For those unaware, drummer and bandleader Joe Syrian returns with his Motor City Jazz Octet on A Blue Time, out April 24th, 2026 via Circle 9 Records — a follow-up to 2025’s Secret Message.

The album includes Duke Jordan’s “Jordu,” Tadd Dameron’s “A Blue Time,” Antonio Carlos Jobim’s “Agua de Beber,” Kenny Dorham’s “Blue Bossa,” the Beatles’ “Norwegian Wood,” and Peter Green’s “Black Magic Woman.” As Syrian puts it, “we deviated a lot, taking some rock tunes and making them jazzy, and taking some jazz tunes and making them a little rockier.”

“I like to think with 10 brains, not one,” Syrian says. “I don’t dominate, I listen and encourage. It’s really a give and take.” The lineup — pianist Adam Birnbaum, guitarist Paul Bollenback, trombonist Doug Beavers, alto and baritone saxophonist Carl Maraghi, tenor saxophonists Tim Ries and Dave Riekenberg, who also plays bass clarinet, and trumpeter and flugelhornist Nick Marchione — includes bass duties split between Lorin Cohen and Boris Kozlov, with appearances from vocalist Lucy Yeghiazaryan and percussionist Luisito Quintero. Beavers produced the album, with arrangements by Beavers, Birnbaum, John Fedchock, Brian Stark, Rich DeRosa, and David O’Rourke.

“Every guy in this band could be the leader,” Syrian says. “Being a leader, you just bring the pencils to the rehearsal or something. These guys lead themselves.” The solos carry the music. “The solos, they’re more important than anything else. Jazz is built around improv, and these guys just take it to the next level.”

1. Jordu [05:09]
2. Agua de Beber [05:21]
3. Teach Me Tonight (feat. Lucy Yeghiazaryan) [04:08]
4. Norwegian Wood [05:26]
5. Black Magic Woman (feat. Paul Bollenback) [05:15]
6. Charade [05:17]
7. Blue Bossa [05:35]
8. Nature Boy [05:09]
9. Sway [04:59]
10. A Blue Time [04:44]

Recorded across two sessions — May 16–19, 2023 at Trading 8s Studios in New Jersey and October 20–22, 2025 at Studio Mozart, they open their new recording on a confidently establishing Jordu before we are gifted the gently formed, yet definitively rockier sound than what we are used to on Agua de Beber, a confidently crafted Teach Me Tonight (featuring Armenian vocalist and violinist Lucy Yeghiazaryan), with both a delightfully reshaped Norwegian Wood and an electric guitar-driven Black Magic Woman (featuring jazz guitarist Paul Bollenback) are brought forth.

Up next is a beautifully dulcet samba that free flows within Charade which is itself backed smoothly by the impassioned Blue Bossato, and then comes the Afro-Cuban drum rhythms that compel Nature Boy to truly flourish, before the set rounds out on the beautifully ambient Sway, coming to a close on some swingingly luxuriant sounds within the titular A Blue Time.

Joe Syrian - A Blue Time on Circle 9 Records [Official Video]

Official Purchase Link

www.joesyrianmotorcityjazzoctet.com