Jazz at Lincoln Center: This Month at Jazz

Celebrate Monk with Herlin Riley!

Thelonious Monk Festival
Apr 6–7
7pm & 9:30pm
The Appel Room

Herlin Riley and friends are bringing New Orleans flair to our third annual Monk Festival this month. Joining him will be pianists Eric "ELEW" Lewis, NEA Jazz Master Ellis Marsalis, and Isaiah J. Thompson; vibraphonist Joel Ross; tenor saxophonist Todd Williams; bassist Reginald Veal; Cuban percussion genius Pedrito Martinez; and vocalist Melanie Charles. This is a group that knows how to have a seriously good time, so don't miss your chance to see them pay tribute to a jazz legend!

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Out now: United We Swing!

Thank you for making the release of the Wynton Marsalis Septet's star-studded new record such a success! Allmusic.com says it's the "generous artistic connectivity on display throughout United We Swing that makes it such a joyous experience." Be one of the next 50 orders at our webstore and get a free, United We Swing lapel pin!

Get United We Swing!

Get our Record Store Day Exclusive!

On April 21, participate in Record Store Day 2018 and pick up a limited-edition vinyl picture disc from the Wynton Marsalis Septet! With the never-before-heard "Night Life" featuring Willie Nelson on one side and "I'm Gonna Find Another You" featuring John Mayer on the other, this limited-edition exclusive supports both Jazz at Lincoln Center and your local indie record store!

Find a stockist near you

Corea Plays Monk

Thelonious Monk Festival

Apr 5–7

8pm

Rose Theater

LIMITED AVAILABILITY  

For the first time, Chick Corea and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis are joining forces to celebrate the work of Thelonious Monk. The band's brilliant arrangers have crafted inspired new versions of these classics to go along with Corea's masterful, original take on Monk's harmonies. Together they'll demonstrate why this repertoire is a definitive platform for thoughtful improvisation and high quality jazz.

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Black, Brown & Beige & The Best of Basie

Apr 26–28

8pm

Rose Theater

The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis will play tunes by Duke Ellington and Count Basie, including a full performance of Ellington's groundbreaking masterpiece Black, Brown & Beige. 

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30th Anniversary Gala Concert

Apr 18

Rose Theater

8pm

Hosted by Glenn Close, the Jazz at Lincoln Center 2018 Gala celebrates our milestone 30th anniversary and showcases the depth, beauty, and diversity of jazz as an art form. Our 30th Anniversary Gala is anchored by New York’s House Band—the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis—and features some of the greatest living jazz vocalists and instrumentalists, including Jon Batiste, Dianne Reeves, Joey Alexander, Jimmy Heath, Paquito D’Rivera, Bill Charlap, Renee Rosnes, and Marcus Roberts. 

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FEELIN' GOOD AT JALC

Swing University Spring Term

Begins Apr 2

Swing University is our higher education program will help you become a better listener. Our talented faculty will introduce you to sounds new and classic, illuminating the music’s history and placing it within a modern context. Become a jazz expert with fun, informal classes such as: Monk’s Mood: The Life of Thelonious Monk, Jazz 101: A Beginner’s Guide to Jazz, High Priestess of Soul: Nina Simone, and Jazz 301: An Expert’s Guide to Jazz.

Register

Free Listening Party

Solography: The Art of Finding the Soloists

Apr 20

7pm

Varis Leichtman Studio

Jan Evensmo, the leading scholar on solography, will join us in a panel discussion with Phil Schaap, Jon Faddis and Joel Wenhardt. This evening, we will explore the art of solography, determining who takes solos on Jazz records. This event is free and open to the public. Seating is on a first come, first served basis.

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Member Appreciation Night

May 18

In honor of our annual Member Appreciation Night, members save 25% on Celebrating Ornette Coleman tickets for the Friday, May 18 performance. Join today to gain access to open sound check, an exclusive pre-concert reception featuring local restaurant tastings, and year-round benefits.

Join

DIZZY'S CLUB COCA-COLA

Lew Tabackin Trio with special guest Randy Brecker

Apr 3–4

7:30pm & 9:30pm

DIzzy's Club Coca-Cola

Award-winning saxophonist, flutist, and bandleader Lew Tabackin is an extraordinary musician dedicated to showing the full range of possibilities on his instrument—melodically, rhythmically, and dynamically. For these performances he'll be joined by Randy Brecker, Mark Taylor & Yasushi Nakamura.

Reserve

Christian McBride’s New Jawn

Apr 10–15

7:30pm & 9:30pm

Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola

Join us for bassist Christian McBride's New Jawn, which, translated from Philadelphian, could be described as his “new joint.” This unique two-horns, no-piano lineup includes Josh Evans, Nasheet Waits, and Marcus Strickland. Don't miss your chance to catch this ensemble at Dizzy's! 

Reserve

Joe Locke: "Subtle Disguise"

Apr 26–29

7:30pm & 9:30pm

Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola

Vibraphonist Joe Locke presents his latest project, “Subtle Disguise,” featuring the outstanding core band of pianist Jim Ridl, bassist Lorin Cohen, and drummer Samvel Sarkisyan, with additional special guests for the final two nights.

Reserve

DID YOU KNOW? Jazz at Lincoln Center members get a Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola discount of $10 off two covers, Mon–Wed (savings of up to $20 each visit). Become a member today.

COMING UP ON JAZZ.ORG/LIVE

Corea Plays Monk

Apr 5, 8pm EDT

Chick Corea has provided the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with a list of his favorite Monk compositions, and the band's brilliant arrangers have crafted inspired new versions of these classics.

Watch Live

Thelonious Monk Himself with Helen Sung

Apr 8, 7:30 & 9:30pm EDT

Pianist and composer Helen Sung draws from vocalist Carmen McRae’s legendary Carmen Sings Monk album. Featuring saxophonist John Ellis, bassist George DeLancey, and drummer Donald Edwards, with special guest vocalist Catherine Russell.

Watch Live

Monday Nights with WBGO: Emmet Cohen Trio featuring Tootie Heath

Apr 16, 7:30 & 9:30pm EDT

Featuring special guest drummer Albert "Tootie" Heath, pianist/band-leader Emmet Cohen and bassist Russell Hall.

Watch Live

VISITING PRESENTERS

New York City Opera: L’amore dei Tre Re

Apr 12–15

7:30pm, 2pm, 4pm

Rose Theater

More

ADC & Teachers College Inaugural Gala 

feat.  Delfeayo Marsalis, Jason Marsalis and Randy Jackson

Apr 14

7pm

The Appel Room

More

Lynda Carter: 

Red, Rock, 'n Blues

Apr 20–21

7:30pm 

The Appel Room

More

FRIENDS OF JAZZ

BAM Presents Jazz Epistles

Apr 18–19

8pm

BAM Howard Gillman Opera House

Superstar pianist Abdullah Ibrahim, a revered figure in jazz for over six decades, comes to BAM for two nights only to commemorate “South Africa’s greatest bebop band of all time” (NPR). 

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Pharoah Sanders

Apr 19

8pm

(le) poisson rouge  

Free jazz icon and Coltrane collaborator Pharoah Sanders comes to LPR on April 19th, channeling his hallmark unrestrained passion through the more cerebral avenues of his later works.

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Chamber Music Society presents New Music

Apr 26

9pm

Daniel and Joanna S. Rose Studio 

Pianist Gloria Chien and the Schumann Quartet perform works by Helena Winkelman, Timo Andres, Hans Werner Henze, Augusta Read Thomas, and Arvo Pärt.

More

Box Office

Address and Hours

Broadway at 60th Street, Ground Floor

Mon–Sat: 10am–6pm

Sun: 12pm–6pm

CenterCharge

212-721-6500

Playlist for Tom Ossana – The Thin Edge – April 4, 2018 MST 7:00 to 9:00p.m

http://www.kzmu.org/listen.m3u ~ Use this link to access the show online. 

Dave Holland - Uncharted Territories 2CD (DARE2 RECORDS May 11, 2018)

Uncharted Territories, which will be released in 2CD and 3LP formats, reunites Dave Holland with saxophonist Evan Parker, a longtime friend from their early days in London. Theyre joined by Craig Taborn, on piano and electronics, and Ches Smith on percussion. In addition to quartet improvisations, they also broke off into every possible subset of duo and trio configurations. The group also recorded two compositions by Smith and one by Holland. A resulting 23 tracks present a series of deep, multi-layered conversations between the musicians, some of whom were interacting for the first time.

DISC 1

1 Thought on earth

2 Piano - bass - percussion t1

3 Q&a

4 Tenor - bass w3

5 Qt12

6 Duo bass tenor w3

7 Qw2

8 Tenor - piano - bass t2

9 Organ - vibes w1

10 Bass - percussion t2

11 Tenor - piano - percussion t1

12 Qt13

DISC 2

1 Tenor - bass - percussion t2

2 Piano - percussion w3

3 Qt5

4 Tenor - bass w1

5 Piano - bass - percussion t2

6 Unsteady as she goes

7 Bass - percussion t1

8 Qw5

9 Tenor - bass - percussion t1

10 Tenor - bass w3

11 Qw1

Dave Holland, double bass

Evan Parker, saxophones

Craig Taborn, piano

Ches Smith, drums, percussion

Peter Erkskine & the Dr. Um Band - On Call (FUZZY MUSIC April 6, 2018)

The Dr. Um Band's new double-album, release date April 6, 2018, featuring John Beasley, Bob Sheppard, Benjamin Shepherd and Peter Erskine with new compositions recorded in the studio plus a blistering 'live' set recorded in Italy this past summer. Dr. Um is On Call for you.

Proving that his return to fusion jazz was no one-off fling, Peter Erskine came back a mere thirteen months later with another such record. Second Opinion, now out from Fuzzy Music, is the hastily-recorded follow up to 2016’s well-received and Grammy-nominated Dr. Um, but don’t think for a moment that haste made waste. Making a record within such a tight window “reveal more of the musician’s mettle than longer production can,” advises one of the all-time drumming greats.

The Dr. Um Band reconvened a few months after their first album was released with Benjamin Shepherd being the lone change-up, replacing Janek Gwizdala at bass. He joins the returning John Beasley (keys), Bob Sheppard (reeds, flutes) and Erskine (drums, percussion) to deliver nine songs, six of them contributed by three of the band members.

To these ears, Second Opinion has the feel of a record made where the sheet music was laid out, the musicians assumed their stations and they simply let it flow as soon as the tape rolled. Starting with “Hipnotherapy;” it’s an easygoing funk-jazz tune where Beasley’s piano and Sheppard’s tenor sax are dancing more than soloing, the players probably not even caring so much about getting a magic lick than they are just exploiting the slow but firm beat meted out by Erskine.

“Not So Yes” is the type of crossover jazz that Don Grolnick could have cooked up but with a stronger funk kick thanks to the Erskine/Shepherd rhythm factory. Erskine is thumpin’ forcefully on his spotlight at the conclusion. “Did It Have To Be You?” is essentially a bop tune — and a fancy free one at that — dressed in soul-jazz duds; Sheppard’s sax, Beasley’s organ and Shepherd’s electric bass all take turns riding on Erskine’s masterly swing pulse. “Solar Steps” sports a slinky bass pattern that connects with both Erskine’s tangled swing and the modern electric piano motifs of Beasley. Sheppard summons up the ghost of Michael Brecker as he gets it going on his solo spot.

There are no songs from Erskine’s old band Weather Report this time, but a pair of Beasley compositions has that ol’ WR vibe. Erskine launches “Eleven Eleven” with an elite-level funk gait soon joined by Shepherd in a contrapuntally perfect groove. Beasley’s Rhodes and old school synths complete the reconstruction of that time when fusion was both heady and stimulating to the soul. A soulfully empyrean ballad in the Joe Zawinul way, “Lida Rose” is just enjoyable to listen to for the melody alone, but Shepherd’s introductory Jaco lead lines accentuates its virtues further.

The three cover tunes are all from before the rise of fusion, providing good opportunities for making something new out of old strains. The band takes on a Depression-era Victor Young tune “Street of Dreams” and by keeping the contemporary touches minimal the band retains the song’s pretty rhapsody while freshening it up. Harry Mancini’s gorgeous “Dreamsville” is given a celestial, subdued treatment, Erskine’s brushes and Shepherd’s appealing sashay on bass laying a lush foundation for Beasley’s electric piano and Sheppard’s tenor horn. A better-known cover, “Willow Weep For Me” ends the album with the same laid-back, funky finesse that kicked it off, with Beasley sticking strictly to acoustic piano.

It doesn’t necessarily need to take a long time to make a great record; Second Opinion is great because it’s made by a group of guys who need no forethought to make this kind of music. Not only is this second nature to Peter Erskine, he seems to be having more fun doing it than he ever did. The second opinion is every bit as good as the first one.

For The Time Being

Might As Well Be

If So Then

Uncle Don

Silver Linings

Two Paths

Hipnotherapy (live)

Hawaii Bathing Suit (live)

Dreamsville (live)

Eleven Eleven (live)

Northern Cross (live)

John Beasley,  piano & keyboards

Bob Sheppard, saxophones 

Benjamin Shepherd, electric bass

Peter Erskine, drums

Produced by Peter Erskine

Co-produced by Mark Hornsby

Recorded and mixed by Mark Hornsby at Sweetwater Studio, with Carlo Buson ('live' recording, Italy) and Aaron Walk ('live pre-mix)

Mastered by Ken Love

Executive Producer: Chuck Surack

Cover art designed by Connie Beecher

Andreas Varady - The Quest (RESONANCE RECORDS April 6, 2018)

Resonance Records is Proud to Present

GUITARIST/COMPOSER ANDREAS VARADY 

THE QUEST

The Quest is the long-awaited third album from Andreas Varady, 

a protégé of the legendary Quincy Jones!

Featuring Varady's father, bassist Ondrej Bandi and brother, drummer Adrian, 

plus pianist Benito Gonzalez and saxophonist Radovan Tariska

CD & Digital Editions Available on April 6, 2018

Resonance Records is proud to announce the release of The Quest, the third recording from twenty-year old guitar virtuoso, Andreas Varady. With the release of Questions (2010) and his eponymous CD in 2014, the native of Slovakia, and resident of Ireland, emerged from thin air and put the guitar playing world on notice that there was a new force on the instrument to be reckoned with. On The Quest, Varady's artistry has reached new heights, and it's staggering to behold. His unadulterated command of the guitar, his highly-developed skills as a composer, his rhythmic facility (which speaks volumes about his roots in Gypsy music), and his ability to craft an astonishing flow of single-note lines while traversing chord changes, all by ear, has attracted the attention of many legends of this music, not the least of which is Varady's mentor, manager, producer and friend, the esteemed Quincy Jones. The Quest, available on April 6, 2018, features Varady in the company of his father Ondrej Bandi on bass, younger brother Adrian on drums, fellow Slovak Radovan Tariska on alto saxophone, and Venezuelan native (and current New York City resident) Benito Gonzalez on piano.

At just twenty, Varady has already performed at major festivals and venues around the world. The next exciting new chapter in the journey of this uber-talented musician begins with the release of The Quest. Varady has expressed that this album, comprised of all original music, feels very much like his first fully realized artistic statement, and indeed it showcases Varady's evolution from child prodigy to consummate artist, one with an abundance of fresh, bold energy. "I feel like I'm giving you a piece of me on this album," said Varady. The album title, which also reads like a mission statement is, "about this whole quest that I'm on in music seeking cool things, playing cool music in cool places, enjoying it all and having fun and doing what you wanna do," said Varady. The album is also his debut release on the boutique non-profit jazz label, Resonance Records, which signals a departure from his self-titled major label debut on Verve in 2014. Two other Quincy Jones protégés, Justin Kauflin and Alfredo Rodriguez, will also be releasing new albums in 2018.

Resonance EVP/GM (and executive producer on The Quest) Zev Feldman said about first hearing Varady, "Upon first listen, I was struck by his talent and artistry. Then getting a chance to meet him in Ireland, and spending some time talking with him, he just fits the mold of what Resonance is all about in terms of promoting younger artists and sharing their music. We're very happy to have him on the label. It's also a great honor to work with Quincy Jones and his team, and partnering with them to get Andreas' music out there is something we're very proud of. Resonance believes strongly in living artists also, not just those from a bygone era, and it's going to be very exciting to continue to watch him develop and we're thrilled to be able to add a chapter to his legacy on our label."

Varady has many influences. As expected, guitarists such as George Benson, Django Reinhardt, Kurt Rosenwinkel and Peter Bernstein have greatly impacted his playing, but Varady explains, "I've always been obsessed with saxophone players. I get as much influence listening to John Coltrane as I get from guitar players. But at the end of the day, I could list every musician that I've ever listened to as an influence. I act like a sponge that way. Whatever I listen to I always pick up some things, no matter if it's Radiohead or A Tribe Called Quest or Trane. It can be from hip-hop to rock and jazz everything kind of all inspires me and influences me."

More about Andreas Varady: 
A child prodigy of Hungarian Roma descent, Varady picked up guitar at age four and quickly revealed his uncommon gift, learning Kenny Dorham's "Blue Bossa" by ear. At age nine, he moved with his family to Ireland and by age 11, having already absorbed the influences of George Benson and Django Reinhardt, he began busking with his father on the streets of Limerick and Cork. Gigs around Ireland soon followed, mainly with drummer-producer David Lyttle, who produced Varady's first album, 2010's Questions. In 2011, at age 13, Andreas appeared with guitar master Martin Taylor at the Inishowen International Guitar Festival in Culdaff and later that year became the youngest headlining artist at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in London. Invited to play at the 2012 Montreux Jazz Festival by founder Claude Nobs, he performed for and met Quincy Jones, who signed him to his management company. He was signed to Verve Records in 2013 and his stateside debut, executive produced by David Foster and Quincy Jones and produced by Toto's David Paich, featured guest appearances from singer Gregory Porter and trumpeter Roy Hargrove.

More about the music on The Quest : 
(with excerpts from the album's liner notes by Bill Milkowski) 
The opener on The Quest, "Lost Memories, " serves as a kind of mini-overture as Varady unleashes a fusillade of notes over the engaging theme. Up next is the dynamic "Radio Joint" establishing the flexible group chemistry while also showcasing urgent solos from Varady and Tariska over a driving 12/8 groove. Gonzalez pushes the envelope in his harmonically probing solo here, which is fueled by Adrian's intense, whirlwind attack around the kit. "He's in a huge growing place right now," says Varady of his younger brother. "He has this kind of ballsy playing style that I felt was the right thing for the tunes on this album." The 15-year-old further showcases his considerable drumming skills on the modal "Follow Me, " which culminates in a kinetic call-and-response between the brothers. (By the way, that's Andreas playing double bass on the hip-hop flavored tag).

Varady combines speed and finesse combine on the driving 6/8 composition, "The Time Is Now" and utilizes some Frisellian backwards guitar effects on the evocative interlude "Patience. " The adventurous title track is a centerpiece for this compelling album. Opening with a rubato free section that has Gonzalez playing inside the piano while his band mates add provocative colors and textures, it resolves to a buoyant theme with Andreas and Radovan tied together in tight unisons while navigating a tricky time-shifting terrain. "He's a great player," says Varady of the Slovakian saxophonist, "and I like his strong, darker sound."

The guitarist shows his urbane side on "Story" and the uplifting, melodic number "Her Dream." Then he swings unabashedly on the up-tempo "Radiska, " a burner that also turns Tariska loose and has Gonzalez channeling his inner McCoy Tyner. "His soloing is swinging and very interactive," says Varady of the gifted pianist, who turns in a monstrous solo here. "That's the thing with all of us we're very interactive on the album. No one is told, You do this, you do that.' It's more of a sketch and then see where it goes from there. So it was a natural process. This album was really open, like pure jazz straight in the moment. That's what I was going for."

The closer, "Outro," featuring more backwards effects over a simple, serene melody, serves as a bridge to what Varady plans to explore in more depth on his next recording. "I thought it would be interesting to just add some of the elements that would be for my upcoming music," he explains. "I'm into a lot of electronic music, I'm into a lot of hip-hop. That's also a part of me, and I thought it would be cool to add that color to the album. It's almost like my one foot is solidly in jazz and on my other foot, my toes are in something else. And it's not like I'm crossing genres, it's more of like going from one of my styles to this other style and merging it all together to create this ultimate thing."

Lost Memories

Radio Joint

Follow Me

The Time Is Now

Patience

The Quest

Story

Her Dream

Radiska

Outro

Renee Rosnes - Beloved of the Sky (SMOKE SESSIONS RECORDS April 6, 2018)

There’s a painting by Emily Carr that evokes much of what I admire most about Renee Rosnes, and it’s not the painting Rosnes had in mind when she named this album.  She selected the title in homage to one of Carr’s best-known works, an expressionistic landscape that Carr called “Scorned As Timber, Beloved of the Sky.”  Painted in 1936, when Carr was 65 and at the peak of her creative powers, the titular canvas depicts a hilly swath of largely barren land in western Canada, an area ravaged by merciless lumbering.  We see rows of rotting tree stumps, which Carr conceived of as tombstones, elegies to the forests slaughtered for timber.  In the center of the canvas, surrounded by the stumps, is a stalwart surviving tree — reed-thin and branchless but standing tall, impossibly tall.  At the tip of the trunk, piercing the clouds, the tree is in full bloom.  It towers above the despoiled landscape in mournful defiance of human cruelty, a testament to the resilience of nature and the hope it can instill in those attuned to it.

Renee Rosnes is, as Carr was, a native of the Canadian northwest, and she shares Carr’s deep connection to the natural majesty of the area.  “Carr’s canvases of Canadian coastal landscapes and deep woods are familiar territory, and evoke a strong emotional response in me,” Rosnes says.  “She was an environmentalist ahead of her time, and created several paintings that dealt with her concern for the environment, and specifically the clear-cutting of forests.”

Carr painted another canvas in 1912, after she returned to Canada from a visit to Paris, where she had studied at the Academie Colarossi and discovered the Fauvists and Impressionists.  Titled “Gitwangak,” the original name for a part of British Columbia that English settlers renamed the Queen Charlotte Islands, the work captures a scene in a small village of First Nation longhouses along a riverbank.  We see three people in the foreground: one dressed in red, wearing what appears to be a white headdress; and two others, one adult and a child.  Nine tall totem poles, carved with renderings of emotive faces, loom amidst the structures.  In the water, in the distance, a steam ship floats by.  The sky sparkles with painterly dabs of vermillion, silver, white, and gold.

With “Gitwangak,” Emily Carr brings to mind, for me, all that Renee Rosnes achieves as a composer and pianist.  It honors a long and rich tradition: in Carr’s case, the way of life of the original people of the Pacific Northwest; for Rosnes, the deep and complex legacy of jazz music.  At the same time, both the painting and Rosnes’ music are keenly steeping in their own time and utterly contemporary in feeling — in some ways, in fact, radically so.  The visual style of “Gitwangak” is boldly post-Impressionistic, with color effects and textures suggestive of Van Gogh.  As Rosnes makes clear with the first piece on this album, “Elephant Dust,” her work is fearlessly daring and original.  Rosnes, in all her music culminating in Beloved of the Sky, has proven to be a composer and musician of the rarest kind, a master of a tradition that she carries forward toward the future through the force of her authority, her passion, and her individuality.

David Hajdu is the music critic for The Nation and a professor at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism.

Elephant Dust (Rosnes)

Scorned as Timber, Beloved of the Sky (Rosnes)

Mirror Image (Rosnes)

Rosie (Bobby Hutcherson)

Black Holes (Rosnes)

The Flame and the Lotus (Rosnes)

Rhythm of the River (Rosnes)

The Winter of my Discontent (Alec Wilder/Ben Ross Berenberg)

Let the Wild Rumpus Start (Rosnes)

Renee Rosnes, piano

Chris Potter, tenor sax, soprano sax, flute

Steve Nelson, vibes

Peter Washington, bass

Lenny White, drums

UPCOMING SHOWS

Apr 03, 2018 - Apr 08, 2018

Renee Rosnes Quartet in New York, NY at Village Vanguard

Apr 13, 2018 - Apr 14, 2018

Gary Smulyan in Tarrytown, New York at Jazz Forum

Apr 18, 2018

Renee Rosnes & Bill Charlap Duo in New York, NY at Rose Theater, Jazz at Lincoln Center

May 04, 2018 - May 05, 2018

Renee Rosnes Quartet in Tarrytown, New York at Jazz Forum

May 14, 2018 - May 16, 2018

Ron Carter Quartet in New York, NY at Blue Note Jazz Club

Eddie Henderson - Be Cool (SMOKE SESSIONS RECORDS May 4, 2018)

Before he walks out the door on his way to a gig, 77-year-old trumpeter Eddie Henderson always gets two words of advice from his wife: be cool. The legendary trumpeter has taken that mantra to heart, and on Be Cool, his new release on Smoke Sessions Records, he shows just how hot cool can get.

Of course, if you're going to be cool it helps to surround yourself with the coolest of the cool, and Henderson has done just that: his smokin' quintet also features saxophonist Donald Harrison, pianist Kenny Barron, bassist Essiet Essiet, and drummer Mike Clark. Together, the band conjures smoldering funk, lush ballads, broad-shouldered swing, and bristling bop -- in all, a prismatic display of the many facets of cool.

"For me, 'be cool' means compose yourself and don't act jagged, musically or personally," Henderson offers. "One connotation is to not play so erratically, to push the envelope to the edge but not go over. It's like going fishing: if you're not prepared when you throw your line out there, you might catch Jaws instead of a minnow. Personally, it's about playing with people who love each other and share a good chemistry."

That's undoubtedly the case with the group Henderson has convened for his second Smoke Sessions outing as a leader. His relationship with Barron stretches back more than three decades, to the early days following his return to New York in the mid-'80s after a decade spent practicing medicine in San Francisco. He's been working regularly with Clark in recent years, especially in the Wolff & Clark Expedition, the drummers co-led band with pianist Michael Wolff. But they also share roots in the fusion bands of Herbie Hancock -- Henderson with Mwandishi and Clark immediately after with Headhunters. Essiet, meanwhile, has been a constant in Henderson's recent bands, while he's shared stages with Harrison under the auspices of the super-group The Cookers.

"Be Cool" was produced by Paul Stache and Damon Smith and recorded live in New York at Sear Sound's Studio C on a Sear-Avalon custom console at 96KHz/24bit and mixed to ½" analog tape using a Studer mastering deck. Available in audiophile HD format.

1 Smoke Screen 4:37

2 Be Cool 5:01

3 After You've Gone 7:04

4 Loft Funk 6:59

5 Fran-Dance 6:25

6 The Moontrane 5:26

7 Naima 7:07

8 The Sand Castle Head Hunter 6:44

9 Nightride 8:17

10 Toys 6:37

11 Easy Living 5:44

12 Dla Juzi 6:55

Richie Beirach - Inborn 2CD (April 20, 2018)

'Inborn' a 2CD set led by pianist Richie Beirach, presents recordings from 1989 featuring Randy Brecker, Michael Brecker, John Scofield, George Mraz and Adam Nussbaum! All the tracks were recorded at the legendary Clinton Recording Studios in New York, where many of the great Bill Evans trio and some of the later Miles Davis and McCoy Tyner records were made.

This all-star combo was assembled under the leadership of pianist Richie Beirach (born 1947), it included the Brecker Brothers - the late tenor saxophonist Michael and the trumpeter Randy, the guitarist John Scofield, bassist George Mraz and the drummer Adam Nussbaum. At the time of recording all six of them were internationally recognised names in jazz, with the Brecker Brothers, who were fast becoming "superstars" of modern jazz, leading the way.

The setting for the recording was quite exceptional and is worth mentioning. On the first day of their recording session in mid-April of 1989 the six jazz musicians performed the pieces highly focused and without disturbance at the Clinton Studios in New York. However, on the second day they invited friends and acquaintances and played some of the same pieces as the day before, but now under more difficult conditions, live on stage in front of an audience. The result is a double album of historical significance for the world of jazz. A must-have for your collection!

DISC 1 - LIVE

1. Paradox

2. Alone Together

3. Inborn

4. Con Alma

5. Sunday Song

6. In Your Own Sweet Way

7. You Don't Know What Love Is

8. Broken Wing

DISC 2 - STUDIO

1. My Funny Valentine

2. Leaving

3. Inborn

4. Some Other Time

5. Sunday Song

6. Young & Foolish

7. Paradox

Richie Beirach (piano)

Randy Brecker (trumpet, flugelhorn)

Michael Brecker (tenor saxophone)

John Scofield (guitar)

George Mraz (bass)

Adam Nussbaum (drums)