Harris Eisenstadt Canada Day Quartet - On Parade in Parede (CLEAN FEED RECORDS 2017)

“On Parade in Parede” was recorded when Eisenstadt and company played a series of concerts at SMUP, an intimate venue in Parede, a beach town near Lisbon, during their spring 2016 Europe tour. The place inspired the title. An homage to his birth country (he’s lived in the US more than twenty years), Canada Day offers a universal music, not just dedicated to North America, but also to Africa, Cuba, and Europe. Here Eisenstadt reunites Americans Nate Wooley and Matt Bauder with French-German Pascal Niggenkemper. Though Eisenstadt’s flagship ensemble has released five recordings in the last decade (four quintets and an octet), here you have Canada Day’s very first quartet recording. If there’s a good side of present day globalization, this is it.

1 Innuendo Is Nobody's Friend

2 Sometimes You Gotta Ask For What You Want

3 A Fine Kettle Of Fish

4 We All Ate What We Wanted To Eat, Parts 2 & 5

5 Sympathy Batters No Parsnips

6 We All Ate What We Wanted To Eat, Parts 3 / She Made Old Bones

7 We All Ate What We Wanted To Eat, Part 1

Nate Wooley trumpet

Matt Bauder tenor saxophone

Pascal Niggenkemper bass

Harris Eisenstadt drums, compositions

All compositions by Harris Eisenstadt, Heresy Music (SOCAN)

Recorded April 30th-May 1st at SUMP Parede, Portugal by Luis Candeias | Mixed by Luis Candeias | Mastered by Luís Delgado

Produced by Harris Eisenstadt | Executive Producer: Pedro Costa for Trem Azul | Design by Travassos

Eliane Elias - Dance Of Time (CONCORD MUSIC GROUP 2017)

Two years after seducing fans with her GRAMMY®-winning Made in Brazil (Best Latin Jazz Album), the internationally acclaimed pianist, singer, composer and arranger Eliane Elias returns with the ebullient Dance of Time.

The former disc commemorated a homecoming for her; it was the first time she recorded in her native country of Brazil since moving to the United States in 1981. JazzTimes magazine praised Made in Brazil as  "a warm embrace,” while Jazziz magazine wrote, "Surrounded by Brazilian-bred luminaries, Elias brilliantly captures the complexities of human emotions in a seamless display that reconciles past and present, loss and fulfillment, melancholy and bliss, all while celebrating her homecoming.”

Dance of Time, like its predecessor, was recorded in Brazil. "Recording in Brazil was such a high,” explains Elias as to why she returned to the country. But thematically, Dance of Time is its own beautiful beast. Whereas Made in Brazil was a tantalizing toast to three generations of Brazilian composers, Dance of Time’s themes are multifold.

With the presence of extraordinary guests including pianist Amilton Godoy plus singer-songwriting guitarists João Bosco and Toquinho—from Brazil—along with trumpeter Randy Brecker, vibraphonist Mike Mainieri and singer Mark Kibble—from the United States, Dance of Time celebrates certain people who were integral in Elias’ early artistic journey in both Brazil and the U.S. "I wanted to include musicians who were very important in the start of my career,” Elias says. "Dance of Time represents the spectrum of my career from the very beginning until now.”

Dance of Time also applauds the samba, a genre originating from Bahia, via Africa. Last year marked the 100th anniversary of the first samba ever recorded and registered, "Pelo Telefone.” "Samba is the most authentic and contagious dance rhythm of Brazil, and there is no better place in the world to capture this music. I just had to be in Brazil to make Dance of Time.”

1. O Pato

2. You're Getting To Be A Habit With Me

3. Copacabana

4. Coisa Feita

5. By Hand (Em Mãos)

6. Sambou Sambou

7. Little Paradise

8. Speak Low

9. Samba De Orly

10. Na Batucada Da Vida

11. An Up Dawn

12. Not To Cry (Pra Não Chorar)

Whit Dickey / Mat Maneri / Matthew Shipp - Vessel In Orbit (2017)

Whit Dickey is a veteran free jazz drummer who first made his mark in David S. Ware’s band in the 90s and led on some well-regarded albums around the turn of the millennium. Since then he’s mostly kept his profile raised as a member (until 2015) of Matthew Shipp’s revered trio and appearing in many of Ivo Perelman’s recent cascade of full-improv rides. In fact, Dickey’s upcoming, first new album in more than a decade sprung from a conversation Dickey had with Shipp while recording with Perelman; the good vibe they got from that session led to them working together again but under Dickey’s leadership. Even better, viola master Mat Maneri joined them at Shipp’s suggestion.

That makes Vessel In Orbit (March 24, 2017, AUM Fidelity) a reunion of sorts, since it carries over the same lineup from Dickey’s Life Cycle (also on AUM) from sixteen years earlier, less alto saxophonist Rob Brown. It’s all group improvisations, because, well, that’s how the finest from NYC’s downtown scene roll.

Thusly, the success of this music rests on telepathy, and these guys know each other so well. The symmetry of two old cohorts Dickey and Shipp comes to the fore with “Spaceship 9,” with Shipp setting the pulse with a single, repeating note, freeing up Dickey to flutter around it, and Maneri seizes upon his role of flushing out most of the harmony parts. Shipp’s piano opens up melodically on “Space Walk,” interacting with Maneri’s viola while Dickey rustles below, underscoring the uneasiness lying beneath the prettiness. Shipp largely tests the lower end of his register on “Dark Matter,” Dickey with him every step along the way on Shipp’s journey over peaks and valleys.

Maneri and Shipp do a delicate dance around each other on “Galaxy 9,” Dickey adding punctuation; viola and piano layer on more density (especially when Shipp goes into full chord mode) and with that, tension. Maneri’s viola, sweetly sorrowful “To A Lost Comrade,” gets empathetic support from Shipp and Dickey. Dickey’s drums here show a very patient approach, processing inputs from Maneri and letting that guide his path. Dickey tees up “Space Strut” with fastidious cymbal and rim work, setting into motion a fully developed spontaneous composition.

Conceived as it was played, Vessel In Orbit is unpredictable, melodic and has form built around emotion not formal structures. When it’s done by such elastic artists like Whit Dickey along with Matthew Shipp and Mat Maneri, it all comes together beautifully.

1. Spaceship 9 5:15

2. Space Walk 6:37

3. Dark Matter 5:58

4. Galaxy 9 9:13

5. Turbulence 4:51

6. To a Lost Comrade 5:39

7. Space Strut 4:29

8. Hyperspatial 6:12

Whit Dickey drums

Mat Maneri viola 

Matthew Shipp piano

Tigran Hamasyan - An Ancient Observer (NONESUCH RECORDS 2017)

Nonesuch Records releases its second album from pianist Tigran Hamasyan, An Ancient Observer, on March 31, 2017. An Ancient Observer is the follow-up to Hamasyan's label debut, Mockroot, of which the Guardian said, "A phenomenal piano player, an irrepressible entertainer, a promising experimenter with hi-tech gizmology and a creative world-music composer. Mockroot plays vivaciously to all those strengths." The musician says of his new solo recording, which features ten new compositions: "These songs are musical observations about the world we live in now, and the weight of history we carry with us." Hamasyan will tour the US in February and March, then Europe in the spring; see below for the currently announced dates. An Ancient Observer is available to preorder now at iTunes and the Nonesuch Store with an instant download of the album track "Fides Tua." You can watch a live performance video of that song below.

An Ancient Observer's songs—two of which are based on Armenian melodies—were written over the last four years. Some of the pieces are through-composed and completely written out, while others are composed with ample space for Hamasyan to improvise. Many include vocals layered into the mix. As with most of his compositions, Hamasyan cites a wide range of influences, from Baroque dance to hip-hop, with pedals connected to a synthesizer on a few tracks—while the sounds of his native country also are present, as always.

Hamasyan has returned to Armenia, where his daily life inspired these new pieces: "I gaze out of my window and see the biblical mountain Ararat with perpetual snow on its peak, with electrical towers with wires in the foreground cutting the picture, and satellite dishes melted onto old and modern houses—ancestral smoke coming out of their chimneys—and birds hovering above the trees along with occasional airplane trails in the vast sky. It is a dialogue, this interaction of God-given ancient nature with our modern human achievements," he says. "For me it is an awakening, and a beautiful feeling, to be able to observe the magnificence of this sleeping volcanic giant, which has existed for millions of years and was observed by the Ararat Valley Koura-Arax culture through to the present day citizens of the Armenian republic. I can see and observe the same birds, animals, rivers, and mountains that the craftsman of 4,000 years ago painted on a clay vessel. He was observing the same thing I observe now, and what remains is his or her beautiful work of art."

Born in Armenia in 1987 before relocating with his family to Los Angeles in 2003, Tigran Hamasyan currently resides in Erevan, Armenia. He began playing piano at the age of three and started performing in festivals and competitions when he was eleven years old, winning the Montreux Jazz Festival's piano competition in 2003. Hamasyan released his debut album, World Passion, in 2005 at the age of seventeen. The following year, he won the prestigious Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Competition. 

Subsequent albums include New Era (2007); Red Hail (2009); A Fable (2011), for which he was awarded a Victoires de la Musique (the equivalent of a Grammy Award in France); Shadow Theater (2013); Luys i Luso (2015); and Mockroot (2015), for which he won the Echo Jazz Award for International Piano Instrumentalist of the Year. In addition to awards and critical praise, Hamasyan has built a dedicated international following, as well as praise from Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, and Brad Mehldau.

1. Markos and Markos 5:38

2. The Cave of Rebirth 5:39

3. New Baroque 1 1:50

4. Nairian Odyssey 11:00

5. New Baroque 2 1:36

6. Etude No. 1 2:08

7. Egyptian Poet 2:20

8. Fides Tua 4:51

9. Leninagone 3:56

10. Ancient Observer 5:57

Samo Salamon Sextet - The Colours Suite (CLEAN FEED RECORDS 2017)

Here is one more live recording of the Ljubljana Jazz Festival, featuring the Slovenian guitarist, and former John Scofield’s student, who is unanimously pointed out as one of the most defying players today in Europe: Samo Salamon. The Sextet is of transnational constitution, putting together the cream of the European scene, namely a British, Julian Arguelles, two Italians, Achille Succi and Roberto Dani, a French-German, Pascal Niggenkemper, and a German, Christian Lillinger. The presence of two drummers was an old Salamon’s aspiration, as it was the desire to have with him, for the first time, an «amazing» (his own adjective) double bassist like Niggenkemper and to continue to work with Succi, who contributed to another album by the composer of “The Colours Suite”, “Ornethology”. Being each one of the participants specially picked for this project, Samo Salamon wrote the suite thinking about the personalities of these musicians. This was the modus operandi of Duke Ellington, and there’s something of that heritage here, namely the combination of complex harmonic and rhythmic motives with open improvisation, the results giving us the «feel of a living organism». In two words: powerful music, not to be missed.

1 Yellow

2 Black

3 Green

4 Red

5 White

6 Brown

7 Blue

8 Grey

Achille Succi  bass clarinet

Julian Arguelles  tenor and soprano sax

Samo Salamon  guitar

Pascal Niggenkemper  bass

Roberto Dani  drums

Christian Lillinger  drums

Miles Okazaki - Trickster (PI RECORDINGS 2017)

Trickster is guitarist Miles Okazaki’s first album in five years and his much anticipated debut on Pi Recordings, having been featured on six other releases in the label’s catalog in groups led by Steve Coleman, Jonathan Finlayson, and Dan Weiss, along with associations with other Pi artists such as Matt Mitchell, Jen Shyu, and Amir ElSaffar. Perhaps best-known as a member of Steve Coleman and Five Elements, with whom he has played for the last eight years, Okazaki has also built a solid reputation for himself as one of the most adventurous composers and guitarists on the current scene. The New York Times says of Okazaki, “Even by the standard of his hyper-literate post-bop peer group, Mr. Okazaki is an unusually calculating musical thinker,” and as a guitarist, “exceedingly skilled with a head for rhythmic convolution.”

Originally from Port Townsend, Washington, Okazaki began playing classical guitar at age six, and was playing regular gigs on electric guitar by age fourteen. He moved to New York after graduating from Harvard University (he also holds degrees from Manhattan School of Music and The Juilliard School) to pursue a career in music. His teacher on guitar at the time was Rodney Jones, who got Okazaki’s career in motion by recommending him for early gigs with Stanley Turrentine, Lenny Pickett, Regina Carter, and studio session work. He has received many awards as a guitarist including placing second in the 2005 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition. Okazaki spent four years on the road with vocalist Jane Monheit and became known as an expert vocal accompanist, but he also started to develop an experimental streak in his own music. His first album as a leader, Mirror (2006), received a “Critics Pick” in the New York Times, who called it “a work of sustained collectivity as well as deep intricacy.” His second album, Generations (2009), was described by pianist Vijay Iyer in Artforum as “the sonic equivalent of Escher or Borges, but with real emotional heft.” His next album, Figurations, was selected as one of the New York Times top ten albums of 2012, described by Ben Ratliff as “slowly evolving puzzles of brilliant jazz logic.”

Okazaki subsequently entered a period of focused guitar study, which resulted in the book Fundamentals of Guitar, published by Mel Bay in 2015. When he began to compose again, he went at it from a fresh perspective, placing greater emphasis on guitar playing and improvisation. Steve Coleman describes Okazaki’s development during this period: Miles has always been a very intense cat. Ive always been impressed with his perseverance and how deep he gets into his research. When he first came to me years ago, all he wanted to talk about was conceptual stuff, but now that hes internalized it, it just comes out organically. You can really hear that in his playing now. For his new music, Okazaki decided to use Anthony Tidd on bass and Sean Rickman on drums, the long-running rhythmic engine and his bandmates in Steve Coleman and Five Elements, with whom he has performed with hundreds of times. Its a fascinating opportunity to hear their unique chemistry — the quicksilver ability to process and internalize complex information, transform musical material

Through improvisation, and do it all while staying “in the pocket” — in a wholly different context. Both Tidd and Rickman have deep roots in funk, R&B, and hip hop, and it is fascinating to hear Okazaki’s music through the filter of these musical sensibilities. Okazaki’s next call went to pianist Craig Taborn, perhaps the most widely-admired pianist on the cutting-edge of jazz, who brings a supremely inventive musical sense to everything he plays. Together they have created a breakthrough statement by Okazaki, a unified book of compositions that grooves from beginning to end.

Gil Evans Paris Workshop & Laurent Cugny - Spoonful (JAZZ&PEOPLE 2017)

A la tête d’un big band en forme de all-stars de la nouvelle génération du jazz hexagonal, l’arrangeur et compositeur Laurent Cugny revient à la musique en célébrant l’esprit et l’œuvre de son mentor Gil Evans. Entre classiques revisités et nouveau répertoire, il signe avec son « orchestre atelier » un double album éblouissant qui confirme que, trente ans après leur collaboration, il est le principal héritier en Europe de l’arrangeur attitré de Miles Davis. READ MORE...

CD 1 (tracks 1-9) : "La Vie Facile", musique de Laurent Cugny 

CD 2 (tracks 10-21) : "Time of the Barracudas", musique de Gil Evans

"Un répertoire d’une cohérente magnificence. Couleurs, climats, ambiances, suspens, action, scénarios." — Jazz Magazine

"Laurent Cugny ose nous emmener au-delà des clichés du big band, à travers des univers sonores où les repères font défaut" — Culture Jazz

"That might sound as if they were trying to resurrect the past with their fire, but the music was as relevant to today as ever: timeless." — London Jazz News

"Le Gil Evans Paris Workshop a démontré, si besoin était, que les jeunes musiciens de jazz français ont décidément du talent" — Culture Box

CD 1 : "La Vie facile", musique de Laurent Cugny

1. Krikor  (Laurent Cugny) 8’20

2. Lília  (Milton Nascimento) 9’08

3. My Man’s Gone Now  (George Gershwin - Ira Gershwin) 8’15

4. Liviore  (Laurent Cugny) 5’56

5. La Vie facile  (Laurent Cugny) 7’27

6. Short Stories  (Anthony Tidd) 6’08

7. Manoir de mes rêves  (Django Reinhardt) 4’20

8. Louisville  (Victor Michaud) 5’56

9. L’État des choses  (Jürgen Knieper) 5’56  

Arrangements : Laurent Cugny, sauf n° 8 par Victor Michaud

CD 2 : "Time of the Barracudas", musique de Gil Evans

1. King Porter Stomp  (Jelly Roll Morton) 3’55

2. Sunken Treasure  (Gil Evans) 1’01

3. Spoonful  (Willie Dixon) 15’12

4. Zee Zee  (Gil Evans) 1’36

5. Time of the Barracudas  (Gil Evans) 9’01

6. The Barbara Song  (Kurt Weill - Bertolt Brecht) 1’15

7. Bud and Bird  (Gil Evans) 7’47

8. London  (Gil Evans) 1’12

9. Boogie Stop Shuffle  (Charles Mingus) 4’46

10. Orange Was the Color of Her Dress, Then Silk Blues (Charles Mingus) 3’39

11. Blues in Orbit (George Russell) 7’21

12. The Barbara Song (Kurt Weill - Bertolt Brecht) 2’02

Arrangements : Gil Evans

Gil Evans Paris Workshop:

Malo Mazurié, Olivier Laisney, Quentin Ghomari, Brice Moscardini (trompette)

Bastien Ballaz, Léo Pellet (trombone)

Victor Michaud (cor)

Fabien Debellefontaine (tuba, flûte)

Antonin-Tri Hoang (saxophone alto)

Martin Guerpin (saxophones soprano et ténor)

Adrien Sanchez (saxophone ténor)

Jean-Philippe Scali (saxophone baryton, clarinette basse)

Marc-Antoine Perrio (guitare)

Joachim Govin (contrebasse)

Gautier Garrigue (batterie)

Laurent Cugny (piano, Fender Rhodes, direction)

Fukumi - Moon in Paris (2017)

Moon in Paris, recorded in New York – as Japanese singer Fukumi works with some of that city's top jazz talents – including Eric Alexander on tenor sax, Behn Gillece on vibes, David Hazeltine on piano, John Webber on bass, and Joe Farnsworth on drums!

The instrumental core of the album is wonderful – very much in the Alexander/Hazletine camp – and Fukumi's a hell of a singer, too – one who can put forth the lyrics at one point, then scat wordlessly with a very melodic approach – a style that sounds especially nice next to the piano and vibes! Production is wonderful – lean, clean, and just the right mode to capture the interplay between the singer and the band – and all arrangements are by Hazeltine, who also plays a bit of Fender Rhodes. Titles include Fukumi's original "Moon In Paris" – plus nice takes on "The Windmills Of Your Mind", "What Are You Doing For The Rest Of Your Life", "Devil May Care", "Once Upon A Summertime", "Sunny", "I Will Wait For You", "Yesterday When I Was Young", and "This Girl's In Love With You". (HQ – Hi Quality CD pressing!)  ~ Dusty Groove

01. Devil May Care

02. Once Upon A Summertime

03. The Windmills Of Your Mind

04. Moon In Paris

05. I Will Wait For You

06. Sunny

07. Yesterday When I Was Young

08. This Girl's In Love With You

09. What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life?

10. This Masquerade

11. Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?

CONCERTOS PORTA-JAZZ: Sábado, 1 abril - João Mortágua "Dentro da Janela"

Sala Porta-Jazz 

Sábado, 1 abril

19:00 + 22:00

concerto: 5 eur / 3 eur membros *

JOÃO MORTÁGUA "DENTRO DA JANELA"

João Mortágua - saxofones alto e soprano

José Pedro Coelho - saxofone tenor

Miguel Moreira - guitarra

José Carlos Barbosa - contrabaixo e baixo elétrico 

José Marrucho - bateria

As melodias crescem e a janela aumenta;

O aulos duplica e a panela efervesce.

Três anos volvidos desde a prima brisa,

Os hinos respiram mudança evolutiva.

Diálogos ao lume e ritmos à vela,

Não há vento que mais bruma nem janela como ela!

E eis que o ar, hipnose do hino, jubila na sertã da libertação estelar. 

Dentro da janela habita um microcosmos.

Do ar que inalamos cria-se a hipnose

E as sinapses oferecem-nos um sol

Que alumia a viagem intra estelar.

* (doação sugerida); Membros: https://portajazz.com/about/membros/ - cotas válidas por 1 ano: Membro amigo 40 eur; Membro músico/estudante 25 eur.

PRÓXIMOS CONCERTOS SALA PORTA-JAZZ

8 abril, 19:00 + 22:00

A Incerteza de Um Trio Certo

AP - guitarra

Diogo Dinis - contrabaixo

Miguel Sampaio - bateria 

15 abril, 19:00 + 22:00

Tonom Trio

Julius Gabriel - saxofone

João Paulo Rosado - contrabaixo

José Marrucho - bateria

22 abril, 19:00 + 22:00

Quarteto de Vasco Agostinho

Rui Teixeira - saxofone

Vasco Agostinho - guitarra

José Carlos Barbosa - contrabaixo

Marcos Cavaleiro - bateria

29 abril, 19:00 + 22:00

Ricardo Coelho Quartet

Ricardo Coelho - Vibrafone

Mané Fernandes - Guitarra

Bernardo Fresh - Baixo

Mário Costa - Bateria

PRÓXIMOS LANÇAMENTOS CARIMBO PORTA-JAZZ

Auditório da FEUP

- entrada livre - 

18 abril, 21:30

The Nada

João Guimarães - saxofone

Eurico Costa - guitarra

Simon Jermyn - baixo

José Marrucho - bateria

18 maio, 21:30

AP Quarteto

AP - guitarra

Carlos Azevedo - piano

Filipe Teixeira - contrabaixo

Acácio Salero - bateria

19 junho, 21:30

João Mortágua "AXES"

João Mortágua - saxofone alto e soprano

José Soares - saxofone alto

Hugo Ciríaco - saxofone tenor 

Rui Teixeira - saxofone barítono e clarinete baixo

Pedro Vasconcelos - bateria e percussões

Alex Lázaro - bateria e percussões

CICLO JAZZ DE SANTO TIRSO

Centro Cultural de Vila das Aves

- entrada livre -

1 abril, 21:30 - Renato Dias Trio

Renato Dias - guitarra

Filipe Teixeira - contrabaixo

Filipe Monteiro - bateria

16 junho, 21:30 - AP Quarteto

AP - guitarra

Carlos Azevedo - piano

Filipe Teixeira - contrabaixo

Acácio Salero - bateria

1 julho, 21:30 - Rui Filipe Freitas Sexteto

Rui Filipe Freitas - vibrafone

José Pedro Coelho - saxofone tenor e clarinete-baixo  

João Mortágua - saxofone alto e saxofone soprano

Mané Fernandes - guitarra

Filipe Teixeira - contrabaixo

João Martins - bateria

Martin Speake & Faith Brackenbury - Zephyr (2017)

Coming from different musical backgrounds the Martin Speake and Faith Brackenbury duo bring a mix of folk, jazz, classical, indian, rock and much more to create a soundworld of at times beauty and others more raw and driving energy.

An unusual instrumental pairing of Speake's alto sax and violin/viola, played by Faith Brackenbury, this album is bursting with freely improvised lines weaving in and out of melody, harmony, discord and with influences of many varied genres of music. 

The strings often rhythmically supporting the alto's lyrical lines with double stopping or, as on the title track Zephyr, both instruments playing intimately, haltingly, softly drawing the listener in.

The album is framed by two structured pieces, the first O Pastor Animarum by Hildegaard von Bingen, 11th century composer, naturalist, writer and mystic that the duo then make their own. Then to finish Faith plays viola and sings on an improvised version of the traditional folk song Down By the Salley Gardens.

These particular tracks make this duo far more than a free improv recording. Zephyr is an album that will give the listener a flowing experience of these two musicians' spontaneous creativity and a taste of complexity and simplicity in one.

01. O Pastor Animarum 06:10

02. Zephyr 02:48

03. Entangled 02:56

04. The Other Hoedown 03:21

05. Finding You 03:52

06. Beautiful Night Raga 04:39

07. Droned Out 04:00

08. Yagapriya 03:13

09. Land Of Beauty 03:38

10. She And He 02:08

11. Down By The Salley Gardens 06:30