Punch Brothers - All Ashore (NONESUCH RECORDS 2018)

The Story Behind Punch Brothers' New Album, "All Ashore"

All Ashore, Punch Brothers' fifth album and the first to be self-produced by the quintet, is both ambitious and easygoing, a lot like the "ridiculously eclectic" combo, as London's Guardian once called the band. The work has the feel of a nine-song suite, one that invites you to unravel the threads of its connected themes and stories over repeated listening. Each track segues seamlessly, even a little sneakily, into the next. Before you know it, "The Angel of Doubt," a dark-night-of-the-soul drama featuring a vocal from singer-mandolinist Chris Thile, has glided into "Three Dots and a Dash," an instrumental that veers from ruminative to rave up, named in tribute to a classic Tiki cocktail, Thile's latest recreational obsession.

Thile calls All Ashore "a meditation on committed relationships in the present day, particularly in light of the current unsettled political climate—certainly the most unsettled one that anyone in the band has ever experienced." He continues, "We were hoping we could create a thing that would be convincing as a complete thought, sort of a nine-movement or a nine-song thought, even though it's rangy in terms of what it's talking about and in the characters doing the talking."

When Punch Brothers released its last album, The Phosphorescent Blues, in 2015, Rolling Stone noted, "The genius of Thile and bandmates guitar player Chris Eldridge, bassist Paul Kowert, banjo player Noam Pikelny, and fiddler Gabe Witcher is the artistry with which they mix bluegrass, roots, rock, pop, jazz, and classical to create a unique, contemporary sound." All Ashore also has an appealingly relaxed virtuosity to it, self-assured but never showy.

In a more pronounced way than on prior discs, All Ashore comes across as a glimpse into Punch Brothers' current real life, as these artists who have spent more than a dozen years playing together grapple with marriage, family, and their ever-accelerating individual careers as producers, composers, arrangers, and front men. On the album's early tracks, it candidly addresses the state of their own world. In smart and satirical later songs like "Jumbo" and "All Part of The Plan," it tackles the state of our collective one. Understated ballad "The Gardener" poignantly combines the personal and political in its evocation of a dedicated tradesman who brings beauty to a family's garden but remains a stranger, a mysterious other, to them, only glimpsed occasionally from a window.

The five band members took time from their families to once again come together United Sound in Los Angeles (formerly Ocean Way), where they'd previously recorded The Phosphorescent Blues with T Bone Burnett as well as their 2010 album, Antifogmatic. Pikelny says. "When we first got together as a band, we were mostly single guys in our mid to late twenties. We shared a musical vision but there was this sense of fraternity, of brotherhood, that really sealed the deal and laid the groundwork for a long lasting collaboration."

He adds, "We had so much more free time than we have now, with fewer family and professional commitments. Our time together early on would happen spontaneously, casually, and often included stumbling home from cocktail bars at 3am in New York. We now have to be much more organized with our time to make sure we have opportunities to be together and make music. We're no longer all living in the same city, three of us are married, and there are three Punch Brothers kids running around."

Pikelny continues "On top of that, the current political and cultural situation in this country really contrasts with anything the five of us have experienced in our lifetimes. All our previous albums were made in times of relative calm, compared to the present time. But who better than your closest musical family to help navigate and makes sense of these increasingly foreign and challenging times? This album seemed like a momentous re-gathering of the band, an opportunity to really get to the core of what Punch Brothers represents. "

Additionally, the band's individual projects influenced them on All Ashore. "We were hearing new things out of everyone," says violinist Witcher, "and that's what going off and doing something else does for you. We had this whole collection of influences, new experiences, a broadening of scope."

Thile has always juggled multiple projects throughout his career with Punch Brothers and as a member of Grammy Award–winning trio Nickel Creek. He currently hosts the public radio show, Live from Here, often abetted on stage by one or more Punch Brother. In 2017 alone, he released a duo album with jazz pianist and Nonesuch labelmate Brad Mehldau; a set of Bach trios with the cellist Yo-Yo Ma and his longtime mentor and friend, double bassist Edgar Meyer; and Thanks for Listening, a studio set of "Song of the Week" tunes he'd composed for Live from Here.

Witcher produced albums for Nickel Creek's Sara Watkins (2016's Young in All the Wrong Ways), Pikelny (his 2017 solo disc, Universal Favorite), and the acoustic guitar duo of Punch Brother Chris Eldridge and Julian Lage (2017's Mount Royal). Nonesuch label mate Rhiannon Giddens recently engaged Witcher to create orchestral arrangements of her repertoire for concert appearances with symphony orchestras.

Kowert just released Unless, the debut disc with his Nashville-based quartet Hawktail produced by bandmate Eldridge and featuring frequent Live from Here guest star violinist Brittany Haas. Eldridge also recorded and toured with Julian Lage, a prodigious guitarist who melds his jazz background with folk, rock and bluegrass. In early 2017, Pikelny released a purely solo album, Universal Favorite, and toured the country extensively with his one-man show. He produced Motel Bouquet for singer-songwriter Caitlin Canty, with whom he also performs. In fall of 2017, he was again awarded Banjo Player of the Year by the International Bluegrass Music Association.

More info...

www.punchbrothers.com

Marius Beets - This Is Your Captain Speaking (MAXANTER RECORDS 2018)

Hypes come and go and boundaries are being crossed every time a Chinese tourist says cheese. It is easy to overlook that around the world real jazz albums also keep appearing with the regularity of the clock. Also in The Netherlands, which has a solid mainstream jazz scene, a great history of welcoming American musicians and, in the guise of Marius Beets, one of its most prominent bass players. Beets released This Is Your Captain Speaking on his Maxanter label. The album includes tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander, pianist (and brother of Marius) Peter Beets, guitarist Joe Cohn and drummer Willie Jones III. They perform ten original compositions by bandleader Marius Beets.

So there’s the cream of the crop delivering high-level improvisation, swing and a healthy dose of blues, inspired by the catchy and challenging tunes of Marius Beets. Eric Alexander is a master of execution who loves to explore the sonic extremes of his instrument. His seemingly effortless integration of these idiosyncracies in his stories, in themselves an ongoing evaluation of the work of Alexander’s heroes like George Coleman and John Coltrane, is striking. He enlivens the boppish The End Of The Affair and the Latin-type line of Dextro Energy with hip twists and lurid fragments of scales. The ending of his remarkably crafty solo during This Is Your Captain Speaking, a clever, blues-based Horace Silver-ish tune, is a bossy bark that must’ve cracked up people in the studio.

62-year old Joe Cohn, the son of saxophonist Al Cohn, who uses a prickly yet full sound, is never short on ideas, which he strings together with staccato notes and supple single lines. He sets fire to Tafkamp Is Still On The Scene, a funky vamp that segues into a driving 4/4 section. The interaction of Marius and his brother Peter, internationally acclaimed pianist, is special, perhaps not surprising considering their life-long association. Emandem especially reveals their subtle interplay of bass lines.

The abundance of hard bop/post bop makes This Is Your Captain Speaking highly enjoyable. The funky ode to Cannonball Adderley, Brother Julian, boogaloo-based Moody’s Groove and The One And Only, an album highlight in the tradition of mid-sixties avant-leaning Blue Note point out the group’s versatile use of the mainstream jazz language. Besides, the group also plays sweet and light – El Capitano, Carpe Diem. The overall sound is, in fact, pleasantly light without becoming lightweight. The crisp and clear sound of the crackerjack drummer Willie Jones III’s ride cymbal underlines that particular canvas. It is a contemporary sound, but also has a foot in the past, the early 70s Muse/Strata-East ‘feel’ in particular. The album is recorded at the studio of Beets, who partakes in myriad musical activities beside bass playing.

You can count on Marius Beets, the bass player. He’s a tasteful, highly skilled accompanist with a tremendous bottom groove. Beets also delivers a number of melodic solos with sustained momentum. Not only did he write an album of superb tunes, he also picked a world-class crew. Not a trace of hesitation by these gentlemen. Dig those solo entrances, time and again! Those are a joy to listen to, as much as the excellent development of their stories.

Marius Beets (bass)

Eric Alexander (tenor saxophone)

Joe Cohn (guitar)

Peter Beets (piano)

Willie Jones III (drums)

Dextro Energy

Brother Julian

El Capitano

The One And Only

Emandem

Tafkamp Is Still On The Scene

Carpe Diem

This Is Your Captain Speaking

The End Of The Affair

Moody’s Groove

Check out album info and the website of Marius Beets here.

Marius Beets

MAXANTER RECORDS

Blossom Dearie - The Lost Sessions from the Netherlands (CHALLENGE RECORDS 2018)

There were many highlights to her musical career: the concerts she gave in the Netherlands between 1968 and 1989 feature prominently among them. This CD is a faithful rendition, thanks especially to the remarkable audio quality. Dearie masterfully performed in all the instrumental formations, from solo shows to the great Metropole Orchestra.

She sang repertoires of every kind, from film music – she brought a new dimension to “Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head” – to Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now”, sensitively revisited. Not to forget a masterpiece whose music she composed, “Winchester in Apple Blossom Time”, with Marilyn Monroe-style boo-be-doops – two superb versions of which can be enjoyed here, as well as her other compositions, those mentioned, and “Bring All Your Love Along”, whose first recording, made in Laren, 1982, is featured here. Blossom, so aptly named, bids the audience adieu, and makes a graceful bow. 

''The Lost Sessions From The Netherlands is a must-have for lovers. Because of the obscure nature of the music, but also because of the historical significance of these recordings.'' - JazzNu

''Blossom Dearie's legacy is great, she still inspires musicians around the world and people listen to her music. Therefore, the release of this album can not go unnoticed.'' - Jazzflits

© 2018 - NewArts International / Challenge Records Int.

€ 19.95     BUY

Sean Ardoin - Kreole Rock and Soul (2018)

Roots Remix: How Creole Torchbearer Sean Ardoin Decided to Do His Thing and Bring the World to Louisiana on Kreole Rock and Soul

Sean Ardoin is a fourth-generation Creole accordion whiz. But he’s here to tell you: “I’m going to be the artist I want to be.”

Ardoin may have a serious pedigree in Louisiana’s often underappreciated Creole tradition but he uses that as a jumping off point to invent new approaches, without abandoning all the goodness he and his forebears have cultivated. “Generally the industry and people who discover Creole music want to keep it in a box. I had to jump out of the traditional box and create a new thing. I grew up listening to all sorts of music, from Earth Wind and Fire and Kiss to Fishbone and Bob Marley, as well as the old-school music. As a guardian of the Creole culture, I will always point back to Louisiana, but I’m going to stop at other places, too.”

Ardoin calls the new genre, Kreole Rock and Soul, a roots-based sound that embraces and incorporates contemporary pop and classic rock. He lays it down on Kreole Rock and Soul (release: September 14, 2018), full of tasty accordion licks, catchy songs, and a brash, upbeat attitude that inspires as it persuades you to get up and dance.

Though it all pivots on Ardoin’s quicksilver accordion and earthy, expressive voice, Ardoin’s signature style ropes in acoustic guitar, fresh songwriting, and electronic elements--something Creole artists have been exploring for over a decade at Southwest Louisiana and Southeast Texas’ festivals and trailrides. “What you hear on the touring circuit is way more traditional than what you’d hear at current Creole events,” explains Ardoin. “Creole music, Zydeco and now Kreole Rock and Soul is just one part of that, it’s living music, and living music is always changing.”

Creole music making has long been wildly adaptive and spontaneously creative. Take Ardoin’s grandfather’s cousin, Amedée, who was known for his ability to steer his horse-drawn cart with his feet, leaving his hands free to serenade the people he passed in their yards and fields. “He’d make up songs about what he saw on the spot,” recounts Ardoin. Amedée was inspired by the blues from further east and Sean by Soul, R&B, Reggae, Hip Hop and Rock and he brings all of this and more to the Creole table.

However, by the time Sean took up the torch, taking over his father’s band, Zydeco often relied on the same basic songs, with a few new lyrical hooks here and there.“The old Creole songs were songs, they had lyrics and a hook, but Zydeco songs largely relied on catchy hooks. I wanted to write complete songs in order to advance the music” says Ardoin. “I started writing songs and borrowing from the pop music of the day. I went deep in and incorporated reggae, hip hop, R&B, gospel, and rock.”

Ardoin has played Carnegie Hall and major music festivals worldwide. His music was featured on MTV, BET, VH1, and most recently on Oprah Winfrey’s OWN Network and Bravo TV. To help preserve and promote Creole language and culture, he established a Creole language initiative and started the Creole Hall of Fame, which is about to announce its second round of inductees this year. An in-demand performer regionally as well as a Motivational Speaker, Ardoin’s plate is full.

But on the musical front, he felt restless. He wanted to take things further, to set what he does apart from what everyone assumes Creole music should be. His latest album is a calling card, a road map to a new Creole style that honors Ardoin’s deep rural roots in spirited cosmopolitan ways.

He knows there are a few things that you have to have, to have a good Creole song. “You have to have the accordion,” he laughs. “That’s the center of it all. The accordion makes the Creole sound.” You have other important instruments, like the washboard. And you’ll have a specific rhythmic sensibility, a rhythmic center that Ardoin has heard popping up in pop music in recent years. “When I heard Pharrell’s ‘Happy,’ I heard a Creole song, because it had that rhythmic center,” Ardoin states.

He heard a similar affinity in a range of songs on Kreole Rock & Soul, from The Cars’ “Just What I Needed” and Steve Miller’s “Abracadabra” to Estelle’s “Do My Thing.” “I’ll hear certain songs and think, that’s a zydeco song, just without the scrub board and accordion. They’ll have the right time signature and the basic beat. It’s in the consciousness of the music industry right now. I believe we’re poised to finally get our moment in the sun. We Creole folks have the swag, the food, the dance, and the language. We just need to reach people outside our community,” one reason the album’s songs are all in English.

Ardoin reaches out by blending what he heard from his first moments growing up in a musical family with decades of open-eared listening. He brings southern rock sensibilities into tracks like “Kick Rocks,” and that special R&B ballad vibe on tracks like “Butterfly,” a tribute to Ardoin’s wife that brings back the old tradition of the Creole slow dance, often called “buckle shining.” He keeps family tradition alive, co-writing with his son on tracks like “Ovedose,” while giving some love to close musician friends like fellow Southern Louisiana singer-songwriter Cory Landry on tracks like “What Do You Want to Do.”

To help shape the new style, Ardoin tapped respected colleagues, multiple Grammy-winning producer and songwriter Aaron Lindsey and engineer Carl Nappa, best known for his multi-platinum selling work with NSYNC and Nelly. For Ardoin, collaborating with people outside the Creole/zydeco box is a necessary part of his mission to keep the music vital and keep it moving forward.

“As a constant self-assessor and observer, you have to recognize trends. You have to ask how you can break through the rigid assumptions and get to the point where they will listen to you, so that you regain control of the narrative,” Ardoin reflects. “I thought about it a long time, and I was like you know what? Kreole Rock and Soul. That describes what I do, and that can bring people to what I do. Now, I can bring them to Louisiana, on our own terms.”

01 - Sean Ardoin - Kick Rocks

02 - Sean Ardoin - In It for a Minute

03 - Sean Ardoin - Abracadabra

04 - Sean Ardoin - Butterfly

05 - Sean Ardoin - Do My Thing

06 - Sean Ardoin - Keep on Moving

07 - Sean Ardoin - Overdosed

08 - Sean Ardoin - What Do You Want To D...

09 - Sean Ardoin - Just What I Needed

10 - Sean Ardoin - Mama

11 - Sean Ardoin - You Complete Me

The Blue Dahlia - La Tradition Américaine (2018)

La Vie en Bleu: The Blue Dahlia’s Red-Hot Music From Around the Atlantic Explores the Double Meaning of La Tradition Américaine

The music she heard at night inspired her, as did the people she met at the club. “I decided to get some songs down as a demo,” she recalls. Her fellow regulars joined in, and a band was born.

The Blue Dahlia has bloomed in two places at once, on the streets of Paris as well as in New York clubs. The Atlantic-spanning band’s latest album weaves French, Mexican, Caribbean, and Eastern European, American folk and soul elements together into La Tradition Américaine(release: August 10, 2018). Guided by a puckish refinement and gritty ingenuity, Dumont explores the US’s double-faced tradition of welcoming diversity while wallowing in backwater closed-mindedness and mindless devotion to work and money, through a global lens and with collaborators who take everything from Yiddish poetry to pint glasses and chopsticks to make free-thinking, high-spirited songs.

“My influences stem from growing up in New York as a first-generation American, but also from all the musicians that I work with, all the sides of American music out there,” reflects Dumont. “As I was thinking about the song of that name, and then about this album, the notion of the American tradition went in two seperate directions in my head and heart, the dark bigotry and the amazing openness that’s shaped art. We’re highlighting the beauty of the American tradition, the cultural diversity you find in our music,” be that a Mexican-inflected playful French waltz (“Canal Saint Martin”), punk string quartet (“Blah Blah”), or a klezmer meets dub (“Wake Me Up”).

{full story below}

One of those nights at Barbès, Dumont struck up a conversation with an accordionist. It was George Saenz, originally from Laredo, Texas whose band Cumbiagra plays frequently at the club. They became friends, and Dumont approached him about her songs, the product of years of reflection, piano lessons, poetry, and travel.

“I really heard an accordion accompanying my songs,” recalls Dumont. “George was willing to invest in the project, even though I didn’t have much money. He really dug into the songs we began creating together and believed in them.”

Saenz brought his own unique experience to the process, which includes playing with LIla Downs and running Calpulli Mexican Dance Company. Just as Dumont invited Saenz into her world, he began drawing her into his. “I’ve started to feel that music, and it’s incorporated into my music and my life,” she says. “I’ve had the luck to listen to and play Latin music through jam sessions and concerts. We also both love to play around with soca and dancehall rhythms.”

Saenz and Dumont also connected with fellow club-goer Japanese-born, New York-based bassist Yoshiki Yamada, who became a friend and musical partner in crime. “The New York band today has grown and there are some newer faces,” says Dumont, “but Yoshiki, George, and I are the heart.”

The Blue Dahlia also has another, French side, a whole other band that influences Dumont’s writing and arranging. Dumont discovered the musicians who would become the core of this iteration of the band when seeking France-based musicians for a French tour. They clicked, and the band grew to embrace players as diverse as its American version, a trombonist from Reunion, a drummer with roots in Morocco.

No matter which side of the Pond it’s on, The Blue Dahlia builds songs by bricolage, by finding elements that work together, juxtaposing and repurposing them. Dumont loves to try new ways to perform older material, coming back to songs and adding new arrangements. The romantic “I See Trees Differently” found a deeply American folk form, and also a more reggae-inspired form. Both needed to happen, Dumont feels, and both made the album. ‘Le rȇve’ is a recreation of a song on the previous album,” explains Dumont. “The way my French band played the song was so different and cool. I wanted their touch.” The song’s rhythm section and vocals were recorded in France, with overdubs in the US.

That scrappy urge to put things together, like the sand painting of the American flag that graces the album art, guides Dumont in her songwriting and collaborations.  It shaped the way La Tradition Américaine  was recorded, in sessions that leaped the Atlantic. There’s a seat-of-the-pants spirit, characterized by the impromptu instruments snagged by Argentine drummer Lautaro Burgos, who used pots, pans, pint glasses, and chopsticks (heard on “La Tradition Américaine” and “Your Love”) to expand the percussion palette.

Yet the diversity never drowns out the harmony and the grooves Dumont and company find in their multiple sources. The layers of voices, recorded on two continents, speak to this. One of the most telling and compelling moments on the album comes during the bridge of “Wake Me Up,” a Yiddish poem recited by Dumont and French band members in chorus, an exploration of Dumont’s Eastern European roots. “It’s is a big choir-sounding 3-part harmony of a Yiddish poem by French klezmer singer Eléonore Biezunski, who was inspired by one of my songs,” Dumont says. “It’s a powerful point in the song. But more than that, it’s true the Blue Dahlia, our international family.”

Pledge

La Tradition Americaine

I See Trees Differently - Americana

Mai Tai

Wake Me Up

Canal Saint Martin

Reasonable

I See Trees Differently - Reggae

Blah Blah

La Fontaine

Your Love

Influence III

Plantation

Le Reve II

Guitarist Ricardo Grilli launches crowdfunding campaign for new recording

Guitarist Ricardo Grilli launches crowdfunding campaign and NYC concert in support of new recording

1962, slated for release in early 2019, is the follow-up to Grilli’s acclaimed 1954

“Grilli’s considerable chops are in full effect in each setting…an admirable outing.”—Bill Milkowski, DownBeat

“There’s an attractively questing quality in the album’s opener…it has a driving rock groove over which Mr. Grilli unfurls a coolly billowing solo.”—Nate Chinen, New York Times

Acclaimed Brazilian guitarist Ricardo Grilli is getting ready to record a new album. He heads into the studio in early August with saxophonist Mark Turner, pianist Kevin Hays, bassist Joe Martin, and drummer Eric Harland to lay down tracks for 1962, the follow-up recording to Grilli’s acclaimed 2016 release, 1954. The recording will be Grilli’s third, and he’s launched a crowdfunding campaign in support of it.

Like 1954, the new record will be an homage to Grilli’s parents and the decades in which they were born, the 1950s and 1960s. Grilli synthesizes historical and musical elements from those time periods including bebop, hard bop, rock, bossa nova, and the Space Age to create a mesmerizingly modern sound. Despite gleaning inspiration from the past, Grilli’s music is decidedly of the moment, replete with sleek, captivating melodies over tense, balance-challenging rhythms, combined in intricate but emotionally engaging structures. His compositions reveal the influence of modern masters like Kurt Rosenwinkel and Mark Turner alongside adventurous pop experimentalists like Radiohead and Rodrigo Amarante, with a relaxed but expressive melodicism imbued by a youth spent absorbing the tropical sounds of Jobim and Elis Regina.

Brazilian-born, New York City-based guitarist and composer Ricardo Grilli is one of today’s most prominent jazz guitarists. He’s earned international acclaim in publications including the New York Times, DownBeat, JazzTimes, All About Jazz, Jazz Podium, and many others. Grilli has performed with notable artists like Chris Potter, Eric Harland, Will Vinson, Aaron Parks, and Joe Martin at venues such as The Blue Note, The Rex in Toronto, the A-Trane in Berlin, and JazzB in Sao Paulo. In 2013 critic JazzTimes critic Steve Greenlee named Grilli’s first recording, If on a Winter’s Night, a Traveler, the best debut of the year. Grilli holds degrees from Berklee College of Music and New York University.

RicardoGrilliPledgeMusic

www.ricardogrilli.com

Hey! This week's wonderful $5.00 album is ...

Albert Beger | Shay Hazan - Good Morning Universe (NO BUSINESS RECORDS 2018)

Albert Beger - tenor saxophone

Eyal Netzer - tenor saxophone

Shay Hazan - double bass

Nadav Masel - “Hamsa” (5 stringed custom cello)

Haim E. Peskoff - drums

Ofer Bymel - drums

10" EP release

Side A

DENSHO

COMPASSION

Side B

COURTESY

HOPE

Recorded at Levontin7, Tel-Aviv, Israel on the 17th February, 2017

Recorded by Nitzan Levi

Mixed by Ronald Boersen

Mastered by Arūnas Zujus at MAMAstudios

Design by Oskaras Anosovas

Back photo by Nitzan Levi

Album title comes from W.B. Yeats’s poem “A Prayer for my Daughter”, 1919

Producer - Danas Mikailionis

Co-producer - Valerij Anosov

Choi Sun Bae | Motoharu Yoshizawa - Arirang Fantasy (NO BUSINESS RECORDS 2018)

Choi Sun Bae - trumpet

Junji Hirose - tenor and soprano saxophones

Motoharu Yoshizawa - electric vertical five-strings bass

Kim Dae Hwan  - percussion

1. Blue Sky 16:53

2. Remember Bird 7:56

3. The Stream of Time 8:13

4. Korea Fantasy 11:14

5. Arirang Fantasy 21:50

Recorded live at Romanisches Café, Roppongi, Tokyo, June 12, 1995

Recorded by Teruto Soejima

Mastered by Arūnas Zujus at MAMAstudios

Black and white photos by Akihiro Matsumoto / Color photos by Takeo Suetomi

Design by Oskaras Anosovas

Produced by Danas Mikailionis and Takeo Suetomi (Chap Chap Records)

Release coordinator - Kenny Inaoka (Jazz Tokyo)

Co-producer - Valerij Anosov

Kaoru Abe | Sabu Toyozumi - Mannyoka (NO BUSINESS RECORDS 2018)

Japanese free/jazz sax legend, Kaoru Abe, dies at the age of only 29 in 1978, living a fast and crazy life and dieing of a drug overdose. His entire music career was only 10 years, from 1968 to 1978. In that short period, he was well recorded with around 30 releases, ten of which are solo sax efforts, duos with guitarist Masayuki Takayanagi, bassist Motoharu Yoshizawaand drummer Sabu Toyozuma. Mr. Abe also toured and recorded with Milford Graves, Derek Bailey and Toshinori Konda in 1977 & 1978. Sadly, nothing by Kaoru Abe has been in print for many years until now… 

Many of his rare CD’s & LP’s go for big bucks on the resale market. This disc was recorded at two concerts in Tokyo in January and July of 1978, the year that Mr. Abe passed away. Those in the know, free/jazz freaks worldwide, should know of drummer Sabu Toyozumi from his work with Peter Brotzmann, Derek Bailey, Misha Mengelberg and Haino Keiji. ‘Part 1’ kicks things off with an immense blast with Mr. Abe on alto sax and Mr. Toyozumi on drums. Abe sounds a bit like Albert Ayler, although he plays alto & soprano saxes, bending and twisting every note in his own unique way. This duo recorded a few disc together and they sound just right working together, shadowing each other, tightly connecting no matter where they soar. If you savor what is essentially the beginning of fee/jazz in Japan, then you should really hear this disc. It is some 73 minutes long and it all flows together in powerful waves. So good to finally a disc back in distribution that captures the amazing talent & passion filled music of Kaoru Abe and Sabu Toyozumi. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG

Kaoru Abe - alto, sopranino and soprano saxophones

Sabu Toyozumi - drums and percussion

1. Song for Mithue Totozumi - Part I 21:14

2. Song for Mithue Totozumi - Part II 14:44

3. Song for Sakamoto Kikuyo - Part I 4:43

4. Song for Sakamoto Kikuyo - Part II 14:48

5. Song for Sakamoto Kikuyo - Part III 18:28

Bobby Naughton, Leo Smith & Perry Robinson - The Haunt (NO BUSINESS RECORDS 2018)

One of the most immediately accessible of all avant-garde jazz sets because it is pervasively lyrical. A continually floating, melodically curving series of conversations which subtly keep changing colors and timbral intensities while a mysterious implied pulse makes it all cohere in a rather dream-like way. But this is a most vivid dream, the kind that lingers in the mind long after the recording has ended. THE HAUNT is a a permanent and dateless addition to jazz discography.. . . . Nat Hentoff Modern Recording

. . . molto lirica. . . Jazz Oltre

THE HAUNT is a brilliant specimen of textural improvisation at its most concordant. Three masters of the art of spontaneous interaction expertly combine their talents and diverse influences to create music that is dissonant(in terms of conventional tonality, that is) yet euphonious, freely structured yet prudently disciplined. The results should prove accessible to anyone with an ear toward creativity and striking sound combinations, whatever the listener's normal musical preferences. Tom Bingham, AUDIO

THE HAUNT is an album of superb compositions played by a trio of superb musicians. Rather than swinging hard over a firm tempo, the music flows at a slow pace, evoking images that undulate according to the immediate texture of the improvisation. Although it explores the nexus between the New Music and Contemporary Classical Music, THE HAUNT is not pretentious or studied in any way. Its music is abstract without succumbing to the sterility of abstraction. THE HAUNT could very well be one of the most important albums released in 1977. Vernon Frazer, CODA

These calm pieces, with a touch of third-stream sonority to them, represent fast-music dallying quite delightfully with slowness…….

There couldn't be a better instance than this record to show how the true instrumental music is fast however slow it gets, and that it can only be created instantly in the swiftness of perception by which the player maintains the tension, the entire weight of the structure on his shoulders.

Peter Riley, MUSICS London

Bobby Naughton - vibraharp

Wadada Leo Smith - trumpet

Perry Robinson - clarinet

1. The Haunt 7:18

2. Slant 5:45

3. Places 8:11

4. Rose Island 9:14

5. Ordette 9:11

6. Slant (alternate take) 6:49

Recorded April 21, 1976, Blue Rock Studio, NYC

All compositions by Bobby Naughton

Tracks 1–5, previously released as “The Haunt” (OTIC 1005)

Track 6, previously unreleased alternate take

Mastered by Arunas Zujus at MAMAstudios

Liner Notes - Ed Hazell

Front Cover Design - W.J. Panek/Public Eye

Back Cover / Booklet Design - Jeff DiPerna

Producer - Danas Mikailionis

Co-Producers - Ed Hazell, Valerij Anosov

August 10 SINGLE from MIguel Zenón and Spektral Quartet

Grammy-nominated saxophonist/composer Miguel Zenón releases new single Milagrosa on August 10, 2018

Acclaimed saxophonist and composer Miguel Zenón will release the single Milagrosa featuring Zenón and the Chicago-based internationally renowned Spektral Quartet on August 10, 2018. The single will be available on iTunes, Amazon, and CD Baby.

The single - featuring Zenón with Chicago-based Spektral Quartet - is from the upcoming album Yo Soy la Tradición, an ambitious concert-length work for drawing upon the rich cultural-folkloric traditions of Puerto Rico and expressed through the modernist lens of Zenón's compositions.

Zenón and Spektral Quartet Upcoming Performances

o Friday, September 21 - Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center, Chicago, IL

  Benefit concert for hurricane relief.

o Saturday, September 22 - Ripon College, Ripon, WI

o Wednesday, November 14 - UMASS Amherst, Amherst, MA

o Thursday, November 15 - Villa Victoria Cultural Center, Boston, MA

o Friday, November 16 - Kennedy Center Jazz Club, Washington, DC

This track is from the full-length album Yo Soy la Tradición to be released by Miel Music on September 21, 2018. The recording is an ambitious concert-length work for string quartet and saxophone, drawing on cultural-folkloric traditions of Zenón's native Puerto Rico and expressed through the modernist lens of his compositions.

"Milagrosa" begins with an unabashedly futuristic introduction, where nimble melodic shapes played by the strings filter through modern harmonies, before settling into a flowing feature for Zenón's elegant, melodic playing. The inspiration for the work comes from the religious practice of La Promesa-making a promise to a Catholic deity in return for a favor; specifically, the title refers to a promise made to La Virgen de La Milagrosa ("The Miraculous Virgin"), a traditional song upon whose foundations Zenón crafted an entirely new and vital work. The ending is worth the price of admission for the breathless, extended soli passage with saxophone and the entire Spektral Quartet in lockstep-a tour de force of melodic invention that sets the stage for an unadorned statement of a folkloric melody that is frequently related to "La Virgen de La Milagrosa."

Yo Soy la Tradición, Zenón's eleventh release as a leader and fourth for Miel Music, is a work of startling clarity, synthesizing and building upon Puerto Rican folkloric forms through Zenón's unmistakable, multilayered compositional approach. Commissioned by the David and Reva Logan Center for the Arts and the Hyde Park Jazz Festival, Yo Soy la Tradición is a collection of eight works for alto saxophone and string quartet which feature Zenón and the Spektral Quartet. These chamber works reach far beyond the formula of a horn backed by strings, with the Spektral Quartet taking a central role in both driving and navigating the intricate compositional forms that are a trademark of the saxophonist's music.

Zenón set out to compose a series of chamber pieces taking both creative inspiration and formal patterning from his native Puerto Rico's cultural, religious, and musical traditions. The results are thrilling, and defy neat categorization with their emergent contemporary sensibility: structural beauty paired with emotional urgency.

The traditions Zenón takes as his points of departure include some he has explored in depth before such as Jíbaro, a major musical genre of rural Puerto Rico and the namesake of a groundbreaking album by Zenón in 2005. Other inspirations include traditions, both musical and not explicitly musical, that he had not studied in depth previously.

Miguel Zenón © Jimmy Katz

"My goal is to identify the elements that make each tradition unique," says Zenón. "If these elements are musical in nature, I'll extract them and use them as the main seed for a new piece of music-not trying to emulate the original, but using the original source as inspiration."

Another musical tradition informing Yo Soy la Tradición occurred as a result of Zenón's extensive preparation in string quartet writing. Although he has previously written music for string quartet on Awake, his fourth album released a decade ago, this new hour-long work led him to revisit works by the masters of the Western canon.

"I studied many chamber works from various periods," Zenón says, noting the collaborative aspect of working with Spektral as part of his compositional process. "As I was writing and revising, I was also able to integrate feedback from the members of the quartet, whom I would send sections and passages to."

In one sense, Yo Soy la Tradición is a culmination of Zenón's study of the cultural traditions of Puerto Rico. For over a decade, his regular trips to the country and his ongoing field research has granted him uncommon insight into the artistic resources afforded by the culture of the Island-in his words, a "seemingly endless well of information and inspiration," which is continually replenished by the families and communities who carry it forward as it evolves over generations.

With Yo Soy la Tradición, Zenón has attained another milestone in his musical development, music that stands at both the intersection and forefront of the musical traditions that he has studied and now made his own.

www.miguelzenon.com

spektralquartet.com

MO'WAX / JAMES LAVELLE film soundtrack feat. DJ SHADOW, UNKLE, THOM YORKE, DR. OCTAGON, BLACKALICIOUS, QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE, DJ KRUSH, IAN BROWN, ATTICA BLUES and more

‘The Man from Mo’Wax’ charts the life of influential label owner, DJ, producer and latterly musician James Lavelle.

Drawing upon meticulous research and exclusive access to Lavelle’s rare/unseen personal video library (as well as DJ Shadow’s), debut director Matthew Jones assembles archive footage, stills and original interviews.

Key focus is given to James’ pioneering, taste-arbiting label Mo’Wax, his relationship with DJ Shadow and their chart-topping UNKLE project, which included collaborations with Thom Yorke, Richard Ashcroft, Ian Brown, Josh Homme and Kool G Rap.

‘The Man from Mo’Wax’ is an exhilarating, fascinating and insightful insight into the transient nature of creative peaks and music industry success. A puff piece it most definitely is not.

The narrative arc follows a trajectory from the cooler-than-cool golden teenager’s ascension, tough and arid later times, to the beginnings of salvation.  

The film is an honest and unflinching portrayal achieved by the protagonist’s brave and candid permission for nothing to be concealed. Musical, familial and romantic relationships are also explored, as is his battle with drugs.

The film soundtrack features music by artists that inspired Lavelle, including Marie 'Queenie' Lyons and embryonic Massive Attack incarnation The Wild Bunch. Seminal Mo’Wax classics by DJ Shadow, La Funk Mob, Attica Blues, Dr. Octagon and DJ Krush also feature, as do essential Lavelle productions/co-writes as UNKLE.

Flourishing in a fertile period alongside fellow iconic labels Metalheadz, Ninja Tune, Warp, Junior Boys Own and Strictly Rhythm, Mo’Wax was most synonymous with trip hop, which culminated in the release of DJ Shadow’s peerless classic ‘Endroducing’ and his first seminal UNKLE album ‘Psyence Fiction’, recorded in collaborative partnership with Lavelle, in August 1998.

Other Mo’Wax classics of the aforementioned genre included tracks by DJ Krush, La Funk Mob and The Psychonauts, but its reach and remit was far wider, releasing still-fresh-today music by Air, Carl Craig’s Innerzone Orchestra, Special Forces (Photek), Urban Tribe, Autechre, Source Direct, Black Dog Productions, Jungle Brothers, Skull (Trevor Jackson), Dillinja, Liquid Liquid, Motorbass, Plastikman (Richie Hawtin), Luke Vibert, Andrea Parker, Blackalicious, Money Mark and Peshay.

With not only a keen focus on forward thinking, groundbreaking sounds but also high aesthetic standards and visual identity, Lavelle’s label model paved the way for many imprints that followed, from Brainfeeder, Lobster Theremin, Eglo, Apron, Monkeytown, Rhythm Section, Plug Research to Ghostly International.

Sonically, it’s easy to hear the legacy of Mo’Wax in the soul, jazz and hip hop infused grooves of Flying Lotus, Bonobo, The Avalanches, Ras G, Gonjasufi, Fatima, Tenderlonious, Kamaal Williams, Gorrilaz, Matthewdavid, Steven Julien and Lone.

The film will be released in selected cinemas nationwide on the 31st August – celebrating the 20th anniversary of ‘Psyence Fiction’’s release. Following that the DVD/Blu Ray will be released September 10th with TV streaming TBA.

Vinyl tracklist:

A 1 Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal & Charles Dutoit — Holst: ‘The Planets, Op.32 - 2. Venus, the Bringer of Peace’ (edit)

A2 Zimbabwe Legit — ‘Doin' Damage in My Native Language’ (Shadow’s legitimate remix)

A3 Marie 'Queenie' Lyons — ‘See and Don't See’

A4 The Wild Bunch — ‘Friends & Countrymen’

A5 RPM — ‘Food of My De-Rhythm’

B1 Hioshi Fujiwara + KUDO featuring DJ MILO— ‘Return of The Original Art Form’ (D.J mix)

B2 La Funk Mob — ‘Ravers Suck Our Sound and Get Fuck’

B3 Attica Blues — ‘Contemplating Jazz’

B4 Dr. Octagon — ‘Blue Flowers’

B5 DJ Krush — ‘Kemuri’

C1 UNKLE  — ‘Back and Forth’

C2 DJ Shadow — ‘What Does Your Soul Look Like’ (part 3)

C3 RPM — ‘Flow’

C4 DJ Shadow — ‘Organ Donor’ (extended overhaul)

C5 UNKLE featuring Thom Yorke — ‘Rabbit In Your Headlights’

D1 Blackalicious — ‘Swan Lake’

D2 UNKLE featuring Ian Brown — ‘Reign’

D3 Queens Of The Stone Age — ‘… Like Clockwork’

D4 DJ Shadow — ‘What Does Your Soul Look Like’ (part 1)

Includes official film illustrated artwork by Ken Taylor

Includes special inlay

CD tracklist:

1 UNKLE  — ‘Back and Forth’

2 Zimbabwe Legit — ‘Doin' Damage in My Native Language’ (Shadow’s legitimate remix)

3 Marie 'Queenie' Lyons — ‘See and Don't See’

4 The Wild Bunch — ‘Friends & Countrymen’

5 Hioshi Fujiwara + KUDO featuring DJ MILO— ‘Return of The Original Art Form’ (D.J mix)

6 RPM — ‘Food of My De-Rhythm’

7 Blackalicious — ‘Swan Lake’

8 La Funk Mob — ‘Ravers Suck Our Sound and Get F**k’

9 Attica Blues — ‘Contemplating Jazz’

10 Dr. Octagon — ‘Blue Flowers’

11 DJ Krush — ‘Kemuri’

12 DJ Shadow — ‘Organ Donor’ (extended overhaul)

13 UNKLE featuring Thom Yorke — ‘Rabbit In Your Headlights’

14 Queens Of The Stone Age — ‘… Like Clockwork’

15 UNKLE featuring Ian Brown — ‘Reign’

16 DJ Shadow — ‘What Does Your Soul Look Like’ (part 1)

Includes exclusive 16 page booklet with photography, artwork and director’s notes

Download / stream tracklist:

1 Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal & Charles Dutoit — Holst: ‘The Planets, Op.32 - 2. Venus, the Bringer of Peace’ (edit)

2 The Wild Bunch — ‘Friends & Countrymen’

3 Attica Blues — ‘Contemplating Jazz’

4 DJ Krush — ‘Kemuri’

5 DJ Shadow — ‘Organ Donor’ (extended overhaul)

6 UNKLE  — ‘Back and Forth’

7 DJ Shadow — ‘What Does Your Soul Look Like’ (part 3)

8 UNKLE featuring Thom Yorke — ‘Rabbit In Your Headlights’

9 UNKLE featuring Ian Brown — ‘Reign’

10 DJ Shadow — ‘What Does Your Soul Look Like’ (part 1)

Motion picture: ‘The Man from Mo’Wax’

A film about important beats maven James Lavelle, featuring interviews by DJ Shadow, Thom Yorke, Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age, Massive Attack’s Robert Del Naja, Ian Brown, Giles Peterson, Futura and Grandmaster Flash.

Launch event at BFI Southbank on 30st August 2018:

- Screening + Q&A with James Lavelle and director Matthew Jones
- Exclusive preview of 3 tracks from UNKLE's new album ‘Lost Highway’ with Pitch Black
- James Lavelle DJ set. tickets

Select previews on 30th August and main nationwide cinema release from 31st August. tickets

DVD/Blu Ray released September 10th. pre-order

Soundtrack: ‘The Man from Mo’Wax (Music From The Motion Picture)’

Soundtrack on Island/UMC featuring DJ Shadow, UNKLE feat. Thom Yorke and Ian Brown, Dr. Octagon (Kool Keith), Queens Of The Stone Age, Marie 'Queenie' Lyons, The Wild Bunch, DJ Krush, Blackalicious, Attica Blues and more

2LP coloured vinyl – 1 disc red, 1 disc blue
1CD card digipack with 16 page photo booklet, including director's notes
Download
Stream

Pre-order

www.themanfrommowax.com