Friday, February 4, 2022

Ingebrigt Håker Flaten - (Exit) Knarr (February 4, 2022 Catalytic-Sound)

A thousand thanks to Trude Storheim and Vossa Jazz for the trust and generosity, and for helping me creatively and financially during these most challenging times; to Mette, Olaf, Oscar, Veslemøy, Oddrun, Atle and Eivind for your excellent ears, extinguished musicianship, and for being such badass human beings; to Olaf for your bright and clear vision and for walking with me through this production with a steady beat, you rock brother; to Helge Westbye and ODIN for believing in the music; to Jørgen and Christian at Studio Paradiso, you’re the best; to Lars Elling for the artwork and Martin Eia-Revheim for your liner notes, much love and respect to you; also big thanks to Kaja Draksler, Josh Johnson, Jacob Wick and Frank Rosaly for initially being ready to rock this band until Covid-19 and its travel restrictions messed up everything. We’ll meet again soon.

This album is made possible with the generous support from Vossa Jazz, and additional support from Jac og Matilde Maliniaks Minnefond and Trondheim Kommune.

1. Miles Avenue 05:43
2. Brinken 07:11
3. HåkkåRan 10:19
4. À La Lala Love You 05:33
5. Chaos Pad 05:04
6. Museumplein 10:22

Ingebrigt Håker Flaten — acoustic and electric bass, handclaps, compositions
Mette Rasmussen — alto saxophone, handclaps
Eivind Nordset Lønning — trumpet
Atle Nymo — Bb and bass clarinet, tenor saxophone, handclaps
Oddrun Lilja Jonsdottir — guitar, handclaps
Oscar Grönberg — grand piano, keyboards, handclaps
Veslemøy Narvesen — drums and percussion (right channel), handclaps
Olaf Olsen — drums and percussion (left channel), congas on Miles Ave and À La Lala Love You, handclaps

Produced by Olaf Olsen and Ingebrigt Håker Flaten.

Recorded live by Jørgen Smådal Larsen at Studio Paradiso, Oslo, 23– 27 March 2021.

Mixed by Jørgen Smådal Larsen.
Mastered by Jørgen Trœen.

All compositions by Ingebrigt Håker Flaten / TONO.

Cover art by Lars Elling (Mens vi venter på skumring).
Graphic design by Lasse Marhaug. Liner notes by Martin Eia-Revheim.

P R O T O T Y P E - P R O T O T Y P E (February 4, 2022)

Modern jazz/rock quartet

Crafting enchanting soundscapes

1. Last Breath 10:49
2. Tropotype 07:01
3. Prelude to Drift 01:19
4. Drift 04:41
5. Moon Glint 09:17

Ravi Ramsahye // Guitar
Theo Hanser // Tenor saxophone
Benoit Gautier // Double bass
Nathan Triquet // Drums

Jessica de Boer - Grow (February 4, 2022 Challenge Records)

Jessica de Boer:
Grow - my first album

In a way, the release of this album is the fulfillment of the things I sing about, heralding a new season. I’m looking back, ahead and at the world around me. So it’s not just about me, it’s about all of us.
An album about emerging, growing (up), trusting and longing. Longing for something that’s certainly coming.

Jessica de Boer belongs to the newest generation Dutch jazz-singers and
stands out because of her disarming and narrative style. During her studies
at Utrecht Conservatory - from which she graduated in 2019 with honors -
she fell in love with the rich harmonies and freedom of jazz. Soon she started
writing her own compositions; light, colorful jazz with flexible melody-lines
and a hint of world music. Jessica’s lyrics express universal themes and her
writing is inspired by nature, people, sounds and faith. Her debut-album
Grow centers around emerging, growing (up), trusting and longing.

“I think Jessica is a great new addition to the musical landscape in the
Netherlands: original, involved with the world we live in, big hearted with
great craftsmanship and a singing talent to match."
- Izaline Callister

1 Prologue 01:03
2 Limitless 03:51
3 Discontented 04:19
4 Inspiration 05:15
5 Oak Tree 06:21
6 Harvest 05:26
7 Young Leaf 04:28
8 Growing Courage 01:19
9 Courage 06:15
10 Share 05:50
11 Seasons 06:05

MC4 - Music In An Unusual Space: Live at the Rose Hill, Brighton (February 4, 2022)

1. Holmes' Return 10:24
2. Traffic 09:08
3. End Of The Beginning 07:36
4. Nepal 09:54
5. Matt Speaks - How We Made Music In Unusual Spaces 01:06
6. Footsteps 10:20

Matt Clark - guitar
Charlotte Keeffe - trumpet
Ozzy Moysey - double bass
James Edmunds - drums

Mats Gustafsson - This Is From the Mouth (February 4, 2022 Catalytic-Sound)

Side A
1. This Is From the Mouth

Recorded, mixed and mastered, Spring, 2015.

Bass Saxophone, Organ, Electronics [Live] – Mats Gustafsson
Drums – Andreas Werliin, David Sandström

Illustration – Patti Jordan
Producer – Johan Berthling
Recorded By, Mixed By, Mastered By – Mikael Werliin
Typography – Jamie Lawson (2)

Illustrations:
Hang-Tail (Biconical 015)
Needlers (Corpus 019)

LP limited to 300 copies. Single-sided picture disc presented in a heavy poly sleeve screen printed front and back.

The Thing with Barry Guy - Metal! (February 4, 2022 Catalytic-Sound)

Side A
1. Lanthanum
2. Cerium

Side B
1. Praseodymium
2. Neodymium

Side C
1. Promethium
2. Samarium
3. Europium

Side D
1. Gadolinium
2. Terbium
3. Dysprosium
4. Ride The Sky

Recorded live at Saint Catherine's Church, Vilnius, Lithuania on 3rd april, 2011.

Mats Gustafsson (STIM), Ingebrigt Håker Flaten (TONO), Paal Nilssen-Love (TONO) & Barry Guy (TONO).

Mixed and mastered at MAMAstudios.

Baritone Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone, Saxophone [Slide] – Mats Gustafsson
Bass [Left Chanel] – Ingebrigt Håker Flaten
Bass [Right Chanel] – Barry Guy
Co-producer – Valerij Anosov
Composed By – Barry Guy (tracks: A1 to B1, C1 to D3), Ingebrigt Håker Flaten (tracks: A1 to B1, C1 to D3), Mats Gustafsson (tracks: A1, A2, B2 to D3), Paal Nilssen-Love (tracks: A1, A2, B2 to D3)
Design – Oskaras Anosovas
Drums – Paal Nilssen-Love
Executive-Producer – Danas Mikailionis
Mixed By, Mastered By, Recorded By – Arūnas Zujus
Producer – Barry Guy, The Thing (2)

The Thing appears through courtesy of Smalltown Superjazzz & Supersound.

Limited edition of 600 records.

Mats Gustafsson / Lennart Nilsson - Soundfood / Listen Eat Drink (February 4, 2022 Catalytic-Sound)

Recorded at Blue Tower Studios, Gärsnäs, Sweden. Comes with a book by the Swedish legendary concert producer Lennart Nilsson on the relationship between food and music.

Side A
1. Three Courses By Lennart Nilsson [3:43]

Side B
1. Three Courses To Lennart Nilsson [2:58]

Tenor Saxophone – Mats Gustafsson
Recorded By – Olof Madsen

Mats Gustafsson - Discaholics 7" (February 4, 2022 Catalytic-Sound)

Side A
1. Discaholics

Recorded March 18, 2017 at Studio Elverket, Stockholm

Baritone Saxophone, Sounds [3 Vinyl Killers] – Mats Gustafsson

Mastered By – Lasse Marhaug
Producer – Lasse Marhaug, Mats Gustafsson
Recorded By – Olof Madsen

Vinyl sources:
Oren Ambarchi "Lost Like A Star"
Oren Ambarchi "Stacte Karaoke"
Paal Nilssen-Love "Cut And Bleed"
Paal Nilssen-Love "News From The Junk Yard"
Thurston Moore "Offerings"
Thurston Moore / John Moloney "Acting The Maggot"

Two Bands and a Legend - Two Bands and a Legend (February 4, 2022 Catalytic-Sound)

1. Who The Fuck
2. The Witch
3. Too Much Fun
4. Tekla Loo
5. Louie Louie
6. You Ain't Gonna Know Me 'Cos You Think You Know Me
7. The Nut
8. Baby Talk
9. I Can't Find My Mind

Bass, Vocals – Christian Engfelt
Co-producer – Joakim Haugland
Cover – Rune Mortensen
Double Bass, Electronics – Ingebrigt Håker Flaten
Drums – Jon Magne Riise*, Paal Nilssen-Love
Guitar, Organ, Theremin, Vocals – Bård Enerstad
Guitar, Vocals – Cato Thomassen
Liner Notes – Thurston Moore
Mastered By – Audun Strype
Mixed By – Cato Salsa (tracks: 1, 3 to 9), Francis Moon (tracks: 1, 3 to 9), Olof Madsen (tracks: 1, 3 to 9), PNL* (tracks: 1, 3 to 9)
Photography By [Photos] – Pål Nordseth
Producer – Cato Salsa Experience, The Thing (2)
Recorded By – Petter Heggli*
Tenor Saxophone, Baritone Saxophone, Electronics – Mats Gustafsson
Tenor Saxophone, Trumpet [Pocket], Vocals – Joe McPhee

Recorded at Grand Sport Studios in March 2005.

Mixed at Grand Sport Studios in May 2005, except "The Witch" which wasn't mixed.

Mastered at Strype Audio in January 2006.

Thurston Moore / Mats Gustafsson / Stephen O'Malley - Born Without Word / At A Worn (February 4, 2022 Catalytic-Sound)

Side A
1. Born Without Word [14:55]

Side B
1. At A Worn [20:13]

Electric Guitar – Stephen O'Malley, Thurston Moore
Saxophone, Electronics – Mats Gustafsson

Recorded live Nov 12th 2017 at Sonic City, Depart, Kortrijk
Mixed 2018 by Andreas Werliin, Puttarna

Collage: Kosuke Kawamura

Ltd edition 500 LPs with tip on old-style sleeve and obi strip

Various Artists - The Art of the Duo - 3 (February 4, 2022 Catalytic-Sound)

1. Wofgang Schliemann (Percussion) Joachim Zoepf (Sopranosax) [4:44]
2. Günter Christmann (Cello) Joker Nies (Live-electronics) [4:58]
3. Joachim Zoepf (Bassclarinet) Günter Christmann (Cello) [2:54]
4. Quartet: Günter Christmann (Trombone) Joker Nies (Live-electronics) Wolfgang Schliemann (Percussion) Joachim Zoepf (Bassclarinet) [4:15]
5. Ignaz Schick (Live-electronics) Elke Schipper (Voice) [2:58]
6. Patrick Crossland (Trombone) Günter Christmann (Cello) [2:56]
7. Quartet: Patrick Crossland (Trombone) Ignaz Schick (Live-electronics) Elke Schipper (Voice) Günter Christmann (Cello) [3:34]
8. Günter Christmann (Zither A.O.) Joachim Heintz (Live-electronics) [4:55]
9. Mats Gustafsson (Tenorsax) Günter Christmann (Cello) [4:18]
10. Elke Schipper (Voice) Günter Christmann (Zither A.O.) [3:00]

Liner Notes, Cover, Photography By [Inside Original Photos By)] – Günter Christmann
Mixed By – Günter Christmann, Joachim Zoepf
Producer – edition explico

Teip Trio - Teip Trio (February 4, 2022 Catalytic-Sound)

Side A
1.Take 7
2. Take 15
3. Take 23
4. Take 24.3

Side B
1. Take 10
2. Take 24.2
3. Take 27
4. Take 9

Baritone Guitar – Nicolas Leirtrø
Clarinet – Jens-Jonas Francis Roberts
Guitar – Arne Bredesen

Mastered By – Karl Klaseie
Recorded By, Mixed By – Kyrre Laastad
Tape – Ane Tømmeraas

Artwork By – Juliane Schütz

Recorded June 13 and 14, 2020, Øra Studio, Trondheim

Supported by Bandorg, Trafo And Trondheim Kommune

Thanks to Ingebrigt Håker Flaten for believing in this project.

Ingebrigt Håker Flaten / Steve Jansen - Locations (February 4, 2022 Catalytic-Sound)

1. Weights And Measures [1:43]
2. Higher And Lower [2:15]
3. Movement And Stasis [4:13]
4. Sound And Silence [4:50]
5. Nights And Weekends [6:14]
6. Strength And Sanity (Dedicated To Booker Little) [3:13]
7. Before And After [4:19]
8. Life And Death [2:38]
9. Space And Frictions [2:39]
10. Witches And Devils (Dedicated To Albert Ayler) [1:12]

Recorded in winter 2012 by Spencer Garland in Austin, Texas.

Simon Nabatov Trio - Tough Customer (February 4, 2022)

This was the second piano trio album I recorded in the search for the perfect bandmates in this format, and it worked for me on so many levels... I owe a lot to these two incredible guys, both musically and personally.

The band stayed together, toured and recorded once again some years later (the CD "Sneak Preview").

Kevin Whitehead wrote in Village Voice in July 1993:

For a sterling piano trio, try Russian-born Simon Nabatov's "Tough Customer" (enja), with bassist Mark Helias and drummer Tom Rainey. These three are so close, it's almost a crowd. Nabatov, Ray Anderson's regular pianist, was Moscow Conservatory-trained, but he swings anyway, with great articulation and diamant-hard attack even at insane tempos."Tough Customer" features snaky bass vamps, fiendish metrical intricacies and a frequently shifting landscape. ...you'll dig this.

1. Puzzled 09:30
2. The Sage 13:02
3. Professor Of The Air Science 07:51
4. Kdreefta Molaina 08:45
5. Mark This 16:08
6. Tough Customer 12:00
7. Simple Simon 06:24

Simon Nabatov - piano
Mark Helias - bass
Tom Rainey - drums

all compositions by Simon Nabatov (GEMA), except
tracks 3, 4 - by Mark Helias (Radio Legs Music/BMI)

recorded January 27, 1992 at the WDR Radio Studio, Cologne
recording engineers: P. Esser, K. Holz, Th. Kern
produced by Dr. Ulrich Kurth

released by Enja Records in 1993

Natsuki Tamura solo @ Knuttel House (February 4, 2022)

Natsuki Tamura is a graduate of the Berklee College of Music and the New England Conservatory of Music. He has lived and honed his art in New York and Tokyo. He is active as a solo artist and in his own band “Gato Libre”. He has performed at many music festivals all over the world and he has released many recordings too.

1. Natsuki Tamura solo @ Knuttel House 30:15

Natsuki Tamura piano, trumpet, wok, voice

Satoko Fujii - when you turn off the light vol​.​1 (February 4, 2022)

1. with the time passed, clock stopped 06:23
2. when you turn off the light 04:55
3. cold rain 05:20

Satoko Fujii Solo piano at her piano room

composed and improvised by Satoko Fujii

Azar Lawrence | "New Sky" | Trazar Records (February 4, 2022)

Legendary Saxophonist and Composer
Azar Lawrence Ushers in a Post-Pandemic Age
of Spiritual Renewal with the Scintillating New Sky

"The musical and the metaphysical have always converged in the work of
tenor and soprano saxophonist Azar Lawrence…”
— WBGO

"His multi-hued palette is by turns funky, melodic, spiced with
Brazilian and Afro-Caribbean touches, and is consistently
uplifting throughout.”
— Glide Magazine

"The exciting thing about this album is how effortlessly Lawrence adapts
to different styles with the same grandiose positivism. New Sky showcases the
leader’s eclectic writing and provides a smooth, pleasant listening that
comes right on time to appease minds and spirits."
— Jazz Trail
For those who've survived the Covid-19 pandemic, the last two years have been transformative. If we're fortunate, we have assessed our losses, which can range from personal loved ones, health, and financial securities as well as our gains, which can include a renewed sense of purpose, deeper appreciation for life, and a keen acknowledgment of self-resilience and spirituality. Veteran tenor and soprano saxophonist and composer, Azar Lawrence taps into the latter with his new album, New Sky, a defiantly optimistic musical soundtrack – co-produced by him, James Saez and Tracy Hannah – that focuses on the benefits that we've received since the pandemic began.
 
With an illustrious career that stretches more than half a century, Lawrence has performed with numerous jazz titans that include pianists Horace Tapscott and McCoy Tyner; trumpeters Miles Davis, Freddie Hubbard, and Woody Shaw; percussionist James Mtume; and drummers Elvin Jones and Billy Higgins. The Los Angeles-born Lawrence, however, has never been confined by conventional genre categories. His instrumental and songwriting work with iconic soul singers, Chuck Jackson, Roberta Flack, Marvin Gaye, and Phyllis Hyman; and the R&B/jazz juggernaut ensemble, Earth, Wind & Fire is just as indelible.
 
The culminating experiences from working with those artists as well as mapping out his impressive discography as a leader, particularly his fiery spiritual jazz LPs for Prestige Records in the 1970s – Bridge into the New Age (1974), Summer Solstice (1975), and People Moving (1976) – all inform what Lawrence brings to the table on New Sky.
 
"All of my skills that have been gathered throughout my career has been a journey, and all of those energies that have been acquired throughout that journey are coming together in a focused manner," Lawrence says. "This new album expresses that."
 
Joining Lawrence on New Sky is an illustrious cast of musicians that consists of pianists and keyboardists John Beasley and Nduduzo Makhathini; bassist Sekou Bunch; drummer Tony Austin; percussionist Munyungo Jackson; singers Calesha "Bre-Z" Murray, Oren Waters, and Lynne Fiddmont; harpist Destiny Muhammad; and guitarists James Saez, Greg Poree and Gregory 'GMOE' Moore. Together, they aim to usher in a new post-pandemic dawn, filled with universal love and global humanity.
 
Lawrence's coiling soprano saxophone rises triumphantly on the album's opening piece, "All in Love" as he's announcing a new age of enlightenment. The rest of the ensemble soon joins in to underscore Lawrence's declarative melody and commanding improvisation with a strident groove that sounds like angels marching down to earth.  
 
"The concept comes from one of the benefits of the Aquarian Age idea, in which society starts to embrace universal love," Lawrence explains of "All in Love." "We're becoming more of a global society in which all races and different religious ideas can be embraced."
 
Spiritual ebullience continues with the surging samba-inflected "Peace and Harmony" and the equally Brazilian flavored title track "New Sky," which features Fiddmont's caressing lead vocals sharing the frontline with Lawrence's soulful passages.
"New Sky'' refers to the cleansing that has occurred via this pandemic," Lawrence says. "Now many people are experiencing the freshness that comes after everything has been shut down. We think differently; there are so many new possibilities now. Everything is fresh and new as we start to rebuild after the initial shutdown for the pandemic."
 
The acknowledgment of this new sky and moments of transition are articulated in the percolating "Ain't No Doubt About It," featuring Calesha "Bre-Z" Murray's raspy, hip-hop-centric vocals sharing the lead with Lawrence's alluring melodic improvisations on tenor saxophone.
 
Lawrence pays respect to the Creator, All-Mighty on the enticing R&B-flavored "Just Because of You," featuring vocalist Oren Waters of the legendary The Waters singing group. Afterward, Lawrence spruces up one of his older compositions, "From the Point of Love," which was first recorded on his Summer Solstice album. The new version retains the haunting, samba-tinged spiritual vibe of the original as Lawrence's sensual soprano recalls some of John Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders's seeking explorations, while John Beasley heightens the tranquil suspenseful with a joyous solo on electric piano.
 
The festive waltz, "Birds Are Singing," marked by Lawrence's soprano saxophone once again channeling Coltrane's hypnotic musing, touches upon the theme of how birds tend to sing loudly after many natural disasters such as earthquakes and hurricanes. Rejuvenating energy of survival after life's calamities and having faith that brighter days are to come are wonderfully captured on the energetic "I Really Love You" and the groove-laden, "Let It Go."
 
"'Let It Go' comes from the standpoint of how we have started letting go of some of the lower thoughts as we tune ourselves to the higher energies that have been delivered during the pandemic," Lawrence explains. "During the shutdown, we had to let a lot of things go that we were clinging to. When we let go of a lot of these things, we got a chance to see what was necessary for our lives."
 
The album closes with Lawrence refurbishing another older composition, "Revelation" which was originally featured on his 2009 album, Speak the Word. The composition rumbles with Black American church fury as Lawrence unravels a haunting, sermon-like melody on soprano saxophone. The song also features a powerful Tyner-esque piano solo from critically acclaimed, South African-born pianist Nduduzo Makhathini and celestial harp accompaniment from Destiny Muhammad.
 
Lawrence composed and recorded most of the music on New Sky during the beginning of October 2020. As someone who practices Egyptian Ankh mediation, and breathing mediation techniques taught by Michael Beckwith's Agape International Spiritual Center, he used the first year of the pandemic to listen to his inner voice for musical inspiration.
 
"There was the lack of the outer movement – having to sustain oneself and staying out of the limelight," Lawrence says of that period. "It gave us a lot of time to focus our energies, go within, and listen to the inner call. Now, a new age is taking hold with some of the new ideas."

Azar Lawrence | New Sky
Trazar Records | Release Date: February 4, 2022

For more information on Azar Lawrence, please visit:

Alison Shearer - View From Above (February 4, 2022)

Saxophonist Alison Shearer’s debut album makes a statement. A statement about loss, and struggle, and the restorative power of music. Written soon after the passing of her father, famed photojournalist John Shearer, "View From Above" transports the listener to that liminal space between sky and earth, where the light shimmers and mundane matters seem small and far away.

Alison’s music is a study in contrasts: jagged, kaleidoscopic rhythms are paired with soaring, lyrical melodies and the rich timbres of saxophone, flute, cello, and voice are paired with electric guitar and bass, synthesizers, rhodes, and drum set. The music is textural, integrating shifting contours and metric modulations yet it remains groovy and aesthetically pleasing.

1. On Awakening
2. Celestial
3. Cycles
4. Breathe Again (feat. Miranda Joan)
5. Toni's Tune
6. Three Flights Up (feat. Wayne Tucker)
7. Big Kids (feat. Jonathan Hoard, Vuyo Sotashe, Chauncey Matthews)
8. Purple Flowers (feat. Hattie Simon)
9. Dawn to Dusk
10. Gentle Traveler

Alison Shearer – alto saxophone
Kevin Bernstein – piano, rhodes, synthesizers
Marty Kenney – electric bass
Hoarce Phillips – drumset
Wayne Tucker – trumpet
Susan Mandel – cello
Miranda Joan – vocals
Hattie Simon – vocals
Jonathan Hoard – vocals
Vuyo Sotashe – vocals
Chauncey Matthews – vocals

All songs written by Alison Shearer

Recorded by Scott E. Linder at Pinch Recording, Queens, NY, in March, 2021
Mixed by Fernando Lodeiro
Mastered by Kelly Hibbert
Album Artwork by Jocelyn Mackenzie

Jack DeSalvo - Bare Trees (February 4, 2022 Unseen Rain Records)

Though largely unrecognized, Jack DeSalvo may be one of the most unique guitarists on the planet. His synthesis of classical and jazz guitar techniques allows him to play long, intricate lines while still adding chords. No doubt due to his pianist influences like Keith Jarrett. But the real story is subtle melodic development. All emanating from years of study of jazz, classical and world folk music repertoire and a focus on both the pure spirit of improvisation in the service of creating beautiful music as well as being a prolific composer. DeSalvo's music is nothing short of visionary as the music here emphatically shows. The exquisite beauty of the performances bring it all home.

1. Monads
2. Aside
3. Bare Trees
4. Verdure
5. Radiance
6. News From Haskell
7. Agon
8. For JB
9. October 3
10. Keeping Watch
11. Late July
12. She Has With
13. Which We Hadn't Noticed Before
14. Mentions
15. She Has With (Reprise)
16. Wind Grains 1
17. Wind Grains 2

Jack DeSalvo - guitar (nylon string)

Recorded in Jack's studio
Mixed and mastered by Larry Hutter, Orlando, FL
Design by Qua's Eye Graphix
An Unseen Rain Production

Hermeto Pascoal e Grupo - Planetário da Gávea (February 4, 2022 Far Out Recordings)

On a balmy Brazilian night in February, 1981, a crowd gathered in Rio de Janeiro's Gávea neighbourhood under the iconic dome of the city's Planetário (Planetarium). Alongside musicians like Helio Delmiro and Milton Nascimento (who were in the audience that night), they were there to see the great "Bruxo" (sorcerer) Hermeto Pascoal live in concert, with his new band formation which would become known simply as "O Grupo" (The Group).

Growing up on a farm in Brazil's northeastern state of Alagoas, Hermeto has always been deeply in tune with, and inspired by nature. In his youth he would make his own flutes to play call and response with the birds and frogs. He would build scrap-metal instruments in his blacksmith grandfather's forge, and sit for hours by the lake listening to the sounds of nature. On the Planetário Da Gávea recordings though, Hermeto is cast as the "sorcerer" or the "cosmic emissary" (as the great Brazilian guitarist Guinga once called him), exhibiting an intuitive sense of harmony and melody beyond that of our own world.

"Tudo e Som" (All is Sound). It's a phrase Hermeto regularly returns to, and it points to the fact that not only can music be made from anything, but also alludes to something much more profound. It's an understanding of the universe as being in a state of constant movement, forever vibrating at the quantum level, like the string of a guitar, or a saxophone's reed. "Tudo e Som" is a declaration of the mystical and spiritual power of sound, as a fundamentally vibrational force.

The series of concerts at the Planetário marked the birth of "O Grupo" which would last with the same line-up (apart from Zé Eduardo Nazário) for the next eleven years. Every member of O Grupo was a phenomenal musician in their own right. It was one of saxophonist/flautist Carlos Malta's first gigs with the group, and the concert unusually featured two drummers, Zé Eduardo Nazário and Marcio Bahia. Nazário, from São Paulo, had played with Hermeto during the mid-70s (as well as with Milton Nascimento, Egberto Gismonti and Toninho Horta, to name a few). Bahia though had just joined the group. Acclaimed keyboard player Jovino Santos Neto was on keyboards, piano and organ, and the great Itiberê Zwarg (who remains in Hermeto's band to this day), played bass. Rounding the group off was the percussionist Pernambuco. During this period (up until the early 90s) the group would rehearse for hours on end, virtually seven days a week, with a total dedication to music and Hermeto's musical vision.
Most of the compositions performed that night at the Planetário had never been recorded before, and many are unique to this album, including the wild 'Homônimo Sintróvio', the exaltant 'Samba Do Belaqua', 'Vou Pra Lá e Pra Cá' and 'Bombardino', which features Hermeto's wonderfully absurd call and response mouthpiece soliloquy. Then there's the stunning 7/4 Samba 'Jegue' which builds with inventive dissonance, before releasing yet another celestially colourful, celebratory refrain. The show also features the first recorded performances of 'Era Pra Ser e Não Foi' and 'Ilza na Feijoada' (inspired by Hermetos' wife Ilza's famed black bean and meat stew), which Hermeto later recorded on his 1984 studio album "Lagoa Da Canoa Município De Arapiraca".

Dubbed by Miles Davis as "one of the most important musicians on the planet", a Hermeto Pascoal live show was (and still is) an experience like no other. Across the recording of the Planetário concert, wild improvisation meets groovy, virtuosic vamping on progressive, extended psychedelic jams. The tracks are generally built around a beautiful, transcendent melody; instantly recognisable as being Hermeto's, and for the most part, the musicians then solo over extended two chord vamps. There's a plethora of powerfully delivered rhythms, wild solos and the performances are punctuated by Hermeto's unpredictable, at times comical sonic antics.

Over forty years since this historic happening, Far Out Recordings is overjoyed to release this magical recording of Hermeto Pascoal e Grupo Live at Planetário Da Gávea, on double vinyl LP, CD and digitally for a February 4th 2022 release. 

1. Paz Amor e Esperança / Homônimo Sintróvio
2. Samba Do Belaqua
3. Vou Pra Lá e Pra Cá
4. Bombardino
5. Era Pra Ser e Não Foi
6. São Jorge / Ilza na Feijoada
7. Duo de Bateras
8. Duo de Bateras II
9. Ferragens
10. Jegue

All tracks composed by Hermeto Pascoal

Hermeto Pascoal - piano, baritone horn, tenor saxophone, flute, vocals
Carlos Malta - soprano saxophone, flute, piccolo
Zé Eduardo Nazario - drums, percussion
Marcio Bahia - drums, percussion
Itiberê Zwarg - acoustic and electric basses, piano
Jovino Santos Neto - piano, electric piano, clavinet, harmonium
Pernambuco - percussion

Recorded at Planetário da Gávea, Rio De Janeiro, February 1981
Original tape transfer by Gabriel M. Yazbeck
Additional tape restoration by Daniel Maunick
Mastered by Lelo Nazario at Utopia Studio and Pete Norman at Finyl Tweek
Project coordination by Joe Davis, Jake Williams and Josh Tautz
Art direction by Josh Tautz and Alessandro Renaldin
Artwork and Design by Alessandro Renaldin
Photograph: Hermeto Pascoal by Dany Gignoux, licensed by Centre d’iconographie, Bibliothèque de Genève

Joy Guidry - Radical Acceptance (February 4, 2022 Whited Sepulchre Records)

From Marshall Trammell:

Somewhere it is written that the American author James Baldwin said that the English language is the enemy of Black people. Indeed, the straight-jacket of systemic limitations needs to be perceived to be overcome. I hear Guidry’s vernacular as a cultural methodology relevant to addressing the roles of artists making an impact on society today. Their tempered and hybrid phonics renders revelations of beauty, revelations of possibility, validation, self-awareness, creative problem solving, balance of openness with structure and other virtues of Improvisation, as stated by long-time Houston-based, music educator and Improviser David Dove in “Music is the Pedagogy.”

Ambient electronic tracks wait for you like light pools of warmth and resonance. Their placement in a timeline of the album designates them as unique transformative portals and democratic spaces within the narrative. Synthesizing Chela Sandoval’s five technologies of the Methodologies of the Oppressed which incorporates how we see the world (semiotics), make sense of it (deconstruction), relate it to history (meta-ideologizing), formulate new modalities of action (differential movement) to, finally, erect, defend and maintain democratic spaces (democratics). The journey of Radical Acceptance opens your eyes to move beyond sense-making into the creation of knowledge itself and our social environment.

Radical Acceptance sounds like tactical media quilt code from the Underground Railroad. Imagine next to the concrete examples of the “North Star,” the “Log Cabin, the Drunkard’s Path,'' and now we have “Radical Acceptance.” The album is a community informatic and liberatory tool for your emancipation and self-determination travel kit from a cultural archive of a disciplined, mind tempest. I believe the album is a conduit distributing the listener into a resonant real or imagined geography. With tracks as appendages, the recording moves on its own: auto-motive. Its own power embodies statements, scars and wisdom, offering a modality for when navigating community accountability. Entropic tracks like “Inner child,” “Why Is Toxicity So Yummy” and “How To Breathe While Dying” are sweetly deceptive and agile transgressions of common arcs in narrative formations of collective performance amidst layered solo versatility adds a nuanced blend of vernacular wisdom.

The poetics of the archival sounding material in “72 Hours,” each feels like an environmental sound design installation reminiscent of Leroy Jones’ (Amiri Baraka, of course) Blues People when he addresses the ownership and limitations of the recording technologies in shaping Black Music today. “Down In The Valley '' and “Voices Of The Ancestors' ' utilize uncommodifiable cultural weaponry that impossible to copyright, like Kente cloth, anchored in transformative tensegrity invoking a limitless healing rooted in African Diasporic indigeneity.

Radical Acceptance is a radical geography that defies the status quo of everyday harm that speaks straight to the senses and emotions of the listener. The organizations of sounds, tracks, rapid fingering and figures of soul-piercing resonance bring our bodies, feelings, and intuition to an evocation of a powerful relationship with those who we’re performing alongside, and those who are listening to us.

Wave after wave of sonic blasts fuel my descent into an afrological discipline of unique technologies. The album is welcoming intoning agency, social necessity, personality, difference and community accountability, in recognition of a strong relationship to sonic popular, experimental folk cultures. I have been hungry to hear a voice of a Creative musician speaking directly to listeners communicating critical information. Their words are not ambiguous.

I chased down references while driving. In the tracks I hear a timeline archived moving back and forth between the different layers of technologies and cultural methodologies amidst their musical consciousness in the interpretation, creation and transmission of self-determination in a historical continuum. Radical Acceptance is an interpersonal healing narrative carrying the ethos of a warrior that is responsive and inspiring community accountability. Radical Acceptance presents both the warrior and their ecology of a disciplined, mind tempest.

I urge listeners to get Radical Acceptance into your soul. Get it under your fingertips. Throughout the moving landscape of the recording I hear familiar colloquial blends of disciplines contributing a dialect erected from the need to describe and control one's circumstances, to confront life and outwit death, and, finally, as a proof of power. Hybridity-smacking, creole statements ring out as manifestation of a tight cultural and familial background suggests places and conditions of the Southern US, and simultaneously a legacy of sonorous defiance in NYC.
From Joy Guidry:

Radical Acceptance is a personal practice that has evolved in my life over the past year. This doesn't mean there aren't still tough times, but times of warmth and comfort are much more present these days. I will never be able to change my past, the things that hurt me, but I can live in a peaceful and beautiful life of my own creation. The most important thing I've had to teach myself is that there is nothing wrong with my body or my brain. My body is fat, and I struggle with my mental health daily, and neither of those things make me any less of a human being. I know that my Black, Fat, Queer and Non binary body is valid in every way. Learning to love my whole self unconditionally will be a lifelong journey, but I am just so happy to be where I am today. This is my radical acceptance. 

1. Just Because I Have a Dick Doesn't Mean I'm a Man
2. Face to Face
3. Inner Child
4. Down in the Valley
5. 72 Hours
6. Why is Toxicity So Yummy?
7. How to Breathe While Dying
8. Voices of the Ancestors
9. Grace

Joy Guidry: Electronics, Voice, Bassoon
Maudry Richard Davis, Voice
Oli Harris: Cello
Alfredo Colon: Sax
Jessie Cox: Drums
Nick Dunston: Bass
Chioneso Bakr: Drums
Hasan Bakr: Drums
Victor See Yuen: Drums

Album Art: Robyn Smith
Layout and Design: Dustin Bowen
Mixing: Edwin Kenzo Huet
Mastering : Murat Colak

Jami Templeton - The Shape of My Heart (4 February 2022)

“This record brought me back to life. After living through a long battle with chronic lyme disease, and subsequently covid, a dear friend suggested I return to my first love of singing, and to the genre I held so sacred, I was almost afraid to touch it.”

Shortly after returning to Los Angeles in 2021, vocalist Jami Templeton met the musicians who would become her band. After running through dozens of her favourite songs with producer and pianist Andy Langham, Templeton settled on a book of music that helped tell the story she had to tell. Having spent much of her singing life in the world of big, bold arias, Templeton had reached a softer musical phase.

Every piece on this album holds a special meaning for Templeton. Each song, carefully selected from the American songbook, reflects a sliver of time in her life: treasured moments of love, mischief, and heartbreak.
“I’m a Jazz and Blues vocal purist, and Jami’s got it”
-Marion Cowings, Clio Award Winner, Co-Founder of the Vocal Jazz department at NYU

“Her voice is beautiful in any genre. Jami can sing anything”
-Yvette Nicole Brown, Emmy nominated actress

1. Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground (Nelson) 3:42
2. Shape of my Heart (Sumner/Miller) 5:19
3. Can’t Help Lovin’ That Man (Kern/Hammerstein) 3:24
4. Black Velvet (Ward/Tyson) 5:12
5. Let’s Stay Together (Green/Mitchell/Jackson) 6:00
6. Need You Now (Scott/Kelley/Haywood/Kear) 3:42
7. Room at the Top (Petty) 5:16
8. In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning (Mann/Hillard/Evans/Kent ) 5:36
9. Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Waller) 3:11
10. I Fall in Love Too Easily (Styne/Cahn) 3:33
11. The Dance (Arata) 5:44

Joel Frahm - Tenor Saxophone
Andy Langham - Piano & Melodica
Edwin Livingston - Bass
Charles Ruggiero - Drums

The Shape of My Heart will be released worldwide on Friday, February 4th 2022

Mike Nock / Hamish Stuart / Julien Wilson / Jonathan Zwartz - Another Dance (February 4, 2022 Lionsharecords)

“the fraught, euphoric, challenging, rewarding business of being human really seems to have been condensed into music”
John Shand, SydneyMorningHerald

“at a time in history when division is the order of the day, four souls crafting melody together can abide by a deeper principle of love and listening.”
Tyran Grillo, ECMreviews

“profound, moving and expressive jazz of the highest level.”
Stuart Nicholson, Jazzwise 

Comprising four of Australia’s most esteemed jazz musicians, this celebrated jazz ‘supergroup’ made waves in 2020 with their critically acclaimed and ARIA nominated debut ‘This World’. Two years on, they ask you to join them for ANOTHER DANCE, their second full length album, recorded in Sydney on the very brink of the 2021 extended lockdown.

A lot of water has passed under (and over) the bridge since their first recording session in 2019. The band somehow managed to tour the East Coast twice during 20/21 against all odds. The first tour in Feb 2020 let them see firsthand the devastation wrought by the Black Summer bushfires through parts of regional NSW and ACT. In Braidwood the band donated the proceeds of their show to local bushfire victims, only to have floods prevent half the town from attending. Many shows and festival appearances were cancelled at the eleventh hour (no less than five shows in Melbourne) due to lockdowns and travel restrictions. The fact that the quartet have performed thirty shows in fifteen towns over four states during this period is a testament to their tenacity and vitality and their drive to share the unifying and uplifting power of live music with others.

The best creative pursuits offer reflection on the environment and events that they spring from, so it stands to reason that the music on Another Dance embodies different elements to This World. The eight new pieces presented here bear witness to the enduring bond the musicians share, and offer a deep and rich sense of optimism, hope and shared humanity as a tonic to these most interesting of times.

1. Deception 06:04
2. LDT 07:11
3. Headlands 10:37
4. Winter 09:26
5. Little Stars 08:21
6. Johnston St 10:06
7. Wheelbarrow Rd 05:15
8. Yearning 02:27

Mike Nock - piano
Hamish Stuart - drums
Julien Wilson - tenor saxophone and effects
Jonathan Zwartz - double bass

Recorded at Studios 301, Sydney
Engineer: Owen Butcher
Assistant: Reinert Wasserman
Mixed and Mastered by Helik Hadar
Produced by This World

Cover photo: Jonathan Zwartz
Design: Luke Fraser/Ahr+

Hamish plays Gretsch drums and Lauritsen cymbals
Jonathan and Julien are D’Addario Artists
Julien is a Yamaha Artist
Mike Nock compositions published by Fourth Way Music - ASCAP

Ryan Oliver With Strings (February 4, 2022 Cellar Live)

About the artist:

A Juno-nominated, Victoria-based saxophonist, Ryan Oliver honed his craft on Canada’s west coast before moving to Amsterdam, Toronto and New York. Since returning to Vancouver Island, he has maintained a busy schedule as one of Canada’s most in-demand saxophonists. His 2012 album, “Strive” features legendary jazz drummer Victor Lewis. Oliver has toured Canada, India, Australia, New Zealand, South America, Europe and the United States with the legendary eclectic jazz group, The Shuffle Demons. He is also a member of Juno award winning blues/rock performer Derek Miller’s group. The band has traveled throughout North America, including performances at the New Orleans Jazz Festival, the Aboriginal Achievement Awards (broadcast on CTV), and Toronto’s Dundas Square. Oliver was featured in the horn section on “Derek Miller and Double Trouble”, featuring Stevie Ray Vaughn’s heralded rhythm section Double Trouble and musical icon Willie Nelson.

The recording was nominated for a Juno in 2011. Oliver was also a member of the house band for Miller’s television series The Guilt Free Zone airing on the Aboriginal People’s Television Network. The Cookers, a group Oliver co-leads and toured extensively throughout Canada, appearing on numerous recordings and broadcasts, including a live video broadcast for CBC. He has received numerous Canada Council and Toronto and Ontario Arts Council grants for touring, recording and education and was nominated for the 2013 Prix De Jazz for the Montreal Jazz Festival. Oliver’s debut recording, “Convergence” was selected by CODA Magazine as one of the top 10 Canadian jazz releases of 2007.

Oliver holds a Masters degree in music from Rutgers University, where he led the undergraduate big band, and has taught saxophone and ensemble clinics at universities throughout the world for over 20 years. He currently teaches saxophone to students throughout Vancouver Island and instructs student and adult jazz combos in Victoria. Oliver has worked as an adjudicator for the Fraser MacPherson Scholarship (which he also received in 1998) and the Victoria and Powell River Jazz Festivals. In 2017, Oliver took over as the Executive Director for the Comox Valley Youth Music Centre (CYMC), Canada’s longest running music camp.
Here's what Ryan says about the album:

To say that this recording is a collaborative musical effort is an understatement. Mark Crawford’s sophisticated and thoughtful arrangements elevated my original compositions to new heights; the incredibly talented 12-piece string orchestra breathed life into those ideas; and Terry Clarke, Neil Swainson and Bernie Senensky formed an incomparable rhythm section, lending a level of heavy-hitting artistry than can only come from a prolific career forged in the tradition of jazz music. The compositions represent almost cinematic snapshots of people, places and experiences that influenced my life and music, from the birth of my daughter, celebrated in the up-tempo triadic Blues for Josie Rose to the western landscape of the Cariboo where I grew up, captured in the haunting strings of The Ballad of Buffalo Bill. Hearing 16 musicians performing this music together, live off the floor, was a dream come true. Recorded at a time when the arts need more than ever to be nurtured and recognized as an important part of our world, to me this album represents the excitement of creativity and the power of collaboration - I hope you enjoy it! 

1. The Ballad Of Buffalo Bill
2. For You
3. Blues For Josie Rose
4. MacBeth
5. Tango For Astor
6. Somewhere Over The Rainbow
7. Eddie
8. Shorter Mornings
9. Arrival
10. Walk Up On The Road

Ryan Oliver – tenor saxophone
Bernie Senensky – piano
Neil Swainson – bass
Terry Clarke – drums

Violin 1
Andrea Siradze
Colleen Venables
Elyse Jacobson
Llowyn Ball

Violin 2
Ken Lin
Molly MacKinnon
Jitendra Beairsto
Madeline Hocking

Viola
Genevieve MacKay
John Kastelic

Cello
Finn Manniche
Doug Gorkoff

Arrangements by Mark Crawford

Recorded at The Warehouse Studios on July 31st, 2021
Engineered mixed and mastered by Sheldon Zaharko