NEW RELEASE + NEWS: Bill O’Connell Announces New Album + GRAMMY® Nomination ('A Change is Gonna Come' - January 28, 2022 - Savant Records)

GRAMMYⓇ Nominated Pianist, Composer and Arranger Bill O’Connell Announces the Release of A Change Is Gonna Come, A Jazz Luminary’s Musings on a Fraught World, Out January 28, 2022 via Savant Records

Savant Records is pleased to announce the January 28, 2022 release of A Change is Gonna Come, the powerful new release from esteemed pianist, composer, arranger and newly-minted GRAMMYⓇ nominee Bill O’Connell. This particular moment in history is a fraught one; A Change Is Gonna Come brings that point home with impassioned music reacting to the rampant racial and political injustice and pandemic-fueled turmoil of the present moment. A Change is Gonna Come features O’Connell alongside bassist Lincoln Goines, drummer Steve Jordan, percussionist Pedrito Martinez, and special guest Craig Handy tenor and soprano saxophone.

Lauded for his boundless, uncompromising prowess in the realm of Latin jazz, O’Connell’s fruitful musical journey began in 1977 when O’Connell began his tenure as the keyboardist for the legendary Mongo Santamaria’s Latin jazz band. A departure from the clavé-driven Latin jazz pocket that so often permeates O’Connell’s work, the pianist is heard here displaying his remarkable facility in the straight-ahead jazz idiom. The release of A Change is Gonna Come comes as O’Connell is fresh off the heels of his thrilling GRAMMYⓇ nomination for ‘Best Arrangement (Instrumental or A Capella)’ for the song “Chopsticks” on Richard Barratta’s album Music in Film: The Reel Deal.

This impassioned release is intrinsically tied to the unique and trying times in which it was created. O’Connell remarks: “I look at recordings this way: each one is a snapshot of how I’m feeling at this particular time in my life... Each song reflects a different feeling at a particular moment.” The pianist and composer channels his frustration, anger and grief for the medical, racial, economic and political turmoil that plagues our country into electrifying compositions that feature the masterful interplay of this tightly-knit outfit of jazz notables.

It was while performing with Sonny Rollins that the pianist first crossed paths with renowned drummer Steve Jordan. “We had an immediate chemistry going, but it was short-lived—about a month. Ever since then we’ve been trying to get together on a project. I finally called him up and I said, ‘Steve, I think it’s time.’ So he was into it, and we finally got it together to do this, so I’m very pleased that he’s on the record,” O’Connell notes. Jordan, who recently joined The Rolling Stones in place of the late Charlie Watts, is the album's co-producer.

A more frequent presence on O’Connell’s dates is bassist Lincoln Goines, with whom he spent some thirty-odd years in flutist Dave Valentin’s rhythm section—before he became the pianist’s go-to bassist. “Lincoln and I have a long musical relationship, and I can’t say enough about what he brings to my music,” he says. “I love what he does on both acoustic and electric bass.” Guest saxophonist Craig Handy puts rich veins of both adventure and soul into O’Connell’s compositions, A Change is Gonna Come is the third album of O’Connell’s that features Handy. The pair first worked together in trombonist Conrad Herwig’s Latin Side big band… which is where O’Connell first encountered Pedrito Martinez, the record’s other guest. 

O’Connell stirs the grey-matter with thoughtful original compositions such as “A Prayer For Us”. The piece is a vulnerable, gospel-inspired number. “I didn’t write it out this way, but you could also think of it as ‘A Prayer for U.S.,’” O’Connell muses, looking back on episodes of turmoil that fell through his country like dominoes. His improvising on the tune’s gentle swing has a bittersweet cast; one isn’t sure whether to be sad or hopeful. Perhaps that’s appropriate, too. “Covid Blues” is a B-flat blues with a plaintive soprano line that captures the anxiety, the ennui, the claustrophobia we’ve all been cycling through. Yet in its playful three-way duel between O’Connell, Handy, and Jordan, it also has a glimmer of hope. “We have to remain optimistic in the crazy time we’re going through,” says O’Connell. “Sun For Sonny” is a tip-of-the-hat to the great Sonny Rollins who once employed each member of the trio. The calypso groove and “St. Thomas” quote in O’Connell’s melody was your answer. It’s also suitably (for a Rollins tribute) percussive—with Martinez returning and Goines switching to the electric bass—and suitably sunny and danceable. After Handy and O’Connell reinforce that feeling in their solos, Goines and Martinez double down on it with two rounds of upbeat funk.

“Moment’s Notice”, which opens the album, is filled with nuance, immediacy and harmonic intrigue. The group takes the classic piece into funk territory which O’Connell indicates is about not wasting valuable resources. “Steve Jordan is one of the greatest funk drummers on the earth. If I didn’t have him playing some funk in there, it’s almost a crime.” For their solos, however, O’Connell, Goines, and Jordan ease off the gas a bit; there’s still plenty of swing, but also plenty of space.” The Sam Cooke anthem for which this album is titled “A Change is Gonna Come” arrives in an arrangement that O’Connell first wrote years ago for Charles Fambrough. It’s charged with gospel but also a surprising delicacy: a vulnerable aspect that tempers the song’s built-in resolve. If anything, the issues the song grappled with 60 years ago have only intensified since. The pianist takes centerstage with a jubilant solo on “My Foolish Heart” which once again features Jordan’s brilliant funk drumming within a sublime arrangement by O’Connell. 

As jazz journalist Michael J. West remarks in the album’s liner notes “It’s what artists do: process the darker aspects of our lives and world into something beautiful and worth holding on to. If it’s true that a change is gonna come, it will be all of us who will have to make it. But it will be the gifts of people like Bill O’Connell who shine their lights on the path to that change.”

1. Moment's Notice 8:08

2. Loco-Motive 6:06

3. Covid Blues 5:08

4. A Change is Gonna Come 6:37

5. Sun for Sonny 4:21

6. Enough is Enough 7:51

7. Sweet Peanut 6:13

8. A Prayer for Us 7:10

9. Chaos 5:11

10. My Foolish Heart 4:40

Bill O'Connell – all arrangements, piano & Fender Rhodes

Craig Handy – tenor & soprano saxophone

Lincoln Goines – acoustic & electric bass

Steve Jordan – drums

Pedrito Martinez – percussion

Release date: January 28, 2022 - Savant Records (SCD 2197)

NEWS: Pianist Bill O’Connell Celebrates GRAMMY® Nomination for Composition “Chopsticks” on Richard Baratta’s Music in Film: The Reel Deal

“Chopsticks” is nominated for Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella at the 64th GRAMMY® Awards

“Chopsticks,” the fourth track off of drummer Richard Baratta’s album Music in Film: The Reel Deal, which was released in September of 2020 on Savant Records, has received a GRAMMY® Nomination for Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella. The song was arranged by the record’s music director, the masterful jazz pianist Bill O’Connell. The 64th annual GRAMMY® Awards will take place on January 31, 2022 in Los Angeles. 

Baratta, who has spent over three decades as a Hollywood film producer, celebrates the coalescence of his two artistic worlds of film and jazz on Music in Film, an assortment of songs notably used in major motion pictures such as Mrs. Doubtfire, Midnight Cowboy, Big and The Wizard of Oz. O’Connell’s killer Latin arrangement of the Euphemia Allen composition “Chopsticks” is a tribute to the classic Tom Hanks-Robert Loggia piano dance scene from the movie Big which Baratta also worked on. On the track, the band blazes through a bright-tempoed montuno, adding melodic and rhythmic intrigue to the classic piano piece.

“It’s always fun for me to conceptualize a song in a way that no one has ever heard it,” O’Connell shares. “That was my thought when Richard Baratta asked me if I could arrange “Chopsticks”… I surrounded the tune with a deep Latin vibe, a few new harmonies and melodies and the band gave a great performance. I am so appreciative of this Grammy nomination.” 

“For this album to be nominated for a Grammy… well that’s off the charts,” Baratta added. “‘Thrilled’ falls far short of describing my emotion.” 

Baratta’s dazzling work across so many artistic genres over the years has not gone unnoticed. He was recently interviewed by Jazziz Magazine to discuss his music portfolio and film production credits, which include the Academy Award nominated films The Irishman, Donnie Brasco, Joker and The Wolf of Wall Street. 

Pianist Bill O’Connell has enjoyed a 40-year long career as a leader, soloist, arranger, musical director, and accompanist for some of the most celebrated names in jazz and Latin music including Sonny Rollins, Chet Baker, Mongo Santamaria, Gato Barbieri, and Emily Remler. O’Connell is a four-time recipient of the “Jazz Writer of the Year” award from SESAC, the performing rights organization and is presently a member of the jazz faculty at Rutgers University. His upcoming album, A Change Is Gonna Come is slated for release on January 28, 2022 via Savant Records.

Richard Baratta and Bill O’Connell are represented by Redwood Entertainment.

SWR Big Band / Magnus Lindgren & John Beasley - Bird Lives (November 12, 2021 ACT Music)

2020 wasn’t just Beethoven’s year, it was also the centenary of Charlie Parker’s birth. And if it hadn’t been for the pandemic, the world would have seen notices of all kinds of major concerts to celebrate the legacy of Bird (as Charlie Parker was known), one of the giants of jazz; one of the great musical innovators of the 20th century; the co-inventor of bebop; and probably the most important and influential saxophonist in jazz.

The "Bird Lives" music on this new album was to have been recorded and premiered by the SWR Big Band a couple of months before Charlie Parker’s 100th anniversary, which was on August 29, 2020. The world premiere was scheduled at the iconic Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles - which seats 18,000 people - with co-arranger and conductor, John Beasley and his six-time GRAMMY-award nominated MONK’estra Big Band with a string section during the week leading up to Bird’s centenary. Both of those dates were lost to Covid, but the recording, a commission from the SWR Big Band, and with a stellar roster of guest artists, was able to develop at a much more measured pace. When safety rules permitted, the musicians met to record in Stuttgart mid November 2020.

The extra time enabled the collaborative partnership of Swedish saxophonist Magnus Lindgren and American pianist John Beasley as co-arrangers to imagine further and dive deeper. Lindgren and Beasley met at the Jakarta Jazz Festival in Indonesia 5 years ago. That sparked an invitation to have Sweden’s Blue House Big Band to play MONK’estra’s music. A bond was formed because of the mutual admiration for each other’s unique style of arranging. Both musicians were keen to find a project to work seamlessly together in the unusual guise of co-arrangers. "For both of us it was our first time arranging as a team," Lindgren points out. "We sent ideas and drafts back and forth between Stockholm and Los Angeles. We actually didn’t have many suggestions about each other’s writing because it was so fresh and had the bang-on feel we aimed for." Five of the eight tracks on the album are co-arrangements. "It was a very creative way to make music, " says John Beasley. "Two was more magical than one for "Bird Lives". As we were all in lockdown, working so closely with Lindgren, who has such a ripe musical mind, it surely was more fun but kept me sane."

© Lena Semmelroggen

Magnus Lindgren was voted Sweden's best jazz musician in 2001, he has gone on to win many important prizes internationally. He says: "When I started playing the saxophone at 13, Charlie Parker was my ultimate hero, so this project really does bring me full circle." Lindgren has been Artist in Residence with the SWR Big Band since 2018, a post which has been renewed for him for another three years. He has overseen an ongoing development in the band’s sound both through reinforcing its engagement as a specialist ensemble in orchestral jazz, and also by exploring various projects involving modern reinterpretations and makeovers of works from the jazz/big band canon.

John Beasley’s work as composer-arranger and pianist extends beyond jazz into film and television, notably alongside Thomas Newman working on "1917", James Bond: "Skyfall" and "Spectre". Beasley has nine GRAMMY nominations and won Best Arrangement for Charlie Parker’s "Donna Lee" in 2021. Beasley is Music Director for International Jazz Day global gala concerts hosted by the Herbie Hancock Jazz Institute. His 2016 "Jazz in the White House" earned Beasley an Emmy nomination for Best Musical Direction.

Based in Stuttgart, the SWR Big Band was founded in 1951 and from its early days has been known as the "Daimler of the big bands" - a reference to the fact that Stuttgart is Motor City. The band has been ranked among the best jazz orchestras in the world for many years, with four Grammy nominations. It has attracted a roll call of stellar guests, from Miles Davis and Chet Baker in the early days to Dee Dee Bridgewater and Jacob Collier much more recently.

"Bird Lives" sits firmly in this tradition, of the SWR Band wanting – and making sure they present – the absolute best in music. The guest artists on "Bird Lives", speaks to getting the A-list of saxophonists to pay tribute to Charlie Parker. On the opening track, multiple Jazz Critics poll-winner Chris Potter makes a mark with his inimitable sound and his flawless technique. Tia Fuller was musical director for Esperanza Spalding and solo projects like "Angelic Warrior" contributes an amazingly laid-back modern version of "Summertime".

Then, two tracks on, we hear the great Joe Lovano letting his tenor sax hover over "I'll Remember April" with the particular warmth, softness, and expressive breadth that are uniquely his. Miguel Zenón brings a Latin touch and rhythm to Parker's "Donna Lee"; and sax-great Charles McPherson who toured with Mingus plays luminously and meltingly in "Laura", the song from the 1945 film with the same title. The French singer Camille Bertault is a new and rising vocalist. Her supreme craft and agility is heard here in a direct vocal transcribe of Charlie Parker's "Koko".

"Bird Lives" feels like a soundtrack for an imaginary film co-written by Lindgren and Beasley. The SWR Big Band performs with a string section of 10 players, but this recording is not a re-creation of Parker’s "Bird With Strings" albums. "We wanted to introduce new generations to Bird’s music, but we also wanted Bird fans to hear his music in a fresh and new approach," Beasley explains, noting that near the end of his life, Parker idolised Edgard Varese and was longing to bring more structure, depth and variety into the way he wrote for orchestra. "We didn't want to repeat what that has been done before, but rather create something different," adds Lindgren.

The choice of compositions is true to the duo’s aim: there are Parker originals such as "Scrapple from the Apple," bursting with bebop, there are also some of his favourite standards, such as the opening "Cherokee/Koko" mash-up and the grand finale "Overture to Bird". But above all the great arrangements suit the context: they not only play to the strengths of the classic big band and of Parker's endlessly inventive music, but also enhance them with newer stylistic elements, such as a joyous celebratory funk reading of "Confirmation".

Charlie Parker was still in the early stages of working with orchestras when he died at the tragical early age of 34. "Bird Lives" may chart territory fulfilled dreams that Parker was not able to explore in his short lifetime. This recording has nothing of the "museum-piece" about it: this is music both of and for our time.

1. SWR Big Band, Magnus Lindgren & John Beasley with Camille Bertault feat. John Beasley with Chris Pot - Cherokee - Koko

2. SWR Big Band, Magnus Lindgren & John Beasley with Tia Fuller feat. Klaus-Peter Schöpfer & Klaus-Pete - Summertime

3. SWR Big Band, Magnus Lindgren & John Beasley feat. Martin Auer & Magnus Lindgren & Magnus Lindgren & - Scrapple from the Apple

4. SWR Big Band, Magnus Lindgren & John Beasley with Joe Lovano - I'll Remember April

5. SWR Big Band, Magnus Lindgren & John Beasley feat. Magnus Lindgren, Axel Kühn & Marc Godfroid & Magn - Confirmation

6. SWR Big Band, Magnus Lindgren & John Beasley with Miguel Zenon feat. Decebal Badila, Magnus Lindgren - Donna Lee

7. SWR Big Band, Magnus Lindgren & John Beasley with Charles McPherson - Laura

8. SWR Big Band, Magnus Lindgren & John Beasley feat. Klaus Graf, Matthias Erlewein, Magnus Lindgren, J - Overture to Bird

SWR Big Band & Strings

co-arranged by Magnus Lindgren & John Beasley

Magnus Lindgren / music director, flute & tenor sax

John Beasley / piano & keys

Guests:

Chris Potter / tenor sax

Joe Lovano / tenor sax

Miguel Zenon / alto sax

Tia Fuller / alto sax

Charles McPherson / alto sax

Camille Bertault / vocal

Pedrito Martinez / percussion

Munyungo Jackson / percussion

Produced by Hans-Peter Zachary, Magnus Lindgren & John Beasley

PREORDER

Kenny Garrett | "Sounds from the Ancestors" | August 27 via Mack Avenue Records

Kenny Garrett Recalls the Sounds of

West African Music and its Role in Jazz,

Gospel, Motown, Hip-Hop and More

Sounds from the Ancestors,

Available August 27 via Mack Avenue Records

Acknowledges Ancestral Roots

with Cosmopolitan Album that Both

Incorporates and Defies the Jazz Genre

with Stellar Contributions from

Vernell Brown, Jr., Corcoran Holt, Ronald Bruner

and Rudy Bird Plus Special Guests

Kenny Garrett’s latest release, Sounds from the Ancestors, is a multi-faceted album. The music, however, doesn’t lodge inside the tight confines of the jazz idiom, which is not surprising considering the alto saxophonist and composer acknowledges the likes of Aretha Franklin and Marvin Gaye as significant touchstones. Similar to how Miles Davis’ seminal LP, On the Corner, subverted its main guiding lights – James Brown, Jimi Hendrix and Sly Stone – then crafted its own unique, polyrhythmic, groove-laden, improv-heavy universe, Sounds from the Ancestors occupies its own space with intellectual clarity, sonic ingenuity and emotional heft.

 

“Sounds from the Ancestors examines the roots of West African music in the framework of jazz, gospel, Motown, hip-hop, and all other genres that have descended from jùjú and Yoruban music,” explains Garrett. “It’s crucial to acknowledge the ancestral roots in the sounds we’ve inhabited under the aesthetics of Western music.”

 

Indeed, Sounds from the Ancestors reflects the rich jazz, R&B and gospel history of his hometown of Detroit. More important though, it also reverberates with a modern cosmopolitan vibrancy – notably the inclusion of music coming out of France, Cuba, Nigeria and Guadeloupe.

 

“The concept initially was about trying to get some of the musical sounds that I remembered as a kid growing up – sounds that lift your spirit from people like John Coltrane, ‘A Love Supreme;’ Aretha Franklin, ‘Amazing Grace;’ Marvin Gaye, ‘What’s Going On;’ and the spiritual side of the church,” Garrett explains. “When I started to think about them, I realized it was the spirit from my ancestors.”

 

The core ensemble for Sounds from the Ancestors consists of musicians that Garrett has recorded and toured with in recent past – pianist Vernell Brown, Jr., bassist Corcoran Holt, drummer Ronald Bruner and percussionist Rudy Bird. The album also features guest appearances from drummer Lenny White, pianist and organist Johnny Mercier, trumpeter Maurice Brown, conguero Pedrito Martinez, batá percussionist Dreiser Durruthy and singers Dwight Trible, Jean Baylor, Linny Smith, Chris Ashley Anthony and Sheherazade Holman. And on a couple of cuts, Garrett extends his instrumental palette by playing piano and singing. 

“It’s Time to Come Home,” a sauntering yet evocative Afro-Cuban modern jazz original, kicks off the album. Garrett’s melodic passages, marked by capricious turns and pecking accents, signals a “call to action” for kids around the world to come home after playing outside all day. While Garrett originally composed the song in 2019, this incarnation reflects his experiences playing with iconic Cuban pianist and composer Chucho Valdés.

 

Garrett then pays tribute to the late, great trumpeter and composer Roy Hargrove with the dynamic “Hargrove,” a bracing original that evokes the namesake’s mastery of reconciling hard-bop’s intricate harmonic and interactive verve with late-20th century hypnotic R&B grooves and hip-hop bounce. The song also slyly references John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme, which accentuates both the earthy and spiritual nature of Hargrove’s music and Garrett’s saxophone virtuosity. “What I respected about [Hargrove] is that he was borrowing from all the different genres, different experiences and bringing it to the table,” Garrett says. “And that's what I did on this track.”

 

Traces of the Black American church also surge through “When the Days Were Different,” a warm mid-tempo original with a melody that faintly recalls Sounds of Blackness’ 1991 gospel classic, “Optimistic.” “The idea was to take it back to the church,” Garrett explains. “[The song] reminds me of being at a gathering with family and friends having a good time eating, drinking and spending quality time together.”

 

On the rhythmically intrepid “For Art’s Sake,” Garrett pays homage to two legendary drummers – Art Blakey and Tony Allen. Bruner concocts a stuttering rhythm that alludes to both modern jazz and Nigerian Afrobeat, while Bird adds polyrhythmic fire with his circular conga patterns. On top, Garrett issues one of his patented searing melodies that twists and swirls as the propulsion slowly gains momentum.

 

Drums and percussion are again highlighted vividly on the swift “What Was That?” and “Soldiers of the Fields/Soldats des Champs.” The former finds Garrett in quintessential form as he navigates through a thicket of torrential polyrhythms and a jolting harmonic bed with the steely determination and dexterity associated with Coltrane and Jackie McLean. The latter is a magnificent two-part masterpiece that integrates martial beats, Guadeloupean rhythms and a haunting cyclical motif on which Garrett crafts pirouetting improvisations that dazzle with their initial lithe grace and increasing urgent wails. Garrett explains that “Soldiers of the Fields/Soldats des Champs” is a tribute to the legion of jazz musicians who fought to keep the music alive. “They’re the first ones to get hit and shot at in the line of fire on the fields of justice. ‘Soldats des Champs’ is also a tribute to the Haitian soldiers who fought against the French during the Haitian Revolution.” 

 

The leader’s love for Afro-Cuban jazz returns on the dramatic title track, which begins with Garrett playing a slow melancholy melody on the piano before the music gives way to a soul-stirring excursion, filled with passionate vocal cries from Trible and moving Yoruban lyrics from Pedrito, paying respect to Orunmila, the deity of wisdom. “[The song] is about remembering the spirit of the sounds of our ancestors – the sounds from their church services, the prayers they recited, the songs they sang in the fields, the African drums that they played and the Yoruban chants,” Garrett says. The album closes as it opened with “It’s Time to Come Home;” this time Garrett uses his saxophone as a rhythmic instrument to have a conversation with the percussionist without the vocal accompaniment.

 

With his illustrious career that includes hallmark stints with Miles Davis, Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers, Donald Byrd, Freddie Hubbard, Woody Shaw and the Duke Ellington Orchestra, as well as a heralded career as a solo artist that began more than 30 years ago, Garrett is easily recognized as one of modern jazz’s brightest and most influential living masters. And with the marvelous Sounds from the Ancestors, the GRAMMY® Award-winning Garrett shows no signs of resting on his laurels.

1. It’s Time to Come Home

2. Hargrove

3. When the Days Were Different

4. For Art’s Sake

5. What Was That?

6. Soldiers of the Fields / Soldats des Champs

7. Sounds from the Ancestors

8. It’s Time to Come Home

Pre-order

Stream Singles "For Art's Sake" (avail. June 18)

and "Sounds from the Ancestors" (avail. July 23)

Stefon Harris + Blackout - Sonic Creed (MOTEMA MUSIC 2018)

The album is Stefon Harris and Blackout’s first recording since Urbanus (which earned a Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary Jazz Album in 2009), and 2004’s Evolution. The conception and birth of Sonic Creed came about as a result of Harris bursting with this music, this sound, and this album, inside of him. “What pushes me to release a new album is the answer to the question, if I don’t record this music will the sound of this music exist in the world? And if the answer is no, then we have to go into the studio!”, said Harris.

Sonic Creed is about music that chronicles the story of a people and their time on earth. It aims to be a reflection of African American life in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. And, it is a sonic manifestation and creed of family, community and legacy. “These core assets of the Black community are the messages of Sonic Creed, and we honor our legacy by exploring the music of masters such as Bobby Hutcherson, Abbey Lincoln, Wayne Shorter and Horace Silver. Their music is timeless and is the literal aural expression of those community assets”, said Harris.

The album therefore serves as a representation, through Stefon Harris and Blackout’s existence and experience, of Black American life in the present. “I want to document our time on the planet in the here and NOW! What is the sound of ‘Black Lives Matter’ for example? What is the sound of electing the first African American President of The United States? What is the sound of right now? This is what I’m interested in Blackout representing and reflecting. It’s art for our sake”, stated Harris.

Dayramir Gonzalez - The Grand Concourse (2018)

My Album The Grand Concourse is Digitally Released on March 2nd, 2018

It features Pedrito Martínez, Raul Pineda, Yosvany Terry, Nadia Washington, Oriente López and String Bembe

THE VISION

Dayramir Gonzalez's latest album The Grand Concourse is defined by the voyage of a young artist from Havana, whose creation of musical works shines a light on the gems of traditional Cuban sentiments, contemporary Afro-Cuban jazz and the vanguard sounds of New York City. In his through-composed song "Situaciones en 12/8", the compulsive bass motif is the engine that drives the layering melodies, while "Sencillez" is a modern commentary on Cuban musical history of the late 19th century. A Tribute to Buena Vista Social Club, Mozart, and John Coltrane mixed with Dayramir's spices.

“This is an ambitious project that presents me not only as a pianist or improviser, but also as a composer, arranger, orchestrator, and bandleader. For me, making an album is always about creating a full and complete piece of art, where I have a palette of different colors to choose from and can paint all those sounds that float in my head."

THE ALBUM TITLE

The Grand Concourse is the main thoroughfare that runs through the Bronx. When I first moved to New York, I made the South Bronx my home, and it's where I created most of the songs included in this album. It was where I struggled to rise above the challenges that came with starting a new life in a city that could swallow me up in no time. But "The Grand Concourse" also has a meaning that inspires. It is the broad road that leads to new journeys. It is at the concourse where people connect in an open space and encounter the expected and unexpected. And my album is the meeting place for the world to enter that space of diverse musical experiences.

"The Grand Concourse is an album for dreaming, for falling in love and for sharing with your close ones. Cheers."

Dayramir Gonzalez

1 Smiling

2 Moving Forward

3 Sencillez

4 Iyesa Con Miel (feat. Pedrito Martinez & Yosvany Terry)

5 Blood Brothers (feat. String Bembe)

6 Camello Tropical (feat. Nadia Washington)

7 Lovely Time with My Dear

8 Linear Patterns in Havana (feat. Raul Pineda)

9 Two Makes the Difference

10 West Coast Exchange

11 Hand in Hand, You and I

12 Situaciones En 12/8

Dayramir González: Steinway Grand Piano, Fender Rhodes and synthesizers (2, 8, 9) and coro (2, 3, 10, 12); Antoine Katz: electric bass (1, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12); Alberto Miranda: electric bass (2); Carlos Mena: contrabass (3); Zwelakhe Duma-Bell Le Pere: contrabass (5, 7, 9); Zack Mullings: drums (1, 4, 6, 10); Keisel Jimenez Leyva: drums (2); Jay Sawyer: drums (5); Willy Rodriguez: drums (5); Raul Pineda: drums (8); David Rivera: drums (12); Paulo Stagnaro: congas (1,, 3, 6, 10), batá drums: (6), surdo, cajón, güiro, pandeiro and miscellaneous percussion (1, 5, 7, 8, 9) ; Marcos Lopez: congas (2); Mauricio Herrera: congas (12), batá drums (2); Pedrito Martinez: batá drums (4) and lead vocals (4); Gregorio Vento: miscellaneous percussion and lead vocals (12); Yosvany Terry: alto saxophone (1, 4, 8, 10), shekere (10); Marcos Lopez: timbal (10); Harvis Cuni: trumpet (1); Oriente Lopez: flute (1, 3, 4, 8, 10); Kalani Trinidad: flute (12); Rio Konishi: alto saxophone (12); Dean Tsur: alto saxophone (7), tenor saxophone (1, 4, 8, 10); Edmar Colon: tenor saxophone (12); Ameya Kalamdani: electric and acoustic guitars (1, 6); Tatiana Ferrer: coro (2, 3, 10, 12) and viola (1, 3, 5, 7); Jaclyn Sanchez: coro (2, 3, 10); Nadia Washington: lead vocals (6) and coro (3, 10); Ilmar Lopez Gavilan: violin (1, 3, 5, 7); Audrey Defreytas Hayes: violin (1, 3, 5, 7); Jennifer Vincent: violoncello (1, 3, 5, 7); Caris Vesintin Liebman: oboe (5); Amparo Edo Biol: French horn (5)

Scott Tixier - Cosmic Adventure (2016) SUNNYSIDE RECORDS

present

Scott Tixier - Cosmic Adventure (2016)

Releases September 9, 2016

Scott Tixier’s new recording, Cosmic Adventure, celebrates the mystical nature of life. There are inconceivably immense and unpredictable experiences that can be realized within one’s lifetime. It is the absorption of material and immaterial influences yielded by these events and relationships that helps one discover new worlds or new ways of navigating in the cosmos of existence. It is about breaking free from the self-imposed isolation of criticism, the pursuit of perfection and the fear of failure. The adventure occurs when you expel the pressures of competition and expectations to truly explore your place in the greater cosmos. 

Violinist Scott Tixier has found himself amongst some of the most fantastic individuals and intriguing situations. His journey has been extraordinary, a truly cosmic adventure. 

The French born Tixier moved to New York in 2007 with an unparalleled musical pedigree. His violin playing has been lauded by many important and highly respected musicians, including Pat Metheny, Jean Luc Ponty and Mark Feldman. He had already garnered experience in the jazz world playing with Jon Hendricks, Tigran Hamasyan and Lonnie Plaxico. 

Since that time, the 30 year-old violinist has found himself in many eclectic musical settings, from Anthony Braxton’s recent opera Trillium J, sideman gigs with Natalie Cole, Christina Aguilera, and Gladys Knight to two years of touring with soul legend Stevie Wonder, not to mention his work in film and television. For the past 10 years, Tixier has been developing a new sound inspired by these collaborations both inside and outside of the jazz world, making him a multidimensional musician with a new voice on jazz violin. 

Tixier’s first, well-received, Sunnyside recording Brooklyn Bazaar celebrated his then newly found home. His new recording, Cosmic Adventure, his first as a leader in four years, celebrates the serendipitous nature of life as a spiritual journey, with joy and hope but also sorrow and despair. 

It was while appearing at a festival in France in 2012 that Tixier met pianist/composer Donald Brown. The young violinist hit it off immediately with the Art Blakey Jazz Messenger alum, and highly regarded arranger, during a six hour after hours hang. It was during his preparation to record that Tixier decided that having Brown produce the record would be ideal. Furthermore, Tixier’s partnership with engineer Dave Darlington and Brown ensured a well executed recording session. 

The electrifying new band that Tixier showcases on his recording is made up of some of the leading lights of this new jazz generation. Having played with Tixier since he and Tixier were teenagers, harmonica virtuoso Yvonnick Prene is the perfect foil for Tixier’s violin. Pianist Glenn Zaleski is a friend and neighbor, not to mention one of the best emerging pianists in New York. The varied and instinctual playing of bassist Luques Curtis matches his tremendous tone, while the incredible ability and maturity of Justin Brown’s drumming is suited perfectly for the ensemble, because he can deliver energy and dynamics without overpowering the violin. 

The compositions on Cosmic Adventure follow a trajectory, all having been written one after another. They are meant to mirror events and moods, both good and bad. The outcome is an eclectic and moving collection of originals and two arrangements of well picked standards. 

The recording begins with the stirring “Maze Walker,” written as a study on life’s tendency to make one search for meaning, as if finding the end of a maze. The opening track features conga master Pedrito Martinez, as does the optimistically penned “Dig It,” a tribute to Stevie Wonder, with the sound of his harmonica in mind. The insistent “100,000 Hours” is all about drive and commitment to making oneself a better person (or musician, for that matter). 

Django Reinhardt’s classic “Troublant Bolero” is performed beautifully as a ballad and for quite possibly the first time with piano and drums. Tixier commissioned the exuberant and swinging “Mr. Tix” from his longtime friend Prene. Next, Tixier re-arranged the classic Erroll Garner chestnut “Misty,” taking a number of chances to make the piece feel more contemporary. 

The bouncy “Nil’s Landing” is for Tixier’s young, guitar-rocking brother, so naturally it is an exciting bebop tune with unique rhythm changes. The moving “King of Sorrow” is for his recently passed grandmother, who never recovered from her husband’s death 30 years prior, though Tixier sees a lesson in her pain: Don’t get consumed in sorrow, take a look at the world around you. The grand finale is the joyful “Beam Me To Mars,” an optimistic piece written for people who dream big. The track features saxophone titan Chris Potter, who Tixier connected with on the streets of Brooklyn during a chance encounter. 

Performing on an instrument that has become a rarity in contemporary jazz, violinist Scott Tixier has put his individuality to his advantage. There have been ups and downs on the way to where he is, which is natural on all of life’s paths. Overall, he has enjoyed and wants to share the bounty of his Cosmic Adventure.

1. Maze Walker (Ft. Pedrito Martinez)

2. Dig It (Ft. Pedrito Martinez)

3. 100,000 Hours

4. Troublant Bolero

5. Mr Tix

6. Misty

7. Nil's Landing

8. King Of Sorrow

9. Beam Me To Mars (Ft. Chris Potter)

Scott Tixier - violin 

Yvonnick Prene - harmonica 

Glenn Zaleski - piano 

Luques Curtis - bass 

Justin Brown - drums 

Pedrito Martinez - congas (1 & 2) 

Chris Potter - tenor saxophone (9) 

Donald Brown - producer

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Victor Gould - Clockwork (2016) FRESH SOUND NEW TALENT

FRESH SOUND NEW TALENT

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Victor Gould - Clockwork (2016)

"It’s understandable that a jazz pianist might feel inclined, even obliged, to debut as a leader with a trio album. But Clockwork, the maiden voyage of Victor Gould, includes sextet arrangements, two pieces augmented with strings, and several percussion turns from Pedrito Martinez. There are piano trio showcases as well, but they are part of the mosaic, not the full picture. “I didn’t want to be locked in with instrumentation,” says Gould. “I’ve come to believe that the best orchestration is when you change instrumentation very often. So you could think of that in the scheme of one piece or a whole record.”

The title Clockwork amplifies this point, suggesting that varied instrumentation can in fact yield great coherence. “Clockwork is many different elements working together,” notes Gould. “It’s the very definition of clockwork — the gears of a clock all working together to create something very intricate.” At the heart of it all is an extraordinary synergy between Gould, bassist Ben Williams and drummer E. J. Strickland. It’s consistent throughout the record but most starkly evident on the trio cuts.

Having made his mark in recent years as a sideman with Wallace Roney, Ralph Peterson, Donald Harrison, Louis Hayes, Vincent Herring, Eric Alexander and more, Gould has learned a thing or two about musical clockwork. A native of Los Angeles, he attended Berklee as an undergrad and then earned the high honor of a slot at Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz from 2009-2011. Studying alongside him at both these institutions was Godwin Louis, the alto saxophonist heard on this album, who happens to be one of Gould’s dearest friends.

Trumpeter Jeremy Pelt, who’s been hiring Gould in his own superb band of late, is a characteristically stirring soloist as well as a focused and dynamic ensemble presence on the sextet pieces. Myron Walden, playing soprano and tenor saxophones, took on an added role as co-producer: “Myron and I decided which would be the best song choices from my catalogue,” Gould recalls. “After that, he helped run the recording session and took charge of time management, so it lifted a lot of the stress from me.”

Pelt plays flugelhorn on “Chaancé,” one of the two pieces to feature strings. Written and named after Gould’s wife, this lovely ballad finds the leader in a tensile give-and-take with the strings during his eloquent solo, blending with and responding to them but soaring with renewed intensity when they fall silent. By contrast, there’s an “apocalyptic” energy, to use Gould’s word, coursing through “Apostle John,” from the foreboding rubato of the prelude to the modal groove and intricate counterpoint of the piece itself. Anne Drummond adds just the right flavor on flute, almost sounding like a soprano voice.

The string arrangements followed from Gould’s prior experience scoring for symphony orchestra (his original piece “Side Angle,” which doesn’t appear here). The sextet arrangements, for their part, were a result of his tenure at the Monk Institute, where he played with a six-piece dream band of fellow students. Along with the swinging, Latin-tinged title track we hear “Three Souls,” a tribute not only to the great Hank Jones but also to two people close to Gould who died around the same time (the fleeting reference to Stevie Wonder’s “Don’t You Worry ’Bout a Thing” seems to imply a fourth soul). Another sextet piece, “Room 416,” is named for the Berklee dorm room that Gould shared with bassist and friend Peter Spear, who died tragically in 2014. “Peter was really good friends with Godwin as well, so I thought it was important for Godwin to take that lead melody in the A section and show some love.”

“The Return,” a quartet number that features Louis again in radiant form, is Gould’s dedication to trumpeter Gregory Diaz, who struggled with embouchure problems at Berklee and was unable to play for a period of time. “Greg and I went to high school together as well and he was one of the best trumpet players I knew. I wrote this tune to encourage him — ‘The Return of Greg Diaz’ is its full name.”

“Sir Carter,” led off by an eccentric intro for horns and drums, is what one suspects: an homage to the great Ron Carter, who visited the Monk Institute for a week and had a profound impact on Gould and his fellow students. “Nefertiti” is of course a legendary Wayne Shorter piece that Carter himself played with the Miles Davis Quintet. Gould’s brisk 5/4 rendition gives it a straight-eighth-note patina and some added twists and turns, without ever sacrificing the tune’s hypnotic legato flavor. Here again the trio chemistry is substantial. Gould solos forcefully before yielding to the virtuosic Williams.

Martinez adds his inimitable congas on “Blue Dales,” which Gould originally composed as an etude to practice independence but later turned into a song. Right away the congas add propulsion and color to the bright, staccato rhythms of the theme, so dazzlingly articulated by Williams and Strickland. The piece is a 16-bar minor blues with dramatic and clever harmonic movement, an ideal framework for improvising: Williams leads off, followed by Gould and finally Strickland over a tumultuous four-bar vamp.

In the end it’s the combination of elements in Gould’s music — the hard-bop drive and harmonic adventure, the chamber-music refinement, the Latin tinge that Jelly Roll Morton theorized all those years ago — that makes Clockwork succeed on the level that it does. It couldn’t be clearer: Gould was ready, after years spent on numerous big-league bandstands, to take the reins and bring all his experience to bear, pursuing a sound deep in technical proficiency and flair but also expressive nuance and immersion in the jazz tradition. May those gears keep turning."

David R. Adler, New York, March 2016

01. Clockwork 7:39

02. Room 7:09

03. Chaancé 5:22

04. Blue Dales 5:21

05. The Return 7:55

06. Apostle John (Prelude) 3:07

07. Apostle John 9:03

08. Sir Carter (Intro) 0:45

09. Sir Carter 4:52

10. Nefertiti 5:38

11. Three Souls 8:06

All songs composed & arranged by Victor Gould, except #5 written by Wayne Shorter

Personnel:

Victor Gould (piano)

Jeremy Pelt (trumpet on #1,2,3,6,7,8 & 11)

Godwin Louis (alto sax on #1,2,3,5,6,7,8 & 11)

Myron Walden (tenor sax on #1,2,3,6,7,8 & 11)

Anne Drummond (flute on #3 & 7)

Ben Williams (bass, except on #6 & 8)

E.J. Strickland (drums, except on #6)

Pedrito Martínez (percussion on (#1,4 & 7)

Yoojin Park (violin, on #3,6 & 7)

Heejin Chang (viola, on #3,6 & 7)

Veronica Parrales (cello, on #3,6 & 7)

Recorded at Systems Two Studios, Brooklyn, New York, December 14, 2015 and January 19, 2016

Sound engineer: Max Ross

Mixing & mastering: Dave Darlington

Photography: Anne Yatskevich

Painting: Martel Chapman

Co-producers: Victor Gould & Myron Walden

Executive producer: Jordi Pujol

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