PERCUSSIONIST SAMUEL TORRES RELEASES NEW ALBUM - ALEGRIA

The new recording, Alegria from percussionist, composer, and bandleader Samuel Torres (from Bogota, Colombia, and based in Astoria, NY), is a celebration of life! As a bandleader Torres has released four recordings, including the much-heralded albums Skin Tones, Yaoundé and Regreso (with Nueva Filarmonía Orchestra from Colombia). His fourth recording, Forced Displacement, was a searing commentary on the sociopolitical situation in Colombia.  In stark contrast, Alegria, which means "happiness" or "joy," presents eight original compositions that captivate and inspire. Torres elaborates, "in these somewhat dark and divisive times we need light and joy, and we need to share these things with each other to combat hate. For us (Latinos) dancing is vital for celebration, and that's what this record is all about. It is an inclusive celebration for the teenagers, the kids, the crazy aunts and uncles, parents and grandparents, brothers and sisters . . . everyone! This music has many elements and ingredients, but it is rhythm and dance that brings it all together, as it is light and joy that brings people together."

With a New Jazz Works Grant from Chamber Music America in his pocket (Torres holding the distinction of being a two-time recipient of the award), Torres put his formidable composer's mind and his boundless hopefulness to work, creating an album that would awaken the positivity and jubilation in the listener, and serve as a testament to the resilience of the human spirit. The music on Alegria is inspired by music of the urban and dance scene of Bogota, and embodies all of the love, vitality, joie de vivre, and magnificent talent, which Torres and his ace band, comprised of many of NYC's finest musicians, brought to every note. 

The album's co-producer, Kabir Sehgal, said of working with Torres on Alegria, "It has indeed been a joy to produce Alegria with maestro Torres. He is a one-of-a-kind, irrepressibly magnificent artist who taps his whole being for his music. He's a marvel, and his music is a model for us all." - Kabir Sehgal is a New York Times bestselling author and Multi-Grammy & Latin Grammy Award winning producer

More on the music on Alegria with Samuel Torres: Torres, well versed in dozens of folkloric traditions from around the world, offers a kaleidoscopic of melody, harmony, and of course, rhythm. During the course of this invigorating album you will hear rhythms from his native Colombia (cumbia on "Preludio a un Abrazo," and with more indigenous influence on the title track), as well as Boogaloo from NYC (on "Barretto Power"), Guaguanco - Cuban Descarga (on "Anga," dedicated to the memory of Cuban percussionist Miguel "Anga" Diaz), Bolero, with bachata influences (on "Bolero Para Raquel"), Salsa Choke (a famous style that mixes contemporary Urban Spoken Word over a Cuban Pilon pattern (on "Salsa, Jazz y Choke"), funk mixed with a blend of Central African rhythms and Peruvian Lando (on "The Strength to Love"), and Ecuadorian and Colombian Bambuco (on one of the album's prettiest tunes, "Little Grasshopper").

1. Salsa, Jazz y Choke - There is contemporary urban style of music in Colombia called Salsa Choke, became famous because the Colombian National Soccer team would dance to these sounds at The World Cup. Salsa Choke hails from the Pacific coast, where the strongest Afro-Colombian community is based. Basically, the music incorporates rap over a Cuban Pilon loop. Some people love it, some don't, but much of the aesthetic is borrowed from hip-hop, and there is often a social protest aspect to the lyrics. I loved the groove so I thought why not make it more interesting. In my composition process I frequently use simple motifs as a jumping off point. Solos: Marshall Gilkes (Trombone) , Luis Perdomo (Piano), Samuel Torres (Congas)

2. The Strength to Love - Comprised of two motifs, one that represents a strong African heritage, and the other, love. I decided to name this composition after reading sections of Martin Luther King's "The Strength to Love," as an example of using love to fight hate. Solos: Luis Perdomo (Fender Rhodes), Joel Frahm (Tenor Sax), Samuel Torres (Talking Drum)

3. Barretto Power - A Boogaloo dedicated to my hero Ray Barretto, I think the recordings he did in the early 70's which combined soul, jazz and other elements, were so important and Boogaloo represents the sound of Latin-Urban NYC of that era. Because Barretto was so interested in hip, advanced harmony, this tune is composed with a variety of dissonant harmonic colors. Solos: Ruben Rodriguez (Electric Bass), Ivan Renta (Baritone Sax), Pablo Bencid (Drums)

4. Preludio a un Abrazo - In our human process of reconciliation there are many steps, but I think a strong and sincere hug is the best representation of forgiveness.  The rhythm is a Colombian Bullerengue (the mother of Cumbia), and it's constructed as a transparent piano prelude, and then orchestrated. Solos: Luis Perdomo (Piano). Michael Rodriguez (Trumpet), Will Vinson (Soprano Sax)

5. Little Grasshopper - A tune intended to feature the Kalimba, featuring a simple melody over a 6/8 rhythmic pattern with South American components (maracas llaneras, cajon). The band plays melodic grooves similar to an African choir. In 2018 I began teaching kids in a private school in Manhattan, and basically I'm developing a world-percussion program with them. It has been one of the biggest challenges I've had in my life, and this tune is dedicated to those kids who have become the best teachers I've ever had. Solos: Ivan Renta (Flute), Samuel Torres (Kalimba)

6. Bolero Para Raquel - A bolero inspired on a bachata from Juan Luis Guerra (the reason that the main percussion part is on bongos) that I wrote for my then wife - so it's about love, happy moments, hard times, separation, come backs, a good bye, etc. Solos: Joel Frahm (Tenor Sax)

7. Alegria - A Cumbia, but not in the traditional Colombian way, but more of what they call "Cumbia Chicha," that has elements of South American indigenous music, like Guaino. This composition has a contrasting, expressive section, but at the end it's all about celebrating, happiness and dancing! Solos: Will Vinson (Alto Sax), Luis Perdomo (Piano)

8. Anga - Inspired on the traditional Cuban descarga, this is a tribute to our deep love for Afro-Cuban music, but especially to the memory of Miguel "Anga" Diaz. He was very important in my development as a musician, not only because of his playing, but also because he gave me the opportunity to hang and play with him. When I was a teenager in Bogota, I went through a period of time of feeling insecure about becoming a percussionist. I felt that maybe I didn't have it in me . . . truthfully I wanted to be black and from the Caribbean. Some friends told him how I was feeling, and he hugged me and told me that when we jammed I touched his soul and that I should never doubt myself, but continue studying the congas. I shared the stage with him on many occasions (the last time in Spain just weeks before he passed away), and we always had a special master-alumni relationship. Solos: Marshall Gilkes (Trombone), Ivan Renta (Baritone Sax), Samuel Torres (Congas)

More on Samuel Torres: When the imposing talents of one of today's most versatile Latin jazz artists melds with the organic richness of some of the world's greatest cultural melting pots, the results are guaranteed to be as fresh and virtuosic as they are revealing and magical. Born in Bogata, Colombia, and raised in a bustling and culturally sophisticated metropolis where jazz and classical music share the stage with salsa and an infinite variety of Colombian folkloric idioms. Torres' earliest exposure to music came at home, thanks to an extended family of musicians and easy access to a wealth of Colombian genres and styles that reflect a range of African, indigenous and European influences.

By age 12, Torres was performing with various ensembles, developing techniques that allowed him to quickly adapt to the demands of jazz, pop music and salsa. A classically trained percussionist, he earned a degree in Music Composition from Bogotá's esteemed Universidad Javeriana. Before departing for the U.S., the resourceful young artist had become an established figure, backing leading Colombian performers while serving as an arranger and music director for his country's highly regarded telenovelas and films.

Since arriving in the U.S. in 1999, following in the footsteps of his uncle Edy Martinez (who had risen to fame in the New York City salsa scene in the early 1970's as a pianist and arranger for acclaimed conga player, Ray Barretto - also a major influence), Torres took the scene by storm, quickly becoming an in-demand sideman and valued collaborator for such luminaries as Tito Puente, Paquito D'Rivera, Chick Corea, Alejandro Sanz, Ricky Martin, Don Byron, Richard Bona, Lila Downs, Jeff "Tain" Watts, Angelique Kidjo, Marc Anthony, Rubén Blades, Fonseca, Andrés Cepeda, Thalía, and his country's own international superstar, Shakira. His talents have also been featured in concerts with classical orchestras such as Berlin Symphoniker, City of London Sinfonia, The Boston Pops, Bogotá Philharmonic, Medellín Philharmonic, Delaware University Orchestra, The Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Nashville Symphony.

 

The Andrew Schiller Quintet Releases "Sonoran"

Sonoran, available on Red Piano Records on October 25, is the second album from bassist/composer/bandleader Andrew Schiller featuring an adventurous quintet of like-minded musicians. The artist explores the limits of his unique writing style in this evocative nine-part suite, written as a contemplation of the Sonoran Desert landscape, a setting that he called home for most of his childhood. A diversely beautiful region located across the American Southwest and Northwestern Mexico, the area has historically and recently become subject to contentious debates on political borders. The desert, though, does not abide by man-made boundaries and drawing a line through the region, physically or figuratively, cannot break the connectedness of people and cultures sharing the same harsh and astonishing environment.

Sonoran is a cinematic suite embodying some of the unique elements of the desert-the blistering heat of an inescapable sun, the surreal mountain ranges with jagged rock formations, needled flora and venomous fauna, and hauntingly vast stretches of barren earth. The composition is built on contrasting and interlocking themes, bridged together by the exploratory improvised dialogue from members of the quintet. By experimenting with techniques in counterpoint, harmonic layering, and motivic development, Schiller blends jazz stylings with folk melodies, contemporary classical, third stream, and avant-garde.

The album's title track Sonoran simmers with an intertwining ostinato of alto saxophone and bass clarinet, introducing a swelling unison melody shared by tenor saxophone and arco bass. Tension increases gradually during the harmonic progression of the piece, and dissipates at the arrival of four sustained chords followed by a pause. An accelerated bass line introduces a flurry of full-group improvisation, which evolves into the piece's climax, a howling chant played together by three horns.

HARQUAHALA is a brief duet interlude, bridging together parts I and III of the suite. Andrew Schiller's tremolo double-stops in the upper register of the bass are layered with the sustained repetition of Hery Paz's bass clarinet, creating a ghostly ambience.

GAMBELII is named for the Gambel's quail, a ground-dwelling bird that scurries alongside its flock using extremely agile and well-choreographed movements. These frantic motions are set to music with a topsy-turvy three-horn melody, lined up with a polyrhythmic drum and bass groove. Solos by Ethan Helm (alto sax) and Tony Malaby (tenor sax) dart about with ease, dancing with the interactive drumming of Matt Honor. The party-feel of this piece eventually breaks down into a haphazard warble before fading away.

WESTERN THEME #1 (We Thought We Were Cowboys) is the first of three vignettes within the suite, each best conceptualized as Schiller's version of "cowboy folk songs." The first theme begins with a flowing three-horn arrangement of a lullaby-esque melody, unhindered by a metronomic pulse. As the trio of woodwinds fades away, Schiller begins a crawling, deliberate bass solo that intimately expands upon the themes of the piece before he is joined by the full ensemble for a restatement of the melody.

WET HAIR, DRY AIR is chamber music composition with shades of Maurice Ravel's "Bolero," featuring a rolling, but stately melody with dissonant, staccato woodwind interjections. The ebb and flow of the densely layered themes makes way for a virtuosic and expressive bass clarinet feature for Paz. Augmentations of some of the suite's earlier motifs serve as a backdrop throughout the development of the solo.

WESTERN THEME #2 develops slowly and highlights a richly layered ensemble. The reedy textures build upon an ascending theme, taking several pleasantly unexpected harmonic surprises, while Matt Honor's percussive contributions create a mystical atmosphere.

The frenzied pace of SHADE FOR SHELTER is intensified by the driving contrapuntal melodies between alto/tenor saxophones and bass clarinet/bass. Soloists Schiller (bass) and Ethan Helm (alto sax) are given space to express themselves, navigating a treacherous form emphasized by background ensemble interjections. The track closes with a drawn-out folk-inspired melody, derived from earlier material within the piece, played in unison between bass clarinet and arco bass.

WESTERN THEME #3 opens with a colorful array of cymbal work from Honor. The final vignette is a melancholy four-voice chorale with a simple folk melody, though the ensemble timbre and harmonic density give the piece an eerie quality. The main motif of this track is a foreshadowing of the final chapter of the suite.

The Sonoran Desert was the birthplace of Charles Mingus and THORNY FLORA is a nod to the great composer/bassist. This intervallic march gathers momentum throughout the opening statement of the contrapuntal melody, and Paz delivers an angular but narrative solo on bass clarinet. A fiercely animated tenor saxophone solo from Malaby elevates the energy of the ensemble, inspiring some raucous interplay from the rhythm section. In the track's denouement, the quintet reminisces on a modified adaptation of a theme from Part I until fading away.

A native of Phoenix, AZ, Andrew Schiller is currently residing in Brooklyn, NY. Schiller's attraction to music stems from junior high school where his friends urged him to pick up the bass guitar and join their punk rock band. While his musical tastes have evolved a lot since then, he still aspires to replicate the same gusto and fearlessness he had as a boy playing music in a friend's garage. Andrew has performed his music all over the world at venues like Cornelia Street Cafe and 55 Bar (NYC), the Jazz Showcase (Chicago), the Blue Whale (Los Angeles), the Panama Jazz Festival, and as a guest artist with the National Symphony of Paraguay in Asunción. Andrew was recognized in Downbeat Magazine in 2012 for his work as a soloist, was awarded the ASCAP Young Composers Award in 2014 and recognized again in 2019, and graduated with a Masters of Music degree from New England Conservatory in 2014.

Schiller's debut album, Tied Together, Not To The Ground, was released in May 2017 on Red Piano Records. It received critical acclaim, and like Sonoran, features an ambitious compositional style, blending jazz with contemporary classical, rock, and avant-garde influences. Schiller can also be seen/heard fronting two other NYC-based projects: JoggerKnot (a three-tenor saxophone quintet influenced by a love of 1960's tropicalia, angsty rock, and surf music) and the Filament Trio (an improvising sax/bass/drum trio that skirts the lines between cerebral and emotional).

The Fred Hersch Trio Celebrates 10-Year Milestone With Historic Box Set

The Fred Hersch Trio 10 Years / 6 Discs includes five critically acclaimed Palmetto Records releases featuring Hersch, bassist John Hébert and drummer Eric McPherson—a band named Best Jazz Group in the 2019 DownBeat Critics Poll

  

One of the most influential improvising musicians currently performing—a “living legend,” per the New Yorker—the pianist and composer Fred Hersch has made groundbreaking contributions in a staggering range of creative formats. DownBeat called his unprecedented cross-disciplinary theatre piece My Coma Dreams “a brave work of art that deserves to be seen and heard.” In the New York Times, the critic Nate Chinen wrote that “solo piano playing is one of the things that Mr. Hersch does best,” before explaining how he “combines the rigors of classical training with the disciplined freedom of improvisation and explores a richly varied repertory.”

Hersch has ranked among jazz’s most renowned accompanists of singers, offering selfless, intimate support, and he’s a maestro in duo settings. His artistry also impresses on an orchestral scale: The pianist’s latest release, 2019’s Begin Again, is an acclaimed collaboration with the WDR Big Band under conductor-arranger Vince Mendoza. Even Hersch’s 2017 autobiography, Good Things Happen Slowly (Crown Archetype/Random House), has been uniquely vaunted, garnering rare mainstream praise for a jazz-related book by being named one of the year’s best memoirs in both the Washington Post and the New York Times. 

But it’s his playing in jazz’s best-loved configuration, the piano trio, alongside two of his most trusted musical confidants, the bassist John Hébert and drummer Eric McPherson, that has earned Hersch his most fervent accolades. As DownBeat once wrote, “The piano/bass/drum combo demands full awareness of internal and external processes. … Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette have been commended for bringing this trio setting to an apotheosis. Fred Hersch, John Hébert and Eric McPherson merit this same level of praise. Improvisation doesn’t engage the listener any more playfully than this.” 

To say it more directly, as the critic and vocal-jazz authority Will Friedwald did in the Wall Street Journal, Hersch, Hébert and McPherson comprise “one of the major ensembles of our time.” 

Now, to celebrate this extraordinary group’s 10-year anniversary, the complete Palmetto label recordings of this enduring edition of the Fred Hersch Trio will be available in one generous package. Spreading five lauded releases over six discs, with liner notes by Hersch and the award-winning music historian Ted Gioia, it’s a stunning testament to a telepathically interactive group the New Yorker has extolled for its meld of “high lyricism and high danger.” The set, simply titled "The Fred Hersch Trio 10 Years / 6 Discs," includes three consecutive Hersch Trio albums—"Floating," "Sunday Night at the Vanguard," and "Live in Europe"—that were each nominated for Grammy® Awards in the categories of Best Jazz Instrumental Album and Best Improvised Jazz Solo. In total, the box features: 

"Whirl" (2010): On this, the trio’s first release, one can already hear the organic rapport that would later inspire the Chicago Tribune’s Howard Reich to call it “one of the most sensitive and nimble trios in jazz.” But in 2009, when the band coalesced, triumph wasn’t a certainty. Hersch had plenty of experience collaborating with stellar musicians in a trio setting, but he was also still recovering following the life-threatening AIDS-related illness that would inspire My Coma Dreams. The new band became crucial to Hersch’s reignition, the commencement of his historic second act. 

"Alive at the Vanguard" (2012): Hersch’s third recording at jazz’s most hallowed venue, the Village Vanguard, Alive features expectedly delightful trio chemistry and a brilliantly versatile program: from Ornette, Sonny and Monk to songbook gems and, of course, plenty of Hersch’s aerodynamic original writing.

"Floating" (2014): This release boasts both the crystalline audio quality of a studio session—recorded and mixed by the great James Farber—and the engaging pacing and programming of one of the trio’s live sets. Along with two choice standards and an homage to Hersch’s hero Monk, it features a set of gripping Hersch originals with special dedications—to his mother and grandmother, the late pianist Shimrit Shoshan, Esperanza Spalding, Kevin Hays and other special people and places.

"Sunday Night at the Vanguard" (2016): Hersch’s fourth recording at the most important jazz venue in the world, Sunday Night is in many ways a tribute to Hersch’s history with that acoustically magical wedge-shaped basement club on 7th Ave S. The album, wrote Nate Chinen in the New York Times, “confirms that he’s still one of the most insightfully lyrical searchers in his field. It also underscores how his bond with the bassist John Hébert and the drummer Eric McPherson, while never less than strong, reaches a rarefied plane in this particular room.”

"Live in Europe" (2018): The pianist considers this concert document one of his “found object” releases—meaning that he and the trio didn’t know they were being recorded until after the fact. But the circumstances made for a gorgeous performance: As Hersch recalls in his liners, “It was the second-to-last concert of the trio’s three-week European tour in November of 2017. The band was in terrific playing form, the acoustics were perfect, the piano was outstanding and the recording was first-class.”

Since emerging on the cutthroat New York scene of the late ’70s, when he made auspicious appearances on sessions led by the likes of Art Farmer and Billy Harper, Fred Hersch has developed into an outright master of the jazz language with a boundless creative vision. Called “the most arrestingly innovative pianist in jazz over the last decade” by Vanity Fair and “an elegant force of musical invention” by the Los Angeles Times, he’s also been profoundly influential, with acolytes including Brad Mehldau, Ethan Iverson and other generation-defining musicians. 

He has been nominated for Grammy® Awards 14 times, and is the recipient of a 2016 Doris Duke Artist Award, Jazz Journalists Association Awards for Jazz Pianist of the Year in 2016 and ’18, and the 2017 Prix Honorem de Jazz from L’Acádemie Charles Cros, a lifetime-achievement honor.

 

Born and raised in New Orleans, the powerfully lyrical, sonorously toned bassist and composer John Hébert has been an invaluable presence on the improvised-music scene of New York since the mid-1990s. In addition to his collaborations with Hersch, Hébert has anchored ensembles led by giants like Andrew Hill, Lee Konitz, Paul Bley, Paul Motian, John Abercrombie, Kenny Wheeler, Tomasz Stanko, Joe Maneri, Toots Thielemans and Maria Schneider, among others. The recipient of many DownBeat poll honors, he’s also recorded fruitfully as a bandleader for labels including Sunnyside, Clean Feed and Firehouse 12. Reviewing Hébert’s 2015 Sunnyside release, Rambling Confessions, JazzTimes wrote, “the group’s powerful moments of interaction reward close listening.” 

The drummer Eric McPherson was quite literally born into the jazz life. His godfather, the bass great Richard Davis, was there at his birth and encouraged his mother, a dancer-choreographer with many famous jazz friends, to name him after the avant-jazz icon Eric Dolphy. After training with the master drummer-educator Michael Carvin, he studied with saxophonist Jackie McLean at the University of Hartford’s Hartt School on a full scholarship. He has since become one of the most respected drummers in jazz today, and an invaluable element of groups led by McLean, with whom he worked extensively, Andrew Hill, Pharoah Sanders, Avishai Cohen, Greg Osby, Jason Moran and, of course, Fred Hersch.

JAMES BROWN: 'LIVE AT HOME WITH HIS BAD SELF' CONCERT NEWLY MIXED FOR RELEASE

The 50th anniversary of James Brown's October 1, 1969 homecoming concert in Augusta, Georgia, will be celebrated with the first-ever release of the complete show, newly mixed and including seven never-before-issued performances. Live at Home with His Bad Self will be released on October 25 by Republic/UMe.

James Brown's roof-raising performance at the city's Bell Auditorium was captured on tape, with the intent to make an album of the show the cornerstone of a move back to his Augusta roots. Live at Home with His Bad Self was scheduled as a 1969 holiday release. But Brown and his band, featuring saxophone legend Maceo Parker and three legendary drummers – Maceo's brother Melvin, Jabo Starks, Clyde Stubblefield, together for this tour only – soon broke up. Soul Brother No. 1 called in a new, young group, featuring bassist Bootsy Collins, and within a few weeks they recorded the funk anthem "Sex Machine." With the single flying up the charts and no full-length to promote with it, Brown shelved the planned Live at Home album. He instead produced Sex Machine, a 2LP set released in 1970 that included a portion of the Augusta show.

Now, finally, as James Brown intended: the full Augusta homecoming show with his celebrated 1960s band. Live at Home with His Bad Self is newly mixed from the original analog multi-tracks by Peter A. Barker, whose credits include mixes of live recordings by Jeff Beck, Bonnie Raitt, Babyface, and more. The album's seven previously unreleased performances include two instrumentals, "Lowdown Popcorn" and "Spinning Wheel," which were re-cut with canned applause for the Sex Machine release. Also included is Brown's then-current hit, "World," performed at the concert with a live vocal over a tape of the studio recording's instrumental arrangement, an unusual move which Brown explains to the audience, while "There Was A Time" and "Mother Popcorn," originally heavily edited on Sex Machine, are doubled in length. Other highlights include an actual live rendition of "Give It Up Or Turnit A Loose," Brown's influential hit from 1968, a title fans will note appears on the Sex Machine album, but may not be aware that version is a studio re-record.

The CD and 2LP vinyl packages include an essay by Alan Leeds, the GRAMMY®-winning former James Brown tour manager and publicist who is also the album's co-producer.

James Brown: Live at Home with His Bad Self [2LP vinyl]

Side 1

1. Say It Loud - I'm Black and I'm Proud

2. James Brown Thanks and Introduction to "World"*

3. World*

4. Stage Dialogue*

Side 2

1. Lowdown Popcorn*

2. Spinning Wheel*

3. If I Ruled The World

4. Kansas City*

Side 3

1. Introduction to Startime

2. I Don't Want Nobody To Give Me Nothing (Open Up the Door I'll Get It Myself)

3. I Got The Feelin'*/Licking Stick-Licking Stick

4. Try Me*

5. There Was A Time **

Side 4

1. Give It Up Or Turnit A Loose*

2. It's A Man's Man's Man's World

3. Please, Please, Please

4. I Can't Stand Myself (When You Touch Me)

5. Mother Popcorn **

James Brown: Live at Home with His Bad Self [CD; digital]

1.   Say It Loud - I'm Black and I'm Proud

2.   James Brown Thanks and Introduction to "World"*

3.   World*

4.   Stage Dialogue*

5.   Lowdown Popcorn*

6.   Spinning Wheel*

7.   If I Ruled The World

8.   Kansas City*

9.   Introduction to Startime

10. I Don't Want Nobody To Give Me Nothing (Open Up the Door I'll Get It Myself)

11. I Got The Feelin'*/Licking Stick-Licking Stick

12. Try Me*

13. There Was A Time **

14. Give It Up Or Turnit A Loose*

15. It's A Man's Man's Man's World

16. Please, Please, Please

17. I Can't Stand Myself (When You Touch Me)

18. Mother Popcorn **

* Previously Unreleased / All other performances, though previously issued in some form, are presented in new mixes, including: ** Extended from track's original release.

“50 Foot Woman”, the new album by Jay-Z 4.44’s soul hurricane Hannah Williams & The Affirmations

Hannah Williams, the British soul hurricane who sensationally became part of Jay-Z's chart-topping 4:44 album, is primed and ready for her own national and international breakthrough.

Williams turned heads worldwide when the hip-hop superstar sampled her heart-stopping vocals on 'Late Nights & Heartbreak' for the title track, ‘4.44’ on his 2017 album. Now Hannah and her exemplary, Bristol-based band the Affirmations deliver a definitive career statement with the drop-dead soulful new album 50 Foot Woman which will be released October 18th on the Milan based imprint Record Kicks. 

The album captures all of the visceral power of the band's increasingly legendary live performances. Shades of classic Soul and Psychedelic Funk blend uniquely with modern-day flavours on a record destined to set the soul agenda for 2019 and far beyond. “I've never been as proud of anything in my entire career” says Hannah.

Born in High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, Williams' father was a musically gifted minister, and her mother let her join the church choir at the age of six. Hannah could read music before she could properly read words, and when she discovered soul by listening with her mum to Motown and Bill Withers, there was no turning back.

After a 2012 debut with her previous band the Tastemakers, it was 2016's Late Nights & Heartbreak that announced the arrival of Hannah Williams and the Affirmations. But little did she know that Jay-Z was listening.One day, at herthen-day job running the music department at the University of Winchester, he sent her a text.Once she'd established that it wasn't a wind-up, and summoned the courage to call him back, she learned that JayZ's producer, No I.D., had played him Hannah's track to inspire his response to

Beyoncé's Lemonade,on which she sang of his infidelities.

Williams was as in the dark about how 'Late Nights & Heartbreak' would be used until 4:44 dropped. But the substantial sample of her voice opened doors she never dreamed of. “It was an incredible catalyst,” she says, “as a change in our collective career, and getting a global audience. Suddenly, there were millions of predominantly American hip-hop fans listening to my voice, going 'Is this from the '60s? Is she dead?'”

What followed was a year of the band's widest-ever touring including an invitation to perform at Central Park Summer Stage NY, Toronto Jazz Festival and Brooklyn Bowl NY and expanded audiences in continental Europe where she and the Affirmations had already made a mark. Then came the burning determination to make the record of their lives. The captivating 50 Foot Woman is that album, produced by Shawn Lee, a respected presence on the funk/soul scene whose credits include Amy Winehouse, Lana Del Rey and Alicia Keys. Lee has released five solo albums as Shawn Lee’s Ping Pong Orchestra on San Francisco label Ubiquity Records and is also one half of the cool melodic pop duo Young Gun Silver Fox.

Now the world will hear what the cognoscenti have known for a while: that Hannah Williams is the real deal, and sings from her very soul. “I feel like my performance comes from my solar plexus,” she says. “The emotional side of it is so intrinsic; I can't take it away from what I do".

 

New Music Releases: Natural Lateral; William Kurk; Dmitriy Peitsch & Konstantin Suhan

Natural Lateral - Bossa Blue (from the upcoming 'Cogito Ergo Jam')

Natural Lateral was born organically out of endless and spontaneous jam sessions at the Lazy Robot Studio in North London. Since 2017, Aziz Mustafa, Ozan Nidayi, Oli Arlotto, Malte From and Tim Balasubramaniam, have all been enjoying playing and recording ideas which gave the birth to their first LP on the Social Joy imprint. ‘Cogito Ergo Jam’ weaves together strands of different musical forms and roots. Although much of the band's love for jazz massively influences their music, their open-minded spirit keeps them engaged in other creative fields and venturing into new territory.
Creating organic vibes and textures, the music draws from jazz, through to electronic, with deep grooves and mesmerising psych-synth melodies, weaving magic over the top. The band fuses rhythmic elements from funk & Latin jazz to syncopated odd meter timings drawing inspiration from Azymuth to Soft Machine, Coltrane to Liston-Smith, to name few of their many influences. ‘Bossa Blue’ is the first track taken from the LP.

William Kurk - Willianaire

A great little record from William Kurk – an artist who's been giving us excellent music for years, and who deserves to be way more than just a secret force in the contemporary soul underground! William's got a great way with a tune – a vibe that's upbeat and positive, and a sound that's catchy, but never commercial – and maybe a lot more rich in tone than you might guess from the look of the cover – as he draws leanly from classic roots, but finds a way to make music that's very much his own! The whole thing's great – the kind of overlooked soul music gem that we don't hear enough of these days – and which continues to bring us real joy in what we do around here at Dusty Groove. Titles include "Perfect Mutations", "Good", "Stride", "Highway To Humanity", "Let Go", "In Your Loving Arms", "Resurrection Funk", and "Willionaire".  ~ Dusty Groove

Dmitriy Peitsch & Konstantin Suhan – Daybreak In The Roughland

The recording was made live, without editing and overlays, during an improvisation session in the Moscow club named after Jerry Rubin. The session counsided with the celebration of Konstantin and Mila Sukhan’s wedding on August 16, 2018. The album’s title can be interpreted as “Dawn in the desert”, “Dawn over rough earth” or even “A beam of light in the realm of darkness”. It is is the debut for the spontaneously formed duet of guitarist Dmitry Peich and trumpeter Konstantin Sukhan, two representatives of the Moscow improvisational and experimental scene.

THE 11TH ANNUAL CALIFORNIA ROOTS MUSIC AND ARTS FESTIVAL AT THE MONTEREY COUNTY FAIR & EVENT CENTER

              The California Roots Music and Arts Festival has had much to celebrate in 2019 with a successful ten year event, launching their own radio show “Cali Roots Radio” on SiriusXM’s “The Joint,” and through a new strategic partnership with Reggae Rise Up. Cali Roots is thrilled to announce its first round of artists for their 11th annual festival held at the Monterey County Fair and Event Center from May 22-24, 2020. Pre-sale starts Monday, October 28 from 10am to 10pm PST. Public on-sale will be Tuesday, October 29 at 10am PST. 

Artists announced in the first wave include reggae legends Damian “JR. GONG” Marley and Jimmy Cliff. Hip Hop luminary Ice Cube joins the bill with festival favorites J Boog, Trevor Hall, Tarrus Riley, Hirie, Iya Terra, Mike Love, and Bumpin Uglies coming back. Making their debut to the festival include fast rising soul band Durand Jones & The Indications, Brazilian reggae act Natiruts, French seven-piece artist Dub Inc, conscious music collective Satsang, and rising singer Vana Liya.

The festival has become a destination event with thousands of fans flocking from all over the world and an impressive livestream audience as well. 2019 marked the event’s ten year anniversary and with Cali Roots’ recent partnership with Reggae Rise Up and expansion into Arizona with Arizona Roots Festival, they show no signs of slowing down. In addition, the festival has been recognized for their commitment to creating an environmentally conscious event that benefits the surrounding community, educates and engages the attending fans, and provides a music festival model that is truly sustainable.

Round One Artist Line-Up Announcement:

Damian “JR. GONG” Marley

Ice Cube

Chronixx  

Jimmy Cliff 

J Boog 

Trevor Hall

Durand Jones & The Indications

Tarrus Riley

Natiruts 

Hirie

Iya Terra

Mike Love

Dub Inc

Satsang

Bumpin Uglies

Vana Liya

“Our ten year anniversary was such a milestone event and ended the first decade of Cali Roots perfectly. We are going into our eleventh year with more momentum than ever,” passionately states festival Co-Producer Dan Sheehan. He adds, “The Cali Roots movement started here, but stretches across the country and worldwide. As we continue to partner and grow nationally, we can feel the impact of our event and brand and how it continues to bring people together through this amazing community.”

FESTIVAL DETAILS

The 11th Annual California Roots Music and Arts Festival

Dates: Friday, May 22, 2020 – Sunday May 24, 2020

Time: 10:00 am – 11:00 pm PDT

Venue: Monterey County Fair and Event Center

Address: 2004 Fairground Road, Monterey, CA 93940

Admission: Varies

Age restrictions: All Ages

Pre-Sale Starts: October 28th at 10 AM to 10 PM

Public On Sale: October 29th at 10 AM PST

JAZZ FOR KIDS BY THE JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER ORCHESTRA WITH WYNTON MARSALIS

NBC’s TODAY HODA KOTB NARRATING “WHEELS ON THE BUS”; REIMAGINES CHILDREN’S CLASSICS LIKE “OLD MACDONALD” AND “POP GOES THE WEASEL”

  

VIDEO: https://youtu.be/dhpJ_SfNq34

Today, Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Blue Engine Records releases Jazz for Kids, a new digital album from the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis. In the Orchestra’s masterful hands, the simplicity and familiarity of childhood favorites like “Old MacDonald” and “Itsy Bitsy Spider” afford a world of musical possibilities for audiences young and old.

On a unique interpretation of “Wheels on the Bus,” the Orchestra is joined by co-anchor of NBC News’ TODAY and co-host of TODAY with Hoda and Jenna Hoda Kotb, who narrates the beloved nursery rhyme, accompanied by a special solo by Wynton Marsalis.

Recorded in 2011 at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall, Jazz for Kidsexplores the universal appeal of jazz, providing younger audiences with an access point to the music and making tried-and-true jazz lovers feel young at heart. Showcasing the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra’s greatest strengths—unprecedented stylistic versatility and a creative roster of expert arrangers—Jazz for Kids demonstrates how jazz can transform even the most familiar song to take listeners on an unforgettable ride.

Wonderful for both young and old, either as an introduction to jazz or a reminder of the music’s ability to supercharge your imagination, this collection of children’s classics with a jazz spin is available now on all digital platforms.

New Music Releases: Miles Davis; John Fluker; FIJI

Miles Davis - Early Minor: Rare Miles From The Complete In a Silent Way Sessions

During the year between the dissolution of his ‘60s quintet and the groundbreaking Bitches Brew, Miles Davis recorded a number of transitional sessions creating music of lyrical beauty, culminating in the masterful album In a Silent Way. Three superb pieces—“Splashdown,” “Early Minor” and “The Ghetto Walk”—come to vinyl for general release for the first time ever, as originally heard on The Complete In a Silent Way Sessions, released in 2001.  Side A: 1. “Splashdown” (8:02) 2. “Early Minor” (6:58). Side B: 1. “The Ghetto Walk” (26:47).

John Fluker - All About That Time

A top vocal coach for J Lo and musical director for Gladys Knight who's also backed everyone from Beyonce and Mavis Staples to John Legend and Michael Lington, pianist, vocalist, arranger and composer John Fluker's hypnotic, ambient electronica piano driven new single "All About That Time" has fascinating origins. The track is a rhythm intensive remix (by Grammy winning engineer Elliott Peters) of the new age-oriented title track that Fluker recorded on his album 11:11. The intoxicating, slightly jazzier, funkier result features unique beats created by Fluker, backed by the subtle tight basslines of Isaias Elpes, Lee Ritenour's regular touring bassist. With the release of "All About That Time" Fluker makes an inspiring transition from successful new age artist to breakthrough Smooth Jazz artist. ~ www.smoothjazz.com

FIJI - Love & Roots

(Hawaii) —Polynesian recording artist Fiji dropped his newest album ‘Love & Roots’ on Friday, September 6th with Mensch House Records. Fiji (AKA George Veikoso ) is one of the most dynamic entertainers the Pacific Rim has produced, and continues to be one of the most influential artists in contemporary Island Reggae music.  Fiji has shared the stage with many of Hawaii’s top entertainers along with national recording artists: Gladys Knight, Aaron Neville, Beres Hammond, Damian Jr. Gong Marley, Ziggy Marley, Kymani Marley, Steel Pulse, Maxi Priest and Inner Circle to name a few.  The new album ‘Love & Roots’ is 10 tracks deep of pure FIJI bliss. Newcomers to Fiji’s music will instantly embrace his smooth voice and exotic melting pot of sounds, an epic, musical journey from the center of the Pacific to the rest of the world. Standouts include “Highest High,” “Miss Lovely,” “Best Friend,” and “Tu Veiyawaki” – to name a few. 

 

Michelle Lordi - Break Up With the Sound

Explores Influences From Rock, Jazz, and Americana Music Through Reimagined Classics and Illuminating Original Songs 

Album Features a Stellar Band with Donny McCaslin, Rudy Royston, Tim Motzer and Matthew Parrish

Fire can be a force of destruction – a lesson that vocalist Michelle Lordi learned all too well when flames consumed her Philadelphia-area home and all of her earthly possessions on the day after Christmas, 2017. But as she’s realized in the sometimes tragic, often inspiring aftermath, fire can also provide an opportunity for renewal. On her fourth album, Break Up With the Sound, Lordi seizes that opportunity, embarking on a new direction with a genre-warping repertoire, a stunning all-star band, and, for the first time, soul-baring original songs.

Lordi’s previous releases have situated her firmly within the jazz vocal tradition, largely drawing on Songbook standards played by gifted soloists. Break Up With the Sound does just as its title implies though – delineates a clean break with the past, reaching into the more daring rock and country influences that she’d long suppressed in her own music.

To join her on this adventurous path she assembled a band of stellar musicians, each of whom has explored similar terrain in their own distinctive ways: saxophonist Donny McCaslin (David Bowie’s Blackstar), drummer Rudy Royston (Bill Frisell, Rudresh Mahanthappa), guitarist and electronic musician Tim Motzer (Ursula Rucker, King Britt) and bassist/producer Matthew Parrish (Freddy Cole, Stefon Harris).

The album’s title is drawn from the lyrics to “Poor Bird,” an answer song that Lordi wrote to Hank Williams’ classic “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry”–which she also essays here, in a haunting but steely rendition swathed in Motzer’s keening guitar tone. “Break up with the sound,” she sings to William’s lonesome whippoorwill, who sounds too blue to fly. “The one that brought you down has gone away.” It’s a warning to the songbird to not become too enamored with the beauty of its own sadness, to rise and soar again.

“I’ve spent precious time lost in my own sadness,” Lordi says. “But it’s time to stop clinging to these losses and move on–or I can’t fly.”

Luring the listener in with Parrish’s sultry bass solo, “Loverman” provides a bridge from the singer’s boxed-in past to her reinvigorated present. It’s the type of song she would have performed on countless stages to traditional jazz audiences, but as McCaslin’s probing tenor and Motzer’s wiry guitar enter, it’s clear that she’s completely reimagined her take on the tune. The same applies to Cole Porter’s “True Love,” which she transforms into a loping, sepia-toned dreamscape.

With “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry,” Lordi reaches into a different songbook, one that might feel alien to her audiences but certainly not to her. “I grew up listening to folk, rock and country. My parents weren’t playing Mingus; they were playing Peter, Paul and Mary and Elvis and Patsy Cline,” she recalls. “I spent my childhood summers in Tidewater, VA and the only music I could pick up on my grandmother’s radio was an AM country station. That’s really the world that I come from.” That fact is evident in the deep connection she forges with Williams’ lonely soul, the restless wanderer of “The Wayward Wind”—a country classic that’s been interpreted by everyone from Patsy Cline to Sam Cooke, or with the resigned optimism of The Rolling Stones’ “No Expectations,” which closes the album on a forward-looking note.

The rest of Break Up With the Sound consists of Lordi’s original songs, perhaps the album’s most daunting venture. Among the countless possessions lost in that devastating fire were lyrics that Lordi had been writing since her teenage years but had never had the courage to share. Rather than being discouraged, she felt emboldened. “I was always afraid to sing my own songs,” she says. “Then when I lost any trace of a possibility of doing it, I realized those little scraps of paper had been holding me back. So, through the hassle and the pain of losing everything, I had to decide whether I would do this or not—and I’m choosing to do this.”

Embracing possibility is at the heart of “Double-crossed,” which Lordi co-wrote with Motzer and which features an exhilarating turn from McCaslin, who has traced his own path from more conventional jazz to the blend of indie rock and electronic music that so enticed an iconoclast like David Bowie. The idyllic “Before” makes peace with change, sparking a rousing solo by Motzer. The aforementioned “Poor Bird” was penned with Parrish, a longtime collaborator who Lordi says is crucial to her music. “He helps me find the center of every song,” she says of the bassist, who also produced the session. “He’s a dream collaborator and bassist for a vocalist.”

Royston’s whisper-soft, evocative rhythms provided the key to “Red House Blues,” a wistful lullaby about a home that may only exist in the imagination. “It’s an odd time blues and nobody was getting it,” she recalls. “Then I looked at Rudy and said ‘it’s a lullaby and that extra beat is the squeak of a chair as you lean back while you’re rocking a…‘ and before I could say ‘baby’ he started playing and it was exactly right. He has this amazing ability to set a space with his playing that you can see and feel.”

There are indelible images and landscapes evoked throughout the album, conjured not only by an expert band but by Lordi, a beautiful and engaging voice with an intuitive ability to cut the core of a lyric, to tell an unadorned but deeply emotional story. She carries that gift into daring new territory on Break Up With the Sound, preserving the most important elements from the ashes of her past.

Jazz vocalists Deborah Silver and Freddy Cole charm on a tribute to a King

Billboard chart-topping jazz singer Deborah Silver and four-time Grammy nominated crooner-pianist Freddy Cole have been friends for two decades yet they had never sung a duet before they entered a Hollywood recording studio to record a loving tribute to commemorate Nat King Cole’s centennial birth year. Tapping Grammy winners Steve Tyrell and Alan Broadbent to respectively produce (with Jon Allen) and arrange the track, Silver and Freddy Cole’s enchanting “Orange Colored Sky” dropped Monday as a single.

Silver wanted to honor Freddy Cole’s late brother saying, “I think Nat King Cole was a huge influence on all music. His velvety voice and debonair delivery are iconic. Also, recognizing what an admirable role he played in the civil rights movement, he always showed grace and dignity. Nat King Cole was obviously a very special man and so is his brother, Freddy.”

Equipped with a fresh Broadbent arrangement of the tune Nat King Cole recorded at Capitol Studios in 1950, Silver and Freddy Cole recorded at the famed Sunset Sound Studios. As seen in this behind-the-scenes video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYvRJMJh69I), the chemistry spawned from their endearing friendship and sweet affection seeped onto the single.

“Our recording happened quickly. Singing the song together and being in the same room right next to each other made it really special. We just clicked. We were able to respond to each other on the spot. It was like having a conversation...so much fun and truly magical. I’ve always thought Freddy Cole had the coolest voice and is the sweetest man. He has a style like no other. We have been friends for over 20 years and thought it was about time to do a duet together. It is nice when you work with people you are comfortable with. It just seemed so easy,” said Silver, who will perform with Freddy Cole at Blues Alley in Washington, DC on December 12-15 and at Birdland in New York City on December 23-28.

“It (‘Orange Colored Sky’) was a great tune and we just thought it was appropriate to use on this occasion,” said Freddy Cole who turned 88 last week. “She’s (Deborah) a fine singer. She’s a good entertainer and she knows how to pick her material. Working with professional people, they know what they’re doing. Steve (Tyrell) brought his expertise to the table. It’s good to have another voice on the project that’s different from what yours is.”

Silver’s 2016 “The Gold Standards,” also produced by Tyrell and Allen and arranged by Broadbent, debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Traditional Jazz Albums and Heatseekers Albums chart and No. 2 on Billboard’s Jazz Albums chart. It went Top 10 on Billboard’s Independent Albums chart and hit Billboard’s Top 200. Silver is putting the finishing touches on a jazz-country hybrid collection of selections from the Great American Songbook that she recorded with Asleep at the Wheel that is slated to drop in the first quarter of 2020. The prolific singer hints at issuing a second album next year - a full album of duets with Freddy Cole.     

https://www.deborahsilvermusic.com

New Music Releases: Kizzy Crawford, Binker Golding, Azymuth

Kizzy Crawford - Real Love

The impact of Kizzy Crawford's stylish pop infused soul music continues unabated. This prodigiously talented young artists' eclectic approach has won her fans of all ages and tastes. Her previous Freestyle Records singles have garnered support across BBC Radio 2, Jazz FM, Mi-Soul Radio, 6Music and 'BBC Introducing'. Her triumphant gigs this summer at The Cheltenham Jazz Festival 2019, and The Great Escape have showcased her formidable talent live to fantastically enthusiastic reception where ever she performs. Ahead of the release of her debut full length album 'The Way I Dream' on Friday October 25th sees Kizzy delves further into her breezy, soulful pop influences with the release of Real Love - a heartfelt story of young love gone awry. It has often been remarked upon that Kizzy has the prerequisite talent, style and credibility to follow a similar trajectory of Corrine Bailey Rae, Lianne La Havas and Laura Mvula, three strong, highly individual female artists who struck out and forged their own paths into the worlds musical consciousness, and Kizzy Crawford is without doubt cut from the same cloth

Binker Golding - Abstractions Of Reality Past And Incredible Feathers

A great solo set from tenorist Binker Golding – an artist we usually hear on the Gearbox label as part of the Binker & Moses combo, but who maybe sounds even bolder and stronger here in the lead on his own! The set's a quartet date, with a relatively straight group – but the sound is wonderful – overflowing with new ideas, and this sense of voice from the leader that gets fantastic support from Joe Armon-Jones on piano, Daniel Casimir on bass, and Sam Jones on drums! Nobody's pushing too hard, or trying any tricks – yet there's a freshness and individual spirit to the record right from the very first note – unusual rhythms from the trio, and more confidence in Golding's sound than we've ever heard before. Titles include "Skinned Alive Tasting Blood", "Fluorescent Black", "You That Place That Time", "And I Like Your Feathers", and "Exquisite She Green". ~ Dusty Groove

Azymuth - Jazz Carnival (Space Jazz Mix - Global Communication Remix)

Far Out Recordings presents a series of limited edition vinyl 12”s highlighting its contribution to underground dance music. Including reissues of sought-after floor fillers, previously unreleased club tools and brand-new productions from some key players in Far Out history, the series begins with Global Communication’s ‘Space Jazz’ remix of Azymuth’s ‘Jazz Carnival’. One of the label’s most requested reissues, it’s a typically timeless effort from the duo comprising Mark Pritchard and Tom Middleton and has stayed relevant within the house/techno canon for over twenty years. The A side presents the original LP version of Azymuth’s 1996 redux of their all-time classic, instrumental disco hit ‘Jazz Carnival’, which originally appeared on Azymuth’s first full-length venture on Far Out, Carnival (1996). Presented in a special 25th-anniversary house bag, the full-length 12-minute version of this all-time classic has been re-mastered from the original DAT and pressed to heavyweight vinyl ahead of it's 8th November physical release date.

Jose Antonio Rodriguez: Adios Muchachos

"Adiós Muchachos" is the ninth studio album by dazzling Spanish guitarist/composer José Antonio Rodríguez. Largely a solo project that arouses intimacy from the first notes of Athena up to the closing song Adiós Muchachos. The most personal music production in Rodríguez's career, the work is composed from the point of view of the flamenco guitar but integrates a musical freedom while maintaining the inspiration of flamenco's essence. Produced by Rodríguez, the guitarist collaborates with Domi Serralbo and Jordi Cristau. And the album features the legendary Victor Monge "Serranito" on the song "El Regalo".

One of Spain's leading flamenco guitarist-composers, award-winning Jose Antonio Rodriguez has a dazzling and highly versatile career. He has performed and collaborated with Paco de Lucia, Alejandro Sanz, Chick Corea, Al Di Meola, Astor Piazzola, Joan Baez, George Benson, Arturo Sandoval, John McLaughlin, Rita Moreno, Herman Rarebell (Scorpions), Don Doken, Bobby Kimball (TOTO), and John Parr among others.

In his 20s, Jose Antonio became the youngest flamenco guitar professor at the Conservatory of Music in Cordoba, and his impressive skills got him to compose music for orchestra, ballet, TV and films. During the 90's, Rodriguez was featured in Carlos Saura's film "Flamenco", and recorded guitar on countless multi-awarded international hits including "Macarena" by Los Del Rio.  In 2003, he recorded guitar on Alejandro Sanz' mega hit "No Es Lo Mismo" and in 2004, he toured as a special guest for the international superstar.

Jose Antonio Rodriguez has released 9 albums: "Calahorra" (1988), "Callejón de las Flores" (1989), "Manhattan de la Frontera" (1998), "La Leyenda" (2004), "Cordoba… en el Tiempo" (2006), "Anartista" (2012), and "Perfect Strangers" (2015).

In 2018, he moved to Los Angeles and signed with US-based independent label Moon Moosic Records to release "El Guitarrista Azul" (2018), a magnificent collection of beautiful pieces composed by Rodriguez for guitar and orchestra and inspired by Picasso's blue period.

His most recent album is "Adios Muchachos" (2019) released on the same independent label.

Acclaimed for his powerful and evocative renditions of contemporary flamenco, La Sonanta published the remarkable guitarist-composer prolific work in a master series of books and DVDs in order to preserve flamenco music.