Dave Douglas - Secular Psalms (April 1, 2022 Greenleaf Music)

Inspired by and dedicated to The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb by Jan and Hubert van Eyck - a polyptych originally painted for display in St. Bavo’s Cathedral in Ghent, Belgium. Begun in the mid 1420s and completed by 1432.

Secular Psalms took shape over a medieval-seeming time span. The first messages from Wim date to July 10, 2018, when we began to formulate a plan to celebrate the 600th anniversary of the Altarpiece with creation of new music. Research led to a few discoveries: elements of the polyptych were moved and/or stolen, then almost entirely recovered over the years. A restoration begun in 2012 discovered that the work had been mostly overpainted around 1550—removal of the overpaint revealed an almost entirely new contemporary vision of the piece.

The Van Eyck worked in the court of Philip The Good of Burgundy, speaking multiple languages. It’s likely they would have encountered composer Guillaume Dufay and writer Christine de Pisan in the same court. Bringing in elements of both these artists helped give me a connection to the atmosphere of those times. With a band and instrumentation in place, we were on our way.

Then all work came to a halt. Initially, like for so many of us, it was unclear how work would carry on. I kept writing. The meaning of the piece (and the title) took on a new scope as we dealt with the global crisis. Close communication with the assembled musicians, shut down in their own home countries, helped cement the message and the meaning of Secular Psalms: sacred songs for all of us as we are. We continued working. The first parts were recorded around May 2020. Over the course of a year and a half, my score came to life as I worked with each musician to create their performances. New techniques had to be invented to capture interactive improvisations. And new texts came in as I began to write them myself, in addition to the Latin Mass, Marvin Gaye, and Christine de Pisan.

Dave Douglas © John Abbott

This music came to life as a result of many forces: artistic, spiritual, pragmatic, physical, psychic, poetic, and interpersonal. In a visual sense, the piece begins in the space of the outer panels, with muted colors and dank interiors. Subsequent sections explore the inner panels, full of light, showing people from all walks of life. With Edge of Night, the piece returns to the mysterious and darker panels of the Arrival, where Van Eyck’s Gabriel and Mary play out this mystery for all eternity.

Very special thanks to Wim Wabbes of Handelsbeurs for staying with me through the long process of getting this piece made. Thanks to Keller Coker for talking me through the matrix of Dufay. Thanks to Tyler McDiarmid for being available to go through the countless sound and tech issues as they arose. Thanks to all the musicians for your patience, persistence, and belief in me. Thanks also to my entire family of loved ones, friends, colleagues, correspondents. We hung together through this and we will always have each other eternally. I am grateful for this most of all.

1. Arrival

2. Mercy

3. We Believe

4. Agnus Dei

5. Instrumental Angels

6. If I’m In Church More Often Now

7. Hermits and Pilgrims

8. Righteous Judges

9. Ah Moon

10. Edge of Night

Dave Douglas, trumpet, voice

Berlinde Deman, serpent, tuba, voice

Marta Warelis, piano, prepared piano, pump organ

Frederik Leroux, guitars, lute, electronics

Tomeka Reid, cello

Lander Gyselinck, drums, electronics

Production Credits:

Executive Producer: Dave Douglas

Produced by Dave Douglas

Recorded separately by each musician between May 2020 and August 2021

Berlinde Deman vocals recorded by Koen Gisen in Ghent, Belgium

Tomeka Reid recorded by Ralph Loza, Experimental Sounds Studios, Chicago

Marta Warelis piano recorded by Jasper Stadhouders at Splendor, Amsterdam

Ms. Warelis pump organ recorded by Marielle Groven at Orgelpark, Amsterdam

Edited and Mixed by Tyler McDiarmid and Dave Douglas

Mastered by Tyler McDiarmid

Altarpiece Photography / Images courtesy Sint-Baafskathedraal Gent, www.artsinflanders.be, Dominique Provost

Graphic design by Lukas Frei

All compositions and arrangements by Dave Douglas (Dave Douglas Music / BMI)

Commissioned by Handelsbeurs Concert hall (Gent, Belgium), in co production with KAAP/Concertgebouw Brugge; Jazzfest Berlin; November Music. With the additional support of the City of Ghent and Baloise Insurance.

PRE-ORDER

Manuel Valera New Cuban Express Big Band - Distancia (March 18, 2022 Greenleaf Music)

Grammy-nominated pianist and composer Manuel Valera (Paquito D’Rivera, Arturo Sandoval, Steve Smith) hails from Cuba and is an integral part of the New York City’s vibrant music scene. ‘Distancia’ is the second album from his New Cuban Express Big Band, a spirited ensemble that fuses the music of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Brazil to forge innovative sounds and textures.

The album draws upon searing personal experiences – going through personal loss, and having to pick up the pieces to move forward. Valera uses the broad palette of the big band to express a wide range of moods and emotions. From the haunting “From Afar,” to the buoyant “Expectativas”, and the fiery “Gemini,” the writing is dynamic and varied and the ensemble brings out the nuances with both grace and gusto.

The band features some of New York’s best creative musicians, including vocalists Camila Meza and Bogna Kicińska as well as standout soloists Charles Pillow, Remy Le Beouf, and Mike Fahie. Produced by Kabir Sehgal (Chucho Valdés, Arturo O'Farrill) and Doug Davis (Brian Lynch, John Daversa), Manuel Valera presents a very personal album of engaging contemporary big band jazz.

1. Expectativas

2. Gemini

3. From Afar

4. Pathways

5. From The Ashes

6. Impressionistic Romance

7. Distancia

8. Remembered

Personnel:

VOICE

Camila Meza, voice (3, 4)

Bogna Kicińska, voice (7)

TRUMPETS

Brian Pareschi (lead)

Michael Rodriguez (3, 5, 6, 8)

Stuart Mack (on all except 5 & 8)

David Smith

Alex Norris (on all except 3 & 6)

SAXES

Michael Thomas, alto sax, soprano sax & flute

Roman Filiu, alto sax & flute (3, 5, 6, 8)

Remy LeBoeuf, alto sax & flute (1, 2, 4, 7)

Joel Frahm, tenor saxophone (3, 5, 6, 8)

Jeremy Powell, tenor saxophone, clarinet (1, 2, 4, 7)

Andrew Gutauskas, baritone saxophone & bass clarinet

TROMBONES

Matt Macdonald (lead)

John Yao (3, 5, 6, 8)

Mike Fahie (1, 2, 4, 7)

Andy Clausen (3, 5, 6, 8)

Sam Blakeslee (1, 2, 4, 7)

Jeff Nelson, bass trombone

RHYTHM SECTION

Manuel Valera, piano

Alex Goodman, guitar

Ricky Rodriguez, bass (3, 5, 6, 8)

Hamish Smith, bass (1, 2, 4, 7)

Jimmy Macbride, drums

Samuel Torres, percussion

Production Credits

Executive Producer: Dave Douglas

Producer: Kabir Sehgal, Doug Davis, & Manuel Valera

Recorded at Orange Sheep Studios on December 8 & 9, 2019 and Oct 1 & 9, 2020

Recording engineer: Chris Berham

Mixing and mastering engineer: Oscar Autie

All compositions by Manuel Valera (ValeraMusic / ASCAP)

PRE-ORDER

Julieta Eugenio - JUMP (March 4, 2022 Greenleaf Music)

JUMP is the debut album from astounding tenor saxophonist and composer Julieta Eugenio, who began her music journey in Argentina before relocating to New York City almost a decade ago. At the height of the pandemic, Eugenio began collaborating with bassist Matt Dwonszyk and drummer Jonathan Barber, meeting regularly to workshop her music. The trio soon developed an intricate trio chemistry forged around Eugenio’s brilliant and insightful compositions.

Once it was safe to do so, the group hit the studio and recorded eight originals that cover a range of sentiments, from the introspective “Tres” to the ambiguously funky “Raccoon Tune.” The strength and maturity of Eugenio’s tenor concept comes across on two standards that round out the album; “Flamingo” and “Crazy He Calls Me.” This group takes the tenor-bass-drums trio configuration to new heights, covering a broad sonic palette and cementing Eugenio’s reputation as a composer and saxophonist.

“Eugenio's tenor tone is round and polished as she plays about sadness with an ever-present tint of hopeful[ness].”

- Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz

1. Efes

2. Jump

3. La Jungla

4. For You

5. Racoon Tune

6. Flamingo

7. Another Bliss

8. Crazy He Calls Me

9. Snowbirds

10. Tres

Julieta Eugenio, tenor saxophone

Matt Dwonszyk, bass

Jonathan Barber, drums

Production Credits:

Executive Producer: Dave Douglas

Producer: Julieta Eugenio

Recorded March 30, 2021 at Big Orange Sheep Recording Studios in Brooklyn, NY

Recording, mixing, and mastering by Michael Perez Cisneros

Photography by Nicolas Manassi

Graphic design by Lukas Frei

All compositions by Julieta Eugenio (Julieta Eugenio Music / BMI) except:

“Flamingo” by Ted Grouya & Edmund Aderson (Grouya Publishing Int. & Edwin H. Morris & Company / ASCAP)

“Crazy He Calls Me” by Carl Sigman & Sidney Keith Russell (Music Sales Corporation / ASCAP)

PRE-ORDER

Trish Clowes - A View with a Room (April 22, 2022 Greenleaf Music)

‘A View with a Room’ is the fourth release by saxophonist and composer Trish Clowes and her acclaimed band My Iris, an intense and thrilling quartet that represents the front rank of the contemporary UK jazz scene. Lauded for her imaginative approach to improvisation and composition, Clowes provides her bandmates Ross Stanley (piano/Hammond organ), Chris Montague (guitar) and James Maddren (drums) with a unique platform for individual expression, delivering driving grooves and lingering melodic lines, seamlessly morphing between earthy restlessness and futuristic dreamscapes.

Most of the repertoire came together during the pandemic for various livestream events, Clowes writing a new tune for each precious playing opportunity. Many of the tracks make direct reference to issues created and exacerbated by the global pandemic, commenting on personal loss and creativity as solace, the climate crisis, and the ever-growing migrant crisis. The title track suggests a surreal, and yet strangely relatable concept, forced upon much of the world during these deeply isolating times. "The Ness" is inspired by sounds and images from a Scottish coastline by filmmaker / collaborator Rose Hendry. “Amber" is for Amber Bauer, CEO of Donate4Refugees (a charity Clowes is an ambassador for), reflecting her energy and dynamism. “Ayana" is dedicated to Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, an inspiring writer, marine biologist and policy expert, who speaks clearly and positively on the issues of climate change. Creative music for and of our times.

1. A View with a Room

2. The Ness

3. Amber

4. Morning Song

5. No Idea

6. Ayana

7. Time

8. Almost

Trish Clowes - tenor & soprano saxophones

Chris Montague - guitar

Ross Stanley - piano, Rhodes & Hammond organ

James Maddren - drums

Production Credits:

Executive Producer: Dave Douglas

Producer: MY IRIS

Recorded at Livingston Studios (Studio 1) in London, England on August 31st & September 1st, 2021

Recording engineer: Darren Jones

Assistant recording engineer: Luke Farnell

Mixing and mastering engineer: Chris Kelly

Cover Photography: Rose Hendry

Studio photography: Chris Kelly

Graphic designer: Lukas Frei

All compositions by Trish Clowes (PRS)

Trish is a Vandoren UK artist, using Vandoren reeds and ligatures

PRE-ORDER

Mareike Wiening - Future Memories (November 12, 2021 Greenleaf Music)

Future Memories is the new album from New York-based German drummer and composer Mareike Wiening, featuring her longstanding band that includes saxophonist Rich Perry, pianist Glenn Zaleski, guitarist Alex Goodman, and bassist Johannes Felscher. Recorded in one day in the midst of an extensive tour, the album captures the live group energy and cohesion that only comes from playing together regularly.

Featuring eight of Wiening’s originals inspired by her band members, the compositions are emotional, rhythmical and most importantly, always lyrical. The music was captured in January 2020, just before the first pandemic lockdown, and the album’s title encapsulates Mareike’s feelings: the unexpected value of our future interweaves with various levels of past experiences, memories and the unknown. Balancing great compositions with soaring solo explorations, this is exciting, thoughtful, and engaging creative jazz.

1. Northern Sail

2. El Escorial

3. An Idea is Unpredictable

4. RiChanges

5. Future Memories

6. The Other Soul

7. Seesaw March

8. Dance Into Ju

Mareike Wiening | Drums

Rich Perry | Tenor Saxophone

Glenn Zaleski | Piano

Alex Goodman | Guitar

Johannes Felscher | Double Bass

Produced by Mareike Wiening

Executive Producer: Dave Douglas

Recorded at Riverside Studios Cologne, Germany on January 17th, 2020

Recorded by David Brucklacher

Mixed and mastered by Johannes Felscher

Graphic Design by Frank Hoeger

Photography by Lukas Diller

All compositions and arrangements by Mareike Wiening (GEMA)

Mareike Wiening plays Meinl Cymbals and Meinl Stick & Brush

Rich Perry plays D’Addario reeds

Alex Goodman plays Collings Guitars

PREORDER

Kazemde George - I Insist (October 22, 2021 Greenleaf Music)

'I Insist' is a reflection of the experiences, circumstances, and people that have made me who I am. Through this music, I hope to express my identity: my blackness, my manhood, my youth, and my full Caribbean-American self, along with all of the histories and systems that brought me here and now. I also hope that these songs reflect my many musical influences. My goal is to channel great masters like John Coltrane, J Dilla, and João Gilberto, as well as the teachers who have guided me, and the peers who I have competed with, learned from, and those who have encouraged or inspired me.

This music also reflects a learning process that I could not have realized without my many musical collaborators. That includes the musicians who have recorded on this project: Sami, Isaac, Adam and Tyrone, but also my greater musical community. I have been pulling out these charts on unsuspecting band members almost every week, at the various jam sessions and events I have hosted around Brooklyn for the past several years. That is how this music was developed, and that is where this music lives for me, but I am excited to let it venture out in this new format. I hope it finds you well!

I Insist is dedicated to my mother, Katrina Scott-George.

- Kazemde George

1. Things Line Up

2. Coasts

3. Balance

4. Skylight

5. Haiti

6. I Insist

7. Happy Birthday

8. Parkside

9. This Spring

10. Understanding

Kazemde George, tenor saxophone

Sami Stevens, vocals

Isaac Wilson, Wurlitzer and piano

Tyrone Allen II, acoustic bass

Adam Arruda, drums

Production Credits:

Executive Producer: Dave Douglas

Produced by Kazemde George

Recorded at Big Orange Sheep in Brooklyn, NY on December 11-12, 2019

Engineered Christopher Benham

Mixed and mastered by Dave Darlington

Photography by Kirsten Noelle

Artwork by HAMO

Graphic design by Lukas Frei

All compositions by Kazemde George (Kazemde Reese Ayodele George / ASCAP) except:

“Skylight” and “Happy Birthday”, composed by Kazemde George with lyrics by Sami Stevens (Sami Stevens / ASCAP)

PRE-ORDER

David Sanford - A Prayer For Lester Bowie (September 24, 2021 Greenleaf Music)

“Music from a [person’s] innards will systematize that gut-bucket spillage on its own terms.” - Greg Tate

Tate’s intention was to place the guitarist Pete Cosey in the creative lineage of Cecil Taylor and Miles Davis, and we can add Lester Bowie to that canon as well. The sense of adventure in Bowie the soloist, composer and bandleader was such that the listener assumes that at any moment, truly anything could happen. The same essence of limitless possibility infuses the work of Hugh Ragin, who, as a young musician, spent ten days studying with Bowie and the Art Ensemble of Chicago at the Creative Music Studio intensive in Woodstock, NY, and in recent years he has frequently performed with the Art Ensemble and other members of the AACM.

Exactly forty years ago, when some of the earliest ideas for this band were being formed, Ragin, performing with the University of Northern Colorado’s Lab I big band, played a brief but uncommonly dramatic solo at the start of Clare Fischer’s “In the Beginning” (which also featured a very young Mike Christianson introducing his formidable Grey- and Nanton-inspired plunger technique to a wider audience). Ragin had been featured on Anthony Braxton’s Composition 98 and Roscoe Mitchell’s Snurdy McGurdy and her Dancin’ Shoes at that time, and became a primary influence on the direction and ideology of the band, which would begin performing some twenty-two years later under its now former name, the Pittsburgh Collective. In 2010 Hugh began playing regularly with the group, which already included nineteen brilliant and imaginative musicians, and has effected a far greater and more direct impact on its evolution.

Ragin’s musical homage to Bowie, a conduction that he directs himself, is the centerpiece in this collection of eight works composed and arranged over the last eighteen years. While they differ in genre and approach, they interconnect and elide as “spillage”, or, per Gustav Mahler, as components of a world and embracing everything. Or, maybe by extension, as Lester Bowie himself said of the AACM, “…it’s life itself that this is about”.

- David Sanford

1. Full Immersion

2. Subtraf

3. Woman In Shadows

4. popit

5. A Prayer For Lester Bowie

6. Dizzy Atmosphere

7. Soldier and the CEO

8. V-Reel

SAXOPHONES

Ted Levine and Kelley Hart-Jenkins - alto saxophones

Anna Webber (tracks 1, 2, 7, 8),

Marc Phaneuf (tracks 3-6) and

Geoff Vidal - tenor saxophones

Brad Hubbard - baritone saxophone

BRASS

Brad Goode (tracks 1-7), Tony Kadleck (track 8),

Tim Leopold, Wayne J. du Maine,

Thomas Bergeron and Hugh Ragin - trumpets

Mike Christianson, Jim Messbauer,

Ben Herrington (tracks 1, 2, 4, 6-8)

and Mike Seltzer (tracks 3, 5) - tenor trombones

Steven Gehring - bass trombone

Raymond Stewart - tuba

RHYTHM SECTION

Dave Fabris - electric guitar

Geoff Burleson - piano

Dave Phillips - electric and acoustic bass

Mark Raynes - drums

Theo Moore - percussion

CONDUCTORS

David Sanford (tracks 1-4 and 6-8)

Hugh Ragin (track 5)

Production Credits:

Executive Producer: Dave Douglas

Produced by Tom Lazarus and David Sanford

Recorded June 6-7, 2016 at Sear Sound, New York, NY

Recorded and mixed by Tom Lazarus

Assisted by Owen Mulholland and Jeff Citron

Mastered by Joe Lambert at Joe Lambert Mastering

Cover painting by Chris Pouler

Graphic design by Lukas Frei

All music composed and arranged by David Sanford (David Sanford Music / BMI)

except:

“A Prayer For Lester Bowie” composed and arranged by Hugh Ragin (HURA Music / ASCAP)

“Dizzy Atmosphere” composed by John “Dizzy” Gillespie (Universal Music Corp. / ASCAP)

Soloists:

1. Full Immersion (12:48)

Soloists: Theo Moore (congas), Jim Messbauer (trombone), Anna Webber (tenor sax), Geoff Vidal (tenor sax)

2. Subtraf (9:30)

Soloists: Mike Christianson (trombone), Dave Fabris (guitar)

3. Woman in Shadows (8:01)

Soloists: Ted Levine (alto sax)

4. popit (2:50)

Soloists: Hugh Ragin (trumpet)

5. A Prayer For Lester Bowie (13:38)

Soloists: Hugh Ragin (trumpet), Ted Levine (alto sax), Geoff Vidal, (tenor sax), Marc Phaneuf (tenor sax), Mike Christianson, Mike Seltzer, Steve Gehring and Jim Messbauer (trombones)

6. Dizzy Atmosphere (6:29)

Soloists: Wayne J. du Maine (trumpet), Brad Goode (trumpet), Marc Phaneuf (tenor sax), Dave Phillips (bass)

7. Soldier and the CEO (7:19)

Soloists: Kelley Hart-Jenkins (alto sax), Dave Fabris (guitar), Brad Hubbard (baritone sax)

8. V-Reel (8:45)

Soloists: Geoff Burleson (piano), Ted Levine (alto sax), Ben Herrington, (trombone)

PRE-ORDER

New album from Joe Lovano & Dave Douglas Sound Prints - Other Worlds (May 7, 2021 Greenleaf Music)

Joe Lovano & Dave Douglas

Other Worlds

The third full length album by Sound Prints, co-led by Joe Lovano and Dave Douglas, includes ten new compositions by the co-leaders and features Lawrence Fields, Linda May Han Oh and Joey Baron

Saxophonist Joe Lovano and trumpeter Dave Douglas debuted their extraordinary Sound Prints quintet on Blue Note Records in 2013, the year of Wayne Shorter’s 80th birthday, and from the outset the group had a joyful but somewhat imposing mandate: to lift up Shorter’s legacy through the writing and performance of new music conceived in his risk-taking, fearlessly inventive spirit. Supported by a powerful multi-generational lineup of pianist Lawrence Fields, bassist Linda May Han Oh and drummer Joey Baron, the group debuted with Sound Prints: Live at Monterey Jazz Festival, which included world-premiere performances of two brand-new Shorter pieces.

Scandal, the group’s 2018 follow-up on Greenleaf Music, featured the same personnel on a new book of Lovano and Douglas originals as well as fresh arrangements of “JuJu” and “Fee Fi Fo Fum,” two Blue Note-era Shorter classics. With Other Worlds, recorded just days after a triumphant weeklong run at the Village Vanguard in January 2020, the Sound Prints quintet achieves another first, a full album of original compositions. But while no Shorter tunes appear, Shorter’s far-sighted philosophic vision of modern jazz animates these great players in every measure. “Wayne inspires us to think about our place in the universe,” Douglas maintains. “You can’t divorce that from the music.”

Almost every track on Other Worlds is a first take, thanks in no small part to the bandstand chemistry that Sound Prints achieved in set after set at the Vanguard. “Everybody brought their own self but also their Sound Prints self,” Douglas says. “We played a different set list every night, every set, because the order you play things in has a big influence on how they develop. So each night, different tunes would bump up against different tunes. We really figured out the dynamics of the whole thing, and by the time we got to the studio, we knew.”

“The way Dave and I set up together,” adds Lovano, “the way we’d play the themes and improvise together and trade, we were right there next to each other, so we were feeling what each other was playing. Dave and Joey and I have a deep history playing together: I go back to the ’70s with Joey, and the ’80s with Dave.”

Douglas adds: “Joey was on all my sextet records, and then of course he and I were in John Zorn’s Masada for many years together.” Oh, who came onto Douglas’ radar as a student at Banff, has logged many hours in Douglas ’ quintet (not to mention Pat Metheny, Kenny Barron, Fabian Almazan and Vijay Iyer, among many others). Lovano encountered Fields as a student at Berklee; he’s since done high-profile work with Nicholas Payton, Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah, Jeff “Tain” Watts and more.

“The whole concept of the band is dialogue and interaction,” Douglas notes. “And when you play that way, nobody can retreat into the role of their instrument. Everybody’s playing everything, all the time. Some pieces don’t have any chords, others have a lot of chords, and so you look for the piano to provide a balance so it’s not all one thing or the other. Both the free context and the chordal context have the same level of dialogue and conversation. Something new with this book is that we’re writing specifically for that chemistry, whereas in the beginning we were sort of imagining it, letting it unfold.”

Lovano’s “Space Exploration,” “Shooting Stars” and “The Flight” together make up the “Other Worlds Suite,” which appears noncontiguously (much like it might have at the Vanguard). “Those three pieces came together as a sequence of events,” Lovano explains, “and everyone captured the essence of that idea. The quintet is on a voyage together, and so the title ‘Space Exploration’ is about the music too, it’s about this certain way of playing together, not just writing a theme and playing on it, but a flow of ideas.”

It was “Sky Miles,” the first of Lovano’s pieces, that set the album’s space theme in motion, and Douglas was easily able to connect that to his recent interest in the study of antiquity. “I was doing a lot of reading about the period 2500-3000 years ago,” he says, “thinking about Pythagoras and the growth of science. Antiquity can be directly connected to the continuing movement of humanity through countless discoveries, and the cultural growth as we all discover each other around the globe and figure out how to work together and live together.”

In a brief liner note to the band’s 2013 debut, there appears a verse from Sir Alfred Lord Tennyson that begins, “… come, my friends, / ’tis not too late to seek a newer world.” These lines ring all too true today, as music and the arts begin what is sure to be a long recovery process. “The music is moving forward whether we choose to jump on the train or not,” Douglas avers. “We’re incredibly lucky that we recorded Other Worlds when we did — we had talked about doing it later. But one thing led to another and there was no reason to wait. We went right on into it and I’m so glad we did.”

1. Space Exploration (Lovano)

2. Shooting Stars (Lovano)

3. Life On Earth (Douglas)

4. Manitou (Douglas)

5. Antiquity to Outer Space (Douglas)

6. The Flight (Lovano)

7. The Transcendentalists (Douglas)

8. Sky Miles (Lovano)

9. Pythagoras (Douglas)

10. Midnight March (Lovano)

Joe Lovano, tenor saxophone

Dave Douglas, trumpet

Lawrence Fields, piano

Linda May Han Oh, bass

Joey Baron, drums

Produced by Joe Lovano & Dave Douglas

Executive Producer: Dave Douglas

Recorded by Tyler McDiarmid and Geoff Countryman at Bunker Studios, Brooklyn, NY on January 31, 2020.

Assisted by Todd Carder

Mixed and Mastered by Tyler McDiarmid

Musician photos by Geoff Countryman

Artwork by Dave Chisholm

Layout by Lukas Frei

Pre-order on Bandcamp, Amazon, and iTunes

Stream the first single ‘Pythagoras’ on Spotify, Apple Music and TIDAL

Greg Ward - Stomping Off From Greenwood (GREENLEAF MUSIC 2019)

Chicago-based saxophonist and composer Greg Ward (Tortoise, Lupe Fiasco, Makaya McCraven, Mike Reed) presents a new group, Rogue Parade, featuring a quintet of heavyweight creative Chicago musicians: Matt Gold and Dave Miller (guitar & effects), Matt Ulery (bass), and Quin Kirchner (drums). 

Following his critically acclaimed Greenleaf debut 'Touch My Beloved’s Thought' in 2016, which was a re-imagining of the music of Charles Mingus, 'Stomping Off From Greenwood' highlights Ward’s skills as a writer and arranger with a set of eight new compositions that explore this unique two-guitar instrumentation, which blends the acoustic and electronic sonic worlds. 

The group honed their ensemble sound during a month-long residency in Chicago, followed by extensive touring in the Midwest, before heading into the studio to capture the band’s energy on record. In addition to the original material, the band presents Ward’s moody arrangement of the jazz standard “Stardust.” 

"Excerpt 2" is an exclusive bonus track available as a download for Bandcamp purchasers only

1. Metropolis 07:04

2. Excerpt 1 02:11

3. The Contender 08:27

4. The Fourth Reverie 04:41

5. Let Him Live 04:32

6. Black Woods 08:07

7. Pitch Black 11:08

8. Stardust 05:45

9. Sundown 08:24

Greg Ward, alto saxophone

Matt Gold, guitar & effects

Dave Miller, guitar & effects

Matt Ulery, acoustic & electric bass

Quin Kirchner, drums

Producer: Greg Ward

Executive producer: Dave Douglas

Recorded, mixed and mastered at I.V. Lab in Chicago, IL, on August 5 and 6, 2017 by Shane Hendrickson

Package design and photography by Damon Locks

With assistance from Lukas Frei

All compositions by Greg Ward (Greg Ward 2 Music / ASCAP) except:

Stardust, composed by Hoagy Carmichael (Songs Of Peer, Ltd. / ASCAP) Arranged by Greg Ward.

This album was made with support from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) Individual Artist Project Grants.

UPLIFT 10: Fear No Love | Rudy Royston Podcast & New Single (GREENLEAF MUSIC)

Join us to hear our latest track

Our October UPLIFT track supports Lamda Legal and their important work on behalf of LGBTQ legal and civil rights.

We've posted some excerpts and complete tracks on Bandcamp and Soundcloud so you can preview the entire subscribers series featuring Dave Douglas, Joe Lovano, Mary Halvorson, Julian Lage, Bill Laswell and Ian Chang.

Rudy Royston introduces Flatbed Buggy

This special edition of the podcast features Rudy Royston previewing tracks from his upcoming album Flatbed Buggy, discussing the inspirations for his compositions and giving an insider's view on how the record came together.

We've also released the third single from the album, Hourglass, ahead of the release date on October 26. Check it out here.

Rudy Royston - Flatbed Buggy (GREENLEAF MUSIC October 26, 2018)

Introducing Rudy Royston’s new record Flatbed Buggy

We’re announcing Rudy Royston’s third album as a bandleader. Flatbed Buggy features a new chamber-like quintet performing Rudy’s original compositions inspired by his youth growing up in Texas.

The album will be available worldwide on October 26

The new album, Rudy’s third as a bandleader, features thirteen original compositions for a new chamber-like quintet that includes Gary Versace (accordion), John Ellis (bass clarinet/saxophones), Hank Roberts (cello) and Joe Martin (bass).

Rudy Royston, first-call drummer with Bill Frisell, JD Allen, Dave Douglas and a host of other jazz greats, has honed a thoroughly engaging voice as a composer and bandleader with his compelling debut 303 (2014) and the raw and bracing trio follow-up Rise of Orion (2016). To these fine releases, both on Dave Douglas’ Greenleaf Music imprint, Royston now adds his third, Flatbed Buggy, rich in tonal contrast and mood yet steeped in the supple, enduring swing and groove that has driven his writing and playing from the start.

Right away the instrumentation is a striking departure: Royston leads a compact, almost chamber-like quintet featuring Gary Versace (accordion), John Ellis (bass clarinet/saxophones), Hank Roberts (cello) and Joe Martin (bass). “I was going for something that was more about melodies,” Royston declares. “I wanted to illustrate a story.” And indeed, the melodies flow forth on Flatbed Buggy, with rich harmony and surpassingly subtle orchestration and interplay occurring at every step as well.

Of the album title, Royston says: “Flatbed buggies to me mean country, they mean home, they mean earth. We lived in Denver but my father lived in Texas, and I would spend time in the country there. I remember riding on this kind of flatbed buggy thing when I was a child. The whole feeling that brought me … it was comforting, it was outside, this bitter shrubbery smell, my friends are there, my family’s there. So it’s about that, but the album also has to do with time: a time in my life, the beginning of things, the process of them. The buggy moving along up a road represents the movement of time. And the titles on the album really have to do with time and motion.”

The warmth and immediacy captured by Royston and the group, the unorthodox sound of the instrumental combinations themselves, marks Flatbed Buggy as a creative breakthrough. “Ron Miles is always my major influence,” the drummer offers, “because his music is so sing-able and melodically rich. I wanted that melodic quality but also moments underneath in the harmony where it was a little scratchy, a little dusty. My neighborhood in Texas was a little dusty.”

Together with the deep and woody instrumental timbres of Flatbed Buggy, there’s the way Royston keeps them continuously in play, beyond conventional jazz-combo roles: “I wanted us all to be constantly playing. I wanted us all to orchestrate or color or have a little input regardless of who is soloing. So if you check out the little stuff Hank is doing on Gary’s solos, for instance — all these neat little themes are happening. It sounds very orchestra-like for me. Some of it is written but 90 percent is those guys just interjecting their own taste into what’s going at the time.

At points in the program are short, rhythmically propulsive interludes — “Bed Boppin’,” “Dirty Stetson,” “Hold My Mule” (an old church expression), “I Guess It’s Time to Go” — that serve as what Royston calls “leaps of time.” “They remind you that you’re moving forward,” he says. “I hope there’s no ending on anything: a lot of these pieces fade out, because even when we pass away things still seem to be going forward somehow.”

In particular, the thematically related “Boy…Man” and “Girl…Woman” bring the passage of time further into focus, each a musical story not only of growth and maturation but eternal life: “That’s why I fade out, because it’s not about endings. It’s not like, ‘She lived her life and then passed away.’ It’s kind of like nothing ends, not yet.”

While Flatbed Buggy presents far more than a succession of virtuosic solos, the passion and technical depth of the performances themselves — including standout improvisations from all involved — can’t go unremarked. John Ellis, among the great saxophonists of his generation, plays mainly bass clarinet throughout, achieving a remarkable sound and impact. Gary Versace, a top organist and pianist of our time, is equally stunning on accordion, bringing a reedy melodic sustain and full harmonic weight to the music. On the low strings, whether bowed or pizzicato, Hank Roberts and Joe Martin contribute a wealth of subtlety and energy as well, intersecting and digging in, never in the expected ways. And Royston, even though he lays back and never dominates here (he notes there’s only one drum solo on the record), still offers what amounts to a master class on the jazz drummer’s art.

There’s an endless amount to discover: the melodic development and final triumphant letting-loose of the opening “Soul Train”; the hint of New Orleans rhythm in “Flatbed Buggy”; the picture of innocence in a young child twirling, on “Twirler,” with a startlingly brilliant tempo shift into slow swing; or the fast, twisty bop theme and soprano sax showcase of “Bobble Head” (where that lone drum solo crops up).

Another major statement is “The Roadside,” inspired by memories of a drive through wide open space in Texas, with great expanses of weeds and wildflowers. “It was very beautiful to be in the midst of all that,” Royston says. “It was moving, it was in motion, these flowers on the side of a dirt road, sprawled everywhere. My dad loved to fish, so we were driving somewhere to some pond, in the back of the country somewhere. The piece takes you back to that moment and reminds you that no matter where you are now, you’re on a journey someplace.”

PERSONNEL

Rudy Royston, drums

John Ellis, bass clarinet / saxophones

Gary Versace, accordion

Hank Roberts, cello

Joe Martin, bass

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Produced by Rudy Royston

Executive Producer: Dave Douglas

Engineered, edited and mixed by David Kowalski at Teaneck Sound Studios, Paramus, NJ, April 2018

Mastered by Kevin Blackler at Blackler Mastering, Brooklyn, NY, May, 2018

All songs by Rudy Royston (Rudy Royston Publishing / ASCAP)

Cover Design by Rudy Royston

Cover Buggy Photo by Isabella Oprete

TRACK DETAILS

1. Soul Train (9:44)

2. Bed Bobbin’ (0:35)

3. Flatbed Buggy (5:45)

4. boy…MAN (5:43)

5. Twirler (5:24)

6. Dirty Steson (0:32)

7. Hourglass (7:15)

8. Bobblehead (5:51)

9. The Roadside Flowers (6:54)

10. Hold My Mule (0:36)

11. girl…WOMAN (11:07)

12. I Guess It‘s Time To Go (1:35)

13: I Wanted To Be Home Soon (9:26) * Bonus track, Bandcamp download only

Check out the album’s title track, on Apple Music and Spotify.

Pre-order the album now on Bandcamp, iTunes, Amazon and you’ll receive the lead track instantly!

And watch for tour dates to be announced soon!

Enjoy the music!

Joe Lovano & Dave Douglas NEW Green Vinyl exclusive for Record Store Day (GREENLEAF MUSIC 2018)

Sound Prints - Limited Edition 7” (45rpm)

Record Store Day, the international celebration of record shops, takes place tomorrow. They’re offering a limited edition Sound Prints 7" vinyl 45 featuring two new tracks!

Available on emerald green vinyl (download card included), this unique disc will certainly be a collector’s item for serious music fans.

Click below to find out how to get your copy!

Celebrating the recent release of the group’s second CD, Scandal, Sound Prints will be touring Europe May 5-13.

And check out our new Bandcamp store featuring all of our releases, subscriptions, merch and more.

Dave Douglas celebrates Dizzy at Lincoln Center

A Dizzy Gillespie Celebration

Dave Douglas’s newest project, Dizzy Atmosphere, celebrates a giant of music and one of America’s warmest, wittiest, wildest trumpeters and composers; Dizzy Gillespie. Dave invited a stellar cast to explore this music in new ways: subtitled Dizzy at Zero Gravity, the band will explore Gillespie’s music through new improvisations and interplay. 

Don’t miss out on the opportunity to hear this all star ensemble revisit Gillespie's works and debut new Douglas originals written especially for this concert.

We’re offering special discount tickets to the Greenleaf community! Save 25% on tickets for the 9:30PM sets when you use the discount code “JazzFan25” when you purchase your tickets online, at the box office or through CenterCharge.

February 23-24

Jazz at Lincon Center

Dizzy Atmosphere

Dave Douglas

Ambrose Akinmusire

Bill Frisell

Gerald Clayton

Linda May Han Oh

Joey Baron