Michael Peter Olsen | "Narrative Of A Nervous System"

Today composer and Grammy-nominated songwriter, Michael Peter Olsen released "Terms Of Desertion," the second single from his upcoming album Narrative Of A Nervous System. The song is a masterful exploration of the complex emotions surrounding the end of a relationship. Using only electric cello sounds, Olsen creates a soundscape that is both cheerful and melancholic, with swelling chords and bittersweet melodies that perfectly capture the vacillating feelings of reminiscence and loss. The song comes with a dreamy visualizer of collaged footage made by Olsen himself. 

Narrative Of A Nervous System, out October 27th, 2023 via Hand Drawn Dracula, is the follow-up to Michael Peter Olsen's electric cello-based full-length Yearning Flow, described as "evocative, experimental, and emotional" by American Songwriter. On his upcoming album, Olsen continues to stretch the limits of the electric cello, subverting expectations of what the instrument can be. 

As the music industry continuously evolves, pushing boundaries and challenging conventions, artists like Michael Peter Olsen emerge to redefine the very essence of their chosen instruments. With an impressive career spanning nearly three decades, Olsen has had mainstream exposure through collaborations with renowned artists like Drake, Ed Sheeran, and Arcade Fire and developed multifaceted talents as a player, producer, composer, and Grammy-nominated songwriter. However, it is his electric cello-based solo project, which debuted in a grimy basement club in Berlin in 2019, and his 2021 full-length Yearning Flow that truly showcased his desire to subvert expectations of what a cello can be. On his upcoming LP Narrative Of A Nervous System, set to be released October 27th, 2023 via Hand Drawn Dracula records, Olsen continues his exploration of post-modernist styles, digging deeper through the possibilities of what the cello can do in the 21st century. 

Growing up in a British Columbia suburb, Olsen was immersed in classical music due to his parents' careers as musicians. Despite dedicating over 15 years to studying and performing classical pieces, he confesses, "I never really felt very connected to that music, not that it didn't have its moments. It was a way to get out of the suburbs for me." Though it “continually made me feel like I wasn’t good enough, it also served as a social gateway to kids I could relate to, so I kept at it.” His suburban escape was complete when he started music at the University of Toronto and fell into the soon-to-be world-renowned Canadian indie rock scene of the mid-1990s and early 2000s, playing in bands like Hidden Cameras, Jim Guthrie, Constantines, and Arcade Fire.

"As soon as I started playing in bands, I wanted to use the instrument differently," Olsen reflects, emphasizing his desire to break away from conventional cello playing. “However, at the time, there were limited examples to draw inspiration from.” Undeterred, he embarked on a journey of sonic exploration, seeking to deconstruct and redefine the cello's role in contemporary music.

With the release of his second full-length Narrative Of A Nervous System, Olsen taps into the prevailing sense of disconnection in modern society, accentuated by the recent pandemic. The record delves into the increasing divisions between the mind and body, metaphorically capturing the struggles many individuals face with their mental health. Olsen aims to bridge this disconnect through his music and accompanying art and videos, creating a powerful fusion of sonic and visual elements.

While the album is instrumental and conceptually driven, Olsen remains committed to making the music accessible and relatable. Compared to his previous work, Narrative Of A Nervous System features shorter, more melodic instrumental pieces. Olsen's vision is further realized by including special guests Owen Pallet, Màiri Chaimbeul, alaska B, and Zoon, each representing older music traditions. Celtic, European, North American Indigenous, and Traditional Chinese are explored and stretched, offering a modern perspective on ancient intuitively based traditions.

“My production style has always been about Real vs. Fake, presenting the apparent reality of something, revealing it to be false, and then presenting the actual reality as pure fantasy. I love the simulacrum concept, that the copy is more real than real.” Olsen weaves these subversive elements into the album's sound, challenging listeners' expectations as to what they are hearing while still maintaining an immersive musical experience.

While Michael Peter Olsen dismantles the preconceived notions surrounding the cello, he continues to create evocative, emotional music. With its release on October 27th, 2023, Narrative Of A Nervous System invites listeners to explore the disconnections between mind and body and offers a transformative musical journey that resonates with both the modern world and ancient traditions.

IMG Artists Presents: When You Wish Upon a Star – A Jazz Tribute to 100 Years of Disney

Celebrating Disney's 100th anniversary, IMG Artists brings you When You Wish Upon a Star – A Jazz Tribute to 100 Years of Disney. With musical direction by Sean Mason and the newly created house band of The National Jazz Museum in Harlem, the tour will also feature vocalists Kim Nalley and Sasha Dobson. 

The touring show is led by the talented and esteemed Sean Mason, one of the premier talents of his generation. Mason has been called by NPR’s Youngbloods series “a musician on the rise,” and has performed and toured with jazz legends including Branford Marsalis, Wynton Marsalis, and Herlin Riley. The tour embarks as the Julliard graduate rolls out his upcoming debut album "The Southern Suite" with a new single “Closure.” Featuring his adventurous, close-knit quintet, The Southern Suite looks back at the Charlotte-born musician’s roots from the vantage of Mason’s current position at the heart of the NYC scene.

Joining Mason is philanthropist and singer Kim Nalley who has been awarded “Most influential African American in the Bay Area,” and has performed with greats like Rhoda Scott, David "Fathead" Newman, Houston Person, James Williams, Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony. With her 3 ½ octave range, audiences will be mesmerized by her stunning performance. Joining Kim Nalley on vocals is Sasha Dobson, a critically acclaimed performer who has performed all over the world. She is one-third of the hit trio Puss n’ Boots with Catherine Popper and Norah Jones. Together with band members Ahmad Johnson on drums, Corentin Le Hir on bass, Alicyn Yaffee on guitar and Anthony Hervey on trumpet, the celebrated musicians will bring the jazz arrangements of Disney’s popular soundtracks to the stage. 

As documented through the vast collection of animated feature film soundtracks, Disney has always had an affinity for Jazz. In 2009, Disney released an album’s worth of reimagined songs based on their soundtrack catalog. With full carte blanche and over 600 songs to choose from, the album features the who’s who of contemporary jazz stars and up-and-comers. The outcome presented is arranged in styles from straight ahead to experimentals on “Disney Jazz Volume 1: Everybody Wants to Be a Cat.” Today, this new generation of emerging talent performs live the touring version titled, When You Wish Upon a Star – A Jazz Tribute to 100 Years of Disney.

Although not associated with Disney, the touring concert will perform songs that feature fan favorites from iconic movies like Snow White to Lady and the Tramp, Mary Poppins and Toy Story to The Jungle Book. The reimagined songs have been arranged and recorded by Disney music fans such as Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, Dave Brubeck, Dianne Reeves to Alfredo Rodriguez and many more. “Someday My Prince Will Come,” “He's a Tramp,” “Everybody Wants to be a Cat” and “The Bare Necessities'' are just a few of the iconic songs which will be celebrated as we look back on the impact of jazz on 100 years of Disney magic!

Touring Band Personnel

• Sean Mason, Piano / Bandleader
• Kim Nalley, Vocalist
• Sasha Dobson, Vocalist
• Ahmad Johnson, Drums
• Corentin Le Hir, Bass
• Alicyn Yaffee, Guitar
• Anthony Hervey, Trumpet

Tour Dates

• Sept. 29, 2023 –Livermore Valley Performing Arts Center, Livermore, CA
• Sept. 30, 2023 – Grand Theatre Center for the Arts, Tracy, CA
• Oct. 1, 2023 – Santa Clarita Performing Arts Center at College of the Canyons, Santa Clarita, CA
• Oct. 3, 2023 – Brigham Young University Performing Arts Series, Provo, UT
• Oct. 4, 2023 – College of Southern Idaho, Twin Falls, ID
• Oct. 6, 2023 – CU Presents - University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO
• Oct. 7, 2023 – SF Jazz, San Francisco, CA
• Oct. 8, 2023 – Carpenter Performing Arts Center at CSU Long Beach, Long Beach, CA
• Oct. 10, 2023 – Numerica Performing Arts Center, Wenatchee, WA
• Oct. 12, 2023 – Pepperdine University, Smothers Theatre, Malibu, CA
• Oct. 14, 2023 – Fox Tucson Theatre, Tucson, AZ
• Oct. 15, 2023 – Chandler Center for the Arts, Chandler, AZ
• Oct. 17, 2023 – Traverse City Opera House, Traverse City, MI
• Oct. 18, 2023 – Michigan State University, Wharton Center, Pasant Theatre, East Lansing, MI
• Oct. 19, 2023 – Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
• Oct. 20, 2023 – Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts, Bloomington, IL
• Oct. 21, 2023 – College of DuPage McAninch Arts Center, Glen Ellyn, IL
• Oct. 22, 2023 – Door Community Auditorium, Fish Creek, WI
• Oct. 24, 2023 – The Grand Theater, Wausau, WI
• Oct. 27, 2023 – Millersville University, The Ware Center, Millersville, PA
• Oct. 28, 2023 – Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, NY
• Nov. 1, 2023 – Newberry Opera House, Newberry, SC
• Nov. 2, 2023 – Wortham Center for the Performing Arts, Asheville, NC
• Nov. 4, 2023 – Alden Theatre at McLean Community Center, McLean, VA
• Nov. 5, 2023 – Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts, Annapolis, MD
• Nov. 9, 2023 – Corsicana Palace Theatre, Corsicana, TX
• Nov. 10, 2023 – Charles W. Eisemann Center for Performing Arts, Richardson, TX
• Nov. 11, 2023 – Geiger Performing Arts Center, Spring, TX
• Nov. 13, 2023 – Nicholls State University, Thibodaux, LA
• Nov. 14, 2023 – Heymann Center, Lafayette, LA
• Nov. 15, 2023 – Manship Theatre, Baton Rouge, LA
• Nov. 17, 2023 – New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Victoria Theatre, Newark, NJ
• Nov. 18, 2023 – Ocean County College, Grunin Center for the Arts, Toms River, NJ
• Nov. 19, 2023 – Weinberg Center for the Arts, Frederick, MD

Singer & Songwriter Defne Şahin Sets Emily Dickinson to Melody on New Album HOPE

"This is my letter to the world, that never wrote to me" – With these poignant lines from the esteemed American poet Emily Dickinson, Defne Sahin introduces her new album "Hope". Beginning with these words of longing, “Hope” serves as an intimate dialogue between Defne Sahin and Emily Dickinson, that opens up to her audience and the world at large.

Few artists bridge as many worlds as the renowned singer and composer Defne Sahin, who effortlessly merges poetry and music, language and song, as well as different places and emotions. With "Hope," the Berlin-born artist of Turkish origin, continues to develop her cosmopolitan sound drawing from her experience of living between New York, Berlin, and Istanbul. Inspired by the poems of Dickinson, “Hope” is an exceptional album which offers an intimate look into the highs and lows of life. It offers deep insights into human existence in all its complexity.

Over the course of two years, Sahin dedicated herself to shaping a fresh and personal sound for the album. Initially, in the isolation imposed by the pandemic, where she came to empathize with how Dickinson created her own works withdrawn from society. Later, she recorded the ten captivating pieces of the album with her band members Johannes von Ballestrem, Keisuke Matsuno, Simon Jermyn, and Martin Krümmling. The album creates a unique genre-bending musical landscape in which the lyrics and melodies shape the compositions – ultimately, pushing and expanding Sahin's musical identity, which is rooted in jazz, pop and Turkish music.

Poetry has always played a key role in the musician's compositions: on her debut album "Yasamak" (2011), she set the poetry of Turkish dissident Nâzim Hikmet to music, while on her album "Unravel" (2016), she included poems by William Shakespeare and Emily Dickinson in addition to her own lyrics. Sahin is no stranger to performing on big stages such as Carnegie Hall in New York, the Jazzfest Berlin, and the Istanbul Jazz Festival. In her numerous collaborations with, amongst others, Guillermo Klein, Anthony Braxton, Jay Clayton, and Shai Maestro, she gracefully navigates varied musical styles, while each of her albums opens up a new sonic world.

With "Hope", Sahin not only set her poems to music, but also wrote lyrics that reflect Dickinson's poetry of life and death, love and longing, fear and hope. Dickinson’s life story and writing inspired Sahin to create a dialogue between the two artists on the album. Sahin is fascinated by Dickinson's dedication to writing even though only a few of her poems were published during her lifetime. Due to her own experiences of discrimination, Sahin also identifies with the hurdles Dickinson had to overcome as a woman in the 19th century. She characterizes her creative process with Dickinson's works as an "imaginary collaboration," drawing personal parallels with Dickinson's timeless themes of loneliness, hope, and love, and weaving these threads into a modern and lyrical song cycle. Sahin worked on the compositions with her mentor, the multiple Grammy-nominated singer and composer Becca Stevens, who, along with Joni Mitchell and Laura Mvula, also served as a major source of inspiration for the album.

"Hope is the thing with feathers," a well-known poem by Dickinson, is set in a unique musical context – embedded in recurring loops and closely intertwined harmonies, Sahin's soulful singing beautifully intertwines the poem with her musical world. Through Sahin's eclectic and warm vocals, Dickinson's poems are cast in a new light, awakened and resonant. In "Moyra's Light," a fragile ballad for piano and voice, the musician processes complex experiences of loss and death - much like Dickinson, this allows her to engage with collective emotions from a personal perspective. In other pieces like "Let go," Sahin addresses the simultaneous but contradictory desires for freedom and closeness.

The album concludes with "Blessing from a Lioness," which comes as a clear call to not give up on hope but to hold onto one's dreams, and to listen to one's inner self. Therefore, the album symbolizes more than just hope. As an odyssey through universal phenomena such as fear, courage, and longing, "Hope" creates an incomparable fusion of poetry and music that embraces its listeners like a soundtrack to life.

"RIVER MAN" by Genevieve Marentette

Canadian jazz songstress Genevieve “Gigi” Marentette releases her interpretation of Nick Drake’s "River Man" - the first single from a series of songs from 1969 that she will be sharing over the next year. 

Genevieve first heard the song on Nick Drake’s Five Leaves Left in her early teens, and it became one of her sonic sanctuaries. 

When Gigi was 15, she experienced unfathomable loss. Her 17-year-old step-sibling and beloved friend Emily passed away. Emily was a teenage punk poetess who, as an older sister, influenced her very positively. But Emily grappled with intense existential crises, and darkness eventually consumed her. She died of an intentional overdose of Halcion, a medication that is no longer prescribed as an antidepressant.

That year was the most challenging year of Gigi’s young life. Consumed by crippling grief and her own existential questions, going to school and musical creativity were beyond her grasp. She spent most of her time listening to music alone in her bedroom. Nick Drake was a refuge, and it wasn’t until years later that Gigi discovered he had passed away so similarly from an overdose of his anti-depressant medication.

“I now sing "River Man" for you at the intersection of heartache and relief. An elegy to the lost loves of our lives - my dear sibling and best friend Emily, and all the untimely separations we experience. 'Oh, how they come and go.' Nick sang of life's transience. Indeed.”

Gigi’s interpretation features Eric St-Laurent on guitar, George Koller on bass, Ben Wittman on drums, and Rob Christian on sax. As jazz musicians, every time they play is unique, and this is what they laid down one lovely day live off the floor at Canterbury Studios in Toronto with Jeremy Darby on the console. The song was mixed and mastered by saxophonist and co-producer Rob Christian, who also joins Gigi on her vocalise. 

In her upcoming project, Gigi pays homage to the transformative spirit of 1969, inspired by discussions with her mentor and dear friend, David Clayton-Thomas. This project promises to capture the zeitgeist of an era when musicians were warriors for social justice and peace.

Genevieve “Gigi” Marentette is a fixture in the Toronto music community. She was born in Leamington, Ontario, known affectionately as Tomato Town. Her father is a farmer, and her mother is a musician and social activist. As a child, Genevieve bounced around the north and south of Ontario - living communally and creatively. That upbringing helped nurture her free-spirited soul - full of saudade - and also her love of community - full of duende.   Genevieve spent her formative teen years in Detroit, where her family roots go back 265 years. She credits her unique artistry to her mom, @lindagirard and Detroit's rich musical history. After completing a college jazz diploma in Toronto, she travelled and performed extensively in Asia and Europe. Genevieve, or Gigi as her peeps call her, calls Toronto her home. Gigi has worked with Marc Houle, Theo Parrish, Recloose, David Clayton-Thomas, Jane Siberry and others. 

With a voice that transcends genres and a stage presence that enchants audiences worldwide, Gigi Marentette's artistry is authentic and passionate. Her journey continues to unfold, and her interpretations of timeless classics, like Nick Drake's "River Man," carry the weight of experience and the joy of creative liberation. Gigi's music is a testament to the eternal power of the human spirit, forever yearning for connection through melody and emotion.

Craft Recordings celebrates centennial of Wes Montgomery and Riverside Records’ 70th anniv. with 'The Complete Full House Recordings'

Craft Recordings honors the inimitable Wes Montgomery on his centennial with an expanded edition of his classic 1962 LP, Full House. Captured at Berkeley, CA’s Tsubo coffee house, the album marks the influential jazz guitarist’s sole live session for Riverside Records and features stellar performances by all, including tenor saxophonist Johnny Griffin, pianist Wynton Kelly, bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Jimmy Cobb. Presented as The Complete Full House Recordings, this brand-new collection has been remastered from the original analog tapes by Joe Tarantino, with lacquers cut by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio. Pressed on 180-gram vinyl at Germany’s Optimal Media, the 3-LP set is housed in a gatefold jacket, complete with new liner notes by journalist and author Bill Milkowski (Downbeat, Jazziz, Guitar Player).

Set for release on November 10th and available for pre-order today, The Complete Full House Recordings can also be found on 2-CD as well as in 24/192 hi-res and standard digital. Rounding out all formats is a variety of alternate takes and outtakes, including two previously unreleased performances: an alternate take of Montgomery’s “S.O.S.” as well as the complete unedited master take of “Full House,” featuring Montgomery’s originally played (and previously replaced) guitar solo restored.

One of jazz music’s most influential and innovative guitarists, Wes Montgomery (1923–1968) was revered for his warm, soulful tone and his unique approach to his instrument. Eschewing the standard guitar picks, the self-taught musician opted to pluck the guitar strings with the side of his thumb, while his extensive use of parallel octaves contributed to his distinctive sound. It was a technique that would not only be adopted by other jazz artists but also by many of the rising rock guitarists of the day.

Born and raised in Indianapolis, Montgomery got his big break with Lionel Hampton, joining the legendary vibraphonist’s big band in 1948 before partnering with his brothers, vibraphonist/pianist Buddy and bassist Monk, with whom he performed as The Mastersounds or The Montgomery Brothers. At the end of the decade, the guitarist embarked on his prolific career as a leader, signing to the legendary jazz label, Riverside Records, and releasing his debut, A Dynamic New Sound: Guitar/Organ/Drums, in 1959. Yet, while Montgomery certainly wowed his contemporaries in the studio, it was often felt that the musician was at his best during club performances. And so, in 1962, Riverside’s founder and producer, Orrin Keepnews, sought to capture that magic, booking an evening at Berkeley’s Tsubo coffee house (a short-lived jazz hotspot that would soon become the storied folk and blues club Jabberwock). Recorded in front of an audience, the set would be a hybrid of a recording session and a concert, allowing the band to perform multiple takes of each tune.

Taking place on June 25, 1962, the session paired Montgomery with Chicago tenor saxophonist Johnny “The Little Giant” Griffin, alongside the Wynton Kelly Trio (pianist Kelly, bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Jimmy Cobb—all three of whom made up Miles Davis’ celebrated rhythm section). On the program was a variety of bop, blues and ballads. In his liner notes, Milkowski writes, “Full House captures Wes at the top of his game as he electrifies the audience of students, jazz fans and hipsters with his inventive and inherently melodic improvisations, propelled by the superbly swinging rhythm section.” Both Montgomery and Griffin, he adds, offer powerhouse performances, with “a take-no-prisoners approach on the individual solos.”

The original, six-track album (released in November 1962) opens with the sprightly Montgomery original “Full House.” The waltz-time tune showcases the guitarist’s use of octaves, which he sprinkles throughout. Milkowski praises, “The vocabulary is refreshingly modern, full of surprising filigrees and inventive harmonic implications as the piece evolves. Wes . . . play[s] cat-and-mouse with his own facile single-note lines before going all-in on the parallel octaves.” Griffin, meanwhile, brings “pungent tones, hip phrasing, and a kind of inherent swagger that reflects his own bad-ass persona. By the five-minute mark, the Little Giant is pouring it on, nonchalantly double-timing the pulse while digging deep for blue notes.”

The quintet slows things down with a straightforward reading of the Lerner/Lowe standard “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face” (from the 1956 musical My Fair Lady), before picking the pace back up with Dizzy Gillespie’s “Blue ’N’ Boogie.” Kelly’s rhythm section shines particularly bright in this bop classic, keeping the nearly 10-minute-long performance moving as Montgomery and Griffin strut their stuff. Then, they return to another Montgomery original—the Latin-tinged “Cariba”—in which they deliver several standout solos, including those by Kelly and Chambers, before reimagining the Harold Arlen/Johnny Mercer ballad “Come Rain or Come Shine,” with a jaunty swing, led by Cobb’s tight brushwork on the drums.

The original album closes with Montgomery’s energetic “S.O.S.,” several takes of which are featured in The Complete Full House Recordings, including the previously unreleased “S.O.S. (Take 1).” Milkowski notes that “this take is brimming with energy.” Another version, “S.O.S. (Take 2)” (originally released on The Alternative Wes Montgomery), finds the group tackling the challenging piece with ease and features a particularly outstanding solo from Griffin.

Also included in The Complete Full House Recordings is a previously unreleased take of the title track. The original album version of “Full House” was, in fact, a composite of two takes in which Montgomery’s guitar solo was edited in. Now, for the first time, listeners can hear the complete unedited master take, with Montgomery’s originally played (and previously replaced) guitar solo restored. The collection also compiles alternate takes (all previously released on either Wes Montgomery: The Complete Riverside Recordings or The Alternative Wes Montgomery) of “Cariba,” “Come Rain or Come Shine” and “Blue ’N’ Boogie,” as well as two renditions of Mel Tormé’s ballad “Born to Be Blue.” Both takes, which do not feature Griffin, showcase the phenomenal interplay between Montgomery and Kelly’s trio—first with a subdued approach and then with a more energetic attack.

Praised by Downbeat as catching “Montgomery at the blazing top of his form,” Full House secured Montgomery’s place as a bona fide jazz star and has long been considered an essential title from his all-too-brief career. Following his time at Riverside, Montgomery would turn his focus primarily to pop-oriented music and found significant crossover success with instrumental covers of the era’s biggest hits—several of which earned him GRAMMY® Awards.

Montgomery, who passed away unexpectedly in 1968, not only left behind a beloved canon of music but also an impact that continues to reverberate. “Wes Montgomery forever changed the language of the guitar,” writes Milkowski. “Generations of guitarists who followed in his wake were swept away by the warmth of his tone, the freedom and fluidity of his ideas, and the persistent swing in his unerring time feel.” Among his immediate disciples were contemporaries like Joe Pass, Pat Martino and George Benson. In the following decades, stars like John Scofield, Pat Metheny and Lee Ritenour continued the through line, while rising guitarists like Randy Napoleon, Tim Fitzgerald and Mimi Fox keep Montgomery’s legacy alive today.

Steve Davis | "Steve Davis Meets Hank Jones, Volume 1"

In June 2008, trombonist Steve Davis, pianist Hank Jones, and bassist Peter Washington recorded this poetic, interactive, impeccably executed, never-before-released recital, entitled Steve Davis Meets Hank Jones, Volume 1, scheduled for a November 24, 2023 release via Smoke Sessions Records. Jones, who had undergone quadruple bypass heart surgery at the end of 2006, was a month shy of 90. Not only is it one of Jones’ final sessions, but it’s one of the finest of his extraordinary career, as the two Boomers, whose cumulative ages circa 2008 did not match Jones’ four-score and ten, comport themselves not as acolytes, but assured peers and fellow practitioners inscribing their voices coequally upon the proceedings.

Jones’ advanced age and recently endured infirmities are indiscernible as the trio addresses choice cuts from jazz and American Songbooks, conducting erudite, swinging three-way conversations, along with three duos – “But Beautiful,” “Polka Dots and Moonbeams” and “We’ll Be Together Again” – by Davis and grandmaster Jones.

“It was one of the greatest musical experiences of my life,” says Davis of his sixth Smoke Sessions release as a leader. “The music is filled with little choices, moments where you could go this way or that. Wherever I wanted to go, Hank was there, ready to give support, to take you somewhere. It was the essence of jazz – that thing that happens between us when we play and create and speak the language in real time. On a pre-date rehearsal he developed three different routes through one passage of a couple of measures. It was unbelievable to watch how much joy he was getting out of music, even at 89 years old.”  

The idea gestated in the aftermath of Davis’s initial recording with Jones, a fall 2007 album titled Eloquence. “As I thanked him, he said, ‘Why, Stevie, we had so much fun, I think perhaps we ought to do it again.’ I said, ‘Twist my arm.’ My wanted it to be like Hank and Peter playing duo at Bradley’s (the legendary Greenwich Village piano saloon where Jones played regularly until the early 1990s), with me sitting in.”

Neither Davis nor Washington were strangers to interacting on a bandstand with the great masters of jazz expression. Both apprenticed with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers during the ’80s, and they played together on 7 dates by the collective group One for All (represented on Smoke Sessions with the 2016 release The Third Decade, their 16th), and on individual dates led by its component members Eric Alexander, David Hazeltine, Joe Farnsworth and Davis himself. Davis’s post-Messengers CV included five years with Jackie McLean, his mentor at Hartt School of Music, three years with Chick Corea’s Origin Band, a couple of decades with various Dizzy Gillespie all-star configurations, and – counting this epochal date – 21 albums as a leader, including five for Smoke Sessions.

Most visible these days alongside Kenny Washington in the Bill Charlap Trio, Washington famously spent the 1990s alongside Lewis Nash in the Tommy Flanagan Trio, and did dozens of dates with Jones during the decades preceding his own first recording with the maestro.

Famously the older brother of iconic trumpeter-composer-arranger Thad Jones and world historical drummer Elvin Jones, Hank Jones was himself a key signpost in the evolution of jazz vocabulary, admired by his peer group since he arrived in New York in 1944 for a gig with trumpeter-blues singer Hot Lips Page at the Onyx Club on 52nd Street. There he applied himself to absorbing bop avatars Bud Powell, Al Haig, and Thelonious Monk, who once invited Jones to his apartment after closing time and played for him, as Jones transcribed the notes, a new composition called “Monk’s Mood.” He was a first-caller on 52nd Street by 1946, when he began a long association with Coleman Hawkins, as well as jobs with Billy Eckstine, Andy Kirk, and John Kirby. Jones began touring with Jazz at the Philharmonic the following year, sharing piano duties with Oscar Peterson, who credits him as a seminal influence. He accompanied Ella Fitzgerald from 1948 to 1953, and spent the remainder of the ’50s freelancing, making definitive trio and solo albums for Savoy, and recording as a sideman with artists as diverse as Hawkins, Charlie Parker, Lester Young, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Artie Shaw, Sonny Stitt, Cannonball Adderley, Benny Goodman, and his younger brothers.

From 1959 to 1975, Jones was a staff pianist at CBS, playing on Captain Kangaroo, The Ed Sullivan Show, The Jackie Gleason Show, and any other entity that required his services. He retired in 1975, and launched the final efflorescent phase of his career as a solo artist, which he conducted with unabated energy until the aforementioned involuntary hiatus.

“Hank embodied the history of jazz, and distilled it into his concept,” Davis says. “You hear him play stride piano, the blues, the American Songbook, swing, bebop. You hear the French Impressionists, Chopin. You hear what influenced pianists like Herbie Hancock or Bill Evans or McCoy Tyner, the pianists we regard as those who’ve led us into the future. Hank could go any way you want. He was so incredibly melodic and harmonically sophisticated, with a wonderful touch. He controlled everything he wanted to play. You can’t think of a time where Hank played something he didn’t mean.”

Jones described his approach in an article for Jazziz that ran around the time of this date: “Do what you think, play whatever you play. Make it understandable, but don’t sacrifice anything that is individualistic to your style. I consider myself a creative player. I like to play things I haven’t done before, paint musical pictures, so to speak. If you play somebody else’s musical ideas, how can you identify yourself? As you grow older, you try to develop a consciousness, an identity, so that when someone hears you, hopefully they can say, ‘Oh, that’s Hank Jones’ or whoever you happen to be.”

New Music Releases: Record Kicks Cinematic Nuggets, Robohands, Quincy Jones, The Faithful Brothers

Record Kicks Cinematic Nuggets

Record Kicks presents "Cinematic Nuggets", a new installment of its digital compilation collection dedicated to the cinematic funk sound of the Milan-based record label. Through deep psychedelic grooves, afro-jazz-funk and B-movie inspired badass tunes, the eleven instrumental tracks on the compilation dig deep into the label's catalogue and offer you a new journey into a groovy psychedelic funk world. In the compilation you'll find the very best of the label's roster: from cinematic funk kings Calibro 35 to The Diasonics, Whatitdo Archive Group and Alexander Korostinsky and the latest signings Electric Circus and Moonbrew & Apollo Negri just to name a few. Quite on set, rolling and… Action! Side by side with similar outfits like Daptone, Truth And Soul or Timmion, under its motto "The explosive sound from Today's scene", Milan-based independent label Record Kicks has been pitching the contemporary funk & soul scene since 2003. With over 200 releases under the belt, RK has released bands from all over the globe and earned the support of VIP fans such as Kenny Dope, Jamie Cullum, Craig Charles and, last but not least, Jay-Z, thanks to whom the label received a Grammy nomination for HOV's use of Hannah Williams' "Late Nights And Heartbreak" as backdrop for his "4:44" in 2018.

Robohands - Moments

‘Moments’ is the first single off the upcoming LP ‘Palms’, the 5th studio album from London based instrumentalist and producer Andy Baxter. Featuring the harp, played by Rachel Horton, ‘Moments’ is an ode to early 60s jazz sounds with synth melody top line and double bass part sitting casually behind the beat. Influences come from the music of Dorothy Ashby and Alice Coltrane. ‘Robohands' is the experimental solo/collaborative project of London based composer/ instrumentalist Andy Baxter. Originally a side project to explore drumming techniques, ‘Robohands’ evolved into a more composition based endeavour with his records often featuring large arrangements and also solo instrument performances. Having recorded four studio albums to date, ‘Palms’ (2023, Bastard Jazz Recordings) is the fifth in a series of seven Robohands LPs. Having supported Grammy Award winning musician Terrence Blanchard at the Camden Jazz Cafe, his project has also headlined multiple venues in London, Brighton and Lisbon. Sonically making reference to late 1950s sounds through to late 1980s and early 1990s sounds, each album has differed in direction, with the latest album emulating saturated analog tape recordings of the late 60s and 70s, with an added subtle modern layer of glitch FX and pitch control experimentation in places. Fresh off of the relase of EP ‘Giallo’ (2022), Baxter again takes on drums, guitar, bass, keys and also mixing duties for the latest LP, which comprises of seventeen tracks, and is released in October 2023.

Quincy Jones - Integrale Quincy Jones 1957 to 1962 – Soul Bossa Nova 

The early years of Quincy Jones, summed up in all their greatness – material from a time years before Quincy became a superstar in the world of soundtracks and soul, yet was already breaking new ground in the field of large ensemble jazz! Q had a special spark, right from the start – and you'll definitely hear that here, in a succession of albums and bonus material that highlight his uniquely swinging, soulful sense of arrangement – and his great ear for individual musicians, at a level that makes the groups here really work as all-star lineups, filled with musicians who often recorded as leaders on their own, but came together in tight formation under Jones' leadership. The set features a few bonus tracks recorded in Sweden in the late 50s – plus the full albums Birth Of A Band, Go West Man, This Is How I Feel About Jazz, Great Wide World Of Quincy Jones, I Dig Dancers, Around The World, Quintessence, and Big Band Bossa Nova – all served up in a big box with 78 tracks in all – and full notes in French and English! ~ Dusty Groove

The Faithful Brothers – The Faithful Brothers

“It’s so difficult to produce the feel and the excitement of the classic northern sound, but The Faithful Brothers were born to do it and they do it so well.” Craig Charles, The Craig Charles Funk & Soul Show, BBC Radio 6 Music. Is there a Northern Soul scene in Tel Aviv? The surprising answer is – yes, there is. If you’re a soulie and in town, look for the Tel Aviv Soul Club, and you might find yourself swaying across a talcum-powder covered floor to Tel Aviv’s own unique blend of classic Northern Soul 45s and early 1960s R&B sounds. Chances are that those 45s will come out of the record boxes of one of the brothers Neeman, Johnnie and Bin. Sons of an Israeli diplomat, they travelled abroad extensively as children, in the 1960s and 1970s, discovering the wonderful world of rare soul music on the way. Tel Aviv Soul Club, aka TASC, is the brainchild of Yashiv Cohen, a DJ who, in 2006, lured the brothers Neeman, whose massive soul collections been hitherto confined to their respective living rooms, into playing their records to the Tel Aviv public. Yashiv is also the lead singer of Men of North Country (MONC), a Tel Aviv band with a distinct sound, blending rock, British pop and soul, that has recorded two albums for the London based label Acid Jazz Records, and toured Europe numerous times. Since Neeman means Faithful in Hebrew, Yashiv woke up one morning with the crystallization that MONC must create a spin-off, a more puristic soul band, called the Faithful Brothers. There the biological Neeman/Faithful brothers would be joined by some of the members of MONC and a few more musical brothers from Tel Aviv to create new, original soul and R&B music. With a nod to the Northern Soul slogan “Keep The Faith”, the name seemed too perfect to waste. The fact that the Neeman brothers were collectors, and not musicians, did not bother a man of vision like Yashiv. One day, he sent Johnnie some lyrics he wrote, asking him to compose music for it. Well, Johnnie called Bin, and they met in Johnnie’s record room. With Johnnie playing some of the few chords he knew on his dusty old acoustic guitar, out came Teenage Frost, the first-ever musical composition of the Neeman brothers, recorded by MONC. It took a few more years, but gradually the brothers succumbed to their fate, to continue their musical progression, from collectors to DJs to musicians. Johnnie took his guitar, Bin took to the piano, and the brothers began pouring out some of their influences, creating new songs. It is finally all coming together. The Faithful Brothers – now an eight-piece band, complete with a mighty brass section – release their first album “The Faithful Brothers”.

Léon Phal - Stress Killer

Saxophonist Léon Phal presents his second full length album, his first for Heavenly Sweetness. Picking up from his self released debut ‘Dust From Stars’ in 2021, this new LP entitled ‘Stress Killer’ delves even deeper into the area between nightclub and jazz club culture.

As a graduate of Geneva’s Haute École de Musique, he’s a key artist within the much spoken about French new jazz scene. With a notoriety that goes beyond the borders of Europe, this Franco-Swiss musician paves his own path in his own way, alongside his faithful quintet of: Arthur Alard (Drums), Rémi Bouyssière (Double Bass), Gauthier Toux (Keyboards) and Zacharie Ksykowski's (Trumpet).

Over its 10 tracks ‘Stress Killer‘s perhaps the most major and remarkable point is that no machines or electronics were used in its creation. Despite its sonic shelving so close to the nightclub sounds, it is made using traditional jazz instrumentation. 

Embracing ideas and desires to make people dance by approaching jazz as club music, the first single from the album 'Fuck Yeah' highlights that goal perfectly. With its nods to the techno pioneers of Detroit, the deep house of Chicago and drawing from Leon’s previous collaborations with Laurent Garnier. 

Across this record tracks are arranged in a club music style, builds and drops that use breaks, climbs and loops -  immediately making you think, "Fuck Yeah".  

The saxophone remains the ringleader and master of ceremonies across the album, fusing jazz codes with detailed electronic etiquette, notes and ideas speak to the bodies of dancers and club goers, making you want to move. 

On the J Dilla inspired ‘Idylla’, we have the first feature on the album, coming in from Heavenly Sweetness / Pura Vida label mate, K.O.G.  A behind the beat groove allows K.O.G’s spoken word to sit over Gaultier’s keys, intertwining beautifully together with the rest of the track. 

More mellower and reflective moments are to be found courtesy of ‘Balanced Action’, showing just how great Leon’s sax lines sound doubled with Zacherie’s trumpet.

A second vocal feature as Cameroonian born, Los Angeles based, Lorine Chia, she adds a sultry yet affirmative performance on ‘Something Inside’ 

Then over onto side two, title track ‘Stress Killer’ does just that with its uplifting and playful hook. Feet get tapping and necks get snapping as Arthur’s snare drives the track towards an almost psychedelic ending, Gaultier showing off some synth sonics that could melt minds.

Only once does Léon look back into the rear-view mirror, towards the masters who explored the saxophone like no other. An interpretation of John Coltrane’s ‘Naima’, features deep rhodes tones before the unmistakable sax and trumpet melody arrive. 

Album closer, ‘Clarity’ rounds off the record beautifully with a nostalgic yet familiar, hope filled chord progression, allowing the rest of the band to fill the spaces so tastefully.

A record that has really captured all energies, be them eyes down on  dark nightclub dance floors or squeezed into sweaty basement jazz clubs. The sound of Léon’s album may sometimes resemble that of machines, but it always retains its humanity.

 

Ruiqi Wang - Subduing the Silence

Ruiqi Wang's debut album is a singular, intimate amalgam of improvisation song.

Subduing the Silence by Ruiqi Wang (pronounced "ray-chee") is one of those striking debuts that might just seem to have materialized out of the clear blue. Slated for release on celebrated Montréal musician Ayelet Rose Gottlieb's new imprint Orchard of Pomegranates, it weaves spacious, abstract vocal jazz, contemporary chamber music and even elements of Chinese traditions into an unusual, seamless whole. This succinct album provides an impressive document of this gifted young vocalist, composer and improviser and her singular musical imagination.

The disc opens with one of three renditions of "Xiang Leng Jin Ni," an ancient Chinese song with a text by 11th century female poet Qingzhao Li. Awash in the delicate turbulence of Mili Hong's drums, Wang's delivery is expressive yet restrained. Anchored by the minimalist thrum of Summer Kodama's bass, "A Letter to L" begins in dim patter, before Stephanie Urquhart offers a luminous arpeggiated chord. This gesture ushers in a soft cloud of string harmonics (courtesy of special guests, Boston's Craft Ensemble) that simply hovers for a moment, holding the music in suspension. The voice then leads an ensemble-wide blossoming with a languid wordless melody that tucks itself into the lush string arrangement as the composition opens up. The piece covers an intriguing array of material over the course of its peculiar and sumptuous unfolding, neatly encapsulating the gentle ardour that underpins Wang's writing.

Clocking in at just shy of a minute, "Vibrating" is the first of several short instrumental interludes interspersed throughout the album, each of showcasing the insightful musicianship and broad sonic vocabulary of her core ensemble. The energy shifts on "A Descent of Lillies" as the band locks into a vigorous groove that supports angular melodic figures and freeform extemporization from Wang and her bandmates. Following the lyrical interlude "Shimmering," she sings "Xiang Leng Jin Ni" again, this time totally unaccompanied. The dream-like vignette "I Am A Tree" anticipates elegant ballad "Dream of the Pines"—arguably the familiar sounding piece in the collection. Its unfettered beauty steers the album toward a temporary place of repose alongside the bowed-bass led interlude "Deep Stillness."  For the final arrangement of the "Xiang Leng Jin Ni," listeners get a taste of Wang's formidable ear for instrumental colour as she weaves a detailed tapestry of swooping ornaments for the Craft Ensemble, the track's only performers. For the album's closer, she sets a text by Argentinian poet Alejandra Pizarnik, initially singing across a string arrangement that faintly echoes the previous cut before Hong, Urquhart and Kodama join the fray.

Subduing the Silence ambitiously packs a wealth of ideas into its 36 minutes without ever losing its sharp focus. Wang's nimble singing and deft, thoughtful arrangements—enlivened by the sensitivity and versatility of her all-female cast of collaborators—display a maturity and vision that eludes even some seasoned musicians.

Born and raised in Hangzhou, China, Ruiqi Wang moved to Tio'tia:ke/Montréal in 2017 where she studied in McGill University's Jazz Performance program while immersing herself in the vibrant local scene performing in venues such as the Upstairs Jazz Club, Ursa, MAI/SON MTL, and Le Basement. Wang's mentors encompass a diverse array of respected artists that includes the likes of Ranee Lee, Camille Thurman, Ayelet Rose Gottlieb, John Hollenbeck, and Meredith Monk. Alongside the latter's voice and movement workshops, she also nurtured her curiosity through studying frameworks such as the Deep Listening® practices established by trailblazing composer Pauline Oliveros. In addition to the double quartet heard on this album, Wang's current projects include the Ruiqi Wang Chamber Ensemble, which features her singing alongside piano, bass, drums, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, bass clarinet, and string quartet. She also collaborates with August McKinney (piano, modular synthesizer) under the moniker Soft Weathers, an outfit that has moved from interpreting standards toward more exploratory terrain by way of incorporating electronics and free improvisation. Wang is currently embarking upon a Masters degree in Jazz Composition at the Bern Academy of the Arts in Switzerland under the direction of lauded musicians such as Django Bates, Andreas Schaerer and Ralph Alessi.

 

Conrad Herwig’s album “The Latin Side of Mingus”

New York jazz artist Conrad Herwig has recorded 26 albums as a leader, receiving four GRAMMY®-nominations for his own projects. His latest CD release is The Latin Side of Mingus (Savant; 2022). This albums marks 25+ years of the "Latin Side . . ." series, and is a follow-up project to The “Latin Side of …” tributes to Horace Silver (Savant; 2020), Joe Henderson (Half Note; 2014), Herbie Hancock (Half Note; 2010) Wayne Shorter (Half Note; 2008), Miles Davis (Half Note; 2004), and John Coltrane (Astor Place; 1996). These exciting and individualized projects feature an array of special guests including Randy Brecker, Ruben Blades, Michel Camilo, Joe Lovano, Eddie Palmieri, Paquito D’Rivera, Dave Valentin and many of the hottest players on the international scene. 

Herwig is equally facile in a non-Latin arena. He has been voted #1 Jazz Trombonist in DownBeat Magazine “Jazz Critic’s Poll” and nominated for “Trombonist of the Year” by the Jazz Journalists Association on numerous occasions.  In constant demand as a sideman, Herwig has performed with Joe Henderson, Horace Silver, McCoy Tyner, and Joe Lovano (featured as a soloist on Lovano’s GRAMMY® Award winning 52nd St. Themes CD). In the Afro-Caribbean genre he has toured with legends such as Eddie Palmieri, Tito Puente, Paquito D'Rivera, and Michel Camilo. He is a longtime member of the the Mingus Big Band (where he has served as musical director and arranger including on the 2011 GRAMMY- winning “Live at the Jazz Standard”). In other big band settings Herwig has also performed and recorded with Clark Terry, Buddy Rich, Frank Sinatra, Miles Davis & Quincy Jones, and the Gil Evans Orchestra. All told Herwig has appeared on more than 200+ albums in what is now a 40 year career. 

 In 2006 Herwig received the Paul Acket Award (formerly the “Bird Award”). The prize, presented at the North Sea Jazz Festival, is intended for an artist who, according to the international jury, deserves the attention of a broader audience. Herwig is also a recipient of performance and teaching grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. Conrad was elected to the Board of Advisors of the International Trombone Association and has taught at Mason Gross School of the Arts in the prestigious jazz program at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J. where he currently serves as Artistic Director and Chair of Jazz Studies.

Resavoir Announces "Resavoir" LP

Resavoir - the collaborative project led by Chicago producer/composer Will Miller - announces a new album. Their second self-titled LP Resavoir will be released by International Anthem on November 3rd, 2023. The album’s lead single “Sunday Morning,” which features Elton Aura and Whitney is out today, along with a stop motion video created by Nik Arthur.

Written and produced over three years beginning in April 2020, the eleven effervescent songs of the new Resavoir feature a vibrant cast of collaborators from the Chicago music community, including Akenya, Matt Gold, Eddie Burns, Lane Beckstrom, Jeremy Cunningham, Irvin Pierce, Macie Stewart, Peter Manheim, Elton Aura, Whitney (indie band that Miller has been a regular member of since 2016) and more. 

The core songs of Resavoir are ear-pleasing but deeply-layered studio constructions, demonstrating the astute production-craft that Miller’s sharpened over recent work with Knox Fortune and SZA (on top of his already-lengthy resume that includes work with Mac Miller, Chance the Rapper, Saba and Lil Wayne). Other pieces were built from free, group improvisations recorded in the empty lot next to Miller’s Humboldt Park apartment during the pandemic. And others are delightfully fleeting vignettes, compositionally elegant but only slightly more polished than demos, reflecting his intent on capturing the moment of discovery and embracing what gives music its vulnerable, human qualities. All together, the new Resavoir corralls a broad diversity of sound, inter-weaving modern-day soul-jazz, bedroom beats, synth serenades and twilight sonatas into a subtly radiant symphony.

The album’s lead single “Sunday Morning” draws inspiration from a rainbow peaking through the clouds on a misty May afternoon, when Miller was tinkering with the jazz standard “Here’s That Rainy Day.” But “Sunday Morning” is far from it – stylistically it’s much more buttery indie R&B than classic jazz ballad, and leans much less on Miller’s trumpet than it does on Elton Aura’s sumptuous vocals and verses. Miller recalls: “I had wanted to work with Elton for a while so I invited him over to the studio. I was playing him a few different things before landing on this one, which I sort of knew he would want to write to right away. He wrote and recorded his verse that day.” The track culminates with a dreamy outro section featuring Miller’s longtime bandmates from Whitney. Miller adds: “Literally the day after I had Elton at the studio, Julien (from Whitney) sent me a voice memo of himself humming a melody over the exact same song… even though it had been over a year since I shared it with him. To me that was too crazy of a coincidence to overlook, so I invited Max and Julien over to finish writing to that melody, and the three of us crafted the outro section together.”

“Sunday Morning” also comes with an incredible stop motion video by Nik Arthur. About his work, Arthur says: “A water droplet mimics the movements of hard working hydrangea pollinators. Each droplet was placed carefully with a syringe and a lot of patience.”

Grammy-nominated Chandrika Tandon Releases Ammu's Treasures, a Collection of Classic Songs and Soothing Chants

A three-volume omnibus of 35 songs and 21 chants, Ammu's Treasures invites its listeners to reminisce or make new memories with traditional folk tunes and familiar popular songs and poems, which were a part of Chandrika's childhood years. These songs speak of faraway places, in different genres and languages, with varied arrangements. They are meant for quiet times, happy times, and anytime. This treasury of music also includes ancient Vedic chants set to Indian scales, aimed to soothe and relax.

Adding their incredible artistry to complex arrangements, Ammu's Treasures features many maestros, including Cyro Baptista, Martin Bejerano, Purbayan Chatterjee, Rakesh Chaurasia, Béla Fleck, Eugene Friesen, Maeve Gilchrist, Jamey Haddad, Bobby Keyes, Howard Levy, Romero Lubambo, Marcus Rojas, Dave Schroeder, Michael Ward-Bergeman, Kenny Werner, the Czech National Symphony Orchestra, Teese Gohl, Mirek Vana, John Kiehl, Scott Cannizzaro, and more. Marc Lumer and Bob Spang contributed their talents to beautiful accompanying lyric videos.

Ammu's Treasures is a hug for the world, a message of Love, Light, Laughter for all ages.

A concert in Prague was recently held, in partnership with Kroky Dobra, who created a children’s choir of 35 Ukrainian children. Together with Chandrika, the choir performed songs from Ammu’s Treasures for a 200 person audience at Lobkowicz Castle in June 2023.

The event was full of heartwarming moments and was a true celebration of love between families and new friends. The children in the choir practiced for a month in advance, forming a connection to Ammu and the songs, illustrating beautiful drawings and crafting thoughtful messages for Chandrika. Countless hugs were given and received.

Samara Joy Returns with Self-Produced Fan Favorite: Tight

Two-time GRAMMY-winner Samara Joy has returned with her new self-produced single “Tight.” Featuring Joy with her working band (pianist Luther Allison, bassist Mikey Migliore and drummer Evan Sherman), the track was recorded at the legendary Electric Lady Studios in NYC. Originally written by Betty Carter and a true showcase of Joy’s incredible range, “Tight” has been a fan favorite during Joy’s onstage sets. Fittingly, the music video for the single incorporates both her live performances and in-studio recording session.

The release of “Tight” continues a whirlwind year that saw Joy take home the auspicious Best New Artist and Best Jazz Vocal Album awards at this year’s GRAMMY’s. Joy also released the deluxe edition of her album Linger Awhile, which includes brand new music plus fan favorites like “Guess Who I Saw Today” and “Can’t Get Out Of This Mood.”

Since Joy’s breakout GRAMMY wins, Linger Awhile has reached #1 on Amazon Best Sellers, Billboard Jazz, Pandora Trendsetters, iTunes and Amazon’s digital-music and CD sales, and more. Joy has garnered over 1 million followers on social media, and her tour dates all over the world have rapidly sold out.

With her GRAMMY-Award winning and chart-topping album, Linger Awhile, 23-year-old Samara Joy makes her case to join the likes of Sarah, Ella, and Billie as the next mononymous jazz singing sensation recorded by the venerable Verve Records. Her voice, rich and velvety yet precociously refined, has already earned her legions of fans in addition to millions of likes on TikTok — cementing her status as perhaps the first Gen Z jazz singing star. 

Kuma - Honey & Groat

When Betty Davis presented Sly Stone's funky hippies to her dear Miles, when Herbie Hancock discovered the Fender Rhodes and the Moog synthesiser, when the CTI/Kudu label came up with the smooth jazz of Grover Washington or Bob James, when Gilles Peterson and the acid-jazz period revived the links that unite the various facets of African-American music, on each of these occasions opinion was divided between orthodoxy and hedonism. How do you reconcile "serious" music and simple pleasure? Ever since jazz took its bop and free turn, each generation solved this eternal equation in its own way.

Trained in the theoretical rigours of classical music and jazz, experts on their instruments, and brought up on hip-hop culture, techno and house club scenes, Matthieu Llodra and Arthur Donnot - composers of KUMA – love to challenge their musical boundaries. With the help of multi-talented sound engineer Valentin Liechti, they intentionally turned away from the live sound towards a more controlled production style, both in terms of the writing and the recording.

Maxence Sibille’s drums and Fabien Iannone’s bass, in all sobriety, display a range of sounds and grooves blurring the perception between playing and programming, acoustic and electronic.

Themes turn into loops, in a jazz form of writing that metabolised the sampling culture. Just like the musicians in the ‘70s and ‘80s who melted Afro-american art music with pop trends, Llodra and Donnot belong to this generation that naturally reinvents a kind of smooth jazz from the XXIst century.

The elegant harmonies of a brass section (‘Trois Petits Beussekeu’, ‘Feux-gris’), Léo Chambet’s warm voice (‘Der Küss) and Cyril Moulas' mesmerising guitar (‘Tardigrada’) make this somewhat restrained yet generous album complete.

Listening to ‘Honey & Groat’, sweetness and elegance are evident from the start. The themes come and they go, not like a rendez-vous, these collective checkmarks that classical jazz imposes on the ego of the soloists, rather like the hooks on instrumental electro tracks. An anchor for the listener, a chorus, between ostinato and ritornello, a motif transformed to fit the moment.

Natural Lateral - Tapestry Of Life

Social Joy Records presents Natural Lateral's new album "Tapestry of life", a superb excursion in fusion jazz with a wonderful blend of electronics and subtle elements of spiritual jazz.

Undeniably on the rise after the success of their first album, ‘Cogito Ergo Jam’, which received support from the British Jazz scene and was featured on Gilles Peterson’s BBC 6 music show, the North-London based collective goes a step further this time by carefully crafting a new release of a tapestry of music stemming from rich jam sessions at the Lazy Robot Studio and representing the band's phenomenal musical canvas.

Echoing jazz legends like Azymuth, Roy Ayers, Alice Coltrane and Miles Davis by paying tribute to those who paved the way but always searching for new musical territories, this six-track LP is moving, thought-provoking and engaging. It is a musical quest where each band member searches for meaning through rhythm and sound - giving a new life to jazz music and dropping the full spectrum of a vibrant tapestry of life into the listener's ears.

The release moves through elements of vintage, yet also involves sophisticated sound production fusing jazz with modern dance and world music sensibilities. ‘Rendez-rio’ is a feel-good summer track of Bossa. The superb Rhodes keys adds a Samba cadence to the track where one feels easily transported into a musical dream landscape – offering a "rendez-vous" in Rio de Janeiro.

‘Tom's Tumbao’ channels the spirit of Latin jazz via the lens of Calle 54/New York City featuring Natural Lateral’s beloved friend and flautist/saxophonist Chip Wickham and the well-known drummer David Mrakpor (Blue Lab Beats). The keys and flutes in the track add a vibrant dialogue of music, creating a back and forth conversation of lush and deep melodies. Both solos are accompanied by horn arrangements from Eoin Grace which sets this James Bond-esque theme to an intense level of energy.

‘Hoodi's Notes’ takes the release to deeper levels by guiding us into a musical, spiritual journey completely improvised on the spot and catching somewhat "a moment of magic". Listen closely, and you'll hear the sax and keys whispering subtle melodies of mystical languages, like a cosmic wind blowing through the earth and flowing beyond and above. Fans of the likes of Blue Note will find this track particularly appealing.

The B side kicks off with 'Locked Up', something purely improvised and recorded during the lockdown period, which shows the funkier side of the band's vision of music. The Roy Ayers-inspired vibraphone melody and lush synths drive the song's mood into funky astral territories - always landing back into the earth on a Herbie-esque slap bass - this is jazz funk at its best! It is also a testament to music having the capacity to rescue us during troubling times.

‘Konuş…Konuşma (Speak… Don’t Speak)’ is a psychedelic trip through ambient jazz, combining more rockier subtleties with a Turkish spoken word vocal. The piece fuses electronic and ethnic elements.

The album finishes with ‘Amber's Garden’; almost a follow on from their debut album 'Days with Amber', a beautiful tribute to the mother of Aziz Mustafa (AKA Tom Funk), the leader of the band. It is a transcendental piece of music featuring sax and flute by Tamar Osborn (Collocutor)

The band's work ethic is based on a sense of freedom in the studio filled with live jam sessions where it's all about "catching a moment" and letting the inspiration flow. They say:

"We just want to feel a sense of freedom and connection through playing. In the studio, it's the music which connects us all, and we just want to allow that process to unfold". 

Sababa 5 - Sababa 5 | Debut LP

Sababa 5 finally deliver their long-promised, and self-titled album of original instrumentals, built around the band’s distinct mix of Middle Eastern psych, funk and disco groove.

Sababa 5’s knack for intricate grooves and catchy melodies have led to a series of acclaimed singles, from fresh takes on classic melodies to vocal collaborations, championed by BBC 6 Music DJs Gilles Peterson, Cerys Matthews, and Gideon Coe in the UK, and Radio Nova and FIP, in France, whilst they gradually found their own contemporary sound, creating original music together that could stand up on its own across a whole album.

Across these eight songs, the group blends the Afro disco, reggae, jazz, funk and a plethora of Middle Eastern traditions, whilst traveling time and space, drawing a musical, cultural and geographical line from Somalia to Iran, via Ethiopia, Sudan, Egypt and Turkey, from the late 70s & early 80s to today. Thus Sababa 5 create a unique psychedelic groove that builds on the approach that the likes of the Daptones have taken to working independently, writing, producing and recording original music, with their own modern take on 70s soul and funk.

Stand outs include 'Malca' (a girl’s name that means “queen”). Built around broken synth lines, a languid East Africa meets Anadolu psych groove and vintage organ licks, the instrumental peaks a transformative chord change, shooting it into the stratosphere.

The carnivalesque 'Lizarb' (“Brazil” backwards), raises the tempo and temperature. The piece kicks off with a guitar-led call-and-response before a synth-led melody lifts everything to another level. Topped off before the end by a beautiful wah-wah meets psychedelic Mizrahi style guitar solo over a pulsating drum and groove line, demanding a physical response.

'Habedil' (“the idiot” in Hebrew), is named for the innocent, child-like synths that lead off towards the start, whilst the bass and guitar riff repetitively, crafting an irresistible groove before dovetailing into an epic disco synth vamp.

With this, their debut, self-titled album, Sababa 5 are ready to take a seat among the most exciting and original instrumental-based groups across the globe, with an exciting and distinct approach to groove, sound and melody.

Surya Botofasina - Everyone's Children

The phenomenal debut album by extraordinary keyboardist and composer Surya Botofasina. Surya was taught in the tradition of Alice Coltrane, by Swamini Turiyasangitananda herself, on her Ashram in California where he grew up. Produced by and co-performed with Carlos Niño in Los Angeles, this is a unique, deep listening masterpiece of spiritual jazz and meditative sounds from a progressive Sonic Artist devoted to: "OneLove. Family. Music.”

Everyone’s Children is the stunning debut album of spiritual avant-garde music from keyboardist, composer Surya Botofasina, out on Spiritmuse Records. The record combines deep jazz excursions with expansive synth passages and intimate piano turns to create a hypnotic, meditative and devotionally expressive suite that soothes, enriches and uplifts the soul.

Botofasina’s upbringing at the Sai Anantam Ashram in the Southern Californian hills involved daily bhajans (traditional Hindu devotional songs) led by legendary jazz harpist and pianist Alice Coltrane. Her musical and religious teachings continue to have a profound effect on the keyboardist, whose career has since gone on to take in acting stints in the TV series Vinyl and Boardwalk Empire alongside a diverse range of musical collaborations with the likes of Reggie Workman, Joey Bada$$, Gangstarr’s GURU, Amel Larrieux, N’Dea Davenport, Georgia Anne Muldrow, and Miguel Atwood-Ferguson. His work as the Music Director of the Sai Anantam Ashram Singers has seen him tour internationally honouring Swamini Turiyasangitananda Alice Coltrane’s devotional music. “The way I play the piano is not the way my friends play the piano” he says. “It forced me to find the place I truly dwell in - the place between the hip hop and jazz, but based in meditative and long form expressions of my spirit.”

Botofasina’s renown has enabled him to enlist a supremely talented, cross generational group of musicians for the project including major LA mainstays such as multi-instrumentalist and bandleader Carlos Niño - who also produced the album - jazz singer Dwight Trible, and indie folk vocalist Mia Doi Todd. Brilliantly gifted guitarist Nate Mercereau, saxophonist Pablo Calogero, and drummer Efa Etoroma Jr., round out the guest collaborators alongside Botofasina’s mother, the harpist Radha Botofasina, a key musical disciple of Alice Coltrane’s during her Ashram years and a hugely formative influence on the keyboardist.

Ten years in consideration, the album’s genesis lay in Botofasina and Niño’s long-running creative partnership. The pair first linked up through Niño’s Build An Ark jazz ensemble, by the recommendation of Atwood-Ferguson, in 2011 and - after Niño suggested recording a Surya lead project, the idea began to solidify with a series of collaborative concerts in 2018 (still on-going,) that engendered a deep musical bond. Recorded by Jesse Peterson in 3 joyous sessions last year in Glendale, California, the results are grounded in the ashram music that Botofasina grew up with and present his own unique jazz-influenced take on devotional sounds.

That vision achieves heady form in the shape of album opener Surya Meditation, an epic twenty-seven-minute duet with Niño built around Botofasina’s assorted keyboard textures. Synths hum hypnotically, softly patter like raindrops or drift by like clouds on a hazy summer’s day. Niño’s subtle percussive accompaniment offers a gentle sense of otherworldliness throughout a contemplative, meditative and stunningly beautiful piece that offers feelings akin to floating gently across water. “I knew when it was happening that it would be the focal point, the opus, the centre of this project” says Niño of the recording.

The solo piano piece I Love Dew, Sophie melds jazz and classical keyboard notes in warm-toned clusters before the ecstatic spiritual jazz excursion Beloved California Temple opens things out into a group setting. Here, Botofasina’s hypnotic piano motifs and Niño’s expressive percussion are joined by Pablo Calogero’s breathy saxophone lines, before Dwight Trible’s dramatic wordless vocals bring things to a rapturous climax to the accompaniment of Efa Etoroma Jr.’s crashing drum crescendos, with the harmonic brilliance of Nate Mercereau’s guitar synth fortifying the whole.

The title track Everyone's Children follows. Featuring Mia Doi Todd - whose pregnancy at the time of the recording inspired its name - the track blends her dream-like singing with the buzzing swoop and swirl of a synthesizer - a recognizable throwback to the Sai Anantam Ashram devotional sound - alongside gentle piano runs. Begun in reflective mode, Sun Of Keshava’s synthesizer textures build in warmth towards a denouement of radiant keyboard notes that recall the beauty of a summer sunrise.

Nick Marks | "Cinematic Chromatics, Vol. I"

New York artist Nick Marks drops his debut EP, Cinematic Chromatics, Vol. I, on September 22nd 2023.

The release includes three singles already released this year: Ride The Dragon, Dorongo and Paradiso. Completing Vol. I will be a two-part track titled Prelude/Arc of Light. Marks has been rapidly gaining attention for his genre bending cinematic jazztronica, in which he marries two disparate paradigms of his artistry: that of the concert music/film scoring world, and the underground scenes in which jazz, hip-hop, neo-soul and electronica cross-pollinate.

Cinematic Chromatics Vol. I will be the first in a three volume series, broadly fitting umbrella of ‘new era jazz’. The trilogy gracefully moves between various aural ‘mood-boards’ and showcases Marks’ musical universe, which has been described as “a twisted jazz fusion of orchestrated funk bruk electronica - dare I say, of Herbie Hancock proportions” (Gerry Bayly, You And The Music)

Vol. I draws on Marks’ expansive vision for melding jazz and electronica within expansive through-composed forms and a symphonic/cinematic aesthetic. Vol. II follows the cinematic aesthetic and traverses boundaries into the neo-soul/hip-hop worlds with hints of Drum’n’Bass. Vol. III meets somewhere in the middle. While most tracks are instrumental, story-telling and connecting with listeners is at the core of each tune.

The Cinematic Chromatics trilogy is born out of a love and passion for bringing together elements that satisfy the ear, move the body and connect to the heart. It speaks to the complex layers that intertwine in life. For Marks, writing music is a journey in how to best make sense of living among contradictions in our everyday life.

Completing Vol. I is the new track Prelude/Arc of Light. This ‘curtain-raiser’ is an homage to Marks’ impressionist classical influences, presenting the principles of this music in a modern ‘jazztronica’ context. Imagine Claude Debussy being commissioned to write the opening for an artist on the Brainfeeder label. The 21-piece string orchestra + 1 Bassoonist (performed by the Budapest Art Orchestra) establish a main theme that gets drawn upon and revisited throughout the second half of the track. This builds into a steady crescendo before getting ‘smashed’ by the piano, synth bass and drums that come in abruptly.

The cover art of the Cinematic Chromatics series is the perfect visual representation of Marks’ artistry and vision. French artist Camille “Quetzilla” Rousset hand-painted an abstract mural of layered instruments and bright colours. Listeners have eclectic tastes, passions, vibes and moods, and for Marks, speaking to these differences (both musically and visually) was central to the creation of this work.

Nick says about the EP: “Bringing together my worlds in concert/film music with jazz, neo-soul and electronica was an organic process borne out of years of studying, performing, being part of both Melbourne and New York’s dynamic scenes, and writing for film or instrumental projects. I always had the idea of opening my first big release with a statement of intent, a ‘curtain raiser’ with gravitas. Something to set the tone for the listener, and show I take their attention and willingness to listen seriously. I always wanted to cohesively morph between my different worlds and experiences in a seamless, dynamic, and tasteful way that listeners can enjoy and relate to. In doing so, I hope this EP provides a soundtrack that inspires listeners to follow their dreams, especially if it’s in an area where they’ve never seen it be done before, or people tell them it can’t be done”.

Marks has already received glowing responses to his releases this year. Debut single RIDE THE DRAGON received support from Huey Morgan on BBC6, Ruth Fisher on JazzFM and Tina Edwards on Worldwide FM. His second single DORONGO received support from Bandcamp Weekly and Jazzwise Magazine,  who described the track as “Flying Lotus and Jacob Collier combining to write the latest Blade Runner soundtrack, supervised by Thundercat, recorded by the Metropole Orkest”. Single number three, PARADISO, was selected for Spotify Editorial Playlist “FRESH FINDS JAZZ”. The music videos to all three tracks have had a combined total of more 250,000 views on YouTube. As a teaser for the future Vols. II and III (coming in 2024), Marks’ released ‘Between Gigs’, a lo-fi jazzy beats ‘aural aperitif’.