Saturday, May 12, 2018



Doctor Atomic
Release date: June 29

On this first recording of John Adams's opera Doctor Atomic , the composer leads the BBC Singers and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, with a cast led by Gerald Finley and Julia Bullock. Peter Sellars created the libretto, drawing from original sources to explore the final hours leading up to the first atomic bomb explosion at the Alamagordo test site in 1945. "A magnificent accomplishment that easily takes its place alongside the other Adams-Sellars triumphs," exclaims the Los Angeles Times. "Music of unearthly splendor."

Pre-order to download the aria "Batter my heart" and the chorus "At the sight of this" now.






Lake Street Dive, who are currently on tour, returned to The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to perform "Good Kisser," from their new album, Free Yourself Up




Saxophonist Joshua Redman, drummer Brian Blade, bassist Scott Colley, and trumpeter Ron Miles performed songs from their forthcoming album, Still Dreaming, at last year's Jazz in Marciac festival, including the song "Unanimity."




Rostam released a visualizer for "Sumer," off his album Half-Light, ahead of his European tour, which starts at Primavera Sound on May 31, followed by stops in France, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, and Ireland, and UK shows in London and Brighton.




Lake Street Dive stopped by Brooklyn's Retrofret Vintage Guitars for NPR's Night Owl. The show says: "Watch Lake Street Dive masterfully blend jazz, soul and pop in its performance of 'Baby Don't Leave Me Alone with My Thoughts,'" from the new album Free Yourself Up.




Devendra Banhart will give a series of duo performances with his longtime collaborator Noah Georgeson in Asia in June, visiting Seoul, Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Bangkok. He will also headline the LTDOMX festival in Silao, Mexico, next weekend. 





The Magnetic Fields' Stephin Merritt and Sam Davol were on New Sounds' Soundcheck. Merritt spoke with host John Schaefer about the album 50 Song Memoir, and he and Davol performed songs from the album and more.




Congratulations to Rhiannon Giddens, who has won the Songlines Music Award, for her latest album, Freedom Highway, in the Americas category. Songlines gave the album four stars when it was released, calling the title track "the closing triumph to a wonderful set."




Doctor Atomic


Seymour Reads the Constitution!

Shelter


Free Yourself Up

Diary: January 27, 2018

Violin Concerto

American Utopia

Half-Light

Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio - Live at KEXP! (COLEMINE RECORDS 2018)


A Unique 60's & 70's Vintage Soul Trio With the Sounds of the Hammond B3 Mixed With Tasty Guitar Lines & Old School Style Pocket Drumming.

1. Move On Up 05:00
2. Memphis 06:58
3. South Leo St Stomp 05:58  
4. Concussion 04:27
5. Don't Want To Play That 05:14
6. Tacoma Black Party 04:13
7. Top Going Down, Bottom Going Up 06:50


Delvon Lamarr, Organ
Jimmy James, Guitar
David McGraw, Drums

Hey! This weeks $5.00 is a "5" itself...

The TOaG Quartet - Grey and Green (2018)


Debut EP of the Oakland based modern jazz quartet, recorded live at Airship Laboratories

With Ricky Carter on drums, David Wright on guitar, Matt Kelly on trumpet, and Benjamin Lee on upright and electric bass, the T.O.a.G. Quartet is an Oakland based musical organization inspired by the many lineages of jazz and groove. Dedicated to producing exciting improvisational music, supporting arts education, and paying artists a living wage, we hope to spark the mind, and move the spirit.

1. Devil's Breath Part 2 10:46
2. Sutro 07:02
3. Grey and Green 04:01
4. Mountain Pass 07:43
5. Little Known and Not Long Remembered 07:12

Ricky Carter - Drums
DV Wright - Guitar, Live Effects
Matt Kelly - Trumpet
Benjamin Lee - Upright and Electric Bass, Sampler

Produced by: Benjamin Lee
Recorded at: Airship Laboratories, Richmond, CA
Recorded and Mixed by: Neil Godbole

Jorge Sylvester ACE Collective - Spirit Driven (2018)


Trying to hear this music in terms of metrical beats would be like traveling along Arizona’s magnificent Red Rock Scenic Road and only counting the mile markers rather than taking in the breathtaking scenery.” 

Jorge Sylvester ACE Collective is “an all-star jazz band that knows how to swing, to improvise with spontaneity and poise, and to respond to one another with telepathic immediacy and profound respect. 

Their new double CD release Spirit Driven, is the result of a lifetime of spirit driven preparation by each musician – Jorge Sylvester: brilliant composer and arranger, virtuoso alto saxophonist; Nora McCarthy: daringly original, versatile, and fearlessly honest singer, composer, and poet; Waldron Mahdi Ricks: impeccably artful trumpet player, a jazz master in his own right; Pablo Vergara: astoundingly imaginative pianist, musically fluent on an encyclopedic, global scale; Donald Nicks: journeyman artisan of the bass, unfailingly, and always tastefully, providing the musical foundation; Kenny Grohowski: uncannily precise and inventive drummer and percussionist…” 

Dedicated to the people of Haiti, Spirit Driven is a highly rhythmic and spiritually motivated compositional journey through the various cultures that make up the Caribbean Islands encompassing their significance and contribution to the present day advanced musical concepts in jazz and avant-garde/free music. It uses the “word” in the form of poetry and lyrics to convey each song’s spiritual and historical message. “The music continuously flows and develops with a lithe bodily grace and expressive range, transfiguring its structural complexity and technical virtuosity into an intimate and honest gesture of oneness with each listener, only possible by virtue of consummate musicianship.” (All quoted material by: Ramsey Ameen, 2012)

1. Construction No. 2 14:16
2. Masouc 11:51
3. Paulina's Prayer 09:14
4. The Light Of Truth's High Noon Is Not For Tender Leaves 08:34
5. Obeahman 07:04
6. Construction No. 1 09:47
7. To Be With You 08:13
8. Remember Haiti 09:01
9. Cycle of Life 08:50

MEMBERS OF THE ACE COLLECTIVE:

Jorge Sylvester: Bandleader/Founder, Alto-Saxophone, Compositions, Arrangements

Nora McCarthy - Voice, Compositions, Lyrics, Poetry
Waldron Mahdi Ricks - trumpet
Pablo Vergara - Piano
Donald Nicks - electric bass
Kenny Grohowski - drums

Nat Birchall - Sounds Almighty (Nat Birchall meets Al Breadwinner) June 15, 2018


Instrumental Roots Reggae Dub LP featuring legendary Jamaican trombonist Vin Gordon a.k.a. Don Drummond Junior a.k.a. Trammy (Real Rock, Heavenless, Bob Marley & The Wailers, Burning Spear, Yabby You etc etc. All original tunes recorded old school style on vintage analogue equipment and mixed by dub master Al Breadwinner at the Bakery Studio in Manchester.

1. Youth Iron Rock
2. Ancient Wisdom
3. Wisdom Dub
4. Freedom Style
5. Freedom Skank
6. In The Hills
7. Higher Region In Dub
8. Igziabeher
9. Amlak Dub
10. Hail Don D Jr

Vin Gordon - Trombone
David Fulwood - Trumpet
Al Breadwinner - Drums, Guitars, Organ, Piano, percussion
Stally - Baritone Sax
KT Lowry - Trumpet on A2 & A3


James Brandon Lewis and Chad Taylor - Radiant Imprints (OFF - RECORD label 2018)

Nothing as beautiful as following the course of an interesting, young musician, especially if he has planned not to sit with the suits. Tenor James Brandon Lewis made a furore with his trio in 2017.

On "radiant imprints" he is heard with master drummer Chad Edward Taylor. The result is free and soulful, and sometimes surprisingly catchy.

Radiant Imprints is a strong, soulful statement by musicians who possess baggage and technology, but also instinct, emotion and character. And with that you not only address the head, but also the heart.



Twenty Four
Loved One
With Sorrow Lonnie
Imprints
First Born
Radiance
Improve I

James Brandon Lewis: saxophone
Chad Taylor: drums


Jonathan Hughes - Luna (2018)


As beguilingly understated as the very satellite it’s named for, Luna is an album of original jazz compositions by bassist, composer, and producer Jonathan Hughes. While there are plenty of moments to tastefully showcase his refined and fastidious bass playing — both as a soloist and an accompanist — Luna is first and foremost an ensemble piece, with contributions from Tim Clarke (trumpet), Harry Graser (piano), Rob Lynch (drums) and more. With finesse and aplomb, Hughes reinterprets a contemporary jazz sound, weaving in elements of bossa nova, funk, and fusion. The exquisite ballad “Mauveine” is as sophisticated as it is plaintive, while “Planet Earth” evokes a noirish moonscape that would not sound entirely out of place with Hughes’s early ambient compositions. The album’s melancholic conclusion, “Canaveral,” is a neo-soul-infused waltz, which is to say that Luna is an album about exploration and invention. It is as much about jazz as it is about art and aesthetics. Luna is available on Bandcamp, iTunes, Google Play, Amazon, Spotify, and many other digital retailers.

1. Spaceman 05:16
2. Luna 05:51
3. Umbra 05:44
4. Stacking the Stone 05:38
5. Parisian Nightsuit 05:22
6. Mauveine 06:44
7. Helios 05:08
8. Planet Earth 06:19
9. The Waters Of Mars 06:04
10. Canaveral 04:31

Dee Adams (vocals)
John Bacon (drums)
Kelly Bucheger (tenor saxophone)
Tim Clarke (trumpet)
Mike Criscione (guitar)
Mike DiGiacomo (tenor saxophone)
Harry Graser (pianos)
Jonathan Hughes (bass, guitar, glockenspiel)
Guillermo Izquierdo (guitar)
Rob Lynch (drums and percussion)
Lenny Pommefrite (tuba)
Joe Rozler (electric piano)
Ray Skalski (trombone)