"One still hears a lot of special pleading for the violin in jazz, as if – despite the efforts of everyone from Stuff Smith and Joe Venuti to Jean-Luc Ponty, Zbigniew Seifert and Michał Urbaniak – it still isn’t considered quite “proper” for the music, too “European” or “classical”. In reality, the very first “jazz” groups were probably small string ensembles, playing after-hours in spaces down below the big house, maybe in amongst the master’s cherished clarets and ports, accompanied by strange echoes and bangs. So maybe what Régis Huby, Bruno Chevillon and Michele Rabbia have created on Reminiscence, for all its modern means, is a set of music that goes back in form and feeling to the very earliest days of a great music. It takes a certain gift to make electronic effects as warmly immediate and physical as so-called “acoustic” instruments, as more than “effects”, but that is the gift of Huby, Chevillon and Rabbia on Reminiscence, a profoundly involving and often complex set of interlocked sequences recorded at the Livio Felluga Winery in Brazzano di Cormòns, Italy. This is music that doesn’t need scare quotes. Whether it is “jazz”, “post-jazz” or something beyond jazz altogether, ultimately doesn’t matter. What does is its intense and evolving engagement with the musical material and with an audience. In instrumentation and in setting it is just the latest and quite logical stage in a long creative evolution". (Brian Morton) CAM JAZZ
"TIME"
Time is the new album of Simone Basile and is based on the concept of the time and how this influence the people, the places and the way to see the things. The "tempus" it is the movement inside a labyrinth that goes from the past to the present, to the future. You can be spoken of the time reading a clock, and you need time, inevitably, to do anything and this it brings us to the change.
The album is composed of nine tracks, seven originals and two standards.
Each of them contains a history, an example of as the time changed something inside the life of the artist, and this can often be generalized to the collectivity.
“Dialgo – different, diverse, and definitely intriguing.” - Ayelet Dekel, Midnight East.
Dialgo (formed 2015, Israel) is a Psychedelic Afro-Jazz band,
with influences running from Afrobeat, Psychedelic rock to Fusion, Ethno jazz and many
more.
Based in the effervescent musical hub of Tel-Aviv, the four-piece offers a unique blend of
driving ethnic grooves and jazz, wrapped with rich and impactful psychedelic ambience, to
create the band’s unique sound.
For the past 3 years they have released an EP and a Full LP album called “Stranger Things”,
after replacing a bass player and recently adding a sax player to the equation. They played a
lot of major festivals and venues in Israel during the past year, alongside major Israeli bands
like Tiny Fingers, Tatran and Hoodna Orchestra.
Dialgo’s music is based on improvisation and energy, that later translates to compositions.
"We try to bring ethnic music cultures from Africa, the middle east and even eastern europe
to meet with the urban, futuristic, psychedelic sounds of Jazz."
Even though each member of the group had his own separate way in life, they intersected
through music, and found a way to complete each other musically.
Their playing style is influenced by many genres, including artists such as Badbadnotgood,
Tatran, Daniel Zamir, Fela Kuti, Avishai Cohen, King Crimson and more...
Daniel Harlev - Bass
Or Alperin - Drums
Guy Levinberg - Guitar
Eitan Rudman - Saxophone
This isn’t the first time I start writing about Gorka Benítez. It’s not that I find writing about this much beloved and individual musician hard, mind you. But every time I think I have a clear description of Gorka in mind, words fail me: they fall short from what I actually mean to say. Where others explore new or old avenues to develop their ideas, Gorka forges his own path to the side, unconcerned by the business side of the music industry. He does so without regard for established aesthetics or musical tendencies because his particular style derives not only from his talent, but also from his sheer personality. Fresh Sound New Talent
Fun. Stirring. Intriguing. Kinetic: There are so many moods and meanings enmeshed into E.J. Strickland’s music. His myriad influences and ideas crossing and branching out in every direction set up the basis for a remarkable album.
"Warriors For Peace" will be a brilliant success and a joy to share a committed musical approach. It is an album with only original compositions by E.J. Strickland which reflects the peaceful and persistent intensity with which battles for peace, equality, & justice are fought worldwide. It is a dedication to those who break the silence and stand up for what is right, even in the face of much adversity.
The album was recorded in April 2018 on the road in Marseille (France). The overall feeling is very peaceful & joyous. Although one wouldn't classify it as a ballads album, it gives a similar sensation of calm beauty & elegance. All the musicians on this album play with the same love & joy. Each E.J. composition is a journey towards peace, whether it be about taking a stand against evil or finding inner peace within ourselves.
Strickland, who composed all the 11 tracks, including “Warriors For Peace” the eponymous title and a vocal “Let It Go”, stated about his musicians: “Godwin Louis on alto sax is just a wonderful musician and human being. He is always “on” when we perform. Jure Pukl on tenor & soprano saxes, is a beautiful musician who I’ve checked out a lot over the years as a leader of his own groups in NY. This will be our first album playing with one another. Taber Gable is a super sensitive and exciting pianist who I’ve just started working with. You can really feel his love and appreciation for music in his playing. Josh Ginsburg is a bassist with an incredible feel and spirit ».
It is high quality, sophisticated jazz in the modern traditional sense—nothing avant-garde, but fresh melodies with hip harmonies played head, solo, head by some of the best jazz musicians in the business. As a matter of fact, E.J.’s bandmates’ performances are illuminating, but during all tunes of “Warriors for Peace” it’s Strickland who’s shining the light!
In this CD, E.J. proves again his ability to get the most out of his musicians and to show that drummer-led music gives listeners a unique opportunity to live creative, eclectic, enjoyable music, always full of freshness, fun and groove.
Inspired to make his biggest statement yet, Cuban-born drummer, composer, bandleader, and 2011 MacArthur “Genius” Fellow Dafnis Prieto is thrilled to release the Dafnis Prieto Big Band’s (DPBB) debut album, "Back to the Sunset," on Friday, April 6, 2018 on Prieto’s independent music label, Dafnison Music, celebrating ten years as a record label in April 2018. On this project Prieto collaborated with GRAMMY and Latin GRAMMY-winning producer Eric Oberstein, heralded for his work producing large ensemble recordings.
The DPBB made its world premiere over three exhilarating nights, August 25-27, 2017, at New York’s Jazz Standard. Immediately following the premiere, the DPBB recorded at Systems Two Recording Studios in Brooklyn August 28-29, 2017, joined by special guests Henry Threadgill, Steve Coleman, and Brian Lynch.
One of the leading musical voices of his generation, Prieto composed and arranged nine works for the album, showcasing his talents as a trailblazing composer while honoring his musical heroes and mentors including Eddie Palmieri, Chico O'Farrill, Bebo Valdés, Jane Bunnett, and Michel Camilo (in addition to Threadgill, Coleman, and Lynch, among others). "Back to the Sunset" is Prieto’s seventh recording as a leader, and is a deeply personal, handcrafted statement, as well as an acknowledgment of the musical figures that shaped his development.
Prieto writes, “The undercurrent of this album is to pay tribute to some significant mentors/musicians that have influenced and inspired me one way or another, directly or indirectly. This is a journey in time, looking back and remembering the way up to now, with gratitude and joy. 'Back to the Sunset' is a state of mind, a place for contemplation and love.”
“It’s been a joy to collaborate with Dafnis Prieto on this ambitious project,” writes Oberstein. “This new ensemble is a powerful vehicle for Dafnis’ expansive ideas as a composer.
In this record, you’ll hear his native Cuba and the influences he’s absorbed since immigrating to the United States 18 years ago, but also a collection of works that are distinctly his own, with a full palette of sounds and colors on display.”
Since arriving in the U.S. from Cuba in 1999, Prieto has been fearless in his vision, playing and writing across styles, always with a forward-looking instinct. He is known for his inventive, sensitive drumming and propulsive rhythm.
His compositions mix lush and jubilant melodies with polyrhythm, displaying a range of musical vocabularies from Latin jazz to classical chamber music. In over two decades as a professional musician, Prieto has composed for numerous configurations, including big band, amassing a catalog of more than 50 original works.
Prieto is committed to maintaining a bold vision for his music.
The 17-piece DPBB showcases some of the world’s best Latin jazz musicians, many of whom have previously played Prieto’s music in his other bands. The ensemble features three horn sections (saxophones, trumpets, and trombones) and a rhythm section of piano, bass, congas, and Prieto on drums. The DPBB strives to make an impact as a leading Latin jazz big band recording and performing for years to come, and to provide a platform for Prieto to write for big band, a format he fell in love with as a child.
Marco Trabucco(Italy)- MerakiAlbum: Meraki Label: Artesuono WebsiteMeraki the new project by the italian double bass player Marco Trabucco. Atmospheres that lead the listener in a deep and delicate journey, a continuous interplay, also thanks to the precious Federico Casagrande (on guitar) Giulio Scaramella (on piano) and Luca Colussi (on drums) who weave a trio completed from time to time suggestive scenarios and full of that phatos that Trabucco has already been able to demonstrate in the previous “A long trip / with you”. A valuable work that, once again, emphasizes the musical quality of the Italian scene. “… This group has experience and taste to sell and puts them at the service of musical narration, musicians endowed with a solid technique, but never ostentatious …” (E. Pietropaoli)
Manuel Muzzu – M²(Italy)- Stolen Notes Composer:Manuel Muzzu Album: New Stories – Old Hands Website CD store The album is a concentrate of all of my music contamination, is in there lot of fusion jazz, smooth jazz, classic jazz and Latin jazz also, played by awesome musicians, where the bass guitar have the most important rule, played with a different techniques (fingering, slapping, muting), and had received lot of good reviews by specialized press.
AboutManuel Muzzu I fell in love with a bass guitar when I was a 12 years old boy.I have an handicap on my right hand, due to a mistake by the doctors when I was six years hold, that prevent me to use all fingers.In effort to overcome my disability I worked hard on my own technique for play like a normal people, just because the passion is stronger than destiny. But this is not enough, six years ago I got a cancer on my blood (Lynphoma), this convinced me to work for leave something before it was too late. My songs are insipired by all the different sounds I manage to extract from my 6 strings basses including what may sound like a conventional guitar when i use it as an harmonic instruments as oppose to a slap or a straight forward fretless melodic one. I recorded two album at my own names, in 2012 the first one “The Right Hand’s Miracle” over 3000 thousand copies sold, and the second on June of 2018 named “New Stories - Old Hands”
Antonio Gomez(Spain)-Two Jack Lake Composer:: Antonio Gomez Album: 3×4 Website CD store
3×4 es un álbum dedicado al elemento más ancestral de la música, aunque también es posible que sea el más susceptible de sofisticación: hablamos, como no, del ritmo. Y sí, en este caso 3×4 también son doce. Doce composiciones ternarias, aunque a priori pueda
parecer una limitación estilística. El objetivo de este proyecto ha sido precisamente romper el prejuicio existente en hacer un
concierto entero o una grabación en tres por cuatro, ya que para nosotros, los músicos, es más habitual hacerlo en compás cuaternario.
Sentir el pulso ternario, mantenerlo psicológicamente, experimentar variantes que nos acercan a África, al vals, al funky, al soul, al flamenco, o al jazz, y también -por qué no- a una nana. Todas estas variantes rítmicas han sido la base para hacer caminar algunas de mis más predilectas melodías, esas que aparecen cada “mucho” tiempo. Y, como es ya marca de la casa, son cocinadas a fuego lento sin más aditivos. Así que no me queda nada más que desearos……Buen provecho!
CD launch party at The Pourhouse in Charlottetown on Sunday, Feb. 17.
Any discipline must evolve or die and such is the case for jazz trombone. Grahame Rhodes believes the only limits are those of the imagination. In this fourth CD Grahame has tried to extend the possibilities of jazz trombone and invites you to be the judge.
With Don Thompson piano, Neil Swainson bass and Terry Clarke drums. Grahame Rhodes is a veteran jazz improviser, having performed with Duke Ellington, Toshiko Akioshi, Hubert Laws, Rob McConnell, IanMcDougall, Terry Clarke, Jane Bunnett, Ed Bickard, Bruce Cassidy, Doug Riley, Paul Horn, Jay McShann, and many more.
The Grahame Rhodes Jazz Experience has performed at jazz festivals all over the world - Newport, Montreaux, Amsterdam, Boston, and Toronto
Paris-born, New England-raised, long-time Chicago-residing Makaya McCraven has been at the forefront of genre-redefining movements in jazz since 2015, when he introduced the world to his unique brand of ‘organic beat music’ on the breakout album In The Moment. Culled, cut, post-produced & re-composed by Makaya using recordings of free improvisation he collected over dozens of live sessions in Chicago, through incubation & experimentation In The Moment established a procedural blueprint that he has since been sharpening & developing. Honing this process on narrower sets of source material, Makaya followed up In The Moment with 2 mixtape releases – 2017’s Highly Rare, a lo-fi free-jazz-meets-hip-hop suite he made from a live 4-track recording, and June 2018’s Where We Come From (CHICAGOxLONDON Mixtape), which he produced using live recordings from London jazz hub Total Refreshment Centre (captured at a showcase called CHICAGOxLONDON). Now, after 4+ years of refining his approach, Makaya McCraven puts forth an ambitious new work – Universal Beings – a culmination of concepts conceived by In The Moment, and his most elegant & articulated work yet.
Tracklist
1 Duša tanana feat. Nenad Milosavljević
2 Beli grad feat. Dušan Svilar
3 Zaboravi feat. Dušan Svilar
4 Jedina feat. Nikola Rokvić
5 Bez nje feat. Nenad Milosavljević
6 Ti si sve što želim ja
7 Daljina
8 Bez nje
9 Duša tanana
"The Stranger," a radio play with musical accompaniment by Sun Ra & His Arkestra, premiered over the Pacifica radio network in the late 1960s, on a program called Mind’s Eye Theater. The exact date is unknown, but 1968 is a consensus guess (as noted in The Earthly Recordings of Sun Ra).
Ra’s incidental music, which is tight and atmospheric, surfaces sporadically beneath the dialog, but at no time is featured. Ra is named in the closing credits, and the additional personnel were identified by Ra discographer Robert L. Campbell.
The circumstances of the soundtrack recording and how Ra's involvement came about are unknown. In a passing mention of the play in his book Space is the Place: The Lives and Times of Sun Ra, biographer John Szwed notes that during this time, "The Arkestra continued to pick up work of all sorts, in part because they could play anything, but also because they would sometimes work for almost nothing." The brief musical passages are not identifiable Ra compositions, and were presumably original to this project. Along with conventional acoustic instruments, Ra's notorious "strange strings" (around which he had recorded an entire album a few years prior) are heard to excellent... more
credits
released December 31, 2018
Script: Maxine Haller
Director: Jack Marx
Actors: Virgil Catherine Doyle; Raymond Spino; Jack Marx; Maxine Haller
Musicians:
Sun Ra (piano, electric celeste, strings)
Bernard Pettaway (bass trombone, strings)
Marshall Allen (alto sax, flute, strings)
Danny Davis (alto sax, strings)
John Gilmore (tenor sax, strings)
Robert Cummings (bass clarinet, strings)
Ronnie Boykins (bass, dutar)
“Stunning Visionary Jazz” Dick Metcalf – Contemporary Fusion
“A provocative and engaging album at a time when recording original scores with a top-notch jazz orchestra is becoming increasingly rare.” Marc Meyers – Jazz Wax
“Jim McNeely is among the most celebrated big band composers of this generation…Barefoot Dances and Other Visions, is a showcase for McNeely’s work, featuring seven original compositions meant to evoke imaginary scenes sprung from the composer’s mind… it’s all but impossible to keep your limbs from shaking and your shoes from staying put.” Brian Zimmerman – JAZZIZ
“If you have predisposed ideas of what a big band jazz ensemble should be accomplishing, I challenge you to listen to this new album and bask in completely new visions of sound.” The Vinyl Anachronist
“McNeely fortifies his position in the upper echelon of jazz arrangers in this set of new pieces for the formidable Frankfurt Radio Big Band.” Doug Ramsey – Rifftides
“With the Frankfurt Radio Big Band at his side, McNeely's big band visions with a progressive edge are given full tilt in the right direction. A singular kind of angular, muscular jazz gets melded with a fastball down the middle, sitting down jazz gets a new high water mark here. Solidly pro stuff that’s tough to beat.” Midwest Record
Jim McNeely and the Frankfurt Radio Big Band Barefoot Dances and Other Visions (Planet Arts 301721)
FRANKFURT RADIO BIG BAND (HR-BIGBAND) JIM McNEELY conductor, HEINZ-DIETER SAUERBORN soprano and alto saxophones, flute, alto and bass flutes, clarinet, OLIVER LEICHT soprano and alto saxophones, flute, alto flute, B flat and alto clarinets, TONY LAKATOS tenor saxophone, flute, alto flute, STEFFEN WEBER tenor saxophone, flute, bass flute, clarinet, RAINER HEUTE baritone saxophone, bass clarinet, alto flute, FRANK WELLERT trumpet, flügelhorn THOMAS VOGEL trumpet, flügelhorn, MARTIN AUER trumpet, flügelhorn, AXEL SCHLOSSER trumpet, flügelhorn, GÜNTER BOLLMANN trombone, PETER FEIL trombone, CHRISTIAN JAKSØ trombone, euphonium, valve trombone, MANFRED HONETSCHLÄGER bass trombone, PETER REITER piano, MARTIN SCALES guitar, THOMAS HEIDEPRIEM bass, JEAN PAUL HÖCHSTÄDTER drums
Olaf Stötzler, Orchestra Manager/Producer Axel Gutzler: Recording/Editing/Mixing/Mastering Michael Wayszak: Recording Engineer:
Barefoot Dances and Other Visions is a seven-part suite composed in 2014 for the Frankfurt Radio Big Band. Each piece expresses a different kind of fantasy. We performed it live in two concerts in Frankfurt February ’14, then recorded it in the studio in September of that year.
When I wrote this music I had been working with the Frankfurt Radio Big Band for about six years, so I knew the players quite well. The suite was written so that every one of the band’s soloists is placed in a framework that would be both familiar and challenging. Each piece features a pair of soloists, playing individually, sometimes together. Several of the pieces begin with a chamber-sized group, “in front of the curtain”. Then the curtain rises to reveal the whole band, having assumed yet another formation.
Bob’s Here imagines the return of composer/trombonist Bob Brookmeyer, who died in 2011. Black Snow conjures up the vision of a normally tranquil scene, still tranquil but rendered improbably dark. Barefoot Dances are just that, something I’ve never actually done in my life. A Glimmer of Hope tries its best to be optimistic, a difficult task these days. Redman Rides Again imagines the return of the arranger/reedman Don Redman. Among other things he was known for writing fantastic clarinet trios. This piece features a real clarinet trio, and a second “trio” formed by Oliver Leicht and his harmonized clarinet. Falling Upwards: try as I may, I still find it impossible. The Cosmic Hodge-Podge offers a vision of the cosmos where galaxies are replaced by blocks of sound; super novas become solo explosions; and a single black hole emerges at the end, emitting just a smidgen of light. Jim McNeely
Media Contact Jim Eigo Jazz Promo Services 272 State Route 94 South #1 Warwick, NY 10990-3363 Ph: 845-986-1677 Cell / text: 917-755-8960 Skype: jazzpromo jim@jazzpromoservices.com www.jazzpromoservices.com "Specializing in Media Campaigns for the music community, artists, labels, venues and events.”
Chris M. Slawecki music review on Tony Adamo's Was Out Jazz Zone Mad CD.Allaboutjazz
Some African cultures preserved their history not by the written but by the spoken word, kept by oral cultural historians known as griots. On Was Out Jazz Zone Mad, vocalist Tony Adamo aspires to serve in this same role, as a verbal historian of both official and unofficial African- American jazz and blues culture. This type of jazz jive might wear quickly thin but Adamo writes about jazz and jazz musicians with such detailed intimacy and vision that his words snap, crackle and pop. More often than not, the heart, mind, and soul of Was Out Jazz Zone Mad prove genuine.
It helps immeasurably that Adamo regales such tales in the company of musicians expert in organ-guitar combo, small-club, greasy instrumental funk, led by drummer Mike Clark of (Herbie Hancock and) the Headhunters and featuring drummer Lenny White, organist Mike LeDonne, percussionist Bill Summers, guitarists Elias Lucero and Jack Wilkins, and saxophonist Donald Harrison. Their grooves are low-down and for real funky in the best possible way.
Thus inspired, Adamo's lyrical material is often magisterial. His description of saxophonist Joe "Sonic Henderson" cuts as sharp and bright and quick as lightning, and crosses from writing about jazz into writing that IS jazz: "Always diggin' into the hot-cool vocabulary of jazz to come up with notes that aren't always obvious but always fit...floating, thought-provoking sounds that were at times hard liquor jazz mixed with mad sex music..." All the while, this set's core trio—drummer Clark, LeDonne on organ, and guitarist Wilkins—twist up the accompaniment in thick rhythmic knots, with Wilkins playing Melvin Sparks to LeDonne's Charles Earland in their respective solos.
"Gale Blowin' High" honors jazz activist and trumpeter Eddie Gale. Saxophone and trumpet help create a fuller, larger ensemble sound very much like late-1960s recordings by Sun Ra and his Arkestra, Pharoah Sanders or like-minded wayfarers. Exploratory solos by Harrison (suggesting Sanders on alto), Wolff (suggesting Ra on piano) and White (suggesting no one but himself) pull and poke at the edges of this tune alongside Adamo's restless vocal.
In "Too Funky to Flush," Adamo unravels the best jazz tale of them all—the story of the city of New Orleans. Standing hip deep awash in a trio groove that's as deep and broad and powerful as the mighty Mississippi River, he sings the praises of Dr. John, Professor Longhair, Irving Mayfield and other denizens of the Crescent City's musical pantheon. (A local soul food kitchen's lunch and dinner menu specials make surprisingly good lyrics, too.)
I
n 2016 Tom Rainey and I went on our second extended tour as a duo, this time all along the West Coast of the United States. As a duo, we had been playing improvised music until then. For this tour, we wanted to change concept and also include composition. It was clear to us that we didn't want to read music on stage, so we rehearsed and memorized the compositions.
In our performances we weave in and out of these pieces in whatever way we feel like - the composed material is triggered by small musical cues either of us can play at any given moment. Flutter and Shutter were written by both of us and Chant II is a composition of mine. The other tunes are improvised.
Ingrid Laubrock, 06/09/2018
credits
released September 3, 2018
Ingrid Laubrock tenor and soprano saxophones
Tom Rainey drums
Recorded on 04/10/2018 at Brooklyn Recording by Andy Taub
Assistant engineer: Sam Wahl
Mixed at Brooklyn Recording by Andy Taub
Mastered by Weasel Walter
Artwork by Lain York - cover: Sitemap, back: Hulks
www.lainyork.com
12 Little Spells" (Thoracic Spine)
grounded sensation of perpetual connection with the immensity of the external world.
for increased oxygen and circulatory support from the external world to anatomical and/or energetic lungs and heart. Via sensations of the conversational exchange - circulation - between the abundant “outside” and our internal body. Grounding the sensation of infinite exchange with external systems of support, in the bellows of our rib-cage cavity, mounted on the spinal pole.
Following up her 2017 debut EP Tetrawind (“kinetic and abstract … intuitive and confident,” jazzweekly.com), tenor saxophonist, composer and vocalist María Grand returns with her full-length debut Magdalena from the innovative Biophilia Records. Her guiding intent is to explore modern family relationships through the lens of Egyptian and early Christian myths, connecting them to the pioneering work of family therapist Virginia Satir. Proceeding from the conviction that “healing families heals humanity,” Grand conceives a set of music within “a feminine non-hierarchical power structure,” she explains. “This means that the traditional form of solos is exploded into a more collective conversation.”
In the mercurial, asymmetric rhythms and flowing dialogue of Grand and her core trio with bassist Rashaan Carter and drummer Jeremy Dutton, we hear the musical analogue of two parents and a child. This trio dynamic is manifest most clearly on “TI. Isis,” “TII. María” and “TIII. Magdalena,” each constructed around a particular triad and inspired by three mythical women who serve “as examples of a woman’s power,” Grand says. These pieces also contain layers of symbolism: on “TI. Isis,” as Grand states in the liner notes, “The melody has every note that exists in a chromatic scale except for one, the piece that Isis didn’t... more
credits
released May 11, 2018
María Grand, tenor saxophone; Jasmine Wilson, spoken word; Amani Fela, spoken word; Mary Halvorson, electric guitar; David Bryant, piano; Fabian Almazan, piano; Rashaan Carter, acoustic bass; Jeremy Dutton, drums
