Danny Janklow - Elevation (2017)

25-year-old Danny Janklow is quickly gaining international recognition for his soulful and innovative musical voice. His heart-felt, passionate, and highly energetic music has reached and inspired thousands of listeners from Japan to Holland to Mexico. His live performances, often described as "emotionally charged" and "vibrant celebrations," leave his listeners always wanting more...  

Born in Tarzana, CA in 1989, Danny Janklow was handed the saxophone at the age of 11. His life would soon change as he was introduced to the remarkable sounds of Charlie Parker, Cannonball Adderley, and John Coltrane. Just 2 years later, it was obvious to all that the music had chosen him. During his time at Agoura High School, Danny was recognized by Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra as the first-ever triple instrument "Outstanding Soloist" on tenor saxophone, flute and clarinet.

In 2007, Danny was awarded a full-tuition scholarship to Philadelphia's Temple University Boyer College of Music and Dance where he was mentored by saxophone legend Dick Oatts and incredible trumpeter Terell Stafford. In 2010, Danny won 1st place in the North American Saxophone Alliance competition held in Athens, Georgia. While living on the east coast, he frequently played at the Village Vanguard with the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, the Kimmel Center, the Apollo in Harlem, and Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola in New York.

After graduating in 2011, Danny moved back to Los Angeles to take the scene by storm. He rapidly became one of LA's most in-demand saxophonists and bandleaders. In August 2012, he won 1st place at the Detroit Jazz Festival Saxophone Competition and headlined on that year's festival. He took part in a 2-year Mentor program teaching at Stanford Jazz Camp where he discovered his deep passion for teaching students of all ages. In 2013, he was selectively chosen as a semi-finalist to compete in the Thelonious Monk International Saxophone Competition in Washington D.C.

Danny has enjoyed the pleasure of sharing the stage and recording with the likes of Wynton and Branford Marsalis, Benny Golson, Terell Stafford, Wycliffe Gordon, Eric Reed, John Beasley, Ben Williams, Jason Moran, Savion Glover, Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Bill Holman Big Band, Gordon Goodwin, Barbara Morrison and Jimmy Heath.

The "Elevation"  album is a true celebration of passionate, soulful, and beautiful music. This is Danny's feature length album debut! Aside from a cover of Radiohead's "Creep," the album features Danny's original music written over the span of 6 years. Danny was honored to be joined by the most incredible musicians he knew to play on this remarkable studio session.The result was a complete masterful performance by everyone. Magic shined through on each note that was played. The  record's title "Elevation" is a reference to the remarkable process of lifting one's spirit and reaching new spiritual & emotional peaks.

Saxophonist & Multi-Instrumentalist DANNY JANKLOW

Releases Stunning Full-Length Debut, ELEVATION

Co-Produced by Pianist John Beasley

Album Features Janklow’s Mentors and Peers: Pianists Eric Reed and John Beasley, Keyboardist Sam Barsh, Vibraphonist Nick Mancini, Bassists Ben Williams and Benjamin Shepherd, and Drummer Jonathan Pinson

Featuring Guest Vocal Spots by Jesse Palter on “Hidden Treasure” and “Lolobai”

and Michael Mayo on Catchy Album Closer “Serene State of Love”

“When one considers the outstanding young jazz musicians in Los Angeles who are most likely to move the music forward, alto saxophonist Danny Janklow is in the front of the pack.” – Los Angeles Times

“Danny Janklow is one of the most amazing talents I’ve witnessed. His dedication and commitment to this music makes his music swing, groove and touch the hearts and souls of his listeners. Danny combines his harmonic prowess with his love for melody, rhythm and the blues to create passionate, energetic solos with depth and soulfulness!” – Terell Stafford


“Danny has proven to be one of the most reliable musicians with whom I’ve ever had the pleasure of sharing a bandstand. Regardless of the concept, tempo, key or time signature, he consistently applies himself to the moment, and handles his business. A remarkable musician.” – Eric Reed

1. Philafornia 05:42

2. Bad Reception 06:48

3. Hidden Treasure 04:58

4. Creep 06:04

5. Roastmaster 01:12

6. Gemini Vibe 04:01

7. Lolobai 04:36

8. Calor del Momento 04:52

9. All in the Name of You 06:14

10. Serene State of Love 05:01

Matt Mitchell - A Pouting Grimace (PI RECORDINGS 2017)

A regular member of Tim Berne’s Snakeoil and the Dave Douglas Quintet, pianist / keyboardist / composer Matt Mitchell has recently appeared on Rudresh Mahanthappa’s Bird Calls (2015) and Jonathan Finlayson’s Moving Still (2016). Mitchell has worked with a broad array of top-name artists including Steve Coleman, John Hollenbeck and Mario Pavone. Mitchell is a chameleon, able to take on completely different musical personas across of fast array of situations. His own Vista Accumulation (2015) was one of the most highly regarded releases of that year. Frequently in demand, he has managed to produce ten albums as a leader or co-leader. The most recent, A Pouting Grimace, is an eclectic collection that defies categorization.

Mitchell’s previous albums have been elatively small formations -solo through quartet and so the twelve- person ensemble on a A Pouting Grimace is new territory for him, as a leader. In that company of players are exceptional names. Saxophonist Jon Irabagon (Mostly Other People Do the Killing), flautist Anna Webber and percussionists Ches Smith and Dan Weiss are on hand, and Tyshawn Sorey serves as conductor on two pieces.

The very brief “Bulb Terminus” is a bit of programmed reverie that leads to the loosely structured “Plate Shapes,” a multifaceted maelstrom of cadences and noises with an impulsive sense of movement. Irabagon and bassoonist Sara Schoenbeck spend much of the time searching for their own alternate routes. “Brim” is the centerpiece of A Pouting Grimace as it provides a platform for the development of the surrounding compositions. At the core of “Brim” is a phantasmagorical, full-ensemble mélange that feels omnidirectional and free-flowing. The longest piece on the album, “Sick Fields” is an episodic anomaly that moves in fits and starts; it is as unstoppable as it is—at times—impenetrable. “Ooze Interim” concludes the album with a floating, solo electronics performance from Mitchell.

The free nature, density and complexity of A Pouting Grimace does not give way to blowout solos or overall chaos. The musicians wander a marauder’s map, at times, interacting with each other, or occasionally looking for their own opening. This is an album focused on detail; it can be identified in slight, contrasting hues and in unflinching statements. It is certainly a unique and challenging listen.

1. bulb terminus 01:10

2. plate shapes 08:12

3. mini alternate 05:32

4. brim 06:49

5. deal sweeteners 01:38

6. squalid ink 00:15

7. gluts 04:28

8. heft 04:16

9. sick fields 09:10

10. ooze interim 05:07

Produced by David Torn and Matt Mitchell 

Mixed and mastered by David Torn 

Matt Mitchell - piano, Prophet 6, electronics 

Kim Cass - upright bass 

Kate Gentile - drums, gongs, percussion 

Ches Smith - vibraphone, glockenspiel, bongos, timpani, gongs, Haitian tanbou, percussion 

Dan Weiss - tabla 

Patricia Brennan - vibraphone, marimba 

Katie Andrews - harp 

Anna Webber - flute, alto flute, bass flute 

Jon Irabagon - sopranino sax, soprano sax 

Ben Kono - oboe, English horn 

Sara Schoenbeck - bassoon 

Scott Robinson - bass sax, contrabass clarinet 

Tyshawn Sorey - conductor

Talibam! - Hard Vibe (2017)

HARD VIBE is a new cosmic-modular jazz quartet based in New York City featuring saxophonist Matt Nelson, pianist Ron Stabinsky, keyboardist Matthew Mottel, and drummer Kevin Shea. 

Inspired by Herbie Hancock's '70's space-music and long-form repetitive works like Miles Davis’ On The Corner, Hard Vibe has a trans-minimalist compositional impetus with an atypical array of structural obstructions. Specifically, Hard Vibe force-fuses a hard-boiled chordal pattern from rhythm changes into an all-inclusive oasis of contextual amelioration. This is pragmatically achieved by transforming a major-key cadence into a sadistic pre-determined grid of unremitting minor modulations…a task adroitly executed on B3 by Stabinsky. 

Simultaneously, the fantastical foundation of Mottel’s 80’s-jazz-era melodic phrase, paired with Shea’s strict 16th-note rhythmic concept, propels Nelson’s inexhaustible sax solo into a increasingly ecstatic state of tantric epiphany. Hard Vibe obediently maintains it’s infectious pulse throughout and ultimately culminates as a joyous synth-infused Prince tribute cum Keytar payoff à la Jan Hammer. 

Other influences for Hard Vibe include Charlie Parker's concrete melodic vision within Salt Peanuts, the NYC Avantgarde Minimalism of Rhys Chatham and Glenn Branca, Tenor Sax endurance soloists like Sonny Rollins, Albert Ayler's funky New Grass, and the epic organ brutality of Larry Young.

HARD VIBE marks Talibam!’s return to the legendary ESP-Disk’ record label, a partnership begun in 2009 with the release of the highly acclaimed Boogie In The Breeze Blocks album. Also on September 8 2017, Talibam! is thrilled to announce ESP-Disk’ will also be releasing their new soundtrack Endgame Of The Anthropocene (Talibam!’s first cinematic album of through-composed ecogothic geosonics via hyperkinetic rhythm-based instrumental/electronic music). 

Matt Nelson (tenor/effects): Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Matt has been playing the saxophone since his days at El Carmelo Elementary School. He left the sunshine of California for the flurries and wintry mix of Northeastern Ohio, where he attended Oberlin College and Conservatory to study with Gary Bartz and Paul Cohen, among others. After graduating he moved back to the Bay Area and became an active member of the experimental/ jazz/noise scene in Oakland and San Francisco. It was in the Bay Area that he began playing with tUnE-yArDs. After recording on the acclaimed album WHOKILL, he spent a large portion of 2010-2012 on tour with the band. In 2010 Matt began to split his time between the Bay Area and Brooklyn, where he now resides full-time. Since relocating to New York he's begun playing regular solo shows, as well as in the band Battle Trance, released their debut record in August 2014 on New Amsterdam Records and NNA Tapes.. Over the past couple years he's had the pleasure of performing with amazing musicians like Ava Mendoza, Peter Evans, Nels Cline, Weasel Walter, Ben Goldberg, Dan Peck, Tom Rainey, Michael Coleman, Sam Ospovat, Bill McHenry, Tim Dahl, Nick Podgurski, and many others. His debut solo record, Lower Bottoms, was released in Fall of 2014. 

Ron Stabinsky (organ) recently released his debut album, Free for One, the culmination of more than a decade of evolving his improvised solo language. In addition to continuing to pursue his ongoing interest in solo piano improvisation, he enjoys working on music in a stylistically diverse array of situations throughout the United States and Europe with many other musicians and ensembles, including free- improvising saxophonist Jack Wright, bass trombone virtuoso David Taylor, Meat Puppets bassist Cris Kirkwood, and NEA Jazz Master David Liebman. Recent festival appearances include Newport Jazz Festival, North Sea Jazz Festival (Netherlands), Moers Festival (Germany), Jazzfestival Saalfelden (Austria), Outreach Festival (Austria), and Jazz and More Festival Sibiu (Romania). He is currently a regular member of the band Mostly Other People Do the Killing, the new music ensemble Relâche, the Charles Evans Quartet, and the Peter Evans Ensemble, a new expanded conception of the critically acclaimed Peter Evans Quintet. 

Matthew Mottel (Rhodes/Keytar), is an artist and performer who has worked extensively in the International Arts Community since 1999. He co-founded his performance duo Talibam! with Kevin Shea in 2003. They have released 26 albums and completed over 20 international tours. He has also performed in collective ensembles; CSC Funk Band, Alien Whale, Nymph, and is a band-leader in his own unit Platinum Vision. He has collaborated with his father, photographer Syeus Mottel, choreographer Karole Armitage, Fluxist artist Yasunao Tone, Instrument inventor Cooper-Moore, Visual Artist Peter Coffin and many others. He was an Artist In Residence At Issue Project Room in 2010, an LMCC Swing Space Recipient in 2011 and continues to expand his practice searching for both unique opportunities and collaborations. He has performed at such acclaimed venues as MoMa, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Victoria & Albert Museum London, The Kitchen NYC, All Tomorrow's Parties Festival and more. 

Kevin Shea (drums) is a true original. Few other drummers of his generation are as recognizable and idiosyncratic. Shea has always imbued his playing with a humor and flexibility that few in the jazz world have been able to match. His highly considered approach to the drum set is rooted in virtuosic technique, deliberate rawness, and obsessive inquiry. The global experimental community first took notice of Shea back in 1997 with cult free-rock trio Storm & Stress, alongside Battles/Don Caballero’s Ian Williams. Since then, Shea has been featured on 160 albums and has performed in 45 countries. He maintains a relentlessly prolific and polarizing presence with Talibam! (with Matt Mottel), Mostly Other People Do The Killing (with Ron Stabinsky and Moppa Elliott), People (with Mary Halvorson), Rhys Chatham, David Taylor, and countless other projects in the Avant-Garde, Jazz, Contemporary Music, and less superlative genres. 

Talibam!, a 14-year working unit based in New York City, can be described in various ways -- as a classic keyboards/drums expanded-jazz duo, as Dadaist provocateurs with an innate love for the history of music, as a Fluxus-informed theater troupe, as an electronic ensemble inspired by Stockhausen, or as a rhythm section at the cross hair of agility, speed, punctuation, and intention. Since their inception in 2003, Talibam!’s ultimate goal has been to wed disparate ideologies through proficiency, controversy, inquiry, and compassion. Matt Mottel (keys) and Kevin Shea (drums) have remained devoted to their belief that the application of diversity in sound is paramount to the appreciation of diversity among fellow beings. 

Talibam! delights in creating music that cannot be pinned down within the safe-spaces of existing genres. With each new album, Talibam! reinvents their methodological palette in order to bolster a fresh clarity of joyous auditory surprise, something their fans have come to depend on. Talibam! has worked hard to proselytize their process. To date, Talibam! has released over 30 albums, traveled to over 40 countries, and completed more than 30 international tours … with performances at ATP Festival curated by TV On The Radio, Sant'Anna Arresi Jazz Festival, Queen Elizabeth Hall’s Dance Umbrella Festival, Lincoln Center’s Sound and Vision Festival, MoMA’s “Tokyo 1955–1970: A New Avant-Garde” exhibition, Nickelsdorf Jazz Festival, Tarcento Jazz Festival, Milano Dance Festival, Acéfalo Festival in Chile, Suoni Festival in Montreal, Issue Project Room’s Ten Years Alive on the Infinite Plain Fest, Forthwith Festival in Winnipeg, Whartscape Fest in Baltimore, and ZXZW Festival in Tilburg, to name a few. Talibam! has collaborated across genre with the likes of Yasunao Tone, Cooper-Moore, Tamio Shiraishi, David Watson, Ingrid Laubrock, Shelley Hirsch, Daniel Carter, Alan Wilkinson, id m theft able, Leila Bordreuil, Briggan Krauss, Ravish Momin, Ron Stabinsky, Rick Parker, Lary Seven, Sam Kulik, Micah Gaugh, Jeremy Wilms, Mick Barr, Peter Evans, Ed Bear, Moppa Elliott, Lukas Ligeti, Robbie Lee, Nate Wooley, Kyle Forester, Tim Dahl, Fritz Welch, Danielle Kuhlmann, Chris Pitsiokos, Jon Irabagon, Anders Nilsson, Mike Pride, Chris Forsyth, Sarah Lipstate, Kyp Malone, Weasel Walter, Tom Blancarte, Michael Evans, Jaime Fennelly, Matt Nelson, Tom Smith, Steve Gunn, David Earl Buddin, and Karole Armitage’s Armitage Gone! Dance company. In addition, Talibam! was awarded residencies at IRT Theater, Incubator Arts Project, and at Swing Space by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.

Rostislav Fraš Quartet (feat. Antonio Faraò & Jeff "Tain" Watts) - Use the Moment (ANIMAL MUSIC 2017)

Rostislav Fraš, the first-class Czech jazz saxophonist and composer, has invited two giants of the world jazz scene to record his new album with him – Italian pianist Antonio Faraò and the legendary American drummer Jeff “Tain” Watts. The fourth in the band is the bassist Josef Fečo.

 The album has been recorded at the end of the short tour of this line-up and it brings a collection of Fraš's and Faraò's own compositions performed with fantastic and driving delivery.

1. Use the Moment (Rostislav Fraš)

2. N.W. (Rostislav Fraš)

3. Black Inside (Antonio Faraò)

4. Blues After Showers (Rostislav Fraš)

5. Arabesco (Antonio Faraò)

6. Silent Yearning (Rostislav Fraš)

7. Dark Side (Rostislav Fraš)

Rostislav Fraš – tenor saxophone

Antonio Faraò – piano

Jeff “Tain” Watts – drums

Josef Fečo – acoustic bass