BLUE NOTE RECORDS CELEBRATES 75TH ANNIVERSARY

January 6, 2014 marked the 75th Anniversary of Blue Note Records, the most-respected and longest-running Jazz label in the world, which was founded when a German immigrant and passionate Jazz fan named Alfred Lion produced his first recording session on January 6, 1939 in New York City. Blue Note has gone on to represent The Finest In Jazz, tracing the entire history of the music from Hot Jazz, Boogie Woogie, and Swing, through Bebop, Hard Bop, Post Bop, Soul Jazz, Avant-Garde, and Fusion, and into Jazz’s numerous modern day incarnations under the leadership of Bruce Lundvall, who revived Blue Note in 1984, and the label’s current President Don Was, who took the helm in 2012.

Blue Note will celebrate its 75th Anniversary throughout 2014 with a series of live events beginning with a concert on January 8 as part of NYC Winter Jazzfest at The Town Hall in New York featuring two of the label’s leading artists: Robert Glasper and Jason Moran. The label will also be honored with a GRAMMY Museum exhibition, book releases, and various vinyl, CD, and digital catalog initiatives, as well as new releases from the label’s current artists. Blue Note has also launched a Facebook app that allows fans to put their own face into classic Blue Note cover artwork designs by Reid Miles.

ROBERT GLASPER & JASON MORAN AT THE TOWN HALL

On January 6, 1939, Blue Note founder Alfred Lion brought two Boogie Woogie pianists – Albert Ammons and Meade “Lux” Lewis – into a studio in New York City to produce the very first Blue Note recording session. On January 8, 2014, two of Blue Note’s current pianists – Robert Glasper and Jason Moran – will celebrate the label’s 75 year history by beginning with Ammons and Lewis and presenting their personal Blue Note touchstones as well as their music from their own considerable catalogs. The concert – which is being presented by NYC Winter Jazzfest – will also feature bassist Alan Hampton and drummer Eric Harland, as well as special guests vocalist Bilal and saxophonist and Blue Note artist Ravi Coltrane. Tickets are available at http://smarturl.it/bn75-townhall.

OTHER LIVE EVENTS

January 9 – NYC Winter Jazzfest & Summerstage present the Revive Big Band at (le) poisson rouge celebrating Blue Note Records 75th Anniversary featuring special guests. Click here for more info.

February 20-March 1 – Portland Jazz Festival presents Blue Note @ 75 featuring Brian Blade & The Fellowship Band, Eliane Elias, Dave Frishberg & Bob Dorough, and Bobby Watson & Horizon. Click here for more info.

May 11 – Jason Moran, who also serves as the Artistic Advisor for Jazz at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC will present Blue Note At 75, The Concert. As the culminating event of a celebration of the 75th Anniversary of Blue Note Records, artists from the label's present and past roster perform including Moran, Norah Jones, Wayne Shorter, and surprise special guests. Click here for more info.

**Additional live events will be announced throughout the year.

GRAMMY MUSEUM EXHIBITION

The GRAMMY Museum in Los Angeles will honor Blue Note’s 75 year legacy with an exhibition that is set to open in March. The exhibit will present the label’s iconic artwork and photography, as well as artifacts and music.

BRUCE LUNDVALL’S BIOGRAPHY

Blue Note’s former President and current Chairman Emeritus Bruce Lundvall – who re-launched Blue Note in 1984 and presided over the label’s flourishing for over 25 years – will release his biography Playing By Ear (written with author Dan Ouellette) through ArtistShare this month. Click here for more info.

CATALOG RELEASES

Blue Note will commence an extensive vinyl reissue initiative on March 25 with the release of five classic titles (Art Blakey Free For All, John Coltrane Blue Train, Eric Dolphy Out To Lunch, Wayne Shorter Speak No Evil, and Larry Young Unity). The vinyl releases are set to continue monthly and will also include modern classics from Blue Note’s recent catalog such as Joe Lovano Quartets: Live At The Vanguard, Jason Moran Soundtrack To Human Motion, and Terence Blanchard Flow. For Record Store Day in April, Blue Note will also reissue the label’s first two releases as limited edition 12” vinyl:  Meade “Lux” Lewis “Melancholy”/”Solitude” (BN1) and Albert Ammons “Boogie Woogie Stomp”/”Boogie Woogie Blues” (BN2). Other catalog releases including a 75 track digital bundle spanning Blue Note’s entire history will be announced shortly.

NEW RELEASES

Blue Note continues to maintain an incomparable roster of current talent, and 2014 will see new releases from trumpeters Takuya Kuroda (Rising Son, February 18) and Ambrose Akinmusire (the imagined savior is far easier to paint, March 11), as well as artists beyond Jazz such as Rosanne Cash (The River & The Thread, January 14) and Benmont Tench (You Should Be So Lucky, February 18). Further new releases will soon be announced from Brian Blade & The Fellowship Band, Jason Moran, Joe Lovano/Dave Douglas Soundprints Quintet, José James, and two Blue Note legends: Bobby Hutcherson in a quartet with David Sanborn, Joey DeFrancesco and Billy Hart, and Wayne Shorter whose return to Blue Note Without A Net figured prominently in several Best of 2013 lists.

BLUE NOTE APPS

Blue Note has proved itself to be an innovator not only musically but also technologically, most notably with the 2012 release of our much-heralded Blue Note Spotify App, which created a space within the popular streaming service to explore and discover music spanning the entire history of the label, as well as the Blue Note by Groovebug App which is available for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch users. Now Blue Note has introduced a fun Facebook App that allows fans to insert their own face into classic Blue Note covers. Choose between six cover artwork designs by influential designer Reid Miles and see how you would look on the cover of your own Blue Note record! 

It took the joining of many natural forces to create and define one of the greatest Jazz labels there has ever been: Jazz-loving German immigrants on the run from Nazism (Alfred Lion & Francis Wolff), a New Jersey optometrist moonlighting as a recording engineer (Rudy Van Gelder), a classical music-loving commercial designer (Reid Miles), and slews of the most incredible musicians that have ever walked the earth (too many to name them all here). The elements that each brought to the table—impeccable A&R instincts, elegant and insightful photography, sterling sound quality, strikingly original cover artwork, and consistently transcendent music—were all essential to the label's early success. Together they created a vivid Blue Note identity. The whole could not have existed without each of the parts.

Blue Note’s legendary catalog traces the entire history of the music from Hot Jazz, Boogie Woogie, and Swing, through Bebop, Hard Bop, Post Bop, Soul Jazz, Avant-Garde, Fusion, and on. The label’s stars from the early years form a true Who’s Who: Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, Horace Silver, Art Blakey, Jimmy Smith, Grant Green, Lee Morgan, Freddie Hubbard, Joe Henderson, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, McCoy Tyner, Donald Byrd, Andrew Hill, Ornette Coleman.

After a brief dormancy from 1981-1984 during which producer/historian Michael Cuscuna kept the label’s legacy alive with a series of reissues on EMI, Blue Note returned reinvigorated by the leadership of Bruce Lundvall and has since established itself as the most respected Jazz label in the world. Blue Note is still home to some of the most prominent stars and cutting-edge innovators in Jazz today, and at the same time has broadened its horizons to include quality music in many genres.

Under Lundvall’s stewardship, Blue Note had its share of commercial successes from Bobby McFerrin, Dianne Reeves, Cassandra Wilson, Us3, Medeski Martin & Wood, Norah Jones, Al Green, Anita Baker, Amos Lee, Willie Nelson and Wynton Marsalis. The label also remained a haven for the most creative voices in Jazz including Ambrose Akinmusire, Patricia Barber, Brian Blade, Terence Blanchard, Don Byron, Kurt Elling, Robert Glasper, Stefon Harris, Charlie Hunter, Lionel Loueke, Joe Lovano, Jason Moran, Greg Osby, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, John Scofield, Jacky Terrasson, Chucho Valdes, and many more.

In 2011, veteran record producer and musician Don Was joined Blue Note as Chief Creative Officer and soon became President of the label with Lundvall continuing to provide guidance as Chairman Emeritus. With Was at the helm, Blue Note has renewed its dedication to Lion’s original vision that “any particular style of playing which represents an authentic way of musical feeling is genuine expression.” In the 21st century Lion’s words still ring true and provide a blueprint that includes Robert Glasper Experiment’s visionary melding of Jazz, R&B, and Hip-Hop and Elvis Costello’s funky collaboration with The Roots, as well as bringing the legendary saxophonist Wayne Shorter back to the label where he made his early classic albums, and continuing to sign singular voices in Jazz such as saxophonist Ravi Coltrane and vocalist Gregory Porter. Blue Note Records is one of the flagship labels of the Capitol Music Group.

~ www.bluenote.com

THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND LIVE AT THE BEACON THEATRE 1992: PLAY ALL NIGHT

Epic/Legacy Recordings is releasing Play All Night: Live At The Beacon Theatre 1992, a new two-disc set from the one and only Allman Brothers Band. The collection highlights the Rock & Roll Hall of Famers' first-ever extended run at the venerable New York City venue, an annual residency that has since become a certifiable rock 'n' roll tradition. Play All Night: Live At The Beacon Theatre 1992 arrives on February 18th.  Celebrating their 45th anniversary this year, the band will return to the venue for ten dates beginning March 7.  

Epic/Legacy Recordings will also release on February 18 Live At Great Woods, a feature-length concert DVD filmed at Massachusetts' Great Woods Center for the Performing Arts in September of 1991. Long requested by fans, the upcoming reissue showcases the original long form video version of the concert, previously only available on DVD with band interviews edited into the main feature.

The band's 1989 reunion revivified the Allman Brothers Band, leading to a pair of acclaimed studio albums and a full-fledged return to the road. The addition of percussionist Marc Quinones in 1990 finally brought to life the triple percussion ensemble Duane had envisioned when first uniting the band and by 1992, The Allman Brothers Band were definitely in an unstoppable groove. The Brothers' 1992 spring itinerary saw the band carry on its special relationship with New York City by settling into the landmark Beacon Theatre for an extended 10-night run.

Specifically selected for coming closest in spirit to Bill Graham's long gone Fillmore East, the beloved Upper West Side venue had previously hosted the ABB during their 1989 reunion tour and felt to the band like a place they could call home.

Kicking off on March 10th, the Beacon shows blended recent fan favorites like "Get On With Your Life," "End Of The Line," and "Nobody Knows" with such stone cold classics as "Statesboro Blues," "Blue Sky," "Jessica," "Revival," and of course, "Whipping Post," all played with the distinctive invention and muscularity that defined this particular ABB line-up.

Highlights include an elongated "In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed" – complete with incendiary Betts and Haynes solos, roaring Woody bass and a thunderous percussive break by Jaimoe, Trucks, and Quinones – as well as a stunning "Dreams," Gregg's immediately identifiable voice infusing every lyric with history, nuance, and soulful emotion.

As ever, the setlist features a number of classic blues, spanning obscurities to staples such as "Hoochie Coochie Man," here marked by Haynes' lead vocals and snarling slide work. Furthermore, Play All Night sees the Brothers unplug for a three-song acoustic interlude encompassing bare-boned renditions of Betts' "Seven Turns" and Allman's "Midnight Rider," as well as a buoyant take on the Robert Johnson standard, "Come On In My Kitchen."

"1991-92 was a period of great creativity for that configuration of the Allman Brothers," Haynes says, "and these shows capture a true moment in time for the group. It's cool that the acoustic set is included, because it gives the fans a chance to hear some rare versions of particular songs. All in all, I think Play All Night represents how on fire that band could be on any given night at that point in their history."

Play All Night: Live At The Beacon Theatre 1992 was produced for release by Warren Haynes; originally captured by legendary producer Tom Dowd. The collection will feature liner notes by John Lynskey (editor of the official ABB magazine, Hittin' The Note) as well as never-before-seen photos by longtime band photographer Kirk West.

 

NEW RELEASES - CATERINA VALENTE, JIMMY SAPIENZA & CHRIS PANGIKAS, SHEILA JORDAN

CATERINA VALENTE - LIVE AT THE TALK OF THE TOWN / CATERINA VALENTE LIVE

Two different live albums from Caterina Valente – served up here in a single set! Live At Talk Of The Town is one of Valente's great albums in the US – upbeat, swinging, and with a very groovy feel that has Caterina sounding especially nice on some of the album's medley tracks – done with a feel that's a lot less hokey than you'd hear from other artists! The spoken bits show her German accent, but the rest have a groovier swinging feel – and the backings are surprisingly jazzy throughout, handled by Burt Rhodes, with vibes and bongos from the great Fats Sadi! Titles include an excellent "Bacharach Medley", plus "Parade Medley", "Mother Goosanova", "Falling In Love", "Canto De Ossanha", and "Spanish Medley". Caterina Valente Live is a record that's mostly sung in German, but one that also has a really universal appeal – thanks to backing from a cool jazz combo that includes MPS heavyweights Fats Sadi on vibes and bongos, and Sigi Schwab on guitar! Horst Jankowski directs the music, and other great instrumental elements include organ from Gotz Wendland and guitar and flute from Silvio Francesco – both mixed up in these really playful arrangements from Heinz Kiessling that show Valente's great ability to skirt both jazz and pop. There's some nice medley numbers – including "Musical Hit Parade", and "Italian Hit Parade" – plus versions of "Canto De Ossanha", "Singing My Song", "Falling In Love With Love", and "The Windmills Of Your Mind". ~ Dusty Groove

JIMMY SAPIENZA & CHRIS PANGIKAS - AZURE TE

In 2007, Jimmy won an Emmy Award for his participation in the WQED Multimedia television show “Live From Studio ‘A’.” Sapienza’s rendition of “Just A Gigolo/I Ain’t Got Nobody,” along with outstanding performances by Bo Wagner and other great Pittsburgh artists, won the Emmy in the category of “Arts Program or Special”. Sapienza is an expert showman, songwriter and stylist. A 'saloon singer' with a spontaneous, up and slightly offbeat sense of humor, he is one of the last Italian Saloon Singers steeped in the tradition of those great crooners that preceded him. Jimmy is also the leader of his own band, Jimmy Sapienza’s Five Guys Named Moe ™. The Moes are widely known for their crowd-pleasing performances and world-class sound. “Jimmy is the BEST!” said the late KDKA radio personality John Cigna. “He’s like Louie Prima, Sinatra, Dean-O, Tony Bennett and Louis Armstrong, all rolled into one loveable package!” Radio jocks Tony Mowod, Bob Studebaker, Chilly Billy Cardille, and Jack Bogut in the Morning all speak highly of Jimmy and frequently feature him on their programs.
http://www.thejazznetworkworldwide.com/?xg_source=msg_mes_network

SHEILA JORDAN - PORTAIT OF SHEILA

One of the only two vocal jazz albums that the Blue Note label ever recorded – and a haunting batch of tracks from a young Sheila Jordan! The style here is quite different than that of Jordan's later, more experimental records – and this early session shows her as an extremely talented young vocalist, with a unique approach that adds a sparkling modernist touch to familiar tunes – yet which still keeps things in a relatively more straightforward fashion. There's a great mixing of older and newer visions in the set – not just in Jordan's vocals, but also in the small combo backing by the trio of Barry Galbraith on guitar, Steve Swallow on bass, and Denzil Best on drums. Titles include great versions of "Baltimore Oriole", "Dat Dere", and "Hum Drum Blues" – plus the tunes "I'm A Fool To Want You", "Am I Blue", "Laugh Clown Laugh", and "Who Can I Turn To?". ~ Dusty Groove

THE COMPLETE REMASTERED RECORDING ON BLACK SAINT & SOUL NOTE OF OLIVER LAKE, DAVID MURRAY, ANDREW CYRILLE

OLIVER LAKE - THE COMPLETE REMASTERED RECORDINGS ON BLACK SAINT & SOUL NOTE: HOLDING TOGETHER / PROPHET / CLEVONT FRITZHUBERT / EXPANDABLE LANGUAGE / EDGE-ING / DEDICATED TO DOLPHY / A NEW ORGANIZATION (7-CD)

Some of the greatest work ever recorded by reedman Oliver Lake – all packaged together in one great set! The package shows Lake really maturing both as a player and as a group leader – working with a range of contemporaries to move his sound past the loft jazz modes of the 70s, but still with all the deep spirit of collaboration that always made his contributions to jazz so important. The first few albums are key standouts in the Black Saint catalog, and the later titles are great surprises from some years when folks might have taken Lake for granted, but he was still always able to pull out some new modes of expression. Players on the sessions include Michael Gregory Jackson, Fred Hopkins, Baikida Carroll, Donald Smith, Pheeroan Ak Laff, Russell Gunn, Charles Eubanks, Reggie Workman, and Andrew Cyrille – and the set features 7 full albums, all with original artwork – Holding Together, Orphet, Clevont Fitzhubert, Expandable Language, Edge-ing, Dedicated To Dolphy, and A New Organization. (All albums come in cardboard sleeve replicas of the original album covers!) ~ Dusty Groove

DAVID MURRAY - THE COMPLETE REMASTERED RECORDINGS ON BLACK SAINT & SOUL NOTE: SWEET LOVELY / MORNING SONG / I WANT TO TALK ABOUT YOU / THE HILL / A SANCTUARY WITHIN / BODY AND SOUL / WINWARD PASSAGES (7-CD)

Amazing small group work from saxophonist David Murray – and a body of material that really shows the reedman coming into his own! The Black Saint/Soul Note label was one of the first to really show faith in Murray – and allow him to step from the underground into the limelight of global jazz – working with key players who helped him really find his voice, and show the world that he was a saxophonist who could be freely creative one minute, then damn soulful the next! All albums in the set are classics from this amazing run in Murray's career – and some might argue that they represent a high point in his talents as well – wonderfully expressive sessions that feature players that include Fred Hopkins, Richard Davis, Ray Drummond, or Reggie Workman on bass; Dave Burrell, Sonelius Smith, or John Hicks on piano; Sunny Murray, Joe Chambers, Ed Blackwell, or Steve McCall on drums. The set features 7 full albums, all with original artwork – Sweet Lovely, Morning Song, I Want To Talk About You, The Hill, A Sanctuary Within, Body & Soul, and Windward Passages. (All albums come in cardboard sleeve replicas of the original album covers!) ~ Dusty Groove

ANDREW CYRILLE - THE COMPLETE REMASTERED RECORDINGS ON BLACK SAINT & SOUL NOTE: METAMUSICIANS' STOMP / NUBA / SOMETHING IN RETURN / SPECIAL PEOPLE / THE NAVIGATOR / X MAN / GOOD TO GO, WITH A TRIBUTE TO BU (7-CD)

Some of our favorite work on the legendary Black Saint/Soul Note label – a wonderful set of recordings that really allowed percussionist Andrew Cyrille a chance to express himself freely! Cyrille had been making music on record for almost two decades before he reached this stretch in his careery – but with these albums he really gets a chance to present his music at the height of its expression – in a range of settings and groupings that really get at the wide range of Andrew's skills on drums and percussion. Highlights include a very spiritual session with the Manolo group – David S Ware on tenor and Ted Daniel on trumpet; a set of duets with altoist Jimmy Lyons, a partner of Cyrille in the Cecil Taylor group; a trio date with Jeanne Lee on vocals and Lyons on alto; a trio tribute to Art Blakey; and another recording with Daniel and pianist Sonelius Smith. Every record's a gem, and the set presents them each with original artwork – in a box that includes the albums Metamusicians' Stomp, Nuba, Something In Return, Special People, The Navigator, X Man, and Good To Go. (All albums come in cardboard sleeve replicas of the original album covers!) ~ Dusty Groove

NEW RELEASES - KOUDEDE, DAVE REMPIS /JOSHUA ABRAMS / AVREEAYL RA, THE REMPIS / DAISY DUO

KOUDEDE - GUITARS FROOM AGADEZ VOL. 7

A sweet EP of guitar-laden grooves from Koudede – a Mali musician we've really grown to love from this excellent series! The record's got the strongest punch of any work we've heard from Koudede so far – a growing sense of pride that not only informs the bold rhythms at the bottom, but also the sharpness of his own lead guitar lines and vocals – so powerful and anthemic you can almost get the politics in his music, even if you don't understand the language. Titles include "Adounia", "Taghlamt", "Ewellan", and "Tamidit". ~ Dusty Groove 

DAVE REMPIS / JOSHUA ABRAMS / AVREEAYL RA - APHELION

A trio of tracks by a tremendous trio – the wonderfully spiritual combo of Dave Rempis on saxes, Avreeayl Ra on percussion, and Josh Abrams on bass, small harp, and guimbri! Abrams' presence is really felt here – and his growth towards even more soulful styles in recent years seems to bring Ra's music into great focus, and give Rempis a sensitivity that goes even beyond some of his best recent material in other settings. The music is always focused with a cosmic sort of energy – often relatively free, but never too loose – and driven by a shared spirit between the players that really holds the whole thing together. Titles include "Ruah", "Soria", and "Saqiya". ~ Dusty Groove.

DAVE REMPIS / TIM DAISY (THE REMPIS / DAISY DUO) - SECOND SPRING

An amazing showcase for the reed talents of musician Dave Rempis – working here on alto, tenor, and baritone sax – alongside some powerful drum work from Tim Daisy! The duets are great – unbridled, but still with a sense of structure that really shows Rempis' careful execution of his talents – a way of laying out these long, expressive lines on the different instruments – often with a sense of spirit that takes us back to Dolphy at his most out, the best ESP power trios, and some of the high points of the New York loft jazz scene. Titles include "Numbers Lost", "Three Flags", "For R Barry", "Impasto", and "Gerosten & Gesalten". ~ Dusty Groove

CHERYL BARNES - LISTEN TO THIS

"Listen To This," the debut CD from eclectically-trained Jazz vocalist Cheryl Barnes, is set for release on February 19, 2014, via Barnes & Cabasso Music.  Highlighting 12 tracks steeped in Jazz and Blues, 'Listen To This" was produced by music industry veteran Rahn Coleman, recorded at Mystic Knight Recording Studios in Los Angeles and features a stellar list of sideman including Brandon Fields on sax, John Hammond on piano, and Ricky Minor on bass with orchestration by John Beasley.

Known principally as a Jazz singer, Cheryl's versatility encompasses many musical genres.  Singing in four different languages, Cheryl has performed around the world (including shows with Wynton Marsalis, J.J. Johnson, Quincy Jones, and a guest member spot with the Clara Ward Gospel Singers, and she has recorded with the likes of Skip Scarborough, Azar Lawrence. Billy Mitchell, and Cathy Segal-Garcia.  Her 16 years of Operatic training have brought her to the stage as a featured soloist with the Denver Symphony Orchestra in Wisconsin, and she has toured extensively in South America, nurturing her love for Samba, Bossa-Nova, Salsa and the riches of Latins and Afro-Cuban music.

A sought-after vocal clinician conducting numerous workshops  and clinics across the U.S., Barnes is also a founding member of the Jazz Vocal Coalition and retains an esteemed musical presence in Los Angeles, having been heard on stages ranging from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art's prestigious Friday Jazz Series to the Hollywood Bowl to the House of Blues.

Barnes' varied background makes itself apparent in the choice of songs which she has selected to sing on "Listen To This." From Mark Winkler and Marilyn Harris' lovely portrayal of a veteran Jazz singer with an extraordinary life in "Afternoon In Harlem" to the spirited, party-like jazz vibe of the title track "Listen To This" (written by Barnes' husband-arranger, musician, and physician Phillip Cabasso), to Barnes' own powerful interpretation of Joni Mitchell's 'Come In From The Cold."

Barnes' album is amply reflective of her deep-rooted musical training as well as her love of infusing different musical styles within her chosen material.  But what sets this project apart is Cheryl's incredible voice, which imbues each word she sings with a beauty and clarity all its' own, taking the listener along on an extraordinary journey as th story of each song unfolds.

"After years of touring and working with a multitide of artists, I've decided now is the time to focus my energies on my own CD," said Barnes, "It's been a long time in the making and I'm very proud of both the music and the breadth of the songs and musicians on this album." 

www.cherylbarnes.com

NEW RELEASES - CHUCK BERRY-ONE DOZEN BERRYS, MIGHTY MIGHTY-SEE THE LIGHT, DARIO CARNOVALE-PORTRAITS

CHUCK BERRY - ONE DOZEN BERRYS

One dozen "berrys", all of them great – the fresh fruits of the labors of a young Chuck Berry – heard here at his raw, early best! The sound here is stunning – a version of Chuck that gets way past any oldies cliches – and which reminds us that at the start, his music was coming from the same Chess Records fount as Bo Diddley's riffing guitar and Muddy Waters' Chicago blues! The tunes all work together perfectly – and the familiar numbers fit in perfectly with overlooked gems that really make the album great – especially when Chuck's guitar is really given a chance to step out and solo. Titles include "La Juanda", "Sweet Little Sixteen", "It Don't Take But A Few Minutes", "Rock & Roll Music", and "Low Feeling". CD features an insane 14 bonus tracks – including "21", "Vacation Time", "Beautiful Delilah", "21 Blues", and lots of alternate and different takes of other tunes too! ~ Dusty Groove.

MIGHTY MIGHTY - SEE THE LIGHT

A great debut from an ultra-jazzy combo from the Finnish scene – one with the same sort of fire and crackle as the best groups on the Ricky Tick label! The tracks have a blend of 60s hardbop with some later soulful elements – and leader Kari Setala's got a mighty great touch on both piano and keyboards – the former used in these strongly modal ways at points, the latter with even more deft touches on some of the record's more 70s funk-styled selections! Other instrumentation features trumpet, tenor, bass, drums, and percussion – and almost all tracks are originals with a mighty fresh sound. Titles include "Backyard Boogie", "Dark Sun", "Seventh Sign", "Time's Up", "See The Light", and "Simba". ~ Dusty Groove.

DARIO CARNOVALE - PORTRAITS

Wonderfully cascading piano work from Dario Carnovale – a player who's working here in a grand piano, which gives the record a really rich sound that's perfect for Dario's command of the keys! Most of the record is solo, although two tracks feature a drummer – but Carnovale creates a sound that's often as full as a trio performance, given his deft handling of melody, and inherently rhythmic style – even at mellower moments. Titles include "Seven Steps", "Giant Steps", "Miriam & Sara", "Aforisma #2", and "La Flamme De Scriabin".~ Dusty Groove

 

NATALIE CRESSMAN - TURN THE SEA

Raised in an eclectic musical household, Natalie Cressman has only continued to diversify and expand her musical universe. Still in her early 20s, the trombonist, composer, and vocalist has assimilated the full range of her sonic influences into a startlingly mature, strikingly original voice that melds the sophistication of modern jazz with captivating storytelling and intoxicating melodies reminiscent of indie rock's most distinctive songwriters. 

Cressman has spent much of the last three years touring the jam band circuit with Phish's Trey Anastasio, while also performing with jazz luminaries Nicholas Payton, Wycliffe Gordon, and Peter Apfelbaum. Those varied experiences are reflected on her gorgeous second release, Turn the Sea. Anastasio calls the album "a beacon of light in an increasingly cold and mechanized era of music. Natalie is standing on the precipice of an incredible life in music, and if this album is any indication of where she's headed, then I'll be listening every step of the way." 

Inspired in part by those bandleaders' boundary-blurring approaches, Turn the Sea reveals a sound that's utterly uncategorizable but instantly accessible, one that belies but is also a product of Cressman's youth. "I want to make music that my own generation can respond to," Cressman says. "I would really love for anyone to listen to my music and find something to relate to. I don't want to shut people out by being overly sophisticated and esoteric, even though everything I write is jazz-based and more dynamic and spontaneous than a lot of the music that is wildly popular."

The disc features a stellar eight-piece band, largely culled from Cressman's Bay Area peers: trumpeter Ivan Rosenberg, flutist and clarinetist Steven Lugerner, saxophonist James Casey, keyboardist Samora Pinderhughes, guitarist Gabe Schneider, bassist Jonathan Stein, and drummer Michael Mitchell join the bandleader, who sings and plays trombone. The two talents, she says, are intimately related. "I think the fact that I sing influences and affects the way I play the trombone and vice versa. The voice in my head that I write with and play with and sing with is the same, but the medium is different."

Cressman was raised in San Francisco by parents who guaranteed she would be constantly surrounded by music. Her mother, Sandy Cressman, is a jazz vocalist who immersed herself deeply into the traditions of Brazilian music; her father, Jeff Cressman, is a recording engineer, trombonist, and longtime member of Santana. Natalie quite naturally began studying trombone with her father, but set out to be a dancer rather than a musician. She was an aspiring ballet dancer until her junior year of high school, when an injury set her on a different path.

Once she set her sights on a career in music, her parents provided not only role models but active assistance, helping to provide her with some of her earliest opportunities. "Seeing how inspired and passionate my parents were about what they were doing lit a fire in me once I decided to go for music," Cressman recalls.

Her parents provided entrée to a number of enviable opportunities, but Cressman's own prodigious gifts continued to merit her presence in any number of high-profile settings. She soon found herself playing salsa with Uruguayan percussionist Edgardo Cambon e Orquesta Candela, Latin Jazz with Pete Escovedo's Latin Jazz Orchestra, world music with Jai Uttal and the Pagan Love Orchestra, and globally-inspired avant-garde jazz with multi-instrumentalist Peter Apfelbaum, a family friend who became a key mentor. Cressman continues to work with Apfelbaum in his ensembles, The New York Hieroglyphics and Sparkler.

Cressman switched coasts in 2009 to study at the Manhattan School of Music, and the following year was enlisted by jam band pioneer Trey Anastasio for his touring band. "I first met Natalie when she was 18, and I was instantly floored by how melodically and naturally she played and sang," Anastasio says. "Natalie is the rarest of musicians. Born into a musical family and raised in a home filled with the sounds of Brazilian music, jazz and Afro-Cuban rhythms, she is seeping with innate musicality. Musicality is in her DNA."

Following her jazz-oriented debut, Unfolding, with the more song-based Turn the Sea was at least partially a result of her tenure with Anastasio, Cressman says. "Trey always wants to include the audience, but he doesn't dumb down his music to do it. I find myself between two worlds with the music that I'm writing; it's not bread and butter jazz but it's not wholly anything else either."

It would be equally difficult to pinpoint Cressman's music, and at the same time equally hard to resist its allure. The album's title track marries her silken voice and lyrical trombone with a surging rhythm evocative of waves crashing and receding; "Fortune's Fool" is a melancholy love song propelled by a somber, Middle Eastern-inflected pulse; "New Moon" sets enigmatic lyrics to a soulful, flute and Rhodes-driven groove which segues into a soaring chorus that draws on West African rhythms.

Lyrically, Cressman hopes to connect with listeners by dealing with universal subjects, while offering her own unique twist. "It's interesting how many different ways you can write about love," she says. "I like to put on different characters when I compose, because I feel like my own life is often too ordinary to write only autobiographical songs. Sometimes I use snippets of other people's stories to create a new character and write from their perspective."

The album also features songs by two of Cressman's inspirations, reconfigured for her ensemble and voice. Norwegian singer-songwriter Hanne Hukkelberg provides "Do Not As I Do," while "Blindsided" is a song by indie favorite Bon Iver. The latter maintains the ethereal mood conjured by the original. "He gets a lot of mileage out of not too much," Cressman says of Bon Iver singer-songwriter Justin Vernon. "I'm trying to discover how little I can write and still have it mean as much as possible."

The album ends with a remix of opening track "Turn the Sea," courtesy of the band's bassist in his electronica-producer guise of JNTHN STEIN. The track hints at yet more future directions for the adventurous Cressman, while making literal the song's message of risk-taking. "It's a good bookend," she says, "coming back to where you began but in a totally different place."

Upcoming Natalie Cressman Tour Dates:

March 20 / Church of Boston / Boston, MA

March 21 / Nectar's / Burlington, VT

March 30 / Joe's Pub  / New York, NY

Natalie Cressman·  Turn The Sea / Cressman Music ·  Release Date: March 11, 2014

NatalieCressman.com

HELEN SUNG - ANTHEM FOR A NEW DAY

Pianist/composer Helen Sung has an announcement to make. In fact, declaration might be a more appropriate word. The artist’s musical statement can be heard at the center, literally and figuratively, of her Concord Jazz debut and her sixth album overall. Anthem for a New Day, a ten-song set that positions her at the forefront of a talented and diverse sextet, is set for release January 28, 2014, on Concord Jazz.

“I have been working on and ‘trying on’ different approaches in jazz music,” says Sung, who made the leap from classical to jazz piano in college and began performing in and around Boston and New York before releasing her first album in 2003. “With my previous albums, I was searching, experimenting – not that that ever ends. But this is the first project where I feel the most comfortable with who I am as an artist, where I am as an artist, what I’m doing as an artist. It brings the different pieces of my experience together in a way that’s organic and authentic. That kind of clarity is very exciting.”

Exciting enough for Sung to fly her colors with a sense of conviction that hadn’t existed previously. “When I hear the word ‘anthem,’ I think of flags or banners,” she says. “This album is my way of planting my flag in the ground. The journey continues, but at this point, I feel a confidence unlike before.”

Some of that confidence evident on Anthem for a New Day comes not just from Sung’s own diverse experience but from the talented crew backing her on this project: saxophonist Seamus Blake, trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, bassist Reuben Rogers, drummer Obed Calvaire, and percussionist Samuel Torres (saxophonist John Ellis also lends his bass clarinet on a tune). In addition, guest artists Regina Carter (violin) and Paquito D’Rivera (clarinet) make outstanding appearances.

Sung also shook things up a bit with her own instrumentation. “Along with the piano, I played Rhodes as well, which I haven’t done on my previous albums,” she says. “Classical and jazz are the two primary genres I’ve been immersed in since I started playing music as a child. Early on, I played classical concertos and sonatas with their diverse and grand textures; then when I started jazz, in my quest to really swing, I found myself primarily just playing single lines in my right hand while playing chords with my left. Now I feel like it’s all starting to come together – in my playing, my improvisation, my writing, and with my arranging. All of this makes for an album that’s much bigger in terms of the sonic space it occupies.”

She stakes out that territory early on with “Brother Thelonious,” an effervescent opening track with an interesting origin. Sung originally wrote it as the commissioned “theme song” for a Belgian ale of the same name, crafted by the small North Coast Brewing Company located in Fort Bragg, California. “The owners are jazz fanatics, and I got to meet one of them through a connection with the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance [Sung is a graduate of the program’s inaugural class when it was housed at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston]. I had recorded an earlier version of the song for them, but then I revamped it a bit and recorded a stronger version this time, and it became the lead-off track for the album. North Coast is a fabulous outfit. They do so much good – not just for jazz but for a variety of causes.”

The lively “Armando’s Rhumba,” a Chick Corea composition, gets plenty of Latin mileage with a minimum of instrumentation. It’s just piano and clarinet – courtesy of Sung and D’Rivera – along with some very organic percussion techniques. “I was excited to contribute some non-piano musical material on this album!” says Sung. “After first laying down the instrumental tracks (clarinet, piano, and cajon), Samuel, Obed, and I then overdubbed the handclaps and foot stomps. It was so fun to work on this piece!”

“Hidden,” a composition by Sung, derives much of its melancholy sensibility from Regina Carter’s stirring violin as well as Ingrid Jensen’s cascading trumpet lines – two voices that establish themselves early in the track. Further in, Sung’s solo work on Rhodes adds a shimmering layer to the entire piece.

Sung indulges her occasionally ironic sense of arrangement in a rendition of “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing)” that includes occasional nods to her classical roots. While the title – and the original intent – of the Duke Ellington classic may have been all about swing, “my arrangement has hardly any swing sections in it,” says Sung. “It was intended to be tongue-in-cheek in that sense. Whether playing live or recording, I’ve always tried to present something familiar in unexpected ways.”

The title track gets under way with a quiet interlude, then segues into a rousing interplay between Rhodes, saxophone, trumpet, and the rhythm section of bassist Reuben Rogers and drummer Obed Calvaire. The result is everything an anthem is supposed to be – energized, unabashed and daring. And in this case, it’s one artist’s declaration of creative identity.

Anthem for a New Day includes a unique reading of Monk’s “Epistrophy” that resulted from a tug-of-war between planning and spontaneity. “I’ve been working on ‘Epistrophy’ for a while and it actually started out as a totally different arrangement,” says Sung. “What a luxury to have musicians who can hang with my tendency to tinker, and that’s kind of what happened in the studio with ‘Epistrophy.’ More than once, we would try something, after which I’d say, ‘No, that’s not it.’ And the band would say, ‘Are you sure?’ Finally we did this take, and I said, ‘That’s it!’ It was awesome to see everyone really ‘get’ the arrangement.”

A solo piano rendition of “Equipoise” closes the album on a note that’s reflective and full of promise. “In some respects,” says Sung, “this album is my way of saying, ‘This is me, take it or leave it,’ instead of something more tentative like, ‘Okay, let me work on it a little more.’ Not that I don’t want to keep growing and developing, but I’m happy to be in a place where I’m more confident about the kind of artist I am becoming. I can’t believe how rare that feeling has been in my experience. That this coincides with the opportunity to release the album on Concord Records is a great blessing, and I’m excited to share it with the world: this is a new chapter, a new day, and I invite you to join me in the celebration of this album and music!”

PIANIST/COMPOSER ARUAN ORTIZ LIVE AT THE 2014 NYC WINTER JAZZFEST

Jazz pianist/composer Aruán Ortiz, "the latest Cuban wunderkind to arrive in the United States" (John Murph, BETJazz.com), hit the ground running when he arrived on the American jazz scene in 2003. A classically trained violist and pianist, this Santiago de Cuba native's sound is as marked by the influence of the contemporary classical composers such as Schoenberg, Ravel, and Copland, as it is by traditional Afro-Cuban sounds and jazz masters such as Bud Powell, Monk, Andrew Hill and Muhal Richard Abrams. A major testament to his massive talent, since setting foot in the States, Ortiz was quickly called upon to perform and record with artists such as Terri Lyne Carrington, Greg Osby, Cindy Blackman, Esperanza Spalding, Gary Thomas, Wayne Krantz, Rashied Ali, Stefon Harris, Horacio "el negro" Hernández, Giovanni Hidalgo, Lionel Loueke, Jane Bunnett, Jerry Bergonzi and others.  

Ortiz is currently featured on his own albums, "Orbiting" ("On Orbiting, the erudite Ortiz has smashed every preconception of Latin pianists and his penchant for innovative expression succeeds in surpassing the output of his musical contemporaries." - All About Jazz.com), and "Santiarican Blues Suite" on Sunnyside Records ("Ortiz's pen shines in a new light, the music lyrical, dramatic, creating suspense." 4 1/2 stars - DownBeat Magazine), plus, Steve Turre's newest recording, "Woody's Delight", the new Wallace Roney album, "Home" (both on HighNote, 2012), "Textures and Pulsations" with fellow pianist Bob Gluck, and The Aruan Ortiz/Michael Janisch Quintet, "Banned In London", featuring Greg Osby.  The NYJAZZ Quartet releases its newest album, "Blue Divide" (Zoho Music, 2014), on January 14th, featuring Aruan Ortiz, Rob Derke, Carlo de Rosa & Eric McPherson.

www.Aruan-Ortiz.com

 

8TH INTERNATIONAL JAZZ FESTIVAL OF PORT-AU-PRINCE HAITI FEATURES INTERNATIONAL ROSTER INCLUDING CLAUDE CARRE, JAMES GERMAIN, LUCK MERVIL, MISHY WIDMAIER & OTHERS

Each year since 2007, the capital city of Port-au-Prince hosts the International Jazz Festival to a growing and diverse public. Located in the Greater Antilles, Haiti benefits from a mild January Caribbean climate during this one-week spectacular event.

The Port-au-Prince International Jazz Festival offers an unprecedented cultural assembly in Haiti each year to a local and international audience as a non-profit event in partnership with the Ministry of Culture & Communication, the Ministry of Tourism, ten embassies, and major private and public institutions throughout the country.

Musicians from around the world participate in this common celebration of jazz in Port-au-Prince. These musicians come from the United States, France, Brazil, Mexico, Chili, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Canada, the Dominican Republic, and of course, from Haiti and its Diaspora.

Past editions of the Festival have feature Henri Texier and Mino Cinelu from France, Annie Poulin and Brandy Disterheft of Canada, Nono Garcia of Spain, the Sacbe Group of Mexico, and Aaron Goldberg from the US. Despite some challenges the tourism industry faces in Haiti, the Festival's organizers host their musical guests in conditions comparable to many other international jazz festivals.

Every country brings its own touch, flavor, and identity to the Port-au-Prince International Jazz Festival, giving the event a universal dimension that only jazz can offer its fans. Haiti also brings its own color: kreyòl jazz, a rising movement in the international jazz scene. Pauline Jean, Beethova Obas, Meddy Gerveille de la Réunion, Reginald Policard, Turgot Theodat, Buyu Ambroise and Mushy Widmaier have been the ambassadors of kreyòl jazz during past editions.

For eight days, Port-au-Prince swings with jazz rhythms. The Festival participants pour into historic public spaces of the capital, such as the historic Sugar Cane Park with its gardens and vestiges from the colonial era, the gardens of the prestigious Karibe Hotel, and the FOKAL Cultural Center located in the heart of Port-au-Prince. For the after hours jam sessions, festival-goers fill the most attractive restaurants of Pétion-Ville, the nightlife neighborhood of the capital.

To achieve its mission to promote music and especially jazz around the country, the Fondation Haiti Jazz - the Festival's primary organizers - offers free music training workshops to young, local musicians in collaboration with the participating international music professionals.

Haiti is open for business and ready to receive jazz fans from around the world under the tropical sun.

Claude Carre

Claude Carré was born in Port-au-Prince. Being a traditional jazz guitarist, a researcher and a music teacher, Professor Carré is a passionate advocate of Jazz in Haiti. A few years ago, he created the "Haiti Jazz Club" where he inducts and teaches young musicians to jazz techniques. Co-founder of the Natif Jazz Trio in 1998, he's also written "Les Musiques d'Haïti", an essay on music. Finally, Claude Carré regularly lends his talent to foreign musicians invited to Haiti.

James Germain

During years, James German offered ¬a universe in the confluence of his afro-Caribbean roots. Born in Port-au-Prince, he grew on the hill of Saint-Antoine, a working-class district of the capital. James sings with a melancholic voice, airs of traditional voodoo songs blended with touches of opera or even gospel, by reinventing codes. Haiti, its songs and voodoo, are at the center of its work... His inspiration takes from classical to afro music, thus a unique world at the crossroad of several worlds. After a third album " Kréol Mandingue ", produced in Mali, James prepares a new album which shows its deep roots of Haitian culture and its force always renewed to impose its voice in the world.

Luck Mervil

In Quebec, the Caribbean, Europe; on stage, in song, on the big screen...writer, composer, actor and host Luck Mervil is undeniably one of the French-speaking world's most recognizable artists.Born in Haiti, Mervil started singing at the age of four. He grew up in New York and in Quebec, where he founded RudeLuck, a rap-reggae fusion group that earned many nominations, awards, radio hits, successful tours, and invitations to Francophone festivals in Canada and Europe. The album Pour le meilleur et pour le pire has sold more than 250,000 copies. Mervil recently launched TI PEYI A, a strikingly authentic and disturbingly sensitive new album blending various Creole styles in order to portray life, love and daily struggles in his birthplace.

Reginald Policard

Réginald Policard is a Haitian pianist who started playing when he was 12. His experience includes various styles such as Kompa, Jazz, Latin Jazz, Fusion, etc... He is a founding member and director of the famous band Caribbean Sextet with which he took part to the New Orleans Jazz Festival. Réginald Policard has also recorded fourteen solo albums. On August the 15th 2013, Boarding Pass, taken from his album Detour was among the Top 10 of Spotlight on Jazz.

Willerm Delisfort

"When words are not enough ... it is his music that speaks. "The pianist and composer Willerm Delisfort is a messenger of life, using music as a tool. His style extends from Jazz to Gospel or R & B. His versatility has allowed him to become a musician very in demand by Jazz, Rap, Soul or Fusion artists, among which Fareed Haque, Calvin Newborne, Corey Wilkes, Ernest Dawkins, T-Pain and many others.

X-Key

This group from Cap Haitian sounds like a typical "Root & Jazz-Fusion" band. All the emotion of Haitian Folk Rhythms is brought to life thanks to the combination of Haitian traditional drums and rhythms with a touch of Jazz, Funk and Rock. In 2012, X-Key took part in the 6th edition of the Port-au-Prince International Jazz Festival. Their much awaited first album is programmed to be released in 2014.

Mushy Widmaier

Mushy Widmaier is a "modern jazz" piano player, but one with a certain undertone of both Haitian folklore and European art music - but all of it as ingredients of a digested and unified whole sounding unmistakably as Him. Mushy is capable of fitting in with groups of almost any stylistic observance, and takes a most active and creative part in the proceedings. He seems to master a vast repertory, whether jazz standards, Haitian folk songs, popular dance music or originals.

Josue Alexis

Josué Alexis is a young pianist, born in Port-au-Prince. He begins practicing the piano at a very young age, exploring the classic repertoire under the supervision of teachers such as Joseph Pierre, Loubert V. Leopold and Serge Villedrouin. In 2003, he obtains a distinction prize in the national competition of piano and music theory. Self-taught in jazz music, he followed with interest the workshops of the previous editions of the Festival International de Jazz de Port-au-Prince. Currently he collaborates actively with singer and guitarist Hans Peters, and drummer John Bern Thomas. He will perform accompanied by Hermand Duverne (bass), Gessoit Pierre-Louis (Saxophone) and John Bern Thomas. Alexis is one of the great hopes of the new generation of Haitians jazz pianists.

Nadege Bellande

Born in California, Nadège Bellande Robertson began playing the piano and violin as a child, but found her true talent as a vocalist. In 1994, she moved to Haiti, and established herself quickly. In 2002, she created the band N'Didgenous with Gregory Vorbe. Nadège has also collaborated with Jean Pierre Grasset, Joel and Mushy Widmaier, Strings, and performed with Boukman Eksperyans, RAM, Belo, Fabrice Rouzier, The Fugees, The Marleys, and the Lynn University Philharmonic

CHARLIE PEACOCK - LEMONADE

LEMONADE - pianist, composer, record producer and Grammy Award Winner Charlie Peacock’s collection of twelve solo piano improvisations is an unexpected, yet winsome next musical step after his much-admired 2012 Folk-Americana release, No Man’s Land. Paste Magazine’s Holly Gleason proclaimed No Man’s Land “a cocktail of Dust Bowl feels, Cajun beats and shuffles, raw banjos and fiddles, steel guitars that pool, and spacious arrangements. This is music of red dirt and high humidity, different worlds that share the same sort of soul.”

It’s no stretch that the producer behind the music described above, and that of Folk/Americana darlings The Civil Wars and Holly Williams, would share the same sort of soul found in solo piano improvisation. For Peacock, it’s all one soulful musical world. The producer/pianist did in fact produce three of Entertainment Weekly’s Ten Best Country Albums of 2013. However, he’s also the same musician that has recorded and performed with such top tier jazz improvisers as Ravi Coltrane, James Genus, Bela Fleck, Marc Ribot, Jeff Coffin, Joey Baron and Kurt Rosenwinkel. Perhaps all of this is why Electronic Musician wrote: “Charlie Peacock's life is like a game of musical chairs: he is constantly changing seats and trading places.”

“I was raised by a California-born, improvising trumpet playing father whose grandfather was a Louisiana fiddler. Maybe that explains a little of my ability to move fluidly between several varieties of American music, whether it’s rooted in Hank Williams or Miles Davis.”

LEMONADE is Peacock’s third recording in the jazz (beyond jazz) genre. His first, Love Press Ex-Curio (2005) was followed by Arc of the Circle (2008), a duet recording with saxophonist Jeff Coffin. Each recording reached Top 5 on the CMJ Jazz Chart and both provide plenty of clues to Peacock’s unique piano approach, now fully revealed on LEMONADE.

“There’s no hiding that I’ve been affected by Keith Jarrett’s seminal solo piano improvisations, Facing You from 1972. I’m proud to be of the generation of musicians that grew up on that amazing record. Andrew Hill’s Point of Departure was also essential listening. I spent a day with Andrew in the late 70s and that was life changing. Even with the obvious influences, I’ve tried to do something a little different with the left hand by outlining chords in 5ths and 6ths and avoiding the jazz pedagogy voicings we all learned back in the day. Because I usually produce much simpler, less harmonically dense music, it’s helped me be content with harmony that floats seamlessly between simplicity and complexity, and maybe sounds a little less like a particular time in history. That’s what I hope for.”

Charlie Peacock’s production of The Civil Wars’ Barton Hollow garnered two Grammy Awards in 2011 and was Gold certified. The eponymously titled The Civil Wars (2013) debuted at #1 on the Billboard Pop Chart, has sold over 300,000 copies and is Grammy nominated. Peacock’s production of Holly Williams and The Lone Bellow were also singled out in 2013 as commercially and critically significant. With this sort of commercial momentum why choose to make an improvisational record now'

“I’ve never been one to put too much stock in commercial peaks. Thankfully I’ve had several, but I’ve always been after a lasting career – one that never peaks – just gets better. Artists I admire, like Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, and Herbie Hancock have that kind of career story – basically a life of making music rooted in America, and that’s a music I know and love.”

As The Nashville Scene put it, Charlie is a “Producer - renaissance man” and proudly makes Nashville his home. Or does he' One journalist, after hearing a Charlie Peacock piano solo from a previous recording doubted this in print: “Are we sure Charlie lives in Nashville'” Not only does he live in Nashville, he remains as Keyboard magazine says, “one of the most respected musicians in Nashville.”

“There’s a reason Nashville is called Music City. It’s about the music first here, and improvisation, whether it’s jazz, bluegrass, or rock related, is absolutely central to the music created in our city – a city full of world-class improvisers. My solo piano record and playing is hardly an anomaly. It’s simply my version of what friends Jerry Douglas, Vince Gill, and Andy Leftwich do in their own sphere of influence. I had my pivotal experience with Keith Jarrett when I was seventeen. I’m hoping my record will spark imaginations and remind people that this is what musicians do – the music is inside us, and when we improvise, we are composing on the spot, real-time. I’m just doing my small part to tell that story, keep it alive. And if people dig what I do, I hope they will check out some serious mastery in pianists like Vijay Ayer, Uri Caine, and Brad Mehldau.”

Short Bio: Charlie Peacock is a Grammy Award-winning, multi-format performer, composer, and record producer. Peacock's current production credits include AAA and Americana successes such as The Lone Bellow, Holly Williams, Ben Rector, Brett Dennen and "Misery Chain" for Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell featuring Joy Williams, from the soundtrack to the film, 12 Years A Slave.

Charlie Peacock - LEMONADE 
Twenty Ten Music - Release: January 7th, 2014