Miles Okazaki - Thisness (March 20, 2022 Pi Recordings)

"convulsive beauty, propulsive rhythm, elusive meaning...a spontaneous and unpredictable work of art, accordingly discordant, subversively accordant, a pendulum crushing the cage of temporality. This is Surrealism in practice. This is jazz. This is freedom."

- from the liner notes by Robin D.G. Kelley

Thisness is Miles Okazaki's third volume of compositions for Trickster, a quartet featuring Matt Mitchell on piano, Anthony Tidd on drums, and Sean Rickman on drums. The album is a set of themes that are shuffled and connected in different ways to make four large movements. Okazaki describes the process in the liner notes:

"Our previous albums were made up of what I would simply call "songs," but for this project I decided to expand the format. The intention was to make something like an exquisite corpse, the collective improvisations developed by the Surrealists. So for this album my job as composer was to bring in some ideas, set them in motion and then listen, trying to recognize the value of serendipitous events at transitional points in the music and lead the band down whatever path may be opening. The borderlands are where the Trickster hangs out, the undefined space where logic dissolves and creativity thrives. My hope was that the listener would enjoy the experience of passing through these boundaries between contrasting episodes."

The music draws on a few sources of inspiration that have connected creative elements: a magical "far off place" called Salt Creek, from a watercolor by Linda Okazaki, the writings on Surrealism by Robin D.G. Kelley, architectural concepts from producer David Breskin, and the poetry of Sun Ra. The idea that this band has been working toward since their first album is most fully realized on Thisness, a sound that discards notions of logic and control and strives toward something more like collective dreaming.

1. In Some Far Off Place

2. Years in Space

3. I'll Build a World

4. And Wait for You

Miles Okazaki – Guitar, Vocals, Robots

Matt Mitchell – Piano, Fender Rhodes, Prophet-6

Anthony Tidd – Electric Bass

Sean Rickman – Drums

PRE-ORDER

Dan Weiss / Miles Okazaki - Music for Drums and Guitar (October 29, 2021 Cygnus Recordings)

"This music is hyperacute and superdynamic, with myriad strategies at play"

- Nate Chinen, WBGO

The Memory Palace and Middlegame were both written in 2020 for the “Stone Commissioning Series,” a project created by saxophonist and composer John Zorn. The Memory Palace (by Miles Okazaki) debuted on February 26th, 2020 at National Sawdust in Brooklyn, NY. Middlegame (by Dan Weiss) was planned to debut a month later at the same venue, but was postponed by the onset of the global pandemic. Although these two musicians have appeared on a number of projects within various groups, this recording documents for the first time the language that they have developed over the course of 25 years performing together as a duo.

This project was made possible by John Zorn’s “Stone Commissioning Series” and by the generous support of The Shifting Foundation.

1. The Memory Palace, Part I 00:18

2. The Memory Palace, Part II 05:46

3. The Memory Palace, Part III 03:11

4. The Memory Palace, Part IV 07:15

5. The Memory Palace, Part V 02:40

6. The Memory Palace, Part VI 06:04

7. The Memory Palace, Part VII 05:18

8. The Memory Palace, Part VIII 06:26

9. Middlegame, Part I 00:34

10. Middlegame, Part II 06:21

11. Middlegame, Part III 04:18

12. Middlegame, Part IV 05:11

13. Middlegame, Part V 12:52

14. Middlegame, Part VI 03:59

15. Middlegame, Part VII 00:51

PREORDER

Ohad Talmor Trio with Dan Weiss and Miles Okazaki - Mise En Place (October 15, 2021 Intakt Records)

Saxophonist and composer Ohad Talmor follows up his album Long Forms with the Ohad Talmor Newsreel Sextet (Intakt CD 341) – a trio recording with his closest musical friends in Brooklyn: guitarist Miles Okazaki and drummer Dan Weiss. Ohad Talmor is the very definition of a cosmopolitan artist, holding three passports – American, Swiss and Israeli – while being based in the polyglot borough of Brooklyn, New York. Although mentored by the late, great altoist Lee Konitz, Talmor has musical obsessions that range far and wide. From iconic tenor saxophonists like Sonny Rollins and Wayne Shorter to such disparate European composers as Bruckner and Ligeti to theintricacies of Hindustani classical music. 

Talmor has taken this album’s title, Mise en Place, from a French phrase often used to refer to the preparation and organization of all ingredients and implements ahead of cooking although, more pertinently, it’s also a colloquial French term for rhythmic accuracy in jazz. A fluent, precise “time feel” is a prime trait of his trio with Okazaki and Weiss. The trio plays as one, lithe and muscular. “Despite the technical demands of these pieces,” Talmor says, “our goal is to eschew stock licks, to really listen, to really improvise – to always be in the moment with the music.”

1. Kamali

2. Mixo Mode 19

3. Shymal Bose Chakradar

4. Pairs

5. Theme and Variations

6. Wise One

7. Rupak Tukra

8. Back of the Plane

9. After the Rain

Ohad Talmor: Tenor Sax

Miles Okazaki: Guitar

Dan Weiss: Drums

Compositions by Ohad Talmor (SUISA) except “Wise One” and “After the Rain” by John Coltrane (Jowcol BMI).

Recorded January 8, 2020, at SEEDS, Brooklyn, NY. Mixed and

mastered by Katsuhiko Naito, Brooklyn, August 2021.

Cover art: AvikArt Design.

Graphic design: Jonas Schoder.

Liner notes: Bradley Bambarger.

Produced by Ohad Talmor and Intakt Records, Patrik Landolt, Anja Illmaier, Florian Keller.

Published by Intakt Records.

PREORDER

Miles Okazaki - Work (Volume 1) 2018

The complete compositions of Thelonious Monk on solo guitar, in six volumes. This is the first time the complete Monk songbook has been recorded on a single solo instrument.

Miles Okazaki, guitar

1. Locomotive 03:50

2. Brilliant Corners 03:23

3. Gallop's Gallop 04:02

4. Light Blue 02:21

5. Evidence 04:21

6. Crepuscule with Nellie 02:47

7. San Francisco Holiday 03:37

8. Monk's Point 02:50

9. Shuffle Boil 04:00

10. Jackie-ing 03:20

11. Criss Cross 03:12

12. Introspection 05:20

13. Functional 03:27

Miles Okazaki - Work (Volume 2) 2018

Miles Okazaki, guitar

1. We See 03:01

2. Sixteen 02:48

3. Misterioso 02:04

4. Humph 02:35

5. Teo 03:48

6. Hornin' In 04:07

7. Raise Four 01:42

8. Skippy 04:03

9. Pannonica 03:24

10. Think of One 05:37

11. Well You Needn't 08:43

12. Bolivar Blues 06:15

Miles Okazaki - Work (Volume 3) 2018

Miles Okazaki, guitar

1. Monk's Dream 04:09

2. Little Rootie Tootie 03:51

3. Eronel 03:32

4. Thelonious 02:40

5. Ruby, My Dear 05:15

6. Four in One 05:39

7. Blue Hawk 02:19

8. Stuffy Turkey 02:16

9. A Merrier Christmas 02:07

10. Played Twice 02:45

11. Bemsha Swing 07:12

12. Blues Five Spot 04:01

Miles Okazaki - Work (Volume 4) 2018

Miles Okazaki, guitar

1. Bye-Ya 04:11

2. Who Knows 03:40

3. Green Chimneys 05:14

4. Blue Sphere 04:58

5. Ugly Beauty 02:59

6. Oska T. 04:58

7. Hackensack 02:38

8. Ask Me Now 05:19

9. I Mean You 05:15

10. 52nd Street Theme 04:27

11. Something in Blue 04:20

Miles Okazaki - Work (Volume 5) 2018

Miles Okazaki, guitar

1. Nutty 04:29

2. Off Minor 03:58

3. Two Timer 04:36

4. In Walked Bud 04:12

5. Monk's Mood 06:05

6. Let's Call This 04:37

7. Let's Cool One 06:05

8. Children's Song 03:33

9. Boo Boo's Birthday 02:24

10. Rhythm-a-ning 03:28

11. North of the Sunset 04:11

Miles Okazaki - Work (Volume 6) 2018

Miles Okazaki, guitar

1. Epistrophy 02:29

2. Coming on the Hudson 02:49

3. Bright Mississippi 02:06

4. Trinkle, Tinkle 02:56

5. Reflections 05:49

6. Brake's Sake 04:21

7. Straight, No Chaser 02:54

8. Friday the 13th 04:45

9. 'Round Midnight 05:10

10. Work 08:55

11. Blue Monk 05:06

Steve Coleman and Five Elements - Live at the Village Vanguard, Vol. 1 (The Embedded Sets) PI RECORDINGS August 10, 2018

Steve Coleman and Five Elements - Live at the Village Vanguard, Vol. 1 (The Embedded Sets) PI RECORDINGS August 10, 2018

Alto saxophonist Steve Coleman’s Live at the Village Vanguard, Vol. I (The Embedded Sets) is his first live release in over 15 years. It captures his band Five Elements in two joyous sets at the historic New York venue where some of the most famous jazz recording from the likes of John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, and Bill Evans have been made. Coleman’s personal history is tied deeply with the club: One of the main reasons he moved to New York City from Chicago was for the opportunity to play in the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra, of which he was a member from 1978 to 1980. After playing there with singer Abbey Lincoln in 1984, there followed by a hiatus of over 30 years before he was invited to perform at the club as a leader in 2015. Since then, he has led his band Five Elements at the Vanguard every year, including these two sets recorded in May, 2017.

Unlike his two most recent releases, Morphogenesis (NPR Critics Poll #2 album of 2017) and Synovial Joints (New York Times #1 jazz album of 2015), both of which are highly composed and arranged, Coleman’s recent goal has been to compose as spontaneously as possible, often completely extemporaneously. Interspersing the set with tracks that feature these new compositional tactics with long-time Coleman favorites, the musicians tackle Coleman’s typically intricate music with an effortless grace. The band’s mastery over the cross-hatching rhythms, tricky counterpoint and percolating funk, inspired by the magical vibe of the Village Vanguard, is captured here at its absolute peak.

1. Horda 7:35

2, Djw 6:47

3. Little Girl I'll Miss You | Embedded #1 16:53

4. idHw 6:46

5. twf 7:16

6. Figit Time 8:05

7. Nfr 8:06

8. Little Girl I'll Miss You 7:36

9. Change The Guard 7:00

10. rmT | Figit Time 16:18

11. Nfr 9:47

12. idHw 7:42

13. twf 6:36

14. Horda 6:26

15. Embedded #1 6:58

16. Djw 7:34

17. rmT | 9 to 5 14:55

Steve Coleman - alto saxophone

Jonathan Finlayson - trumpet

Miles Okazaki - guitar

Anthony Tidd - bass

Sean Rickman - drums

Mary Halvorson Quartet – Paimon: Book of Angels Volume 32 (2017)

After thirteen years and thirty-two CDs Zorn's expansive Book of Angels project is now complete! This final installment presents the last ten unrecorded compositions from Masada Book Two and the variety, drama and lyricism is just as strong as the very first volume. Mary Halvorson, a long time Masada fan and one of the most acclaimed guitarists of her generation leads a dynamic quartet featuring Miles Okazaki, Drew Gress and Tomas Fujiwara. The music is intense, wild and incredibly varied, a beautiful and fitting conclusion to this historic Masada series, hailed as one of Zorn's best!

1 Chaskiel

2 Beniel

3 Ruhiel

4 Dahariel

5 Yeqon

6 Uzza

7 Verchiel

8 Jesodoth

9 Phul

10 Rachmiah

Drew Gress: Bass

Tomas Fujiwara: Drums

Mary Halvorson: Guitar

Miles Okazaki: Guitar

Miles Okazaki - Trickster (PI RECORDINGS 2017)

Trickster is guitarist Miles Okazaki’s first album in five years and his much anticipated debut on Pi Recordings, having been featured on six other releases in the label’s catalog in groups led by Steve Coleman, Jonathan Finlayson, and Dan Weiss, along with associations with other Pi artists such as Matt Mitchell, Jen Shyu, and Amir ElSaffar. Perhaps best-known as a member of Steve Coleman and Five Elements, with whom he has played for the last eight years, Okazaki has also built a solid reputation for himself as one of the most adventurous composers and guitarists on the current scene. The New York Times says of Okazaki, “Even by the standard of his hyper-literate post-bop peer group, Mr. Okazaki is an unusually calculating musical thinker,” and as a guitarist, “exceedingly skilled with a head for rhythmic convolution.”

Originally from Port Townsend, Washington, Okazaki began playing classical guitar at age six, and was playing regular gigs on electric guitar by age fourteen. He moved to New York after graduating from Harvard University (he also holds degrees from Manhattan School of Music and The Juilliard School) to pursue a career in music. His teacher on guitar at the time was Rodney Jones, who got Okazaki’s career in motion by recommending him for early gigs with Stanley Turrentine, Lenny Pickett, Regina Carter, and studio session work. He has received many awards as a guitarist including placing second in the 2005 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition. Okazaki spent four years on the road with vocalist Jane Monheit and became known as an expert vocal accompanist, but he also started to develop an experimental streak in his own music. His first album as a leader, Mirror (2006), received a “Critics Pick” in the New York Times, who called it “a work of sustained collectivity as well as deep intricacy.” His second album, Generations (2009), was described by pianist Vijay Iyer in Artforum as “the sonic equivalent of Escher or Borges, but with real emotional heft.” His next album, Figurations, was selected as one of the New York Times top ten albums of 2012, described by Ben Ratliff as “slowly evolving puzzles of brilliant jazz logic.”

Okazaki subsequently entered a period of focused guitar study, which resulted in the book Fundamentals of Guitar, published by Mel Bay in 2015. When he began to compose again, he went at it from a fresh perspective, placing greater emphasis on guitar playing and improvisation. Steve Coleman describes Okazaki’s development during this period: Miles has always been a very intense cat. Ive always been impressed with his perseverance and how deep he gets into his research. When he first came to me years ago, all he wanted to talk about was conceptual stuff, but now that hes internalized it, it just comes out organically. You can really hear that in his playing now. For his new music, Okazaki decided to use Anthony Tidd on bass and Sean Rickman on drums, the long-running rhythmic engine and his bandmates in Steve Coleman and Five Elements, with whom he has performed with hundreds of times. Its a fascinating opportunity to hear their unique chemistry — the quicksilver ability to process and internalize complex information, transform musical material

Through improvisation, and do it all while staying “in the pocket” — in a wholly different context. Both Tidd and Rickman have deep roots in funk, R&B, and hip hop, and it is fascinating to hear Okazaki’s music through the filter of these musical sensibilities. Okazaki’s next call went to pianist Craig Taborn, perhaps the most widely-admired pianist on the cutting-edge of jazz, who brings a supremely inventive musical sense to everything he plays. Together they have created a breakthrough statement by Okazaki, a unified book of compositions that grooves from beginning to end.

Jonathan Finlayson & Sicilian Defense - Moving Still (PI RECORDINGS 2016)

Moving Still is the eagerly-awaited follow-up to trumpeter Jonathan Finlayson’s Moment and the Message (Pi 2013), which was voted the top Album by a Debut Artist in the 2013 NPR Jazz Critics Poll and proclaimed “intricate and alluring, melodic but daring, riveting and rare” by Popmatters. Well regarded among fellow musicians for his ability to negotiate complex musical material and his decidedly personal sound and improvisational style, Finlayson was named the Number One Rising Star Trumpeter in the 2014 Downbeat Critics Poll. He has been a member of alto saxophonist Steve Coleman’s Five Elements for over 15 years, while also playing regularly with the likes of such cutting-edge artists as Steve Lehman, Mary Halvorson, Muhal Richard Abrams and Henry Threadgill.

Moving Still is filled with enthralling twists and turns, a hallmark of Finlayson’s compositional style. As usual, there is far more to his work than might readily appear. Even though the pieces move forward with a clear thrust, instrumental voices rarely move in unison and counterpoint almost always holds sway. This is apparent on “Flank and Center,” where the melody utilizes hockets - a series of three and two notes played in turn by three voices, a pointillistic effect that is carried throughout the piece. “Space And” is based on a traditional bell pattern of the Dagomba of present-day Northern Ghana while “Folk Song” is inspired by an Afro Cuban melody from the song cycle devoted to Oshun, a deity that reflects one of the manifestations of God in the Ifá and Yoruba religions. “Cap vs Nim” is based on a celebrated chess match between the grandmasters José Raúl Capablanca and Aron Nimzowitsch wherein Finlayson assigned harmonic values to positions on the board with the melody determined by the origin and destination of each move. Guitarist Mile Okazaki states of the music: “It demands restraint and balance. It breathes and moves along unencumbered. You join in for the trip, but travel light and watch your step, because Finlayson will surely take a turn that you don’t expect.”

Finlayson’s band, Sicilian Defense, is named after the popular chess opening counter move, and most of the composition titles on Moving Still are also allusions to some aspect of the game of chess, which he plays with great zeal. This latest iteration of the band includes guitarist Miles Okazaki, who is also a member of Steve Coleman’s Five Elements and with whom Finlayson has played with consistently for ten years. Trickster, his next release, will be out on Pi in 2017. Pianist Matt Mitchell (Tim Berne, Dave Douglas, Rudresh Mahanthappa, John Hollenbeck) has also released two of his albums on Pi. Finlayson has played alongside bassist John Hebert (Andrew Hill, Fred Hersch) for years, most recently in the bands of guitarist Mary Halvorson. And the young drummer Craig Weinrib, best known for tackling the challenges of Henry Threadgill’s music as a member of his Ensemble Double up, a band that released the acclaimed Old Locks and Irregular Verbs earlier this year.

Finlayson has been a professional musician for a decade and a half despite being only 34 years of age. It’s not uncommon for musicians years younger with far less experience to have multiple albums as leaders under their belt already yet Moving Still is just the second release under his own name. According to Okazaki: “You can’t rush Finlayson. He’s not concerned with expectations. He has confidence that his preparation will allow things to fall into place when the time is right. It has to do with timing and nuance, and allowing the story to reveal itself to those who are leaning in and paying attention.” Or as Steve Coleman puts it: “Jonathan was aware of the entire spectrum of this music from a young age and he’s always taken a panoramic view of what has come before. But for him it’s not about imitating the great players. He has the patience to find his own way and it’s important to him for his music to reflect his own personality and philosophy, to create his own style and sound. He has made a conscious choice to be on the cutting edge so that he continues to make an individual contribution to the continuum of this music.” The result is a daring work with a firm sense of purpose.

1. All of the Pieces 11:15

2. Flank and Center 04:34

3. Space And 08:33

4. Cap vs. Nim 08:58

5. Between Moves 08:08

6. Folk Song 10:47

Jonathan Finlayson - trumpet

Miles Okazaki - guitar

Matt Mitchell - piano

John Hébert – bass

Craig Weinrib - drums