THE JAZZ CHILL CORNER DANILO PEREZ - PANAMA 500 |  |
- DANILO PEREZ - PANAMA 500
- NHOJJ - MADE TO LOVE HIM: CELEBRATING LOVE
- NEW RELEASES: RUBEN STUDDARD - UNCONDITIONAL LOVE; JOHN BUTLER TRIO - FLESH & BLOOD; CHARISSE - THE GOOD LIFE
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Posted: 05 Feb 2014 09:53 AM PST
In 1513, Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama, becoming the first European to reach the Pacific Ocean and founding the first permanent European settlement in the Americas. Those events continue to resonate five centuries later as Panama celebrates the landmark anniversary. On his new Mack Avenue release Panama 500, favorite son Danilo Pérez adds his voice to the tributes with a stunning portrait of his native land, its storied history, rich culture and fierce struggles.
Panama 500 is Pérez' most ambitious project to date, the furthest evolution yet of what the pianist/composer calls "three-dimensional music." His blend of influences makes him the ideal musical chronicler of his country's history: already a land bridge between the Americas with a vibrant indigenous culture, Panama also began to absorb European culture into its own following Balboa's arrival. Pérez similarly weaves together jazz and Pan-American folkloric traditions with influences from European classical music.
"I have been working for years to make music that has an identity very similar to the role that Panama plays in the world," Pérez says. "It's a place where a lot of influences from all over the world come together."
Pérez refers to Balboa's arrival as a "rediscovery," a word that succinctly encapsulates both the importance of his accomplishment and the controversy inherent in European colonization. As he traces Panama's evolution over the 12 tracks on Panama 500, he gives literal voice to the indigenous Guna Indians of Panama, who provide intermittent narration to lend their own perspective on that history.
As Harvard professor Davíd Carrasco writes in his liner notes, "The magical performances in this album emerge from the encounters of indigenous shamans, Spanish migrants of desire, the human agony of African slaves, multicultural love, and transcendent improvisations on agony and love."
To realize his expansive vision for this music, Pérez pulled together a host of musicians from his various endeavors. The album features both of his longest-running rhythm sections-trio mates Ben Street and Adam Cruz; as well as bassist John Patitucci and drummer Brian Blade, with whom Pérez works in the acclaimed Wayne Shorter Quartet. "There's a specific spectrum of language that I've developed with both trios," Pérez says. "With Ben and Adam, we use Latin American vocabularies to connect closer with jazz and to expand on the idea of clave. And with John and Brian, it's that language that we've developed playing with Wayne over the years that is indescribable. There's a zero-gravity component to it, where things come out of nowhere."
The rhythmic density is compounded throughout Panama 500 by percussionists from three different countries: Roman Díaz from Cuba, Rogério Boccato from Brazil; and Milagros Blades and Ricaurte Villarreal from Panama. The classical influence, as well as evidence of Pérez' commitment to education, arrives in the form of violinist Alex Hargreaves, a former student of the Berklee Global Jazz Institute, the globally-minded program for which Pérez serves as artistic director. Additionally, the album features guest cellist Sachi Patitucci on one track.
"More than focusing on rediscovery we should focus on celebrating our histories, our stories, our music, our culture," Pérez concludes. "My vision is to create music that serves as a cultural passport, hopefully with Panama as the bridge of the world."
Upcoming Danilo Pérez Tour Dates:
** February 6-9 / Jazz Standard / New York, NY
** February 11-12 / Blues Alley / Washington, DC
** February 15-16 / Scullers Jazz Club / Boston, MA
** March 9-23 / European Tour / TBA
*** May 9 / Miami International Jazz Festival / Miami, FL
May 22 / SFJAZZ (special guest w/ Miguel Zenon) / San Francisco, CA
*** August 1 / Deer Isle Jazz Festival / Stonington, ME
August 3 / Newport Jazz Festival (w/ Ben Street, Adam Cruz & Roman Diaz) / Newport, RI
** = w/ Ben Street, Adam Cruz, Roman Diaz and Alex Hargreaves / *** = w/ Ben Street & Adam Cruz
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Posted: 05 Feb 2014 06:28 AM PST
Award winning Caribbean singer Nhojj pushes the envelope with his upcoming February 14 CD release "Made to Love Him - Celebrating Love." For his 5th studio album Nhojj, performs same-sex renditions of classic love songs spanning 10 decades.
3x OUTMusic Award winner Nhojj releases "Made to Love Him: Celebrating Love" – a compilation of 12 classic love songs spanning 10 decades. Set for a Valentines Day release, with pre-orders available now on iTunes, the album features standards written by such greats as George and Ira Gershwin, Luther Vandross, Stevie Wonder, Beyonce, Harold Arlen and E.Y Harburg, Holland-Dozier-Holland, Billy Joel, India.Arie and Nhojj himself.
"I've always loved Stevie Wonder's classic," says Nhojj about the inspiration for the title. "It speaks of childhood stirrings, recognizing true love, and standing up to family objections. This is my story, and the story of so many LGBTQ people around the world. I began to hear the lyrics with male pronouns and I could feel old wounds healing - what a fresh way to demonstrate the normality of my sexuality."
Nhojj has been expressing his sexuality through his music for almost a decade. His music video "Love" depicts the romance of two black men, and "Amazing Grace" depicts an interracial male couple exchanging marriage vows. Singles like "Bromance" and the #1 OutVoice songs "He & Him" and "Adam & Steve" all honor the love "that dare not speak its name". His work has been featured on LOGO, Advocate.com and Centric TV's Soul Sessions. But Nhojj proclaims, "I feel this is my best album yet, I took chances I haven't taken before and I'm proud of the result." This new album is definitely a bold move from an artist who has made a musical career of following his internal compass into unchartered waters.
Preliminary work for "Made to Love Him" started in the spring of 2012, after Nhojj performed at the first Out & Proud First Saturday at the Brooklyn Museum. Nhojj and executive producer Ron San Marchi compiled a long list of songs and started the almost impossible process of elimination that would result in the 12 recorded tracks. Recording took place in New York City and Arlington, Virginia over 3 weeks during the summer of 2013.
"We're bombarded with messages of tell us we are not normal," the soft spoken singer explains. "I need ways to combat these sometimes subtle, but no less damaging attacks on my identity. Music protects my soul. My music is my own personal revolution. Songs have always been a powerful champion for change: Enslaved Africans had negro spirituals, the civil rights movement had freedom songs, and the anti-war movement had protest songs."
"Made To Love Him" smoothly blends Jazz, Rhythm, Blues, and Reggae and boasts a diverse array of talent: Swiss Chris on drums (John Legend), Lonnie Plaxico on bass (Cassandra Wilson), NAACP award nominated Onaje Allen Gumbs on piano, Tona Brown (first trans woman to perform for a sitting President) and Aida String Quartet on strings, out lesbian Yael Acher on flute, and longtime musician Marcelo Cardozo on guitar. The album is co-produced with John F. Adams, on keyboards (Amy Winehouse, Keith Sweat), and mastered by Robert Honablue (Roberta Flack, Miles Davis, Barbara Streisand). Recording and rehearsals were filmed by Emmy nominated Michael Burlingame for an upcoming documentary.
"I am very grateful to be living in a time when "Made To Love Him" could be released and even celebrated" Nhojj explains, "In addition to expressing my truth, I wanted this album to pay tribute to the artists who lived in a society that was less accepting - artists like Johnny Mathis. I sing out for him and all others who came before me."
Tracklist:
1. Over The Rainbow
2. Nature Boy
3. He Heals Me
4. He's Got a Way
5. How Sweet It Is
6. Someone to Watch Over Me
7. Waiting for You
8. So Amazing
9. Twelfth of Never
10. Love on Top
11. I Was Made to Love Him
12. Our Love Is Here to Stay
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Posted: 05 Feb 2014 06:21 AM PST
RUBEN STUDDARD - UNCONDITIONAL LOVE
Unconditional Love is filled with some of the most romantic songs Studdard has ever recorded including "My Love" by Paul McCartney and Wings, The Carpenters classic, "They Long To Be (Close To You)" which includes Stevie Wonder on harmonica and Bonnie Raitt's poignant, "I Can't Make You Love Me". Additional tracks include a steamy version of Teddy Pendegrass' "Close The Door" which was produced by singer Eric Benet who also produced Studdard's breathtaking version of the Boz Scaggs hit "Love, Look What You've Done To Me." The album also contains a soaring duet with Lalah Hathaway of "If This World Were Mine." You can catch Ruben's TV Appearances as he will appear on Kelly and Michael on Monday, February 10, and on The Today Show on Friday, February 14 (10am hour)."Silky, classy, sexy, romantic -bring you to your knees - this is how I describe the incredible voice of Ruben Studdard. He feels every note and every word he sings. He is a man with an extraordinary voice..." - David Foster
JOHN BUTLER TRIO - FLESH & BLOOD
The sixth long player from the rootsy Australian trio (and first outing in four years) finds bandleader John Butler occupying a more introspective and nostalgic headspace than he has on previous outings. Butler has always been a cerebral gent, although one prone to crafting stadium sized activist anthems like "Earthbound Child" and "Fire in the Sky," but there's a more settled vibe to Flesh & Blood that suggests a possible sea change. Opener "Spring to Come," which begins with the lyric "Lost my love, lost my light" and concludes with the line "After a lonely long night comes the sun," sets the mood, offering up a solid foundation of fluid fingerpicking and circular, warm weather rhythms and melodies for Butler to opine over. It's a tone and sentiment that occurs frequently throughout the album's surprisingly concise (for a jam band) fifty-two minute runtime, and it serves the trio well, especially on more contemplative cuts like "Bullet Girl," "Only One," and the lovely and languid Ainslie Wills-assisted "Young and Wild." To be fair, JBT fans looking for bolder, more familiar strokes have more than a few traditional roots-rock offerings to sift through, some of them solid (the dark and immersive "Cold Wind" and the fun, if not a tad derivative "Livin' in the City") and some of them not (the turgid, reggae/blues-rock epic "Blame it on Me" and its throwaway, whitebread counterpart "Devil Woman"), but it's in the more refined, self reflective moments where Butler, bassist Byron Luiters, and drummer Nicky Bomba really come alive. ~ James Christopher Monger / cduniverse
CHARISSE - THE GOOD LIFE
Charisse is best known for writing her deeply romantic filled ballads.This CD is slightly different where as her romantic ballads now have a more upbeat flavor to them. Continuing with her smooth writing style the songs are fun, mid tempo with hints of Contemporary Jazz,R&B and Pop.Charisse has definitely expanded her songwriting skills by not only writing, and performing all of the songs, but by playing every instrument that you hear. This Cd is a feel good compilation of timeless music for everybody. If you love good music, you will love this CD. Track include: Rhythm of Life; Love How You Love Me; When I'm With You; Rain' The Good Life; Taking My Time; Ooh Ooh; This Silence; Maybe This Time; Reflection; Dance With Me; and This Silence (Instrumental Bonus Track). ~ cduniverse
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