THE JAZZ CHILL CORNER NEW RELEASES - WILFORD BRIMLEY WITH THE JEFF HAMILTON TRIO, MIKE JONES TRIO, FRANK POTENZA |  |
- NEW RELEASES - WILFORD BRIMLEY WITH THE JEFF HAMILTON TRIO, MIKE JONES TRIO, FRANK POTENZA
- AHMAD JAMAL - SATURDAY MORNING
- NEW RELEASES - GATO BARBIERI, MAURIZIO GRONDONA GROUP, ALYSA HAAS
- CAMERA SOUL - NOT FOR ORDINARY PEOPLE
- IVO PERELEMAN'S TWO NEW RELEASES DUE OCTOBER 1 - ENIGMA & A VIOLENT DOSE OF ANYTHING
- JESSY J - SECOND CHANCES
- DIANNE REEVES - BEAUTIFUL LIFE, FIRST NEW ALBUM IN FIVE YEARS DUE FOR RELEASE
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Posted: 27 Aug 2013 01:48 PM PDT
WILFORD BRIMLEY WITH THE JEFF HAMILTON TRIO
Wilford Brimley has packed a few lives into his 78 years on this earth. The beloved actor who viewers instantly recognize from film (Cocoon, The Firm, Absence of Malice, The Natural), and television appearances (The Waltons, Seinfeld), has also been a ranch hand, a horse wrangler, a blacksmith, a stunt man and even a bodyguard to Howard Hughes. Still, the fact that Brimley is a talented singer may strike many as the ultimate surprise. And not only does he sing -- he swings. On Wilford Brimley with the Jeff Hamilton Trio, Brimley puts his own stamp on classic pop songs and Great American Songbook standards, essaying timeless tunes in a warm, unaffected manner that brings a listener close, as if Brimley were confiding to each directly.
MIKE JONES TRIO - PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
Mike Jones is what used to be called a "two handed pianist." Not as obvious as it sounds, the term actually applies to jazz pianists who make full use of the entire range of the instrument and whose left hand prowess matches that of their right. Pre-War jazz styles such as Stride and classic Swing are prime meat for such virtuosic pianists, and, when it comes to most effectively demonstrating the durable beauty of these idioms, Mike Jones might well be the modern day master. The CD features Jones, who's also musical director for the Penn & Teller Show, performing a range of standards by Jerome Kern, Harry Warren and Kurt Weil, Bossa Nova classics, jazz originals and even early rock and roll. The CD cover was illustrated by David Silverman, famed animator and director for The Simpsons.
FRANK POTENZA – FOR JOE
In 1964 the legendary jazz guitarist Joe Pass recorded the album, For Django, a widely praised tribute to the brilliant Gypsy guitar master, Django Reinhardt. With For Joe, guitarist Frank Potenza, a close Pass associate, celebrates the singular artistry of the late virtuoso. Utilizing the same instrumental team that Pass employed on his 1964 classic - guitarist John Pisano, bassist Jim Hughart and drummer Colin Bailey - Potenza takes on signature tunes that Pass came to be associated with. The result is a heartfelt tribute that revives memories of one of the most significant guitarists in jazz history, as well as calling attention to Potenza, one of the finest jazz guitarists now active on the jazz scene.
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Posted: 27 Aug 2013 09:49 AM PDT
Saturday Morning - pianist, composer, bandleader and NEA Jazz Master Ahmad Jamal's new eleven-track album produced by Jazzbook Records, featuring his quartet, drummer Herlin Riley, bassist Reginald Veal and percussionist Manolo Badrena - is his impressive and invigorating follow-up to his GRAMMY® Award-nominated, 2012 Jazz Village release, Blue Moon. With over nearly sixty recordings as a leader, this new album represents another aural chapter in the musical life of this enduring artist; who after six decades on the scene, is finally focusing more of his recorded output on his own compositions. "It's a natural transition that happens when you reach maturity; with greater confidence in yourself," Jamal says. "So, when you have greater confidence in yourself, you begin to explore yourself. And now I'm exploring my own potential."
Save for his lovely and longing rendition of Duke Ellington's immortal ballad "I Got it Bad And That Ain't Good," and the Doris Day/Les Brown torch song "I'll Always Be With You;" his impressionistic interpretation of the James Moody-associated jazz standard, "I'm In the Mood for Love," and a "remix" of a funky, three note-motif tune "One," recorded in the late seventies by Jamal, written especially for him by the late composer Sigidi Abdallah all of the tracks on Saturday Morning, including the 4/4-Caribbean-cadenced tracks, "Back to the Future," "The Line," "Firefly," "Edith's Cake," and the title track, are all written by Jamal. They feature all of the inventions and dimensions of his unique artistry: his profound and powerful pianist amalgam of Errol Garner, Nat "King" Cole and Franz Liszt; his intricate, orchestrally-influenced arrangements, and his signature use of space and dynamics.
"I have a vast repertoire," Jamal says. "I started composing when I was ten years old, and my influences are far reaching: from Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn, Jimmy Lunceford and Fletcher Henderson to [Claude] Debussy and Maurice Ravel. In Pittsburgh, we didn't have that line between American classical music and European classical music. We studied it all."
One track from Saturday Morning bears special mention. "Silver," a melodic, Latin jazz-tinged composition, is something rare in the Jamal canon: a tribute written by him to a fellow artist - in this case - to the brilliant pianist/composer/bandleader Horace Silver, composer of many jazz standards including "Song For My Father," and "Senor Blues."
"I wrote it some years ago," Jamal says. "Horace is an ensemble player like myself. He's a leader, and a very successful writer, to say the least. The last time I saw him, I was working at the Catalina club in Los Angeles, and Horace came to see me in a wheelchair ... So that shows you his respect for me, which is matched by my respect for him."
As amazing as Ahmad Jamal is, his musicians are also an important component of his artistry, as evidenced by his current quartet. "My present players are spectacular men," Jamal says. "Manolo has been off and on with me for a number of years, and played a long time with Joe Zawinul and Weather Report. Herlin's first job was with me; I took him out of New Orleans in the eighties. Reginald Veal was with Wynton Marsalis and Jazz at Lincoln Center. They all have great character. And you can't be a great musician unless you have great character."
Other equally great musicians of character have played with Jamal over the years, including bassists Jamil Nasser, James Cammack and fellow NEA Jazz Master Richard Davis, and drummers Frank Gant and Idris Muhammad. "I've been very fortunate to have harnessed a whole list of notables and great musicians in my groups," Jamal says. "What they get from me is how to be supportive. And what could be more supportive than Vernel Fournier and Israel Crosby?"
It was the immortal 1958 LP, But Not for Me: Ahmad Jamal Live at the Pershing with the New Orleans-born Fournier on drums with equally ebullient Crosby from Chicago on bass, that catapulted the Pittsburgh-born, former child prodigy who left home at seventeen and scuffled for years in the Windy City, into an overnight sensation. Jamal was so influential that Miles Davis recorded many Jamal-associated songs, such as "A Gal in Calico," "But Not for Me," "Surrey With The Fringe On Top" and "New Rhumba," which was transcribed by Gil Evans into a big band arrangement. Generations of pianists - from Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner and Keith Jarrett to Eric Reed, Jacky Terrasson and Aaron Diehl, proudly acknowledge his influence.
Unlike many of his contemporaries, who have, in pianist Hampton Hawes' words become, "casualties on the road to truth," Ahmad Jamal is a soul survivor, who lived long enough to reap the benefits of his Olympian artistry - as evidenced by his 1994 the American Jazz Masters fellowship award from the National Endowment for the Arts, and his induction into the prestigious Order of the Arts and Letters by French Culture Minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres, who named him an Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2007. He's also sampled by many hip-hop artists including Kanye West, Gangstarr, Jay-Z, and De La Soul.
Saturday Morning represents the latest chapter in an astounding musical life that is far from over. "I'm very thankful and grateful for my longevity," Jamal says "And I'm looking forward to more discoveries. Every day is a new discovery for me, and that's what makes life interesting."
Jamal's Saturday Morning will be released on September 10, 2013.
Upcoming tour dates:
September 1 / Detroit Jazz Festival / Detroit, MI
September 19-21 / Jazz at Lincoln Center / New York, NY
September 27 & 28 / Manchester Craftsman's Guild / Pittsburgh, PA
October 12 / UC Davis Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts / Davis, CA
November 7-9 / Theatre De L'Odeon Europe / Paris, France
January 31 / All Blues / Lucerne, Switzerland
February 1 / All Blues / Geneva, Switzerland
June 23-30 / Costa Jazz Cruise 2014 / Cruise Ship Costa Fascinosa
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Posted: 27 Aug 2013 09:19 AM PDT
GATO BARBIERI - FENIX
Argentine Gato Barbieri was one of the most important saxophonists to emerge in the early 1970s. A veteran of several important late 60s avant-garde outfits, he perfected the fusion of adventurous blowing and the rhythms of South America on his second album for Flying Dutchman "Fenix". Early in his career Barbieri worked with trumpeter Don Cherry in the 60s and by the mid-70s, he was recording for A&M Records and moved his music towards soul-jazz and jazz-pop with albums like Caliente! in 1976 and the 1977 follow-up, Ruby Ruby, both produced by fellow musician and label co-founder, Herb Alpert. Fenix is scheduled for release on October 8. Upcoming concerts include: 9/13/13 @ Friday Morning Musicale Theatre (Tampa, FL); 10/18/13 @ Howard Theatre (Washington, DC); and 11/28/13 @ The Blue Note (New York, NY).
MAURIZIO GRONDONA GROUP - THE NIGHT VIBE
Refined, soulful, captivating.....these are just some of the words fans use to describe the inspired contemporary jazz of The Maurizio Grondona Group. Making their debut on the Italian scene in 1987 with 'On My Road', the group is led by singer, guitarist and composer Maurizio Grondona, a native of Bari (southern Italy on the Adriatic coast). Influenced by numerous American jazz greats including Wes Montgomery, Pat Metheny and Al Jarreau, Maurizio also counts among his mentors hip-hop/soul acts such as Grammy winners, The Roots (Jimmy Fallon's House Band) and the late renowned producer, J Dilla (De La Soul, Busta Rhymes and Erykah Badu). The result of such a diverse musical education is cosmopolitan American jazz with a decidedly Mediterranean flavor. ~ cduniverse
ALYSA HAAS - SPASM
Alysa Haas, an emerging performer and recording artist, exhibits a true musicality and interweaves a story through each of her songs. Her band comprising of notable recording musicians in their own right include, her arrangers: pianists Jeffrey Klitz and Tedd Firth, and bassist Paul Beaudry. Filling out the band - drummer, Tony Jefferson & guitarist, Bernd Schoenhart. The music numbers are produced by Jeffrey Klitz (Broadway Production, Priscilla Queen of the Desert). The CD is filled with love songs from the Great American Songbook, Broadway, and pop tunes by Bob Dylan, Rob Thomas, and Lennon & McCartney. "...a seduction...a talent for fresh interpretations of standards. Rodgers and Hammerstein's "People Will Say We're in Love" was given a light and humorous delivery, while the Bernstein, Comden and Green, "I Can Cook, Too" was offered up in a surprisingly restrained, understated style..." (Bart Greenberg, NiteLife Exchange). ~ cduniverse
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Posted: 27 Aug 2013 06:39 AM PDT
Born in early 2013 songwriting/arranging team (Piero and Pippo Lombardo) and vocalist Serena Brancale from Bari (Apulia) Italy collaborated with jazz pianist and composer Kathryn Ballard Shut from Denver, Colorado all through the wave of technology. The Internet songwriting dream consists of thirteen unique tracks engineered by executive producer Marco Rossi set to modern soul and Latin jazz grooves.
The group features a world-class lineup of studio and live performance musicians, including Pippo Lombardo (piano), Beppe Sequestro (bass), Francesco Palmitessa (lead guitar), Liviana Ferri (percussion), Mimmo Campanale (drums), Daniele Scannapieco and Bruno Tassone (saxes), Gianfranco Campagnoli (trumpet and flugelhorn), and Piero Dotti (background vocals).
Camera Soul is a powerful jazz-funk ensemble inspired by legendary horn line, soul, R&B, and jazz-fusion artists such as Earth, Wind and Fire, The Commodores, Tower of Power, and Stevie Wonder, as well as neo-soul grooves by Erykah Badu and Jamiroquai.
"By riding on the infectious riffs, amazing horn lines, and world-class talent of the Brothers Lombardo and Serena Brancale, it has been a true privilege to have earned such respect and trust as a fellow songwriter and lyricist, and an additional honor to have been asked to write the liner notes. I sent the brothers a song ("Locked Inside") that I had written that needed a tight melody line; they worked on it, sent it back, and surprised me by asking for permission to include it on the album" says Kathryn Ballard Shut.
"Not For Ordinary People", released by Azzurra Music [TIMKAT Entertainment, Americas] is a wonderful and joyful dip into the unforgettable past, brimming with rhythms and harmonies that take us back to the late 70's Soul Funk, where electronics counted for little, robust bass lines dominated, horn lines enveloped melodies, and listeners found peace in a blissful rhythm guitar. In other words, songwriting, arranging, and musicianship ruled. In this recording project, the artistic quality is very high." - Edigio "Gigi" Franco – Puglia [Italy] Journal, (Translated from Italian) (Jul 25, 2013)
"I was delighted to be contacted by Kathryn Ballard Shut regarding her new found international songwriting relationship with Camera Soul. She is a lovely extention of her father Tim Ballard's musical legacy. Kathryn's keen musical and business savvy is the perfect combination to get the kudos this project deserves. Bravo!" says Jaijai Jackson, creator and owner of The Jazz Network Worldwide social network.
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Posted: 27 Aug 2013 06:35 AM PDT
In his latest harvest of recordings, saxophone visionary Ivo Perelman unveils the products of an especially fruitful month in the recording studio. Not all of the month's recordings: the current crop contains "only" two releases (on Leo Records), which contain just half the music documented during the month of May 2013. (Even considering the whirlwind pace of exploration and discovery that marks Perelman's work, that is indeed a bumper crop.)What's more, each of these recordings uses a unique combination of artists to frame Perelman's dervish saxophone in quite different contexts.
They would seem to have absolutely nothing in common, except for the presence of Perelman and his musical blood brother, pianist Matthew Shipp. But in Perelman's view, it is this diversity itself that binds them together to depict a single month in his creative life. "What links them is they sound completely different," he says. That statement risks self-contradiction, but as Perelman explains: "The link is that within the same month, in the same time and space, living my same own life, I went into the studio four times and came out with such different results. Of course, I went in with different intents, different goals, and different musicians. But the difference is so large - the results are so disparate - that this is what they have in common." In other words, they share one trait: each is utterly unique from the others, although they all stem from the same esthetic consciousness within a finite period of time.  Another thing they all share, of course, is the protean and electrifying voice emanating from Perelman's tenor saxophone, which he has fashioned into a singularly expressive vehicle for his far-ranging vision. As jazz authority Neil Tesser writes - in the liner notes to A Violent Dose Of Anything - Perelman's solos "are grounded in the rich soil and rare earths of saxophone history, but they can also prove shockingly mercurial; they traverse that history in swift flights from zephryrous melody to supersonic yawps. . . . Strip away the unpleasant connotations oft he word and 'violence' - which can be defined as 'strength of emotion, or a 'swift and intense force' - might easily creep into descriptions of Perelman's galvanic explorations." This album comprises the first of two recording sessions used in the soundtrack for A Violent Dose Of Anything, a 2013 film from Brazilian director Gustavo Galvao. When Galvao approached Perelman about creating music for the film - which follows some young Brazilians "on the road," going from town to town in a quest for self-discovery - the saxophonist at first demurred. Perelman's preferred method of creating music is to walk into the studio with no preconceptions (not even a written theme) and improvise, from scratch,for an hour or so. Nothing could stray further from the usual movie-soundtrack process, by which a composer painstakingly fits and shapes music to fit the split-second edits of the finished film. "I told him how I would work, with nothing written, and music not tied to each scene, says Perelman. "I told him I would just go into the studio and make the music, like I always do,and he could pick and choose what he wanted. And to my surprise, he said yes. But I knew that in the recording many moods would come up, like they always do" - more than enough to suit the cinematic needs of the director. Perelman also knew that he wanted to feature a string instrument with his saxophone and Shipp's piano, and to that end he enlisted leading new-music violist Mat Maneri. "I wanted someone who would understand how to work with a saxophone," he points out, and chose Maneri based on his recordings with his father, the iconoclastic saxophonist Joe Maneri. This first-ever meeting resulted in a series of performances that indeed reflect a cinematic range of moods and emotions. (The pieces were titled post-production, for characters and places in the film.) Perelman's interplay with Shipp was to be expected: they have developed an extraordinary communication, documented on nearly a dozen recordings over the last three years. Maneri provides a salutary wild card. His hyper-expressive bowing,and his ability to match and at times anticipate Perelman's approach, give the saxophonist a worthy alter-ego while adding layered depth to the music. This is one of two recordings Perelman provided for the soundtrack; the other features Shipp and the improvising string quartet Sirius. Perelman recorded both sessions in the first part of May, 2013, and Galvao uses portions of each project in his film. The follow-up recording has a planned release of early 2014. (Shortly after finishing his soundtrack recording, Perelman undertook another adventure, at the behest of his longtime bassist - and frequent guitarist - Joe Morris. After working in a metal rock band with the unlikely name Slobber Pup, Morris learned that the band's drummer, a young Hungarian named Balázs Pándi, was in fact a fan of Perelman's. Their mutual admiration led to a studio date - another chapter in Perelman's busy month of May, 2013 - that will be released on RareNoiseRecords, simultaneously with the saxophonist's two albums on Leo Records.) Finally, before the month ended, Perelman found himself in the studio to record Enigma. "I was starting to hear in my head a denser sound, so I wanted to experiment with that - by doubling the personnel," he says. To do so, he invited the drummers who have worked most often with Shipp and himself over the last several years: Gerald Cleaver, the drummer in Perelman's quartet, and Whit Dickey, the drummer in Shipp's own trio. "It was just time to put them together," Perelman explains. "But it was very risky, because both Gerald and Whit are very individual, very particular voices on the drums. So you might possibly dilute their strength; or it could double to unbearable heights." But as proved by the album, neither of those extreme outcomes occurred. Instead, as Neil Tesser writes in the liner notes, "Enigma has a transparency - a clarity of melodic logic, a clarion lyricism, a lightness of context - that actively opposes the sonic complexity that might well come from two drummers banging away at each other." The surprise of Enigma, and much of its joy, comes from the thoughtful and even delicate ways in which the percussionists interact - as well as in Perelman's reaction to their dual presence. "It was very organic," he says. "At times they merged intentionally, and became one big drum set; and sometimes the very next bar they would go their own way. When you have two drummers, they can be two, or one, at will." Born in 1961 in São Paulo, Brazil, Perelman excelled at classical guitar before finally gravitating to the tenor saxophone. His initial influences - cool jazz saxophonists Stan Getz and Paul Desmond - could hardly have presaged the volcanic improvisations that have become Perelman's stock-in-trade. But those early influences helped shape the romantic warrior at the heart of his most heated musical adventures. In 1981 he entered Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he focused on the mainstream masters of the tenor sax to the exclusion of such pioneering avant-gardists as Albert Ayler, Peter Brötzmann, and John Coltrane - all of whom would later be cited as precedents for Perelman's own work. He left Berklee in 1983 and moved to Los Angeles, where he soon discovered his penchant for post-structure improvisation; emboldened by this approach, he began to research the free-jazz saxophonists who had come before him. In the early 90s he moved to the more inviting artistic milieu of New York, where he now lives and works - not only on his music, but also on the drawings and paintings that have attracted admirers worldwide to his skill as a visual artist. Critics have lauded Perelman's no-holds-barred saxophone style, on the one hand calling him "tremendously lyrical" (Gary Giddins) and, on the other, "the most intense, disturbing, tormenting sax player alive" (Françoise Couture in Desire Actuel). The blog improvandsounds.com called attention to his "piercing, burning, meaningfully warm, lyrically expressive, dream-awakening sounds that explode with an unrivalled urgency." This latest series of recordings is sure to elicit even more - and perhaps even more extravagant - accolades for his remarkable innovations.   |
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Posted: 27 Aug 2013 05:33 AM PDT
Sax player Jessy J burst onto the contemporary jazz scene in 2008, blending her love for Latin rhythms and jazz on her chart-topping, award-winning debut album Tequila Moon. Jessy earned the Radio & Records 'Debut Artist of The Year' Award and Contemporary Jazz 'Song of the Year' by Both R & R and Billboard for the title track, all which held the # 1 spot on the chart for eight weeks. The talented saxophonist, pianist, singer and songwriter has worked with everyone from The Temptations to Michael Bublé , and she has been developing her musical voice since she was very young.
Second Chances (her 4th release), is due out on Shanachie Entertainment on September 10, 2013 and the album features collaborations with Grammy Award-nominated keyboardist-producer Jeff Lorber, Grammy Award-winning guitarist Norman Brown, renowned bassist Jimmy Haslip (formerly with The Yellowjackets) and legendary pianist Joe Sample.
The album contains ten songs; eight originals and two covers Including the Roberta Flack hit "Feel Like Makin 'Love" and the Sergio Mendes classic "Magalenha." Jessy shares, "I like to play music that people will recognize and connect to and be familiar with and also play music that's original, that 'really inspires creates new memories."
Upcoming tour dates: 9/01 - Albuquerque, NM @ Crowne Plaza // 9/07 - Austin, TX @ Riverbend Centre // 9/14 - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia @ KL Jazz Fest // 9/22 - Temecula, CA @ Thornton Winery // 9/28 - Las Vegas, NV Las Vegas @ Jazz Fest // 10 / 05 - San Jacinto, CA @ Esplanade Arts Center // 10/26 - Riverside, CA @ Fox Perf Arts Center // 10/27 - Phoenix, AZ @ Arizona Jazz Fest // 11/06 - Seal Beach, CA @ Spaghettini // 11/30 - Seal Beach, CA @ Spaghettini // 12/06 - Bari, Italy @ Italian Jazz Fest // 01/04 - Chicago, IL @ The Montrose Room
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Posted: 27 Aug 2013 05:17 AM PDT
One of the preeminent female jazz vocalists in the world, Dianne Reeves, is set to release her Concord Records debut, Beautiful Life, on February 11, 2014. The album showcases Reeves' sublime gifts by melding elements of R&B, Latin and pop within the framework of 21st Century jazz. "At its essence," says Reeves, "Life is beautiful and I wanted to celebrate that which is too often overlooked."
There should be no overlooking Beautiful Life, a journey of 12 songs which includes singularly memorable covers of Bob Marley's "Waiting in Vain," Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams," Marvin Gaye's "I Want You" and Ani DiFranco's self-empowering "32 Flavors." Included in the rest of the tracks, which cover the spectrum from jazz to soul, are two new songs "Cold" and "Satiated" which are emotionally volcanic. Produced by Terri Lyne Carrington, Beautiful Life features an all-star cast that includes bassists Esperanza Spalding and Richard Bona, vocalists Gregory Porter and Lalah Hathaway, pianists Robert Glasper and Gerald Clayton and Reeves' cousin and frequent longtime collaborator George Duke.
Reeves, a four-time Grammy winner, has recorded and extensively performed with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and Wynton Marsalis, who said of Reeves, "She has one of the most powerful, purposeful and accurate voices of this or any time." Reeves has also recorded with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Daniel Barenboim and was a featured soloist with Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic. In addition, she was the first Creative Chair for Jazz for the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the first singer to ever perform at the famed Walt Disney Concert Hall. Reeves appeared throughout George Clooney's award winning Good Night and Good Luck and performed every song on the Grammy-winning soundtrack. More recently, Reeves has toured the world in a variety of contexts including a program entitled "Sing the Truth," a musical celebration of Nina Simone in which Liz Wright and Angelique Kidjo were also featured.
Diane Reeves - Beautiful Life Track Listing: 1.I Want You (4:57) // 2.Feels So Good (Lifted) (4:25) // 3.Dreams (5:19) // 4.Satiated (Been Waiting) (5:38) // 5.Waiting in Vain (6:35) // 6.32 Flavors (5:26) // 7.Cold (6:13) // 8.Wild Rose (5:50) // 9.Stormy Weather (8:02) // 10.Tango (6:35) // 11.Unconditional Love (For You) (5:42) // 12.Long Road Ahead (3:59)
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