Michel Benita Ethics - River Silver (2016)

Michel Benita is the Algiers-born double-bassist who has been an influential recent collaborator with Andy Sheppard, but though River Silver has a Sheppard-like songlike warmth, it’s a more world-folkish venture. It features the zither-like Japanese koto, atmospheric electronics (from another Sheppard sideman, Norwegian guitarist Eivind Aarset), and the mellifluous sound of Swiss flugelhornist Matthieu Michel. A quiet snare tattoo, sturdy bass countermelody and airy flugel lines mix eloquently on the dreamily cruising Back from the Moon, while the brass sound on I See Altitudes suggests 80s Miles Davis of his Tutu/Amandla era with a sleepwalking momentum instead of funk; and Aarset’s guitar builds an intensifying rockish groove on the initially purring, koto-driven Off the Coast. Yeavening is a yearning ballad for Michel’s voicelike flugel; Mieko Miyazaki’s koto feature is a lyrical sway with Benita in close attendance; and Snowed In a spacily affecting finale. It has a tranquillisingly warm-bath feel at times, but the melodies are seductive, and very delicately unfolded.

1. Back From The Moon (Composed By – Michel Benita) 5:49

2. River Silver (Composed By – Michel Benita) 4:37

3. I See Altitudes (Composed By – Michel Benita) 5:54

4. Off The Coast (Composed By – Michel Benita) 6:13

5. Yeavering (Composed By – Kathryn Tickell) 3:46

6. Toonari (Composed By – Michel Benita) 5:58

7. Hacihi Gatsu (Composed By – Mieko Miyazaki) 4:43

8. Lykken (Composed By – Eyvind Alnæs) 6:02

9. Snowed In (Composed By – Michel Benita) 6:21

Design – Sascha Kleis

Double Bass – Michel Benita

Drums – Philippe Garcia

Engineer – Stefano Amerio

Flugelhorn – Matthieu Michel

Guitar, Electronics – Eivind Aarset

Koto – Mieko Miyazaki

Photography By [Cover Photo] – Woong Chul An

Photography By [Liner Photo (7)] – Charles Moraz

Photography By [Liner Photos] – Dániel Vass

Producer [Produced By] – Manfred Eicher

Recorded April 2015

Auditorio Stelio Molo RSI, Lugano

An ECM Production

In collaboration with RSI Rete Due, Lugano

Thanks to Paolo Keller

℗ © 2016 ECM Records GmbH, München

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Nils Landgren with Janis Siegel - Some Other Time (A Tribute to Leonard Bernstein) 2016

The great Leonard Bernstein would recognise a kindred spirit in Nils Landgren, the Swedish trombonist, singer and all-round musical prodigy who conceived this expansive tribute to him. Combining his own jazz quartet, the voice of Janis Siegel (Manhattan Transfer), the Bochum Symphony Orchestra and star arranger Vince Mendoza, Landgren achieves exactly the right blend of classical and popular modes. The 12 pieces include tunes from West Side Story – among them a version of America for multitracked trombones – with a gorgeous version of Lonely Town from Siegel and, to close, Landgren’s own warm, elegant improvisation on a melody from Bernstein’s 1971 Mass.

01. Overture: America

02. Some Other Time

03. Cool

04. Maria

05. Somewhere

06. The Story Of My Life

07. One Hand, One Heart

08. Something's Coming

09. Lonely Town

10. A Quiet Girl

11. Lucky To Be Me

12. A Simple Song

Nils Landgren / trombone & vocals

Janis Siegel / vocals

Jan Lundgren / piano

Dieter Ilg / bass

Wolfgang Haffner / drums

Members of the Bochumer Symphoniker

arranged & conducted by Vince Mendoza 

Recording Information

Produced by Nils landgren

Curator, Design & Executive Producer: Siggi Loch

Recorded by Adrian von Ripka & Nico Schütte at Sound Studio N, Cologne, November 1 - 4, 2015.

Recording assistance: Georgi Topalov, Hans-Günther Kasper & Uli Zimmermann.

Mixed and mastered by Adrian von Ripka at Bauer Studios, Ludwigsburg,

November 2015, assisted by Hannes Fritz

Additional vocals and trombone recorded by Lars Nilsson at Nilento Studio 

Photo (Nils Landgren with Janis Siegel) by Lutz Voigtländer

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Luca Nostro Quintet - Are You OK? (2015)

Luca Nostro | guitar, compositions and arrangements

Donny McCaslin | tenor sax

John Escreet | fender rhodes

Joe Sanders | bass

Tyshawn Sorey | drums

Esce nell’autunno 2015 Are You OK? il nuovo cd di Luca Nostro per Jando Music (in
associazione con Via Veneto Jazz).

Are you OK? è un disco di jazz contemporaneo registrato a New York da Luca Nostro con alcuni tra i più noti musicisti americani, molto attivi, sia
come leader che come sidemen, in formazioni considerate dal pubblico e dalla critica tra le più innovative nel panorama jazzistico statunitense e
mondiale: Donny McCaslin, John Escreet, Joe Sanders, Tyshawn Sorey.

La scena musicale newyorchese è continua fonte di ispirazione per Luca, la cui idea compositiva è quella di costruire strutture musicali movimentate e modulari in cui innestare temi brevi e incisivi, quasi pop. L’improvvisazione si sviluppa così su idee melodiche semplici e riff ritmici ripetuti concatenati in modo complesso attraverso l’interplay tra i musicisti.

La musica di Are you OK? è ispirata anche da alcune opere di Steve Reich, Frank Zappa, John Adams, Michele Tadini e Jacob TV che Luca ha suonato insieme al Parco della Musica Contemporanea Ensemble (PMCE) di cui fa parte da tre anni. Luca ha anche collaborato e registrato con Scott Coley, Antonio Sanchez e Mark Turner, per citarne alcuni.

La registrazione, il missaggio e il mastering sono stati fatti da Mike Marciano e Max Ross nello studio Systems Two di Brooklyn, uno degli studi più importanti per il jazz, dove hanno registrato, tra gli altri, Chick Corea, Clark Terry, Brandford Marsalis, Ravi Coltrane e molti altri.

1. Are You Ok? … 6:29

2. … No 3:18

3. Trematoda 10:28

4. My Dear Fears Intro 0:57

5. My Dear Fears 7:01

6. Wane Lèn Ma Yone Bi 5:34

7. Reverse Cone in Spite of a Square Woman 5:51

8. I Had to Hurt You for No Reason 7:45

9. I Hate 10:14

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Rosario Bonaccorso - Viaggiando (2015)

Quando si intraprende un viaggio,

credo che più della meta sia

importante scegliere con chi viaggerai.

Voglio ringraziare Roberto, Fabrizio

e Javier, per aver intuito la mia meta

musicale, condividendone il percorso

interiore... Grazie alla loro poesia

interpretativa si è ancor più arricchito

questo mio viaggio d’oltremare tra

Mediterraneo, l’America del Jazz, il

Brasile e l’Argentina, luoghi del Mondo e

luoghi dell’Anima.

Questa è stata la parte più bella del

viaggio.

Grazie a Giandomenico per il grande

supporto, i consigli e la fiducia, a

Stefonico, per le riprese del suono di ogni

nota e respiro, a Eduardo, per il magico

equilibrio dei nostri suoni sul disco.

E infine Grazie alla mia “Musa” Renate.

Questo disco è dedicato a mio Padre,

che centinaia di volte ha attraversato gli

Oceani. Grazie a lui non ho mai avuto

paura di viaggiare.

Viaggiando cominciamo a trovare quel che

cerchiamo, noi stessi…

Rosario Bonaccorso

When on a journey, I believe that

the choice of whom you travel

with is more important than that of the

destination.

I wish to thank Roberto, Fabrizio and

Javier, for having sensed my musical

objective, sharing in its inner unfolding...

Thanks to their poetic interpretation, my

overseas trips around the Mediterranean,

America’s jazz scene, Brazil and Argentina

- places belonging to the World and to the

Soul - have been further enriched.

This has been the best part of the trip.

I’d like to thank Giandomenico for

his precious support, advice, and trust,

Stefonico for recording the sound of

every note and breath, Eduardo for the

magical balance of our album’s sound.

And finally, special thanks to my muse,

Renate.

This album is dedicated to my father,

who crossed the oceans hundreds of

times. Thanks to him I’ve never been

afraid of travelling.

By travelling we start to find that which we are

seeking for: ourselves

Rosario Bonaccorso

Music and lyrics by Rosario Bonaccorso

Rosario Bonaccorso doublebass and vocals
Roberto Taufic guitar and backing vocals
Fabrizio Bosso trumpet and flugelhorn
Javier Girotto soprano sax, quena and moxeño
Recorded in Rome at Toto Sound Studio by Stefano Del Vecchio
Mixed and Mastered in Natal (Brasil) at Studio Promidia by Eduardo Taufic
Roberto Taufic plays a Rodolfo Cucculelli guitar
Cover: Giando‘ Blu - 1997 Oil on Canvas by Luigi Boille
Photos: Paolo Soriani
Artwork: Enzo Criscione

01. Viaggiando

02. Matto

03. My Faith

04. Storto

05. A.C.J.

06. Domin

07. Come la neve

08. Give Me Your Hand and Sing

09. Song for My Father

10. Buon volo

11. Agosto

12. Indian Summer

13. Mister Kneipp

14. Mon frere 

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Michael Rosen - Sweet 17 (2015)

Michael Rosen, tenor sax

Lage Lund, guitar

Ralph Alessi, trumpet

Domenico Sanna, piano

Matt Penman, double bass

Bill Stewart, drums

At 17, one’s dreams are alive and vivid and there’s always hope that one day these may come true, as they did for American saxophonist Michael Rosen. Rosen began studying the cello at the age of seven for two years before moving to the piano, and later at eleven he moved to the saxophone.

In the following years, he was first alto saxophone with the Middle School and High School Big Bands and received numerous state and local "best Soloist" awards. Initially, his interests lay more towards “progressive” groups such as Yes, Led Zeppelin, and Talking Heads, but when in 1985 Michael Rosen moved to Boston to study at the Berklee College of Music with renowned teachers such as Gary Burton and George Garzone, where he started to cultivate his soaring passion for the music of Charlie Parker, Joe Henderson, Miles Davis, Stan Getz and John Coltrane, and many other jazz artists who since then have been the main source of his inspiration.

Rosen has been living in Italy for almost 30 years and spends most of his time between Rome and London, highly active in the musical circles of both capital cities. Today, after 35 years of international success with 9 CDs as a leader, over 200 as a sideman, and having collaborated with leading artists of the day such as Bobby McFerrin, Sarah Jane Morris, Mike Stern, the Orchestra della Scala, and countless other American and European musicians, the seventeen-year-old boy with long and disheveled hair, now at the height of his artistic career, returns to New York, his hometown, to record his new music together with a stellar cast of jazz musicians. Sweet 17, as with all albums of the saxophonist / composer, leaves ample room for melodic beauty, fluidity and expressiveness, and introduces the more dynamic, modern and evolved compositions that Rosen has written so far, reflecting all the experience gained from the late 80s to date.

Accompanying him on this musical experience are highly-acclaimed musicians such as: Lage Lund (guitar), Ralph Alessi (trumpet), Domenico Sanna (piano), Matt Penman (double bass) and Bill Stewart (drums). It can be truly said that Michael Rosen’s dream, his "Sweet 17", came true and this album is the evidence.

01 Architextures (Michael Rosen)

02 Ebb Tide (Michael Rosen)

03 Sweet 17 (Michael Rosen)

04 Fair Weather Ahead (Michael Rosen)

05 Hopefully (Michael Rosen)

06 Safe As Houses (Michael Rosen)

07 39 Belgrave Square  (Michael Rosen)

08 Yellow Barn Road (Michael Rosen)

09 Jacoby’s Ladder (Michael Rosen)

10 The Way We Were (A. Bergman, M. Bergman, M. Hamlisch)

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Domi