Thursday, March 3, 2022

Trioglodyte with Karen Hu - Jazz from the Underground Nightclubs of Aotearoa Vol. 7 (March 3, 2022 Kiwijahzz)

1. Old Gospel
2. Black & Tan Fantasy
3. Look Down
4. Der Leiermann

Trioglodyte

Jeff Henderson - alto / baritone saxophones, clarinet
Eamon Edmundsen-Wells - bass
Chris O'Connor - drums

with special guest

Karen Hu - drums

Recorded live at the Wine Cellar, Tāmaki Makaurau, Aotearoa - New Zealand on February 4, 2021 by Rohan Evans
Mixed and mastered by Jeff Henderson

Jas Kayser - JAS 5IVE (April 15, 2022 jazz re:freshed)

Following in the footsteps of UK jazz heavyweights, Nubya Garcia, Ashley Henry & Kaidi Tatham, London-based, Berklee-trained drummer/composer and Jazz FM's Breakthrough Act of 2021, Jas Kayser unveils her much anticipated debut album in 2022 for Jazz re:freshed's iconic 5ive series.

With meditative jazz arrangements, finessed afrobeat fusions and energising studio production, Jas 5ive offers a sincere and candid reflection on themes of identity, self-discovery and family as well as navigating deep questions, from Jas's upbringing to her travels abroad.

1. DARKNESS IN THE LIGHT FEAT. AVA JOSEPH AND GIACOMO SMITH
2. DREAM
3. JAMIE’S BLUES
4. HALF-RACE FACE FEAT. AALVK
5. STUPID ON THE BEAT (INSTRUMENTAL)

Drums - Jas Kayser
Percussion - Joao Caetano
Upright Bass - Daisy George
Electric Guitar - Jamie Leeming
Tenor Sax - Mark Hurrell
Alto Sax - Giacomo Smith
Trumpet - Christos Stylianides
Vocals - Ava Joseph
Spoken Word - Ash Kayser A.K.A Aalvk

Produced by: Jas Kayser, Giacomo Smith, Lewis Durham, Kitty Durham

Date recorded: 13th-15th Sept 2021
Recording by Lewis Durham at Durham Sound Studios, London N.W.1.

Mixed by Lewis and Kitty Durham, Giacomo Smith and Jas Kayser at Durham Sound Studios, London N.W.1

Mastered by L and G Durham at The Exchange Mastering Studios, London N.W.1

Trombone Shorty - Lifted (April 29, 2022 Blue Note)

New Orleans Icon Trombone Shorty Bottles Explosive Live Show Energy On New Studio Album Lifted

Release Date: April 29th 2022

*Special guests Gary Clark Jr., Lauren Daigle, and The New Breed Brass Band *

Shares New Single “Come Back”

Trombone Shorty returns with Lifted, his first album in 5 years and the follow-up to his Blue Note debut Parking Lot Symphony, featuring special guests including vocalist Lauren Daigle & guitarist Gary Clark Jr. An album that captures the energy of his legendary live shows, Lifted combines classic New Orleans sounds (funk, gospel, street rhythms, Mardi Gras Indian chants & second lines) with modern lyrics, melody & beats to create something fresh & unique. Part Jimi Hendrix, part James Brown and all New Orleans, Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews is the bandleader and frontman of Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, a hard-edged funk band that employs brass-band beats, rock dynamics & improvisation in a jazz tradition.

If the digital album is purchased, you will receive the full album via email on April 29th, 2022.

Standard digital downloads are delivered as MP3 44.1khz/24-bit audio files.

Please note, digital downloads are only available in the U.S.
Photo: Trombone Shorty by Justen Williams

1. Come Back
2. Lie to Me
3. I’m Standing Here (Feat. Gary Clark, Jr.)
4. What It Takes (Feat. Lauren Daigle)
5. Everybody in the World (Feat. New Breed Brass Band)
6. Lifted
7. Forgiveness
8. Miss Beautiful
9. Might Not Make It Home
10. Good Company

Trombone Shorty – 2022 UK Tour dates:

May 20 – Academy 2 – Birmingham, UK

May 21 – SWG3 Studio Warehouse – Glasgow, UK

May 23 – Roundhouse – London, UK

May 24 – O2 Ritz Manchester – Manchester, UK

Norah Jones - Come Away With Me: 20th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition (April 29, 2022 Blue Note)

20 years ago, on February 26, 2002, a hard-to-categorize album by an unknown 22-year-old singer, songwriter, and pianist was released with modest expectations. Released by the legendary jazz label Blue Note Records, it wasn’t a jazz album, nor did it resemble anything else on the pop landscape of 2002. But Come Away With Me, the debut album by Norah Jones, would go on to charm the world and introduce one of the greatest voices of our time. The album steadily grew into a global phenomenon, reaching #1 in 20 countries, selling nearly 30 million copies, and sweeping the 2003 GRAMMY Awards with eight wins including Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist.

On April 29, Blue Note will release Come Away With Me: 20th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition, a remarkable 44-track collection that captures the emergence of a singular talent and reveals for the first time the full story of the making of this now-classic album. In addition to a remaster of the original album, which was produced by Arif Mardin, the Super Deluxe Edition also includes 22 previously unreleased tracks including the original demos that Norah submitted to Blue Note, the complete First Session demos she made after being signed, and the first version of the album that Norah made at Allaire Studios with producer Craig Street, most of which has never been heard before and offers a fascinating look at the album that might have been.

The 20th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition was produced by Eli Wolf and will be released digitally and physically as a 4-LP vinyl set and a 3-CD set, both of which come in premium packaging with an extensive booklet featuring new liner notes by Norah and rare session photos. Standalone 1-LP and 1-CD versions of the remastered original album will also be released. All formats are available for pre-order now. The never-before-released alternate version of Norah’s song “Come Away With Me” from The Allaire Sessions is available to stream or download today.
In February 2002, America was still emerging from the dark shadows of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and Norah’s voice and music—pure, warm, and reassuring—struck a deep emotional chord with listeners the world over. Norah had moved from Texas to New York City in 1999 after spending two years as a jazz piano major at the University of North Texas. While playing jazz gigs at restaurants around town, Norah also fell in with a circle of singer-songwriters including Jesse Harris and Richard Julian who played often at the Living Room on the Lower East Side and inspired her to broaden the creative pathways she might one day take.

On Norah’s 21st birthday, EMI Publishing employee Shell White heard her performing at a jazz brunch and arranged a meeting with Blue Note President Bruce Lundvall. A month later Norah was in Lundvall’s office playing him her 3-song demo CD, which included two jazz songs: “Walkin’ My Baby Back Home” and a remarkably self-assured version of the standard “Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most” that Norah had recorded in her high school band room accompanying herself on piano. The last song on the CD was one of Harris’ that leaned more in a singer-songwriter direction with Harris on acoustic guitar and Lee Alexander on bass.

Soon after, Lundvall signed Norah to a demo deal, and by the time she went into the recording studio she had decided to focus primarily on new originals written by Harris, Alexander, and herself. “The very first song we did in those sessions was one of Jesse’s, called ‘Don’t Know Why’ that we hadn’t yet played live,” Norah recalls in the new collection’s liner notes. “We got it on the first try and it just felt great, one of those magical, easy takes. When we walked back into the control room to listen, [engineer] Jay [Newland] was over the moon. It really built my confidence for the rest of the session and set the tone for what we were going for. After all was said and done, it was this version that ended up on the final record, with only some harmonies and a doubled guitar added to it.”

Lundvall loved what he heard and signed Norah as a Blue Note artist, and she began to prepare to record her debut album. “Cassandra Wilson’s New Moon Daughter had been a favorite album of mine and was a big inspiration for the kind of record I wanted to make,” Norah writes. “Since I loved the instrument choices (beautiful slide and acoustic guitars) and the production, I asked Bruce if I could meet with Craig Street, who produced it. Craig and I met a few times and got along really well. He liked the demos and said we should put those out as the record or use most of them, but I was really excited to explore a slightly different vibe, one I knew he could help me find.”

Norah and Street went into Allaire Studios near Woodstock in upstate New York with some of her favorite musicians including Bill Frisell and Kevin Breit on guitars, Brian Blade and Kenny Wollesen on drums, Rob Burger on accordion and organ, and Alexander on bass. “Nearly everything we recorded felt special. We re-recorded most of the songs from the demos to see where else we could take them,” Norah recalls. But during the mixing session Norah began to question whether they had gone too far with some of the songs and wondered if Street had been right about the strength of the demos.

After delivering the Allaire mixes to Blue Note, Lundvall came to the same conclusion that the new recordings had strayed too far from what was so special about the demos. It was decided that Norah should go back into the studio to start again with Arif Mardin producing. They ended up keeping three songs from the Allaire sessions (“Seven Years,” “Feelin’ The Same Way,” and “The Long Day Is Over”), two from the demo sessions (“Don’t Know Why” and “Turn Me On”), and recorded nine additional songs that hewed more closely to the spirit of the demos. The resulting album became Come Away With Me.

Now, 20 years later, Norah decided to release the Allaire version of the album. “It’s been a bit like time traveling to some alternate universe of the album that nobody ever heard,” she says. “When I approached Craig to tell him about it, he suggested we ask Tony Maserati to ‘balance’ the recordings. This brought my vocal to the front more and I can finally hear my little 22-year-old self trying new things and fitting into the music around me just fine. Re-visiting these sessions after listening to them only once in the last 20 years has been a lovely surprise. I’m so glad to finally re-unite with Craig and get a chance to finish what we started together. I learned a lot from him, and I always think of that time upstate as a sort of dreamy fantasy, and I still get that feeling when I listen to these recordings.”

As Norah reflects back upon Come Away With Me, she says “I was incredibly proud of this album and so thankful to everyone who made it with me…I figured it was a good first try and felt that it truly captured who I was – musically – at that time, which made me the proudest and is all you can really hope for when making a record. In the end I was so thankful that I got to explore a few different paths before putting them all together. No one, including the label, had any idea it would reach the success that it did. I’m forever grateful to Bruce and the very special team at Blue Note for giving me the chance to find my sound through all of it and for never telling me who I had to be.”

Come Away With Me—2oth Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition – Track Listing:

DISC 1

Come Away With Me – 20th Anniversary Remaster

1 Don’t Know Why
2 Seven Years
3 Cold Cold Heart
4 Feelin’ The Same Way
5 Come Away With Me
6 Shoot The Moon
7 Turn Me On
8 Lonestar
9 I’ve Got To See You Again
10 Painter Song
11 One Flight Down
12 Nightingale
13 The Long Day Is Over
14 The Nearness Of You

DISC 2

The Demos

1 Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most
2 Walkin’ My Baby Back Home
3 World of Trouble

First Sessions Outtakes

4 The Only Time
5 I Didn’t Know About You
6 Something Is Calling You (tabla version)
7 Just Like A Dream Today
8 When Sunny Gets Blue
9 What Am I To You
10 Hallelujah I Love Him So
11 Daydream

All tracks above previously unreleased

First Sessions EP

12 Don’t Know Why
13 Come Away With Me
14 Something Is Calling You
15 Turn Me On
16 Lonestar
17 Peace

These 6 demos previously released as the promo-only First Sessions EP

DISC 3

The Allaire Sessions

1 I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight
2 I’ve Got To See You Again *
3 What Would I Do
4 Come Away With Me *
5 Picture In A Frame **
6 Nightingale *
7 Peace *
8  What Am I To You *
9 Painter Song *
10 Turn Me On *
11 A Little At A Time
12 One Flight Down *
13 Fragile

* alternate version

** alternate mix

All tracks previously unreleased except “I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight” and “Picture In A Frame”

Joel Ross - The Parable of the Poet (April 15, 2022 Blue Note)

Vibraphonist and composer Joel Ross returns with stunning conviction on The Parable of the Poet, an expansive album-length suite composed by Ross which marks his 3rd release for Blue Note following his 2019 debut KingMaker and 2020’s Who Are You?. The Parable of the Poet will be released April 15 on vinyl, CD, and digital formats, and is introduced today with the sublime opening movement “PRAYER” which is available to stream or download now.

Steadfast in his commitment to skewing perceptions of improvisation and written composition, Ross explores new territory with his 8-piece Parables band, bringing together young artists of sharply defined expression: Blue Note labelmate Immanuel Wilkins on alto saxophone, Maria Grand on tenor saxophone, Marquis Hill on trumpet, Kalia Vandever on trombone, Sean Mason on piano, Rick Rosato on bass, Craig Weinrib on drums, and special guest Gabrielle Garo on flute.

The album embodies Ross’ collaborative spirit. His lyrical aesthetic activates an ebb and flow from one movement to the next. Moments of intentional discourse drive sections of collective melody and spontaneous counterpoint. “This band is more than just the instruments,” says the Chicago-born, New York City-based artist. “Every person on here means something to me. They’re all my friends. Everybody involved committed themselves to the vision.”
Ross’ vision for the music is at once explicit and mysterious. He seeks to express themes present in parable tellings and retellings, while leaving each story’s particulars open to interpretation. Each title of the 7-movement suite references an emotional decision or experience for Ross. But in the studio he focused on fresh interpretations, allowing his past experiences to exist without dictating the band’s present treatment of the music. “I told them, ‘This is what the music is and this is how I want you to approach it — let everything we play be inspired by the melody.’ Not much else was decided,” says Ross, who enjoys “blurring the lines between melody and improvisation,” in part, as a way to facilitate communication and meaningful musical discourse.

Obscuring divisions between scripted and spontaneous is more than a romantic notion. For Ross, it’s truthful and intrinsic. Each composition he explores on The Parable of the Poet represents a near intact improvisation, some dating back to 2017, all of which emerged during creative sessions with his friend and colleague, saxophonist Sergio Tabanico. “We would record it, then I would go back and flesh out the composition,” he says. “I tried my best not to change any harmonic information or add too much more than what was already there. I just tried to organize the information in a manner that would yield sensible improvised group interaction, while giving enough direction.”

That choice prompts striking moments of deep listening and self-orchestrating among Ross and his fellow artists. The first movement “PRAYER” sets a tone of rumination and collective inquiry. Apart from Ross’ tender solo introduction, the piece exercises restraint. “There’s no one person who’s taking the mic,” says Ross. “Everyone has a moment of playing the theme,” kindling shared navigation and discourse.

1. PRAYER
2. GUILT
3. CHOICES
4. WAIL
5. THE IMPETUS (To Be And Do Better)
6. DOXOLOGY (Hope)
7. BENEDICTION

Joel Ross - Vibraphone
Immanuel Wilkins - Alto Saxophone 
Marquis Hill - Trumpet
Maria Grand - Tenor Saxophone
Kalia Vandever - Trombone
Gabrielle Garo - Flute
Sean Mason - Piano
Rick Rosato - Bass
Craig Weinrib - Drums

JOEL ROSS – 2022 TOUR DATES:

April 8: Annenberg Center – Philadelphia, PA

April 9: Kupferberg Center for the Arts – Flushing, Queens

April 14: Jefferson Center – Roanoke, VA

April 15: Christina Cultural Arts Center – Wilmington, DE

April 16: BlackRock Center for the Arts – Germantown, MD

April 23: Cullen Theater at Wortham Theater Center – Houston, TX

April 24: Duet – Tulsa, OK

May 7: Capitol Bop – Washington, DC

May 8: Creative Alliance – Baltimore, MD

May 10: Robin Hixon Theater – Norfolk, VA

May 13-14: The Jazz Gallery – New York, NY

June 25: The Cube – Detroit, MI

June 28: Victoria Jazz Festival – Victoria, BC

June 29: Vancouver Jazz Festival – Vancouver, BC

June 30: Earshot Jazz Festival – Seattle, WA

July 6-24: European Tour TBA

August 11: The Lodge Room – Los Angeles, CA

August 12: San Jose Jazz Festival – San Jose, CA

August 13-14: Telluride Jazz Festival – Telluride, CO

August 17: Myrna Loy Center – Helena, MT

September 20: Musical Instrument Museum – Phoenix, AZ

September 22: Outpost Performance Space – Albuquerque, NM

September 23: SFJAZZ – San Francisco, CA

September 24: Monterey Jazz Festival – Monterey, CA

September 26: For the Love of Jazz – Reno, NV

October 14: University of Chicago – Chicago, IL

October 16: Wisconsin Union Theater – Madison, WI