Levity

 Hypnote Records presents the new album of Albert Vila, release date January 13, 2023.

From the beginning of his career, Albert Vila established himself as a unique musician on the European scene, with his love of strong melodies and well-crafted compositions. For his new album ‘Levity’, a first outing on solo guitar, Albert Vila offers a surprising and eclectic repertoire.

The jazz guitarist takes you from Antonio Carlos Jobim and American Jazz Standards to gems from Nick Drake, The Beatles and Bob Marley. While the repertoire is diverse, the respect for the artists and the coherence of each of the eight tracks develop organically over the course of the album. The global phenomenon of the pandemic catalysed this new album.

 

 

The album was conceived during the heaviest time of the pandemic, and in some way, creating these arrangements lifted Albert up, keeping him inspired through uncertainty and helping him to navigate its darkest moments.

Albert constantly treads new artistic paths and searches for an intimate connection between modern and classical musical aesthetics, the specific and the universal, while emphasising his narrative, evocative expression with strength and humility. As a listener you will certainly redis- cover songs you already know in a version that evokes purity and conceptual simplicity. Close your eyes and enjoy.

Summertime in Leith

 Summertime in Leith features legendary Canadian jazz musicians, bassist Paul Novotny and pianist, Oscar Peterson protégé Robi Botos in a visceral auditory experience that transports you to a picturesque Ontario hamlet, on a balmy, midsummer evening, in the middle of a jewel-like sanctuary of a historic Canadian church, surrounded by local folks engrossed at the moment.

Summertime in Leith presents an exciting impromptu performance by bassist Paul Novotny and pianist Robi Botos, (Oscar Peterson protégé), two legendary Canadian jazz musicians who want nothing more than to share in the exhilaration of the moment. “Summertime in Leith is sonic electricity.”

https://www.paulnovotnymusic.com/

Triplet Records

Other Zones

Decay

Zone 1

One More Please

Return of the Lost Tribe

Duets 1987

Quartet (Mestre)

Trio (London) 1993

Before The Wind Changes

Root 7

 Pioneer of the New York No Wave with the bands Mars and Don King, Mark Cunningham has been part of the Barcelona music underground for almost 30 years, performing solo, with his own groups Raeo, Convolution, Aleatory Grammar and Bèstia Ferida, as a member of Pascal Comelade´s Bel Canto Orchestra and Superelvis, and in countless local and international collaborations. Blood Quartet was formed in early 2015 in Barcelona from a fortuitous collaboration between Cunningham and Catalan underground rock trio Murnau B An outstanding musical treat that starts from the instrumental base of the modern jazz quartet and takes it to the territory of experimentation and electronics. Blood Quartet sound more luminous and rhythmic than ever, diving into uncharted terrain. This results in an exceptional range of genres that play with the form between the classic and the Artist: BLOOD QUARTET Title: ROOT 7 Labels: Cardinal Fuzz (Europe), Feeding Tube Records (USA), Release Date: 20th Jan 2023 contemporary, and that extend the creative spectrum of the band towards new styles, such as krautrock and North African music. The result of this process has given rise to nine themes, each one baptized with the title of a literary work by some reference writers of the members of the quartet, in order to add more roots of meaning, more shadows of influence. Root 7 is a 500 pressing on heavy black vinyl and presented in a 350gsm Matt Laminated Outer Sleeve. Released via Cardinal Fuzz, Feeding Tube Records and Foehn Records

Wig Game

Quiet Song

Afterworld

Black Math Horseman

Everything Returns

 The new album from the modern Yiddish/Klezmer avant-folk group reunited after a 15-year hiatus Black Ox Orkestar formed from Montréal's fertile post-punk scene of the early 2000s, featuring members of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Thee Silver Mt. Zion and Sackville, releasing two acclaimed and influential albums Ver Tanzt (2004) and Nisht Azoy (2006). Everything Returns picks up right where the band left off, with incisively atmospheric, uniquely modern Jewish diasporic folk music of brooding balladry filtered through the lens of an indie-rock sensibility, exquisitely recorded by Greg Norman (Nina Nastasia, Jason Molina) Black Ox Orkestar will be making select live concert appearances in Toronto, Montréal, Keene NH and Brooklyn NY, December 13-17 RIYL: A Hawk and a Hacksaw, Daniel Kahn, Leonard Cohen, Nick Cave, Arooj Aftab, Tindersticks, The National, Alasdair Roberts, Xylouris White, The Klezmatics

But I Still Love You

Two Hands

Live at The Bunker Studio

Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You

Cycles of Formation

More Touch

 The release of her critically acclaimed 2021 debut Maquishti marked vibraphonist and marimbist Patricia Brennan as a startlingly original voice on the improvised music landscape. That promise is more than fulfilled with Brennan’s remarkable follow-up, More Touch, which finds the visionary percussionist leading a wholly unique quartet featuring bassist Kim Cass, drummer Marcus Gilmore, and percussionist Mauricio Herrera. Due out November 18 via Pyroclastic Records, More Touch expands brilliantly on the singular vocabulary showcased on Brennan’s solo debut. Enhancing the resonant beauty and percussive melodicism of the vibraphone and marimba with extended techniques and subtle electronic manipulation, Brennan employs an expansive sonic palette that blurs the lines between progressive jazz and contemporary classical music. On More Touch, she bridges tradition and innovation by drawing influences from the Afro-Cuban and Son Jarocho traditions – and their attendant improvisatory practices – of her native Mexico. The singular make-up of Brennan’s quartet was sparked by her experiences playing in percussion ensembles while a conservatory student at Philadelphia’s prestigious Curtis Institute of Music. “A percussion quartet is all about creating a collective texture or timbre,” she explains. “At the same time there's a very strong improvisational culture in my hometown of Veracruz because of the Afro-Cuban music and Son Jarocho influence. In a way, the goal for this quartet was to have four percussionists together as a unifying starting ground, and adapt that idea as closely as possible to a more traditional jazz quartet.” Brennan’s connection with Herrera was another starting point for the project. The Cuban-born master percussionist spent four years in Mexico in the early 2000s before relocating to New York, and brings a shared pool of influences from both the Afro-Cuban tradition as well as his direct experience in Brennan’s homeland. “Mauricio knows the tradition inside and out, which I really appreciate and respect,” Brennan says. “There's a lot of influence from Cuban percussion back home, so just knowing that Mauricio comes from that lineage is inspiring in itself. But within that tradition it can be difficult to find a musician with the mindset to explore different realms. Mauricio has worked with people like Andrew Cyrille and Aruan Ortiz, musicians who lean a bit more into that outer sphere, so he's able to adapt the tradition.” In Marcus Gilmore, Brennan has enlisted one of the most distinctive and original drummers in modern jazz, someone who has explored rhythmic traditions from Cuban, African, and Carnatic musics as well. “Marcus is an incredible musician,” Brennan says. “Like Mauricio, he has a foundation that is aware of the tradition not only of his own instrument but also in the kinds of music that I am inspired by. On top of that, he's able to play really free or swing – he's very malleable, and I was searching for a drummer that could navigate all those avenues.” A bass player may not typically be considered a percussionist, but in completing her reimagined percussion quartet Brennan knew that Cass would think like one. “Kim is very interested in complex rhythmic structures and navigating through them,” she explains. “I wanted him to play the traditional bass role, but I know that he also has the mindset of a drummer. He’s always thinking about different ways of creating texture with rhythm.” Brennan’s own virtuosic yet boundless approach to the vibes and marimba takes the percussive and melodic aspects of the instruments into uncharted territory via her use of electronics, adding further possibilities to an already expansive ensemble. The result is a compellingly unpredictable venture, where reggae soca grooves buoy intricate, angular melodies; warm, ringing tones skitter into electronic glitchiness and give way to redolent, Xenakis-inspired silences; the infectious beat of Cuban son spirals into higher-order geometric designs; and mesmerizing Batá drums become shrouded in resplendent, borealis-like swathes of color. More Touch suggests the tactile nature of this percussion-focused project, but it also hints at the vibrant humanity that ripples through the stunning interplay and evocative silences that make this music such a moving and captivating experience. “The title reflects a constant inner search for me,” Brennan concludes. “It’s about being in touch with who I am and where I come from, but also being in touch with other people. With the right people, music making happens when you don't have to say anything. In order to get to that point, you have to be so connected, so in tune with each other. It comes from being in tune with nature and the universe and the world and other people, all at the same time.” Patricia Brennan Mexican-born vibraphonist, marimbist, improviser and composer Patricia Brennan has been hailed by JazzTimes for her “unconventional sensibilities… reinventing the art of vibraphone composition and technique.” Having performed with the top symphony orchestras in Mexico while still in her teens, Brennan studied at Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where she performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra and such new music ensembles as Eighth Blackbird. Brennan is a member of the Grammy-nominated John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble, Mary Halvorson’s Amaryllis, Michael Formanek’s Ensemble Kolossus, Matt Mitchell’s Phalanx Ambassadors, the Webber/Morris Big Band; and Tomas Fujiwara’s 7 Poets Trio with cellist and composer Tomeka Reid. She has also collaborated with pianist Vijay Iyer as a member of Blind Spot with writer Teju Cole and bassist Linda Oh, and performed and recorded with such renowned musicians as Sylvie Courvoisier, Dan Weiss, Trevor Dunn, Dave Douglas, Fay Victor, Darius Jones, and many others. Brennan’s own projects include her solo debut, Maquishti, and MOCH, a collaborative duo with percussionist, drummer and turntablist Noel Brennan (DJ Arktureye). Pyroclastic Records Pianist-composer Kris Davis founded Pyroclastic Records in 2016 to serve the release of her acclaimed recordings Duopoly, Octopus (with Craig Taborn) and Diatom Ribbons with the goal of growing the label into a thriving platform to serve cutting-edge artists. In 2019, Davis launched a nonprofit to support those artists whose expression flourishes beyond the commercial sphere. By supporting their creative efforts, Pyroclastic empowers emerging and established artists — including those on its 2022 roster: Tony Malaby, Ches Smith, Nate Wooley, Patricia Brennan and Trevor Dunn — to continue challenging conventional genre-labeling within their fields. Pyroclastic also seeks to galvanize and grow a creative community, providing opportunities, supporting diversity and expanding the audience for noncommercial art. Additionally, its albums often feature artwork by prominent visual artists—Julian Charriére, Dike Blair, Mimi Chakarova, Jim Campbell and Raymond Pettibon among recent examples. Patricia Brennan – More Touch Pyroclastic Records – PR 22 – Recorded March 31-April 1, 2022 Release date November 18, 2022

Hodges: Front and Center Vol. 1

 As influential as he’s been on the history of the jazz saxophone, Johnny Hodges is usually discussed wholly in light of his key role in the Duke Ellington Orchestra. On his second release as a leader, saxophonist Owen Broder shifts the spotlight to focus more intently on the legendary altoist. With Hodges: Front and Center, Vol. 1, Broder and his gifted quintet explore nine compositions associated with the Rabbit (the nickname that Hodges earned early in his career and the source of several conflicting stories), culling pieces both from the Ellington repertoire as well as from the saxophonist’s often overlooked catalogue of small group albums. Due out October 14, 2022 via Outside In Music, Hodges: Front and Center is hardly an exercise in nostalgia. On his acclaimed 2018 debut, Heritage, Broder offered striking new interpretations of American roots music from Appalachian folk to early blues, spirituals to bluegrass. He takes a similar approach to Hodges’ music here; the interpretations are not radically altered, but Broder’s insightful arrangements honor the beauty and elegance of the originals while lending them a deeply felt modern vibrancy. “My generation is really a product of all that Charlie Parker brought to this music,” Broder points out. “Bird was such a founding father and introduced the language that became the language of the saxophone. But Johnny Hodges has always been a big influence on my playing. I really enjoy his lyrical, melodic playing and the warm vocal quality of his approach to sound.” Broder was introduced to Hodges’ playing while still a high school student in Jacksonville, Florida. Naturally that initial exposure came via Ellington’s music, with Hodges being one of the foundational voices that the bandleader sculpted his signature sound to fit. Only later did Broder begin to discover Hodges’ extensive small group discography, beginning with a pair of 1959 releases co-led by the two giants: Back to Back and Side By Side. It was the 60th anniversary of those two landmark albums that instigated this project. Broder embarked on a short tour in the summer of 2019, assembling local bands in each city he visited to delve into the Hodges songbook. In the interim he recorded the video album Our Highway with Cowboys & Frenchmen, the eclectic ensemble that he co-leads with fellow saxophonist Ethan Helm. When it came time to record the Hodges project, Broder assembled a stellar group well versed in both modern jazz and the vintage styles that this album (and its follow-up second album, currently slated for the spring of 2023) investigates. In addition to Broder on alto and baritone saxophones, the band features trumpeter Riley Mulherkar, a co-founder of the renowned brass quartet The Westerlies as well as a regular member of Ryan Truesdell’s Gil Evans Project, where he takes on the Miles Davis role; pianist Carmen Staaf, who serves as musical director and pianist for singer Dee Dee Bridgewater and co-leads the band Science Fair with drummer Allison Miller, a frequent collaborator; bassist Barry Stephenson, a member of Jon Batiste and Stay Human as well as the band of drummer/vocalist Jamison Ross, a high school classmate of Broder’s; and Bryan Carter, another high school friend whose drumming has been heard everywhere from Jazz at Lincoln Center to Sesame Street. “Some of them are old friends and some of them are new friends,” Broder says. “But because of their musical backgrounds, they all felt like the obvious choices for this band.” The album opens with Clarence and Spencer Williams’ “Royal Garden Blues,” from Back to Back, which immediately draws the listener in with its buoyant swing and robust excitement. Any fear that this is some backward-glancing museum piece drops away with Broder’s burnished, sinuous solo, followed by Mulherkar’s rambunctious turn on the muted trumpet. Quickly realizing that the two Ellington small group collaborations were almost exclusively made of blues tunes, Broder dug deeper to find material, leading to discoveries like the strolling “Viscount,” from 1957’s The Big Sound, or Gerry Mulligan’s piquant “18 Carrots for Rabbit,” which offers a bold showcase for Broder’s supple bari attack. Ellington is of course represented here, via a rollicking rendition of the immortal “Take the A Train” that reserves the famous theme until the song’s closing moments. The piece’s sheer joy stands in brilliant contrast to Hodges’ achingly gorgeous “Ballade for the Very Sad and Very Tired Lotus Eaters,” with Broder’s breathy, strong yet vulnerable baritone playing revealing all the nuance and lyricism that he learned from Hodges over Carter’s delicate brushwork and Staaf’s gracefully elegiac mood-setting. Bridging six decades of musical evolution with an exuberant spirit and a shrewdly modern perspective, Owen Broder and his standout quintet have crafted a welcome reminder of Johnny Hodges’ profound soul and lyrical genius. Front and Center, Vol. 1 is both a fitting tribute and a luminous expression of the timeless state-of-the-jazz art. Owen Broder Owen Broder is a saxophonist based in New York City who runs in a variety of musical circles. His American Roots Project’s debut album, Heritage, was praised by DownBeat Magazine as a “transcendent work of art,” while his quintet Cowboys & Frenchmen has received critical acclaim for its three full-length recordings. Broder is a member of the GRAMMY® nominated Anat Cohen Tentet and the Manhattan Saxophone Quartet and has performed with internationally respected artists such as Ryan Truesdell’s Gil Evans Project, Trio Globo, and YouTube sensation Postmodern Jukebox. UNCSA’s 2021 Artpreneur of the Year Award and the 2018 Eastman/ArtistShare® New Artist program recognized Broder’s entrepreneurial ventures; most notably, in response to the pandemic, Broder co-founded and performed in Live From Our Living Rooms. Credited as “the first online jazz festival” by Rolling Stone, the initiative raised over $140k in support of US-based musicians whose performance careers were halted due to COVID-19. As an educator, Broder teaches Jazz Theory and Jazz Arranging at Portland State University and saxophone lessons at Pacific University. Owen Broder – Hodges: Front and Center, Vol. 1 Outside In Music – OiM 2224 – Recorded Sept. 10-11, 2021 Release date October 14, 2022

Sfumato

 Here is an item in Vinny Golia’s discography that gives a global sense to his life as an artist. Before being a musician, Golia was a painter. A very particular one, trying to translate to color what he heard in the music he liked most, from Varèse and Messiaen to John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman. In his youth, he used to go to jazz concerts in his native New York to sketch the performers, based in what he saw but also in the music itself. His growing interest in what was happening soundwise made him turn to music definitely, first picking the soprano saxophone and then all the members of the instrumental family invented by Adolph Sax, from the sopranino to the contrabass, an arsenal soon extended to other reeds – all the clarinets, the bassoon and the english horn, but also flutes and ethnic woodwinds from several geographic origins. And he learned to master all those instruments by himself, only taking some basic lessons from his heroes, like Anthony Braxton. The curious thing is that if his painting was inspired by music (he “played” some painting gigs in real time, along with improvising musicians), the music he’s performing and recording for 30 years now is informed by some of the visual arts main characteristics, sounds functioning like colors. “Sfumato”, the new album of his quartet with the legendary trumpeter Bobby Bradford, bassist Ken Filiano and drummer Alex Cline, is a direct reference to that visual background, aluding to the painting technique developed by Leonardo da Vinci to create the perception of depth and volume. The famous Mona Lisa is a consequence of that proceeding, and so is this magnificent record. But take notice: “Sfumato” isn’t the typical “painting-turn-to-music” creation of the experimental sound art field: Golia’s option for the audio medium made him a musician and not a sound sculptor. As such, he deals entirely with the formal elements that make music what it is historically, and even if he has an innovative approach, tonal / melodic phrasing and groovy poly-rhythmic sustenance is something he praises much. That’s why he’s also a composer in the traditional sense, dealing with counterpoint or cadenzas, even when a bit bizarre and broken. With Bradford, Filiano and Cline he can apply something analogous to the sfumato resources to the music they play here, but it’s not brush work what they’re doing. 

Refraction Solo

Label Trost Records [TR 229]

Released October 28. 2022

Recorded Live July 04, 2021, Church of The Holy Ghost, Igreja do Espírito Santo, Caldas da Rainha, Portugal

New World

Paradise Cove

 Artist: Lisa Hilton

Title: Paradise Cove

Label: Ruby Slippers

“I think we all need jazz in our lives these days,” composer, pianist, bandleader and producer Lisa K. Hilton writes in the liner notes for her release, Paradise Cove (Ruby Slipper Productions 1028).

“From its inception ragtime, jazz and blues were created to boost moods or morale by America’s earliest composers, such as Scott Joplin, Ferdinand “Jelly Rolly” Morton or Nick La Rocca in the early 1900’s. Our world today desires and deserves a lift after the last couple years, and with the music of Paradise Cove we aim to boost spirits everywhere.”

Hilton’s twenty-sixth recording debuts her dynamic new L.I.L.O quartet with Hilton on piano, trumpeter Igmar Thomas, bassist Luques Curtis, and drummer Obed Calvaire. (L.I.L.O. for their first initials). Hilton has performed with the in-demand bassist Luques Curtis regularly for several years, but the charismatic trumpeter Igmar Thomas, Curtis’s former room - mate at Berklee College of Music, is a compelling addition, complimenting Hilton’s fluid style and bluesy riffs.

Drummer Obed Calvaire, who regularly works with SF Jazz Collective as well as Wynton Marsalis, contributes considerable creativity to this cohesive band. After recording at The Village Studios in Santa Monica, California Hilton declared, “The L.I.L.O quartet is my favorite band ever…I bet anyone listening will hear the enjoyment we had!” Hilton chose the title Paradise Cove as a reference to our cultural need to find a ‘cove’ or protected spot in our personal lives on a daily basis to escape, revitalize, or reboot and to create a ‘paradise’ or state of grace amid today’s fast-moving times.

The nine original tracks and two cover tunes range from the expressive melodicism of “Another Simple Sunday With You”, and the title track “Paradise Cove”, to the wildly upbeat blowing on Dizzy Gillespie’s 1957 jazz classic “Birks’ Works,” Hilton’s own “Blues Vagabond” as well as her “Fast Time Blues.” These tracks exhibit plenty of the quartets improvisational fireworks along with some retro vibes. On a quieter note, the wistful cover of the Burt Bacharach/Hal David 1965 tune “What The World Needs Now is Love” and the moving “Storybook Sequel” showcase a band in touch with a range of emotions and performance styles. Hilton also includes a Latin tinge with the exuberant “Cha Cha Cha À La Carte” as well as the trio tune “Mercurial Moments,” which highlights excellent soloing by bassist Curtis and exciting drumming by Calvaire. “Mediterranean Dreams” is a more classical piece for the trio while “Night Cap and a Little Chaos” has an enticing noir energy that rounds out these vibrant and well recorded tracks.

LISA KRISTINE HILTON / PIANO,

IGMAR THOMAS TRUMPET

LUQUES CURTIS / BASS

OBED CALVAIRE / DRUMS

Trama

 ears&eyes

Lucaus Goicoechea - alto sax

Juan Filipelli - guitar

Maximiliano Kirszner - double bass and composition

Nicolás Politzer - drums

The group was formed at the beginning of 2020, made up of Maximiliano Kirszner on double bass and composition, Juan Filipelli on guitar, Lucas Goicoechea on alto sax and Nicolás Politzer on drums. They work on original compositions by the double bass player in which there is a constant dialogue between written situations with other improvised ones. The written material alternates with very open situations, blurring the boundaries between these areas at the moment.

There is a great deal of room for the opening of the forms devised in the first place, making each presentation and execution of the pieces a unique and unrepeatable moment.

Thunder

Stephan Micus is a unique musician and composer. He collects and studies instruments from all around the world and creates his own musical journeys with them. This is his 25th solo album for ECM and its sound is dominated by the four-metre long Tibetan dung chen trumpet, an instrument he has recently learned and is using for the first time. It was the thunderous sound of this instrument that led to the album’s name and its nine tracks celebrating deities around the world. “I dedicate this music to the big family of thundergods around the world, humbly hoping that - when they hear it - their destructive powers will be somehow pacified,” he says. It features instruments - all played by Stephan Micus - from Tibet, India, Burma, Borneo, Siberia, Japan, South America, Gambia, Namibia, Sweden and Bavaria.The album will be released to coincide with Stephan’s 70th birthday January 19.

Drifting

After Mette Henriette’s critically acclaimed, self-titled first recording comes Drifting – an album pervaded by trio conversations of idiosyncratic and original expression. With Johan Lindvall returning on piano, new addition Judith Hamann on cello and herself on saxophone, Mette’s chamber musical elaborations prove of a concentrated and exploratory quality, marked by subtle yet intense interaction. Motifs and recurring patterns crystallize and reveal a concise, intricate narrative. The saxophonist-composer explains how “this album is in movement. It’s on its way somewhere and has its own pace – its creative agency is fundamentally different from what I’ve done previously.” Recorded in Oslo, completed in Studios La Buissonne and produced by Manfred Eicher, Drifting presents the trio’s deep investigations into hushed textures and rich tones with precision and clarity.

A Short Diary

Sebastian Rochford: drums, composition; Kit Downes: piano

ECM 2749                  CD 6024 4534944 9            Release: 20 January 2023

This “short diary (of loss)”, as drummer Sebastian Rochford calls it, is offered as “a sonic memory, created with love, out of need for comfort.” It is dedicated to Rochford’s father, Aberdeen poet Gerard Rochford, 1932-2019, and to his family. Seb, one of ten siblings, wrote most of the music shortly after Gerard’s death and delivers it here, in performances of deep feeling and hymn-like clarity, together with pianist Kit Downes. The final wistful piece, “Even Now I Think Of Her” was composed by Gerard Rochford. Sebastian explains:  “It’s a tune my dad had sung into his phone and sent me. I forwarded this to Kit. He listened, and then we started.”

Rochford recalls how, after his father passed away, “music just seemed to come to me, sing inside me every day, sometimes even as I woke. Though initially I felt conflict in writing and hadn't wanted to, in it's coming, it realised in me a sense of comfort and also a way to sense physically what I was feeling.  So in a musical way, it became my diary of this time.” As far as diaries go, this may be a quietly reflective one; however, it is also imbued with striking melodic themes and poignant chord progressions, replete with many nuances and different shades of tone and timbre spread across a simple grand piano and the bare necessities of a drum-kit.

The album was recorded at Rochford’s childhood home in Scotland – its intimate acoustics captured comprehensively and with crystalline transparency. “As my parents always loved music being played at home and we would not be able to keep the house, I thought to record the music there, also as a sonic memory of where I grew up, played on my grandfather's piano, gifted to us by my father's brother, a tribute to the wonderful, kind hearted man I called my dad.”

As the drummer wrote the music, sitting at his father’s piano, he took notes in a manuscript book, making sure to record, in words, the details of atmosphere and ambiance that can’t be expressed through scores. “All the music has sheet music and as the tone is an important part of the feeling, Kit and I spoke about achieving certain dynamics, as I felt if the piano went past certain dynamics, the feeling was lost for me. The writing of the music was also a comfort for me at this time, so I wanted the music we recorded to reflect that.”

For the opening, hymnal “This Tune your ears will never hear” in his manuscript book Seb jotted down: “Like a child calling out alone into an empty void”. Regarding “Night of Quiet”, performed on piano solo, Rochford points out the setting: “It was late. I could hear people speaking in the other room. I played the minimum, just to know the notes, very quietly.” And for “Love You Grampa”, where common chords and hymnal tendencies return to be further investigated, the drummer-composer again emphasises the importance of family bonds. These thoughts transcend the music, and the music returns the favour.

Rochford approached Manfred Eicher – with whom he had previously worked playing drums on Andy Sheppard’s albums Trio Libero (2012), Surrounded By Sea (2015) and Romaria (2018) – and asked if he’d be open to producing A Short Diary. “I feel Manfred understands how to concentrate and intensify what the artists he has chosen to work with are aiming to achieve, allowing them to bloom. Due to the circumstances of how this album came together and my previous experience of him, I felt he would understand and be sensitive to this music, as this was vital to me.”

A meticulous production process in collaboration with Eicher, who then mixed the album in Munich, followed: “Listening to Manfred’s mixes was like he was showing me what I had made and hearing the music for the first time. To be honest, I don't even know how he made the music sound the way it does, but I felt he had intensified and brought into focus everything about it.”

 

Space Alley

 Plastic Crimewave Syndicate has finally returned with a wide-ranging/raging new album — recorded two years ago in an expansive, benevolent alleyway in the midst of a dark, diseased, claustrophobic time of global chaos. The new PCWS album, entitled "Space Alley," boldly travels into the relatively unexplored malevolent terrain of free doom, space/noise punk, and darkly dubbed-out library/soundtrack grooves (call it 70's crooked-cop show/ freak-funk, if you must). This is all capped off with a sidelong, (beat of the) earthharvesting modal exploration of synthed-out kraut-throb. With new bassist Rob Rodak (Dead Feathers) aboard, and guests like sax-skronk legend Taralie Peterson (Spires That in the Sunset Rise), flautist Sara Gossett (Spiral Galaxy), and synthlord Will MacLean (Protovulcan), new influences have seeped into PCWS's dystopian vision. The Syndicate have opened for revered deities like Nik Turner, Loop, Simply Saucer, Chrome, and Josefus; but now a more diverse and groovy array of past underground sounds like Skin Alley, Artist: PLASTIC CRIMEWAVE SYNDICATE Title: SPACE ALLEY Labels: Cardinal Fuzz (Europe), LION Records (USA), Release Date: 20th Jan 2023 Sound of Imker, Here and Now, Mann/Sharrock, Black Sun Ensemble, Parson Sound, and Schizo have influenced PCWS's journey. Recorded by Eric Block (Rhys Chatham, Sick Gazelle) of Rec Rooms studios, and mastered by Monster Magnet/Desert Sessions guitar god JP McBain, the mind-fry level is set to 11 ½ on Space Alley!

The Golden Pond

 Cardinal Fuzz (UK/Europe) and Centripetal Force (North America) are pleased to announce Upupayāma's forthcoming album The Golden Pond. The album will be made available for pre-ordering on October 21st, with the album being released on November 25th (Europe). "Alessio Ferrari has let himself wander further into the wild cosmos of German Progressives, French soundtrack psych, and Middle Eastern raw ‘70s rock." - Raven Sings the Blues Upupayāma is the musical persona of Alessio Ferrari, an Italian multi-instrumentalist and songwriter who lives in a small mountain village above the city of Parma. Upupayāma’s music is rooted strongly in Eastern and Western folk traditions, an approach that Ferrari blends with his own modern sensibilities and style. In addition to playing guitar, bass, keyboards, and drums, Ferrari himself also incorporates a number of other instruments into his sound, including sitar, erhu, flute, and a variety of percussion instruments. Artist: UPUPAYAMA Title: THE GOLDEN POND Labels: Cardinal Fuzz (Europe), Centripetal Force (USA), Release Date: 25th November 22 For Ferrari, Upupayāma's 2020 debut was all about the journey. The album served a series of musical vignettes that visited and weaved its way through a succession magical settings. The Golden Pond, conversely, is all about location. Inspired by his frequent visits to a small lake near his mountain home, Ferrari intentionally focused on the details of the place he inhabited, a practice he decided would translate well with his approach to writing music. This is something Ferrari feels is best exemplified with the album's opening companion pieces, "Cuckoos from the House of Golden Tin" and "Entering the Time of Wilderness." The Golden Pond also continues Ferrari's practice of using "invented language" in his lyrics. Ferrari wants his voice to be heard as if it were an additional instrument, a tool that does not convey specific messages. His goal is to allow the listener to assign personal meaning to the music. He says, "I want my incorporating invented language is a way of breaking down the barriers that are sometimes created by language, by having to define something at all costs. Ferrari adds, "I think one of my unconscious dreams is not to have to define anything, but just to be carried away by our feelings." Earlier this year Ferrari put together a group of musicians to help him deliver his live vision of Upupayāma. They made their debut in Rome in May, and they will play a couple of shows in advance of the album being released. Both dates will be in October, one in Kreuzlingen, Switzerland and the other in Esslingen, Germany. Plans to tour throughout Europe in the spring of 2023 are currently in the works via El Borracho Booking. The Golden Pond will be Upupayāma's second album with Centripetal Force and Cardinal Fuzz, the first being the well-received self-titled debut in 2021, which is being repressed to coincide with the release of The Golden Pond in November.

Bajo este sol tremendo

 Inspired by Carlos Busqued's book "Under this terrible sun" (Bajo este sol tremendo) trombonist and composer Daniel Iván Bruno explores a variety of sonorities with creative musicians from Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires. Recorded in one take, this album mixes melodies, textures and improvisation in a joyful way.

credits

released November 15, 2022 - ears&eyes

Daniel Bruno - Trombone
Teby Frontera - Electric guitar
Julian Maliandi - Electric guitar
Martin Delassaletta - Electric Bass
Luciano Monte - Drums

Alive At The Village Vanguard

Due out January 9, 2023 on Palmetto Records, Alive at the Village Vanguard features two of jazz’s most revered artists in captivating form at the legendary NYC club 

Pianist/composer Fred Hersch and vocalist/bassist/songwriter esperanza spalding (stylized in all lower case) can both be counted among the most acclaimed and inventive artists in modern jazz. The Village Vanguard is the music’s most revered venue, having played host to countless legendary musicians and beloved live recordings. The duo and the club converge for a magical performance on Alive at the Village Vanguard, a rare opportunity for listeners to enjoy the singular and thrilling collaboration between two marquee jazz artists at the top of their game. Due out January 9, 2023 via Palmetto Records, Alive at the Village Vanguard showcases the astonishing chemistry shared by these two master musicians, who bring out distinctive aspects in each other’s playing. Hersch and spalding have convened for only a handful of New York City performances since their first meeting in 2013 during the pianist’s annual duo series at the Jazz Standard. In that limited time the pair has developed a wholly personal approach, not only in the annals of piano-voice duets but in their own already highly individual practices. Taking the stage with no set arrangements and only a vague sense of the repertoire they’ll explore, the dauntless pair delights in playing without a safety net. “This recording sounds like you’re in the best seat in the Vanguard for a very live experience,” says Hersch. “You can really feel the vitality of the room, of the audience, and of our interplay. We decided on the word Alive for the album title as you can really feel the intimacy and energy of the performances.” Alive at the Village Vanguard marks Hersch’s sixth recording from the storied club, where he’s been invited to headline three weeks annually for many years. The album also vividly spotlights Hersch’s stunning sensitivity and engagement as a duo partner; in recent years he’s worked in a similar setting with such incredible musicians as guitarists Julian Lage and Bill Frisell, clarinetist/saxophonist Anat Cohen, saxophonist Miguel Zenón, and trumpet maestro Enrico Rava. Hersch and spalding will celebrate the album’s release with a return to the Village Vanguard for a weeklong engagement beginning on January 10. That will be followed by a three-week U.S. tour [see above]. “Playing with Fred feels like we’re in a sandbox,” spalding says. “He takes his devotion to the music as serious as life and death, but once we start playing, it’s just fun. I like to live on the edge in my music, but I find myself trying things that I usually wouldn’t when I play with him, finding new spaces to explore in the realm of improvised lyrics.” Always a determined original in her own projects, spalding rarely sings standards, and her approach here is unique to her partnership with Hersch. She’s revealed on this outing as not just a phenomenal scat singer but a charming and imaginative improvisational storyteller. The Gershwins’ “But Not For Me” becomes a witty, poetic extemporization on the lyric itself, examining the changes in language represented by the original’s sometimes archaic terminology. Neal Hefti and Bobby Troup’s chauvinistic ditty “Girl Talk” comes under barbed scrutiny from not only a feminist but also an eco-conscious perspective. “I don’t think anybody’s heard esperanza sing like this,” Hersch says. “She’s a fearless vocalist, and is one of the biggest talents I know. She’s got a huge reach in her intellectual knowledge and is a big thinker in both her projects and in her outlook.” Hersch’s preternatural reflexes, profound emotional expressiveness and unparalleled gift for interpreting and reimagining repertoire with each new performance are on mesmerizing display throughout the album. His “Dream of Monk” has been a staple of the duo’s sets since the beginning. With lyrics penned by the pianist himself, the tune is a dedication to one of the pianist’s most indelible influences, whose own “Evidence” shows why Hersch is such a revered interpreter of the Monk canon. “Little Suede Shoes” transforms another bop-era classic, spinning a playful update on the Charlie Parker calypso. “Some Other Time” is a Sammy Cahn/Jule Styne song, less well known than the Leonard Bernstein classic of the same name but a favorite of Hersch, who weaves an elegant and vivid tapestry during his mesmerizing solo. Egberto Gismonti’s “Loro” is launched by spalding’s unconventional scatting, which she eventually uses to engage in a nimble dance with Hersch’s propulsive piano. The album closes with Hersch’s best-known composition, “A Wish (Valentine),” with magnificent lyrics by Norma Winstone. Though it’s hard to believe given the buoyant spirits and playful interaction of the performances, both spalding and Hersch were working through pain on the October 2018 weekend that this music was recorded. Although the stint ended on a celebratory note with the occasion of Hersch’s 63rd birthday, he was also scheduled to enter the hospital the very next day for hip replacement surgery. “I was in a lot of pain and walking with a crutch,” he recalls. “Just getting down the famous stairs to the Vanguard was an ordeal, but once the music started the pain disappeared completely.” spalding, meanwhile, was struggling with family issues while juggling an intense schedule that included writing an opera with the master composer Wayne Shorter and beginning a teaching position at Harvard University. “I was going through a very difficult time in my life,” she admits. “I was miserable every day when I got to the Vanguard, so I had to decide to plug into the capacity for this music to heal. I wanted to emanate something positive even though I was feeling so horrible. Neither of us were feeling well in our lives outside of the music, so the stage of the Vanguard became an alchemizing place for both of us, and I think you can feel that in the music.” Fred Hersch A select member of jazz’s piano pantheon, Fred Hersch is an influential creative force who has shaped the music’s course over more than three decades. A fifteen-time Grammy nominee, Hersch has long set the standard for expressive interpretation and inventive creativity. A revered improviser, composer, educator, bandleader, collaborator and recording artist, Hersch has been proclaimed “the most arrestingly innovative pianist in jazz over the last decade” by Vanity Fair, “an elegant force of musical invention” by The L.A. Times, and “a living legend” by The New Yorker. For decades Hersch has been firmly entrenched as one of the most acclaimed and captivating pianists in modern jazz, whether through his exquisite solo performances, as the leader of one of jazz’s eradefining trios, or in eloquent dialogue with his deeply attuned duo partners. His brilliant 2017 memoir, Good Things Happen Slowly, was named one of 2017’s Five Best Memoirs by the Washington Post and The New York Times. esperanza spalding Five-time Grammy Award-winning visionary esperanza spalding aims to ignite and portray various hues of vital human energies through composition, singing, bass playing and live performance. A lover of all music, especially improvisation-based musics emerging from black American culture, spalding’s musical aesthetic is prismatic. With projects like Radio Music Society, Chamber Music Society, Emily’s D+ Evolution and 12 Little Spells, she has inventively combined and reimagined influences from jazz, funk, rock, musical theater and beyond. She has taught at Berklee College of Music and Harvard University, founded the Songwrights Apothecary Lab, and wrote the opera ...(Iphigenia) in collaboration with Wayne Shorter. 

Keep Your Christmas Tree For Burning

 

Pasado en Claro

Anders Jormin: double bass; Lena Willemark: vocals, violin, viola; Karin Nakagawa: 25-string koto; Jon Fält: drums, percussion

ECM 2761      06024 4875945 (0)      Release: 20. Januar 2023

 The creative partnership of bassist Anders Jormin and singer/violinist/violist Lena Willemark has brought forth special music over the last two decades.  Near the beginning of their association, first given exposure in 2004 with the album In Winds, In Light,  Jormin observed, “How Lena Willemark manages to preserve her local musical dialect and at the same time be so expressive, so personal, receptive and contemporary is a tremendous inspiration not only for me.”  Willemark, raised in the traditional music milieu of Sweden’s Älvdalen region had already demonstrated a capacity to go beyond the frontiers of ‘folk’ in her ECM recordings with Ale Möller, including Nordan and Agram. The work with Anders Jormin became a logical next step.

After a productive collaboration on Jormin’s oratorio Between Always and Never, Anders and Lena introduced a new project, joined by Japanese koto player Karin Nakagawa on the 2015 ECM album Trees of Light. US magazine Stereophile praised its “music of bracing originality, strength, grace, darkness, light, gravitas, wit, and utter attentiveness to each other’s silences and sounds”.

 Now, with the addition of drummer Jon Fält, Anders’s long time comrade in the Bobo Stenson Trio, the group has expanded its improvisational range. Many creative ideas are explored on Pasado en claro, emerging from its juxtaposition of sung poetry and musical interaction.  Jormin casts his net wide, bringing together texts from ancient Chinese and Japanese sources with contemporary Scandinavian poetry, also setting words by Mexican writer Octavio Paz and by Petrarch, lyric poet of Renaissance Italy. 

 

The resourceful Willemark sings this cross section of world verse and adds her own songs to the programme.  For all its broad scope, however, the music retains its own group logic through its combining of voice, fiddle, koto, bass and percussion.  The sparse, archaic sounds of the koto, in particular, seem to open up new spaces in which collective creativity can flower. As Anders Jormin explains it: “When each musician’s unique musical dialect, in curiosity and with open listening ears, blends and communicates, something stronger than our four individual voices may awake. Something happens that in advance is not decided or controlled.” The outcome: “carefully crystallized and heartfelt music”.

*

Anders Jormin, born in Jönköping, Sweden, has recorded prolifically for ECM since the early 1990s. In addition to his albums as a leader for the label – Xieyi, In winds, in light, Ad Lucem, Trees of Light – he has appeared on albums with the Bobo Stenson Trio, including Reflections, War Orphans, Serenity, Cantando, Goodbye, Indicum and Contra la Indecisión (a new Stenson Trio album, Sphere, is in preparation).  Jormin, furthermore, can be heard on albums with Charles Lloyd, Tomasz Stanko, Don Cherry, Sinekka Langeland, Jon Balke, Marilyn Mazur, and Ferenc Snétberger.  Through all these endeavours,his improvisational imagination and profound feeling for melody are in evidence.  

 

Lena Willemark, born in the Swedish village of Evertsberg,  has steadily been expanding her range over the years, from folk through jazz to freer improvising – always keeping a focus on the concept of music as a storyteller’s art.  The poems and song lyrics she gives voice to here share a vividness of imagery. As for instance when Lena’s own “The Woman of the Long Ice”  precedes Tomas Tranströmer’s “Kingdom of Coldness”, the latter with its snapshots of “jingling tambourines of ice” and “high tension lines/taut in cold’s brittle kingdom/north of all music.” 

 

 Karin Nakagawa, born in Tokyo, began playing piano at 3, and took up the highly specialized 25-string koto at 12. Two years later she began giving concerts of her own compositions.  Today she is recognized for her improvisational versatility  and her ability to integrate the essence of her sound, with its roots in ancient Japanese tradition, in the most diverse contemporary contexts.

 

Jon Fält, born in Gävle, Sweden, first gained international attention when he joined Bobo Stenson and Anders Jormin in time for the album Cantando (2007) taking over a role previously addressed by two of jazz’s finest  drummers – Jon Christensen and Paul Motian.  Fält impressed  immediately with his own sinuous approach to rhythm and the multiple ways in which he can provide running percussive commentary on the musical action.

 

Pasado en claro was recorded in Studio Epidemin in Gothenburg in December 2021.

 

The quartet of Anders Jormin, Lena Willemark, Karin Nakagawa and Jon Fält plays concerts in Sweden, Denmark and Norway in February 2023.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grace Tame Is President

 

A one off collaboration in homage to 2021 –and forever- Australian Of The Year Grace Tame by songwriter/performer Dave Graney and studio cat/multi instrumentalist Plutonic Lab aka Leigh Ryan. All instruments played by Plutonic Lab .
A Ryan-Graney Production.

“Grace Tame is president – in the nations’ brain she’s resident!!” Dave Graney

Dave Graney listened to Grace Tame and Brittany Higgins address the National press Club in Canberra February 9th 2021 and heard them speak truth to the nations power. A stellar cultural political moment for the nation. He was driving the Hume Highway between Melbourne and NSW. When he stopped for the night he opened his phone and used to Twitter to sent a message to Plutonic Lab saying they should collaborate on a track called Grace Tame Is President. (The title a playful tip to Eric B and Rakims classic Eric B Is President) Plutonic said “yes” straight away and here we are.

Dave Graney asked some fellow players and singers to come on board with their voices and the finished track includes vocal takes and textures from Jodi Phillis, Jane Dust, Penny Ikinger, Lisa Gibbs, Julie Graney, Edwina Preston and Anna Smyrk.

Any money generated to be donated to the Grace Tame Foundation which is a not-for-profit philanthropic organisation established by the 2021 Australian of the Year, Grace Tame, to campaign for and help fund initiatives which work to prevent and respond to sexual abuse of children and others

The Candle And The Flame

 

Everything Was Funny

 

In A MistLY