Jack DeSalvo Live At Scholes Street (June 21, 2021 Unseen Rain Records)

This live performance was part of a night of trios at Brooklyn's Scholes Street Studio/performance space that was curated by Matt Lavelle. Tom Cabrera and Dmitry Ishenko are among my favorite musician to play anything with, but an opportunity to perform my own compositions with them is particularly gratifying. As a trio we have two previous albums on Unseen Rain - Minerals and Volume III of the Connoisseurs of Chaos series though some of the tracks on this live record where originally recorded on earlier albums of mine. – Jack DeSalvo

It takes a trio of formidable players like DeSalvo, Ishenko and Cabrera to bring to life music like this, with its multi-hued harmonic atmosphere and these musicians' clairvoyant interplay.

1. Minerals 08:46

2. Instance 07:12

3. Sudden Moves 08:39

4. Nuvyu 07:08

5. KHB 08:45

6. She Has With 05:2

JACK DeSALVO - guitar

DMITRY ISHENKO - double-bass

TOM CABRERA - drums

All music by Jack DeSalvo

Recorded by René Allain at Scholes Street Studios, Brooklyn, NY

Mixed and mastered by Larry Hutter, Orlando, FL

Design by Qua’s Eye Graphix

Produced by Jack DeSalvo and Tom Cabrera

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Out Friday, March 12: Dan Blake's Da Fé (Sunnyside Records)

Saxophonist/Composer Dan Blake finds hope for a better future through compassionate action on his inspiring new album

Da Fé, due out March 12, 2021 via Sunnyside Records, encourages activism in the fight against

climate catastrophe, poverty and hunger with a spirited ensemble featuring

Carmen Staaf, Leo Genovese, Dmitry Ishenko and Jeff Williams

Livestream release concert Friday, March 26 at Soapbox Gallery in Brooklyn at www.soapboxgallery.org

"Blake, whose versatility and probing ears have made him a ripe collaborator for both Julian Lage and Anthony Braxton… brings an intelligence and taste for adventure but also a solid swing and tradition-hugging mandate to his work as both player and writer." – Josef Woodard, DownBeat

“Saxophonist Dan Blake is one of those musicians who are always on a quest to expand their musical horizons… As both a player and a composer, Blake demonstrates an intensity coupled with a very fertile and searching mind.” – Budd Kopman, All About Jazz

Pondering the existential crises that face humanity today – global climate catastrophe, poverty, hunger – can be overwhelming, especially when compounded with the more mundane trials we face every day. Social activism, despite its daunting challenges, is fundamentally an act of faith: faith in a better future and in our species’ capacity for positive change. On his inspiring new album, Da Fé, saxophonist and composer Dan Blake pays tribute to the spiritual leaders and political activists who’ve offered him hope while adding his own singular voice to the optimistic chorus of those crying out for solutions.

Due out March 12, 2021 via Sunnyside Records, Da Fé is an outgrowth of Blake’s own activism. A practicing Buddhist since his college years, Blake has served since 2015 on the board of Buddhist Global Relief, an organization dedicated to combatting chronic hunger and malnutrition around the world. He has also organized concerts to benefit other charitable organizations, including Extinction Rebellion, the Poor People’s Campaign and Show Up for Racial Justice. While he’s quick to downplay his own role in favor of those who dedicate their lives to activism, his music follows a socially conscious path blazed by the likes of Max Roach and Alice Coltrane before him.

“Climate catastrophe is an issue that I've been concerned about for a while,” says Blake, who credits moving to Mount Kisco, New York and raising his two young daughters as inspiration. “Moving away from the city provided some perspective and made me much more aware of nature in my day to day life. Becoming a parent was another causal factor in bringing more urgency to my own personal awareness of this issue. As humans, our relationship to nature can be so sympathetic, but then something like the California wildfires reminds us how our collective abuse of the natural world has become incredibly dangerous to our survival as a species.”

Da Fé translates to “of faith,” and stems from the phrase “auto da fé,” which refers to the burning of heretics during the Spanish Inquisition. While Blake changed the term to avoid direct reference to that historical context, he does see a connection in the fires blazing across millions of acres in California. “There's a certain violence to this time that we're in, as we seem to be sacrificing ourselves at the altar of commodities. But there's still a possibility of realizing a better future that we can put our faith in. That's where these activist organizations come in.”

To provide his music with the tension and urgency it required, Blake enlisted a remarkable cross-generational band. He initially recorded with a quartet featuring pianist/keyboardist Carmen Staaf, bassist Dmitry Ishenko, and veteran drummer Jeff Williams. The latter was a member of the pioneering world-jazz fusion band Lookout Farm led by DaveLiebman, one of Blake’s mentors in both music and activism. He then teamed with longtime collaborator Leo Genovese, with whom he worked in Esperanza Spalding’s band, to reimagine the music in post-production via additional piano, synths and multiple saxophone lines.

“I wanted to take full advantage of the studio on this album,” Blake explains. “My model for that is Wayne Shorter's work from the 1980s – his mid-period albums like Atlantis, Phantom Navigator or Joy Ryder, where he interacts with himself playing multiple parts to realize a bigger sonic landscape from the horn. I was envisioning a sax chorus through a reflective, hall of mirrors idea.”

Staaf opens the album solo with the prayer-like, through-composed “Prologue – A New Normal.” Unsettling, static-like electronics ultimately consume the meditative piece, suggesting the threats that lie ahead, especially if we continue to accept increasingly dangerous new normals. The modal “Cry of the East” evokes John Coltrane’s yearning work on soprano sax on a dedication to the plight of the Palestinian people and, as Blake says, “all the unseen, unheard souls whose suffering has been caused by the actions of Western powers and policies.”

The turbulent “Like Fish in Puddles” takes its title from a piece in the Atthakavagga, a collection of Buddhist poems. The piece’s desperation cries out for a shift in perspective; many of us, it suggests, believe we’re swimming in the ocean while we’re simply flapping around in our limited puddles, with limited time and resources to draw upon. Opening with a strident solo by the composer, “Pain” draws on both universal and personal strife, inspired by the recent loss of Blake’s father and grandmother. The dark-hued “The Grifter” hardly needs much explanation, given the looming con-man presence who’s preoccupied our thoughts in recent years.

Blake particularly enjoys exploring vamps with Williams, as they do on “The Cliff,” whose rhythmic complexities feel like striding uncertainly along the edge of a jagged precipice. “Doctor Armchair” is a satirical look at the tendency towards offering unearned “expertise” as a solution to every issue – not strictly medical, though the notion has taken on additional weight in the midst of a contentious pandemic. Genovese’s cosmic synths layer on the hypnotic atmospherics for the title track, before the album ends with the meditative coda “Epilogue: It Heals Itself” – a suggestion not to ignore problems, but to pause a moment in our frantic activities to allow healing to begin.

“I’m very inspired by the ideal of compassionate action,” Blake says. “Activism is very important to my musical creativity, and is the impetus for this album. I believe musicians and artists can play a powerful role in these dangerous and urgent times by awakening a compassionate vibration in others, one that can spur action. I also believe artists like myself have a lot to learn from the dedicated activism and leadership of others who sacrifice so much to do the good work that must be done to wrest power from corrupt politicians and place it into the gentle and loving hands of the people.”

1. Prologue - A New Normal

2. Cry Of The Eas

3. Like Fish In Puddles

4. Pain

5. The Grifter

6. The Cliff

7. Doctor Armchair

8. Da Fé

9. Epilogue - It Heals Itself

Dan Blake - soprano & tenor saxophone

Carmen Staaf - piano & Fender Rhodes

Leo Genovese - Moog, Prophet, Farfisa, Six-Trak, Fender Rhodes & piano

Dmitry Ishenko - acoustic & electric bass

Jeff Williams - drums

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Jack DeSalvo / Dmitry Ishenko / Tom Cabrera - Connoisseurs of Chaos III (UNSEEN RAIN Records November 2018)

These spontaneous pieces emerged while the trio was rehearsing and recording Jack DeSalvo's compositions. Tom Cabrera had the idea to release them as part of the Connoisseurs of Chaos series on Woodshedd. Dmitiry Ishenko's sensitive interplay and flow of ideas integrates nimbly with the longstanding partnership of Cabrera and DeSalvo leaving us with powerful music of great character.

Jack DeSalvo - guitars

Dmitry Ishenko - double-bass

Tom Cabrera - drums, percussion

1. Open I 04:45

2. Open II 10:22

3. Open III 05:27

4. Open IV 07:52

Recorded at Woodshed Studio, Westbury, NY by Christof Ziegenhirte

Edited and mastered at Hutter Studio, Orlando FL by Larry Hutter

Cover painting by Tom Cabrera

design by Qua's Eye Graphix

A Woodshedd production

All music by Jack DeSalvo, Dmitry and Tom Cabrera ℗ © 2018 Woodshedd Records

Zone - Zone (UNSEEN RAIN Records 2018)

Zone is a quintet of distinguished musicians who create an utterly modern sound rooted in not only the history of jazz, but also in a vast array of music traditions, old and new. While the members have all played with each other in different ensembles, mostly in the downtown New York scene, Zone is particularly fertile group for their considerable compositional and improvisational abilities. Sensitivity, interplay and deep listening are always evident whether the music is lyrical or hard hitting. Rocco John Iacovone studied composition under the direct disciples of Nadia Boulanger as well as saxophone and improvisation with Lee Konitz and played with Sam Rivers at Studio Rivbea,. Rocco has released a number of recording, including two on UNSEEN RAIN, Embrace The Change - with his quartet and Peace and Love with his Improvising Composers Ensemble. Jack DeSalvo initially appeared on the international jazz scene with the groundbreaking trio D3 and as a member of the electric harmolodic group Ronald Shannon Jackson and the Decoding Society.

He is a member of Sumari, the 12 Houses Orchestra and other groups, including his own. Jack studied composition with Ariadna Mikéshina, classical guitar with Leonid Bolotine and jazz with Bill Connors and others. Jack appears on numerous recording including many on UR. Chris Forbes has been on the piano bench as a crucial part of countless NYC ensembles including Jason Kao Wang's Sing House, Matt Lavelle's 12 Houses Orchestra, the Steve Swell Quintet and Chris' own trio. He is a classically trained composer, jazz pianist, and has composed for symphonies, chamber groups, jazz ensembles, and musical theater. Dmitry Ishenko has played bass with a wide range of jazz artists, including Steve Lacy, John Tchicai, Eric Harland, Dave Liebman, Myron Walden, Jeff Williams, Roy Campbell, Jr., Sam Yahel, Steve Swell, Kenny Wollesen, Ches Smith, and many others.

A graduate of both the Berklee College of Music and New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, he is also a busy session player and arranger, having worked in the studio and on the road with Paul Banks of Interpol, among others. has toured all over the world. He appears on Blaise Siwula's UR album Remoliona. In addition to being an incomparable jazz drummer, Tom Cabrera is an adept world percussionist Initially a mainstay in the Hudson Valley, NY jazz scene in Florida Tom gigged constantly establishing himself as a preeminent player on Orlando's vibrant jazz scene.

After returning to NY he immersed himself in the creative jazz scene as a member of the Julie Lyon Quartet, the Matt Lavele Quartet, Sumari, Jack DeSalvo's trio and quartet and the 12 Houses Orchestra. He appears on a number of UR releases including with his own trio, What I've Found and Rocco John Iacovone's Embrace The Change.

1. Nomad's Dog 07:58

2. Number 16 05:22

3. Walking Damp Ground 08:15

4. Surprised By Joy 06:27

5. Whispers 06:17

6. Hide and Seek 10:01

7. A-Wa-Re 10:40

8. Faborit 09:59