Kelly Finnigan | A Lover Was Born

The highly anticipated sophomore solo album from Monophonics maestro Kelly Finnigan! Album fully produced by Kelly himself. Features The Ironsides, Jimmy James (Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio), Sergio Rios (Orgone), Joey Crispiano (Dap Kings) and J-Zone. 550,000 monthly Spotify listeners. Kelly is the lead singer, writer, and producer of Monophonics. He has sold over 25,000 physical units. Each album includes lyric insert and is house in a tip-on jacket. Distance as a measure of time and place informs Kelly Finnigan’s, A Lover Was Born with a grit and grace that turns passion into virtue. The latest solo release from The Monophonics frontman roots itself in the best traditions of midwest soul labels like King, Curtom, Dakar, and the Bodie Recording Company. 

A Lover Was Born is a testimony that these deep cut grooves are not resigned to nostalgia, instead, they are at the burning heart of longing and hope. The journey Finnigan takes listeners on over Lover’s eleven tracks echo the state of motion and growth since his solo debut, The Tales People Tell (2019). These two records bookend a prolific period of output, including a pair of Monophonics albums, a Christmas album, a mixtape, and a full slate of producing other artists (The Ironsides, Alanna Royale, the Sextones). “There’s nothing like making records,” says Finnigan. “It feels like that’s my purpose — the reason I was put on this earth.” Written in California, Ohio, and Staten Island, Kelly Finnigan collaborated with old friends in and outside the studio. “I enjoy working alone but it’s not how you want to make a record…almost everybody I brought in for this album I’ve worked with, toured with or spent a great deal of time with.” 

Max and Joe Ramey (The Ironsides), Jimmy James (Parlor Greens), Sergio Rios (Orgone), Joey Crispiano (Dap Kings) and Jay Mumford (aka J-Zone) all contribute to the overall sound of A Lover Was Born. Dramatic influences like Isaac Hayes (check out the piano on “Be Your Own Shelter”) and Jerry Ragovoy are chopped and folded into Northern Soul uptempo numbers to create stompers like “Get a Hold of Yourself” or “Chosen Few”. Finnigan’s take on Deep Soul is captured brilliantly on “Walk Away from Me” and “Love (Your Pain Goes Deep)”, while Boom Bap pervades on hard hitters “His Love Ain’t Real” & “Cold World”. Slower songs such as “Let Me Count the Reasons”, the emotional “All That’s Left”, and the soul-stirring album closer “Count Me Out” show the honest and tender side that has become Finnigan’s calling card. All the while, the voice is raw and earthy — in the best tradition of R&B shouters like Otis Redding, Lee Moses, and David Ruffin. The songs on A Lover Was Born reconfigure the spliced and sampled DNA of hip hop (extracted by crate diggers like Dilla and RZA) to create something new, underscoring both the spectrum and depth of soul while making a case to the timelessness of Finnigan’s sound. ~ www.firstexperiencerecords.com

Piper Street Sound -- Small Plate / Rid Them Remixes EP

Piper Street Sound is back with a sprawling EP that collects new vocal versions and remixes of two instrumental reggae songs originally released in 2020; “Small Plate” (a collaboration with Augustus Pablo’s son Addis Pablo) and “Rid Them”. While the vinyl release focuses on the more reggae centric material, including two new vocal versions by veteran Jamaican dancehall artist General Pecos, the digital release includes some remixes that range a little further stylistically; with influences that include cumbia, electronic, and even trap.

Piper Street Sound, real name Matt Mansfield, is a musician, producer, and sound engineer with a focus on dub Reggae. He maintains a studio in Clarkston, Georgia, on the outskirts of Atlanta, where he uses the techniques of dub and electronic production to explore global soundscapes and instigate musical intersections. With over twenty years of recording, performing, and touring as bassist and live dub engineer, Mansfield artfully crafts this EP by connecting the dots to just a few of the musical links and personal influences he has across the globe, providing something for every listener while sparking new connections.

The original Small Plate / Rid Them EP was envisioned as a preview of the potential for the two instrumental riddims that constitute it; he had always intended to add vocals eventually. Releasing instrumentals before vocal versions gives the instruments space to be themselves before being instantly associated with the vocal they host. Piper Street Sound’s instrumentals have a life of their own, though they're meant to be malleable, like a folk song, easily used to support new melodies and lyrics.

The headliner of the release is a two-part collaboration with General Pecos (real name Lloyd Anderson), a foundation Dancehall artist from Jamaica who gives a totally new direction to the original tracks. Pecos adds a special cadence and style to everything he does, perhaps this has to do with the range of music he has been involved in; starting with boastful and fun sexually charged lyrics and a lightning fast delivery in some big digital dancehall/ragga hits during the the late 80’s and early 90’s, he also recorded for some early Jungle/Drum N Bass producers as well, and later transitioned into a more spiritual Rasta influenced style.

Pecos’s features on this release are no exception to his daring yet nuanced style, typical of Jamaican sound system and dancehall culture. On "Always Ashine”, he uses many uplifting spiritual references with a bold and almost boastful confidence, creating a satisfying juxtaposition to Mansfield’s tight instrumentals. “Waves Rocking the Boat” seems at the start as though it will be playful, but quickly transitions into a low swinging chorus that feels soothing despite lyrics that speak of suffering. Here, the marimba de chonta, a folkloric diatonic marimba made from chonta palm played on the pacific coast of Colombia and Ecuador, makes an appearance, whose water drop-like sonic textures fit nicely amongst sea metaphors that speak of pushing on despite difficulties, eventually leading the listener towards a feeling of overcoming.

Coupling “Always Ashine”’s vocal mix, we have Soon Come’s dub version, who created a new instrumental track with electronic drums and synths rather than just remixing the existing material. With stripped down, splashy wet instrumentals and a dry vocal treatment, we’re allowed to read even deeper into Pecos’ lyrics. Soon Come (aka 100Db) is a reggae DJ, co-owner of Old Neighborhood Music Record Label, producer, dub engineer, and synth expert based in Philly.

The organ, piano, guitar, melodica, and horns are common instruments chosen for instrumental solos in more traditional reggae or dub music, but Piper Street Sound thought that a change of lead instrument timbre could really stand out in a set of songs that tend to feature the same instruments again and again. A fiddle version of “Rid Them” combines reggae instrumental arrangement with a virtuoso fiddle solo played by Trent Wideman, the fiddle player for the Carolina Opry. Mansfield unites sonic traditions of the Caribbean with their Southern USA counterparts, for a very unique yet familiar take on an old practice.

Gio Chamba’s remix of “Small Plate” brings the sonic range of the album into a whole other realm. The psychedelic cumbia guitar hero, originally from Houston but now based in Colorado, transforms the main beat of the song into a slow digital cumbia, and layers on top of it a meandering guitar solo that at times flirts with the backing track by mimicking it and in other moments strays towards a parallel path.

Michael Alfred Wagner aka Biomigrant, is a producer and multi-instrumentalist from the US who rode his bike down to Colombia to study Afro-Latin Folkloric music. After Mansfield remixed a song by Plu Con Pla on an album that Biomigrant recorded and produced, (No Mas Velorio / No Mas Velorio Remixes) Mansfield reached out to him in 2019 to facilitate a recording from the band’s marimba player, Pitufo. Michael recorded Pitufo’s marimba de chonta, and the unique results are featured on an instrumental version of the song “Rid Them” that came out on the original EP in 2020 and is included again on this new vinyl release and as the final bonus track for Bandcamp customers. Wagner remixed the track with a bass-heavy electro-organic beat, using the marimba he recorded for the original mix but adding additional elements to make this track all his own.

Then the EP takes a brief turn in yet another totally new direction with Kedoshim’s Remix of “Rid Them”, which combines crisp, trappy beats, prose poetry, and of course, reggae. Mansfield met Kedoshim (aka Hermetics, real name Santiago Niño) when working as label manager at ZZK Records and noticed his consistent and sonically pleasing production style. He later reached out for a remix and boom!

Huw William’s (aka 3000 Worlds) Dub version of “Small Plate” is one of those tracks where the producer doesn’t fear a surprise reaction in the listener. The remix, a psychedelic blend of instrumental reggae and dub, with liberal use of tape delay, was mixed live in a single take.This release sees Piper Street Sound blending years of different phases of production into different, softer forms, creating the musical foundation and then stepping back and trusting his collaborators to take the work to new places based on what they do best. It’s quite a diverse EP taken as a whole but each song works on its own and synthesizes the elements at play in a way that creates a balanced listening experience. 

Small Plate / Rid Them Remixes will be released on October 11th, 2024 by Piper Street Sound!

Jeff Lederer | Guilty!!!

As the Supreme Court begins its fall term, Jeff Lederer, the acclaimed multi-reedist and jazz and improvised music polyglot, is back with Guilty!!!, his new album due out today, October 7, 2024, via his own label, little (i) music. The timing is no coincidence: Guilty!!! — whose full title repeats the verdict 34 times — is a timely and pointed attack on lying political discourse, using digital samples of dishonest political speech and bi-textuality as a basis for new compositions. 

Joining Lederer on Guilty!!! is the ensemble previously known as Swing n’ Dix — cornetist, slider trumpeter, and magic keyboardist Kirk Knuffke, tubist Bob Stewart, and drummer Matt Wilson. Here, the group is augmented by trombonist and electronicist Curtis Hasselbring and vocalist/lyricist Mary LaRose (“Cheapening the Process,” “And She Speaks”). All vocalize; Wilson plays a well-timed gavel. 

“I’d hoped it wouldn’t be just another progressive, Democratic jazz musician preaching to the choir,” Lederer says wryly. “Although since making this record, I’ve had a couple of surprises pop out within our own jazz community.” And, sometimes, the choir’s not singing loud enough — especially during this critical election — an undeniable pivot point in modern American history. 

Given his resumé as a conceptualist — he’s tackled sacred Shaker songs (Shakers n’ Bakers), sea shanties meets Albert Ayler (Brooklyn Blowhards) and Schoenberg (Schoenberg on the Beach), Lederer was uniquely positioned to nail this project. Despite being ripped from the headlines, Guilty!!! is bound to stick with you, through this nail-biter election and beyond. Guilty!!! originated in a residency Lederer taught last March at a preparatory high school in our nation’s capital, which culminated in a performance at the nearby performance space Rhizome DC. “I wanted to focus on the idea of telling the truth and lying, both in public speech and playing music,” he says — stressing that while the MAGA Republicans are the most flagrant liars on the scene today, truth-damaged discourse is coming from all directions. 

The songs on Guilty!!! that represent truth rely on organic instrumentation; the ones signifying lies are bathed in electronics and clashing, chaotic political soundbites. “Buzzsaw” features the voice of Marjorie Taylor Greene, who Lederer grinningly calls “the illustrious congressperson from Georgia.” “She was talking about her lack of support for the Ukraine war effort, and somehow she got on this word ‘buzzsaw,’ and repeated it over and over again,” Lederer says. 

“Buttigieg vs. Sanders” thematically harkens back to two elections ago — by all accounts, a simpler time. “I love Bernie’s voice. It’s an amazing sound,” Lederer says. “It harkens back to the time when the biggest issue that we had in leadership for this country was whether it was going to be Pete Buttigieg or Bernie Sanders for the Democratic nomination. If you recall, that was actually a hotly contested point for a minute, and it’s so nostalgic and sweet to think back on.” 

“Cheapening the Process” is a tip of the hat to former Rep. and current convicted felon George Santos — one of the GOP’s resident Dadaists, and one who Lederer has particular fondness for. “I set the song for George Santos as a bossa nova, because he is kind of a fake Brazilian,” Lederer explains. “Curtis Hasselbring made the clutch move of finding a clip where a woman asks him, ‘How do we make you go away?’ And he says, ‘Well, stop inviting me to your gigs.’” 

A reworked version of a piece formerly known as “Baby Cakes,” “Deportation Operation” derives from a quote from our current Republican nominee, whose name Lederer is loath to evoke. “He was outlining his immigration policy, and describing this grand deportation operation that was going to happen once he was back in office,” Lederer says. “You don’t hear the Orange One’s voice, but it was based on his speech.” (In fact, the former president’s voice is found nowhere on the record; Lederer is sensitive to those potentially triggered by that awful sound.) 

“Piccolo Buster” reflects the unconventional (for jazz) instrument that Lederer’s been rocking with lately. “The filibuster is definitely one of the most bizarre traditions in American politics,” Lederer reflects. “So, I thought to myself, I wonder what would happen if I just continued to play the piccolo non-stop. How would people make me stop?” As such, the methodology for “Piccolo Buster” was, “Do whatever gestures you want to try to make me stop.” (Dig Wilson’s gavel at the end.) 

The title track, “Guilty!!!,” is a co-write between Hasselbring and Wilson. “Curtis transcribed the melodic cadences of Adam Schiff’s great speech, where he gave us the 34 guiltys in kind of a deadpan way,” Lederer says, obviously referring to Trump’s felony convictions. “But it has a nice shape to the melody.” The following track, “And She Speaks” — by Lederer’s hero and onetime clarinet teacher, John Carter — takes a far less light-hearted turn. 

“This one speaks to violence against African American women by police officers,” Lederer says, citing the tragic case of Breonna Taylor. “We do know a lot about young Black men [in these situations], but sometimes, people forget about the violence against Black women.” “We the People” follows, featuring Sen. Katie Britt’s rebuttal to President Biden’s 2024 State of the Union address. “She’s such a strange character in American public life, and from that MAGA wing of the Republican Party,” Lederer observes. “She espouses this new Stepford Wives, Handmaid’s Tale version of women’s roles in American family life.” 

Guilty!!! starts to wind down with Charles Mingus’s “Fables of Faubus.” “It’s incredible how close we are to the politics of the late 1950s once again,” Lederer says. “The frightening thing about ‘Fables of Faubus’ is when you get those Mingus spoken word and sung parts, they resonate with the same relevance today as they did in the late 1950's.”

The program concludes with “Truth is Marching In,” by Lederer’s longtime lodestar Albert Ayler — which brings us back to the core concept of Guilty!!!. “This album has eight lies and two truths, and I wanted to end with a truth,” Lederer shares. “I wanted to end with something that feels really good.” 

Jazz diehards will immediately recognize the album art for Guilty!!! (created by Jamie Breiwick); it plays off It’s Time!, Jackie McLean’s 1964 classic on Blue Note Records with Charles Tolliver, Herbie Hancock, Cecil McBee, and Roy Haynes. They’ll also want to mark their calendars: on Election Eve, November 4, Lederer is throwing a special event in five cities (info above) in which local musicians will perform cuts from the record from 8 pm to 9.30 pm EST. 

At 9 pm EST, the separate groups will join together for a mass stream, where they ALL perform “Truth is Marching In.” Indeed it is, and Lederer is a musical ambassador for the truth. Is his new album extremely of its moment? Well, see the album title. Regardless, Guilty!!! Is an innovative, ear-bending Molotov cocktail, hurled into the noise, where Lederer hopes for the best. And if you not only turn up this record loud, but bring its energy to the polls, something tells him November 5 will be a glorious day.

Darryl Evan Jones | Resilient

Darryl Evan Jones brings the flute's classic vibe, rich melodic and harmonic possibilities to a new generation. 

The musical style of Darryl Evan Jones is truly original - combining the genres of Jazz, Classical, and Gospel music. He calls his style Instrumental Soul. Darryl insists that he’s a soul singer who can’t sing, but expresses his emotions through the flute. 

Born and raised in the South Bronx, music was originally introduced as an alternative to the lure of the streets and other ills of the projects. Soon, it became evident that music was more than a distraction. It was a calling. Darryl began to develop a very unique musical voice that was simply undeniable.

Darryl Evan Jones' journey has brought him to performance stages like The Cannon Center in Memphis, Philadelphia's Mandell Theater, and the Capital Jazz Fest. He's also been the opening act for artists like Howard Hewett, Jeff Lorber, Kem, Boney James, and has shared the stage with Marion Meadows. Darryl is also the winner of the "Solo Instrumental" category in the (International) 2024 Made In New York Jazz Competition, representing the United States.

Since the release of his “Relentless” album, Darryl has made quite a stir with this memorable project. Darryl Evan Jones unfolds the diversity of the flute as only a master of this instrument can do; a valuable asset to those who love this instrument and all other contemporary jazz fans. 

"On The Run", the first radio single from the "Resilient" album has already made waves by making its mark on the Radio Wave Groove Jazz and SJ Network Charts. The release of the second radio single "Road Trip, combined with the release of "Resilient" is sure to cement Darryl Evan Jones as a bonified force in Contemporary Jazz.

"Resilient" is a "statement piece" of musical and personal triumph. This uptempo muse is dedicated to that "never give up" spirit that is necessary to get more out of life than just accepting whatever comes your way. "Resilient" has incredible energy that will have even the most rhythmically challenged among us moving to the beat. 

Tord Gustavsen Trio | Seeing

With Seeing, Tord Gustavsen begins an intricate new chapter in his series of acclaimed trio recordings, initiated in 2003 with Changing Places – an album that is today considered a classic. The new recording with its compact, concentrated song forms "reflects my personal development as I get older, going for the essentials in life and music," says the Norwegian pianist. The album is also Gustavsen’s tenth release on ECM Records, an achievement worth noticing.

Throughout five Gustavsen originals, two chorals after Johann Sebastian Bach, a traditional Norwegian church hymn, plus the 19th century English chorale "Nearer My God, to Thee“ Tord together with long-time ally Jarle Vespestad on drums and Steinar Raknes on double bass digs deep into his unique blend of jazz, blues, gospel, Scandinavian folk and church music. "Cherishing the melodies," as Tord puts it, the group’s interplay draws strength from restraint, patiently but concisely building the music toward its climaxes, while the pianist, meanwhile a seasoned master of the trio format, leads with his delicate touch and subtle gospel glow.

Thus Seeing is strongly characterized not only by an enchanting down home feel but also by what Gustavsen calls the “efficiency of shape”: ”On this record you won’t find much extensive soloing. Instead we tried to invest our musicianship in the interplay and the shaping of small improvised parts and to ‘maximizing’ the fundamental details. This way the album offers a cool contrast to our live concerts these days, where we often go for more epic forms and extended suites, bringing several themes together and doing extended free improvisations. But what binds it all together, is that all about trying to go for what feels more vibrating and essential in the moment; and not following a plan or a script unless it feels really right to do it.” Of particular interest is the counterpoint work between the bass and the piano, and the warm, wooden full sound of the double bass, strikingly captured at the Studios La Buissonne, which the trio visited for the first time with this recording.

A Gustavsen original, “Seattle Song," closes the album – its origin and development are a good example of how Tord and the trio aimed to keep things concise on Seeing: “The tune entitled ’Seattle Song’ came to me during sound check in Seattle February 2023. It happens quite frequently that promising ideas for melodies, grooves, riffs, or sound textures emerge while jamming during sound check or fooling around at the piano while the others are setting up. It can be that the material asks to be expanded into more elaborate forms with supplemental sections etc., but in this case, the almost simplistic basic idea demanded to be left just like that. First, I thought it would be just a piano solo interlude, but then Steinar and Jarle joined spontaneously, and played it so beautifully and subtly comforting that it indeed became a trio tune; and one that we cherish a lot.”

Seeing, recorded in fall 2023 at Studios La Buissonne in Southern France, was produced by Manfred Eicher.

Michael Sarian & Tomás Kidd | Incoming

INCOMING" is a dynamic testament to the enduring friendship and musical partnership between natives Michael Sarian and Tomás Kidd, whose musical bond dates back to their teenage years in Buenos Aires. Born from a serendipitous encounter in Amsterdam after one of Sarian's tours, the album showcases their seamless musical synergy and creative camaraderie. Each track reflects their deep connection forged over years in Buenos Aires, blending intricate melodies and spontaneous improvisations. "INCOMING" celebrates their journey from Argentina to global acclaim in contemporary jazz, blending their shared roots with an innovative approach. Through their music, Sarian and Kidd invite listeners into a world where friendship and artistic vision know no boundaries, echoing the vibrant spirit of their hometown.

The album's rich tapestry is woven with the distinctive instrumentation of Michael Sarian’s trumpet and Tomás Kidd’s acoustic bass, a pairing that breathes new life into each composition. Sarian's trumpet evokes various emotions, from soulful melodies to spirited improvisations, adding a dynamic layer to the music. Meanwhile, Kidd's bass provides a solid foundation with its warm tones and rhythmic versatility, driving the melodies forward while creating intricate harmonic textures.The sonic contrast between high brass and low-string instrument gives the album a unique sense of delicacy and vulnerability, which the duo hones into an intimate listening experience. 

"INCOMING" draws inspiration from a diverse range of musical influences, including jazz, avant-garde, rock, Latin, and world music traditions. Sarian and Kidd's collaboration bridges cultural and stylistic boundaries, offering listeners a unique and immersive musical experience that celebrates creativity, collaboration, and artistic expression.

The album is poised to resonate with jazz aficionados and music enthusiasts alike, showcasing Sarian and Kidd's virtuosity as instrumentalists and their ability to weave intricate musical tapestries that captivate and inspire. "INCOMING" is not just an album but a testament to the power of musical collaboration and the limitless possibilities of jazz fusion in the 21st century.

Michael Pallas | Gateway

With the release of his debut album, Gateway, the Phoenix-raised, New York City-based trombonist, composer, and educator Michael Pallas looks to make his mark as a leader to be reckoned with.

A trombonist inspired by J.J. Johnson. Curtis Fuller, Steve Turre and Papo Vasquez, Pallas is a proud alumnus of the Jackie McLean Institute, founded by legendary alto saxophonist and educator Jackie McLean in Hartford, Connecticut. 

While Pallas has been performing professionally for over 15 years, including stints with legendary jazz pianist Abdullah Ibrahim, mambo big band leader Steve Oquendo, Afrobeat band Antibalas, hip-hop group Soul Science Lab and others, the trombonist was inspired to become a solo artist during the pandemic. 

“I really had a lot of time just to reflect on where my career was at that point,” Pallas says, “and I felt like it was necessary for me to start moving in this direction of really seriously writing my own music, and eventually releasing my own record. So I began to compose tunes that dealt with themes and emotions that I and many artists were facing during the first two years of the decade.” 

Backed by saxophonist Lomar Brown, pianist Yeissonn Villamar, bassist John Benítez, drummer Jonathan Barber, and percussionist Nelson Mathew Gonzalez - with co-producer Alex Meltzer - the 13 Pallas-penned selections on Gateway reflect the myriad inventions and dimensions of 21st century jazz. 

The lead-off number, “Life On Mars,” is an infectious Cubop composition written for the nickname McLean gave to Hartford, and its non-resemblance to McLean’s beloved Big Apple. “One For The City” is a bouncy, upbeat waltz dedicated to New York City, followed by the midtempo backbeats of “Streaming Hope,” inspired by online concerts and jams musicians played during the pandemic. 

“Patient(s)” is a hypnotic, hip-hop flavored interlude, which sets up “Disu’s Dream,” a moving rumba dedicated to memory of Pallas’ friend and fellow trombonist Jason Disu, who passed away in 2021. In contrast, “Counterfeit Blues” features the arresting spoken word artist Ghazi Omair talking about police brutality and the murder of George Floyd, which introduces “The Verdict,” a hard bop comment on the subject. 

“Today And Forever,” is a beautiful Kenny Barron-style ballad. “Next Exit” is another dreamy, hip-hop friendly interlude, followed by the title track; an exuberant, contemporary jazz-style selection in celebration of the return of live music, bookended by Afrofuturistic, neo-soul number “Beyond (The Gateway).” “El Boli” is based on Chick Corea’s “Humpty Dumpty,” and the last track, “Variant,” is a twilight-toned blend of dance beats, psychedelic effects and Afro-Colombian cumbia rhythms. 

Pallas was very specific about how the recording was sequenced. “I was able to tell the story through the songs, and they're all placed in a chronological order,” Pallas remarks. “I thought long and hard about how the tracks should be placed.” 

Gateway is a testament to how versatile a trombonist and composer Pallas is while also showing that he’s fluent in many different genres. “I’m excited to share all these ways of playing and approaching new styles of music on the trombone,” Pallas says. 

Pallas was born in Los Angeles in 1990 to a Dominican immigrant mother and a father of European heritage who was born and raised in New York City. Pallas, who was brought up in Phoenix, started playing piano in the first grade, and took up the trombone at the age of 11.

“Once I picked it up, I excelled on it pretty rapidly, in comparison to my peers,” Pallas proudly recalls, “and a lot of the reason why was because I'd been studying piano before I even picked up the trombone. So, I really had a strong musical foundation.” 

Pallas played in several local bands, specifically with the Young Sounds of Arizona: a non-profit 501-(c)(3) organization composed of young musicians playing in several jazz bands. Pallas’ major instructors were Robert McAllister, Principal Trombonist for the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra, and Milas Yoes, Director of Instrumental Music, Jazz Studies and Humanities at Phoenix College, where Pallas attended. 

Pallas told Yoes that he wanted to attend a conservatory, so he put him in touch with jazz trombonist Steve Davis, who taught at The Jackie McLean Institute at the Hartt School of Music in Hartford, Connecticut. “I went out there and auditioned for Steve,” Pallas says, “and once I arrived there, it changed my life. It showed me that there is a path in music, for people that are serious, and you can really excel and make a living off of it.” Pallas attended McLean’s school and earned a Bachelor of Music degree in 2013 while also collaborating and studying with Rene McLean at the Artists Collective and working frequently with Ed Fast and Conga Bop. 

Pallas moved to New York City in 2014 and went on to gig with several Latin bandleaders including John “Dandy” Rodriguez, Gilberto “Pulpo” Colon, Steven Oquendo, Tito Rodriguez, Jr., Alex Matos, Tito Rojas and Lusito and Roberto Quintero. Pallas also worked with many jazz artists and ensembles including Abdullah Ibrahim, Steve Davis, Rene McLean, Robert Edwards Big Band, the George Gee Orchestra and the Cotton Club Orchestra. In 2021, Pallas began working with the NYC-based hip-hop and multimedia act Soul Science Lab. Between 2022 and 2023 Pallas toured throughout North America, Europe and Africa and recorded with the Grammy-nominated Afrobeat band Antibalas. Pallas has also performed with New York retro soul and R&B group Ernest Ernie and The Sincerities. 

Shortly before the pandemic, and towards the end of Barry Harris’ life, Pallas participated in the legendary pianist’s Orchestra Project. “Although we never performed or recorded it was an invite only workshop that met weekly in Manhattan to rehearse Harris’ compositions and arrangements for large ensemble,” Pallas says. 

Pallas, who received his Master of Music degree from New Jersey City University in 2022, is also a devoted educator. He taught music theory and directed jazz ensembles at the Music Conservatory of Westchester, from 2014 to 2023. Pallas currently teaches with the Harmony Program, which helps New York City children develop healthy habits and life skills through collective music-making, preparing them for long-term success.

Courtney Cutchins | Grunge To Grace

A singer with an uncommon command of her luminous voice and an organic, soulful and dramatic sense of phrasing a lyric, Seattle native Courtney Cutchins is also a vivid storyteller and prolific songwriter. All of those qualities come to bear on her auspicious debut as a leader, Grunge to Grace (Laseryn Music). Backed by a stellar crew of rising stars on the New York jazz scene — pianist-producer David Cook (Taylor Swift, Mark Guiliana, Lizz Wright, Nicole Zuraitis), guitarist Nir Felder (Keyon Harrold, Terri Lyne Carrington), bassist Matt Clohesy (Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society, Maria Schneider Orchestra) and drummer Obed Calvaire (Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Dave Holland, Cécile McLorin Salvant) — Cutchins deals in purely authentic terms on six stirring originals and three re-imagined anthems from her ‘90s youth in Seattle by grunge rock luminaries Nirvana and Soundgarden.

“These deep, introspective grunge rock songs make sense to me,” said the singer who spent three years in New York City and currently splits her time between the Big Apple and the Greater Savannah Area. “They fit the theme of this album, which is about living in your authentic truth. It’s about the journey to become who you are and who you want to be.”

Recorded at Bunker Studio in Brooklyn, Grunge to Grace is the culmination of an idea that was sparked nine years ago and picked up momentum through the years. As Cutchins wrote in the liner notes: “In 2015, while navigating difficult times, I found my way to a supportive music therapy exercise: ‘rediscover songs from early childhood that bring you joy.‘ After combing through dozens of Disney soundtracks, folk songs and Muppets movies, an unexpected memory hit me from when I was growing up in the Seattle area — hearing Soundgarden’s mystical, soaring ‘Black Hole Sun’ on the radio. With this song as my muse, I created a variety of reinventions of grunge tunes from my youth and had some of the most fun ever performing them in NYC.”

Performing her new jazzgrunge repertoire at venues like Rockwood Music Hall, Cornelia Street Cafe, Silvana and the 55 Bar was a liberating experience for Cutchins, allowing her to live her own authentic truth through song. “Grunge emerged from a need for musical rebellion and rawness, and it sits in an introspective space which speaks to me deeply,” she said. “This album includes three of my favorite arrangements from that time. It’s my intention to encourage and inspire the listener to be free and live as who they are, and then shine that out into the world.”

That theme of struggle for self-identity is apparent from the opening track, a daring interpretation of Soundgarden’s “Boot Camp” from the group’s fifth studio album, 1996’s Down on the Upside. Against an urgently swinging undercurrent provided by Felder, Cook, Clohesy and Calvaire, Cutchins sings about the oppressed resigning to the authority of the oppressors, conforming to the status quo while still fantasizing about how there must be something good/there must be something else/far away from here. Courtney’s vocals are resounding and cathartic while Felder unleashes with signature fluency on his guitar solo against Calvaire’s unrelenting pulse, putting a new and decidedly ‘jazzy’ suit of clothes on this grunge classic.

Her own moody ballad “Star on the Sea,” underscored by Calvaire’s brushwork and Cook’s gentle piano accompaniment, is as intimate and poignant as Billy Strayhorn’s “Lush Life” or Sarah Vaughan’s rendition of “Midnight Sun.” As Courtney explained, “This song is about a place where femininity is safe and celebrated and imagines a galaxy where women are free to live in a place of peace and power.”

“Passenger” is Cutchins’ catchy, R&B flavored ode to the New York City subway system. Paced by Calvaire’s insistent backbeat, the tune features a striking, warm-toned guitar solo from Felder. As the kinetic piece builds to a dramatic crescendo, Calvaire is turned loose to wail on the kit.

Perhaps the most intimate and revealing song on Grunge to Grace is Cutchins’ duet (with Felder on steel string acoustic guitar) on a version of Soundgarden’s “The Day I Tried to Live” from their 1994 album, Superunknown. A droning bit of introspection written by Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell, it addresses the introverted singer’s frustration at trying to “be normal” by going out and living with people. And while it may be tinged with melancholy, Cutchins also sees a sense of hope in the lyric: One more time around (might do it)/One more time around (might make it). As she offered, “We can have the best of intentions, but for one reason or another we feel a sense of failure — or we’re living a lie and get caught up in something that isn’t actually true to who we are. It’s about identifying these aspects of ourselves and growing as human beings.”

Courtney’s affecting ballad “Hold Up the Moon” opens with some ethereal wordless vocals against a drone, setting an atmospheric mood. The song was based on a dream and describes a sense of devotion despite disaster.

Tackling Kurt Cobain’s “All Apologies,” which appeared on Nirvana’s third and final studio album, In Utero, was daunting. But Cutchins rose to the occasion with the most moving and dynamic performance of the album, full of soaring wordless improvisations and nuanced interpretation of the tortured lyrics. “That song was definitely a big part of that soundtrack from the ‘90s, for me,” she said. “The melody is beautiful, so I really wanted to play with it and put it on a different musical planet. But the message remains the same. I interpret it as such a great statement on vulnerability and equality, while also being a defiant proclamation of living unapologetically.”

Courtney’s “Prison in Your Mind” is a lilting, confessional number with universal appeal about her struggle with perfectionism, while “Grunge to Grace” is the album’s soul-stirring hymn. “That one is my personal favorite,” said Courtney. “It came about soon after Chris Cornell had passed in 2017. That was a shock. Between that tragic event and the general weight of the world at that time, everything felt painful. So, I wrote a song acknowledging the pain that we can all feel and experience, while staying hopeful at the same time. Those two feelings can exist together and that’s okay.”

“Illuminate,” is the big power-chording, distortion-laced guitar closer that gradually builds to a throbbing crescendo with Obed bashing forcefully over a band ostinato. “It’s got a little bit of Radiohead in there, some Soundgarden, a little David Bowie, just a mix of things that we also felt,” said Cutchins. “This song was inspired by the pandemic, my experience with chronic fatigue, my love of the ocean and the process of soul- searching. I felt it would be like an exclamation point at the end of the album.”

These songs of self-discovery reveal a singer-songwriter who was deeply immersed in jazz through her college years (she earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Jazz Vocal Performance from Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle and a Master of Music degree in Jazz Vocal Performance from prestigious Manhattan School of Music in New York City) but still felt a symbolic connection to the music of an earlier time in her life. Both sides represent the full picture of this sensational, risk-taking singer who is coming into her own with Grunge to Grace. https://courtneycutchins.com

New Set of Rare Recordings - Charlie Parker: Bird in Kansas City

On modern jazz pioneer Charlie Parker’s heavenly birthday: August 29, 2024, Verve Records announced Bird in Kansas City, an album featuring a new set of rare recordings dating from between 1941-1951, to be released globally on October 25, 2024 on vinyl, CD, and digitally. Much of this collection has never been heard before and some recordings have never even been known to exist — Bird in Kansas City chronicles Charlie Parker’s evolution from a blossoming soloist with the Jay McShann Band into a brilliant improviser who changed the genre forever.

To celebrate the announcement of Bird in Kansas City, the first track, “Cherokee,” 

Chuck Haddix — scholar and author of Bird: The Life and Music of Charlie Parker, who also produced and wrote liner notes for this album — says, “‘Ray Noble’s ‘Cherokee’ was one of Bird's favorite songs. Whenever he showed up late for a gig, he would make a grand entrance through the front door playing ‘Cherokee.’ Taken at a bright tempo, Charlie takes wing with a melodic solo that deftly navigates the song’s challenging chord changes.”

In addition to two unreleased 78s with the McShann band, Bird in Kansas City offers two sets of private recordings — at the home of Parker’s friend Phil Baxter and at Vic Damon’s studio— made with local musicians and a very relaxed-sounding Parker who has the room to stretch out and show us the shape of jazz that was to come in his wake.

Central to these recordings is Parker’s relationship to his hometown of Kansas City, a place he never lived again once he left in 1941 but remained deeply important to him; his mixed emotions owed to the city’s history of racial segregation and to his strong ties to his family and friends there. Though he never returned permanently, he frequently came home during breaks in his travels, and it is during those times that these recordings were made.

Cinematic funk heroes Calibro 35 present their new EP ‘Jazzploitation’

Cinematic funk heroes Calibro 35 present their new EP ‘Jazzploitation’: a journey in the world of jazz and rare groove.

Dr. Dre and Jay-Z sampled Italian cinematic funk legends Calibro 35 are always in search of new territories to venture into. Their new journey is called ‘Jazzploitation’: a new EP paying tribute to jazz-funk, rare groove and psychedelic cinematic-jazz, to be released next October 18th on digital platforms via Record Kicks and now available for pre-order. 

None of the members of Calibro 35 are (or consider themselves) jazz musicians, but over the years jazz has often and significantly inspired them. ‘Jazzploitation’ is not a “jazz record” but an EP “inspired by jazz” in which Calibro 35 pay homage to some of their favorite musicians; from Bob James to Lalo Schifrin, to Miles Davis and Idris Muhammad. 

The first single taken from the EP is a cover of RAI TV’s legendary ‘Lunedì Cinema (Monday Movie)’ theme, a jazzy disco-funk mover composed by Italian renowned singer-songwriter Lucio Dalla, which features for the occasion the scat singing of Sicilian artist Marco Castello (Nu Genea, Erlend Oye). The new single ‘Lunedì Cinema’ is out today on all digital platforms and on November 15th also on ltd edition clear 7” vinyl.  

On the EP’s tracklist feature also the second single ‘Chaser’, a groovy jazz-funk stormer composed by Piero Umiliani, who originally recorded it for the soundtrack of 1975’s erotic-noir movie ‘The Body’ directed by Luigi Scattini, as well as ‘Nautilus’ by the jazz keyboardist Bob James and ‘Ascenseur pour l'échafaud (Générique)’ by Miles Davis taken from Lous Malle’s film. A total of four jazz-funk numbers that confirm the musicianship of Calibro 35, already proven in over a decade of history. 

Described by Rolling Stone as "the most fascinating, retro-maniac and genuine thing that has happened to Italy in the past few years", Milan-based Calibro 35 enjoy a worldwide reputation as one of the coolest independent bands around. Active since 2007, during their long career they were sampled by Dr. Dre on ‘Compton’ (‘One Shot One Kill’ feat. Snoop Dogg), Jay Z (‘Picasso Baby’), The Child of Lov & Damon Albarn (‘One Day’) and Demigodz (‘The Summer Of Sam’). They played major venues and festivals all over Europe and as unique musicians they collaborated with, amongst others: PJ Harvey, Mike Patton, John Parish, Stewart Copeland and Rokia Traoré.

Cliff Beach | Music Maker

For over 15 years, Cliff Beach has been a cornerstone of the Los Angeles music scene earning a reputation for vibrant live performances; high volumes of musically eclectic releases; and having a second-to-none hustle that uplifts every collaborator in his orbit. Following a successful early 2024 jazz release entitled You Showed Me The Way, Beach pivots back to his high-voltage funk roots with his forthcoming release Beach Please, available via Eddie Roberts’ (The New Mastersounds) imprint Color Red on October 18, 2024. The second single “Music Maker,” will be available tomorrow, September 20, and is a sultry homage to Willy Wonka via Arthur O’Shaugnessy’s famous poem 'Ode.'  

Both Beach’s neo-soul influence and tenacious optimistic hustle are displayed front-and-center on “Music Maker.” With the hook directly affirming Willy Wonka’s assertion of O’Shaughnessy’s poem, Beach speaks to trudging through creative peaks and valleys, finishing tasks despite how they are perceived, and not being defined by your past or relationships. The track’s spellbinding groove and melodious hook are a hat tip to Erykah Badu’s “On and On” positioning it perfectly for the portion of the album speaking to redemption and finding your way to self-love. 

“We are the music makers, we are the dreamers of dreams,” Beach reiterates, “I think any artist is crazy to do it and do it this long, but everyone thinks the musician is crazy who can’t hear the music in their own head. So like Paul Simon I’m still crazy after all this year and will keep making music until the wheels fall off!” 

Beach’s tenacity and life philosophy of exerting hard work and effort is further reflected in his book Side Hustle & Flow: 10 Principles to Live and Lead a More Productive Life in Less Time, which he was drafting at the same time he wrote the collection of songs that appear in Beach Please. Throughout the book’s ten chapters, Beach chronicles his journey of getting kicked off American Idol to finding success with his hit song “Confident” that amassed over 1 million streams and won the Grand Prize for R&B at the John Lennon Songwriting Contest in 2019. It speaks to the reality of starting passion projects while maintaining a day job through a detailed, realistic approach, rather than snake oil that promises you can be a multi-millionaire with minimal effort. 

Beach Please’s 11-tracks (10 originals and one cover of Michael Jackson’s 80s hit “The Way You Make Me Feel”) are structured as a 3-part suite, each exploring a different element of love, heartbreak, and redemption. Suite One celebrates the joys of falling in love and the rush of emotions that accompany those early stage feelings. It contains "Crush on You," "Gotta Have That Girl, " "The Way You Make Me Feel," and "Stuck with You.” Suite Two speaks to heartbreak and the polarizing reality of pain and moving on through five songs "It's All My Fault," "Reminds Me of You," "Gotta Let You Go," “Final Goodbye,” and "Let Me Be Lonely." Suite Three comes full circle making its way back to moving forward and finding your way back to self-love in two songs “Music Maker” and “The Work.” The album was produced by Cliff Beach and recorded at The Road House in Topanga, CA by Lito Magana. The album's pre-mixing was done at 1192 Studios in Westlake Village, CA by Tim Hall with mixing by Dylan Brown and mastering by Doug Krebs. 

On making the album Beach states, “Spanning songs over my entire career that never made it to an album yet everything has a right place and time to be born. The past is history, the future is a mystery and all we have is here and now. This album is as NOW as I’ve ever been and I am thrilled to be partnering with Color Red Music label for its inaugural release!” 

Those in the Southern California area can catch Cliff Beach and his band at the following performances, including an album release show at the legendary west side venue, Harvelle's in Santa Monica on October 18th: 

10/18 - Harvelle's - Santa Monica - Album release party with Chase Walker Band and The Chester Copperpot

10/26 Sam’s Place w/ David Franz - Ojai, CA 

Beach Please will encapsulate a programmatic journey through all phases of passion, anguish, and vindication piggybacking off of the spring jazz release and prefacing a contemporary album to be released later this fall. 

Roy Ayers Ubiquity: Tear To A Smile / Mystic Voyage / Everybody Loves The Sunshine / Vibrations / Lifeline

Features five classic Roy Ayers Ubiquity albums in a 3 CD Digipack. Including ‘A Tear To A Smile’, ‘Mystic Voyage’, ‘Everybody Loves The Sunshine’, ‘Vibrations’ and ‘Lifeline’. Full of Roy Ayers classics plus three bonus tracks.

This retrospective spotlights a prolific purple patch in Ayers’ career, focusing on the mid-to- late 1970s when he took the vibraphone into the pop mainstream via a series of commercially successful albums for Polydor Records.

Roy’s Band, which had previously been known as the Roy Ayers Quartet - a name that Ayers thought was too “square” and described as “a drag” - morphed into a much larger ensemble called Roy Ayers Ubiquity. Ayers said: “At that time, in 1970 when I joined Polydor, my manager, said ‘Roy, you should name the group Ubiquity.’ I said what does that mean? ‘Ubiquity means a state of being everywhere at the same time.’ I said, ‘That’s fate because if everyone has one of my albums I will be everywhere.’ I thought it was great so I started using that name.”

Key Tracks on this package are ‘Running Away’ which is not only featured as the album version, but also as an the 12” extended mix bonus track, ‘Evolution’, ‘Het, Uh What You Say Come On’, ‘The Third Eye’, ‘Tongue Power’, ‘Domelo (Give It To Me)’, ‘Searching’ and ‘The Golden Rod’.

Vice President and President elect Kamala Harris recently described ‘Everybody Loves The Sunshine’ as one of her favourite albums of all time.

Roy Ayers announced his retirement from touring in 2023, the five albums in this box set capture him at his peak. They remind us that in his prime, his music was an irresistible force, providing spiritual nourishment for the soul as well as irresistible dance grooves for the feet.

The package includes fabulous sleeve notes by Charles Waring (MOJO, Record Collector and uDiscover Music).

Matt Slocum | Lion Dance

After six acclaimed recordings, “Matt Slocum has emerged as one of the great young jazz drummers in New York City, and therefore all of jazz,” (The Minneapolis Star Tribune), and “an inveterate swinger with a brisk, highly interactive touch and a penchant for melodicism . . . also a thoughtful composer who sets up his team like a savvy point guard running an offense (Bill Milkowski, JazzTimes), and with his new recording, Lion Dance (out on Sunnyside Records on November 1, 2024), Matt Slocum engages in deeply swinging dialogues with two modern-day masters, long-time collaborators and friends, Walter Smith III on tenor saxophone, and Larry Grenadier on bass. The album was produced by Jerome Sabbagh and recorded live to two-track analog tape by James Farber.

“I’ve always wanted to do a sax trio record,” Slocum says. “I feel it’s a benchmark for drummers – for saxophonists, too. I spent a lot of time in the practice shed, because Walter and Larry are so high-level, but you can prepare specifically for it only so much because you don’t know how they’ll interpret the music. You need to reach a place where you feel open creatively and can go in different directions without impediments to the flow.” About the composing process, he added, “writing for sax trio makes me explore new compositional directions. For starters, the whole notion of hearing a chord not vertically, but horizontally – spread out over time – is a complete game changer.” He elaborates, “My aim was to write and arrange bespoke music for Smith and Grenadier. To make very specific choices that would create musical frameworks full of possibility; to bring out some sides of their musical personalities that I really love . . . and also, music that we could sink our teeth into as a trio, with a high-level of interaction.”

Slocum navigates this telepathic trio (let’s hope to hear more from them in the future) through five original pieces whose subtle challenges enhance freedom of expression, and three jazz and American Songbook standards (“What Is There To Say” by Vernon Duke, “This Is All I Ask” by Gordon Jenkins and “We See” by Thelonious Monk). Slocum’s musical partnership and friendship with Smith goes back over twenty years, and this is his fourth appearance on a Slocum-led project. The composer/drummer has also known and played with Grenadier for quite some time, with the bassist appearing on Slocum’s 2019 release, Sanctuary, and on With Love and Sadness in 2022. All three of these musicians possess beautifully rich sounds (to say the very least), and wide open hearts and ears, which explains much of the album’s appeal. Slocum explains that, “this record is as much about ensemble chemistry and interaction as the music itself.”

Regarding the title track, Slocum said of the lyrical melody that transpires primarily in 9/4, “I write mixed meters to serve the music’s natural flow and not for some perceived hipness factor. Rhythms in nature aren’t always symmetrical or in groups of four. In my imagination, the primary section represents lions dancing playfully. The transition to the relative minor key during the bridge eventually signals a more solemn gathering of the lions before a new section of their dance during the coda.”

It all adds up to the latest brilliant chapter in Slocum’s career, which seems to go from strength to strength, drawing from a bottomless well of ideas and inspiration. Lion Dance is on par with, and enters the canon of, equilateral triangle oriented recordings by such 21st century avatars of the genre as Fly Trio, a long-standing unit with Grenadier, Mark Turner, and Jeff Ballard; Smith’s own “TWIO” outing with bassist Harish Raghavan and Eric Harland; the Bill Stewart Trio with Grenadier and Smith; and the Kendrick Scott Trio with Smith and Reuben Rogers.

Slocum’s first inspirations were Max Roach (on Clifford Brown’s Study In Brown, and with Buddy Rich on Rich Vs Roach), Philly Joe Jones (on Cookin’ With The Miles Davis Quintet), and Roy Haynes (on the albums Thelonious In Action, Chick Corea’s Now He Sings, Now He Sobs, and Haynes’ We Three). Through prolific sideman work over many years, and leading his own band with six must-hear albums (visit www.MattSlocumJazz.com to explore his discography), Slocum has distilled these, and many other, influences, into what made these artists legends to begin with; individuality. Slocum has been on his own path for years, unconcerned with anything outside of cultivating, composing and performing music which represents his own artistic esthetic; music which resonates with, and stimulates his fellow musicians; and music that finds music lovers yearning to hear master musicians in their prime. He has accomplished all of this and more with his new recording, Lion Dance.

Black Friday Releases: Max Roach, Joe Bataan, Norma Jean, Angelo Badalmenti, Isaac Hayes, and more!

Craft Recordings has announced its lineup of exclusive releases for RSD Black Friday, taking place on November 29 at participating independent retailers. This year’s diverse array of limited-edition offerings spans a multitude of genres and eras, beginning with a 180-gram mono pressing of Max Roach’s 1958 hard-bop classic, Deeds, Not Words. The rollout continues with Joe Bataan’s best-selling 1968 Latin soul masterpiece, Riot!, followed by Isaac Hayes’ supremely funky 1974 Truck Turner soundtrack, reissued on vinyl for the first time in decades as part of Varèse Sarabande’s Reel Cult series.

Craft is also celebrating the 30th anniversary of Born Jamericans’ cult-favorite 1994 debut, Kids from Foreign, while Wrongdoing—the acclaimed 2013 album from metalcore pioneers Norma Jean—arrives on vinyl for the first time since its initial release. Also making its vinyl debut is Music for Film and Television, which highlights the remarkable career of film composer and longtime David Lynch collaborator Angelo Badalamenti.

New titles include The Soul and Songs of Young Curtis Mayfield: The Spirit of Chicago, a 2-LP retrospective of the legendary singer, songwriter and producer’s foundational work from the late ’50s to mid-’60s, as well as the latest installment from the popular Jazz Dispensary series, The Golden Hour.

Various Artists – The Soul and Songs of Young Curtis Mayfield: The Spirit of Chicago (2-LP; Black Vinyl)

One of the greatest singers, songwriters and producers of his generation, Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and GRAMMY® Lifetime Achievement Award winner Curtis Mayfield (1942–1999) left a lasting mark on American music with his influential brand of socially conscious soul music. Celebrated for his civil rights anthems with the Impressions and his groundbreaking solo albums, like Curtis (1970), Back to the World (1973) and the iconic Super Fly soundtrack (1972), the Chicago native first established his career in the city’s rich gospel and soul scene during the late ’50s and early ’60s.

Spanning 1958–1965, The Soul and Songs of Young Curtis Mayfield: Spirit of Chicago chronicles this period of rapid growth, focusing on the young artist’s foundational work behind the scenes as a songwriter and producer, as well as his early years with the Impressions (which he joined in 1958, serving as lead vocalist from 1960–70). In addition to a selection of tracks from the celebrated soul and doo-wop group—including Mayfield-penned classics like “Senorita I Love You” and “Young Lover”—the collection highlights Mayfield’s extensive work as a writer. His collaborations include hits with former Impressions frontman Jerry Butler, such as “He Will Break Your Heart,” “I’m a Telling You” and “Find Another Girl,” as well as tracks with Gene Chandler and future Earth, Wind & Fire co-founder Wade Flemons.

Released exclusively on vinyl for Black Friday, the 27-track collection features newly remastered audio from the original analog tapes by GRAMMY-winning engineer Paul Blakemore, while new liner notes by noted rock historian Jim Miller offer additional context. The 2-LP set is limited to just 2,800 copies worldwide.

Born Jamericans – Kids from Foreign (1-LP; Black Vinyl)

While Washington D.C.’s Born Jamericans were short-lived as a group, they earned a cult following in the mid-’90s with their influential blend of dancehall reggae and hip-hop. The American-born duo, who drew inspiration from their shared Jamaican heritage, balanced the smooth-as-silk vocals of singer Mr. Notch (Norman Howell) with the gritty ragga of rapper Edley Shine (Horace Payne) to create a musical fusion that was utterly fresh at the time.

Signing with the tastemakers at Delicious Vinyl (home to the likes of Young MC and Tone Loc), the duo paired up with legendary producer Chucky Thompson, one of the famous “Hitmen” of the ’90s, who crafted mega hits for stars like Usher, Mariah Carey, Nas, Mary J. Blige and beyond. The result was their irresistible 1994 debut, Kids from Foreign, featuring such popular tracks as “Warning Sign,” “Cease & Seckle” and “Boom Shak A-Tack,” which hit the Billboard Hot 100 and peaked at No.15 on the Rap chart. The album, meanwhile, broke the Billboard 200 and was named one of the highest-selling reggae albums of the year. While Kids from Foreign launched Born Jamericans’ career, the duo would only release one more album, 1997’s Yardcore, before going their separate ways.

Returning to vinyl for the first time in 25 years and limited to just 2,400 copies worldwide, this 30th anniversary reissue of Kids from Foreign is pressed on classic black vinyl and cut from its original analog tapes by Phillip Rodriguez at Elysian Mastering.Norma Jean – Wrongdoers (1-LP; Fire Eyes Vinyl).

Norma Jean – Wrongdoers (1-LP; Fire Eyes Vinyl)

For more than 20 years, metalcore pioneers Norma Jean have dominated the scene with their cathartic and unbridled brand of rock. Borrowing from Marilyn Monroe’s birth name, the Atlanta five-piece debuted in 2001 and built a cult following over the decade through best-selling titles like The Anti Mother (2008) and the highly acclaimed Meridional (2010).

Their influential sixth album, 2013’s Wrongdoers, built upon that momentum and found the band—including longtime frontman Cory Brandan—pushing themselves farther than ever before. Experimenting with an array of live instrumentation (including strings, piano and organs), the band delivered some of their finest and most dynamic songs to date, including the anthemic title track, the blistering “If You Got It at Five, You Got It at Fifty” and the enduring hit, “Sword in Mouth, Fire Eyes.”

In addition to becoming an immediate best-seller—breaking the Billboard 200’s Top 40 and landing in the Top 10 of Billboard’s Rock, Indie and Hard Rock Albums charts—Wrongdoers also received high marks from a wide array of outlets, including AllMusic, Metal Hammer and AbsolutePunk, which raved, “Wrongdoers grabs you by the throat from the start, and when it finally releases its grip you can’t help but go back for more.” Alternative Press, meanwhile, simply proclaimed it a “masterpiece.”

Marking the first vinyl reissue of Wrongdoers, this exclusive edition is limited to 2,750 copies worldwide and pressed on Fire Eyes–colored wax. The LP also features a printed inner sleeve, plus an insert with track lyrics.

Various Artists – Jazz Dispensary: The Golden Hour (1-LP; Golden Wave Swirl Vinyl)

Welcome to The Golden Hour: The latest stash of sizzlers presented by Jazz Dispensary that immerses listeners in a lush soundscape, where sunbaked sands and cool ocean breezes blend seamlessly to create one dank groove blast.

The curated collection opens with “Web,” an energizing, yet laid-back cut off pianist Hampton Hawes’ 1974 LP, Northern Windows. The recording, led by the great David Axelrod, features drums and bass by legendary session players Spider Webb and Carol Kaye, respectively. Next is “Soul Talk-1970,” off organist Johnny “Hammond” Smith’s 1970 LP, Black Feeling!, followed by Sonny Rollins’ funky “Newkleus.” The track, which appeared on the saxophonist’s 1975 album, Nucleus, was composed by frequently sampled R&B star James Mtume, who also delivers a heady dose of standout guitar licks. Cornetist Nat Adderley closes out the set with the hard bop–infused “Fortune’s Child,” off his 1978 album, A Little New York Midtown Music.

The breeze picks up on side B with “Cántaro,” a bold and sultry number (penned by Axelrod) off saxophonist Gene Ammons’ 1974 LP, Brasswind, followed by Vince Guaraldi’s “Little Birdie,” a hip 1973 cue for Peanuts sidekick Woodstock (and featuring a rare vocal performance by the best-selling pianist/composer). Drummer Chico Hamilton chills down the vibes with “Gengis,” a soulful and languid instrumental off his 1973 collab with Little Feat, The Master. Rounding out the album is “Suite for Albeniz,” a seductive Eastern-influenced selection from Philly fusion pioneers Catalyst, off 1976’s A Tear and a Smile.

Limited to just 6,200 units worldwide, The Golden Hour is pressed on a dreamy blue-and-gold Golden Wave Swirl vinyl and housed in a jacket designed by acclaimed visual artist Kamil Czapiga, who used microscopic cameras to film special color inks as they reacted to songs from the album.

Joe Bataan – Riot! (1-LP; 180-Gram Black Vinyl)

The “King of Latin Soul,” Joe Bataan, epitomized the melting pot of New York City, both musically and culturally. Born Bataan Nitollano in 1942 to an African American mother and Filipino father, the Spanish Harlem-raised singer and pianist formed his first band, Joe Bataan and the Latin Swingers, in 1965. Blending mambo and pop, tinged with R&B and Latin jazz, with lyrics in English and Spanish, the group was instrumental in establishing an authentic Latin soul sound that would explode in popularity in the late ’60s. In 1966, the group signed with Fania Records and launched their career with the popular Gypsy Woman the following year. But it was their sophomore effort, 1968’s Riot! that would be their strongest seller—as well as the highest-selling Latin title of the year.

Recorded against a backdrop of political and social unrest, the aptly titled album captures the full spectrum of heightened emotions: from the anger and frustration amid the war to the empowerment and joy of youth culture. Working under the direction of the great Johnny Pacheco, Bataan and Louie Gonzalez trade vocal duties in English and Spanish, respectively, as they lead the Latin Swingers through their signature “salsoul,” featuring soulful crooning, R&B, doo-wop, Latin rhythms and a powerful horn section. Among Riot!’s most enduring highlights are the ballads “Ordinary Guy” and “What Good Is a Castle,” as well as the electrifying salsa classics “Muñeca” and “Pa’ Monte” and the soulful “It’s a Good Feeling (Riot).”

Limited to 2,100 copies worldwide, this reissue has been mastered from the original analog tapes by Clint Holley and Dave Polster at Well Made Music and pressed on 180-gram black vinyl.

Max Roach – Deeds, Not Words (Mono; 1-LP; 180-Gram Vinyl) 

One of the most influential drummers of all time, Max Roach (1924–2007) forever changed the modern musical landscape with his free-flowing and melodic approach to rhythm. Although the GRAMMY® Lifetime Achievement Award winner is most associated with his foundational ties to bebop, his unique phrasing would influence multiple generations of jazz and rock drummers, while he would change the public’s perception of percussion with a variety of awe-inspiring solo performances and recordings. Roach’s pioneering spirit also extended beyond the studio, as he founded one of the first artist-owned labels (Debut Records) alongside Charles Mingus in 1953.

By the late ’50s, when he recorded Deeds, Not Words for Riverside Records, Roach was testing the boundaries of the hard-bop sound that he helped create. The 1958 set finds Roach leading his innovative quintet (trumpeter Booker Little, tenor saxophonist George Coleman, bassist Art Davis and tubist Ray Draper) through several originals—including the title track and “Jodie’s Cha-Cha” (both penned by frequent collaborator Bill Lee)—as well as a handful of standards (“You Stepped Out of a Dream,” “It’s You or No One”). The biggest highlight, however, might just be Roach’s sublime solo drum composition, “Conversation.”

Now, jazz fans can enjoy the original mono mix of this essential title. Limited to 3,100 copies worldwide, this special edition features all-analog mastering by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio, 180-gram black vinyl pressed at Fidelity Pressing and a Stoughton tip-on jacket, replicating the album’s original design.

Isaac Hayes – Truck Turner (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack / Reel Cult) 

GRAMMY®- and Academy Award®-winning singer, songwriter, producer and actor Isaac Hayes (1942–2008) was a revolutionary force in soul music, who shaped the sound of the genre both behind the scenes as well as in front of the microphone. A larger-than-life figure, Hayes began his career as a songwriter at Stax Records, where he penned hit after hit (alongside David Porter) for stars like Sam & Dave, Carla Thomas and Johnnie Taylor. In the late ’60s, Hayes embarked on a solo career, during which he released such groundbreaking albums as Hot Buttered Soul, Black Moses and the chart-topping Shaft soundtrack, which made him the first Black composer to win Oscars® for Best Original Song (“Theme from Shaft”) and Best Original Score.

That success opened up a plethora of opportunities for Hayes in Hollywood, including a chance to score and star in 1974’s Truck Turner. Directed by Jonathan Kaplan, the film finds Hayes playing the titular role of a retired footballer-turned-bounty hunter who gets himself mixed up in a pimp turf war. Soundtracking the action film’s badass scenes are Hayes’ supremely funky cues, including “Breakthrough” and the dramatic “Pursuit of the Pimpmobile.” While largely instrumental, the score also showcases Hayes’ signature baritone vocals on a handful of tracks, including the attention-grabbing Main Title theme and the sultry ballad “You’re in My Arms Again.”

Limited to just 3,100 copies worldwide, this reissue—presented by Varèse Sarabande’s Reel Cult series—marks the return of Truck Turner to vinyl for the first time in 20 years. The 2-LP set was cut from its original analog tapes by Jeff Powell at Take Out Vinyl and pressed on 180-gram Translucent Purple wax. Rounding out the package is a handsome tip-on jacket. Can you dig it? Yes, you can. 

Angelo Badalamenti – Music for Film and Television (1-LP; Translucent Red Vinyl)

GRAMMY®-winning composer Angelo Badalamenti (1937–2022) was one of modern cinema’s most celebrated composers, whose six-decade-long career found him working with many of the industry’s biggest names, including Joel Schumacher, Jane Campion and Danny Boyle. But the Brooklyn-born Badalamenti was best known for his creative partnership with David Lynch, which began with 1986’s Blue Velvet. Through projects like Wild at Heart (1990), Mulholland Drive (2001) and, most famously, the legendary Twin Peaks TV series, Badalamenti was always able to channel Lynch’s unique vision through his haunting and hypnotic scores.

Varèse Sarabande celebrates Badalamenti’s enduring legacy through the first-ever vinyl release of Music for Film and Television. Showcasing key highlights from the composer’s rich catalog of work, the nine-track collection includes such popular selections as the main title themes from Mulholland Drive and Blue Velvet, plus the cult-favorite “Laura Palmer’s Theme”/ “Main Title Theme (Falling)” from Twin Peaks, which Rolling Stone once praised as the “most influential soundtrack in TV history.”

The album also showcases Badalamenti’s scores for such high-profile projects as 1990’s The Comfort of Strangers (dir. Paul Schrader), 1995’s Marc Caro / Jean-Pierre Jeunet–directed The City of Lost Children (including “Who Will Take My Dreams Away” featuring Marianne Faithfull) and Jeunet’s Academy Award®-nominated film A Very Long Engagement (2004).

Limited to just 2,800 copies worldwide, this new LP release of Music for Film and Television is pressed on translucent red vinyl and features brand-new artwork by acclaimed illustrator Brianna Ashby, who depicts the maestro with iconic prop items from the beloved projects he scored. 

D.D. Jackson – Poetry Project

Poetry Project represents an exciting new chapter in the Canadian-born, New York-area based, Juno and multi-Emmy-winning jazz pianist/composer/producer D.D. Jackson’s extremely varied musical career. In his youth, the prodigious Jackson was already performing with orchestras by the age of 13, followed later by the classical music rigors of Indiana University, and then a pivot to jazz and NYC – first at the prestigious Manhattan School of Music for his Masters (as a student of legendary jazz pianist Jaki Byard), and then as a student of  the great Don Pullen (the two of them both alumni of the historic bands of Charles Mingus). Pullen subsequently introduced him to a litany of jazz legends with whom he would go on to play, record, and tour the world, from David Murray (with whom Jackson was first “discovered” at his debut at the Montreal Jazz Festival), to Billy Bang and (later) even Questlove and The Roots.

After a prolific output of 13 CD’s as leader or co-leader featuring largely original material (on Canada’s Justin Time and two albums on the major label BMG), Jackson made a sharp pivot as he settled down with family and launched what ultimately became a multi-Emmy-winning career writing for television (including for such renowned children’s shows as The Wonder Pets, Peg + Cat, and Sesame Street), while also earning accolades as an award-winning professor at such institutes as Brooklyn College, the Harlem School of the Arts, and NYU.

The spark to return to his jazz performing/composing roots came in 2021 during the shelter-in-place times of the pandemic, when Canada’s former Poet Laureate George Elliott Clarke (with whom Jackson had previously composed two jazz-influenced operas) commissioned Jackson to write a song (“Self-Composed”) based upon a poem Clarke had written for his daughter. George would go on to send D.D. a set of 13 curated poem collections over the ensuing months from a diverse set of Canadian poets, from which Jackson would choose the ideal poem from each to bring to life in song. The response to the resulting song collection was so electric that Jackson was compelled to apply for – and ultimately received – a Canada Council Concept to Realization Grant to record what has now become this Poetry Project.

Featuring 5 Juno-winning performers (including Jackson himself and vocalists Laila Biali and Sammy Jackson), Snarky Puppy drummer Larnell Lewis, and other cream-of-the-crop Canadian talent from soprano saxophonist Jane Bunnett to bassists Rich Brown and George Koller, and augmented by everything from string quartet to full orchestra, Poetry Project is a culminating, summarizing event, a synthesis of all that Jackson has learned on his multi-faceted journey, and also an exciting promise of what’s to come.

Instrumentalists:

• D.D. Jackson – Bosendorfer piano, Rhodes, Wurlitzer and organ
• Larnell Lewis – drums (tracks 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 9, 10, 12)
• George Koller – acoustic bass (1, 3, 9, 10)
• Rich Brown – el. bass (2, 4, 7, 12)
• Tom Fleming – guitars (2, 7, 12)
• Jane Bunnett – soprano sax (1)
• Kelly Jefferson – tenor sax (7)
• Curtis Stewart – violin (10)
• String Quartet (6) with: Camille Vogley-Howes – 1st vln; Lana Auerbach – 2nd vln; Kayla Williams – viola, & Raffi Boden – cello
• The Czech National Symphony Orchestra (13), and more.

Vocalists:

• Laila Biali (track 1)
• Sammy Jackson (2, 9)
• Yoon Sun Choi (3, 10)
• Ethan Cronin (4)
• John Lindsay-Botten (5, 8)
• D.D. Jackson (6, 13)
• Dean Bowman (7, 12)
• Raina Sokolov-Gonzalez (11)

Lyrics: Canadian poets Bruce Meyer (track 1), Giovanna Riccio (2, 13), Micheline Maylor (3), Luciano Iacobelli (4), Irving Layton (5), Libby Scheier (6), George Elliott Clarke (7, 8), Ayesha Chatterjee (9), Choucri Paul Zemokhol (11), Al Moritz (12), and Chinese poet Yin Xiaoyuan (10).

Bryn Roberts – Aloft

Aloft is the vibrant trio debut from pianist and composer Bryn Roberts on Elastic Recordings. After a long career as a sideman in the jazz world (Seamus Blake, Will Vinson, Alan Ferber, Jon Gordon, Caity Gyorgy), and as a collaborator with several singer-songwriters (Rosanne Cash, Shawn Colvin, Dar Williams), Bryn Roberts has assembled his dream trio. Bassist Matt Penman and drummer Quincy Davis join Roberts on Aloft, a collection of five sparkling originals and novel takes on two standards.

With five acclaimed releases as a leader with quintets, quartets, and most recently in duo format with guitarist Lage Lund, Roberts waited for just the right music, and just the right group, to make a meaningful contribution to the trio tradition. “Matt and Quincy would without a doubt bring this music to life with their originality, experience, and ability,” Roberts says, “and I felt I had acquired the maturity and perspective as a player and composer to add something new to the conversation.”

Roberts met bassist Matt Penman at one of the first informal sessions he played after moving to New York. Penman has toured and recorded as a member of groups led by Kurt Rosenwinkel, Joe Lovano, Joshua Redman, John Scofield, and was also a member of the SF Jazz Collective for many years. On Aloft, he brings his beautiful sound, agile accompaniment, and great beat. Drummer Quincy Davis and Roberts joined a quartet led by saxophonist Jon Gordon and made an album at the storied Rudy Van Gelder Studio. Davis has also performed with a who’s who of jazz luminaries, including Tom Harrell, Steve Nelson, Aaron Diehl and Gretchen Parlato. Adept at shaping new music, Davis brings his propulsive sense of swing to Aloft, along with his fiery inspiration.

Aloft was recorded in Brooklyn, a place Roberts called home for fifteen years, and stands as a testament to long working relationships and friendships with other musicians. The album features Roberts’ take on two standards, a relaxed walking ballad version of Kurt Weill’s My Ship, and a contemporary take on You Do Something To Me by Cole Porter.

In performances of Roberts’ originals and the re-worked standards, the strong chemistry and interplay of the trio is on display, and there is ample room to hear the gifts of each player featured throughout the tight, well-paced album.

“Bryn Roberts has poise, elegance, a beautiful touch and a natural melodic flow. His musical imagination always tells a story and his delivery is organic and unforced. I love to hear him play.” 

–Pianist Bill Charlap