The Prince Estate Launch First Wave of Prince Catalog Digital Releases - The Complete List

The first wave of Prince catalog titles to be released through an exclusive agreement struck in June between SME and The Prince Estate focuses on 1995-2010, a crucial epoch in Prince history. 23 highly-collectible Prince catalog titles (many of them hard-to-find or out-of-print) and Prince Anthology: 1995-2010 (a newly-curated anthology of 37 essential tracks from the era) are now available across all major streaming services and digital service providers.

Many of these albums, long sought-after by fans and collectors, are available for the first time for streaming and download, adding more than 300 essential Prince songs to the artist's online in-print catalog.

For Prince, 1995-2010 was an unprecedented period of sustained and prolific creativity. Releasing fresh recordings at a rapid-fire pace through a variety of distribution strategies including his own online NPG Music Club, Prince was making some of the most provocative, experimental and soulful music of his career. Freed from major label demands and expectations, Prince was able to write, record and release his own music on his own terms.

Assembled and curated under the auspices of The Prince Estate, Prince Anthology: 1995-2010 brings together 37 key recordings from the era. Opening with the title track from Emancipation ("This is my most important record," said Prince when the album was released in 1996) and closing with the anthemic "We March" (from 1995's The Gold Experience), this new compilation provides a coherent musical chronicle of Prince's artistic and spiritual evolution through the late 20th and early 21st centuries in songs that continue to resonant in the culture.

Prince Anthology: 1995- 2010 draws spotlight tracks from The Gold Experience, Emancipation, Chaos and Disorder, Crystal Ball, The Truth, Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic, Rave In2 The Joy Fantastic, The Rainbow Children, One Nite Alone..., C-Note, N.E.W.S., Xpectation, Musicology (includes 2005 Best Male R&B Performance Grammy winner "Call My Name"), The Slaughterhouse, The Chocolate Invasion, 3121 (the first Prince album to debut at #1 on the Billboard 200), Planet Earth, LOtUSFLOW3R, MPLSoUND and 20Ten.

Prince catalog titles newly available digitally via SME/Legacy are:

1. The Gold Experience (1995) ("The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" greyed out, partial album streaming only; album unavailable for download)

2. Chaos and Disorder (1996)

3. Emancipation (1996)

4. Crystal Ball (1998)

5. The Truth (1998)

6. Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic (1999)

7. Rave In2 The Joy Fantastic (2001)

8. The Rainbow Children (2001)

9. One Nite Alone… (2002)

10. One Nite Alone…Live! (2002)

11. One Nite Alone...Live - The Aftershow: It Ain't Over (Up Late with Prince & The NPG) (2002) 12. Xpectation (2003)

13. N.E.W.S. (2003)

14. C-Note (2004)

15. Musicology (2004)

16. The Chocolate Invasion (Trax from the NPG Music Club: Volume 1) (2004)

17. The Slaughterhouse (Trax from the NPG Music Club: Volume 2) (2004)

18. 3121 (2006)

19. Planet Earth (2007)

20. Indigo Nights (2008)

21. LOtUSFLOW3R (2009)

22. MPLSoUND (2009)

23. 20Ten (2010)

24. Prince Anthology: 1995-2010

Prince Anthology: 1995-2010

01. Emancipation (from Emancipation, 1996)

02. Black Sweat (from 3121, 2006)

03. P. Control (from The Gold Experience, 1995)

04. Crucial (from Crystal Ball, 1998)

05. The Love We Make (from Emancipation, 1996)

06. Eye Hate U (from The Gold Experience, 1995)

07. The Greatest Romance Ever Sold (from Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic, 1999)

08. Eye Love U, But Eye Don't Trust U (from Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic, 1999)

09. Gold (from The Gold Experience, 1995)

10. Guitar (from Planet Earth, 2007)

11. Dream Factory (from Crystal Ball, 1998)

12. The Work Part 1 (from The Rainbow Children, 2001)

13. Call My Name (from Musicology, 2004)

14. Strays of The World (from Crystal Ball, 1998)

15. Shhh (from The Gold Experience, 1995)

16. Dreamer (from LOtUSFLOW3R, 2009)

17. Chaos and Disorder (from Chaos and Disorder, 1996)

18. Endorphinmachine (from The Gold Experience, 1995)

19. Musicology (from Musicology, 2004)

20. Northside (from The Slaughterhouse, 2004)

21. When Eye Lay My Hands on U (from The Chocolate Invasion, 2004)

22. Beautiful Strange (from Rave In2 The Joy Fantastic, 2001)

23. Future Soul Song (from 20Ten, 2010)

24. Empty Room (from C-Note, 2004)

25. 3rd Eye (from The Truth, 1998)

26. U're Gonna C Me (from One Nite Alone..., 2002)

27. Dinner With Delores (from Chaos and Disorder, 1996)

28. Ol' Skool Company (from MPLSoUND, 2009)

29. 4ever (from LOtUSFLOW3R, 2009)

30. West (from N.E.W.S., 2003)

31. Xpedition (from Xpectation, 2003)

32. Muse 2 The Pharaoh (from The Rainbow Children, 2001)

33. Somewhere Here On Earth (from Planet Earth, 2007)

34. U Make My Sun Shine (from The Chocolate Invasion, 2004)

35. 1+1+1 Is 3 (from The Rainbow Children, 2001)

36. Chelsea Rodgers (from Planet Earth, 2007)

37. We March (from The Gold Experience, 1995)

Vocalist Darryl Holter Releases Roots & Branches: Two-Part Album

It can be argued that all great popular songwriting is about relationships—the bond between friends, the seminal one between lovers and the larger connection between society and its leaders. On Roots & Branches, the latest release from Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter and activist Darryl Holter, he draws inspiration from relationships of every stripe.

“The product of age and reflection, many of the songs on Roots & Branches are upbeat affirmations,” Holter says, “and most have universal themes like love and regret, memory and nostalgia, hope and death.” Like his first four albums—Darryl Holter, West Bank Gone, Crooked Hearts, and Radio Songs—Roots & Branches is beautifully recorded and produced by the multi-talented, composer/saxophonist and Holter family friend Ben Wendel.

The album is divided into two distinct sections, each with its own band. The more traditional and acoustic Roots section that opens the album and harkens back to Holter’s days a folk features the heavyweight talents of Greg Leisz (pedal and lap steel), Todd Sickafoose (bass), Gabe Witcher (violin, piano, guitar) and Don Heffington (drums).

Equally important to the success of Roots and Branches, is Holter’s relationship with his daughter Julia Holter, who was also a part of his landmark 2016 album, Radio Songs: Woody Guthrie in Los Angeles 1937-39. Duet partners here on ‘Magazine Street” and “No Depression,” Julia is an accomplished singer/songwriter who has released four solo albums, the last of which, In The Same Room, was released on Domino Records in 2017. In the same year she also premiered her score for the 1928 silent film, The Passion of Joan of Arc.

Holter added more depth to his compositions by bringing some extremely talented guest vocalists including jazz singer and Snarky Puppy collaborator Becca Stevens, singer/Broadway stage actor Shayna Steele, singer and composer/producer of the folk opera Hadestown Anais Mitchell, New York-based bassist/singer/songwriter Chris Morrissey, and a man who really needs no introduction, the great singer/songwriter and record producer, Joe Henry. 

A tuneful, provocative collection that explores the intricacies of relationships both personal and universal, Darryl Holter’s Roots & Branches, points this vital, opinionated, historically aware artist in exciting new directions, hinting at the next chapter for this social activist and folk singer who loves his relationship with making music, that starts in time honored fashion, as he says in the liner notes, with “a guitar, a chord progression and a handful of lyrics.”

Grammy-nominated trumpeter Russell Gunn reimagines Big Bands by forming The Royal Krunk Jazz Orkestra featuring Grammy-winning vocalist Dionne Farris

To grasp the purpose of trumpeter Russell Gunn’s newest creation, The Royal Krunk Jazz Orkestra, it’s important to understand that the alchemist’s recordings are cultural and historical amalgams as much as they are audacious musical experimentations rooted in jazz. His mission for the 19-piece Big Band slated to issue its debut album, “Get It How You Live” on the Ropeadope label and to breathe new life into “traditional” jazz Big Bands by expanding its possibilities in the modern era. Adding voice to the collection produced by Gunn that incorporates all shades of jazz, R&B, pop, hip hop and funk is Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Dionne Farris.

Gunn, a two-time Grammy nominee for his far-reaching “Ethnomusicology Vol. 1” and “Ethnomusicology Vol. 2,” spent a year honing his vision and shaping The Royal Krunk Jazz Orkestra’s sound, composing originals and constructing thoughtful arrangements for more than thirty tunes. The ensemble’s lab was on stage during a long-running weekly residency at Atlanta’s St. James Live. Once fully realized, Gunn selected nine tunes for the debut disc.

“Most of the music on ‘Get It How You Live’ is original compositions that I felt were deserving of expansion into the grander format of a large jazz ensemble,” said Gunn, who grew up in East St. Louis.

Hard-hitting hip hop beats bolstered by bombastic horns power Gunn’s “Sybil’s Blues,” which features trumpeter Theo Croker. His “Critic’s Song” bounces to a grinding go-go beat amidst cacophonic horn blasts that build towards a pummeling sax crescendo from Brian Hogans, who only yields the mic to the furious rhymes spit with vitriol by Dashill Smith. Gunn’s other standout composition on the session is the richly-melodic ballad “Lyne’s Joint,” which spotlights Melvin Jones’s trumpet.

“I am a melody-first musician and am drawn like a magnet to melody. That is why my favorite musicians of all time are Peter Tchaikovsky, Charles Mingus and Benny Golson. Melody is king!” proclaimed Gunn.        

As for reboots, Farris’s hit “Hopeless” is given entirely new dimensions in a Big Band setting courtesy of Gunn’s deft arrangement. Drawn to the original’s soulful harmony, Gunn converts Shai’s vocal acapella hit, “If I Ever Fall In Love,” into an “acapella” trumpet and horn section meditation with haunting yet regal qualities. The rendition will be given visuals when a video is lensed later this month. Old-school R&B heads will rejoice over the three-part “Switch Medley” that Gunn masterminded by seamlessly fusing “There’ll Never Be,” “A Brighter Tomorrow” and “I Call Your Name.” The collection closes with the poignant “Ballad Of The Sad Young Men,” on which Farris elegantly delivers a stunning knockout performance.

      

Inherent in Gunn’s artistic muse is the message of being genuine and true, “owning” what you are and what you stand for. “The title of the album is the realist and most honest album title I have had since ‘Ethnomusicology Vol. 1.’ The laymen definition of ‘Get It How You Live’ loosely translates to ‘going about things in an honest fashion.’ I was on the front lines of the transition from the ‘Wyntonite’ sensibility of the ‘nouveau retro’ jazz musician to the jazz musician that grew up in hip hop culture and I owned it. I can go as far to confidently say that I am primarily responsible for that shift. I say that not to give myself retroactive credit, but simply to say that I’ve been ‘Getting It How I Live’ for a long time.”

The Royal Krunk Jazz Orkestra is not the first time Gunn and Farris have collaborated. In 2013, they released “Dionne Get Your Gunn,” which is revisited on the new offering in the form of “Fair,” a bitter yet sultry, expansively-layered suite about a breakup penned by Farris. 

Gunn concludes, “The Royal Krunk Jazz Orkestra is my greatest achievement to date. I am proud to carry the torch of the great Big Bands into the modern era. I consider it a huge responsibility to represent the lineage of Big Band leaders like Fletcher Henderson, Jimmy Lunceford, Count Basie and the king of all, Sir Duke (Ellington), in a way that pays homage to the tradition while expanding the possibilities.”

The songs contained on “Get It How You Live” are:

“Get It How You Live (Intro)”

“Sybil’s Blues (featuring Theo Croker)”

“If I Ever Fall In Love”

“Fair”

“The Critic’s Song”

“Hopeless”

“Lyne’s Joint”

“Switch Medley” comprised of “There’ll Never Be,” “A Brighter Tomorrow” and “I Call Your Name”

“Ballad Of The Sad Young Men”

www.RussellGunn.FourFour.com

New Music Releases: Indra Rios Moore, Bob Marley and The Wailers, Jimi Tenor / Tony Allen

Indra Rios Moore – Carry My Heart

A beautifully soulful album from Indra Rios Moore – a singer who was living in Brooklyn a few years ago, but only found herself in the spotlight after moving overseas, and working with a great little combo in Denmark! This album's Indra's second, and features an even tighter, more sophisticated approach than the first – with Rios-Moore singing alongside partner Benjamin Traerup on saxes, in a combo that's mostly laidback and spare – but which has just the right sort of groove to fit each different track – as the music not only includes originals by Indra, but also songs by Curtis Mayfield, Steely Dan, Duke Ellington, and the Isley Brothers. Indra's got this voice that's instantly expressive, and quite transformative on some of the tunes – and titles include "Carry My Heart", "Any Major Dude Will Tell You", "Don't Say Goodnight", "Be Mine", "Come Sunday", "What You Won't Do For Love", "Keep On Pushing", and "Give It Your Best". ~ Dusty Groove

Bob Marley and The Wailers - Roots, Rock, Remixed

Six Degrees Records is distributing the new, deluxe version of this excellent Bob Marley remix project. Originally released in 2007, the new, expanded digital version is packed with previously unreleased bonus tracks. There have been a few Marley remix records over the years but this one is our personal favorite, due to the diversity and quality of the remixers like: DJ Spooky, Jimpster, Fort Knox Five, Yes King, Bombay Dub Orchestra, Afrodisiac Soundsystem, Patchworks, DJ Dolores, King Kooba & more. For vinyl heads- there's even some super-limited edition wax, divided into two packages: "The Club Plates" & "The Dub Plates

.

Jimi Tenor / Tony Allen - Moogin At The Cafe

A mighty nice meeting of giants – Scandinavian funk and jazz wizard Jimi Tenor, and the legendary Afro Funk drummer Tony Allen – coming together here in a set of duos that are way more than the sum of their parts! Tony plays live drums, and Jimi adds in lots of keyboards and electronics, plus saxophone as well – and the result is a nicely offbeat take on funky territory – maybe a bit like some of the work that Tony Allen was first doing when he reemerged on the French scene in the late 90s, with almost some of the skittish grooves you'd expect to hear from Can during their classic years. One tune gets a bit soulful, but the rest are real rhythmic workouts – and titles include "Asiko", "New World", "Paris", "Selfish Gene", and "Afro Disco Beat". ~ Dusty Groove

Diane Marino “SOUL SERENADE” - The Gloria Lynne Project

“Soul Serenade” is the title of Diane Marino’s newest CD project. Although not exactly a “tribute” album, it is more of a celebration of the music made popular by the great vocalist, Gloria Lynne. As it turns out, Diane Marino has been singing some of the material she has been known for ever since she first began to sing professionally.

“I Wish You Love” is one of the first ballads she ever sang on a gig. “I’m Glad There Is You” is a track I recorded for her CD “On The Street Where You Live”.

While performing on a recent gig with drummer Vince Ector, Diane sang “I’m Glad There Is You”, and he reminded her that it was one of Gloria’s signature songs.

She then began to research more of Gloria’s work and was instantly mesmerized by her voice, style and emotion. Additionally, her choice of material was instantly appealing to her. Diane Marino tends to look for songs that are “beyond the norm” of the Great American Songbook repertoire. The songs Gloria Lynne recorded during her career stand alone in their originality and uniqueness.

As with her previous CD’s, Diane Marino always learns a tune and then works with it at the piano, making it an extension of what she’s hearing and feeling from the lyric and melody.

Diane asked her dear friend Brad Cole to take her concepts and write the arrangements and orchestrations as well as to play piano and keyboards on this project. Brad Cole knew exactly what Diane wanted to do with each of these songs, and in the end Diane Marino has delivered a fresh approach to the music made famous by Gloria Lynne.

San Francisco Jazz Singer NOA LEVY to Release Her Debut EP TAKE TWO

With a beautiful, rounded voice and a magnetic stage presence, NOA LEVY is a unique and charismatic female vocalist and performer who sings across genres – Jazz, Rock, Cabaret, Musicals, and Pop. She has set a worldwide digital release date of August 17, 2018, for her recently recorded debut TAKE TWO EP, a thoughtful collection of Jazz arrangements featuring NOA LEVY in a duo format with three different instrumentalists. That same day, Noa will headline her own RISING STAR SHOWCASE at the California Jazz Conservatory, featuring songs from the TAKE TWO EP as well as other material.

Drawing on influences from her favorite musicians and artists including Peter Gabriel, Brad Mehldau, and Carmen McRae, NOA LEVY has developed her own signature arrangements of classic and unique tunes to paint a picture that anyone listening can relate to. Her favorite thing about jazz is the possibility to collaborate with fellow musicians about universal themes and day to day life, and her arrangements on the TAKE TWO EP are the fruit of some of these collaborations. She is also developing her own original songwriting, and will perform a handful of shows to support the release of the TAKE TWO EP throughout the summer and fall of 2018.

NOA LEVY is currently studying and honing her craft at the California Jazz Conservatory in Berkeley, CA, while also working on her repertoire and performing with local musicians in the San Francisco Bay Area. Originally born in Jerusalem, she grew up for most of her life in Israel. She has performed with Israel’s National Chamber Orchestra, was invited to tour and record an album with Israel’s leading composer and pianist, Yoni Rechter, and was co-lead singer for the popular ABBA tribute band, Waterloo. She also arranged and directed her own cabaret show, Cheetah. Since moving to San Francisco in 2016, NOA LEVY has immersed herself in the world of jazz. In 2017, Jazz in the Neighborhood twice recognized her as an Emerging Artist, providing her the opportunity to perform and study with the eminent Bay Area jazz singer Clairdee and the prolific Brazilian jazz singer and composer Sandy Cressman. She was also invited to collaborate on the Jazz Voices of Poetry project which debuted new material early in 2018.

Her passion for performance was apparent at just four years old when her grandparents found her dancing on stage at a large music festival. While listening to Queen’s Greatest Hits on a cassette tape given by her father, she discovered her singing voice at age 12 – she was blown away by the amazing musicality and vocal talents of Freddie Mercury and she’s been singing ever since. In middle school, she joined a renowned local theater group and starred in lead roles as the group toured Israel.

At 18, for her mandatory military service, NOA LEVY auditioned for and was inducted into the IDF’s prestigious Navy Ensemble where she performed throughout Israel and also toured across the United States. Following her IDF service, she pursued her passion and developed her talent for musical theater at the London School of Musical Theatre in London, England, earning a diploma. Afterwards, she concentrated on music studies at Rimon School of Music in Israel.

The first release party for her TAKE TWO EP will be held on August 17, 2018, at the California Jazz Conservatory in Berkeley (formerly known as the Jazzschool). A privately-owned non-profit music school founded in 1997, the school won accreditation as a conservatory in early 2014, and is the only American school with a year-round jazz music program.

 www.noalevylive.com

Tenor Saxophonist Ivo Perelman Collaborates With Bass Clarinetists Rudi Mahall & Jason Stein On Kindred Spirits & Spiritual Prayers

Over the course of nearly 100 recordings under his own name, tenor saxophone savant Ivo Perelman had previously recorded only once in the company of another reed player -- in 2005, in a quartet that paired him with Louis Sclavis on bass clarinet. Now, in his latest exploration of sonic colors and instrumental pairings, Perelman has tripled that output with the release of two quietly spectacular albums, Kindred Spirits and Spiritual Prayers (August 24 via Leo Records). However, instead of a quartet format, Perelman and each of his bass-clarinet partners work as a duo, which magnifies and enhances the relationship of these closely related but still disparate horns.

The idea to record a series of albums with bass clarinetists took shape in the summer of 2017. At that time, the restlessly creative Perelman had begun work on what will become a series of more than 20 albums featuring improvisers from the violin family (including viola and cello); nonetheless, he was already looking ahead to a next challenge. He had a specific criterion in mind for selecting bass clarinet collaborators. In addition to embracing Perelman’s modus operandi of total spontaneity -- improvisation without any written music, tempo cues, or predetermined structure -- they would have to be bass clarinet “purists,” in Perelman’s description: artists who work on that instrument exclusively, as opposed to the overwhelming majority of reedists who use it as a second (or more likely third) option in their improvising.

He ended up with a short list, finding only two such improvisers known for their single-minded devotion to the bass clarinet: Rudi Mahall, based in Germany, and Jason Stein, a mainstay on Chicago’s seemingly inexhaustible new-music scene. But these two sessions sufficed to whet Perelman’s appetite for working with other woodwind artists in the future. “This means so much in my development as an artist,” Perelman says, “considering that I’ve built my career so far by playing mainly with piano, bass, drums, and strings. Playing with another reed instrument opens up so many possibilities.”

Much of this has to do with the common bonds between tenor sax and bass clarinet. Both are single-reed aerophones, in the same key (B-flat), that traverse a similar timbral range. They share similarities in articulation, fingering, and embouchure, and also in the way these techniques can be combined to produce the altissimo notes, above the written notation, that Perelman has especially mastered. But the success of this project also depends on the unique connections forged by Perelman with Mahall (on Kindred Spirits) and Stein (on Spiritual Prayers) -- each of whom met Perelman less than 24 hours before they stepped into the studio.

In the case of Mahall -- famed for his work with Globe Unity Orchestra, as well as a long association with new-music pianist Aki Takase -- Perelman discovered a fraternal bond between outsiders. Mahall grew up in Nuremberg, Germany, and Perelman hails from São Paolo, Brazil; says the saxophonist, “We are both foreigners. We both grew up outside American jazz.” So even though each of them would eventually discover, embrace, and then transcend the “jazz tradition,” neither of them heard very much of that tradition in their formative years. For Perelman, this proved revelatory, particularly when working with another reedist who, like himself, trained extensively in classical music (Mahall on soprano clarinet, Perelman on guitar and cello).

Five days after the whirlwind session yielding the double-disc Kindred Spirits with Mahall, Perelman went back to the studio with Stein to record the single-disc Spiritual Prayers, and again forged an unexpected connection. While neither of them observes his religion in any formal sense, both are Jews with familial roots in Russia and Eastern Europe; this coincidence did not go unnoticed by either of them.

“Playing with Jason felt like reverentially, respectfully praying with another rabbi,” Perelman says. “Not that I’ve done that before -- my last synagogue experience was my bar mitzvah! -- but I have this clear memory of me and my father, the rabbi and the minyan, and the seriousness of that moment came back to me when I was playing.” For his part, Stein says, “There are things about Ivo that reminded me of my grandfather” -- small gestures, his way of going about his business -- “and that just cultivated a sense of ease and familiarity. It’s hard to point to a connection in terms of direct musical experience. But we both have this shared Jewish heritage, coming from a Russian-Polish lineage, and that feeds into the music.”

Although each album comprises freely improvised duets for the same instrumentation, they really have only that in common, owing to the striking differences between the bass clarinetists. Mahall, steeped in not only classical music but also the European avant-garde, imparts an old-world elegance to Kindred Spirits, even in guttural passages and moments of furious abandon. Stein embodies a grittier new-world boldness, and a rawboned swagger particular to Chicago jazz in all its manifestations, from the early trade players through the adventurers who formed the AACM in the 60s and the avant-garde renaissance of the 21st century. Together, they constitute a new chapter in Ivo Perelman’s musical biography, one in which the intimacy between similar instruments yields some of the most affecting music in his extensive catalog -- even if it rigorously resists categorization.

Born in 1961, Ivo Perelman played several instruments before finally adopting the tenor saxophone. Entering the Berklee College of Music in 1981, he focused on the mainstream masters of the tenor sax, as opposed to such pioneering avant-gardists as Albert Ayler, Peter Brötzmann, and John Coltrane – all of whom would later be cited as precedents for his own work. Perelman left Berklee in 1983 and moved to Los Angeles, where he discovered his penchant for post-structure improvisation. “I would go berserk, just playing my own thing,” he explains now. Emboldened by this approach, he began to research the free-jazz saxophonists who had come before him, and in the early 90s he moved to the more inviting artistic milieu of New York.

Since 2010, he has immersed himself in a “creative frenzy” that shows no sign of diminution; he has recorded more than 30 albums in just the last three years. His impassioned, expressionist approach to the tenor sax continues to captivate (and often mystify) critics and fans, as do his specific performances, vivacious and hyperkinetic, with a variety of like-minded improvisers. Critics have called him “one of the great saxophone virtuosi” and “one of the world’s most prominent avant-garde jazzmen,” and the composer-conductor-scholar Gunther Schuller praised him as “a unique genius” working within “an entire new school of jazz.”

Perelman also maintains a separate career as a visual artist, producing a steady stream of abstract drawings and paintings that have attracted admirers worldwide. He now splits his time between New York, his home for more than 25 years, and São Paulo, Brazil.

JACK SELS / MINOR WORKS: A legend of Belgian Jazz and a highly influential figure on the post-war Belgian jazz scene

One of the legends of Belgian Jazz and a highly influential figure on the post-war Belgian jazz scene, Sels died in 1970 at the mere age of 48, and he remains the country’s most mythical jazz musician, almost fifty years after his death. Throughout his career, he would play with jazz legends such as Dizzy Gillespie, Lester Young, Lou Bennett and Lucky Thompson, but he remained virtually unknown outside Belgium due to his reluctance to leave Antwerp.

Released 31st August on 2CD, vinyl and digital formats, ‘Minor Works’ is a collection of rare, previously unreleased studio and live recordings paying homage to the life and jazz of the enigmatic musician. Often overlooked by a wider audience, partly due to a limited discography, his contribution to the development of the modern jazz scene in Belgium cannot be underestimated, and neither can his influence on his fellow musicians, to whom he was the embodiment of jazz. As vibraphone player Fats Sadi once said: “I loved Jack. He had never studied music and didn’t have the least bit of technique. But if Jack played, the gates of heaven opened. Jack was more jazz than jazz itself.”

  

2CD, vinyl and digital release includes 12 previously unreleased studio tracks and 8 unreleased live tracks from highly influential post-war Belgian jazz saxophonist.

Born 29th January 1922, Sels was the only child in a wealthy family. His father Joseph, whom he referred to as ‘The Boss’, held a high position at the maritime company, John P. Best. He was predestined to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a businessman himself, until the early death of both his parents changed everything.

  

As a young adolescent, he inherited the family fortune which he spent in no time on everything in life that’s good: girls, champagne and jazz records. By now an avid jazz fan, Jack accumulated a notorious collection of original 78 rpm jazz records which ran up into the thousands. A family legend goes that one day he bought all the tickets of Antwerp’s famous cinema Rex, and handed them all out to passers-by on the street. “He was a millionaire, but he gave everything away,” explains Jack’s son-in-law and close friend Willy Van Wiele. “He hung out with people of a lower social class and adapted to them, instead of to the rich.” Jack’s good life however, ended with a bang when a World War II bombing destroyed the family house, including his precious record collection and everything else he had.

  

But this setback was not going to stop Jack from indulging even further in his love for music, and he began to study piano, and then taught himself the tenor saxophone while spending as much time as possible listening to his jazz idols, among them the tenor saxophonist Lester Young, trumpeters Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie and alto saxophonist Charlie Parker.

  

The arrival of Dizzy Gillespie’s big band at Antwerp in 1948 made a lasting impression on Sels as well as the legendary Birth of the Cool sessions by Miles Davis’s nonet, which were crucial for his further development, and he decided to start his own big bands including the All Stars Bop Orchestra, including a young Toots Thielemans, and the Jack Sels Chamber Music Orchestra.

  

In 1951, he travelled to Germany to perform for the American troops, and after his return to Antwerp he played in basement pubs, dance halls and jazz clubs and would later compose the soundtrack for the film ‘Meeuwen Sterven in de Haven’ (Seagulls Die in the Harbour) by Roland Verhavert.

  

In 1959, he supported Nat King Cole and had the opportunity to perform with his idol Lester Young in Brussels. Later, a career working on radio programmes for the NIR, then later BRT, was short lived due to the musical restraints held upon him.

His first and only studio album came in 1961 and featured American musicians Lou Bennett and Oliver Jackson and young Belgian guitarist, Philip Catherine. However, on release, the sleeve failed to mention the famous artists involved in the recording and the album didn’t bring the long awaited breakthrough Sels craved, who had already given up on his jazz career by the time it was finally released.

By 1966, Sels’s working opportunities in jazz had become so slim that he was forced to start working at the Antwerp harbour, where he helped to unload boats. During this period, he rarely performed in public anymore. Besides the irregular local gig, he occasionally appeared in schools and cultural centres, illustrating lectures about jazz history by jazz critic Juul Anthonissen. Instead he devoted his time to writing music, which he did on a small harmonium.

It was while making music, sitting at his harmonium, that Sels suffered a fatal cardiac arrest on 21 March 1970. Once one of Belgium’s foremost modern jazz musicians, he died in poverty, largely forgotten and after a turbulent life.

Tracklisting:

CD1

1.      Spanish Lady

2.      Ginger

3.      Nick's Kick *

4.      Dorian 0437 *

5.      La Campimania *

6.      African Dance

7.      Softly, As In A Morning Sunrise *

8.      Blues For A Blonde

9.      Blue Triptichon *

10.   Rain On The Grand'Place

11.   Night In Tunisia *

12.   Minor Works

13.   Tchak-Tchak *

14.   Invitation *

15.   Minor 5

16.   The Preacher *

17.   Dong *

18.   Gemini *

19.   It Might As Well Be Spring *

Previously unreleased *

CD2

1.      Night In Tunisia (Live)

2.      Taking A Chance On Love (Live)

3.      Zonky (Live)

4.      Blue Monk (Live)

5.      Swingin' The Blues (Live)

6.      Walkin' (Live)

7.      Unknown Title (Live)

8.      Broadway (Live)

All tracks previously unreleased

Pianist HELEN SUNG presents SUNG WITH WORDS - A Collaboration with Dana Gioia

Winning a 2014 Chamber Music America/Doris Duke Foundation "New Jazz Works" grant (given each year to support the compositional efforts of U.S. based jazz artists) enabled pianist/composer Helen Sung to fulfill a long-time dream: to create Sung With Words, a collaborative project with the celebrated American poet Dana Gioia. Utilizing jazz and poetry as powerful catalysts to create new music, Sung With Words is Sung's first recording to feature all original music, consisting of vocal works where Gioia's poems serve as lyrics, as well as instrumental compositions inspired by words (for example, her Lament for Kalief Browder). She enlists longtime musical colleagues to help bring the music to life: multi-reedist John Ellis, trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, bassist Reuben Rogers, drummer Kendrick Scott and percussionist Samuel Torres. Vocalists Jean Baylor, Carolyn Leonhart, Christie Dashiell, and Charenee Wade interpret the words of Gioia, whose poems have been described as "resonant with music".

Jazz writer David Adler perceptively states in his liner notes: "The affinity between jazz and poetry stretches back to Langston Hughes and others writing in the "Jazz Age" of the '20s, forward to the Beat Generation and up to today. Poets played a central role in the '60s avant-garde and free jazz, not to mention the current intertwined exchange between jazz and hip-hop. In recent years, Andrew Rathbun has composed works inspired by Margaret Atwood; Luciana Souza by Neruda and Elizabeth Bishop; John Hollenbeck by Kenneth Patchen - the list goes on." 

Now, Sung and Gioia enter the fray, and with aplomb! Sung first met Gioia at a White House State Dinner and discovered he was a fan and champion of jazz (during his term he spearheaded the revival of the National Endowment's Jazz Masters Award into the robust program it is today, and his younger brother is noted jazz author Ted Gioia). Poetry hadn't been an area of focus for the pianist/composer so she was intrigued to meet a 'live' poet. "Dana has a fascinating story, both personally and professionally, and one of his many gifts is his ability to make poetry accessible and even enjoyable for the layperson, similar to how Wynton Marsalis does with jazz," Sung says. Elaborating further, "After high school required poetry, I stayed away, remembering how I disliked feeling unsure of a poem's meaning, worrying that I was the only one who didn't 'get it'."

In conversation with Gioia, however, Sung found her footing: "I admitted my general feelings about poetry, and he said, 'Don't worry too much about literal meaning. Read the poem out loud, listen to how the words fall rhythmically, how they flow, how the consonants and vowels sound, and meaning will come - usually sideways.' It was a revelation! I also discovered when I would imagine lines of poetry as a melodic phrase or rhythmic pattern, it would illuminate the words and the poem would come alive with meaning. I soon thought, why not make this into a song? This led to the desire to create a full-length album of songs, and I couldn't think of a more exciting and inspiring collaborator than Dana when I applied for the Chamber Music America 'New Jazz Works' grant."

Sung With Words also reflects Sung's fascination with the direct connection vocalists have with the listener. Unlike instrumentalists who deal purely with sound, vocalists are armed with lyrics that can be readily understood by the listener - they can be storytellers in a very tangible way. "It has been a great learning experience dealing with words - building sonic worlds around Dana's poems that express what those words mean to me," says Sung. "In my research for writing the music for Sung With Words I found inspiration in music where words, rhythm and sound are interwoven in ways that move me - music of artists such as Stevie Wonder, Earth Wind and Fire, A Tribe Called Quest, Me'shell Ndegeocello, Esperanza Spaulding, Terri Lyne Carrington, etc. I have a great respect for the art of song-writing and wanted to answer the challenge: to present Dana's words in my own musical language - as an honest distillation of what I hear, and how I hear."

  

Helen Sung is a pianist of great breadth and excellence, able to enrapture an audience as a soloist; one of the few pianists in the world who can perform in a duo setting with the legendary Ron Carter; lead a trio with such fire and absolute brilliance that it will transport you back to the heyday of Bradley's in the 80s/90s; or, dive into a larger formats ranging from Quartet to Big Band (as evidenced by her contribution on Jazz at Lincoln Center's 2017 Blue Engine release Handful of Keys). Steeped in the blues and post-bop, with an affinity for Monk, but also able to expertly deal with James P. Johnson and Jelly Roll Morton, Sung has worked with a "Who's Who" in jazz, including the late Clark Terry, Ron Carter, Wayne Shorter, Wynton Marsalis, Terri Lyne Carrington, the Mingus Big Band and MacArthur Fellow Regina Carter. A graduate of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, Sung knows the tradition and uses this bedrock to build upon and expand her artistic vision. Her recorded output reveals a composer and bandleader, second to none: Push (2003), Helenistique (2006), Sungbird (2007), Going Express (2010), (re)Conception (2011), and Anthem For a New Day (2014). Sung With Words is a thrilling next step in the pianist's glorious and inspiring evolution, and Sung fittingly declares, "It's been a great adventure and I look forward to sharing this music with the world!"

  

Upcoming Tour Dates:

Aug 15 - Smalls Jazz Club (NYC)

Aug 16-19 - Jazz Standard (NYC)

Aug 23 - Bayside Summer Nights Jazz Series (San Diego)

Aug 28-Sept 1 - Birdland Jazz Club (NYC)

Sept 14 - CD Release at the Blue Whale (Los Angeles, CA)

Sept 15 - Christianity, Community, Churches, and Challenges, (Irvine, CA)

Sept 18-22 - Birdland Jazz Club (NYC)

Sept 28 - Met Museum of Art (NYC)

Sept 30* - CD Release concert (LIU Post, Long Island)

Oct 5-7 - w/Oregon Coast Jazz Party (Newport, OR)

Oct 8 -  Chapel Performance Space (Seattle, WA)

Oct 9 - Edmonds Woodway High School (Seattle, WA)

Oct 10 - Monk Centennial Celebrationg (San Francisco, CA)

Oct 12-22 - Ronnie Scott's (UK)

Oct 24-25 - Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola (NYC)

Oct 25 - WBGO/Yamaha Concert Series 2018 (NYC)

Nov 7-10 - (exact dates TBC) Sydney International Women's Jazz Festival

Nov 16 - NJPAC (Newark, NJ)

Nov 17 - Kennedy Center (Wash., DC)

Nov 18 - McCarter Theater (Princeton, NJ)

Dec 1 - CD Release at North Coast Brewing's Sequoia Room 

(Fort Bragg, CA)

Dec 2 - Healdsburg Jazz (Healdsburg, CA)

Dec 4 or 5 - CD Release at Dazzle Jazz (Denver, CO)

Dec 6 - CD Release at Kuumbwa Jazz Center (Santa Cruz, CA)

Jan 19 - CD Release at Vermont Jazz Center (Brattleboro, VT)

Jan 26 - CD Release at 2019 Trinity Jazz Festival (Houston, TX)   

In a New Six Album Solo Recording, Guitarist Miles Okazaki Plays the Complete Thelonious Monk Songbook

The year 2017 marked the centennial of Thelonious Monk's birth, full of commemorations and remembrances of the master composer. After performing in a tribute concert that year, guitarist Miles Okazaki decided to embark on a deep dive into Monk's music, documenting his progress as a recording project. 

Over the course of the next year, he exhaustively researched every composition in the repertoire and translated each one onto the guitar, staying as faithful as possible to the original material while improvising arrangements with a focus on rhythm. With 70 compositions spanning six full-length albums, this is the first time that the complete Thelonious Monk songbook has been recorded on a single solo instrument.

Miles Okazaki is a NYC based guitarist originally from Port Townsend, a small seaside town in Washington State. His approach to the guitar is described by The New York Times as "utterly contemporary, free from the expectations of what it means to play a guitar in a group setting - not just in jazz, but any kind." His sideman experience over the last two decades covers a broad spectrum of approaches (Kenny Barron, John Zorn, Stanley Turrentine, Dan Weiss, Matt Mitchell, Jonathan Finlayson, Jane Monheit, Amir ElSaffar, Darcy James Argue, and many others). 

He was seen most prominently with Steve Coleman and Five Elements from 2009-2017. As a leader  Okazaki is known primarily as a composer, having written four volumes of original compositions over the last 12 years. His most recent album Trickster was released on Pi Recordings last year to wide acclaim, receiving editor's picks in DownBeat Magazine and JazzTimes, called "a true concept album" by The Wall Street Journal and "a mature work for the ages" by PopMatters. This album of Thelonious Monk compositions is his first recording of standard repertoire. 

 

MoonJune announces new release of the Catalan drummer extraordinaire XAVI REIJA "The Sound Of The Earth"

Featuring:

XAVI REIJA drums

TONY LEVIN bass guitar, upright bas, stick

DUSAN JEVTOVIC guitar

MARKUS REUTER touch guitar

The Sound Of The Earth  Notes by Dan Burke:

First heard on Xavi and Dusan’s inspired 2014 album, “Random Abstract” by XaDu, “Deep Ocean” starts things off with a fanfare of muscular guitar and cymbals crashing like waves on the rocky coast, carving out the beach and unearthing a primal groove with growling bass and jittering spectral figures. “The Sound of the Earth I” brings to mind David Sylvian’s post-Japan near ambient instrumental excursions where space and pause became as integral to the “composition as place” as his trusty Prophet 5. Once this world is created, and with a decidedly Beckian vibe (Jeff, that is), Dusan wrings from the neck of his guitar, some of the most emotive broken phrases and edited soulful voicings.

“From Darkness” finds Tony’s minimalist bass pulse in 5/8 with snare/kick serving as the groundwork for Dusan and Markus’ spiraling moebius strip guitar riffery. There is a slightly frenzied insistence to this track which serves as a great counterpoint to the more atmospheric work.

Leading off with playful skipping brushwork and a rich and supple Levin bass groove, then painted with Reuter’s ominous stained and weathered guitar tones, “The Sound of the Earth II” is a dark canvas of shifting clouds of color. Dusan’s skittery clipped chords and abbreviated lead lines bring necessary tension for the fluid guitar phrasings which seem to erupt and then run down the face of this 12 minute tone painting. “Serenity” is an inspired atmospheric piece which features an abstracted melodic lead buoyed by an insistent tamboura-like repeated wavering note. There is enough creativity and inspiration in this one track to feed a whole album’s worth of music.

Beginning with a deep space Curtis Mayfield vibe, “The Sound of the Earth III” unfolds slowly with a practiced teasing restraint that allows the music to bloom naturally. “Lovely Place” finds the notes of Dusan’s guitar projected, like light, into a prism and coming back as a myriad of shimmering colors. Reuter’s stellar fluid guitar solo has a heroic and almost “Hotel California” build and break before returning to Dusan’s delicate finger work.

At nearly 17 minutes long, “The Sound of the Earth IV” would feel right at home on side 3 of a double Kosmiche Musik LP from 1969. This is heady stuff with lots of room for some really spirited interplay. Markus inspires this kind of creativity with his willingness to step way outside of the comfort zone. The musicians feel as though they’ve played together for years. In “Take a Walk” Dusan knits a lean triplet argeggiated guitar riff into a tight braid to give structure while a swaggering monster groove builds and builds, all the while tugging mercilessly at the yarn of his guitar until it temporarily unravels into a series of more tentative notes and slightly bent chords.

You can feel the room in this recording and, by that, I mean you can sense both the physical space and the emotional space between these four gifted players. There is a level of trust and comfort here that puts the listener at ease and ready to take the ride. Band leader and Catalan drummer, Xavi Reija and Serbian-born guitarist Dusan Jevtovic have worked together on numerous projects these past few years and have become an intuitive musical unit. Born in Boston, Tony Levin, with his impeccable pedigree from Herbie Mann and Chuck Mangione to Peter Gabriel and King Crimson as well as his own 10- year ongoing project Stick Men, along with fellow Stick Men, Crimson ProjeKCt and Centrozoon member German-born Markus Reuter, have likewise developed a common language communicating through music.

Such heartfelt and enthusiastic playing is in short supply these days. This is not music pigeon-holed for easy consumption, rather, it challenges and rewards more and more with each listening. So put down your phone, lower the lights and prepare to experience the gift of this inspired recording.

Pianist Jim Wilson's soul-stirring cinematic portraits are unveiled in “Remembrance”

Along life’s journey, we may be lucky enough to meet someone who inspires us, has a lasting impact and transforms how we love and live our life. Pianist Jim Wilson said goodbye to his inspirational figure last year when his aunt passed away at age 97. He wrote “The Girl From Eastland County” for Aunt Billie Jo for his forthcoming tenth album, “Remembrance: A Collection of Cinematic Portraits,” but the presence of the woman who embodied unconditional love is felt throughout the redolent session of poignant piano poetry that drops September 28 from Willow Bay Music. Remembering another dear confidante, Andrew Gold, Wilson offers a sprightly instrumental remake of the late singer-songwriter’s worldwide hit “Thank You For Being A Friend,” which was remixed for radio airplay by the track’s guitarist Chris Standring.

  

On “Remembrance,” Wilson pours his seemingly endless fount of sweeping melodies and grandiose harmonies to craft vivid sonicscapes rendered with heart and emotion. Inherently expressive and sentimental, his exquisite piano strikes resonant notes that penetrate deep to the core. The color and scope applied to Wilson’s canvases vary, sometimes favoring a full palate of lavish orchestrations such as on opener “Shadow Falls,” the title track, “Under A Highlands Moon” and “Denouement”; other times choosing dreamlike ambient hues (“Tangerine Moon” and “Diogenes Lantern”); or opting to leave his reverential pencil sketches sparsely adorned (“In The Stillness” and “Home is Where the Heart Is”). Whether the accompaniment be minimal and atmospheric or illumined by noteworthy musicians including keyboardist Brad Cole (Phil Collins), drummer Charlie Morgan (Elton John), Irish flutist Eric Rigler (“Titanic” soundtrack) and noted session players Troy Dexter (guitar) and Neil Stubenhaus (bass), Wilson’s aim is to connect and lead his listeners on an affecting path of discovery.

“I’ve always been told that my music has a visual quality to it, but I wanted to take it to a new level with this record, creating a collection of ‘cinematic portraits’ that take the listener on an emotional journey. ‘Remembrance’ has a reverent, contemplative feel that serves as centerpiece for the rest of the album. What matters most is that this music enriches the lives of those who hear it,” said Wilson, who concluded by addressing the role his aunt still plays in his life. “I strive to be more like her in every aspect of my life.”

  

Wilson grew up in Amarillo, Texas, but he is a longtime Los Angeles-area resident. Three of his albums hit the Billboard Top 20 - “Northern Seascape,” “Cape of Good Hope” and “A Place In My Heart” - and two of his concerts have been made into PBS specials, including “A Place In My Heart.” His work as an innovator pioneered and revolutionized MIDI adaptors for piano by allowing it to interact with computers and synthesizers. He taught Paul McCartney, Elton John, Jackson Browne, Burt Bacharach, Carole King and many others how to use the MIDI-piano. As a television composer, Wilson wrote music for the CBS series “Frank’s Place” and has performed on ABC and QVC. His previous albums include appearances by David Sanborn, Stephen Bishop, J.D. Souther, Chris Botti and Dan Fogelberg. In addition to solo performances, Wilson has long served as keyboardist and music director for Bishop, for whom he is presently touring and opening.               

Wilson’s “Remembrance” contains the following songs:

“Shadow Falls”

“Remembrance”

“The Girl From Eastland County”

“In the Stillness”

“Tangerine Moon”

“Home is Where the Heart Is”

“Diogenes Lantern”

“Under a Highlands Moon”

“Thank You For Being A Friend”

“Denouement”