New Music: Marius Billgobenson, Mike Allemana, High Pulp, Luke Stewart's Silt Trio

Marius Billgobenson - The Spirit Love

The title of Congolese born, Stockholm, Sweden based singer/songwriter Marius Billgobenson’s album The Spirit Love embodies his life’s work and mission as a concerned and compassionate musical citizen of the world with a commitment to bridging cultural divides. Over the course of 11 heartfelt and provocative, urban jazz meets world music tracks, the multi-talented artist – also an award-winning anthropologist with a deep passion for ethnomusicology - creates a deeply visceral and empowering autobiographical fusion of pop, soul, blues and jazz, infused with the spirited rhythms and vocal sounds indigenous to the Congo. Helping him immerse into the Smooth Jazz world are Paul Brown, who wrote and produced two tracks, and Chris “Big Dog” Davis, who helmed six others. ~ www.smoothjazz.com

Mike Allemana - Vonology

A wonderfully surprising effort from guitarist Mike Allemana – a secret hero of ours in the Chicago jazz scene for many years – as a player who first worked with tenor giant Von Freeman, and later with guitarist George Freeman – and who's gone on to be both a supporter of and champion for their rights in jazz history! Here, Mike pays tribute to his first mentor – but with a sophisticated suite of tracks that's unlike anything we might have expected – beautifully rich sounds delivered by Allemana on guitar, Victor Garcia on trumpet, Greg Ward on alto, Geof Bradfield on tenor, Tomeka Reid on cello, Kendall Moore on trombone, Matt Ferguson on bass, and Michael Raynor on drums – the last of whom also played with Von Freeman too! The vibe is very different than the small combo jazz of the south side scene where the Freemans and Allemana regularly played – more painterly in sound, with these vibrant strokes of color and tone that paint a wonderful portrait – on titles that include "The Mediator", "Welcome Enter", "Communion & Renewal", "Libra Channeling", and "The Mentor's Benediction". ~ Dusty Groove

High Pulp - Pursuit Of Ends

High Pulp have always been one of those groups that are nicely hard to define – but this time around, they seem to be coming across with a jazzier vibe than ever before – and a new sort of musical sophistication that really has their music falling into place! The Seattle combo's always had a wide ear for influences, and that's really helped them put together the pieces in their music – yet here, they also really seem to be speaking strongly in their own voice too – with a mixture of complex yet compelling rhythms, rich tonal colors, and soaring solos that fill the album with promise and life! The group themselves are already great – and they open the door to guest work from Jaleel Shaw on tenor, Jacob Mann on keyboards, and Theo Croker on trumpet – adding their own shades to the group's rich palette. Titles include "All Roads Lead To Los Angeles", "Ceremony", "A Ring On Each Finger", "Kamishinjo", "Wax Hands", "Blaming Mercury", "You've Got To Pull It Up From The Ground", and "Chemical X". ~ Dusty Groove

Luke Stewart's Silt Trio - Bottom

Bassist Luke Stewart is fast becoming one of our favorite talents on his instrument in recent years – an artist who first grabbed our ears with his work in Irreversible Entanglements, but who seems even better suited to stand out front as a leader! The performance of the trio here is wonderful – complex, but organic – very rhythmic, but also never tied to the groove – maybe a bit in the spirit of the UK group Ill Considered at times, but with a direction that's very much its own! In addition to Stewart on bass, the always-amazing Chad Taylor is on drums – really given the space here to remind us how brilliant he can be – and the group also features Brian Settles on tenor, carving out these really beautiful lines over the top. Titles include "Roots", "Angles", "Reminiscence", "Circles", and "Dream House". ~ Dusty Groove

Natsuki Tamura | "Summer Tree"

Trumpeter-composer Natsuki Tamura adds a new dimension to his unaccompanied music, several in fact, on his new multi-tracked solo album, Summer Tree. Only his fifth solo album in a career that has spanned more than five decades, Summer Tree displays all the inventiveness, lyricism, and wit as his previous solo albums, but with a few new wrinkles. For the first time, he overdubs himself, creating dense, richly textured pieces. The piano and percussion that first made an appearance on his previous solo outing, Koki (Libra Records) return to enrich his sonic palate, adding more color and texture. He also invites pianist-composer Satoko Fujii to join him for one track, not on her expected instrument, but on vocals. The music at times goes to some very dark, un-summery places but is always superbly crafted and full of surprises.

Tamura laid down a foundation track for each of the four lengthy pieces on the album, then added others on top, in a spontaneous but time-consuming process. Two of the tracks, "Summer Tree" and “Summer Dream” have composed themes played by Tamura’s muted trumpet. The other two tracks were completely improvised.

The result is unlike anything Tamura has done before. The title track and “Summer Dream” unfold slowly over low drones that resemble Tibetan horns or digeridoos, with layers of anguished howls punctuated by additional trumpet hisses and whoops. Expertly crafted and paced, they build tension that go unrelieved as Tamura’s exquisite muted trumpet melodies wend their melancholy way through the sonic turmoil. On Koki, Tamura debuted his homemade percussion setup comprised of pots and pans and wok. The metallic clang of Tamura’s kitchen-implement percussion returns on “Summer Color,” ringing like an alarm bell throughout. As the clamor relentlessly continues, faint drones hover in the background, low-register piano-note clusters explode and fade, while his trumpet snarls and grumbles. On “Summer Wind,” pianists-composer Satoko Fujii joins husband Tamura, not on piano, but on vocals. This is just the second time Fujii has recorded her unique vocalizing, which she debuted on last year’s Underground. Here she stretches out more, deploying a wide range of non-verbal vocalizations, from shrieks, trills and barking sounds to longer phrases that sound like an unknown language. Tamura, playing just piano, maintains a menacing rumble in the lower register over which enigmatic piano phrases nervously tip toe. Each piece, no matter how uncanny, invites the the listener to pay attention to all the details and nuances of the sounds. The closer one listens the more there is to hear.

Remarkably, Tamura used no post-production mixing, editing, or other manipulations to create the album’s unearthly sounds. He drew exclusively on his huge bag of extended techniques and everything you hear is as it was played.

No Tamura recording is complete without a touch of his impish humor. In this case you’ll find it in the album’s title, Summer Tree. “My name, Natsuki, is spelled by two Chinese letters, ‘Natsu’ means ‘summer’ and ‘Ki’ means ‘tree.’ I was born in summer and my parents gave me this name,” he explains.

Japanese trumpeter and composer Natsuki Tamura is internationally recognized for a unique musical vocabulary that blends jazz lyricism with extended techniques. In 1997, he and Satoko Fujii, who is also his wife, released their first duo album, How Many? (Leo Lab). They have recorded eight CDs together, including 2021’s Keshin (Libra). Tamura’s collaborations with Fujii reveal an intense musical empathy and have garnered wide popular and critical acclaim. Kurt Gottschalk writes in the New York City Jazz Record that their rapport “feels like a secret language … It’s rare to sense this level of intuition between musicians.”

2003 was a breakout year for Tamura as a bandleader, with the release of Hada Hada (Libra), featuring his free jazz-avant rock quartet with Fujii on synthesizer. In 2005, he made a 180-degree turn with the debut of his all acoustic Gato Libre quartet, focusing on the intersection of European folk music and sound abstraction. Now a trio, their most recent CD is Koneko (Libra), released in 2020. Writing in the New York City Jazz Record, Tyran Grillo said, “By turns mysterious and whimsical.”

In 1998, Tamura released the first of his unaccompanied trumpet albums, A Song for Jyaki (Leo Lab). He followed it up in 2003 with KoKoKoKe (Polystar/NatSat and in 2021, he celebrated his 70th birthday with Koki Solo (Libra), which Karl Ackermann in All About Jazz described as “quirky fun in an age of uncertainty.”

In addition to appearing in many of Fujii’s ensembles, Tamura also has worked with collaborative groups. Most recently, he joined Fujii and master French composer-improvisers, trumpeter Christian Pruvost and drummer Peter Orins, to form the collective quartet Kaze. With five CDs to their credit since 2011, Kaze “redefines listening to music, redefines genres, redefines playing music,” according to Stef Gjissels of Free Jazz Blog.

Tamura’s category-defying abilities make him “unquestionably one of the most adventurous trumpet players on the scene today,” said Marc Chenard in Coda.

John Scofield Releases His First-Ever Solo Guitar Recording

With a career spanning over half a century, marked by influential collaborations with jazz greats like Miles Davis and Joe Henderson as well as several dozen genre-bending leader dates, it’s all the more striking that this is in fact John Scofield’s first ever guitar-solo recording. The long wait, however, pays off, as John is able to benefit from his decades of experience and charts an intimate path through the styles and idioms he has traversed up until today. He is not entirely all on his own on this endeavour though: the guitarist enters into dialogues with himself, soloing to his own tasteful chordal and rhythmic accompaniment via loop machine. 

“I think that there’s a delicateness that I have acquired from playing at home alone," Scofield has recently said in conversation with The Boston Herald. “I am so used to playing with a slamming band […] and there’s a certain musicality to that. That went away and was replaced by this more delicate approach of pinpointing the beauty of the strings. When I play solo, I make these little guitar loops on the fly, […] and it’s almost like I’m playing with another person.” 

Not uncommon for self-titled recordings, a deeper meaning can be read into choosing the album name John Scofield, as John digs deep into the past, all the way back to his roots and the heroes of his youth. The result is a balanced and thorough picture of the musician, tying together the music that shaped him and that he has subsequently continued to influence and forge himself.  

“When I was a kid the guitar was the instrument of rock and roll and popular music, that’s what I was interested in," Scofield explains. In that spirit, he effortlessly pulls Buddy Holly’s “Not Fade Away” from a hat, giving an edgy and laid-back rendition of the hit Holly wrote six years after Scofield was born. John reaches even further back with Hank Williams’ “You Win Again," released when Scofield was just a year old, in 1952. 

John’s main emphasis throughout the years, however, has remained his deep commitment to the jazz tradition, and here he grabs a number of standards off the rack and gives them unique interpretations. His comments on each song are included in the liner notes accompanying this release, where he reveals his fondness for Kenny Dorham’s take on “It Could Happen to You." John’s own version is a swinging affair with a deft key-change halfway through. He also reminisces about his first recording date, backing up Gerry Mulligan and Chet Baker on “There Will Never Be Another You” and his pass at the song proves a nimble and compact adventure. An especially minimalist take on the Arthur Johnston and Sam Coslow-penned “My Old Flame” follows – John turns off the loop machine for this one. 

The guitarist has filled a fair share of albums with his own writing – its tuneful qualities and inviting singability having the same timeless character as jazz standards. “I never think about ideas when I write music," John reflects. "Instrumental music exists in a different part of your brain, it’s not about an idea that can be described with language or visually. Music exists in its own place." 

His compositions are among the highlights of this set: Scofield renders “Honest I Do," which he originally wrote and recorded in 1991, into a soulful ballad, explored with experimental guitar tones. “Mrs. Scofield’s Waltz” is dedicated to his wife, who in turn gave “Since You Asked," a song John initially recorded with Joe Lovano in 1990, its name. “More of a feeling than an actual composition” – in the words the guitarist – “Trance Du Hour” is his “version of '60s jazz à la Coltrane." It maintains the same high level of energy as his blues “Elder Dance” does. 

Along with traditionals “Danny Boy” and “Junco Partner," John delivers a haunting and somewhat oblique interpretation of Keith Jarrett’s “Coral” – Scofield’s version doesn’t introduce the song’s main theme until the very end. They complete this graceful solo venture, recorded in Katonah, New York in August 2021. 

John Scofield’s ECM appearances to date include two albums with Marc Johnson’s Bass Desires group – Bass Desires (recorded 1985) and Second Sight (1987) – in which the guitarist shared frontline duties with Bill Frisell. On Shades of Jade (2004), a third Marc Johnson album, Scofield is heard alongside frequent colleague Joe Lovano. The live double album Saudades (recorded in 2004), meanwhile, features Scofield as a member of Trio Beyond, alongside Jack DeJohnette and Larry Goldings, reassessing the songbook of Tony Williams’ Lifetime. After 2020’s Swallow Tales, John Scofield is the guitarist’s second ECM recording as a leader.

New Music: Atlantic Groove Society, Mike Miller, TriTone Asylum, Aksak Maboul

Atlantic Groove Society - Past & Present

A global music mixture of Funky Smooth Jazz and Chillout Lounge music, best compared to a music mixture of Chris Botti, Miles Davis and Rick Braun. Atlantic Groove Society is a forefronted initiative and project by L.A. trumpeter Alexander Hartgers and Dutch keyboardist Raymond Kaitjily who have been musician colleagues and friends for more than 20+ years. Both tapping into their musician & friend connections by bringing the Atlantic Groove Society come alive by combining their strength of musicianship through Alex's & Ray's soulful compositions. The band/project name "Atlantic Groove Society" is based on the Atlantic (ocean) which divides the continents between Alex (USA) & Ray (Netherlands) and the compositions are based on Groove combined with the use of their musician & friend connections which stands for Society. Their first album (released in February 2022) is called "Past & Present" which reflects the time spent in the past together and currently, in the present. Besides that there are compositions which were made & recorded in the years before their debut release of 2022 and more recent years (2020/2021) towards the existence of the current project. Currently Alex & Ray are already writing a second exciting album with their Atlantic Groove Society studio band project.

Mike Miller - Trust

Rock and Jazz Guitarist Mike Miller releases a beautiful ten song album titled Trust. Mike is best know for his work with Chick Corea, Boz Scaggs, Bette Midler, Yellowjackets, Quincy Jones and so many more. Mike brings all of his years of experience into this incredible body of work. “Trust” features guest appearances from Jimmy Haslip, Jimmy Johnson, Jimmy Earl, Scott Kinsey, Brandon Fields, Gary Novak, Marilyn Scott, Jeff Babko, Chad Wackerman, Airto Moreira and so many more talented artists.“Trust” is a must have for fans of Mike Miller which features rich original compositions, stellar improvisations and prowess interplay and technique. This is a gorgeous, inspiring album and a must have for music fans everywhere.

TriTone Asylum - The Hideaway Sessions

TriTone Asylum is based in Southern California. Spear-headed by Peter Sepsis (bass) and Philip Topping. Through their unique instrumentation, they have masterfully developed an electro acoustic sound that melds Jazz, funk, and music from around the world. TriTone Asylum’s music reflects the varied musical landscape of the sounds and street rhythms of Los Angeles. Their original songs are influenced by a variety of artists including Freddie Hubbard, Herbie Hancock, Weather Report, Pat Metheny, as well as artists from the ECM Label.

Aksak Maboul - Redrawn Figures 2

If the "figures" in the title here sounds a bit familiar, it's because Figures was a great return to form for the legendary Aksak Maboul – a record that showed that their unusual mix of sounds and styles was alive and well into the 21st Century – used here as a platform for new creation by a hosts of artists and producers invited to the project by the group! These tracks aren't remixes, and are definitely "redrawn" in the spirit of the title – fresh music that moves between a variety of modes, but which often still retains the leaner feel of the group in their current incarnation. Titles on this second volume include "Un Caid (Hello Skinny rmx)", "Retour Chez A (Felix Kubin rmx)", "Fin (Stubbleman rmx)", "Anatomy Of A Dramuscule (Matias Aguayo interpretation)", "L'Adieu A L'Histoire (Tolouse Low Trax rmx)", and "Dramuscule (Ohh Luuu rmx)". ~ Dusty Groove

Ches Smith, Bill Frisell, Mat Maneri, Craig Taborn – Interpret It Well

“Interpret it well,” reads the script text in Raymond Pettibon’s mysteriously evocative drawing. A few thick black ink strokes describe an enigmatic landscape – the telephone poles, the railroad track and the building in the distance seem obvious enough as markers of desolation, but the swirl of lines on the horizon are more ambiguous. The steam from an approaching train? An oncoming tornado? Hope or dread, connection or destruction, all depend on interpretation.

It’s a fitting choice of cover art for drummer/vibraphonist/composer Ches Smith, whose entrancing new album Interpret It Well borrows Pettibon’s three-word prompt as both title and instruction, for bandmates and listeners alike. The album, due out May 6, 2022 from Pyroclastic Records, is his second with keyboardist Craig Taborn and violist Mat Maneri, the much-anticipated follow-up to the trio’s acclaimed 2016 ECM release The Bell. This time out the band becomes a quartet with the addition of master guitarist Bill Frisell, whose contributions bring additional depth, space and texture to a group already rich in all three qualities.

 It was that sense of openness and exploration, in fact, which intrigued Frisell in the first place. The guitarist attended a Ches Smith Trio concert in late 2018, following which he contacted the drummer with questions about the compositions. “Bill was very nice about the gig – effusive, actually,” Smith recalls. “He told me that he felt the tunes were accessible but challenging at the same time. There's something about the way Craig and Mat and I play together, where we extrapolate to the max but the music feels like the pieces. So I thought Bill might be interested in playing them with us.”

 It took more than a year for schedules to align, but Frisell was finally able to join the trio for a performance in early 2020. The combination gelled immediately – “Bill felt like a natural part of the band,” Smith writes in his liner notes – but the demands on everyone’s time meant that a recording with all four would prove next to impossible to book.

Everyone knows what comes next – the pandemic happened, and suddenly time was all anyone had. Smith reworked his compositions with the newly forged quartet in mind, and the band went into the studio that October when life began to resume some semblance of normalcy (for the first time, at least).

The results are absolutely striking. As he did for the trio incarnation on The Bell, Smith writes compositions that are minimal but indelible; skeletal enough to allow these remarkable improvisers space to roam far afield yet so vivid that the core image is never lost amidst the daring embellishments.

Which brings us back to the Pettibon drawing – what Smith’s music shares with the artist’s work is that idea of a distinctive landscape evoked with a few sketchy lines, with vast stretches of the mysterious left in the spaces between. “There are definitely maximal moments on this record,” Smith says. “But when I think of the music in my head, it's fairly minimal. I like a lot of music where nothing seems to be happening.”

That may be true of the music on Interpret It Well in broad terms, but listen closely and a great deal is happening just beneath the misleadingly placid surface. The album is bookended by “Trapped” and “Deppart” (“Trapped” spelled backwards), two alternate versions of the same brief piece, a haunting, repetitive melody that slowly accrues power one voice at a time. “That’s one of the most minimal things I've ever written,” Smith says. “It's simultaneously a bar, a melody and a chord, and people can approach it however they want.”

The title track begins with Smith’s tentative, querying vibraphone, with the other voices gradually gathering around him like a deepening fog. The picture eventually comes into focus only to give way to Taborn’s stuttering, agitated solo, which ushers in the urgent, ferocious final section. The piece has been inspiring to artists outside of the band as well – artist/filmmaker Frank Heath, whose works have been described as “poetic interventions into systems of communication, information and understanding,” has created a new film to accompany “Interpret It Well.” The piece will be available May 6 via the Ches Smith and Pyroclastic websites.

 Frisell contributes a high lonesome intro to “Mixed Metaphor,” soon matched by Maneri’s forlorn bowing. Smith (on vibes) and Taborn then take over for a labyrinthine duet, ultimately leading into a spiraling vamp. The sparse “Morbid” is a ballad of sorts, an elegy unfurling at an achingly slow pace, luxuriating in the evanescent sound while all four take care not to shatter the exquisitely delicate atmosphere. “Clear Major” takes on a more forceful tone, beginning with Taborn’s insistent patterns. The piece is a three-part suite, the volleying first section followed by the lurching rhythms of the middle and the intricately woven lines of the final – each movement separated by clamorous improvisations that deconstruct the composition in order to rebuild again. The complex “I Need More” proceeds at a brisk pace rife with tension, finally exploding into Frisell’s razor-sharp, searing solo.

 Interpretation is central to Ches Smith’s compositional approach, and here it yields absolutely breathtaking results. “Bill, Mat and Craig can all turn the ensemble in a new direction on a dime by playing one phrase,” Smith says. “What I love about this band is the way that over time, they'll all change their parts – Craig adding harmony or Mat embellishing the written material to keep it fresh. I’ve played with the two of them a lot over the years, but the music turns out different every time. And I know Bill’s playing very well, but he constantly surprised me. Interpret It Well is really my way of encouraging them – it could be the unspoken credo of the band.” 

Ches Smith: The 2021 release by his Vodou-inspired project We All Break, Path of Seven Colors, was named best jazz album of the year by The Guardian and was ranked #7 among all the year’s releases in the international 2021 Jazz Critics Poll. Originally from Sacramento, California, Ches Smith is a drummer, percussionist, and composer based in New York. He has collaborated with a host of artists on many scenes since the early 2000s, including Marc Ribot, Tim Berne, John Zorn, Darius Jones, David Torn, John Tchicai, Nels Cline, Mary Halvorson, Trevor Dunn, Terry Riley, Kris Davis, Dave Holland, Secret Chiefs 3, Xiu Xiu, Good for Cows, Theory of Ruin, and Mr. Bungle, among others. He has nine records to his name as a bandleader that feature his writing and ensemble curation, and is a devout student of Haitian Vodou drums, performing in religious and folkloric contexts in New York and Haiti for the last decade.

Mingus The Lost Album from Ronnie Scott’s

Resonance Records, the top U.S. independent label for previously unreleased jazz treasures, will issue The Lost Album from Ronnie Scott’s, a volcanic, never-before-heard 1972 club performance by bassist-composer Charles Mingus’ powerful sextet, as a three-LP Record Store Day offering on April 23 (one day after what would have been Mingus’ 100th birthday). The album will be issued as a three-CD set and digital download on April 29.

The two live sets, comprising nearly two-and-a-half hours of music, were professionally recorded on eight-track tapes via a mobile recording truck on Aug. 14-15, 1972. However, the performance went unreleased, for Mingus – along with every other top jazz musician on the Columbia roster except for Miles Davis – was dropped by the label in the spring of 1973. The present release is completely authorized by Jazz Workshop, Inc., which controls Mingus’ music.

Resonance co-president Zev Feldman, who co-produced the Scott’s material for release with David Weiss, says, “This is a lost chapter in Mingus' history. Originally intended to be an official album release by Mingus, it never materialized. We have now brought this recording to light for the whole world to hear in all its musical and sonic glory. It’s especially exciting to be celebrating Mingus with this release in his centennial year.”

A statement in the Resonance collection from Jazz Workshop, Inc. says, “In Sue Mingus's memoir, Tonight at Noon, she recalls receiving the extraordinary tapes [the band] had recorded; the reels remained in the Mingus vault, untouched until now. It is our honor, forty-nine years later, to present, with Resonance Records, this historic performance.”

In his knowledgeable overview of Mingus’s activities of the early ‘70s and his stand at Scott’s club, British jazz critic and historian Brian Priestley, who penned an authoritative 1983 biography of Mingus called Mingus: A Critical Biography, writes, “The magnificent music contained herein comes from a special period in the life of Charles Mingus, one in which he re-emerged from the depths of depression and inactivity, to be ultimately greeted with far wider acclaim than he had ever previously experienced.”

By the time Mingus’ band took the stage at saxophonist Scott’s celebrated London club, the great jazz man was experiencing a career renaissance: he had received a Guggenheim Foundation fellowship and seen his music adapted for choreographer Alvin Ailey’s The Mingus Dances in 1971, the following year saw the release of his potent autobiography Beneath the Underdog and his widely acclaimed big band album Let My Children Hear Music.

Though his group still featured the formidable saxophonists Bobby Jones (tenor) and Charles McPherson (alto), the sextet was in a state of flux, but the new members delivered on stage. Pianist Jaki Byard was succeeded by the relatively unknown John Foster, who showed off both his keyboard and vocal chops at Scott’s. Longtime drummer Dannie Richmond, who had joined the pop band Mark-Almond, was replaced by the ingenious, powerful Detroit musician Roy Brooks, who demonstrated his invention the “breath-a-tone,” which allowed him to control the pitch of his kit while playing, and, on a couple of numbers, his abilities on the musical saw. The trumpet chair was filled by the phenomenal 19-year old Jon Faddis, a protégé and acolyte of Dizzy Gillespie.

The Lost Album features nine performances captured during the two-night engagement; some of them – the then-new compositions “Orange Was the Color of Her Dress, Then Silk Blues” and “Mind-readers’ Convention in Milano” and the war horse “Fables of Faubus” – are epics that range around the half-hour mark. In its entirety, the set bears comparison to Mingus’ storied concerts at Monterey, Carnegie Hall, and Antibes.

During the English engagement, which came at the end of a European tour, Priestley conducted a joint interview with Mingus and McPherson at the club. He found the bassist in a philosophical mood: “Life has many changes. Tomorrow it may rain. And it's supposed to be sunshine because it’s summertime, but God’s got a funny soul. He plays like Charlie Parker. He may run some thunder on you. He may take the sun up and put it in the nighttime, the way it looks to me.”

In a new interview with Feldman, McPherson deftly characterizes his longtime employer’s musical approach: “[Mingus] liked for his music to be clean enough for it to be obvious that this is worked out and thought out, but not so pristine that it sounded robotic or unanimated or not human — too processed. I think ‘organized chaos’ is an apt term because that's the way Mingus's music really did sound; it did have almost this free-wheeling kind of a vibe and yet, you can tell it’s written out, it’s thought about, and it has all the elements of organization, but still, it has the elements of spontaneity.”

A pair of jazz’s most celebrated bassists offer their appreciation for Mingus in interviews conducted by Feldman. Christian McBride says, “Mingus just has such an individual sound, such a presence. He had some real estate that no one else had. I love how Mingus’s music is this very blurry balance of blues, swing and the avant-garde….He did it in a way that no one else did.” Eddie Gomez notes, “He was this big influence in a big forest, so I assumed that he got a lot of recognition. Maybe he should have gotten more. He's still one of the great influences in jazz music.”

The full measure of the jazz artist’s larger-than-life personality is captured in reminiscences by Sue Mingus (in an excerpt from her 2002 book Tonight at Noon: A Love Story) and Mary Scott (in a new interview with Feldman) of the bandleader and the club owner who were their respective spouses.

A rich and very funny recollection of the mercurial titan is offered in Feldman’s interview with New York writer, raconteur, and woman-about-town Fran Lebowitz, who knew both the Minguses well. In the album's booklet, she recalls one encounter in which an angry Mingus chased her out of the Village Vanguard and through Lower Manhattan. She also talked about Mingus the artist, saying: “I know a million artists, I know a million people who say they're artists, a million people that other people say are artists, but Charles was profoundly an artist. There was nothing about him that wasn't that of an artist."

“Music is my life. Without it I’d be dead. All I need is score paper and a piano.” — Charles Mingus, from an interview in London, 1972 

'Relaxin’ with the Miles Davis Quintet' announced as next edition from Craft Recordings' ‘Small Batch’ series

Craft Recordings has announced Relaxin’ with the Miles Davis Quintet as the latest release in its acclaimed Small Batch audiophile series. A pivotal title in Miles Davis’ incomparable catalog, this 1956 recording features a who’s who of jazz greats, including John Coltrane on tenor saxophone, Red Garland on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Philly Joe Jones on drums. 

Carefully curated from Craft’s vast catalog of titles, each release in the Small Batch series offers discerning listeners the highest-quality, authentic sound—distilled to its purest form. Since launching in early 2020—debuting with John Coltrane’s Lush Life, followed by Yusef Lateef’s Eastern Sounds—the series has drawn praise from critics far and wide. Absolute Sound raved, “the sound is exceptionally detailed, present, and airy, with gorgeously rich instrumental tones and textures, excellent dynamic scaling, and a notable lack of groove noise that brings these performances to goosebump-raising life,” adding, “the deluxe packaging and accompanying notes are likewise top-tier...Don’t hesitate.” UK’s Record Collector declared, “Craft [has] done a superlative job; the packaging is elegant, and the sound is flawless...there’s a depth and vivacity that brings out the best in these sessions.” Hi-Fi Choice added, “there’s no denying the beauty of this impeccable pressing.” 

As with previous Small Batch albums, Relaxin’ with the Miles Davis Quintet was mastered from its original analog tapes by Bernie Grundman and pressed on 180-gram vinyl at RTI using Neotech’s VR900 compound and a one-step lacquer process—as opposed to the standard three-step process—allowing for the utmost level of musical detail, clarity, and dynamics while reducing the amount of surface noise on the record. The limited nature of these pressings guarantees that each record is a true representation of the original lacquer and is as close as the listener can get to the original recording. 

Each pressing of Relaxin’ is individually numbered and encased in a foil-stamped, linen-wrapped slipcase featuring an acrylic inset of the original artwork. The vinyl disc—extractable through a unique, frictionless ribbon pull tab—is housed in a reproduction of the album’s original tip-on jacket from Prestige Records and protected by an archival-quality, anti-static, non-scratching inner sleeve. New liner notes from the GRAMMY® Award-winning music historian, journalist, and producer, Ashley Kahn complete the package. 

Relaxin’ finds Miles Davis and his legendary sidemen at the top of their game. First assembled in 1955, the trumpeter’s “First Great Quintet” became the dominant small jazz group of the era and was essential in defining the hard-bop genre. Between November 1955 and October 1956, the quintet recorded three exceptionally productive sessions with the celebrated engineer Rudy Van Gelder, who simulated the group’s nightclub sets at his Hackensack, NJ studio. The resulting 32 tracks would make up six significant albums: 1956’s Miles: The New Miles Davis Quintet, 1957’s Cookin’, 1958’s Relaxin’, 1959’s Workin’, and 1961’s Steamin’. 

What is most notable in these sessions—and particularly in Relaxin’—is the deft interplay between the supremely talented musicians. “The sidemen [Davis] had chosen emphasized rhythmic dexterity and strong, individual styles that sometimes complemented and—to some ears—seemed discordant and contradictory,” writes Kahn in his liner notes. “The lineup was a study in contrast—Miles’ languid, sparse phrasing next to Coltrane’s explosive, hard-edged verbosity, Garland’s sophisticated voicings and Chamber’s penchant for arco solos, alongside Jones’ rootsy rhythmic propulsion.” 

Kahn continues, “When melodic lines were smartly shared or handed off between different players, disparate ideas would suddenly lock in together…. It was about delicacy and muscle. It was about drops and shifts and surprises. Often the group reimagined song structures more as sectional exercises, one feel or groove morphing into another.” 

Those deft collaborative moments can be heard throughout the six selections on Relaxin’, which are split between bebop standards (Dizzy Gillespie’s “Woody’n You,” Sonny Rollins’ “Oleo”) and Broadway balladry (“I Could Write a Book,” “You’re My Everything,” “It Could Happen to You,” and “If I Were a Bell”). The latter tune, from the musical Guys and Dolls, was released as a single alongside the album and has long been considered a standout track. Kahn argues that this rendition made “If I Were a Bell” a jazz standard, while Garland’s work on the song “cannot be overstated…His piano solo—replete with a block-chord sequence that reminds all of the song’s lyric and lilt—is among his most masterful at Miles’ side.” 

While Relaxin’ and its sister albums have long been celebrated in the jazz canon, it’s interesting to note that they were initially recorded as a contractual obligation to Prestige, Davis’ label during the early ’50s. Davis’ star was rising, and he wanted to take advantage of more lucrative opportunities. Betting on himself, Davis knew it would be a win-win situation for all parties involved. Indeed, by the time that Prestige released Relaxin’ in 1958, Davis had soared to new heights, both commercially and creatively, and was just months away from recording his best-selling masterpiece, Kind of Blue. 

Today, Relaxin’ remains an enduring classic and a perfect encapsulation of the hard-bop era. “From one generation to the next, Relaxin’ fast becomes familiar territory, and deservedly so,” asserts Kahn. “It remains a must-listen for those who would know or play modern jazz or improvisational music. It stands both as a historic statement and one of the brightest assets in the Prestige Records catalogue.” 

New Music: Tim Carman Trio; Brothers Of Brass; Alabaster DePlume; Theon Cross

Tim Carman Trio - Buster Rides Again

Tim Carman Trio puts an Art Blakey-inspired Latin groove on their take of the Bud Powell tune “Buster Rides Again.” While in quarantine, Carman spent a lot of time reminiscing about his formative years of musical study and listening to jazz records after the passing of his first drum teacher, Bob Gullotti (The Fringe, Trey Anastasio's Surrender to the Air). Powell’s tune was one that always stuck out and Art Blakey records were getting frequent spins during Carman’s listening sessions. The combination of Powell’s classic tune mixed with the Latin groove gelled surprisingly well and Carman enlisted percussionist Dave Brophy to accentuate his version of the track. Carman is a dynamic drummer whose primary project is GA-20, a Boston-based blues trio that just finished a 70-date tour throughout the US and took home the Blues Artist of the Year award at the 2021 Boston Music Awards. He has authored several drum with percussion books with two of them (Groove Systems and Shape Beats for Kids) ranking in the top 50 best sellers in percussion songbooks on Amazon.

Brothers Of Brass- Egress

Denver’s mavericks of street music, Brothers of Brass, capture the energy of people leaving a concert in their original song “Egress.” With a titanic New Orleans brass band-inspired sound, “Egress” has all the key components of a full-bodied brass band hit with fiery trumpet screams, rousing saxophone solos, a commanding rhythm section of tuba and drums, and a surprise call-and-response vocal section at the end to take the song home. The group got their start busking on the 16th Street Mall and melds together roots from Atlanta, New Orleans, and the Mile High City of Denver, Colorado and has become a staple in both the local music scene and the touring circuit. 

Alabaster DePlume - Gold

There's few folks who can put together an album like Alabaster DePlume – and even amidst the heady company of his labelmates on International Anthem, it seems like DePlume has a really special way of mixing live performance with a whole host of studio-based conceptions! Alabaster's previous album was already a groundbreaking effort – but this set really pushes things over the top, with this really hypnotic blend of words and music, recorded at London's Total Refreshment Centre – at a level that's every bit as genre-breaking as any other work we've heard from that legendary locale. It's kind of impossible to describe the sound here in words – as DePlume mixes his tenor, guitar, and voice with a host of different instruments – contributions from London contemporaries on tablas, cello, electronics, guitar, and a range of other elements – including other voices added to the mix. Titles include "Don't Forget You're Precious", "I'm Gonna Say Seven", "Do You Know A Human Being When You See One", "I'm Good At Not Crying", "Now Stars Are Lit", "I Will Not Be Safe", "Who Is A Fool", and "The Sound Of My Feet On This Earth Is A Song To Your Spirit". ~ Dusty Groove

Theon Cross - Intra I

A pretty fantastic album from Theon Cross – the London-based jazz musician whose main instrument is the tuba, and who's given some really wonderful contributions to a range of different projects! Here, though, Theon really knocks it out of the park – still using his familiar instrument, but emerging maybe more as a soul-based musician too – vocalizing a bit, and bringing in a fair bit of electronics to keep things moving with a crisply crackling vibe throughout! The use of the tuba in these circumstances is wonderful – the depth of a bass part, but sometimes flowing out with more melodic moments too – and the whole record is one that will really blow away any expectations at all you might have for both Cross and his instrument. Titles include "Watching Over", "Forward Progression II", "Play To Win", "Universal Alignment", "The Spiral", "Trust The Journey", "We Go Again", and "Roots". ~ Dusty Groove

German multi-instrumentalist and composer YORK releases his second solo album The Vintage Funk Vol. 1

Although German multi-instrumentalist and composer YORK‘s jazzy style is immediately recognizable, in new album The Vintage Funk Vol.1 his inspirations range from the “Godfather of Funk” James Brown, as well as the Disco-Funk of bands such as Maze, Sister Sledge or Chic.

Cause what else can a musician do during the Corona pandemic if not make music! A process that can best be described as “making a virtue of necessity”, which also explains why the Hanoverian musician is already releasing the next long-player just six months after dropping his highly acclaimed debut solo album The Soul Jazz Experience Vol. 1! Even more remarkable is that the former live and studio sideman for heavyweights such as Randy Crawford, Phil Collins, Mousse T., Jazzkantine, Bahama Soul Club, or Spice doesn’t just play the flute and saxophone on this album, but also records instruments like Fender Rhodes, Wurlitzer, Hohner Clavinet, B3 Organ and – just recently acquired – the electric bass.

In album opener “Ain’t No Love”, singer Josephine Nightingale waxes lyrical about the situation in anonymous big cities. Olvi Dean from England and rapper Liv from the USA on the other hand, evoke a funky disco feeling on “I’m Not Ready To Go Home”, in which YORK engages in a battle between his flute and rapper Liv, fuelled by R.T. King‘s “James Brown guitar”.

In “Boogie, Boogie, Boogie” with its funky groove, Pete Simpson woos the lady of his choice – the outcome of his efforts remains unknown, but given the danceable number, a good mood is guaranteed! “Funky 12” is bluesy in style but is hardly recognizable as such due to the massive funky vibes. If there were a film for this song – it could be set in a stylish club in France where Yves Saint Laurent and Brigitte Bardot meet on the dance floor.

“Big Love For C” takes a quieter approach: YORK’s delicate flute tones are in the foreground and give the track its very special charm. “I Don’t Care” sees a reunion with Catherine Nightingale, who makes clear with soulful intensity how important it is in life to go your way. She finds support in the cool raps of the American Pablo. The danceable “Feel The Groove” with the tight vocals of Selena Evan is also available a few beats faster and slightly shortened as a hit single radio version and with the ballad “Fine Crime” the listener witnesses a real “crime in the head”.

“Mr. Woofer” presents cool midtempo soul: the song is about a bad guy whom Josephine Nightingale successfully keeps away from her house. This is followed by “No Masterplan”, in which Pete Simpson addresses the fact that you don’t always have to – and can’t – plan everything out in life. Instead, it’s off to the dance floor! “Walk At Night In SFO” brings back memories: the track is pure crime music and could have served excellently as a soundtrack for an American crime series from the 70s. “Move Ya Body” is once again danceable – just as the title suggests – but US rapper Pablo has a lot to say here! The album terminates with ballad “Joy” with the catchy vocals of Olvi Dean from Great Britain.

A trip back to the funkiest dancefloors of the 70s, with impeccable musicianship and inspired compositions!

Amaru Tribe | "Between Two Worlds"

Australia-based Latin Americans serve up future-proof Latin rhythms and nu-disco-cumbia swagger

The album title, Between Two Worlds, could not fit any better for Amaru Tribe, a trio of Latin Americans who have long called Australia home. Hailing originally from Colombia and Chile, the group’s ethos is shaped by Latin America, heard in the echoes of cumbia and the gaita flutes and tambora hand drums that enliven the music, and in the passion for their homelands; but Australia, and the Asia-Pacific region as a whole, has had a huge impact: there’s phin guitar and collaborations with Thai musicians; yidaki (known as didgeridoo) instrument from Australia; and there’s the more contemporary sounds redolent of Australia’s nu-disco and dance music scenes. Throughout the album, their sound oscillates between these two worlds, never completely part of one or the other, constantly evolving and creating something new.

“We are a dual identity project, our motherland is Latin America, and we are based in Australia. We are constantly existing in these two worlds that are essential for us. Amaru Tribe allows us to exist peacefully with this, it allows us to make beauty out of this contradiction of identities, to create something new. We have been living in Australia for many years so we do consider it a second home, we've definitely changed here, but the Latin roots are so strong for us. Amaru Tribe is those two worlds, and that limbo that immigrants live in.” KATHERINE, AMARU TRIBE

Between Two Worlds begins with “La Tormenta”, its detached disco synths in the vein of Todd Terje or Cerrone, Latin percussion and yidaki (played by aboriginal musician Stuart Fergie, who sadly passed away in February this year) joining the fold as the groove builds and builds, with the following “Se Prendió” (“The Party Has Started”) breaking the tense rhythm with a chorus that feels like pure catharsis. Following track, “La Serpiente”, is cumbia with a Lady Gaga synth hook, before spiralling off into a tropical vision of Eurythmics future-pop. Then there’s “Párate”, a track with the same intensity as Bomba Estereo’s break-out hit “Fuego”, the group’s Katherine allowing no let-up in her impassioned lead vocals, and a Thai phin guitar motif providing the thrust.

“Candela Viva” is their riff on a classic cumbia which told the story of a town burning to its ground, with an infectious call-and-response chorus. Amaru Tribe keep that chant alive, in fact it’s become a huge part of their life show, but they take the sound to a place between Systema Solar’s tropical soundclashes and Basement Jaxx in mischievous dancehall mode, and give the song new meaning. Discussing the genesis of the song, Oscar says: “you know Melbourne had the longest lockdown in the world? We were in a moment when we just wanted to burn up our frustrations and fears.” This is what “Candela Viva” represents, a chance to cleanse ourselves of the old and begin again, refreshed. 

The album finishes with three calmer moments, a Latin-Caribbean lament for a beautiful morning (“Bonita Mañana”), a hypnotic folktronica collaboration with Thai mor lam band Junlaholaan (“Déjame Volar”), notable for a ferocious synth bass line and exquisite vocal harmonies, and the album closer (“Canto A Bachué”), a song tormented by environmental destruction and protests in Colombia, speaking to African and indigenous goddesses for assistance and sanctum.  

Amaru Tribe are Katherine Gailer (vocals, tambora), Oscar Jiménez (vocals, guitar, gaita flute, synths and keys) and Cristian Saavedra (backing vocals, percussion, additional synths). Between Two Worlds is produced by Oscar, and co-produced by Katherine and Cristian. The artwork for the album and singles, as well as the concepts for their music videos, are designed by Katherine. In regards to the album cover and its use of the jaguar, Katherine says: “The energy on the streets of Latin America are raw, there’s a wildness there, and there’s a wildness in our music also. We want to ignite something in people, so we chose the jaguar because it has that wild power of Latin America.”

“Between Two Worlds marks a new chapter for the project. As much as the world has dramatically changed in the past two years, we have changed; and our art and music are always the truest reflections of the many ways we evolve, re-construct and heal ourselves. Our upcoming album has been so far both an internal and intimate manifestation of a new beginning, a celebration of life and reunion.” AMARU TRIBE

Stephanie Santiago bares her "Carnival Soul"

The smell of cloves and cinnamon, the taste of café con panela (sweetened coffee), the sound of cumbia, the warmth of the accordion, and plenty of glasses filled with rum and guaro (liqueur), are just some of the things that remind Stephanie Santiago of her land, all detailed in the opening lyrics to her upcoming single “Alma Carnavalera”; it’s a song which sees her pine for the Colombia of her roots.

Born in South London to Colombian musician parents – her father an accordionist, her mother a singer – cumbia and salsa filled Stephanie’s childhood. But like anyone, she needed to find her own way, to discover London’s multifarious subcultures, to get lost in the energies of youth music. Her early work reflects this, with forays into soul, jazz, reggaeton, even punk, opportunities to experiment but also refine an inherent talent for songwriting and an ability to inhabit songs with her voice.

Glimpses of Latin music have emerged in her music before – it would be impossible for them not to – but this EP signals a new chapter in her career in which her heritage and search for identity are brought to the fore. “Alma Carnavalera” (“Carnival Soul”) is filled with an immigrant nostalgia for being in a distant place: “Too far from my homeland, a grey autumn in search of eternal spring” she sings, while always trying to bring a dose of home wherever she is, the verse ending “here we bring the carnival sabor (flavour)”. Echoes of carnival can be heard in the song’s make-up, its focus on vocals, percussion and bass indicative of traditional female-led bullerengue that is still performed along Colombia’s Caribbean coast, and the sound of gaita flute synonymous with cumbia at its most carnivalesque.

“Alma Carnavalera” is the first in a series of releases from Stephanie Santiago that will see her explore her Colombian heritage, revealing a new sound informed by life in London and Latin American lineage. Colombia has always been in Stephanie’s heart, now we get to hear it.

Joey Alexander | "Origin"

It’s no coincidence two of the titles on pianist, bandleader and composer Joey Alexander’s inspirational debut on Mack Avenue Records, Origin, contain the words “rise” and “rising.” 

“The Latin root of the word ‘origin’ is orire, which means to rise,” explains the restlessly searching musician, who has performed everywhere from the Obama White House to the Grand Ole Opry and has been nominated for three GRAMMY® awards. “During this pandemic, I think the first thing we should do is to start with being hopeful, which is the main theme of Origin. Instead of making it a source of frustration, I made it the source of inspiration to express myself in music.” 

Good plan. On his sixth album as a leader, his first featuring all his own material, Alexander has stretched his imagination into new territory, challenging himself to write rich melodic and harmonic interplay without ever abandoning the emotional candor and transparency that have captivated crowds and catapulted his albums to the top of the jazz charts. 

Returning to the studio with the rhythm section from his last album – longtime collaborators Larry Grenadier (bass) and Kendrick Scott (drums) – plus stellar guests Gilad Hekselman on guitar and Chris Potter on saxophones, Alexander also adds new instrumental colors of his own, playing Fender Rhodes for just the second time on record (the first being last year’s single, “Salt”). The pianist favors the Rhodes for its soft side, contrasting its creamy sound with the hard-hitting lines of Potter and Hekselman. 

The three team up on the tricky asymmetrical track, “Winter Blues,” which struts into the room with a slinky, funky 6/8 attitude. “To be clear, I didn’t actually write ‘Winter Blues’ during the winter,” confesses Alexander. “It was actually in the summertime, in New York City, but I was remembering how gloomy it was in the winter during the pandemic and I thought, ‘How can I make the situation upbeat and hopeful?’” 

The other seasons also get their due. The warm and flowing “Summer Rising,” with Hekselman careening into another star turn above Alexander’s Rhodes, percolates in crisp 5/8. The tender, Latin-tinged “Dear Autumn,” explains Alexander, is meant to remind listeners that fall is not just the season when leaves begin to fall and die, but also harvest time. The serene tone poem, “Promise of Spring,” also conveys a feeling of hope. 

“I’m not really into outdoor activities,” explains the pianist, “but I have come to understand how the seasons affect us. When I was writing ‘Autumn,’ like other musicians I was staying home a lot, but I thought this is also a time when we can be more productive as musicians, when we can harvest. When we get through the winter, spring gives people hope with the promise of warmer weather. Then with summer, things are always outside and, wherever you are, if you get more sun, you’re happier, so I think ‘Summer Rising’ is definitely one of my favorites on the album, and one of the more challenging pieces – it is about how summer brings a sense of joy.” 

Another challenging, long-form tune on Origin, “On the Horizon,” was inspired by a question that Alexander is asked: What’s on the horizon for you? The answer is more complex than most, as he acknowledges the need to focus on conversation to influence the future ahead – whether it be the coming months or years. The song features an intense, rippling, gorgeously lyrical soprano saxophone solo by Potter, with Alexander again confidently creating contrast with his solo, by leaving plenty of space between the notes. That space echoes the dynamics of conversation -- the push and pull of uncertainty and the need to listen before reacting – in order to carve his path forward. 

Not content to merely find new forms, Alexander also ventures into two vastly free improvisations on the album. “Rise Up” is a wild and joyous romp in 9, with Hekselman and Potter back on the case, celebrating the ecstatic release that comes through spontaneous creation. The quietly contemplative “Angel Eyes,” which listeners will be surprised to hear was also composed on the fly, is a grateful nod to “all the people who have looked out for me, even in the smallest things,” says Alexander. 

Gratefulness comes up a lot when the astonishingly gifted Alexander talks about his career. When he was writing the straightforward and beautiful song that opens the album, “Remembering,” he was able to reflect on the opportunities and blessings the past 8 years have brought. “A lot of amazing moments happened during that span,” reflects Alexander, “and this was the first time I had a break to pause and appreciate it all. That’s when I realized the pandemic had actually helped me to be more thankful,” he says. 

Much of Origin was composed in New York, but the fluttery, hypnotic “Midnight Waves” comes from an extended return visit to Bali, where Alexander spent his early years. The place he stayed was near the beach, so at night, he could hear the waves. After his busy life in New York City, the stillness and calm there was a welcome change of pace that let him “pause and enjoy the moment.” He hopes the tune will encourage listeners to do the same. 

Alexander closes Origin with the ballad “Hesitation,” another tune of unusual length that is also a bit of a formal pun, with its unresolved progression. “I did that on purpose, yes,” he confirms. “The tune is asking, ‘What’s next?’ and the answer is of course, ‘I don’t know.’ I just hope my music will bring some sort of comfort to these troubling times.”

Born in Bali, Indonesia, Joey Alexander has been performing professionally since 2013 when he was invited by Wynton Marsalis to perform at the Jazz at Lincoln Center Gala. Alexander subsequently moved to New York City and released his debut album, My Favorite Things, in 2015 on Motéma Music, followed by three more on the label and a fifth on Verve. Alexander’s albums have netted three GRAMMY® Award nominations – one for Best Jazz Instrumental Album (My Favorite Things), and two for Best Improvised Jazz Solo (“Giant Steps,” from My Favorite Things, and “Countdown” from the album of the same name) – with My Favorite Things and Countdown securing the No. 1 spot on the Billboard jazz charts and Eclipse coming at No. 3. 

Over the course of his astonishing career, Alexander has performed with Wayne Shorter and Esperanza Spalding at the Obama White House, for President Bill Clinton at the Arthur Ashe Learning Center Gala, at the Grand Ole Opry, the Apollo Theater, Carnegie Hall and at major jazz festivals and night clubs around the world. He has also been the subject of profiles on 60 Minutes and The New York Times. 

Origin is Alexander’s first album for Mack Avenue Records and will be released May 20 digitally and on CD, with a vinyl release scheduled for June 24.

Joey Alexander • Origin • Mack Avenue Records

Release Date: May 20, 2022 (digital & CD) | June 24, 2022 (vinyl)

Catalonian Guitarist Oscar Peñas Releases Almadraba ft. Legendary Bassist Ron Carter

On May 21, 2018, Oscar Peñas was excited to enter Sear Sound Studio to record his debut suite Almadraba” arranged and composed for an eight-piece ensemble. Little did Penas know about when he asked legendary bassist Ron Carter who responded enchanted to record his composition on six tracks. The official launch date for the album is on February 25, 2022, which was produced by Jason Olaine and engineered by Grammy awardee Jeremy Loucas. 

Oscar Peñas perform with a not flashy precise finger-picking technic, giving his fellow band members space shows all his creativity skills on guitar. Also featured on Almadraba are fellow Spaniard, keyboardist Marta Sanchez; bassist Pablo Aslan; (on the tracks where Ron Carter didn't play); percussionist and world rhythm expert Richie Barshay; and the Harlem Quartet, the Grammy-winning string four-some comprised by violinists Ilmar Gavilán, and Melissa White; violist Jaime Amador; and cellist Jody Redhage-Ferber.  

Almadraba is the fifth album by Peñas “…whose gem-playing remains a study in restrain and depth, and whose training began with classical studies and later progressed to jazz….” by Ashley Kahn (liner notes).   

Peñas' novel suite was inspired by Cadiz's unknown ancient fishing method in the South of Spain. Each of the suite’s movements describes the different steps of the almadraba fishing method, all of them titled after those. Almadraba’s premiere at the Brooklyn Academy of Music Next Wave Festival from October 3—6, 2018. Audiences experienced the stage representation of the fishing process mirrored a set of dramatic photos—some in black-and-white, others in washed-out color—projected on a gigantic screen behind the musicians in sync with the music. The multimedia effect transformed the presentation into something of a multi-sensory knowledge. Peñas’ innovative composition received acceptance with endless ovations, thrilling audiences’ celebrations, of great excitement.

Its second presentation in Feb. 2019 got the piece a fantastic concert review by Phillip Lutz - Downbeat Magazine; "Even when the bandleader brought out his nylon-string guitar and invoked, if obliquely, the flamenco sounds of his native land—as he did to great effect in the closing piece, “Bulería de la Almadraba,” the most animated offering of the night—he demonstrated an abundance of reserve. For all its artistry, Peñas’ work retained considerable humility and remained no less impactful because of it.”

A musical spark can come from many sources—a special person, a certain poem, a particular place. On the album Almadraba, the Catalonian guitarist and composer Oscar Peñas draws inspiration from a fishing tradition that has been part of Andalucian culture for thousands of years. Filled with Iberian, Classical and flamenco flavors, and with the sensitive support of keyboards, percussion, and strings, Peñas’s twelve-track suite is a deeply evocative celebration of man and nature in struggle and harmony. 

“’Almadraba’ is an Arabic name,” Peñas explains. “It’s a sustainable fishing method first practiced by the Phoenicians and brought to Andalusian Spain about 2000 years ago. It’s still in practice today in fact on the coast of Cádiz. Schools of bluefin tuna travel from the North Sea to the warmer waters of the Mediterranean to spawn. On the first full moon in May the fishermen there set up this labyrinth of nets to force the fish into a center area and then pull them out, very dramatically, and take only the biggest ones. The rest are returned to the sea.”

Dramatically? That’s an understatement. This is no Sunday outing with a fishing pole and line. One must witness the dangerous, sea-soaked, slippery scene to grasp the battle that is the Almadraba—the sheer physicality of it all, as fishermen use ropes and big metal hooks, hands and muscle, to lift the largest of the tuna up off a bed of entangled nets, over the wooden gunwales and onto the boat’s broad decks. The fish they choose are two to three feet longer than a man is tall, and weigh twice as much. The rope-and-pulley system used today—hanging from masts planted firmly into the boat’s hull—is the same as what’s been in play for centuries. The fish’s final, fitful attempts at freedom have snapped many a pulley, maiming—or taking the life of—many fishermen. The red-tinted seafood and dark blue-green waters swirl together: a colorful backdrop to a scene that caught Peñas’s eye.

Almadraba is the fifth album by the 48-year old artist whose gem-like guitar-playing remains a study in restraint and depth, and whose training began with classical studies and later progressed to jazz. The album also stands as a creative breakthrough, realizing years of artistic progress and promise. The music on it sparkles softly, speaking with a delicate lyricism that both still the soul and resonates with the feel of ageless melodies. All that needed to happen was for someone to hear and record them. Now Peñas has done that. 

Almadraba—like Peña’s critically acclaimed albums before it (2003’s Astronautus, 2005’s The Return of Astronautus, 2011’s From Now On, and 2014’s Music of Departures and Returns)—benefits from a carefully selected group of improvising musicians, including master bassists Ron Carter. Also featured on Almadraba are: fellow Spaniard, keyboardist Marta Sánchez; bassist Pablo Aslan; percussionist and world-rhythm expert Richie Barshay; and The Harlem Quartet, the Grammy-winning string foursome comprised of violinists Ilmar Gavilán and Melissa White, violist Jaime Amador, and cellist Jody Redhage-Farber. 

That Peñas continues to recruit talent of this caliber to his recording projects, utilizing their musicality and nuance to the degree that he does on Almadraba, speaks highly of his skill as a composer. The dozen pieces on the album reveal an emotional range that deepens in reach and meaning after each listening, telling the story of the almadraberos—“the brave fishermen who risk their lives to catch the tuna,” says Peñas, who adds that “the movements of the suite have been named after the different phases of this tradition,” as he explains. 

“It opens with ‘Traveling Through Water’—the most song-oriented part of the suite. If it had lyrics I think it could be a pop song, and next, there’s ‘Calamento’: those are the nets they set up in a labyrinth-like pattern.” Two tunes follow capturing the beauty of the swift, sea-bound journey of the fishermen to the fish: ‘Almadraba’s Waltz’, very lively and hopeful, and ‘Habanera de la Almadraba’, which flows with the motion of the sea, waves of tension and release.

“Then there’s ‘La Levantà’, the most vigorous part of the suite, when the biggest fish are pulled up by hand, the fish thrashing their tails in despair. The smaller ones are released—‘La Bajà’—which to me has a dreamy, Debussy-like feel, although any similarity was not intentional. On land, the big tunas are filleted for auction: ‘El Ronqueo’ is meant to evoke the sound of the knives on the fish bones. This tune, and the closing piece of the suite, ‘Bulería de la Almadraba’, are the most Spanish-flaired in terms of tempo, energy, cadences and rhythm—a tribute to the place where this all takes place in southern Spain.”

The suite closes with the deceptively mood-painting of the guitar-and-bass duet ‘Ballad of the Fishermen’. The bonus tracks of the digital version of the album offer the harmonies and Phrygian cadences of ‘South’ (so we know where we are, in Andalucia) and ‘Oh Maguro’, light-hearted in spirit, inspired in part by the irony that many of the tuna caught in Spain will fetch a high prices and end up in sushi restaurants in Japan.

For Peñas, Almadraba serves as a point of musical arrival and personal satisfaction. “This work is also very close to me because I feel I finally blended the two musical worlds I have been exploring most of my life—worlds that are at times harmonious and at times antagonistic: classical music and jazz. Not just that either—on this album I filtered both genres through the cadences and rhythms of my native Spain— and other flavors very dear to me, like the habanera.”

In fact there’s a kaleidoscope of musical ideas swirling through Almadraba—Iberian and Afro-Cuban, Classical and bebop—but it takes a sharp ear to catch the distinct threads, but that defeats the purpose. True to Peñas’s word, the music flows effortlessly and naturally. Yet one need only consider a few standout moments—the hushed focus of Peñas’s guitar line on the album opener; the cascading, back-and-forth of guitar and string quartet on the final track—to realize how much is truly happening, and why he rightfully feels a sense of pride in what he achieved. 

From the fishermen of Cadiz, who have been casting their nets into the Mediterranean for generations, came the inspiration. On Almadraba, Peñas has created music that should endure as long. —Ashley Kahn, May 2021

Crackazat | "Evergreen"

Freerange Records has announced the arrival of Crackazat’s latest long-player, the scintillatingly soulful and jazz-enriched masterpiece, ‘Evergreen’.

There can be few artists to have emerged in the last decade or so who’ve made a more indelible mark on the deep house universe than producer, Ben Jacobs, better known as Crackazat. The accomplished musician’s effervescent productions routinely hit the sweet spot between elemental dancefloor fire and cerebral musicality – thanks to a propulsive sound combining influences of jazz, house, garage, funk, hip hop, Latin, neo-soul (and far beyond). While he’s already forged an instantly recognisable sonic palette all of his own, new album ‘Evergreen’ represents his most accomplished work to date. Making his full vocal debut while introducing a new level of songwriting prowess to his long-established dancefloor credentials, this is the complete Crackazat.

Composed during – and undoubtedly informed by – these trying times, ‘Evergreen’ explores themes of adversity and gratitude, arriving as both a masterclass in contemplative songwriting and a celebration of musical influences. Elegantly bridging the gap between the soulful house underground and jazz-flecked crossover realms – inhabited by the likes of Jacob Collier, Thundercat, Tom Misch, and Jordan Rakei – the album echoes of a time where jazz-funk sensibilities and popular appeal were not mutually exclusive. Few artists boast the musical aptitude or creative vision to attempt such a bold fusion of styles, and thanks to its exceptional execution and irresistible appeal, ‘Evergreen’ is primed to introduce Crackazat’s sound to an entirely new audience.

‘Evergreen’ is endowed with a distinctly live feel throughout, with virtuoso musicianship combined with carefully assembled song structures – elements so often missing in the dance canon. “It’s the album I’ve always wanted to make” says Crackazat. Soul-heavy vocals – performed by Jacobs himself – are a cornerstone of the collection, with the power and soul of his delivery proving something of a revelation. “By far the hardest part was getting my vocals to a standard I was happy with,” he says. “So I was over the moon when Freerange responded to the first draft with two thumbs up and a big grin.” The album’s arrival on benchmark UK deep house label Freerange feels like a particularly natural fit. When, in 2020, Crackazat started posting clips of himself singing alongside live bass and Rhodes, it quickly piqued the interest of the label’s ever alert A&R team. “Crackazat really nails the sonic realm where crunchy house beats inspired by the likes of Masters At Work and Mood II Swing meet contemporary neo-soul and jazz-influenced rhythms,” says the imprint’s co-founder, Jimpster. “There’s not many that can fuse the two so well and I get a sense that big things lie ahead for Ben. We’re very proud to be able to release this brilliant LP on Freerange!”

Blending the purest forms of deep house with authentic jazz sensibilities, opening track ‘Beacon Of Light’ lays down a tantalising statement of intent – with its combination of live instrumentation, heartfelt vocal, club-ready beats and compelling arrangement offering a vivid introduction of what’s to follow. Illustrating the pop-centric focus of the album, ‘Everybody Talks About It’ explodes with emotion – its searing vocal rising over shimmering pads and bass before building to a horn-filled crescendo, showcases Crackazat at his song-writing zenith.

The deep disco of ‘I’m Easy’ sees blissful chords glide over weighted bass as the vocal powers across the panorama, bursting with Quincy Jones-inspired horns above delicately woven keys and raw house drums. Nowhere are the album’s meditations on hardship more vivid than on the modern jazz ballad ‘Simple Things’, This compelling composition blends shades of Robert Glasper with futurist deep house to dramatic effect.

Fusing modal jazz with UK garage, we segue directly into the warm throes of an enraptured dancefloor via the irresistible bump of ‘It’s All Different’, its soulful vocal embellishing a heavy club rhythm as the trumpet solo and Rhodes chords cascade across the horizon. Title-track ‘Evergreen’ opens with a sprightly jazz swing before dusty drums add body to the sophisticated instrumentation, presenting jazz and house as a single entity as the well-orchestrated wind instruments, keys and mallets dance over an improvised walking bass line. The distant vocal elevates the track into the stratosphere before the arrangement resolves, neatly leading us into the Collier-esque accapella and vintage jazz aesthetics of ‘Cedencia’, where signature vocal cadences ascend to celestial heights for an interlude that ushers in a departure from the futurist first-half of the album.

Arriving in the funk-infused second act, the salsa rhythms of ‘True Power’ intoxicate as they propel the Peven Everett-inspired vocal, with driving percussion skipping over live bass and keys before horns add tension to the groove, dissipating for a dub-heavy outro. The scattered, broken jazz of ‘Save Something’ finds Crackazat and his live band in full effect. Fiercely dynamic while intellectually riveting, the track incorporates Latin energy with understated cool to devastating effect.

Once again illustrating an unparalleled songwriting prowess, the Hancock-esque e-piano solos, slap bass and enthralling lead vocal of ‘Nominee For Love’ prove spellbinding as they combine, the sing-along chorus interplaying with buoyant horns for an unfettered celebration of life. Maintaining the celebratory sentiment, boogie-themed ‘Thank You’ arrives as an exuberant outpouring of gratitude, once again marked by breathtaking orchestration and a proudly positive aesthetic as loose-limbed piano solos and boogie bass cement the track’s authentic Stevie meets MAW feel. Finally, the immaculate collection comes to a close with the self-nurturing intention of ‘Good Enough’, where sparkling chords, emotive synth solos and impassioned vocal merge for an emotional modern soul ballad.

‘Evergreen’ is nothing short of a triumph, exhibiting all the hallmarks of a future classic while propelling Crackazat into stratospheric artistic dimensions. Expertly fusing primal dance magnetism and jazz dexterity with a flawless production sheen, this remarkable album is destined to find its way into the playlists of a multitude of admirers while enhancing this exceptional artist’s already glittering reputation.