David Bernot - Never​-​Ending Cycle (March 10, 2022)

David Bernot is a jazz saxophonist living in Denver, Colorado. David performs as a band leader and a freelance musician in a variety of musical styles from Jazz to Funk and EDM (Electronic Dance Music.) He is also an award winning jazz composer, most notably selected two times to be a recipient of the Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer award.  

1. Never-Ending Cycle

2. Stamina

3. I Count On Them

4. Softly As In A Morning Sunrise

5. Suggestions

6. Melody For Wayne

7. No Problems

8. Spaghetti Road

9. Worthy Of Love

10. Front Porch Blues

David Bernot - Sax

Greg Gisbert - Trumpet

Tom Amend - Piano

Gonzalo Teppa - Upright Bass

Michael D'Angelo - Drumset

Sound Engineering: Xandy Whitesel

Mixing: Colin Bricker and Loren Dorland

Mastering: Colin Bricker

Photography: Brittany Teuber

Album Art: David Baker

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Lazar Miric Quintet - Wells Lee (February 20, 2022)

1. GTA 08:26

2. Boot Snake 08:50

3. Take the A Train 09:33

4. no name Blues 07:38

5. Tea for Two 06:15

A collection of tunes recorded at the EJB studio on Feb 16th, 2022.

Lazar Miric - Alto Saxophone

David Hodgson - Tenor Saxophone

Eric Liang - Piano

Jack Johnston - Upright Bass

Pablo Marin-Marquez - Drums

Stef Haynes - Recording Engineer

Take the 'A' Train composed by Billy Strayhorn

Tea for Two composed by Vincent Youmans

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Darren Johnston - Life In Time (February 2022 Origin Records)

During the seemingly endless shutdown of 2020, I began to think a lot about Colonel Aureliano Buendia, the character from Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s brilliant novel One Hundred Years Of Solitude, who had at one time supported his family by making and selling little tiny fish out of gold. As an old man, after many years of being away fighting wars, he returned to his shop to resume making his little gold fish. At first they sold simply because they had been made by the now famous colonel, but eventually no one left was interested. Nonetheless, every day the colonel continued his work of making his little gold fish. Because he had only a little gold left, he would melt down the fish from the day before in order to continue his work.

The shutdown really drove home for me the fact that those of us with the impulse to create, or dedication to a practice, will do what we do even if we were to never again have a chance to share our work. It is our practice, our way of processing the world, and for me at least, the way I keep it moderately together during challenging times. I dearly love connecting with other musicians and playing for my fellow humans, but I now know that as long as I have some kind of practice, I’ll be ok.

Thankfully, at the time of this writing performances are happening again, and recordings are being made. I’m grateful to be able to share some of my little gold fish with you now.

It’s a project that had been put on hold by the pandemic, but as things began to open up in May of 2021 I was finally able to record with this amazing group of some of Chicago’s most creative, swinging, and in demand musicians. We recorded four of Geof’s tunes, and six of mine, and I hope you enjoy listening as much as we did preparing and playing.

1. Asherah 07:42

2. Little Gold Fish 05:13

3. Intention And Commitment 06:57

4. Life In Time 05:48

5. Lost And Found 08:11

6. Shade 07:07

7. Guimaraes 04:24

8. Locomotive Sunflower 05:52

9. The Color Of The Wall Of The Room That Reminded Me 07:25

10. Song For Kamala 06:51

Darren Johnston - trumpet

Geof Bradfield - tenor/soprano sax, bass clarinet

Clark Sommers - bass

Dana Hall - drums

tracks 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9 composed by Darren Johnston

tracks 3, 5, 7, 10 composed by Geof Bradfield

recorded May 3, 2021

engineered and mixed by Ken Christianson at Pro Musica, Chicago

Photograph by Reuben Radding

Design by John Bishop

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Patrick Shiroishi & Dylan Fujioka - No​-​No 2 / のの 二 (February 2022)

Today is the 80th anniversary of the signing of executive order 9066, the order that authorized the imprisonment of japanese americans during the second world war.  last year, the second in a never ending year of masks, quarantine and fear, Dylan and I got together to respond to the surge of racist violence towards asian americans.  since then, many other individuals were attacked, some even brutally murdered....last week Christina Yuna Lee was brutally murdered in her home. last month a stranger pushed a woman, Michelle Alyssa Go, onto an oncoming R train in New York.  several news outlets didn't even mention her name, just a "woman of asian descent." 

I fucking hated that. 

However, even with all of the negativity across the country, i have seen more and more people speaking up and having conversations about discrimination. i have seen people posting about what their families went through. i have seen people correct someone who says or spells their last name wrong. i have had strangers reach out to me about the camps...all of this gives me hope. hope that we are moving towards a better place in history.  with that being said, please do not stop checking in on your Asian friends. please continue to give space, support and courage to your Asian friends. center Asian women in your activism and in your stories. protect them. 

Here is a second offering from Dylan and myself on this day.  

Like the first recording, all proceeds of this music will go towards Asian Americans Advancing Justice (www.advancingjustice-aajc.org). we hope you will take time with this music and hear what we have to say.  stay safe and help others around you stay safe.  

1. vision of the void 15:31

2. in the frame of incarceration 06:01

3. the house that no longer exists 20:42

Patrick Shiroishi - alto, sopranino & tenor saxophones, clarinet

Dylan Fujioka - drums & percussion

recorded at Dylan's house on the 16th & 31st of January, 2022.

mixed and mastered by Eddie Kim

photograph is of Dylan's uncle Kenji, born at Tule Lake

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Caleb Wheeler Curtis & Laurent Nicoud - Substrate (February 2022)

1. Substructure 03:04

2. Ostinato #3 05:58

3. Rain 03:15

4. That Which Cannot Be Replaced 02:52

5. Conversation In Between 08:28

6. A Cautionary Tale in Two Parts 01:49

7. Torrential 02:32

8. Weird Spaces 04:36

9. C Minor in Brooklyn 05:33

10. Portrait 05:39

11. Enerhiya 04:53

12. Infrastructure 01:47

Recorded January 29, 2020 in Zurich, Switzerland

Caleb Wheeler Curtis – alto saxophone

Laurent Nicoud – piano

Mixed and mastered by Ben Rubin at House of Cha Cha, Brooklyn NY

Tracks 1, 12 by Caleb Wheeler Curtis & Laurent Nicoud

Tracks 3, 4, 6, 7, 10 by Caleb Wheeler Curtis (BMI)

Tracks 2, 5, 8, 9, 11 by Laurent Nicoud (SUISA)

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Barcelona Art Orchestra - Ragtime Stories (February 2022 UnderPool)

Lluc Casares, Joan Vidal, Néstor Giménez and Lluís Vidal, four of our most important arrangers and composers, took on the challenges currently facing the performing arts with this new and ambitious project BARCELONA ART ORCHESTRA whose first album is entitled Ragtime Stories.

Ragtime is the common denominator that ties together the eight pieces that make up this album. This timeless music is revisited with arrangements that range from the purely traditional to the avant garde. They serve as a showcase for the talent and versatility of the four composers/arrangers that lead this project.

BARCELONA ART ORCHESTRA is a stable formation made up of a large number of exceptional musicians featuring jazz instrumentation as well as classical and contemporary.

BAO embodies the will to explore different musical genres from a jazz perspective, in search of new relationships with other artistic disciplines such as theatre, danse, or poetry.

Ragtime Stories is possible thanks to the complicity of this group of musicians and composers who have consolidated this project with the release of this first album which will doubtlessly see BARCELONA ART ORCHESTRA become an important reference point for the current scene.

1. R.A.G.T.I.M.E 16:47

2. Ambidextrous 08:23

3. Rag and Morty 05:43

4. Ragside Down 05:15

5. Rag to the Future 05:30

6. Mimosa Stomp 05:41

7. El viatge de Jimmy Rag 14:48

8. The Entertainer 05:21

Anna Pujol - Flute and Piccolo

Gabriel Amargant - Tenor, Alto and Soprnao Sax

Lluc Casares - Clarinet and Tenor Sax

Jordi Santanach - Clarinet, Bass Clarinet and Baritone Sax

Joan Mar Sauqué - Trumpet

Òscar Latorre - Trumpet

Álvaro Ocón - Trumpet

Pau Valls - French Horn

Alba Pujals - Trombone and Bass Trombone

Apel.les Carod - Violin

Marta Roma - Cello

Adrià Plana - Guitar

Pilar Subirà - Vibraphone, Marimba, Glockenspiel, and other percussions

Guiseppe Campisi - Dounle Bass

Néstor Giménez - Piano and Conducting

Llís Vidal - Piano and Conducting

Joan Vidal - Drums

Recorded Between 18 and 26 November at Medusa Studios. Recorded, Mixed and Mastered by Ferran Conangla.

Cover Mauricio Lencina. Design Pepon Meneses.

Executive Producer Armonico Wines and UnderPool.

Published Underpool

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Noël Akchoté - Girolamo Scotto - Il Primo Libro De Madrigali A Tre Voci (1541) (Renaissance For Steel Guitar) February 2022

1. Quand' Io Pens' Al Martire 01:39

2. Rompi De L'Empio Cor 02:16

3. Scemar Sperando 01:58

4. Di Piant' In Pianto 01:35

5. Mille Fiat' O Dolce 01:20

6. Tutt' Il Di Piango 01:52

7. Amor, La Tua Virtute 01:35

8. Non Mi Duol Il Morire 01:22

9. Non Si Vedra Gia Mai 01:21

10. Itene A L'Ombra 01:34

11. Se'l Dolce Sguardo 01:29

12. In Dubbio Di Mio Stato 01:11

13. Amor, Io Sento L'Alma 01:37

14. Ingiustissimo Amor 01:49

15. Madonna, Per Voi Ardo 02:07

16. Pur Converrà, Ch'i Miei Martir' Amore 02:01

17. Quanto Sia Lieto Il Giorno 02:17

18. Qual Donna Canterà 02:39

19. Se Del Mio Amor Temete 01:56

20. Se La Mia Vita 02:27

21. Donne Gentili 02:01

22. Come De Voi Piu Bella 01:13

23. In Un Bel Prato 02:03

Noël Akchoté : Acoustic Guitar (Martin HD-28)

Recorded in Saint Gildas de Rhuys, 17-19 February 2022

GSTT-003 – Noël Akchoté Downloads (2022)

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Nathan Blehar & Tony Falco - Move (February 2022)

1. Physic 06:47

2. Ability 09:42

3. Good Nature 08:55

4. Tide Turner 05:43

5. Sun Up 11:08

Nathan Blehar - saxophone

Tony Falco - drums

Recorded on 12/28/2021 by Nathan Blehar and Tony Falco

Mixed and Mastered by Tony Falco

Cover art by Nathan Blehar, cover design by Tony Falco

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Dennis Warren / FULL METAL REVOLUTIONARY JAZZ ECLECTIC - IMPROVISATIONS FOR DEMOCRACY (February 2022)

"IMPROVISATIONS FOR DEMOCRACY" was recorded 170 days after the Capitol insurrection. No propaganda in this free jazz music, just the essence of democracy based in improvisation. This album is threaded by two unique electric guitarists, a thumping bassist with a Miles Davis like-trumpeter and a saxophonist blowing Albert Ayler; all welded together by all the time drum power in the spirit of Professor Milford Graves.

1. THE BIG LIE BIGGER 12:45

2. EMPIRE CONSEQUENCES 16:47

3. PANDEMIC SPACE BLUES 12:18

4. DEMOCRACY VS INSURRECTIONISTS 10:59

5. YOU COUNT 12:03

6. RITMO CONTRA LOS INSURRECTOS 08:03

JOE GIARDULLO - alto & tenor saxophone, piccolo

VANCE PROVEY - trumpet

JAMES ROBBINS - electric & acoustic bass

TOR SNYDER - electric guitar

DAVE ROSS - electric guitar

DENNIS WARREN - drums, timbales, digital percussion

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British Standard Time (Lateralize Records)

British Standard Time 

Alex Webb, with Jo Harrop, Luca Manning, Tony Momrelle, Carroll Thompson

Released on Lateralize Records

With no prospect of any live shows during the pandemic, Hampstead Jazz Club commissioned a very special album which will raise money to support the musicians who have helped establish the North London club among the capital’s most respected venues.

One of the most versatile and in-demand pianists in British jazz, Alex Webb cut his teeth working with an illustrious array of singers including David McAlmont and China Moses. Having spent much of his career focusing on the Great American Songbook, he came up with the original idea for British Standard Time. 

Enlisting the cream of the UK’s finest jazz musicians to collaborate with some of the country’s most distinctive voices including ‘Queen Of Lovers Rock’ Carroll Thompson and former Incognito frontman, Tony Momrelle, as well as Jo Harrop and Luca Manning, British Standard Time stirs a subtle twist of jazz into a selection of the most ageless homegrown songs of all time.

From Thompson’s sultry Try A Little Tenderness and Harrop’s haunting take on Elvis Costello’s Almost Blue through to Manning’s stunning reading of Rag ‘N’ Bone Man’s Human and Momrelle’s mellifluous interpretation of Rod Temperton’s Give Me The Night, this superb album somehow manages to put a fresh new frame around these much-loved masterpieces.

Whether it’s John Martyn’s Don’t Want To Know or Paul Weller’s You Do Something To Me, these timeless songs have never sounded quite like this before. The New Yorker’s legendary music critic, Whitney Balliett, defined jazz as ‘the sound of surprise,’ which seems to perfectly sum up the music on British Standard Time.

BRITISH STANDARD TIME TRACKLISTING

1 Give Me The Night (Temperton) Tony Momrelle

2 Lullaby of Birdland (Shearing) Carroll Thompson

3 I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For (Clayton-Mullen-Bono-The Edge) Jo Harrop

4 Slip Away (Dankworth-Dearlove) Luca Manning

5 Try A Little Tenderness (Campbell-Connelly-Woods) Carroll Thompson

6 The Man In The Station / I Don’t Want To Know (Martyn) Jo Harrop

7 Breakfast For Two (Webb-Charles) Carroll Thompson

8 Human (Rag’n’Bone Man-Hartman) Luca Manning

9 Moments (Webb) Jo Harrop

10 The Very Thought of You (Noble) Tony Momrelle

11 Mad About The Boy (Coward) Carroll Thompson

12 As Long As He Needs Me (Bart) segue into Love Is A Losing Game (Winehouse) Jo Harrop

13 You Do Something To Me (Weller) Luca Manning

14 Almost Blue (Costello) Jo Harrop

All arrangements by Alex Webb

Produced by Jamie McCredie

Executive Producer Mayank Patel

Recorded at Gorilla Studios, Battersea and Qube Studios, Park Royal

Alex Webb – piano, organ, MD

Jo Harrop, Luca Manning, Tony Momrelle, Carroll Thompson – vocals

Tony Kofi – soprano, alto and baritone sax

Leo Richardson – tenor sax, flute

Andy Davies – trumpet, flugelhorn

Nathaniel Cross – trombone

Ciyo Brown – guitar (tracks 5, 7, 9 and 10)

Jamie McCredie – guitar (tracks 11 and 14)

Flo Moore – electric and acoustic bass

Sophie Alloway – drums, percussion

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Tara Minton & Ed Babar - Two For The Road (Jazzizit Records)

Australian harpist Tara Minton and British double bass player Ed Babar are to release a their new alum, Two For The Road, on January 28th 2022, on Jazzizit Records. The release serves as a follow up to Tara’s 2020 solo album, Please Do Not Ignore The Mermaid, on which Ed provided bass, and features a specially commissioned piece of art for the album cover by Paya Lehane.

In January 2021, inspired by the great jazz duo albums, Tara and Ed resolved to record their own contribution to the art form: ‘Two For The Road.’ The repertoire was carefully selected from The Great American Songbook and the modern British Jazz Canon to capture the pair’s love of travel and life on the road. A notable composition chosen was Dave Holland’s ‘Dream Of The Elders’ whose spiritual lyrics Tara greatly admired. Originally penned by Norma Winstone, Tara was granted special permission by Norma and Dave, to record them under the new title, ‘What We Have To Be.’

Tara connected with Geoff Gascoyne and asked if he would like to direct and produce ‘Two For The Road’, adding a musical heroes to the creative team. Around the same time whilst hiking, the duo happened upon British saxophone legend, Stan Sulzmann, resulting in an invitation for him to guest. Lastly, Tara and Ed invited Bulgarian percussionist, Lilia Iontcheva to guest on three songs, thus completing the all-star lineup. The album was engineered by David Holmes and recorded over three days on board Lightship 95 studio at Trinity Buoy Wharf.

In ‘Two For The Road’ Tara’s harp style has matured with a richness of language and melodic fluency that is rare on her instrument. Director of Camac Harps, Jakez François says, “There are so few harpists who push the phrases and harmonies to this level, the kind which can compare with piano and guitar. I am so happy and proud to hear that on a harp at last.” Ed’s versatility as a bassist is given plenty of space to shine with intricate solo lines, beautifully crafted bass solos and stunning bowed passages, whilst Tara’s vocal performance is both intimate and powerful, urgent and reflective. 

1. Life In A Bubble 02:58

2. On The Sunny Side Of The Street 04:06

3. Games 03:56

4. What We Have To Be 06:14

5. Caravan 05:33

6. You Go To My Head 04:19

7. 'Round Midnight 03:30

8. Whirlpool 05:34

9. The Shadow Of Your Smile 04:52

10. Jazz Autographs 04:19

11. Blackbird 04:02

12. Two For The Road 04:20

13. Life In A Bubble - Epilogue 01:23

Tara Minton - harp/voclas

Ed Babar - double bass

Stan Sulzmann - tenor saxophone

Lilia Iontcheva - percussion

Produced by Geoff Gascoyne

Arranged by Tara Minton and Geoff Gascoyne

Recorded at Lightship 95 Studio

Engineered by David Holmes

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