GIANT STEPS MUSIC ANNOUNCES SOPHOMORE ALBUM: MUSIC ACTION COLLECTIVE – WHAT IF – TO BE RELEASED ON MARCH 8, 2018

Giant Steps Music, the San Francisco based organization where musical and social innovation collide, is back with the release of their sophomore album, What If. The album is slated for release on March 8, which also marks International Women’s Day.

What If is the result of Giant Steps’ Music Action Lab 2.0 that took place in the Fall of 2017 throughout the Bay Area, with the monthlong program ending in Ixtapa, Mexico. The Music Action Lab is an innovative residency uniting musicians from around the world to create social impact music, and to nurture the next generation of musical change makers.

Music Action Lab 2.0 featured nine musicians across the globe including GRAMMY-nominated drummer and founder of an ecocultural nonprofit (Ernesto “Matute” Lopez), an award-winning percussionist and global TED Fellow from Kenya (Kasiva Mutua), an Oberlin and Juilliard-trained cellist whose work as a global music educator has included work in Afghanistan, Iraq, Turkmenistan and El Salvador (Avery Waite), a cultural catalyst and multi-instrumentalist bandleader bringing Turks and Armenians together (Sevana Tchakerian), a semifinalist in the EuroVision contest (Rona Nishliu), a Sony Records recording artist alum and jazz saxophonist and composer (James Brandon Lewis), a Tanzanian multi-instrumentalist/percussionist (Kauzeni Lyamba), a Japanese-American pianist and flautist (Erika Oba), and California native and bassist (Chris Bastian). Full biographies of each member can be found at http://bit.ly/GSmac2-bios

Drew Foxman, the founder and executive producer of Giant Steps Music adds, “The primary inspiration behind the release is the unique and diverse talents of this year’s collective that joined the Lab for its second season to catalyze our mission to build a global community of musicians that create music to advance social change. Facilitated by leaders in the music and social impact industries, our collective gained insight, skills, and tools in a month-long curriculum that informs the creation of the music.” In one month of workshops and rehearsals dedicated to advancing social causes as part of the Music Action Lab, the Collective created a suite of eight original compositions and arrangements on the album What If that address issues of gender inequality, human rights, neocolonialism, and more.

The title of the album What If captures the heart of this release—addressing and exploring disparity and injustice through the lenses of gender and women, human rights, and water, while bringing across a message of inspiration by calling listeners to actively participate in ending injustice.

It is no coincidence that the album’s release day is on “International Women’s Day.” The lead off track “Overlooked” is an upbeat, uplifting representation of women in society—and the courage, strength, and resolve to face the indignity of discrimination and inequity with power and grace. Other timely and socially conscious themes run throughout the album. For example, the track “Monuments” builds over a haunting jazz-inspired groove that challenges the concepts of monuments as a physical structure, cautioning the celebration of war and violence over the fragility and transience of life, while “Agua” is a love song to water, our most precious resource on earth that calls listeners to treat it as if she were our mother, lover, spouse, or friend.

The title track “What If” is inspired by the global human rights framework and the UN Declaration of Human Rights. “What If” is a call to each and every one of us to actively work, support, defend, uphold, and persevere to protect the fundamental rights of all. This melodic ballad integrates spoken word in the spirit of African-American civil rights leaders to both point to the possibilities of fulfilling the human rights mandate—while freely revealing its shortcomings without a legal mandate to uphold it. “New Babylon” (for Delasi) is a tribute to Ghanaian rapper Delasi Nunana, who was refused entry to the U.S. after his selection to the Music Action Collective. “New Babylon” speaks to the inequities intrinsic to the nation-state system, and the inequality between the rich and developing countries, the global North and the global South. The song “Right Again” was created in a workshop with incarcerated men in San Francisco Jail #5, as part of the Music Action Lab global music residency, while “Kesaule (live)” is a traditional folk harvest song from Tanzania that is a percussive, upbeat, uplifting celebration of people working together as community to create safe, vibrant relationships and ways of living in unity. The song was recorded live from the Collective’s debut performance at Ashkenaz World Music Center in Berkeley, CA.

Although the Music Action Collective’s debut album Foundation received critical acclaim from The Huffington Post, KQED, and Jazz Weekly, What If takes the structure built from the first sessions and builds upon it. Foxman concludes, “The artistry is on a whole other level as we’ve grown up from our pilot season. This is less a compilation of songs from musicians around the world than it is a cohesive statement on rights and justice from the participating members who have come together to create a unified and quite unique sound. It fits nicely into our catalog since it touches universal social justice topics of rights.”

What If – Track Listing

Overlooked

Monuments

New Babylon (for Delasi)

Agua

What If

Kesaule (live)

Right Again

Utamaduni

Bassist MARTIN WIND Releases a Milestone Recording With LIGHT BLUE

Laika Records (Germany) will release Martin Wind's LIGHT BLUE today, March 2, 2018. The recording, his 20th as a leader or co-leader, features old friends: Anat Cohen (clarinet), Ingrid Jensen (trumpet), Matt Wilson (drums), Scott Robinson (multi-reeds), Bill Cunliffe (piano), Gary Versace (piano, organ), Duduka DaFonseca (drums) and Maucha Adnet (vocals). There are milestones in a musician's career, and life for that matter, which pass without acknowledgement. What with rehearsals, travel, and recording sessions, a busy professional rarely has the opportunity to note a watershed moment. With the realization of his latest release LIGHT BLUE, Martin Wind registers the significance of this moment in time. This recording comes some twenty-five years after recording his first release as a leader, Gone With The Wind (September Records), twenty years since he recorded in New York, Family (A Records), and LIGHT BLUE is being released shortly before he turns fifty. Since that initial outing, Wind has released another 18 albums as a leader or co-leader and he has become one of New York's most in-demand bassists.

Wind recorded LIGHT BLUE with engineer Matt Balitsaris at Maggie's Farm in April 2017 in between a myriad of gigs including backing singers Dena DeRose and Ann Hampton Callaway, Ted Rosenthal's Monk Project, showcasing his quartet in Los Angeles, and performing with Pat Metheny and Matt Wilson at the Wichita Jazz Festival. The remainder of the year found him touring with Matt Wilson's "Big Happy Family" (performing Honey And Salt, the poetry of Carl Sandburg), presenting Schubert's "Trout Quintet" and the premiere of his composition "Looking Back" with the American Chamber Ensemble, and performing George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" with Ted Rosenthal and Phoenix Symphony. Somehow he also found time to tour with his partner, the legendary Belgian guitarist Philip Catherine.

LIGHT BLUE is actually two recordings. Side A: LIGHT features the Martin Wind Quintet with Scott Robinson, Ingrid Jensen, Gary Versace, and Matt Wilson, all musicians Wind has performed with on an almost continual basis. Wilson and Jensen can be heard on Wind's very first New York recording, and the bassist is a member of the drummer's quartet Arts & Crafts, as is Versace. Robinson has been a member of the Martin Wind Quartet since it's inception in 2007. Side B: BLUE is a new group of old friends called, "De Norte a Sul". This group shares multi-instrumentalist Robinson with LIGHT. Cohen and Wind formed the group NY3 with Wilson in 2014, and besides performing Brazilian music with Maucha Adnet and Duduka DaFonseca, Wind's son and their daughters have become great friends. This is the first time Wind's music has included a vocalist and lyrics written for his compositions. Adnet maneuvers the Brazilian-favored Portuguese and English lyrics with a remarkable beauty.

Besides being a master musician, Wind penned the ten compositions heard on LIGHT BLUE. There are seven new pieces and three that are new versions of some of his "classic" compositions, such as "10 Minute Song" and "Cruise Blues," both from his quartet recording Salt 'N Pepper (2008), and "A Sad Story" from Gone With the Wind (1993). His skills as an arranger are evident here, as they were on the critically acclaimed Turn Out The Stars (What If? Music, 2014), on which Wind performed music written or inspired by pianist Bill Evans with his quartet, plus the Orchestra Filarmonica Marchigiana.

The artist was born in Flensburg, Germany in 1968 and he took third place in the International Thelonious Monk Bass Competition in 1995. In 1996 he moved to New York. He earned a master's degree in jazz composition and performance in 1998 from New York University and now is on the faculty at NYU and Hofstra University. He performs solo, in duo with Philip Catherine and Ulf Meyer, leads his own quartet, and is a member Matt Wilson's Arts & Crafts, Bill Cunliffe Trio, Bill Mays Trio, Dena DeRose Trio, and many others. He has also performed and/or recorded with the following artists: Guidon Kremer, Christoph Eschenbach, Mstislav Rostopowitch, Lalo Schifrin, Monty Alexander, Pat Metheny, Clark Terry, Mark Murphy, Slide Hampton, Toots Thielemans, Buddy DeFranco, The Metropole Orchestra, Radio Big Bands Cologne, Hamburg, Frankfurt and Berlin, Michael Brecker, Randy Brecker, Eddie Daniels, Curtis Fuller, Phil Woods, Bud Shank, Johnny Griffin, Bucky Pizzarelli, Mike Stern, Larry Goldings, Johnny Mandel, Frank Wess, James Moody, Hank Jones, John Scofield, Sting, Ann Hampton Callaway, Michel Legrand, Mulgrew Miller, Ken Peplowski, Anat Cohen, Benny Green, Vanguard Jazz Orchestra and others.

Vocalinst HILARY KOLE release new single WITHOUT YOU

Since launching her performing career as the youngest singer ever to grace the stage at NYC’s legendary Rainbow Room, Hilary Kole has conquered the hearts of jazz fans throughout the world with her intimate piano and vocal performances, themed shows with her jazz ensemble and special concert hall symphony performances. Capping nearly a decade of popular, critically acclaimed recordings showcasing her storytelling panache via fresh interpretations of pop and jazz standards, the multi-talented performer launches the next phase off her storied career with the infectious and emotionally compelling new pop single “Without You” – available NOW on iTunes, Google Music and other digital platforms.

Showcasing a more intimate side of her artistry than any previous release, Hilary co-wrote “Without You” with fellow multi-talented New York singing sensation Devin Bing, whom HuffPo has proclaimed as “a total original with the charisma of a ‘Golden Age’ entertainer.” Devin also produced the track and plays the haunting piano that introduces Hilary’s narrative of facing the crippling enduring realities of heartbreak and finding the renewed strength to move on in a healthy positive way. Driven by their similar backgrounds (she went to Manhattan School of Music, he to the University of Miami to study music) and a sharply intuitive musical chemistry, Hilary and Devin are currently working on several follow-up singles that they plan to release throughout the winter and spring 2018.

“I have never worked with a vocal producer like Devin before,” Hilary says. “On my earlier studio recordings, I would play off the band in a very similar way to what I did live. But doing pure pop as we are on ‘Without You’ was a totally different thing that took me to deeper places within myself. Devin set the bar really high and kept encouraging me to bring more power to the performance, saying ‘You can belt this.’”

Longtime Hilary fans know that in addition to being a brilliant song stylist and interpreter, she is an accomplished songwriter who has included in her shows original material among the Gershwin, Porter, Bernstein and Mercer pieces for the past five years. “Though I’ve made my living as a jazz singer,” she says, “I’ve sung a lot of pop songs, too. Most people don’t know that I studied composition in school and have been writing my own music for a long time. When you become known as an interpreter of standards, it’s a challenge to get people to see you in a different light.

“As much as I will always love singing those tunes, as I get older I am more excited than ever to break out of my comfort zone and explore all artistic colors. I’ve been fearless with other people’s music, and it’s taken me a long time to gain the confidence to share my own songs with the world. I felt like ‘Without You’ was the one that called out to me, and I asked myself, “what am I waiting for?”

In addition to headlining famed NYC venues as Town Hall, Birdland, The Blue Notes, Iridium, Jazz At Lincoln Center, The Jazz Standard and Carnegie Hall (with the New York Pops and with Michael Feinstein), Hilary debuted at the Oak Room at the Algonquin Hotel as the co-writer and star of the critically acclaimed, Off-Broadway revues “Our Sinatra” and “Singing Astaire.” She made her concert hall debut at Lincoln Center as part of the "American Songbook Series”.

In June 2007, Hilary appeared at Carnegie Hall in a Tribute to Oscar Peterson, a performance reprised in January 2008 at the Canadian Memorial to Dr. Peterson at Roy Thompson Hall alongside Quincy Jones, Herbie Hancock and Nancy Wilson. Globally, she has headlined at the Umbria Jazz Festival, The Montreal Jazz Festival, the Nairn Jazz Festival in Scotland, and the Cotton Club and Blue Note in Japan. In 2016, upon releasing The Judy Garland Project, she toured the U.S. and Asia, performing Garland’s iconic repertoire with a small ensemble group and orchestras. Hilary is currently writing a new show for orchestra based on the top female composers of the past half century, from Peggy Lee to Alanis Morissette and Heart.

Her previous discography includes the John Pizzarelli produced Haunted Heart (2009); You Are There (2010), featuring vocal piano duets with legendary jazz pianists Dave Brubeck, Michel Legrand, Benny Green, Cedar Walton, Hank Jones and others; and the deeply personal A Self-Portrait (2014), which included interpretations of contemporary pop classics from the rock era.  

Keyboardist David Garfield opens the box with “Jazz”

 Keyboardist David Garfield was nineteen when he got his start playing alongside influential bebop jazz trumpeter Freddie Hubbard. But opportunities came quickly for him in contemporary jazz as well as in R&B and pop, which guided the direction of his now five-decade career away from his roots. Straight-ahead jazz has remained in his core and he’s longed to return “home” thus to launch his prolific multi-volume, multi-genre “Outside the Box” collection, Garfield will drop his first straight-ahead jazz album, “Jazz Outside the Box,” on March 23 via his Creatchy Records label.  

In addition to playing piano, Fender Rhodes and synthesizers, Garfield produced and arranged the 15-track jazz set that revisits Duke Ellington, Horace Silver, Joe Sample, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Oliver Nelson and Joe Zawinul classics, applies an imaginative jazz varnish to a pair of Sting songs, and presents four of his own compositions. To materialize his vision, Garfield rounded up a massive ensemble that boasts several accomplished musicians he’s never worked with before but have long been on his wish list of collaborators such as trumpeter Wallace Roney, percussionist Poncho Sanchez and drummer Steve Jordan. Randy Brecker, Michael McDonald, Tom Scott, Eric Marienthal, Pete Christlieb, Bennie Maupin, Brian Auger, Will Lee, Airto Moreira along with dozens of other prominent players guest on the record, which includes Charlie Bisharat’s String Quartet and an orchestra conducted by John Clayton. “Jazz Outside the Box” contains among the final performances by a pair of recently-departed guitar greats, Chuck Loeb and Larry Coryell. Perhaps the most unusual contribution comes from The Doors’ John Densmore, who plays drums and orates on a spoken word segment on the full-length version of Silver’s “Song For My Father.”

   

“I recruited a unique grouping of players to render each song. It was like casting for a movie. For example, ‘Song For My Father’ is rich with meaning, history and personal connections, which is a major component and an underlying purpose behind the entire ‘Outside the Box’ project. On that tune, I pay tribute to its author, Horace Silver, who was my mentor and like an adopted father to me. It also pays homage to The Doors and Steely Dan. A lot of people don’t know that Horace originally wrote lyrics to the song, so I had John (Densmore) speak Horace’s words. Another cool thing is that Steely Dan borrowed the opening bass riff from ‘Song for My Father’ for ‘Rikki Don’t Lose That Number’ so I often quoted ‘Rikki’ whenever I played ‘Song for My Father’ at my gigs. I included that quote at the beginning of this recording, which features guitarist Denny Dias, a founding member of Steely Dan who played on the original ‘Rikki.’ There’s also a part of the track where I have (former Chicago lead singer) Jason Scheff sing ‘If you have a change of heart’ as another nod to ‘Rikki,’” said Garfield. 

One of Garfield’s originals is “East Lou Brew,” another salute steeped in personal history. The song honors Miles Davis and their shared hometown, St. Louis. Davis’s nephew, Vince Wilburn, mans the drum kit, Davis protégé Roney shines on trumpet, Maupin plays sax and bass clarinet, Coryell is on guitar, Darryl Jones handles bass and Moreira adds percussion. Wilburn, Jones, Maupin and Moreira were in Davis’s band with the latter two having played on Davis’s landmark album, “Bitches Brew.”

“‘East Lou Brew’ is an adventurous tune loosely based on themes from some of Miles’ best-known works. It was incredible to play with all these greats who knew Miles and toured and recorded with him. They all shared a ton of stories, which helped ground the tune in both past and present. I consider Miles one of my strongest and primary musical influences and I always wanted to play with him. This is the next best thing.”  

Another giant who was one of Garfield’s mentors was Sample. “I got to write, tour and record with Joe, and recorded his song, ‘Rainbow Seeker,’ to honor his recent passing. I was devastated when we lost him and wanted to find the perfect way to honor him on this project. Joe was not only one of my favorite all-time keyboard players, but he was a huge influence on my musical development as a pianist and keyboardist.”    

As “Jazz Outside the Box” prepares to ship to jazz radio stations, Garfield’s single, “Jamming,” continues to climb the smooth jazz charts. On the heels of his Billboard No. 2 hit, “Go Home,” both singles will appear on “Jamming Outside the Box,” the second album in the series with this one approaching jazz from a contemporary/smooth perspective. The disc will be released this summer. Also, presently moving up the country charts is “I Lied,” a vocal ballad Garfield penned with legend Smokey Robinson, which will be released on “Vox Outside the Box.” 

“Jazz Outside the Box” contains the following songs:

“Fragile”

“Harvest Time”

“In A Sentimental Mood”

“Roxanne”

“Song For My Father” (full-length)

“Rainbow Seeker”

“Stolen Moments”

“Voodoo Gumbo/Citizen Coryell”

“East Lou Brew”

“Sophisticated Lady”

“Red Baron”

“Country Preacher”

“Prophecy”

“My Favorite Things”

“Song For My Father” (radio edit)

www.DavidGarfield.com

Lauren Henderson Comes Into Her Own As Both Vocalist & Composer On "Ármame"

On her lovely and coolly sensual new recording, Ármame, vocalist Lauren Henderson delivers an eclectic set of jazz, Latin jazz, and other styles in a program reflecting her African-American and Caribbean heritage and her omnivorous musical tastes. Produced by veteran broadcaster and Sirius/XM jazz host Mark Ruffin, the CD will be released March 30 on her new label, Brontosaurus Records.

The album's title translates as "Arm Me" (as from a broken heart), and the subtitle "Songs of Love and Loss" provides insight into Henderson's repertoire choices. In addition to premiering three new originals, the vocalist adds to her already impressive credentials as a deft interpreter of others' songs with heartfelt arrangements of "Love Is a Losing Game" by Amy Winehouse, Blossom Dearie's heartbreaking classic "Inside a Silent Tear," and Donny Hathaway's "We're Still Friends."

The two songs on which Terri Lyne Carrington sings backup vocals -- "To Wisdom the Prize," by Larry Willis, and "Better Days," a nod to Chaka Khan, who's a favorite singer of Henderson's -- are a particular highlight. "There's this special, natural thing about how our voices go together," Henderson says of working with Carrington.

One of Henderson's major influences, Shirley Horn, is represented by two mid-tempo selections from that master of restraint's songbook: Curtis Lewis's "The Great City," a onetime Nancy Wilson vehicle Henderson personalized with Spanish lyrics, and Bart Howard's "Let Me Love You," which was also recorded by Johnny Hartman."I've always loved Shirley Horn's delivery," says Henderson. "There are a lot of layers to her singing."

Ármame is anchored by the great young pianist Sullivan Fortner, a friend and colleague since Lauren first arrived in New York. "Not all pianists are as good playing with singers as they are working as solo artists," she says. "He is." Bassist Eric Wheeler and drummer Joe Saylor of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert round out the rhythm section; the CD also features a strong set of soloists in alto saxophonist Godwin Louis, trumpeter Josh Evans, and guitarist Nick Tannura, plus percussionist Nanny Assis.

Lauren Henderson was born on November 5, 1986 in Marblehead, Massachusetts, a town outside of Salem. Her father, of African-American and Caribbean ancestry, and her mother, the daughter of immigrants from Panama and Montserrat, are lovers of jazz and Latin music and exposed their daughter to these and other genres when she was growing up.

While at Wheaton College, where she double-majored in Music and Hispanic Studies, she says, "I discovered my voice." Enrolling in classical voice and musical theater classes, she became the musical director of a gospel/R&B singing group and a member of the school jazz band.

Henderson spent a year abroad in Mexico, where she studied the traditional music of the Yucatán at Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, and in Spain, studying flamenco singing and dancing at La Universidad de Córdoba. After graduation, she moved to New York and got a day job with MTV, studied with such jazz notables as Paquito D'Rivera, Barry Harris, and Jane Monheit, and began performing at jazz clubs and restaurants.

Her first album, Lauren Henderson (2011), which featured Fortner, included funky treatments of "Skylark" and "Born to Be Blue" among more traditionally rendered standards. DownBeat touted Henderson as "an inviting singer whose low-level dynamic draws the listener in." JazzTimes compared her to Peggy Lee, saying she appreciates "how to swing hard without swinging too hard."

A La Madrugada ("At Dawn," 2015), which she produced and arranged, featured an expansive cast of players, Fortner among them, and seven original songs including the sleek, smoothly grooving "Accede." Acting on a hunch, Henderson sent a copy of A La Madrugada to Mark Ruffin while he was a music supervisor on the indie film The Drowning. Ruffin was able to place "Accede"onto the soundtrack and would eventually produce Ármame.

"I love her tone, her heritage, the quality of her voice," says Ruffin. "She's so talented, and one of the smartest singers I've ever worked with when it comes to the business of music. Also, there are very few folks singing in Spanish the way she swings it. I thought that was something that could not only expand her audience, but also expand jazz."

Henderson, who divides her time between New York and Miami, changes her approach to music depending on her audience. "Everyone has a different level of experience with Latin music," she says. "In Miami, with its strong Cuban presence, I sing very differently than I do in New York, where the cultural influence is so much broader. It's partly a matter of brightness versus darkness."

Lauren Henderson will be performing a CD release concert at Regattabar in Cambridge, MA on Friday 3/30. Upcoming New York City shows include the Blue Note, Sun. 5/27, 11:30am, and Minton's on Sat. 8/4, 7pm. Lauren will be touring Spain and Italy for most of March, and appearing at several Miami venues during April (Ball and Chain 4/12, Le Chat Noir 4/14, Lagniappe House 4/15). She'll return for another European tour in November.

 

Hugh Coltman - “Who’s Happy?”

With dancing drums like a legendary New Orleans funeral band, brass full of soul, guitars that fuse every style of blues and folk, Hugh Coltman has built himself a sublime backdrop for these eleven songs recorded in New Orleans and produced by Freddy Koella (Bob Dylan, Willy DeVille, Odetta, kd lang, Carla Bruni, Francis Cabrel…),  over which his warm journeyman's voice expresses his deep understanding of human emotions and sentiments, an indulgent listen for evening lovers, loners at dawn or the melancholic listener at midday... Who’s Happy?, his new album asks. Everyone and no-one, he seems to reply...

"When I started writing I had no idea where I was going other than saying to myself that I wasn't going to become a tribute artist, although there were some intriguing possibilities." The turning point came with the series Treme and its many musical treasures. It brought back happy childhood memories including Kid Ory, Sidney Bechet, Fats Domino, Dr John and the Meters without ever realising that they too had their roots in the New Orleans of the "second line" and flamboyant brass bands. He listened passionately to the great masters of the past, immersed himself in CW Stoneking, the Australian blues revivalist, and Charles Sheffields, an iconic Louisiana r’n’b singer from the 60s. He quickly developed a liberating conviction: “New Orleans music is not all about virtuosity; the primal call comes first”.

And a key existential notion: "I'm forty-five years old, isn't it time I stopped caring what other people think?" So he went where he wanted to go, to New Orleans, to breathe in the spirit of Marc Ribot y los Cubanos Postizos, the piano of Rubén González in Buena Vista Social Club or the atmospheres of Tom Waits' Swordfishtrombones – strong emotions, honest playing, smoky wisdom and a harsh reality transformed into joyful music…

He wanted a lot of musicians, he was looking for that sound he'd already heard in Kid Ory, Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf – that instinct, the processional brass, the feeling the listener gets from being in the room with the musicians... Behind the drums, he wanted Raphaël Chassin, his faithful collaborator who has worked with Miossec, Vanessa Paradis, Bernard Lavilliers, Charlotte Savary and Albin de la Simone and more. And guitarist Freddy Koella, the most prestigious and modest Frenchman in America (Bob Dylan, Willy DeVille, Odetta, kd lang, Carla Bruni, Francis Cabrel, Lhasa De Sela, etc.).

Freddy was co-producing the album. He told Hugh: "Don't record any demos." The result: “In two weeks, I had the foundations for all the songs”, recorded on his phone in his kitchen in Montreuil. His first week in Louisiana was spent meeting the musicians and catching up on stories from Trump's America, which would lead to the song Sugar Coated Pill. Then came six days in the studio with some of New Orleans' biggest names to record ten new songs and a cover of It’s Your Voodoo Working by Charles Sheffield.

From one song to the next, the album moves from autobiography to humanity, from despair to blind hope, from European blues to universal light... Civvy Street opens the album sounding like a venerable standard, All Sleeps Away speaks of Hugh Coltman's father's struggle with Alzheimer's, Little Big Man is written for his son, Hand Me Down looks at questions of transmission (with French vocals from Canadian-Haitian singer Mélissa Laveaux)… It's a musical and existential journey somewhere between a confessional and the big stage, between the exploration of an extraordinary heritage and the boundless inspiration of an artist at the height of his creative powers.

The digital version contains 2 bonus tracks – Losers Blues and If You Were Mine.

MIGUEL DE ARMAS QUARTET with WHAT'S TO COME

Cuban-born pianist Miguel de Armas proudly releases What's To Come, a debut album sure to expand his ever-widening audience. Long known as a stalwart in Havana, de Armas has synthesized the musics of his homeland with those from North America and Canada (where he now resides). It is an effortless weave of influences, fulfilling the promise of his working quartet and illuminating Miguel's mastery as an instrumentalist and group leader.

In 1988, Miguel was a graduate of the famed Instituto Superior de Arte, proving himself a rhythm master devoted to the multitude of sounds and influences surrounding Havana - rumbas, chants, the cadence of street life. They served as the basis for his own musical ideas.

He became a founding member of N.G. La Banda, the group that originated the Cuban salsa offshoot called timba. It proved successful, touring Lincoln Center, Montreux, Northsea and other festivals around the world due, in large part, to Miguel's innovations. He had defined an approach that utilized both acoustic and synthesized keyboards, a sound subsequently adopted in the development of Cuban music. That became his launching pad. Since then he has collaborated with a Who's Who of legends and appeared on more than 60 albums.

Miguel´s style draws heavily from the rich contributions of influential predecessors - among them, pianists Chucho Valdés, Emiliano Salvador and Gonzalo Rubalcaba. They have enabled him to create a sound distinctively his own.

Moreover, Miguel has become a musical activist from his new home in Ottawa, Canada, producing shows, inviting collaborations, encouraging stylistic partnerships that further his ideas and those of the greats who walked before him.

What's To Come provides the evidence. It's reach is varied and broad, encompassing elements of elegant danzón ("La Dama y el Perro"); bossas (the title track);and '80s symphonic rock ("A Song For My Little Son"). Special guests from Canada's musical community of Cuban specialists include recent Grammy nominee Jane Bunnett, guitarist Elmer Ferrer, trumpeter Alexis Baró, and bassist Roberto Riverón.

On this record, Miguel de Armas solidifies his place among Cuba's most distinguished musicians. The region that birthed the likes of Cachao, Omar Sosa, the multi-generational families of Valdés and O'Farrill, and countless others, now applauds another forward-thinker, a native son. Introducing Miguel de Armas.

  

TRACKS

1. Yasmina, 5:57

2. A Song For My Little Son, 4:45

3. La Dama y el Perro, 4:05

4. His Bass and Him, 3:23

5. Pam Pim Pam Pum, 2:56

6. Illusion, 3:26

7. What's To Come, 4:48

8. Rumba on Kent St., 5:54

9. Tango Asunción, 5:38

10. Freddies's Drink, 4:46

All songs composed by Miguel de Armas, except "Freddie's Drink" (co-written with Marc Decho).

Produced by Michel Medrano and Miguel de Armas.

Mix and Mastering by Jim Zolis.

Recorded at Rose Room Studio, Toronto, April 2017.

Graphic design: Mallory Giles.

Saxophonist/Composer Darryl Yokley Collaborates with Painter Dave Emmanuel Noel for Visual Companion Pieces Supporting Each Song on New Album, Pictures at an African Exhibition

Picture yourself strolling through the doors of an art gallery or into the marble halls of an art museum. The walls are lined with bold, colorful images, some vivid abstracts, many assertively figurative. As you take in the striking landscapes and strong faces, a story emerges -- no less a story than the history of humankind, but also a story that resonates with today's headlines, a story still unfolding. Now what would that sound like?

Saxophonist/composer Darry Yokley has created the soundtrack to just such a gallery of images on his new album, Pictures at an African Exhibition. The album, due out April 20 via Truth Revolution Records, was created in collaboration with British-born artist David Emmanuel Noel, who painted pieces to accompany each of Yokley's 13 new compositions. The music supplements Yokley's band Sound Reformation -- pianist Zaccai Curtis, bassist Luques Curtis, and drummer Wayne Smith Jr. -- alongside special guest drummer Nasheet Waits and a 12-piece wind ensemble, assembling a group with a sound palette vast enough to match Noel's visual one.

The album's title points to its clear inspiration, Modest Mussorgsky's famed "Pictures at an Exhibition." But where Mussorgsky penned music inspired by the artwork of his friend Viktor Hartmann, Yokley decided to write his suite first and ask his friend Noel to create the exhibition to match. The ambitious suite begins with the dawn of the human species and traces an alternately triumphant and tragic tale of migration and enslavement, celebration and warfare, ending on a cautiously optimistic hope for the future.

"I wanted to explore themes that were universal," Yokley explains. "I based the story on Africa, because as far as we know that's where the human species was born, but I wanted to explore themes that everyone in every culture worldwide could relate to."

The album thus opens with the joyous melody of "First Sunrise," which shows the influence of African song and American gospel. Noel's accompanying painting collages bright colors to depict a pregnant woman and her partner looking to the sun on the horizon and its accompanying promise. Still celebratory but built on a more tumultuous rhythm, "Migration" is an anthem for the ancestors who braved the unknown to venture out to new lands, with Noel's illustration of a stark but troubling black and white image of a black man, his head bowed, bounded by an Egyptian pyramid and a Manhattan skyscraper.

"Ubuntu," paralleled by Noel's swirling abstract painting, takes its name from an African philosophy that means "I am who I am because of who we are," an emphasis on group identity that Yokley grasps in his stunning arrangements for this ensemble. He's led Sound Reformation since 2010, but the addition of a wind ensemble, inspired by his classical studies at Duquesne and Michigan State Universities, provides the opportunity for sweeping drama and surging power, reflective of his arrangements for Orrin Evans' Captain Black Big Band. Waits, the inventive drummer known for his work with Jason Moran and Fred Hersch among many others, adds rhythmic complexity in tandem with Smith's muscular swing.

"I've always wanted to work with Nasheet Waits, but Wayne is such a great drummer for the group," Yokley says. "Then it dawned on me that I could use two drummers because the drum is the predominant instrument in Africa. It ended up working out wonderfully because the rhythms they produced together provide a plethora of inspiration for the musicians to improvise to as well as being a representation of African culture."

The influence of African percussion is at its most emphatic on the gentle "Stories from the Village Elder," which honors the tradition of oral history before things begin to take a darker turn with "Ominous Nightfall." Reprising the theme from "First Sunrise" with foreboding harmonies, the piece begins a series of reflections on tribulations that continues with the ambiguously titled "Hunting Natives," whose tense rhythms suggest both the search for food and the danger of life in the jungle -- both literal and figurative.

Smith marks time with a set of chains on "The Birth of Swing," which traces the roots of jazz back to the clanking of slaves' irons on ships' decks. "Echoes of Ancient Sahara" is a ghost story of lost civilizations that reveals John Coltrane's imprint on Yokley's sound, while "Genocide March" is a martial ode to atrocities in Rwanda and Sierra Leone in particular, though acknowledging the fact of many more such tragedies across the globe. The blood diamond trade is referenced in the mournful "Mines of Diamonds, Crimson and Gold."

Things begin to take a turn with "Cry, the Beloved Country," which borrows the title of Alan Paton's 1948 title for a stirring ballad of revolution and resistance. "Blessings From the Bennu" refers to an Egyptian deity, a bird used as a symbol of rebirth that was the likely inspiration for the Greek myth of the phoenix. The "First Sunrise" theme emerges again to segue into "New Sunrise," which finds the composer finding hope despite the echoes of these past troubles in our current divisive times.

"The last two tracks are a vision for the future," Yokley concludes. "They express my hope that we can get past all the turmoil and inner conflict that we bring upon each other and unite. That's the arc of the story."

Darryl Yokley · Pictures at an African Exhibition

Truth Revolution Records · Release Date: April 20, 2018

"Oscar Peterson Plays" Collects For First Time Famed Jazz Pianist's Historic Sessions Paying Tribute To Great American Composers Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Duke Ellington, Jerome Kern And Others On Comprehensive 5-Disc Collection

For the first time, famed jazz pianist Oscar Peterson's historic 1952-'54 series, Oscar Peterson Plays, has been assembled in total, collecting 10 albums across a five-disc, 113-song digitally remastered collection. Containing many of Peterson's most important recordings as a leader, these albums explore the canons of songwriters Harold Arlen, Irving Berlin, Duke Ellington, Jerome Kern, Jimmy McHugh, Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers, Harry Warren and Vincent Youmans—in the setting of the Oscar Peterson Trio. Oscar Peterson Plays, which has been digitally remastered, is available now via Verve Records/UMe. 

Few piano giants in jazz history, if any, scaled the heights of technical brilliance as Oscar Peterson (1925-2007). He was a ten-fingered player whose speed, execution, imagination and harmonic brilliance left other keyboardists with their mouths open. Peterson's prolific trios—with guitarists Barney Kessel and Herb Ellis and bassist Ray Brown — set a longtime standard for ensemble interaction and excellence. As his biographer Gene Lees said: "Oscar Peterson is an astonishing example of what the human body and mind can be self-disciplined to achieve."

  

Peterson was a virtuoso but he was also an extraordinarily versatile accompanist and ensemble pianist. He recorded nearly 200 albums as a leader, as well as with Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Nat 'King' Cole, Roy Eldridge, Ella Fitzgerald, Stan Getz, Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker, just to name a few. Whether it was on the Jazz at the Philharmonic tours or the multitude of studio dates for the Verve and Pablo labels, Peterson was truly the bedrock of Norman Granz's success as the most successful impresario in jazz history.

Granz knew that Peterson had a seemingly bottomless well of creativity, and that he could be counted on to bring something special to each of his composer-themed albums. Yet Peterson was assiduously faithful to the themes of the various composers—he improvised without altering the intended melodic lines. And while Kessel, Ellis and Brown may not take a lot of solos, listen for the melodic content that they invest into their roles as rhythm section players.      

Disc: 1

Oscar Peterson Plays Cole Porter

1. What Is This Thing Called Love?

2. Begin The Beguine

3. I've Got You Under My Skin

4. Love For Sale

5. Let's Do It

6. I Love You

7. So Near And Yet So Far

8. Just One Of Those Things

9. In The Still Of The Night

10. Night And Day

11. Every Time We Say Goodbye

12. Anything Goes

Oscar Peterson Plays Irving Berlin 

13. I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm

14. Isn't This A Lovely Day

15. Easter Parade

16. How Deep Is The Ocean (How High Is The Sky)

17. Remember

18. The Song Is Ended

19. Blue Skies

20. If I Had You

21. Cheek To Cheek

22. Alexander's Ragtime Band

23. Say It Isn't So

24. Always

Disc: 2

Oscar Peterson Plays George Gershwin

1. The Man I Love

2. Fascinating Rhythm

3. It Ain't Necessarily So

4. Somebody Loves Me

5. Strike Up The Band

6. I've Got A Crush On You

7. I Was Doing All Right

8. 'S Wonderful - The Oscar Peterson Trio

9. Oh Lady Be Good

10. I Got Rhythm

11. A Foggy Day

12. Love Walked In

Oscar Peterson Plays Duke Ellington

13. John Hardy's Wife

14. Sophisticated Lady

15. Things Ain't What They Used To Be

16. Just A-Sittin' And A-Rockin'

17. In A Mellow Tone

18. I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good)

19. Prelude To A Kiss

20. Cotton Tail

21. Don't Get Around Much Anymore

22. Take The "A" Train

23. Rockin' In Rhythm

24. Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me

Disc: 3

Oscar Peterson Plays Jerome Kern

1. The Way You Look Tonight

2.  Pick Yourself Up

3. Yesterdays

4. I Won't Dance

5. Long Ago And Far Away

6. Lovely To Look At

7. A Fine Romance

8. Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

9. Ol Man River

10. Bill

11. The Song Is You

12. Can't Help Loving That Man

Oscar Peterson Plays Richard Rodgers

13. This Can't Be Love

14. It Might As Well Be Spring

15. Bewitched

16. Johnny One Note

17. Surrey With The Fringe On Top

18. The Lady Is A Tramp

19. Blue Moon

20. Thou Swell

21. Isn't It Romantic

22. Manhattan

23. Lover

Disc: 4

Oscar Peterson Plays Vincent Youmans

1. Tea For Two

2. Time On My Hands

3. I Know That You Know

4. Sometimes I'm Happy

5. Great Day

6. More Than You Know

7. Hallelujah!

8. Carioca

9. Without A Song

10. I Want To Be Happy

Oscar Peterson Plays Harry Warren

11. Nagasaki

12. Serenade In Blue

13. Lullaby Of Broadway

14. I Found A Million Dollar Baby In A Five And Ten Cent Store

15. Would You Like To Take A Walk

16. I'll String Along With You

17. I Only Have Eyes For You

18. You Must Have Been A Beautiful Baby

19. You're Getting To Be A Habit With Me

20. Chattanooga Choo Choo

21. You're My Everything

Disc: 5

Oscar Peterson Plays Harold Arlen

1. As Long As I Live

2. I Gotta Right To Sing The Blues

3. Come Rain Or Come Shine

4. Ac-cent-tchu-ate The Positive

5. Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea

6. I've Got The World On A String

7. It's Only A Paper Moon

8. That Old Black Magic

9. Let's Fall In Love

10. Stormy Weather

11. Blues In The Night

12. Over the Rainbow

Oscar Peterson Plays Jimmy McHugh

13. When My Sugar Walks Down The Street

14. I Can't Believe You're In Love With Me

15. On The Sunny Side Of The Street

16. Don't Blame Me

17. I'm In The Mood For Love

18. I Can't Give You Anything But Love

19. I Couldn't Sleep A Wink Last Night

20. Digga Digga Do

21. You're A Sweetheart

 

Vocalist Allan Harris Pays Heartfelt Tribute to Iconic Singer and Innovator of Vocalese with The Genius of Eddie Jefferson

With his gruff, gravelly voice, his penchant for hep cat diction, and the serpentine bebop turns of his vocalese creations, the late Eddie Jefferson might not seem the ideal match for a classic romantic crooner like Allan Harris. The Brooklyn-born singer has previously paid homage to the songs of Billy Strayhorn and Nat King Cole, repertoire that seems like a more ideal fit.

Until embarking on the project that became The Genius of Eddie Jefferson, Harris would have agreed wholeheartedly with that assessment. "In my wildest dreams I never imagined I'd tackle Eddie Jefferson's material," he admits. "But once I started to sit down with his material and delve into what he was singing, it blew all of my stereotypes and prejudices out the window. How wrong I had been over the years not to give this incredible genius credit."

Not only did Harris discover the depth of Jefferson's estimable talents and innovations, but he found his own way into Jefferson's idiosyncratic takes on the classic solos of jazz giants like Miles Davis, Dexter Gordon, Lester Young and Coleman Hawkins. The Genius of Eddie Jefferson, due out April 27 on Resilience Music Alliance, is an ideal blend of Harris' rich, beguiling baritone and Jefferson's bantering cool. The album follows Harris into adventurous new territory, at once embracing the challenge and making these bop classics as embracing and celebratory as his takes on jazz standards and swooning ballads.

Harris didn't take the plunge alone. Though he'd previously covered Jefferson's most famous piece, "Moody's Mood For Love," he needed to plunge deeply into the singer's catalogue and methodology. Harris worked closely with pianist Eric Reed (Wynton Marsalis, Christian McBride) and GRAMMY® Award-winning producer Brian Bacchus (Gregory Porter) to immerse himself in the tricky contours of Jefferson's work. "It was daunting," Harris says. "Sometimes it seemed like I was taking a master class at MIT. But I wanted to grow as a jazz vocalist -- I've done the American Songbook. No one has really tackled a full project of Eddie Jefferson's with the type of voice that I have, and I wanted to get it exact."

It helps to have a band that can provide the ebullient swing and fierce chops that can drive the tunes that Jefferson built his creations upon, and Reed assembled an ideal one: bassist George DeLancey (Houston Person, Tia Fuller), drummer Willie Jones III (Roy Hargrove, Arturo Sandoval), and tenor saxophonist Ralph Moore (Kevin Eubanks, Freddie Hubbard). The band is joined by special guest saxophonist Richie Cole, who worked closely with Jefferson in the singer's final years, up to the night of his tragic death outside Baker's Keyboard Lounge in Detroit.

"To have Richie Cole there was a blessing from above," says Harris. "His knowledge of what Eddie was doing was paramount because he was right there beside him. He not only gave me a pat on the back that was sorely needed, but he gave me a few pointers and a kind of permission to open things up a little bit to what I'm about."

In his liner notes, writer and musician Greg Tate compares Jefferson to such pioneering hip-hop lyricists as KRS One and Public Enemy's Chuck D, poets of the vernacular who could combine urban jargon and socially pointed messages. Harris agrees, saying, "Eddie Jefferson used the guise of his street language to create some really wonderful English literature on that stuff. Because his voice was so streetwise and rough, until you really listen to him in depth you don't understand that he was very erudite in his lyrical value. He didn't just rely on nursery rhyme rhythms and prose. He really dealt in some really hip street stuff."

He also celebrated the jazz musicians whose work he was repurposing, often painting musical portraits of these legends through his lyrics, as on the album's opening track, "So What." Following the lines of Davis' classic solo, he recounts a famous incident in which both the trumpeter and then-sideman John Coltrane left the stage mid-performance, deciding they needed a bit of extra rehearsal before resuming the show. Harris' rendition is soulful and warm, vividly capturing the vintage nightclub atmosphere.

For all his protestations, Harris has no problem with bringing the grit and funky edge to Horace Silver's "Sister Sadie" and "Filthy McNasty," or tearing his way through a blistering Lester Young solo on "Lester's Trip to the Moon." At the same time, he brings a heartbreaking tenderness to the classic "Body and Soul" and a down-home blues to "Memphis." He courses along with bop vitality on Dexter Gordon's lively "Dexter Digs In" and Charlie Parker's gymnastic runs on "Billy's Bounce." His romantic soul emerges on Duke Pearson's lament "Jeannine," while Cole's "Waltz for a Rainy Bebop Evening" is a wistful reflection on the music's rich legacy.

Despite his initial reluctance, taking on Jefferson's oeuvre has made an indelible mark on Harris as a singer. "This has tainted me," he says. "This feels so good, like reaching a high. Doing Eddie Jefferson's music has taken me out of the arena of being just the guy singing jazz standards in front of a smoking band, to feeling like a part of the band. It would be hard now for me to turn back."

Upcoming Allan Harris U.S. Performances:

April 27 - 29 | Smoke Jazz Club (Album Release w/ Cyrus Chestnut Trio) | New York, NY

May 11 - 12 | The Jazz Forum (w/ Helen Sung Trio) | Tarrytown, NY

May 19 | Arts Garage | Delray Beach, FL

May 22 | Blue Bamboo | Orlando, FL

May 25 - 26 | The Jazz Corner | Hilton Head, SC

August 10 - 11 | JAS Cafe | Aspen, CO

Allan Harris · The Genius of Eddie Jefferson

Resilience Music Alliance · Release Date: April 27, 2018

Smooth Jazz Sensation NILS Returns With New CD PLAY

Walk into the studio of most famous guitarists and you’ll feel like you’re at Guitar Center, spotting a massive collection of axes, each of which offers the right sound for their latest projects. Nils has gleefully defied that collector stereotype, scoring hit after contemporary urban jazz radio hit since his breakthrough 2005 single “Pacific Coast Highway” by modulating the sound of a single, trusty musical companion – the Custom Valley Arts guitar he bought shortly after moving to Los Angeles from his native Munich in the mid-80’s. On his latest BAJA/TSR album Play, he celebrates yet another opportunity to do what he does best on that instrument, with longtime musical friends who happen to be among the genre’s most renowned artists.

“This album is all about the love I have for playing my instrument and the love I felt from all the wonderful friends who stepped up when I reached out to them and helped me take this new music to the next level,” Nils says. “The wonderful result is that we put together a bigger band with a lot more horns than ever before, and a collection that stylistically allowed me to stretch out into different areas. In the spirit of capturing the meaning behind the album title, I wanted to show a richer spectrum of what I can do musically and have a lot of fun playing.”

Jazz Gems: The Best of Nils, his 2014 retrospective set compiling all of the artist’s airplay hits to date (“Pacific Coast Highway,” “Let’s Bounce,” “Jump Start,” “Ready to Play,” “Catnap,” et al), rolls like a master class not only in hit instrumental songwriting but also in the art of collaborating. Extending that spirit powerfully into Play, Nils complements his longtime core band of Clydene Jackson (keyboards, vocals), percussionist Oliver C. Brown and bassist Darryl Williams with drummers Gorden Campbell, Tony Moore and Eric Valentine, pianists Gail Jhonson and Mitchel Forman, bassist Roberto Vally, keyboardists Philippe Saisse and Nate Harasim and saxophonists Steve Cole (solo), Brandon Willis (solo), Charley Langer (horn section) and Mike Parlett (horn section).

Nils continues to cultivate an incredible creative chemistry with his pal and neighbor Johnny Britt, who, the guitarist says, “sings and plays keyboards and horns, three things I don’t do!” Britt infuses Play with his multitude of talents, from playing keys on the sparkling funk opener “Coast To Coast” and Rhodes, trumpet swells and a trumpet solo on the sensual, old school soul ballad “Sway” to adding a dynamic vocal scat to the jamming, high octane first single “Straight Down the Line” and vocals (with Jackson) on a passionate tribute to George Michael’s “Careless Whisper.” Britt also brings his sizzling horn textures (via the J-Jam Horns) to a total of six tracks, including “Coast To Coast,” the infectious and danceable, gospel influenced anthem “We Got Love,” the fiery, top down party funk explosion “California” and the powerhouse old school, James Brown influenced “So Get On Up.”

Full tracklist:

1. Coast to Coast                                              

2. We Got Love                                    

3. Straight Down The Line                                            

4. Sway                                    

5. Play It                                              

6. Goldfinger                                        

7. California                                         

8. So Get On Up                                    

9. Careless Whisper                                          

10. Off To The Races                                        

11. Voices In The Dark                                      

12. Fire Of My Heart                                         

Nils is the first to admit that he sometimes overstocks albums like his most recent project Alley Cat (2015) with so many in the pocket, potential airplay hits that some are inevitably overlooked; “Two of a Kind” and the title track were both Billboard Top 20 airplay hits from that recording. For Play, he took a more streamlined compositional approach, balancing upbeat “trademark” radio ready gems with fresh stylistic excursions that find Nils exploring a deeper personal artistry and the more colorful sonic possibilities of his axe.

To that end, “Goldfinger” is not the James Bond theme, but a stripped down, laid back ballad featuring the interaction of uniquely modulated rhythm and lead guitar lines. He named the track after the Bogner Goldfinger amp he uses for the lead (he used a Fender amp for the rhythm part). Another colorful departure is the trippy, mystical closer “Fire of My Heart,” which includes a symphonic, new agey intro, a reverb melody section, offbeat machine generated vocals and a build towards an exuberant gospel choir crescendo.

On Play, I really feel that I am able to communicate the pure joy of me playing guitar. As always, I only stopped the recording process when the sound was up where it needed to be, with all solid and engaging material brought to life by these great musicians who blessed me with their time and talents.” – by Jonathan Widran