releases September 03, 2021
Chapter two of an amazing story. The music seethes with dense, sharply focused energy. Lush bass lines, intense drums, explosive saxophone play – three German masters of improvised music fuse acoustic instruments with digitally generated sounds. All of this is done live without overdubs. equally integrated into their live concept. Together it creates an unprecedented mix of man and machine.
release date: 29.08.2021 via Endectomorph Music
“An engaging, delightful excursion into Birdology.” — George Kanzler, Hot House
“Radically inventive original compositions inspired by Charlie Parker.” – Mat Micucci, Jazziz
“…Sun swings for the fences with his sense of form and scale.” – Nate Chinen, WBGO
“Sun has a warmth, richness and rhythmic vitality to his playing that at times brings Lester Young or Sonny Rollins to mind.” – Troy Dostert, All About Jazz
“An outstanding recording…The album acknowledges the past, lives in the present and looks to the future… The spirit of Charlie Parker is very much alive on this one, an album that seems to bring new discoveries with every listen. Highly recommended.” – Miguel Zenón, saxophonist/composer
Kevin Sun‘s visionary, radical re-imagining of the music of Charlie Parker for a new century. The ‘<3 Bird’ album will be released on August 29, 2021, Parker’s 101st birthday.
release date: 27.08.2021 via HUBRO
Morten Qvenild and Gard Nilssen, previously know as the duo “sPacemonKey”, have returned as the duo SKRIM; the magical musical interaction they have refined for over 10 years, just as present. This time they are extended with guests Ståle Storløkken and Stian Westerhus – a constellation that formed under Gard Nilssen’s residency at Moldejazz 2019. These four improvising musical wanderers went in the studio, or out for a walk if you will. They walked on crooked paths into a wild musical landscape that you are guaranteed to have never heard before.
release date: 20.08.2021 via Cornerstone Jazz
“[Yanda] flaunts melodic imagination and a brisk feel for swing.” – Bob Doerschuk, DownBeat
“[Yanda] is a wonderful guitarist… He combines [Larry] Coryell’s looseness with [Jim] Hall’s precise tone in a unique burning style.” – Jerome Wilson, Cadence
release date: 06.08.2021 via 4RM Music Productions
“With the right sass and style to be a first class jazz vocalist, this later in life debut hits all the right notes throughout.” – Chris Spector, Midwest Record
“soulful , warm, intense, with daring improvisation in her scat – singing, bringing out a certainty of joy and celebration…. a production that reveals from the beginning its aspirations and achieves them to the fullest extent.” – Phontas Troussas, Vinylmine
All Or Nothing, brings together a lifetime of experience and influences from jazz, R&B, gospel and classical music with an all-star band featuring Don Braden, Cyrus Chestnut, Kenny Davis and Vince Ector,
release date: 30.07.2021 on Not Two
“Altschul remains a master drummer and bandleader. Long Tall Sunshine pulls off a delightful paradox: it combines in-your-face vigor with subtlety, probing free improvisations with appealing compositions.” – Michael Ullman, Arts Fuse
“And so this album goes: surprise after surprise…Clearly one of the most exciting jazz recordings ever made!” – Lynn Bayley, Art Music Lounge
On The Long Tall Sunshine, Not Two, reconvenes Altschul’s adventurous group. Three, as those of us who grew up on Schoolhouse Rock will remember, truly is a magic number. It’s enshrined in the name of The 3dom Factor, the astounding trio led by legendary drummer/improviser Barry Altschul for the last decade or so. That sobriquet reflects the vital importance of all three voices in the band: not only Altschul’s powerful, ever-inquisitive drumming, but the tirelessly venturesome saxophone playing of Jon Irabagon and the acrobatic muscularity of bass great Joe Fonda.
Fred Hersch: Refuge, due out January 7, 2022 via Palmetto Records, features Hersch with Drew Gress, Jochen Rueckert & The Hudson String Quartet
“Fred Hersch belongs to the jazz piano aristocracy, that small elite called to leave a lasting mark.” – Louis-Julien Nicolaou, Télérama, June 2021
“Fred Hersch is always on target. Right in the heart. By playing ‘Songs from Home.’ Fred Hersch makes Bal Blomet his home. The audience’s silence is worthy of that of the forest that surrounds the house where this album was recorded…. Fred Hersch makes the piano sing…. The public does not want to leave. Fred Hersch either.” – Guillaume Lagrée, Le jars jase jazz, June 2021
release date: 16.07.2021 via Brass Tonic Records
”…one of the most intriguing and promising composers and trumpeters on the contemporary music scene.“ – Derk Richardson, San Francisco Chronicle
At its best music is an act of generosity that flows from creative camaraderie. Slated for release on July 16, 2021 via Brass Tonic Records, Sarah Wilson’s third album Kaleidoscope results from that kind of rarefied communion. The San Francisco Bay Area trumpeter, vocalist, and composer wrote and recorded the music in a spirit of gratitude inspired by some of the key figures in her creative life. She’s joined by a nonpareil cast of improvisers, including pianist Myra Melford, drummer Matt Wilson, violinist Charles Burnham, bassist Jerome Harris, and guitarist John Schott.
release date: 16.07.2021 via Origin Records
The Alchemist, due out July 16, 2021 via Origin Records, rescues a brilliant 2005 performance by the masterful Scott Reeves Quintet, featuring Russ Spiegel, Mike Holober, Howard Britz, Andy Watson, and Reeves on alto flugelhorn, alto valve trombone and electronics
“[Scott Reeves’] compositions are sophisticated yet accessible, his arrangements scrupulously burnished and invariably engaging.” – Jack Bowers, All About Jazz
“[The quintet’s] sound slips out of the ‘standard’ description, with its atmosphere of adventure and edgy energy, and an approach that more than hints at the avant-garde in a way that perhaps Jackie McLean did on his ’60s Blue Note recordings… [Reeves’] solos are spirited and spontaneous.”
– Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz
