Michelle Willis - Just One Voice (April 8, 2022 GROUNDUP MUSIC)

MICHELLE WILLIS TO RELEASE NEW ALBUM ‘JUST ONE VOICE’

FEATURING

DAVID CROSBY, MICHAEL MCDONALD, BECCA STEVENS AND MORE

RELEASED APRIL 8 VIA GROUNDUP MUSIC

Singer, songwriter and keyboard player Michelle Willis’ is to release her second album, Just One Voice on April 8 2022 via GroundUP Music. In celebration of the upcoming release the,  first single “Green Grey” has been shared on YouTube HERE. The album, produced with Fab Dupont (Andre 3000, Gregory Porter) features guest performances by David Crosby, Michael McDonald, Grégoire Maret, Becca Stevens and Taylor Ashton. 

Just One Voice was written during the intensity of non-stop travel, penned from the cramped seats of buses, planes and countless green rooms. One night, out on the open road, Willis played the title track for Crosby, her mentor and bandmate, who urged, “No one else sounds like this. This is you. You have to make this record.” Shortly thereafter she was able to secure a prestigious grant from the Canada Council for the Arts which set the recording process in motion.

“This song is meant to be playful, fun and flirtatious, in the (sort of?) innocent first moments of attraction,” Willis says of ‘Green Grey.’ “I spent a few years following the trope of being a young, fun escape to other people’s sadness. That got old, and thankfully so did I. I originally heard this as a combo of Bonnie Raitt’s ‘Something To Talk About’ but with the energy of Simon & Garfunkel’s ‘Cecilia.’”

Of the rest of the tracklisting on Just One Voice, Willis notes, “I originally thought these songs were going to be about ‘being strong alone’ and all this ‘ra ra I can do it by myself’-ness, but in the end, looking at the lyrics I realized they were about the process of getting there, how there’s all sorts of ugly feelings to sort through once we're on our own that I needed to look at. I do feel stronger and wider for acknowledging them now, but hoo boy, can they be uncomfortable to look at.”

New Single: Green Grey

Available now worldwide

Michelle Willis is a Canadian singer-songwriter and keyboard player based in Brooklyn. A Toronto native, she moved to New York in 2016 with few prospects save for a monthly residency at Rockwood Music Hall. Within months she was touring in two bands led by David Crosby (David Crosby & Sky Trails and David Crosby & Lighthouse), another by pop/jazz composer Becca Stevens, and opening for jazz/funk collective Snarky Puppy across the globe. Willis has cemented her place as an in-demand keyboard player and singer, touring and recording with a diverse array of artists such as the aforementioned Crosby and Stevens as well as the Zac Brown Band, Iggy Pop, Laura Mvula and Michael McDonald. Just Once Voice follows her debut record, 2016’s See Us Through.

Just One Voice

1. 10ths 03:47

2. Liberty 04:42

3. Just One Voice 04:37

4. Green Grey 03:00

5. Trigger (feat. Taylor Ashton) 04:02

6. Janet 03:24

7. How Come (feat. Michael McDonald) 04:28

8. Think Well 03:33

9. 'Til the Weight Lifts (feat. Grégoire Maret) 04:13

10. On & On 04:23

11. Black Night (feat. Becca Stevens) 05:09

PRE-ORDER

Release Show

New York, come celebrate! One week before the worldwide digital release, Michelle and her band perform JUST ONE VOICE live at Joe's Pub with special guests TBA. A very special night indeed. Buy Tickets Here. Band listed below. It's HAPPENING!

Michelle Willis: keys, vox

Louis Cato: drums/percussion/vocal

David Cutler: bass

Christian Almiron: keys

Julia Easterlin: bg vox

Massimiliano Cignitti - Buio in sala (February 1, 2022 Dodicilune / IRD)

MASSIMILIANO CIGNITTI

feat. NGUYÊN LÊ, GRÉGOIRE MARET,

EDMAR CASTANEDA E MARK COLENBURG

BUIO IN SALA

DODICILUNE

Prodotto nella collana Controvento dall’etichetta Dodicilune, distribuito in Italia e all’estero da IRD e nei migliori store on line da Believe, martedì 1 febbraio esce “Buio in sala” di Massimiliano Cignitti featuring Nguyên Lê, Grégoire Maret, Edmar Castaneda e Mark Colenburg. Il bassista romano propone dieci composizioni originali, immaginate come ipotetiche colonne sonore dedicate e ispirate a personaggi della storia del cinema, e due brani dell’indimenticabile Nino Rota (“O Venezia, Venegia, Venusia” dal film “Il Casanova di Federico Fellini”) e del compositore, pianista ed etnomusicologo ungherese Bela Bartok (“Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta”, tema utilizzato dal regista Stanley Kubrick per il film cult “Shining”).

Nel progetto discografico il musicista è affiancato dalla band composta da Mauro Scardini (piano e tastiere, autore della conclusiva “Sentimento del tempo”), Giancarlo Ciminelli (tromba e flicorno), Marco Guidolotti (sax, flauto) e Marco Rovinelli (batteria) e impreziosita dalla presenza di Nguyên Lê. Il chitarrista franco-vietnamita, riconosciuto per la cifra stilistica che coniuga sapientemente i ritmi della musica rock, jazz e funk con quelli delle sonorità nordafricane, vietnamite e indiane, negli anni ha collaborato con Michel Portal, Dave Liebamn, Ray Charles, Trilok Gurtu, Renaud Garcia-Fons, Paolo Fresu e altri nomi del jazz internazionale.

Ospiti in alcuni brani anche l’armonicista svizzero Grégoire Maret, considerato da molti l’erede di Toots Thielemans, vincitore di un Grammy Award con il Pat Metheny Group e collaboratore, tra gli altri, di Herbie Hancock, Cassandra Wilson, Prince, Sting, Elton John, Jimmy Scott, Tito Puente, Steve Coleman, Kurt Elling, l’arpista colombiano Edmar Castaneda, che ha lavorato, solo per fare qualche nome, con Rickie Lee Jones, Sting, Paco de Lucía, John Scofield, John Patitucci, Ivan Lins, e il batterista statunitense Mark Colenburg, vincitore del Grammy Award con il progetto “Robert Glasper Experiment”, che ha suonato con Cecil McBee, Chico Freeman, Kenny Garrett, Stefon Harris, Mos Def, Lauryn Hill, Amel Larrieux, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Lalah Hathaway, Macy Gray e altri.

Massimiliano Cignitti (Photo Ramy Elkot)

Massimiliano Cignitti (Photo Ivano Piterà)

Nguyên Lê (Photo Christophe Charpenel)

Completano la line up Paolo Alimonti (chitarra), Roberto Schiano (trombone), Valentina Petrossi, Federica Zavaleta, Susanna Stivali (voce) e il quartetto d'archi formato da Diego Matthey (1° violino), Aurianne Philippe (2° violino), Claire HÉlÈne Rignol (viola) e ThÉmis Bandini (violoncello).

Dopo l’apertura riservata a Nino Rota il disco prosegue con i brani “Nostalgia del presente” (titolo tratto da una poesia di Jorge Luis Borges) dedicato al cinema visionario di Elio Petri e Gian Maria Volontè, “Un'eclisse”, che guarda al mondo di Michelangelo Antonioni e Wim Wenders, “Tanguedia 2020”, pensata per Fernando Solanas, regista argentino morto a causa del Covid-19 nel dicembre 2020, e Astor Piazzolla, autore di tante musiche dei suoi film, “Shaft is back”, ispirata al cinema blaxploitation degli anni '70. La title track, unica canzone del brano con testo di Cignitti affidato alla voce di Valentina Petrossi, evoca il cinema come “fabbrica dei sogni” per le generazioni degli anni '60, il mondo della Dolce Vita, il sogno di stelle irraggiungibili, lo schermo come possibile realtà dove rifugiarsi, immaginando una vita migliore. Dopo “Ennio’s dream”, omaggio a Ennio Morricone, il cd è completato da “Choro per Glauber”, che rimanda a Glauber Rocha, regista, scrittore, poeta, agitatore rivoluzionario del Cinema Novo brasiliano, “JLG”, iniziali del Maestro della Nouvelle Vague francese Jean Luc Godard, “Snaporaz”, nomignolo affibbiato a Marcello Mastroianni da Federico Fellini, e le già citate “Music for strings, celesta and percussion” di Bela Bartok e “Sentimento del tempo”, epilogo firmato da Mauro Scardini.

Romano, classe 1972, Massimiliano Cignitti intraprende lo studio del basso elettrico nel 1991 alla Città della musica di Tivoli sotto la guida di Claudio Zanghieri. Prosegue i suoi studi alla Scuola popolare di musica di Testaccio frequentando tra gli altri i corsi di Luca Pirozzi, Sandro Satta, Stefano Arduini, Carlo Mezzanotti, Giovanna Marini. È stato membro della Testaccio Jazz Orchestra diretta da Claudio Pradò con la quale si è esibito nel dicembre 1999 accompagnando un solista di fama internazionale come il trombettista Marvin Stamm. Ha studiato con Marco Siniscalco e Pietro Ciancaglini e ha partecipato a numerose clinics (Berklee school clinics at Umbria jazz 97-98, Siena Jazz 99), avendo la opportunità di studiare con Furio di Castri, Enrico Pieranunzi, Giancarlo Schiaffini, Giovanni Tommaso, Bruce Gertz, Jim Kelly, Larry Monroe). Ha preso parte a seminari di Alain Caron, Gary Willis, Bobby Mc Ferrin, Elvin Jones, Victor Bailey. Oltre a un intensa attività live con formazioni che spaziano dal jazz al pop, da ricordare la presenza nel cd "Electric city" pubblicato dagli Electric City per la Panastudio Productions, gruppo di cui è membro fondatore. Con il Thierry Valentini quartet (insieme a Thierry Valentini, Mauro Scardini, Alberto Delfini) ha ottenuto il primo premio nei concorsi Jazz di Mentana e Colleferro e si è esibito nei festival Along came jazz ’99 di Tivoli e Siena jazz ’99 con la partecipazione straordinaria di Paolo Fresu. Nel marzo 2000 è stato pubblicato per la MAP il cd "Ecch…!" del Fabrizio La Fauci 5tet . Nel 2002 ha pubblicato il secondo disco con la sua band Electric City dal titolo “Tambo” uscito per la Splasch records con la partecipazione di Gegè Telesforo, Giancarlo Ciminelli, Daniele Scannapieco, Mauro Scardini, Marco e Pietro Ciancaglini, Juan Carlos Albelo. Nel 2009 prende parte al progetto pop Nuvola9 con il disco “Ora” pubblicato da Terre Sommerse.

1 - O Venezia venusia venaga

2 - Nostalgia del presente

3 - Un'eclisse

4 - Tanguedia 2020

5 - Shaft is back

6 - Buio in sala

7 - Ennio's dream

8 - Choro for Glauber

9 - JLG

10 - Snaporaz

11 - Theme from 2 movement of Music for strings, celesta and percussion

12 - Sentimento del tempo

Musica di Massimiliano Cignitti (Dodicilune edizioni)

tranne 1 di Nino Rota, 11 di Bela Bartok, 12 di Mauro Scardini

Line up

Massimiliano Cignitti - basso

Mauro Scardini - piano e tastiere

Giancarlo Ciminelli - tromba e flicorno

Marco Guidolotti - sax, flauto

Marco Rovinelli - batteria

featuring

Nguyên Lê - chitarra

Grégoire Maret - armonica (4, 9)

Edmar Castaneda - arpa (7, 12)

Mark Colenburg - batteria (6, 11)

with

Paolo Alimonti - chitarra (6)

Roberto Schiano - trombone (10)

Valentina Petrossi - voce (6)

Federica Zavaleta - voce (7)

Susanna Stivali - voce (8)

Diego Matthey - 1° violino (7)

Aurianne Philippe - 2° violino (7)

Claire HÉlÈne Rignol - viola (7)

ThÉmis Bandini - violoncello (7)

Nguyên Lê appare per cortese

concessione di ACT Records

PRE-ORDER

Grégoire Maret - Wanted (SUNNYSIDE RECORDS 2016)

Who is the greatest harmonica player in the world? Until recently, Toots Thielemans reigned as the most in-demand performer on the chromatic harp, but he announced his retirement in 2014. Let me introduce you to the new new champ: Grégoire Maret, son of a Harlem-born African-American mother and a Swiss jazz musician, and a genre-crossing harmonica hotshot. He has shared the stage with everyone from Sting to Herbie Hancock, but is increasingly finding a following for his own work as a bandleader. Be on the lookout for his Wanted album coming in April. 

– Ted Gioia, The Daily Beast

There is a balance that must be struck when one is an expert at something. There is the pressure to share your gifts at the whim of others, which requires the ability to bend to their demands. Then there is the need to express one’s own substance with the talent that has been honed. 

On his new recording and his second as a leader, Wanted, the exceptional chromatic harmonica player Grégoire Maret once again finds himself moving away from his complementary duties as a sideman, and focusing on his role as a leader with his own musical vision. Naturally, Maret finds collaborating an important part of developing as an artist, but he is especially aware of the pressures imposed by the needs of others, and the necessity of removing these outside influences in order to get to one’s core identity. 

Over his career, Maret has found himself alongside many musical masters, including Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny, Cassandra Wilson and Steve Coleman, adapting to and absorbing many different styles, as many in his open-minded generation do. The challenges were exciting and educational. 

Maret heard many kinds of music in his native Switzerland. His parents introduced him to soul, jazz and R&B. It was the music of masters Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Stevie Wonder, Wayne Shorter, and Louis Armstrong that immediately struck home and inspired Maret. It was their example that shined brightest as he approached the creation of his own recording, as he looked to make a recording that he would have connected to when he was younger. 

Going into the studio, Maret knew that he wanted to shape his music using all the tools at his disposal. He assembled a tight, core quartet of pianist Gerald Clayton, bassist James Genus and drummer Terri Lyne Carrington. Maret wanted to treat the initial sessions like Miles Davis did the Kind of Blue sessions, namely to embrace the moment at hand with great musicians. 

Maret was able to assemble a who’s who of the jazz world to appear as special guests on Wanted. First off, he approached the fantastic drummer Terri Lyne Carrington to play as a part of his core group band, and also to co-produce, with Maret, the recording. Maret also enlisted Chris Potter on bass clarinet, guitarists Ricardo Vogt, Marvin Sewell and Kevin Breit, pianist Jon Cowherd, organist Shedrick Mitchell, keyboardist Bobby Sparks, arranger Gil Goldstein, percussionist Mino Cinelu and Kofo the Wonderman on talking drum. 

Maret has a deep connection to voice since the beginning of his musical life, as he began as a singer and later took up the chromatic harmonica, which he sees as an extension of, or the instrument closest, to the voice. So it should be no surprise that he brought in a number of fabulous vocalists to perform on Wanted, including Mark Kibble of Take 6, Frank McComb, Dianne Reeves, Luciana Souza, Ivan Lins and Maret’s early mentor, Jimmy Scott, who passed away shortly after the recording. 

The recording begins with “2Beats,” a grooving love song featuring lyrical highlights from Maret, Terri Lyne Carrington and the rapper Kokayi, who he met through Steve Coleman. The title track is in the pocket, with an incredible vibe created by utilizing the voice of Maret’s friend Kibble, and Maret’s expressive harmonica. Miles Davis’s “Blue In Green” takes a page from Me’shell Ndegeocello’s book of soul and is a perfect choice for Chris Potter’s dynamic bass clarinet and Gerald Clayton’s tasteful piano. The soulful rendition of Onaje Allan Gumb’s “Diary of a Fool” features Frank McComb’s wonderful voice, while the amazing Dianne Reeves lends hers to “Heaven’s,” an emotive ballad written by Reeves and Maret 

Luciana Souza delivers a lovely wordless vocal to “Groove,” a great ensemble workout with some dazzling solos. Maret turns Wayne Shorter’s classic “Footprints” into a slinky, bobbing vehicle for improvisation. The wistful “Voo Do Pássaro” features a dramatic wordless vocal turn from Brazilian legend Ivan Lins. Arranged by the great Gil Goldstein, “Talking Drums” is an epic piece in three movements inspired by Lins which focuses on the essence of music: namely voice and drums, the latter provided by master percussionists Mino Cinelu and Kofo the Wonderman. The recording concludes with “26th of May” which was written for and performed by the legendary vocalist Jimmy Scott, who hired Maret for his first gigs in New York, taught him to play a ballad and gave his last heartfelt performance to Maret. 

Grégoire Maret’s Wanted shows a complete artist coming full circle. Maret utilizes all that he has learned from his life as a sideman and leader in this entrancing and highly listenable recording.

1. 2Beats (feat. Kokayi & Terri Lyne Carrington) 03:45

2. Wanted (feat. Mark Kibble of Take 6) 04:31

3. Blue In Green 06:56

4. Diary of a Fool 06:00

5. Heaven's (feat. Dianne Reeves) 05:55

6. Groove (feat. Luciana Souza) 07:22

7. Footprints 06:12

8. Voo Do Pássaro (feat. Ivan Lins) 04:19

9. Talking Drums (feat. Mino Cinelu & Kofo (The Wonderman)) 07:35

10. 26th Of May (feat. Jimmy Scott) 05:40

Grégoire Maret - producer, chromatic harmonica & background vocals 

Gerald Clayton - piano & Fender Rhodes 

Jon Cowherd - piano (4 & 5) 

Shedrick Mitchell - B3 organ (4) 

Bobby Sparks - keyboards 

Federico G. Peña - keyboards (8) 

Gil Goldstein - Fender Rhodes (10)

James Genus - upright & electric bass 

Ricardo Vogt - acoustic guitar 

Marvin Sewell - electric guitar (1, 3 & 7) 

Kevin Breit - electric guitar & electric mandolin (5 & 10) 

Mino Cinelu - percussion 

Kofo (The Wonderman) - talking drum (9) 

Desmond Scaife Jr. - background vocals (4) 

Terri Lyne Carrington - producer, drums & vocals 

Eriko Sato - violin 

Louise Schulman - viola

Dave Eggar - cello 

Roger Rosenberg - bass clarinet 

Elizabeth Mann - alto flute