RareNoiseRecords Presents Roswell Rudd / Fay Victor / Lafayette Harris / Ken Filiano with Embrace

For his follow-up to 2016's purely improvised studio recording Strength & Power (featuring pianist Jamie Saft, bassist Trevor Dunn and drummer Balazs Pandi), the ever-adventurous trombonist-composer Roswell Rudd made a decided shift in direction on his first RareNoiseRecords release as a leader by embracing jazz standards he has loved and played throughout his long and illustrious career. Accompanied by the brilliant pianist Lafayette Harris, upright bass virtuoso Ken Filiano and soulful vocal sensation Fay Victor, the 81-year-old jazz master (who turns 82 years old on November 17, the day of the release) delivers with rare potency and poignancy on the aptly-titled Embrace. This intimate, drum-less quartet session is brimming with conversational playing between all the participants, with Rudd and Victor partaking in some particularly interactive exchanges on jazz classics like Billy Strayhorn's "Something to Live For," Charles Mingus' "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat," Thelonious Monk's beautiful ballad "Pannonica," the standard "Can't We Be Friends" and the traditional "House of the Rising Sun."

Rudd has high praise for his empathetic partners on Embrace. "Lafayette Harris is one of the best accompanists that I ever played with. Boy, is he there! He's not only ahead of the music, he's in the moment and behind it all at the same time. It's amazing to find somebody who can play like that. It's as if Lafayette has been there all my life when I play with him. Kenny Filiano is a virtuoso of the bass, particularly with the bow. Let the world be told and shown! And Fay Victor is my most recent discovery. Fay is an instrument, a voice, a personality, a spirit...all of those and more."

Of the members in this Embrace quartet, Rudd goes back furthest with Filiano (the bassist appears on the trombonist's 2000 album Broad Strokes as well as 2011's The Incredible Honk). Harris appeared on Rudd's 2008 album Keep Your Heart Right (which had a similar drum-less quartet configuration featuring vocalist Sunny Kim) and also on The Incredible Honk. Victor previously made a guest appearance on two tracks from 2013's Trombone For Lovers.

"I like playing without drums occasionally and I've done that a bit over the years," says Rudd. "I hear the harmonics of the singers a lot better when the drums aren't there. I don't know, it just seems to work better for me with voice and piano. Getting those interactions is something that's very important to me, which I learned about from Sheila Jordan and some other vocalists that I've been lucky enough to play with. I really want to hear the whole harmonic series of the singers when I play with them. And you know that's a very delicate and temperamental place to come from."

Rudd treads delicately on the tender opener, "Something to Live For," a 1939 song, which marked the first collaboration between Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington. Following a beautiful solo piano intro, Rudd sings the melody through his horn in raucous yet poignant fashion, like latter day Billie Holiday. Victor enters and the trombonist proceeds to shadow and comment on her soulful singing through the remainder of the piece.

They inject a lively, almost calypso type bounce into Mingus' "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat," a tune mostly played as a brooding, funereal dirge. "That version came from playing it over and over when we got together," says Rudd. "This is what eventually emerged." Victor showcases her scatting prowess on this number before singing the Rahsaan Roland Kirk lyrics, which the saxophonist had penned for his 1976 album The Return of the 5000 Lb. Man. "Yeah, we got our own take on it," continues Rudd. "And that tune is so infectious it is bound to get to each musical personality in its own way. And that's what we are. We're four musical personalities who go together, whatever we're playing."

Victor channels her inner Betty Carter on a jaunty, swinging rendition of "Can't We Be Friends," which features the vocalist in some daring scat exchanges with Rudd's muted trombone. "I think Fay started singing it one day and it just took over," Rudd recalls. That's it. It was just right for us."

Their raucous rendition of Ray Noble's "I Hadn't Anyone Till You" is bristling with energy and supported by Harris' Fats Walleresque touch on piano. Rudd explains the origins of his collaboration with Victor on this 1938 chestnut: "We wanted to do something together but we really didn't know each other that well. And she finally said, 'Do you know, 'I Hadn't Anyone Till You?' and I said, 'Yeah! And I hadn't been able to find anybody to play that with. So let's do that one.' So that brought us together. That got us started right there, doing that song. And we've kept that up."

Filiano's bowed bass intro to the lovely "Too Late Now" (from the 1951 Fred Astaire-Jane Powell movie Royal Wedding) showcases his low-end virtuosity while Victor reveals her romantic side in interpreting the Alan Jay Lerner lyrics. Rudd, who contributes one of his most lyrical solos of the session here, next testifies on his trombone on a chilling rendition of "House of the Rising Sun," which also features Victor in a most expressive Carmen McRae mode.

"I Look in the Mirror," a smart, swinging, Blossom Dearie-styled ditty about accepting the aging process, was written by Rudd's partner, Verna Gillis. "That was one of the first things we collaborated on," says Rudd. "And I didn't feel it as a sultry ballad or a sad song, I felt like a Dixielander on that one."

The album closes with a heartfelt reading of Monk's most beautiful ballad, "Pannonica," a tune he composed in 1956 as a tribute to jazz patron Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter. It's a tune that Rudd has played countless times since 1962, when he formed a band with saxophonist Steve Lacy that specialized in Monk's music. "I used to play 'Pannonica' a lot with Steve Lacy. We later recorded it together on an album we did, called Monk's Dream (2000, Verve). So I was used to playing it in Monk's original key, which is C. But Fay came in with it in A flat, so that threw me off a little bit. Because everything lies so beautifully in that song and with Monk's music in general that you tend to remember it where he wrote it, where he played it. So that took a little adjustment." Victor gives a heartfelt reading of Jon Hendricks' lyrics on this achingly beautiful ballad while Rudd turns in a remarkably expressive solo on this Monk classic.

Embrace is the latest chapter in the extraordinary career of the revered trombonist, who came up playing Dixieland in college before dipping into the avant-garde in the early '60s with the likes of Cecil Taylor, Archie Shepp, John Tchicai, Don Cherry and longtime collaborator Steve Lacy. In more recent times, the ever-adventurous Rudd has collaborated with Malian musicians (2001's MALIcool), traditional Mongolian musicians (2005's Blue Mongol) and Latin musicians (2007's El Espiritu Jibaro). He gathered nine of the greatest trombonists on the scene, along with the Gangue Brass Band of Benin, for 2009's Trombone Tribe and in 2016 he debuted on RareNoiseRecords with the audacious improvised outing Strength & Power. His latest for the label may be his most inspired and affecting outing to date.

A tribute to the master trombonist is scheduled for November 16 and will be held at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Dizzy's Club. Friends and collaborators will celebrate this outstanding musician, who was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer in 2013. Roswell is unable to play right now but hopes to be strong enough to attend this glorious musical event. For further info, please visit http://www.jazz.org/dizzys/

TRACKS

1. Something To Live For

2. Goodbye Pork Pie Hat

3. Can't We Be Friends

4. I Hadn't Anyone Till You

5. Too Late Now

6. House Of The Rising Sun

7. I Look In The Mirror

8. Pannonica

Jimmy Chamberlin Complex Engages in Courtship of Responsive Mimicry on Sophomore Album The Parable

Nothing quite prepares you for the surprise of being granted a wish you don't remember making. Consider the grebe.

Stumble upon a freshwater lake in spring and you might catch the ritualistic mating dance of two swanlike birds engaged in a courtship of responsive mimicry that begins with the tenderness of curled flirtatious necks and ends with an exultant dance upon the surface of water. It transcends the language we have as humans to describe it. You have to see it to believe it. If you had known about it beforehand, you would have stood lakeside and wished for it. Yet, somewhere, out in the wild, the wish you never made has already been granted.

Such is the case with The Parable, the second full-length release from the Jimmy Chamberlin Complex. Recorded in a single session, on a Wednesday this past June, at the historic Sunset Sound studio in Los Angeles, a wish was granted while the rest of us were busy tending to the tiny details of our daily lives.

Like unobserved nature, the Complex went about the important business of filling that silent studio room without quite disturbing it. The surprise of their own music-making is less like five individuals scribbling down plans and executing them with rehearsed precision and more like the kind of swan-courtship described above. We're hearing it for the first time. And so are they.

"What you hear on the record is literally the first or second attempt at playing these compositions in the room," says drummer Jimmy Chamberlin. "We just got into a room, sketched out the tunes, maybe jotted down an arrangement or two. Then, we were off to the races. We didn't want to get into forcing it too much. We wanted it to evolve in its own footprint. It freaks people out, but for me, I'm a big believer -- not in an irresponsible way -- in the idea of just letting things happen."

"It's about sharing the experience, as it happens, together," echoes Billy Mohler, bassist and producer. "This was the warmest, most inviting session. It was about holding up someone's strengths and figuring out how to strengthen a group from inside of it. You don't even think about it. You just get with the right people and it's about how we can make the best music together. It's a band. It's not a project."

These sentiments of humility drop away and the full force of a revelation hits along with the first strike of the snare drum on opener "Horus and the Pharaoh." There's something spider-like and ghostly about the guitar performance of Sean Woolstenhulme -- the very first sound you hear on The Parable -- whom both Mohler and Chamberlin give credit for the courage of joining this quintet in the first place.

"Sean's never played a jazz gig in his life," says Mohler. "Randy Ingram and Chris Speed are very modern players with firm roots in traditional jazz who have established their own place in the contemporary jazz world. Sean is not from that world at all. So, of course, we thought, 'What would Sean sound like in this traditional setting?'"

Anyone who has ever heard an early Smashing Pumpkins record will immediately recognize the snare rolls and syncopated hi-hat accents that have come to define just a part Chamberlin's "style," for whatever that word might be worth. But in the context of The Parable, you begin to realize he is the outlier in a rock setting, not the other way around.

"My sensibility as a musician was rooted around the music that I grew up with," says Chamberlin. "Being the youngest of six kids and having five brothers and sisters that were super big music fans, that could be anything from the Turtles and the Beach Boys to Steely Dan, Rickie Lee Jones, Joni Mitchell, all the way down to McCoy Tyner, Mose Allison, and Count Basie. My dad was a clarinet player, so we listened to a lot of Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman when I was a kid.

"Jazz really allows you to paint in real time," he continues. "The medium of jazz, to me, is the ultimate vehicle of self-expression for a musician. It allows you to create in the moment. Jazz is the music where it can only take five minutes to create five minutes of music. That's a much more honest place for me to live as a musician. You're painting first drafts and being OK with them. If you want to do something different, it's fine to release what you've done, just do more, and keep going."

Mohler is in complete agreement. He's already eager to get back into the studio and make three more Complex records this year. Which makes sense. If forced to find the center in this collaborative, undefined spontaneous burst of human expression by way of jazz, it's Mohler's bass performance.

The undeniable humanness of The Parable is on display with every note played -- a comfort itself in a world increasingly barreling toward the synthetic and digitized -- but it's that sound of standup bass, the strings and the wood and the hand that crawls across the fingerboard. That's what's real. That's the lesson. If a parable is meant to leave us with something useful, it's just that -- in 2017, you can call it jazz music, but it's really just the act of living translated into melody.

"There was very little talking," says Chamberlin about the session. "Words weren't necessary, because the conversation that was going on was so much deeper than anything you could say."

The Parable comes to a close, collapsing into a disappearing echo, with everything that came before it condensed into a singular vibration on the very last note of the very last track "Dance of the Grebe." Chamberlin might dismiss the song's title as evidence that he's just a self-confessed "bird freak," but let's not listen to him. Nothing is an accident, especially in art.

"The dance of the grebe is cool, right? If you've ever seen it, you would never forget it. It's like, 'What the hell is that bird doing, man?'"

Consider The Parable. Your wish has been granted in advance.

Long Out-Of-Print Collection "All Day Thumbsucker Revisited", Documenting The History Of Blue Thumb Records

HONORS MEMORY OF LATE LABEL FOUNDERS TOMMY LIPUMA AND BOB KRASNOW

From 1968 to 1978, Blue Thumb Records was one of music's most adventurous and imaginative record labels, with a far-ranging roster of cutting-edge acts and an unconventional visual sensibility. Nurturing an eclectic assortment of artists from a wide variety of genres, Blue Thumb embodied the restless creative spirit of the era in which it was born, reflecting the emerging attitude that albums were worthy of being taken seriously as artistic statements.

Long out-of-print collection "All Day Thumbsucker Revisited," documenting the history of Tommy LiPuma and Bob Krasnow's legendary Blue Thumb Records, is now available as a 2CD set. Label will celebrate 50th anniversary next year.

Long out-of-print collection "All Day Thumbsucker Revisited," documenting the history of Tommy LiPuma and Bob Krasnow's legendary Blue Thumb Records, is now available as a 2CD set. Label will celebrate 50th anniversary next year.

Blue Thumb's expansive musical vision was anthologized on the 1995 label retrospective All Day Thumbsucker Revisited. Today, October 27, Verve Records/UMe is releasing the long-out-of-print collection, originally compiled by Gary Katz, known for his work with Steely Dan, in an updated two-CD edition on the eve of next year's 50th anniversary of Blue Thumb's founding. The first in a projected series of releases to celebrate the revered label, the CD set offers 32 vintage tracks spread across two discs, while the digital edition, due November 10, marks the first time this collection will be available as a digital download and for streaming. In showcasing Blue Thumb's influential artist roster, the album also honors the iconoclastic musical vision of late label founders Bob Krasnow, who died on December 11, 2016, and Tommy LiPuma, who passed away on March 13, 2017.

Danny Bennett, President & CEO of Verve Label Group comments, "With the release of All Day Thumbsucker Revisited, we are so proud to honor Tommy LiPuma and Bob Krasnow by celebrating their Blue Thumb Records legacy and the incredible music they curated, all of which is well represented on this must-have collection."

Blue Thumb Records' diverse artist roster included avant-garde hero Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band (whose rejected band name provided Blue Thumb's handle), Marc Bolan's Tyrannosaurus Rex, soul icons Ike and Tina Turner, hitmakers the Pointer Sisters, retro-swing hipsters Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks, venerable rockers Dave Mason and Leon Russell, psychedelic savants Love, boundary-pushing future star Sylvester, avant-jazz icon Sun Ra, rap progenitors the Last Poets, Gypsy jazz guitarist Gábor Szabó, spoken-word innovator Ken Nordine, British imports Mark-Almond and the Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation, jazz greats the Crusaders, Luis Gasca and Philip Upchurch, and blues legends Albert Collins, John Mayall, Buddy Guy, Junior Wells and Junior Mance—all of whom are featured on All Day Thumbsucker Revisited.

Along with 30 tracks from the original album, the 2017 edition of All Day Thumbsucker Revisited features two additional tracks by Buddy Guy and the Pointer Sisters. In addition to the above-mentioned artists, the album also includes a track by veteran pianist-journalist Ben Sidran, who also provided the original album's liner notes, which are reproduced here in their entirety. 

Bob Krasnow had already been president of the King and Buddah/Kama Sutra labels when he formed Blue Thumb Records in 1968. Recruiting like-minded A&M Records producer Tommy LiPuma and A&M marketing executive Don Graham, Krasnow set out to build a record label that would reflect his own freewheeling sensibility as well as the increasing influence of album-oriented radio.

As Joe Sample of the Crusaders observed, "LiPuma and Krasnow were young and vibrant men with a tremendous love of music. And they also had the expertise to back up that love. And they started signing all kinds of bands. It was the new image in music, and I think it was the best kind of image that we ever had in the music business.

"There was a sense in the air of a lot of adventure," Sample notes. "The music business was making big, major changes; the newfound FM airwaves meant there was suddenly a whole new branch of radio stations that played music that would never be played on an AM station. Blue Thumb was one of the first companies that realized this new set of airwaves was important for music."

Commenting on Blue Thumb's early days, Sidran recalled, "They were running it, literally, out of three rooms. And they were making records that were consciously counter to what was going on. And nobody had done that... Krasnow was going out of his way to do something different."

That "something different" can be heard throughout All Day Thumbsucker Revisited, whose vintage grooves affirm the timeless brilliance of Blue Thumb's enduring musical vision.

ALL DAY THUMBSUCKER REVISITED TRACK LISTING

Disc One

1.   Only You Know and I Know - Dave Mason

2.   The City - Mark-Almond

3.   Put It Where You Want It - The Crusaders

4.   A Song For You - Leon Russell

5.   Stimela (Coaltrain) - Hugh Masekela

6.   By The Light Of Magical Moon - Tyrannosaurus Rex

7.   Yes We Can Can - The Pointer Sisters

8.   Darkness Darkness - Philip Upchurch

9.   Son Of Mirror Man – Mere Man - Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band

10. Sugar on the Line - The Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation

11. Little Mama - Luis Gasca

12. Canned Music - Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks

13. Riffin' (A.K.A. A Motif Is Just A Riff) – Buddy Guy, Junior Wells and Junior Mance

14. I've Been Loving You Too Long - Ike & Tina Turner

15. Fat Jam - Ben Sidran

16. Southern Man - Sylvester and the Hot Band

Disc Two

1.   Delta Lady - Leon Russell

2.   Shiver 'n Shake - Albert Collins

3.   Shouldn't Have Took More Than You Gave - Dave Mason

4.   Blackbird - Bossa Rio

5.   Ride A White Swan - Tyrannosaurus Rex

6.   I Scare Myself - Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks

7.   The Everlasting First - Love

8.   The Frog - Joao Donato

9.   Safe As Milk - Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band

10. Breezin' - Gabor Szabo

11. Sitting on the Outside - John Mayall

12. Images - Sun Ra

13. Bird's Word - The Last Poets

14. Roger - Ken Nordine

15. How Long (Betcha' Got A Chick On The Side) – The Pointer Sisters 

16. So Far Away - The Crusaders

Euge Groove Continues To Groove On With a Little Help With Some Friends Old & New

"I never really know what song is going to come next...thankfully it just comes to me," confides chart-topping saxophonist, composer and producer Euge Groove, who has scored close to a dozen #1 hits on the Contemporary Jazz Charts. A favorite on radio and the international touring circuit, Euge Groove has garnered a devout following with his irresistible mix of danceable grooves, mind-bending hooks, R&B infused melodies and inspired solos. Having collaborated with everyone from Tina Turner Elton John and Bonnie Raitt to Tower of Power and Aaron Neville, Euge Groove is never short on inspiration.  On November 17, 2017, Shanachie Entertainment will release Euge Groove's anticipated eleventh solo recording, Groove On, an exhilarating collection of originals. Euge's latest drives home the multi-instrumentalist's ability to mastermind the perfect mood-drenched set filled with top drawer performances featuring first rate musicians including special guests - guitar wizard Peter White and soul-jazz diva/label mate Lindsey Webster. "I hope my fans hear growth. That is most important to me," shares Euge Groove. "I think if I stop growing as a writer, player, or producer, it's time to quit. I put every drop of heart and soul into each album."

Groove On opens with the enticing, jubilant and free-flowing "Sonnet XI" showcasing Euge Groove's pristine and soaring soprano saxophone lines. Euge also mixes it up on the Hammond B3 (which he does on several tracks). "I actually started playing B3 back in the 90s while on tour with Joe Cocker. I love the sound of the B3. I have a great old B3 at my studio that was a gift from my dad some years ago and I love to use it when I can. I leave the heavy lifting to the experts though. Tim Heinz did a great job on numerous tracks this album." In addition to Heinz, Euge Groove has culled together an A-list cast on Groove On featuring guitarists Peter White and Jabu Smith, vocalist Lindsey Webster, keyboardist Tracy Carter, bassist Cornelius Mims, drummers Trevor Lawrence, Jr. and Dan Needham, percussionist Lenny Castro and string programmers/arrangers Phillipe Saisse and Austin Creek.

A highlight on Groove On is the energized, pulsating and scintillating title track and album's first single, which features Euge on flute and keyboard. "I'm always nervous until I can get that title cut down" confesses the multi-instrumentalist. "It has to be funky and unique for me, but not going too far as to people saying WTH? Once 'Groove On' was written I was like "Yes, I can do this!" Euge also features a high-octane reprise of the single at the end of recording.  The serene and blues-tinged "Free Time" brims with delight as Euge's effervescent soprano leads the way, while the melancholy and pensive "The Healing," is a gorgeous ballad that showcases Euge's stirring tenor alongside the percussive and string magic of Lenny Castro and Phillipe Saisse. Euge explains that the origins of his compositions are fueled by real life experiences. "'The Healing' is a song that came from something I experienced recently. I suffer from anxiety from time to time, and it really reared its ugly head earlier this year. I just miss home so much sometimes on the road that things can get very dark. Mental health is no joke. I am very blessed to have some great professionals to help me make sense of it all and get through those periods. "The Healing" was all about that for me." Euge's beautiful ballad will likely bring peace and healing to many who are blessed to hear his heartfelt offering.

Groove On also features the euphoric and swooning "Round And Round." Euge's signature layering of parts sculpt a magnificent sound collage. The rapturous "Euge One - Oh- One" underscores Euge's penchant for writing sublime melodies and highlights the nylon string guitar of Peter White. "Peter is just my buddy of buddies and I have to have him guest somewhere!" shares Euge who also drops the news that his next project will be a duo album with White. Euge brings the house down with the down home bluesy and soul-drenched number "Last Call." Euge is no doubt testifying as his gorgeous tenor lines and interplay with guitarist Jabu Smith almost stop you in your tracks. "Saturday Afternoon" makes you want to jump to your feet with its cool and swingin' 'steppers vibe' while the tender ballad "Always Love You" offers the album's lone vocal. "Lindsey Webster and I met on New Year's Eve in Germany last year," states Euge Groove. "She has such a great voice and writing style and I kept that in my mind for this project. Lindsey wrote killer lyrics and it all came together quite smoothly."

Euge Groove's musical sensibilities are hard-won. Born Steven Eugene Grove in Hagerstown, Maryland, he grew up in a musical home. His mother played piano and taught the church choir and Euge began his musical pursuits at the age of seven, beginning with piano and adding saxophone at nine. Two saxophonists had a profound effect on his approach to playing. "One was French classical player Marcel Mule, who really defied what the sax was supposed to sound like for me and the other was David Sanborn, who took that sound and brought it into the mainstream world," Euge reminisces. Through the years, Euge's love of Jazz, R&B, Gospel and Blues have all come together to inform his personalized sound.  He explains, "I've listened to everyone from Grover (Washington, Jr.) and Sanborn to (Charlie) Parker and Coltrane, as well as (Michael) Brecker, (Stan) Getz, King Curtis, Jr. Walker, Richard Elliot and Kirk Whalum. The more mature we become the more those influences fuse into something new. A graduate of Miami's School Of Music, Euge launched his professional career in Miami in the mid-80s, playing in salsa bands, Top 40 club bands and doing the occasional high-profile session date like Expose's "Seasons Change," a #1 Billboard AC hit. In 1987 he moved to L.A., wrote a track for Richard Elliot's The Power of Suggestion and Elliot recommended Euge to take over his spot in Tower of Power. Euge toured with TOP for four years, including a year backing Huey Lewis & The News. He went on to record, tour or perform with the likes of Joe Cocker, The Eurythmics, The Gap Band, Elton John, Bonnie Raitt, Aaron Neville and Richard Marx (that's Euge's horn on "Keep Coming Back," a #1 AC hit duet he recorded with Luther Vandross). In 1999, Euge started recording his own material, dubbing himself Euge Groove, and posting his music on the now-defunct MP3.com website; downloading started almost immediately and Euge was soon topping the MP3.com Jazz chart.  He signed soon thereafter with Warner Bros. "Vinyl," his first single from his eponymous Warner Bros. debut, set a record by spending 27 weeks on the R&R charts, eventually ranking #24 for the year. In 2004, Euge Grooves' Narada debut, Livin' Large, spent 68 weeks on the Billboard charts. The title track was the #5 most played song for 2004 on the R&R singles chart. Just Feels Right followed in 2005 and its first single was #1 for two months. There followed in the next decade a string of hit singles and best-selling albums; his hit "Religify" was 'song of the year' in 2007, and his albums S7ven Large and House Of Groove each spawned #1 hits. Got 2 Be Groovin' came in 2014 and 2016 saw the release of Still Euge, which featured the hit title track as well as memorable vocal appearances from Oleta Adams and Rahsaan Patterson.

Euge Groove further asserts himself as a vital force in the continuum of Contemporary Jazz and promises he has no intentions other than to Groove On! "I've really not known anything else. It's been such an amazing run for the last 30 plus years. From the amazing people I've toured in support of to being able to do my own thing, sometimes I'll reflect and just say "wow!" The places I've been and the people I've met..it's like a real life fairy tale at times."

 

NEW RELEASES: MILES BONNY - LET IT OUT; PAT MARTINO - FORMIDABLE; BRIAN BLADE &THE FELLOWSHIP BAND – BODY AND SHADOW

MILES BONNY - LET IT OUT

Beautifully layered vocals, trumpet, and beats from Miles Bonny – a set that reminds us that he's still one of the freshest talents in the contemporary underground! All the tracks here were recorded in KC, but have a future soul sound that can easily rival work on either side of the Atlantic – as Bonny blows his horn over these laidback grooves that are all sweet and spacey around the edges, and cosmically deep in the middle – topped with vocals that are surprisingly soulful, in a way that never tries to do too much – which is really one of their greatest strengths! Beats are by Ta-Ku – and titles include "As You Sleep In My Lap", "The Future's Today", "I'll Be Here For You", "People Going Crazy", and "Welcome To My Arms". ~ Dusty Groove

PAT MARTINO - FORMIDABLE

Formidable is the title of Pat Martino's first studio recording as a bandleader in 11 years and it is an excellent metaphor for the guitarist's fearless and virtuosic playing. Martino grew up in Philadelphia, PA, a musical melting pot where many jazz greats began their journey, so perhaps it's of little surprise that he emerged as one of the most exciting guitar players in the 1960s, having already developed a mature style by the age of 20. Today, the guitarist still plays his instrument with the same fiery enthusiasm that he had as a young player first making his name, having lost none of his talent for furious, daring improvisations, or hard-swinging grooves. Martino's core trio featuring Pat Bianchi and Carmen Intorre, Jr., is here augmented by the fiery saxophone of Adam Niewood and the forceful trumpet of Alex Norris. Martino's excellent choice of sidemen was made evident by the thoughtful communication and sense of fun shared between Martino and his colleagues. 

BRIAN BLADE &THE FELLOWSHIP BAND – BODY AND SHADOW

Brian Blade & The Fellowship Band celebrates a 20-year musical bond with the November 10 release of their sublime fifth album, Body and Shadow, a meditation on lightness/darkness that arrives like a balm for the soul, ebbing and flowing with grace, subtlety and no shortness of beauty. The lead track "Broken Leg Days" is available to stream or download. The Fellowship features Brian Blade (drums), Jon Cowherd (piano), Chris Thomas (bass), Myron Walden (alto saxophone), and Melvin Butler (tenor saxophone), and the album also features the contributes of Dave Devine (guitar).

Drum Legend Simon Phillips To Release “Protocol 4”

Drum legend & producer extraordinaire Simon Phillips will be releasing “Protocol 4” on October 27th on Phantom Recordings, distributed by AMPED™. Simon Phillips is by far one of the world's most renowned and respected drummers, whose style not only reflects his technical gift but also his distinct musical sensibility. Whether it is Rock, Fusion, Jazz or World, Simon applies the same precision and intensity to his drumming, which is never lacking in emotion and feel.

Simon has upped the ante with his newest instrumental recording “Protocol 4.” Building on his past Protocol projects, Simon has again enlisted the highly talented bassist Ernest Tibbs along with Protocol newcomers, the superb veteran guitar shredder Greg Howe and keyboard virtuoso Dennis Hamm. All compositions were written by Simon while on tour.

“The first time I've really been able to concentrate on writing material on the road. Lots of creativity on airplanes and in hotel and backstage dressing rooms,” says Phillips. Perhaps the vibe and energy of touring accounts for the slightly more “metallic edge” to this new album. But, as is always the case, Simon's music defies specific labels as he fuses elements of rock, jazz, funk, classical and even world music into the mix. A case in point being the track “Celtic Run” combining a Celtic rhythmic motif with blazing guitar and synthesizer leads all held together with Phillips signature ultra-tight drumming and Tibbs ever solid bass work. “Passage to Agra” is a rhythmic musical excursion to an exotic foreign land. The tracks “Pentangle” and “Solitaire” both contain some super funky grooves underlying jaw dropping metallic jazz/rock soloing. Greg Howe's guitar work shines throughout the recording, perhaps no more so than the plaintive and anthem-like track “Phantom Voyage.” Dennis Hamm's keyboard work is stunning on each and every track, whether he's soloing or adding lush orchestration. The album concludes with the monster high energy fusion track “Azorez.”

In addition to awesome musicianship, Simon's impeccable production and recording technique shine once more on this album. “Protocol 4” is certain to please longstanding Simon Phillips aficionados and is certain to also bring new Protocol fans into the fold.

Simon Phillips (Drums) - To date Simon Phillips has toured and recorded with many bands and artists, including: Mick Jagger, The Who, Jeff Beck, Jack Bruce, Peter Gabriel, Joe Satriani, Tears for Fears, Judas Priest, Roxy Music, Michael Schenker, Nik Kershaw, Al DiMeola, 801, Pete Townshend, Robert Palmer, Mike Oldfield, Stanley Clarke, The Pretenders, Whitesnake and Dave Gilmore... to name but a few. Expanding his career from drumming to composing, Simon recorded his first solo album “Protocol” in 1988, followed by a live album, “Force Majeure,” in 1992. During that year he joined Toto on their Kingdom Of Desire tour of the World, the start of a 21 year collaboration. He recorded his third solo album, “Symbiosis,” in 1995 and “Another Lifetime” in 1997. “Out of the Blue,” a live album, followed in 1998 and in 1999 he released “Vantage Point,” which is a pure, straight ahead jazz album in collaboration with pianist Jeff Babko. Yet another expansion to Simon's musical career is producing and engineering, which he first started back in England with British composer Mike Oldfield, working on three albums with him. Aside from his solo projects, Simon also co-produced several albums by Toto. In 2009 he formed PSP with Philippe Saisse and Pino Palladino. A live CD and an EP was produced and tours of Europe and Japan in 2011 & 2012.  In 2010 he joined Michael Schenker for a short tour of Japan and performed with Trilok Gurtu and the NDR Big Band for an amazing project resulting in the “21 Spices” CD. That year Simon was approached by Japanese virtuoso pianist Hiromi to form “The Trio Project” together with bass legend Anthony Jackson. The trio has recorded four CDs: “Voice,” “Move,” “Alive” and “Spark” and has been touring throughout the World the past 6 years. 25 years after his first solo recording, Simon released “Protocol II” featuring Andy Timmons (Guitar), Steve Weingart (Keys) and Ernest Tibbs (Bass). The band, under the name of “Protocol II,” toured in Europe, the US and Japan. At the beginning of 2014 “Protocol III” was recorded and tours of Europe, Japan and the US followed. And now much to the excitement of Simon Phillips fans worldwide, the new CD, “Protocol 4,” will be released on October 27th!

Ernest Tibbs (Bass) – Ernest has worked with Natalie Cole, Dionne Warwick, Gladys Knight (musical Madam Lilly), James Ingram, Melba Moore, Eloise Laws, and Debra Laws. Ernest has also toured and/or performed with Allan Holdsworth, Simon Phillips, Dean Brown, Harvey Mason, Scott Henderson, Andy Summers, Jeff Richman, Thom Rotella, David Benoit, David Garfield, Phil Upchurch, Dan Segal, Tom Scott, Eric Marienthal, Brian Auger, Ronnie Laws, Jeff Lorber, Gregg Karukas, Kevin Toney, Pat Kelley, Lee Ritenour, John Pisano, Brian Bromberg, Brandon Fields, Norman Brown, Russian Pop Star Alsou, as well as symphony orchestras in San Francisco, Atlanta, and Los Angeles.

Greg Howe (Guitar) - Greg has collaborated with artists such as Dennis Chambers, Victor Wooten, Richie Kotzen, Jason Becker, Billy Sheehan, Stu Hamm, Simon Phillips, Marco Minneman, John Wetton, Dave Weckl, Bernie Worrell, Gregg Rolie, Eddie Jobson, and many others. He's also made a name for himself as a stellar sideman and session musician with artists like Michael Jackson, Justin Timberlake, Christina Aguilera, Rihanna, Enrique Iglesias, and many more. Greg Howe endorses: DV Mark Amps, Kiesel Guitars, D'Addario Strings, Seymour Duncan Pickups, and Carl Martin Pedals.

Dennis Hamm (Keyboards) - Currently he can be seen on tour around the world performing with Thundercat (Stephen Bruner), Flying Lotus (Captain Murphy), Larry Carlton, Jonathan Butler, and Virgil Donati. Recent past tours and performances include Allan Holdsworth, Chris Cornell, Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds, Ryan Leslie, John Densmore (The Doors), Bilal, and Judith Hill (Michael Jackson). Other artists he has performed or recorded with are Kenny Loggins, Pete Escovedo, Will Kennedy & Jimmy Haslip (The Yellowjackets), Walter Smith III, Jojo Mayer, Ronald Bruner Jr., Cliff Almond, Frank Gambale, Hadrien Feraud, Jimmy Johnson, Janek Gwizdala, Bob Reynolds, Marcus Belgrave, Tony Macalpine, Mike Miller, Thomas Pridgen, Sheila E, Justo Almario, Tony Royster Jr., Melvin Davis, Jimmy Branly, Brian Bromberg, Renee Olstead, Carlitos del Puerto, Sandro Albert, Buck Owens' “Buckaroos”, Monty Byrom, The Smokin' Armadillos, and his own original projects including funk/jazz group Mother Funk Conspiracy featuring L.A. saxophonist Zane Musa.

Protocol European & US Tour 2017

Simon's new band will be on tour promoting “Protocol 4” starting October 26th.

October 26, 2017 Zug CH Theatrer Casino Zug

October 27, 2017 Verona IT Theatro Ristori

October 28, 2017 San Dona Di Piave IT Revolver Club

October 29, 2017 Rome IT Crossroads

October 30, 2017 Bologna IT Bravo Caffe

October 31, 2017 Bologna IT Bravo Caffe

November 2, 2017 Waidhoen AD Ybbs AT Plenkersaal

November 3, 2017 Katovice PL NOP SR

November 4, 2017 Krakow PL Club TBA

November 6, 2017 Vienna AT Porgy & Bess

November 8, 2017 Buhl DE Jazztival

November 9, 2017 Ravensburg DE Trans4Jazz

November 10, 2017 Reichenburg DE Bergkeller

November 11, 2017 Munster DE Jovel

November 13, 2017 Hobro DK Bil Forretningen

November 14, 2017 Kolding DK Godset

November 15, 2017 Copenhagen DK Amager Bio

November 16, 2017 Oslo NO Cosmopolite

November 17, 2017 Larvik NO Bolgen Kulturhus

November 18, 2017 Gothenburg SE Nefertiti

November 19, 2017 Stockholm SE Fasching

November 20, 2017 London UK Ronnie Scott's

November 21, 2017 London UK Ronnie Scott's

November 23, 2017 Hasbergen DE Masterclass

November 24, 2017 Hasbergen DE Gaste Garage

November 25, 2017 Hasbergen DE Gaste Garage

November 26, 2017 Zoetermeer NL De Boerderij

November 27, 2017 Hengelo NL Metropol

November 28, 2017 Verviers BE Spirit Of 66

November 29, 2017 Aschaffenburg DE Colos-Saal

November 30, 2017 Tallinn EE Russian Cultural Cnt

December 1, 2017 Rorschach CH Jazzclub Rorschach

December 2, 2017 Lichtenstein LI Little Big Beat Studios

December 4, 2017 New York City NY Iridium

December 5, 2017 New York City NY Iridium

December 6, 2017 New Hope PA Havana

December 8, 2017 Chicago IL Reggie's

December 9, 2017 Chicago IL Reggie's

December 10, 2017 Detroit MI Jazz Café @ Music Hall

December 12, 2017 Hollywood CA Catalina's Bar & Grill

December 13, 2017 Hollywood CA Catalina's Bar & Grill

December 14, 2017 Santa Cruz CA Kuumbwa Jazz Center

December 18, 2017 Oakland CA Yoshi's

Three Multiplatinum Lionel Richie Solo Albums To Be Released On Vinyl Worldwide December 8 By Motown/UMe

On December 8, Motown/UMe will release three historic albums on vinyl from one of the most successful solo artists in Pop/R&B crossover history, Lionel Richie. This mega-platinum album triple-play — 1982's Lionel Richie, 1983's Can't Slow Down, and 1985's Dancing On The Ceiling — sealed the recent Kennedy Center Honoree's legacy as one of the most popular singer/songwriters of the modern era, in the wake of his 1982 departure from the lineup of one of Motown's biggest artists of the Seventies, the Commodores. 

Lionel Richie's singular blend of songwriting artistry and catchy, singalong hooks has long defied genre-labeling, propelling his mass appeal to fans of R&B, soul, pop and country alike, and leading to his amassing more than 100 million album sales to date. Over the course of these three albums, Richie garnered four No. 1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 ("Truly," "All Night Long (All Night)," "Hello," "Say You, Say Me") and a dozen Top 10 singles overall on the Pop, R&B, and Adult Contemporary charts alike.

Lionel Richie (1982) is the quadruple-platinum release that announced Richie was more than capable of connecting with millions of fans both new and old with his name appearing alone on the marquee. Alongside co-producer James Anthony Carmichael, whom he had previously worked with while in the Commodores, Richie crafted the template for his Eighties success via the emotional weight behind the chart-topping ballad "Truly," the upbeat horn-driven accents on the chorus of "You Are," and the overall vocal panache on "My Love," which also featured background vocals from a favored collaborator, Kenny Rogers. (Richie wrote Rogers's massive 1980 #1 crossover hit, "Lady.")

Can't Slow Down (1983) continued the Richie juggernaut, ultimately achieving Diamond status by selling more than 10 million copies. Again co-produced with Carmichael, Can't Slow Down's first #1 single, "All Night Long (All Night)," broadened Richie's appeal with an undeniable Caribbean-flavored hook, while the heartfelt chart-topping piano ballad "Hello" also benefitted from an iconic video directed by Bob Giraldi. The infectiously grooving "Running With The Night" also sported an electrifying guitar solo by Toto's Steve Lukather. Meanwhile, "Stuck On You" spotlighted the artist's emerging country leanings that eventually peaked with his platinum-selling 2012 offering, Tuskegee. That album, named after the town in Alabama Richie was born in, featured 14 down-home reworkings of his hits as highlighted by collaborations with contemporary country artists including Blake Shelton, Jason Aldean, and Kenny Chesney.

Dancing On The Ceiling (1985) completed Richie's 1980s chart-success trifecta with Carmichael by his side in the co-producer's chair, achieving quadruple-platinum status while also supplying another slew of major hits. The title track's colorful, kinetic video contains an homage to Fred Astaire's iconic ceiling-dancing moves in 1951's Royal Wedding. "Love Will Conquer All" marked Richie's tenth appearance at the top of the Adult Contemporary chart. And the #1 ballad "Say You, Say Me," originally written for White Nights, a Cold War thriller starring Mikhail Baryshnikov and Gregory Hines, won Richie a well-deserved Academy Award® for Best Original Song.

International superstar Lionel Richie has a discography of albums and singles that are second to none. His music is part of the fabric of pop music; in fact, Richie is one of only two songwriters in history to achieve the honor of having #1 records for nine consecutive years. With more than 100 million albums sold worldwide, an Oscar®, a Golden Globe®, four Grammy Awards®, the distinction of MusicCares person of the year in 2016, and Kennedy Center Honoree in 2017, the Tuskegee, Alabama native is a true music icon.  Lionel recently joined the judges' panel for the 2017/2018 season of American Idol.

Lionel Richie is known for his mega-hits such as "Endless Love," "Lady," "Truly," "All Night Long," "Penny Lover," "Stuck on You," "Hello," "Say You, Say Me," "Dancing on the Ceiling," and one of the most important pop songs in history, "We Are the World," written with Michael Jackson for USA for Africa. His song catalog also includes his early work with The Commodores, where he developed a groundbreaking style that defied genre categories, penning smashes such as "Three Times a Lady," "Still," and "Easy."

Richie launched his Las Vegas headlining residency show, Lionel Richie—All the Hits, at The AXIS at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in April 2016. In an unforgettable evening featuring his brightest and best anthems which have defined the music icon's unparalleled career, Richie takes his fans on a spectacular musical journey, performing a variety of his seminal hits.

With his most recent All the Hits, All Night Long Tour, Richie sold out arenas worldwide with a set list of his brightest and best anthems. In recent years, he also headlined festivals including Bonnaroo, Outside Lands, and Glastonbury, drawing the festival's biggest crowd ever with more than 200,000 attendees.

Celebrating Minnie Riperton's 70th birthday, 'Perfect Angel: Deluxe Edition,' the definitive two-CD version of her breakthrough album co-produced by Stevie Wonder

Minnie Riperton, the singer with a distinctively high upper vocal range, topped the charts around the world in 1975 with "Lovin' You," one of the period's most distinctive and iconic hits. But the song only scratches the surface of Riperton's remarkable musical career, which began in her teens and ended prematurely with her untimely passing in 1979, at the age of 31. And it's only one facet of the extraordinary album from which it emerged, Perfect Angel.

 Minnie's many facets are explored on Perfect Angel: Deluxe Edition, to be released as a 2-CD set, and in standard digital and 96k/24-bit high-resolution audio formats, by UMe on December 1, in celebration of the singer's 70th birthday. This set brings home the fact that, though not known at the time for contractual reasons, the original album is essentially a collaboration with Stevie Wonder, who: co-produced the album with Minnie's husband Richard Rudolph; arranged the tracks with his band, Wonderlove; played keyboards, harmonica and drums; and wrote two songs. The set offers an excellent representation of Riperton's interpretive gifts and remarkable talent, all the more extraordinary for Wonder's contributions, which were made while he was winning GRAMMY® awards for Talking Book and Innervisions, and working on another LP, Fulfillingness' First Finale, which featured Minnie as a background vocalist on that album's "Creepin'" and was eventually issued just weeks after Perfect Angel in the summer of 1974. Wonder, a Taurean, was credited on Perfect Angel as "El Toro Negro"—the Black Bull.

"Minnie was my dear friend," said Stevie Wonder. "She was an extraordinary, vibrant person with an extra-special voice. I was a big fan of hers before we met and it was my honor to produce the album with Minnie and her husband Richard. Minnie had a positive energy that radiated throughout these sessions and throughout the rest of her life. When Minnie lived, she lived. She continues to live through this release."

"The whole experience was a total surreal experience and a pure joy from start to finish," Richard Rudolph now says of the making of Perfect Angel.  "Working with Stevie Wonder in that intimate setting really was more that just a dream come true. And you can feel the 'wonder' throughout the entire album," Rudolph continues. "Minnie would be overjoyed to know that her music continues to touch people's lives."

Perfect Angel: Deluxe Edition includes 11 bonus tracks to the remastered original album, making in essence an alternate, extended version of Perfect Angel. Included is a duet version of "Take A Little Trip" with Stevie Wonder; an acoustic version of "Seeing You This Way;" and an alternate take of "Lovin' You," notable for its backing by the Wonderlove band, as the hit single version only used Rudolph on guitar and Wonder on keyboards. The seven-inch single version, with a synth overdub, plus a countdown by Rudolph not on the original, is also included. A bonus to the alternate LP is a 'Perfect Angel version' of "Don't Let Anyone Bring You Down," with Wonder playing most of the instruments, along with Hubert Laws on flute. The song was re-recorded with a different producer and band for Minnie's follow-up album, Adventures In Paradise.

Other cuts extend well past the LP's original fadeouts. They feature extraordinary solos and jams by Wonder and his band members, who were 20-year-old Michael Sembello and Marlo Henderson on guitars, Reggie McBride on bass and Ollie Brown on drums, with guests Sneaky Pete Kleinow on pedal steel guitar and percussionist Rocky Dzidzornu. On background vocals with Minnie are Wonderlove vocalists Deniece Williams, a future solo star, Lani Groves and Shirley Brewer, and the songwriter Yvonne Wright.

Also included is a 24-page booket with rare photos and extensive liner notes by Richard Rudolph that take the listener inside the album-making experience. Rudolph also comments on the story behind the album's "ice cream and coveralls" cover shot by Barry Feinstein, who was known for his Bob Dylan images and the LP covers for Janis Joplin's Pearl, Eric Clapton's solo debut and George Harrison's All Things Must Pass, among others.

Minnie Riperton began her musical career as a teenager at the legendary Chess Records, where she worked as a receptionist, sang on sessions by Etta James and the Dells, and made her own records with The Gems and under the pseudonym Andrea Davis. She later achieved wider recognition with the eclectic psychedelic-soul combo Rotary Connection. Before going solo in 1970, Minnie met Richard Rudolph, with whom she not only wrote songs but produced two children, Marc, an independent entrepeneur, and Maya, an actress renowned for her work on Saturday Night Live, Bridesmaids, Away We Go, The Maya and Marty Show on NBC and much, much more. "Lovin' You," in fact, was originally written as a lullaby to the children and at the end of the LP version, you can hear Minnie softly singing "Maya, Maya."

Riperton was diagnosed with breast cancer a little more than a year after the worldwide success of "Lovin' You" and Perfect Angel. In addition to treatments, she completed three more well-received albums—Adventures In Paradise, Stay In Love and Minnie—before succumbing to the illness on July 12, 1979; Capitol Records, which acquired her catalog, issued Love Lives Forever, featuring duets with Michael Jackson, George Benson, Roberta Flack, et al, posthumously in 1980.

Upon Minnie's untimely passing, Richard Rudolph created The Minnie Riperton Fund for breast and woman's cancers at the Los Angeles based Concern Foundation for cancer research to continue the battle against this tragic illness that took her from us at such an early age. Donations in support of The Minnie Riperton Fund, provides essential funding to the early stage of discovery within the laboratory of the most promising cancer immunotherapies for patients. This work has laid the foundation for nearly every major cancer immunotherapy breakthrough over the past half-century.  For more information on The Minnie Riperton Fund, go here.

Minnie would have been 70 years old on November 8, 2017, and there's no better way to celebrate this milestone than with this special edition of her most beloved album.

New Film on Grammy Award-Winning Jazz Legend Arturo Sandoval in Production

A new documentary on legendary jazz trumpeter Arturo Sandoval is currently in production. Filmmaker Francisco J. Ricardo, director of F For Franco, is directing the film, inspired by Arturo's energy and dedication to his craft.

  

Few musicians flee their country to follow their passion. With the help of his great friend Dizzy Gillespie, jazz trumpeter and composer Arturo Sandoval made a daring escape from Cuba with his family to the US to continue his dream of being a musician, free from the jailable "offense" that was jazz. Sandoval has won multiple Grammys, scored films, and is a recipient of the 2013 Presidential Medal of Freedom. Since his defection, Arturo has gone on to carve his unique path of performance – playing trumpet, piano, composing, and teaching. Through conversations, concerts, and memories, Ricardo explores the music in the man through his history, philosophy, and dedication.

Arturo Sandoval: Heart and Music features Arturo Sandoval (Keep On Keepin' On), with special appearances by Andy Garcia (Ocean's Eleven, The Godfather Part III), Quincy Jones (Keep On Keepin On, The Color Purple), Frank Mancuso, Sr. ( Former CEO of Paramount and MGM), Tim Wilkins (Jazz Historian), Rob Simon (President, Windsor Jewelers, Past conductor, Piedmont Wind Symphony).

Francisco J. Ricardo is a musician, philosopher, author, and art theorist. He holds two degrees from Harvard and a Ph.D. from Boston University (Ph.D Humanities Computing). Dr. Ricardo met Sandoval in late 2012.

Arturo Sandoval: Heart and Music is produced by Adrienne Chamberlin, and edited by Nina Hasin, Adam Greenberg, and R.J. Placko.

The Lewis Porter and Phil Scarff Group escort listeners to exotic music destination on Three Minutes To Four

Home base is contemporary jazz, but after that, who knows where it goes?  With a lineup like this one – Lewis Porter (piano); Phil Scarff (saxophones); John Funkhouser (string bass) and Bertram Lehmann (drums) – all bets are off.  Chances are good that the music on Three Minutes to Four will take listeners to destinations unknown.  And that’s a very good thing.

Pianist, composer, educator, and author Lewis Porter; long known as a jazz educator at Rutgers-Newark, formerly Tufts and Brandeis, and as the author of books including the celebrated volume of John Coltrane, is active as a pianist and composer.  He has performed or recorded across the USA and Europe with Dave Liebman, Wycliffe Gordon, Ravi Coltrane, Marc Ribot, and many others.  Saxophonist and composer Phill Scarff peforms Indian classical music and jazz, and leads the acclaimed world-jazz ensemble, Natrzj, which has performed domestically and in India, Ghana, and elsewhere.  He has shared the spotlight with icons of Indian classical music including saxophone great Kadri Gopalnath, Chitravina Ravikiran, Shashank, and Trichy Sankaran, as well as African master drummers Godwin Agbeli and Abrubakari Lunna.

Bertram Lehmann’s supple drumming makes him highly sought after in a variety of idioms.  He has worked with Paquito D’Rivera, Liebman, Randy Brecker, Danilo Perez, and Claudio Roditi, among others.  John Funkhouser has performed with Grammy nominees Luciana Souza and Tierney Sutton, Steve Gadd, Abe Laboriel Sr., Max Weinberg and many others.  Clearly, the quartet comprises an illustrious bunch, and they have a chance to earn further laurels on Three Minutes to Four.

“The core of our music is contemporary jazz but we also incorporate a diverse range of influences from other sources, most notably Indian classical music, modern Western classical music, and Ghanaian music,” says Phil Scarff, helping to explain the band’s general direction.  “Several of the pieces have their basis in ragas; in some we have employed contemporary Western classical compositional techniques, such as 12-tone rows and fractals.”

What helps the most is hearing those explorations on CD and live.  Together, literally and figuratively, Scarff and pianist Lewis Porter venture to many places.  They have performed and recorded around the world, as have their accompanists.  In return, and as an immense favor to all of those who hear it, they’ve created music that takes listerners to almost as many unique destinations.  The Lewis Porter-Phil Scarff Group is fresh, east-meets-west jazz, where rage merges with western classical, where Ghanaian traditional fuses with improvisational, and where organic neets studied.  Three Minutes to Four is where stunning performance creates pure jazz excitement.  It is at once deeply felt and eminently accessible, a glorious celebration of musical multiculturalism filtered through a prism of real jazz.

NEW RELEASES: ERIC ROBERSON – FIRE; ANCESTRAL ALLIANCES – IN THE TRADITION; IKEBE SHAKEDOWN – WAY HOME

ERIC ROBERSON – FIRE

Elemental genius from Eric Roberson – an artist who's already touched on Earth and Wind with previous records, but who's really on fire with this sweet little set! As with the others in the series, the album's an EP – but the 8 tracks here are even deeper than most longer albums you'd get from any other artist – and continue as proof that Roberson is easily one of the greatest soul singers of the 21st Century – even though his genius comes without any help from anyone else! By that, we mean that when the record companies turned their backs on Eric two decades ago, he went on to make incredible soul records that were better than anything else they were putting out – a legacy that's continued well into the present, as Roberson just keeps on getting better and better as both a singer and songwriter, and works here with a sense of presentation that's simply stunning. Wonderful throughout – uplifting, positive, and downright soulful – with tracks that include "Slave Owners", "Tamir", "Everything", "Show That", "Love Is All That Matters", "Leave The Door Open", and "More Than Stars".  ~ Dusty Groove

ANCESTRAL ALLIANCES – IN THE TRADITION

Fantastic sounds from this ultra-hip Detroit ensemble – a contemporary group, but one whose musical message takes us back to the sounds of older acts like Fertile Ground or Oneness Of Juju! As with both of those groups, the style here mixes jazz with a wider sense of message and purpose – music that soars out to the skies with pride and positive energy, while also offering a deeper, more introspective conception of its role and power in culture. Tracks are instrumental and vocal – and the double-length album has nary a slow moment at all – as the group burst forth in a warm array of percussion and horns – sometimes a bit funky, always quite spiritual throughout. Olujimi Tafataona arranged, produced, and provided creative vision – and titles include his own "We Cry Freedom", "Stephen", "Brother Chokwe Lumumba", "War Is Here", "Assata", and "Fantasy For Violin & Four Winds" – plus versions of Lee Morgan's "Caramba", Jimmy Heath's "Gemini", John Coltrane's "The Sleeper", Wayne Shorter's "Footprints", and the Kool & The Gang classic "Chocolate Buttermilk". ~ Dusty Groove

IKEBE SHAKEDOWN – WAY HOME

A fantastic album from this increasingly hip combo – a group who were already pretty darn funky at their start, but who've just kept on moving into really amazing territory over the years! The sound here is maybe the equivalent of the depth and shifts that El Michels brought to the deep funk underground – a new fusion of elements, and a way of playing the sonic field that helps the group divorce their style from its roots, and make it very much their own sound in the process! Sure, there's elements of 70s styles – Afro Funk, funky jazz, and instrumental soul – but the overall presentation is inflected with all these really unusual sounds and colors, and cool currents of darkness that show an increasing understanding of the sonic possibilities of familiar instrumentation. Don't worry, things are still plenty funky throughout, but also very individual too – on titles that include "She's Knocking", "Assassin", "Brushfire", "Penny The Switch", "Blue Giant", "Supermoon", "Shifting Sands", and "Where The Day Breaks". ~ Dusty Groove

Smooth Jazz Artist Delyn Releases EP Now Or Never‏

For musical artist, Delyn, the quote, "Stand for something or fall for anything," is more than just a quote passed down from generations past. It is reflective of who she is as an artist and as a person. From her inspiring lyrics and music to her charitable giving and acts of kindness, Delyn aspires to make a difference anyway that she can.

Born De Anna Lyn, Delyn grew up listening to a variety of musical artists spanning many genres, including Stevie Nicks, Journey and Prince. She says, "It is the duty of any musical artist to widen their musical spectrum by listening to artists outside of their preferred genre. Inspiration comes from many places."

A native from Baltimore, Maryland, Delyn began singing and writing songs in her early teens. In regards to her songwriting process, she says that a melody is usually how her songs are born. Next, she works out the chords on acoustic guitar and then collaborates with a producer. She also collaborates with other producers via topline writing. Delyn’s sound is smooth and soulful with an added measure of funk. Her low range lends itself to funk-inspired tunes, while her high range demonstrates a proclivity toward pop and jazz-inspired songs.

Although Delyn is known to write and record songs that have a jazzy, r&b vibe, she is known to color outside of the lines, musically speaking. For example, she has recorded background vocals for indie artists, Beyond Atlantic, a jazz/rock/pop band, as well as, Melba, a jazz/funk-inspired group.

Delyn has achieved the above collaborations, as well as numerous others, via the Internet. Many artists she has met via SoundCloud and similar websites. She is an avid fan of global music collaboration and through this process has had the opportunity to be involved with musical projects and exemplary musicians that she would have otherwise never been exposed.

In terms of inspirations, Delyn names Sade. She says of the artist, "I love the class and style that Sade brings to the music game. I also love her distinctive and timeless sound that only she possesses." Additionally, Delyn names Adele, Alicia Keys and Lauryn Hill as artists she adores.

Delyn’s first EP, Now or Never, via Symphonic Distribution. Written and produced by Delyn and German-born producer, Burnt Will, the EP is a brief collection of lyrically-inspiring tunes, fused with smooth jazz and funk overtones.

At the end of the day, Delyn strives to write songs that touch and inspire the souls of those who listen. Her aim in this world is to “do good and be good.” If music is one way that she can achieve this, all the better. Currently, Delyn is creating new music and seeking licensing opportunities.