Hermeto Pascoal e sua Visão Original do Forró (SCUBIDU MUSIC June 1, 2018)

O ‘sanfoneiro’ Hermeto Pascoal lança album inédito em homenagem ao Forró

Gravado em 1999, “Hermeto Pascoal e sua Visão Original do Forró” presta homenagem ao gênero além de mostrar lado letrista do “Mago dos Sons”

No dia 1o de junho será lançado o disco” Hermeto Pascoal e sua Visão Original do Forró”, que como o Campeão mesmo diz "não é apenas pra escutar, mas também para dançar". Gravado em 1999 no Recife, o disco tem 17 faixas e traz convidados especiais como Alceu Valença, João Claudio Moreno, Marina Elali, entre outros. 


Hermeto toca sanfona (incluindo a de 8 baixos) em praticamente todas as faixas do disco, sempre acompanhado de músicos pernambucanos e antigos companheiros, como o contrabaixista Itiberê Zwarg, o guitarrista Heraldo do Monte, além do saudoso saxofonista Vinicius Dorin.

Para Hermeto, gravar forró não mostra apenas que ele mantém as lembranças de suas origens. "Minha cabeça é universal", disse. "Não nasci para tocar só clássico ou só jazz", declarou. "Quem anda sempre na linha é trem.” 

Hermeto é autor das letras de três das quatro músicas cantadas que foram gravadas no disco. Uma delas, "Uriama", foi interpretada por Alceu Valença. "Vocês que segurem as pontas aí que estou fazendo umas letrinhas danadas", disse.

1. Forró pela Manhã 02:01

2. Pantanal Brasileiro 03:13

3. Sivucando no Frevo 02:46

4. Pernambuco falando para o Mundo 03:34

5. Academia de Forró do Frei Raimundo 03:40

6. Quadrilha na Roça 04:27

7. Agora eu quero instrumental (part. Marina Elali) 04:30

8. Forró na Toca 07:11

9. Forró para Vovó Rosa Maria 05:45

10. De Natal para Mossoró 04:32

11. O Ovo (part. João Claudio Moreno) 03:23

12. A Ova 06:42

13. Forrozinho Brejeiro 03:22

14. Uriama (part. Alceu Valença) 05:09

15. Avestruz do Fabrício na Madrugada 04:26

16. Adelzon Alves no Forró 05:19

17. Isto é Brasil 02:34

Produção executiva 

Raimundo Campos e Fabrício 

Direção artística e musical 

Hermeto Pascoal 

Assistente de direção artística 

Fabio Pascoal 

Gravação e masterização 

Somax Estúdios (Recife/PE) 

Técnico de gravação e mixagem 

Cacau Mix 

Assistentes 

Ronaldo e Maurílio 

Masterização 

Paulo Rogério 

Label Services 

Flavio de Abreu – Scubidu Music 

Desenho da Capa: Hermeto Pascoal (1996) 

Design Gráfico: Tereza Bettinardi 

Convidados especiais 

Heraldo do Monte [guitarra, viola, cavaquinho e voz] 

Alceu Valença [voz] 

João Cláudio [voz e texto] 

Marina Elali [voz] 

Rosa Maria [voz e texto] 

Rogério Meneses e Raimundo Caetano [repentistas] 

Participações especiais 

Itiberê Zwarg [baixo] 

Vinícius Dorin [sopros] 

Fabio Pascoal [percussão]

Paul Zaborac Quartet: Live (2018)

Paul Zaborac is a versatile saxophonist and composer. He has performed internationally in Australia, Costa Rica, China, Hong Kong, and throughout the United States. Paul currently performs and teaches in the Denver, Colorado metro area.

1. Steps 15:31

2. Drum Solo 04:01

3. Transient 10:11

4. Ballad 10:31

Paul Zaborac - Saxophone

Austin Brown - Guitar

Eric Krieger - Bass

Mark Grimm - Drums

Recording Engineer - Chris Helm

Recorded July 15, 2016 at Noce in Des Moines, Iowa

Pierre Dørge - Soundscapes (SteepleChase Productions ApS 2018)

To say “Pierre Dørge” and not to follow it with “& New Jungle Orchestra” is almost impossible.

Dørge created that small big band in 1980, which became a successful and stable vehicle for his adventurous music. They toured all over the world and built an impressive discography along the way.

The guitarist/composer/bandleader, however, has never neglected to seek new palette to draw his music in smaller ensembles.

Following highly acclaimed quartet release “Blui” of 2016, Dørge surrounds himself with all American colleagues who have deep understanding of Pierre Dørge’s unique soundscapes.

“It’s an inspired collection of musicians and all serve the material well, eight songs written by Dørge …. When people think of Dørge, they tend to gravitate toward the NJO releases but his small-group recordings provide an excellent alternative and a more expansive picture of this unique guitarist.”

(Robert Iannapollo – NYC Jazz Record on SCCD 31797 “Blui”)

1 MINGUS’ BIRTHDAY PARTY 6:07

2 LULLABY FOR SUN RA 8:10

3 ENIGMATIC TWILIGHT 6:09

4 ALLIGATOR IN PARADISE 5:07

5 BAMBLA JOLIFANTI 6:59

6 AFRIKAA MBIZO DYANI 8:51

7 A ROSE FOR LAURENT 5:15

8 MIRJAM’S DADA DANCE 6:53

9 SIM SIM BA 8:04

Composed by Pierre Dørge

PIERRE DØRGE guitar

KIRK KNUFFKE cornet

STEPHEN RILEY tenor saxophone

CONRAD HERWIG trombone

JAY ANDERSON bass

ADAM NUSSBAUM drums

Geoffrey Keezer Trio (feat. Gillian Margot) - On My Way to You (June 22, 2018)

Geoffrey Keezer Returns to Piano Trio

with On My Way To You – Available June 22 

Keezer is Joined by Bassist Mike Pope, Drummer Lee Pearson

& Special Guest Vocalist Gillian Margot (on 4 Songs)

Geoffrey Keezer’s peers and elders have considered him a master of the piano trio function since he burst on the scene as a 17-year-old wunderkind in 1988, when he made the first of 22 albums as a leader or co-leader. Surprisingly, Keezer has devoted few of those dates to the piano-bass-drums format, as he does on his latest, the self-released On My Way to You, serving as a major contribution to the idiom.

Throughout the dazzlingly intense proceedings, Keezer upholds a remark Christian McBride made in 2005 on the occasion of Keezer’s previous trio recording, Wildcrafted: Live At The Dakota: “Of all the pianists from our generation, Geoffrey is the one I always have to listen to twice,” McBride told DownBeat. “I’m not always sure it’s him, because he never repeats himself. Technically, I don’t believe there’s anything on the piano he can’t play. And in terms of interpretation, he comes up with the most brilliant ideas that you could ever think of.”

For On My Way to You, Keezer convened bassist Mike Pope, a member of his sparkling co-led quartet with vibraphone master Joe Locke, and drummer Lee Pearson, his bandmate in Chris Botti’s high-profile group for many years. They perform on nine selections, five of them with the individualistic, communicative singer Gillian Margot, whose last album, Black Butterfly, inspired the L.A. Jazz Weekly to remark that “her honey-toned voice delivers hints of a young Aretha Franklin.” That vibration comes through on the penultimate track, a Keezer-Margot duo on Ewan MacColl's “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” before Keezer concludes with solo ruminations on the Beatles’ “Across The Universe,” then summons the trio to join him on John Lennon’s “Give Peace A Chance.”

Throughout the proceedings, Keezer applies his formidable technique, harmonic knowledge, rhythmic ingenuity, abiding soulfulness, and rigorous logic to conjure fresh approaches to new and old standards and several originals. Stevie Wonder’s “These Three Words,” a gospel-influenced pop ballad written for the soundtrack of Spike Lee’s Jungle Fever, is addressed as a 3/4 waltz. Keezer drew on John Coltrane’s anthemic “Dear Lord” as inspiration for the double-time swing feel he superimposes on Jimi Hendrix’s psychedelic ballad, “May This Be Love,” from the 1967 album Are You Experienced?.

Keezer interpolates a plugged-in nod to Miles Davis’ early ‘70s funk-jazz hit “On The Corner” in the middle section of his quirky, irreverent arrangement of Thelonious Monk’s “Brilliant Corners,” and then, over a drum'n'bass beat, uncorks a turbulent, precise piano solo that never strays far from the melody. He slows the pace on a highly reharmonized, phantasmagoric treatment of the oft-played American Songbook chestnut “All The Things You Are,” gradually building a steamy groove that propels a transition into Earth, Wind and Fire’s “Serpentine Fire.”

On the collaborations with Margot, Keezer touches on elements of love, longing and desire. As an example, consider how Keezer’s nuanced touch complements Margot as they navigate the ascendant arc of “Red Leaf,” an elegiac, affirmative song on which he collaborated with author Michael Perry, a fellow Wisconsin native. Piano and voice achieve an uncanny mind-meld on the co-composed “You Stay With Me” — Margot projects her magnificent contralto to equally compelling effect both when conveying her tender, sensuous lyric and then improvising in dialogue with the piano during the latter section. They also co-wrote the percolating “Guanajuato” (named for the Central Mexican city where they performed a duo concert several years ago), on which the protagonists engage in a protracted, intuitive musical conversation.

“Writing music together with someone is relatively new for me,” Keezer says. “I’ve always been fiercely autonomous as a composer. But I’m at a place now where collaborating is highly productive and rejuvenating.”

Keezer credits the “direct influence” of singer/pianist Shirley Horn on the way he and Margot — complemented by poignant strings — stretch out the tempo and find space between the beats on the title track (a 1988 song by composer Michel Legrand and lyricists Alan and Marilyn Bergman). He describes their duo on “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” as “another chance to explore how much space is possible in music.

“I feel this is my most mature album,” Keezer says. “At least one definition of what it might mean to be mature was to feel I didn’t have to fill up all the space. I learned that lesson playing with people like Jim Hall, who continually, night after night, would ask me to play less and less.”

In everything that he plays herein, Keezer refracts lessons gleaned during the first decade of his career on stints with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, and combos led by Art Farmer, Benny Golson and J.J. Johnson, and the end-of-the-‘90s Ray Brown Trio. On his own early recordings, Keezer convened modern masters like Steve Nelson, Bill Pierce, Donald Harrison, Joshua Redman, Charnett Moffett, Victor Lewis and Billy Higgins to navigate his challenging compositions.

“When I got to New York in the late ’80s, it was the clear mission of the pianists there to play strong and hard, to give it up a thousand percent every time,” Keezer says, summing up his animating principle. “Bands don’t play like that anymore. Music has to change and that’s fine. But even though I’ve lived in California for almost 20 years, I’m coming out of that late ’80s New York piano style for sure.

“I’m not trying to be anything other than just who I am as a musician. I’m comfortable with it. I don’t mean comfortable in the sense of resting on my laurels, or that I’m not interested in improving. I always want to get better. But this feels like the best piano playing I’ve done on record. I think it’s my best album to date.”

1 These Three Words

2 You Stay with Me (feat. Gillian Margot)

3 All the Things You Are/Serpentine Fire

4 Red Leaf (feat. Gillian Margot)

5 Brilliant Corners

6 On My Way to You (feat. Gillian Margot)

7 May This Be Love

8 Guanajuato (feat. Gillian Margot)

9 The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face (feat. Gillian Margot)

10 Across the Universe/Give Peace a Chance

geoffreykeezer.com

Two New Recordings by drummer Phil Haynes with Dave Liebman, Drew Gress, Hank Roberts and Jim Yanda

Two New Recordings by drummer Phil Haynes with Dave Liebman, Drew Gress, Hank Roberts and Jim Yanda

My Favorite Things (1960-1969) takes on The Beatles, Hendrix, Coltrane, James Brown and more with “jazz-grass” string band Free Country with Hank Roberts, Jim Yanda, Drew Gress

No Fast Food’s Settings For Three sparks inspired improvisation 

from bassist Drew Gress and NEA Jazz Master David Liebman

“[No Fast Food is] ridiculously good — One of the two best trios since the legendary Elvin Jones.”  

– CriticalJazz.com

“Just like Jack DeJohnette or Bob Moses, [Haynes] is broadening the beat by means of a significantly melodic component. You don’t have to be a prophet to foresee a great future.”

– Heinrich Oehmsen, Szene

It’s not that he has anything against whiskers on kittens, mind you, but these are a few of drummer Phil Haynes’ favorite things: creating in the moment with old friends, who just happen to be some of the most inventive improvisers on the scene; digging deep into the rich musical legacy of the 1960s; navigating original compositions that offer tricky surprises and wide open spaces, just perfect for inspired spontaneity. With a wide-ranging pair of new releases featuring his bands Free Country and No Fast Food, Haynes gets to indulge all of those faves alongside an amazing crew sure to make you forget any dog bites or bee stings. Both are due for release on June 1, 2018 through Corner Store Jazz.

My Favorite Things (1960-1969) concludes a trilogy by Haynes’ free-wheeling “jazz-grass” string band Free Country, where he’s joined by longtime collaborators Hank Roberts (cello and vocals), Jim Yanda (guitar) and Drew Gress (bass). Released over nearly two decades, the band’s three albums encompass nearly the entire history of American popular music in their own irreverent, stripped-down fashion: their 1999 debut focused on pre-1900 tunes from the Revolutionary War to Stephen Foster; The Way the West Was Won took on the first half of the 20th century, with cowboy songs and Hollywood movie soundtracks.

The concluding chapter narrows the focus to a single decade, but what a decade: over the course of two discs, the quartet takes on everything from John Coltrane, The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix to Burt Bacharach and the theme from Star Trek – as Haynes himself puts it, “you’ve got everything from schmaltz to the highest art.”

Beyond the fact that the ‘60s were the formative years for the band’s members, the decade is so ripe for extensive reinvention because, Haynes explains, “It was our last cultural revolution. This is the last decade that everybody agrees on, so this is a look at that psychedelic, diverse musical landscape. We face many of the same questions now that we faced then, and it will be interesting to see if there’s another social revolution.”

If there is, Free Country is here to provide the soundtrack. With Roberts’ wry baritone, the knotty interaction of the strings, Haynes’ loose-limbed, evocative percussion, and a profound conversational spark forged over decades of collaboration and the magical live sound born of recording in the round, the band captures the spirit of the 1960s with the urgency of now. “The ‘60s had this great American outpouring of creativity,” Haynes says. “There was music that everybody shared: Santana and The Beatles knew about A Love Supreme, from Hendrix to what Bernstein did on Broadway, everything was changing. This band focuses all those things into one sound.”

On the opposite end of the creative spectrum, No Fast Food, with Gress and NEA Jazz Master David Liebman, was formed as an outlet for Haynes’ compositions. The trio’s third album, Settings For Three, is their first not recorded in concert but carries the electricity of their live performances into the studio. As the straightforward title implies, the intent was simply to provide fodder for the three musicians’ estimable improvisational gifts, or as Haynes puts it, “I wanted to give the guys some new settings to play in and also familiar territory to romp in.”

The opening track, “El Smoke,” takes its name and inspiration from a different group – Haynes’ collective quartet Joint Venture, where he and Gress are joined by saxophonist Ellery Eskelin and trumpeter Paul Smoker. Of course, No Fast Food make it utterly their own, ranging from the atmospheric to the rhapsodic over the track’s ten minutes. Haynes has written lyrics for the second tune, “Joy,” though they’re not sung on the recording. No matter, as Lieb and Gress seem to have absorbed the composer’s poetic meaning, which looks at the many different sides of joy, from the outwardly ecstatic to the more profound and complicated. 

“There’s joy as we know it,” Haynes says, “but then there are all these other shadow aspects of joy. I really appreciated how the guys played on it because they reveal those different depths: not just that first expression but then all the ripples that happen beyond that.”

Speaking of multi-faceted, the blues offers an endless supply of variations and possibilities, and that’s certainly the case with the wide-open “Blue Dop.” High-spirited and grooving in this rendition, it’s a piece that suggests myriad approaches and changes each time the trio launches into it. The onomatopoeic “Whack Whap” shows off the mirth and humor that the three can share, a wild avalanche of sounds and sonic surprises.

“Longer Shorter” pays homage to Wayne Shorter, taking the legendary saxophonist’s composition “Pinocchio” as a starting point. The hard-driving, sharp-angled tune nods toward Liebman’s history with Miles Davis and Elvin Jones while spotlighting his singular approach to the soprano. The ballad “String Theory,” which kicks off with Liebman conjuring fluttering bird calls on flute, is a vehicle for Gress’ poignant arco emoting. To close the album, “Shramba” takes a different twist on the samba, progressing through all twelve keys over Haynes’ rollicking rhythmic bed.

Through the simultaneous release of these two thrilling albums, Haynes provides a study of two facets of his expansive musical personality. Both are wildly inventive and thrive on the personal interactions of the musicians involved, but where My Favorite Things is subversively accessible, Settings For Three is an enticing challenge. “You’ve got one group where the universe is the option,” Haynes says, “and another group where the microcosm is the universe. They’re very different kinds of playing yet you look for freedom in both.”

Phil Haynes

A veteran artist based in New York for 25 years, drummer/composer Phil Haynes is featured on more than 70 releases from numerous American and European record labels.  His collaborations include many of the seminal musicians of this generation: saxophonists Anthony Braxton, Ellery Eskelin, and David Liebman; trumpeters Dave Douglas, Herb Robertson, and Paul Smoker; bassists Mark Dresser, Ken Filiano, and Drew Gress; keyboard artists David Kikoski, Denman Maroney, and Michelle Rosewoman; vocalists Theo Bleckman, Nicholas Horner, and Hank Roberts; violinist Mark Feldman, and the composers collective Joint Venture. His current projects include the romantic “jazz-grass” string band, Free Country; the saxophone trio No Fast Food; bluesy power organ unit The Hammond Brothers, featuring young B-3 master Paul Bratcher; and the classic piano trio Day Dream, a cooperative with Yamaha artist Steve Rudolph.

www.philhaynes.com

Season 1 Father's Day Promotion and sneak peek at Lionel Loueke Trio (NEW VELLE RECORDS)

Our First Season

There's still time to get a set of Season One sent before our Spring Promotion expires on June 17th.  We are offering our First Season Box Set at a 15% discount.  We just got back from recording some of Season Four and its quite a feeling to look back at all the great music we've got to witness.   If you know someone who hasn't had a chance to hear Newvelle's first season of records this is a great chance to get them a present they'll never forget.  

Use the offer code FATHERSDAY for your 15% discount off Season One.  

Valid until June 17th

Video Shot by Jim Hoppin and edited by Ben Chace

We're back in the studio recording for Season Four, some surprising music that we can't wait to share with you.  Above is Matt Wilson with Billy Lester and Rufus Reid.  Along with Producer Elan Mehler and Engineer Marc Urselli.

Reid Anderson, came in with Tim Berne, Chris Speed and Dave King for a tribute to Ornette Coleman...

Cellist and composer Hank Roberts came in last week with Jacob Sacks and Vinnie Sperrazza.

Winner of the 2016 Recordings of the Year from the Audio Beat and Reviews from the New York Times, Stereophile, Downbeat and others here

Season One

Our first series of records with artwork by Bernard Plossu and text by Tracy K. Smith. Presented in a beautiful box set designed by Antoine Leroux.

Frank Kimbrough Quintet 

Jack Dejohnette Solo Piano 

Noah Preminger Quartet, featuring Ben Monder, John Patitucci and Billy Hart 

Don Friedman Trio, featuring the music of Booker Little with Phil Palombi on bass and Shinnosuke Takahashi on drums 

Ben Allison Trio, featuring Ted Nash on saxophone and clarinet and Steve Cardenas on guitar 

Leo Genovese Trio, featuring Esperanza Spaldingon bass and vocals and Jack DeJohnette on drums   

"In its focus on vinyl and its distinctive, brand-coherent album art, Newvelle is a kind of throwback to jazz’s midcentury glories. But it’s also timely."

--Giovanni Russonello, The New York Times

Use Offer Code FATHERSDAY for 15% off Season One.  Valid until June 17th.

Limited to 1 Set per member.

Sneak peek of Lionel Loueke's trio record coming in June.  Our third record of our Fourth Season.  This is a bonus track from the session, Coltrane's "Countdown."  Featuring Reuben Rogers and Eric Harland.

Buster Williams - Audacity (SMOKE SESSIONS RECORDS June 15, 2018)

Iconic Bassist Buster Williams Marks New Chapter in

His Career After Decade Long Studio Hiatus with Audacity

Available June 15 on LP, CD, and Digital Formats

Album Features Steve Wilson,

George Colligan, and Lenny White

Audacity. It’s a word that seems ideally suited to the bold and intrepid bassist Buster Williams. Whether supplying eminently tasteful but strong-as-steel backing for singers like Nancy Wilson and Sarah Vaughan, or venturing into uncharted new territory as a member of Herbie Hancock’s groundbreaking Mwandishi band, Williams’ playing has always evidenced that fearless willingness to leap without hesitation into the unknown.

With his new recording, Audacity, Williams marks another chapter in that ongoing history. Due out June 15 via Smoke Sessions Records, the album finds Williams stepping into the studio as a leader for the first time since 2004’s Griot Liberte, leading his long-running all-star quartet Something More with saxophonist Steve Wilson, pianist George Colligan and drummer Lenny White. Conceived as the legendary bassist celebrated the milestone of his 75th birthday, Audacity is a mission statement for an artist turning a new corner with the experience of three-quarters of a century behind him.

“You’ve got to have audacity to do what we do,” Williams says of the title. “You have to have audacity to even want to do what we do, to even imagine that it’s all going to work. I was looking for a word that could encapsulate all of my feelings and concepts and, at this moment in time, Audacity is the description of my life.”

Turning 75 compelled Williams to re-enter the recording studio after a decade-long hiatus caused in large part by the seismic shifts in the record industry since the dawn of the new millennium. He was also driven by the continuing evolution of his long-running band, which had developed a fiery and wide-ranging sound that Williams felt needed to be captured. The release of Audacity, he says, will launch him on a new trajectory.

“You could say it’s a new beginning,” he explains. “It’s certainly a new dimension or a new phase of my existence. There’s a new excitement about what I’m doing. I don’t take one note for granted, so I have to really feel that I have something to say or something to offer. Put all that together and I thought that now was the right time.”

In his liner notes, Colligan points to the versatility and artistry displayed by Something More. “We have the ability to play with maturity, with restraint when necessary. But we can also play with the abandon expected from musicians in their 20s. There is a wide variety of tempos, dynamics, moods, and textures in this music. This is not a soundbite. It’s a sound journey… Regardless of whether we are swinging hard, or playing a waltz, or a sensitive ballad, or something with a Latin tinge, we sound like a band.”

It’s rare in this day and age that a band gets the opportunity to develop such a collective voice over the span of a decade and a half. Any observer who pays any degree of attention to the modern jazz landscape will recognize that all four members of Something More are in-demand players in a wide variety of settings. Besides leading his own ensemble Wilsonian’s Grain, Wilson has toured and recorded in recent years with the likes of Chick Corea, the Maria Schneider Jazz Orchestra, and drummer Lewis Nash. Colligan will be releasing his 28th album as a leader in 2018, on top of playing regularly with jazz greats like Jack DeJohnette, Ravi Coltrane and Cassandra Wilson. Renowned for his time with the pioneering fusion group Return To Forever, White has also served notable tenures with Stanley Clarke, Geri Allen and Larry Coryell.

The collaboration of Buster Williams and Lenny White is notable in its own right, having anchored not only each other’s bands but groups led by Wallace Roney, Cyrus Chestnut, and a number of others. “It’s been magical,” Williams says of his partnership with the drummer. “When I play with Lenny, I have no real concerns. Whatever he does, the pulse, the beat, the time is always going to be there. It’s 99% pure. I’m free to explore and to do different things that I may not be able to do with other people, and he’s free to do the same. And bottom line, it just swings.”

That interlocking swing and sense of endless possibilities is evident throughout Audacity, not least on the burly post-bop burner of a title tune, which spurs a sharp, probing solo from Colligan and a daring display of grooving elasticity from the leader. But it’s also there straight out of the gate on the opener “Where Giants Dwell,” which wastes no time tearing into Williams’ monumental theme before Wilson launches into a ferocious saxophone run. The tune’s title was inspired by a trip the quartet took through the Austrian Alps, where the grand, snow-capped vistas led Williams to reflect on the giants who have mentored and inspired him throughout his estimable career.

A gripping journey in and of itself, “Song of the Outcasts” is a nod to the Eastern European gypsies whose boundary-free, nomadic lifestyles and music have inspired Williams. Both the lullaby-like lilt of “Ariana Anai” and the tender “Briana” were written with Williams’ granddaughters in mind, his adoration of the girls evident in the moving sentiment of the two pieces. The anthemic “Triumph” boasts the kind of quiet audacity necessary to win small victories over what Williams calls “the vicissitudes of daily living.”

In addition to his own compositions, Williams urged each of his bandmates to contribute new tunes for the session. Wilson is represented by “Sisko,” a muscular swinger that weaves his sinuous alto over a roiling, surging groove. Colligan’s “Lost on 4th Avenue,” with its declamatory opening bass solo, relates the feeling of wandering through a mysterious urban landscape in a raptly narrative fashion, while White’s “Stumblin'” is a joyous romp that draws fleet, agile expression from all four players.

All together, Audacity could serve to define the word itself, thrilling in Williams’ insistence on pushing boldly forward. “If I only do what I know,” he says, “that’s like holding a nickel tightly in my fist: I won’t lose that nickel, but I’ll never have a dime. I’m always looking for something beyond what I know, what I can comprehend and what I understand.”

“Audacity” was produced by Paul Stache and Damon Smith and recorded

live in Brooklyn, New York at Systems Two and mixed to ½” analog tape

using a Studer mastering deck. Available in audiophile HD format.

Buster Williams · Audacity

Smoke Sessions Records · Release Date: June 15, 2018

1 Where Giants Dwell

2 Song of the Outcasts

3 Sisko

4 Ariana Anai

5 Lost on 4th Avenue

6 Stumblin'

7 Triumph

8 Briana

9 Audacity

Mark Soskin - Upper West Side Stories (SteepleChase Productions ApS 2018)

New York-based pianist/composer Mark Soskin, following the successful previous (his first SteepleChase release) trio album “Hearts And Minds”, returns to the studio with his dream rhythm section in pursuit of perfecting the art of piano trio jazz.

“…Here he is on his own ballgame as the leader of a vital, fine interacting trio … Soskin has a beautiful touch, a lyrical temper with unfailing ease. The music feels timeless and fresh as it often does when the recording session starts with the first take in house and completes in three and half hours,” (Ole Matthiessen – Jazz Special on SCCD 31834 “Hearts And Minds”)

“…This is a very mindful session and holds the mind from beginning to end.” 

(Robert D. Rusch – Papatamus on SCCD 31834)

1 I’VE NEVER BEEN IN LOVE BEFORE (Frank Loesser) 6:55

2 GLORIA’S STEP (Scott LaFaro) 5:35

3 REMEMBER (Steve Swallow) 6:10

4 UGLY BEAUTY (Thelonious Monk) 8:06

5 UMMG/UPPER WEST SIDE STROLL (Billy Strayhorn / Mark Soskin) 5:40

6 PEE WEE (Tony Williams) 6:41

7 UN POCO LOCO (Bud Powell) 5:10

8 PENSATIVA (Clare Fischer) 7:28

9 LISTENING ROOM (Mark Soskin) 5:49

10 SOIRÉE (Earl Zindars) 4:12

11 FEE-FI-FO-FUM (Wayne Shorter) 6:14

Mark Soskin piano

Jay Anderson bass

Adam Nussbaum drums

SteepleChase Productions ApS

Bobby Sanabria Multiverse Big Band - West Side Story Reimagined (Jazzheads July 20, 2018)

''Bobby Sanabria is equally adept at the swinging big band sounds of drummers Buddy Rich and Louis Bellson along with another boyhood hero, fusion pioneer Billy Cobham and timbale titan Tito Puente.''

Bill Milkowski --JazzTimes

''... (Mr. Sanabria) expands the possibilities, moving the sound of bands like that of (Puente, Machito), with all the heft and intricacy and clavebased dance rhythm, into the harmonically oriented sophistication of current New York jazz players. It's New York up and down, and back and forth across the last century, from the street to the mambo palaces to the conservatories.''

Ben Ratliff --The New York Times

Hi Bobby Sanabria here! Two years ago I came up with the idea of re-arranging the music from Leonard Bernstein's masterpiece West Side Story and performing it with my Multiverse Big Band, but in a way that has never been done before: a complete Latin jazz reworking of the entire score in celebration of the show's recent 60th anniversary and Maestro Bernstein's centennial. However, besides paying tribute to the composer and the music, I saw this as an opportunity to give back and help my ancestral homeland Puerto Rico.

As most of us know, hurricanes Irma and Maria ravaged the island of Puerto Rico, leaving its residents unable to recover. Puerto Ricans have been American citizens since 1917, and the government's response has been unsatisfactory at best. Six months later, entire communities are still living without food, water, power, and other basic needs we take for granted. I realized the best way I could help was through my music. What better way to portray the struggles and hardships of the people of Puerto Rico than West Side Story? We are dedicating this recording to the musical genius of Leonard Bernstein and donating proceeds from this special commemorative 2 CD set to the Jazz Foundation of America Puerto Rico Relief Fund. This is a cause many of us are passionate about and every bit of generosity helps. Recorded live at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola in NYC, this exciting new reworking is West Side Story like you've never heard it before, through the exciting lens of the Latin jazz continuum.

This project is being produced with the blessing and support of the Leonard Bernstein Organization. Bernstein's daughter Jamie remarked: ''What I love about Bobby Sanabria's take on ''West Side Story'' music is that it's a kind of rhythm fission: my dad's music is already so drenched in rhythm. Then along comes Bobby and explodes it to an even richer rhythmic level!''

Bobby Sanabria

Disc 1

1. Intro

2. Prologue

3. Intro Jet Song

4. Jet Song

5. Intro America

6. America

7. Gee, Officer Krupke Intro

8. Gee, Officer Krupke

9. Tonight

10. Gym Scene - Blues/Mambo

11. Gym Scene - Cha Cha Cha

Disc 2

1. Maria

2. Intro Cool

3. Cool

4. The Rumble /Rumba

5. One Hand, One Heart

6. Somewhere

7. Intro Epilogue/Finale

8. Epilogue/Finale

9. Outro

BOBBY SANABRIA MULTIVERSE BIG BAND

Trumpets: Kevin Bryan, Shareef Clayton, Max Darchè, Andrew Neesley

Saxophones: David Dejesus (alto, clarinet, soprano, flute), Andrew Gould (alto, soprano, flute), Peter Brainin

(tenor, flute), Jeff Lederer (tenor, flute), Danny Rivera (baritone, bass clarinet)

Trombones: Dave Miller, Tim Sessions, Armando Vergara, Chris Washburne (tuba also)

Flute/Piccolo: Gabrielle Garo

Electric Violin: Ben Sutin

Rhythm: Silvano Monasterios (piano), Leo Traversa (electric bass), Oreste Abrantes (congas), Matthew Gonzalez

(bongó/cencerro, baríl de bomba), Takao Heisho (percussion), Bobby Sanabria (drums)

JD Allen - Love Stone (SAVANT RECORDS June 15, 2018)

Tenor saxophonist JD Allen's output on Savant Records has been steady since his 2012 album The Matador and the Bull, and this beautiful and intensely interesting ballads album is an assured milestone in his career to date. There are patented JD-isms: that almost operatic-like swoon and smear of tone; deconstructed themes full of non-linearity and melodic asides arriving unforeseen. As in all of Allen's recordings, there is also a spare Chopin-like quality, with a shadowy, crepuscular character to much of the material. An album made up entirely of ballads requires a first-rate harmonic foundation and guitarist Liberty Ellman once again proves himself to be the most sensitive of accompanists, alternating between full harmonic richness and skittering, almost pointillistic lines which merely hint at the harmonies. The depth of Allen's timbre and phrasing is such that the absence of a keyboard is not really felt, and his quartet proves again that it is one of the most highly accomplished small groups in contemporary jazz.

1. Stranger in Paradise

2. Until the Real Thing Comes Along

3. Why Was I Born

4. You're My Thrill

5. Come All Ye Fair and Tender Ladies

6. Put on a Happy Face

7. Prisoner of Love

8. Someday (You'll Want Me to Want You)

9. Gone with the Wind

JD Allen, tenor saxophone

Liberty Ellman, guitar

Gregg August, bass

Rudy Royston, drums

Mike LeDonne and the Groover Quartet - From the Heart (SAVANT RECORDS 2018)

Joining Mike LeDonne and his Groover Quartet on 'From the Heart' is the great drummer Mike Clark. After collaborations with Herbie Hancock, Christian McBride, Nicholas Payton and others, Clark has influenced a generation of percussionists and brings his own unmistakable style to two of the tracks.

For three decades Mike LeDonne has been an exceptional avatar of the Hammond B3 organ. Forged by his impressive jazz apprenticeship, with the likes of Milt Jackson, George Coleman and Benny Golson, LeDonne comes from a long and distinguished line of masters of that instrument. And for eighteen years, he's lead the Groover Quartet his formidable foursome consisting of tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander, guitarist Peter Bernstein and drummer Joe Farnsworth.

1 Someday 5:41

2 From the Heart 8:22

3 You'll Never Know What You Mean to Me 6:58

4 Here Comes the Doctor 7:34

5 Come Back Baby 9:04

6 Fun Day 6:29

7 You Send Me 6:06

8 Then Came You 6:24

Mike LeDonne (Hammond B-3 organ)

Eric Alexander (tenor saxophone)

Peter Bernstein (guitar)

Joe Farnsworth (drums)

Mike Clark (drums on "From the Heart" and "Here Comes the Doctor")

Cory Weeds Little Big Band - Explosion (CELLAR LIVE July 6, 2018)

Vancouver jazz impresario Cory Weeds fronts a world class 11 piece "Little Big Band", in an ambitious recording at Bryan Adams' "Warehouse" studio in Vancouver's Gas Town neighbourhood.  

Weeds and his guests speak to the important collaboration between the visiting artists - Gary Smulyan, Joe Magnarelli, Steve Davis and PJ Perry - and the Vancouver players who host them.  

Weeds' prolific activity, in particular pairing top tier New York musicians with local Vancouver players, has helped build Vancouver into a vibrant jazz city, with a deep well of skill.  Although Weeds' live club The Jazz Cellar shuttered years ago, the associated label Cellar Live continues on with a vibrant and regular slate of recordings, and Weeds' work with the Coastal Jazz and Blues Society (managing Frankie's Jazz Club) keeps him at the nexus of all action.  

In this film, we hear some sincere testimony on what Weeds does best - producing a swinging, exciting project that enriches the scene around him.  The symbiosis between artist and producer survives in Weeds' world, with an appreciative nod in both directions.

01 Minor Mishap

02 Soon

03 East Of The Village

04 Park Avenue Petite

05 My Girl Is Just Enough Woman For Me

06 Canadian Sunset

07 KD's Motion

08 Please Send Me Someone To Love

09 Ready And Able

Cory Weeds tenor saxophone

GARY SMULYAN baritone saxophone

STEVE KALDESTAD tenor saxophone

PJ PERRY alto saxophone

JOE MAGNARELLI trumpet

CHRIS DAVIS trumpet

STEVE DAVIS trombon

ROD MURRAY trombone

CHRIS GESTRIN piano

PAUL RUSHKA bass

JESSE CAHLL drums

Antonio Adolfo - Encontros Orquestra Atlantica (AAM Music July 11, 2018)

Pianist, arranger, producer and educator Antonio Adolfo grew up in a musical family in Rio de Janeiro (his mother was a violinist in the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra), and began his studies at the age of seven. At seventeen he was already a professional musician. His teachers include Eumir Deodato and the great Nadia Boulanger in Paris. During the 60's he led his own trio that participated in several Bossa Nova and Jazz shows in Brazil and toured with singers Leny Andrade, Carlos Lyra, Flora Purim, Wilson Simonal, Elis Regina and Milton Nascimento. Adolfo wrote tunes such as Pretty World (original Brazilian title: Sa Marina) that gained great success and have been recorded by such artists as Sergio Mendes, Stevie Wonder, Herb Alpert, Earl Klugh, Dionne Warwick, and others. He won International Song Contests (Rio - Brazil and Athens - Greece) on two occasions. 

As a musician, arranger and record producer he has worked with some of the most representative Brazilian names, besides having released more than 25 albums under his name. As an educator, he has been teaching music, specially Brazilian music, throughout the world and has written several books (see list in the Educator's section of this website). In 1985 Mr. Adolfo created his own school in Rio, Brazil, now with more than 1,300 students. His 2010 CD album, Lá e Cá/Here and There, follows the footsteps of 2007 live recording Antonio Adolfo e Carol Saboya Ao Vivo/ Live. In 2011 his CD Chora Baiao was released and became awarded. Antonio Adolfo's recent CD "Finas Misturas"/Fine Mixtures has been acclaimed with great reviews and Jazz radio airplay.

His recent releases, CD Rio, Choro, Jazz..., as well as his piano solo album O Piano de Antonio Adolfo were nominated for the 2014 Latin Grammy Awards. In 2015, Adolfo had released a CD recorded in New York and Rio, with singer Carol Saboya and harmonicist/vibraphonist Hendrik Meurkes entitled Copa Village and now, the 2015 Latin Grammy Nominee CD Tema, with only original compositions by him. And in 2016, the brand new CD Tropical Infinito being released in May, which has been nominated as Best Latin Jazz album for the 2016 Latin Grammy. In 2017 and 2018, CD Hybrido - From Rio to Wayne Shorter was nominated both, Latin Grammy and Grammy, consecutively.

Antonio Adolfo (piano)

Leo Amuedo (electric guitar)

Nelson Faria and Claudio Jorge (acoustic guitar)

Jorge Helder (double bass)

Rafael Barata (drums)

Jesse Sadoc (trumpet and flugelhorn)

Marcelo Martins (tenor sax and flute)

Dada Costa (percussion)

Ze Renato (vocals)

Plus components of Orquestra Atlantica (a Brazilian 7 horn plus rhythm section group)