Marc Brenken - Jean-Yves Braun Quartet - Starting Our Journey (2013)

Piano and guitar - a rare combination that offers great harmonic and rhythmic possibilities. To explore these possibilities is
what Marc Brenken and Jean-Yves Braun aim for in their new band project. The result is a many-sided yet unique and
personal music. Their compositions join influences of both traditional and modern styles of jazz. Some have strong impulsive grooves, some create a relaxed atmosphere, some are playful and laid-back swinging.
The musical fire of the band is sparked by Alex Morsey on double-bass and Hermann Heidenreich on the drums. All band
members are graduates of the Folkwang University of Music in Essen, Germany.

Marc Brenken (*1973 - piano, composition) is mainly known for band projects under his own name. In 2006 his debut CD „Eight Short Stories“ (Marc Brenken - Christian Kappe Quartet) was released, in 2009 the trio album „It Could Happen to You“ followed, featuring also Alex Morsey on bass and Marcus Rieck on drums. Concert tours have taken him to Romania,
Spain, the Netherlands and Lebanon. He has made appearance on radio productions of the WDR and on CD releases of the Literaturkommission für Westfalen (lyric & jazz projects).

Jean-Yves Braun (*1983 - guitar, composition) studied at the music academies of Amsterdam and Essen. He won a scholarship for the University of Southern California, where he studied with renowned teachers like John Clayton and Joe Diorio. Back in Germany, he has been invited to perform at the Philharmonie Essen, the Jazzahead Bremen and the European Bassday Viersen. On the 20th anniversary of the Folkwang Jazz Department he collaborated with Markus Stockhausen, John Taylor and John Goldsby (bassist of the WDR Bigband).

Alex Morsey (double-bass, tube) likewise studied in Essen and is simply one of the most adept and inventive bassists on the German jazz scene. He played with stars like Clark Terry, Herb Geller, Ferdinand Povel and Ack van Rooyen. He also composes, mainly for his groups Un Tango Mas and disguise. His work has been documented on over 30 albums.

Hermann Heidenreich (*1979 – drums), also a graduate from the conservatories in Amsterdam and Essen, used to be a member of Peter Herbolzheimer's Bundesjugendjazzorchester (BuJazzO). Currently he's touring with his bands Trigonon, Question Quartet and Oktoposse, who won the „Best Young Jazz Band Award“ of Granada / Spain in 2005.
He collaborated with Joachim Kühn, Charlie Mariano, Frank Möbus, Ack van Rooyen, John Ruocco, Peter Weniger and Nils Wogram and played concerts throughout Europe and in the United States.

http://www.myspace.com/brenkenbraun

Ted Brown- Good Company(Criss Cross 2013)

Tenor saxophonist Ted Brown studied with, and belonged to the coterie of like-thinking players around Lennie Tristano. He recorded with Warne Marsh and Lee Konitz, and recorded under his own name with Warne Marsh and Art Pepper as sidemen. Here, after an eight year recording hiatus, he's in the company of legendary bebop guitar great Jimmy Raney & an all star rhythm section with pianist Hod O'Brien, bassist Buster Williams & drummer Ben Riley. This rare session from 1985, recorded at Rudy Van Gelder's Recording Studio, has 5 alternate takes, and was never released as a CD prior to this. Reissue.
http://www.crisscrossjazz.com/album/1020.html

Don Braden -After Dark (Criss Cross 2013)

The Don Braden Septet with Don Braden - tenor saxophone; Scott Wendholt Wilson - alto saxophone; Noah Bliss - trombone; Darrell Grant - piano; Christian McBride - bass; and Carl Allen - drums performing Braden compositions.
 http://www.donbraden.com

Gilad Edelman - My Groove, Your Move (Sharp Nine 2013)

Gilad Edelman is a relative rarity in today's jazz world - a youngster (age 23 at the time of this recording) who plays completely straight-ahead in the tradition of Cannonball, Stitt and Jackie McLean. And a breath of fresh air it is: the big, sweet tone; the youthful exuberance; the joy of ripping the changes - all suffused by the feeling of the blues that is foundation of hard bop. Here joined by a fabulous New York band comprised of Joe Magnarelli, David Hazeltine, John Webber and Jason Brown, Edelman presents a varied and well paced set that includes the seldom heard verse to I Love You, On the Street Where You Live, The Way You Look Tonight, the rarely heard samba Foi a Saudade, and the blues-drenched title tune, Hank Mobley's My Groove, Your Move. Hard bop lives! 
http://www.sharpnine.com

Chick Corea- Vigil (Concord 2013)

Chick Corea & The Vigil

People, get ready.

Music master Chick Corea reinvents himself — again. With all new music — and an all new band. Plus, fresh arrangements of Corea Classics. From sublime acoustic to brilliant electric.

Featuring the bass phenom, Christian McBride. Creative force Marcus Gilmore on drums (carrying on the lineage of jazz from his grandfather, Roy Haynes). Saxes, flute, bass clarinet and innovation from Tim Garland. And a rising-sun (although from the west coast), guitarist Charles Altura.

Stay vigilant. Keep a watchful eye for the new CD and tour. 2013.   

Steve Swallow, Carla Bley - Into the Woodwork (ECM 2013)

Praising a previous incarnation of Steve Swallows quintet, The Times of London described the band as near a perfect display of small-group jazz robust yet exquisitely poised.

The description holds true for the latest edition of the bassists quintet and its album Into the Woodwork. Swallow leads the group including his longtime partner in music and life, Carla Bley, on organ in multi-hued performances of a dozen original compositions from his pen.

Recorded in the south of France, the album accommodates atmospheric grace and loping grooves, wry humor and understated virtuosity. Hushed opener Sad Old Candle reveals the subtle beauties of this band, with Swallow and Bley joined in ensemble intimacy by saxophonist Chris Cheek, guitarist Steve Cardenas and drummer Jorge Rossy.

From Whom It May Concern sees Cheek sing a sad-eyed melody on his saxophone, with a limpid solo from Cardenas to follow. Its Rossy to the fore in Back in Action, with his funky solos defining the track. Exit Stage Left begins with the ever-distinctive fluidity of Swallows electric bass a sound that has propelled the veteran to the top of the critics and readers polls in DownBeat year in and year out.

Into the Woodwork is jazz of character, with ingrained melody and warmth.

For one of the most acclaimed bassists of modern times, Steve Swallow is remarkably self-effacing. He composed all of these 12 pieces, but not one of them amounts to a real bass feature. His unmistakable trademark, though, is the sound of this band – agile and glancing, with beautiful, springy rhythms. At the centre of it is the remarkable Carla Bley, tying everything together with the merest wisps of harmony on the electric organ. The whole band, completed by saxophonist Chris Cheek, guitarist Steve Cardenas and drummer Jorge Rossy, play with rare fluency and ease.
Dave Gelly

Terje Rypdal , Hilliard Ensemble- Melodic Warrior (ECM 2013)

Terje Rypdal: guitar The Hilliard Ensemble Bruckner Orchester Linz Dennis Russell Davies: conductor Wroclaw Philharmonic Orchestra Sebastian Perloswski: conductor
Two large compositions constitute one of Terje Rypdal’s most adventurous albums. The title piece, a 45 minute epic, was commissioned by the Hilliard Ensemble and recorded at the Brucknerhaus Linz in 2003 with the British vocal group and the Bruckner Orchestra under Dennis Russell Davies. The Hilliards sing texts drawn from Native American poetry, from Chippewa, Navajo, Pima, and Papago sources, and Rypdal’s sustained electric guitar lines soar melodically and dramatically above the strings’ broad planes of sound. “And The Sky Was Coloured With Waterfalls And Angels”, meanwhile, documents the premiere of Terje’s op. 97. Composed in 2009, inspired by Cannes’ International Fireworks Festival and recorded with the Wroclaw Philharmonic, it is a darkly-expressive piece of, concentrated, explosive power.
 ECM