USA: Joel Forrester Solo Piano Every Saturday Afternoon @ CAFE LOUP 12:30pm-2:30pm

Joel Forrester
Solo Piano
Every Saturday Afternoon
12:30pm-2:30pm
@ CAFE LOUP
105 W 13th St
New York NY 10011

 at 6th Avenue in historic Greenwich Village (212) 255-4746

 www.cafeloupnyc.com No cover or music charges

Photo by Thomas Schaefer

Joel Forrester is the composer of more than 1600 tunes, a versatile and accomplished jazz pianist, leader of his own quintet and prolific recording artist and holds the distinction of composing the theme to NPR's FRESH AIR WITH TERRY GROSS, the jazz tune played most  frequently in the history of American radio.   www.joelforrester.com

GERMANY: Florian Dohrmann Quartett - Medium Dry (2017)

 

01. La Tour
02. Alone Together
03. The Cat
04. Monkalike
05. Tea for Two
06. Mediteranée
07. Señor Rossi
08. Line for Lions
09. Westside
10. Westling
11. Dear Old Songs

Andreas Francke - saxophone
Dieter Schumacher - drums
Dieter Fischer - guitar
Florian Dohrmann - bass

CANADA: Joe Sullivan Big Band - Unfamiliar Surroundings (2017)

October Suite
01. I. Prelude (feat. André White & Lorne Lofsky) (10:58)
02. II. Off Kilter (feat. Al McLean & Alec Walkington) (7:33)
03. III. Let's Go (feat. Dave Laing & Jean-Nicolas Trottier) (10:06)
Suite Laurentides
04. I. The Grackle (feat. Joe Sullivan & Al McLean) (8:36)
05. II. Nightfall (feat. André White & Jean Fréchette) (8:00)
06. III. Unfamiliar Surroundings (feat. Aron Doyle & André Leroux) (7:08)
Suite Montage
07. I. The Waiting Game (feat. André Leroux, Dave Mossing & Rémi Bolduc) (17:35)
08. II. A Lullaby (feat. Donny Kennedy) (7:48)
09. III. Montage No. 3 (feat. Lorne Lofsky) (7:43)
10. IV. The Captain's Log (feat. Al McLean) (8:27)
11. V. Refuge (feat. Joe Sullivan & Lorne Lofsky) (4:45)

Joe Sullivan - Arranger, Composer, Flugelhorn, Trumpet
Jocelyn Couture - Flugelhorn, Lead, Trumpet
Dave Mossing, Aron Doyle - Flugelhorn, Trumpet
Gabriel Gagnon - Lead, Trombone
Jean-Nicolas Trottier, Richard Gagnon - Trombone
Jean-Sébastien Vachon - Trombone (Bass), Tuba
Al McLean - Sax (Soprano), Sax (Tenor)
Rémi Bolduc - Sax (Alto)
André Leroux - Clarinet, Flute, Sax (Soprano), Sax (Tenor)
Jean Fréchette - Clarinet (Bass), Sax (Baritone)
Donny Kennedy - Flute, Lead, Sax (Alto)
Anh Phung - Flute, Lead
Lorne Lofsky - Guitar
Dave Laing - Drums
Alec Walkington - Bass
André White - Piano

ARGENTINA: Carlos Franzetti Luminosa (Sunnyside 2017)

 
Musicians:
Carlos Franzetti - conductor
Allison Brewster Franzetti - piano
City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra

Argentinean composer/arranger Carlos Franzetti is well known for his devotion in bridging the gaps between jazz, classical and Argentinean folkloric music, especially tango. His efforts have led to fruitful collaborations with many important musicians and ensembles. None has been more important than the work he has done with his wife, the concert pianist Allison Brewster Franzetti, and his regular orchestra, The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra.
Sunnyside

 

USA: MORRISTOWN JAZZ & BLUES FESTIVAL SATURDAY, AUGUST 19th

MORRISTOWN
JAZZ & BLUES FESTIVAL
SATURDAY, AUGUST 19^th

Much Anticipated Free Festival Brings Top Artists to the Green

The seventh annual Morristown Jazz & Blues Festival will be held on the Green in Morristown, New Jersey on Saturday, August 19, from noon until 10:00 p.m. This year’s free concert has a Jersey link for four out of the five groups to appear. The festival begins at noon with the Grammy Award-winning Vince Giordano & the Nighthawks, undoubtedly one of the best known and most popular jazz bands in the country. Performing the music of the Twenties and Thirties, the Nighthawks have appeared in many films including “Carol,” “The Cotton Club,” “The Aviator,” and “Finding Forrester.”  And it was their music and frequent performances on the HBO series “Boardwalk Empire” that made them an international sensation and provided a close link with the Atlantic City of the Prohibition Era. At two o’clock, legendary guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli returns to the stage with his quintet featuring his long-time partner Ed Laub on guitar, his number two son Martin Pizzarelli on bass, the young sensation Linus Wyrsch on sax, and Ken Levinsky on piano. Born and raised in Peterson, Bucky may be 91 but he maintains a youthful exuberance and unparalleled virtuosity on his distinctive seven string guitar. Bucky is in the New Jersey Hall of Fame among his many honors. Then at four, thanks to the law firm of Sherman Wells, the festival is proud to bring back to the stage Louis Prima Jr. and the Witnesses who were a sensation in 2016. The band not only plays the music of his incomparable father, including such hits as “Jump Jive ‘an Wail,” “Just a Gigilo,” and “Sing Sing Sing,” they very much have their own sound and material. Louis Prima Jr. has close ties to New Jersey as his mother Gia Maione Prima was raised in Toms River and graduated from Toms River High School before embarking on her own singing career. At six o’clock, the music turns the blues with six-time Blues Music Award nominee Ana Popovic and her band. The California-based guitar-player and singer tours the world and has become a popular performer at blues festivals both here and abroad. She was the only female guitarist invited to be part of the Experience Hendrix Tour, sharing the stage with stars like Buddy Guy, Jonny Lang, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, and Zakk Wilde. And her records routinely reach the top of the Billboard Blues Charts. The full day of music concludes with The Walter Trout Band led by the critically-acclaimed guitarist. Walter Trout was born and raised in Ocean County, New Jersey before moving to Los Angeles to break into the blues circuit. He quickly earned a reputation backing greats such as John Lee Hooker, Big Mama Thornton, Lowell Fulsom, Percy Mayfield, and Joe Tex. In 1981, he became lead guitarist for Canned Heat where legendary bluesman John Mayall heard him and invited him to join the Bluesbreakers. Following in that group’s tradition of great guitars, such as Eric Clapton, Peter Green, and Mick Taylor, helped Trout solidify his reputation as a top player. When he finally went out on his own, he became a chart-topping star in Europe. He is a 3-time winner of the “Overseas Artist of the Year” from the British Blues Awards, a winner of the prestigious Sena European Guitar Award, a 3-time Blues Music Award nominee, a top-ten guitar player in the BBC’s Guitarist Listeners’ Poll, and a winner of two Blues Music Awards in 2016. The Morristown Jazz & Blues Festival is made possible thanks to Mayor Tim Dougherty and the Town of Morristown. It takes place on the Green in Morristown from noon until 10:00 p.m. Admission is free and many local restaurants offer specials for festival attendees. Bring your lawn chairs and blankets. For more information, visit www.morristownjazzandblues.org.   # # # # # Editor’s Note: Additional photos and interviews may be arranged by contacting Don Jay Smith of LKS Associates at 908-832-1020 or by email at don@lksassociates.com.

Contact:
Don Jay Smith
908-832-1020
don@lksassociates.com

FINLAND/USA: NYConnection - "Urban griot" (OZELLA 2017)

Jussi Kannaste: Tenor Saxophone
Roy Assaf: Piano
Antti Lötjönen: Bass
Jaska Lukkarinen: Drums
 
"...spannender Jazz aus dem fernen Finnland.“

(Concerto April/Mai 2017)

"... a fine & subtle band... oscillating  between a quite brittle tone and elegiac melancholy... freshness and elasticity."(Jazzthing, February 2017)


„Urban Griot“ is the debut album by jazz quartet NYConnection, formed by Finnish drummer Jaska Lukkarinen and Israeli pianist Roy Assaf. Inspired by the griots of West Africa, NYConnection think of themselves as jazz storytellers. In their innovative compositions between bebob, folk and avant-garde song structures disappear in a whirl of dialogue and friction. Sometimes quiet, sometimes louder, always exiting.

USA:Alex Cline's Flower Garland Orchestra- Oceans of Vows (Cryptogramophone 2017)

Alex Cline's Oceans of Vows is a deluxe box set of music drawing inspiration from four poems by Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh, as well as excerpts from the Buddhist text known as the Avatamsaka Sutra. It's performed by composer/percussionist Alex Cline and his all-star 14-piece Flower Garland Orchestra, featuring Nels Cline, Yuka C. Honda, and many stalwarts of the L.A. creative music community

Areni Agbabian, voice
Chi Li, erhu, zhonghu, zheng, qin
Jeff Gauthier, electric violin
Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, electric 5-string violin
Maggie Parkins, cello
Will Salmon, flute, recorders
Nels Cline, electric guitars
G.E. Stinson, electric guitars
Wayne Peet, electric piano, organ
Yuka C. Honda, electric keyboards, samples
Scott Walton, bass, keyboard
Brad Dutz, vibraphone, hand drums, crotales, gongs, percussion
Alex Cline, drums, gongs, percussion
Vicki Ray, conductor