Russ Lossing - Metamorphism (2021 Sunnyside Records)

The ultimate goal for most composers is to make the complicated seem effortless. It takes a great deal of individual talent and an incredible amount of trust in your ensemble mates to accomplish this feat. Pianist Russ Lossing’s brilliant work has long been appreciated for its complex blend of rhythmic, harmonic and chance elements that are highly approachable and resonant.

Lossing’s latest recording, Metamorphism, is an extension of his continually evolving compositional identity. Here he presents eight original compositions, each written with its own particular strategy for interplay among a stalwart ensemble of longtime collaborators. It is only with musicians with whom he has established a deeply felt musical connection that this music could actually be realized.

The members of the Quartet have been regular collaborators with Lossing for decades. Each member of the ensemble is a unique instrumentalist with a broad palette and ability to play many styles without conforming to established sounds. Lossing met Michael Sarin some thirty years ago when the drummer moved to New York City from Seattle. Sarin’s pairing with bassist John Hébert, already a longtime associate, provides a variety of rhythmic and harmonic feels necessary for Lossing’s pieces. Lossing was a member of Loren Stillman’s first recorded ensemble, when the saxophonist was only 14 years old, and their musical affinity has grown exponentially over the past 25 years.

The ensemble is crucial to the success of the pieces. The open, impressionistic sensation of Lossing’s tunes has been one that he has always aimed for. The only method of achieving a sensation of naturalness is by allowing the other players a freedom of choice, which means avoiding the temptation to over arrange the pieces. The key is to leave the technical stuff in the background, while focusing on ensemble communication and expression.

The recording begins with the insistent “Three Treasures,” a piece that utilizes call and response patterns based on a theme that repeats itself after variations over a dramatic pedal point in Hébert’s bass. The oldest and most difficult piece is “Sojourn” which features a very technical polyrhythmic motif and a melody that lays across bar lines, making for a particular out-of-time feel. Stillman’s singing alto and Sarin’s flexible drumming style are vital to the success of the performance. The title track is written as a tribute to, and in the intervallic composing style of, the late great drummer/composer Paul Motian. The title of the piece is not only a metaphor for the metamorphosis of an improvisational piece, like a stone - through heat and pressure, it was also Mr. Motian’s email address.

Unlike many of the other pieces presented here, the thematic “Mai” sticks to its tricky compositional form and changes rather than going free during improvisations, an aspect of jazz music performance that is amazing especially as it is carried out in the composer’s intended floating style, as it is done here. “Pileatus” is a short, rhythmic piece, used here as a drum feature for Sarin, and whose title is derived from the scientific name of the Pileated Woodpecker, a species that is common in Lossing’s backyard. The quietly introspective “Blind Horizon” is a tribute to the late pianist/composer Andrew Hill. The piece takes a single idiosyncratic chord that Hill played repeatedly throughout his career to generate the melodic content while transforming the arrangement from structure, where Stillman shines over harmonic changes, into an open, spacy place reminiscent of, but not owing to, Hill’s spacious style.

The dancing melody for “June Jig” was worked from an improvisation that Lossing recorded into his computer with a MIDI keyboard, which was then notated and reworked a number of times by hand and through the notation software Finale until it became this dynamic ensemble piece. The program ends with “Canto 24,” a piece that uses a 13 measure cycle, each measure with a different time signature (much like in Indian classical music), with each instrument playing the unison melody until the cycle breaks, allowing individual improvisations and only bringing back the melody with Stillman at the end while Hébert and Sarin continue to improvise.

Russ Lossing’s music reminds listeners of the importance of both a singular approach to composing and the importance of group interplay in order to carry the performances out. Metamorphism captures Lossing’s musical principles through spirited and ethereal readings from his incredible Quartet.

1. Three Treasures 08:54

2. Sojourn 08:13

3. Metamorphism (for Paul Motian) 12:24

4. Mai 10:51

5. Pileatus 02:30

6. Blind Horizon (for Andrew Hill) 09:21

7. June Jig 06:33

8. Canto 24 09:30

Russ Lossing - piano

Loren Stillman - alto saxophone

John Hébert - bass

Michael Sarin - drums

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Kristiana Roemer - House of Mirrors (Sunnyside Records)

Every individual has the opportunity to forge her own path through life making decisions based on internal and external factors. One’s intuitions, lessons learned, relationships and experiences inform the path one takes. Once the course has been taken, there is always reflection on the choices made and on what other choices may have yielded, and what they both may tell about one’s self.

Vocalist/composer Kristiana Roemer likens these wide-ranging deliberations to a disorienting, ever-changing array of looking glasses, thus, the title of her new recording, House of Mirrors. Roemer’s recording debut finds the vocalist at an exciting time in her promising career, navigating her unique path, where she is ready to introduce her fabulously broad musical approach and singular experience to the world.

Born to an American mother and a German father, Roemer grew up in a bi-lingual household in Frankfurt, Germany. Her mother instilled the importance of integrating her American with her German culture, namely through attending their English-speaking church and making long summer visits to North Dakota. Music was an important part of Roemer’s life from early on. She began piano lessons at six and then began singing in church and with a traveling choir; her first efforts at songwriting took place by the age of nine.

Roemer was taking classical voice lessons as a teenager when she met a professional pianist who invited her to sing popular tunes and standards with him at a local lounge, and soon they were performing together regularly. Choosing to continue her music education, Roemer received a scholarship to attend Concordia College in Minnesota for a year before she returned to Germany to care for her mother, who had fallen ill and passed away soon thereafter. During this time, Roemer had enrolled for her bachelor of science at Frankfurt University but soon impulse led her to move to Paris, where she spent three years performing regularly at cabarets and clubs and hosting a jam session, along with studying vocal jazz at the Paris Conservatory and completing her bachelor’s degree from abroad. In Paris, she formed a quartet and began performing her original compositions.

On a summer trip to New York, she fell in love with the City. Though Paris had been instrumental in solidifying her love and pursuit of jazz, the openness of New York’s scene made Roemer feel free to truly spread her musical wings and provided the nurturing ground that allowed her to define her musical voice. While writing music had become second nature to her, she felt that to truly express herself in her storytelling she had to broaden her approach, including her introduction of German lyrics along with English.

Roemer moved to New York soon thereafter and dove directly into the jazz scene there, performing regularly at Rockwood Music Hall, Jazz at Kitano Hotel and Cornelia St. Café, and completing her Master of Music in jazz studies at Queens College. Roemer was anxious to record as soon as she arrived. One of the many musicians she met was bassist Alex Claffy, whose enthusiasm for collaboration motivated Roemer to push through the production of House of Mirrors. Roemer set up recording dates and they brought on pianist Addison Frei and drummer Adam Arruda.

The original pieces on her stylistically diverse and explorative recording were selected with the intention of taking the listener on a journey and telling the story in a direct and honest way. These are compositions that Roemer felt needed to come out so that she could continue her growth and explore new pathways. The pieces span from her time in Paris to her time in New York, many having been written with her ensemble and special guest artists in mind. Many of the lyrics, hers and otherwise, began as poetry.

The story is introduced by the title track, a meditative piece exploring decisions made and paths taken, that’s mood is amplified by guest Gilad Hekselman’s sensitive but spacious guitar. The haunting “Beauty Is a Wound” is a tribute to Roemer’s mother, the music going straight to the heart with stripped-down, minimalist but emotionally charged accompaniment by percussionist Rogerio Boccato. The intrepidly upbeat “Virgin Soil” is an benison given to a sister to go out and find one’s own way; gorgeous solos from Dayna Stephens and Frei emphasize Roemer’s message.

Roemer intentionally includes German language in her music, as there has not been much use of the language in contemporary jazz, which she delivers in a natural, relatable way. In seeking German poetry, she discovered Felice Schragenheim’s “Deine Hände,” an uplifting love poem, written by a courageous woman who knew misfortune and died young at the hands of the Nazis, that Roemer arranged exquisitely for the quartet. The intensely persistent “Dark Night of the Soul” utilizes St. John of the Cross’s poem for content but really shines with Roemer’s brazen recitation of her own writing accompanied by Ben Monder’s guitar exploration. Hermann Hesse’s “Manchmal” is a blue-tinged appeal for humans to see our reflection in nature and mend our relationship with it.

Monder’s shimmering guitar tones provide a gorgeous, enveloping soundscape for Roemer’s “Lullaby for N.,” a thoughtful piece echoing the parting of a friend. Roemer adapted Stanley Turrentine’s “Sugar” into a metrically intriguing arrangement, the paramour’s message of love heightened by Stephens’s brilliant tenor, Frei’s rhapsodic piano and Claffy’s expressive bass. The recording concludes with Charles Mingus’s “Duke Ellington’s Sound of Love,” a tremendous song about the love of music that brings us back to the journey’s true essence and its ultimate goal, the music.

The music of Kristiana Roemer comes from an honest place, a place of appraisals of actions and embracing all potential paths, whether taken or not. Her House of Mirrors is a diverse and brilliantly devised program of music that illustrates where Roemer has been and where she will go in her bright future.

1. House of Mirrors 03:02

2. Beauty Is A Wound 04:14

3. Virgin Soil 04:46

4. Deine Hände 02:01

5. Dark Night of The Soul 04:57

6. Manchmal 03:03

7. Lullaby for N. 03:56

8. Sugar 05:54

9. Duke Ellington's Sound of Love 04:53

Kristiana Roemer - vocals

Addison Frei - piano

Alex Claffy - bass

Adam Arruda - drums

Gilar Hekselman - guitar (1)

Ben Monder - guitar (5, 6, 7)

Dayna Stephens - saxophone (3, 8)

Rogerio Boccato - percussion (2)

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Joe Castro / Passion Flower - For Doris Duke (Sunnyside Records)

Sunnyside Records presents the second boxed set of recordings from the archive of pianist Joe Castro, a diverse collection featuring incredible and never heard performances from legends like Paul Bley, Paul Motian, Leroy Vinnegar, Paul Chambers, Philly Joe Jones and many more.

Joe Castro’s love for jazz, and his charming personality, made it possible for the pianist to become intimately involved with musicians of all stripes and abilities. Castro’s relationship with the famous heiress Doris Duke afforded him the financial means to further his relationships with these musicians in jam sessions held at home studios at Duke’s residences, Falcon Lair in California and Duke Farms in New Jersey, and to later record albums of his own work with incredible sidemen and projects led by these acquaintances and friends.

The initial Joe Castro boxed set, Lush Life – A Musical Journey (Sunnyside, 2015), provided an insight into the world of the pianist’s early meetings with the greats of jazz at home recorded sessions. These recordings included Buddy Collette, Chico Hamilton, Teddy Wilson, Stan Getz, Zoot Sims and Lucky Thompson. The box also included a couple of sessions recorded for potential release on Castro and Duke’s Clover label, including a Castro Big Band and the Teddy Edwards Tentet.

The first disc is entitled Trios 1955-1956 – The Artist’s Choice. The program features seventeen tracks recorded at Duke and Castro’s Falcon Lair residence in Beverly Hills, California. All of the tracks feature Castro on piano with the aid of fantastic jazz legends and rhythm men. The ensembles feature combinations of bassists Leroy Vinnegar, Red Mitchell and Paul Chambers and drummers Jimmy Pratt, Lawrence Marable and Philly Joe Jones.

The second disc is Joe Castro’s Friends – At Duke Farms 1956. The disc provides never before heard solo selections from piano great Paul Bley, a full seventeen years before his classic solo recording, Open To Love. There are also pieces performed by Bley with his touring trio of bassist Hal Gaylor and drummer Lennie McBrowne. The other half of the program features recordings for a never realized project of Flo and George Handy, with five tracks of the duo and three with vocalist Flo fronting a twelve piece orchestra directed by composer/arranger George Handy.

The third disc is Joe Castro’s Mood Jazz with Voices & Strings – The Atlantic Album +, which contains the pianist’s first commercial release, Mood Jazz, which was released in 1957, along with previously unissued alternate takes. The album features the arranging of Ray Ellis and Neal Hefti along with musical accompaniment by well-known musicians like drummer Philly Joe Jones, trumpeter Nat Adderley and saxophonist Cannonball Adderley.

The fourth disc is Castro’s Groove Funk Soul – The Atlantic Album +, which is his second Atlantic recording, which was released in 1960, along with a number of previously unissued alternate takes. The ensemble is a fantastic one, featuring saxophonist Teddy Edwards, bassist Leroy Vinnegar and drummer Billy Higgins.

The fifth disc is an unreleased Joe Castro Trio session from 1965 entitled The Sidewalks of New York. The recording is special as it highlights the performances of Castro with his longtime friend, drummer Paul Motian. Teddy Kotick is also featured as the Trio’s bassist.

The sixth disc is Remind Me, a project that Castro conceived for Clover Records in 1965, and worked on through 1966, when the label folded. The recordings feature Castro’s trio of bassist Kotick and drummer Motian alone for half of the tracks, which were recorded in New York in April 1965. Castro took the recordings back to Los Angeles where he added horns with the aid of the Bob Cooper Ensemble, featuring trumpeter Al Porcino, woodwind players Gabe Baltzar, Cooper, Bill Holman, Bill Green and Bill Hood on a number of them. Teddy Edwards can be heard on Gaines and Ellington’s “Just Squeeze Me (But Don’t Tease Me)” and the rare piano stylings of Doris Duke, herself, are likely heard on Billy Strayhorn’s “Passion Flower” and Kern and Fields’s “Remind Me.”

1. Disc 1 - Joe Castro Trios 1955-1956 - The Artist's Choice - It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing) 02:51

2. Disc 1 - Joe Castro Trios 1955-1956 - The Artist's Choice - Blues for Nat 03:23

3. Disc 1 - Joe Castro Trios 1955-1956 - The Artist's Choice - Minuet In Jazz 03:07

4. Disc 1 - Joe Castro Trios 1955-1956 - The Artist's Choice - They Can't Take That Away from Me 03:45

5. Disc 1 - Joe Castro Trios 1955-1956 - The Artist's Choice - St. Louis Blues 03:51

6. Disc 1 - Joe Castro Trios 1955-1956 - The Artist's Choice - Dorshka (for Doris Duke) 04:38

7. Disc 1 - Joe Castro Trios 1955-1956 - The Artist's Choice - Have You Met Miss Jones? 03:40

8. Disc 1 - Joe Castro Trios 1955-1956 - The Artist's Choice - Things Ain't What They Used To Be 04:03

9. Disc 1 - Joe Castro Trios 1955-1956 - The Artist's Choice - Zoot Blues 04:22

10. Disc 1 - Joe Castro Trios 1955-1956 - The Artist's Choice - Black and Blue (What Did I Do To Be So Black and Blue) 03:26

11. Disc 1 - Joe Castro Trios 1955-1956 - The Artist's Choice - Jazzbo's Jaunt 02:30

12. Disc 1 - Joe Castro Trios 1955-1956 - The Artist's Choice - Pennies from Heaven 04:02

13. Disc 1 - Joe Castro Trios 1955-1956 - The Artist's Choice - Blues In The Closet 02:51

14. Disc 1 - Joe Castro Trios 1955-1956 - The Artist's Choice - Straight Life 03:52

15. Disc 1 - Joe Castro Trios 1955-1956 - The Artist's Choice - It's All Right with Me 03:20

16. Disc 1 - Joe Castro Trios 1955-1956 - The Artist's Choice - Sometimes I'm Happy 03:46

17. Disc 1 - Joe Castro Trios 1955-1956 - The Artist's Choice - Taking a Chance on Love 03:33

18. Disc 2 - Joe Castro's Friends / At Duke Farms 1956 - Paul Bley - Blues improvisation in F 04:19

19. Disc 2 - Joe Castro's Friends / At Duke Farms 1956 - Paul Bley - Ballad-blues improvisation in C 01:23

20. Disc 2 - Joe Castro's Friends / At Duke Farms 1956 - Paul Bley - Ballad improvisation in F 04:24

21. Disc 2 - Joe Castro's Friends / At Duke Farms 1956 - Paul Bley - Salt Peanuts 01:41

22. Disc 2 - Joe Castro's Friends / At Duke Farms 1956 - Paul Bley - A Place In The Sun (Main Title) 03:28

23. Disc 2 - Joe Castro's Friends / At Duke Farms 1956 - Paul Bley - Willow Weep for Me 05:35

24. Disc 2 - Joe Castro's Friends / At Duke Farms 1956 - Paul Bley - Time After Time 03:35

25. Disc 2 - Joe Castro's Friends / At Duke Farms 1956 - Paul Bley - After You've Gone 02:23

26. Disc 2 - Joe Castro's Friends / At Duke Farms 1956 - Paul Bley - Willow Weep for Me (alternate take) 05:44

27. Disc 2 - Joe Castro's Friends / At Duke Farms 1956 - Paul Bley - Time After Time (alternate take) 03:42

28. Disc 2 - Joe Castro's Friends / At Duke Farms 1956 - Flo & George Handy - Forgetful (Master take) 03:12

29. Disc 2 - Joe Castro's Friends / At Duke Farms 1956 - Flo & George Handy - Will I Ever Learn? 03:56

30. Disc 2 - Joe Castro's Friends / At Duke Farms 1956 - Flo & George Handy - Leavin' Town (Master take) 04:15

31. Disc 2 - Joe Castro's Friends / At Duke Farms 1956 - Flo & George Handy - Country Boy (?) 03:40

32. Disc 2 - Joe Castro's Friends / At Duke Farms 1956 - Flo & George Handy - When You Are Near (?) 03:50

33. Disc 2 - Joe Castro's Friends / At Duke Farms 1956 - Flo & George Handy - The Trouble with Me Is You 04:04

34. Disc 2 - Joe Castro's Friends / At Duke Farms 1956 - Flo & George Handy - You Wear Love So Well! 03:18

35. Disc 2 - Joe Castro's Friends / At Duke Farms 1956 - Flo & George Handy - Picnic In The Wintertime 02:45

36. Disc 3 - Joe Castro / Mood Jazz with Voices & Strings (the Atlantic album +) - J.C. Blues 05:06

37. Disc 3 - Joe Castro / Mood Jazz with Voices & Strings (the Atlantic album +) - Without You (Tres Palabras) 04:38

38. Disc 3 - Joe Castro / Mood Jazz with Voices & Strings (the Atlantic album +) - Doodlin' 05:08

39. Disc 3 - Joe Castro / Mood Jazz with Voices & Strings (the Atlantic album +) - Ev'rything I Love 04:23

40. Disc 3 - Joe Castro / Mood Jazz with Voices & Strings (the Atlantic album +) - You Stepped Out of a Dream 03:45

41. Disc 3 - Joe Castro / Mood Jazz with Voices & Strings (the Atlantic album +) - If You Could See Me Now 03:39

42. Disc 3 - Joe Castro / Mood Jazz with Voices & Strings (the Atlantic album +) - It's You or No One 04:06

43. Disc 3 - Joe Castro / Mood Jazz with Voices & Strings (the Atlantic album +) - Angel Eyes 04:40

44. Disc 3 - Joe Castro / Mood Jazz with Voices & Strings (the Atlantic album +) - Caravan 04:06

45. Disc 3 - Joe Castro / Mood Jazz with Voices & Strings (the Atlantic album +) - Prelude to a Kiss (unissued) 05:26

46. Disc 3 - Joe Castro / Mood Jazz with Voices & Strings (the Atlantic album +) - How High The Moon (unissued) 03:47

47. Disc 3 - Joe Castro / Mood Jazz with Voices & Strings (the Atlantic album +) - J.C. Blues (unissued alternate take 1) 04:10

48. Disc 3 - Joe Castro / Mood Jazz with Voices & Strings (the Atlantic album +) - J.C. Blues (unissued alternate take 2) 04:45

49. Disc 3 - Joe Castro / Mood Jazz with Voices & Strings (the Atlantic album +) - Doodlin' (unissued alternate take 1) 05:11

50. Disc 3 - Joe Castro / Mood Jazz with Voices & Strings (the Atlantic album +) - Doodlin' (unissued alternate take 2) 05:08

51. Disc 4 - Joe Castro / Groove Funk Soul (the Atlantic Album +) - Groove Funk Soul (In & Out) 05:32

52. Disc 4 - Joe Castro / Groove Funk Soul (the Atlantic Album +) - Yesterdays 07:21

53. Disc 4 - Joe Castro / Groove Funk Soul (the Atlantic Album +) - Day-Dream 07:02

54. Disc 4 - Joe Castro / Groove Funk Soul (the Atlantic Album +) - Could Happen To You 03:32

55. Disc 4 - Joe Castro / Groove Funk Soul (the Atlantic Album +) - Play Me The Blues 09:17

56. Disc 4 - Joe Castro / Groove Funk Soul (the Atlantic Album +) - That's All 05:28

57. Disc 4 - Joe Castro / Groove Funk Soul (the Atlantic Album +) - Yesterdays (unissued alternate take) 07:58

58. Disc 4 - Joe Castro / Groove Funk Soul (the Atlantic Album +) - Play Me The Blues (unissued alternate take) 06:24

59. Disc 4 - Joe Castro / Groove Funk Soul (the Atlantic Album +) - Lover (unissued) 06:47

60. Disc 4 - Joe Castro / Groove Funk Soul (the Atlantic Album +) - Day In - Day Out 05:08

61. Disc 5 - Joe Castro Trio - The Sidewalks of New York - Daisy Mae (Whatever) 04:34

62. Disc 5 - Joe Castro Trio - The Sidewalks of New York - The Sidewalks of New York (East Side, West Side) 08:14

63. Disc 5 - Joe Castro Trio - The Sidewalks of New York - Here's That Rainy Day 04:51

64. Disc 5 - Joe Castro Trio - The Sidewalks of New York - My Ship 04:27

65. Disc 5 - Joe Castro Trio - The Sidewalks of New York - I'm Getting Sentimental Over You 02:28

66. Disc 5 - Joe Castro Trio - The Sidewalks of New York - One Life To Live 04:38

67. Disc 5 - Joe Castro Trio - The Sidewalks of New York - That Old Feeling 04:13

68. Disc 5 - Joe Castro Trio - The Sidewalks of New York - Cheek to Cheek 02:50

69. Disc 5 - Joe Castro Trio - The Sidewalks of New York - Fascinating Rhythm 04:28

70. Disc 5 - Joe Castro Trio - The Sidewalks of New York - Funky Blues 07:56

71. Disc 5 - Joe Castro Trio - The Sidewalks of New York - You Don't Know What Love Is 04:41

72. Disc 6 - Joe Castro Trio / Remind Me with The Bob Cooper Ensemble - Things Ain't What They Used To Be 02:38

73. Disc 6 - Joe Castro Trio / Remind Me with The Bob Cooper Ensemble - Sweet Lorraine 02:58

74. Disc 6 - Joe Castro Trio / Remind Me with The Bob Cooper Ensemble - Get Out of Town 05:02

75. Disc 6 - Joe Castro Trio / Remind Me with The Bob Cooper Ensemble - Remind Me 06:21

76. Disc 6 - Joe Castro Trio / Remind Me with The Bob Cooper Ensemble - Satin Doll 02:42

77. Disc 6 - Joe Castro Trio / Remind Me with The Bob Cooper Ensemble - A Flower Is a Lovesome Thing 04:00

78. Disc 6 - Joe Castro Trio / Remind Me with The Bob Cooper Ensemble - Just Squeeze Me (But Don't Tease Me) 02:51

79. Disc 6 - Joe Castro Trio / Remind Me with The Bob Cooper Ensemble - Lush Life 07:04

80. Disc 6 - Joe Castro Trio / Remind Me with The Bob Cooper Ensemble - Passion Flower 03:29

81. Disc 6 - Joe Castro Trio / Remind Me with The Bob Cooper Ensemble - Remind Me 06:20

Joe Castro - piano

Leroy Vinnegar - bass

Jimmy Pratt - drums

Red Mitchell - bass

Lawrence Marable - drums

Philly Joe Jones - drums

Paul Bley - piano

Hal Gaylor - bass

Flo Handy - vocals

George Handy - piano

Lennie McBrowne - drums

Ed Shank - bass

Ray Ellis Orchestra - Orchestra

Gus Johnson - drums

The Neal Hefti Orchestra - Orchestra

Nat Adderley - trumpet

Julian "Cannonball" Adderley - alto saxophone

Teddy Edwards - tenor saxophone

Billy Higgins - drums

Teddy Kotick - bass

Paul Motian - drums

The Bob Cooper Ensemble - ensemble

Al Parcino - trumpet

Gabe Baltazar - flute

Bill Holman - clarinet

Bill Green - saxophones

Bill Hood - baritone saxophone, bass clarinet

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Kitty White with Art Simmons Orchestra - Happiness Is a Thing Called Joe (Sunnyside Records)

Born Kitty Jean Bilbrew in 1923, White grew up in a musical family, her mother and father being vaudevillian performers. White was a well-trained vocalist with perfect pitch. She was also a good music reader, which allowed her to find studio work. After recording a couple of albums for EmArcy, White even appeared in a number of movies during the early 1950s, including King Creole (with Elvis Presley), Last Train from Gun Hill and The Old Man and the Sea.

It was only natural that Duke would insist on making a recording of her friend, White, for release on Clover Records. The record company came into focus in 1964 when Castro and Duke made amends and tried to reconcile as a couple. The label would begin with a number of projects featuring Castro but then began to branch out to other artists, most notably Anita O’Day, Kitty White and Teddy Edwards.

Duke was the catalyst for the White record, which would be the third project for Clover. In early 1965, she enlisted her friend, the Paris based pianist and arranger Art Simmons, to prepare a budget and coordinate a recording in Paris, a location that Duke knew White always dreamed of visiting. White had not been very active in some time and was excited for the opportunity not only to record but to visit Paris.

Before going to Paris, White recorded a demo for Come Jet With Me with double bassist Helen Perry on Monday, August 9th. This was to be a joint venture with British Overseas Airways Corporation and Clover Records, which never came to pass. They recorded a version of “So Many Beautiful Men (So Little Time),” an original by White and her ex-husband, Edward “Gates” White.

The White recordings came at the beginning of Clover’s big push into the market. Castro and Duke intended to make an immediate splash and began recording a number of projects. Castro was not involved much in the White project as he was supervising a recording of Anita O’Day in Honolulu and his own small and big band projects in Los Angeles.

Art Simmons had grand ideas for the Kitty White sessions. He originally intended to employ saxophonists Johnny Griffin, Dexter Gordon and Hal Singer, though none of these musicians could be identified on the recording.

The sessions were held on December 2nd and 3rd and featured trumpeter Sonny Grey, soprano saxophonist/flautist Nathan Davis, bassist Jimmy Woode and drummer Kenny Clarke, along with tenor saxophonist Jean-Louis Chautemps, baritone saxophonist Jacques Nourredine, French horn player Melih Gürel, guitarist Pierre Cullaz, bassist Michel Gaudry and conductor Charles “Big” Jones.

The program begins with Howlett Smith’s punchy “Visit Me,” which is followed by the bluesy Oscar Brown, Jr. and Norman Curtis tune, “Summer in the City,” featuring evocative tenor sax, piano and Latin percussion. Leslie Bricusse’s “My Kind of Guy” is subtly swinging and flirty, while E.Y. Harburg and Harold Arlen’s ballad, “Happiness Is a Thing Called Joe,” is hazily impressionistic. “ almost Beautiful Men (So Little Time)” is revisited in a slinky style. The tempo increases on a grooving version of George Gershwin and B.G. De Sylva’s “Do It Again.”

White’s voice shines alongside Cullaz’s guitar on Reisfeld, Fryberg, Marbot and Dick’s sweet ballad, “Call Me Darling.” Chuck Meyer and Biff Jones’s “Disenchanted Lady” is dramatically performed and Bob Russell and Harold Spina’s “Would I Love You (Love You, Love You)” is a sad ballad with tenor sax accents over a warm horn section. Castro and Joe Lubin’s “Bossa Nova All the Way” is an attempt to take advantage of the bossa craze. Irving Berlin’s “Say It Isn’t So” is stripped down to voice, sax, piano and rhythm section, while the band is back for the brief and spirited take on Jule Styne, Betty Comden and Adolph Green’s “Just In Time.”

The program concludes with a hushed version of Duke Ellington, Irving Mills and Barney Bigard’s “Mood Indigo” with nice features for trumpeter Grey, saxophonist Davis and guitarist Cullaz. Fats Waller and Andy Razaf’s “Honeysuckle Rose” is a jaunty blues featuring a warm tenor solo, while Bart Howard’s “My Love Is a Wanderer” is a lilting ballad with White singing in an almost operatic style.

Duke and White returned to the States on December 6th. Unhappy with some of the original vocals recorded in France, White went into the studio in Los Angeles to overdub new vocals on January 12, 1966. Two days later, she was back in the studio with a band led by pianist Eddie Bell to record a new version of what Castro hoped would be his hit, “Bossa Nova All the Way.”

While pressings were being made of singles and long playing records and ads flaunted a new label in the wings, Clover was going through upheaval. In late April, Castro and Duke resigned from the board of the label. Their personal and professional relationship was finally at an end. Duke implored Peter Brookes to work the newly released Kitty White record harder. Though the record was released, as Kitty White (CL/CLS -1229), it never managed to develop any steam and languished as Clover subsequently failed.

1. Visit Me 01:59

2. Summer In The City 02:51

3. My Kind of Guy 02:06

4. Happiness Is a Thing Called Joe 03:22

5. So Many Beautiful Men (So Little Time) 02:10

6. Do It Again 01:41

7. Call Me Darling (Call Me Sweetheart, Call Me Dear) 02:02

8. Disenchanted Lady 02:36

9. Would I Love You (Love You, Love You) 02:44

10. Bossa Nova All The Way 01:57

11. Say It Isn't So 02:16

12. Just In Time 01:49

13. Mood Indigo 03:04

14. Honeysuckle Rose 02:59

15. So Many Beautiful Men (So Little Time) 02:17

16. My Love Is A Wanderer 02:59

Kitty White - vocals, piano

Art Simmons - arranger, director

Sonny Grey - trumpet (2, 3-9, 11-14)

Melih Gürel - French horn (2, 3-9, 11-14)

Nathan Davis - flute, tenor saxophone (2, 3-9, 11-14)

Hal Singer, Johnny Griffin, Dexter Gordon, Jean-Louis Chautemps - tenor saxophone (2, 3-9, 11-14)

Jacques Nourredine - baritone saxophone (2, 3-9, 11-14)

Pierre Cullaz - guitar (2, 3-9, 11-14)

Jimmy Woode, Michel Gaudry - bass (2, 3-9, 11-14)

Kenny Clarke - drums (2, 3-9, 11-14)

Teddy Edwards - tenor saxophone (2, 10)

Eddie Beal - piano (2, 10)

Vernon Polk - guitar (2, 10)

Wilfred Middlebrooks - bass (2, 10)

Billy Moore - drums (2, 10)

Jack Costanzo - bongos, güiro (2, 10)

Eddie Beal - director (2, 10)

Helen Perry - bass (15, 16)

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Avishai Cohen - Two Roses (Friday April 16, 2021 NAÏVE / BELIEVE)

Many musicians dream of making a record with a symphony orchestra, but few can afford to make it a reality. Thanks to an extraordinary ability to compose melodies that take root in his listeners’ minds and because he has patiently performed these compositions on stage to the point where they are practically a part of him, Avishai Cohen was well-positioned to execute such an ambition. Two Roses (Friday April 16th, 2021, NAÏVE / BELIEVE) is the result of a long process, which began in 2013 when Cohen recorded his album Almah, with his trio and a small chamber ensemble of four string instruments and an oboe.

Cohen’s music is an intricate tapestry of global and historical influence. A master of Afro-Caribbean music, Cohen has absorbed its complexity. Equally affected by the melodies of Israeli folklore, and the complexity of their Sephardi, Ashkenazi or Yemeni heritages, he reintroduced the traditional Ladino “Morenika,” as well as popular tunes from his native country, such as “Two Roses”, which lends its title to this album. The title itself works as a metaphor for the album’s adept fusion of jazz, and the symphonic world. Cohen, a fan of jazz standards, which he likes to make his own through very personal arrangements — in this recording, with a version of “Nature Boy” — nevertheless remains a composer of themes in his own right. Many of his own “classics” take their cues from North Africa, the Middle East, Slavic countries and Russia.

“Recording with an orchestra is an adventure in itself. It’s nothing like making a jazz record,” An orchestra has its own rhythm, you have to understand how they breathe, says Cohen. 

And now he has finally found an ensemble capable of providing this experience: the 92 talented women and men of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra conducted by Alexander Hanson. Cohen did not embark on this adventure alone: his trio includes two musicians for whom he is full of praise. Azerbaijani pianist Elchin Shirinov, who appeared on Cohen’s previous record, and New Jersey native drummer Mark Guiliana, with whom Cohen revolutionized the trio’s approach. 

“I’ve basically devoted myself to the same songs my whole life,” admits Cohen, “which hasn’t prevented me from writing and learning new ones…” He explains that his arrangement in E major of “A Child Is Born,” by Thad Jones, now transposed to the symphonic scale, dates back to the time of his own International Vamp Band, in which he played primarily the piano. Two Roses, however, includes originals such as “When I’m Falling,” which testifies to the autobiographical dimension that his work has taken. “Hearing songs like ‘Morenika’ or ‘Puncha Puncha’ is like switching eras, finding yourself in a time when nothing is the same,” notes Cohen. The unfolding of Two Roses, in several respects, resembles the soundtrack of an epic film, at times tinged with nostalgia, carried elsewhere by a hectic and vibrant energy. On Two Roses, the only things that count are performance, emotion and the personal expression of a citizen of the world who sees music as his only true homeland.

Tracklisting

Almah Sleeping – Avishai Cohen (composer, arranger), Jonathan Keren (arranger)

When I’m Falling – Avishai Cohen (composer, arranger), Jonathan Keren (arranger)

Nature Talking – Avishai Cohen (composer, arranger), Jonathan Keren (arranger)

Song For My Brother – Avishai Cohen (composer), Robert Sadin (arranger)

Emotional Storm – Avishai Cohen (composer, arranger), Per Ekdahl (arranger)

Two Roses (Shnei Shoshanim) – Mordechai Ze’ira (composer), Ya’Akov Orland (author), Avishai Cohen (arranger), Robert Sadin (arranger)

Nature Boy – Eden Ahbez (author, composer), Avishai Cohen (arranger), Jonathan Keren (arranger) 

A Child Is Born – Thad Jones (composer), Avishai Cohen (arranger), Robert Sadin (arranger)

Puncha Puncha – Avishai Cohen (arranger), Robert Sadin (arranger)

Morenika – Avishai Cohen (arranger), Robert Sadin (arranger)

Seven Seas* – Avishai Cohen (composer, arranger), Robert Sadin (arranger)

Arab Medley – Avishai Cohen (arranger), Tscho Theissing (arranger)

Overture ‘Noam’, Op. 1* – Avishai Cohen (author), Robert Sadin (arranger)

Alon Basela – Avishai Cohen (author, composer), Robert Sadin (arranger)*vinyl exclusive

Personnel

Avishai Cohen: vocals, acoustic bass, electric bass, minimoog synthesizer

Mark Guiliana: drums

Elchin Shirinov: piano

Alexander Hanson: orchestra conductor

Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra

Produced by: Avishai Cohen, Lars Nilsson, Lenny Ben Basat

Mark Feldman - Sounding Point (Intakt Records 2021)

The New York violin virtuoso Mark Feldman presents a new solo album, a portrait of the artist now, some twenty-six years after his first solo CD. Sounding Point contains six of his own compositions as well as one piece each by Sylvie Courvoisier and Ornette Coleman. Coleman’s 1987 Peace Warriors is one of three pieces in which Feldman skillfully employs overdubs. The American jazz critic Kevin Whitehead writes in the liner notes: “In my 30+ years following violinist Mark Feldman, no record I know shows him off better than Sounding Point. He’s made much great music in groups, but solo play gives him maximum elbow room, fully exposing the richness of his sound, his distinct personal voice, and his sensitivity to sonic texture and pacing, all at the service of musical storytelling.

Take for example the shortest piece here, the improvised “Rebound.” He starts with a simple gesture, the bow’s horsehairs bouncing lightly on the strings, a gesture he periodically returns to (and ends with), between scenic flights: high notes and trills, bracing close-interval wailing on adjacent strings, a burst of percussive pizzicato, falling glissandi, whispered notes barely bowed… Fancy stuff. Yet those expansions and contractions, and the contrasting dynamics, sound natural as breathing.”

1. As We Are 04:31

2. Sounding Point 04:10

3. Peace Warriors 07:27

4. Unbound 04:30

5. Viciously 09:25

6. Rebound 04:01

7. Maniac 05:00

8. New Normal 04:14

Mark Feldman: Violin

Compositions by Mark Feldman (SUISA, ASCAP), except “As We Are” by Sylvie Courvoisier (SUISA, ASCAP) and “Peace Warriors” by Ornette Coleman (Phrase Text Music, ASCAP). Recorded at Studio Lulu, Brooklyn, April 2020, by Owen Mulholland. Mixed by Ryan Streber. Mastered July 2020 by Scott Hull, Masterdisk Studios, NY.

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Fred Frith / Ikue Mori - A Mountain Doesn't Know It's Tall (Intakt Records 2021)

A Mountain Doesn't Know It's Tall. The title reflects the mood of this duo record of Fred Frith and Ikue Mori – playful, poetic, mysterious and open. The guitarist and the sound-artist have been working together for forty years. Live excerpts from their work are documented on Fred Frith's 3 CD box set Live at the Stone (Intakt CD 320). In January 2015, Frith and Mori met in Germany to record the music for a radio play for Werner Penzel, the filmmaker and longtime friend of Fred Frith, for his film Zen for Nothing. After finishing their work, they used the free studio day to record their first duo album together. Influenced by the film music and inspired by the long friendship 15 pieces were created that are both wonderful sound sculptures and fascinating dialogues.

Fred Frith writes: “Air moving through ears and hair and lungs and pores, through songs,and scrapes, and scraps of this, that and the other.” And Ikue Mori writes: “… it was about playing with the everyday noises that arise when cooking, playing ping-pong, and especially when laughing. There is a lot of joy in working with these recordings, interacting with them and making music.”

1. Bodaishin 01:07

2. The Biggest Lie 00:57

3. Stirred by Wind and Waves 01:23

4. Nothing to It 05:11

5. Fushiryō 01:42

6. The Biggest Idiots 02:11

7. Nothing at All 03:16

8. Shōdōka 03:02

9. Good for What? 02:39

10. The Same Moon Sometimes Seems to Smile 02:12

11. Things as They Are 01:56

12. Hishiryō 03:50

13. A Thief Breaks into an Empty House 02:17

14. Now Here 05:17

15. Samadhi 05:27

Fred Frith: Home-made instruments, various toys and objects, electric guitar (on “Nothing to It” and “Now Here”)

Ikue Mori: Laptop electronics

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Alexander Hawkins (feat. Evan Parker/Matthew Wright + Riot Ensemble) - Togetherness Music (Intakt Records 2021)

With Togetherness Music, British pianist and composer Alexander Hawkins presents a fascinating musical panorama, a distillation and synthesis of different traditions and influences, reflecting the broad spectrum of an extraordinary musical spirit. Released to celebrate Hawkins' 40th birthday, this six-movement quasi-orchestral work is an extensive expansion and revision of a piece which originated with a commission from conductor and composer Aaron Holloway-Nahum for the Riot Ensemble, to feature Hawkins and saxophone icon Evan Parker – with whom Hawkins has enjoyed a now more than decade-long musical association – as soloists. The new incarnation of the work features the original forces, augmented by additional acoustic improvisers and the electronic wizardry of Matthew Wright.

Whilst the Riot Ensemble are primarily renowned for their performan- ces of notated contemporary classical music, and Parker is one of the seminal figures in free improvisation and the post-Coltrane jazz continuum, roles shift fluidly throughout this work, creating an entirely distinctive soundworld.

"Collaborations among improvisers and classical musicians can be fraught – a clash of cultures," writes musician James Fei in the comprehensive liner notes. "When it works, however, something unique and in-between becomes possible." Indeed: Togetherness Music shows new musical possibilities. A highly contemporary musical work, which points to the future.

1. Indistinguishable From Magic 09:31

2. Sea No Shore 07:24

3. Ensemble Equals Together 06:57

4. Leaving the Classroom of a Beloved Teacher 08:31

5. Ecstatic Boababs 08:50

6. Optimism of the Will 09:33

Alexander Hawkins: Piano, Composition

Evan Parker: Soprano Saxophone

Aaron Holloway-Nahum: Conductor

Rachel Musson: Flute, Tenor Saxophone

Percy Pursglove: Trumpet

James Arben: Flute, Bass Clarinet

Neil Charles: Double Bass

Mark Sanders: Drums, Percussion

Matthew Wright: Electronics

Benedict Taylor: Viola

Hannah Marshall: Cello

Music by Alexander Hawkins (PRS). Rec July 30, 2020 at Challow Park Studios, Oxfordshire, UK by Will Biggs. Assistant engineer: James Towler. Mixed and mastered September 2020, London, UK, by Alex Bonney. Cover art and graphic design: Jonas Schoder. Linernotes: James Fei. Produced by Alexander Hawkins and Intakt Records.

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Aki Takase / Christian Weber / Michael Griener - Auge (Intakt Records 2021)

"I really love the piano trio,” says Aki Takase, with a passion that mirrors her playing. “But not the old idea, where the pianist is king, and the bassist and the drummer are just sidemen. We are equal.” Indeed, all three musicians are in focus in the trio AUGE: bassist Christian Weber and drummer Michael Griener are among the most original virtuosos of their instruments. On Intakt they have presented brilliant albums with the New York saxophonist Ellery Eskelyn.

Christian Weber recorded albums with Co Streiff and Oliver Lake. Michael Griener is a member of the band Die Enttäuschung and Monks Casino with Alexander von Schlippenbach. Over the course of nearly four decades pianist Aki Takase has provided fresh impetus with different musicians such as reedists David Murray and Rudi Mahall or fellow pianist (and husband) Alexander von Schlippenbach.

The Berlin-based Chicago journalist Peter Margasak writes about the recording: “The music on the debut album from the collective trio AUGE is wide-open, operating from an unobstructed vista where every thing seems possible ... Free improvisation rarely sounds so cogent, rippling with an adroit command of rhythm and harmony that erases the line between design and spontaneity.”

1. Last Winter 02:58

2. Drops of Light 04:47

3. Are Eyes Open? 01:33

4. No Tears 04:13

5. The Pillow Book 06:30

6. Face of the Bass 06:28

7. Calcagno 02:50

8. Out of Sight 02:37

9. While in Rome 02:27

10. Motion in the Ocean 02:49

11. And if not, why Not 02:58

12. Underfelt 02:08

13. Who’s Going to Bell the Cat? 04:27

14. The End Justifies the Means 02:12

Aki Takase: Piano

Christian Weber: Bass

Michael Griener: Drums

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The Tiptons Sax Quartet & Drums - Wabi Sabi (April 2, 2021 Sowiesound Records)

For over three decades, THE TIPTONS SAXOPHONE QUARTET & DRUMS have been making music to galvanize the senses and take listeners through unforgettable soundscapes. But in that time, they’ve been around the block enough to know to appreciate the unexpected ways in which the process of making good music can sometimes unfold. So rather than bemoaning what is not perfect in a perfect world, they’ve learned as improvisers how to work with limited resources or unforeseen challenges.

That is the spirit behind the band’s new single “Wabi Sabi” (out Feb 19, 2021) inspired by and named after the Japanese philosophy that translates roughly as “find beauty and take pleasure in the imperfect”. The track promises a forthcoming collection of new music to illustrate the sometimes unexpected beauty in our chaotic world. 

The Tiptons’ 14th album Wabi Sabi (to be released April 2, 2021 on Sowiesound Records) features eleven new compositions for saxophone, voice, and drums that explore styles ranging from modern emanations of traditional African American field hollers to the hum of tires on the Autobahn, tricks for the mind, a yodeling deconstruction, popping funk for December’s doldrums, and upbeat grooves for bad people with good intentions. 

With this latest release, the internationally renowned all-female saxophone quartet with drums is celebrating over 30 years as a band. Founding members/co-leaders Amy Denio (alto sax, clarinet, voice) and Jessica Lurie (soprano/alto/tenor sax, voice), are joined by Sue Orfield (tenor sax, voice), Tina Richerson (baritone sax, voice), and Robert Kainar of Salzburg, Austria on drums and percussion.

As a testament to the human willpower to survive obstacles when on a determined creative path, the band takes its name in honor of trailblazing transgender saxophone icon Billy Tipton. Born female and named ‘Dorothy Lucille’, Billy took on their brother’s name, choosing to live their life as a man in order to embrace their chosen identity and pursue a career in music as an instrumentalist in a heavily male-dominated field.

The all-women sax quartet had originally been going by the moniker Phlegm Fatale until they learned about the death of the tenacious musician and booking agent in 1989. The band asked Tipton’s family for permission to use their name, and with the family’s blessing, re-named their sax quartet in honor of the artist. At first, calling themselves the Billy Tipton Memorial Saxophone Quartet, the group later expanded their repertoire and eventually shortened their name to ‘The Tiptons Sax Quartet’.”

“We started as an all women’s saxophone quartet back then because there really just weren’t any,” says Denio. “And as saxophone players, we loved the idea of getting more play-time because in typical bands sax players often have to wait around for very restrained participation.

As the group developed, we began to experiment more with working out our own arrangements, and that in turn evolved into us writing our own compositions.”

Those out-of-the-box origins and their comfort with evolving and reinventing themselves over time are both indicative of elements that really bring charm to the band: that they are a truly  diverse group of individuals, composers, and musicians. The individual members of the band are all interested in disparate traditions of world music, have different tastes, and very different styles of playing, making what they do together that much richer. Another unusual aspect of the group is their incorporation of the human voice into the band. Most saxophone quartets don’t sing, but the Tiptons love singing.  “All sax all the time can get tedious,” says Denio. “And I think that’s why we added drums later too, adding a groove to inspire different colors and add dynamic. We’re always interested in expanding our sphere.”

This unique admixture of influences and dynamics has resulted in an expansive catalog of  Tiptons material, ranging from micro-Big Band to Gospel, Bluegrass to Balkan, whimsical Chamber Jazz, and nocturnal Funk to Free Jazz Improvisation. Using saxophones, clarinet, their own voices, drums, and inventive percussion, the band creates a genre-busting ‘world soul’ sound.  That sound achieves new creative heights on Wabi Sabi. 

“December’s Dance,” a Bebop number composed and arranged by Tipton’s baritone player Tina Richerson, shows off a compelling funk groove layered with acrobatic horn lines, propelling forward into reflection, soloist expression, and a surprise ending.  The track goes a long way in defining the Tiptons as a powerful groove band, able to play complex music with difficult melodies, yet making it fun and danceable rather than something that has the feel of an intellectual exercise.

Literally translated as ‘the large urinator, “El Gran Orinador” is written and arranged by Amy Denio as a Latin-tinged composition inspired by Pablo Neruda’s poem about a crazy rainstorm.. Somewhere between a Mosambique or possibly a Songo, the song can only be described as truly Tiptonesque! In a rare opportunity to improvise on a studio recording, the track features a free section in the middle where the band improvises the sound and fury of a storm using unusual saxophone techniques such as breathing through to make wind sounds and moving fingers on keys without playing to emulate the sound of raindrops.

“Working Song,” composed and arranged by Sue Orfield is inspired by traditional field hollers, a type of work song created by African-American slaves working on cotton plantations, not meant to keep a strict rhythm with the work, but to express the feelings of the workers. 

“Torquing of the Spheres,” a composition by Jessica Lurie, is based  on the safe yet Kerouacian maneuverings of the band’s Austrian driver Robert driver. The song describes a point in the middle of a European tour when everyone was exhausted, zoning out napping in the car. And all of a sudden, the band was awakened to the sounds of Robert intermittently speeding up, slowing down, moving off and onto the rumble strip on the side of the highway. He was amazingly playing the Autobahn like an instrument to the Tioptons’ inspired awe.

“For us, Wabi Sabi is the very richest array of compositions that we’ve done thus far,” notes Denio. “The compositions are super-refined, showing that all of us have really matured as composers. And technically as players were, we’re really out shining what we’ve done in the past. I like to say it’s a trifecta: it’s great compositions, really, really strong playing …and this all came together in a really inspiring environment.”  …’

Thanks to a successful crowd-funding campaign, the Tiptons Sax Quartet met in Seattle in January 2020 to rehearse, perform and record the 11 brand new songs just ahead of the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic that would soon put a death grip on much of the music industry. The band only had a couple of days to rehearse before a trial by fire, doing several live radio broadcasts and performing concerts with the new material before heading to Seattle’s Studio LITHO, owned by Stone Gossard of Pearl Jam, to work with the Tipton’s favorite recording and mixing engineer Floyd Reitsma.

Meanwhile, one by one, the band members came down with the worst case of the flu imaginable right in the midst of recording, often having to lie down in between takes. Yet, the band persevered and somehow managed to record everything in three days before sending the mix off to be mastered by Rachel Field at Resonant Mastering in Seattle.

“That’s how we roll and that’s the beauty of this group. We all bring our own unique contributions and ideas to the unknown; we improvise and songs tend to mutate and evolve through the experience. It’s always a super labor-intensive effort. But in the end, you get this vital, live feeling. It’s really is, basically, a live album with very few overdubs”.

1. December's Dance 04:28

2. El Gran Orinador 05:30

3. Wabi Sabi 04:14

4. A Sparkley Con 06:18

5. Root Dance 05:05

6. Torqueing of the Spheres 06:39

7. Jouissance 05:58

8. Memory Bait 04:32

9. Moadl Joadl 03:44

10. 3 x Heather's 17 06:29

11. Working Song 05:22

12. 4+7=47 (improvisation for donor Phillip Kancianic 03:36

Amy Denio: alto sax, voice

Jessica Lurie: soprano, alto, tenor sax, voice

Sue Orfield: tenor sax, voice

Tina Richerson: baritone sax, voice

Robert Kainar: drums

The Tiptons Sax Quartet

Sowiesound Records

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Benoît Delbecq - The Weight of Light (February 2021 Pyroclastic Records)

Paris-based artist Benoît Delbecq releases multimedia-inspired solo piano

album The Weight of Light

available on Pyroclastic Records

“Benoît Delbecq is one of the few true improvising piano geniuses of our times. He has

steadfastly created his own musical universe of sound, impeccable craft and beauty that is

wondrous, resonant and free in the best sense of the word.” — Fred Hersch, pianist and composer

“[Music of] exotic and mysterious qualities” — Bill Shoemaker, JazzTimes

“Delbecq likes to go beyond normal technique. He puts things on and between the piano strings to

make it a raw and sensitive percussion machine.”— Ben Ratliff, The New York Times

Internationally acclaimed pianist and composer Benoît Delbecq issues The Weight of Light on Pyroclastic Records, his first solo release in more than a decade. Following intentional exploration and years of extended research, confronting the smooth and the striated within his playing, the Paris-based artist now offers open-eared listeners new, deeply personal connections to the music inspired by movementcentric perspectives on shadow and light.

Within trancelike chambers and subtle interluding halls, Delbecq conjures the mysterious ecstasy of transitional imagery. Nine tracks of original music pivot across contemplative brightness and ethereal darkness. Serving spontaneity, each gesture reflects a translation of feeling and invites listeners to engage their own emotional responses to the music, as they listen in real time.

Ever curious about visual representation of music, Delbecq has been enhancing versions of his own graphic notation for years. But as he composed music for The Weight of Light, he began recognizing how hanging mobiles wield influence over his relationship to music and, more broadly, artistic expression.

“That was totally unconscious,” he says. As a child, he’d regard a mobile casting shadows in his parents’ bedroom for minutes at a time. “The idea likely came from way back, but who can say?”

From that buried memory, Delbecq began drawing the image that would become his album cover for The Weight of Light. “I drew the record cover pretty fast, but the shadow took me days,” he says. “I wanted to render something mysterious about the shadow of this mobile.” That unnamed mystery rests at the consciousness of The Weight of Light and includes both physical and figurative interpretations.

Some 35 years ago, Delbecq’s physicist brother centered his Ph.D. around proving that light has a mass. At the time, the idea fascinated Delbecq. “Hardly any people know that light has a mass,” he says. For the album, he took poetic license to change “mass” to “weight,” intent on exploring what that concept might sound like on a piano.

Inspired by what he calls “real presences” within his artistry, Delbecq considers features of architecture when composing new music, including how different structures interact with light. One partly sunny morning, he found himself inside the Notre-Dame de Ronchamp chapel by Le Corbusier, observing the light coming through the stained glass windows. “A cloud passing by, revealing the sun inside the chapel, of course will change your relationship with the space you’re in,” he says. His Poe-like appraisal of light influencing emotional response to physical surroundings persists across The Weight of Light. “In that sense, that’s also weight of the light,” he says.

Delbecq regards piano as a vessel for expansion. His expert manipulation of the instrument presents patterns, pauses and un-patterns as on “Pair et Impair,” as well as sonic illusions such as left-hand “loops” on “Anamorphoses” and “The Loop of Chicago” that take shape and reshape throughout the compositions. Providing plenty of opportunity for listeners to experience starkness of time and space, Delbecq engages openness on “Au Fil de la Parole” and “Dripping Stones” the latter beginning as a cluster of tightly packed colors, primed for expansion. And he concludes in notes of dark and doleful lushness tinged with inquiry on “Broken World.”

For these renderings, Delbecq turns to perhaps the most prominent textural characteristic of his sound: prepared piano. And his love for those sounds emerged from his fascination for drummers he heard live, namely Kenny Clarke, Paul Motian, and Ed Blackwell. Textural possibilities serve his unique compositional development, particularly for The Weight of Light. “When I’m composing, it’s exactly like I’m looking at inventing the future shape of an object,” he says, “so I look at it from different places. It’s like a 3-D way of conceiving things that has to do with optical phenomena. If I move around it, it will reveal shapes that are hidden at other angles.”

Benoît Delbecq is a multi-awarded Parisian pianist and composer, engaging new textures and pulses on prepared piano. His musical force weaves compelling works inspired by varied sources including mathematics, poetry and architecture. Delbecq's works have received acclaim from legendary musicians such as Mal Waldron, Steve Lacy and György Ligeti, as well as from a long list of critics, peers and festivals curators. He studied improvised music with Alan Silva, founder of the Institute for Artistic and Cultural Perception in Paris, later receiving mentorship from Waldron. At the Banff Centre, Delbecq studied with Steve Coleman, Dave Holland and Muhal Richard Abrams, among other masters. He also studied composition and music analysis with Solange Ancona. Besides being a performer, composer and producer, Delbecq served as founder of the Hask Collective Paris (1992-2004) and is presently a founding member of Bureau de Son Paris (2008) and the dStream label.

 

1. The Loop of Chicago 08:00

2. Dripping Stones 03:07

3. Family Trees 04:15

4. Chemin sur le Crest 03:21

5. Au Fil de la Parole 02:25

6. Anamorphoses 07:37

7. Havn en Havre 05:30

8. Pair et Impair 09:47

9. Broken World 04:51

Benoît Delbecq - piano

In memoriam Ken Pickering and Philippe Bailleul

Recorded by Juien Bassères

Mixed by Benoît Delbecq at Bureau de Son Paris

Mastered by Klaus Scheuermann at 4ohm, Berlin

Piano Technician: Bastien Herbin

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Jen Shyu & Jade Tongue - Zero Grasses: Ritual for the Losses (April 2, 2021 Pi Recordings)

Jen Shyu is a groundbreaking, multilingual vocalist, composer, producer, multi-instrumentalist, dancer, 2016 Doris Duke Artist, and was voted 2017 Downbeat Critics Poll Rising Star Female Vocalist. Shyu is widely regarded for her virtuosic singing and riveting stage presence, carving out her own beyond-category space in the art world.

1. Living's a Gift | Part 1: Springtime

2. Living's a Gift | Part 2: Everything for Granted

3. Living's a Gift | Part 3: My Unsolved Regrets

4. Living's a Gift | Part 4: Joyful

5. Lament for Breonna Taylor

6. The Human Color

7. A Cure for the Heart's Longing

8. Body of Tears

9. When I Have Power

10. Finally She Emerges

11. Display Under the Moon | 月下の陣

12. Father Slipped Into Eternal Dream

13. With Eyes Closed You See All

14. Life As You Envision

Jen Shyu: Composition, vocals, percussion, piano, Taiwanese moon lute, Japanese biwa

Ambrose Akinmusire: trumpet

Mat Maneri: viola

Thomas Morgan: bass

Dan Weiss: drums

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