I feel that Golden City – saxophonist and composer Miguel Zenón’s sweeping suite inspired by the complex and promising history of the Bay Area – is a masterpiece.
Featuring a brilliant band with Zenón, Miles Okazaki, Matt Mitchell, Dan Weiss, Chris Tordini, Daniel Díaz, Alan Ferber, Diego Urcola, and Jacob Garchik, the album will be released August 30 via Miel Music.
Javon and Nikki Go to the Movies, due out August 23, 2024 via Solid Jackson / Palmetto Records, draws on the pair’s shared love for standards from Hollywood cinema
“Saxophonist Javon Jackson, he of the sonorous tenor tone and the inquisitive musical mind.” – R.J. DeLuke, All About Jazz
“That a single musician can be equally inspired by the fiery poetry of [Nikki] Giovanni and [Peter Bradley,] a painter who works in abstraction (with no less fiery a personality) says something about the complexity of the musical tradition we call jazz.” – Joshua Myers, DownBeat
Javon & Nikki performances : August 18 – Jazz in the Valley, Poughkeepsie, NY • October 19 – NJPAC, Newark, NJ • November 9 – Louis Armstrong House, Queens, NY
With playful and creative interaction and exceptional chemistry, Mari Kvien Brunvoll, Stein Urheim, and Moskus take another step into uncharted musical territory. The result is the album Barefoot in Bryophyte, coming out on the 9th of August, 2024 on HUBRO Records label.
Out August the 2nd, the recording, featuring Chase Morrin, George Lernis and Naseem Alatrash, confronts crucial social issues through a collection of expansive narrative suites
“I love [Chase’s] playing and composing. He is always seeking and growing.”– bassist John Patitucci
“Listeners with even the slightest thirst for adventure will be quickly seduced by the swelling rhythms and high-spirited melodies created by Cyprus native George Lernis.” – Mark Holston, Jazziz
“Alatrash is a soloist who knows how to make his instrument transcend its traditional role and branch out in a consistently engaging manner to straddle multiple genres at once.” – Jordan Owen, ArtsATL
TENOR SAXOPHONIST JOEY BERKLEY ROARS BACK FROM FOCAL DYSTONIA WITH THE BLISTERING THREE MOVEMENT “A SUITE LIFE”
release date: 23 July 2024 on Greydisc Records
Announcing an In Visible Ascent, the new Greydisc Records album from Kevin Kastning (US) and Phil Grenadier (US) is a real privilege to us and the 2nd time that we have a pleasure to face the incredible music universe that Kevin’s Duo concepts are. Like the collaboration we heralded the last month, with bassist Bruno Raberg, also here we have a rare opportunity to listen to two very distinctive voices , which approach the air with very specific pace and the sense of space.
Guitarist Miles Okazaki gathers an extraordinary cast of ten musicians to create Miniature America, a collection of 22 vignettes exploring the wonder of chance encounters and “found” compositions.
Available July 19, 2024 via Cygnus Recordings, the album offers a serpentine journey through a sonic landscape created by Okazaki using radical studio techniques and material improvised by Matt Mitchell, Jen Shyu, Anna Webber, Jacob Garchik, Fay Victor, Jon Irabagon, Ganavya, Caroline Davis, and Patricia Brennan.
“finding fresh joy, surprise and what he calls “thisness” in off-kilter musical geometry has long been Okazaki’s specialty.” – Alan Scherstuhl, The New York Times
“Okazaki is a wildly versatile musician, freakishly precise, but also full of emotion.” – Craig Morgan Teicher, The Paris Review
Paganova, the stellar new quintet recording from pianist/composer Michael Pagán who has become a fixture of the Kansas City jazz scene over the past two decades, will be out July 19, 2024 via Capri Records. Joining Pagán on the album are David Chael and Michael Herrera on saxophones, Louie Pagán on bass and Ray DeMarchi on drums.
“This award-winning arranger never ceases to find ways to reinvestigate, reinvent, and rejuvenate himself as a soul-searching artist who constantly challenges himself to dive deeper into the jazz chasm.” – Dr. Wayne Goins, Director of Jazz Studies, Kansas State University in his liner notes for the album
“I’m invariably floored by the high quality of each release by the pianist, composer and bandleader.” – Bill Brownlee, Plastic Sax
“. . . a great display of musicianship both from a compositional and performance point of view.” – Bob Karlovitz, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
“Michael Pagán deserves recognition as a superior jazz pianist.” – Scott Yanow, All Music Guide
“. . . a dynamic artist and musical force in today’s jazz world.” – Edward Blanco, All About Jazz
Low woodwind specialist Brian Landrus, guitarist Dave Stryker, bassist Jay Anderson, and drummer Billy Hart celebrate the music of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn on the gorgeous new album Brian Landrus Plays Ellington & Strayhorn just out July 12, 2024 via Palmetto Records.
“The low reeds specialist Brian Landrus [is] a commanding voice on both baritone saxophone and bass clarinet.” – Nate Chinen, WBGO
“Brian Landrus established himself as a composer of great strength and substance, and rose to his position as one of the foremost low reed specialists on the scene.” – Dan Bilawsky, All About Jazz
The album features Landrus on a full spectrum of instruments: baritone and bass saxophones, bass and contra alto clarinets, piccolo, and C, alto and bass flutes. With Grammy-winning engineer and producer John Kilgore, he layers his multi-hued voices into a rich and distinctive orchestral sound that harkens to the lush timbres of the classic Ellington Orchestra while displaying an evocative sonic hue all his own.
Release Date: July 12th, 2024
A vocal-piano duo with vocalist Milton Suggs and pianist Michael King released their debut recording on the Imani Records label. This album features the music of some of jazz’s most revered musicians and composers, such as Horace Silver, Cedar Walton, Lee Morgan, with lyrics penned by Milton Suggs.
“A commanding singer…steeped in tradition…but with modern sensibilities.”- Downbeat Magazine
