In August of 2021, Eric Harland, Matt Brewer and I got together for an impromptu recording session. We didn’t rehearse, or talk much about the music, or listen back after takes; after such a long period of pandemic isolation and remote music-making, it felt restorative to just play in real time without any agenda. The three of us have been friends for over twenty years now and have a deep history both on and off the bandstand, and I think that you can hear that sense of fellowship in the music. There’s something playful and imperfect and joyous and raw in these recordings, and we hope they bring some measure of happiness to you as you listen.
1. Greetings 06:31
2. All The Things You Are 07:18
3. Aspiring to Normalcy 09:13
4. Centering 03:51
5. Maiden 09:13
6. Eleftheria 07:02
7. Of Our Time 05:42
Aaron Parks, piano
Matt Brewer, bass
Eric Harland, drums
Recorded by Josh Guinta at GSI Studios
Mixed by Chris Allen
Mastered by Nate Wood
"Greetings" and "Eleftheria" are by Aaron Parks
"All The Things You Are" is by Jerome Kern & Oscar Hammerstein II
"Aspiring to Normalcy" and "Of Our Time" are by Matt Brewer
Nonesuch Records releases pianist and composer Tigran Hamasyan’s StandArt —his first album of American standards— on April 29, 2022. StandArt includes songs from the 1920s through the 1950s, by Richard Rodgers, Charlie Parker, Jerome Kern, David Raksin, and others; it also includes a piece Hamasyan improvised with his bandmates —bassist Matt Brewer and drummer Justin Brown —and trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, who is featured on two of the album’s tracks. Other special guests include saxophonist and label-mate Joshua Redman on Charlie Parker’s “Big Foot,” as well as saxophonist Mark Turner on Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein’s “All the Things You Are.” Produced by Hamasyan and recorded last spring in Los Angeles, StandArt is Hamasyan’s first release of American music, having previously only released original compositions and traditional Armenian music.
1. De-Dah
2. I Didn't Know What Time It Was
3. Tigran Hamasyan, Mark Turner - All the Things You Are (feat. Mark Turner)
You’ve most likely seen him perform, be it Newport Jazz Fest, Village Vanguard Orchestra, or on a late night TV show with Michael Buble. Mark Small has been an award winning sideman for numerous groups in all genres, free jazz to pop, that have an inkling of improvisation to them. He has co-lead groups with fellow musicians such as Walter Smith III and Jeremy Udden. He has finally taken the plunge and released a record of his own titled One Day.
“I’ve been extremely lucky to have played with so many wonderful musicians for so long. I’ve gotten to fulfill most of my dreams such as playing at the iconic Village Vanguard, performing at Madison Square Garden, and traveling the world over. I felt it was time I made a statement of my own.”Small continues, “I thought it would be amazing to reconnect with two friends who both perform frequently together. I hadn’t had the opportunity to play with Matt Brewer and Damion Reid in years so this recording became the catalyst.”
Recorded in one day, the trio explores Mark’s original compositions that had been written here and there over the course of years. He’s a traditionalist with an itch to experiment so it comes as no surprise that these songs cover a wide swath range of styles, from the straight ahead swing of the blues tribute to a major influence titled “Sonny”, the Frisell-like laid-back groove of “Tumbleweed”, to the ECM inspired “Charmer”. Each song creating its own little universe.
Recorded and mixed in New York City at Samurai Hotel Recording Studio by David Stoller, Small says “I couldn’t be happier with the way David captured the sound and performance. The studio has such a warm and intimate atmosphere which is really what the songs and the trio format is all about to me. I love performing in a trio, being able to hear every single nuance from the other players around you, being able to shift at a moments notice wherever the music takes you. These musicians and this studio really made that possible in the best way”.
Six buildings in close proximity with families living one on top of another within a constant melee of sound, including music of all sorts. This is the public housing of Santiago de Cuba, known locally as cuartería. These apartments and their confederation of people and sounds serve as the inspiration to saxophonist and composer Román Filiú’s new musical suite and subsequent recording, Quarteria. Growing up in the far eastern province of Cuba, Filiú was aware of music all around him. His father was a music theory teacher who encouraged his son to explore classical music scores. Filiú’s own musical studies began with classical piano before he focused on the saxophone. While visiting his friends who lived in the local cuartería, the budding musician was exposed to a wide variety of sounds of Cuban extraction, including liturgical music for Bembé, conga oriental, tumba francesa, classical, jazz, and popular music, the cuartería was Filiú’s own musical Tower of Babel. Filiú left Santiago de Cuba some time ago. He continued his studies in Camagüey and at the Instituto Superior de Arte in Havana. He lived and played locally in Havana, including a stint in jazz super group Irakere, before he moved to Madrid, where he lived for seven years. Filiú has been in New York since 2011 and has made his mark on the jazz scene as a bandleader, composer, instrumentalist and collaborator of note, playing alongside well-known musicians like Henry Threadgill, Steve Coleman and Dafnis Prieto. Upon receiving a commissioning and residency grant from The Jazz Gallery of New York City, Filiú was able to compose his Quarteria. His goal was to create a suite of music that involved an eclectic range of musical styles performed by a diverse group of musicians. In composing, Filiú utilized a number of methods, including writing by transcribing piano improvisations, playing his saxophone, singing the melody or even without the influence of an instrument, putting his thoughts straight to paper. Through the entire process, Filiú made sure that the pieces served improvisation. The ensemble grew out of Filiú’s intention to have as full a sound as possible with as compact an assemblage as he could muster. The ensemble ended up as a septet with an additional horn on two pieces, all members being brilliant stylists and improvisers well-versed in a variety of musical traditions.
Trumpeter Ralph Alessi has been a frequent collaborator with Filiú in Dafnis Prieto’s band, the two having originally met while the trumpeter traveled with Steve Coleman to Havana. Dayna Stephens’ s sonorous tenor saxophone is a perfect foil for Filiú’s alto. Also from Santiago de Cuba, pianist David Virelles has been a long time collaborator and is responsible here for widening the ensemble’s panoramic sound. Bassist Matt Brewer was a must for his steady rhythm and expert time, while drummer Craig Weinrib is equally adept in support and widely steeped in rhythmic traditions from all over the world. The suite begins with the staggering “Fulcanelli,” the piece inspired by its namesake’s study of the sacred geometry of cathedrals and which utilizes symmetry within its compositional makeup. Olivier Messiaen’s compositional style informed “Grass,” which was written away from the piano and utilizes expanded voicings between the three horns and the piano. The title of “Harina Con Arena” refers to the period of Russian withdrawal from Cuba in the 1990s and the food crisis that followed where there developed a common practice of adding sand to the cornmeal sold to the population. The piece is meant to have the jilting feeling of biting into that unexpected texture. Utilizing hints from his choir director brother, Filiú wrote the beautiful “Choral” with formal voice leading, lending to the shifting harmonies within the instruments. On his week long Jazz Gallery residency at the Pocantico Center in Tarrytown, New York, Filiú composed three danzas at the piano: the improvised “Danza #5,” the Messiaen influenced “Danza #1,” and “Danza #3,” which was inspired by the rhythms of his childhood neighborhood comparsa ensemble, San Pedrito. The wonderfully disjointed “Glass” uses one melody, which is delayed a half beat between the parts, creating a unique counterpoint. The stately “Imperator” mirrors the walk of an old Haitian refugee who lived near Filiú’s childhood home and who used to help the young saxophonist carry his horn home from school. Saxophonist Maria Grand appears on “For Horns and Bells,” which is a chorale and an experiment in conduction and voice leading. The final two pieces came from an idea to create crazy names and then write music for them. “Tursten” is a mysteriously laconic piece, while “Kaijufrem” is aggressive and utilizes a compositional system devised by Filiú in which he assigns a note to each letter of the name but then allows the structure to mutate from there. The metaphor of a large edifice with people from of all walks of life comingling with the soundtrack of the music of Cuba is fitting for Roman Filiú’s Quarteria, which is an exceptional example of a lifetime’s exposure and dedication to the study of music in all its forms, coalescing into a moving musical experience.
An energized and impassioned studio session from New York-based Slovenian saxophonist Jure Pukl, Croatian pianist Matija Dedić and their quartet with bassist Matt Brewer and drummer Johnathan Blake brings new release, Hybrid, to the Whirlwind label.Pukl’s prolific ascendancy of the international jazz scene has resulted in numerous solo and sideman recordings, recognised in 2015 by the attainment of Slovenia’s highest national arts award. His collaborations include names such as Branford Marsalis, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Dave Liebman and Vijay Iyer; and like-minded colleague Matija Dedić’s varied career has seen him perform with artists including Larry Grenadier, John Hollenbeck, Jeff Ballard and Kendrick Scott.
Across a venturesome sixty-seven minutes of mostly original numbers, the individual compositions of both Pukl and Dedić stimulate a fiery, improvisational spirit throughout the quartet, their respect for tradition translating into a spontaneous, contemporary context which also embraces elements of free jazz. Pukl relates the story that, as a funk-loving youth in Slovenia, he asked his father to return from a business trip in Munich with Maceo Parker records, only to be mistakenly brought vinyls by (to him, at the time) the unknown and perplexing Charlie Parker. But after a week, the saxophonist fell in love with them, closely followed by the sounds of John Coltrane and Stan Getz/João Gilberto: “These are artists and recordings I still recognize as my inspiration”.
The immediacy of these live studio takes is palpable, from the sprawling fast swing of title track ‘Hybrid’ to journeying ‘Where Are You Coming From And Where Are You Going?’ (the latter being Pukl’s focus-pull on his development as a musician, ranging from its classically-suggested opening structure, through unconfined bass cadenza, to a spiky, irregularly-metred vamp). The repeated harmonic and rhythmic figures of ‘Sequence II’ (dual tenors introducing guest saxophonist Melissa Aldana) and ‘Sequence III’ offer freedom of expression through distinctly different atmospheres; and four-bar vamp ‘Spinning Thoughts’ entwines boisterous ideas from a single, elegant tenor motif. Dedić’s ‘Hempburger’ and ‘Plan B’ highlight this quartet’s traditional influences with vigor, his own chordal piano foundation and rolling solos prominent throughout whilst featuring scintillating percussion from Johnathan Blake; and in a beautiful tune dedicated to Dedić’s late father, ‘Family’s obvious warmth is enhanced by Matt Brewer’s bass searching combined with ravishing tenor imaginings from Aldana. Initially quizzical ‘False Accusations’ eventually sparkles with boisterous positivity, Pukl’s tenor gliding across its choppy waters; and the late-hours first-take flow of Ornette Coleman’s ‘Lonely Woman’ simmers to misterioso piano and bass clarinet. “There’s a really good vibe and energy between the four of us, so we got into some special moments on this record”, recalls Pukl. “We all know each other well and feel connected; and also it’s challenging and fun to play alongside Melissa. I’ve always loved performing and, for me, this album reflects both my musical and personal worlds. I always imagine and see music as pictures, so perhaps others might also get into some deeper thoughts – about themselves, about the world they live in – as they listen.”
1. Hybrid 05:06
2. Where Are You Coming From And Where Are You Going 08:42
Moments Captured is trumpeter Alex Sipiagin's third Criss Cross date to feature a three-horn lineup, after Equilibrium (Criss 1257) in 2004 and Destinations Unknown (Criss 1336) in 2011. While the earlier discs featured David Binney on alto, here it is the fiery Will Vinson displaying his prodigious talents alongside the leader and master tenorist Chris Potter. Rounding out the lineup on this exploratory all-original session are the players from Sipiagin's 2015 album Balance 38-58 (Criss 1378): John Escreet on piano and keyboards, Matt Brewer on bass, and Eric Harland on drums. The intricate, polyphonic aspect of Sipiagin's writing continues to flower and grow, but it is Escreet's extensive use of the Prophet 6 synthesizer that marks this album's biggest departure. Wringing a seemingly limitless array of tonal colors from the instrument, Escreet gives Sipiagin's music a refreshing and wholly unpredictable edge.
1. Evija Bridge (Alex Sipiagin) 11:09
2. Moments From The Past (Alex Sipiagin / Alina Engibaryan) 10:02
3. Unexpected Reversal (Alex Sipiagin) 10:07
4. Blues For Mike (Alex Sipiagin) 11:00
5. Breeze (Alex Sipiagin) 5:16
6. Bergen Road (Alex Sipiagin) 8:39
7. Dream (Alex Sipiagin) 9:22
Total Time: 65:40
Recorded September 21, 2016 in Brooklyn, NY, USA by Michael Marciano
In the years between the two World Wars, the Dada movement questioned, altered, teased and undermined the very idea of art. A century later, trumpeter Dave Douglas and pianist Frank Woeste draw inspiration from that “art of reinvention” with their collaborative album Dada People, due out October 2016 via Greenleaf Music. Perhaps no single artist embodies Dada’s slippery juxtapositions quite like Man Ray. Both French and American, commercial and avant-garde, Jewish by birth and mysterious by design, Man Ray epitomized the conflicting personae and attitudes that have come to define so much of the modern art world of the last century. Bridging the Atlantic through support from the French American Jazz Exchange, Douglas and Woeste explore those concepts through a 21st century lens, realized by a stellar quartet rounded out by bassist Matt Brewer and drummer Clarence Penn.
Recorded at The Samurai Hotel Recording Studio, Astoria NY on January 21-22, 2015.
Recording Engineered by David Stoller
Mixed and Mastered by Tyler McDiarmid
Artwork and Design by Russell Moore
Photography credit: Portrait of Man Ray and Salvador Dali, Paris. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs
Division, Carl Van Vechten Collection, LC-USZ62-42535
Clarence Penn plays Canopus drums, Aquarian heads and Zildjian cymbals and sticks.
Thanks to Matt and Clarence, David Stoller, Tyler McDiarmid, Mark Micklethwaite, Jakob Flarer at Saudades Tourneen, Reno di Matteo at Anteprima Productions, the French American Jazz Exchange and the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation.
Thanks also to Ibrahim Maalouf, Emmanuel Morlet, Sara Donnelly, Jeannette Vuocolo, Angela Morris, Lia, Oscar, Leon and Clara.
DADA PEOPLE has been made possible through the French-American Jazz Exchange, a joint program of FACE Foundation and Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, with generous funding from the Cultural Services of the French Embassy, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Florence Gould Foundation, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Institut Français, Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication and Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs de Musique (“SACEM”).
On the heels of his critically-acclaimed Criss Cross debut, Mythology (Criss 1373 CD), bassist Matt Brewer presents an inspired quintet recording, convening tenor saxophonist Ben Wendel, pianist Aaron Parks, guitarist Charles Altura, and drummer Tyshawn Sorey -- all top-of-the-pyramid under-40 improvisers and consequential composers in their own right -- to perform a nine-tune program that includes seven Brewer originals, and reimagined versions of Bill Frisell's "Twenty Years" and Charlie Parker's "Cheryl". Having garnered wide acclaim as a sideman playing the challenging music of such major figures as Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Greg Osby, Steve Coleman and Vijay Iyer, among others, Brewer displays not only his lyric gifts and virtuoso instrumental prowess, but his ability to convey his intentions by allowing his bandmates freedom to express their perspectives within the flow of his ideas.
01. Juno (Matt Brewer) 4:41
02. Unspoken (Matt Brewer) 6:53
03. Twenty Years (Bill Frisell) 4:03
04. Lunar (Matt Brewer) 9:08
05. Evil Song (Matt Brewer) 3:00
06. Cheryl (Charlie Parker) 8:06
07. Anthem (Matt Brewer) 6:10
08. Aspiring To Normalcy (Matt Brewer) 8:38
09. Tesuque (Matt Brewer) 5:27
Matt Brewer, bass
Ben Wendel, tenor sax
Charles Altura, guitar
Aaron Parks, piano
Tyshawn Sorey, drums
Total Time: 56:25
Recorded February 19, 2016 in Brooklyn, NY, USA by Joe Marciano
