UK Duo Edy Forey Releases its Audacious Urban-Jazz Debut

One can’t help but admire the honest audacity of these lyrics. This song “Take Your Time” is from Culture Today, Edy Forey’s poetic urban-jazz debut album set for release on April 5 on So Soul Records. The UK-based duo enters the music scene with the clarity of self-knowledge, even if that knowledge comes from divergent artistic experiences. 

Vocalist Edy Szewy and keyboardist Guilhem Forey believe music is sacred and musicians matter greatly. For this reason, several guest artists joined them on this record, including founding members of Snarky Puppy bassist Michael League and saxophonist Bob Reynolds. Also, Sharay Reed, of the Funk Apostles, Femi Koleoso of the Ezra Collective and others provided significant contributions. Additionally, Bob Power whose distinguished resume includes Me'Shell N'degéocello, The Roots, D'Angelo, and Erykah Badu and many others mixed and mastered the duo’s entire album. 

Szewy and Forey are as different as they are alike. Szewy was born in Poland to an American father and a Polish mother. Her parents separated early, but her dad would send her CDs from America that you couldn’t find locally. By the time she moved to one of the cultural centers of Europe, Edinburgh Scotland, she had absorbed the very American grooves of TLC and En Vogue, enthralled with the songwriting and production skills of the likes of D’Angelo and Lauryn Hill, imagining that one day she could do it too. 

Conversely, Forey, born in Paris and raised in Nantes, France was a child musical prodigy. Bach spiritually and emotionally pulled him in at the age of three—so much so that this classical music was almost scary to his immature mind. But by the time his grandfather introduced him to American icon Ray Charles and British guitarist Eric Clapton, everyone who heard him play realized he was a gifted pianist. At age 11, his mom walked him into a rehearsal hall for his first jazz piano lessons. So taken was the teacher on this introductory audition, he flung his door open and quickly recruited a bassist and drummer to join in. It was the talented adolescent’s first jam session. By 16, Forey was leading a jazz trio. 

The pair’s teen years were marked by Szewy discovering the melancholy soul side of African American artists like Marvin Gaye, Donny Hathaway, and the Jacksons. In contrast, Forey dived headfirst into jazz, discovering and studying Herbie Hancock and George Duke. With headphones on, Forey would often fall asleep to Chick Corea’s Akoustic Band album. The duo’s influences were expanding–greatly.  

As young adults, both found themselves mingling in the Edinburgh student circuit. While Forey was new to the city and the music scene, Szewy was studying at the prestigious Edinburgh College of Art - the fruit of which is the album’s cover. At the same time, she was leading a six-piece neo soul band. The two met when Forey filled in for Szewy’s keyboardist. Gradually, their kinship was born.

By the same token, they openly admit to having had pervasive parental challenges. Those challenges created in both feelings of being an ‘outsider.’ As teenagers, they atypically didn’t gravitate to the surrounding fads. A sensibility of non-conformity took root for both, and in time they would discover that this sensibility would anchor their creative union.

Forey was blown away by what he says was, “Edy’s pure artistry.” Similarly, Szewy says, “By far Forey was the best musician I knew in Edinburgh.” Still, initially Forey wasn’t so convinced of becoming a group. He was deep into the spiritual magic of jazz, immersing himself with the work of master organist/pianist/gospel artist Corey Henry. He played in jazz trios but beyond that, his solitary musical world was just that–solitary. Forey says, “I love jazz because it has something to say musically. And sometimes I have to isolate to hear what it is trying to say to me.” Despite that, he couldn’t ignore that Szewy was a visionary and her sky-is-the-limit attitude won him over. Forey put all his other musical endeavors aside and their musical alliance was born. 

When they started composing what would become the genesis of their debut album, they kept this activity private. The duo did not showcase their music to family nor friends. Working together and remotely via WhatsApp, they embraced a style of discreet collaboration that would come in handy during the pandemic. 

As much as the pair are very modern songwriters using very modern tools, their collaborative style was reminiscent of the great songwriting teams of the past where the free spirit of exchange and pushback reaped excellent results. Their sessions were vibrant. Szewy would challenge Forey’s chord choices at the same time Forey would challenge Szewy’s lyrical and production choices. Back and forth they hashed it out, examining their creative energies and impulses all the while persisting in the magic of spontaneity, which is at the heart of their urban-jazz album.

 “We have a very symbiotic creative bond,” Szewy says. “We complement each other's style. Basically, we're both in each other's business.” Forey adds, “We wanted to have a pure approach to it. We didn’t want to focus on perceived outcomes. We wanted to faithful to our original inspiration that we feel comes from above.” 

That quest to fulfill their artistic calling is all over their album Culture Today. The duo has crafted a series of songs that showcase high musicality and themes of personal depth. Whether it’s the Orwellian-vibed, “Eerie Feary” or the critique against celebrity worship in “The System,” it’s clear that the original bonds of non-conformity that brought Szewy and Forey together are still very much intact. 

Equally important are several songs that reach for something more transcendent. They include a poignant yet lighthearted petition to the divine in “The Fire,” while the songs “Your Soul” and “Agape” attempt to pierce the coarse, low-level of bumping and grinding to reveal the more eloquent and elevated feelings of love. This makes Culture Today an album you want to put on, lay back and let it absorb into your spirit, song by song.

MAX LIGHT – CHAOTIC NEUTRAL

Brooklyn based guitarist/composer, Max Light, took 2nd place in the prestigious 2019 Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz International Guitar Competition (judged by Pat Metheny, John Scofield, Lionel Loueke, etc.) His sophomore recording as a leader, Henceforth (released in 2023), was heralded by The New York City Jazz Record, as “Stunning,” and declared Light as, “one of the most promising young guitarists to arrive on the scene in recent years.” JazzTrail added that, “Max Light is a talented instrumentalist and composer to follow closely, and this well-planned album doesn’t disappoint.” His debut recording, Herplusme (released in 2020), garnered a four star review from UKVibe, who stated, “Herplusme gives the guitarist an excellent platform to showcase his talents and with superb interaction and support from Honor and Willson. The trio work intuitively well together . . .”. Most recently, Light and pianist Julian Shore released Duo, in the summer of 2023, and embarked on a successful tour of Japan. 

Max Light has performed and recorded with Noah Preminger, Christian Sands, Donny McCaslin, Jeremy Dutton, Kaisa Maensivu, Jason Palmer, Jon Gordon, John Ellis, Dan Weiss, Colin Stranahan, and Kevin Sun, among many others. Along with DownBeat Magazine “Rising Star” tenor saxophonist Noah Preminger, Light released Songs We Love in March 2022. Light also appeared on Preminger’s 2019 album, Genuinity, and the saxophonist’s 2020 album, Contemptment. Light was also featured on the subsequent tour of Europe in the Fall of ‘21. The guitarist has appeared on trumpeter Jason Palmer’s seminal 2018 recording, Live at Wally’s Jazz Club: Volume 1-2, and more recently on Yong Lee’s 2021 album, Touch, alongside Walter Smith III. Light is also featured on bassist/composer Kaisa Mäensivu’s recent recording on Greenleaf Music, Taking Shape, and Christian Sands’ Christmas Stories. He also appeared on Kevin Sun’s 2021 release, <3 Bird. 

A CV of this nature doesn’t come together by chance; Max Light, in accordance with his surname, is in fact a beacon on the NYC and global scenes. Not one that warns however, but one that beckons. He is to many of his collaborators and cohorts, “a deep inspiration and ever-warming bonfire in the often challenging journeys of art and life” (as stated by saxophonist Kevin Sun in the album’s liner notes). As a bandleader, exemplified on his new recording, Chaotic Neutral (dropping April 26, 2024 on AGS Recordings), Light also displays the type of leadership that unearths and inspires performances of the highest level from his bandmates. 

Chaotic Neutral is a declaration of Light’s artistic vision, encompassing improvisations that routinely and expertly seek and find peaks, complex harmonic structures and Light’s wonderful melodies. It is modernist jazz in full acknowledgment of its influences, while asserting Light’s penchant for 21st century harmony (“Is It True,” also a highlight for Julian Shore), and rhythmic adventurousness (“Brown Bear”). The album opens with the exuberant urgency and potency of “Pathos.” Then it becomes clear within seconds of “Vals Quartzite” that Light is intent on raising the artistic bar, searching for the zenith of expression, precision, mastery, and beauty. In spite of the technical aspects of playing the guitar that must be dealt with, Light’s fluidity and relentless spontaneity is heard throughout Chaotic Neutral, with his bandmates, pianist Julian Shore, bassist Walter Stinson, drummer Steven Crammer and Caleb Curtis (on Stritch on several tracks) in absolute lockstep with him. Stinson shines on “Times Had,” as does Crammer with a ferocious solo. ‘Wash” is a meditative ballad, featuring Caleb Curtis on Stritch, whose playing shines with Light’s expressions as perfectly as the moon and the stars.

On Chaotic Neutral we hear an artist seemingly at the peak of his powers, and yet still at the start of his creative ascent. It is thrilling to hear his artistry now, and wonder at what the future holds. Chaotic Neutral closes with “Things,” which brilliantly tests the elasticity of a well-worn standard, and exemplifies much of what Max Light is as a guitarist/composer; a towering edifice of talent built on a rock-solid foundation.

Something Else! Featuring Vincent Herring | 'Soul Jazz|"

When soul jazz was born in the late 1950s/early 1960s, it provided a pathway for the funky, window-rattling grooves of contemporary soul and R&B to infuse the muscular hard bop of the day. For the generation that grew up in that era, soul jazz is the soundtrack of their lives – not to mention an absolute blast to play. 

The new supergroup Something Else! brings together a superb septet that matches impeccable virtuosity with a bottomless feel for this music. Spearheaded by alto saxophone great Vincent Herring, the band’s debut release features trumpeter Jeremy Pelt, tenor saxophonist Wayne Escoffery, guitarist Paul Bollenback, pianist David Kikoski, bassist Essiet Essiet, and drummer Otis Brown III. 

Under the no-nonsense title of Soul Jazz, due out June 7 via Smoke Sessions Records, the album features groove-centric tunes from such masters as Horace Silver, Herbie Hancock, Roy Hargrove, Donald Byrd, Stanley Turrentine, Eddie Harris, Pee Wee Ellis, and John Coltrane, played with infectious vitality by this unparalleled dream band.

The approach to jazz that these stellar musicians take always comes with its fair share of soul, no matter the stylistic twists and turns it may take. But with Something Else! they places the soul firmly the spotlight, refreshing this classic material with a thrilling, vibrant joy that is electrifying conveyed directly into the listener’s body. Soul Jazz comes with an unspoken challenge not to move. 

“This project represents the music that we love, music that just feels great,” Herring says. “Everybody in the band grew up on soul jazz, where the feeling was paramount. The music of the day was soul and R&B – that’s what my parents played on the stereo when they were in the car or when they would have gatherings. So I think it’s a feeling that we were all craving in our own music.” 

Herring found that electrifying feeling missing in much of the music he was hearing from his students at William Paterson University and the Manhattan School of Music, which inspired him to put out the call to his most gifted compatriots. Herring had learned first-hand from masters of feeling, swing and groove – an invaluable bandstand education forged alongside the legendary likes of Freddie Hubbard, Dizzy Gillespie, Art Blakey, Jack DeJohnette, Horace Silver, Carla Bley, Lionel Hampton and others, as well as integral collaborations with fellow torchbearers like Steve Turre, Carl Allen, Eric Alexander, Jon Faddis, Wynton Marsalis and James Carter. 

The band’s name, of course, is borrowed from Somethin’ Else, the classic 1958 Cannonball Adderley album. Adderley and his brother Nat can both be counted among the architects of soul jazz, and Herring enjoyed deep ties to both – he toured and recorded for nearly a decade with Nat Adderley following his brother’s death, and went on to form the Cannonball Adderley Legacy Band with drummer Louis Hayes. 

The Adderleys are not among the composers included on Soul Jazz, however – unless you count a sly quote of Nat’s immortal “Work Song” during the drum solo on Turrentine’s “Too Blue” – and Something Else! can just as readily be taken as a descriptor of the music, a phrase along the lines of “out of this world” that hails the surprises and thrills contained herein. 

The album kicks in at full throttle with Horace Silver’s bristling anthem “Filthy McNasty,” played here with a breakneck propulsion driven by the take-no-prisoners pocket of Essiet and Brown. Herring, Pelt, Escoffery, Kikoski and Brown all squeeze fiery solos into the track’s less than five-minute length, wasting not a single note (though burning through plenty of them) and revealing from the get-go that they mean business. 

This music represents the members’ musical roots, and Herring chose his collaborators – and a rotating cast that has also included the likes of James Carter and Randy Brecker – from a pool of shared experience. “This is about having a feeling for what's going on,” he explains. “The first person that came to mind was Jeremy Pelt. This music is Jeremy – this is exactly how he grew up. While the spectrum of music that he plays is wide, this is at the core of what he does. The same goes for everybody in the band.” 

Just listen to the way that the blues seeps from Kikoski’s keyboard in the opening moments of “Too Blue,” as the band slides into a gritty, slinky groove. Bollenback’s guitar slithers through that wide-hipped feel before ceding space to high-and-low turns from the saxes. Eddie Harris’ “Mean Greens” provides the opportunity for a lurching shuffle, punctuated by Kikoski’s piquant jabs and the precision licks of the frontline, while Pee Wee Ellis’ “The Chicken” is pure funk bliss buoyed by Essiet’s double-wide bassline. 

Herbie Hancock’s “Driftin’” floats on an airy, floating rhythm that is spacious yet exacting rhythmic swing that the soloists all revel in. The mood turns dark and languorous for Donald Byrd’s unhurried “Slow Drag,” then crackles with the handclap-fueled stroll of Roy Hargrove’s classic “Strasbourg/St. Denis.” CD and digital editions of the album feature an unexpected bonus track: John Coltrane’s “Naima” is a timeless ballad not typically associated with the soul jazz movement, but Herring’s transformative version fits perfectly. 

Herring insists that Something Else! wasn’t formed with the intention of educating that younger generation on how thrilling the music can feel – but if he can lead by example, he says, all the better. 

“This is just meant to be great music that feels good, played by the very best musicians. If it is enlightening to some people, which I'm sure it will be, then that's fine with me.” 

It’s hard to imagine that this session won’t enlighten listeners, even those well versed in the soul jazz genre that grew out of hard bop in the mid-1950s, as the influence of the era’s R&B and soul hitmakers infused the music with a funky, raucous groove. Something Else! not only stocks the date with some of the prime examples of the genre’s music, but attacks these songs with a vigor and passion that breathes dynamic new life into an already lively style.

 

R&B/Jazz keyboardist Jeff Logan releases "Indigo"

Growth requires work and can be uncomfortable and painful. R&B/Jazz keyboardist Jeff Logan wrote a very personal album chronicling his transformation that was produced by two-time Grammy winner Paul Brown (Boney James, Norman Brown, Al Jarreau, Bob James). “Indigo” releases this Friday (April 12). 

“Indigo” is an intimate instrumental album comprised of songs inspired by Logan’s life. He uses his gift for composing emotional and evocative melodies to share moving stories, introspective moments, pained heartbreaks and disappointments, and provide hope and optimism.

The new album is Logan’s first since his 2011 debut, “Black Tie Affair,” and over that time, he went through a painful divorce, was distanced from his daughters, and logged innumerable high-stress hours serving as the Chief of Population Management for Prince George's County, Maryland Department of Corrections. He found solace by writing and recording music, amassing over four hundred songs. “Indigo” is the first collection culled from that catalogue.

“Indigo” marks the first time that Logan used an outside producer and additional musicians. Brown brought in his first-call session aces - Shane Theriot (bass, drums, guitar and keyboards), Gorden Campbell (drums), Roberto Vally (bass), multi-horn man Ron King and saxophonist Greg Vail - to bring Logan’s songs to life.

Throughout the album, Logan emotes via his rhythmic keyboards and piano poetry. The album is a mix of soul grooves, funky contemporary jazz and soothing adult pop harmonies.  

Ceu | "Novela"

Regarded as the most influential Brazilian artist of her generation, Céu returns once again to the spotlight with her newest single “Gerando Na Alta” featuring the London based French/Senegal singer, anaiis. On the new single anaiis and Céu exchange impressions about sisterhood. The new single is the debut from the upcoming album Novela due out on April 26th! “Gerando Na Alta'' featuring anaiis is out now and available everywhere you stream music.

In the early 2000s, Céu lived in NYC’s Lower East Side and it was there that she discovered her passion as a songwriter. The emerging artist immersed herself in the MC street performer culture of the neighborhood, which was a mix of black and Puerto Rican artists. She created and honed what was to become her signature voice and a boldness that had not yet been heard in Brazilian music. From this time she wrote and released her debut album, "Céu" (2005). This album catapulted Céu into the mainstream and garnered critical accolades, resulting in nominations for both the GRAMMY Awards and the Latin GRAMMY Awards, charting on various charts worldwide and on Billboard, and becoming one of the best-selling Brazilian albums in the history of the United States. This boldness continues to shape her distinctive path, earning her prestigious awards and, just as importantly, recognition from audiences who strongly connect with her.

In 2023, Céu returned to the USA, this time to the West Coast, where she conceived Novela (Urban Jungle/ONErpm), her sixth album due out on digital platforms this April 26th. Céu recorded with Adrian Younge at his renowned Linear Labs Studio in Los Angeles. She worked alongside her long-time collaborator, São Paulo-born artist, musician and producer from Pernambuco, Pupillo. Pupillo’s credits include former drummer of Nação Zumbi, co-responsible for Céu’s releases "Tropix" (2016) and "APKÁ!" (2019), and winner of three Latin Grammy Awards, and a producer for Gal Costa and Erasmo Carlos. She also worked with the multi-instrumentalist and arranger Adrian Younge, who is most known for albums such as "Something About April" (2011), and for projects with Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, The Delfonics, and Wu Tang Clan, as well as co-directing the multimedia initiative Jazz Is Dead.

As is customary in Adrian's work, the album was captured live, without the technological gadgets of today, recorded on tape, which demands total presence. Although it may seem like an old-fashioned approach that harkens back to the beginnings of character-forming record recordings, interestingly, it is a futuristic experience that, according to Céu, requires a lot of emotional intelligence and no artificiality. "Nothing vintage," she assures. In the studio, the band consisted of Pupillo (on percussion, programming, and drums), Younge (on keyboards, guitar, bass - in "Reescreve" -, arrangements, and conducting strings and winds), and Lucas Martins (on bass - in virtually all tracks -, guitar, and co-authorship of three of the 12 tracks on the album).

Novela is a compilation of 12 songs woven together with captivating collaborations and featured artists. "Dawned in your lucky color/ Chant your mantra and go/ Singing/ Living is for the brave," sings Céu on the new song "Raiou," which opens Novela. On the album opener, Céu is joined by the esteemed MC and songwriter, LadyBug Mecca, from Digable Planets, whose parents are from Brazil. In "Gerando na alta," it's the turn of anaiis, a Franco-Senegalese singer and songwriter, based in London, England, to exchange impressions about sisterhood. Loren Oden and Jensine Benitez are the featured signers on "Into my Novela," which is also a collaboration between Céu and Lucas Martins. It is a play on the title and talks about the teledrama of everyday life, where there are no TV cameras recording actions, nor predefined scripts. "I am the protagonist of my Novela/ So good, yeah baby/ I want to learn how you want me/ To love you," sings Céu.

Within Céu’s Novela talented players contributed to the storylines held within the songs. Frankie Reyes, an American DJ and producer of Puerto Rican descent, adds to the harmony of the track "Buá Buá," wherein Céu owns the melody and lyrics as she sings: "Cry all the tears that one day/ You refused to cry/ Cry because you recognize/ That you won't find one of these." Hervé Salters, a French artist and leader of General Elektriks, co-producer of "Tropix," appears on "High na Cachú," whose verses by Céu say: "Cold sweet water makes me reborn/ While the stone calls me back to sit/ Retaining all the heat it kept from the sun/ I settle like a flower pollinating." Marcos Valle, a national treasure from Rio de Janeiro, co-wrote "Reescreve" with the São Paulo-born artist, Céu, which, at the end of the affectionate session, questions the perspective of colonizers in Brazilian history textbooks. "What was there/ I never believed in/ Every page I read/ Just made me more sleepy/ Since the peoples who were silenced/ The embers came to burn/ The truth comes to light/ It's too much material to work with." "Corpo e colo," the only track by outside collaborators, emerged from a collaboration between Nando Reis and Kleber Lucas. Recently, the acclaimed gospel artist and pastor of Igreja Batista Soul in Rio expressed his joy on social media, celebrating the upcoming release. "Another beautiful piece on the way. A wonderful partnership with my brother Nando Reis. I've just heard a preview of him singing, and I'm absolutely thrilled," he remarked.

On Novela Céu spins ancient technologies, healing, creamy harmonies, boleros, polished stars, echoes of soul music, things of the earth, rap, and whispers to guides into a tapestry of sounds and story. The stunning new album showcases Céu's fearlessness and dedication to her craft, highlighting the complexity and beauty of her creative work. It also continues to push the envelope by adding new influences that elevate her ongoing commitment to representing the diversity of Brazilian music. 

Novela is due out on April 26th and will be available everywhere you stream music.

Céu's music has transcended borders, captivating audiences on five continents at prestigious festivals such as the Montreal Jazz Festival (CA), North Sea Jazz (NL), Coachella (USA), Roskilde (DK), Rock in Rio (BRA), and Lollapalooza (BRA). Notable performances include memorable appearances in Havana (Cuba) and Beirut (Lebanon). Renowned for her collaborations with both Brazilian and international artists like Duran Duran, Herbie Hancock, Jorge Ben Jor, Gilberto Gil, and Emicida, Céu stands among the few Brazilian artists to grace the stage of BBC’s Later…with Jools Holland. 

Céu is widely regarded as one of the most influential Brazilian artists of her generation.  And she continues to enchant audiences in her native Brazil and touring worldwide, including a US tour kicking off this May.

𝒩𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁𝒶 𝓉𝑜𝓊𝓇

• May 8 - Miami, FL - US
• May 10 - Orlando, FL - US
• May 12 - Atlanta, GA - US
• May 14 - Boston, MA - US
• May 15 - New York, NY - US
• May 17 - Montreal, QC - CAN
• May 20 - Toronto, ON – CAN
• May 21 - Chicago, IL - US
• May 22 - Minneapolis, MN - US
• June 22 – Porto Alegre  - BR 
• July 12 - Rio de Janeiro - BR
• July 17 – London - UK
• July 19 – Paris - FR
• July 20 - Châlons-en-Champagne - FR
• July 22 – Marciac – FR
• July 24 – Berlin - DE
• July 27 – Ribeira - ES
• August 16 - Brasília – BR

Trumpeter Etienne Charles Debuts as a Big Band Leader with "Creole Orchestra," featuring Rene Marie

Etienne Charles presents himself to the jazz world as an accomplished large-ensemble arranger with Creole Orchestra, set for a June 14 release on his own Culture Shock imprint. The album is the premiere of the titular band, 22 musicians strong and specializing in executing the Trinbagonian trumpeter’s elaborate charts.

Long hailed for his work as a trumpeter, composer, and improviser, as well as for his deep knowledge of rhythms from his native Trinidad & Tobago and around the Eastern Caribbean, Charles has mostly worked with small combos over his nearly 20-year career. He had written only a few pieces for large ensemble when vocalist Rene Marie tasked him with arranging for a full set of big band tunes to take on the road. 

That was “baptism by fire,” Charles recalls. “Okay, now I’m a big band writer.” And, as Creole Orchestra makes clear, he is a shrewd and inventive one. It’s not just anyone who can orchestrate both the classic swing anthem “Stompin’ at the Savoy” and Bell Biv Devoe’s new jack swing hit “Poison” with equal flair and crispness. Those are just two of the many dimensions Charles explores on the album. 

Marie herself is a featured guest, taking the vocal spotlight for four of the 13 tracks—including “I Wanna Be Evil,” Eartha Kitt’s theme song that was the centerpiece of Marie and Charles’s first collaboration (her 2013 album of the same name), as well as the jazz standard “Centerpiece” and two of her own originals. Rapper Brandon Rose and turntablist DJ Logic appear together on “Poison,” connecting Charles’s arrangement with the song’s hip-hop roots. 

The ensemble and its various soloists put in exemplary work as well. Lead trumpeter Jumaane Smith and trombonist Michael Dease both give standout performances on Monty Alexander’s reggae-spiced “Think Twice”; bassist Ben Williams wows with his soulful improv on the hard-swinging “Night Train”; while Charles, alto saxophonist Godwin Louis, and pianist Sullivan Fortner illuminate the leader’s calypso “Douens.” 

The real stars of Creole Orchestra, of course, are Charles’s sterling charts. “In many musical situations the Arranger has become the ghost,” he writes in the album notes. “One of the first working on a project and many times the last to be recognized.” No more.

Etienne Charles was born July 24, 1983 in Port-of-Spain, the capital city of the island nation of Trinidad & Tobago. Carrying the torch of Caribbean musical traditions in all their eclectic facets is, itself, a family tradition for the Charleses. Etienne’s father, Francis, was both a member of the Trinidadian steel band Phase II Pan Groove and the owner of a colossal record collection, and Etienne thus grew up soaking in music. He learned to play trumpet as a boy, and by high school he, too, was a member of Phase II Pan Groove. 

But jazz had gotten Etienne’s attention, and he moved to the United States in 2002 to matriculate at Florida State University—where he found his way to the celebrated pianist and educator Marcus Roberts, who became his mentor. He quickly gained not only a mastery of the jazz tradition, but the recognition to prove it. Charles placed second at the 2005 International Trumpet Guild Jazz Competition in Bangkok, Thailand, then took first place a year later at the U.S. National Trumpet Competition in Fairfax, Virginia. He was also awarded a full scholarship to The Juilliard School of Music, where he earned both a master’s degree and an entrée into the cutthroat New York jazz scene.

Charles not only survived but thrived in that scene, recording and performing with artists ranging from Maria Schneider to Wynton Marsalis to Rene Marie. He also made a striking impression as a leader, injecting his encyclopedic knowledge of Caribbean music and rhythms into an improvised jazz context. He recorded his debut album Culture Shock in 2006 and followed it with nine more, of which Creole Orchestra is the latest. 

Etienne Charles will be appearing at Berklee College of Music, Boston, 4/11; California State University East Bay, Hayward, 4/12; Wortham Center, Houston, 4/19 (world premiere of "Earth Tones"); Omaha (NE) Performing Arts, 4/26; The Townhouse, Los Angeles, CA, 5/2; Mt. Hood Jazz Festival, Portland, OR, 5/4; Le Taquin, Toulouse, France, 5/11-15; Spoleto Festival, Charleston, SC (w/ Terri Lyne Carrington New Standards), 5/26; SFJAZZ Center, San Francisco (w/ Rene Marie), 6/10; Dizzy’s, NYC, 6/14-16; Fête de la Musique, North Beach Bandshell, Miami Beach, FL, 6/21; Caramoor Festival, Katonah, NY (w/ Rene Marie), 7/18; Carlyle Room, Washington, DC, 7/26; Riverside Center for the Arts, Fredericksburg, VA, 7/27; JAS Cafe, Aspen, CO, 8/10; Missy Lane’s Assembly Room, Durham, NC, 10/11-12. 

Bobby Broom's New Album Features Ben Paterson & Drummer Kobie Watkins | "Jamalot"

Acclaimed guitarist Bobby Broom makes a welcome return to one of his longtime favorite formats—the jazz organ trio—with Jamalot, a live album and the second by his Organi-Sation, to be released May 24 on Steele Records. While the trio (which also features organist Ben Paterson and drummer Kobie Watkins) debuted on record with 2018’s Soul Fingers, they have been a working band for much longer; the new release features performances going back 10 years. 

Actually, Broom’s infatuation with the Hammond organ goes back to his youth. It first bore professional fruit in his twenties, when he joined the band of the legendary Charles Earland. A decade later, in the 1990s, he founded the Deep Blue Organ Trio, which continued working into the 2010s. “I thought after the Deep Blue Organ Trio that I would never feel anything quite like that in terms of chemistry,” Broom says. “And boy was I wrong. It was really incredible to me how much this new group jelled, and the level of music that we were able to play.” 

Even a cursory listen to Jamalot’s eight familiar jazz and pop tunes is enough to confirm the rapport he describes. The opener, Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition,” offers up a reservoir of groove so rich it might take even Wonder by surprise. If anything, that’s even more true of the Kurt Weill standard “Speak Low”: Already simmering from the start, the band quickly escalates to a frenetic boil. When they slow things down on “Tennessee Waltz,” the result is a smooth current of soul that the listener can ride blissfully across the song. Even one of the most well-worn staples of the organ repertoire, “House of the Rising Sun,” unearths new, funky realms for the musicians to explore.

And explore they do. As irresistible as their grooving interplay is, it’s rivaled by the exciting improvisations the three musicians unleash. Broom drenches The Beatles’ “Long and Winding Road” in the mud of the Mississippi Delta; Paterson discovers a heretofore unknown gospel stratum in Eric Clapton’s “Layla”; and Watkins threatens to turn “The Jitterbug Waltz” into a wild frenzy of rhythm and ecstasy. On Jamalot, Broom’s long-enduring love for the organ combo is palpable—and, better still, co

Bobby Broom was born January 18, 1961, in New York City. From as early as he can recall, he loved music: just music, style and label notwithstanding. But in his early teen years, the Herbie Hancock and Grover Washington records he heard on the radio had put a new kind of hook into him; the deejays called them “jazz.” By the time he was 16, Broom was attending New York’s prestigious High School of Music and Art and gigging with pianist Al Haig; at 21, he was touring with Sonny Rollins. 

By that time, Broom had also signed with GRP Records and recorded 1981’s Clean Sweep, which (along with 1984’s Livin’ for the Beat) was a crossover jazz success. But rather than settle into a comfortable career in the emerging genre of “smooth jazz,” Broom took the road less traveled: He left the New York scene behind and established himself in Chicago. 

In the 1990s Broom formed the Deep Blue Organ Trio and recorded two quartet records before deciding to make a guitar-bass-drums trio his primary outlet. He solidified a lineup with bassist Dennis Carroll and drummer Kobie Watkins with 2006’s Song and Dance. But a chance to go on tour in 2014 with Steely Dan, coupled with the passionate advocacy of his then-drummer Makaya McCraven, brought Broom back to the soulful Hammond organ sound he loved.

Thus it was that the Organi-Sation was born, with Broom enlisting noted organist Ben Paterson (r.) and Watkins (l.) to develop the band’s joyful sound. After four intensive years, that sound was finally documented on 2018’s Soul Fingers. The live compilation Jamalot, however, demonstrates that the trio’s empathy and deep pocket were present from the very start.

Madeleine Peyroux | "Let's Walk"

Acclaimed jazz singer, songwriter and interpreter Madeleine Peyroux will release Let’s Walk, her first album in six years, on June 28th. The new songs present sides of the artist only touched on in the past. The collection is her most diverse, intimate and bold work as she shares thoughtful and revealing views on personal and societal concerns. Peyroux offers hope through understanding and community by using one of our most unifying means, music.

Let’s Walk is Peyroux’s ninth album and the first in which she co-wrote every song with longtime collaborator Jon Herington. As evidenced from her new single “Please Come On Inside”, Peyroux has empathy and wisdom to impart. While many of us have lost a connection or a relationship with someone close due to these polarizing and divisive times, Peyroux offers a way back through compassion and kindness.

Stylistically, Let’s Walk may be Peyroux’s most varied yet cohesive collection thus far. She incorporates elements of jazz, folk, gospel blues, Americana, chamber pop, Latin rhythms and a little playful humor into the mix. The songs are interwoven around contemplative, observational and confessional narratives, making it the deepest and most substantive album of her illustrious catalog.

The title track was inspired by the mass mobilization of everyday people standing up and unifying for civil rights around the world in 2020. The stunning “How I Wish” is soul-searching awakening in response to the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery. On “Nothing Personal,” she addresses sexual assault – both her own, and countless others, with her aching and poignant vocals.

As much depth and soul searching as Let’s Walk presents, there is a lighter side as well. The playful “Me and the Mosquito” features a Caribbean-infused rhythm and vocal as Peyroux tackles the ever-elusive pest that will not let her sleep at night. She closes the album with a humorous, while somewhat serious advisory, via the tongue-in-cheek, speedy spoken-word track “Take Care”, inspired by the dub poet and activist Linton Kwesi Johnson.

Let’s Walk finds Madeleine Peyroux in the most freely creative place of her celebrated career. With eight albums and worldwide acclaim, she refuses to stand still as she arrives at a new artistic and creative plateau. True artists always continue to move forward, much like the album title suggests.

Jose James Returns with Soulful Masterpiece "1978"

Jose James, the versatile and boundary-pushing artist renowned for his captivating blend of jazz, hip-hop, and R&B, marks his 12th studio album with the release of "1978". Since his debut in 2008 with "The Dreamer", James has continuously pushed the boundaries of music, garnering critical acclaim and a dedicated fanbase worldwide.

Born in Minneapolis and raised in New York City, Jose James' musical journey began at a young age. Influenced by his father's record collection, which featured jazz legends like John Coltrane and Miles Davis, James developed a deep appreciation for music early on. He honed his skills at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in Manhattan, where he immersed himself in the vibrant music scene of the city.

With a voice described as "buttery smooth" and "emotionally resonant", Jose James quickly made a name for himself in the music industry. His debut album, "The Dreamer", was met with widespread acclaim, establishing him as a rising star in the jazz world. Since then, James has continued to captivate audiences with his soul-stirring vocals and innovative approach to music.

"1978" represents a new chapter in Jose James' musical journey. Produced by James himself and featuring an all-star ensemble, the album is a celebration of the rich musical tapestry of the late 1970s. Drawing inspiration from icons like Quincy Jones, Michael Jackson, and Leon Ware, "1978" pays homage to the golden era of R&B while infusing it with James' unique blend of jazz and hip-hop.

With its socially conscious lyrics and infectious grooves, "1978" pulsates with the feel-good vibes reminiscent of Marvin Gaye, Prince, and Stevie Wonder. Each track on the album is a testament to James' evolution as an artist, showcasing his versatility and creativity.

Listeners can expect a captivating musical journey as "1978" takes them on a nostalgic ride through the sounds of yesteryears, while still delivering a fresh and contemporary vibe. With its irresistible melodies and soul-stirring vocals, "1978" is sure to captivate audiences and solidify Jose James' status as one of the most innovative artists of our time.

Dee C. Lee Returns with Soulful Album "Just Something"

Iconic soul singer Dee C. Lee makes a triumphant return with her highly anticipated album, "Just Something," set to release on Acid Jazz. Following the success of her recent single "Walk Away" and the double-sider "Don’t Forget About Love" / "Be There In The Morning," this album marks a significant comeback for one of the UK's most revered soul voices.

Dee C. Lee is no stranger to the music scene, having made her mark with The Style Council, Wham!, Slam Slam, and Animal Nightlife, as well as a successful solo career, including the Top 3 hit "See The Day." "Just Something" is her first new record since 1998 and her debut with Acid Jazz, promising to captivate listeners with its soulful melodies and timeless charm.

The album comprises 11 tracks, including nine original compositions co-written by Dee herself, a song by her daughter Leah Weller, and two inspired covers. Produced by Sir Tristan Longworth, "Just Something" features Dee's signature vocals set against luxurious horns, percussion, and keys, blending heritage soul with a disco backdrop.

While collaborating with others in the making of the record, "Just Something" reflects Dee's unique style and direction. Her vocals, characterized by their brightness and passion, take center stage, drawing inspiration from influences like Chaka Khan and Jean Carn while retaining her distinct sound.

Lead single "Walk Away," co-written with former Style Council member Mick Talbot, captures the essence of classic Motown with Talbot's piano and Wurlitzer playing adding depth to the track. Another standout is "Everyday Summer," penned by Leah Weller, showcasing Dee's versatility and emotional depth.

Tracks like "Back In Time," "Don’t Forget About Love," and "How To Love" evoke nostalgia for Dee's musical journey, from her Wham! days to The Style Council's jazzy soul. Meanwhile, "Anything" radiates optimism, and "For Once In My Life" exudes commercial appeal with its funky bassline.

The album also features two covers, "Be There In The Morning" by Renee Geyer and "I Love You" by Don Blackman, both suggested by Acid Jazz's Eddie Piller. Dee infuses these songs with her own flair, creating vibrant interpretations that pay homage to their original vibe.

Dee's collaboration with Acid Jazz dates back to The Style Council days, and "Just Something" marks a significant milestone in their enduring partnership. With this album, Dee C. Lee solidifies her place at the forefront of UK soul music, showcasing her timeless talent and captivating presence.

"Just Something" is available for pre-order on LP and CD from the Acid Jazz Store, with all pre-orders personally signed by Dee C. Lee. A limited edition blue vinyl LP is exclusively available from Acid Jazz.

Lainie Kazan's Iconic 1960s Albums Finally Available for Streaming

After nearly 60 years, the timeless vocal albums of Lainie Kazan, the Emmy, Tony, and Golden Globe-nominated stage and screen star, are now streaming on all digital platforms. Originally released by MGM Records in the 1960s, these collector's items, including "Right Now!," "Lainie Kazan," "The Love Album," and "Love Is Lainie," have been remastered from the original tapes and are finally available for a new generation of music lovers to enjoy.

Known for her captivating performances on Broadway and in Hollywood, Lainie Kazan's albums showcase her ravishing vocal range and exuberant personality. From beloved standards to distinguished discoveries, each track is a testament to Kazan's unparalleled talent and enduring legacy.

Produced by industry veterans such as Don Costa and Peter Daniels, these albums feature a who's who of top-shelf arrangers and producers, delivering a rich tapestry of sound that befits a star of Kazan's caliber.

"Right Now!" (1966), Lainie's debut album, sets the stage with rousing renditions of classic tunes. Opening with a dynamic "Blues in the Night," the LP features two songs from the rarely staged Harold Arlen and Truman Capote Broadway musical "House of Flowers." Kazan's haunting interpretation of the traditional folk song "Black Is the Color of My True Love's Hair" is transformed into a tempestuous showstopper, while the album's centerpiece is a dazzling rhythmical version of Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley's "Feeling Good."

"Lainie Kazan" (1966), her second album released that year, is anchored by treasured songs from Broadway and Hollywood, including selections from "My Fair Lady" and "Meet Me in St. Louis." Notable tracks include the lively "Lark Day" co-written by The New Christy Minstrels guitarist Art Podell, and the tender ballad "(We'll Meet) In the Spring," written just for her by Peter Daniels.

"The Love Album" (1967) is the most lush and sweeping collection of the four albums. The strings echo Lainie's emotions as she dives into paeans to doomed romance like "I'm a Fool to Want You" and "If You Go Away." Notable tracks include the lightly swinging "Sweet Talk" and the sensuous delight "Take It Slow, Joe."

"Love Is Lainie" (1968) marks an appealing shift from the standards and show music of the first records to more contemporary material, all rendered with that trademark Lainie flair. Notable tracks include her bravura performance of Bobby Hebb's "Sunny" and the rare psychedelia entry in the Kazan canon, "Flower Child."

Lainie Kazan is the embodiment of the word "entertainer" - an artist who has reached the pinnacle in virtually every area of performance. Ms. Kazan began in the Broadway musical Funny Girl, where she played a Ziegfeld showgirl and understudied the leading lady, Barbra Streisand. She finally got her chance to perform the title role a year and a half after its Broadway opening. Lainie performed the lead role twice in one day, and received accolades that launched her extraordinary career.

Lainie has also appeared on Broadway stage in The Government Inspector, with Tony Randall; My Favorite Year, with Tim Curry (Tony Award nomination); and produced and starred in the Ethel Merman tribute, Doin' What Comes Natur'lly. Her regional credits include: A Little Night Music, The Rink, Man of La Mancha, The Rose Tattoo, Gypsy, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Hello Dolly!, Fiddler on the Roof, Orpheus Descending, Plaza Suite, and Bermuda Avenue Triangle, with Joseph Bologna and Renée Taylor.

Her film credits include: My Favorite Year (Golden Globe nomination), Francis Ford Coppola's One from the Heart, Steven Spielberg's Harry and the Hendersons, Paul Bartel's Lust in the Dust, Delta Force, Beaches, The Cemetery Club, The Big Hit, The Associate, What's Cooking?, Bratz, Adam Sandler's You Don't Mess with the Zohan and Pixels, and My Big Fat Greek Wedding 1-3. She recently appeared in Tango Shalom, the #1 indie film release of the summer in 2021.

On television, Lainie's credits include: "St. Elsewhere" (Emmy nomination), "The Paper Chase" (CableACE Award nomination), "The Nanny," "Strong Medicine," "Veronica's Closet," "Touched by an Angel," "Will & Grace," "My Big Fat Greek Life," "Boston Legal," "Ugly Betty," "Desperate Housewives," "Modern Family", and "Grey's Anatomy." Most recently she guest starred on "The Kominsky Method" and "Fuller House."

Lainie has performed in nightclubs, grand hotels, and concert halls around the world. She partnered with Hugh Hefner and opened "Lainie's Room" and "Lainie's Room East" at the Los Angeles and New York Playboy Clubs. In addition to the MGM recordings, she produced her most recent albums, In the Groove and Body and Soul, with David Benoit for the Music Masters label. Recently she performed to sold-out houses at Feinstein's at Vitello's in Los Angeles, 54 Below in New York, Vibrato in Bel Air, and The Purple Room in Palm Springs.

Lainie serves on the board for the Young Musicians Foundation, AIDS Project LA, and B'nai B'rith. In 2008, she had the honor of being a Grand Marshall for the Salute to Israel Parade in New York. Lainie is a graduate of Hofstra University with a B.A. in Speech and Drama, with a minor in Education. She is an adjunct professor at Hofstra University's School of Communications, where she is on the advisory board. She is also on the board of the Screen Actors Guild and The Young Musician's Society. Lainie studied with Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse and studied voice with Joseph Scott for 20 years. She also studied with Lee Strasberg for 5 years and is a lifetime member of The Actors Studio. Since 2012, Lainie has been an Adjunct Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where she teaches the course "Acting for the Singer." In 2020, she joined the faculty of NYU, teaching an online class.

Perceive its Beauty, Acknowledge its Grace by multi-instrumentalist Shabaka Hutchings

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Perceive its Beauty, Acknowledge its Grace by multi-instrumentalist Shabaka Hutchings is, in a sense, a debut album. And yet, the album also serves as a reintroduction to the artist, a levitating, stunning work chock full of the lessons he’s learned over the course of his life and career. And perhaps, most importantly, it represents the spirit of exploration that the artist is most tapped into these days.

London-born, Hutchings spent much of his childhood in Barbados. Beginning at age nine, he studied the clarinet, playing in calypso bands while studying classical repertoire, often practicing over hip hop beats by artists such as Nas, as well as to the music native to Barbados. He imparted that at the time, “The idea of being a particular ‘type’ of musician who limited themselves by genre was totally alien to me and my peers, it was just about playing with skill and dedication, and whether music moved me or left me cold.”

Consequently, after studying clarinet at Guildhall School of Music from 2004-2008, he collaborated on a kaleidoscopic range of projects: recording and/or touring with Mulatu Astatke and the Heliocentrics, Soweto Kinch, Floating Points and Courtney Pine amongst many other bands, as well as being a part of the London Improvisers Orchestra. He’s also composed pieces for the BBC Concert Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, Ligeti Quartet, and performed the Copland Clarinet Concerto with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Britten Sinfonietta as well as the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra.

Over the course of the past decade, the lion’s share of his touring and recorded work has been with three bands: Sons of Kemet, The Comet is Coming and Shabaka and the Ancestors. “In these formations,” he shared, “I’ve been able to display a fundamental approach to creative practice in different contexts spanning Afro-Caribbean fusion, London dance music club culture and the rich South African jazz tradition - all within the freedom afforded by the legacy of the American ‘jazz’ tradition.” That approach reflects a mantra he absorbed early in his life.

“My primary school teacher told me ‘the music isn’t hard, just practice it mechanically then relax and let your soul shine through’. This is an adage which I’ve kept throughout my life of learning how the musics and instruments of different cultures relate to my personal vision of sound.”

His musical exploration includes employing a variety of flutes, including the ancient Japanese Shakuhachi, which he started playing in 2020 during the pandemic. “Since then, it has slowly changed the scope of my musical inner landscape and drawn me towards a multitude of other instruments in the flute family,” he explained. “As more flutes have been added to my arsenal including Mayan Teotihuacan drone flutes, Brazilian Pifanos, Native American flutes and South American Quenas, I’ve started to appreciate the underlying principles that cause these instruments to resonate most fully and use this understanding to form a concept allowing me to freely move between instruments.”

On New Year’s Day 2023, in the wake of the release of his 2022 debut EP, Afrikan Culture (which notably featured the artist primarily on flutes), Shabaka announced that beginning in 2024 he’d take a hiatus from playing the saxophone publicly. He clarified in July 2023 on his Instagram page his intention to cease playing with bands in which the saxophone was his primary instrument (including The Comet Is Coming, Sons of Kemet and Shabaka and the Ancestors).

For the flute-forward album Perceive its Beauty, Acknowledge its Grace, Hutchings tapped into a remarkable cadre of players, including percussionist Carlos Niño and bassist Esperanza Spalding. Vocalists including Saul Williams and Lianne La Havas contributed to “Managing My Breath, What Fear Had Become” and “Kiss Me Before I Forget”, respectively. Floating Points, with whom Shabaka shared a stage with for their performance of Promises at the Hollywood Bowl, provided additional production on the track “I’ll Do Whatever You Want".

“I invited a bunch of musicians I’ve met and admired over the past few years of touring throughout the United States to collaborate and everyone said yes, which I constantly find breathtaking,” he disclosed. His aim was to gather the musicians at Rudy Van Gelder’s historic studios, which he says “informed the sound of so many seminal jazz albums that have shaped my musical aptitude. We played with no headphones or separation in the room so we could capture the atmosphere of simply playing together in the space without a technological intermediary. After recording hours of inspired interactions, I set to work producing an album from the material.”

Josh Johnson’s latest solo record, Unusual Object

Josh Johnson’s latest solo record, Unusual Object is a world of sound. Johnson’s fantastically processed saxophone and subtle samples and grooves give this work a sort of cyberpunk ambient jazz feel that occasionally crosses into realms akin to classic Warp Records and Jon Hassell’s dreamworld tonalities. But however fantastical and dreamlike Unusal Object may be, these qualities only serve to bring the listener closer to Johnson, to his breath, his sense of song. What, after all, could be more intimate than sitting inside someone’s fantasies and dreams?  

Johnson executes this all with an indelible elegance, establishing him as a worthy contemporary of fellow modern avant-garde composers like Lea Bertucci, Ian William Craig, and Kelly Moran. Like the latter’s carefully considered prepared piano compositions, Unusual Object is stately, personal, and patently modern.  

Johnson is a highly in-demand collaborator, working often with Makaya McCraven, Marquis Hill and The Chicago Underground Quartet. He produced and played on Meshell Ndegeocello’s Grammy-winning The Omnichord Real Book and worked for many years as musical director for Leon Bridges. He’s appeared on recordings by Broken Bells, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Harry Styles and his playing shines brilliantly on the Jeff Parker ETA Quartet’s Mondays at the Enfield Tennis Academy. Johnson indeed is an indelible part of the Los Angeles scene that gave shape to André 3000’s audaciously transcendent New Blue Sun. But Johnson is no mere supporting character. 

Last year, he made a change. Pulling away from some of his more rigid gigs, Johnson chose to venture further into the realms of his own playing and to further sharpen his own compositional voice. Unusual Object, Johnson says, “is a development and documentation of a more personal world of sound.” This development has been ongoing, for sure, but often in the context of other people’s music. With Unusual Object Johnson asks: “What’s it like for me to create the context for my sound, to frame it myself?”

The answer is the spare but endlessly engaging Unusual Object, a work of futuristic jazz and modern composition that will appeal to fans of everything from Oneohtrix Point Never to Shabaka Hutchings, from Plaid to Ornette Coleman.

Josh Johnson is a saxophonist, composer, multi-instrumentalist, and Grammy Award-winning producer. His second solo album, Unusual Object, a striking work of futuristic jazz and modern composition, will be released April 5 on Northern Spy Records. This spare work for processed saxophone and subtle samples shows Johnson further sharpening his unique compositional voice. Unusual Object, Johnson says, “is a development and documentation of a more personal world of sound. What’s it like for me to create the context for my sound, to frame it myself?” 

His solo debut Freedom Exercise (Northern Spy) was featured in Rolling Stone’s Best Music of 2020 and Bandcamp’s Best Jazz Albums of 2020. Pitchfork called the record “excellent, daringly melodic” and PostGenre praised it as “a songwriting marvel”.

Johnson is a regular collaborator with some of contemporary music’s most innovative artists, including Jeff Parker, Makaya McCraven, Nate Mercereau, Marquis Hill, and Kiefer. Parker’s widely-acclaimed 2022 record Mondays at the Enfield Tennis Academy features Johnson on saxophone and effects as part of the longstanding quartet. This is the most recent in a series of Parker’s records to highlight Johnson, with the latter also contributing saxophone and synths to 2016’s The New Breed and 2020’s Suite for Max Brown. 

Between 2018 and 2022 Johnson held the role of Musical Director for soul singer Leon Bridges, with whom he also played keyboards and saxophone. During his time with Bridges, Johnson performed throughout Europe, North America, Asia and Australia, with performances at the Hollywood Bowl, Glastonbury and the Sydney Opera House. Along with Nate Walcott (Bright Eyes), Johnson arranged 14 of Bridges’ songs for a performance with London’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, also contributing a choral arrangement and directing the concert. 

Johnson produced and appears on Meshell Ndegeocello’s 2023 album 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘖𝘮𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬 which was awarded the 2024 Grammy for Best Alternative Jazz Album. He can also be heard on wide-ranging records by artist such as Harry Styles, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Moonchild, Broken Bells, Miley Cyrus, Louis Cole and Carlos Niño, among others. He currently resides in Los Angeles.

CHARLES LLOYD | "THE SKY WILL STILL BE THERE TOMORROW"

Renowned saxophonist Charles Lloyd marks his 86th birthday with a momentous musical celebration as he unveils his latest masterpiece, "The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow." Released today, this majestic double album showcases Lloyd's enduring brilliance and innovative spirit, reaffirming his status as one of the most significant musicians of the 20th and 21st centuries.

In this captivating release, Lloyd assembles a newly formed quartet featuring the talents of pianist Jason Moran, bassist Larry Grenadier, and drummer Brian Blade. Together, they embark on a mesmerizing musical journey, weaving a tapestry of sound that transcends boundaries and captivates listeners.

"The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow" captures Lloyd at the peak of his powers, delivering a collection of new studio recordings that showcase the depth of his musical vision and the boundless creativity of his ensemble. From intimate ballads to soaring improvisations, each track resonates with emotional depth and artistic integrity, reflecting Lloyd's unparalleled artistry and unwavering commitment to his craft.

With this latest release, Lloyd invites listeners to embark on a sonic exploration that transcends time and space, inviting them to immerse themselves in the beauty and complexity of his musical universe. From the ethereal melodies of "The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow" to the dynamic interplay of the quartet's improvisations, each composition offers a glimpse into Lloyd's unparalleled musical genius.

As we celebrate Charles Lloyd's 86th birthday, "The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow" stands as a testament to his enduring legacy and his unwavering dedication to the pursuit of musical excellence. This double album is not only a celebration of Lloyd's remarkable career but also a testament to the enduring power of jazz to inspire, uplift, and transform lives.

Join Charles Lloyd and his quartet on a musical odyssey unlike any other as they invite you to explore the limitless possibilities of sound and imagination. "The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow" is now available on all major streaming platforms.

Raffi Garabedian | "The Crazy Dog"

Raffi Garabedian has released the first single, "A Mother's Letter," from his forthcoming album The Crazy Dog. Raffi says: "A Mother's Letter" was the first song I composed for this project. Adapted from a poem my grandmother wrote, the melodic and harmonic structure emotes a somber mood, embodying her painful life growing up as an orphan, fleeing Turkey during the Genocide, and carrying this trauma into a foreign land where she struggled to raise her family. To me, the words reflect her love and distress for my father.

(excerpt) “The elderly mother, wearing winter on her head, and her feet placed at the edge of the grave, lying on her creaky armchair ...Do you remember my son, the crazy days of your youth? ...I was tearfully screaming with my sleepless eyes, as to who can take me close to my son who has lost his way...” 

For Berkeley-reared tenor saxophonist Raffi Garabedian music is both a calling and a vehicle for exploring his family’s star-crossed past. A highly regarded improviser who’s performed and recorded with artists such as Brad Mehldau Trio drummer Jorge Rossy, bassist Ben Street, saxophonist Dayna Stephens, and R&B legend Johnny Talbot, Garabedian co-founded the innovative brass band Brass Magic. He is a regular member of the Electric Squeezebox Orchestra and SticklerPhonics with Scott Amendola and Danny Lubin-Laden.

The Crazy Dog, a suite of new music composed and arranged by tenor saxophonist Raffi Garabedian, is both a departure and homecoming for the Bay Area musician. Writing for voice for the first time, Garabedian has sourced the project’s lyrics from his father and grandmother’s writings about their lives in Turkish Armenia and the United States. These now-lyricized writings—from “A Mother’s Letter” (And her feet, the elderly mother / Her feet place at the edge wearing winter on her head) to “March 17, 1927” (I arrived into this world / Kicking and screaming)—tell the family’s story of love, despair, displacement, survival, and resilience as they are violently uprooted from their home during the 1915 Armenian Genocide, and forced to emigrate to America, a journey that extended into 1921. Working from his grandmother’s poetry and plays, and his father’s short stories and memoir, Garabedian has honed his forebears’ words into an album of narrative poignancy and beauty.  

This project is intersectional in its language: Garabedian has translated his grandmother’s native Western Armenian, put it into conversation with his father’s English, and adapted both to fit his musical voice through composition and rearrangement of their words to form lyrics. The Crazy Dog is also clearly intergenerational, with Garabedian adding his second-generation American Armenian voice to his family’s in this three-century-spanning project. Through the octet’s lush instrumentation of female voice, flute, clarinet, tenor saxophone, trombone, vibraphone, bass, and drums, Garabedian has produced a sonic means of conveying his deep connectedness to his family’s experiences, interpreted through his own musical lens and artistry.

Julian Lage's "Speak To Me" Embarks on a Musical Journey Beyond Words

Today marks the release of Julian Lage's highly anticipated fourth album on Blue Note Records, "Speak To Me." Produced by acclaimed musician and producer Joe Henry, the album is a vivid and wondrously textured exploration of American music, offering a series of dispatches from Lage's ongoing search for narrative beyond words.

With "Speak To Me," Lage takes listeners on a journey through a wide range of musical influences, delighting in the deliberate crossing of wires between genres such as gospel hymns and rural blues, California singer-songwriter sunshine, and skronky jazz. The result is a captivating and immersive sonic experience that showcases Lage's versatility as a musician and composer.

The album features Lage in a variety of settings, from solo acoustic performances to intimate duos and trios, as well as larger ensemble arrangements. Joining Lage on the album are bassist Jorge Roeder and drummer Dave King, along with guest appearances by keyboardists Kris Davis and Patrick Warren, as well as woodwind players.

"Speak To Me" is a testament to Lage's ability to push the boundaries of traditional musical genres while maintaining a deep reverence for American musical traditions. Each track on the album offers a unique perspective on Lage's musical journey, inviting listeners to join him on a quest for meaning and expression through the universal language of music.

From the soulful melodies of gospel-inspired hymns to the improvisational spirit of jazz, "Speak To Me" is a celebration of the diverse and vibrant tapestry of American music. With its rich textures and evocative storytelling, the album speaks volumes without uttering a single word.

"Speak To Me" is available on Blue Note Records. Don't miss your chance to experience Julian Lage's latest musical masterpiece.

Special EFX | "Return To Budapest With Love"

Grammy-nominated world jazz fusion group Special EFX has deep ties to Budapest as co-founder and master percussionist George Jinda was Hungarian as was his frequent songwriting partner Bela "Szakcsi" Lakatos. Along with the band’s co-founder and guitarist Chieli Minucci, the US-based Special EFX returned to Budapest to perform at the famed Petőfi Csarnok twice. Those 1990 and 1992 concerts were recorded by a local Hungarian radio station and are now available digitally and via CD from Chieli Music as the album “Return to Budapest with Love.”

When the concerts took place, there weren’t any plans to release a live album from the shows. In fact, Special EFX’s then label, GRP Records, felt that a live album would cut into sales of the crystalline digital CDs they were releasing at the time. Hungarian jazz fusion supergroup Djabe bandleader/guitarist Attila Egerhazi recently approached Minucci with the idea to release a live collection from the archived recordings.

“I decided it was long overdue to let our fans hear a live CD recording. Years earlier, we’d lobbied for a live concert release. At the last minute, our label declined, yet the artist in me just wanted to let folks hear what I heard every night on that stage. Well, all these years later, here it is!” enthused Minucci. 

After listening to the two concerts, Minucci selected ten songs that he felt best captured the collaborative magic between him and Jinda, who passed away in 2002. In the spirit of Special EFX's artistic direction, much of the music on the live album was improvised, particularly the duet pieces featuring Minucci and Jinda.

“This project, which I believe came from two-track to tape recordings, will give our fans a rare glimpse into the duo performances that George and I always included in our shows. Here there are many of them as well as full-band ensemble pieces,” said Minucci.

The full-band ensemble Minucci referenced consisted of him on electric and acoustic guitars, Jinda playing an array of multicultural percussion instruments (percussion, African talking drum, shakers, caxixi, tuned temple blocks, energy chime, crotales), Szakcsi on acoustic piano and keyboards, drummer Lionel Cordew and bassist Gerald Veasley.    

Prior to the two Hungarian concert dates, Szakcsi had never performed with Special EFX although he had a lengthy history of writing with Jinda.

“A real treat for us was the inclusion of the famous jazz pianist and composer Bela ‘Szakcsi’ Lakatos who’d never actually performed our music before. Fans of the group will remember Szakcsi as co-composer of many earlier-period Special EFX compositions. With only a soundcheck to rehearse, the band performed for about 2,000 excited fans that evening,” said Minucci who reunited with Szakcsi for another Hungarian concert date five years ago prior to the keyboardist’s death in 2022. 

“Return to Budapest with Love” opens with “Looking for Seventh Heaven,” a fiery Szakcsi and Jinda composition that Minucci describes as influenced by The Police and Sting. A rare live version of the 1986 album title track duo piece, “Slice of Life” contains a digital-delay loop effect that Minucci used quite often around the time of the live recording. The album contains the only existing version of the Minucci-Jinda duet “Forever,” an ethereal exploration piloted by Minucci’s frenetic guitar. 

Minucci said that he and Szakcsi improvised the impassioned guitar and piano dalliance, “Chance Encounter,” “spontaneously in the middle of the concert. This is the only time Szakcsi and I ever played it.”

“The Toy Shop” is faithful to the studio recording of the track that Minucci describes as another meditative loop song. Named for someone Jinda knew, the fusion foray “Sabariah” was a concert favorite from Special EFX’s early touring days. The sprawling journey that is “Nature Boy Pt. 1 & 2” clocks in generously at more than ten minutes.  

“A classic we played at all our shows, ‘Nature Boy’ beautifully demonstrates George’s talent on the African talking drum, not to mention my own Pete Townsend-influenced strumming. I still perform this as a solo piece at the end of Special EFX concerts,” said Minucci. 

The brisk “Uptown East” was one of Special EFX’s first singles. At one of the Hungarian concerts, Special EFX hadn’t planned to play “Festival,” yet spontaneously Jinda and Minucci broke into the tune, and it made it onto the album. “Return to Budapest with Love” closes with the first composition the band ever recorded, “Sambuca Nights,” which was issued as their first single in 1982. The track displays Minucci’s fervent finger work on acoustic guitar. 

Special EFX’s surviving member Minucci keeps the band’s 42-year legacy relevant and thriving via prodigious recording projects that are supported by busy concert itineraries, including treks with a revolving cast of special guests who join the guitarist under the name Special EFX All-Stars. A highly respected and in-demand guitarist known for his blazing speed, dexterous technique and meticulous detail, Minucci has performed or recorded with a plethora of pop, R&B, rock and jazz stars, the list of which includes Celine Dion, Lou Reed, Lionel Richie, Jennifer Lopez, Jewel, Marc Anthony, Michael Bolton, Eartha Kitt, Kirk Whalum, Maysa, Jeff Lorber, Norman Brown, Marion Meadows, Mindi Abair, Rick Braun and Omar Hakim. He’s also a three-time Emmy-winning composer who can be heard on films such as “No Country for Old Men,” “Bowfinger,” “Legally Blonde” and “Panic.” A longtime New York City resident who lives close to Broadway, Minucci’s whimsical theater work includes classic live productions of “Peter Pan,” “Dora the Explorer,” “Thomas the Tank Engine,” and others.

  

Yosef Gutman Levitt | "The World And Its People"

In an absorbing follow-up to Soul Song, his recent collaboration with guitar great Lionel Loueke (“a scintillating and sun-struck combination of ringing, gentle jazz and percussive African highlife that can only make you smile” — freq.org.uk), bassist and composer Yosef Gutman Levitt of Jerusalem is back with a new and invigorating release: The World and Its People, available from Levitt’s recently formed Soul Song imprint.

Leading a drum-less, chamber-jazz-newgrass foursome influenced in part by The Goat Rodeo Sessions (with Chris Thile, Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer and Stuart Duncan), Levitt draws from deep within his soul on a collection of beautiful melodies, in deeply felt renderings from all involved.

The tracks are Levitt originals cowritten and arranged by producer Gilad Ronen, with sterling contributions from Levitt’s close musical associates Tal Yahalom on nylon- and steel-string acoustic guitars, Omri Mor on piano and Yoed Nir on cello. Yahalom and Levitt have made two captivating duo albums, Tsuf Harim and Tal Yasis; Mor released his own Soul Song title earlier in 2023 called Melodies of Light and appeared with Levitt on the 2022 trio release Upside Down Mountain. “Everybody worked so hard in bringing creative ideas to this session,” Levit recalls of The World and Its People. “The music is very much inspired by our prior interactions—I feel excited about taking our conversation into different styles and opportunities to connect and communicate.”

The album was mixed by Richard King, whose Grammy-winning work on The Goat Rodeo Sessions has served as an inspiration to Levitt and his colleagues. “The musical color that those musicians bring to the world is something pure and delicate and honest and lovely and luscious and warm,” Levitt remarks of Goat Rodeo. “These are the qualities I wanted to surround myself with: creating a classical crossover, dipping into country, using tools of the language to bring a light, bouncy, folky aspect to the music that I typically play, which is improvised jazz.”

A religiously observant Jew, Levitt has endowed all his music with a sense of spiritual searching and depth, whether he is interpreting Hasidic nigunim on such releases as Ashreinu and Chabad Al Hazman or exploring original music with a jazz trio on Upside Down Mountain. On The World and Its People he focuses again on originals, animated by truths gleaned from Hasidic teachings. “All of my albums begin with a notion of spiritual development, a connection to God and those around me, and how to translate the various things that I’m working on, internally and externally, into melody and music.” He explains the album title as follows: “When we make a space for the world, and we make a space for its people, we infuse it with light and we make an impact—not just socially, but through being honest and open, doing what we’re meant to be doing.”

As on previous releases, Levitt imbues The World and Its People with the sound of upright bass as well as his unique five-string acoustic bass guitar (built by Harvey Citron, Steve Swallow’s luthier), on which he’s developed a signature voice: a warm, singing, bell-like high-register tone with a focus on simple, direct, expressive melodies. The solos and unison passages on the two advance singles, “Awakening” and the title track, cut through the ensemble with a singing legato that is emotionally rich, intense yet delicate. “It’s very precious music,” Levitt says. “It’s very alive when I listen to it—I feel a magical sense of life and humanity and relationships, and I hear the depth and excitement of the other players in the room.”

“Awakening” evokes not only Levitt’s writing process (waking up first thing and improvising melodies into a voice recorder), but also the inner meaning of the Aramaic phrases itaruta diletata and itaruta dile’eyla, “awakening from below” and “awakening from above.” “Awakening from below,” Levitt explains, “can mean making a space for hearing a friend, paying attention to the world around us, inviting the world around us in, which is the idea behind the album.”

Levitt launched the Soul Song label with a set of core principles and values in mind: “The goal is to create music, and to create a label that stimulates others to do the same—to make their soul song. To create music that’s intimate and honest, improvised, and Jewish if you will.

What makes Jewish music, to me, is a profound honesty, stripping away anything that’s not needed. That’s the work I want to do with the artists on this label—whether they’re Jewish or not is not important. What’s important is that the music is inspired by something higher. I want to work with artists who are interested in getting to that place.” Releases with eminent guitarists Gilad Hekselman and Ralph Towner are soon to follow.

Thee Sinseers – Sinseerly Yours

To say that Thee Sinseers play oldies would be a misnomer. Fronted by bandleader and son of East Los Angeles Joey Quinones, the group has quietly chipped away at the sounds of R&B and soul for the last half-decade. Quinones and his crew have continuously created a distinctive vibe that explores all aspects of a timeless genre, bringing together their interpretation of music through an unmistakable modern lens.

With their most recent effort, the aptly titled Sinseerly Yours (Colemine 2023), the band recorded most of the album live in the studio. With Quinones on vocals and keys, vocalist Adriana Flores, Christopher Manjarrez on bass, Francisco Flores on guitar, Bryan Ponce on guitar and vocals, Luis Carpio on drums and vocals, saxophonists Eric Johnson and Steve Surman, and Jose Luis Jimenez on trombone, Thee Sinseers achieves their most fully realized sound to date.

All of the album’s stunning tracks were recorded in a converted studio space in Rialto, California, known as Second Hand Sounds. The converted studio space, which used to be a dentist’s office, allowed the group to experiment with their sound like never before—this time, the group managed to take a series of big swings, only to emerge with a fuller, more pronounced version of themselves. Despite those new strides, the band remains wholly committed to its sonic aesthetic while injecting its brand of vibrant 21st-century cool.

Of course, the group has never been the type to shy away from their influences as they expertly toggle between ’60s pop vis-à-vie early Beatles records to obscure dancehall Jamaican tunes––all fully extrapolated and reinterpreted through modern Chicano soul sound that the group has built their everlasting repertoire on. ~ firstexperiencerecords.com

Quinones and bandmates have continued to apply what they’ve learned from their previous releases and their relentless touring schedule throughout the country. It’s clear here that the work is paying off, putting to practice their musical chops thoroughly with all members expertly honing their sound. The melting pot of ideas is showcased with incredibly lush orchestrations and arrangements, married with pitch-perfect harmonies, allowing the group to further solidify themselves in the pantheon of the Southern Californian songbook.

Kaidi Tatham | "Fusion Moves"

Reel People Music introduces a thrilling new series, Fusion Moves, aimed at breathing fresh vitality into its esteemed catalog of classic tracks. Leading the charge in this innovative venture is the exceptionally talented Kaidi Tatham, known for his work with Bugz In The Attic, Amy Winehouse, and Slum Village.

In the inaugural edition of Fusion Moves, Tatham takes the reins, infusing his signature style into a selection of beloved Reel People Music releases. His approach is immediately evident, with the opening track, Sebb Junior feat. Paula’s "All Of My Life," seamlessly blending organic beats, polished horns, and immersive keys. As Paula's vocals beautifully attest, magic unfolds with each note.

Further down the lineup, Tatham's magic touch revitalizes Reel People feat. Mica Paris’ "I Want To Thank You" with elegant funk and boogie bounce, while his reimagining of The Realm x Atjazz x Kelli Sae’s "On The Road" adds a carefree jazz-funk vibe, complete with sweet synth solos and guitar licks. Throughout the series, Tatham effortlessly glides between moods and movements, showcasing his versatility and creativity.

From the infectious groove of Sebb Junior feat. Muhsinah’s "Special" to the sultry swagger of AAries’ "Don’t Give It Up," each track receives Tatham’s expert treatment, elevating them to new heights while maintaining their soulful authenticity. With Fusion Moves, listeners can expect fresh twists on timeless classics, promising a journey filled with soulful resonance and musical innovation.

Stay tuned for more Fusion Moves releases in the months to come, as Reel People Music continues to reimagine quality songs with a soulful heart.