings out the best in these sessions.”

“A classic album should be both era- and genre-defining,” argues Ashley Kahn. “Thelonious Monk, who released LPs for an 18-year run from 1952 to ’71, ultimately delivered more than one. But there’s no question which was his first true classic – the one that still checks off all the boxes and continues to serve as a worthy introduction to his musical legacy. It is Brilliant Corners.”

A brilliant, eccentric, and prolific pianist, Thelonious Sphere Monk (1917–1982) was a transformative figure in jazz music. One of the genre’s most recorded artists (second only to Duke Ellington), Monk has long been revered for his enduring compositions (including multiple jazz standards), his unorthodox melodic structures, and his revolutionary approach to the piano.

When Monk signed to Riverside Records in 1955, however, he was struggling to capture mainstream audiences. It had been nearly a decade since his earliest sessions as a leader (including titles under Blue Note and Prestige Records) and while he was well respected by critics and peers, commercial success continued to elude him – a concern that was further compounded by the loss of his New York City cabaret card, which forbade him from headlining clubs in the city. But soon, his fortunes would change.

Brilliant Corners was recorded during three sessions at New York’s Reeves Sound Studio, beginning on October 9, 1956, just one day before Monk’s 40th birthday. With Riverside co-founder Orrin Keepnews serving as producer, Monk recorded in two different quintet settings. The first featured tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins (then a fast-rising star), alto saxophonist Ernie Henry, bassist Oscar Pettiford, and bebop pioneer Max Roach on drums. Together, they debuted two tributes to the pianist’s friend and patron, Baroness Nica de Koenigswarter: “Ba-lue Bolivar Ba-lues-are” and “Pannonica” (featuring Monk on the celesta). Several days later, the group reconvened to record another Monk original, “Brilliant Corners.”

The final session, captured in December, featured Rollins and Roach, with the addition of bassist Paul Chambers and trumpeter Clark Terry. Monk led the musicians through “Bemsha Swing,” an original co-written with bassist Denzil Best, which debuted on record in 1952. Monk also delivered one solo performance, selecting Harry Barris’ classic ballad, “I Surrender, Dear.”

Released in April 1957, Brilliant Corners was transformative for Monk’s career, delivering him a major comeback. The album was met with wide acclaim, including from DownBeat’s Nat Hentoff, who proclaimed it “Riverside’s most important modern jazz LP to date.” Within months, Monk’s cabaret card was reinstated. That summer, he had a standing engagement at The Five Spot with John Coltrane, which became the hottest ticket in town. Later that year, Monk released two more acclaimed albums on Riverside: Thelonious Himself and Monk’s Music, while DownBeat declared Brilliant Corners to be “1957’s most praised LP.” In 2003, the album was among the first 50 recordings chosen for the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry, while over the decades, Brilliant Corners has ranked regularly as an essential jazz title.

Saxophonist Mindi Abair to appear at Jimmy's Jazz & Blues Club

Jimmy's Jazz & Blues Club Features 2x-GRAMMY® Award Nominated Saxophonist & Vocalist Mindi Abair and her Acclaimed Band on Friday September 15 at 7 and 9:30 P.M. You might know her as the featured saxophonist on American Idol, sitting in with Paul Shaffer on The Late Show with David Letterman or The Roots on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, or maybe from moonlighting on tour with Duran Duran or Aerosmith! In 2019, 2020, 2021 & 2022 Mindi Abair was Nominated for "Best Instrumentalist: Horn Player of the Year" at the Blues Music Awards!

Mindi Abair's solo works have sold over half a million albums, garnered numerous #1 Radio Hits and consistently topped both the Billboard Contemporary Jazz and Billboard Blues Charts. She has had a remarkable recording career, recording with some of the biggest names in music, and has built a substantial following among jazz and blues audiences with her soaring melodies and powerhouse style!

In 2006, Abair released the album Life Less Ordinary, which peaked at #1 on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz Chart and remained in the Top 20 for 45 weeks. Her songs "True Blue" and "Bloom" both hit #1. Mindi has had 5 Albums reach the Top 5 on Billboard's Contemporary Jazz Album Chart, and 2 Albums in the Top 5 on Billboard's Blues Album Chart!

In 2008, she released her genre breaking album Stars which peaked at #4 on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz Chart. Her single "Stars" charted at #29 on the Adult Contemporary R&R simultaneously with her single "Smile" which reached #1 on the R&R Jazz Airplay Charts. She released the album Hi-Fi Stereo in 2010 which peaked at #5 on the Billboard Jazz Chart and the album spawned the #1 hit "Be Beautiful" written by David Ryan Harris.

In 2014, Mindi received her first GRAMMY® Award Nomination in the "Best Pop Instrumental Album" category for Summer Horns with Dave Koz, Richard Elliot and Gerald Albright. She followed this up with a 2015 GRAMMY® Award Nomination for "Best Contemporary Instrumental Album" for her solo LP Wild Heart featuring the late Gregg Allman, Joe Perry, Trombone Shorty, Booker T. Jones, Keb' Mo', and Max Weinberg.

In 2017, Mindi Abair & The Boneshakers released the album The EastWest Sessions (Joe Bonamassa and Fantastic Negrito were featured guests) and it debuted at #3 on the Billboard Blues Albums Chart. In 2018, Mindi Abair & The Boneshakers won 8 Independent Blues Awards including "Artist of the Year", and an Independent Music Award for "Best Blues Song Fan Award" for "Pretty Good For A Girl" featuring Joe Bonamassa.

In 2019, Mindi Abair & The Boneshakers released the album No Good Deed which debuted at #3 on the Billboard Blues Chart. Mindi's new album Forever was released in 2022 and debuted #1 on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz Album Chart and features performances by Steve Perry, Rick Braun, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Eric Bazilian and Raul Malo.

Mindi Abair has toured and/or recorded with: Aerosmith, Joe Bonamassa, Smokey Robinson, Joe Perry, Trombone Shorty, Booker T. Jones, Gregg Allman, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Fantastic Negrito, Waddy Wachtel, Bobby Rush, Keb' Mo', Teena Marie, Lee Ritenour, Adam Sandler, Duran Duran, Bill Champlin, Richard Elliott, Jimmy Webb, Max Weinberg, Dave Koz, Peter White, Gerald Albright, Mandy Moore, Lalah Hathaway and the Backstreet Boys, among many others.

Located in the historic downtown disctrict of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Jimmy's Jazz & Blues Club's 2023 Schedule of Shows now includes 10 NEA Jazz Masters, 48 GRAMMY® Award-Winning Artists, 45 Blues Music Award-Winners, and a comprehensive list of talented musicians with 450+ GRAMMY® Award Nominations amongst them. 

Erin Rogers and Alec Goldfarb | "Earth's Precisions"

Earth’s Precisions by Alec Goldfarb and Erin Rogers crafts a musical surface that simulates both a larger ensemble and a single, hybrid instrument. At times, the composite of guitar and saxophone is pushed to extremes, as each of the 5 co-composed pieces explore the impossible polyphony of an expansive terrain, speaking in tongues. The duo shares an expressive vocality and an approach to construction that is both elemental and ritualistic, while at other times haunting and ethereal, permeated by a dose of horror.

Inspired by the lineage of guitar/saxophone duos –– from Fred Frith and Anthony Braxton to Tim Berne and Bill Frisell –– Earth’s Precisions expands on this tradition, at once confounding the sounds of their instruments past recognition and returning them to a seemingly nascent state. Rogers and Goldfarb achieve this with a unique setup: Rogers plays alto, tenor, and soprano throughout the album, and Goldfarb performs without effects using a range of microtonal retunings of the instrument.

Alec Goldfarb is a Brooklyn based guitarist, composer, and Hindustani classical musician. Active in the NYC jazz and new music communities, his work explores musical traits as historical vestiges of migrations, colonialism, geographies, labor, ritual. He holds a masters degree from CUNY Brooklyn College and B.A.’s from the University of Illinois in Music Composition / Theory and Philosophy.

An exponent of the Seniya-Maihar Gharana, Alec performs Hindustani classical music across the globe on the guitar using a novel synthesis of sarod and sitar technique. In Spring 2020 he co-founded the Open Improvisations: Online Edition weekly series with Marina Kifferstein and Carrie Frey, and served as the inaugural composer in residence for Jonah Bokaer Choreography in 2018. He is currently on faculty at NYC Guitar School.

Based in New York City, Erin Rogers is a Canadian-American saxophonist, composer, and improviser dedicated to new and experimental music. Her “decidedly future-oriented” music has been described as “whimsical, theatrical” (Brooklyn Vegan), “radical and refreshing” (Vital Weekly) and “a richly expressive display of stentorian brilliance” (The Wire).

Her work ranges from chamber music performance to solo experimental improvisation to individual and collaborative compositions that incorporate live electronics, theatre, and text. Rogers’ music has been performed at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Elbphilharmonie (Hamburg), Roulette Intermedium, Centro Nacional de las Artes (Mexico City), Celebrity Series (Boston), MATA Festival, Ecstatic Festival at Merkin Hall, Prototype Festival, Winspear Centre (Edmonton), Resonanzraum (Germany), Círculo de Bellas Artes (Madrid), and NyMusikk Bergen (Norway). Rogers is co-artistic director of NYC-based performance ensembles: thingNY, New Thread Quartet, Hypercube, Popebama, and a member of LA-based Wild Up.

Natalie Rose LeBrecht | "'Holy Prana Open Game"

Natalie Rose LeBrecht's recordings, from the teenage 4-track tapes she made as Greenpot Bluepot to the recent albums under her own name, have been fascinating dispatches from her progressively deeper dives into her gorgeous, weird, wildly idiomatic aesthetic. Holy Prana Open Game is a jewel of intensely personal cosmic music, created through a remarkable process of openness, craftiness, addition and subtraction. It belongs to a tradition of albums that document a rich, meditative sound as it rises up to join the world outside its creators' minds: Alice Coltrane's Universal Consciousness, Harmonia's Musik von Harmonia, Philip Glass's North Star, Talk Talk's Laughing Stock.

"Meditative" is specifically the idea here: Holy Prana Open Game had its origins in the fourteen days LeBrecht spent silently meditating in her home's small music room in the summer of 2019. "I came out of that bursting with the will to create new music," she says, and she created it sound-first. LeBrecht taught herself to program an analog synthesizer's timbres from scratch, and built a new set of glacial, heady compositions out of them, eventually singing to accompany the keyboard parts she was playing.

Then she closed her eyes at her computer, "let my mind be clear and open, imagined light pouring down through me, and began auto-writing to my memory of the music playing through my mind. Most of the lyrics emerged this way, and then I used my conscious mind to refine them a bit at the end." One other song came along with LeBrecht's new pieces, a cover that seems wildly unlikely from the outside and makes total sense in its context: it's a version of Atoms for Peace's "Amok" (which had been created by improvisation and editing, too), mutated into her own idiolect.

In early March of 2020, LeBrecht recorded Holy Prana Open Game's analog synth parts with Martin Bisi at his studio in Brooklyn--and then the world shut down. As you may have gathered, LeBrecht is very much a spiritual, head-in-the-stars type. She is also extremely hardcore, and if making the art she wants to make means doing things the hard way, she cracks her knuckles and gets down to it. Within weeks, she had taught herself how to record, mix and edit with a digital audio workstation. She recorded her vocal parts (sometimes multi-tracked into a radiant choir) at home, assembled a rough mix of the album, and sent it off to her collaborators.

LeBrecht spent some years studying with and assisting La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela at their legendary sound-and-light installation, the Dream House. As with their work, her singular, precisely focused vision is shored up by its openness to artistic voices beyond her own. For Holy Prana Open Game, she worked with the Australian guitarist Mick Turner and drummer Jim White (both of Dirty Three, the Tren Brothers and innumerable other projects), as well as woodwind player David Lackner, a longtime presence on her recordings.

Turner and White have been playing together in one context or another since 1985; in the summer of 2020, they were only blocks from each other in Melbourne, Australia, whose strict lockdown meant they couldn't meet up to record together. So both of them, as well as Lackner, recorded their improvisational additions to LeBrecht's rough mixes individually, often without hearing each other's contributions. "I had asked them to play as much as they could on each track," she says, "and told them that I would edit it all down in post, so I had a lot of source material of theirs to work with."

LeBrecht arranged and edited the recordings from all four of their homes to flow together like breath across the duration of her suite. Prana, one of the album's central conceits, is in fact the Sanskrit word for breath, with the connotation of the breath of life. Like LeBrecht's music, prana flows at its own pace, and demands stillness to take in fully--but it's also subtly playful and surprising, a force that can be as light as air or as immersive as the atmosphere itself.

 

Matthew Shipp | "The Intrinsic Nature of Shipp"

Over the course of his three-and-a-half decade career, Matthew Shipp has evolved from a radical outsider on the fringes of the NYC avant-garde to a position as, in the words of DownBeat magazine, “an elder statesman on the free-jazz scene.” He’s achieved such accolades without ever deviating from a single-minded exploration of his own inimitable sonic vocabulary, maintaining his own eccentric orbit around the jazz realm while steadfastly resisting its gravitational pull.

Two new releases bookending his storied career showcase both Shipp’s unflagging vision and the progressive maturation of his inimitable pianism. With his remarkable new solo album The Intrinsic Nature of Shipp, due out September 15th via Mahakala Music, the acclaimed pianist offers his most stunningly distilled statement to date, a compelling, intensely focused set of breathtaking improvisations that fastidiously refine Shipp’s prismatic language; meanwhile, ESP-Disk kicks off a new series of reissues also on September 15 with the 1990 trio outing Circular Temple, Shipp’s first album solely under his own name.

While these two albums provide a glimpse of the impressive consistency of Shipp’s voice across the span of his estimable career, the differences in the two albums spotlight the ways in which he has matured and defined his language over the decades.

“A personal style happens when it happens,” Shipp shrugs. “I believe everybody is capable of it, but the conditions that allow it to happen have to be in place. There is a pure generating principle within anybody, but that doesn't mean that there's not input from the outside world in my music. It does mean that everything is thoroughly digested into my system and then thrown back out as my central nervous system interacts with other parts of the universal hologram, which could be a lick from Monk or a Bud Powell solo. Just like water becomes steam becomes ice, there's a central principle to the whole thing that's pure Matt Shipp.”

Shipp made his recording debut in 1988 with Sonic Explorations, sharing top billing with his duo partner, alto saxophonist Rob Brown. Circular Temple offered fans of jazz’s outer limits the first true glimpse of Shipp’s idiosyncratic concept, however, leading a trio with lifelong collaborators William Parker (bass) and Whit Dickey (drums), with whom he famously worked in the legendary David S. Ware Quartet. The album was initially self-released on Shipp’s own Quinton imprint, then reissued in 1994 on Henry Rollins’ Infinite Zero label; both have since gone out of print.

Through ESP, Circular Temple will not only return to circulation on CD and digital formats but make its long-awaited vinyl debut. Over the next year, the label will follow that with a reissue of Zo, a 1994 duo with William Parker, on all three formats; and a vinyl-only issue of Shipp’s 2018 solo album Zero. All three will be available on vinyl for the first time ever.

“At the time that Circular Temple was released, I don't think people really knew what to make of me,” Shipp says. “By the time it was released on Infinite Zero, which was just a few years after its first incarnation, it was the lead review in Rolling Stone. Listening to it now, I hear that I had a very distinct voice even in the early 90s, when the neoconservative movement in jazz was at its peak. My language is transcendental and doesn't fit into any easy niche or category, so it's interesting looking back to see an album like that arrive in an environment that would not have been able to make sense of it.”

In the intervening years Shipp’s work has achieved its fair share of study and acclaim while still existing far outside the jazz mainstream. His solo recordings have charted a sweeping arc through his prolific discography since 1995, when he recorded both live (Before the World) and in the studio (Symbol Systems). In 2002 he returned with a rare standards date on the disruptive Songs. The further clarification of his voice can be traced from 20015’s One through 2018’s Zero, his mathematical precision revealed in his most recent offerings, The Piano Equation and Codebreaker.

If those latter titles hint at an investigatory process, then The Intrinsic Nature of Shipp suggests a profound discovery, one that turns the pianist’s expansive, often cosmic vision inwards to find an equally expansive universe in his own essential being. The album’s ten stark, exacting inventions seem to have shorn away any superfluous gestures to reveal Shipp’s unadulterated inner life.

“I believe a pianist's intrinsic nature comes out in the solo idiom,” the pianist asserts. If that is the case, then the solo work of an artist as singular and visionary as Shipp must be viewed as creation in its purest form.

“When you're playing solo, it's a pure prayer to the instrument and to the vibratory field that the music comes from,” Shipp explains. “You're laid out naked in your full glory, for everybody to see. So the deeper I get into my career, I'm drilling further down to the bare essence of the facilitator that generates this music.” 

16th Annual Angel City Jazz Festival Announces Final 2023 Lineup

In its 16th year, 501 (c)(3) Angel City Arts presents the Angel City Jazz Festival October 13 – 29, 2023, at diverse and popular venues such as REDCAT (Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater), 2220 Arts & Archives, LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art), The Moss Theatre, Zebulon, Zipper Hall and The World Stage. Tickets go on sale on July 1.

This year’s fall event will host 17 concerts featuring live performances by the Mark Masters Ensemble featuring Billy Harper, the Destiny Muhammad Trio with Teodross Avery, Crump/Laubrock/Smythe, Jeong Lim Yang’s Zodiac Trio, Gloria Cheng, Linda May Han Oh & Fabian Almazan, Jon Jang & Hitomi Oba, Kirk Knuffke Trio, Todd Sickafoose’s Bear Proof, Tim Berne, Aurora Nealand and Hank Roberts, Harriet Tubman, Mat Maneri Quartet, Ennis Harris, NJL Awardees, Nicole Mitchell, Billy Mohler, Todd Cochran and Hubert Laws. 

Jazz never stands still. Like improvisation, it’s constantly evolving and reinventing itself. While some festivals focus with a nostalgic lens, Angel City unapologetically looks forward to encouraging and embracing metamorphosis of the genre. While providing a cradle to 1960s innovators Ornette Coleman, Eric Dolphy, and Charles Lloyd, Los Angeles never consistently hosted a festival dedicated to post-traditional improvisation until innovator Rocco Somazzi founded The Angel City Jazz Festival in 2008. The festival has helped establish LA as a jazz destination through 16 years of affordable and accessible live concerts throughout the city featuring artists such as Bill Frisell, Archie Shepp, Bennie Maupin, Roscoe Mitchell, Wadada Leo Smith, Vijay Iyer, Ravi Coltrane, Nels Cline, Tigran Hamasyan, Rudresh Mahanthappa and many others.

The festival kicks off Friday, October 13 at LACMA with a special 100th anniversary tribute to the musical legacy of Sam Rivers featuring a 13-piece ensemble with special guest sax legend Billy Harper led by arranger/composer Mark Masters.

The excitement continues Saturday, October 14 with Bay Area based jazz harpist Destiny Muhammad leading a trio and featuring local sax man Teodross Avery at the World Stage in Leimert Park. On Sunday, October 15, two highly original and adventurous NYC based trios will perform back-to-back sets at 2220 Arts. First up is up and coming bassist Jeong Lim Yang’s Zodiac Trio, followed by seasoned improvisers Stephan Crump, Ingrid Laubrock and Cory Smythe. The festivities continue into Monday, October 16 with a special six-hour long performance featuring 20 LA based improvisers from three generations in duo and trio formats at the Oracle Tavern. Among the participants are Vinny Golia, William Rope, Dylan Fujioka and Motoko Honda.

The following weekend, on Saturday, October 21, Gloria Cheng will premiere six compositions for solo piano by prominent jazz composers: James Newton, Arturo O’Farrill, Anthony Davis, Linda May Han Oh, Jon Jang and Gernot Wolfgang. Many of these composers will be in attendance and Linda May Han Oh and Jon Jang will also perform with their respective duos.

The weekend will conclude on October 22 with a double bill featuring acclaimed trumpeter Kirk Knuffke in a trio with Angelica Sanchez and Micheal Bisio followed by Todd Sickafoose’s all-star octet featuring Allison Miller, Jenny Scheinman, Adam Levy and Ben Goldberg among others.

The festival continues on Wednesday, October 25 with another double bill featuring two highly creative NYC based trios. Opening the night is OCEANS AND, a new trio led by saxman Tim Berne with vocalist/clarinetist Aurora Nealand and Hank Roberts on cello. Next up is Harriet Tubman, an avant-rock trio with Brandon Ross on guitar, Melvin Gibbs on bass and TJ Lewis on drums.

The festival’s closing weekend begins on Friday, October 27 with a double bill at 2220 Arts + Archives. LA-based up and coming composer Ennis Harris will premiere “Images & Silhouettes” a commissioned composition for a 17-piece band. The Mat Maneri Quartet will perform material from his latest release “DUST” to close out the night. On Saturday, October 28, Nicole Mitchell will premiere a multimedia piece dedicated to her late mother entitled JBM: Images & Beyond. Opening the night there will be a showcase coordinated by New Music USA featuring grants from The Next Jazz Legacy program, which is devoted to increase opportunities for female or gender non-conforming musicians and is a partnership between New Music USA and the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice with support from the Mellon Foundation and Joe & Nancy Walker.

The festival will conclude on Sunday, October 29 with a very rare appearance by NEA Jazz Master Hubert Laws featured as a special guest of piano legend Todd Cochran’s TC3 trio with John Leftwich on bass and Lyndon Rochelle on drums. LA based bassist Billy Mohler will also perform with an all-star quartet featuring Mark Turner on sax, Shane Endsley on trumpet and Jonathan Pinson on drums.

Full schedule, tickets and details at www.angelcityjazz.com.

Joe Policastro Trio | "Ceremony"

There’s a lot to celebrate on Ceremony, the sixth album by Chicago-based bassist, composer, and arranger Joe Policastro, rounded out by guitarist Dave Miller and drummer Mikel Avery. Together, the trio have created Ceremony, a work of creative heraldry that showcases a band at the top of its game where unity, originality, and cohesion are paramount. Honoring Policastro’s non-hierarchical approach to music, it’s a democratic display of three distinct musical voices coming together as one.

Ceremony is defined as a formal act or series of acts prescribed by ritual, protocol, or convention. It’s a fitting title for the Joe Policastro Trio’s new record in more ways than you might expect. In the traditional sense, Ceremony celebrates union. Unified by the band’s highly personal, blended sound, the album combines delightfully unpredictable cover songs that are presented alongside their original compositions. Less predictably, Policastro also notes that “this band has its own language, its own customs.” A convention or ritual, if you will.

New Wave fans would be right to associate the album title and its first track with the New Order song of the same name from 1981. Policastro, Miller, and Avery tackle the tune, but don’t let the gimmick of a jazz band covering New Order get in the way of turning it into a thrilling composition. They blend straight ahead jazz grooves, pensive breakdowns, breakneck drum grooves, and even styles like krautrock into the performance. It builds off the original’s recognizable hook, but uses that structure as a launching point, not an anchor.

“Our take on ‘Ceremony’ began riffing on the song’s iconic bassline, but it evolved into something else very quickly,” Policastro explains. The arrangement interpolates composer Erik Satie’s “Gymnopédie,” recontextualizing the song, its mood, its meaning. This is the “ceremony” at the heart of the band’s process.

Four engaging originals—three by Policastro (“Poioumena,” “Scene Missing,” and “Possible Music”) and one by guitarist Miller (“Mojave Lifeline”)—display a breadth of range, style, and compositional prowess. Strong melodies and taut structures disguise the complexity of these compositions. “Pioumena” shows their inside/outside improvisational approach on an up-tempo swing number with changing phrase lengths. The folkish melody of “Mojave Lifeline” masks its unsettled harmony. Throughout these originals, the band seamlessly switches grooves and texture while flawlessly improvising over the eccentric compositions.

Interspersed among those are the remaining “covers.” Roy Orbison’s “Blue Bayou” sees the melody pass between players. It features an arco bass solo, a melodic drum solo, and breaks down into a collective free jazz romp before regaining its sea legs. They tackle Thelonious Monk’s notoriously difficult and rarely performed “Brilliant Corners.” Flexing its muscle on an up-tempo samba, the album closes with João Bosco’s “Bala Com Bala.”

The album is anchored by Policastro’s bass as it waxes and wanes in the texture, Miller’s wide-ranging guitar sounds, and Avery’s orchestral drumming. These dovetail into solo features and collective improvisations. “We make interesting choices in the music that we play, whether it's the originals or adapting music way outside of jazz,” Policastro explains. It all serves a purpose, and each choice the group makes is intentional. “There’s a purity of expression that I think is unique to this group, this project. It’s so cool to hear things in a totally different way, to study them through new lenses.” This, too, is part of their ceremony, their ritual.

Ceremony also celebrates sound itself.  It was recorded in triple-true stereo by legendary sound engineer Ken Christensen (Naim Label, Pro Musica) and mastered for vinyl by Bob Weston. “We have always been a live band. All of our albums have essentially been ‘live’ captures of the group, but Ceremony has added depth aurally and musically.”

This is the first truly “new” album by Policastro since 2019. In 2022 he released Sounds Unheard, a collection of unreleased tracks, outtakes, and a handful of new songs that documented the life of the trio from 2012-2022. The pandemic drastically changed the way and frequency that this band works. It ended their thrice-weekly steady gig at Pops for Champagne, the venue that gave birth to the group; their grassroots touring grinded to a halt; and drummer Avery now resides in Philadelphia. Sounds Unheard gave the band the opportunity to test the waters, tour again, and get back out on the road. Ceremony, by contrast, looks forward and pushes ahead.

“It's too unique of a group with a history that can’t be manufactured,” Policastro explains. He notes that, “This album feels like a real celebration of everything we do well and what we represent, and it really moves the ball forward. I feel like I get so much more out of the group now having been forced to take a step back, to take some time away.” With Ceremony, Policastro and his trio have achieved a remarkable thing. They’ve honored their past, are indebted to ceremony. At the same time, though, the future of this band, its next iteration, lives throughout the album.

Bassist Andrea Veneziani Releases "The Lighthouse," Quartet Session Set for October 6 Release

Acclaimed bassist and composer Andrea Veneziani returns to leadership with his long-awaited second album, The Lighthouse, which will be available on October 6. The album features the Italian-born artist leading an all-star quartet comprising cornetist Kirk Knuffke, guitarist Charlie Sigler, and drummer Allan Mednard performing a gorgeous set of eight Veneziani originals.

This sophomore effort from the bassist comes eleven years after his highly praised debut, 2012’s Oltreoceano. The lengthy gap is partly due to the first album’s success, which opened many doors for Veneziani to perform and record both as a leader and a sideman. However, he had initially planned to make his follow-up in 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic thwarted his efforts for three long years.

Ironically, however, that last delay gave Veneziani an unexpected gift. He had time to shape and polish the scintillating new group of tunes that make up The Lighthouse. Each is crafted to the specific sounds of the musicians in his band, yet they are also in conversation with the piano-trio pieces on Oltreoceano.

“I think these new pieces are connected with the first recording,” Veneziani says. “The tunes are kind of on the same page aesthetically, but there’s definitely been a growth in the complexity of the forms and the sophistication of the melodies, harmonies, and the rhythmic elements of the compositions.”

Which is not to say that the new songs are too hip for the room, so to speak. Indeed, The Lighthouse is dazzling right from the start—the warmly glowing title track—and remains so all the way through its lively but thoughtful samba closer, “Shunting Line.”

In between those endpieces are pockets of beauty (the gorgeous ballads “Gravity” and “Rainbows”), good cheer (“In Perpetuum”), quirky charm (the waltzing “Twelve Clowns”), hard swing (“Seasons”), and free-ish improvisation (“Bop-Be”). Yet for all their variety, the pieces show a remarkable consistency, coming together to form a clear Veneziani vision.

Despite the singularity of that vision, however, much of the credit also goes to the ace, handpicked sidemen. “I wanted their individual sounds, and I thought they’d work together beautifully,” Veneziani says. And so they do, as The Lighthouse masterfully demonstrates.

Andrea Veneziani was born April 21, 1977 in Pescia, a medieval town in the Italian region of Tuscany, and soon moved to the Marche region, where he lived until the age of 15 when his family relocated to Rome. At 20, inspired by the legendary funk-rocker Flea and other bassists, he began playing the electric bass and cycling through various cover bands. The routine-ness of the music became a bore, though, and Veneziani threw himself into the study of improvisation.

At the same time, he studied sociology at Rome’s La Sapienza University. It wasn’t until after finishing his college degree that Veneziani turned his attention to the acoustic double bass (for which both work and education were more plentiful and lucrative). He received an Advanced Academic Diploma from the Conservatory of Music Licinio Refice in Frosinone in 2007, boosting a jazz career that had already begun in earnest.

Over the next few years, Veneziani was a frequent and popular presence on the Italian jazz scene, performing at the Umbria, Teano, Novara, and Terni Jazz Festivals along with other festivals and clubs all across Italy. In 2009, he received a Fulbright scholarship to study jazz performance at NYU, where in 2011 he earned his Master of Music in Performance with a Concentration in Jazz.

In the meantime, he developed a flourishing career in New York. Veneziani’s resume includes club, studio, and touring work with the likes of Ralph Alessi, Houston Person, Brian Lynch, Tony Moreno, Tom Guarna, Mark Ferber, Ralph Lalama, George Schuller, Steve Slagle, John Betsch, Ben Monder, Kenny Werner, and Ross Pederson. The latter two served as the trio on Veneziani’s recording debut, Oltreoceano, in 2012. While he loves working as a sideman, he also cherishes the opportunity that his albums, of which The Lighthouse is the second, allow him to put his rich compositional dimension on display.