For those unaware, born and raised in St. Louis, Vincent Varvel started playing music early on, studying piano, clarinet, and organ. He began playing guitar at age 15 and attended college at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, where he had the opportunity to perform with jazz greats such as Michael Brecker, Peter Erskine, and Dan Gottlieb. He graduated in 1984 with a Bachelor’s degree in Jazz Performance.

Varvel began his professional career while in college, freelancing with many different performers in the St. Louis area. Since then he has toured the United States and Europe with various ensembles in addition to leading his own jazz group performing his original compositions. Recently, he has performed classical music with the Kingsbury Ensemble, Chamber Project St. Louis, and soprano Stella Markou.

Pop and Jazz artists he has performed and recorded with with include the Peter Mayer Group, Erin Bode, Sam Moore(Sam & Dave), Lou Christie, The Shirelles, among many others. He has recorded five albums as a leader: Pictures and Postcards (2000), …Not a Creature Was Stirring…(2004), Third Person (2015), Your Song (2018), and the most recent, this brand new recording Mystery Street (2023).

His original music has been heard on satellite radio and cable television. He is currently Instructor of Guitar at Washington University in St. Louis, along with maintaining a private teaching practice and performing regularly with his own group and as a sideman.

1. On the Lam
2. Mistaken Identity
3. Chiffchaff
4. For ALD
5. From Whence She Comes
6. The Shadow of Mystery
7. Osiria Rose
8. Mystery Street

This wonderful recording opens on the impassioned On the Lam and it is followed by the languishing Mistaken Identity, the upbeat and playful Chiffchaff and the laid back For ALD.

Along next is the rhythmically melodic From Whence She Comes, which is in turn backed by the veritably cinematic The Shadow of Mystery, the album rounding out on the shimmering Osiria Rose, closing on the gently-grooved title track, Mystery Street.

www.vincentvarvel.com

For those unaware, in the summer of 2023, saxophonist and composer Wayne Escoffery found himself alone in a way that he’d never quite experienced before. He was away from home, on sabbatical in Europe with a month to himself between tours.

A long-term relationship had just ended, and he was confronted with the loss of friendships that he’d once valued. Worst of all, he’d suffered a broken finger that left him unable to play the saxophone for the first time since he’d picked up the horn in high school.

“Normally, my coping mechanism would be the saxophone,” Escoffery laments. “But even that wasn’t available to me for about nine weeks, so I just had to be alone in my thoughts.”

He made good use of this alone time, conceptualizing the music that makes up his striking and singular new album, Alone. What emerged from that solitude was an extended mood piece, an album unique in Escoffery’s typically wide-ranging catalogue for its sustained atmosphere of stark melancholy and searching introspection.

Due out August 30th, 2024, via Smoke Sessions Records, the music is breathtakingly interpreted by an all-star quartet featuring iconic bassist Ron Carter, drummer Carl Allen, and pianist Gerald Clayton.

1. Moments With You
2. Alone
3. Rapture
4. The Ice Queen
5. The Shadow Of Your Smile
6. Blues For D.P.
7. Stella For Starlight
8. Since I Fell For You

This wonderful recording opens on an aching yearn within Moments With You and then we get the more playful title track Alone and that is followed by the pleasing Rapture and the endearing The Ice Queen.

Along next is the sombre-toned The Shadow Of Your Smile which is itself backed by the more enigmatic hipsway that drives Blues For D.P., the album rounding out on the languishing Stella For Starlight, closing on the intensely sentimental Since I Fell For You.

Of the two bonus tracks (available on CD and digital releases only), “Stella by Starlight” is a recollection of a more tender kind, lingering on an entrancing vision from the past, dimming yet still vibrant. Closing the album, Buddy Johnson’s “Since I Fell for You” pares the band down to the duo of Escoffery and Clayton, painting the tune in austere hues of last-call sorrow.

Alone was conceived during a time of isolation, heartbreak, regret, and reflection, but the experience of the album is far richer even than that. In the end, “I was forced to reflect on life and what was most important to me,” Escoffery concludes. “The concept of this album grew out of that reflection.”

www.wayneescoffery.com

For those unaware, tenor saxophonist Elias Haslanger and trumpeter Mike Sailors are close – not just like-minded musicians who’ve shared Austin, Texas stages for the past decade, but true friends who have known each for nearly twice as long.

The two text each other daily. Haslanger and Sailors are as likely to talk about their golf swings, or parenthood, as they are to revel in their shared affinity for the George Shearing/Nat King Cole duet album from 1962.

“We definitely have something going on; people tell us that all the time,” Haslanger says about their relationship. “But it’s more than the music. The two of us have a similar outlook on life.”

This friendship and musical kinship are evident from the first note of “One Hand Clap,” the contrafact of Herbie Hancock’s “One Finger Snap” that opens Elias Haslanger Meets Mike Sailors, available August 16th, 2024 via Bandstand Presents.

It’s almost as if you can hear the two musicians smiling through the changes throughout the entire album. They appreciate the jazz tradition, and they celebrate each other’s talents and tunes. Trumpet makes soul offerings to saxophone’s song. Saxophone reflects the beauty of trumpet’s song – and aspires to elevate it, in the spirit of the art.

1. One Hand Clap
2. History Book
3. El Marinero
4. For Nicole
5. That One Time
6. Today’s New Groove
7. Spheres of Influence
8. Down Through The Years
9. Top Dog
10. For The Moment

This wonderful recording opens on the fervently-charged One Hand Clap and the slower roll of History Book and then we get brought forth the playfully flirtatious El Marinero, an aching yearn threaded throughout For Nicole and then we get the upbeat and soulful That One time.

Along next is the low slung, back alley jazz club feel of he sultry Today’s New Groove and that is in turn backed by the all-encompassing Spheres of Influence, the languishing Down Through The Years, the album rounding out on the drum-led Top Dog, closing on the spirited For The Moment.

www.elijazz.com

For those unaware, the Planet D Nonet is a down and dirty little swing band from Detroit which was founded by drummer RJ Spangler and trumpeter James O’Donnell.

The Planet D Nonet is about swing, blues, space-age jazz and classic American songs all served with plenty of good humor with an eye toward turning people onto this kind of music.

Planet Detroit Nonet’s last recording, “Blues to Be There: A Salute to Duke Ellington,” ELD-40, which came out in 2023 did very well for the band. The recording reached #16 on the JazzWeek chart and so they have just released their brilliant follow-up this past July 18th, 2024, entitled Echoes of Harlem: A Salute to Duke Ellington Vol.2.

1. Happy Anatomy
2. Flirtibird
3. Rocks in My Bed
4. Echoes of Harlem aka Cootie’s Concerto
5. Addi
6. Blood Count
7. Juniflip
8. Azalea
9. La Belle Plus Africaine
10. Caravan
11. Frustration
12. I’m Gonna Go Fishin’ aka Main Title of Anatomy of a Murder
13. Happy Reunion
14. The Shepherd (Who Watches Over the Night Flock)
15. Sophisticated Lady

This wonderful recording opens on the upbeat and joyful Happy Anatomy and the sultry and erstwhile Flirtibird, and they are followed by the languishing Rocks in My Bed, the playfully flirtatious Echoes of Harlem aka Cootie’s Concerto, the rhythmic Addi, and then come both the embracing Blood Count and the forthright Juniflip.

Along next is the sumptuous Azalea and the studious La Belle Plus Africaine, and they are in turn backed by the free-flowing Caravan, the triumphant Frustration, the low slung, at first, latterly perky and strident I’m Gonna Go Fishin’ aka Main Title of Anatomy of a Murder, the collection rounding out on the dulcet tones of Happy Reunion, the intricate piano work of The Shepherd (Who Watches Over the Night Flock), closing on the flourishing Sophisticated Lady.

Planet D Nonet:
James O’Donnell trumpet, flugelhorn, vocals & maracas, co-leader
Charlie Miller, trumpet, flugelhorn
John “Tbone” Paxton, trombone, vocals
Alex Colista, alto sax, clarinet
Christopher Tabaczynski, tenor sax & clarinet
Goode Wyche III, bari, alto saxes
Michael Zaporski, piano
Trevor Lamb, string bass (except 1 & 3)
Sean Perlmutter, drum set, cowbell
RJ Spangler, congas, small percussion instruments, bandleader

Special guests:
Camille Price, vocal
Kurt Krahnke string bass tracks 1 & 3

Official Purchase Link

For those unaware, David Liebman is considered a renaissance man in contemporary music with a career stretching over fifty years.

He has played with masters including Miles Davis, Elvin Jones, Chick Corea, John McLaughlin, McCoy Tyner and others; authored books and instructional DVDs which are acknowledged as classics in the jazz field; recorded as a leader in styles ranging from classical to rock to free jazz.

Furthermore, he has performed on over 500 recordings with 200+ as a leader/co-leader featuring several hundred original compositions.

Now the Central New York Jazz Orchestra, a Syracuse area non-profit big band, have joined up with NEA Jazzmaster David Liebman to perform and record together.

This comes 11 years after the orchestra accompanied the saxophonist/flautist’s world premiere solo performance of “If a White Horse from Jerusalem ...,” a four-movement work for soprano saxophone, wooden flute, and jazz orchestra. After the concert, Liebman had offered to record an album with the orchestra, and thus that is the album we are happily reviewing here today.

1. Ahava Raba
2. Allahu Allahu, Maqam Awj Ara
3. Ki Lo Noeh, Maqam Saba
4. Present Tense
5. Somewhere
6. Starmaker
7. Hip Hop Scuffle
8. Where or When

As noted, and with the running theme here being the link between the humanist populations on both the Palestinian and Israeli sides, the recording opens on the startlingly-cinematic Ahava Raba and the sterner fare of the stoic Allahu Allahu, Maqam Awj Ara, and then we get the sprightly Ki Lo Noeh, Maqam Saba and the sweeping Present Tense.

A multi-movement work for soprano saxophone, wooden flute, and jazz orchestra, along next is the languishing beauty of Somewhere which is itself backed seamlessly by the ornately sculpted Starmaker, the recording rounding out on the rambunctiously funky Hip Hop Scuffle, closing on the bubbly finger snapper Where or When.

“If a White Horse from Jerusalem” was originally commissioned by the S.U. Humanities Center on their 2011 theme of “Conflict: Peace and War” and performed that year in the Carrier Theater, with additional support by the Jewish Federation of Central New York and Hillel.

Both the Jewish Federation and the Jewish Community Foundation of Central New York lent their support for the reprise production this past November.

Official Website

For those unaware, Rosemary Loar’s influences are eclectic. Her first five years in New York City were spent performing a critically acclaimed jazz cabaret act, where she wrote the arrangements and broke new ground in what was then, a very homogenous venue. She left cabaret to go the the bigger stages of Broadway but has since returned.

Her cabaret show When Harry Met The Duke was given a rave by BroadwayWorld.com which said the show was “Out of this world” and “Loar.. has managed to come up with yet another variation, (on The Great American Songbook) and her erudite and accessibly sophisticated new show featuring wonderful jazz, pop, and Broadway songs from the 1930s-’50s goes down well like a delicious vodka martini topped with a skewer of blue cheese-stuffed olives.”

More recently Loar had her Joe’s Pub Debut with her latest cabaret creation “STING*chronicity:v Loar doesn’t simply rearrange numbers; she re-contextualizes them, morphing into a series of characters that sing each song as it arises out of an imagined situation.”

As a commercial recording artist she can be heard on Sting’s soundtrack for the movie The Emperor’s New Groove, the cast albums of Chess and Sunset Boulevard and on the Listening Library series. Her debut CD of original music Alternative Torch was released in 1996, her second, Through Women’s Eyes was produced in 1997 to benefit Susan G. Komen Foundation. Water From The Moon released in 2003 is also the score of Rosemary’s original rock musical by the same name: produced by the Grammy award winning Joel Moss (soundtrack for Chicago).

She produced and wrote all the vocal and string arrangements for her fifth CD Indigo and Iridescent Rosemary’s songs have been featured on NBC’s The Today Show, on The Lifetime Network, at Town Hall, Joe Franklin and Joan Hamburg shows, at the UN Fourth Conference for Women in Beijing and in the documentary Our Daughters, Our Future narrated by Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The release of Rosemary’s fourth CD, The Quando Swing punctuated her return to the jazz-cabaret scene in 2006 and features standards with a modern take. For Rosemary Loar, jazz is a smorgasbord, a feast of incredible tastes and textures. STING, STANG, STUNG, SWINGING THE MUSIC OF STING is a live recording of her critically acclaimed tribute to the pop icon Sting’s music.

With Rosemary having redefining the intersection between Jazz and the American songbook, we are next to be graced with her brand new recording, entitled Coração Vagabundo [aka Vagabond Heart].

Coração Vagabundo is the latest example of Ms. Loar’s lifelong love of jazz, elegantly showcasing her ability to infuse the genre with international influences and traditional cabaret.

1. Coraçāo Vagabundo
2. Just A Fairy Tale
3. Get Out Of Town
4. Midnight Sun
5. Your Turn To Be Brave
6. You Taught My Heart To Sing
7. Fascinating Rhythm
8. La Belle Dame San Regret
9. I Don’t Want To Know For Sure
10. Show Me
11. I Fall In Love Too Easily
12. Cool

This vibrantly-hued, aesthetically pleasing new recording opens on the delicately-hued Coraçāo Vagabundo and the ornately sculpted Just A Fairy Tale and then brings us the luscious gossamer of Get Out Of Town, the sheer elegance within Midnight Sun, and then we get both the gracefully playful Your Turn To Be Brave and then her vocal expertise comes to the fore on the harmonica-hued You Taught My Heart To Sing.

Along next is the free-flowing Fascinating Rhythm and the finely-spun La Belle Dame San Regret and they are in turn followed by the refined I Don’t Want To Know For Sure, the gently perky Show Me, the album rounding out on the veritably opulent I Fall In Love Too Easily, closing on the upbeat and jaunty Cool.

Official Website

For those unaware, one of the baddest, meanest, most unsung heroes of classic rock, Cactus, recreate their greatest moments with the help of their many admirers and acolytes here on the just-released new recording, Temple Of Blues.

Includes founding Cactus members, drummer Carmine Appice and guitarist Jim McCarty, joined by the likes of Joe Bonamassa, Ted Nugent, Billy Sheehan, Bumblefoot, Dee Snider, Pat Travers plus members of Gov’t Mule, Vanilla Fudge, Living Colour, Vixen and more!

What has already been heavily promoted far and wide is a full concept video for the first track released “Evil” that features video performances by the guests Dee Snider and Dug Pinnick as well as Appice and McCarty!

1. Parchman Farm [feat. Joe Bonamassa & Billy Sheehan] (3:06)
2. Brother Bill [feat. Randy Jackson, Randy Pratt & Bob Daisley] (4:50)
3. Guiltless Glider [feat. Ron Bumblefoot Thal & Phil Soussan] (6:12)
4. Evil [feat. Dee Snider & Dug Pinnick] (3:17)
5. One Way...Or Another [feat. Dug Pinnick & Ted Nugent] (5:09)
6. Alaska [feat. Johnny A & Tony Franklin] (3:45)
7. No Need To Worry [feat. Warren Haynes & Jorgen Carlsson] (6:13)
8. Oleo [feat. Steve Stevens & Billy Sheehan] (4:03)
9. Big Mama Boogie [feat. Pat Travers & James Caputo] (6:18)
10. You Can’t Judge A Book By The Cover (5:26)
11. Rock N’ Roll Children [feat. Britt Lightning, Vernon Reid & Rudy Sarzo] (6:25)
12. Let Me Swim [feat. Doug Aldrich & Marco Mendoza] (4:27)
13. Restrictions [feat. Ty Tabor & Phil Soussan] (6:16)
14. Long Tall Sally [feat. Mark Stein & Fernando Perdomo] (5:09)
15. Guiltless Glider [feat. Tim Ripper Owens] (6:12)

This massively pulsating, and yet always melodically pleasing, new recording opens on the frrenetic Parchman Farm (featuring Joe Bonamassa & Billy Sheehan) and the low slung, harmonica-driven Brother Bill (featuring Randy Jackson, Randy Pratt & Bob Daisley) and then brings us the drum-led rocker Guiltless Glider (featuring Ron Bumblefoot Thal & Phil Soussan), the rocking blues of Evil (featuring Dee Snider & Dug Pinnick), and then come the trio of the guitar fest that drives One Way...Or Another (featuring Dug Pinnick & Ted Nugent), the mid-tempo rambler Alaska (featuring Johnny A & Tony Franklin) and the aching guitar yearn of No Need To Worry (featuring Warren Haynes & Jorgen Carlsson).

With the shredding Tom Beckham, the rock-solid Matt Pavolka on bass and “six-arms” Moses Patrou on percussion, along next is the foot-tapping delights of Oleo (featuring Steve Stevens & Billy Sheehan) and the all-embracing, harmonica-driven Big Mama Boogie (featuring Pat Travers & James Caputo) and they are in turn backed seamlessly by the grooved You Can’t Judge A Book By The Cover, the flat out blues rocker Rock N’ Roll Children (featuring Britt Lightning, Vernon Reid & Rudy Sarzo), the shredding guitar rock of Let Me Swim (featuring Doug Aldrich & Marco Mendoza), the rhythmic Restrictions (featuring Ty Tabor & Phil Soussan), the set closing on a guitar-honed cover of the Beatles’ Long Tall Sally (featuring Mark Stein & Fernando Perdomo) and the pounding Guiltless Glider (featuring Tim Ripper Owens).

Official Purchase Link

www.cactusrocks.com

For those unaware, rekindling the familiarly flowing interplay with fellow travelers Thomas Morgan and João Lobo – the trio’s musical partnership goes back over a decade at this point – on A New Day Italian pianist Giovanni Guidi moreover expands the group’s instrumental grasp with the introduction of American saxophonist James Brandon Lewis, who makes his ECM debut here.

Not only is the ensemble scope widened; with Brandon Lewis in tow, new dialects and fresh perspectives are broached, and different instrumental paths taken, inspired by an overall heightened sense of communication and Lewis’s unmistakable, confident tone.

Recorded at Studios La Buissonne, Southern France, in August 2023, the album was produced by Manfred Eicher.

1. Cantos Del Ocells
2. To A Young Student
3. Means For A Rescue
4. Only Sometimes
5. Luigi (The Boy Who Lost His Name)
6. My Funny Valentine
7. Wonderland

This beautifully sculpted new recording opens on the delicately-hued Cantos Del Ocells and then we get the aching, pensive yearn found within To A Young Student and my own personal favorite, the flirtatiously emboldened Means For A Rescue.

Along next is the quietly furtive Only Sometimes which is itself backed seamlessly by the veritably cinematic Luigi (The Boy Who Lost His Name), the recording rounding out on the gently rhythmic My Funny Valentine, closing on the all-embracing nature of beauty that thrives within Wonderland.

Lucian Ban and Mat Maneri bring the music of Transylvanian Dance on the road in the months ahead, with concerts on both sides of the Atlantic.

www.giovanniguidi.it

For those unaware, this concert recording from Munich’s Schwere Reiter performance space features improvisation with an expanded palette of possibilities.

“To work with these colours is a great challenge and joy!” says bassist Barry Guy of the glowing and ever-changing tints, timbres and tones radiating from Jordina Millà’s freely associative piano.

Like Guy, Millà is both a player of prodigious technical capacity and a fearless improvisational explorer, and her highly creative use of the piano interior opens up new sonic territory, to fascinating result.

1. Part I
2. Part II
3. Part III
4. Part IV
5. Part V
6. Part VI

Recorded in February 2022 at Schwere Reiter, München, this masterfully impassioned new recording opens on the sumptuously all-encompassing 22 minute opener and a dutifully embodied Part II, before bringing us a rather concise four minute Part III, the free form originals continuing with a wide dynamic range of tonality within Part IV, the set culminating on a veritably plucked Part V and the jauntily scratchy Part VI.

www.jordinamilla.com

For those unaware, Outpost of Dreams introduces a new duo. Norma Winstone, as always quietly innovative as jazz singer and lyricist, brings her vocal subtlety and poetic sensibility to new pieces by Kit Downes, and to compositions by Carla Bley, Ralph Towner, and John Taylor

The programme is completed with fresh perspectives on two traditional tunes, “Black Is The Colour” and “Rowing Home.” Throughout Downes offers elegantly phrased accompaniment and adventurous interjections.

Outpost of Dreams was recorded in Udine in April 2023 and is out now via ECM Records.

1. El
2. Fly The Wind
3. Jesus Maria
4. Beneath An Evening Sky
5. Out Of The Dancing Sea
6. The Steepe
7. Nocturne
8. Black Is The Colour
9. In Search Of Sleep
10. Rowing Home

Recorded at the Artesuono Recording Studio, Udine, this breathtakingly sublime new recording opens on the delicate gossamer that breathes within El and the playful Fly The Wind and then we are given the late night, smokey jazz club appeal of Jesus Maria, the sweeping Beneath An Evening Sky, and then comes the sheer enigmatic beauty that is Out Of The Dancing Sea.

Along next are the wispy notations that come together to form The Steepe and the languishing Nocturne and they are in turn backed by the precise nature of creation that is Black Is The Colour, the album rounding out on the free flowing In Search Of Sleep, closing on the ornately sumptuous Rowing Home.

www.normawinstone.com

For those unaware, the Ize Trio are a multi-cultural music ensemble focused on combining the American art form of Jazz with Middle Eastern traditions.

They collaborate and perform in order to create a more inclusive vision for musical communities and to raise awareness for immigrant rights.

Through their different backgrounds and cultural traditions, they write original music and tell musical stories that are important in opening positive dialogue about the relationship between the US and the Middle East.

Furthermore, they seek to inspire musicians to add their cultural roots to the Jazz tradition and display how music can be a bridge to understanding and connection.

And now Chase Morrin (piano), George Lernis (percussion), and Naseem Alatrash (cello) come together with guest artist Heiraza, along with featuring John Patitucci, to bring forth a brand new recording of original music entitled The Global Suites, which continues to wholly advocate for immigrant rights and equity in all our communities.

1. Break G4S: I. The Machine
2. Break G4S: II. Echoes On The Wall
3. Break G4S: III. Let Us Out
4. Resurrecting The Amber Sky: I. Present (feat. John Patitucci, Farayi Malek & Heiraza)
5. Resurrecting The Amber Sky: II. Past & Future (feat. John Patitucci, Farayi Malek & Heiraza)
6. All Loved: I. Home
7. All Loved: II. The Journey
8. Elemeno: I. Be A Kid! (feat. Heiraza)
9. Elemeno: II. Code Switching (feat. Heiraza)
10. Elemeno: III. Discovery (feat. Heiraza)

This simply breathtaking, organically musical performance opens on the impassioned Break G4S: I. The Machine, the more jaunty, staggered Break G4S: II. Echoes On The Wall, and the Latin-hued hipsway of Break G4S: III. Let Us Out, and then John Patitucci, Farayi Malek & Heiraza come together to bring forth the gently furtive Resurrecting The Amber Sky: I. Present and the aching yearn that thrives within Resurrecting The Amber Sky: II. Past & Future.

Along next is the veritably glistening All Loved: I. Home and the spirited All Loved: II. The Journey, and the collection comes to a close on a trio featuring Heiraza, the frenetically charming Elemeno: I. Be A Kid!, the ornately cultured Elemeno: II. Code Switching, and finally the free flowing, Eastern-tinged Elemeno: III. Discovery.

Official Apple Purchase Link

For those unaware, 3x Grammy-winning saxophonist, composer, and Blair School of Music educator Jeff Coffin (Dave Matthews Band) will release his new star-studded album, Only the Horizon, Friday, July 19th, 2024 on Ear Up Records.

This highly anticipated collection of original compositions showcases Coffin’s extraordinary compositional vision and arranging prowess, blending traditional African rhythms with contemporary composition.

Only the Horizon features Coffin on saxes, clarinets, flutes, and other assorted instruments alongside the West African group Yeli Ensemble, and includes an appearance by some legendary musicians from Charleston, SC who embrace the Gullah Geechee tradition.

This confluence of tradition and innovation prominently features over 40 iconic musicians, including Carter Beauford, Victor Wooten, Béla Fleck, MonoNeon, Bill Evans, Keb’ Mo’, Nir Felder, Nate Smith, Keith Carlock, Derico Watson, Tony Hall, Viktor Krauss, Stefan Lessard, Alana Rocklin, Jay White, Jon Cowherd, Leo Genovese, Buddy Strong, Emmanuel Echem, Rod McGaha, Rashawn Ross, Ray Mason, Cory Wong, Ezra Kessler, Rory ‘R.A.P.’ Ferreira, Roy ‘Futureman’ Wooten, and Ryoko Suzuki.

1. Here We Go
2. Yesterday’s Dream
3. Pharoah Rise
4. A Hat For My Beard
5. Bom Bom
6. Only the Horizon
7. Picking Pockets
8. Yeli Geechee

This confluence of tradition and innovation, and which prominently features over 40 iconic musicians, including fellow band members Carter Beauford, Stefan Lessard, Buddy Strong, and Rashawn Ross, opens on the playfully perky Here We Go and then we get the lushly all-embracing Yesterday’s Dream, the grooved Pharoah Rise and then a deliciously funky A Hat For My Beard.

Along next is the cinematically-hued Bom Bom and that is in turn backed seamlessly by the free flowing title track Only the Horizon, the album rounding out on the precociously spirited Picking Pockets, closing on the sumptuously ordained, velvet gossamer of Yeli Geechee.

Coffin meticulously selected the musicians for each track, resulting in an album of immense musical diversity and prowess. “There are too many highlights to list fully here but a few from my studio really stick out,” Coffin recalls. “Having the great Daru Jones on drums and hearing his groove and pocket up close. Truly an awe-inspiring musician! To witness Keb’ Mo’ carve his guitar parts from thin air in a way I have never witnessed before was at once befuddling and stunning. To have my dear friend Mars Williams lay down a tenor sax solo in what was one of his last recordings was such a gift.”

Jeff Coffin - A Hat For My Beard [Official Music Link]

Official Apple Purchase Link

For those unaware, Grammy Award-winning pianist and composer Geoffrey Keezer issues his first live trio record in more than 15 years. Uniting colossal improvisers and masters of fluid foundation John Patitucci and Clarence Penn, Live at Birdland presents an album-length gesture that reinvigorates the soul of live releases from the heart of New York City.

“I’ve always wanted to release a Live at Birdland record,” says the Wisconsin native who came up listening to Art Blakey’s 1954 Blue Note recording A Night at Birdland. Over three nights, the trio performed six sets in the Birdland Theater. “So we had six chances to create something new each time,” he says.

Committed to the same ethos of joy and defiant creativity as his heroes Wayne Shorter and Chick Corea, Keezer transmits the enormity of their contributions across Live at Birdland, sharing his reverence for the impact they’ve had on his music, his career, and the way he seeks to live day to day. “They are two of my musical heroes and kind of also human heroes,” says Keezer, who had the honor of recording with Chick earlier in his career and subbing in Wayne’s quartet for several dates in 2009.

“I loved that both of them were youthful, almost childlike, in how they approached life. Even though they were doing incredible works of art and creating very complex music, they never took themselves too seriously. They always had a great sense of humor.”

Featuring three compositions from Corea and three from Shorter (four on its digital release), Live at Birdland also spotlights two originals from Keezer. “Both Wayne and Chick really encouraged me to compose,” he says. “They were always asking, ‘Are you writing something?’ and Chick especially would get annoyed if I wasn’t. So I really wanted to honor their wishes by including these two tunes on the record.”

1. Highwire – The Aerialist (8:33)
2. Flagships (7:27)
3. Eternal Child (10:28)
4. Song of the Canopy (11:53)
5. Imp’s Welcome (7:29)
6. Joy Ryder (9:00)
7. Dance Cadaverous (8:42)
9. Madame Grenouille (6:55)

On an album that presents three artists who tessellate through the music, signaling commitment and intention at every moment, it opens on Corea’s always-impressive, spirited embrace that is Highwire – The Aerialist and then we get the delicious dreamscape that is Shorter’s Flagships, Corea’s Spanish-hued, simply divine Eternal Child, and the Keezer-composed, brightly harmonic Song of the Canopy.

Along next is an analog synth in trio, a synthesizer fantasia for their rendition of Corea’s Imp’s Welcome, which is in turn backed by the spirited, staggeringly effervescent Shorter classic Joy Ryder, another Shorter mood within the languishing Dance Cadaverous, closing on Keezer’s F sharp minor blues composition Madame Grenouille (from his 1997 trio release Turn Up the Quiet).

Available on Live at Birdland’s digital release only, “Virgo Rising – Cathay” combines Shorter compositions from High Life and Joy Ryder and serves as a 6-string electric bass feature for Patitucci. The set concludes on Keezer’s F sharp minor blues composition “Madame Grenouille” from his 1997 trio release Turn Up the Quiet. Informed “melodically” by John Coltrane and “vibe-wise” by Duke Ellington, the tune also features a thrilling end-of-set solo from Penn. “It’s just a fun tune to stretch out and end the set with,” says Keezer.

www.geoffreykeezer.com

Geoffrey Keezer @ Facebook

For those unaware, celebrated trumpeter and vocalist Bria Skonberg forges new foundation with What It Means, a heartfelt and hard-grooving homage to New Orleans, releasing July 26th, 2024 via Cellar Music Group.

For critically acclaimed trumpeter and vocalist Bria Skonberg, the great joy of music has always been in sharing it – with audiences and peers on the bandstand. “I love to perform. I love to prepare songs in ways that surprise and delight listeners, adding different variables and finding commonalities. I love blasting my trumpet over a hard grooving rhythm section. I love hearing horns in harmony and singing from a whisper to a roar,” Skonberg reflects.

“It’s a cathartic, soul-satisfying experience, and all I’ve wanted to do since I first met the trumpet.” This elation was, for Skonberg and others, poignantly put on hiatus with the onset of the global pandemic in 2020.

By January 2021, Skonberg had experienced the weight of the worldwide lockdown in a profound blend of emotions. From not having seen her parents in over a year and having interacted with other musicians less than ten times since the start of the lockdown, mingled with the kaleidoscopic wonder of becoming a new parent, Skonberg at once experienced the desolation of the depths of the worldwide sense of isolation while being beautifully overwhelmed with a new kind of love.

With this experiential context, when gigs finally did begin to return, Skonberg felt “like I was trying to find a way back and a way forward at the same time.” What proved deeply grounding for Skonberg amid this tumultuous societal return to normalcy was revisiting the material she had learned in her teens – classics like Louis Armstrong’s “Cornet Chop Suey” – and immersing herself in lifelong musical favorites of her family, such as Van Morrison and The Beatles, and of her own, namely Wynton Marsalis’s septet music.

This blend of worldwide trepidatious optimism, parental beauty, and the music that stirred Skonberg’s soul from her teens through her adulthood led her to a place where she understood what her next project needed to be.

After meeting and brainstorming with long-term mentor and friend, Producer Matt Pierson, Skonberg envisioned the project that now stands as What It Means, a love letter to the music and tradition of New Orleans that first inspired her.

1. “Comes Love” (4:28) (Lew Brown, Sam Stept, Charles Tobias)
2. “Sweet Pea” (3:40) (Amos Lee)
3. “Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans?” (4:11) (Eddie DeLange, Louis Alter)
4. “The Beat Goes On” (6:49) (Sonny Bono)
5. “In the House” (6:21) (Bria Skonberg) 6. “Cornet Chop Suey” (4:43) (Louis Armstrong)
7. “Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)” (5:05) (John Lennon)
8. “Days Like This” (featuring Gabrielle Cavassa) (3:20) (Van Morrison)
9. “Petite Fleur” (4:36) (Sidney Bechet)
10. “Elbow Bump” (7:03) (Bria Skonberg)
11. “Lullabye (Goodnight My Angel)/A Child is Born” (4:29) (Billy Joel/Thad Jones)

On an album that oozes such an authentically felt New Orleans vibe throughout, allowing Skonberg to lean deeply into the power of meaningful and humble collaboration, the album opens on the slinky “Comes Love” and the playfully perky Amos Lee cut “Sweet Pea” and they are followed by the dulcet ballad “Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans?”, a rousing rendition of the Sonny Bono cut “The Beat Goes On,” and then we are graced with her first original, the lushly elgant “In the House.”

Along next is the propulsive Louis Armstrong track “Cornet Chop Suey” and her delicate version of John Lennon’s sumptuously-sculpted “Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy),” and they are in turn backed by the upbeat and joyful Van Morrison track “Days Like This” (featuring Gabrielle Cavassa), a gorgeous, aching yearn of a take on Sidney Bechet’s “Petite Fleur,” the album rounding out on her other original, the fervently gleaming “Elbow Bump,” closing on the Billy Joel/Thad Jones combo ballad “Lullabye (Goodnight My Angel)/A Child is Born.”

The album’s title holds layers of significance, both on an individual level and in recognizing jazz history — a truncated version of one of the most famous standards about the Crescent City: “Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans?” By evoking this standard, Skonberg immediately aligns the album with the history and tradition of that great musical city.

Moreover, by shortening the title to simply state What It Means, Skonberg turns it into a broader statement and call to her audience to recognize that which is important to each person. Skonberg herself addresses the topic from her perspective on the album. “I am affirming ‘what it means’ to me,” she says. “I care about family, I care about getting to make music that brings joy with other people, from a place that reveres its roots, and that looks forward to brighter days.”

www.briaskonberg.com

Bria Skonberg @ Facebook

For those unaware, drummer-composer Jonathan Barber announces the release of In Motion, his fourth studio album with his long-standing group Vision Ahead, out August 2nd, 2024.

Instilled with a sense of maturity and rooted in deeply personal expression, In Motion emerges as an authentic musical portrait of the Hartford-born artist illustrated by eight richly-composed original compositions and a pair of reprises.

Intended as a cohesive, full body of work, In Motion is Jonathan Barber’s most astute statement yet, and a testament to the staying power of Vision Ahead as an ensemble.

The title, In Motion, is a nod to the act of “doing”, and is thought of as a motivational mantra for the drummer-composer. It’s an accurate reflection of Barber’s ever-evolving artistry and meteoric career: since 2018, Barber and Vision Ahead have consistently released impactful and acclaimed projects, each further solidifying the group’s standing as one of the premier ensembles of this generation.

Anchored by Barber (who was selected as the #1 Up and Coming Drummer by Modern Drummer Magazine in 2018), Vision Ahead features first-call guitarist Andrew Renfroe, artful pianist Taber Gable, respected bassist Matt Dwonszyk and exploratory tenor saxophonist Matt Knoegel. “Barber’s Concept with “Vision Ahead” is shapely and sure, fortified with youthful energy, yet tempered by mature skills. His compositions are solid, his performance grounded, full of dance feel, and one with a future,” described jazz journalist Ken Micallef in DownBeat Magazine. The sound of Vision Ahead is decidedly now.

1. Radar (5:05)
2. Giving (2:13)
3. In Motion (4:59)
4. When Love Calls (4:27)
5. Liberty (4:43)
6. The City That Sits On A Hill (5:29)
7. When Love Calls (Reprise) (2:40)
8. Can’t Call It (3:10)
9. Liberty (Reprise) (0:46)
10. Help Us All Rise (3:25)

On what is more than just an album, indeed more like a testament to Jonathan Barber’s artistry and vision, chock full of rich compositions, virtuosic performances, and innovative arrangements, the album opens on the richly melodic Radar and the emotive Giving and then we are brought forth the inspired, evoking, titular In Motion, the beautiful ballad When Love Calls, and then we get the impassioned Liberty.

Along next is the rhythmic finesse that glides us through The City That Sits On A Hill and a reprise of When Love Calls, before they are in turn backed by the compositionally fortified Can’t Call It, a short, but sweet reprise of Liberty, the album closing on the veritably theatrical Help Us All Rise.

The album’s title holds layers of significance, both on an individual level and in recognizing jazz history — a truncated version of one of the most famous standards about the Crescent City: “Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans?” By evoking this standard, Skonberg immediately aligns the album with the history and tradition of that great musical city.

Moreover, by shortening the title to simply state What It Means, Skonberg turns it into a broader statement and call to her audience to recognize that which is important to each person. Skonberg herself addresses the topic from her perspective on the album. “I am affirming ‘what it means’ to me,” she says. “I care about family, I care about getting to make music that brings joy with other people, from a place that reveres its roots, and that looks forward to brighter days.”

www.jonathanbarbermusic.com

Jonathan Barber @ Facebook

For those unaware, Award-winning pianist, composer and Grammy-nominated arranger Shelly Berg issues Alegría, his effervescent trio gesture featuring longtime friends and collaborators Carlitos Del Puerto on bass, Dafnis Prieto on drums and special guest Melvin Butler on tenor saxophone.

Released by ArtistShare, Alegría connects personal stories with the emotive, at times, cathartic power of music. “When music is at its best,” says Berg, “it can create a deep connection between performers and listeners.”

Engineered and mixed by Carlos Alvarez and mastered by Paul Blakemore, Alegría — the Spanish word for “joy” — transmits layers of emotion, memories, private longings and abundant bliss. Bonding thoughtful orchestration and of-the-moment improvising, the album spotlights brand new Berg originals, and fresh takes on classics from Leonard Bernstein and The Beatles.

But the record’s true hallmark is its intentional closeness and sharing between creator and listener. “It’s really important that there’s a relationship between artist and audience,” says Berg. “The more the audience feels included in the music, the better time everybody has — the more opportunity for the music to do what music does — to reach them and move them.”

1. Home With You (5:42)
2. Marina Sunset (4:52)
3. Alegría (5:23)
4. At Last (7:34)
5. Meatballs and Apple Pie (5:19)
6. The Joy (6:57)
7. Bliss (5:43)
8. When Next We Meet (6:03)
9. I’ll Follow the Sun (5:26)
10. Red Rocks, Tall Cactus (6:43)
11. Somewhere (3:45)

Engineered and mixed by Carlos Alvarez and mastered by Paul Blakemore, Alegría (the Spanish word for “joy”), the album opens on the soulful, Afro-Cuban elasticity of Home With You and the contemplative bossa that drives Marina Sunset and they are followed by the swingingly melodic title track Alegría, the impassioned balladry of At Last and the bluesy funk of Meatballs and Apple Pie.

Along next is the fluidly inspired The Joy and the percussively textured Bliss and they are in turn backed by the lugubrious When Next We Meet, his innovative take on Lennon and McCartney’s I’ll Follow the Sun, the album rounding out on the intricately sumptuous Red Rocks, Tall Cactus, closing on a rather moving arrangement of Bernstein’s Somewhere.

Alegría proffers a more experienced, wiser understanding of joy and all its chambers — sorrow, longing, faith, peace, reflection. “I hope that the whole recording feels like a big narrative made up of smaller ones,” says Berg. “I want people to feel connected to the music and the arc of the album.”

www.shellyberg.com

Shelly Berg @ Facebook

For those unaware, drummer, percussionist and composer Marlon Simon has traveled myriad different paths over the course of his nearly four-decade career. There is the personal journey that has led him from a small town in his native Venezuela to pursuing jazz in Philadelphia, New York, and now his current home in Katy, Texas, a small city near Houston.

Then there are the parallel musical paths in which he’s excelled – playing straight-ahead swing with pianist Hilton Ruiz, traditional Afro-Cuban rhythms with the Fort Apache Band and Chucho Valdes, Latin jazz grooves with Dave Valentin, and progressive jazz propulsion with Bobby Watson.

With On Different Paths, his seventh and most ambitious album to date, Simon merges those disparate trajectories into a single new pathway that stretches far off into a hybrid future.

Due out January 26th, 2024 via Truth Revolution Records, On Different Paths is Simon’s fifth outing with his eclectic band The Nagual Spirits and one that vaults forward from the venturesome fusion of pan-Latin jazz and classical influences on its predecessor, 2007’s In Case You Missed It.

1. Searching (2:31)
2. On Different Paths (6:14)
3. Walking (5:46)
4. Above Thoughts (6:08)
5. Straight Ahead (6:43)
6. Pa (7:59)
7. Un Canto Llanero (5:50)
8. Missing Them (6:21)
9. Rumba pa Andy (5:49)
10. Variations on Erika’s Theme (8:26)
11. August 17th (7:13)

The album, funded in part by Simon’s 2022 Guggenheim Fellowship, opens on the paced, yet flourishing Searching and the embracing moods sculpted within the titular On Different Paths and then we get the strident Walking, the languishing Above Thoughts and the joyous hipsway of Straight Ahead.

Along next is the deeply low slung ambiance of Pa and the quietly fervent rhythmical shades that drive Un Canto Llanero and they are in turn backed by the sublime Missing Them, the aptly-titled, uproarious Rumba pa Andy, the album rounding out on the charmingly sweet Variations on Erika’s Theme, closing on the emphatically-hued August 17th.

The album features the percussionist’s acclaimed younger brothers, pianist Edward Simon and trumpeter Michael Simon, along with bassist Boris Kozlov, trumpeter Alex Norris, saxophonist Peter Brainin, and percussionist Roberto Quintero. They’re supplemented on several tracks by bassoonist Monica Ellis and French horn player Kevin Newton, expanding the group into a chamber ensemble.

“I think with this record I’ve finally found the authentic voice for this band,” says Simon. “In the past, although the Nagual Spirits has explored a lot of different territory, I’ve always played strictly authentic Latin jazz with a touch of Venezuelan folkloric rhythms. For On Different Paths, I took elements from a number of countries, rhythms and traditions and blended them into a mixture that’s specific to this band.”

Official Purchase Link

www.marlonsimon.com

Marlon Simon @ Instagram

Renowned indie-rock outfit Joywave have announced their long-awaited fifth studio album, Permanent Pleasure, will be released on May 17th, 2024.

The band revealed the official artwork and track list alongside the release of their new single, “Scared,” from the forthcoming album.

The accompanying music video for “Scared”, directed by Dimitri Basil, features the misadventure of the band’s enigmatic feline companion. You can watch all the action below.

Permanent Pleasure was written by Joywave (Daniel Armbruster, Paul Brenner, Joseph Morinelli), produced by Armbruster, and recorded at The Joycave (Rochester, NY) and the University of Rochester’s Gavett Audio Studio.

Side A:
1. Graffiti Planet
2. Scared
3. Brain Damage
4. He’s Back!
5. Sleepytime Fantasy

The first side opens on a Mayor-spoken PSA for a Rochester town, along with the Rochesterian band and their music contained within the pop-impassioned one minute, jauntily gritty the next, Graffiti Planet and the strident Scared and they are followed by the veritably cinematic Brain Damage, the triumphantly-skewed, pop delight that drives He’s Back! and the aptly-named, languishing Sleepytime Fantasy.

6. Swimming In The Glow
7. Hate To Be A Bother
8. 787 Dreamliner
9. Splendor
10. Here To Perform The Final Song From Their Album Permanent Pleasure, Please Welcome...Joywave

Flipping the vinyl LP over, and up next is the fluttering, glistening pop-rocker Swimming In The Glow and the alt-pop sensibilities within the foot-tapper Hate To Be A Bother, and they are in turn backed by the reaching, alt-hued 787 Dreamliner, the ethereally-imbibed, mid-tempo ballad Splendor, the album closing on the shimmering synth pop gem Here To Perform The Final Song From Their Album Permanent Pleasure, Please Welcome...Joywave (complete with an unexpected vaudeville exit).

While fans wait for Permanent Pleasure to be unleashed into the world in May, Armbruster offered a glimpse into the album’s thematic universe saying, “Permanent Pleasure. A decade in the sunbeam. A unique vantage point. Our job has become to sit and think. To experience and react. The album is really 10 thoughts from Joywave’s beam. We’ve blown apart the cohesiveness of Cleanse and brought back more variation in sonic palette while simultaneously making a guitar and string forward record (less keys), but we’ve kept the advances in songwriting we’ve made along the way.”

“It’s a bit more all over in the way How Do You Feel Now? was but with the songwriting we’ve come to be known for over the last several albums. I think most of the lyrics are taking place in the light as well, not loads of metaphors. Quite a bit more personal. The album is Joywave’s ‘whatever we want to do, whenever we want to do it’ at its best, and we loved the idea of the temporary state of the band name maturing into this album title.”

Official Purchase Link

www.joywavemusic.com

For those unaware, Paula Maya is an award winning Brazilian pianist-keyboardist, singer, songwriter, band leader, producer, teacher and recording artist. She is a Grammy and Latin Grammy Awards voting member. In March 2024 Paula Maya won the Global Music Awards Silver Medal in the category Best Instrumentalist with her release Mar da Minha Terra (Bossa Nova).

Also in 2024 she was nominated Best World Artist by the Austin Chronicle Music Awards. in 2016 she was nominated Best Brazilian Musician living in the US by Focus Web News Brazilian International Press Awards. Her compositions have roots in traditional rhythms and melodies such as maracatú, baião and samba. They are inspired and influenced by bossa nova, jazz, blues, Cuban music and African music.

Furthermore, Paula has released twelve albums and hosts a monthly residency at the premier world music club in Austin TX, Sahara Lounge, 4th Fridays Bossa Nova, and her brand new album is available now!

Entitled Rio de Janeiro, it was recorded and mixed in Brasil with legendary Brazilian musicians including Grammy Winning drummer/ producer Teo Lima and bass player Sizão Machado.

1. Rosalie (3:54)
2. Vivo Sonhando (3:04)
3. Rio de Janeiro (4:10)
4. Iemanjá (Flores do Mar) (3:58)
5. Mulher (3:25)
6. A Beleza (3:53)
7. Água Sagrada (4:50)

This vivaciously sculpted new recording opens on the quietly strident Rosalie and then we are brought forth the free flowing Vivo Sonhando and the playfully rambunctious, and my own personal favorite, the titular Rio de Janeiro.

Along next is the flourishing Iemanjá (Flores do Mar) and that is in turn backed by the atmospheric Mulher, then comes the Latin hipsway that dutifully drives A Beleza, the musical experience closing on the impassioned Água Sagrada.

Official Purchase Link

Official Website

For those unaware, Rose Mallett was born in Chicago, Illinois and began singing in elementary school as a part of the school chorus. Rose’s family then relocated to Los Angeles and at the age of 16, Rose formed an R&B singing group with three girlfriends.

The group was discovered by R&B singing duo Sam & Dave, who offered them an opportunity to record a demo at Capitol Records and once the demo was completed they were offered a recording contract.

Years later, Rose was introduced to Marvin Gaye. Through that association, Rose was often the guest of Marvin’s during recording sessions at Motown and witnessed great songs in-the-making such as “What’s Going On” and “Sexual Healing.”

That exposure led to a working relationship with Motown producer, Hal Davis, who gave Rose the opportunity to sing recording demos of songs he had written to pitch to already signed female artists at Motown.

Here on her brand new album entitled Dreams Realized (out now), Rose embraces a timeless, swinging jazz aesthetic on the classic-sounding collection of 11 songs.

1. Ain’t Nobody
2. Feeling Good
3. My Funny Valentine
4. Creepin’
5. Send In The Clowns
6. The Snake
7. The Way He Makes Me Feel
8. Building Dreams
9. It’s Impossible
10. Rock Me Baby
11. If I Never Sing Another Song

Rose Mallett, honored as a Living Jazz Legend in 2016 at Los Angeles City Hall, and who lovingly channels the vocal essence of Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, and Lena Horne, to name but a few, opens up her new recording on the upbeat and joyful Ain’t Nobody and the gloriously spun Feeling Good and then we get the languishing My Funny Valentine, the flirtatious Creepin’ and the quietly rambunctious Send In The Clowns.

Along next is the brilliantly vocalized The Snake and the low slung The Way He Makes Me Feel and they are in turn backed seamlessly by the impassioned Building Dreams, the delightful swirls and twirls that drive the foreign-language cut It’s Impossible. the album rounding out on the grooved Rock Me Baby, closing on the euphoric If I Never Sing Another Song.

Official Amazon Purchase Link

Official Website

For those unaware, lifting up our veterans through music is something that Brian Tarquin & his Heavy Friends will do until there are no more wars. Brian’s friends include superhero musicians that love working with him on a number of albums he’s released from hard rock to jazz over the past (20) years).

“Beyond The Warrior’s Eyes” (out January 19th, on Downtown Music/Dashgo Distribution) honors military soldiers who defend our freedoms,” Brian explains. “I wanted a true star- studded musician tribute of soaring instrumental songs. So, I was very fortunate to get such iconic players as Jean-Luc Ponty, Eric Johnson, Robben Ford and Steve Morse to help me express our gratitude.”

1. Beyond The Warrior’s Eyes (feat. Jean-Luc Ponty) (3:37)
2. The Gates of Valhalla (feat. Eric Johnson & Dean Brown) (4:43)
3. Quiet Desperation (feat. Robben Ford & Hal Lindes) (5:22)
4. Behind the Iron Curtain (feat. Chris Poland) (3:05)
5. Faith & Hope (feat Steve Morse & John Tropea) (4:30)
6. A Soldier’s Journey (feat. Steve Kindler, Budapest Symphony Orchestra) (4:12)
7. La Sierra Del Norte (feat. Carl Verheyen) (4:31)
8. Common Valour (feat. Larry McCray) (4:31)
9. These Colors Don’t Run (feat Steve Morse & Phil Naro) (4:49)

Multi Emmy Award winning Brian Tarquin opens up his new recording on the funk-grooved title track Beyond The Warrior’s Eyes (featuring French virtuoso violinist and jazz composer Jean-Luc Ponty) and the melodic rock-pop of The Gates of Valhalla (featuring both Eric Johnson & Dean Brown), and then we get the soaring Quiet Desperation (featuring both Robben Ford & Hal Lindes) and the rocker Behind the Iron Curtain (featuring former guitarist of Megadeth, Chris Poland).

Along next is the veritably shimmering pop-rocker Faith & Hope (feat Steve Morse & John Tropea) and the propulsive A Soldier’s Journey (featuring Steve Kindler and the highly impressive Budapest Symphony Orchestra), and they are in turn backed by the drum-led, guitar wonderment thereafter of La Sierra Del Norte (featuring Carl Verheyen, best known for being the guitarist of Supertramp), the album rounding out on the euphorically-charged Common Valour (featuring the rust belt blues shouter and guitarist Larry McCray), closing on the glistening rock opus These Colors Don’t Run (featuring both Steve Morse & Phil Naro).

A heavy and glorious fusion-prog collection, “Beyond the Warrior’s Eyes” is Brian and his friends: Jean-Luc Ponty, Eric Johnson, Robben Ford (Miles Davis), Steve Morse (Deep Purple), Dean Brown (David Sanborn), Hal Lindes (Dire Straits), Chris Poland (Megadeth), John Tropea (Billy Cobham), Steve Kindler (Jeff Beck), Carl Verheyen (Supertramp) & Larry McCray (John Mayall), the late Phil Naro, and the Budapest Symphony Orchestra, all coming together on his latest collaborative album.

Official Purchase Link

Official Website

In celebration of the 55th anniversary of the timeless 6th animated Peanuts® special, It Was a Short Summer, Charlie Brown, the entire soundtrack [along with some never-before-heard Bonus Tracks not used in the Special] will be available exclusively at a participating record store starting April 20th, 2024 as part of Record Store Day.

This new extended version now comes complete with not only classic Peanuts themes and songs made directly for this special, but now includes 6 never-before heard takes that were not used in the special.

Guaraldi lovingly created the soundtrack for the summer camp adventure where Charlie Brown and his gang face off against the girls’ camp lead by Peppermint Patty. The large jazz combo album also includes the best rendition of Guaraldi classic, “Love Will Come (Nova Bossa)” as well as the first use of additional percussion in Victor Feldman.

The recording features Guaraldi (piano), Monty Budwig (double bass), Jack Sperling (drums), Conti and Pete Candoli (trumpet), Frank Rosolino (trombone), Victor Feldman (percussion), Herb Ellis (guitar), Willian Hood and Peter Christlieb (woodwind), and John Scott Trotter as the orchestra leader. The soundtrack was produced by Sean Mendelson and Jason Mendelson and restored and re-mastered by Vinson Hudson.

This quite brilliantly organized special soundtrack opens on the beloved Charlie Brown Theme, the renowned Linus and Lucy piece and then we get the jaunty, titular run of It Was a Short Summer, Charlie Brown, the fun, playful Oh Good Grief, the romantically-charmed You’re In Love, Charlie Brown, the free-flowing Schroeder, and then we get the aptly-named Bus Blues (and reprise) thereafter.

Along next is a reprise of the titular It Was a Short Summer, Charlie Brown, the cute Frieda (With the Naturally Curly Hair) and a short reprise of Oh Good Grief, and then comes a cute collective: the more adamant Come and Get It, a most wondrous Hash and then Hash with Horn, before we are brought forth the perky AM Break and the upbeat Tah Dah.

A resonant Bon Voyage and a romanticized Peppermint Patty are up next and in turn backed by an endearing Love Will Come (Nova Bossa), and then come a perkily emphatic He’s Your Dog, Charlie Brown, the smooth Pebble Beach, a short reprise of both You’re In Love, Charlie Brown and He’s Your Dog, Charlie Brown, and they are then themselves backed by a dashing Masked Marvel and the fluctuating Air Music.

Continuing the musical adventure, along next are two more reprise’s of Masked Marvel and a reprise of Linus and Lucy, which are followed by a second reprise of Oh Good Grief, a short reprise of the Charlie Brown Theme, and a second reprise of It Was a Short Summer, this delightful musical flashback to a time less stressful, ending on the six bonus tracks: the lovely alternative take of Linus and Lucy, an interesting Working on It Was a Short Summer, Charlie Brown, the recording rounding out on alternative takes on Bus Blues, Pebble Beach, Masked Marvel Music and Linus and Lucy.

1. Charlie Brown Theme 2. Linus and Lucy 3. It Was a Short Summer, Charlie Brown 4. Oh Good Grief 5. You’re In Love, Charlie Brown 6. Schroeder 7. Bus Blues / Bus Blues (Reprise) 8. It Was a Short Summer, Charlie Brown (Reprise) 9. Frieda (With the Naturally Curly Hair) 10. Oh Good Grief (Reprise) 11. Come and Get It / Hash / Hash with Horn / AM Break / Tah Dah 12. Bon Voyage 13. Peppermint Patty 14. Love Will Come (Nova Bossa) 15. He’s Your Dog, Charlie Brown 16. Pebble Beach 17. You’re In Love, Charlie Brown (Reprise) 18. He’s Your Dog, Charlie Brown (Reprise) 19. Masked Marvel 20. Air Music 21. Masked Marvel (Reprise) / Masked Marvel (2nd Reprise) 22. You’re In Love, Charlie Brown (2nd Reprise) 23. Linus and Lucy (Reprise) 24. Oh Good Grief (2nd Reprise) 25. Charlie Brown Theme (Reprise) 26. It Was a Short Summer (Reprise 2) 27. Linus and Lucy (Alternate Take) 28. Working on It Was a Short Summer, Charlie Brown 29. Bus Blues (Alternate Take) 30. Pebble Beach (Alternate Take) 31. Masked Marvel Music (Alternate Take) 32. Linus and Lucy (Reprise Alternate Take)

The 12” 45 RPM LP comes in Camp Green and will have liner notes that give a track-by-track analysis by Derrick Bang and notes from Sean Mendelson, son of Peanuts® producer Lee Mendelson and co-producer of the record. The release includes images from the special and from the original tape boxes recently re-discovered that led to this release.

Watch “Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown” 1975

Watch “A Charlie Brown Valentine” 2002

For those unaware, Award-winning vocalist Youn Sun Nah is proud to announce her groundbreaking new album, Elles, arriving August 30th, 2024 via Warner Music Arts.

Long hailed for her style-blurring renditions of artists spanning Tom Waits and Jimi Hendrix to Marvin Gaye and Metallica, Elles sees Youn Sun Nah bringing her remarkable voice and unique perspective to a range of songs that have deeply fueled her own indescribable musical approach, all made famous by such iconic female artists as Björk, Sarah Vaughan, Grace Jones, Roberta Flack, Edith Piaf, Grace Slick, Maria João, and more.

Recorded in New York City alongside acclaimed pianist Jon Cowherd (Brian Blade, Cassandra Wilson, Lizz Wright) and producer/musician Tomek Miernowski, Elles spans a wide array of songs either written or performed by notable women artists, from soulful spirituals (“Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child”) and psychedelic milestones (“White Rabbit”) to long-overdue takes on “Feeling Good,” “My Funny Valentine,” “I’ve Seen That Face Before (Libertango)” and “Killing Me Softly With His Song” (the latter performed alone with a treasured music box).

Backed by Cowherd’s subtle yet inventive work on a variety of keyboards, Youn Sun Nah reimagines standards both old and new in typically captivating fashion, traversing gender and generation with precision, magic, and intimacy.

“I realized that the songs I’ve recorded over the years, most have been from male singers,” Youn Sun Nah says. “So this time I wanted to honor the female singers I’ve been admiring since a long time, the songs which move me and the voices that touch me.”

1. Feeling Good (3:24)
2. Cocoon (4:22)
3. I’ve Seen That Face Before (Libertango) (4:58)
4. My Funny Valentine (3:28)
5. White Rabbit (4:08)
6. Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child (4:14)
7. Baltimore Oriole (2:36)
8. Coisas Da Terra (4:53)
9. La Foule (4:00)
10. Killing Me Softly with His Song (4:38)

Among contemporary jazz’s most admired vocalists, an international award-winning singer, songwriter, performer and more, Youn opens her new recording on the delicately-hued Feeling Good and the pure gossamer of Cocoon and then brings us the ethereally-strained I’ve Seen That Face Before (Libertango), the sheer elegance of My Funny Valentine and a rather graceful rendition of White Rabbit.

Along next is the all-embracing Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child and the delightfully jaunty Baltimore Oriole, and they are in turn followed by the scampering scat that drives Coisas Da Terra, the album rounding out on the French-sung delicacy La Foule, closing on the dulcet Killing Me Softly with His Song.

Official Spotify Purchase Link

Official Website

For those unaware, Tom Johnson (BMI) grew up listening to his father perform with the Al Cobine, Jim Edison, and John Von Ohlen/Steve Allee/Chuck Carter Big bands. Tom began studying composition privately while in high school, and by his senior year had three works performed by his high school jazz band and jazz combo. He began studying trumpet in fifth grade with Jim Edison, and then during High School studied with Bill Adam of Indiana University.

A lot has obviously happened between then and now to and for Tom, including having published more than 30 articles and book chapters in psychology and received the Theodore Dreiser Distinguished Research and Creativity Award from ISU in 2005, and yet despite being in a self-inflicted “phased retirement” since January 2023, he is still conducting research on effects of listening to sad music and personality styles of jazz musicians.

Indeed, Tom’s compositions and arrangements have been performed by various professional, high school, college, and community bands and choirs in eight states and his brand new recording, entitled Time Takes Odd Turns (out now) brings together his recordings begun in May 2023 for Jazz Orchestra.

1. Naught One (8:37)
2. Simple Song (8:23)
3. Book One (6:36)
4. One More Time (4:31)
5. Lucky 13 (8:55)
6. En La Casa de Los Perritos (9:50)
7. Well You Better (4:07)
8. Ballad for the A1 Band (5:29)
9. Cats and Mouses (6:04)
10. Bossa Monday Suite (11:27)
11. Simply Stuff and Nonsense (3:56)

The playful Naught One opens this expansively delightful new recording and is backed by the languishing, at first, quietly sprightly latterly Simple Song, the boisterous Book One, and then come both the beautiful piano/sax piece One More Time and the free-flowing Lucky 13.

Along next is the veritably cinematic in scope En La Casa de Los Perritos and the jazzy finger-snapper Well You Better and they are in turn followed seamlessly by the low slung Ballad for the A1 Band, the perky Cats and Mouses, the album rounding out on the impassioned Bossa Monday Suite, closing on the triumphant Simply Stuff and Nonsense.

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For those unaware, The Chris Slade Timeline was formed in 2012 with hand picked musicians to celebrate his then 50 year career as a professional rock drummer; since starting with Tom Jones at 16 yrs of age, taking in Manfred Mann, The Firm with Jimmy Page and AC/DC along the way.

The Chris Slade Timeline band have toured the UK and Europe extensively playing hits of this lengthy career and so after being asked many times if they were going to produce any new original songs of their own, Chris finally decided to put pen to paper and do something about it.

And so with the help of his band mates, their brand new album Timescape is out now as a 2CD musical event. Their debut album includes a playlist of 9 original songs and a selection of hits from the many artists he has been privileged to perform with over the last 60 years.

Disc 1:
1. SUNDANCE
2. WE WILL SURVIVE
3. JOYBRINGER
4. LIVING THE DREAM
5. FREEDOM SONG
6. BACK WITH A VENGEANCE
7. QUESTIONS
8. TIME FLIES
9. END OF ETERNITY

The first CD opens on the rhythmic rocker SUNDANCE and the AOR of WE WILL SURVIVE and then comes the soaring, synth-tastic JOYBRINGER, the mid-tempo ballad LIVING THE DREAM, the melodic FREEDOM SONG, before we are brought forth the forthright BACK WITH A VENGEANCE, the beautiful ballad QUESTIONS, and both the fluctuating guitar fests that adorn both TIME FLIES and END OF ETERNITY.

Disc 2:
1. THE RAZORS EDGE
2. FREE
3. BLINDED BY THE LIGHT
4. JULY MORNING
5. THUNDERSTRUCK
6. BIG GUN
7. HELLS BELLS
8. HIGH VOLTAGE

The second CD opens on their AC/DC cover THE RAZORS EDGE and a quite breathtaking, nine minute long rendition of FREE and they are in turn backed by their pulsating rendition of Manfred Mann’s Earth Band’s BLINDED BY THE LIGHT, a delicately-hued version of Uriah Heep’s JULY MORNING, the second disc closing on four more from his AC/DC era: the brilliantly sculpted, mountainous THUNDERSTRUCK, the foot-pounder BIG GUN, the impassioned AC/DC fan favorite HELLS BELLS, closing on the rambunctious early days of the band on the rhythmically propulsive HIGH VOLTAGE.

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For those unaware, Warhorse was formed last year by Paul Di’Anno and two guitarists/authors, Hrvoje Madiraca and Ante Pupi Pupačić.

Recorded primarily at Pupi studios in Split, Croatia, Warhorse includes nine original songs and two covers, Precious (DEPECHE MODE) and Tequila (THE CHAMPS).

Warhorse previously recorded three songs, two of which — Stop The War and The Doubt Within — were released in May 2022 as a special DVD single along with Paul’s video message to all fans who bought the single and thus helped raise funds for his recent knee operation.

1. Warhorse
2. Get Get Ready
3. Go
4. Stop The War
5. The Doubt Within
6. Here Comes The Night
7. Tequila (THE CHAMPS cover)
8. Forever Bound
9. Precious (DEPECHE MODE cover)
10. Going Home

The thunderously emotive new recording opens on the atmospheric, euphorically-charged Warhorse and the gritty rocker Get Get Ready and then brings us the foot-to-the-floor rocker Go, the free-wheeling rock of Stop The War and the screaming guitars that drive The Doubt Within.

Along next is the impassioned, racing car-imbibed Here Comes The Night and their rambunctious cover of The Champs’ Tequila, and they are in turn backed by the power ballad, at first, rocker by night latterly Forever Bound, the album rounding out on a stunning metal-rock cover of Depeche Mode’s Precious, closing on the fist-clenched AOR of Going Home.

Musicians:
Paul Di’Anno
Hrvoje Madiraca
Ante Pupačić Pupi

Official Purchase Link

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For those unaware, when Livio Almeida arrived on the New York jazz scene a few years back, we were all put on notice. There’s a new Brazilian tenor saxophonist who can shred. His lights-out playing and performances undoubtedly created a stir among fellow artists and aficionados.

Almeida was quickly absorbed into Arturo O’Farrill’s musical crew. This is how even more began to realize and recognize the Brazilian’s incredible prowess, as he began to tour with Arturo in several formations. Almeida’s 2016 CD release Action and Reaction, produced by O’Farrill, received enthusiastic reviews and left listeners wanting more.

Brasília Sessions isn’t just more. It’s one of the most remarkable Brazilian jazz albums in recent memory. It showcases Almeida as a composer, arranger, soloist, bandleader, and conceptual artist. One has come to expect stunning playing on an Almeida project, but the start-to-finish sonics of this album reveal his meticulous attention to detail. We hear ambient soundscapes, timbral contrast, legato lines, and feel-good rhythms.

“This music is deeply rooted in my Brazilian tradition,” Almeida explains. “It’s a synthesis of my cultural experience as a Brazilian immigrant in New York.”

Recorded in Brasília, his hometown and Brazil’s capital, the album is indeed a full circle for the maestro. Joining him are tremendous artists Misael Silvestre (keys), Daniel Castro (bass), Pedro Almeida (drums).

1. SAMBASUS (5:15)
2. PARTIDO CERRADO (5:02)
3. BRASÍLIA AFRO SAMBA (6:27)
4. FOLHAS SECAS (8:31)
5. ROCKS IN MY PATH (Pedras no caminho) (7:35)
6. DITMAS AVENUE (7:39)
7. UM GIRASSOL DA COR DO SEU CABELO (A sunflower the color of your hair) (6:54)
8. Q TRAIN SAMBA (Sambete do trem Q) (5:57)

This majestically rhythmic and thoroughly melodic new recording opens on the atmospherically-charged, old school vinyl-hued SAMBASUS and the genuine foot-tapper PARTIDO CERRADO and then brings us the free flowing BRASÍLIA AFRO SAMBA, and the lushly laid back FOLHAS SECAS (and which was composed by Nelson Cavaquinho, an acclaimed twentieth-century singer).

Along next is the playfully flirtatious ROCKS IN MY PATH (Pedras no caminho) and the impassioned DITMAS AVENUE (named after the street where Almeida lives in Brooklyn), the album rounding out on the unblushingly stoic UM GIRASSOL DA COR DO SEU CABELO (A sunflower the color of your hair), closing on the melodically grandiose Q TRAIN SAMBA (Sambete do trem Q).

Musicians:
Livio Almeida - tenor saxophone, compositions and arrangements
Misael Silvestre - keys
Daniel Castro - bass
Pedro Almeida - drums

Official Spotify Purchase Link

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For those unaware, Songs for Stuffed Animals is the debut album from saxophonist Richard Guba and features an eight-piece band with four horns.

Richard is based in Annapolis, Maryland where he plays in jazz big bands and combos. He plays soprano, alto, and tenor saxophones and this is his much-anticipated debut album.

Included within the eight tracks are four original tunes: The Gospel according to Lewis, Playing in Traffic, Tributaries, and Nicholas Carico’s composition Simply Do Not. The other four tunes being covers, including Morning Dance, Black Narcissus, Search for Peace, and To Wisdom the Prize.

1. Morning Dance (Jay Beckenstein) (3:59)
2. The Gospel According to Lewis (4:41)
3. Playing in Traffic (4:57)
4. To Wisdom the Prize (Larry Willis) (6:42)
5. Simply Do Not (6:19)
6. Black Narcissus (Joe Henderson) (4:30)
7. Tributaries (4:14)
8. Search for Peace (McCoy Tyner) (5:10)

The perky and flyright Morning Dance opens this expansively delightful new recording and is backed by the low slung, funk-grooved The Gospel According to Lewis, the languishing Playing in Traffic, and then comes the euphorically-charged To Wisdom the Prize.

Along next is the mood-enhanced Simply Do Not and the soaring Black Narcissus and they are in turn followed seamlessly by the ornately-adorned Tributaries, the album closing on the delicately-hued Search for Peace.

Musicians:
Ken Zimmerman. Acoustic piano and Ensoniq ESQ 1 digital wave synthesizer (on “Playing in Traffic” and the intro to “Morning Dance”)
David Mueller. Electric Bass
James Burcky. Drummer and arranger of “The Gospel According to Lewis”
Nicholas Carico, guitarist, composer of “Simply Do Not”, and arranger of “Playing in Traffic”
Joel McCord. Trumpet and flugelhorn
Jim Tavener. Tenor trombone
Rodney Laster. Alto saxophone and flute
Richard Guba. Alto, tenor, and soprano saxophones. Composer “The Gospel According to Lewis”, “Tributaries”, and co-writer of “Playing in Traffic”

Official Purchase Link

For those unaware, late 18th century Italian composer Luigi Boccherini produced a vast catalogue of compositions, several of which were chamber works featuring the flute.

Australian flautist Sally Walker, whose first appearance on AVIE was in collaboration with harpist Emily Granger on the album Something Like This, has taken a deep dive into the provenance of Boccherini’s works for her instrument to produce a 90-minute, 2-for-the-price-of-one volume of music that is infinitely elegant, virtuosic and beautifully refined.

The relatively rare yet imaginative Six Quintets, Op. 19, for two violins, flute, viola and cello vary in their configuration, some intimate, others on a grander scale reminiscent of the composer’s orchestral music. Also included are the first Divertimento Notturno from the Sextet, Op. 38 for violin, viola, bassoon, flute, horn and double bass; and, as a bonus the Quintet G.443 for flute, oboe, violin, viola and cello, a work attributed to Boccherini.

Although its authorship is contested, as Sally says, “It is such a beautiful work that we wanted to include it anyway.”

CD 1:
Flute Quintet Op. 19, No. 1 in E Flat Major, G.425
1. I. Allegretto con moto
2. II. Minuetto (Con moto) – Trio

Flute Quintet Op. 19, No. 2 in G Minor, G.426
3. I. Allegro con un poco di moto
4. II. Minuetto (Con moto) – Trio

Flute Quintet Op. 19, No. 3 in C Major, G.427
5. I. Andante non troppo
6. II. Rondeau (Grazioso)

Flute Quintet Op. 19, No. 4 in D Major, G.428
7. I. Adagio assai
8. II. Minuetto (Con moto) – Trio

Flute Quintet Op. 19, No. 5 in B Flat Major, G.429
9. I. Allegro moderato
10. II. Allegro presto assai

Flute Quintet Op. 19, No. 6 in D Major, G.430 ‘Las Parejas’
11. I. Entrada: (Andante) – Marcha
12. II. Galope –
13. – Como la Entrada (Andante) – Marcha

The beauty of Flute Quintet Op. 19, No. 1 in E Flat Major, G.425 opens the recording for us, with the spirited, emboldened Allegretto con moto and the more thoughtful, cultured tones of Minuetto (Con moto) – Trio paving the way for Flute Quintet Op. 19, No. 2 in G Minor, G.426, and both the undaunted Allegro con un poco di moto and the sheer elegance of Minuetto (Con moto) – Trio, and then comes the Flute Quintet Op. 19, No. 3 in C Major, G.427 with both the graceful Andante non troppo and the playful Rondeau (Grazioso), being backed by Flute Quintet Op. 19, No. 4 in D Major, G.428, and the pure gossamer of Adagio assai and the languishing beauty within Minuetto (Con moto) – Trio.

Along next is Flute Quintet Op. 19, No. 5 in B Flat Major, G.429, which opens on the upbeat and joyful Allegro moderato, closing on the rousing Allegro presto assai, the first CD rounding out on Flute Quintet Op. 19, No. 6 in D Major, G.430 ‘Las Parejas,’ with the forthright Entrada: (Andante) – Marcha leading the way and followed by the regimented rhythms of Galope – and the strident Como la Entrada (Andante) – Marcha.

Sally Walker, flute
Elizabeth Layton, violin | Alison Rayner, violin
Stephen King, viola | Thomas Marlin, cello

CD 2:
Sextet in E Flat Major, Op. 38, No. 1, G.467
1. I. Andante lento
2. II. Allegro ma non presto
3. III. Tempo di Minuetto – Trio

Sally Walker, flute
Elizabeth Layton, violin | Stephen King, viola
Sarah Barrett, horn | Mark Gaydon, bassoon | Robert Nairn, double-bass

Flute Quintet in C Major, G.443
4. I. Allegro non troppo
5. II. Allegretto
6. III. Tempo di Minuetto (Vars. I–XII)

Sally Walker, flute
Celia Craig, oboe
Elizabeth Layton, violin | Stephen King, viola | Thomas Marlin, cello

Opening the second disc is Sextet in E Flat Major, Op. 38, No. 1, G.467, which begins with the impassioned Andante lento, and then proceeds to bring us the flirtatious Allegro ma non presto and a delightful elegance within Tempo di Minuetto – Trio, and the highly impressive recording comes to a close on the resplendent Flute Quintet in C Major, G.443, which opens on the dainty fare of Allegro non troppo, the free flowing musical majesties of Allegretto, ending on an aching yearn found within Tempo di Minuetto (Vars. I–XII).

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For those unaware, as responses to Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons go, the world-premiere of The Irish Four Seasons by Ailbhe McDonagh instantly ranks amongst the most evocative and ear-catching.

Presented alongside the “Red Priest’s” monumental opus, in the debut recording by leading Irish violinist Lynda O’Connor, McDonagh’s The Irish Four Seasons resonates with a shrewd synthesis of Baroque style and Irish culture.

O’Connor explains, “Irish and Baroque music are similar in many ways. The freedom to ornament, similarities in structure and the prominence of reinterpretation are apparent in both styles”. O’Connor and McDonagh are frequently referred to as musical soulmates. In their most recent collaboration, they bring to bear Ireland’s huge musical heritage.

Arranged over four movements – Earrach (Spring), Samhradh (Summer), Fómhar (Autumn), and Geimhreadh (Winter) –The Irish Four Seasons introduces new Irish airs inspired by Vivaldi’s memorable melodies, creating an exciting and emotive work that proudly takes its place alongside the Baroque evergreen. Supported by her new, hand-picked ensemble Anamus under the baton of David Brophy, O’Connor brings these programmatic works – old and new alike – to palpable life.

ANTONIO VIVALDI (1678–1741)
Le quattro stagioni (The Four Seasons), Op. 8
Concerto No. 1 in E Major, RV 269 “La primavera” (spring)
1. I. Allegro
2. II. Largo
3. III. Allegro

Concerto No. 2 in G Minor, RV 315 “L’estate” (summer)
4. I. Allegro non molto – Allegro
5. II. Adagio – Presto
6. III. Presto

Concerto No. 3 in F Major, RV 293 “L’autunno” (autumn)
7. I. Allegro – Larghetto – Allegro assai/molto
8. II. Adagio molto
9. III. Allegro

The Four Seasons: Concerto No. 4 in F Minor, RV 297 “L’inverno” (winter)
10. I. Allegro non molto
11. II. Largo
12. III. Allegro – Lento – Allegro

AILBHE McDONAGH (*1982)
The Irish Four Seasons
13. I. Earrach (spring)
14. II. Samhradh (summer)
15. III. Fómhar (autumn)
16. IV. Geimhreadh (winter)

This most magically sculpted new recording opens on ANTONIO VIVALDI’s stupendous Le quattro stagioni (The Four Seasons), Op. 8, and which first offers up Concerto No. 1 in E Major, RV 269 “La primavera” (spring) and the adorable Allegro, the sterner fare of Largo and the dancefloor swirl that guides Allegro.

Along next is Concerto No. 2 in G Minor, RV 315 “L’estate” (summer), where we are first greeted by the ornately sculpted Allegro non molto – Allegro, the aching yearn found within Adagio – Presto and then comes the formidable Presto, with the Concerto No. 3 in F Major, RV 293 “L’autunno” (autumn) following closely behind: opening on the spirited Allegro – Larghetto – Allegro assai/molto, the ornately plucked melodies of Adagio molto and then we get the flourishing Allegro.

Up next is the culminating piece within the work, The Four Seasons: Concerto No. 4 in F Minor, RV 297 “L’inverno” (winter) and which begins on the playful, at first, fervent latterly Allegro non molto, then gives us the sheer elegance of Largo, before the dainty fare of Allegro – Lento – Allegro is brought forth, the recording closing on the impassioned work from AILBHE McDONAGH, The Irish Four Seasons: which itself opens on a longing found within Earrach (spring), the vivacious Samhradh (summer), the flirtacious Fómhar (autumn), closing out on the lonesome craving that embodies Geimhreadh (winter).

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For those unaware, bassist and composer Matt Booth is releasing Sun Prints, his first album of all original music this coming August 23rd, 2024.

The music is freewheeling and varied, but stays true to the contemporary jazz tradition. Rather than create an album that focused on his bass playing, Booth wanted the recording to showcase his compositions and a unified ensemble sound.

A ubiquitous performer on the New Orleans jazz scene, Booth found a great deal of success both as a leader and sideman and thus has released numerous albums as a co-leader of several groups.

His compositions are textually rich and dynamic, occasionally crossing over into the avant-garde, but always driven by melody and propulsive grooves. Booth plays both upright and electric bass on this brand new album.

1. In Tongues (5:22)
2. For Your Consideration (5:12)
3. Ice Bear (4:21)
4. Otero Canyon (6:22)
5. Time to Spare (7:01)
6. Old News (5:20)
7. Interlude (2:56)
8. Optimal Chunks (8:33)
9. You Came Along (6:55)
10. Distancing (5:25)
11. Happenstance (3:01)

The master of the bass opens his debut solo album on the funk-grooved In Tongues and then brings us the gently frenetic For Your Consideration, the beautifully sculpted Ice Bear and then we get both the languishing Otero Canyon and a quiet rumba-esque shuffle that drives Time to Spare.

Along next is the flourishing Old News and the dulcet, ornate Interlude and they are in turn backed by the statically jaunty sounds created within Optimal Chunks, the ate night, low slung, at first, perky latterly ambiance of You Came Along, the album rounding out on the elegant gossamer of Distancing, closing on the organically cultured Happenstance.

The musicians on Sun Prints are more than up to the task of playing Booth’s inventive and dynamic compositions. Although the music is complex, Booth’s melodic sense makes it accessible for the average listener.

The album unfolds in a way that keeps the audience guessing and the detailed production will reward multiple listens.

Sun Prints is a superb representation of Matt Booth’s playing and compositional skills and is deserving of a wider audience.

Musicians:
Matt Booth - bass
Steve Lands - trumpet
Sam Taylor - saxophone
Oscar Rossignoli - piano, keys
Peter Varnado - drums

Official Website/

Jeff Ryan is one the most essential young voices in contemporary jazz today. From his uniquely relatable emotive tone to his explosive performance and stage presence, it’s no question why he is a staple across the country in the jazz festival scene.

Jeff has held consistent radio successes with 5 Billboard #1s, the 2020 Billboard Artist of the Year and Song of the Year in 2021 with his track “Sentimental Soul.”

In 2018, his first year on the scene, he was awarded the JazzTrax Breakout Artist of 2018 and the Smooth Jazz Network Debut Artist of 2018.

One of Jeff’s primary goals has always been in connecting to the audience through music and performance. From his first radio single, “Up and Up”, to now, he has shown how his soul-drenched sound and delivery is key to the future of smooth jazz. “I know what relates to people, from the bottom to the top of the horn, there’s a lot of variety to dig deep into peoples spirit and get them feeling the groove,” he says.

His newest single Love Struck has now been released and is now playing on all smooth jazz radio stations wordwide. And rightly so as it is a pure, unadulterated slice of sumptuous breezy 80’s melodic jazz, that also comes complete with an out of nowhere guitar midriff!

Jeff Ryan - Love Struck [Official Purchase Link]

www.jeffryansax.com

Jeff Ryan @ Facebook

For those unaware, John Miles - The Albums 1983-1993 is a tremendous three-disc 40 track clamshell box set featuring the last trio of studio albums by the late rock legend John Miles.

The first disc is 1983’s ‘Play On’ album, making its debut on CD. Produced by Gus Dudgeon (known for his work with Elton John) the album features the singles ‘Song For You’ and ‘The Right To Sing’ and now also comes with the addition of two non-LP, non-CD B-sides.

Disc two is 1985’s ‘Transition’ album, released as the John Miles Band and appearing here on CD for the first time. It features the singles ‘Blinded’ and ‘I Need Your Love’ plus the non-LP non-CD ‘Good So Bad’ among the bonus tracks.

The final disc is 1993’s ‘Upfront’ album which includes the singles ‘What Goes Around’, ‘Oh How The Years Go By’ and ‘One More Day’.

Just so we are all on the same page, John Miles was an English rock singer, guitarist and keyboard player best known for his 1976 top 3 UK hit single Music, which won an Ivor Novello Award, and his frequent appearances at Night of the Proms.

He also won the Outstanding Musical Achievement award at the 2017 Progressive Music Awards, and deservedly so, in my humble opinion, as this musician was far more than simply a one-hit wonder.

Disc One: Play On (1983)
1. Take Me To My Heaven
2. Song For You
3. It Wasn’t Love At All
4. Ready To Spread Your Wings
5. I’ll Never Do It Again
6. Heart Of Stone
7. Home
8. Close Eyes, Count To Ten
9. Carrie
10. The Right To Sing
11. Back To The Magic [Bonus Track]
12. That’s Rock ’N’ Roll [Bonus Track]

Play On was actually the sixth solo album by Miles and released in 1983 via EMI label it was also one of his most beloved. It was also the first time that drummer Barry Black and bassist Bob Marshall were not used on the album (although Marshall still wrote the songs with Miles).

Instead they were replaced by session musicians. The Right to Sing was the first single released from the album and was written about the fact that record companies wanted to decide which songs Miles had to release and which direction he had to take.

Another single, the catchy track Song For You became a small worldwide hit and was used as a soundtrack in TV commercials for cigarette brand Hollywood in Brazil and few other countries. Interestingly though, That’s Rock ’n’ Roll was left off the album because it was too different, and was subsequently released as a B-side.

The track Carrie was covered by The Hollies on the b-side of the 1988 re-release of their cover version of He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother and on which Miles also sang backing vocals on.

Disc Two: Transition (1985)
1. Once In Your Life
2. Run
3. Blinded
4. You’re The One
5. I Need Your Love
6. Hard Time
7. Who Knows
8. Don’t Lie To Me
9. Watching Over Me
10. I Need Your Love (Edited Single Version) [Bonus Tack]
11. Good So Bad [Bonus Track]
12. Blinded (Special Cut Single Version) [Bonus Track]

While some of the tracks here now have, shall we politely say, mildly dated, it is still a most gorgeous thing to hear the amount of synth used by this prog-lite rocker.

Indeed, it is sometimes enough to make you raise an eyebrow, but the album has some other, rockier good moments, especially in the first half with tracks such as Run, Blinded and You’re The One. For me though, the ultimate highlight is the excellent banger of a track Blinded!

For the most part though, Miles isn’t a particularly distinctive writer or guitarist and his blustery vocals are a bit much too take at times, although he’s not as overblown and wayward here as he would be on Jimmy Page’s Outrider album; but then again, no one was listening to Outrider for Miles’ vocals anyway.

Disc Three: Upfront (1993)
1. Everything’s O.K.
2. Can’t Get Through
3. One More Day Without Love
4. Oh How The Years Go By
5. What Goes Around
6. Now That The Magic Has Gone
7. It’s Such A Mystery
8. Body Of My Brunette
9. Forever And Ever
10. It’s Not Over Yet
11. Chains And Wild Horses
12. Absent Hearts
13. Pale Spanish Moon
14. One More Day Without Love (Single Version) [Bonus Track]
15. Oh How The Years Go By (Single Version) [Bonus Track]
16. It’s Such A Mystery (Single Version) [Bonus Track]

The songwriting here on Upfront is really bloody good, with Miles’ voice sounding strong and mature, and some of the guitar work quite easily being the best he had done in years.

As usual with Miles, it is on the ballads that his vocal range really shines and there are one or two truly beautiful ballads on here, such as Now That The Magic Has Gone, which is a dedicated stand out!

Just to make this clear, this album was not rehash of his 70’s work, but a very goo, clean cut album that will appeal to older John Miles fans, let alone all those who like artists such as Joe Bonamassa, John Mayer, Stevie Wonder, and Chris Rea.

The sleeve notes have been written by Stephen Carson who oversees the Official John Miles Facebook page and created the John Miles website below.

John Miles - The Albums 1983-93 [3CD] (Official Trailer)

Official Purchase Link

For those unaware, Don Fardon first tasted fame as the singer in Coventry’s cult freakbeat legends The Sorrows, when their single, ‘Take A Heart’, made #21 in the UK chart in 1965. Though The Sorrows aren’t covered by this box, Don’s excellent 1968 solo version of ‘Take A Heart’ is included as is his 1969 solo take on another Sorrows’ single, ‘Let The Live Live’.

All of Fardon’s singles from the 1967 to 1974 era, including many not issued in the UK, are featured such as ‘Indian Reservation’, ‘Belfast Boy’ and ‘I’m Alive’ but also ‘The Letter’, ‘Gimme Gimme Good Lovin’’, mod favorite ‘Treat Her Right’, 1974’s glam stomper ‘Don’t Do That’ and more plus all the tracks from albums, The Lament Of The Cherokee Indian (1968), The Love Story Of Don Fardon (1969), I’ve Paid My Dues (1970), Released (1970) and I’m Alive (1970).

This incredible 3CD set contains 81 tracks including the aforementioned ‘Indian Reservation’, a UK #3 hit in 1970 and a global million seller, plus his hit 1970 tribute to footballer Georgie Best, ‘Belfast Boy’ and club favorite ‘I’m Alive’, recorded in 1969, that peaked at #12 in the independent singles chart in 2010.

It also features numerous tracks previously unreleased on CD including Fardon’s never re- issued debut solo single, ‘It’s Been Nice Lovin’ You’ (1967 version) and B side, ‘I Won’t Be Long’ and the half live / half studio album, Don Fardon & The Gang On Tour In Scandinavia recorded in 1970.

And, also comes complete with eight never commercially issued tracks drawn from BBC World Service program Top Of The Pops including recordings of ‘Indian Reservation’, ‘Belfast Boy’ and a cover of The Beatles’ ‘Back In The USSR’.

Disc One
1. It’s Been Nice Lovin’ You (1967 Single Version) 2. I Won’t Be Long 3. The Letter 4. Daytripper 5. Captain Man 6. We Can Make It Together 7. (The Lament Of The Cherokee) Indian Reservation 8. Dreamin’ Room 9. Treat Her Right 10. Goodbye 11. Take A Heart 12. How Do You Break A Broken Heart 13. Sally Goes Round The Moon 14. Sunshine Woman 15. I Need Somebody 16. Mr. Stationmaster 17. Coming On Strong 18. Gimme Gimme Good Lovin’ 19. Ruby’s Picture On My Wall 20. Running Bear 21. I Get So Excited 22. Back In The USSR 23. Another Day a.k.a. On The Beach 24. Tobacco Road 25. Baby Let Me Take You Home 26. For Your Love 27. Out Of Time

The first disc opens on the sweeping It’s Been Nice Lovin’ You, the Brit-Soul beauty I Won’t Be Long and a robust The Letter, before later bringing us a free flowing Daytripper, the fantastically arranged (The Lament Of The Cherokee) Indian Reservation, a pulsating cover of the Sorrows song Take a Heart, and then later we get psych-lite trip of Sally Goes Round The Moon, the funk-grooved beauty Mr. Stationmaster, the rambunctious duo of I Get So Excited and Back In The USSR, this disc rounding out on the rocky pop sounds of Out Of Time.

Disc Two:
1. I’m Alive 2. Keep On Loving Me 3. It’s Been Nice Lovin’ You (1969 Version) 4. Let The Live Live 5. Belfast Boy 6. Echoes Of The Cheers 7. Hudson Bay 8. New York City 9. 6.10 Phoenix Gone 10. Riverboat 11. California Maiden 12. Mississippi Woman 13. Miami Sunset 14. Cheyenne 15. San Diego 16. Girl 17. Follow Your Drum 18. Get Away John 19. Devil’s Well 20. Delta Queen 21. Hometown Baby 22. Superwoman 23. Lady Zelda 24. Louisiana 25. Lola 26. St. Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke, St. John 27. Chippawa Town 28. Daddy Don’t You Walk So Fast 29. Do You Know What I Mean

The second disc opens on the fervently ecstatic I’m Alive, the blue-eyed soul of Keep On Loving Me, and the finger-snapper Let The Live Live, and later brings us the 1970 hit single Belfast Boy, the storytelling that drives New York City, the joyful foot-tapper Mississippi Woman, and then we get stand out tracks such as the Neil Diamond-eseque Follow Your Drum, the dutifully soulful Delta Queen, the disc rounding out on the aching ballad Daddy Don’t You Walk So Fast and the dancefloor smash Do You Know What I Mean.

Disc Three:
1. Don’t Do That 2. King’s Highway 3. Lady Madonna 4. Nashville Tennessee 5. Birth 6. Had To Run 7. Waa Ee Nah Nah - BBC Sessions 8. Belfast Boy 9. Hudson Bay 10. Indian Reservation 11. Back In The USSR 12. Follow Your Drum 13. Get Away John 14. Delta Queen 15. King’s Highway - Don Fardon & The Gang On Tour In Scandinavia 16. Memphis Tennessee (Live) 17. Gimme Gimme Good Lovin’ (Live) 18. Something (Live) Rock And Roll Medley: 19. Roll Over Beethoven (Live) Route 66 (Live) Johnny B Goode (Live) Travelling Band (Live) 20. Belfast Boy (Live) 21. Get Away John (Album Version) 22. Jambalaya 23. Girl (Album Version) 24. Oh Lonesome Me 25. Leaving On A Jet Plane

The third and final disc in this brilliant new collection opens on the driven Geordie cover Don’t Do That, the free flowing King’s Highway and a veritably smooth Lady Madonna, and latterly we are treated to some BBC Sessions that include lovely-to-hear versions of Belfast Boy, Indian Reservation and Back In The USSR, amongst others, then come a fantastic live set from Don Fardon & The Gang On Tour In Scandinavia, the stand out’s being the usual suspects plus a rousing Rock And Roll Medley (featuring Roll Over Beethoven, Route 66, Johnny B Goode and Travelling Band), the music coming to a close on the some single album versions along with a languishing rendition of John Denver’s immortal Leaving On A Jet Plane.

Official Purchase Link

Meet GiGo, a UK-based rock band with a wealth of experience and talent, which came together during the worldwide pandemic of the early 2020s.

The music of GiGo is 100% distinctive and original, featuring members from Flip, Kracked Earth, Saxon, and Terry Newman Project. However, don’t let these associations create preconceived notions of the band’s sound.

For it’s often said that great bands boast diverse line-ups that bring fresh ideas while working together seamlessly, like a well-oiled machine, and that is most definitely what has happened here with this special brew of musicians.

With a definitive musical leaning toward such ’80s bands as Mike & The Mechanics and Johnny Hates Jazz, and with an American slant that encompasses the vibe laid down by both Don Henley and even Steely Dan, their brand new album The Divine Proportion is out now via Melodic Revolution Records.

1. Fly In The Ointment (5:21)
2. Hold Me In Your Heart (4:27)
3. Game Of Life (5:08)
4. Down In Durango (5:21)
5. That’s What They Say About Love (4:31)
6. You’re The Kind Of Drug (5:37)
7. Another Rainstorm (4:20)
8. Highway To Your Soul (4:55)
9. The Proof (9:41)

This fascinatingly refreshing musical experiment opens on the Vincent Price-intro’d (kinda sorta) bouncy pop-rock of Fly In The Ointment and then we get the veritably translucent ballad Hold Me In Your Heart, the ’80s synth-pop gem Game Of Life and the jangly rocker Down In Durango.

Along next is the languishing That’s What They Say About Love and the airy pop of You’re The Kind Of Drug, and they are in turn backed seamlessly by the free flowing Another Rainstorm, the album rounding out on the countrified Highway To Your Soul, closing on the all-encompassing embrace that makes The Proof come to life.

Musicians:
Anthony Duke- Vocals & Acoustic Guitars
Andy Kinch- Keyboards & Pre-Production
Doug Scarratt- Guitars
Don Schiff- NS/Stick Bass & live strings on “The Proof”
Jamie-Ray Scarratt- Drums and Percussion

GiGo - The Proof [Official Music Video]

Official Purchase Links

GiGo @ Facebook

GiGo @ Bandcamp US

www.peacocksunriserecords.com

For those unaware, the Captain makes his return nearly 22 months after a life changing road traffic accident where both he and his family were caught up in a police car chase resulting in being hit by the stolen vehicle.

During the challenges of such a stark rehabilitation, music was miraculously still being created, albeit in a very slow, labored and somewhat sedate ‘late night fashion’. Where strong painkillers/opioids became ‘married’ to those rare and fleeting moments of energetic impulses that screamed out to be expressed – hence a reflective, healing, contemplative album emerged.

The 9 track album Beautiful Ugly is the 5th Captain album which will be released on bespoke American label Melodic Revolution Records in September 2024. It was made with just 3 players: The Captain on Voice/Bouzouki/Guitar, Damian Clark on Keys/Synths and Wendy Ross on Violin.

Being a writer who follows such persistent whispers, prods and an almost other worldly invitation with a deep reverence to the process, The Captain felt compelled to realize this album into existence despite the circumstances that prevailed.

Indeed, a crowdfunding campaign has been amazingly successful with all monies paying for production, recording, design, engineering, mastering. promotion costs, etc.

The Captain is a troubadour, storyteller and free thinking renegade. His musical offerings are inspired by the great songwriters and philosophers of yesteryear. This is visceral music for the mind and body, full of dreamy verses, life affirming choruses and sheer audacity.

Furthermore, it is one where melodic invention meets alternative folk, progressive, world and ambient sounds. Enjoy!

1. obsidian whispers
2. dirty windows
3. success in failure
4. gothic balladeer
5. older
6. a joyful disturbance
7. vesper flights
8. neighbourhood
9. beautiful ugly

This quite brilliant new musical wonderment opens on the veritably glistening, gentle psych Prog of obsidian whispers and the shadowy dirty windows and then comes the almost ethereal, Celtic-imbibed success in failure and the translucently-hued gothic balladeer.

Along next is the free flowing swirls and twirls within older and the Eastern-tinged, wholly impassioned joyful disturbance and they are in turn followed by the atmospheric vesper flights, the album rounding out on the delicate gossamer of neighbourhood, closing on the jubilant hipsway of the title track beautiful ugly.

Captain of the Lost Waves - Success In Failure | Official Music Video

www.captainofthelostwaves.com

Captain of the Lost Waves @ Facebook

Although the release of their newest album Horizons was delayed, (brought to a screeching halt at several points by all the rigamarole of covid shutdowns), it is no less potent and carries no less, the complexion and almost defiant, spirit of hope for the times and for their audience.

“We realized at some point through all the years of us doing this crazy thing called music, that the lyrics in our songs turned out to be about the very things we were dealing with ourselves,” Renee Bliss explains.

“For instance Fight For Peace, from our first record, was one of them. And so many of the songs from Horizons have been that as well.”

1. Your Numbers Up (5:03)
2. Do or Die (5:04)
3. Searching For (4:55)
4. Drive (4:36)
5. Talking Through Fences (4:25)
6. What’s Going On (4:43)
7. Crimson Love (5:21)

This quite stunning new musical recording opens on the propulsively grooved Your Numbers Up and the R&B-pop of Do or Die and then comes the joyfully ambient Searching For.

Along next is the sunshine-hued affair Drive and the funky R&B of Talking Through Fences, the album rounding out on their free flowing rendition of Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On, closing on the delightfully euphonious Crimson Love.

Whether it’s in a club, on a festival stage, at a church or even in a prison, their songs and messages have always been aimed at entertaining, inspiring, encouraging and bringing restoration to all who will listen. 2023 represents the continuance of stories, messages, and art, as well as, the beginning of new HORIZONS for Bliss Bliss.

Musicians:
Lead Vocals: Renee Bliss
Guitars: Mark Lee Townsend, Kurt Stowe, Scott Bernard, Lang Bliss
Keys: Eric Bikles , Caleb Dinger
Drums: Lang Bliss
Sax: Mark Douthit
Violins and Violas: David Davidson
Cello: Paul Nelson
Programming: Lang Bliss

Additional Musicians:
Background Vocalists: Tabitha Fair, Kim Keyes, Soren Wohlers, Irene Kelly, Renee Bliss, Lang Bliss, and Kurt Stowe
Strings Arranged by David Davidson

Official Purchase Link

www.blissbliss.com

Bliss Bliss @ Facebook

Bliss Bliss @ YouTube

Pianist and keyboardist Dan Siegel has covered a broad swath of the jazz spectrum over the course of his four-and-a-half decade career, from straightahead swing to sleek contemporary sounds.

While that’s a testament to Siegel’s multi-faceted talents and restless curiosity, it’s also the result of the diverse array of collaborators that have joined him along the journey – a staggering roster that includes Bela Fleck, Steve Gadd, Larry Carlton, Ernie Watts, Ottmar Liebert, Lee Ritenour, Brian Bromberg, Eric Marienthal, Bob Sheppard, Boney James, Alex Acuña and others.

Siegel’s twenty-third release, Unity, is the latest and one of the finest examples of that alchemical process. Due out August 9th, 2024, Unity reunites the keyboardist with drummer Oscar Seaton for the first time in 20 years, since the recording of the 2004 album Inside Out.

It also marks his first meeting with bassist David “DJ” Ginyard, Seaton’s rhythm section partner in Terence Blanchard’s electrically charged E-Collective band. From the time the trio entered the studio together, Siegel’s vision of the music he’d written for the session irrevocably changed, a display of the titular unity.

“Recording is like magic sometimes,” Siegel says. “The music appears from nothing, which can be really gratifying. The best guarantee you can have is to hire good people. When I got together with Oscar and DJ, the feel and the overall direction changed pretty drastically from how I envisioned it.”

1. Best Foot Forward
2. Defining Moment
3. Line of Sight
4. Streetwise
5. Free Spirit
6. Before I Go
7. Roadside Attraction
8. Simple Things
9. Unity

Unity, like each of Siegel’s wide-ranging albums, is a reflection of the time and circumstances in which it was created and opens on the flourishing Best Foot Forward and the languishing Defining Moment and then we get the late night, low slung vibe of Line of Sight and the smooth Streetwise.

Along next is the ornately sculpted Free Spirit and the all-embracing ambiance of Before I Go, the album rounding out on the playful Roadside Attraction, the luxurious Simple Things, closing on the sheer sweeping elegance of the titular Unity.

Official Spotify Purchase Link

www.dansiegelmusic.com

Dan Siegel @ Facebook

That’s right, boys and girls, ladies and gentlemen! Your alternative jazz soundtrack for the election season is here now! For this is the much anticipated premier release of Vince Guaraldi’s soundtrack for You’re Not Elected, Charlie Brown (1972), on Digital, CD & LP on September 6th, 2024.

Newly re-discovered in their vaults, the original recording sessions for Vince Guaraldi’s beloved soundtrack for the 1972 classic You’re Not Elected, Charlie Brown have been remastered for audiophiles and Peanuts® fans and election lovers everywhere.

All versions of this release include the original 15 tracks of cues from the special - with extended performances available for the first time ever - plus 10 extra bonus tracks never before heard since their recording in 1972.

Guaraldi brought Dixieland jazz, his classic favorites, and even his voice (for the first time in Peanuts®) to the soundtrack that provides the score for Linus’s campaign for student body president.

Some highlights include: the complete (over five minutes) Joe Cool, where Guaraldi sings about one of Snoopy’s most famous alter egos; multiple versions of Incumbent Waltz written for the special; probably his saddest tune Deserted Charlie Brown; classic Linus and Lucy updated for the ’70s; and several of the eponymous You’re Not Elected, Charlie Brown tunes.

There are also some bonus tracks for Joe Cool, alternate takes of songs like Blue Charlie Brown and a bonus of African Sleigh Ride.

1. Incumbent Waltz
2. You’re Not Elected, Charlie Brown
3. Oh, Good Grief!
4. Cookin’ Snoopy (Fast Piano Jazz)
5. Blue Charlie Brown
6. Incumbent Waltz (Reprise)
7. Linus and Lucy / Poor Charlie Brown
8. Joe Cool (Vocal)
9. Incumbent Waltz (2nd Reprise)
10. Elect Linus (Dilemma) / Woodstock’s Wake Up
11. Joe Cool (Unused Reprise)
12. Oh, Good Grief! (Reprise)
13. Deserted Charlie Brown
14. You’re Not Elected, Charlie Brown (Reprise)
15. Linus and Lucy (Reprise)
16. You’re Not Elected, Charlie Brown (2nd Reprise - End Credits)
17. Joe Cool (Alternate Take 1)
18. Joe Cool (Alternate Rehearsal Take)
19. Blue Charlie Brown (Alternate Take 1)
20. African Sleigh Ride
21. Cookin’ Snoopy (Fast Piano Jazz - Alternate Take 1, 2 & 3)
22. Incumbent Waltz (2nd Reprise Alternate Take 1)
23. Incumbent Waltz (2nd Reprise Alternate Take 3)
24. Incumbent Waltz (Unused Cue)
25. Linus and Lucy (Acoustic Piano Mix)

This classic Peanuts® recording opens on the luxuriantly perky, short but sweet Incumbent Waltz, the quick, veritably chanted ode You’re Not Elected, Charlie Brown, the opulent piano piece Oh, Good Grief! and then we get given the aptly-titled ditty Cookin’ Snoopy (Fast Piano Jazz), the finger-snapper Blue Charlie Brown, and a dulcet reprise of Incumbent Waltz.

Along next is the jauntily fun Linus and Lucy / Poor Charlie Brown and the Randy Newman-esque Joe Cool (Vocal) and they are in turn backed by the second reprise of Incumbent Waltz, the free flowing Elect Linus (Dilemma) / Woodstock’s Wake Up and both the smooth Joe Cool (Unused Reprise) and a delightful reprise of Oh, Good Grief!

Next up is the spirited piano work that drives the blues-jazz cut Deserted Charlie Brown, a lush reprise of You’re Not Elected, Charlie Brown and a gently frenetic reprise of Linus and Lucy (Reprise), before we are greeted with the New Orleans-imbibed second reprise of You’re Not Elected, Charlie Brown (End Credits), and two alternate takes of Joe Cool, and one more of Blue Charlie Brown.

The recording then rounds out with the lovely to finally hear properly African Sleigh Ride and a fast piano jazz, alternate three takes of Cookin’ Snoopy, coming to a close on a trio of different takes and outtakes of Incumbent Waltz, and finally a rather delightful acoustic piano mix of Linus and Lucy.

In addition to the composer’s piano playing, guitar and vocals, the maestro’s cabinet (band) is comprised of legends who lent their talents for this wonderful campaign. The music will get you in a great mood for any election.

The album was remixed at Bones and Knives by Terry Carleton, and restored and mastered by Vinson Hudson, and produced by Sean Mendelson and Jason Mendelson.

The album will be available on CD, Vinyl, and digital. The CD has an 8 page insert and the vinyl has a 4 page insert. Both the CD and Vinyl include art from the special and liner notes that give a track-by-track analysis by Derrick Bang (author of Vince Guaraldi at the Piano) and notes by Sean and Jason Mendelson, sons of Peanuts® producer Lee Mendelson and album producers.

Official Purchase Link

Juno Award-winning and multiple horn player Gabriel Mark Hasselbach has a long-established gratitude practice.

Having just released his second album since this past June, he’s feeling grateful about this prolific summer that will see the release of this fifteenth album, “Count Your Lucky Stars,” which he wrote and produced with Lew Laing Jr. (Paul Brown, Richard Elliot, Norman Brown) and comes out via Windtunnel Records release this August 2nd, 2024.

“Count Your Lucky Stars” is a 13-song aural exploration through contemporary jazz rhythms, grooves and melodies. Showcasing his lyrically expressive horn play, Hasselbach wields multiple horns on every track throughout the project, finding the variety empowers him to uniquely color, shade and texturize each song.

“I mix my flute and my muted trumpet and my flugelhorn in a lot of different combinations. And I really like the balance of those textures. It provides different sonic colors to me, so it’s something that I’ve gravitated to and just by nature have developed,” Hasselbach recently told the Jazziz podcast.

1. “Sunseeker” (featuring Marion Meadows)
2. “Count Your Lucky Stars”
3. “Positive Space”
4. “We Are” (featuring Alfie Zappacosta)
5. “Force of Habit” (featuring Miles Black and Andrew Freeman)
6. “Funky Lew” (featuring Lew Laing Jr.)
7. “Written in the Stars” (featuring Eddie Bullen)
8. “Show of Hands” (featuring Glenn Riley)
9. “Paris Solstice” (featuring Miles Black)
10. “Just A Little Fling”
11. “State of Play” (featuring Andrew Jacob Scott)
12. “That Being Said” (featuring Steve Alaniz and Andre Frappier)
13. “Work the Magic”
14. “We Are” (featuring Alfie Zappacosta) [Radio Edit]

This wondrously enigmatic new recording opens on the sumptuous sewn “Sunseeker” (featuring saxophonist Marion Meadows) and the foot-tapping title track “Count Your Lucky Stars” and then we are brought forth the elegant “Positive Space,” the playfully flirtatious “We Are” (featuring Italian-born, Canadian musician Alfie Zappacosta), the soulfully luxurious “Force of Habit” (featuring jazz pianist Miles Black and rock singer and guitarist Andrew Freeman) and both the aptly-named “Funky Lew” (featuring keyboardist Lew Laing Jr.) and the languishing “Written in the Stars” (featuring pianist Eddie Bullen).

Along next is the smoothly grooved “Show of Hands” (featuring bassist Glenn Riley) and the delicately-hued “Paris Solstice” (featuring Black) and they are in turn seamlessly followed by the gentle finger-snapper “Just A Little Fling,” the warmth of “State of Play” (featuring Canadian jazz guitarist Andrew Jacob Scott), the beautifully sculpted “That Being Said” (featuring saxophonist Steve Alaniz and accomplished guitarist Andre Frappier), the album rounding out on the all-embracing “Work the Magic,” closing on a radio edit of “We Are.”

Listen to “Sunseeker” here!

www.gabrieljazz.com

For those unaware, rarely in the long history of British rock’n’roll has there been a story of such depth, magnitude and sheer turbulence as that of the Cockney Rejects.

The band were formed in the late Seventies in East London as an answer to the art school punk that had dominated the scene up until then.

Fiercely working class in stance and attitude, the band eschewed the political ramblings of punk’s first wave and sang about the circumstances that surrounded them and millions of street kids in Britain’s inner cities- Police harassment, street battles and football to name three.

Signed by EMI after playing four local gigs (less than the pistols!) they found themselves playing sell out tours the length and breadth of the UK and seeing their debut album storm the charts.

Top of the pops appearances followed, which became the stuff of legend as the band generally ran amok in the hallowed White city studios, finally getting banned from the show for their boisterous behavior.

In 1980 the band recorded a riotous version of ‘I’m forever blowing bubbles’ to celebrate the fact that their beloved West Ham United had reached the FA cup final that year, but their devotion to all things claret and blue proved to be their downfall as the gigs became battlegrounds between the band and rival supporters, culminating in the vicious ‘Battle of Birmingham’ that led to serious criminal charges that in turn led to the band being finished as a touring unit.

With the band’s first phase being over, in the interim they were discovered by a brand new fanbase such as US bands Rancid and Green Day, who cherished the Rejects and their terrace punk singalong anthems which, in turn, inspired a new generation of kids to check them out.

Due to overwhelming demand, the band returned to the live circuit in 2000, and have since gone from strength to strength, playing to hundreds of thousands of people across the globe with a live set that is so energetic that it has to be seen to be believed.

With the fractionalization of the late ‘70’s and early ‘80’s now gone for good, with every gig becoming a party for fans and band alike, the Cockney Rejects go from strength to strength.

There has never been a better time to check out the band that inspired a generation with their timeless brand of terrace sing along classics and white hot live set.

Especially now that Cherry Red Records (UK) have just released Cockney Rejects: Greatest Hits Vol.1 + Vol.2, a 38 track 2CD digipack featuring the most commercially successful releases by famed London Street Punk Oi! band, the Cockney Rejects.

Disc One
1. I’m Not A Fool
2. Headbanger
3. Bad Man
4. Fighting In The Street
5. Shitter
6. Here They Come Again
7. Join The Rejects
8. East End
9. The New Song
10. Police Car
11. Someone Like You
12. (They’re Gonna) Put Me Away
13. Are You Ready To Ruck
14. Where The Hell Is Babylon?
15. Flares `N’ Slippers [Bonus Tracks]
16. Police Car (Single Version) [Bonus Tracks]
17. I Wanna Be A Star [Bonus Tracks]

The first disc is the ‘Greatest Hits Vol.1’ debut LP which hit No. 22 in the National Charts and includes the No.65 charting singles ‘I’m Not A Fool’ and ‘Bad Man’ plus the No.21 smash ‘The Greatest Cockney Rip Off’.

This disc opens on the great riff and superb guitar sound that drives I’m Not A Fool and the bass and drum-led Headbanger and then the propellant, top notch punk continues onward on tracks such as Bad Man, Shitter, the anthemic Join The Rejects, the angry Police Car (Freedom? Ain’t no F**KING freedom!), the first CD now coming complete with a trio of bonus tracks, the stand out for me being the rambunctiously melodic chanter Flares `N’ Slippers.

Disc Two:
1. War On The Terraces (For The Firm)
2. In The Underworld
3. Oi Oi Oi
4. Hate Of The City
5. With The Boys (On Tour)
6. Urban Guerilla
7. The Rocker
8. The Greatest Cockney Rip-Off
9. Sitting In A Cell (With You)
10. On The Waterfront
11. We Can Do Anything
12. It’s Alright
13. Subculture
14. Blockbuster
15. Hate Of The City (Single Version) [Bonus Tracks]
16. I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles [Bonus Tracks]
17. West Side Boys [Bonus Tracks]
18. 15 Nights [Bonus Tracks]
19. We Are The Firm [Bonus Tracks]
20. Here We Go Again [Bonus Tracks]
21. Generation Of Scars (as Terrible Twins) [Bonus Tracks]

The second disc is follow up album naturally called ‘Greatest Hits Vol.2’ which reached NO.23 in the UK charts and features hits like ‘I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles’ (No.35), ‘We Can Do Anything’ (No.65) and ‘We Are The Firm’ (No. 54).

This disc opens on the barn storming trio of the AFC East Stand N5 fire storm of War On The Terraces (For The Firm), the perfect punker In The Underworld and the banging tune Oi Oi Oi, and then continues onward with tracks such as the melodic punk rock of The Rocker, the working class punk that drives the brilliant The Greatest Cockney Rip-Off (check out their performance of this on TOTP via YouTube), a totally buzzing cover of the Sweet classic Blockbuster, and amongst the bonus tracks we find the anthemic West Ham United chant I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles and the these-colors-never-run cut We Are The Firm.

Lyrics to all the songs plus liner notes and repros of all relevant picture sleeves are featured in the packed CD booklet.

Cockney Rejects - Greatest Hits Vol One/Vol Two 2CD [Official Trailer]

Official Purchase Link

www.cockneyrejects.com

Dr. Hong is a passionate performer, scholar, bandleader, composer, arranger, and educator for creating music that touches the soul.

He has artfully honed his craft and has become an accomplished musician that has performed in various venues around the world.

He has had the privilege of studying under the tutelage of esteemed world class artists such as Bill Charlap, Jeff Campbell, Harold Mabern, Bill Dobbins, Mike LeDonne, Steve LaSpina, Christine Jensen, amongst others, absorbing invaluable wisdom that has enriched his musical identity.

His artistic versatility shines as he collaborates with some of the most talented musicians in the industry in diverse genres, blending influences to create an unparalleled and distinct sound that captivates listeners. His music is a reflection of his passion for jazz and his love for creating unique sound.

As a seasoned performer, he has a driving force in both upright and electric bass performance as well as composition, gracing a myriad of musical landscapes with his dynamic artistry for years.

His album, Lost at Sea, represents his artistic philosophy and musicality, conveying his perception and nuanced attempts in musical landscapes. He had incredible opportunities to share stages with Bill Charlap, Cecil McLorin Salvant, Trio da Paz, Joe Lovano, John Pizzarelli, Nancy Marano, and many more. His talent extends beyond his instrumental prowess; as a notable bassist, composer, and arranger, he has contributed his creative brilliance to several recordings.

Not content with simply crafting masterful music, he is also a dedicated educator. He imparts his infectious enthusiasm and boundless passion to his students, drawing from his extensive musical experience to inspire and uplift the next generation of musicians.

1. Interstellar (7:27)
2. Lost at Sea (10:36)
3. Seventeen (8:02)
4. The Boat Song (7:54)
5. Rhythm’s Chair (5:46)
6. Longing For In The Moonlight (7:06)
7. Halla (6:20)
8. Z-Related (5:32)

This thoughtful and thoroughly engaging new recording opens on the spirited Interstellar and that is backed by a languishing, aching beauty found within the titular Lost at Sea, the soulful yearn of Seventeen and then we get the plaintively playful The Boat Song.

Along next is the low slung, late night melodies of Rhythm’s Chair and that is in turn followed by the impassioned Longing For In The Moonlight, the album rounding out on the upbeat and quietly flirtatious Halla, closing on the exuberant Z-Related.

Official Spotify Purchase Link

www.syhongbass.com

Nashville singer-songwriter and poet Kevin Gordon has announced his new album The In Between (Crowville Media) will be released on September 13th, 2024.

Produced by Joe V. McMahan (Justin Townes Earle), it’s his first full-length album since 2018’s Tilt & Shine and his songs have been recorded by Keith Richards, Levon Helm, Hard Working Americans, Irma Thomas, and others.

With the announcement, Gordon has shared the lead single and album opener “Simple Things,” which was mixed by five-time Grammy Award winner Tchad Blake (Bonnie Raitt, Elvis Costello, Los Lobos, Al Green, The Pretenders, Tom Waits).

The track was written about the energy of live performance, but while recording it, Gordon was diagnosed with throat cancer between two recording sessions.

The sessions had to go on indefinite pause while Gordon underwent radiation and chemotherapy.It took the better part of a year for doctors to certify Kevin as cancer-free. The return to vocals felt that much sweeter for Gordon and it shows here on this brilliant new album.

1. Simple Things
2. Keeping My Brother Down
3. The In Between
4. Love Right
5. Tammy Cecile
6. Coming Up
7. Destiny
8. Marion
9. Catch a Ride
10. You Can’t Hurt Me No More

The Louisiana native opens his new recording on the rambunctiously melodic Simple Things and that is backed by the low slung blues rocker Keeping My Brother Down, an aching, lonesome yearn that drives the titular The In Between is then brought forth, and then we get both the rhythmically frenetic Love Right and the countrified twang of the mid-tempo ballad Tammy Cecile.

Along next is the foot stomper Coming Up and the enthusiastically-sculpted guitar rock of Destiny and they are in turn followed by the languishing ballad Marion, the album rounding out on the free-wheeling rocker Catch a Ride, coming to an all-too-soon close on the leisurely You Can’t Hurt Me No More.

“Simple Things” [Official Music Video]

Official Purchase Link

Official Website

Kevin Gordon @ Facebook

Return Of Halloween Nuggets is the ultimate Halloween-themed novelty rock ’n’ roll soundtrack, featuring vintage sides from the 1960s on one spooktacularly ghoulish CD!

Looking for a somewhat-camp-but-always-fun novelty rock ’n’ roll soundtrack for your next Halloween party? Look no further: Return of Halloween Nuggets, the latest collection of crate- (and grave-) digging favorites, collects 18 graveyard smashes (plus two spooky film trailers, one featuring Vincent Price) all in the one place!

For fans of deep 1960s vintage Halloween themed tunes: witches, haunted houses, werewolves, graveyards, monsters, devils, space aliens, and zombies set the stage for a camp and entertaining holiday bash.

It features the super-rare 1962 Bettye LaVette track, Witchcraft in the Air, and the trailer to the 1959 Vincent Price spooktacular, House on Haunted Hill. Also available on orange/black splatter colored vinyl.

1. The Shandells - Gorilla
2. Billy Duke and the Dukes - Roland
3. The Circus - Burn, Witch, Burn
4. Teddy Durant - The Night Stalker
5. Cris Kevin - Haunted House
6. The Devotions - Devil’s Gotten Into My Baby
7. The Spellbinders - Castin’ My Spell
8. Sonny Day & The Tony Ray Combo - Creature From Outer Space
9. Vic Plati Qunitet - The Chiller
10. Movie Trailer - The House On Haunted Hill
11. Carl Bonafede & The Gem-Tones - Were Wolf
12. Ralph Nielsen & The Chancellors - Scream
13. Frankie Stein and His Ghouls - Knives and Lovers
14. Bettye Lavette - Witchcraft In The Air
15. Glenda and Glen - VooDoo Doll
16. The Upperclassmen - Cha Cha With the Zombies
17. Terry Teen - The Hearse
18. Boots Walker - They’re Here
19. Dave Gardner - Mad Witch
20. Film Trailer - Robot Monster

This spooktacularly ghoulish rock ’n’ roll soundtrack recording, opens on the uber catchyf Wisconsin garage rock group The Shandells’ Gorilla, the rambunctious Billy Duke and the Dukes’ vampire character Roland and the finger-snapping foot-tapper in The Circus’ 1967 hit Burn, Witch, Burn and then we get Teddy Durant voiceover for The Night Stalker, the countrified Haunted House (Cris Kevin, who himself was a DJ on WARL (Arlington VA) and WCMS (Norfolk VA)), the female-driven power behind Devil’s Gotten Into My Baby (doo-wop group The Devotions), before the slower, but funkier than the original The Spellbinders’ Castin’ My Spell (which was first released by The Johnson Brothers in 1959), the atmospherically-charged Sonny Day & The Tony Ray Combo’s Creature From Outer Space, and both the fun of the 1965 Vic Plati Qunitet hit The Chiller (A tisket, a tasket. There’s crumbs in my casket) and the always-incredible-to-hear Vincent Price voiceover for the 1959 horror film trailer of The House On Haunted Hill.

Up next is the Rockabilly of Carl Bonafede & The Gem-Tones’ Were Wolf, the surf rock of Metuchen, New Jersey act Ralph Nielsen & The Chancellors’ excellent Scream, and the jangly instrumental rock of Frankie Stein and His Ghouls’ Knives and Lovers, and they are in turn backed by the Motown-imbibed Witchcraft In The Air (soul singer Bettye Lavette), the low slung doo-wop finger-snapper VooDoo Doll (Glenda and Glen) and the 1959 dancefloor hit Cha Cha With the Zombies (The Upperclassmen), the music rounding out on Terry Teen’s horror rocker The Hearse, the awesomely creepy Boots Walker oddball Sci-fi based novelty single They’re Here, the horror punk vibe of Dave Gardner’s Mad Witch, coming to a close on the film trailer for the 1953 independently made American black-and-white gem Robot Monster.

Official Amazon CD Purchase Link

There are some musicians who earn the label “a players player”. Individuals who possess a quality and integrity that peers look up to, not for mere bursts of blazing notes or chops, but for the perfection of their performances and the joy they bring. Such a musician is West coast based Jazz journeyman guitarist Doug MacDonald.

“I’ve simply never lost my love affair for warm notes, a good standard and striving for the best performance”, states the guitarist. In that regard, MacDonald’s musicianship evokes thoughts of such artists as Chet Baker and Sinatra, to name a few, who performed and excelled in a particular style their entire careers while keeping it fresh for their audiences time after time.

Originally from Philadelphia, he began his career in Hawaii, where he played with Trummy Young and Gabe Balthazar, and with Del Courtney at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. Relocating to Las Vegas, Doug found himself immersed in a vibrant music scene, and began playing in lounges and showrooms with jazz greats, including Joe Williams, Carl Fontana, Jack Montrose, and Carson Smith.

On to Los Angeles, Doug played in the bands of Bill Holman, Ray Anthony, and John Clayton, and performed and recorded with Jake Hanna, Rosemary Clooney, Jack Sheldon, Bob Cooper, Ross Tompkins, Ray Brown, Buddy Rich, and Ray Charles. Doug also began recording and performing with his own trio and quartet, as well as his 13 piece ensemble, The Jazz Coalition.

And now Doug MacDonald and the Coachella Valley Trío have just released their brand new 10-track recording Live at The Rancho Mirage Library, and as the guitarist states, “Earlier on as a Jazz musician you pay your dues and work hard every minute. I’m fortunate, at this stage of my career, that I am working often and still loving it.”

1. It’s A Blue World
2. Lady Bird
3. Chitlins Con Carne
4. If You Could See Me Now
5. Spanish Eyes
6. Triste
7. Our Miss Brooks
8. Dearly Beloved
9. Fascinating Rhythm
10. A Little Tutu

The West Coast based Jazz journeyman opens his new recording on the, at first languishing, latterly vibrantly upbeat It’s A Blue World and the playful Lady Bird and then we get the funky Chitlins Con Carne, the elegant If You Could See Me Now, and then along comes the congenial finger-snapper, toe-tapping beauty Spanish Eyes.

Along next is the melodically jaunty fare of Triste and the dashingly organic Our Miss Brooks and they are in turn backed seamlessly by the fervently sculpted Dearly Beloved, the music rounding out on the flavorful Fascinating Rhythm, closing on the joyful, short, but sweet, band intro’d A Little Tutu.

Musicians:
Doug MacDonald guitar, Larry Holloway bass, Tim Pleasant drums, and special guest Big Black djembe.

Official Amazon Digital Purchase Link

Official Website

Doug MacDonald @ Facebook

Doug MacDonald @ Twitter

The Haas Company is a collection of recordings of fusion rock and jazz music recorded in a total of 5 cities. The stellar musicians featured are such luminaries as Andy Timmons, Jerry Goodman (Mahvishinu Orchestra), Sean Lennon, Frank Gambale (Chick Corea’s Electrik Band), Al McDowell (Whitney Houston), John Pattitucci (Chick Corea), Guy Pratt (Pink Floyd), Kirwan Brown, Jay Rodriguez and many more.

This project is thoroughly packed with versatility and amazing songs and musicianship. Archived are a collection of 4 albums each album features a musician.

Albums include Galactic Tide featuring Andy Timmmons, the just-released Celestial Latitude featuring Frank Gambale, Song for Mimi featuring Samuel Hallkvist and Thirteen featuring Jerry Goodman as well as a ton of single song releases.

1. Meekat Rock
2. Celestial Latitude
3. Bug Fights
4. Ariel
5. Drawn and Quartered
6. For Allen
7. Ultra Flamingo
8. Memories of the Future
9. Liquid Crystal

This wondrously enigmatic new recording opens on the joyfully soaring Meekat Rock and the ambiently sculpted, titular Celestial Latitude, the all-encompassing Bug Fights is along next, and then we get brought forth the free-flowing Ariel.

Up next is the guitar-fed funk that drives Drawn and Quartered and the impassioned For Allen and they are in turn backed seamlessly by the cultured, Latin-tinged Ultra Flamingo, the music rounding out on the veritably glistening Memories of the Future, closing on the lushly stylized Liquid Crystal.

Musicians:
Steve Haas - drums, Pete Drungle - keyboards and music direction, Frank Gambale – guitar, Al MacDowell - Bass 1 & 4, piccolo bass tracks 3 & 5, Percy Jones - Bass track 2, Kirwan Brown - Bass 6,7 8 & 9, Pete Gallio - Saxophone 1, 2 & 4, Jay Rodriguez - woodwinds track 3, saxophone track 5, Samuel Hällkvist - rhythm guitar tracks 6,7,8 & 9.

www.thehaascompany.com

For those unaware, singer-songwriter Tron Austin is poised to be one of the boldest new voices in rock with the release of Better Days, his new EP set for release on July 19th, 2024.

The seven tracks on Better Days offer listeners a striking talent on the rise: anthemic, poignant rock tracks anchored by hard-driving guitar grit, pulse-pounding rhythms and captivating vocal melodies and harmonies.

The EP places Tron as a crucial voice that taps into and transcends a style instantly familiar to anyone raised on rock heroes of the ‘90s and ‘00s.

“As a child I grew up in a musical family, listening to damn near every genre of music, and I gravitated toward elements of each of them,” Tron said of Better Days’ mix of sonic styles. “Rock specifically played a heavy influence on my life, with the likes of System of a Down, Nirvana, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Alice in Chains and Linkin Park.”

1. Lean on Me
2. Lost Without You
3. Face the Lies
4. Take Yourself Away
5. Silhouette
6. So Cruel
7. Eternal Mysteries

The new EP opens on the reverberating rocker Lean on Me and then brings us the veritably shimmering, low slung Lost Without You, the all-embracing Face the Lies and the impassioned Take Yourself Away.

Along next is the ethereally-imbibed Silhouette which is itself backed seamlessly by the rock balladry gossamer of So Cruel and the fluctuating Eternal Mysteries.

With a diverse musical upbringing in his native Stone Mountain, Georgia, Tron was exposed to a variety of genres and styles through his parents, singer Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas of TLC and producer Dallas Austin. Better Days is the culmination of Tron’s lifelong affection for melodic music with an edge, as well as his gift for deeply personal songwriting that is quick to connect with audiences.

Co-written and engineered with collaborator Marshall Helgesen, the songs on Better Days are snapshots into Tron’s creative and emotional worlds: introspective and occasionally mysterious, but always accessible and authentic.

Official Apple Purchase Link

Tron Austin @ youtube

Tron Austin @ Instagram

Pianist Jean-Paul Gasparian celebrates his Armenian heritage in his second solo album on Naïve Classiques with a program of works by Komitas, Arno Babadjanian, Aram Khachaturian, and two pieces by his father Gérard Gasparian based on Sayat-Nova’s songs.

Dedicated to the music of Armenian composers Komitas, Arno Babadjanian, Aram Khachaturian, and the pianist’s father, Gérard Gasparian, Origins will be released August 31st, 2024.

“After starting my adventure with naïve with an album dedicated to French music [Debussy Preludes of Book 1 and Éstampes, 2023], the moment seemed appropriate to devote myself to the treasures – still widely ignored – of Armenian piano music, which is all the more precious to my heart as it echoes my own family origins,” writes Jean-Paul Gasparian.

Arno Babadjanian (1921-1983)
1 Prelude
2 Vagharshapat Dance
3 Impromptu
4 Capriccio
5-7 Polyphonic Sonata [I. Prelude - II. Fugue - III. Toccata]
8 Elegy
(Dedicated to the memory of Aram Khachaturian, based on “Qani Vur Jan Im/As Long as I Live” by Sayat-Nova)

Gérard Gasparian (b. 1960)
9 Ballade on a song of Sayat-Nova
10 Poème on a song of Sayat-Nova (world premiere recording)

Aram Khachaturian (1903-1978)
11 Toccata, Op. 11
12 Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia (No. 34 from “Spartacus”)

Komitas (1869-1935)
13-16 4 Dances for piano [No. 1. Yerangi; No. 2. Unabi; No. 3. Marali; No. 4. Shushiki]

This wondrously enigmatic new recording opens on a work from Arno Babadjanian, the lead being the enigmatically charming Prelude and the sterner, flightier affair of Vagharshapat Dance and they are followed by the sheer elegance of Impromptu, the free flowing Capriccio, the sprightly, the delicate, then quietly frenetic fare of Polyphonic Sonata [I. Prelude - II. Fugue - III. Toccata], the work rounding out on the grandiose Elegy.

Along next are two pieces by his father Gérard Gasparian, the opener a lushly elegant Ballade and a sweeping world premiere is then brought forth of the ornate Poème, and they are then backed by works from Aram Khachaturian, the first being the pronounced Toccata, Op. 11 and the dedicated, all-embracing Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia (No. 34 from “Spartacus”).

This new recording then rounds out on pieces from Komitas, opening on the veritably twinkling, then the astutely sculpted, then the excellently crafted, and finally the flourishing fare of 4 Dances for piano [No. 1. Yerangi; No. 2. Unabi; No. 3. Marali; No. 4. Shushiki].

The Origins program is interconnected by the music of renowned 18th century Armenian poet and ashugh Sayat-Nova, and the rich tradition of folk songs, melodies, rhythms, and dances of the Armenian people. Three of these works directly cite popular songs by Sayat-Nova, which the bard performed on his bowed string instrument, the kamancheh.

The Ballade and Poème by Gérard Gasparian, placed at the center of this recital, are based on songs “Yis Qo Ghimetn Chim Gidi” (“I Don’t Know Your Value”) and Yis Kanchum Im Lalanin (“I Am Calling Out for the Beloved”); and Arno Babadjanian’s Elegy is based on “Qani Vur Jan Im” (“As Long as I Live”), and is dedicated to the memory of another of the program’s contributors: Aram Khachaturian.

Jean-Paul Gasparian is Artist in Residence at the Fondation Singer-Polignac and a scholarship holder from the Académie Musicale de Villecroze, and is supported by the Safran and Adami foundations for music. Since the summer of 2017 he has also been a Steinway Artist.

www.jeanpaulgasparian.com

For those not in the know, Hank Wedel was born in Dayton, Ohio, USA, in 1963. Raised in New York City and Mallow County in Cork, Ireland, he is now based in Cork.

This songwriter/vocalist/guitarist/ recording artist/bandleader has performed thousands of gigs from The North Pole to Lanzarote, from Oklahoma to Azerbaijan, solo or with bands.

His regular shows have been with his bands–Princes Street, Open Kitchen, Small Town Talk, and a 25 year Monday night residency at “Charlies,” in Cork City with mandolin maestro Ray Barron. Hank has performed onstage with Shane McGowan, Mary Black, Christy Moore, Kila, Philomena Begley and Bono.

1. Poe Park 2AM (3:25)
2. Lonely Tree (2:48)
3. Sleep Out On The Beach (2:48)
4. Word of Mouth (3:29)
5. The Time We Share (2:57)
6. Alright! Dynamite! Spiro! (2:17)
7. I Know I Know You Say (3:24)
8. One Too Many Goodbyes (3:02)
9. Ain’t Nothin’ Wrong With Me (2:13)
10. (We Are) The Rakes of Mallow (3:04)

This wondrously enigmatic new recording opens on the melodically jaunty Poe Park 2AM and the smoothly sculpted Lonely Tree and then brings us the impassioned Sleep Out On The Beach, the low slung rocker Word of Mouth and then we get brought forth the troubadour-eseque vibe of The Time We Share.

Up next is the drum-led rocker Alright! Dynamite! Spiro! and the free wheeling I Know I Know You Say and they are backed seamlessly by the acoustically-driven twang of One Too Many Goodbyes, the languishing ballad Ain’t Nothin’ Wrong With Me, the album closing on the vibrantly-hued, complete with rock guitar solo, sing-along (We Are) The Rakes of Mallow.

Official Purchase Link

For those not in the know, Dark Heart were formed during the early eighties, releasing the debut album Shadows of the Night on the Roadrunner label in 1984.

After a number of successful live shows, the fast approaching end of NWOBHM era meant the band decided to go their separate ways, never quite fulfilling their potential or producing a follow up second album.

Over the years the band has developed a cult following, gaining many new fans to their music. Founding member of the Band Alan Clark went on to form Change of Heart moving from guitar to Vocals and as the main song writer, the band have very much established themselves as one of the best British AOR/Rock bands, with 4 albums released to date.

Fast forward to 2024 and Dark Heart are BACK with their brand new album Out Of The Shadows, set for release on July 21, 2024, under Battlegod Productions.

After a number of years being asked to make a new album, Alan finally decided to commence work on new material. The style, although still routed in classic metal/Hard Rock has very much moved away from NWOBHM, to not only bring the sound up to date, but also reflect the maturity in their song writing craft.

Alan as the only original member of the band, has been working with Nick Catterick (Guitar) for a number of years on various projects, the pair have developed an intuitive and special understanding when writing, and working together, so it was a natural and easy choice to bring Nick on board.

Nick who started playing guitar in his early teens has always been inspired by fiery and inventive players, drawing influences from the great players such as Moore, Sykes, Campbell, Norum with a touch of Lynch/Rhoads, and is set to be recognized for not only his playing ability, but also for one of the best guitar tones in the business.

The album has been produced and mixed by the talented Mr Pete Newdeck, (Edens Curse, Grim Reaper, Paul Dianno’s Killers, Midnite City and Vega) Pete also appears on drums and additional Bv’s as part of the top class Rhythm section, including the superb Josh Tabbie Williams (Midnite City, Life Of A Hero) on Bass, with executive production by Dark Heart/Pete Newdeck.

1. Darkest Eyes
2. Cast To Stone
3. Edge Of Dreams
4. Degrees Of Separation
5. Wings Of The Night
6. House Of Usurer
7. Break The Chains
8. Time To Fly
9. K.O.T.D.
10. Night Won’t Let Me Go
11. Shadows Of The Night

This wondrously enigmatic new metal recording opens on the propulsive Darkest Eyes and the sweeping AOR of Cast To Stone and then we get brought forth the pop-rocker Edge Of Dreams, the ’80s-hued rocker Degrees Of Separation and the enigmatic rock balladry of Wings Of The Night.

Up next is the heavier fare of House Of Usurer and the freewheeling Break The Chains and they are in turn backed by the euphoric Time To Fly, the melodically-charged K.O.T.D., the album rounding out on the thunderous Night Won’t Let Me Go, closing on the rhythmic rocker Shadows Of The Night.

Musicians:
Alan Clark - Vocals
Nick Catterick - Guitar
Geordie Clark - Drums
Daniel Millward - Bass

Official Spotify Purchase Link

Dark Heart @ Bandcamp

For those not in the know, singer-songwriter Tay Bronson, known for his traditional country sound coupled with wit, humor, and observations of the human experience, has announced his sophomore album, Bad Apple, will be released on Friday, August 16th, 2024.

It’s been four years since Drinks & Memories with Bronson, his 2020 debut solo country album. With Bad Apple, the country singer-songwriter, with his band “The Tackle Box”, takes a more lighthearted approach to his relatable and infectious songwriting.

“The thought here is, don’t take yourself too seriously,” shares Bronson who has been actively creating music since 1991. “There’s always going to be someone more clever, funnier or prettier.”

1. Bad Apple
2. Never Saw It Comin’
3. Kitchen Table
4. Hole in My Pocket
5. Might Just Think Again
6. Sometimes
7. Drunk Shopping
8. Thanks Thanksgiving
9. Trips Around the Sun
10. When I See You Again

This wondrously enigmatic new recording opens on the melodic title track Bad Apple and the gently rambunctious Never Saw It Comin’ and then we are brought forth the rhythmic hipsway of Kitchen Table, the swinging rock of Hole in My Pocket, and then comes the low slung balladry of my own personal favorite, Might Just Think Again.

Up next is the dutiful ballad Sometimes which is in turn backed seamlessly by the upbeat fun of Drunk Shopping, the charmingly impassioned Thanks Thanksgiving, the album rounding out on the meaningful Trips Around the Sun, closing on the warming foot-tapper When I See You Again.

Official Apple Purchase Link

Official Website

For those not in the know, maestro Dongfeng Liu is back and this time he brought a friend, mentor, and genius collaborator in Gonzalo Rubalcaba on their collaborative new album China Afro Cuba.

In his 2018 ZOHO release China Caribe, Liu explored the music of the China and the Caribbean, a remarkable opus that awakened many not only to a new sound but fresh way of thinking. There is an often-overlooked history of Chinese immigrants coming to the Americas, including Cuba, stretching back to the nineteenth century.

Liu’s musical initiatives are vintage and at the vanguard. China Afro Cuba is indeed music at the front line of composition and harmony, but also interchange and friendship.

There is an ancient Chinese saying, Lofty mountains and flowing water meet a kindred spirit -- and colorful clouds chasing the moon meet a bosom friend. It comes from a philosophical text written some 2,000 years ago.

Liu believes the symbolism of this line represents his musical friendship with Rubalcaba. Indeed, Rubalcaba is one the greatest artists of his generation.

What may seem like an unusual pairing - Cuban and Chinese musicians - is anything but. They flow together as kindred spirits. We are two pianists having an exploratory and innovative musical conversation. We’ve made a non-traditional interpretation of traditional music, says Liu.

1. Jasmine Flower
2. Kangding Love Song
3. The Moon Represents My Heart
4. Lofty Mountains and Flowing Water
5. The Butterfly Lovers/Over the Rainbow
6. Gloria’s Steps
7. Ode to the Yellow River
8. Colorful Clouds Chasing the Moon

This wondrously enigmatic new recording opens on the delicate gossamer, at first, grooved and free flowing latterly Chinese folk song (which originates from the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, 1736-1795), Jasmine Flower and cheerfulness abounding within Kangding Love Song and then we are brought forth the veritably shimmering The Moon Represents My Heart and the quietly sterner fare of the strident Lofty Mountains and Flowing Water.

Up next is the free flowing musical majesties found driving The Butterfly Lovers/Over the Rainbow which is in turn backed seamlessly by the playfully flirtatious Gloria’s Steps, the album rounding out on the dynamically sculpted Ode to the Yellow River, closing on the fervent elegance of Colorful Clouds Chasing the Moon.

Official Purchase Link

www.liudongfeng.com

For those not in the know, singer/songwriter/instrumentalist Steve Young (1942-2016) was a pioneer of “country rock” and of “outlaw country,” two movements that transformed mainstream country music and impacted other genres of American popular music.

Several generations of artists—country music’s new traditionalists during the 1980s, alternative country acts in the 1990s, as well as those associated with Americana music in the current century—broadened their audiences by merging country music with elements of other music genres.

All those musicians have been indebted to Young and such contemporaries as Gram Parsons and Gene Clark, who collectively demonstrated how to integrate country music with other music genres (rock, pop, folk, blues, R&B, bluegrass, and gospel).

Young, a Southerner, recorded more than a dozen distinctive albums, but none was more fully realized than his 1975 album Honky-Tonk Man. Recorded at the acclaimed Minneapolis studio Sound 80 and released by Mountain Railroad Records, a small independent label based in the Upper Midwest, Honky-Tonk Man documented the musical world of a complex if largely misunderstood artist during the peak of his powers.

Now, Honky-Tonk Man returns (also available in its original form on vinyl for the first time in three decades) as part of Stars In The Southern Sky — a 3-CD/Digital collection highlighting that monumental 1975 era.

Packaged in a slipcase, featuring a 40-page booklet with rare photos and new liner notes from Honky-Tonk Man Producer Stephen Powers and Ted Olson (who both oversaw the set.) The whopping 47-track set contains Honky-Tonk Man, “Stanley And Henry” (Young’s collaboration with Jim Post from Post’s 1978 I Love My Life album) and 34 previously unissued live tracks including standards and original material including Young’s classic “Seven Bridges Road” (a 1980 hit for the Eagles using Iain Matthews’ Michael Nesmith produced version as a template, and also covered by Dolly Parton, Alan Jackson, Rita Coolidge and more).

Disc 1 – Honky-Tonk Man
1. Honky-Tonk Man
2. Brain Cloudy Blues
3. Rock Salt & Nails
4. Rockin’ Chair Money
5. Ramblin’ Man
6. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
7. Traveling Kind
8. Sally Goodin’
9. Alabama Highway
10. Vision Of A Child
11. We’ve Been Together On This Earth Before
12. The White Trash Song
13. Stanley And Henry Jim Post with Steve Young [Bonus Track]

Simply put, this is the most straight-up country record Steve Young ever cut. He handles both lead and rhythm guitar chores with a band of fine session players, including Kamau Gravatt, who did double duty with Weather Report.

Other than redos of Utah Phillips’ Rock Salt & Nails and his own White Trash Song, Young sticks somewhat close to the canon of classic country with a few surprises - at least on the original side one, for the original flip side was mostly his own material.

The deep blues read of Bob Wills’ Brain Cloudy Blues is radical and as far from Western swing as it gets, but it also showcases Wills’ own roots in the blues. The title cut is a version of the Johnny Horton classic with swinging fiddles by Craig Ruble and Cal Hand’s warbling pedal steel kept in line by Bill Petersen’s electric bass.

A lushly lonesome take on Hank Williams’ Ramblin Man that is as cur-dog low as it is restless and a cover of Robbie Robertson’s The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down (here done in a low slung, almost pastoral and slow manner) are highlights as we continue, along with both the traditional Sally Goodin’ and the spooky country of Traveling Kind.

The other two CDs included in this mighty wondrous new collection from Omnivore Recordings are Steve Young live, and all 34 tracks contained are previously unissued, which will undoubtedly delight and thrill all his fans!

Disc 2 – Steve Young Live
1. Long Way To Hollywood 2. Ragtime Blue Guitar 3. Seven Bridges Road 4. Montgomery In The Rain 5. Brain Cloudy Blues 6. Lonesome, On’ry And Mean 7. Ramblin’ Man 8. Home Sweet Home Revisited 9. One Woman Man 10. No Place To Fall 11. Drift Away 12. Don’t Think Twice (It’s Alright) 13. Gonna Find Me A Bluebird 14. Hobo Blues 15. Go To Sea No More 16. Traveling Kind 17. That’s Alright Mama

Disc 3 – Steve Young Live
1. The White Trash Song 2. Tobacco Road 3. The Year That Clayton Delaney Died 4. All Her Lovers Want To Be The Hero 5. Corrina, Corrina 6. Rock Salt & Nails 7. Old Memories (Mean Nothing To Me) 8. You Don’t Miss Your Water 9. Love Please Come Home 10. San Francisco Mabel Joy 11. My Sweet Love Ain’t Around 12. Alabama Highway 13. Backslider’s Wine 14. East Virginia 15. Many Rivers 16. We’ve Been Together On This Earth Before 17. Midnight Rider

So, revisit the origins of Country Rock, Outlaw Country, and Americana. Sit back and enjoy the Stars In The Southern Sky!

Official Purchase Link

For those not in the know, by 1979, JD Souther had quickly established himself as the consummate singer/songwriter and performer—penning hits for the Eagles, Linda Ronstadt, Bonnie Raitt, and James Taylor, while delivering two now-essential releases for David Geffen’s Asylum Records (both John David Souther and Black Rose have been expanded and reissued by Omnivore Recordings).

He assembled an A-list band (Waddy Wachtel on guitar, Don Grolnick on piano, Kenny Edwards on bass, and Rick Marotta on drums, with Danny “Kootch” Kortchmar also contributing on guitar, David Sanborn on alto saxophone, and Dan Dugmore on guitar and steel) for his debut on Columbia Records.

You’re Only Lonely appeared at the end of that year and the title track stormed up the charts. “You’re Only Lonely” spent 5 weeks at #1 on the Adult Contemporary charts and was a #7 Pop hit. The album itself was a critical success, hitting #41 on the LP charts.

Billboard praised the LP as a “predominantly mellow, atmospheric collection of tunes… Souther’s guitar playing takes a backseat to his writing, with many of the tunes here among his best.” (From the new liner notes) “It was quite a good Christmas,” JD laughs. “‘You’re Only Lonely’ and ‘Heartache Tonight’ (co-written by JD, Glenn Frey, Don Felder, and Bob Seger) were both in the top ten the same week. It was pretty amazing.”

You’re Only Lonely contains JD’s versions of tracks previously recorded by Linda Ronstadt (“White Rhythm And Blues” from Living In The USA), Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (“The Moon Turned Blue” from Dream) and Nicolette Larson (“The Last In Love” from her debut Nicolette), plus “Trouble In Paradise” (the title track of the second Souther-Hillman-Furay Band album).

1. You’re Only Lonely
2. If You Don’t Wont My Love
3. The Last In Love
4. White Rhythm And Blues
5. ‘Til The Bars Burn Down
6. The Moon Just Turned Blue
7. Songs Of Love
8. Fifteen Bucks
9. Trouble In Paradise
10. Ever Faithful Woman [Previously Unissued CD-Only Bonus Track]
11. Bad News Travels Fast (Alternate Take) [Previously Unissued CD-Only Bonus Track]

The man who wrote many hits - some for the Eagles and a few for Linda Ronstadt - must have always known he had it in him to be front and center himself and so it truly is great to hear him perform some of his best material himself on You’re Only Lonely.

As we all know, Souther finally scored a hit single with the ’50s-ish title track, but we also get the lovely ballad White Rhythm and Blues as well as the solo version of the Souther-Hillman-Furay song Trouble in Paradise.

Overall, the songs are all very melodic and well crafted, although lacking the lyrical bite of a Jackson Browne or Don Henley, per say. What Souther really has going for him, though, is his voice. Souther possesses a velvety smooth tenor voice that would be the envy of most and, for my money, he probably has a better voice than even Frey or Henley, using it to full effect in expressing some very melodic love songs here.

The 9-track LP returns for the first time in 35 years and the CD and Digital add two previously unissued bonus tracks from the album’s sessions. New liner notes from Joe Marchese (The Second Disc) feature an interview with JD outlining the recording of the album, the all-star players, and why it is an important record to him and the fans who have supported it for all these years.

“We always said our motto was ‘we’re building to last.’ We really spent a lot of time on the songs. The other motto was, ‘no filler.’ You don’t make a single and then put a bunch of filler on an album. You make an album and hope you have a single.” You’re Only Lonely epitomizes that ethos. It’s built to last.

Official Purchase Link

For those not in the know, since 1999, the Grammy-nominated southern rock band NEEDTOBREATHE have quietly emerged as a dynamic force in music, from releasing their first album in 2001 to finding themselves playing arenas and receiving nominations for multiple Dove Awards, Grammys, and Billboard Music Awards.The Outsiders, in 2009. The record quickly put them on the map, peaking at #20 on the Billboard 200 and at #2 on the Hot Christian Albums charts. Their single “Something Beautiful” crossed over to Triple A (#12) and “Hurricane” to the Alternative charts (#29).

AllMusic gave the album four stars, claiming it “offer[s] up another collection of sweeping, reverent rock songs [and] flirts with touches of roots rock and traditional gospel, from the title track’s powerful Southern stomp to the sheer power of Bear Rinehart’s voice.”

The Outsiders won the Dove Award for Rock/Contemporary Album of The Year, and “Lay ’Em Down” landed honors as Rock/Contemporary Recorded Song of the Year. Two years later, the band would be on tour as the opening act for Taylor Swift’s Speak Now world tour, as well as performing alongside acts including Tim McGraw and Train.

1. The Outsiders
2. Valley Of Tomorrow
3. Through Smoke
4. Lay ’Em Down
5. What You’ve Done To Me
6. Hurricane
7. These Hard Times
8. Stones Under Rushing Water
9. Prisoner
10. Won’t Turn Back
11. Girl Named Tennessee
12. Something Beautiful
13. Garden
14. Let Us Love

In general, Contemporary Christian music has been pretty accepting of the mainstream. Some bands, such as Underoath, had brought CCM into completely unexpected realms such as metalcore, infusing the so-called Devil’s music with Jesus’ message. Then there are bands such as NEEDTOBREATHE that, while incorporating mainstream elements into their music, still feel rooted in the Evangelical traditions.

With NEEDTOBREATHE and their 2009 album The Outsiders, it is apparent that the band had been studying their southern rock, especially, in my humble opinion, the mighty Kings of Leon. The electric guitars, drums, banjos, violins, organs, they’re all present. In fact, lead singer Bear Rinehart sounds so damn similar to Caleb Followill, nasally voice and all, that you would have sworn this was a lost KOL album!

At the same time, The Outsiders had the earnestness of a sermon, an album that gives off enough of a spiritual, inspirational vibe that it wouldn’t alienate CCM fans.

As for the album itself, while The Outsiders maintains a nice balance between the religious and mainstream, the album does suffer from being inconsistent. Most of the time, NEEDTOBREATHE aspires to be anthemic, to pound pianos, drums and show off lofty guitar solos.

It’s nothing life changing, but the songs still convey earnestness and energy. The opening title track mixes garage rock with the folky theatrics of Mumford and Sons. “Through Smoke” and “Lay ‘Em Down” are operatic, albeit a little cheesy, gospel tracks that enhance Bear Rinehart’s preacher-like bravado. And another stand out is “Hurricane,” which is the most KOL-like song on here, a catchy tune that mixes southern and alternative rock influences.

Since the release of this landmark album, NEEDTOBREATHE has reached arena-sized proportions, headlining iconic venues such as Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee, and four sold out shows at Red Rocks Amphitheater in Morrison, Colorado. The band most recently performed at the 2024 CMA Awards in Austin, Texas, with Jordan Davis, whom they also recorded an episode of CMT Crossroads with.

Now, over 15 years since The Outsiders was released and brought the band to greater heights, NEEDTOBREATHE are re-pressing the long sold-out record for the first time ever on translucent red vinyl.

Official Purchase Link

For those not in the know, the myriad of stars that aligned to create Jerry Phillips’ debut solo album, For The Universe, have been orbiting the rarified atmosphere of Memphis’ Sam Phillips Recording Service — the namesake studio that Jerry’s father built in the wake of his Sun Records success with Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis — since its doors opened in 1960.

The fact that it took 64 years for those stars to fully align is more a testament to Jerry’s own unwavering path than it is being the son of the man who unleashed rock ’n’ roll on the world.

The final piece of the puzzle fell into place when the studio acquired the original Spectra Sonics console from Stax Studio B, which had captured soul classics like Rufus Thomas’ “The Funky Chicken” and much of the Isaac Hayes catalog.

Jerry said, “I want to be the first person to record on the Stax console at Phillips.” When it came time for the “shakedown session,” album Co-Producer Scott Bomar remembers, “we liked the results and that was the beginning of the record. Jerry’s recording method was a window into what it was probably like recording at Sun—very live, off-the-cuff, and unrehearsed. It all had a real spontaneous feel and spirit.”

Most importantly, Jerry’s method served the songs, a ten-track tour-de-force ranging from full-tilt rockers to slow-burning country soul, all rife with chord changes that bring the listener a smile of comfortable familiarity while simultaneously tugging at the heart strings.

The driving guitar and horn-blasting “Number One Girl” and its tender tremolo and organ-flavored follow-up “Treat Her Like She’s Mine” — both of which could have been bookends of a post-Sun Jerry Lee Lewis album — set the stage for a Memphis-to-Muscle Shoals musical road map with enough tributaries to take in the West Texas tumbleweed vibe of “Black Widow Eyes,” the smoldering Gulf Coast soul of “I Like Everything I See” and the harp-heavy blues rocker “24/6 Not 7,” co-written with Austin honky-tonker Dale Watson.

The Tennessee-to-Alabama highway is a road well-tred by Scott and Halley, whose production pedigrees reflect the respective locales. Similarly, the crack studio combo anchored by garage soul guitarist John Paul Keith proves perfectly comfortable dwelling on the edge of any musical cliff, as long as there’s feeling in it.

1. Number One Girl
2. Treat Her Like She Was Mine
3. She Let Me Slip Right Through Her Fingers
4. Black Widow Eyes
5. I Like Everything I See
6. That’s All Right
7. Good Side, Bad Side, Side Of Crazy Too
8. 24/6 Not 7
9. New Pair Of Everything
10. Specify

This brilliantly melodic new country-blues-rock collective opens on the rousing Number One Girl and the lonesome, blues ode Treat Her Like She Was Mine and then brings us the languishing ballad She Let Me Slip Right Through Her Fingers, a countrified twang that drives Black Widow Eyes and then comes the silky smooth balladry of I Like Everything I See.

Along next is the rambunctious That’s All Right and the low slung ballad Good Side, Bad Side, Side Of Crazy Too, and they are in turn followed by the free-wheeling country rocker 24/6 Not 7, rounding out on the dancefloor swirl and twirl of New Pair Of Everything, closing on the grooved blues of Specify.

Official Purchase Link

For those not in the know, Continental Drifters are a congregation of like-minded, creative musical souls, whose other bands just happened to include The Bangles, The Dream Syndicate, The dB’s, The Cowsills, and more.

From their 1992 debut single “The Mississippi” through 1994’s eponymous debut, 1998’s Vermillion, 2001’s Better Day, and Nineteen Ninety-Three (recorded in 1992 but released a decade later), the Drifters’ lineup may have been fluid, but their sound has always been instantly identifiable, comforting, and fantastic.

White Noise & Lightning: The Best Of Continental Drifters paints the story of the band. The 11-track LP and 15-track CD (featuring a previously unissued scorching 12-minute live version of “Who We Are, Where We Live”) follows the journey across their entire career.

It will be released in conjunction with the publication of Sean Kelly’s White Noise & Lightning: The Continental Drifters Story (coming September 27th from Cool Dog Sound) which chronicles the 10-year journey of the Continental Drifters and follows the band through years of cross-country moves, lineup changes, industry highs and lows, marriages, divorces, and dozens of classic songs.

Just as Kelly’s authorized biography of the band tells the story of a critically acclaimed, commercially overlooked band that became so much more, White Noise & Lightning is not only a great place to start for the uninitiated, but is the perfect soundtrack for this legendary proto-Americana band.

1. The Rain Song
2. Christopher Columbus Transcontinental Highway
3. Dallas
4. Mezzanine
5. Invisible Boyfriend
6. Match Made In Heaven
7. The Mississippi
8. Get Over It
9. Mixed Messages
10. Don’t Do What I Did
11. Tomorrow’s Gonna Be
12. Na Na
13. Peaceful Waking
14. Drifters
15. Who We Are, Where We Live (Live at the Court Tavern)

This quite marvelous musical experience opens on the all-embracing The Rain Song and the rambunctious Christopher Columbus Transcontinental Highway, and they are followed by the languishing Dallas, the free-flowing, Dylan-eseque Mezzanine, the low slung Invisible Boyfriend, and then we get a countrified rocking twang that drives both Match Made In Heaven and The Mississippi.

Along next is the power-pop-rocker Get Over It and the melodically rhythmic Mixed Messages and they are followed by a track that sounds, at times, remarkably like an alt-world version of that Friends TV theme, Don’t Do What I Did, the accordion-hued, gentle folk-rock of Tomorrow’s Gonna Be, the album rounding out on the pop-tastic Na Na, the joyously soaring Peaceful Waking, the grooved warmth that flows within Drifters, closing on the previously unissued live track Who We Are, Where We Live.

Official Purchase Link

For those unaware, on 24th March 2024, approximately 40 years since they first shared a stage, Howard Jones performed live at The O2 Arena in London as the Special Guest of his great friends OMD.

This brilliant new recording features live versions of many of Howard’s big hit singles including ‘New Song’, ‘What Is Love?’, ‘Hide & Seek’, ‘Pearl In The Shell’, ‘Like To Get To Know You Well’, ‘Things Can Only Get Better’ plus Howard’s cover version of Kajagoogoo’s ‘Too Shy,’ accompanied by his friend and former Kajagoogoo band member Nick Beggs.

1. Intro
2. Pearl In The Shell
3. New Song
4. Like To Get To Know You Well
5. The One To Love You
6. Too Shy
7. Hide & Seek
8. The Human Touch
9. You Know I Love You… Don’t You?
10. What Is Love?
11. Things Can Only Get Better
12. Things Can Only Get Better (Remix)

For me, a fan of all-things ’80s (music being the headliner to that statement, closely followed by movies, of course), Howard Jones has not only stood out as being a consummate performer of that decade, but has continued to showcase his never ending desire to remain relevant to the new generations with not only his continual touring ethic, but his new recordings.

Ergo, the only thing that was missing from that list of previously released music down the years was a live album, and so here on Live At The 02, Jones (together with his trio touring mate Nick Beggs) bring forth a most splendid night of ’80s flashbacks and more.

Opening on a funky, synth-tastic .49 second intro, the band quickly launch into a clean cut Pearl In The Shell and a well-received (albeit a live version where Jones already sounds out of breath) New Song, the pop Caribbean bounce flow of Like To Get To Know You Well, a sparkling The One To Love You (from his 2019 album Transform), and then comes one of the highlights for us all, Howard and Nick coming together for the soulfully-grooved Kajagoogoo hit Too Shy.

The ornately delicate ballad Hide & Seek then gives way to the propulsive synth-funk dynamism that drives The Human Touch (which was a new bonus track on his recent best of Celebration) and they are backed by a full on, forcefully driven rock version of You Know I Love You… Don’t You?, the night (or at least this recording) rounding out on the haunting What Is Love? and, after an impassioned message from Jones, a vibrantly-charged Things Can Only Get Better, merged with a dub house remix of it, closes the musical extravaganza.

Howard Jones’ Live At The O2 is packaged in a digi-sleeve and contains a 464mm x 348mm pull-out poster featuring the great cover shot of Howard performing live at the O2.

Howard Jones Live At The O2 [Official Trailer]

Official Purchase Link

For those unaware, 999/Separates is a superb 36 track 2CD digipak covering the first two albums by 1977 Punk Rock legends 999.

999 are an English punk rock band, formed in London in December 1976. From 1976 to 1985, their line-up consisted of Nick Cash (vocals, guitar), Guy Days (lead guitar), Jon Watson (bass guitar) and Pablo LaBritain (drums).

LaBritain was temporarily replaced in 1980 by drummer Paul Edward (aka Ed Case) while he recovered from a motor accident. Bassist Jon Watson left the band in 1985 and was replaced by Danny Palmer, who was succeeded by Arturo Bassick in 1991.

Between 1978 and 2007, 999 released fourteen singles and twelve studio albums. Five of the singles released by 999 between 1978 and 1981 charted within the Top 75 in the UK Singles Chart, with one further single in 1978, Homicide, charting within the Top 40.

In addition, as a result of extensive touring in the United States in the early 1980s, the band’s third and fourth studio albums, The Biggest Prize in Sport and Concrete, each charted on the U.S. Billboard 200.

Disc 1 is the self-titled debut album which reached No.53 in the UK National Chart and it includes the singles ‘I’m Alive’, ‘Nasty Nasty’, ‘Emergency’ and ‘Me And My Desire’.

Disc 2 is the ‘Separates’ album which features the Top 40 single ‘Homicide’ plus the anthemic ‘Feelin’ Alright With The Crew’ 45.

999:
1. Me And My Desire
2. Chicane Destination
3. Crazy
4. Your Number Is My Number
5. Hit Me
6. I’m Alive
7. Titanic (My Over) Reaction
8. Pick It Up
9. Emergency
10. No Pity
11. Direct Action Briefing
12. Nobody Knows
13. I’m Alive (Single Version) [BONUS TRACK]
14. Quite Disappointing [BONUS TRACK]
15. Nasty! Nasty! [BONUS TRACK]
16. No Pity (Single Version) [BONUS TRACK]
17. My Street Stinks [BONUS TRACK]
18. Me And My Desire (Single Version) [BONUS TRACK]
19. You Can’t Buy Me [BONUS TRACK]

A truly neglected classic, 999’s eponymous debut album was issued in March, 1978, on the back of three stunning 45s - the romping I’m Alive, the anthemic Nasty! Nasty!, and the oddly ambitious Me and My Desire. The first, and last of these appeared on the album, together with the summer smash that never was, June, 1978’s, Emergency, and it is with these tracks as its benchmarks that 999 should be judged, in my humble opinion.

A ferocious live band, the group harnessed every iota of their stage performance for the studio, turning in an album that zips past at the speed of light, in a blur of chant-worthy choruses and pogo-able riffs; even better, three bonus tracks round up the absent Nasty! Nasty! 45, plus a pair of period B-sides, to deliver a picture perfect portrait of 999’s first year.

There would, of course, be many more to come, and here on this first disc we also now get seven varying in quality bonus tracks, the stand outs for me being the propulsive My Street Stinks and the impassioned You Can’t Buy Me.

SEPARATES:
1. Homicide
2. Tulse Hill Night
3. Rael Rean
4. Let’s Face It
5. Crime Part 1 / Part 2
6. Feelin’ Alright With The Crew
7. Out Of Reach
8. Subterfuge
9. Wolf
10. Brightest View
11. High Energy Plan
12. Waiting [BONUS TRACK]
13. Action [BONUS TRACK]
14. Homicide (Single Version) [BONUS TRACK]
15. Soldier [BONUS TRACK]
16. Quite Disappointing (Live - Front Row Festival) [BONUS TRACK]
17. Crazy (Live – Front Row Festival) [BONUS TRACK]

From the opening blare of Homicide - 999’s sixth single and first British hit - it was apparent that Separates was to be no ordinary punk second album. Almost without exception, every other band in the pack had faltered or fallen when it came time to delivering their sophomore effort.

999, however, simply looked back at what they’d already accomplished, then made certain that they repeated it, with added improvements all over the show. So, the tunes are tighter, the riffs are crunchier, the choruses are even more memorable, and the entire album - released just six months after its 999 predecessor - stands among the most timeless artifacts in all punk history; in my humble opinion.

Of the seven now-included bonus tracks, stand outs include the single B-Side Soldier - which has to be among the finest tracks in the band’s entire repertoire - and both the fervent Waiting and the anthemic Action are actually pulled from a free 12 inch single given away back in the day to fan club members on the band’s own LaBritain label.

Lyrics to all the songs are included in the booklet along with pictures of all relevant record sleeves.

Vocalist Nick Cash and guitarist Guy Days still lead 999 to this day, some 47 years after first forming, and are regulars at the major European Punk festivals.

999/Separates 2CD [Official Trailer]

Official Purchase Link

Hailing from the vibrant Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood, CA, alto saxophonist Devin Daniels stands out as one of the most unique and versatile voices to emerge from LA’s rapidly evolving creative music landscape.

Alto saxophonist Devin Daniels stands out as one of the most unique and versatile voices to emerge from LA’s rapidly evolving creative music landscape. The Inglewood (CA) native has the unique ability to fit into any musical situation without sacrificing the integrity of his individual voice.

That, combined with his warm and thoughtful personality, is why Daniels has been invited to perform with bands led by Gerald Clayton, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, John Beasley, Sam Barsh and Jamael Dean.

In 2023, the great Herbie Hancock invited Devin to join him alongside jazz legends Ron Carter, Jack DeJohnette, Terence Blanchard, Chris Potter and LA-royalty, Kamasi Washington in a performance at the Hollywood Bowl honoring the late iconic saxophonist, Wayne Shorter.

Following this performance, Hancock invited Daniels to join his band again, this time for a month-long US tour in the Spring of 2024.

Recorded live at LA’s westside jazz club, Sam First, LesGo! captures the live, unadulterated energy from five exceptionally gifted LA-based musicians – trumpeter Julien Knowles, pianist Chris Fishman, bassist Jermaine Paul and drummer Benjamin Ring.

With an impressive list of collective performance credits that include Herbie Hancock, Dianne Reeves, Billy Childs and Pat Metheny, it goes without saying that these incredibly talented musicians represent a very important branch of LA’s evolving music scene.

Side A:
1. LesGo! (7:07)
2. Spiral (14:14)

Putting the vinyl LP on the record player, and Side A opens the opulently organic title track LesGo!, where everyone assembled is notably up for the task of bringing their musical talents to the fore, and then we are brought forth my own personal favorite track here, the stunningly alive, elegantly jaunty, yet both emphatically scrolled and exuberantly soaring at the same time, Spiral.

Side B:
3. Reckon (6:31)
4. N**’s N** (10:50)

Flipping the lush vinyl LP over, and having been recorded on February 16th and 17th, 2024 at the aforementioned Sam First, we next get brought forth the luxuriantly sculpted, at times suave, at others playfully flirtatious, Reckon and then comes the forthright stance that drives the ten minute N**’s N**.

A track truly in and unto itself here on this recording, it is a masterpiece of the highest order; soaring, dipping, floating, glistening, shimmering, and yet at all times confidently sturdy. Also know that if you get the digital edition of this wondrous new album, be on the look out for the fifth track Him, a rather assuredly resounding track that showcases a genuine growing confidence within Daniels.

Sam First Records is the in-house label for the Westside Los Angeles jazz club, Sam First. A product of the club owner Paul Solomon and musician/artistic director David Robaire, the label is keeping the spirit of jazz moving forward in the 21st century.

Recorded using Sam First’s state-of-the-art analog to digital recording setup, then mixed and mastered in-house. The music is then pressed onto 180-gram vinyl LP and packaged in static-free audiophile rice paper sleeves with a double-sided full-bleed insert displaying the album credits and liner notes.

Vinyl packaging displays a full-bleed print of the cover photo taken by Sam First Records owner, Paul Solomon. Edition of 1,000, each copy displaying its own unique foil-stamped number.

Musicians:
Devin Daniels - alto saxophone
Julien Knowles - trumpet
Chris Fishman - piano
Jermaine Paul - basses
Benjamin Ring - drums

Devin Daniels Quintet - LesGo! (Official Video)

www.devindaniels.com

Official Purchase Link

For those not in the know, self-proclaimed “demented pop” chanteuse Eddy Lee Ryder makes her long-awaited full-length debut with Sweet Delusions, synthesizing timeless songcraft, dramatic introspection, and infinite pop smarts to create a breathtaking song cycle of apocalyptic romance and anxious regret, badly broken hearts, and wishful hope for the future.

Songs like “Highwaymen” and the deceptively optimistic title track, Ryder – known to friends and family as Woodstock, NY-based singer-songwriter Liz Brennan – fusing chanson and country, indie and standards, into her own strain of modernist pop Americana, all informed by her distinctively wry sense of humor and classic rock spirit.

That creative capriciousness resonates throughout the album, Ryder’s witty but deeply reflective songwriting offering up keenly detailed snapshots of secret intimacies, small cruelties, and a relationship gone horribly south.

Quirky and charming while still precise and powerfully personal, Sweet Delusions reveals Eddy Lee Ryder as a one-of-a-kind new artist, her unabashed heartache and beguiling humor completely her own yet as identifiable and real as any of our own.

“I want my music to carry multiple emotions, just like every experience,” Ryder says. “Nostalgia, absurdity, humor, and sorrow.”

1. Sweet Delusions
2. Highwaymen
3. Bad Decisions
4. Joke Is On Me
5. Antarctica
6. Pennyroyal Tea
7. Simple Touch
8. Shoop Shoop Shut Up
9. Smoke and Mirrors
10. Only Real Cowboy
11. County Fair

Penned and performed with uncommon brio and invention, this musically resplendent new recording opens on the veritably sweeping title track Sweet Delusions and the atmospheric, shimmering twang of Highwaymen, and then we get the silky smooth, low slung country balladry of Bad Decisions, the gentle melodic hipsway of Joke Is On Me and then comes the veritably ethereal Antarctica.

Along next is a shadowy ambiance that drives Pennyroyal Tea and the pop-country vibe of Simple Touch and they are in turn backed seamlessly by the sweeping balladry of Shoop Shoop Shut Up, the gently rambunctious foot-tapper Smoke and Mirrors, the album rounding out on the storytelling that drives Only Real Cowboy, closing on the delicately-hued, airy ballad County Fair.

Eddy Lee Ryder has toured with Howie Day, been synched in the smash horror it, “Terrifier 2”, and featured in American Songwriter & Pop Matters. She has played live on Jam in the Van, and Radio Woodstock.

Official Spotify Purchase Link www.eddyleeryder.com

Released in 1956 as the debut album by the Miles Davis Quintet, “Miles” features a combination of pop and jazz standards. Originally released on Prestige Records, the album features an all-star cast of players with John Coltrane (tenor sax), Red Garland (piano), Paul Chambers (bass) and Philly Joe Jones (drums).

This new edition of the album is released as part of the OJC Series and is pressed on 180-gram vinyl at RTI with (AAA) lacquers cut from the original master tapes by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio. It is presented in a Tip-On Jacket.

Side A:
1. Just Squeeze Me
2. There Is No Greater Love
3. How Am I To Know?

Side B:
1. S’Posin
2. The Theme
3. Stablemates

After his success at the Newport Jazz Festival in the summer of 1955, Miles Davis was back as a leading jazz figure and had the clout to form his own band: The Quintet. Not that many weeks after forming they recorded this album in November for Prestige (the band is credited as The New Miles Davis Quintet, although, in all truth, I am not sure if it is the Quintet or Davis that is new - but yes, it could well be the latter).

In the long view of Davis’s career this is not a major work, but it is so much more than simply an apprentice work for in my humble opinion, it is a mighty fine work of musical art.

Indeed, the two notable things about it are that Davis plays with a consistency, range and assured smoothness that I’m not aware that he had previously matched, and that the band are not just a collection of fine musicians, but already have the mutual understanding that was to make them one of the greatest jazz combos of the 1950s (or of any time, some might argue).

Davis plays mostly with a muted trumpet - an important part of the distinctive Davis sound - and let us never forget the importance of the microphone for Davis, for he could play gently to the microphone, not needing the strength of lungs and technique that all of the previous great trumpet players had to project his personality.

There Is No Greater Love (where if you listen closely enough, you can hear a dog barking) is one of the brooding ballads that provoke images of a figure alone looking out to sea on a frosty morning. Just Squeeze Me is one of the mid-tempo numbers where he plays with that uniquely cool nonchalance. How Am I To Know and S’posin show his relatively new mastery of up-tempo numbers and the penultimate The Theme has some impressive upright bass work in the first minute or so, culminating with a nice drum-led finish.

Overall, the band are just superb throughout. Philly Joe Jones is quiet on the first two tracks, but blistering on the rest. Red Garland is a bit too billowing for my taste on the ballad There Is No Greater Love, but is fine on the others. Paul Chambers plays the clear lines of hard bop bass with gusto and the always-inspiring John Coltrane is great, but in the context of his career he seems slightly tentative, not yet the overpowering musician he would be in a few years time.

In closing, and even if the Quintet was to record much finer records in the near future, this is an excellent beginning and well worthy of this rather wondrous Craft Recordings 180g new vinyl re-release.

Official Purchase Link

For those unaware, Cookie Crew: Pick Up On This - 1987-1992 is a wondrous 4CD Box-Set and is the first career overview of Britain’s most celebrated female rap act, Cookie Crew.

One of the first and most significant British female hip-hop acts, South London duo Cookie Crew were equally skilled at making club-oriented pop-rap and more socially conscious hardcore rap. They broke through with 1987’s Rok da House, a collaboration with the Beatmasters which was arguably the first hip-house track, and certainly the style’s first major hit.

While Cookie Crew incorporated elements of house and electro into their music, they were never interested in being pigeonholed as a dance act. Their two albums, 1989’s Born This Way and 1991’s Fade to Black, featured production by members of Stetsasonic, Black Sheep, and Gang Starr, as well as collaborations with vibraphonist Roy Ayers and funk legend Edwin Starr.

Following a pair of 1992 singles which respectively concentrated on the duo’s house and hardcore sides, Cookie Crew sadly disbanded.

Their entire discography is now brought forth here in this new Box-Set and contains both their albums - Born This Way and Fade To Black - and all of the singles, plus an abundance of remixes with 20 of the tracks being issued here on CD for the first time.

Disc One: Born This Way (1989)
1. Yo! What’s Up
2. From The South
3. Come On And Get Some
4. Pick Up On This
5. Feelin’ Proud
6. Bad Girls (Rock The Spot)
7. Got To Keep On
8. Born This Way
9. Black Is The Word
10. Places And Spaces For Your Mind
11. Rhymes And Careers
12. Dazzle’s Theme
13. Got To Keep On (B-Boy Mix)
14. Places And Spaces (Mellow Mix)
15. Rok Da House 12” [Bonus Track]
16. Rok Da House (Remix)* [Bonus Track]
17. Females (Get On Up) 12” [Bonus Track]

The first disc features their Born This Way album, as well as Cookie Crew’s first appearance on record when they joined Beatmasters for their hit single Rok Da House, alongside a remix of the single that’s not been available on CD before. It also features their debut single in their own right, Females.

After signing with London Records, Cookie Crew took on the US, and soon they were working with the likes of Stetsasonic and Gang Starr. But through all of this, they stuck to their truth, and to their British identity, and did all they could to represent the burgeoning scene at home.

Thus songs from their debut album Born This Way make direct reference to their home town and to their journey (“We’ve got a message to all who said we couldn’t do it / take a look at us now, take your words and chew it”); Black is the Word captures their pride in their Black British identity and From the South is a homage to their home.

Indeed, their subject matters overall were very, very British, with their references actually coming from their parents, themselves from the Windrush era. Hip-hop in a way introduced them to what was happening in America, but it didn’t introduce them to wider issues they faced as Black people. Hence why their music/lyrics dive into these topics in a way that is brightly bold, in my humble opinion.

Disc Two: Fade To Black (1991)
1. Secrets (Of Success)
2. Love Will Bring Us Together
3. Fade To Black
4. Mysteries
5. The Powers Of Positive Thinking
6. Mental Maniac
7. Watch The Cookies Crumble ’Em
8. Going Freestyle
9. A Word To The Conscious
10. How Long (Has This Been Going On)
11. Here We Go
12. Like Brother Like Sister
13. Time 2b What We Wanna Be
14. Secrets (Of Success) (Cooks Mix)
15. Secrets (Of Success) (Live At The Bar-b-que Mix) [Bonus Track]
16. Mental Maniac (Broadmoor version) [Bonus Track]

The second disc features Fade To Black as well as bonus tracks, where tracks such as The Powers of Positive Thinking and A Word to the Conscious laid bare their thoughts and feelings on vital issues of the day - including the incarceration of Mandela, the causes of racism and oppression, and gun control.

Of course, they must have also known that these tracks would never be chosen as radio play singles, but they still wanted to make them, to satisfy themselves, to show they had a voice on the subjects.

They came from a very tomboyish image and so for them to try and be like, say, Salt-N-Pepa, well, it just was not going to work and I think that it was their demise in the end. Female rappers were getting more and more sexual, and they were going more and more the other way. They did not want to compete, and perhaps, just couldn’t.

Female rappers are all about the lyrics and delivering and showing that they are better than the guys, in regards to the UK scene at that time, and Cookie Crew felt like that when they first started in 1985, their whole point was to be better than the boys. Because they were the ones that were popular.

The third disc contains remixes, eight of which have never been issued on CD before and the fourth, and final disc, is comprised of remixes, eleven of which have never been issued before!

Disc Three: Remixes
1. Come On & Get Some (Cookapella)* 2. Females (Get On Up) (Remix Cut)* 3. Got To Keep On (Danny D’s HipHouse Remix)* 4. Love Will Bring Us Back Together (Biznizz Beats)* 5. Born This Way (Let’s Dance) (12” Version) 6. Come On & Get Some (Super Fly Mix) 7. (Secrets (Of Success) (Club Mix)* 8. Love Will Bring Us Back Together (Feel The Vibe) 9. Mental Maniac (Psychotropic Version)* 10. Brother, Like Sister (Sure Is Pure Mix) 11. Crew’s Gone Mad (Lyrics)* 12. Born This Way (Let’s Dance) (Prince Paul Dope Mix) 13. Secrets (Of Success) (Cooks Instrumental)*

Disc Four: Remixes
1. Born This Way (Sue’s Favourite Mix) 2. Females (Get On Up) (The Godmother)* 3. Come On & Get Some (Drum & Bass Mix) 4. Secrets (Of Success) (Two Step Style)* 5. Brother Like Sister (Full On Mix) 6. Crew’s Gone Mad (Acapella)* 7. Love Will Bring Us Back Together (Cooks Mix)* 8. Born This Way (Prince Paul Instrumental)* 9. Come On & Get Some (Jack Swing Mix) 10. Secrets (Of Success) (Acapella)* 11. Love Will Bring Us Back Together (Louis Louis Mix)* 12. Brother Like Sister (Deep Club Mix)* 13. Crew’s Gone Mad (Beats)* 14. Come On & Get Some (Raga Mix)* 15. Love Will Bring Us Back Together (Acapella)

* PREVIOUSLY UNAVAILABLE ON CD

Both members, Cookie Pryce and Susan Banfield, have been interviewed exclusively for the sleeve notes and have also opened their photo archive, providing a wealth of rare images.

Cookie Crew - Pick Up On This - 1987-1992 4CD [Official Trailer]

Official Purchase Link

For those unaware, SoulMusic Records (SMR) in association with The Second Disc presents this definitive, first-time-ever 5CD box set by this Grammy-nominated artist believed to be the most-sampled female singer in popular music.

A total of 58 tracks which includes expanded editions of the four full-length albums recorded during her association with Salsoul’s Gold Mind Records and a specially curated fifth disc that includes remixes, instrumentals, acapellas and reinventions from her Gold Mind/Salsoul catalog. All audio has been newly remastered by Nick Robbins.

Key tracks include her #1 Dance smash, ‘Love Sensation’, written and produced by Grammy-nominated multi-hyphenate Dan Hartman, her first Top Three dance hit, ‘Hit and Run’, and her cover of Debby Boone’s ‘You Light Up My Life’, which earned Ms. Holloway her singular Grammy nomination.

It also includes productions by Norman Harris, Ron Kersey, Bunny Sigler, Ron Tyson and Vincent Montana Jr., all synonymous with the Philly Sound, as well as Floyd Smith, Bobby Womack, Tom Moulton and Patrick Adams, with mixes and re-edits by Larry Levan, Walter Gibbons, Shep Pettibone, Danny Krivit, and others.

Indeed, every album features legendary musicians including The Trammps’ Earl Young, Bobby Eli, Ron Baker, Steve Gadd, Cornell Dupree, Richard Tee, George Bussey, Larry Washington and Gordon Edwards of Stuff with The Waters and The Sweethearts of Sigma (Barbara Ingram, Carla Benson and Evette Benton), among others, providing background vocals.

Disc One: LOLEATTA (EXPANDED EDITION) (1973)
1. Hit and Run (5:59)
2. Is It Just a Man’s Way (3:44)
3. We’re Getting Stronger (The Longer We Stay Together) (4:34)
4. Dreamin’ (6:19)
5. Ripped Off (4:52)
6. Worn Out Broken Heart (5:36)
7. That’s How Heartaches Are Made (3:03)
8. What Now (6:19)
9. Hit and Run (Original Walter Gibbons 12” Mix) (10:57) [Bonus Track]
10. We’re Getting Stronger (The Longer We Stay Together) (Original Walter Gibbons 12” Mix) (7:18)[Bonus Track]
11. Dreamin’ (12” Disco Mix by Carl Paroulo) (8:51)[Bonus Track]
12. Hit and Run (Unreleased Walter Gibbons Jungle Mix) (8:51)[Bonus Track]

Synonymous with Disco Diva, Loleatta Holloway was a gospel-trained powerhouse with a full-bodied vocal style - and a knack for entertaining monologues - who was also successful with her deeply impassioned ballads.

The first disc is her self-titled Loleatta, which was released after she has just signed with Gold Mind, the Salsoul Records subsidiary run by producer Norman Harris, and thus was embraced by DJs and dancers alike.

Featuring a club-tailored trio of Dreamin’, Hit and Run, and Ripped Off that altogether nearly topped Billboard’s disco chart, Holloway’s voice, however full of strident indignation and volcanic sexuality, is always the dominant force in her songs, going toe to toe with even the most pounding pianos and lushest orchestras.

Disc Two: QUEEN OF THE NIGHT (EXPANDED EDITION) (1978)
1. Catch Me on the Rebound (6:08)
2. Only You (Guest vocalist: Bunny Sigler) (6:15)
3. Good, Good Feeling (4:14)
4. Mama Don’t, Papa Won’t (4:58)
5. I May Not Be There When You Want Me (But I’m Right On Time) (7:33)
6. You Light Up My Life (4:03)
7. Two Sides to Every Story (4:29)
8. I’m In Love (4:15)
9. Catch Me on the Rebound (Original Walter Gibbons 12” Mix) (10:47) [Bonus Track]
10. Catch Me on the Rebound (Instrumental) (7:19) [Bonus Track]
11. I May Not Be There When You Want Me (Original Tom Moulton 12” Mix) (10:19) [Bonus Track]

After Gold Mind folded, all of their acts were transferred to Salsoul and Holloway’s first Salsoul album once again reunited her with Salsoul stalwart Norman Harris, who took on the production duties, and with this now being her second album for the Disco-dominated label, it confirmed her transformation from Southern Soul songstress to Disco royalty!

With Queen of the Night, Holloway scored the number 11 R&B hit Only You and earned a Grammy nomination for her version of You Light Up My Life. In addition to the Salsoul Orchestra’s number three disco single Run Away, it also contained the disco hits Catch Me on the Rebound, Mama Don’t, Papa Won’t, and I May Not Be There When You Want Me.

This is one of those albums where everything worked. If you like a great voice, great Disco and you are familiar with names like Vince Montana, Tom Moulton, Salsoul Orchestra and The Philadelphia Sound, then you have purchased the right Box-Set here, my friends!

Disc Three: LOLEATTA HOLLOWAY (EXPANDED EDITION) (1979)
1. The Greatest Performance of My Life (6:59)
2. All About the Paper (6:11)
3. There Must Be a Reason (6:13)
4. That’s What You Said (6:48)
5. Baby It’s You (3:55)
6. There’ll Come a Time (3:21)
7. Sweet Mother of Mine (4:39)
8. The Greatest Performance of My Life (Larry Levan Remix) (6:48) [Bonus Track]
9. That’s What You Said (12” Disco Version by Rick Gianatos) (10:07) [Bonus Track]
10. All About the Paper (Extended Version) (7:09) [Bonus Track]
11. The Greatest Performance of My Life (12” Disco Version) (9:26) [Bonus Track]
12. That’s What You Said (Special Edit) (3:26) [Bonus Track]

Her next album, the again self-titled Loleatta Holloway includes the disco hits All About the Papers, That’s What You Said (another Holloway/Sigler duet), The Greatest Performance of My Life, and the deep-soul ballad There Must Be a Reason.

Around 1979, Holloway contributed vocals to Relight My Fire, a massive disco hit for Dan Hartman (Instant Replay, I Can Dream About You). Indeed, Hartman produced the singer’s signature tune, Love Sensation, which topped the club chart and the song was also the title of Holloway’s 1980 LP (see below).

Disc Four: LOVE SENSATION (EXPANDED EDITION) (1980)
1. Love Sensation (6:02)
2. Long Hard Climb to Love (4:34)
3. Short End of the Stick (3:23)
4. I’ve Been Loving You Too Long (4:42)
5. Two Became a Crowd (5:22)
6. Dance What ‘Cha Wanna (5:10)
7. My Way (5:25)
8. I’ll Be Standing There (4:50)
9. Love Sensation (Original Tom Moulton 12” Mix) (6:31) [Bonus Track]
10. Love Sensation (Original Shep Pettibone 12” Mix) (7:46) [Bonus Track]
11. Love Sensation (Unreleased Tom Moulton Mix) (8:36) [Bonus Track]
12. Love Sensation (After Hours Mix) (6:51) [Bonus Track]
13. Love Sensation (Acapella) (3:30) [Bonus Track]

On an album that spawned the disco hits Dance What Cha Wanna and Short End of the Stick, Holloway takes the utopian ideals of clubland – sex, community, abandon – and massively amplifies them back at the dancers, singing to each one of them and the club as a whole. As her voice surges onto and fills the dancefloor, it really does feel like we’re all getting stronger.

As for the album’s stand out tracks, well for me, Love Sensation itself is one of the most thrilling dance songs recorded in the age of early club music! But also take a listen to her cover of Otis Redding’s I’ve Been Loving You too Long and you’ll see she is a phenomenon with a quite unparalleled depth.

Disc Five: REMIXES AND REINCARNATIONS
1. Catch Me on the Rebound (Original Walter Gibbons Disco Madness Version) (7:34) 2. Hit and Run (Joey Negro Dub Sensation) (5:12) 3. Runaway (Danny Krivit Re-edit) (8:37) 4. We’re Getting Stronger (Instrumental) (6:04) 5. Mama Don’t, Papa Won’t (Mama’s Mix) (6:18) 6. Love Sensation (Shep Pettibone Rough Mix / Dim’s DJ Friendly Re-Edit) (7:31) 7. Stand Up (Pangaea’s Mix) (5:44) 8. Short End of the Stick (The Reflex Edit) (5:43) 9. Seconds (Special Club Version) (8:57) 10. Dreamin’ (Jazz N Groove Mix) (6:48) 11. We’re Getting Stronger (Acapella) (5:51).

A deluxe booklet designed by Ray Curenton includes comprehensive notes by the collection’s producer, God’s Music Is My Life’s Tim Dillinger creating the most in-depth biographical account of Holloway’s career on record with rare photographs and artifacts.

Official Purchase Link

For those not in the know, with her lyrically driven songs, Rachel McIntyre Smith’s comfort twang music reminds listeners of the classics while also adding a relevant and fresh perspective.

Raised in the small East Tennessee town of Oliver Springs, Rachel began piano lessons at 9 years old. She won the Tennessee State Piano Competition twice and earned the Paderewski Medal for Guild for 10 years of superior ratings in a row.

This strong background of music theory allowed Rachel to excel in other areas of music. She taught herself ukulele and guitar and also served as clarinet section leader in her school band. She made her debut singing “Please Mister Postman” in the high school theater arts production.

Upon graduating from college, she compiled 13 demos of her original music and began sending them to venues. Due to the quirky subject matter of her original “The Kitten Song,” she became a regular performer at cat cafes. In early 2020, she launched a concert tour of those feline-friendly venues.

In 2022, Rachel independently released her debut EP Glory Daze, which went on to be featured on BBC Radio, Spotify’s Best of Fresh Finds Country 2022, and Grady Smith’s Youtube Channel where he named the title track one of the best country songs of 2022.

Now in 2024, Rachel just released her second EP, Honeysuckle Friend, which features her most poignant lyrics set to banjo, mandolin, and three-part harmonies.

1. Grow Up Slow
2. Parentheses
3. Memories In The Middle
4. Stoke The Coals
5. Hold The Ladder

Her brightly colored style, smooth vocals, and small-town charm immediately comes to the fore on the dreamy Grow Up Slow and then we get brought forth the luxuriant Parentheses, the upbeat and free-wheeling Memories In The Middle, the delightful new recording rounding out on the impassioned foot-tapper Stoke The Coals, closing on the robustly emboldened Hold The Ladder.

Musicians: Andy Ellison (steel guitar) & Johnny Smith (drums).

Grow Up Slow by Rachel McIntyre Smith (Lyric Video)

Official Spotify Purchase Link

For those not in the know, Thad Jones was still in his mid-50s when he originally recorded “My Centennial,” little more than halfway to the landmark birthday suggested by the composition’s title – hardly out of character for a trumpeter, composer and bandleader who was always well ahead of his time.

With Joes’ untimely passing in 1986 at the age of 63, the responsibility of commemorating his actual centennial – March 28, 2023, to be exact – falls to the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, the now-legendary ensemble that he co-founded in 1966 as the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra.

Centennial: The Music of Thad Jones (due out August 30th via BCM+D Records), is a vibrant celebration of an unparalleled body of work and an estimable legacy, renewed and revivified every Monday night on the stage of the most revered jazz club on the planet.

“I always say that we have two things going for us that no other band has,” explains bass trombonist Douglas Purviance, who joined the VJO in 1978 and now serves as its business manager. “That’s Thad Jones’ music and a steady gig at the Mecca of jazz. It’s every jazz musician’s goal to play the Village Vanguard, and we get to do that every week. It’s magic every Monday.”

The magic was extended to a week long enchantment in February 2024, as it is every year, to celebrate the ensemble’s own anniversary. Late in 1965, Jones -- middle brother of the famed jazz family that also included pianist Hank and drummer Elvin -- and the drummer Mel Lewis had agreed to share the helm of a new big band, booking three nights the following February to test the concept on the stage of the Village Vanguard.

The club’s cantankerous owner, Max Gordon, grudgingly acknowledged the Orchestra’s successful debut, reportedly suggesting, “We’ll keep it going until it tapers off.”

Nearly six decades and more than 2,700 Monday nights later, the Vanguard is still waiting. The Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra modernized the big band sound as the world changed through the late 60s and early 70s.

Jones’ writing and arranging drew upon the inspiration of the two most iconic bands in jazz history, elegantly interweaving the complexity and elegance of Duke Ellington with the fervor and blues roots of Count Basie, in whose band Jones had launched his career.

Disc 1:
1. Interloper (9:40)
2. Antigua (8:31)
3. Blues in a Minute (12:31)
4. 61st & Rich’it (12:52)
5. A Child Is Born (6:33)
6. Tow Away Zone (10:46)

The set-list, which reaches all the way back to the band’s beginnings, opens the first disc on the expressively free flowing Interloper and then brings us the sparkling Antigua, the veritably cinematic gem Blues in a Minute, the emotively entrancing 61st & Rich’it (which itself serves as a tribute to another foundational band member, original Orchestra bassist Richard Davis, who passed away in September 2023), and then we get both the dutifully spellbinding ballad A Child is Born and the spirited Tow Away Zone.

Disc 2:
7. Back Bone (11:02)
8. My Centennial (11:38)
9. All of Me (8:05)
10. Once Around (9:29)
11. Easy Livin’ (8:54)
12. Don’t Git Sassy (14:29)

Along next on this vibrant two-album set captured live on stage at the ensemble’s Monday night home for nearly six decades, the iconic Village Vanguard, the second disc opens on the luxuriant Back Bone and the fervently-charged My Centennial, and they are then in turn backed seamlessly by the sumptuous All of Me, the all-embracing Once Around, the recording rounding out on an impassioned Easy Livin’, closing on the soulful finger-snapper Don’t Git Sassy.

For those not in the know, another collaboration between Javon Jackson and Nikki Giovanni has produced a new album, Javon and Nikki Go to the Movies, which will be released on August 23rd, 2024.

Jackson and Giovanni have forged an artistic partnership that all started at UHart. Since bonding together over their connection to jazz during the University of Hartford’s annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Observance in 2020, the pair came full circle releasing their first two years later during Black History Month 2022, entitled The Gospel According to Nikki Giovanni.

Their relationship over the years have only deepened, as well as their shared interests. One of them is American Cinema, as directly referenced in latest album’s title. The album selects some of Giovanni’s favorites - standards from the Great American Songbook, many of them originally composed for Hollywood classics — as well as some of Jackson’s own compositions.

On Javon and Nikki Go To The Movies, Jackson is once again joined by longtime musicians he’s worked with for more than a decade. They include pianist Jeremy Manasia, bassist David Williams and drummer McClenty Hunter.

These musicians have appeared on Jackson’s 2018 album For You and its 2020 follow-up, Déjà Vu, then after The Gospel According to Nikki Giovanni, they reconvened for a portion of Jackson’s soundtrack to the documentary With Peter Bradley in 2023. On their latest album, they’re also joined by Grammy-winning vocalist Nicole Zuraitis.

1. When the Time Is Right
2. Speak Low/That Day
3. How About You
4. Theme For Nikki
5. I Belong To You
6. Love is a Many-Splendored Thing
7. The Nearness of You
8. Valse Hot
9. The Folks Who Live on the Hill
10. Have You Heard/Vegetable Soup

This vibrantly melodious new recording opens on the spirited When the Time Is Right and then brings us the low slung splendor of Speak Low/That Day, then Nicole Zuraitis brings her compelling vocals to an exhilarating How About You, before we are brought the aptly-cinematic Theme For Nikki (Jackson’s tribute to his collaborator), and again Nicole comes to the vocal fore on the languishing ballad I Belong To You.

Along next is the silky smooth Love is a Many-Splendored Thing and an achingly ornate The Nearness of You, and they are in turn backed seamlessly by the gentle finger-snapper Valse Hot, the album rounding out on the luxuriant, Nicole-sung, wistful The Folks Who Live on the Hill, closing on her mature reflection, along with that of Nikki Giovanni, on the combined Have You Heard/Vegetable Soup.

For those not in the know, with the release of his debut album, Gateway, the Phoenix-raised, New York City-based trombonist, composer, and educator Michael Pallas looks to make his mark as a leader to be reckoned with.

A trombonist inspired by J.J. Johnson. Curtis Fuller, Steve Turre and Papo Vasquez, Pallas is a proud alumnus of the Jackie McLean Institute, founded by legendary alto saxophonist and educator Jackie McLean in Hartford, Connecticut.

While Pallas has been performing professionally for over 15 years, including stints with legendary jazz pianist Abdullah Ibrahim, mambo big band leader Steve Oquendo, Afrobeat band Antibalas, hip-hop group Soul Science Lab and others, the trombonist was inspired to become a solo artist during the pandemic.

“I really had a lot of time just to reflect on where my career was at that point,” Pallas says, “and I felt like it was necessary for me to start moving in this direction of really seriously writing my own music, and eventually releasing my own record. So I began to compose tunes that dealt with themes and emotions that I and many artists were facing during the first two years of the decade.”

1. Life on Mars
2. One for the City
3. Steaming Hope
4. Patent(s)
5. Disu’s Dream
6. Counterfeit Blues
7. The Verdict
8. Today and Forever
9. Next Exit
10. Gateway
11. Beyond (The Gateway)
12. El Boli
13. Variant

This vibrantly melodious new recording opens on the smoothly fervent, infectious Cubop cut Life on Mars, the low slung finger-snapper One for the City (an upbeat waltz dedicated to New York City) and the languishing Steaming Hope and then we get brought forth the short, but nonetheless sweet, hip-hop flavored interlude Patent(s), the low slung Disu’s Dream (a rumba dedicated to memory of Pallas’ friend and fellow trombonist Jason Disu) and the groove-tastic Counterfeit Blues (which features spoken word artist Ghazi Omair talking about police brutality and the murder of George Floyd).

Along next is the continuance, in a way, of that last track, the addictive, drum ad percussion-led The Verdict and the beautiful ballad Today and Forever and they are in turn followed by the veritably shimmering, hip-hop friendly interlude Next Exit, the free-flowing musical majesties that come together for Gateway, and the Afrofuturistic, neo-soul-hued Beyond (The Gateway), the album rounding out on the buoyant El Boli (which is based on Chick Corea’s “Humpty Dumpty,”), closing on the empowering sounds of Variant (itself a blend of dance beats, psychedelic effects and Afro-Colombian cumbia rhythms).

Backed by saxophonist Lomar Brown, pianist Yeissonn Villamar, bassist John Benítez, drummer Jonathan Barber, and percussionist Nelson Mathew Gonzalez – with co-producer Alex Meltzer – the 13 Pallas-penned selections on Gateway reflect the myriad inventions and dimensions of 21st century jazz.

www.pallasmusic.com

For those not in the know, Fredericton-based singer songwriter Kylie Fox has reached a pivotal point in her music career. After making her introduction with the Balcony EP in 2017, Fox recruited EMCA award winning producer Dale Murray to create her claimed debut full-length album, Green.

Now firmly established as a prominent, emerging voice in both folk and indie rock circles in Atlantic Canada, her next moves may be her most important.

To help plot her course, Fox enlisted some of the Fredericton region’s most ubiquitous and sought after musicians. For the past few years she has been backed by a dream team of local players that includes multi-instrumentalist Kelly Waterhouse, drummer Ryan Barrie, bassist Camilo Villamizar, and lead guitarist Sean Hutchins, all four of which are featured alongside Fox and producer by Daniel Ledwell on her latest single.

Confetti was that single, a one sided, scornful love song with an awkward twist. “This song is actually a fairy tale break-up I stole from one of my friends,” said Fox of the inspiration behind writing the song.

And so it was Fox’s single that delightfully offered a dutiful, and insightful first glimpse of what’s to come from her upcoming sophomore album, Sequoia (out now).

1. Sequoia
2. Brandi Baby
3. Confetti
4. Ming Mei
5. Flush
6. Hit
7. Alberta
8. Spend the Morning with Me
9. Flying Dreams
10. Ali’s Wedding
11. Certain

This vibrantly melodious new recording, and one that delves into folk-Canadiana while exploring folk-rock and jazz-pop fusion, opens on the impassioned title track Sequoia and the rhythmically staggered Brandi Baby (a heartfelt tribute to Brandi Carlile, although interestingly enough the you in the song is Fox’s drummer and fiancé, Ryan Barrie), and then we get the upbeat and free flowing Confetti, the melodiously low slung Ming Mei and the silky smooth pop styling of Flush (which humorously lists said same fiancé’s flaws!)

With Fox herself describing the album as ’70s Sesame Street meets Sharon Van Etten, and all the tracks reflections on gratitude in relation to the women in her life, her environment, her relationships, and her very own self-awareness, along next is the gentle funk that drives Hit and the languishing Alberta, and they are backed by the lovely Spend the Morning with Me, rounding out with the more stridently structured Flying Dreams, coming to a close on the passively harmonic Ali’s Wedding, and the stillness of storytelling within Certain.

Kylie Fox - Confetti (Live Music Video)

www.kyliefox.ca

For those not in the know, since the late 1980s Sam Phillips has been a poetic voice in the alternative/pop realm. She recorded a series of acclaimed albums for Virgin Records, including the Grammy-nominated Martinis And Bikinis (expanded and reissued by Omnivore Recordings in 2012), all produced by T Bone Burnett.

At the turn of the century, Sam was invited by Amy Sherman-Palladino, who was a fan of Sam’s music, to score her new television series, Gilmore Girls, on a new network, The WB. Sam’s unconventional score featuring vocal and acoustic guitar was likened to an onscreen character itself and dubbed “the La La’s” by the growing legion of Gilmore Girls fans. Around that time Sam signed a new deal with Nonesuch Records and continued to build her stellar catalog.

In 2004, Phillips released A Boot And A Shoe, featuring guest artists including Burnett, Marc Ribot (Tom Waits, Elvis Costello), Mike Elizondo (Fiona Apple, Eminem), legendary drummer Jim Keltner, and the Section Quartet. The album contained 13 tracks including “Reflecting Light” and “If I Could Write”—both featured prominently in the Gilmore Girls original series and, most memorably, the Netflix revival Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life.

2024 marks the 20th anniversary of A Boot And A Shoe and to commemorate the anniversary, it is being issued for the very first time on vinyl, and reissued on CD, both with new liner notes by Sam. On the occasion of its 20th anniversary, now is the time to reintroduce this incredible record, and on the format fans of Sam and Gilmore Girls have been waiting for.

1. How To Quit
2. All Night
3. I Dreamed I Stopped Dreaming
4. Open The World
5. Red Silk Five
6. Reflecting Light
7. Infiltration
8. Draw Man
9. I Wanted To Be Alone
10. Love Changes Everything
11. If I Could Write
12. Hole In My Pocket
13. One Day Late

While I personally (albeit only slightly) prefer the darker tones on her previous-to-this masterpiece Fan Dance, here on A Boot And A Show the always-dulcet Sam is still musically sublime. The track Reflecting Light is simply one of the most beautiful songs she has ever written, in my humble opinion.

Noticeably brighter and a little more playful than her previous aforementioned release, it is no less profound and if, anything, is just a bit better than the second half of Fan Dance; based on the quality of the songwriting progression.

Indeed, her husband T-Bone Burnett has produced every one of Sam’s albums since 1988, and the success of each release is due in part to his general vision, but Sam’s creative input is still the reason I look for every record she puts out, even today.

Funnily enough, because of the overloaded bass on the brilliant All Night, I would highly recommend listeners use that song as a guide to program their stereos to get the most effective settings for listening to the album. The song itself actually sounds like something on a 50’s transistor radio, which itself simply adds tuneful credence to this album.

Furthermore, I really think that this album was her most adult and sophisticated set to date, and most definitely her strongest since 1994’s rockier, country-tinged Martinis & Bikinis (perhaps even stronger, at times).

Now, sure, at first A Boot And A Shoe may seem slight, but it is for sure an album that got better and better the more you played it. I mean, it had only been a few months since it had been released, and I can recall that my subtly nagging inner ear, suggesting that a lot of the songs were understated, sparing of melodic interludes, was soon eradicated as the songs got better and better with each listen.

In closing, this album has proven to be one of the most lovely, subtly engrossing and stalwart albums of that year and to this day remains in my Top 20 of all-time.

Official Purchase Link

www.samphillips.com

For those not in the know, this remastered Delay Tactics limited-edition 2CD set includes the double CD reissue of Out-Pop Options (1982) and Any Questions? (1984), as well as there also being a deluxe box-set which houses their brand new album Elements of Surprise (2022), plus the bonus CD, Delay tactics Live at The River Styx Poetry Series concert from 1983.

Delay Tactics was among the first American bands to produce music using digital instruments, including looping, sampling and delay effects, and was one of the most innovative indie bands of the 1980s. Formed in 1981 as the tape-looping guitar duo of Carl Weingarten and Reed Nesbit, Delay Tactics made its mark with late night ambient music concerts in St. Louis movie theaters.

Within a year, synthesist/sound designer Walter Whitney joined the band while recording the first Delay Tactics album, Out-Pop Options (Multiphase 1982). Nesbit departed in 1983 and was replaced by guitarist David Udell (of Wax Theatricks) and Delay Tactics released their second album, Any Questions? (Multiphase 1984).

Disc One: OUT-POP OPTIONS
1. Yellow Samba (5:35)
2. This Time (1:54)
3. Five PM Expressway (2:46)
4. On The Roll (2:32)
5. Journey To Omdurman (2:38)
6. Le Noeud De Viperes (4:39)
7. Cymbolia (3:56)
8. Rommie Dancing (3:49)
9. Chasing Moroder (5:43)
10. Basic Tactic (2:03)
11. Departure (2:56)
12. Fire Quest (5:06)*
13. Ceremony (2:28)*
14. Initial Opus*
15. Rommie Dancing (Live)*

*Tracks Previously Unreleased

The first album from St. Louis’ most vital group of musicians, is Out-Pop Options and opens on the veritably shimmering Yellow Samba, the opulent This Time, and the striking jagged Five PM Expressway and they are followed by the jaunty On The Roll, the powerful Journey To Omdurman and both the hauntingly ethereal, veritably industrial strains of Le Noeud De Viperes and then more aesthetic melodies that form Cymbolia are brought forth.

We then get brought forth the synth-propelled fever of Rommie Dancing, the cinematic Chasing Moroder and the cultured Basic Tactic, which are in turn backed seamlessly by the free-flowing Departure, a trio of previously-unreleased cuts in the vibrant Fire Quest, the elegantly-sculpted Ceremony and the pure brilliance of Initial Opus, the disc rounding out on a live version of Rommie Dancing (recorded at West End Wax, St. Louis, 4-9-1983).

Disc Two: ANY QUESTIONS?
1. Pterodactyl (3:11)
2. Hands On Fire (3:46)
3. Oysters (3:30)
4. On Green Waters (4:54)
5. Almost Touching (4:27)
6. Kites (6:05)
7. Under The Ice (4:18)
8. Trio (0:51)
9. Spring Man (5:56)
10. Woman In A Room (of Colors) (3:38)
11. Fiction Music (4:29)*
12. Nuke The Beat (3:43)*
13. Big Sound (3:10)*
14. Funk Tune (3:13)*
15. Ms. Witchdoctor (2:47)*
16. Car Crash Jam (5:42)*

*Tracks Previously Unreleased

Using a unique synthesis of electronic effects within a framework of rock bass and percussion, along next is their Any Questions? album, which itself kicks off with the synth-driven ebbs and flows of Pterodactyl, the sumptuously-synth Hands On Fire, and the gorgeous Oysters, and then we are graced with the ambient On Green Waters, the digitally punctuated Almost Touching, the eloquent Kites, and both the diffusive Under The Ice and the short, but sweet Trio.

Along next is the playfully perky Spring Man and the resoundingly all-encompassing Woman In A Room (of Colors), and the remainder of disc are all previously-unreleased tracks, such as the fun Fiction Music, the Human League-esque lines of Nuke The Beat, the aptly-titled Big Sound, the album closing on the Kraftwerk-esque Funk Tune, the atmospheric nature of Ms. Witchdoctor, and finally we get the charged Car Crash Jam.

From the more expansive box-set, Elements of Surprise is the latest release from the techno-pop instrumental trio Delay Tactics, making the band’s remarkable return with their first new album in 38 years. Produced and recorded by the original members Walter Whitney (keyboards, synthesizers), Carl Weingarten (electric and slide guitars) and David Udell (acoustic and electric guitars, keyboards), with special guest Michael Manring on fretless bass, Elements of Surprise contains all new songs ranging from the pop-ambient sound of Viola’s Ascent to the pastoral and evocative Acoustic Reprise to the prog inspired Shadow of Berlin, all showcasing the Delay Tactics signature sound.

This reissue of Delay Tactics’ seminal albums comes as a deluxe double compact disc package, remastered from the original master tapes. The package includes artwork and credits for both albums, plus 10 bonus tracks of previously unreleased studio and live recordings.

Official Purchase Page

Official Website

For those not in the know, The Breakers - a Surf /Psychedelic /Garage /Punk instro combo from the Chicago area - return with a collection of 18 psych surf instrumentals!

Ranging from galloping garage stompers to more experimental and atmospheric cuts, this hypnotic release is sure to get your synapses firing on all cylinders!

Featuring the previously released single, Monster Storm, along with evocative tracks like Escaping Through the Window and Garage Door To Your Mind, this one is sure to blow your stack!

1. Salute
2. Monster Storm
3. Escaping Through The Window
4. Landmark
5. A Seahorse Of A Different Color
6. El Tradicional
7. BagPipeline
8. Teardrops
9. Garage Door to Your Mind
10. Seamhead
11. Houses Floating Away
12. Moon Base Alert
13. Sharks in The Street
14. Skeleton Invasion
15. Rammer
16. Luck Favors the Prepared
17. White Bird
18. Internal Sun

Lovingly built for all surf-instro fans, the album opens on the Celtic-imbibed Salute, the propellant Monster Storm, and the melodically drum-led Escaping Through The Window, and then we get the all-embracing Landmark, the silky smooth title track A Seahorse Of A Different Color, the funky El Tradicional, the aptly-titled BagPipeline, and then both the languishing, shimmering Teardrops and the foot-tapper Garage Door To Your Mind.

Along next is the fully-charged guitar romp Seamhead, the glistening Houses Floating Away, and the atmospheric Moon Base Alert, and they are in turn backed by the fervently-driven Sharks In The Streets, the Halloween treat Skeleton Invasion, the grooved Rammer, some addictive rhythms that drive Luck Favors The Prepared, the recording rounding out on the melodious White Bird, closing on the vibrant Internal Sun.

Official Purchase Page

The Breakers @ BandCamp

For those not in the know, Swedish musical sensation Gunhild Carling competed as a celebrity dancer in Let’s Dance 2014 on TV4, placing third, and was also on Sweden’s Dancing with The Stars and even performed for Sweden’s Got Talent in 2017 and on America’s Got Talent season 2019.

She also performed with her Carling Big Band at the Royal Palace in Stockholm in the celebration for King Carl XVI Gustaf’s Ruby Jubilee. Between Touring with her own band, she performs in several configurations from solo to orchestra to symphony and as a featured singer and multi-instrumentalist in several of Postmodern Jukebox’s songs, including a 1920’s jazz swing version of Material Girl, and a 1920s hot jazz cover of ABBA’s Dancing Queen.

Gunhild Carling keeps serenading audiences in the US and all around the world today, has over 3 million views from social media earning her a silver award from You Tube, and has just released her brand new album, Jazz Is My Lifetyle (which includes her Big Band with Strings and some special guests.

1. Jazz is My Lifestyle
2. Shaking the Bangkok
3. I Desire You
4. Your Smile Makes the Difference
5. Fire Alarm
6. Chanson
7. Mardi Gras Blues
8. Cosmic Drive
9. Winters Day
10. You Are the Music
11. I’ll Wait In San Francisco

This wholly gratifying new recording, opens on the New Orleans-styled title track Jazz is My Lifestyle and then brings us the vibrant Shaking the Bangkok, the languishing I Desire You, and then come both the joyful finger-snapper Your Smile Makes the Difference and the frenetically-charged Fire Alarm.

Along next is the low slung Chanson and the buoyantly free flowing, harmonica-imbibed Mardi Gras Blues, and they are in turn backed seamlessly by the engaging balladry of Cosmic Drive, the sumptuous Winters Day, the recording rounding out on a sanguine You Are the Music, coming to a close on the impassioned, veritably showstopping I’ll Wait In San Francisco.

Whether she’s singing favorite jazz standards, playing one of her many instruments (trumpet, trombone, harmonica, oboe, harp, flute, recorder, or jazz bagpipe!), or juggling and tap dancing, Gunhild’s sublime showmanship shines.

Part musical extravaganza/part Vaudevillian spectacle, Carling’s live performances are guaranteed to be some of the most feel-good, toe-tapping, exhilarating shows of the year!

Official Purchase Link

www.gunhildcarling.net

For those not in the know, Hartford, CT-Based Pianist/Composer Andrew Wilcox pens an open letter to the Mentors and Influences that shaped him on his dazzling debut album, Dear Mr. Hill, available August 16th, 2024 from Truth Revolution Recording Collective.

The title of Dear Mr. Hill, the engaging debut album by the gifted, Hartford-based pianist and composer Andrew Wilcox, is addressed to the legendary Andrew Hill. But the album as a whole, a spirited mix of original compositions and keenly chosen standards, is a missive from Wilcox to the many mentors and influences that have guided him along his path.

“The elements that are at the core of this album are the people, places and things that have inspired me along the way,” Wilcox says. “Andrew Hill’s music hit me in a very deep, emotional place. It was the first time I’d heard somebody who was able to paint such complex emotional portraits in ways that I’d never heard before.”

Thus, Dear Mr. Hill not only conveys the musical inspiration of those teachers and influences, but surrounds Wilcox with them. The album teams Wilcox with the veteran rhythm section of bassist Avery Sharpe and drummer Yoron Israel, both of whom have taken the young pianist under their prodigious wings. The date was produced by fellow pianist and Truth Revolution co-founder Zaccai Curtis, while the liner notes were penned by the trumpeter Haneef Nelson.

1. Muir Woods
2. Mary
3. Home
4. Dear Mr. Hill
5. Stella By Starlight
6. Self-Doubt
7. Old Devil Moon
8. Onyx Warrior
9. Snow Queen

Recorded almost two years ago, his debut album opens on the all-encompassing Muir Woods (itself a tribute to the towering redwoods of the Bay Area forest) and then brings us the durable, yet supple Mary (dedicated to a close friend of Wilcox’s family), and then come both the impassioned, titular Dear Mr. Hill and the reharmonized standard Stella By Starlight.

With the album reflecting a broader base of influence and experience than just Wilcox’s musical evolution, along next is the penetrating Self-Doubt and that is in turn backed seamlessly by the encouraging standard Old Devil Moon, the recording rounding out on the audacious Onyx Warrior (which pays homage to the late drummer Ralph Peterson Jr.), the enticingly-sculpted Snow Queen (an ode to the Wilcox’s sadly missed golden retriever Koa) closing the set.

Andrew Wilcox - Dear Mr Hill [Official Video]

www.andrewwilcoxmusic.com

Andrew Wilcox @ Instagram

For those not in the know, right out of the starting gate, it’s apparent that the eagerly awaited new King Llama album, Fata Implexis (translating to “fate intertwined”), is something special, commanding and category-elastic.

The fiery and whip smart instrumental band’s tune “Lora Ky” packs an immediate and visceral punch, within its sophisticated changes, spidery guitar riffs, tricky unison lines and mosaic-like structure, built from material conjured up by guitarist-songwriter Ryan T. Bailey.

The song serves as a prelude and on-ramp to the electrifying journey unfolding over six tracks—including the multi-sectional 11-minute epic “Sir Isaac.”

What to call this music? Is it prog rock, post-fusion, and earthier variation on math rock, which also manages to be suitable for the jam band universe? Or is it, as the dynamic drummer Luis Briones wonders, something along the lines of “experimental fusion-influenced jam band music?

By whatever name or genre identifier, this music makes a bold statement on impact and paves the way for a bright future for this unique band.

At the core of the operation is a deep musical connection between guitarist-composer Bailey and Briones, who have tended the King Llama fires for many years and released their debut, Return to Ox in 2016.

As with much of the music world, the band’s forward motion was interrupted by the pandemic and the shuttering of live music, which then led to a long process of composing, rethinking and expanding the vision of the band.

1. Lora Ky
2. Bus Stop
3. Sir Isaac
4. Hamilton
5. Level Z
6. Vita et Mors

This brand new album, four years on from their last release, opens on the fervently-charged Lora Ky and then brings us the funky Bus Stop and the veritably shimmering at times, propellant and startling at others Sir Isaac.

Produced by Multi-Platinum and Grammy Award Winning Producer/Engineer Dennis MacKay (David Bowie, Paul McCartney, Jeff Beck, Stanley Clarke, Whitney Houston), along next is the all-encompassing rhythms within Hamilton, the album rounding out on the sweeping Level Z, closing on the impassioned, strident opus Vita et Mors.

www.kingllama.com

King Llama @ Instagram

King Llama @ Facebook

For those not in the know, Jeff Rupert is a freelance tenor saxophonist, a Yamaha Artist and a record producer under the Flying Horse Records label.

His numerous recordings as a featured soloist include dates with Maynard Ferguson, Sam Rivers, Diane Schuur, Mel Torme, Benny Carter’s Grammy winning recording, Harlem Renaissance (Music Masters), and the New Jersey Blues band TheFins, to name just a few.

He has also been featured on his own quartet recordings, Jeff Rupert, Jeff Rupert + Dirty Martini, Jeff Rupert & Kenny Drew Jr From Memphis to Mobile, in recordings with the Flying Horse Big Band, with blues group The Fins, and Jazz pianist, vocalist, and radio show host Judy Carmichael, among his many appearances.

His brand new album is entitled It Gets Better and is out now via Rupe Media.

1. Petrichor (in the Cote D’azur)
2. Comanche Crush
3. Lana Turner
4. It Gets Better
5. Pharaoh’s Daughter
6. Like Someone in Love
7. Nowhere to Go But Up
8. Not My Blues
9. Promenade in Blue

Few musicians can master the intricacies of jazz like Jeff Rupert and thus his wonderful new album opens on the luxuriant Petrichor (in the Cote D’azur) and then we get the spirited Comanche Crush, the ornately-hued, sultry Lana Turner, and then comes the finger-snapping title track, It Gets Better.

The talented tenor saxophonist continues onward with the free-flowing ambiance found within Pharaoh’s Daughter and the upbeat and joyful Like Someone in Love, which are in turn backed seamlessly by the bewitchingly guided Nowhere to Go But Up, the album rounding out on the fervent Not My Blues, closing on the low slung Promenade in Blue.

Jeff Rupert @ Facebook

For those not in the know, drawing on their eclectic backgrounds and passions, Dharma Down delivers a musical adventure spanning centuries and the globe, while always pushing their genre-bending music into the future.

Presenting music across the jazz compendium, Dharma Down also draws on influences from East European and Middle Eastern music and turns this identity crisis into its biggest asset.

The group’s just released debut album, Owl Dreams, prominently features original compositions inspired by American and Arabic traditions.

The ensemble is made up of some of New England’s top players united by their love of modern jazz and middle eastern music: Mike Effenberger (piano), Duncan Hardy (alto sax & qanun), Scott Kiefner (upright bass), and John Mettam (percussion) create a sound that is as intimate as it is powerful.

Trust me when I say that their compelling rapport creates an exciting new ensemble to follow closely for years to come.

1. Jalla Man (Trad.)
2. Bubu Jinn
3. Baghdad
4. Ex One Blues
5. A Murder of Cheerleaders
6. Tadafuqun
7. Among the Reeds
8. East 73rd Street
9. Michel
10. Jurjina
11. Thoughts and Prayers

Featuring 10 original tracks plus a modern reinvention of a 1000-year-old classical Arabic song, their debut recording opens on just that, the spirited traditional fare of Jalla Man and then brings us the highly impassioned Bubu Jinn, the languishing Baghdad, the playful modern and postmodern jazz found within Ex One Blues, and then we get brought forth the all-embracing A Murder of Cheerleaders.

With the recording leaning into the breadth of the group’s influences and styles, buoyed by the sensitivity and virtuosity of the individual players, along next is the intricately-sculpted, middle eastern influenced jazz of Tadafuqun and the late night, warming ambiance of Among the Reeds, the perky, veritably skittish East 73rd Street, the free flowing Michel, the recording rounding out on the flourishing Jurjina, closing on the shimmering Thoughts and Prayers.

www.dharmadown.com

Dharma Down @ Instagram

For those not in the know, Michael Dease is one of the world’s eminent trombonists, lending his versatile sound and signature improvisations to over 200 recordings and groups as diverse as Grammy winning artists David Sanborn, Christian McBride, Michel Camilo, and Alicia Keys.

Born in Augusta, GA, he played the saxophone and trumpet before choosing the trombone at age 17. In 2001, Dease moved to New York City to become part of the historic first class of jazz students at The Juilliard School, earning both Bachelors and Masters degrees, and quickly established a reputation as a brilliant soloist, sideperson, and bandleader.

Dease’s unique blend of curiosity, hard work and optimism has helped him earn worldwide recognition, including awards from ASCAP, The International Trombone Association, Yamaha, Eastern Trombone Workshop, New York Youth Symphony, Hot House Magazine, Michigan State University, among others.

And now the perennial DownBeat Critics Poll winner has just released his brand new album, Found In Space: The Music Of Gregg Hill on Origin Records.

1. The Last Pop Tune (7:37)
2. Found in Space (8:34)
3. One for Rodney (6:42)
4. The Stray Moonduck (6:28)
5. The Puppet Thief (6:27)
6. Rue De Royal (6:35)
7. Chillin With Wess (7:42)
8. Anthem (7:32)
9. Nostalgia (6:25)
10. A Wrinkle in Time (7:06)

This second pairing of the trombonist and prolific composer Gregg Hill opens on the almost Exorcist-esque lines of what then shows itself to be a highly cinematic The Last Pop Tune and then we get the flirtatiously comfortable title track Found in Space, the playful One for Rodney, the looming The Stray Moonduck and the low slung finger-snapper The Puppet Thief.

Full of reminders of ’70s cinema, Zappa albums circa The Grand Wazoo, bebop, and Big Bands through the ages, along next is the joyously forthright Rue De Royal which is it turn followed by the languishing Chillin With Wess, the elegantly organic vibe of Anthem, the album rounding out on the flighty Nostalgia, closing on the fervently impassioned A Wrinkle in Time.

Performers:
Sharel Cassity - flute, alto sax (3)
Virginia MacDonald - clarinet
Rudresh Mahanthappa - alto sax
Jason Hainsworth - tenor sax
Matt White - trumpet
Michael Dease - trombone, bari sax
Nanami Haruta - trombone
Bill Cunliffe - piano, Rhodes
Katie Thiroux - bass
Colleen Clark - drumset
Gwendolyn Dease - marimba, percussion
Gregg Hill - compositions & producer

Official Purchase Link

Official Website

Michael Dease @ Facebook

For those not in the know, Marc Ciprut is a guitarist, songwriter, and producer from New York. His music is influenced by the many different musicians he grew up listening to.

Everyone from Jimi Hendrix, Wes Montgomery, George Benson and Grant Green to Stevie Wonder, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin and Donny Hathaway. His music reflects these influences in his own unique way. It’s a mix of Blues, Rock and Jazz.

Indeed, Marc’s early years found him performing and recording in New York with everyone from Joss Stone and The Baha Men to Lenny White and Kenwood Denard.

In recent years he has turned his attention to writing and producing music for himself as well as various other artists.

His latest project is entitled Moonshine (out now) and is co-produced by Jimmy Haslip.

1. Moonshine
2. No Compromise
3. Cutie
4. Who Got Next?
5. No Mas Blues
6. No More Room
7. Slippery Slope
8. Funk You

This elegantly constructed and wholly impassioned new recording opens on the smart jazzy blues of the title track Moonshine and then brings us the propulsive blues guitar work of No Compromise, the low slung Cutie and the funky Who Got Next?

Along next is the free flowing No Mas Blues and that is in turn backed by the rhythmically funky, slight return of No More Room, the recording rounding out on the languishing, mid-tempo balladry of Slippery Slope, closing on the drum-fed, Hammond organ-hued, and aptly-titled Funk You.

Official Spotify Purchase Link

Official Website

Michael Dease @ Facebook

For those not in the know, Neil Adler grew up with musician parents and thus music has always been part of his life. He’s played and studied with masters of his craft, teaches, and has just released his brand new album entitled Emi’s Song, a record featuring original compositions, with Neil playing piano and chromatic harmonica, Jeff Buenz on 6-string bass, and drummer Akira Tana, and Carlitos Medrano on congas.

The music is energetic and melodic, driven and guided by a rhythmic core, this trio creates a great groove for your mind with every track. As Neil says, these are “... twelve tunes to make life better.”

1. Emi’s Song (4:44)
2. Besame Mucho (6:21)
3. Yearnin’ (5:41)
4. Tell Me a Bedtime Story (5:50)
5. Blues for McCoy (4:26)
6. Bill Evans Medley - Remembering The Rain/Only Child/My Bells (2:42)
7. The Peacocks (5:01)
8. Nelson’s Son (3:26)
9. Tenderly/That’s All (4:10)
10. Los Tres Golpes (3:32)
11. Century Rag (6:17)
12. Donna Lee (1:30)

This dutifully elegant new recording opens on the lazy-hazy, Parisian-hued title track Emi’s Song and the spiritedly forthright Besame Mucho and then we get the upbeat and joyous Yearnin’, the laid back, yet all-encompassing Tell Me a Bedtime Story, and then come the gently frenetic Blues for McCoy, and smoothly luxuriant Bill Evans Medley (Remembering The Rain/Only Child/My Bells).

Along next is the silky The Peacocks and the Afro-Cuban swirls and twirls that drive Nelson’s Son, and they are in turn backed seamlessly by the languishing Tenderly/That’s All, the cultured Los Tres Golpes, the album rounding out on some old ragtime ambiance that thrives within Century Rag, closing on the short, but nonetheless, chromatic harmonica-styled sweet Donna Lee.

Musicians:
Neil Adler - piano & chromatic harmonica
Jeff Buenz - six string bass
Akira Tana - drums
Carlitos Medrano - congas

Official Purchase Link

Official Website

Neil Adler @ Facebook