Oct. 18: NEC Jazz Orchestra - "Tonight: The Music of Leonard Bernstein"

The NEC Jazz Orchestra opens its season with Tonight: The Music of Leonard Bernstein on Thursday, October 18 at Jordan Hall

Program of Bernstein classics is part of NEC’s fall celebration of the great composer, conductor, and educator’s centennial including an exhibition of more than 150 Bernstein artifacts

As part of NEC’s celebration of the 100th anniversary of Leonard Bernstein’s birth, the NEC Jazz Orchestra kicks off their season with a program of Bernstein classics on Thursday, October 18 at NEC’s Jordan Hall, 290 Huntington Avenue, Boston. Ken Schaphorst conducts the 7:30 p.m. performance. Free, tickets required. For information call 617-585-1122 or visit...

The program includes selections from Bernstein’s beloved Broadway masterpiece West Side Story, a piece he wrote for Billie Holiday entitled “Big Stuff,” and “Almighty Father” from his Mass. The program will also feature his “Prelude, Fugue, and Riffs,” which Bernstein described as "a serious piece of American music," premiered on the "Omnibus" television show entitled "The World of Jazz." The concert will include more music from that 1955 TV show, including Bernstein's blues arrangements as well as two contrasting perspectives on the jazz standard "Sweet Sue, Just You."

The concert is one of numerous NEC events to celebrate Bernstein’s centennial. A Boston native, Bernstein was an alumnus of NEC Prep and one of America’s greatest 20th-century composers, conductors, and educators. The celebration includes the exhibit Leonard Bernstein at 100 on display at the Student Life and Performance Center through November 11. The exhibit features more than 150 artifacts including photographs, personal items, scores, correspondence, and films. Visitors will learn about Bernstein’s early years from Boston Latin to Harvard, and enjoy interactive displays on West Side Story and conducting. Other Bernstein 100 events feature the NEC Philharmonia on October 3, NEC Symphony on October 17 and November 7, NEC Opera on October 23 and 24, NEC Youth Philharmonic on November 15, and NEC Youth Chorale on November 11.

NEC's Jazz Studies Department was the first fully accredited jazz studies program at a music conservatory. The brainchild of Gunther Schuller, who moved quickly to incorporate jazz into the curriculum when he became president of the Conservatory in 1967, the Jazz Studies faculty has included six MacArthur "genius" grant recipients (three currently teaching) and four NEA Jazz Masters. The program has spawned numerous Grammy winning composers and performers and has an alumni list that reads like a who's who of jazz. As Mike West writes in JazzTimes: “NEC's jazz studies department is among the most acclaimed and successful in the world; so says the roster of visionary artists that have comprised both its faculty and alumni.”  

Dorian Komanoff Bandy & Paul Cienniwa - Telemann: Sonatas for Violin and Harpsichord (Frankfurt, 1715) WHALING CITY SOUND 2018

Telemann sonatas freshly played; Bandy, violin and Cienniwa, harpsichord

Whaling City Sound is delighted to present Telemann: Sonatas for Violin and Harpsichord (WCS108), expertly performed by Dorian Komanoff Bandy, baroque violin and Paul Cienniwa (SIN-uh-wah), harpsichord.

German Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767) was one of music’s great mavericks, an aesthete with a restless mind and cosmopolitan tastes. During his nearly seven-decade career, he sampled every conceivable genre, idiom, and national style, and incorporated a dizzying number of them into his music.

The Violin Sonatas of 1715 are so wide-ranging in both idiom and expression that, heard together, they constitute a microcosm of Telemann’s art. Other recordings of these works often include cello. These pieces, however, were written specifically for the duo instruments — just violin and harpsichord. In this inventive presentation, Bandy and Cienniwa didn’t think of them as six individual pieces, but a single big piece with 24 movements. 

The Sonata in F sharp minor is a real rarity and this may be its world premiere recording. Unpublished in his lifetime, the manuscript is signed as George Melante, a nearly-anagrammatic pseudonym.

Comparing the seven works on this recording, it is clear that Telemann had no simple schema, no formula that would produce a single piece of music over and over. These are seven truly distinct sonatas: each unique, daring, and extraordinary in its own way.

Recorded in high-resolution at WGBH Studio, Boston, the album is offered on CD, high-resolution and conventional downloads and streaming services. 

With a repertoire spanning 400 years and six instruments, Dorian Komanoff Bandy is one of the most versatile talents to emerge on the early music scene. His “spectacular violin playing” (PlanetHugill), marked by “sensibility and virtuosity” (Musical Pointers), has charmed audiences in venues ranging from London’s Wigmore and Cadogan Halls to Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and New York’s Symphony Space. For four years he was leader and co-director of Musica Poetica (London); he is now a frequent guest concertmaster/soloist with the Rococo Consort, Sinfonia New York, the Amphion Consort (London), Musical Offering (Boston), and other groups across Europe and North America. Dorian holds degrees from London’s Royal Academy of Music and Cornell University, and is currently completing a PhD at the University of Glasgow. In 2010 he was awarded the coveted Marshall Scholarship.

Cited by the Huffington Post for his “inner sense of creative flow, fueled by an abundance of musical imagination and desire,” harpsichordist Paul Cienniwa has an active career as a soloist, ensemble player, recording artist, and teacher. In 2017 he began as Director of Music Ministries at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Delray Beach, FL. Prior to that, he was music director at First Church in Boston; Chorus Master of the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra; and served on the faculties of the Music School of the Rhode Island Philharmonic, Framingham State University, and UMass-Dartmouth. He was awarded the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in harpsichord from Yale University in 2003. This is Paul's third recording for Whaling City Sound.

Founded in 1999, Whaling City Sound was established to provide the musical audience with a bit of our abundance of outstanding musicians. We strive for innovative musicianship and impeccable recording quality; a platform for our artists to be heard and enjoyed by a wider audience.

www.doriankomanoffbandy.com

paulcienniwa.com

Splatter Trio - Splatter Trio (RASTASCAN RECORDS 2018)

Guitarist Myles Boisen likens a Splatter Trio show to watching an artist paint: "...you get to see us creating our art in front of you rather than offering prepackaged musical experiences." 

The name of the band reflects the messy act of creation: "We chose the name 'Splatter' because that's what we wanted the music to be like. Painterly, but also kind of bloody... half-Pollock and half-Peckinpah." 

Splatter formed after saxophonist Dave Barrett (then a member of Club Foot Orchestra) saw a 1987 performance of John Zorn's Cobra Ensemble that included Myles and Gino. Years of collective experience with the likes of Anthony Braxton, ROVA Saxophone Quartet, Snakefinger, Fred Frith, and Dead Kennedys gave the three exceptional skill with experimentation and improvisation. 

Rather than being slaves to song structure, they play with it. Gino calls structure "our main material, like sonic playdough... as if the playdough just sort of appears as we play." Myles says, "We don't get lost, but we also don't know where we're going." 

When these musicians play together, they seem intent on surprising and delighting each other. They typically have no set list; instead, one of them starts playing something and the others play whatever makes sense at the time, sometimes complementing the other musicians, sometimes going off in a completely different direction. The result gives the audience a constantly changing stream of squawks, beats, swirls, jokes, splashes, and noise, an improv soundtrack for the listener's own private contribution. 

"When the musicians play together each goes his own way, but they meet from time to time."

Cambodian proverb

Dave Barrett: saxophones, other winds, black eye

Myles Boisen: doubleneck electric guitar/bass, Casio

Gino Robair: drums, marimba

1. If Then 00:37

2. Crumple 01:36

3. Progress 01:24

4. Angry Instances 01:10

5. Splatter Waltz 03:00

6. Music (for Mingus) 05:19

7. Garden 03:27

8. Peck 'n Paw 01:53

9. Sunda 05:11

10. Python 05:43

11. Burnt Norton 01:53

12. '66 Station Wagon Theme 01:53

13. Cigarettes 04:43

14. Jesus deSade 04:32

15. Islam in Berdoo 06:08

16. Above Paradise 03:18

17. Outdiana 05:55

18. Shit Hits The Fan 02:58

19. KPFA Theme 00:12

20. Sheesh (Monk's Dilemma) 01:11

21. Dissolve/I Found My Thrill (for Miki) 03:07

22. Sludge Hiatus 02:28

23. If Then (Brief Reprise) 00:05

Splatter Trio - Anagrams (RASTASCAN RECORDS 2018)

"Like the soundtrack to an insect's thoughts before, during and after it hits the windshield."

--Gavin Report 

"Fun noise, the brilliance of chance exuberance, the mysteries of communication - that's all here."

--S.F. Weekly

What happens when you take the basic elements of your tunes and reorganize them as you play? That was the basic operating principle of the Splatter Trio at the time this album was recorded. 

Using the anagram as a metaphor, Splatter regularly juxtaposed its melodies, riffs, chord progressions and beats in new and unexpected ways during each performance. Songs were rarely played the same way twice, and the results often lead to the creation of new tunes. 

Describing the band's approach on this album, the poet Steve Benson wrote "The whole is an explosion of the sum of its parts' incongruence."

Dave Barrett: saxophones, saxcello, ocarina, DX-7

Myles Boisen: doubleneck guitar/bass, Casio

Gino Robair: drums, percussion, sampler, radio

1. Three Tests for Detecting a Lack of Control 04:19

2. Urban Ethnic 04:26

3. 11/02 #4 Stretched 01:18

4. Matching Tye (for Eddie Prevost) 04:32

5. Twilight Erie 03:37

6. We Are Ordinary, C'mere 03:55

7. Splatter vs. The Titans 03:05

8. 1920 06:50

9. SatUrN ReseArch 02:52

10. El Cerrito 01:17

11. Tango Big Boy 04:26

12. Sin Wing Swinging 05:55

13. Field of Lost Edges 03:55

14. The Pardon Me Shower 00:56

15. Dear Jonathan 06:57

16. Not For Strangers 06:18

Splatter 3+N - Clear The Club (RASTASCAN RECORDS 2018)

Clear the Club began as a series of studio-based jams by Splatter 3+3, which added Michaelle Goerlitz, Len Paterson, and Dave Slusser to the Splatter Trio. Other friends were invited to do overdubs and snippets of live and studio recordings were added. 

Produced by the Splatter Trio. Basic tracks engineered by Joshua Heller. Mixing and additional engineering by Myles Boisen and Gino Robair at Guerrilla Recording and Solitary Confinement. Mastered by Myles Boisen at the Headless Buddha Mastering Lab, Oakland, CA. 

Synthspotter: Buchla Electric Music Box on track 2; transistor organ on track 3; Maestro theremin on track 4; Oberheim OB-8 on tracks 3 and 14: Moog Sonic Six on track 5; Analogue Systems and Blacet synth modules on track 15.

Splatter Trio:

Dave Barrett—saxophones, saxello

Myles Boisen—guitar/bass doubleneck, sonics

Gino Robair—drums, synths, keyboards, theremin, guitar

with

Michaelle Goerlitz—percussion

Len Paterson—guitar

Dave Slusser—saxophone, Slussomatic

Sheldon Brown—reeds

J.A. Deane—live sampling

Chris Grady—trumpet

Mark Growden—reeds

Jake Rivera—bass

John Shiurba—guitar

Ellie Schoenwetter—bass

1. Top of the Hour 00:48

2. Michaelle's Theme 05:10

3. Ruminations 07:51

4. Space Calculated in Seconds 03:16

5. Butter Churner (3/4/5) 04:03

6. Sselim 07:50

7. Teo 02:31

8. Peter Herley Pt. III 04:08

9. Stares at the Sun 04:09

10. Glitchfarben 02:02

11. Base 5 Curly Motherfucker 02:01

12. Nevada 02:47

13. In That Dark World 03:22

14. Peter Herley Pt. IV 05:27

15. The Mumbler 02:12

Parker. Guy. Lytton. Trio - Breaths and Heartbeats (RASTASCAN RECORDS 2018)

"To know the number of steps one has been allotted from the beginning. The number of heartbeats and breaths. The number of bites."

— Elias Canetti "The Secret Heart of the Clock" 

The music presented here was recorded in one day. We worked in three blocks of time: the first session was with saxophone, bass and drums. Nine pieces were played. The second session was for the percussion interludes, the "breathers" of the titles — here we used orchestral percussion instruments , rattles, shakers and gongs in addition to Paul's usual kit. Around twenty short pieces were recorded. In the third session we again played the usual saxophone/bass/drums music of the trio. Without being aware of the number at the time, we recorded a further nine pieces. We were playing knowing that the sequencing of the material would be done later. 

Editing, as a music studio term, often implies the cosmetic enhancement of performances by recording in short sequences and then, by careful selection and recombination, creating an apparently flawless master. This kind of editing is anathema to the spirit of improvisation and many would argue to the spirit of all music making. nevertheless, it is increasingly common for recordings of classical works to be compiled with an edit ever ten seconds. 

The editing that has been employed in this work is more akin to film editing, perhaps better termed montage, where the sequencing of takes is arrived at in a process separate from the filming but where the integrity of each take is determined in real time. There is a formal symmetry to the sequence chosen which could be represented by the schema: 1A2B3C4D5E6F7F'6E'5D'4C'3B'2A'1. 

However, since "breaths" and "heartbeats" have been pre-combined in compiling the sequence for CD, there are just 12 track numbers which limits (but does not prevent) the listener altering the overall form by programming a different running order — although to retain the intended alternation of "breaths" and "heartbeats' track 12 will always have to be last. This shaping of the final form, by decisions made after the playing is finished, is an inevitable part of recording and something which distinguishes it from pure performance. My usual approach is to present the pieces in the sequence they were played. This CD is different. 

— Evan Parker 

Evan Parker: soprano and tenor saxophones, percussion

Barry Guy: bass and piccolo bass, percussion

Paul Lytton: drums and percussion

1. Breath and Heartbeat 1 07:54

2. Breath and Heartbeat 2 07:19

3. Breath and Heartbeat 3 10:29

4. Breath and Heartbeat 4 02:19

5. Breath and Heartbeat 5 03:35

6. Breath and Heartbeat 6 04:44

7. Breath and Heartbeat 7 04:05

8. Breath and Heartbeat 8 03:30

9. Breath and Heartbeat 9 03:43

10. Breath and Heartbeat 10 03:53

11. Breath and Heartbeat 11 05:31

12. Breaths and Heartbeat 06:07

Recorded 3 December 1994 at Gateway Studios, London, England.

Engineer: Steve Lowe

Assistant engineer: Ray Matthews

Digital Mastering Dave Bernez

Production coordination: Maya Homburger

Executive producer: Gino Robair

Design: Lucija Kordic

All pieces © 1995 Parker/Guy/Lytton

Brunod / Mella / Boggio Ferraris - Italian Jazz Book Vol. 1 (UR RECORDS 2018)

This project wants to celebrate the music of some of the most important and valuable Italian jazz players, and especially their compositions. So, the repertory stretches from Franco D’Andrea to Enrico Rava, from Daniele di Bonaventura to our beloved Andrea Allione, arriving to touch the music of the group’s components themselves, all three of them active composers.

The aim, therefore, is to help the great public get a closer look at the fine compositional flair of some of the leading musician of the Italian jazz scene.

All of this is realized through the sounds of an unusual band, with no drums but with two harmonic instruments, in eternal balance between love and hate: Boggio Ferraris’ vibraphone and Brunod’s guitar. The solid rhythmic of Aldo Mella’s double bass completes this trio that wants to gain an unique “voice”, hopefully of some relevance for Italian jazz, even by playing pieces of diverse and far origins.

Maurizio Brunod, Guitar

Aldo Mella, Double bass

Gabriele Boggio Ferraris, Vibraphone

1  Danças (A. Allione)

2  Hypnotic Sad Loop (M. Brunod)

3  Le Solite Cose (E. Rava)

4  Fafa (A. Mella)

5  I Gazzillori (D. Di Bonaventura)

6  Cherries (F. D’Andrea)

7  Indaco (A. Mandarini)

8  Da Silva (E. Rava)

Luca Dell'Anna Quartet - Human See, Human Do (UR RECORDS 2018)

“How fickle is the mind! Even if it is introverted, it does not remain steady but gets agitated in a moment like the surface of the ocean. Tied to the senses (like the sight) it bounces again and again like a ball. Having been nourished by the senses, the mind grasps the very objects it has given up; and like a demented person, it runs after the very things from which it has been restrained. It jumps from one object to the other like a monkey. “

(Yoga Vasistha)

Luca Dell’Anna – piano, compositions

Massimiliano Milesi – tenor sax

Danilo Gallo – double bass

Alessandro Rossi – drums

1  Sector n.4

2  From The Other Room

3  Jade (part 1)

4  Jade (part 2)

5  Sankhara

6  Human See, Human Do

7  Inside Dennis Cleg

8  Monkey and The Brain

All tunes are composed by Luca Dell’Anna

A.B. Normal - Out of a Suite (UR RECORDS 2018)

"…the music profession is one of those that has taken longer to be recognized. Charged with too many ancient magical or religious conceptions and with all the particularities of the artistic mentality, it has been too long admired and despised together. His ambivalence sometimes touches the region of holiness, because, like the tree of the world, the musician is placed between two worlds, between heaven and earth, between life and death. That's why you avoid too personal relationships with him. It is respected and to the same extent it is feared or despised. His faculties are valued, which are sometimes needed; but the esteem is still too mixed with the fear that a music endowed with all the rights of a common being can abuse his power.

Sometimes the music seems even to be an outcast."

(M. Schneider - Sociologie et mythologie musicales)

Andrea Baronchelli, Trombone, effects, compositions

Michele Bonifati, Electric guitar, effects

Danilo Gallo, Electric bass, effects, objects

Alessandro Rossi, Drums, electric drums

Suite:

1  Intro

2  Roots

3  Cortex

4  The Crown

5. Outro

Out:

6  Starting with a Cherry

7  Syriarin

All composition by Andrea Baronchelli, except n.6 by Michele Bonifati

Hey! This weeks's subtly sublime $5.00 album is...

Satoko Fujii & Alister Spence - intelsat (2018)

“Satoko Fujii is a brilliant and inspiring jazz genius..”

– Travis Rogers Jr., The Jazz Owl

“Spence has that priceless gift of always leaving you wanting more...He is never less than absorbing.”

– Jazzwise Magazine, UK

intelsat is a meeting of two very unconventional minds. Pianist/composer Satoko Fujii and pianist/composer Alister Spence (on Fender Rhodes for this recording) both have an insatiable thirst for new sounds and dauntless courage to follow their fertile imaginations wherever it leads them. Their debut duet album—the ninth of 12 CDs celebrating pianist composer Satoko Fujii’s 60th birthday—goes places few other musicians venture while keeping listeners hooked with compelling rhythms, inviting tone colors, and surprise touches of lyrical beauty. 

Spence and Fujii first crossed paths in late 2007 when Fujii and trumpeter Natsuki Tamura toured Spence’s native Australia. They immediately struck up a friendship and the two Japanese visitors asked Spence and his trio to join them as guests on their Sydney gig. In 2008 the Alister Spence Trio and the Satoko Fujii Ma-Do quartet shared a double bill at the Tokyo International Jazz Festival.  At this time Fujii also set up the first Fujii/Spence duo piano concerts. Since then, they have revisited the duo format on several occasions, including a second Japanese tour in 2016 and another in 2017, during which intelsat was recorded. 

“When I first heard his trio on CD, I thought my music would be too “out” for him,” Fujii says. “But when I saw them live, I was so impressed with how openly and freely he played. I knew then that we could play duets together. I am always amazed at how open he is and how unafraid to play in any style.” 

“For me, in the early stages of our collaborating, it was a matter of being willing and adventurous,” Spence says, “I trusted that there was empathy, and therefore we would find a way to make things work. I feel that Satoko is adventurous and curious and trusting.” 

Spence takes a unique approach to sound creation on the Fender Rhodes. Besides playing the keyboard in the usual way, he takes the top cover off the instrument, “to see what noises I can make, with the aid of some electronic effects pedals, that were not necessarily linked to activating the keyboard mechanism,” he explains. “For me the setup presents me with a way in which I can explore sound without necessarily revealing myself as a keyboard player.” 

Coupled with Fujii’s use of prepared piano, Spence’s techniques make for some intensely creative and unpredictable music making on intelsat. Each track, named for a different moon of Saturn, is excerpted from a continuous improvisation recorded just five days before the concert that resulted in the CD Bright Force (Libra Records). Bright Force was released in April as the 4th release in Fujii’s 60th birthday celebration. Sometimes it’s hard at times to tell how the music is being made and many of the sounds don’t sound like they come from traditional instruments. “Mimas” has an eerie beauty, with what sounds like ringing bells, distant gongs, muted industrial noise, strummed piano strings, and less identifiable sounds blending together and shifting. “Telesto” and “Paaliaq” are more propulsive, constructed of layered rhythmic patterns and punctuating chords. But whether the music is drifting on clouds of unique textures and timbres or surging forward, the rapport between the two artists is so close that the music is warm and responsive, even when it is abstract. 

“If musicians respect each other, we can make music together,” Satoko says. “I think it doesn’t matter what kind of music you play, or what style, or even what instrument you play or where you come from. If we know we are open and we can hear each other, then that means we can make music together.”

Fujii’s unprecedented birthday bash continues in October with Weave, a special CD/DVD set by Amu, a quartet featuring Fujii along with percussive dancer Mizuki Wildenhahn, trumpeter Natuski Tamura, and percussionist Takashi Itani. This year’s unforgettable outpouring of musical riches concludes with a new recording by Orchestra Tokyo as well as a special release of classical pianist Yuko Yamaoka performing 118 short piano pieces from Fujii’s diary compositions along with the sheet music. 

Pianist-composer Alister Spence is “utterly compelling,” according to Jazz Journal, UK, and the Sydney Morning Herald calls him, “The cutting edge of modern Australia defined.” For more than 20 years, he has fronted a trio featuring bassist Lloyd Swanton and drummer Toby Hall that has toured around the world and released seven CDs. In 2012, after four CDs on Rufus Records, he founded his own label, Alister Spence Music, to continue releasing music by his trio as well as other international projects. Their most recent double CD, Not Everything but Enough, by the Alister Spence Trio, was voted as one of 2017’s top 10 jazz albums worldwide in Japan’s Music Magazine, and received an Honorable Mention for the “Best of 2017” in the New York City Jazz Record. It also received 5 stars in Jazz Journal, UK. Since 2009, he has also lead a trio with bassist Joseph Williamson and drummer Chris Cantillo and toured Europe and the UK on a regular basis with this lineup. Eyal Hareuveni in Salt Peanuts praised their debut CD, Begin (Alister Spence Music) for its “Brilliant musicianship, masterful playing and imaginative improvisation.” Spence’s list of international collaborators includes bassist Barre Phillips, pianist Myra Melford, bassist Mark Helias, saxophonist Raymond MacDonald, guitarists Jim O’Rourke and Ed Kuepper, and drummer Tony Buck.

Critics and fans alike hail pianist and composer Satoko Fujii as one of the most original voices in jazz today. She’s “a virtuoso piano improviser, an original composer and a bandleader who gets the best collaborators to deliver," says John Fordham in The Guardian. In concert and on more than 90 albums as a leader or co-leader, she synthesizes jazz, contemporary classical, avant-rock, and Japanese folk music into an innovative music instantly recognizable as hers alone.

Over the years, Fujii has led some of the most consistently creative ensembles in modern improvised music, including her trio with bassist Mark Dresser and drummer Jim Black, the Min-Yoh Ensemble, and an electrifying avant-rock quartet featuring drummer Tatsuya Yoshida of The Ruins. Her ongoing duet project with husband Natsuki Tamura released their sixth recording, Kisaragi, in 2017. “The duo's commitment to producing new sounds based on fresh ideas is second only to their musicianship,” says Karl Ackermann in All About Jazz. Aspiration, a CD by an ad hoc band featuring Wadada Leo Smith, Tamura, and Ikue Mori, was released in 2017 to wide acclaim. “Four musicians who regularly aspire for greater heights with each venture reach the summit together on Aspiration,” writes S. Victor Aaron in Something Else.

She records infrequently as an unaccompanied soloist, but Solo (Libra), the first of her projected 12 birthday-year albums, led Dan McClenaghan to enthuse in All About Jazz, that the album “more so than her other solo affairs—or any of her numerous ensembles for that matter—deals in beauty, delicacy of touch, graceful melodicism.” As the leader of no less than five orchestras in the U.S., Germany, and Japan, Fujii has also established herself as one of the world’s leading composers for large jazz ensembles, leading Cadence magazine to call her, “the Ellington of free jazz.” 

www.satokofujii.com

www.alisterspence.com

Brad Whiteley - Presence (DESTINY RECORDS October 2018)

Presence, the new album by pianist and composer Brad Whiteley, is out on Destiny Records. The melodic and textured release, the New York artist's second as a leader, highlights 11 original Whiteley compositions played by and a stellar NYC band including tenor saxophonist Michael Eaton, electric guitarist Tom Guarna, double bassist Matt Pavolka, and drummer Kenneth Salters

“New York pianist-organist Brad Whiteley offers more than a smart record. He shows us how it’s done.” 

– DownBeat on Whiteley’s debut Destiny album, Pathless Land

Brad Whiteley has made a name for himself as a musician’s musician, a New Yorker who makes everything sound better – whether as the longstanding keyboardist in alt-pop star Regina Spektor’s group, as keyboardist in the pit band of Broadway musical Avenue Q, or as music director and organist for the Church of the Blessed Sacrament in the Bronx, not to mention playing keyboards or programming synths for recording sessions of every stripe. Above all, Whiteley – as pianist, composer and improviser – has the soul and touch of a jazz musician. For his debut album as a leader, Pathless Land, he earned a four-star review from DownBeat, with magazine also making the Destiny Records release an Editor’s Pick in June 2014 – dubbing Whiteley “an exciting young artist to watch.” Now, this ever-busy performer releases his sophomore Destiny album as a leader – the dynamic, melody-rich Presence – on October 5, 2018. Bringing 11 of his original compositions to vibrant life, the pianist-composer-producer leads a band of ace New York players: Michael Eaton (tenor saxophone), Tom Guarna (electric guitar), Matt Pavolka (double-bass), and Kenneth Salters (drums). Presence incorporates a world of influences into a warm, engaging whole, with Whiteley’s hook-filled writing and fluid pianism leading the way. 

All About Jazz, praising the concision and accessibility of Whiteley’s music, has marveled at how “easy and enjoyable” his brand of jazz can be – qualities that continue on Presence, even with the pianist’s increasing ambitions as a composer and bandleader. Above all, Whiteley seeks to convey “the power of song.” He says: “That’s a lesson I learned on the road performing with Regina Spektor. Her band is like a small chamber ensemble, and even playing the material night after night around the world, I never tire of her songs, because they’re just so good. I’ve worked with a lot of singers now – not only Regina, but also Kellylee Evans, Ben l’Oncle Soul, workshops for a musical with David Byrne – and it’s all about the song, heightened by the performance. With Presence, I strived for the tunes to be as strong as possible, with the composed material on equal footing with the improvised parts. And I always play to the core of a song when improvising, thinking melodically and structurally. I also learned lessons about the power of song in my gig with the church in the Bronx – each number you play is an attempt to move people, spiritually and emotionally. That’s something I keep with me in whatever music I play.”

Whiteley’s jazz piano playing has been influenced by icons from Duke Ellington to McCoy Tyner and beyond, as well as by such players on today’s scene as Brad Mehldau and Edward Simon. Presence brims with tracks that are object lessons in alluring, melodic contemporary jazz (“Everything Changes,” “When We Met,” “Sunset Park”); there are flowing ballads (“Presence”) and rhythmic workouts (“Demagogue”). Other tunes draw subtly on such far-flung inspirations as the mysterious modern jazz nexus of Paul Bley/Carla Bley (“Dawn”), the sly tunefulness of John Lurie’s classic downtown band the Lounge Lizards (“A Dark Day”) and the catchy riffs of ’90s alt-rock (“Sinking Feeling”); then there are hints of motoric Krautrock (“Dusk”), vintage drum’n’bass (“The Unwinding”) and rollicking R&B (“K-Car Funk ’83”).

The artfully textured arrangements of Presence are tailor-made for the top-flight band, with the players having close connections. “Reflecting on the breadth of material I drew on for inspiration makes me realize how much I appreciate the group on the record,” Whiteley says. “Each player was great at adapting to the different styles and bringing his own approach to the tunes. I’ve known Michael Eaton for 16 years – we met at Indiana University. It’s special to have such a long musical relationship with a friend. He’s an amazing musician, who has huge ears and perfect pitch, as well as an open mind about music and the world. I love the guitar tones Tom Guarna produced for this record, and he fits in so well, from the free sections to his soaring solo on the title track. Matt Pavolka also sounds incredible – I love the way he grooves on all of these styles, from drum’n’bass to free to swing. Kenneth Salters, who also played on my first album, is one of my oldest friends in New York City, plus one of the best drummers I know. He makes it seem effortless, from complicated polyrhythms to straight-ahead grooving.”

The Presence sessions made for a virtual Destiny Records family affair, with Eaton, Salters and Guarna each having previously released albums as leaders via the label. As a sideman, Whiteley played on the Destiny albums by Eaton and Salters (not to mention releases from the label by guitarist Cameron Mizell and trumpeter Jon Crowley). Whiteley and company recorded Presence in the spacious, state-of-the-art A room at Avatar Studios (now the Power Station of BerkleeNYC), with the pianist producing and George Shalda engineering. “That room is like a temple for music – so many classic pop and jazz albums were recorded in that big space,” Whiteley says. “Working in that room added something extra special to the day. George captured the sounds incredibly well, so that each instrument sounds totally alive – plus his mix really breathes and has a nice stereo field. I feel lucky to have recorded in that space with George.”

The title of Presence stems from Whiteley creating the album while his wife was expecting. “The new ‘presence’ is here now, and she is going to be 2-years-old soon,” the pianist explains. “So, the title refers to having a child come into your world, but it also touches upon the idea of being present in the musical moment, even during the chaos and excitement of becoming a parent. Being fully present and genuine while writing, performing and collaborating with other musicians is what leads to the most meaningful music-making, it seems to me. That ideal of being present in the moment also extends to performing for people – I want to be aware of the audience and open to the people listening. After all, when it comes to music, listening is pretty much everything.”

Brad Whiteley

Brooklyn-based pianist, organist and keyboardist Brad Whiteley has performed on stages from London’s Royal Albert Hall and the Sydney Opera House in Australia to New York’s Radio City Music Hall and the Greek in Los Angeles, not to mention such Manhattan jazz clubs as Smalls, the 55 Bar, Smoke, and the Jazz Gallery. He has been the keyboardist of the Regina Spektor Band since 2012, and he has worked with a wide range of other international artists, from jazz (saxophonist Dave Liebman and singer Kellylee Evans), pop (singer-songwriters David Byrne and Ben L’Oncle Soul), film (composer Alan Silvestri) and musical theater (performers Darius de Haas and Lena Hall). Whiteley released his debut jazz album as a leader, Pathless Land, via Destiny Records in 2014; the disc, which showcased him in trio settings on both piano and Hammond B-3 organ, earned praise in publications from DownBeat and All About Jazz to Jazz Weekly and Lucid Culture. He has also appeared on five other Destiny jazz albums as a sideman: Michael Eaton’s Individuation and Dialogical; Kenneth Salters’ Enter to Exit; Jon Crowley’s I Walk Amongst the Humans; and Cameron Mizell’s Negative Spaces.

Already a veteran performer on television, Whiteley has appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, The Late Late Show with James Corden, The Colbert Report, The Late Show with David Letterman, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Good Morning America and CBS Saturday Morning. He also composed the music for, and appears in, the PBS Learning Matters show School Sleuth. Whiteley has been the music director and pipe organist of the Church of the Blessed Sacrament in the Bronx since 2010, and he has performed as keyboardist in the pit band of Avenue Q on Broadway since 2017. Born in 1980 and a native of Upstate New York, he received his master’s degree from the Indiana University School of Music and his bachelor’s degree from DePauw University, with further studies at the Mancini Institute, the Banff Centre and Aspen Music Festival.