New Jazz Adds – 5/19/2020
New Jazz Adds – 5/19/2020
Peter & Will Anderson – Featuring Jimmy Cobb (Outside In Music): “Virtuosos on clarinet and saxophone” (New York Times), identical twins Peter and Will Anderson are two of the most extraordinary jazz woodwind players today. Born and raised in Washington D.C., the Andersons moved to New York City to attend The Juilliard School. They’ve performed with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Wycliffe Gordon, Cecile McLorin Salvant, Paquito D’Rivera, Wynton Marsalis, and can be heard on the 2014 Grammy-winning soundtrack of HBO’s Boardwalk Empire with Vince Giordano’s Nighthawks. They’ve headlined at Carnegie Hall, The Blue Note, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, New Orleans Jazz Festival, Feinstein’s 54 Below, Blues Alley, Birdland, and live on Garrison Keillor’s Prairie Home Companion Radio Program.” (http://peterandwillanderson.com/bio/) “Saxophonists and identical twins Peter (tenor) and Will (alto) Anderson lead their quintet featuring Jimmy Cobb (drums), Jeb Patton (piano), and David Wong (bass). The songs include three original compositions by each Peter and Will, in addition to “Some Day My Prince Will Come,” “Jeannine,” “Polka Dots and Moonbeams,” and “Autumn in New York.””(https://www.jazziz.com/new-releases/peter-and-will-anderson-featuring-jimmy-cobb/) Click here to listen to a sample of the opening song on this disc.
Brian Andres Trio Latino – Mayan Suite (Bacalao): “A TRIO is a much more intimate, yet demanding musical setting for musicians to explore. There is no place to hide, no weak link allowed. In such a small setting, the dynamics must become more acute, the musical idea that much more clear, the technique that much more precise.” (Brian Andres) “After years of leading the acclaimed octet Brian Andres & the Afro-Cuban Jazz Cartel, the drummer felt the time was ripe to liberate the rhythm section. More than a spinoff, Andres’s Trio Latino is a powerhouse ensemble that has forged its own identity with high-octane performances and a repertoire bristling with ambitious, jaw-dropping tunes…. Featuring pianist Christian Tumalan, co-leader of the Grammy Award-winning Pacific Mambo Orchestra, and electric and acoustic bassist Aaron Germain, one of the busiest accompanists on the Bay Area music scene, Andres’s Trio Latino is clearly inspired by Chick Corea and Michel Camilo’s virtuosic flights. For Andres, the trio offers a welcome opportunity to “strip everything away from the larger ensemble, down to essentials. There’s much more space to explore, for creative expression, and with that freedom there’s greater responsibilities for all three of us.” (https://brianandres.com/brian-andres-trio-latino) Terrific energy and beautiful melodies. Click here to listen to the songs on this disc.
David Bixler – Blended Lineage (Red Piano): “Saxophonist, composer, and educator David Bixler is a multi-faceted artist, having received critical acclaim for both his playing and his writing. He actively leads several projects that serve as platforms for his diverse musical interests. His latest recordings include In the Face of Chaos with Bixler, Bocatto, Cowherd, and Sturm, and Blended Lineage with his nine-piece Bixtet. As a sideman David has performed and toured the world with the orchestras of Chico O’Farrill, Lionel Hampton, and Toshiko Akiyoshi. He is also active as a composer in both the jazz and classical worlds, and recently premiered The Hughes Project, musical ruminations on the poems of Langston Hughes for jazz quintet and string quartet. From David Bixler: Blended Lineage follows the release of my first recording in several years, In the Face of Chaos, as a part of what I have embraced as my artistic reemergence. A traumatic brain injury suffered by my youngest son necessitated a shift in my priorities for much of the last decade-a period in which we as a family devoted much of our energy to the circumstances of our son. As he stabilized, I had a realization that this was the new normal, and it was time to re-enter the realm of creative music, but with a perspective and energy gracefully changed and informed by my family’s circumstances. Blended Lineage is a four-movement work composed for nine musicians; the product of a commission with the directive of writing music based on the concept of modern-day tribes. As I thought about the word tribe, it occurred to me that while helpful in identifying a group, the word tribe can also be divisive and one-dimensional, and therefore I went about framing this concept in the positive. An examination of my world identified four ‘tribes’ of which I am a member: the human race, a Wisconsinite, a musician, and those who attempt to pursue a path of creativity and generosity as an alternative to the dehumanizing transactional strivings that permeate much of our present culture.” (https://jazzchill.blogspot.com/2020/05/david-bixler-blended-lineage.html) In addition to Bixler, the contributing musicians are Mike Rodriguez (trumpet), Jon Cowherd (piano), Luke Sellick (bass), Fabio Rojas (percussion), and a string quartet comprised of violinists Judith Ingolfsson, Heather Martin Bixler, violist Josh Kail, and cellist Rubin. Click here to listen to the fourth and final segment of this set.
Al Di Meola – Across The Universe (Ear Music): Guitarist Al Di Meola celebrates the beautiful wonders of the Beatles. In his words, “The Purpose of this record is to celebrate the aesthetic, beauty and joy that these well known melodies have meant to me and the place in time of my youth and throughout my entire life.” (Liner notes) Beautiful re-workings of these well-known songs. Click here to listen to samples of the songs on this disc.
The Duo Tachoir – Shades Of Blue (Avita Jazz): This is the Tachoir’s tenth release. After attending school at Berklee College of Music where they met. Marlene began her career playing keys in her father’s swing band and Jerry performed with the Pittsburgh Symphony as a mallet percussionist. On this release Marlene plays piano and adds vocals and Jerry plays vibes on seven original compositions. Beautiful melodies. Click here to listen to the songs on this disc.
Thomas Marriott – Trumpet Ship (Origin): “Jazz trumpeter, composer and producer Thomas Marriott is a veteran of the national jazz scene who’s earned seven Golden Ear awards, produced 11 albums as a leader for Origin Records, and toured with greats like Maynard Ferguson and Roy McCurdy, as well as contemporary jazz artists Orrin Evans and Joe Locke.” (http://thomasmarriott.net/biography/) This is Marriot’s twelfth release as a leader and it is a real gem! In addition to Marriott’s trumpet, the players include Orrin Evans (piano), Luques Curtis (bass) and Mark Whitfield Jr (drums). Five of the eight songs are Marriott’s originals and they are the jewels on this set, but the covers are nicely played as well. The covers are Jerome Kern’s “All They Things You Are”, Miles Davis, Gil Evans and Wayne Shorter’s awesome “General Assembly” and the title song, composed by Sonny Simmons. It is amazing that it was just released now having been recorded in 2016. Nonetheless, this is a gem! Click here to catch samples of two of the songs on this release.
Jazz At Lincoln Center w/ Wynton Marsalis – Christopher Crenshaw’s The Fifties: A Prism (Blue Engine): “All jazz is modern,” says Wynton Marsalis—and we owe the 1950s for that. The momentous decade became the crucible in which modern jazz was formed, as styles like modal, hard bop, third stream, and more melted together and artists like Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, and Ornette Coleman reached the height of their powers. Now, Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra trombonist Chris Crenshaw has taken inspiration from the era to create The Fifties: A Prism, the newest Blue Engine album. When I was presented with the idea of coming up with a suite dealing with the 1950s, I immediately realized this was going to cover all the genres of jazz, from bebop to freedom music,” Crenshaw says. Recorded live at The House of Swing by the JLCO with Wynton Marsalis in February 2017, The Fifties does exactly that, refracting all the energy from a creatively supercharged era through a 21st-century lens. The result is at turns playful and moving, melodic and challenging—but it’s always swinging.” Click here to listen to samples from this disc.
Jeff Pifher – Live At Blue Whale (Socrates’ Trial): Tenor sax player and composer Jeff Pifher has created a musical interpretation of some of the wording in the Declaration of Independence as a sonic expression of these labels: “Anthem”, “Past Realities”, “New Guards”, “Rectitude Of Our Intentions”, “Alternate Futures” and “The Things Up Above”. The music itself is quite intriguing and quite enjoyable. The players are Pifher (tenor sax), Colin Cook (electric guitar), Misha Bigos (piano, keyboards), Nick Campbell (electric bass), Corey Coverstone (drums) and Ian Wurel (percussion) and an entire set of strings and horns. The idea of creating new music based upon the implications or suggestions of its title is an interesting approach. This disc was recorded live. Click here for an introduction to this disc. Click here to listen to samples of all of the selections on this disc.
The Jim Self / John Chiodini Duo – The Light Fantastic (Basset Hound): “Jim Self is a Los Angeles freelance musician, a veteran of thousands of Hollywood motion pictures, television shows and records, and tuba soloist on many prominent movies. His tuba was the “Voice of the Mothership” in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. He is Principal Tuba with the Pacific and Pasadena Symphonies, and the Los Angeles Opera and Hollywood Bowl Orchestras. Jim has composed over 70 works and produced 17 solo jazz and classical recordings.” (https://www.bassethoundmusic.com/product/the-light-fantastic/) Self contributed six original songs on this disc and Chiodini contributed two, while the remaining songs range from Jimmy Van Heusen’s “Here’s That Rainy Day” to Gerry Mulligan’s “Reunion” and “Utter Chaos”. Uniquely inviting! Click here to listen to the songs on this disc.
Matthew Shipp – The Piano Equation (Tao Forms): “Further honing a singular cosmic musical language, Matthew Shipp begins celebrating his landmark 60th year with this new solo piano recording. The Piano Equation is also the inaugural release from Tao Forms, a new label founded by drummer-improviser-composer – and longtime Shipp collaborator – Whit Dickey.
Over more than half of his lifespan, Shipp has built up an unparalleled body of work and a wholly original musical language that only becomes more hyper-focused and distinctive with the passage of time. Shipp’s abstract eloquence is on vivid display throughout The Piano Equation, which presents him alone at the piano, brilliantly solving his higher-order musical mathematics, approaching each new unknown from unexpected vantage points as in some form of cubist algebra. Shipp builds his solo music in a cellular fashion, formed like the building blocks of human life out of disparate elements that combine and evolve in novel and fascinating forms. “There are billions of different human beings on the planet, all constituted with the same genetic material but all completely different,” he says. “All of these pieces can be generated with a different mother/father idea and the basic cellular material can unfold in billions of ways. Stride, swing and the avant-garde collide like so many elemental particles, the aftereffects radiating outward in increasingly complex and intricate formations. The scientific, the personal, the political and the fantastic co-exist throughout Shipp’s work, melding in the radical vocabulary that the pianist employs on the album, which speaks with its own alien yet familiar logic. Fragments of melody coalesce and transform, dissolve or shatter into kaleidoscopic reveries. While some may have used the arrival of such a landmark occasion as their 60th anniversary of arrival here to look backwards, Shipp will spend the year continuing to move resolutely forward, further evolving a voice that is as intimately personal as it is cosmically adventurous.” (Liner notes) Click here to listen to a song from this release.
Various Artists – Jazz Fest: The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (Smithsonian Folkways): Jazz Fest – LIVE – the only way to get it! Starting with The Golden Eagles and then Trombone Shorty and traveling around the music that IS New Orleans! Along the way, you get Terrance Blanchard, Champion Jack Dupree, Allen Toussaint, Irma Thomas, Snooks Eaglin, The Meters, Sonny Landreth and more brass bands than you can count! Righteous! Click here to listen to Anders Osborne “Back On Dumaine” even if it’s not from this collection.
Various Artists – Tales Of Wonder – A Celebration of Stevie (Posi-Tone): “How can we at Posi-Tone show our sincere appreciation and affection for one of the world’s greatest songwriters? What kind of special 70th birthday surprise can we give someone who has already received almost every accolade and award imaginable? Maybe we could accomplish both of these objectives simultaneously by honoring him with the release of a special compilation of his music! “Tales of Wonder” is a collection of instrumental jazz interpretations of some of his most popular compositions lovingly performed by a wide variety of artists from our talented roster.” (https://positone.bandcamp.com/album/tales-of-wonder-a-jazz-celebration-of-stevie) The lead players are Works For Me (Alexa Tarantino, alto sax; Jon Davis, guitar, Caili O’Doherty Theo Hill, Will Bernard, Jared Gold, Diego Rivera, Farnell Newton and Behn Gillece. The songs include “Send One Your Love”, “My Cherie Amour”, “Superwoman”, “You And I”, “You Haven’t Done Nothin’”, “The Secret Life Of Plants”, “All In Love Is Fair” and “Out To Dinner”. Click here to listen to the songs on this disc.
Kopasetically,
Professor Bebop
