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Armen Donelian Underscores His Jazz Legacy With a New Reissue of "Stargazer," His 1981 Debut, By Sunnyside Records on October 3 Previously Obscure Recording, Released Only in Japan, Features Pianist-Composer With Bassist Eddie Gomez & Drummer Billy Hart & Seven Original Compositions, Including a Previously Unreleased Track from the 1980 Session   August 6, 2025 Produced when pianist-composer Armen Donelian was not yet 30 years old, Stargazer—his debut recording as a leader—was released as an LP in 1981 on an indie Japanese record label and only available elsewhere as a hard-to-find import. Until now, that is. On October 3, Donelian’s longtime label Sunnyside Records will reissue Stargazer, a stunning and remarkably assured trio date with bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Billy Hart, for the first time in nearly 45 years.   The reissue comes just in time for Donelian’s 75th birthday in December. “I never really look back that much on my career, or even think about the idea of a ‘career,’” he says. “I’m not by any means tied to the past. I've always loved moving forward into the explorative space, the unknown.” Nevertheless, with his first album rarely heard by human ears in more than a generation, he “felt strongly this was a document that needed to be available.”   Indeed it did. Donelian’s high-caliber chops as a pianist, improviser, and composer were readily apparent on that day in April 1980, when he gathered into a New York City studio with Gomez and Hart (both already celebrated for their work with Bill Evans and Herbie Hancock, respectively). Pieces like the swooning “Southern Belle” and the ruminative waltz “Silent Afternoon” are stellar examples of all of these gifts. More than that, though, they show the stark originality that the 29-year-old had already cultivated as a protégé of pianist Richie Beirach, percussionist Mongo Santamaria, and saxophonist Sonny Rollins. Armen Donelian, Billy Hart, Eddie Gomez (photo: Eliot Soffes) Every bit as impressive, though, is the rapport he instantly establishes with his trio mates. Donelian’s interaction with Gomez and Hart on the opening title track and the giddy delirium of “Love’s Endless Spin” is positively electric. And, on the spontaneous tandem invention “Free at Last,” the lines of communication between the three musicians are so powerful that even knowing it’s a recording, one feels the urge to not get too close.   Joining a long tradition of songs inspired by the start of the work week, “Monday” opens with Hart’s sharp, minute-and-a-half knock-you-outta-bed drum solo, which paves the way for the locomotive counterpoint between the bass line and Donelian’s melody. The rhythmic feel is bebop, but the chord changes are his own, “and the bass line is as much part of the melody as the top line,” he says. “I play it often, and use it in my university ensemble classes to teach about interplay and rhythmic precision.”   The obscurity of Stargazer inherently makes the reissued album a revelation to most fans. Even hardcore jazzheads, though, will find a new discovery in the bonus track “Queen of Light,” recorded for the album in 1980 but left off the Atlas Records release the following year. Built on a sultry medium-slow Hart groove, the tune finds Donelian and Gomez in turn piling up earthy, bluesy runs, then artfully twisting them in cerebral and suspenseful directions. Stargazer is technically a reissue, but it sounds every bit as fresh as a new release. Armen Donelian was born December 1, 1950 to a family of Armenian immigrants in Queens, New York City. He began studying piano at the age of seven, enrolling at the Westchester Conservatory of Music. At 12, he discovered jazz by way of a trad band led by noted studio guitarist Arthur Ryerson; Armen’s older brother played clarinet in the band, and he himself eventually became its pianist.   He studied music theory and composition at Columbia University—then entered a different sort of finishing school via the tutelage of Richie Beirach. The celebrated pianist was the first in a long line of musical mentors: Donelian soon found himself sharing bandstands with Mongo Santamaria, Claudio Roditi, Sonny Rollins, Chet Baker, and Billy Harper. Throughout it all (though especially while in Harper’s band), he worked to develop his own sound, beginning a solo career in earnest with his 1981 debut Stargazer.   More than a dozen albums followed over the next 40-odd years, including the acclaimed releases Secrets (his 1988 second album for Sunnyside), All or Nothing at All (2006), Sayat-Nova: Songs of My Ancestors (2014), and Fresh Start (2022).   In addition to his recording and performing career, Donelian is an accomplished educator. He has received seven prestigious Fulbright Scholar and Specialist Awards for residencies in six European countries. He is a co-founder of the Hudson Jazz Workshop; an adjunct professor at the New School and William Paterson University; and the author of the books Training the Ear, vols. 1 & 2 and Whole Notes: A Piano Masterclass.      "Stargazer" EPK    Armen Donelian Website  

EDDIE DANIELS PAYS HOMAGE  TO BRAZILIAN LEGEND MILTON NASCIMENTO WITH  TO MILTON WITH LOVE,  TO BE RELEASED ON CD BY RESONANCE RECORDS ON AUGUST 29, 2025   Acclaimed Multi-Reedist’s 3rd Tribute to the Musical Icons of Brazil Reimagines Nascimento’s Landmark 1969 Album Courage with an Ensemble Featuring Anthony Wilson (g), Josh Nelson (p), Kevin Axt (b), Ray Brinker (d) and the Lyris String Quartet   Extensive 16-Page Booklet Includes Liner Notes by Award-Winning Author and Historian James Gavin     Eddie Daniels takes his ongoing celebration of Brazilian musical legends to new and ambitious territory with Resonance Records’ release of To Milton With Love as a CD and digital download on August 29th. (A worldwide release will follow on September 19th.)   Master clarinetist and saxophonist Daniels pays homage to Brazil’s great singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Milton Nascimento with a bold re-creation of Courage, Nascimento’s second studio album, released in 1969 by CTI Records. It is Daniels’ third tribute album to an icon of Brazilian music, following 2018's Grammy-nominated Heart of Brazil: A Tribute to Egberto Gismonti, and 2020's Night Kisses: A Tribute to Ivan Lins (both also released on Resonance).   Recorded at Resonance Records Studio in Beverly Hills and mastered by Matthew Lutthans at the state-of-the-art Mastering Lab in Salina, Kansas, To Milton With Love was produced by Resonance founder and co-president George Klabin.   Eddie Daniels © Paul Gitelson Daniels leads a breathtaking ensemble on To Milton With Love, including Grammy-nominated guitarist Anthony Wilson, pianist Josh Nelson, bassist Kevin Axt, and drummer Ray Brinker. In addition, the album features the coruscating work of the Lyris String Quartet, with lush arrangements by Kuno Schmid and Josh Nelson.    The package includes detailed liner notes by James Gavin, the author of widely praised biographies of Chet Baker, Peggy Lee, and Lena Horne, as well as a fond remembrance by Klabin of his long-ago chance encounter with the great Nascimento—an encounter that helped to inspire this album’s creation.   “In 1969, by total coincidence, I attended a small New York City jazz club to hear my friends Airto and Flora Purim play,” Klabin recalls. “After their set they introduced me to a very quiet young man seated in the listening area, named Milton Nascimento, who was in New York to record his first album for A&M Records at the famous Rudy Van Gelder Studio in New Jersey.”    The album he made during that stay was indeed Courage, featuring Herbie Hancock and vast orchestral arrangements by Eumir Deodato, and already well on its way to becoming a classic when Klabin purchased the record upon release. “I was captivated, never having heard such original and deeply moving melodies strung together,” says Klabin, “and Milton’s lovely plaintive vocals, which seemed to emanate right from his soul!” To this day it remains Klabin’s all-time favorite recording.   In revisiting the music of Courage, Klabin placed Daniels at the helm of an instrumental album, free of attempts to mimic or evoke Nascimento’s inimitable singing voice, and with brand new arrangements of the familiar tunes (including Nascimento’s beloved “Travessia”). They enlisted the talents of both Nelson and Schmid for the task—the latter reducing the oceanic arrangements of the 1969 album to a more compact string quartet—resulting in an ambitious project that is instantly recognizable to fans of Nascimento, yet compelling in its own originality. (The album concludes with an original Nelson/Daniels composition, “For Milton,” a by-turns poignant and charming duo for piano and soprano saxophone.)    It also contains the unmistakable and irrepressible musical spirit of Eddie Daniels, who stamps every track with his unique blend of joy and beauty.   “At George Klabin’s suggestion, Eddie Daniels kept Nascimento’s singing in mind as he played,” Gavin observes. “‘It’s almost like talking a song, it’s so ethereal,’ he says. ‘I let myself play some jazz here and there and step out in a simple way that I felt belonged to the song, rather than becoming Bird or Coltrane.’ “Daniels has risen to every occasion since 1966, when he made his first solo album for Prestige. At the time he was mainly a tenor saxophonist; he’s also adept at alto, soprano, and flute. But Daniels is famous for his exceptional technique and chameleonlike versatility on clarinet. He can play bebop, Brahms, smooth jazz, and big-band swing; he has backed Freddie Hubbard and Billy Joel. His Prestige debut included Jobim’s “A Felicidade,” one of his first efforts at Brazilian music; he’s been revisiting it ever since.”    To Milton With Love offers a splendid new expedition into that realm.   TRACKS Travessia¹ [4:44]  Vera Cruz¹ [4:48] Tres Pontas¹ [5:28] Outubro¹ [5:14] Courage² [4:42] Rio Vermelho² [3:30] Gira Girou² [5:53] Morro Velho¹ [5:41] Catavento² [3:59] Cancao Do Sal¹ [3:51] For Milton² [5:29]   Arrangements by Kuno Schmid¹, Josh Nelson² All songs (except “For Milton”) composed by Milton Nascimento “For Milton” composed by Josh Nelson   Produced by George Klabin Recording and Mixing Engineers: George Klabin and Tom McCauley Mastered by Matt Lutthans Recorded at Resonance Records Studios, Beverly Hills Album Design: JRocket77 Design   ABOUT THE LABEL Resonance Records is a multi-GRAMMY® Award-winning label (most recently for John Coltrane’s Offering: Live at Temple University for "Best Album Notes") that prides itself in creating beautifully designed, informative packaging to accompany previously unreleased recordings by the jazz icons who grace Resonance's catalog. Headquartered in Beverly Hills, CA, Resonance Records is a division of Rising Jazz Stars, Inc. a California 501(c) (3) non-profit corporation created to discover the next jazz stars and advance the cause of jazz. Current Resonance Artists include Tawanda, Eddie Daniels, Tamir Hendelman, Christian Howes and Donald Vega. www.ResonanceRecords.org  

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