Mark Turner Quartet | "Return from the Stars" | ECM

Saxophonist Mark Turner Leads an

Exploratory and Thought Provoking Journey

in his Latest Release, Return from the Stars

Quartet features Jason Palmer,

Joe Martin, and Jonathan Pinson

Available Now via ECM Records

"...a brilliant tenor saxophonist who has never rushed any facet of his artistry...”

— WBGO

"Turner, known for a floating, lightness of tone, has delivered several strong compositions and has been pushed on some of them beyond his usual comfort zone to more intense, fiery expressions.”

— Glide Magazine

Mark Turner has been a frequent and significant presence on ECM recordings of the last dozen years, bringing his saxophone artistry and his musical commitment to recordings with Enrico Rava, the Billy Hart Quartet, the cooperative Fly trio (with Jeff Ballard and Larry Grenadier), Stefano Bollani and, most recently, Ethan Iverson, on the duo recording Temporary Kings. Albums under Turner’s leadership, however, have been rare and Return from the Stars is the first ECM recording to feature his quartet since 2014’s Lathe of Heaven.

 

Turner’s writing for his group on Return from the Stars gives the players plenty of space in which to move, on an album both exhilarating and thoughtful in its arc of expression. Solos flow organically out of the arrangements and, beneath the dazzling interplay of Turner’s tenor and Jason Palmer’s trumpet, bassist Joe Martin and drummer Jonathan Pinson often roam freely. The absence of a chordal instrument keeps the conversational possibilities in the music wide open, as the compositions modulate between the meticulously structured and the loosely guided. Mark Turner puts a lot of faith in intuition and the shared artistic goals of an ensemble, and cherishes the narrative tension arising from the juxtaposition of freedom and responsibility:

 

“My process in writing is that I write for the people playing,” he says. “I don’t like to say a lot to them about the compositions. I like to write a piece of music and know that the people I’ve chosen are going to play it, basically, the way they play. I’d rather they find themselves in the music. The tunes are written in such a way that each musician has a choice in terms of how they take care of what they’re supposed to be doing. There are parts written for the horns. Not so much is written for the rhythm section, except for a few ‘hits’ and maybe time changes in sections. I just give guidelines about how the section should feel and then I let bass and drums figure out how to do it. Whatever makes the rhythm section sound good, that’s what we do. Then, the horns will play on top of that. “

 

Bassist Joe Martin is the sole musician retained from the Lathe of Heaven line-up. He’s been playing with Turner in diverse contexts since 1995. And, as he outlined it to Music & Literature magazine: “I always feel, playing with Mark I have to play as well as possible and raise the bar. In the quartet, because there isn’t a piano or guitar player to fill a certain harmonic space for everybody, I’m more probably more conscious of my note choices. Just one single note choice changes everything, suggesting tonality, harmony.”

 

Turner met dynamic drummer Jonathan Pinson while playing with Israeli guitarist Gilad Hekselman’s group. Pinson’s CV begins at a high level: he dived into the music at the deep end, touring with Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter and Greg Osby while still in his early twenties. His résumé also includes work with Kamasi Washington, Ambrose Akinmusire, Dave Liebman and many others. Pinson makes his ECM debut with Return from the Stars, as does trumpeter Jason Palmer.

 

Palmer and Mark Turner first encountered each other as sidemen in bands a decade ago. Mark subsequently played in projects led by the trumpeter, also recording in some of his projects (Places, Rhyme and Reason and The Concert). He singles out Palmer’s “willingness to go into zones unknown to him” among his outstanding qualities. The two of them share an encyclopaedic knowledge of the music. The Boston Phoenix has said of Palmer that he “builds fire with his secure tone and the cool deliberation of his solos”. The same could be said of Turner, who, according to National Public Radio, “has an innovative sonic signature, a certain floating chromaticism, rhythmic mindfulness and lightness of tone, filled with subtleties.”

 

Return from the Stars takes its title from Stanisław Lem’s science fiction novel in which an astronaut returns from an exploratory space mission to find life on earth greatly changed, and his own values out of step with those of a conformist, risk-averse society. Turner’s sci-fi enthusiasms are well known, and some observers have perceived a kind of idiomatic ‘time travelling’ quality in his work: The Guardian described his ECM quartet album Lathe of Heaven (named after an Ursula K. Le Guin story) as “sounding like Birth of the Cool floated over a 21st-century rhythmic concept.” Deep study of a range of jazz masters has informed his style, his expressivity on the full range of the tenor saxophone, and the scope of his writing, which brings the music forward while being acutely aware of its history.

 

Return from the Stars was recorded at New York’s Sear Sound Studio and mixed at Studios La Buissonne, in Southern France. The album was produced by Manfred Eicher.

Mark Turner   Saxophone

Jason Palmer   Trumpet

Joe Martin   Double Bass

Jonathan Pinson   Drums

1. RETURN FROM THE STARS (Mark Turner) 09:35

2. TERMINUS (Mark Turner) 07:22

3. BRIDGETOWN (Mark Turner) 08:56

4. IT’S NOT ALRIGHT WITH ME (Mark Turner) 10:26

5. NIGERIA II (Mark Turner) 04:37

6. WASTE LAND (Mark Turner) 05:16

7. UNACCEPTABLE (Mark Turner) 12:22

8. LINCOLN HEIGHTS (Mark Turner) 06:15

Mark Turner | Return from the Stars

ECM Release Date: March 25, 2022

Larry Goldings, Peter Bernstein, Bill Stewart | "Perpetual Pendulum" | Available March 25 via Smoke Sessions Records

Organist Larry Goldings, Guitarist Peter Bernstein

and Drummer Bill Stewart Release New Album, Celebrating More Than Three Decades as a Trio

 

Perpetual Pendulum Due Out

March 25, 2022 via Smoke Sessions Records

Album Marks Homecoming for the Trio,

Born at Smoke Jazz Club Predecessor Augie’s

Perpetual motion has been dismissed as an impossibility by scientists, but perhaps they should check in with organist Larry Goldings, guitarist Peter Bernstein and drummer Bill Stewart. The trio has been creating vigorously swinging music together for more than 30 years and show no signs of slowing down. That’s not quite an eternity – though in jazz terms, it might as well be.

 

The longevity of the musical hook-up between Goldings, Bernstein and Stewart was the inspiration behind Bernstein’s “Perpetual Pendulum,” one of the scintillating new tunes on Perpetual Pendulum, the trio’s new album together. Due out March 25, 2022 from Smoke Sessions Records, the date combines the bandmates’ originals with fresh takes on jazz classics by what is surely the longest-lasting organ trio in modern jazz.

 

“Thirty-plus years is definitely a milestone,” Bernstein says. “Especially when you consider it in light of jazz history; it’s trippy to think about, but that's equivalent to keeping a band together from 1940 to 1970. If you think about how short a time so many of our musical heroes were even active, let alone have a group together – I mean, the classic Coltrane quartet was only together for about four years. So it is pretty significant.”

 

Perpetual Pendulum was recorded last July at New York’s Sear Sound, a studio with which the trio shares a storied history dating back to their second outing together, 1992’s Light Blue. The session marked the 30th anniversary of the release of their debut, Goldings’ 1991 album The Intimacy of the Blues.

 

But their history stretches back even earlier. Goldings and Bernstein had met while still in high school, when both attended the Eastman School of Music’s summer jazz program. The guitarist met Stewart two years later when both were enrolled at William Paterson University, and the drummer and organist hooked up for the first time at a New School session. When Goldings and Bernstein established their spot on the weekly Augie’s calendar, they tried a few drummers before clicking with Stewart and establishing a collective voice that’s endured through three extremely busy solo careers and Goldings’ move to the west coast.

 

“We all really dig each other, and that's probably the most important thing,” Goldings says in an attempt to explain the trio’s indefinable chemistry. There’s a lot of crossover in what we like to play and listen to, and our individual visions of jazz tend to align. It’s hard to say, because we never really discuss it; we just try to make good records. We came up together.”

 

The origin of their trio makes the release of Perpetual Pendulum on Smoke Sessions particularly significant. Smoke Jazz & Supper Club, the label’s parent venue, was opened on the former site of Augie’s Jazz Bar, where Goldings, Bernstein and Stewart established their rapport on a regular Thursday night gig beginning in 1989.

 

“It was a dive,” Goldings remembers. “It was a hole in the wall. Our weekly night there was the reason why I started playing the organ: the kinds of little places where we could get gigs frequently didn't have pianos. At Augies, we literally passed the basket to get paid… But between there and the Village Gate, we amassed a local fan base. So, it is significant that we’re releasing this album with Smoke. That room is hallowed… grease.”

 

Perhaps that grease was part of the magic, as it can still be heard in the trio’s gut-level playing on the title track, Perpetual Pendulum – check out the stick-to-the-ribs groove on “Prelude,” Golding’s bluesification of George Gershwin’s Prelude #2. Or the slick venom they bring to Stewart’s self-explanatory political hit piece, “FU Donald.”

 

Stewart originally recorded the latter tune on his 2018 album Band Menu, with a trio featuring Walter Smith III and Larry Grenadier. He knew it would make a perfect fit with his lifelong collaborators, however. “I don't think I've ever actually written anything specifically for this trio, to be honest,” Stewart admits. “I just know the way Pete and Larry play, so I just bring things in and see what works.”

 

Bernstein concurs. “I know whatever I write, these guys can play it. Harmonically, Larry will be totally inside whatever I might be hearing, and Bill makes every band sound like a band. I don't have to worry about writing with these guys in mind. They've informed my whole sound, so they’re always a reference point in whatever I write.”

 

The guitarist contributed two pieces to the album. The trio reprises his “Little Green Men,” which they originally recorded on Light Blue, in a ferociously swinging version. The aforementioned “Perpetual Pendulum” is a new piece, taken at a smoldering lope that prompts slow-burn solos from both the composer and Goldings. The organist’s “Let’s Get Lots” is a tune as witty and playful as the wordplay in its title. Stewart’s second composition is “Lurkers,” a quietly forceful piece highlighted by the avalanching intensity of Goldings’ solo.

 

Both John Lewis’ “Django” and Wayne Shorter’s “United” have been longtime staples of the trio’s live sets. Originally recorded by Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers in 1961, “United” is driven by a forceful propulsion that eventually erupts into a taut bout of trading between Stewart and his bandmates. A trademark of the Modern Jazz Quartet, “Django” opens with an elegant solo turn by Bernstein, perhaps keeping the tune’s namesake, Django Reinhardt, in his mind’s eye. Goldings enters with lush, blossoming chords before effortlessly pivoting into a swaggering swing.

 

Despite the trio’s mutual love of classic standards, “Come Rain or Come Shine” is one perennial that they’d never tackled onstage. An impromptu warm-up led to its welcome inclusion on the album, a bright moment that showcases the old friends’ warm, easy camaraderie. Gary Bartz’s “Libra” is another new addition to the repertoire, ignited by Stewart’s steamroller rhythms and featuring absolutely blistering solos by all three. Duke Ellington’s “Reflections in D” is the polar opposite – airy, elegant and tender, floating on the waves of Stewart’s shimmering brushwork.

 

If it’s challenging to imagine a band with the kind of longevity that Goldings, Bernstein and Stewart share, it’s even more rare to find one maintaining this brilliant level of musicianship and chemistry. Its value isn’t lost on the trio, as Bernstein concludes.

 

“I think we all share a pure feeling of gratitude,” he says. “With these cats, I feel pressured to play my best because they’ve heard everything I can do. At the same time, I feel comfortable trying anything with them because I know whatever I do, they're going to hold it together. We’ve all grown through our individual experiences, but we always come back to this. And it's only getting better.”

Larry Goldings, Peter Bernstein, Bill Stewart · Perpetual Pendulum

Smoke Sessions Records · Release Date: March 25, 2022

For more information on other Smoke Sessions Records releases, please visit:

SmokeSessionsRecords.com | Facebook 

Jean-Michel Pilc | "Alive - Live at Dièse Onze, Montréal" (Out March 25, 2022 Justin Time Records)

Enormously Prolific and Multi-Faceted

as Composer and Pianist, Jean-Michel Pilc

Makes His Justin Time Records Debut

With Alive - Live at Dièse Onze, Montréal

Pilc is Joined by Bassist Rémi-Jean

LeBlanc and Drummer Jim Doxas

in a Performance of Spontaneity

 

Due Out March 25, 2022 via Justin Time Records

Spontaneity may well be the most important element of jazz expression … the immediacy of creativity in its purest and most adventurous manifestation. For the extraordinary pianist Jean-Michel Pilc, the live performance represents the pinnacle of that level of spontaneity. In his outstanding new release on Justin Time Records – Alive – Live at Dièse Onze, Montréal – Jean-Michel and his bandmates Rémi-Jean LeBlanc and Jim Doxas on bass and drums respectively, splendidly offer proof of this concept. In his liner notes, he describes this state as “improvising musicians in their natural habitat, the jazz club, playing music for the sake of music, never repeating themselves, and creating sounds that they will never replicate.”

At its higher levels jazz tells vivid stories, and those told by the trio are fascinating, multi-nuanced, intricately woven tales of rich texture, color and unexpected plot twists. This concert, recorded in June 2021, marked the trio’s first performance since the onset of the COVID pandemic. “The music was vital, to us and to the audience, and we experienced the full gamut of human emotions.” Reflecting this, the music travels roads that are remarkably winding and varied in steepness and direction, but always totally focused on the ultimate destination. Through this journey – as Jean-Michel goes on to say “unpredictability becomes evidence.”

As intense as the emotions may have been, the music is brilliantly crafted and totally cohesive – a testament not only to the mastery of the musicians, but also to the deep understanding and sensitivity to each other and the pursuit upon which they embarked as a unified force. It’s also an example of collective improvisation at its highest level. “Since a while ago, all my concerts are totally improvised - no set list, nothing prepared, just let the music lead the way. I come on stage as a newborn, ready for a new life, a new journey, a new experience every time. My bandmates are part of that experience as much as I am myself, every note they play becomes part of this life we are living together on the stage.”

Collective improvisation is often dismissed as a method of haphazardness and serendipity, hoping that things may work out and expecting the audience to simply enjoy the adventure. But in the hands of superb musicians united by purpose, the results can be exhilarating, utterly captivating and tremendously uplifting. That is certainly the case here. As the legendary Harry Belafonte has said of Jean-Michel: “Beyond all that can be said about his masterful technique and his beauty of touch, it is the unpredictability that is central to his remarkable talent.”

The music here contains endlessly delightful surprises woven seamlessly into the intricate fabric within the individual pieces themselves. Two Miles Davis classics provide excellent examples … from the sheer simplicity of lyricism in Nardis, like a consistently evolving, but persistently gentle snowfall of filigreed delicacy; to the rumbling and rolling All Blues, escalating into a two-fisted romp that culminates in a scalding rapid-fire explosion of breathtaking intensity and ferocity.

The Hammerstein/Romberg song that became a jazz standard Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise passes through so many stages of musical evolution, from its fragments of melody Tristano-ish opening through thunderous crescendos that never lose the sensitivity of the song, and culminating in a tantalizingly slow bluesy swing evoking the territories explored by Bud Powell and Herbie Nichols.

A pair of Pilc originals are also included – 11 Sharp, a highly rhythmic, somewhat Monkishly grooved excursion, consistently evolving in melodic variety and emotional intensity; and the title piece Alive, an evocative, persistently explorative foray in gently insistent lyricism, which ends this wonderful album on a subtly provocative note.

Music like this can only be achieved by such consummately impeccable musicians as these three gentlemen. LeBlanc and Doxas are not simply sidemen by any means, as Pilc’s music demands far more ownership of the music by all the collaborators. Throughout the album, the bass and drums solos are never just there to give them some playing space, but are fully woven into the textural fabric of each piece.

The concert was recorded in its entirely and the remainder of the music is available in digital form only. You can find the complete 2nd set on your favorite streaming or download site. For more information, please go to: www.justin-time.com/collections/jean-michel-pilc.

Seven additional exceptional pieces cover a wide spectrum, including three more Miles Davis affiliated items - a highly exciting spin on Eddie Harris’ Freedom Jazz Dance and two standards, a jauntily swinging Someday My Prince Will Come and an appropriately moody, atmospheric My Funny Valentine; along with a complex take on Lennon & McCartney’s Eleanor Rigby; a delightfully whimsical version of Jerome Kern’s All the Things You Are; a lovely version of Rodgers & Hart’s My Romance; and a dynamically Latin-tinged and often explosive journey into John Coltrane’s Mr. P.C.

Enormously prolific and multi-faceted as composer and pianist, including musical directorship for Harry Belafonte; a duet performance with operatic legend Jessye Norman; a large-scale commissioned work based upon a major inspiration Charlie Chaplin; and over a dozen albums as a leader and almost as many as co-leader, Jean-Michel Pilc has become one of the most highly respected pianist/composers of the past 25 years. This is Jean-Michel’s first Justin Time album.

For more information about this outstanding artist and Justin Time Records, please visit www.jeanmichelpilc.com and  Justin Time Records

Jean-Michel Pilc · Alive - Live at Dièse Onze, Montréal

Justin Time Records · Release Date: March 25, 2022

The Michael Leonhart Orchestra presents 'The Normyn Suites', due out March 25, 2022 (Sunnyside Records)

The Michael Leonhart Orchestra presents The Normyn Suites, a new masterwork to be released on March 25, 2022 via Sunnyside Records 

Featuring appearances by Elvis Costello, Bill Frisell, Joshua Redman, JSWISS, Larry Goldings, Nels Cline, Donny McCaslin and more 

Release show at Rizzoli Bookstore on April 10, 2022

‘The Normyn Suites’ is an elegy; to listen is to spend time in that space of loss, reckoning, questioning, and mourning. At the same time, though, with each note, each phrase, we are propelled back into life."

– Alexandra Horowitz, author of Our Dogs, Ourselves: The Story of a Singular Bond 

"Threads the needle between pop and experimental music seamlessly… gorgeous." 

– Forbes

Sunnyside Records is proud to announce the March 25, 2022 release of The Normyn Suites by the Michael Leonhart Orchestra. The Normyn Suites is both a requiem and celebration, inspired by the life and death of the bandleader’s 15-year-old dog, a female mini dachshund named Normyn. The third album by the Michael Leonhart Orchestra features a pair of suites – the first of which is an exploration of the stages of grieving, while the second is a reflection on love and loss. In keeping with the MLO’s eclectic musical palette, the album features several collaborations with Elvis Costello, with contributions by Bill Frisell, Nels Cline, and JSWISS as well as two bonus offerings with Donny McCaslin. The release of The Normyn Suites will be celebrated at Rizzoli Bookstore in New York City on April 10. 

“The Normyn Suites is an elegy; to listen is to spend time in that space of loss, reckoning, questioning, and mourning. At the same time, though, with each note, each phrase, we are propelled back into life,” reflects author Alexandra Horowitz in the stirring liner notes. The first part is titled “The Normyn Suite #1: (Soundtrack to the Five Stages of Grieving)”, and was inspired by “The Kübler-Ross Grief Cycle”, a model introduced by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in her 1969 book On Death and Dying. “The Five Stages of Grief” is a critically acclaimed study on how humans handle loss.

For this suite in five parts, Leonhart expands the MLO’s live performance palette of brass, woodwinds and strings to include choir and found percussion over gritty breakbeat drums. 

Leonhart shares, “I wanted “Denial” and “Anger” to have an emotional tension and raw quality, almost a whiplash effect, before the contemplative soloing of Bill Frisell over the peaceful “Catharsis”.” The fourth composition, “Nostalgia” opens with a nod to the main melody of “The Dunes Of Cahoon Hollow” (from “Suite #2), orchestrated for choir and monophonic synths before Jim Pugh (trombone) and Walt Weiskopf (tenor sax) take turns as instrumental narrators. Leonhart’s years with Pugh and Weiskopf as part of the Steely Dan horn section inspired him to choose them specifically for their expressiveness and personal experiences with loss. The final movement of the suite,“Acceptance” starts with Leonhart’s mother Donna singing a wordless melody over chamber strings. Leonhart utilizes gospel harmonies and a written soli over a soulful 6/8 groove to represent the peace and empowerment that come with the true recognition of personal heartbreaking loss. 

“The Normyn Suite #2: (Love & Loss)” is a collection of six pieces Leonhart began composing in the final weeks of Normyn’s life, when she was physically too weak to walk and began to lose her appetite. Leonhart would bring her to the studio where she would rest in her favorite bag on top of the grand piano while he played and composed. The six pieces “May The Young Grow Old” (featuring Larry Goldings), “Waking From Sedation” (featuring Bill Frisell), “Freedom From The Pain”, “Unconditional Love”, “La Preghiera”, and “The Dunes Of Cahoon Hollow” take listeners on an dazzling sonic journey.

Photos of Michael Leonhart by Shervin Lainez

In addition to the two suites, the album features three songs co-written with Elvis Costello during the quarantine. There are two versions of “Shut Him Down” bookending the suites — one with Joshua Redman, playing his late father Dewey’s newly restored tenor saxophone for the first time on record, the other with Chris Potter on bass clarinet. Costello performs spoken word on “Radio is Everything”, featuring legendary guitarists Bill Frisell & Nels Cline who also co-wrote the songs with Leonhart and Costello. The final collaboration is the driving “Newspaper Pane”.

Two bonus tracks, “Kenny Dorham” and “Wayne Shorter”, present the debut recording of Leonhart’s organ quartet featuring Donny McCaslin. These two songs were initially composed as a birthday tribute to each of these jazz legends, two of Leonhart’s favorite small group composers.

The Michael Leonhart Orchestra developed its singular sound over the course of its monthly residencies at Jazz Standard, one of New York’s most prestigious jazz rooms. Pre-pandemic, Leonhart was steadily honing his vision there, with unconventional instrumentation and a shapeshifting community of sought-after players from a variety of cutting-edge scenes and disciplines. Leonhart’s approach to the MLO is informed by his many other activities and wide-ranging credits: he’s a top-level jazz trumpeter and longtime member of Steely Dan; a gifted and distinctive pianist; a singer, songwriter and film composer; a session player with credits including the Bruno Mars/Mark Ronson megahit “Uptown Funk“; an accomplished orchestrator (Nels Cline’s Lovers) and producer (Donald Fagen’s Sunken Condos, Sachal Vasandani’s Slow Motion Miracles). The polyglot musical worldview Leonhart has developed as a result stamps the MLO’s work at every moment. And the joy he gets from it is infectious. 

Hailed as “a blazing hot mess of awesome” by The New York City Jazz Record, the Michael Leonhart Orchestra (MLO) traverses a huge swath of musical terrain, guided by the highly developed ears, ceaselessly omnivorous tastes and playful yet meticulous artistry of its leader, Michael Leonhart.

The Michael Leonhart Orchestra features a who’s-who of today’s contemporary musical talent including Keyon Harrold, Catherine Russell, E.J. Strickland, Freddie Hendrix, Eric Friedlander, Ryan Keberle, and more.

1 Shut Him Down

2 The Normyn Suite #1: Denial

3 The Normyn Suite #1: Anger

4 The Normyn Suite #1: Catharsis

5 The Normyn Suite #1: Nostalgia

6 The Normyn Suite #1: Acceptance

7 Radio Is Everything

8 The Normyn Suite #2: May the Young Grow Old Featuring

9 The Normyn Suite #2: Waking from Sedation

10 The Normyn Suite #2: Freedom from the Pain

11 The Normyn Suite #2: Unconditional Love

12 The Normyn Suite #2: La Preghiera

13 The Normyn Suite #2: The Dunes of Cahoon Hollow

14 Shut Him Down (Video Edit)

15 Newspaper Pane

16 Kenny Dorham

17 Wayne Shorter

PRE-ORDER

Selene Saint-Aime - Potomitan (March 25, 2022 Komos Jazz)

On her debut album, ‘Mare Undarum’, Sélène Saint-Aimé poetically transcribed the influence of the moon on her music, here, on this second recording, she transmutes her Caribbean cultural heritage.

In Antillean lands, the POTOMITAN, central pillar of Haitian voodoo temples, also designates the mother who supports the equilibrium of an entire family. This title stood out as an obvious choice for Sélène, after many months spent in Martinique during the pandemic.

Long conversations with her paternal grandmother retracing the history of their family, life, childhood memories and the strength of Caribbean women all 'infused' the writing and recording of this record.

The album plays out symbolically around the title track and it also acts as an analogy, interpreted by a trio, featuring the tanbouyé masters Sonny Troupé (Ka drums, Guadeloupe) and Boris Reine-Adélaïde (Bèlè drums, Martinique), who joined the team on their previous release. The interaction between the double bass, Sélène’s voice and these drums lies at the heart of the album.

Arawak Uhuru (freedom in Swahili), the first track, is a grand bèlè with three beats to the bar that honours the many Amerindian populations present in Martinique since the 1st century, at least. Arawak does not designate an ethnic group in the strictest sense, but more a linguistic family.

Irving Acao, still on the tenor sax, also takes part in this vocal trance based around the traditional theme of Martinican Béliya, fleshing it out with Cuban sounds and rhythms.

Selene Saint-Aime

Trumpeter Hermon Méhari, who forms a brass section with Irving on the majority of the tracks, brings his own rendition of ‘The Bird’ by Charlie Parker, who was, like him, originally from Kansas City.

The other cover on the album is an arrangement by Sélène of a theme from the Pelléas et Mélisande orchestral suite by Jean Sibelius. It places Mathias Lévy’s violin and Guillaume Latil’s cello at the forefront, in a version for a string trio and vocals. This track resembles a conversation with what lies beyond, and it is dedicated to Sélène’s maternal grandmother, as she was born exactly a hundred years ago.

Though she continues to sing in her own language all through the tracks, her first song in English, ‘White Birds, Silver Tree’ rounds off the record. Sélène wrote it in her uncle’s banana grove where cattle egrets come to nest. We can see them depicted on the sleeve painted by Lossapardo, near a dead tree with silver hues that graces a river’s edge, somewhere in the North of Martinique.

Without any repetition and (almost) without a score, the recording session played out organically, with Sélène dictating her melodies to the band on a piano which was in the room. Rhythms were sung then reproduced on the drums for a recording where the collective sound was captured live.

Far from a stiff reworking or a pan-Caribbean fusion, POTOMITAN, drinks from the spiritual and musical source irrigating afro-descendant culture, and invents a new folklore, vivified by improvisation. 

1. Arawak Uhuru

2. Béliya

3. The Bird

4. Indigo Bay

5. Mélisande (à mamie Jacqueline)

6. Potomitan

7. Mawu : Omens & Prayers

8. Akayé

9. Ézili

10. Bezaudin

11. White Birds, Silver Tree

SÉLÈNE SAINT-AIMÉ : bass, vocals and poetry

IRVING ACAO : tenor saxophone

HERMON MEHARI : trumpet

MATHIAS LÉVY : violin

GUILLAUME LATIL : cello

SONNY TROUPÉ : ka drum and drums

BORIS REINE-ADÉLAÏDE : bèlè drum

A&R Antoine Rajon

Recorded and mixed in September 2021 by Félix Rémy at Studio Pigalle, Paris.

Mastered by Frank Merritt at The Carvery, London

Artwork painting by Lossapardo

Music composed by Sélène Saint-Aimé except ‘The bird’ composed by CHARLIE PARKER arranged by SÉLÈNE SAINT-AIMÉ, ‘Mélisande’, composed by JEAN SIBELIUS, arranged by SÉLÈNE SAINT-AIMÉ

and 'Béliya', arranged by Sélène Saint-Aimé, Irving Acao, Boris Reine-Adélaïde & Sonny Troupé.

PRE-ORDER

NEW RELEASE: Roxy Coss Quintet's 'Disparate Parts' due out March 25, 2022 (Outside in Music)

Roxy Coss Quintet releases set of dynamic, collaborative new music on Disparate Parts due out March 25, 2022 via Outside in Music

“An artist who writes and performs with undeniable intention” 

— DownBeat 

“[Coss] plays with a clean, straight-ahead tone, creating lines rich in thought” 

— JazzTimes 

“A nimble-fingered young tenor saxophonist whose career is starting to take off”

— The New York Times 

In 2018, the Roxy Coss Quintet established its sound. Today, the band is evolving its concept. Outside in Music is proud to announce the March 25, 2022 release of their newest record, Disparate Parts. The anticipated follow up to Coss’ acclaimed release Quintet (2019), Disparate Parts features familiar personnel in a brand new context: Coss on tenor and soprano saxophone, Alex Wintz on guitar, Miki Yamanaka on piano and keyboards, Rick Rosato on bass and Jimmy Macbride on drums. Known for their conversational expression, the artists approach fresh ideas with a sacred connection to their tradition-informed identity. Together, they navigate new harmony, rhythmic modulations and wildly diverse textures across 14 tracks of original music framing the impetus for the album: Coss’ four-movement suite, “The Body,” “The Mind,” “The Heart” and “The Spirit.” 

Recorded by Chris Sulit at Trading 8s Studio, and mixed, mastered and associate produced by Johannes Felscher, Disparate Parts creates a kaleidoscope of sound that serves the quintet’s bold, ever-refining expression. Distinct gestures join together to form extended ideas and permutations without surrendering their respective characters. Throughout the writing process, Coss remained inspired by a steady stream of micro and macro adjustments — in her life and the lives of those around her — centered around loss, resilience and renewal. Often navigating the unknown and unexpected, she would return again and again to thoughts around our daily rituals of compartmentalizing, and sought to explore how she and her fellow artists might communicate those ideas through music. 

Photo by Desmond White

“Everything for me goes back to being a woman in jazz [laughs],” says Coss, who also serves as album producer. “That is my identity. And, oftentimes, the different things that I do in my life are either for a certain part of me or accessing a certain part of me, and they’re not integrated. And each of these pieces of the suite are the disparate parts. As the project progressed, I went through the life changes of being pregnant and, now, being a new mom, and felt that concept manifesting itself even more so in my own life.”

Typically, Coss releases music while in the midst of working out new compositional ideas. Because of the pandemic lockdown and her pregnancy, the suite took its time to materialize; the rest of the album would follow in waves of collective inspiration. “It took me a few months to get back to the place where I was thinking about music, composition, practicing,” says Coss. After a period of rest followed by one of mourning, she sought ways to reconnect with tunes and sketches she’d begun realizing before the pandemic. “It was such a different relationship with the music because I wasn’t performing regularly. It was as though I was holding the potential of what this music represents.” 

Seven months pregnant, Coss entered the studio with her trusted bandmates to record the entire suite; related originals “Mabes” and the album title track; and contributions from Wintz, Macbride and Yamanaka, a new layer of collaboration that feels integral to the direction of the band’s expression. “At this point, we all understand what the Roxy Coss Quintet sound is,” she says. 

Explosive and visceral, “The Body” introduces a new sonic chamber of RCQ. Textural crunch from Wintz complements moments of playful interaction and hard swinging handoffs. “I wanted that rock sound, that heavy hitting sound,” says Coss. Conjuring a meditative awakening, “The Mind’s” first moments fold into snaky melodies and rhythmic subversions. Coss’ goal was to explore what indecision and overthinking might sound like. Coincidentally — or, perhaps, consequently — “The Mind” became her most puzzling piece to compose. “I had a really hard time figuring out the form of this tune which is not typical for me,” she says. By contrast, “The Heart” emerged intuitively: “Once I wrote it, it was written.” Tender at moments, doleful and contemplative at others, “The Heart” proffers a brief and mystifying solo from Rosato. The final movement of the suite came together as a collaborative gesture; melody serves as connective tissue on “The Spirit,” featuring Coss on soprano, lyrical and deliberate. “It’s less of a clear form,” says Coss, “we didn’t delineate between soloists.” 

Enhancing conceptual impact around disparate parts, Coss sought to honor the nature of her quintet. “We’re very different people,” she says, “but we have come together to form a band with an identifiable sound.” Not surprisingly, the title track revealed itself in pieces and layers. Coss sat at the piano with what she initially believed to be sketches of four different tunes: “Then I began thinking, ‘I think they all might be one tune.’” Moving in and out of sections and elemental choices, the through-composed form lends itself to each quintet member’s artistic tendencies. “We move through each person taking the lead, and the sections are dictated by their different personalities,” she says. 

Jimmy Macbride, Alex Wintz, Roxy Coss, Rick Rosato, Miki Yamanaka

(courtesy of Roxy Coss)

Wintz’s “Ely, MN” presents an energetic challenge the artists rise to meet. “It’s the perfect fit [for the band] in terms of vibe,” says Coss, “and it’s really fun to play on.” Wintz stretches colorful melodies across rugged harmonic terrain before Coss and Yamanaka respond with their own lyrical twists and patterned exploration. Written for the late mentor of countless young artists, Harold Mabern, “Mabes” features a sweet and dirty rumination in 3. Yamanaka’s samba-inspired “Sunburn” serves as a vehicle for each artist to act as lead improviser. Macbride’s atmospheric “Warm One” — which spotlights the young drummer’s nuanced, reflexive touch — closes out the recorded setlist as the penultimate track before Yamanaka’s “February (take 2),” one of five short takes punctuating the album’s progression. Coss, who opted to include all five takes, views each as an interlude with its own of-the-moment feeling: “I really like where these go. It’s super representative of these disparate parts.” 

The release of Disparate Parts reveals a new phase of Coss’ life and her creative expression, and puts forth layered, new concepts for her quintet to explore. “I’m still feeling this idea of having disparate parts of myself represented in different areas of my life, but it is even more prevalent now that I’m a new mom,” she says. “I’m exploring and expressing this idea through my music — especially in this particular moment.”

1. February (Take 3)

2. Part I The Body

3. Part II The Mind

4. Part III The Heart

5. Part IV The Spirit 

6. February (Take 5)

7. Disparate Parts

8. Ely, MN

9. February (Take 1)

10. Mabes 

11. Sunburn

12. February (Take 4)

13. Warm One

14. February (Take 2)

Roxy Coss on tenor and soprano saxophone

Alex Wintz on guitar

Miki Yamanaka Music on piano and keyboards

Rick Rosato on bass

Jimmy Macbride on drums

PRE-ORDER

Ornette Coleman | "Genesis of Genius: The Contemporary Albums" | Available March 25 via Craft Recordings

ORNETTE COLEMAN BOX SET

GENESIS OF GENIUS: THE CONTEMPORARY ALBUMS

SET FOR RELEASE MARCH 25

Continuing Craft Recordings’ 70th Anniversary Celebration of Contemporary Records

 

180g 2-LP and 2-CD box sets contain newly mastered audio by Bernie Grundman of the legendary jazz saxophonist’s albums Something Else!!!! and

Tomorrow Is the Question!

 

Includes expanded booklet with archival photos and extensive new liner notes by GRAMMY® Award-winning music historian Ashley Kahn

 

The advance track “Invisible” available to stream/download now HERE

 

SACD versions of both albums also available

exclusively on the Craft Recordings store

Continuing Contemporary Records’ 70th anniversary celebration, Craft Recordings is proud to announce the release of the new box set, Ornette Coleman – Genesis of Genius: The Contemporary Albums (2-LP, 2-CD and digital formats out March 25). Available for pre-order today HERE, the sets feature two seminal releases, 1958’s Something Else!!!! The Music of Ornette Coleman and 1959’s Tomorrow Is the Question! The New Music of Ornette Coleman. These albums transformed an unknown jazz visionary from the hinterlands into the talk of the New York scene.

 

Both albums were originally recorded by legendary engineer Roy DuNann, the man responsible for the famously pristine sound quality of Contemporary albums, and have been newly mastered for this release by Bernie Grundman, who himself got his start at Contemporary, mentored by DuNann. The 180-gram vinyl set, which will be pressed at RTI, has been cut from the original analog tapes to lacquer, with the original tapes also used for new hi-res transfers and mastering by Grundman for the 2-CD and digital editions. The deluxe box sets include a 32-page booklet with archival photos and extensive new liner notes by GRAMMY® Award-winning music historian Ashley Kahn. The LP jackets also replicate the original tip-on versions.

 

SACD versions of both albums, Something Else!!!! and Tomorrow Is the Question! will also be made available exclusively via CraftRecordings.com on the same date, March 25, and can be pre-ordered HERE.

 

Largely avoided by his colleagues on the L.A. jazz scene in the late 1950s, Coleman (March 9, 1930 – June 11, 2015) found an open door at Contemporary Records, where the label’s founder Lester Koenig was intrigued by his melodic sensibility and unorthodox approach to phrasing. After his Contemporary albums, Coleman quickly went on to New York City and turned the jazz scene on its head, but it was Koenig who provided the first glimpse of the saxophonist’s new approach to rhythm and harmony.

 

“These two recordings are the accessible gateway to Ornette Coleman’s music,” says Nick Phillips, the producer of Genesis of Genius. “He’s expanding on the bebop vocabulary and at this point he’s using traditional forms for most compositions, 12-bar blues and AABA song form, but doing something totally different. With Ornette and Don Cherry’s trumpet in the front line, the way they play and phrase and shift rhythms together, it sounds very loose but very tight.”

 

Featuring Coleman’s working band with Don Cherry on trumpet, pianist Walter Norris, bassist Don Payne and drummer Billy Higgins, the album Something Else!!!! sounds less radical today than strikingly individual and steeped in the blues. With nine Coleman originals, the session introduced several tunes that became standards, including “The Blessing” and “When Will the Blues Leave?” Featuring Cherry, Shelly Manne, and either Percy Heath or Red Mitchell on bass, the emphatic, pianoless follow up Tomorrow Is the Question! made it clear that Coleman’s concepts were both insistently innovative and tethered to bedrock African American idioms. Consisting entirely of Coleman originals, the album introduced several more tunes that became an essential part of the jazz canon, including “Tears Inside,” “Rejoicing” and “Turnaround.”

 

More than a seminal improviser and composer who exponentially expanded jazz’s rhythmic and harmonic frontiers, Coleman embodied the playfully heroic duality-erasing ideal at the center of African American musical innovation. Radical and rootsy, avant-garde and populist, philosophical and visceral, genius and trickster, Coleman was born and raised in Ft. Worth, and the wailing Texas blues was woven into his sound. By the time he settled in Los Angeles in the mid-1950s he’d spent years on the road playing blues and R&B, imbuing a gutbucket sensibility that he carried with into every musical setting.

 

L.A. beboppers often treated him with disdain, perceiving his unorthodox note choice as lack of chops, but he slowly found a brilliant cadre of musicians who embraced his musical vision, including pianist Paul Bley, drummers Billy Higgins and Eddie Blackwell, bassist Charlie Haden and Don Cherry. The Contemporary albums paved the way for Coleman’s fall 1959 triumph in New York City, with Tomorrow Is the Question! hitting stores the same month that his quartet started an extended run at the Five Spot, arguably the most consequential and controversial gig in jazz history.

 

Alternately championed and denounced by his musical peers and critics, Coleman found a new home at Atlantic Records, where he continued expanding his gorgeous, searing, utterly human approach to music. But it was Lester Koenig who first recognized Coleman’s genius when he walked into his Melrose office at a time when the saxophonist wasn’t even welcome on most bandstands.

 

“The Contemporary discs were the foundation of Ornette’s career and the bellwether of a new age, arriving at the close of one decade, and the onset of a brave, new one,” writes Ashley Kahn in the Genesis of Genius liner notes. “Embraced or derided, the music challenged long-held ideas of what jazz—what music—should sound like.”

 

Click here to pre-order Genesis of Genius and Contemporary Records merchandise now: HERE

Genesis of Genius Tracklists

2-LP box set

LP1 - Something Else!!!!: The Music of Ornette Coleman

SIDE 1

1. Invisible (4:43)

2. The Blessing (4:45)

3. Jayne (7:17)

4. Chippie (5:37)

SIDE 2

1. The Disguise (2:48)

2. Angel Voice (4:20)

3. Alpha (4:12)

4. When Will The Blues Leave? (4:56)

5. The Sphinx (4:14)

 

Ornette Coleman – alto saxophone

Don Cherry – trumpet

Walter Norris – piano

Don Payne – bass

Billy Higgins – drums

LP2 - Tomorrow Is the Question!: The New Music of Ornette Coleman

SIDE 1

1. Tomorrow Is The Question! (3:09)

2. Tears Inside (5:00)

3. Mind And Time (3:08)

4. Compassion (4:37)

5. Giggin' (3:19)

6. Rejoicing (4:04)

SIDE 2

1. Lorraine (5:55)

2. Turnaround (7:55)

3. Endless (5:18)

 

Ornette Coleman – alto saxophone

Don Cherry – trumpet

Percy Heath – bass (Side 1)

Red Mitchell – bass (Side 2)

Shelly Manne – drums

2-CD box set and digital formats

CD1 - Something Else!!!!: The Music of Ornette Coleman

1. Invisible (4:43)

2. The Blessing (4:45)

3. Jayne (7:17)

4. Chippie (5:37)

5. The Disguise (2:48)

6. Angel Voice (4:20)

7. Alpha (4:12)

8. When Will The Blues Leave? (4:56)

9. The Sphinx (4:14)

 

CD2 - Tomorrow Is the Question!: The New Music of Ornette Coleman

1. Tomorrow Is The Question! (3:09)

2. Tears Inside (5:00)

3. Mind And Time (3:08)

4. Compassion (4:37)

5. Giggin' (3:19)

6. Rejoicing (4:04)

7. Lorraine (5:55)

8. Turnaround (7:55)

9. Endless (5:18)

Genesis of Genius continues Craft Recordings celebration of Contemporary Records 70th anniversary, a campaign that launched in December with six digital On Contemporary compilations focusing on individual jazz giants who recorded extensively for the label: Art Pepper, Hampton Hawes, Barney Kessel, André Previn and Shelly Manne plus The Saxophonists – Various Artists, offers a tantalizing glimpse at the depth of the Contemporary catalog with an array of era-defining horn players. 2022 will see lots more to come as the label celebration continues.

Ornette Coleman | Genesis of Genius

Contemporary Records | Release Date: March 25, 2022

For more info, visit CraftRecordings.com 

PRE-ORDER

Archie Shepp - Blasé (March 25, 2022 BYG Records)

THE HEAT OF THE BLUES AND THE FIRE OF THE AVANT-GARDE

BLEND SUPERBLY ON THIS LANDMARK RECORDING

Florida-born saxophonist, composer, poet, actor and playwright, Archie Shepp was one of the most articulate exponents of politicized black culture in the late ‘60s, a time of enormous upheaval and radical thought.

Relocating to Paris he made a number of highly influential albums, such as Blasé, that broached the essential themes of freedom and racial equality, and tapped into the bedrock of African-American music. Gospel and blues were a major part of the work, which also had a strong avant-garde sensibility. Trailblazing artists who combined jazz, poetry and radical politics makes a definitive musical statement with a band featuring stellar vocalist Jeanne Lee and members of Art Ensemble Of Chicago. This re-mastered version of a seminal album still has great musical and emotional power.

“Off all the American musicians that came to Paris at the end of the ‘60s, saxophonist Archie Shepp was one of the most thought provoking, and Blasé is a chef d’oeuvre …” Kevin Le Gendre

Original 1969 BYG album remastered from original BYG tapes. High definition digital audio 96kHz 24bit wav.

1. My Angel 10:10

2. Blasé 10:20

3. There Is A Balm In Gilead 05:56

4. Sophisticated Lady 05:10

5. Touareg 09:12

2022 Remastered Audiophile Edition

Executive producer for this re-issue: Jean-Luc Young

Re-issue produced for release by Geoffrey Cousin

Audio restoration and mastering from BYG tapes by Nick Robbins

Graphic design for this re-issue by Phil Rogers

A BYG Production

P 1969 BYG Records

C 2022 Charly Acquisitions Ltd.

An Original BYG Recording

Courtesy of Charly Acquisitions Ltd.

Licensed from LicenseMusic.com ApS.

PREORDER

Various Artists - Black Lives / from Generation to Generation (Hi​-​Res Audio) March 25, 2022 Jammin'colorS

Double album - 20 songs

Download available in 24-Bit / 96 kHz

Cheick Tidiane Seck - Immanuel Wilkins - David Gilmore - Marque Gilmore - Sharrif Simmons - Stephanie McKay - Andy Milne - Kokayi - Sonny Troupé - Reggie Washington - Alicia Hall Moran - DJ Grazzhoppa - Adam Falcon - Jeremy Pelt - Grégory Privat - Marcus Strickland - E.J. Strickland - Oliver Lake - Jacques Schwarz-Bart - Gene Lake - Tutu Puoane - Yul - Marvin Sewell - Jean-Paul Bourelly - Terence “Sub Z“ Nicholson

25 musicians from the United States, Caribbean and Africa each compose a song to fight against systemic racism in the world. The 25 composers are between 20 and 80 years old and are known for their work as leaders but also their collaboration with world-famous artists from the 60‘s until today.

They come from the United States, Caribbean and Africa and their songs draw on many influences, such as African music, hip-hop, jazz, funk, rock, fusion, rap, jungle, nu-jazz, soul, blues, Caribbean jazz, opera, classical music, poetry.

This project brings together more than 60 musicians, who play a large variety of instruments: saxophone, trumpet, trombone, vibraphone, guitar, drums, bass, vocals, piano, keyboards, turntables, ka drums, n’goni, djembe and tama. There is even a choir from Mali, composed of girls 7 to 13 years of age.

On this album, you will listen to brothers, twins, a father and a son, a couple, a mother and son, old friends !

“Black Lives - from Generation to Generation“ is a collective of artists who are continuing to fight for equality and social justice through music.

1. Sanga Bô

2. Praying

3. We Are Here

4. Phenomenon

5. Togged To The Bricks

6. Sa Nou Yé _ Be Proud

7. Dancing

8. Walk

9. Colored Man Singin' The Blues!

10. Anthem For A Better Tomorrow

11. Friendship

12. Matter

13. Language Of The Unheard

14. Pre-Existing Conditions

15. Dreaming Of Freedom (For Tony)

16. Back & Forth

17. From The Outside In

18. Higher

19. Hero's Journey

20. Masters Of Mud (Shape Shifting)

PRE-ORDER

Shake Stew - Heat (March 25, 2022)

Heat is the fifth album since Shake Stew's formation in 2016 and delivers probably the most diverse overall impression of their musical range to date. For the first time in the band's history, there was a personnel change in the horn section at the beginning of 2021, where the Austrian alto saxophonist Astrid Wiesinger took over the position from Clemens Salesny. The addition of Wiesinger has given the band an injection of new energy and we can hear the electricity buzzing on each track.

Its genesis also reflects a decisive characteristic that has accompanied the band from the beginning: since the first note played together, the septet's music has been forging its way, unceasingly bringing forth new facets - no matter how adverse the circumstances. As Heat's seven compositions took on more and more concrete form towards the end of 2020, it quickly became clear that this music had to be recorded as soon as possible and sent out into the world. At the same time society was moving from one lockdown to the next and rehearsals between the partly Austrian and partly German musicians* could only be realised under difficult conditions. Therefore, the decision was made that a large-scale project was needed to get the band out of the daily routine of the pandemic and into an environment where they could fully ignite the fire that had arisen in the new line-up and capture it on record. The Cicaleto Studio in Arezzo (Tuscany, Italy) was chosen as perfect location and with great logistical effort (travelling up to 18 hours by various trains to keep the ecological footprint as small as possible) Shake Stew managed to work and make music together in this enclave for five days. Already on the first evening, everyone was aware of how valuable this coming together is in times of interpersonal isolation, and the intense energy and joy of playing during these studio sessions can be sensed on Heat after only a few moments.

With a warm and deep wind section of trumpet, tenor saxophone and bass clarinet, Unmight kicks off this fifth album by Shake Stew. A perfect opener, it reveals layer by layer what makes this band so great: catchy, deceptively simple melodies which gradually build to a frenzy of increasingly dense rhythms, in this case a Moroccan chaabi groove-inspired finale.

I am the bad Wolf shows the ensemble at its jubilantly uplifting best, with the opening voice sample revealing the process by which the many pieces in Shake Stew's repertoire are created: Kranzelbinder never writes in seclusion in a composition room - here, the children jump back and forth on their beds while individual lines are improvised on the double bass. These pieces usually come from the midst of life and arise in situations where, in retrospect, one often wonders where these notes actually came from. The fact that this is also a rhythmically extremely complex structure with overlapping wind lines is only revealed if you investigate closely - again, the natural pulse is in the foreground. Over the course of the piece, however, the multi-layered possibilities offered by the instrumentation of Shake Stew become apparent several times and the space given to the individual moods to fully unfold their pull. After a collectively dense brass section in the actual piece, Johannes Schleiermacher's tenor solo in the outro floats minimalistically over a repetitive groove carpet, only to gradually sink completely into it.

I wear my heart on the outside is the first drum-less piece in the band's history and focuses on the acoustic qualities of the five instruments. After a slowly building, sometimes almost fugue-like theme, Astrid Wiesinger introduces herself for the first time as the new voice of Shake Stew and manages to create an enormous intensity with careful steps, which can develop even further in the following dialogue with Mario Rom. The track was recorded as a "first take" and although everyone agreed that more "safety versions" should be recorded, nothing came close to the energy of this first encounter.

Heat is the title track of the album and begins with an intro by the two drummers Herbert Pirker and Nikolaus Dolp on the newly added log drums (slotted drums). For quite some time now, Kranzelbinder has been searching for a comparable sound that combines the aesthetics of woodblocks with the tonal breadth of a tuned wood, to add another facet to the percussion apparatus of Shake Stew. These drums originate from Guinea and play an important role in the West African musical tradition, but at the same time they appear again and again in jazz history - for example on Archie Shepp's legendary album The Magic of JuJu. As soon as the drumset enters on Heat, memories of Joe Zawinul, who was born in the same district of Vienna as Kranzelbinder, are awakened for a short time. The band leader, however, takes the ears in a different direction and switches from the bass to the guembri, a Moroccan bass lute that is mainly used in Gnawa music. This instrument has been known since Shake Stew's very first album and, at the latest since the hit Grilling Crickets in a Straw Hut from the double album Gris Gris released in 2019, it is clear that the musician has specialised more and more on the instrument over the years and it is hard to imagine his instrumentarium without it. Here, too, however, it is quickly noticeable that Heat is not an ingratiation to certain musical traditions; rather, the band manages to brew its very own stew from all the elements and form a typical Shake Stew sound from it.

Lucidity invites you to let your mind drift after the energetic Heat. A complex bubbling overtone ostinato of the double bass forms the basis for a 12-minute journey through hallucinogenic sound worlds. Oliver Potratz's sound carpets repeatedly immerse the wind group in new spheres and leave plenty of room for individual development.

Wake Up and Be Gone shows Shake Stew from their best-known side: driving beats, mysterious brass themes between Ethiopian tezeta and southern European melancholy and freshly grooving basses.

Oh Captain, My Captain! is the album's opus magnum. An atmospheric and above all playful piece, which is characterised by the strikingly soft sound of the flute and the muted trumpet and provides a good example of how well two double basses can be used simultaneously as melody and accompanying instrument. After a relaxed-seeming theme, Astrid Wiesinger's alto saxophone really stirs up dust for the first time, before in the outro the whole band feels a Joe Cocker Woodstock moment and gradually drops any restraint. 

1. Unmight

2. I Am The Bad Wolf

3. I Am The Bad Wolf (Outro)

4. I Wear My Heart On The Outside

5. Heat (Intro)

6. Heat

7. Lucidity

8. Wake Up And Be Gone

9. Oh Captain, My Captain! (Intro)

10. Oh Captain, My Captain!

Lukas Kranzelbinder - Double Bass, Electric Bass, Guembri, Percussion

Astrid Wiesinger - Alto Saxophone, Bass Clarinet

Mario Rom - Trumpet

Johannes Schleiermacher - Tenor Saxophone, Flute

Oliver Potratz - Double Bass, Electric Bass, Fender Bass VI

Niki Dolp – Drums, Log Drums, Percussion

Herbert Pirker - Drums, Log Drums, Percussion

(c) 2022 by Lukas Kranzelbinder

Published by Traumton Musikverlag

All compositions written by Lukas Kranzelbinder

All tracks recorded in April 2021 at Cicaleto Studio by Werner Angerer and Markus Wallner

Mixing by Werner Angerer and Markus Wallner

Mastering by Martin Scheer

Artwork by Schorsch Feierfeil

PRE-ORDER