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Sunday, July 29, 2018
BRAZIL: Brazilian power trio DIALETO releases new album LIVE WITH DAVID CROSS (ex-King Crimson)
USA: Sean Noonan "The Aqua Diva" CD Release Shows ShapeShifter Lab 8/2 Barbes 8/9
| Sean Noonan "The Aqua Diva" CD Release Shows ShapeShifter Lab 8/2 Barbes 8/9  |
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Sean Noonan The Aqua Diva
CD Release Show Thursday, August 2nd 8pm ShapeShifter Lab 18 Whitwell Place Brooklyn, NY 11215 (between 1st and Carroll Streets, off 4th Ave) (646) 820-9452 Sean Noonan drums/vocals/compositions, Alex Marcelo piano, Peter Bitenc bass Music Charge $10 www.shapeshifterlab.com Sean Noonan The Aqua Diva CD Release Show Thursday, August 9th 10pm Barbes 376 9th St. (corner of 6th Ave.) Park Slope, Brooklyn 347 422 0248 Sean Noonan drums/vocals/compositions, Alex Marcelo piano, Peter Bitenc bass Music Charge $10 http://barbesbrooklyn.com/ Sean Noonan "The Aqua Diva" (Sean Noonan Music-7) Street Date: June 1, 2018 Sean Noonan drums/vocals/ Alex Marcelo piano Peter Bitenc bass Listen on Soundcloud or Bandcamp |
 Artist: Sean NoonanTitle: The Aqua Diva Label: Sean Noonan Music-7 Street date:June 1, 2018 www.seannoonanmusic.com 1. A Sunny Day 6:52 2. When My Band Goes with Me on the Road 3:15 3. As the World Spins Around Me 5:00 4. Butterflies Away 3:26 5. Don Knotts 4:52 6. Elijah Rocks 5:02 7. Smoking Man 5:52 8. The Aqua Diva 7:11 9. Where Would I Go 6:16 10. Make her great again 3:24 Sean Noonan:drums/vocals/ Diko Shoturma: tracking engineer; Michal Kupicz: Kaja Gwincinska: photography; Recorded April 22, 2017 at Atlantic Sound Studios, Brooklyn, NY All compositions and lyrics: SPNoonan (ASCAP) Rhythmic storyteller Sean Noonan composes and conducts original multi-stylistic music with a pair of drumsticks. His “wandering folk” theory captures the elusiveness of ever-evolving world music traditions and reorients them through his own distinctive lens, fusing his discoveries from harmolodic jazz-rock to avant-garde classical music. The far-ranging sounds of Noonan’s wide-spectrum music combines the loquacity of an Irish bard, the narrative rhythms of Samuel Beckett, and the raw physicality of a street-smart boxer. The treasures that he finds along the way are filtered through his distinctive vision to become the unpredictable. Noonan has produced an explosion of more than 20 unclassifiable releases, featuring Malcolm Mooney, the original singer of the German rock band Can; composer/violinist/violist Mat Maneri, composer/guitarist Marc Ribot, bassist Bassist Peter Bitenc and Alex Marcelo—jazz legend Yusef Lateef’s pianist of choice—who were featured on the 2016 release Memorable Sticks, once again join Noonan on his new release The Aqua Diva, which is rooted in a wide spectrum of American musical, cultural, and lyrical themes. Noonan recasts a tune named for the iconic TV personality “Don Knotts”with experimentalist composer Conlon Nancarrow, in a 12-tone additive rhythm composition. “Where Would I Go” is a folk song adaptation of “Wayfaring Stranger,” and “Elijah Rocks” is a traditional spiritual. Noonan, an Irish-American drummer with a theatrical bent, scripts tracks 1, 4, 8, and 10 like the plot of a soap opera series. T.A.D. (The Aqua Diva) is stalked by Butterflies, who is jealous of Bubbles for having an affair with T.A.D. The saga ends with Butterflies murdering them in a swingers club’s swimming pool. Noonan’s original story has a direct correlation with his Zappanation Rock Opera, which was inspired by Frank Zappa and Edgard Varèse; it recently premiered in Germany. Read about it here: https://seannoonanmusic.
"Independence might be the ruling concept of this drummer/leader’s career. It defines a common relationship not only among his hands, feet, and voice, but between his art and almost everything else in drumland."
—Modern Drummer Magazine "The drummer and composer Sean Noonan approaches postmodern jazz and world music from the same angle of self-discovery. ... He manages to make his pieces speak coherently, and in a unified voice." —The New York Times Reviews for Noonan’s 2017 record, Man No Longer Me:
“…prime time Sean Noonan. The sound of an artist in his imperial phase. Intense, daft, tricksy, virtuoso, addictive: an absolute trip from a ‘modern-day sonic griot.’ ” —The Quietus
“As if the early Pink Floyd had a free jazz session with The Mars Volta in Africa.” — Intro Magazine
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| www.seannoonanmusic.com |
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.” |
Saturday, July 28, 2018
USA: Brian Simpson-Something About You (2018)
2018 release from the contemporary jazz pianist and composer. Highlights include the hit single "Morning Samba," the uplifting "Something About You," the sensuous ballad "Blue Horizon" and more brilliant Brian Simpson originals!
USA: Debut Release: Lucia Jackson “You And The Night And The Music” @ Zinc Bar Monday, September 10th 7pm
| Debut Release: Lucia Jackson “You And The Night And The Music” @ Zinc Bar 82 W 3rd St New York, NY 10012 212-477-ZINC (9462) www.zincbar.com Monday, September 10th 7pm Featuring Lucia Jackson-Vocals, Ron Special Guests Daniel Garcia, Flamenco Classical Guitar, Samuel Torres-Cajón/Congas/  |
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You And The Night And The Music is the debut of Lucia Jackson, a promising young jazz singer who displays a fetching voice on a set of standards along with a few surprises.
With her father, jazz guitar great Ron Jackson, contributing arrangements and leading an impressive rhythm section joined by guests, Lucia Jackson creates fresh variations of timeless material. Lucia Jackson has had busy careers as both a dancer and a model. However her love of singing, her obvious talents as a vocalist, the encouragement of her father, and very favorable receptions at many venues in the New York area have led her to release her debut recording. Her many fans raised $15,000 through Indiegogo for the project. With the vocal coaching of the world renowned bassist-vocalist Nicki Parrott and an inspired repertoire, Lucia is heard at her very best throughout the program. For the memorable effort, Lucia Jackson is joined by her father Ron Jackson on guitars, pianist Yago Vazquez, bassist Matt Clohesy and drummer Corey Rawls, with guest appearances by Daniel Garcia on flamenco guitar, violinist Frederika Krier, Javier Sanchez on bandoneon and percussionist Samuel Torres playing cajon and congas. The music on You And The Night And The Music features new twists on classics from the Great American Songbook, many of which are arranged in tango, bossa-nova or bolero styles by Ron Jackson, who is also the set’s producer. The song choices, which include not only vintage tunes that have special meanings for the singer such as “Beautiful Love,” “Sophisticated Lady” and “Never Let Me Go,” but Julia Michael’s recent “Issues,” the Beatles’ “And I Love Him,” and Ms. Jackson’s original “Feel The Love,” give the set both variety and consistent high quality. While the supporting cast is strong and Ron Jackson’s solos are colorful and tasteful, the main focus is on the young singer, who comes through in winning fashion. Some of the highlights on You And The Night And The Music include: “Just One Of Those Things”: – The 1930s standard is taken uptempo, includes some superior and straightforward jazz singing, and has a hot guitar-drums tradeoff. “And I Love Him”; - The Beatles classic is transformed into a vocal-guitar duet and sung with great tenderness. “I’m A Fool To Want You”: - Lucia Jackson’s interpretation is full of quiet longing, accentuated by Frederika Krier’s passionate violin. “Feel The Love”: - An original by the singer and Daniel Garcia, this piece gives her an opportunity to sing over a funky rhythm that, with Garcia’s acoustic guitar, also has the feel of flamenco. “No Regrets” and “When You’re Smiling”: - The pair of joyful swingers are each given exhilarating treatments with Ms. Jackson also scatting quite effectively on the latter. You And The Night And The Music is a significant recording debut for it introduces Lucia Jackson as a subtle and lightly swinging jazz singer, one with a very attractive and often-fetching voice who displays a quiet intensity and a real feeling for the lyrics that she interprets. Lucia Jackson, who was born in New York, grew up in Madrid, Spain where she started singing when she was ten. She studied voice and piano at the prestigious Escuela de Musica Creativa when she was 13 and also ballet and flamenco at the Professional Dance Conservatory. Returning to New York when she was 18, she has since danced with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre as a guest student, at the Jacobs Pillow Dance Festival and, as a member of FJK Dance, toured China for two months. As a jazz singer, she has performed with many groups including the Bud Maltin Orchestra, Marty Schwartz, and the Art Lillard Big Band. At age 26, Lucia Jackson is set to make a major splash in the jazz and music worlds with the release of You And The Night And The Music from the Roni Music label. Her large fan base, which through the Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign made the recording possible, will be pleased. |
Lucia Jackson “You And The Night And The Music”
(Roni Music 6672)
September 14, 2018
Lucia Jackson-Vocals, Ron Special Guests Daniel Garcia, Flamenco Classical Guitar, Samuel Torres-Cajón/Congas/ UPC Code: 888295795708 www.luciajackson.com 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 E Mail: jim@jazzpromoservices. www.jazzpromoservices.com "Specializing in Media Campaigns for the music community, artists, labels, venues and events.”
RADIO PROMOTER CONTACT INFO:
GROOV MARKETING AND CONSULTING Mark Rini: mark@groovmarketing.com Josh Ellman: josh@groovmarketing.com (877) 476-6832 Available From: iTunes & Apple Music, Amazon, Google Play Music, Tidal, Youtube Music, Spotify |
Friday, July 27, 2018
USA: Rachel Caswell "We’re All in The Dance" CD Release Jazz at KitanoSat., Sept. 15th
| Rachel Caswell CD Release Concert Saturday, September 15, 2018 Set Times: 8pm & 10pm Jazz at Kitano 66 Park Ave. @ E. 38th St., New York, NY 10016 Reservations (212) 885-7119 www.kitano.com Featuring Rachel Caswell - vocals Sara Caswell - violin Dave Stryker - guitar Glenn Zaleski - piano Matt Aronoff - bass Johnathan Blake - drums   |
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Tracks:
1. Fragile – Sting – 7:05 2. A Lovely Way to Spend an Evening – Harold Adamson/Jimmy McHugh – 5:16 3. We’re All in The Dance – Will Jennings/Christophe Monthieux 4. Devil May Care – Bob Dorough/Terrell P. Kirk Jr. – 6:46 5. Two for The Road – Leslie Bricusse/Henry Mancini – 5:42 6. Drown in My Own Tears – Henry Glover – 4:58 7. I Didn’t Know What Time It Was – Lorenz Hart/Richard Rodgers – 6:06 8. Tell Me A Bedtime Story – Tom Lellis/Herbie Hancock – 6:05 9. Dexterity – Charlie Parker – 6:01 10. Reflections (Looking Back) – Jon Hendricks/Thelonious Monk – 5:16 There’s no mistaking the message of “We’re All in The Dance,” the title track of singer Rachel Caswell’s latest album. It’s a lovely waltz that pairs the dance of life with the dance of music and somehow, through her purity of tone, intelligent phrasing, and flowing time feel, Caswell—cosigned by an ascendant solo by her younger sister, Grammy-nominated violinist Sara Caswell—navigates an alternate, bespoke pathway through a song whose simplicity and elegance pose a challenge to a singer steeped in the complexities of jazz expression. She addresses the subject of love head-on throughout the proceedings, comprising ten songs culled from a long timeline and a panoply of stylistic genres. Caswell tells each story with equivalent levels of individualism and interpretive mojo, imparting a continuity and identity from the first track (an inflamed, incantatory reading of Sting’s “Fragile”) to the last (a mesmerizing meditation on Jon Hendricks’ bittersweet-yet-optimistic lyric to Thelonious Monk’s “Reflections”). Along the way, Caswell puts deep blues inflections on “Drown in My Own Tears,” the Ray Charles classic, followed by a soulful guitar declamation by master blues practitioner—and album producer—Dave Stryker. She channels her inner Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan on “A Lovely Way to Spend an Evening,” eschewing a balladic approach for a well-wrought, lightly swinging delivery of the lyric. She renders the late Bob Dorough’s “Devil May Care” with apropos vertiginous flair, developing her rhythmic ideas on an instrument-like improvisation. She applies a spacious Latin feel to Henry Mancini’s “Two for The Road,” and showcases her broad registral range and deep pocket in conveying Tom Lellis’ evocative lyrics to Herbie Hancock’s “Tell Me A Bedtime Story.” Dave Stryker’s arrangement of Rodgers & Hart’s American Songbook classic “I Didn’t Know What Time It Was” plays on the title, shifting odd meters with finger-popping swing. And Rachel scats the melody of Charlie Parker’s “Dexterity” with an idiomatic bebop feel, giving her A-list partners full autonomy to play it in their manner and responding to their postulations with a pithy scat. Another of the record’s great pleasures is an opportunity to hear how deftly each world-class member of the kinetic rhythm section locks into their task of reimagining and reconfiguring “standards.” Hopefully, Stryker’s imprimatur and this cutting-edge band will induce gatekeepers from radio and the press to listen closely to this superb album. If they do, and respond accordingly, Caswell may be moving to another level of visibility in the not so distant future. Edited from liner notes by Ted Panken “Rachel Caswell is that rara avis who is truly a jazz vocalist. Her intonation is impeccable, her diction precise, her jazz sensibilities above reproach, and she swings like mad!...Few improvisers – vocal or instrumental – have better ears than she possesses and she has an exceptional instrument that is immediately identifiable among a sea of other vocalists.” David Baker, NEA Jazz Master & jazz education pioneer AVAILABLE FROM: CDBaby / Amazon / iTunes www.rachelcaswell.com |
NATIONAL RADIO CAMPAIGN:
KATE SMITH PROMOTIONS of CHICAGO 814.482.0010 katesmithpromotions. kate@gmail.com NATIONAL PRESS CAMPAIGN: JIM EIGO, JAZZ PROMO SERVICES, jim@jazzpromoservices.com • www.jazzpromoservices.com “Specializing in Media Campaigns for the music community, artists, labels, venues and events.” |
UK: John McLaughlin & The 4th Dimension-Live In San Francisco Live (Abstract Logix 2018)
This recording of the final set at the Warfield Theatre brings to full circle the amazing advent of The Mahavishnu Orchestra In 1971, and its renaissance this night in San Francisco. ' mused the boundary-shattering guitarist John McLaughlin. On his farewell tour of America, which comprised of 25 concerts, John invited one his favorite musician, guitarist Jimmy Herring and his band 'The Invisible Whip' to explore the timeless music he had created four decades ago. On September 21, 2018 , Abstract Logix issues Live in San Francisco - a souvenir of a sold-out concert at the historic Warfield Theatre, a beloved venue last visited by John McLaughlin thirty six years ago. In the 4th Dimension - Ranjit Barot (drums, konokol), Gary Husband (keyboards, drums), and Etienne M'Bapp (bass) and in The Invisible Whip - Kevin Scott (Bass), Matt Slocum (Clavinet and B3), Jason Crosby (Fender Rhodes, Violin, Vocals) and Jeff Sipe (Drums) - The Meeting of the Spirits tour featured a 9-piece orchestra that further amplified the seminal music he created in the 70's, documented in albums - 'Birds of Fire', 'Inner Mountain Flame' and 'Visions of Emerald Beyond'. So connected are the nine members that the interplay approaches telepathic levels, making for powerfully evocative performances without any wasted gestures. Longtime fans will be thrilled to hear favorites like 'Eternity's Breath' (from Mahavishnu's 1973 Visions of Emerald Beyond) and 'Trilogy' (from 1973's Between Nothingness And Eternity) reexamined through the lens of both the bands' unparalleled sensitivity and astounding power. The September 2017 release of McLaughlin's Live @ Ronnie Scott's was followed by the Meeting of the Spirits Tour - a series of November and December shows undertaken in collaboration with one of McLaughlin's favorite musicians, American guitarist Jimmy Herring. Separate sets by Jimmy Herring and the Invisible Whip and McLaughlin and the 4th Dimension were followed by the two joining forces for an expansive closing jam based on classic Mahavishnu Orchestra material. These special concerts also marked McLaughlin's final shows in America. As such, Live in San Francisco offers a tantalizing document of the Meeting of the Spirits Tour. 'Playing these timeless compositions with John and The Fourth Dimension was a life changing experience!,' wrote Jimmy Herring.
Thursday, July 26, 2018
USA/INDIA: Dual Musicianship: Pianist and Hindustani Vocalist Anita Aysola Cross-Pollinates and Cultivates Personal Hybrids on Beyond Our Dreams
Dual Musicianship: Pianist and Hindustani Vocalist Anita Aysola Cross-Pollinates and Cultivates Personal Hybrids on Beyond Our Dreams
Years ago, the Indian-born, Michigan-raised, Atlanta-based singer-songwriter Anita Aysola was weighing a career as a concert pianist. One afternoon, however, she played a piece for her sister’s music professor. The professor listened carefully and asked one unforgettable question: “What if you brought your Indian classical training into this?” she wondered, pointing at the piano.
That moment stuck with Aysola for decades. Then, in 2008, she dived into a favorite raga and wrote “Long Way Home,” one of her first songs that bridged her two lifelong loves, Western classical and jazz, and Hindustani classical. Highly trained in both disciplines, Aysola uncovered how beautifully they could blossom together, once cross pollinated.
Aysola’s exploration and discovery are intimately American, a theme she unpacks musically, lyrically, and emotionally on her latest album, Beyond Our Dreams. Produced by a polymath actor and composer of Indian heritage, Samrat Chakrabarti, in collaboration with musical polyglots from the Brooklyn Raga Massive circle, Aysola’s songs fold radiant flights of Indian-style improvisation and rhythm into solid storytelling and piano chops. Think Anoushka Shankar meets Randy Newman.
“For a long time, I felt I had to be one or the other, Indian or American, in both my music and my life,” reflects Aysola. “Once I broke through that assumption, I realized the power of being both, of creating my own personal hybrid.” That hybrid speaks poignantly to our time of either/or, to divisive political and cultural rhetoric, with a tender but unforgiving tension, a heartfelt and incisive ambiguity.
Aysola never set out to be a professional musician, though she took both Indian and Western classical music seriously from an early age, studying piano and Hindustani classical vocals, singing in the school chorus and at Hindu religious gatherings, and playing in orchestra and band. She even took sitar lessons for a while. “I would play other music by ear,” recalls Aysola. “In Hindustani classical music, you learn how to play harmonium by ear, whatever you hear. So I’d listen to Tori Amos. She was the first person I heard growing up who was a female piano player who also sang and wrote at the same time.”
However, like many daughters of immigrant families, she resolved to find a more predictable professional career, and her formal education spans everything from engineering to international education policy. Yet music became increasingly important to the young artist, and she found herself longing to write songs, not simply perform other’s creations.
She began to study more Western styles involving improvisation, especially jazz and blues. While living in Chicago, she connected with master boogie-woogie blues pianist Erwin Helfer. There and while in grad school in Boston, she played everything from trip hop to jam-based rock to Indian fusion, before focusing more intensively on her own material. Then after a move to Houston, she met Gary Norian, who became her jazz piano mentor and frequent co-writer. Norian’s influence can be felt strongly on tracks like “Bet on Us,” with its rollicking, uplifting New Orleans meets gospel feel.
Her songwriting sprouted from all these seemingly disparate experiences, connected by her love of piano and Indian vocal approaches. “I felt this real need to bring all my passions into my music. To make it a home for both cultures,” Aysola recalls. “I’m one person in all these things, and my music could speak to all these things.” How this would work became a matter of experimentation. “I thought it would be the goofiest thing, sargam [solfege] improvisation over piano. I thought people would laugh,” she recalls. “People loved it. They wanted more.”
Inspiration can run in both directions for Aysola. For “Long Way Home,” she used a raga (raag desh) as a springboard for the song’s melody. “Beyond our Dreams,” written for her youngest child, “toggles between raag jog and jazz and the blues, especially in the piano solo” thanks to the role thirds play in the raga. For “America,” a love song for a country striving for universal ideals despite recent rancour, Aysola found the chords first, then began to play with Indian elements on top. “As I was finishing this song, I was jamming out with my new Hindustani vocal teacher,” says Aysola. “I realized the sargam felt really good with the chords I already had in mind.”
Aysola, with help from Chakrabarti, unites with musical kindred spirits on Beyond Our Dreams, artists who can move fluidly between Indian and Western styles. “Sameer [Gupta] plays the drum kit like a mridangam and the tabla like a drum kit. Everyone on the album,” including Arun Ramamurthy on violin and Jay Gandhi on bansuri flute, “brought that fusion sensibility. Samrat would suggest, ‘Hey try some alaaps [extended improvisions] here, that might work.’ Everyone got what I’m doing and could even encourage it, to help me find that sound.”
The lyrics in Aysola’s songs have a similar--and similarly complementary--dual nature, dwelling in two realities at once, be it as a person of two cultures, or of several callings, as a musician and a mother and wife. “Beyond Our Dreams” captures that tension and the hope and inspiration it brings, as Aysola sings to her newborn son and reminds herself that her journey continues, even though her life has been joyfully upended by her children’s arrival.
One thread runs through all her reflections, however: “You have to blend it and unify it. It’s hard to bring things together, but it’s essential.”
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