WHITE MINK BLACK COTTON: ELECTRO SWING VS. SPEAKEASY JAZZ VOLUME 3

White Mink : Black Cotton (Electro Swing vs Speakeasy Jazz) Vol. 3 is a double digipack CD compilation and download album. As with the previous album-charting, silver-disc'd CDs, side one (White Mink) presents a diverse modern take, while the other side (Black Cotton) is all vintage. It is the latest, long-awaited, instalment in Freshly Squeezed's hugely succesful and highly influencial album series described as "Electro Swing's first landmark moment" by Mixmag. It is this series more than any other that was part of the van-guard of a global zeitgeist and that sets the gold standard for this new genre.

Compiled by label boss, DJ and world-wide radio host, Nick Hollywood, the first CD includes several exclusive tracks including a brand new remix of the Squirrel Nut Zippers, Kid Kasino (feat. Shea Soul) and Swing Republic not available anywhere else. CD 2 features 12 re-mastered classics from the prohibition-era's 78rpm jazz age and is dedicated to the memory of London's late DJ, El Nino.

Since the launch of our first volume, White Mink has become the worlds leading electro swing club event, described as "One hell of a turbo-charged party" (Time Out) and named the 2nd best party in the UK by Mixmag. We have presented numerous sell-out shows by the biggest names in the genre including Parov Stelar and Caravan Palace at venues such as London's O2 Shephards Bush Empire and KOKO with numerous large festival stages hosted from Glastonbury to Latitude, the Edinburugh Fringe to Love Supreme, Bestival to Boomtown.

As the first White Mink album in two years, the anticipation for Vol.3 is greater than ever. We think that this is perhaps the best compilation in the series so far and we hope you'll agree, it has been well worth the wait!

JEFF BALLARD TRIO WITH LIONEL LOUEKE & MIGUEL ZENON - TIME'S TALES

Drummer and composer Jeff Ballard makes his long overdue, much anticipated debut as a leader with the diverse and wide-ranging Time's Tales. A master of the trio format who anchors the renowned Brad Mehldau trio and is one-third of the inventive collective group FLY with Larry Grenadier and Mark Turner, Ballard here documents his own longstanding trio with guitarist Lionel Loueke and saxophonist Miguel Zenón. 

With sounds ranging from forward-looking modern jazz to traditional African and Latin rhythms to heavy metal intensity, Time's Tales reflects the Jeff Ballard Trio's adventurous, multi-faceted identity, which has been honed on stages around the world since its formation in 2006. A landmark release in its own right, the album also arrives just as Ballard is celebrating an important benchmark in his own life, his 50th birthday.

"I'm getting into the middle of my years. So I think recording this project, with this band, makes a meaningful statement. It's a telling of my times up until this point."

A multi-faceted drummer with a keen interest in rhythms from Africa and Latin America, Ballard could have found no better partners for this endeavor than the Benin-born Loueke and Puerto Rico native Zenón. The two have imbibed the rhythms of their homelands and incorporated them into their own expansive sonic palettes, making them ideal foils for Ballard's polyrhythmic approach. 

"It's where we meet, for sure," Ballard says. "Their sophistication and awareness of rhythm is so high. Lionel's listening to three different rhythms at the same time; Miguel can hear everything. I pick up something melodically from what they're playing and put it on the drums, and they do the reverse." 

That relationship is evident right out of the gate on their buoyant, joyful take on Loueke's "Virgin Forest," which leaps off from a funky African-inspired groove in 9/4. Equally bursting with electricity is the leader's "Beat Street," which begins as a lively parade march in a New Orleans vein, but takes a few unexpected detours along the way.

Zenón provided the arrangement for Silvio Rodriguez's bolero "El Reperador de Sueños," which boasts a subtly modernized take on the original's Cuban rhythms, inspiring a sinuous, impassioned solo from the saxophonist.

The trio does not restrict itself solely to the expected sources for its repertoire, however. The moody "Dal (A Rhythm Song)" is adapted from Hungarian composer Béla Bártok's "44 Duos for Two Violins," and showcases Ballard's most coloristic playing as he crafts an atmospheric environment surrounding the intricate dialogue between Loueke and Zenón. 

Most surprising of all, however, is the trio's hyper-muscular cover of "Hangin' Tree" by the hard rock band Queens of the Stone Age. Loueke suddenly channels the distorted ferocity of Jimi Hendrix on the track, revealing chops that haven't come much into play since his early days playing in rock bands back in Benin. 

"That's totally me," laughs Ballard about the unexpected choice. "I love that band and I love that vibe. I like so many different kinds of music and I can access a lot of stuff, so that diversity is really starting to come out now."

  

In contrast, the trio plays at its most tender and traditional on their airy ballad treatment of the Gershwin standard "The Man I Love." As Ballard says, "One might think that musicians from Benin and from Puerto Rico would play this song with a foreign-sounding influence, bending the song into another cultural jacket. But that's not the case - instead, one can hear these musicians' deep knowledge and respectful embrace of the American music tradition. This is a wonderful example of how diverse cultural borders can meet and disappear completely within an embrace." 

The trio's inventiveness is highlighted on the two free improvisations, one a brief interlude and the other a glimpse into the future of this still-evolving group that ends the album with a gaze at the horizon of possibility. That vast potential is also clear on the unusual "Western Wren," which uses a National Geographic-recorded bird call, transcribed by guitar great Steve Cardenas, to instigate a round robin of darting, eccentric improvisation. The piece is never played the same way twice, but prompts a look to nature for improvisation, as on the fluttering wings of Ballard's brushes or the echoing forest calls of Loueke's guitar. 

Ballard met Loueke while playing with trumpeter Avishai Cohen, and knew Zenón from their work together in Argentinean pianist Guillermo Klein's Los Guachos ensemble. He immediately recognized the potential of their combination. "I have a huge love and affection for the music of Africa, particularly West Africa, and of South America," Ballard says. 

"Even when I'm playing jazz, there's a percussive sensibility coming from Africa and South America; I have a natural affinity for that. So having Lionel and Miguel play with me made a lot of sense because of where they're from and the way they play." In the years since, the trio has carved out its own unique sound, melding the free-floating malleability of the classic Paul Motian, Bill Frisell and Joe Lovano trio with the global rhythmic approaches culled from their varied backgrounds.

Both of Ballard's bandmates are among the most innovative and acclaimed musicians on the scene today. Loueke was mentored by Herbie Hancock and Terence Blanchard, and has worked with legends like Jack DeJohnette and Charlie Haden as well as peers such as Gretchen Parlato, Esperanza Spalding, and Robert Glasper. Zenón is a Guggenheim and MacArthur Fellow who has forged a distinctive blend of jazz and Latin American folkloric music. He's also a founding member of the SFJAZZ Collective and has worked with the likes of Bobby Hutcherson, Fred Hersch, David Sánchez, and Steve Coleman. 

Born in Newport Beach, California, Jeff Ballard moved to New York after a three-year stint with the legendary Ray Charles, where he immediately began building a diverse resume with artists including Lou Donaldson, Buddy Montgomery, Kurt Rosenwinkel, and Mike Stern. In the late '90s he became a part of the Danilo Pérez Trio and Chick Corea's New Trio and Origin, and later joined Joshua Redman's groove-oriented Elastic Band. In 2003, Ballard formed the collective trio FLY with Larry Grenadier and Mark Turner, which has since released three critically acclaimed recordings. 

  

Since 2005 he has been the drummer for the Brad Mehldau Trio, one of the most renowned groups in modern jazz. In addition to his trio, Ballard leads the ensemble Jeff Ballard Fairgrounds, which exists as a quintet featuring Eddie Henderson, Kevin Hays, Jeff Parker and Grenadier, and as a quartet with Loueke, pianist Tigran Hamasyan, and The Bad Plus bassist Reid Anderson on electronics.

CATHERINE RUSSELL - BRING IT BACK - DUE FEB. 11, 2014

With Bring It Back, due Feb. 11, 2014 on Jazz Village/harmonia mundi, Catherine Russell pushes her remarkable run of solo work to new heights, building on her already-considerable renown as one of the foremost interpreters and explorers of mid-20th century American music.

Her fifth solo album finds Russell fronting an expanded 10-piece band, covering her widest artistic ground yet - from the earliest days of jazz through the swing era and into the rhythm and blues explosion - but with her most personal stamps. That takes extra inspiration and depth from her mother, pioneering jazz musician Carline Ray, who passed away shortly after the album was finished. And there is also a very strong presence of her father, long-time Louis Armstrong band leader and arranger Luis Russell, who is represented in several songs coming from their collaborative repertoire, drawing on the "Louis and Luis" concert she led at Jazz at Lincoln Center in spring 2012, including "I'm Shooting High" and "Public Melody Number One." Most profoundly, the album includes the first-ever recording of "Lucille," a song of her father's, recently discovered in the Armstrong archives.

Bring It Back follows her 2012 album Strictly Romancin', which topped the jazz charts and earned her the Prix du Jazz Vocal from L'Acadamie du Jazz and the Grand Prix du Hot Club de France. Called "one of the outstanding singers of our time" by The Wall Street Journal, she brings to familiar favorites and forgotten treasures alike the spark and verve cheered by hundreds of thousands in her role with Steely Dan and featured alongside Donald Fagen, Michael McDonald, and Boz Scaggs in the Dukes of September Rhythm Revue, as well as in her own festival, theater and club appearances and as a star of special Jazz at Lincoln Center programs. She was also heard prominently in the soundtracks to HBO's Boardwalk Empire and the movie Kill Your Darlings (starring Daniel Radcliffe as a young Allen Ginsberg).

"Love and fun" is how she sums up the thread through this album, as well as her artistic philosophy. "As I look at the list of tunes, it's love, romance and fun," she says. "Not a lot of pain. I don't do sad, not too much. That's a little 'woe is me,' feeling sorry for myself. I do things that make you move, take you back to the dance floor."

Through it all, she makes the most of what NPR called, "a voice that wails like a horn and whispers like a snake in the Garden of Eden."

On Ida Cox's "You Got to Swing and Sway" she does both. She adds her own enlivening spark to "Aged and Mellow," a 1952 Johnny Otis number that was a hit for Esther Phillips,  brought to Russell's attention by Donald Fagen. She kicks up her heels with "Darktown Strutters Ball" (one of the first major jazz hits, recorded in 1917 by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band), gets flirty with Fats Waller's "Strange As It Seems," sets a mood with "After the Lights Go Down Low" and lets down her guard on Duke Ellington's "I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart."

Tying it all together and bringing a deeply personal touch, is "Lucille." Written by her father Luis Russell, the noted composer and pianist, who was Louis Armstrong's orchestra leader and arranger from 1935 through the early 1940's, the song was discovered in the Louis Armstrong Archives recently in demo form. Here it receives its first public performance in the voice of the composer's daughter.

To bring a new range of swing, she added an expanded horn section to her regular core trio of guitarist/music director Matt Munisteri, pianist Mark Shane and bassist Lee Hudson for her brightest swinging album yet. Regular collaborator Paul Kahn co-produced with recording engineer Katherine Miller. Tenor saxophonist Andy Farber did the vibrant arrangements of six of the songs, with Munisteri doing two and Russell and trumpeter Jon-Erik Kellso contributing horn arrangements on one each.

Through the making of the album Russell found herself on a voyage of artistic self-discovery, reaching for things that she'd felt beyond her in the past. "After the Lights Go Low," a song played at the end of every day on the radio station that provided the soundtrack of her childhood, is a perfect example.

"That's a song I rediscovered," she says. "A few years ago I don't think I could have done a song like that. It's very exposed. But I really wanted to create a mood, when people are dancing they're going to go home and ... hopefully ... whatever!"

These discoveries of music and of her own growing talents come on top of a rich career. For several decades Russell gained a place among the most in-demand background singers, working with stars from Paul Simon to David Bowie to Jackson Browne to Cyndi Lauper to Rosanne Cash. She launched her solo career less than a decade ago with the stunning Cat, showing her powers and personality across an array of jazz and blues, plus a sly reinvention of the Grateful Dead's "New Speedway Boogie." The album prompted esteemed critic Nat Hentoff to declare that after hearing countless "purported rising jazz singers ... it's a delight to hear the real thing in Catherine Russell."

She followed with 2008's Sentimental Streak, 2010's Inside This Heart of Mine and 2012's Strictly Romancin', each building on and expanding on the last. Along the way, in addition to awards and acclaim, she made two appearances on NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross (the second, in Feb. 2012, included in-studio concert performances), another NPR session on the beloved Piano Jazz with Marian McPartland and has been a favorite guest on various other shows.

The new album also serves as a tribute to her mother, a pioneering force for women in jazz, who played guitar in the all-female '40s ensemble the International Sweethearts of Rhythm and performed with Erskine Hawkins, Mary Lou Williams and later the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Ray's first album as a lead vocalist, Vocal Sides, in which she collaborated with her daughter, was released just months before her death.

"She worked right up to Dec. 2012," Russell says, dedicating the album to her parents. "They all are dedicated to them. Without them I wouldn't be here talking about their huge musical influences."

No matter the influences or sources of material though, Russell's magic is entirely her own.

"Nobody in the band is copying anyone, they all have their own styles and forms of expression," she says. "The whole thing we're trying to do is find ourselves in this music. I won't be Ella, Dinah, Sarah, Peggy. I won't be them. So I have to find my own way to tell these stories."

UPCOMING CATHERINE RUSSELL TOUR DATES:

December 31 / Shanghai Jazz / Madison, NJ

February 14 / Scullers Jazz Club / Boston, MA

February 15 / Wellfleet Congregational Church for Payomet Artists / Wellfleet, MA

February 24 / Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola (Album release celebration) / New York, NY

March 8 - 15 / Hot Jazz Tour / Various Cities, Israel

March 24 - 26 / Savannah Music Festival - Charles H. Morris Center / Savannah, GA

March 28 / Tryon Fine Arts Center / Tryon, NC

March 29 / NCSU Center Stage - Titmus Theater / Raleigh, NC

March 30 / The Rooster's Wife at The Spot / Aberdeen, NC

April 11 / The Fairmont Opera House / Fairmont, MN

April 13 / We Always Swing Jazz Series at Murry's / Columbia, MO

April 18 / Walton Arts Center / Fayetteville, AR

 April 19 / The Sheldon Concert Hall / Saint Louis, MO

May 3 / Izzy Asper Jazz Series at Winnipeg Art Gallery / Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Catherine Russell·  Bring It Back // Jazz Village ·  Release Date: February 11, 2014

www.CatherineRussell.net

JAMES BRANDON LEWIS - DIVINE TRAVELS

Even for an artist hailed by Ebony Magazine as one of "7 Young Players to Watch" who has studied with jazz heavyweights like Charlie Haden, Wadada Leo Smith, Dave Douglas, Joshua Redman, and Matthew Shipp, it takes considerable confidence and courage for a young musician to match wits with veteran improvisers like William Parker and Gerald Cleaver. But on his second release, Divine Travels, saxophonist James Brandon Lewis does just that, not only holding his own with that masterful rhythm section but leading them down fresh and unexpected pathways.

Divine Travels melds the holy spirit of a gospel service with the fiery expression of free jazz, the intuitive dialogue of skilled improvisers with the stunning invention of a first meeting. Lewis' music draws in equal parts on his considerable studies and his roots in the church, as well as his considerable curiosity to discover more and deeper connections within his music.

Parker and Cleaver have a long history together, having co-founded the collective trio Farmers By Nature with pianist Craig Taborn and played together with artists like Ivo Perelman, Matthew Shipp, and Joe Morris. And both have worked with some of modern jazz's greatest saxophonists: Parker with David S. Ware, Peter Brötzmann, and John Zorn, Cleaver with Roscoe Mitchell and Tim Berne.

Lewis calls the prospect of stepping into such esteemed shoes "a humbling experience." It was demanding for me to keep my composure and to really be honest with myself in that scenario. How do I go into this session and not think about everyone that these two gentlemen have worked with in the past? I truly respect them to the nth degree, but I had to be honest and give who I am as a person, to be vulnerable to however the recording was going to come out. And I think that I left an impression, just like they left a huge impression on my being."

Lewis' unique stamp can be heard throughout Divine Travels, which results in Parker and Cleaver revealing new facets in their own strongly individual voices. Fragments of gospel melodies emerge and evoke starkly spiritual meditations in tunes like "Wading Child in the Motherless Water," which weaves together the familiar melodies of "Wade in the Water" and "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child." But even when not explicitly referencing such traditional fare, Lewis shows a predilection for direct, memorable folk-like melodies that he can then develop, evolve and explore.

The album also contains two collaborations with poet Thomas Sayers Ellis, who Lewis has been working with since the two met at a residency in 2011. The Brooklyn-based poet recites works from two of his books, Skin, Inc., and The Maverick Room, which won the John C. Zacharis First Book Award in 2005.

The title Divine Travels pays homage to Lewis' belief that the music contained within is an expression of his own spiritual journey, marking both distance traveled and experiences yet to unfold.

Lewis' own travels began in Buffalo, New York in 1983. Lewis was raised in the church, which formed the core of the saxophonist's spiritual outlook. While many musicians are inspired by the church, Lewis says that its most important impact was not musical but personal, laying the foundation for his creative approach.

After graduating from the Buffalo Academy for the Visual and Performing Arts, Lewis attended Howard University, where he studied with Charlie Young, performed with the likes of Benny Golson, Geri Allen, and Wallace Roney, and backed John Legend, k.d. lang, and Vanessa Williams at the Kennedy Center Honors ceremony with the Howard University Jazz Ensemble.

In 2006, Lewis moved to Colorado and pursued a career in gospel music, working with Grammy® Award-winning singer Dorinda Clark Cole and the late "Queen of Gospel Music," Albertina Walker. He relocated again to earn his Masters at CalArts, where he was mentored by Charlie Haden, Wadada Leo Smith, Vinny Golia, and Weather Report bassist Alphonso Johnson, who later hired Lewis to play in his ensemble.

Lewis released his debut album, Moments, in 2010, before moving to New York City in 2012. Since arriving in the city, he has performed with a wide range of artists, including Charles Gayle, Ed Shuller, Kirk Knuffke, Jason Hwang , Marilyn Crispell, Ken Filiano, Cooper Moore, Darius Jones, Eri Yamamoto, Federico Ughi, Kenny Wessel, Marvin "Bugalu" Smith, and Sabir Mateen, and has worked with the dance company CircuitDebris under the direction of Mersiha Mesihovic. He currently leads his own trio with Luke Stewart on bass and Dominic Fragman on drums.

THE PEPPER POTS - WE MUST FIGHT

The Pepper Pots will release their new record "We Must Fight" on the back of 10 years and 6 albums, world tours that have taken in the United States, Japan, the UK, France, Russia and Germany and collaborations with some of the most important artists in the recent history of Soul music (Binky Griptite, Eli ‘Paperboy’ Reed) as well as the past (the Impressions, Maxine Brown). These 10 years have seen the band's approach to Old School Soul mature into this, their best album so far, representing a leap forward for both the songs and the sound of the group.

"We Must Fight" is a record that signals a number of changes. The first noticeable one is in the vocals, with the group for the first time employing two voices, those of Adriana Prunell and Aya Sima, who build up layers of emotion throughout the album, reaching the highest peaks. They are helped by some of the most personal lyrics that the group has written, inspired by the social issues around us today and the need for change, while still reaching out for fun, vitality and also love, the other great inspiration behind the record.

Apart from the lyrics and vocals, the group's sound has also undergone an evolution by combining the classic Motown sound, which has made them one of the stand-out new soul acts, with deep soul from the late 60s and early 70s, incorporating thrilling string arrangements, percussion, keys and guitars, and creating a deep groove which was already hinted at on "Train to your lover". For the album's recording, the Pepper Pots were back in their own studio, brimming with analogue equipment from the golden era of Soul. Alongside them and finetuning the vocals has been Binky Griptite of the Dap Kings, one of the most important names in the new soul scene, a man who lists collaborations with Amy Winehouse, Janet Jackson, Sharon Jones, Lee Fields, Lily Allen, Ghostface Killah, Nas and Robbie Williams, among others.

Alongside this impressive list, the Pepper Pots feel honoured to have crossed paths with Binky on so many occasions in the last five years, forming such a solid bond between Girona and New York over time that we can now consider Binky an "Honorary Pepper Pot!"

JAREZ GOES "ON TOP OF THE WORLD"

Following the sizzling release of “On Top of the World,” R&B saxophonist Jarel Posey (AKA “Jarez”) will be touring in the States and overseas with hip hop music rapper Coolio.

Jarez’s tour dates are not the normal jazz venues and haunts you would expect either. He tours regularly on the hip hop scene, incorporating the smooth sounds of jazz into cutting edge beats. Jarez is perhaps one of the few jazz artists able to successfully blend the two diverse musical genres. In fact, for several years, Jarez toured with Coolio around the world, dazzling audiences unfamiliar with jazz with his playing skills and showmanship.

“Touring in over 30 countries, the experience was an unforgettable one,” explained Jarez. “Performing is one of the most satisfying experiences because I have a spiritual connection with the audience when I’m playing. To have them feel what I feel – well, it’s a divine connection. It is a double blessing and joy to be able to bring the gift of jazz to an audience not typically familiar with it, and yet have them embrace and welcome it.”

Just as his touring schedule challenges the public’s perception of jazz, “On Top of the World” marks a strategic release for this entrepreneurial artist. While the music itself appeals to a broad audience base, Jarez desires to unite the younger generation with jazz. By adding a splash of urban groove with luxurious melodies, Jarez paints a musical tapestry that is culturally rich and brazenly accessible. It is music that inspires change within the contemporary jazz landscape.

The saxophonist’s commitment to America’s future includes having served as a spokesperson for Environmental Justice and Climate Change’s (EJCC) campaign, which served Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) in an educational initiative regarding global warming. This opportunity also lent him a chance to develop his fan base even further with selections from one of his previous CD releases, ” SAXOHOLIC ,” providing the musical signature for the accompanying radio show, “Just Environment” which broadcasted weekly on from Atlanta’s Clark University’s WCLK 91.9, “The Jazz of the City,” and live online at www.wclk.com.

His ability to expand his musical outreach to fans of all ages included multiple appearances on “Cooking with Coolio.” Jarez also assisted in the production of Coolio’s cookbook  of the same name, along with ongoing management of various aspects of Coolio’s business operations.

For information on Jarez and to view all available tour dates, please visit www.jarezmusic.com.

DHAFER YOUSSEF - BIRDS REQUIEM

The oud-the 11-string, fretless, acoustic relative of the lute so central to the culture of the Middle East, North Africa and the Mediterranean-is inextricably tied to tradition, more than 5,000 years of it. But in the hands of Dhafer Youssef, one of the most highly respected and influential virtuosi of the instrument in the world, the oud takes a giant leap into the future. For more than two decades, Youssef has paid his respects to the ancient legacy of the oud while integrating its melodious, robust and resonant-but simultaneously delicate tones-with modern sounds and sensibilities, transcending genre and defying the expected. On his new album Birds Requiem (OKeh Records) Youssef has created his most breathtakingly powerful work to date, a suite of 11 interconnected compositions that, he says, were "constructed as music for an imagined movie."

Recorded primarily in Gothenburg, Sweden, with additional recording in Istanbul, Birds Requiem features Youssef on oud and vocals, clarinetist Hüsnü Senlendirici, trumpeter Nils-Petter Molvaer, Aytaç Dogan on the zither-like kanun, Eivind Aarset handling electric guitar parts and electronics, pianist Kristjan Randalu, double bassist Phil Donkin and drummer Chander Sardjoe.

Birds Requiem didn't start out as such. "At first, the title of the album was Incantations," says Youssef. "Even in my interviews, I mentioned the project using that title, which I found suitable. But once the album was recorded, the more I listened to it the more Birds Requiem imposed itself as a title."

The album is structured around what he has dubbed the "Birds Requiem" suite, whose four parts ("Birds Canticum," "Fuga Hirundinum," "Archaic Feathers" and "Whirling Birds Ceremony"), form the centerpiece of the recording. "This structure creates a leitmotif," he says, "which also symbolizes two entities that intermingle, represented by voice and clarinet." Those two essential elements produce an ethereal and welcoming pairing of sounds that, along with Youssef's oud and the other supporting instrumentation, is both otherworldly and simultaneously suggestive of something earthy and primordial.

Youssef envisions the entirety of Birds Requiem as a score for a film that exists only in his creative mind. "I imagine the movie being about two entities," he says, "myself and my permanent search for a wandering soul. It symbolizes the idea of the disappearance of the body and the wandering of the soul. This idea is also reflected in the image of the birds depicted in the songs and in the album's pictures."

Of all of his works to date, this album is closest to his heart. "It's a very personal album, that of souvenirs and memories," he says. "I was preparing this album at a turning point in my life, and at that moment, a return to the origins occurred-mine but also the origins of music."

The album took shape, Youssef recalls, after a performance he gave in Ludwigsbourg, Germany, with Senlendirici and Dogan, both of whom are from Turkey. "I always wanted to work with these great musicians and this encounter accelerated the process," he says. Youssef then brought in the other musicians and, with Lars Nilsson at the helm of the recording process, the project came together. "I composed the entire album except for the song 'Khira,' which was totally improvised between me, Kristjan Randalu and Nils-Petter Molvaer," Youssef says.

For Youssef, Birds Requiem marks the continuation of a journey into the possibilities of the oud that began during his childhood in Tunisia, where he was born in 1967. He discovered jazz as a youth and knew as he explored his instrument and composition that his lot in life would be the fusion of Eastern and Western styles into something wholly exhilarating and new. He relocated to Europe in the '90s and his reputation as an artist who blurred the lines between world music, jazz, classical and even contemporary genres such as funk grew exponentially with each new release. Albums such as 2002's Electric Sufi and 2006's Divine Shadows redefined the role of the oud in modern music, and Youssef's compositions, which also often featured his impassioned vocals, have been hailed as cutting-edge. He has received many honors for his work including a nomination for the BBC Music Awards For World Music in 2006. "I've always been in a permanent search for new sonorities," he says. "Even at the age of 6, I was curious. I discovered the echo of my voice and its resonances. Later, I experienced the undulations and the resonances of sounds that we find in Electric Sufi."

Birds Requiem is a culmination of all that he's accomplished previously, taking Dhafer Youssef's music to the next level. But he prefers not to overanalyze it all. "I sincerely think it is hard to succeed in describing the mood in this album or the others," he says. "I am convinced that its essence can only be felt while listening. It solicits the participation of the listener and the audience. Each one can feel it according to his own background or experience. Birds Requiem continues my search."

NEW RELEASES - DONALD BYRD, POLYRHYTHMICS, MED BLU MADLIB FEATURING MAYER HAWTHORNE

DONALD BYRD - KOFI

A fantastic set of tracks that was recorded at the cusp of the 70s, but which wasn't (for some strange reason) released until many years later! Donald Byrd's playing here with two different larger groups, and the music is a perfect bridge between his spacey late 60s attempts to mimic Miles Davis, and his tighter early 70s jazz funk work with Larry Mizell. The instrumentation's a bit different than usual, and includes a warm frontline of Frank Foster on tenor, Lew Tabackin on flute and tenor, and William Campbell on trombone – all working with these charts that are full and flowing – really strong, soulful elements that get some further great touches from Duke Pearson on Fender Rhodes! Rhythms echo some of Pearson's own great music of the time, with lots of Brazilian undercurrents – no surprise, given that Duke produced the record – and titles include "Kofi", "Fufu", "Perpetual Love", and "Elmina". Special limited edition also features a bonus 10" piece of vinyl – with the group's own version of Frank Foster's "Loud Minority". (Collectors edition is limited to 300 copies.)  ~  Dusty Groove

POLYRHYTHMICS - LIBRA STRIPES

Afro Funk mixed with lots of wah wah guitar – a wonderfully wicked set from the Polyrthmics, and one that's got an even sharper groove than ever before! These guys have all the right rhythms and horns to get an Afro Funk groove just right – but the guitar is often a bit tighter and more prominent than in other combos of this nature – played with this force and wide-spaced power that really brings a deeply funky undercurrent to the record – one that's not just Nigeria 70s, but which has plenty of echoes of the funky 45 generation as well! The mix of modes is wonderful – and titles include "Libra Stripes", "Pupsa Strut", "Snake In The Grass", "Chingador", "Skin The Fat", "Mr Wasbi Rides Again", and "Retrobotic". ~ Dusty Groove

MED BLU MADLIB FEATURING MAYER HAWTHORNE - THE BUZZ

All star team 12-inch with Med & Blu on the mic and Madlib in the production booth – plus superstar guest appearances by Mayer Hawthorne and Dam-Funk! Buzz is the intoxicating lead off track of three great ones – with a gritty beat and soul string sample in the backdrop, busy rhymes and Mayer's classic Detroit soul inspired vocals on the hook. Includes a main mix, radio version, instrumental and bonus beat. The flip "Peroxide" co-stars Dam-Funk and has a heady funk vibe in place of the soul-styled A-Side. It's another major win - with a main mix, clean radio version, instrumental and acapella. (Nice packaging, too – wrapped like a premium bottle of booze!) ~ Dusty Groove

PESHAY - GENERATION

Following a string of celebrated releases for the likes of Island and Metalheadz, drum ‘n’ bass legend Peshay turns his midas touch to live funk, jazz and tropical compositions in a vibrant new direction on his first album for Tru Thoughts. Entitled ‘Generation’, the album follows the upfront EP of the same name which has gained early airplay from Gilles Peterson and Craig Charles on BBC 6Music, and excited reactions from seasoned tastemakers worldwide including Sinden, Danny Krivit and Ashley Beedle.

Inspired by his lifelong love of all sorts of sounds from jazz and disco to funk, house and Latin American music, this new material finds the London based producer using only live musicians, each of whom bring a little of their own style, and creating an evocative world within each track. While some of his previous releases – most notably his highly acclaimed 1999 debut LP ‘Miles From Home’ – hint at this wider spectrum of influences, this is the first time that Peshay has produced a full album that gives no clues as to his drum ‘n’ bass stalwart status.

“Maybe it will be a shock for some people,” says Paul Pesce, the man behind the moniker; “but I love different styles and don’t want to only make drum and bass. Tru Thoughts is a fantastic platform for me to express myself in a different way, and I look forward to doing more eclectic productions as well as more drum and bass in future.”

Fans will be relieved to find that Peshay does not neglect the dancefloor here, as the ‘Generation’ LP packs as many party tunes as it does melodic, post-club jams; and punchy production holds sway throughout. The tribal rhythms and transporting groove of opener “Bronx Life” lead into a vibrant, vintage swing-jazz feel and experimental, shifting tempo on “Vanguard”. Strong instrumental hooks characterise the carnivalesque, Latin-inspired house tune “Seville”; “Dirty” brings a sleazy, cheeky retro electro kick; while “Kickin’ It With The Piano Trio” – a live, freeform and snaking jazz jam with propulsive drums – ups the feelgood factor and demonstrates top drawer musicianship. Coming over like a lost ’70s film soundtrack, “Midnight Express” drives things in a decidedly suspenseful, funk-fuelled direction; beautiful woodwind and brass flourishes on “Sundown” mix with a woozy early-hours vibe and big breaks; and the title track closes the album on an upbeat and playful, Hammond-heavy jam.

www.tru-thoughts.co.uk

Tracklisting: 01. Bronx Life / 02. Vanguard / 03. Indigo / 04. Seville / 05. Dirty / 06. Daydreaming / 07. Never Let You Go / 08. Kickin’ It With The Piano Trio / 09. Midnight Express / 10. Sundown / 11. Solar /

12. Generation

~ grooveattack.com

LEE PERRY & HIS UPSETTERS PRESENT ROARING LION

A thundering 16 tracks produced by Lee Perry that takes us through the key period of his output at the Black Ark. Many of the tracks come from a single master tape. The remaining tracks are from dub plates. As re-issues go this is pretty remarkable. Maverick Productions that showcase Perry at his most imaginative.

1976 was the third year in the short life of the Black Ark studio. It also marked more than a decade since Lee ‘King’ Perry started in the business as a vocalist and it proved to be a defining year for the man’s music.

Scratch’s deal with Island Records meant that three albums and a dozen singles received the marketing and promotion from the coolest label in the mainstream UK & US markets. Scratch’s Black Ark studio enabled him to continually pursue developing his production signatures. The studio was now generating a unique sound with its bouncing bass, atmospheric and textured mix and its cultural currents. Perry himself was in creative overdrive – in his search for ‘that’ sound. Everything else, from paying bills to family life, slipped into the background as he drove himself and his musicians ever forward.

His studio built vision was delivered on vinyl & acetate, not live. Now, some 37 years later, Roaring Lion delivers unknown tunes and mixes from that crucial year. With a dozen tracks straight off a single master tape our set offers a unique snap-shot of Perry’s creative vibrations as Producer, and re-mixer, to the rising cultural religion of Rasta. The Black Ark was peaking in the red as he revved himself to full throttle and created his finest ever work. Scratch was the fizzing, joking ringmaster – whose studio buzzed with a positive vibe of creation and roared with the voices of the new kings of Kingston. By now Perry was ‘anointing’ master tapes with great clouds of weed smoke. There’s a trio of tracks from Jah Lion – the nom de guerre that Scratch gave the erstwhile Jah Lloyd, when he was recording at the Ark.

They are built from a lexicon that defined the era. ‘Generation from Creation’ uses the obscure Hombres ‘Africa’ to DJ over whilst ‘Truth and Rights’ finds Jah Lion chatting over Winston Heywood & the Hombres anti capitalist ‘Backbiting’.

This sets’ title track sets the tone with its open lines: ‘When the Lion Roar the weak heart tremble!’ It’s quintessential Black Ark with its bouncing bass and Augustus Pablo’s melodica lines drifting over the top. LION! And if you listen carefully you can hear Perry reminding Jah Lion of the next line. The Fantels ‘Stand & Look’ is a first issue of the track and its dub as Perry recorded and mixed it. A strange UK issue, with different mixes and running times, surfaced a while later but this is the real deal. ‘Speak the truth & speak it ever’ cries the Fantels as they seek witnesses to what’s happening on the streets: ‘Babylon kill a Rastaman & don’t even know the reason why!’

Roaring Lion is built around a 50 minute celebration of Perry’s developing production style, and cultural vision, as the Black Ark reached its pinnacle of creation.

Culled from Dub plates and rare vinyl offer a handful of tasty morsels for Scratch-a-holics! Junior Byles revoiced ‘Beat Down Babylon’ as a political tune in support of Michael Manley, who actively courted the rising Rasta following: a piece of social history. ‘Upsetting Walk’ is another mix of the classic Skylarking rhythm that only appeared on plate circa 1974. ‘Loco Negril’ is a bizarre combination of a tame Althea & Donna tune and Scratch’s mixing. He cranked it through his desk toward the end of the Black Ark’s life: it’s chock full of signature moves and effects. Extraordinary. Cut in 1975 ‘Natural Mystic’ is the original dubplate mix, of what became one of Bob Marley’s most iconic tunes when re-recorded for Island. Originally cut for Jah Wise’s ‘Tippertone’ Sound, it’s Bob with the Upsetters and Scratch at the controls. Later Perry added harmonies from the Meditations: this latter mix was used for the tracks first ever vinyl issue, posthumously, in 1981. (when it was mastered at the wrong speed and also used the flat studio take!)

Sixteen tracks most of which have never been released before. Alternative mixes of some of his better-known dubs make Roaring Lion possibly the strongest Lee Perry album we have ever released on Pressure Sounds. Excellent packaging on the CD and a double vinyl musical extravaganza!!!

www.pressure.co.uk

Tracklisting:  

01. Truths And Rights – Jah Lion & The Upsetters (previously unreleased)

02. Upsetters Shuffle – The Upsetters (unreleased Dub plate mix)

03. Roaring Lion – Jah Lion & The Upsetters (previously unreleased)

04. Pride – Augustus Pablo & The Upsetters (previously unreleased)

05. Loco Negril – Althea & Donna

06. Big Gal Sally – The Upsetters (unreleased mix)

07. Generation From Creation – Jah Lion & The Upsetters (previously unreleased)

08. Big Boy Wally – The Upsetters (unreleased mix)

09. Beat Down Comrade Man – Junior Byles & The Upsetters (previously unreleased Dub plate)

10. Stand And Look – The Fantels (unreleased mix)

11. Rocky Road Dub – The Upsetters (previously unreleased)

12. Natural Mystic – Bob & The Upsetters (unreleased original Upsetter Dub plate Mix)

13. Anasawa Dub – The Upsetters (unreleased mix)

14. Dub Dyon – The Upsetters (unreleased mix)

15. Emotional Dub – The Upsetters (unreleased mix)

16. Dub Stand – The Upsetters (unreleased mix)

~ grooveattack.com

JEAN WELLS - SOUL ON SOUL DELUXE EDITION

Jean Wells’ story is not an extraordinary one in the world of soul, although her voice certainly was. Her biggest hit ‘Have A Little Mercy’ from 1967 was a glorious slice of deep soul, a plea to a lover, whom she is addicted to, but who doesn’t seem to notice. Her gospel-trained voice perfectly encapsulating those feelings, whilst a stark arrangement dominated by an ethereal organ and dramatic horn stabs heightens the unbearable effect this man is having on Jean’s life. Yet at the time this record only reached number 25 in the R&B charts, just another bit of genius amongst many, thrown out by the black American music industry at one of its most creative and profligate periods.

Born in West Palm Beach Florida in 1942, Jean Wells was brought up in Belle Glade near the state’s Lake Okeechobee. As a youngster she sang in gospel choirs, and taught herself piano. Unlike some her family didn’t object to secular music and in her teens she formed a girl group with friends whilst she was at High School. With the musical desire firmly in her bones at the age of 17 she left home and headed for Philadelphia, a city that would become her musical base throughout her career.

Philly at the time was at the centre of the American music industry due to it being the place where Dick Clark’s American Bandstand was filmed. This pop TV programme was nationally syndicated and could break records to the important post rock and roll teen audience. As such a slew of local record labels led by Cameo had grown up around the town. Jean went looking for a record deal and soon found herself recording for the tiny Quaker Town label. Her first single – ‘Song Of The Bells’ – was successful enough locally that the label released two further releases ‘If He’s A Good Man’ and ‘I Know He Loves Me’, neither of which managed to build on the success, and they remained unknown outside of the local area.

Jean went back home to Florida, but the desire to be part of the music industry remained and she returned to Philly to record a single record, ‘Don’t Come Running Back To Me’ b/w ‘Little Boots’ for ABC-Paramount, before heading back south once more. Yet she was back again in 1966 and it was at this point that she managed to get traction in the industry. Meeting up with producer and A&R man Clyde Otis, who decided to sign her to his production company Argon. Otis had had great success at Mercury Records where he had produced Brook Benton, Dinah Washington and Sarah Vaughan in the late 50s and Clyde McPhatter who he signed to the label in 1960. Since striking out on his own he had produced some of Aretha Franklin’s finest pre-Atlantic recordings for Columbia including the wonderful ‘One Step At A Time’ which has recently been revived by soul DJs and producers of re-edits alike.

With Jean he saw a singer who could be every bit as good as Aretha or Dinah Washington, similar big sounding singers. His first single with Jean is perhaps the most obscure. The glorious deep soul ballad ‘If You Ever Loved Somebody’ was coupled with ‘Hello Baby- Goodbye Too’ and released on Juggy Murray’s Sue Records subsidiary Eastern. It failed to trouble any charts, but it did put down a calling card for Jean. It was quite clear that this was a singer who could cut high quality material that could match the best of what was coming out at the time.

As Jean worked on new material with Clyde, her producer was sorting out a new label for her to appear on, following the demise of Juggy Murray’s labels late in 1966. He signed a deal with Nate McCalla’s Calla Records. McCalla was a well known face around 1960s New York, and was closely associated with the notorious Morris Levy of Roulette Records, and it fact had his office in Roulette’s building. Stories abound about this colourful figure, who was a decorated hero of the Korean War, but he was a tough guy and his life was prematurely ended when he was murdered in Florida in 1980. His label is a gem, with brilliant records by the likes of Bettye Lavette, Little Jerry Williams (later known as Swamp Dogg) and many others through to its close in 1977. The label always had close ties to Philadelphia, and it is perhaps this link that brought him to Jean.

Her first single on the label was the self-written ‘After Loving You’ a storming club soul cut with a relentless beat. It was coupled with ‘Puttin’ The Best On The Outside’ which sounded as if it could have been written several years earlier. It was a successful start to her time at the label charting at number 31 in Billboard’s R&B chart. The follow up ‘I Feel Good’ was another dancer that peaked at number 33. It was the next release that was the big one and ‘Have A Little Mercy’ burst out of the speakers over the Christmas period of 1967 heading to a peak of number 25. On the flip was a glorious northern soul style dancer ‘With My Love And What You Got’, complete with a vibes filled rhythm section.

Otis took the logical step of following ‘Mercy’ with another deep soul ballad his own ‘Sit Down and Cry’. Once more Jean reaches far inside herself and drags every ounce of emotion from the song in a jaw-dropping performance. It was perhaps a little too intense to be popular, and the single became her first on Calla not to make the R&B charts. She returned to the charts with her very next single, though it would be for the last time. This time the lead number ‘Try Me & See’ was firmly uptempo and is firmly written to sound like Aretha Franklin’s then current hits such as ‘Respect’ or ‘See Saw’. It reached number 45 backed with ‘Best Thing For You Baby’.

At this time Calla also tried to capitalise on her success by releasing the album ‘World, Here Come Jean Wells’ in 1968, it sank without a trace and is now a sought after collectors item. Jean released three more singles on Calla, each one either trying to replicate the success of her previous work or the then current sounds in the pop charts. The best of these was her December 1968 ‘What Have We Got To Lose’ a swaying soul dancer written by Jean, and which in recent years has seen action in the rare soul clubs. Despite Calla losing interest after the 1969 single ‘Our Sweet Love Turned Bitter’ b/w Keep Your Mouth Shut (and Your Eyes Open)’ Clyde Otis kept the faith, and Jean’s next single appeared on the Philadelphia independent Volare recycling ‘Keep Your Mouth Shut’ with the slow funk of ‘I Couldn’t Love You More Than I Do Now’.

Jerry ‘Swamp Dogg’ Williams Canyon label was where her next single turned up. This was the stridently funky ‘He Ain’t Doing Bad’ and the wah wah laden ‘Somebody’s Been Loving You’. These two tracks were recorded in Philadelphia by Earl Young, Norman Harris and Ron Baker. The trio would become the basis of the 1970s Philadelphia Sound and were on hundreds of classic disco and soul recording as well as being the men behind the legendary disco group the Tramps. Clyde Otis employed them for what was supposedly lined up to be an album project on Jean, but only 5 tracks were recorded. As well as the two that appeared on the single, there is the atmospheric ‘Roll Up Your Sleeves, Come Out Lovin’ which features a very advanced - for the time - synthesiser led backing track, and ‘Take Time To Make Time’ which to my mind features one of Jean’s finest vocal parts. The final number ‘Keep On Doing It’ takes us back to the world of funk, but with a very Philly swing to the rhythm section. It appeared briefly as a single on Law-Ton in 1972

These were to be the final recordings that Jean made in this part of her career. She left the industry and according to Clyde Otis she went into the gospel field. She made two slight returns to secular music. In 1979 she made the disco/ boogie single ‘I Just Can’t Stop Dancing’ for the Philadelphia based TEC label. Two years later she was back again, still in the city that she had so often called home, this time recording the disco-fied album ‘Number One’ for Sunshine Recordings.

After this Jean disappeared from sight. Probably back into the world of gospel, she left us with a fantastic recorded legacy, of which her recordings for Clyde Otis, which are gathered here, are the choicest cuts. Vinyl track listing:

1 A: What Have I Got To Lose B: Have A Little Mercy / 2 A: With My Love And What You've Got (We Could Turn This World Around) B: Take Time To Make Time For Me / 3 A: Somebody's Been Loving You (But It AIn't Been Me) B: He Ain't Doing Bad

Source: bbbmusic.com

YUKO YAMAMURA - DANCING IN THE DIALOG

Featured this week on The Jazz Network Worldwide: Award-winning Jazz and Classical French Hornist, Yuko Yamamura with her debut CD “Dancing in the Dialog”.

Yuko Yakamura, french hornist, composer/arranger shares her debut CD “Dancing in the Dialog” with The Jazz Network Worldwide social network community while performing show-stopping performances on tour from New York to Japan.

Award-winning french hornist, Yuko Yakamura brings much experience to her new CD project “Dancing In The Dialog”. As grand-prize winner in the jazz catagory of the John Lennon Songwriting Contest 2012 and finalist of the 18th Annual USA Songwriting Competition 2013 she is surely equipped to release her debut CD project to the world. Her composition was selected by in-flight airplay of Virgin America airlines for summer 2012.

Hailing from Kobe, Japan, Yuko Yakamura started her musical studies as a singer at a very early age. Graduating from the Osaka College of Music in 1998, she studied classical music with Hiroko Fushimi and Shigekazu Ikeda, wind ensemble arranging with Toru Takahashi and jazz improvisation with Hiroshi Munekiyo at the Arrow Jazz Orchestra Music School.

As an educator, Yuko taught at the Yamaha School for Wind Orchestra. It was then that she led her own jazz quintet, and enjoyed performances at Kobe and Osaka, which culminated in a CD, which was recorded at XEBEC Music Production Studios.

“Music stays with us strongly and gently. Music is also a guide that leads us deeply into our memory. Life is full of stories, such as joyful, painful, happy and sad stories. Each story never happens in good order but rather does it happen at the same time or sometimes one after another. My songs were created as my thoughts were wondering over these things. Music has a gentle but lasting effect on us, sometimes acting as a guide to the thoughts we keep inside” says Yuko.

Yamamura’s met her goal when she to traveled to the United States to attend Berklee College of Music and successfully graduating as a professional music major in both jazz French horn and composition. While there, she studied jazz improvisation with Tiger Okoshi, Christine Fawson, and Jeff Galindo.

Having worked with Victor Jones, Jay Rodriguez, Hector Martignon, Schott Collery, Jerry Granelli, Gerard Angel, David "Pic" Conley and  Sweet Plantain Strings Quartet she has become a mainstay on the international jazz scene.

Currently she performs with Japanese traditional Taiko, in the band "Ajarria" in Japan and the U.S. She is also a member of the Victor Jones/Jay Rodriguez Band and regularly performs in New York City. Yamamura continues to perform, compose and working with other artists offering her compositions in a wide variety of genres.

“Yuko’s new CD is a true expression of her musical excellence, no matter what geographical coast she is graced with the influences of many great teachers. Yuko is a pure musician who can master any stage from working with a duo to a big band.” says Jaijai Jackson, creator and owner of The Jazz Network Worldwide.

Visit THE JAZZ NETWORK WORLDWIDE "A GREAT PLACE TO HANG" at: http://www.thejazznetworkworldwide.com/?xg_source=msg_mes_network

CRAIG HANDY & 2ND LINE SMITH FEATURING SPECIAL GUESTS WYNTON MARSALIS, DEE DEE BRIDGEWATER, HERLIN RILEY & OTHERS...

On Craig Handy's OKeh Records debut, Craig Handy & 2nd Line Smith, funk and groove supply the motive and the motivation. The album, available January 21, 2014, is the saxophonist's first recording as a leader in more than a decade. The repertoire consists of 10 numbers from the songbook of Jimmy Smith - the founder of modern jazz organ expression, a creative inspiration that evolved from Handy's realization several years ago that his distinguished resume included no opportunities "to cut my teeth with any of the great organ players." As an added---and surprising---turn, Handy's reinterpretation of Smith's work includes rhythm and grooves derived from the tight second-line funk of New Orleans.

For his band Handy recruited soul jazz specialists Kyle Koehler on Hammond B-3 and Matt Chertkoff on guitar (both New Jersey neighbors and members of his working band), sousaphone virtuoso Clark Gayton, and well known New Orleans drummers Jason Marsalis, Herlin Riley and Ali Jackson. Trumpet virtuoso Wynton Marsalis, singer Dee Dee Bridgewater and blues singer-guitarist Clarence Spady make their trademark appearances on the record as well.

In approaching the session, Handy recalls, "I realized that two of Jimmy's hits-'The Cat' and 'High Heel Sneakers'-used modified second-line rhythms. A light bulb went off in my head. I said, 'That's it-we'll do a Jimmy Smith record in the second-line vein.' New Orleans is one of the furnaces that jazz comes from, and I saw no need to change my stripes to suit the style."

Nor do Handy's colleagues. Koehler, a Philadelphian, is intimate not only with Smith's entire corpus, but also with the vocabularies of Philly contemporaries Don Patterson, Shirley Scott, and Charles Earland. Handy observes that Chertkoff, who is equally in demand, effectively channels "the mood and vibe of Wes Montgomery, Grant Green, Kenny Burrell, and Quentin Warren," who are among the most eminent of the guitarists who served as Smith's foils during his years with Blue Note and Verve. There is no busier low-end brass player in New York than Gayton, Handy's band mate in the Mingus Big Band since the mid '90s.

"Matt and Kyle serve as the jazz element, keeping us honest as a modern jazz quintet," Handy says. "Clark and the drummers add the second line element, and I straddle both." That's a perfect description of Handy's treatment of the Muddy Waters blues "Got My Mojo Working." Playing drums and washboard, Riley unleashes a relentless quasi-zydeco shuffle as Spady delivers a gritty vocal. Wynton Marsalis counterstates with fierce growls and hollers that coalesce into an inflamed, cogent solo, from which the leader piggybacks into his own soul-drenched declamation.

Riley's Zigaboo Modaliste-meets-Clyde Stubblefield funk beats propel Handy's intense soprano solo on "Mellow Mood" and his tenor statement on "Ready 'N Able," and "I Got Rhythm" line that Smith presented on his 1956 Blue Note debut, A New Sound, A New Star.

Old-school New Orleans comes forth in the tasty press rolls that Jason Marsalis executes with control and taste to animate the classic Ivory Joe Hunter ballad "I Almost Lost My Mind." He also incorporates tambourine into the groove of "Road Song," a Smith-Montgomery classic; enlivens Handy's soulful alto solo on "Organ Grinder's Swing" with inexorable march cadences; and synchronizes the ride cymbal and bass drum swingingly on Stanley Turrentine's "Minor Chant."

"Minor Chant" is one of several homages to Turrentine that Handy offers on Craig Handy & 2nd Line Smith. "The older I get, the more I relate to Stanley," Handy says. "Everything he does appeals to me, like I've been walking for 10 miles and there's a water fountain. I have to drink. I liked him from the very beginning, though as a kid I was drawn to Dexter Gordon and John Coltrane, who were playing more straight-ahead bop, although Stanley was no slouch in that department. Things were wide-open in the Bay Area, and the level of musicianship was high. Nobody was saying, 'Here's what you have to do and this is the way you have to do it.' I'm also a product of the funk movement. The Pointer Sisters lived around the corner from my house, and I listened to Sly Stone, Stevie Wonder, Earth, Wind and Fire, and Parliament-Funkadelic as much as jazz."

In a sense, Craig Handy & 2nd Line Smith marks the first time that Handy has coalesced all of these influences into a unified statement. In part, he credits Bridgewater, a frequent employer since 2010, who sings "On The Sunny Side Of The Street" in her inimitably saucy manner: "Playing with Dee Dee, watching her assume a different role for every song, has rubbed off on me," Handy says. "A singer has to sell the song, and Dee Dee becomes that song every time. Ten years ago, I wouldn't have had the chutzpah to pull off this project. I would have been too self-conscious, concerned about how people perceive me. I wasn't musically ready to handle this kind of project, though I've been heading here for 25 years. Now this seems like the hippest thing I've ever done. As long as I stay in the groove of the beat, I can play anything I hear, be it angular or abstract, and it will sound cool over the bands foundation. Just talking about it is making me excited-I can't wait to get to the next gig-we have so much fun on the bandstand!"

TAKUYA KURODA - RISING SON

Ascendant trumpeter and composer Takuya Kuroda is set to make his Blue Note debut with the February 18 release of Rising Son, which was produced by José James. Kuroda, who is best known for his inspired presence in James’ band, steps forth here to helm that remarkable band which features keyboardist Kris Bowers, electric bassist Solomon Dorsey, drummer Nate Smith, and trombonist Corey King. James mostly stayed on the other side of the glass in the producer’s chair except for a hypnotic version of the Roy Ayers classic “Everybody Loves The Sunshine” to which he lends his captivating baritone. The imaginative guitarist Lionel Loueke also contributes a bluesy, percussive solo to one of the album’s standout tracks “Afro Blues.”

In addition to anchoring James’ horn section for the past several years, the 33-year-old Japanese-born, Brooklyn-based Kuroda has been leading his own bands and has self-released and self-produced three previous albums. While on the road with James in support of the singer’s recent Blue Note debut No Beginning No End he let James listen to some of his newer material. James enjoyed it but wanted to hear more of Kuroda’s playing and so the idea developed to have James produce the next album.

“No one sounds like Takuya,” says James. “His tone, warmth and most of all his storytelling have inspired me for years. His writing is soulful, modern, and effortlessly bridges the gap between jazz and soul, and between history and tomorrow.”

Afrobeat rhythms play a crucial role throughout Rising Son, reflective of Kuroda’s six-year participation in the New York-based Afrobeat ensemble, Akoya. Afrobeat’s entrancing shuffle propels several of the album’s tracks including the tantalizing “Afro Blues,” one of the album’s six original tunes on which Kuroda’s spiky trumpet melody with urban swagger evokes Lee Morgan, one of Kuroda’s significant influences along with Clifford Brown and Miles Davis. The album also features two Roy Ayers’ gems – “Everybody Loves the Sunshine” and “Green & Gold.”

Kuroda and James’ partnership dates to a decade ago at the New School of Music in Manhattan. Kuroda was graduating during the time when James arrived at the school. Nevertheless, they performed on a mutual friend’s senior piano recital. James’ liked Kuroda’s playing and invited him to participate on his 2010 sophomore disc, BlackMagic. Kuroda made a memorable contribution on James’ composition “Promise In Love” from that album. James later recruited Kuroda for live shows and the recording sessions for No Beginning No End, on which Kuroda also wrote the horn arrangements.

Before Kuroda arrived in the U.S. in 2003, he grew up in Kobe, Japan and followed his older, trombone-playing brother’s footsteps by joining the junior high school jazz band. While in Japan, Kuroda played in jazz bands for 12 years, from junior high school through college jazz big band. But he says that he really got into jazz by playing on the local jazz scene with the smaller combos. “The big band was just playing music charts; it didn’t have much improvisation,” Kuroda explains, “I sat in with a lot of the elders on the local scene. They showed me so much love.”

Kuroda eventually came to the U.S. where at the Berklee College of Music he had his first formal jazz studies. “I never had a jazz music teacher in Japan. I took my first music theory, ear training and jazz ensemble classes for the first time in my life in English, which made it even crazier,” he says, “ But that made me want to come to New York.”

With his close association with James, Kuroda is primed to become a major voice on the 21st century modern soul-jazz scene with Rising Son signaling a new dawn.

~ Blue Note