GA Russell

Ray Leatherwood has a Wikipedia page (which mentions Cry Me a River)! He died in '96. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Leatherwood

2 Russian oligarchs were found dead one day apart alongside their wives and children https://www.businessinsider.com/2-russian-oligarchs-found-dead-spain-moscow-reports-2022-4 Looks like something is going on.

RIP. I remember his scene with Jayne Mansfield in Guide for the Married Man.

Two hunters are out in the woods when one of them collapses. He doesn't seem to be breathing and his eyes are glazed. The other guy pulls out his phone, and calls the emergency services. He gasps, "My friend is dead! What can I do?" The operator says, "Calm down. I can help. First, let's make sure he's dead." There is a silence, then a shot is heard. Back on the phone, the guy says, "OK, now what?"

RISING JAZZ PHENOM JULIUS RODRIGUEZ TAKES ON STEVIE WONDER’S CLASSIC “ALL I DO” NEW SINGLE SHIMMERS WITH OSCAR PETERSON-ESQUE JAZZ LYRICISM AND MOTOWN FLAIR Artist Title Time Julius Rodriguez All I Do 04:41 RODRIGUEZ BLAZES HIS OWN SONIC PATH ON DEBUT ALBUM LET SOUND TELL ALL SET FOR RELEASE JUNE 10 ON VERVE RECORDS, AFTER DROPPING OUT OF JUILLIARD TO TOUR WITH A$AP ROCKY, CAUTIOUS CLAY AND MORE "Beginning with a woozy synth pattern and what sounds like the whir of field crickets, the song tumbles into gear about 20 seconds in, shifting from waltz time into a relaxed yet sharply syncopated groove…this is music that prioritizes a vibe, rather than the mechanics of a plot.” NPR Music “a cosmic jazz saga that starts with a mesmeric two-chord cadence and expands into something colossal yet sleek and reserved” The Fader Julius Rodriguez, “rising jazz phenom” (NPR) and multi-talented pianist/drummer/producer, today releases “All I Do”, the second single from his forthcoming major label debut album Let Sound Tell All set for release June 10 on Verve Records. Rodriguez takes on the beloved Stevie Wonder classic, referencing Tammi Terrell’s 1966 version of the song and infusing it with a shimmering lyrical jazz pianism. The single is accompanied by an official lyric video, watch here: https://juliusrodriguez.lnk.to/AllIDoLyricVideo. Pre-order Let Sound Tell All here: https://juliusrodriguez.lnk.to/LSTA. Plus, an exclusive translucent LP as well as standard versions of the LP/CD will be available at the Verve Records Center Stage store. Julius Rodriguez tapped his childhood friend and singer Mariah Cameron to sing lead vocals on this track, which she handles with a mid-century Motown take, belting with a purity of sound, backed up on vocals by South African jazz artist Vuyo Sotashe. Ben Wolfe, Rodriguez’s Juilliard professor and legendary bassist (Wynton Marsalis, Harry Connick, Jr.) adds a swinging, walking backbeat, buoyed by Stay Human drummer Joe Saylor. Julius takes the lead on piano, deftly weaving from supporting comps to Oscar Peterson-level laid back excellence. Whereas his first single “Gift Of The Moon,” was as The Fader described it, “a cosmic jazz saga,” this track calls to mind Rodriguez’s early days at Smalls Jazz Club, embracing a more traditional jazz sound but infusing it with the rich tapestry of soul and gospel sounds. Photo: Avery J. Savage On his debut album Let Sound Tell All, 23 year old musician Julius Rodriguez stirs a cauldron of gospel, jazz, classical, R&B, hip-hop, experimentation, production and sheer technical wizardry to create a stunning debut that commands attention. As an 11 year old kid, Rodriguez honed his jazz chops at Smalls Jazz Club, wowing audiences with his rendition of his favorite Ellington tune “Take the A Train.” Fast forward to 2018 when he dropped out of Juilliard, shimmying off the rigid curriculum to tour with A$AP Rocky. Now, in 2022, Rodriguez is on the cusp of a stellar release that weaves his life and influences - from Monk, Coltrane, Solange, James Blake, Sampha and more. This music is as much at home in Smalls Jazz Club as it is at Gov Ball. Let Sound Tell All is a complex combination of live improvisation weaved with high-level production. A song may start out in a well-oiled, Coltrane classic quartet energy and fed through distortion pedals to culminate in an exhilarating trippy meltdown of sheer sonic genius. Call him Gen-Z jazz, but when you hear Julius Rodriguez play “the music,” as he calls it, it’s a modern Sound, as fluent in history as it is aware of its contemporary context. His music dares to imagine a future of new standards and musical trailblazing. This vanguard was raised in an atmosphere where pop and hip-hop and dance influenced their approaches to melody and harmony and rhythm, so of course it is part of their improvisational DNA. And that’s what Julius Rodriguez’s Sound tells to whoever will choose to listen. Follow Julius Rodriguez Facebook | Instagram | Website

San Francisco Bay Area Guitarist/Composer George Cotsirilos Deepens His Explorations with "Refuge," Due May 20 on OA2 Records Album Is His Seventh, & Second with His Highly Interactive Quartet of Bassist Robb Fisher, Drummer Ron Marabuto, Pianist Keith Saunders CD Release Shows at Bird & Beckett, San Francisco, Sat.. 5/21; Mr. Tipple's Recording Studio, San Francisco, Sat. 5/28; The Backroom, Berkeley, Sat. 6/4 April 18, 2022 George Cotsirilos pushes into new frontiers with the May 20 release of Refuge (OA2). The guitarist and composer’s follow-up to his acclaimed 2018 album Mostly in Blue again features his quartet—pianist Keith Saunders, bassist Robb Fisher, and drummer Ron Marabuto—but repositions them both in pursuit of new challenges and, if anything, even more “in blue.” Cotsirilos added piano to his longtime trio in 2018, hoping to express the denser harmonies he was hearing in his writing. The success of the experiment encouraged him to keep moving forward, creating a group of compositions that are more complex and more seasoned in the blues. (He comes by that seasoning honestly: Though based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Cotsirilos was born and raised in Chicago.) The lockdowns and isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic gave him opportunities to explore a variety of music and assimilate it into his own work. However, it also hampered his ability to workshop the new tunes with the band. “It became more and more difficult to try out the pieces, so it took a while to get them to a point where we were all happy with them,” Cotsirilos says. “But I was confident … that everything would come together.” Indeed, come together it did. From the sumptuous melody and harmonies of “Refuge,” to the sly, sexy Latin groove of “Igualmente,” to the alluring intricacies of “Aftermath” and “Let’s Make a Break for It,” Refuge is every inch the work of an adept and highly attuned ensemble. It’s clear that the players are intimately familiar with not just the compositions, but the possibilities they offer. While Cotsirilos is the album’s leader and composer, the quartet functions very much on a level playing field. The pieces require close interaction among all four musicians—the entirety of “A Faint Light” hinges on the pocket they create—and even the solos achieve their high caliber through the full band’s chemistry. Cotsirilos’s Byzantine line on “Planet Roxoid” succeeds by virtue of Saunders’s anticipating his every step, and the guitarist pays it forward with an equally empathic accompaniment of Fisher’s bass solo on “The Three Doves.” Cotsirilos claims to receive inspiration from recordings of Beethoven’s cello sonatas—because, he says, they were written with an aim “for instruments to enhance each other.” His work with his quartet on Refuge leaves no doubt that this is so. George Cotsirilos was born in Chicago in 1951. His passion for music was stimulated by an aunt and an uncle—the former was a classical music lover who encouraged him to play the violin; the latter was an erstwhile drummer who took him to hear Louis Armstrong. The renaissance of Chicago blues during his teenage years ensured that George grew devoted to the electric guitar. In 1969, Cotsirilos enrolled at UC Berkeley. A sociology major, he briefly left school halfway through his studies to play guitar in a blues band. When he re-enrolled at Berkeley, he separately became a student of Warren Nunes, a legendary guitarist in East Bay musical circles. Nunes brought Cotsirilos under the sway of jazz, learning about the great guitarists as well as the ideas and techniques of other instrumentalists like Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and Chick Corea. Even as he studied music more seriously—training on classical guitar through the San Francisco Conservatory of Music—Cotsirilos completed his sociology degree, then attained a law degree. He maintained a dual career for years working as a criminal defender and lecturer at Berkeley’s prestigious School of Law, while also performing alongside Pharoah Sanders, Etta James, renowned drummer Eddie Marshall, and Bay Area stalwarts Mel Martin and Mark Levine. He released his first solo album, Silenciosa, in 2003, followed by three trio albums with Fisher and Marabuto. In 2017, around the same time he expanded his trio to a quartet (with Saunders on piano), Cotsirilos retired from the law profession and devoted himself full-time to music. Refuge is one of the beneficiaries of that decision—and so is the jazz audience. The George Cotsirilos Quartet will be performing CD release shows on Sat. 5/21 at Bird & Beckett, San Francisco (7:30pm); Sat. 5/28 at Mr. Tipple’s Recording Studio, San Francisco (6:00pm); and Sat. 6/4 at The Backroom, Berkeley (8:00pm). Photography: Billy Douglas George Cotsirilos EPK - "Refuge"  George Cotsirilos Web Site ‌

Happy Easter everyone!

Specialty Records' Art Rupe has died at 104. RIP. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/16/arts/music/art-rupe-dead.html

1989 it was! I remember now. Soon after the concert I bought one of Pine's CDs. Perhaps it was his only one at that time. It was one of the first CDs I bought. I got my first CD player in November of 1988. You will recall that Pine was billed as "the new Coltrane." I remember at the concert his playing one note (maybe a half note) that had precisely Prestige Coltrane's tone. I thought, Aha! That's why.

I trust you. I would have said '86, but I don't remember years any more.

Yes! Thanks, Ken. What year was that?

RIP. I saw him in Atlanta in '85 with Stanley Jordan, and really enjoyed his work. Sometime later, I saw Courtney Pine with Cyrus Chestnut on piano, and Moffett may have been on bass for that one too. But I can't say for sure.

I once saw Annie Ross in an episode of The Saint with Roger Moore.

True story: Many years ago a young lawyer told me that a judge once him that... Most people think that the hard part of being on a jury is deciding who to find for when both sides have good arguments; when in reality the hard part is having to find for someone when they think everyone is lying.

My apologies to Michael. When I started this thread and the Savant thread last month, I did not realize that he had started a similar thread in May, 2014. Mods, if you wish you are welcome to combine the three threads. ***** Alternative Guitar Summit Honoring Pat Martino, Volume 1 Format(s): Jazz Artist Title Time Alternative Guitar Summit – Adam Rogers & Peter Bernstein Inside Out 06:43 Alternative Guitar Summit – Kurt Rosenwinkel Black Glass 04:13 Alternative Guitar Summit – Fareed Haque Line Games 06:36 Alternative Guitar Summit – Sheryl Bailey & Ed Cherry Willow 07:00 Alternative Guitar Summit – Rez Abbasi & Jeff Miles Noshufuru 07:19 Alternative Guitar Summit – Russell Malone Lament 05:30 Alternative Guitar Summit – Dave Stryker & Paul Bollenback On the Stairs 06:35 Alternative Guitar Summit – Nir Felder & Oz Noy Joyous Lake 09:22 Alternative Guitar Summit – Joel Harrison Country Road 05:49 New from HighNote Records Alternative Guitar Summit - Honoring Pat Martino, Volume 1 HighNote Records HCD 7333 There are a mere handful of guitarists that have changed the way we think about the guitar over the past five or six decades. Pat Martino is perhaps one of the greatest and best-known of those icons. The term “genius” is overused today, but Pat Martino was definitely one. His life story was the very definition of the word. Before Martino's passing in November, 2021, the Alternative Guitar Summit honored him and his enormous contribution to jazz in this set of studio recordings by 14 jazz guitarists playing selections from his imaginative and varied catalog of compositions. Producer Joel Harrison is thrilled to have brought together this crew of great musicians to show their love for Martino while HighNote Records is proud to present this first volume of their recordings. Playing Pat Martino's music is daunting. We know we can't do better, we can only do it differently, part tribute, part self realization. This is the beauty of the jazz tradition. We can infinitely explore each other's work, and the lens changes each time. As a team we marvel at the different ways each explores and navigate the master's work. Egos are left behind, it becomes about love. This CD is just a small beginning. We'll all be playing his music for a long, long time. – Joel Harrison Like our stuff? Let’s hear from you. Record Company Contact Barney Fields • HighNote Records, Inc. jazzdepo@ix.netcom.com • (212) 873-2020 • www.jazzdepot.com HCD 7333 M... HCD 7333 A... Jeremy Pelt Soundtrack Impacting April 4th, 2022 Format(s): Jazz Artist Title Time Jeremy Pelt Picking Up the Pieces 06:21 Jeremy Pelt Soundtrack 05:59 Jeremy Pelt Be the Light 06:36 Jeremy Pelt Part 1: The Lighter Side 00:28 Jeremy Pelt Part 2: The Darker Side 03:56 Jeremy Pelt Elegy 03:17 Jeremy Pelt I'm Still Standing 03:46 Jeremy Pelt I Love Music 04:19 Jeremy Pelt Shifting Images 05:26 Jeremy Pelt You and Me 04:10 New from Jeremy Pelt on HighNote Records Jeremy Pelt - Soundtrack HighNote Records HCD 7346 Jeremy Pelt - trumpet Chien Chien Lu – vibraphone • Victor Gould – piano & Fender Rhodes Vicente Archer – acoustic & electric bass • Allan Mednard – drums Anne Drummond – flute (tracks 4 & 5) Brittany Anjou – Mellotron (track 5), Moog Sub 37 (track 7) AIRPLAY STARTS NOW SUGGESTED TRACKS 1. Picking Up the Pieces • 3. Be the Light 7. I’m Still Standing • 9. Shifting Images Jazz trumpeter, composer and author Jeremy Pelt has certainly never shied away from themed albums so one might expect something cinematic from the enigmatically-titled Soundtrack. However, as Pelt himself explains, “I've certainly done plenty of concept albums, but in this case there's nothing I'm on a soapbox about. It's been a tough time for all of us, so let's not worry about sending messages for a minute. Here we are, playing some songs and having some fun.” Having fun the band may be but along the way they make some compelling jazz weaving a beguiling tapestry of kaleidoscopic colors with Pelt's sultry and communicative trumpet to the fore surrounded by Chien Chien Lu's hypnotic vibraphone and pianist Victor Gould's subtle splashes of the Fender Rhodes. The inclusion of Brittany Anjou on Moog synthesizer and the rarely-heard Mellotron may imply a real electronica aspect present on the recording but, quite to the contrary, Pelt uses them sparingly and incorporates them brilliantly into the group's tonal palette. Their appearance does occasionally bring a certain 70s independent jazz vibe to the proceedings but they far from define the sound of the group. Anne Drummond's silvery flute on two tracks adds yet another dimension to the already wide spectrum of colors on this latest album in the discography of the sometimes surprising but always inspired Jeremy Pelt. Like our stuff? Let’s hear from you. Record Company Contact Barney Fields • HighNote Records, Inc. jazzdepo@ix.netcom.com • (212) 873-2020 • www.jazzdepot.com HCD 7346 J... JeremyPelt...

CRAFT LATINO ANNOUNCES THE 30TH ANNIVERSARY REMASTERED REISSUE IN HI-RES DIGITAL FORMAT OF MIS MUEVAS BALADAS BY RENOWNED COMPOSER AND SINGER JOAN SEBASTIAN Craft Latino is proud to announce the release of the 30th Anniversary Edition of Mis Nuevas Baladas, in digital format, by renowned Mexican composer and singer Joan Sebastian. The remastered digital album is out now, and available in hi-res digital for the first time, including 192KHz/24-bit and 96KHz/24-bit formats. In addition, new official lyric videos for the songs “El Perdedor” (on 4/22), “Pirata” (on 4/26), “Nube Gris” (on 4/29) and “Ella Esta Casada” (on 5/2) will premiere on the Musart YouTube channel. Mis Nuevas Baladas (My New Ballads) was originally released in 1992 and included ballads and pop songs all written by Joan Sebastian. The ten-track set included unforgettable gems that were fan favorites like “El Perdedor,” “Pirata,” “Nube Gris,” “Todavía Creo” and of course the beautiful and joyful poem about country living by Joan, “Bule De Agua Fresca.” Joan Sebastian was a singer-songwriter born in Juliantla, Guerrero, Mexico who wrote, performed, and recorded Latin pop music, in addition to various regional Mexican styles, specifically banda, mariachi and norteño. He is known as "El Rey del Jaripeo” (The King of the Rodeo), "El Poeta del Pueblo” (The People’s Poet), "El Poeta de Juliantla" (The Poet of Juliantla) and "El Huracán del Sur" (The Hurricane of the South). He wrote more than 1,000 songs and was awarded seven Latin Grammys® and four Grammy® Awards, making him the most awarded Mexican performer in Grammy® history. During his successful career he also landed on the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart 42 times. Sebastian died on July 12, 2015, after a 13-year battle with bone cancer. He was 64 years old. About Craft Latino: Craft Latino is home to one of the largest and most prestigious collections of Latin music master recordings and compositions in the world. Its rich and storied repertoire includes legendary artists such as Antonio Aguilar, Joan Sebastian, Pepe Aguilar, Celia Cruz, Héctor Lavoe, Willie Colón, Ray Barretto, La Lupe, Ruben Blades and the Fania All Stars, to name just a few. Renowned imprints with catalogs issued under the Craft banner include Musart, Fania, TH, Panart, West Side Latino and Kubaney, among many others. Craft creates thoughtfully curated packages, with a meticulous devotion to quality and a commitment to preservation, ensuring that these recordings endure for new generations to discover. Craft Latino is the Latin repertoire arm of Craft Recordings. For more info, visit CraftRecordings.com and follow on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Artist Title Time Joan Sebastian El Perdedor 03:08 Joan Sebastian Esa 02:38 Joan Sebastian Nube Gris 02:48 Joan Sebastian Bule de Agua Fresca 03:13 Joan Sebastian El Último Jinete 03:10 Joan Sebastian Ella Está Casada 02:54 Joan Sebastian Buena Amiga 03:15 Joan Sebastian Pirata 03:10 Joan Sebastian Todavía Creo 03:07 Joan Sebastian A Medio Metro 02:12

Congrats, John! For 13 CDs, that comes to only $5.49 each!

Mickey and Minnie Mouse go to Divorce Court. The judge says, "Mickey, insanity is not grounds for divorce." Mickey says, "Your honor, I didn't say that she is insane. I said that she is effing Goofy!"

Ken, I like yours much more than mine!

A young pastor was sitting in a restaurant eating lunch. He opened a letter he had received that morning from his mom. As he opened it, a twenty-dollar bill fell out. He thought to himself, Thanks, Mom, I sure needed that right now. As he finished his meal, he noticed a beggar outside on the sidewalk leaning against the light post. Thinking that the poor man could probably use the twenty dollars more than he would, he crossed out the names on the envelope, and wrote across the top in large letters, PERSEVERE! So as not to make a scene, he put the envelope under his arm and dropped it as he walked past the man. The man picked it up, read the message and smiled. The next day, as the pastor was enjoying his lunch, the same man tapped him on the shoulder, and handed him a big wad of bills. Surprised, the pastor asked him what it was for. He replied, “This is your half of the winnings. Persevere won the fourth race yesterday, and paid thirty to one.”

This one is down to $71.35 today.

CRAFT LATINO ANNOUNCES THE 30TH ANNIVERSARY REMASTERED REISSUE IN HI-RES DIGITAL FORMAT OF BANDIDO DE AMORES BY RENOWNED COMPOSER AND SINGER JOAN SEBASTIAN Craft Latino is proud to announce the release of the 30th anniversary edition of Bandido de Amores, in digital format, by renowned Mexican composer and singer Joan Sebastian. The remastered digital album is out now, and available in hi-res digital for the first time, including 192KHz/24-bit and 96KHz/24-bit formats. In addition, a new official lyric video for the song “Bandido de Amores” premiered on the Musart YouTube channel, with additional lyric video releases rolling out for key album tracks like the recent viral hit “Sangoloteadito” (March 18), “Venganza de Tina” (April 15th) and “La Carreta” (April 19th), all coming to Musart’s YouTube channel. Bandido de Amores was originally released under the Musart label in 1992, and this album was special to Joan because he was able to realize one of his dreams, which was to record a song with the great Antonio Aguilar who he long admired. The song they recorded, the title track to the album, is a corrido that has become a classic within the genre. All tracks on the album were written, directed and arranged by Joan himself. Other album highlights include “Sangoloteadito,” “Venganza de Tina,” “La Carreta” and “Vanessa.” Joan Sebastian was a singer-songwriter born in Juliantla, Guerrero, Mexico who wrote, performed and recorded Latin pop music, in addition to various regional Mexican styles, specifically banda, mariachi and norteño. He is known as "El Rey del Jaripeo” (The King of the Rodeo), "El Poeta del Pueblo” (The People’s Poet), "El Poeta de Juliantla" (The Poet of Juliantla) and "El Huracán del Sur" (The Hurricane of the South). He wrote more than 1,000 songs and was awarded seven Latin Grammys® and four Grammy® Awards, making him the most awarded Mexican performer in Grammy® history. During his successful career he also landed on the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart 42 times. Sebastian died on July 12, 2015, after a 13-year battle with bone cancer. He was 64 years old. About Craft Latino: Craft Latino is home to one of the largest and most prestigious collections of Latin music master recordings and compositions in the world. Its rich and storied repertoire includes legendary artists such as Antonio Aguilar, Joan Sebastian, Pepe Aguilar, Celia Cruz, Héctor Lavoe, Willie Colón, Ray Barretto, La Lupe, Ruben Blades and the Fania All Stars, to name just a few. Renowned imprints with catalogs issued under the Craft banner include Musart, Fania, TH, Panart, West Side Latino and Kubaney, among many others. Craft creates thoughtfully curated packages, with a meticulous devotion to quality and a commitment to preservation, ensuring that these recordings endure for new generations to discover. Craft Latino is the Latin repertoire arm of Craft Recordings. For more info, visit CraftRecordings.com and follow on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Artist Title Time Joan Sebastian, Antonio Aguilar Bandido de Amores 03:00 Joan Sebastian La Carreta 02:42 Joan Sebastian Maldita Suerte 02:43 Joan Sebastian Sangoloteadito 03:03 Joan Sebastian Prisionera 02:08 Joan Sebastian Venganza de Tina 03:15 Joan Sebastian Negra Suerte 02:30 Joan Sebastian El Toro Capirote 02:20 Joan Sebastian Vanessa 02:56 Joan Sebastian Los Perros 02:31 Ch

Andrew Cyrille Quartet Delivers an Impressionistic Sonic Exploration in The News Quartet Artists Include Bill Frisell, David Virelles and Ben Street Andrew Cyrille’s album The News carries forward the story from The Declaration of Musical Independence, the 2014 ECM recording described by Down Beat as “an unabashed exploration into time, pulse space and atmosphere…ambitious yet simple, rich yet stripped-down, challenging yet infinitely satisfying.” The New York Times cited the album as evidence of a “late career renaissance” for the drummer. A force in improvisation for more than sixty years, Cyrille has played across the landscape of jazz from Coleman Hawkins’s The Hawk Relaxes to Cecil Taylor’s Unit Structures, led his own bands, and worked extensively with Milford Graves, Walt Dickerson, David Murray, Muhal Richard Abrams, Oliver Lake, Reggie Workman and many, many more. His first ECM appearance was on 1970’s Afternoon of a Georgia Faun, Marion Brown’s album with Chick Corea, Anthony Braxton, Bennie Maupin and Jeanne Lee. Half a century later Cyrille appeared with his Lebroba trio with Wadada Leo Smith and Bill Frisell at Lincoln Center’s 50th birthday tribute to the label. For The News, recorded at Sound on Sound Studio in New Jersey in August 2019, David Virelles was drafted as last-minute replacement for old associate Richard Teitelbaum, whose involvement had been ruled out by ill-health. Virelles had previously played with Cyrille and Ben Street in contexts including the group Continuum. Gently guiding from the drums, Cyrille gives his revised line-up plenty of freedom while also shaping, subtly, the group’s sonic identity with his flowing sense of pulse. The title track “The News” revisits a conceptual piece that Andrew first recorded on a solo percussion album, The Loop, made for the Italian Ictus label in the late 1970s. Here a newspaper is placed over the snare drum and toms and played with brushes. In the quartet version, Frisell, Virelles and Street all impressionistically extend its rustling, whispering textures on their own instruments. “Leaving East of Jordan” is a tune by AACM-associated pianist Adegoke Steve Colson. Cyrille has previously played it both with its composer and with the group Trio 3 with Oliver Lake and Reggie Workman. Cyrille’s “With You In Mind” is also a piece that has gone through diverse interpretations: there are earlier recorded interpretations in trio with Hentry Grimes and Bill McHenry and in duo with Greg Osby. Here the music takes off from Andrew’s unaccompanied spoken word introduction with the band amplifying its sentiments, with a particularly tender guitar solo from Bill Frisell. The guitarist has three tunes here “Mountain”, “Baby” and “Go Happy Lucky”, the last of which, as an abstracted blues, has a distant kinship with Duke Ellington’s “Happy Go Lucky Local.” Frisell has recorded extensively for ECM, from early leader dates such as In Line and Rambler to the recent duet projects Small Town and Epistrophy with Thomas Morgan. Along the way there has also been a long association with Paul Motian and Joe Lovano documented on recordings from Psalm (1981) to Time and Time Again (2006). Frisell has also contributed to other recordings of enduring significance including Paul Bley’s Fragments, Kenny Wheeler’s Angel Song, Marc Johnson’s Bass Desires, Jan Garbarek’s Paths, Prints and Gavin Bryars’s After the Requiem. David Virelles. who contributes the tune “Incienso” to the programme and shares composer credits with Cyrille on the exploratory “Dance of the Nuances”, first appeared on ECM with Chris Potter in 2011. Albums with Tomasz Stanko followed (Wisława, December Avenue) as well as Virelles’s own recordings Mbókò, Antenna and Gnosis. Ben Street and Andrew Cyrille have collaborated in contexts including the trio of Danish pianist Søren Kjærgaard. The bassist’s ECM credits include albums with the Billy Hart Quartet (All Our Reasons, One Is The Other) the Ethan Iverson/Tom Harrell Quartet (Common Practice), and the Aaron Parks Trio (Find The Way).

Pianist and Composer Craig Taborn Returns to Solo Piano Format with His Release Shadow Plays Available October 8 via ECM Ten years have passed since Craig Taborn’s Avenging Angel album was released, bringing strikingly fresh ideas to the solo piano idiom. “It reflects Mr Taborn’s galactically-broad interests,” said the New York Times, “along with his multifaceted technique,” while the Guardian saluted Craig’s “world of whispered, wide-spaced figures, ringing overtones, evaporating echoes and glowering contrapuntal cascades”. In the interim Taborn has appeared in ECM contexts large and small. We’ve heard him in his trio with Thomas Morgan and Gerald Cleaver on Chants and in his Daylight Ghosts quartet with Chris Speed, Chris Lightcap and Dave King. He’s played piano duets with Vijay Iyer on The Transitory Poems, performed Ches Smith’s music on The Bell, contributed to Roscoe Mitchell’s AACM tribute Bells for the South Side, and to Chris Potter’s music for ensemble and strings on Imaginary Cities. Alongside all of these activities, the solo music has continued to gather strength. Over the last decade Taborn has refined and developed his approach, attaining new high ground with Shadow Plays. For Craig the recording is “part of the same continuum as Avenging Angel. Where that was a studio recording, this one is live, but that process of spontaneous composition goes onward.” The new album is a stunning live recital from the Mozart-Saal of the Wiener Konzerthaus, where the programme was headlined Avenging Angel II. In this fully improvised concert, Craig explores sounds and silences, swirling colours, densities and forms, creating new music with both poetic imagination and an iron grip on his material. His control of his craft as he unerringly creates narratives and structures from the hint of a revealed pattern, following where intuition and experience lead him, is extraordinary. “When you improvise,” Taborn told writer Adam Shatz, in a New York Times interview, “you’re observing and creating at the same time. To make the next move, you have to get really close to what’s going on.” “Free improvisation” can mean many things. For Taborn, in this context, this is not a matter of automatic writing or stream-of-consciousness self-expression but of keeping in focus both the larger frame of the concert and the concise statements shaped from the moment-to-moment detail of the music. “A lot of my interests revolve around trying to extend the boundaries you can create in…” Craig Taborn has noted. “Rather than simply free-flowing as I travel from Point A to Point B, I am really trying to construct and to organize the material as it emerges, in real time. And what is created in this way feels different to music using pre-composed elements.” Taborn is a great improviser in any context, and highly regarded for his capacity to get to the heart of the music, whatever the setting. In the solo work connections to ‘jazz’ are not always self-evident, but in the flux of the piece retrospectively called “Conspiracy of Things”, allusions to the history of the music from stride piano onwards seems to flash past at lightning speed. In all pieces, ideas are explored, at multiple levels. Emotions too – tenderness and fierceness co-exist in pieces thoughtfully titled “Discordia Concors” and “Concordia Discors,” concepts that reflect the notion of unity through diversity. “I name the pieces,” Taborn said in a recent interview with Bomb magazine, “after they are finished and in consideration of their programmatic position – in a way the titling is the final stage of composition. And I intend the titles as invitations to extend the musical experience into other areas.” The inclusiveness of his work – subtly informed by music and art of many traditions – invites new associations and open responses. Born in Detroit in 1970, Craig Taborn studied at the University of Michigan. He first came to wider attention in the groups of saxophonist James Carter. His first ECM appearance was with Roscoe Mitchell’s Note Factory on the album Nine To Get Ready (recorded 1997). Currently on the road in Europe with cellist Tomeka Reid and drummer Ches Smith, Craig Taborn undertakes a solo piano tour in February 2022 with dates including Tampere, Finland (February 1), Live Lab, Helsinki (February 2), Nasjonal Jazzscene Victoria, Oslo (February 3), Musikförening, Vanersborg, Sweden (February 4), Halmstad, Sweden (February 5), Fasching, Stockholm (February 6), Sendesaal, Bremen (February 7), Domicil, Dortmund (February 10), Birdland, Neuburg (February 11), Son d’hiver Festival, Paris (February 12) and Bimhuis, Amsterdam (February 13). More details at www.ecmrecords.com Craig Taborn’s Shadow Plays, produced by Manfred Eicher, was recorded live at the Wiener Konzerthaus on March 2, 2020. Upcoming Releases on ECM October 8: Enrico Rava | Edizione Speciale October 29: Ayumi Tanaka Trio | Subaqueous Silence November 5: Jorge Rossy, Robert Landfermann, Jeff Ballard | Puerta November 11: Eberhard Weber | Once Upon A Time Craig Taborn | Shadow Plays ECM | Release Date: October 8, 2021

Marc Johnson Carries on ECM Tradition in an Imaginative Way in Overpass his New Solo Bass Recording Available August 27 via ECM With Overpass, recorded in Brazil in 2018, Marc Johnson makes a decisive and intriguing contribution to ECM’s solo bass recordings. It is an album that takes note of that tradition - Johnson has said that Dave Holland’s Emerald Tears was among the solo recordings that fired his imagination almost half a century ago - and builds upon it in a personal and imaginative way. The Nebraska-born bassist first came to broader attention in the late 1970s as a member of Bill Evans’s last trio where the tune “Nardis” became effectively a workshop for nightly discoveries about the bass’s potential as a lead voice. The Miles Davis tune, long associated with Evans, is revisited here. As Johnson points out, “‘Nardis’ is where solo bass explorations all started for me and this performance distills much of the conception and vocabulary I am using throughout this album.” Alex North’s “Love Theme from Spartacus”, another tune that Evans liked to play, is featured, too, in an interpretation and arrangement that honours the form of the composition. Johnson also tackles Eddie Harris’s “Freedom Jazz Dance”, whose dancing pulses have long inspired improvisers, and presents five of his own pieces. Among them is “Samurai Fly”, a recasting of “Samurai Hee-Haw”, the Eastern-tinged Western tune that Marc previously recorded for ECM with his Bass Desires band – the highly influential quartet featuring the twinned guitars of Bill Frisell and John Scofield and Peter Erskine’s drums- and with the John Abercrombie Trio. This version – one of the two tracks that deploys discreet overdubbing - is heavier than its predecessors, perhaps more Sumo than Samurai, Johnson wryly suggests, but still nimble and effective, and with a strong hint of bluegrass bass fiddle in its undercurrents. Marc Johnson’s music has long been open to influence from multiple sources, and “Whorled Whirled World”, for instance, with its tessellated patterning and spinning, dancing energy alludes both to a kind of earthy, global music blueprint and the mesmeric qualities of minimalistic repetition. Pulsation and drive have strong roles throughout. Of “And Strike Each Tuneful String” Johnson says,” In the early 80s I made a conscious choice to try to bring something primal to my sound and conception of playing. I discovered a field recording made in the late 60s of musicians from Burundi. One or two tracks in particular from that recording caught my attention. The music was played on an instrument called an Inanga which is a hollowed out log strung with ox tendons for strings. The strings were plucked in various patterns and the earthy sound and repetitiveness was quite hypnotic. With a nod towards that reference, this piece is an improvisation and short reprise of ‘Prayer Beads’ which appeared on the second Bass Desires album.” If Overpass addresses musical and personal history, it is also an improviser’s in-the-moment response to events. Marc Johnson’s journeys around the globe have sometimes led to meetings with remarkable instruments: in São Paulo he came across a prizewinning bass made by luthier Paulo Gomes that subsequently became his instrument of choice each time he was in the region. The sound of the bass itself with its full-bodied resonance has also been a determining factor for the nature of the music played. On “Yin and Yang” the improvisation takes off from harmonics produced by strumming all four strings of this bass. “The continuity was created by allowing the strings to decay until the next attack. I first recorded a long series of attacks and decays, and then improvised a melody and some bowed effects. This piece is the result.” Overpass, recorded in January and February 2018 at Nacena Studios, in São Paulo, was produced by Marc Johnson and Eliane Elias. Upcoming Releases on ECM August 27: Andrew Cyrille Quartet | The News September 10: Marcin Wasilewski Trio | En Attendant September 24: Mathias Eick | When We Leave October 15: Ayumi Tanaka Trio | Subaqueous Silence