THE JAZZ CHILL CORNER NEW RELEASES - MAYA AZUCENA, RICHARD ELLIOT, CHRISTIAN ROBINSON

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• NEW RELEASES - MAYA AZUCENA, RICHARD ELLIOT, CHRISTIAN ROBINSON
• BOARDWALK EMPIRE PRESENTS SOUNDS OF THE ONYX: PROHIBITION ERA JAZZ REMIXED
• DAVID BUCHBINDER & ODESSA/HAVANA - WALK TO THE SEA
• ED REED - I'M A SHY GUY: A TRIBUTE TO THE NAT KING COLE TRIO
• MACK AVENUE SUPERBAND - LIVE FROM THE 33RD ANNUAL DETROIT JAZZ FESTIVAL
• NEW RELEASES - NATE WOOLEY SEXTET, MULATU, CYRUS CHESTNUT

NEW RELEASES - MAYA AZUCENA, RICHARD ELLIOT, CHRISTIAN ROBINSON Posted: 06 Sep 2013 01:17 PM PDT MAYA AZUCENA - BLACK BUTTERFLY To begin with, Maya's remake of Black Butterfly is clearly inspired by Trayvon Martin. As such, 100% of the proceeds will go to support the Trayvon Martin Foundation and mission – in particular, "to create awareness of how violent crime impacts the families of the victims, and to provide support and advocacy for those families…(and) to increase public awareness of all forms of racial, ethnic and gender profiling" and build sustainable solutions. Maya's truest desire for this song is for it to reach the ends of the earth and have the greatest possible exposure to do so. She intends for this song to impact all listeners to know their value and to strive for their greatest potential. She also thinks this song, Black Butterfly, has the potential to promote healing around the loss of Trayvon, and healing for other families with lost loved ones, as well as to set focus and energy toward nurturing the positive growth of young boys like Trayvon. At times circumstances feel very bleak, and hope is a powerful tool for impacting social change. We move when we are inspired. Black Butterlfy is a remake of the song intially recorded by Deniece Williams back in the early '80s. RICHARD ELLIOT - NUMBER ONES This 2013 collection is from the Scottish-born Smooth Jazz saxophonist and former Tower Of Power member. Number Ones features 12 tracks, taken from six top-selling albums. Making his solo debut in 1986, the Scottish born saxophonist blew into the 1990s with several releases that sold over 100,000 copies and he landed his fourth #1 album with 1997's 'Jumpin' Off.' In addition to the studio recordings of "Island Style" and "Inner City Blues", Number Ones includes live versions of both tracks. Elliot was still on the road with Tower of Power when he released his debut album Trolltown in 1986. Embarking upon one of instrumental music's most dynamic and multifaceted careers, he has scored four #1 albums (On The Town, Soul Embrace, After Darkand Jumpin' Off) and a growing number of #1 airplay singles. In addition to his participation in all-star tours like Groovin' For Grover and Jazz Attack, in the mid-'90s he helped launch another of the genre's annual franchises, the Guitars & Saxes tours, which he has participated in on and off ever since. At his peak, Elliot was doing over 100 tour dates a year, but he has scaled it back as his family has grown to include five children over the years. CHRISTIAN ROBINSON - ON THE C SIDE "On The C Side" is the debut album release of the multi-talented Guitarist, Writer, Producer Christian Robinson. This project features 10 melodic smooth jazz hits written and performed by Christian Robinson on the indie label Digital Phunc Entertainment. The album fuses an array of musical styles including Dance, Hip-Hop, Jazz, Funk, Blues and R&B. With Christian's very unique and different style of playing the album is the essence of smooth jazz and contemporary jazz music. This album gives you a cross between up-tempo, upbeat dance tracks, to slow, mellow and mid tempo lounge music.~ amazon.com

BOARDWALK EMPIRE PRESENTS SOUNDS OF THE ONYX: PROHIBITION ERA JAZZ REMIXED Posted: 06 Sep 2013 12:48 PM PDT HBO's Boardwalk Empire recently returned for its fourth season and  Giant Step has partnered with HBO, ABKCO Records and Sony Music Entertainment for a special music project entitled Sounds of The Onyx that features rare jazz recordings from the Prohibition Era remixed by some of the best contemporary urban music producers. Vibe kicked things off today with the release of Vince Giordano & The Nighthawks' "Sugarfoot Stomp" remixed by Pete Rock. It is available for free download via facebook.com/abkco. The entire project will be available for stream only on September 16th. While the other remixes utilize vintage 1920's recordings, Pete Rock was the only collaborator tasked to remix one of the new recordings from the official soundtrack: a cover version of the classic composition performed by Giordano and the NYC jazz ensemble, who serve as the Boardwalk Empire house band. Volume 2 of the show's official soundtrack is available now and features all new recordings from a wide range of vocalists - from Elvis Costello and Patti Smith to St. Vincent and The National's Matt Berninger - singing timeless standards and forgotten gems from the 1920s. It's available for download on iTunes. Sounds of The Onyx 1. Vince Giordano & The Nighthawks "Sugarfoot Stomp" (Pete Rock Remix) 2. Eva Taylor & Clarence Williams' Blue Five "Red Hot Flo From Kokomo (Jazz Vampires)" (DJ Jazzy Jeff Remix) 3. Ethel Waters "One Sweet Letter From You" (Om'Mas Keith Remix) 4. Lloyd Scott & His Orchestra " Happy Hour Blues" (Shafiq Husayn Remix) 5. Jim Jackson "Bootlegging Blues" (JayCeeOh & B-Sides Remix) 6. Charlie Johnson's Paradise Ten Orchestra "You Ain't The One" (Tall Black Guy Remix) ~ giantstep.net

DAVID BUCHBINDER & ODESSA/HAVANA - WALK TO THE SEA Posted: 06 Sep 2013 08:58 AM PDT Once again, Jewish music standout trumpeter David Buchbinder and Cuban piano master Hilario Durán bring their award-winning compositional prowess to create a unique musical landscape inspiring the virtuosic performances captured on this disc. The group's self-titled debut CD (Tzadik) was lauded with dozens of rave reviews and won the Canadian Folk Music Award for Best World Music Group/Recording. The CD was praised for its "...delicately textured and dazzlingly tuneful [compositions], and powerful, swinging and lyrical playing..." that is "passionate, dancing and completely irresistible." Since its release the band has toured across North America, playing to sold-out houses at festivals, concerts and clubs. Now, Buchbinder and his musical compatriots have upped the ante with a renewed focus on the actual musical sources that flow through the cultures in common, sources that lead directly to the music of Andalusia, the polyglot culture of southern Spain. While the first CD was all original instrumental music, Buchbinder has opened the sound up with the inclusion of four vocal tracks, all coming from the Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) tradition; two are traditional melodies and texts completely reimagined by Durán and two are post-war Ladino poems set to original music by Buchbinder. Both composers have managed to include the voice with no sacrifice in the band's much-lauded power and drive. Odessa/Havana is a who's who of award-winning jazz and world music masters. Buchbinder was the leader of the Flying Bulgar Klezmer Band and his own eponymous jazz ensemble and is known for creating music-centered, multidisciplinary spectacles. Durán was the musical director and pianist for Arturo Sandoval and leads both an award-winning trio and big band. Other standouts are bassist and producer Roberto Occhipinti (Jane Bunnett, Gorrilaz) and vocalist Michal Cohen (Meredith Monk, Uri Caine, Frank London), though all of the band members and the guest artists are widely traveled powerhouse musicians. Buchbinder sees this genre-bending project in an interesting light: as an example of what he calls "post-multicultural creation, a process where two composers grounded in complementary cultures drew on the sonic essence of each to create a truly new sound that is definitely not a mash-up." In fact, the creation of the Odessa/Havana project has been part of the inspiration for the founding of Diasporic Genius, a Toronto-based initiative whose mission is empowering people to make real, positive change in their lives, their communities and their cities, by teaching and applying the power of the creative imagination and activating the hidden resource of diversity. http://www.odessahavana.com/

ED REED - I'M A SHY GUY: A TRIBUTE TO THE NAT KING COLE TRIO Posted: 06 Sep 2013 08:51 AM PDT Ed Reed pays homage to the King Cole Trio on his album with 13 songs the group recorded during the 1940s, plus the post-trio Nat King Cole favorite "Unforgettable" from 1951. The song selection includes Reed's distinctive treatments of the trio hits "That Ain't Right," "I'm Lost," "Straighten Up and Fly Right," "I Just Can't See for Lookin'," "It's Only a Paper Moon," and "I'm a Shy Guy," as well such lesser-known trio gems as "Baby, Baby All the Time," "Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby," "Meet Me at No Special Place," "'Tis Autumn," and "This Will Make You Laugh." In choosing the repertoire for I'm a Shy Guy, his fourth album, the acclaimed Bay Area jazz vocalist Ed Reed reached way back to an early inspiration and musical hero: Nat King Cole and the King Cole Trio. "Nobody else sounded like that," Reed recalls, "and the musicianship was just fantastic." Reed's affinity with the material is obvious from the first notes of the new CD, which will be released by the singer's Blue Shorts label on October 1. "I revisited over 200 tunes recorded by the Trio," says Reed, now 84, "and it was difficult trying to narrow them down to just a few." "Once Ed got settled in on that first day in the studio, the 'first takes' started coming one after the other," says vocalist and educator Laurie Antonioli, who co-produced the date with Ed and his wife, Diane Reed. "He'd do a song and my comment was: "That's as good as I can imagine the song sounding. Let's move on while you're on a roll!' And so he did. The end result is a recording that is completely fluid and swinging." Empathetic support is supplied by Reed's longtime accompanists of choice: pianist Randy Porter, guitarist Jamie Fox, bassist John Wiitala, drummer Akira Tana, and tenor saxophonist Anton Schwartz. As a teenager in Los Angeles, Reed was an ardent fan of the King Cole Trio and had the opportunity to see them perform at his school, Jordan High in Watts. "I wanted to be just like him," Ed recalls. But after the concert, "seeing Nat in person, I was filled with such awe that when he spoke to me and held out his hand, I was too shy to even say hello, and I couldn't even shake his hand." Reed's path to his current profession as a jazz vocalist was circuitous, even torturous. A 40-year heroin addiction undermined attempts to launch a singing career. He was in and out of prison during much of the 1950s and '60s, yet managed to continue singing. During his last of his three stretches at San Quentin, he performed with the Warden's Band, a 17-piece jazz orchestra that also included saxophonist Art Pepper. He got into recovery from alcohol and other drugs in 1986, and by the early '90s had started singing again in public. In 2005 he attended JazzCamp West, where instructor Peck Allmond heard student Reed at a fireside jam session. The singer made such a strong impression on Allmond that the multi-instrumentalist, along with drummer Bud Spangler, ended up producing Ed Reed Sings Love Stories in 2007. The following year came The Song Is You, along with expanded touring opportunities, a guest spot on Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz, and a Wall Street Journal profile by Nat Hentoff. Reed has also regularly placed in the "Rising Star Male Vocalist" category of the DownBeat Critics Poll since 2008. His 2011 release, Born to Be Blue, was praised for "possess[ing] all the distilled emotion and narrative coherence of a jazz masterpiece" (Andrew Gilbert, San Jose Mercury News). In a DownBeat Editors' Pick review of the disc, Frank Alkyer wrote: "When Ed Reed sings, don't expect scat -- instead look for an intimate story every time." Ed Reed's CD release show for I'm a Shy Guy will take place 11/4 at Yoshi's Oakland, with members of the recording band. Reed will also be appearing 10/6 at Jazz at Peace, Peace Lutheran Church in Danville (5-7pm) and 2/7 at Piedmont Piano Co. in Oakland. He'll be interviewed by Alisa Clancy on KCSM.org 10/30 at 9am.

MACK AVENUE SUPERBAND - LIVE FROM THE 33RD ANNUAL DETROIT JAZZ FESTIVAL Posted: 06 Sep 2013 05:37 AM PDT Mack Avenue SuperBand is an all-star ensemble comprising many of the label's most acclaimed artists. Live From The Detroit Jazz Festival - 2012, documents the SuperBand's unveiling at the 33rd annual edition of the Motor City label's hometown jazz festival during 2012's Labor Day weekend.The brainchild of Mack Avenue president Denny Stilwell, the SuperBand is a fiery, celebratory conglomeration, the sort of chemistry experiment whose success is predicated on its combustibility.  The group brings together legends and label mainstays including vibraphonist Gary Burton, guitarist Kevin Eubanks, alto saxophonist Tia Fuller, trumpeter Sean Jones, and guitarist Evan Perri, with rising stars like pianist Alfredo Rodríguez and vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant. The band is anchored by the house rhythm section of pianist Aaron Diehl, drummer Carl Allen, and bassist Rodney Whitaker (who also serves as musical director). Al Pryor, Mack Avenue EVP of A&R and the record's producer, acknowledges the challenge inherent in bringing such a loaded roster together on one stage, calling the impressive result "a team effort."  Emphasizing the tight-knit dynamic and Detroit pride of the Mack Avenue team and the experience of the Detroit Jazz Festival's skilled crew, Pryor says that the concert's ultimate success was due to the musicians' passion. "The artists were all enthusiastic when we first approached them," he says, "and all brought something special to the table." The diversity of the material reflects the equally wide-ranging Mack Avenue roster, but this cohesive and captivating live recording is representative of the label's ambitions, the vitality of its artists, and the electricity of one September evening in Detroit.

NEW RELEASES - NATE WOOLEY SEXTET, MULATU, CYRUS CHESTNUT Posted: 06 Sep 2013 05:31 AM PDT NATE WOOLEY SEXTET - SIT IN THE THRONE OF FRIENDSHIP Nate Wooley's got a great group here – a sextet who can easily move between more arranged moments and freer ones – at a level that recalls some of the best recent underground work coming from Chicago! Matt Moran makes a very strong appearance on the set on vibes – ringing out with tones and chromes that really deepen the album strongly, and give it a sense of humanity, too – providing a bridge between the bolder horn moments and some of the more subtle rhythmic inflections. In addition to Wooley on trumpet and Moran on vibes, the set also features Josh Sinton on bass clarinet and baritone, Eivind Opsvik on bass, Dan Peck on tuba, and Harris Eisentadt on drums. Titles include "Plow", "The Berries", "Old Man On The Farm", "Make Your Friend Feel Loved", and "Executive Suites". ~ Dusty Groove MULATU - SKETCHES OF ETHIOPIA A brilliant new recording from Mulatu – one that shows that the Ethiopian legend hasn't lost a bit of his edge in recent years! The sound here is still very strong and bold – that crucial blending of African roots and jazzy inflections that's made Mulatu one of the most influential musicians of the latter few decades of the 20th Century – an artist who's only finally getting his due in recent years, as a range of different artists help to transform his sound. Yet there's still nothing better than Mulatu himself – as you'll hear on this wonderful set of tracks played with the Step Ahead band, with the leader on vibes, piano, and keyboards. There's a bit of vocals on a few tracks – sung by Tesfaye – but most of the record is focused on the instrumental passages, which are filled with lots of wonderful exotic inflections. Titles include "Gmuz", "Assosa Derache", "Azmari", "Gamo", "Hager Fiker", and "Surma". ~ Dusty Groove CYRUS CHESTNUT - SOUL BROTHER COOL A really hard-hitting set from pianist Cyrus Chestnut – wrapped up here in a cover that's an homage to Max Roach in the 60s, and served up with a groove that definitely evokes the best jazz of that decade too! The group's a very sharp quartet – with Chestnut handling piano, plus Freddie Hendrix on trumpet, Dezron Douglas on bass, and Willie Jones II on drums – and also acting here as producer, given that the set's issued on his own label! The team of Douglas and Jones is mighty deft – and really adds a bristle to the rhythms right from the start – providing a perfect place for Hendrix to show off his tight skills on trumpet, while Chestnut mixes things up with lyrical moments and some harder punch on his piano. All tunes are originals by Cyrus, which furthers the fresh feeling of the record – and titles include "The Raven", "Stripes", "Soul Brother Cool", "Piscean Thought", "Spicey Honey", and "Dawn Of The Sunset". ~ Dusty Groove