With the election so close, the division so fractious and potentially explosive, we feel a special event is needed for the public on Election Day. On November 3, Deep Tones for Change will transmit 4 performances each hour, spanning the 17 hours that US polls are open nationwide, from the East Coast to Hawaii – 68 individual performances!
03
Nov
[ November the 6th release via JCA Recs: Jazz Composers Alliance Orchestra – Live at the BPC ]
release date: 06.11.2020
“This is music for mind and soul.” —Montreal Gazette
“… the JCAO seamlessly moved from composition to improvisation, chordal improvisation to free extemporization, wide-open structure to well-ordered chaos. The music was daring but incredibly disciplined. Even in their wildest abandon, every musician demonstrated self-control in the service of expression and musical goals larger than themselves.” – Aesthetic, Not Anesthetic
Since 1985, the Boston-based Jazz Composers Alliance has presented creative, cutting-edge work by member composers both in concert and on recordings. On Friday, November 6 the group releases its genre-bending eleventh album – The JCA Orchestra Live at the BPC – showcasing four master jazz composers working at the top of their game: David Harris, Darrell Katz, Bob Pilkington and Mimi Rabson.
01
Nov
[ November the 4th,2020 release via Pine Eagle Records: Rich Halley’s The Shape of Things ]
release date: 04.11.2020 via Pine Eagle Records
“Heartland American jazz of the very highest order.” – Brian Morton, Point of Departure
“Oregon-based saxophonist Rich Halley has been turning out smart, brawny music for a couple of decades.” – James Hale, DownBeat
“Uncluttered, bold and powerful.” – Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz
Halley’s second recording with these players sees the group building on their intuitive chemistry in a series of incisive and powerful improvisations recorded in August 2019 in Brooklyn.
19
Oct
[ October the 30th, 2020 release via Pyroclastic Records: Junk Magic’s Compass Confusion ]
release date: 30.10.2020 via Pyroclastic Records
“Listen to the transfixing opening cut, ‘Laser Beaming Hearts,’ and in addition to Taborn’s aesthetic kinship with Detroit techno titan Carl Craig, you’ll be reminded of how many hours these improvisers have devoted, separately and in various configurations, to shifting the balance between abstraction and groove.” – Nate Chinen, WBGO
“Collages of dark and dirty parts, musical cast-offs, so to speak, that have been artfully reattached.” — Patrick Sisson, PopMatters
“More rewards await, rich and replete.” — Phil DiPietro, All About Jazz
For more than a decade, Junk Magic has been honing a collective sound that relies on individual expressions, imagination and subversion. Appearing first as a 2004 album title under pianist-composer Craig Taborn’s name, Junk Magic has transitioned into a sonic identity comprising electronic sound design, production techniques and elements of improvised music.
16
Oct
[ October 30,2020 release on Firehouse 12 Records: Mary Halvorson – Artlessly Falling ]
release date: 30.10.2020 via Firehouse 12 Records
“Not only the most distinctive guitarist of her generation – her barbed, warped sound also has few rivals in any other.” – Michael J. West, Washington Post
“When all her influences click into place, the result is like little else, in any genre.” – Seth Colter Walls, Pitchfork
“One of the most distinctive voices in jazz … possessing a slippery tone.” – Chris Barton, LA Times
“Ever since [Halvorson] began recording in the mid-2000s, she’s projected a strikingly personal voice on the electric guitar; you only need to hear a few seconds of her fastidious fingering and extravagant pitch bends to know it’s her….her compositional style, with its intricate melodies and sudden tempo changes, is as distinctive as her playing.” – Bill Meyer, Chicago Reader
“Maybe it’s the weathered grace of Wyatt’s vocals or the astringent lyricism of O’Farrill’s trumpet, but the writing here conveys the quirky charm of Carla Bley’s collaborations with Paul Haines. Except Bley’s keyboards were never as otherworldly as Halvorson‘s guitar.“ – J.D. Considine, DownBeat
11
Oct
[ October the 16, 2020 release via Pyroclastic Records: Nate Wooley’s Seven Storey Mountain VI ]
release date: 16.10.2020 via Pyroclastic Records
“Wooley’s investment [is] in the imaginative and emotional side of an experience that’s both physical and not.” — Justin Cober-Lake, PopMatters
“The prettiest, most progressive campfire music ever.” — Zachary Woolfe, The New York Times
Genre-defiant trumpet player and composer Nate Wooley brings together artists from seemingly disparate musical communities with the release of Seven Storey Mountain VI on Pyroclastic Records, the sixth iteration of his ecstatic song-cycle.
07
Oct
[ October 16,2020 release on One Trick Dog recs: Ben Rosenblum Nebula Project – Kites and Strings ]
release date: 16.10.2020 on One Trick Dog
“A witty, skillful composer, the multi-instrumentalist leads his first full band outing in fine form with playing and writing that are second to none,” – Midwest Record
From Leonard Bernstein and Neil Young to Bulgarian Women Vocalists and Rosenblum’s beguiling originals, the music showcases a brilliant cast of improvisers, including trumpeter Wayne Tucker, guitarist Rafael Rosa, reed expert Jasper Dutz, bassist Marty Jaffe and drummer Ben Zweig
03
Oct
[ October 9, 2020 release on Ridgeway Records: Edward Simon’s 25 Years ]
release date: 09.09.2020 on Ridgeway Recs
4 stars: “In a musical journey that spans the titular 25 Years, Simon has crafted a lot of music, employing a Latin/jazz/classical approach with a seemingly effortless refinement, making sounds that are unfailingly engaging and beautiful.” – Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz
“One of the strongest pianists of his generation, with intuitive empathy and drum-like ingenuity, and solos compositionally with passionate elegance.” — Ted Panken, DownBeat
Featuring tracks drawn from 13 albums spanning more than two decades, 25 features a brilliant cadre of Simon’s closest collaborators including tenor saxophonist Mark Turner, altoist David Binney, bassists Scott Colley, John Patitucci and Ben Street and drummers Brian Blade and Adam Cruz.
02
Oct
[ October 9, 2020 release via FiP recordings: Josh Sinton – “cérémonie/musique” ]
release date: October 9, 2020 via FiP Recordings
“…[the music] sounds like an avant-garde version of early Miles Davis, with slow, spaced-out notes, here played by Sinton over the bitonal underlay of an electric guitar and bass, neither of which are trying to break the sound barrier. It’s music that draws you inward….if you just let yourself go and let it wash over you, it creates a spell that is hard to break..” – Lynn Bayley, Art Music Lounge
“The balance between the more serious and more playful moments is well paced here. A serious listen will unleash several underlying layers of subdued connections. Take your time with this.” – Bruce Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
“I hear the freedom of making a chamber sound-object, something that breathes well in a small, closed space. More than a sculpture, I’m thinking of those early twentieth-century paintings that incorporate three- dimensional collages. Images that look naïve exactly because of their freedom, but they occupy their space so perfectly.”
– Giacomo Merega describing cérémonie/musique
01
Oct
[ October the 2nd,2020 release on Rataplan Records: 27 Licks – Devin Gray & Gerald Cleaver ]
release date: 02.10.2020 via Rataplan Records
The Story Behind 27 Licks
Michael Formanek to a 23 year old Devin Gray (now 37):
M: “Is it ok if Gerald Cleaver uses your drums for my gig in Baltimore next week?”
D: From Sweden on tour (already) “Who? yeah sure!”
One month later they met in Banff Canada for the first time.
D: “Oh so you’re Gerald Cleaver… Bill McHenry? (Maine connection) Chris Lightcap’s Lay-up?”
G: “Yup”
D: “I’ve been listening to you since I was 16!”