Tuesday, January 26, 2016

BEN HARPER & THE INNOCENT CRIMINALS REUNITE ON NEW STAX RELEASE CALL IT WHAT IT IS

Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals have reunited for Call It What It Is, their first record together in nine years, due out April 8th, 2016 on Stax Records. Call It What It Is is an incisive, bold, poetic statement that could only come from these long-time musical partners, one of popular music’s most essential, cohesive and dynamic ensembles.

The standout title track showcases Harper’s unmatched ability to blend the personal and political. Invoking the names of Trayvon Martin, Ezell Ford, and Michael Brown over an agitated blues riff, Harper cuts to the quick: “There's good cops / bad cops / white cops / black cops / call it what it is / Murder”. The genre-spanning collection contains many highlights including the sun-kissed groove of “Shine” and the album’s swaggering lead track “When Sex Was Dirty.”

It had been seven years since Ben Harper last played a show with the Innocent Criminals, so when the time came to reunite for a live tour in 2015, the band—percussionist Leon Mobley, bassist Juan Nelson, drummer Oliver Charles, keyboardist Jason Yates, and guitarist Michael Ward—quickly discovered that Harper had more in mind than simply revisiting the group's prodigious song catalog. In fact, Harper had been quietly amassing material for a new record and the first recording sessions were scheduled to begin even before the rehearsals for their triumphant four-night sold-out reunion run at the Fillmore in San Francisco last March.

Tracing their roots back to 1993, Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals were at the heart of most of Harper’s projects until the band went on hiatus in 2008. The band toured internationally and released a string of groundbreaking albums, including Fight for Your Mind, The Will to Live, Burn to Shine and the GRAMMY-nominated Lifeline in 2007. The Innocent Criminals also backed Harper and The Blind Boys of Alabama on the double-GRAMMY-winning There Will Be a Light in 2005.

“I thought we would be more energized and revitalized by thinking outside the box and starting with new material in the studio before we dug into the old stuff,” said Harper of the reunion album.  "It was meant to be a signpost that we're here to forge new ground musically and personally.”

Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals North American tour dates:
 4/2/16 - The Capitol Theatre - Port Chester, NY
 4/3/16 - 9:30 Club - Washington, DC
 4/4/16 - 9:30 Club - Washington, DC
 4/6/16 - College Street Music Hall - New Haven, CT
 4/7/16 - Beacon Theatre - New York, NY
 4/9/16 - House of Blues Boston - Boston, MA
 4/10/16 - The Fillmore - Philadelphia, PA
 4/12/16 – Métropolis - Montreal, Canada
 4/13/16 - Massey Hall - Toronto, Canada
 4/15/16 - Royal Oak Music Theatre - Royal Oak, MI
 4/16/16 - Riviera Theatre - Chicago, IL
 4/17/16 - House Of Blues - Cleveland, OH
 4/19/16 - Tivoli Theatre - Chattanooga, TN
 4/20/16 - Tennessee Theatre - Knoxville, TN
 4/22/16 - Ryman Auditorium - Nashville, TN
 4/23/16 - The Orange Peel - Asheville, NC
 6/23/16 - Marymoor Park - Seattle, WA
 6/24/16 - McMenamins Edgefield  - Troutdale, OR
 6/25/16 - Les Schwab Amphitheatre – Bend, OR
 6/30/16 - Revolution Concert House- Boise, ID
 8/16/16 - Mountain Winery - Saratoga CA
 8/17/16 - Fox Theater - Oakland, CA
 8/23/16 - Humphrey's by The Sea - San Diego, CA
 8/25/16 - Marquee Theatre - Phoenix, AZ

Additional US dates and a European Tour to be announced shortly.
  
Call It What It Is track list:

1. When Sex Was Dirty
2. Deeper And Deeper
3. Call It What It Is
4. How Dark Is Gone
5. Shine
6. All That Has Grown
7. Pink Balloon
8. Finding Our Way
9.  Bones
10. Dance Like Fire
11. Goodbye To You

 

Monday, January 25, 2016

NEW RELEASES: STAN GETZ - MOMENTS IN TIME; LANDON VIEIRA - DREAM; BOOKER T & PRISCILLA JONES - CHRONICLES

STAN GETZ - MOMENTS IN TIME

Moments in Time features newly discovered music by the Stan Getz Quartet featuring pianist Joanne Brackeen, bassist Clint Houston, and drummer Billy Hart, recorded live in 1976 at the famed San Francisco jazz club Keystone Korner. Captured during a week of performances with the legendary bossa nova innovator João Gilberto, these instrumental recordings document the only time this uniquely adventurous configuration of the Stan Getz Quartet recorded together. This deluxe CD includes a 28-pg booklet with essays by jazz journalist Ted Panken, Steve Getz, band members Joanne Brackeen and Billy Hart, producers Zev Feldman & Todd Barkan, as well as statements from contemporary saxophonists Joshua Redman and Branford Marsalis. Also featured are rare, previously unpublished photos from the archives of acclaimed music photographer Tom Copi. Gracing the cover is the distinctive artwork of Japanese artist/designer Takao Fujioka.


LANDON VIEIRA - DREAM

Saxophonist Landen Vieira makes his debut with his much-anticipated album Dream. Featuring a line-up of established and rising all-star musicians, the album shifts from bright swing to lyrical ballad and leads up to an impressive conclusion. In six original pieces, lush harmonies and intricate melodies meet a myriad of styles ranging from blues to Latin jazz. While providing innovative compositions such as the first track, “Light Piece,” the album always keeps the jazz tradition in context and focuses on strong, memorable melodies. Includes: Light Piece, Do It, Vista, Dove, Two Blocks East, and Dream.


BOOKER T & PRISCILLA JONES - CHRONICLES

Booker T's definitely into a great new groove here – one that really extrapolates his Memphis roots through the haze of early 70s California – coming up with some wonderful sounds along the way! There's a definite A&M vibe to the record – that mix of rootsy modes and hipster polish that A&M was really pioneering alongside the Warner camp – and most of the instrumentation here is pretty stripped-down and laid back – sometimes played all by Booker in overdubs, sometimes with added studio help. Organ lines figure strongly, but not always – and vocals are mostly duets between Booker and Priscilla – on titles that include "Rings Around The World", "When Two People Are In Love", "The Crippled Crow", "Time", "Wild Fox", "Fly", and "Mendocino".  ~ Dusty Groove




New York jazz saxophonist Aaron Irwin releases A Room Forever

Jazz saxophonist and composer Aaron Irwin's striking new album A Room Forever, features twelve original works of music, each of which is a reflection of one of the twelve published short stories by critically acclaimed West Virginian author Breece D'J Pancake.  Three noted New York-based musicians join Irwin on this powerful release: trombonist Matthew McDonald, bassist Thomson Kneeland, and guitarist Pete McCann.  "I have been working on this project with these guys for well over a year and have been so pleased with how the music has evolved over that time. These three musicians have such strong musical voices and were able to shape the music in a way that is both highly musical and uniquely personal. I couldn't ask for more."

Irwin talks about the inspiration behind the music. "Through a friend's recommendation, I picked up Breece Pancake's collection of short stories and was immediately drawn to his bleak, unflinching expression of lives' stubbornly hewn to their past.'  The struggles of these characters and the hollows of Pancake's native West Virginia reminded me of the receding farm communities I grew up with in central Illinois. As aptly put by Joyce Carol Oates in her 1983 review, I felt compelled to set these ideas to music as 'to make the past present.'"

Irwin's highly stylized music creates sonic landscapes that can best be described as a mixture of American folk music, avant-garde jazz and pastoral elements of classical music. The album begins eerily with the title track, A Room Forever, which has a haunting intensity that grows throughout, putting the listener on the edge of their seat. "The story in A Room Forever is a nightmarish scene that takes place on New Year's Eve, and I wanted to give the music a kind of disturbed Auld Lang Syne feel to it," Irwin notes. Each of the following pieces takes the listener on a different journey sometimes soaring, as Matt McDonald's elegant trombone playing does in The Way It Has to Be, and sometimes sweetly reflecting, as does Irwin's homey clarinet playing on Trilobites.

The chamber music-like instrumentation quickly draws the listener into each fragile and nuanced musical world, full of space and detail as in The First Day of Winter, which features the remarkable bass work by Thomson Kneeland. Guitarist Pete McCann has much to say on the dark and jarring Time and Again.  The album ends with the wonderful piece, The Mark, which leaves the listener seemingly suspended in air wanting more and grateful for the pleasure of the journey.

Breece Dexter John Pancake (1952-1979) was an American short story author and native of West Virginia whose hardscrabble landscapes and characters informed and influenced his writing. He has to his name only one posthumously published book of short stories after a life cut short at the age of 26. Pancake's stories lay out a world located in the hills of his home - "the pockets of neglected farm and mining country where people lose their livelihoods, their friends and lovers, their land and their birthrights, but remain stubbornly hewn in place," Critical praise for his work has been nearly universal with parallels drawn between his work and that of Flannery O'Connor, Sherwood Anderson, John Steinbeck, James Joyce, and Ernest Hemingway.

Critically acclaimed saxophonist, multiple woodwind player, and composer, Aaron Irwin has been a mainstay in the New York music scene for over 10 years.  Known as a "lyrical alto saxophonist and a compelling original composer" (Steve Futterman, New Yorker), Irwin is sought after in both the jazz and commercial worlds.  In addition to leading his own groups, Irwin has performed with many leading jazz voices in the New York jazz community including the Grammy-nominated group Darcy James Argue's Secret Society, Bob Sabin's Tentet, as well as pop performers Kristen Chenoweth, Rufus Wainwright, Josh Groban, and Idina Menzel.

A Room Forever is Irwin's fifth album as a leader.


Getz/Gilberto '76 is a rare follow-up to two of the best-selling bossa nova records of all time from Stan Getz and João Gilberto

Just over 50 years after the release of João Gilberto's and Stan Getz's classic Grammy®-winning album Getz/Gilberto (1964), and its sequel Getz/Gilberto #2 (1966, both on Verve Records), Resonance Records proudly announces Getz/Gilberto '76, set for release on February 19, 2016. Getz/Gilberto '76 is an instant classic collection of never-before-released recordings captured May 11-16, 1976 at the legendary San Francisco jazz club Keystone Korner, showcasing the legendary Brazilian singer, guitarist and composer João Gilberto, accompanied by the saxophone icon Stan Getz and his rhythm section of pianist Joanne Brackeen, bassist Clint Houston and drummer Billy Hart. 

These recordings were made during João Gilberto's and Stan Getz's weeklong engagement at the Keystone, which took place nearly 12 years after the release of their initial award-winning album. The first Getz/Gilberto album sold over one million copies and almost single-handedly launched the bossa nova craze in America and around the world. It's been said that the hit single off that album, "The Girl From Ipanema," is the second most recorded song of all time, behind only "Yesterday" by the Beatles. The 1976 Keystone engagement represents one of the very few times this famed duo reunited after their initial creative collaboration in 1962, and according to the club's founder and owner Todd Barkan, this engagement was João Gilberto's first public performance after a four year hiatus.

Getz/Gilberto '76 is available as a deluxe CD and limited-edition 12'', 33-1/3 rpm LP mastered by legendary engineer Bernie Grundman and pressed on 180-gram vinyl at Record Technology Incorporated (R.T.I.) in a limited edition of 2,000 copies. Also available digitally for pre-sale on iTunes with 3 "instant gratification" tracks upon purchase: "É Preciso Perdoar," "Chega de Saudade" and "Morena Boca de Ouro."

The famed jazz club Keystone Korner, located in San Francisco's North Beach neighborhood, opened its doors in 1972 and operated until 1983. The Keystone hosted an impressive roster of jazz greats, among them Miles Davis, Bill Evans, Art Blakey, McCoy Tyner, Bobby Hutcherson, Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard, Herbie Hancock, Rahsaan Roland Kirk and many, many others. Barkan captured on tape live performances by the greats who appeared at the Keystone, collecting a virtual goldmine of archival treasures. In 2011, producer Zev Feldman and the founder/president of Resonance Records, George Klabin, collaborated with Barkan to release a few of those gems on the Resonance label. To date, these include Freddie Hubbard's Pinnacle (2011) and the Jaki Byard/Tommy Flanagan two-piano collaboration The Magic of 2 (2013). After several years of patient relationship building, Barkan shared one of his most prized recordings with Resonance tapes documenting a week of performances by the Stan Getz Quartet with special guest João Gilberto from May of 1976. 

These tapes are truly the "crown jewels" of Barkan's archives, and represent one of the few times in their careers that Getz and Gilberto collaborated. Recognizing the significance of this special engagement, Feldman and Klabin made it their mission to share these recordings with music lovers in two special, deluxe releases.

Feldman on Getz's legacy: "We really wanted to give Stan Getz the royal treatment with these deluxe releases, and we're honored to be able to add a new chapter to his timeless musical history. He's simply one of the greatest saxophonists who ever lived and deserves to be heard by new audiences with each generation so that his legacy continues to grow and grow. Even John Coltrane was a fan and said 'We'd all sound like that if we could!'" And on working with co-producer Todd Barkan on these releases, Feldman adds humorously, "It took a few years of George [Klabin] and I staring over at the corner of Todd's archives and salivating over those Getz tapes when we would come by, and he'd just say something like 'Oh, we can talk about those later.' We're so thankful our persistence paid off in the end, and grateful not only for the amazing tapes Todd has shared with us, but the great relationship we've built over the years."

Resonance worked tirelessly over a number of years tracking down all the appropriate parties to ensure that both Getz/Gilberto '76 and Moments in Time were fully endorsed and cleared by both João Gilberto and the Stan Getz Estate, and the living musicians involved. Both albums will be released on the same day, with Keystone's Barkan as co-producer on each.

Resonance's historical releases typically include elaborate books featuring newly commissioned essays, personal accounts of those involved in the creation of the music and the recordings, and rare archival photos that provide listeners with a detailed historical context of everything that went into making that music. These extensive books have become a defining characteristic of each Resonance historical release, and 2014's John Coltrane: Offering Live at Temple University even garnered the label a Grammy award for Best Album Notes (by Ashley Kahn). Likewise, Getz/Gilberto '76 includes a 32-page book featuring essays by producers Feldman and Barkan, Stan Getz's son Steve Getz, author and jazz authority James Gavin, as well as interviews with Brackeen, Hart and bossa nova legend Carlos Lyra. Included in the package are rare, previously unpublished photographs by San Francisco's heralded music photographer, Tom Copi. The deluxe gatefold LP features striking photos from Tom Copi, and a beautiful painting ("Equilibrium Verde") by the late celebrated Puerto Rican abstract expressionist artist Olga Albizu graces the cover. Her paintings also appeared on the album covers for the original Getz/Gilberto and Getz/Gilberto #2 releases and Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd's first Brazilian-music collaboration, Jazz Samba (1962).

Bossa nova (Portuguese for "new trend") became enormously popular in the in the United Sates beginning in the early 1960s thanks largely to Stan Getz's 1962 releases, Jazz Samba (co-led with Charlie Byrd) and Big Band Bossa Nova (Verve). Jazz Samba, one of the first important bossa nova releases in the United States, included arrangements by guitarist Charlie Byrd, who had recently traveled to Brazil and been exposed to bossa nova, and featured compositions by noted Brazilian composers. Bossa nova, then a novelty for Americans, combines many American jazz elements with traditional samba structures yielding a light, syncopated groove that, while reminiscent of classic samba, is lighter and more intimate. This new sound immediately captivated American audiences and caught the attention of jazz and pop fans alike. It was also quickly adopted by many top jazz and popular musicians, including Frank Sinatra, Dizzy Gillespie, Quincy Jones and even Elvis Presley. By August 1, 1964, Stan Getz's single "The Girl From Ipanema" (by the preeminent Brazilian composer Antônio Carlos Jobim), drawn from Jazz Samba, hit the Billboard's top ten list alongside the Beatles, Dean Martin, Roger Miller and the Supremes. Stan Getz's smooth tenor saxophone sound became synonymous with bossa nova in the United States. In Billy Hart's interview with Feldman, he notes, "Stan was considered by many as the number one tenor saxophone player in the world at that time."

A decade earlier, in the 1950s, João Gilberto was refining the bossa nova sound in his home country of Brazil. His guitar playing de-emphasized the percussive quality of samba, while creating a lightness to the syncopated rhythms that defined the new sound. In the album book, author James Gavin writes of Gilberto's unearthly calm: "João had already become a mythic figure. A nondescript man in a dark suit, he looked like he could have been a banker. Instead, this eccentric genius, reclusive and painfully shy, had changed the course of Brazilian music . . . His vibratoless, nasal-toned, sotto voce croon floated with seeming detachment above his guitar. The push-and-pull between the two was a marvel of rhythmic and melodic tension and release." Gilberto recorded several of Jobim's songs and launched the bossa nova movement in 1958 in Brazil with the recording of "Chega de Saudade," showcasing his groundbreaking guitar style on a record by Elizeth Cardosa. This song became a celebrated single. Billy Hart describes João Gilberto as the "Frank Sinatra of Brazil."

Stan Getz and João Gilberto joined forces in 1963 to record Getz/Gilberto. Their artistry, talent and broad appeal with the public that each of them enjoyed combined to create a national sensation in the United States. In his essay for the Getz/Gilberto '76 package, James Gavin paints a portrait of João Gilberto in performance: "Gilberto sat on a stool, head hunched over his guitar, drama-free except for his spacey, enigmatic presence. His music was wistful but cool; Gilberto was a man of secrets. That seeming detachment lent irony to the tortured songs he loved. In 'É Preciso Perdoar' (One Must Forgive) written in the mid-'60s . . . popularized by Gilberto Gilberto sings in his humming head voice: 'Dawn has already broken/You're going to abandon me/I feel you don't deserve forgiveness/I wanted the illusion, now I am the pain.'"

Getz/Gilberto '76 begins with Stan Getz introducing João Gilberto as "the most individual singer of our time a true originator" and muses over how "a performer, so gifted, one of the true greats in music should be so hesitant about public appearance, is just one of those mysteries. But he's here this week." The album begins with "É Preciso Perdoar'" followed by the popular Jobim compositions "Águas de Março" (Waters of March) and "Retrato em Branco e Preto." The 13-song album includes such bossa nova favorites as "Chega de Saudade," "Doralice" and "Eu Vim da Bahia." With these songs, Gilberto and Getz seduce the audience with their incomparable artistry. The passage of time has only served to underscore the magnitude of what they achieved, first in the '60s and then here, ten years later at the Keystone in their rare joint appearance. Steve Getz nicely summarizes this album: "This recording is a jewel; it's a demonstration of the natural musical chemistry between João and my father. And it's particularly fine that they were able to make this recording with Joanne Brackeen, Clint Houston and Billy Hart, my father's stellar sidemen of the day, in a restrained but relaxed backing of the Brazilian master." Resonance Records is pleased to unearth this notable historic recording of Stan Getz/Joao Gilberto '76 and to share this with the public.

Track Listing
1. Spoken Intro by Stan Getz (1:07)
2. É Preciso Perdoar (5:50)
3. Aguas de Março (5:46)
4. Retrato Em Branco E Preto (4:47)
5. Samba da Minha Terra (3:20)
6. Chega de Saudade (3:42)
7. Rosa Morena (4:25)
8. Eu Vim Da Bahia (4:11)
9. João Marcelo (3:20)
10. Doralice (3:47)
11. Morena Boca de Ouro (3:34)
12. Um Abraço No Bonfá (4:38)
13. É Preciso Perdoar (Encore) (6:29)

 

Friday, January 22, 2016

JAVIER COLON HARNESSES THE FORCE OF "GRAVITY" ON NEW ALBUM

Acclaimed singer-songwriter-guitarist and The Voice winner to make April 15, 2016 Concord debut with eagerly-awaited new album.

Blessed with a stunningly soulful voice, an uncanny songwriting talent, a charismatic personality and a commanding stage presence, Javier Colon has already won the attention of an international fan base that's embraced his personally-charged, acoustic-textured blend of pop, rock and R&B.

Having been introduced to millions of TV viewers as the winner on the inaugural season of NBC's The Voice, the singer-songwriter-guitarist is set to take his recording career to the next level with the April 15, 2016 release of Gravity, his fourth album and his first for Concord Records.

"I got together with some good songwriters and musicians, and we just let it flow," states Colon.  "I wanted to make an album where I could be free to be myself, with no walls or boundaries.  I wanted the freedom to be myself musically, which is really all I've ever wanted, and I was surrounded by people who encouraged me to do that."

Indeed, the 15-song album, on which Colon wrote or co-wrote all but three songs, marks a creative milestone for the artist.  Such musically compelling, emotionally resonant tunes as "For A Reason," "Clear the Air," "Walking Blind" and the memorable title track demonstrate the breadth of his talents, matching his distinctly expressive voice with irresistible melodies, insightful lyrics and Colon's own distinctive acoustic guitar work, which sets the tone for the album's spacious instrumental arrangements.

Recorded in Brooklyn, Nashville, Los Angeles and Utah as well as the artist's home state of Connecticut, Gravity marks a turning point in an eventful musical journey that's taken Javier Colon to a lot of interesting places.  Having emerged as a musical prodigy early in life, his gifts took him to the University of Hartford's Hartt School of Music, where he founded an a cappella R&B quintet that performed at Harlem's legendary Apollo Theater.  Soon after graduating from Hartt with a degree in Music Education, he became lead singer of the neo-funk group EmCQ.

When EmCQ opened for funk-jazz luminaries Soulive, Javier's talents drew the attention of Soulive guitarist Eric Krasno, whose recommendation led to Javier becoming lead singer of the Derek Trucks Band.  Colon spent two years touring with Trucks' group, winning acclaim for his fluency with the band's eclectic rock/soul/blues/jazz brew.  Striking out on his own and signing a solo deal with Capitol Records, Javier released two well-regarded albums in a mainstream urban-R&B mode, before making the audacious move of casting off that commercial direction in favor of making more personal music on his own terms.

After releasing the acoustic EP The Truth on his own label Javier's career took an unexpected but propitious turn in 2011, when he became the winner on The Voice's first season, receiving a recording contract with Universal Republic Records.  The new deal yielded the well-received album Come Through for You as well as the holiday-themed EP A Very Acoustic Christmas.  But disagreements with his new label about creative direction caused the artist to once again make the decision to seek out a label situation better suited to his musical goals.

"I'm grateful to The Voice for allowing me to be myself in front of tens of millions of people," Javier notes.  "It was the greatest thing that could have happened to me, and the experience gave me the confidence to fight to be my real self musically.  I was happy with the album that I made for Universal, for the most part, but it was kind of an arranged marriage and it didn't work out.  But that's OK, I'm a firm believer in everything happening for a reason.  Now I'm in situation with Concord where I can make the music that I've always wanted to make."

In recent months, Javier Colon has achieved some significant international successes, including a run of shows in Japan with renowned jazz saxophonist Dave Koz, and a series of concerts in Mexico and South America with Maroon 5 (whose frontman Adam Levine was Javier's coach on The Voice).

"Those were two of the most amazing experiences of my life," says Colon.  "On the Maroon 5 shows, I was just the opener, but the audiences were so affectionate and appreciative that there were times on stage that I was moved to tears.  I sang a song or two in Spanish and the reaction was so incredible that I'm planning on recording some songs in Spanish for my fan base in Latin America."

With Gravity set to for release, Javier Colon is looking forward to getting back on the road and reacquainting himself with his loyal and growing fan base.

"I get emails and messages from fans, saying that my music has moved them or touched them, or helped them when they were in a dark place," he says.  "That's something that I take very seriously.  Knowing that other people are listening on that level makes me feel like I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing.

"Music is powerful," Colon continues.  "It can make you cry, it can make you laugh, it can make you dance, and it can make you feel like you're not alone.  It can allow you to confront your life, or it can make you forget about life for awhile.  It's important to me as an artist to try and move people emotionally.  My songs have always come from the heart, and from a place of wanting to move people or make people feel something inside.


"I'm glad to be in a position now where I can put music out there that reflects who I am as an artist and a person," he concludes.  "As an artist, you live and die by the songs that you sing, and if you sing a song that you're not fully invested in, or a song that you don't really feel, then you're not doing your job as an artist.  With Gravity, I got to make an album that I really love from start to finish, and I'm willing to fight for that and live with the consequences." 


NEW RELEASES: REGINA BELLE - THE DAY LIFE BEGAN; ICEPICK – AMARANTH; TORTOISE - CATASTROPHIST

REGINA BELLE - THE DAY LIFE BEGAN

The Day Life Began is an inspirational R&B album which displays Regina Belle’s broad range of talents at their very best.  Produced by the Grammy nominated production team, The Heavyweights (whose equally broad range of talents stretch all the way from Tupac to Martina McBride), this album of 10 brilliant originals is a representation of the artist’s deepest feelings and strongest beliefs!  Highlights include the dramatic gospel/R&B single “He’s Alright,” the inspirational ballad “You Saw The Good In Me,” the moving parent to child message song “Be Careful Out There” and much more.

ICEPICK – AMARANTH

A pretty heady performance from the trio of trumpeter Nate Wooley, drummer Chris Corsano, and bassist Ingebrigt Haker Flaten – all of whom seem to set a special sort of fire between each other on the set! Wooley is especially strong – bolder than we remember, with these powerful lines that seem to illustrate his growing power in the global avant jazz scene – underscored by always-impressive work from Ingebrigt on bass, who can ruminate with deep sounds at some moments, but make elusively, almost electronic tones at others! Corsano has this elliptical way of guiding the performance – almost sometimes the most structured member of the trio, but still with a very unconventional approach – and titles include "Fuschia", "Rosso Corsa", and "Rare Rufescent". (Includes download!) ~ Dusty Groove


TORTOISE - CATASTROPHIST

The first album in years from Tortoise – again stretching out creatively in fascinating ways, some subtle and others obvious – and all of it compelling! The Catastrophist is partly inspired by work Tortoise was commissioned to produce by the City Of Chicago, material that could be used in collaboration with the city's great jazz and improvistional musical community. For The Castastrophist record, these musical building blocks were pulled back into Tortoise-ville, where the band could do their diverse and distinctive thing. Compelling drums and percussion, creative guitar and bass grooves, and divergent keyboard textures make up the connective tissue – but it's a pretty diverse sound overall! Two of the more fascinating stylistic departures have vocals – a bass-y, synth-steeped cover of the early 70s David Essex hit "Rock On", and the moody, melodic "Yonder Blue" with Georgia Hubley of Yo La Tengo. Other titles include"The Catastrophist', "Ox Duke","Gopher Island", "Shake Hands With Danger", "The Clearing Fills", "Gesceap", "Tesseract", "Hot Coffee" and "At Odds With Logic". ~Dusty Groove


Thursday, January 21, 2016

SANTANA IV Reunites the Legendary Band With Carlos, Gregg Rolie, Neal Schon, Michael Carabello, and Michael Shrieve! and Features 16 All-New Tracks

April 15, 2016 marks the release date of Santana IV, the wildly anticipated studio album that reunites the revered early ‘70s lineup of guitar icon Carlos Santana (guitar, vocals), Gregg Rolie (keyboards, lead vocals), Neal Schon (guitar, vocals), Michael Carabello (percussion) and Michael Shrieve (drums). The album signifies the first time in 45 years – since 1971’s multi-platinum classic Santana III – that the quintet has recorded together.

Santana IV features 16 all-new tracks written and produced by the band that burst with the same unparalleled energy and superlative musicianship that made Santana a pioneering force in world music and a household name across the globe. Joining the core Santana IV band in the studio are current Santana members Karl Perazzo (percussion) and Benny Rietveld (bass), with guest appearance from the legendary vocalist Ronald Isley on two cuts.

Few bands can pick up a musical dialog after 45 years apart, but on Santana IV each band member reaches a new level of virtuosity and communal intuition on a collection of songs that easily stands side-by-side with the group’s treasured early work.

The origins for the reunion go back several years, when Schon suggested that he and Carlos Santana record together. Santana liked the idea but went one better, proposing that they recruit Rolie, Shrieve and Carabello for what would be called Santana IV. After initial writing sessions and rehearsals took place in 2013, the group recorded throughout 2014 and 2015, amassing 16 spellbinding tracks that combined all their signature elements – Afro-Latin rhythms, soaring vocals, electrifying blues-psychedelic guitar solos, and irrepressibly jubilant percussion work – with widescreen hooks and melodies that will lodge themselves in the thicket of listeners’ senses and stay there.

“It was magical,” Santana says. “We didn’t have to try to force the vibe – it was immense. From there, we then needed to come up with a balance of songs and jams that people would immediately identify as Santana.”

The band’s signature sound arrives forcefully on the album opener “Yambu,” a righteously gritty and soulful stomper teeming with swirling B3 organ hooks and walloping guitar crunch.

The first single, “Anywhere You Want to Go,” is destined to storm the pantheon of Santana classics. Written by Gregg Rolie, it’s a sexy, body-shaking winner and an unmistakable tip of the hat to the inescapable cha-cha/Latin jazz charms of “Oye Como Va.”

Special guest, Ronald Isley’s, vocals highlight the feverishly impassioned Latin-rock workout “Love Makes the World Go Round” and the hard-edged and funky “Freedom in Your Mind.”

Guitar fans expecting fireworks from Santana and Schon will cherish Santana IV from front to back. “All Aboard” is a no-holds-barred guitar jam of the highest order, as is the slinky, soulful metal cruncher “Caminando,” which explodes with tectonic axe force. And on the unabashedly British blues-tinged “Shake It,” the two go toe to toe on not one but two extended solo runs that will have lovers of unhinged fretboard work rejoicing.

“Carlos and I feel more connected than ever,” says Schon. “We get super-aggressive when we play, but also melodic and poetic. We have an incredible dialog with each other on our guitars.”

Santana’s recurring themes of love and tolerance are common threads throughout Santana IV, most dramatically on the epic tone poem album closer “Forgiveness,” a languid and breathtakingly gorgeous atmospheric groover.

Music fans familiar with the “roaring lion” artwork on Santana’s 1969 debut album will instantly greet Heather Griffin’s graphic for Santana IV as a gloriously realized update of that iconic image. “I really think the music goes along with the cover, and vice versa,” says Santana. “It all fits together beautifully.”

Few bands can pick up a musical dialog after 45 years apart, but on Santana IV each band member reaches a new level of virtuosity and communal intuition on a collection of songs that easily stands side-by-side with the group’s treasured early work.

“When you can go back and break new ground with joy and determination – and  some whoop-ass energy – it gets you going,” says Santana. “I think we achieved something very rare. This music was screaming to come out of us. It wasn’t about nostalgia. It was about passion.”

Tracklisting:
1.Yambu
2. Shake It
3. Anywhere You Want To Go
4. Fillmore East
5. Love Makes The World Go Round (Feat. Ronald Isley)
6. Freedom In Your Mind (Feat. Ronald Isley)
7. Choo Choo
8. All Aboard
9. Sueños
10. Caminando
11. Blues Magic
12. Echizo
13. Leave Me Alone
14. You And I
15. Come As You Are
16. Forgiveness


NEW RELEASES: ALEX PUDDU – IN THE EYE OF THE CAT FEATURING EDDA DELL'ORSO; ADRIAN YOUNGE & VENICE DAWN - SOMETHING ABOUT APRIL; DISCO LOVE 4: MORE MORE MORE DISCO AND SOUL UNCOVERED

ALEX PUDDU – IN THE EYE OF THE CAT FEATURING EDDA DELL'ORSO

The world of Alex Puddu just keeps on getting bigger and bigger – and so do the wonderfully funky sounds on his records! Puddu's always been a real up-and-comer in the global funk underground – an artist who gets just the right 70s vibe in his instrumentation, arrangements, and production – not in a small group funk style, but in the best modes of the soundtrack and sound library scenes – especially the groovier artists working overseas at the time! And while his other music has always been great, this record really blows us away – with a mixture of complicated tones and catchy grooves that surpasses anything we've heard from Alex before – not just an attempt to be retro, but a move that goes beyond into territory that's all Puddu's own – even when famous Morricone collaborator Edda Dell'Orso brings her marvelous vocals into play on some of the album's tracks. Genius material throughout – with titles that include "Immersioni", "Il Sogno La Luna", "Terra E Fuoco", "Una Donna Allo Specchio", "Mood Psychedelico", and "The Bull".  ~ Dusty Groove

ADRIAN YOUNGE & VENICE DAWN - SOMETHING ABOUT APRIL

A record that hardly needs to be called a "part 2" – because this sweet little set knocks it out of the park even more than the first project issued under this title – all as a mighty tribute to the evolving studio genius of Adrian Younge! Like the first record, this one works as some sort of faux 70s soul album – but of the funky, deep-grooved sort – more badass soundtrack, with some heavy blacksploitation elements in the music – which Younge crafts from strings, beats, and a range of other great instrumentation that includes Hammond, electric piano, vibes, and even a bit of sitar! Yet the grooves here are also more expansive – surprisingly tuneful at times, especially on some of the numbers which feature surprising guest work from Laetitia Sadier of Stereolab – whose vocals appear on the album alongside some of the more soul-styled leads from Loren Oden. The whole thing's great – as heavy and funky as anything Adrian Younge's ever done, but better too – and titles include "Winter Is Here", "Sea Motet", "Sittin By The Radio", "Memories Of War", "Hands Of God", "Ready To Love", and "Magic Music".  ~ Dusty Groove

DISCO LOVE 4: MORE MORE MORE DISCO AND SOUL UNCOVERED

There's plenty to love here, and the groove is way more than just the disco promised in the title – and instead this sublime array of funky soul, modern soul, and lots other soul styles too! The tunes are definitely upbeat, but they're not slavishly tied to disco – and instead really represent the great array of groove-centric work that was bubbling in the American underground in the late 70s and early 80s – as soul singers worked with a variety of different rhythms to come up with the kind of cuts that still sound plenty fresh all these many years later! Legendary collector/DJ Al Kent put the package together – and also contributed a few re-edits to a few tracks, to help extend their best elements. Titles include "I Found Love" by Lee Edwards, "Call Me" by Symbol 8, "If It Feels This Good" by Barbara Jean English, "Things Got To Get Better" by Genobia Jeter, "I'd Rather Leave On My Feet" by Emanuel Lansky, "Prophesy" by Betty Everett, "A Slong For You" by Fresh Fruit, and "Looking Over My Shoulder" by Marva Hicks – and the set also features Al Kent re-edits of "Equal Love Opportunity" by Clear, "Love Is Gone" by Mary Mundy, "I Wanna Give You Everything" by Hazel Rambaransingh, "Running Away From Love" by Skip Mahoaney & The Casuals, and "Keep On Loving You" by Perfect Touch.  ~ Dusty Groove


DELUXE 2-CD SET OF THAD JONES / MEL LEWIS ORCHESTRA - ALL MY YESTERDAYS, THE DEBUT 1966 RECORDINGS AT THE VILLAGE VANGUARD

Resonance Records has announced the release of Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra - All My Yesterdays: The Debut 1966 Recordings at the Village Vanguard. This first official release of these recordings capturing the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra in their Opening Night performance at the legendary Village Vanguard in NYC on February 7, 1966, a performance that launched a tradition of successive Monday night appearances by the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra that lasted twelve years and which continues today through the dedication of the band's musical heir, the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra. This combined fifty-year residency at the Village Vanguard will be celebrated by the release of this album. The album includes recordings from March 21, 1966, as well as those from opening night. These recordings will be released as a deluxe 2-CD set on February 19, 2016, within two weeks of the 50th Anniversary. This is the first official release of this material endorsed by the estates of Thad Jones, Mel Lewis and the Village Vanguard, since some of the recordings were unofficially exploited via a limited bootleg in 2000. This Resonance Records release includes the best takes from the February 7th and March 21st performances, many of which were not on the 2000 bootleg.

Resonance Records, a multi-GRAMMY® Award winning label (most recently for John Coltraneʼs Offering: Live at Temple University for "Best Album Notes") prides itself in creating beautifully designed packaging to accompany previously unreleased recordings of music by jazz icons. Such is the case for All My Yesterdays. This release includes over 100 minutes of music, with a 92 page book, and is presented in a 6-panel, eco-friendly digi-pak. This package is one inch taller than a standard CD to present the 2 discs and book (extensive books have become a trademark of Resonance Recordsʼs historic releases: Wes Montgomery In the Beginning includes a 55 page book; the upcoming 2016 Larry Young release In Paris: The ORTF Recordings includes a 68 page book).

The All My Yesterdays book will serve as new reference material for Thad Jones/Mel Lewis fans providing rare, previously unpublished photos, historic essays, interviews and memoirs. Contributors include executive producer George Klabin who recorded the original tapes, producer Zev Feldman, associate producer Chris Smith (author of The View from the Back of the Band: The Life and Music of Mel Lewis), longtime Vanguard Jazz Orchestra arranger and pianist Jim McNeely, and trombonist/educator and current member of the Vanguard Orchestra John Mosca. All of the living musicians who played on these recordings contributed to the notes, recounting their personal experiences of the Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Orchestra. Included are accounts from saxophonists Jerry Dodgion, Eddie Daniels and Marv "Doc" Holladay, trumpeter Jimmy Owens, trombonists Garnett Brown and Tom Macintosh, along with bassist Richard Davis. The pages display rare photos by Chuck Stewart, Raymond Ross, Ray Avery and Jan Persson.

During the same year that Miles Davis and John Coltrane debuted at the Village Vanguard with their newly constituted small ensembles, in early 1966 Thad Jones and Mel Lewis made an important statement by creating a modern big band. Thad and Mel recruited a dream lineup of talented musicians including the late pianist Hank Jones, saxophonists Pepper Adams, Jerome Richardson, Joe Farrell and trombonist Bob Brookmeyer. During a time of social distress in the mid - 1960s, the ensemble also made a social statement due to its diverse mix of races, ages and religions.

On a cold February evening in 1966, jazz fans lined up around the block waiting for the doors to open at the famed Greenwich Village club; a new big band formed by Thad Jones and Mel Lewis was about to perform. Max Gordon, founder of the Village Vanguard, invited the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra to play that evening and for subsequent Monday nights. Inside the club was Resonance founder George Klabin, a 19 year-old self-taught sound engineer who had already established a reputation recording jazz music around New York City. Using a small cocktail table by the edge of the stage near the drums, he set up his 50-pound two track Crown tape machine and portable Ampex four-channel mixing board. He apportioned his six microphones among the various sections of the band (for the March 21, 1966 recording he used 10 microphones). Ahead of his time, Klabin captured astounding sound quality - he recorded directly to two-track, while mixing the sound live, adjusting the mic volume for each of the soloists on-the-fly. For this release, he transferred and re-mastered the audio using the original two-track tapes as the source.
  
While a student at Columbia University, Klabin was head of the jazz department at WKCR-FM, the college radio station. His colleague Alan Grant, a jazz radio announcer, asked him if he would record this new big band during their fist gig at the Vanguard. Little did Klabin know that this group would become the renowned Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra who would perform every Monday night at the Village Vanguard for nearly 50 years under only three names: the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra, the Mel Lewis Orchestra and the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra. As agreed, Klabinʼs recordings became a demo tape for the band, which secured them a record deal with Sonny Lesterʼs Solid State Records, in exchange for Klabin's being given free reign to play the recordings on his radio show on WKCR-FM.

In his essay, Klabin recalls the magical feel of that evening in the packed, small club. He writes, "There is a palpable crackling energy in the room! This is the first time they have played this innovative stuff in public. Thad is the cheerleader, conducting, waving, shouting, clapping. You can hear it throughout the recordings. Itʼs really special!"

One can hear this crackling energy in the room from the start. During the opening tune "Back Bone," a Thad Jones composition, players and audience members are clapping and shouting encouragement for each soloist. The recordings capture the atmosphere at the Vanguard without compromising the clarity of the music. One can hear people laughing and shouting as they listen to these innovative, cutting-edge arrangements and solos propelled by Mel Lewis's infectious, driving rhythmic force. The audience and musicians alike are electrified by the music of Thad Jones, who arranged and composed thirteen of the seventeen tunes heard on this album.

"Big Dipper" opens with a trumpet and alto saxophone exchange featuring Jimmy Nottingham and Jerome Richardson. This trumpet-alto sax conversation is followed by a brief piano solo by Hank Jones, after which the band roars in. There is a dazzling freedom to this music; you can hear the excitement in the room, not just from the energy of the music, but from the audience's reaction to it. The same holds true for the ballads, which include "All My Yesterdays," "Lover Man" and "Willow Weep for Me." Recordings from both evening performances (February 7th and March 21st) all convey the ebullient energy Thad, Mel and the band were expressing and the audience was feeling.

By the mid-ʻ60s, Thad Jones had established himself as a noted composer, conductor and a top jazz trumpet player. From 1954-1963, he performed with the Count Basie Orchestra as featured soloist, arranger and composer for the band. As Chris Smith describes in his essay, Thad had a unique, sophisticated writing style that is "never completely absorbed on first listen - or hundredth, for that matter. It takes mature ears and repetition to process Thadʼs unusual inner voices, unexpected rhythms and crunchy harmonies . . . Simply, he heard things in his head that our ears and brains are still trying to process 50 years later. That is an undeniable mark of genius and one that should be consistently mentioned among the ranks of other 20th century composers such as Ellington, Strayhorn and Gershwin." Thad Jones originally wrote many of the compositions and arrangements heard on All My Yesterdays for the Count Basie Orchestra, but for whatever reason, Basie didn't use them. Thad left Basie in 1963 and became an in-demand studio musician in New York. But he'd always wanted the material he'd created for Basie to be performed, and not quite three years later, he used it as the foundation for the big band he formed with the celebrated big-band drummer - and his musical colleague - Mel Lewis.
  
Toward the end of 1965, Thad joined forces with Mel to assemble a rehearsal band to perform Thad's charts for which they enlisted the top players currently working in New York. After a couple of months of midnight rehearsals at Phil Ramone's A & R studios, on February 7, 1966, they launched the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra at the Village Vanguard in the performances on this album. Regarded as one of the finest big-band drummers of his generation, Mel Lewis developed his solid, bedrock big-band driving style with the bands of Stan Kenton, Terry Gibbs, and Bill Holman. He supported the rhythmic journey of Thadʼs compositions with precision and musicality while propelling the band with fire and energy. Together Mel Lewis and Thad Jones created an environment of innovation, as they explored new musical territories that paved the way for big band music to come.

When All My Yesterdays producer, Zev Feldman, started working at Resonance Records in 2009, he learned about the existence of these Thad Jones/Mel Lewis recordings that label president, George Klabin made as a teenager. A fan of the band since his college days, Feldman was determined to produce an official release of this music in an expanded edition to honor the 50th Anniversary. He always felt it was unfortunate that in the 2000 bootleg release, many of the musicians were not credited and no one received compensation. It's been a long journey for Resonance to negotiate agreements with the families and estates of Thad Jones and Mel Lewis and to secure clearances from all living members of the orchestra and the heirs of those who had passed away. Resonance is pleased to release this music officially with blessings from all those involved in the recordings.

Feldman beams with excitement: "This is one of the most important large music ensembles to ever record jazz. Some of the greatest players from the New York jazz scene in the 1960s come out of that band. You can feel the excitement - these recordings capture a special energy. Since I started working at Resonance, this has been one of the albums that Iʼve been most excited to release. Itʼs also special and personal to George Klabin, so we all wanted to go above and beyond for this project."

To engross oneself fully in the musical experience of the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestraʼs All My Yesterdays, George Klabin suggests, "Put on a pair of good stereo headphones and immerse yourself in the atmosphere of those two nights. You will hear all the subtleties: Thadʼs shouts, the room sound, the musicians' camaraderie, encouraging each other and most of all the pure joy! Now you can be there, too."

Fifty years later on Monday, February 8, 2016, the Village Vanguard along with Resonance Records, will commemorate this golden anniversary with a CD release celebration. On this evening, the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra will perform compositions from All My Yesterdays to celebrate opening night back in 1966. Although they normally play this material weekly, this evening will serve as a special tribute. Orchestra leaders John Mosca, Douglas Purviance and the Village Vanguardʼs Lorraine Gordon have joined together with Resonance to celebrate this milestone in American jazz history.
 
TRACKS
Disc One - Recorded Feb. 7, 1966
Back Bone (13:21)
All My Yesterdays (4:22)
Big Dipper (5:51)
Mornin' Reverend (4:49)
The Little Pixie (14:24)
Big Dipper (alt take) (5:44)

Disc Two - Recorded March 21, 1966
Low Down (4:38)
Lover Man (5:24)
Ah, That's Freedom (10:08)
Don't Ever Leave Me (4:28)
Willow Weep For Me (6:15)
Mean What You Say (5:51)
Once Around (12:44)
Polka Dots & Moonbeams (4:02)
Mornin' Reverend (5:49)
All My Yesterdays (4:24)
Back Bone (12:58)


HILARY KOLE - THE JUDY GARLAND PROJECT

On this stunningly fresh collection of performances of songs from the well-worn repertoire of Judy Garland, Hilary Kole reveals and brings new life to the emotional core of each tune while revealing herself as a consummate interpreter. While never attempting to imitate Garland, Hilary tells Judy’s story — relaying the joy of falling in love, the hope that love will prevail, the heartbreak when love fails. And most importantly, the gathering of the will and desire to pick oneself up again to give it one more try.

Song choices are based on Hilary’s successful live performances of the Judy canon, her “Over the Rainbow” tribute concerts held the world over. Fresh from a series of these performances, Hilary brought the energy and vitality of the live concert hall to into the studio on Manhattan’s Lower East Side.

Then, finally, the icing on the cake: Hilary Kole’s stunning interpretation of the most famous song of all. The signature tune that followed Judy through her whole life, changing meanings constantly from her teen years through her battles with demons of all kinds. The song that was almost cut from its famous movie because it was “too sad”. The song written in 1939, as World War II was brewing in Europe, the Great Depression was in full swing here at home, and storm clouds were gathering. It is from that starting point that Kole began writing her remarkable string quartet arrangement to that remarkable song. In her equally stunning vocal performance, she embodies every measure of despair — yet every measure of hope — the composers intended. It is a show stopper. - Richard Barone, Producer

I remember my father, who was then my biggest musical influence (he was a Broadway singer back in the day and a great vocal coach) sitting me down when I was ten or eleven to watch The Judy Garland Show. Now, I was a huge fan from seeing Judy as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz – like the rest of the world. But this sealed the deal for me. She was a pro's pro. A singer's singer. I fell madly in love with her and her love of performing. With this project, I hoped to capture her love of these songs, done in my own way, but with a very respectful nod to someone who has influenced me beyond belief. So many times I have thought about how to approach a certain song or phrase in a song, and so many times I have asked myself – how would Judy do it? She was fearless, as I aspire to be on stage and in the studio. I recorded this project to pay homage to a singular talent, and to thank her for changing my life. - Hilary Kole

Tracklisting:
Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart
The Boy Next Door 
Just in Time 
You Made Me Love You 
Stompin' at the Savoy 
The Man That Got Away
A Cottage for Sale 
I Wish I Were in Love Again 
Look for the Silver Lining 
The Trolley Song 
Get Happy
Embraceable You 
As Long As He Needs Me 
It Never Was You 
Over the Rainbow 


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