Pianist Oscar Perez Presents Prepare a Place for Me, "A "Real Playing Record" Featuring the Rhythm Duo of Thomson Kneeland & Alvester Garnett Plus Alto Saxophonist Bruce Williams

After two albums that emphasized the composing side of his ever-burgeoning art, Oscar Perez - who JazzTimes has described as "a pianist of impeccable technique and fluency" - presents his "blowing" side with the album Prepare a Place for Me, which he calls "a real playing record." To be released October 13, 2015, by Myna Records, the album sees the native New Yorker team with the rhythm duo of bassist Thomson Kneeland and drummer Alvester Garnett, plus alto saxophonist Bruce Williams on five of the nine tracks.

Perez and company essay seven of the pianist's glittering, grooving originals, as well as an intoxicating, flamenco-tinged recasting of Thelonious Monk's "Round Midnight" and a lovely interpretation of the Hoagy Carmichael ballad "The Nearness of You." Reviewing his septet album Afropean Affair in 2011, JazzTimes praised Perez as "an extraordinary composer who blends the rhythmic complexity of Latin American music with the elegant harmonies of jazz," while DownBeat chimed in by marveling over the music's "wondrous interaction of piano and band." With Williams, Kneeland and Garnett alongside, Perez will play album-release shows on October 8 at Trumpets in Montclair, NJ, as well as on October 26 at Cornelia Street Café in Manhattan.

Perez - a protégé of Danilo Perez and Sir Roland Hanna - won 2nd prize in the venerable Jacksonville Jazz Piano Competition in Florida last year, with his personal rendition of "The Nearness of You" standing out. "I've always considered myself a composer as much as a player," he says. "But I played the competition and wanted to make playing the focus of my next album. Recording with cats I've performed live with for awhile was really important to the feel of this record. There's a lot of listening and interplay in the trio with Thomson and Alvester - the music tends to simmer, with solos developing in a slow burn. Bruce is a kindred spirit, too, and his playing tends to push the harmony, but in a soulful way."

Prepare a Place for Me kicks off with a straight-ahead jazz version of "Just Everything," an engaging Perez tune originally cast as a Spanish-titled bolero ("Solamente Todo") on his quintet debut album, Nuevo Comienzo, from 2005. The album's originals also include the aptly titled "Snake Charm" and Williams-led swinger "Headin' Over" (with Perez's writing on that tune influenced by Cedar Walton), as well as the intricate "Message to Monterey." Then there are "Prepare a Place for Me," the absorbing, gospel-inspired title track, and "Mushroom City," which is built on an infectious Brazilian baiao groove. Perez's personal favorite is the closer "Song for Ofelia," about which the pianist says: "It has a special place in my heart. I wrote it after the passing of my grandmother Ofelia Betancur. She was the matriarch of the entire family and showed incredible strength through many of life's difficulties. My daughter Ofelia has her same spirit."

Throughout Prepare a Place for Me, Perez's playing sparkles and dances with melodic interest and rhythmic verve, intertwined with his bass/drum partners and the long-breathed lines of Williams. About their interaction, the pianist says: "When you're younger, you're out to impress with your playing, aiming to turn heads. But now I feel that the emphasis is on just making the music all it can be - not concentrating on sounding as impressive as possible as an individual but on trying to make the other players sound great. I want the vibe to be as communal as can be, and I think that's when music - especially jazz improvisation - thrives."

Pianist-composer Oscar Perez was raised in Queens, NY, on his father's Cuban folk music, with piano lessons and playing in the church band a key part of his young life. He attended New York's "Fame" academy of LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts, studying with classical teachers. He later graduated from the Jazz Performance program at the University of North Florida, already composing there for small groups and big band. His fascination with the beautiful energy of Latin music took him to New England Conservatory in Boston to study with Danilo Perez, an enduring influence. Oscar completed his Master's Degree at the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College, studying there with Sir Roland Hanna. While at Queens College, he married his love of jazz improvisation with the classical piano literature. Perez's early twenties saw him share stages with such jazz icons as Bunky Green, George Russell, Curtis Fuller and George Garzone.

Since moving back to the New York area, Perez has spent recent years on the road with such jazz confreres as trombonist Wycliffe Gordon, bassist Christian McBride, trumpeter Eddie Allen, saxophonist Mike Lee, trombonist Steve Turre, guitarist Dave Stryker, vocalists Melissa Walker and Charenee Wade, and saxophonist Adrian Cunningham. Perez also toured as a pianist for vocalist Phoebe Snow, performing in such top pop venues as The Theatre at Madison Square Garden and Webster Hall. He has served as music director for St Edward's Church in Harlem. His longstanding commitment to church music has been embodied in the gospel music he explores as accompanist for the Nightingale/Bamford Gospel Choir. Perez has toured across North America, Latin America and Europe, as well as through Russia.

A devoted educator, Perez joins the Jazz Piano faculty at New Jersey's Montclair State University this fall. He has had close associations with the Kupferberg Center at Queens College, Juilliard School, Carnegie Hall, New York Pops, JazzHouse Kids and Jazz at Lincoln Center. He received a 2006 ASCAP/IAJE Commission in honor of Billy Strayhorn, with Perez's group featuring alto saxophonist Antonio Hart premiering the work at the 2007 International Association of Jazz Education Convention. In 2014, Perez won Second Prize in the Jacksonville Jazz Piano Competition.

Perez's debut album, Nuevo Comienzo (2007), featured a New York quintet featuring such special guests as trombonist Wycliffe Gordon and guitarist Peter Bernstein, with the leader's compositions blending Latin music and jazz in innovative arrangements. The pianist's second album, Afropean Affair (2011), was the result of a New Works Grant by Chamber Music America for an extended composition to be performed by his septet Oscar Perez Nuevo Comienzo. Balancing poise and power, the group features Stacy Dillard (tenor and soprano saxophone), Greg Glassman (trumpet and flugelhorn), Anthony Perez (bass), Emiliano Valerio (percussion), Jerome Jennings (drums) and Charenee Wade (vocals).

www.OscarPerezMusic.com

COMPOSER MARIA SCHNEIDER GARNERS GRAMMY NOMINATIONS

World-renowned Minnesota-born, New York-based composer/orchestra leader Maria Schneider has produced another Grammy-nominated CD, The Thompson Fields, nominated for Best Large Jazz Ensemble.  

The album spotlights many of today's most gifted instrumentalists, including tenor saxophonist, Donny McCaslin, who is singled out this year with his own Grammy nomination for his solo on Schneider's composition, "Arbiters of Evolution."

Schneider has received yet another Grammy-nomination for Best Arrangement, Instruments and Vocals, for her work with David Bowie on the song, "Sue (Or in a Season of Crime.)" Released in November of 2014, this single on Bowie's career-spanning compilation CD, Nothing Has Changed also featured Donny McCaslin on tenor – and McCaslin's work with Bowie has continued.  Just this month, Bowie released the first single, "Blackstar," that will be on a full album by the same name that largely features McCaslin. That recording will be released January 8th, 2016.

Schneider is one of the rare musicians to win a Grammy in both jazz and classical categories.  Her album Winter Morning Walks received three "Classical" Grammy Awards in 2013 for Best Contemporary Classical Composition (Winter Morning Walks), Best Classical Vocal Solo (Dawn Upshaw) and Best Engineered Album, Classical (David Frost, Brian Losch & Tim Martyn, engineers; Tim Martyn, mastering engineer).

Schneider also received a 2007-Grammy for Best Instrumental Composition for "Cerulean Skies."  In 2004, Schneider made history with her first Grammy for Concert In the Garden, the first album with Internet-only sales to receive a Grammy.  The album was released through ArtistShare, the first Internet-crowd-funding label/site in existence.  And significantly, Concert In the Garden was also the first "crowd-funded" album to win a Grammy, before the term "crowd-funding" was even invented.  At that time, ArtistShare had labeled it "fan-funding." Schneider has continued to "fan-fund" her recordings and commissions ever since.

Inspired by her success through ArtistShare where she maintains control and ownership of her work, Schneider has become a strong advocate for music creators and performers, having testified before the Congressional Subcommittee on Intellectual Property in April of 2014, and also speaking out against Spotify and streaming in general, on CNN.

www.mariaschneider.com

Drum Legend Terry Bozzio To Release “Composer Series” 4-CD/DVD

Legendary & award winning melodic drummer, Terry Bozzio is releasing worldwide, what he calls a “Life's Work” project of Art & Music on the Japanese label Ward Records in December 2015. Bozzio is embarking on a world tour to promote it starting in Japan and Europe in the fall of 2015 & continuing throughout the US & other territories in 2016. Terry has worked with Frank Zappa, Jeff Beck, Korn, UK, Missing Persons, Mick Jagger, Robbie Robertson, Alan Holdsworth, Tony Levin, Steve Vai, Quincy Jones, Ken Scott, Metropole Orkest, SMAP, Loudness' Munetaka Higuchi & “X” Japan's Hide - as well as Film score composers Basil Poledouris, Mark Isham & Patrick O'Hearn - see more at www.terrybozzio.com - Grammy winner, RockWalk Honoree, Modern Drummer magazine's Hall of Fame Award, Rolling Stone's Top 5 Drummers of All Time!

Says Bozzio, “I've been composing, (not just song writing, like for Missing Persons & Jeff Beck) since the '70s. I compose in all styles (as one might classify them), from classical to ambient, electronic, film-like to fusion/rock or jazz. I have my own character or personality, it's unique. I work with many different processes from writing notes on paper, to recording live, to several different computer software applications I may use, that are suited to the particular result I am trying to achieve. Both Zappa & famed musicologist Nicolas Slonimsky encouraged me to compose & I have had my Chamberworks performed at the Vienna Jazz Festival & in Holland w/Metropol Orkest.”

He continued, “I first got interested in Art & Sketching at the encouragement of renowned artist Don Van Vliet (aka: Captain Beefheart) who I played with on my first Zappa/Mothers of Invention tour in 1975. Don was always carrying markers & paper & it looked like fun, so I bought some myself & started. He was very encouraging. Last year, I released my first project called Rhythm & Sketch in collaboration with the art group Scene Four. It's been successful & inspired me to do more. (available at www.terrybozzioart.com)”

Terry Bozzio fulfilled a major 2 &1/2 month US solo tour in 2014 in which he displayed his art as a stage set while performing melodic, tuned melodies on his strikingly large drum set, to sold out crowds.

“I thought it would be great to share this music which I’ve been working on & keeping to myself for so long. I hope to show a different side of my expression from what people are used to seeing from my solo drumming. And, I wanted to have an abstract painting to represent & be paired with each title to create this hybrid project of music & art,” Bozzio explained.

The “Composer Series” contains 59 individual pieces or movements of compositions with a painting in a booklet for each title, along with detailed liner notes for each piece, explaining his concepts, feelings, process and approach for each. It will be available in a deluxe hard-cover artbook which includes Terry Bozzio’s hand drawn illustrations and commentary for each piece, audio CDs & a solo drum performance Blu-Ray shot in Japan in 2015 (w/bonus footage), 192kHz/24bit Hi-Res audio of the 59 pieces on Blu-ray and a bonus DVD including 60min talk session of Terry Bozzio with Masa Ito. The material will also be made available in CD/DVD or 4CD/Blu-ray for record stores, as well as in many or individual downloadable 

formats online.

Featured This Week On The Jazz Network Worldwide: Vocalist Daina Shukis stages a signature comeback with her new CD “Smooth and Jazzy”

Daina Shukis is a multi-faceted performer who’s catalogue consists of various flavors of music from the new wave pop art culture that spans from Rock, Pop, Jazz and middle eastern accents.  “Smooth and Jazzy” is just another testament of how genres can be blended and how dance enhances its essence.

Diana Shukis captures the core message in each song she approaches with an inimitable style all her own.  Having influences  that span from Jazz, rock, funk and country, Shukis brings her originality to the forefront.  ”Daina and the Tribe" has been her signature band that she has performed with for years back in the New York City area in such notable clubs as the Bottom Line (opening for James Cotton), The Lone Star (opening for Jaco Pastorious) and  CBGB's.

For the past few years, Daina has combed through the maze of some of her best performances and has created a vintage catalogue that will live throughout the ages. “The one thing that I remember most about my performances with the Tribe was how the audiences would participate in our performances, with accents of chants and musical praise” says Shukis.  On her recently released album “Smooth and Jazzy”, which is comprised of her favorites songs, she chose to remix the tune “Movie Show’ as her latest single from the compilation giving it a modern slant on today’s music scene, creating a new audience that appreciates the blending of these musical styles.

“I am delighted to bring you this album with many cuts from the beginning of the new wave pop art culture in New York City in such a top-grade audio recording.  I look forward to performing these songs and new material in the near future with great anticipation.  It is an exciting time for me to launch a comeback with old friends and new musical ideas.  The older jazz and blues singers still out there on the road are a great inspiration. Wish me luck! says Daina.

More recently, Shukis has incorporated a few songs embracing our American roots with a Patsy Cline tribute into her set, where she shares how Patsy influenced her vocal style by performing originals on guitar and piano at the end of every set.  To date, she has produced five albums from her vintage catalogue, one instrumental album, "Mystic Rendezvous" with Daina and the Tribe, on which Daina plays impressionist compositions on synthesizer.  Her latest addition to her catalogue is a sure fire compilation that will not only capsulate her eclectic mix of sound but a vintage musical history that stands the test of time.  “Smooth and Jazzy” has been picked to be in rotation on her radio station on Pandora and she is ranked #1 in Jazz on Reverberation in Port Richey, Florida.

“Daina is a very unique spirit, known for her love of cultural flare in her writing and performances derived from the Middle East, Greek, Turkish and Arabic music.  In her vintage videos you can clearly see how she skillfully executes her choreographic pieces when she took the stage with a serious intention toward excellence in her craft, not only in dance but visually through her authentic costumes that ranged from tribal art painted on her body to classic rock looks. Her vocals stem from a bluesy, rock feel with jazz flavorings and tribal chants, her performance puts you in a trance that takes you on her eclectic improvisational journey of song and percussive presentation” says Jaijai Jackson of The Jazz Network Worldwide.

At this stage in Shukis’s career, having so much performance memories in her musical arsenal, she is now presenting a “looking back” journey, story-telling of her many escapades through her New York days with some of the best musicians on the planet.  From the likes of Jeremy Steig, Don Alias, Eddie Gomez, Ray Mantilla, Jimmy Madison, Jerome Harris, Paul Ramsey, Dan Wall, Tom Coppolla, Judy Niemack, Marvin Horne, Greg Carter, Butch Campell, Lee Finklestein and Bill Washer who are all performing with her on new release “Smooth and Jazzy”. She brings a fervor of heart to her upcoming performance schedule and offering musical memories that only she can tell. This choice of performance once again allows for the new audience to find themselves in her music and to walk away with an impression that will be a memory etched by musical history.

Looking to bring her musical story-telling to worldwide stages, big and small, from intimate to large venues with her musical potpourri will be sure to please the most eclectic of musical tastes from jazz to rock, funk, country and beyond.

"Invitation," New CD by Vocalist Nicolas Bearde, Produced & Arranged by Nat Adderley Jr., & Featuring Guest Soloist Vincent Herring on Alto Sax

Nicolas Bearde Invitation Nicolas Bearde is a San Francisco Bay Area treasure. As a charter member of Bobby McFerrin's Voicestra ensemble as well as the innovative vocal sextet SoVoSó, he's long been internationally recognized as a versatile and fearless vocal improviser, charismatic performer, and distinctive jazz and soul stylist.

While Bearde has drawn on his love for both R&B and jazz on his previous four CDs, Invitation, the singer's fifth release on his own Right Groove Records label, is his first entirely straight-ahead set of songs. Produced largely by renowned pianist/arranger Nat Adderley Jr., Invitation will be released January 29.

"Nat has a way of starting you in a different direction," says Bearde of Adderley, who spent nearly 20 years as music director for Luther Vandross and grew up in a deeply musical family including his cornetist father Nat Sr. and his alto saxophonist uncle Cannonball. "He has a way of voicing chords that is so very musical. You don't have to hear the melody to hear the melody within the chords. We found that during rehearsal of this new material. I thought, this is probably the most beautiful way I've ever heard these songs."

The relaxed phrasing and depth of feeling that Bearde brings to such standards as "Nature Boy," "Lush Life," and "Save Your Love for Me" and to a rarely heard vocal version of Herbie Hancock's "Maiden Voyage" place him firmly in the tradition of such deep-voiced greats as Billy Eckstine, Al Hibbler, Arthur Prysock, Johnny Hartman, Bill Henderson, Lou Rawls, and Jon Lucien.

Seven of the tracks were recorded in East Orange, New Jersey, or Brooklyn, New York, with Adderley on piano, Belden Bullock or Kenny Davis on bass, and Vincent Ector or Rocky Bryant on drums, and, on three tracks, alto saxophonist Vincent Herring, considered by many to be Cannonball Adderley's foremost stylistic disciple. "I Want to Talk About You" was produced in Oakland by the late Bud Spangler with pianist John R. Burr, bassist John Wiitala, drummer Akira Tana, and tenor saxophonist Anton Schwartz. "Maiden Voyage" was produced in San Francisco by Bearde and Peter Horvath, who played piano in the company of bassist Gary Brown, drummer Leon Joyce Jr., and percussionist Peter Michael Escovedo.

Bearde was introduced to Adderley nearly three years ago while appearing at Trumpets in Montclair, New Jersey. The club's owner recommended that Bearde call Adderley, who lived in the neighborhood, about the possibility of their working together at his next Trumpets engagement.

"Nat said 'Send me the music and info, let's hear what you do,'" says Bearde. "So I sent him three albums' worth of material, and he called back and said, 'Where have you been? Why don't people know who you are? Of course I'll work with you.'"

Nashville native Nicolas Bearde, who's been based in the San Francisco Bay Area since the 1970s, has worked extensively as an actor for stage, screen, and television and as a voice-over artist in addition to his vocal pursuits. By the mid-1980s, he'd hooked up with Bobby McFerrin's Voicestra, and when McFerrin decided to take a break from the group in the mid-'90s, Bearde and other members branched off into a smaller a cappella unit called SoVoSó, which included Molly Holm, Linda Tillery, Rhiannon, Joey Blake, David Worm, and Edgardo Cambon. "We followed in the improvisational tradition of Voicestra, but added more gospel, Latin, and R&B elements," he says.

Bearde maintains a busy touring schedule. He has appeared at the Russian River Jazz Festival, San Jose Festival, Salt Lake City Jazz Festival, Usadba Jazz Festival in Russia, and Minsk Jazz Festival in Belarus, as well as such clubs as Yoshi's in both Oakland and San Francisco, B.B. King's and Café Cordial in Los Angeles, and the abovementioned Trumpets.

Besides being a master singer, Bearde has distinguished himself as an actor. Since taking part in Juke Box, a 1986 radio play starring Danny Glover, he has appeared in such films as True Crime, Final Analysis, and Pacific Heights; on television in Monk, Henry Lee, Nash Bridges, and Baby Snatcher; on the stage in Flying West, Two Trains Running, Full Moon, Twelfth Night, American Song, and Master Harold...and the Boys; and in commercials for the California Lottery, Chrysler, Orchard Supply Hardware, and Verizon.   

Bearde has released four albums through his Right Groove imprint: Crossing the Line (1998), All About Love (2004), Live at Yoshi's: A Salute to Lou [Rawls] (2008), and Visions (2013). Connoisseurs of fine jazz singing will be thankful to hear him in the uncompromising context of Invitation.

Nicolas Bearde will be performing two CD release shows in the Bay Area: Saturday 3/5 at Café Stritch in San Jose and Saturday 3/26 at the Sound Room in Oakland.

nicolasbearde.com

Alternative jazz adventurer Matt Von Roderick boldly embarks on a transcendent “Hero’s Journey”

Genuine artists and heroes share a lot in common. They don’t come along every day and when they do manifest, they come equipped with immense vision and foresight, extraordinary courage and the towering confidence to spin the world on its axis in reverse. Fearlessly utilizing a jazz trumpet, imaginative rap lyrics, modern rock angst and otherworldly tracks constructed of gurgling synthesizers and kinetic electronic beats, alternative jazz alchemist Matt Von Roderick emerges to share his larger-than-life tales of burning love, spiritual hunger, raucous rebellion and realizing dreams on “Hero’s Journey,” a twelve-tune set released Friday by Invention Records available digitally exclusively on the Bandcamp site (https://mattvonroderick.bandcamp.com). Additional digital retailers will soon carry the title and a physical CD is slated for release on February 5, 2016. 

The songs that comprise Von Roderick’s boundless and colorful world on “Hero’s Journey” are an aural listening experience unlike any other. He invites listeners into his cache of cascading melodies, progressive multiphonic trumpet harmonics, clubby rhythms, futuristic sonicscapes, and vivid storytelling rhymes and spoken word play that bites, teases, romances, provokes and satirizes - sometimes bordering on the outlandish. Von Roderick wrote the album except for a sensitive yet bright-eyed instrumental interpretation of “What A Wonderful World,” an acknowledgment of his jazz roots. He produced the collection with a half-dozen producers who helped bring his daring concept to life. 

Von Roderick had been toiling away in the studio for years, experimenting to develop the formula for “Hero’s Journey.” Occasionally, he surfaced to test the waters by staging extravagant live concert productions backed by seductive dancers, Broadway choreography and elaborate costumes that caused The Huffington Post to declare “Matt Von Roderick makes jazz dangerous again.” During that period, Von Roderick also released a couple of groundbreaking singles and playful videos such as “Let The Trumpet Talk,” which has been viewed over 4.5 million times on YouTube (http://bit.ly/1Z0pQkU). Today, he’s ready to share the album with the world, eschewing the traditional record industry model of months of setup time and trying to find a place on a label or distributor’s crowded release schedule. No, there’s a vital sense of immediacy and yearning passion along with empowering hope and optimism inherent in Von Roderick’s music that calls for a refreshingly different plan – his own.

“Hero’s Journey” is the debut album for Von Roderick, but in 2007, the artist released “So It Goes” commercially as Matt Shulman, his given name. DownBeat magazine described the session as “Taking jazz into the future” while the New York Times called him “a post-millennial Chet Baker.” The new outing is wildly more adventurous and comes after the long-time New York City resident relocated and reinvented himself in Los Angeles.

“I think we're all on our own ‘Hero's Journey’ of sorts. This is mine: receiving a vision, jumping off a cliff into the abyss of the unknown by moving across the country, taking on a stage name and making completely new music. In the process, I have learned and grown - a lot. And this album is what I have to show for it - so far. Represented within ‘Hero’s Journey’ is all aspects of me - from New York to Los Angeles, from Shulman to Von Roderick, and from my dark, abstract, esoteric and avant-garde side to my bright, fun, playful and uber commercial side. It's all in there,” said Von Roderick, who will soon announce a live performance date in Hollywood at The Sayers Club in conjunction with February’s CD release.

Hailed as a prodigy and the winner of the Jazz Artist of the Year honor at the Independent Music Awards over a decade ago, Von Roderick has shared his talent on stage or on record with an eclectic array of artists, including Neil Diamond, Music Soulchild, Brad Mehldau, Dionne Warwick, Tenacious D, John Medeski, Nnenna Freelon and the Saturday Night Live Band as well as in such esteemed venues as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. An innovator on multiple levels, he patented the Shulman System, which balances and supports the trumpet.     

 

Accompanied by an extensive liner notes essay penned by JazzTimes contributor Matt R. Lohr, “Hero’s Journey” contains the following songs:

 

“Seize The Night”

"A Girl Like That”

“All For You”

“Let The Trumpet Talk”

“Believe”

"Baby Got Jazz”

“Cash Money”

“Shine”

“Undeniable”

“Life Is Fun”

“Coexistence”

“What A Wonderful World”

 

Vocalist & Trumpeter Johnny Summers Releases New Album For The Holidays entitled When It's Christmas Time

Most musicians say they are lovers of great songs, but very few are able to show it in the way that Johnny Summers does! With the new holiday album, Johnny Summers: When It’s Christmas Time, 2015 winner of (3) Global Music Awards, including Best Male Vocalist, Johnny Summers shows why he has become Canada’s best kept musical secret in Jazz.

Hailing from Calgary, Alberta in Canada; for the past 10 years Johnny has been the Artistic Director of the Calgary Jazz Orchestra, a repertory orchestra which is Canada’s only year round performing large jazz ensemble. In this capacity, Johnny Summers has performed as featured trumpet soloist, and conductor during its regular season performances. With When It’s Christmas Time, Johnny continues his musical odyssey in his search of great songs, which began in his series, Piano Sessions Volume 1 & Volume 2, but this time in a holiday setting.

When It’s Christmas Time, contains a cornucopia of holiday classics and colorful original compositions written by Johnny for the season. The album comprises (11) tracks, and  Johnny brings in a “who’s who” of top Canadian Jazz musicians as special guests including Tommy Banks, Piano; Chris Andrew, Piano;  Jeremy Brown, Tenor Saxophone; Allison Lynch, Vocals; Kodi Hutchinson, Acoustic Bass; and the Calgary Jazz Orchestra.

“For a long time I’ve wanted to do an album that was geared towards the spirit of the holiday season.” says Johnny. “This was the perfect time for me to do this project. Since I was a kid, this time of year has been such a major inspiration to me. From the family gatherings, to the shared meals. From the efforts to support our troops, to the focus on helping those who are less fortunate then we might be. It’s a time of year where everyone’s focus is really on giving, sharing, and being grateful. Those are all ideas that can truly be expressed through music. With the songs I've written for this album, and the classics I've chosen to play, I wanted to just share that sense of joy, of wonder, and of truly being thankful for what we do have.”

Track Listing:  'Zat You Santa Claus?,  The Christmas Waltz, Rudolph,the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Long Way to Go, Winter Wonderland, What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?, Baby, It's Cold Outside, When It's Christmas Time, Let It Snow!Let It Snow!Le It Snow!, O Holy Night,  and I'll Be Home for Christmas.

"This Could Be That," by Drummer Brian Andres & the Afro-Cuban Jazz Cartel

Brian Andres, This Could Be That Drummer Brian Andres has been leading his powerhouse Afro-Cuban Jazz Cartel since 2007, establishing them as a prime voice in the thriving San Francisco Bay Area Latin jazz scene. With his third album, This Could Be That, which is due for release by his Bacalao Records imprint on January 15, Andres and his Cartel exert a firm grip on the music's cutting edge, playing with confidence, poise, and rhythmic imagination.

Featuring a core octet drawn from the cream of local players, This Could Be That includes guest appearances by innovators such as Cuban-American vocalist Venissa Santi, Fania All-Stars timbalero Louie Romero, bata master Michael Spiro, Peruvian percussion star Alex Acuña, and percussion maestro John Santos. Over the past decade, the Cartel has earned a sterling reputation as a turbo-charged vehicle for interpreting challenging material, and This Could Be That includes compositions and arrangements by top-shelf writing talent from within and outside the band's ranks.

"The first two albums we did had concepts," Andres says. "Our debut Drummers Speak [2007] focused on compositions by Latin percussionists and jazz drummers. San Francisco [2013] highlighted composers and arrangers of the Bay Area. On this one, things just happened organically. Everybody wanted to contribute. We ended up with a lot of different things in the record, and there wasn't one single thread." But the album's disparate program expresses the Cartel's vivid and distinctive personality.

 Brian Andres In many ways This Could Be That embodies the Bay Area's close-knit Latin music community, which got a burst of international attention when the Pacific Mambo Orchestra won the 2014 Grammy Award for Best Latin Tropical Album. The PMO's co-leaders, German-born trumpeter Steffen Kuehn and Mexico City-raised pianist Christian Tumalan, both play a significant role in the Cartel. Kuehn, who plays on about half the album's tracks, brought in a state-of-the-art timba-powered arrangement of his original "Limite," which features Cuban timbalero Calixto Oviedo as a special guest. And Tumalan, who holds down the Cartel piano chair, "and is integral to developing the sound of the Cartel" Andres says, contributed a thrilling Cubanized arrangement of Chick Corea's Elektric Band anthem "Got a Match?" that slyly references Corea's standards "Armando's Rhumba" and "Spain."

Other highlights include the (translated) title track, "Esto Puede Ser Eso," a lovely cha cha by Cartel percussionist Javier Cabanillas and arranged by Cabanillas and trombonist Jamie Dubberly, who leads one of the Bay Area's top salsa bands, Orquesta Dharma; bassist Saul Sierra's arrangement of the Daniel Ponce salsa classic "Bacalaitos," with legendary Nuyorican percussionist Louie Romero adding conga, timbales, and maraca; and the bilingual bolero rendition of "My One and Only Love," featuring Cuban-American vocalist Venissa Santi as well as Andres's father Mike Andres on alto saxophone (reuniting him with a piece he recorded years ago with Cincinnati's Symphony Jazz Ensemble).

 Brian Andres Born (in 1968) and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, the son of professional musicians, Brian Andres started playing drums in the fourth grade. After high school, he took classes at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music but abandoned formal studies once he landed a full-time gig with veteran bluesman Cincinnati Slim and the Headhunters.

Andres was in the midst of a thriving career playing rock, funk, R&B, and blues when he experienced his clave epiphany, courtesy of the Cleveland salsa band Impacto Nuevo. "It changed my trajectory of where I wanted to go," Andres recalls. "I've often likened it to the first time I kissed a girl. I just wanted to do it over and over again. The first time I heard it done well live, it had me."

He put together a Latin jazz band of his own, and started buying up whatever albums he could find, which introduced him to leading Bay Area artists such as John Santos's Machete Ensemble, Andy Narell, and Pete Escovedo. It was Bay Area Latin jazz stalwart, the late Dutch-born drummer Paul van Wageningen, who convinced him to make the move to San Francisco rather than New York or L.A. by offering real encouragement when Andres came through town on a visit.

Landing in the Bay Area in early 1999 at the height of the high-tech boom, Andres quickly found work in an array of Latin settings, playing salsa, Latin funk, and Latin jazz. He undertook his first recording under his own name in 2007, motivated by his love of the multidimensional writing of Latin jazz pioneers Tito Puente and Eddie Palmieri, and has been developing the Cartel concept ever since. This month he placed among the Top 20 drummers in the Down Beat Readers Poll, right behind Eric Harland, Dave Weckl, and Cindy Blackman Santana.

"It's an honor to have so many world-class musicians on the new album," says Andres. "That they all were willing to contribute to the recording is a testament to the high quality of music that we've created."

Lisa Dawn Miller Celebrates the Season With Her Debut Original Christmas EP, 'It's Christmas,' and Releases a Remake of 'Someday at Christmas,' the Holiday Classic Penned by Her Father, Legendary Motown Songwriter Ron Miller

Continuing to produce projects which celebrate the legacy of her father, legendary Motown songwriter Ron Miller, while emerging as a lyricist, composer and artist in her own right, multi-talented singer, songwriter and musical performer Lisa Dawn Miller kicks off the holiday season with the release of her highly anticipated seasonal debut EP, "It's Christmas," now available on iTunes and Amazon.

Miller makes her songwriting debut with "It's Christmas" and "My Favorite Time of Year," two original songs from the EP, co-written with her longtime creative partner, Mark Matson. Miller's father wrote standards such as "For Once in My Life," "Heaven Help Us All," "If I Could," "Touch Me In The Morning," "I've Never Been To Me," "Yester-me, Yester-you, Yesterday" and "A Place In The Sun."

Lisa is also releasing a new single, a remake of her father's classic, "Someday at Christmas," a fresh interpretation of the classic written by her father, which was originally recorded by Stevie Wonder in 1967 for his only recorded Christmas album, with the title of the same name. The song was recently chosen by Apple Computers for their 2015 Christmas message and commercial. The single is also now available on iTunes and Amazon.

Lisa will be performing her two new Christmas songs during the holiday tour of the long running musical "Sandy Hackett's Rat Pack Show," retitled, "Sandy Hackett's Rat Pack Christmas" for the season. The show's December performances include stops at in South Bend, IN, Thousand Oaks, CA, Santa Barbara, CA, Phoenix, AZ, Grand Prairie, TX, Birmingham, AL, Clearwater, FL and Fort Lauderdale, FL.

Lisa produces and co-stars in "Sandy Hackett's Rat Pack Christmas" (with her husband and co-star, Sandy Hackett, son of legendary comedian Buddy Hackett) and is also scheduled to perform "It's Christmas" during promotional appearances on local network affiliates ABC in Dallas, FOX and NBC in Phoenix and NBC in Birmingham, AL.

"Christmas has always been my family's favorite time of year," she says. "No matter what happened throughout the year, my parents always found a way to make Christmas special for us. I'm so excited to make my songwriting debut at Christmas. My dad's Christmas songs are beautiful. I'm very much influenced by my father's writing style. I find a common sentiment in my songs, like his -- the hope for a better tomorrow and the belief in a brighter day for all."

Lisa is currently working on several exciting new projects, including a new CD release, featuring 12 original songs, a documentary and musical about her father's life entitled, "For Once In My Life" and she will also be announcing a new musical comedy in January.