George Fenton - The United Way (2021 Gearbox Records)

Five-time Oscar nominated composer George Fenton is comfortably one of today’s most prolific and acclaimed British composers, having worked on numerous Ken Loach films including ‘I, Daniel Blake’, Hollywood moderns classics like ‘Groundhog Day’ and ‘Hitch’, and written the iconic TV theme for Newsnight. He is also a lifelong Manchester United fan, leading to his scoring of a new historical documentary, ‘The United Way’, which tells the epic story of one of the world’s most successful football clubs ever.

Fenton’s musical underscoring adds gravitas and a sense of spiritual awakening to the film, which begins its journey in the early days of the club, in post-war, industrial Manchester. Recent events have shown that the history and city behind an organisation as powerful and global as Manchester United are what matter to people most, and Fenton’s inspiring soundtrack to ‘The United Way’ emphasises this whilst showcasing the club’s core narrative in all its glory.

1. Curtain Up 03:03

2. The Busby Babes 03:15

3. Munich and Roll Call 03:59

4. 1968 For Them 02:41

5. Say What You Like 02:07

6. A Disaster 02:02

7. Game Changer 02:51

8. Manchester Marseilles 01:30

9. Winter of Discontent 02:01

10. Time for a Change 02:06

11. More Change 02:10

12. This is Different 01:17

13. Battle Begins 02:46

14. Palace 03:03

15. Media Circus 01:53

16. Rebuilding 03:30

17. Breaking News 01:52

18. Talking in Paris 01:51

19. Miracles 02:35

20. Stepping Aside 02:42

21. Digging Deep 02:07

22. The Final Push 04:08

23. May 26 1999 03:23

24. Deansgate 03:02

25. The United Way Credits 03:31

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Altus - Riot Cycle (July 2021)

Riot Cycle is a series of collaborative compositions and improvisational pieces written and recorded entirely remotely. In March of 2020, having only recently witnessed the potential of our musical bond, we, like the rest of the world, were separated from each other. Over the following year, we found ourselves gathering remotely to reflect, share our inspirations, and encourage one another during an incredibly difficult time.

These meetings were our anchor.

Our conversations inspired composition: Nathan Reising suggested that Dave Adewumi, Neta Raanan, Isaac Levien and himself compose individual pieces under the same restrictions. “Utopia Adjacent” was based on one of Olivier Messiaen’s modes of limited transposition, which Nathan had been experimenting with at the time. In an attempt to break compositional habits and as a substitute for live musical communication, we began to compose collaboratively. One of us would compose a musical sketch, and it would not be finished until Nathan, Dave, Neta, and Isaac had all contributed equally to it. “Axis,” “The Merchant, Tertius,” “Hexagonal Hawk,” and “Riot Cycle Repeats” are the results of this process.

Dave Adewumi suggested that we document our creations in the form of an album, and in September of 2020 we began the process of remote recording. Our intent was to make an album that embraced the circumstances we found ourselves in. We considered the limitations of remote recording carefully, and sought creative ways to use these barriers to our advantage. By recording on our own time we had the opportunity to manipulate and transform every performance.

Ryan Sands was the missing element in our universe. With Ryan on board, we began recording. One at a time. Alone in our rooms.

In the months that followed, Nathan prompted improvisational sketches among the horns, leading to “Blind Contour” and “Negative Space”. Isaac dug deep into a special moment from a pre-pandemic rehearsal, manipulating it into “Meditation”. Neta wrote and recorded the poem featured in “Riot Cycle Repeats,” with Sarah Rossy contributing her voice as well. All arrangements were collaborative.

As members of the band became vaccinated and some semblance of normalcy could be found in New York City, we partnered with Jack Broza on production, mixing, and mastering. Just as Ryan had invigorated Altus, Jack brought an entirely new dimension to our music, giving a live and organic quality to a project otherwise recorded in total isolation.

Riot Cycle is a reflection of our own experiences during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is the unlikely first chapter in what promises to be an enduring and prolific musical alliance.

A special thank you to Amir Bar Akiva for his contribution on “Meditation” and for being present for the genesis of this band.

Riot Cycle Repeats

Sunlight ebbs and flows

The glow rolls across the floor

like a breath,

Fills the house with warmth then recedes

Eery sparkle, the same images gleam through the screens

around the house, the town, the nation

The present came chasing out

Clash the crashing cycles present now and future

Ghosts reemerge, chanting for justice

From mouths fly chants, songs of sorrow cross generations

Tragedy rippling through layers of time

The possibility to exist in a brief moment

To bare joy when justice has yet to return homebound

Acidity of sun

Rolling through the moments to afford bliss, despite

Welcomes joy

not as contrast but reaffirms

To anchor purpose 

1. Blind Contour 01:04

2. Axis 03:14

3. The Merchant, Tertius 03:47

4. Utopia Adjacent 06:07

5. Negative Space 02:14

6. Hexagonal Hawk 03:40

7. Meditation 03:59

8. Riot Cycle Repeats 05:11

David Adewumi - Trumpet

Isaac Levien - Bass

Neta Raanan - Tenor Saxophone, Voice on Riot Cycle Repeats

Nathan Reising - Alto Saxophone

Ryan Sands - Drums

Sarah Rossy - Voice on Riot Cycle Repeats

Recorded by Everyone at home

Mixed, Mastered, and Produced by Jack Broza

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Guitarist, composer and oud master Gordon Grdina launches Attaboygirl Records with a wide-ranging trio of adventurous new albums

The label, created in partnership with his partner, photographer and visual artist Genevieve Monro, will make its debut with its first two releases on October 22, 2021

 

Inaugural releases include a new solo album for classical guitar and oud along with 

the studio debut of the quartet Square Peg with Mat Maneri, Shahzad Ismaily, and drummer Christian Lillinger

 

In early 2022, Attaboygirl will release the new album by Grdina’s Arabic music ensemble Haram with special guest Marc Ribot, while Astral Spirits will unveil the second album by the Nomad Trio with pianist Matt Mitchell and drummer Jim Black

“Gordon Grdina Makes Music that is Important for Humanity.” 

— Eyal Hareuveni, The Free Jazz Collective

“(Nomad) presents the restless spirit of jazz that refuses to be still, searching for a home 

and never settling down…”

— Jon Davis, EXPOSE

“The prevailing ambience is one of dark mystery, but the ruggedness of Grdina’s tone makes for a palette of rich contrast.”

— David R. Adler, JazzTimes (review of Think Like the Waves)

The prolific Vancouver-based guitarist, composer, improviser, and master oud player Gordon Grdina has longbeen tireless in his pursuit of new possibilities and partnerships for his expansive musical imagination. Seeking a new outlet that can keep pace with his ever-expanding roster of ongoing projects and new collaborations, Grdina has announced the launch of Attaboygirl Records. The endeavor is being undertaken in collaboration with his partner, photographer Genevieve Monro, who will curate the distinctive visual style of the label. At the outset Attaboygirl will begin strictly as an imprint for Grdina’s own efforts, though the founders have plans to eventuallyexpand to include other artists as well.

 

Attaboygirl Records will make its official debut on October 22, 2021, with the simultaneous release of the first two entries in its catalogue. Pendulum is Grdina’s third solo album and the second composed for classical guitar and oud. Klotski, meanwhile, marks the studio debut of Gordon Grdina’s Square Peg, an exploratory quartet featuring Grdina on guitar and oud, Mat Maneri on viola, Shahzad Ismaily on bass and Moog, and Christian Lillinger on drums.

 

A third new release will follow in January 2022, with the meeting of guitar innovator Marc Ribot with Grdina’s Arabic music ensemble Haram. Grdina will also continue to record for other labels in the new year; in May 2022 the much anticipated second outing by Grdina’s explosive Nomad Trio with pianist Matt Mitchell and drummer Jim Black will be released via Astral Spirits.

“I seem to be putting out more music than other labels can handle,” jokes Grdina about the new effort. “The labelis a project that Genevieve and I have wanted to take on for a while now. It allows us to release projects when we want and to create a cohesive visual style for these disparate releases.”

 

The label’s name stems from a favorite saying of Monro’s late father, serving as a personal dedication while alluding to the two partners at the helm. “It's also a positive, encouraging sentiment,” Grdina adds, “which is important when taking on something new like this.”

Pendulum builds upon the success of Grdina’s previous solo releases. The first, 2018’s China Cloud, featured his usual arsenal – electric guitar and oud – won a Juno Award (the Canadian equivalent of the Grammy) for Instrumental Album of the Year. His Juno-nominated 2020 follow-up, Prior Street, shifted into more of a chamber-jazz concentration with pieces designed for classical guitar and oud. The new album continues in that vein, intricately exploring the harmonic possibilities of the instruments in ways that bridge their Western and Arabic origins.

 

Square Peg brings Grdina together with Ismaily and Maneri, both longtime members of New York’s downtown scene, and German drummer Christian Lillinger, an award winning player in the European avant- jazz and improvised music world. For Klotski, Grdina penned a number of short, modular compositions that could fit together like puzzle pieces to form a free-ranging but focused setlist. The album’s single, nearly hour-long piece moves through eight of these cellular pieces, each able to be initiated by any member of the group and bridged by captivating improvisations, vividly blurring the lines between the written and the spontaneous.

 

Grdina founded Haram in 2008 with two purposes in mind: to further evolve his work with traditional Iraqi and Arabic folk music, and to convene several of his favorite Vancouver improvisers into one large ensemble. The follow-up to the ensemble’s 2012 debut, Her Eyes Illuminate, features the addition of legendary guitar wizard Marc Ribot, whose fabled career has included influential work with Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, Robert Plant and John Zorn among countless others, as well as his own projects like Ceramic Dog, Los Cubanos Postizos, Spiritual Unity and the Rootless Cosmopolitans.

 

“Ribot's been a hero of mine for a long time,” Grdina says. “He added a whole lot of energy and excitement as well as a punk rock aesthetic to these pieces.”

 

Finally, next May will bring the release of Boiling Point, the second outing for Grdina’s Nomad Trio with Matt Mitchell and Jim Black, two of the most inventive and technically audacious artists in modern jazz. “I can write anything for this band,” Grdina touts. “It's very complex music, rhythmically, harmonically, melodically, and in the way every piece fits together, those guys really can do anything. Since the last album, the group has solidified its unique sound, which is exciting to hear develop on this second record.”

gordongrdinamusic.com

KIMBROUGH – 67 musicians pay tribute to Frank Kimbrough to benefit scholarship in his name (July 2021 Newvelle Records)

Introducing KIMBROUGH:

A 61 Track Collection of Jazz Composer and Teacher Frank Kimbrough’s Compositions, Featuring 67 World-Class Artists

Newvelle Records is proud to release this 61-track digital anthology of Frank’s original compositions, recorded as the New York jazz scene reopened in May 2021

Newvelle Records today is releasing KIMBROUGH, a collection of 61 original compositions by jazz artist and educator Frank Kimbrough, who passed away in December 2020. Featuring tributes from 67 of Frank’s former bandmates, students, and friends across multiple generations, KIMBROUGH was recorded over three and a half days in New York as the musical world began reawakening in May 2021. All proceeds from this definitive collection of Frank’s music, available on high-quality digital download on Bandcamp, will benefit the Frank Kimbrough Jazz Scholarship at The Juilliard School.

“Frank was a genuine ‘musician’s musician’ whose talent as a player, composer, and teacher fueled generations of artists in the New York jazz community,” said Elan Mehler, cofounder and artistic director of Newvelle Records, and a student of Frank’s at New York University in the 1990s. “There is something miraculous about attracting 67 world-class artists together in a studio, just as the world began emerging from the pandemic. Only someone of Frank’s impact could inspire such an ambitious project.”

Frank famously never practiced piano and wrote nearly all of his compositions wandering through New York. He implored students to spend less time in the practice rooms and more time on the subway platforms, bar stools, and park benches that sparked so much of his own musical inspiration. 

Blending four generations of jazz musicians – from artists who played with him in his earliest years in North Carolina, to students he taught over Zoom during the pandemic – KIMBROUGH features 55 different bands across 61 tracks. Some had begun playing together 40 years ago, while others were meeting in the studio for the first time. All volunteered their time as tribute to a man they knew for his generosity, perspective, and creativity.

“Every moment with him on the stage was just beautiful,” said Steve Wilson, who appears on tenor saxophone on four tracks. “Not only was he supporting you, he was collaborating with you in the moment.”

Clockwise from top: 1) Frank Kimbrough, Immanuel Wilkins, Dezron Douglas, Glenn Zeleski and Allan Mednard, Scott Robinson, Joe Lovano and Donny McCaslin

Photos courtesy of Newvelle Records. (c) Anna Yatskevich

1. The Call 07:34

2. C Minor Waltz 04:58

3. Kudzu 07:24

4. Elegy for P.M. 04:35

5. Falling Waltz 05:13

6. Forsythia 06:49

7. Quickening 04:04

8. Whirl 03:32

9. Wings 04:15

10. Hope 06:41

11. Clara's Room 05:34

12. For Duke (Instrumental) 04:15

13. Lullabluebye 07:26

14. For Jimmy G. 05:54

15. November 06:49

16. Adrian's Way 05:42

17. Sadness 05:13

18. Helix 05:59

19. The Breaks 05:06

20. 20 Bars 07:30

21. Ancestors 06:12

22. Kids Stuff 04:57

23. Meantime 05:37

24. Capricorn Lady 05:37

25. Waltz for Lee 04:43

26. 727 04:52

27. Beginning 04:47

28. Southern Lights 04:56

29. Regeneration 07:08

30. A & J 05:48

31. Eventualities 06:15

32. Moonflower 02:24

33. Just Suppose 05:01

34. Reluctance (Quartet) 06:55

35. Areas (Trumpet, Piano, Bass) 03:36

36. The Spins 05:31

37. Sanibel Island 05:04

38. Fubu 06:55

39. Cascade Rising 05:14

40. Over 03:57

41. Blue Smoke 03:47

42. Air 04:22

43. Affirmation 04:17

44. Quiet as it's Kept 06:09

45. TMI 07:57

46. Time Will Tell 06:42

47. Areas (Piano, Bass, Drums) 04:41

48. Noumena 05:15

49. Sloppy Seconds 05:20

50. Reluctance (Solo Piano) 04:11

51. Grass Valley 06:20

52. Questions the Answer 05:28

53. Lucent 06:06

54. No Radio 04:26

55. For Carla 03:24

56. Ode 03:40

57. St. Mark's Place 05:24

58. Ca'lina 05:56

59. Hymn 04:05

60. Svengali 11:05

61. For Duke (Vocals) 04:56

Artists

Piano: Addison Frei, Fred Hersch, Sean Mason, Elan Mehler, Samora Pinderhughes, Ben Rosenblum, Jacob Sacks, Scott Spivak, Helen Sung, Craig Taborn, Isaiah J. Thompson, Dan Tepfer, Micah Thomas, Gary Versace, Elio Villafranca, Joel Wenhardt, Glenn Zaleski

Bass: Ben Allison, Jay Anderson, Alexis Cuadrado, Dezron Douglas, Michael Formanek, John Hébert, Marty Jaffe, Rob Jost, Rufus Reid, Tony Scherr, Martin Wind, Ben Wolfe

Guitar: Steve Cardenas, Ben Monder, Todd Neufeld

Drums: Jeff Cosgrove, Billy Drummond, Jeff Hirshfield, Tim Horner, Douglas Marriner, Allan Mednard, Francisco Mela, Tony Moreno, Clarence Penn, Rich Rosenzweig, Satoshi Takeishi, Dave Treut, Jeff Williams, Matt Wilson

Clarinet: Ted Nash

Alto Saxophone: Allan Chase, Patrick Cornelius, Alexa Tarantino, Immanuel Wilkins, Steve Wilson

Baritone Saxophone: Allan Chase

Soprano Saxophone: Steve Wilson

Tenor Saxophone: Michael Blake, Evan Harris, Joe Lovano, Donny McCaslin, Ted Nash, Rich Perry, Noah Preminger, Scott Robinson

Trumpet: Dave Douglas, Noah Halpern, Ron Horton, Kirk Knuffke, Riley Mulherkar, Jesse Neuman

Trombone: Ryan Keberle

Vocals: Olivia Chindamo

Arrangement (on "Waltz for Lee" and "Svengali"): Ryan Truesdell

The album, available on Bandcamp for $20.00 and streaming everywhere , was recorded and mixed by Marc Urselli on May 10-14, 2021 at EastSide Sound, mastered by Colin Bryson at The Bunker Studios, and produced by Elan Mehler. All songs were written by Frank Kimbrough, Kimbrough Music BMI.  Executive produced by Maitland Jones, Jim Harvey, Steve Satterfield, Matt Steinfeld and JC Morisseau.

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Pianist/Composer Fred Hersch earns multiple DownBeat Critics Poll accolades, tours Europe, and announces new album

Fred Hersch: Refuge, due out January 7, 2022 via Palmetto Records, features Hersch with Drew Gress, Jochen Rueckert & The Hudson String Quartet

 

“Fred Hersch belongs to the jazz piano aristocracy, that small elite called to leave a lasting mark.”

– Louis-Julien Nicolaou, Télérama, June 2021

 

“Fred Hersch is always on target. Right in the heart. By playing ‘Songs from Home.’ Fred Hersch makes Bal Blomet his home. The audience's silence is worthy of that of the forest that surrounds the house where this album was recorded…. Fred Hersch makes the piano sing…. The public does not want to leave. Fred Hersch either.”

– Guillaume Lagrée, Le jars jase jazz, June 2021

Iconic pianist/composer Fred Hersch – one of the first to find a new way forward in the pandemic both through his Facebook Tune of the Day performances and via his reflective solo album Songs from Home – heads to the studio in August to record Fred Hersch: Refuge, his first-ever album with rhythm section and string quartet.  It will be released January 7, 2022 via Palmetto Records.

 

Featuring Hersch with Drew Gress, Jochen Rueckert and the all-female NYC-based Hudson String Quartet: Joyce Hammann and Laura Seaton-Finn, violins; Lois Martin, viola; and Jody Redhage Ferber, cello, the album was inspired by Hersch’s Buddhism and his 20-year insight mindfulness meditation practice. The bulk of the album is an eight-movement suite that reflects on different aspects of that practice

 

“In Buddhism, there are the three refuges: refuge in the Buddha, refuge in the sangha (community of practitioners) and refuge in the dhamma (the teachings),” says Hersch. “At this time of global impermanence, I have found some degree of comfort in these refuges – places that I can turn to and feel somewhat less affected by it all of the suffering and toxicity around me. And these refuges also give me some strength to stay in the present and know that there are many things that are out of my control – but I can call upon my practice to be with my experiences instead of reacting to them.”

Hersch recently earned accolades in DownBeat Magazine’s 2021 Critics Poll as #2 Jazz Artist, #3 Pianist, and #4 Jazz Album of the Year for Songs From Home. Hersch also earned a spot as one of the best pianists of 2020 in the JazzTimes Readers Poll.  He is currently on tour in Europe where he’s earning wide critical acclaim for his over a dozen shows – his first concerts before an audience in 14 months. Reviewing his concert in Paris, Guillaume Lagrée wrote “Fred Hersch is always on target… The public does not want to leave. Fred Hersch either.” Hersch also performed in Recklinghausen, Rome, Carpi, Vicenza, Pescara, Bari, Perugia, Umbria, Montreux, and Brescia – as a solo pianist, with trio and duo in a new partnership with Italian jazz legend trumpeter Enrico Rava. 

 

Hersch will continuing touring both the U.S. and Europe throughout the fall. His dates include a week at the Village Vanguard in a duo with Julian Lage October 19-25, and a series of duo shows in Europe with Enrico Rava in October and November. Click HERE for upcoming tour dates.

fredhersch.com      facebook

Wandering The Sound Quintet - What Is...? (2021 Not Two)

The first Wandering The Sound album in 2018 was the trio of Argentinian reedist Guillermo Gregorio, Spanish drummer Ramón López and Polish bassist Rafał Mazur, here extended to a quintet with pianist Satoko Fujii and trumpeter Natsuki Tamura for a 2019 concert at Alchemia in Poland, a masterful example of free improv based on a poem by Ikkyu Sojun, a Zen master from the 15th century.

"The joint project of Argentinian clarinetist, saxophonist and composer Guillermo Gregorio, Spanish drummer and composer Ramón López and Polish bassist Rafał Mazur resulted in the album Wandering The Sound in 2018. The LP, released by Fundacja Słuchaj!, was recorded in the B&B Records studio in Niepołomice. Piotr Wojdat writes about the album on the Jazzarium website: "Wandering The Sound will surely disappoint those who want to hear motifs, melodies or artistic stylizations tailored to their needs. Rafał Mazur on acoustic bass guitar, Guillermo Gregorio on clarinet and Ramon Lopez on drums take us into the unknown and do they do not pretend otherwise. They improvise, interact, but do not plan their next steps. They listen to each other and wander through sounds together, get to know them in a spontaneous creative act and bring the listener closer to what's playing in their souls." Considering that the album was a record of the first meeting of these three brilliant improvisers, it will probably not be that difficult for them to expand their line-up with new bold personalities. On stage at Alchemia they will be joined by the extraordinary Satoko Fujii and Natsuki Tamura.

Satoko Fujii is one of the most renowned and recognized figures in contemporary jazz. She graduated from the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston and the New England Conservatory of Music. Fujii leads many ensembles in Japan, Europe and the United States. Her collaborators include Tatsuya Yoshida, Joe Fonda, Carla Kihlstedt, Myra Melford, Christian Pruvost and Peter Orins. Together with her husband, Natsuki Tamura, she has recorded a series of duets. The two also collaborated on numerous other projects, including big bands and orchestras. Tamura was probably best summed up by François Couture at Allmusic: "Now we can officially say there are two Natsuki Tamuras: The one playing angular jazz-rock or ferocious free improv and the one writing simple melodies of stunning beauty. How the two of them live in the same body and breathe through the same trumpet might remain a mystery."

"The quintet perform[ed] a comprovisation (composition for improvisers) by Rafał Mazur based on a poem by Ikkyu Sojun, a Zen master from the 15th century." -Krakow Jazz Autumn listing

1. ...Sound 44:11

2. ...Wind 11:57

3. ...Mind 8:45

Satoko Fujii - piano

Guillermo Gregorio - clarinet

Natsuki Tamura - trumpet, voice

Rafal Mazur - acoustic bass guitar

Ramon Lopez - drums

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Michael Marcus - Stone Jump (July 2021 Not Two)

Michael Marcus composed these lyrical jazz works to create a message about "New York City realities", recorded in two studio sessions with Marcus on soprano & tenor sax, octavin, A clarinet & tarogato, along with Denton Darien on piano, John Austria on Fender Rhodes, Tyler Mitchell on bass, Warren Smith on drums & percussion, and Lawrence Feldman on alto flute.

01. Stone Jump

02. The World Street

03. Dawn at Qumran

04. Fusion Anatomy

05. Baja

06. Involution

07. Flowering Optics

08. The T Man

09. Foreverness

10. Where Flamingos Dance

Michael Marcus - soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone, octavin, "A" clarinet, tarogato

Denton Darien - piano

John Austria - Fender Rhodes piano

Tyler Mitchell - acoustic bass

Warren Smith - drums, percussion

Lawrence Feldman - alto flute

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Natsuki Tamura - Koki Solo (July 2021 on Libra Records)

Trumpeter-composer Natsuki Tamura Celebrates his 70th Birthday with striking new album, KOKI SOLO 

“Tamura tempers his avant-garde antics with an innate lyricism.”

— Steve Smith, Time Out New York

“You’ll never fit trumpeter Natsuki Tamura into any pre-fab category, he creates his own, then pulls you into them with him.”

—Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz 

Album available July 2021 via Libra Records

Trumpeter-composer Natsuki Tamura has spent more than five decades doing the unexpected with a sense of adventure, good humor, and lyricism. His latest album KOKI SOLO (July, Libra Records), which gets its title from the Japanese term for one’s 70th birthday, is no exception. His fourth recorded excursion into unaccompanied music-making naturally features his dazzling trumpet technique and imagination, but he throws in a few surprises, making his recorded debut on piano and playing a percussion set up consisting of pots and pans from his kitchen. The result is quintessential Tamura—by turns whimsical, focused, lyrical, abstract, and always surprising.

“When I play, I enjoy myself first. I am even more happy if the audience enjoys it, too,” Tamura says. “I don’t analyze what I do or what I think, I just pursue my feelings. I’m just like a child.”

Indeed, a child-like sense of playfulness and curiosity seems to underlie even the most moody and serious moments of the album. Tamura pushes ideas to see what he can do with them, to see if anything unexpected crops up. He deliberately interrupts and sidetracks himself, so see if a digression turns up something new. There’s a whimsical quality to the experimenting, but there’s always a serious intent to discover and explore, to express something in a new way. During the trumpet piece,“Sekirei,” Tamura interrupts fast, rippling lines with more spacious ones. He plays melodic lines with a clear, pure tone, then with a growling, buzzy sound. Another trumpet solo, “Sagi” is an abstract sound piece that is similarly diverse. Working with a sound pallet of strangled cries, buzzes, shrieks, hisses, and raspberries, Tamura challenges himself to create new sounds.

As Tamura explains in the liner notes to the CD, as a young musician, he would play drums in a band during last set when their regular drummer had to leave early. And at one time he was practicing piano every day as he prepared for music school entrance exams. These memories prompted him to return to those instruments for this CD. However he couldn’t fit a drum kit into the room in the apartment where he recorded the disc, so he substituted a wok and some other pots and pans. “My skill on the piano and percussion is poor compared to the trumpet, Tamura says. “But after more than 50 years playing as a professional musician, I thought that I could express my own music without any technique.”

Tamura’s musical personality and intelligence comes through loud and clear on the percussion and piano tracks. On “Karugamo,” for instance, he playfully explores the sonic potential of his assembled kitchen implements, curiously examining and combining high hollow rings, repeated taps, and dry scrapes into sequences of odd, but lovely, sounds. At the piano on “Bora,” he creates a wandering rumination as he moves thoughtfully between long rambling single note lines and carefully placed chords and note clusters, and uses the sustain pedal to create color and texture. 

In Japan, the 70th birthday is a milestone. The word for it, “koki,” derived from a Chinese poem written in the eighth century, when reaching the age was uncommon, is roughly translated as “rare in ancient times.”  Today, it’s not rare to reach one’s seventh decade, but Tamura still says, I'm surprised that I got to 70 years old.” To celebrate, he says, “I want to do only what I like to do without doing anything I don't like.” This CD is evidence he’s doing exactly that. 

Japanese trumpeter and composer Natsuki Tamura is internationally recognized for his unique musical vocabulary blending extended techniques with jazz lyricism. This unpredictable virtuoso “has some of the stark, melancholy lyricism of Miles, the bristling rage of late ’60s Freddie Hubbard and a dollop of the extended techniques of Wadada Leo Smith and Lester Bowie,” according to Mark Keresman of JazzReview.com. 

Throughout his career, Tamura has led bands with radically different approaches. Peter Marsh of the BBC had this to say of the 2003 Natsuki Tamura Quartet release Hada Hada: “Imagine Don Cherry woke up one morning, found he'd joined an avant goth-rock band and was booked to score an Italian horror movie. It might be an unlikely scenario, but it goes some way to describing this magnificent sprawl of a record.”

In contrast, Tamura has focused on the intersection of European folk music and sound abstraction with Gato Libre since 2003. The band’s poetic, quietly surreal performances have been praised for their “surprisingly soft and lyrical beauty that at times borders on flat-out impressionism,” by Rick Anderson in CD Hotlist. Originally a quartet that featured Tamura with Fujii on accordion, Kazuhiko Tsumura on guitar, and Norikatsu Koreyasu on bass, after the tragic passing of the group’s original guitarist and bassist, Gato Libre morphed into its current configuration, a trio with Tamura, Fujii, and trombonist Yasuko Kaneko. 

Since 1997, Tamura has recorded seven CDs with his ongoing duo with pianist (and wife) Satoko Fujii and won accolades from critics and audiences alike. In addition to their intimate duo performances, Tamura collaborates on many of Fujii’s own projects, including her big bands in New York, Tokyo, Nagoya, Kobe, and elsewhere.

Tamura has released three CDs as an unaccompanied soloist, including Dragon Nat (2014). He and Fujii are also members of Kaze, a collaborative quartet with French musicians, trumpeter Christian Pruvost and drummer Peter Orins.

1. Sekirei 6:15

2. Karugamo 8:17

3. Kawau 6:36

4. Bora 9:43

5. Sagi 5:18

6. Kamome 7:14

7. Chidori 8:24

8. Isoshigi 2:46

natsukitamura.com

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Roy Brooks - Understanding (July 23, 2021 Cellar Live)

Understanding, a blazing 1970 concert recording featuring the Detroit-born master percussionist Roy Brooks leading a gifted quintet through its spirited paces at Baltimore’s Famous Ballroom, will be released by Cellar Music Group's archival imprint, Reel to Real Recordings on July 17 as a limited edition 3 LP set exclusively at independent record stores for Record Store Day and as on 2 CDs/digital on July 23.

Comprising more than two hours of expansive performances averaging 20 minutes in length, the potent date was recorded by Left Bank Jazz Society and stars trumpeter Woody Shaw, tenor saxophonist Carlos Garnett, pianist Harold Mabern, and bassist Cecil McBee.

All proceeds from the release — produced with the cooperation of McBee and Garnett and the estates of Brooks, Mabern, and Shaw — will go directly to the Detroit Sound Conservancy, a non-profit organization founded in 2012 and devoted to the preservation, education, conservation, and place keeping of the Motor City’s musical heritage.

Born in 1938, Roy Brooks is perhaps best known as a sideman. He spent five years with pianist Horace Silver’s storied hard bop combo, appearing on the popular Song for My Father, and also worked behind Chet Baker, Yusef Lateef, and Charles Mingus, and alongside Max Roach in the percussion ensemble M’Boom.

Beyond his formidable, gale-force attack on the traps, Brooks — who died in his hometown in 2005 — delighted audiences with flights on the musical saw (heard on the present recording) and even invented a device, the “breath-a-tone,” with which he could change the pitch of his drums as he played. Sadly, the musician’s career was thrown off track in later years by severe mental illness. But the Famous Ballroom date displays him at the height of his considerable powers.

In his comprehensive liner notes for the collection, historian Mark Stryker, author of Jazz from Detroit (University of Michigan Press, 2019), writes that Understanding “shines a long-overdue spotlight on Brooks. A product of Detroit’s mid-century jazz explosion, Brooks was a deeply swinging drummer of uncommon creativity, flexibility, fire and conceptual imagination.”

Led off by a 42-minute performance encompassing the Brooks-composed prelude and title track, Understanding roars through compositions by Shaw (“Zoltan,” first heard on organist Larry Young’s 1965 classic Unity) and Garnett (“Taurus Woman”) and a furious take on Charlie Parker’s “Billie’s Bounce” before an involved, vocal audience. Projected at a fever pitch, the music operates on the cusp between the ‘60s quintet innovations of Miles Davis (whose “The Theme” closes the gig) and the free-form explorations of John Coltrane and his acolytes.

Understanding is filled out by intimate written remembrances by a pair of Brooks’ classmates at Detroit’s Northwestern High School, journalist Herb Boyd and alto saxophonist Charles McPherson. 

1. Introduction 00:25

2. Prelude To Understanding 21:34

3. Understanding 20:10

4. Billie's Bounce 21:06

5. Zoltan 23:18

6. Taurus Woman 32:25

7. The Theme 04:31

Roy Brooks – drums

Carlos Garnett – tenor saxophone

Woody Shaw - trumpet

Harold Mabern – piano

Cecil McBee – bass

Recorded Live at The Famous Ballroom in Baltimore, MD on November 1, 1970

Produced for release by CORY WEEDS and ZEV FELDMAN

Executive Producer: RAYMON TORCHINKSY

Associate Producer: RAYMON TORCHINKSY and JOHN FOWLER

Project Assistance: ZAK SHELBY-SZYSZKO

Sound Restoration by CHRIS GESTRIN

Original Recording Engineer: VERNON WELSH

Cover Photo by BOB CRAWFORD

Art Direction and design: JOHN SELLARDS

Album Package Editor: SHARON MCINNIS

Production Manager: CORY WEEDS

Photo Research: ZEV FELDMAN and CORY WEEDS

Extra special thanks to Carlos Garnett, Cecil McBee and Raheem Brooks.

Dedicated to the memories of Roy Brooks, Woody Shaw and Harold Mabern

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Kyle Asche Organ Trio - Five Down Blues (July 2021 Cellar Live)

Beginning his professional career in Chicago in 2001, Kyle has appeared extensively throughout the city and beyond. He has performed with Wynton Marsalis and Jazz at Lincoln Center, Melvin Rhyne, “Killer” Ray Appelton, Chris Foreman, Victor Goines, George Fludas, Ben Paterson and many others. While Asche is a versatile guitarist adept and comfortable in many different genres, the tenets of his style often find him in the company of many of Chicago’s premier jazz vocalists and Hammond organ bands. Now nearly 20 years into his tenure in Chicago, Asche continues to perform around the city on a weekly basis and can be found at many of the city’s jazz rooms regularly. As an active and caring music educator, he has held the jazz guitar faculty position at Loyola University Chicago since 2010.

Mr. Asche's highly anticipated third CD as a leader, Five Down Blues places him in the company of of working band of Pete Benson on organ and drummer George Fludas. This swinging album includes original compositions by Kyle Asche as well as tunes by Horace Silver, John Patton, Melvin Rhyne and others. The set honors the classic Hammond B-3 organ trio tradition while updating it with his own modern aesthetic.

1. Five Down Blues 07:02

2. Dorothy 06:45

3. Pretty Eyes 07:30

4. Delirium 05:28

5. Light, Life, Love 07:57

6. Never Let Me Go 05:44

7. Dirty Fingers 07:04

8. Dig Deep 06:34

Kyle Asche – Guitar

Pete Benson – Hammond Organ

George Fludas – Drums

Executive Producer: Cory Weeds

Produced by Kyle Asche

Recorded at Reliable Recorders, March 4th and 5th, 2020

Engineered, Mixed and Mastered by Alex Hall

Cover Photography by Zoe Rain @zoerainphoto

Design and layout by John Sellards

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SFJAZZ High School All​-​Stars 2020​-​2021 (July 23, 2021)

The SFJAZZ High School All-Stars is a jazz training program. Participants are chosen by audition each year from schools throughout the greater Bay Area. The All-Stars program is comprised of two ensembles: the Big Band, led by Paul Contos, and the Combo, led by Dann Zinn. Both ensembles take part in performances, recording sessions, competitions, and festivals throughout the U.S.

1. SFJAZZ High School All-Stars Big Band - Pistachio 08:50

2. SFJAZZ High School All-Stars Combo - Jacke Due Bow 05:58

3. SFJAZZ High School All-Stars Combo - Água Mais Quente 07:42

4. SFJAZZ High School All-Stars Big Band - Imagine My Frustration 08:41

5. SFJAZZ High School All-Stars Combo - A Branch In The Pool 08:48

6. SFJAZZ High School All-Stars Big Band - Mas Que Nada 06:18

7. SFJAZZ High School All-Stars Combo - Caravan 05:57

8. SFJAZZ High School All-Stars Big Band - See The Pyramid 05:54

9. SFJAZZ High School All-Stars Combo - Castle 07:04

10. High School All-Stars Combo - Bay Bridge At Night 09:13

11. SFJAZZ High School All-Stars Big Band - Whisper Not 06:53

12. SFJAZZ High School All-Stars Combo - Zipline 05:49

13. SFJAZZ High School All-Stars Combo - Sleep With The Sun, Wake With The Moon 06:57

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José Lencastre Nau Quartet + Pedro Carneiro - Thoughts Are Things (July 23, 2021 Phonogram Unit)

" I´m very happy to share with all of you “Thoughts are Things “ the new release by Nau Quartet.

This time we invited master marimba player Pedro Carneiro. I first heard about Pedro maybe some 15 years ago and I kept this name in my mind as someone I admire and would like to work with. A few years later I spent a trimester in Rochester, where I would attend the performances by the Percussive Department at Eastman School of Music. These always blew my mind, much more than the jazz ones I must say! The marimbas, vibes, and other percussive instruments were playing amazing contemporary compsitions like I have never witnessd before.

The title of the album has to do with the manifestation in the direction of materializing our ideals, goals, etc. Edward Walker, the author, defends that we create our own character and personality by the thoughts we originate, or accept from others. We are, each of us, the result of what we have thought in the past; we will be the result of what we are now thinking.

Thoughts are mental Things, and tend to become material Things. The Ideal becomes Real. Our dreams come true.

I sincerely hope you enjoy it!

Last but not least, a huge thanks to Rodrigo, Hernâni, and my brother João, for their beautiful friendship and music."

José Lencastre

1. One Way to Cultivate Courage 11:17

2. Thought Atmospheres 08:14

3. Your Latent Powers 13:16

4. The Magnet of Thought 16:24

Pedro Carneiro - Marimba

José Lencastre - Tenor and Alto Sax

Hernâni Faustino - Double Bass

Rodrigo Pinheiro - Piano

João Lencastre - Drums

All music by Nau Quartet + Pedro Carneiro

Recorded by João Sousa at OCP - Orquestra de Câmara Portuguesa, Algés ( PT ) on March 7th 2021

Mixed and Mastered by Luís Delgado

Cover Illustration by João Lomelino

Artwork by João Lomelino

Band photo by Nuno Martins

Produced by José Lencastre

Executive Production by Phonogram Unit

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Slowly Rolling Camera - Where the Streets Lead (July 23, 2021 Edition Records)

Where the Streets Lead is the new album from Slowly Rolling Camera, following on from their acclaimed 2018 album, Juniper. Colliding the worlds of jazz, trip-hop and cinematic soundscapes, their music blends strong melodies, big grooves and surprising turns of phrase, infused with expansive emotional gravitas. With this album, recorded throughout 2020, the music takes on a greater scale which includes an 8-piece string section and a list of world-class guests including Mark Lockheart, Jasper Høiby, Verneri Pohjola, Chris Potter and Sachal Vasandani, as well as the band’s regular guitarist Stuart McCallum.

This is an album about opportunity, about embracing unknowns and seeing what life throws at you. It’s a reflection on searching for balance, a sense of purpose and identity in everyday life. For the core group of Dave Stapleton, Deri Roberts and Elliot Bennett, it’s a unified take on the journey and the influences that have shaped them all individually and as a collective.

Where the Streets Lead is emphatic in its purpose to communicate the joy of collaboration and to communicate through an audio-sensory landscape their vision of the world. There is a boldness and simplicity in its conception balanced with the attention to detail in its production. With Juniper, their new pathway was set. Where the Streets Lead, is a natural progression and development of the bands’ exploration.

1. You Are the Truth 04:39

2. Where the Streets Lead 05:43

3. Lost Orbits 04:44

4. The Afternoon of Human Life 07:03

5. Widest Possible Aperture 05:55

6. Illuminate 04:30

7. Feels Like Fiction 06:58

8. A Force for Good 06:38

Dave Stapleton Fender Rhodes, Piano, Prophet, Moog

Elliot Bennett Drums

Deri Roberts Sound Design & Production

Mark Lockheart Soprano and Tenor Saxophone

Stuart McCallum Guitar

Jasper Høiby Double Bass

Verneri Pohjola Trumpet

Chris Potter Tenor Saxophone (The Afternoon of Human Life)

Sachal Vasandani Vocals

Jon Visanji violin

Jenni Curiel violin

James Toll violin

Victoria Stapleton violin

Linda Kidwell viola

Rob Tuson viola

Phil Daish-Handy cello

Lionel Handy cello

String arrangements by Dave Stapleton

Recorded remotely at various locations

Vocals on Illuminate recorded at Sear Studios, NYC on Sunday 17th January 2021 by Jeremy Loucas

Strings recorded by Andy Allan at Turner Sims, Southampton in August 2020

Mixed by Deri Roberts in January and February 2021

Mastered by Donal Whelan at Hafod Mastering in Feb 2021

Photography by Dave Stapleton

Artwork by Oli Bentley, Split Design

All music by Dave Stapleton except Illuminate by Dave Stapleton and Sachal Vasandani

Lyrics on Illuminate by Sachal Vasandani

All music published by E2 Music Publishing

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Keith Loftis' new album 'ORIGINAL STATE' is out on July 23rd, 2021 via Long Tone Music

Jazz Saxophonist and Composer Keith Loftis Debuts New Album Original State via Long Tone Music, Due Out July 23, 2021

Long Tone Music is thrilled to announce the July 23, 2021 release of Original State the latest album by saxophonist and composer Keith Loftis. On his fourth album as a leader, the highly lyrical Loftis showcases both his virtuosic skill as a player and his adept compositional ability in the company of an ever so swinging all-star cast of New York’s finest consisting of pianist John Chin, bassist Eric Wheeler and drummer Willie Jones III. 

“The concept of Original State was to assemble a new quartet with the ability to walk in the door and breathe life into my compositions,” states Loftis. Recorded entirely acoustic as a unit in one room, this exceptional ensemble displays striking interplay and harmonious synergy with ease. The musicians were allowed the freedom to express and shape each composition on the spot, which allowed the group to move in new directions, capturing the spontaneity and looseness of the music which was vital in creating a sense of urgency. The resulting work is at once thoughtful, deliberate, robust and energetic and acts as a musical homecoming for the saxophonist, whose last album Simply, Loftis was released a decade ago. 

One of the album highlights is “Oak Cliff”, which kicks off with an eight-bar swinging drum solo from Willie Jones III. This uplifting medium swing was written for a long-time friend of Loftis: the late great  trumpeter Roy Hargrove. The tune was named for the Oak Cliff neighborhood in Dallas, Texas where Loftis and Hargrove grew up together. Another standout is “Brigitte’s Smile”, which was written for Loftis’ wife. Playful and dynamic, each musician is afforded an opportunity here to shine, as they each take to the sky on their respective solos. 

Another highlight is a retooling of the Isley Brothers’ classic “For The Love Of You” arranged by drummer Greg Searvance. A favorite of Loftis that is often performed on live gigs, this fiery waltz rises to life courtesy of what Loftis describes as “the Coltrane treatment.” “I wanted to produce a recording that felt and sounded like those that I grew up listening to,” says Loftis, pointing toward Wayne Shorter’s Ju-Ju and Speak No Evil and John Coltrane’s Crescent as markers. “When you hear those records, they immediately put a smile on your face and make you feel good.”

Original State was engineered by 2x Grammy winner Bassy Bob Brockmann, who has experienced a fruitful career with countless music greats. Upon moving to New York City in 1986, Brockmann took part in a number of Blue Note recording sessions, including five albums with the Tony Williams Quintet. “Recording Original State with Keith at the Yamaha Piano Salon in NYC was to me a similar experience to Tony’s records as far as style and playing. All of the players in Keith’s Quartet are of exceptional caliber and world class players,” said Brockmann, adding, “…Original State is a beautiful recording, and like many historic jazz recordings it represents a dynamic moment in time.”

Keith Loftis is thrilled to finally unveil his long-awaited new album to the world. “The last three years has been quite a journey in both life and music. I hope that listeners can feel the passion and energy that went into creating this project. It was such a joy assembling this new quartet and I hope this music will touch, move and inspire people,” reflects Loftis.

www.keithloftis.com

Tumi Árnason - Hlýnun (July 23, 2021)

"At the outset everything merges. Echoes from the sound sources shroud perception.

Steadily the reflections subside as we draw closer to a vital ever-changing core."

Icelandic saxophonist and composer Tumi Árnason presents high-concept sombre opus Hlýnun (Warming), a piece that addresses our current existential threat, the climate crisis, through free jazz and experimental improvisation. Accompanying Tumi are bassist Skúli Sverrisson, drummer Magnús Trygvason Eliassen and keyboardist Magnús Jóhann Ragnarsson.

Hlýnun invites the listener into a dynamic ecosystem. Four instruments orbit each other, trade ideas and create vital soundscapes. A living multiplicity that grows and flourishes, gains balance but is threatened by an ever advancing hegemony. Songs of extinct birds are unveiled through melodies and a requiem for life itself bursts out of the organ. Man’s diagrams and machinery invade the composition, rousing intensities and endangering its unity. Members are lost in the commotion, the ecosystem regresses and becomes an apocalyptic ambiance, hiss and silence.

"At the end we dissolve into dust and phantoms

amid machinery and void."

1. I - Lungu

2. II - ‘Ō‘ō‘ā‘ā

3. III - Svart haf

4. IV - Söngur úr svartholinu

5. V - Um heimsslit, VI - Suð

Composed and written by Tumi Árnason

Tumi Árnason - Tenor Saxophone

Magnús Jóhann Ragnarsson - Piano, Rhodes, Farfisa

Skúli Sverrisson - Electric Bass

Magnús Trygvason Eliassen - Drums

Recorded and Mixed by Albert Finnbogason

Mastered by Sarah Register

Album Artwork designed by Elín Edda Þorsteinsdóttir and Íbbagoggur

Artwork Layout by Elín Edda Þorsteinsdóttir

Cover Art by Þorsteinn Cameron

Texts by Brynja Hjálmsdóttir, Tómas Ævar Ólafsson and Tumi Árnason

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