USA: Brass music by way of India

If you're from Louisiana and you find yourself listening to Red Baraat, you might think the band hails from Lafayette or even New Orleans.
The band mixes brass, percussive flair and rousing call and response vocals — elements that wouldn't sound out of place around Festival International or Bourbon Street.
However, Red Baraat isn't from Louisiana.
The band's music, while rooted in celebration, comes from a deep background in Indian heritage and features an emphasis on the dhol, a drum found in popular
Punjabi music. (Read More)

Hendrik Meurkens - Live at Bird's Eye (Zoho Music 2011)

Having worked with Dr. Meurkens for more than just a few times in different contexts, I believe that he has found in this group of musicians with whom he has recorded Live at Bird’s Eye a true band sound, one which any bandleader searches for. It is not only perfect for a live record date, but a cohesive sounding ensemble which follows the trajectory which Meurkens has traced through his previous recordings, and whose adventurous performances here will delight the Brazilian/ Jazz music lover.

Adriano Santos on drums, from São Paulo, Brazil, has the right touch and feel to bring forth the ensemble’s Brazilian flavor. A solid groove master, he drives every track of the album with precision and flair where it is needed and provides the right colors on the well-chosen ballads.

Bassist Gustavo Amarante, from Belo Horizonte, Brazil, is not only a great pairing to Adriano’s sound but also truly the harmonic and rhythmic connector between the two main soloists. Precise bottom support in both intense and more delicate moments along with elegant note choices in his bass lines cause for a velvet magic carpet ride throughout.

From St. Petersburg, Russia, pianist Misha Tsiganov adds the fiery element we expect from a well-rounded soloist when needed, and he beautifully compliments on the more quiet and melodic moments of the album. His proficiency within the Brazilian styles performed here is astonishing and gives the live recording yet another hybrid dimension.

As for the Doctor, here is an articulate multi-instrumentalist and jazz improviser who knows well when to choose which of his main instruments to match with any given selection from this involving and well-selected repertoire.

The album kicks off with a groovy straight Samba version of Amazonas, where the Doctor plays the theme and takes an ever-ascending first solo on the vibraphone. Tsiganov takes over with equal escalating energy. A clever surprise is the modulation of the last A of the tune.

The ensemble shifts gears to one of my favorite tracks here, Brighetti’s and Martino’s ballad Estate. A colorful and sparse vamp by the rhythm section serve as the intro to the Doctor’s exquisite interpretation of the melody, this time on his gaitinha (‘little harmonica’ in Portuguese). He then takes a passionate solo before an equally expressive chorus from Tsiganov. Santos and Amarante fluctuate beautifully between an open and tight Bossa along with the intensity in which each soloist takes the song forward. The Doctor takes the theme out, emulating the end of a breezy summer day.
   
The Hendrik Meurkens Samba Jazz Quartet at Bird's Eye Jazz Club, Basel, Switzerland. From left : Hendrik Meurkens, Misha Tsiganov, Gustavo Amarante, Adriano Santos.


The next track is the first Meurkens original of the album. Sambatropolis starts with a partido-alto Samba intro. Here we go back to the vibraphone with the piano doubling parts of the melody. Again, full support from the rhythm section as the Doctor and Tsiganov take fiery solos. During the head out Tsiganov complements the thematic rhythmic melody with interwoven phrases.

Dindi, one of Jobim’s pearls, is introduced by the piano. The overall initial mood is that of a Jazz ballad. Meurkens, back on his ‘gaitinha’, plays the theme with heartfelt class. Tsiganov then takes the first solo over the AA sections. When the Doctor comes in for his solo over B and the last A, the rhythm section swimmingly shifts to a Bossa creating an apex to this version. The head out is presented by the harmonica from the bridge on in an usual yet clever jazz ballad form shift.

The next track is a fun one: Lingua de Mosquito is one of the many Choros that Meurkens has been writing as of late. This older and perhaps one of the first truly Brazilian musical styles, more prominently from the turn of the last century, has gained a serious revival in recent years in Brazil. Here it gains an even newer take with a jazzier twist. Following one of the more prominent Choro forms, and with Santos on the style’s characteristic pandeiro drum, this composition has an authentic esthetic. It gains new harmonic structures and an homage to the maestro Jobim through a two bar riff-ending of Jobim’s famous Waters Of March.

Back on the vibraphone, the Doctor plays the head of the Samba Jazz classic Nôa, Nôa. This is perhaps the album’s grooviest track. Amarante and Santos create such a great bed for Meurkens and Tsiganov here. All the fun and essential kicks are carefully executed during the head and throughout.

The Jazz standard Body And Soul gains an elegant treatment. It flickers within an understated Bossa and an open Jazz ballad. The theme is presented by the vibes, differing from the other softer songs of the album. Tsiganov plays a beautifully melodic first solo, again passing it on to an equally arioso improvisation by Meurkens, who takes this classic out in an implicit melody of the B section and a more perspicuous last A.

Donato’s Minha Saudade, which is one of the Samba Jazz standards, starts out with a freely interpreted BA sections ‘gaitinha’ intro. One of the groovier tracks of the album, this is a great vehicle for Tsiganov and the Doctor to improvise.

Você Vai Ver is a perfect track to close. A medium Bossa with the tune’s intro played on piano and the melody played on the vibes. Santos plays great brushes under the melody and Meurkens’ solo, the first one here. A subsequent solo by Tsiganov expands the track to new heights and Amarante closes the solo section with an eloquent bass solo before the head out.

In many of our encounters and conversations, Dr. Meurkens and I always debate on different subjects such as the state of the New York Jazz scene, the Brazilian sound, the differences between other musical centers around the world, our musical aspirations and the difficulties and benefits of being leaders to our own projects. I have great admiration for Hendrik Meurkens, not only as for the great musician that he is, but also for his perseverance and long-term investment in prolonging, maintaining and at times reinventing a musical style that is so dear to me. Live at Bird’s Eye is a prime example of the above. I hope to see more of Hendrik Meurkens’ performances throughout the world and more of his records being put out. Keep playing your ‘gaitinha’ and bring forth your good vibes always, my friend! Congratulations on yet another alluring album.

Yours truly,
Leonardo E. M. Cioglia
Zoho Music

Helge Lien Trio - Natsukashii (Ozella Music 2011)

Helge Lien:

piano

Frode Berg:

bass

Knut Aalefjær:

drums

Beyond the Nordic toneThe Norwegian Helge Lien Trio, with its poetic sensibility, stunning improvisational power and attractive original material, has become one of the leading European jazz groups of the last few years to push the music out into new territory.
Stuart Nicholson, Jazzwise 6/2011

Not that there aren't other fine trios out there, but few are better than Lien at balancing impressive virtuosity with inherent accessibility, and introspective lyricism with buoyant expressionism: a clear recipe for potential crossover success. Expanding on the strength of Lien's previous six-strong discography with his trio, if ever there were a breakthrough record for the pianist, Natsukashii is it.
...t's that kind of unconditional trust that gives Lien's trio its unmistakable voice, and the highly recommended Natsukashii the kind of effortless appeal that truly deserves to place it on the international map.
John Kelman, All About Jazz

Ozella Music 

 

USA: New York City Welcomes to the USA for the Very First Time, Venezuela's World-Renowned "El Sistema" and Their New Jazz Orchestra: Simon Bolivar Big-Band Jazz October 31, 2011 - November 4, 2011

EW YORK, NY, Oct 24, 2011 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- New York City welcomes Venezuela's world-renowned "El Sistema" Simon Bolivar Big-Band Jazz (SBBBJ) with a concert series of four performances from October 31, 2011 - November 4, 2011. Led by Venezuelan percussionist Andres Briceno, the Simon Bolivar Big-Band Jazz will perform new and traditional big band repertoire during their historic, inaugural visit to the United States. This significant trip is a good-will tour by the SBBBJ-Venezuelan musicians, all of them products of the internationally-recognized "El Sistema," to share their model and introduce their premier 40-piece jazz orchestra. Serving as the official New York City host is musician Arturo O'Farrill, Founder and Artistic Director of the Afro Latin Jazz Alliance. The Series is proudly presented by diDIVISION Media.
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Daniele Santimone trio-A little Bartòk(abeat for jazz 2011)

Some of the most acclaimed jazz musicians of the Italian scene they create a recording project that revisits some of the melodies from the opera Mikrokosmos, the famous cycle of piano pieces composed by Bela Bartok. The intent is to bring out the lyricism of these short compositions rich in references to popular music of many peoples of Eastern European and Middle East and put them in a context very close to the harmonic and rhythmic atmosphere of modal jazz. A 'transaction of great value also because this reading is set up as a rarity in the contemporary jazz. The presence of musicians of great value and intensity of expression of the soloists give the album a touch of class and elegance that make the listening experience interesting from both an emotionally and intellectually.

Succi Achille - alto sax, clarinet & bass clarinet
Paio Riccardo - drums
Tavolazzi Ares - doublebass
Santimone Daniele - guitar
Tamburini Marco - trumpet & flugelhorn

(abeat)

AZERBAIJAN: Azerbaijani jazzman performs in State Philharmonic Hall

Jazz pianist, recipient of Presidential scholarship Isfar Sarabski gave a concert in Azerbaijan State Philharmonic Hall named after Muslum Magomayev.

The concert took place within the framework of the annual International Jazz Festival program organized by Azerbaijan Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Culture Fund and “Sweet Production” company.

Sarabski was accompanied by Makar Novikov at bass and Alexander Mashin at drums.

Isfar Rzayev (born November 2, 1989, Baku), better known as Isfar Sarabski, is an Azerbaijani jazz pianist. He is the great-grandson of opera singer Huseyngulu Sarabski.

He began playing the piano at the age of seven. He studied classic piano for eleven years at the Bulbul Music School.

Sarabski has performed at Baku Caspian Jazz and Blues Festival in Azerbaijan several times, participated in the annual Sildajazz festival in Norway, as well as at the International Jazz Festival in Russia.

He has also been awarded at Stars of Issyk-kul; New names of Russia International Classical and National Music Festival in Kyrgyzstan in 2004. Early influences included Louis Armstrong and Dizzy Gillespie. His favourite performers Keith Jarrett, Brad Mehldau, Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson, and Vagif Mustafazadeh have inspired him to compose his own pieces.

On July 18, 2009 Isfar became a winner at the 43rd Jazz Festival held in Montreux, Switzerland.

news.az

Amir ElSaffar- Inana ( PI Recordings 2011)

Tareq Abboushi
Carlo DeRosa
Amir ElSaffar
Ole Mathisen
Zaafir Tawil
Nasheet Waits

Inana is the follow-up to trumpeter Amir ElSaffar’s critically acclaimed 2007 release, Two Rivers (Pi 24), which Allmusic.com called “as impressive a debut as we’ve had in America in the 21st century.” ElSaffar has continued to extend his compositional palette in the four years since that release: While Two Rivers combined elements found in the modal music of the Iraqi maqam with the rhythms and aesthetics of modern jazz, Inana builds on those concepts to include a microtonal harmonic and melodic language, influenced by the pitch-flexibility of Middle Eastern music, which ElSaffar honed working with the saxophonist Hafez Modirzadeh on their co-led release Radif Suite (Pi 32, 2010). The result is a new work that further expands the sonic possibilities of jazz.

The first eight tracks of the album make up the Inana Suite, named after and inspired by the ancient Mesopotamian goddess of carnal love and warfare. The CD cover features her name in Sumerian cuneiform script, and the eight-pointed star on the back cover represents her association with the planet Venus. Inana is a powerful and unpredictable deity, often creating chaos around her and disrupting the otherwise orderly pantheon of Sumerian gods. The suite attempts to capture the complexity of Inana’s spirit, and many of the compositions are inspired by specific myths or aspects of her being. The suite progresses from “Dumuzi’s Dream,” which directly combines jazz with maqam, to pieces not based on the maqam tradition such as “Infinite Variety,” which expresses Inana’s diverse character through six independent melodies layered in counterpoint. The work culminates with “Journey to the Underworld,” a composition in seven sections, each depicting a part of Inana’s epic tale that inspired similar myths in subsequent ancient cultures and remains a topic of discussion in modern psychology.

Born in Chicago to an American mother and an Iraqi father, ElSaffar began playing the trumpet at a young age and started performing professionally by his late teens. After completing a degree in classical trumpet from DePaul University in 1999, he moved to New York to pursue a career in jazz, where he performed with such musicians as Rudresh Mahanthappa and Vijay Iyer. In 2002, months after winning the Carmine Caruso Jazz Trumpet Solo Competition, he put his career on hold to devote himself to the study of the Iraqi maqam. He spent the following five years traveling to Iraq, throughout the Middle East, and to Europe in pursuit of the masters who could impart to him this centuries-old tradition, one of the most complex forms of Arab music that has been inscribed on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. ElSaffar is now an accomplished maqam singer and performer on the Iraqi santour (hammered dulcimer), and leads Safaafir, the foremost Iraqi maqam ensemble in the United States. In 2009, he was a semi-finalist in the International Maqam Competition in Baku, Azerbaijan. To deepen his knowledge of the music, he later returned to that country for a three-month residency to study the Azeri mugham.

A virtuoso on the trumpet, ElSaffar has applied aspects of the maqam to his playing and is now one of very few microtonal trumpeters in the world. Using a standard, three-valve instrument, ElSaffar has created new techniques that enable intonation and ornaments that are characteristic to Arabic music. His unique skills have earned him the opportunity to perform with such disparate jazz musicians as Danilo Perez and Cecil Taylor. As a composer, ElSaffar has continued to develop a highly personalized harmonic language built on extensions of the microtonal resonances found in the maqam.

Helping ElSaffar bring his singular compositional and improvisational concept to life is The Two Rivers Ensemble, a group of highly-skilled, creative musicians comprised of Nasheet Waits, one of the most dynamic drummers in jazz who is best known as a mainstay in Jason Moran’s Bandwagon; bassist Carlo DeRosa, whose CD Brain Dance was released earlier this year to considerable acclaim; Tareq Abboushi on buzuq (long-necked lute) whose CD, Mumtastic, contains his own blend of jazz and Arabic forms; multi-instrumentalist and virtuoso Zafer Tawil, who is one of the most in-demand Arab musician in New York; and the newest member of the ensemble, saxophonist Ole Mathisen, who replaced Rudresh Mahanthappa in the band when the latter’s burgeoning career made it difficult for him to commit his time to the project. Mathisen has been active on the New York scene for almost 20 years in a wide assortment of contexts including Persian, Indian and Latin music. Most importantly, he is one of few musicians to have mastered microtonal playing on the saxophone.

After five years of extensive performing and touring, the Two Rivers Ensemble has developed an instinctive ease with this highly complex music, enabling the band to play with a creativity that transcends pure technical challenge. Using maqam to transform the jazz idiom, the music still speaks the language of swing, improvisation and group interaction. With Inana, ElSaffar has once again uncovered entirely new possibilities in the evolution of jazz.

PI Recordings