Laar Farobiansah Gamelan - Bidadari (FOR TUNE 2018)

1.Bidadari kecilku 08:13

2.Cinta dua dunia 04:46

3.Motor antic 07:03

4.Jangan kau bangunkanku 11:51

5.Berita pagi ini 05:24

6.Senja di balkoni 04:44

Sahnil Arif Farobiansah – vocal

&

Laar:

Michał Górczyński – clarinet, bass clarinet

Paweł Szamburski – clarinet

&

Warsaw Gamelan Group:

Dawid Martin

Krzysztof Dziuba

Karolina Karwan

Maria Białota

Przemysław Piłaciński

Neves Sulumuna

Dampi

Janczarski & McCraven Quintet - Liberator (FOR TUNE 2018)

It was once said: Jazz was discovered by Afro-Americans… for white Europeans. It was still that way in the 1950’s, but the following decades annulled that state of affairs. This is because Jazz has managed to create an incredible space for musicians of all geographical latitudes and longitudes; this CD is yet more evidence of that. Borders and barriers have remained in the background, and the listener quickly succumbs to the charm of transparent compositions, distinctly outlined by two horns, vigorously and precisely supported from beginning to end by an attentive and highly cooperative rhythm section. And the pianist – for me, a discovery. She’s assertive, but not domineering, thoroughly grounded in Jazz tradition, like all of the other musicians, and just as bold as they are. The symbol of Liberator obligates – and Jazz, as always, this time once again, emancipates.

(Jerzy Stępień, PSJ)

1.The Torn Veil 15:09

2.The Spark (for Jasia) 10:04

3.Sweet Love of Mine 09:09

4.Daddy's Bounce 08:47

5.Hambone / Intertwining Spirits 11:14

6.I Want To Talk About You 06:55

7.Love Is 08:59

Borys Janczarski – tenor saxophone

Stephen McCraven – drums, body

Joanna Gajda – piano

Adam Kowalewski – double bass

Rasul Siddik – trumpet, flutes, percussion, vocals

Todd Marcus - On These Streets (a Baltimore Story) 2018

Since 1997 Marcus has lived a double life as a community activist and leader of the west Baltimore nonprofit Intersection of Change, while also carving out a career as one of the world’s preeminent jazz bass clarinetists. His album On These Streets offers a musical portrait of his neighborhood of 20 plus years which was thrust into the national spotlight in 2015 due to the civil unrest following the death of fellow community resident Freddie Gray.

Self taught in jazz theory and composition, Marcus’ straight-ahead playing has carved out a unique voice for the bass clarinet in modern jazz. The New York Times writes, “Mr. Marcus is probably the most inventive bass clarinetist working in straight-ahead jazz today…[and] lives in Baltimore, where he is a guiding light on the city’s jazz scene who doubles as an activist and organizer.”

While the New Jersey native’s work over recent years has focused extensively on his Egyptian heritage by incorporating Middle Eastern influences in jazz, his current efforts have focused on his experiences at home in Baltimore as On These Streets seeks to portray both the challenges and strengths of his community.

1. On The Corner 08:28

2. An Intersection of Change (Intro) 02:04

3. An Intersection of Change 07:21

4. Ground Zero (at Penn. & North) (Intro) 01:32

5. Ground Zero (at Penn. & North) 08:48

6. I Surrender All (Intro) 00:40

7. I Surrender All 05:14

8. Fear of the Known 06:14

9. PTSD In the Hood (intro) 00:22

10. PTSD In The Hood 05:50

11. Pennsylvania Avenue Hustle (Intro) 01:42

12. Pennsylvania Avenue Hustle 04:55

13. It Still Gets Still (Intro) 00:33

14. It Still Gets Still 06:51

15. Covered In Snow 06:11

16. NJ '88 (Ode to the 80s) 06:20

Todd Marcus - bass clarinet

Warren Wolf - vibraphone & drums

Paul Bollenback - guitar

George Colligan - piano

Kris Funn - bass

Eric Kennedy - drums & vocal

WVR BVBY - WVR BVBY (PLUG SEVEN RECORDS 2018)

"Perhaps the most beautifully deep new release I've heard this year" 

Jeremy Sole (KCRW / Worldwide FM - Los Angeles) 

"Very talented new Melbourne group that blew my mind when I saw them doing their thing live! Highly recommended!" 

Danilo Plessow (Motor City Dum Ensemble) 

"Good music usually makes itself feel familiar whilst still exciting, new and fresh. Melbourne's WVR BVBY certainly prove this through these 8 sumptuous pieces of music, cementing their place firmly into the landscape of one of the worlds most innovative music cities today." 

Miles Cleret (Soundway)

Melbourne, Australia 8-piece WVR BVBY unveil a meditational 

jazz odyssey on their debut self-titled album. 

WVR BVBY is the next link in the chain to the Melbourne 

soulful sound that has been developing strongly over the past 

decade. They create cinematic sounds through roaring horns, 

synth arpeggiation and a rhythm section that sways from 

meditative grooves to dramatic, complex rhythmic interplay 

with tight precision. 

Recorded at Fitzroy’s Plug Seven Studios, The 8 track LP was 

inspired by mixture of crate digger culture and 70s production 

techniques, recorded in one take sessions using direct 

to tape technology. 

The name WVR BVBY (pronounced WAR BABY) has a special 

connection to the leader of the 8 piece ensemble, 

Carl Lindeberg who plays bass. The story goes that Lindeberg's 

parents first met and fell in love in the war torn Middle East 

during the Gulf War, and the result of that union was 

Lindeberg himself. 

The album is the sophomore release of independent label 

Plug Seven Records, run by Plug Seven Records store and 

studio owner, Ari Roze.

1. Intro 02:40

2. Magnetic Ruins 06:05

3. BSP 07:10

4. Watch The Wood Grain Crawl 04:50

5. The Kindness Of Strangers 04:52

6. What Is It Good For? 04:30

7. 411 04:23

8. And Another Thing 10:53

Carl Lindeberg - Bass Guitar, SH09 + SH101

Joseph Orton - Guitar + Pocket Piano

Phoebe Elsworth - Rhodes

Nelson Piccin - Drums

Tommy Harrison - Drums [A2 + A3]

Harry Cooper - Tenor Saxophone [A2, A3, A4, B1 + B3] + Flute [A1]

Jon Dinapoil - Tenor Saxophone [B2 + B4]

Stephen Brookes - Tenor Saxophone [A1]

Nathaniel Sametz - Trombone

Charlie Woods - Trumpet

Erica Tucceri - Flute [A2, A3, A4 + B]

Joel Trigg - SH101 [B1]

Choir on B1; Harmony Byrne, Danika Smith, Anita Chorowicz + Shanti Lane

Arranged by:

WVR BVBY

Written By:

Carl Lindeberg [A1, A3, A4, B1, B2 + B3]

Joseph Orton [B4]

Phoebe Elsworth [A2]

Recorded late 2016 - 2017 Collingwood Melbourne

Plug Seven Studios

Neve console / Agfa PEM 468 / Big 44BX in the middle

Engineers: Ari Roze & Carl Lindeberg

Producer - Carl Lindeberg

Mixed: Andy Stewart. Nick Herrera & Lukas Glickman

Mastered & Cut: Dubplate and Matering

Pressed: Optimal Media

Jessica Lauren - Almería (FREESTYLE RECORDS 2018)

The albums' opener - Kofi Nomad is a deeply percussive afrocentric epic, featuring the beautiful baritone saxaphone of Tamar 'Collocutor' Osborn, one of the most in demand woodwind players working today, underpinned by a powerful foundation of percussion courtesy of Richard Ọlátúndé Baker, Phillip Harper and drummer Cosimo Keita Cadore.

Jessicas' amazing skill for writing simple, understated yet superbly memorable and catchy hooks remains undiminished. Highlights in this new collection are almost too numerous to mention, but Amalfi is a breezy bossa, which conjures up images of easy living days and sun dappled Mediterranean coastlines, whilst the angular and brooding Simba Jike has something of an Eddie Harris style deep, dark groove over which Jessica riffs and solos beautifully on grand piano - and Tamar once again blows freely, whilst 'level' Neville Malcolms' upright bass figure roots the entire thing in a solid, almost primeval sound.

The albums closing statement Argentina is a masterpiece of pathos and perfectly demonstrates Jessicas' approach which is almost akin to a minimalist architecture style of composing and playing, such is the strength of its atmosphere and subtlety.

"Absolutely LOVE this. Added Kofi Nomad to our playlist today"

Chris Philips, Jazz FM

1. Kofi Nomad 11:30

2. Teck Et Bambou 07:48

3. Amalfi 05:51

4. Simba Jike 09:24

5. Chichourlette 06:29

6. Bells Ring for Esmeralda 04:28

7. Beija Flor 05:11

8. Chocolate Con Churros 02:11

9. Argentina 08:48

Since the early 1990s, keyboard player Jessica Lauren has been a familiar part of London's alternative music scene. Jessica's keyboard skills have augmented the live performances and studio recordings of world renowned artists such as Jean Carne, Tom Browne, Dexter Wansel and James Mason, Japan's United Future Organisation, and UK soul diva Juliet Roberts.

Ben Stowers Trio - Coversation (2018)

1. Just Squeeze Me 06:33

2. Congruence 03:06

3. Tony Plush 05:50

4. Opening Day Starter 04:04

5. Motorcycle Maintenance 06:33

6. Monk's Mood 02:30

7. I Don't Want to Set The World on Fire 05:14

Ben Stowers, Tenor Saxophone

Solomon Gottfried, Bass

Andrew Licata, Drums

Mads la Cour’s Almugi - Hule (WHY PLAY JAZZ 2018)

Fascinating melodies are spiritually bound together as Almugi skirts the well-traveled highways on its way to forging new paths. An emotive music from the European North amazes with its sophisticated originality, as it creates an earthy, natural musical atmosphere.

Played by a band with an uncanny feel for one another, the music on Mads la Cours’ fourth album, “Almugi” revels in a subtle intimacy. This Danish musician’s compositions point the direction towards a uniquely well-rounded music, balanced, truthful, and played with a deliberate intensity.

Despite the dangers and ever-increasing problems in the world, the goal is to find the beauty that surrounds us, to acknowledge and never lose sight of that beauty. The musicians all stem from the Danish island of Fünen; they are all in their late 30’s, and busy with various musical projects, yet since 2015 they have made this band their focal point. There is something grating and ruff-edged; the horns splinter the tones, compress and assimilate the sounds in such a way that an earthy, natural musical atmosphere is created and maintained. Nothing is smoothed over or pre-packaged.

Mads la Cour is searching for that which is good and true. He is concerned about the human indifference and the lack of altruism around us. It angers him when the wrong people gain control of the levers of power. His composition "Støjland Møgland" alludes to Inger Støjberg, the Danish Minister for Immigration, Integration, and Housing. “Terminus” refers to a jazz club in France that offers ideal working conditions. “Gammelton” is a hymn to his parents. The title piece, “Hule”, concerns itself with a cave used as refuge, a safe haven against stress and anxiety, a place in which one would want to sign up to stay. However, the art on this album is bound to earthy nature, face to face with the world’s wounds and wonders.

There is a transparent texture and elasticity to the music. Fascinating melodies are spiritually bound together. The album skirts the well-traveled highways as it forges new paths. “Almugi” is the ancient Scandinavian word that signifies “free men of the Kingdom who possess the quality of goodness” – a fitting word for the players and music on this album.

Concerts 2018

Jul 12, 2018 - Kopenhagen, DK @ Kvarterhuset, Copenhagen Jazz Festival

Sep 03, 2018 - Kopenhagen, DK @ 5E

Sep 05, 2018 - Århus, DK @ Sun Ship

Sep 06, 2018 - Svendborg, DK @ Giant Steps

Sep 08, 2018 - Stockholm, SE @ Glen Miller

Immer Schön #1  4:36

Terminus  5:41

Støjland Møgland  6:24

Hule  5:53

Immer Schön #2  4:31

Gammelton  4:33

Impro  0:52

Bølgebop, Bølgebop  3:18

Immer Schön #3  3:07

Mads la Cour (cornet, flugelhorn)

Lars Greve (clarinet, bass clarinet, tenor saxophone)

Kasper Tom Christiansen (drums)

Mariusz Praśniewski (double bass)

Recorded 1st & 2nd of May 2017 by Chris Weeda at Fattoria Musica Studios, Osnabrück, Germany Mixed by Chris Weeda

Mastered Peter Hellesøe

All compositions by Mads la Cour

Produced by Mads la Cour for WhyPlayJazz

Design and artwork by Travassos

Cover art: Woodcut by Per Kirkeby, © Donation Jorn, Silkeborg / Per Kirkeby

With support from Svendborg Musikråd, DJBFA, Dansk Artist Forbund and Dansk Skuespillerforbund

FUSK - The Jig Is Up (WHY PLAY JAZZ 2018)

FUSK is 100% contemporary jazz, catapulted forward by the creative ingenuity of the band members; these are players who have something to say! The music is intensive, joyous. It grabs you, as it expands out of its musical roots and takes off and into the open air.

Kasper Tom Christiansen is no purist; instead, he tastefully mixes genres, as much at home with the techniques required in contemporary new music as with the improvisational surprises of free jazz.

FUSK takes up a wide field of play, and this adventurous quartet doesn’t like to be fenced in. It all begins with the members of a band that has been in existence for some ten years. “The Jig Is Up” is FUSK’s fourth album. Trumpet (now with a new band member, the amazing Polish musician, Tomasz Dabrowski), bass clarinet/clarinet (Rudi Mahall), bass (Andreas Lang), and drums: It’s a band that reminds you of such breakthrough bands of the early 1960’s as the classic Ornette Coleman Quartet, the New York Art Quartet, or Archie Shepp’s early quartet with trumpeter Bill Dixon. At first listen they sound a bit retro, indicative of the revolutionary fervor of the time. But straightaway you sense there’s something deeper here, something playful, with an understated humor that transports history into the present.

Despite their complexity, the compositions are far from obtrusive. FUSK evinces an amazing lightness in their play – there’s an edge to the tempos and a synergy between the two horns. That may sound like blue light (high speed) driving, like a club in which you’d love to spend the evening, like big city street scenes, like an enchanted past with imprints in the here and now. It is intensive, joyous music with a melodic incisiveness. It grabs you. Expanding out of its musical roots, it takes off into the open air, as it constructs and deconstructs the musical material in the same breath.

This acoustic band has fun with the album’s feel of freewheeling swing. There’s often a tongue-in-cheek attitude to the music’s mercurial, gripping shifts and turns. It’s fresh music that plays around with the sounds we are used to hearing, as the musicians tip their hats to the past while at the same time blasting through traditional styles.

There’s a balance within the turbulence that oscillates between the compositions and the continual leaps of creative furor. Nothing takes a life of its own here, since everything is dedicated to the service of the musical situation. And there’s the band’s whimsical name, FUSK, which could be translated as “messing around”. With the band’s ironic musical allusions and subtle humor, the name fits. Yet, the irony never degenerates into cheap tricks; there is never a lack of creative ideas.

Concerts 2018

Jun 30, 2018 - Svendborg, DK @ Jazzfestival

Oct 28, 2018 - Pohrsdorf, DE @ Saxstall

Nov 01, 2018 - Stuttgart, DE @ Theaterhaus Stuttgart, IG Jazzfestival

Nov 03, 2018 - Lokeren, BE @ Lokerse Jazzklub

Circles  5:07

The Jig Is Up  6:54

Happy New Year  5:47

Blacklisted  3:53

Pennies  6:17

Politics  5:21

I Play Tennis And Blues  4:00

Song for Otto  5:59

Dyrk Dild  4:11

Minervois  7:27

Kasper Tom Christiansen (dr, comp)

Tomasz Dąbrowski (tp)

Andreas Lang (b)

Rudi Mahall (bcl)

Recorded, mixed and mastered October 2017 by Tito Knapp at Tito’s Zentrifuge, Berlin, Germany

All compositions by Kasper Tom Christiansen

Produced by Kasper Tom Christiansen for WhyPlayJazz

Design by Travassos

Photo by Kristoffer Juel

With support from Svendborg Musikråd, DJBFA and Koda’s Cultural Funds

Philipp Gropper’s Philm - Live At Bimhuis (WHY PLAY JAZZ 2018)

"Live At Bimhuis" is Philipp Gropper and Philm’s astounding interim statement on the way to new musical heights, a statement of unexpected density, exceptional use of dynamics, sustained emphasis on and sensibility to the details. Done with directness, purity and presence.

Philipp Gropper’s Philm is underway, propelling itself to ever new heights. This forceful quartet takes off with a bursting energy that surges forth throughout their live performances. And so it was during Philm’s tour following the release of their “Sun Ship” album; they amazed festival audiences in Moers, Dobbia, and Ljubiana. They played to standing ovations at Amsterdam’s iconic Bimhuis jazz club. And the journey continues.

Before the band heads into the studio in April 2018 to record a completely new program, the uncut live recording of that Amsterdam concert will be released as the link between “Sun Ship” and the upcoming recording. “Live At Bimhuis” documents the band’s masterful use of dynamics and their emphasis on directness, purity, and presence. There is an improvised balance, a sensitive awareness of the details, as they thrust their way forward. This extraordinary band also takes up and reassembles material from their previous albums "Licht" and "The Madman of Naranam", ingeniously shinning new light on the pieces.

Philm forges music that bursts forth with unexpected intensity and consequence. Through the band’s insistently sharp, cutting agitation, the music comes more and more into focus. It reaches into the essence, the core, through a process that, with passionate urgency, opens up that core for all to hear. With Philm’s understanding that something only becomes exciting when it is no longer arbitrary, it shifts the boundaries of how we listen.

The tenor saxophonist is underway with Elias Stemeseder on piano and synthesizer, drummer Oliver Steidle and bassist Robert Landfermann. Philipp Gropper’s compositions are not written for some anonymous sideman, rather, they center around each player’s character. Urgent, threatening and dense, the music extends beyond a mere sum of its parts; it exhibits a collective compactness roaming over ever-new terrain on which abstraction and earthy sensuality are no longer opposites. The music is layered in such a manner that new space may be found and occupied.

Philm speaks with an urgency that springs from an inner desire to say what needs to be said. The band does that self-reliantly, without compromise. The group speaks directly to our time, something that the listener intuitively senses. A stellar moment for German jazz, to say the least.

Concerts 2018

Jun 02, 2018 - Bergen, NO @ Nattjazz Festival

Aug 03, 2018 - Berlin, DE @ A'Larme Festival

Sun Ship (Part 1)  9:45

Sun Ship (Part 2)  10:49

Ze  10:56

Who Owns The World? (Part 1)  5:11

Who Owns The World? (Part 2)  6:06

J (Part 3)  5:13

Licht  7:10

Philipp Gropper (tenor sax, composition)

Elias Stemeseder (piano, synthesizer)

Robert Landfermann (bass)

Oliver Steidle (drums)

Recorded July 30th, 2017 by Marc Schots at BIMHUIS, Amsterdam (Netherlands)

Mixed and Mastered by Martin Ruch at Control Room Berlin (Germany)

Design and artwork by Travassos

Rabbitnews, May 2018

RABBITNEWS

May 2018

LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL...

April was crazy busy and this month will be no different. We're excited to share what we've got planned for May. Please make sure you're following us on Facebook & Instagram to learn more about album releases, shows and more. 


Here's what we've got coming up:

THE SIDE PROJECT’S NEXT SHOW


The Side Project will be performing with special guests this month! Watch them perform all of your favorite cover songs at the Workers Unite Film Festival, taking place on Sunday, May 20th at 10PM at Crystal Lake in Brooklyn, NY. 

ARNAN RAZ QUINTET’S HOUSE CONCERT

The Arnan Raz Quintet will be performing this month on May 12th in Brooklyn. The House Concert will feature photos from Laura Fontaine and a reading from Nicole Callihan's newest book. 


Click the image below to learn more about the event.

NOW ON SPOTIFY

Tea Masters and Zoo Berries' latest EP's are now available on Spotify! Click the images below to listen to the each. 

DANIEL MERON'S 'TEENAGE DIRTBAG' COVER

Recorded live at Daniel's Cornelia Street Cafe performance back in February, here is the official video for Meron's cover of the pop rock classic 'Teenage Dirtbag'  by Wheatus.

Watch the full video