Renee Rosnes & David Hajdu - Ice on the Hudson (October 12, SMK Jazz)

Pianist/Composer Renee Rosnes and

Author/Lyricist David Hajdu to Release

First Album of Songwriting Collaborations

Ice on the Hudson, Available October 12 via SMK Jazz

Ice on the Hudson features vocalists René Marie, Janis Siegel, Darius de Haas and Karen Oberlin and an all-star ensemble interpreting diverse songs about the emotional complexities of adult life in today’s world.

There’s a special chemistry that’s found only in the rarest of songwriting partnerships, forever linking the names of composer and lyricist in the minds of listeners. The names Renee Rosnes and David Hajdu are already well known to music lovers: Rosnes as one of her generation’s most acclaimed jazz composers and pianists, Hajdu as an award-winning author and critic. With Ice on the Hudson, their first collaborative album of songs, the pair reveals a breathtaking synergy, crafting a collection of deeply felt and genre-defying songs that join words and music with alchemical results.

Ice on the Hudson, due out October 12 via SMK Jazz (a newly launched imprint curated by Smoke Sessions Records), brings together four magnificent vocalists: revered, GRAMMY® Award-nominated jazz singer René Marie; Manhattan Transfer co-founder and nine-time GRAMMY® winner Janis Siegel, celebrated musical-theater actor and art-song interpreter Darius de Haas; and acclaimed jazz/pop performer Karen Oberlin. Their voices are matched by a stunning ensemble, featuring Rosnes at the piano along with cellist Erik Friedlander, saxophonists Steve Wilson and Seamus Blake, clarinetist Ken Peplowski, bassist Sean Smith, drummer Carl Allen, and percussionist Rogerio Boccato.

While both Rosnes and Hajdu can boast considerable accomplishments in their respective fields, songwriting was a fairly new endeavor for both. Rosnes had had a handful of her instrumental compositions set to lyrics, and Hajdu had collaborated on a few songs with Fred Hersch and others. When Rosnes and Hajdu decided to try writing together, five years ago, “Everything clicked,” in Hajdu’s words.

“Renee is one of the most gifted, most sophisticated and most creative composers alive,” Hajdu says. “I consider myself the luckiest boy in the music world for getting to write with this flat-out genius. We both enjoy the exhilarating thrill of doing something that we care about, that draws on our professional and life experiences, but that provides a whole new set of challenges for us.”

For Rosnes, who has long drawn inspiration for her own music from sources as diverse as the natural world and the visual arts, the partnership has given her rich depths of emotion and narrative to plumb. “David is a powerful and compelling storyteller,” she says, “and each of his lyrics has many layers and great substance. It’s been a fulfilling experience to take his words and search for melodies that truly allow the story to shine through.”

Given the tantalizing complexity of Hajdu’s words, Rosnes found herself exploring a wide range of sensibilities, never concerned with genre. Ultimately, while some pieces fit comfortably into the jazz songwriting tradition of Jon Hendricks or Bob Dorough, others evoke the world of musical theater or such respected singer-songwriters as Joni Mitchell or Randy Newman. “When I embarked on this project with David, I put the idea of genre out of my mind,” she explains. “I was most interested in allowing the lyrics to inspire and move me in whatever direction that musically translated to.”

“A Tiny Seed” opens the album with a parable both timeless and timely, about a wall-building king and the seemingly small detail that grows to topple his kingdom. Marie’s wry, soulful vocal offers inspiration to those hoping to turn such fairy tales into reality. Her serpentine lines bring an exotic mystery to “Little Pearl,” a reinterpretation of Rosnes’ instrumental “The Quiet Earth.”

Siegel’s voice seems to float into a whimsical daydream on “I Used to Like to Draw,” a tender reminiscence of the childhood days when we all gave vent to our imaginations, before the supposed reality of adult life quashed such fancies. Siegel also sings “The Passage,” which takes the natural splendor that inspired Rosnes’ instrumental piece “Gabriola Passage” into the realm of transcendence. On the title track, “Ice on the Hudson,” she takes the bizarre fact that the Hudson River flows both upstream and downstream as a metaphor for the often contradictory aspects of grown-up reality – one of several instances of complex ideas that stem from the collaboration between two artists with a wealth of life experience.

Oberlin offers a bit of culinary respite from the world’s divisiveness on the playful “I Like Pie” and a bit of romantic perspective on “I Still Feel the Same.” The moving “All But You” builds from scraps of both songwriters’ biographies to paint a picture of living with a missing someone. Rosnes suggested a song based on her experience as an adopted child wondering about her birth parents, which Hajdu countered with his own background. “Renee said it felt strange growing up not knowing who her biological parents were, but my father sat at the dinner table with me every night my whole life, and I don’t know who my father was either. We share that feeling of a hole in your life, that there are people who could have been there who were not.”

Hajdu based “To Meet My Brother” on the tragic loss of his sister and the feeling of wanting to be reunited, whatever the cost. Darius de Haas brings tender yearning to that piece and an urgent sensuality to “Confound Me.” His knack for theatrical drama illuminates “Trotsky in Mexico,” a Sondheim-like musing on the Russian revolutionary’s fling with Frida Kahlo.

A five-time winner of the JUNO award, Renee Rosnes is one of the premier jazz composers and pianists of her generation. Upon moving to New York City from Vancouver, Canada, she quickly established her enduring reputation as a creative original and versatile collaborator, touring and recording with such masters as Wayne Shorter, Joe Henderson, BobbyHutcherson, J.J. Johnson, James Moody, and Ron Carter. With 16 recordings as a leader, Rosnes has grown ever more ambitious musically, as her most recent album, Beloved of the Sky (Smoke Sessions Records), attests. 

David Hajdu is an award-winning author, critic, and songwriter. A three-time winner of the ASCAP Deems Taylor/Virgil Thompson Award for Music Writing as well as a three-time finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, Hajdu is the author of five books, including Lush Life: A Biography of Billy Strayhorn, Positively 4th Street, and Love for Sale: Pop Music in America.

reneerosnes.com

www.davidhajdu.com

Buster Williams - Audacity (SMOKE SESSIONS RECORDS June 15, 2018)

Iconic Bassist Buster Williams Marks New Chapter in

His Career After Decade Long Studio Hiatus with Audacity

Available June 15 on LP, CD, and Digital Formats

Album Features Steve Wilson,

George Colligan, and Lenny White

Audacity. It’s a word that seems ideally suited to the bold and intrepid bassist Buster Williams. Whether supplying eminently tasteful but strong-as-steel backing for singers like Nancy Wilson and Sarah Vaughan, or venturing into uncharted new territory as a member of Herbie Hancock’s groundbreaking Mwandishi band, Williams’ playing has always evidenced that fearless willingness to leap without hesitation into the unknown.

With his new recording, Audacity, Williams marks another chapter in that ongoing history. Due out June 15 via Smoke Sessions Records, the album finds Williams stepping into the studio as a leader for the first time since 2004’s Griot Liberte, leading his long-running all-star quartet Something More with saxophonist Steve Wilson, pianist George Colligan and drummer Lenny White. Conceived as the legendary bassist celebrated the milestone of his 75th birthday, Audacity is a mission statement for an artist turning a new corner with the experience of three-quarters of a century behind him.

“You’ve got to have audacity to do what we do,” Williams says of the title. “You have to have audacity to even want to do what we do, to even imagine that it’s all going to work. I was looking for a word that could encapsulate all of my feelings and concepts and, at this moment in time, Audacity is the description of my life.”

Turning 75 compelled Williams to re-enter the recording studio after a decade-long hiatus caused in large part by the seismic shifts in the record industry since the dawn of the new millennium. He was also driven by the continuing evolution of his long-running band, which had developed a fiery and wide-ranging sound that Williams felt needed to be captured. The release of Audacity, he says, will launch him on a new trajectory.

“You could say it’s a new beginning,” he explains. “It’s certainly a new dimension or a new phase of my existence. There’s a new excitement about what I’m doing. I don’t take one note for granted, so I have to really feel that I have something to say or something to offer. Put all that together and I thought that now was the right time.”

In his liner notes, Colligan points to the versatility and artistry displayed by Something More. “We have the ability to play with maturity, with restraint when necessary. But we can also play with the abandon expected from musicians in their 20s. There is a wide variety of tempos, dynamics, moods, and textures in this music. This is not a soundbite. It’s a sound journey… Regardless of whether we are swinging hard, or playing a waltz, or a sensitive ballad, or something with a Latin tinge, we sound like a band.”

It’s rare in this day and age that a band gets the opportunity to develop such a collective voice over the span of a decade and a half. Any observer who pays any degree of attention to the modern jazz landscape will recognize that all four members of Something More are in-demand players in a wide variety of settings. Besides leading his own ensemble Wilsonian’s Grain, Wilson has toured and recorded in recent years with the likes of Chick Corea, the Maria Schneider Jazz Orchestra, and drummer Lewis Nash. Colligan will be releasing his 28th album as a leader in 2018, on top of playing regularly with jazz greats like Jack DeJohnette, Ravi Coltrane and Cassandra Wilson. Renowned for his time with the pioneering fusion group Return To Forever, White has also served notable tenures with Stanley Clarke, Geri Allen and Larry Coryell.

The collaboration of Buster Williams and Lenny White is notable in its own right, having anchored not only each other’s bands but groups led by Wallace Roney, Cyrus Chestnut, and a number of others. “It’s been magical,” Williams says of his partnership with the drummer. “When I play with Lenny, I have no real concerns. Whatever he does, the pulse, the beat, the time is always going to be there. It’s 99% pure. I’m free to explore and to do different things that I may not be able to do with other people, and he’s free to do the same. And bottom line, it just swings.”

That interlocking swing and sense of endless possibilities is evident throughout Audacity, not least on the burly post-bop burner of a title tune, which spurs a sharp, probing solo from Colligan and a daring display of grooving elasticity from the leader. But it’s also there straight out of the gate on the opener “Where Giants Dwell,” which wastes no time tearing into Williams’ monumental theme before Wilson launches into a ferocious saxophone run. The tune’s title was inspired by a trip the quartet took through the Austrian Alps, where the grand, snow-capped vistas led Williams to reflect on the giants who have mentored and inspired him throughout his estimable career.

A gripping journey in and of itself, “Song of the Outcasts” is a nod to the Eastern European gypsies whose boundary-free, nomadic lifestyles and music have inspired Williams. Both the lullaby-like lilt of “Ariana Anai” and the tender “Briana” were written with Williams’ granddaughters in mind, his adoration of the girls evident in the moving sentiment of the two pieces. The anthemic “Triumph” boasts the kind of quiet audacity necessary to win small victories over what Williams calls “the vicissitudes of daily living.”

In addition to his own compositions, Williams urged each of his bandmates to contribute new tunes for the session. Wilson is represented by “Sisko,” a muscular swinger that weaves his sinuous alto over a roiling, surging groove. Colligan’s “Lost on 4th Avenue,” with its declamatory opening bass solo, relates the feeling of wandering through a mysterious urban landscape in a raptly narrative fashion, while White’s “Stumblin'” is a joyous romp that draws fleet, agile expression from all four players.

All together, Audacity could serve to define the word itself, thrilling in Williams’ insistence on pushing boldly forward. “If I only do what I know,” he says, “that’s like holding a nickel tightly in my fist: I won’t lose that nickel, but I’ll never have a dime. I’m always looking for something beyond what I know, what I can comprehend and what I understand.”

“Audacity” was produced by Paul Stache and Damon Smith and recorded

live in Brooklyn, New York at Systems Two and mixed to ½” analog tape

using a Studer mastering deck. Available in audiophile HD format.

Buster Williams · Audacity

Smoke Sessions Records · Release Date: June 15, 2018

1 Where Giants Dwell

2 Song of the Outcasts

3 Sisko

4 Ariana Anai

5 Lost on 4th Avenue

6 Stumblin'

7 Triumph

8 Briana

9 Audacity

Scott Reeves Jazz Orchestra (feat. Steve Wilson & Carolyn Leonhart) - Without A Trace (ORIGIN RECORDS 2018)

The Scott Reeves Jazz Orchestra celebrates its first decade 

on Without a Trace, due out March 16, 2018 from Origin Records

The 17-piece big band’s second release features a stellar line-up of New York City jazz greats on bandleader/composer/trombonist Reeves’ vibrant originals and reimagined jazz classics

“[Reeves’] compositions are sophisticated yet accessible, his arrangements scrupulously burnished and invariably engaging.” – Jack Bowers, All About Jazz

“This group of fabulous musicians are continuing and developing the great tradition of big band music.”

– Adrian Fry, London Jazz News

Performances  • Sunday, April 15 – Trumpets, Montclair, NJ   • Monday, April 23 – Sir D’s, Brooklyn, NY

• Saturday, May 12 – Smalls, NYC

Duke Ellington famously insisted that he never wrote music for instruments, but tailored each piece for the particular individuals in his band. After nearly ten years together with a remarkably stable line-up featuring some of the most gifted musicians on the New York City jazz scene, the Scott Reeves Jazz Orchestra offers bandleader, composer and trombonist Scott Reeves a similar opportunity. The big band’s thrilling second album, Without a Trace, showcases the results with a decade-spanning repertoire drawing from both original compositions and bold new arrangements of jazz standards.


Due out March 16, 2018 from Origin Records, Without a Trace draws on the influences of great big band composer/arrangers from Ellington and Gil Evans to Thad Jones, Bob Brookmeyer and Jim McNeely. Reeves spent years writing for the likes of Dave Liebman’s Big Band, the Westchester Jazz Orchestra, Bill Mobley’s Smoke Big Band, and the BMI Jazz Composers Orchestra before setting out on his own in 2008. Seeing the divide between swing traditionalists and more harmonically inventive modernists, Reeves decided to cull the best from both worlds, devising inventive harmonic progressions but never letting go of the vigorous swing that makes large ensemble music so exciting.

“I’ve had people describe my band as sounding like ‘swinging dissonance’,” Reeves says with a laugh. “A lot of my music is overtly swinging in the tradition of big band jazz, but in the majority of my work I’m trying to get away from the typical harmonic palette.”

It helps when bridging such a stylistic gulf to be supported by some of the most talented and sought-after musicians in modern jazz, and Reeves can count many of them as regular band members for the whole of the 17-piece Orchestra’s existence. The line-up on Without a Trace includes saxophonists Steve Wilson, Tim Armacost, Vito Chiavuzzo, Rob Middleton, Jay Brandford and Terry Goss; trumpeters Seneca Black, Nathan Eklund, Chris Rogers, Bill Mobley and Andy Gravish; trombonists Tim Sessions, Matt McDonald, Matt Haviland and Max Siegel; pianist Jim Ridl, vibraphonist Dave Ellson, bassist Todd Coolman, and drummer Andy Watson. Stunning vocalist Carolyn Leonhart, on a break from her busy touring schedule with Steely Dan, guests on the lovely title tune.

Having been able to get know his musicians’ sounds so intimately over the years, Reeves has become adept at styling his arrangements to spotlight their particular talents. Not that there’s much that a virtuoso like Steve Wilson – an in-demand guest soloist for most bands, but regular lead alto with Reeves’ Orchestra – couldn’t handle. Wilson’s fiery yet controlled voice drove Reeves’ take on Kurt Weill’s classic “Speak Low,” which begins with a nod to Bill Evans’ classic rendition from his New Jazz Conceptions album before surging along on an Afro-Cuban beat. Trumpeter Chris Rogers and drummer Andy Watson follow with their own blistering solos.

Leonhart’s elegant turn on Reeves’ own “Without a Trace” follows. Where the orchestra’s debut, Portraits and Places, featured wordless vocals as a coloristic element, here Reeves pens lyrics to craft a love song that matches the emotion and drama of some of the Songbook standards in his repertoire. Leonhart’s subtle grace belies the tune’s angular melody, which combine to conjure a uniquely dark-tinged atmosphere for the song. The familiar “All or Nothing at All” is completely reimagined in Reeves’ handling, with an Ahmad Jamal-inspired groove and a taste of John Coltrane’s immortal “Giant Steps,” giving the timeless tune a feeling unmoored from any particular era.

“I always try to transform a song in some way when I do an arrangement,” Reeves explains. “I learned that particularly from studying Gil Evans’ music. He would take a tune and it would somehow end up in a completely different universe from where it originally started.”

Reeves’ entrancing original “Incandescence” was inspired by a trip to the south of France, where the composer – an amateur astronomer when away from the bandstand – marveled at the star-filled skies over a medieval walled village. The very next day he was at the piano in his rented house, capturing the majesty and mystery of that experience in music. “Shapeshifter” is similarly evocative, built on a tonal twelve-tone row that adds a touch of sci-fi strangeness (with an explicit wink towards Star Trek).

“JuJu” has been a favorite of forward-looking jazz musicians since Wayne Shorter first recorded it more than 50 years ago; of course, being one of the most forward-looking of them all, Shorter has never been interested in doing things the same way. John Patitucci, the longtime bassist in Shorter’s revered modern quartet, gave Reeves the lead sheet for the sax icon’s current approach to the song, which Reeves combines with a sax-section arrangement of Shorter’s original solo, making this version something of a portrait of Shorter’s incredible evolution. Another portrait of sorts, the lively “Something for Thad” closes the album with a brisk homage to another of Reeves’ bandleading heroes, the great Thad Jones.

Though the prospect of leading a big band in the current music-industry environment is a daunting one, Reeves has learned all the right lessons from his mentors: assemble brilliant musicians; pen original, heartfelt music and inventive arrangements; innovate without losing touch with the tradition. With all of those elements radiantly in place, the Scott Reeves Jazz Orchestra takes its place among jazz’s most compelling ensembles on Without a Trace.

Scott Reeves

Scott Reeves is a trombonist, alto flugelhornist, composer, arranger, author, and college jazz educator. A Chicago native, he attended Indiana University where his teachers included David Baker and Thomas Beversdorf. Over the years, he also studied improvisation with Woody Shaw and Kenny Werner, and arranging with Manny Albam, Mike Abene, Jim McNeely and Mike Holober. Reeves regularly performs with the Dave Liebman Big Band, the Bill Mobley Big Band, and the Valery Ponomarev Big Band, and has subbed with the Vanguard Orchestra, the Chico O’Farrill Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra, and the Oliver Lake Big Band. His own groups include the 17-piece Scott Reeves Jazz Orchestra, his quintet with saxophonist Rich Perry, and his 4-trombone, 3-rhythm band, Manhattan Bones. Reeves has been teaching jazz at the university level since 1976 and is currently a Professor at The City College of New York, CUNY. His two books, Creative Jazz Improvisation and Creative Beginnings (both published by Prentice-Hall), are among the most widely used texts in their field.

Scott Reeves Website

UP-COMING PERFORMANCES

Apr 19, 2018 - Scott Reeves Jazz Orchestra

Trumpets, Montclair , NJ

Apr 23, 2018 - Scott Reeves Jazz Orchestra

Sir D's Lounge, Brooklyn , New

May 12, 2018 - Scott Reeves Jazz Orchestra

Small's Jazz Club, Manhattan , NY

Leslie Pintchik - You Eat My Food, You Drink My Wine, You Steal My Girl! (2018)

PIANIST/COMPOSER LESLIE PINTCHIK RELEASES SIXTH CD

YOU EAT MY FOOD, YOU DRINK MY WINE, YOU STEAL MY GIRL!

WITH STELLAR BAND

* Featuring Steve Wilson, Ron Horton, Shoko Nagai, Scott Hardy, Michael Sarin, and Satoshi Takeishi *

 "...a composer of emotional depth and effortless lyricism." - DownBeat

"Getting lost in this music is simply a joy." - AllAboutJazz

"A crafty, lyrically minded improviser and a compelling composer..." - The New Yorker

"...achingly beautiful...a level of intimacy that is rare today in jazz." - JazzWax.com

CD Release concert at Jazz at Kitano in Manhattan on Wednesday, May 23rd, 2018

Jazz Reservations:  212-885-7119  Restaurant and Sunday Jazz Brunch Reservations : 212-885-7123

66 Park Avenue, East 38th St

New York, NY 10016

Pianist and composer Leslie Pintchik found the title for her new album in one of those "only in New York" moments. While crossing Canal Street at West Broadway in the SoHo section of Manhattan, she heard a voice behind her yell, "You eat my food, you drink my wine, you steal my girl!" As it happened, she'd just completed writing a new composition, and at that very moment she knew she'd found its title. It was a perfect fit for the sharp-elbows vibe of the piece, with its samba-funk groove, understated humor and fender-bender of an ending. So with one gruff shout, serendipity handed her a bold, spunky title, for a bold, spunky tune.

With its implied but elusive narrative and personality to spare, the outburst also turned out to be a perfect title for Pintchik's new recording, which features six of her original tunes and two standards. As on her five previous albums, Pintchik has penned a collection of songs overflowing with warmth, humor, tenderness, depth and smarts - without forsaking her razor-sharp edge. Pintchik is unique in combining a brisk energy and drive with a gift for accessible, infectious melodies - like that overheard accusation, her music strikes a unique balance between the sharp-edged and the charming. You Eat My Food, You Drink My Wine, You Steal My Girl! will be released February 23, 2018 via Pintch Hard Records.

In his liner notes for the CD, Allen Morrison writes "As a composer, [Pintchik is] like a novelist, unspooling each song like a good story with twists and turns, and with a story-teller's patience and sense of form. And, like a good novel, her songs appeal to both the head and the heart; they are subtle, sometimes wry, sometimes somber. I think they're not-so-buried treasures, waiting to be discovered by other jazz artists." In addition, the wide range of grooves (samba-funk with a touch of partido alto, swing, bolero, traditional samba, straight-eighths, and ballads-all played with exceptional skill and pizzazz by Leslie and her top-notch band members) is a great added pleasure.

For this outing, Pintchik returns once again with the musicians with whom she has played and recorded for many years: Steve Wilson on alto sax, Ron Horton on trumpet and flugelhorn, Scott Hardy on bass and guitar, drummer Michael Sarin, and percussionist Satoshi Takeishi. On accordion, Shoko Nagai is the newcomer, and a wonderfully intriguing addition to the mix. Recalling the recording session, Pintchik said "I had the time of my life playing with these extraordinary musicians and people, all gems and superb players."

"You Eat My Food, You Drink My Wine, You Steal My Girl!" is not the only mouthful of a title on the album. It's topped by "Your call will be answered by our next available representative, in the order in which it was received. Please stay on the line; your call is important to us," which should instantly raise the blood pressure of anyone who's ever wasted hours of their life on hold to fix - or at least attempt to - a problem that's already wasted too much time. Fueled by that all-too-common experience, the tune swings hard with a fervor born of equal parts frustration and an antic comic spirit. Special kudos to the rhythm section for its drive amidst the unexpected stops and starts.

From the playful to the poignant: Pintchik's ballad "Mortal" was written, she says, "to express a sense of life's fragility, beauty, and especially shortness." A highlight of the set, "Mortal" showcases a fearless use of space and silence, and gorgeous heart-on-the-sleeve solos from Pintchik, Wilson, Horton and Hardy. (Of particular note is Horton's flugelhorn solo, which is both beautiful and wrenching.) On the opposite end of the emotional spectrum, "Happy Dog," as its name suggests, is a cheerful tune. Shoko Nagai plays the melody in unison with Pintchik, and the samba-based rhythm provides a simpatico backdrop for the wonderfully frisky solos of Pintchik, Hardy and Takeishi.

Like Pintchik's tunes, Edward Hopper's paintings are renowned for suggesting stories not quite told in full within the confines of their canvases. A tune with a straight eighths time feel that features Shoko Nagai on accordion, "Hopperesque" was inspired by the iconic artist's work, especially those paintings that depict people in the kind of threshold moments that provoke the viewer to wonder what happened before, and what might come after, the scene we're presented with. "I've tried," Pintchik says, "to capture that feeling of mystery."

One of the earliest tunes written for the album, "A Simpler Time" was inspired by the composer's trip to the Hancock Shaker Village in Massachusetts, where she was touched by the rare adult cradles that she saw, used to soothe the elderly and infirm. Pintchik characterizes the piece as "an adult lullaby." In his liner notes, Morrison writes "There's an emotional maturity to it that seems to acknowledge that life itself is not simple, that we are often overwhelmed with hard choices and mixed emotions, and we have a universal need for kindness. As with so many of Leslie's songs, the melody is memorable, but not simple."

Approaching the album's standards with the same unique perspective and wry insight that she brings to her own tunes, Pintchik plays the jazz and pop standard "I'm Glad There Is You" as a bolero, which affords the melody of this love song a lot of breathing room. In his liner notes to the CD, Allen Morrison writes "It's one of the most tender readings of this great song (by Jimmy Dorsey and Paul Madeira) that I've ever heard." The Jerome Kern/Otto Harbach chestnut "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" is played as a samba, with an added catchy rhythmic hook that bookends the melody. This version features a wonderfully relaxed rhythm section that, in the ending tag, builds up a strong head of caffeinated Brazilian steam, before the rhythmic hook returns, and it's over and out.

www.lesliepintchik.com

www.pintchhard.com

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Leslie Pintchik Short Bio

Before embarking on a career in jazz, Leslie Pintchik was a teaching assistant in English literature at Columbia University, where she also received her Master of Philosophy degree in seventeenth-century English literature. She first surfaced on the Manhattan scene in a trio with legendary bassist Red Mitchell at Bradley's, and in the ensuing years Pintchik formed her own trio which performs regularly at New York City jazz venues.

Pintchik's debut CD So Glad To Be Here was released in June 2004, followed by Quartets in 2007. About So Glad To Be Here, Ken Micallef wrote in DownBeat "Pintchik's music is fresh, full of light and instantly invigorating (4 stars)." In the fall of 2010, she released her third CD We're Here To Listen, as well as a DVD Leslie Pintchik Quartet Live In Concert.  Jim Wilke, creator of the nationally syndicated "Jazz After Hours" radio show included We're Here To Listen on his "Best CDs of 2010" list, and the jazz journalist and scholar W. Royal Stokes included both projects in his "Best of 2010" list. Pintchik's fourth CD In The Nature Of Things was released on March, 2014. Steve Futterman, in The New Yorker magazine, called it "...one of the more captivating recordings to come out so far this year...", and Gary Walker of WBGO jazz radio called it "...a gorgeous display of the trio.

" In his review of Pintchik's fifth CD True North-released in March, 2016-Dan Bilawsky in AllAboutJazz.com wrote "Leslie Pintchik's music has a magical draw to itŠ Getting lost in this music is simply a joy. If 2016 has a more pleasurable listen to offer than True North, this writer hasn't heard it yet. (4 1/2 stars)"

In addition to composing the music for her band, Leslie has also written the liner notes for some notable recent jazz CDs, including Duologue by saxophonist Steve Wilson and drummer Lewis Nash (on the MCG label), and Daybreak by pianist Bruce Barth (on the Savant label).

Jeff Baker - Phrases (OA2 RECORDS 2018)

Critically acclaimed vocalist JEFF BAKER returns with his 5th OA2 Records release, an alive and bristling set of originals and thoughtfully conceived pop and jazz standards. Collaborating with some of the most influential and compelling jazz musicians in the world today - Brian Blade, Steve Wilson, Marquis Hill, Clark Sommers, Geof Bradfield, and Gregory Uhlmann - Baker and his co-producer/musical director, pianist Darrell Grant, present a provocative collection of original songs and arrangements based on text by writers such as Pablo Neruda, J.D. Salinger, A.A. Milne and Salvador Plascencia. Certainly, his most ambitious and personal recording yet. "From all accounts, this charismatic crooner needs to be tracked closely. Mr. Baker has the potential to skyrocket to many accolade-coated triumphs." - JazzTrenzz

1 NERUDA 6:03 | Jeff Baker, BMI

2 AND SO IT GOES 8:56 | Billy Joel / arr. Jeff Baker

3 PEOPLE OF PAPER 5:39 | Jeff Baker

4 BALLAD OF THE SAD YOUNG MEN 7:37 | Frances Landsman & Thomas Wolf

arr. Jeff Baker, Darrell Grant, Ezra Weiss (string prelude), Justin Nielsen

5 HARBOR 8:05 | Clark Sommers & Jeff Baker

6 LOST 7:48 | Jeff Baker / arr. Jeff Baker, Darrell Grant, Thomas Barber

7 A HUNDRED LESS ONE 5:57 | Jeff Baker / arr. Jeff Baker, Darrell Grant (strings)

8 SALINGER 5:48 | Jeff Baker

9 NOT CAUSE I WANTED TO 6:57 | Bonnie Raitt / arr. Jeff Baker

10 STAY ALIVE 6:20 | Ryan Adams & Theodore Shapiro / arr. Darrell Grant

11 DON'T WORRY BOUT ME 5:57 | Rube Bloom & Ted Koehler / arr. Jeff Baker

Jeff Baker - Vocals

Darrell Grant - Piano

Clark Sommers - Bass

Brian Blade - Drums

Steve Wilson - Saxophone

Marquis Hill - Trumpet

Geof Bradfield - Saxophone

Gregory Uhlmann - Guitar

Blaise Magniere - Violin

Marie Wang - Violin

Anthony Devroye - Viola

Cheng-Hou Lee - Cello

Pete Malinverni Trio - Heaven, with Ben Allison & Akira Tana (feat. Karrin Allyson, Steve Wilson & Jon Faddis) June 16, 2017 SARANAC RECORDS

Pianist / Composer Pete Malinverni asks, "Heaven - is this it, right here?"

Heaven, an inspired trio set, due out June 16 on Saranac Records,

features bassist Ben Allison and drummer Akira Tana

with special guests Jon Faddis, Karrin Allyson and Steve Wilson

"Pete Malinverni is one wild catŠhis playing can be dark, gritty and oddly rapturousŠhe digs into the piano and emerges with exotic treasureŠ" - Karl Stark, Philadelphia Inquirer

 "One listen and you'll know why Pete Malinverni is one of New York's great pianists"

- Michael Ryan, The Boston Herald

"Malinverni - audacious and exquisite." - Jim Macnie, Village Voice

****Four stars. "Dashing but without ego, Malinverni tells tales short on embellishment and long on resonance." - Fred Bouchard, DownBeat Magazine

 "Pete Malinverni is a pianist with a forthright and elegant style." - Nate Chinen, NY Times

Pete celebrates the new release with CD release concerts:

May 19 - Firehouse 12 - New Haven, CT

June 17 - Pound Ridge NY Public Library

June 21 - Rosemary and Vine - Rye, NY

June 28 - Mezzrow - NYC

July 1 - Maureen's Jazz Cellar - Nyack, NY

July 20 - Monhonk Mountain House - New Palz, NY

With Heaven Pete Malinverni adds to the long list of varied and moving projects he's given us over time, including in the trio, quartet, quintet, solo piano, big band and choir formats. Always searching in spirit but engaging in nature, Pete's music asks the larger questions in a way that is both challenging and approachable.

Heaven is no different, except that it was born of a remarkable set of circumstances. First, Pete's wife, singer Jody Sandhaus, died in 2012, causing him to look to many places, including deep inside, to find a way forward in life. He had to - he loves life and he has a son. Through that search, Pete found a new appreciation for the quotidian things one encounters on a daily basis and that speak of something larger - something, call it what you will, that is worth notice and appreciation.

Then, just over a year ago, Pete himself had a health scare - unfounded, but yielding that existential fear some of us know all too well. During a fraught week, Pete resolved that, should he have time for just one more recording, it would deal with spiritual things. With the eventual 100% clean bill of health came relief - but also a new determination that the difficult week had served the purpose of giving his art a new focus.

Heaven is the result of that clarity. Featuring Pete in trio with Ben Allison and Akira Tana, the album features songs that speak in varied ways of spirituality, from Curtis Mayfield's People, Get Ready to Hungarian Jewish martyr Hannah Senesh's Eili, Eili, to the American Spiritual, A City Called Heaven to the title track, Duke Ellington's Heaven.

Also featured on the date for one selection each are Karrin Allyson (Jody Sandhaus' favorite singer, by the way), saxophonist Steve Wilson and trumpeter Jon Faddis, each guest offering a unique and stirring meditation in his/her own unique voice.

The question of Heaven is an old one. Does it exist - and, if so, how can it be better than this? Well, Pete Malinverni has learned for sure what he always suspected: if the beauty of every moment - every personal encounter, every lick from a dog, every breeze - is tasted as it should be, then isn't Heaven right here, right now?

Indeed, in his liner notes, Malinverni says, "We all want to look up - we hope, maybe we even trust, that somewhere there is unalloyed truth and beauty. Much art memorializes tristesse, encouraging us to abide, to await Relief, Rest or Joy. Other art suggests that Joy can be experienced right now, if only we choose it. For lack of a better term, let's call that thing for which we wait, or which we savor presently, Heaven.

"This recording is meant to reconcile those two perspectives, presenting music of various traditions with one thing in common - the notion that even this vale of tears is tinged with the essence of the transcendent, of the beautiful and the true".

The album opens with a jaunty reading of the title track, Malinverni taking a hint from the first two chords of the harmony, modulating up every chorus. Following immediately behind is Psalm 23, Pete's dynamic new commissioned choral composition, offered here in the trio format. The American folk song, Down in the River to Pray is next, played in a "5" meter, calling to mind the scene at the shore early one Sunday.

Next, the ever-soulful Karrin Allyson joins Pete at the water with Shenandoah, followed by the trio's rendering of Eili, Eili, by the young Jewish martyr Hannah Senesh, who parachuted with the RAF into her native Hungary to help lead Jews out of their then-dangerous home. Instead, she was caught, tortured and killed by the Nazis and this poem, an appreciation of the simple and profound beauty of nature, is her legacy.

Then, the swinging version of the soul hit, People, Get Ready precedes a beautifully intimate Come Sunday by Jon Faddis and the trio, followed by a Ben Allison feature on A City Called Heaven. Steve Wilson burns down the house on Wade in the Water and the recital closes with Ashokan Farewell, a new song of loss and what's left behind, featured prominently in Ken Burns' Civil War series.

All in all, Heaven is a worthy addition to Pete Malinverni's oeuvre, and not to be missed.

petemalinverni.com

Billy Childs - Rebirth (MACK AVENUE RECORDS 2017)

On his new album Rebirth, Childs reaches back to the start of his almost astoundingly varied musical experience—leading a small jazz band of state-of-the-art musicians with his piano playing.

At his musical core, Childs is an improvising pianist. He has the ability to equally distill the harmonic and rhythmic languages of classical music and jazz into his playing. The wide-ranging vocabulary on the taut track “Tightrope” begs the question of Childs’ love of classical music; “I’m not just jazz,” he stresses. His insistent pulse and melodically probing introduction to song is a key to the Childs’ musical identity: open to extended harmonic possibilities as they come along, taking a flexible approach to time and leaving an open door for input from his bandmates.

Four-time Grammy® Award-winner Billy Childs remains one of the most diversely prolific and acclaimed artists working in music today. Childs’ canon of original compositions and arrangements has garnered him an additional 10 Grammy® Award nominations, the 2013 Doris Duke Performing Artist Award and a Guggenheim Fellowship (2009).

Childs released his first solo album, Take For Example, This... in 1988, on Windham Hill Jazz Records. It was the first of four critically acclaimed albums on the imprint, culminating with the celebrated Portrait Of A Player, in 1993. 

Childs’ multiple musical interests also include collaborations, arrangements, and productions for other world-renowned artists, including Yo-Yo Ma, The Kronos Quartet, Wynton Marsalis, Sting, Chris Botti, and Leonard Slatkin, among others. He has received orchestral commissions from The Los Angeles Philharmonic, The Los Angeles Master Chorale, The Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and The Lincoln Jazz Center Orchestra. In 2013 he premiered “Enlightened Souls,” a commission from Duke University featuring Dianne Reeves and the Ying Quartet, to commemorate fifty years of African-American students attending the school. In 2014 Childs released Map to the Treasure – Reimagining Laura Nyro (Sony Masterworks), which was produced by Larry Klein and features Reneé Fleming, Esperanza Spalding, Alison Krauss, Shawn Colvin, Rickie Lee Jones, Becca Stevens, Ledisi, Chris Botti, Yo-Yo Ma and Susan Tedeschi.

Backwards Bop

Rebirth

Stay

Dance Of Shiva

Tightrope

The Starry Night

The Windmills Of Your Mind

Peace

Billy Childs: piano

Steve Wilson: alto saxophone, soprano saxophone

Hans Glawischnig: acoustic bass

Eric Harland: drums

Ido Meshulam: trombone

Rogerio Boccato: percussions

Claudia Acuna: vocals

Alicia Olatuja: vocals