Being & Becoming Push the Boundaries on Ars Ludicra with Explosive New Single “Pulsar”

More Is More Records introduces “Pulsar,” the new single from Ars Ludicra, the third studio album by Peter Evans’ genre-defying ensemble Being & Becoming. Recorded in 2024 at the legendary Van Gelder Studios in New Jersey, the album captures the group at a moment of peak intensity—honed by relentless touring and a period of deep musical transformation.

On Ars Ludicra, Evans expands his already formidable palette, performing on multiple trumpets, piano, and electronics. He’s joined by Joel Ross on vibraphone and synth, Nick Jozwiak on bass and synth, and Michael Shekwoaga Ode on drums. Together, the quartet sounds fully locked in, navigating complex structures with clarity and confidence while embracing a sense of risk that keeps the music thrilling and unpredictable.

The recording follows an especially active period for the band. Throughout 2023 and 2024, Being & Becoming completed two European tours and a West Coast run, with standout appearances including sold-out shows at Zebulon in Los Angeles, Jazz em Agosto in Lisbon, the Winter Jazz Festival, and Public Records in New York City. That constant movement and live experimentation are etched into the DNA of Ars Ludicra, giving the album a charged, forward-leaning energy.

Sonically, the group has evolved dramatically since their previous release, Ars Memoria. While continuity remains, the new album opens the door to an even wider range of styles and textures. Detailed post-production work with engineer Mike Pride pushes the music into bold territory, moving seamlessly between explosive, stadium-level dynamics, elements of musique concrète, and richly layered, orchestral textures influenced by Brazilian music. The result is an album that feels expansive and immersive without sacrificing precision.

Each musician brings a strong, unmistakable voice to the project. Their individuality shines as they move through the sometimes labyrinthine compositions with strength, elegance, and a shared sense of purpose. What emerges is something radically different from the group’s earlier releases, yet unmistakably part of the same ongoing story.

Being & Becoming was formed in 2017 by trumpeter and composer Peter Evans and has since become his primary compositional outlet. The group synthesizes a vast range of influences alongside the remarkable stylistic diversity of its members. Following their self-titled debut in 2020 and the symphonic Ars Memoria in 2022—both released on Evans’ own More Is More Records—the band has continued to evolve through constant touring and new music creation.

That evolution didn’t stop with Ars Ludicra. In 2025, the group entered a new chapter with the addition of Pulitzer Prize–winning composer and multi-instrumentalist Dr. Tyshawn Sorey on drums. This lineup has already appeared at major festivals across the USA and Europe and is laying plans for more extensive touring in 2026 and beyond. With “Pulsar” leading the way, Ars Ludicra stands as a powerful document of a band in motion—restless, fearless, and reaching ever further outward.

Jeb Loy Nichols Finds Quiet Power in Soulful Storytelling on This House Is Empty Without You

Following the release of the 7” single Step In b/w Coming Home Love, Wyoming-born troubadour Jeb Loy Nichols returns with “First Night Away From Home,” the first single from his upcoming album This House Is Empty Without You. The song sets the tone immediately—unhurried, intimate, and emotionally resonant—inviting listeners into a record that values subtlety, space, and sincerity over spectacle.

Backed once again by Timmion Records’ renowned house band Cold Diamond & Mink, Nichols delivers a full-length album that sits comfortably among the label’s finest releases. Rooted in southern soul traditions yet unmistakably shaped by Nichols’ singular voice and lyrical sensibility, the album feels both timeless and deeply personal. There’s no rush here—just confidence in the power of a well-told story and a groove that knows exactly when to lean in and when to step back.

From the gently loping opener “First Night Away From Home,” the album unfolds like a great summer book, best enjoyed slowly, preferably with a warm breeze and nothing demanding your attention. Nichols has a rare gift for making his performances feel effortless, as if he’s singing just for you—from a porch, a back room, or the corner of a dimly lit bar. But beneath that ease lies songwriting of real depth, supported by arrangements that reward close listening: subtle organ swells, snapping drums, and deep-pocket grooves that never overplay their hand.

Cold Diamond & Mink once again provide the perfect analog foundation—pure soul with no filler. Their chemistry with Nichols feels intuitive, allowing the songs to breathe naturally while maintaining a steady emotional pull. Adding another layer of warmth and spirit is Emilia Sisco, whose gospel-infused background harmonies grace several tracks, lifting the songs without ever overshadowing their quiet strength.

This House Is Empty Without You draws from classic influences, but it never feels like a throwback for its own sake. Instead, it sounds present, lived-in, and honest. It’s a masterclass in understated soul, proving that Jeb Loy Nichols isn’t simply sustaining a long and varied career—he’s still growing, glowing, and finding new ways to tell the truth with grace and restraint.

Time of Change: Chris Standring’s Retro-Soulful Journey Into a New Chapter

Chris Standring returns in 2026 with Time of Change, an eleven-song collection that feels both reflective and invigorating—an album shaped by personal milestones and a deep love for a golden era of music. Drawing inspiration from the sophisticated arrangements, lush harmonies, and cool grooves of the ’70s, this new release finds the Billboard chart-topping contemporary jazz guitarist embracing nostalgia while stepping confidently into the next phase of his life and career.

The tracklist itself reads like a series of snapshots, each composition offering its own mood and memory: “Photographs,” “Magnetic,” “Slippin’ In These Streets,” “All The Good Times,” “Where Were You When,” “Hollywood Hustle,” “A Good Game,” “One Of These Days,” “Remember The Day,” “All That To Say,” and the deeply personal “A Song For Alistair.” Together, these pieces form a cohesive narrative—warm, melodic, and unmistakably Standring.

Time of Change arrives at a pivotal moment. Getting married for the first time and the passing of his father marked profound shifts in Standring’s personal life, and those experiences subtly permeate the music. With nostalgia on his mind and life changes shaping what he calls the “third act” of his journey, Standring wrote and produced all eleven tracks himself. The result is an album that balances emotional depth with effortless groove, channeling ’70s-inspired cool jazz and retro R&B without ever feeling dated.

Sonically, the album is rich and expansive. A top-flight four-piece horn section and a broad palette of orchestral colors sit alongside Standring’s signature guitar tones, creating a sound that is both classic and contemporary. The core foursome powering the record includes Standring on guitars, keyboards, programming, and horn and string arrangements, joined by bassist Andre Berry, drummer Chad Wright, and percussionist Lenny Castro. Four tracks are elevated further by a stellar horn lineup featuring Brandon Fields on tenor sax, Tom Saviano on alto sax, Michael Stever on trumpet, and Erik Hughes on trombone.

Additional contributions come from an impressive cast of collaborators, including GRAMMY-winning bassist Brian Bromberg, pianist George Whitty, drummer Dave Karasony, and Rodney Lee—the keyboardist who partnered with Standring three decades ago in the innovative band Solar System at the very start of his recording career. That sense of history and continuity adds another layer of meaning to an album already steeped in reflection.

The project will be introduced by the lead single “Hollywood Hustle,” an up-tempo, horn-tinged strut that captures the album’s retro-cool spirit. The single begins collecting playlist adds and airplay on February 2, 2026, ahead of the full album’s release on March 20 via Ultimate Vibe Recordings.

From start to finish, Time of Change is exactly what its title suggests: a thoughtful, stylish soundtrack to transformation, memory, and momentum—one that invites listeners to look back fondly while moving forward with purpose.

Hellbent Daydream: Brandon Seabrook’s Surreal Quartet Finds Beauty in Collision

Inventive guitarist, banjoist, and composer Brandon Seabrook returns with Hellbent Daydream, a mesmerizing new album that leans fully into dream logic, surreal storytelling, and the creative friction that has long defined his music. Set for release on February 20, 2026 via Pyroclastic Records, the album introduces a striking new quartet featuring pianist and synthesist Elias Stemeseder, bassist Henry Fraser, and violinist Erica Dicker—an ensemble that gives Seabrook an expansive, cinematic canvas for his most atmospheric work to date.

The title Hellbent Daydream hints at contradiction. “Hellbent” suggests manic drive and obsession, while “daydream” evokes whimsy, drift, and reverie. That tension is exactly where Seabrook thrives. His music has always been built on conceptual collisions—serious chops paired with manic intensity, precision coexisting with chaos—and this album refines that approach into something both more welcoming and more uncanny. The visceral and the fanciful sit side by side, not as opposites, but as interdependent forces.

The album follows two very different but equally daring Pyroclastic releases: the ferocious 2023 octet statement brutalovechamp and the intimate, exploratory 2024 solo album Object of Unknown Function. Hellbent Daydream expands Seabrook’s sonic world once again, debuting an unconventional quartet that grew out of a trio he has led in recent years with Henry Fraser and Erica Dicker. Fraser, a longtime collaborator, and Dicker share a natural blend that quickly became central to the band’s identity.

“Henry and Erica blend together so well,” Seabrook says. “After a number of gigs together we discovered that we all shared an amazing chemistry. They both bring an excitement, a verve, and an intensity to the music. Then I thought that the addition of Elias’ piano and synth would allow the music to become more cinematic and open up some more of the emotional exposition.”

That expanded palette invites an unusually wide range of influences to swirl together. The dark theatricality of Stephen Sondheim collides with the lush, insinuating harmonies of the late-period Beach Boys. Chopinesque chamber romanticism is refracted through Appalachian folk melody, creating music that feels simultaneously familiar and slightly unmoored. For an artist who has long resisted overt Americana, the album’s explicit American influence is especially striking—most notably on “The Arkansas Tattler,” a mischievous reimagining inspired by the folk tune “The Arkansas Traveler.”

Seabrook’s relationship to the banjo underscores this shift. In the past, he deliberately set the instrument against its traditional context, using it for blistering, metal-adjacent riffery rather than roots music. That ferocity hasn’t disappeared. It erupts in the overdriven climax of the somnambulant danse macabre “Name Dropping is the Lowest Form of Communication” and in the agitated, monolithic string writing of “Existential Banger Infinite Calling.” But here, those moments are framed within a broader narrative arc—one guided less by linear logic than by the strange coherence of dreams.

Dream imagery runs throughout the album, shaping both its titles and its emotional flow. The music doesn’t always explain itself, but it feels internally consistent, pulling the listener through a sequence of moods that make emotional sense even when they resist straightforward interpretation. “Human beings are creatures of story,” Seabrook reflects. “Experimenting and searching for new ways to tell stories and bring the listener along is important to me. I really wanted this album to dwell in that daydream landscape—still subversive, but in a more welcoming atmosphere.”

That balance between challenge and invitation has defined Seabrook’s career. A fixture of New York’s avant-garde scene, he has been described by Rolling Stone’s Hank Shteamer as a musician whose bands combine “serious chops with manic intensity and a left-field compositional vision,” while Premier Guitar’s Ryan Reed has called him a “resident chaos architect” exploring everything from jazz-fusion to brutal prog and heavy rock. Across eleven albums as a leader and collaborations with artists ranging from Anthony Braxton and Cécile McLorin Salvant to David Byrne and Mike Watt, Seabrook has consistently refused to sit still.

Released by Pyroclastic Records—founded by pianist-composer Kris Davis to support artists who challenge genre boundaries—Hellbent Daydream feels like a natural extension of that mission. It is music that embraces contradiction, invites curiosity, and trusts listeners to follow its strange internal compass. In doing so, Brandon Seabrook offers not just another bold chapter in his catalog, but an immersive, slightly tilted world that rewards surrender as much as analysis.

Philly 3: James Fernando’s Piano Trio Comes Alive

James Fernando—an endlessly inventive pianist-composer with a reputation for pairing mischief with mastery—returns with Philly 3, his sixth album overall and the first to document his working trio in full stride. The record captures Fernando at a moment of clarity and risk-taking, balancing virtuosity, humor, and a serious compositional voice that pushes the piano-trio tradition forward while keeping listeners smiling, surprised, and tapping along. The album will be released on Spring Garden Records, a boutique label run through the Community College of Philadelphia that spotlights the city’s music community while creating real-world learning opportunities for students.

The trio features Fernando on piano, Dan McCain on bass for most of the album (with Sam Harris guesting on “The Parisian” and “Like It Is”), and the incandescent drummer Kyon Williams. The band’s origin story is almost mythical in its speed: in 2023, Fernando was asked to assemble a project for a Kennedy Center performance on just three days’ notice. The three musicians met onstage that day, and the chemistry was immediate. Since then, they’ve grown into one of the most dynamic groups emerging from the region, performing at venues and universities across the country.

After five previous albums as a leader and years of touring and collaboration, Fernando felt an urgency to document this particular band. He wrote with their individual voices in mind, using the trio as a vehicle to advance ideas he’d been developing for years—metric modulation as a narrative tool, multi-section forms that unfold like short films, and a compositional language that draws as much from classical counterpoint as from bebop. The result feels both like a laboratory and a love letter: a place to test technique while honoring the stories and people that inspired the music.

“As much as I love a big, ridiculous piano flourish,” Fernando says, “I wanted this record to feel like a conversation—fun, surprising, sometimes dark, always human. I also wanted to make music that couldn’t have been written by just anyone with a jazz degree, and certainly not by an algorithm. I crave music with breadth, humor, and contradictions.”

Those contradictions are everywhere on Philly 3. Fernando’s influences are wide-ranging but never worn as costumes. Erroll Garner’s joyful swing is honored with a modernized take on “Like It Is.” The lyrical drive and harmonic daring of Oscar Peterson and Brad Mehldau inform Fernando’s phrasing, while the adventurous rhythmic language associated with Tigran Hamasyan surfaces in the album’s odd-meter turns. Still, the goal is not imitation. Fernando positions himself as a new voice in that lineage, using the piano trio as a platform to cross stylistic boundaries and connect jazz to broader cultural conversations.

Across the record, each piece feels like a small world. “Persistence” moves from bowed bass and a classically tinged piano introduction into a groove shaped by Williams’ endlessly inventive drumming, eventually opening space for a fierce, independent-handed piano solo. “Unlikely Animal Friendships” unfolds as a miniature narrative, moving from a 5/8 solo piano opening through composed counterpoint, expansive improvisation, and a deeply emotional bass solo before resolving in a triumphant reprise. “The Parisian” plays with contrast—odd meters, slap bass, and stride piano—resulting in something buoyant, swinging, and disarmingly charming, especially with Sam Harris featured on bass.

Elsewhere, Fernando tackles the relationship between humanity and technology head-on. “Singularity” begins with computer-like processing before blooming into a montuno, arguing that modern textures don’t have to be cold or inhuman. “Neon Kyon,” an ode to Williams’ radiant energy, blends bop, blues, and second-line grit into a showcase of trio telepathy. Humor runs deep on “Beings On Toast,” sparked by a family joke from Fernando’s UK roots that imagines humans themselves as the breakfast item—playful on the surface, quietly philosophical underneath. “Potions” stitches together ballad writing, quintuplet-driven modern jazz, and a djent-like finale into a single haunted arc, while “What’s The Password?” reframes bebop for 2025 through metric modulation and modern form. The album closes its circle with “Like It Is,” swinging hard as an affectionate but forward-looking nod to Erroll Garner.

Philly 3 challenges the jazz tradition to stay alive, playful, and unafraid. It presents James Fernando as both storyteller and technician, a musician capable of making audiences laugh, think, and move within the span of a single performance. More than a debut recording for the trio, the album is an invitation—to follow a band committed to craft, connection, and the kind of joyful risk-taking that keeps jazz relevant.

James Fernando and the Philly 3 will tour extensively in early 2026, with dates including Brooklyn, AZ, MD, NC, NJ, NH, NY, and beyond, highlighted by performances at venues such as Sharp 9 Gallery, The Century Room, The Mainstay, and the New York State Museum, as well as university concerts and festivals throughout the Northeast and Southwest.

Paul Marinaro Unveils MOOD ELLINGTON: A Sweeping 25-Track Tribute Reimagining the Music of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn

Since releasing his 2013 debut Without a Song, Paul Marinaro has risen to become one of the most acclaimed male vocalists in jazz, earning national recognition and praise such as Scott Yanow’s declaration that he now stands “among the top five male jazz singers active today.” With a warm, expressive baritone and an instinct for intelligent storytelling, Marinaro has built an impressive discography—including One Night in Chicago (2015), Not Quite Yet (2022), and The Bowie Project (2023). Now he returns with his most ambitious project yet: MOOD ELLINGTON, a 25-track double album devoted to the timeless music of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn.

Rather than offering a single arranger’s perspective, Marinaro approached this tribute with a bold conceptual twist: he invited 13 arrangers—each with a distinct musical voice—to reinterpret Ellington and Strayhorn’s works through their own stylistic lenses. “Given the sophistication of Ellington’s melodies and his unique harmonic language,” Marinaro explains, “I wanted various arrangers to bring their own voices to this material. Their different styles needed to be noticed and integral to the album’s overall shape.”

The result is a richly textured portrait of Ellingtonia, unified by Marinaro’s nuanced phrasing and warm timbre yet varied in color, mood, and feel. The album is organized into three thematic sets: the first celebrating love and beauty; the second exploring darker, introspective terrain; and the third offering more mature, sardonic, and exotic perspectives. Together they form a panoramic survey of Ellington and Strayhorn’s emotional universe.

The roster of arrangers reads like a cross-section of jazz’s most respected creative minds. John Kornegay delivers both playful uplift on “I’m Beginning to See the Light” and an elegant hush on “In a Sentimental Mood.” Two-time Grammy-winner Alan Broadbent shapes Strayhorn gems “(I Want) Something to Live For” and “A Flower Is a Lovesome Thing.” John Clayton contributes a distinctive shuffle to “I’m Just a Lucky So and So” and a striking reimagining of “Azure.” Carey Deadman offers suave, polished takes on “It Shouldn’t Happen to a Dream” and “Love You Madly,” while Chuck Israels, Mike Downes, Ryan Cohan, Jim Gailloreto, Bill Cunliffe, Chuck Owen, Tom Garling, Tom Matta, and longtime collaborator Mike Allemana each leave their imprint across the album’s sweeping program.

The musicians, many of Chicago’s finest, animate the arrangements with personality and mastery: Tom Vaitsas (piano), Mike Allemana (guitar), John Tate (bass), Neil Hemphill (drums), Rich Moore (alto sax, clarinet, flute), John Wojciechowski (tenor & soprano sax, flute), Ted Hogarth (baritone sax, bass clarinet), Eric Jacobson (trumpet, flugelhorn), and Raphael Crawford (trombone). A 12-piece violin section adds lushness and depth. Marinaro encouraged every player to honor the essence of Ellington while contributing their individual voices, resulting in performances that feel both reverent and alive.

Marinaro’s artistry—marked by lyrical intelligence, emotional insight, and a deep relationship to text—has made him a sought-after vocalist, selling out Chicago’s iconic venues and earning praise from critics such as Howard Reich, who called his voice “one of the most beautiful vocal instruments in the business today.” MOOD ELLINGTON stands as a rewarding new entry into the long lineage of Ellington and Strayhorn interpretations, distinguished by its breadth, its craftsmanship, and Marinaro’s unmistakable presence at its core.

Thomas Strønen’s Off Stillness: Time Is A Blind Guide Returns with a Transcendent Exploration of Space, Dynamics, and Acoustic Intuition

There’s an uncommon acoustic chemistry at the heart of Time Is A Blind Guide, the long-evolving ensemble led by Norwegian drummer and composer Thomas Strønen. On Off Stillness—the group’s third album and its first since 2018’s acclaimed Lucus—a subtle shift in personnel shapes a renewed sonic identity. Cellist Leo Svensson Sander steps into the role previously held by Lucy Railton, weaving effortlessly into the ensemble’s breathlike blend of strings, piano, and percussion. His interaction with violinist Håkon Aase and bassist Ole Morten Vågan creates a resilient trio within the quintet, one that moves fluidly in dialogue with Ayumi Tanaka’s spacious, intuitive piano work and Strønen’s textural percussion.

Strønen describes the music as being “about taking away rather than adding,” emphasizing space as a guiding instrument. The album’s dynamic breadth ranges from near-silence to sudden swells of collective intensity—gestures that feel unpredictable yet deeply connected to natural rhythms and everyday pulses. Those extremes find a striking example in “Dismissed,” driven by abrupt rhythmic stumbles, articulated ensemble bursts, and tightly knit improvisations. In contrast, “Season” brings lyrical warmth, the cello and violin merging in serene folk-hued harmony—a reflection of Leo’s improvisational style and his deep background in folk music, which naturally connects with Aase’s approach.

The core qualities that defined TIABG on Lucus—its philosophical openness, its dialogue between baroque structures and folk sensibilities, its devotion to fragile beauty—resurface throughout Off Stillness. Pieces such as “Fall” draw listeners into a chilled quiet, where every bow stroke and cymbal whisper feels weighty and deliberate. “Tuesday” pares things back even further, while “Cubism” introduces a rare moment of explicit rhythmic grounding.

Homage threads through the album’s conceptual frame. “Memories of Paul,” the opener, honors both Paul Motian and Paul Bley—two figures who left their imprint on ECM’s lineage and on Strønen’s musical imagination. The piece, nearly devoid of harmonic center, spotlights Strønen’s and Tanaka’s intuitive rapport: “We don’t need to talk beforehand,” Strønen notes. “I have complete trust in her.” Producer Manfred Eicher shaped the recording with a perceptive ear, selecting an unexpected take that reframed the piece’s emotional arc in the context of the entire album.

The closing “In Awe of Stillness” acts as a microcosm of the album—beginning with exploratory textures before giving way to agitated interplay. And the album’s title, Off Stillness, carries personal resonance. Strønen recalls sneaking into a café at age 15 to hear Jon Balke’s Oslo 13, an encounter that transformed his understanding of music. With Balke turning 70 this year, the title serves as a quiet tribute to that formative spark.

Recorded at Rainbow Studio in Oslo in 2021 and mixed in Munich in 2024, Off Stillness continues Strønen’s rich history with ECM, a relationship that began with the 2005 album Parish and has since unfolded through projects such as Food, collaborations with Mats Eilertsen, Sinikka Langeland, John Surman, and many more. Time Is A Blind Guide, founded in 2013, remains one of his most expansive and conceptually unified ensembles—a place where genre boundaries dissolve into texture, breath, and movement.

Ayumi Tanaka’s own ECM catalog continues to grow, including her 2021 leader debut Subaqueous Silence. More work from her, and from TIABG’s evolving soundworld, is on the horizon.

Jordan Williams Announces Playing by Ear: A Powerful Debut with Jeff “Tain” Watts, Nat Reeves, and Wallace Roney Jr.

Pianist Jordan Williams makes a compelling entrance as a bandleader with Playing by Ear, his debut for the legendary Milan-based Red Records. Arriving January 16, 2026, the album blends intuition, memory and formal precision, brought to life by an exceptional quartet featuring Jeff “Tain” Watts on drums, Nat Reeves on bass, and Wallace Roney Jr. on trumpet. The lead single, “Tayamisha,” is available now.

A product of Philadelphia’s deep jazz lineage, Williams began playing standards by ear at six years old—long before he could explain the harmonies he instinctively understood. That early ear remains the grounding force in a sound shaped by the lyricism of Herbie Hancock and the grounded swing of Mulgrew Miller, all filtered through Williams’ distinctly modern phrasing. He favors space, story, and intention over flash, creating a voice rooted in tradition yet unmistakably his own.

Across eight tracks, Playing by Ear prioritizes patience and clarity. The opener, Horace Silver’s “Peace,” sets the tone with a reverent, slow bloom in which every note feels earned. Williams’ comping beneath Roney Jr.’s trumpet is intimate and conversational. On Kenny Garrett’s “Ms. Baja,” the band leans into a more propulsive energy, with Tain’s rhythmic sparks pressing against Williams’ left-hand shapes to create tension that feels alive but never forced.

“Tayamisha,” a Buster Williams composition, lets Jordan Williams channel stride lineage through right-hand flares anchored by deeply rooted swing. The tune is a personal tribute: “Tayamisha is dedicated to my late Pop Pop and Mom Mom, Ralph and Dorris Williams,” he says. “They loved records Buster Williams played on, and they owned a chicken store—Wings n Things—in the ’60s in Camden, Buster’s hometown.”

Reeves contributes two originals, “Waltz for Ellis” and “Blue Ridge,” each marked by quiet poise and melodic ease. His bass lines serve as both anchor and atmosphere, inviting the ensemble into deeper lyricism. The chemistry among these four musicians is quietly electric—Reeves steady and grounded, Tain disruptive in all the right ways with asymmetrical sparks, and Roney Jr. balancing legacy with curiosity through a tone that feels both searching and assured.

For Williams, Playing by Ear stands as both culmination and beginning. A recent graduate of The George Washington University, he has already performed with Branford Marsalis, Jazzmeia Horn, Camille Thurman, and Curtis Lundy. His playing reflects a lived apprenticeship—one that values nuance, patience, and emotional honesty.

“Playing by ear is how I learned to listen — not just to music, but to life,” Williams reflects. “Silence, memory, and mistake all shape what comes next.”

Born and raised in Philadelphia, Williams began classical and jazz studies at seven and was performing publicly by eleven. A Presidential Scholar for the Arts and Betty Carter Jazz Ahead alumnus, he has studied with Cyrus Chestnut, Jason Moran and Orrin Evans. Now based in New York, he has quickly become an in-demand pianist known for intuitive touch, compositional depth and a grounded connection to tradition.

Playing by Ear marks the arrival of a pianist who understands both structure and spirit—a musician whose story unfolds one intentional note at a time.

John Vanore Unveils Easter Island Suite: A Monumental Jazz Vision 40 Years in the Making

Philadelphia trumpeter, composer and bandleader John Vanore is finally releasing Easter Island Suite, a cinematic and long-awaited album nearly four decades in the making. Arriving February 6, 2026 via his Acoustical Concepts label, the project features Vanore’s distinctive ensemble Abstract Truth and brings to life the awe, mystery and cultural resonance of Easter Island and its iconic moai.

Long praised as “Philadelphia’s greatest big band leader and also its best-kept secret” (Jerry Gordon, WPRB-FM) and an artist who pushes “expressive possibilities in the realm of big band culture” (Josef Woodard, DownBeat), Vanore has spent more than 40 years nurturing the ideas that culminate in this sweeping four-movement suite.

The story began on Easter Sunday in 1984, when Vanore wondered about “the loneliest place on Earth” and immediately thought of Easter Island. That curiosity launched him into writing the opening theme for what would become “Discovery,” first recorded on Abstract Truth’s 1990 debut Blue Route. By the end of the ’80s he had completed all four movements—yet the project would go dormant as Abstract Truth entered a long hiatus. After reviving the ensemble in 2009 and recording additional movements in 2012, Vanore has finally completed the full suite with sessions extending into 2024.

Despite spanning 35 years of recording dates, Easter Island Suite feels remarkably unified. Long-standing band members deepen that continuity: Michael Mee’s alto sax and flute, Craig Thomas’ bass, Ron Thomas’ piano, Bob Howell’s saxophone and bass clarinet, and Greg Kettinger’s guitar all weave through the suite’s evolving landscapes.

Vanore’s intent is immersive: to take listeners directly to the island. “Discovery” evokes the shock of encountering the massive moai for the first time, its tenor sax capturing their immensity and mystery. “Gods & Devils” explores the island’s spiritual tensions, with trumpet and tenor sax embodying mythic forces. “Secret Caves” acts as a subterranean exploration, while “Rano Raraku” channels the serene volcanic quarry where the moai were born. Across the suite, tension and fascination remain central—mirroring the island’s still-unsolved mysteries that have captivated Vanore for decades.

A veteran performer, educator and producer, Vanore has shaped Philadelphia’s jazz landscape since his early days studying with Dennis Sandole and touring with Woody Herman. His ensemble Abstract Truth continues to evolve while honoring the lineage of bold, large-ensemble jazz. Easter Island Suite stands as his most ambitious statement yet: beautiful, haunting and deeply human.

John Vanore and Abstract Truth – Easter Island Suite
Acoustical Concepts – AC-160
Recorded Oct. 1989, June 27–28, 2012, and June 19, 2024
Release Date: February 6, 2026

¿QUÉ?—Ian Smit Ignites a New Era of Experimental Jazz

Ian Smit has unleashed his newest musical expedition, ¿QUÉ?, released December 5, 2025—a fully improvised album crafted with an all-star lineup: David Torn on electric and national steel guitar, Tom Rainey on drums, and Scott Petito on acoustic/electric bass, who also engineered and mastered the record. The project captures four master improvisers stepping into a room with virtually no instructions other than to listen, interact, and let the music reveal itself.

Smit entered the studio with a single guiding intention: to create a musical conversation filled with dynamic peaks, valleys, and unexpected turns—an instinctive approach for this crew. Except for “Bee Still” and “Raindrops and Waterspouts,” which began as loose harmonic sketches, everything on ¿QUÉ? emerged in real time, without prior discussion. Melody, groove, sonic disruption, and even silence became tools for spontaneous composition.

The collaboration carries decades of history. Smit first worked with Torn in 1987 on his cassette-only release Ping, recorded at Scott Petito’s original studio. Years later, after reconnecting with Petito during a separate session, Smit felt the spark that eventually led to the creation of ¿QUÉ?. Tom Rainey—whose expressive drumming Smit had long admired—was the obvious final piece. “Tom was definitely number one on the list,” Smit says. “This recording would not have come to fruition if Tom wasn't available.”

The recording setup was deliberately raw: Smit, Torn, and Rainey in the same room, separated only by gobo panels to allow for controlled bleed and even intentional feedback; Petito in another room to accommodate both acoustic and electric bass. The interplay among the musicians—some meeting musically for the very first time—proved electric. “Was all that risky? Evidently not,” Smit says. “I was riding on a rocket ship!”

The album’s 11 tracks travel through meditative spaces, sudden eruptions, textural experiments, and moments of unguarded beauty. It’s a document of four distinctive voices merging in the moment.

Personnel:
Scott Petito – Acoustic/Electric Bass, Composer, Production Assistant, Recording/Mastering Engineer
Tom Rainey – Drums, Composer
Ian Smit – Acoustic/Electric Guitar, Effects/Loops, Composer, Producer
David Torn – National Steel/Electric Guitar, Effects/Loops, Composer, Production Assistant
Assistant Engineer – David Payette
Recorded live April 28, 2025 at NRS Recording Studio, Catskill, NY
Cover Art: Stephen Byram

Track List:

1. Bee Still (8:24)

2. Next is a Good Place to Be (11:01)

3. That Not So Clear Day in September (5:27)

4. Oil Can Sweets (7:17)

5. Raindrops and Waterspouts (5:48)

6. A Quiet Cafe Until It's Not (8:47)

7. Oil Can Beets (2:48)

8. Barker de la Carnivale (6:47)

9. Oil Can Leeks (4:54)

10. Wizard of Wut (3:47)

11. Pitter Patter All That Matters (4:58)

Smit’s collaborators bring deep resumes: Petito’s decades of work across jazz, folk, rock, and film; Rainey’s extensive career performing with giants of modern improvisation; Torn’s globally influential sonic and textural innovations. Their combined histories make ¿QUÉ? feel both inevitable and completely unpredictable.

Smit closes the story simply:
“Play because you love it, and maybe good things might come your way if you're lucky enough to see and latch on to them—like playing with a bunch of truly exceptional ringer nice guys like David, Tom and Scott!”

Two Paths, One Sound: Luke Marantz & Simon Jermyn Rediscover Connection on Echoes

Musical partnerships often form in fleeting moments—chance encounters, overlapping gigs, a brief overlap in geography before the road bends again. For pianist Luke Marantz and guitarist Simon Jermyn, one such moment in 2015 sparked a creative rapport neither was willing to let time or distance undo.

Their story begins with Marantz making regular escapes from Boston, where he’d been studying at New England Conservatory and deepening his voice on the bandstand with trumpeter Jason Palmer at Wally’s Café. He frequently found himself drawn to New York, where his brother, saxophonist Matt Marantz, was actively gigging. One night, carrying a Fender Rhodes, he made the trip for a short set at the now-closed Rockwood Music Hall. It was the first time he played with Dublin-born guitarist and bassist Simon Jermyn.

The connection was immediate. Jermyn remembers being struck by Marantz’s intensity and commitment; Marantz recalls bonding unexpectedly over a shared love of William Byrd’s choral works. More importantly, making music together felt like conversation—easy, open, and deeply aligned. Their chemistry became one of the forces that eventually inspired Marantz to relocate to New York.

For the next five years, the two collaborated in various projects, letting their partnership evolve naturally. But in 2020, Jermyn moved to Berlin. It was the kind of life shift that often dissolves musical relationships, even fruitful ones. Yet both musicians felt unfinished business—unfinished possibility—and agreed that the work they’d built together mattered too much to abandon.

That commitment led to Echoes, their atmospheric and beautifully textural new duo album, arriving January 9, 2026 on Chill Tone. Recorded over two and a half years in the home studio shared by the Marantz brothers, the album finds the pair expanding their sonic language while maintaining the intimacy that first drew them together. Drummer Josh Dion adds subtle rhythmic color on two pieces, but the heart of Echoes remains the uncommon synergy between piano and guitar.

From the outset, there was no plan—no stylistic template, no overarching concept. Piano-guitar duos can easily crowd themselves, but in this case, openness became the guiding principle. Marantz describes their sessions as doorways into “an ocean of sonic possibilities,” a space in which each idea unlocked unexpected paths for the other. Jermyn, who resists categorizing music by genre, leans into that sense of freedom. What matters to both musicians is the shared sensibility—the trust that allows them to follow a sound wherever it leads.

The album’s title reflects how their process unfolded. Like echoes, their ideas move independently yet remain deeply connected, each gesture shaping what follows. The “Echoes” miniatures scattered throughout the tracklist capture this concept most directly: Jermyn recorded textures in Berlin, which Marantz later enveloped in layers of piano, synth, and atmosphere, turning them into shimmering exchanges across continents.

The broader compositions showcase the duo’s expressive range. Marantz’s “Country” gallops with pastoral energy, touching Appalachian folk and Copland-like Americana. Jermyn’s “Hovering” levitates gently, guided by his own bass work and grounded midway through by Dion’s entry. “Shori,” named for the central character of Octavia E. Butler’s Fledgling, brings incisive rhythmic motion, while “Light Scatters Green” washes in luminous colors inspired by Marantz’s memories of Texas skies. Dion appears again on “Passages,” where the music shifts gradually from searching abstraction into a quietly determined groove.

Through it all, Echoes feels less like a studio album and more like a document of two artists in constant dialogue—not bound by place, time, or genre, but linked by instinct and curiosity. Even with the ocean now between them, Marantz and Jermyn continue to find each other in sound.

Their paths may diverge geographically, but Echoes proves their musical conversation is only deepening, rippling outward with each shared moment.

Temple University Jazz Band Captures a Triumphant First Tour of Japan on Live From Japan

Under the direction of Grammy-winning trumpeter Terell Stafford, the Temple University Jazz Band has long been known for taking its music far beyond its Philadelphia home—appearing at major venues such as Dizzy’s Club at Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, and the Kimmel Center, and touring internationally to Germany and the Netherlands. But in March 2025, the ensemble embarked on a milestone journey: its first-ever trip to Japan. Over five intense days of travel, performance, and cultural immersion, the students experienced the kind of growth that only comes from performing abroad—culminating in a two-set, sold-out concert at Tokyo’s renowned Akasaka B-flat. That electrifying night is now preserved on Live From Japan, set for release February 6, 2026 on BCM+D Records.

The album captures the band at full strength—energized by the whirlwind pace of touring, bonded by shared challenges, and inspired by the warm reception from Japanese audiences. For Stafford, who directs jazz studies and chairs instrumental studies at Temple’s Boyer College of Music and Dance, making this trip a reality was a long-held dream disrupted by the COVID pandemic in 2020. Having performed in Japan many times over his own distinguished career, he knew how life-changing the experience could be. What he didn’t expect was the joy of watching students encounter the country’s culture, people, and musical appreciation for the first time. Exhausted from jetlag yet rising to the expectations of professionalism, the ensemble navigated each day with dedication that Stafford found deeply inspiring.

Their emotional journey is etched into every track of Live From Japan. The recording opens with a spirited take on Johnny Hodges’ “Squatty Roo,” arranged by John Clayton, setting the tone for a program steeped in swing and expressive ensemble work. The band then dives into three Duke Ellington classics—“Jack the Bear,” highlighted by bassist Graham Kozak; “I Didn’t Know About You,” featuring Jacquee Paul’s tender vocals; and a powerful, deeply felt “Black and Tan Fantasy.” Don Menza’s “I Just Found Out About Love” brings punch and exuberance, while Bob Mintzer’s arrangement of Herbie Hancock’s “Eye of the Hurricane,” drawn from the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra’s repertoire, channels the band’s technical precision and collective fire.

At the heart of the album is “Fantasia,” an intricate and emotionally rich new work composed for the band by Tokyo native and Temple alum Yoichi Uzeki. Blending classical and jazz influences with remarkable finesse, the piece reflects Uzeki’s close collaboration with Stafford and his understanding of the specific musical strengths of this year’s ensemble. It also serves as a symbolic bridge between Temple’s program and the Japanese musical community that hosted the band so warmly.

A vital part of any live album is its audience, and Japan delivered one like no other. The students were met with enthusiasm, respect, and heartfelt appreciation—an atmosphere that elevated their performance and shaped the recording’s infectious energy. The success of the tour was so overwhelming that a return trip is already set for March 2026, this time featuring legendary trumpeter Randy Brecker as guest soloist. A second volume of Live From Japan is planned to accompany that visit.

For young musicians forging their path, international touring is not simply about performance—it is about perspective, growth, and community. Live From Japan captures that transformation in real time, offering listeners a ticket to an unforgettable night and a defining moment in the band’s story.