Cameron Undy - Ghost Frequency (March 4, 2022 Earshift Music)

Ghost Frequency is Cameron Undy’s solo guitar album showcasing his fascination with ancient rhythms of the African diaspora, what he refers to as “ghostly artefacts”. The music’s apparent simplicity hides the inner geometric workings by this deep thinking artist. Ghost Frequency is a major work that sheds new light on Undy’s musical vision with 11 original compositions that present an exquisite and original musical statement.

From the artist:

The Ghost Frequency project is born from my fascination with ancient rhythms of the African diaspora. The idea that these rhythms evolved over thousands of years through human dance, ceremony and ritual is such a powerful one. That the vast majority of this evolution has gone unrecorded and never to be heard again, yet enriches such a wide variety of contemporary music is somewhat mind-blowing!

These rhythms are like ghostly artefacts, that when I ‘pick them up’ and ‘play’ them I can never be totally certain that I am ‘seeing’ them for what they are/were. And yet these distant relics of aeons past fill me with inspiration and imagining, of an everlasting connection with ancient civilisations. Like looking at the light from a star that burnt out millions of years ago they are as real and present as a footprint in the sand from a morning walk yet the sources of each are intangible in the present.

If you go looking for specific African rhythms in my music you may struggle because what I am playing are reflections, shadows and stellations of these ‘ghosts’. Rhythms I have created using natural sequence and generative, rule based principles of analog transformation. They are geometric distortions of the original archetypes, allowing me to enter ‘other places’ in my mind and body previously unknown. I am very grateful to African ritual culture and to Western scientific thinking for the paths made available to me to reach this ‘place’.

Widely known with a deep love of funk, afro-beat, avant-garde jazz and 20th century Classical music, Undy has performed as bassist on countless albums and released two albums with his afro-funk-jazz cult band 20th Century Dog, Bone and Mad Stream. In 2021 he released a self-produced beats album, Blood Shot (Earshift Music). Undy is also known as co0owner of the former Sydney club Venue 505 and Acoustic Ritual.

1. Ghost

2. Footprint

3. Orbit

4. Stars

5. Reflection

6. Sand

7. Shadow

8. Jellyfish

9. Wood

10. Magnolia

11. Shed

Cameron Undy - acoustic guitar

Recorded by Richard Belkner at Free Energy Device Studios, 2021

Cover image by Gordon Undy

Inside image by Sally Flegg

Design by Brodie McAllister

All compositions by Cameron Undy

About the Music

Ghost - The mind may think of music and the body play it so the soul may express.

Footprint - A footprint in the sand is like a shadow of movements past.

Orbit- The balance of the cosmos is unseen yet the most powerful force we know.

Stars - Distant relics of aeons, filled with imagining

Reflection - Reflections are distortion, sometimes more beautiful than reality.

Sand - Time, dissolved into a billion grains.

Shadow - Shadows reveal light, time, space and dimension.

Jellyfish - Their form is unaltered by the flow of the ocean yet never appears the same twice.

Wood - Wood records everything from birth to death.

Magnolia - An ancient genus, symbolic of everlasting connections.

Shed - Any place or time, where and when I practice music (usually not a shed)

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Max Andrzejewski - Mythos (March 4, 2022 Backlash Music)

Few works in the operatic canon can match the ambition, excess, and grandeur of Wagner’s hefty Der Ring des Nibelungen (aka Ring Cycle), four iconic operas built upon German myth that have either riveted, angered, awed, or exhausted listeners since the composer completed the cycle in 1874. German percussionist and composer Max Andrzejewski is among those with deeply ambivalent feelings toward the cycle, repulsed by the composer’s anti-Semitism and sexism, to say nothing of the work’s crushing bombast. That critical position partly explains his decision to accept a commission from acclaimed German theater director Ersan Mondtag to create four new overtures for an adaptation of Thomas Köck’s “W̶ ̶A̶ ̶G̶ ̶N̶ ̶E̶ ̶R̶ ̶ ̶ –̶ ̶ ̶D̶ ̶E̶ ̶R̶ ̶ ̶ ̶R̶ ̶I̶ ̶N̶ ̶G̶ ̶ ̶ ̶D̶ ̶E̶ ̶S̶ ̶̶ ̶N̶ ̶ I̶ ̶B̶ ̶E̶ ̶L̶ ̶U̶ ̶N̶ ̶G̶ ̶E̶ ̶N̶ (A PIECE LIKE FRESH CHOPPED ESCHENWOOD),” a wild slice-and-dice recasting of the mythical tropes that saturate the original opera cycle. “It's really sarcastic in a way, so it's really destroying the piece” he explains.

Andrzejewski sparingly and creatively repurposed some of the leitmotifs from the four overtures as a point of departure for his work, and, as he says, even the most devoted Wagner connoisseur would have trouble picking out any trace of the original overtures in Andrzejewski ́s gripping Mythos cycle. His blend of composition and improvisation, as well as acoustic and electronic sounds, stand in stark contrast to Wagner’s aesthetic. Instead he mined his predecessor’s writing for raw material. The operas are left behind, a series of grandiose husks representing smug hatefulness. He’s replanted a handful of musical seeds to generate something completely contemporary and classic at the same time.

Although Andrzejewski’s steady expansion from his jazz and improvised music roots into contemporary music occurred through a series of collaborations with Mondtag beginning in 2013, he felt he had left the theatre world behind. His ambitious work Zauberburg, commissioned by Podium Festival Esslingen and premiered in 2020, signaled his arrival as a serious composer, where his music stood firmly on its own rather than as a component in a theatrical setting. But he says he couldn’t resist Mondtag’s offer, which not only allowed him to comment on Wagner, but to work with a larger group. He was able to put together a 12-member ensemble drawn from both the classical and jazz worlds, neatly bringing together his two primary stylistic threads in a single piece.

His work in the jazz and improvised world has never been conventional, whether he’s embraced an art-song ethos in his long-running ensemble Hütte, which put a unique, lyric gloss on the songs of Robert Wyatt with its 2019 album Hütte & guests play the music of Robert Wyatt, or built compositions from microscopic, unconventional field recordings in his collaborative duo Training, with saxophonist Johannes Schleiermacher featuring John Dieterich from Deerhoof as special guest and producer. Over the last decade he’s worked with an impressive array of improvisers, including old-school firebreather Charles Gayle and acclaimed reedist and composer Anna Webber, who also blends contemporary music and improvisation in her own writing. He’s also been a crucial percussionist in groups led by guitarists Julien Desprez and Kalle Kalima, among others. His superb 2020 project with Austrian keyboardist Elias Stemeseder, light/tied, provided compelling evidence of his developing interest in fusing contemporary music with improvisation, although retrospectively he realized his own investment in composing the music resulted in less time on his own improvised contributions.

“I was so preoccupied with writing that I didn't really think so much about my drumming,” he says. “So I didn't feel really fulfilled on both layers. I kind of stepped back from the drumming part, and then I realized in the rehearsals, “Oh shit, I didn't think about what I'm going to play to this music that I wrote” That ceases to be a problem on Mythos. In fact, the entirety of “Mythos III” was constructed from a solo drum improvisation he played and recorded while listening to the overture from Wagner’s Siegfried on headphones, so while his work shares a tempo with the Wagner original, every other element was brand-new, including the bracing post-Cecil Taylor piano solo by Jörg Hochapfel, generating a tension one might expect in a suspense film. The Wagner reference in “Mythos I” is relegated to compressing and distorting the Rheingold overture into a second-long electronic blast, with strings and winds toggling between aerated and needling passages, tattooed by throbbing, acidic electronic tones before a solemn dialogue of strings, vibraphone, and piano, as bassist James Banner and guitarist Arne Braun improvise colors and tactile gestures that complement the chamber-like elegance.

The viola and violin figures in “Mythos II” are borrowed from Wagner’s Die Walküre, but Andrzejewski soon stacks up the motif, surrounded by hypnotic see-sawing passages and juddered by percussive snaps on bass and guitar. The French horn figure is also purloined from Wagner, yet it’s buffeted by the composer’s explosive drumming and a burst of electronic noise that’s also a digital abstraction of the original. Motifs from Götterdämmerung turn up in “Mythos IV,” overlapping into a swarming buzz. “Basically the whole ensemble is kind of improvising with the small Wagner snippets in the beginning, but it's arranged in a way that it sounds composed,” says Andrzejewski. “I conducted it, so there are hard cuts and stuff, but everyone had a lot of freedom in that.”

The musicians he worked with from classical music haven’t much experience improvising, so Andrzejewski guided them along, giving them a set of pitches to create spontaneous lines with. He knows something about learning on the job, because although he was taught arranging skills in school, composing for a classical ensemble was something he absorbed through trial and error. “I didn't imagine writing for stringed instruments,” he says. “I was always like, ’Yeah, let's do free jazz, with loud instruments.’ Then I found out that these instruments are amazing. I got more and more interested in classical instruments. I found out that possibilities are just endless and it's beautiful to dig into that world.”

Mythos doesn’t sound like the product of someone stumbling his way through an alien landscape. Andrzejewski wasn’t cowed by the Wagner legacy, and he boldly disregarded convention in digging out little pearls from which to construct his own music. “I’m working on two strange things at the same time, playing drums and writing chamber music,” he explains. “I always try to bring it together.” The seams between disparate traditions and practices are increasingly invisible in his work, and the possibilities only seem to broaden under his assured, feverish creativity.

Peter Margasak

1. Mythos I - eio

2. Mythos II - aüe

3. Mythos III - ieie

4. Mythos IV - öeäeu

Performed by:

Moritz Ter-Nedden, violin

Grégoire Simon, violin

Friedemann Slenczka, viola

Ragnar Jónsson, violoncello

James Banner, double bass

Laure Mourot, flute

Miguel Pérez Iñesta, clarinet / bass clarinet

Isaac Shaw – french horn

Maria Schneider – vibraphone

Arne Braun – guitar

Jörg Hochapfel - keyboard, piano

Max Andrzejewski - composition, drumset, electronics

All music composed by Max Andrzejewski

Recorded by Martin Ruch at Bonello Studio Berlin, march 2021

Recording assisted by Tobias Ober

Mixed and mastered by Martin Ruch at Control Room Berlin

Max was assisted by Gerrit Netzlaff

Cover design by Ragnar Jónsson

Commissioned by Berliner Ensemble

℗ 2022 Backlash Music

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Tony Catania - Songs Ad Libitum / Three Pieces for Electro​-​Acoustic Duo / Portal (March 4, 2022)

The improvised songs that comprise “Songs Ad Libitum” are born from that pure moment of artistic clarity, when the portal of creativity and inspiration from within is open and the music…just…flows. For me, the process of capturing this music was simply euphoric and I am excited to share this with you.

The acoustic/electronic collaborations that follow “Songs” are pure improvisations with two of Milwaukee’s most creatively brilliant musicians that I have been wanting to collaborate with for some time. As I had suspected, these duo sessions produced some very adventurous and inspired music!

1. The Wind Blew It All Away

2. Giving Thanks

3. Junco III

4. Sandstone

5. Snake Potential

6. Breathe

7. Hiding Place

8. Bliss

9. Primal Bug

10. Parched

11. Floating

12. Nothing Imminent

13. Count to Zero

14. House of Mirrors

15. Portal

Tony Catania - Tenor Saxophone/Found Objects

Nicholas Elert - Baritone Guitar/Bastl Microgranny (tracks 12-14)

Jay Mollerskov - Electronics (track 15)

Songs Ad Libitum was improvised, recorded and mixed by Tony Catania at home 2021

Three Pieces for Electro-Acoustic Duo was improvised by Nicholas and Tony, recorded by Nicholas at Howl Street Studios, Milwaukee 2021.

Portal was a virtual collaboration composed, improvised and recorded by Jay and Tony 2021

All music mastered by Nicholas Elert at Howl Street Studios, Milwaukee 2021

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Fatima & Joe Armon-Jones - Tinted Shades (March 4, 2022 Aquarii Records)

Fatima and Joe Armon-Jones unite for Tinted Shades; a three track EP that asserts personal truths whilst juxtaposing dark times with hopeful optimism - spanning soul, hip hop and R&B.

1. #1

2. Tinted Shades

3. Love Life Hope

Vocals - Fatima

Production, Keyboards, Bass Synth - Joe Armon-Jones

Drums on 'Tinted Shades' and 'Love Life Hope' - Moses Boyd

Drums on '#1' - Morgan Simpson

Engineer - Gilles Barrett

Mixed by Oli Barton-Wood

Mastered by Frank Merritt at The Carvery

Recorded at Soup Studios and Aquarii Studios

Artwork by Ralph Berryman

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Emmeluth / Knedal Andersen / Skavhaug Nergaard - The A​-​Z of Microwave Cookery (March 4, 2022 Astral Spirits)

"If a fire starts in your microwave, press the stop pad and leave the door closed. Then turn off the power at the switch and pull out the plug."

1. Artichoke and Prawn Starter

2. Boiling Water

3. Shortcut Clam Chowder

4. Drying Flowers

5. Amazing Fudge

6. Glitter (edible)

Signe Emmeluth - Alto Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone

Magnus Skavhaug Nergaard - Double Bass

Dag Erik Knedal Andersen - Drums, Percussion

All music by Signe Emmeluth, Dag Erik Kendal Andersen and Magnus Skavhaug Nergaard.

All rights reserved TONO/NCB.

Recorded at Flerbruket, December 2020 by Magnus Skavhaug Nergaard.

Mixed by Magnus Skavhaug Nergaard, January 2021.

Mastered by Lasse Marhaug at the best studio in Oslo, February 2021.

Artwork and Layout by Robert Beatty.

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Dikeman / Gonzalez / Håker-Flaten / Horne - Texas Butt Biters (March 4, 2022 Astral Spirits)

1. Kreptik Epoch

2. Midnight Photosynthesis

3. Pu Erh Gaze

John Dikeman - saxophone

Stefan Gonzalez - drums

Ingebrigt Håker-Flaten - bass

Jonathan F Horne - guitar

Recorded live at ZAAL 100, Amsterdam, October 29, 2019

Recorded and Mixed by Ron Ruiten

Insert Artwork by Amber Rijcken

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Lina Tullgren & Alec Toku Whiting - Unfamiliar Ceilings (March 4, 2022 Astral Spirits)

1. 47

2. polly chainsaw

3. every finger, an eye

Lina Tullgren: violin

Alec Toku Whiting: koto, bass koto

Ted Reichman: synthesizer, pedals (track 3)

Engineered and mixed by Ted Reichman at Subtext Sound System

Mastered by Jack Callahan

Artwork & design by Robert Beatty

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GOATFACE! - Akhenaten Bazucas (March 4, 2022 Astral Spirits)

1. Câmara 1 - O Bode sem Face

2. Câmara 2 - As Doze Vidas de Paco

3. Câmara 3 - Num3ro5

4. Câmara 4 - Amarna

5. Câmara Secreta

GOATFACE! is:

Guilherme Granado - keyboards, synthesizers, electronics, percussion

Leandro Archela - keyboards, synthesizers, percussion

Thomas Rohrer - soprano saxophone, rabeca, futes, objects, percussion

Rogerio Martins - bass clarinet, clarinet, flute, percussion

Ricardo Pereira - percussion

Recorded in 2019 at estudio fitacrepe by Leandro Archela

Mixed and edited by Guilherme Granado at toca do conart and Leandro Archela at formigaz garden.

Mastered by Fernando Snaches at El Rocha studios.

Artwork & Layout by Robert Beatty.

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Freudian Slurp - The Getaway Car (March 4, 2022)

The Getaway Car was recorded in front of a live audience and filmed on January 25th, 2020 at the Chapel Performance Space in the Good Shepherd Center in Seattle, Wa.

1. I Dream of Jammie

2. In Bloom

3. The Wrecking Crew

4. The Art of Revenge

5. The Getaway Car

6. Let's Not and Say We Did

7. Into the Sunset

Performed by Freudian Slurp:

Ian Hughes - Guitar

Dylan Hughes - Bass Guitar

Adam Robb - Trumpet

Jon Goneau - Keyboards

Tyler Musgrave - Drums

Recorded and Mixed by Carl Martí Germain

Mastered by Rachel Field at Resonant mastering

Produced by Ian Hughes

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Scott Metzger - Too Close To Reason (March 4, 2022 Royal Potato Family)

Scott Metzger's debut album, Too Close To Reason, presents 12 solo-acoustic guitar recordings of pastoral and ambient beauty. Fans of Metzger's work with bands like Joe Russo's Almost Dead, WOLF! and The Showdown Kids will be captivated by an entirely reimagined side of his range and vision as a guitarist.

1. Appropriate Wattage

2. Don't Be A Stranger

3. Asking For A Friend

4. Talk Like That

5. Damage

6. Dream Room (Part One)

7. Dream Room (Part Two)

8. Waltz for Beverly

9. When Katie Smiles

10. Cafe Hidalgo

11. Only Child

12. At Your Service

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Julieta Eugenio - JUMP (March 4, 2022 Greenleaf Music)

JUMP is the debut album from astounding tenor saxophonist and composer Julieta Eugenio, who began her music journey in Argentina before relocating to New York City almost a decade ago. At the height of the pandemic, Eugenio began collaborating with bassist Matt Dwonszyk and drummer Jonathan Barber, meeting regularly to workshop her music. The trio soon developed an intricate trio chemistry forged around Eugenio’s brilliant and insightful compositions.

Once it was safe to do so, the group hit the studio and recorded eight originals that cover a range of sentiments, from the introspective “Tres” to the ambiguously funky “Raccoon Tune.” The strength and maturity of Eugenio’s tenor concept comes across on two standards that round out the album; “Flamingo” and “Crazy He Calls Me.” This group takes the tenor-bass-drums trio configuration to new heights, covering a broad sonic palette and cementing Eugenio’s reputation as a composer and saxophonist.

“Eugenio's tenor tone is round and polished as she plays about sadness with an ever-present tint of hopeful[ness].”

- Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz

1. Efes

2. Jump

3. La Jungla

4. For You

5. Racoon Tune

6. Flamingo

7. Another Bliss

8. Crazy He Calls Me

9. Snowbirds

10. Tres

Julieta Eugenio, tenor saxophone

Matt Dwonszyk, bass

Jonathan Barber, drums

Production Credits:

Executive Producer: Dave Douglas

Producer: Julieta Eugenio

Recorded March 30, 2021 at Big Orange Sheep Recording Studios in Brooklyn, NY

Recording, mixing, and mastering by Michael Perez Cisneros

Photography by Nicolas Manassi

Graphic design by Lukas Frei

All compositions by Julieta Eugenio (Julieta Eugenio Music / BMI) except:

“Flamingo” by Ted Grouya & Edmund Aderson (Grouya Publishing Int. & Edwin H. Morris & Company / ASCAP)

“Crazy He Calls Me” by Carl Sigman & Sidney Keith Russell (Music Sales Corporation / ASCAP)

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Bon Voyage Organisation - (Loin des) Rivages (March 4, 2022)

"Our last album, La Course (2020) was released during the lockdown. Inspired by the feedback from listeners, who received the music with special attention, the idea and need for (Loin des) Rivages was born. We got out of confinement to join the musicians in the studio."

Bon Voyage Organisation is above all the story of the construction of an ensemble, the quest for harmony, through music, between beings. A central leitmotiv in Adrien Durand's composition and production work for almost ten years.

Emancipated from all constraints and affirming the radical choice - previously initiated with La Course - of an entirely instrumental sound, (Loin des) Rivages was recorded over five days in June 2020 at Jean-Benoit Dunkel's Studio Atlas (Air) and mixed the following summer by Adrien Durand in his Parisian studio, Bureau 12. It was an orchestrated performance considering that all ten tracks were played live, gathering up to thirteen musicians in the same room.

This close collaboration allowed Adrien Durand and the members of the ensemble to transcend themselves. Together, they deliver the incredible energy of Sentier des Orpailleurs (and Adrian Edeline's superb solo), the depth of melancholy of Apacheta (co-written and co-arranged by Adrien Durand and Gustave Rudman), and the originality of Et s'éveillent...

Inspired by the great explorers of the soul: Sun Ra, Moondog, Coltrane - a cover of his Naïma actually opens the album - Adrien Durand mixes humanity’s first instruments (the percussions and the winds) with its latest ones (the mixing tables and the synthesizers). Thus, he continues the most interesting yet rewarding artistic journey: The journey inward, far from the standards of civilization, in the heart of what some can take for madness, reaching into a jungle of the soul so marvelously represented in Clément Vuillet’s artwork.

This is not an intellectual record but rather a spiritual effort, because, as Adrien Durand likes to repeat in his concerts: "Let us step into music as we step into a sanctuary." 

1. Naïma

2. Yuseef (Trouver le soleil dans chaque jour de pluie)

3. Pyramis

4. Et s‘Eveillent

5. Première vue d‘Apacheta

6. Les Joncques

7. Les Pêcheurs

8. Apacheta

9. Le Sentier des Orpailleurs

10. Passage

Rhythm Section :

Adrien Durand : Piano, Bass Synthesizer, Organ, Synthesizers, Vibraphone.

Maxime Kosinetz : Additional Synthesizers on Yuseef.

Adrian Edeline : Acoustic and Electric Guitar.

Pedro Barrios : Congas, Percussions, Cavaquinho, Vibraphone.

Wendy Killman : Drums, Timbales, Glockenspiel.

Arnaud Biscaye : Drums, Marimba, Kayambe, Triangle.

Additional Musicians :

Emma Broughton : Alto & Bass Flute.

Julien Cavard : Soprano Saxophone, Flute.

Arnaud Sèche : Alto & Soprano Flute.

Adrien Soleiman : Tenor & Baryton Saxophone.

Tanguy Jouanjan : Trumpet, Flugelhorn.

Malvina Meinier : Baldwin Harpsichord (Apacheta).

Gustave Rudman : Solina String Synthesizer (Apacheta).

All tracks Composed & Arranged by Adrien Durand except :

Naïma composed by Saint John Coltrane arranged by Adrien Durand & Julien Cavard; Yuseef composed by Adrien Durand & Maxime Kosinetz, Woodwind arrangements by Adrien Durand & Julien Cavard; Et S'éveillent arranged by Adrien Durand & Pedro Barrios; Apacheta composed & arranged by Adrien Durand & Gustave Rudman; Le Sentier des Orpailleurs Woodwind arrangements by Adrien Durand & Julien Cavard

Recorded @StudioAtlas June 2020

Engineer : Maxime Kosinetz

Assistant engineer : Michael Tainturier

Mixed by Adrien Durand @Bureau12

Produced by Adrien Durand for L’Invitation Musicale

Mastered by Antoine "Chab" Chabert

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Etubom Rex Williams - Ubok Aka Inua (March 4, 2022 We Are Busy Bodies)

Originally released in 1976, Ubok Aka Inua is the fifth album by legendary Nigerian saxophonist and band leader, Etubom Rex Williams.

The album features Psychedelic Shoes and One Woman Is Enough Trouble, both heard on countless funk and soul compilations.

The album was restored from the original tapes by Noah Mintz and artwork restored and recreated by Steve Lewin.

"Etubom Rex Williams occupies the genuine space of legend of Nigerian Highlife. His incredible professionalism, vast body of work and huge personality, established him as a veritable force of the genre quite early in his career. A case quite similar to another teenage prodigy of Highlife Music, Sir Victor Uwaifo. However any accolades he earned were well deserved and based on a platform of hard graft and genuine love for his art. He like Uwaifo, straddles the Inter-generational gap between the old masters of Highlife such as Bobby Benson, E.C.Arinze, Inyang Henshaw, Dr Victor Olaiya etc and the latter generation of Eddy Okweddy, Orlando Owoh, Tunji Oyelana, Eric Akaeze, Osayomore Joseph et al." - Ed Keazor, Music in Africa

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Trioglodyte with Karen Hu - Jazz from the Underground Nightclubs of Aotearoa Vol. 7 (March 3, 2022 Kiwijahzz)

1. Old Gospel

2. Black & Tan Fantasy

3. Look Down

4. Der Leiermann

Trioglodyte

Jeff Henderson - alto / baritone saxophones, clarinet

Eamon Edmundsen-Wells - bass

Chris O'Connor - drums

with special guest

Karen Hu - drums

Recorded live at the Wine Cellar, Tāmaki Makaurau, Aotearoa - New Zealand on February 4, 2021 by Rohan Evans

Mixed and mastered by Jeff Henderson

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Jas Kayser - JAS 5IVE (April 15, 2022 jazz re:freshed)

Following in the footsteps of UK jazz heavyweights, Nubya Garcia, Ashley Henry & Kaidi Tatham, London-based, Berklee-trained drummer/composer and Jazz FM's Breakthrough Act of 2021, Jas Kayser unveils her much anticipated debut album in 2022 for Jazz re:freshed's iconic 5ive series.

With meditative jazz arrangements, finessed afrobeat fusions and energising studio production, Jas 5ive offers a sincere and candid reflection on themes of identity, self-discovery and family as well as navigating deep questions, from Jas's upbringing to her travels abroad.

1. DARKNESS IN THE LIGHT FEAT. AVA JOSEPH AND GIACOMO SMITH

2. DREAM

3. JAMIE’S BLUES

4. HALF-RACE FACE FEAT. AALVK

5. STUPID ON THE BEAT (INSTRUMENTAL)

Drums - Jas Kayser

Percussion - Joao Caetano

Upright Bass - Daisy George

Electric Guitar - Jamie Leeming

Tenor Sax - Mark Hurrell

Alto Sax - Giacomo Smith

Trumpet - Christos Stylianides

Vocals - Ava Joseph

Spoken Word - Ash Kayser A.K.A Aalvk

Produced by: Jas Kayser, Giacomo Smith, Lewis Durham, Kitty Durham

Date recorded: 13th-15th Sept 2021

Recording by Lewis Durham at Durham Sound Studios, London N.W.1.

Mixed by Lewis and Kitty Durham, Giacomo Smith and Jas Kayser at Durham Sound Studios, London N.W.1

Mastered by L and G Durham at The Exchange Mastering Studios, London N.W.1

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Trombone Shorty - Lifted (April 29, 2022 Blue Note)

New Orleans Icon Trombone Shorty Bottles Explosive Live Show Energy On New Studio Album Lifted

Release Date: April 29th 2022

*Special guests Gary Clark Jr., Lauren Daigle, and The New Breed Brass Band *

Shares New Single “Come Back”

Trombone Shorty returns with Lifted, his first album in 5 years and the follow-up to his Blue Note debut Parking Lot Symphony, featuring special guests including vocalist Lauren Daigle & guitarist Gary Clark Jr. An album that captures the energy of his legendary live shows, Lifted combines classic New Orleans sounds (funk, gospel, street rhythms, Mardi Gras Indian chants & second lines) with modern lyrics, melody & beats to create something fresh & unique. Part Jimi Hendrix, part James Brown and all New Orleans, Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews is the bandleader and frontman of Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, a hard-edged funk band that employs brass-band beats, rock dynamics & improvisation in a jazz tradition.

If the digital album is purchased, you will receive the full album via email on April 29th, 2022.

Standard digital downloads are delivered as MP3 44.1khz/24-bit audio files.

Please note, digital downloads are only available in the U.S.

Photo: Trombone Shorty by Justen Williams

1. Come Back

2. Lie to Me

3. I’m Standing Here (Feat. Gary Clark, Jr.)

4. What It Takes (Feat. Lauren Daigle)

5. Everybody in the World (Feat. New Breed Brass Band)

6. Lifted

7. Forgiveness

8. Miss Beautiful

9. Might Not Make It Home

10. Good Company

Trombone Shorty – 2022 UK Tour dates:

May 20 – Academy 2 – Birmingham, UK

May 21 – SWG3 Studio Warehouse – Glasgow, UK

May 23 – Roundhouse – London, UK

May 24 – O2 Ritz Manchester – Manchester, UK

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Norah Jones - Come Away With Me: 20th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition (April 29, 2022 Blue Note)

20 years ago, on February 26, 2002, a hard-to-categorize album by an unknown 22-year-old singer, songwriter, and pianist was released with modest expectations. Released by the legendary jazz label Blue Note Records, it wasn’t a jazz album, nor did it resemble anything else on the pop landscape of 2002. But Come Away With Me, the debut album by Norah Jones, would go on to charm the world and introduce one of the greatest voices of our time. The album steadily grew into a global phenomenon, reaching #1 in 20 countries, selling nearly 30 million copies, and sweeping the 2003 GRAMMY Awards with eight wins including Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist.

On April 29, Blue Note will release Come Away With Me: 20th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition, a remarkable 44-track collection that captures the emergence of a singular talent and reveals for the first time the full story of the making of this now-classic album. In addition to a remaster of the original album, which was produced by Arif Mardin, the Super Deluxe Edition also includes 22 previously unreleased tracks including the original demos that Norah submitted to Blue Note, the complete First Session demos she made after being signed, and the first version of the album that Norah made at Allaire Studios with producer Craig Street, most of which has never been heard before and offers a fascinating look at the album that might have been.

The 20th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition was produced by Eli Wolf and will be released digitally and physically as a 4-LP vinyl set and a 3-CD set, both of which come in premium packaging with an extensive booklet featuring new liner notes by Norah and rare session photos. Standalone 1-LP and 1-CD versions of the remastered original album will also be released. All formats are available for pre-order now. The never-before-released alternate version of Norah’s song “Come Away With Me” from The Allaire Sessions is available to stream or download today.

In February 2002, America was still emerging from the dark shadows of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and Norah’s voice and music—pure, warm, and reassuring—struck a deep emotional chord with listeners the world over. Norah had moved from Texas to New York City in 1999 after spending two years as a jazz piano major at the University of North Texas. While playing jazz gigs at restaurants around town, Norah also fell in with a circle of singer-songwriters including Jesse Harris and Richard Julian who played often at the Living Room on the Lower East Side and inspired her to broaden the creative pathways she might one day take.

On Norah’s 21st birthday, EMI Publishing employee Shell White heard her performing at a jazz brunch and arranged a meeting with Blue Note President Bruce Lundvall. A month later Norah was in Lundvall’s office playing him her 3-song demo CD, which included two jazz songs: “Walkin’ My Baby Back Home” and a remarkably self-assured version of the standard “Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most” that Norah had recorded in her high school band room accompanying herself on piano. The last song on the CD was one of Harris’ that leaned more in a singer-songwriter direction with Harris on acoustic guitar and Lee Alexander on bass.

Soon after, Lundvall signed Norah to a demo deal, and by the time she went into the recording studio she had decided to focus primarily on new originals written by Harris, Alexander, and herself. “The very first song we did in those sessions was one of Jesse’s, called ‘Don’t Know Why’ that we hadn’t yet played live,” Norah recalls in the new collection’s liner notes. “We got it on the first try and it just felt great, one of those magical, easy takes. When we walked back into the control room to listen, [engineer] Jay [Newland] was over the moon. It really built my confidence for the rest of the session and set the tone for what we were going for. After all was said and done, it was this version that ended up on the final record, with only some harmonies and a doubled guitar added to it.”

Lundvall loved what he heard and signed Norah as a Blue Note artist, and she began to prepare to record her debut album. “Cassandra Wilson’s New Moon Daughter had been a favorite album of mine and was a big inspiration for the kind of record I wanted to make,” Norah writes. “Since I loved the instrument choices (beautiful slide and acoustic guitars) and the production, I asked Bruce if I could meet with Craig Street, who produced it. Craig and I met a few times and got along really well. He liked the demos and said we should put those out as the record or use most of them, but I was really excited to explore a slightly different vibe, one I knew he could help me find.”

Norah and Street went into Allaire Studios near Woodstock in upstate New York with some of her favorite musicians including Bill Frisell and Kevin Breit on guitars, Brian Blade and Kenny Wollesen on drums, Rob Burger on accordion and organ, and Alexander on bass. “Nearly everything we recorded felt special. We re-recorded most of the songs from the demos to see where else we could take them,” Norah recalls. But during the mixing session Norah began to question whether they had gone too far with some of the songs and wondered if Street had been right about the strength of the demos.

After delivering the Allaire mixes to Blue Note, Lundvall came to the same conclusion that the new recordings had strayed too far from what was so special about the demos. It was decided that Norah should go back into the studio to start again with Arif Mardin producing. They ended up keeping three songs from the Allaire sessions (“Seven Years,” “Feelin’ The Same Way,” and “The Long Day Is Over”), two from the demo sessions (“Don’t Know Why” and “Turn Me On”), and recorded nine additional songs that hewed more closely to the spirit of the demos. The resulting album became Come Away With Me.

Now, 20 years later, Norah decided to release the Allaire version of the album. “It’s been a bit like time traveling to some alternate universe of the album that nobody ever heard,” she says. “When I approached Craig to tell him about it, he suggested we ask Tony Maserati to ‘balance’ the recordings. This brought my vocal to the front more and I can finally hear my little 22-year-old self trying new things and fitting into the music around me just fine. Re-visiting these sessions after listening to them only once in the last 20 years has been a lovely surprise. I’m so glad to finally re-unite with Craig and get a chance to finish what we started together. I learned a lot from him, and I always think of that time upstate as a sort of dreamy fantasy, and I still get that feeling when I listen to these recordings.”

As Norah reflects back upon Come Away With Me, she says “I was incredibly proud of this album and so thankful to everyone who made it with me…I figured it was a good first try and felt that it truly captured who I was – musically – at that time, which made me the proudest and is all you can really hope for when making a record. In the end I was so thankful that I got to explore a few different paths before putting them all together. No one, including the label, had any idea it would reach the success that it did. I’m forever grateful to Bruce and the very special team at Blue Note for giving me the chance to find my sound through all of it and for never telling me who I had to be.”

Come Away With Me—2oth Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition – Track Listing:

DISC 1

Come Away With Me – 20th Anniversary Remaster

1 Don’t Know Why

2 Seven Years

3 Cold Cold Heart

4 Feelin’ The Same Way

5 Come Away With Me

6 Shoot The Moon

7 Turn Me On

8 Lonestar

9 I’ve Got To See You Again

10 Painter Song

11 One Flight Down

12 Nightingale

13 The Long Day Is Over

14 The Nearness Of You

DISC 2

The Demos

1 Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most

2 Walkin’ My Baby Back Home

3 World of Trouble

First Sessions Outtakes

4 The Only Time

5 I Didn’t Know About You

6 Something Is Calling You (tabla version)

7 Just Like A Dream Today

8 When Sunny Gets Blue

9 What Am I To You

10 Hallelujah I Love Him So

11 Daydream

All tracks above previously unreleased

First Sessions EP

12 Don’t Know Why

13 Come Away With Me

14 Something Is Calling You

15 Turn Me On

16 Lonestar

17 Peace

These 6 demos previously released as the promo-only First Sessions EP

DISC 3

The Allaire Sessions

1 I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight

2 I’ve Got To See You Again *

3 What Would I Do

4 Come Away With Me *

5 Picture In A Frame **

6 Nightingale *

7 Peace *

8  What Am I To You *

9 Painter Song *

10 Turn Me On *

11 A Little At A Time

12 One Flight Down *

13 Fragile

* alternate version

** alternate mix

All tracks previously unreleased except “I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight” and “Picture In A Frame”

PRE-ORDER

Joel Ross - The Parable of the Poet (April 15, 2022 Blue Note)

Vibraphonist and composer Joel Ross returns with stunning conviction on The Parable of the Poet, an expansive album-length suite composed by Ross which marks his 3rd release for Blue Note following his 2019 debut KingMaker and 2020’s Who Are You?. The Parable of the Poet will be released April 15 on vinyl, CD, and digital formats, and is introduced today with the sublime opening movement “PRAYER” which is available to stream or download now.

Steadfast in his commitment to skewing perceptions of improvisation and written composition, Ross explores new territory with his 8-piece Parables band, bringing together young artists of sharply defined expression: Blue Note labelmate Immanuel Wilkins on alto saxophone, Maria Grand on tenor saxophone, Marquis Hill on trumpet, Kalia Vandever on trombone, Sean Mason on piano, Rick Rosato on bass, Craig Weinrib on drums, and special guest Gabrielle Garo on flute.

The album embodies Ross’ collaborative spirit. His lyrical aesthetic activates an ebb and flow from one movement to the next. Moments of intentional discourse drive sections of collective melody and spontaneous counterpoint. “This band is more than just the instruments,” says the Chicago-born, New York City-based artist. “Every person on here means something to me. They’re all my friends. Everybody involved committed themselves to the vision.”

Ross’ vision for the music is at once explicit and mysterious. He seeks to express themes present in parable tellings and retellings, while leaving each story’s particulars open to interpretation. Each title of the 7-movement suite references an emotional decision or experience for Ross. But in the studio he focused on fresh interpretations, allowing his past experiences to exist without dictating the band’s present treatment of the music. “I told them, ‘This is what the music is and this is how I want you to approach it — let everything we play be inspired by the melody.’ Not much else was decided,” says Ross, who enjoys “blurring the lines between melody and improvisation,” in part, as a way to facilitate communication and meaningful musical discourse.

Obscuring divisions between scripted and spontaneous is more than a romantic notion. For Ross, it’s truthful and intrinsic. Each composition he explores on The Parable of the Poet represents a near intact improvisation, some dating back to 2017, all of which emerged during creative sessions with his friend and colleague, saxophonist Sergio Tabanico. “We would record it, then I would go back and flesh out the composition,” he says. “I tried my best not to change any harmonic information or add too much more than what was already there. I just tried to organize the information in a manner that would yield sensible improvised group interaction, while giving enough direction.”

That choice prompts striking moments of deep listening and self-orchestrating among Ross and his fellow artists. The first movement “PRAYER” sets a tone of rumination and collective inquiry. Apart from Ross’ tender solo introduction, the piece exercises restraint. “There’s no one person who’s taking the mic,” says Ross. “Everyone has a moment of playing the theme,” kindling shared navigation and discourse.

1. PRAYER

2. GUILT

3. CHOICES

4. WAIL

5. THE IMPETUS (To Be And Do Better)

6. DOXOLOGY (Hope)

7. BENEDICTION

Joel Ross - Vibraphone

Immanuel Wilkins - Alto Saxophone 

Marquis Hill - Trumpet

Maria Grand - Tenor Saxophone

Kalia Vandever - Trombone

Gabrielle Garo - Flute

Sean Mason - Piano

Rick Rosato - Bass

Craig Weinrib - Drums

JOEL ROSS – 2022 TOUR DATES:

April 8: Annenberg Center – Philadelphia, PA

April 9: Kupferberg Center for the Arts – Flushing, Queens

April 14: Jefferson Center – Roanoke, VA

April 15: Christina Cultural Arts Center – Wilmington, DE

April 16: BlackRock Center for the Arts – Germantown, MD

April 23: Cullen Theater at Wortham Theater Center – Houston, TX

April 24: Duet – Tulsa, OK

May 7: Capitol Bop – Washington, DC

May 8: Creative Alliance – Baltimore, MD

May 10: Robin Hixon Theater – Norfolk, VA

May 13-14: The Jazz Gallery – New York, NY

June 25: The Cube – Detroit, MI

June 28: Victoria Jazz Festival – Victoria, BC

June 29: Vancouver Jazz Festival – Vancouver, BC

June 30: Earshot Jazz Festival – Seattle, WA

July 6-24: European Tour TBA

August 11: The Lodge Room – Los Angeles, CA

August 12: San Jose Jazz Festival – San Jose, CA

August 13-14: Telluride Jazz Festival – Telluride, CO

August 17: Myrna Loy Center – Helena, MT

September 20: Musical Instrument Museum – Phoenix, AZ

September 22: Outpost Performance Space – Albuquerque, NM

September 23: SFJAZZ – San Francisco, CA

September 24: Monterey Jazz Festival – Monterey, CA

September 26: For the Love of Jazz – Reno, NV

October 14: University of Chicago – Chicago, IL

October 16: Wisconsin Union Theater – Madison, WI

PRE-ORDER