Sarah Vaughan - Live At The Berlin Philharmonie 1969 (April 2021 Challenge Records)

This two-fold recital, recorded on 9 November 1969 at the Berlin Philharmonie as part of what was then known as the Berliner Jazztage, took place at a particular phase of Sarah Vaughan’s career. For the first time ever, this double album brings us these moments of enchantment in their entirety, just as they were performed. In line with the practice of the festival at the time, Vaughan gave two public performances that same day. 

These emotionally intense concerts are all the more remarkable because of the artist’s high wire act, a balance constantly maintained throughout between her professional savoir faire (a vocal technique at the apex of her art and her interpretive skills) and her emotional abandonment to the moment as she gives her all. The entire performance, with Vaughan pouring out her heart, seems in hindsight at once perfectly timeless in terms of its formal classicism yet thoroughly in the fleeting moment.

At the end of the day, these recordings are invaluable. As Vaughan explores the most lyrical, emotional aspects of her art, she overwhelms her listeners as she bares her soul. Her virtuosity in using her imagination to deploy all her technical skills and the extraordinary range of her tessitura are restrained rather than ostentatious. It is as if she has rid herself of the affectations that detracted from some of her earlier recordings, when the desire to appeal was too obvious. During the magical moments that make up these concerts, Vaughan treads a delicate line, maintaining a balance between naturalness and sophistication, simplicity and refinement. She literally reaches the stars and gives us a unique lesson in music as a form of the art of living.

CD 1

1. A Lot of Livin' to Do 02:48

2. And I Love Him 03:44

3. Alfie 05:38

4. On a Clear Day 02:28

5. Passing Strangers 05:01

6. Misty 06:07

7. I Cried for You 02:06

8. My Funny Valentine 06:00

9. All of Me 02:49

10. Tenderly 04:49

CD 2

1. Fly Me to the Moon 05:44

2. Time After Time 04:08

3. The Trolley Song 02:34

4. By the Time I Get to Phoenix 05:10

5. The Sweetest Sounds 03:48

6. Polka Dots and Moonbeams 05:00

7. Day In, Day Out 02:38

8. What Now, My Love 05:32

9. I Had a Ball 02:07

10. Didn’t We? 06:13

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© 2021 - NewArts International / Challenge Records Int.

Slowfox - Freedom (April 16, 2021)

A double bass line, eloquent, elastic, not far from “So What” from Miles Davis' album of the century Kind Of Blue. Elegant. Some Jarrett drizzles from the wing. The saxophone body breathes. Then, as if of free will, the melody materializes, and “I” is in the room, the opener of the new Slowfox album. After barely half a minute the song grew together, unexpectedly and in no hurry. As if it had never been there before.

Freedom, the third album by the Cologne trio, stands for freedom and radiates it. Bandleader Sebastian Gramss calls the music of the collective “Melodic Avantgarde”, always able and willing to perforate borders in whatever direction. Just because. Or - also not. It's not loud. But uncompromising.

The name of the album goes back to an iconic sentence with which the great Nina Simone replied to an interviewer in 1968 when he asked about her definition of freedom: “I will tell you what freedom is to me: No fear. I mean really no fear. ” Detached from the syntax, the words now serve as titles for the tracks on the Slowfox album. The essence of the content remains untouched in its original artistic reference, not charged with new meaning by the band.

Slowfox have been trying to find song titles by quotation since their debut album The Woods (2014). Then it came from US poet Robert Frost. With ECHO award winner Gentle Giants (2017) it is a US proverb that is often attributed to Friedrich Nietzsche.

Brought together in 2013 by Sebastian Gramss, the instrumental trio plays chamber music-like composition jazz in pop song format: short pieces, none longer than five minutes, which quickly get to the point with a high level of complexity.

Freedom shows a very tidy synthesis of modern sound aesthetics and our own conception of contemporary melodies with no artistic limitations. Meticulously thought out and arranged, put together and set in motion with intuition and know-how, this complex stuff is nevertheless easy to grasp.

1. I 04:13

2. WILL 04:26

3. TELL 03:29

4. YOU 03:05

5. WHAT 03:36

6. FREEDOM 03:45

7. IS 02:18

8. TO ME 04:01

9. NO FEAR ! 03:54

10. I MEAN 02:21

11. REALLY 04:03

12. NO 05:06

13. FEAR ! 03:04

14. NINA 02:54

15. SIMONE 03:58

Hayden Chisholm – Saxophone, Flute

Philip Zoubek – Piano, Prepared Piano, Moog

Sebastian Gramss – Double Bass, Spacebass*

* Spacebass – modified double bass with 12 additional sympathetic strings

Music composed by Sebastian Gramss

except Track 10 – traditional Korean song

Label: Rent A Dog

Produced by: Sebastian Gramss & Ana Lakčević

A production of Sebastian Gramss & SLOWFOX

Recorded by Christian Heck at the Loft Studios, Cologne

Recording Assistant: Lukas Lohner

Mixed and Mastered by Reinhard Kobialka - Topaz Studio, Cologne

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Evan Parker's Electroacoustic Ensemble with Sainkho Namtchylak - Fixing the Fluctuating Ideas (Victo Records 2021)

The FIMAV performance is an extraordinary recording, an aural opportunity to hear the Ensemble exploring at length, stretching the contemporaneous studio documentation, but even with the Ensemble’s brilliant and transformative history, Sainkho Namtchylak’s spontaneous addition to Fixing is unique. Namtchylak’s intensity transcends the metaphoric. This performance is not folkloric. It is folklore. It is not shamanic. It is shamanism.

The ElectroAcoustic Ensemble is one of the most significant events in the humanization of electronic music, in making it mobile and spontaneously responsive. Fluctuating, by the Ensemble itself, is more than a valuable document, it’s a major revelatory work. Stuart Broomer

1. Fixing 39'40"

2. Fluctuating 32'33"

Sainkho Namtchylak - voice

Barry Guy - bass

Paul Lytton - percussion, electronics

Philipp Wachsmann - violon, alto saxophone, electronics

Marco Vecchi - diffusion sonore, live electronics

Walter Prati - live electronics

Evan Parker - soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone

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Moppa Elliott - Pinpoint (20th Anniversary Remaster) Hot Cup Records

Recorded on March 11, 2001 in the TIMARA recording studio at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, this is the first studio recording by Moppa Elliott, Peter Evans, and Charles Evans.

Peter Evans (trumpet), Charles Evans (baritone saxophone), Kelly Roberge (tenor and alto saxophone), Allan Baker (piano), Moppa Elliott (bass), James Kittleman (drums).

Recorded and mixed by Nicholas Party.

Original album artwork by Becky Fellows.

Remastered by Seth Foster.

1. Talked Down 07:05

2. Pinpoint 05:45

3. Past Disappointment 07:43

4. Blues for Hawes 04:58

5. Fuzzy 05:01

6. Peace 09:21

7. Penalty Box 04:17

8. Pinpoint (reprise) 05:49

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QOW TRIO - The Album (2021 Ubuntu Music)

Tradition ain’t what it used to be.

QOW TRIO’s debut release is not so much an album of standards as an infectiously joyful compendium of vintage tunes bursting from the heart of the music, like so many blood-red silk handkerchiefs gushing from the chest of a mime at the firing squad. Given that all of creation exists as a simultaneous roar of perfection, think of this sax-bass-drums trio not as old-fashioned but timeless: Sonny Rollins is still perched on the bridge, blowing long, cold lines into the wind and always will be, after all. Hear how Riley’s loquacious sax quips a nonchalant quote from Bird’s ‘Cool Blues’ about 90 seconds from the end of the hip, dancing ‘Cheryl.’ Dig Spike’s crisp snare ‘n’ cowbell funk and Eddie’s hump-backed bass drone opening up a power swing on their namesake tune, a crashing dive through Dewey Redman’s ‘Qow,’ with Riley growling up a real out moan.

Catch yourself sighing in beautiful melancholy for ‘God Bless The Child,’ with bells and cymbals shimmering like Frank O’Hara’s lost cigarette end in the great, black night. Right now, it’s about eight months since I last really heard any live music, the world shudders and groans. But these sounds are the real virus: always alive, always mutating, indestructible. Daniel Spicer

1. Slow Boat To China (F.Loesser) 06:06

2. Qow (D.Redman) 05:54

3. Serenity (J.Henderson) 05:06

4. Cheryl (C.Parker) 04:54

5. Qowfirmation (R. Stone-Lonergan) 04:54

6. God Bless The Child (B.Holliday/A.Herzog) 05:40

7. It's Alright With Me (C.Porter) 04:04

8. Pound For Prez (R.Stone-Lonergan) 07:15

9. You Do Something To Me (C.Porter) 06:07

10. Qow 05:54

Riley Stone-Lonergan - tenor sax

Eddie Myer - bass

Spike Wells - drums

Recorded by Ben Lamdin at Fish Market Studio

Produced by Ben Lamdin and Qow Trio

Executive Producer - Martin Hummel

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Pedro Moreira Sax Ensemble - Two Maybe More (2021)

Two Maybe More was commissioned by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation for a contemporary dance performance by Sofia Dias, Vítor Roriz and Marco Martins, at the Teatro Maria Matos (2014). It was originally written for the Gulbenkian Choir. For the present version the piece was revised and expanded.

1. Lado 06:42

2. Dois, Talvez 13:22

3. Giggly Giggling 05:52

4. Binário 03:54

5. Sonho 05:52

6. Improv 1 02:16

7. Brancas 03:11

8. Improv 4 02:57

9. Como a Poesia 07:39

10. Stairway to the Stars 03:02

11. Giggly 04:23

12. In-Verso 03:00

13. Oh Cat 09:04

14. T3 02:33

15. Improv 3 03:41

16. Cinco 09:37

17. Improv 2 03:24

18. Brancas Dois 01:24

Soprano sax: Bernardo Tinoco, Tomás Marques

Alto sax: Daniel Sousa, Ricardo Toscano

Tenor sax: Mateja Dolsak, Pedro Moreira

Bari sax: Francisco Andrade, João Capinha

Bass: Mário Franco

Drums: Luis Candeias

All music by Pedro Moreira © SPA 2020

Recorded at Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa on 18th, 19th and 20th April 2019

Recorded, mixed and mastered by Luis Candeias

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Erik Fratzke's Fáke Accent - Four Serious Allegations (May 14, 2021 Skirl Records)

Erik Fratzke is renowned for his work as a bassist in Happy Apple and guitarist in Dave King's Trucking Co, as well as his group Zebulon Pike. Fake Accent brings his many musical interests and talents together in his own vision. Fratzke will be on guitar, joined by Nathan Hanson on saxophone and clarinet, Cooper Doten on bass, and Cory Healey on drums.

1. Fake Accent (Theme)

2. Health House

3. City Science

4. Secular Exorcist

Erik Fratzke - guitar

Nathan Hanson - tenor saxophone and clarinet

Cooper Doten - bass

Cory Healey - drums/percussion/guitar/bass

Engineered by Rob Oesterlin at the Terrarium in Minneapolis Sep/2018

Mixed by Brett Bullion

Mastered by Huntley Miller 

Original Artwork and design by Dave King

All compositions by Erik Fratzke

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Aver & Move 78 - The Algorithm Smiles Upon You (April 2021 Village Live Records)

Village Live Records is proud to present “The Algorithm Smiles Upon You”, the debut EP by Aver & Move 78.

The Berlin-based band consists of Doron Segal on keyboards, Nir Sabag on drums, Hal Strewe on bass and Aver on sampler and production.

The eight tracks of their EP are crafted from hours of studio improvisations, that have then been chopped-up, rearranged, and layered with additional strings, flute and horns. This many-layered approach has helped create the band’s signature sound: a balance between free flowing jazz and automated, programmed hip-hop.

“The Algorithm Smiles Upon You” is available to pre-order now on Limited edition transparent vinyl (100) & Black vinyl (200) (Shipping Begins Monday, April 19th)

All copies of the record will come with a hand numbered OBI strip, printed inner sleeve and gloss detail finish.

Please note, all transparent vinyl will be available exclusively via our website www.villageliverecords.com

1. Faye 04:10

2. Middling 04:32

3. Housecat 04:13

4. Daisies 03:59

5. Live From The Village 03:56

6. Pearls Before Swine 03:42

7. Sanctuary 04:34

8. Normal Jazz 03:43

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Adiela - Live Improvisations 01 (April 2021)

1. Hernandez JAM 2020-01-15 01:30

2. complacent, platitudes JAM 2020-01-15 10:17

3. Eldart street 02 JAM 2020-08-02 05:47

4. Popcorn JAM 2020-01-15 10:25

5. Nazareth JAM 2020-01-04 05:19

6. Peruse JAM 2020-01-04 06:22

Freddy Caro - Drums

Alex Quintero - Bass

Christian Diaz - Guitar

Jahi Williams - Keys, synth

Michael Hernandez - Keys, woodwinds, brass

Kajren Adielman - Vocals, FX

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Eden Giat Quartet - Crossing the Red Sea (April 29, 2021)

Eden Giat (1999) is an Israeli pianist, composer, improviser active mainly in the Israeli jazz scene. 

In the last several years Eden’s reputation has been growing after playing with some of the finest Israeli artists as Avishai Cohen (Bass), Omer Avital, “Yemen Blues” (Ravid Kahlani), and more. Likewise, he plays his original compositions with his quartet group, which introduces a new generation of Israeli jazz. Eden’s debut album is set to be out on 29th April 2021.

"A promising new talent in the contemporary jazz scene" Gundula Madeleine Tegtmeyer — The Jerusalem Report

1. Nash Didan

2. Crossing the Red Sea

3. Tnudat Hayam

4. Ha'Sultan

5. Rustle of the Earth

6. Butterflies of a New Path

7. Two Waves

Eden Giat - Piano

Yuval Drabkin - Tenor and Soprano Saxes

David Michaeli - Bass

Nitzan Birnbaum - Drums, Percussion

The Entire Band - Vocals on "Nash Didan

All tracks composed by Eden Giat

Produced by Eden Giat

Recorded, mixed, and mastered by Marko Gurkan at Kicha Studios.

Assistant Engineer - Or Zigelbaum

Designed by Udi Kaslasi

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Yuma Uesaka / Cat Toren / Colin Hinton - Ocelot (2021 577 Records)

Ocelot – the new Brooklyn-based trio featuring Cat Toren, Yuma Uesaka, and Colin Hinton – presents its irresistibly vivid debut album, via 577 Records.

At a contemplative time for the world, the new Brooklyn-based trio Ocelot makes its debut on record with an album that emphasizes melody and atmosphere, whether the music is meditative or more volatile. This group features award-winning pianist Cat Toren, saxophonist/clarinetist Yuma Uesaka and drummer/percussionist Colin Hinton.

Ocelot represents the culmination of a year’s worth of composing, rehearsing, touring and local gigging for the band – including an October 2019 residency in New Haven, Connecticut, and a tour of the East Coast and Canada that deepened the trio’s chemistry and its approach to the material recorded later that month. Remarkably, Toren was pregnant with her daughter during the entire process, a challenge made easier by the keenly supportive relationships in the band. “We’re three friends who trust each other, converse easily and have tremendous respect for one another,” Toren explains. “Our relationships are the foundation for our interactive discourse, which can vary – we’ve performed concerts that were musically very patient, and we’ve played gigs at bars that were real bangers.”

1. Daimon II 02:50

2. Factum 10:38

3. Iterations I 04:44

4. Post 05:43

5. Anemone 06:31

6. Contemptuality 10:16

7. Sequestration 08:08

8. Crocus 07:14

Yuma Uesaka: tenor saxophone, clarinets (Bb, Bass, Contralto)

Cat Toren: piano, nord

Colin Hinton: drums, percussion, gongs, glockenspiel, vibraphone

Recorded October 20, 2019 at The Bunker Studio (Brooklyn, NY) by Nolan Thies, assisted by Carlos Mora

Edited by Edward Gavitt

Mixed by Eivind Opsvik (Greenwood Underground)

Mastered by Brent Lambert (Kitchen Mastering)

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BedMakers - Tribute to an Imaginary Folk Band (Live in Berlin) April 2021 Jazzdor

This acoustic quartet breaks into the meanders of Anglo-saxon folk music. It explores, scrapes and digs into this musical matter in order to extract its musical essence and to look at it through the eyes of unlabelled improvisators. The melodies are caught into the air. We could have hummed them without thinking. We think we know them bet we’re unable to find their origins. Those melodies which are taken out of their context, finally finds themselves stacked on each other, declaimed or just suggested. Sometimes they’re buried under a rain of raw matter, sometimes they’re sowed by a minimalist blow.

Bedmakers gathers four musicians which have each singular and polymorph universes. The anglophile saxophonist / clarinetist Robin Fincker (Whahay, Vincent Courtois’ Mediums,Surnatural Orchestra) and his partner in the Whahay trio, the drummer Fabien Duscombs are joined by 8 chords in the persons of the violinist Mathieu Werchowski and his electroacoustic drifts and the Irish doublebassist Dave Kane.

1. Part I

2. Part II

3. Part III

4. Part IV

Robin Fincker, tenor sax, clarinet

Mathieu Werchowski, violin

Dave Kane, doublebass

Fabien Duscombs, drums

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Grégory Ott - Parabole, Als das Kind Kind War (2021 Jazzdor)

Cet album est une évocation, une interprétation musicale personnelle du film de Wim Wenders Der Himmel über Berlin (Les Ailes du Désir). Le piano solo est un exercice convoité mais redouté. Il offre des perspectives de liberté totale mais impose pourtant une grande exigence. Il faut pouvoir s'affranchir de ses propres automatismes et définir un univers, comme l'a suggéré Philippe Ochem à Grégory Ott : explorer un ailleurs et travailler sur des formes suffisamment ouvertes pouvant inciter au lâcher prise tout en restant dans un cadre.

C'est à travers leurs échanges que naît l'idée de travailler à partir du film de Wim Wenders. Amoureux du 7ème art, les films ont toujours été pour Grégory Ott une porte ouverte sur les émotions. Tout comme la musique, ils racontent des histoires. Dans ce film, à la fois poétique et allégorique, l'improvisation joue un grand rôle : Wim Wenders a tourné au jour le jour sans connaître lui-même la fin de sa fable.

Le réalisateur s’est abandonné à l'inconnu, à la spontanéité, tout comme l'improvisation dans le jazz laisse opérer le champ des possibles. Les thématiques universelles des Ailes du désir telles que l'enfance, l'amour, la vie ou la mort sont placées sous le signe de la foi en l'humanité et invitent à l'émerveillement et à un imaginaire qui résonnent pour le pianiste.

Cette approche de travail inédite est une source d'inspiration forte qui lui a permis de composer ce voyage musical.

"Dès le début du projet nous sommes partis ensemble, car il s’agissait de compagnonner sur ce projet, sur la piste du lâcher-prise, de l’inconnu. Il s’agissait d’éviter la zone de confort propre à chaque artiste, de se permettre si possible de remettre les compteurs à zéro et de chercher de nouvelles pistes à défricher. Nous avons partagé des musiques, parlé films, poésie, à la recherche d’un angle singulier à approcher qui pourrait ouvrir de nouvelles perspectives.

Assez rapidement s’est imposé le film de Wim Wenders Les Ailes du Désir (Der Himmel über Berlin) et la poésie de Peter Handke, celle dont l’esprit habite le film de bout en bout : Als das Kind Kind war. Et c’était parti ! Le studio était réservé en Octobre et Grégory a presque tout enregistré d’une traite. La force de l’évocation est au rendez-vous et la puissance poétique du film plane avec intensité sur ces pistes creusées au fur et à mesure." Philippe Ochem

1. Continuum part 1 01:17

2. Perpetual Blues 03:35 video

3. Rumeurs 03:39

4. Kind 01:19

5. Continuum part 2 01:20

6. God has disappeared 04:09

7. Landwehrkanal 04:13

8. Par-delà 01:37

9. Berlin Choral 04:04

10. Continuum part 3 00:54

11. Angel Eyes 03:24

12. Lost Circus 01:15

13. Les pensées de Marion 02:22

14. Crépusculaire 02:45

15. Marion et Damiel 01:57

16. Leben (Continuum part 4) 03:33

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RISSI / MAZZOLA / GEISSER - Anaximandros (April 2021)

The architecture of the music by RISSI-MAZZOLA-GEISSER reminds us how intellect, bravery, and raw expression are often cohorts in the cream of creative improvised music.

Greg Buium, Coda Magazine

My long-time cooperation with Guerino Mazzola started in the Summer of the year 1978; in these past years of realy wonderful team playing we formed besides other projects in the eighties the quintet/sextet FLOW UNIT, in the nineties the quartet ARTofTIME and other groups such as the Q4 ORCHESTRA until to the trio RISSI-MAZZOLA-GEISSER with the drummer Heinz Geisser who was playing with us since mid 1994 to the year 2006.

Mathias Rissi

1. Herakleitos 25:56

2. Anaximandros 10:44

3. Thales 22:26

Mathias Rissi - tenor-, alto saxophones

Guerino Mazzola - grand piano

Heinz Geisser - percussion

Compositions by RISSI-MAZZOLA-GEISSER

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Noa and Gil Dor present online the world premier of their new jazz album, "Afterallogy", live (Saturday, May 1 2021)

After 30 years of performances and recordings, Noa and guitarist Gil Dor release their first, and long awaited, true jazz album: Afterallogy

Catch the World Premiere livestream from the legendary Blue Note club on May 1

The duo’s first concert was in a jazz festival in Tel Aviv, Feb 8th, 1990, where they performed standard tunes with unorthodox arrangements, and some of Noa’s original compositions. That first night was an enormous success that set the stage for the incredible journey to come.

Their first international album was produced by Pat Metheny, one of the most highly respected jazz musicians in the world, but did not include standard tunes, rather focusing on Noa’s songwriting.

Over the years, Noa and Gil explored many different regions of music, wrote and performed hundreds of songs,  worked with ensembles ranging from acoustic trio to bass and drum quartet to symphony orchestra, explored and fused different styles, sounds and languages, always reaching for that unexplainable, unpredictable moment of magic every musician lives for.  It has always been impossible to categorize them.

Afterallogy (April 30, Naïve/Believe) is another step in their fascinating journey, where they have put the musical language they have developed and their past experience at the service of these great, classic jazz tunes, and added a few originals as well. The release of Afterallogy will be celebrated with a livestream concert via the legendary jazz club The Blue Note’s Terminal 4 in Tel Aviv on May 1.

The name, beyond paying homage to the greats that inspired them (Charlie Parkers “Ornithology”), is a statement about life and music, exacerbated by the Covid 10 crisis:

After all is said and done, after 30 years, after a pandemic which shattered, jolted and stripped the world bare, after thousands of kilometers travelled and many more thousands of notes played and sung, what remains?

A deep love and respect for great music and the greatness in music, a deep love for the humanity that is brought to life by it and elevated and illuminated in whoever experiences it.

A deep appreciation for the gift of friendship…for a unique partnership, for the power and resonance that brought and kept them together all these years.

And that curiosity and passion, that meticulous quest to unveil the deepest mysteries of music that drives them always onwards.

Afterallogy is the first part of a Noa and Gil’s jazz project. The are currently working on part 2, which will include their band and be more improvisational and experimental.

1. My funny Valantine

2. This masquerade

3. Anything goes

4. Oh, Lord

5. But beatiful

6. Something’s coming

7. Calling home

8. Darn that dream

9. Lush life

10. Eyes of rain

11. Waltz for Neta

12. Everytime we say goodbye

Noa and Gil Dor - Afterallogy (April 30, 2021 naïve records)

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Mosaic Records - 7-CD Boxed Set: 'The Complete Louis Armstrong Columbia & RCA Victor Studio Sessions 1946 - 66' (April 10 Mosaic Records)

Mosaic Records Announces the Release of The Complete Louis Armstrong Columbia & RCA Victor Studio Sessions 1946 - 66, Detailing the Jazz Luminary’s Stellar Output in His Latter Years

Mosaic Records is proud to announce the April 10, 2021 release of The Complete Louis Armstrong Columbia & RCA Victor Studio Sessions 1946 – 66, a 7-CD boxed set that will take listeners into the studio with Armstrong in a way never previously imaginable. Mosaic Records has long been lauded for the release of stunning, hi-fidelity limited edition collections, providing historical recordings of superb musicians to passionate jazz lovers around the globe. Here, all 29 of Armstrong’s 1946-1947 RCA recordings are being presented in superb fidelity, transferred from the original metal parts. These RCA recordings are paired along with 3 classic albums and singles from the Columbia label, creating the most intimate portrait of Armstrong, the All Stars, and producer George Avakian at work in the studios. This limited edition boxed set will be available only at www.mosaicrecords.com.

This collection is a follow-up to Mosaic Records’ 2014 release The Columbia and RCA Victor Live Recordings of Louis Armstrong and The All Stars 1947-1958. This 2021 7-CD compilation directs our attention to the latter half of the jazz legend’s recording career. The recordings that make up this release challenge the oft-repeated notion that Armstrong’s most creative and distinctive output came from his earlier years. These recorded works featuring celebrated historic releases such as Louis Armstrong Plays W.C Handy, Satch Plays Fats and The Real Ambassadors all come from the artist’s latter years recording on both Columbia and RCA Victor. While critics and many in the jazz community looked at the older Armstrong as someone whose best years were behind him, Armstrong rebutted ““[They] don’t realize that I’m playing better now than I’ve ever played in my life,” and was even quoted as saying “How many modern trumpet players could play my solos?” he asked Gilbert Millstein in 1960. “You’d have to carry ‘em out on stretchers.”

The story of Armstrong’s entanglement with RCA Victor which brought us the 29 recordings displayed on this release begins with Armstrong still toting a big band across the country on an endless series of one-nighters. A new contract with RCA Victor began with the recording of Armstrong’s first release with Duke Ellington as part of an “Esquire All-American 1946 Award Winners” date overseen by Leonard Feather. Following this date, Armstrong delivered four sensational sides with a small group featuring Bobby Hackett and Jack Teagarden in June 1947, eventually leading to the formation of his popular small group, the All Stars.

This collection chronicles the collaboration of Louis Armstrong and longtime friend, and producer George Avakian. After several years of recording popular hits for Decca Records, elevating Armstrong’s popularity but hurting his reputation with some in the jazz world, Avakian relished the opportunity to record Armstrong in a more jazz-centric setting but couldn’t get through Decca’s ironclad contract. In 1954, this finally changed, and the result was the Avakian-produced Louis Armstrong Plays W.C Handy. This release, long regarded as the finest long-playing album of Armstrong’s entire career, featured Armstrong’s All Stars in top form. Avakian was known for his copious post-production work, splicing the best portions of each take in order to present the optimal listening experience.

The result was a critical and commercial smash. “They’re perfect—they’re my tops,” Armstrong said of the album. This was followed by another masterpiece – Satch Plays Fats which featured emotional readings of “Blue Turning Grey Over You” and “Black and Blue” and romps on Waller favorites such as “Ain’t Misbehavin” and “Honeysuckle Rose” and then ended his tenure with Armstrong after recording Louis’ monster hit “Mack the Knife”.

While assembling this set, the producers were greeted by dozens of surprises on the original session tapes. Because Avakian relied so much on editing and splicing, his albums contained very few complete, unedited takes. This set will make up for that, with over three hours of bonus material, including unissued takes, rehearsals and even studio discussions, creating the most intimate portrait of Armstrong, the All Stars, and Avakian at work in the studios. And as a tribute to Avakian, Mosaic Records is also including newly remastered transfers of the original albums in their original sequence, giving listeners the rare opportunity to hear the beloved master takes side-by-side with their unedited counterparts.

Mosaic Records is thrilled to include over 75 minutes of material not originally found on The Real Ambassadors, the 1961 groundbreaking collaboration between Louis Armstrong; Dave Brubeck; Lambert, Hendricks and Ross; and Carmen McRae. The collection features previously unissued alternate takes of each of Armstrong’s features, including multiple takes of both “Summer Song” and “They Say I Look Like God”, two of the highpoints of not just the album, but Armstrong’s entire career. With a lifetime of wisdom at his disposal and mortality now staring him in the eyes, Armstrong brought a gravitas to his work on The Real Ambassadors, a release which both Brubeck and Armstrong remained especially proud of until the end of their respective lives.

Like all Mosaic Records releases, The Complete Louis Armstrong Columbia & RCA Victor Studio Sessions 1946 – 66 will be a limited edition set. Including the centerpiece Columbia recordings, the 1946-1947 RCA sides, the profound The Real Ambassadors, as well as obscure rarities such as Trummy Young’s studio feature on “Tain’t What You Do”, and two sides from the obscure 1956 television production The Lord Don’t Play Favorites, this is an essential purchase for anyone interested in Satchmo the Great. In addition, the scope of this endeavor from Mosaic extends far past the collection of the included recordings. The collection includes a 30,000 word essay from Armstrong biographer Ricky Riccardi, and, with the permission from The Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation, over 40 photos from the collections of the Louis Armstrong House Museum, the great majority of which have never been published.

Celebrated for the exhaustiveness in their dedication to quality completeness of their definitive collections and superior value since 1983, Mosaic Records has offered exceptional packages chronicling the works of quintessential artists to discerning jazz lovers across the globe. 2021’s The Complete Louis Armstrong Columbia & RCA Victor Studio Sessions 1946 – 66 is guaranteed to be one of the company’s most popular releases to date. Don’t miss out on this definitive document of why Pops will always remain tops.

Derived From Liner Notes by Ricky Riccardi.

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Some of Hartford's Finest Jazz Artists, Vol. 1 - Straight from the Hart Vol. 1 (2021)

The Hartford Jazz Society is on the eve of its 61st anniversary and it's an organization that’s been all encompassing in its embrace and sustainment of America’s greatest, artistic contribution, birthed in New Orleans at the turn of the 20th century and now taught and performed throughout the world. Hartford, CT has its own niche in the incubation and promulgation of this creative music. This is a pioneering effort by HJS to document some of the recent exciting musicians and older pioneers who grew musically through their tutelage at the Artists Collective, The Greater Hartford Academy For the Performing Arts, Hall High, the Jackie McLean Institute at the Hartt School of Music and other Connecticut institutions. They are now spreading both here and worldwide their musical joie de vivre and chops.

1. Steve Davis - Yesterday 05:01

2. Warren Byrd - Smilin' In The Dark 05:31

3. Dezron Douglas / Black Lion Quintet - Flowers 05:52

4. Jay Hoggard - Piety and Redemption 08:13

5. Noah Baerman - Somethin' Blue (Now!) 02:58

6. Jen Allen - Pieces of Myself 05:08

7. Zaccai and Luques Curtis - Madison 06:13

8. Frank Kozyra - Jerry's Groove 10:32

9. Trombeatz w/ Nelson Bello - Something New 05:59

10. Matt Dwonszyk - Pecan's Delight 08:25

11. Sarah Hanahan - Here For Jackie 07:14

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Alban Darche & Le Gros Cube #2 (2021 Yolk Records)

The latest from Alban Darche is a nice reminder that the fascinating eccentricities that mark his music are, in their own way, an extension of jazz tradition. The newest incarnation of his ensemble Le Gros Cube takes the form of a big band, and though the music has everything we’ve come to expect from Darche—bold harmonic surges and melodies wide as the horizon—it also channels the quirky turns of phrase and unorthodox shifts in cadence that characterize his music. Darche’s various ensembles are typically comprised of immensely talented saxophonists, and this one is no different. Jon Irabagon, Loren Stillman, and Matthieu Donarier join the fray, along with trombonists John Fedchock and Samuel Blaser, and double bassist Sébastien Boisseau.

1. A la bougie 06:44

2. Ping-pong 04:35

3. Arcane XV - Le Diable 08:46

4. Arcane XVIIII - Le Soleil 03:34

5. Le Mort Joyeux 03:50

6. Beauty and sadness II 04:10

7. Le chemin (vertueux) 06:48

8. L'oiseau qu'on voit chante sa plainte 03:33

9. Arcane XXII - Le Mat 03:22

10. Le cercle 04:15

Jon Irabagon : alto saxophone

Loren Stillman : alto saxophone

Alban Darche : tenor saxophone

Matthieu Donarier : tenor saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet

Rémi Sciuto : baritone saxophone, flute

Joël Chausse : trumpet

Geoffroy Tamisier : trumpet

Jean-Paul Estiévenart : trumpet

Olivier Laisney : trumpet

John Fedchock : trombone

Jean-Louis Pommier : trombone

Samuel Blaser : trombone

Matthias Quilbault : tuba

Marie Krüttli : piano

Gilles Coronado : guitar

Sébastien Boisseau : double bass

Christophe Lavergne : drums

All compositions & arrangements by Alban Darche

Recorded and mixed by Jonathan Marcoz at Peninsula studio in January 2020, under live conditions.

Mastered by Pierre Vandewaeter at studio Lakanal.

01. À La Bougie — 06:44

Soloists: A. Darche, tenor — J. Irabagon, alto

02. Ping-Pong — 04:36

Soloists: L. Stillman, alto — C. Lavergne, drums A.Darche, tenor — M.Donarier, tenor

03. Arcane XV — le DiaBle — 08:46

Soloists: A. Darche, tenor — G. Tamisier / O. Laisney, trumpets

04. Arcane XVIIII — le Soleil — 03:35

Soloist: M. Donarier, tenor

05. Le Mort Joyeux — 03:51

Soloist: M. Krüttli, piano

06. Beauty And Sadness II — 04:11

Soloists: G. Coronado, guitar — S. Boisseau, double bass

07. Le Chemin (Vertueux) — 06:49

Soloists: A. Darche, tenor — J. Fedchock / J.L. Pommier / S. Blaser, trombones — L. Stillman, alto — O. Laisney, trumpet

08. L’Oiseau Qu’On Voit Chante Sa Plainte — 03:34

09. Arcane XXII — Le Mat — 03:22

Soloist: L. Stillman, alto

10. Le Cercle — 04:15

Soloist: A. Darche, tenor

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