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Sunday, September 30, 2018
2019 BIAMP USA: PDX JAZZ FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES SELECT HEADLINERS
USA, FL: Nate Najar Trio - CD Release Party Fri, Oct 5 @ 8:00PM
CD Release Party!
Florida’s own (St. Petersburg) Nate Najar has enthralled audiences across the globe with his trademark and distinctive style of performing jazz on acoustic classical guitar. Continuing on his freewheeling journey as a true musical citizen of the world, he follows the release of his acclaimed 2016 album, "This is Nate Najar" with a warm, soulful, multi-faceted recording reflecting his enduring love for the City of Lights. "Under Paris Skies", (released Sept. 7) featuring Tommy Cecil on bass and Matt Home on drums, explores Najar’s passion for French song with a deeper commitment and purpose than ever before, and showcases the “rabbit hole” of research he did to curate a unique eclectic variety of pop, jazz and classical songs rarely re-imagined by an American jazz artist.
“Najar and his mates have created a gem with “Under Paris Skies.” - Jersey Jazz Journal
“Nate’s playing is quietly spectacular and the sound he gets out of his unamplified guitar is a gorgeous song itself.” - Jazz Lives
“One of the most consistently interesting and stylish young guitarists on the jazz scene.” - All Music Guide
“There is no doubt that there is a piece of Charlie’s soul in Nate’s mind, heart and fingers.” - Becky Byrd, wife of the late guitarist Charlie Byrd
USA: Robert Pehlke-Colors in the Sky(2018)
Groove-oriented, improvised, instrumental world fusion, influenced by afro-cuban music, african pop, jazz, reggae and soul.
Robert Pehlke plays vintage keyboards and piano, rattles shakers, plucks guitars and basses, beats the drums, and takes his improvisations down some vibey back alleys -- a testament to his multi-instrumental prowess, creativity with sound and engineering, and commitment to the groove.
Saturday, September 29, 2018
USA: Spontanea-Flow (2018)
spontanea is a collective of four Seattle-based improvisers of diverse backgrounds and influences. The interactive work of three soloists defines Spontanea'a music: Guitar innovator Matt Benham employs a custom array of effects to stretch the sonic borders of his instrument. Carol J. Levin plays an electrified harp, producing a span of textures unique to that instrument’s pedigree. Kenny Mandell, an award-winning jazz performer and educator, uses reeds, woodwinds and percussion in myriad ways. Scott Schaffer adds strings to the mix and facilitated the recording process.
Together, Spontanea is more an improvising framework than a band. The group recorded its first album, Flow, in two 2018 sessions, conceiving the music (spoiler alert) spontaneously. Flow is a freewheeling tapestry of quartets, trios, duets and solos linked together in a single narrative.
Matthew Benham – electric guitar, effects
Kenneth Mandell – tenor saxophone, flute, percussion
Carol J. Levin – electric harp, effects
Scott Schaffer – acoustic and bass guitars, mandola
Friday, September 28, 2018
USA/BRAZIL: Téka Watercolours of Brazil Appearing at Regattabar 7:30 pm Tuesday, October 23rd
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Medici Musica Productions Presents:
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USA:Neslorchestra- The Primordial Epiphany (2018)
Neslorchestra
“Neslort” is my muse. After years of basic musical instruction, while in my early 20’s; I met her not so formally, but after some time of courting. It was quite an unintentional meeting. After our engagement, we danced in the oak wood forests of the Ozark mountains. Never have we fought. Like any good marriage, you listen to your spouse. When she beckons, I come forth. I cannot leave her. I am only a vessel serving an unknown purpose of which I cannot explain, nor wish to do. It’s all about the music, the unfathomable river that carries God’s gifts to the ears of all below. I cannot the credit; nor do I take blame.
Neslort is a conglomerate of all my life experiences; both good and bad; wonderful, painful and tragic; Glorified and triumphant, proud, ashamed, and regretful. It’s a self-portrait to which I cannot avoid.
We are the Aliens...
I am an extreme Darwinist, perhaps more than even Darwin was. Though I’m not formally educated on the subject, in my life experiences I have noticed how foreign we are in relation to all other species of the planet. We are a breed of greed. We have more than we need; yet we continually consume more.
I’m not in a position to argue this point or to provide evidence thereof;
It’s just my personal theory that we are the true aliens. We are a fluke species brought about from the cosmos; a mistake.
This theory is what I call “The Primordial Fusion”
Long ago, before the circus came to town, a large scale genetic procedure was conducted on the native species inhabiting this planet earth, by an advanced life for from not so far away.
Injected with a revolutionary genetic formula over many centuries great changes began to manifest in the original primates.
They began walking on two limbs, and they began to lose their hair.
Over the course of time, an altogether different species had emerged, known today as the Homo Sapiens…The Hairless Ape
This event came to be known as “The Primordial Fusion”
The true intention of this procedure is unknown, but military involvement is suspected
Even to this day, the procedure continues to be monitored.
We are being observed and modified continually by forces unseen.
Much of the music that has come through me addresses this theoretical rubbish. The human condition, with exceptions (such as the fine arts) is pathetic.
But then, there is love; the single most distinguishable attribute we have…
Enjoy the ride; it’s never going to end. Love it all. Embrace the journey.
Thursday, September 27, 2018
USA: Pianist Anne Sajdera Celebrates Creative Renewal with "New Year," Due Nov. 2 on Bijuri Records
Anne Sajdera Celebrates Creative Renewal,
Cross-Cultural Inspiration with
"New Year,"
Set for Release Nov. 2 on Bijuri Records
Long-Awaited Follow-up to "Azul,"
Acclaimed 2012 Debut by San Francisco Bay Area
Pianist/Composer
CD Release Shows at Piedmont Piano, Oakland, 11/3;
Cafe Pink House, Saratoga, 11/9; &
Other Bay Area Venues
September 12, 2018
 Anne Sajdera's remarkable acumen as both a pianist and a composer finds rejuvenation on New Year, set for November 2 release on her own Bijuri Records. The album hits close to home for Sajdera -- her ancestral home, that is, of the Czech Republic and its storied capital, Prague. A 2014 trip to Europe's "Golden City" was the catalyst for the album's creation.
Sajdera's journey wasn't planned as a musical one. While in Prague, however, she encountered trumpeter/flugelhornist Miroslav Hloucal and alto saxophonist Jan Fečo, who became her chief collaborators on New Year. In addition to supplementing her working San Francisco trio (bassist Gary Brown and drummer Deszon Claiborne) and other special guests with their sparkling instrumental work, Hloucal and Fečo brought in four of the album's nine tracks.
"What electrified me was the tremendous skill level," explains Sajdera (pronounced sazh-dair-uh). "I don't think there are many Czech jazz musicians who want to say, 'This is Czech jazz' the way Brazilian musicians would refer to 'Brazilian jazz.' They're influenced by the same players as we are." Indeed, New Year's music is firmly in the vein of acoustic post-bop: sophisticated, straight- ahead, and thoroughly swinging.
Even "It Depends on That," Fečo's stellar arrangement of a Roma folk song, feels perfectly at home in the 21st-century jazz repertoire with its deceptively jagged rhythms and sumptuous harmony. Likewise, Hloucal's trio of melodic delights -- "Pictures," "Butterfly Effect," and "Changeling" -- positively simmer in straight-ahead seasoning. In the case of the urgent, album-opening "Pictures," tenor sax luminary Bob Mintzer's vital, muscular work adds an extra ingredient to that seasoning.
Sajdera's five original compositions naturally provide the backbone of the album, and rival Hloucal and Fečo's contributions in their freshness and craftsmanship. Her haunting romantic ballad "Treasure" also highlights Sajdera's ambition: It doesn't include the Czech musicians, but does expand her trio to include flugelhornist Erik Jekabson, alto saxophonist Lyle Link, flutist Rita Thies, and violinist/cellist Joyce Lee. Link and Jekabson also appear on "Bright Lights," a bare-bones platform for improvisation that's both taut and joyful. The album also includes a live rendition of "Azul," the dreamy samba reggae title track to Sajdera's 2012 debut album, here balancing sensitivity with astonishing rhythmic assurance.
Born in Portsmouth, Virginia in 1965 to a military family, Anne Sajdera grew up in San Diego. Piano lessons as a child led her to form a tight circle of musical friends who often gathered to play together. She maintained a steady diet of Chopin waltzes, Bach inventions, and Beethoven sonatas in her piano studies, but at the age of 13 became intrigued by Chick Corea's My Spanish Heart. After relocating to the Bay Area in 1985, she auditioned at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and was accepted as a piano performance major, switching to a composition major at the end of her sophomore year.
Sajdera's investigation of jazz took off when she began a relationship with an accomplished jazz guitarist, with whom she was soon playing casuals. A class at Berkeley's Jazzschool with the great Brazilian pianist/composer Marcos Silva sparked her enduring passion for Brazilian music. Before long she was gigging around the Bay Area with her own band Pelo Mar, and as an original member of Bat Makumba.
Her debut album, 2012's Azul, also reflects this deep and abiding passion, mixing her ravishing original pieces with classic tunes by the Brazilian masters. It received a place on one of Jazzizmagazine's 2012 Critics Polls and was named one of Latin Jazz Corner's Great Latin Jazz Albums that same year.
The six-year gap between Azul and New Year reflects Sajdera's ongoing evolution as an artist looking for new expressive avenues. "I was writing new music all along and I could see it was rapidly changing," she says. "By 2015, the Prague musicians' influence was coming in." Shortly thereafter, the musicians themselves came in, too, to join the music making. (Sajdera's next recording featuring this same ensemble has been awarded grant funding from Intermusic SF.)
 It was in 2015, in the spirit of International Jazz Day, the project launched by Herbie Hancock in his role as UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, that  Sajdera began to connect the Czech jazz scene to the Bay Area scene. After she produced a pair of pilot concerts featuring sax virtuoso Karel Ruzička and organ maestro Ondre J, two Brooklyn-based musicians who originally hailed from the Czech Republic, the plan to collaborate in the studio with Jan and Miroslav began to take shape.
Photography: Davis Digital Design (Anne), Phil Hawkins (Jan & Miroslav)
Follow: 
Media Contact:
Terri Hinte
510-234-8781 hudba@sbcglobal.net terrihinte.com | ||
USA: Baritone & Tenor Saxophonist Jared Sims Tells His New York Story On Forthcoming Ropeadope CD, "The New York Sessions," Set for October 12 Release
Baritone & Tenor Saxophonist Jared Sims
Tells His New York Story
On Forthcoming Ropeadope CD,
"The New York Sessions,"
Set for October 12 Release
Sims's 5th Album as a Leader Is a Post-Bop Quartet Outing
Featuring Pianist Chris McCarthy,
Bassist Alex Tremblay, Drummer Evan Hyde
Saxophonist Plans CD Release Shows in
Pittsburgh, Washington, DC, Boston, New York,
Ashland, VA, & Portsmouth, NH
August 30, 2018
Jazz saxophonist and educator Jared Sims pays musical tribute to experiences that influenced his creative development on The New York Sessions, his fifth album as a leader. Set for release by Ropeadope Records on October 12, the disc is a post-bop quartet outing that comes 20 years after Sims was performing regularly at clubs like the Knitting Factory, Wetlands, and Brooklyn's Tea Lounge.
Joined on The New York Sessions by pianist Chris McCarthy, bassist Alex Tremblay, and drummer Evan Hyde, Sims plays his main axe, baritone saxophone, on only one of the album's five tracks, the jaunty-mid-tempo ballad "Brooklyn Tea," named for the defunct Tea Lounge venue. Becoming a kind of outsider to himself, he plays tenor on all the other songs: "Tribeca Tap Bar" (which shows off his Getzian influence), "Wetlands Preserved" (named for the famed Tribeca club), "The Bodega," and "Pelham."
"The theme of this record is not just what New York means to me, but what New York meant to me before it just became all Starbucks and strip malls," Sims told CD annotator Michael J. West. "Not so much looking backward, but telling my New York story."
Jared Sims, who turns 44 today, started playing the baritone in the fifth grade in his hometown of Staunton, VA, and attended his first jazz concert, by Michael Brecker, in tenth grade. He saw the World Saxophone Quartet perform the following year, and his fascination with the saxophone went "over the top" after speaking with members of the WSQ after the show. He dedicated himself to the baritone after bringing a tenor to a class at the New England Conservatory (NEC) and having his instructor warn him he'd never be great on it because he'd be following in the footsteps of too many legends. Far from taking offense, Sims took his teacher's words to heart. "There are a lot of gold standards on tenor," he says. "I was trying to find a way to move past those influences. Playing the baritone felt really natural to me. I felt like I could do something personal and interesting with it."
While an undergraduate at West Virginia University, from which he graduated in 1996 and where he's now in his third year as director of jazz studies, Sims studied traditional styles with David Hastings. At NEC, where he played clarinet in addition to baritone, alto, and tenor, he was exposed to non-traditional genres including Third Stream, under the tutelage of distinguished faculty members Gunther Schuller, George Russell, and Ran Blake. Another of his NEC mentors was Allan Chase, with whom he collaborated for various projects.
Sims went on to earn a doctorate in classical music performance at Boston University, where his lecture recital was on the modern Italian composer Luciano Berio and his solo Sequenzapieces. He also did research on Igor Stravinsky, Charles Ives, and American popular music.
While in Boston, where he earned a reputation as a "saxophone colossus," Sims roomed for four years with virtuoso baritone saxophonist Charlie Kohlhase, a cog in Either/Orchestra, who turned him onto Sahib Shihab. He played in numerous Boston-based bands including the Afro-Latin group Mango Blue; the organ funk outfit Akashic Record; Blueprint Project with guitarist Eric Hofbauer; and the jazz-rock quartet Miracle Orchestra. He has collaborated with an eclectic list of artists including the late Bob Brookmeyer, Han Bennink, Matt Wilson, Dave Liebman, Anat Cohen, the Temptations, 10,000 Maniacs, and Oasis's Noel Gallagher.
Sims made his recording debut as a leader with the trio effort Acoustic Shadows (2009) and followed it with another trio session, Convergence (2011), and the collective quartet album The New Stablemates (2012). On Layers (2016), he overdubs himself playing saxophones, clarinets, and flute on tunes by Ellington, Monk, and Mingus, while on Change of Address (2017), a soul-jazz quintet date featuring the Hammond B-3 organ, he plays only baritone.
Jared Sims will be touring in support of The New York Sessions at the following venues:
Sat 10/6 Ashland (VA) Coffee and Tea (8pm)
w/ Ayinde Williams, p; Mike Hawkins, b; Emre Kartari, d.
Fri 10/12 Wallace's Whiskey Room, Pittsburgh (7pm)
w/ Cliff Barnes, p; Paul Thompson, b; Tom Wendt, d.
Mon 10/22 Marvin, Washington, DC (7pm)
w/ Collin Chambers, p; James King, b; Nasar Abadey, d.
Thu 10/25 Button Factory Stage, Portsmouth, NH (8pm)
w/ Mike Effinberger, p; Rob Gerry, b; Mike Walsh, d.
Fri 10/26 Lilypad, Boston (7:30)
w/ Mark Shilansky, p; Keala Kaumeheiwa, b; Steve Lagone, d.
Sat 10/27 Silvana, NYC (9pm)
w/ Frank Straub, g; John Feliciano, b; Alex MacKinnon, d.
Photography: Adam Lewis
Media Contact:
Wednesday, September 26, 2018
USA: A patriotic piano and organ salute to America on the 100th anniversary of Veterans
A patriotic piano and organ salute to America on the 100thanniversary of Veterans Day
Peggy Duquesnel and Andre Mayeux will drop the inspired “Keys to Glory” on November 9, honoring US Armed Forces and commemorating the centennial anniversary of
“God Bless America.”
LONG BEACH (13 September 2018): Providing a rally call for national pride and unity for the 100th anniversary celebration of Veterans Day, pianist Peggy Duquesnel and organist Andre Mayeux will release “Keys to Glory” on November 9, a collection of songs of America, patriotic anthems, hymns, folk songs and three originals penned by the keyboardists. Included in the 17-track set produced by the pair is a rousing duet of “God Bless America,” to mark the centennial anniversary of the revered Irving Berlin treasure. The Joyspring Music/Bankbeat Productions Inc. release arrives two days prior to the November 11 holiday and serves up over an hour of music, including a medley by the late pianist Steve Hall (“We Gather Together”/“Bless This House”).
Titled for a new Duquesnel and Mayeux composition, “Keys to Glory” has been in the works for a few years. Having produced some of the hymns several years ago, the keyboard duo focused on completing the project earlier this year after Duquesnel returned from South Korea where she served as arena organist during the Paralympic hockey games. Since her return, she has been performing regularly at performing arts centers, auditoriums and other venues, including appearances with the Americus Brass Band, a 17-piece ensemble that showcases music from war eras – from the Civil War through World War II - for veterans of the Armed Forces while educating kids about US history.
“As a nation, we need to focus more on our shared love of country and our freedom. We want God to bless our country and we need greater unity. Music softens people’s hearts. This record promotes more love, freedom, peace and unity in our country. It’s important that we pray for the US and our leaders, which is the message behind one of the songs I wrote for the project, ‘Beautiful America.’ America has always had a deep spiritual component and this album reflects that. We need to bring people back to the core values of this great nation,” said Duquesnel, whose father was a World War II veteran.
To jumpstart the promotional push for the upcoming album release, Duquesnel has four Southern California dates booked with the Americus Brass Band beginning Saturday night (Sept. 15) in Long Beach, Sunday (Sept. 16) in Lancaster, September 18 in Ripon and September 22 in Ramona. Preorders for “Keys to Glory” are being taken online now, with both physical CDs and digital albums to be delivered before Veterans Day.
One could correctly state that “Keys to Glory” encapsulates Duquesnel’s accomplished and diverse career that spans acclaimed jazz, inspirational and pop recordings as well as a decade of experience as organist for the Anaheim Angelsand the Anaheim Ducks. The Long Beach-based pianist, vocalist, composer and arranger has performed with Dionne Warwick, Pat Boone, Henry Mancini and Alan Broadbent. Her Nashville-based collaborator, Mayeux, has a long history writing and producing music for film, television, commercials and recordings. He tours regularly playing keys inJuice Newton’s band.
“Keys to Glory” contains the following songs:
“America Medley” – “My Country Tis of Thee”/“America The Beautiful”
“Armed Forces of America Medley” – “Taps”/Marine, Army, Coast Guard, Air Force and Navy Anthems
“Amazing Grace”
“Beautiful America”
“Battle Hymn of the Republic”
“Maple Leaf Rag”
“I Heard The Voice of Jesus Say”
“All Hail The Power of Jesus’ Name”
“Jesus Loves Me”
“Keys to Glory”
“Beautiful Dreamer”
“Be Holy, For I Am Holy”
“We Gather Together”/“Bless This House”
“Star Spangled Banner”
“Take Me Out To The Ball Game”
“Home Sweet Home”
“God Bless America”
For more information or to preorder the album, please visit www.PianoOrchestrations.com.
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