JUXTAPOSITION out on 22nd of September (NAKAMA RECORDS)

JUXTAPOSITION

"a cruel and punishing work, which exploits the full sonic spectrum and every texture, from grainy abrasion to the razor-sharp (...) pretty f*cking intense."

– Christopher Nosnibor, Aural aggravation

Out on CD and MC on the 22nd of September

Harsh noise, joyful screams and birdsong

Juxtaposition is a studio work of four Oslo based improvisers recorded in the spring of 2016. Various timbres of opposite extremes – as a result of each musicians' different approach and background – coexist without hierarchical restrictions. Having that in mind, the mixing process played a crucial role to deliver a concrete body of equalitarian sonic output. Without compromise, these moments of joy and pain, screams, feedback and bird sounds are layered on top of each other, creating a non-hierarchical, juxtaposed mesh of both organic, generated and pre-recorded sounds.

Agnes Hvizdalek - voice

Magnus Skavhaug Nergaard - electric bass, electronics, field recordings

Utku Tavil - snare drum, no-input mixer, sampler

Natali Abrahamsen Garner - voice, electronics

Pre-order Juxtaposition here

Benny Benack III - One of a Kind (2017)

At the age of 26, Pittsburgh-born, New York-based Jazz musician Benny Benack III has been hailed by Nate Chinen of the New York Times as “a charismatic young trumpeter who maintains an earnest sideline as a singer". As a dual-threat, he’s quickly established himself as one of the most versatile and virtuosic voices of his generation. He first made his mark internationally through competitions, highlighted by winning the Carmine Caruso International Jazz Trumpet Soloist Competition (2011), and being a Finalist for the prestigious Thelonius Monk International Jazz Competition (2014). After placing in a number of US vocal competitions as well (Gentleman Sing, Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival), the stage was set for his bright career.

Delivering on that early promise, he became a frequent collaborator with musicians such as Ulysses Owens Jr., Michael Dease, and Chihiro Yamanaka - recording with the latter on the iconic Blue Note Records label. Sought after as a trumpet soloist, he's played in nearly every major big band, including the Christian McBride Big Band, Mingus Big Band, Dizzy Gillespie Alumni All-Stars, Jimmy Heath Big Band, and Bobby Sanabria's Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra. An international touring schedule includes frequent engagements in Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, Ukraine and Italy.

Equally at ease in the Pop/Cabaret world, he has toured alongside Josh Groban as his trumpet soloist, played the famed Cafe Carlyle with fashion icon Isaac Mizrahi, headlined the iconic Birdland Jazz Club alongside Anne Hampton Callaway honoring Ella & Louis, and was special guest with the Pittsburgh Symphony Pops Orchestra for a Tribute to Sinatra. When not on the road, he headlines at the finest venues in New York, with engagements at 54 Below, Jazz @ Lincoln Center’s “Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola", The Blue Note, Birdland, SMOKE, Minton’s, the Jazz Standard, Small’s, and has a monthly Saturday night residency at Mezzrow in the West Village.

He was recently featured as a vocalist during Jazz @ Lincoln Center’s 2016 Concert Series in the Appel Room, as a part of “Crooners" celebrating Bing Crosby, Mel Torme & Nat King Cole. He also made his television debut, featured live on-air in the House Band for NBC's variety show "Maya & Marty in Manhattan".

On September 15th, 2017 his first solo album “One of a Kind" will be released worldwide, signaling his arrival as a major international artist for years to come.

As an educator, Benack is highly sought after around the world as a clinician and masterclass presenter, known for his engaging and enthusiastic style with students. Throughout many schools, he leads The Benny Benack Band on behalf of Jazz @ Lincoln Center’s “Jazz For Young People" outreach program. He regularly leads educational concerts at the National Jazz Museum in Harlem, and for the NY Pops Education Outreach Program as a Teaching Artist.

He is a two-time graduate of the Manhattan School of Music, obtaining his Master of Music degree in 2015. He is endorsed by P. Mauriat Trumpets, Torpedo Bag cases, and Carol Brass Flugelhorns.

1 One of a Kind 00:05:22 

2 Kiss Me Slowly 00:04:59

3 I Found You 00:05:51

4 You Already Know 00:05:39

5 Looking for Love 00:04:46

6 Jumpstart 00:04:40

7 When Midnight Comes 00:07:08

8 Close to You 00:03:54 

9 I Only Have Eyes for You 00:06:24

10 LondonTowne 00:05:5

11 Guh Guh Guh 00:06:05

12 Benny's From Heaven 00:05:40

Benny Benack III: Trumpet/Vocals/Compositions

Joel Frahm: Tenor Sax (4,10,11)

Yotam Silberstein: Guitar (2,7,9)

Emmet Cohen: Piano

Alex Claffy: Bass

Ulysses Owens Jr: Drums

Arturo O’Farrill & Chucho Valdés - Familia: Tribute to Bebo + Chico (2017) CD 1

Pianists Arturo O'Farrill and Chucho Valdés celebrate their rich musical family legacies on 2017's ambitious, gloriously realized Familia: Tribute to Bebo & Chico.

Although they grew up on separate shores, O'Farrill in New York (via Mexico) and Valdés in Cuba, they both came of age in musical households as the sons of legendary Cuban bandleaders Chico O'Farrill and Bebo Valdés. 

Along with icons like Chano Pozo, Machito, and Dizzy Gillespie, the elder O'Farrill and Valdés were giants of Afro-Cuban music. Similarly, just as their fathers helped further the dissemination and creative development of Afro-Cuban and Latin jazz, Arturo and Chucho are innovators in their own rights, with decades of experience playing both traditional Cuban music and ultra-modern jazz.

Impressively, they bring all that history to bear on Familia, a two-disc collection featuring songs composed by their fathers, as well as new compositions inspired by their lives growing up in such deeply artistic families. Joining them here are their equally talented children, including trumpeter Adam O'Farrill, drummer Zack O'Farrill, pianist Leyanis Valdés, and drummer Jessie Valdés. Also on board are the members of Arturo O'Farrill's own Grammy Award-winning Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra.

Disc one primarily features the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra and finds O'Farrill and Valdés taking a more traditional, if still dazzling approach on cuts like the merengue-infused "BeboChicoChuchoTuro" and a lushly orchestrated reading of Bebo Valdés' "Ecuacion." Also compelling are the pianist's solo turns on Chico O'Farrill's "Pianitis" and O'Farrill's homage to his parents, "Fathers, Mothers, Sons, Daughters," which features several sparkling cadenzas from pianist Leyanis Valdés.

Disc two showcases the smaller, post-bop-leaning Third Generations Ensemble, in which they explore the more progressive edges of Afro-Cuban jazz. Here, trumpeter (and third place finisher at the 2014 Thelonious Monk Jazz Competition) Adam O'Farrill shines, revealing his knack for harmonically adventurous improvisation à la Woody Shaw on the kinetic and fractured "Run and Jump." Similarly, the trumpeter breathes new life into Chico O'Farrill's "Pura Emocion" framed by his father's taut, angular arrangement. Elsewhere, Zack O'Farrill contributes the expansive "Gonki Gonki" (his mother's way of describing the sound of rhythmic piano montunos) and Chucho offers the lushly virtuosic solo track "Para Chico." The sheer amount of virtuosity on display on Familia: Tribute to Bebo & Chico might well be overwhelming if the music itself weren't so warmly and beautifully rendered.

CD 1

1. BeboChicoChuchoTuro

2. Three Revolutions

3. Ecuación

4. Tema de Bebo

5. Pianitis

6. Fathers, Mothers, Sons, Daughters

Arturo O’Farrill & Chucho Valdés - Familia: Tribute to Bebo + Chico (2017) CD 2

CD2

1. Run and Jump

2. Recuerdo

3. Gonki Gonki

4. Pura Emoción

5. Para Chico

6. Con Poco Coco

7. Raja Ram

Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis - Handful of Keys (2017)

The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis and special guests take you through 100 years of jazz piano on their new album, Handful of Keys. Star pianists Joey Alexander, Dick Hyman, Myra Melford, Helen Sung, Isaiah J. Thompson, and the JLCO’s own Dan Nimmer grab hold of all 88 keys and reveal the full extent of the piano’s evolution over the 20th century. This landmark live performance will be released on 9/15/17 by Blue Engine Records.

Recorded on opening night of the 2016-17 Jazz at Lincoln Center season, Handful of Keys showcases a band in full stride, burning through electric arrangements of beloved compositions from James P. Johnson, Bill Evans, McCoy Tyner, and more. With guests ranging in age from 13-year-old prodigy Alexander (recently featured on 60 Minutes) to 89-year-old American treasure Hyman, Wynton Marsalis and the JLCO survey jazz piano’s past and give the stage to several prodigies who are taking the instrument in bold new directions.

Jingles – feat. Dick Hyman 3:45

Lulu’s Back in Town – feat. Isaiah J. Thompson 12:03

Four by Five – feat. Helen Sung 8:41

Very Early – feat. Joey Alexander 8:05

The Strawberry – feat. Myra Melford 9:17

Hymn to Freedom – feat. Isaiah J. Thompson 5:50

All of Me – feat. Dick Hyman 7:23

Temperance – feat. Dan Nimmer 5:50

Laurent Coq - Kinship (JAZZ&PEOPLE 2017)

Pour son retour attendu au format emblématique du trio, le pianiste français s’entoure d’une rythmique de haut vol et signe une série de compositions originales dédiées à tous ceux qui forment sa famille (kinship) musicale. Un hommage vivant à tous ceux qui, à Paris comme à New York, font battre le jazz au XXIe siècle, par l’un des plus singuliers pianistes actuels.

1. Light 03:43

2. Momentum 05:06

3. Honest 06:43

4. Pleasure 03:04

5. Mystery 03:42

6. Life 04:11

7. Organized 03:21

8. Sincerely 05:14

9. Flow 04:36

10. Radiation 04:51

11. Trip 04:53

Laurent Coq : Piano 

Joshua Crumbly : Basse 

Johnathan Blake : Batterie 

Enregistré au Bunker Studio à Brooklyn (NYC) le 31 octobre et le 1er novembre 2016 par Katsuhiko Naito 

Mix et mastering au Bass Hit Recording Studio (NYC) le 4 novembre par Dave Darlington.

Craig Pedersen Quintet - Approaching the Absence of Doing (MYSTERY AND WONDER 2017)

“A taut work in which composition and improvisation engage almost violently at times, the music winning.” Stuart Broomer, Point of Departure

Drawing influence from the work of Cecil Taylor, Joane Hetu, Joe McPhee, David S. Ware and John Coltrane, the Craig Pedersen Quintet’s Approaching the Absence of Doing is a 7-part suite ranging from full-out intensity to the near-pastoral. Rapid fire trumpet lines, wailing saxophone squeals, punching bass articulation, and duel pummelling drums serve to push and pull against Pedersen’s compositions. This is music that often sounds like it’s falling apart and being put back together, only to fall apart again - held together by the indisputable fact that this band works together as a tight unit.

Formed in 2011, the Craig Pedersen Quartet came together to perform the compositions of Montréalbased trumpeter Craig Pedersen. Approaching the Absence of Doing saw the unorthodox addition of a second drummer.

Recorded by Howard Bilerman at Montréal’s iconic Hotel2Tango, mixed by Mark Molnar, and mastered by Harris Newman. The LP and CD jacket were designed by Bennett Bedoukian at Oh!

Underworld, and the LP pressed at Canada’s own Precision Pressing in an edition of 300.

Track listing:

1. Intervention (4:01)

2. Part 1 (1:11)

3. Blowing (4:44)

4. F-ery (3:51)

5. Introduction (4:33)

6. Part 2 (6:14)

7. Approaching (4:04)

Craig Pedersen, trumpet

Linsey Wellman - alto saxophone

Joel Kerr - double bass

Bennett Bedoukian - drums

Eric Thibodeau - drums

Buy here

Craig Pedersen - Solo Trumpet (MYSTERY AND WONDER 2017)

Setting out to work with clarity of musical and human values, openness to the mystery of something bigger than himself and the desire to explore the relationship between these values and specific musical languages, Craig Pedersen’s Solo Trumpet (2016) presents two short pieces condensed from months of ongoing solo practice and performance.

Borne out of research into the expressive qualities of semi-fixed musical languages, with Side A exploring silence, held notes, timbre and slow movement, and Side B exploring a particular combination of trumpet mute technique, half-valving and articulation, there was also clear intention to share in some of the qualities that moved him in the work of the great American guitarist, Loren Connors.

From this practice came works that he notes, “I don’t recall trying to specifically create.” In many ways, months of work came to fruition in a beautiful, tiny, unexpected way.

Recorded and mixed by Craig Pedersen, and mastered by Harris Newman, the jacket was designed and handprinted by Popolo Press, and pressed at Canada’s own Precision Pressing in an edition of 165.

Track listing:

Side A

Side B

Craig Pedersen

all music by Craig Pedersen

recorded and mixed by Craig Pedersen, November 2016.

Mastered by Harris Newman at Greymarket Mastering

Printing and design by Popolo Press

Buy here

Sound of the Mountain (Amplified Clarinet & Trumpet) MYSTERY AND WONDER 2017

“..like wind, far away, but with a depth like a rumbling of the earth.” from Yusanari Kawabata’s “The Sound of the Mountain”

A duo featuring the hollowed-out sounds of Elizabeth Millar and Craig Pedersen on amplified clarinet and trumpet, Sound of the Mountain comes from a strong history of improvisation and extended performance techniques, offering their audience long-form deep listening experiences through the sculpting of vitalized breath.

Drawing influence from the works of Pauline Oliveros, Keiji Haino, Toshimaru Nakamura, and Isabelle Duthoit and Franz Hautzinger, Sound of the Mountain’s debut album Amplified Clarinet & Trumpet evokes a vast range of textures, from silence and spaciousness to rumbling bass and saturation. The duo works with closely-mic’d instruments and minimal equalization, avoiding the use of effects pedals and loops, such that their constant physical attention drives the music. The whistles and creaking of metal and reed anticipate the more dense moments of distortion and feedback in pieces that can be appreciated as discreet moments, or longer forms.

Recorded by Thierry Amar at Montréal’s iconic Hotel2Tango, mixed by Sound of the Mountain, and mastered by Harris Newman, the LP and CD jacket were designed and handprinted by Popolo Press, and the LP pressed at Canada’s own Precision Pressing in an edition of 300.

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, which last year invested $153 million to bring the arts to Canadians throughout the country. Nous remercions le Conseil des arts du Canada de son soutien. L’an dernier, le Conseil a investi 153 millions de dollars pour mettre de l’art dans la vie des Canadiennes et des Canadiens de tout le pays.

Track listing:

LP:

Side A (18:10)

Side B (15:56)

CD / Digital:

1. A-Part 1 (4:15)

2. A-Part 2 (4:49)

3. A-Part 3 (9:06)

4. B-Part 1 (9:09)

5. B-Part 2 (6:47)

Sound of the Mountain is:

Elizabeth Millar, amplified clarinet

Craig Pedersen, amplified trumpet

Available on 12-inch vinyl, CD and high-quality digital download.

Packaging designed and letterpressed by Kiva Stimac at Popolo press.

recorded by Thierry Amar at Hotel2Tango

mixed by Sound of the Mountain

mastered by Harris Newman at Greymarket Mastering

All music by Sound of the Mountain

Buy here

Sound of the Mountain 2017 from Sound of the Mountain on Vimeo.

Jazz at Princeton University's 2017-2018 Season – Gerald Clayton, Theo Bleckmann, Archie Shepp, Danilo Perez and more

Jazz at Princeton University Announces Broad and Dynamic 2017-2018 Season

October 14, 2017 – May 12, 2018

Guest artists include pianist Gerald Clayton and his trio, 

vocalist Theo Bleckmann, saxophonist Archie Shepp with 

Amina Claudine Myers, and pianist Danilo Perez

Faculty leading groups include Darcy James Argue, Jazz at Princeton head 

Rudresh Mahanthappa, Trineice Robinson-Martin and Jay Clayton

Jazz at Princeton University, helmed by acclaimed saxophonist/composer Rudresh Mahanthappa, presents a rich and varied 2017-2018 season, October 14, 2017 – May 12, 2018. Highlights include performances by student groups joined by guest artists including celebrated pianist Gerald Clayton, renowned vocalist Theo Bleckmann, saxophone legend Archie Shepp with Amina Claudine Myers, and venerable Panamanian pianist Danilo Perez.  

“I am thrilled to build upon what we started last year in presenting the myriad voices that make up this living art form of jazz,” says Mahanthappa. “We have an exciting season on tap featuring some of the top jazz musicians in the world in performance with students, the continuing great work of ensemble directors vocalist Triniece Robinson and composer/arranger Darcy James Argue, and a new vocal improvisation group led by the world renowned Jay Clayton.”

Jazz at Princeton has five major student ensembles: the Creative Large Ensemble directed by Darcy James Argue, two Jazz Small Groups directed by Rudresh Mahanthappa, the Jazz Vocal Collective directed by Trineice Robinson-Martin, and a new Vocal Improvisation Ensemble directed by Jay Clayton.

2017-2018 Season

Saturday, October 14, 2017 – Special guest pianist/composer Gerald Clayton and his trio join Jazz at Princeton University students.

8:00 pm, Richardson Auditorium in Alexander Hall.  Tickets are $15, $5 for students, available at 609-258-9220, or online at tickets.princeton.edu.

Four-time GRAMMY nominated pianist/composer Gerald Clayton formally began his musical journey at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, where he received the 2002 Presidential Scholar of the Arts Award. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Piano Performance at USC’s Thornton School of Music under the instruction of piano icon Billy Childs, after a year of intensive study with NEA Jazz Master Kenny Barron at The Manhattan School of Music. Clayton won second place in the 2006 Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Piano Competition.

He has performed and recorded with such artists as Diana Krall, Roy Hargrove, Dianne Reeves, Ambrose Akinmusire, Dayna Stephens, Kendrick Scott, Terri Lyne Carrington, Avishai Cohen, and the Clayton Brothers Quintet. Since 2013, Clayton has toured and recorded with saxophone legend Charles Lloyd. 2016 marks his second year as Musical Director of the Monterey Jazz Festival On Tour, a project that has featured his trio along with Ravi Coltrane, Nicholas Payton, Terence Blanchard and Raul Midón. Clayton’s discography as a leader includes his debut recording, Two Shade (ArtistShare), nominated for a 2010 GRAMMY Award. Clayton also received nominations in 2011, 2012, and 2013. His latest recording is the acclaimed 2016 Combinations. The son of beloved bass player and composer John Clayton, Gerald enjoyed a familial apprenticeship from an early age. He honors the legacy of his father and all his musical ancestors through a commitment to artistic exploration, innovation, and reinvention. www.geraldclayton.com.

Saturday, November 18, 2017 – Jazz at Princeton University Small Groups directed by Rudresh Mahanthappa

8:00 pm, Richardson Auditorium in Alexander Hall. Tickets are $15, $5 for students, available at 609-258-9220, or online at tickets.princeton.edu.

Few musicians share the ability of alto saxophonist/composer Rudresh Mahanthappa to embody the expansive possibilities of his music with his culture. What has materialized is a sound that hybridizes progressive jazz and South Indian classical music in a fluid and forward-looking form that reflects Mahanthappa’s own experience growing up a second-generation Indian-American. The current manifestations of that trajectory include his latest project Bird Calls (2015), which was named #1 album of the year by both DownBeat and NPR Music’s Jazz Critics Poll. Mahanthappa has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, two New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowships, and numerous commissions. He has been named alto saxophonist of the year five of the past six years in Downbeat Magazine’s International Critics Polls and for six years running by the Jazz Journalists’ Association. In April 2013, he received a Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, one of the most prominent arts awards in the world. In 2015, he was named a United States Artists Fellow. In 2016, he was named the Director of Jazz and the Associate Director of the Program in Musical Performance at Princeton University. Agrima, the new recording with his Indo-Pak Coalition, will be released October 17.

Thursday, November 30, 2017 – Special guest vocalist/composer Theo Bleckmann joins the Jazz Vocal Collective directed by Trineice Robinson-Martin

7:30 PM, Taplin Auditorium in Fine Hall. Free and open to the public.

GRAMMY nominated jazz singer and new music composer Theo Bleckmann’s diverse recorded work includes albums of Las Vegas standards, Weimar art songs, and popular “bar songs” (all with pianist Fumio Yasuda); a recording of newly-arranged songs by Charles Ives (with jazz/rock collective Kneebody); and his acclaimed "Hello Earth - the Music of Kate Bush." Bleckmann has appeared as a special guest on recordings by Ambrose Akinmusire for Blue Note Records and Julia Hülsmann’s trio for ECM Records. Bleckmann’s most recent recording Elegy, produced by legendary ECM label head and founder Manfred Eicher, was released in January 2017 on the ECM label. Bleckmann has collaborated with musicians, artists, actors and composers, including Ambrose Akinmusire, Laurie Anderson, Uri Caine, Philip Glass, Ann Hamilton, John Hollenbeck, Sheila Jordan, Phil Kline, David Lang, Kirk Nurock, Frances MacDormand, Ben Monder, Michael Tilson Thomas, Kenny Wheeler, John Zorn, the Bang on a Can All-Stars, and, most prominently, Meredith Monk, with whom Bleckmann worked as a core ensemble member for over fifteen years. He has been interviewed by Terry Gross on NPR’s Fresh Air and appeared on the David Letterman show with Laurie Anderson. In 2015, Bleckmann premiered a new work for the American Composers Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, and in 2016 he brought new work to the New York Philharmonic Biennial and the LA Philharmonic. Bleckmann has consistently appeared in the top-five spots in the DownBeat Critics’ Polls for Best Male Vocalist, and top-ten spots in their Readers’ Polls, and his work on Phil Kline’s “Out Cold” helped place that production on WQXR's Operavore "Best Opera of 2012". In 2010, Bleckmann received the prestigious JAZZ ECHO award from the Deutsche Phono-Akademie in his native Germany.

Internationally recognized as one of the leading pedagogues in gospel and soul voice training and vocal technique, Dr. Trineice Robinson-Martin is a force within the academic, religious, and performance communities. Her pioneering scholarship on gospel vocal techniques and performance practices can be found in Journal of Singing, Teaching in the 21st Century ed. by Harrison and O’Brian; and So You Want to Sing Gospel and in upcoming publications Voice Training for the Gospel Soloist. Creator of Soul Ingredients™, Dr. Trineice holds doctoral and master’s degrees from Teachers College Columbia University in music education with an emphasis in contemporary commercial music vocal pedagogy, and a master’s degree in Jazz Studies from Indiana University-Bloomington.

Her performance experience spans a variety of musical styles, venues and settings: the intimacy of private parties and local clubs, the grand stages of musical arts centers and large music festivals, and international stages. Dr. Trineice Robinson-Martin is the Executive Director of the African American Jazz Caucus, Inc.; serves on the national faculty of Gospel Music Workshop of America, Inc.; and is a certified instructor in Somatic VoiceworkTM the LoVetri Method. www.DrTrineice.com

Saturday, December 2, 2017 – Special guest saxophonist Archie Shepp with pianist/organist/ vocalist Amina Claudine Myers join Princeton’s Creative Large Ensemble directed by Darcy James Argue to perform music from Shepp’s Grammy-nominated recording “I Hear the Sound.”

8:00 pm, Richardson Auditorium in Alexander Hall. Tickets are $15, $5 for students, available at 609-258-9220, or online at tickets.princeton.edu.

Saxophonist, composer, pianist, singer, politically committed poet, and playwright Archie Shepp is a legend. Born in 1937 in Fort Lauderdale, he grew up in Philadelphia, majored in theater at Goddard College and in 1959 moved to New York where he associated with artists such as Leroy Jones (Amiri Baraka), Ishmael Reed, Bob Thomson and William White. Shepp also performed with some of the most important musicians of the sixties: John Coltrane, Lee Morgan, Jimmy Heath, Freddie Hubbard, McCoy Tyner, Frank Zappa, Chico Hamilton, and others. His professional career as a musician began in that decade when he made two recordings with Cecil Taylor. He created the New York Contemporary Five with John Tchicai and made four records for Savoy and Storyville. He recorded for Impulse and made 17 records among which Four For Trane, Fire Music, and Mama Too Tight are regarded as classics. His collaboration with John Coltrane materialized further with the recording of Ascension in 1965. Shepp was involved in the creation of the Jazz Composers Guild, formed by the trumpeter Bill Dixon, which was a major turning point in avant-garde music and included Carla and Paul Bley, Sun Ra, Roswell Rudd, Cecil Taylor and Albert Ayler. In 1969 he began teaching music at the State University of Buffalo where he was the first acting director of their Black Studies program. In 1971 he began teaching at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and retired as Professor Emeritus in 2002. Since 2000 Mr. Shepp has performed frequently in Europe. Since 2004 he has released a number of albums including the 2013 GRAMMY-nominated I HEAR THE SOUND, a new recording of the renowned Attica Blues. In 2016, Shepp received the NEA Jazz Master Award. He continues to compose and record and is preparing a new album to be released in 2018.

Vancouver-born, Brooklyn-based composer and bandleader Darcy James Argue has toured nationally and internationally with his 18-piece ensemble, Secret Society. Argue made his mark with his critically acclaimed 2009 debut Infernal Machines. 2013 saw the release of Brooklyn Babylon, which, like Infernal Machines before it, earned the group nominations for both GRAMMY and JUNO Awards. His most recent recording, Real Enemies, released in the fall of 2016, earned a third consecutive GRAMMY nomination. Secret Society maintains a busy touring schedule, with European, Canadian, and South American tours and four appearances at the Newport Jazz Festival. Argue has also toured Australia and New Zealand leading the Jazzgroove Mothership Orchestra. He has led performances of his music by the WDR Big Band, the Danish Radio Big Band, the Frankfurt Radio Big Band, the Cologne Contemporary Jazz Orchestra, the Big Band Palácio das Artes, and the West Point Jazz Knights. Argue has composed works for chamber duo and string quartet, art songs for Newspeak, and created arrangements for the Atlanta Symphony. In 2015, Argue was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in Music Composition and a Doris Duke Artist Award. He has received commissions from the Fromm Music Foundation, the Jazz Gallery, the Manhattan New Music Project, the Jerome Foundation, and BAM, as well as ensembles including the Danish Radio Big Band, the Hard Rubber Orchestra, the West Point Jazz Knights, and the Orquestra Jazz de Matosinhos. He is the recipient of grants and fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts, New Music USA, the Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Composers Now, the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, the Canada Council for the Arts, and the MacDowell Colony.

Amina Claudine Myers is a pianist, organist, vocalist, composer, master improvisor, actress, and educator. She has performed nationally and internationally throughout Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and North America. Myers began singing and playing jazz in college and moved to Chicago in the sixties, where she taught in the public schools for six years and composed her first choir for a musical, “I Dream.” In 1976 she moved to New York City and began writing music for theater, acting and composing for a number of off-Broadway productions. Myers has recorded with Archie Shepp, Charlie Haden’s Liberation Orchestra, James Blood Ulmer, Lester Bowie, Sonny Stitt, Anthony Braxton, Henry Threadgill, and others. She has released eleven recordings and composed many pieces for chamber orchestra, chorus, vocal and chamber ensembles, and big band. In 2010 she was commissioned by the Chicago Jazz Institute to compose a jazz orchestra piece in honor of Mary Lou Williams. Recent endeavors include performing original works of jazz, blues, gospel, spirituals, and improvisations for the pipe organ. Myers has received awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, Meet the Composer, and the New York Foundation for the Arts. She was inducted into the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame in 2001 and the Arkansas Jazz Hall of Fame in 2010.

Sunday, December 10, 2017 – Vocal Improvisation Ensemble directed by Jay Clayton

5 PM, Taplin Auditorium in Fine Hall. Free and open to the public.

Vocal innovator Jay Clayton shares her practice techniques and approach to free improvisation as well as fresh ideas for improvising over chord changes. One of the pioneering teachers of improvised vocal music, Clayton served as the director of the vocal department at Cornish College of the Arts for 20 years and was on the jazz faculty at Peabody Institute in Baltimore for 10 years.

Wednesday, December 13, 2017 – Jazz Small Groups directed by Rudresh Mahanthappa

7:30 PM, Taplin Auditorium in Fine Hall. Free and open to the public.

Saturday, February 24, 2018 – Special guest Danilo Perez performs with Jazz at Princeton University Small Groups

8:00 pm, Richardson Auditorium in Alexander Hall. Tickets are $15, $5 for students, available at 609-258-9220, or online at tickets.princeton.edu.

Pianist, composer, educator and social activist Danilo Pérez is among the most influential and dynamic musicians of our time. Born in Panama in 1965, Pérez started his musical studies when he was three with his father, a bandleader and singer. By age 10, he was studying the European classical piano repertoire at the National Conservatory in Panama. After receiving his bachelor’s degree in electronics in Panama, he studied jazz composition at Berklee College of Music. While still a student, he performed with Jon Hendricks, Terence Blanchard, Slide Hampton, Claudio Roditi and Paquito D’Rivera.

He soon toured and/or recorded with artists such as Dizzy Gillespie United Nations Orchestra from 1989-1992, Jack DeJohnette, Steve Lacy, Lee Konitz, Charlie Haden, Michael Brecker, Joe Lovano, Tito Puente, Wynton Marsalis, Tom Harrell, Gary Burton, and Roy Haynes. In 2000, Danilo joined Wayne Shorter to form Shorter's quartet with John Patitucci and Brian Blade. In 1993, Pérez turned his focus to his own ensembles and recording projects, releasing eight albums as a leader, earning several GRAMMY and Latin GRAMMY nominations. In 1996 he was signed by producer Tommy Lipuma to join the Impulse label and recorded Panamonk, a tribute to Thelonious Monk. Providencia, his debut for Mack Avenue Records, was nominated for a 2011 GRAMMY Award.

As a composer, he has received commissions from Lincoln Center, Chicago Jazz Festival, Imani Winds Quintet, Carnegie Hall, and The Banff Centre. Pérez served as Goodwill Ambassador to UNICEF, and currently serves as UNESCO Artist for Peace, Cultural Ambassador to the Republic of Panama, Founder and Artistic Director of the Panama Jazz Festival, and Artistic Director of the Berklee Global Jazz Institute in Boston’s Berklee College of Music. His latest album, Children Of The Light, a collaboration with fellow Wayne Shorter Quartet members John Patitucci and Brian Blade, was released on Mack Avenue in September of 2015.

Thursday, April 19, 2018 – Jazz Vocal Collective directed by Trineice Robinson

7:30 PM, Taplin Auditorium in Fine Hall. Free and open to the public.

Thursday, April 26, 2018 – Vocal Improvisation Ensemble directed by Jay Clayton

7:30 PM, Taplin Auditorium in Fine Hall. Free and open to the public.

Tuesday, May 1, 2018 – Jazz Small Groups directed by Rudresh Mahanthappa

7:30 PM, Taplin Auditorium in Fine Hall. Free and open to the public.

Saturday, May 12, 2018 – The Creative Large Ensemble directed by Darcy James Argue

8:00 pm, Richardson Auditorium in Alexander Hall. Tickets are $15, $5 for students, available at 609-258-9220, or online at tickets.princeton.edu.

Jazz at Princeton University serves to promote this uniquely American music as a contemporary and relevant art form.  Our goals are to convey the vast musical and social history of jazz, establish a strong theoretical and stylistic foundation with regard to improvisation and composition, and emphasize the development of individual expression and creativity. Offerings of this program include academic course work, performing ensembles, master classes, private study, and independent projects.

PORTA JAZZ Ao Pôr do Sol - Pedro Neves Trio - 17 de Setembro - Jardins do Palacio de Cristal

PORTA-JAZZ AO PÔR DO SOL

Domingo, 17 de Setembro 18:30h

Jardins do Palácio de Cristal

- entrada livre -

Pedro Neves Trio

Pedro Neves - piano

Miguel Ângelo - contrabaixo

Leandro Leonet - bateria

O ultimo concerto do ciclo Porta Jazz Ao Pôr do Sol será apresentado este domingo pelas mãos do Pedro Neves Trio. 

05:21 é o 27º disco com Carimbo Porta-Jazz.

05:21 descreve o primeiro momento do amanhecer. A narrativa do álbum sugere o percurso de alguém que atravessa esta hora do dia recorrentemente, enfrentando um turbilhão de pensamentos e sensações que o levam numa viagem alucinante que apenas termina quando por fim consegue adormecer.

Esta é uma história escrita pela mão do pianista e compositor Pedro Neves, ilustrada por Miguel Ângelo e Leandro Leonet.

CUNEIFORM RECORDS: Happy Five Dollar Friday! Today's 1-Day Only $5 album is...

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Fear Draws Misfortune by CHEER-ACCIDENT

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CHEER-ACCIDENT is ON TOUR NOW!

September 15

Rock In Opposition Festival - Cap D'ecouverte - Le Garric 81450, France

September 16

la Librairie Compagnon - 8 sentier des écoliers - 69870 Grandris, France

September 17

Une figue dans le Poirier - Girmont Val'D'Ajol - France

September 19

Le 108 - 108 ru de Bourgogne - 45000 Orleans, France

September 20

tba - Metz, France

September 21

Le Grattoir - Gerardmer, France

September 22

Freakshow Art Rock Festival - Würzburg, Germany [with Poil and Le Silo]

September 23

OFF - Offenburgerstrasse 59 - Basel, Switzerland

Omri Ziegele Where`s Africa - Going South (INTAKT RECORDS 2017)

This new album by Omri Ziegele’s «Where’s Africa» trio is in a place where there is unmitigated joy; its movements are feather-light, yet its grooves are earthy. That state of being in which everything can flow freely, the songs, time, like children’s rhymes and rounds, circling until they suddenly lead us out into the open. 

The keyboard transforms itself into a whole battery of tuned drums – it becomes a melodica, a bass, a universal instrument. In addition there is the simmering of the percussion, either with a relaxed timefeel or driving rhythms, over which the alto saxophone can lift raise itself – song-like, hymnic, spiritual, unchained as if in a trance. 

There are moments when everything connects: the joy of the dance and the “petite mort”; devotion and prayer.

Omri Ziegele: Alto Saxophone, Uzbek Flute, Vocals

Yves Theiler: Keyboards, Reed Organ, Melodica, Vocals

Dario Sisera: Percussion, Drums

1. Afreaka (Yves Theiler) 6:47

2. Make Me Mad (Omri Ziegele) 3:31

3. Laughing Your Tears Away (Omri Ziegele) 3:48

4. Will You Marry Me After So Many Years (Omri Ziegele) 2:14

5. Space (Yves Theiler Lyrics by Theiler/Ziegele) 5:38

6. Yesterday’s Tomorrows (Omri Ziegele) 5:35

7. The Milkman Always Paid My Rent (Omri Ziegele) 4:28

8. Camel, Where’s My Land (Omri Ziegele: music and lyrics) 13:36

9. Ithi Gqi (Johnny Dyani) 3:45

Recorded September 22, 23, 2016, at Hardstudios Winterthur by Andreas Neresheimer.

Edits by Dario Sisera, mixed by Andreas Neresheimer and Where’s Africa, overdubs by Where’s Africa, mastered by Andreas Neresheimer.

In cooperation with Radio SRF 2 Kultur. 

Cover art and graphic design: Jonas Schoder. Photo: Heinz Unger. Liner notes: Bert Noglik.

Produced by Omri Ziegele and Intakt Records. Published by Intakt Records, Patrik Landolt.