Tuesday, July 27, 2021

KIMBROUGH – 67 musicians pay tribute to Frank Kimbrough to benefit scholarship in his name (July 2021 Newvelle Records)

Introducing KIMBROUGH:
A 61 Track Collection of Jazz Composer and Teacher Frank Kimbrough’s Compositions, Featuring 67 World-Class Artists

Newvelle Records is proud to release this 61-track digital anthology of Frank’s original compositions, recorded as the New York jazz scene reopened in May 2021

Newvelle Records today is releasing KIMBROUGH, a collection of 61 original compositions by jazz artist and educator Frank Kimbrough, who passed away in December 2020. Featuring tributes from 67 of Frank’s former bandmates, students, and friends across multiple generations, KIMBROUGH was recorded over three and a half days in New York as the musical world began reawakening in May 2021. All proceeds from this definitive collection of Frank’s music, available on high-quality digital download on Bandcamp, will benefit the Frank Kimbrough Jazz Scholarship at The Juilliard School.

“Frank was a genuine ‘musician’s musician’ whose talent as a player, composer, and teacher fueled generations of artists in the New York jazz community,” said Elan Mehler, cofounder and artistic director of Newvelle Records, and a student of Frank’s at New York University in the 1990s. “There is something miraculous about attracting 67 world-class artists together in a studio, just as the world began emerging from the pandemic. Only someone of Frank’s impact could inspire such an ambitious project.”

Frank famously never practiced piano and wrote nearly all of his compositions wandering through New York. He implored students to spend less time in the practice rooms and more time on the subway platforms, bar stools, and park benches that sparked so much of his own musical inspiration. 

Blending four generations of jazz musicians – from artists who played with him in his earliest years in North Carolina, to students he taught over Zoom during the pandemic – KIMBROUGH features 55 different bands across 61 tracks. Some had begun playing together 40 years ago, while others were meeting in the studio for the first time. All volunteered their time as tribute to a man they knew for his generosity, perspective, and creativity.

“Every moment with him on the stage was just beautiful,” said Steve Wilson, who appears on tenor saxophone on four tracks. “Not only was he supporting you, he was collaborating with you in the moment.”
Clockwise from top: 1) Frank Kimbrough, Immanuel Wilkins, Dezron Douglas, Glenn Zeleski and Allan Mednard, Scott Robinson, Joe Lovano and Donny McCaslin
Photos courtesy of Newvelle Records. (c) Anna Yatskevich
1. The Call 07:34
2. C Minor Waltz 04:58
3. Kudzu 07:24
4. Elegy for P.M. 04:35
5. Falling Waltz 05:13
6. Forsythia 06:49
7. Quickening 04:04
8. Whirl 03:32
9. Wings 04:15
10. Hope 06:41
11. Clara's Room 05:34
12. For Duke (Instrumental) 04:15
13. Lullabluebye 07:26
14. For Jimmy G. 05:54
15. November 06:49
16. Adrian's Way 05:42
17. Sadness 05:13
18. Helix 05:59
19. The Breaks 05:06
20. 20 Bars 07:30
21. Ancestors 06:12
22. Kids Stuff 04:57
23. Meantime 05:37
24. Capricorn Lady 05:37
25. Waltz for Lee 04:43
26. 727 04:52
27. Beginning 04:47
28. Southern Lights 04:56
29. Regeneration 07:08
30. A & J 05:48
31. Eventualities 06:15
32. Moonflower 02:24
33. Just Suppose 05:01
34. Reluctance (Quartet) 06:55
35. Areas (Trumpet, Piano, Bass) 03:36
36. The Spins 05:31
37. Sanibel Island 05:04
38. Fubu 06:55
39. Cascade Rising 05:14
40. Over 03:57
41. Blue Smoke 03:47
42. Air 04:22
43. Affirmation 04:17
44. Quiet as it's Kept 06:09
45. TMI 07:57
46. Time Will Tell 06:42
47. Areas (Piano, Bass, Drums) 04:41
48. Noumena 05:15
49. Sloppy Seconds 05:20
50. Reluctance (Solo Piano) 04:11
51. Grass Valley 06:20
52. Questions the Answer 05:28
53. Lucent 06:06
54. No Radio 04:26
55. For Carla 03:24
56. Ode 03:40
57. St. Mark's Place 05:24
58. Ca'lina 05:56
59. Hymn 04:05
60. Svengali 11:05
61. For Duke (Vocals) 04:56

Artists

Piano: Addison Frei, Fred Hersch, Sean Mason, Elan Mehler, Samora Pinderhughes, Ben Rosenblum, Jacob Sacks, Scott Spivak, Helen Sung, Craig Taborn, Isaiah J. Thompson, Dan Tepfer, Micah Thomas, Gary Versace, Elio Villafranca, Joel Wenhardt, Glenn Zaleski

Bass: Ben Allison, Jay Anderson, Alexis Cuadrado, Dezron Douglas, Michael Formanek, John Hébert, Marty Jaffe, Rob Jost, Rufus Reid, Tony Scherr, Martin Wind, Ben Wolfe

Guitar: Steve Cardenas, Ben Monder, Todd Neufeld

Drums: Jeff Cosgrove, Billy Drummond, Jeff Hirshfield, Tim Horner, Douglas Marriner, Allan Mednard, Francisco Mela, Tony Moreno, Clarence Penn, Rich Rosenzweig, Satoshi Takeishi, Dave Treut, Jeff Williams, Matt Wilson

Clarinet: Ted Nash

Alto Saxophone: Allan Chase, Patrick Cornelius, Alexa Tarantino, Immanuel Wilkins, Steve Wilson

Baritone Saxophone: Allan Chase

Soprano Saxophone: Steve Wilson

Tenor Saxophone: Michael Blake, Evan Harris, Joe Lovano, Donny McCaslin, Ted Nash, Rich Perry, Noah Preminger, Scott Robinson

Trumpet: Dave Douglas, Noah Halpern, Ron Horton, Kirk Knuffke, Riley Mulherkar, Jesse Neuman

Trombone: Ryan Keberle

Vocals: Olivia Chindamo

Arrangement (on "Waltz for Lee" and "Svengali"): Ryan Truesdell

The album, available on Bandcamp for $20.00 and streaming everywhere , was recorded and mixed by Marc Urselli on May 10-14, 2021 at EastSide Sound, mastered by Colin Bryson at The Bunker Studios, and produced by Elan Mehler. All songs were written by Frank Kimbrough, Kimbrough Music BMI.  Executive produced by Maitland Jones, Jim Harvey, Steve Satterfield, Matt Steinfeld and JC Morisseau.

Pianist/Composer Fred Hersch earns multiple DownBeat Critics Poll accolades, tours Europe, and announces new album

Fred Hersch: Refuge, due out January 7, 2022 via Palmetto Records, features Hersch with Drew Gress, Jochen Rueckert & The Hudson String Quartet
 
“Fred Hersch belongs to the jazz piano aristocracy, that small elite called to leave a lasting mark.”
– Louis-Julien Nicolaou, Télérama, June 2021
 
“Fred Hersch is always on target. Right in the heart. By playing ‘Songs from Home.’ Fred Hersch makes Bal Blomet his home. The audience's silence is worthy of that of the forest that surrounds the house where this album was recorded…. Fred Hersch makes the piano sing…. The public does not want to leave. Fred Hersch either.”
– Guillaume Lagrée, Le jars jase jazz, June 2021

Iconic pianist/composer Fred Hersch – one of the first to find a new way forward in the pandemic both through his Facebook Tune of the Day performances and via his reflective solo album Songs from Home – heads to the studio in August to record Fred Hersch: Refuge, his first-ever album with rhythm section and string quartet.  It will be released January 7, 2022 via Palmetto Records.
 
Featuring Hersch with Drew Gress, Jochen Rueckert and the all-female NYC-based Hudson String Quartet: Joyce Hammann and Laura Seaton-Finn, violins; Lois Martin, viola; and Jody Redhage Ferber, cello, the album was inspired by Hersch’s Buddhism and his 20-year insight mindfulness meditation practice. The bulk of the album is an eight-movement suite that reflects on different aspects of that practice
 
“In Buddhism, there are the three refuges: refuge in the Buddha, refuge in the sangha (community of practitioners) and refuge in the dhamma (the teachings),” says Hersch. “At this time of global impermanence, I have found some degree of comfort in these refuges – places that I can turn to and feel somewhat less affected by it all of the suffering and toxicity around me. And these refuges also give me some strength to stay in the present and know that there are many things that are out of my control – but I can call upon my practice to be with my experiences instead of reacting to them.”
Hersch recently earned accolades in DownBeat Magazine’s 2021 Critics Poll as #2 Jazz Artist, #3 Pianist, and #4 Jazz Album of the Year for Songs From Home. Hersch also earned a spot as one of the best pianists of 2020 in the JazzTimes Readers Poll.  He is currently on tour in Europe where he’s earning wide critical acclaim for his over a dozen shows – his first concerts before an audience in 14 months. Reviewing his concert in Paris, Guillaume Lagrée wrote “Fred Hersch is always on target… The public does not want to leave. Fred Hersch either.” Hersch also performed in Recklinghausen, Rome, Carpi, Vicenza, Pescara, Bari, Perugia, Umbria, Montreux, and Brescia – as a solo pianist, with trio and duo in a new partnership with Italian jazz legend trumpeter Enrico Rava. 
 
Hersch will continuing touring both the U.S. and Europe throughout the fall. His dates include a week at the Village Vanguard in a duo with Julian Lage October 19-25, and a series of duo shows in Europe with Enrico Rava in October and November. Click HERE for upcoming tour dates.