USA: Roberto Fonseca Releases Yesun - The Sounds of Cuba and Beyond for Mack Avenue Music Group

GRAMMY® nominated Cuban pianist  Roberto Fonseca releases new album, Yesun

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Combining jazz sensibility and deep roots in the Afro-Cuban tradition, Yesun is the Havana-born artist’s ninth solo album. The record delves into the music ofRoberto Fonseca’s homeland of Cuba while keeping its sights set firmly on the future, weaving in electronic beats, spoken word, retro-modern keyboards, Fonseca’s vocals and more.  In this way Fonseca and his trio – drummer Raúl Herrera and longtime double bass player Yandy Martínez-Rodriguez – shaped many of the 12 original compositions on Fonseca’s new album Yesun. The record features guests including Grammy-winning saxophonist Joe Lovano, lauded French-Lebanese trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf and rising star Cuban rapper Danae Suarez alongside retro-modern keyboards, electronic beats and samples and earthy Afro-Cuban rhythms, Fonseca says: "Yesun is the album I’ve always wanted to make,” all my influences are here. All the sounds and vibes that make me who I am.” Having proved himself exceptional (indeed, earlier in 2019 he was awarded the distinguished Ordre des Arts Letters from the French Ministry of Culture), Fonseca is free to take more risks, break new ground, take his music – and the music of Cuba – further. Roberto Fonseca Website

USA: Lee Konitz Nonet-Old Songs New (Sunnyside Records 2019)

As artists mature, the circumstances that allow them to perform optimally become more and more explicit. Occasionally, it falls upon a collaborator to find these spaces that allow the other to shine. The challenge for the arranger/composer is to create a fit for the featured performer and to get the performer to fully invest in the setting provided. Nonagenarian saxophonist Lee Konitz has been a featured soloist for many decades and has become a legend for his intriguing contributions to many well-known jazz dates with a wide variety of ensembles. Woodwind player, composer and arranger Ohad Talmor has been an important part of Konitz’s musical sphere for the past three decades, providing the elder statesman numerous opportunities to contribute his celebrated alto sound. Konitz and Talmor have reunited a version of the Lee Konitz Nonet to release a new recording, Old Songs New, where the unique ensemble of winds, strings and percussion comes together to anchor Konitz’s flights of fancy.

Jazz Logotype With 4 Jazz Musicians T-Shirt

Jazz Logotype With 4 Jazz Musicians T-Shirt

USA: A GRAMMY® nomination would remain forever in the heart of jazz chanteuse Kinga Heming

A GRAMMY® nomination would remain forever in the heart of jazz chanteuse Kinga Heming

KELOWNA (7 October 2019): Tucked away in the dimly lit vocal booth of producer Gabriel Mark Hasselbach’s recording studio in Vancouver, jazz vocalist Kinga Heming tapped into the powerful emotions that fill her newly released third album, “Forever in My Heart.” While tracking “The Very Thought of You” from the Great American Songbook, something clicked as she crooned the lyrics “Forever in my heart, the very thought of you.” Hasselbach knew instantly that he had uncovered the soul of the singer, the magic ingredient that makes her record special.

“That is the title of your album,” Hasselbach said to Heming about the first-round GRAMMY ballot contender forJazz Vocal Album, “Forever in My Heart.”

Heming identifies herself as a singer and a storyteller. While the eight tunes she recorded for “Forever in My Heart” are standards, she selected each song because of her personal connection to each one.

“These were songs that were introduced to me at a very young age. Gabriel suggested that I choose songs that I feel reflect on my life. So, I chose the ones that I felt really connected to because, to be honest, when I sing a song, it’s not just singing a song. It’s not just reciting the lyrics to make it sound pretty. It’s me telling a story. And every single song on the record is me telling a story,” said the Polish-born Heming, who moved to Ottawa, Ontario in Canada when she was five and now resides in the small British Columbian town of Kelowna. 

“When I sing songs, I never make myself emotional to the point of getting moved by a song. However, one of the songs on the album that does hold a soft spot in my heart is ‘Here’s to Life.’ When I sing it, I kind of felt likeJohnny Mandel wrote that song for me. Lyrically, every single part of that song, it’s just me.”

Garnering airplay on Canadian radio from coast to coast, “Forever in My Heart” is an acoustic jazz vocal album. Heming’s elegant and graceful voice is embellished by Miles Black’s dramatic piano melodies and supple basslines,Joel Fountain’s genteel drumming and Hasselbach’s astute trumpet expositions. On “Nature Boy,” Heming’s exquisite voice rides the rhythmic groove etched by guitarist Loni Moger and upright bassist Bernie Addingtonwith evocative shadowing emoted from Hasselbach’s muted trumpet.           

Heming celebrated the album release last week by performing the material live at the Rotary Center for the Artsat the Mary Irwin Theatre in Kelowna where she shared the stage with Hasselbach, Black, Moger, Addington and drummer Tony Ferrero. Bonding with her audience as she tells her intimate stories through song is important to the singer.

“It’s me telling a story to everybody in the audience and for me to move an audience with my songs is even better,” Heming said before returning the focus to “Forever in My Heart.”  

“At the end of the day, I know for myself, and from my own perspective, that I recorded this (album) from the bottom of my heart. That’s why I came up with ‘Forever in My Heart’; because every single part of that story is held forever in my heart.” 

   

For more information, please visit https://www.kinga-jazz.com.

Vintage Jazz Club with Sax Player T-Shirt

Vintage Jazz Club with Sax Player T-Shirt

USA: Kneebody-Chapters (2019)

Do Not Ignore This! This is the highly inventive, original and compelling new album from explosive US quartet Kneebody. The music is adventurous, exuberant and powerful: music for a new generation, music that will inspire and excite, coming from a band with a committed and distinctive sound. From the off, it commands your attention and surprises at every turn. Kneebody are a band with a long history, a deep mutual respect and a dedicated fan base, yet this album marks a new beginning - a new line-up, a new label, and renewed focus. The album is Chapters, an all-encompassing and powerhouse album that mixes deep grooves and deft melodies with a wide range of guests including Becca Stevens, Gretchen Parlato, Michael Mayo and Josh Dion. Chapters is a modern day great! credits released October 18, 2019 Ben Wendel: saxophone, effects Shane Endsley: trumpet, effects Adam Benjamin: keyboards Nate Wood: drums, drums and bass (tracks 1, 7 and 9) Michael Mayo: Vocals (track 2) Becca Stevens: Vocals (track 4) Josh Dion: Vocals, Synth Bass, Drums (track 6) Gerald Clayton: Piano (track 8) Gretchen Parlato: Vocals (track 9) Kaveh Rastegar: Bass (tracks 2-6 and 8) 1. Spectra (Shane Endsley) 2. What’s My Name feat. Michael Mayo (Michael Mayo) 3. A Seaworthy Native (Ben Wendel) 4. Wounds Let in the Light feat. Becca Stevens (Becca Stevens, Ben Wendel) 5. Chapters (Shane Endsley) 6. Hearts Won’t Break feat. Josh Dion (Josh Dion, Ben Wendel, Kaveh Rastegar) 7. Ombré (Adam Benjamin) 8. The Trip feat. Gerald Clayton (Shane Endsley) 9. When It All Comes Down feat. Gretchen Parlato (Gretchen Parlato, Ben Wendel) 10.The Non-Profit Prince of Lexington (Adam Benjamin)

BRAZIL: Igor Willcox Quartet– Live at The Jazz Room (Canada) 2019

 Recorded during their 2019 Canadian tour “Live at The Jazz Room ” showcases the talent and energy of four well matched virtuosic musicians who already made their way up to the top of the Brazilian Jazz fusion scene. Captured live, this performance can be considered a complement of their “#1” studio album but the surprise it’s around the corner. The album contains extended versions of the previous recorded songs freshened up with catchy solos and improvisations. The mood goes from subtle to passionate and upbeat the arrangements leaving enough space for each musician to show his best without restraint. and the album is plenty of such vibrant moments.

Animated by the same kindred spirit the four artists make the music flow with joy and freedom. Vini Morales on piano and keyboards puts his mark on “Waltz For My Love”, “Room 73” , “Thankful”, “Brotherhood”, “The Scare”. Glecio Nascimento on bass has excellent solos on “Brad Vibe”, “Julie´s Blues” and “Humpty Dumpty” “Waltz For My Love”, saxophonist Wagner Barbosa fires up his talent on “Brotherhood”, “Lifetime” , “Fred” “The Scare” “U.F.O.” On drums bandleader and composer Igor Willcox delivers an exciting performance without sparing an occasion to make this live performance one that stands on your memory long after has finished.

As the composer of most of the tunes he imagined a set of multi-layered compositions where rhythms and melodies come together in surprising combinations charged with emotion. Spacious on “Waltz For My Love” and “Brad Vibe ” passionate and impetuous on “Humpty Dumpty”, “Room 73″ or on”Lifetime” a song filled with subtle shifts in rhythm he shows his skills of fine musician and craftsman. If you like jazz fusion, this album will please you with every minute of it.
Igor Willcox Website