Minino Garay - Speaking Tango (February 25, 2022 Sunnyside Records)

The practice of pairing music with poetry has a long history. Setting verse to music has become a way to amplify the emotional impact of the writers’ words. Argentinean percussionist and composer Minino Garay created a recording, Speaking Tango, that uses poetry to find the essence of the Argentinean tango in contemporary music, something that has been attempted in the genre at least since poet Horacio Ferrer collaborated with Astor Piazzolla.

Garay’s musical path has been a broad one. The jazz world has been his home for decades, but the percussionist also spent years perfecting his craft with Argentinean legends, like Mercedes Sosa and Jairo. Having lived 30 years in France, Garay expanded his musical interests into Brazilian and African music, recording with Hermeto Pascoal, Toumani Diabaté, Cheik Tidiane Seck, and Richard Bona along the way. These diverse musical interests inform the music that Garay creates.

Garay’s mother, Nury Taborda, a Córdoba based writer and teacher emphasized the importance of literature and poetry to him. Garay has continually returned to the written word for inspiration and continues to collaborate with Taborda in his music. He has also developed relationships with Argentinean poets Mutty Torezani and Adriana Cattanio. In 2000, Garay met Brooklyn born poet Dana Bryant, who introduced him to the work of The Last Poets, a highly influential African American poet collective that preached Black nationalism beginning in the late 1960s. Garay’s interest in dynamic poetry set to music continued to grow and manifest in his own creations.

The concept of Speaking Tango is to take the texts of old tango songs and adapt them to other types of music. For the past twenty years, Garay has worked alongside a number of composers and poets to create an amalgamation of music, tango lyrics, and original poetry, especially with Lalo Zanelli, whose collaboration was essential to the project. The outcome can be heard on Garay’s new album.

For the recording, Garay split the performances between two ensembles: one Argentinean and one French. Pianist Hernán Jacinto lends his expert touch to the record. Garay and Jacinto were joined in Buenos Aires by drummer Pipi Piazzolla and bassist Flavio Romero. The Parisian group included drummer Andre Ceccarelli, bassist Christophe Wallemme, and guitarist Manu Codjia. A handful of impressive guests amplify the music’s message throughout.

The wide-ranging texts cover a variety of topics, including politics, eroticism, and the realities of the world. The most prominent themes are the importance of being loved and the passage of time and its effects on the mind and body.

The recording begins with a setting of Adriana Cattanio’s poem “Ámame Online” to music by Wallemme and Garay, the text speaking of the transition of life from the physical world to the digital over a guitar heavy pulse. Zanelli and Garay reinterpret composer Cátulo Castillo’s classic tango “Desencuentro” into a 21st century lament on “Estas Desorientado.” Taborda’s exclamatory “Que Carajo” is stripped down to emphasize the text before building into an insistent refrain while Jean Marie Ecay’s guitar adds a blue tinge. The affecting vocals of Melingo provide a dramatic addition in expressing Taborda and Garay’s “Señora Doña Igualdad” over a strict tango rhythm provided by Zanelli’s pen and Leo Genovese’s piano.

Argentinean poet Baldomero Fernandez Moreno’s “En Lo Mas Profundo De Ella” finds a home over a jazzy 4/4 groove, Jacinto’s moving piano solo adding to the piece’s ennui. Poet Alex Pandev helps recite her and Taborda’s “Boca Con Boca,” which finds a home in the hazy Gerardo Jerez Le Cam and Garay composed ballad. Vocal and body percussionist David Linx provides a musical accompaniment to Taborda’s “Solo Con Un Beso.” Genovese and Garay create a haunting environment for Gustavo Adolfo Becquer’s “No Son Los Muertos,” heightened by Magic Malik’s lonely flute and voice.

The title track presents Taborda and Garay’s words over a martial beat and atmospheric guitar before launching into a dancing tempo of Lionel Suarez’s music that contains tango hints throughout. Garay and Eduardo Torezani’s “Los Chicos De Mi Barrio” is accompanied by Nicolas Genest’s music, Jacinto’s piano and Magic Malik’s flute providing an evocative backdrop for the text and a strong tango pull. The recording concludes with Taborda and Garay’s “Que Lo Parió!” with music by Zanelli, the melodic push of the words and Manu Codjia’s guitar building the tension without ever going too far.

Adding music to poetry adds an additional dimension the words’ emotional expression. Minino Garay takes his fascination with poetry and tango into another realm on his singular recording, Speaking Tango, as he pushes both mediums into uncharted territories. 

1. Amame Online

2. Estas Desorientado

3. Que Carajo

4. Señora Doña Igualdad

5. En lo mas Profundo de Ella

6. Boca con Boca

7. Solo con un Beso

8. No son los Muertos

9. Speaking Tango

10. Los Chicos de mi Barrio

11. Que lo Parió!

Minino Garay - voice, percussion

Andre Ceccarelli - drums (tracks 1, 6, 9, 11)

Pipi Piazzolla - drums (tracks 2, 5, 6, 10)

Christophe Wallemme - bass (tracks 1, 6, 9, 11)

Manu Codjia - guitar (tracks 1, 6, 8, 11)

Flavio Romero - bass (tracks 2, 3, 5, 10)

Jean Marie Ecay - guitar (track 3)

Hernan Jacinto - piano (tracks 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 9, 10)

Leo Genovese - piano, keyboards (tracks 4, 7, 8)

Melingo - voice (track 4)

David Linx - voice (track 7)

Alex Pandev - voice (track 6)

Magic Malik - flute, voice (tracks 8, 10)

PRE-ORDER

Apostolos Sideris Presents: Hane (February 2, 2022 Baruthane Productions)

‘Hane’ is the follow-up to bassist and composer Apostolos Sideris’ debut album ‘Σummation’. It signifies a different way to make and record music for the artist.

This time, Apostolos was forced, due to the reality of the past year and a half, to create an album based on his own recordings at his home studio. This process gave him the ability and freedom to overdub himself and others, each recording adding up to a multi-layered musical product.

He was able to build his music from the ground up, in a very contrapuntal way. The superimposition of various intricate rhythms and harmonies is what makes this album so special for him. In the process, he invited all members of his Σummation ensemble to participate here and there, in addition to working with a number of added special guests from different musical areas and styles.

The album starts with ‘Hidden Symmetry’, a short modern classical orchestral piece that acts as the intro to ‘Hane’. The album doesn’t waste time moving into very different directions, with ‘Up’, ‘Algorhythm’ and especially with the first single ‘In Between the Lines’, in which Apostolos is putting in effect his’ love for punchy rhythmic patterns. During those tracks, percussionist Sakir Ozan Uygan and drummer Dimitris Klonis are adding their crisp and imaginative percussive parts.

‘Love’s Song’ is possibly the most introspective piece, with it’s dark eastern melody and the beautiful playing by Andrea Romani on the ney, Fotini Kokkala on the kanun and Giannis Poulios on the violin. Compositions like ‘All the Senses Become One’ and ‘Frozen Like the Winter’ show the songwriting and vocal side of the composer’s musical universe. Lyrics in Greek were written by Mr. Sideris himself. ‘Geminal’ is a rather groovy piece on a quite intricate rhythmic pattern, with pianist Leo Genovese adding his fiery keyboard lines. It is also the only piece where Apostolos is the co-writer. Another highlight of the album is the Arabic-influenced ‘Grinding Game’ with Attab Haddad’s powerful and tasty oud adding to the flavor of the performance.

Pieces like ‘Alev’s Dance’ and ‘Work of Body’ are both based on bass and voice overdubs, with their mouth-drum parts painting their own groove. Improvisational jams like ‘Passage’ and ‘Back Beat’ show a more relaxed Apostolos, willing to let go and have some casual fun. The album notably ends with a pizzicato improvisation over a lush set of bowed basses offering a hypnotic drown, almost going back to where it started: The artist having a conversation with himself, slowly setting the rules to the musical game he set to create.

1. Hidden Symmetry (Intro)

2. Up

3. Algorhythm

4. In Between the Lines

5. Love's Song

6. Geminal

7. Kairos

8. Frozen Like

9. Baseline

10. Passage

11. Alev's Dance

12. All the Senses Become One

13. Work of Body

14. Back Beat

15. Grinding Game

16. Epilogue

Apostolos Sideris: upright and electric basses, vocals, drum programming and compositions

Sakir Ozan Uygan: percussion

Leo Genovese: keyboards

Andrea Romani: ney, flute

Giannis Poulios: violin

Dimitris Klonis: drums, electronics

Fotini Kokkala: kanun

Attab Haddad: oud

Costas Baltazanis: guitar

Sarp Maden: guitar

Tamer Temel: saxophones

New album coming soon in all streaming/download platforms

Scan code for the exclusive full album pack

Apostolos Sideris Website   Facebook   Spotify

Relief: A Benefit for the Jazz Foundation of America's Musicians’ Emergency Fund | Mack Avenue Music Group

AVAILABLE NOW, RELIEF: A BENEFIT FOR

THE JAZZ FOUNDATION OF AMERICA’S MUSICIANS’ EMERGENCY FUND

(PURCHASE/SHARE HERE)

 

An Unprecedented, Star-Studded Collection from

America’s Top Jazz Labels in Support of Musicians

Affected by the Pandemic

 

2-LP Set, CD and Digital Album Features Herbie Hancock,

Wallace Roney, Buster Williams, Jimmy Heath, Albert “Tootie” Heath, Joshua Redman, Christian McBride, IRMA and LEO (Esperanza Spalding & Leo Genovese), Cécile McLorin Salvant, Charles Lloyd, Hiromi, Kenny Garrett, Jon Batiste,

and Other Jazz Greats

A consortium of major jazz labels – Concord Music Group, Mack Avenue Music Group, Nonesuch Records, Universal Music Group’s Verve Label Group and Blue Note Records, and Warner Music Group – has taken the unprecedented step of joining hands for Relief, an all-star compilation of previously unreleased music on LP, CD and digitally November 12, continuing the non-profit Jazz Foundation of America’s (JFA) ongoing efforts to aid musicians affected by the international shutdown of venues and other performance opportunities in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. PURCHASE/SHARE HERE.

 

All net proceeds from the package – comprising studio and live tracks by top-flight jazz artists – will benefit the JFA’s Musicians’ Emergency Fund, established in the spring of 2020 after the pandemic ground the music industry to a sudden, catastrophic halt.

 

JFA executive director Joe Petrucelli says, “The Jazz Foundation of America deeply appreciates the artists, songwriters and label teams who contributed to this project with such compassion and generosity. As pandemic restrictions continue to lift, we recognize that musicians will face a particularly lengthy recovery. They were among the first to be hit by the effects of the crisis and will be among the last to achieve a true sense of normalcy or stability. We and our partners are here for the long haul.”

 

Relief commences with a recording that exemplifies the extreme challenges faced by musicians in the depths of the 2020 health emergency: “back to who,” a track by vocalist Esperanza Spalding and pianist Leo Genovese, recording as IRMA and LEO, was created remotely at home studios in Hillsboro, OR and Brooklyn, NY.

 

The compilation concludes with a live quintet performance captured at the JFA’s 2014 “A Great Night in Harlem” benefit show at New York’s historic Apollo Theater. It features pianist Herbie Hancock, trumpeter Wallace Roney, who died after contracting the coronavirus, bassist Buster Williams, drummer Albert “Tootie” Heath and tenor saxophonist Jimmy Heath, the composer of the number, who died at the age of 93 in January 2020, in a poignant version of “Gingerbread Boy.”

 

“I'm honored to be part of this meaningful project that supports the important work of the Jazz Foundation, who has always been there for musicians going through tough times. They have been an especially critical resource for the community during the pandemic, helping those in need of medical care, putting food on the table and paying their rent,” says Hancock. 

Offering a compact overview of jazz’s past, present, and future, the album also presents fresh tracks from bassist Christian McBride, vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant, saxophonists Kenny Garrett, Charles Lloyd, and Joshua Redman, pianist Hiromi Uehara, and pianist-vocalist Jon Batiste.



The set is merely the latest pandemic relief effort mounted under the aegis of the JFA’s Musicians’ Emergency Fund. 2020 benefit events included the virtual concert #TheNewGig in May, an international “Gershwin Global” online performance led by Israeli pianist Guy Mintus in July, and the Charlie Parker-themed “Bird Calls” streaming fundraiser in December.

 

Mack Avenue Music Group president Denny Stilwell, who spearheaded the formation of the label consortium with longtime JFA board member and entertainment lawyer Geoffrey Menin last spring, says, “We had met via conference call for about two months before the idea of putting an album together came up. The initial impetus was to raise money for the fund. Sometime around eight weeks in, Blue Note’s president, Don Was, said, ‘Why don’t we make a record? Let’s all contribute some tracks.’ There was a nanosecond of silence, and then everybody in our core group – including John Burk at Concord, Jamie Krents at Verve – said, ‘Yeah, let’s do it.’

 

“We all decided that we were going to look into the vaults and agreed that we wanted to have unreleased tracks…it just came together organically. Once we got all the music together, we traded some ideas and Joe Petrucelli, John Burk and Will Wakefield laid out the final sequence of how the tracks would flow. I think it works great!”

 

Relief marks the first appearance on record of a performance from one of the JFA’s annual benefits at the Apollo. (The 2020 “A Great Night in Harlem” show, which had been set for April 14, was postponed due to the COVID outbreak.)

 

Stilwell recalls, “Joe Petrucelli was pretty excited about including a live track. The thing that makes that track heartbreaking and relevant is the inclusion of Wallace Roney, who was one of the first of our community to pass from COVID. I think that track, which also features Jimmy Heath, who also left us last year, has some extra weight and meaning for all of us.”

 

In his notes for the album, Rolling Stone senior music editor Hank Shteamer writes, “Even in a pandemic, the jazz ecosystem – not just its practitioners and facilitators but those who value the music as a lifelong sustenance – has managed to summon grace, dignity and unexpected joy. That spirit extends to Relief, a compilation which continues the relief efforts undertaken last year. This album reflects the duality at the heart of jazz: It's a music of cooperation, of intuitive teamwork, that also leaves room for a broad array of personal idiosyncrasy. Differences of generation, heritage, methodology…strengthen the music's vast collective mesh.”

Album Tracklist:

1. IRMA and LEO back to who feat. Esperanza Spalding and Leo Genovese 4:41

2. Christian McBride Brother Malcolm 4:47                  

3. Cécile McLorin Salvant Easy Come, Easy Go Blues 2:32

4. Kenny Garrett Joe Hen’s Waltz 8:07

5. Jon Batiste Sweet Lorraine 3:52

6. Hiromi Green Tea Farm [2020 version] 7:52

7. Joshua Redman Facts feat. Ron Miles, Scott Colley, Brian Blade 3:39

8. Charles Lloyd & Kindred Spirits Lift Every Voice and Sing [live] 8:26

9. Herbie Hancock Gingerbread Boy feat. Wallace Roney, Jimmy Heath, Buster Williams, Albert “Tootie” Heath [live] 6:54

Relief – A Benefit for the Jazz Foundation of America's Musicians' Emergency Fund

Various Artists · Mack Avenue Records

For more information on Jazz Foundation of America, please visit:

JazzFoundation.org | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

PREORDER

Michael Feinberg’s HARD TIMES (w/ Orrin Evans, Jeff ‘Tain’ Watts) is out October 22 via Fresh Sound

Bassist Michael Feinberg Releases Provocative New Album HARD TIMES, due out October 22, 2021 via Fresh Sound

Bassist and composer Michael Feinberg issues Hard Times, out on October 22, his eighth album as a leader spotlighting a fiercely integrative sound. At once stark and uplifting, the Fresh Sounds release expresses his layered response to the pandemic that, “offered some challenging opportunities,” according to the New York-based artist, who contends Hard Times “is the culmination of those challenges and opportunities.”

Primed for spontaneous expansion, the collection of largely original compositions reflects an aesthetic containing multitudes. “It’s a pretty diverse album in terms of the music,” he says. “It’s pretty eclectic.” Serving as co-producer alongside Jordi Pujol, Feinberg booked David Amlen to record the music at Sound on Sound Studios in Jersey, and Michael Perez-Cisneros to mix and master the album at Big Orange Sheep. 

For Feinberg and his collaborators, Hard Times offers room to wail and room to contemplate and, at its core, room to stretch. As a result of the lockdown, he seized an opportunity to assemble a band of perennially touring artists, including Leo Genovese on keyboards and synths, Billy Buss on trumpet, Godwin Louis on alto, Noah Preminger on tenor, Gabriel Globus-Hoenig on percussion, Orrin Evans on piano and special guest Randy Brecker for one texturally lavish, melodious track. 

Once he secured Jeff “Tain” Watts for the studio date, Feinberg began composing much of the music as well as the arrangements with the drummer’s nuanced expression in mind. “He’s someone who I’ve listened to for so long and have such deep respect for,” says Feinberg. “I wanted to bring out elements of his playing I really like.” 

Partly for Tain, partly in service of his own expression, Feinberg sought to create a groove-driven album that welcomes dualities and apparent contradictions. “A lot of the interest I have in music comes from disparate worlds combining — the order in the chaos,” he says. “Not that it’s always chaos [laughs]; it can be beautiful, tranquil.” Hard Times presents structured concepts of patterns and groove, allowing Feinberg and his fellow artists to respond with an elasticity and a pervading freedom to take scripted music and spontaneous melodies wherever they mean to go. “It creates the tension and release within the ensemble,” he says, “rather than just with the notes on the page.” 

Photos of Michael Feinberg courtesy of the artist

From opening colors on track one’s dedication to master forgers Pei-Shen Qian and Rudy Kurniawan, Hard Times reveals inquiry within the music. In addition to his strength and subtlety on the kit, Tain’s attention to leaving and creating space for idea development persists across the album. Through his arrangement of “Nardis,” Feinberg seeks to honor the pivotal apprenticeship gig with Russell Gunn he landed when he was coming up in Atlanta. Full on the low-end, the groove swells and recedes, arcing the music from one section to the next. “Husafell Stone” hits the listener with a fullness up front. Taking the first solo, Evans allows the composition’s syncopated melody to serve as point of origin before Buss delivers his own swinging response. 

Twin McCoy tracks “Walk Spirit, Talk Spirit” and “Three Flowers” pay tribute to a recently departed hero of Feinberg’s, the latter piece featuring a dualism is his bass solo characteristic of the entire record: strength in sensitivity. “These performances are intended as a tribute to him, as well as keeping the flame lit for those who love his music,” he says in his album notes. Written as a feature for Louis and Buss, “Janky in the Middle” spotlights the artists’ interplay, offering each opportunities to play with, alongside and against what the other proffers. The resulting dialogue creates smaller arcs in the music that punctuate the movement of the tune. Feinberg has played together with both artists for the past decade and a half. “We have that comfort to take those chances,” he says, “knowing we can find our way back once we get out there [laughs].” 

Flush with lamentation, “Every. Damn. Day. (Burn it down blues)” acknowledges and honors the continued generational trauma inflicted on the Black community as a result of racism, police brutality and gun violence. “Lauren’s Song” features another of Feinberg’s beautiful and tender melodies. In his signature language, Brecker speaks in full voice on “Monkeys Never Cramp.” Concluding on a note of jubilance and healing, “Hard Times” features Feinberg’s resonating walk and swinging melodies. He admits, however, he can only make suggestions; in the moment, sound is fluid. “Everything’s always in flux in the music,” he says. “It can go anywhere at any time, and everyone in the band knows that so we’re ready for it.” 

Fresh Sound Records Website

Sean Conly -The Buzz (October 8, 2021 577 Records)

Exploring the iconic trio format, Sean Conly (Bass), Francisco Mela (Drums) and Leo Genovese (Piano) mix composition and improvised music into a shared language. Inspired by both contemporary and traditional musical arrangements, the musicians’ distinct inclinations blend together in playful form, delivered in an easy dialogue between the members of the trio. The Buzz’s 10 tracks are gentle and warm, displaying the comfort that the artists have with each other, and lending the album a similarly inviting aura throughout. This marks Sean Conly’s debut on 577 Records, the second album on the label for Leo Genovese (following Trio Sin Tiempo: Ritmos De Agua) and will be Francisco Mela’s third album on 577 Records, following MPT Trio (2021) and Music Frees Our Souls, Vol. 1 (2021). The Buzz will be available as a LP, CD and digitally on October 8, 2021.

1. The Jake Leg video

2. Good Idea 

3. In The Stretch

4. Euterpe

5. From C to Sea

6. The Buzz

7. Sweetie Pie

8. Flower (bonus track) 

9. Shades

10. Send In The Clowns 03:06

Sean Conly: Bass

Leo Genovese: Piano

Francisco Mela: Drums

Recorded on October 7, 2020 by Chris Sulit at Trading Eights Studio, Paramus, New Jersey

Mixed and mastered by Eivind Opsvik

Cover photo by Reuben Radding

Inner photos by Peter Gannushkin

Graphic design by Sergio Vezzali

PREORDER

Leo Genovese / Mariano Otero / Sergio Verdinelli - Trio Sin Tiempo: Ritmos de Agua (2021 577 Records)

In Ritmos de Agua, longtime friends and jazz musicians Leo Genovese, Mariano Otero and Sergio Verdinelli explore the power and potentiality of water. Contextualizing their aesthetic inspirations within the historical and the metaphorical, the 12 tracks allude to the very tangible rise of civilizations, rich natural ecologies and the singular fluidity of water that moves through their art. Appealing to genres like Chamame, Chamarrita, Tango and Candombe, the musicians draw from the experience of water, its fluidity and its steady tidal rhythms. While water never dances the same way twice, its amorphous predictability can be felt in the repetitive sensation of waves, or the meditative course of a stream—a feeling the musicians mirror in their varied compositions and gentle deliveries on piano, drums and bass. Speaking to their project, they collectively affirm, “Water is a musical entity, and we’d like to be like water.” 

This project marks Leo Genovese’s and Trio Sin Tiempo’s debut on 577 Records. Ritmos de Agua will be available in August 2021 digitally and in CD format.

1. Battle of Adwa 03:09

2. Bety 03:25

3. Los Pajaros 04:39

4. Al Final Era Un Blues 03:44

5. Penumbra 03:35

6. Otra Cosita 02:31

7. Jack Palance 02:40

8. Hiedra 03:30

9. Danza Azul 02:47

10. Molay Bedra 04:40

11. Danza Trianu 02:36

12. Motian 01:47

Leo Genovese Piano

Mariano Otero Bass

Sergio Verdineli Drums

Recorded March 6, 2021 by Mariano Otero at Estudio Insigno, Buenos Aires

Mixed by Mariano Otero

Mastered by Paco Amenabar

Artwork by Gonzalo Elvira

Graphic design by Philip Marshall

PREORDER

Brian Kastan - Conversation Colors (June 2021)

Conversation Colors is an improvised double album that was recorded live at Continuum Fine Art & Photography on March 24th 2021. This recording is the 1st time all of us played together as a group. The music ranges from extreme color space to hard hitting grooves and anything in between...

1. Spectrum 16:48

2. Lost Conversation 03:02

3. The Meeting 10:42

4. Conversation Colors 16:36

5. Colors of My Alpha Waves 20:09

6. I'd Rather Look at the Clouds 07:22

7. I Will Meet You There 08:02

Brian Kastan - Guitar

Juini Booth - Upright Bass

Leo Genovese - Keys

George Spanos - Drums

Recorded by Brian Kastan at Continuum Fine Art & Photography

Mixed and Mastered by Kamilo Kratc

Album cover by Brian Kastan

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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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Takashi Sugawa Trio - Outgrowing (November 21, 2018)

Takashi Sugawa plays cello and contrabass. He born in Japan in 1982. Boston - Brooklyn, NY - currently live in Tokyo. Please visit my website for details.

takashisugawa.com

Takashi Sugawa: contrabass (02, 05, 07), cello (01, 03, 04, 06, 08

Leo Genovese: piano

Tom Rainey: drums

1. First Meeting

2. Outgrowing

3. Violincello

4. Short Story Long

5. Motion

6. Izayoi

7. Ancient Blue

8. Uncompleted Waltz

Produced by Takashi Sugawa

Recorded September 2017 at The Bunker Studio, Brooklyn NY | Engineer: Akihiro Nishimura | Assistant: Todd Carter | Mixed and mastered at Dedé AIR Mastering Studio, Tokyo | Mixing engineer: Shunroku Hitani | Mastering engineer: Akihito Yoshikawa 

Nicolás Vera - Mitos del Sur (ACONCAGUA RECORDS 2017)

“En 'Mitos del Sur', el innovador trío Genovese, Vera y Lecaros se suscribe a la idea de que la música de vanguardia no necesita ser abrasiva, iconoclasta o frenética. De hecho, puede ser hasta hermosa. Nada satisface como una actuación musical bien ejecutada y, a lo largo de esta excursión, el trío crea con gusto y estilo. Vera y Genovese alternan en asumir la prominencia que tradicionalmente incumbe al pianista. Sin embargo, hay mucho espacio para que todos se expresen en su momento, tanto en acompañamiento como en solitario. Una serie de improvisaciones cortas del percusionista Lecaros en duetos con Genovese o Vera encajan perfectamente en la secuencia de las pistas, con vivos contrastes en la densidad, que agregan una capa de drama.” –Roberto Barahona

Mitos del sur es una confraternidad sonora chileno-argentina que desde la improvisación busca la verdad radioactiva, la luz mala y nuevas dimensiones en las leyendas de nuestros abuelos. Inspirados por el futuro presente, las realidades sociales, la música sin reglas, el barrio, las creencias de nuestro sur y el vuelo del condor, los poetas silenciosos son impulsados por la fuerza del mayor centinela continental, el Aconcagua, para compartir desde la nada un repertorio original que habla de sus ambientes de viajeros, bailadores y amantes de las artes ocultas. Algo así como una flor para los ciegos.

Nicolas Vera (37), is a guitarist and composer born in Concepción (Chile). 

Since 2003 he has published 5 albums as a leader as well as many collaborations: “Chile Finlandia Connection”, “La Resistencia” among others.

He has toured/played with Greg Osby, Aaron Parks, Drew Gress, Melissa Aldana, Leo Genovese, André Sumelius, Glenn Zaleski, Jure Pukl, Gianni Gagliardi, Rodrigo Recabarren...

1 Silent Poets 02:17

2 Mitos del Sur 02:44

3 Ella 07:01

4 Aguas Radioactivas 02:46

5 (anti) Law Writers 02:39

6 Nuevas Dimensiones 01:57

7 Luz Mala 12:37

8 Futuro Presente 02:46

9 Bichos Groove 02:22

10 Bellavista 01:53

Nicolás Vera, guitarra

Leo Genovese, piano & teclados

Félix Lecaros, batería

Dave Zinno Unisphere - River of January (WHALING CITY SOUND 2017)

The songs on Dave Zinno Unisphere’s River of January are lavish jazz adventures, rich with texture, ripe with melodicism, and simply joyful audio journeys. The band is spectacular: Unisphere includes the talents of sax man Mike Tucker (Arturo Sandoval), drummer Rafael Barata (Milton Nascimento, Marc Johnson), Leo Genovese (Joe Lovano, Esperanza Spaulding), and Crescent City trumpeter Benny Bloom. Zinno leads them the way a hopeless romantic treats a first love: gently, understanding and worshipful. He glorifies his accompanists and allows them to go on at length, indulging their considerable talents and making River of January a wall of glorious of sound.

This isn’t to say that it’s stodgy. Zinno infuses the work with progress. The band takes the vibe of traditional jazz and reverses the paradigm, so the songs, while familiar, certainly don’t remain the same. There are many highlights here, and while it wouldn’t be a waste of space to speak about them individually, it would be easier to say that these tunes all include rushes of adrenaline, sweetness of melody and serious elements of style. River of January is a work of forward thinking tradition and one that has much substance within it to discover.

1 Babycakes

2 Remember When

3 Petra Hippie

4 Inverno Sem Rio

5 Little Lilli

6 Recife Blues

7 Wichita Lineman

8 South End Blues

9 Rapanui

10 Um a Zero

Dave Zinno - double bass

Mike Tucker - tenor saxophone

Leo Genovese - piano melodica

Rafael Barata - drums

Eric " Benny" Bloom - trumpet

Leo Genovese Trio - Trippeiros (Live at Porta-Jazz) 2017

1. Makedonsko 05:57

2. Ethiopian Blues 05:49

3. Hoshereq 08:55

4. Signs of Transcendence 06:10

5. Reflections 07:51

6. South 07:10

Leo Genovese - Piano

Demian Cabaud - Acoustic Bass

Francisco Mela - Drums

Leo Genovese's Argentinosaurus out December 1st on NEWVELLE RECORDS

Newvelle Records is incredibly excited to announce the release our final record from our first season of releases:  Argentinosaurus by Leo Genovese. Leo is a fearless, visionary pianist whose peerless technique is matched by an incredeble generosity of spirit.  Perhaps that's why Leo has performed with almost every luminary Jazz master you can name.

  This is an album of all original music recorded with the extraordinary talents of Esperanza Spalding on Bass and Vocals and Jazz Master (and Newvelle Godfather) Jack DeJohnette on the drums. This one's on fire.

The Complete Season One Box Set, now available on our Kickstarter

If you're already a member of Newvelle Records, you know what we're about: we're dedicated to building a label that cuts no corners sonically and aesthetically and allows musicians to control their own rights over the music, while providing a product that is beautiful and exclusive.

The complete box set of our first season is now available.  Our Kickstarter is up for one more week.  If you were hesitating to join, now's the time and if you know any music lovers, this box set makes a unique gift.  Join on our Kickstarter in order to get the box in time for the holidays.  And take a look at what we have in store for Season Two!

Leo Genovese's Argentinosaurus

Our first release of Season Two is a

record of all Brazillian music led by

legendary bassist John Patitucci

with Yotam Silberstein on guitar

and Rogerio Boccata on percussion

The second release of Season Two

features Lionel Loueke and Kevin

Hays showing some super-human

telepathy on an album of all original material