02 Oct

[ October the 4th, 2024 release on Capri Records: Mark Masters features Tim Hagans – Sui Generis ]

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Sui Generis, due out October 4 on Capri Records, presents a cycle of nine original compositions performed by an octet and designed as feature vehicles for trumpeter Hagans

“Mark Masters has emerged as one of the great jazz arrangers of the 20th and 21st century.” – Michael G. Nastos, Allmusic

“Masters paints complex, intricate, detailed jazz landscapes, and he has always invited some of the most adventurous and innovative players into his ensemble.” – Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz

It was nearly fifty years ago that a teenage Mark Masters, then an aspiring young jazz trumpeter, first encountered the sound of trumpeter-flugelhornist Tim Hagans, who was playing in the Stan Kenton Orchestra.

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16 Jul

[ July 19th, 2024 release on Capri Records: Michael Pagan’s Quintet – Paganova ]

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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

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11 Aug

[ August 18th, 2023 release via Capri Records: Mike Jones, Penn Jillette & Jeff Hamilton – Are You Sure You Three Guys Know What You’re Doing? ]

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Pianist Mike Jones leads a unique trio with bassist/magician Penn Jillette and master drummer Jeff Hamilton on a playfully swinging new album Are You Sure You Three Guys Know What You’re Doing?, out August 18, 2023 via Capri Records, is the second album pairing the music director for the Penn & Teller show with his boss

“[On The Show Before the Show,] you’re hearing the unfettered joy in making music. Jones’ all-over-the-keys virtuosity dominates, but Penn is not shy about producing a fat tone and vivid attacks.” – Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune

“[Mike Jones is] a full-keyboard player with an elegant sense of swing and a commanding attack with superb taste in chord voicings, pedal tones and melody lines.” – Marc Myers, JazzWax

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05 Nov

[ November the 19th, 2021 release via Capri Records: Jeff Hamilton – Merry & Bright ]

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Merry & Bright, drummer Jeff Hamilton’s holiday album featuring his acclaimed trio with pianist Tamir Hendelman and bassist Jon Hamar, is out November 19, 2021 via Capri Records.

The swinging album showcases Hamilton‘s favorite Christmas tunes selected from his memories growing up in a family where everyone gathered around the piano at holiday time to sing in four-part harmony. 

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15 Sep

[ September 21, 2021 release via Capri Records: Graham Dechter – Major Influence ]

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release date: 21.09.2021 via Capri Records

Major Influence, out September 17, 2021 via Capri Records, reunites Dechter with all-star rhythm section Jeff Hamilton, John Clayton and Tamir Hendelman“Los Angeles guitarist Graham Dechter wowed listeners with his 2009 debut as a leader, Right On Time, and he hits it out of the park again with his sophomore release, Takin’ It There.”         –  Jennifer Odell, DownBeat

“Dechter should be on the scene for many years to come. Only in his twenties, he shows both a skill and maturity that many players don’t find until middle age.”

– John Heidt , Vintage Guitar Hit List
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12 Sep

[ September the 17th, 2021 release via Libra Records: Satoko Fujii – Piano Music ]

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release date: 17.09.2021 via Libra Records

Pianist-composer Satoko Fujii’s Bold Experiment  with Sound Collage and Prepared Piano

“…magical, unfamiliar sounds that can stimulate your sense of wonder and affect your emotions . . .” — Barry Witherden, Jazz Journal

“Fujii’s music troubles the divide between abstraction and realism. Plucking or scraping the strings of the piano; covering them up as she strikes the keys…. All of this amounts to abstract expressionism, in musical form. But it’s equaled by her rich sense of simplicity, sprung from the feeling that she is simply converting the riches of the world around her into music.”
—Giovanni Russonello, New York Times

Pianist-composer Satoko Fujii is often quoted as saying that she “wants to make music no one has heard before.” She more than fulfills that goal on her latest solo album, Piano Music, out September 17 via Libra Records. Using short pre-recorded snippets of her prepared piano music, she edits them together to create a patchwork quilt of unique sonorities. The results are unlike anything she has done before—two extended pieces of otherworldly piano sounds and melodies that evolve so smoothly and organically you can’t tell they’re stitched together from smaller fragments.

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09 Sep

[ September the 17th,2021 release via Capri Records: Sheila Jordan – Comes Love: Lost Session 1960 ]

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release date:17.09.2021 via Capri Records

“Cheeky, importunate and canny, [Sheila] Jordan’s voice is one of the great standard-bearing instruments of midcentury jazz… she still has that mix of sagacity and ingenuous charm that endeared her to discerning listeners in the 1960s.” 
– Giovanni Russonello, The New York Times
 
“Sheila Jordan is a one-of-a-kind artist who possesses the power to captivate audiences, inviting all to join her on a magical mystery tour of jazz history.” – Roseanna Vitro, JazzTimes
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12 Jun

[ June the 18th, 2021 release via Capri Records: The Mark Masters Ensemble – Masters & Baron Meet Blanton & Webster ]

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release date: 18.06.2021 via Capri Records

“Mark Masters is an accomplished arranger who comes up with hip, unusual ideas for jazz concerts and recordings.” – Thomas Conrad, JazzTimes

“Masters paints complex, intricate, detailed jazz landscapes, and he has always invited some of the most adventurous and innovative players into his ensemble.”
– Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz

Featuring veteran trombonist Art Baron, the last trombonist hired by Ellington himself in 1973, the album presents arranger/bandleader Masters‘ fresh, contemporary re-interpretations of Ellington’s iconic 1940-1942 work, when his orchestra featured bassist Jimmie Blanton and tenor sax master Ben Webster.

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15 May

[ May 21, 2021 release via Capri Records:Keith Oxman and Frank Morelli – The Ox-Mo Incident ]

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release date: 21.05..2021 via Capri Records

“A smoking straight ahead date that is pure fun…one can only hope that there’s more of the same in the offing. Hot stuff.” – Chris Spector, Midwest Record

“If anyone still needs convincing that outstanding jazz players live and work in places other than on the East and West Coasts, they should check out Denver-based Keith Oxman… an excellent improviser with a fine sound, agile technique and sure harmonic sense. He also exhibits a thorough knowledge of the hard bop language and can swing like crazy.” – David Franklin, JazzTimes

“Morelli coaxed the most exquisite tones from his instrument. They were at times husky, gruff and growling, and at others sweet and soaring across three octaves, but always mellow and elegant, like a fine, mature red Burgundy.” – John Farnworth, The Register Guardian

On the album, tenor saxophonist Oxman and bassoon virtuoso Morelli, accompanied by pianist Jeff Jenkins, bassist Ken Walker, and drummer Todd Reid, find unique common ground as jazz meets classical. The two gifted instrumentalists turn the novel conjunction of two strange bedfellows into an intoxicating sound and a charming conversation between like-minded souls.

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