Virtuoso Trombonist ERIC GOLETZ's Large Ensemble "A NEW LIGHT" featuring Randy Brecker, coming January 31, 2022 on CAP Records

ONCE AGAIN, TROMBONIST ERIC GOLETZ BRINGS A 30-YEAR DREAM TO LIFE WITH HIS NEW RELEASE

A NEW LIGHT

Out January 21, 2022 on Consolidated Artists Publications

Virtuoso trombonist ERIC GOLETZ is releasing A NEW LIGHT, his second CD as a leader. After a 30-year career as a studio musician and first-call horn player in New York City, Goletz released his debut CD, Into the Night, in March of 2021. Reviewer Bill Donaldson says, “You have to give Eric Goletz credit for perseverance. And for virtuosity. And for creating music that reaches out to listeners while providing inimitable improvisational excellence. Into the Night is an uplifting, joyous album.”

Brimming with ideas and unstoppable energy, Goletz started working on A NEW LIGHT before his previous project was officially released. And like his previous release, A NEW LIGHT is an exciting, eclectic mix of musical styles that creates an infectious pastiche of sounds and textures.

Goletz’s multifarious background, experiences, and taste imbue his compositions and arrangements with a joie de vie enriched by his stellar musicianship. He began studying the piano when he was just six years old. His father was a pianist and big band arranger who wanted to share the gift of music with his children, so Goletz’s brother and sister both picked up an instrument at an early age and played with him in his band.

Goletz began studying classical piano, guitar, and music theory from the age of six with private teachers, but at the age of 14, he fell in love with the sound of the trombone in his father’s band, and he knew from then on that music was going to be his life’s work.

Goletz also began composing music at a young age and was soon writing and arranging music for the various groups he was involved with both in and out of school. Although his main focus was jazz, his tastes run the gamut of musical styles. Goletz says, “I think of music as having endless possibilities. It’s a journey where you can never be absolutely sure where it will lead. Although my background is in jazz and classical music, I spend much time listening to other forms of music such as pop, rock, Country, Motown, funk, Latin, and even Heavy Metal. There’s always something new to learn, and I try to keep an open mind to the simple joy of listening to music.”

Goletz grew up in Denver but moved to New York City to pursue his career, where he quickly found work composing and arranging for radio and TV commercials, soundtracks for independent films, album projects for many different singers and ensembles, and as a freelance jazz musician, notably with pianist Mike Longo’s State of the Art Jazz Ensemble, and with Sal Salvador, who was Stan Kenton’s former guitarist. Goletz played and wrote for Salvador’s album, Lorinda’s Kitchen.

Although he had a busy career as a sideman and studio musician, Goletz was brimming with his own creative ideas. He became intrigued with the sound of jazz fused with other styles of music, with the trombone as the lead instrument. There have been many great trombone recordings, but Goletz wanted to incorporate the traditional sound of the trombone in his own original, non-traditional musical setting.

In the ’90s, Goletz began to realize his vision by fronting a group led by both a tenor and bass trombone, that featured his original music and arrangements. He honed and developed his sound over several years, eventually releasing a sampler CD. Based on that release, Jazziz Magazine hailed him as one of the top 10 unsigned jazz artists in the country. The magazine also released a compilation CD that included Goletz’s original composition, “Night Child.”

Goletz wrote Into the Night with concepts that he had been developing for 25 years. Once the floodgate of ideas was opened, he had a torrent of creativity and wrote the arrangements for the new project in less than three months. On A NEW LIGHT, Goletz expands his original ideas with more complex arrangements, an expanded horn section, and a string section.

Goletz also made some changes to the core band. HENRY HEINITSH on guitar, STEVE JOHNS on drums, and JOE MOWATT on percussion appear on both albums. New additions include JIM RIDL on piano, ALLEN FARNHAM on keyboards, and MARCO PANASCIA on bass. A NEW LIGHT also features special guest RANDY BRECKER on trumpet and flugelhorn. Drummer Johns is a regular in Brecker’s band and introduced him to Goletz’s music. Brecker was very happy to participate on the new recording and appears on three compositions, “Dig,” “Greene Street Groove,” and “Don’t Gimme That.”

Goletz wrote all the compositions except for Miles Davis’ “Dig,” “Sunrise, Sunset” by Jerry Bock from Fiddler on the Roof, and “Song for Elizabeth” by Jonathan Butler. All the arrangements are by Goletz.

Goletz opens the album with “Prelude: Before the Light,” a lush jazz/classical composition that is somewhat reminiscent of George Gershwin. The “Prelude” introduces the melody of the opening number and title tune “A New Light,” a high energy, toe-tapping, big band number featuring Goletz’s melodic, beautifully articulated trombone sound. “The Edge of Night” has a driving jazz/rock feel. Goletz turns “Dig” into an up-tempo, Latin influenced number featuring a searing piano solo by Ridl and Brecker’s always hip, always tuneful trumpet playing. “Enchanted” is a romantic tune featuring the full band, while “Greene Street Groove” has a bluesy, funky groove. Goletz manages to keep the nostalgic, tender quality of “Sunrise, Sunset” while featuring a rock guitar solo by Heinitsh. Goletz takes down the temperature a bit on “Song for Elizabeth,” gentle love song, but kicks it into high gear again on “Don’t Gimme That,” featuring solos by Goletz, Brecker, and Farnham on keyboards. “The Mirror,” the penultimate tune, is a highly textured funk/jazz/rock number. Goletz closes the CD with “Postlude: After the Light,” which wraps up the CD with melodies and themes from all the other tunes on the disc.

Goletz’s arrangements are unique. With his solid chops as a musician and decades of working as a composer and arranger in a wide variety of musical venues and situations, it’s no wonder that his music is overflowing with a macrocosm of ideas. You can almost feel his rush of joy as he picks up his pen to get it all on paper.

1. PRELUDE: BEFORE THE LIGHT 0:41

2. A NEW LIGHT 7:12

3. EDGE OF NIGHT 7:27

4. DIG 9:02

5. ENCHANTED 7:06

6. GREENE STREET GROOVE 8:36

7. SUNRISE, SUNSET 10:19

8. SONG FOR ELIZABETH 4:00

9. DON’T GIMME THAT! 6:16

10. THE MIRROR 8:21

11. POSTLUDE: AFTER THE LIGHT 4:36

Eric Goletz trombone, keyboards | Randy Brecker trumpet, flugelhorn

Jim Ridl piano | Allen Farnham keyboards | Henry Heinitsh guitar

Marco Panascia bass | Steve Johns drums | Joe Mowatt percussion

The Horns

Trumpets: Tony Gorruso, Freddie Maxwell Kent Smith

French Horn: Will DeVos

Alto Sax: Bob Magnuson

Trombones: Erick Storckman, Chris Rinaman

Bass Trombone: Jonathan Greenberg

Tuba: Matt Ingman

The Strings

Violins: Robin Zeh, Paul Woodiel

Violas: Michael Roth, David Gold

Cello: Sarah Hewitt-Roth

All compositions by Eric Goletz except Dig (M. Davis), Sunrise, Sunset (Bock/Harnick) & Song for Elizabeth (J. Butler)

Eric Goletz Website    Facebook

Nils Landgren Funk Unit - Paint It Blue (2 Vinyl LP) November 26, 2021 ACT Music

A TRIBUTE TO CANNONBALL ADDERLEY.

What is Funk? Funk is Soul with the resources of Jazz: the fluid boundaries between religious service and a party.

The record PAINT IT BLUE is dedicated to the man who for many still today embodies the central figure at the genre’s source: Julian Edwin "Cannonball" Adderley (1928 - 1975). Maybe he didn’t invent Funk. Together with his co-musicians in his 60s quintet, Cannonball’s alto sax style, his attitude, humor great musicality, and his love for his audience allowed him to become a synonym for FUNK.

NILS LANDGREN, born in 1956, grew up between the music of his father, a Jazz cornet-player, and the music of his grandfather, a pastor on the island Gotland. He first heard Cannonball Adderley on Kind Of Blue. In this Miles Davis Sextet of the late 50’s, they were all together: "Miles, the master of beauty. Coltrane, the master of sound. And Cannonball Adderley, the master of funk," Nils Landgren writes in the liner-notes to Paint It Blue. From that point on he procured everything of Cannonball’s that he could lay his hands on. Landgren never experienced the revered master live. "Without the soul of Cannonball it would have been impossible to form my group Funk Unit many years later," he writes. Is it a coincidence that  this band had its greatest success to date with the guest alto saxophonist, Maceo Parker (on ACT 9223-2)?

The enormous liveliness and freshness of Cannonball Adderley’s music becomes apparent to anyone listening to his recordings today. Someone like him does not need a museum and that is why Paint It Blue, Nils Landgren’s second Funk Unit production for ACT, is more of a declaration of love to the spirit of Funk à la Cannonball than a musical show of reverence to a deceased idol. Nils Landgren has developed, deliberated and played Cannonball further. Seven of the twelve tracks are Nils own compositions and, more importantly, every bar of the famous Adderley-numbers like Walk Tall or Mercy, Mercy, Mercy, with all love for the originals, sound like here and now. Seamlessly, Nils Landgren inserts Rap elements of the 27 year old MAGNUM COLTRANE PRICE. The autodidact sings everything from Hip Hop to Rhythm ‘n’ Blues that’s good and also plays numerous instruments. With one exception, the remaining lyric contributions are from Adderley himself. Landgren edited Cannonball’s live concert announcements into his own arrangements, so that the time jump between the original and the nouveau arrangement appears non-existent. An effective device that literally brings this revered musician into the fold of Nils Landgren’s Funk Unit.

Whoever speaks of Cannonball Adderley, must also speak equally of his brother Nat Adderley. It was an obvious thought to invite the most important brothers in Jazz after the Adderleys to guest on Paint It Blue; with the high energy Funk-Jazzrock of the late 70s, the Brecker brothers have proven worthy heirs to the Adderleys. Both of them solo on Landgren’s track You Dig.

The equally noble and forcible groove is delivered by the sideman to countless Soul greats, BERNARD PURDIE. Bernard’s own stylistically related production with the Brecker Brothers, Nils Landgren, amongst others is now strongly in the public consciousness on SOUL TO JAZZ, ACT 9242-2. Much like Cannonball Adderley, AIRTO MOREIRA owes important impulses to his time with Miles Davis.

NILS LANDGREN, the man with the red trombone and the blue-painted overalls, the initiator and one paying homage, combines the variety of his possibilities of expression here. His eventful musical curriculum vitae gives a hint of these. As a six year old he already played the drums - not the worst start for a career as a Funk musician. Seven years later, Landgren changed over to trombone and after a music degree he moved to Stockholm, aged 23. Years of apprenticeship with Jazz and Rock bands as well as in the theatre followed, until in 1981 he became first trombonist in Thad Jones’ Bigband. He formed his first Unit in 1983 and a year later his debut record under his own name, Planet Rock, appeared. Since 1991, Nils Landgren has been a regular guest at the Baltic Sea jazz-festival, Jazz Baltica; he is the only musician to have been a member of all the Jazz Baltica-Ensembles, which have changed in line-up from year to year. Internationally he has played with artists as diverse as Marcus Miller and Kenny Wheeler, Abba and Herbie Hancock, The Crusaders and David Murray - to name a few.

Paint It Blue is possibly Nils Landgren’s most lavish record to date and with some certainty also his best. Landgren’s playing is cool and smooth, with warmth, temperament and thought. Here his sound combines organically with everything he surrounds himself with. The album sounds as if the recordings for it were a pure joy for all participants. Nils Landgren has the prerequisite for serious fun, the gift of intelligent serenity.

The Funk Unit:

Nils Landgren - tb

Per Ruskträsk Johansson - sax

Henrik Janson - git

Esbjörn Svensson - keyboards

Magnum Coltrane Price - vocals, synth

Lars DK Danielsson - fender bass

plus:

Bernard Purdie - dr / Michael Brecker - ts

Randy Brecker - tp /Airto Moreira - perc

Till Brönner - tp / Marcio Doctor - perc

Steffen Schorn - bcl

Recorded in May 1996 Peer Studios, Hamburg/Germany by Geoffrey Peacey

Produced by: Anselm Kluge and Nils Landgren. Executive Producer: Siegfried Loch

Format:Vinyl (also available as CD)

PREORDER

Michael Feinberg’s HARD TIMES (w/ Orrin Evans, Jeff ‘Tain’ Watts) is out October 22 via Fresh Sound

Bassist Michael Feinberg Releases Provocative New Album HARD TIMES, due out October 22, 2021 via Fresh Sound

Bassist and composer Michael Feinberg issues Hard Times, out on October 22, his eighth album as a leader spotlighting a fiercely integrative sound. At once stark and uplifting, the Fresh Sounds release expresses his layered response to the pandemic that, “offered some challenging opportunities,” according to the New York-based artist, who contends Hard Times “is the culmination of those challenges and opportunities.”

Primed for spontaneous expansion, the collection of largely original compositions reflects an aesthetic containing multitudes. “It’s a pretty diverse album in terms of the music,” he says. “It’s pretty eclectic.” Serving as co-producer alongside Jordi Pujol, Feinberg booked David Amlen to record the music at Sound on Sound Studios in Jersey, and Michael Perez-Cisneros to mix and master the album at Big Orange Sheep. 

For Feinberg and his collaborators, Hard Times offers room to wail and room to contemplate and, at its core, room to stretch. As a result of the lockdown, he seized an opportunity to assemble a band of perennially touring artists, including Leo Genovese on keyboards and synths, Billy Buss on trumpet, Godwin Louis on alto, Noah Preminger on tenor, Gabriel Globus-Hoenig on percussion, Orrin Evans on piano and special guest Randy Brecker for one texturally lavish, melodious track. 

Once he secured Jeff “Tain” Watts for the studio date, Feinberg began composing much of the music as well as the arrangements with the drummer’s nuanced expression in mind. “He’s someone who I’ve listened to for so long and have such deep respect for,” says Feinberg. “I wanted to bring out elements of his playing I really like.” 

Partly for Tain, partly in service of his own expression, Feinberg sought to create a groove-driven album that welcomes dualities and apparent contradictions. “A lot of the interest I have in music comes from disparate worlds combining — the order in the chaos,” he says. “Not that it’s always chaos [laughs]; it can be beautiful, tranquil.” Hard Times presents structured concepts of patterns and groove, allowing Feinberg and his fellow artists to respond with an elasticity and a pervading freedom to take scripted music and spontaneous melodies wherever they mean to go. “It creates the tension and release within the ensemble,” he says, “rather than just with the notes on the page.” 

Photos of Michael Feinberg courtesy of the artist

From opening colors on track one’s dedication to master forgers Pei-Shen Qian and Rudy Kurniawan, Hard Times reveals inquiry within the music. In addition to his strength and subtlety on the kit, Tain’s attention to leaving and creating space for idea development persists across the album. Through his arrangement of “Nardis,” Feinberg seeks to honor the pivotal apprenticeship gig with Russell Gunn he landed when he was coming up in Atlanta. Full on the low-end, the groove swells and recedes, arcing the music from one section to the next. “Husafell Stone” hits the listener with a fullness up front. Taking the first solo, Evans allows the composition’s syncopated melody to serve as point of origin before Buss delivers his own swinging response. 

Twin McCoy tracks “Walk Spirit, Talk Spirit” and “Three Flowers” pay tribute to a recently departed hero of Feinberg’s, the latter piece featuring a dualism is his bass solo characteristic of the entire record: strength in sensitivity. “These performances are intended as a tribute to him, as well as keeping the flame lit for those who love his music,” he says in his album notes. Written as a feature for Louis and Buss, “Janky in the Middle” spotlights the artists’ interplay, offering each opportunities to play with, alongside and against what the other proffers. The resulting dialogue creates smaller arcs in the music that punctuate the movement of the tune. Feinberg has played together with both artists for the past decade and a half. “We have that comfort to take those chances,” he says, “knowing we can find our way back once we get out there [laughs].” 

Flush with lamentation, “Every. Damn. Day. (Burn it down blues)” acknowledges and honors the continued generational trauma inflicted on the Black community as a result of racism, police brutality and gun violence. “Lauren’s Song” features another of Feinberg’s beautiful and tender melodies. In his signature language, Brecker speaks in full voice on “Monkeys Never Cramp.” Concluding on a note of jubilance and healing, “Hard Times” features Feinberg’s resonating walk and swinging melodies. He admits, however, he can only make suggestions; in the moment, sound is fluid. “Everything’s always in flux in the music,” he says. “It can go anywhere at any time, and everyone in the band knows that so we’re ready for it.” 

Fresh Sound Records Website

Chris Standring - Wonderful World (September 2021)

RENOWNED CONTEMPORARY GUITARIST/COMPOSER CHRIS STANDRING

RECORDSWITH JAZZ LEGENDS AT FAMED ABBEY ROAD STUDIOS

FORHIS FIRST LARGE ENSEMBLE STANDARDS ALBUM

WONDERFUL WORLD

Guitarist, composer, and arranger CHRIS STANDRING is one of the most prolific and successful artists on the contemporary urban jazz scene. With 13 Billboard Top 10 singles and 6 singles that reached number one on the chart, Jazz Monthly has said of Standring, “One of contemporary jazz’s most dynamic and in-demand guitarists, Standring’s sensual chill, ambient soul and retro-groove pop jazz is fashioned around his trademark hip-swaying guitar.”

Now, with WONDERFUL WORLD, his 14th release as a leader, he is once again pushing the envelope of taste and style with a project that is wholly different from anything he has done before.

Standring is a native of England. He was born and raised on a farm in the rural countryside of Buckinghamshire, where he spent his childhood driving tractors and feeding sheep. Music has been the nearly all-consuming focus of his life since he was 6 years old and began studying classical guitar. Although he had been listening to a lot of West Coast American jazz growing up, he did not become a serious jazz musician until he attended the London College of Music, where he met many aspiring jazz musicians, many of whom were members of the National Youth Jazz Orchestra and hard-core, straight-ahead aficionados. Standring soon found himself listening to the great bebop players and learning new approaches to harmony and rhythm.

Although London has a vibrant jazz scene, the U.S. is still a mecca for world class jazz artists. Standring had visited the States several times and loved the West Coast vibe, so he moved to Los Angeles in 1991 and quickly became part of the local jazz scene. Playing the top L.A. venues with A-list musicians, it did not take long until he caught the attention of many top music acts, and his contemporary guitar sound can be heard on recordings by Bebe and Cece Winans, Jody Watley, Carole Bayer Sager and Rick Braun. He has also performed with Marc Antoine, Patti Austin, Bob James, Dave Koz, Richard Elliott, Boney James, Peter White, Kirk Whalum, and Al Stewart.

Standring landed a record deal with Instinct Records, a label out of New York City, and in 1998, produced Velvet, his first album as a leader. He produced a new album for a variety of labels every year or two thereafter, writing or co-writing every one of the 100+ compositions. When asked how he could be so prolific, he responds, “I’m very disciplined about my writing. I’m not married and don’t have any children, because I have been so intensely focused on my music and don’t want any distractions. I write pretty much every day and need silence and time for reflection. Although I listen to a wide range of music styles to spark my creativity, I would have to say that just 1% of my output is from inspiration and 99% is from dedication to my craft.”

For WONDERFUL WORLD, Standring wanted to take his art in a different direction. Unlike all his other projects, he composed just one of the tunes on the album and instead concentrated on putting his own unique spin on songs from the Great American Songbook. The album also features a 19-piece orchestra, which is something he always wanted to do. He has been playing standards for many years, and he chose songs for WONDERFUL WORLD that he has always enjoyed. Standring says, “I chose these songs because I like them but also because they could be arranged for a full orchestra or a trio setting. I think there’s something magical about the sound of a guitar and orchestra playing together, but I won’t always be in situations where it’s possible to use an orchestra. So the arrangements had to be flexible enough to work in a trio setting.”

Standring wanted the album to be lush and sentimental, and he needed players who could capture the emotional tone he wanted and also navigate the subtle arrangements. He put together an all-star band that includes RANDY BRECKER on trumpet, PETER ERSKINE, HARVEY MASON, and DAVID KARASONY on drums, and CHUCK BERGHOFER, DAREK OLES, and GEOFF GASCOYNE on bass. All are top L.A.-based musicians except for Gascoyne, who is an old friend of Standring and still lives in England. Gascoyne wrote the string arrangements and helped Standring create the feel he wanted. Gascoyne also assembled and conducted the orchestra at the famed Abbey Road studios.

Also featured on one song is vocalist KATHRIN SHORR, an alternative-folk/pop singer who has recorded several CDs with her group Sweet Talk Radio. She and Standring released a CD of all original Christmas songs in 2011. Standring thought her smokey voice would be an excellent choice for “What a Wonderful World.”

Standring set out to make an album of music that was pared down to its essence. He wasn’t interested in pyrotechnics that would show off his considerable chops. Instead, he wanted to invite listeners in with open trio arrangements and lush orchestrations that would be nostalgic yet updated with a contemporary sensibility. Songs like “How Insensitive,” “Night & Day,” “Autumn In New York,” “Estate,” “What A Wonderful World,” “Green Dolphin Street,” “Alfie,” “Falling In Love With Love,” and “My Foolish Heart” are certainly well-known to jazz audiences, but Standring and company breathe new life into these chestnuts with a sentimental sweetness on WONDERFUL WORLD.

1. HOW INSENSITIVE 4:54

2. NIGHT & DAY 5:50

3. AUTUMN IN NEW YORK 4:49

4. ESTATE 4:43

5. WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD 4:47

6. GREEN DOLPHIN STREET 3:54

7. ALFIE 4:16

8. FALLING IN LOVE WITH LOVE 4:40

9. SUNRISE 4:55

10. MAXINE 4:30

11. MY FOOLISH HEART 3:40

CHRIS STANDRING  guitar

RANDY BRECKER  flugelhorn (9)

PETER ERSKINE  drums (1, 2, 3, 5, 8)

HARVEY MASON  drums (6, 9, 10)

DAVID KARASONY  drums  (4)

CHUCK BERGHOFER  bass (2, 3, 5, 8)

DAREK OLES  bass (6, 9, 10)

GEOFF GASCOYNE  bass (1, 4, 7, 11)

KATHRIN SHORR  vocal (5)

Arranged and Produced by CHRIS STANDRING

Orchestra arranged and conducted by GEOFF GASCOYNE  

Orchestra recorded at Abbey Road Studios

WONDERFUL WORLD will be available on CD, vinyl and digitally everywhere

PREORDER

Bassist Tom Kennedy's first release of original compositions, 'Stories,' out 6/11 via Autumn Hill Records

Stories, out June 11, 2021 on Autumn Hill Records, reunites Kennedy with longtime collaborators including Dave Weckl, Mike Stern, Randy Brecker, Jay Oliver, Bill Evans, Ada Rovatti, Gary Meek and more

After nearly five decades as a working musician, bassist/composer Tom Kennedy has collected more than his fair share of stories: colorful tales of life on the road, encounters and friendships with some of the most renowned names in contemporary jazz, sights and sounds from across the globe. With his sixth album as a leader, Stories, Kennedy shares his musical impressions of those captivating tales, bringing along a host of the stellar artists with whom he shares such indelible experiences.

Stories, due out June 11, 2021 via Autumn Hill Records, marks the first release in Kennedy’s, well, storied career consisting entirely of the bass great’s original compositions. Each piece was written during Kennedy’s travels, serving as an audio scrapbook and providing musical snapshots of tours through Australia, China, Europe and the U.S. while on the road with longtime collaborators like Mike Stern, Lee Ritenour and Dave Grusin. 

To breathe life into these new pieces, Kennedy enlisted lifelong St. Louis friends Dave Weckl and Roger Guth (drums) and Jay Oliver (keyboards), along with some of the brilliant players whose paths he’s crossed along the way: trumpeter Randy Brecker; saxophonists Gary Meek, Bill Evans and Ada Rovatti; percussionist Roger Squitero; guitarist Mike Stern; and violinist Sarina Suno.

“Stories encompasses so many different things to me,” Kennedy explains. “It's all about the places and the people that were involved in it. When I listen to one of these songs I can see a vision from the place where I was when I was writing that song, or I get a sense of the smell of the hotel or the venue. They're very personal memories. It's like emotional GPS.”

The sound of Stories is intimately tied to the method of its creation. For the first time, Kennedy didn’t write his tunes sitting in front of a keyboard at home or in the studio. Instead, he used his laptop to compose on the move, entering ideas directly into Pro Tools while on a tour bus, backstage at a venue waiting to perform, or whiling away the hours between gigs in hotel rooms. 

“Dave [Weckl] and I were traveling with Mike Stern in China,” Kennedy recalls of the album’s genesis with its lyrical title track. “I remember we were in the van on the way to the next city and this little harmonic idea came into my head. It’s much too cumbersome to carry a keyboard around, so I just got out my laptop and started working in the car. Then when I got to the hotel I was like a mad scientist in my room the rest of the evening. By the end of the day I had the song pretty much worked out. I ended up writing the entire record that way.”

Of course, the disruption of constant travel, the responsibilities of each night’s concert and the buzz of activity at venues means constant distraction, but Kennedy found that to be inspiring rather than detracting. “At home, everybody shuts up and leaves me alone,” he says. “I'm in a very controlled situation, working in a very methodical way. Here, I had people bustling all around me, the stage is being set up or I'm being bounced around in the back of the van – all kinds of crazy things. But that definitely brought a lot of spirit to the music.”

That spirit is vibrantly evoked from the outset, with the rollicking opener “Hurry Up!” Kennedy wrote the track with Weckl in mind, and called in veteran big band trumpeter Nick Marchione to add a brass section inspired by the longtime bandmates’ roots in big band music. “The three of us – Dave, Jay and I – grew up playing and listening to and loving big band music. We were all big Buddy Rich fans, I was a big Stan Kenton fan, and Jay actually played in Maynard Ferguson's band when he was a kid. So that music was in our blood, and ‘Hurry Up!’ reflects that idea.”

The same idea applies to the album’s funky closing cut, “BB’s Blues.” The song is named for the St. Louis club BB’s Jazz, Blues and Soups, one of the venues where a young Tom Kennedy cut his teeth in the music alongside his brother, the late pianist Ray Kennedy. While still in St. Louis, the two would back musicians traveling through town, learning valuable lessons on the bandstand beside such legends as Sonny Stitt, James Moody and Freddie Hubbard. 

Along with the sights, sounds and scents of the places Kennedy found himself during the writing of the album, the bassist found deep inspiration in the compositions of the brilliant bandleaders with whom he was touring as well as collaborators from the past. “Elements” is his most direct acknowledgment of that, incorporating bits and pieces from the music of Stern, Ritenour, Grusin and the Brecker brothers and melding them into something wholly his own. “The ’70s” flashes back to the most formative period in Kennedy’s musical life, drawing on the heavy funk of Parliament/Funkadelic and Graham Central Station.

The profoundly grooving “Jacket,” along with several other tunes on the record, shows off the telepathic hook-up forged by Kennedy, Weckl, Oliver and Meek during their years in the Dave Weckl Band, a connection recently reprised at a 2019 jazz festival in Kennedy’s native St. Louis at the behest of Autumn Hill founders Rob and Michael Silverman. The appearances of Randy Brecker and his wife, saxophonist Ada Rovatti, also harken back to Kennedy’s tenure in Steps Ahead with the late, iconic Michael Brecker.

The title of “Simple Song” should be preceded by the word “deceptively,” as it’s far from easy to conjure such an instantly memorable melody or evoke such joyous spirited playing from a band. And “Altitude” earns its soaring sobriquet from the taut rhythms of Kennedy and Guth and a buoyant, skyscraping turn from saxophonist Bill Evans.

All of those names are vitally important to the sound of Stories. While the compositions themselves offer remembrances of times and places, the album is stunningly realized by incredible musicians crafting vivid new memories in the moment. “The reason Stories allowed me to embrace the music as much as I have is because I embrace the relationships I've made with these people,” Kennedy says. “Musically, they're the standard by which everything is judged; but when you get to know them you realize it’s the same personally: they're the most incredibly inspiring, warm, giving people on the planet. That played into the sensitivity and freedom in the music.” 

Hurry Up!

Elements

The '70s

Stories

Don't Forget Your Jacket

A Simple Song

Altitude

BB's Blues

Tom Kennedy: bass, electric

Dave Weckl: drums

Randy Brecker: trumpet

Jay Oliver: keyboards

Roger Squitero: percussion

Ada Rovatti: saxophone

Mike Stern: guitar, electric

Gary Meek: saxophone

Bill Evans: saxophone

Roger Guth: drums

Sarina Suno: violin

Nick Marcione: trumpet

Pre-order

Albare – Plays Jobim Vol. 2 (Alfi Records 2021)

Guitarist and composer, Albare was born in Morocco and grew up in Israel and France. Althoug he joined at age 8 the Music Conservatory in his hometown in Israel 2 years, his musical development was completely self-taught. These days, as Albare has lost his central vision faculties due to an illnes, his playing is completely by ear.

In 1972 Albare discovered the sound of Jobim while watching Marcel Camus's cult film, Orpheus Negro. The haunting melodies and unique compositions left a profound impression on the young guitarist and inspired Albare to study and play the melodic style for which he is now known for.

After the great sucess of Albare plays Jobim Volume 1, it only made sense to release a Volume 2.

1. Dindi 5:16

2. Summer Samba 3:56

3. A Felicidade 4:57

4. So Danço Samba3:28

5. Caminhos Cruzados 4:57

6. How Insensitive 5:09

7. Triste 4:30

8. Girl From Ipanema 3:56

9. Once I Loved 4:58

10. Favela 4:52

11. Meditation 4:59

Albare: acoustic, electric guitar

Joe Chindamo: arranger, orchestra conductor, piano

Paolo Bencid: drums (2-8, 10, 11)

Luisito Quintero: percussion

Guest artists:

Randy Brecker: trumpet (4, 10)

Nestor Torres: flute (2, 6)

Antonio Sanchez: drums (1, 9)

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Randy Brecker & Mats Holmquist - Together (with Umo Jazz Orchestra) MAMA RECORDS July 24, 2018

Randy Brecker has been shaping the sound of music for decades. His performances have graced hundreds of albums by a wide range of artists from James Taylor, Bruce Springsteen, Chaka Khan, George Benson and Parliament-Funkadelics to two Grammy winners on Summit & MAMA Records.

These arrangements all have little (and not so little) twists and turns that keep you on your toes at all times. There are 3 Chick Corea tunes, 'Crystal Silence', 'Humpty Dumpty' and 'Windows' masterfully re-worked by Mats, Two Mats 'impressions' or minimalistic versions of so-called "Standards' 'Stella By Starlight' (we both have daughter named Stella by the way), and 'All the Things you Are' which are re-imagined with delightful results, the beautiful Ray Evans- Jay Livingston ballad 'Never Let Me Go' and then three Mats original compositions: 'One Million Circumstances', 'Always Young' and 'Summer and Winter' each quite challenging in their own way.

I think you'll really enjoy this CD there are absolutely no dull moments, you are going to be taken on the ride of a lifetime, so enjoy it and let me know when you come back to Earth!

Randy Brecker

This CD features 3 compositions and one arrangement written in the late eighties; "One Million Circumstances", "Summer and Winter", "Always Young", "Never Let Me Go" - three arrangements of Chick Corea compositions; "Windows", "Crystal Silence", "Humpty Dumpty" -and 2 new re-compositions based on famous standards; "My Stella" (Stellla by Starlight") and "All My Things" ("All the Things You Are"). In other words three different periods are represented; late eighties, beginning of the 2000s (Chick Corea) and the present (re-composition of standards).

UMO Jazz Orchestra is the only professional orchestra in Finland specialised in jazz and new rhythm-oriented music. The big band of 16 musicians plays about 80 concerts every year in Finland and abroad. The orchestra plays a diverse range of modern music that is on the pulse of the times.

One Million Circumstances

Summer and Winter

Never Let Me Go

Windows

All My Things

Crystal Silence

Humpty Dumpty

My Stella

Always Young

JIM EIGO

JAZZ PROMO SERVICES

272 State Route 94 South #1, Warwick, NY 10990-3363

Ph: 845-986-1677

jim@jazzpromoservices.com • www.jazzpromoservices.com

“Specializing in Media Campaigns for the music community, artists, labels, venues and events.”

The Bill O'Connell Jazz Latin Quartet CD Release Tuesday, July 24 7:30 & 9:30 PM The Jazz Standard

The Bill O'Connell Jazz Latin Quartet

CD Release 

Tuesday, July 24th

7:30 & 9:30 pm

The Jazz Standard

116 E. 27th St.

New York, NY, 10016

Tickets & Info

Bill O'Connell-piano, Craig Handy-Sax,Lincoln Goines-bass and Cliff Almond-drums with special guests Andrea Brachfeld-flute and Dan Carillo-guitar

Bill O'Connell's pianism has always been known for it's razor-sharp rhythmic sense, clean articulation and phrasing which is as affectionate as it is unfussy. And although the idiom often demands fire and verve one must never lose sight of O'Connell's graceful dynamics which give his lines interesting twists and turns that dart and swerve with spontaneous freedom. With friends like Randy Brecker, Craig Handy, Conrad Herwig, Andrea Brachfeld and Dan Carillo on hand, Jazz Latin is more than a release, it is an event.

1. Obama Samba

2. Just One of Those Things

3. It's Ok

4. Footprints

5. Goodbye My Friend

6. Quicksand

7. Tip Toes

8. Puttin' on the Ritz

9. Mom's Song

10. Zingaro

11. What Is This

Bill O’Connell – piano and Fender Rhodes (tracks 3 & 6)

Lincoln Goines – electric bass

Robby Ameen – drums

Randy Brecker – flugelhorn (track 5)

Craig Handy – tenor saxophone (track 3)

Conrad Herwig – trombone (track 8)

Dan Carillo – guitar (tracks 5 & 9)

Andrea Brachfeld – flute (track 6)

Media Contact

Jim Eigo

Jazz Promo Services

272 State Route 94 South #1

Warwick, NY 10990-3363

Ph: 845-986-1677 

Cell / text: 917-755-8960

Skype: jazzpromo

jim@jazzpromoservices.com

www.jazzpromoservices.com

"Specializing in Media Campaigns for the music community, artists, labels, venues and events.”

Richie Beirach - Inborn 2CD (April 20, 2018)

'Inborn' a 2CD set led by pianist Richie Beirach, presents recordings from 1989 featuring Randy Brecker, Michael Brecker, John Scofield, George Mraz and Adam Nussbaum! All the tracks were recorded at the legendary Clinton Recording Studios in New York, where many of the great Bill Evans trio and some of the later Miles Davis and McCoy Tyner records were made.

This all-star combo was assembled under the leadership of pianist Richie Beirach (born 1947), it included the Brecker Brothers - the late tenor saxophonist Michael and the trumpeter Randy, the guitarist John Scofield, bassist George Mraz and the drummer Adam Nussbaum. At the time of recording all six of them were internationally recognised names in jazz, with the Brecker Brothers, who were fast becoming "superstars" of modern jazz, leading the way.

The setting for the recording was quite exceptional and is worth mentioning. On the first day of their recording session in mid-April of 1989 the six jazz musicians performed the pieces highly focused and without disturbance at the Clinton Studios in New York. However, on the second day they invited friends and acquaintances and played some of the same pieces as the day before, but now under more difficult conditions, live on stage in front of an audience. The result is a double album of historical significance for the world of jazz. A must-have for your collection!

DISC 1 - LIVE

1. Paradox

2. Alone Together

3. Inborn

4. Con Alma

5. Sunday Song

6. In Your Own Sweet Way

7. You Don't Know What Love Is

8. Broken Wing

DISC 2 - STUDIO

1. My Funny Valentine

2. Leaving

3. Inborn

4. Some Other Time

5. Sunday Song

6. Young & Foolish

7. Paradox

Richie Beirach (piano)

Randy Brecker (trumpet, flugelhorn)

Michael Brecker (tenor saxophone)

John Scofield (guitar)

George Mraz (bass)

Adam Nussbaum (drums)

Michel Bisceglia (feat. Randy Brecker & Bob Mintzer) - 20 Years Recordings (PROVA RECORDS 2017)

In 1997 Michel Bisceglia decided to record a studio album with Werner Lauscher and Marc Lehan, two of his closest friends. 20 years later this piano jazz trio is still performing in the same line-up. To celebrate this 20th anniversary, the trio will release its first compilation album.

20 Years Recordings contains a few tracks from their RCA Victor debut album About Stories with Randy Brecker and Bob Mintzer. From the album Inner You they chose to add tracks that Michel Bisceglia composed with Ozark Henry and Rocco Granata. Inner You was a success album in Japan, and one of its tracks was used in the American TV-series Ray Donovan. Tracks from Singularity, which was selected by the renowned magazine JazzTimes as one of the 50 best jazz albums of 2014, are also included.

The 3 tracks from About Stories with Randy Brecker and Bob Mintzer are remastered for this compilation.

1 All About Stories (feat. Randy Brecker & Bob Mintzer) 7:02

2 Neena 8:13

3 Paisellu Miu 5:34

4 Cydonia Regions 4:02

5 Blue Bird Prologue 9:58

6 Puccini 7:58

7 Floating 5:42

8 At Night 5:23

9 Children's Sphere (feat. Randy Brecker & Bob Mintzer) 6:44

10 Jasmine 4:48

11 Out to Sea 5:23

12 Red Eye (feat. Randy Brecker & Bob Mintzer) 6:30

13 Dry Water 5:43

14 Singularity 6:43

15 The Traveller 5:44

piano: michel bisceglia

double bass: werner lauscher

drums: marc lehan

Gary Meek - Originals (feat. Randy Brecker, Brian Bromberg, Terri Lyne Carrington & Mitchel Forman) 2017

Saxophonist Gary Meek is set to perform at Los Angeles‘ Catalina Jazz Club on Thursday, October 5 at 8:30PM in support of his new album, Originals (available September 29). Meek will be joined by trumpeter Walt Fowler, guitarist Bruce Forman, pianist Mitchell Forman, bassist Brian Bromberg and drummer Terri Lyne Carrington for the engagement. 

With six recordings as a leader since 1991 as well as being a widely sought after sideman, Gary Meek has carved out a unique position for himself as a virtuosic saxophonist. Meek has contributed to over 150 recordings and has performed and/or recorded with artists such as Dave Weckl, Airto Moreira, Jeff Lorber and Green Day. His newest release, Originals, reclaims his passion for creating his own works and writing personal journeys through music. His first as a leader since 2002, this album demonstrates not only his mastery of the saxophone, but a beauty and joyfulness of expression that is apparent in both his playing and in his compositions.

For this recording, Meek has assembled an extraordinary cast. GRAMMY® Award-winning drummer, composer, and bandleader Terri Lyne Carrington, bassist and producer Brian Bromberg, and pianist Mitchel Forman as the nucleus of the group. Originals also features trumpet/flugelhorn player and quadruple GRAMMY® Award-winner Randy Brecker, guitarist and jazz educator Bruce Forman and two additional world class musicians–Airto Moreira and Michael Lent add their talents.

Even though this is Meek’s first project in 15 years, he clearly has not lost the art of storytelling and his ability to conjure intense feelings through his compositions. Originals not only showcases his ability as a dominant front man but also his ability to let this brilliant group of musicians experiment and push the limits of these compositions.

Nils Landgren Funk Unit - Unbreakable (ACT MUSIC 2017)

Mr Redhorn, Nils Landgren would never, ever mess with a good recipe.

Unbreakable opens with the title song, Nils Landgren’s own composition. It  begins with an unmistakeable guitar intro by Detroit funk legend Ray Parker Jr. (for the occasion an “Honorary Funk Unit member”) a funky riff that sets the pace for what’s to follow; a nonstop funk blowout. The Funk Unit rhythm section is tighter than ever before and lays down a groove like no other band. The horn arrangements (by band member Jonas Wall) are exquisitely precise and the process of arranging, mixing and performing they have developed over the years is unique and totally their own. If you add to that an outstanding trombone player/lead vocalist you have one of the most dynamic groups of musicians ever to hit the stage in Europe. Some funk, some jazz and some straight-out party music, and when the likes of Ray Parker Jr., Randy Brecker and Tim Hagans are willing to come along for the ride, it’s bound to keep the recipe going and some good music playing. The title is important to Nils and marks something of a turning point in the history of his band: “Throughout all our years together, there have been countless moments of great joy and laughter, but also times when we had to fight to stay on the right track. Remembering the highs always helped us to face the lows and to get back up on our feet. The love for the music and for each other has always won and always will. We are unbreakable”.

Nils Landgren, one of the most successful European jazz musicians ever, has received a plethora of jazz awards and other honours, including the Swedish Grammy for “lifetime achievement” and the Royal Swedish medal ”Litteris et Artibus” from the hands of H.M. King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, for his outstanding achievements.

When ACT Music founder Siggi Loch, first heard Landgren play in 1994, the band was called Unit. ”Why don’t you call it what it is?", Loch said, and from that moment Funk Unit was born.

The first album on the - then young - ACT label would be Live in Stockholm, recorded in summer 1994 with Maceo Parker as special guest, and that would soon be followed by a string of Funk Unit records released on ACT. Some of the notable highlights are the Cannonball Adderley tribute Paint It Blue (1996) featuring Bernhard Purdie, Michael and Randy Brecker. Funky Abba (2004) and Funk For Life (2010) supported, together with Doctors without Borders, a project to support children and teenagers with their music in Kibera, one of the biggest slums in Nairobi, Kenya.

Ray Parker Jr., guitarist, singer-songwriter and producer. Previously lead guitarist with Stevie Wonder. Parker wrote songs and did session work for Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner, Diana Ross and many others. Parker has scored six Top 40 hits as a solo artist; including the million selling hit single Ghostbusters in 1984.

Randy Brecker, trumpet player. Six-time Grammy award winner. Started his career as a member of Blood Sweat and Tears, and Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. His collaboration with younger brother Michael led to some of the most notable albums in the fusion genre, Brecker Brothers.

Tim Hagans, jazz trumpeter, arranger, and composer from Dayton, Ohio. USA. Three-time Grammy Nominee. In his early years he toured with Stan Kenton and Woody Herman. Among other artists Tim has recorded with Steps Ahead, Maria Schneider, Joe Lovano.

Unbreakable was recorded in November 2016 in the legendary Atlantis Studios in Stockholm, also the recording site for artists like ABBA, Scorpions, Elvis Costello and Esbjörn Svensson.

1 Unbreakable with Ray Parker Jr.

2 Just a Kiss Away

3 Get Down on the Funk with Ray Parker Jr.

4 Friday Night

5 Stars in Your Eyes with Ray Parker Jr.

6 Rockin’ After Midnight with Ray Parker Jr. feat. Randy Brecker

7 Soulchild

8 Old School

9 Nlfu Funk feat. Tim Hagans

10 Bow Down with Ray Parker Jr.

Nils Landgren Funk Unit:

Nils Landgren / trombone & vocals

Magnum Coltrane Price / bass & vocals

Andy Pfeiler / guitar & vocals

Jonas Wall / saxes

Petter Bergander / keyboards

Robert Ikiz / drums

Honorary Funk Unit Member - Ray Parker Jr :

Guitar on Unbreakable,

Rockin’ After Midnight (& vocals),

Just A Kiss Away, Stars In Your Eyes

& Bow Down

Randy Brecker / trumpet on 06

Tim Hagans / trumpet on 09