Monday, July 9, 2018

Quintorigo - Opposites (INCIPIT RECORDS 2018)


I Quintorigo celebrano i vent’anni dall’esordio sulla scena musicale con un doppio album composto per metà di brani di propria composizione e per metà di cover. Insieme al quartetto (Andrea Costa: violino, Gionata Costa: violoncello, Valentino Bianchi: sax e Stefano Ricci: contrabbasso) hanno partecipato al lavoro Alessio Velliscig (voce), Gianluca Nanni (batteria), Enrico Rava al flicorno e Joe Pisto alla voce.

Opposizione, giust-apposizione, contrapposizione di fenomeni artistici lontani nel tempo e nello spazio: quanto dista Duke Ellington da David Bowie? Qual è la strada più breve fra Ornette Coleman e i Rage Against the Machine? E spesso, cercano di dimostrare i Quintorigo, le distanze non sono poi così grandi e di conseguenza le opposizioni sono solo apparenti. La Musica è un universo molto più facile da percorrere di quello siderale. Non servono astronavi o ponti di Einstein-Rosen per una gita turistica non esaustiva ma sensata. Il personalissimo percorso che propongono i Quintorigo è proprio questo: una rivisitazione di classici e un dialogo con essi, in 10 cover e 11 brani originali, con la massima libertà artistica. Un lavoro in cui la conseguita maturità li riporta al fanciullesco stupore di fronte ai propri mostri sacri e al folle proposito di emularli e sfidarli. Un album, anzi due, che suonano “deliranti” nel senso etimologico del termine, che escono dal solco dell’artisticamente corretto e soprattutto del già ascoltato.

CD1
1) 1977
2) Special Mind
3) Aeneis
4) A Pigeon's Overview
5) Opposite Attract
6) Grey Comedy
7) Suit And Tie Bandits
8) Dust Town
9) Fuck The Bank
10) The great surrender
11) Waltz For Naima

CD2
1) Congeniality 
2) Stolen Moments 
3) Well You Needn't / Think Of One
4) Space Oddity 
5) Jeru 
6) Blue Rondo A La Turk
7) Killing In The Name 
8) Boy Meets Horn
9) Alabama Song 
10) You Go To My Head


Peter Zak - One Mind (feat. Marcos Verela) FRESH SOUND RECORDS 2018


"Peter Zak is a pianist of extraordinary talent and virtuosity. His latest CD exhibits mature, sensitive and high level creativity at its best."
Dr. Eddie Henderson (trumpeter)

01. For Sonny 8:22
02. Backseat Driver 6:33
03. George Washington 7:03
04. I Wish I Lived in LA 7:01
05. Where the Wild Things Are 7:52 
06. Moonlight Over Saturnvelen 7:35
07. Textures 5:52
08. So In Love 7:02
09. Reflections 4:51

All compositions by Peter Zak, except #5 by Marcos Varela; #7 by Herbie Hancock; #8 by Cole Porter, arranged by Peter Zak; #9 by Thelonious Monk.

Peter Zak (piano)
Seamus Blake (tenor sax)
Marcos Varela (bass)
Billy Drummond (drums)

Recorded at Tedesco Studios, Paramus, New Jersey, on May 26, 2017

Sound engineer: Tom Tedesco
Mixed & mastered by Katherine Miller
Cover art by Josh Pazda

Produced by Peter Zak & Marcos Varela
Executive producer: Jordi Pujol


Adam Kolker & Russ Lossing - Whispers and Secrets (FRESH SOUND RECORDS 2018)



01. Lost (Wayne Shorter) 8:00
02. Seven Bar Tune (Adam Kolker) 7:51
03. Only One (Adam Kolker) 6:57
04. Beautiful You (Billy Mintz) 5:43
05. Whispers (Russ Lossing)  7:29
06. Flight (Billy Mintz) 7:03
07. Gnash (Adam Kolker) 10:26
08. Secrets (Lossing-Kolker) 2:28

Adam Kolker (tenor & soprano saxophones, bass clarinet)
Russ Lossing (piano)
Masa Kamaguchi (bass)
Billy Mintz (drums)

Recorded at Charlestown Road Studio, Warren, New Jersey, on May 26, 2014

Engineered by Paul Wickliffe
Mixed & mastered by Paul Wickliffe at Skyline Productions
Cover photo by Russ Lossing / Band photo: Debbie Lossing
Liner notes: Russ Lossing

Produced by Peter Zak & Marcos Varela
Executive producer: Jordi Pujol

Vinnie Sperrazza · Jacob Sacks · Masa Kamaguchi - Play Benny Golson (FRESH SOUND NEW TALENT RECORDS 2018)


01. Along Came Betty 7:18
02. Are You Real? 3:16
03. Blues March 6:37
04. Reggie of Chester 2:42 
05. Killer Joe 5:27
06. Just by Myself 3:50
07. Domingo 8:25
08. I Remember Clifford 7:40
09. Stablemates 6:00
10. Fair Weather 6:40

Vinnie Sperrazza (drums)
Jacob Sacks (piano)
Masa Kamaguchi (bass)

Thomas Delor - The Swaggerer (FRESH SOUND NEW TALENT RECORDS 2018)


01. Prélude en Si Majeur (Thomas Delor) 1:36
02. Hidden Meaning (Thomas Delor) 5:17
03. Moonlight (Ludwig Van Beethoven) 4:25
04. The Swaggerer (Thomas Delor) 7:46
05. L.N.A. (Thomas Delor) 5:43
06. From the New World (Antonin Dvorak) 5:33
07. Rhythm-a-ning (Thelonious Monk) 3:57
08. Blue in Green (Miles Davis) 5:02
09. Tu l’as vu, Monk? (Thomas Delor) 2:58


Thomas Delor (drums)
Simon Martineau (guitar)
Georges Correia (bass)


Sunday, July 8, 2018

Hey! This week's $5.00 album is one U will surely want...

Saturday, July 7, 2018

Minji Kim, Drew Gress & Jongkuk Kim - Every Moment (2018)


Minji is a pianist, composer, and an instructor who was born in South Korea. She pursued bachelor’s degree at Berklee College of Music with a Jazz Performance Award, Berklee Achievement Scholarship, and Berklee International Grant. She studied with many brilliant professors including Joanne Brackeen, Alain Mallet, and Ed Tomassi. Minji is currently pursuing her Master’s degree in Jazz Performance at New York University while working as an adjunct instructor at NYU. She has recorded/performed with many recognizable musicians including Drew Gress, Alan Ferber, Alex Sipiagin, David Pietro (will perform with Lenny Pickett  on April 27th and Brad Shepik in July). She has released her first debut album, “Every Moment”, on February 2018 under her own recording label with Drew Gress on bass and Jongkuk Kim on drums (featured by Alex Sipiagin on trumpet, Dave Pietro on alto sax, and Alan Ferber on trombone). Minji currently is performing at various places and building her musical experiences with many musicians, such as Blue Note, Club Bonafide, ShapeShifter Lab,Tomi Jazz, Loewe Theatre, and James Dolan Studio. She will have her first abroad tour in Costa Rica (“Costa Rica Tour & Clinic) in July 2018 with NYU Group (featured by Brad Shepik).

1. A Big Tree (feat. Alan Ferber) Minji Kim, Drew Gress & Jongkuk Kim 6:04
2. Light River (feat. Alex Sipiagin & Dave Pietro) Minji Kim, Drew Gress & Jongkuk Kim 7:09
3. Db Minji Kim, Drew Gress & Jongkuk Kim 4:53
4. April 29th (feat. Alex Sipiagin, Dave Pietro, Alan Ferber & Songyi Jeon) Minji Kim, Drew Gress & Jongkuk Kim 6:25
5. Na-Bi Minji Kim & Jongkuk Kim 5:18
6. The Moment (feat. Alex Sipiagin) Minji Kim, Drew Gress & Jongkuk Kim 5:24
7. Yearning Minji Kim & Drew Gress 5:18

Drew Gress on bass
Jongkuk Kim on drums

Alex Sipiagin on Trumpet (Track 2, 4, 6)
Dave Pietro on Alto Saxophone (Track 2, 4)
Alan Ferber on Trombone (Track 1, 4)
Songyi Jeon on Vocal (Track 4)


Guerino Mazzola & Joomi Park - Passionate Message (SILKHEART RECORDS 2018)


Silkheart Records has previously released two CDs presenting the dynamics of Guerino Mazzola on grand piano and Heinz Geisser on percussion – Folia/The UNAM Concert and Someday respectively. This time we have decided to invest in a new type of dynamics – the one between two improvisional pianists – Guerino Mazzola and Joomi Park. Our decision was based on a concept presented to us by Mazzola and Park to consider: 

« The principal idea for this CD was to set up a profound dialogue of two completely different styles – Joomi’s contemporary music approach to composition and improvisation, versus Guerino’s free jazz improvisation with previously prepared basic materials – and then synthesizing these styles in a shared improvisation on two pianos. 
Our general strategy was to investigate composition by improvisation and also to integrate composition in the improvisational approach. So it was not general free jazz, but the integration of compositional material in improvisation by Guerino and also a synthesis of Joomi’s and Guerino’s soli in a shared improvisation. Here the new music and the free jazz idioms were confronted and merged. Joomi’ and Guerino’s contributions were developed in a prolific discussion in the construction of these musics, meaning that none was an isolated creation but resulted from an intense musical exchange of ideas and performances. »

1. Black Summer (Park) 03:13
2. Black Summer (Mazzola) 03:57
3. Black Summer (Mazzola & Park) 01:44
4. Yesterday (Lennon & McCartney) 04:01
5. Yesterday (Park) 04:32
6. Yesterday (Mazzola & Park) 04:01
7. American Carnival (Park) 06:12
8. American Carnival (Mazzola) 04:58
9. American Carnival (Mazzola & Park) 04:38
10. Joomi's Dance (Park) 04:09
11. Guerino's Dance (Mazzola) 02:10
12. Our Dance (Mazzola & Park) 05:16

Guerino Mazzola grand piano
Joomi Park grand piano


David Binney - Here & Now (July 20, 2018)


Labor of love as all of my projects are. I don't like describing music. This is music. I like it a lot. I sincerely hope that you do too. It's different than some of my other work. This is my first fully Bandcamp release. And there's a lot more where this came from. There will be a more steady release of things in the future. Only digital. There will be no cd's. If you're a fan of my work, the more support I get through Bandcamp, the more work I can do and release. Yes, it really works like that. So get this! And thank you in advance from the bottom of my heart. DB


1. Forj
2. We Will See Our Way Through (feat Louis Cole)
3. To The Coast (feat Jacob Richards and Logan Kane)
4. Here & Now
5. Belgrade (feat Pedja Milutinovic and Logan Kane)
6. Majesty
7. The Boats (feat Pera Krstajic and Jacob Richards)
8. Freeway
9. ForJTwo (Avenija-Pera Krstajic and Pedja Milutinovic)

Louis Cole - Drums on Track 2 
Jacob Richards - Drums-Tracks 3,7 
Pedja Milutinovic - Drums tracks 5,9 
Logan Kane - Bass tracks 3,5 
Pera Krstajic - Bass tracks 7,9

Recorded in Los Angeles,New York and Belgrade


Kaidi Tatham - It's A World Before You (2018)


First Word Records is very proud to present a brand new full-length album from Kaidi Tatham. ‘It’s A World Before You’. 

Following on from two EPs released on First Word last year (‘Changing Times’ and ‘Hard Times’), Kaidi has delivered us thirteen tracks that deftly illustrate his various talents as a multi-instrumentalist.

Kaidi is probably best known for his work with Bugz In The Attic, though his musical contributions over the years have also included Amy Winehouse, Slum Village, Mulatu Astatke, Soul II Soul, Moonchild, Leroy Burgess, Amp Fiddler, Chris Dave, Macy Gray, King Britt, DJ Spinna, Mr Scruff and IG Culture to name but a few! In recent times, he’s worked with DJ Jazzy Jeff on a variety of projects, including his most recent album ‘M3’, touring Europe for Jeff and Will Smith’s reunion shows, and on the PLAYlist album 'Chasing Goosebumps', with Glenn Lewis, Stro Elliot (The Roots), Masego, Maimouna Youssef, Rich Medina, Daniel Crawford and more. 

All this in addition to heating up dances around Europe with his inimitable DJ sets, and working heavily with First Word label-mate, Eric Lau (who also mixed this album) on a variety of projects, and adding releases to his already impressive catalogue on 2000 Black, Eglo and Theo Parrish's Sound Signature, with regular compadre, Dego (who features on the album’s title track). 

This album personifies Kaidi’s diverse palette of sounds – bar Eric & Dego’s features, every piece of music is played by himself. Largely flowing on a broken beat rhythm section, Kaidi effortlessly incorporates washes of afro, latin and funk throughout. From the harmonics of ‘Your Dream Don’t Mean A Thing’, to the breakneck funk of ‘Outta Audah’, each and every riddim exudes energy. But this isn’t simply a bruk record. The album is laced together with downtempo beats and future jazz interludes throughout, and some sweet synth boogie is never very far away, especially on the weighty vibes of ‘It’s About Who You Know’. To top it all off, there’s two delightful nuggets of hip hop soul - Mancunian label-mates, Children of Zeus, feature on the neo-soul vibes of ‘Out Here On My Own’, and there’s a feature from Amir Townes, better known as Uhmeer - an upcoming MC from Philadelphia, and son of one Jazzy Jeff Townes - who rides a sub-heavy, piano-led slice of boom bap, voicing an assortment of characters to tell the tale of ‘Cupid’. 

‘It’s A World Before You’ is set to cause serious damage to sound-systems over the Summer, and show and prove once again the skills of one of the UK’s best unsung musical talents, Kaidi Tatham.

1. Joyous 04:52
2. Your Dreams Don't Mean A Thing 05:03
3. Sweet Kinch 00:46
4. Cold 05:01
5. Out Here On My Own (ft. Children Of Zeus) 04:14
6. Bien 02:26
7. 2Tone 06:08
8. It's About Who You Know 05:17
9. Outta Audah 02:20
10. Soon Come 00:58
11. It's A World Before You (ft. Dego) 04:57
12. Cupid (ft. Uhmeer) 04:25
13. Unique 00:59


Get The Blessing - Bristopia (September 21, 2018)


Get The Blessing set the pace for the current UK Jazz revival, demonstrating that the early pioneers of the scene still have something important to say. Formed back in 1999 by bassist Jim Barr and drummer Clive Deamer (rhythm section of seminal act Portishead) alongside Jake McMurchie (on sax and electronics) and Pete Judge (trumpet and electronics) the Bristol-based four-piece boast a truly international fan-base, having forged a unique signature sound that defies easy classification, yet never loses sight of thumping tunes, monstrously infectious beats, or joyous collective spontaneity. After eighteen years, their ability to produce such creative and intelligent music – balanced with wit and passion – is testament to the free spirit that they embody.

1. If It Can It Will
2. Cococloud
3. Cellophant
4. Sunwise
5. Not With Standing
6. Recorded For Training And Quality Purposes
7. Bristopia
8. Rule Of Thumb
9. The Second Third
10. Tuathal
11. The Grand Scheme Of Things


Friday, July 6, 2018

Kukuruz Quartet - Julius Eastman Piano Interpretations (INTAKT RECORDS 2018)


Kukuruz started 2014 their involvement with Julius Eastman and his musical works. In 2017, their performance at documenta 14 in the Megaro Mousikis concert hall in Athens earned a standing ovation. They performed works by Julius Eastman: 'Evil Nigger', 'Gay Guerrilla', 'Buddha' and 'Fugue No. 7'. The recording of these compositions followed in November 2017 on four Steinway D pianos in the main hall of the historic Radiostudio Zürich. Composer, trombonist and scholar George E. Lewis, who knew Eastman personally and played with him, writes in the liner notes: „This brilliant recording by the Kukuruz Quartet constitutes an important new contribution to the growing corpus of performances of music by the composer, pianist, and singer Julius Eastman (1940-1990), who came to prominence in the experimental music scene of the 1970s and 1980s ... On this recording, the Kukuruz Quartet renders Eastman’s spirit of adventure audible and sensuous, exemplifying a new, creolized formation of contemporary classical music that is able to embrace a multicultural, multi-ethnic usable past and thinkable future that can affirm our common humanity in the pursuit of new music.“

1. Fugue no. 7 (1983) 08:22
2. Evil Nigger (1979) 21:33
3. Buddha (1984) 16:44
4. Gay Guerrilla (1979) 30:03

Philip Bartels: Piano
Duri Collenberg: Piano
Simone Keller: Piano
Lukas Rickli: Piano


Elliott Sharp Carbon - Transmigration at the Solar Max (INTAKT RECORDS 2018)


Elliott Sharp continues to publish exceptional projects with his Carbon ensembles. After the Carbon Quintet "Void Coordinates" and the three CD box "The Age of Carbon" with legendary recordings of the 80s, a new Carbon album is now being released on Intakt Records: 

"Transmigration at the Solar Max" with Zeena Parkins and Bobby Previte. Elliott Sharp writes: "Part cosmic turbulence and part roiling soundscape, "Transmigration at the Solar Max" travels through successively hypercharged zones, the musicians building their activities on and against shifting electro-acoustic drones and matrices of rhythm, unisons splitting and refracting.“

1. Analemma 13:27
2. Perihelion 10:38
3. Orrery 07:29
4. Aurora 12:53
5. Anthelion 09:32

Elliott Sharp: 8-String Guitarbass, Soprano Sax, Electronics, Samples & Textures
Zeena Parkins: Electric Harp
Bobby Previte: Drums


Joey Baron / Robyn Schulkowsky - Now You Hear Me (INTAKT RECORDS 2018)


Robyn Schulkowsky, New Music’s high priestess of percussion, and Joey Baron, one of the liveliest and most creative drummers in New York’s Downtown scene, come from very different avant-garde traditions. Yet in meshing their talents when they play, categories blur or rather dissolve. What they bring with them is a kind of oceanic experience. 

Joey Baron is at home in contemporary jazz. He is one of John Zorn’s favorite drummers and can often be heard alongside Bill Frisell; he played with Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz, Jim Hall and Carmen McRae; and has also spanned the Atlantic in his recent work with Jakob Bro as well as made a CD in duet with Irène Schweizer on Intakt Records. Robyn Schulkowsky moved from the USA to Europe, where she collaborated on and brought to life the works of New Music’s greats. There is hardly a high-ranking avant-garde composer missing from the list: she has worked with Karlheinz Stockhausen, Mauricio Kagel, John Cage, Morton Feldman, Iannis Xenakis, Luciano Berio, Christian Wolff. From the very beginning she was a sound innovator. 

Now You Hear Me. Invocative, making the presence of a condition felt, appropriating and relinquishing – everyday reality and ritual. Now.

1. Castings 12:20
2. Passage 32:41
3. The Gaze 17:28
4. Just Listen 05:59

Joey Baron: Drums, Percussion
Robyn Schulkowsky: Drums, Percussion


Wayne Powers - If Love Were All (KABOCKIE RECORDS August 3, 2018)


Life goes by too quickly. It’s hard to believe that it’s been 25 years since Wayne Powers recorded his last CD, “Plain Old Me” with his Los Angeles “Hoi Polloi” band in 1993. But simple math can be unforgiving. In the intervening quarter century, Powers’ life has been full with both the poignant and the joyous — as all lives are. Over the last few years, Wayne has been busy working on getting his “chops” backup with the idea of returning to the studio and giving voice to the last 25 years of life and love as he’s lived it and felt it. “I’ve got so much inside me still left unsung,” says Powers, “and so, with The Great American Songbook as my script, I’ve chosen some truly classic, compelling tunes which speak deeply to me and, hopefully, to you. Some you’ll know and a few you may not be familiar with — yet.”

The result is Powers’ personal yet universal saga of love lost and love found. We’ve all been there. Each tune on this album explores with authenticity a different aspect of an eternal story you’re sure to recognize. There’s a choice array of torch songs, or what Wayne and other crooners call ‘Saloon Songs’ — heartfelt ballads that will bring to mind a jukebox, wet quarters and soggy dollar bills in some dimly lit bar room. And then there are those uplifting tunes of love’s pure, unbridled joy. It’s all captured on this album. Wayne says, “I’m excited and honored to work with some top-flight jazz musicians on this live-in-studio recording: Ziad Rabie, Sax. Keith Davis, Piano. Ron Brendle, Acoustic Bass. Al Sergel, Drums.” This is a magical combination of talent that makes each of the 14 tunes sparkle and resonate in their own unique way. Powers invites you to “...share in the musical and lyrical truth, love and joy which we all brought to this special project, appropriately titled, “IF LOVE WERE ALL.”

The album will be available for digital download on most major online music platforms, as well as a CD  and as a limited edition 180-gram audiophile vinyl double LP.


1. Never Let Me Go - 2:51 Livingston/Evans
2. You’ve Changed - 3:14 Carey/Fischer
3.All Of Me-4:12 Simons/Marks
4. Body And Soul - 3:54 Green/Heyman/Sour/Eyton
5. Lush Life - 3:33 Strayhorn
6. When Your Lover Has Gone - 4:26 Swan
7. Willow Weep For Me - 4:22 Ronell
8. You Don’t Know What Love Is - 4:28 de Paul/Raye
9. If Love Were All - 2:29 Coward
10. Just in Time - 3:04 Styne/Green/Comden
11. East Of The Sun (West of the Moon) - 3:17 Bowman
12.IOnlyHaveEyesforYou-3:28 Warren/Dubin
13. Time After Time - 3:28 Cahn/Styne
14. Smile - 3:30 Turner/Parsons/Chaplin

Wayne Powers - vocals
Ziad Rabie - tenor sax
Keith Davis - piano
Ron Brendle - acoustic bass
Al Sergel - drums


NATIONAL PRESS CAMPAIGN
JIM EIGO, JAZZ PROMO SERVICES,
272 State Route 94 South #1, Warwick, NY 10990-3363
Ph: 845-986-1677
“Specializing in Media Campaigns for the music community, artists, labels, venues and events.”