The best of the forthcoming top jazz new releases and the best jazz re-releases, regularly updated.
May 2017
New releases by Alex Sipiagin, David Kikoski, Steve Davis
Release date: May 19th 2017
Alex Sipiagin - Moments Captured (Criss Cross)
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Moments Captured is trumpeter Alex Sipiagin's third Criss Cross date to feature a three-horn lineup, after Equilibrium in 2004 and Destinations Unknown in 2011. While the earlier discs featured David Binney on alto, here it is the fiery Will Vinson displaying his prodigious talents alongside the leader and master tenorist Chris Potter. Rounding out the lineup on this exploratory all-original session are the players from Sipiagin's 2015 album Balance 35/58: John Escreet on piano and keyboards, Matt Brewer on bass, and Eric Harland on drums. The intricate, polyphonic aspect of Sipiagin's writing continues to flower and grow, but it is Escreet's extensive use of the Prophet 6 synthesizer that marks this album's biggest departure. Wringing a seemingly limitless array of tonal colors from the instrument, Escreet gives Sipiagin's music a refreshing and wholly unpredictable edge.
Release date: May 19th 2017
David Kikoski - Kayemode (Criss Cross)
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Since his first appearance on record (Randy Brecker's album, In the Idiom), pianist David Kikoski has demonstrated an infinite capacity to swing, a rare sensitivity as a ballad interpreter and genuine harmonic savvy as a composer. He delivers once again on all counts on Kayemode.
Release date: May 19th 2017
Steve Davis - Think Ahead (Smoke Sessions)
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April 2017
New releases by Kevin Eubanks, Steve Nelson, Bobby Watson
Release date: April 7th 2017
Kevin Eubanks - East West Time Line (Mack Avenue)
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Release date: April 14th 2017
Steve Nelson - Brothers Under The Sun (High Note)
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Vibist Steve Nelson made a big splash as a newcomer in the jazz polls at the end of the '80s just as the vibraphone began to re-emerge as one of jazz's favorite instruments. The cool, drifty, slightly detached sound of the vibraphone will forever be associated with great jazz players like Lionel Hampton, Gary Burton and others, but Nelson has firmly established himself as a leader of top-notch small ensembles that showcase his own personal voice on the instrument. Leading a blue-chip quartet composed of pianist Danny Grissett, bassist Peter Washington, and drummer Lewis Nash, Nelson has put together an imaginative setlist that serves as a tribute to the late pianist Mulgrew Miller, with whom Nelson enjoyed a long and fruitful musical collaboration and friendship. Throughout the date the interplay of the quartet is engaging, the creativity unflagging and the joy in the music making is always apparent. Brothers Under the Sun is a substantial addition to Steve Nelson's far-too-small discography as a leader.
Release date: April 21st 2017
Bobby Watson - Made In America (Smoke Sessions)
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March 2017
New releases by Bill Evans, Eliane Elias, Josh Lawrence, Joey DeFrancesco.
Release date: March 3rd 2017
Josh Lawrence - Color Theory (Posi-Tone)
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Josh Lawrence brings a full complement of tones and contrasts to his new record "Color Theory." Featuring a powerful line-up fronted by Lawrence's trumpet, keyboardist Adam Faulk, pianist Orrin Evans, and alto saxophonist Caleb Curtis, everything stays straight forward and swinging hard while the rhythm section of bassist Madison Rast and drummer Anwar Marshall keep everything honest and in the pocket. The music is meant to be reflections of the entire spectrum, and the musical program covers several hues and shades with an exciting and evocative presentation of Lawrence's amazing new original compositions. "Color Theory" features an amazing combination of talents and a highlight reel of brilliant performances. Josh Lawrence is a new star on the jazz horizon and his music is sure to bring bright moments to jazz fans everywhere.
Release date: March 10th 2017
Joey DeFrancesco - Project Freedom (Mack Avenue)
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Release date: March 24th 2017
Eliane Elias - Dance of Time (Concord)
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'Dance of Time' builds upon the success of the 2015 release 'Made in Brazil' but delivers its own distinctive sound by providing a contemporary play on classic Brazilian songs from Elias' youth and musical career. Elias, once again wears many hats on 'Dance of Time' as producer, composer, lyricist, arranger, pianist and vocalist. Along with co-producers, Steve Rodby and Marc Johnson, her bass playing musical partner, Elias ventured 'home' and recruited a splendid cast of Brazilian musicians that include electric bassist Marcelo Mariano; guitarists Marcus Teixeira and Conrado Goys; drummers Edu Ribeiro and Celso de Almeida; and percussionists Gustavo di Dalva and Marivaldo dos Santos. Other featured musical guests include Joao Bosco, Randy Brecker, Amilton Godoy, Mark Kibble, Mike Mainieri and Toquinho.
Release date: March 24th 2017
Bill Evans - On A Monday Evening (Fantasy)
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This is a real treat, by far the best Bill Evans trio performance to be released in many years. It's brimming with energy, and all hands are magnificently on deck. It was recorded live in concert at the Madison Union Theatre in Madison, Wisconsin, on Monday, November 15, 1976, and remastered from analog mono tapes. The sound is good.
February 2017
New releases by Ralph Towner, Donny McCaslin, Craig Taborn, David Binney, David Gilmore, Peter Erskine, Steve Kahn, Ken Fowser
Release date: February 3rd 2017
Ralph Towner - My Foolish Heart (ECM)
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My Foolish Heart continues Ralph Towner's series of excellent solo guitar recordings. While there are many great guitarists, he has a unique combination of classical guitar, outstanding compositions, and improvisation.
Release date: February 6th 2017
Donny McCaslin - Beyond Now (Motema Music)
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Release date: February 10th 2017
Craig Taborn - Daylight Ghosts (ECM)
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Release date: February 17th 3rd 2017
David Binney - The Time Verses (Criss Cross)
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Release date: February 17th 2017
David Gilmore - Transitions (Criss Cross)
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Release date: February 17th 2017
Peter Erskine - Second Opinion (Fuzzy Music)
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Release date: February 17th 2017
Peter Erskine - In Praise of Shadows (Fuzzy Music)
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This is the 2nd Audio CD from the Peter Erskine New Trio, featuring jazz drumming legend Erskine with his nephew and bass phenom Damian Erskine, plus keyboard virtuoso and arranger Vardan Ovsepian (with guests Artyom Manukyan on cello & EVI master Judd Miller). 'In Praise Of Shadows' is sharing the February 17 release date with Erskine's Dr. Um Band album 'Second Opinion.' From the gentle covers of the Japanese classic pop hit 'Sukiyaki' plus Mexican love ballad 'Marcheta,' to blistering new originals by Vardan Ovsepian and a new Erskine classic ('Each Breath'), this is an album that has something for everyone who loves good music. . . including a lovely bass ballad by Damian titled 'Begin Within'.
Release date: February 17th 2017
Ken Fowser - Now Hear This (Posi-Tone)
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Release date: February 24th 2017
Steve Kahn - Backlog (Shrapnel)
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January 2017
New releases by Michael Dease, John Abercrombie, Chris Thile and Brad Mehldau, Jeremy Pelt
Release date: January 6th 2017
Michael Dease - All These Hands (Posi-Tone)
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Trombonist Michael Dease delivers a unifying message about the Jazz diaspora and the impassioned assistance of All These Hands. The program s message is carefully constructed to provide listeners with a musical narrative about the evolution of the jazz art form as it spread through the different regions and localities of America. To provide assistance in bringing his vision to fruition, Dease assembled an all-star lineup of musicians including trumpeter Etienne Charles, alto saxophonist Steve Wilson, pianist Renee Rosnes, bassist Gerald Cannon, and powerhouse drummer Lewis Nash, along with a number of special guests like Rodney Whitaker, Randy Napoleon and Rufus Reid. With a thoughtful program of original compositions and an uplifting message of inclusivity, All These Hands remains insightfully straight forward, steadily swinging, and refreshingly melodic enough to evoke a wide assortment of bright moments to discerning jazz fans everywhere.
Release date: January 13th 2017
John Abercrombie - Up and Coming (ECM)
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The interaction between Abercrombie and Copland is incredible. At times they speak with one voice even though they're using different instruments. The bass and drums add just another color to the colorful duet of the two leaders. A beautiful recording!
Release date: January 20th 2017
Jeremy Pelt - Make Noise! (HighNote)
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Great new recording of Jeremy Pelt, a trumpeter who has been doing magnificent recordings for more than twenty years as a soloist. Pelt immerses himself in the world of rhythm, as the conductor of a music that does not stop growing. The same structure of the group says it all, Pelt on trumpet, Victor Gould on piano, Vicente Archer on bass, Jonathan Barber on drums and Jacquelene Acevedo on percussion.
Release date: January 27th 2017
Chris Thile and Brad Mehldau - Chris Thile and Brad Mehldau (HighNote)
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November 2016
New releases by Charlie Haden, Wallace Roney, Keith Jarrett
Release date: November 4th 2016
Charlie Haden - Time/Life (Impulse)
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With a career that spanned more than a half a century, Charlie Haden proved to be not only one of jazz's finest bassists and composers, he was also a staunch champion of justice. Throughout his career, his rebellious yet gentle spirit addressed various socio-political injustices, particularly with his galvanizing Liberation Music Orchestra, which he founded in 1969. The following year, it released its prophetic, eponymously titled debut album on Impulse Records!, which boasted a stellar lineup that included such fellow jazz renegades as Don Cherry, Gato Barbieri, Dewey Redman, Paul Motian, and the arranger, composer Carla Bley whom Haden would eventually ask to arrange all of his subsequent Liberation Music Orchestra recordings. Two years after Charlies passing in July 2014, his musical vision continues to ignite that esteemed ensemble with the release of its latest disc, Time/Life (Song for the Whales and Other Beings). The disc documents the final recording on which Charlie performed with the Liberation Music Orchestra.
Release date: November 4th 2016
Wallace Roney - A Place In Time (HighNote)
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Wallace Roney's music is a tough, taut and intransigent continuation of the arcane forms and structured freedoms of Miles Davis' 1960s quintet. Listeners often associate Roney with Davis, thanks to Roney's work with the jazz legend early in Roney's career. But at this point, Davis' impact on Roney can be considered mostly historic, with Roney's playing larger in scope, firmer in tone and sharper in attack than Davis'. Today, Wallace's set lists feature easy-on-the-ear themes that mask harmonic complexities, while solos are fueled by strong moods and sustained rhythmic drive informed by the spectre of Davis but far from imitating him. Whether he performs up-tempo original compositions or mainstream ballads, Roney is always compelling in his idiosyncratic ways. His tendency to produce smeared tones, bent pitches and jabbing rhythmic figures in the stratospheric range of the instrument distinguishes his playing, as does the volatile spirit and ever-changing direction of his phrases. With the Grammy-winning composer/pianist Patrice Rushen on hand with guest reedman Gary Bartz and Wallace's sidemen of choice, Ben Solomon, tenor sax, Buster Williams, bass and Lenny White, drums, the musicians deliver a blisteringly accomplished and creative session.
Release date: November 18th 2016
Keith Jarrett - A Multitude Of Angels (4CD) (ECM)
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A Multitude of Angels is a 4-CD set of recordings from a series of solo concerts in Italy in October 1996, documenting the conclusion of Keith Jarrett's experiments with long-form improvisation in performances from Modena, Ferrara, Turin, and Genoa. "These were the last concerts I played having no breaks within each set," Keith Jarrett explains in his liner notes. "The arc of the music is characteristically comprehensive: Jazz is ever present here, alongside my deep closeness with classical music (modern and ancient, Ives and Bach."
October 2016
New releases by Mike LeDonne, Miles Davis
Release date: October 7th 2016
Mike LeDonne - That Feelin'(Savant)
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Like many jazz organists, Mike LeDonne started out on piano. Growing up around the family music store where his father Micki played jazz guitar, his path to music was inevitable. After graduating from The New England Conservatory, he moved to New York and became a fixture in jazz circles. Earlier in his career, he established himself as a sought-after pianist, playing with the Art Farmer-Clifford Jordan Quartet, Dizzy Gillespie, Stanley Turrentine and Sonny Rollins. His eleven-year association with Milt Jackson and recording projects with Benny Golson solidified his prominence as a sideman. Now, with 8 Savant CDs as a leader under his belt, LeDonne has certainly earned himself a place in the elite club of truly great organist-bandleaders. Here he appears with his acclaimed Groover Quartet, this time with alto saxophonist Vincent Herring along for a swinging ride through an unhackneyed set of nine numbers all of which receive the unmistakable LeDonne treatment.
Release date: October 21st 2016
Miles Davis - Freedom Jazz Dance (3CD) (Sony Legacy)
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Celebrating the 50th anniversary of Miles Smiles, the groundbreaking second studio album from the Miles Davis Quintet--Miles Davis (trumpet), Wayne Shorter (tenor saxophone), Herbie Hancock (piano), Ron Carter (bass) and Tony Williams (drums)--this definitive new collection includes the master takes of performances which would eventually appear on the Miles Smiles (1967), Nefertiti (1968) and Water Babies (1976) albums alongside more than two hours worth of previously unreleased studio recordings from original sessions produced by Teo Macero (with the exception of "Fall," produced by Howard A. Roberts).
September 2016
New releases by Joshua Redman and Brad Mehldau, Tom Harrell, The Cookers, Eric Alexander, Jakob Bro, Matt Brewer, Ethan Iverson, Andrew Cyrille, John Scofield
Release date: September 9th 2016
Joshua Redman and Brad Mehldau - Nearness (Nonesuch)
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Nonesuch Records releases saxophonist Joshua Redman and pianist Brad Mehldau's Nearness, a selection of duets recorded live during their recent European tour and the longtime friends' and collaborators' first duo album.
Release date: September 9th 2016
Tom Harrell - Something Gold, Something Blue (HighNote)
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Superb trumpeter Tom Harrell, who has been releasing recordings as a leader since 1989, has a new album out, Something Gold, Something Blue, on HighNote featuring fellow trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, as well as guitarist Charles Altura, bassist Ugonna Okegwo and drummer Johnathan Blake. Harrell is a prolific arranger and composer and a mysterious yet mesmerizing presence in concert and a regular in the recording studio. His resume is impressive, with contributions to bands led by Stan Kenton, Horace Silver and Joe Lovano. He has written scores for ballets and arrangements for symphony orchestras and his last HighNote album “First Impressions” (HCD 7276) was in the Top Ten Best Jazz albums of 2015 in the 64th Annual Downbeat Critic's Poll while Akinmusire and Harrell took the top two slots in the trumpet category in the same poll.
Release date: September 9th 2016
The Cookers - The Call of the Wild and Peaceful Heart (Smoke Sessions)
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The Cookers are a young group of oldsters, seven esteemed jazz veterans of some 60s and 70s years of age whose experience and ongoing creativity now offer their latest development. Often a gathering of jazz greats produces nice, somewhat nostalgic but not distinctive recordings; this one is different. These artists are true colleagues who worked with each in other ensembles, and while leaders of their own bands, they can mesh into the composition. Two trumpets, Eddie Henderson and David Weiss, are joined with two saxophones, Donald Harrison on alto and Billy Harper on tenor. Bass, piano, and drums are the forte respectively of George Cables, Cecil McGee, and Billy Hart. All of the tracks are originals, three by Harper, two each by Hart and Cables, and one by McBee. The happy result is pleasurable listening to a great collaboration of postbop, with David Weiss serving as arranger-diplomat-organizer and Billy Harper arranger on three tracks.
Release date: September 9th 2016
Eric Alexander - Second Impression (HighNote)
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It can be argued with some validity that one's overall movement through life is reflected in his creative endeavor, and Eric Alexander's strength and versatility on the saxophone can be viewed from this perspective. At this point in his career, Eric has certainly covered a lot of territory, both literally and figuratively. He himself has lost count of how many albums feature his playing; our guess is 100 or more. While he has garnered critical acclaim from every corner, what has mattered most has been to establish his own voice within the illustrious bop-based jazz tradition which is exactly what he does on his latest HighNote release. The close-knit ensemble of a band of regular buddies, coupled with the bass-clef contributions of the extraordinary Bob Cranshaw, make for a listening experience not soon forgotten.
Release date: September 16th 2016
Matt Brewer - Unspoken (Criss Cross)
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On the heels of critically acclaimed Criss Cross debut, bassistMatt Brewer presents an inspired quintet recording, convening tenor saxophonist Ben Wendel, pianist Aaron Parks, guitarist Charles Altura, and drummer Tyshawn Sorey, all top-of-the-pyramid under 40 improvisers and consequential composers in their own right, to perform a nine tune program that includes seven Brewer originals, and reimagined versions of Bill Frisell's 'Twenty Years' and Charlie Parker's 'Cheryl. ' Having garnered wide acclaim as a sideman playing the challenging music of such major figures as Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Greg Osby, Steve Coleman and Vijay Iyer, among others, Brewer displays not only his lyric gifts and virtuoso instrumental prowess, but his ability to convey his intentions by allowing his band mates freedom to express their perspectives within the flow of his ideas.
Release date: September 16th 2016
Ethan Iverson - The Purity Of Turf (Criss Cross)
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The Purity of the Turf is kind of a 'bucket list' moment for Ethan Iverson, who has always wanted to make a record with famous bassist Ron Carter. Iverson, pianist of the famous trio 'The Bad Plus', chose drummer Nasheet Waits to fill out the trio, because Waits represents the avant-garde as well as swing. Criss Cross records are level playing field, with everyone recording in the same studio in a single day: Thus the sporting title, 'The Purity of the Turf. ' The repertoire is mostly originals and jazz classics. A surprise highlight is the solo piano tribute to the late Paul Bley, 'So Hard it Hurts' by Annett Peacock.
Release date: September 23rd 2016
Andrew Cyrille - The Declaration Of Musical Independence(ECM)
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The great avant-jazz drummer Andrew Cyrille whose associations have ranged from a long, vintage collaboration with Cecil Taylor to co-leading current all-star collective Trio 3 with Oliver Lake and Reggie Workman makes his ECM leader debut with The Declaration of Musical Independence. Featuring a quartet with guitar luminary Bill Frisell, keyboardist Richard Teitelbaum and bassist Ben Street, the album kicks off with an artfully oblique interpretation of John Coltrane's Coltrane Time, led by Cyrilles solo drum intro. The disc then features a sequence of sonically arresting originals, including Streets luminous Say... and Frisell's deeply felt Kaddish and Song for Andrew, with Frisell's guitar alternately cutting and billowing, the edge evoking some of his most illustrious past ECM performances.
Release date: September 23rd 2016
John Scofield - Country For Old Men(Impulse)
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The Grammy-winning guitarist, composer and bandleader John Scofield has allowed his musical eclecticism to be his guiding compass to explore a spectrum of idioms of genres, ranging from electric fusion to modern bop, from greasy R&B to drum-n-bass, and from rock to blues and gospel. So it comes as no surprise that Scofield would follow his 2015 Grammy-winning album, Past Present, by shifting gears with something like 'Country for Old Men'. And Scofield's incredible jazz improvising skills are fully present throughout. With the help of frequent collaborators drummer Bill Stewart, organist and pianist Larry Goldings, and bassist Steve Swallow Scofield renders 12 country tunes through the prism of vigorous modern jazz. "My idea for this record was to take country tunes and turn them into jazz ones Scofield explains, Because country tunes are simple--they're easy to reharmonize. The improvisation and group feel are essential to each track. John focuses strongly on the melody of each song, accentuating his playing with a noticeable twang, which lends the music the requisite bucolic sensibility. In fact, John says that country singers played an influential role in his musical development. "I've liked country music since I was a young kid listening to the radio," he recalls. "I think all the tunes work as jazz. Plus, I was really inspired to sound country when I played the melodies. I was amazed at how well it worked."
Release date: September 23rd 2016
Jakob Bro - Streams (ECM)
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On his second leader album for ECM following on from the prizewinning Gefion - Danish guitarist Jakob Bro continues to refine his trio project, with its emphasises on melody, sound, space, layered textures and interaction. The rapport between Bro and Thomas Morgan (Bro calls him my musical soul mate) has become something extraordinary, and often guitarist and bassist develop improvisational ideas in parallel. There's an historical aptness, too, in the choice of Joey Baron as the band's new drummer, for Bro first encountered Morgan when the bassist was playing in Barons band a decade ago... On Streams Joey Baron dives into the music's detail with obvious pleasure.
August 2016
New releases by Mats Eilertsen, Fred Hersch, Steve Turre, Tigran Hamasyan
Release date: August 5th 2016
Mats Eilertsen - Rubicon (ECM)
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Trygve Seim: tenor and soprano saxophones; Eirik Hegdal: soprano, baritone sax, clarinet and bass clarinet; Thomas Dahl: guitar; Rob Waring: marimba and vibraphone; Harmen Fraanje: piano, Fender Rhodes; Mats Eilertsen: double bass; Olavi Louhivuori: drums. Norwegian bassist Mats Eilertsen has been a strong and supportive presence on a dozen ECM sessions to date. With Rubicon he steps forward to present his own music, with an international cast.
Release date: August 12th 2016
Fred Hersch - Sunday Night at the Vanguard (Palmetto)
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Release date: August 26th 2016
Steve Turre - Colors for the Masters (Smoke Sessions)
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Release date: August 26th 2016
Tigran Hamasyan - Atmospheres (ECM) 2CD
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Tigran Hamasyan: piano, Arve Henriksen: trumpet, Eivind Aarset: guitar, Jan Bang: electronics and live sampling. This far-reaching double album, recorded and mixed in three days in Lugano, introduces a new quartet with Tigran Hamasyan, Arve Henriksen, Eivind Aarset and Jan Bang.
July 2016
New releases by Charlie Parker, Kenny Garrett, Peter Erskine, Miroslav Vitous, Black Art Jazz Collective, Dave Douglas, Joe Lovano
Release date: July 1st 2016
Charlie Parker - Unheard Bird: The Unissued Takes [2 CD](Verve)
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Co-produced and with detailed liner notes by Phil Schaap, the world's pre-eminent Bird scholar, this collection features 58 previously unknown takes. These previously grounded performances provide unheard improvisations that, matched with their released editions, bring us into the working process of one of the greatest artists of our time. With 21 released masters providing context, this new 2-CD set dwarfs any previous Charlie Parker collection of rarities.
Release date: July 8th 2016
Kenny Garrett - Do Your Dance! (Mack Avenue)
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Release date: July 8th 2016
Dave Douglas - Dark Territory (Greenleaf)
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Release date: July 8th 2016
Miroslav Vitous - Music From Weather Report (ECM)
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Miroslav Vitous: double bass, keyboards; Gary Campbell: soprano and tenor saxophone; Roberto Bonisolo: soprano and tenor saxophone; Aydin Esen: keyboards; Gerald Cleaver: drums; Nasheet Waits: drums The great Czech bassist returns once more to the music of Weather Report, the group he co-founded with Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter in 1970. It's the improvisational freedom of the early Weather Report that most interests Vitous, and he abides by their old rallying call everyone solos and no one solos. Well-known Report repertoire re-explored includes Birdland, Seventh Arrow, Scarlet Woman, Pinocchio and Morning Lake and Miroslavs group also plays Jugglers Issue a piece which the first Weather Report line-up played but didn't record. Interspersed along the way are three new blues tunes from Vitous's pen. The band, driven by the astounding double drumming of Gerald Cleaver and Nasheet Waits, is energetic and daring, juxtaposing fast tempos and rhythmically free pulses, with Miroslavs arco bass playing sometimes sounding like a third horn in between the two saxophones.
Release date: July 22nd 2016
Black Art Jazz Collective - Presented By The Side Door Jazz Club (Sunnyside)
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It is easy to misconstrue a name, especially when it is so obviously tied to politics and racial identity. Born during an important period of Black identity in the arts in the early 2010s, Black Art Jazz Collective brings together an accomplished ensemble of young African American musicians who felt that it was necessary to celebrate Black culture in a positive way. The focus on camaraderie between members who grew up playing music together comes through in their music. The Collective was co-founded by drummer Johnathan Blake, saxophonist Wayne Escoffery and trumpeter Jeremy Pelt. All graduating from esteemed music programs in the Northeast at the same time, the three quickly became ingrained in the New York jazz scene as leaders and invaluable members of ensembles led by legends like Tom Harrell, Bobby Hutcherson, Wayne Shorter and Ron Carter. The first addition the trio made was the great bassist Dwayne Burno, an individual who really espoused professionalism and dedication to his friends. Being older than the others, Burno's influence and attention made an impact on all of them. The ensemble also featured trombonist James Burton III (an adherent of the school of Curtis Fuller and J.J. Johnson and another Jackie McLean alum) and the great pianist/composer Xavier Davis. The Black Art Jazz Collective s first performance was at Dizzy s Club Coca Cola in April 2013 with Burno. His passing in the following December was a shock and upset the jazz world, not to mention the Collective. It would prove to be a challenge to find a replacement for Burno. It wasn't until Pelt recommended Vincente Archer that the group found a perfect replacement, one who had connections to all the members and who was influenced by Burno.
Release date: July 22nd 2016
Peter Erskine - As It Was [4 CD] (ECM)
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John Taylor: piano; Palle Danielsson: double bass; Peter Erskine: drums. The newest addition to ECM's popular Old and New Masters Series is a box set reprising the four albums made by Peter Erskine's American-British-Swedish trio with John Taylor and Palle Danielsson between 1992 and 1997: You Never Know, As It Is, Time Being and Juni. If its core concept a piano trio led by a drummer was unorthodox, the group was nonetheless influential, and the recordings provide an excellent environment for appreciating the distinctive writing and playing of John Taylor. The British pianist was the Erskine Trio's primary composer, with the drummer-leader and bassist Danielsson also contributing pieces and the repertoire topped up with tunes by Vince Mendoza and Kenny Wheeler. Of his trio mates Erskine says, We drew out our most explorative and interesting playing from each other. Without trying to be, we were a truly unique group. Ive heard nothing like it before or since.
Release date: July 29th 2016
Joe Lovano - Classic: Live at Newport (Blue Note)
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June 2016
New releases by Brad Mehldau, Branford Marsalis Quartet & Kurt Elling, Woody Shaw
Release date: June 3rd 2016
Brad Mehldau - Blues And Ballads (Nonesuch)
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Nonesuch Records releases the Brad Mehldau Trio’s Blues and Ballads, the trio’s first new release since 2012’s Where Do You Start, on June 3, 2016. The previous release received critical acclaim, with the Financial Times saying, “Mehldau never lets his peerless technique and meticulous timing interrupt the narrative flow of a well-told tale. Here, the pianist and his trio burrow deep into left-field pop and the American songbook, and give an adventurous sheen to modern jazz.” Blues and Ballads similarly comprises interpretations of songs by other composers, this time with the focus on blues and ballads implied by the album’s title. The Brad Mehldau Trio is Mehldau on piano, Larry Grenadier on bass, and Jeff Ballard on drums.
Release date: June 10th 2016
Warren Wolf - Convergence (Mack Avenue)
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"Convergence" is the latest release by DownBeat rising star vibraphonist Warren Wolf and it is further proof that Wolf is one of the best vibes players in the world, as well as a great composer, arranger, sideman (see Willie Jones III's album "Groundwork") and leader on 6 releases, including this one. He Is supported by a fabulous award-winning rhythm section of 'leaders in their own right' which includes Brad Mehldau on keyboards, Jeff "Tain" Watts on drums, and Christian McBride is both the Mack Avenue session producer and double bassist. Wolf plays in solo, duo, trio, quartet, and quintet configurations. Special guest is the superb guitarist John Scofield for two quintet tracks.
Release date: June 10th 2016
Branford Marsalis Quartet & Kurt Elling - Upward Spiral (Sony)
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Legendary jazz greats Branford Marsalis and Kurt Elling collaborate for the first time on a full album, Upward Spiral. They've been talking for a while about making a record together, and finally at the end of 2015 it all came together. They found time to play the new material in the New Orleans Snug Harbor club for four days and then recorded a variety of songs in the studio, all chosen because of their melodic richness and musical quality. Their versions of the chosen material are simply incredible, as the musicality of Branford and Kurt and their deep understanding of these songs shows through immediately.
Release date: June 17th 2016
Woody Shaw - The Tour - Volume One (HighNote)
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“By no means is jazz dead—that’s essentially why Louis Hayes and I formed this band. We really enjoy playing.” So wrote Woody Shaw, presumably around the time of this historic concert from their 1976 European tour, in response to the then much-heralded death of jazz. It was people like Shaw, Hayes and others who proved that is was only our out-dated preconceptions of what jazz was which were dead and that jazz itself was alive and well. Here we have a real gem from Woody Shaw's greatest period – a very hip quintet session, recorded with drummer Louis Hayes, tenor man Junior Cook, Ronnie Matthews on piano and Stafford James on bass. Cook's Trane-tinged flurries, Shaw's boprish bursts, Mathews’ ever-intensifying solos and Hayes’ thunder-and-lightning drumming create an energy and esprit very much in the Blakey tradition but without ever losing track of the identity or sight of their collective goal. This Woody Shaw-Louis Hayes-Junior Cook quintet is now a part of history. The concentric circles they set in motion, emanating from the center of their work so long ago continue to expand and make their influence felt right up to the present day.
May 2016
New releases by Peter Bernstein, Cyrus Chestnut, Jack DeJohnette, Miles Davis & Robert Glasper, Seamus Blake and Chris Cheek, Luis Perdomo, Pat Metheny, Cuong Vu
Release date: May 6th 2016
Cuong Vu / Pat Metheny - Cuong Vu Trio Meets Pat Metheny (Nonesuch)
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The Cuong Vu Trio includes Stomu Takeishi on bass and Ted Poor on drums. Metheny says of his record with the Trio, "This project is something that Cuong and I have talked about doing for years. For as much as I loved what Cuong has brought to my bands along the way, I always wondered what it would be like to join his group for a project, to see what I might be able to offer those guys. Cuong came up with a great set of tunes for the project, and we all met in NYC for a few days and recorded this music quite quickly and spontaneously." Vu, who first heard a cassette of Metheny's Travels as a teenager and credits it for leading him into a career in music, adds: "Pat came to the session and killed it, taking us to different territories. We (the Trio) assimilated his sound into ours and made music that still felt uniquely ours." The trumpeter has played with a wide range of artists, including Laurie Anderson, David Bowie, Dave Douglas, Myra Melford, Cibo Matto, and Mitchell Froom.
Release date: May 6th 2016
Pat Metheny - The Unity Sessions (2CD)(Nonesuch)
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In 2013, for the first time since 1980, Metheny recorded with a band that highlighted tenor saxophone. The resulting Unity Band, which went on to win him his 20th Grammy Award, featured Chris Potter on sax and bass clarinet, longtime collaborator Antonio Sanchez on drums, and Ben Williams on bass. Metheny then took that same ensemble into new territory with the addition of his Orchestrion and a focus on more through-composed material and christened the ensemble Pat Metheny Unity Group. The Group's first record, Kin (←→) , was released by Nonesuch in 2014 and was named the best jazz album of the year in the DownBeat Readers Poll Awards. The Group went on a world tour of more than 150 cities; at the end, they hunkered down in a small Manhattan theater to film new performances of music from the original Unity Band, the expansive Kin (←→) , and touchstones from the entirety of Metheny's music catalog. The results were released on DVD last year as The Unity Sessions, and now Nonesuch releases the album of the same name.
Release date: May 6th 2016
Peter Bernstein - Let Loose (Smoke Sessions)
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Gerald Clayton on piano, Doug Weiss on bass and Bill Stewart on drums add depth and beauty to this wonderful album.
Release date: May 6th 2016
Jack DeJohnette - In Movement (ECM)
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There is a lot of history concentrated in Jack DeJohnette's adventurous new trio. Fifty years ago, as a guest with John Coltrane's group, Jack DeJohnette played with the fathers of Ravi Coltrane and Matthew Garrison, and the program of In Movement opens with Coltrane's harrowing and still pertinent elegy Alabama. Other covers include the classic Blue In Green by Miles Davis and Bill Evans (Jack is one of the few musicians to have played in the bands of both men) and Serpentine Fire, from the songbook of Earth, Wind and Fire, a tribute to Maurice White - who also collaborated with Jack in the early years. The Two Jimmys is an homage to Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Garrison, innovators both, and Rashied salutes the late Rashied Ali, another great drummer from Coltrane's cosmos. For all the wealth of references, this is indeed a band in movement, taking the music forward. Ravi Coltrane and Matt Garrison, in their ECM debuts, both respond magnificently to DeJohnette's driving drumming, Ravi with superb solos, Garrison with lean bass lines and imaginative looping electronics.
Release date: May 20th 2016
Cyrus Chestnut - Natural Essence (High Note)
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From his emergence in the mid-Eighties to the present, pianist Cyrus Chestnut has declared himself a committed stylist completely infatuated with his instrument and the art he’s sworn allegiance to, jazz. Chestnut has consistently shown himself an improviser of rare ingenuity and grace, yet what most distinguishes him from other gifted pianists of our era may be the sheer pleasure that radiates from all that he plays. While the characteristic cheer that Chestnut displays on "Natural Essence" can be attributed to his undiminished vigor and attentiveness, the presence of his notable cohorts also contributes to the leader’s focus. With the dynamic Lenny White on drums and the redoubtable Buster Williams on bass Cyrus & company breathe new life and vitality into that most venerable of jazz ensemble formats, the piano trio.
Release date: May 20th 2016
Seamus Blake and Chris Cheek - Let's Call The Whole Thing Off (Criss Cross)
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Deepening a two-tenor partnership that dates back to the mid-'90s, saxophonists Seamus Blake and Chris Cheek follow up their quintet release 'Reeds Ramble' (CRC 1364) with Let's Call the Whole Thing Off, featuring the same powerful band lineup (Ethan Iverson on piano, Matt Penman on bass, Jochen Rueckert on drums). While they stand apart as gifted soloists, Blake and Cheek always flourish as a team, bringing luster to every tune with their lyrical unison melodies and beautifullyharmonized theme statements.
Release date: May 20th 2016
Luis Perdomo - Spirits And Warriors (Criss Cross)
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For his fourth Criss Cross recording, pianist Luis Perdomo offers a swinging affair, on which a crackling quintet of New York first-callers interprets 7 originals by the leader (the centerpiece is the well-wrought six-piece 'Spirits and Warriors Suite' that gives the CD its title), Clifford Jordan's iconic jazz standard 'Glass Bead Games,' and the classic ballad 'Portrait of Jenny. ' Propelled by drum grandmaster Billy Hart and bassist Ugonna Okegwo, who lock in like life-long partners, tenor saxophonist Mark Shim and trumpeter Alex Sipiagin, a Criss Cross regular, uncork cogent solos, some inflamed, some nuanced.
Release date: May 27th 2016
Miles Davis & Robert Glasper - Everything's Beautiful (Sony Legacy)
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Everything's Beautiful brings Miles Davis' sound into the 21st century, blending a diverse group of master takes and outtakes from across Miles' incredible tenure with Columbia Records (1955-1985) with original reinterpretations. Robert Glasper produced the collaboration. "I didn't want to do just a remix record," Glasper noted when discussing the 11-song set. "My idea was to show how Miles inspired people to make new art."Knowing that "Miles didn't have one audience," Glasper recruited a legion of diverse guest artists to add to the magic of the project including familiar collaborators like R&B musicians Erykah Badu, Ledisi, Bilal and KING. They are joined by British soul singer-songwriter Laura Mvula; hip-hop producer Rashad Smith; Grammy-nominated Australian neo-soul quartet Hiatus Kaiyote, rapper/producer Illa J; jazz guitarist John Scofield, who collaborated with Davis; and the legendary Stevie Wonder.
April 2016
New releases by George Coleman, Bill Evans, Miles Davis, Bill Charlap, Benny Golson
Release date: April 1st 2016
Miles Davis - Miles Ahead (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (Sony Legacy)
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The release of the movie MILES AHEAD, Don Cheadle's wildly entertaining and moving exploration of Miles Davis, will be accompanied by this new soundtrack featuring musical highlights from Miles' career and new recordings overseen by Grammy Award-winning jazz/hip-hop artist Robert Glasper. This is a perfect primer on Davis' career for the new fan and a brilliant audio keepsake of the film for those who've studied his works inside and out. The album features 11 tracks from across Miles' catalogue from 1956 to 1981, select dialogue from the film featuring Cheadle in character, and five original compositions written, co-written, produced or performed exclusively for MILES AHEAD by Robert Glasper. These cues include "What's Wrong with That?" a jam that closes the movie imagining Cheadle as Miles playing in the present day with guest performers Glasper, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Gary Clark, Jr. and Esperanza Spalding; plus "Gone 2015," an end-credits song featuring guest verses from rapper Pharoahe Monch. Cheadle also pens new liner notes for the album discussing the selection and creation of the songs on the soundtrack.
Release date: April 1st 2016
Bill Charlap - Notes From New York (Verve)
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One of the world's premiere jazz pianists, Bill Charlap has performed with many leading artists of our time, ranging from Phil Woods and Tony Bennett to Gerry Mulligan and Wynton Marsalis. Charlap and Bennett recently collaborated on a record of Jerome Kern songs and now, over nine classic songs, Charlap's new album, Notes from New York, provides an accomplished and generously warm sample of the talent of this inimitable musician.
Release date: April 8th 2016
George Coleman - A Master Speaks (Smoke Sessions)
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This Smoke Sessions, "A Master Speaks" recording comes during the period tenor saxophone giant George Coleman was honored and added to the esteemed list of NEA Jazz Masters in 2015. But those who have listened to his work across five decades, on his individual albums, with Max Roach and Miles Davis, and mentoring the likes of the great Eric Alexander, were way ahead of this auspicious honor. The quartet includes the potent, inventive pianist Mike LeDonne and the legendary acoustical and electric bassist Bob Cranshaw, who is Sonny Rollins' favorite bassist. On drums is the marvelous George Coleman, Jr. Special guest is the in-demand guitar wizard Peter Bernstein who appears in one track.
Release date: April 15th 2016
Benny Golson - Horizon Ahead (HighNote)
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Longer ago than he may care to admit, as a teenager, Benny Golson was jamming in his front room with his friend and fellow saxophonist John Coltrane. That in itself is quite a thought to consider when listening to Golson's first recording for HighNote Records. Even more thought provoking, though, is the fact that without Benny Golson's gifts as a composer, hard-bop's catalog of charming straight-ahead standards would be missing many of its iconic tunes. Then, as if these accomplishments were not enough, it should be mentioned that Golson's beautifully paced, golden toned playing, has appeared on more than five hundred recordings. Surrounded here by his current colleagues of choice, Golson, plays standards and originals with a hipness characterized by his attractive, sinewy melodic statements. He shines on both ballads, where his big, warm tone and heavy vibrato stand him in good stead, and the uptempo numbers such as “Jump Start," where his improvisations are full of power and substance.
Release date: April 22nd 2016
Bill Evans - Some Other Time: The Lost Session from The Black Forest [2 CD] (Resonance)
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Some Other Time: The Lost Session From the Black Forest is a newly unearthed studio session from the iconic pianist Bill Evans featuring bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Jack DeJohnette. Recorded on June 20, 1968, nearly 10 years after the legendary Kind of Blue sessions with Miles Davis and a mere five days after the trio's incredible Grammy award-winning performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival, this is truly a landmark discovery for jazz listeners worldwide. Available in deluxe 2-CD and limited edition 2-LP sets, and containing over 90 minutes of music, this is the only studio album in existence of the Bill Evans trio with Gomez and DeJohnette. Some Other Time was recorded by the legendary MPS Records founder and producer Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer along with writer/producer Joachim-Ernst Berendt at the MPS studios in the Black Forest (Villingen, Germany). Includes a 40-page book with new historical essays by jazz journalist Marc Myers and German jazz historian Friedhelm Schulz; producer Zev Feldman; new interviews with Gomez and DeJohnette; plus rare and previously unpublished photos from the archives of photographers David Redfern, Jan Persson, Giussepe Pino, Hans Harzheim and German Hasenfratz. 'There was big excitement about us going to the studio. This record represents a time and space where he was exploring new approaches to standard repertoire rhythmically and harmonically.' Jack DeJohnette 'Every time he touched the piano, he touched my heart and he played with a sound that was just a gorgeous sound and he always was so expressive in his playing.' Eddie Gomez
March 2016
New releases by Jim Rotondi
Release date: Tuesday March 4th 2016
Jim Rotondi - Dark Blue (Smoke Sessions)
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The album features standards and some excellent new music. The ensemble is extremely tight and the improvisation is excellent. The trumpet sound is outstanding and very well recorded.
February 2016
New releases by Avishai Cohen, Renee Rosnes
Release date: February 5th 2016
Renee Rosnes - Written In The Rocks (Smoke Sessions)
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Canadian jazz pianist and composer Renee Rosnes has enjoyed an expansive career, having toured and recorded with many legendary artists including Joe Henderson, Wayne Shorter, JJ Johnson, Bobby Hutcherson, James Moody, Ron Carter, and was an original member of the SFJAZZ Collective. As a leader, Rosnes has released twelve recordings, four of which have garnered Juno Awards, the Canadian equivalent of a Grammy. Renee also frequently performs in a two piano setting with her husband Bill Charlap including on his recent collaboration with Tony Bennett, The Silver Lining The Music of Jerome Kern. She is also the host of The Jazz Profiles, an interview series for CBC Radio. On her new recording Written in the Rocks, a work of extraordinary creative and intellectual ambition, Rosnes features an inspired quintet of frequent collaborators including vibraphonist Steve Nelson, saxophonist/flutist Steve Wilson, bassist Peter Washington and drummer Bill Stewart.
Release date: February 12th 2016
Avishai Cohen - Into The Silence (ECM)
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Avishai Cohen: trumpet; Yonathan Avishai: piano; Eric Revis: double bass; Nasheet Waits: drums; Bill McHenry: tenor saxophone. Avishai Cohen impressed a lot of listeners with his soulful contributions to Mark Turner's Lathe of Heaven album in 2014. Now the charismatic Tel Aviv-born trumpeter has his ECM leader debut in a program of expansive and impressionistic compositions for jazz quartet (trumpet, piano, bass, drums), augmented by tenor saxophone on a few pieces.
January 2016
New releases by Charles Lloyd
Release date: January 15th 2016
Charles Lloyd - I Long To See You (Blue Note)
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Veteran saxophonist Charles Lloyd, with bassist Reuben Rogers, drummer Eric Harland, guitarist Bill Frisell, and Greg Leisz on the steel guitar joined by the recording / production team offer lot's of traditional music from here, there and everywhere, a couple of standards, and some of Lloyd's compositions with enough of the - now - blending with the - then - creating a perfect jazz treatment of these songs for this new century. Don't be in a hurry as you listen as before you know it you may quickly travel to new heights before a selection is over. Included are two songs with vocals.
November 2015
New releases by Steve Davis
Release date: November 18th 2015
Steve Davis - Say When (Smoke)
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Trombone master Steve Davis pays tribute to the music of legendary jazz trombonist and brilliant composer J.J. Johnson, including rare Johnson gems as well as perhaps his most famous composition, Lament.
September 2015
New releases by John McLaughlin, John Scofield, Perez Patitucci Blade, Christian McBride
Release date: September 18th 2015
Christian McBride - LIVE AT THE VILLAGE VANGUARD (Mack Avenue)
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Release date: September 25th 2015
Perez Patitucci Blade - Children of the Light (Mack Avenue)
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Beyond description! If you have been following them through Wayne Shorter, you will get a thrill to hear them take it to the next level.
Release date: September 25th 2015
John Scofield - Past Present (Impulse)
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John Scofield updates his early-90s quartet with drummer Bill Stewart and saxophonist Joe Lovano by recruiting bassist Larry Grenadier for his fetching, appropriately titled impulse! debut, Past Present. Between 1990 and 1992, the celebrated guitarist released three well-received discs Meant to Be, Time on My Hands and What We Do for the Blue Note label as the John Scofield Quartet. On those records, either Marc Johnson or Dennis Irwin played bass. Nevertheless, Grenadier also has history playing with Scofielld; he toured with Scofield in support of the 1996 disc, Quiet. The nine exciting tunes Scofield penned on Past Present also reflects his philosophy on playing jazz music. He stresses the importance of being knowledgeable of the musics deep, complex roots while simultaneously being spontaneous and in the moment while performing it. For an artist with such a multifaceted discography as Scofields, getting to the root of jazz means channeling the blues, as demonstrated on the discs closing, titled-track.
Release date: September 25th 2015
John McLaughlin - Black Light (Abstract Logix)
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Heartfelt 2015 homage to Paco De Lucia recorded with his talented touring band 4th Dimension.
August 2015
New releases by Terri Lyne Carrington
Release date: August 7th 2015
Terri Lyne Carrington - Mosaic Project (Concord)
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Terri Lyne Carrington’s outstanding all-female jazz and soul “Mosaic Project” won a Grammy and this second edition “Mosaic Project: Love and Soul” likewise features some of the finest jazz and soul female talent who are really emotionally cutting loose on a number of songs, over Carrington's exotic rhythms. The impressive list of award-winning singers this time around are: Natalie Cole, Ledesi, Chaka Khan, Oleta Adams, Valerie Simpson, Nancy Wilson, Chanté Moore, Lalah Hathaway, and Paula Cole. The instrumental group includes Tia Fuller on saxophones, Ingrid Jensen on trumpet, Meshell Ndegoecello and Linda Oh on electric bass, Geri Allen, Patrice Rushen, and/or Rachel Z on keyboards. The male voice is attributed to Billy Dee Williams.
June 2015
New releases by George Cables, Steve Davis, Terrell Stafford, Robert Glasper
Release date: June 9th 2015
Antonio Sanchez - The Meridian Suite (Cam Jazz)
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Release date: June 16th 2015
Terrell Stafford - Brotherlee Love (Capri)
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A love letter from one of Philadelphia's favorite trumpet-playing sons to another, BrotherLee Love features Terell Stafford celebrating the soulful musical legacy of jazz legend Lee Morgan. The follow-up to Stafford's acclaimed homage to composer Billy Strayhorn, BrotherLee Love again features the trumpeter's regular band of brothers, his incredible quintet with saxophonist Tim Warfield, pianist Bruce Barth, bassist Peter Washington, and drummer Dana Hall. 'This project is about how I was embraced by this city and about a trumpet player who has always been a huge inspiration to me,' Stafford says.
Release date: June 16th 2015
Robert Glasper - Covered (Blue Note)
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Following the breakthrough commercial and critical success of his two GRAMMY-winning R&B-oriented Black Radio albums, Robert Glasper returns to his acoustic jazz roots with Covered (The Robert Glasper Trio recorded live at Capitol Studios). The album reunites Glasper with bassist Vicente Archer and drummer Damion Reid, reforming the trio that created his first two Blue Notes releases, Canvas (2005) and In My Element (2007). Covered, which was recorded before an intimate gathering of invited guests in Capitol Records' historic Studio A, features songs by hip-hop and R&B stars like Kendrick Lamar, Musiq Soulchild, John Legend, and Bilal alongside the jazz standard ''Stella By Starlight.'' Displaying his trademark eclecticism, Glasper also includes tunes by Radiohead and Joni Mitchell, along with a stirring collaboration with legendary singer/activist Harry Belafonte and two Glasper originals.
Release date: June 23rd 2015
George Cables - In Good Company (HighNote)
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When the classical composer Paul Dukas wrote, “In every beautiful work, it is the man the work expresses that counts first and foremost,” he could not have known he was describing the art of George Cables. One of the world’s greatest jazz pianists - one who helped define the sound of the instrument as we know it today – Cables has been making unostentatious music at the keyboard for decades. IN GOOD COMPANY, though focusing on people Cables knew in the past is not a tribute album, but rather a series of personal reminiscences from the keyboard. It looks back in time for its inspiration, but not in its musical vocabulary for George Cables’ playing remains as fresh and as surprising as the front page of tomorrow’s newspaper. On display in every track are those wonderful turns of phrases, interesting voicings and that gorgeous tone which characterizes Cables’ playing. With musical compadres Essiet Essiet and Victor Lewis, Cables explores the music of Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, John Hicks and offers a couple of his own intensely interesting compositions.
May 2015
New releases by Vincent Herring, Keith Jarrett
Release date: May 12th 2015
Keith Jarrett - Creation (ECM)
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Creation features music selected by Keith Jarrett from his improvised solo concerts recorded in 2014 in Japan, Canada, and Europe. Where in the past the solo documentation has shown the improvisational process unfolding over the course of a single evening, this time Jarrett zeroes in on the most revelatory moments from six concerts in Tokyo, Toronto, Paris and Rome. With this departure, Keith Jarrett gives us here the most up-to-the minute account of his spontaneously created music.
Release date: May 12th 2015
Keith Jarrett - Barber /Bartok (ECM)
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For much of the 1980s, Keith Jarrett balanced his improvisational activities with performances of classical music and contemporary composition. On this disc, with concert recordings from 1984 and 1985, he is heard playing Samuel Barbers Piano Concerto op. 38 and Béla Bartóks Piano Concerto No. 3, and rising to the challenges of these major works. The New York Times praised Jarretts playing of the Barber with Dennis Russell Davies in this period (a sinewy, vigorously lyrical performance … both sensitive and strong), and the Bartók with Kazuyoshi Akiyama was most enthusiastically received in Japan. After the Tokyo Bartók performance Jarrett returned alone to the stage of the Kan-i Hoken Hall to play a touching improvised encore, also documented on this recording. The album includes liner notes by Keith Jarrett and Paul Griffiths.
Release date: Tuesday May 12th 2015
Vincent Herring - Night and Day (Smoke Sessions)
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Vincent Herring, one of the great jazz saxophonists of our time, matches his soulful, expressive playing with one of the baddest trumpet players around, Jeremy Pelt, in a quintet that also features the hard-driving rhythm section of Mike LeDonne, Brandi Disterheft and Joe Farnsworth. It's a group of musicians that Herring knows well and there is an obvious rapport and chemistry from the very first note of the funky bebop opener, 'Grind Hog's Day.' Herring was Cedar Walton's saxophonist for more than 20 years and he remembers him with Walton's latin-tinged 'Theme for Jobim' and Mike LeDonne's poignant dedication, 'Walton'. Vincent remarks, 'All of us are Cedar's musical children. I wish we could have played this one for him. There are blistering hard bop anthems, too, like Herring's original 'The Adventures of Hyun Joo Lee' and Donald Byrd's classic 'Fly, Little Bird, Fly.' The full spotlight is on Vincent on a handful of quartet tunes that include 'The Gypsy', which is something of an 'alto saxophone classic' made famous by Charlie Parker, Sonny Stitt and Phil Woods. Herring loves to play this one live and he give it an unforgettably moving reading. The other quartet numbers include Tex Allen's beautiful 'There Is Something About You (I Don't Know)', the bluesy 'Wabash' by Vincent's closest stylistic model and exemplar, Cannonball Adderley, and Cole Porter's jubilant title track 'Night and Day'. Herring also contributes the infectious, closing blues, 'Smoking Paul's Stash.' Vincent Herring is modern jazz at its best unpretentious, smart, and timeless.
April 2015
New releases by Charles Lloyd, Harold Mabern, Cyrus Chestnut, Joe Lovano, Dave Douglas
Release date: Tuesday April 7th 2015
Joe Lovano, Dave Douglas - Live At Monterey Jazz Festival (Blue Note)
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Saxophonist Joe Lovano and trumpeter Dave Douglas will release Live at Monterey Jazz Festival on April 7, the debut recording from their co-led quintet Sound Prints featuring pianist Lawrence Fields, bassist Linda Oh and drummer Joey Baron. The album was recorded live at the Monterey Jazz Festival on September 21, 2013. Sound Prints takes their primary inspiration from the music of their primary inspiration Wayne Shorter the band's name is a nod to his classic "Footprints" however the quintet s focus is on new original compositions by Lovano and Douglas, as well as two new Shorter compositions in direct collaboration with the composer himself.
Release date: Tuesday April 14th 2015
Harold Mabern - Afro Blue(CMG)
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Harold Mabern's second release on Smoke Sessions Records, Afro Blue, is a very special recording featuring guest vocalists Gregory Porter, Norah Jones, Jane Monheit, Kurt Elling, and Alexis Cole. The chemistry of these artists with Harold the sound of his piano voicings combined with their voices is extraordinary. Well-known in jazz circles as a consummate accompanist for instrumental soloists, The Mabe also has a special gift for sensitive and supportive playing behind singers. It's something he takes pride in and has been doing since he first hit the stage at Birdland half a century ago with Betty Carter. 'I love vocalists. I love to play for singers because that's really how you learn how to play the piano jazz-wise. They go through every aspect of music changing keys, slow tempos to fast, playing rubato, playing verses, all of the Great American Songbook that's really how you learn how to play,' says Mabern. There is a lot of music and there are a lot of memorable performances on Afro Blue but Mabern's soulful, blues-driven style is the constant highlight. He is joined by a stellar supporting cast Jeremy Pelt, Eric Alexander and Steve Turre form a killer horn section while John Webber and Joe Farnsworth complete his reliable rhythm team. Guitarist Peter Bernstein also makes a special appearance on Steely Dan's 'Do It Again.' Mabern adds, I'll tell you, it was really the most difficult thing I've ever done. It was definitely a challenge, but I think we pulled it off. I'm quite pleased with it, you know.
Release date: Tuesday April 14th 2015
Charles Lloyd - Wild Man Dance (CMG)
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Over 50 years into an already legendary career, 2015 is shaping up to be a momentous year for Charles Lloyd. The esteemed saxophonist and composer will be awarded the NEA Jazz Masters honor celebrating his remarkable career as well as recognizing his creative brilliance in the pantheon of such other living and vital jazz legends as Sonny Rollins and Wayne Shorter. Another career landmark will arrive in April when Lloyd returns to Blue Note Records 30 years after making his label debut for the release of his magnificent new album, Wild Man Dance, a live recording of a remarkable long-form suite commissioned by the Jazztopad Festival in Wroclaw, Poland, to commemorate the festival's tenth anniversary in 2013. For the past half-century Lloyd has loomed large over the music world with both his presence and his occasional absence. A musical mystic, Lloyd has apprenticed with jazz and blues legends from Phineas Newborn to Cannonball Adderley to Howlin' Wolf, helped launch the careers of jazz luminaries like Keith Jarrett and Jack DeJohnette, co-headlined rock events with Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin, collaborated with fellow artistic explorers from Ken Kesey to Lawrence Ferlinghetti, pioneered the world music movement by teaming up with the Hungarian guitarist Gabor Szabo and Indian tabla master Zakir Hussain, and became one of the first million-selling jazz artists with the global success of his 1966 album Forest Flower. The six-movement Wild Man Dance Suite was recorded in its premiere performance at the festival and features pianist Gerald Clayton, bassist Joe Sanders, and drummer Gerald Cleaver, as well as Greek lyra virtuoso Sokratis Sinopoulos and Hungarian cimbalom maestro Miklós Lukács, who color and texture and rhythmically charge the music. Lloyd's compositions are at turns elegant, graceful, turbulent, dynamic, meditative, pacific and emotive. The music evokes a sense of transcendence and mysterious journey from the opening ''Flying Over the Odra Valley'' that spotlights Lukács's cosmic hammered delivery as well as the leader's tenor saxophone brio, to the lyricism and dynamics of the epic ''Wild Man Dance'' finale where all the band members gracefully and gleefully converse.
Release date: Tuesday April 21st 2015
Cyrus Chestnut- A Million Colors in Your Mind (Highnote)
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A certain naturalism and hard-earned grace run through the compositions and playing of Cyrus Chestnut, the Baltimore-bred modern-mainstream player best known for his work as a resourceful solo pianist and dynamic ensemble leader. Those qualities shine through again on A MILLION COLORS IN YOUR MIND, his first recording as a leader on the HighNote label. Gospel-blues shades color several pieces and Chestnut slides easily from lush Art Tatum-like voicings to austere single note statements, from Powell-like flurries of scales to two-handed forays into Jaki Byard territories. With bassist David Williams, whose tenure with the late Cedar Walton makes him the perfect choice for a piano trio, and drummer Victor Lewis, Cyrus delivers ten great tunes and puts his own unique spin on all of them. HighNote Records is extremely proud to welcome Cyrus Chestnut to its exclusive roster of artists.
March 2015
New releases by Eliane Elias, Marcus Miller, Steve Turre
Release date: Tuesday March 10th 2015
Steve Turre - Spiritman (Smoke Sessions)
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The jazz world needs more Steve Turres. A powerful technician with a soulful tone and quick wit, Turre is perhaps the leading trombonist of this generation. Turre also wails on his self-designed conch shells, making robust sound that can be both eerie and serene. --Rolling Stone -- He has a warm, controlled sound and articulates notes without much hard-consonant attack: his foggy ease can almost mask the extreme rigor behind his playing. It can also grant him the expressive resources of a singer. --New York Times -- Turre taps into the continuum of the jazz tradition to keep it moving forward. --New York Daily News
Release date: Tuesday March 17th 2015
Marcus Miller - Afrodeezia (CMG)
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Release date: Tuesday March 31st 2015
Eliane Elias - Made In Brazil (Concord)
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Eliane Elias Made in Brazil, marks a musical homecoming for the multi-GRAMMY®-nominated pianist/keyboardist/singer/composer. In her three-decade long career as a solo artist, Made in Brazil results from the first time she s recorded a disc in her native Brazil since moving to the United States in 1981. Elias wears many hats on this project as producer, composer, lyricist, arranger, pianist and vocalist. "I am completely immersed and involved in every single detail of the music and the recording process, from the birth of an idea until its completion through every aspect of the production until it reaches the public," she explains. Along with co-producers, Steve Rodby and Marc Johnson, her bass playing musical partner, Elias ventured home and recruited a splendid cast of Brazilian musicians that include electric bassist Marcelo Mariano; guitarists Marcus Teixeira and Roberto Menescal; drummers Edu Ribeiro and Rafael Barata; and percussionists Mauro Refosco and Marivaldo dos Santos. Elias peppered the sessions with delightful special guest performances from Mark Kibble and the multi-GRAMMY® Award-winning gospel vocal group Take 6; her singer/songwriter-daughter Amanda Brecker; one of Brazil's most celebrated R&B stars, Ed Motta; and the distinguished bossa nova composer Roberto Menescal. Elias also invited Rob Mathes to handle orchestral arrangements on seven of the 12 tracks, which were recorded in London at the legendary Abbey Road Studios. It's so touching to hear the music unfold," she says of the orchestral arrangements after they were overdubbed onto the São Paulo sessions. You can see the musical notes on paper, but it s something else to hear them realized and performed by members of the London Symphonic Orchestra. In terms of material, Made in Brazil contains six Elias originals plus two Ary Barroso standards, two Roberto Menescal chestnuts, and two Antônio Carlos Jobim world-renowned gems. Elias, who did all the arrangements for the basic tracks, said that she purposely wanted Made in Brazil to incorporate three generations of Brazilian composers. But it s not a retro record, she clarifies. It's very contemporary yet with the tradition and authenticity of Brazil; it s music of the world with Brazilian DNA.
February 2015
New releases by Tim Warfield, Alex Sipiagin, Dayna Stephens, Lage Lund, Eddie Henderson
Release date: Tuesday February 17th 2015
Eddie Henderson - Collective Portrait (Smoke Sessions)
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Legendary jazz trumpeter Eddie Henderson debuts a quintet that reunites him with fellow jazz masters Gary Bartz and George Cables, featuring four new acoustic jazz versions of music from Eddie s popular 70s albums that have been heavily sampled by acid-jazz and hip-hop artists.
Release date: Tuesday February 17th 2015
Tim Warfield - Spherical (Criss Cross)
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Tim Warfield's eighth Criss Cross leader recording Spherical, which references the middle name of its primary subject, immortal jazz pianist-composer Thelonious Sphere Monk, is the tenor/soprano saxophonist's most idiosyncratic and personal document to date. To be specific, Warfield and an efflorescent quintet of virtuoso teamplayers (Eddie Henderson, trumpet; Orrin Evans, piano;Ben Wolfe, bass; Clarence Penn, drums) personalize six Monk compositions (Off Minor, Ugly Beauty, Oska T, Gallop's Gallop, Coming on the Hudson, and Round Midnight) and That Old Man (which Monk recorded as 'Children's Song'in 1964), as well as an original Warfield blues dedicated to Monk's first employer, Coleman Hawkins. All members improvise with a creative force that shows the depth of their engagement with the essence of these masterworks; the will to swing defines the proceedings throughout.
Release date: Tuesday February 17th 2015
Alex Sipiagin - Balance 38-58 (Criss Cross)
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Following up his chord-less quartet outing of 2013 Overlooking Moments(CRC 1354), trumpeter Alex Sipiagin returns with a compelling sextet lineup featuring David Binney, Adam Rogers, John Escreet and Matt Brewer, every one of them an esteemed bandleader in the Criss Cross fold. Eric Harland, leader of his own Voyager group and a valued presence on 10 prior Criss Cross releases (including two by Sipiagin), rounds out the ensemble on drums. The dense yet flowing counterpoint, knotty lyricism and effortless groove anchoring these original pieces make Balance 38-58 a vital addition to Sipiagin's catalog.
Release date: Tuesday February 17th 2015
Dayna Stephens - Reminiscent (Criss Cross)
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For his third Criss Cross release, following Today is Tomorrow (CRC 1345) and I'll Take My Chances (CRC 1361) tenor saxophonist Dayna Stephens presents a fresh take on the 'saxophone battle' genre in partnership with rising star Walter Smith III, himself the leader of the critically acclaimed III (CRC 1328). Complemented by a state-of-the-art rhythm section of A-list 30-somethings (Aaron Parks, piano; Mike Moreno, guitar; Harish Raghavan; and Rodney Green,drums) the protagonists juxtapose their distinctive instrumental voices and apply their melody-centric sensibilities to a varied program comprising original music, as well as the iconic two-tenor standard Blues Up And Down and Bill Evans' Blue In Green. Less a cutting contest than a forum for collective story-telling, Reminiscent is a tour de force that will repay repeated listenings.
Release date: Tuesday February 17th 2015
Lage Lund - Idlewild (Criss Cross)
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Along with label mates Mike Moreno and Adam Rogers, guitarist Lage Lund is one of the most distinctive guitarists on the current scene. His previous three Criss Cross dates have established his credentials as an up and coming talent of great promise. For his latest effort, he brings back to the fold his close associates Ben Street on bass and Bill Stewart on drums, both heard on Lund's previous sets, Foolhardy (CRC 1360) and Unlikely Stories (CRC 1321). The difference this time is that he forgoes the piano accompaniment for a bare bones trio approach that is quite refreshing and a further step forward. The mix includes a few originals and a nicely chosen selection of standards, including the iconic Bobby Hutcherson piece Isn't This My Sound Around Me.
January 2015
New releases by Chris Potter
Release date: Tuesday January 13th 2015
Chris Potter - Imaginary Cities (ECM)
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Imaginary Cities is the recording premiere of saxophonist Chris Potter s new Underground Orchestra. At the core of this larger ensemble is the personnel of his long-established Underground quartet with Adam Rogers, Craig Taborn and Nate Smith now joined by two bassists, a string quartet, and Potter s old comrade from Dave Holland Quintet days, vibes and marimba man Steve Nelson. The title composition is a suite, panoramic in its reach, with movements subtitled Compassion , Dualities , Disintegration and Rebuilding . The scope of the work, and its contrasting moods and thematic development, inspire some of Potter s finest playing. His saxes fly high above his idealized cityscapes or launch into dialogues or group improvising with its gifted inhabitants. Four further pieces Lament , Firefly , Sky and Shadow Self extend the feeling of the suite, successfully combining both tightly written material and very open areas involving all members of the orchestra. References are multi-idiomatic and multicultural, and Potter, who counts Charlie Parker with Strings amongst his formative enthusiasms, had Arabic and Indian string sections in mind, as well as contemporary composition, when shaping this material. Imaginary Cities was recorded in December 2013 in New York s Avatar Studio and produced by Manfred Eicher. Release of the album is followed by US performances with the Underground Orchestra in New York and San Francisco.
October 2014
New releases by Bill Frisel, MSMW, Kenny Baron/Dave Holland
Release date: Tuesday October 7th 2014
Bill Frisell - Guitar in the Space Age (Okeh)
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Homage to the American electric guitarists of the 50's and 60's. Guitarist and composer Bill Frisell mines the catalogue of the guitar-based music from the 1950s and 1960s that first inspired him to pick up the instrument. Joining Frisell for this album of musical memories are the members of his working trio, bassist Tony Scherr and drummer Kenny Wollesen, along with frequent collaborator Greg Liesz, a master of lap and pedal steel guitars. This superb quartet will explore the music of Pete Seeger, The Byrds, Junior Wells, rock pioneers Duane Eddy, Link Wray and The Kinks, surf music legends The Beach Boys, Dick Dale, The Ventures and The Astronauts, and country music stars Chet Atkins, Speedy West, Jimmy Bryant and Merle Travis, with Frisell’s own compositions sprinkled in. This performance promises a rare look into Bill Frisell’s formative influences, from a time when the electric guitar was in its infancy and creating a startlingly new sound, pushing popular music into the future.
Release date: Tuesday October 7th 2014
Kenny Barron/Dave Holland - Art of Conversation (Impulse)
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Impulse! Records has announced the Oct. 14 release of The Art of Conversation, a duo recording featuring pianist Kenny Barron and bassist Dave Holland. The two musicians began performing together as a duo throughout Europe and the U.S. in 2012. The album includes four Holland originals—“The Oracle,” “Waltz for K. W.,” “In Your Arms” and “Dr. Do Right”—and three from Barron: “The Only One,” “Rain” and “Seascape.” Rounding it out are covers of Thelonious Monk’s “In Walked Bud,” Charlie Parker’s “Segment” and Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington’s “Daydream.”
September 2014
New releases by Eric Reed, Mark Turner, Charlie Haden / Jim Hall - and a key re-releases from John Coltrane and from Charles Lloyd.
Release date: Tuesday September 9th 2014
Eric Reed - Groovewise (Smoke Sessions Records)
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Music dedicated to the memories of Mulgrew Miller, Cedar Walton, Marian McPartland, and the jazz soldiers past and present who continue to keep the music going until the last cat has swung. Includes in-depth interview with Reed about this quartet, his music selections, and his reaction to the deaths of Miller, Walton, and McPartland.
Release date: Tuesday September 9th 2014
Chick Corea - Trilogy 3CD (Concord)
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Trilogy is a recording to rank with the landmarks of Corea's career. Trilogy is a triple-CD set recorded live around the world with his spectacularly virtuosic trio featuring bassist Christian McBride and drummer Brian Blade, both star leaders in their own right (and previously the rhythmic backbone in Corea's Five Peace Band). A marvel of live recorded sound, particularly for having been captured in multiple stops on the road, Trilogy sees the trio reinvent classic Corea compositions (such as 'Spain'), as well as previously unreleased originals ('Piano Sonata: The Moon'). The group also performs an array of jazz standards (including two Thelonious Monk tunes) and even re-imagines a Prelude by fin-de-siècle Russian composer Alexander Scriabin ('Op. 11, No. 9'). The recordings were made live in Washington, D.C., and Oakland, CA; in Spain, Switzerland and Austria; and in Slovenia, Turkey and Japan. Corea, McBride and Blade are joined by special guests on three tracks: flutist Jorge Pardo and guitarist Nino Josele in Madrid ('My Foolish Heart' and, aptly, 'Spain') and vocalist Gayle Moran Corea, the pianist's wife, in Sapporo ('Someday My Prince Will Come').
Release date: Tuesday September 9th 2014
Mark Turner - Lathe Of Heaven (ECM)
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Mark Turner is one of the most admired saxophonists of his generation, renowned for his exploratory intellect and intimate expressivity on the full range of the tenor horn. Lathe of Heaven is his sixth album as a leader but the first under his own name since 2001. Its also his leader debut for ECM, following two fine albums for the label in the cooperative trio Fly with Larry Grenadier and Jeff Ballard, plus appearances on key ECM recordings by Billy Hart and Enrico Rava. Turner leads a quartet of kindred spirits here, often entwining serpentine with rising-star trumpeter Avishai Cohen as they play long, introspective lines of hypnotic grace; and with the lithe rhythm section of bassist Joe Martin and drummer Marcus Gilmore, there is subtle volatility in the air.
Release date: Tuesday September 16th 2014
Medeski Scofield Martin & Wood - Juice (Indirecto)
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The ever-evolving, genre-defying collaboration between Medeski Martin & Wood and John Scofield continues to flourish. Since first convening almost 17 years ago, Medeski Scofield Martin & Wood's kinship both onstage and off has fostered an escalating degree of musical interplay, exquisitely captured on Juice their third studio album available September 16, 2014, via Medeski Martin & Wood's Indirecto imprint. Juice combines the group's signature grooves with a newfound lyrical melodicism over a program of original compositions and four covers including a powerful hymn-like version of Bob Dylan's The Times They Are A-Changin' and a dizzying dub deconstruction of Cream's Sunshine of Your Love. Throughout, Juice showcases the quartet's dynamic interplay and razor-sharp improvisational acumen. Reacting to each other is really what it's about, says Scofield, and that's what makes this music work. We've gotten to the point where we can come together and make something that is identifiable and organic, yet it's growing and changing all the time.
Release date: Tuesday September 16th 2014
Charles Lloyd - Manhatten Stories (Resonance) 2CD
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Two 1965 New York Concerts, Disc 1 recorded at Judson Hall & Disc 2 recorded at Slugs' Saloon. A remarkable and previously unrecorded quartet featuring three jazz giants: guitarist Gábor Szabó, bassist Ron Carter and drummer Pete La Roca. 'It was a specific time and place'; Lloyd told Manhattan Stories annotator Don Heckman. 'We all felt like the boundaries were being dissolved and we could do or try anything. This is a music of freedom and wonder -- we were young and on the move.' The Judson Hall recording comes from the archives of Resonance founder George Klabin, whose trove has previously yielded treasures from Bill Evans and Jimmy Giuffre. The Slugs' performances were recorded by Bjorn von Schlebrugge, who accompanied Lloyd to his Manhattan gigs. Deluxe 2 CD Digi-Pack Edition contains a rich booklet with liner notes by Stanley Crouch, Willard Jenkins, Don Heckman & Michael Cuscuna. Mastered for CD and vinyl by Bernie Grundman. A must have for Charles Lloyd fans, jazz collectors & audiophiles! Featured Artists: Charles Lloyd: saxophone & flute, Gábor Szabó: guitar, Ron Carter: bass, Pete La Roca: drums.
Release date: Tuesday September 23rd 2014
John Coltrane - Offering: Live At Temple University (Resonance) 2CD
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Offering: Live At Temple University documents a legendary concert by John Coltrane at Temple University in his hometown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on November 11, 1966, six weeks after his fortieth birthday and nine months before his untimely death. Offering, available on September 23, 2014 in a deluxe format 2-CD digi-pak, incorporates a look that is contiguous with the graphic identity of Impulse! Records, Coltrane s exclusive label from 1961 until the end of his life. This is the first officially sanctioned release of an undiscovered, complete Coltrane performance since 2005. It captures Coltrane in exemplary form, navigating the language he had developed during the last phase of his musical path with passion and pellucid logic. Operating at equivalent levels of invention and energy are three members of his working quintet of one year's standing his wife, Alice Coltrane, on piano; Pharoah Sanders on reeds and flute; and Rashied Ali on drums. Offering is emblematic of the efflorescent energies and radical ideas that Coltrane himself had much to do with bringing forth during the seven years after 1960, when he left the employ of Miles Davis to pursue his vision as a leader. There are versions of Coltrane's 1960 hits Naima and My Favorite Things, a transformational reworking of the 1964 ballad Crescent, a spirit-raising rendering of Leo, which he had recorded on several previous occasions during 1966, and the hymnal Offering, which he would record on a February 15, 1967 studio session that Impulse! would release during the 90s as Spiritual Offering.
Release date: Tuesday September 30th 2014
Charlie Haden & Jim Hall - Charlie Haden - Jim Hall (CMG)
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Charlie Haden-Jim Hall is a previously-unreleased recording of a stunning duo performance by these two recently departed masters at the 1990 Montreal International Jazz Festival. This album documents a rarified journey, writes pianist Ethan Iverson in the album's liner notes. Charlie Haden and Jim Hall knew each for over a half century, played more than a few concerts together, and shared many ideals, but this is their first concert-length recording. It is a major addition to the discography of both artists. Upon hearing the recording guitarist Pat Metheny remarked What a treat it is to hear two of my heroes and my two favorite personal duet partners playing in a setting like this! This is a recording for the ages. At first this might seem an unusual pairing the dean of the avant-garde bass and a fellow that defined mainstream jazz guitar but Charlie Haden and Jim Hall shared much common ground. Besides the decades of jazz history they each walked on stage with on July 2, 1990, they also both proved themselves to be masters of the Art of the Duo over the course of their illustrious careers: Haden with Metheny, Keith Jarrett, Ornette Coleman, Alice Coltrane, Kenny Barron, and more; Hall with Metheny, Bill Evans, Ron Carter, and George Shearing, among others. Together Haden and Hall bring thundering intimacy and gentle envelope-pushing on this profound series of duos.
August 2014
New releases by Orrin Evans, Tom Harrell, Stefano Bollani
Release date: Tuesday August 12th 2014
Orrin Evans - Liberation Blues (Smoke Sessions Records)
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Debut live recording of a new quintet featuring drummer Bill Stewart and the first collaboration of Sean Jones and JD Allen includes music dedicated to the memory of bassist Dwayne Burno including the Liberation Blues Suite featuring Dwayne s compositions. Eight-panel digipak featuring photography by Jimmy Katz includes an in-depth interview with Orrin about the band, the music, and the untimely loss of Dwayne Burno.
Release date: Tuesday August 12th 2014
Tom Harrell - Trip (HighNote)
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Few people would fit the "jazz hero" mold less than Tom Harrell, whose modesty and lack of pretense is in direct inverse proportion to his talent. And yet, Harrell is revered, not for playing fast, high or loudly, but for his supremacy at fashioning astonishingly beautiful aural shapes with a tone of immense gentleness and depth. Many listeners may be familiar with his compositions, while many will have remembered his fine work in the 70's alongside Bob Berg in Horace Silver's band, and a decade later with Phil Woods. His essence, however, is most apparent in the small groups that he leads. Harrell is featured here with saxophonist Mark Turner in his "experimental" quartet, called simply Trip.
Release date: Tuesday August 25th 2014
Stefano Bollani - Joy in Spite of Everything (ECM)
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Stefano Bollani is an artist of ebullient virtuosity, with uncommon sensitivity and range. The Italian pianist has proved to be at home on ECM improvising solo or leading a trio, as well as engaging in duos with Enrico Rava, Chick Corea and Brazilian bandolim player Hamilton de Holanda. With Joy in Spite of Everything an album of new compositions by the pianist for a trans-Atlantic quintet Bollani has made his most beautifully textured and infectiously lyrical statement yet. He recorded these nine pieces at New York Citys Avatar Studios with the Danish rhythm section from his Stone in the Water trio bassist Jesper Bodilsen and drummer Morten Lund plus two prominent American players and ECM intimates: guitarist Bill Frisell and saxophonist Mark Turner. As its title reflects, Joy in Spite of Everything brims with an indefatigable lightness of spirit despite the inevitable shadows of life.
July 2014
New releases by Cyrus Chestnut
Release date: Tuesday July 8th 2014
Cyrus Chestnut - Midnight Melodies (Smoke Sessions Records)
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THIS NEARLY PERFECT SET OF PIANO TRIO, captured at Smoke Jazz & Supper Club in New York, is Cyrus Chestnut s first live recording date. It retains all of the feeling of a live performance and Cyrus claims that Smoke's Steinway B is the best piano in the city. 'It s just my ticket. We connect. It s warm and it s sharp at the same time with a lot of earth in it. I like clubs like the Jazz Standard or Smoke, where you can sit down at the piano and get down-home, because that s the kind of audience they attract.' Joining Cyrus are bassist Curtis Lundy and drummer Victor Lewis. Together they take listeners on a musical odyssey that includes music by Billy Strayhorn, John Coltrane, and, of course, John Hicks. There are also originals by Victor Lewis and Cyrus culminating in an impressive extemporaneous medley. Cyrus is one of the great piano voices of his generation or any generation as he proves again with this rewarding live debut. Midnight Melodies is available for purchase as an 8-panel CD-Deluxe Album complete with liner notes, interview and additional photos.
June 2014
A great month ahead with the strongest line-up of new releases so far this year. New releases by Jimmy Cobb , Keith Jarrett, Joshua Redman, Hiromi, Bobby Hutcherson, David Binney, Jonathan Blake, Opus5 and Justin Robinson
Release date: Tuesday June 10th 2014
Jimmy Cobb - The Original Mob (Smoke Sessions Records)
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Famous as the last surviving member of Miles Davis Kind of Blue band, Jimmy Cobb s music career over the past 60 years includes other memorable work with Earl Bostic, Dinah Washington, Sarah Vaughn, Wynton Kelly, and Wes Montgomery. He was teaching a master class at the New School for Social Research in the mid-1980s when two of his students demanded his attention: Brad Mehldau reminded him of his old friend Wynton Kelly, and Peter Bernstein of Grant Green. He says, There weren't too many young kids going for that. They were soon joined by young Chicago bassist John Webber, and Jimmy Cobb's Mob was born. They re all major players, and here they reunite for the first time in many years! A classic Cobb-like set of swinging music, with a few modern surprises thrown in.
Release date: Tuesday June 10th 2014
David Binney - ANACAPA (Criss Cross)
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David Binney's seventh recording, Anacapa, is his fourth for the Criss Cross label. It is entirely comprised of original music, and is the first on which he frames his distinctive alto and tenor saxophone concept with electric instruments and a global array of beats. Propelling the flow of the 8 groove-oriented compositions is an ace rhythm section of John Escreet on piano and Fender Rhodes, Matt Brewer on electric bass and either Obed Calvaire or Dan Weiss on drums; all but one of the tracks feature the two-guitar tandem of Wayne Krantz and Adam Rogers.
Release date: Tuesday June 10th 2014
Jonathan Blake - Gone, But Not Forgotten (Criss Cross)
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Johnathan Blake, one of the most in-demand drummers of his generation, has done stellar work as a member of the Tom Harrell Quintet, the MIngus Big Band, the Kenny Barron Trio and many others. Having brought his fire and agility to two Criss Cross sessions by trumpeter Alex Sipiagin, Blake now offers his first Criss Cross album as a leader, Gone, But Not Forgotten. The lineup is sparse but tremendously explosive - how could it not be, with evolving tenor saxophone masters Mark Turner and Chris Potter paired alongside Ben Street on bass. As the title suggests, Gone, But Not Forgotten takes inspiration from greats in the jazz world who are no longer with us. That can be a somber subject, but Blake and his quartet convey a sense of the unbridled joy and invention that marks jazz improvisation at his highest levels. Such is the lesson taught by the departed players Blake has chosen to honor: Charles Fambrough, Trudy Pitts, Sid Simmons, Cedar Walton, Jim Hall, Mulgrew Miller, Paul Motian, Frank Foster, Frank Wess and Eddie Harris.
Release date: Tuesday June 10th 2014
Opus 5 - Progression (Criss Cross)
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On its third Criss Cross recording since they made their 2011 debut with Introducing Opus 5, Opus 5 - a collaborative quintet of New York A-listers Alex Sipiagin (trumpet) Seamus Blake (tenor sax), David Kikoski (piano and Fender Rhodes), Boris Kozlov (bass) and Donald Edwards (drums) - continues to uphold the high standards that its steadily increasing fan base has come to expect. Building on multiple tours over the last three years, and simpatico developed over their mutually extended tenure in various units devoted to Charles Mingus' music, they play the evocative tunes - three by Edwards, two by Kozlov, and one apiece by Blake and Sipiagin. With the intelligence, creative abandon and cohesion, burnishing Opus 5's stature as 21st century inheritors and extenders of the legacy left by such predecessor quintets as Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and Miles Davis' units of the 1950s and 1960s is intact.
Release date: Tuesday June 10th 2014
Justin Robinson - Alana's Fantasy (Criss Cross)
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Justin Robinson's adventurous alto saxophone sound is at the center of this powerful quintet session, a tribute to the late bassist and Criss Cross regular Dwayne Burno. Featuring Burno himself on bass in one of the last sessions before his untimely death in late december 2013. Alana's Fantasy finds Robinson and his esteemed colleagues in peak form, playing standards, originals, music by Jackie McLean, Thelonious Monk and more. Trumpeter Michael Rodriguez, a noted Criss Cross leader and sideman, joins Robinson in the frontline, while Sullivan Fortner makes his Criss Cross debut, and drummer Willie Jones III his first label appearance since 2008.
Release date: Tuesday June 17th 2014
Keith Jarrett/Charlie Haden - Last Dance (ECM)
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Keith Jarrett and Charlie Haden broaden the scope of their duo project to showcase jazz classics like Thelonious Monk s Round Midnight and Bud Powell's spritely Dance Of The Infidels. Love songs, however, are to the fore in this selection, with tender versions of My Old Flame, My Ship, It Might As Well Be Spring, Everything Happens To Me, and Every Time We Say Goodbye as well as alternate takes of Where Can I Go Without You and Goodbye, every bit as touching as the Jasmine renditions. When we play together it s like two people singing, said Jarrett of his reunion with Haden. The intentions of the song are honored, the shades of meaning in a melody or a lyric explored instrumentally. As Charlie Haden put it, Keith really listens, and I listen. That's the secret. It s about listening. The music of Last Dance was recorded at Keith Jarrett s home studio is is available on CD and vinyl.
Release date: Tuesday June 17th 2014
Joshua Redman - Trios Live (Nonesuch)
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Nonesuch Records presents saxophonist Joshua Redman's Trios Live. The album was recorded at New York City s Jazz Standard and Washington, DC s Blues Alley during stands with two different trios Redman and drummer Gregory Hutchinson with bassist Matt Penman (Jazz Standard) and Redman and Hutchinson with bassist Reuben Rogers (Blues Alley). Trios Live features four original tunes by Redman and interpretations of three additional songs. "This album is dedicated to all those folks, all around the world, of all ages, identities, allegiances, and persuasions, who come out, day to day, night after night, to see and hear live jazz," Redman says in the album's liner notes. "You bear witness to this music; you testify to that moment. You are here. You were there. You made it possible. You make it real. You are the reason. You were the point."
Release date: Tuesday June 17th 2014
Hiromi - Alive (Telarc)
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For her latest release, pianist/composer Hiromi continues to work with the dynamic and technically gifted trio that includes herself and two veteran players contra-bass guitarist Anthony Jackson (Paul Simon, The O'Jays, Steely Dan, Chick Corea) and drummer Simon Phillips (Toto, The Who, Judas Priest, David Gilmour, Jack Bruce). There is still plenty to explore musically in the challenging compositions that Hiromi composes. The new compositions and energy will be based on one's life, hence the title Alive.
Release date: Tuesday June 24th 2014
Bobby Hutcherson - Enjoy The View (Blue Note)
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NEA Jazz Master Bobby Hutcherson makes his triumphant return to Blue Note Records, where the virtuoso vibraphonist started his career in the early 60s, with the superb album, Enjoy the View. The vibrant session is produced by Blue Note president Don Was. Recorded by an all-star collective of saxophonist David Sanborn and organist Joey DeFrancesco, and featuring drummer Billy Hart, the Hutcherson-sparked group plays seven original compositions that range from cool, gentle grooves to fiery outbursts of exuberance. At heart, the album soars thanks to the divine musical alchemy among the performers an assemblage of veteran artists who play at the top of their game.'I'm happy to have a recording come out on Blue Note,' says the 73-year-old Hutcherson. 'I've had a long-term association with the label. I'm thrilled to be back here.' Was concurs: 'Bobby not only has an incredible history with Blue Note as the preeminent voice of the vibes, but he still remains the giant of the instrument.'His stellar live quartet album Without a Net was one of 2013's top jazz albums. Enjoy the View stands as a valuable addition to the classic catalog of the most-respected and longest-running jazz label in the world.
May 2014
Things are hotting up as the jazz year gets into gear. New releases by Paul Bley, Sonny Rollins, Louis Hayes, Ralph Bowen, Marc Ribot, Mike LeDonne and Larry Goldings
Release date: Tuesday May 6th 2014
Sonny Rollins - Road Shows Vol 3 (Okeh)
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This compilation of Sonny Rollins' live performances culled from the past dozen years is some of his finest on record: fiery, witty, unflaggingly engaged. Featuring several different Rollins ensembles, "Road Shows, Volume Three" is not only the best of the series, but goes a long way towards explaining why Sonny still plays to such widespread acclaim.
Release date: Tuesday May 6th 2014
Paul Bley - Play Blue, Oslo Concert (ECM)
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A rare solo performance by one of jazz s great originals, Canadian pianist Paul Bley, recorded live at the Oslo Jazz Festival in 2008 by Jan Erik Kongshaug and Manfred Eicher. There is nothing else quite like a Paul Bley concert. As the New York Times noted, Mr. Bley long ago found a way to express his long, elegant, voluminous thoughts in a manner that implies complete autonomy from its given setting but isn't quite free jazz. The music runs on a mixture of deep historical knowledge and its own inviolable principles." Here Bley, encouraged by an attentive and enthusiastic Norwegian audience shapes music in the moment, plays his own compositions, and brings the music to a fine conclusion in a performance of Sonny Rollins's Pent-Up House .
Release date: Tuesday May 13th 2014
Louis Hayes - Return of the Jazz Communicators (Smoke Session Records)
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Louis Hayes is arguably the sound of modern jazz, with an unmistakable musical vibe. Here, he reforms a band he co-led with Freddie Hubbard and Joe Henderson, with a new sound: the vibes/tenor combination of Steve Nelson and Abraham Burton. Hayes provided the rhythmic drive for some of the most important and legendary recordings in jazz history including classics by Horace Silver, Cannonball Adderley, Oscar Peterson, Joe Henderson, Dexter Gordon, and McCoy Tyner.A perfect set of small group jazz including ballad features for Nelson and Burton, a toe-tapping tribute to Mulgrew Miller, and inspired playing all around!
Release date: Tuesday May 13th 2014
David Weiss - When Words Fail(Motema Music)
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Award-winning producer, leader, arranger, and trumpeter David Weiss (mastermind behind highly-regarded ensemble projects The Cookers, New Jazz Composers Octet, Point of Departure, and Endangered Species: The Music of Wayne Shorter) steps out under his own name with a richly compelling set that confirms his bona fide reputation as a key leader and composer on the contemporary jazz scene.
Release date: Tuesday May 13th 2014
Ralph Bowen - Standard Deviation (Posi-Tone)
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Everyone will notice a change from the norm as saxophonist Ralph Bowen shows up strongly on the scene with "Standard Deviation." His fifth release on Posi-Tone unleashes a powerful quartet date featuring the solid harmonic foundation of pianist Bill O'Connell, bassist Kenny Davis, and the explosive metrics of drummer Donald Edwards. Many jazz fans may already be familiar with Bowen's earlier work, but now the time has come for another generation to discover the bold and melodic mastery of Ralph Bowen. We are confident that "Standard Deviation" and Ralph Bowen's musical message will surely delight the ears of serious listeners and bring a joyous shout and groovy swing to jazz fans everywhere.
Release date: Tuesday May 13th 2014
John Escreet - Sound, Space and Structures (Sunnyside)
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Jazz and contemporary improvised music have had numerous iconoclasts, who questioned and reshaped forms that they inherited, and, as an aural tradition, the music develops as these boundary pushers collaborate and share their knowledge, so the future generations of musicians can push ahead. Pianist/composer John Escreet knew that he wanted to perform with just such a musician - the legendary saxophonist Evan Parker - for a long while. He was finally able to find the opportunity to partner Parker with his astounding Trio, featuring bassist John Hébert and drummer Tyshawn Sorey, on the remarkable Sounds, Space and Structures.
Release date: Tuesday May 13th 2014
Marc Ribot - Live at the Village Vanguard (Pi)
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Live at the Village Vanguard captures guitarist Marc Ribot in an electrifying set with his trio, featuring bassist Henry Grimes and drummer Chad Taylor. Not only was it Ribot's debut as a leader at the iconic venue, the occasion also marked the first appearance by Grimes since 1966 right before his mysterious 35-year disappearance from the scene when he played on the landmark album Albert Ayler In Greenwich Village. Grimes subsequent re-emergence on the jazz scene in 2003 with all of his performing faculties intact is testament to the power of music and the human spirit.
Release date: Tuesday May 20th 2014
Mike LeDonne - I Love Music (Savant)
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The organ trio has been a staple of small-group jazz for more than half a century, but Mike LeDonne has expanded its range and power by adding another voice, that of the superlative tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander. With LeDonne scorching the Hammond B3, Alexander adding heat to the proceedings at every turn and Peter Bernstein and Joe Farnsworth stoking the boiler room, this is an album that grooves emphatically from the outset the sort of session that will surely have listeners grinning from ear to ear.
Release date: Tuesday May 27th 2014
Larry Goldings - Ramshackle Serenade (Pirouet)
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This trio, Larry Goldings, Peter Bernstein and Bill Stewart, is an unusual camaraderie of world-class players; as they play you can sense the deep respect they have for one another. Their intensely sensual music grooves and glistens. With the trio's extensive use of music's dynamic possibilities, the passion and joy of this amazingly versatile instrumental lineup is there for all to hear.
April 2014
Some good releases this month. Look out for new releases by Ellis Marsalis, David Hazeltine, JD Allen, Jerry Bergonzi, Brian Blade and Orrin Evans
Release date: Tuesday April 8th 2014
Ellis Marsalis - On The Second Occasion (Elm)
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Ellis Marsalis has become one of the most renowned music educators in the U.S., imparting his extensive knowledge of jazz to students like pianist and vocalist Harry Connick, Jr., trumpeter Terence Blanchard, and of course, his four sons. This sequel to the acclaimed release On the First Occasion features a more upbeat and fiery side to Ellis Marsalis performance of standards.
Release date: Tuesday April 8th 2014
David Hazeltine - For All We Know (Smoke Sessions Records)
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First recorded collaboration between pianist David Hazeltine and tenor saxophonist Seamus Blake. Includes several new tunes written for Cedar Walton and several from Walton's book, serving as an unofficial tribute to an artist who was a major influence on, and friend to, David Hazeltine. Features Walton's frequent rhythm section of David Williams and Joe Farnsworth. A well-balanced set of swinging, beautiful jazz.
Release date: Tuesday April 22nd 2014
JD Allen - Bloom (Savant)
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Every new recording by tenor saxophonist JD Allen serves to solidify his reputation as one of the finest, most adventurous young musicians playing today. With a gently swinging, very personal vibrato he weaves his way into territory that he has charted for himself. With pianist Orrin Evans, JD takes us on a intensely personal journey through an ever-changing landscape of jazz as he sees it with playing that earned Allen a blaze of critical attention signaling his ascension to the upper ranks of the contemporary jazz world.
Release date: Tuesday April 22nd 2014
Jerry Bergonzi - Intersecting Lines (Savant)
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The title says it all. Intersecting Lines is about the interplay between saxophonists Jerry Bergonzi and Dick Oatts. This is an old-school blowing session in the context of hard bop and bebop, and the focus is squarely on the two horns. Bass and drum solos are few and far between -- and brief. Bergonzi's style is influenced by the titans but clearly his own. Oatts is a perfect foil; both men take unexpected twists and turns in their solos, employing sudden moves and breakneck runs with razor-sharp articulation. Great compositions and inspired improvising make a self-recommending release.
Release date: Tuesday April 29th 2014
Brian Blade - Landmarks (Blue Note)
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Landmarks, the fourth recording by Brian Blade & The Fellowship Band, marks their return to Blue Note Records, released in cooperation with the Shreveport, Louisiana based label, Mid-City Records. Brian chose to record seven of the ten compositions in his hometown of Shreveport at Blade Studios which was opened in 2011 by Brian's older brother, the drummer and producer Brady Blade, Jr. Shreveport is an inland port city situated 40 miles south of Arkansas, 20 miles east of Texas, and 100 miles north of the Gulf Coast and its location makes it a sonic catchment basin for various Afro-diasporic strains gospel, rhythm-and-blues, the blues as such and various iterations of jazz and vernacular folk idioms that developed indigenously in the surrounding territories. As on each prior Fellowship Band release, Blade and pianist Jon Cowherd refract these impressions into their own musical poetry, with an ear to the individualistic styles of Myron Walden (alto saxophone, bass clarinet), Melvin Butler (soprano and tenor saxophone) and Chris Thomas (bass). For the recording of Landmarks, Marvin Sewell and Jeff Parker are on guitars. Excepting the guitarists, The Fellowship Band has remained a unit since their eponymous 1998 debut and its 2000 follow-up, Perceptual, both on Blue Note. You can hear it in the cohesion and exploratory spirit of their collective and individual interpretations, orchestrated and propelled by the leader s in-the-moment beats and textures.
Release date: Tuesday April 29th 2014
Orrin Evans - Mother's Touch (Posi-Tone)
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Hard to believe it's been just over 3 years since Posi-Tone released the self-titled debut CD from the Captain Black Big Band. Culled from 3 live dates, the music was hard-hitting, raucous, even fevered at times but filled with soulful melodies, smart arrangements and great solos. 8 months after that release (11/11), pianist, composer, founder and leader Orrin Evans took the band into Systems Two in Brooklyn to record the follow-up. Partially crowd-funded through United States Artists, Mother's Touch is even better. 6 of the 9 tracks are Evans' originals with one each from Eric Revis, Donald Edwards and Wayne Shorter. 6 different arrangers contributed to the program with the 2-part title track (cuts 3 and 8) attributed to the 20-member ensemble made up of approximately 5 trumpeters, 7 reed players, 5 trombonists and a rhythm section.
March 2014
Another good month. Look out for new releases by Wayne Escoffery, John McLaughlin, Brad Mehldau, Billy Hart, Ralph Towner with re-releases from Gary Burton and Miroslav Vitous.
Release date: Tuesday March 4th 2014
Wayne Escoffery - Live At Firehouse 12 (Sunnyside)
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Release date: Tuesday March 4th 2014
Billy Hart - One Is The Other (ECM)
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The second ECM album by the Billy Hart Quartet is a major musical statement, and one of the outstanding jazz albums of the season. The groups reach already broad on 2011s widely-acclaimed All Our Reasons - is yet more expansive here. Strong compositions - by leader-drummer Hart, tenorist Mark Turner and pianist Ethan Iverson reflect upon a wide swathe of the musics history, and are distinguished by vivid and imaginative solos and wonderful interplay. A basic premise, that this should be a band in which the vastly-experienced Billy Hart gets to play everything he wants to play, has led to a sense of almost unlimited possibility for all participants. There is freedom and joy in this music, and tenderness, too, not least in the sets sole standard, a beautifully played version of Some Enchanted Evening. Recorded in New York in 2013, and produced by Manfred Eicher.
Release date: Tuesday March 4th 2014
Vijay Iyer - Mutations (ECM)
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Mutations is Vijay Iyer's first album as a leader for ECM, and a recording that will widen perceptions of the pianist-composers work. At its center is Mutations I-X, a composition scored for string quartet, piano, and electronics. A major piece built out of cells and fragments, it veers through many atmospheres, from moment to moment propulsive, enveloping, lyrical, luminescent, and strangely beautiful. Through thematic interactivity, the interweaving of acoustic and electronic sound-textures, and some decisive improvisational interventions in notated music, Vijay Iyer has created a multi-faceted suite whose very subject is change. Iyer gives a positive value to the concept of mutation in this music, and variously appears in it as an interpreter of notated elements, as an improviser, and as a sort of laptop artist, mixing in noise and different sounds, encouraging the transformative processes: The suite is framed by three solo statements: Spellbound and Sacrosanct, Cowrie Shells and the Shimmering Sea, a solo piano reading of one of Iyers early compositions, and Vuln, Part 2 and When Were Gone, pieces created in summer 2013. The newer compositions put the piano in counterpoint with electronically generated rhythms and textures which extend the aura of the suite, making the arc of the whole album a journey over changing terrain.
Re-release date: Tuesday March 4th 2014
Gary Burton - Seven Songs for Quartet and Chamber Orchestra (ECM)
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Sounding as fresh today as it did in 1973, Seven Songs places the Gary Burton Quartet in an orchestral context, with compositions of Michael Gibbs inspired by Messiaen and Charles Ives as well as Miles and Gil Evans and exceptional soloing by Mick Goodrick, Steve Swallow and Burton himself. The production is exemplary: Seven Songs set a new standard for recordings of orchestral jazz.
Re-release date: Tuesday March 4th 2014
Miroslav Vitous - Miroslav Vitous Group (ECM)
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Between 1979 and 1982, the Miroslav Vitous Group was the primary outlet for the abundant improvisational skills of leader Vitous and John Surman. They made three ECM albums: this eponymously-titled disc from 1980 is the middle one. Vitous and Surman were well-matched in lots of ways, with roots and influences that extended beyond jazz, a love of playing freely, a commitment to using all the sound potential of their respective instruments: Surman singing at the top of the baritone saxs range to match Miroslavs fiddle-like arco flourishes on the double bass. The redoubtable Jon Christensen shared their passion for playing, as did Kenny Kirkland, just 24 at the time of this session, on his way to becoming one of modern jazz's outstanding pianists. Repertoire includes classic Miroslav pieces (When Face Gets Pale), collective improvising, and an early sighting of Surman's relentlessly driving Number Six.
Release date: Tuesday March 4th 2014
Ralph Towner/ John Abercrombie - Five Years Later (ECM)
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Something special happens when they play together observed Robert Palmer in the New York Times, and the participants concurred. Playing with John is one of my favorite things to do, said Ralph Towner. I can play as much as when playing solo, and still get to ply my skills as accompanist. John is such an amazing person to play with that, even when hes playing intensely or aggressively, we somehow fit together and theres really no way that we could collide. On Five Years Later, follow-up to their debut duo disc Sargasso Sea, their improvisations draw on a wider sonic palette, to telling effect.
Release date: Tuesday March 18th 2014
John McLaughlin - The Boston Record (Abstract Logix)
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Guitar legend John McLaughlin performed across America during Summer 2013 with his trailblazing band, the 4th Dimension (Gary Husband on keyboards and drums, Etienne Mbappe on bass, Ranjit Barot on drums). The final concert in Boston, which was held at the Berklee College of Music, was recorded for this live release. This fiery performance features music from John's recent studio albums Now Here This and To the One, not to mention the classical Mahavishnu Orchestra song. You Know, You Know.
Release date: Tuesday March 18th 2014
Colin Vallon - Le Vent (ECM)
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Like the wind celebrated in the title track, the Colin Vallon Trio has a subtle, insinuating power. From a still and silent place its music may breathe gently, or steadily build pressure until attaining an eruptive forcefulness. This sense of poetic compression and quiet relentlessness was evident on the ECM debut Rruga, but with leader Vallon now writing almost all of the program and new drummer Julian Sartorius detailing its floating rhythms, the Swiss trio has entered a brave new space where touch and inflection are more important than soloistic gesture. Melodies, unfolding slowly, are shared between Patrice Moret s bass and Vallons piano. A fresh group language is being developed here, extended in the group improvisations which close the set. Le Vent was produced by Manfred Eicher at Oslos Rainbow Studio in 2013.
Release date: Tuesday March 18th 2014
Colin Vallon - Le Vent (ECM)
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Like the wind celebrated in the title track, the Colin Vallon Trio has a subtle, insinuating power. From a still and silent place its music may breathe gently, or steadily build pressure until attaining an eruptive forcefulness. This sense of poetic compression and quiet relentlessness was evident on the ECM debut Rruga, but with leader Vallon now writing almost all of the program and new drummer Julian Sartorius detailing its floating rhythms, the Swiss trio has entered a brave new space where touch and inflection are more important than soloistic gesture. Melodies, unfolding slowly, are shared between Patrice Moret s bass and Vallons piano. A fresh group language is being developed here, extended in the group improvisations which close the set. Le Vent was produced by Manfred Eicher at Oslos Rainbow Studio in 2013.
Release date: Tuesday March 18th 2014
Brad Mehldau - Mehliana: Taming The Dragon (ECM)
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Nonesuch Records releases the debut album from the electric duo of Brad Mehldau and Mark Guiliana, Mehliana: Taming the Dragon. The two have been performing for several years, including a brief US tour this fall, with Mehldau playing Fender Rhodes and synthesizers and Guiliana on drums and effects, as they are on the record. Mehliana comprises 12 original tunes six written by the duo and six written by Mehldau and was engineered and mixed by Greg Koller (Jon Brion, Kanye West). The vinyl edition of the album, due March 18, includes two 140-gram LPs pressed at Pallas MFG in Diepholz, Germany, and a CD of the album.
Release date: Tuesday March 18th 2014
Diego Barber & Craig Taborn - Tales (Sunnyside)
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Release date: Tuesday March 25th 2014
Eric Alexander - Chicago Fire (HighNote)
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Eric Alexander has been compared to Charlie Parker, John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins but here Eric explores the repertoire of another school of tenor playing the Chicagoans. With long-time collaborators Harold Mabern, Jon Webber and Joe Farnsworth Eric gives the nod to some Windy City players who helped shape the sound of jazz for decades Eddie Harris, Von Freeman and others.
Release date: Tuesday March 25th 2014
Alessandro Scala - Viaggio Stellare (Naxos)
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This new album by Alessandro Scala connects itself to the fertile and alluring scene of contemporary hardbop in Italy. Through original compositions and intense dialogue with trumpeter Fabrizio Bosso and trombonist Roberto Rossi, Alessandro consciously builds a sparse and sometimes lyrical language, enhanced by the rhythm section provided by Nico Menci, Paolo Ghetti and Stefano Paolini. The result is vivid and bright.
February 2014
Much more to look forward to now the Holiday period release period is over and record companies are looking forward again. Look out for new releases by Pat Metheny, Tord Gustavsen, Danilo Perez, Brad Mehldau and four new Criss Cross releases......
Release date: Tuesday February 4th 2014
Pat Metheny - Kin (Nonesuch)
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In 2012, for the first time since 1980, guitarist Pat Metheny recorded with a band that highlighted tenor saxophone. Unity Band, which went on to win Metheny his 20th Grammy Award, featured Chris Potter on sax and bass clarinet, longtime collaborator Antonio Sanchez on drums, and Ben Williams on bass. Metheny added another musician, multi-instrumentalist Giulio Carmassi, and christened the ensemble Pat Metheny Unity Group. Their first record is Kin ( ). The vinyl includes two 140-gram LPs pressed at Pallas MFG in Diepholz, Germany, and a CD of the album. Metheny says of this Group, "The core quartet of Chris, Ben, Antonio, and me played more than 100 concerts over the year that followed the release of our Unity Band record. Over the course of that period, the band became one of those rare combinations of players where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts; it gelled in every way, and that just seemed to beg for expansion and further research." He continues, "Simultaneously, I had been itching to write using more of a lush and orchestrated kind of concept that went beyond the sonic limits of what a straight-ahead quartet might invoke. But I really didn t want to lose the energy, focus, and intensity of what this band had developed. I wanted to take it further. If the first Unity Band record was a thoughtful, black and white documentary of four musicians in a recording studio playing, this record is more like the Technicolor, IMAX version of what a band like this could be but with that hardcore thing still sitting right in the middle of it all." Over the course of more than three decades, guitarist Pat Metheny has set himself apart from the jazz mainstream, expanding and blurring boundaries and musical styles. His record-setting body of work includes 20 Grammy Awards in 12 separate categories; a series of influential trio recordings; award-winning solo albums; scores for hit Hollywood motion pictures; and collaborations and duets with major artists such as Ornette Coleman, Steve Reich, Charlie Haden, Brad Mehldau, and many others. His band the Pat Metheny Group, founded in 1977, is the only ensemble in history to win Grammys for seven consecutive releases.
Release date: Tuesday February 4th 2014
Tord Gustavsen - Extended Circle (ECM)
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The sixth ECM album from Tord Gustavsen, recorded in Oslo in June 2013, quietly but most assuredly takes the Norwegian pianists music to the next stage of its development. Gustvasen's quartet with Tore Brunborg, Mats Eilertsen and long-term associate Jarle Vespestad has matured into a group whose interactions draw strength from restraint, patiently building the music toward its climaxes. Here are new gospel-tinged pieces and ballads from Tord's pen, gentle and luminescent group improvisations, and an ecstatic interpretation of the Norwegian traditional Eg Veit I Himmerik Ei Borg (I Know A Castle In Heaven.)
Release date: Tuesday February 4th 2014
Danilo Perez - Panama 500(Mack Avenue)
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In 1513, Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama, becoming the first European to reach the Pacific Ocean and founding the first permanent European settlement in the Americas. Those events continue to resonate five centuries later as Panama celebrates the landmark anniversary. On his new Mack Avenue release Panama 500, favorite son Danilo Pérez adds his voice to the tributes with a stunning portrait of his native land, its storied history, rich culture and fierce struggles. Panama 500 is Pérez’ most ambitious project to date, the furthest evolution yet of what the pianist/composer calls “three-dimensional music.” His blend of influences makes him the ideal musical chronicler of his country’s history: already a land bridge between the Americas with a vibrant indigenous culture, Panama also began to absorb European culture into its own following Balboa’s arrival. Pérez similarly weaves together jazz and Pan-American folkloric traditions with influences from European classical music. “I have been working for years to make music that has an identity very similar to the role that Panama plays in the world,” Pérez says. “It’s a place where a lot of influences from all over the world come together.”
Release date: Tuesday February 11th 2014
Mehliana - Taming The Dragon (Nonesuch)
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Release date: Tuesday February 18th 2014
Zach Brock - Purple Sounds (Criss Cross))
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Violinist Zach Brock follows up his 1212 Criss Cross debut Almost Never Was (CRC 1349) with the remarkable Purple Sounds, a heartfelt and virtuosic homage to the great violin-guitar partnerships of jazz history. Shifting from the piano-based quartet setting of the previous disc, Brock opts this time to showcase guitarist and fellow Criss Cross artist Lage Lund, whose effortless contrapuntal approach and beyond-belief soloing chops elevate the session from note one. They're joined by an energized first-rate rhythm section with bassist Matt Penman and drummer Obed Calvaire.
Release date: Tuesday February 18th 2014
Seamus Blake / Chris Cheek - Reeds Ramble (Criss Cross))
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Fellow saxophonists Seamus Blake and Chris Cheek have thrived as leaders, sidemen, big band soloists and much else, contributing to the creative health of the jazz scene over the last 20 years. As a pair they worked on the exploratory groove-oriented project The Bloomdaddies (CRC 1110) back in 1995. but with Reeds Ramble Blake and Cheek reunite in an acoustic setting, buoyed by the extraordinary Ethan Iverson of the Bad Plus on piano, making his first Criss Cross appearance. Drummer Jochen Rueckert, too, makes his first label appearance, teaming-up with in-demand bassist Matt Penman, a valued presence on Criss Cross sessions led by Jonathan Kreisberg, John Ellis and Zach Brock.
Donald Edwards - Evolution of an Influenced Mind (Criss Cross))
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After six prior engagements for Criss Cross as a sideman, drummer Donald Edwards' first leader offering for the label is a program of ten well-wrought originals that embrace the complex harmonies and rhythms of 21st century jazz while hewing to strong melodic values and abiding soulfulness. Helping set the mood is an A-list ensemble: pianist (and Criss Cross veteran) Orrin Evans and bassist Eric Revis, with whom Edwards performed on the 2013 Orrin Evans Trio record It was Beauty (CRC 1359), as well as tenor saxophonist Walter Smith III (III - CRC 1328) and world-class guitarist David Gilmore.
Misha Tsiganov - The Artistry of the Standard (Criss Cross))
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For his Criss Cross debut, pianist Misha Tsiganov presents a program of ten reimagined songs culled from both the Great American Songbook and the lexicon of post-bop hardcore jazz. Born in St. Petersburg in the former USSR, and a New Yorker since the mid-'90s, Tsiganov convenes a unit of virtuosos to animate his stimulating charts - trumpeter Alex Sipiagin (himself the leader of 10 Criss Cross dates and a participant on two by the collective group Opus 5) and bassist Boris Kozlov (both fellow sons of Russia), A-list tenor saxophonist Seamus Blake, and the kinetic drummer Donald Edwards.
January 2014
Still no major recovery since the Holiday period releases. But especially look out for a key re-release of important and little known material by John Coltrane......
Release date: Tuesday January 7th 2014
Steve Davis - For Real (Posi-Tone)
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Trombonist Steve Davis keeps on putting his best foot forward with his latest record "For Real." Featuring the collective talents of Abraham Burton, Larry Willis, Nat Reeves, and Billy Williams, and a steady diet of Davis's new original compositions and arrangements, this swinging affair stays firmly grounded in the straight ahead tradition while reaching ever higher for the new blue skies of a brighter tomorrow. With a renewed sense of purpose on his fourth release for Posi-Tone, Steve Davis once again most ably demonstrates what hard bop is all about and jazz fans and casual listeners will agree that his latest release delivers the goods "For Real."
Release date: Tuesday January 14th 2014
John Coltrane - Complete Mainstream 1958 Sessions (American Jazz Classics)
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Three complete LPs featuring John Coltrane in a small group format on sessions which had trumpet and flugelhorn player Wilbur Harden as a leader.The albums, which appear here in their entirety along with of the all existing alternate takes from the dates, were Mainstream 1958, Tanganyika Strut, and Jazz Way Out. These outstanding tracks were among Coltrane's last recordings as a sideman.
Release date: Tuesday January 28th 2014
Arild Andersen - Mira (ECM)
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After the eruptive excitement of their Live At Belleville album, which was widely praised around the world (and secured for leader Arild Andersen the Prix du Musicien Europeen 2008 from the Academie du Jazz in France), the trio now delivers a studio album. In Oslos Rainbow, bassist Andersen, tenorist Tommy Smith and drummer Paolo Vinaccia re-channeled their musics energies into a program of soulful ballads and mid-tempo free-floating sound explorations. The pairing of Andersons muscular bass and Smiths vaulting tenor is exceptionally compelling (as the recent Celebration album also confirmed). Most of the tunes on Mira are from Arilds pen, though his cohorts also contribute material, and there is an unexpected interpretation of Burt Bacharachs Alfie, beautifully played by Tommy Smith here.
December 2013
Not so many releases this month,a key re-release from Keith Jarrett is the highlight.
Release date: Tuesday December 10th 2013
Keith Jarrett - Concerts: Bregenz Munich (ECM) 3CD
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After Bremen/Lausanne after The Koln Concert, after the epic Sun Bear Concerts, the next development in Jarretts solo concerts was the all-embracing music captured here. Two 1981 improvised concerts from Austria and Germany are featured, recorded respectively at the Festspielhaus Bregenz and the Herkulessaal Munich, venues noted for outstanding acoustics. While the Bregenz concert has hitherto been available as a single CD, this set marks the first appearance of the complete Munich performance on compact disc. The 3-CD set includes an extensive text booklet with liner notes by Keith Jarrett, an essay by Swiss critic Peter Ruedi, and poetry by Michael Kruger.
November 2013
More great releases this month - Keith Jarrett, Thelonious Monk....
Release date: Tuesday November 25th 2013
Keith Jarrett - No End (ECM)
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Keith Jarrett: electric guitars, Fender bass, drums, tablas, percussion, recorder and piano. Recorded at his home studio in 1986, No End illuminates hitherto undocumented aspects of Keith Jarretts music. He is heard here on electric guitars, electric bass, drums and percussion, overdubbing tribal dances of his own devising: Somehow something happened during these days in the 80s that wont ever be repeated,he writes in his liner notes. There was really, to my knowledge, no forethought or composition in the typical sense going on; just a feeling or a rhythmic idea or a bass line concept or melody. None of this was written down. On the instrumentation: Drums were always with me in some way, Jarrett reflects. I have always been drawn to instruments that you touch directly, without a mechanism in between. Therefore, I cannot say that I have ever loved the piano as much as the drums or guitar. With, primarily, these instruments (piano this time has only a cameo role) Jarrett has shaped one of his most unusual albums.
Release date: Tuesday November 25th 2013
Thelonious Monk - Paris 1969 (Blue Note) (2CD)
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Deluxe CD/DVD includes a bonus DVD containing black and white video performance footage and interview. Live archive release from the Jazz legend. Thelonious Monk Paris 1969 is a fascinating and important late-career document of the legendary Jazz pianist and composer in performance with his Quartet at the Salle Pleyel concert hall in Paris, France on December 15, 1969. The concert also featured a surprise guest appearance from renowned drummer Philly Joe Jones.
October 2013
More great releases this month - Robert Glasper, Ralph Towner, Aaron Parks, Tom Harrell ....
Release date: Tuesday October 15th 2013
Ralph Towner - Travel Guide (ECM)
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An international summit meeting, Travel Guide features US guitarist Ralph Towner, Austrian guitarist Wolfgang Muthspiel, and Kazakhstan-born and Australia-raised guitarist Slava Grigoryan. The three musicians first came together in 2005, initially for concerts in Australia, and have since toured widely. A 2009 recording on Muthspiels Material Records label documented the groups early progress. Ralph Towner subsequently brought the project to ECM and the trio recorded this album in Lugano in August 2012, with Manfred Eicher as producer. Towner has been a key ECM recording artist for more than 40 years, while Muthspiel and Grigoryan make label debuts here. Grigoryan is well known as the preeminent Australian classical guitarist of his generation, and Muthspiels been an important figure on the transatlantic jazz scene for two decades, with his own bands and as a contributor to groups of Gary Burton, Paul Motian and many others. What all three guitarists share is a strong feeling for structure, a sense for lyrical improvisation and a feeling for space, harnessing instrumental technique to very graceful musical ends. Repertoire features five compositions by Towner, and five by Muthspiel.
Release date: Tuesday October 22nd 2013
Aaron Parks - Arborescence (ECM)
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Arborescence is the word for the way something grows, seeking and adaptive, like a tree its roots and branches moving under and around things wherever they need to go toward water, toward the sun. Prize-winning young American pianist Aaron Parks titled his ECM debut Arborescence because the albums music is the fruit of a session of solo studio improvisation in which little was predetermined; the pieces developed in the moment like living things, in the artists words. The music felt as if it were coming into being and going where it had to go, in that sort of arboreal way. Its possible to hear fleeting echoes in this music of Arvo Part and Paul Bley, Erik Satie and Kenny Wheeler; but Arborescence is ultimately something deeply individual and intimate, recorded with the lights down low in the warm, clear acoustics of Mechanics Hall in Worcester, Massachusetts. Listen close and one can hear Parks whispering part of a melody along with the piano, as if he were playing at home alone, for himself. This is contemplative instrumental poetry that often felt less like conscious intention, he says, and more like something half-dreamed, half-remembered.
Release date: Tuesday October 22nd 2013
Tom Harrell - Colors Of A Dream (HighNote)
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After a full career which has spanned decades without a lull Tom Harrell is as busy as ever. Here is a project which supplements his working quintet with two additions saxophonist Jaleel Shaw and bassist/singer Esperanza Spalding. Esperanza can be heard lending her voice to a number of Tom's impressive compositions, sometimes using it in a such way that it takes on the role of a instrument and also delivering a wonderfully unique version of his popular "Sail Away" in Portuguese ("Velejar"). Colors of a Dream is perhaps Harrell's most imaginative recording to-date.
Release date: Tuesday October 29th 2013
Robert Glasper - Black Radio 2 (Blue Note)
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Robert Glasper Experiment ups the ante with the release of Black Radio 2 (Blue Note), another genre-defying effort that takes the Black Radio blueprint and builds to even greater heights. The core remains the Experiment, as astoundingly versatile a band as has ever existed, featuring Robert Glasper on keyboards, Derrick Hodge on bass, Mark Colenburg on drums, and Casey Benjamin on vocoder and saxophone. Providing the vocals throughout is another jaw-dropping roll call of vocalists including Common, Patrick Stump, Brandy, Jill Scott, Dwele, Marsha Ambrosius, Anthony Hamilton, Faith Evans, Norah Jones, Snoop Dogg, Lupe Fiasco, Emeli Sandé, Lalah Hathaway, and Malcolm-Jamal Warner.
September 2013
More great releases this month - Gregory Porter, Dave Holland, Andy Sheppard, Keith Jarrett, Philip Dizack, Dayna Stevens, John Abercrombie, Tim Berne, Ralph Alessi, Kenny Garrett ....
Release date: Tuesday September 3rd 2013
Dave Holland - Prism (Dare 2)
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In the 40 years since Dave Holland's recording debut as a leader with his landmark recording Conference Of The Birds he has produced a remarkable series of recordings documenting his musical journey. For Prism, his 2013 recording, he's assembled a quartet of outstanding players and composers who are also leaders in their own right, Kevin Eubanks on guitar, Craig Taborn on piano and Fender Rhodes and Eric Harland on drums. The recording is representative of the wide range of musical references that these musicians incorporate into their music and it features compositions written by each of them for the group.
Release date: Tuesday September 10th 2013
Carla Bley, Andy Sheppard, Steve Swallow - Trios (ECM)
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Carla Bley, Andy Sheppard and Steve Swallow revisit classic Bley compositions on an exceptional album recorded in Lugano last year by Manfred Eicher. Included here are spirited new versions of Utviklingssang and Vashkar, and the suites Les Trois Lagons, Wildlife and The Girl Who Cried Champagne. Carlas robust tunes are vividly conveyed, all members solo compellingly, and the trio has never sounded better. Trios is one of the outstanding jazz albums of the season and marks the first time that a new Carla Bley album has appeared on ECM itself (rather than the ECM-distributed WATT label, which has been her primary platform for 40 years).
Release date: Tuesday September 10th 2013
Ralph Alessi - Baida (ECM)
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There are magic moments when an artist can be said to have well and truly arrived. For Ralph Alessi, the release of Baida his ECM debut as a bandleader is just such a moment, despite his already extensive resume. Among those in the know, Alessi is renowned as a musicians musician, a first-call New York trumpeter who can play virtually anything on sight and has excelled as an improviser in groups led by Steve Coleman, Uri Caine, Ravi Coltrane, Fred Hersch and Don Byron, as well as leading his own bands. But Alessi has created something breath-taking with Baida, an album sure to beguile a wider audience with its atmospheric depth and melodic allure. To voice his suite of compositions, the trumpeter has convened a powerhouse New York band with pianist Jason Moran, bassist Drew Gress and drummer Nasheet Waits. As a vessel for the album's seemingly bottomless lyricism, this quartet of virtuosos plays with extraordinary finesse; but there is also a tensile strength emanating from the performances, a muscularity that one can feel. Then there is the silver of Alessi's trumpet tone; as The New York Times has said, it has a rounded luminescence, like the moon in full phase.
Release date: Tuesday September 17th 2013
Kenny Garrett - Pushing The World Away (Mack Avenue)
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2013 release from the Grammy winning Jazz saxophonist. Pushing The World Away captures Garrett at the peak of his creative abilities, both as a saxophonist and as a composer. Garrett pays tribute to a number of his influences/friends and heroes that include Chick Corea, Chucho Vald‚s, Sonny Rollins and Garrett's musical confidant and album co-producer, Donald Brown (Brother Brown). In all, Pushing The World Away features 12 tunes, all of which were composed by Garrett except for one cover, a superb, lyrical, odd-metered take on the Burt Bacharach/Hal David song "I Say a Little Prayer".
Release date: Tuesday September 23rd 2013
Dayna Stevens - I'll Take My Chance (Criss Cross)
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Tenor saxophonist Dayna Stephens is poised, poetic and furiously swinging on his second Criss Cross effort, I'll Take My Chances, a follow-up to his remarkable 2012 release Today Is Tomorrow. The quintet features guitarist Charles Altura, a newcomer to Criss Cross and a key melodic and solo voice throughout. Pianist Gerald Clayton, returning to Criss Cross after sideman sessions with Kendrick Scott and Michael Rodriguez, brings keen virtuosity and harmonic insight to Stephens' challenging, deeply lyrical compositions. Bassist Joe Sanders, who issued Introducing Joe Sanders on Criss Cross in 2012, achieves an effortless sense of connection with drummer Bill Stewart, a veteran of over 20 Criss Cross sessions, not to mention one of the great influential players of the last 20 years. Along with 5 originals, Field of Landmines by Stephens and Marcus Gilmore, Adrift by Aaron Parks (the pianist on Today Is Tomorrow) and a hard-swinging reinvention of Brad Mehldau's Unrequited, Stephens also includes a rhapsodic treatment of Ellington's Prelude to a Kiss, featuring guest vocalist Becca Stevens. There's also a striking departure: a track with Clayton on organ and the leader on husky, soul-drenched baritone sax.
August 2013
More great releases this month - Chick Corea, Christian McBride, Gary Burton,Stefano Bollani, David Weiss, Warren Wolf, Steve Turre ....
Release date: Tuesday August 6th 2013
Christian McBride - Out Here (Mack Avenue)
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With Out Here, premier bassist Christian McBride s fifth recording on Mack Avenue Records, McBride introduces his latest working group: a trio, fully embracing at age 41 his role as standard-bearer and mentor. Pianist Christian Sands and drummer Ulysses Owens, Jr. both younger, emerging artists have been performing with McBride s smallest group for about three years, honing their trio conception to a fine point of expressive depth and nuance with select performances around the world.
Release date: Tuesday August 6th 2013
Chick Corea - The Vigil (Concord Jazz)
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20-Time GRAMMY® winner Chick Corea returns with his highly anticipated new band. The Vigil also features guest appearances by Stanley Clarke and Ravi Coltrane.
Release date: Tuesday August 6th 2013
Gary Burton - Guided Tour (Mack Avenue)
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On Guided Tour, jazz s most innovative and accomplished vibraphonist proves that The New Gary Burton Quartet which he premiered last summer on his Mack Avenue debut, Common Ground was no one-trick pony. Featuring the prodigal guitar genius Julian Lage as well as two veterans, bassist Scott Colley and drummer Antonio Sanchez, Guided Tour provides a road map to one of the most dynamic bands on the scene today.
July 2013
More great releases this month - Steve Swallow, Carla Bley ....
Release date: Tuesday July 16th 2013
Steve Swallow, Carla Bley - Into The Woodwork (ECM)
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Praising a previous incarnation of Steve Swallows quintet, The Times of London described the band as near a perfect display of small-group jazz robust yet exquisitely poised. The description holds true for the latest edition of the bassists quintet and its album Into the Woodwork. Swallow leads the group including his longtime partner in music and life, Carla Bley, on organ in multi-hued performances of a dozen original compositions from his pen. Recorded in the south of France, the album accommodates atmospheric grace and loping grooves, wry humor and understated virtuosity. Hushed opener Sad Old Candle reveals the subtle beauties of this band, with Swallow and Bley joined in ensemble intimacy by saxophonist Chris Cheek, guitarist Steve Cardenas and drummer Jorge Rossy. From Whom It May Concern sees Cheek sing a sad-eyed melody on his saxophone, with a limpid solo from Cardenas to follow. Its Rossy to the fore in Back in Action, with his funky solos defining the track. Exit Stage Left begins with the ever-distinctive fluidity of Swallows electric bass a sound that has propelled the veteran to the top of the critics and readers polls in DownBeat year in and year out. Into the Woodwork is jazz of character, with ingrained melody and warmth.
June 2013
More great releases this month - Lage Lund, David Binney, Orrin Evans, Luis Perdomo ....
Release date: Tuesday June 4th 2013
Lage Lund - Foolhardy (Criss Cross)
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On his third leader release for Criss Cross, guitarist Lage Lund returns to the quartet format that he navigated on the brilliant 2010 release Unlikely Stories (CRC 1321), recruiting young piano giant Aaron Parks to join world-class bass-drum partners Ben Street and Bill Stewart. It's another triumph for the 2005 Thelonious Monk Guitar Competition winner, who puts his lovely tone to work on a program of six originals and three off-the beaten track covers marked by informed harmonic dialogue, keen attention to melody, and an endless will to swing.
Release date: Tuesday June 4th 2013
David Binney - Lifted Land (Criss Cross)
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Lifted Land, David Binney's sixth recording for Criss Cross, is also his third wholly original program for the label (after Cities and Desire (CRC 1285) and Barefooted Town (CRC 1325). One of the most gripping and distinctive alto players and composers of his generation, Binney leads a powerfully expressive quartet with longtime allies Craig Taborn on piano and Eivind Opsvik on bass. Drummer Tyshawn Sorey, an acclaimed leader and composer in his own right, makes his first Criss Cross appearance here, in place of Binney's go-to drummer for previous releases, Dan Weiss. Binney's tunes are anthemic, evocative, highly precise and finely crafted and yet prepared to venture into the freest abstract terrain. Highlights include the hopeful lyricism of The Road to your House, the dynamic intensity of Curious About Texas, and the segues from structured themes to avant-gardish exploration on Losing the Central Valley, and the nearly 19 minute As Snow Before a Summer Sun. Always alert to his bandmates' every move, Binney offers one of the most ambitious and surprise-filled sessions of his career.
Release date: Tuesday June 4th 2013
Orrin Evans - It Was Beauty (Criss Cross)
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With It Was Beauty, pianist Orrin Evans presents his seventh Criss Cross leader date, returning to the label for the first time since 2005. The title tells the story: on a reflective, immensely satisfying ten-piece program comprising mainly originals, the 36-year-old Evans - joined by bass titan Eric Revis and master drummer Donald Edwards, both partners of long standing - plays with old soul focus, presenting a deeply personal vision that privileges notions of dynamic contrast, immediately identifiable tonal identity, meaty harmonies, tension and release, and three-way conversation.
Release date: Tuesday June 4th 2013
Luis Perdomo - Links (Criss Cross)
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The highly sought after New York based pianist-composer continues his musical journey with Links. This high octane CD brings together three musicians with whom pianist Luis Perdomo has long standing musical relationships. Bassist Dwayne Burno and Luis began playing together, soon after Luis' arrival in New York City by way of Caracas. Drummer Rodney Green often pairs up with Luis in a variety of ensembles, most notably on Joe Sanders' Criss Cross release Introducing Joe Sanders (CRC 1344). Last but not least, Perdomo has been an integral part of the groundbreaking quartet led by saxophonist Miguel Zenon for the last 14 years. Together these four masters bring to life a program consisting of music deeply associated with Perdomo's career. Compositions were contributed by each member of the band, combined with pieces penned by artists very dear to him: Maestro Gerry Weil, Luis' first piano teacher from the inception of his life as a pianist, Harold Danko and Sir Roland Hanna, Perdomo's teachers throughout his pivotal college years, one piece by Luis' wife, the bassist Mimi Jones also known as Miriam Sullivan, and two compositions by Woody Shaw and Elvin Jones.
Release date: Tuesday June 18th 2013
Billy Cobham - Compass Point (Cleopatra)
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A magnificent 2CD set from a true legend of jazz, and fusion s greatest drummer, Billy Cobham, who has performed and composed along side such icons as Miles Davis, The Mahavishnu Orchestra, John McLaughlin, Santana, Quincy Jones, Herbie Hancock and others! Recorded live at the Compass Point Hotel in the Bahamas in 1997, this outstanding concert recording has never before been released until now! Packaged with deluxe liner notes containing personal reminiscences from Cobham and the other members of his band - Gary Husband (keyboards), Stefan Rademacher (bass), and Carl Orr (guitar) plus recording engineer Craig Bishop!
Release date: Tuesday June 4th 2013
Clarence Penn - Play Penn (Criss Cross)
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Drummer Clarence Penn presents his 2nd Criss Cross Jazz album, augmented by two horns, played by tenor saxman Ron Blake and trumpeter John Swana, as well as bassist Rodney Whitaker & Dutch guitarist Jesse Van Ruller, who won the Thelonious Monk award. Together the quintet matches the level of their previous record, traversing incessant swing with a broad range of tempos, textures & emotions. Reissue.
May 2013
Some great releases this month - Pat Metheny, Eliane Elias, Joshua Redman, Keith Jarrett, Terrance Blanchard, Christian McBride....
Release date: Tuesday May 7th 2013
Joshua Redman - Walking Shadows (Nonesuch)
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Nonesuch Records releases saxophonist Joshua Redman's Walking Shadows, comprising 12 ballads, is Redman's first recording to include an orchestral ensemble, which plays on many of the tracks. It was produced by Redman's friend and frequent collaborator Brad Mehldau. The record's core ensemble is a quartet featuring Mehldau, Larry Grenadier, and Brian Blade all frequent collaborators of Redman's over the years. Dan Coleman conducts on the orchestral tracks. Walking Shadows includes original tunes from both Redman and Mehldau along with works by a wide range of composers such as John Mayer and Pino Palladino; Kern and Hammerstein; and Lennon and McCartney (track list on next page). Orchestral arrangements are by Mehldau, Coleman, and composer Patrick Zimmerli. Redman first worked with Mehldau and Blade in Redman's mid-1990s quartet and they have been friends and frequent collaborators ever since. Redman was a featured soloist on Mehldau's Jon Brion-produced 2010 orchestral album, Highway Rider. Walking Shadows is the first of Redman's records to be produced by Mehldau. Redman says: "I couldn't be more delighted to have the opportunity to do a ballads record with strings, with Brad producing, and my other great friends and collaborators all involved. I've wanted to do this for a long time. "
Release date: Tuesday May 14th 2013
Christian McBride - People Music (Mack Avenue)
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2013 from the Grammy-winning Jazz bassist. McBride is regarded as a virtuoso, and is one of the most recorded musicians of his generation, having appeared on close to 300 recordings as a sideman before the age of 40.
Release date: Tuesday May 21st 2013
Pat Metheny - Tap (Nonesuch)
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Nonesuch Records and Tzadik simultaneously release guitarist Pat Metheny's recording of John Zorn s Tap: The Book of Angels, Vol. 20 from Zorn's Masada Book Two. This album is the first collaboration between the two artists, considered among their generation s most innovative musicians. Besides his frequent collaborator, drummer Antonio Sanchez, Metheny plays all other instruments guitars, sitar, tiples, bass, keyboards, orchestrionics, electronics, bandoneón, percussion, flugelhorn, and more himself. Beginning in the 1990s, Zorn wrote 500 songs inspired by traditional Jewish music; they came to be known as two volumes of the Masada Book. He performed the first 200 songs of Book One with the rotating members of the Masada ensemble for a decade before writing Book Two s 300 tunes in just three months. Over the past eight years, the songs from Book Two have been recorded as volumes of The Book of Angels by a stellar group of musicians, including the Masada Quintet, Masada String Trio, Medeski Martin & Wood, and Marc Ribot. Zorn says of Metheny s recording, "Pat is of course a living legend one of those rare lights in the universe. His incredible facility and dedication, indefatigable energy and focus, imagination, and never-ending curiosity have distinguished him as truly one of the greatest musicians on the planet. " He continues, "Tap is a showcase for Pat s remarkable imagination, technique, passion, and love for the world. No matter how many times I listen to this recording I am hit with that same sense of exhilaration that hit me the very first time." Metheny, who won his 20th Grammy Award in 2013, adds, "I have admired John Zorn since the late 70s and have followed his amazing output every step of the way. A few years ago, after contacting me to write some notes for one of his Arcana publications, John and I began an inspired e-mail connection. (As hard as it is to believe, we had never met in person over the years.) I mentioned that I had followed his Book of Angels series from the start and felt like I might be able to contribute something unique to the collection. With his enthusiastic encouragement, he gave me some suggestions as to which tunes were still unrecorded, and I picked the ones that jumped out and spoke to me. Over the next year, in between breaks from the road, I recorded them one by one in my home studio whenever I got a chance."
Release date: Tuesday May 28th 2013
Keith Jarrett - Somewhere (ECM)
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Now in its 30th year, the Keith Jarrett Trio is widely considered, as the NY Times recently remarked, to have set the gold standard for jazz groups, and this sparkling concert recording from 2009 is issued to mark a milestone anniversary. The Somewhere in which the Standards trio find themselves is Lucerne, Switzerland with a performance both exploratory and in-the-tradition. The Neue Zurcher Zeitung headlined its review of the show Kontrollierte Ekstase controlled ecstasy an apt metaphor for a set that begins in improvisational Deep Space modulates into Miles Davis Solar, soars through the standards Stars Fell On Alabama and Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea and climaxes with an extended romp through West Side Story, as Bernsteins Somewhere and Tonight are bridged by the freely associative Jarrett original Everywhere.
Release date: Tuesday May 28th 2013
Terence Blanchard - Magnetic (Blue Note)
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“I’ve always believed that in life, what you keep in your mind is what you draw to yourself.” That’s how trumpeter/composer Terence Blanchard explains the title of his 20th album, Magnetic, which finds a stunning variety of sounds and styles pulled together by the irresistible force of Blanchard’s vision.
Release date: Tuesday May 28th 2013
Eliane Elias - I Thought About You (Concord Jazz)
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On May 28, 2013 Concord Jazz presents Elias’ I Thought About You (A Tribute To Chet Baker), an album that offers her personalized spin on the work of a key American jazz artist while spotlighting her connection to the singer-instrumentalist tradition. It fully demonstrates the range of interests that Elias’ art now boasts, and arrives with a statement of purpose: jazz repertoire can sound totally fresh when delivered with ingenuity and passion. Long known for her native feel of Brazilian music, this new disc truly demonstrates Elias’ expertise in yet another realm: an interpreter of American standards. An expressive, swinging singer and insightful instrumentalist and arranger, on I Thought About You she thoughtfully switches the size and approach of her impressive ensemble from track to track, yielding to each tune’s inner logic. Her choice of musicians underscores her decision to have her music move in various ways. Along with guitarist Oscar Castro-Neves, drummer Rafael Barata and percussionist Marivaldo dos Santos unite with Elias and husband, esteemed bassist Marc Johnson, for the three Brazilian-slanted tracks. The other core band members are guitarist Steve Cardenas and drummer Victor Lewis. At various points, Randy Brecker drops in to add some of his incisive brass magic to the mix.
April 2013
Some great releases this month - Wallace Roney, Jim Rotondi, Dave Douglas, Craig Taborn....
Release date: Tuesday April 9th 2013
Dave Douglas - Time Travel (Greanleaf Music)
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The followup to the acclaimed Be Still. Time Travel reunites an ace recording team with a band of young bloods whose hard charging licks round out a new set of Douglas originals.
Release date: Tuesday April 16th 2013
Jim Rotondi - Hard Hittin' at the Bird's Eye (Sharp Nine)
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Sharp Nine Records is pleased to present the debut recording of a hot new organ quartet, The Loop, led by hard bop trumpet master Jim Rotondi and assisted on the front line by his longtime partner in jazz pyrotechnics, Eric Alexander. This live date was recorded at the Bird's Eye Jazz Club in Basel, Switzerland during the band's initial European tour in early 2012 and features the same hard-hitting, hard-swinging vibe jazz fans have come to expect from these two horn masters' domestic exploits. Ably assisted by Renato Chicco on organ and up-and-coming drummer Bernd Reiter, this CD is a 50/50 mix of great standards and originals. The tracks are long and the blowing is intense, so sit back and enjoy some heavy hittin' from across the pond.
Release date: Tuesday April 23rd 2013
Wallace Roney - Understanding (HighNote)
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Wallace Roney's most famous mentor was, of course, Miles Davis. It can't be denied that Davis' work and example still influence Roney's music. However, Roney has latched on to the spiking, probing, darker side of Miles' legacy which seems better suited to his musical temperament than does the winsomely lyrical playing of his famous colleague. Roney's 2013 recording is hard bop at its finest and features the concentrated power coupled with devastating power and originality for which Roney's bands have become known.
Release date: Tuesday April 23rd 2013
Craig Taborn - Chants (ECM)
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Recently hailed by DownBeat as one of the visionaries of the current wave, Craig Taborn has a unique perspective on creative music-making. Just as Avenging Angel subverted expectations of solo improvised piano, so does Chants find its own response to the vast tradition of the piano trios. The pieces that Taborn has been writing for the band in the eight years of its existence are set up to generate a new group music by channeling the special skills of drummer Gerald Cleaver and bassist Thomas Morgan. I knew that if I created a context and then deferred, fully, to Geralds and Thomass sensibilities it would inherently be stimulating and would also challenge the context. I wanted to invite that challenge: Id much rather engage with the group, always, than have the format be piano adventures with supporting cast. Morgan and Cleaver share the leaders concern for compositional shape and multi-layered improvisational detail, as the music is pulled between the poles of density and spaciousness, to dramatic and thrilling effect. Chants was recorded in New York in June 2012, and produced by Manfred Eicher.
March 2013
Some great releases this month - Larry Coryell, Tomasz Stanko, Tim Warfield, Hiromi, Wycliffe Gordon, Alex Sipiagin, Michael Rodriguez....
Release date: Tuesday March 5th 2013
Tim Warfield - Eye Of The Beholder (Criss Cross)
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On Eye Of The Beholder, his seventh recording leader recording for Criss Cross (and 12th label appearance overall), tenor and soprano saxophonist Tim Warfield draws on musical relationships that have shaped his artistry from the very start. Pianist Cyrus Chestnut and drummer Clarence Penn, both of whom appeared on Warfield's 1994 debut and several other sessions, bring their powerful and sensitive presence to this new quintet date. Rodney Whitaker provides an unshakable yet flexible foundation on bass. Trumpet great Nicholas Payton, who featured Warfield in his own incendiary quintet of the mid to late '90, comes on board and contributes brilliant playing as well as original music.
Release date: Tuesday March 5th 2013
Wycliffe Gordon - The Ultimate Ellington (Criss Cross)
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On his eighth Criss Cross leader date, Wycliffe Gordon (awarded 2012 Trombonist of the Year by both the Down Beat Critics Poll and the Jazz Journalists' Association) distills his exhaustive knowledge of the oeuvre of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn on a well crafted, ten-piece program spanning a timeline from 1927 (Creole Love Call) to 1967 (The Intimacy Of The Blues). Throughout the proceedings, which explore a broad array of flavors, Gordon - spurred by a killer rhythm section of pianist Aaron Diehl, bassist Yasushi Nakamura, and drummer Alvin Atkinson - plays with characteristic effervescence and tonal creativity, matched by Adrian Cunningham on saxophones and woodwinds and, on several selections, the soulful violin virtuoso Zach Brock and vocalist Dee Daniels.
Release date: Tuesday March 5th 2013
Alex Sipiagin - Overlooking Moments (Criss Cross)
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A very prolific member of the Criss Cross family, trumpeter Alex Sipiagin has logged in nine releases as a leader for the label over the span of 12 years. He is also a vital member of the all-star collective Opus Five, that group's most recent effort being the critically acclaimed Pentasonic (CRC 1351). For his tenth session at the helm, Sipiagin has delivered his most freewheeling recital to date. An integral member of the trumpeter's inner circle since his 2000 debut, Steppin' Zone (CRC 1202), the always exciting Chris Potter fills out the front line on saxophones. And for the first time, Sipiagin has opted for an ensemble sans piano or guitar. With frequent collaborators Scott Colley on bass and Eric Harland on drums, the results over eight original compositions are as fresh and contemporary as they come.
Release date: Tuesday March 5th 2013
Michael Rodriguez - Reverence(Criss Cross)
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For his Criss Cross debut, 33-year-old trumpet virtuoso Michael Rodriguez assembles a world-class New York quintet of generational peers (pianist Gerald Clayton and drummer Rodney Green) and mid-career masters (tenor saxophonist Chris Cheek and bassist Kiyoshi Kitagawa) to perform six kinetic originals and a single standard, Portrait Of Jennie. Known for his creative melodic approach and pellucid tone via consequential engagements over the last decade with, among others, Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Bobby Watson, and Eddie Palmieri, Rodriguez blends youthful fire with a veteran's focus and mature intention, setting the tone for an immensely satisfying session.
Release date: Tuesday March 5th 2013
Hiromi - Home (Telarc)
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Pianist/composer Hiromi returns with a powerhouse trio, including contra-bass guitarist Anthony Jackson (Paul Simon, The O'Jays, Steely Dan, Chick Corea) and drummer Simon Phillips (Toto, The Who, Judas Priest, David Gilmour, Jack Bruce).
Release date: Tuesday March 12th 2013
Eleni Karaindrou /Jan Garbarek - Concert In Athens (ECM)
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An exceptional live recording, Concert In Athens, the tenth ECM release by Greek composer Eleni Karaindrou, incorporates moving performances by guests Kim Kashkashian and Jan Garbarek. The US violist and the Norwegian saxophonist have each made important contributions to Karaindrous music in the past, Garbarek with his playing in the score for The Beekeeper (see Music for Films) and Kashkashian as the key musical protagonist of Ulysses Gaze. Themes of both those films are revisited here, amongst much that is new. A primary emphasis is music written for theatre: the wide-reaching emotional scope of pieces for plays by Arthur Miller, Tennesee Williams and Edward Albee provides a wonderful context for bringing the guest musicians into contact with Elenis soloists, above all the brilliant oboist Vangelis Christopoulos. Recorded November 2010, with Manfred Eicher as producer, Concert in Athens gives us perhaps the fullest picture of Eleni Karaindrous compositional creativity to date.
Release date: Tuesday March 12th 2013
Stefano Battaglia - Songways (ECM)
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Italian pianist Stefano Battaglia and his trio pick up on their acclaimed 2011 release The River of Anyder with a new selection of chants, hymns and dances, all written by Battaglia and inspired by descriptions of visionary places from art and literature from Alfred Kubin, Jonathan Swift or Charles Fourier to Italo Calvino. Songways finds a new harmonic balance between archaic modal pre-tonal chant and dances, pure tonal songs and hymns and abstract texture, Battgalia says, thus documenting the natural development of the Trio life, with a larger space for action from the drums.
Release date: Tuesday March 19th 2013
Tomasz Stanko - Wislawa 2CD (ECM)
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Like his early hero Miles Davis, Polish trumpeter Tomasz Stanko has a gift for shaping great bands, and this one, formed in the worlds jazz capital, overflows with promise. The bass and drums team of Thomas Morgan and Gerald Cleaver is one of the most sensitive in contemporary improvising, and Cuban-born pianist David Virelles, inspired by ritual music as well as by Thelonious Monk and Andrew Hill, seems particularly well-attuned to the brooding darkness and sophisticated dread of Stankos free ballads. In the uptempo pieces all four players seem to enter new territory, with very exciting results. The double-album program of new Stanko compositions is inspired also by the poetry of Wis awa Symborska, the Polish poet, essayist and Nobel Laureate, who died in 2012. As Stanko writes in in the CD booklet, Reading Wis awa Szymborskas words gave me many ideas and insights. Meeting her and interacting with her poetry also gave impetus to this music, which I would like to dedicate, respectfully, to her memory.
February 2013
Some great releases this month - Wayne Shorter, Pat Metheny, Kevin Eubanks, Terri Lyne Carrington, Next Collective, Charles Lloyd / Jazon Moran
Release date: Tuesday February 5th 2013
Wayne Shorter - Without A Net (Blue Note)
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Without A Net marks the legendary jazz saxophonist and composer Wayne Shorter return to Blue Note Records for his first album as a leader for the iconic label in 43 years. The album which features his long-running Quartet with pianist Danilo Perez, bassist John Patitucci, and drummer Brian Blade is a 9-track musical thrill ride that consists of live recordings from the Quartet s European tour in late 2011, the one exception being the 23-minute tone poem Pegasus which features the quartet with The Imani Winds recorded at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. The album features six new Shorter compositions, as well as new versions of his tunes Orbits (from Miles Davis Miles Smiles album) and Plaza Real (from the Weather Report album Procession). The quartet also reinvents the title song from the 1933 musical film Flying Down To Rio, which film buffs (such as Shorter) know as the first on-screen pairing of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.
Release date: Tuesday February 5th 2013
Terri Lyne Carrington - Money Jungle (Concorde Jazz)
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The release of GRAMMY®-winning drummer, composer and bandleader Terri Lyne Carrington s homage to Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus and Max Roach is scheduled to coincide with the 50th anniversary of their iconic 1963 Money Jungle album. Carrington enlists the aid of two high-profile collaborators keyboardist Gerald Clayton and bassist Christian McBride to pay tribute to Duke, his trio and his creative vision with a cover of this historic recording. Guests include trumpeter Clark Terry, trombonist Robin Eubanks, reed players Tia Fuller and Antonio Hart, guitarist Nir Felder, percussionist Arturo Stabile and vocalists Shea Rose and Lizz Wright. Herbie Hancock closes the album quoting Ellington, with observations about the role of music in society and the popularity of money versus the popularity of art.
Release date: Tuesday February 12th 2013
Pat Metheny - The Orchestrion Project 2CD (Nonesuch)
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In 2010, 19-time Grammy Award winner Pat Metheny took his musical exploration to a new territory with his Orchestrion, a computer controlled mini-orchestra capable of responding to his touch on guitar. After releasing the Orchestrion record, Metheny and his "band" hit the road, playing over 100 concerts around the world, culminating with the recording of The Orchestrion Project in Brooklyn, NY. This recording showcases the full evolution of the Orchestrion as documented at the tail end of a sprawling world tour. The double-disc set features all five sections of Orchestrion "a soaring five-movement suite featuring some of the most intricate music he's ever created" (Boston Globe) plus eight additional Metheny compositions reimagined with the Orchestrion.
Release date: Tuesday February 19th 2013
Kevin Eubanks - The Messenger (Mack Avenue)
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The Messenger is a project that reflects not only the guitarist's virtuosity on his instrument, but also his impressive compositional skills: writing all but two tracks. Best described simply as a Kevin Eubanks recording without specific categorization. Eubanks' intent with The Messenger is to communicate the breadth of his artistic influences. ''I wanted to branch out a little bit more on this recording,'' Eubanks states. ''I didn't want to be as concerned with the `jazz sound' as much; I wanted to let out a little bit more of what I've been musically exposed to.''
Release date: Tuesday February 26th 2013
Next Collective - Cover Art (Concord Jazz)
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NEXT Collective is the next generation of modern musicians and is comprised of rising stars: saxophonists Logan Richardson and Walter Smith III, guitarist Matthew Stevens, keyboardists Gerald Clayton and Kris Bowers, bassist Ben Williams, drummer Jamire Williams and special guest trumpeter Christian Scott (aka Christian aTunde Adjuah). The album is titled Cover Art and is an ensemble recording of this new generation of jazz greats exploring their own interpretations of songs by such contemporary artists as Bon Iver, Drake, N.E.R.D, Little Dragon and more.
Release date: Tuesday February 26th 2013
Charles Lloyd / Jazon Moran - Hagar's Song (ECM)
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Hagars Song, the newest release from longtime ECM luminary Charles Lloyd, is an interactive duo recording with Jason Moran, the pianist who has been a key member of Lloyds latter-day quartet, contributing to the albums Rabo de Nube (2008), Mirror (2010) and Athens Concert (2012). Hagars Song, a collection of intimacy and homage, features pieces especially dear to Lloyd, ranging from compositions by Billy Strayhorn (Pretty Girl a/k/a Star-Crossed Lovers), Duke Ellington (Mood Indigo) and George Gershwin (Bess, You Is My Woman Now) to a standard strongly associated with Billie Holiday (You ve Changed), Brian Wilsons most famous Beach Boys ballad (God Only Knows) and a Bob Dylan song definitively interpreted by the Band (I Shall Be Released). The centerpiece of the album is the title suite composed by Lloyd and dedicated to his great-great-grandmother, who was taken from her home in south Mississippi at age 10 and sold to a slave-owner in Tennessee. The release of Hagars Song comes in time to help mark Lloyds 75th birthday, on March 15, 2013. About the pieces that constitute Hagars Song, the saxophonist says: Music has always been my inspiration and consolation I hope to give the same. The songs we chose for the recording are part of the continuous thread of music that is my life.
January 2013
The New Year kicks off with some great new releases and re-releases - Joe Lovano, Chris Potter, Eberhard Weber, Jack DeJohnette
Release date: Tuesday January 8th 2013
Eberhard Weber - Resume (ECM)
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Release date: Tuesday January 8th 2013
Joe Lovano - Cross Culture (Blue Note)
Amazon CD
Release date: Tuesday January 15th 2013
Jack DeJohnette - Special Edition (ECM) 4 CD
Amazon CD
Release date: Tuesday January 22nd 2013
Chris Potter - The Sirens (ECM)
Amazon CD
December 2012
December is a void month for new jazz. November was the month for all the Festive Season releases. So here's a chance to feature some great jazz re-releases, many at stone cold bargain prices.
Red Garland / John Coltrane - All Mornin' Long (Hallmark) MP3
Amazon MP3
Dave Brubeck - Dave Brubeck At Storyville: 1954 (Hallmark) MP3
Amazon MP3
Clifford Brown - Caravan (Hallmark) MP3
Amazon MP3
Max Roach - Scott Free (Soul Note) MP3
Amazon MP3
November 2012
New releases from Jan Garbarek, Elvind Aarset, Jeff Johnson, Hal Galper, Benedikt Jahnel
Release date: Tuesday November 6th 2012
Jan Garbarek /Charlie Haden/ Egberto Gismonti (Magico) - Carta de Amor (ECM) 2CD
Amazon CD
Release date: Tuesday November 13th 2012
Elvind Aarset - Dreamlogic (ECM)
Amazon CD
Release date: Tuesday November 13th 2012
Benedikt Jahnel - Equilibrium (ECM)
Amazon CD
Release date: Tuesday November 20th 2012
Jeff Johnson - Suitcase (Origin)
Amazon CD
Release date: Tuesday November 20th 2012
Hal Galper - Airegin Revisited (Origin)
Amazon CD
October 2012
New releases from Seamus Blake, Alex Sipiagin, Clarence Penn, Chad McCullough, John McLaughlin
Release date: October 5th 2012
Opus 5 - Pentasonic (Criss Cross)
Amazon CD
Release date: October 5th 2012
Conrad Herwig - A Voice Through The Door (Criss Cross)
Amazon CD
Release date: October 5th 2012
Clarence Penn - Dali In Cobble Hill (Criss Cross)
Amazon CD
Release date: Tuesday October 19th 2012
Chad McCullough - Urban Nightingale (Origin)
Amazon CD
Release date: Tuesday October 16th 2012
Bobby Hutcherson - Somewhere In The Night (Kind of Blue)
Amazon CD
Release date: Tuesday October 16th 2012
John McLaughlin - Now Here This (Abstract Logix)
Amazon CD
Earlier Jazz CD New Releases are archived here Forthcoming Jazz CD New Release Archive 1 and here Forthcoming Jazz CD New Release Archive 2
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