Emaginario | "Songs Of Mind"

It’s equal parts self-realization, multicultural exploration and multi-genre experimentation. Composer-Guitarist-Vocalist Emaginario aka Ethan Margolis has been creatively crosspollinating acclaimed recording and video projects featuring him in the company of world-class musicians for more than two decades. He wrote seven of the eight songs that comprise “Songs Of Mind,” an intimate and lush collection of acoustic jazz and singer-songwriter Americana tunes with elements of flamenco. Margolis meticulously produced the set that arrives November 17 on the Sir Sultry Music label.   

Having fully realized his identity as a prodigious guitar player, “Songs Of Mind” can be described as Margolis stepping into his identity as a singer-songwriter. Emaginario immersed himself in flamenco guitar in Spain where he lived for more than a decade thus his artistic musical “voice” was primarily instrumental. He relished the freedom inherent in jazz, which he took as a visa to become an alchemist mixing in Cuban, Delta blues and Americana music. As the son of acclaimed singer-songwriter Ken Margolis (The Choir), he was born with an innate skillset that couldn’t be ignored or kept dormant.

“I value songwriting immensely because of its unique ability to transmit human stories in a way that's understandable to everyone. The difficulty in getting here was for me to understand my sound as a singer-songwriter. With so many interests in varying genres and with such a long stint in Spain, it's taken a very long time for me to understand myself as a musician. I am a composer-guitarist foremost, but I am also a singer of songs. It was important for me to get that out in a contemporary way with a sound that reflected my life experiences,” said Margolis who now resides in Southern California after establishing lengthy residencies in Spain.        

Stylistically and sonically for “Songs Of Mind,” Margolis elected to pair his nylon-string flamenco guitar with a jazz piano, the role masterfully filled by Grammy-winning pianist Ruslan Sirota.

“Instead of playing the flamenco guitar like a flamenco musician, I played it with the mindset of a session player on the recordings - doubling guitars, playing softly with no fingernails, recording with many mics and planning for a guitar sound that would be unique to me but also sound like Americana,” said Margolis, who will launch the new album with concert dates in Solvang (November 16 at The Last Chord) and Topanga Canyon (November 17 at Corazón Performing Arts).

Margolis’s voice is as unique as his musical amalgams. His gift is telling stories via singing, scatting and crooning cerebral observations, poetic passages, insightful ruminations and graceful vocalese. Oozing passion and emotional depth, his voice rises and falls from tenor to falsetto and back again, adeptly maintaining full control – even when pivoting on a dime. Margolis’s charismatic voice balances zeal, charm and allure with bouts of bite, sarcasm and snark when his subject matter requires it.   

Mixed by two-time Grammy winner Dave O’Donnell (James Taylor, Sheryl Crow, Eric Clapton), “Songs Of Mind” opens with an improvised voice and piano sketch, “Mind Search.” It begins as a vocal exercise and piano warmup that kicks up its heels into snappy flamenco forays seamlessly balanced with freeform jazz runs.

“I have such a strong need to improvise and test my reactions and my heart's output in music that structured recording sessions sometimes bog me down. I knew that Ruslan Sirota was a fantastic improviser and that we could have some fun together, but I never imagined that it would come out the way this one did. There’s an entire painting on one track,” said Margolis, who channeled everything from calypso, Soca, flamenco, R&B, beatbox and scat, resulting in a modern jazz adventure in vocalization with a defined message.

Margolis wrote the hauntingly beautiful “Hoping You Will Find Me” fifteen years ago but held off on recording it. Again, Sirota proves to be the perfect counterpart, providing an exquisite backdrop for the divine love song.

“I knew that it was a strong song when I wrote it, but I never pursued it until it finally made sense. The idea of changing the simple voicings of the chords and recording it with a jazz pianist excited me because I knew it would add the poetic depth the song needed. I believe strongly in doing things with a definitive purpose and sometimes that means...just wait, wait until I can see that it's the right time,” shared Margolis.

Whimsical and joyous, “Mugu Beach” adds a full ensemble to the sublime voice and piano pairing. Romaní percussionist Ramón Porrina constructed the percussion arrangement that backbones the track with augmentation from upright bassist Benjamin Shepherd and soprano saxophonist Katisse Buckingham.

Playing guitar on the track, Margolis said, “Composing jazz and Americana melodies over flamenco rhythms is a passionate and unique point of my musicality. It is extremely hard to do authentically so that both the jazz and flamenco schools are satisfied with the result. On this one, I wanted the production to sound like an older jazz standard with burning accents and slow, melodic vocal phrasing in the styles of Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra or Billie Holiday. I added the soprano saxophone afterwards - played by Katisse - to mimic the accompaniment of Lester Young for Billie Holiday. The vocal phrasing is very much in the Romaní school of the flamenco Bulerías. There are a lot of syncopated stops and vocal rhythmic maneuvers in this song and at the same time, there are many older jazz standard influences.”

Margolis’s defends his jazz-Americana-flamenco doctorate thesis on an imaginative bilingual rendition of Leonard Cohen’s classic “Hallelujah” that he blends with the Spanish copla "Compañera del Alma." Freeing his hands to focus on delivering an arresting vocal performance, Margolis leaves the improvisational guitar work to Israeli guitarist Dan Ben Lior. Organist Mitchel Forman (Wayne Shorter, John McLaughlin) adds the perfect touch. Recorded in Madrid in 2021, the concept for this recording was seeded at shows Margolis performed at Hotel Café and The Baked Potato in Hollywood nine years ago. 

Backed by a premier rhythm section in drummer Gary Novak (George Benson, Chick Corea, David Sanborn) and bassist Reggie Hamilton (George Duke, Seal, Mariah Carey) along with Sirota’s coloring, “How Will You Feel” benefits from illuminating background vocals by Keri Lee (John Legend) whose soulful voice intertwines with Margolis’s dulcet falsetto. It’s another chilled world jazz cocktail, but this one is served with a splash of R&B.

“So many people were suffering during the pandemic and confronting deaths of friends and family. I lost some remarkably close friends to the pandemic and the hopelessness was overpowering. It's like we could all see it coming, and then it came. This song reflects that, but at the same time, it suggests that our souls - when they output love - have done their job. Maybe that's all we need to do in this life,” speculated Margolis.

“Tantrum Town” is a bizarro and eccentric carnival ride penned shortly after the 2020 election and the subsequent attack on the Capitol. Margolis describes the song like “A Clockwork Orange jazz cirque performance in Las Vegas.” It’s a barbed commentary on the politics of the time featuring bassist Tim Lefebvre (David Bowie, Elvis Costello, Sting) and Mike Cottone’s gallant trumpeting in Herb Alpert fashion.

“As if we didn't need more insanity than a pandemic, racially motivated police killings, and then, a president like Donald Trump. I wanted to create a song that sounded like an off-kilter circus - something that grooved with a funky, carousel type repetition. I decided it would add to the song's quirkiness if I sang it in a cabaret 'spoken' voice - like an old show tune,” said Margolis.

Ken Margolis wrote “Seasons” forty years ago, but never recorded it. Ethan, who produced his father’s forthcoming album, “Hope and Courage,” found a way to make the song his own by changing the time signature from 4/4 to 12/8 melded with flamenco ideas of the Soleá style. The scion also changed the lyrical focus - from a man mourning lost love to a love song for our planet.

“I re-wrote the lyrics like mankind issuing an apology for what he had done to Mother Earth when all she has given him was love and resource,” said Ethan on the cut that showcases another sterling appearance by Lee on background vocals and Novak’s deft drumming. Indulging in what he called “flamenco life” while living in Seville years ago inspired “Walking Back Home,” a breezy and bouncy jaunt that adds calypso into the jazz, Americana and flamenco mélange.

“Arranging it like a calypso song underneath an Americana melody, the result is different and in a strange way, mimics some of the Brazilian songwriters I have heard. Perhaps it's the side sticking and the nylon guitars. The vocalizations under the guitar solo towards the end are very much in a calypso style. The song sounds like pure Americana, but it reminds me of the streets of Spain.”

A Cleveland native, Margolis has already recorded his next Emaginario record, this one tracked in New York City in an acoustic jazz trio setting flanked by bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Eric Harland that was recorded by five-time Grammy winner James Farber. The album is slated to drop next spring. Margolis is also producing a slate of culturally diverse projects from Latin Grammy nominee Yelsy Heredia featuring percussionist Pedrito Martínez; Jamaican dancehall legend Papa Michigan; and poet Cecilia Woloch about the Romaní Holocaust and Pogroms of Europe.

 

Groundation Meets Brain Damage "Dreaming From An Iron Gate"

Groundation is celebrating the 20th anniversary of their groundbreaking album Hebron Gate with the release of Groundation Meets Brain Damage – Dreaming From An Iron Gate. The album is out now via a partnership between France’s BACO Records and the U.S.’s Easy Star Records. Stream here: http://www.moremusic.at/DreamingFromAnIronGate. 

"And I don't want just a bare dub album!" That was Groundation founder Harrison Stafford's last directive to Martin Nathan, the French producer and dub artist known as Brain Damage, after entrusting him with the original tapes of one of the most captivating reggae albums of the past few decades: Hebron Gate. To commemorate the milestone 20th anniversary, the leader of the band asked Brain Damage to remix and rework these nine tracks from top to bottom. It's an exciting new way to hear it for longtime fans and a new door opened for those who haven't experienced the power of Hebron's Gate.

Groundation Meets Damage – Dreaming From An Iron Gate is not a project where the original versions are only briefly referred to, but it is a second birth that holds the spirit of Hebron Gate, while also being accessible and consistent. Keen on this kind of challenging exercise, the French producer Brain Damage tackles it with the precision he is known for, and initially dissects the piece, daring to extract and isolate each note. With this colossal work done, all sorts of moves are now possible: re-composition, harmony changes, integration of recording scraps, outer and new part additions. The Californians’ unique style, melting reggae and jazz, fills here with a different energy, psychedelic, more introspective, surely confusing at first for the fans, but soon exciting, for them as for the neophytes. A true reinvention of a monument of contemporary reggae for a completely new album, in essence highly recommended for Groundation fans for an “Alice in Wonderland” like trip, but also for all reggae and dub enthusiasts and curious music-lovers.

Fans got a taste of the project with the release of “Deaf Ears.” Right from the start, "Deaf Ears" takes a song that originally began as a one chord groove and recreates it into a whole series of chordal movements leading to the entrance of the lead vocal. It's a complete reimagining of "Weeping Pirates." The fading out of the group ensemble during the B3 organ solo is brilliant and all the added reverbs, delays, and effects send us on to the epic conclusion. 

The rest of the songs fit perfectly into the whole album, which is meant to be listened to in its entirety for the full effects of the sonic journey. Dreaming From An Iron Gate, just like the original album Hebron Gate, works best as one cohesive piece of music, and is meant to be digested in one sitting. The songs, their arrangements, and the musical construct all work together as a whole. Harrison adds, “The fact that Martin (Brain Damage) really went inside the music and completely chopped up and rearranged the soundscapes presents this release as a standalone body of work.”

Groundation is currently on a European tour to support the 20th anniversary of Hebron Gate. Harrison enthusiastically states, “The tour is going phenomenal. The crowds every night have been so energetic, so full of positive vibes, you can really see the power of this Hebron Gate music. For all of us on stage, it truly is a wonderful experience. An album released 20 years ago can be performed live from beginning to end and for all of us each night, it is still so moving and inspiring.”

Violinist and Composer Katherine Kyu Hyeon Lim Releases Debut Album Starling

NYC-based violinist and composer Katherine Kyu Hyeon Lim is a curious mind in the experimental music scene. As co-founder of the improvisation-focused ensembles Muzosynth Orchestra and Impromptuo, the South Korean immigrant trained in European classical music before falling deeply in love with the art of improvisation. Lim’s debut album, Starling, channels some of her particular loves: predilection for geometric patterns, gravitation towards humorous satire, and enjoyment of sound itself (Lim holds a comprehensive musical taste in everything from soul, musical theater to ‘oldies’ and on). Through this trio format with Alfredo Colón (EWI/soprano saxophone) and Kalia Vandever (trombone/fx), the album also channels her deep trust in her friends and community.

Starling showcases an unusual combination of musicians. The trio of violin, trombone with effects, and EWI or soprano saxophone are treated as trifectas of melody-makers, switching between different acoustic and electronic mixtures with each track. Most of the album starts with set, improvised textures. These range from simple acoustic directives, such as playing long tones, to more abstract parameters, such as each artist having to “go against'' each other. In addition, each artist performs one solo as interludes (tracks 4, 6, and 8), highlighting themselves as an individual before recombining into the fabric of the group. The trio leans into the compelling strength of its soaring sounds, which Colón described during recording as feeling “like a flock of starlings murmuring in the sky”.

Starling beckons with its sincerity and bold sentimentality that Lim embraces in all its unfettered glory. It is a statement that causes reflection upon the identity of artists like her, an Asian woman in a field controlled by white men, a field weighted by narrow viewpoints on who Asian women can be. On all levels, Starling demands the right to self-determine, to be the driver of one’s own story, and to say, without apology, who you are.

Katherine Kyu Hyeon Lim, violin

Alfredo Colón, EWI/soprano saxophone

Kalia Vandever, trombone/fx

Recorded on July 30th, 2022 at the Jazz Gallery in NYC

Engineered by Kengchakaj Kengkarnka

Mixed and mastered by Lee Meadvin

Album artwork by Nikki Pet

Mark Deutsch and JD Parran's newly unearthed "California Street Sessions" defies genre and convention, cites past and future alike

This music is a sonic exploration that crosses cultural boundaries with a freedom that surprises and challenges any attempt to categorize. Both musicians are classically trained free improvisers who started out as Jazz cats from St. Louis, Missouri. JD has been a presence on the Manhattan music scene since the '70s, while Mark eventually headed west and now haunts the Bay Area with his Bazantar. Always taking an opportunity to make music together, they set up this session in San Francisco in 2011 to capture the unique language they had developed over the years. French Impressionism can be heard morphing, becoming a celestial raga, then hurtling into heavy metal screaming as it stumbles hard into a half-recalled dream version of "Jazz" to conclude with only hints of a Senegalese groove merchant.

This recording's cultural vastness has coherence and freedom of possibility that is vital to its realization and will surprise your ears.

JD Parran is a fearless free improviser. Intuitive, empathetic, and as open to the moment as anyone I have ever created sounds with. I love the bass clarinet. JD has total command of his axe and his hair-raising extended techniques interlace magically with the language I've been developing on the Bazantar. His pitch, timbre, and tonal range are kaleidoscopic and far beyond the conventional. The passion, intelligence, and history behind those chops inspire me to poetry... The outcome, a mystery... as the beginning is unexpressed... becoming, ...an act of faith.  -Mark Deutsch

The Bazantar is a six-string acoustic bass, fitted with an additional twenty-nine sympathetic strings and four drone strings. The instrument possesses a melodic range of over six octaves, while its sympathetic range spans five octaves. This results in an interplay between melodic, sympathetic, and drone strings which weaves an unexpected landscape of resonance that is remarkably rich in texture.

What has Mark Deutsch done?

In the simplest terms, he’s spent decades building a new acoustic instrument, the Bazantar, in which more harmonics can interact with each other with clarity than in any other instrument, and then created music with a higher order of resonance than previous music. You can listen to Mark’s music as a sort of higher-dimensional raga, or as a psychedelic experiment, or as a tool for meditation. All of those frameworks are fine, but each only catches one glint from the gem.

Mark Deutsch is something else. That used to be an expression when I was a kid. “That cat is something else.” Something you can’t classify, something genuinely on the edge of what we know, that we can only barely perceive. I heard the term applied to Monk and Coltrane, Nancarrow and Ligeti. There belongs Mark.

It’s inevitable that the most extraordinary things are the hardest to perceive, much less appreciate.It is infuriatingly difficult to alert you to something extraordinary right in front of you, because everything is called extraordinary. I walked by a theater on Broadway recently, and there was nothing at all but blurbs. No name of the production, no names of stars, nothing about the show itself. Only hyperventilated superlatives. The most extraordinary show, the must utterly beguiling production ever. Whatever it was. The arms race of easy praise has topped out at the ceiling of imagination. There is nothing I can say to properly shake you so you’ll notice how important, how wonderful Mark Deutsch’s music is. You are immune, overdosed. What a shame. John Cage once asked us to listen to everything - to noise - as music, and that was lovely. But we are drowning in shallowness. There are millions of musicians offering work online, much of the work skillful, or funny, or touching, but massiveness loves stasis. More and more variations of the same, searchable, sortable, classified within what we already can express to perfection, in a computer. Computers can only offer numbers that will eventually repeat.

What are we doing here? I mean in the biggest picture? Is there an arc to the human story? Hopefully there is a moral arc. Hopefully we become wiser. Maybe we learn empathy. All wonderful, but I trust that there is even more going on. We become deeper. We feel more, find new ways to be in tune. Music isn’t just in the moment; it elevates our situation in reality. We become a process more entangled in the universe. The universe becomes more sophisticated through us.

What Mark is doing is like what J. S. Bach was doing, or Allauddin Khan, or Robert Johnson. Once in a rare while a musician feels so deeply, goes so far, that something in our ambient situation is thereafter different. Well, I can’t be sure of course. I live with the usual penumbra of blindness from being situated in a time and place. But I suspect that is Mark’s stratum. Listen and know you’re one of the early ones, one of the few. You are listening to the future. -Jaron Lanier, world renowned computer scientist, founding father of virtual reality, author, and composer

Sinikka Langeland | "Wind and Sun"

Few artists have embodied the idea of the spirit of place as comprehensively as Sinikka Langeland whose music, performances, research and recordings have given a new profile to the culture of Finnskogen – the “Forest of the Finns” on Norway’s border with Sweden. Half-Finnish herself, Langeland (born in Grue in 1961) plays the Finnish national instrument, the kantele, and draws upon older traditions of folk music including rune songs and incantations in the creation of vibrantly new work.

Her songs give voice to the interdependence of humanity, the natural world of plants and animals and the world of spirits. Sinikka’s deeply-rooted music has often branched out to connect and communicate with key exponents of other arts – improvisers from the jazz world, classical musicians, poets, visual artists. Sometimes, reviewer Audun Vinger suggested of recent performances at Vossajazz, Sinikka seems “ultra-hip, like a Finnish Forest Alice Coltrane. At other times, we are in the Middle Ages, in the church, in the jazz club...” The expressive arc of the music extends from the archaic to the creatively forward-looking.

Settings of poems by Hans Børli, Edith Södergran, Olav Håkonson Hauge and Finnish Forest rune songs have formed the core of Sinkka’s repertoire to date. With her newest album Wind and Sun, she turns her attention to the contemporary poetry of Jon Fosse, who has described the process of writing as “an act of listening,” and wrestles with questions of faith in his work in a way that resonates with Langeland’s fascination with natural mysticism.

Also participating in the Wind and Sun project is photographer Dag Alveng. “I have worked with Dag in many projects,” says Sinikka, “but I think that his art and Fosse’s poems is an especially good combination, as they also are so simple in a strong way. Jon Fosse wrote to me that he really liked Dag’s pictures: ‘There’s a kind of present disappearance in them."

The outstanding band on Wind and Sun - formed for concerts to celebrate Sinikka’s 60th birthday - is an all-Norwegian all-star constellation of players, all of them ECM recording artists and ensemble leaders in their own right and with complex interwoven histories going back many years. Saxophonist Trygve Seim has been an important presence on Sinikka’s recordings including Starflowers, The Land that Is Not, The Half-Finished Heaven and The Magical Forest. The yearning, vocal quality of his playing adapts itself ideally to Sinikka’s soundworld. Seim also has an affinity for sung verse, as his own Rumi Songs project with settings of the great Sufi poet has demonstrated.

Seim and trumpeter Mathias Eick have played together in wildly different contexts ranging from Iro Haarla’s Northbound quintet to Jon Balke’s Batagraf ensemble via the Manu Katché band. Eick and drummer Thomas Strønen have collaborated in the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra, while bassist Mats Eilertsen and Eick have both been members of Jacob Young’s groups. Furthermore, Strønen continues to play in Eilertsen’s trio with pianist Harmen Fraanje, and Eilertsen is a long-time member of the free spirited ensemble The Source, which also features Seim. In brief, these are sensitive players, who share an advanced improvisational understanding, individually and collectively elevating the atmospheres of Sinikka’s songs, and fleshing out the musical implications set in motion by the kantele and Fosse’s verse. Sinikka: “All of the players have really been very loyal to the simplicity in the music, following my writing and the expressions of the poems and then taking things further in their own incredible improvised solos.”

Wind and Sun was recorded at Oslo’s Rainbow Studio in September 2022 and mixed at Munich’s Bavaria Tonstudio in March 2023.

Moses Yoofee Trio are set to release their highly anticipated debut album ‘Ocean’

Having built an already impressive following off the back of their stunning live performances and social media, Berlin’s Moses Yoofee Trio are set to release their highly anticipated debut album ‘Ocean’ on the 3rd November via Nils Frahm’s Leiter. Emerging at a time when jazz is in rude health, the trio; pianist, keyboardist, and producer Moses Yoofee, bassist Roman Klobe-Barangă and drummer Noah Fürbringer, fuse jazz, hip hop, RnB, and soul, finding a common ground in their respective musicianship and cite J Dilla and Madib as influences.

Largely refraining from releasing recorded music since their inception, the Moses Yoofee Trio released one-off single ‘On That Side’ earlier this year, providing a long overdue chance to dive deep into their distinctively thrilling sound and offering a little taster of what to expect from their debut album. “It always takes a while until you build the right team around you,” Klobe-Barangă explains, “and that’s crucial so it doesn’t disappear.” With LEITER, fortunately, they’ve found the right home. “Nils and his team don’t restrict themselves to a specific style,” the trio enthuse, “which is greatly appreciated! Plus, they have the most beautiful studios (at Berlin’s Funkhaus). It’s an honour to be able to work there.”

Having grown up in Potsdam and Berlin, Yoofee has been active in the German jazz scene for over a decade. In 2013, at the tender age of 14, he was described by daily national newspaper Der Tagesspiegel as a “young jazz genius”. He formed the Moses Yoofee Trio after meeting Klobe-Barangă at Berlin’s Jazz Institute in 2020, and it was Klobe-Barangă who suggested they jam with Fürbringer, who was studying in Mannheim. “It felt really good,” adds Yoofee of that initial rehearsal. “Instant love!” A year later, Fürbringer, who had already built up a social media following with videos of his prodigious drumming, began posting footage of the trio’s rehearsals, and helped grow their fanbase, resulting in a one-off performance at the prestigious Ronnie Scott’s, London late last year.

All three musicians collaborate on other projects in addition to the Moses Yoofee Trio. As well as recording solo under his surname, Yoofee is currently working with Footprint Project, the Wanubale collective, and platinum-selling Peter Fox of Germany’s similarly successful Seeed, for whom he’s Musical Director and pianist. Klobe-Barangă has also worked with Fox and well as Kurdish-German singer Mailan Ghafouri aka Lune. Fürbringer founded Lord Of The Amazing Panther in 2020, releasing an album as Noah Fürbringer and Friends in 2022, and has played with acclaimed German-American rapper Casper, New York saxophonist Alex Han, German actor/comedian/musician Teddy Teclebhan, and New Zealand-born Future Soul artist Noah Slee, with whom Klobe-Barangă also performs.

Pianist Kuba Cichocki Presents FLOWING CIRCLES

While many musicians commit themselves to a single style or school of thought, pianist/composer Kuba Cichocki’s perspective as an artist comes from two opposing approaches, the traditional and the experimental. Cichocki’s approach seeks a balance between the melodic and emotional straightforwardness, à la the Pat Metheny Group, blended with the experimental approach in improvisation and composition by the likes of John Zorn, Ambrose Akinmusire and Jason Moran. Cichocki is also influenced by what he calls, "Slavic melodicism," Liturgical music, the music of Bach, Prokofiev, Chopin, and many others from the classical realm.

He elaborated, “I have the privilege, based on my experience performing straight-ahead jazz, Latin jazz, European classical music, and avant-garde music, to enjoy free music while also exploring the age-old concepts of melody, harmony and rhythm. Certainly, then, I appreciate the idea of a tradition in music, but by no means as a rigid and limiting concept. Rather, I see tradition as something fluid and connected to life: a direct line into the most basic and timeless ways of music-making.”

So the listener of the pianist’s new album, Flowing Circles, experiences Cichocki and his band searching and exploring for dimensions beyond, or between, those commonly explored. This includes music which cannot be easily classified as traditionalism or experimentalism, resulting in vibrations and experiences unique to the group of musicians Cichocki has assembled on the album. 

Cichocki elaborated that, “in order to be successful in that search, I needed a group of exceptional musicians who come from varied artistic backgrounds. Particularly, my decision to invite Brandon Seabrook, with whom I've performed regularly for the last few years, and who is truly a one-of-a-kind voice on the guitar (in the experimental world and far beyond). My decision to place him in conversation with a group of amazing modern jazz musicians (Lucas Pino, Colin Stranahan, Edward Perez) proved to create exactly what I was looking for: an inspiring, provocative synthesis born of two conventionally opposite approaches. In addition, my choice to expand the sonic palette of the recording – by adding two exceptional vocalists (Bogna Kicińska, Rose Ellis), a string quartet, and percussionist Rogerio Boccato—gave the compositions a new color and a stronger emotional appeal.”

Besides the more obvious symbiosis between improvisation and composition, the notion that they complement and influence each other creates the kind of flexible dynamic that keeps the compositions fresh and the improvisation, even a free and uninhibited one, well-grounded in a (relatively) familiar context. “This sense of improvisatory freedom paired with melodic and rhythmic intensity is what constitutes the essence of the sound of the group on the album: the mixing and merging of energies of heart, mind and body. One can engage in the most abstract creation while remaining deeply connected with intimate emotional and instinctive physical spheres. The goal of Flowing Circles is to create moments when these connections happen, producing states of higher vibration, and coloring the soul,” said Cichocki.

Featuring: Kuba Cichocki (piano, compositions), Lucas Pino (saxophone), Brandon Seabrook (guitar), Bogna Kicinska (vocals), Edward Perez (bass), Colin Stranahan (drums), Rogerio Boccato (percussion, tk 8), Patrick Breiner (saxophone, tk 8), Rose Ellis (vocals, tk 8), Leonor Falcon, Sana Nagano (violin 1,6,8), Benjamin von Gutzeit (viola, tks 1,6,8), Brian Sanders (cello, tks 1,6,8).

New Music Release from Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids, Asher Gamedze, Joe Marcinek Band and The White Blinds

Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids - Afro Futuristic Dreams

Bold new work from the legendary Pyramids ensemble – a spiritual jazz group who go back to the 70s, but who've reemerged in recent years with a renewed sense of energy, and a very forward-thinking sound! Leader Idris Ackamoor is still a master of tone and feeling on reeds – including alto and tenor, plus some other instrumentation as well – and he also vocalizes a bit on the record too hitting some righteous expressions that are in the spirit of Leon Thomas or Dwight Trible, mixed along with instrumentation from other players on drums, percussion, keyboards, trumpet, trombone, and guitar. The album's got a beautifully positive vibe – and titles include "Police Dem", "First Peoples", "Afro Futuristic Dreams", "Garland Rose", "Truth To Power", and "Requiem For The Ancestors".- Dusty Groove

Asher Gamedze - Turbulence & Pulse

A really heady set from the contemporary jazz scene in South Africa – a record led by groundbreaking drummer Asher Gamedze, and one that has all these wonderfully righteous currents soaring from a surprisingly small group! Gamedze's sense of rhythm is nicely offbeat – different than you might expect, especially for a group led by a drummer – and the small group features intersecting lines from the trumpet of Robin Fassie and tenor of Buddy Wells, as singer Julian Deacon Otis lends vocals to really top the whole thing off in a wonderful way. Bassist Thembinkosi Mavimbela provides moody undercurrents to the whole thing – and titles include "Melancholia", "If It Rains To Pursue Truth", "Turbulence's Pulse", "Out Stepped Zim", "Sometimes I Think To Myself", and "Underground Formation". Plus, this physical edition features three bonus tracks recorded with the Another Time Ensemble, which has guitar, alto, bass, and electronics – titles that include live versions of "Melancholia", "If It Rains", and "Out Stepped Zim". - Dusty Groove.

Joe Marcinek Band - 5

Guitarist Joe Marcinek has a mighty sharp group here – a combo that features plenty of organ work from Robert Walter, plus piano, trombone, trumpet, and tenor – all used in ways that are nicely more complicated than just standard funk! Marcinek's a bit like Eddie Roberts – in that he's a guitarist who's got clearly got some great chops and a very wide range – which often pushes the music into more jazz-based territory, even though most of the tunes are short and funky too! The set really draws a lot from Joe's strong sense of color and tone – and titles include "Vitalizing", "Dog", "Bella", "Cool Down", "Lagniappe", and "Bulldog". - Dusty Groove

The White Blinds - Presheatecha

The White Blinds serve up a heady brew of organ jazz here – a lean combo with tight drums, riffing guitar, and plenty of sweet lines on the Hammond organ – all captured at a level that's somewhere between Prestige Records soul jazz of the mid 60s, and Booker T & The MGs on Stax! Tunes are tight, and there's a mix of funky currents happening in the rhythms from track to track – a shift in groove style that keeps things fresh throughout, but never in a way that sounds confused or mixed up – as the rock-solid instrumentation of the trio is very unified throughout! All tunes are originals by the group – and titles include "Night Walk", "Bay To LA", "Tail Feather", "Struttin", "So Pretty", "Miss Roberta", "On The Clock", and "Shakey Leg".- Dusty Groove

11 Offspring of Manteca Members Make Their Mark with The Offspring Project

Founded in Toronto in 1979, Manteca has played to wildly enthusiastic crowds from the North Sea Jazz Festival to the Hollywood Bowl and released thirteen critically acclaimed, award-winning recordings.

The joy and exuberance of their striking powerhouse take on global jazz has forged deep bonds with audiences around the world.

Over the past four decades this nine-piece global-jazz artists collective has become a family, one of profound respect and enduring friendships. The offspring of Manteca’s musicians have grown up in this musical family... backstage, proudly wearing their “All Access” passes, raiding candy at the craft table, sound asleep on the studio couch while a mix played back at ear-blistering levels, or starry-eyed when the tour bus came to fetch Mom or Dad. In some cases, their parents had left the band long before they.

The Offspring……Lucas Zimbel, Maddy & Suzy Wilde, Christopher Avalos, Ben Dwyer, Gabriel Davis, Alex Tait, Edwin Sheard, Jake Koffman, Hunter Logue, Virginia MacDonald, were born and they had only heard tales of Manteca’s exploits on the road, and likely not as bedtime stories!

Eleven offspring of current or former members have followed in their parent’s footsteps, becoming professional musicians and composers who have achieved remarkable success in their own right.

Surely, the elders have influenced the youngers, and now, with The Offspring Project, the youngers make their mark, writing six of the twelve compositions on this disc, in addition to playing on the entire recording.This instinctive, intergenerational musicality is unique, perceptible and marks an exuberant exchange between the generations.

The Offspring Project was recorded at Revolution Recordings in Toronto,in October 2022, by Tony Crea & Luke Schindler & mixed by Jeff Wolpert and Luke Schindler.

Manteca - Colleen Allen, Charlie Cooley, Doug Wilde, Art Avalos, Matt Zimbel, Mark Ferguson, Jason Logue, Will Jarvis, Nick Tateshi.  Special Guests Lyne Tremblay vocals, James Ervin trumpet.

The Offspring Sessions invited nine very accomplished young musicians, the children of Manteca members, to collaborate in the composition, arranging and recording of Manteca’s 14th CD release, The Offspring Project ,which was recorded live in front of a studio audience at Revolution Studios in Toronto in October of 2022. 

In the past forty-three years of performing, recording and touring, the nine-member global/jazz artists collective Juno Award winners Manteca, founded in Toronto in 1979, has become a family, one of enduring respect and friendships. Bonds forged in the joy of playing together and the collective spirit of determination that brings voice to the often-marginalized dialect of jazz and global music.

Manteca’s children have grown up in this musical family... backstage raiding candy bars at the craft table, sound asleep on the studio couch while a mix played back on 10… starry eyed when the tour bus came to collect or deposit mom or dad. Nine of the offspring of current or former members have become professional musicians and have achieved remarkable creative success and recognition in their own right. Surely, the elders have influenced the youngers, and now, the youngers make their mark. This instinctive, intergenerational musicality is unique, audible and sparked a creative two-way exchange between the generations. 

Mendoza Hoff | "Echolocation"

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.

New Music Releases: Natasha Watts, Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids, Jaimie Branch and Kiefer

Natasha Watts - Music Is My Life

Mighty nice work from UK soul singer Natasha Watts – a contemporary artist, but one who's got a nicely crackling approach to her music – at a level that maybe takes us back to that great moment when British soul was really finding its own way forward at the start of the 90s! As with some of the best work from that era, Natasha has a way of being personal yet upbeat – a different pitch than US soul singers, with this flow that seems inspired slightly by jazz, yet delivered with a strongly soulful groove! Production includes work from Dave Doyle, Toni Economides, Ziggy Funk, and Mike Patto – the last of whom plays keyboards – and titles include "I Do I Did I'm Done", "Heaven Sent", "Brighter Days", "Feels Like Sunshine", "Not What You Think", and "I Am Me".  ~ Dusty Groove

Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids - Afro Futuristic Dreams

Bold new work from the legendary Pyramids ensemble – a spiritual jazz group who go back to the 70s, but who've reemerged in recent years with a renewed sense of energy, and a very forward-thinking sound! Leader Idris Ackamoor is still a master of tone and feeling on reeds – including alto and tenor, plus some other instrumentation as well – and he also vocalizes a bit on the record too hitting some righteous expressions that are in the spirit of Leon Thomas or Dwight Trible, mixed along with instrumentation from other players on drums, percussion, keyboards, trumpet, trombone, and guitar. The album's got a beautifully positive vibe – and titles include "Police Dem", "First Peoples", "Afro Futuristic Dreams", "Garland Rose", "Truth To Power", and "Requiem For The Ancestors". ~ Dusty Groove

Jaimie Branch - Fly Or Die Fly Or Die Fly Or Die (World War)

One of the last recordings ever made by the genius trumpeter Jaimie Branch – and a set that shows the bold new direction she was going in, right before she left our planet all too soon! The music here leaps forward from any of Branch's earlier recordings – with harder rhythms, more focus in the driving quality of the music, and even some lyrical passages that are quite stunning – vocals that add a lot to the music, and which could have had Jaimie finding an audience in a world far past just jazz! The core group is incredible – the drums of Chad Taylor have never been so powerful, urged on by the bass work of Jason Ajemian – and folded beautifully with the cello, voice, marimba, and keyboards of Lester St Louis. Branch herself also plays keyboards and percussion – and Daniel Villareal guests on some additional percussion too – and the whole thing comes together with an incredible sense of energy and vision, at a level that has us missing Jaimie's presence on the planet even more than before. Titles include "Aurora Rising", "Take Over The World", "Baba Louie", "Burning Grey", "The Mountain", and "Borealis Dancing". ~ Dusty Groove

Kiefer - It's OK BU (yellow vinyl pressing)

Kiefer's one of those artists that we sometimes forget about, then fall in love all over again when we drop the needle on a record – which is definitely the case this time around, as Kiefer seems to be more on top of his game and focused than ever! As before, there's a mix of piano/keyboards and percussion that dominates the sound – sometimes live drums, sometimes programmed – delivered with a warmth that really makes the spare elements resonate with a lot more soulful power than you might expect – almost as if Kiefer listened to some of the more soulful, subtle keyboardists in the 70s fusion generation, but found a way to transform their energy to a 21st Century setting – transforming the world of beats and keys in the process. Titles include "I Wish I Wasn't Me", "My Disorder", "Panic", "High", "Dreamer", "Head Trip", "I Could Cry", "August Again", "Forgetting U", and "I Was Foolish I Guess". ~ Dusty Groove

The Funk Revolution: Don't Go Away / Space Dream

Limited edition double LPs Don't Go Away / Space Dream by The Funk Revolution include the complete recording sessions of Seattle deep funk whiz Lucky Brown‘s debut album on Tramp Records. 

Lucky Brown is the alias and stage persona of American composer Joel Ricci, who conducts myriad combinations of musicians drawn from his Seattle Washington based Westsound Recording Collective in dynamic and spiritual public and private happenings. Via his dozens of self-produced experimental deep funk vinyl singles released by Tramp Records over the past 13 years, he has been hailed by music mavens worldwide as a deep funk pioneer.

After a flurry of funk 45 releases beginning with “Don’t Go Away” in around 2008, debut album Space Dream was finally compiled in

2011 on Tramp Records and introduced Lucky Brown’s singular brand of deep funk and vernacular jazz to the world. The original tunes were soulfully rendered live by his groups The Funk Revolution and Crawdad Farmers and were recorded by Ricci with salvaged, scavenged, and repurposed gear driven by completely naive and improvised recording techniques

Follow-up Mystery Road was released in 2015 again on Tramp on double-vinyl and as a deluxe 7 x 7″ box, with each single sporting distinctive artwork, unique band names and raw ‘art-brut’ funk blossoming from separate Magik Carpet writing and recording sessions. The concept sought to capture the unfiltered energy and vibe of friends just jamming together in the living room and pushed Ricci’s production modus operandi to its furthest ‘cutting fringe’.

After the compilation style albums of Space Dream and Mystery Road, Ricci composed the Mesquite Suite. This 5-year endeavor was Ricci’s album-length missive on the myth and mystique of so-called ‘americana‘ cast against a backdrop of the American southwest. The recordings employed Seattle group The S.G.’s, and presented Ricci’s investigation into ‘place-based funk impressionism’ with the cassette demos for the album having been conceived prayerfully by Ricci while on retreat in an ashram in the Texas Hill Country. Respectful to the concept, Ricci and Tramp entered into an arrangement by which each piece would be released under the newly formed Tramp Tapes imprint. Three 45RPM singles, the double gatefold LP Mesquite Suite in its entirety, and culminating in an unprecedented modal rock fusion 10″ ‘found-acetate’ EP concept complete with crusty antique 78RPM sleeves entitled Pecan Trees Speak to Each Other.

Deep Blues EP Some Kinda Blues by The Mosquitohawks is the fruit of a one-off early morning session in a practice room at the Seattle Drum School in 2010 featuring luminaries from the Seattle funk community including fiery guitar phenom Jabrille “Jimmy James” Williams of DLO3 renown, versatile drummer Jens Gunnoe and dynamic bass player Bob Lovelace. A tantalizing glimpse of the session was released by Tramp as a single under the name T.D. & The Jimmy James 3 on the extremely limited edition Mosquitohawk imprint, but this EP offers us time to appreciate the transformative alchemy of the session in its entirety. The new EP makes room for highlights that just couldn’t have been contained on one 45, such as the remaining 7 minutes of brutal jamming of Mosquito Eater, the New Orleans street party shout of Hydrangea and the exalted kind of blues of Some Kinda Blues.

Classic Twist - Time For Change

Gearing up for the release of “Time for Change,” the infectious, insightful and timely debut single from Classic Twist - the fresh, grooving and innovative, multi-genre duo he’s formed with veteran writer/producer Kevin Flournoy - renowned R&B/jazz singer and songwriter Gene-O played the track for some industry movers and shakers in their home base of Southern California. Their response was auspicious - it reminded them of a modern version of “We Are the World.” If ever the planet needed a hopeful and uplifting new anthem to inspire us to look past our differences and come together in a spirit of love, the time is now.

Written by Gene-O and produced by Flournoy, “Time for Change” is an emphatic call to action that pointedly reflects on everything we need to do to come together and achieve a better world. Over a unique musical vibe that, true to the fusion-driven spirit of Classic Twist, incorporates elements of pop, R&B, country and rock, Gene-O passionately sings, “It’s time we leave our comfort zone/It’s time for you and I to rearrange things/Cause everybody knows it’s time for changes/It’s time we see the light/It’s time to do what’s right. . .So much love/That’s what we all should be thinking of...”

“We recorded this song and are releasing it as our first Classic Twist single because globally we desperately need to effect major change,” says Gene-O, whose most recent solo albums were the back-to-back releases of Born to Love and Christmas with Gene-O. Having spent years performing around the world (China, Japan and the EU) and the U.S., the singer started his career recording and performing with such artists as Baby Bash, N2Deep, The Jets, Maserati, and Sheila E to name a few. Once designated as Best New Artist of the Month by Talking Smooth Jazz Radio – more recently he has shared the stage with the likes of Brian O’Neal (The Bus Boys), Howard Hewitt, Eric Darius, Dru Hill, Lenny Williams (Tower of Power), Joe, and his mentors, Phil Perry and the late great Ricky Lawson.

“Our world is so crazy right now on so many levels,” he adds. “I had the message in my mind and I felt it was something we needed to do together. Kevin and I talk about these issues all the time. Every time we turn on the TV or listen to the radio, they’re talking about more division. The song, like all of the music we’re making together as Classic Twist, reflects the way we live, just loving people. Love and unity form the concept of everything we’re going to do on this project.”

“As veteran musicians and live performers, we know the joy that’s possible when thousands of people from all different backgrounds and beliefs come together to hear music and experience an elevation of positivity,” adds Flournoy, who has written, performed or recorded over the years with Chaka Khan, Babyface, Donny Osmond, Dionne Warwick, Gladys Knight, Teena Marie, Jeffrey Osborne, The Pointer Sisters, Jennifer Hudson, Howard Hewitt, Jamie Foxx, The Jazz Crusaders and contemporary jazz greats Boney James, Norman Brown, Kirk Whalum and Harvey Mason.

The duo plans to follow “Time for Change” with several other original singles before releasing an EP or full-length album comprised of new compositions and explosive re-imaginings of classic rock tunes. One of these is the whimsical, high-energy country-soul-rocker “Things are Changing,” a lighthearted song along a similar theme about going out and having some fun. The other is “You’re My Hero,” an inspiring, R&B/gospel flavored tribute to the love of hard- working, self-sacrificing women everywhere that was picked up by an international women’s foundation as their new anthem; Gene-O and Flournoy will be shooting a video for this song this fall. As for the covers, down the road, Classic Twist is excited about presenting their dynamic versions of Simply Red’s “Holding Back the Years,” Journey’s “Faithfully” and Kansas’ “Dust in the Wind.”

The concept of Classic Twist is rooted in the longtime friendship and musical camaraderie of Gene-O and Flournoy, who first played together informally at jam sessions hosted by smooth jazz bassist Darryl Williams at Simply Sharon’s restaurant in Temecula, CA. Sometime later, when Gene-O was at one of Flournoy’s gigs at Felix’s Barbecue with Soul in San Diego, the two got to talking about their mutual musical passions, became fast friends and began gigging together.

Over the years, while perfecting their chemistry doing regular gigs at San Diego area hotspots like Covo and countless high-end parties, the two began talking about developing a unique hybrid style that incorporated two of Gene-O’s all-time favorite genres – country and classic rock – that he never had a chance to record or perform because of his success in jazz and R&B and the popular demand for him to continue in that vein. Flournoy, a veteran arranger and producer who loves those styles as well, helped develop and bring to life some of Gene-O’s new songs in a way that incorporated such elements as banjo and steel and electric guitar. They plan to bring in some of the top musicians in the business to cut each song live like an old school ensemble, leading to a transcendent, one-of-a-kind sonic aesthetic that will inevitably be Classic Twist.

Having sung at church from the age of seven, Gene-O began his professional career at seventeen with a Bay Area band called Sho-fur. He has written, produced and collaborated with mega- producers Felton Pilate, Preston Glass, and Tank as well as contemporary jazz greats Adam Hawley, Blake Aaron, Darryl Williams, Cal Harris, Jr. and Will Donato. Flournoy, who earned a B.A. from the UCSD in Electrical Engineering with a minor in Music Science and Technology, is the owner and CEO of Kay-Flow Productions, LLC, a division of Flournoy Entertainment, Inc. His first major label success as a producer was Big Mountain’s international hit “Sweet Sensual Love.” As an artist/producer, this past year he released two versions of a cover of the Jam/Lewis SOS Band Top 5 R&B hit “Tell Me If You Still Care” – the first featuring Phil Perry on vocals, the second with saxophonist Richard Elliott.

Hot House: The Complete Jazz at Massey Hall Recordings

On May 15, 1953, five of jazz’s most influential musicians – Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Charles Mingus, Max Roach, and Bud Powell – gathered at Toronto’s Massey Hall for what would result in their first and only known recording as a quintet. While only a small audience was able to experience it in person, this historic evening was captured on tape. The resulting album, The Quintet: Jazz at Massey Hall, would become one of the genre’s most essential and celebrated releases.

Now, Craft Recordings commemorates the 70th anniversary of this singular concert (2023) with Hot House: The Complete Jazz at Massey Hall Recordings, a definitive collection that presents the entirety of the evening’s recorded material by the members of this quintet. Arriving November 17 and available for pre-order today, the 3-LP, 2-CD and digital release features meticulous 24-bit audio restoration and remastering by the GRAMMY®-winning engineer, Paul Blakemore. Lacquers for the vinyl edition were cut by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio and pressed on 180-gram vinyl. Beginning today, fans can stream or download "Wee (Allen’s Alley)" (no overdub), featuring all five of The Quintet.

Rounding out both physical formats are rare photos from the evening, plus two essays that offer fascinating behind-the-scenes stories. The first is by David Scharf, whose father, Alan Scharf, was among the concert’s organizers and was one of the photographers who documented the event. The second was written by Don Brown, an attendee at the show, who provides a captivating play-by-play account of the evening.

This 19-track box set includes the quintet’s original 12-inch Debut Records LP release (featuring bass overdubs by Mingus), plus all six quintet tracks without overdubs, as well as performances by the Powell/Mingus/Roach trio, and Roach’s “Drum Conversation,” making it the complete collection of the recordings of these five jazz legends that were captured on that extraordinary evening – and, with the latest technology in audio restoration ­– the best listening experience yet.

Organized by Toronto’s New Jazz Society, the concert booked at Massey Hall in May 1953 presented the leaders of the bebop movement: alto saxophonist Charlie “Bird” Parker (billed on the subsequent LP as “Charlie Chan,” due to contractual restrictions), trumpet player Dizzy Gillespie, pianist Bud Powell, bassist Charles Mingus, and drummer Max Roach. At the time, each player was at the forefront of modern jazz, having revolutionized the genre on their respective instruments, while Gillespie, Powell, Mingus, and Roach all considered Parker to be an influence. Although their paths had crossed individually over the years, this particular evening was the first and only time that all five musicians would record as a quintet. Recognizing the importance of the event, Mingus set up recording equipment; later releasing the concert on Debut Records, the label he co-founded a year earlier with Roach.

Compilation producer Nick Phillips explains, “This legendary live concert recording was not only the only time that these five modern jazz giants recorded together as an ensemble, but it was also the last authorized recording that bebop pioneers Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie made together. The incredible playing ­– especially the incendiary musical fireworks that Parker and Gillespie spurred from each other – more than matches the enormous historical significance.”

Organizers assumed that the 2,753-capacity venue would easily sell out, given the supergroup-status line-up. What they didn’t consider, however, was the evening’s heavyweight championship fight between Rocky Marciano and Jersey Joe Walcott. Only about a third of the tickets sold. In his essay (which first appeared on JazzWax.com in 2009), Dan Brown recalls that the night began inauspiciously. After a brief opening set by a 17-piece big band, billed as the “CBC All Stars,” the headliners took to the stage.

Brown recalls, “One got the impression that nothing had been worked out by the musicians beforehand.” Powell, who struggled with his mental health and substance abuse, was visibly under the influence. Parker, Brown writes, “walked out looking like an unmade bed…carrying a white plastic alto saxophone. We later learned his Selmer was in the pawnshop.” Gillespie, meanwhile, “seemed more interested in the championship fight than the proceedings at hand [and] kept slipping backstage between solos” to hear updates on the radio.

As the band kicked off with a searing rendition of Juan Tizol’s “Perdido,” however, it was clear that the interplay between the musicians would be the main event. “Onstage, the friendly musical rivalry sparked a melodic firestorm,” adds Brown. “Out of anarchy and chaos, musical genius prevailed.” The lively set also included two originals by Gillespie, “Salt Peanuts” and “A Night in Tunisia” – both of which were already jazz standards, as well as bebop classics by Todd Dameron (“Hot House”) and Denzil Best (“Wee” aka “Allen’s Alley”). On the other end of the spectrum, the quintet delivered an engaging rendition of the Jerome Kern standard “All the Things You Are” before seamlessly transitioning into Thelonious Monk’s “52nd Street Theme.”

Also featured on the album is Max Roach’s nearly four-and-a-half-minute drum solo, “Drum Conversation,” which demonstrates the breadth of his genius, followed by six selections from Powell, Mingus, and Roach. Powell’s virtuosic talents are on display, as he leads the trio through favorites from the Great American Songbook (including Cole Porter’s “I’ve Got You Under My Skin,” George Gershwin’s “Embraceable You,” and George Shearing’s “Lullaby of Birdland”) plus his own “Sure Thing.”

Following the concert, Mingus, Alan Scharf, and other members of the New Jazz Society traveled to Toronto radio station CKFH, where they borrowed a studio to listen back to the recordings. Alan’s son, David, recalls in his essay, “This was the moment when the group listened and discovered Mingus’ bass had not been recorded. My father blamed the sound technician for the evening. He showed up for the gig, drunk. . . Enraged, Mingus took the tapes and left the studio.”

Back in New York, Mingus overdubbed bass lines on the quintet’s six tracks. He and Roach released three 10-inch LPs in 1953 on the Debut Records label, with volumes 1 and 3 featuring quintet recordings and volume 2 featuring the Powell/Mingus/Roach trio. Later, in 1956, they issued The Quintet: Jazz at Massey Hall 12-inch LP (featuring the quintet performances with Mingus’ bass overdubs), a year after Parker’s untimely death. Over the decades, The Quintet: Jazz at Massey Hall would only grow in its importance. Giving the record a coveted five-star rating, DownBeat’s Nat Hentoff wrote, “Let me recommend your getting this set and digging the cabinet-level conference yourselves.” In their 2009 “50 Great Moments in Jazz” roundup, The Guardian named it, “one of the greatest recorded live shows in jazz,” while All About Jazz hailed the recording as “one of the treasures of the American Jazz Canon.” AllMusic called it “A legendary set, no matter how or when or where it's issued,” and NPR added the album to their Basic Jazz Record Library, with the NEA’s A.B. Spellman declaring, “It is a fabulous, fabulous set.” In 1995, The Quintet: Jazz at Massey Hall was inducted into the GRAMMY® Hall of Fame.

Mike Davis | "The New Wonders"

New York City has always had the most vibrant jazz scene in the world, and in the last few years that scene has been re-energized by a younger generation of jazz artists with a penchant for music of the 1920s and 30s. For the last 10 years, cornetist, arranger, and vocalist Mike Davis has been at the forefront of the traditional jazz movement.

Davis is a bandleader and an in-demand sideman. He is now releasing his first album, The New Wonders, which is also the name of the band he fronts. The album comprises 13 tunes that pay homage to the original, traditional music style but with a fresh sensibility. The album appears on Scott Asen’s Turtle Bay Records label. Asen is a fan of early jazz and created the label to give contemporary artists a platform to share their interpretations of the music with a wider audience.

Joining Davis on The New Wonders are some of the leading lights on the New York City traditional jazz scene, including Ricky Alexander (clarinet, alto sax, vocals), Joe McDonough (trombone, Jared Engel (banjo), Dalton Ridenhour (piano), Jay Rattman (bass sax, vocals), and Jay Lepley (drums, vocals). Davis named the band The New Wonders for the model of cornet played by Bix Beiderbecke, one of the most influential jazz musicians of the 1920s.

Both of Davis’s parents were in the Seattle Symphony, and he started studying the cornet at the age of nine. He performed in different school bands throughout high school, and his parents encouraged him to go to college if he wanted to pursue music as a career. So when he was 18 years old he left Seattle and enrolled in the Manhattan School of Music. The academic experience, however, did not live up to his expectations.

Davis wanted to work as a commercial musician, but he felt the music he was being taught swung between two opposite poles: it was either too complex with too many rules or too free without any rules at all. He appreciated the talent and innovativeness of modern jazz players, but the music itself did not resonate with him. It wasn’t until he heard old 78 rpm records that something clicked. He felt an ineluctable pull to play traditional jazz.

Davis set out to be a craftsman as well as an artist. He listened to and absorbed a lot of old records, studying the different personal styles each player brought to the recording. The music became part of his identity, and he even began dressing in the style of the period, right down to the bespoke suits and pencil mustache.

Mona’s Bar in Manhattan is a hub for traditional jazz musicians. Every Tuesday night, they host a late-night trad jazz jam session that lasts into the wee hours. Davis became a regular, meeting other like-minded musicians. He wrote down every tune he heard, looking for hidden gems and learning about each song. With precise technique and broad knowledge of traditional jazz, it did not take long for Davis to become a sought-after sideman. He has been a member of Terry Waldo’s Gotham City Band for 10 years and has worked with stalwarts like Emily Asher’s Garden Party, Glenn Crytzer, Baby Soda, Dan Levinson, and many other traditional jazz and swing bands. He also began fronting his own band, The New Wonders, with a rotating cast of musicians.

Although he has incorporated the styles of many musicians, he cites Red Nichols, Louis Armstrong, and Bix Beiderbecke as foundational influences. Davis says, “I was particularly taken with Bix Beiderbecke for his pure sound and ability to play extended solos that told a story, which was not the norm at the time. “

Davis does not try to imitate the past masters and merely re-create their recordings. Rather, he studies their techniques and incorporates them in his own improvisations. And he does not necessarily use, for example, a Beiderbecke technique in a song made famous by the cornet master. Instead, he may base his solo on a Louis Armstrong style or an approach he heard on a Paul Whiteman record. The tunes have the vibrance and feel of the originals but are re-imagined with Davis’s extensive music vocabulary.

Davis also sings on several tunes. The timbre of his voice sounds much like a singer in Ted Lewis’s band. Davis says, “When I sing, I really don’t try to sound like anyone in particular. It’s just a happy coincidence that my natural timbre hews so closely to vocal stylings of that period.”

Traditional jazz has mostly a light-hearted, danceable feel, and for THE NEW WONDERS, Davis mined tunes that were performed by famous bands, like “I’d Rather Cry Over You” by the Paul Whiteman Orchestra, “I’m More than Satisfied” by Bix Beiderbecke, “The Baltimore” by Frankie Trumbauer and His Orchestra, and “Jungle Crawl” by Tiny Parham, featuring an arrangement Davis wrote for a burlesque show.

Other tunes came from early cinema, like “Smile, Darn Ya, Smile!” from a 1931 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon short, and "She's Funny That Way," which was composed for the short film Gems of MGM in 1929 for Marion Harris, and also recorded by Billie Holiday in 1953. As women began expressing themselves more freely in the 1920s, dancing the Charleston and smoking cigarettes, vamp songs, i.e., songs about naughty women, were popular, and Davis includes “Flamin’ Mamie” by the Coon-Sanders Original Nighthawk Orchestra and “Clorinda” by the Chicago Loopers. Davis and the band also perform two songs by The Goofus Five, “Poor Papa” and “I Need Lovin’.” The Goofus Five are not well- known today but were quite popular back then. The “goofus” was a saxophone-like instrument that was like a mouth-blown accordion.

As the old saw says, “Everything old is new again,” and that certainly holds true today with the renewed interest in music that was written and performed nearly 100 years ago. As evidenced on The New Wonders, talented musicians like Mike Davis and his band have put a fresh face on this cornerstone of American popular music.

The New Wonders will be released on September 22, 2023, on Turtle Bay Records.

Arthur Kell Speculation Quarter | "Live At LunÀtico"

Arthur Kell's latest release, Speculation Quartet: Live at LunÀtico, out on Origin Records on November 17, 2023, is a homecoming for the bassist/composer. The project merges the artist's disparate pursuits, bringing his music full circle. Through Bar LunÀtico, Kell (a co-founder) has contributed greatly to the nurturing and sustaining of a vibrant music scene in modern-day Brooklyn. In turn, Kell’s involvement in the scene has helped to inform and develop his latest musical explorations. However, long before Kell's ubiquitous presence on LunÀtico's bandstand as a sideman for artists such as Kenny Wolleson, Roy Nathanson, Paul Bollenback, Matt Darriau or Avram Fefer, many of Kell's earliest gigs were in Bed-Stuy, playing at local bars and all-night joints such as Tiffany's, Brownie's, etc. 

Featuring two of the most revered guitarists on the scene, in NYC and beyond, Brad Shepik and Nate Radley and rising star Allan Mednard on drums, Speculation Quartet is about approaching, contemplating and interacting with the ever-present uncertainty and potential in life – hypothesizing about the inevitable risks we take with everything and everyone we encounter. The album’s melody-based compositions are inspired by Kell’s travels which have taken him far and wide, especially his four-month solo journey from Dakar, Senegal to the Indian Ocean. There are two explicit 12/8 cuts and hints of his work as a founding member of the late Thomas Chapin's Afro-Brazilian-flavored band, Spirits Rebellious, and the Arabic music groups of Brian Prunka. More indirectly, the rare two-guitar frontline recalls Joey Baron's Killer Joey, and Marc Johnson's Bass Desires. 

Rising from a modest storefront on a quiet residential street in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, in 2015, Bar LunÀtico has become an important and essential venue for live music in New York City. A treasured gig for musicians who thrive off of its tight intimate setting, it is an incubator and home for countless bands and genres. Anything from Haiti's Tiga Jean Baptiste, to Bill Frisell, to Duduka Da Fonseca, may grace the bandstand on any given night, weaving a musical tapestry which has included Wayne Tucker, Madeleine Peyroux, Julius Rodriguez, Dan Weiss, Secret Trio, Samir Langus, Leo Genovese, Yacouba Sissoko, Jorge Glem, Lau Noah, and the late great Henry Butler - to name but a few.

More on Arthur Kell: Kell has worked for a wide cross-section of influential bandleaders in New York City and around the world, including: Thomas Chapin, Matt Darriau, Kálmán Oláh, Guillermo Klein, Steve Cardenas, Paul Bollenback, Eri Yamamoto, Bruce Barth, Sam Newsome, Quintan Ana Wikso, Saul Rubin, Roy Nathanson, Claire Daly, Richard Julian, Philip Johnston, Denman Maroney, Shelley Hirsch, Danny Walsh and many others. He has recorded alongside Bernard Purdie and Matt Wilson. As a composer with his own quartet, Kell has played and toured extensively in New York City, the U.S. and Europe – performing at the Jazz Standard, Smalls, Copenhagen Jazz Festival, Madrid Jazz Festival, and a national broadcast for Deutschlandfunk radio in Germany. He has released five recordings of original music on various labels, including Origin Arts, Fresh Sound Records and Brooklyn Jazz Underground Records.

Kell’s band has seen several incarnations and has featured the likes of Brad Shepik, Loren Stillman, Nate Radley, Michael Blake, Federico Casagrande, Nir Felder, Mark Ferber, Ben Monder, Steve Cardenas, Donny McCaslin, Gerald Cleaver, Francesco Bearzatti, Jeff Boudreaux, Allan Mednard, Guilherme Monteiro, Adam Kolker, Bill McHenry, Allison Miller and Gadi Lehavi.

Arthur Kell is one of the owners and co-founders of Bar LunÀtico in Brooklyn, NY. He's a graduate of Oberlin Conservatory of Music and taught music at Swarnabhoomi Academy of Music in Tamil Nadu, India. He coordinated the environmental work of the New York Public Interest Research Group in NYC for ten years up until 1997. Kell has also traveled extensively in Africa, including a solo trip for four months from Dakar, Senegal to the Indian Ocean.

Jeff Lorber Fusion | "The Drop"

“I think it’s easy to write music but it’s hard to write great music,” confesses trailblazing and Grammy-winning keyboardist, composer and producer, Jeff Lorber.  “I am always looking for inspiration, and it doesn’t take much for me to drop whatever I’m doing to chase an idea for a new song if I hear something that inspires me.” A consummate musician, Lorber’s passion, technical wizardry, forward-thinking and earnest approach, and sheer musicianship, have inspired legions of musicians for over five decades. A groundbreaking Fender Rhodes pioneer along with Herbie Hancock, Joe Sample and Bob James, Jeff Lorber is also one of the most in-demand producers in Contemporary Jazz. September 22, 2023, Lorber will release his latest inspired work on Shanachie Entertainment, The Drop, an album of originals which unites him with an all-star cast including bassist and longtime Jeff Lorber Fusion members bassist Jimmy Haslip and drummer Gary Novak, guitarists Paul Jackson, Jr. (also a member of Jazz Funk Soul with Lorber and Everette Harp), Snarky Puppy's Marc Lettieri, bassist Cornelius Mims, drummer Gary Novak and saxophonist David Mann, among others. Lorber’s goal for his anticipated recording was simple. “I focus on making music that’s fun, exciting and fresh that I enjoy, and that I hope other people will feel uplifted and energized by when they listen to it,” shares Lorber, who is a big fan of audible and kindle books, with a keen interest in science fiction and detective books.

Jeff Lorber’s 30th album as a leader was truly a labor of love and adventure seeking opportunity. “I make it a point not to duplicate stuff that I’ve already done, but instead use each album I make as a chance to develop in new areas.” The Drop opens with the exhilarating title track and first single. Make no mistake Lorber and company came to play. thrilling opener feels like a live track rather than studio session. The soulful, bluesy, and head-nodding affair swings hard and Lorber’s keys leave nothing unsaid. It is as funky as it gets. Flanked by the hard-driving drums of Gary Novak, the horns of David Mann and Randal Clark and guitar of Paul Jackson Jr., the band locks in and does not let up. “‘The Drop’ was sort of a Rhodes improvisation over a Bb blues that I turned into a more organized production. I loved the spontaneous feeling of the demo, and I wanted to retain that. Randal Clark, a talented sax player from Utah that I’ve been collaborating with for a few years, is featured and did a great solo on the bridge. Dave Mann really came through with an exciting horn arrangement that added fat sophisticated harmonies to the funky melodies that were already there.” The tune “Altered State,” follows with a more contemplative vibe, showcasing a floating melody, modulating chords, and alternating rhythmic patterns. Lorber’s “New Mexico,” is a composition that he originally started some time ago but decided to resurrect for the album. “I have loads of stuff that I start and don’t finish. I’m always ‘mining’ my old Pro Tools sketches to see if I hear something that I like. I think the secret is always to be involved in music and to try and find things that have the potential to grow into something special.”

Dubbed the “Land of Enchantment,” Lorber does the southwestern state proud with an anthem that lives up to its wonder and beauty. The Drop also features the buoyant, melodically pleasing and pulsating “On The Bus.” “This song is very lyrical and makes great driving music,” explains Lorber. “Even though it’s not stylistically similar, it reminds me of Pat Metheny’s early group material, which had a very open, picturesque sound. It reminds me of passing through a wonderful natural landscape. I think this one will be a lot of fun to play live!”

The R&B infused “Hang Tight,” is a stunning number that begs for lyrics and makes you want to sing. Lorber’s down home soloing and Jimmy Haslip’s bluesy riffs, will have you yearning for more. “Liberty is an up-tempo hard-driving number, jet fueled by drummer Gary Novak. “Gary is a superb player and it’s always a thrill to have him come by and overdub drums,” shares Lorber. “Usually, he comes over and in two hours he’s put drums on five or six songs, sometimes more. When I write demos the first person to add anything is Gary. Music production is like building a house and when you have a strong foundation like Gary’s drum tracks to build on, you’re always in great shape.” The title “Liberty” is also a reminder that Lorber was born in Cheltenham, Pennsylvania but grew up in the City of Brotherly Love, a fertile ground of Jazz and R&B and the birthplace or one-time home to such luminaries as Lee Morgan, John Coltrane, Stanley Clarke, Grover Washington Jr., Jimmy Heath, McCoy Tyner, and the Brecker Brothers, among others. “I’ve gotten the opportunity to know Randy Brecker well and play with him. However, I never met the Brecker’s when I was growing up in Philly,” recalls Lorber. “They were already famous in our town when they were in high school because of their outstanding talent. But there was a musician that lived across the street that was friends with them. It was pianist Marc Cohen. He changed his name to Marc Copeland. He’s a great player and I really love his records. At that time, Marc was an alto player and I played with his group for a little while. I remember going over to his place and there were Blue Note albums like Horace Silver’s “Song for My Father” and Lee Morgan’s “The Sidewinder,” lying around. I knew immediately that the music these guys were studying was exactly what I needed to know more about. It was an important opportunity for me to learn from Marc and the other musicians about the exciting jazz music from the 50’s that I might not have heard any other way.” Equally as important as Lorber’s jazz roots, is his deep connection to the blues. “I also somehow met some musicians that lived further out in the country who were into blues. I was introduced to Eric Clapton, John Mayall, and the Butterfield Blues band. I still feel like blues is an important part of my musical personality.”

Another highlight on The Drop is the ultimate jam, “Keep On Moving.” The band’s synergy is electrifying. Guitarist Mark Lettieri of Snarky Puppy, plays lead and rhythm guitar and is featured on seven of the album’s tracks including the song “Mindshare.” “Mark Lettieri’s playing is unique and adds a fresh voice that blends well with my music both as a soloist and rhythm section player. I was impressed at the way his guitar work elevated the tracks.” They say you can’t dance to jazz, but I dare you to sit still on “Reception.” It’s a serious groove that has all the ingredients to get you on the dance floor. The Drop closes with the show-stopping “Tail Lights.” You can rest assured that you will get a lot of mileage out of The Drop, as the uplifting set is likely stay on repeat.

“I started taking piano lessons when I was four. I think my first attempt to write songs happened as a result of learning some TV themes, like Henry Mancini’s Mr. Lucky and Peter Gunn, as well as other jazzy themes I heard growing up in the 60’s,” recalls Lorber. His fascination with composition continued into High School, where he was allowed to do an independent study project on music composition. By the time he entered Berklee College Of Music in l970, he had a strong compositional foundation to continue to build upon. Jeff Lorber Fusion came to life in the 70s while Lorber was at Berklee. A true clinician, Lorber has made it a point to study the long line of modern jazz pianists since 1945. “Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea have been major influences, but I had to go back and try to figure out who they listened to and were inspired by,” says Lorber. “Some of these icons that come to mind are Bill Evans, Thelonious Monk, McCoy Tyner and Bud Powell.”

He adds, “I’m also a huge fan of all of the pianists who played with Miles Davis such as Red Garland, Wynton Kelly, Tommy Flanagan and Horace Silver.”

In 1977 Jeff Lorber Fusion released their self-titled debut. Their 1980 album Wizard Island made the introduction of a then little-known Kenny G. The ensemble quickly gained traction and became one of the most popular jazz acts, touring nonstop. In 1982 Lorber made his solo debut with It’s A Fact. He scored his first Grammy nomination in 1985 for his radio hit “Pacific Coast Highway” from his album Step By Step. In the 90s Lorber released a successful string of projects including West Side Stories (1994), State of Grace (1996) and Midnight (1998). During this time Lorber also stayed busy producing Michael Franks, Richard Elliot, Gerald Albright, and Rick Braun, among others. The prolific pianist continued to add to his accolades with his shining recordings Kickin’ It (2001), Philly Style (2003), Flipside (2005), He Had A Hat (2007, Grammy nominated) and Heard That (2008), Now Is The Time (2010, Grammy nominated), Galaxy (2012, Grammy nominated) Hacienda (2013, Grammy nominated) and Step It Up (2015). Impact followed in 2018 and the same year Lorber snagged a Grammy for his recording Prototype. He released recording Eleven with Mike Stern in 2019 and Space-Time in 2021. Lorber is also a member of the Shanachie jazz super-group Jazz Funk Soul which featured late revered guitarist Chuck Loeb and saxophonist Everette Harp. He appears on the Jazz Funk Soul albums More Serious Business (Grammy nominated) as well as Life and Times and Forecast which features guitarist Paul Jackson Jr. alongside Lorber and Harp.

Jeff Lorber has endured his own battle with Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD) and has made it a mission to work with the PKD Foundation to raise awareness. “I was very lucky that my wife donated her kidney,” shares the pianist. “I’m very grateful for that. My sister underwent a transplant in recent years and is doing well. There are some solutions that are being worked on but like many genetic based diseases it could be a long time before there is significant progress. People should know that there are 800,000 people in the US with PKD and two million worldwide. It’s a huge problem that unfortunately doesn’t get a lot of publicity.”

With the release of The Drop, Jeff Lorber hopes to impart something positive to his fans. He concludes, “The main thing is to have that spirit of fun, that lifts your spirits and takes you away to another place.” Take the journey with Jeff Lorber Fusion – you’ll be happy you did!